After mastering the resurrection technique, they begged me to extend their lives.

Wait, what is this guy even saying?

An Xiao underestimated the hunger of a witch who had long disguised herself as a good student at the magic academy, and also overlooked the possibility that the younger girls in the character design team might insert their own personal opinions into the character design...

Faced with the witch's misunderstanding, An Xiao immediately said, "Skill services are fine, but physical needs are out of the question."

In this respect, he is still relatively principled for the time being.

He only wanted to use her stiff messenger corpse to try out "Resurrect Beast LV1" to see if he could increase the total experience points and rank of the resurrection spell and unlock some new abilities. Who knew she would become greedy and drool over his body.

That's too simplistic, isn't it?

Will this work?

[It's utterly ridiculous.]

An Xiao clicked her tongue, not mentioning anything outside of the main business, and simply introduced her "services," saying:

"Actually, I'm a veterinarian... no, a wildlife medic."

Hela: "...?"

"Yes, you heard me right. Although I haven't obtained my professional certificate yet, I'm sure I'm proficient in a rather special kind of magic called 'helping beasts resurrect.' I can try to bring your raven messenger back to life, Miss."

So if you'd like to give it a try, we'll find a place to try it out. Oh, and by the way, no charge if it fails.

In order to prevent onlookers from realizing how overpowered her skills were, An Xiao slightly embellished her "resurrection spell".

This also showed Miss Hela enough sincerity.

"Resurrection?"

Hela thought she had misheard, after all, she hadn't heard those two words in many years.

He couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Are you sure you're not joking?"

"certainly."

"But Yubora was... completely lifeless. It was killed by the Annihilation Storm on its way to deliver the message... It took me a lot of effort to find it, and it was already on its last legs..."

Hela paused, a hint of self-reproach flashing across her face, and then said, "Now, there's absolutely no chance of it being restored."

"Oh?"

An Xiao remained calm, reviewing the settings related to the Annihilation Storm in her mind.

I vaguely recall that this is a kind of "evil phenomenon" that often appears on the border between the Aleient Empire and an unknown country. When low-level creatures touch it, they will die instantly if they are not equipped with "annihilation resistance" armor.

The sudden death occurred when the internal organs inhaled the evil mist, which then entered the lungs, causing instantaneous suffocation.

This kind of death often preserves the physical form, since death is from the inside out and does not affect the limbs or head.

【Excellent, this perfectly matches my spellcasting requirements.】

An Xiao felt that her current resurrection technique was useless against invisible corpses, but in the current situation, it was theoretically worth a try.

He calmly replied without showing any emotion, "How will you know if you don't try?"

"ah…"

The witch was slightly taken aback.

"Let's go find a quiet place."

An Xiao didn't waste any words and went straight to the point.

"...Alright, sir."

Clinging to a straw, Hela turned back to the bar, picked up the birdcage, and showed her messenger "Yubora" to An Xiao. Then she winked at the corner of the stairs to her right.

An Xiao understood and glanced at the barista out of the corner of her eye.

The shop assistant had a hesitant expression, as if to say something:

"You ruined my shop's business, and you even tried to seduce the witch who had been working with our shop... That's bad enough, but now you want to go upstairs in front of me without spending a penny... and use my private space..."

His anger was written all over his face, but considering that he would have to maintain the relationship with this witch who was his long-term supplier, he could only swallow his anger for the time being, even though he was unwilling to be with An Xiao.

"Ahem, there are indeed alchemy tables and herbal grinding tables upstairs for your use. Of course, there's also a quiet little cubicle with a bed. It's quite simple, though."

The young man said dejectedly.

"Thank you then."

An Xiao nodded and led the witch Hela up the stairs, one in front of the other.

-

……

Creak, creak...

The sound of boots stepping on broken wooden planks was slightly harsh.

Before dawn, on a table on the second floor of the pharmacy, a white tablecloth was laid under a birdcage.

The birdcage door was open, and the messenger Yubora was laid flat in front of An Xiao by the witch so that he could observe her up close.

As you can see, the crow's body was already stiff and lifeless.

There were no wounds or dried bloodstains on its body; rather than dying, it seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep.

The witch's dejected voice reached my ears:

"All living beings that have been 'annihilated' will depart peacefully, just like Yubora."

"You seem to be a novice, perhaps you haven't witnessed such a natural disaster before..."

