Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

Once Luo Yan gets into working mode, it's like he's a completely different person.

She took a thin string out of her apron pocket, quickly tied her unruly orange ponytail back up, and popped a mint into her mouth.

Then she started washing her hands, scrubbing them from her fingertips to her wrists with a bar of sulfur soap, even carefully brushing under her nails with a small brush. Finally, she rinsed them three times with distilled water, dried them, and never touched anything again. She even pushed her glasses back up with her shoulder when they slipped down.

Miya stood to the side, tactfully taking half a step back to make room around the worktable.

Although she didn't understand alchemy, she had learned some laboratory rules from Bie Chenye: don't talk, don't touch things randomly, and ask questions during breaks in the operation.

She put her hands behind her back, tilted her head and watched Luo Yan move among the bottles and jars. She felt that the way this girl was serious was completely different from the way she was crying and wailing while clinging to someone's leg just now.

The preparations lasted about fifteen minutes.

The medicinal herbs were arranged in a row on the worktable according to the order required by the prescription, with corresponding measuring tools and spare containers placed next to each herb.

Luo Yan spread the formula book out on the workbench, pressing down the corners with her elbow. The page was wrinkled from being turned so many times, and there were several small holes on the corners from being burned, but the writing was still clear. Each line contained the name of the medicinal material, the fineness of the grinding, the heating temperature, and the reaction time. The side was also crowded with annotations in different colors, probably added by several generations.

Then Luo Yan began to act.

Weigh, grind, control temperature, stir.

Her movements were far from elegant; she could precisely measure the powder by touch alone. Without a timer, she could control her reaction rhythm by counting her breaths. While stirring, she would unconsciously hum an off-key tune.

Miya was so engrossed in watching that she felt like she was watching a mini magic show.

After the entire process, the main pot contained a mixture of at least seven or eight kinds of medicinal herbs, the color of which changed from dark green to dark brown. Then, after adding a small pinch of silver powder, it suddenly exploded into a thin cloud of pale golden smoke.

After the smoke dissipated, the liquid in the pot calmed down, turning amber in color, and its surface reflected the warm yellow light from the ceiling chandelier.

"It's done."

Luo Yan wiped the sweat from his forehead with his fingertips and turned down the fire.

"Now let time do its work. Simmer it over low heat for about ten minutes to allow the medicinal effects to fully stabilize, and then it's ready to serve. But before that—"

She took a small silver spoon from the wall, tapped it three times on the edge of the pot, scooped out a small spoonful, blew on it gently, licked the liquid on the tip of the spoon with the tip of her tongue, and then froze completely.

"What's wrong with you?"

Mi Ye subconsciously took half a step forward and waved her hand in front of her.

Could it be poisoning?

Luo Yan did not answer her.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and her chest rose and fell several times with each breath.

When the orange puppy opened its eyes again, there was a gleam in its amber eyes that Mi Ye had never seen before.

"It's Flash! I've successfully concocted the Flash Potion!"

She gently placed the silver spoon on the cooling rack beside her, braced her hands on the edge of the worktable, lowered her head, and let her orange ponytail slip down her shoulders, obscuring her profile.

"Wow, that's amazing."

Miya symbolically praised the orange puppy, though she didn't really understand what the flash of light she could trigger so easily meant to other witches.

"Wait, don't say anything, let me write this down, otherwise I'll forget it right away!"

Luo Yan suddenly raised one hand, speaking rapidly like a machine gun.

With her other hand, she reflexively grabbed the formula book next to the worktable, opened a blank page, picked up a pen, and began to write rapidly.

Her handwriting was more illegible than usual, with several ink splatters, but she didn't care at all.

The information brought by a flash of inspiration must be recorded immediately. Inspiration is fleeting, and once missed, it can never be retrieved.

After she finished writing, she picked up the silver spoon again and tasted the medicine in the pot once more.

He held the medicine on the tip of his tongue for several seconds, then slowly swallowed it, closing his eyes as if listening to a very subtle echo inside his body.

