Once the group entered the butchering room, the first thing that reached them was not the sight of the equipment or the large machines arranged across the room.
It was the smell.
The faint smell of monster blood and flesh flowed through the noses of the students as soon as they stepped inside, mixing with the cold metallic scent of the room and the lingering smell of cleaning chemicals that had clearly been used on the floor earlier.
"Urgh."
Many of the students reacted almost at the same time.
Some covered their noses with their hands, while others turned their faces away for a moment as they tried to get used to the smell.
Even a few upperclassmen, who should already have been used to the faint foul smell after spending so much time inside the Research Unit, still reacted a little.
They were not completely immune to it.
Diane, who had been sleepwalking with her attendant quietly guiding her movements, suddenly opened her eyes.
She lifted one hand and placed it over her nose.
Her expression barely changed.
"It smells."
She said plainly.
Her voice was so calm that it somehow made the situation feel even stranger.
Latisha turned toward the crowd.
"Don’t worry too much about the smell."
She spoke calmly, as though this was something every new member of the Research Unit had to experience sooner or later.
"We have clothes used specifically for this room."
She pointed toward a large metal wardrobe standing against the wall.
Several sets of specially designed outfits were arranged inside, with protective clothing prepared specifically for the kind of work they were about to perform.
The members followed the direction of her finger.
Then they began walking toward the wardrobe.
The upperclassmen and senior club members from the Research Unit moved together, taking out the outfits and handing them to the first-years and second-years.
The room became slightly more active as everyone prepared.
Some students checked the size of the clothing before putting it on, while others looked at the strange equipment attached to the outfits and tried to figure out what each part was meant for.
The boys were eventually led toward their changing room, while the girls were taken toward theirs.
After changing, the students returned to the main butchering room.
And that was when they finally saw what they were going to work on.
The monster brought for them to experiment with was a Blizzard Warthog.
Several of the students stared at the large frozen bodies lying inside a heavy container.
An upperclassman drove an Ironstride Walker into the room.
The mechanical vehicle moved with heavy steps, each movement producing a dull metallic sound against the floor.
A large container was attached to the back of the machine.
Inside were several frozen Blizzard Warthogs.
The upperclassman carefully positioned the Ironstride Walker beside a large flat heating machine.
He opened the container.
One by one, the frozen bodies of the Blizzard Warthogs were dropped onto the flat heating surface.
Thud.
The frozen body landed heavily against the metal.
Another followed.
Thud.
The students watched quietly as the upperclassman stepped away from the machine and activated the warming system.
A faint mechanical hum filled the room.
Heat slowly spread across the surface.
The frost covering the bodies began to disappear.
The frozen flesh gradually softened as the bodies of the Blizzard Warthogs melted from their frozen state.
Some students watched with interest.
Others looked less pleased.
The sight of the thawing bodies made the purpose of the room much clearer.
They were not here to simply learn about monsters from books.
They were going to take them apart.
Each first-year was already paired with either a second-year or third-year member of their seven-member group.
So, their first activity began with those upperclassmen putting them through on monster flesh dismantling.
Ezra watched quietly.
So did Diane.
While the other students prepared themselves, Jeremy and the other second-year upperclassmen began explaining to them how butchering a monster, or any animal, worked inside the club.
Jeremy stood beside one of the Blizzard Warthogs while a holographic image of its skeletal structure appeared in front of him.
"Because the aim is removing all the flesh, and when I say flesh..."
Jeremy pointed toward the body.
"I mean every single piece of meat on the skeleton of this Blizzard Warthog has to be removed."
His finger then moved toward the holographic skeletal structure.
The image showed the bones beneath the layers of flesh, allowing the first-years to understand which parts needed to be removed and which parts needed to remain intact.
"That’s why we use these cutting tools, for removing parts that would be hard to remove normally."
Jeremy pointed toward the arranged cutting machines.
There were several of them.
