The wedding between King Charles II of Brolin and Princess Talia of the Kingdom of Poi was the most lavish and talked-about event on the continent in a century.
For the wedding, the streets from the palace to the church were covered with carpets, with wooden planks underneath.
As a sign of respect to the Radiant Lord, even the king had to walk to the church on foot. The carpets and planks ensured that the shoes, hems, and trains of the nobles remained spotless.
King Charles II of Brolin, dressed in ceremonial robes embroidered with divine runes in mithril thread and encrusted with diamonds to provide divine energy, walked slowly in front.
Behind the king, the young queen, Princess Talia of the Kingdom of Poi, wore a gown of silver thread and brocade, with two noblewon holding her train as she walked behind the king.
The train of the queen's gown was adorned with pearl-sized pearls, adding a watery sheen to the floor-length dress. It was evident that this dress, worn only once for the wedding, would be locked away forever, and its power was not inferior to the king's wedding attire.
After the wedding, the Grand Steward of Brolin, leading 36 apprentice knight-level court attendants and 12 knights wielding gold and silver scepters, escorted the dining team into the palace with great pomp.
Delicacies that the kingdom's commoners could only dream of appeared row after row at the wedding banquet:
- Moonlight Rays from the Black Sea, a single bite could grant the gentle power of moonlight, only a piece of flesh from the gills was taken, and the rest was given to the servants;
- Five-colored divine birds from the New World, plucked and stead, with feathers reinserted one by one to appear lifelike on the table;
- Twelve three-foot diater gold plates filled with castles sculpted from white sugar, covered with gold foil on the walls, with candy-made flowers, birds, and animals;
- Golden dates from the depths of the Orc Kingdom that flowed with honey when touched, placed in large bowls on the long table for guests to enjoy at will.
Of course, chickens and ducks raised in the royal court, fed daily with spices and dicinal herbs, and cattle and sheep raised on magical plants, were supplied without limit. Guests could eat to their heart's content.
Only the most esteed and trusted nobles could attend the king's wedding. Most lower-ranking nobles and knights could only stand in the palace square, waiting for the king and queen to appear on the balcony and wave to them with a smile.
"Ah, she is so beautiful!"
"Platinum hair! Rose-colored smile!"
"Truly a princess closest to the Radiance!"
"She saw ! She saw ! Ah, my heart is drunk. From today on, I will dedicate everything to the beautiful queen!"
On the balcony, as the king and queen waved with smiles, flowers, candies, and coins rained down. Points of holy light swirled above the palace, blessings personally bestowed by the Archbishop stationed in the capital.
These blessings were soon overshadowed. After the banquet, the bright sound of clarinets rang out in the court, followed by a grand ensemble of various instrunts. After three hymns praising the Radiant Lord, lively dance music began, and the ball lasted all night.
In the kingdom square and city streets, the packed citizens couldn't see any of this. They gazed greedily at the sky, watching the splendid, fleeting fireworks.
Fireworks for the king's wedding, colorful and in myriad shapes: the golden lily of the Brolin royal crest, the blue cornflower of the Rhine Kingdom's crest, peacocks spreading their tails, rmaids splashing water...
The fireworks soared high, even overshadowing the blessings of the Radiant Church.
In a slum alley, a little girl with a hungry stomach reached out to catch a small piece of falling firework.
"It's so beautiful... I wish..."
This lavish wedding, accompanied by banquets, balls, fireworks, and a month-long celebration of balls and performances, ca at a high cost. According to the kingdom's finance minister, it consud the kingdom's finances for twenty years.
Naturally, the massive wedding expenses were covered by borrowing from rchants. The young new king and the dowager queen, eager to showcase the kingdom's power, had the sa attitude toward this huge debt:
"Just raise taxes then—"
After all, the taxes from farrs, citizens, and rchants are never-ending, right?
Garrett was completely unaware of this grand wedding, and even if he knew, he wouldn't care. No matter how grand the wedding, could he even see it?
Even if he went to the scene, would he have a good spot? A viewing seat with the best view? Lighting that highlights the actors' beauty? Caras switching angles, capturing every detail of the scene?
Without these, he'd rather recall the movies he'd watched in his previous life. With the enhanced mory from his transmigration, he could close his eyes and imagine everything.
Oh, maybe except for the jewels. But, did the King and Queen of Carolingian have enough luxury to surpass Cirella's collection?
After all, Cirella's treasures weren't his to claim, but he could look at them whenever he wanted, touch them whenever he wished. Holding them in his hand for close examination or imrsing himself in their internal structure with his ntal perception was all possible.
