A Hospital in Another World?

Chapter 492: Tough Problems are for Legendary Mages to Solve

The calming spell had no effect.

Under the panic, Mr. Viper Alrezo’s mind concentrated intensely, naturally resisting some of the lower-level psychic spells.

All sorts of spells like calming and inspiring shot out like flowing water. Mr. Viper’s eyes bulged, and he made throaty noises. On the cloud screen, the heart rate monitor spiked wildly, and his blood pressure soared above 200, stubbornly refusing to drop…

In the end, it was Madam Alvar herself who stepped in, casting a simpleton spell on his head. Only then did he sit lopsidedly, drooling and staring blankly ahead, chuckling stupidly.

Indeed, the thinking of the mentally ill is broad, and the joy of simpletons is plentiful, Garrett thought to himself.

After tormenting him to this point, there was no need for further intimidation. Madam Alvar left an assistant to continue the interrogation after the effect of the simpleton spell wore off, and she moved to another location with the students and Garrett.

For academic discussions, it was better to go somewhere normal. Although this reception room looked bright and warm, it was right next to the interrogation room, and one had to be mindful of its emotional impact on researchers…

In this regard, Madam Alvar, as a master of enchantment magic, had extensive experience.

The group went out and up to the 28th floor of the enchantment subsidiary tower— the Tower of Harmonious Songs. The hallway was eerily quiet, not a sound to be heard. Madam Alvar explained with a smile:

Upon opening the door, the walls were indeed covered with beige velvet, soundproof and sound-absorbing, which also gave a sense of security and warmth. The sofas had sleek, simple lines, and plump cushions were scattered about. Garrett sank naturally into the sofa as he sat down.

Looking around, large landscape paintings hung on the walls, mountains and clouds rolling across them. At the half-desk by the wall and in the corners of the room, unnamed green plants spread their leaves vibrantly.

Although there was no modern psychological theory guiding the decoration, the room’s setup bore an uncanny resemblance to the psychological counseling rooms Garrett had seen in his previous life.

Invisible servants flitted about serving tea. Garrett leaned forward slightly, picking up a cup of hot red tea from the half-height round table in front of him and gently blew on it. The group of mages sat down in a semicircle, chatting excitedly:

"I find this brainwave magic quite interesting!"

"Yes, previously, when casting [Detect Thoughts], whether what we read was correct depended solely on the mage’s experience. If we can use this brainwave magic, we can cross-verify!"

"Exactly! And [Detect Lies] too! When a person lies, their heartbeat often speeds up, and it seems blood pressure may change as well as brainwaves! If we can master these patterns, we could improve the success rate of [Detect Lies]!"

"Do you think the mechanism of our enchantment spells could be to interfere with the opponent’s brainwaves?"

"It’s worth a try!"

"Master Nordmark, what else should we consider?"

"…There’s a lot to consider." Garrett thought for a moment, put down his teacup, and counted off on his fingers:

"First, brainwaves are extremely messy. Countless cells in the brain produce different brainwaves for every thought and action. I suggest we first study the waveforms during deep sleep, as there’s less noise and they are easier to compare;"

"Second, be aware of external interference. When you cast a spell— say, to charm a human— we need to differentiate whether the detected waveforms are influenced by the brain or are vibrations from the spell itself;"

"Third, the mental output of mages might also be a strong form of brainwave. To eliminate interference, perhaps starting with ordinary people might be simpler?"

As he spoke, the surrounding mages noted each point. By the end, he laughed sheepishly:

"Of course, the initial research and data collection will be a tremendous amount of work. If possible, it’d be best to have two small spells to assist, though I can’t do it myself—"

"What spells? Let’s hear them; perhaps we have the appropriate spells here!"

Madam Alvar took over with a smile. Garrett had mentioned before needing some "small auxiliary spells" for research, and now he was putting forward his conditions. An equivalent exchange, fair and reasonable.

Ah, she herself was a 13th-level high-ranking mage, mere auxiliary spells were certainly within her reach.

Madam Alvar was brimming with confidence. After finishing, she picked up a silver spoon and scooped some sugar into her tea cup,

then poured in a little cream. Garrett watched nervously, almost blurting out:

Don’t eat so much sugar!

Excessive intake of free sugars not only leads to obesity but also increases the risk of diabetes, cancer, and more!

At the very least, it reacts with the skin’s elastin and collagen, rapidly aging the skin!

