I Have Seen This Thing Before

When Kraft went in, he was empty-handed, but when he came out, he was clutching a brand-new Medical School uniform, three books tucked under his arm, and a badge pinned to his collar. Professor Calman and Lucius followed him out to see him off.

Ryan used the light from the lantern in the professor's hand to get a clear look at the badge. It was an open book; the left page featured the Winged Ring pattern representing the Church's involvement, and the right page showed a Clock Tower flanked by Spruce Branches. This was the emblem of Wenden Port Academy.

In his experience, he had only ever seen this badge on teachers who lectured at the academy; Anderson had one. This was extremely baffling. Ryan knew Kraft's level of education—it was roughly at the level of being able to read various books without much trouble. How did he end up with an academy badge after just one afternoon?

"So this must be Lecturer Kraft's cousin. The depth of the Wood Family's attainments in medicine truly makes me feel ashamed of my own status as a professor." Calman walked up and flashed him the kind of enthusiastic smile a street vendor would use when trying to pry money from a customer's hands. "That is why I took the liberty of requesting Mr. Kraft to serve as a lecturer at our Medical School. If you have any free time in the future, please do come by the academy for a visit, whether you intend to lecture or not."

"?"

Ryan didn't understand a single bit of the logic in that statement. His face was a mask of pure confusion. To be frank, he felt the word "medicine" could hardly be placed in the same sentence as the Wood Family. As for putting "lecturer," "medical attainments," and "Wood Family" together, it would likely be impossible to construct a coherent sentence without adding a few negatives.

"My apologies, Cousin Ryan, I'm late." Kraft decisively admitted his fault, then quickly mounted his horse and signaled for Ryan to do the same. "Thank you for your hospitality, Professor Calman." After a brief farewell to the professor, Kraft quickly led a bewildered Ryan into the night, leaving him no chance to ask questions that neither of them would be able to explain.

"So, exactly when did we acquire these family medical attainments?"

The two found an inn that was still open for business. Finding an inn in the middle of the night wasn't difficult; after all, there were only so many buildings in Wenden Port that kept their lights on at night. Aside from taverns and certain other establishments—or places that functioned as both—the rest were likely inns.

Before they returned to their respective rooms to sleep, Ryan finally asked the question. He couldn't be blamed for his intense curiosity; the situation was just too bizarre. It was roughly equivalent to the student with the lowest grades in class suddenly acing the national entrance exam and getting into a top-tier university's gold-medal program.

A parent's first reaction wouldn't be surprise, but rather, "Who did this kid hire to scam me?"

Theoretically, Ryan was of the same generation as Kraft, but being a few years older, he had matured earlier. At the same time, having been raised as an "insurance policy" for Kraft during his childhood when Kraft was sickly, he had spent a long time with Old Wood. He was practically half a son, sometimes responsible for looking after Kraft, and couldn't be more familiar with the family or Kraft himself.

Right now, he felt like a parent who had woken up early in the morning to find an elite university acceptance letter sitting where the milk was delivered.

As Kraft's half-parent, Ryan was naturally happy for him; but at the same time, as the de facto core member of the Wood Family, how could he not know what the family was made of? Praising the Wood Family for its academic heritage was akin to praising a blind man for his sharp vision or discussing music with a deaf person—it was essentially a provocation.

If someone said Kraft had gained the appreciation of a great noble for his superb martial arts, that would be within his range of understanding. Saying the Wood Family had academic standing was a minor insult to his own intelligence, but a major insult to the entire Wood Family. Yet, this professor seemed to be for real; he had actually given Kraft a badge.

"Hmm... you might not believe this, but I saw an old book in Grandfather's collection and read a bit more of it because I was interested." Kraft knew it was hard to explain, so he used the old books his grandfather had collected as a shield. Anyway, given Ryan's reading ability, it was impossible for him to borrow the books to check.

"Really?" Ryan felt his intelligence had been insulted a second time. "You had the refined interest to read those books?" It wasn't that he didn't trust Kraft, but in the past, getting Kraft to study required Old Wood to resort to some physical measures.

"Really. As people grow older, their hobbies tend to change a bit."

Ryan didn't believe a single letter of that, but it wasn't a bad thing. Kraft wasn't a child anymore; he was willing to respect Kraft's secrets, and there was no need or reason to get to the bottom of it.

"Fine." Ryan sighed, glanced at Kraft, and turned to head back to his room, looking like an old father watching his child grow up and become independent—a mix of gratification and a touch of loss.

Now it was Kraft's turn to be confused. He had originally thought it would take a while to convince Ryan, but Ryan's sudden "old father" attitude had completely baffled him.

"Alright, have a good night, Ryan."

Watching Ryan go to sleep, Kraft returned to his own room, pulled a candle from his pack, lit it, and prepared to look at the three books he had received today to understand the level of contemporary medicine.

Honestly, as someone with fairly average academic performance, he never expected that one day he would be able to hold a teaching position. For the original Kraft, this was a great honor that would bring glory to the family; for the part of him that came from another world, being able to continue a career that had ended before it truly began allowed him to find his value here.

Carrying the excitement of a newly appointed lecturer wanting to make a difference, along with a bit of curiosity about the budding period of medicine, Kraft took out the first book.

Like other hardcover books, this manuscript used a lacquered wooden cover. The title was written in a rigid, serious font similar to early Gothic script—broad, straight strokes usually made with a flat-tipped pen. It was used by the Church for copying scripture and in formal documents or works that required a certain level of gravity.

To someone who hadn't specifically studied it, it looked like a bunch of similar long and short vertical strips, with ends decorated in squares and rhomboids, but to those who knew it, the legibility was quite high. To reduce the impact of wear, the font was carved into the wooden cover, and the intaglio was filled with metal foil, which was no longer shiny due to long-term oxidation.

This was a book on Humoral Theory.

As a tome, it wasn't very user-friendly because the creator hadn't included page numbers or a table of contents, and certainly no preface. To know exactly what the book covered, the reader had to read the entire thing. For those with a poor memory, some notes might be needed.

So, Kraft took out the paper and pen he had bought that afternoon, opened the ink bottle, and prepared to take notes as he read.

Opening the first page, at the very beginning of the book, the author stated his view of the human body: the functioning of various bodily functions relied on different fluids within the body. In his view, these fluids existed in various connections with one another and could transform into each other, thereby constituting a balance. The root cause of all diseases lay in various internal and external factors that broke this critical balance, which then manifested as various symptoms.

In other words, depending on the symptoms, one could deduce which humor had lost its balance and thus provide targeted treatment.

As for which fluids they were? They were divided into four...

Right, this familiar feeling came rushing in; it was very historical. Kraft finally understood what this was—the Four Humors theory.

It seemed that the development of history was indeed similar everywhere. Although there was no Hippocrates here, and thus no very practical reduction technique, the theoretical direction still pointed to a very similar skill tree.

Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that other transmigrators had been here before and performed a bit of plagiarism.

Reading further, these four fluids were named by color: Red Fluid, White Fluid, Yellow Fluid, and Black Fluid. Their differences were by no means just in color, but in the different functions they performed within the body.

For example, the Red Fluid—easy to understand—was blood. As the most widely present fluid in the human body, flowing incessantly through large and small blood vessels, the author believed it had an active, kinetic nature, with the function of communicating between various fluids and promoting change.

Kraft nodded. Yes, this was the flavor; he had heard it before. It felt like being back in the classroom, the medical history that was glossed over in the prologue of the first lecture every semester.