Stark hadn't fully stepped into Doctor Schiller's office at Arkham Sanatorium when he saw a girl with flowing red hair, dressed in a white sweater, busily doing sothing at the desk.
Upon hearing footsteps, the girl, without turning her head, said, "Doctor Schiller, I must say your gardening skills are as terrible as another you and his butler's, I don't know how you managed to kill a cactus..."
Turning her head, Stark confird that she must be an overworked college student rushing to et deadlines—she was their target today, as no other woman qualified to enter the sanatorium would dress like that.
"Oh, you are... you are..." The girl stuttered for a while, then went forward to shake hands, saying, "Hello, I am Pala Isley, you are that guy, what's his na, Iron Man, right?"
"I rember we t at the music festival."
"Sorry, I've been up for three nights straight, my mory is really suffering," Pala scratched her head, creating a peak at the top of her dense hair.
Schiller went forward to smooth her hair and said, "Are you serious? Three nights without sleep?"
Pala looked at him with a resentful gaze and said, "Who do you think is responsible for my three sleepless nights? I was already busy dealing with the debt collection agency with Harley, and you had to issue an urgent job."
"No choice, our cosmos doesn't have an economic crisis, don't you want the remuneration?"
"It's exactly because I want the remuneration that I am so tired," Pala sighed and hugged a plant pot from under the table.
"Isn't that saffron?" Stark squinted at the plant, which was clearly not mature yet, not flowering, with a small bud at the top of the main body.
"After a few days of research, the biggest problem with your unsuccessful cultivation of magical plants is that you didn't consider the biggest difference between the growth environnts of wild plants and greenhouse plants."
"What is it?"
"Oxygen levels," Pala said irritably, slamming the flower pot on the table, "The samples of wild plants you gave grow at altitudes above four thousand ters, but the greenhouse samples show no traits of high-altitude growth."
"But the greenhouse is built on the plateau."
"I'd also like to know how that happens," Pala said. "Who would add an oxygen supply system to a greenhouse for no reason?"
After thinking for a bit, Schiller guessed, "They might have thought high oxygen levels would benefit plant growth; if plants grow well in low oxygen, wouldn't they grow even better with more oxygen?"
Pala shook her head like a wave drum, saying, "That just shows how your researchers here don't understand botany one bit. Many plants' special nutrients are to adapt to extrely harsh environnts."
"Like how more sugar accumulates when there's a great temperature difference between day and night?" Stark asked. He wasn't familiar with botany—in fact, he wasn't particularly skilled in biology either—but he knew the systematic nature of science is such that if you understand one part, you understand the whole.
"Not exactly the sa, but the principle is similar," Pala said. "If your researchers choose to create the most beneficial environnts for all plants, it might indeed promote lush growth, but what we want aren't ornantal plants. It's not that the larger the plants grow, the more active ingredients they contain."
Schiller then understood where Strange's misconception lay; putting it plainly, the guy was a surgeon, and surgeons never understand research.
According to common sense for most people, to make sothing grow well, it should be in the most favorable conditions, provided with ample nutrients. However, most people only know a little about growing flowers, which of course require ticulous care, but this doesn't work with dicinal plants.
Or to say, most practical plants can't simply be flooded with water and fertilizer. It's not that the milder the climate and the more fertilizer provided, the better they will grow; one must consider the nature of the plants, their original growing environnts, and how they grow in other various conditions.
"Didn't Harley co?" Schiller asked. He was surprised that Harley didn't join the excitent when she often nagged Schiller about wanting to play here. Now that she was actually invited, why didn't she co?
Pala rolled her eyes slightly and said, "Who do you think is the reason she can't co? Isn't it because you found her a load of troubleso things to deal with? The house isn't sold yet."
Schiller smiled, sat down in the chair, spun around, and said, "The Arrogant old relic loves those manor-like buildings, right? I can't believe he's willing to sell."
"Whether it'll sell is another matter," Pala pondered before saying, "Although you want Harley and Robin to co, from my professional experience, bringing so many people here is just creating chaos."
"Who do you think should co, then?"
"Forget the Robins, they have their own important things to do," Pala also sat down on a nearby armchair and said, "Dick is busy with his love life, Tim is busy with competitions, Jason has to earn money to support those buddies of his from the past."
"Harley has to sell the house, her shops aren't doing well, she has to oversee them, Little Zha is busy with the moving company, Constantine has to watch the bookstore..." Pala counted on her fingers, but after counting, there weren't many people left.
"So you an, besides you, no one can co?"
"Not exactly, do you rember that kid who runs super fast?"
"Barry Allen?"
"Yes, he's in junior high school, not too busy with school, his parents have stable jobs, no economic pressure, he'll be a great help," Pala replied.
After thinking, Schiller found the idea reasonable and asked, "Anyone else?"