…Well, mages have different physiologies from ordinary people. Plus, mages rely on mental power for sustenance, and their highly active brain activity requires a lot of sugar. Let her eat sugar if she likes; perhaps she burns it off during meditation?

Garrett focused and returned to his own requests:

"First, we need to record the waveforms shown on the cloud screen onto paper, or something else— preferably paper, as it’s cheaper. This way, even if we aren’t constantly watching, we can still observe previous results."

"That’s not difficult." Madam Alvar thought for a moment, then smiled:

"We already have similar spells in the Mage Tower. The Tower Spirits can scan, record, and analyze. Then, the information can be entered into paper or stored in the Tower Spirits’ memory core. By tomorrow at the latest, I’ll have someone deliver the relevant spell configuration to your Mage Tower."

Garrett breathed a sigh of relief. Having something ready-made was good; it saved him the effort of developing it himself or searching through the council’s vast spell library. He shamelessly continued with his requests:

"Um… this spell, it’d be great if it could have a small modification. Like, if certain specific waveforms appear, the cloud screen, or whatever recording device, could sound an alarm? It doesn’t need to be complicated; a sharp beeping sound to alert the observer would suffice."

Heart rate monitoring with automatic alerts! If that could be achieved, it would be perfect; no need for me to keep my eyes peeled watching!

This additional request was a bit tricky, but for a 13th-level grand mage, it wasn’t too difficult. Madam Alvar concentrated for a moment, already forming a plan:

"That’s also not difficult, and honestly, studying brainwaves does indeed necessitate it. Give me a week— at most two weeks, I’ve been quite busy lately, two weeks at most, and I’ll have the relevant spell configuration for you. Now, which waveforms should trigger an alert?"

There were so many! Atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation, conduction block, ST-elevation myocardial infarction…

Garrett could think of seven or eight, maybe a dozen situations that definitely needed immediate alerts. He wasn’t sure how to describe them at the moment and made a couple of gestures, which Madam Alvar understood with a laugh:

"Understood. I’ll leave an interface where you can input the necessary waveforms to automatically trigger an alert."

Fantastic! Garrett was grateful. He continued, bringing up another issue that had troubled him for a long time:

"There’s another auxiliary spell— that is, can the scenes I see in my meditative vision be made visible?"

Madam Alvar’s expression suddenly became serious.

Manifesting scenes from a meditative vision was certainly feasible. For mages above level 10, the meditative environment had already started to materialize. At this stage, making the scenes from a meditative vision visible was easy and posed no challenge.

However, Garrett was only a 5th-level intermediate mage, just starting to advance. Allowing him, or mages even lower than him, to externalize scenes seen in their meditative visions…

Strictly speaking, this request touched on some of the very fundamentals of magic.

Such a requirement, you dare call it a "small auxiliary spell"?

How is it small?

Sure, the spell itself might be minor, but the project itself is immense!

How did you manage to sneak such a formidable request into the project and claim it so confidently? This is a massive project; go find your teacher for this! Go to the Lord of Thunder!

Don’t think about shearing our Enchantment Division’s wool!

Garrett looked at Madam Alvar’s accusatory gaze, his face innocent as he spread his hands. I didn’t mean to, it’s just a need I have, and since there’s a chance, why not mention it?

"Well, like the [Detect Thoughts] spell, when I break it down and remove the interpretation part, what’s left are some waveforms…" he began trying to rationalize his request:

"I just thought, maybe when the elder mages created this spell, they also filtered and integrated this information to identify certain waveform-related information. I have evidence to support this!"

An hour later, Garrett sat on the plush sofa, leaning back, his expression serene. Two female mages each contributed a silver hairnet, temporarily joined together, stretching from his head to his chin.

Through the fine silver mesh, Garrett blinked his eyes and raised his right thumb:

"Let’s go!"

"[Detect Thoughts]!"

Led by Madam Alvar, more than ten mages, ranging from the highest at level 13 to the lowest at level 7, took turns casting detect thoughts on him. After a round of casting, everyone marveled:

"It seems this method really can resist enchantment spells."

"Very interesting."

"It proves the existence of brainwaves… putting someone in a cage can protect them from [Electric Claw] and [Sphere of Shock], and also resist [Detect Thoughts]. This indicates they’re all related…"

"I think we should start a major project! A big one!"

Madam Alvar smiled warmly. Very good, everyone brainstorming together, making the project bigger and beyond what their branch could research independently, and then—

Go find a teacher!

And casually hand off the tough problems to the legendary mages!

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