Letting the Wolf into the House

The south tower has three floors.

It had been most of the day since they returned to Kaer Morhen, and this was the first time Ailin had ever returned to his own house.

Things unfolded in ways that were neither good nor bad, and were completely different from what he had envisioned at the Temple of Melitele.

The good news is that the punishment that was expected from the school and from the chief did not occur at all.

The bad news is that the leader of the School of the Wolf seems to be on his deathbed.

To be honest, Ailin and Soyer had very few interactions; if you count from when they transmigrated, they probably had fewer than ten.

In his mind, Soyer was a decent leader, but nothing more.

By offering Ronnie Dickinson's Vessel of Great Deeds free of charge, he has done everything he could to be considered truly benevolent.

He really hoped that Vessel of Great Deeds could solve Soyer's problem.

Whether trauma to the soul can be healed through Second Mutation, no one knows.

At the very least, ignoring the trauma and making no adjustments at all greatly increases the likelihood of it worsening than the possibility of healing.

Smack!

Ailin gently closed the wooden door and took a deep breath.

Surprisingly, I didn't smell Vesemir's scent; instead, a faint, refreshing orange fragrance was more noticeable.

Ailin raised an eyebrow.

In the dense darkness, he didn't light the candles in the room, but instead skillfully walked straight ahead, around the screen, raised his hand, and pushed and pulled...

"Squeak—"

Amidst the groaning of the two tall wooden doors, the bright sunlight suddenly pierced the darkness, and the summer breeze howled down from the distant southern mountains, rushing into the terrace and dispersing the faint scent of oranges in the air.

It also illuminated the room's unchanging yet exceptionally welcoming layout.

The room hadn't been lived in for two or three months, and although the layout hadn't changed, it was even cleaner than when he was in Kaer Morhen.

"It should be Mary..."

The scent lingers in the air, dispersed by the wind, but after fading to a certain degree, it persists for a long time, never completely disappearing.

Ailin knew that Mary must have come many times.

Clearly, the lock was useless to the two Sorceress who were stationed at Kaer Morhen.

Of course, there were no private items in the room that were not meant to be seen.

Aside from normal clothing, leather armor, and a bathtub given to him by Vesemir, he was only decorated with a large ruby ore given to him by a Big Stone, making his outfit utterly monotonous.

Unlike their successors, who come with unicorns, scorpions, and Trojan horses—the variety is endless.

But speaking of unicorns...

"I forgot to ask Vesemir and Mary about Yennefer's situation," Ailin thought to himself. "I wonder how far that future little girl, 'bitter as a gooseberry and sweet as a clove,' has learned?"

As one of the strongest Sorceress in the future Northern Continent, Yennefer's talent is something to look forward to.

He took two slow steps forward, gently touched the gray marble railing, and looked up into the distance.

The sky was azure blue.

Silky clouds drifted leisurely.

A blue-striped Sparrowhawk with short, rounded wings hovered among the mountains and forests, occasionally glancing with its golden eyes at the two-legged creature on the white terrace.

Compared to the perilous and tragic Drakkenberg and the ever-disaster-ridden Arland, Ban Ade, Kaer Morhen was like a mountain resort, so peaceful and leisurely that he felt somewhat out of place.

I was delayed at Francesca's place for a while, and now it's almost lunchtime.

The timing is a bit awkward, with four or five hours, which seems to allow you to go anywhere.

Let's see who the promising talents of the Monster Hunting Legion are, and then test the extra fifteen members...

Or perhaps head to the Circle of Elements and see how well the Mountain Stone and Metal Troll have integrated...

They could even go downstairs to visit Mary and Yennefer, and ask about the changes in Kaer Morhen over the past few months...

But after thinking about it, it seems that no matter where I go, there won't be enough time, and it will be extremely troublesome.

It's really just laziness acting up. It's like after a long day at work in a past life, every cell in your body resists leaving the house. All you want to do is scroll through your phone and watch a movie.

However, the world of Witcher has neither cell phones nor such a rich and colorful entertainment life.

After gazing for a while at the magnificent view of Kaer Morhen unique to Kaer Morhen from the terrace, Ailin took a satisfied deep breath, returned to his room, and began to think about his future plans.

The known itinerary was supposed to be the rescue of Henry Gedimidis, and recently he has been training with Philippa Ehrert to plan the rescue operation.

