North Wind! North Wind!

"In that case, how do you plan to prepare?" Vesemir asked softly.

You agreed just like that?

Ailin was somewhat surprised; he thought he would have to persuade him further.

but...

That would be better, of course.

then.

After a moment of contemplation and clearing his thoughts, Ailin said:

"In terms of hard power, we are far inferior to the King and the Wizard, so we cannot directly clash with the King and the Wizard."

"But we also have our advantages..."

"Information gap!"

"What do you mean?" The Sorceress was taken aback.

Ailin glanced at the chief and the Sorceress, and confirmed:

"Is it possible that Haxor knew his plot had been exposed?"

"Impossible."

The Sorceress gently shook her head.

"If he finds out the plot has been exposed, he won't invite Soyer to the Apprentice Combat Tournament."

"In such crowded situations, the only way for Haxor and Ban Ad to protect their reputations is through silent assassinations."

"This is impossible if Soyer is aware of it; it will only make things worse."

"This is not in his interest."

Soyer nodded slightly and added:

"Not only that..."

"As is customary, my seat will definitely be next to Haxor's."

"Given his personality, if he knew his plot had been exposed, he would never dare to do it."

Ailin nodded:

"If that's the case, then things will be much easier."

"With the chief contestant attracting attention, the competition will proceed as normal. The only possible unexpected event is the swordsmanship duel, which I will handle."

Ailin looked at Huus, Bont, and Fred.

The three young witchers paused for a moment, then looked at each other, and suddenly had an idea, becoming excited at the same time.

Vesemir had no objection to this.

He had witnessed young witchers suddenly improve their strength and knew that Ailin seemed to have a unique training method.

Seeing that no one else had any objections, Ailin continued:

"As for the Chief's safety..."

"Don't worry about that, he'll protect himself," the Sorceress said nonchalantly.

"Let's skip this point..."

"Ailin, you should know where the greatest crisis lies, right?"

He glanced cautiously at the chief, who looked utterly helpless.

The Chief and Lady Vesemir have such a good relationship... Ailin sighed inwardly, then nodded seriously:

"If the assassination of the chief fails, Haxor will definitely be furious at not achieving his goal."

"Therefore, the greatest crisis will come when we leave Ban Ade and leave the densely populated areas."

"But..."

Ailin looked at the Sorceress.

"Lady Vesemir, don't we still have you?"

Ailin grinned.

It would be foolish not to use help when it's available.

"But if I remember correctly, you once said that you seemed to have other things to do during the Apprentice Combat Tournament..."

The Sorceress sighed helplessly:

"Nothing is more important than you... your lives."

"Don't worry, I will definitely be there that day."

The Sorceress paused, a look of worry on her face:

"But what about you, Ailin?"

"You can't go through the portal now, so how are you going to escape?"

The concerned look warmed Ailin's heart.

He said softly:

"Don't worry, Lady Vesemir."

"You've forgotten that I have a connection with the elves."

"Ban Ade is adjacent to the Blue Mountains. Through my connections with the elves, I can travel through the Blue Mountains to Ard."

Vesemir added:

"I will stay with Ailin."

"Perfect timing to begin our travel trials!"

Ailin nodded. "After leaving Ard, we will go directly to the Temple of Meritele in Arland to lift the curse of the Evil God."

The chief and the Sorceress remained silent and did not object.

Ailin knew that their lack of objection did not mean his plan was perfect.

There are many other crucial points that he didn't mention.

for example.

How can they escape safely from the wizarding city of Ban Ade? Will Haxor, whose conspiracy has failed, really let them escape safely?

Would so many male wizards just stand by and watch them leave?

It's worth noting that they demonstrated the ability to prevent teleportation within a certain range inside the mine.

Besides this, there are many, many more similar details...

The chief, the Sorceress, and Vesemir did not raise any objections simply out of consideration for the younger generation and to save face for him in front of everyone.

certainly...

Ailin did not reveal all of his plans.

Quietly open the Witcher's Handbook and take a quick glance.

[Quest: Summon I (Collect Rock Troll Blood 18/20)]

[Quest Reward: Conjunction of the Spheres - Troll]

Hunting Mission: Water Ghost II (Kill 463/500 Water Ghosts)

[Hunting Quest: Foglet I (Kill 2/100 Foglet)]

Hunting Quest: Ghoul I (Kill 14/200 Ghoul)

Hunting Quest: Demon Spirit I (Defeated 12/50 Demon Spirits)

The blood of the Rock Troll; there were two drops in his reagent bag.

