Tracking the Wild Hunt

"Ah?"

"Don't I need to go back?"

Mary was taken aback.

The Sorceress chuckled and stroked her smooth forehead, then pulled Mary back slightly from the portal.

"You brought all this stuff, isn't it because you wanted to ask me how to make the new potion?"

"Going back now... are you lying to me?"

The Sorceress feigned anger, startling Mary into taking two steps back and waving her hands frantically.

"No, no!"

"I'm here to ask for advice... I'm here to ask for advice..."

The Sorceress turned her head to look at the young demon hunter and smiled gently:

"Ailin, Mary is in your care."

"Don't worry, Lady Vesemir," Ailin said, helping Mary remove her bundles. "I will protect her."

"Hmm~"

The Sorceress nodded.

After staring at Ailin for a few more seconds with her beautiful eyes, she turned and walked into the portal.

"Bang!"

The portal disappeared.

Only Mary and Ailin remained in the camp.

"Wow!"

The Sorceress left not long ago.

Mary suddenly let out a strange cry, her big, blinking eyes gleaming with excitement and joy.

"Are you that happy to leave Kaer Morhen?"

Ailin gently placed the crucible in his hand on the ground, looked at the overjoyed girl, and asked with a smile.

"Hehehe~" Mary touched her forehead sheepishly and explained:

"The scenery in Kaer Morhen is certainly beautiful, and the older men from the School of the Wolf are very kind to me..."

"Oh..." Ailin's tone rose slightly as he teased, "Not Kaer Morhen, nor a Witcher..."

"So it seems leaving Lady Vesemir makes you very happy..."

Before he could finish speaking...

Startled, Mary instantly reached out her right hand and covered Ailin's mouth with lightning speed.

After glancing around furtively, the big-eyed creature glared fiercely at the young witcher with an expression that screamed, "You want me dead."

Even though the portal had disappeared, she hesitated for a moment before loudly protesting:

"How could leaving Lady Vesemir possibly make me happy?"

"I love being with Lady Vesemir the most."

Mary spoke cautiously, as if she were speaking to someone who wasn't present.

"But being stuck in one place all the time, either reading or brewing potions, is incredibly boring... kind of boring..."

"Now that the beautiful, wise, and charming Lady Vesemir has finally let me out for some fresh air, I'm naturally very happy!"

Seeing Mary's earnest yet obsequious demeanor, Ailin asked with some curiosity:

"The portal has already disappeared, can Lady Vesemir still hear me?"

"Of course..." Mary glared at him again, rolled her eyes delicately, and said, "No..."

Perhaps because of the joke, the more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

Mary slammed her delicate fist into the Witcher's shoulder.

It's a pity it doesn't hurt.

However, he still cooperated by grimacing and covering his shoulder.

After some playful fighting...

Mary finally remembered why she was there.

She pulled Ailin to sit on the ground and arranged the crucibles and other utensils.

"Ailin, teach me how to make White Honey first!"

"Demonstrate it once first, and I'll ask you if I don't understand something."

Ailin was somewhat helpless.

Who stays up all night to learn how to brew magic potions?

And this is in the wild, can't we go into the city to learn?

"We do have Dwarven Strong Alcohol, but it's already dark. Where are we going to find honeysuckle?"

The Witcher thought he could just make up an excuse and get away with it.

However, Mary chuckled and opened her leather handbag, which was neatly filled with many gold and white flowers with slender petals.

There are at least twenty portions of honeysuckle here.

If you turn further inside, you'll find yellow flowers that resemble golden butterflies.

That's about twenty portions of white celandine flowers, which are the ingredients needed to make the Swallow Potion.

"All the materials you requested are here. The Drowner Brain from the Swallow Potion and the Ghoul's heart are in another bag..."

Mary, as if reciting a familiar story, introduced each of the items she had brought to the Witcher.

She really brought all the ingredients needed for the three potion recipes.

Even Dwarven Strong Alcohol, an alchemical base that Ailin usually keeps on hand, were brought over in three or four bottles.

"Is that enough?" Mary asked Ailin, hands on her hips, looking as if she had expected this.

Everything that needed to be prepared was ready. Could Ailin possibly refuse?

Ailin shook his head helplessly, picked up a bottle of Dwarven Strong Alcohol, and poured the liquor into the crucible.

But that's just right.

Because they were in a hurry to leave Kedwen.

