The Witch's Anatomical Notes

Chapter 2

Lu Xi? Lucy!

The ellipsis at the end of the blue text kept flashing like a countdown to doom, making Lu Xi’s heart tremble with it. The joy of obtaining a cheat turned swiftly into terror.

Although she didn’t know exactly what "Soul Separation" was, the name alone was enough to suggest it was nothing good. At best, it would render her newly acquired cheat invalid.

In this dark world of wizards, a foreigner without a cheat would find survival nearly impossible.

But what exactly were "school" and "discipline"?

Lu Xi’s mind raced. Beads of sweat as large as soybeans rolled down her pale, delicate face, leaving faint trails.

One thing was certain these two terms clearly didn’t refer to anything from her home planet Blue Star. That meant they belonged to this world of wizards!

Though she had inherited most of this body’s memories, they were like compressed files with notes stored on a computer hard drive unless she actively accessed them, she wouldn’t know their contents.

As the ellipsis resembling a system interface grew longer and longer, a stronger sense of crisis surged within her. Realizing the severity of the situation, Lu Xi began frantically rummaging through the original host’s memories.

Until a bloody memory surfaced in her mind.

A smooth stone table smeared with blood, cold and sharp scalpels, ear-piercing screams of agony, chunks of flesh still writhing after being severed from the body, and eyeballs and organs soaked in preservative fluid...

【Academic Points: 12 (Checking host’s school... No related discipline detected. Judged as an inferior host. Commencing Soul Separation...)】

【......】

【......】

【...Academic memory detected. Source of academic points confirmed as Anatomy.】

The room fell silent, with only the now-still ellipsis, the stabilized blue interface, and the faint sound of the girl’s breathing remaining.

A long while passed.

“This... this means I’ve obtained the cheat?”

As if to confirm Lu Xi’s words, another line of blue text slowly appeared at the bottom of the status screen.

【Remaining Academic Points: 12. Academic Points can be infused into witchcraft and skill derivations to gain corresponding learning progress.】

The blue text flashed and vanished, but Lu Xi had already memorized it.

Clearly, this was a "point allocation"-type cheat. The "Academic Points" represented the attribute points, and these points were earned by dissecting enchanted beasts.

Having read countless online novels, Lu Xi deduced the meaning behind the blue characters in seconds. However, the shock from the original host’s memory had been so intense that it took her a moment to recover. She immediately began reviewing the knowledge of anatomy stored in her memory.

In academic status, Anatomy ranked far below mainstream disciplines like Elemental Studies, Natural Studies, and Arcane Studies. Moreover, due to its long-term dealings with enchanted beasts and corpses, it resulted in a much higher Contamination Value and a significantly greater chance of encountering strange anomalies.

To put it simply, compared to the relatively safer other schools of study, Anatomy was in an equally awkward position as Curse Studies.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but glance again at the "Contamination Value" section on the blue characters.

【Contamination Value: 55%】

This was an extremely dangerous range, enough to affect one's hearing and vision, even causing inexplicable hallucinations. If it increased by just five more points, it would lead to random physical mutations.

Although such mutations weren't entirely negative, no rational wizard would risk pursuing those minuscule positive effects.

A sufficiently cautious wizard apprentice should keep their Contamination Value below 20%.

Based on the fragmented memories of her main body and the system interface, there were two commonly known methods to reduce the Contamination Value.

One was to stabilize the soul and consciousness through meditation, thereby dissolving the contamination.

The other method was to ingest the appropriate magical potion.

But a trainee apprentice had very low mental strength, and using the "Bramble Loop Meditation" to reduce a 55% Contamination Value would require an immense amount of time.

Magical potions, on the other hand, were far too valuable. Even the lowest-grade contamination-resistance potion required over ten magic stones at the Tower's exchange counter.

Lu Xi unconsciously untied the shriveled money pouch hidden beneath her wizard robe. Inside lay, pitifully, three finger-sized low-grade magic stones and some scattered coins...

