Will it?

Chapter 24: Will He? (Thanks to readers "Donaudre" and "Night Serenade · Yubiner" for their moon tickets)

Ailin closed his eyes.

The scents, perceived through the mutated organs on the sides of his nose, painted vivid pictures in his mind.

That cluster of blue arcs was the stream.

That green line was the grassland.

And those deep, dark brown squares were the smell of rich soil.

Ailin had never understood synesthesia, a figure of speech common to both worlds, so profoundly before.

He felt as if he had traveled through time and been reborn once more.

The Trial of the Mountains, that heavy burden that had weighed on his heart, seemed to have lightened considerably.

Ailin remained immersed in the world of scents for a long time before opening his eyes.

Vesemir and Leto stood on the grass, smiling, having been waiting for him to return from his hypersensitive state.

"How do you feel?" Vesemir asked.

"Fantastic!" Ailin affirmed without hesitation, then emphasized, "Like being born anew!"

Ailin's words inexplicably struck Leto's funny bone:

"Hahaha, your apprentice has quite the way with words, speaking so formally like a sorcerer. Who did you learn that from..."

"Leto! Are you really tired of living!"

"Sorry, I forgot again." Leto apologized quickly, his face a mask of worry.

Not being able to speak freely seemed to cause him more distress than death.

Leto's pitiable state, combined with the joy of opening a new world, made Ailin unable to hold back a laugh.

Hearing his apprentice's laughter, Vesemir paused for a few seconds before joining in with hearty laughter.

Only Leto, with a dejected expression, watched the master and disciple pair laughing heartily like a resentful wife, utterly powerless to do anything about it.

The autumn sun slanted westward.

Red twilight filtered through the branches of dead trees, illuminating the witcher apprentice.

After dealing with this batch of Drowners, Ailin and the others would be returning to Kaer Morhen.

No, that wasn't quite right. It should be Ailin and Vesemir returning to Kaer Morhen.

Before the spring equinox, Leto would embark on his journey of playing hide-and-seek with the sorceress alone.

"Squelch."

The glinting dagger severed the last Drowner's tongue.

Ailin placed it into his satchel.

At that moment.

Vesemir and Leto had also finished knocking out the selected Drowners and stuffing them into sacks.

"Let's go, Ailin, we're going home." Vesemir clapped the sacks in his hands and called out.

Leto gazed longingly in the direction of Kaer Morhen: "Going home, I wish I could go back to Kaer Morhen too."

"Let's go back together!" Ailin joked.

During the afternoon hunt, Ailin had already bonded with Leto.

Vesemir might still have had some lingering mentor reservations, but Leto had completely let loose.

In his own words: "If you don't let me speak, you might as well kill me. Surely the esteemed Lady Vesemir wouldn't actually kill me?"

Although he spoke without thinking, the witcher Leto was definitely a trustworthy person.

Or perhaps, it was precisely because Leto spoke without thinking that he was a trustworthy person?

Ailin pondered this for a long time in his mind, eventually concluding that it might be an unsolvable chicken-and-egg problem, and he pushed it out of his thoughts.

Hearing this, Leto rolled his eyes, sighed mournfully, and remained silent.

Under Vesemir's arrangement, Leto picked up two sacks and started walking back.

Ailin followed behind the two witchers, carrying a sack as well.

Seeing that neither of them was paying attention to him, Ailin took the opportunity to open his Witcher's Handbook to organize his gains.

[Name: Ailin]

[Level: 4]

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

[Skills: School of the Wolf Two-Handed Sword LV2, Quen LV1, Tracking LV1]

[Items: Drowner Heart Essence Fluid*29, Lesser Experience Orbs*134, Drowner Whistle*2...]

[Rating: Trash!!]

As expected, two Tracking skills!

Ailin concentrated and felt them out.

Although the names were identical, they were fundamentally two completely different skills.

The special skill Tracking was a knowledge system attached to the Witcher's Handbook. It could be said to be an instruction manual for using the Witcher's Handbook for tracking.

The normal skill Tracking was more akin to tracking prey by developing a Witcher's mutated senses.

Through comparing these two skills, Ailin also gained a deeper understanding of the difference between the special skills and normal skills in the Witcher's Handbook.

These two types of skills were very different.

However, in Ailin's heart, there was only one biggest difference.

Normal skills belonged to Ailin; special skills belonged to the Witcher's Handbook.

Skills like Two-Handed Sword, Quen, and normal Tracking could be used by Ailin even without the Witcher's Handbook.

But for Monster Hunting, Appraisal, and special Tracking, Ailin didn't even know the principles behind them, let alone how to master them.

Although the Witcher's Handbook was his cheat, not being able to fully control these special skills occasionally gave Ailin a slight sense of losing control.

Of course.

This didn't stop the Witcher apprentice from utilizing it. The most crucial thing now was to pass the Trial of the Mountains.

Thinking of the trial, Ailin sighed inwardly and turned his gaze to the Lesser Experience Orbs.

In the afternoon, he had found three groups of Drowners. Besides the initial 8, he had killed 13.

It was a shame there was no quest bonus, and coupled with leveling up again, the ratings for the remaining two hunts weren't high.

The best items from the treasure chests were also Drowner whistles.

"I still need 9890 Lesser Experience Orbs to unlock Alchemy. Today's total gain is about 100..." Ailin calculated silently.

Still not enough!

Unless the Alchemy class in the morning reduced the Lesser Experience Orbs by 10 each day compared to the previous one, it wouldn't be enough.

Thinking this and that in his mind, Ailin walked to the crossroads where they had to part ways.

"Vesemir, Ailin, I'm leaving."

Leto looked up at the majestic castle not far away and turned his head to bid them farewell.

"Maybe the situation isn't that bad. Lady Vesemir has a pretty good temper..."

Ailin felt reluctant to part with his newfound friend and wanted to ask him to stay.

Although the sorceress was described as vengeful and fierce by Witchers, in Ailin's impression, Vesemir had always been an intellectual woman.

Especially after she started dressing more conservatively, except for not wearing glasses, she looked much like the graduate students he remembered from his previous life.

Given Vesemir's looks, she was undoubtedly the prettiest among them.

"Ailin..." Vesemir stopped Ailin from trying to persuade Leto. "I believe Lady Vesemir isn't as terrifying as the rumors say, but it's no use. Leto has to leave."

"Why? Even if Lady Vesemir finds out, I can still plead for Leto..."

"Hahaha, young Ailin, I didn't expect you to be so reluctant to see me go!" Leto laughed heartily, vigorously ruffling Ailin's black hair and interrupting him.

Ailin struggled with all his might, but like a small blue-eyed cat, he was roughly petted for over ten seconds.

His strength was still far inferior to Leto's.

"But it's not necessary." Leto released Ailin. "Vesemir is right. If I don't leave, there will be big trouble. This has nothing to do with the sorceress's personality."

He raised a hand to stop Ailin from continuing his plea.

Leto faced the golden-red sunset, turned around with feigned nonchalance, and started walking down the mountain.

But after only a couple of steps, he looked back at Ailin, smiled, and said:

"Ailin!"

"Next year, I'll definitely see you at the long table in the castle hall."

This was a statement of certainty, not a question.

But after a moment of stunned silence, Ailin replied solemnly, as if answering a question:

"I will, Leto."

"You'll definitely see me again next year."

"Definitely."

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