Mage Manual

Chapter 262: Chapter 226 Were You Originally a Woman!? Chapter 262: Chapter 226 Were You Originally a Woman!? So fast!

Ash inhaled sharply as he watched. Harvey’s act of tossing the cigarette butt was very abrupt. It took less than a second for the butt to fall, yet Banjee not only reacted but also fired ice spikes so quickly they were nearly invisible, with an astonishing accuracy—that was a burnt-out cigarette butt in free fall, smaller than a fingertip!

If Banjee used this move in a close-range assault, Ash knew he wouldn’t be able to react in time; he could only rely on “Wild Intuition” to dodge.

He also had a hunch about Harvey’s thoughts. Harvey’s outburst so early in the morning was naturally not just about a corpse, at least not solely—that after all, having spent over a year in Shattered Lake without indulging, it was unlikely that he couldn’t restrain himself after only a few days in the Kingdom of Gospel. He was a pervert, not Meiwa; his desires weren’t that intense.

Harvey’s real aim was to tear up Hanna’s hypocritical facade.

Hanna claimed to respect and care for them, yet in practice had imprisoned them, cut off all their communication, and blocked all their outings. Ash and the others had noticed this and understood to some extent but did not accept it.

The Swindler did not blow up because he still wanted to gather more information. In daily life, he would even maintain surface-level relations with Hanna, waiting to numb her before making his move; the cult leader didn’t blow up simply because he hadn’t yet tired of the food here though, after two consecutive breakfasts of the same fare, the former death row inmate who hadn’t repeated a meal in half a month at Shattered Lake Prison was starting to have some opinions.

Harvey directly brought their conflict into the open, effectively cornering Hanna. Hanna now had two paths to choose from; the first was to tear off her ‘good boss’ mask and reveal the true face of a slave owner.

No more pretending, it’s showdown time. You three will become my dogs!

And the second path…

“Mr. Harvey wants to go pick some fresh corpse materials, what about you? Do you have any demands?”

Igula was blunt: “This kingdom also has a Veil for knowledge exchange. I’d like to have the right to log into the Veil, preferably with a large-screen multimedia device.”

“I want money,” Ash was even less polite. “I realized while playing the virtual game yesterday—you get no experience boost, no increased drop rate, no starter equipment, no daily sign-in rewards without topping up. You need to spend some money for a good gaming experience.”

“I want lots of clothes, dolls, candies, and also, also more—” Liss counted on her fingers as she made her wishes.

“I’ve heard all your requests,” Hanna said. “While some are reasonable and others far-fetched, as your boss, I can satisfy all of them—”
“If you can beat me in a game.”

“Game? What game?” Igula speculated with intense suspicion. “Is it a complex game unique to the Kingdom of Gospel?”

“No, no, no, this game is not complicated at all, and it heavily favors the side with more people.”

Purple Moth lightly flicked her earring, producing a crisp sound.

“As long as you know your companions well enough.”

That’s it; we’re doomed, everyone thought.

…

Kaimon University Affiliated Hospital.

As the light in the operating room switched from red to green, a slight crow Medical Practitioner exited, and an assistant who had been waiting outside for a long time immediately approached: “Doctor Siflin, how did the surgery go?”

“The surgery went very well,” Siflin removed her crow mask and hood, letting the hair pinned within her coat flow free. “His failed life is over now.”

“I’ve preserved the critical organs with a Miracle, you just inform the corpse disposal department to come and collect the body. Come to think of it, there are quite a lot of people with no social value alive, I’ve only been here a few days and I’ve already performed three ‘fresh start’ surgeries.”

“Doctor Siflin, you’re still young, so you’d be surprised.” The assistant smiled. “There are too many such people who neither want to undergo biological modification to work nor are willing to take risks to earn money. They don’t even have an acquaintance to borrow money from and spend all day roaming Sky Bridge Park, wasted time, fishing out candy wrappers from trash cans to lick for flavor… Only a small portion get the chance to be sent to the hospital. These vagrants are quite cunning, and the volunteers can’t keep up with cleaning them up.”

After the ‘Fernand incident,’ Siflin decided to end her Blood Embrace ritual and leave Shattered Lake Prison. However, she didn’t plan to return to her research institute immediately but chose to intern at a hospital instead, aiming to elevate her Water Technique Faction and Blood Technique Faction to Gold Level before going back.

This time she didn’t hide her identity, boldly presenting her scholar’s certification from one of the four major research institutes. The hospital was naturally willing to indulge the Princess’s studies, arranging her in the busiest position in the hospital—the fourth emergency medical department.

Each hospital has four emergency departments, categorized by patient type; leaving the first three aside, the fourth emergency medical department specifically admits individuals with poor social credit, prior criminal records, and who can’t have modest emergency fees deducted from the bank.

