A Hospital in Another World? C.267

Garrett, pulling Aurora, headed straight to the Tower of Heaven.

Fortunately, he caught the last small train, and fortunately, Archmage Carlisle stayed in the mage tower day and night. When Garrett arrived, his office was like a specialist clinic, with a disciple inside consulting, and a group of apprentices waiting in line outside...

Aurora peered around the door frame. When Archmage Carlisle saw him, he waved and called him in, asked a couple of questions, then stamped a seal and greeted the disciple in front of him:

"Roderick, take them over. ——Don’t rush to buy computing time. First, talk to the Tower Spirit and see if they can meet the mage’s requirements."

"All right! Teacher, rest assured, I will take care of them!"

Roderick departed. During the previous period, they had worked on several major projects with Garrett, electrolytic smelting, compressed air separation, and everyone had made a small fortune. Garrett was generous, giving them half of the research points and contributions for the entire project.

——Contributions points were secondary; the important thing was the research points! Those things were hard to earn. Following Garrett, they could earn one or two hundred points at once, or two to three hundred points at once, it was like winning without much effort!

Even more importantly, after the project ended, several fellow apprentices were deeply engaged in research, and some even had two papers published...

With such a background, Roderick treated Garrett’s group very warmly. As they walked and talked, Garrett learned that before applying for computing, one could communicate with the Tower Spirit in the outer chamber of the computing center to ensure that the Tower Spirit could understand and meet the mage’s requirements.

"Entering the computing room means starting to pay. It’s 1500 contribution points per hour, which is very expensive, enough to burn one and a half days in the intermediate meditation room. No one can afford this unless there is a large-scale magic calculation or a high-level magic device design!"

——Last time, there was a poor guy from an outer province who didn’t know this trick and went in directly with money. He burned 1500 contribution points for nothing, and the Tower Spirit said it couldn’t calculate at all. He cried so miserably...

Renting a supercomputer, that must be expensive. Garrett understood. And renting a supercomputer must mean writing the program in advance. Who would see the start of the calculation time and then write the program on the fly?

"——Oh, by the way, if you really want to save money, you can come at midnight. Mages meditate at midnight, and from midnight to six in the morning, computing costs are discounted by 20%!"

Huh, there are peak and off-peak prices for supercomputers, no, Tower Spirit’s computing power? Who operates this computing center, the power company?

Truly speechless...

As they chatted along the way, Roderick quickly led them to the computing hall on the 15th floor of Thunder Tower. The night shift at the computing center was handled by an old man with a snowy white beard. From his badge, he was only a 5th-level mage, obviously arranged by the council to retire here. Roderick didn’t bother him either, he just led Garrett to the corner of the computing hall, took out Archmage Carlisle’s seal, and held it up in the air.

"Respected Mage, hello. Tower Spirit Gregory is at your service," said a lively young voice full of vitality. If it weren’t for the crackling sound of electricity in his voice, Garrett would almost think he was a living person. He coughed lightly and took the seal from Roderick’s hand:

"Mr. Gregory, we are here to apply for computing power. ——I would like to ask, can you scan, input, and analyze existing documents?"

He unfolded two documents. One was a copy of death records, and the other was a form prepared during the day. A blue light flickered and scanned over the two documents. Garrett pointed to the form and said:

"That’s it, fill in each death record into the form, count it as 1 in the corresponding column. Finally, add up the numbers in the corresponding column——"

He slid his finger down the column:

"That way, you can get the total number in each category. For example, for the past year, the number of deaths from 0 to 6 years old, the number of female deaths, the number of deaths from epidemics——can you do it?"

There was a moment of silence in the computing hall. The blue light flickered, as if the Tower Spirit was blinking and thinking about Garrett’s meaning. After thinking for five or six seconds, it crackled and said:

"How are the income categories divided?"

"By occupation. I’ll give you the form later."

"What about residence classification?"

"Mr. Gregory, can you access the map of Nevis City and its surroundings to determine residential locations? Later, we will mark the areas on the map..."

"Well, it can be done."

Yes! Garrett clenched his fist slightly, delighted. No more procrastination with those apprentices, no more tolerating absurdly high error rates from manual data entry!

The input, storage, and computation of data, the Tower Spirit could handle it all!

Roderick coughed beside him. Garrett came to his senses and looked at him, only to see Roderick making gestures and mouthing desperately:

Money!

Money!

"So, how much time does it take to complete data entry and analysis?"

Garrett came back to his senses and asked. The blue light shone down, scanning over the paper line by line, disappearing in an instant. The Tower Spirit’s clear voice sounded:

"How many pages of data are there?"