He hadn't had time to refine the two very useful magic potions, White Honey and swallows.

"I don't know where you got all these recipes from..."

Mary glanced at the skillful, fluid, and strangely rhythmic movements in his hands.

He then looked up enviously at Ailin's forehead, as if he wanted to swap brains with him.

She sighed softly and lamented:

"How can you even make something out of a honeysuckle flower?"

"White Honey... Do you want to be like a bee, turning honeysuckle pollen into honey?"

"Didn't I send you the entire refining process?"

Without looking up, Ailin picked up a few pieces of firewood from the side and put them into the already extinguished campfire.

With a slight flick of the index finger of his right hand.

"Whoosh~"

The intense firelight instantly illuminated the small campsite.

Immediately afterward, Ailin hung the crucible, which was half-filled with wine, on the rack above the campfire to heat it up.

Mary squatted down beside him, arms crossed, and tried to brush it off with a silly laugh:

"Hehe~ I haven't had a chance to see it yet."

He discovered that his junior brother had been bullied by the male wizard again.

Filled with righteous indignation, Mary was unlikely to listen to the entire, tedious, and lengthy refining process at the end.

Ailin gave a soft "hmm" and didn't press the matter further.

He took the dried honeysuckle from his bag.

"Look closely, the processing of honeysuckle is indeed the key to refining ' White Honey '..."

"White Honey is a kind of detoxifying medicine. In the refining process, it is very important to bring out the heat-clearing, detoxifying, and wind-heat-dispersing effects of honeysuckle..."

"Therefore, the stamens of the honeysuckle should be moistened with fire-attribute magic according to a specific pattern..."

Ailin spoke slowly, and Mary could hear him clearly.

However, thanks to his Alchemy Level 4, his hand movements unconsciously quickened.

It's nighttime now, and the dim firelight flickers, making it hard to see clearly.

Mary had to get closer and closer...

Slowly, her little head began to rest on Ailin's right shoulder.

Mary was, after all, still a minor Sorceress, not an energetic witcher.

They waited for Ailin's letter in Kaer Morhen until late at night, and then traveled a long distance to get here.

Now.

After the initial excitement of seeing a long-lost friend gradually subsided, sleepiness began to take over.

She squinted.

The young witcher's fingers moved skillfully up and down, dancing like butterflies in the dim firelight.

How come she never noticed that Ailin's fingers were so slender and beautiful?

"It looks like the hand of a court painter..."

She thought to herself.

Although she had never seen what the hands of a court painter actually looked like.

But without beautiful hands, how can one create beautiful paintings?

Mary studied logic.

Therefore, she felt that there was nothing wrong with her logic.

As my thoughts raced, the content of what Ailin had said gradually became less important.

The clear voice in my ears gradually faded away.

"His voice sounds quite nice..."

At a certain moment.

Ailin suddenly stopped what he was doing and sighed.

The time has passed.

The honeysuckle in his hand, imbued with fire-attribute magic, was now useless.

"Gurgle~ gurgle~"

The dwarf alcohol in the pot was bubbling and emitting an intoxicating aroma.

A steady breath brushed against my right neck.

A subtle, refreshing orange scent mingled with the aroma of wine...

It smells like freshly brewed orange wine.

Ailin gently tossed the honeysuckle aside, then took the crucible off the campfire and placed it on the sandy ground.

Feeling the warm weight on his back and shoulders, he knew that he definitely wouldn't be able to make the White Honey potion tonight.

It doesn't matter.

Their time is still very, very long.

Tier Na Lia.

This is an elf palace, or more precisely, the palace of Ain El, the "Alder Folk".

Unlike their relative, Ian Siddi.

The Ion El are warlike conquerors who rule over every new world they arrive in.

Then they emptied the world's wealth to build this palace.

Her entire body was pure white, and from a distance it looked not like marble or alabaster, but rather white lace.

Standing on the emerald green lake, it appears and disappears in the misty fog.

It seemed as if a gust of wind could blow at any moment, and the palace would vanish along with the mist.

It was as if she were not the palace itself, but the soul of the palace.

Inside one of the slender towers of this white palace, which resembles an asparagus spear.

A crystal ball, like a black hole, captivated the attention of the two long-haired elves.

"Have you found it, Avallac?"

The elf, clad in dark red, rusted armor, tilted his head and urged.

"Don't worry, Eredin, I'm looking for it!"