However, due to Ada Emin's arrival and the Chief's injury, the Second Mutation became a higher priority project.

But this actually disrupted the original plan.

Based on the original story, or rather the game, Geralt finds Thomas Morru and successfully undergoes Second Mutation.

Second Mutation are not Vessel of Great Deeds, and they mostly do not require attributes to reach their limits to succeed. Rather, they seem to have no possibility of failure, and any witcher can succeed.

After all, Thomas Morru's children, Geralt Morru, a Witcher of the School of the Griffin, and Geralt, were the only two Witchers in the world who had attempted Second Mutation, and both succeeded.

However, Ailin was worried that the basic properties before the Second Mutation would affect the effect after the mutation.

Therefore, instead of simply hunting monsters as quickly as possible to unlock "Beast Roar: No-Fly" before news of the rescue of Hen Gedimidis arrives, as originally planned, they must carefully select their prey.

While collecting enough Experience Orbs to unlock "Beast Roar: No-Fly", manage your time well and choose monsters to hunt that can improve your four attributes: Agility, Constitution, Perception, and Mysticism.

Otherwise, it would be a huge waste to hastily carry out Second Mutation.

On the other hand, the Second Mutation must be completed before rescuing Hen Gedimidis; it's impossible not to improve the attributes if they aren't fully accumulated.

That doesn't make sense.

If things had gone as before, it would have been fine if we hadn't been able to get anything out of Thomas Maurice.

We've managed to pry it out; everyone knows that. We'll have to use it before we can rescue Henr Gedimidis.

Ailin was well aware of his own abilities.

Tissaia de Veres, the Duke Mason, and even Vesemir, no, especially Vesemir, might all have a misunderstanding.

Looking at Ailin's resume, which shows he has never failed, people tend to assume his abilities are unfathomable, but he himself must know his own limitations.

[Demon Hunter] and "Beast Roar: Berserk" seem to have pushed his strength to an infinite height. It seems that as long as he is given time, he can kill gods and demons alike.

But what is the reality?

The weakness of [Demon Hunter] lies in its attack range. With few powerful ranged spells available, Ailin can only accumulate enough power to kill in close combat.

This is also affected by whether the monster type has a compatible Sword Oil and whether it can break through the monster's defense.

Oh, right!

When arranging monsters next, we also need to pay attention to those types for which we haven't collected Sword Oil.

The workload has increased again.

In addition, there are multiple powerful monsters attacking in groups, or monsters with extremely strong aggression and attack speed, making it difficult to fight back, or monsters like the White Widow, Giant Centipede, and Swamp Hag that can burrow underground...

Many situations can cause [Demon Hunter] to fail.

However, those encounters in the past were either well-prepared, allowing for one-on-one confrontations, such as the first hunt for the Drowners King, or were underestimated due to their lack of reputation, like the attack on Vilgefortz, the forced entry into the laboratory of the Drakkenberg Rissberg Civil Conglomerate, and the murder of Ronnie Dickinson...

But we may not always encounter this situation in the future.

Especially after the Drakkenberg incident, with everyone in the know aware that he owned a Greater Griffin.

He even had to be prepared to be assassinated at any time.

What role will [Demon Hunter] play then?

As for "Beast Roar: Berserk", its applicable scope is even smaller. Its strong side effects mean that it can only be used recklessly when the surrounding environment is safe, such as in a one-on-one arena, or when one is driven to the brink of death and must fight for survival.

The former is a paradox in most cases, while the latter, Ailin has been working to avoid.

therefore.

Even without those two skills, Ailin's actual strength is certainly not weak, but he is not invincible.

One-on-one, without resorting to tricks, and without being looked down upon, his skill level is probably slightly higher than that of a warlock in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers Intermediate Council.

This is not him belittling himself or looking down on himself.

Because he clearly remembered Vesemir, Brotherhood of Sorcerers Senior Council Member, casting Leech Transfiguration Spell almost instantly.

As the red mist expanded and dispersed, the thousands of water ghosts on Killer Lake all turned into leeches.

Putting yourself in his shoes, even with [Demon Hunter] and "Beast Roar: Berserk", his fate wouldn't be much better than the Water Ghost's.

Ronnie Dickinson really got lucky, given the confined space of a laboratory and the sudden attack. But this is not the norm, nor should it be, otherwise he would have met a terrible end.

and.

