A Hospital in Another World?

Garrett stepped forward subconsciously, his expression one of excitement.

In his meditative vision, he saw the little creature with a round face, round nose, and round ears, standing upright and looking around, as adorable as an elf.

Its fur was completely white, with a black dot on the tip of its tail that kept twitching non-stop.

Every detail of its body was a trigger for his sense of cuteness.

"Ah..."

To the right, the Silver Dragon Lady also made a sound charmed by cuteness.

She had even less resistance to the little white weasel, squatting down, stretching out her right hand, her silver-blue eyes slightly glazed as she too entered her meditative vision.

The elders looked askance.

This spirit of the totem was meant for the healers to contract, so why, Miss Elf, are you more excited than the healers themselves?

A spirit trying to materialize would consume a vast amount of the contractor’s mental energy. Do you plan to take it out to play every day?

Lord Nordmark, are you planning to contract whatever she chooses?

Well... as long as you two are happy...

Amidst a general murmur of assent, a voice of dissent emerged. From the back of the caster’s formation, an old man, limping and with a face full of sorrow, pushed his way forward.

Seeing Garrett fixated on the white weasel totem pole, he hesitated again and again, then whispered:

"Lord Nordmark... that, contracting this white weasel can be troublesome, you should be more cautious..."

"Old man, what is it?"

Garrett withdrew his eyes from the meditative world and turned to the elder. Cautious?

What’s the situation?

Is there something wrong with this white weasel?

Although weasels are generally capable of battling, it’s said a white weasel can hunt prey ten times its own weight and even confront wolves for it...

But this is a spirit of the totem, it shouldn’t be aggressive, right?

"Ah, my lord." The elder bent over subconsciously, rubbing his back as if it hurt continuously:

"To contract with this white weasel, you must pass its test. First, you have to dance with it..."

"What?!"

The elder, with a bitter smile, made a few gestures, unsure of how to continue, only shaking his head. Garrett, not understanding, nodded at him with a smile, turning his attention back to the spirit of the white weasel.

His mental energy reached out to the weasel, expressing his intent to make contact, and then he was dumbfounded.

The white weasel leapt up wildly.

It jumped high, dived down, darted to the other side, stood upright, and began shaking crazily.

Then suddenly, it flopped down, rolled over a few times with its belly up, rubbed its back on the ground, and jumped up again.

In short, it was completely engaged in a bizarre state of frantic, twitching, Brownian motion...

Garrett stood watching, utterly unable to understand what it wanted or what it was demanding. Trying to connect with it mentally, the vague feedback seemed to suggest "keep up with me"...

Keep up with you?

Keep up with your twitching?

After a long bout of wild thrashing, seeing no response, the white weasel suddenly darted up to Garrett. It stood upright, flopped down, belly up.

Its little paws scrabbled, as if tempting Garrett:

Come play with me!

Come pet me!

Garrett stared at it for a moment, then cautiously squatted down, reaching out to scratch its belly. His fingers hadn’t even reached it when a flash of white light occurred, and the white weasel disappeared.

Following that, there was a slight prick on the back of his neck.

"Huh?"

Garrett reached out to grab, but caught nothing. Between his fingers, it seemed as if a breeze had just brushed past, possibly the spirit’s fur.

Then, the white weasel reappeared not far ahead, arched its back, and snarled at him. Garrett reached out with his mental energy, trying to coax it closer, but it wouldn’t have any of it.

"Ah..."

The elder sighed deeply. Remembering the past, he still felt unbearable:

"If you can’t keep up with its battle dance, and you can’t catch it, it won’t contract with you. In my younger days, I wanted to contract with it, but ended up with a back injury... Ouch..."

So that twitchy jumping was a so-called battle dance?

Garrett shook his head, exiting the meditative state. A weasel, cute and fierce, but alas, not a match.

Let’s move on and find another.

He continued along the row of totem poles, testing one after another. The footsteps behind him did not follow, and turning back, he saw the Silver Dragon Lady, eyes shining,

squatting across from a totem pole...

Do you want it?

Okay. Even if Seraina fancied that white weasel and wanted to take it away, that was fine. At worst, he’d just have to offer some more of his technical expertise in exchange.

Speaking of which, spells for precisely eliminating parasites, could those barbarian healers learn them?

Garrett touched his store of techniques, confident, and moved on. Deer, no; toad, no; next...

Empty?

This totem pole housed no spirit?

Garrett stopped in his tracks and searched carefully with his mental energy, finally finding a small snake at the base of the totem pole. About as thick as chopsticks, coiled into a circle, it took up less space than a palm.

