Over the next two hours, a group of necromancers with rich experience in dissection... no, experience in dissecting corpses, enjoyed a beautiful anatomy lesson.
"This thief is quite thin... not much fat. Youâre lucky. If you encounter someone with a thick layer of fat, preparing the body would require scraping off the fat first, which can be troublesome. Sometimes we spend a whole morning just cleaning off the fat!"
"Letâs see whatâs beneath the skin... look, around the navel, these dark colors are the subcutaneous veins, forming a network. We call it the subcutaneous venous plexus. Following the subcutaneous venous plexus upwards along the lateral walls of the chest and abdomen, you can find the thoracoabdominal veins. Thatâs why we need to make an incision in the center, if the incision deviates, itâs easy to accidentally sever a blood vessel, causing the patient to bleed heavily..."
The silver skeleton hands danced. Scalpels, tissue forceps, tissue scissors, along with a few mage hands assisting, delicately peeled away the tissues, exposing the blood vessels. The necromancers crowded around, poking and prodding:
"So, thatâs how it is..."
"No wonder last time when I dissected someone, there was a sudden gush of blood..."
"To be able to dissect without harming the blood vessels at all, Garrett Nordmark is skilled!"
Garrett glared at them forcefully. Bleeding upon making an incision? Hey buddy, were you dissecting a corpse or a live person? Sounds unreliable!
The dissecting knife danced. This thief had little fat, so after stripping off the skin, the muscles were immediately visible. Garrett was dissecting happily:
"The muscles wrapping around the abdomen arenât a single piece, but layered. Look, the outermost is the external oblique muscle, with muscle fibers slanting downward. In the middle is the linea alba...
Cutting and removing the external oblique muscle, beneath it is the internal oblique and rectus abdominis muscles, removing them, underneath is the transversus abdominis muscle. Cutting along the linea alba, very good, next is the peritoneum, cutting it open will reveal the abdominal cavity!"
The necromancers began to diverge in opinions. Some swayed back and forth, very bored, wishing they could just plunge into the abdominal cavity with a single stroke; while others watched with relish, wishing Garrett would dissect more slowly and carefully:
"Is it really like this? Although cumbersome, it looks very smooth!"
"So this is how you open the abdomen. Will doing it like this prevent damage to the materials in the future?"
"No wonder the last time I sutured up a belly, it kept leaking... Iâll try going back and see if dissecting slowly, one cut at a time, might make it better."
Garrett: â_â Donât think I didnât hear you guys!
Of course, there were necromancers whose attention was focused elsewhere:
"This lamp is excellent, have you noticed?"
"Yes, I did. Underneath that silver skeleton, thereâs not a hint of shadow!"
"Itâs particularly useful! Usually, Iâm annoyed when apprentices have to illuminate for me!"
"Garrett! Where did you buy this lamp?"
"At the Alchemy Guild, just ask for the Shadowless Lamp, they should have plenty of modelsâNo, donât interrupt! Have you all remembered what I just said?"
"Uh..."
"Uh..."
"Do you understand? Why havenât you all hurried to take notes?"
Archmage Edgar glared. As a high-level mage, he had strong mental power, these things could be remembered at a glance, no need to jot them down. But students were different, shouted at by their teacher, they began to wail in a flurry:
"Teacher, we didnât bring paper and pen!"
"Oh, two rooms to the left from here, there are paper and pens on the bookshelf." Garrett said while busy.
Those who wanted to take notes rushed off. Those who were too lazy to take notes lingered there, lamenting: freÄwÄbnovel.com
"Teacher... isnât it unnecessary!"
"Itâs necessary! Hurry, take notes! Write down the words, and draw diagrams too!"
"No way... Teacher, Iâm not good at drawing diagrams..."
Garrett smiled slightly. As a doctor, uh, as a necromancer, how could one not be good at drawing diagrams? Bones, muscles, organs, blood vessels, only by drawing them could they be better memorized, and only by drawing them could they be better explained to patients!
Uh, it seems necromancers donât need to face patients...
The enjoyable dissection work continued for two hours. Finally, the silver skeleton hands busily put down the tissue scissors, scattering them into a pile. And on the opposite surgical table, Garrett also closed his eyes and swayed.
"Plap", "plap", the mage hands dispersed, and two hooks simultaneously fell off.
Several larger and more solid mage hands flew up simultaneously, supporting Garrett as he took two steps back, sitting on a floating disc. Archmage Edgar stepped forward quickly:
"Is your mental power exhausted?"
"Probably..."
The voice from under the protective suit sounded muffled and weak. Garrett sat with his head drooping on the floating disc, feeling dizzy and sweaty, his heart pounding irregularly, and his back was sweating profusely. Judging by these symptoms, besides mental exhaustion, there might also be a bit of hypoglycemia?
