Chapter 290
Chapter 290
The paper, specifically requested by the Lord of Thunder, ended up being penned by the jack-of-all-trades and master of essays, Mr. Aurora Worton.
Ignorance is bliss, they say, and without knowledge, there’s no fear. Aurora’s paper flowed smoothly, with most of his ink spent describing the hand-cranked generator’s construction. Magnets, coils, crank, wires—the only issue was Aurora’s lack of drawing skills, leading to much erasing and sketching, and a pile of bread crumbs used for erasing charcoal, quickly accumulating on the side.
After detailing the generator and explaining its electricity generation, Aurora concluded the paper with his personal observations on the characteristics of this new type of lightning. And with that, the paper was complete.
Garrett sighed more and more as he read through it. Without orthogonal views or standard mechanical drawings for the generator, no waveform, current, voltage, or resistance for the alternating current, even with the backing of a legendary mage, would "Arcane" really accept this?
"Boss...?" Aurora squatted nervously opposite, watching his expressions. Garrett massaged his temples:
"Let it be, I’ll make some edits..."
He grabbed the 【Endless Ink Pen】, swiftly adding content. Ah, if only this level 9 magical item could learn to write on its own!
"Ahem... ’On the Characteristics of Hand-Cranked Generators and Alternating Current’...
Each magnet carries a magnetic field, and when a coil cuts through this field, electricity is generated. Of course, the reason for electricity generation remains under debate...
Since the coil’s motion is cyclical, the direction of the current also constantly changes. Unlike the consistent-direction lightning found in nature or summoned by mages, we call this type of electricity—alternating current.The intensity of alternating current is influenced by the magnet’s strength, the number of coil turns, and the load in the circuit..."
After writing extensively, he passed it to Aurora to add experiments and data. The task of converting AC to DC would wait until after the paper was submitted, for some magician (sucker) to figure out. Garrett, meanwhile, faced another pressing task:
The trainees from various factions had arrived.
The Black Crow Swamp arrived first. Nine in a row, grandly, each with their carriage. Garrett wondered why there was one extra person until he recognized the newcomer:
"Magician Lynn! You’ve come too!"
"Yes, I’m here too!" Magician Lynn’s familiar, a black cat in white gloves, jumped down to greet Garrett before its master could. Garrett bent down to shake its hand:
"Mr. Troka! Long time no see!"
"I’m leading these kids over." Magician Lynn smiled as he watched Garrett greet the black cat, attempting to pinch its paw pad but getting swatted away, swiftly withdrawing his hand. Once the playful exchange between man and cat ended, he explained:
"By the way, each of these kids brought a corpse over. —Do you have a place to put them?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Garrett jumped up, beaming. Corpses for dissection! Black Crow Swamp kept their word, actually delivering corpses!
Don’t worry, little guys, I’ll teach you well!
As for the morgue, they had plenty! A P4 lab for pathogen research, how could they not have a morgue?
Though lacking formalin, refrigeration wasn’t an issue! A dedicated room, magically cooled, a compartment for each corpse, had been specially prepared!
At Lynn’s command, the eight apprentices, two by two, carried the stretchers upstairs. Garrett followed leisurely, chatting quietly with Lynn:
"What did you do after the battle? You didn’t come back for over a year. I asked Archmage Edgar twice, but he had no news of you!"
"I... haha, I was chased by a level 7 knight to the sea, almost to the Eternal Ice! ...I’m fine! That guy’s been chopped by me, I found a nice place on the Northern Island, turned him into a skeleton soldier! Took me half a year!"
"Impressive, defeating someone two levels higher!" Garrett looked at him with admiration. Such near-equal, prepared pursuits were not like his own surprise fire-breath attack:
"What’s the Northern Island like? Is it very cold?"
"It’s... okay, just that nights are particularly long, and days are short, quite favorable for us necromancers. The only downside is the lack of food, just seals, deer, various fishes, after half a year there, I genuinely gained weight!"
That’s not apparent...
Garrett scrutinized him. Lynn’s face was still gaunt, at most, the cheeks weren’t as sunken. To say he got fat, well, Mr. Troka indeed seemed pl
umper, his fur glossy and sleek.
Shaking his head, Garrett opened the morgue door. Lynn immediately stepped forward, instructing the apprentices:
"Line up, line up! Don’t rush! One by one, inside! Hey, the one with black hair, I’m talking to you! Hold steady, don’t break the stretcher! Don’t drop the corpse!
