Lucas's mother saw from the doorway that her son had fallen asleep and did not disturb him further. When Lucas got up the next morning, he felt hungry. After yesterday's battle, he had remained on edge. And because he had been reflecting on his experience in that fight, he had fallen asleep from exhaustion that night. He had not eaten anything at all, and now he was ravenous.
Lucas's mother prepared some food for him. Once he had finished eating and drinking, she said, "You're injured. Don't go to morning training today."
Lucas understood his current condition, too. Thanks to the influence of the elements in this world, his body was strong enough that he could still get out of bed despite such serious injuries. If he had suffered injuries of this severity in the world of his previous life, getting out of bed without spending a month or two laid up would probably have been a pipe dream.
So he took his mother's advice and chose to rest at home. That afternoon, Benny brought Eric to Lucas's house. Once Benny came inside, he told Lucas, "Windsor's father won't let her play with us anymore."
Lucas nodded, then said, "It's fine. After all, we took his daughter somewhere so dangerous and nearly got her killed. He was already being very kind by not beating us to death."
With that, Lucas turned to Eric, who had come along with Benny to his house for the first time, and asked, "How come you came today, too?"
Eric knew that he had not played with them much before, and this was his first visit to Lucas's house. He said, "I wanted to see what you planned to do with those two bodies."
Lucas nodded, then fetched three masks from inside his house, along with a pen and some hide. Then he asked the two of them, "Which of you can draw?"
Benny asked in confusion, "What's drawing?"
Lucas explained, "It means putting pictures of things onto a hide."
Benny indicated that he could not. Eric said, "I can draw pictures. I learned a little from my mother before. I've drawn scenes of the tribe hunting."
Lucas took out the pen he had whittled from a branch and let him try. Unfortunately, what Eric drew was in a rough, primitive ritual style, so Lucas decided to do it himself after all.
He led them to the little hut where they had left the bodies. After having them put on the crude masks he had made, he began dissecting one of the bodies, whose abdomen had clearly been slashed open by a magical beast.
The corpse's abdomen had been torn open by a magical beast's claws. Though it had been roughly stitched shut, the intestines had clearly been stuffed back inside haphazardly. Lucas drew diagrams to record his findings as he dissected.
Benny and Eric had never seen anything like this and vomited on the spot. Lucas felt very sick as well, but he held it back. Before they knew it, the entire afternoon had passed. Lucas glanced at the sky, which was already growing dark, and stopped. Then he told the two of them, "Come on. Help me bury this body."
The three of them went to higher ground. Lucas examined the surrounding feng shui, then selected a burial site for the man. He said to the corpse, "Choosing a burial site for you is my way of doing right by you. If you have another life, I hope you meet a good end."
Lucas also knew that this world had a Netherworld. With such a weak soul, even if this man were reborn there, he would most likely be killed and absorbed by another soul straightaway. Still, out of professional habit from his previous life, Lucas performed a rite to send him on. Unfortunately, Lucas did not yet know that the Netherworld he knew from the Coiling Dragon Universe had not yet been created, and the souls of the dead simply dissipated into the world.
At that moment, Eric asked Lucas, "Did you learn anything?"
Lucas nodded, then waved the hide in his hand. He told Eric, "Yes, quite a lot. There are just a few details I haven't figured out yet. Tomorrow, we'll check them against the last intact body."
After hearing Lucas's explanation, Eric asked no further questions.
Lucas noted that it was already late autumn. The nights were quite cold, so this body could still be kept until tomorrow. After returning home and eating dinner, Lucas lay in bed and, unusually, did not meditate. Instead, he recalled what he had learned this time. The human body he had just dissected did not differ much from the human anatomy his master had explained to him before. All that remained was to verify a few details concerning the blood vessels and the like. That dissection would be nothing like today's crude work. Tomorrow's dissection would require greater precision, and thus greater mental concentration.
Lucas did not meditate again that day, choosing instead to conserve his energy, because the success or failure of tomorrow's dissection was crucial to whether he could cultivate Battle Qi.
Sure enough, after daybreak the next morning, Benny and Eric came over while Lucas was eating breakfast and asked him, "When are we going?"
After swallowing his last mouthful of porridge, Lucas said, "Let's go."
Lucas's mother, Selina, asked with concern, "What are you going off to do now?"
Lucas awkwardly explained to his mother, "We won't go far this time. Just to that stone hut near the tribe."
Selina knew the nearly abandoned stone hut as well, so she said, "All right. Remember not to run off anywhere. You're still injured."
After Lucas stepped out the door, his voice drifted back inside. "Got it!"
Once Lucas, Benny, and Eric reached the stone hut, Benny asked, "Are we doing the same thing as yesterday? It was so disgusting yesterday that I didn't even have much of an appetite last night."
Eric told him bluntly, "Shut up. We'll be fighting for the tribe in the future. We're bound to see things bloodier than this."
Benny remained as defiant as ever after hearing Eric's words. Just as the two were about to start arguing again, Lucas interrupted them and said, "Come on. Give me a hand."
With that, he began a more precise dissection. This corpse was an old man, so there was no excess fat on his body, and his skin was rather dry and shriveled. His blood vessels and other structures were therefore relatively clear. Starting from the heart, Lucas slowly dissected him step by step, drawing the pathways of the old man's blood vessels and meridians, in which the blood had already congealed.
Lucas looked at his results and nodded in satisfaction. At that moment, Benny asked, "Will we be like this when we die, too?"
Lucas said, "Everyone's the same when they die."
Benny sighed and said, "Can't we leave anything behind when we die?"
Lucas studied the diagram of blood vessels he had drawn, carefully comparing it against his memories. He said offhandedly, "We'll still leave our souls behind when we die."
Benny went on to ask, "Then what does a soul look like? Will I still remember you?"
Before you continue