Also Had His Pride

When Kraun returned home, he methodically lit the fire and set the rice to cook.

After adding a few thick logs to the stove, he began forming the Moonlight Seal and visualizing Bright Moon Silent Illumination.

He timed it carefully, and You Hour arrived right on schedule.

With time and practice, he would eventually witness the immense power of this divine incantation.

That was why he never wasted a moment during Mao Hour or You Hour.

Lately, his schedule had been packed. There were too many things he needed to do.

The Breathing Technique, making Dao Talismans, brewing potions, and studying the basics of the Transcendental world—he wished he could split himself in two.

The two Fathers were mysteriously setting something up, and it gave him a faint sense that something was wrong. He wanted to make greater progress in less time.

When You Hour passed, Kraun stopped visualizing. His consciousness sank into his Sea of Consciousness, where he found that the Moon Dew in the Crystal Ball had increased again, and the silver liquid was close to overflowing.

Tonight, he would use up all the Talisman Paper he had saved for making Heart-Clearing Talismans.

He summoned the Gold Wall and looked at the blue text on the top line.

[Golden Light Incantation: 5069/50000; Tier 1]

Checking the Golden Light Incantation's progress after visualizing during You Hour had become a habit.

Even a tiny improvement made him beam with delight. Seeing the proficiency increase, however slowly, lifted his spirits even more.

He went to the backyard, took the rice pot off the stove, and replaced it with a stew pot.

Inside was a huge pot full of marinated chicken.

He added enoki mushrooms and potatoes, then seasoned it with pepper, chili, and other spices. After half an hour of stewing, the fragrant braised chicken was ready.

At the end, he chopped up a few onions and sprinkled them over the top. It looked appetizing, too.

The knock came right on time. The Witcher and his apprentice had arrived, drawn by the smell.

Kraun often wondered if the two of them had an ability like the Time Hourglass. Why did they always show up right at mealtime?

He hurried to the door and opened it.

"Oh, that braised chicken smells amazing. I'm drooling already!" Alan called out before he even stepped inside.

"Haha, I stewed eight roosters. There's plenty for us," Kraun said, stepping aside to let them in.

"I've had this dish several times, but whenever I smell it, I still can't help swallowing," the Witcher said with a laugh as he walked in and headed straight for the backyard.

Before long, the table was covered with food.

Each person had a large bowl full of rice in front of him, along with a plate piled high with chicken.

Kraun secretly shook his head. Knights and Witchers mainly replenished their energy through food, which meant that three "bottomless pits" were sitting at the same table.

Apart from Alan, the other two ate rather elegantly, but not any slower.

The rice and chicken dwindled before their eyes. In less than ten minutes, they had polished off everything.

"That was so good. I could eat it forever," Alan said, patting his belly in satisfaction. "Burp." He let out the happy sound of someone who had eaten his fill.

"I told you to eat more slowly. You never listen," the Witcher said, pouring the boy a glass of water and ruffling his hair.

"Hehe." The little boy stuck out his tongue mischievously, then took the glass. "Thanks, Teacher."

"Mr. Geralt," Kraun began, "after we finish sparring today, I'd like to put our arrangement on hold."

"Cough, cough." Alan nearly choked on his water. "What's wrong, big brother? Don't you want to keep honing your swordsmanship? Does this mean we can't come here for dinner anymore?"

Clearly, the boy was worried about something else.

Kraun couldn't help smiling knowingly. "My swordsmanship has improved quite a bit lately, and there's no way I can keep improving at the same pace. So I want to put this arrangement on hold. That way, I'll have more time to brew potions and improve my abilities. Then I'll have a better chance of making the Grasses Potion."

It was a perfectly respectable reason, and it was true.

In fact, he didn't need to explain anything. It was up to him whether to hire Geralt or not. But after spending so much time together, they had become fairly good friends.

Geralt ran a hand through the white hair over his forehead and nodded slightly. "Whether to hire me is, of course, up to you. But I'm skeptical about your claim that your swordsmanship has improved so much."

During yesterday's spar, Kraun's swordsmanship had indeed become much more polished than it had been at first, but in Geralt's eyes, he still had some glaring openings.

In this increasingly evil world, the Church of the Lord of Flame's Crusader Order was also a high-risk profession. Compared with the Witchers, who often fought alone, their situation was only a little better.

As a friend, Geralt felt he had a duty to give his friend a warning and help him understand his own abilities more clearly, so he wouldn't get hurt needlessly through overconfidence.

Kraun's eyes lit up. "I was just thinking I'd like to see how much of your strength I can draw out now, sir."

"Just as you wish." The Witcher gestured invitingly, and the two of them headed for the backyard, one after the other.

Moonlight flowed like water, caressing them like a mother's gentle hand on her child.

Kraun took his position and held his sword out in front of him.

The Witcher laughed and stepped forward, darting around his opponent like a butterfly teasing its way through a flower garden as he launched a fierce assault.

He held back only twenty percent of his strength, intending to give the other man a proper lesson.

As a Witcher who had undergone a second mutation, his stamina, strength, and speed were far greater than those of ordinary Witchers.

His stamina was especially remarkable. His endurance would astonish any Transcendentalist, so he had no fear of tiring himself out.

He expected the fight to end within twenty minutes. Such was the confidence of an advanced Witcher.

It turned out that the Witcher had overestimated his own ability—or, more accurately, underestimated how fast his opponent was growing. Kraun seemed to change with every passing day.

Kraun focused completely, his concentration sharper than ever. The Witcher's combat skills were a whole level above Marshall's and Savas's.

With his current abilities, Kraun could steadily suppress the two of them, but against Geralt, he was the one being thoroughly suppressed.

Most of the time, he wasn't thinking about how to win, but how to get away with less serious injuries.

By now, he had several wounds on his arms and back.

Fortunately, they weren't deep. The Witcher must have been holding back.

Geralt's attacks felt like a relentless Giant Wave crashing in from the sea, while Kraun was a reef being battered again and again along the shore.

Often, the reef that was Kraun was swallowed completely by the spray. But when the tide receded, he was still standing.

Half an hour passed, and he was still fighting.

By now, he had gotten used to the Witcher's rhythm. He was getting injured less often and could even land the occasional counterattack.

He was considerably more tired, but his movements were still sharp.

Another ten minutes passed. The grimness in Geralt's eyes deepened. He still hadn't managed to beat a Knight who had only just reached Transcendence.

If this kept up, his earlier boast would come back to bite him.

He was human, too. He had his pride!

Taking a deep breath, he unleashed his full strength and suddenly stepped forward, bringing his sword down with a powerful slash.

The veins stood out on his right hand, his muscles bulged, and the sword caught the moonlight, gleaming with a chilling glint.