’Whew—’

Simon closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath, sharpening his focus. After taking a moment to clear his mind, he opened them.

On the table lay the practice organ. It looked like a lung, pulsating erratically. Its only function was to draw in mana from the atmosphere and expel it.

’Next.’

Simon examined the pre-set magic circle beneath it. It was about a third complete. The border and basic formulas were there, but the spaces for the core runes and equations were blank. It was like a quiz.

’What formula goes here? What rune is appropriate for this composition?’ If he could fill in the blanks correctly and apply it to the organ, he would complete the engine that converts mana into Jet-Black.

’Alright, how do I do this?’

First, he focused on the goal.

’I need to change mana into Jet-Black.’

He mentally sifted through his knowledge.

’To handle Jet-Black, I’ll first need to mutate the biological organ into an undead one.’

’What’s needed for that? The alteration formula and the corruption-mutation formula. I learned that during the Ghoul lessons.’

’What formula can support the main rune? The subordinate type should be enough. It’s the same principle as the Crypt Guard from the textbook.’

He built a hypothesis, asking and answering his own questions, constructing a framework. The answers came with an almost unnatural ease. Thinking of one thing unlocked another. All the knowledge he had accumulated surfaced to support his theory.

’I need to make this concept more concrete.’

While other students were still fighting over materials, Simon took out all his Summoning Studies notebooks. Their tables were piled high with alchemical ingredients; his was covered in notes.

He drew a magic circle in an empty notebook, branching out formulas from it like a tree.

’Link with the alteration formula.’

’Professor Aaron emphasized the Rune of Memory so much... where can I use it? Should I maintain the lung’s activity? Ah, if I do that, then...!’

Ideas cascaded, one leading to the next. Realizations flooded his mind like a bursting dam.

’I have the theory. Time for the practical application.’

Simon carefully began to complete the magic circle. He drew the formulas based on the main rune first, then attached the supporting formulas and sub-runes. He tried carving the completed circle onto the organ, but it didn’t work as he’d hoped.

’I used the alteration formula, so why isn’t it moving? Is something missing? Assuming the circle is correct, then the external conditions... Ah!’

Once he had the design of the magic circle, he finally saw which materials he needed. Simon was the last of the fifty-two students to grab a basket and rush to the supply shelf.

’White Silkgrass Extract, Basenode, Opel.’

He boiled water in a cauldron, added the ingredients, and stirred, gradually reinforcing the biological organ. At one point, he had to pierce a hole in the organ with a work knife, passing a Jet-Black thread through it and tying it in a reverse knot—a technique straight out of chimera creation.

’I know all of this.’

This was different from when he had relied on raw talent to create the Lich. Now, the information was learned, stored in his mind, and he was arranging it intuitively. He was turning an unsolvable riddle into a puzzle. Seemingly unrelated pieces of knowledge clicked into place, revealing the bigger picture.

’Perfect.’

A smile spread across his face. He was enjoying this.

As Simon pulled ahead, the other students also seemed to be getting the hang of it. The grumbling had stopped, replaced by the quiet scratching of quills and knives. A deep silence of concentration fell over the practice area.

"W-What the..."

The students who had given up at the start now looked foolish.

"Did you figure something out? How are you doing something we haven’t even learned..."

"I’m busy, don’t talk to me."

The willingness to try was what mattered. Aaron’s instruction to create a Dullahan’s ’engine’ from scratch had felt impossibly vague to everyone. But for those who gave it some thought, images and ideas began to surface. Taking that first step was what counted.

Some students were dividing the organ in half; others were encasing it in a shell or dripping poison on it to trigger a chemical reaction. The freedom of the exercise, unconstrained by textbooks, sparked a host of interesting ideas.

"TA," Simon called out, raising his hand.

A TA hurried over. "Yes, student. What is it?"

"Do we have to use only the materials provided?"

"No. This is a free creative activity. You can use whatever you want..."

’Crunch!’

The moment the TA finished speaking, Simon began to dismantle the ’Mini Night Terror’ he had built in his Summoning Materials Science class. He started attaching its parts all over the biological organ.

