The Birth of an Addicted Alpha Wolf

He understood Ida Emin's concerns.

Unlike the many portals we'd encountered along the way, which were all in Thomas Morru's mind and had been pried out by the female elf's mind control spell.

It is dangerous, but controllable.

But behind an unfamiliar portal, there is a possibility that it leads to anywhere.

Thomas Maurice's treasure trove, the cage where Geralt Maurice was imprisoned, another laboratory...

These are manageable, but what if it's lava from underground, the ocean, or the sky, or even directly connected to an active volcano...?

The unknown is the most terrifying thing.

In theory, fate wouldn't lead him to his death, but who knows?

Last time in the Passerlon Forest, those two Wild Hunt were not easy to deal with, not to mention there was a large group of pursuers from Ban Ad.

If it weren't for Ailin's cheat code and the invisibility item "Nightfall" from Francesca, anyone else would have been dead long ago.

This is why, even though it concerns the secret of the Ade Gais Gate, he didn't intend to activate the portal himself, but instead called on Ada Emin.

When exploring the unknown, it is certainly safest to be with knowledgeable, powerful, and experienced individuals.

Even Vesemir can't match this.

However, he wasn't confident that Ida Emin would agree.

If that doesn't work, then we can only wait for Wei...

"Can."

Ada Emin's cool voice interrupted the words Ailin was preparing in his mind.

Ailin was stunned.

"Shall we leave now?" Ada Emin gently stroked the wall with her right hand.

A gust of magic stirred up a breeze, completely revealing the pattern of the long-distance Portal Array.

Immediately afterwards, the slightly flawed lines in the ceremony were filled in by several golden magical rays.

"Uh... of course... of course."

After regaining his senses, Ailin nodded, his magic flowing through his body. He slightly bent his thumb and forefinger and drew a triangle in front of him, reapplying the Quen Sign.

When Ada Emin saw a flash of golden light on his body, she also chanted a few spells.

A vibrant green magical glow emanated from the center of the belt, blending into the pale yellow long dress.

Then, she glanced at Ailin again, and after receiving a response, gently tapped the center of the Portal Array with her right hand.

In an instant.

The Wolf Emblem on the Witcher's chest hummed violently.

The gray-white rock wall, decorated with patterns, shimmers with a dazzling blue light.

Then...

"Bang!"

A magnificent portal, its edges burning with the cold light of a ghostly blue flame, its core a deep, unfathomable darkness, covered almost the entire wall.

After the portal appeared, Ada Emin glanced at Ailin and walked straight in.

Ailin, soothing the renewed and fervent sense of destiny that had arisen from the appearance of the portal, took a deep breath and followed suit.

"Bang!"

The portal disappeared.

Thomas Molu's laboratory fell silent again, as if no one had ever been there.

The portal roared and swirled like a tornado, finally spat him out without any politeness.

The long-range portal is brutal and wild, completely different from its portal siblings; the short trip was like stepping into a spinning washing machine.

Since the fragments of the Gate of Ad Gais enabled him to learn spatial skills such as portals, blinking, and spatial manipulation, this was the first time he had experienced the discomfort and pain of spatial teleportation.

Smack!

A ball of light illuminated the surroundings.

Ida Emin stood beside him, her face pale.

Clearly, the short trip just now treated both witchers and warlocks equally.

"It's too old and an imperfect Magic Array," the elven Sorceress said, her face grim. "This long-distance Portal Array was probably salvaged by Thomas Morlu from the ruins of the Valley of Nine."

"In the era of the Elven Royal Court, stable long-distance teleportation Magic Array were forbidden techniques that only the official authorities could master."

"This crude Magic Array was probably developed by black market merchants from Valley of Nine for smuggling purposes."

Ailin raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Not all elves are the otherworldly beings of legend.

In an intelligent species, criminals, murderers, robbers, and smugglers will naturally exist.

That's not surprising.

After catching my breath, the discomfort from the violent teleportation eased somewhat.

Ailin also had time to look around.

He found himself in a very rough cave, surrounded by mud and sand, but the ground was paved with simple bricks and stones.

The layout was very strange, resembling some kind of unfinished underground tomb, or even more like an abandoned hideout of bandits.

It's not pretty, but it seems quite practical.

There was a rock wall in front of him. Seeing that there was no danger, Ailin rested on the ground for a while before getting up and looking back.

This cavern has only one exit, hidden in darkness beyond the reach of Ida Emin's Light Spell.

An even stronger, almost bursting-out-of-the-chest throbbing than in Thomas Maul's experiment was fixed on that darkness.

