Hunter Academy’s Battle God - Chapter 212

Sumire remembered the last time she’d seen Laplace’s castle. It’d been splendid, but it hadn’t been nearly the same scale as what she was looking at.

“Woah…”

A chandelier of transparent diamonds hung overhead, and antique furniture was perfectly placed in a manner befitting the castle. Most surprisingly…

“Sumire, welcome. Laplace is waiting for you in a room on the outskirts. If you’d like, I can guide you there,” a butler with long, elf-like ears said while servants cleaned the castle around them.

“Ah, yes!”

Tap, tap—

She noticed more changes as she followed the butler—the castle was bigger, so there were windows with views she hadn’t seen before.

‘The forest and lake are visible from the window…’ The world was within Laplace’s mind, and only those who had permission, like Sumire, could enter. That being the case, it was clear her power had grown.

‘She can even recreate the world outside the castle… I wonder how strong Laplace is now.’ Of course, the main reason Laplace’s power had grown was due to Sumire’s growth as her contractor. Laplace was only a fragment of the real one, so she didn’t have much power of her own to begin with.

“This is the room where Laplace is. If you need anything, please call me anytime.”

Creak—

Following the butler’s lead, the door opened.

– Fufu, come in. I’ve been eagerly awaiting you.

Laplace, leisurely drinking tea at a table in the room, smiled.

“Laplace!” Sumire ran towards her, but Laplace looked a bit disappointed for some reason.

– I wish you’d visit my castle more often. I might even forget your face at this rate.

“Hehe…”

When she saw the girl’s genuinely troubled expression, she stopped complaining and offered a cup of tea she’d brewed.

– What do you think is the most important thing in necromancy?

“Uh? That is…” Sumire had never thought about such a grand topic, so it was only natural for her to be confused.

Laplace smiled as if she found the sight cute.

– There’s no need to be so confused. There is no correct answer, but I think the most important thing in necromancy is understanding your materials.

Laplace chuckled as she swirled her tea bag within the cup.

Tap. Swirl~

“Understanding my materials… are you talking about the dragon bones?”

– Hmm, besides that… It’s a more fundamental issue. Look at this tea leaf. Initially, it just tastes bitter, but the nutty flavor and the subtle fragrance of the leaves that linger in the mouth are exquisite.

Laplace covered the teacup with her palm, and when she uncovered it again, the teacup had multiplied.

Swish—

– As you know, the temperature and water must be adjusted for the type of tea leaves used. The hotter the water, the stronger the tea; the cooler the water, the sweeter and more aromatic.

As Laplace covered the teacup with her palm again, it vanished. Rather than it being magic, it was a result of everything in the mind world moving according to her will.

– Even this small teacup contains immense depth. How could necromancy be any different? Without understanding the summons that form the foundation of necromancy, one can never become a skilled necromancer.

Sumire listened attentively. “As expected of you! Understanding my summons… That’s something I would have never thought about…”

– This is one of the most basic things. Before we talk about the dragon’s core, let’s first think about dragons.

Dragons were a perfect species.

– Dragons lay eggs once every few hundred or even thousand years. Despite living for such long periods, they rarely produce offspring.

Dragons lived for so long and were so strong that nobody could surpass them. They were at the top of the food chain, so there wasn’t a need for them to have many children.

– However, their hatchlings are too perfect. They can speak as soon as they’re born, and they are very intelligent. Not only that, but they have an immeasurable amount of mana. You could say that the capacity of a hatchling is already determined the moment it hatches.

Sumire thought of Velvet while listening to Laplace’s words. In her eyes, Velvet was just a cute child, but she was undeniably incredibly intelligent for having just been born.

* * *

* * *

– Now, let’s consider this. Death knights and dullahans ultimately need a ‘material’, which is the source of their movement, namely, the souls of knights. Ghouls, akin to puppets without intelligence, require a corpse imbued with mana as their material.

Laplace looked at Sumire.

– The dragon’s core is the material for a dragon. What kind of mechanism do you think it is?

It was a hard question to answer without prior knowledge, but Laplace didn’t doubt Sumire’s ability to answer—her face showed that she believed the girl would reach the right conclusion.

“That is…” Sumire calmly thought over her knowledge. According to what she’d learned at the academy, a dragon needed a special core to transform the massive amount of mana they had. Similar to how a human heart pumped blood, a dragon core purified and pumped mana.

