A Hospital in Another World?

The thing that fell in front of Garrett was indeed a dragon.

More precisely, a silver dragon. If Garrett’s eyes weren’t snow-blinded and he could accurately discern colors, then the scales of the dragon in front of him were indeed bright silver. As for the size of the dragon…

The silver dragon lay across the entire mountain path. Its long neck drooped to one side, and its tail to the other, limply hanging down. Standing in front of it, Garrett stretched up on his tiptoes, yet his head didn’t even reach the dragon’s back…

Or belly?

Garrett stepped back, and then back again, and then back some more. His view shifted from a silver wall to a silver mountain and then to a silver dragon. Unfortunately, not being a decorator by trade, he could estimate a human’s height with just a glance but had no idea how to gauge the length of a silver dragon.

So, even with a head full of data about various dragons’ lengths, tail lengths, ages, and combat power, Garrett had no data to compare with when looking at the silver dragon before him, and thus no idea of its capabilities.

…But it didn’t matter.

Firstly, he definitely couldn’t beat such a large silver dragon; secondly, since the silver dragon had fallen and hadn’t moved at all, it was probably either dead or unconscious, and definitely wouldn’t attack him.

…But was it dead or just unconscious?

Garrett steadied his breathing and peered out from behind Bernard, carefully observing. He’d barely taken a glance when he was pulled back:

"Boss, step back!"

Bernard clutched his bone club, his body slightly bent, standing in front of Garrett. One foot forward, one foot back, the club pointed diagonally, ready to charge at a moment’s notice—

Or, in case the silver dragon retaliated, to at least block a bit for Garrett.

Yet Garrett was tugging at his clothes from behind. A long time ago, Archmage Carlisle mentioned during a gossip session that the Council had a good relationship with the dragon clan. Especially some dragons in the Northlands’ ice peaks and the great wastelands often received visits from archmages traveling abroad.

So…

If it could be saved, why not save it?

"Bernard, help me see, is that silver dragon still alive?"

Garrett whispered. Since it had fallen, the silver dragon hadn’t moved at all, its head and tail dangling over the slopes, leaning down at more than a 60-degree angle. From at least the side facing Garrett, there were no visible wounds or blood. The chest didn’t seem to rise and fall, and the nostrils… nostrils… 𝙍

Sorry, its head rested behind a rock, obscuring its nostrils.

Bernard shielded him, unwilling to budge. After Garrett tugged and pushed him:

"It’s okay, it’s a silver dragon, intelligent and communicable, said to be of a good nature. Help me check, it might be injured and need our assistance. The Council has good relations with silver dragons…"

After several pushes, Bernard took his first step. Just as he steadied himself, he switched the direction of his bone club, jabbing backwards:

"Boss, you back off! Injured beasts are the fiercest, in case it’s badly hurt and confused, I can’t ensure your safety!"

Garrett’s response was to cast a full set of protective magic on him.

Bernard, holding his bone club diagonally, moved forward step by step. The first step, his knees sank down; the second step, his waist bent even lower, and the stones under his feet crunched; the third step, the bone club touched the ground, his knees trembled, and sweat poured down his back.

He tried his utmost to lift his foot for the fourth step, but no matter how, he couldn’t make it. After several attempts, only his breathing became heavier, and sweat dripped down his forehead, wetting a small patch on the ground within moments.

"What’s wrong?"

Garrett was surprised. He walked quickly to Bernard’s back without any issues; circled to stand parallel to him, also no problem. Then, one step forward…

"Boss, can’t… go… any further… dragon, dragon…"

Dragon’s might!

Garrett suddenly remembered.

Whether it was online novels or games from his previous life, or the materials he saw in the mage tower after crossing over, all pointed out one thing: dragons carry a natural might. For beings of a lower rank than dragons, this might causes a kind of pressure, making them instinctively feel fear and want to flee.

This dragon’s might doesn’t disappear even if the dragon is asleep, injured, or unconscious. In fact, materials indicate that even the bones of a dragon, long dead, still retain dragon’s might, and can even

form a powerful field around dragon graves.

As for why he didn’t feel it…

Garrett touched his chest. In his chest pocket, where he usually kept his pen, was the precious 【Endless Ink Pen】. One of the abilities of this pen was immunity to attacks from illusions, soul control spells below level five. Dragon’s might, no fear!

Garrett gestured for Bernard to step back, himself taking steps towards the silver dragon. Raising his hand to touch, the scales were smooth, cool and damp to the touch. Lightly wiping, a thin layer of mist came off, unclear if it was from the clouds or freshly adhered snow.

Garrett placed his hand on the scales, wiping as he moved towards the direction of the silver dragon’s chest. As he did so, his palm was suddenly pushed by something, as if something was silently rising beneath it—

A heartbeat?

Was it a heartbeat?

Or breathing?

Garrett quickly pressed his hand fully down. The motion beneath his palm then disappeared. He took out a stethoscope and pressed it down, waiting for a minute without hearing any heartbeat. Now, what should be the heartbeat rate of a silver dragon per minute?

Theoretically, the larger the creature, the slower the heartbeat rate. An elephant’s heartbeat rate, it seems, is about 30 beats per minute, a blue whale’s is said to be 4 to 8 beats per minute, but a silver dragon… silver dragon…

"Bernard, hold this for me, I’m going to check its breathing!"

