Chapter 36
The Real Test
Four sandglass hours later.
When Lucy removed the fifth enchanted organ from the degenerate dragonkin and placed it into the preservation fluid, this long dissection experint finally ca to an end.
She took off the blood-soaked gloves, removed the heavy plague doctor mask, and her silver hair cascaded like a waterfall down her porcelain-like neck.
"ntor Fernando, I have finished... are you there?"
The girl's clear voice stirred faint echoes in the silent laboratory, and the shadows cast by the magical energy Everbright Lamp swayed slightly on the mithril dissection table.
After waiting for a long ti, she tentatively raised her voice:
"Fernando... ntor?"
It seed she had to sit idle for another six sandglass hours in this blood-scented room.
Lucy sat bored on the high stool, flipping the alchemical scalpel between her slender fingers, the cold silver light flashing. Her full legs swayed lightly in sync with her drifting thoughts.
But slowly, her gaze shifted to the dissected corpse of the degenerate dragonkin on the table, and in her ears echoed the words ntor Fernando had said when he left.
"During this period, everything in the laboratory is at your disposal..."
ntor Fernando had only said that dissecting five organ specins would be sufficient to pass. The remaining enchanted organs on that corpse...
Her fingers suddenly clenched the scalpel tightly, and she could clearly hear the pounding of her own heartbeat.
If she could dissect one more specin, how many academic points would the system award?
This thought, like the whisper of an abyssal creature, tore cracks into the dam of her reason.
"ntor Fernando, are you really not there?"
When she called out for the third ti, her voice was already trembling with suppressed excitent.
The surroundings were so quiet it was as if ti itself had frozen.
Jumping down from the high stool, the silver-haired girl was drawn to the dissection table as if by a magnetic force.
...
At the sa ti, inside the study at the top of the wizard tower, Fernando frowned at the scene projected by the prism.
He had already cald his mood and was preparing to return, but at this mont, because of the girl's actions on the screen, he sat back down into the armchair once again.
In the projected image, the silver-haired girl could be seen jumping down from the oak high stool, which had been customized to his height, her face full of sly intent, and once again stood beside the mithril dissection table.
She first pinched her chin and pondered seriously for a while, then flipped over the corpse of the one-and-a-half-man-tall degenerate dragonkin, positioning it belly-up with its four limbs raised.
When the inscribed alchemical scalpel, which he had spent a fortune purchasing from the alchemical laboratory, precisely cut between the dragonkin’s legs, the old wizard's withered fingers nearly crushed the armrest of his chair.
He watched as the girl skillfully peeled away the fascia with astonishing technique, and fifteen minutes later, a "dragon lance" radiating a dark golden sheen was completely sealed into a specin jar.
"An organ with magical energy grading of six... as expected of one carrying dragon blood."
Lucy muttered to herself as she stared at the glass jar that stood nearly as tall as her, the tips of her ears tinged with a suspicious blush.
Based on her previous experience dissecting organs, the magical vein structure of a specin, once modeled into witchcraft, generally correlated with its original function. If she were to model this "dragon lance," it would certainly have functions in that aspect.
If she were still a man, it might not have been an issue. But in her current state, it was like eunuchs holding a eting an absurdity.
"Well, it's better to leave this one to ntor Fernando."
Murmuring to herself, Lucy then reached for the dragon heart from the shelf.
This still-beating, crimson organ ranked third in magical energy grading among the eight enchanted organs neither high nor low.
Just as the tip of her scalpel was about to pierce the dark red organ, her movents suddenly froze.
She stared dazedly at the reflection of her azure eyes on the blade's surface, and in the end, carefully wiped the scalpel clean and returned it to its place.
As she finished wiping the last dissection knife and placed it back into the toolbox.
"Why did you give up at the last mont?"
An aged voice suddenly rang out. "This is the heart of a tier-3 creature. You only need to slice off a thin piece, and the magical vein within is enough for you to use until you beco a senior apprentice."
