Using sailors as subjects for cowpox vaccination was a method Garrett had decided on after much contemplation.


    Previously, when he tried to attract the poor with low-cost treatments, his efforts to find volunteers had failed nearly 90% of the time. The main reason was that the adults in this world simply did not have the time to be isolated for observation:


    Men had to work in workshops, at docks, and in shops;


    Women had to work in laundries, dye houses, or at the very least, take care of the household chores, cooking, and cleaning;


    Even children as young as five or six, regardless of gender, had to earn money for their families. Missing a day meant missing a meal; missing ten days—no, even just three days—would certainly mean losing their job.


    In this harsh world, the lives of the poor had almost no margin for error. The only ones who could afford the time to be isolated were children as young as three or four.


    However, the thought of cramming twenty or thirty children into a hospital ward and caring for them over ten days gave Garrett a splitting headache. He wouldn’t take that step unless absolutely necessary.


    Of course, unless absolutely necessary, Garrett ’Social Anxiety’ Nordmark did not want to wave his teacher’s banner at the city hall, gathering a group of death row inmates as subjects...


    Using sailors was so much better! They were young and strong. A ship would dock, unload, resupply, load goods, and sometimes even repair. There would always be some idle time!


    Garrett just needed to provide them with room and board during their port stays to lure them into participating in isolation observation for ten to fifteen days.


    Having familiar sea merchants bring them over was excellent; from one merchant to dozens, gathering a thousand sailors required only a few dozen ships—


    The only problem was the higher loss of cowpox vaccines. Sailors might change jobs, stay in other ports, or even die at sea.


    Of the first group of subjects, less than 50% would come back for the human pox trials. Even then, that was with the organization of sea merchants and shipowners; hoping for 10% of the sailors to come on their own was a blessing Garrett was thankful for.


    But then, was the cost of the cowpox vaccine even considered a cost?


    Garrett, with a tower of mages and now a hospital in his name, Nordmark, could afford it...


    Garrett wanted the sailors to be free of smallpox forever, and the gouty sea merchants were naturally willing to comply. He not only reviewed his personnel but quickly organized the transportation of fifty to sixty sailors, vigorously promoting the cause.


    Soon, in the merchant circles, the legend of Garrett began to spread:


    "Have you heard? The illness of Sanger’s father, which even the Temple of the War God couldn’t cure, was healed by that mage Nordmark!"


    "Have you heard? Nordmark mage pulled a chili pepper out of old Karel’s lung!"


    "Have you heard? Nordmark mage took out old Karel’s lung and replaced it with a new one!"


    The promotion turned into boasting, and the boasting turned into a hot topic among circles. When Garrett’s story of treating lungs traveled from the merchants to the alchemy workshops and from the transmutation to necromancy schools, the story had already morphed into:


    "Did you really replace an old man’s lungs with cow lungs?"


    Garrett looked at the hurriedly approaching Edgar mage, his hair all messed up, speechless.


    Replace cow lungs?


    Do I look like someone who would replace human lungs with cow lungs?


    I’m not a gene editing master, I can’t create anti-rejection drugs... Besides, if I did replace them, I’d prioritize pig lungs. Why would I use cow lungs?!


    Pig organs are about the same size as human’s!


    He went through great pains to clarify the actual facts... Speaking of which, how did cowpox and lung treatment get twisted into cow lung transplantation? Rumors spread too fast!


    "...just publish a proper shaping school paper! Stop messing with these!"


    If it weren’t for your strict rule that I must show you any paper before publishing, I wouldn’t have to send it to you...


    Garrett muttered to himself and sent the paper out. Following tradition, the paper first went to the Tower Spirits, who were responsible for verification and sorting—


    "Keywords: plague, smallpox, cowpox, immunity? Transfer to the necromancy school, plague branch—"


    When Edgar mage rushed into his friend’s study, he saw his friend holding a stack of papers, his eyes blank, his face full of doubt about life.


    "Corresponding author, Garrett Nordmark? First author, Leon Carlos?" he showed the cover of the paper to Edgar mage:


    "—I know this Nordmark mage, a person praised by the Immortals. But he’s only level five, isn’t it a bit early for him to be a corresponding author? And who is Leon Carlos? Never heard of him!"


    "He’s a necromancer too, level one..."


    Edgar mage replied weakly. Just a level one mage, able to lead a major project against smallpox, damn it! He couldn’t just poach the man to be his disciple...


    "Submitted by, Thunder Horn, Oakwood Medical Research Institute." His old friend continued reading with a puzzled face:


    "Why is a paper from Thunder Horn sent here? And, a paper produced by a medical research institute should be sent to the curse magic department!"


    "Look at the keywords." Edgar mage turned the paper to the title page and pointed up:


    Plague, smallpox, cowpox...


    Except for the word "cow" in cowpox, which might suggest sending it to the transformation school, it indeed matched the necromancy school a bit more.


    The two necromancers, shoulder to shoulder, read on. As they read, a black aura slowly rose from Edgar mage’s skeletal face, as if he evolved from a necromancer into a lich:


    "My old friend, this paper is really something."


    His gaunt fingers gently stroked the paper, as tenderly as caressing a perfect, unblemished corpse:


    "A plague—smallpox, such a deadly plague—not relying on magic, not relying on divine arts, able to protect every ordinary person from it—truly achieving this, the significance of this paper, is no less than, no less than..."


    His throat gradually dried up, unable to continue speaking. The colleague responsible for reviewing the paper also stared blankly at the paper for a while, then suddenly asked:


    "Should we support it?"


    "What?"


    "This—cow..." the necromancer was still unfamiliar with the new word, paused for a moment, "cowpox, if the review committee decides to promote it widely, should we support it?"


    "Are you crazy? Of course, we should! Such a good thing!" Edgar mage was startled. His old friend stared blankly at him for a while, his red eyes rolling:


    "...support a mage from Thunder Horn?"


    "Uh... I’ll still ask the Immortals first..."


    ---------------


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