Garrett called out. He took a rope out of his spatial bag, tied it tightly to Bernard’s bone club, and the other end to himself. He also conjured a living rope, tied it properly, and climbed down the silver dragon’s neck, slipping all the way.

He had to cast 【Cat’s Agility】 on himself to improve his agility, finally managing to climb safely next to the dragon’s head. He reached out near the nostrils, and a hot blast of air immediately sprayed onto his hand!

Garrett withdrew his hand hastily. Thankfully, he was fully protected, so he wasn’t burned by the breath. However, having breath but no heartbeat, having breath but no heartbeat…

This situation was extremely critical! Without a heartbeat, the blood carrying oxygen couldn’t be delivered throughout the body; without delivery, whether it be the brain or any organ, they would become oxygen-deprived; from oxygen deprivation to necrosis, it only took a few minutes!

Of course, given the silver dragon’s massive size, its breathing and heartbeat rates were lower than humans’, presumably allowing it to hold on for longer. But that didn’t mean it could automatically wake up if left alone…

Garrett was troubled. With the heart stopped and breathing still present, the obvious emergency measure was chest compressions for cardiac resuscitation. Now the question was, how to perform cardiac resuscitation on a dragon?

Chest compressions?

Garrett looked at the silver dragon’s physique, then at his own thin arms and legs, clearly, he couldn’t exert enough pressure. Not to mention pressing down, if he took a few steps back and charged forward, using the full force of his body for the compression, it probably wouldn’t work either.

Using 【Powerful Mage Hand】 for compression?

Without the force to break ribs, don’t even think about it. The maximum force of 【Powerful Mage Hand】 is 40 pounds for one hand, 400 pounds for ten. Even if a 400-pound hammer was dropped on it, at most a few dragon scales might break, but the dragon’s ribs would definitely remain unbroken.

Getting the silver dragon upright, face up, and then jumping on its chest to apply pressure with gravity acceleration?

Good idea, but who’s going to hold it up?

Garrett was troubled. Seeing him stand still, Bernard shouted from outside the influence range of the dragon’s might:

"Boss, what are you planning to do?"

"I want to get its heart beating again!"

"How? Compression? Like before?"

Bernard, a seventh-level barbarian warrior, with his astonishing strength, had always been Garrett’s go-to assistant for external cardiac resuscitation. But this time, Garrett looked back at him, stepping aside:

"Can you exert enough pressure?"

"I’ll try!"

Garrett threw a 【Rallying Cry】 behind him. From the reaction after casting, this spell seemed to be like an adrenaline shot, speeding up the heart rate, raising blood pressure, and allowing one to ignore fear to a degree. Bernard’s body shook, his hair stood on end, and he seemed to grow larger—

He squared his shoulders, backed up, started, ran, and charged!

With a booming sound, the end of the bone club hit the silver dragon.

Standing beside, Garrett felt the ground shake three times. Looking at the silver dragon, its scales shimmered, almost like a living creature, slightly denting. The depth of the dent

…

One centimeter, two centimeters, three centimeters…

And then it stopped.

"Can you hit it any harder?"

"I’ll try again!"

Bernard backed up again. This time, he backed up farther and charged faster. At the tip of the bone club, a giant beast faintly appeared, roaring upwards as it collided with the silver dragon—

Boom!

The dent depth, five centimeters.

Garrett was deflated. For normal adult human cardiac resuscitation, the compression depth must be at least 5cm; for a silver dragon…

According to the cardiac resuscitation standard, the depth should be one-third of the anteroposterior diameter of the chest. Bernard’s impact probably didn’t even reach 1/10 of the standard depth.

If it were a human, in a desperate situation, a surgeon could make a last resort move: open the chest, then reach in to directly press on the heart. But this was a silver dragon, Garrett looked over its entire body, doubting any weapon could achieve this…

Even if Prince Rothgar was called back, using that newly forged axe to cut through the breastbone, and assuming it successfully did, then what?

Looking at the size of the silver dragon, direct manual compression of the heart would likely require someone to crawl inside!

After considering all kinetic methods for cardiac resuscitation, Garrett was left with one last option.

Direct current defibrillation!

Then he immediately froze. Normal human external defibrillation, for atrial flutter requires 50-100 joules of energy, for supraventricular tachycardia about 100 joules, for atrial fibrillation 100-150 joules, and for ventricular tachycardia 200 joules—

What about for a silver dragon?

For a silver dragon?

Then, the output, or energy, of an electric spell attack, how many joules is it? Over how long a period does it pass through the body? What’s the appropriate timing for defibrillation?Nôv(el)B\\jnn

An automatic defibrillator can detect cardiac signals automatically, synchronize the discharge time with the ECG’s R-wave, avoiding the ventricular vulnerable period, but he couldn’t do that…

Also, where should the electrode pads be placed? For humans, theoretically, they’re placed on the apex of the heart and the right chest between the 2nd rib. But who’s going to tell me where a dragon’s heart apex and second rib are?

No other way, then. Treat a dead dragon as though it were alive. Without treatment, it’s definitely dead; with treatment, there’s a glimmer of hope for life…

Garrett took a deep breath. His hands spread wide, aimed at the left and right chest areas of the silver dragon, one hand higher, the other lower:

"Direct current defibrillation first attempt, Electric Claw, unknown joules, begin!"

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