Glan Natural Science Academy

  Night. 

Under the kerosene lamp, Ryger rubbed his tired eyes and put down the bloody scalpel. 

He lowered his head and recorded in his Frostfire bird notebook all the information he just got from dissecting the tadpoles. After adding some graphic labels, he let out a breath of relief and stretched a little. 

“Speaking of, to think that the tadpoles which looked so harmless macroscopically would look so terrifying under a microscope, like abominations out of nightmares. 

Ryger seemed to have some feelings about the image of tadpoles he just observed closely with a magnifying glass.   

After finishing recording, he kept the notebook in his spacebox. He thought for a moment, then took out a transparent glass bottle. After unscrewing the bottle’s cap, the pungent smell of preservatives exuded from the bottle.   

In these 2 days, Ryger had begun to get used to this smell and only creased his brows slightly this time. With a tweezer, he moved the tadpole specimen into the bottle and sealed it again.   

There were many ways to preserve specimens. Preservatives in a glass bottle was one the most common and developed ways.  

  Using the light from the kerosene light, Ryger admired the tadpole in the bottle, as if appreciating the most beautiful jewel in the world. His mouth made a proud curl.

  Satisfied, he put the specimen into the spacebox. 

For scholars who study evolutionary secrets, the quantity and quality of specimens more or less determines their knowledge store. Ryger, as an initiate student, had already begun to abide by instincts and fill his library of specimens. 

It was already late in the night. Even the old city block where Ryger’s room was located was already completely quiet. 

“Ahhh…” 

Ryger yawned and got up. 

He had been sitting there motionless for an entire day and his body was stiff. As he stood up, his stiff bones made cracking, popping sounds. He then turned his head and again. Crack. 

After stretching, Ryger looked at his exquisite room. 

Because the room was too small, he could only position a small, worn-out desk against the balcony’s window to make a simple testbed. Since he was without a crystal lamp, he used a kerosene lamp instead. 

To Ryger, life wasn’t hard. But to a scholar, this environment for experimentation was simply too crude. 

“Even if I light two kerosene lamps at the same time, it’s still not bright enough. And the flickering light is a nightmare for close observations with a magnifying glass. In the long term, it’ll surely damage my eyes and I’ll have to be like mentor and wear glasses. Speaking of which… I heard senior brother say that Mentor Kubo’s scholar life when he was young was also extremely arduous.”

  As he murmured to himself, he took a rag and kept cleaning the crude testbed. Thereafter, he dabbed it with some alcohol and cleaned the scalpel, trays and other equipment. 

“I probably should use some gold coins and buy a crystal lamp someday!” 

Crystal lamps used energy crystals as fuels and were leaps and bounds brighter than a kerosene lamp. It was priced normally at 150 silver coins, an amount that normal families couldn’t afford. 

The good thing was that the consumption of energy stones for a was very low. One energy crystal was enough for a few years. It was one of the practical technologies developed by the Utlan Principality’s natural sciences academy and was promoted on a large-scale in the various principalities 

It could be said that even though the Utlan Natural Sciences Academy was oppressed by the Church because of Heliocentrism and its position among the great academies was rock bottom, it was still the wealthiest among the great academies. Many of the practical and useful inventions came from the Utlan Principalit- 

Suddenly! 

“Ah! Who are you people?” 

A frightened cry from outside the window disrupted the silence. 

Ryger instinctively dropped the cloth in his hand, opened the window and looked down. 

He could only see a few fuzzy, indistinct shadows surrounding and assaulting a lone shadow in the middle of the road. The surrounded person would soon be incapacitated. Pling. The crystal street light was smashed by a flying knife from the surrounders. Light disappeared, leaving only sounds of metal colliding and fighting, as well as pleas of help. 

A few breaths later. 

The sound of fighting stopped and silence returned. But Ryger knew that just like himself, there were countless eyes nearby watching in the dark.   

“Hiss!” 

Ryger was shocked. 

This bunch of people actually dare to commit murder in the Academy so openly. Right in front of him, at that too. It’d seem that he needs to be more careful in the future so that he won’t get involved in any fights. 

Burp… 

A belching sound came from the adjacent balcony. Ryger looked over and saw his widow neighbour, Merlin. 

“Good, good evening, Sister Merlin.” 

Thinking of that burly man’s friendly reminder and the horrible tales of the woman in front him, Ryger tensed up instinctively and was a bit fearful. 

She was still the same, sitting on the balcony with loose pajamas; holding a bottle of alcohol on one hand and a cigarette on the other. She was heavily intoxicated.

