A Hospital in Another World?

Chapter 405: Climbing! Challenge Yourself! Breakthrough Limits!

Chapter 405: Climbing! Challenge Yourself! Breakthrough Limits!

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Apr 4, 2024

"What?"

Seraina flapped her wings and suddenly looked up.

The faint smell of rainwater and pine forest drifted down with the wind. She looked around, but the thin mist swirling around the middle of the mountain obscured her view, making it impossible to see her aunt and her husband. Seraina shouted:

"Auntie, they are my friends!"

"I know... come up..."

The voice was faint and ethereal. Seraina, frustrated, grabbed a handful of rocks, causing boulder-sized stones at her feet to crumble and roll down. Damn it, she couldn't disobey her aunt's words, especially when carrying two people and facing her aunt's formidable presence made it impossible to fly to the top...

She didn't revert to human form, her long neck bending down to face Garrett:

"Garrett, wait here for a bit, I'll go find my aunt! —Hmph, my friends, I can't even bring them up myself!"

With a flap of her wings, she stirred up a gust of wind and soared high into the clouds, disappearing from sight.

On the platform outside the dragon's nest, a much larger silver dragon lay quietly waiting. Seraina folded her wings and dove down, nearly crashing into her, only stopping at the last moment:

"Auntie, Auntie! They are my friends, why make them climb the mountain by themselves! You don't have to pick them up, I can bring them up myself~~~ If you don't agree, I'll be angry! I'll just leave with them now! Right now!"

She rubbed her long neck against the older silver dragon's shoulder, making a fuss. The elder lay quietly on the platform, allowing her to be coquettish. After a while, the dragon lifted a claw and tossed a shimmering magic crystal:

"Auntie is doing this for his own good. Besides, this is also a request from his elder, I'm just following it. Here, take a look~~~"

Seraina muttered as she received the magic crystal. Upon infusing magic, an image floated up and began to speak:

"Respected Lady Ophelia..."

Had it not been for the request, Silver Dragon Ophelia would not have made it difficult for Garrett. Even before the young mage stepped into the wilderness, even before he and Seraina left the royal court to head north, he had already come under the surveillance of the silver dragons.

Unlike the chromatic dragons, silver dragons have a stronger sense of kinship and take better care of their young. Newborn dragons are not driven out of the nest during their youth but stay with their parents until adolescence before leaving to explore the world.

Young dragons traveling abroad are not left unsupported; they often receive aid and assistance from their parents and elders. Naturally, the human mage who saved Princess Moonlight and stayed by her side, without knowing it, had already been observed by more than one adult dragon in various ways.

A low-ranking mage, who is also a priest of the God of Nature. In the Dwarf Kingdom, on the journey north, healing and saving people...

Devoting himself fully, turning no one away.

To say the least, this was very much to the taste of the silver dragons. Even without Seraina's introduction, a direct visit to the dragon's nest would have been welcomed by the silver dragons.

But.

But...

Silver Dragon Ophelia glanced at the magic crystal. It was from a legendary mage of the Magic Council, sent a month ago, asking her to look after the young man. To put some pressure on him to advance quickly, instead of lingering at the fourth level!

And as is well known, braving the dragon's might to climb the dragon's nest is a good way to face pressure and challenge oneself. The advantage is gradual progress with controlled risks. Young eagles from the nearby intelligent species often climb it for no reason.

The downside, though, is that this method is not widely applicable. Finding a dragon's nest is hard enough, let alone finding a dragon willing to watch you climb instead of blasting you off with magic. The chance of this happening, unless familiar with dragons, is practically zero...

After viewing the information in the magic crystal again and again, Seraina threw the crystal back and flapped her wings:

"So... Auntie, should I now go down and climb with them in human form?"

"What do you think?"

"Ugh..."

At the foot of the mountain, Garrett was rummaging through his space bag, taking out equipment. Food, water bags, gaiters, climbing sticks connected to wristbands... the gear prepared for climbing the sacred Dwarf Mountain, not all of which was used at that time, was all put to use here!

Considering the combat power comparison between adult and young dragons, Garrett had no hope that Seraina would be able to bring them up. Sure enough, a while later, a gust of wind brought the familiar voice of the silver

dragon maiden:

"Garrett, my aunt locked me up... You have to climb up by yourself then, cheer up, it's not hard! Auntie said, even a determined ordinary person could reach the top in at most three days! I'll be waiting for you on the mountain!"

Three days seemed reasonable. In his previous life, climbing Mount Everest from the north base camp took four days to reach the summit. Garrett figured that climbing to the dragon's nest from here shouldn't require ascending more than three thousand meters.

Besides, climbing three thousand meters on flat ground and climbing three thousand meters on a five-thousand-meter plateau are completely different pressures! Standing here, he didn't feel any altitude sickness at all!

He began to climb!

Garrett wrapped his legs with gaiters, carried water and food bags, and prepared to lead the way. Holding the climbing stick in one hand and the oak staff of the Nature God's church in the other, he stepped onto the slope. The bottom of the oak staff discreetly extended a few roots, ready to anchor into rock crevices to assist its owner.

But which way was the path to climb?

"Garrett, look over there!"

The barbarian raised his arm high. Garrett tiptoed and laughed.

Not far away on the slope, there was a cone-shaped pile of stones. A tree branch was inserted at the top of the pile, and below the branch, a triangular stone was painted ochre, with its sharpest angle pointing directly towards the path up the mountain.

Well, isn't that a marker!

"Bernard, let's go!"

"Wait, boss, I'll lead the way in front of you!"

"That... better you stay behind me, in case I miss a step, you can catch me..."

After the training on the sacred Dwarf Mountain, such a climb was nothing to Garrett. Despite back and waist pains due to lack of exercise, he rested overnight and was strong enough to climb vigorously the next day. However, by noon on the second day, he was panting heavily, his heart pounding like thunder, and he couldn't lift his feet anymore.

"Damn... is this altitude sickness... Bernard, let me rest a bit, I need to breathe some oxygen..."

Inside the summit's great hall, Ophelia lay curiously watching the screen in front of her. Garrett took out an arm-length iron can from his space bag, unscrewed the lid, and buried his face in the mask in front of the can. He breathed heavily, and within a few breaths, his flushed face eased.

"Interesting little guy... To bring out your potential, it seems, I need to push you harder..."

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