Time soon passed into the afternoon.
Beneath Kaer Morhen castle.
Through a dim corridor, then into a stone chamber on the left.
Wooden tables and chairs furnished the chamber, with candles on every table giving off wisps of white smoke.
This was where the witcher apprentices took their alchemy lessons. Not far outside was the witchers' dedicated growing room.
There, they grew the witchers' mysterious mushrooms-the main ingredient in the green juice.
Arwen sat in his seat, breathing in the strong smell of herbs in the air as his gray cat eyes glanced at the glowing stones overhead.
An ordinary person would have found the room dim, but with his cat eyes, it was no different from being in sunlight.
"Why isn't Master Vesemir here yet?"
Paul yawned beside him. The other apprentices also drooped their heads, looking barely awake.
Tap, tap...
Soft footsteps sounded from the corridor outside.
Arwen listened for only a moment before immediately turning to look.
Those footsteps aren't right. Vesemir was tall and broad, but as a witcher, he walked very lightly, like a cat, making almost no sound.
A woman in a white nun's habit entered the chamber. Her white hood concealed her face, leaving only curling strands of black hair showing on either side.
She walked straight to the lectern at the front of the chamber and adjusted her cuffs with both hands, revealing delicate, snow-white wrists.
Paul, who had still been yawning, immediately perked up and whispered to Arwen.
"Hey, Arwen, look! That's the herbalist sister I told you about this morning."
"Her skin's so fair. She's completely different from the sisters from the Temple of Melitele we saw before."
The Temple of Melitele?
Arwen froze for a moment.
In The Witcher, the worship of Melitele was the largest religion in the Northern Kingdoms.
The goddess Melitele whom they worshipped was primarily depicted as a carefree maiden, a mature pregnant woman, and a stooped old crone, and the faith preached love and peace.
For this very reason, the Temple of Melitele had always enjoyed good relations with the Wolf School witchers, who specialized in killing monsters to protect humanity.
A few years earlier, the sisters had even come to Kaer Morhen to provide a brief course in the humanities. Arwen had, of course, been one of their students.
An important figure had also been there at the time: Nenneke, the future high priestess of the Temple of Melitele.
The only difference was that the Temple of Melitele's influence in the Northern Kingdoms was still nowhere near its peak during the time of The Witcher.
The herbalist sister swept her gaze over everyone.
"Class begins!"
Her ringing voice immediately snapped Arwen out of his thoughts.
"Something came up for Vesemir," the herbalist sister said. "I'll be teaching your alchemy class this afternoon. You may call me Lady Viris."
Lady Viris?
Arwen frowned slightly. He had no memories of anyone by that name.
The apprentices let out sounds of surprise.
The herbalist sister immediately raised her voice and said sternly, "Quiet, everyone."
The apprentices obediently shut their mouths.
After this exchange, Arwen distinctly felt as though he had returned to his old school days.
Her tone was exactly like that of a secondary school homeroom teacher with years of experience.
He still vaguely remembered how the sisters who had last visited Kaer Morhen had all been very serene, full of maternal gentleness. Some had even observed some sort of vow of silence and never spoken.
Yet the woman before him stood perfectly straight, poised and self-assured, with a commanding presence that seemed rather at odds with the sisters in his memories.
The herbalist sister took a medicinal herb from a container beside the lectern.
"Who can tell me what herb this is?"
Arwen looked at the plant, with its broad, bright green vine leaves, and a name flashed through his mind.
"It's broadleaf vine."
An apprentice immediately supplied the answer.
"Very good. And what does it do?" the herbalist sister asked casually.
A brief silence fell over the chamber.
The herbalist sister spoke gently. "Its rootstock is highly effective and is often used to make antidotes."
"Your bodies have already mutated, giving you extremely high resistance to most toxins."
"But when you face powerful monsters, you'll often drink various potions, such as [Cat] and [Thunderbolt]. These potions have powerful effects, but they also leave lethal toxins in your bodies."
"If you don't remove those toxins in time, the consequences will be just as unthinkable."
"All right, come up and collect your herbs and tools. You'll be processing herbs for today's classroom test."
Arwen did not get up when he heard this.
Just a moment earlier, a system notification had sounded in his mind.
[Existing host skill detected. Herbal Alchemy unlocked.] [Herbal Alchemy EXP +1!] [Herbal Alchemy Lv1: 85/100]
Arwen was overjoyed!
Experience points!
And I'm not even starting from zero.
Alchemy was one of a witcher's primary tools. On the higher difficulties in The Witcher, no matter how powerful a boss was, a few potions were all it took to deal with it easily.
"Arwen, what are you spacing out for?"
Paul patted Arwen on the shoulder.
Only then did Arwen come back to his senses and stand up.
The corners of Paul's mouth lifted. And he said he wasn't interested in sisters. He was staring so hard he zoned out.
Arwen walked up to the lectern beside Paul and caught a fresh chamomile scent coming from the herbalist sister.
Noticing Arwen's gaze, the herbalist sister's thin lips curved into a gentle smile beneath her hood.
Arwen averted his eyes and quickly picked up a wooden tray.
Three medicinal herbs, a silver knife, and a pair of pure white linen gloves had already been laid out on it.
"Each of you now has three medicinal herbs," the herbalist sister announced. "They're all basic ones."
The apprentices talked among themselves, many scratching their heads. At thirteen or fourteen, they were at an age when they could hardly sit still, and they undoubtedly felt a strong aversion to tedious alchemy lessons, voicing their complaints.
Seeing this, the herbalist sister spoke very patiently.
"Don't worry about failing. If you make a mistake processing one, you can come up and collect another. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me at any time."
Only after she finished speaking did the apprentices' moods improve considerably.
Unlike the other apprentices, Arwen returned to his seat and stared at the herbs in his tray.
Thanks to the effects of [Dual Souls], he could vividly recall his previous alchemy lessons and soon identified all three herbs.
The first was the broadleaf vine the herbalist sister had just discussed.
The second was white fern, whose green leaves curled inward at the tips. Like broadleaf vine, it could neutralize medicinal effects, but it also dulled the senses and put people to sleep.
The last was pale green boneknit grass, which had the mildest medicinal properties. As its name suggested, it was used to treat injuries to tendons and bones.
Good. Vesemir's covered all of these.
Arwen first opened the system panel, then quickly put on his gloves and picked up the silver knife.
He brimmed with confidence.
"Time to grind!"