—It’s not like you, it can’t be healed if broken!"
Garrett: "......"
The logic was sound, but something felt off.
To avoid hearing more uncomfortable remarks, he pulled Lynn from the morgue straight to the entrance of the Mage Tower. Besides the Black Crow Swamp’s group, several more carriages had arrived outside:
The Transformation School brought two large boxes of acids, bases, salts, various metals, alchemical materials, and products, asking Garrett where to put them as soon as he approached;
The Curse Magic School’s contributions were far lighter, a small, delicate leather case filled with magical beast blood, plant juices, and crystal powders, supposedly for ink mixing and scroll writing;
The six priest apprentices from the War God’s Temple, in pairs, carried three large boxes. The clanging of metal from within made Garrett shiver: were they all specializing in orthopedics?
The Spring Goddess’s Temple came almost empty-handed, save for two large bottles of holy water each apprentice presented, making Garrett almost believe they came with nothing. However, the most economical were the followers of the Nature God:
Four apprentices, two men and two women, the men each carrying a cage of rabbits. The rabbit cages’ vines were so naturally woven, Garrett suspected they had grown the vines themselves, made the cages, and lured the rabbits in one by one...
The women from the sect were even more formidable.
A petite priest apprentice held two sheep with grass ropes, bending without any signs of craftsmanship. Garrett was convinced they had enticed the sheep themselves. Another tall female apprentice, at least 170 cm tall, led a large wild boar with vines, followed by two sows and several piglets, all obediently trailing without need for restraint.
This girl’s affinity with animals must be at full level!
Indeed, while others arrived by carriage or horseback, these four walked. Truly living up to being the most frugal (cunning) among all casters.
Luckily, Garrett’s Mage Tower had uniform beds, linens, bookcases, and wardrobes for the apprentices, with unified meal provision. The Nature God’s priest apprentices wouldn’t have to wrap themselves in blankets, sleep on the floor, or gnaw on their own black bread...
Moreover, the lab gowns and isolation suits provided were of a uniform, dreadfully plain design. Aside from easy cleaning, they had no redeeming qualities.
Garrett, however, no longer minded. As the saying goes, frequent exposure numbs the senses; having delved into the medical field, he grew accustomed to the ugliness of scrub suits. Clapping his hands, he directed everyone to the neatly arranged scrub suits:
"Alright, everyone pick one that fits. Men’s changing room on the left, women’s on the right. After changing, come out, and I’ll show you how to wear the isolation suits."
"They’re so ugly? —I refuse to wear this!"
A complaint immediately arose from the crowd. Garrett glanced over and chuckled: he knew this kid, the one who had paired up with the black-haired apprentice during the corpse carrying.
The boy’s cheeks were puffed, still showing baby fat, looking utterly unbecoming of a necromancer—no matter, a few months here would change him to resemble Lynn and the others...
As Garrett thought idly, not feeling particularly challenged by the defiance. If you don’t want to wear scrub suits, well, they all had their complaints when first receiving them. Complaints about ugliness, rough fabric, loose waistbands easily slipping off... oh, and complaints about already broken waistbands, replaced with strings needing knots...
If not for the formidable authority of the operating room’s head nurse, these young doctors might have grumbled even more.
But with someone openly complaining, unrest immediately stirred among the apprentices.
The women were fine; the two girls from the Nature God’s sect already found their sizes and headed into the changing room hand in hand. But the male apprentices, especially those looking rather delicate and well-dressed, hesitated to move.
Some glanced at the chubby boy, then at Garrett, seemingly waiting for the former to clash with Garrett before deciding their actions. Garrett, however, had no intention of intervening—shouldn’t Black Crow Swamp’s own take care of this?
He glanced sideways. Lynn’s expression darkened as he scolded loudly:
"Don’t wear it then, get out! —Whose disciple are you?! Get out and let your teacher come for you!"
With a flick of his hand, a black light shot out, hurling the chubby boy out the door. The next moment
, a cage of bones sprang from the ground outside the changing room, trapping the boy within a skeletal prison characteristic of necromancers.
The room fell silent, everyone frozen in fear.
Garrett was overjoyed.
"Magician Lynn! Why don’t you stay? Help me manage these apprentices?"
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