A Hospital in Another World?

At the stage where experiments need to be conducted, Garrett had to take the lead personally. He placed the rat prone on the experimental table, used the Peace Spell to restrain it, elevated its chest, prepared the surgical area, disinfected, and draped it.
First, he used the Detect Magic to locate the exact positions of the spine and ribs, then began the incision guided by the Detect Magic.
He made a vertical incision 1 cm to the right of the midline, about 3 cm long, carefully cutting through the skin. As he cut, he cast healing spells to minimize bleeding. The skin of the rat was extremely thin, but fortunately, he had experience cutting rat skin.
After cutting the skin, he used Mage Hand as a retractor to open it, then cut through the subcutaneous tissue. Exposing the 8th to 13th ribs, he carefully stripped the periosteum to avoid excessive bleeding from the richly vascularized membrane.
Next came the crucial step. Using extremely fine steel wire—crafted from dwarf-forged stainless steel and transformed into wire by a Transmutation mage—he wrapped it around the ribs and tightened it...
"What are you doing?"
Archmage Morton couldn’t help but step forward. Garrett, without looking up, pointed casually, using Mage Trick to draw a bright yellow dividing line 30 cm from the experimental table:
"Please keep your distance from the observation platform, thank you. I’m creating an animal model. To explain why, O’Neil, show the Archmage."
Since no surgical nurse was needed to pass instruments, O’Neil, who was idle, went to perform a dance for the Archmage.
"So that’s how it is..."
The Archmage stared at the skeleton, lost in thought. By compressing and fixing the bones like this, an artificial scoliosis in animals could be created?
On the other side of the experimental table, Garrett tightened the wire with Mage Hand. The observation platform should maintain the habit of observing from a distance and follow aseptic procedures. If they really wanted a closer look, they could use the Arcane Eye.
Creak, creak!
Under the X-ray or Detect Magic, the rat’s spine slightly bent.
Creak, creak!
Good, it bent a bit more. But it wasn’t enough, more force was needed!
Snap!
"What happened, Mage Nordmark?"
Garrett looked up with a grimace. He had accidentally broken the rat’s rib...
The rat’s bones were too fragile to withstand too much force!
Garrett sighed, reset the rat’s bones, aligned the rib, cast a healing spell to heal it, and wrapped the wire again. Creak, creak, creak, creak...
Oh no! It pierced the lung!
Garrett hurriedly rescued the rat. The healing spell was cast, and the lung healed, but the blood filling the lung evidently caused the rat to suffocate. And Garrett’s skills in rat CPR were, well...
"Mage Nordmark, need any help?"
"Give me another one, please T_T..."
This time, Garrett’s operation was more skilled. He didn’t break the lung and successfully wrapped one set of wires, then another set. Then, he measured the curvature of the spine:
"..."
The curvature wasn’t enough...
The curvature hadn’t reached the desired angle, and the ends of the two ribs were already together!
Basic research, why is it so hard...
The ends of the two ribs were obviously too long to tighten. Garrett had to take further measures:
He picked up scissors and with a snip, cut off a segment of the rib end. The two mages beside him shuddered, but Garrett was oblivious, applied bone wax, sealed the end, and cast a healing spell to stop the bleeding and heal—
Done!
This time, it worked!
The wire tightened further, and the spinal curvature angle surpassed the previous results, approaching the required range!
Garrett took a deep breath, based on his calculations with O’Neil, he started the next step—bending the spine to the right and forward simultaneously.
This time, he made a vertical incision along the posterior midline, exposing the spinous process of the second lumbar vertebra. The lumbar vertebra’s spinous process was wider and thicker, more robust, perfect for the procedure!
He threaded the wire through the spinous process...
Damn! The spinous process broke!
The rat’s body was too small, its bones too small and fragile, problems could arise at any moment!
Garrett cast a cleansing spell on his forehead, pretending to wipe sweat. Then, he reset the rat’s lumbar spinous process, cast a healing spell, let it heal, re-punched a hole, re-threaded the wire...
Finally, he fixed the wire through the subcutaneous ends, pressing and tightening them against the 8th, 9th, 12th, and 13th ribs to further aggravate the lateral curvature. Checking from all directions, the Endless Ink Pen floated around—
Satisfied from all directions!
