A few days later, at the end of the first week of February, Drew and Rider were sitting next to each other on the AirTrain as it sped towards the southern part of Ozwarth. Today was the first day of the South Wall Hospital Volunteer Event. Drew and Rider were already assigned their respective departments, Drew being in Pharmaceuticals while Rider was in Urgent Care which was very close to each other. 

Arriving on-site, Drew and Rider we stunned. The South Wall Hospital was not its own building. In fact, it was actually a part of the Ozwarth Wall itself. This was due to the fact that it was a Military Hospital, thus it required proximity to the outside world to ensure that Warriors injured on the field could receive immediate treatment without needing to head deep into the city. Additionally, because it was a Military Hospital, ordinary civilians do not have access to its services with the exception of times of war or a pandemic. On top of that, one could also conduct their Mandatory Military Service here as long as they were a certified Alchemist or a Medic. Drew happened to fall into the Alchemist category as such, the South Wall Hospital was definitely a place for him to consider in the future if he wanted a quick way to complete his service. 

Entering the hospital, Drew and Rider felt as if they stepped into another era. The technology in the hospital was at least a few decades ahead of its time. There were machines that could craft artificial Otrio Cores. Ones that could even accelerate the growth of herbs by fivefold. There were even machines that could repair almost an entire damaged brain utilizing nanotechnology within minutes when current nanotechnology could only repair three-fourths and that treatment was already very costly.

A holographic projection of a well-dressed woman popped up in the middle of the floor, interrupting Drew and Rider's staring. 

"Welcome to the South Wall Hospital!" It greeted. "How may I help you?" 

I'll do the talking. Rider mouthed to Drew which he accepted with no resistance. 

"We're here for the volunteer event. Do you know where we should go for orientation?" 

The holographic lady nodded. 

"Head up to the third floor and turn left. You should see a fountain and that's where the orientation will begin. I can send you both there immediately." 

As soon as the holograph finished speaking the two, a part of the floor they were standing on moved. The hexagonal piece lifted higher and higher into the air. 

"An autonomous flight panel." Drew gasped with amazement as he felt his feet being locked in place. He'd only seen them in the Ozwarth Medical Center but they were still under construction.

>>>

Since Ozwarth was a city that has existed even before Humans had colonized Kraus, most of the city's technology was pretty archaic. Not many places in Kraus have updated their technology, this also included Star Military Academy, but that was mainly due to the fact that the Kraus campus received little funding, and the most modern-looking place in the city was the City Center. Top it off with the fact that Kraus was on the outskirts of Orion Alliance territory, this made a trade for resources and other supplies rather difficult. But the more bothersome reason why Ozwarth's infrastructure development was extremely slow was thanks to politics. And who do you thank?

The greedy whores of the High Council.

On the bright side, the new King is pushing for infrastructure development but it may take a generation in order for the changes to be noticeable plus those swines in the High Council, who are a part of the faction opposing the King, are doing everything in their power to delay this development. As such, it may take even longer for the city to improve.

While Ozwarth may be considered a tier-one city in terms of Kraus standards, when it came to the entirety of the Orion Alliance, Ozwarth wasn't even worth mentioning. Most people in the galaxy wouldn't have heard of it, even those who knew Heartman didn't. One could say that Kraus was living almost a few centuries behind the rest of the universe. Infrastructure. Technology. Education. Kraus was lacking in pretty much every aspect. To the rest of the universe, Kraus was a small fish in a big pond.  

>>>

The flight panel delivered Drew and Rider to their exact destination, right in front of a busy area with a large marble fountain carved in the shape of a rook. Standing in front of the fountain was a small group of people with two of them wearing the typical blue South Wall Hospital uniform. 

As the duo stepped off the flight panel, Drew and Rider walked over to the group. Most of the people there were around their age.  

"Anyone here for the volunteer event? Right this way!" A female voice called from the front of the group. "For those who are in Pharmaceuticals, please stay here! If you are in another department, please find those with the holographic projection corresponding to it!" 

