Recaps

Dick questioned Yuejiqi, the World Jester, about the demonized crab spider and learned how a trapped Jiatu War Rider had tried to kill Lady Amara and Vanessa through a demonic wager. Yuejiqi offered Dick a wager, but Dick refused, and Yuejiqi departed after promising not to trouble the Amara family unless they sought him out.

• Dick confronted Yuejiqi, who explained that his spell had temporarily frozen the others and could not control Dick, a Transcendent.
• Yuejiqi extracted and consumed the crab spider’s green spirit, revealing it belonged to a captured Jiatu War Rider who had made a wager with him to frighten Lady Amara and Vanessa to death.
• Yuejiqi explained that the War Rider had possessed a crab spider and used an ability borrowed from a Feikexai, but Dick’s actions had helped foil the plan.
• Yuejiqi told Dick he had noticed his recent deeds and wanted to make a wager with him, but Dick refused to contract with a demon.
• Yuejiqi promised to leave the Amara family alone unless they sought him out, then dissolved into the air.

Dick exorcised the demon possessing Lady Amara, then accepted payment from Vanessa and stayed to watch over her mother. Lady Amara awakened with no memory of the possession, and Vanessa offered to have chicken made for her.

• Dick told Vanessa that he had killed the demon inside Lady Amara and warned her to stop shaking her mother.
• Vanessa arranged for Lady Amara to be carried to her room and checked that the household attendants had awakened safely.
• Vanessa explained that Kebi was her lover and had told her Dick was his best friend; Dick accepted the 200 kelangs for his commission.
• Dick agreed to stay with Vanessa and the butler to keep watch until Lady Amara woke.
• Lady Amara awoke confused and remembered entering the mine before everything went dark, while Vanessa reassured her and asked what she wanted to eat.
• Lady Amara said she was hungry and asked for chicken.

After recovering from possession, Lady Amara learned that [Arachas] had infested the silver mine and that the miners were on the verge of rebelling. She agreed to go negotiate with them and asked Dick to deal with the monsters.

• Lady Amara regained her strength, ate a small meal, and discovered that her body had become unusually flexible.
• As Dick prepared to leave, a soldier reported that the miners at the silver mine were about to rebel.
• The soldier explained that [Arachas] had appeared in the mine, killed five miners, and dragged others into its depths.
• Lady Amara rebuked the soldier for forcing criminals to mine despite the danger and insisted they were still people deserving equal treatment.
• Lady Amara asked Dick to help negotiate with the miners and clear the mine of [Arachas], and they set out.

Lady Amara and Dick reached the silver mine to negotiate with the miners, who were threatening to revolt over the dangerous Arachas and forced labor. Ron revealed that he had survived four years in the mine and blamed Brownie, Prince James’s bastard son, for framing him.

• Lady Amara, Vanessa, and Dick followed a soldier through a hidden cave to the silver mine, where Ron confronted the thirty soldiers with the miners behind him.
• Lady Amara asked Vanessa to stay back and approached Ron with Dick, promising that the witcher could deal with the Arachas.
• Ron said he trusted Lady Amara personally but distrusted nobles, and explained that Duke Amara had promised freedom to miners who survived five years.
• Ron recounted how famine left him alone, and how he was beaten and framed after taking a butter bun from Brownie’s traveling party.
• Ron identified Brownie as the man who had insulted him, saying he was Prince James’s bastard son.

Dick helped Lady Amara secure the miners’ surrender by frightening them with his Witcher abilities and a display of fire magic. He entered the mine alone to hunt the [Arachas], while Lady Amara ordered the soldiers to keep Ron’s claims about Brownie secret.

• Lady Amara promised to pardon Ron if his account of stealing bread during the famine was true, and Ron explained that the other miners planned to resist because they feared punishment.
• Dick convinced Ron that the miners could not defeat the soldiers, then used Witcher Senses and a burst of fire to threaten them into surrendering.
• Ron returned from the mine and agreed to surrender after Lady Amara promised not to hold the miners responsible for their actions.
• The soldiers disarmed and subdued more than a hundred miners, and Dick asked Ron about the mine’s passages and the [Arachas] within them.
• Dick entered the mine alone to hunt the [Arachas], while Lady Amara told the soldiers to pretend they had not heard Ron’s claims about Brownie.