"The basic effect is approximately a 25% increase in current maximum health."

Wow, so many?

Mi Ye quickly estimated in her mind that her current life force was about 1500, so high that the sun in her sea of ​​consciousness was dazzlingly bright. If she increased it by 25% from this base number, it would definitely not be a small number.

Moreover, this is a permanent fixation, not a temporary effect, which means her basic attributes have been genuinely boosted.

Luo Yan opened her eyes, looked down at the last drop of medicine in the spoon, and remained silent for several seconds before speaking.

"The additional effect of the flash is bleeding, which means that the damage you take will not immediately reduce your health, but will continue to deplete it over the next ten seconds."

Miya opened her mouth, but for a moment she didn't know what to say.

The delayed deduction of lost health means she has a five-second buffer after being hit by an enemy, and these five seconds, combined with her Contempt threshold and Devouring Slash, are enough for her to completely turn the tide of the battle.

Moreover, she is a flesh mage, and life force is everything to her. Delaying death is equivalent to having a full five seconds of invincibility window for her.

After thinking it over, Miya noticed the orange puppy next to her.

Luo Yan put the silver spoon back on the cooling rack, then looked down at his hands.

Those hands, marked with several light-colored scalds from the medicine, and with charcoal powder and herbal stains embedded in their fingernails, clearly showed how many times they had tried.

Then she turned to Mi Ye, and the moisture in her amber eyes finally overflowed, sliding down her cheeks in two lines, but she seemed completely unaware of it.

"Look!"

She pointed to the pot of amber-colored medicine, speaking rapidly like pouring beans, crying as she spoke.

"I triggered the flash! I... I've practiced for so many years, I—"

Luo Yan rubbed her eyes hard with the back of her hand, but the more she wiped, the more tears she shed. In the end, she simply gave up and let the tears stream down her face. Her nose was bright red, and her apron was covered in wet stains.

Miya was caught off guard by this scene. What was going on? Why did the orange puppy suddenly start crying?

She felt she should do something, whether it was to offer a tissue or pat her on the shoulder, but it felt too embarrassing to comfort a stranger her own age, especially since this wasn't a time to work at a bar.

So Mi Ye had to wait until Luo Yan's sobs turned into sniffling before taking a step forward, getting closer to look at the pot of amber-colored medicine, and then raising her head to look solemnly into Luo Yan's eyes.

"Falling Flame".

"Um……?"

Luo Yan's voice still had a nasal tone.

"Look at me."

"?"

Luo Yan froze, tears still clinging to her face, her lips twitching involuntarily.

Miya continued, her expression serious, before slowly pouting.

"Puff puff puff puff puff puff—"

Saliva sprayed on my face.

"Are you crazy?!"

Luo Yan reached out to punch her shoulder, but his hands were still covered in charcoal powder and herbal juice. Afraid of getting Mi Ye's clothes dirty, he instead nudged Mi Ye's arm with his elbow.

She still had traces of crying on her face, but she was indeed amused by Mi Ye. She wanted to be angry but couldn't, and she wanted to laugh but was unwilling to be so easily coaxed. In the end, she could only bury her face in her apron and hum softly.

Sure, it seems the disgusting lines she learned in her past life for her best friend are still effective.

After a while, Luo Yan lifted her face out of her apron. Her nose was still red, but her emotions had calmed down.

She cleared her throat, looked at the bottle of Yuancui in her hand, and began to explain.

"I've been doing alchemy for a long time. I spend all day in this little shop, making the cheapest basic potions for the witches in the next block. Sometimes I even take on ointments to treat sprains and bruises."

"After all, I'm not famous, and my shop is too small. I can only get these kinds of orders, but I'm not willing to give up."

"My family all advised me to study elemental magic, saying that alchemy is not a popular major these days, but it's my dream."

She raised her eyes and looked at the bottle of life potion in Mi Ye's hand. A few lingering golden lines remained in her amber eyes, like sparks in the embers.