"Twenty years of data, one book for each year, each book is between 700 and 800 pages." Garrett recalled. The Tower Spirit quickly gave feedback:

"It takes 12 seconds to scan and input each page, and it takes 2.3 to 2.6 hours per book. For 20 years, it will take a total of..."

"Stop!" Garrett broke into a sweat. Twenty years would take 46 to 52 hours, at 1500 contribution points per hour, he would go bankrupt! "Can you scan and input 20 books at once?"

"... " Another moment of quiet calculation. The Tower Spirit spoke again:

"It can be done. It also requires the use of 20 invisible servants to control the pages. The rental cost for invisible servants is 10 contribution points per hour per person..."

"Can I have people to turn the pages?"

"You can."

Garrett breathed a sigh of relief. It took 12 seconds for each page to be scanned and entered, including the time to turn the pages, which ranged from 13 to 14 seconds. Completing the thickest record would take 3 and a half hours, and with subsequent data processing, it would require at least 4 hours...

Even if he worked at night, he would need at least 4800 contribution points...

However, this compressed 5 days of data entry, along with who knows how many days of subsequent data processing time, to 4 hours. It also significantly improved accuracy... Indeed, when it came to research, was spending money the only way to go?

"Tower spirit, how many contribution points do I have in my account now?" Garrett inquired. A blue light scanned his chest badge and promptly provided the answer:

"2998 points."

It was considerably more than last month, probably from the commission for selling microscopes, but still not enough. Seeing Garrett frown in thought, Aurora cautiously nudged him:

"Hey, I have 1500 contribution points here, it’s also yours. If it’s still not enough, shall we figure out a way to borrow some?"

"Borrow? Borrow what?" Garrett took a deep breath. When it came to research and such, one should use research funds, never had he reached into his own pocket!

The next day, he sent Aurora to oversee the data entry work while he sought an audience with the protective spell department’s review committee member. With a notebook in his left hand and forms in his right, he confidently presented his research ideas and made his demands:

Grant access to computational resources!

Or, allocate additional project funds!

"Authorization to use the computing room?" The white-robed mage shook his head repeatedly. "The council doesn’t have such a rule. Garrett, you should know, almost all high-level mages are tasked with research by the council. If you could freely use the computing room with council projects, it would end up in chaos, and ultimately, everyone would have to resort to snatching."

"Well, how about increasing project funding?" Garrett inquired further. The white-robed mage continued to shake his head. "Normally, it’s possible, but Garrett, the success of your project is still unknown. It’s practically impossible to persuade the review committee to approve such a large sum in advance."

"Then—"

Garrett felt a bit anxious. Honestly, once you’ve experienced spending money, who wants to go back to the days of toiling hard?

The white-robed mage smiled, "But there is a way. You can pay in advance. If the public health organization is established successfully, I’m confident I can convince the review committee to include the computing costs in the research budget, and then you can claim reimbursement."

"...No money!"

"You can take out a loan!"

The white-robed mage smiled confidently. "The Mage Management Department has a specialized lending institution. A loan of 5000 contribution points—well, a bit more wouldn’t hurt—designated for this research project. If the project succeeds, the council will pay, if not, you’ll repay it yourself. The review committee can provide a certificate, take it to the management department, and they’ll definitely lend it to you."

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"...Isn’t the council worried I won’t be able to repay?"

Garrett couldn’t help but complain.

They’re really not worried. The dragon’s breath hand, even though it’s not open for redemption now, will be in about half a year with 5000 contribution points. The white-robed mage shrugged, not wanting to explain to Garrett in detail. He just smiled and said, "Can you use your mage tower as collateral? Hmm, it’s okay to extend the repayment period to three years, with a grace period of six months, and repayment starting one year later, at an annual interest rate of 5%—this condition isn’t too bad for you, is it?"

Using a mage tower that hasn’t been built yet, only exists on paper, as collateral—very good and powerful. Apart from the review committee members, probably no one else could approve such a policy loan. Garrett lowered his head in thought for a moment, then raised his palm:

"Deal!"

"Deal!"

With a slap, the palms of the two mages met in mid-air.

There’s no way I won’t be able to repay the loan! This project will definitely succeed, even if it’s for those laborers who died from poverty and illness, I must succeed! For the accuracy of the data, for the persuasive power, for helping them sooner—

Let’s spend money first!

At midnight, twenty necromancer apprentices lined up in a square formation, each holding a record book, standing in the computing room of the Thunder Tower.

"Everyone, pay attention, when the blue light flashes twice, it means the scanning is complete. Turn the page and wait for the blue light to flash again... One, two, three! Start!"