Some were small enough to be held with one hand, while others were much heavier and required more strength to operate.
Their sizes were different, and so were their levels of sharpness.
Some were designed for precise cuts.
Others were made for removing thicker sections of flesh.
A few of the students leaned closer to examine them.
"Hmm... This could help with learning how to use a knife properly for killing."
Diane said plainly.
Her half opened light-blue eyes were glued to the cutting machines.
The members of her group slowly turned toward her.
Several of them looked at her strangely.
Ezra was the only one who didn’t react.
He was busy studying the skeletal image of the Blizzard Warthog, carefully examining the structure of its bones and the points where the different sections connected.
Jeremy, however, looked slightly nervous.
"Please don’t say something that scary."
He said while glancing at Diane.
Diane looked at him.
"Okay."
She replied softly.
Jeremy breathed out slowly.
For some reason, he wasn’t sure whether that response made him feel better.
The group began cutting, with the sounds of heavy machinery echoing through the room as the cutting tools were activated.
The machines produced sharp mechanical noises as they moved through the flesh.
The students worked according to the instructions they had received, cutting through different sections of the Blizzard Warthog while trying not to damage the parts they were supposed to preserve.
Blood splashed around.
Some of it landed on the protective clothes of the students.
Some spilled onto the floor.
The smell became stronger as the work continued.
A few first-years immediately reacted with greater irritation, because of the sight of dismantling.
One student stepped back while covering the mask on his mouth.
Another bent over the side of the table.
A few of them eventually vomited.
The sound made several other students grimace.
However, not every first-year reacted badly.
Some continued working without caring too much about what was happening around them, while others didn’t seem to feel anything at all.
They simply followed the instructions and continued cutting.
Jeremy and the other upperclassmen watched their group closely.
Then their attention slowly shifted toward Ezra and Diane.
The two first-years were dismantling the body of the Blizzard Warthog properly.
Their movements were controlled and they didn’t rush their cuts.
Ezra carefully followed the skeletal structure he had studied earlier, using the position of the bones to guide where he placed the cutting tool.
While Diane was also following the instructions without much trouble.
Her movements were simple and direct.
She didn’t waste time staring at the blood or the exposed flesh.
She simply continued with the work.
Following their senior’s instructions, the two outshone the other members of their group.
The upperclassmen watched them with some surprise.
The last two first-years stared at them in shock.
They had expected the first attempt to be messy.
Instead, Ezra and Diane were already working like they had done this before.
Hours passed with the students working and learning.
The smell that had bothered them at the beginning eventually became something they barely noticed.
The sound of cutting machines continued to fill the room.
By the time the work finally stopped, several students were exhausted.
And now, it was time for a long break.
The members of the Craft Unit looked very satisfied and relaxed as they rested in the chill spot of the club building.
They had spent their time working on their own assignments, and compared to what the Research Unit had experienced, their break looked almost peaceful.
The Research Unit members looked completely different.
Some of them couldn’t even eat the food their attendants had cooked for them.
Because the thought of cutting flesh was still fresh in their minds, and every time they looked at their food, they remembered the Blizzard Warthogs they had just spent hours dismantling.
One upperclassman noticed their expressions and laughed.
"At least now you know how your servants cook your food."
He joked.
Some of the first-years who were still affected by the sight of their work looked at him with even more disgusted expressions.
The upperclassman only laughed.
Meanwhile, Vera worked inside Professor Nine’s office.
She had been given a completely different responsibility from the other members.
Instead of spending the morning cutting monster flesh, she sat quietly at a desk with several research reports arranged in front of her.
She read through many of the already completed research reports and invention reports written by the club members.
Her job was to review everything and correct the mistakes in their writing.
A sheet of paper rested beside her.
Whenever she noticed a mistake, she marked it down before moving to the next section.
Her black eyes remained focused on the words.
There was no sign that the noisy activities happening elsewhere in the club building had anything to do with her.
By the time the break ended, she was still quietly reviewing the reports.