Like the body disposal department, the fourth emergency department is also a ‘privileged department’ only open to Blood Saint Clan Medical Practitioners. And the job of the fourth emergency is simple—determine whether a patient’s life is worth saving. If it is, save them; if not, send them to the body disposal department.

How do you determine the value of a patient? It’s simple, memory extraction.

You’ve probably figured it out by now—the fourth emergency department isn’t just for training Blood Saint Mages in their medical abilities, but also serves as a quick Training Room for the Spirit Faction.

This is why there are no Spirit Faction training methods in the Kingdom of Blood Moon, because the Blood Saint Mages don’t need those slow learning methods. They forcibly extract memories from others using Technique Spirits, and even if they damage the patients in the process, they still gain a ton of mental experience. This naturally leads to leaps and bounds in the progress of the Spirit Faction.

It’s like not learning any driving knowledge and just getting behind the wheel—after crashing a few dozen cars, you’ll basically become a professional highway killer. The fourth emergency department isn’t that extreme, but after merely three memory extractions, Siflin’s Spirit Faction made great strides into the silver Level, the efficiency of her learning is quite evident.

However, don’t get it wrong, the fourth emergency department isn’t a killing department—most of the time, it’s normal emergency treatment that doesn’t end in death.

Because the Blood Saint Mages still have to browse and analyze the patients’ memories after extracting them, e.g., whether the patient has working capabilities, if they can become a burden on others thereby reducing others’ work efficiency, or if they can be despised by others to enhance the latter’s sense of superiority in life… There are quite a few dimensions to this analysis, and sometimes even if the patient is useless, as long as they can improve others’ gaming experience, the fourth emergency department will let them live.

Only for those who are a complete mess in social relationships, with absolutely no value to others or society, will the fourth emergency department consider a ‘starting life anew’ surgery for them.

There is no risk in doing this.

People no one cares about are naturally people no one cares whether they live or die.

Obviously, Siflin was lucky, having encountered such ‘rare goods’ three times in a row, which is why she could use memory extraction without any qualms.

Because of these various benefits, Blood Saint Mages flock to the fourth emergency department; however, there’s a loophole in this efficient waste disposal system—homeless people won’t just wander into a hospital on their own. So, who’s responsible for picking up the trash?

The ‘volunteers’ Siflin mentioned earlier are those environmentalists who enthusiastically volunteer to pick up trash on the streets.

The Blood Saint Clan might have enticed them, or maybe not, but there’s always a group of people in society who choose to lurk at night, specifically looking for homeless people who are unwilling to work through loans to release their violence. Unfortunately, they often can’t get past the mental hurdle and stop before killing, which is why the fourth emergency department came into existence.

Because of the existence of these volunteers, the urban environment has become much cleaner. However, the savvy homeless have also learned to strategically relocate, leading to the downsizing of the sewer rats.

But the Government Affairs Hall will soon add iron grilles and a series of restriction measures to the sewers—deserters are not tolerated in the battlefield of the City.

“Dr. Siflin, there is a patient who has an appointment for biological modification surgery waiting for you in your office.”

“Biological modification surgery?” Siflin was a bit puzzled, “Aren’t there better practitioners than me in the hospital… Oh, I see now.”

Of course, there are medical practitioners with better skills than her in the hospital, so this patient was specifically allocated for the Princess of the Blood Clan to practice on—if it were really about matching patients according to skill levels, wouldn’t Siflin be left out in the cold for a year?

The hospital wouldn’t dare let Siflin sit on the bench; soon her seniors would make the hospital’s management dangle from the sky lanterns.

However, when Siflin entered the office, she immediately overturned her previous guess—the hospital wasn’t being kind to her, this was clearly throwing a big problem in her direction!

In the office, there were two people—a tall man wearing a Hunter’s coat, with a half-sleeve sin-hunting glove on his right hand, white hair and blood-red eyes, looking timeless and indifferent; and a cute girl in a wheelchair dressed in a luxurious dress, with no hands and feet, resembling an unfinished doll.

“Hello, I am Gerard Westminster, Hunter number 307791,” said the white-haired man, “She is Selena Bright.”

“I’m Siflin Gowen.” Siflin crouched down, looking at Selena, “May I ask why a Blood Frenzy Hunter would bring a minor here for medical treatment? Or are you also a guardian from a foster home, Mr. Hunter?”

Selena said timidly, “Hello, sister.”

“Hello, Selena,” Siflin touched Selena’s head, her eyes filled with pity for the beautiful, “Your name is just as pretty as mine.”

What a shameless woman, Selena thought.

“She’s not a child from the foster home.”

“Then whose child is she?”

“My child.”

Siflin turned her head, staring at Gerard blankly, then stepped back two steps to shut the office door. She leaned against the door with her hand on her forehead, her face etched with confusion.

“(☉_☉) Wait, does that mean… you used to be a woman?”

Gerard stood up, “Can I request a change of doctor?”