A Hospital in Another World? C.190

The founder of the Magic Council, the legendary mage, His Excellency Terrence, saw his reflection in the halo of the clouds the first time he ascended Igor Peak.

Under the blessing of this legend, those who could see the halo upon their first ascent were deemed to have great achievements, becoming a famous... legend of the Magic Council. However, it remained a legend mainly because His Excellency Terrence firmly denied any causal relationship, and the diviners of the prophecy school also expressed that it was merely a coincidence. They couldn’t conclusively determine that extraordinary individuals would emerge among these climbers.

Nevertheless, this didn’t stop the mages from secretly enjoying the story, choosing to believe rather than doubt its existence.

After all, Igor Peak was shrouded in rain clouds all year round, with at least 300 days of rain or snow out of 365. On the remaining days, when the clouds parted and the sun emerged to reflect the halo, and when the climber happened to be making their first ascent, the odds of such coincidences occurring were indeed slim...

The students of the training camp admired the haloed figure at the cliff’s edge for quite some time before the leading mage gathered them and led them towards the towers atop the peak. With limited time, they didn’t visit each tower individually but merely gazed at them from the outside while the guiding assistant provided brief explanations. Nonetheless, the varied forms of the eight auxiliary towers still earned admiration from the students.

After a brief pause, the group entered the central tower, ascending directly via an elevator. Though the elevator didn’t seem large, accommodating about ten people, all sixty or seventy of them entered comfortably with ample space. Garrett, meanwhile, was scanning the space for magical runes, but before he could find any, the magical elevator ascended, eliciting exclamations of awe one after another.

"Wow..."

"It’s so beautiful..."

"The entire mountain range is beneath our feet..."

"The clouds are coming! Are we walking through the clouds?"

"Lightning! Look! There’s lightning over there! Wow—oh, it didn’t strike me?!"

"We’re still going up! The clouds have actually moved below us... Golden and radiant, so beautiful..."

The height of the central tower surpassed that of the surrounding eight towers, piercing straight into the clouds. With a slight bow of their heads, the students could see the sea of clouds rolling beneath them, swirling, coalescing, and occasionally revealing thin crevices.

Sunlight gently bathed the clouds. All the snowstorms and icy rains below seemed as if they had never occurred.

The students crowded together. Garrett took just one glance before stepping back, leaving the spot for other classmates to enjoy the spectacle, showing no reluctance.

While the scenery before him was indeed impressive, it wasn’t particularly extraordinary for him. Observation decks like these existed in any major city, offering panoramic views of the entire cityscape. As for cloudscapes, a window seat on an airplane sufficed, provided you remembered to apply sunscreen...

In comparison, he was more curious about the magical technology of this world reaching such heights. If he could enter the core research institution of the council, perhaps CT scans and MRIs could be developed sooner?

His expression remained calm, neither surprised nor excited, yet the leading mage couldn’t help but glance at him a few times. On the fifteenth floor of the central tower, among the mages observing them through illusion arrays, someone pointed to his image and inquired:

"Who is this student?"

The questioner was a fifth-level mage. As soon as he spoke, lower-ranked mages swiftly searched and cross-referenced data, providing the answer:

"Garrett Nordmark, first-level arcane adept, first-level mage—oh, the data has just been updated, he’s already second-level. From Newster County, Hartland City Mage Tower, undecided school of magic, undecided direct mentor."

"From a small place?" A gentle male voice chimed in from the side. "He doesn’t seem surprised at all, unlike someone."

"He published a paper on ’Arcana’ last month, summoned by the adjudication committee, and came to the peak." Another mage chuckled ominously. "Moreover, this kid participated in the war, single-handedly killing a ninth-level knight, arriving here on Master Carlisle’s airship." Implicit in his words was the assurance that with such experience and background, there shouldn’t be any issues, even if there were, he wouldn’t be sent to the battlefield.

"Quite familiar?—Do you want him in Black Crow Swamp?"

"He’s a natural necromancer! That paper on ’Arcana’ was about necromancy and plague magic!"