The TA’s eyes widened.

’What kind of bizarre contraption is he making now?’

---

"Time’s up. Everyone, stop working," Aaron announced.

The students took their hands off their tables and stepped back.

"Good work. I saw many interesting and unconventional methods that were quite inspiring. However, we are necromancers, and with evaluation scores on the line, I have no choice but to judge you on your ’results’."

He tapped his shoulder with his clipboard. "Students whose discharge vents are not producing Jet-Black, please step back."

A wave of disappointed sighs went through the crowd as most of the students retreated. Soon, only about a dozen remained. The usual top students—Simon, Hector, Aseraz, Fitzgerald—were there, but there were also some surprising faces.

’Toto!’

While high-ranking students like Eshe Arjel and Pierre Buckler had failed, Toto stood proudly among the survivors. Aaron approached him first.

"Toto Amori, activate the organ."

"Ye-yes!"

Toto activated the organ. It began to beat violently, sucking in mana. While the discharge was still mostly mana, it was now tinged with a faint blackish hue.

"Oh, that’s a success, right?"

"It’s a small amount, but Jet-Black is coming out."

"You did great, Toto!" Eshe shouted. "If you’re going to make a Death Knight, a Dullahan is nothing!"

Toto’s face turned beet red as small chuckles rippled through the group.

"Hmm." Aaron’s expression, however, was unimpressed. "Did you also draw a Jet-Black magic circle inside the organ?"

"Ah, yes, Professor!"

"The mana isn’t turning into Jet-Black. The internal circle is simply collapsing and flowing out with the mana. You missed the point. Step back."

A burst of laughter erupted. Toto returned to his seat, his face redder than before.

"Still, I think it was a good attempt," the kind-hearted Lorraine offered, though her encouragement was drowned out by Eshe, who was clutching her stomach with laughter.

The evaluations continued. Aseraz’s project drew a great deal of attention. A pitch-black, mud-like substance oozed from its discharge vent. It maintained a dark, liquid state, and the purity of the Jet-Black seemed high.

"You followed the standard path while pursuing maximum efficiency. This is a result that could be used in a textbook."

"Thank you, Professor!"

Next was Hector. His creation was so transformed that its original shape was unrecognizable. It was covered in so many holes that it was hard to tell which were for intake and which were for exhaust.

"A strong application of mutation."

"Yes," Hector said confidently. "I altered the alteration and corruption-mutation formulas to push the mutation to a more extreme state."

"Activate it."

As Hector activated the circle, the organ began to suck in mana from all its orifices. The flow of mana was clearly visible to the naked eye.

"What the, it’s just endlessly sucking in mana?"

"Where’s the exhaust?"

The students murmured in confusion, but Hector’s faction wore knowing smiles.

A low hum grew into a powerful roar, and then thick, dark Jet-Black spewed from every opening. The output was as massive as the intake. The murmuring instantly died, and Aaron nodded.

"You’ve altered the exhaust system."

Hector nodded. "Yes. I was considering how to unleash a powerful force all at once."

"It deviates from the standard Dullahan base, but it’s certainly an impressive engine. Good work. Top score."

"Thank you." Hector bowed deeply as his friends rushed over, slapping his back and throwing their arms around his shoulders.

"And next..." Aaron walked over to Simon’s station. "I’m quite sure I told you to create a Jet-Black exhaust mechanism, Simon Polentia."

On Simon’s table sat the ’Night Terror’ he had built before. Behind it, a tail made of pure Jet-Black swished back and forth.

"Yes, and I did create a proper exhaust mechanism."

On closer inspection, the organ was housed inside the Night Terror’s shell.

Aaron let out a small laugh. "Activate it."

"Yes."

Simon lifted the Night Terror and set it down on the snow.

The students at the back crept closer, their faces etched with confusion.

Simon held out his palm and activated the magic circle. A low hum filled the air as the internal circle lit up, and the creature began to draw in mana through the gaps in its shell.

And then, with a furious chattering sound, the Night Terror shot forward, its Jet-Black tail whipping behind it at an incredible speed.

"Whoa!"

"How is that thing moving?"

