Magic Erosion

A week later, at night, Roy sat in the mill's barn, his focus fixed on his template:

Personal Level: lv3 (0/1500)
Available Skill Points: 1, Attribute Points: 1

In the past, he would have continued to concentrate his resources on strengthening his advantages, dumping the attribute point into Perception to reach 7.

But his thinking had changed recently. He realized that every increment of strength he gained now should be in preparation for the Trial of the Grasses.

Even if he stacked his Perception to the heavens, it would all be for nothing if he failed the Trial and perished. And according to what Letho had said before leaving, an apprentice's willpower and their body's resistance to toxins were crucial to survival rates—the higher, the better.

These two metrics corresponded to the Willpower and Constitution attributes. Roy's Willpower was only 4.8, failing to even reach the average of 5, while his Constitution had only just hit the threshold thanks to the herbs he had consumed.

Therefore, from now on, every attribute and skill point he earned from leveling up would be dedicated to boosting these two stats.

Roy's gaze swept toward the skills panel.

Meditation lv1: A practice of body and mind. Through entering a state of stillness, one regulates the self, accelerating the recovery of wounds, magic, and stamina. It also slowly improves coordination and enhances affinity with Chaos Energy.
Note: Each time this skill is leveled up, it will permanently strengthen the Constitution and Spirit attributes.

Witcher Letho was old enough to be his grandfather, yet he hadn't managed to train Meditation to level 10; the difficulty was self-evident. Most importantly, it permanently enhanced Spirit and Constitution... At this thought, Roy focused his attention on the plus sign next to "Meditation." Instantly, the "lv1" text blurred and faded, transforming into "lv2" after a few seconds.

Roy immediately assigned his attribute point to Willpower.

In an instant, a warm current surged through his limbs and bones. Every patch of skin, muscle, bone, and blood vessel was activated, like tree roots plunging into fertile soil, rapidly absorbing nutrients and becoming tougher and stronger.

Deep within his skull, that most mysterious region of the brain was also nourished. Enveloped by a cooling sensation, it felt as though countless tiny hands were gently caressing it, and every cell seemed to scream with pleasure.

Roy snapped his eyes open, a starlight brilliance flashing within them, though it lasted only a moment before returning to normal.

Meditation lv1 → lv2 Spirit 6 → 6.5 Constitution 5 → 5.5 Willpower 4.8 → 5.8

With a total of two points gained in an instant, Roy felt an unprecedented, powerful "illusion" of strength.

The transformation continued. When he stood up and twisted his neck, wrists, and knees, his joints popped and cracked. A tingling, numbing sensation—as if ants were crawling over him—made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

His face flushed, his spirit overly stimulated, and his chest was inexplicably filled with courage and confidence. He suddenly felt that he could run for a day and a night without fatigue and meet any challenge head-on.

"Hoo..." Roy took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his fists to suppress his restless emotions, and sat on a pile of hay to meditate for a quarter of an hour until his body and mind calmed down.

An ordinary person would require years of training and countless accumulations to slowly raise an attribute by 1 point, yet he had raised his by 2 in just a few minutes. It was only natural that his body would feel some discomfort.

From this, Roy thought of the Trial of the Grasses. The transformation and enhancement the Grasses decoction would force upon his body in a short time would far exceed this, reaching a terrifying degree. Such discomfort would likely evolve into extreme agony, which was why the survival rate of the Trial was so low.

At the other end of the barn, a soft groan suddenly came from a crude straw mat.

"Toya, you're awake. How do you feel?" Roy walked to the mat and sat down, reaching out to touch the girl's smooth forehead. He let out a sigh of relief. "Your temperature is normal. It seems the Wild Yam worked."

"Roy... I, what happened to me?" The girl was still wearing the apron she worked in, but she looked haggard, her eyes dim and her lips frighteningly pale, as if she had suffered a severe illness.

"You suddenly fainted while sweeping today and developed a high fever..." Roy explained patiently. "Una and Henk found you and brought you in. But don't worry, I fed you some herbs, and the fever has broken."

"I see..." After hearing this, Toya stubbornly used her hands to push herself up. With Roy's assistance, she drank a few sips of water and said gratefully, "I've troubled you again... You must be tired from looking after me. Why don't you go get some rest?"

Roy shook his head and stared into her eyes. "Toya, we're friends. Tell me the truth—this isn't the first time you've fainted, is it?"

The girl sat on the straw mat, hugging her knees tightly, her chin resting upon them. A flicker of confusion and fear crossed her small face, and her voice trembled slightly. "I don't know what's wrong with me. My body has so many problems—it's not just the hunchback that everyone dislikes, but I keep fainting for no reason, getting high fevers, and talking nonsense."

"Even my own father finds me repulsive and doesn't want to deal with me."

"Roy," Toya suddenly whispered, "am I a burden?"

"Toya, you are absolutely not a burden!" Roy said earnestly. "The past half-month spent with you has been very pleasant. It's proof enough that you're a great listener, and you're so diligent and smart."

"You've just been trapped in a mill that's like a prison, surrounded by narrow-minded people with limited horizons. That's why you haven't made many friends and why you've developed these wrong ideas."

"Is that so?" A glimmer of spirit returned to the girl's eyes.

"Of course..." Roy nodded. "How do you feel now? I want to understand more specifically about this illness of yours..."

"I'm fine," the girl took a deep breath. "Ask me anything."

"When did this fainting illness start? Is it becoming more frequent?"

The girl furrowed her thin, willow-leaf eyebrows, thinking for a moment. "Probably after my body started to become deformed."

