Chapter 1493: Have A Heart For Iatromancy
At this stage, I was fully expecting Iatromancy class to have some kind of weird thing going on as well... Like maybe telling us to hurt ourselves to be able to heal ourselves or something, you know?
Still can’t forget my Iatromancy class back in Crown Capital City...
And I am happy to say...
My expectations were basically spot on... In a way at least.
The classroom was designed to be circular with a single path leading in from the door and with raised tables so that everyone could see what looked like an operating table in the centre of the circle.
I went ahead to take one of the front seats again with Tiara beside me and ignored the whispers from our classmates.
A Rizzie then flew into class and I almost mistook her for another student until I spotted the azure robes that clung to her shoulders.
She spun around the room and I heard her humming a tune when she flew over us before she stopped in the centre of the circle, floating right above the operating table.
"Hello everyone!! Welcome to intermediate Iatromancy class!! It’s me! Professor Raita! Nice to meet all of you!"
There was a soft chorus of greetings coming from the rest of the class, most of them sounding a little wary.
I assume everyone here has already seen how students could be dropped out of their class for any reason and most likely thought that this class also had similar circumstances as well.
Well... I was no different either so I was fully prepared for her to test us by making us hurt ourselves or each other first to weed out the numbers.
All of us watched as the Rizzie let out a rather cute giggle before she floated down to stand on top of the operating table.
"There’s no need for all of you to be nervous! I know that outside, some places treat Iatromancy as a second grade magic! But here, it is different! In Aerialla Academy, Iatromancy is a very important school of magic because without healers like us, people would be dying all the time inside the school!"
Err... I think that kind of exposes the fact that this school is quite dangerous more than anything else...
Obviously I wasn’t going to say that out loud of course...
Professor Raita then spun around again, giving everyone a look before continuing.
"All of you are here in the intermediate class! Which means you have experience in healing and also understanding the biological factors that go into healing at least to a certain degree! Here is where things get more serious! If you are not prepared... Then I’m afraid that even I can’t help you!"
There were a few audible gulps coming from some of the students as all of us wondered just what we had to be prepared for.
She then flew up into the air again before she clapped her hands together, "Alright!! I won’t waste any time here so we might as well begin with our first lesson!!"
She then clapped her hands together, the clap sounding louder than what should have been possible with her small frame and causing the room to shake slightly.
A light then shone down on the operating table and before we knew it, the figure of a Mahun appeared standing on the table itself.
It was a male Mahun who was completely naked and he seemed to be confused about where he was since he was looking around the room like he was searching for something.
When he finally looked up and saw the professor floating above him, he finally relaxed and bowed, "Mistress."
The professor did not even acknowledge his greeting and simply said one word to him.
"Die."
The man suddenly toppled over, his body crashing onto the table like a puppet with its strings cut.
He would have rolled off the table had there not been strings of light suddenly appearing to wrap around his limbs and pulled him back to lie down on top of the table.
Quite a number of students let out a gasp at the sight which I don’t blame them for since it quite literally looked like we just witnessed what could only be a murder.
The professor didn’t even look too bothered and even seemed to look amused by the reactions of everyone around the room.
As for me... I was also surprised at first but more because the guy was apparently killed by a single word uttered by the professor without any hint of some spell being cast.
I thought it was some kind of spell belonging to the Iatromancy branch of magic that was achievable at the highest tier of the magic until professor Riata spoke again.
"Ehehe~ No need to be so surprised everyone~ This is a homunculus I’ve created for the purpose of this class! He’s not an actual person~"
Ah... I guess that’s why he can die on command because she holds the control over that homunculus’s life and death.
But now begs the question of why is there even a homunculus on the operating table now? And for her to be able to create a homunculus... That’s already pretty difficult to do, right?
Wait... Is she planning to...
She floated down to the operating table and another flash of light appeared around her, revealing what looked like surgical tools that were placed around the table.
She flicked her hand towards the side and a surgical knife flew into her hand which she used to cut open a hole in the guy’s chest.
All of us watched as she quite literally dove into the hole, her entire body disappearing inside the chest of the homunculus and the ’corpse’ started rocking around as she seemed to be moving inside his body.
Everyone was just looking at the body in the centre of the room, though it was obvious there were some students who weren’t taking the sight well with how pale they’ve gone.
Without warning, the professor appeared from the hole again, holding the heart of the homunculus which was comedically the same size as she was so she had to heft it up above her head with both hands.
She was also drenched completely in blood but that didn’t seem to bother her as she flew back up into the air while dripping with blood.
The most curious thing was that the heart was actually still beating.
"There! Tadah!! This is the heart! I’m not sure how many of you have actually seen the actual thing up close so have a good look at it!"
She then flew towards one of the students and then presented the heart to the guy, "Here! Touch it! Feel it! Hold it! Taste it if you want! I don’t mind~"
The student she presented the heart to paled even more and he covered his mouth before turning away, trying to stop himself from throwing up.
The professor waited for a moment as if to check if the guy would reconsider before shrugging her shoulders and flying away to the next student beside the first guy.
This one was less queasy about it and he reached out to poke his finger at it, only for a squirt of blood to spray out and splatter on the table, causing him to recoil.
"Whoops~ Next~" The professor giggled, like she had just successfully pulled off a prank.
The next student was also not that enthusiastic about it and she froze up when the beating heart was presented in front of her, the girl looking like she was doing her best not to freak out.
Once more, the professor waited for a few more seconds before she flew to the next student... Which happened to be me.
Well... It’s not my first time seeing a heart like this since I’ve had my share of fights where I had sliced open the torso of my opponents before... And there were some fights where I also pulled out the hearts of my enemies and crushed them too, so...
I reached out and picked up the heart in my hand, marvelling at how it was still beating despite the fact that it was removed from the homunculus’s body.
In fact... The heart was still warm as well.
I even gave the heart a soft squeeze before looking up at the professor, "It’s... Harder than normal?"
She beamed at me, "Ah! You’ve held one before? Mmhmm~ This one’s slightly different from an actual heart! It’s made of more durable materials so don’t be afraid to be a little rough with it! Well done for noticing!"
She reached out both her hands and I passed it back to her, prompting her to fly over to Tiara next.
Tiara also reached out to grab it without any reservation and I had to remember that she had experience with her parallel selves before so she’s not some sheltered princess.
"It’s warm," She commented before passing the heart back to the professor like she was simply giving her a hot potato back.
The professor giggled and also praised her for noticing before moving to the next student.
Yeah... Err... This is already proving to be quite an interesting class isn’t it?