"I guess this my stop," Drew said pointing to the crowd of people in front of him. 

"Yeah," Rider sighed, pushing his glasses up the rim of his nose. "Why am I so unlucky?" 

Drew shrugged, fixing his hat that was almost about to fall off. 

"Dunno but I'll see you. Tell me what it's like working there." 

"Will do. See you around, Li." Rider waved before disappearing into the distance. 

"Hey, you!" The female voice from earlier hollered from the front. 

Startled, Drew turned around so fast it caused the hood of his jacket to whack the person behind him. About to apologize, Drew was stunned at who he encountered. It was a familiar lady, not much older than Drew, wearing a South Wall Hospital uniform consisting of a blue long coat, a gray turtle neck dress, black leggings, brown leather shoes. Her long brown hair was fastened into a large loop similar to that of Nurse J*y of P*kem*n but instead of a normal hair tie, there was a golden bell attached to it. It didn't seem to make any sound when she moved so it must be quite special. Other than that, her features were rather average. 

Hey, isn't she one of the Medics who helped supervise the monthly exams? Drew thought to himself trying to figure out what to say. 

"Ow-" She slightly shouted covering her nose. "Arf yough Farmacuticalllls (Are you Pharmaceuticals)?" 

"Yes," Drew replied a little flustered. "Are you okay, though?"

"Yes, thanks for ask-" 

"Senior Rika!" A male voice yelled running over to her side. "Are you okay?" 

It was the other Medic from the monthly exams. He wore similar attire to the female Medic but what really stood out was his golden hair and his green and red eyes hiding behind his glasses. It was funny. He looked like a walking traffic light. 

"Keith, I'm fine." The female Medic, Rika, said removing her hand from her nose. "Also, don't call me Senior! I only worked here for a year longer." 

They definitely seemed a lot livelier than they did during the monthly exams. Drew chuckled under his breath. What a coincidence that they're going to be our mentors. 

"Sorry, Rika." Keith apologized. 

He's giving off big Hunder vibes. Reminds me of a certain one I met at the Borealis. 

"Actually-" Drew interrupted. "I should be the one apologizing here. I accidentally whacked her with my hood. I'm sorry, Mentor Rika." 

"It's cool." She beamed with a wide smile on her face. "Let bygones be bygones. Oh! You're that Avain that beat that Feline with a roll of toilet paper!" 

"Stop it," Drew flushed. "You're making me embarrassed." 

"Didn't realize you were also an Alchemist," Keith commented returning to his usual stern look. "Star students are certainly in another league of their own." 

"I wouldn't say I fall into 'that' category." Drew smiled trying to be modest.

"Ay," Rika smirked slapping Drew on the back. "But come and join the group! Drew Li, right? You're the last one to join us!" 

"Huh, and here I thought I came early!" Drew exclaimed. 

"Nope, some of these guys have been here since last night." 

"FOR REAL?!" 

Just how hardcore are these guys?! 

"And without further ado let's get this orientation on the road!" 

"Don't worry," Keith whispered to Drew. "She's always like this." 

>>>

Rika and Keith took the group around the hospital. Though it was mainly Rika doing all the talking. If Keith wasn't there, she might've rambled faster than a speaker at an auction house. The hospital itself was huge, covering around one-twentieth of the entire Ozwarth Wall's circumference and around ninety or so floors. Drew lost count. Each floor was home to one or two departments. Some departments occupying more than one. The Pharmaceuticals department had occupied around five. The higher the floor the higher the rank of the people working there. There are ten ranks within the Pharmaceuticals department all classified by different colors: White, Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange, Red, Purple, Bronze, Silver, and Black. 

Rika and Keith were Blues and would act as the group's Mentors and Supervisors during the duration of the event.