Dick searched the abandoned mine for the missing miners and followed signs of the Arachas into a hidden underground nest. After finding a miner reduced to a husk and descending into the nest, he struck a flower-like hiding place and killed an Arachas, while the Arachas Queen remained an unknown threat.

• Dick entered the unlit passage, used a Cat Potion to see through the fog, and found a miner whose body crumbled when he touched it.
• Dick deduced that an Arachas leader had taken the other miners to its nest and recalled that the leader was an Arachas Queen.
• Dick found the opening to the nest, climbed down a rope and rock notches, and discovered a cold underground cavern with a shallow stream and clusters of flowers.
• Dick crossed the stream and slashed a flower cluster, revealing and killing the Arachas hidden inside it.

Dick fought through a fog-producing flower patch and reached a cavern where four miners were webbed beside a mass of Arachas eggs. He faced the Arachas Queen and its underground ambush, then charged toward the queen with both swords as the battle began.

• Dick burned one Arachas and cut down two more, then destroyed the flowers that were producing the thick fog.
• Dick entered a circular cavern and found four web-bound miners beside pulsing Arachas eggs.
• Dick spotted the descending Arachas Queen, whose silver-like body appeared strengthened by nearby silver ore.
• The Arachas Queen summoned more than twenty Arachas from underground, and they fired webs at Dick.
• Dick burned through the webs and activated [Panther Zither Jade], cutting through the attacking Arachas as he charged at the queen.

Dick fought the Arachas Queen until killing another Arachas gave him enough energy to advance Swordsmanship to master level and learn Sword Qi. He used the new technique to cut open and kill the Queen, then reflected on Sword Qi’s strengths and limits.

• Dick struggled to damage the Arachas Queen and was thrown against a cave wall, where he spat blood.
• Dick killed an Arachas that tried to ambush him, earning the energy needed to advance Swordsmanship to master level and gain Sword Qi.
• Dick taunted the Arachas Queen, slid beneath it, and slashed through its thinner abdominal shell with his swords covered in Sword Qi.
• The Arachas Queen collapsed and died, and Dick received 50 energy points for the kill.
• Dick considered how Sword Qi improved his blades while consuming stamina, and recalled Geralt sustaining it throughout a fight.

Dick killed the remaining Arachas, destroyed their eggs, and rescued the imprisoned miners, killing one who tried to attack him. He led the surviving criminals toward the exit, where Lady Amara and Vanessa waited as footsteps approached the mine entrance.

• Dick killed the remaining Arachas, burned their eggs, and collected useful parts from the monsters.
• Dick freed the miner who had called for help, then killed him when he tried to strike Dick from behind.
• Dick questioned the remaining miners about their crimes and ordered them to follow him out of the underground passages.
• Dick freed the miners and led them toward the surface, while Lady Amara and Vanessa waited outside the mine.
• Vanessa worried that Dick had been underground for too long, and footsteps sounded at the mine entrance.

After rescuing three miners from the infested mine, Dick investigated whether Ron had told the truth about his past. Ron was freed and offered a place as a castle guard, while Dick learned that Brownie served as deputy commander of the Order of the Dragon Knights.

• Dick returned with three surviving miners and warned Lady Amara to seal the mine and stop working it.
• Lady Amara asked Dick to verify Ron’s story, and Dick used Hypnosis Signs to confirm that Ron had told the truth.
• Lady Amara freed Ron and offered him food, lodging, wages, and a position among her castle guards.
• Lady Amara warned Ron not to speak again about Brownie being Prince James’s illegitimate son or seek revenge on him.
• Dick learned that Brownie was deputy commander of the Order of the Dragon Knights and that Duke Yalike was close to Prince James.

Dick encountered Harden fighting two Forktails in a snowy field and joined the battle. Harden and Dick badly wounded both monsters, leaving the male Forktail to see its mate near death.