 

She had a cold smile and she seemed to be used to such a scene. She looked drunkenly at Ryger

  “This is the most chaotic street in the Academy. It’s also furthest away from the academy’s protectors. That said, this is already the sixth murder this month, far higher than before. Seems like some force has their eyes on this place.” 

Done talking, Merlin tilted her head and poured a mouthful of strong liquor. Without any care, she wiped her mouth, smoked her cigarette and exhaled. 

She looked melancholically at the starry sky.

Hoot! Hoot!

  Bright moonlight. Boundless starry sky. 

A group of green-eyed owls flapped their wings and flew over. Some landed on the damaged streetlight and were responsible for fixing it. Others landed on the bodies on the road and after confirming they’re dead, analysed the motives of the killer. The rest flew in all directions, looking for witnesses and the perpetrators.

One of the owls happened to be flying towards Ryger. 

“Hoot hoot. I am a protector of the Academy currently investigating the serial murders here. Did you witness the murder just now?” 

The owl looked similar to an ordinary owl, but Ryger knew that it was a spirited1 Spirited here means having a human-level of intelligence. Couldn’t find a word for that[/efn)note]  protector specially bred by the Academy. 

“Uh, I saw three men in black attack the dead man. I only saw it for a few seconds before the street lights went out. After that, I saw nothing.” 

Amazingly, this owl took out a quill, nodded and carefully recorded Ryger’s testimony. It looked meticulous and was really cute.

  “Alright, thank you for your cooperation. Hoot, hoot, hoot.” 

After the owl finished recording, it didn’t ask anything else and flew away. 

A few moments later. 

A few sheriffs collected the body and the street regained its tranquillity. 

“Sister Merlin, I’m going back to rest.”

  Suddenly, Merlin seemed to have thought of something. She looked at Ryger again and joked, “If you are interested in human experimentation, then this place is actually quite suitable for obtaining specimens.” 

“Ah!” 

Ryger was startled and hurriedly said: “No, no, no! I’m not interested!” 

Seeing how frightened Ryger looked, the drunk Merlin chuckled. Her wide clothes accidentally revealed something , but she didn’t mind. Ryger, however, was embarrassed.  

It was no wonder that Ryger was so terrified.

The act of collecting human specimens as well as experimentations and studies on the human body had already existed several thousands of years ago, perpetrated by the sorcerers. 

It was precisely because of the abundance of studies and research on the human body that sorcerers had all sorts of ways to kill someone. Their experimentations also resulted in the horrifying stories eating children’s eyes and allowed them to create the terrible Black Death that had almost caused mankind’s extinction.   

Afterwards, although the natural sciences academies mushroomed like bamboo shoots after the rain because of the power struggle between the Church and the royalty, the area of human experimentation was an absolute taboo for scholars. The escalation in recent years between the Balda Natural Sciences Academy and the Church was precisely because there was a large probability that the academic discipline that they were studying – human body profundities – would involve experimentations and studies on the human body.  

Almost all scholars knew that the wicked sorcerers must have discovered some extremely powerful power through human experimentations, that the rise of the Balda Academy recently was most likely due to them studying the remains of certain wicked sorcerers. But there were no scholars outside the Balda Principality that would dare take on the Church’s investigations and pressure head-on.

  “Wait a minute.”

  Suddenly, Merlin called out to Ryger. She made a beckoning sign while smiling drunkenly. “Come here.”

  Uh? 

Come over? 

Looking at his neighbour’s drunken languidness and lack of inhibition, and the snowy white revealed inadvertently by her loose-fitting clothes, Ryger thought of many things. He felt his mouth was dry and his entire head was red. He hesitated.    

Gulp… 

Ryger gulped.  He had a nervous look. Perhaps due to the hot widow’s charm, or perhaps due to his fear over the many scary stories about her. 

“Come on!” 

Seeing her impatient look, Ryger bit his lips. His steps were slightly frivolous and his heart was booming and thudding. He whispered with a mosquito-like sound, “I’m going to sleep.” 

“Your face.”

She said in a commanding voice, using her drunken excitedness. 

In his blank mind, he felt a gentle touch on his nose. While he was dumbfounded, Merlin showed her fingertip. 

“Your face was like a kitten’s because of the kerosene lamp’s soot. Kehehe.” 

It turned out that because Ryger was experimenting for a long time with his head lowered, the kerosene lamp had smoked his nose completely black.

  Ryger felt ashamed because of his transient evil thoughts and hurriedly rubbed his nose. “I was too busy. I’m so sorry. Good night.” 

Ryger then closed the curtains and ran back into his room. 

“Hic.” 

Merlin dragged the bottle and staggered back into her room, muttering. “What a cute little guy…”

Footnotes