The Necromancer's expectant smile froze on his face.
He glanced at the Roman Knight, who was struggling desperately, then turned back and stared quietly at Gret. Snow-white light poured down from the ceiling, deepening the shadows beneath his eyes and cheekbones. His gaunt, skin-and-bones face looked even more like a skull.
Gret's heart gave a jolt. The other man was a necromancer, far stronger than he was. Even one of his pets could beat him to a pulp. If he refused the man's request, would he... be tied up and dissected?
Gret's heart trembled, and cold sweat soaked his back in patches, but he held the Necromancer's gaze without flinching. He clenched his fists and forced his knees back, keeping his legs from shaking...
A doctor had to uphold his principles! Cutting into a patient on a whim for one's own selfish reasons was absolutely unacceptable!
Gret's expression was so resolute, and his gaze so clear. The Necromancer, Lynn, met his eyes for a moment, then shrugged and waved a hand. The Black Cat turned around with the knight in its mouth and headed back, tossing him into the bone prison once more.
The stone door closed. All the cursing, cries of surprise, and sighs of relief were shut outside. The Necromancer, Lynn, glanced at the stone door, then looked at Gret again.
"But what if he hurts you?!"
"I'll fight back."
Gret replied proudly. After a pause, he added:
"But I absolutely won't use my medical skills to hurt anyone."
That was the oath he had made on the day he became a medical student in his previous life, at the very start of his career.
Lynn fell silent. He gazed at Gret's lively, youthful face, lost in thought for a moment, then sighed.
"I once had a friend... who thought just like you."
"What happened to him?"
"Later... after I became a necromancer, I avenged him."
"I'm sorry."
Gret hurriedly apologized. Then he thought for a moment and tried to make amends.
"How about I show you a tendon repair surgery? Just give me an animal—something big will do!"
"Ha!"
Lynn grinned.
Half an hour later, Gret was beaming, too. A live sheep was tied to the platform in front of him. Mister Troca had brought it from somewhere, and it was bleating away. A row of surgical tools lay on a small table to the side: scalpels of various sizes, surgical scissors, retractors, a bow drill for drilling...
The sharpness of the blades left a lot to be desired, and he didn't even want to think about sterilization, but they were surgical instruments, after all!
He had a scalpel in his hands again!
Happiness level +1, +1, +1...
"Can these be used?"
Lynn watched him eagerly. Gret ran his hands over every instrument one by one, then looked up at the ceiling and sighed.
"We're missing things."
"What do you need? Just say the word!"
"Curved needles, an electrocautery... Never mind, we can heat an iron to cauterize. Forget the needle holder—ah, this feels so unfamiliar. And get me two pairs of needle-nose pliers. If you don't have those, tweezers will do!"
After prepping and cleaning the area, Gret picked up the skin on the sheep's leg with tweezers in his left hand. He gripped the scalpel handle between his thumb, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger, with his index finger resting on the blade's spine, and began explaining as he worked.
"This is called the bow grip. Why is it called that?" He paused. Wait, does this world have violins?
Gret's mind raced. Never mind, even if there were no violins, there might be horse-head fiddles; and if not, perhaps there were erhu. In any case, every people in the world had some kind of stringed instrument played with a bow. Gret quickly demonstrated the motion.
"It's the way you hold a bow. Holding the scalpel like this gives you more cutting force. It's usually used to cut through skin and muscle..."
"Really? Let me take a closer look..."
Lynn's huge, furry head leaned over. A vast shadow immediately fell across the sheep's leg beneath Gret's scalpel, blocking his view completely.
"Hey, move back a little... Tsk, I still can't see. Your lighting is no good! Can you make a shadowless lamp?"
"What? There are lamps without shadows?!"
Gret had no choice but to put down the scalpel and satisfy Lynn's curiosity first. One of them sketched and scribbled while the other hammered and tinkered. After about an hour, the most unusual shadowless lamp Gret could remember had been assembled above the operating table:
Four skeletal arms crossed over one another around a spine, forming a cross. Each of the four hands held two ribs, making a huge circle large enough for two people to embrace. Dozens of bony hands hung densely within the circle, each gripping an enchanted glowstick.
Gret: "..."
Well, at least the lighting met his requirements, didn't it? And with the bony hands holding the glowsticks hanging down, it was easy to adjust their direction...
He spent the entire night happily performing surgery beneath the shadowless lamp. He cut the tendon, used tweezers to pull the retracted tendon out from deep within the muscle, stretched it, reshaped it, and healed it with a healing spell. Then he continued dissecting and stitching, until at last he slaughtered the poor sheep. The two of them and the cat enjoyed a hearty pot of mutton soup.
The next morning, the Necromancer reluctantly saw Gret off as he carried two suitcases.
One case held the surgical instruments he had used earlier. The other was much more valuable. Each item rested in its own red-velvet-lined compartment, shining brightly. They were all glass.
Beakers, flasks, crucibles, stirrers, scales...
It was a complete set of basic alchemy equipment.
There were no herbs or powders in the case, but this set of alchemy equipment alone was already worth a fortune. Gret felt uneasy.
"This is too valuable."
"No, it's nothing. My friend—" The Necromancer shook his head emphatically.
"There's a saying among mages: No knowledge is priceless. Last night, you generously shared so much knowledge with me. Please allow me to share a few things with you, too. These little trinkets—"
He swept his arm in a wide circle above the suitcase.
"Every mage should have a set! Every one! My dear friend, believe me, if you join our school, the equipment you receive will be much more refined than this!"
Much more refined?
Did they have microscopes?
Centrifuges?
Ultraviolet spectrophotometers?
If nothing else, even a pipette would do!
Gret grumbled to himself. If they didn't have any of those, he might as well find a way to put them together himself. Joining a school that interested him was clearly more important.
My sterilizer, my culture dishes, my equipment for separating, purifying, analyzing, and synthesizing all kinds of medicines, my X-ray, ultrasound, and MRI...
Elemental School, Alchemy School, I'm counting on you!
Gret was lost in his beautiful hopes. The Necromancer, Lynn, walked beside him, chattering away as he tried to persuade him. Every so often, he glanced at Gret and the cases in his hands, as if he wished he could snatch both man and luggage back to Black Crow Marsh.
"My dear friend, are you really sure you won't consider joining our school? Truly, just say the word, and I'll take you back to meet my mentor immediately. I guarantee you'll receive the same treatment as a full mage! You should know that even with my letter of recommendation, you'd have to start as an apprentice at the Mage Tower in the city..."
"But I really am interested in Elemental Mages..."
Thanks to @初9999999 for the 100 Qidian coins!
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But the Necromancer and his cat are both so adorable, aren't they?!
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