Jester leaned back slightly before answering in his usual calm tone. "The simplest method would naturally be turning them into undead."

The moment those words fell, Michael immediately shook his head.

Understanding surfaced within Jester. "Of course. If that was all you wanted, my lord would never ask such a question in the first place."

After all, a Necromancer asking whether the dead could rise again was somewhat ridiculous. Creating undead was basic knowledge to them. Which meant what Michael wanted was something entirely different.

Jester’s gaze slowly shifted toward Arianne’s pale face. Then he softly asked, "My lord wishes to truly bring someone back to life?"

The room became quiet again. Michael did not answer immediately. However, his silence itself already became the answer.

Jester slowly closed the book in his hand, then calmly explained.

"An undead is merely a continuation of the corpse. It is not true resurrection."

Jester’s voice remained steady and emotionless. "Undeath simply animates the remains through death energy and soul fragments. In essence, it is only making use of the dead body."

His gaze lowered toward Arianne’s severed head again. "But true resurrection is different. That involves restoring life itself. Restoring vitality. Restoring the soul. Restoring the connection between body and consciousness to continue previous existence."

Jester’s fingers lightly tapped against the armrest beside him. "Most undead possess no true connection to their living selves aside from appearance. Even intelligent undead are difficult to classify as the same being. They may retain memories and may even imitate personality, but fundamentally the original life has already ended. A new existence is merely wearing its remains."

The room fell silent once more.

Michael naturally understood this already. That was precisely why he had come to Jester. Otherwise, the moment he saw Arianne’s head earlier, he would have immediately transformed her into undead. But he did not want that. Or perhaps he could not accept that.

Jester quietly observed Michael for several seconds, then slowly asked, "How complete is the soul?"

Michael remained silent for several seconds before finally answering. "Since it’s only a head, the soul fragment attached to the corpse should already be extremely incomplete."

His voice was low. "If we can recover the complete body, we should be able to gather more. But it’s already been several days since her death. There should already be considerable soul loss."

Jester did not reply immediately. The undead simply sat there quietly with fingers folded together as though deeply thinking about something.

Eventually, he finally spoke. "To be honest, my lord, unless an individual was extremely powerful and capable of performing revival magic, most methods of resurrection are considered taboo."

Michael listened silently.

Jester calmly continued. "True resurrection interferes with the natural separation of life and death. Usually, only extremely powerful rituals, forbidden arts, or legendary treasures can achieve it."

"For example, the Tree of Life from certain higher Elven Realms."

Michael’s eyes flickered faintly. "Does that mean I need to take a trip to an Elven Realm?"

Jester immediately shook his head. "No. Even if my lord somehow located a mature Tree of Life and harvested one of its fruits, it would still not solve the current problem completely."

His gaze shifted toward the severed head. "We only possess a head. That alone creates too many limitations."

Michael’s brows furrowed slightly. The knowledge Jester had accumulated from repeatedly harvesting the memories of strong individuals was vast and precious, but it seemed that bringing someone back to life was still no simple matter.

Then Jester suddenly added, "However, I do have an idea."

Michael immediately looked toward him.

Jester calmly continued. "Technically speaking, bringing someone back to life is not impossible. Life-related abilities can achieve it in one manner. Light-related existences can achieve it in another. And Necromancers or people like my lord possess their own methods." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Michael’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Explain."

Jester continued. "One method would be harvesting what remains of her soul first, as complete as possible, then turning her into a ghost-type existence."

Michael listened quietly.

"Afterward, through certain methods, the soul could inhabit another living body."

Michael’s expression shifted faintly. Truthfully, compared to what he had expected, it sounded surprisingly simple.

However, the moment Jester noticed the subtle change in Michael’s expression, he calmly added, "The disadvantages are severe."

Michael remained silent.

"A reincarnated soul through such a process would suffer instability. Memories may distort. Personality may gradually shift. Compatibility issues between soul and vessel may appear."

The room became quiet again. Michael naturally understood. This method sounded simple only because Jester had simplified the explanation. In reality, this was something only desperate people would resort to if they wanted to revive someone without turning them into a zombie-type undead.

Then Jester continued. "There is another method."

Michael immediately looked toward him again.

"This one is more stable. First, we harvest her soul as completely as possible and gather the remaining parts of her body. The body itself would first need restoration through a life ritual using enormous amounts of life force."

Jester’s fingers lightly tapped against the book in his hand. "During that process, her remaining consciousness would temporarily exist as a partial ghost-like state. Afterward, through the memories extracted from the corpse, we slowly reconstruct the consciousness with the soul fragment, cleansing the death energy and negative corruption from the damaged soul before merging everything back together."

Michael listened silently. Compared to the previous method, this one indeed sounded far more complete.

"The disadvantages?" Michael asked quietly.

Jester calmly answered. "Memory loss. Depending on the extent of soul damage, some memories may never return. But overall, it is considerably more stable."

Michael fell silent briefly before asking the most important question. "What’s the cost?"

Jester answered almost immediately. "The original body must not remain dead for too long. And..."

His gaze deepened slightly. "We would require an enormous amount of life force."

"How enormous?"

Jester looked directly at Michael. "Using my lord as an example, if this method were used to revive someone of your current level, we would likely require the combined life force of at least fifty of you."

The moment those words fell, even Michael’s expression changed slightly.

Fifty of him? What kind of absurd requirement was that?

Michael’s thoughts immediately moved. Wouldn’t that mean for someone at his level, only a Demigod-level existence could possibly provide enough life force?

Jester naturally did not know Michael’s thoughts. However, he still calmly added afterward, "Which is why I mentioned the Tree of Life earlier. Only the fruit from a fully matured Tree of Life would naturally contain such terrifying vitality. But based on the lingering cultivation I can sense from the head in your hand, just the life force from another human at Rank 3 would be enough."

Michael immediately looked toward Jester. "...Does it have to be a human?"

Jester blinked once before calmly shaking his head. "It can be anything. A human vessel simply offers the highest compatibility for human souls. However, if my lord dislikes that method..."

Jester paused slightly. "...we could simply replace the girl’s body entirely."

Michael’s eyes narrowed faintly.

Jester continued calmly, "With one of my lord’s clones."