Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 676 The Medical Dilemma
Ice Sea Base, Field Medical Center.

As soon as Vaughn and his officers entered the treatment center, they were struck by the somber atmosphere and their expressions turned grave.

The enclosed hall, which was centrally heated, was filled with the strong smell of blood. Hundreds of wounded soldiers were placed side by side on makeshift medical stretchers awaiting treatment, and their pitiful cries and painful groans could not be heard.

However, there are only five operating rooms located on the second floor...

Among the military doctors originally dispatched, many were mid-to-low-level spellcasters who knew healing magic, including several hybrid elves with affinity for natural elements. However, faced with such a large number of wounded, they were helpless after exhausting their magic power.

After all, the main function of medical alchemy beasts is to stop bleeding and suture, and they are only effective for bleeding open wounds or puncture wounds... Once it involves fatal injuries such as limb fractures or internal organ damage, it is necessary to arrange for a healing spellcaster to assist from the side, and use healing spells and recovery potions to barely pull the injured person back from the brink of death.

However, this also results in an extremely long surgery time. Even if the alchemical beast can work 24 hours a day, the healer responsible for assisting with the surgery cannot keep going.

When Vaughn and his team arrived, the operating room on the second floor was already full... Three patients whose chests and lungs had been pierced by crystal spikes, one patient whose legs had been blown off at the knees by red lightning, and another unfortunate man whose abdomen had been ripped open and whose intestines had spilled out, were all undergoing emergency surgery.

Compared to the wounded struggling between life and death in the operating room, those lying in the lobby groaning and moaning seemed much luckier... Being determined by the military doctor that they did not need emergency surgery meant that the Grim Reaper's scythe was not hanging over their heads. Although the pain from their wounds was torturous, it was better than losing their lives directly.

“Even if their lives aren’t in danger, we can give them some painkillers or sleeping pills so they don’t have to lie here conscious and suffer.” Duff frowned and immediately expressed his dissatisfaction to the medical director.

The person in charge of the field medical facility at the Ice Sea base was Sandra, a fellow member of the same ethnicity, who was personally recommended by Health Minister Egno.

The young hybrid elf had just finished surgery and was being relieved and resting, his face pale. When he saw the commander coming to inspect the place with his men, he smiled wryly and said, "Colonel, it's not that we're unwilling to use painkillers on them... You all know how serious the side effects are when magical potions are applied to mortal bodies."

Sleeping pills like the juice of the Epiphyllum oxypetalum are inherently addictive, and medical institutions have always used them with caution. Painkillers made from fern extracts, while fast-acting and with few side effects, have the drawback of a very short duration of action.

Many wounded soldiers were brought in just before the battle ended, close to dawn. After simple hemostasis and wound disinfection, most of them were given painkillers. The effects of the medication wore off in less than half a day, and the intense pain that returned naturally made them start yelling again.

“In special times, we don’t need to worry too much about the side effects of medicines. If this is a regulation formulated by the Ministry of Health, I will suggest to His Majesty that it should not be applied to the battlefield… I hope that wounded soldiers will prioritize survival and recovery, with less pain as a secondary consideration, and suffer less torment.”

Sandra nodded, watching a soldier with a back injury not far away being forcibly rinsed with distilled liquor by two medics, who were pressing down on his shoulders, emitting screams like a pig being slaughtered... Finally, she showed a look of pity, "I understand, Commander... I will apply to Minister Egno for sufficient anesthetic and sedative drugs to be used."

Vaughn nodded, then asked, "What about the seriously injured? What are the chances of saving their lives?"

"We can only do our best to save them... I can't guarantee anything. We don't lack medical alchemical beasts, but we mainly lack spellcasters with healing abilities. Even if we gather all the manpower from the Ice Sea, Great Bear Lake, and Snow Mountain bases, it's still far from enough." After all, there are more than 800 patients with varying degrees of injury. Even if a mid-level spellcaster exhausts all their magic power, they can only treat four or five patients in a whole day... Some resilient physicians chose to force themselves to use spells to save patients, resulting in the exhaustion of both their mental and magical power, causing them to faint and end up lying next to their patients.

The most important problem is that there are too few spellcasters who study healing spells. Most human spellcasters who are not of elven blood do not choose to major in nature spells. On the one hand, the talent of affinity with natural elements rarely appears in humans, and on the other hand, the spellcasting school of natural elements is too weak in both theoretical research and practical ability.

Thinking of this, Vaughn bowed slightly and turned to Chief Dawson, who was standing to the side, to ask sincerely, "Chief, besides the elves of the Golden Forest, I wonder which other spellcasting organizations in the Southern Territory can recruit powerful healing spellcasters?"

“Almost none…” Dawson shrugged, his expression helpless. “To be honest, there might be some wizarding families with inherited skills, but they probably won’t accept His Majesty’s summons. There are a few within the Old Alliance, though; I will send a letter to Magic Shield to extend an invitation to them…”

Nature-based spellcasting and necromancy-based spellcasting are essentially both minority styles. The only difference is that the former is closer to the orthodox form of elemental spellcasting, while the latter has been stigmatized as heresy.

……

Inside the Royal Palace Castle in Starfire City.

Harvey sat at his desk, his face grave as he read the urgent battle reports sent from the front lines.

With a distance of nearly a thousand miles between them, it was no longer possible to achieve real-time communication between the two places using only the alchemy communicator. They could only rely on the magic network forum as a carrier for information transmission to deliver intelligence to Harvey as soon as possible.

"Despite making almost perfect preparations, we still suffered considerable losses in a nighttime attack launched by the enemy with all their might..."

Just before dawn, Harvey was suddenly woken up from his bed by Asdaren. He immediately knew that something must have happened at the front, but he never expected that this great battle would suddenly happen at this moment.

"In any case, this is a victory that belongs to us... Your Majesty need not worry. After it is fully light, we can summon the staff of the Ministry of Defense to discuss the next phase of strategic adjustments." Asdaren knew Harvey well enough to know that he was currently worried about the issue of troop casualties, so he couldn't help but gently comfort him.

War inevitably brings a large number of casualties, and Harvey was not so naive as to not accept this undeniable fact... However, it is not easy to train veterans with rich combat experience, and the casualties in this battle can be described as the greatest loss since the establishment of the Northern Army, which makes it hard not to worry him a little.

Among the stack of copied battle reports, there was also a thin single page... Harvey pulled it out and quickly glanced at it, only to find that it was a briefing jointly submitted by Vaughn and Chief Dawson.

"First, summon Egno to see me... I want to talk to him about the emergency restructuring of the field medical center, as well as the issue of recruiting and introducing healing spellcasters across the southern border."

(End of this chapter)