Ofir.

—

[One hour later. Night.]

Seeing Margarita, who was responsible for opening a portal instead of the ice lady who knew the land so well, Richard noted that the Tzarina herself did not have a way to traverse the Ethereal Realms in her previous life, that is why they needed someone else who could open the portal. As he looked at the frozen land on the other side, which had once been a sand dune, Richard recalled what Margarita had said after reading the memory of the Tzarina to determine the coordinates of the place.

The land they had arrived in was Ofir, where water had once been scarce, and as far as the eye could see, only desert could be found. Now, however, it was so abundant with water that it overflowed within the frozen land itself, making it one of the most ironic things about this once-thirsty province.

After watching Margarita open the large Bifröst portal—a portal large enough for two hundred Kislevites, the Tzarina herself, Yennefer, Geralt, a big, buffed-up Witcher, along with a resurrected one who wore a snake medallion, and himself to pass through—Richard looked around, trying to find the conqueror and enslaver of this land.

As for Moiraine, she was busy collecting data in Tretogor and investigating what the Aen Elle were doing there. The possibility of these elves allying themselves with a holder of the Mythic Path was quite worrying. Since Richard only had two hands and couldn't be in two places at once, he decided that Moiraine should focus on confirming whether Molag Bal was in contact with the Aen Elle through evidence collection, while he himself would confirm it by meeting them in person.

But after seeing them in the distance, with only their spectral forms attacking the settlement and burning everything to the ground, Richard let out a disappointed sigh. Deciding to stay hidden so as not to alert them to his presence—so they would think he was still trapped in the frozen world—Richard then watched as the entire party came through the portal to carry out their tasks, hoping it would entice the Aen Elle to personally descend into this land.

However, after three hours of observing the surroundings, even with the party having already freed four settlements from the Aen Elle's spectral attacks and monsters alike, Richard realized that they were not so foolish as to be unaware of his location—especially when they had probably already checked that his whereabouts were unknown in the frozen world. Recognizing their cleverness once more, Richard concluded that there was nothing more he could do for now.

Breathing out his Sun Breathing into the surroundings so that the small party—now grown to almost one thousand—was enhanced in every aspect, Richard then began to help them clear the specters and monsters alike. One such monster resembled an insect mantis but stood as tall as three people combined and moved with such agility and dexterity. Because of this, even the monster hunter Witchers, who were experts at killing magical creatures, became cannon fodder in front of these mantises, almost dying repeatedly if not for the intervention of the Mythic Path holders in the party.

Although he wanted to enhance these Witchers' strength by possibly giving them his Breathing Technique to make them strong enough to battle these monsters or others in this world, which were becoming stronger and different in class, Richard was reluctant to part with it. Despite somehow knowing them from the game he played, he didn't know and trust them personally.

He was especially cautious considering that his fragmented memories might be the result of tampering by unknown enemies attempting to gain his trust. While this scenario seemed unlikely and was likely just his paranoia at work, it still made him pause and consider all possibilities. Because of this, he began to think that Margarita's theory of Connection and Bond, as suggested in her thesis, might be true. This theory might explain why his past adoration for the Witchers had completely vanished upon arriving in this world, leaving him with only bland information and a simple, "Oh, they are like that, cool," and nothing more.

Luckily, these monster hunters were not without help, which gave them at least a fighting chance and prevented them from becoming just like other common folks with only slightly better pitchforks. Richard knew that Yen and Rita were currently working on a project to create a super-soldier serum, similar to what he had in his Modern Fiction database. The difference was that this version was magical and designed to boost every aspect of a person's abilities, akin to his Sun Breathing vitality, especially since it was inspired by that Breathing Technique as well.

As for worrying about the Breathing Technique being secretly stolen or reverse-engineered, Richard didn't need to worry too much. Ever since he gave the other Heralds vitality, they had tried to replicate the method to boost themselves, but nothing had come of it.

Perhaps it was because it required enlightenment to the highest degree, or maybe it needed the perfect set of abilities, like the ones Ciri had given him, to gain a glimpse of understanding. It could also be that inspiration from the world they were taken from was necessary, or perhaps all these factors combined created only a minuscule chance for them to get as lucky as he did.

Maybe it was because only he understood the rhythm of the inhaling and exhaling method, or perhaps Richard himself needed to directly guide the air into their lungs, as he did with Ciri and Margarita, for them to finally have that "click" in their heads. Richard did not fully understand the reasons. But one thing he knew was that only someone personally taught by him had the possibility to learn it, and he himself did not intend to spread it far and wide.

So after blazing through settlement after settlement, turning the small company of two hundred into a division of ten thousand, Richard looked up at the sky and noticed it was already morning. Realizing he still needed to find Ciri to continue their journey and expedition, he turned toward where Yennefer and Tzarina were, currently discussing with the Malliqs of this area about the establishment of The Ice Court kingdom.

—