The Witch's Anatomical Notes

Chapter 4

The Biological Anatomy Laboratory

The Tower of the Four Sages housed four wizard-level laboratories, which were:

The "Chaotic Elemental Laboratory" overseen by Wizard Theodore.

The "Symbiotic Alchemy Laboratory" overseen by Madam Vine.

The "Biological Anatomy Laboratory" overseen by Wizard Fernando.

And the "Mechanical Laboratory" overseen by the Tower Master of the Tower of the Four Sages, Tower Master Derrick Fischer.

"...All four of them were great and knowledgeable intermediate-level wizards. Especially Tower Master Derrick, he was an existence infinitely close to becoming a high-level wizard. The mechanical school he practiced also had the lowest Contamination Value among the four schools."

Nure’s voice sounded slightly excited, clearly holding great admiration for Tower Master Derrick.

Talia could not help but speak, "What about the Symbiotic Alchemy school? It sounds like this mentor is a woman."

Nure nodded.

"Madam Vine is the only female among the four mentors. Traditionally, the female apprentices choosing her as a mentor had always been the most numerous. After that came the Chaotic Elemental school, whose witchcraft was among the most powerful across all schools, making it the best choice for those aiming to become battle wizards..."

Fat Nure’s voice became slightly sharp as he gushed about various pieces of information regarding the three mentors, drawing the attention of quite a few people around.

It was not until he had finished sharing what he considered useful information that Nure gave a slight cough and stopped.

Under her gray robe, Lucy still had not heard anything that truly interested her. She frowned slightly and asked:

"What about the information on the other mentor?"

Nure was taken aback, blinking his small eyes.

"Miss Lucy is asking about Wizard Fernando!"

Lucy’s hood gave a small nod.

Nure did not think much of it and simply took it as curiosity on her part, then began to explain:

"Wizard Fernando’s school is Anatomy. His laboratory is the smallest, with the fewest apprentices, and it has a very high Contamination Value. The chances of encountering something strange are also very high. It is the most unpopular discipline in the Tower."

"Looking at the division of posts in recent terms, almost no one willingly chooses to go to the Anatomy Laboratory. Apprentices randomly assigned there usually end up as cold corpses very quickly..."

At this point, Nure’s voice carried a trace of a sob.

To try to maintain a balance in the number of apprentices across the four schools, each term a portion of apprentice wizards would be randomly assigned to the Anatomy Laboratory.

As one of the lowest-ranked in this term, his chances of being sent to Anatomy were the highest.

With his pitiful 3 points of Mental Strength, there was no way he could handle the work in the Anatomy Laboratory. Within two days, he would likely end up on the dissection table himself.

After hearing the information about the Anatomy Laboratory, the surrounding apprentices who had been listening in could not help but let out a soft sigh of "oh," their resolve to stay away from the Anatomy Laboratory becoming even firmer.

Only the silver-haired witch hidden beneath her cloak wore a thoughtful expression on her face.

"How do you know all this? Don’t tell me you bought this information with gold coins from those senior apprentices."

Talia asked with some suspicion.

Though information about the four mentors was not exactly a secret, Nure seemed to know an awful lot of detail.

He simply smiled, his face taking on a look of deep mystery, clearly unwilling to reveal the source of his information.

However, Lucy had a faint guess.

Though the Tower of the Four Sages was officially a domain forbidden to ordinary people, in truth, there were many of them inside. Besides the wizards and apprentices, there were also many servants responsible for cleaning, laundry, and cooking.

While the wizard apprentices might not care about Nure’s gold coins, these ordinary people were eager for them after all, they still had families outside the Tower.

But seeing that Nure did not intend to say more, Lucy did not plan to expose him either.

After sharing the information about the laboratories, the corner fell into silence once again. Everyone was solemnly considering their future choices.

It did not stay quiet for long.

When sunlight shone through a deep wall opening on the side of the Tower and reached the ground, the hall’s door was pushed open once again.

This time it was not gray-robed apprentices entering, but four official apprentices clad in black robes.

The three silver stripes on their cuffs and collars marked them as third-level wizard apprentices.

They strode across the hall with great strides, ignoring the gray-robed apprentice observers in the corners with utter disdain. Only when passing by the five newly promoted apprentices did they nod slightly in acknowledgment. Finally, they stopped atop the wooden platform raised slightly above the floor of the hall.

"Congratulations to all of you...consumables...younger schoolmates for surviving the protection period. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lann Valentine. You may call me Senior Lann. I am a third-level apprentice from the Mechanical Laboratory."

Lann was a handsome blond man with an air of arrogance about him. He showed no concern at all over his slip of the tongue, making it hard to tell whether it had been a genuine mistake or an intentional mockery.

After his self-introduction, he paused briefly, then pointed one by one at the two men and one woman beside him and continued:

"These are third-level apprentice Karen from the Anatomy Laboratory, third-level apprentice Simone from the Elemental Laboratory, and third-level apprentice Julie from the Symbiotic Alchemy Laboratory. We four are here representing the four great wizards."

"The purpose of gathering you here today should already be known to all. I won’t waste words explaining further. If anyone doesn’t know, you can ask your fellow apprentices... Now, you may begin choosing the laboratory you wish to join. Just walk up to the senior apprentice of that lab, and we will then select suitable candidates from among you."

With that, Lann fell silent, and the other three apprentices had not once lifted their gaze from the start.

None of the nearly one hundred apprentice wizards in the hall voiced any objections or questions.

Having spent two years in the Tower, they all understood one of the core rules of wizardry: there was no such thing as free knowledge. Whatever you wished to obtain would require an equivalent price.

If you could not pay with magic stones or comparable knowledge, the other party had the right to take something from you at will.

This rule even applied among official wizards.

At last, the five newly promoted official apprentices seemed to move as if by agreement, stepping forward almost simultaneously. Three of them went straight toward the "Mechanical Laboratory" led by the Tower Master, standing before Lann.

Of the two remaining, one chose the "Chaotic Elemental" school, and the other went to the "Symbiotic Alchemy" school. Only Karen, representing "Anatomy," stood with no one before him.

Karen seemed accustomed to this. His pale face beneath the black robe remained unchanged.

Judging from past selection events, apprentices who willingly chose Anatomy were as rare as phoenix feathers. Karen could scarcely remember when someone had last voluntarily joined the Anatomy Laboratory.

Even he himself had only ended up with Mentor Fernando after being left unchosen and forcibly assigned.

At that thought, Karen quietly sighed.

If given a choice, who would willingly come to the Anatomy Laboratory?

...

"Lucy, which laboratory are you planning to choose?"

Talia’s face was full of worry and anxiety. Her gaze kept shifting back and forth between the "Mechanical" and "Symbiotic" groups, occasionally glancing toward "Elemental," clearly torn.

"I’ve done well in Symbiotic studies, but that discipline involves profound bodily modifications. I don’t want to become a monster. The competition in Mechanical and Elemental is just too fierce..."

"Never mind, I’ll just go with Symbiotic... How about you come with me? There are lots of girls there."

After much fretting, Talia ultimately chose survival over bodily modification.

Appearance was, after all, just a facade. Without life, what did appearances matter?

"You go ahead."

Unexpectedly, Lucy shook her head, the long silver hair falling over her chest swaying with the motion.

Then, to Talia’s growing astonishment, the silver-haired girl stepped forward, her long, shapely legs moving confidently beneath her gray robe, striding toward the empty line.

A flicker of light at the edge of his vision made Karen, who had been engrossed in a parchment book on Anatomy, blink in surprise.

He looked up instinctively, his lifeless fish-like eyes falling upon the gray-robed apprentice now standing before him.