The base camp where the Summoning Department’s training would begin. Kizen’s reputation was so infamous that the moment the students heard "training camp," they were immediately suspicious. They imagined they’d be tossed a tattered tent, told to figure out their own meals and shelter, and then be abandoned in the wilderness.

But this was...

"Better than I thought?"

A collection of picturesque log cabins was nestled among the white, snow-laden trees. Soft blankets of snow rested on the roofs, and warm smoke curled from the chimneys. There was even a water fountain and a designated area for preparing food.

"Look, a puppy!"

"So cute!"

A white-furred puppy panted happily, its tail wagging furiously. Led by Eshe, a group of female students flocked to it.

The largest log cabin in the center was bigger than most lecture halls at Kizen, and with plenty of smaller cabins scattered around, there was more than enough space for all fifty-two of them. The clean and cozy setup prompted cheerful laughter to break out, though some students remained wary.

"Don’t be fooled, you idiots."

"You just saw that monster."

Just then, Aaron stopped and turned to face them. "Attention."

The students fell silent.

"Good work making it here. I understand your excitement, but we’re not here on vacation. We’ve arrived later than scheduled, so we’ll begin the special lecture immediately."

The head TA, clutching an attendance book to his chest, stepped forward. "Students, please proceed to the lecture hall! The rest of the TAs, assemble. Personnel assigned to inspect the barrier, move out now."

The students shuffled into the large central building, Simon’s Team 10 among them.

"Guys! Isn’t this place amazing? A training camp here! It’s the best!" Eshe bounced on her toes, unable to contain her excitement.

Simon nodded with a smile. "Yeah. This should be fun."

"I-I’m sure there’s a hidden mission," Toto muttered, his eyes darting around nervously.

Lorraine stood with her eyes closed, a troubled expression on her face.

"What’s wrong, Lorraine?" Simon asked.

"Oh, it’s nothing."

They entered the building, and Eshe pressed her fur-gloved hands to her cheeks with a squeal.

"It’s so wa-warm! I love it!"

The heat from a large fireplace already filled the room, making it toasty. Students began shedding their thick coats and winter robes, settling down to chat.

A moment later, Aaron and the TAs came inside. As they discussed the logistics of the camp, the students in the front rows strained their ears, hoping to catch wind of a secret mission.

"What’s the status of the barrier?"

"It’s holding strong. There are a lot of monsters roaming outside, but it shouldn’t be a major problem."

"Keep an eye on their numbers. If they increase, thin the herd a bit."

"Yes, sir."

After giving his instructions, Aaron stepped onto the platform. The TAs brought in a large blackboard and hung it on the wall. Feeling the heat, Aaron shrugged off his coat, revealing his usual short-sleeved shirt and baggy shorts underneath. The students stifled their laughter.

Aaron picked up a piece of chalk and slowly began to write.

’Special Lecture on Dullahans’

"First of all, I’m glad to see all of you here for this lecture," he began.

The students clapped and smiled back, starting the session on a surprisingly warm note.

"Now, let’s begin with a simple question. Can anyone name the main ingredients of a Dullahan?"

Instantly, Aseraz, the top-ranked student in written exams, shot her hand up, but Fitzgerald in the front row was a fraction of a second faster. Aaron pointed to him.

"Fitzgerald. Ogre Lord, Abaddon, and Guardian."

"Correct."

Fitzgerald smugly pushed up his glasses and sat down.

"However," Aaron added, "the most important ingredient is missing."

Fitzgerald’s glasses slid sideways on his nose.

"There exists a material more powerful than those three. A Dullahan made with this material is a truly superior creation. Does anyone know what it is?"

The classroom fell silent. Even the students who had studied ahead for the midterms had only memorized ’Ogre Lord, Abaddon, and Guardian.’ They knew of nothing else.

"The best ingredient for a Dullahan is..." Aaron paused, letting the silence hang in the air, "a human."

A wave of murmurs swept through the room as students exchanged uneasy glances. Eshe unconsciously rubbed her shoulders, a grim look on her face.

"As you know, most summoning-type undead are based on ’natural-type undead.’ Zombies, skeletons, ghouls—they all exist naturally."

"However," Aaron continued, "Dullahans do not exist as a ’natural-type undead.’ They are an abomination, created directly by humans for their own desires and interests. That is the Dullahan."

This wasn’t in any textbook. The students leaned forward, their attention completely captured.

Aaron gestured to a student in the front. "Joseph. Tell me the most prominent feature of a Dullahan."

