3,000 gold coins clinked and clattered their way in, and just as quickly whooshed back out. The speed at which they transacted was so fast that they barely stayed in Garrett’s hands for more than a day.

For one experiment, three bottles of light injury healing potions. For ten experiments, 1,500 gold coins. At Garrett’s current level of experimentation, he could burn through that amount in a single day with ease.

However, when it came to the preliminary completion of safety verification and the start of creating artificial room partitions for the verification of cardiovascular imaging, Garrett found himself stumped.

"The experiment failed! The angle is all wrong, I can’t see clearly!"

"This angle is also not right!"

"This angle still isn’t working..."

"The healing potions are almost used up... Should we buy another batch? Should I pay for it myself, or should I ask Viscount Elwin for more?"

Or perhaps, should I write a paper on our current progress and draft a grant proposal to try and fleece the council?

Garrett wasn’t keen on this idea. It’s better to be self-reliant—assuming the problem of affordable potions can be solved.

"Otherwise, shall we try making our own potions?" Priest Joanna suggested, approaching with an idea:

"It’s just a light injury healing potion, I can make it too, but since I’m not very practiced, even factoring in some loss, it might save about half the cost?"

"Did you finish memorizing your book? There’s an exam tomorrow!" Garrett glanced at her sideways. Joanna stuck out her tongue and dashed off.

Garrett shook his head at her retreating figure. Saving only half the cost was a bit too little; it could only be a backup plan.

Based on his current success rate, he needed to reduce the potion costs by a factor of ten, or even less, to withstand such endless experimentation.

"What a joke, in the field of cardiovascular interventions, there were academicians leading the way in my previous life! With the level of research here, failing thousands of times with these few cats and dogs in my team is completely normal!"

"How about, purchasing some low-quality healing potions, or even rejects?" Leon Carlos suggested from the side:

"Many of the low-quality or defective potions are just impure but still contain strong inherent energies. We’re only testing on pigs anyway..."

That was indeed a good idea. Garrett rubbed his chin and sent someone to inquire. However, the inquiry did not yield satisfactory results:

Whether it was the Alchemy Guild or the various temples, they preferred to dispose of the low-quality and defective products rather than let them enter the market.

To buy in bulk, potions with sufficient energy, relying on Garrett’s reputation...

Sorry, not possible at the moment.

"Then, how about we infuse blood from donors of the same blood type?"

Priest Christoph suggested whimsically.

As a priest of the War God, he had connected with the local Temple of the War God in Nevis City soon after arriving and had been practicing blood transfusions with them.

To the War God priest, getting some professionals’ blood didn’t seem that difficult...

"Don’t even think about it!" Garrett exclaimed in shock:

"Unless absolutely necessary, do not transfuse blood! Infections, rejection, coagulation, hemolysis, all sorts of complications could arise! That’s just looking for trouble!"

Priest Christoph sulked and went off to do other work, leaving Garrett crouching on the spot, facing a pig strapped face-up on a board, deep in thought:

What posture should the subject assume during the imaging?

Where should the contrast agent be injected?

Should we take frontal, lateral, or oblique images? In which direction should we tilt? Or maybe observe from multiple angles?

He unleashed the [Silent Phantom], sketching out the anatomical structure of the thorax, jotting notes and drawing diagrams. His eyes traced the course of the cardiovascular system,

Suddenly, the door was slammed open, and Priest Donald burst in excitedly, shouting:

"Garrett! I’ve got an idea! Oh—so stinky!"

It turned out that in its panic, the pig had defecated a large mess. Garrett, engrossed in his research, hadn’t noticed...

Priest Donald was busy casting cleaning spells and ventilating the room, struggling for quite a while. By the time the environment returned to a bearable state, his enthusiasm had mostly evaporated, he gasped for air and said:

"I came to ask... have you considered using holy water..."

"Holy water?"

Garrett’s eyes lit up.

Commonly, holy water refers to healing potions, especially those for light injuries. The saline solution Garrett previously used to wash the peritoneal cavity was also mixed with a light injury healing potion.

But among spellcasters, when holy water is specifically mentioned—

It

refers to a magical creation used to kill ghosts, banish evil spirits, and combat undead creatures. Essentially, it is a bottle of water filled with positive energy.

A first-level divine spell, [Blessed Holy Water], can produce a large bottle, nearly 500 milliliters in volume. The spell material required is silver powder worth 25 gold coins...

Compared to the healing potion, which costs 50 gold coins for ten milliliters, this stuff is much cheaper!

"Come on, do you have any in stock?" Garrett, his eyes sparkling, quickly asked. Priest Donald chuckled:

"Of course! Our Spring Water Temple excels in making this, and we can even halve the material costs!"

