"Attention."
Aaron, dressed in his black-feathered coat, stepped into the center of the meeting point. The lively chatter quickly died down as the students gathered around him and focused their attention on the professor.
"No need for panic. This is the southern region of the Shahed Kingdom, on the continent. A place called Death Land."
Aaron swept his gaze across the gathered students before beginning his explanation.
"Death Land is considered one of the ten greatest mysteries of the continent. The powerful black magic cast upon this area has mixed with natural phenomena to cause bizarre effects. One of the most notable examples is this."
He bent down and plucked a faded flower from the ground.
"In this region, the concept of decay does not exist."
Tap.
Aaron lightly tapped the flower with his finger, causing it to crumble into dust.
"When a living creature dies here, even after time passes, its body does not rot or naturally disintegrate. Its form remains. Because of that, this place is…"
A dark grin slowly appeared on Aaron's face. "Known as a paradise for zombies."
Several students immediately went pale. The strange, grotesque groans that had been echoing from somewhere in the surrounding wilderness suddenly became much harder to ignore now that they knew exactly what was making them.
After giving the students a moment to process that unpleasant realization, Aaron moved on to the main purpose of bringing them here.
"This Summonology practical evaluation will proceed as a group assignment, as previously announced."
As Aaron continued explaining the rules, Knox listened from among the students, though part of his attention had already wandered toward something else entirely.
Hmm… the planned clash between my Shadow Legion and Simon's Legion can basically be considered settled.
A faintly thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.
But… should I use this opportunity to try out my upgraded 'Authority' as well?
While Knox quietly considered the idea, Aaron glanced at the wristwatch on his arm and continued.
"You've all studied zombies and learned the magic circle used to raise them. The task is simple. Before the time limit, create the best summon-type zombie you can in Death Land and present it to me."
In other words, simply dragging back one of the countless natural undead wandering around Death Land would be useless. Aaron would only evaluate summon-type zombies personally created by the students through their own magic circles.
"Evaluation criteria include the zombie's completeness, originality, combat ability, and even the magic circle used in its creation. There are no individual points for teamwork. All four members of a group will receive the same score and ranking based on the zombie they present."
Aaron paused for a moment before a dark grin once again spread across his face.
"I hope there won't be any crybabies scared of a few zombies. You are necromancers."
His gaze swept across the students one last time before his voice turned firm.
"Approach this evaluation like necromancers."
With that warning delivered, Aaron moved on to the remaining details of the performance evaluation.
It was just past noon, and the students would have until exactly midnight to complete the test. Once the time limit expired, regardless of where they were in Death Land, Kizen would activate a mass teleportation spell and bring everyone back.
Aaron and the teaching assistants would establish a camp at the designated destination point and wait there. Once a team finished creating their zombie, they simply had to store it in their subspace and bring it back to the camp for Aaron to evaluate. Each team would only receive one chance at evaluation, and once their score was decided, they could immediately return to Kizen.
Of course, considering the dangers of Death Land, there was also a procedure in place for emergencies. If any serious problem occurred during the search, the team leader could send a distress signal using the Tongue Pad they had been provided. Aaron or one of the teaching assistants would immediately rush to their location, but doing so would also mean forfeiting the rest of the evaluation.
After covering the emergency procedure, Aaron moved on to the dangers they were most likely to encounter while exploring Death Land.
"There are all sorts of undead in Death Land, especially natural-type zombies," Aaron continued.
"Zombies are typically Grade-2 monsters, but some powerful ones can even exceed Grade-4. You've studied zombies by now, so you should already know that combat is not recommended."
Hearing this, Claudia, Cindy, and even Merida nodded seriously. Knox was the only one among Group 8 who remained completely unconcerned by the warning.
There was a good reason Aaron emphasized avoiding combat. Zombies were extremely sensitive to sound, and once a battle broke out, the resulting noise could easily attract even more of them from the surrounding area. A single unnecessary fight could quickly turn into an entire horde closing in on them, so avoiding confrontation whenever possible was the safest course of action.
"Because this is a dangerous area, combat between Kizen students is strictly prohibited. Also, there may be corpse scavengers or other necromancers gathering materials throughout Death Land. Do your best to avoid them."
Aaron paused briefly before adding in a completely serious tone.
"They're more insane than zombies in the truest sense."
"Yes!"
With the rules finally explained, Aaron checked his wristwatch one last time before sweeping his gaze across Class A.
"Then disperse."
The students immediately began preparing to move, their earlier carefree atmosphere replaced by anticipation for the evaluation ahead.
"I now declare the start of Class A's Summonology performance evaluation."
***
Death Land was less of a forest and more like a massive abandoned city.
Once their eyes adjusted to the darkness, the outlines of countless buildings gradually emerged from the gloom. The city stretched far into the distance, its sheer size enough to rival even a major city like Langerstine.
Yet there was no trace of the liveliness one would normally expect from a city of this scale. Everything was dark and gloomy, with empty streets and abandoned buildings stretching as far as the eye could see, making the entirety of Death Land feel like one enormous ghost city.
As the performance evaluation officially began, the students quickly gathered with their respective groups and started discussing their strategies.
However, not everyone was eager to venture deeper into Death Land. Overwhelmed by the eerie atmosphere surrounding the abandoned city, along with the unsettling groans of zombies echoing from seemingly every direction, several students eventually decided to remain near the base camp rather than immediately heading out.
Noticing those hesitant students, Knox watched them for a moment before turning toward the three girls beside him with an amused smile.
"Like I said before, luckily, every single member of our group is a tough girl~"
"Hmph! What a bunch of cowards! They're nowhere near as brave as this lady!" Cindy declared, puffing out her chest with a smug, proud expression.
Seeing her boast so confidently, Merida glanced at her from the side.
"Ew. Compared to you, even a zombie is more ladylike."
"What did you just say?!" Cindy immediately snapped, turning toward her.
"Alright, enough, both of you." Claudia quickly stepped between them before their argument could grow any louder. "Stop fighting, or you'll attract the zombies here."
That warning was enough to make Cindy reluctantly quiet down, while Merida simply looked away as though she had done absolutely nothing wrong. Seeing that peace had temporarily returned to Group 8, Knox lightly clapped his hands to draw their attention back to the actual reason they were here.
"Alright, focus. Let's start our strategy meeting right away."
"Alright!" Cindy replied enthusiastically.
"Agreed," Claudia said with a nod.
"Okay," Merida answered.
Once all three were paying attention, Knox looked around at his group members before getting straight to the most important part of their plan.
"Since this performance evaluation involves creating a summon-type zombie, the most important thing is securing a corpse that hasn't already turned into a natural zombie. We all agree on that, right?"
All three girls nodded, and Knox continued without delay.
"I heard this isn't the first time a performance evaluation has been held in Death Land. If the base camp is set up in the same location every year, there's a good chance most of the usable corpses around this area have already been recovered."
Hearing Knox's reasoning, Claudia immediately recalled something she had heard before.
"That's right. I heard something similar from a senior in my club," Claudia added. "Apparently, Professor Aaron has been conducting performance evaluations here for several years now."
With Claudia confirming his assumption, Cindy raised her hand.
"Then I guess we'll have to go deeper inside?"
"Exactly." Knox nodded. "Death Land used to be the second city of the Talhern Empire. If we head toward the center of the city, we should have a much better chance of finding higher-quality corpses. Something like the remains of knights or nobles, for example."
At the mention of the Talhern Empire, Cindy, Claudia, and Merida fell silent for a moment.
Because for necromancers, that name wasn't just familiar.