A Hospital in Another World?

The steam engine hissed as it released steam.

The generator rotor whirled noisily.

Bubbles burbled from the electrolysis cell, with oxygen silently blowing out from the iron pipes, swirling the white flames at the edge of the magma pool.

Ginna ran from the steam engine to the oxygen pipes, Gavin kept his mouth shut and dared not move with the frame on his shoulder, Faelmor and Prince Rothgar sat on the ground, legs pushed forward, desperately pulling at the bellows. Hanna rolled up his sleeves, muscles bulging on his arms, staring at the ores smelting in the white fire.

With the continuous supply of oxygen into the furnace, the flame reached an extremely high temperature, making the smelting process especially smooth. Layers of ore and charcoal were placed together in the furnace, igniting fierce flames. The furnace glowed orange-red, and only the most experienced eyes could peer through the flames to see the ores redden, soften, and turn into pig iron...

Everyone was busy. Only Garrett, having contributed both the generator and the oxygen-making equipment, found himself unable to even water his rabbit. Approaching the furnace was too hot and dusty for him, so after casting a 【Heat and Cold Resistance】spell on himself, he squatted aside, watching the bubbles in the electrolysis cell.

"Snap."

A sudden light sound almost imperceptible amidst the roar of the steam engine and the whooshing of the bellows. However, Garrett instantly jumped up:

The electrolysis cell stopped bubbling!

Was something broken? Had a fuse blown? No, this makeshift circuit didn’t even have a fuse, so that wasn’t it. Could it be the mercury arc rectifier had failed? Heaven forbid!

He stood far away, using Mage Hand to open the wooden box containing the rectifier, carefully inspecting it. The box was dark, lacking the blue sparks and crackling sounds. Rushing to check the generator, he encountered a burnt smell.

"Stop!" he yelled:

"The generator has burnt out!"

"The white fire is gone!"

Hanna shouted simultaneously. Suddenly, all eyes turned to Garrett. Scratching his head, he said:

"Er... the steam engine is too big, the generator too small. Let’s make a bigger one..."

"How big?"

"Not sure... just use bigger magnets, and wrap more coils around, I guess?"

The output of a generator is related to the size (supposedly the magnetic field strength) of the magnets, the number of coils, and apparently, the diameter of the wire. How exactly these factors interconnect, how many coils, and how big the magnets need to be to match this steam engine?

Garrett apologized internally, recalling his high school lessons where he learned that moving a wire through a magnetic field generates an electric current, and that was about it.

Finally, using basic common sense: if the coil was burnt, it was definitely because the steam engine was too powerful for the small generator. Making a bigger one should solve the problem. Leveraging the fact that no one else on site knew about electricity, Garrett took on the role of director:

"Find copper wire!"

"Insulate the copper wire!"

"Find a bigger magnet, cut it into a rectangle! What about magnetic field strength? Just hang a piece of iron in the middle, let two magnets face each other across the iron, and see which way the iron swings, that’s it!"

Assembling the frame, fixing the magnet, rewinding the wire...

Garrett gave the orders, Ginna executed them, and a bunch of men assisted. With an existing generator as a model, making a bigger one seemed like a half-day task for the dwarves.

Moreover, since Garrett couldn’t specify exactly how big it should be, once they finished one set of generators, Ginna, using the leftover materials, made another slightly smaller one. Setting it up and reconnecting the wires, they were back in business!

The intense white fire in the furnace blazed up once again.

Garrett checked around, making sure the coils were not heating up and the electrolysis cell was running smoothly, requiring no further maintenance from him, and then retreated to the corner to continue observing the rabbit. Holding a stopwatch, he counted the rabbit’s breaths, making notes in a notebook periodically.

After a while, Ginna squatted next to him, reached out to pet the rabbit’s head, twirling its fur around her fingers. After playing for a bit, she asked softly:

"Mr. Nordmark, why do you keep pouring water into this rabbit’s stomach?"

"...I’m not pouring water into its stomach; I’m pouring it into its lungs," Garrett opened his mouth to explain but hesitated, fearing the dwarven girl might be frightened. As he pondered how to phrase his response, Gavin sat down next to them, following up with his own question:

"Yeah, yeah! Garrett, grandpa said you’ve been pouring water into animals’ lungs all the way here, practicing that... lung washing... thing. How’s it going? Is it usable now?"

"Lung washing?"

"What does lung washing mean?"

"Can lungs even be washed? Won’t pouring water in make you choke?"

Several voices asked in a mix of curiosity and concern. Garrett turned around to see that aside from Hanna, who was still engrossed in the smelting work, the other dwarves had all gathered around him. Some leaned on their knees; others simply sat on the ground, their gazes intensely focused on him.

Garrett hesitated, not answering. The concept of lung washing, even now with animal experiments, he wasn’t 100% confident, how could he dare to try it on people?

Moreover, treating ordinary dwarves might not pose a huge risk, but treating a king’s son was another matter entirely. Not to mention the potential complications, even slightly unsatisfactory outcomes could lead to diplomatic incidents!

Seeing Garrett unwilling to speak, Gavin sighed and reached out to shake his shoulder. But before his hand could make contact, Prince Rothgar grabbed it and pulled it back:

"Don’t do that, Gavin. Mage Nordmark has already helped us a lot. If he has something he’s researching and wants to share, he’ll tell us. If he doesn’t want to talk about it, we shouldn’t force him."

Saying this, he nodded and smiled at Garrett, then was the first to stand up and walk away. Garrett suddenly felt a spur of inspiration:

"Wait!"

"What is it?"

Garrett pulled out a glass jar and handed it to him: "Spit in this." Then, he began pulling items out of his spatial bag:

A large graduated flask, a big water tank, thick glass slides, curved glass tubes, a funnel, and modeling clay, calling out as he did:

"Bernard, fetch me a bucket of water!"

Before anyone else could react, Gavin was already on his feet, rushing to get the water. Garrett directed him to fill the tank halfway, then filled the glass bottle with water, covered it with a thick glass slide, and inverted it into the tank.

Next, he removed the slide, inserted one end of the curved tube into the bottle’s mouth, and connected the other end to the funnel, sealing it tightly with clay. Once everything was set up, he waved Prince Rothgar over:

"Come here, take a deep breath and blow into the funnel! Press your face against it, make sure no air escapes, blow as hard as you can!"

Prince Rothgar, somewhat puzzled but holding the jar of his spit, complied with Garrett’s instructions and blew forcefully. Garrett squatted beside, watching the scale on the bottle, counting out loud:

"2600ml... 2700... 2800..."

What should be the normal lung capacity for dwarves?

Lung capacity is influenced by age, gender, physique, the strength of respiratory muscles, and the elasticity of the lungs and thoracic cage. Given dwarves are significantly shorter than humans, it stands to reason their lung capacity would be lower; however, these are powerful warriors, akin to athletes, and their lung capacity should be much higher than average...

The normal lung capacity for human males is generally between 3500 to 4000 milliliters; athletes can exceed 6000 milliliters. What about dwarves, especially those engaged in regular physical activity? What would their normal values be?

Garrett scratched his head in frustration. While treating humans could reference medical texts from his past life, cross-species medical research was proving to be a formidable challenge.

—If only there was a way to lure Kai over for a lung capacity test too!

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