Her usual reading glasses rested on her face, the gold handles catching a little of the light whenever she moved her head.
She turned another page.
Read another paragraph.
Then continued correcting the report without saying anything.
After break...
The club members eventually moved toward the meeting room.
This time was the hour for Professor Nine to educate the first-years about his research study.
Life and Death.
More specifically, they would learn how Life and Death affected the way the club worked.
Ezra was walking toward the meeting room when an upperclassman suddenly called his name.
"Hey, Ezra Ashenlocke."
Ezra stopped walking.
He turned his head toward the upperclassman who had called him.
The student approached him with a somewhat awkward smile.
"Please, could you follow me on this errand Professor Nine sent me for?"
The upperclassman placed his hands together in a pleading gesture.
"He said I can pick any first-year, so I thought it would be nice to choose you so I can get to know you."
Ezra looked at him for a moment.
There was no particular reason to refuse.
"Okay."
He nodded once.
Cyrus glanced toward Ezra as he watched him leave with the upperclassman.
Where is he going?
Cyrus wondered.
He looked at the two for another moment before deciding not to think too much about it.
Lucy went toward the meeting room since Ezra had told her to head there while he assisted the upperclassman with the errand.
The two boys left the club building.
They walked through the academy grounds, heading all the way toward the Mix Arena’s main entrance.
Their footsteps were steady as they moved through the halls and open walkways.
Eventually, they arrived at the entrance.
They were there to pick up a package.
"Thank you again for the extra hand."
The upperclassman said genuinely.
"It’s fine."
Ezra replied plainly.
Silence which had been the main factor when they walked to the minx arena entrance, fell between them again.
The upperclassman looked at Ezra from the corner of his eye.
He had expected that helping Ezra would make the conversation easier, but Ezra’s plain tone made it difficult to figure out what to say next.
The upperclassman scratched the side of his head.
He couldn’t just walk beside Ezra in complete silence after deliberately choosing him for the errand.
"So..."
He finally spoke.
"Today’s the release of the Silver Wheels Vehicle that should rival your Phantom Rolls."
He looked toward Ezra with anticipation, clearly waiting for his reaction.
Ezra’s expression didn’t change.
"It’s The Eclipse’s own, though."
He replied flatly.
"Y-Yeah, it is, hahah..."
The upperclassman laughed awkwardly.
His smile became a little stiff.
He’s so blunt with his reply.
He thought.
The upperclassman had expected Ezra to at least show some interest since it related with his own invention.
Instead, the response had been so simple that there was almost nothing for him to continue with.
Still, he wasn’t ready to give up.
"But you must feel something about an Evergrey..."
He tried to start another conversation.
But before he could finish his sentence...
"Ezra Ashenlocke!"
A firm voice filled with disdain and pride echoed from the front of the two boys.
Ezra stopped.
His eyes moved toward the source of the voice.
A boy stood in front of them.
Ezra looked at him plainly.
He immediately remembered him.
The boy was one of the students who had accompanied the person they called the Second Prince, the same person who had been holding a bouquet of red roses.
Behind the boy stood a female upperclassman.
Her hands were folded in front of her as she glared at Ezra.
The expression on her face made it clear that she had not come here to exchange friendly greetings.
The boy stepped forward a bit.
"Prince Daniel calls for your presence now."
He said firmly.
His words were not presented as a request.
They sounded like an order.
Ezra remained still.
His expression didn’t change as he looked at the boy standing before him.
The upperclassman who had been accompanying Ezra also stopped beside him.
For a moment, the four stood facing one another at the walkway of the Mix Arena.
The atmosphere had changed completely.
Only moments ago, the upperclassman had been struggling to find something to talk about.
Now, he didn’t seem to know whether he should even speak.
Ezra’s eyes remained on the boy.
Prince Secondth’s huh.
Ezra didn’t immediately answer.
He simply looked at the messenger, waiting to see what would happen next.
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