The spine bent right and forward, both to the desired degrees! His hands were incredibly precise~~~
Turning his head, he saw the two mages standing on tiptoe, holding their breaths, straining to see. Garrett smiled at them:
"Wait a moment. Once it’s confirmed, and the healing is successful, I’ll show you the results. Give me a minute!"
He carefully observed the rat’s condition. Vital energy normal—after advancing, he could finally sense the strength of life energy—breathing normal, heartbeat normal, blood oxygen saturation normal. Blood pressure?
Sorry, he didn’t have the technology for rat blood pressure.
Overall, the rat looked pretty normal, surgery could end. Saint saline, up!
Garrett repeatedly flushed the wound, healing layer by layer. After finishing the surgery, he looked up at the time...
Well, an hour had passed unnoticed.
I can perform a C-section in just 15 minutes!
Garrett was tearful.
Sigh, creating animal models, it’s never just one. For this experiment alone, he needed at least 10 rats to start—not counting the one that died during surgery. If this method proved effective, more dissections, treatments, and experiments on larger animals would be necessary...
The road ahead is long and arduous, I will search high and low. Speed up my hands, or maybe train a couple of surgical beasts too, doing dozens of animal models alone is too exhausting!
"Mage Nordmark, can we help?" Archmage Morton, having watched Garrett’s entire procedure, volunteered:
"Give us a few rats, we’ll help make them? Everyone working together will be faster?"
His students didn’t dare to speak up but nodded vigorously, indicating "I can help too." Garrett: "..."
Can you really?
Can you guys really?
I have considerable surgical experience and still struggled, and you? Sure you won’t kill every rat, make a hundred, and kill a hundred?
Forget it, they meant well, and rats aren’t that valuable anyway. Garrett cautiously suggested:
"Start with adult male rats? They’re larger, easier to work with?"
Archmage Morton readily agreed. Garrett allocated a separate lab, ten adult male rats, a surgical knife for each, and a box of bone wax. Brave on, Archmage!
As for retractors, hemostats, periosteal elevators, all sorts of surgical instruments, they would have to use Mage Hand to transform them.
Garrett did the same, saving on instrument costs, sterilization costs, storage costs, and the need for an instrument nurse and a circulating nurse to check and count.
Then...
"Ah! Teacher, the rat died!"
"Ah! Teacher, the rat died again!"
"The rat died again..."
"Mage Nordmark, we should focus on spells..."
"MOSS, send the first phase experiment plan and today’s surgery record to Mrs. Alva." Exhausted from the day’s work, Garrett instructed the Tower Spirit:
"Also ask Mrs. Alva how much funding is available for the next phase. It will be more difficult..."
Garrett rolled up his sleeves, continuing with the experimental animals. Besides him, there were two more casters, dedicated to tending to this batch of rats:
One was a novice priest from the Church of the God of Nature. After entering the novice stage, he had been stuck for ten years without advancing to a formal priest, his plight evoking sympathy and sorrow.
Elder Wood and Priest Matthew had tried many methods to help him, but the final diagnosis was "wrong path, this guy just can’t sense nature." Garrett picked him up to care for the animals, where he lived quite leisurely;
The other was a necromancer, assisting the nature priest, feeding the animals, casting spells, and dissecting to determine the cause of death. His skills soared in a year, advancing to a second-level mage.
Now, the two casters stood in front of Garrett, each holding a notebook, quickly jotting down his instructions:
"One rat per cage!"
"Yes!"
"Don’t skimp on food and water, give them the best for post-op recovery!"
"Yes!"
"Rats easily stress after being startled, cast more Peace Spells. If your spells aren’t enough, ask Carlos for help!"
"Yes!"
Garrett thought for a moment, with no other suggestions. He trusted their experience in caring for animals, the rats’ wounds had all healed, they wouldn’t die from surgery anesthesia or infection...
From then on, he spent all his free time, working day and night. In three days, he completed ten rat models of scoliosis, and incidentally, two more—
Two rats unfortunately died. One for unknown reasons, the other, upon dissection, revealed a broken wire piercing the internal organs.
After waiting ten days, Garrett took X-rays daily from both front and side views. The progress was very encouraging, as the half-grown rats grew rapidly, with significant wedge-shaped deformation of the vertebral bodies, narrowing of the concave intervertebral spaces, and widening of the convex side.
Hmm, good enough!
Next, dissections, pathological examinations, and most importantly—
CT scans!
Who could tell him how to get a rat to stay still for a CT scan?