Chapter 33
Wizard Fernando
"A way to deal with the uncanny?"
After hearing Lucy's question, Karen's expression gradually turned serious. "Why are you asking about that? You were sent to the lower levels there shouldn't be any of those things down there."
Lucy simply smiled without answering.
In the world of wizards, once the price was paid and the transaction agreed upon, there was no need to explain the reasons.
Karen's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed down the urge to press further.
"Research into occult studies, like astrology, belongs to the most obscure schools. Even wizards from that school don't dare claim to understand the rules completely, let alone those from other disciplines. The usual method is to disperse it with a mental force field."
Lucy asked, "What if it's not something ordinary?"
"Not ordinary as in..."
"It can affect dreams during meditation."
Karen shrugged. "As I said, other disciplines understand very little about occult studies. Perhaps only a formal wizard would know how to deal with it."
Unable to get the answer she wanted, Lucy had no choice but to return to Morgue No. 66.
It seemed she would have to wait until the autopsy was done before heading to the library, hoping to find some relevant books there.
For now, she pushed the troubling thoughts aside.
With the system's support, Lucy began to dissect the corpses of the enchanted beasts that had piled up over the past few days.
There were a total of five, and most of their enchanted organs were of lower quality not even a third of what was found in a Cradle of Enchanted Human Offspring.
Organs of too low a grade wouldn’t yield a high score even when dissected by the system.
So Lucy placed more than a dozen of the less valuable enchanted specimens on the rack by the door.
After some picking and choosing, she kept only two of them.
One was a venom gland taken from a snake, and the other, a tongue sliced from the mouth of an enchanted toad.
The former was kept because it contained a potent toxin, which might hold some research value. The latter was selected because the blue glow indicated by the system even surpassed that of the Cradle of Enchanted Human Offspring.
While Lucy shut herself in Morgue No. 66, racing against time
A great wizard who had long been absent from the laboratory finally bid farewell to the Tower Master and returned to his own anatomical laboratory.
In his heart, he was still pondering the person mentioned earlier by Tower Master Derrick.
A passion for anatomy was indeed important it was even his primary criterion when selecting a disciple.
But could a wizard who had failed to advance to the rank of official apprentice after two years truly be worth cultivating?
Fernando couldn’t decide just yet.
It had been many years since he had personally trained a student, and a painful past experience still lingered vividly in his memory.
As he stepped through the gates of the West Tower, the flesh construct squatting motionless by the entrance trembled slightly, lifting its head like a great beast awakening.
Then, its massive form over four meters tall rose and bowed toward the white-haired elder in greeting.
Fernando gently touched its knotted tendons, and the bulging veins beneath its skin immediately settled down, becoming docile.
However, the construct’s dramatic movement had already drawn the attention of several apprentices.
Soon after, word spread quickly throughout the West Tower: the great Wizard Fernando had returned.
All the apprentices fell into a cold, tense silence.
That was because Fernando never socialized with anyone. No one knew his temperament, and no one dared to make a mistake at such a moment.
No one came to receive him, but Fernando’s expression betrayed no emotion.
Unless one was a personal disciple, the relationship between a wizard and the apprentices in the laboratory wasn’t even that of a patron and client more akin to that between a factory owner and outsourced workers.
One side provided a relatively stable environment and raw materials, while the other was responsible for processing them in exchange for magic stones.
Thus, as long as the laboratory continued to steadily produce specimens and raw materials for flesh constructs, Fernando had no reason to involve himself in its affairs.
He had originally intended to go directly to his quarters at the top of the West Tower. But after stepping onto the stairs, he inexplicably turned and headed toward the organ storage room at the bottom level.
Hearing the commotion, Karen, the lower-level administrator, hurried over, only to find Wizard Fernando standing with a stern face before a storage shelf.
Karen swallowed hard and cautiously stepped forward, bowing ninety degrees with his right hand on his chest.
"Honorable Wizard Fernando, Tier-3 apprentice and lower-level administrator of the dissection laboratory, Karen Evans, greets you."
Fernando didn’t turn around. He only gave a low grunt from his throat in response.
Karen stood stiffly. This was his first time seeing Wizard Fernando in person, and his nerves were so tight he could hardly breathe.
Following Fernando's line of sight—
Inside one of the specimen jars on the shelf was a small, white bone segment about the size of a fingernail.
Judging by its shape, it was likely a vertebra near the coccyx.
He quietly gauged the magical energy fluctuations within the bone, and a subtle shift appeared on his face.
What the hell who submitted this specimen?
If it hadn’t been placed right before him, he could hardly sense any magical energy from it at all. Anyone unaware would have thought someone had just picked up a random bone off the street to pass it off as a specimen.
“L-Lord, this was my oversight. I’ll immediately have the fool who submitted this bone swallow it whole!”
With that, Karen made a move to take the glass jar away.
But an aged hand stopped him.
“How many years have you been working in the West Tower?”
“S-Six years, my lord.” Although he didn’t understand the reason, Karen answered respectfully.
“Six years and still a Tier-3 apprentice not bad.”
Karen quickly bowed. “Thank you for the praise, my lord.”
“Can you tell what enchanted beast this bone came from?”
Upon hearing this, Karen focused his eyes on the tiny bone inside the glass jar.
After staring for quite a while, he finally shook his head.
“This is the second-to-last segment of a Spinal-Spiked Rotwolf’s coccyx. Judging purely from its magical vein, this specimen holds nearly no research or practical value.”
Karen inwardly groaned in distress.
Before he could explain, Fernando continued:
“But if it were you a Tier-3 apprentice who has worked in the anatomical lab for six years would you be able to find such a magically veined specimen on a Spinal-Spiked Rotwolf’s corpse?”
Karen’s gaze returned once more to the specimen.
For a moment, the scholarly side of his mind overcame his fear of the great wizard. He began to earnestly contemplate Fernando’s words.
But the answer was “no.”
With his level of skill, it would be impossible to discover such a tiny enchanted specimen on the body of an enchanted beast.
To save time, wizards of the anatomical school only examined parts known to be prone to enchantment. Even then, it took several sandglass turns just to peel away the unnecessary muscle tissues.
If one wanted to find an enchanted organ this small, it would take three or four days just to process a single enchanted beast.
Wizard Fernando asked, “Who submitted this bone?”
Karen glanced at the label beneath the jar and instinctively replied.
“Morgue No. 66… it’s her!”
Wizard Fernando asked in puzzlement, “What about this person?”
Karen felt a slight stir within. He realized this was the moment that might tip the silver-haired girl's fate.
Unfortunately, he was not the one standing at that crossroads.
After less than a second’s hesitation, Karen respectfully answered:
“Her name is Lucy Felicia. She’s the only apprentice who voluntarily joined the anatomical lab since I became lower-level administrator.”
Lucy Felicia.
Wizard Fernando paused for a moment wasn’t that the silver-haired girl he’d encountered in the library?
And could she be the same apprentice mentioned by the Tower Master?