Lucy froze. She did not know when Fernando had appeared behind her.
"ntor Fernando, I apologize for my earlier actions. I did have such thoughts, but this corpse belongs to you."
With that, Lucy placed her right hand over her chest, tilted her body, and perford a wizard’s salute.
She had indeed considered taking advantage of the situation, but in the end, reason triumphed over madness.
Thus, at the final mont, she chose to pull back from the edge and sincerely apologized to ntor Fernando.
Now that she thought about it, that final sentence from Fernando clearly possessed so kind of magic, capable of amplifying one’s desires, to the point where she had nearly forgotten that these things belonged to a great wizard.
ntor Fernando’s rather dry fingers brushed over the six specin jars arranged on the shelf, his lips twitching slightly as he passed by the "dragon lance."
"In these three hundred years, you are not the first apprentice to set foot in this laboratory. Before you, there was another exceptionally gifted wizard apprentice who stood in this very spot and passed the test I set for him. However, he later betrayed for the sake of a quasi-divine organ specin."
Fernando’s voice scraped across the mithril surface like icicles.
Lucy’s throat felt as if it were gripped by an invisible hand, cold sweat soaking the back of her wizard robe.
This was the oppressive aura naturally exuded by a great wizard, the instinctive fear of a lower being toward a higher being.
Fernando lightly tapped the glass wall containing the dragon heart with his finger, and the dark red organ trembled and contracted, just like Lucy herself.
"If you had indeed cut into this dragon heart just now, the anti-contamination array in this laboratory would have imdiately ceased. You would not have felt any pain; the contamination value from this high-ranking enchanted beast would have instantly turned you into a humanoid enchanted beast."
Lucy instinctively swallowed, only to find her throat so dry it was about to catch fire.
"The pursuit of knowledge is the instinct of every scholar, but learning to control one's instincts is the most important talent of a wizard."
"In this regard, you are not excellent, but barely qualified."
With these words, the oppressive aura in the laboratory instantly vanished.
Lucy gasped for air like a fish thrown back into water.
She was certain that if ntor Fernando’s speech had gone on any longer, she would have died from suffocation.
"Lucy Felicia."
Hearing ntor Fernando solemnly call her full na, Lucy, realizing what this ant, straightened her full chest despite her body's discomfort.
"Are you willing to beco my apprentice under a mid-level wizard, Fernando?"
"Yes, respected ntor Fernando, Lucy Felicia is willing to follow and learn from you."
In this world, kneeling was reserved for slaves, so Lucy once again bowed and perford a wizard’s salute.
"You are still calling ntor Fernando?"
Lucy was montarily stunned, then softly said:
"Teacher Fernando."
"Mm."
From an angle Lucy could not see, the corners of Fernando’s mouth lifted slightly.
"I suspect you possess so kind of special ability that allows you to perceive the essence of the body... there is no need to be so tense."
Sensing Lucy’s sudden stiffness, Fernando reassured her, "Since I have accepted you as my apprentice, I will not place you on the dissection table. But you must never reveal your talent in front of other wizards."
"The path of a wizard will be filled with many fears and temptations. You must rember, knowledge is the vessel that ferries across the extraordinary sea, while desire becos the mist that obscures the light of reason."
"I shall engrave this teaching into my soul."
Lucy placed her hand over her chest and vowed.
Fernando nodded in satisfaction, his tone unconsciously softening.
A wizard’s lifespan exceeded five hundred years, but Fernando had abandoned everything in his first three hundred years to advance to a mid-level wizard.
No family, no friends.
Even his only apprentice had betrayed him a hundred years ago.
He had believed he would never beco close to anyone again, but when the silver-haired girl uttered the word "teacher," this old man who had been lonely for three hundred years couldn’t help but feel a faint stir in his heart.
Though it was only for a brief mont, it made Fernando realize once more that besides being a wizard in pursuit of greatness and eternity, he was still a living person.
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