Single Undead Operation
The large-scale practical evaluation that would begin after the midterms.
In some ways, it was an exam that mattered even more than the written-only midterms.
Since the professors had put on the Dullahan Special Lecture, the students had fully expected a Dullahan-related practical assessment — so no one was particularly surprised.
So it's finally here.
That was what most of them were thinking.
With everyone seated and staring at Aaron's mouth, his lips finally parted.
"The subject of this large-scale practical evaluation is 'Single Undead Operation.'"
Single undead operation.
According to Aaron's explanation, students would be permitted to use only one single undead in the examination hall. That lone undead would have to accomplish everything the exam demanded of them.
"That said."
Aaron added in a flat voice.
"You are free to choose whichever undead you use for this exam."
At those words, the lecture hall erupted into a bubbling murmur, like a pot coming to a boil.
Asseraz's hand shot up immediately.
"I'm Aseraz Mikel! Does the undead's tier or type make any difference?"
"No."
Aaron nodded.
"Whether it's a Tier-10 Bone Dragon or a Tier-1 Skeleton, the condition is that you may utilize only a single undead. The detailed rules will be announced on the day of the exam."
Simon's Group 10 immediately put their heads together.
"I-I just assumed it'd be a Dullahan practical."
Toto muttered.
"For all intents and purposes, it basically is one."
Simon said. Loraine beside him nodded as well.
"Simon's right. 'You may only use a single undead.' If that's the sole condition, then the strongest card most students can play is going to be a Dullahan."
Of course, there were exceptions — students like Fitzgerald with his 'Siren Chimera,' or Chendra Gliwice, who specialized in 'Gravekeeper Undead.'
Students who already possessed their own firmly established specialty undead were going to give themselves headaches agonizing over which undead to field in the exam.
"But hey!"
As always, it was Eshu who barged into the conversation with a rasping voice.
"Haven't the Summoning professors been hammering Dullahan into us this whole time, with the special lecture and the training camp and everything?"
"They have."
Toto agreed readily, and Eshu rubbed her hands together with a knowing smile.
"Then logically, obviously, the exam will be set up to favor using a Dullahan, right? Like a test where you have to somehow build a Dullahan and actually use it!"
Simon looked at her with wide eyes.
"Surprisingly sharp, Eshu."
"Hah! This much is just basic— wait a second! What do you mean surprisingly!"
Aaron had said the 'detailed rules' would be announced on the day of the exam.
There was a nuance hidden in that statement.
If the professors had spent an entire week on the Dullahan Special Lecture only to assign a practical evaluation that had nothing to do with Dullahans, they would have announced the rules in advance — or at the very least dropped a hint or two.
The relatively recent 'Ghoul practical' was the same way. The professors had the students study ghouls, then evaluated them on ghouls. A Dullahan assessment following the Dullahan special lecture was the natural, logical sequence.
There wasn't even room to weigh variables here. Simon boldly raised his quill.
"If Eshu's guess is right, then factoring in a Dullahan's abilities, we can make a rough estimate of what the exam will involve."
— Optimized for short-term decisive battles, 10–30 minutes.
— Absorbs massive quantities of mana and converts it into Jet-Black.
— Immense strength and speed.
— Outstanding durability.
— Capable of weapon techniques and aura.
Having written that far, Simon set down his quill and grinned.
"Some of it's a bit fuzzy, but one thing I'm certain of."
"What?"
"It's definitely going to be a timed exam."
At those words, the group members let out a small chorus of ooohs.
"Right. It accounts for the Dullahan's short operation window, doesn't it?"
"Reaching that conclusion from such limited information. Kheh! As expected of our top student!"
Loraine nodded quietly while Eshu made a commotion, and Simon waved a hand in dismissal.
"No, no. We all reached that conclusion together."
Anyway.
Fitzgerald's going to have a rough time of it.
The condition wasn't limited to Dullahans — it allowed any single undead. In other words, if a student had enough confidence in their specialty undead to forgo a Dullahan, that choice would be respected too.
