A Hospital in Another World? Chapter 1008: The Core of Divine Magic: I Think, Therefore I Can!

Garrett sprawled out on the ground, slowly closing his eyes.

A large swath of swaying shadows fell on his face. To trace back the memories of the Plague Maiden, he needed to communicate with the little snake. The most gentle and stable way to communicate with the snake was to liberate the oak staff into its tree form.

When the oak tree rooted into the ground, spreading its canopy and directly absorbing sunlight, water, and nutrients from nature, its burden was the lightest. This way, the memories transmitted by the little snake could be filtered in the gentlest manner, helping Garrett to sort out this power.

However...

"It's so hot, so hot, so hot..."

"It's scorching me to death, scorching me to death, scorching me to death..."

"I'm dying of thirst, dying of thirst, I'm about to die of thirst, why can't I find water even though my roots are so deep..."

"Why is the soil here so barren, it's like eating a mouthful of sand..."

"Oh, shut up."

The oak staff, or rather the oak tree companion of a nature priest, was not so fragile. From the far north to the far south, from icy lands to desert wastelands, from bitter saline-alkali land to the stinky volcanic craters, they could grow anywhere—

Even if they couldn't grow long-term, they could survive temporarily. In fact, following their master across the world, experiencing different sunlight, climates, and soils, was one of their ways of growth.

An oak tree that only took root in its comfort zone and had never been liberated elsewhere could not become the best oak tree!

It was said that the oak trees of powerful nature priests could even extend their roots and spread their canopies in environments completely unsuitable for human survival, creating a small haven for their masters.

So Garrett knew his oak staff wouldn't truly "die from heat" or "die from thirst." It was just complaining, like a person working under a 35-degree sun without air conditioning, who would inevitably gripe a little—

"I'll listen to your complaints later. For now, help me maintain a meditative environment so the little snake can send more information!"

"Bang!"

The branches swayed, and an acorn mercilessly hit Garrett's forehead. He glared at the oak tree, rubbed his forehead to dispel the slight swelling, and then picked up the acorn, crushed it, and took a bite, savoring the sweet taste.

In the meditative world, the massive canopy swayed, casting an all-encompassing shadow. Thick roots spread in all directions, gripping the land. On the tree trunk, a black-and-white patterned python opened its mouth and spat out a stream of light—

The light was absorbed, decomposed, and filtered by the leaves, layer by layer, before entering Garrett's mind. With closed eyes, Garrett let the memories surge in his brain, sorting, reviewing, and seeking:

Memories of the Plague Maiden walking through jungles and swamps... the surrounding terrain, climate, vegetation, and animals... No, this isn't what I need!

Memories of the Plague Maiden passing through tribes, breathing miasma, and spreading plague, causing widespread illness... No, this isn't what I need either!

Memories of the Plague Maiden subduing the gods of flies, mosquitoes, rats, and worms... No! Get lost! What’s the point of showing me all these strange bugs!

Although I now know which mosquitoes can spread the plague, what they like, what they fear, and which animals are their natural enemies, this knowledge isn't what I need right now!

Memories of the Plague Maiden secretly infiltrating a tribe, spreading black mist... but the plague was too strong, and the tribe soon perished...

To gain more offerings, she frowned, repeatedly testing to control her power...

Got it!

This is it!

Garrett's eyes lit up. The Plague Maiden's ability to control the plague was more precise than he had imagined: for those who resisted and fought her, she could unleash an extremely potent plague to cause mass extinction;

For those who devoutly worshipped her, she could bestow blessings: the plague would "gently bite" the devout.

Those who were "bitten" would exhibit mild symptoms, which would soon disappear, and they would not be troubled by the plague for a long time!

Isn't this a vaccine?

Isn't this the vaccine I've been looking for?

Garrett dug through the fragments of memory. The Plague Maiden's blessings weren't always foolproof. For instance, those "gently bitten" usually only exhibited mild symptoms—

That is, a slight fever for a day or two, a low fever around 38 degrees, a bit of headache, and a few coughs. But occasionally, there were weak individuals or unusual situations, or when the Plague Maiden slipped up, leading to severe cases or even death...

Of course, to the Plague Maiden, the deaths of the tribesmen didn't matter. Death was just proof of "his lack of piety" or "his doubt in my power." Overall, keeping the severe case rate below 5% was an impressive achievement.