Black and white, no, rather, white with black markings. Its semi-transparent spirit form was barely visible, easy to overlook if one wasn’t paying attention.

The snake spirit raised its triangular head, swaying slightly, its tongue flickering at him. Garrett instinctively pulled out his oak wand and compared it:

Hey, about the same size?

Suddenly, a blur appeared. The white with black marked snake spirit sprang like an arrow!

Don’t bite me!

Garrett instinctively blocked with his oak wand. Looking closely again, the small snake curled up, quietly coiling around the oak wand. Its head hung down, spiraling downwards, showing no intention to bite.

Garrett’s mind moved. The oak wand grew slightly larger, and the spirit’s shadow grew along with it; when he shrank it back to the size of a ballpoint pen, the little snake similarly shrank, immediately returning to the thickness of chopsticks.

The compatibility was unbelievably high, as if it was naturally meant to be a decoration on the oak wand.

Garrett took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, released his mental energy, and connected with the small snake:

Do you like me?

Do you want to follow me?

Can you become my partner, my eyes, assist me in observing patients’ conditions, and help me with treatments?

Almost immediately, a cool sensation silently permeated from across. Garrett slightly tilted his head back, relaxing his mind, savoring that sensation:

Like stumbling out of the emergency building after a busy overnight, the morning breeze blowing in his face;

Like hiking up a mountain path during a department team-building exercise, guzzling a bottle of ice-cold mineral water;

Or like finishing several hours of surgery, dizzy and blurry-eyed, then downing a bag of glucose in one gulp...

That sufficient, comfortable feeling made him unconsciously exhale a long breath.

"This viper spirit was a previous great healer’s contracted partner." At some point, the plumed elder had come up beside him, softly explaining:

"When I was a child, I often saw it bring herbs to help its master treat diseases. It’s said that it could taste any common herb in the wild and know what it could cure."

A snake that carries herbs? A born healing magical pet! To take it away like this, was it really okay? Knowing that the barbarian’s healing power was still lacking...

Perhaps sensing his doubt, the plumed elder sighed softly, his voice low:

"Unfortunately, his disciple was more focused on battle, not much interested in healing, and didn’t quite mesh with the snake spirit. No descendants could gain the snake spirit’s favor, and it has been decades now."

Okay, purely a mismatch. Just like that white weasel, cute but not a match...

Garrett sighed silently. Since that’s the case, this viper spirit, following him, wasn’t too bad. Speaking of which, his knowledge of this world’s herbs was very limited, a perfect complement...

"So, shall I contract with it?"

"Please."

Following the plumed elder’s direction, Garrett stood next to the totem pole, his hands pressed against the wooden column, completely immersing his mind inside. Around him, four elders held animal blood, medicinal powder, and mineral ink, sketching on the ground:

"Wait a minute... first release your spirit, get ready... once it’s drawn, I’ll personally conduct the contracting ceremony..."

Elder Brock prattled on, directing disciples to bring out various items, placing them at designated spots in the magic circle. There were animal teeth, horns, fruits, and powders unknown to Garrett.

Then, he took off a small pouch from his waist, carefully extracting various colored minerals and gems, placing them one by one into the circle.

Garrett casually glanced over, spotting what seemed to be rubies, emeralds, sapphires, amethysts, amber, and onyx. Although the quality was hard to describe, gathering these materials on the great plains was no easy feat.

"Uh, this isn’t necessary, right? Too valuable..."

"Needed, needed. The more powerful the spirit of the totem, the more arduous the test for the master;

a spirit without a master for a long time might even drain the master’s mental energy. These magic circles and offerings are both a binding and a protection..."

"Uh, I didn’t mean that." Garrett removed his hands from the totem pole, picked up the oak wand, swaying it left and right:

"What I mean is, it seems like I’ve already completed the contract...?"

Under the watchful eyes of all, that spirit snake slowly revealed itself on the oak wand, about the length of a stick of eyebrow pencil. Its tail hooked around the end of the wand, its body coiling round and round down to the handle, its head poking out, tongue flicking.

Garrett tilted his head, looking up and down, more and more satisfied. A simple oak wand, with a green leaf flourishing at the top, a spirit snake coiling around its body—this was indeed the emblem of the medical system!

This viper spirit was naturally meant to be his partner!

"What’s your name?" He asked in his mind, "Do you have a name? What did your previous master, or perhaps your first master, call you? —No? Then, do you need me to give you one?"

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