Sure enough, over in Group 11, Fitzgerald sat frozen stiff with his hand still resting on his glasses frame. He seemed to be deep in agonized deliberation.
"Now that the exam has been announced."
Aaron opened his textbook.
"Let us resume the Dullahan Special Lecture."
"Yes, sir!"
The weekend had arrived after a stretch of general-subject classes.
At a moment when things might have loosened up, Aaron skillfully used the subject of the 'exam' to motivate the students and ratchet the tension back up.
"Of course, even if you use a different undead for the exam, keep in mind that your completed Dullahan will be graded separately from the practical evaluation."
Fitzgerald, still sunk in deep thought, flinched — and they could see him gripping his quill again.
"Everyone, prepare yourselves. We are moving to the practice hall now."
The students relocated to the practice hall.
The three great Dullahan materials were known as 'Ogre Lord–Abaddon–Guardian.' Most of the students were pulling out corpses of 'Abaddon.'
Abaddon was a bipedal swamp monster reminiscent of a reptile, its entire body covered in heavy scales, capable of wielding weapons.
At a glance it resembled a 'lizardman,' but it stood in an entirely different class from the common, dime-a-dozen lizardman. Called the King of the Swamps, it was formidably powerful.
"What brand is yours?"
"Fran brand! I wanted to buy Vanilla, but the budget was... hehe."
The students were all in the middle of pulling full 'Abaddon' sets out of their subspace pockets. Vacuum-sealed to prevent decay, the corpses were kept in optimal condition by an array of preservation magic circles.
"Ughhhh."
Eshu was pretending to sob as she pulled her Abaddon set from subspace.
Hers was the cheapest budget line, the 'Kerak' brand. When she tore the packaging open, the Abaddon corpse inside had scales mangled beyond recognition, tied up roughly with what looked like plain rope.
"Six months of my part-time wages..."
"I blew through all my sponsorship money too."
Beside her, Toto pulled out his own 'Kerak'-brand Abaddon with a tearful grimace.
It wasn't just those two — a great many students were struggling under expenses on a completely different scale from anything their undead had cost before.
Guess I'll take mine out too.
Simon opened his subspace as well. What leaped out of it was a massive coffin with a luxurious look — a combination of gold trim and black coloring.
Embedded in the middle of the coffin, in ornate golden lettering, was the word 'Vanilla.'
"Whoa!"
"The ultimate tier — Vanilla brand!"
With spare funds from his various missions, Simon had gone down to Rochest and bought a Vanilla-brand Abaddon set without hesitation.
Students' gazes converged on him from all around.
"Open it, come on, hurry!"
"Alright, alright."
Simon placed his palm on the 'security magic circle' drawn across the coffin lid.
The circle detected Simon's Jet-Black and released the security. With a hiss of escaping steam, the coffin unlocked and swung open on its own.
"Whoaah!"
Inside the coffin was a profusion of jet-black flowers, and nestled among them lay the Abaddon — the Dullahan material itself. Blood vessels stood out along its body, and its muscles were perfectly preserved.
"It's huge! I think it's at least two heads bigger than my Abaddon?"
Naturally, the bigger and heavier the Abaddon, the more expensive it was.
Eshu lifted one of the black flowers from inside the coffin.
"A decay-warding monster flower. Just one of these goes for a few hundred silver, doesn't it?"
"This must've cost a fortune."
But it still wasn't the full set.
What Simon brought out next were jet-black pieces of armor.
The Dullahan's advantage was that, operating on an explosive volume of Jet-Black, it could freely wear heavy, rugged equipment that humans wouldn't even dream of putting on.
And given the Dullahan's nature of absorbing mana through its entire body, the armor had to be custom-forged with mana intake in mind.
It really is enormous.
Simon lifted the massive helm. It was heavy enough that lifting it at all was difficult without channeling Jet-Black.
Just thinking that this monstrous weight would be worn by an already-dead corpse made him appreciate how extraordinary a necromancer's black magic truly was.