At this level of depletion, thereâs no way to continue working. With the support of the mage hands, Garrett floated out of the red zone, went through chemical showers, left the buffer zone, removed his protective suit, bathed and changed clothes. Back in the safe zone, he sat and drank a large glass of sugar water, still reluctantly looking towards the inner room:
Sigh, I still want to dissect. Itâs been so long since Iâve practiced. From leaving the battlefield till now, itâs been a year since I last operated on someone...
My hands are itching! Iâm a surgeon!
And that body needs to be dissected quickly. Without a high-level mage continuing to freeze it, left at room temperature, it will decompose beyond usability in a few days. Can my mental power hold up?
Should I use a mental power potion? Seems a bit wasteful...
Garrettâs regret was almost written on his face. Archmage Edgar looked at his expression with relish, suddenly asking:
"Can we stay here? Continue watching you dissect tomorrow?"
"Ah! ââOf course."
Garrett snapped out of it, nodding quickly. Itâs just continuing to watch the dissection, as long as theyâre willing to abide by the laboratory rules and wear protective suits, continuing for a few more days is no problem! But, butââ
"Can the body be refrigerated?"
A group of necromancers laughed. Newbie necromancers who havenât started summoning their undead yet, are helping the teacher transport and store bodies. Even if Archmage Edgar didnât intervene, these average level seven or eight necromancers could easily preserve the body with a few spells.
"Donât worry, itâs already been preserved." Archmage Edgar replied with a smile. Garrett thanked him with a smile,
then thought for a moment:
"Uh... can I borrow that silver skeleton for a few more days? Otherwise, Iâm afraid I wonât be able to make the cutsââ"
"Consider it a gift to you."
"Thatâs not possible!"
Garrett was almost jumping with fear. Or rather, if he werenât exhausted and in a weak state, he would have actually jumped. What a joke, although he didnât know how much the silver skeleton was worth, being able to make cuts on a level seven corpse, and being a magical tool that he could manipulate at willââ
One or two thousand contribution points definitely wouldnât be enough!
Emptying his wallet probably wouldnât be enough!
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How could such a precious item be given away for free? He absolutely couldnât accept it casually!
Garrettâs face changed color, hands shaking. Archmage Edgar glanced at his disciples, his eyes full of helplessness:
Look, look, I knew it would scare him. If he hadnât spent two hours getting a taste of it, he wouldnât be able to talk about it now. If he had said it was a gift from the beginning, he might not even want to dissect, let alone touch this skeleton!
Ah, why bother.
Just like how polymorphers arenât lacking in various magical equipment, the necromancers of the Black Crow Swamp arenât lacking in various skeletons. After killing an enemy, preserve their body and prepare to summon undead. Accumulating over time, every necromancer has a pile...
Under Archmage Edgarâs tutelage, every disciple who set out on a journey was given a golden skeleton. Like the one in Lynnâs hands, it can work, fight, and be cute. Itâs considerate. In terms of level, itâs much higher than Garrettâs silver skeleton.
And skeletons, unlike magical equipment, besides internal digestion in the necromancer community, arenât favored by othersâordinary people donât like them, and other mages donât like them either. If thereâs someone who likes it, just based on this, giving away one wouldnât be a loss!
Garrett didnât want it, or didnât dare accept it, but Archmage Edgar insisted on giving it away. Fortunately, he had a plan for this too. Now saying it out loud, it flowed smoothly and naturally, full of sincerity:
"Oh, itâs not like Iâm giving it to you for free. When we were dissecting just now, you generously let us watch, explaining while working, and didnât even ask for payment, right? ââYou treat us as friends, so we canât be stingy either."
"But itâs different!" That explanation fee, at most, would cover the rental of the silver skeleton!
The little guy is quite stubborn. Archmage Edgar smiled and continued:
"In that case, letâs make a deal.ââYou know, every necromancer has to learn how to dissect and organize bodies. Many newcomers canât pass this test. I see youâre quite skilled, help us train some entry-level necromancer apprentices, especially in dissection skills?
Not too many, just 20 from this yearâs intake. This silver skeleton will be your training fee!"
"This... " Garrett hesitated. Anatomy, dissecting, is a part of medicine. Itâs fine to leak a little out of enthusiasm, but to teach systematically, you can only teach those who have entered the gates of medicine and made a medical oath. He pondered, and Archmage Edgar, observing his words and expressions, added:
"In this way, the teaching materials are all provided by the Black Crow Swamp!"
"They must adhere to my oath! They must not use what I teach to harm the living, must not pass on what I teach to those who havenât made the same oath, must not..."
Garrett blabla said a string of them. Archmage Edgar pondered for a long time, then asked:
"Only the part you teach?"
"Of course!"
"No problem!"
Both sides shook hands, reaching a deal. So three days later, when Archmage Carlisle received the news and came to the door in person, he saw young Garrett using the skeleton from the Black Crow Swamp, surrounded by necromancers from the Black Crow Swamp, teaching students from the Black Crow Swamp...
He silently turned around, left, and rushed to the Tower of Heaven.
"Teacher, somethingâs wrong, theyâre trying to abduct young Garrett!"