The herbs needed for an apprentice-level fire-type antidote were actually quite straightforward.
One dose required roughly: Yellow Bramble x 10g, Clover x 10g, Amy Grass x 5g, White Snowflake x 5g, and 100ml of Mana Spring water.
She already had everything on hand — all of it was tucked away in the hundred-plus kilograms of herbs she'd stockpiled.
Two hours later, the two side batches of mana potions were done.
Six more hours after that, the pale yellow antidote was complete.
After sending Li Huai one dose, Lan Qingyou finally had a moment to breathe.
Lan Qingyou: "How's the effect?"
Li Huai: "Toxin's cleared. Just used a healing potion. But I'll need some rest."
Lan Qingyou: "Good."
This might be a world of magic, but injuries were still injuries.
Healing potions could restore Health Points and instantly close external wounds, but lost blood or damage from mental attacks couldn't be fixed on the spot.
The body needed time to heal those on its own.
"Ahhh—"
Lan Qingyou yawned. Now that she had her user feedback, it was time for a shower and bed.
"Cheep... cheep..."
As Lan Qingyou stepped out of the shower, she heard what sounded like a baby chick calling from inside the room.
That's when she remembered the chick she'd rescued earlier.
Floating over, she saw the little thing flapping around on its towel.
After a day and a night of rest plus two healing potions, the chick had made a full recovery. Its body was covered in fluffy, grayish-white down — like a little steel wool ball.
"Oh. So it survived."
Spotting Lan Qingyou, the chick froze, stared for a second, then clambered off the towel and toddled toward her on wobbly legs.
Lan Qingyou reached down, scooped it up, and pressed it against the Small Screen.
If the Small Screen could appraise a dead Volcanic Worm, maybe it could appraise a live chick too?
If so, she definitely wanted to know what species of monster this was.
The last thing she needed was to raise a wolf in sheep's clothing that would bite her later.
"Cheep..."
Pinned by fate against the Small Screen, the little owl struggled.
Lan Qingyou paid it no mind.
"Aurora Snowy Owl"
"Racial Talent: Aurora (B)"
"Skills: Not yet awakened"
"Description: The Aurora Snowy Owl — an extremely fast nocturnal raptor that can survive anywhere in the world. Highly adaptable apex predators of the night sky. Unfortunately, this is merely a chick, still months away from maturity."
'Even a owl has a better talent than mine?'
Reading the appraisal results, Lan Qingyou suddenly felt the universe's malice bearing down on her.
"So you're B-rank, you little steel wool ball. Snowy owl... that's basically a type of owl, right?"
Lan Qingyou racked her memory and recalled a movie she'd once watched that featured an owl named Hedwig.
But looking at this steel-wool puffball, she couldn't quite reconcile it with that elegant creature of alternating white and gray feathers.
Probably because it was still a juvenile.
Then again, comparing a magical creature from the Kalim Continent with a Blue Star owl probably wasn't even meaningful.
Now Lan Qingyou was in a bind.
She'd wanted a potion test subject, and instead she'd rescued a "nocturnal sky raptor."
Should she dump it?
She genuinely considered the question.
For someone in her position, this monster was an unknown variable.
It seemed harmless as a baby, but who knew what it would be like as an adult?
"Cheep..."
Still pinned to the Small Screen, the Aurora Snowy Owl had somehow flipped itself over and was nuzzling the crook of Lan Qingyou's hand with its face.
'Oh — it just rotated its head 180 degrees.'
"Hmph! Don't think acting cute will make me drop my guard."
Lan Qingyou snorted coldly, then opened her friends list and found Gu Xiaobei.
Lan Qingyou: "I need a plate of raw shredded wolf meat."
Gu Xiaobei: "Didn't you just have that?"
Lan Qingyou: "It's for feeding a small animal."
Gu Xiaobei: "Oh."
Before long, Gu Xiaobei sent over a plate of roughly half a pound of shredded wolf meat.
Since it was for an animal, she'd sliced it extra fine.
Lan Qingyou set the owlet down on the plate and let it eat on its own.
The little snowy owl took one look at the feast, cheeped twice at Lan Qingyou, and then fell silent.
"Hey! You expect me to feed you?!"
Meeting the owlet's wise, expectant gaze, Lan Qingyou somehow produced a pair of freshly peeled, still slightly damp chopsticks she'd whittled from a twig, and began feeding it strips of meat one by one.
Don't get the wrong idea — these chopsticks were originally made for cleaning between her own teeth.
They just happened to come in handy right now.
All right, she couldn't keep up the act.
Truth was, Lan Qingyou had been about to go dig up some earthworms. After all, she was practically an expert at raising chicks.
She'd raised one as a kid. Five yuan from a street vendor by the school gate — one of those dyed red or green chicks.
It grew up. Then it died.
But now, knowing this "chicken" was actually a flying owl, she'd had a moment of not wanting to raise it at all.
Then she realized: this thing could fly. Once it grew up, if it could carry her lightweight body through the air... wouldn't that be infinitely more convenient?
So with that reasoning, she decided to raise it for a while and see.
Just a few months, after all.
She was confident that the odds of a monster — or any animal — turning out to be an ungrateful traitor were significantly lower than with humans.
And if it did? Well, she'd just hand it over to Gu Xiaobei to cook.
'Hmm, the shreds are too thin. Way too small — the owlet swallows an entire chopstick-full in one gulp.'
Lan Qingyou had no choice but to keep picking up strip after strip.
'Next time, I should ask for sliced meat instead.'
As she fed the owlet, Lan Qingyou browsed the exchange, searching for a book called "Monster Studies."
Rather than sitting here guessing, knowledge from the locals would be far more reliable.
She searched and came up empty.
In the end, she posted a trade listing: 10 bottles of +50 mana potions for a copy of "Monster Studies."
By the time she finished typing, the little snowy owl had polished off the entire plate.
"Heh, you're tiny but you can really pack it in. Half a pound, all gone."
Not knowing the first thing about owl appetites, Lan Qingyou smiled.
Then she stood to head upstairs for bed.
"Cheep cheep cheep..."
Seeing Lan Qingyou move to leave, the owlet chirped frantically, even biting down on her finger with its tiny beak.
Its stubby little legs kicked and flailed, as if trying to climb onto her hand.
"So... you want to come with me?"
Not exactly fluent in owl language, Lan Qingyou took a guess, then held out her palm and let the owlet hop on.
She carried it upstairs along with the towel that had been its bed.
After re-laying the towel on top of the bookshelf, that became its nest.