What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

Sally’s mana surged uncontrollably throughout her entire body, as though she were drifting on the surface of water, rising and falling with the waves, liable to be dragged beneath at any moment. It felt as if her body no longer belonged to her.

It reminded her of the times when she had lain in bed with a fever during her illness—dizzy and disoriented, the world spinning around her, pain wracking every part of her body, yet she could hardly move even a single hand. If she had been alone at such times, every passing day would have felt unbearably long. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

But when Melissa had been by her side, she would tightly hold Sally’s hand at moments like that, letting her know she was not alone.

Even if the other person could not make her illness improve, that kind of companionship still made her feel much better inside.

After grabbing Leon’s hand, Sally—whose mind had been restless because of the turbulent mana—finally felt her heart settle somewhat, and her breathing gradually became steady.

After quite a while passed, Sally felt that the mana seemed to begin stabilizing. It also started responding to her will, allowing her to control it according to her thoughts, turning into a warm current that slowly flowed through her body.

Leon felt Sally’s mana gently seep through their clasped hands into his arm. His muscles involuntarily relaxed, and his body gradually filled with vitality. An inexplicable sense of joy arose within him.

“Did it succeed?” Leon asked Rena after observing through the perspective of the Lord of the Labyrinth that Sally’s mana circulation had become regular.

“It feels like it did. Let me confirm,” Rena said as she looked at Leon. “Turn around.”

“Hm?” Leon did not quite understand.

“Hurry and turn around! No peeking!” Rena emphasized.

Leon finally realized what Rena intended to confirm and obediently turned his back.

“Sorry, Mrs. Hesh. Could you lift your clothes a little?” Rena asked softly.

“Alright.” Sally cooperated and lifted the hem of her clothes to make it easier for Rena to examine.

Rena focused her gaze on Sally’s lower abdomen beneath the navel and immediately saw the Mark of the Primordial Witch’s Favor. Its color was orange-red.

This signified that the ritual had succeeded and that Sally had become a Witch.

Orange-red. Rena seemed to remember seeing the color of this Mark of Favor recorded in a book left behind by her grandmother.

The Mark of the Primordial Witch’s Favor actually appeared in different colors. Most were based on red but showed different shades, each corresponding to a different blessing ability.

The Mark of Favor that appeared from Rena’s own Blood Pact blessing had been deep pink.

Leon’s Mark of the Cursed Blood had been black-purple, something Rena had never seen recorded in the book.

But the orange-red mark Sally had obtained was documented in her grandmother’s book.

After appearing, the Mark of Favor gradually began to fade. According to what Rena knew, it would disappear entirely after a short while.

She helped Sally tidy her clothes and asked, “How do you feel?”

“It feels very strange. It’s like there’s some kind of energy flowing through my body, though I don’t know how to describe it. But I can control it. I can also sense some of that energy around me,” Sally answered honestly.

“That’s mana. You’ve become a Witch now, so you can control mana. The Labyrinth is also filled everywhere with the mana of Primordial Witch Moilai,” Rena said as she stood up. “Sorry, I’ll check the records.”

Rena turned around, picked up a notebook from the workbench, and flipped through it until she found what she was looking for on a certain page.

“An orange-red mark… the blessing of ‘Rebirth’?” Rena murmured.

“Rebirth?” Leon turned around and asked.

“This blessing can activate vitality through contact. It accelerates wound healing and promotes the growth of living things, especially Magical Beasts. If blood is used as a medium, the blessing can even be cast at a distance within a certain range,” Rena explained.

“Activating vitality… no wonder this mana feels so comfortable,” Leon said.

Rena glanced somewhat pointedly at the hands Leon and Sally were still holding together and said to Leon, “Then I think you can let go now.”

“Ah, sorry.” Thinking the remark was directed at herself, Sally awkwardly withdrew her hand from Leon’s and then propped herself up to sit on the altar.

“Mrs. Hesh, please try this,” Rena suddenly said as she found a small bottle on the experimental table. Inside were Labyrinth Mandrake Grass seeds awaiting quality inspection.

She poured out three seeds and handed them to Sally.

“Please try circulating your mana and infusing it into these seeds,” she explained to the confused Sally.

“I—just need to imagine it, right?” Sally asked nervously.

After seeing Rena nod, she tried to imagine directing the mana within her body, concentrating it in her palm before injecting it into the seeds.

The mana really moved according to her thoughts, as though it were a natural part of her body.

At first, nothing happened when the mana flowed into the seeds. But after several seconds passed, the seeds began to tremble slightly. Then their shells cracked open on their own.

