Testing the Boundaries

"Kraft, Kraft? Are you in there?"

Kraft was jolted awake by a series of urgent knocks. He reflexively lifted his forehead, which had been pressed against the edge of the table, and reached out to grope for a non-existent phone, terrified of missing an important call.

The hilt of the sword at his waist pulled him back to reality. His consciousness drifted away from the phantom night shift, and he realized he no longer had to work such hours, nor was the person knocking outside an anxious colleague.

The back of his black robe felt hot from the sun; it seemed to be afternoon, meaning he hadn't slept for long—less than four hours.

Yet, the exhaustion in his body had been swept away, and his drained energy had been restored. He rubbed his eyes and stood up, still struggling to adjust to the sudden transition from the darkness of sleep to the blinding sunlight.

He had dreamt that he discovered all sorts of strange things and used them to recreate a modern hospital here, and he had been working the night shift. Dreams were truly devoid of logic; otherwise, why would he be working a night shift in a hospital he owned himself?

It was fortunate he had been woken up, or he would have had to continue that unpleasant dream.

"I'm here," Kraft replied while opening the door. "Lucius?"

It was indeed Lucius knocking at the door. His brown hair was somewhat disheveled, and he gave off a faint scent of beer. This appearance made Kraft frown.

"Didn't you all go to the tavern to drink?" Kraft covered his nose; he felt this didn't look like someone who had come back to find him, but rather someone suffering from a hangover.

Lucius didn't mind Kraft's disdain and said with a smile, "I didn't want to disturb your sleep, but Lis has woken up. I figured you'd want to see her regardless."

"Lis is awake? That fast?"

Kraft felt a sense of temporal displacement, as if the whole world had taken a giant leap forward while he slept, and he was the only one who hadn't kept up.

Lucius looked at him with confusion, then suddenly realized something and laughed out loud. "You don't think it's still yesterday afternoon, do you?"

"Yesterday? I slept for an entire day?!"

Kraft gave a start, fully waking up. "How is Lis? Are there any complications? Why didn't you wake me up yesterday?"

His first thought was whether he had missed the optimal window for treating potential complications, followed by the fact that his major medical records weren't complete and he hadn't given Gris more post-operative instructions.

"She couldn't be better. Gris wants to thank you in person." Lucius straightened his brown hair, smoothing it out to both sides.

"Where are they? Let's go now. I hope Gris hasn't fed her anything."

In the observation classroom, because Kraft hadn't been able to wake up yesterday, everyone had strictly followed his orders and left Lis undisturbed, letting the girl sleep there for the night.

Fortunately, some hadn't completely forgotten about the father and daughter. Liston had broken away from the celebratory crowd, found the blanket Lucius had brought, and laid it out for the patient. Today, it was he and Gris who had waited for Lis to wake up.

"I really don't know how to thank you." The father, who had been forcing himself to stay calm, couldn't hold back his tears when he saw his daughter wake up. "I still have some savings, and if that's not enough, my tavern is worth quite a bit."

"That's not necessary, really, it's not." Kraft couldn't bear to listen any longer. He grabbed a piece of clean linen left over from yesterday and handed it to him to wipe his tears. The scene made him feel like an unscrupulous black-market doctor who had swindled a single-parent family out of their savings with exorbitant fees.

Gris reminded the native part of Kraft's soul of his own grandfather. In his attitude toward the young Kraft, he had always shown a meticulousness and sincerity that belied his rough appearance, even if his way of expressing it was sometimes less than ideal.

He had seen this kind of emotion in many parents: the worry for their children, the unreserved devotion, and the willingness to trade anything for their safety and health.

Therefore, illness was never limited to the patient alone; it affected the entire family, causing suffering for more people and taking a toll on their mental, financial, and various other aspects one could or couldn't imagine.

"Relax, as for the money..." Kraft stalled. It wasn't that he was waiting for Gris to offer a good price, but that he suddenly realized he had no idea how to calculate it.

His understanding of medical fees in this world was about on par with his knowledge of the ingredients in the clinic's herbal soups. For the herbal soup, he knew it contained water; for the fees, he knew he was supposed to collect money. It was a complete blind spot.

When the herbalist from Wood Town came to the castle to see patients, it was all handled by the family's private treasury, checked by Old Wood and calculated by Anderson. What did that have to do with Kraft? He had never seen it happen.