Is it a fragment of the Gate of Ad Gais or Guiding Stone?

"Phew~"

He exhaled, exchanged a glance with the elven Sorceress, and together they cautiously headed toward the only passage.

"Tap~ Tap~ Tap~"

The sound of footsteps echoed through the empty cave, drawn out, sounding like the mournful cries of an infant at the end of a passage.

Upon hearing this, both the witcher and the elven Sorceress couldn't help but use some techniques to slow their footsteps.

But after the footsteps faded away, the intense feeling of oppression grew stronger and stronger.

The cave was so quiet that you could hear each other's breathing and heartbeats, which sent chills down your spine and made your hair stand on end.

It was as if they were not walking through an empty, deserted cave, but rather passing by a slumbering dragon.

The dragon could open its eyes at any moment, baring its ferocious maw to spew flames or thick acid, filling every corner of the passage.

The call of fate grew stronger and stronger.

"Buzz!"

The Wolf Emblem trembled and emitted a piercing crack, which gradually subsided after Ailin calmed it down in his mind.

What's ahead?

Ailin couldn't help but ask himself.

This powerful call was several times stronger than the one I felt in the Passerlon Forest last time.

On that occasion, he obtained a fragment of the Ard Gais Gate and a Guiding Stone of the Ard Gais Gate from two Wild Hunt.

Ailin's unusual behavior and the humming of the Wolf Emblem alerted Ada Emin, who was oblivious to fate, to something amiss.

However, she didn't speak, but instead frowned as she watched Ailin's chest rise and fall, seemingly lost in thought.

In such a depressing atmosphere, the two walked in silence for a long time.

In this long passageway, which resembles the esophagus of a giant beast, time seems to stretch out infinitely, making one unaware of its passage.

"There is light there!"

Ada Emin suddenly whispered a reminder.

Ailin squinted and looked in the direction of the sound, and indeed there was a flickering red light at the end of the passage.

Is someone here?!

Neither Ailin nor Ida Emin intended to greet them; instead, they both became wary.

Compared to the possible monsters, most of the time, intelligent beings are the natural enemies of intelligent beings.

They exchanged a glance.

With a wave of her hand, Ada Emin extinguished the orb of light above her head.

Because of the School of the Cat's stealth techniques, Ailin moved as silently as a cat, attracting the attention of the knowledgeable from the Blue Mountains.

The light at the end of the passage drew closer, and the oppressive atmosphere grew heavier, but the air remained completely silent, without a trace of any living person.

But it couldn't be without people, because it was an ordinary flame, not the glow of a magic lamp.

There is no medium in this world that can burn indefinitely.

Either the owner of this place has left, or...

They were discovered from the very beginning!

Ada Emin reached the exit before him and glanced back.

Ailin held his breath, his right hand quietly moving up to grip Balmor's sword hilt. At the same time, his left hand opened the reagent bag, took out a bottle of Giant Ghoul Decoction, and drank it.

[Name: Giant Ghoul Decoction Recipe]

[Function: Adrenaline is produced faster than usual until the enemy hits you!]

A surge of heat rushed straight to the Witcher's kidneys on both sides of his waist, as if his kidneys were being soaked in a slightly hot spring.

After putting the empty bottle back, he opened the stopper of a bottle of Blizzard potion and drank it all in one gulp.

[Name: Blizzard]

[Function: Time slows down when in danger]

now.

Not only were his pupils blue, but the whites of his eyes were also tinged with a somewhat transparent icy blue.

The blood vessels at the corners of his eyes bulged, pulsating as if they were about to burst.

But that wasn't all. After putting the empty bottle of the Blizzard potion back, he rummaged through the reagent bag and found another bottle of potion.

The gray liquid swayed like smoke in the clear crystal bottle.

Under Ada Emin's astonished gaze, Ailin hesitated for a few seconds before swallowing the potion in one gulp.

[Name: Maribor Forest]

[Function: Accelerates the regeneration rate of adrenaline.]

[Note: I have good news for you! Maribor Forest can be used simultaneously with the Giant Ghoul Decoction. Of course, in a way, this is also bad news. Children at such a young age needing to supplement their kidneys—that's truly tragic!]

Since the crisis of the Evil God's descent, due to the rapid increase in attributes—

Strength, agility, and constitution surge from 80, 64, and 68 to 99 (+19), 92 (+28), and 98 (+30).

Ailin's potion resistance has increased again, and he can now barely take three potions at the same time.