So now, Garrett was diligently imrsed in his field of dicine and magic. His current biggest task was to fix the child with scoliosis across the strait—
So far, he had beco proficient in creating animal models of scoliosis in canines. However, the success rate of the subsequent corrective surgery remained consistently stable...
Stable at zero percent.
He smiled wryly.
He could cut what needed to be cut, file what needed to be filed, guide the growth of bones that needed to be guided, and reposition the curved bones. But, he couldn't fully protect the nerves spreading from the spine.
In unlucky cases, the dog would go into shock and die during the surgery; in luckier cases, the dog would survive the surgery only to beco paralyzed...
"Ahhh, spinal surgery and neurosurgery are just too difficult!" Garrett groaned, holding his head. He swayed with his eyes closed for a while, then stood straight again:
"Wash hands, change isolation gown, change surgical instrunts. Bring another dog, I'll do the surgery again! Cirella, get the microscope—"
He refused to believe that magnifying it ten tis wouldn't help him complete the surgery!
Cutting open the skin, pulling apart the muscles, exposing the nerve roots. Garrett focused entirely, with a nerve hook in his left hand and micro tweezers in his right, exposing each bit. The surgical instrunts transford from his Mage's Hand slid along the outer edge of the nerve sheath, transforming, trying not to cause any harm...
"Ah!" He trembled again!
He lowered his head in frustration. Neurosurgical operations were much more delicate than general surgery. A barely noticeable tremor in the fingers, invisible to the naked eye, could shift the view from one side of the microscope lens to the other—
Before he could react and control himself, the irreparable damage was already done.
Garrett took a deep breath, holding it to minimize the trembling of his hands. Hold on, hold on! Move forward, move forward a bit more, reach the nerve sheath, don't move!
He felt his suspended fingers were completely still, but under the microscope, the tweezers' tip jerked like it had epilepsy, from west to east, then from east to west.
Garrett could almost imagine each tremor leaving a scar on the thin, barely visible nerve.
What if he didn't use his hands?
Not using his hands, just using his ntal power to move these surgical instrunts, to protect the tissues that needed protection?
Garrett released his fingers, concentrated his mind, and controlled the Mage's Hand forward. Penetrate, protect, pull—
Snap!
Under the microscope, a nerve was stretched to its limit and then snapped like a rubber band, exposing countless fine nerve fibers inside.
Garrett closed his eyes in pain.
His fine ntal control was still inadequate—or rather, compared to his ntal power, he trusted his hands more.
In fact, many transmutation archmages felt the sa way. When drawing scroll lines or engraving magical arrays, they would use their hands even if it ant more physical exertion. Garrett had discussed this deeply with the vice president of the Alchemy Guild.
ntal power training isn't achieved overnight. Physical training might have a solution. At least Garrett knew that strengthening muscle power improved fine control, reducing the chances of sudden tremors during work.
That's why many surgeons, regardless of their specific field, either hit the gym after work or were on their way to the gym. They couldn't afford not to; they needed the strength for surgery!
He cast a Bull's Strength on himself, gripped the micro tweezers, and approached the nerve tissue again. This ti, the trembling significantly reduced, shrinking to about a third of its original magnitude.
With this level of precision, Garrett felt confident he could halve the surgical damage—or maybe reduce it by 60%?
He concentrated, holding his breath, and continued the operation. Pulling, protecting, pulling again, protecting, switching to bone rongeurs, removing part of the vertebral body, guiding bone growth; then moving on to the next vertebra...
Crunch!
The spell expired, and his hand trembled again...
What's the duration of Bull's Strength again?
It seed to be... 1 minute per level? Garrett calculated; he was now an 8th-level mage, so a single Bull's Strength lasted 8 minutes. Currently, the surgery took four hours to complete, so he needed to
cast...
30 Bull's Strength spells?
Not to ntion keeping track of when the spell would expire, this thod was just dumb!
Garrett reluctantly finished dealing with this vertebra, then waved his hand to summon the dark gold skeleton. However, his control ability, transmitted through the dark gold skeleton, was sowhat diminished. This reduction was enough to fall below the threshold for fine neurosurgery...
No, I must train!
After several failures, Garrett finally made up his mind. He was already an 8th-level mage and 8th-level priest; a bit of training to raise his warrior level—even to just 2nd level—should be quick!
That night, after dinner and digestion, Cirella saw Garrett running laps, swinging a sword, and lifting dumbbells, sweating profusely.
"...Garrett, are you taking the knight's path?" The Silver Dragon lady watched for a while and curiously asked.
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