But it's alright. At the academy, our instructors repeatedly mentioned in their lectures that "natural disasters can take away all life." Even the learned and perfect Archmage Merlin, after one exploration, was forever lost there…”

"ah."

"I shouldn't have let Yubora cross the border to deliver the message. I really shouldn't have done that."

"Even knowing there's a chance this might happen, I still refuse to believe it and want it to take a shortcut to deliver a message to my best friend... Sigh..."

The witch, who kept muttering and blaming herself beside him, made An Xiao feel somewhat helpless, and he even found her a little cute. But on the surface, he simply kept his gaze on the crow, studying how to cast the spell.

With a thought, he opened the panel.

[Mana: 11.]

[Skill: Resurrect Beast LV1, Cost: 10 Mana.]

[Note: This ability can revive "beast" species that died within the last three months, granting them a lifespan of one week.]

(Note: Non-regenerative limbs can only maintain 50% of their attributes.)

"Um……"

Strictly speaking, the witch's messenger is a magical raven capable of long-distance flight and using minor wind and shadow spells; it can be considered a type of wild animal.

Therefore, one's own resurrection spell can be used on it.

But it can't be used for free.

"Miss Hela."

Just as she was still rambling on, An Xiao had a mischievous idea and spoke again.

"Ah... sir, please speak."

She had no idea what else he needed; she was lost in thought, her mind wandering.

Based on the current situation, Hela still doesn't believe that An Xiaozhen can truly resurrect Yubora...

She was thinking that the young man in front of her had a 99% chance of his spell failing, but she had already invested time and promised goods in him. If he couldn't resurrect the raven, then she would have to resort to option two—

In other words, they used another transaction to satisfy their needs.

[The resurrection spell doesn't exist, but his face is... undeniably real.]

He looked like a stranger and seemed completely oblivious to his own handsome features...

[Or perhaps... is this the benefit that aesthetic differentiation brings me?]

"Well... if I could patiently wait until he fails to cast the spell, then forgive and comfort him while he's feeling guilty, and even give him some hard-earned gold coins to help him save face..."

In that situation, even if I suggested, "Why don't you reconsider your previous deal?", he would probably think about it seriously, right?

Miss Hela's face may have looked downcast, but the fire of desire within her was like the fourth-tier elemental spell "Fireball," igniting a raging inferno in the parched wasteland of her soul...

No one knows the daily struggles of top students.

No one can understand the repression and pain of someone who spends years burying themselves in magic and potion books, memorizing them by rote, and being unable to fall in love and lose their virginity during the assessment period due to their witch status.

If the guy in front of me could...

"Uh. It's like this. I also need a lot of mana as starting capital to cast spells, otherwise it's difficult to maintain the effect of the spells. So could you advance me a few bottles of magic potions so I can drink them before I start experimenting?"

An Xiao immediately asked for directions.

"!"

Hela was slightly taken aback.

To be honest, she didn't bring as many medicines as she had promised An Xiao.

After all, who would carry forty or fifty bottles of potions in their bag when going out as a newly initiated alchemist?

Isn't that being overly cautious?

So her initial thought was to agree to his request first, and then lure him upstairs.

As for what happens next, if it's really necessary, we can find a way to make a trip to deliver it to him and deliver it on time, isn't that fine?

Anyway, the deal with him was just verbal; there wasn't any written contract...

"Alright... I have four intermediate-level magic potions and one trickle potion here for now. You can try them out..."

Faced with An Xiao's request to "inspect the goods," Miss Hela reluctantly took out several slender crystal bottles from her potion bag and handed them to him.

An Xiao extended her five fingers, first using four fingers to wed the blue bottle among the four, then using her left hand to remove the corks one by one—

Immediately, to Miss Hela's astonishment, she drank it like she was taking an anti-inflammatory oral liquid, 1, 2, 3, 4...

He poured all the "blueberry potion" from the four slender crystal tubes into his mouth in turn.

It doesn't stop there.

After finishing the witch's juice and putting down the empty bottle, someone swiftly snatched the last bottle of "Trickle Potion" from her hand, and snapped it with their thumb!

Like opening a wine bottle, the cap popped open smoothly.

The next moment, with a gurgling sound, he downed the trickle potion with its "slow mana regeneration" effect in one gulp...

In an instant, four times the amount of medium and large blue slow-release potions surged within his body, releasing immense magical energy.

"..."

As An Xiao drank and observed, she saw that the 11 Mana on the panel had only increased to 14, and was still slowly climbing upwards like a snail...

He shook his head helplessly.

……

……