"...In any case, don't worry about it. Let me see Lis first. Today is the first day, and the cloth on the wound needs to be changed." He quickly changed the subject. While walking over to Lis, out of Gris's line of sight, he looked at Lucius and Liston for help.

Lucius shook his head blankly. He was still a student; his daily life consisted of reading books and doing experiments with professors. He didn't understand this.

Liston, however, was as reliable as ever. After a moment of thought, he reached his hand out from his sleeve and held up five fingers.

Kraft nodded to show he understood and bent down to look at Lis.

"Hello, little Lis. Does it still hurt?"

Lis looked warily at the guy in the black robe. She still remembered being fed a strange liquid by the black-robed person yesterday. She closed her eyes, opened them, and woke up to find a throbbing wound on her stomach.

"Lis, be a good girl." Gris walked over and knelt down, holding Lis's hand, which gave her a sense of security. "Tell the doctor if anything feels uncomfortable."

"Here." Lis pointed to the location of the wound, continuing to stare at Kraft with a guarded expression.

Kraft glanced at her expression. The painful, flushed look of acute illness had faded, and she had enough energy to wonder who he was, so it was likely just normal post-operative wound pain.

He unwrapped the gauze around Lis's waist and lifted the cloth over the wound to take a look. There was only a slight amount of blood seepage, and the wound itself looked good—no redness or swelling. He hoped the internal condition was just as good.

"It looks fine for now, but don't think it's over."

He replaced the cloth on Lis's wound with a new one and secured it with linen strips. It was a pity there was nothing to apply directly for disinfection. Having gone who knows how many days without povidone-iodine solution, Kraft silently missed it.

If he had the chance, he really should develop distilled liquor technology so he would have high-concentration alcohol for disinfection.

"Ideally, you should stay for a few more days of observation, but the academy environment isn't necessarily suitable for a patient's recovery." Kraft pinched the blanket laid on the stone platform; one night was one thing, but lying there for two nights would cause problems even if she were healthy. "So, you should go back. For this period, only let her drink thin liquids."

"As for the wound, it will take six or seven days for the outside to heal. Try to avoid getting her out of bed. I'll come to remove the stitches then."

"Oh, right, about the consultation fee." Kraft tapped his head, Liston's five fingers flashing in his mind. "Five silver coins?"

This interpretation was based on Liston's gesture, combined with the medical fees in the mind of an otherworldly visitor. He felt five Kingdom Silver Coins was slightly expensive; one such official coin could be worth two to three privately minted black silver coins, depending on the situation.

He didn't specify which silver coins, so if he had quoted too high, Gris could choose for himself how many of those five would be Kingdom Silver Coins.

Gris's reaction was not what he had expected. He stood frozen in place, confirming that Kraft wasn't joking.

(He) opened mouth, but ultimately said nothing, revealing a look of respect that Kraft had seen many times over the past two days, yet there was something different about it this time.

Counting out five Kingdom Silver Coin from the purse at waist, Gris handed them to Kraft and said earnestly, "From now on, your consumption at my tavern will be free of charge. As long as I, Gris, am alive, this will remain valid forever."

Having inexplicably received a lifetime meal ticket, Kraft watched as Gris carried Lis away from the classroom, disappearing from view. Even as he left, the man's eyes were still red.

"Tsk." Liston made an ambiguous sound from behind. "Guess what Saint Simon would do if he were resurrected and saw you?"

"Hm?" Kraft realized he might have misunderstood Liston's meaning just now, but the topic jump was too extreme; as someone who hadn't touched the Holy Scripture much, he could only utter a simple interrogative.

"He'd have to find a way to kill you, because of unfair competition." Lucius covered his face. "Going to the church to have a priest chant a few lines costs several Kingdom Silver Coin."

"So it wasn't free?"

"They claim it's a blessing, so how could it be free? Don't tell me you've never been to a church." One could smell the resentment and bitterness in Liston's tone.

Kraft really hadn't been to church much; his grandfather's respect for religion was limited to times when they could exert authority over him, and the local part of his soul didn't have any religious habits in such a household.

The otherworldly part of him belonged to the type of "pragmatic believer" who danced on the edge of the stake; believing in gods was like going to the bathroom—he'd mutter a few words when in a hurry, but would never remember it afterward, making him even more detestable than a heretic.

