Ball of Nothing

Normally, Hua Tuo and Zero took turns to prepare dinner. Zero was used to hunting, harvesting and chopping vegetables while cooking rice. However, he never really had the opportunity for handling any kind of meat. Hua Tuo was usually in charge of that. He would gut the fish and bleed out the animals before cutting them up into portions for future use. When Zero heard that he would be in charge of the dismantling of hunted prey, he was over the cloud.

However, instead of Hua Tuo, Gweshr was teaching Zero how to prepare the meat from the hunt.

"I don't do this often so pardon me if it looks messy. Blade users are usually better at this with the exception of Mitchnew. It's not very difficult but you must be well acquainted with a knife. Do you have a hunting knife or shall we borrow one from the weapon stores?"

Zero grinned and withdrew his from his inventory. The werewolf was impressed. It didn't matter how many times he'd seen the young doctor pull things out from a space crack, it still amazed him. Sometimes, it was simply too easy to forget how powerful Zero was. The teen still gave off a soft and innocent vibe despite the kind of destruction he was capable of. Hua Tuo had demonstrated a surgery yesterday and according to Vishnu, Zero didn't shy away even after he was covered with blood. Gweshr thought that was rather impressive. Even for warriors, they would be shaken after seeing so much blood for the first time. Zero certainly had nerves made of steel that every doctor required.

"Alright, let's go through some basic understanding. There's going to be a few kinds of animals we will be learning to dismantle. The dismantling process is important namely because different parts of the animal can be used to make different things. For example, fur can be used to make rugs, feathers can be made into pillows, some organs can be used to make medicine, bones can be made into tools or soup and meat is for eating."

Zero nodded. "Will I learn the different processes for making these items too?"

Gweshr grinned. "Nope. Dismantling is merely taking apart an animal and sorting out parts for different uses. The others will collect what they need after the dismantling process. Live carcasses are the easiest to work with before the stiffness sets in so we have to work fast. It's best to dismantle the prey immediately after it is caught and killed but for your training, we had to carry it back after killing it."

Zero nodded. Rigor mortis usually sets in after an hour or two after the body dies. He knew that from lessons with his teacher. Most animals can still be revived if the soul has not left the body even if the heart stops beating. Blood still flows and the body still lives on even if death occurs. However, most times the soul would leave the body upon death which is why the three-minute rule is critical when using revival magic.

On the other hand, souls with lingering attachments who cling onto dead bodies for too long will turn into zombies. Zombies are slow to move simply because of rigor mortis when the muscles have all stiffened from the staling of blood. It happens before the decomposition becomes really obvious. With that, Zero could imagine how impossibly hard it would be to dismantle carcasses if they start getting stiff. Meat without fresh blood is usually close to spoiling if they're not cured.

Gweshr taught Zero how to sharpen a hunting knife and explained why a sharp knife is critical when dismantling.

"Never take for granted, check the blade before you dismantle. A good dismantler will not hack with force because it damages the blade over time. All you need to do is go with the flow and slice it cleanly with precision and for that to happen, your blade must be sharp."

To demonstrate the sharpness of his knife, Gweshr plucked a blade of grass and let it fall onto the sharpened hunting knife.

The blade of grass floated gently in the air and was completely cut into two the moment it landed on the sharpened knife. Zero's eyes widened and looked at his hunting knife. The teen plucked a blade of grass and held his breath.

Gweshr laughed when the blade of grass bounced off Zero's hunting knife without even a dent. He handed the brunet the portable grindstone and taught Zero how to sharpen a blade.

"Hold it down this angle. You don't want to overdo either side so make sure you apply the same force equally and run it through the same number of times. The aim of doing this is to wear the edge of the metal into a thin angle."

Zero nodded and followed Gweshr's earlier example for the first side. After five times, the werewolf told Zero to run his finger lightly on the knife to test for sharpness. "If you feel it biting, that side is sharp enough. You should do the same to the other side."

Not thinking, Zero ran it horizontally on the blade and Gweshr yelled when he smelled fresh blood. Zero was equally shocked as ruby liquid started gushing from the thin cut.

"You idiot! Run it the other way! Never run it parallel against a blade, that's suicidal! Hasn't anyone taught you that?"

Zero calmly used healing magic to close the cut and apologised. The werewolf felt as if he'd just lost five years of his lifespan watching Zero do that. Who would have thought that Zero would run his finger on a blade in parallel? Even children knew better than to do that, it should have been common sense!

"You run it this way," Gweshr demonstrated and lightly tested the sharpness of the blade, running his finger over the blade in perpendicular.

"It's sharper now but not sharp enough. Also, you held the blade too high while sharpening so it's a little thick."

Zero made a face. It was difficult to sharpen the blade horizontally to the whetstone. Gweshr watched as Zero struggled and understood what Zero was struggling with.