The elf Avallac, dressed in white robes, was unaffected by Eredin.

He closed his eyes, his hands slowly stroking the crystal ball, seemingly searching for and sensing something.

"How can I not be anxious? Didn't you hear the call of the Gate of Ade Gais?"

"Having lost the ability to freely travel through time and space, the long-lost Grand Gate is our only hope of escaping the White Frost!"

"I heard you. I'm looking for it. We've lost the Gate of Ad Gais for nearly a thousand years. The spacetime fluctuations through it are not so easy to predict..." Avallac was very good-natured.

Despite being constantly urged by Eredin, she didn't get angry but patiently explained.

"But you've been looking for three days already, how much longer do you want me to wait!"

"The White Frost is approaching, and every day, every hour, every minute, and every second is crucial. We don't have that much time!"

Eredin's voice grew louder.

Its sound was muffled, echoing in the tower, as if a thousand troops were fighting.

"If it weren't for you, failing to keep a close eye on your fiancée, how could the Elder Blood plan have failed?"

"The iron hooves of Ain El will soon, just as they have for centuries, trod into a new world..."

Before she could finish speaking, Eredin realized she had said the wrong thing.

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said that..."

Avallac felt the pain that Laura Dorren Ap Sidhar had caused far more deeply than any of them.

"It's alright, Laura... Laura's situation is indeed my responsibility, there's no way I can shirk it."

The long-haired, white-robed elf sighed softly, not blaming Eredin.

They've known each other for hundreds of years.

This sharpest longsword of Ion El has always been so sharp and so direct.

Whether it's outward or inward.

but.

This is one of Eredin's strengths, and it's also why Oberon, the Alder King, always trusted and relied on him to lead the Red Knights into battle.

and...

Dorren...

He has let down the Ain Els who trusted him.

For some reason, the pristine white tower fell silent for a moment.

Until the crystal ball, which was shining with a bright white light, was suddenly covered with a thick layer of gray fog.

"Found it!"

Avallac suddenly spoke up to remind him.

However, Eredin did not need Avallac's reminder.

Although he was not proficient in divination.

But as a fellow Ian Savigny, he knew what the unusual appearance of the crystal ball meant.

So, Eredin immediately widened her eyes and stared at the hazy gray mist in the crystal ball, which resembled an unfathomable fate.

Avallac wiped the crystal ball with both hands, as if he were also wiping away fate.

Only when his forehead was covered in fine sweat and his hands trembled slightly did a picture suddenly appear in the crystal ball.

Under the dark sun.

Countless blue-skinned monsters ravaged a human city.

After zooming in.

Countless spired towers appeared, and among these towers, large monsters, seemingly different from the blue-skinned monsters, seemed to be fighting against humans.

but.

Before Eredin and Avallac could see clearly, the crystal ball suddenly switched to a snow-white, majestic mountain range.

A clear, emerald-green lake ripples in front of the mountain.

This time, the duration of the shot was shorter.

The two elves only saw a flash of white light before it turned back into black.

Immediately following.

"Click~"

The black screen disappeared, and the crystal ball suddenly cracked.

The next second.

"Bang!"

The crystal-clear sphere suddenly shattered.

Countless sharp fragments flew towards the two elves.

"Hmph~"

Eredin snorted and stroked the black gem at the end of the longsword at her waist.

These countless fragments created invisible ripples in mid-air before falling down.

"Thanks."

Sweating profusely, Avallac rose and nodded slightly to Eredin.

Eredin waved her hand.

"If I'm not mistaken, there seem to be three places?" He looked at the now empty desktop with some confusion.

"There are three places, these are the places where the Gate of Ade Gais appeared in the prophecy..."

Avallac took out a white silk handkerchief and elegantly wiped the sweat from his forehead, affirming.

"But the fluctuations of the Grand Gate only occurred once, didn't they?"

Eredin frowned.

"Never mind, I'll go find that human city of towers first."

After answering his own question, he bowed slightly to Avallac.

He then grabbed the skull helmet and hurriedly left the tower.

Watching Eredin's figure disappear through the doorway, Avallac knew...

The world that took away Laura Dorren April Sidhar will once again be engulfed in flames, bringing devastation and death.

I wonder what he was thinking about.

After a moment of silence.

He looked down at the somewhat unfamiliar, weary man on the smooth, mirror-like white jade floor.

He closed his eyes and sighed softly.

"Dorren!"

"Dorren ..."