It was also possible to go to Riedania to rescue Dante, Bont, and Fred, but at that time a third potion that could be properly combined had not yet been concocted.

However, after returning to Kaer Morhen and experimenting with different combinations, Maribor Forest proved to be the best combination for melee combat with Giant Ghoul Decoction and Blizzard, and it was also within the tolerance range of Ailin's Poisonous Patience.

Of course, three potions represent the limit before the attribute is broken. To truly reach the level of the various addiction schools in the previous game, one can only wait until after the Second Mutation.

The icy potion flowed down his throat.

However, it is completely absorbed before it reaches the stomach.

A second later, the storm subsided.

The already warm and hot kidneys suddenly felt as if pure oxygen had been introduced into a gentle fire, instantly turning them as hot as Molten Lava.

Even though I tried to suppress it, the adrenaline quietly overflowed.

The near-limit of toxins made his heart feel as heavy as if it were weighed down by a thousand-pound iron chain, yet it also beat powerfully like the sound of a war drum, pumping blood—a truly contradictory situation.

"Are you... are you alright?"

A rare sound of concern from Ida Emin echoed in his mind, so soft it sounded like she was worried about blowing his brain up.

Ailin shook his head.

He knew he looked terrifying—the intense toxicity from using the three potions together had left his face deathly pale, with dark blue veins bulging at the corners of his eyes, resembling gnarled tree roots.

He looked more like a dead person than a freshly deceased corpse.

To be honest, any one of the potions— Giant Ghoul Decoction, Blizzard, or Maribor Forest Potion—would be so toxic that an ordinary human would die instantly from just one sip.

Most Witchers can't even last a second bottle, and he's probably the only one in the entire Witcher world who can drink three and still fight normally.

With Ada Emin, an expert, present, and with Ailin's current strength, the combination of two potions should be more than enough.

These three potions are extremely expensive to make, and if there aren't many enemies ahead, it would be a waste.

However, the oppressive atmosphere inside the empty cave was too heavy, like a magical blessing, yet also ambiguous.

However, in terms of the texture of the oppressive aura, it almost has the feel of when the Evil God descended, with a faint sense of foreboding.

This made Ailin more alert.

At the same time, the unprecedentedly strong call of fate greatly amplified this sense of foreboding.

When you have the ability to reach your peak performance, why not do it?

To be careless and underestimate the enemy for the sake of money is the most foolish thing to do.

in addition.

The existence of Ada Emin is not entirely reliable.

"No, I've never felt so good," Ailin sighed quietly, replying in her mind, "Let's continue..."

He finished speaking.

He stepped past the elven Sorceress, grasped Balmor in his right hand, and peered into the light.

Upon hearing this, Ada Emin frowned, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping herself.

However, he ultimately followed without saying a word, looking toward the light.

It was a spacious cave, with bricks and stones paving the floor, and the rock walls on both sides were unadorned, rough and primitive.

But there were no man-made buildings, so it was like a temporary safe house for thieves.

Unlike the place where they were teleported in, torches were placed on both sides of the brick and stone ground.

The flames roared, illuminating the spacious cave as if it were daytime.

You can still faintly smell the fragrance of burning pine resin in the air.

A huge stone mountain blocked the middle of the brick-paved road, making it impossible to see what lay at the end of the cave.

More importantly...

There was no one here; there was no trace of human presence, not even any monsters. It was like a long-abandoned ruin.

But how is that possible?

The call of fate lies behind that rocky mountain.

The oppressive atmosphere in the air, as if favored by the elements, not only did not weaken, but gradually intensified, feeling as if a mountain was pressing down on their shoulders.

Ailin glanced back hesitantly.

Ada Emin's face was also filled with doubt, but her gaze was fixed on the rocky mountain.

Stone Mountain... Ailin looks back.

This small hill, about three people high, is indeed a bit strange. Its outer shell is grayish-white instead of the earthy yellow of the ground and rock walls, as if it were specially transported from elsewhere.

After thinking for a moment, he mentally linked with the Wolf Emblem.

As the elemental perspective unfolded before him, Ailin suddenly trembled.

He discovered that, from the perspective of the elements, the guidance of fate did not point to the back of the stone mountain, but rather to the very center of it.

The moment he realized this, the guidance of fate suddenly vanished.

Following closely behind...

"Rumble--"

The entire cave suddenly began to shake.

"Ailin!"

Ada Emin suddenly screamed in his mind, her voice tinged with terror.

"That's no ordinary rocky hill..."

"That's a colossus!"