"Look how it shines."
"The design's so sleek. Looks sharp."
The watching students tossed out comments one after another. Simon answered them, but his gaze had drifted elsewhere.
A Dullahan made from Abaddon would certainly be powerful...
But it couldn't beat one made from the top-tier material, the 'Guardian.' And as it happened, Hector and Asseraz, who each possessed a Guardian, were also pulling out Abaddon corpses.
Presumably for keeping up with class. Using precious material on a first build risked damage, which would be catastrophic.
Without a doubt, they would bring a Guardian-forged Dullahan to the practical evaluation.
No rushing it.
Simon turned his head back.
If I can just complete a Dullahan with the materials I've prepared, I win — no question. For now, focus on learning the crafting process step by step.
"Attention."
Aaron had entered the practice hall. The students fell silent at once and fixed their eyes on him.
"Is there anyone here who couldn't prepare practice materials?"
At the back, two students raised their hands with their heads bowed deep. The expressions of the other students glancing back at them grew ugly.
Securing class materials was basic among basics.
At Kizen, no one looked out for you. Whether you took on part-time work or went out and hunted monsters yourself, scrounging up materials by any means necessary was a matter of respect for the class itself.
But Aaron didn't scold them. He simply nodded slowly.
"...I had a word with a dealer and secured two Abaddon corpses that had aged out of his inventory. Take those for now."
"Th-thank you, sir!"
"I can't vouch for their condition. See to it that you get proper Abaddons before the exam."
"Yes, sir!"
The teaching assistants hauled in two Abaddon corpses with flies buzzing around them. A few students with weak stomachs pinched their noses.
Their condition was abysmal at a glance, but right now it was a blessing that class could even proceed with materials like these.
"Then, let's begin."
Aaron said, pulling on his work gloves. The students followed suit, donning their own gloves with fire in their eyes.
The weekend special lecture didn't end until late into the night.
"Ughhhhhhh."
Students emerged from the Summoning Department building one after another, every face drained.
"Th-that was brutal!"
"When are we supposed to study for the other subjects' midterms after this?"
Everyone shuffled along, totally spent. Their heads were so crammed full of information they felt ready to burst.
And in the middle of all this—
"I'm heading out first!"
Simon alone was overflowing with energy. As if he couldn't bear it a moment longer, he snatched up his bag and bolted off.
Toto stretched out an arm.
"S-Simon? You're not coming back to the dorm?"
"Nope! I'll be a bit late. Go ahead and get some rest!"
Watching his figure vanish into the night, Eshu tilted her head.
"Impressive that he's still got the legs to run, but where's he off to in such a hurry? Off to apologize to a girlfriend whose date he missed for class?"
Loraine gave a small smile.
"He's probably going to build his Dullahan."
"Again?"
Eshu jumped.
"He spent all day today doing nothing but Dullahans!"
"That's just who Simon is."
Toto, who knew Simon's temperament well, nodded silently. Eshu stuck out her tongue in exasperation.
"Huuugh, so being Kizen's top student really isn't something just anyone can do. If I'd have to push myself that ruthlessly to take the top spot, I'd rather just give up and live easy!"
"...Even pushing that hard, it's a struggle."
Meanwhile, Simon was racing along in a daze.
Actually building a Dullahan with his own hands during class had left him unable to stand it a second longer.
Riding the Jet-Black beneath his feet as he ran, Simon smiled.
I want to build it right now!
Covering the long distance in an instant, Simon slipped into the Mutant Club room and flicked on the lights. Naturally, no one was still there at this hour.
He hurried straight down to the basement and, exactly as Benya had taught him, released the seal and stepped inside.
Good — it's safe and sound.
In the center of the basement.
Manus's skull sat upright on its display stand. Along the walls, the deep claw-marks left by the last incident were still visible.
Simon busily opened his subspace first.
Alright! Let's begin right away.
Simon opened his subspace without hesitation.
Before tonight is over, I'll wake you in your new body.