A Hospital in Another World?

The archmages burst into laughter. Even the disciples in the back rows, nearly half of them, slightly bowed their heads and chuckled softly—

As high-ranking mages, as direct disciples of a legendary mage, apprentices are not lacking, only unsearched. Besides the need to regularly visit the academy to scout for exceptionally talented prospects, the rest is easy—

Just stand at the entrance of the Mage Tower for a while, and you can have as many as you want.

"Do you seriously want to take on disciples, or are you just looking for some helpers?" Byrd was the first to ask with a smile, giving Carlisle a knowing look—

With Garrett’s achievements, it’s still early for him to seriously take on disciples. As a disciple of a legendary mage, reaching level five is just the beginning of their earnest ascent. How could they have the capacity to mentor others?

But it’s a different story when it comes to helpers. As long as they don’t blow up the Mage Tower or swindle using their master’s name, the more unpaid apprentices, the better. By the way, Carlisle, can’t you spare a few for him from your disciples and grandchildren?

Archmage Carlisle rolled his eyes at his fellow disciple. What Garrett wants are not our Element Manipulation apprentices. He’s interested in Necromancy, Cursing, Alchemy, even Priest apprentices, not caring for our field!

He hadn’t found the opportunity to explain when Phileb already interjected with a grin:

"If you just need people to work, just name a number. Byrd, myself, a few of us can easily gather twenty or thirty."

If that’s not enough, there are always more from other brothers and sisters we could pull from.

Garrett was immensely grateful. At the forefront of the group, the steps of the Lord of Thunder slowed down:

"Don’t assign anyone to him. Garrett, just add a sentence about recruiting apprentices at the end of your thesis, and everything will be solved."

"—But I still need to write the thesis first!!!"

Garrett’s scream was stifled back into his throat under the intense scrutiny of his fellow disciples.

After lunch, while others could return to their own territories to work, Garrett had to stay. He respectfully presented his revised thesis for his teacher to review and rolled up his sleeves to begin proofreading his teacher’s manuscripts.

"On the Principles of High-Energy Aggregation and Distortion in Teleportation Magic"

"Study of Materials for Summoning Magic in Anti-Magic Zones"

...

With some luck, he could understand the first few lines; from the formulas and derivations onwards, it was all Greek to him; with bad luck, he couldn’t even recognize half of the characters in the abstract...

He sorted all the submissions into a stack, trying to make as little noise as possible, and carried them into the inner study. At the large desk inside, the Lord of Thunder was annotating his thesis with a quill. Hearing him enter, he didn’t even look up:

"How is it?"

"…Only one seems somewhat insightful…"

"Which one?"

The Lord of Thunder glanced up. The papers that made it to his desk were all concerning eighth or ninth ring magic, as well as issues concerning the essence of magic. Letting Garrett review them wasn’t really for his opinion but to expose him to: ŔἈℕỘ𝐛ЁꞨ

The highest level of current magic, the deepest research, the cutting edge of what’s happening!

Don’t think that just because you’re my disciple, everything is set for you, that complacency exists, it never does! If you want to relax, at least understand these first!

Now, this kid actually says he can understand? Is he sure he really understands?

Garrett pointed to the paper at the top. The Lord of Thunder flicked his finger, letting the paper float towards him, and upon first glance, he saw the title on the cover: "Study on the Control of Effects in Rainbow Magic Spheres". Attached was a piece of paper, Garrett’s handwriting neat and cautious:

"Apart from the seven visible colors of light, there exists infrared light with a frequency lower than red, and ultraviolet light with a frequency higher than violet. Both these types of invisible light, whether they have specific effects, could be incorporated into rainbow magic spheres, warranting further investigation by mages."

The Lord of Thunder: "…"

This kid, without looking, can give people a surprise, no, a shock!

Infrared and ultraviolet light, two new types of light? How discovered? How proven?

Do you know that just these two things alone are worth a major thesis?

No, not just one!

Frequency lower than red light, higher than violet light, what is that?!

Do you know whether light is a

wave or a particle has been debated in the council for about two hundred years?

Do you know that just throwing out a statement like this is a major uproar?

Also, do you know that the Radiant Church divides light into seven colors, corresponding to their god’s seven sacred powers, written in their doctrine? Recklessly throwing out infrared and ultraviolet light, if it gets published today, tomorrow, assassins from the tribunal will come for you!

Surely, you’ve read too few theses!

