The Witch's Anatomical Notes

Chapter 3

An Unexpected Gain

Seeing Lucy standing there in a daze as if lost in thought, Talia frowned unconsciously.

Lucy seemed a bit odd today.

"We should get going too. The assignment meeting is about to start. I really don’t want to get locked up over something like this."

Just thinking about that pitch-black room that could only fit two people standing, the strange insects occasionally crawling through the shadows, and the pulsating flesh walls was enough to make one’s scalp tingle.

Hearing this, Lucy concealed the blue characters in her eyes. Only then did she recall what Talia had said earlier when she knocked on the door, and quickly found the information about the assignment meeting from the original host’s fragmented memories.

The assignment meeting was for the job distribution among them, the apprentice witch trainees.

Although the apprentice protection period still had three days left, the Tower already seemed eager to squeeze the last bit of value out of these "expendables."

Lucy responded with a soft hum, retreated into the room, and soon spotted the thick, pitch-black book lying on the desk. This was the standard textbook of the Tower of the Four Sages, and the only piece of free knowledge one could obtain after joining the Tower.

The two zero-ring witchcraft spells and the meditation technique she had mastered were all learned from this book.

Picking up the black-covered book and tucking her waist-length silver hair into the deep gray cloak, she then followed Talia, who had also put on her cloak, downstairs.

...

Because of Lucy’s delay, they encountered no other witch apprentices along the way.

The two of them walked side by side on the spiral staircase of the Tower.

Beyond the low handrail was nothing but darkness, as though it led to a bottomless abyss. Looking upward, thick wooden beams came into view, with several dark figures perched atop them.

Those were mechanical iron crows, mechanical constructs of Tower Master Derrick. They possessed formidable combat abilities and intelligence, serving as his eyes, ears, and enforcers within the Tower of the Four Sages.

On the other side, the gray-black walls extended with vein-like patterns. From the crevices, milky white spinal fluid dripped down, while the fixed everlasting lamps projected distorted words on the wall.

"Save me!"

"No, kill me!"

"Don’t go..."

Lucy knew all of this was a negative effect brought on by high Contamination Value.

Though deeply shocked in her heart, her pale face hidden beneath the cloak showed little change in expression.

Eventually, she simply followed mechanically behind Talia, focusing all her attention on browsing through the useful fragments of the original host’s memory.

The main body of the Tower of the Four Sages was an enormous spiraling tower, surrounded by many smaller towers and auxiliary buildings, forming an extensive castle complex.

Beyond that lay a vast city with a permanent population of over one hundred thousand. These people provided essential supplies to the Tower and various services to the witches and apprentices.

In addition, many powerful knights were also stationed around the area.

Only the witches and apprentices were allowed to enter the core Tower of the Four Sages, for witches were the true masters of this world.

Returning to the Tower.

The first to fifth floors served as public areas, the sixth to tenth floors housed apprentice dormitories, classrooms, public laboratories, and the library. Most of the apprentice witch trainees, including them, lived on the sixth floor. Above the tenth floor was the restricted area of the Tower, reserved for the activities of the four official witches.

These four mysterious and powerful official witches were also the source of the Tower of the Four Sages’ name.

Lucy searched through her memories and soon followed Talia through a door into a large hall.

This hall was located on the second floor of the Tower and was rarely open. The last time Lucy had come here was when she had just entered the Tower.

Back then, like the other apprentices chosen for their witch potential, she had dreamed of becoming a great witch. Now, her only wish was simply to survive.

At this moment, nearly a hundred apprentice trainees had already gathered in the hall. These were nearly all of their surviving classmates.

Most of them stood pressed against the walls of the circular hall, their figures hidden beneath the uniformly styled deep gray witch robes. Only a few stood calmly in the center of the hall.

Their robes were somewhat different as well. Not only were the hems, collars, and cuffs trimmed with an elegant silver lining, but the color had changed from deep gray to black.

These five were the geniuses of their cohort who had successfully advanced to official apprentices.

They had managed to raise their Mental Strength above 10 and construct two Tier-1 Witchcraft spells.