Garrett urged him to bring out a bottle. Under the illumination of the [Detect Magic] spell, it indeed had sufficient energy. He drew 30 milliliters and injected it into the pig’s heart, releasing it quickly—

Under the glow of the [Detect Magic] spell, it indeed made the anatomy visible!

Success!

Wait, the pig’s ECG waveform changed, the entire ECG line dropped a notch—the pig’s ventricular fibrillation!

So the nature of holy water is indeed not as gentle as that of healing potions, prone to side effects?

Garrett unleashed two [Greater Mage Hands], performing external cardiac massage to revive the pig. This situation wasn’t viable; having a ventricular fibrillation in one experiment would impact the results too severely!

Garrett, chin propped on his hand, thought silently. Injecting a large volume of holy water quickly into the heart chamber would surely irritate the endocardium. Especially if the holy water was made with freshwater, it could cause osmotic pressure changes and alterations in coronary artery blood supply, leading to arrhythmias?

Therefore, adjusting the properties of the holy water might help?

He decisively halted the experiment. Gathering his team, he issued a series of orders:

"Priest Donald, please use saline as a base to prepare a batch of holy water. Divide the holy water into two parts: one part to be stored normally, and one part to be oxygenated as much as possible."

"Brother Matthew, please use the Divine Nature Church’s method of prayer, using distilled water and saline as a base, to prepare a bottle of holy water each. Process them according to my instructions."

"Priest Christoph, you prepare the holy water using the War God Church’s method."

"After all are prepared, perform cardiovascular imaging on rabbits, and record the results. Conduct at least 20 tests for each sample."

Priest Matthew’s lips silently formed an ’O’. Garrett glanced apologetically at him:

"The priests of the God of Nature have it tough. Only we can manipulate vines, a skill that can save lives. Practice it a few times—let’s see which type of holy water has fewer adverse reactions."

"Alright!"

"Got it!"

"I’ll go right away!"

The three healers turned and marched off, each heading back to their busy schedules. Garrett watched their retreating figures, rubbing his chin and muttering softly:

"Hopefully it works... Don’t make me bleed out..."

Joanna, Matthew, and Garrett himself, three priests of the God of Nature, conducted the cardiovascular imaging until they were dizzy and pale. The good news was, after comparing the results, they finally got some answers:

The holy water prepared using the Divine Nature Church’s method, based on 38°C saline and maximally dissolved oxygen, had the fewest adverse reactions.

In 20 experiments, only two cases of mild arrhythmias occurred; expanding the sample size to 100 tests, only one case of severe arrhythmia occurred. After external cardiac massage and oxygen administration via mask (vines), the rabbits’ autonomous heartbeat resumed within three minutes.

This meant that, in a pinch, holy water could replace healing potions for cardiovascular imaging. After all, holy water costing 3 gold coins compared to the healing potion at 150 gold coins, the difference was quite substantial...

Garrett quietly noted this down, continuing the experiments. With ample, and mainly cheap, holy water available, he could attempt every imaginable scenario:

Atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, pulmonary valve stenosis, aortic valve incompetence, patent foramen ovale, aortic coarctation...

Except for the tetralogy of Fallot, which was too complex to artificially produce, he tried every interventional method for creating cardiac abnormalities:

Catheter position, the volume and speed of holy water injection, the patient’s (rabbit, pig) posture, imaging angles...

The experiment logbook filled up one thick volume after another, stacking up thickly on the desk.

When Viscount Elwin visited again, he found Garrett wearing a dirty white lab coat covered in rabbit fur, pig fur, and pig snot, his hair a complete mess, but his eyes still bright:

"Ah, you’re here? How’s the search for sick children

going?"

Viscount Elwin was taken aback. He confirmed repeatedly that this disheveled individual was indeed the mage Nordmark he intended to entrust his son to. He cautiously replied:

"I’ve contacted several orphanages, there are about two to three hundred children... You..."

Can you actually examine the children looking like this?

Don’t tell me you’ll collapse before the kids even arrive!

However, the next day when he brought the orphans over, what they saw was a neatly dressed, spirited Mage Nordmark.

At the Oakwood Hospital, the healers were all smiles, the nurses gentle and friendly. Even the barbarian security guards bent over to smile more warmly, trying to appear less intimidating:

"Line up, one by one, don’t run around!" Bernard led the command, directing the ragged, pale children into a long queue, one by one:

"Behave yourselves, do as you’re told. After the check-up, everyone gets to eat their fill! There’s meat! If you don’t listen, you get nothing!"

As for where the meat came from?

Heaven help them, the number of rabbits and pigs that the spellcasters had exhausted over the past few days was simply too many...

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