"I really didn't know, but what does that have to do with us?" Kraft pulled the topic back.

"I actually meant five gold coins."

"Are you crazy?" Kraft was shocked, his perspective on money thoroughly refreshed.

Gold coins were almost never privately minted because, aside from the Westminster Gold Coin which was jointly minted by the King and several great noble families, no one else had the capability to use gold to mint currency.

Therefore, "gold coin" defaulted to the Westminster Gold Coin. Its diameter was less than half the standard of a silver coin, and its thickness was only one-third; it was about the size of a small change coin from his previous world.

Despite such a small surface area, they had managed to imprint the tower of Westminster Castle onto it, and even innovatively added side and edge patterns to prevent people from filing off a layer and still passing it off as full value.

The value of one Westminster Gold Coin was equivalent to seven Kingdom Silver Coin. It was generally only used for large transactions and did not circulate much in the market. This hellish exchange rate wasn't inherent; it had changed from the original one-to-five ratio due to fluctuations in precious metal prices.

"A groundbreaking treatment method, one of a kind, and it even consumed medicine I've never seen before." Liston held up five fingers. "Two lecturers put aside a day of classes to perform it personally; wouldn't thirty-five silver coins be reasonable? Gris isn't some poor man; he can fully afford it with his savings."

"Then this surgery lacks any universality; not many people can afford it."

"Didn't you say it was the last of the Family Secret Medicine? How is there suddenly talk of universality?" Liston had long suspected the truth of that statement, but he hadn't expected Kraft to change his tune so quickly.

"I changed my mind. Never mind where it came from; in any case, it's not the last of it anymore." Kraft looked toward the direction where Gris and his daughter had left, as if he could see their backs through the layers of walls. "It's just a bit risky. Let's observe Lis for a while first."

"Does that mean we'll have the chance to perform such surgeries in the future?" Liston was overjoyed.

"Maybe, if there are no problems. Perhaps it won't just be us. I'll go back and organize the key points of this case regarding Human Anatomy to include in future lectures."

Though he said they would observe further, anyone with eyes could see that he was very satisfied with Lis's condition. He was already preparing for more surgeries; he just lacked the final straw to help him make up his mind completely.

Kraft packed his things and walked out of the classroom, with Lucius following behind. The two returned to the professor's room.

"I want to talk about the Black Fluid." Kraft closed the door. The surgical procedure could be made public, but the Black Fluid still had to be discussed in private.

Lucius was not surprised by this. "I knew you'd eventually realize its value and change your mind."

"What about the professor..."

"When the mentor returns, just say it was my idea. In any case, it's already a done deal; regardless, Professor Morrison's status as the discoverer of the Black Fluid will not change."

"No, let's put it another way: you only suggested using the Black Fluid for the surgery, but I decided to carry it out. If anything goes wrong, Professor Calman will come to me first." Kraft stopped Lucius from taking all the blame.

This matter was already one foot over the edge of the professor's confidentiality requirements. If the primary responsibility fell on Lucius, it wouldn't be good for his relationship of trust with the professor. It was better for him to take the fall.

"When the professor brings back their results, the decision can be announced. We can just announce the true composition of the diluted solution at the same time, which wouldn't violate the confidentiality requirements." With this logic, Kraft felt it was fine; at worst, he would just say it was an experiment he conducted at the request of Professor Calman.

Going from discovery to application in one step was something Professor Calman would be happy to see.

"So we can start performing surgeries on a large scale?" Lucius was just as enthusiastic about this as Liston.

"Far from it. We need to observe Lis for at least half a month, the longer the better." Kraft gave what he considered a conservative timeframe. "And you, you'll also be included in the observation. From now on, there will be a daily check-up, and I will personally keep written records."

Lis's case had made him increasingly firm in his idea of using the Black Fluid, but he was nowhere near losing his reason.

"If no problems arise, we will then accept a small number of patients who can only be treated through surgery and continue to observe. Perhaps by the time the professor returns, we will still be keeping it on a very small scale."

This was Kraft's plan: to cautiously and slowly expand. Once the professor returned, he would have completed the preliminary verification, and after reaching a consensus with Calman, he would expand the scale to benefit as many people as possible.