Chapter 7
West Tower
It was not just Nure. Most of the apprentices selected for Anatomy had hardly slept in the past three days.
Even Lucy, who usually had something to rely on, had tossed and turned in bed until late into the night, managing only a brief rest.
Lucy: "There seem to be far fewer people here today than that day."
Nure pulled himself together and replied,
"Miss Lucy, you don't know yet?"
Lucy shook her head with a puzzled look.
She had spent the past few days entirely in her room, either meditating, reviewing the knowledge in the Tower's black-covered book, or, at the very least, combing through fragments of the original owner's memories. She had not bothered to gather any news from outside.
Seeing Lucy’s confused expression, Nure looked unsurprised and lowered his voice,
"Someone tried to escape the Tower last night, but was spotted by the iron crows on the rooftop. I’m afraid they’ve already…"
Nure stuck out his tongue and mimicked the look of someone meeting a gruesome end.
If a few apprentice witches were caught by the iron crows, which possessed the strength of intermediate-level apprentices, it would be little different from crushing a few ants.
After this brief exchange,
as the sun rose over the horizon, the gate of the West Tower slowly opened. Karen, whose entire being seemed shrouded in a deathly aura, appeared before them.
He looked around and quickly noticed the reduced numbers.
Yet he said nothing about it. Instead, he spoke coldly,
"Those who are still alive, follow me. Do not touch anything."
The remaining fifteen apprentice witches immediately followed.
The moment she passed through the doorway, Lucy felt a chill run through her. It was not the difference in temperature, but a shiver that came from the depths of her soul.
It was like a mouse under the gaze of a cat knowing danger was near and that she should flee, but the instinctive suppression from deep within her blood left her powerless to resist.
She instinctively tightened the collar of her wizard robe. When she looked up, she was met with the sight of a terrifying mountain of flesh behind the door.
Not only her nearly all the apprentice witches were startled by this monster.
It was a grotesque giant squatting behind the door, its face buried in its arms so that its features were hidden. Its bloated body was covered in stitches and iron nails, as though countless pieces of different bodies had been sewn together. In some places, non-human traits were clearly visible.
Yet from the constant heaving of its body, it was clear that this mass of stitched flesh was actually alive.
It was hard to imagine just how terrifying this giant of flesh, already over two meters tall even while seated, would be if it stood upright.
Lucy had seen this kind of monster in the black-covered book.
It was a flesh construct unique to the school of Anatomy a super puppet created by stitching together various biological parts, a terrifying entity that only official witches could control.
"Keep up. Don't fall behind."
Karen’s voice snapped everyone back to their senses. They quickly hurried past the terrifying giant and entered a corridor, where a thick scent of blood immediately assaulted their noses.
Creak!
Karen pushed open a massive redwood door, and the fifteen apprentices filed inside.
Within was a vast space. Hundreds of iron doors came into Lucy’s view, and the bloody smell in the air grew even stronger.
Behind the iron doors was a rectangular chamber, connected by numerous round iron pipes. From time to time, something would roll through the pipes, producing a harsh rumbling noise.
Beyond that, she could sense a strange presence permeating the air.
Just breathing made the Contamination Value in her body stir restlessly; she had to actively muster her Mental Strength to resist it.
Many others noticed this as well. Those with slightly weaker Mental Strength turned terribly pale.
"This is the dissection room on the lowest level of the West Tower. It will be your workplace from now on."
Karen’s deathly tone rang out again. "You may choose any dissection room you like. The pipes will periodically deliver the corpses that need to be dissected."
"Your task is to extract useful enchanted organs from these corpses and preserve them in preservation fluid."
"Each corpse delivered through the lowest level pipes is worth fifty magic sand. For each complete enchanted organ you extract, you will earn varying amounts of magic sand depending on its quality. Payment is settled every seven days."
At this point, an eerie smile suddenly crept onto Karen’s lips for some unknown reason.
"I will give you three minutes to ask questions. After that, the collection of magic stones will begin. Starting now."
Silence.
Everyone was too stunned by the scene before them to speak.
When half the time had passed, someone finally spoke.
Lucy, from within the crowd, asked, "What happens if the value of the delivered corpse exceeds that of the enchanted organs we extract?"
"A good question." Karen let out a sinister laugh. "If the enchanted organs you submit aren’t enough to offset the number of corpses delivered, then you will need to pay the difference in magic sand. If you don’t have enough magic sand on you... then you’ll have to compensate with your own organs."
"Unless you can write an academic report of sufficient value."
"Lord Karen, may I ask..."
"Three minutes are up. I hope you have enough magic stones to pay for that question."
The questioner immediately fell silent.
Though everyone knew the time had clearly been less than three minutes, no one dared to challenge him.
Seeing that no one was willing to pay for further consultation, a trace of disappointment appeared on Karen’s deathly pale face.
Once apprentices passed the two-year study period, even if they successfully advanced to official apprentices, the Tower would no longer provide them with magic stones.
There were only two ways for apprentices to earn magic stones.
First was working in the laboratories for the witches.
Second was taking on missions issued by the Tower.
The former carried lower risks but also yielded fewer magic stones.
The latter could grant a large amount of magic stones per mission, but the risks were extremely high. Only a few who were very confident in their abilities or desperate gamblers would choose this route.
Thus, even though Karen had already advanced to a Tier-3 apprentice, his need for magic stones had not diminished it had only grown. The meager income from lab work was nowhere near enough to cover the cost of knowledge and experimental materials.
He too had to take on occasional Tower missions to supplement his "household expenses."
For example, guiding the newcomers this time was a minor task worth three magic stones.
"Since no one has any more questions, go ahead and choose a room you like. I will be staying for now in the innermost corpse chamber. But if anyone dares to bother me over some trivial matter, I will put them straight on the dissection table..."
"Oh, and there are no fixed working hours in the corpse chamber. As long as you finish processing that day’s corpses, it’s fine."
With that, Karen said no more and headed directly to the innermost corpse chamber.
Creak Bang!
The rusty iron door closed with a few loud bangs, after which the room fell into a long silence.
Everyone looked pale. Not a single person wanted to step into one of those narrow dissection rooms, which did not even have windows.
"Everyone!"
At that moment, a brown-haired boy broke the silence. Naturally, the fifteen apprentice witches turned their gaze toward him.
"I’m sure you all know how high the mortality rate is in the dissection labs. If we rely solely on ourselves, our chances of walking out of here alive are slim to none."
Carlton scanned the crowd. Many faces showed signs of despair and confusion.
Two female apprentices even began to cry, sobbing, "Then what should we do?"
"I think we should band together help one another like brothers and sisters, share what we have. I believe that if we cooperate and stay united, we can surely get through this ordeal..."
Carlton’s speech was highly persuasive.
Especially in this moment of shared despair within a new and frightening environment, he quickly gained the support of most.
Only Lucy slowly withdrew from the group.
Nure, who had been standing beside her, looked puzzled but still forced his way out after her.
"Miss Lucy, you’re not interested in Carlton’s proposal?"
Lucy shook her head.
The idea of cooperation was fine, but in a world of powerful witches, without sufficient strength, a few small ants banding together remained nothing more than ants.
This Carlton spoke grand words, but who could truly know what other thoughts he harbored?
Rather than join an uncertain alliance under false pretenses, it would be better to quickly figure out the workings of the dissection rooms.