Chapter 35
The Wizard’s Trial
Thinking about how she had almost drawn her Gear Staff and cast Molten Steel Torrent at his face just now, Lu Xi could not help but feel a lingering fear.
Wizard Fernando caught her embarrassed state in full view, the corner of his mouth curling into a teasing smile.
"Weren’t you speaking quite loudly just now? Now you know fear?"
Feeling guilty, Lu Xi quickly took half a step back and saluted again.
"Respected Wizard Fernando, please forgive my recklessness."
"You didn’t seem this obedient when you used the Odor Concealment Potion to steal specimens."
Lu Xi secretly clicked her tongue. This old man clearly wasn’t going to let go of the matter of stealing specimens.
In the laboratory, aside from the newly promoted apprentices, who hadn’t snuck away with a few specimens? She had simply slipped up a few more times than others.
Suppressing the complaints surging in her heart, she forced a smile.
"You must be joking, sir." Then she quickly changed the subject. "Does what Wizard Fernando said earlier still count?"
"What words?"
"You said that if I weren’t a probationary apprentice, you would take me as your disciple."
A smile appeared on Fernando’s face.
"You’re not mistaken. Shortly after I returned, Tower Master Derrick and Karen both mentioned you. I do indeed intend to take you as my disciple."
Upon hearing this, Lu Xi blinked her sapphire blue eyes.
Karen’s recommendation was understandable, but how could the Tower Master, whom she had never met, be paying attention to a mere probationary apprentice like her?
"Come with me."
Before she could respond, the old man’s withered hand had already rested on her shoulder.
The surrounding light and shadows receded like a tide, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them were now standing inside a dimly lit dissection chamber.
At the center of the dissection table lay the corpse of a crimson lizardman. Its scale-covered back bore remnants of dragon wings, and even after being dead for some time, it still emanated an oppressive aura.
Just one brief glance made Lu Xi’s entire body go limp, and the Contamination Value inside her began to surge uncontrollably.
Wizard Fernando lightly stomped the ground, and the runes within the gaps of the lab’s bluestone floor shimmered with light, suppressing the terrifying fluctuations of magical energy.
"This... this is a dragonkin?" The girl clutched the dissection table, panting heavily.
"Not quite." The old man’s fingertip traced over the corpse’s deformed claw blade. "My original target was indeed a legendary dragonkin, but unfortunately, I only managed to capture this degenerated draconic offspring. Its magical energy grading is merely equivalent to a peak apprentice."
Lu Xi swallowed nervously.
She hadn’t expected that the pressure from just a peak apprentice-level being could nearly cause her to collapse completely. If it had been someone like Fernando, a mid-level wizard, wouldn’t she have been unable to even breathe?
Having now gained some sense of a wizard’s strength, Lu Xi’s heart grew even more full of yearning.
Someday, she too would become this powerful!
"Watch closely." Fernando’s tapping on the table pulled her back to reality. "This degenerated draconic offspring still has many powerful enchanted organs, such as these dragon wings and dragon tail that retain draconic traits... If you can dissect five more organs from its body, I will give you another chance to become my disciple."
Lu Xi’s beautiful eyes widened into perfect circles as she exclaimed excitedly.
"Is that true!"
Fernando chuckled. "I’ve lived for several hundred years; I wouldn’t lie to a little girl like you. But don’t try to fool me again by bringing me some trivial enchanted organs from odd corners."
"Absolutely not." Lu Xi patted her chest and promised.
"It is now nine in the morning." Fernando pointed at the rotating hourglass clock on the wall and said, "I will give you ten hourglass turns’ worth of time. I will check your progress at seven this evening."
"There is a full set of alchemical dissection tools on the table."
"This laboratory has also been inscribed with a suppression array by me; the corpse’s abnormality and Contamination Value will not affect you."
"During this time, everything in the laboratory is at your disposal..."
As Fernando’s figure gradually disappeared, only Lu Xi and the degenerated draconic offspring’s corpse remained in the dim laboratory.
Lu Xi did not understand why Wizard Fernando had said those final words, but they kept echoing in her mind like a curse, impossible to shake off.
She could only force herself to forget it and calm down as much as possible.
Though many things today had gone beyond her expectations, if she could truly become the disciple of a great mid-level wizard, it would undoubtedly be a tremendous blessing.
This was an opportunity Lu Xi had to seize.
With this thought, she quickly steadied her heartbeat and began examining the dissection tools on the table.
With just one glance, her eyes sparkled.
It was actually a complete set of alchemical dissection tools, each inscribed rune so intricate and exquisite that it was hard to resist their allure.
She wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and silently chanted in her heart.
"System, scan enchanted organs."
In an instant, dozens of dazzling blue light spots almost completely enveloped the entire degenerated draconic offspring’s corpse.
Lu Xi rubbed her eyes, which had been dazzled by the blue glow.
The degenerated draconic offspring was a powerful being comparable to a peak apprentice; nearly every inch of its skin and muscle contained vast amounts of magical energy.
But casually slicing off a piece clearly would not meet Wizard Fernando’s standards.
Lu Xi could only continue staring at the corpse.
As time passed, the light spots on the corpse of the degenerated draconic offspring grew increasingly solid.
Until those light spots finally stopped changing, Lu Xi raised the dissection scalpel.
Because she didn’t know whether Wizard Fernando was secretly observing, Lu Xi dared not make it too obvious that she could identify the enchanted organs.
She could only slow her movements as much as possible, carefully peeling away the fat tissues surrounding the enchanted organs inch by inch.
Under the slicing of the alchemical dissection tools, the chest of the degenerated draconic offspring was gradually cut open, and a still-beating, scorching hot heart slowly became exposed to the air.
At the same time.
In a certain room within the West Tower, the Image-Projection Prism in front of Fernando rippled.
When he saw the girl precisely cutting through the third intercostal space, his hand trembled violently, causing the scalding tea to spill onto his black robe without him noticing.
Lu Xi believed she had already slowed her dissection speed significantly, even taking half an hourglass turn to confirm the location of the mutated organ.
But in the eyes of Wizard Fernando, a seasoned mid-level wizard of the Anatomy School, it was clear that Lu Xi had targeted the heart right from the start.
Moreover, even for him, it would take at least one full hourglass turn to peel away the heart.
To him, this was nothing short of a heavy blow.
He took several deep breaths in succession.
"A coincidence, it must be a coincidence... That’s right, the heart is usually the organ most prone to enchantment. The real test comes later."
Wizard Fernando suppressed the shock in his heart.
He had not had this degenerated draconic offspring’s corpse for long himself and had only roughly estimated the positions of its enchanted organs.
There were seven valuable locations in total.
Though he had told Lu Xi to extract five, as long as she could find two beyond the dragon wings and dragon tail, he would consider her qualified and seriously consider accepting her as his disciple.
Thinking this, Fernando’s gaze returned to the prism.
One hourglass turn later, the second enchanted organ was extracted.
Forty minutes after that, the third enchanted organ was extracted.
Half an hourglass turn later, the fourth…
Crash!
The sandalwood chair fell over with a loud thud.
Fernando clutched the prism tightly, his chest heaving violently.
The precision this girl displayed in dissection was simply as if… as if she could see through the very structure of the body.
While Fernando himself could match, or even surpass, Lu Xi’s dissection speed, that was based on having already dissected several degenerated draconic offspring and being able to exclude most of the useless tissues.
But how long had Lu Xi been in the dissection lab?
She hadn’t even dissected a Tier-1 enchanted beast yet!