"But I heard he’s a healer?" A crisp female voice interjected, "I went to see the teacher the other day, and someone from the Enchantment school was interested in him..."

"Master Carlisle also asked about him a few days ago..."

Mages from various schools and organizations gossiped, speculated, and made insinuations, engrossed in their discussion. Meanwhile, Garrett’s elevator finally gave a gentle shake, halting its ascent. The leading assistant pressed against the elevator door, raising their voice:

"After exiting the elevator, please try to remain silent as much as possible. From this floor upward, the levels are occupied by the ’Light of the Stars,’ and they reverse their day and night routines. They have a particularly high demand for silence.

I assume you wouldn’t want to disturb a certain grandmaster and end up cursed for the rest of your life..."

The students fell silent, nodding vigorously. Garrett couldn’t help but feel curious: Light of the Stars? Which school was this? Astronomy, perhaps?

His curiosity was soon satisfied. As the students filed out of the elevator, they climbed three more levels. Then, as the first student stepped into the hall, they couldn’t help but sigh aloud:

"Ah..."

But immediately covered their mouth tightly. Following suit, Garrett walked into the hall, covering his mouth, and upon raising his eyes, his gaze widened along with everyone else’s.

It was clearly broad daylight. Just a moment ago, sunlight was streaming in. Yet what met their eyes was a dark dome, akin to an inverted bowl hanging overhead. Countless stars twinkled on the canopy, and as Garrett turned around, he actually found the Big Dipper, the handle pointing east, slightly south.

...Was this real-time? Not a decorative illustration, but real-time display? How were they showing constellations in broad daylight?

Garrett stretched his neck, quite intrigued. Beneath the dome, stood a pipe over three yards tall, as thick as a man’s embrace, mounted on a brass stand that could be moved. It looked somewhat like a telescope used for astronomy. Curiously, Garrett approached for a closer look, but found no glass lens inside the pipe, only layers upon layers of runes.

"This is used for observing the night sky," the assistant explained as Garrett bent down to peer through. Instead of stopping him, the assistant approached a few steps closer to explain:

"At night, this dome opens, and through the observation tube, you can directly see the starry sky. The runes inside the observation tube are arranged by enchantment mages to gather light, magnify it, and position it accurately. It’s very sophisticated."

Ah... So it’s actually a modified telescope. Garrett’s interest waned by half. Judging from the design of this hall, could the ’Light of the Stars’ be an organization of the prophecy school? Forgive him for not understanding astronomy and disliking divination; he only found them mildly interesting.

However, these runes could be manipulated... If he could reverse the runes on the telescope, perhaps he could create a microscope? A high-powered microscope? Polarized light microscope, electron microscope, cryo-electron microscope, and so on?

The microscope he had painstakingly crafted himself before could only magnify up to a pitiful 1000 times...

Garrett took a few steps back, quietly making way. However, someone floated past him as if their soul had left their body. When he turned to look, he recognized the person—it was Miles, the mage he had shared a meal with previously and joked about catching geese. Garrett reached out to grab him, but someone stopped him.

"Let him go. He’s from the prophecy school," said Anthony, the first in their training class to advance to the second level. They hadn’t been in the same group during the mountain climb, but now they had come together to chat.

Following Anthony’s advice, Garrett withdrew his hand and watched as Miles tilted his head back almost ninety degrees and floated towards the center of the hall. Halfway there, he tripped on something and fell backward, but Miles seemed oblivious, lying on the ground and gazing at the starry sky as if in a trance.

The assistant didn’t intervene either. Seeing that most of the group had seen enough, they led the majority downstairs without paying attention to those still lying on the ground or lingering behind.

"It’s fine. If the Mage Tower wants him, they’ll take him. If not, they’ll kick him out. With such a huge tower and the tower spirit watching, nothing will go wrong," Anthony said lightly. Garrett, understanding that no one would force him to leave, made a mental note: don’t get too absorbed in watching one school’s demonstration and miss out on the others—it’s a big disadvantage!

They retraced their steps to the elevator, descended a short distance, and the doors opened again. This time, the leading assistant looked around and smirked.

"You can all shout as much as you want this time. It’s well insulated inside, and they won’t hear you anyway."

