A Hospital in Another World?

“You are poisoned.”
“You will feel headaches, dizziness, general weakness, and loss of appetite. Sometimes, you may experience abdominal pain and constipation.”
“You don’t have bone pain like those miners because you are a professional and your bones are inherently stronger. But if you continue to stay here, you will end up like them.”
Garrett, with a stern face, methodically counted off on his fingers as he spoke.
Each statement he made caused the overseer’s face to turn a shade paler, his complexion growing increasingly bloodless…
Before this, Garrett had requested the overseer to gather all the miners for treatment. Although chronic poisoning is caused by pollution and detoxification spells only provide symptomatic relief and not a cure, they still needed to treat it!
However, even this simple request met with resistance. As soon as Garrett spoke, the overseer’s head began to shake like a rattle:
“Gentlemen, it’s not that I want to refuse your request, but the lord of the city is pressing us hard. Gathering the people will decrease the ore output, and the workshop will demand compensation!”
He was joking, he managed this mining site under the orders of the city lord, and his daily task was to increase production. Higher output, higher bonuses; lower output, deductions from his pay…
There are plenty of poor folks around, two silver coins a month for wages, he could hire as many as he wanted!
“What? Just delaying for a day or two to treat them, and you won’t agree?”
Garrett’s request was rejected, and the first to lose her temper wasn’t him but Seraina. The silver dragon maiden’s eyebrows shot up as she loudly protested:
“Just one day! Even that’s not okay? They are so ill! You—you’re inhumane!”
“Seraina…”
Garrett blinked at her, signaling her not to get angry. Then, he turned to the overseer and directly laid out the terms:
Aren’t you poisoned?
Don’t you want us to treat you?
Fine, we’ll treat the miners first, and you last!
“Uh…gentlemen…”
The overseer tried to resist a bit more. Poisoned? I think I’m still okay! Blue and yellow stains on my teeth, so what?
I don’t brush often, lazy about brushing at night, of course my teeth will yellow! Look at those miners, their teeth all rotted away, even uglier than mine!
Seeing his skepticism, Garrett calmly listed the symptoms one by one, watching the man wobble. Finally, he delivered a harsh truth:
“This type of poisoning even damages the kidneys. If it’s not detoxified, you’ll be impotent in the future… the children you have might be deformed…”
Being a man, impotence is a nightmare! The overseer shuddered, beads of cold sweat breaking out on his forehead even more. Garrett leisurely continued:
“Besides, apart from lead poisoning, you have another type of poisoning, discovered by magicians just this March.” He flicked his fingers, pulling up a holographic display of a paper:
“Ordinary detox spells can’t remove it, and other healers won’t be able to help you…”
“Th-this! Mage sir, please wait a moment, I’ll gather the miners right away! Immediately!”
He bowed deeply, his head nearly touching his knees. Then, he dashed out of the hut, somehow producing a whistle from somewhere, blowing it as if his life depended on it.
Soon, thirty or forty miners responsible for washing and selecting ores lined up in three rows in front of the small hut.
Without a word, Seraina cast a detoxification spell. Hmm, she had seen that paper just now, she roughly knew what was causing the poisoning, might as well give it a try, right?
A pure white light fell, and the miner at the very front let out a comfortable sigh, emitting a foul, stinking gas. He bowed deeply:
“Thank you, miss! Thank you! I… I feel much better!”
“Garrett? Is he alright now?”
Seraina turned her head. Garrett stepped forward slowly, first casting a 【Detection Magic】—visible under the X-ray, the bone density was still low.
Of course, even if the toxins were removed, it wasn’t that easy for bones to recover.
He then had him open his mouth to check his teeth—
“Sigh…”
Garrett sighed. It was still the old problem, teeth yellow and black, horribly dirty. To accurately diagnose the presence of cadmium on such teeth…
Garrett admitted, his diagnostic ability was limited, he really couldn’t do it.
“You…”
He was about to say “let me test your urine” when he glanced at
Seraina and swallowed the words back. He thought for a moment, waved his hand to signal the silver dragon lady not to come over, and dragged the miner behind the hut, handing him a cup:
“You, pee in here!”
“How… how can this be?”
The miner’s hand trembled, almost dropping the cup. It was a glass cup! Glass! Clear and transparent, you could see the fingerprints on the other side through the cup!
Their lives, their entire fortunes, couldn’t buy a single glass cup!
“Just pee if I tell you to!”
Garrett urged him urgently. Urinary lead, urinary cadmium levels, were all methods to test for poisoning. Be quick, otherwise, the silver dragon lady’s curiosity—
“Garrett, what are you doing?”
“Go back! Don’t come over! I’ll call you when it’s done!”
Garrett waved at her forcefully. The silver dragon lady’s bright eyes blinked, retreating behind the corner:
“Tsk~~~”
Garrett sighed. Turning back, he glared at the miner:
“Hurry up!”
