Chapter 84 : Chapter 84

Chapter 84. Dealing with the Corpse

Cuilan Academy, inside Fran’s home.

Fran sat in front of a large furnace, staring at the corpse inside while calculating the time.

“No way… It has already been three hours. I even used magical flames. Why will it not burn completely?”

The body inside the furnace belonged to Beloli.

Fran had thought that leaving the corpse lying around was not a good idea, so she had set aside a full day to deal with it.

However, the situation had turned out very differently from what she had expected.

In her imagination, once something was thrown into the furnace, no matter what it was, it should eventually be reduced to ashes.

Reality, however, had dealt her a harsh blow.

It was not that the fire had no effect on Beloli’s corpse. Rather, only certain parts had been burned into ashes.

After the flames died down, Fran used Telekinetic Hand to pull the still-warm corpse out of the furnace and carefully inspect it.

The portions that had been dissolved by the fire had indeed turned into ashes, but a large amount of flesh and skin still remained.

On the lower half of the body, everything below the calves had vanished. Only silver-colored bones protruded outward, yet the overall structure of the feet remained intact.

The upper body, however, was in a horrifying state.

From the waist to the shoulders, the corpse was riddled with holes. Only a small amount of flesh still connected the pieces together.

Through the larger gaps, one could clearly see the interior of the body.

After being burned once, the entire corpse had been covered with a layer of black ash. Fran illuminated the inside of the body with Light Prayer.

The internal organs had completely disappeared. Most of the ribs in the chest had been destroyed, yet the back of the corpse remained surprisingly intact.

Fran used Telekinetic Hand to wipe away some of the ash and revealed the spine beneath it.

Under the light, the spine reflected a grayish-brown sheen. At a glance, it was clearly no ordinary bone.

When she reached the head, the flesh around the neck remained mostly intact. The large hole left when Fran had extracted the Extraordinary Organ from the neck was clearly visible.

As for the eye sockets, bone was exposed, and inside there was nothing at all—only the hollow interior of the skull.

Fran examined the spine carefully and realized it would be extremely difficult to remove it intact. She eventually abandoned the idea.

In her opinion, Beloli had most likely cultivated her own spine into this form through some special method rather than replacing it with another.

Therefore, the spine likely had little value for transplantation. Besides, Fran currently did not possess the qualifications to hold such organs anyway.

What she wanted now was simply to dispose of the corpse as quickly as possible.

If the matter were discovered, her Fourth-Tier Mage mentor could probably help smooth things over. However, doing so would inevitably make an enemy of the Alteration School.

Antagonizing such a school was not something Fran wanted. If the matter could remain hidden, that would be far better.

Unfortunately, the furnace could not fully destroy the corpse.

And Fran’s previous method of burying bodies was absolutely impossible to use this time.

It was said that the Alteration School had reached an agreement with the Construction School to search the entire city’s underground areas.

Many First-Tier Mages had joined the search.

The reason was simple: Fran’s previous burial of Richter’s corpse had made both schools suspect that Beloli’s body might also have been buried underground.

Fran understood the methods available in a magical world.

Even Richter’s corpse, which had been crushed into fragments, had somehow been discovered by someone.

Now that they were specifically searching for buried bodies, if she actually buried it, the corpse would probably be found very quickly.

If that were the case, what would be the point of burying it at all? She might as well throw it onto the street in the middle of the night.

After all, the entire purpose of hiding the body was to prevent others from finding it and to minimize the clues left behind.

“In that case, I can only use that somewhat risky method.”

The method Fran was referring to was not meant to hide the corpse.

Instead, it would draw the investigators’ attention somewhere else.

Both the Alteration School and the Necromancy School were major consumers of corpses.

Not only did the schools themselves order corpses to be delivered into the City of Apprentices, but many apprentices also placed orders with unscrupulous merchants. Corpses were necessary materials for studying spells and knowledge.

Of course, not every corpse ended up being recycled into a modified construct.

In fact, most of the bodies used by apprentices were so badly damaged that their original appearance was almost unrecognizable. Sometimes even half the bones were missing.

Naturally, such mutilated corpses could not be reused.

Most corpses ended up like this anyway—apprentices rarely showed restraint when experimenting on them. It would be unrealistic to expect practice materials to remain intact.

As a result, the two schools accumulated large numbers of corpses that had little value.

If these remains were allowed to pile up, both schools would likely stink to high heaven.

One might ask why they did not simply gather the corpses together and burn them.

In reality, the schools did gather them—but they chose a more economical solution.

They buried them outside the city.

For a small fee, they hired mercenaries from the City of Apprentices to transport the corpses outside the city walls.

After that, the mercenaries could do whatever they wanted with them, as long as the bodies were not brought back.

After handling such contracts many times, the mercenaries had developed a mature system.

They buried the corpses in designated locations, and each location had limits on how many could be buried over a certain period.

If too many bodies were buried in one place, unpleasant surprises could occur—such as skeletons suddenly spawning from the ground.

Because of this risk, the mercenaries had established strict burial practices to prevent unnecessary accidents.

Fran’s plan was to mix Beloli’s corpse among these discarded bodies and let the mercenaries transport it out of the city.

Of course, she knew that the Alteration School was currently investigating the matter very thoroughly. There was still a chance they might discover Beloli’s corpse among the others.

Fran planned to disguise herself as an apprentice from one of the two schools when she handed over the body bag.

If the mercenaries discovered the corpse during burial, the Alteration School would immediately notice the condition of the body.

The marks left from the extraction of organs using alteration techniques would be unmistakable.

That might lead the Alteration School to suspect someone within their own ranks.

That outcome would be far better than leaving the corpse in the streets and allowing them to search everywhere.

As long as Fran could escape immediately after handing over the body, the Alteration School would never be able to trace her identity.

Their attention would inevitably turn inward.

Just to be safe, however, she did not intend to act immediately.

She would wait until she had advanced to the rank of a formal mage.

Very soon she would complete the structure of her second spell and form a complete system.

At that point, she would train several spells to the Mastery level, allowing her Mental Power to reach 3.5 and satisfy the final condition for advancement.

Even if a formal mage caught her on the spot, she would be able to escape using the strength of a formal mage.

Otherwise, she would have to use Blood of the Furnace to instantly kill them—which would immediately expose her identity.

When the time came, who would ever suspect that such a deed had been committed by an apprentice who had not even ranked in the assessment?