• Dick left Lady Amara, Vanessa, and Butler Yuanyuan outside Firstfall Bay and rode toward a town for the night.
• Harden ambushed a Forktail feeding on a dead sheep, restrained it with his flail, and attacked it with his butcher's knife.
• A second, larger Forktail appeared, and Harden realized the two monsters were a male and female pair.
• Dick recognized Harden and joined the fight, while Harden wounded the female Forktail and shot bolts through one of its wings.
• Dick struck the male Forktail's tail with his Sword Qi-covered sword, nearly severing it, as Harden left the female Forktail near death.

Dick and Harden killed two Forktails, collected their materials, and confronted the shepherd who had hired them without mentioning the second monster. After Dick exposed the shepherd's plan to make the monsters kill the witchers, Harden took the contract payment, but the shepherd was suddenly beheaded.

• Dick killed the male Forktail while Harden defeated the female, and the two collected hides and other materials from the monsters.
• Harden collected the male Forktail's cerebrospinal fluid for the Witcher Church Order and thanked Dick for helping him.
• Dick and Harden confronted the shepherd, and Dick used a spell to reveal that the shepherd had hoped the Forktails would kill each other and avoid paying the contract.
• Harden demanded 200 Kelang for the two Forktails, accepted the payment, and gave most of the money to Dick, who received 90 Energy Points.
• A pitch-black blur flashed past Dick, and the shepherd's head flew into the air.

Harden killed a shepherd who tried to kill him, then traveled with Dick to Kaer Morhen. At the watchtower, they learned Tyson had sent letters from the Bacchus Empire, where he was helping Professor Sel with mutation experiments, and that Professor Sel had praised Dick.

• Harden killed the shepherd who had threatened him, and Dick left with him for the nearest town.
• Dick and Harden spent the night in an abandoned warehouse and discussed the Witcher Order, including the upcoming Trial of the Grasses at the School of the Lynx.
• Dick and Harden continued northwest and reached the watchtower leading to Kaer Morhen before dark.
• Zema and Kofa told Dick that Tyson had sent letters from the Bacchus Empire, where he was helping Professor Sel conduct mutation experiments.
• Zema said Professor Sel had also written to Kaer Morhen and singled Dick out for praise.

Dick learned that Professor Seir was developing a device to reverse witcher mutations and that the Grizzly Bear School supported Tyson’s experiments. As the Crown Festival approached, Dick planned to use his time at Kaer Morhen to study alchemy with access to the library and sorcerers.

• Kofa told Dick that Professor Seir was researching a mutation-eliminating device, Tyson had undergone its experiments, and several test monkeys had died.
• Kofa explained that the Coyote School’s Trial of the Grasses was postponed, while the Lynx and Grizzly Bear Schools would train their young witchers together in about half a month.
• Harden said he had obtained Forktail cerebrospinal fluid and credited Dick with helping him survive a fight with a male and female Forktail.
• Kofa invited Dick to spar at the Grizzly Bear castle, and Dick agreed to visit when he had time.
• Kofa told Dick he could freely use the library and ask Aode and Ali for help with his studies.
• Dick decided to focus on alchemy before the Crown Festival, aiming to improve his potion and sword-oil making and learn to craft magical bombs.

Dick returned to Kaer Morhen with Harden and avoided visiting the School of the Lynx’s Trial of the Grasses. Master tried to draw him into caring about Carter, but Dick rejected the appeal and said he would report Ivan’s public execution at the main keep, prompting Master to agree to go with him.

• Dick and Harden arrived at Kaer Morhen, where witchers from several schools trained, repaired the walls, and welcomed them.
• Harden went to deliver the Forktail’s cerebrospinal fluid to Master, while Dick returned to his room and slept.
• At breakfast, Dick exchanged a strained greeting with Master and learned that Carter, the boy he had saved in Odinburg, was undergoing the Trial of the Grasses.
• Master said Carter had been calling Dick’s name, but Dick insisted that Carter’s fate had nothing to do with him.
• Dick told Master that Ivan from the School of the Coyote had been publicly executed and that he planned to report it at the main keep; Master agreed to accompany him.