"So this time I want to try using Yuan Cui to see if I can break through the bottleneck before the exam. The alchemy department of Moon Forest only looks at strength and not background, so as long as you can refine a high-level potion, even just one bottle, you will be qualified to enter Moon Forest."

"But such opportunities are rare. What I need is a bottle of high-purity, luminous essence as a catalyst. The market price is too high for me to afford, which is why I've been chasing after you all over the market. If you hadn't agreed to come to my store, and if I didn't have your essence, I might have had to wait a long time for this breakthrough, or even a lifetime."

She lowered her head and gently stroked the edges of the crystal bottle with her fingertips.

"And then it worked, that's it."

Luo Yan spoke these words casually, perhaps because she wasn't very good at opening up to strangers.

Miya suddenly remembered the first time she sensed the pulse of the ancient oak in the Biechenye wooden house, and the time she was pulled into the water by her reflection by the black pool.

She has always admired the little witch who has her own ideals, not to mention that the orange puppy in front of her is working so hard.

Hardworking children deserve to be treated gently, right?

So she tiptoed, raised her right hand, and gently pressed it against Luo Yan's messy, orange-red bangs, rubbing them with a smile.

"Then I'll praise you without hesitation. You're amazing. Your skills deserve a much bigger stage than you imagine. Remember to give me a discount when this shop becomes famous."

The moment Luo Yan's head was patted, she was petrified, remaining motionless as Mi Ye patted her head the entire time.

Only after Miya withdrew her hand did she belatedly realize what had just happened—she had been patted on the head by a little witch who was half a head shorter than her.

This fact made the tips of her ears seem to be set on fire, instantly turning them a bright orange-red, just like her hair.

She quickly lowered her head and hid her face in the raised collar of her apron, pretending to be tidying up the labels on the medicine shelf.

But the heartbeat was so loud that she suspected even Mi Ye could hear it.

She had been so focused on refining the medicine and crying while explaining that she hadn't really looked at the other person properly. Now she finally had a chance to take a good look at Mi Ye.

Her short, light blonde hair, with slightly curled ends, made her face look especially small.

The honey-colored eyes were bright, like the warm hue of the setting sun shining through the sea.

She stood there quietly, a stark contrast to her cold and dismissive expression when he tried to hug her leg.

This person looks so unfairly good-looking.

She even touched her head, and it actually felt quite comfortable...

Luo Yan stuck two labels on crookedly, her mind a jumbled mess, and finally decided to stop thinking about it, since she couldn't figure it out anyway.

Mi Ye didn't notice Luo Yan's series of thoughts.

She just thought the alchemist little witch's personality was quite endearingly contrasting. She was efficient and capable at work, ruthless when making purchases, cried like a child, and when she was shy, she would hide her face in her apron like a cat that never wanted to see anyone.

The nickname "Orange Puppy" is so fitting for her.

Miya put the life potion into her backpack and took out her phone from her pocket.

Let's add each other as friends on WW.

"Add me as a friend?"

Luo Yan peeked half her face out from under her apron.

"Let's have a long-term partnership. Next time I need to refine herbs, I'll just contact you. And if you ever need any rare materials, you can ask me too."

Luo Yan was silent for a while, then reached into her apron pocket and pulled out her phone, the screen of which was cracked in one corner.

She unlocked the screen, opened the WW friend-adding interface, and handed the QR code to Mi Ye.

The two girls scanned each other's QR codes, and a notification popped up on their phone screens simultaneously, indicating that they had successfully added each other as friends.

"Alright, I'll head back now. Good luck on your exams, see you in Tsukinomori!"

Mi Ye put away her phone, Chong Luo Yan waved and pushed open the shop door.

The brass bell at the door rang out with a clear, crisp sound.

The rain outside has stopped, the road is wet, and the air is filled with the unique freshness after the rain.

Miya took a deep breath of the cool air and strode away.