Chapter 112
Chapter 112
Garrett Nordmark left the priests at the hospital to attend to their duties and casually strolled back to the Mage Tower. The custodian of the Mage Tower, Mage Gelman, greeted him immediately, expressing regret and almost pounding his chest:
"It's such a pity! How could you give up this opportunity? Just one more day! After you created that divine technique, with a bit of effort, you could have caught up with the Magic Council's envoy!"
Garrett chuckled awkwardly. While catching up was possible, as a doctor, how could he turn away when the plague was still rampant? In the entire Hartland City, or rather, the whole world, he was the only one capable of cultivating bacteria and detecting sources of infection.
Without ensuring that all water sources were purified and witnessing the number of patients reduced to zero, how could he, as a doctor, leave for magical council studies?
Mage Gelman sighed in regret for a while. Garrett smiled knowingly, understanding Gelman's concern, and didn't argue. After Gelman sighed enough, he finally patted Garrett on the shoulder.
"Well, since you're back, don't leave again. Everything you need is in the Mage Tower. Focus on studying and strive to break through!"
"Um..."
"Yeah?"
"Gelman, sir... I came back this time to ask... Can I bring the books to the city? After all, I still have a hospital..."
"No!"
Gelman immediately furrowed his brows. He blurted out, "Books from the Mage Tower are not allowed to be taken outside!"
"Gelman, sir... I'm really too busy..." Garrett pleaded, "I can't break through as a priest, and I can't advance as a mage! It's not that I don't want to study at the Mage Tower, but just burying my head in magic studies won't help me break through!"
"You..."
Gelman drummed his fingers on the table, conflicted. To agree meant violating the Mage Tower's rules against taking magical books outside. To disagree meant ignoring the significant contributions Garrett had made to the Mage Tower.
Moreover, there were currently no 1st-level mages in the Mage Tower, meaning there was no competition for the books with Garrett.
"Fine, I'll ask Karan and the others." Gelman finally relented. As a 5th-level mage, Gelman had almost no need for 1st-level magical books. However, Karan was still a 2nd-level mage, and Elliott had just reached 3rd level. Who knew if they needed those books?
"I have no problem," Elliott generously answered. He had been stuck at 2nd level for months, finished reading all the books at his level, and thought it was convenient to get insights from Garrett.
"I'm okay with it too," Karan added, not wanting to fall behind. After leaving the Mage Tower's fifth floor, he secretly found Garrett and asked for a favor:
"You see, I have an uncle named Linde, an apprentice mage. He introduced me to magic. Could you help him become an alchemist at your place?"
"Linde?" Garrett instinctively curved his mouth. Karan, the mage across from him, seemed a bit unhappy. "What's wrong?"
"Oh... nothing... it's just that the name sounds familiar..."
Lincomycin, also known as compound sodium chloride injection, can be used instead of saline to regulate body fluids, electrolytes, and acid-base balance. In clinical practice, when treating patients who have lost a large amount of blood due to trauma, surgery, or other reasons, doctors often think:
"Let's add some Linde!"
In this distant world, hearing such a name suddenly felt very familiar.
Garrett reluctantly brought his thoughts back. Flattening his mouth, he curiously asked:
"Apprentice mage? Doesn't the Mage Tower give him a job?"
"Well, it's like this..."
Garrett then learned that the Magic Council had a rule: no idle apprentices. Generally, if an apprentice mage couldn't break through within two years, they couldn't live for free in the Mage Tower. They either managed the council's businesses or found their own way to survive.
Garrett had never seen other apprentices in the Mage Tower because they either advanced or were unable to break through and were sent away.
This Linde, the apprentice mage, was a poor fellow. He refused to work on the Mage Tower's external industries like ordinary people, and he couldn't break through on his own. After wasting many years, he had almost depleted his family's wealth. Karan couldn't bear to see this and had to lower his face to find a job for him.
"An alchemist..."
Garrett rested his chin on his hand.
Speaking of which, everything in his hospital was ready, except that the medicines were not satisfactory.
According to the rules of his past life, even for a community health station, there were more than twenty major categories and dozens of subcategories of essential medicines, totaling two to three hundred types. At the very least, he needed penicillin, lidocaine, nitroglycerin, adrenaline, and promethazine, not to mention alcohol, iodine, and saline. These must be provided!
This darned different world had nothing... he had been distilling alcohol himself for several days already...
"I need a pharmacist here." Garrett, partly considering Karan's face and partly because of this name, agreed openly. "Let him come for an interview. If his skills are okay, I'll hire him."
At least he could help wash the flask!
Garrett thought with a sinister smile.
Linde showed up early the next day. Carrying a wooden box with a copper angle, he carefully walked up the steps, stood at the door, and knocked:
"...Excuse me, is Lord Nordmark available?"
"That's me." Garrett dismissed the priests to the consultation room, sat at the reception desk, and wrote and drew casually - there was no need to memorize textbooks in the study, and he could also keep an eye on the door. Hearing the inquiry, he raised his head from the table and assessed.
At a glance, Linde appeared to be around forty - Garrett wasn't very familiar with the appearance of foreigners, so he wasn't sure if his judgment was accurate. The waist was slightly bent by the box, and there was a hint of sorrow on his face.
He was dressed in a dark blue silk robe with clear folds, obviously carefully ironed before coming out. However, the fabric seemed dull and brittle. The leather boots under his feet were slightly deformed, and who knew how long he had been wearing them.
"I am Linde Ferrell, introduced by Mage Karan, applying for the position of pharmacist..."
He cautiously extended his hand. Garrett reached out his right hand to shake, and his gaze fell on Linde's hand. Thumb, index finger, and the middle finger joint were stained with ink, and there were scars on the back of the hand. They didn't seem to be burns, perhaps acid burns. Garrett felt a bit relieved; at least, this guy had practical experience.
"Did you bring alchemical equipment? Come, let me see you in action!"
Garrett was delighted. Linde didn't disappoint him. Although his operation speed wasn't fast, it was steady. Garrett watched him handle medicines, heat, evaporate, filter, crystallize, distill, and extract - each operation was neither fast nor slow, well-organized. He couldn't help but rejoice:
"It's you! - Monthly salary of 5 gold coins, in the hospital, one gallon of distilled water, half a gallon of saline, and a flask of alcohol every day, all under your responsibility. Is that okay?"
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