Tracking

Chapter 22: Tracking (Thanks to book friends "Night Sonata · Yubini" and "Stephen" for the monthly tickets)

Vesemir's smile froze on his face upon hearing that.

He squinted, appraising Ailin's harmless appearance.

The apprentice's clean, clear blue eyes on his small face, smudged with dirt and blood, made one feel an instinctive closeness.

He must have been influenced by Leto. How could a 13-year-old apprentice understand such things?

Vesemir thought to himself.

He glanced at the silver sword, gleaming like new, and sighed.

Even after killing eight Drowners, Elsa's sword remained spotless.

Then.

Vesemir handed Ailin a dagger and said, "Process all the materials. You remember what I taught you yesterday, right?"

Ailin nodded, took the dagger, and crouched down to process the materials.

The only materials that needed processing from the Drowners were their tongues and brains.

After Ailin processed two of them, the remaining ones were behind a large rock.

This rock was just enough to block Vesemir and Leto's view.

After crouching down, Ailin hesitated for a moment before using the dagger to cut open the Drowner's chest.

Did the Drowner Heart Essence Fluid come from the Drowner's heart?

Ailin had wanted to know this yesterday, but Vesemir had been watching him the whole time.

Slash

The sharp dagger cut from the Drowner's jaw, along the midline, down to its groin.

The moment he pried open the bloody ribcage, a strong stench of decay assaulted his senses.

Ailin's pupils instantly dilated.

Inside the black-red chest cavity, at the center surrounded by thick blood vessels, there was nothing. The cut end was very neat, as if the space around the heart had been removed entirely.

So the Drowner Heart Essence Fluid really does come from the killed Drowner's heart, Ailin thought.

Even though he had been mentally prepared, seeing it with his own eyes still brought him an indescribable shock.

When was the heart removed?

When he killed it, or during the quest settlement?

And what method did the Witcher's Handbook use to extract these hearts?

Was it magic?

No! Ailin shook his head.

When killing Drowners these past two days, Vesemir and Leto had been present. Yesterday, the training grounds were even surrounded by Witchers.

They all had the School of the Wolf insignia, which could detect magic and monsters.

If the Witcher's Handbook's method was magic, it wouldn't have been able to hide it from them.

Or perhaps it was a method superior to magic?

Divine power?

Ailin sighed. There was too little information; he could only make a note of this intelligence for now.

There weren't many materials to process, and Ailin quickly extracted all the Drowners' tongues and brains.

However, the quantity wasn't eight pairs.

Three of the Drowners' tongues and brains had been cut in half by Elsa.

Such materials were useless.

Vesemir roughly inspected Ailin's spoils of war and nodded with satisfaction:

"Good, good... Processing Drowner materials is simple, but it requires the most patience. It's very rare that you can process the materials so well while also being fast."

Vesemir didn't mention the damaged materials.

During combat, killing the enemy is the top priority. To fight with the expectation of obtaining complete materials is irresponsible towards life.

Materials could be exchanged for money, after all.

But what's the point of having a lot of money if you can't live to enjoy it?

After the inspection, Vesemir handed Ailin a specially made material bag.

After Ailin packed them by category, the three set off again.

Unlike in the game, the mountain path leading to Kaer Morhen couldn't be traversed by horse.

Witchers usually left their horses at the village at the foot of the mountain and then ascended on foot.

Ailin and his companions had no horses. In the rugged mountain forest, they trudged along, following the direction of the water to search for the next group of Drowners.

Ever since Leto had spoken so carelessly at noon, Vesemir seemed to subconsciously avoid interacting with Ailin.

Ailin didn't mind.

He was taking this opportunity to open treasure chests.

Looking at the ten treasure chests in his inventory, Ailin licked his lips with satisfaction and quickly opened half of them.

[Ding! Drowner's Chest*5 opened]

[Obtained: Lesser Experience Orbs*3, Rotting Meat*2]

The Lesser Experience Orbs were fine, but what was the use of this rotting meat?

Was it just to fill up the treasure chest inventory?

Ailin shook his head, hesitating whether to open the remaining five treasure chests today.

He looked up at the sun's position.

It was still early, around three in the afternoon.

"I'll open them!" Ailin made up his mind.

They were just Drowner's Chests; to save them would be too stingy.

[Ding! Drowner's Chest*5 opened]

Four white lights were interspersed with one blue light.

How many colors were there in the treasure chests anyway?

Ailin couldn't help but complain.

White was the worst, gold should be top-tier, what about blue?

Somewhere in between?

Which game's treasure chests didn't display the drop rates.

As expected, it was a trash game.

Ailin continued to look.

[Obtained: Drowner Whistle*1, Lesser Experience Orbs*4]

The panel switched to the item inventory to check the information of the Drowner Whistle.

[Name: Drowner Whistle]

[Type: Bait Flute]

[Function: Blowing the Drowner Whistle can emit a whistling sound that attracts Drowners to gather]

[Remark: Witcher + Drowner Whistle = ?]

Ailin vaguely felt that this whistle had many potential uses.

However, he couldn't use it right now.

With Vesemir and Leto still by his side, if he suddenly took out a whistle and said he could summon Drowners, they would probably think he was an idiot.

Still, the Drowner Whistle was a very useful item.

At least opening these ten treasure chests wasn't a loss.

After opening the treasure chests, Ailin took the opportunity to check his character panel.

[Name: Ailin]

[Age: 13]

[Title: Child of Miracle]

[Level: 3]

[Health: 100% Stamina: 80/80]

[Attributes: Strength 6.1, Agility 6.2, Constitution 8, Perception 8.9, Mysticism 4.3]

[Special Skills: Monster Hunting LV1, Appraisal LV1, Tracking LV1]

[Skills: School of the Wolf Two-Handed Sword LV2 (0/500), Quen LV1 (0/100)]

[Recipe: Killer Whale (Usable)]

[Items: Drowner Heart Essence Fluid*16, Rotting Meat*5, Lesser Experience Orbs*58, Drowner Whistle*1, "A Discussion on Twenty-Three Ways to Cook a Drowner"]

[Evaluation: Noob!!]

A Tracking skill had appeared on the panel, and his character level had also increased to Level 3.

After completing the quest, the Tracking skill had automatically appeared in Ailin's mind.

Just as he was about to try out his newly acquired skill.

"Ailin, come here quickly and try to find these Drowners," Vesemir squatted in the grass by the stream, kicking at the turf with his right foot.

Ailin put away his panel and walked over to Vesemir, observing carefully.

This patch of grass was close to the water source, with water droplets glistening everywhere.

Clearly, the method of observing slime reflections to search for tracks couldn't be used here.

Vesemir had deliberately chosen such a location.

Well, it's a good thing I'm here, Ailin thought.

Tracking.

The moment the skill was activated, the world Ailin observed with his naked eye instantly darkened slightly.

The originally fresh and natural stream-side meadow was now covered in many messy red claw prints, all extending consistently in the direction of the water into the distance.

Out of curiosity, he walked over to one of the deep red tracks, wanting to see how the Witcher's Handbook judged these traces.

Ailin squatted down, focusing his attention on the claw print. In that instant, the vision before his eyes changed.

Huh?

It can be like this?

New author, new book, please follow, comment, collect, and vote for monthly tickets!