"It happens every year. At first, it was once a year, but now it's four or five times." Toya's voice faltered, and she said self-pityingly, "I always feel that after one of these fainting spells, I might never wake up again."

"But if this is the destination Goddess Melitele has prepared for me, then I accept it. To fall into eternal sleep without pain or knowledge wouldn't be so bad."

"Toya, you are still young, and your life is full of infinite possibilities..." Roy comforted her, then asked, "Think again—in recent years, have the times you've fallen ill been close to specific festivals, like New Year, the Winter Solstice, Beltane, the Summer Solstice..."

"The last time was on the day of the Harvest Festival... the time before that was around Beltane," Toya said in surprise. "You guessed them all, Roy."

"Then I wasn't wrong... The closer you are to a magical node, the easier it is for the magic within you to resonate and lose control, harming your body," Roy sighed, his gaze full of pity for the girl.

Under his observation, after this fainting spell, her Constitution had dropped from 3 to 2.8; her vitality was visibly fading.

"What does a magical node mean?" Toya asked, curious and terrified. "And... why is there magic inside me?"

"Don't be anxious, Toya, I'll tell you everything..." Roy said. "Do you remember the Aretuza Academy on Thanedd Island that I told you about last time?"

"I remember every word you said clearly," the girl replied. "That's a place that specifically trains female sorceresses?"

She pulled out a Gwent card Roy had once given her from under her pillow, which depicted a beautiful woman with flaming hair in a red dress. She made no effort to hide the envy on her face. "Just like Sabina Glevissig, who can perform magical wonders, even better than the magic tricks you perform!"

"Yes..." Roy took a deep breath. "But do you know, many sorceresses weren't actually as beautiful as they are painted on these cards when they were young?"

Toya suddenly held her breath, her expression stiffening. She had a strong premonition that the other party was about to reveal a fact that frightened her.

"At first, most of them were just like you..." Roy gathered his thoughts for a moment before slowing his tone, saying each word clearly. "Because they suffered from the torment of uncontrollable magic within their bodies from a young age, they looked different from others. It was only after they went to magic school to receive magical training that they were slowly corrected."

The groundwork Roy had laid over the past half-month had already allowed the girl to recognize a corner of this mysterious world, and her capacity to accept such things had greatly increased.

"You... are you saying..." Toya's teeth began to chatter as an unprecedented, wild idea emerged. She felt like she was suffocating. "I... I..."

"That's right... eight magical points, which signify eight festivals of magical eruption. Because you possess magic within you, you resonate with them, falling into a coma as the dates of the festivals approach." Roy emphasized his tone. "Simply put, you possess the aptitude to become a sorceress, provided you have the chance to go to Aretuza for training. And as far as I know, Aretuza accepts girls from every corner of the world, regardless of their poverty or outward appearance, as long as they agree to their rigorous contracts."

"Like her?" Toya gripped the card tightly, her knuckles turning white. "Can I be like her, with a body that returns to normal? No longer discriminated against, spurned, or mocked?!"

"If you can become a sorceress, with the help of magical modification, your body will certainly be able to return to normal."

"Wuu, wuu—" A sob suddenly broke in Toya's throat, and she slumped against the damp, moldy wall of the mill, large teardrops sliding down her pale cheeks.

The expression on her face was incredibly complex; it was as if she were both heartbroken and overjoyed.

"No, Roy, you're lying to me, aren't you?" Toya still couldn't bring herself to believe it. "You're my friend, you can't lie to me!"

"I can swear," Roy said solemnly, "I am absolutely not deceiving you... I just want you to have one more choice."

"It's impossible!" A hint of longing appeared on Toya's round face, but then she suddenly shook her head. "I'm just an ordinary little country girl; I've never left the mill."

"I can't go anywhere; Henk and Una won't let me leave."

"And you also said that Aretuza is very far from Edersberg, thousands of miles away, so far that I will never be able to reach it."

Roy fell silent.

What Toya said was the truth; most parents of young sorceresses refused to send them to the so-called sorceress academies. Because joining a sorceress academy meant a complete severance from their birth families, which offered no benefits to their parents.

And these greedy parents were more than willing to treat them as free labor to be exploited until they died.

"I will find a way for you, Toya." Since the plan had already begun, giving up halfway was not Roy's style.

He already had a rough solution in his mind, an inspiration that had only just occurred to him recently.

"Toya, I have to tell you the truth. Every time you fall into a coma, it means your body is being further eroded and damaged by magic; you must be able to feel it, right? Your body is getting weaker and weaker. If you cannot receive formal magical training in time..." Roy licked his dry lips. "I'm not sure if you'll live to see your twentieth birthday."

"Don't you want to see the world outside?"

In this ignorant era, a country girl with a deformed body would likely spend her short life in pain and suffering.

But Roy had always believed that she deserved a chance. Since he had an idea, he had to turn it into a plan and put it into practice; that was his creed.

Moreover, giving Toya a chance might mean he would gain a chance for himself in the future.

Excited or perhaps afraid, the girl's shoulders trembled incessantly. "Roy, you... you aren't actually an ordinary person, are you? Why do you know these things, and why tell me?"

"What does it matter who I am? If I were in your shoes, would you help me?" Roy asked in return, and then he saw the answer in the girl's eyes, which were filled with a longing for freedom.

A firm, strong palm grasped another small hand covered in chilblains.

"Friends should help each other... Toya, wait for it; you will eventually see the sunrise at Aretuza. I promise you."