A Hospital in Another World?

"Making mold into medicine is so difficult..."

"Yes, it’s very tough."

"Completely clueless."

"Yes, extraordinarily difficult."

Garrett Nordmark and Mage Morton sat shoulder to shoulder in front of seventeen or eighteen dead rabbits, sighing in turn. Mage Morton sighed because the project was too challenging, while Garrett sighed because making penicillin was indeed too troublesome!

"Old Morton!" Another magician walked in. The badge on his chest sparkled with three golden stars, evidently a level 13 powerhouse. Garrett quickly stood up to greet him: "Excellency Novak!"

"Little Garrett? What are you doing here?" The visitor paused. He had come to rescue when Aurora accidentally poisoned herself with chlorine gas, having met Garrett once before. He sized up Garrett and smiled slightly:

"Oh, I remember now, the penicillin project is yours. —Why haven’t you come to see me when you had the chance?"

Garrett could only smile back at him. Pointing to the dead rabbits all over the floor, he spoke in a faint voice:

"Indeed busy, this project isn’t easy." Master Novak sighed. He turned to Old Morton and asked:

"What’s your success rate with the spells? I’ve only got 10%..."

This was even more tragic. Garrett nearly covered his face, listening to the two great magicians exchanging spellcasting experiences:

"Choosing the right penicillin mold is a problem."

"Yes, we must control the timing well. Currently, the experience is to cast spells 3 to 5 hours after purchase, which results in the lowest death rate for the rabbits."

"Magic output also needs to be controlled... Ah, I have a model curve here, do you think it works?"

Garrett listened, facepalming. Great lords, when you use penicillin mold for casting, you’re not considering its active component content at all!

"Old Morton!" Another person quickly stepped in. Entering the room and seeing the dead rabbits everywhere, he immediately showed a schadenfreude smile:

"Hahaha, you too failed! —By the way, have you tried extracting the solution from the penicillin mold?"

"We’ve tried!" The two great magicians answered in unison: "But it’s utterly useless! The efficiency of the spellcasting drops dramatically!"

This time, Garrett truly began to facepalm.

Indeed, penicillin is very unstable in aqueous solutions. It decomposes faster when exposed to acid or alkali, and even without adding anything, it will decompose on its own over time in water. Not to mention the decrease in medicinal effect, the components causing allergies would increase, imagining half of a medication solution is allergenic components...

Oh well.

Inject a vial of medication, or throw a spell, and leave aside the therapeutic effect, the death effect is guaranteed!

The newcomer didn’t notice him, still complaining to Old Morton:

"I mean, you’re not setting me up, are you? This project of his—Garrett Nordmark—is just too difficult to do, completely different from usual practices, with entirely different considerations.

Things like high-temperature sterilization, purification and selection, are unheard of! Our usual methods, those spell models, magic oscillations, none of it works! Next time you have his project, just do it yourself, don’t drag me into it!"

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Master Novak at the side was making desperate eye signals, coughing as if he was about to cough out his lungs. Meanwhile, Garrett stood beside the rabbit cage, revealing an awkward yet polite smile, with a hint of triumph hidden within...

That’s right, I want you to step back! Knowing my project isn’t easy, no one would think of stealing it!

In fact, Garrett hadn’t spent much effort on penicillin lately. Because the penicillin drug, or rather, penicillin sodium, he was indeed close to making it. Or to say, if not demanding purity, he had already made it—

Simply allowing the penicillin mold to proliferate fully in the culture medium, fermenting, centrifuging, and filtering to get the solution. Then, pouring sodium hydroxide into it to get penicillin sodium, and then crystallizing it out. Penicillin drug, done!

The current issue is, without pre-treatment of the fermentation liquid, extraction with ethyl acetate, re-extraction, activated carbon decolorization, the penicillin sodium produced is of very touching purity. Moreover, the capability of penicillin mold to produce penicillin is also very touching...

The latter is relatively easier to solve. Garrett arranged for four apprentice priests from the Church of Nature to focus on cultivating penicillin mold, aiming for directed mutation to produce the highest yielding penicillin strain. As for the former, Garrett knew how to do it, but he lacked the conditions...

"Purification

is too hard... I need anticoagulant, phosphate, flocculant... I need ethyl acetate for extraction... speaking of which, how is ethyl acetate produced..."

Garrett lamented with his head in his hands. In fact, his visit to the summit today had a second mission:

Someone had made a rectifier for converting alternating current to direct current, and he needed to receive it...

"Well, having a rectifier is also good. At least, I can make my own bleach, no need to rent the Thunder Tower all the time." Garrett muttered as he stepped into Archmage Carlisle’s laboratory. Who was the genius who made the rectifier, from which school?