You understand nothing, kid!!!

"…About the discovery and proof of infrared and ultraviolet light, write me a separate thesis!" The Lord of Thunder inhaled, exhaled, inhaled again, exhaled again. He snatched the attached paper, crumpled it up, and with a flicker of flame, turned it to ashes:

"Before you submit the thesis to me, not a word to anyone! Don’t let anyone see! Do you hear?!"

Garrett was thrown a new task, retrieved his heavily annotated thesis from his teacher, and went home to continue revising and supplementing his research.

He couldn’t pull any wool from his fellow disciples or get research funding from his teacher, so he had to set off to confirm the location for the hospital himself:

Properties under the Temple of the Spring Goddess were first ruled out. The area was too small, the environment too cramped, no room for expansion. His goal was to build a top-tier hospital!

Areas under the Temple of the War God, Garrett made two rounds and decisively ruled them out. Surrounded by an industrial zone, that was truly a disadvantage!

The east smelled of rotten eggs, the west of ammonia, the north of decay, and the constant clanging of ironwork never stopped. No, no, setting up a hospital in such an area, not only patients couldn’t stand it, but even healthy people might fall ill!

Garrett silently withdrew. Turning left, veering right, he found himself beside a cemetery. Only upon actual survey did he realize, this cemetery was indeed large, just wandering around it covered five or six street corners. Garrett hadn’t deployed a drone, but he could roughly estimate:

The area of this cemetery, probably exceeding ten thousand square meters...

...Such a large cemetery, not easy to move...

So close to the slums, clearly, those who are barely surviving, most likely bury their relatives here.

Losing this cemetery, they might have to spend half a day more, a whole day more, and extra funeral expenses which mean little to the wealthy but are a heavy burden for them.@@novelbin@@

Garrett moved to the potential hospital site and made another round. All other conditions were satisfactory, open and flat, solid soil, not too far from flowing water. But just in this short time, he encountered two funerals.

One with a coffin, with someone playing a flute for the procession, and a dozen relatives crying and escorting; the other just a widow and orphans, the mother struggling to carry the corpse, the child tiptoeing behind, supporting her, staggering towards the interior of the cemetery. Just as they crossed two grave mounds, they tripped and fell.

Garrett couldn’t watch anymore, with a gesture, two powerful Mage Hands flew out, timely lending support. Then, he cast a Levitation spell to help lighten the load of the corpse. Next, a dozen Mage Hands flew out, helping the family dig the grave a foot deeper...

Thinking of situating the hospital next to the cemetery, where cries were heard every other day as people brought their loved ones for burial, Garrett felt why should he depress himself.

Forget it, better go talk to the council’s administrative department.

Garrett shook his head and walked out. Returning to the Mage Tower, Master Norwood had already returned from the White Tower, bringing a series of appraisals:

The plot Garrett wanted, the city hall quoted 1000 gold coins, or 500 contribution points;

Construction costs, including material costs, three construction teams quoted prices ranging from 1500 to 2000 gold coins;

The cost of enchanting the hospital, Master Norwood looked at Garrett’s face, cautiously:

"I think, you might not want to ask…"

"Tell me!" Garrett’s expression was firm. Master Norwood hesitated for a moment, pulling out two price lists. Garrett only glanced at it, and was so shocked by the long string of zeros that he almost passed out.

Just the first item, the cost of permanently expelling rats, mosquitoes, fleas, bedbugs, and the like from the entire hospital, had already exceeded Garrett’s mental budget.

—Five figures.

"…You know, permanent enchantments are always expensive…"

Not to mention covering the entire hospital, not to mention the many enchantments you requested…

Garrett grimly realized that public service projects really can’t be funded out of private pockets. One, you can’t afford it, and two, even if you manage to scrape it together, how

high would the fees need to be to recoup the costs, let alone make a profit?

Still have to fleece the council!

Fleece a lot!

Hmm, I really should write more papers. Once the paper is written, it’s easy to send out the notice for recruiting apprentices;

Once the paper is done, the reward will come;

Once the paper is done and the teacher is in a good mood, applying for funding also becomes easier...

Speaking of which, I have the ultraviolet light, just take the mercury rectifier to it, but how to prove infrared light?

How did the previous scholars prove the existence of infrared light?

"MOSS—bring me a prism—MOSS, where did I put my prism?"

"Your prism will be here soon. My dear master, would you even remember where you keep your equipment without me?"

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