Dick helped the Witcher Order's leaders decide to keep witchers inside until Queen Meve returned, then learned he would lead the young witchers' mountain training. He asked two sorcerers to teach him alchemy and arranged for a dragon tear gem to be fused into his swords.

• Beier, Master, Aode, Ali, and other leaders debated the nobles' hostility after Ivan's execution, and Dick advised confirming Queen Meve's role before taking further action.
• The leaders agreed to keep witchers from going out unless necessary until Queen Meve returned, when Beier would meet her in Ravenstern City.
• Dick asked Aode and Ali to teach him alchemy, and they told him Master had chosen him to guide young witchers during mountain training.
• Dick brought a dragon tear gem and his swords to the smithy, where the one-armed witcher explained that half the gem could improve a silver sword and that another sword could also be upgraded.
• Dick presented Ivan's steel sword and his black sword, and the witcher with the missing leg noted that Ivan's sword was ordinary and that good base materials mattered.

Dick arranged for the one-legged witcher to forge weapons from dark night meteoric iron and make School of the Lynx armor, then returned to the castle and met his white cat, whom he named Snowball. He heard that Carter, the lone surviving child from the latest trial, wanted to live and become a witcher to repay Dick.

• Dick asked the one-legged witcher to forge his weapons and make a set of School of the Lynx armor from Forktail hide, agreeing to return in five days and pay with Arachas Queen legs.
• Dick encountered Alexander at the castle entrance and learned that Alexander was helping Ruiwen after nearly all the children in the trial had died.
• Dick recognized his white cat, named her Snowball, and discovered that she was female.
• Alexander hauled the children's bodies away while Carter screamed in the basement as Ruiwen tried to keep him alive.
• Dick heard Carter say he wanted to live, become a witcher, and repay Dick for saving him.

Dick discovered that Carter was the only child still alive in the School of the Lynx’s Trial of the Grasses, and confronted Master for abandoning him. He obtained the sorcerers’ help to prepare a Dragon Tear Elixir for Carter, though the potion would take two hours to make.

• Ruiwen told Dick that the other children had died and that Carter was suffering through the Trial of the Grasses with little chance of survival.
• Dick asked whether anything could improve Carter’s chances, and Ruiwen said a miraculous elixir might help while he was still undergoing the transformation.
• Carter briefly regained his senses, apologized to Dick, and said he was going to die.
• Dick confronted Master in the keep for leaving Carter alone, then asked Aode to turn a Dragon Tear Gem into an elixir for him.
• Master and Ali objected to using the precious gem, but Beier supported Dick, and Aode and the other sorcerers began preparing the elixir.

Dick confronted Master over the witcher formula and challenged him to a duel, while Beier urged them to focus on saving Carter. After Master left, Beier offered to let Dick study Giant Transformation, and Aode gave him four bottles of Dragon Tear Potion for Carter.

• Dick accused Master of leaking the Trial of the Grasses formula after describing the mutated witcher he had encountered in Longsong Harbor.
• Master angrily left after telling Dick he should never have carried him from a pile of corpses.
• Beier told Dick he could study Giant Transformation in the library and ask him for help.
• Dick spent more than an hour chatting with Beier about Tyson and Professor Seir's secondary mutation apparatus.
• Aode gave Dick four bottles of Dragon Tear Potion and warned him to check Carter every three days and avoid giving him too much.

Dick helped Ruiwen save Carter with Dragon Tear Potions, then shared a meal with Russell and Harden and concealed the reason for his conflict with Master. The chapter ended with Dick facing a Royal Griffin in a strange vision as his Sword Qi slipped out of his control.

• Dick gave Ruiwen Dragon Tear Potions, and Carter's wounds began healing, though he remained asleep.
• Dick left Ruiwen to rest and joined Russell and Harden for a meal, where Harden shared his dream of becoming a royal chef.
• Russell asked Dick about his conflict with Master, and Dick brushed off the question by claiming he was in a rebellious phase.
• Dick, Russell, and Harden raised their glasses to wish Kayn a peaceful festival.
• In a vision, Dick walked away from a burning estate as a black-haired girl watched him with hatred, then prepared to face a Royal Griffin while losing control of his Sword Qi.