What was the thought process behind it? Brushes? Diodes? What’s the capacity? If it’s large enough, maybe the reservoir at the drinking water source could be fitted with a hydroelectric generator, with the rectifier attached...

Garrett wandered in thought, slowly walking inside. The laboratory was filled with fine electric arcs flashing everywhere, possessing a somewhat post-modern cyberpunk flair. He was somewhat of a celebrity here, with many students recognizing him and occasionally greeting him from afar.

Garrett carefully circumvented an electric net—literally an electric net, with blue-white electric arcs weaving into a net in the void—and then widely skirted a happily bouncing ball of lightning. This laboratory was really too dangerous; even with various defensive spells on him, he dared not run around...

Following the leading Aurora carefully forward. Dodging left and right, moving unpredictably, they finally reached the core area of the laboratory. At first glance, he saw the largest experimental table with the most unidentified magical devices, right in the center, neatly placed, a hand-cranked generator.

This is verification! Garrett hurried over. On either side of the hand-cranked generator, one on the left and one on the right, stood two magicians. The one on the left was naturally Archmage Carlisle, while the one on the right, looking more like a laborer than a caster with his rough, cracked hands, was clearly the inventor of the rectifier...

"You’re here." Archmage Carlisle greeted him warmly with a nod. He then pointed to the right:

"This is Mr. Christoph Norwood, Transformational Series, third-ring arcane magician, level 4 mage. The rectifier you requested, he’s already made it, would you like to check it?"

Garrett stepped forward to shake hands with the other party. Mr. Norwood’s hair was somewhat gray, his hand trembling slightly as he extended it:

"Hello, hello... The rectifier is made, if you see no issues, I can get my reward—five thousand contribution points!"

His voice suddenly rose sharply, shrill, his eyes shining with excitement. Garrett didn’t even get close before being overwhelmed by his breath. Instantly, the doctor’s intuition began to sound alarm bells:

There’s a problem!

This person has a problem!

Driven by a doctor’s instinct, Garrett nodded continuously, following the other’s lead to appease:

"Alright, alright, let me first look at what you’ve made. —Is it connected yet?"

"Yes, it’s connected." Archmage Carlisle made a gesture. Garrett leaned in to see, the circuit connected to a small glass vessel, pear-shaped, with a pool of shimmering mercury at the bottom. Two wires extended below the surface of the mercury, and several graphite rods were embedded in the top part of the glass vessel, fitting seamlessly with the glass.

This is...

A mercury arc rectifier!

Such an old piece of equipment, in my previous life, it had been obsolete for half a century, hadn’t it?

Garrett suddenly turned back to look at the alchemist. At the same moment, Archmage Carlisle pointed a finger, and the handle of the generator began to turn. Once, twice... until it blurred into a residual image, yet the glass vessel remained calm and spark-free.

"Why is there no reaction?"

Garrett muttered quietly. However, this soft murmur ignited the alchemist. Master Norwood immediately became frantic, lunging forward:

"Impossible! I made it and it was good! You said it was good before too! Don’t think of cheating me out of my contribution points! Five thousand points!"

His voice was high and sharp, his eyelids and fingers trembling constantly. Garrett’s internal alarm rang louder, and after a moment’s thought, he suggested:

"Maybe the current isn’t strong enough? Why not... try generating a current first?"

"That might be possible." Archmage Carlisle snapped his fingers, and instantly, an electric arc burst out in the glass vessel. The entire circuit seemed to be instantly energized, the glass vessel humming, the blue light inside shining brilliantly, the scene both cool and magical. Master Norwood immediately halted, standing still for a moment, then clapped his hands:

"Eh! It’s working! This is it!"

This is it! Garrett

clenched his fist. Indeed, his memory was correct; the mercury arc rectifier required a larger trigger power, and the current from the hand-cranked generator might have been too small to activate it...

But that’s no issue, they could just make the generator bigger!

Archmage Carlisle also showed a pleased expression. Garrett wanted to join their excitement, yet the doctor’s instinct made him pull Master Norwood back, retreating all the way to the corner, and bluntly stated:

"You’ve been poisoned!"

"What?" The alchemist was stunned. He immediately became enraged:

"What poisoning! I’m not poisoned! I’ll tell you, don’t think of using this to deduct my money!"

"You used mercury in this rectifier! Excessive skin contact with mercury, or inhaling mercury vapor, can lead to poisoning, don’t tell me you didn’t know!" Garrett retorted:

"Have you been frequently experiencing dizziness, headaches, nausea lately? Do you often have palpitations, mood swings, and difficulty sleeping at night? Do you have more mouth ulcers and loose teeth? Do your hands tremble when you work?"

I hate patients who don’t listen the most! I hate patients who stubbornly deny their condition the most!

Patients should act like patients!

Compared to the rectifier, treating the condition is more important!

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