A bone dragon, in particular, didn’t need a core. They couldn’t use magic, after all, and just attacked with their bodies. If that was the case, then why did a bone dragon need a core of sufficient strength?

Squeeze—

Sumire squeezed her fist and cautiously began to speak. “At first… I thought the dragon’s core would serve as the bone dragon’s foundation.”

– I see, so has your opinion changed now?

Laplace smiled and narrowed her eyes, brimming with anticipation.

“Yes… The core is what makes a dragon’s mana circulate throughout its body, but… I think a bone dragon is more than just its core.”

– Really? That’s interesting. Keep talking.

Sumire organized her thoughts to the degree that she was confident in what she said next. “Something from the contractor… Something capable of converting the human’s mana into a dragon’s mana is needed. That or something equivalent to a dragon’s core. Instead of needing a core, the required ingredient is probably mana that’s been transformed by a core… right?”

Though she was confident in her response, as was typical of her, she trailed off at the end of her sentence.

Swoosh—

Laplace stood up and approached her.

– Perfect! You’re definitely my child!

Then, she suddenly embraced the girl in her arms. The combination of a top-notch instructor and an excellent student was impressive.

“L-Laplace, I can’t breathe…” Laplace’s hug was suffocating her, but she was happy to see how excited her teacher was.

– Fufu. Since you’ve finished explaining, it’s time to teach you how to make it happen.

Laplace’s method of teaching was more angled toward figuratively ‘teaching a man to fish’. She was truly a top-notch necromancy instructor.

– You don’t have a dragon’s core to use as a material, but there’s a being that can infinitely create the same mana a dragon’s core outputs.

“What? Don’t tell me…” There was only one being Sumire could think of.

Laplace nodded.

– Yes, that dragon kid. It won’t be hard to summon a bone dragon, even if you hold her for half a day. That girl is far from ordinary.

As it turned out, the answer had been by Sumire’s side all along.

* * *

Amy left to stream, YuSung was busy with preparations, Sumire had gone to meet Laplace, and SiWoo was training for the team match, which is how EunAh and Velvet ended up alone. EunAh wasn’t going to be a participant in the match, after all.

“You use the Pocket really well.” EunAh was amazed at Velvet. Despite being less than a week old, she was already proficient in using the Pocket to do everything from watching videos to surfing the internet.

“Yes! The pink-haired senior bought it for me.” What was more surprising was Velvet’s standard for addressing people.

“Why do you call me ‘mom’ and not Amy?”

“Kyahang~ The ones I call that are Mommy Sumire, Mommy EunAh, and Mommy Adela.”

EunAh became even more suspicious of Velvet’s response. At first, she thought that there was no way a baby knew everything, but the girl sometimes seemed too smart.

“What’s the standard for that?”

“Kyahang~ I don’t know~”

“Hmm…”

Velvet shook her head firmly, and EunAh couldn’t question her any further. Besides, that wasn’t what was important at the moment.

“Woah, Mom! Look at this!” Velvet drooled over a display of some food on the Pocket. Sumire was away, so they were both hungry.

“Should I buy you food…?” EunAh asked.

“Really?!”

EunAh sighed and tried to pull out her card to see Velvet’s reaction. “Ah, right. I left it behind…” Her black card, which used to be like a part of her, was missing. She’d never bothered to create subsidies, so she had no money to speak of.

“It’s okay, Mom. I can starve. I’m a dragon, so I can survive without eating for about a week…” Velvet grabbed her stomach and tried to comfort her.

EunAh narrowed her eyes. “Who said I’d make you starve? We can just make something with what’s in the kitchen.”

“Wow, cooking?! Isn’t that something only Mommy Sumire can do?” Velvet looked genuinely shocked.

EunAh snorted and headed to the kitchen. “What’s so hard about it? It’s just that I don’t usually want to do it. Come with me.” EunAh opened the fridge with confidence, as if she were an expert in cooking. “Let’s see. In the fridge, we have… potatoes, tomatoes, carrots… onions. What kind of meat is this? This doesn’t look like chicken at all…”

Velvet realized she was about to experience an entirely different experience with food compared to what she’d received from Sumire’s cooking. Sure enough…

“Do you want to eat boiled potatoes and tomatoes?” The menu choice was extremely poor, despite the abundance of ingredients.