The "Hunting Mission: Water Ghosts" is only thirty-odd water ghosts away.

If we hunt a few more these next few days, we should be able to collect enough by the time the apprentice competition begins.

Although the rewards for the hunting mission were not specified.

However, in the case of "Hunting Mission: Water Ghost I", a Conjunction of the Spheres will most likely be forced upon completion of the hunting mission.

In addition, there's the "Conjunction of the Spheres - Water Ghost" which has already cooled down.

Now.

Ailin is essentially holding two definite Conjunction of the Spheres, and one Conjunction of the Spheres that is about to be completed.

If things don't go smoothly, just open two doors directly in Ban Ade.

The intense tremors caused by the Conjunction of the Spheres also brought forth large monsters.

He refused to believe that the king and the sorcerer would have the time or inclination to cause them trouble.

However, this concerns the Witcher's Handbook, his most fundamental secret, which Ailin naturally wouldn't reveal here.

After discussing some general details,

Smack!

A snap of the fingers.

The red soundproof shield disappeared.

then.

The Sorceress opened another portal.

Soyer returned to the king's party.

Vesemir, on the other hand, needed to go to the Aretuza Academy; she seemed to have something important to do there.

However, she will secretly meet up with Ailin and the others the day before the competition.

After the Sorceress and the chief left, Ailin answered some of Vesemir and Huus ' questions.

He returned to his room with a cloth bag full of materials for the North Wind Bomb.

[Name: North Wind]

[Type: Bomb Recipe]

[Refining Requirements: Alchemy LV2]

[Ingredients: Saltpeter*1, Jadeswater *1, Pearl Powder *1, Allspice Fruit*2]

[Function: Freezes enemies; attacking frozen enemies deals additional damage]

[Note: North wind! North wind! Freeze everything!]

For Ailin, whose alchemy skills had reached LV4, this was the first time he had ever concocted this magical bomb.

However, he was quite adept at it and obtained a bottle of icy blue magic potion in less than half an hour.

Yes.

Although "North Wind" sounds like a bomb formula, it is actually a liquid.

even...

If you put it next to Killer Whale, you can't tell the difference between the two just by looking at the color of the liquid.

"Is this a bomb worth at least 300 Oren?"

Ailin stared at the icy blue liquid swaying in the transparent glass bottle.

For some reason, I remembered a game skill from my previous life.

A desperate gamble.

Shake your head and get rid of the strange thoughts.

Due to its exorbitant cost, Ailin only built one North Wind Bomb.

He needs to test the effect of the north wind before deciding whether to use up all the remaining materials.

If the price-performance ratio is too low, then it's not worth it!

but...

Which monster should we look for?

Ailin pondered.

An hour later.

A riverbank about 100 meters away from the Hundred Fruit Garden.

"Quack quack~"

A cacophony of shouts came from below the low cliff.

"This is it!"

Huus pointed to the group of water ghosts below the cliff, gazing expectantly at the bottle of blue liquid in Ailin's hand.

This is a "bomb" worth at least three hundred Oren.

It's called "Bomb," right... Huus thought.

The four of them left Kaer Morhen almost two weeks ago.

Excluding passion fruit and Pearl Powder, the total earnings were less than ten Oren.

After food and lodging, each person probably doesn't even have a single Oren left.

"As expected of Ailin, she spends money so extravagantly!"

He thought to himself.

Ailin himself didn't think so; he originally just wanted to find a few water ghosts and experiment on his own.

I didn't plan to bring anyone else along.

after all.

It would be so embarrassing if we spent so much money and the results were disappointing.

but.

He wasn't familiar with his surroundings and didn't know where he could find a suitable number of monsters, so he casually asked.

I can't believe they all showed up!

"Eh~"

He let out a soft sigh.

Feeling the intense gazes from Huus, Bont, Fred, and Vesemir around him.

Ailin realized he had clearly underestimated the curiosity of a Witcher.

"Is a Water Ghost enough?" Vesemir asked. "Should we get a more powerful one?"

Ailin shook his head.

Using a North Wind worth 300 Oren to fight a water ghost is definitely too extravagant.

The current market price for a single Water Ghost is half the price of an Oren.

But where can we find a large number of valuable monsters all at once?

"It's just a test, the water ghost is enough."

"Then I'll begin."

Infected by the emotions of Vesemir and Huus, even Ailin became a little nervous.

Don't let me down!

North wind!

After taking a deep breath, Ailin suddenly threw the blue potion bottle into the center of the water ghost horde.