"Here," he turned the stone and told Zero to sharpen it vertically against the stone instead. "It's going to be easier but pay attention to the unevenness for each section. You might want to use circular motions to ensure everything is balanced."

Zero nodded. This was a much easier method and the teen decided to use it from now on. Once the other side was complete, Zero went back to the first side to continue. He repeated the process about five times until Gweshr told him to stop and test the sharpness again.

This time, the grass blade broke into two almost the instant it touched the blade. Zero was pleased and Gweshr nodded.

"Now that the blade is sharp, we can start. Please be very careful when handling knives, always sheathe it when you are not using it. We don't want any children running over and stepping on it. I'll teach you how to clean and oil the blade after we're done. Today we hunted something simpler to dismantle. I'm sure you are familiar with pheasants."

Zero nodded. He loved to eat wild pheasants. Gweshr laughed at the drool by Zero's mouth.

"Alright, birds are easier to work with. First, let's borrow a huge basin and fill that with hot water."

Zero was puzzled. Hot water? Still, he followed Gweshr silently to the storage hut to get a bronze basin big enough to be a bathing tub for Leon. Zero made the process easier and filled it completely with steaming hot water using magic.

Beside the bronze basin, were five pheasants. Gweshr explained that the hunter had done the first step of preparation by cutting the heads off and bleeding them out.

"Blood can sometimes contain diseases that we don't know about so it's safer to do this. You'd also notice that the rigidness is setting in quicker than usual, it's due to the absence of blood. That's when the hot water comes in. We will soak them one at a time and pluck them immediately. Do not soak them for more than ten seconds, we don't want to cook them just yet. The hot water is to relax those stiffening muscles to make plucking easier."

Zero watched as Gweshr held the first pheasant by its feet to dip it entirely into the water apart from the legs. The scout removed the bird from the water and worked quickly despite the steam rising from the soaked feathers.

"It may be hot so bear with it. Feathers are easiest to remove after a hot soak. You don't have to pluck them, it's usually faster to rub them in circular motions like this, the feathers come off easily. Plucking them too hard may damage the skin and we don't want that happening. I know of a few people who really enjoy eating deep-fried skin so we should do our best to preserve its condition."

Zero nodded and wondered if he could use magic for this.

"Would you like me to cast some magic for heat resistance on your hands?"

Gweshr blinked. "Is that possible?"

Zero beamed. "Yes. It'll make things a lot faster if you didn't have to rest every five seconds, right?"

Zero had a point and Gweshr allowed the use of magic. While Hua Tuo instructed him not to spoil Zero too much with the use of magic during his training, this was actually something the werewolf thought would be handy. He wondered if it was possible for the lab members to create something similar for future tasks.

Zero and Gweshr worked quickly and plucked all five pheasants clean. Satisfied with the work, the werewolf told Zero to pour the water away while he wrapped the pheasants in a clean cloth. "Meet me in the kitchen with Zoe after you've put the basin away. We're going to start removing the innards and inedible parts. I think your teacher will also be present to teach you how to identify organs."

Zero smiled brightly and nodded. The bronze basin might not be steaming now but the water was still hot so Zero used a little wind magic to help him flip it over safely. Once the water was poured out, Zero encased his hand with heat resistance magic and put the basin away neatly. It was mid-morning and lunch preparations were about to start. He cast speed enhancement onto his boots and ran through the village to meet Zoe in the mass kitchen.

Gweshr was surprised to see Zero in the kitchen when he arrived. "That was fast."

Zero gave him a victory sign.

"I cheated a little," he grinned.

Hua Tuo gave his student a glare and Zero was quick to defend himself. "It's only speed enhancements, I didn't teleport!"

"No magic means no magic! How many times do I have to tell you? Buff and enhancements are also magic!"

Zero cringed as his teacher launched into yet another long lecture. Gweshr and Zoe helped to set aside one male and one female pheasant that Hua Tuo requested for Zero's anatomy lessons. The werewolf left the evisceration lesson to the physician who huffed and told Zero to check on their bovine patient later.

"As punishment, you will also clean the cow's stall."

Zero groaned. He didn't want to clean cow dung again but Hua Tuo's words were absolute. How he hated being a doctor's apprentice...

The physician handed Zero a scalpel and told him to get familiarised with the weight of the blade. "Has Gweshr taught you how to sharpen knives?"

Zero nodded. Hua Tuo passed the whetstone to Zero and told him to sharpen the surgical blade. "Sterilise them all after you are done before we proceed. Treat this as a live operation session."

Zero nodded and did as he was told.

Satisfied that Zero was already familiar with the pre-surgery procedures, Hua Tuo handed Zero his mask, hair cap and gloves. The brunet washed his hands the way he was taught and sterilised everything before they started.

The first 'patient' was the female pheasant.