Soon, visible to the naked eye, sprouts slowly began to grow, producing budding leaves and fibrous roots.

All three of them watched the scene in amazement, especially Sally. This was the first time she had used the extraordinary power she possessed as a Witch.

“It sprouted?” Sally stared carefully at the seedling in her hand, momentarily unable to believe this was her own doing.

“If every farmer had this ability, food production would probably multiply several times over,” Leon commented.

Sally and Rena both laughed.

“Next, let’s try the wound-healing ability,” Leon suddenly said. He pulled out a dagger, heated it briefly over a candle, and flicked it.

“Wound healing?” Sally had not yet reacted when Leon had already cut his own hand. Blood immediately seeped from the wound.

“Mr. Leon, what are you doing?” Sally exclaimed in alarm.

“Try it.” Leon extended his hand toward Sally, indicating that she should attempt to heal the wound.

“But what if I can’t heal it? Then you’ll be injured for nothing,” Sally said nervously, grasping Leon’s fingers and attempting to infuse mana just as she had done earlier.

She did not know that Leon had long been accustomed to bleeding himself. Moreover, if he transformed into a Werewolf, a wound like this would heal in just a short while.

Leon once again felt that invigorating mana.

The wound soon stopped bleeding. The stagnant blood wriggled slightly and formed a scab over the cut.

Leon withdrew his hand and rubbed both hands together. When the scab fell away, new skin had already grown over the wound.

“This ability could save lives,” he evaluated.

“The book says it can treat external injuries, but it can’t cure diseases,” Rena added.

At the very least, that meant she could function like a surgeon. If it also worked on internal injuries or internal bleeding, then this emergency treatment ability would make her practically a miracle doctor on the battlefield—like the team’s healer. Leon thought.

After confirming that the “Rebirth” blessing could be applied through contact, Leon and Rena also took some blood from Sally to test the ability to cast it at a distance.

The experiment proved that as long as someone had consumed a certain amount of Sally’s blood, or had it applied to a wound, Sally could cast the Rebirth blessing on the target from up to a thousand meters away. The farther the distance, however, the slower the blessing took effect.

“The power of a Witch is truly incredible. Not only can we make medicine to save people, but we can also save them directly,” Sally said with emotion after learning about her power. “Why would the Church prohibit it?”

“Actually, not all Witch powers are meant for saving people,” Leon said.

For example, his Cursed Blood was a power specialized for killing.

“Does this ‘Rebirth’ blessing also work on myself? I feel like my body has become much lighter,” Sally asked Rena.

“I think that’s a common effect of a Witch’s blessing itself. It’s said that it allows people to approach the condition they had when they were younger,” Rena replied.

Legend said that becoming a Witch could greatly slow aging or even restore youth. The elderly could return to middle age, middle-aged people could regain the vigor of their prime, white hair could grow dark again, and wrinkles would diminish.

Rena herself had become a Witch in her teens, and Leon had only been in his early twenties. They had both been young when they gained their powers, so they had never really felt this effect.

Sally was not particularly old either, but she might still notice some subtle changes.

“Really? I think I’ve heard that becoming a Witch grants beauty,” Sally said.

“It can’t change your facial features, but it can make you look younger, improve your complexion, and make you appear more attractive,” Rena explained.

“I see.” Sally wiped her face and examined her hair. Perhaps it was only psychological, but the dry skin and hair caused by her long illness did seem slightly improved.

When she had been an actress before, she had cared a lot about her appearance. But after falling ill, she had not paid much attention to such matters for a long time.

“Mrs. Hesh, you were already young to begin with. If I remember correctly, you’re not even thirty-five yet this year, right?” Leon said with a smile. He vaguely remembered hearing about her age from Melissa, though not the exact number.

Sally’s expression showed a hint of awkwardness. She then said Sallyously to Leon, “It’s thirty-two, Mr. Leon.”

“Then that’s indeed under thirty-five,” Leon nodded.

“It’s thirty-two,” Sally insisted on correcting.

To her, the difference of three years was no small matter and had to be made clear.

Leon sensed a certain determination in Sally’s gaze and slightly shifted the topic. “So that means you had your child when you were eighteen?”

“That was very normal in our time. Even now it’s quite common,” Sally replied.

“Hey.” Rena called Leon somewhat speechlessly and pointed at herself.

“————” Leon had no response.

Rena was only seventeen this year, and the two of them had already confirmed their relationship. If they were to marry and have a child now, the baby would probably be born when Rena turned eighteen.

In this era, such a thing was indeed not unusual.

“Since the Witch ritual succeeded—” Leon let out a long breath after a moment, “then let’s try the effect of the new medicine.”