Ailin had no idea that, in the time it took to eat a meal, he had already become famous throughout Kaer Morhen.
After calming down from the joy brought by the Essence Fluid, he turned his attention to the chests.
Silently praying for the protection of the dead apprentices' souls, Ailin opened the chests.
Ding! Drowner's Chest x4 opened.
Four flashes of white light appeared alongside the system notification.
Rotten Flesh x1.
Rotten Flesh x1.
Lesser Experience Orbs x1.
Although he had expected that Drowner's Chests, which sounded lousy just from their name, would not contain anything good—
The two chunks of rotten flesh still shattered the lower limit of Ailin's imagination.
Then he looked further down.
"Twenty-Three Ways to Cook Drowners" x1.
Ailin: ???
A Drowner's Chest gave me a recipe for cooking Drowners? What kind of hellish joke is this?
And could Drowner meat even taste good?
No, why would anyone eat Drowners?
Setting aside the discomfort of eating something roughly human-sized—
As standard carrion-eating creatures, Drowners often lurked in the sewers of human cities.
How heavy did someone's tastes have to be to stomach that—and even research twenty-three cooking methods?
This was simply insane!
Out of pure curiosity, Ailin opened his inventory.
Name: "Twenty-Three Ways to Cook Drowners"
Type: Miscellaneous
Function: None
Description: The second volume in the "Tasty Little Guys" series
Note: Written by the legendary chef Troll Longer; a bestseller for over three hundred years
Alright, it was written by a troll. That explained everything.
There were plenty of things to complain about.
Still, since it was not a human recipe, it was garbage.
Ailin continued opening the remaining chests.
With three pieces of trash already out, Ailin no longer held any expectations.
Ding! Drowner's Chest x4 opened.
After three flashes of white light came a brilliant golden glow.
?
Did something good drop?
Ailin hurriedly focused his gaze.
Within the dazzling golden light, a whale charged in from beyond his sight and, amid a whale's cry, transformed into a blueprint.
Obtained: Rotten Flesh, Lesser Experience Orbs x2, "Killer Whale" Potion Formula
Killer Whale!
He opened the formula with a thought.
Name: Killer Whale
Type: Potion Formula
Brewing Requirement: Alchemy LV2 (Not Met)
Formula: Dwarven Strong Alcohol x1, Beli's Fruit x5, Sage x6, Drowner Tongue x5
Function: After consumption, improves underwater breath-holding ability and enhances vision while diving
Note: Did the Drowners flee into the water again? Hurry up and chug a bottle of Killer Whale!
Both the formula and the effects matched his memories.
It really was the potion from the game!
"The Trial of the Mountains in a month is in the bag!" Ailin clenched his fist excitedly.
The Trial of the Mountains.
The final stage of the witcher trials.
The candidates had to swim across a lake near Kaer Morhen, then pass through a cave inhabited by a Cyclops named Old Spearhead without waking him. Finally, they had to cross troll territory and reach the "Circle of Elements."
There, the School of the Wolf medallions would be activated. Throughout their subsequent lives as witchers, the medallions would warn them of monsters and magic.
Before the trial, Vesemir would certainly explain the key points for passing the Trial of the Mountains.
But for the sake of his own life, Ailin had specifically asked many detailed questions two days earlier.
From the descriptions of the Trial of the Mountains—
The powerful monsters, such as the Cyclops and the trolls, seemed to be the primary cause of its high mortality rate. In reality, however, over ninety percent of the apprentices who died failed at the very beginning of the trial.
Countless Drowners hid beneath the seemingly calm lake.
Drowners, weak on land and possessing simple attack patterns, were exceedingly difficult to deal with underwater.
They moved quickly and traveled in groups.
To get through that section, the candidates could only rely on Witcher Senses and try their best to avoid being discovered by the Drowners.
However, even though the trial took place during the day and the Witcher Apprentices' eyes had been modified with drugs—
The dim and complicated underwater environment still made it difficult for them to detect lurking danger.
On top of that—
Swimming across the lake took at least three hours.
Physical exhaustion, combined with mental strain and fear, made it impossible to remain focused for long.
If an apprentice let his guard down for even a moment and attracted the monsters' attention, the trial participants might be wiped out entirely.
After all, a fifty percent mortality rate did not mean that only half the participants died each time and the rest would definitely pass.
The Trial of Grasses had a mortality rate ten percent lower than the Trial of the Mountains.
Yet among Ailin's group of more than forty apprentices, only four had survived in the end.
Therefore—
Even with his cheat, before obtaining the Killer Whale formula, Ailin had not felt particularly confident.
But now, things were different.
As long as he drank Killer Whale before the Trial of the Mountains—
With its combined breath-holding ability and underwater vision—
Ailin's range of perception underwater might even surpass that of the Drowners.
As long as he did not suffer the misfortune of locking eyes with Old Spearhead the moment he entered the cave—
Ailin believed he could pass the Trial of the Mountains with absolute certainty.
A powerful confidence surged from his heart. While fortune was on his side, Ailin raced against time and opened the general chest.
A flash of white light appeared.
Ding! Obtained: Lesser Experience Orbs x10.
Tsk, tsk. Fine, at least they were much better than rotten flesh.
Ailin consoled himself in disappointment, then opened his character panel to see whether his evaluation had changed.
Name: Ailin Age: 13 Title: Child of Miracle Monster Hunting Level: 2 Health: 100% Stamina: 62/62 Attributes: Strength 5.5 (+0.2), Agility 5.6 (+0.2), Constitution 6.2 (+0.6), Perception 7.9 (+0.7), Mystery 3.5 (+0.2) Special Skill: Monster Hunting LV1, Appraisal LV1 Skill: School of the Wolf Two-Handed Sword LV2 (0/500) Formula: Killer Whale (Unavailable) Items: Drowner's Heart Essence Fluid x2, Rotten Flesh x3, Lesser Experience Orbs x31, "Twenty-Three Ways to Cook Drowners" Evaluation: Trash!!
There was one less exclamation mark in the evaluation.
Had third-rate trash become second-rate trash?
After putting away the panel helplessly, Ailin raised his head and glanced out the window.
The golden rays of the warm late-autumn sun slanted across the tower opposite him.
There was still a long time until the "dinner" in the evening.
He definitely could not waste the time saved by the Essence Fluid.
But if he left just like this, would he seem too unusual? Would he attract too much attention?
Ailin felt somewhat conflicted.
Keep a low profile?
Or make a splash?
That was the question.
After carefully weighing the pros and cons, Ailin made his decision.
"Time waits for no one."
"Every additional moment before the Trial of the Mountains increases my chances of survival."
"Besides, what I did this morning was already unusual enough."
With his mind made up—
Ailin stood, changed into proper clothes, strapped Elsa to his back, and headed out of the dormitory.
"Ailin? Where are you going?"
Huus, pale-faced, heard the movement.
Ailin paused for a moment before replying, "I have something to do outside."
"Oh, okay."
Huus had not fully regained consciousness yet.
Only after Ailin's sword-bearing figure disappeared through the door did he react.
Hm?
Ailin had not eaten lunch?
Why could he move so freely?
Huus wanted to catch up with Ailin and ask what was going on.
But another wave of pain suddenly struck. The pain he felt after being distracted was even worse than before.
"Creak—creak—"
As the bedframe shook violently—
Huus suddenly curled into a ball, gritted his teeth, and could no longer spare any energy to think about anything else.
New author, new book! Please keep reading, recommend it, and add it to your collection! The internal submission has passed, so please feel free to invest!
Before you continue