Though they are classified as Medics, they were also Alchemists. After all, all Alchemists were Medics but not all Medics were Alchemists. That's why Alchemists were more respected than Medics. They could concoct life-saving regiments but also poisons. Unlike Medics, they had even more control over life and death. That power that Alchemists possess is not a right, it's a privilege and a burden. The role was not something to take for granted. 

As volunteers, the group would be working on the lowest floor. Their roles included creating simple regiments for abrasions and burns, cleaning workspaces, and assisting more senior Alchemists with running trials and prep work. This work may seem like a lot but it wasn't uncompensated for. The volunteers received free meals, study resources, as well as volunteer hours to reduce Mandatory Military Service. Additionally, if the volunteer performed well, they could earn a spot to work at the South Wall Hospital straight after graduating.

That was especially tempting for Drew.

Having to take on the roles as both himself and 'Snow' it would be best if he could remain within Ozwarth for his Mandatory Military Service. After all, it would seem rather strange if 'Snow' disappeared for a year or two from Ozwarth. Most people already assumed that 'Snow' was in his early twenties and had just finished his service but the reality was the man behind 'Snow' was going to turn eighteen this year. 

"For the sake of maintaining reputation. How tiring." Drew muttered to himself, no longer listening to what Rika was saying.

Well, no one was even listening to her at this point. 

In the meantime, Drew decided to look at the messages Senior Neilson and Gerald had sent to him. So far, there has been little progress with the experiments. It seems they have hit the bottleneck of 19.5% which is where most Alchemists who've tried to recreate Heartman's regiment have gotten stuck. There were still a few more experiments that need to be done before Drew could begin testing with new herbs and that would take another couple of days. From there, it would be a walk through the dark.

"And that concludes our tour!" Rika said in a sing-songy voice. "Any questions?" 

No hands. 

"Good! Now, follow me to your workspaces where we will be conducting a small assessment!" 

I wonder what kind of assessment it is. Drew thought to himself as he and the other volunteers blindly followed their energetic and stoic mentors. 

A few moments later, Drew and the others were brought to a large, fully equipped laboratory with their own personal work areas. Each one was set up in an organized fashion where one could easily identify where everything was. Beakers, test tubes, gas and otrio stoves, everything required to create a regiment was provided. Searching for his name, Drew found his workspace to be situated not too far from the entrance. There were a couple of people who were situated closer to it than he was. 

While everyone was getting themselves comfortable with the area, Drew decided to observe the other volunteers. There were around forty or so of them including Drew. Quite a handful of them were from Star, mostly Middle or High-Class students with a couple of Low-Class students. Others were from local medical academies, universities, or trade schools that Drew was familiar with. If Drew hadn't had the opportunity to achieve High F-Rank, he would've considered entering one of the latter instead.  

"Attention!" Keith shouted, causing everyone to avert their eyes in his direction. "Since everyone has settled down, we will now conduct the assessment. This assessment won't disqualify you from the event as it's merely just for us to understand where everyone's skill level is. The assessment is simple, you will have one hour to create a Burn Healing Regiment. The rank of the regiment doesn't matter, we are looking at the success rate. As long as you can create a regiment with a success rate above 50% you will pass. If you don't, you will be put on trash duty for one shift." 

There were lots of smiling faces going around the lab. Burn Healing Regiments were some of the easiest ones to produce. There are hundreds of them out in the market so knowing how to make at least a few of them was a walk in the park, even for an F-Rank Alchemist. One hour was more than enough time to make one and more experienced Alchemists could make two. It was next to impossible to fail to create one. 

It seems too easy. Drew pondered. There must be some motive behind it. 

"Now, I know what you're thinking." Keith continued snapping his fingers together. A holographic '60:00' popped up in front of him. "This test seems too easy. We're not trying to fail anyone. This is just a general skill assessment. Now, the moment that the clock here goes off, you may begin. And a hint for everyone, take your time." 

Take your time. Wait he doesn't mean...! 

"Your time begins - NOW!" 

Click. 

Time was ticking.