How could it be soundproofed? Double-layered glass? Vacuum insulation? Garrett wondered. Following the group, they passed through two deep black doors with countless flashes of lightning. Suddenly, it became bright, and Garrett reflexively closed his eyes and shielded his face—

It was too bright! Even a 1000-watt high-pressure sodium lamp wasn’t as bright, and even staring at welding sparks wasn’t as blinding! He had to be careful not to look directly ahead anymore...

As Garrett blinked away his tears and scolded himself for being careless, he slowly opened his eyes again and was immediately drawn to the spectacle before him. Twelve pillars stood in a circle, emitting intersecting rays of light, forming a web of light. What was even more astonishing was the lightning coursing through the web, constantly exploding. Every time it touched a pillar, it created ripples in the light web...

"This is the core of the ’Thunder’s Horn,’" the guiding assistant explained again:

"The Tower of Heaven is inserted into the clouds, and lightning from the rain clouds continuously strikes the tower, which is then drawn into the tower as energy reserves. What you see is the process of using force fields to constrain lightning and convert it into energy..."

What was this? A force field? What was the principle behind it? Garrett shivered with excitement, pushing forward recklessly. With a bang, he pressed his whole body against the transparent glass wall, his nose pressed tightly against it:

Constraining lightning and converting it to electricity... what exactly was this? Electricity? Magnetism? Tokamak? Could controlled nuclear fusion be achieved at this level of magical power? If so, could nuclear fission also be achieved? What about nuclear magnetic resonance? MRI? Gamma knife?

Right, there was also electricity! Electricity! With electricity, there could be electrocardiography! Various medical devices required electricity to function! He had to figure out a way to get this!

Countless thoughts raced through Garrett’s mind. As the group slowly flowed along the glass wall, Garrett pressed against it, inching forward step by step. After passing half the hall, the leading assistant couldn’t bear it any longer and raised their voice:

"Garrett Nordmark!"

"Ah... uh?"

"Are you using your nose to wipe the glass?"

Garrett blushed. Turning to look, he indeed saw a long streak on the glass wall, a bit blurry and greasy—it was indeed from his nose. Such things were common in museums when a new exhibition opened, and everyone used their faces to wipe the glass. But here, he was the only one doing it, which was too conspicuous...

It was too late to clean it now. Garrett awkwardly took two steps back and fell to the back of the line. As they continued forward, he couldn’t help but glance back longingly at the force field:

How could he get his hands on it?

On the fifteenth floor of the Tower of Heaven, the mages were busy once again.

In the starry dome above, there were few mages who showed obvious interest and inclination. However, in the Thunder’s Horn hall of the elemental school, at least half of the students were stepping back and forth, wishing they could live there.

The mages of the Thunder’s Horn were busy recognizing and memorizing people, flipping through materials to determine priority:

"The one with the blond hair—the first to break through to level 2, right? Yes, Anthony Valentine—shows obvious interest. Focus on him."

"The redhead girl also seems to like the elemental school? Let me see... one C+, one B-? Forget it, it probably won’t be her turn."

"Who is that walking against the glass wall? Adjust the direction of the secret eyes! Oh... Garrett Nordmark again. Alright, focus on him too. His paper on ’Arcana’ is enough to prioritize him. Uh, wait, that paper on ’Arcana’ is from the necromancy faction..."

After leaving the Thunder’s Horn hall, the group returned to the elevator and descended once more. The decor of the floor they entered this time changed again: within the deep black walls, ripples constantly rolled, with stars appearing and disappearing intermittently. At first glance, it almost made people doubt whether the walls of the Tower of Heaven had turned transparent—

"Secret eyes." The assistant stepped aside to allow the students to observe 360 degrees unhindered, while also providing guidance:

"The enchantment school is responsible for maintaining the Igor Lock. What you see here is part of the surveillance hall, with countless secret eyes connected together. Through the enchantment provided by the illusion school, people can directly observe the external scenery—Mr. Nordmark, what are you doing again!"

Secret eyes!

This is what I want too!

Garrett pressed against the glass for the second time.

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