“I... you watching, I can’t pee…”
Garrett was desperate. This darn place, it doesn’t even have a restroom! Does everyone just relieve themselves in the fields?
Wait, then what would he do if he stayed overnight?
Urging, waiting, turning his head to let the miner do his business. After several unsuccessful attempts, Garrett had no choice but to pull out his last resort:
“If you really can’t, shall I draw a drop of blood? Just one drop will do!”
Drawing blood, on the other hand, met with little resistance. Garrett followed the method described in the paper, casting an identification spell, and a flicker of light provided a rapid response:
Cadmium in the blood.
“Seraina, your detox spell only worked halfway…”
“What? What?”
The silver dragon lady quickly jumped out from behind the corner.
Jumping out didn’t help. Another identification spell swept over, and the answer was clear. Seraina was not convinced, pestering Garrett to bring up the paper again, casting another detox spell…
“Ugh… why is it still not working? Is their poisoning too severe? I’ll try again! One more time!”
“It’s still not working…”
“Maybe you need to study the paper again, think about how to detoxify specifically?”
Garrett carefully suggested. He himself focused and recalled the information on cadmium, then cast another detox spell, taking another drop of blood.
This time, Seraina couldn’t wait to lean over, another identification spell fell—
“Ugh, why can you do it successfully!”
On the other side, Elder Elwin also encountered the same problem. Conventional detox spells were effective for treating lead poisoning but had no effect on cadmium poisoning; the new toxin could not be locked down or specifically removed!
“This…”
Garrett was troubled. His detox spell could target cadmium—being a heavy transition metal, atomic number 48, proton number 48. Soluble in acid, insoluble in base, oxidation states +1, +2.
But, how could he explain these details to his teacher and to Seraina?
The magicians of this world haven’t even discovered protons yet!
But teaching them was necessary. Elder Elwin was level nine, while Garrett was only level six, their mental power limits and daily spellcasting capacity were worlds apart. Not to mention the silver dragon lady, at least level thirteen…
“This… can you feel his blood? Use your mental power, can you feel the cadmium in the blood?”
Elder Elwin and Seraina, each took a small test tube, holding it in their hands and twirling it. They released their mental powers, trying to feel for a while, then cast another spell—
“It still seems not to work.”
The old and the young looked at each other and sighed. While they were puzzled, Apa suddenly poked his head out, his mouth wide open, his tongue curling up the test tube and biting it directly.
“Apa! Apa, what are you doing!” Garrett was startled:
“Apa, don’t chew on glass! Be careful, the glass shards might pierce your tongue! Watch out for infections!”
The Silvermoon Deer turned a deaf ear. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, he chewed up several test tubes. His mouth worked, his tongue grinding, and he swallowed in one gulp.
Then, he strode to the edge of the stream, lowered his head to drink a couple of mouthfuls of water, then started nibbling on the grass beside the water.
“Apa, don’t eat! The water and grass here are polluted! They are poisonous!”
Garrett paced around helplessly. No matter how much he spoke, the Silvermoon Deer wouldn’t listen; trying to push him, he couldn’t budge him…
After pushing a few more times, Apa turned his head and sneezed, spraying a full face of
saliva on him.
“Apa—! Eh???”
The Silvermoon Deer had tasted human blood, stream water, and grass. Striding on four long legs, he moved lightly to the side of the miners, his long horns shaking, a silent ball of white light falling—
“Apa, are you also going to detox them? Do you recognize this toxin? You—”
A small needle prick, a drop of blood, an identification spell light fell.
The blood of the treated, now devoid of any traces of cadmium.
Seraina was dumbfounded.
She, a noble dragonkin, supposedly superior in identifying toxins and casting detox spells, was now outdone by a magical beast!
If this were to get back home, her brothers, sisters, relatives, and friends could mock her for at least a thousand years!
“So how did you recognize this stuff? By tasting? —I’m going to try it too!”
“Seraina, no!”
Garrett hurriedly pulled her back. The silver dragon lady’s competitive spirit…
Apa is a deer, whether eating test tubes or grass, it’s all fairly harmless, but Seraina, you eating blood and grass?
That’s not a pretty sight…
“I don’t care! I can’t lose to Apa! If Apa can do it, I need to learn quickly too!”
“Then calm down a bit, give me some time to think…” Garrett was sweating:
“I’ve got to figure out a way, right? Even if you could taste the toxin, the teacher definitely can’t taste it! Please, give me some time…”
After much persuading, the silver dragon lady finally gave up on the idea of drinking blood, squatting sullenly to the side. Her delicate fingers lifted, fell, lifted again, casting orbs of light:
Let’s cure the lead poisoning first! Cure one thing at a time, what if Garrett’s detox spell can’t handle both toxins simultaneously?
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