The students scrambled out of the way as the creature plowed through the snow like a rocket before crashing into the fence with a loud thud.

Even so, the creature kept writhing, its tail thrashing as it struggled forward with a grating shriek.

"Not only did I convert mana to Jet-Black, I also tried converting the resulting Jet-Black into speed," a student explained.

’How absurd,’ Aaron thought, a smirk touching his lips. The next logical step, converting ’speed’ into ’motive force,’ was the very essence of a Dullahan. ’Don’t get too far ahead of the class, you genius.’

The fence groaned under the strain, on the verge of collapse.

---

After the points for the performance evaluation were tallied, the teaching assistants gathered the students.

"I am an educator," Aaron began, his voice cutting through the cold air. "But in a department with over fifty students, on-campus education is bound to be standardized. Students, in turn, inevitably acquire knowledge with a passive attitude."

The students stood in silent, rapt attention.

"That is why, before we begin creating Dullahans, I provided you with an opportunity to exercise your own creativity. Of course, I know some of you were dissatisfied—"

A few students flinched.

"And I understand that dissatisfaction. But right before standardized knowledge is drilled into you, I want you to think. What would I have done if I were the first person to create a Dullahan? If I were the pioneer, how would I have started? I wanted you to feel even a millionth of the enlightenment that countless trailblazers experienced. To simply fill your minds with knowledge without providing such an opportunity would be a failure on my part as an educator."

Simon nodded silently. The result—failure or success—didn’t matter. The knowledge one discovered and understood through self-exploration was what truly became one’s own.

"Professor."

Just then, the head teaching assistant approached Aaron and whispered something in his ear. Aaron nodded.

"We will now begin the main Dullahan creation class. Students who made no progress should struggle to keep up. Those who did make progress should compare the results you achieved with the official methods."

"Yes, Professor!" the students roared in unison.

---

The special lecture didn’t end until evening. The students, who had shuffled between the outdoor training ground and the indoor lecture hall, finally emerged with haggard faces.

"Huh."

"Something smells delicious."

As the students trudged along like zombies, they discovered a large pot of hot meat soup simmering over a fire.

"Whoa!"

Meal service began, and students lined up, received their bowls of soup and bread, and sat down nearby to eat. Simon took a spoonful, blew on it to cool it down, and took a tentative bite.

’This is exactly what I needed.’ Nothing was better than hot soup in this frigid weather. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Hmm. It’s good, but isn’t dinner a little lacking for how hard we worked today?" Eshe blurted out. "Meat! I want more meat! We came all this way; they should at least let us have a barbecue!"

"We’re not here on a trip, Eshe," Lorraine said, sitting demurely as she dipped her bread into her soup.

Eshe pouted. "O-Of course, I know that!"

"Listen while you eat," Aaron announced, his voice carrying as he walked among the students. "The TAs prepared tonight’s meal since you wouldn’t have had time, but from tomorrow on, you’ll have to handle your own meals."

Murmurs of "I knew it" rippled through the crowd. Nothing was ever easy.

"Tomorrow morning’s lecture also starts early, so make sure you keep up. That is all."

Aaron left with only those words. The members of Team 10 immediately launched into a discussion.

"What are we going to eat tomorrow?" Simon asked.

Eshe crossed her arms with a smirk. "We’ll have to hunt monsters, what else? I heard a lot of those dinosaur-like monsters are roaming around."

The expressions on Toto and Lorraine’s faces froze.

"D-Do we really have to eat that?" Toto stammered.

"It’s probably too sinewy to have much meat," Lorraine added thoughtfully.

A good meal and a decent night’s sleep were essential to surviving the grueling training camp. Their sleeping arrangements were settled, but food was now a pressing issue.

’This is a problem,’ Simon pondered, closing his eyes. ’If I factor in hunting and cooking time, I’ll have to wake up before dawn.’

Just as he was lost in thought, Eshe nudged his arm.

"President!" she said with a playful grin. "I have a great idea!"

"What is it?"

She glanced around conspiratorially before whispering, "Want to sneak down to the village tonight? I know where it is."

Simon’s eyes widened. ’There’s a village?’