As for how to suppress it?

Garrett was shocked to find that she directly commanded the "plague seeds"!

"You must become weaker! You must not harm these people! You must become as weak as possible!"

Commanding while spreading the plague seeds... although there were always a few disobedient seeds, and a few weak individuals among the infected, overall, the effect was quite good...

"The essence of divine magic is 'I think, therefore I can'..."

Garrett contemplated the process of the Plague Maiden releasing her power and exhaled deeply. Healing spells, tranquility spells, or any other divine spells all fundamentally relied on the power of thought and spirit—

Using powerful thoughts to pull on the unseen strings and influence what you want to influence...

"So, after all this, it still boils down to a mentalist approach..."

Garrett muttered. He could try the mentalist approach, but—

A 5% severe case rate was completely unacceptable to him! Even 1% was unacceptable!

Administering a hundred vaccines and having one person develop severe symptoms would lead to immediate backlash! A widely distributed vaccine must have an adverse reaction rate below one in ten thousand!

That is, in a million people, fewer than 100 would report adverse reactions; among them, fewer than one would report severe reactions!

"Then I'll give it a try... It seems a combination of mental and material approaches, mutation, selection, mutation, and selection is still needed..."

Garrett grumbled as he stood up and reached for the oak staff. However, the oak staff didn't revert from its tree form to its familiar staff form or pencil form—

Its roots were firmly anchored in the ground, its canopy spread wide, unmoving. Under the blue sky and on the ground, it stood obstinately as if saying, "I am a tree, and I refuse to leave."

"Didn't you say it's too hot here? Didn't you say you were dying of thirst? Didn't you say the soil was too poor and tasted awful? You—"

Garrett, with hands on hips, pointed at the canopy, communicating with the oak staff through his thoughts. This time, no acorns fell on him, but...

"Ouch!"

A root had quietly risen from the ground and tripped him.

"Fine! Stand here if you want! Stand for a lifetime! Don’t expect me to take you with me!"

Garrett muttered as he walked back. One step, two steps, three steps, and a branch gently rested on his shoulder. Then, the entire oak staff quickly shrank, centered around the branch, and pressed down—

"Ouch! You're trying to crush me!"

It always felt like the oak staff had a worse and worse rapport with him... constantly trying to annoy him... Something must have gone wrong in its nurturing process. Maybe he should ask his teacher or Elder Tapros about it...

Garrett shrank the oak staff to pencil size, tucked it into his chest pocket, and rubbed his shoulder as he walked into the core area of the research institute. Grasping a vial of virus-laden serum, he recalled the Plague Maiden's spellcasting process:

"Weaken, weaken, weaken! Go!"

A dark cloud enveloped the mice. This time, Garrett used both the Life Observation spell and infrared vision, scanning in silence:

"The severe case rate increased from 60% to 70%... spellcasting completely failed... Am I not a deity after all..."

Perhaps, it was a lack of self-confidence? Subconsciously believing that purely using mental power to guide viruses for directional mutation was impossible?

Garrett closed his eyes, took deep breaths, and calmed himself into a meditative state. Over and over, he hypnotized himself:

"I can do it... I can do it... If the Plague Maiden can do it, and I have absorbed part of her core power, then I can do it too... It's just directional mutation! In this world, the power of divine magic can do anything!"

After self-hypnosis, he took another vial of serum and cast the spell again. This time, he got a promising result:

"The severe case rate decreased from 60% to 30%! The high rate is probably due to my inexperience with the spell... Try again!"

Again, and again, Garrett cast divine magic, exhausting all the serums filtered today, achieving a result of 10% severe cases and 90% mild cases.

Although still inferior to the Plague Maiden, it was already quite good!

"Oknjinn! Get the skeletons to work! Draw blood from every mildly affected mouse, prepare the serum, and inject it into the next mouse!"

Each mildly affected mouse corresponded to three batches of

healthy mice... one batch injected with serum, one batch infected using the Plague Spell, and the third batch placed in a box with the mildly affected mice, along with mosquitoes...

Then, observing the conditions of these three batches of mice, selecting those infected but showing strong vitality, drawing blood again, and preparing serum anew...

Using divine magic for mutation, experimenting and selecting repeatedly, there was no way to fail to create the weakest strain!

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