Even within the School of the Wolf, he wouldn't be considered the strongest.

Leaving aside Chieftain Soyer before his injury, his current skill level, without [Witcher] and "Beast Roar: Berserk", is probably stronger than Vesemir and Dante, and equal to or even slightly weaker than Aristo.

He still vividly remembers Aristo's Spinning Slash that sparked in the air.

Converted to the Witcher's Handbook, the School of the Wolf Two-Handed Sword is at least LV9.

If it weren't for his superior attributes, he wouldn't even be able to fight this kind of monster.

Besides, it was just a friendly sparring match back then. Who knew what other tricks the old Witcher Master, who had been famous for hundreds of years and was even older than Vesemir, might have up his sleeve?

therefore.

If there were ways to improve our strength before the crisis, but we didn't use them in time, who knows if there will be a future crisis...

Reality is not a game; there's no way to rewind.

"This is a bit tricky..." Ailin said, a headache forming in his head. "Where are we going to find so many monsters? And we need to be quick and accurate..."

"Fluttering~"

Just as he was fretting, a strange noise suddenly came from the direction of the terrace.

He looked in the direction of the sound.

A grey-brown owl flew over the railing and onto the terrace.

"Buzz~"

The Wolf Emblem hummed, and a flash of purple light appeared.

Philippa Ahart stood barefoot on the boundary between the room and the terrace, completely open and uninhibited.

"I'm a man, can't you show me a little more respect?"

Ailin watched expressionlessly as the Sorceress summoned a silk robe that covered nothing but accentuated certain parts of her body.

After putting on her bathrobe, she gently and gracefully tied the ribbon around her waist.

He wasn't surprised that the Sorceress had found him, since he hadn't deliberately hidden himself and had even left the terrace door wide open.

Philippa Ehrert would only worry if she couldn't find him.

Rescuing Henry Gedimidis is no easy task.

"No," Philippa Ehrert chanted a few words of incantation, summoned a glass of red wine, and lay down on the bench not far from the terrace. She took a small sip, raised her eyebrows defiantly, and said in a seductive tone, "You can only be considered a boy, my dear partner."

"Um..."

She seemed to remember something, paused, and emphasized:

"A very popular boy."

Ailin's face darkened, but there was no point in arguing with her, so she simply changed the subject. "You don't have a place to stay yet. After I meet with Lady Vesemir tonight, I'll invite her..."

"No need." Philippa Ehrhardt swirled her wine glass, interrupting lazily. "We're partners, so naturally I'll stay with you."

"Otherwise, how can we develop a good working relationship, my little partner..."

She stuck out her small, bright red, clove-shaped tongue and licked the wine stains off her lips:

"Unless... you're scared?"

"What am I afraid of?" Ailin rolled her eyes.

Afraid that fairies will fight?

"Whatever," he said irritably, then continued to ponder where to find a monster that could identify a suitable Heart Essence Fluid.

The room fell silent for a moment as a result.

until...

"Grandmaster Soyer having health problems?" Philippa Ehart asked casually.

Ailin remained unmoved, not even looking up. "This doesn't seem to concern you, does it?"

"Of course," the Sorceress said with a slight smile, "I was just curious and asking."

"I am, after all, a guest. When a guest enters the host's house, how can he not greet him? That would be a thief."

"There's a chance," Ailin said vaguely.

Philippa Ehrert didn't ask any further questions, but instead swirled her crystal-clear wine glass and leisurely gazed at the misty mountains in the distance.

This rendered his hastily prepared explanation ineffective.

Ailin felt a chill run down his spine.

He didn't believe Philippa Ehrert's words; he thought she was just asking casually.

Although they are currently in a cooperative relationship, Tissaia de Veres and the School of the Wolf are practically tacit allies without signing a formal contract.

But he hadn't forgotten the future betrayal plot involving Philippa Ehrhardt; from her closest lover, mentor, country to allies, there was no one she couldn't betray.

Ambitious and passionate, forever craving greater power.

She and Tissaia de Veres were never on the same path.

Compared to the combination of Aretuza and the School of the Wolf, the combination of the Rissberg Civil Conglomerate and Ban Ad seems to be a better fit for a Brotherhood of Sorcerers patrolling warlock.

Especially after the School of the Wolf lost its greatest asset, the strongest witcher and the most powerful warrior of the Northern Continent, Soyer...

It seems he let a wolf into the house.