Each month, the Tower provided one low-grade magic stone to apprentices under the "protection period", but the demand for magic stones among wizards was insatiable.

Whether for purchasing experimental materials or basic knowledge, a large amount of magic stones was constantly required.

So even though Lucy had already lived in the Tower of the Four Sages for two years, she only had three subsidized magic stones left in her pocket.

And in just three days, she would leave the protection period and be assigned to a dangerous post somewhere in the Tower.

At this point, Lucy could be said to be desperately short on both time and money.

Just as Lu Xi stared despairingly at the money pouch, the worn wooden door of the apprentice dormitory was knocked from the outside, followed by a woman's voice.

Knock knock knock ~

"Lucy, if you keep sleeping, you'll miss today’s job assignment meeting."

The sudden knock startled Lu Xi, who instinctively hid the shriveled money pouch inside her gray wizard robe.

After confirming there was no danger, she slightly adjusted herself before walking toward the wooden door.

No matter what the future held, she must never let anyone notice anything strange about her.

A soul from another world no matter how one looked at it was the perfect material to be studied on a lab table. That was far more valuable than an apprentice witch who hadn’t made any progress in two years.

Fortunately, the original owner of this body had been an outright socially anxious girl, someone with little presence in the tower and known by only a few.

Maintain a cold and aloof persona, say hello when greeted, run away at the first sign of danger, and stay silent when unsure of what to do...

In short, from this moment on, the fine young woman Lu Xi from twenty-first century Huaguo had already been flattened into meat paste by a large truck. She was now an apprentice witch of the Tower of the Four Sages Lucy!

Lucy kept cheering herself on internally, trying to appear calm and composed. She reached out, unhurriedly, to grasp the round doorknob.

Creak ~

As the old wooden door, worn out from years of neglect, was pushed open, a girl with Western features and an ordinary appearance stood at the threshold.

With just one glance, Lu Xi found information about the girl from the fragmented memories.

Talia Bell.

She had been an apprentice at the same time as the original Lucy and was one of the few acquaintances she had at the tower.

If there were anyone who could see through Lucy's disguise, the girl in front of her would be the most likely.

Talia slowly lowered her raised right hand from knocking. Her emerald green eyes fixed on Lucy inside the room, a trace of scrutiny and thoughtfulness in her gaze.

‘Could she have noticed something?!’

Cold sweat once again soaked Lucy’s underclothes that had only just dried. She could only do her best to maintain the original persona appearing cold and distant, but in truth severely socially anxious as she spoke.

“T-Talia, is there something on my face?”

“Lucy, your eyes are full of bloodshot veins?”

Lucy instinctively wiped at the corners of her eyes, letting out a quiet breath of relief.

The blue characters in her vision had already been concealed by her will, so there was no way Talia could see those.

“I didn’t sleep well last night. You know, we only have three days left before the protection period ends.”

Lucy had said that to divert the topic, but Talia’s expression darkened slightly all the same.

The looming end of the two-year protection period was like the Sword of Damocles hanging over every apprentice witch’s head. No one knew when it might fall and claim their life.

After a short silence at the dorm door, Talia let out a resigned sigh and spoke again.

“Actually, I haven’t been sleeping well either. I heard that in previous cycles, the chance of an unofficial apprentice advancing to a formal apprentice after being assigned a post is less than one in ten. In some cohorts, not a single one survived.”

That was a death rate Lu Xi had already anticipated. After all, even during the protection period, the mortality rate was as high as fifty percent.

Only by advancing to a formal apprentice would one have some means of survival.

The requirements for becoming a formal apprentice were simple just two conditions.

First, increase one's mental strength to a level of 10.

Second, construct two Tier-1 witchcraft spells.

Currently, Lucy's progress was: Mental Strength – 5.8, Tier-1 Witchcraft Spells – 0.

‘What a pathetic stat line...’

Lu Xi couldn’t help but mutter inwardly as she shifted her gaze away from the reappeared blue characters.