The student, startled at being called on, shot to his feet. "Joseph Varga! Uh, um... the question was..."

"The most prominent feature of a Dullahan," Aaron repeated patiently.

Fifty-one pairs of eyes focused on him. He clearly hadn’t prepared, but his mind was racing. Then, an idea struck him.

"The—the neck! It has no neck!"

"That’s right." Aaron turned and began to sketch on the blackboard. "Three important characteristics have now been mentioned. It has no neck. Its main ingredient is human. It is an undead created directly by humans. Now, are you beginning to understand the Dullahan’s secret?"

A hushed silence filled the room. Aaron wasn’t a great artist, but his drawing was clear: two tall pillars, a blade suspended by a rope between them, and a wooden frame to hold a person’s head and hands.

"That’s..."

"No way."

It was a guillotine. The students grimaced. After crudely adding a drawing of a beheaded person, Aaron put down the chalk.

"The study of Dullahans began with necromancers stealing and researching these beheaded corpses."

He explained that in the past, when knights and mages ruled the continent, necromancers were a third-rate, persecuted class, forced into hiding. Unwilling to live so miserably, they began researching how to turn dead knights into undead to counter their enemies’ overwhelming numbers.

It wasn’t easy. No matter how powerful a knight’s corpse they used, the resulting undead couldn’t retain the knight’s strength and skills. A common soldier and an aura-wielding knight both became functionally identical skeletons.

As most necromancers gave up, one particularly obsessed researcher refused to quit. He studied only knights. When he ran out of corpses, he scoured execution grounds and black markets for the bodies of beheaded knights. In that era of constant war, fully armored knights rarely died on the battlefield. It was more common for them to be captured and executed, victims of political intrigue.

These beheaded corpses were relatively easy to obtain.

His colleagues mocked him. It was common sense that a headless corpse was worthless, as the summoning magic circle had to be carved into the skull.

But he was undeterred.

"You may laugh at me now," he had declared, "but history will prove my research."

Five years later, he saw results.

"His idea was as follows." Aaron drew a simple sketch of a head and a headless body on the board, then drew a summoning circle on each part. "The concept was to use two summoning magic circles: one for the body and one for the head."

A ripple of admiration went through the class. This was the first time they were hearing such a detailed history, and they were captivated.

"However, the initial result was merely two powerless undead, a body and a head that moved independently. To remedy this, the necromancer researched relentlessly." Aaron tapped the board. "He concluded that he had to use Gemini, the ’Rune of Conjunction,’ as the main runic language."

The moment he looked up, Aseraz already had her hand in the air. Aaron smirked and gestured to her.

"Aseraz Mikel! The Rune of Conjunction, Gemini, is used in modern times for large-scale communication magic or teleportation circles. It serves to connect two magic circles."

"Well done." Aseraz sat down, looking pleased, while Hector, who had raised his hand too late, kicked a loose piece of wood on the floor in frustration.

"Surprisingly, the Dullahan was initially created using materials from communication magic circles," Aaron continued. "It was designed to connect the head and body, much like a spell that connects a sender and a receiver."

He drew a line on the blackboard, linking the head and body.

"This is the most primitive form of the Dullahan. Over time, the formulas and runes were improved, leading to the current version that ’links two summoning magic circles into one."

Aaron lowered his hand. "And so, the Dullahan, developed from the foolish obsession of using beheaded knight corpses simply because they were plentiful, finally..."

In the silent classroom, his voice echoed with gravitas.

"Ended the age of knights."

Excited gasps erupted from the students.

"The Dullahan became the necromancers’ ultimate weapon. It took three or four knights to face a single one, and any knight killed by a Dullahan was turned into another. The idea that an undead could be stronger than its living counterpart shattered the common sense of the era."

"The fall of the once-invincible Talhern Empire is a historic event that symbolizes the end of the age of knights. The War of the Roses, where the emperor sent a fifty-thousand-strong army to Kizen, only for that entire army to be turned into undead and march back to attack the capital. And at the very forefront of that army were Dullahans."

The more aggressive students cheered.

"Even now, the Dullahan holds great significance. For a summoner to wield a Dullahan is a testament to their skill, a proof of their high caliber."

This time, cheers came from the back of the room as well, the energy in the classroom reaching a fever pitch.

"That opportunity has now come for you. During this special lecture, I expect each of you to complete your very own Dullahan. That is all."

"Woooooow!"

A final, thunderous cheer erupted from the students. Having perfectly motivated them, Aaron smirked and turned his back.

"Come outside. I will now demonstrate."