"Aren't you the project leader? Managing personnel should earn extra money," Pala remarked.
"Then maybe not, let think, that kid nad Martin might be useful, he's not busy lately, Aisha might also help, provided she doesn't nibble everywhere."
"Helen has recently returned to Earth," Stark interjected. "I think she should be able to lend a hand."
"That should be about right," Schiller stood up and said, "After all, we still have so many mages and students, the villagers can help too; if that's not enough, we can transfer more people from Gotham Magic Academy."
"Are we setting out now?" Pala picked up the plant and asked, "How do we get there?"
"We'll be taking the teleportation gate, of course. Follow ."
Shiller led them to the underground platform of the Arkham Sanatorium shuttle station, where the teleportation gate was housed. After activating the portal, they stepped through and were astounded by the sight before them.
The scenery within Shambhala was stunningly beautiful, with lush greenery quite different from that of the Snowy Plateau. In the thinner, more transparent air, everything appeared full of life.
Shiller moved forward but didn't hear any footsteps behind him. Turning around, he found Stark clutching his own neck, toppling to the left, while Pala was rolling her eyes back, falling to the right.
Wait, hadn't he made fun of Strange before for forgetting about altitude sickness?
"Soone! Help!" Shiller shouted, "People have fainted from altitude sickness!"
When Stark ca to again, he found himself lying in a dimly lit cabin, with Pala lying on another bed beside him.
He took a deep breath and roared, "Shiller!!!"
Shiller walked in, poking at his ear, "What are you yelling about? Didn't you forget too?"
Stark was at a loss for words. After a mont of silence, he asked, "How high are we?"
"Currently at 5,500 ters. You're in the lowest house of the lowest village. The highest reaches up to 7,000 ters."
Taking a deep sigh, Stark then said, "Does Steven know?"
"He's already laughed at you twice, but he's busy with sothing else now, no ti to co here. Want to call him over to laugh at you in person?"
"No need." Stark gritted his teeth, "What on Earth are these mages up to? With such powerful magic, couldn't they improve the living conditions here?"
"Didn't you understand the principle that Little Pa explained? Not everything that grows in a greenhouse thrives. The mages see this as a form of ascetic practice."
"Masochism," evaluated Stark.
He put a little effort into sitting up, and noticed he didn't feel the suffocating sensation anymore. Shiller pointed to a Magic Light Ball floating next to him and said, "This is the oxygenation technology used in greenhouses. You'll need to live with it for quite a long ti from now on."
"The Mobile Weakling Badge presented to by Steve, right?" Stark said irritably, "I refuse to believe he doesn't even have ti to cast an invisibility spell."
"Look on the bright side, at least you have company," Shiller pointed at Pala lying beside him.
Just as Stark was about to feel a bit happier, a figure rushed over, calling out excitedly, "Dad, look at the flowers I picked!"
Helen rushed in; she had reached the Asgardians' growth stasis period and would no longer age. This period would last for about 500 years, during which divine power would accumulate in her body, transforming it to be stronger.
The little girl held a bunch of wildflowers in her hands, red, yellow, and white, streaking the ground. Aisha was also bouncing in after her, but the flowers were stuffed in her mouth instead.
Even though Aisha was born earlier than Helen, she grew slower and was thus shorter than Helen, making Helen appear more like the older sister.
"Don't you two feel uncomfortable?" Stark virtually imdiately regretted his stupid question—how could these two ancient Godzillas possibly be uncomfortable?
Helen looked puzzled, glancing at the flowers and saying, "Uncomfortable? Why would we be?... Oh, I see, altitude sickness, right? I think I evolved away from the adverse reaction in the first second I got here; I feel fine."
Aisha i was trying to snatch the flowers from Helen, stirring up a commotion that woke Pala. After opening her eyes, she took a deep breath and said irritably, "Move that bright thing a little farther away."
Just as Stark was about to mock her, he noticed that even without the light ball, Pala didn't seem to suffer much; her complexion was rapidly returning to normal.
"You can adapt to altitude sickness?"
"I have the blessing of plants. Don't forget, plants are best at adapting to environnts." Pala was still weak but much better, "It may be slow, but I'll adapt eventually."
"It seems you're the only weakling here," Shiller said to Stark with a smile.
"Impossible, aren't there two others coming?"
"They're already here." Shiller shouted at the air, "Barry, stop running around, co over and say hello."
In an instant, a flash of gold zood by, and Barry appeared beside Stark.
"Co here, kid, tell if you're out of breath?"
"I can't say I'm not if I stop." Barry replied, "But as long as I run fast enough, the feeling of suffocation can't catch up to ."
"But aren't you standing in front of now?"
"Of course not, what's standing in front of you is just a residual image. I'm actually running circles around you at superluminal speed, I'm just pausing here every second, so you can see a stationary ."
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