Chapter 79: A Crown Built On Corpses

Thanks to countless Drowner and Swamp Hag “practice runs,” Lannor’s surgical skill had reached a level few could imagine. Coupled with Mentos’ precise, full-body anatomical projections, he navigated his own chest with near-perfect certainty.

From peeling back his skin to exposing rib, Lannor only caused two accidental vessel ruptures, both the result of tangled veins. The blood gushed, but three consecutive doses of Swallow coursed through him, sealing each vessel in plain sight.

Even as he carved a wide, brutal opening in his chest, the bleeding never soaked his clothes or dripped onto the floor. His heart throbbed slickly under his fingers as he adjusted the Gene Seed into position, placing the mass between thymus and heart. He severed the thymus’ natural tissue connection and connected it to the Gene Seed’s vasculature. Triple-strength Swallow coursed through him, slowly fusing the ruptured vessels. From a purely numerical standpoint, half the thymus-to-heart graft was complete.

Yet both Lannor and Mentos knew this was merely the first fraction of the task. Unlike a quiescent thymus whose functions are largely hormone-regulated, the heart pumped constantly. Even a single severed vessel, under a witcher’s strength, could easily hurl blood toward the ceiling.

A normal human heart pumps roughly seventy milliliters per beat in rest. Lannor’s heart, however, expelled at least 200 milliliters per stroke. Total blood volume hovered around four liters, not much different from ordinary humans. Just twenty heartbeats’ worth of bleeding could empty him entirely.

This wasn’t a limb wound or external hemorrhage. Lannor had to sever one of his own heart vessels. He had to remain calm, for tension would only accelerate the pulse. He had to be precise and fast—given that losing 1,500 milliliters would bring him near unconsciousness, he had fewer than ten heartbeats to complete the critical move.