Chapter 89: The Foundation of Life
Garion then continued the class as he gestured toward another organ.
"Now this here is the lung. You breathe air in, it fills these sacs, and the blood takes the oxygen from them."
The disciples nodded slowly, taking in every word.
Garion moved down slowly to the stomach.
"And this... this is where your food goes. The acids here break down what you eat into smaller bits."
He gestured toward the intestines next.
"Then your intestines pull out what’s useful, for example, energy, vitamins, everything your body needs from the foods."
One disciple raised his hand shyly.
"Then what happens to what’s not useful?"
Garion grinned.
"You already knew the answer. It leaves the body, one way or another."
Laughter rippled through the hall again, some disciples clutching their stomachs as they tried not to laugh too loudly.
Garion then turned back to the table.
"Alright. Now let’s move to something more interesting."
He walked to the head of the cadaver and adjusted his gloves.
Everyone leaned forward, curious but uneasy.
"Now, we’ll open the head. Inside this is what controls everything you do, your thoughts, your movement, your memory, even your breathing."
A few disciples flinched as he made a clean cut.
"This..." Garion said, lifting part of the skull gently.
"Is the brain."
One disciple whispered.
"It looks... soft.:
Garion nodded.
"Because it is. The brain is like jelly, and it’s fragile. That’s why we have a skull to protect it."
He tapped the top of the bone lightly with his knuckle..
"This hard shell keeps your control center safe."
Another disciple raised his hand.
"Master, if it’s so soft, how does it make us move or think?"
Garion pointed with the tip of his knife.
"These tiny lines you see here... those are nerves. They send signals like lightning through your whole body."
Garion pointed at his own head.
"The brain tells your muscles when to move, your heart when to beat, and even your stomach when to growl."
The disciples nodded, fascinated.
"So if the brain stops, everything stops?"
Garion nodded.
"Exactly. You can survive without an arm or a leg, but not without this. That’s why head injuries are deadly."
He looked around and smiled slightly.
"So next time someone tries to headbutt you, just dodge."
The disciples chuckled, nodding again.
Garion gently placed the skull fragment back, then moved toward the shoulder area.
"Now, let’s look at what holds everything together."
He tapped on the exposed white surface beneath the muscle.
"These are bones. They are the frame of your body, like teh pillars of a house. Without them, you’d be a pile of meat on the floor."
A disciple at the back mumbled.
"That’s... a weird image, Master."
Garion smirked.
"Weird, but true. Bones give shape, support, and protection. Every bone connects with another through joints, like hinges or levers."
He bent the cadaver’s arm carefully.
"See this? When I move it, the joint here acts like a hinge. The muscles pull, the bones move."
A disciple leaned closer.
"So muscles are like ropes, and bones are like sticks?"
Garion nodded.
"That’s one way to put it. Muscles pull the bones, and bones keep your body upright. And inside these bones..."
He tapped the middle of the arm bone with the back of his knife...
"Is something even more important?"
"What’s inside?" one asked.
"Bone marrow," Garion answered.
"It makes blood. Every drop of blood you have comes from here. So when you train hard, your bones also get stronger, and your marrow produces more blood to keep you alive."
Several disciples looked shocked.
"Wait, bones make blood? I thought the heart did!"
Garion chuckled.
"The heart moves it. The bones make it. Think of it like teamwork again. Nothing in your body works alone."
He moved down toward the ribs.
"Now here, these bones protect your lungs and heart. These are your ribs. Without them, one punch could stop your breathing forever."
A few disciples instinctively placed their hands on their chests.
Garion noticed and smiled.
"Good. That means you’re starting to respect your body. Remember, every piece inside you works together."
He moved his hand to his head, then to his chest, and then to his stomach.
"The brain controls, the heart pumps, the lungs breathe, the stomach feeds, the muscles move, the bones protect."
One disciple raised his hand again.
"Master, which part is the most important?"
Garion paused for a moment, looking thoughtful.
"All of them. If one part fails, the others suffer. You can’t call one more important than another."
He raised one finger, reminding them.
"That’s why true strength means keeping everything well balanced."
The disciples nodded seriously this time.
Garion smirked faintly.
"Good. Now, for the last part of today’s lesson... I’ll teach you about the true foundation of the body... the smallest thing that makes up everything."
The disciples looked at each other, confused.
One raised his hand.
"Master, what do you mean by the smallest thing? Like bones?"
Garion chuckled.
"No. Even smaller than that. The thing I’m talking about is called a cell."
"Cell?" another repeated. "Where is it?"
Garion pointed at his own chest, then his arm, then his head, then his legs, and finally to every part of his body.
"Everywhere. It’s in all of you. In your blood, your skin, your muscles, even your bones."
The group blinked in disbelief.
"What? That’s impossible, Master!"
"Then why can’t we see them?"
Garion smiled.
"Because they’re too small. You can’t see them with your eyes. You’d need special tools to look at them."
Garion then turned serious.
"But still... they exist and they’re what build your body."
He then drew a circle on the board with a piece of chalk.
"Imagine this as your whole body. Now imagine breaking this circle into tiny pieces of sand. Each grain is like one cell. You have not just a few thousand but trillions of them."
The disciples’ jaws dropped.
"Trillions!?"
Garion nodded.
"Yes. Every single second, some of your cells die, and new ones take their place. That’s how you heal, how you grow, and how you live."
One disciple raised a hand, wide-eyed.
"So, when we train and get stronger, we’re... training these tiny things too?"
Garion grinned.
"Exactly. When your muscles grow, that’s your cells dividing and becoming thicker and tougher. When you recover from a wound, that’s your cells repairing each other."
Another rubbed his arm slowly, as if feeling the cells move inside.
"That’s... kind of creepy."
Garion laughed.
"Maybe. But it’s also amazing. Every movement you do, it’s all billions of cells working together. You’re not one being. You’re an army inside one body."
The disciples stared at their hands and legs, then their whole bodies, speechless.
They never knew that the secret of their body was actually just tiny particles working together.