"I'm not sure if I'll be able to return before the Mountain Trial. If you want me to do it, this might be your last chance." Vera's tone was very sincere.
But Allen had no choice and had to refuse again: "Sorry, Lady Vera."
"I still want to do it myself."
The sorceress's eyes dimmed slightly, but she still earnestly reminded him: "Alright...my library will be open to you..."
"If you have any questions or need any materials, you can ask Mary directly, she will help you..."
...
The sorceress rambled on for quite a while. As Allen listened, he suddenly felt like he was Vera's apprentice. Meanwhile, a certain "genuine" apprentice was glaring at Allen, her cheeks flushed with jealousy. The burning jealousy in her eyes almost set Allen's hair on fire. After about half an hour, the sorceress finally stopped.
"…That's about it, you can go now."
Allen nodded sincerely and thanked her, "Thank you, Lady Vera."
"No need to thank me," Vera shook her head, then solemnly said, "You just need to tell me… you will definitely pass the Mountain Trial safely, right?"
The Witcher apprentice nodded vigorously and firmly said: "Don't worry, Lady Vera. I will definitely pass the Mountain Trial and not let your investment go to waste."
"Investment?"
The sorceress inexplicably laughed twice: "For the Wolves School Witchers, their promises are more important than life."
"Allen, I remember your promise."
...
After leaving the alchemy room and descending two more levels, the Witcher apprentice stopped.
He opened his character panel mentally.
[Name: Allen]
[Age: 13]
[Title: Miracle Child]
[Level: 8]
[Health: 100%, Stamina: 150/150, Mana: 87/87]
[Attributes: Strength 9.6 (+3.5), Agility 9.6 (+3.4), Constitution 15 (+6.1), Perception 14.9 (+6), Mysticism 8.7 (+4.4)]
[Special Skills: Witcher Hunting LV1, Identification LV1, Tracking LV1]
[Special Skill Points: 1]
[Skills: Wolves School Two-Handed Sword LV2, Tracking LV1, Quen LV1, Aard LV1, Yrden LV1, Igni LV2]
[Recipes: Killer Whale (Unavailable)]
[Items: Drowner Heart Essence*162, Rotten Flesh*87, Small Experience Orbs*1445, Drowner Whistle*7...]
[Evaluation: Novice!]
In these seven days, Allen had increased about 24 points in attributes, making him a completely different person compared to a few days ago. To exaggerate a little, Allen could now fight 10 versions of his former self who had just arrived in this world. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of the heart essence was diminishing as Allen's attributes increased.
After his Strength attribute reached 9 points, it took 10 essences to increase it by 0.2, and his Constitution attribute stopped increasing after reaching 13 points, regardless of the essence used. This was, of course, expected. But it shattered Allen's dream of becoming a god by slaughtering drowners. Therefore, Allen kept the remaining essences for future use as stamina recovery potions.
In terms of skills, Allen only had two signs left to learn. Due to the fire attack's special effectiveness against drowners, he had specifically upgraded the Igni sign to level 2. The simultaneous improvement in attributes and skills had significantly increased Allen's efficiency in hunting drowners.
Unfortunately, as his character level also increased to level 8 with the skill upgrades, he hadn't seen any higher-level hunt evaluations for a while. Moreover, most of his hunting time was spent on traveling and tracking. So, although his hunting efficiency had improved, the number of small experience orbs he earned daily did not increase explosively.
Currently, Allen's average daily hunt had stayed at around 25 drowners for the past few days. It was manageable until today, as Vera's alchemy classes had provided a solid foundation, so he didn't miss out on a few drowners each day.
But tomorrow, it would be Mary teaching.To be honest, Allen had little confidence in Mary, who had only been a sorceress for two years, regarding alchemy. Now he just needed to see how much her classes would differ from Vera's.
"With over five thousand small experience orbs still missing, I won't be able to gather them without changing my hunting method." After some thought, Allen made up his mind.
He had to make a change. Since the problem was the hunting efficiency, all he needed to do was to increase it. After thinking for a while, Allen stood up and walked to the agreed place.
As soon as he left the tower, Allen saw a Witcher greeting Vesemir. "Vesemir, aren't you going to the banquet today?"
"No, I have something to do later, you go ahead, I'll join you later." The Witcher master patted the man's shoulder.
The man shrugged, muttered something, and then left.
Allen lingered in the shadow of the tower for a few more seconds before walking towards Vesemir. The Witcher master nodded at the approaching apprentice and then turned to walk outside the castle.
"Master Vesemir, if you're busy, I can go hunting by myself." Walking alongside Vesemir, Allen thought for a moment and suggested.
Vesemir didn't look back and casually replied: "No need, just drinking anyway, going later is the same."
But it wasn't the same. Allen knew this very well. Throughout the year, the Witchers only had these two months to gather. By the same time next year, they might not see the same people they saw this year. After all. Witchers are warriors and hunters. It's a highly dangerous profession that relies on fighting and hunting to survive.
A Witcher could lose his life due to inaccurate information, betrayal, or even just the human hatred for non-humans. Because the people they see this year might not be around next year. That's why the castle hall of the Ancient Sea Fortress would have a bonfire burning all night, with endless drinks and delicious food...
Compared to the expensive charcoal, wine, and delicacies, the time spent with comrades was the most precious. Every moment of this time was not to be wasted. So, it wasn't the same.
Even though Allen selfishly hoped that Vesemir would let him hunt alone, he was too moved to persuade otherwise now.
"Vesemir, are you taking our little killer out hunting again?"
Allen looked up and saw an unfamiliar Witcher.
"He's Dante, a respected Witcher master." Vesemir introduced.
Allen nodded and greeted the Witcher across from him as usual.
For some reason unknown to Allen, he seemed to have quite a reputation among the returning Witchers. Walking down the road, unfamiliar Witchers would often greet him.
The titles ranged from "Auren's apprentice", "Lucky apprentice", "Second Man of Elsa".To the recent titles after the drowner hunts: "Drowner Slayer", "Little Butcher of Kaer Morhen", and so on.
Allen had asked Vesemir about this a few days ago. But the Witcher master just had a dark look on his face, sighed as if remembering something, shook his head, and didn't give an answer. His expression was quite strange. Allen didn't delve further, as it wasn't important to him.
...….
📢10 advanced chapters on p@treaon📢
For advance chapters: p@treon.com/Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)
30. Surprise.
31. Mary's Desire.
32. The Drowner Whistle.
33. Killer Lake.
34. The Conjunction of the Spheres.