Dick and the other witchers discovered that Carter had transformed after the Trial of the Grasses, growing wings as well as witcher eyes. After reassuring Carter and sending him upstairs for food, Dick confronted Alexander in the basement and began questioning him by force.

• Dick woke to a monster’s cry, found that he had mastered Sword Qi, and led Russell, Harden, and Ruiwen downstairs to investigate.
• Dick found Carter trembling in the basement with wings and needles in his chest, recognized him, and stopped the other witchers from attacking.
• Ruiwen suggested the Dragon Tear Potion had accelerated Carter’s Trial of the Grasses, while Alexander blamed a Mountain God component in the decoction for the wings.
• Carter asked for grilled pork chops rather than raw meat, and Dick and the others concluded that his mutation had no other apparent side effects.
• Dick sent Carter upstairs with Russell and Harden, then choked Alexander against a wall and demanded that he answer questions without asking any of his own.
• Dick slapped Alexander twice when he objected.

Dick questioned Alexander about the Mountain God's blood and Master's experiments on Carter, then confronted Master over the wings the potion had caused Carter to grow. Their fight ended in a stalemate, and Master challenged Dick to use the new techniques he had learned elsewhere.

• Dick questioned Alexander about the Mountain God's blood in the Trial of the Grasses and the origin of the School of the Lynx.
• Alexander admitted that Master had injected Carter with a potion, after which wings had grown from Carter's back.
• Dick accused Master of damaging Carter's future and of interfering out of spite, while Master said he had wanted to improve Carter's physique and find an obedient young witcher.
• Dick and Master drew their swords and exchanged several rounds, breaking the bookcase before Dick forced Master back with his superior strength.
• Master said their familiar swordsmanship gave neither of them an advantage and urged Dick to demonstrate the new moves he had learned elsewhere.

Dick and the other witchers planned how to help Carter hide his wings and pass the High Mountain Trial. Meanwhile, Master recruited Alexander to his side and discussed his suspicions about Dick and Kayn.

• Master and Dick nearly unleashed Mind Shockwaves on each other before Russell stopped them.
• Russell urged the group to help Carter prepare for the High Mountain Trial, and Ruiwen proposed covering his folded wings with a custom suit and cloak.
• Dick, Russell, and Harden divided up Carter’s training and preparations, then settled him into a room between Dick’s and Russell’s.
• Master met Alexander in secret, asked about the potions, and demanded reassurance of Alexander’s loyalty.
• Master accused Dick of colluding with Kayn and planned to discuss the Witcher Order’s future with Beier.

Dick planned to study alchemy and Giant Transformation during the lull before the Crown Festival, then checked that Alexander would keep Carter’s mutation secret. The next morning, he saw Carter thriving and assigned him to care for Furball, which made Carter burst into tears.

• Ruiwen gave Dick a box containing enchanted bombs, Samum Bombs, and Grapeshot Bombs.
• Dick decided to study alchemy, practice fighting, and learn Giant Transformation while avoiding Master.
• Dick questioned Alexander about Carter’s mutation, and Alexander promised he had told no one.
• Dick encouraged Alexander to keep cleaning the basement and returned upstairs.
• The next morning, Dick found Carter happy and healthy at breakfast and told him to take care of Furball.
• Carter burst into tears at Dick’s assignment.

After the meal, Dick went to the grounds outside Kaer Morhen, where he entered an unarmed fighting match against Boar. Dick spotted an opening and punched Boar in the abdomen, leaving the fight unresolved.

• After the meal, Russell began teaching Carter swordsmanship, Harden arranged for his armor and cloak, Ruiwen returned to research magic, and Dick headed to the grounds.
• Dick watched Boar defeat Sausage Lips in an unarmed match.
• Dick accepted the rules, staked twenty crowns, and entered the ring to fight Boar.
• Dick and Boar circled cautiously until Dick saw Boar distracted and punched him in the abdomen.