Every apprentice present knew how difficult that was, and understood the gap between themselves and those five.

Thus, no one dared to provoke them or question their proud stance. On the contrary, everyone kept a respectful distance.

Lucy and Talia’s arrival did not attract any attention. The two of them found a less crowded corner to stand in.

Just as Lucy concealed herself in the shadows, a suppressed yet faintly delighted voice came from her side.

"Talia, good morning. And Miss... Miss Lucy."

"Nure?"

Upon hearing the voice, Talia frowned and whispered to Lucy, who was still sifting through memory fragments, "No wonder there are so few people here. Turns out that trash is here too."

The "trash" in Talia’s words referred to Nure Hutchinson. Rumor had it he was the son of a wealthy merchant. When he had first entered the Tower, he enjoyed a brief period of glory thanks to his extravagant spending.

But the apprentice trainees quickly discovered that gold coins in the Tower were worth little more than discarded parchment in a waste bin. The official apprentices even looked down on gold with disdain.

Moreover, Nure’s talent was abysmal. Not only were his grades at the bottom of every subject, but his Mental Strength had barely surpassed 3 points, making him the lowest-ranked student of the cohort. Hence, he had earned the nickname "trash" among the trainees.

Seemingly unaware of Talia’s whispered remark, Nure removed the hood from his head, revealing a large, round, and plump face, which gradually matched the image in Lucy’s memory fragments.

"Good morning, Nure."

Both Talia and Nure looked toward Lucy in slight surprise when she greeted him.

Only then did Lucy realize she might have spoken a bit too much.

But since the greeting had already left her mouth, it was impossible to take it back. She could only pretend as if it had not been her who spoke.

Fortunately, neither of them seemed inclined to dwell on the matter.

The corner soon fell back into silence, with only Nure blushing furiously as he twisted his fingers nervously.

Talia said, "Lucy, have you decided which mentor's laboratory you want to join?"

Lucy instinctively shook her head.

She had searched through the original host’s memories about the assignment process, but there was very little information available. All she knew was that there were four laboratories in the Tower of the Four Sages, but she had no idea what specific work was done in each of them, nor what kind of knowledge was required.

Aside from the black-covered textbook handed out for free upon entering the Tower and the weekly classes, any other knowledge or information required an equivalent price.

That price could be magic stones, equivalent knowledge, or other resources, but nothing came for free.

For apprentice trainees like them, who had no factions and whose talents were not outstanding, valuable information in the Tower was clearly not something they could access easily.

Lucy quickly became aware of this.

To randomly join a laboratory without any information?

That was clearly not a wise decision. But after feeling the flat coin pouch at her side and glancing at the small groups of students clustered around the room, she realized it was already too late to try gathering information now. And who could tell how reliable the information from these "strangers" would be?

Still, sitting around and doing nothing was not an option.

Just as Lucy was about to use some magic stones to buy information from other apprentice trainees, Nure Hutchinson, who had been silent for a long time, raised his hand and spoke somewhat haltingly:

"Miss... Miss Lucy, I actually have detailed information on the laboratories."

"Oh!"

From beneath the shadow of her cloak came Lucy’s slightly cold voice: "Then how much magic sand would you want to sell the information to me?"

Magic sand was produced by grinding magic stones and served as a basic material heavily used in alchemy, potion-making, and witchcraft experiments. It was commonly used as "small change."

One magic stone could usually be ground into between 90 and 110 standard units of magic sand.

Upon hearing this, Nure quickly shook his head. "Miss Lucy, you are the only one who has greeted me lately. I can give you the information for free."

Hidden in the darkness, Lucy’s eyes shone brightly like crescent moons. She hadn’t expected a casual greeting to bring such an unexpected gain. Her right hand released the flat coin pouch hidden within her gray robe, sparing the pitiful magic stone inside from being ground into fine sand.

"Then thank you very much."

Watching the silver strands of hair naturally hanging at the edge of Lucy’s cloak, Nure’s heart pounded wildly.

"To be able to help Miss Lucy is my honor."