Twins (Thanks to book friend "Nonexistent Book Friend" for the monthly ticket)

"Did he find it?" Leto couldn't help but ask.

Though the apprentice remained silent, his footsteps followed the direction Vesemir had pointed, heading east along the riverbank.

Clearly, he had found something.

"I don't know," Vesemir said, lifting the brim of his wide-brimmed hat, his gaze fixed on Ailin.

"After all, it's common knowledge that Drowners live by the water. Even without tracking, following the river should lead you to them."

Leto chuckled at this. "Want to make a bet? I bet Ailin found the trac—"

"No bet."

Vesemir rolled his eyes, quickly dismissing Leto's hopeful thought.

A Witcher Master wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Elsa was still dangling from Ailin's back.

Ignoring the disappointed Leto, Vesemir walked up to Ailin and asked, "How is it? Did you find it?"

"It should be heading east along the river."

Vesemir offered no opinion and continued, "How did you figure that out?"

Ailin pondered for a moment.

Seeing the apprentice's silence, Vesemir assumed he had guessed based on intuition.

Little did he know, the effective information within Ailin's vision was so abundant that he didn't know where to begin.

The moment he neared the tracks, the red light composing the claw marks began to dance, transforming into tiny red specks.

These specks coalesced into a pair of webbed, red legs, only visible from below the knees.

A few seconds later, these legs began to move.

Red claws descended from mid-air, landing on the grass.

Some specks were shaken loose, scattering onto the grass around the claws.

The main body, upon landing, gathered the claw marks back like ants returning to their nest.

This maneuver was practically feeding him directly.

Ailin bent down and pointed to a few blades of grass where red specks had fallen, saying, "The droplets on these blades of grass are all slime from a Drowner."

Vesemir glanced at them, then brushed his right hand over the grass and sniffed it near his nose. "That's right, it carries the stench of rot and mud. It's from a Drowner."

He brushed over a few more blades of grass.

Vesemir stood up, looking at Ailin with surprise and disbelief, and asked, "How could you tell with your own eyes that this was Drowner slime?"

I have a cheat!... Ailin's face displayed the standard Huus-like cluelessness. "Just by looking, isn't it obvious?"

"Can't Master Vesemir do it?"

Vesemir blinked, then quickly shook his head. "Of course, I can track Drowners, it's just that..."

"Never mind, continue. This only confirms that a Drowner passed through here. How did you determine its direction of travel?"

The Witcher Master's method of changing the subject was as blunt as ever.

Ailin, of course, didn't press the matter and seized the opportunity, confidently stating, "Knowing the distribution of this slime already gives you the answer."

He stood up and, with his fingertip simulating the slime's descent, explained to the curious Vesemir and Leto, "The slime, due to its velocity, landed on the grass at an angle, creating a splash pattern."

"Because of the angle and the obstruction from the plants, it's easy to determine."

"This Drowner was heading east along the stream."

Vesemir pondered for a moment after hearing this.

Ailin's deduced direction coincided with his own thoughts.

However, the apprentice's method of deduction was different from his.

Vesemir remained silent for a moment, then sighed, "Your deduction is correct, but now I'll teach you another method. Listen carefully..."

Tracking was the most crucial part of the knowledge imparted by School of the Wolf mentors to their apprentices.

It was often the closely guarded secret of each Witcher, their means of livelihood.

Previously, only apprentices who survived the Trial of the Mountains had the opportunity to learn this knowledge.

The spring equinox after the second year of the Trial of the Mountains, the School would assign apprentices to Witcher Masters who had descended the mountain.

Within five years, these apprentices would travel the continent with their Witcher Masters until the Witcher Masters felt the apprentices were ready to "graduate," at which point the apprentices would become independent and become true Witchers.

Witchers of the School of the Wolf jokingly called this the "traveling trial."

The relationship between Witcher Masters and apprentices grew closer during these travels, as skills and experience were constantly imparted, and they faced life and death together on contracts.

This ultimately led to a unique master-apprentice relationship specific to the School of the Wolf.

Leto had once been Vesemir's traveling apprentice.

Vesemir had also been the Chieftain's traveling apprentice.

Of course, most Witcher master-apprentice relationships could be traced back to the Chieftain.

"Sight, smell, hearing, touch... a Witcher's senses have no weaknesses," Vesemir said, walking towards the grass patch Ailin had analyzed. "For example, what drew my attention to this patch of grass wasn't sight, but smell."

"Smell?" Ailin sniffed.

Although the Swallow potion had modified his body, the scents he perceived in his nasal cavity were only the freshness of grass and the faint, musty odor of the earth.

"Yes, when I walked into this area, my sense of smell was already warning me that something was wrong here."

Vesemir tilted his head, noticing the increasing twitching of his apprentice's nose, and couldn't help but curve his lips slightly.

"It's not about inhaling more air; you need to learn to discern."

Vesemir stood up and pressed his index finger against the right side of the apprentice's nostril, saying, "Close your eyes and control the mutated organ here."

Ailin closed his eyes at the words but couldn't feel any mutated organ at the spot Vesemir was pointing.

"Cast aside human perception. You are a Witcher. You have more control over your body than you realize."

As Vesemir's index finger pressed down, Ailin seemed to feel a difference.

His heart beat rapidly, and blood surged energy throughout his body.

"I feel it!"

Ailin exclaimed in surprise.

There were indeed "doors" on either side of his nostrils!

Unfortunately.

These two doors had been on the verge of opening, but due to Ailin's emotional fluctuations, they had hidden themselves again.

But, it was okay.

"Ding, discovered a clue for the skill: [Tracking]."

"Do you wish to spend 1 Lesser Experience Orb to unlock the skill?"

Ailin: ?

Ailin quickly opened his character panel.

"Tracking LV1" was still in the special skills column.

Two instances of Tracking?

Ailin was a little surprised but still spent a skill point to unlock it.

At this moment.

Vesemir felt the mutated organ under his finger hide itself again due to Ailin's emotional fluctuations and said comfortingly, "Don't force it. It's normal not to open it the first time. You can try again tomorrow, but remember you can only try once a day."

This training was supposed to be conducted after the Trial of the Mountains. Ailin hadn't even completed the potion modifications for the "main course," so the mutated organs on the sides of his nose might not have been adjusted properly yet.

"Witcher Master Vesemir."

Ailin kept his eyes closed, but in those short six words, there was the joy of discovering a new continent.

"What is it?" Vesemir asked, puzzled.

"I... I can smell it!"

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