"Bang!"

The moment the glass bottle shattered.

The ignorant water ghosts had no idea what was happening.

The next second.

"Phew~"

The wind howled.

The biting cold air suddenly whipped up the sand and dust on the riverbank.

"Ling~ Ling~"

The snow-white frost appeared abruptly from where the north wind landed and quickly spread to the surrounding area.

Before the water ghost could react, it was already overtaken by the spreading frost.

The next moment.

All eight water ghosts were frozen solid, none of them escaping.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

All the water ghost popsicles lost their balance and fell to the ground.

It shattered into blue, red, and purple fragments almost instantly.

Bathed in the spring sunshine, it scatters colorful light.

It's really beautiful.

On the cliff.

The witchers, including Ailin, were collectively speechless upon witnessing this scene.

until...

A biting cold current surged up from the foot of the small cliff.

The cold wind hitting their faces brought them back to their senses.

"No wonder it costs three hundred Oren..."

Vesemir could hardly hide the shock on his face.

He didn't even notice that his favorite Black Wide-brimmed Hat was blown off by the cold wind.

Although these are just a few water ghosts, anyone can kill them.

But the scene of this monster being instantly frozen and shattered into pieces right in front of him.

The impact it had was beyond compare.

not to mention...

Vesemir looked at Ailin, who was equally surprised and had his mouth slightly agape.

This was done by a kid who had only been a Witcher for a few days.

"Ailin... Ailin..."

Fred pointed down the cliff and slapped Bont's right hand hard, but he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

I don't know.

I thought Ailin had fallen off a cliff.

Bont's injuries had only healed a few days ago; how could he tolerate such a heavy blow?

She dodged Fred's palm by sidestepping.

Hook your right foot.

Fred sat down on the ground.

Then he tilted his head and looked at Ailin with admiration, and for a moment, like Fred, he didn't know what to say.

"No need to finish up?"

A strange idea popped into Ailin's mind.

He originally thought that freezing the water ghosts would only require him to go down and kill them all himself.

After all, that's how it works in the game.

Even the highest level of North Wind cannot kill monsters; it only immobilizes them for a longer time and deals more damage when slashing frozen monsters.

"But that makes sense!"

"How can someone be frozen solid without losing a single drop of blood?"

Ailin thought to himself.

Hearing the shocked and admiring voices of the young witcher and the Witcher Master beside him, he looked down at the water ghost fragment again.

It is still unclear how much the North Wind's effectiveness diminishes when facing higher-level monsters.

But if even a water ghost blessed by magic couldn't withstand it, humans, whose bodies are much weaker, certainly wouldn't be able to hold on either.

Wrong!

Ailin's eyes lit up immediately.

perhaps...

There was no magical favor, nor any forced weakening in the game for the sake of balance...

Humans are where the North Wind should truly be used!

Suddenly, something occurred to me.

Ailin opened the Witcher's Handbook with his mind.

Hunting Mission: Water Ghost II (Kill 471/500 Water Ghosts)

The "North Wind" doesn't even affect the number of kills in the mission.

These 300 Oren are a good deal!

"Master Vesemir, let's go back!"

Ailin turned around, picked up his Black Wide-brimmed Hat from the ground, and patted it.

"The alchemical creations they created are so outstanding, so sophisticated..."

"Ailin recovered so quickly..."

Is he really a fourteen-year-old child?

Vesemir was surprised.

However, on the surface, he calmly took the hat and put it on.

"Okay, let's go!"

"By the way, could you help me refine a few as well? I can gather the materials myself..."

Seemingly remembering something, Vesemir hesitated for a moment, "Uh, I heard that alchemists charge extra fees for crafting items, Ailin..."

"Master Vesemir!" Ailin suddenly interrupted Vesemir with a serious expression, "I will not forge the North Wind for you!"

Vesemir's mood plummeted, and before he could change the subject, he heard Ailin continue:

"I am not an alchemist..."

"Therefore, Master Vesemir, I will not craft the North Wind for you..."

"But..."

"I will teach you how to refine the North Wind!"

Teach me how to refine it?

Such a precious formula?

Vesemir paused, then said, "But..."

"These things aren't just for you," Ailin suddenly said. "Kaer Morhen is also our home, and it's what we should do to defend our home."

These are the words I said when I delivered the materials to him...

A warm current welled up in Vesemir's chest. "Ailin..."

At this moment.

Ailin's cold expression melted away, and a smile appeared on her face:

"Master Vesemir, I am also a Witcher from the School of the Wolf!"