Chapter 16: Such Medical Skill

Buku Town was less than a half-day’s journey from Medimus City-State, and Ace and his group arrived successfully before the city gates closed at night.

Romon was already waiting at the city gate. He hadn’t seen his wife and son for several months and had been busy with the printing house every day. He was now a qualified businessman.

“I missed you all so much!” Romon gave Marina and Ace a bear hug right upon meeting them.

“Ace, you’ve grown a lot. It seems the environment in Buku Town is indeed nurturing. The printing house has been making a fortune recently! If you weren’t still over two years away from formally obtaining Citizenship, I would have bought a huge villa in the First District.”

According to city-state law, non-Citizens cannot buy or sell property in the First District. Thus, they could only continue to live in the two-story villa rewarded by the Ministry of Culture and Education.

The city was much safer than the town outside, so the two veterans parted ways with Ace’s family and went home.

Immediately upon returning home, Ace saw five cages covered with black cloth in the courtyard.

“Low-level Monsters are still Monsters, and capturing them is not easy, especially since the ones you wanted all have special abilities, making it even harder. In this recent period, I only managed to get these Corrosion Jackals.”

Romon lifted the black cloth off one of the cages. Inside lay a grayish-green large dog that was tightly bound. Its mouth was secured with a special iron clamp, preventing it from opening, so it could only make whimpering sounds. Upon seeing the people, it showed fierce eyes and struggled, attempting to attack.

Ace recalled the records in The Guide of Low Level Monster: The Corrosion Jackal is widely found in the plains across the continent, lives in packs, usually 3 to 5 animals per pack, likes to eat sulfur, is cunning and highly aggressive. It can spray highly corrosive acid liquid 3-5 meters away from its mouth.

He desperately wanted to experiment on it now. Why could it spray a large amount of corrosive acid, yet its mouth was not corroded? Was it merely a biological function, or was there some mysterious supernatural power involved? He really wanted to dissect it quickly and seriously study its structure.

Ace suppressed his impulse. Experimenting inside the city-state was neither safe nor private. He nodded to his father, “I will take these few dogs to the estate in Buku Town in a few days. Please prepare the carriage, Father.”

“You’re going back in a few days? Aren’t you going to study medicine with Physician Telos?”

“Of course I am. I will live here three days a week and go to the estate the rest of the time.”

“What’s so great about Buku Town? Alright, alright, have it your way,” Romon said helplessly.

The next day, Ace brought some local produce from Buku Town to Teacher Peter’s house. He gave the gift to Joan and, after confirming the teacher was home, walked straight toward the backyard. Today was Friday, Peter’s day for public lectures.

Ace had not attended Peter’s lecture for a long time. He found a comfortable spot in the courtyard, greeted the disciples he knew softly, and began listening to Peter’s lecture.

At noon, when Peter finished his lecture, Ace stood up and bowed slightly to Teacher Peter. “Teacher, I am back.”

“I heard you lived in Buku Town for a period. The rural environment must be good. You’ve shot up a whole head in height in just a few months,” Peter said, smiling at Ace.

Ace had indeed developed rapidly during this time. He suspected it was related to the great increase in his mental power after practicing the meditation method. However, he couldn’t say this, so he just agreed, “The rural environment is indeed beautiful. If you have time, Teacher, you are welcome to stay at my estate for a while.”

“I will certainly go when I have time. I have already contacted Physician Telos. He agreed for you to study medicine with him three days a week. Since you are not an apprentice, you will need to pay him 50 Silver Thales per month in tuition.”

“That is very reasonable, Teacher Peter.”

“His clinic is in the First District. I will take you there.”

Telos’s clinic was in the busy area of the First District, mainly serving the Nobles and Citizens. The clinic was a three-story building facing the street. It was Telos’s break time at noon, and Peter brought Ace to the clinic.

“Telos, this is my student Ace. He wishes to learn medicine from you.”

Telos was short and thin, with sharp, bright eyes.

He stared at Ace for a moment. “Since you are unwilling to be an apprentice, you must pay to learn. It is 50 Silver Thales per month, and the price is the same whether you come for a few days or the whole month. I will give lectures to the apprentices every evening, which you can audit anytime. During the day, I treat patients. If you are willing, you can assist, and you can still learn quite a bit.”

“That is fine, Teacher Telos. Let us start today. I would like to modify the schedule: I will study with you for half a month each month, and I won’t come the other half.”

“That is acceptable. Whether you come for 30 days a month or just one day, it will still be 50 Silver Thales. I hope you learn something and don’t waste the Silver Thales.”

Peter left, and Ace stayed behind, beginning to assist at Telos’s clinic.

It was his first close-up exposure to the medical practice of this world. He spent the entire afternoon busy with chores.

“Please wash the dirty wool cloth and boil it in hot water for one hour.”

“Newcomer, clean up this patient’s vomit.”

“This patient was bitten on the leg by a poisonous snake. Newcomer, quickly bring the ax.”

“He has a high fever; we must bleed him. Newcomer, quickly bring a basin.”

“He ate spoiled food. We have no choice but to give an enema. Newcomer, go get the large metal syringe.”

After a busy afternoon, Ace witnessed the best medical skill in the city-state. They understood high-temperature sterilization and used some medicine, but more often, treatment involved chopping off legs for leg injuries, cutting off hands for hand injuries, and they were extremely proficient in bloodletting therapy and enema techniques.

In the evening, Telos was giving a lecture.

“Amputation is often the most effective way to treat an injury. Cutting off the poisoned or festering limb prevents the disease from spreading throughout the body…”

“The body has an overall excess of blood. Bloodletting can eliminate the sickness. If you find the right spot, you can quickly resolve the sickness…”

“Sickness enters through the mouth. Once inside the body, it can only be removed through the intestines. We accelerate excretion by giving an enema…”

After about a week, Ace had a complete understanding of the city-state’s best clinic.

Telos’s treatment philosophy was fundamentally about eliminating the sickness. Whether it was cutting off hands and feet, bloodletting, or enemas, the goal was actually to eliminate the sickness.

However, their methods were too crude and simple. Many methods were based on experience and conjecture, a priori speculation.

Therefore, their methods were hit or miss. Some people suffered terribly and still lost their lives in the end.

Ace had not studied medicine in his past life. There is an old saying that advising someone to study medicine will bring divine punishment. But after seeing a week of crude treatment methods, Ace shuddered.

Many patients’ conditions did not require cutting off limbs. Cleaning the wound promptly with saline or alcohol and using a fire-heated steel knife to cut away the necrotic flesh would suffice. He decided to study medicine himself. Since he had to conduct experiments anyway, he needed to study medicine to avoid having his own legs cut off, being bled, or given an enema in the future.