Chapter Summaries

Arwen trained at Kaer Morhen while worrying about the deadly trials ahead. Vesemir gathered the apprentices and announced that, after passing the Trial of the Grasses, they would draw blood, as chained creatures approached.

• Arwen trained until he was one experience point from mastering Apprentice Swordsmanship Lv1 and refused Paul's invitation to get green juice.
• Arwen recalled the lethal Trial of the Grasses and the two further trials he still had to survive.
• Vesemir arrived and asked the six apprentices how they felt after a month in their new bodies.
• Vesemir said the apprentices were ready to draw blood, and Arwen heard chains and strained hissing coming from behind them.

Geralt returned to Kaer Morhen with chained drowners, and Vesemir made the apprentices fight them with training swords. As Arwen struggled against a drowner, Vesemir predicted the apprentices would panic and explained the danger of facing healthy monsters.

• Arwen saw Geralt arrive with a line of chained drowners as the apprentices reacted with fear and excitement.
• Vesemir questioned the apprentices about drowners’ weaknesses, then divided them into two groups and ordered each to kill one.
• Geralt threw a drowner toward each group, and Arwen struck his opponent with a training sword but only dented its scales.
• Arwen’s teammates Horton and Winston froze as the drowner charged him again.
• Geralt told Vesemir that Aiken’s group might succeed, but Vesemir predicted neither group could kill a healthy drowner with training swords.
• Vesemir explained that fear of the unknown would break the apprentices’ formation once someone was injured and reminded Geralt to respect death.

During training, Arwen saved Horton from a drowner and killed it, unlocking the Blade Perception talent when his Apprentice Swordsmanship reached its maximum level. He gained 25% drowner mutagen and eyed the remaining tied-up drowners, intent on acquiring more.

• Arwen and his teammates fought a drowner while Aiken's group struggled against another.
• A drowner wounded Blyde and pinned him down, so Geralt killed it with his silver sword.
• Arwen shoved Horton out of the way when a drowner attacked, then dodged its claws and struck its exposed belly.
• Arwen killed the drowner by stabbing its belly and repeatedly smashing its head with his training sword.
• Arwen received 25% drowner mutagen and unlocked Blade Perception after Apprentice Swordsmanship reached its maximum level.
• Arwen examined his new talent and looked eagerly toward the four remaining drowners tied beside the stakes.

After Arwen killed a drowner during the apprentices’ trial, Vesemir reprimanded Aiken for blaming Blyde and sent the apprentices to run laps. Arwen asked to fight another drowner to improve his swordsmanship, but Geralt released all four remaining drowners at once, leaving Arwen facing a much harder challenge.

• Arwen killed the drowner, and Vesemir treated Blyde’s wound with a potion.
• Vesemir scolded Aiken for blaming Blyde and ordered him to reflect before using a sword again.
• Vesemir ended the trial and sent the apprentices to run twenty laps without lunch.
• Arwen asked Vesemir to let him challenge another drowner, hoping to improve his swordsmanship.
• Geralt cut the chains holding the four remaining drowners, and Vesemir told Arwen to draw his sword.

Arwen used Geralt’s silver sword to defeat four drowners, then learned from Vesemir how to salvage their remains for alchemy and profit. While running laps, Arwen synthesized his drowner mutagen and received the option to install Underwater Breathing.

• Arwen took Geralt’s silver sword and killed four drowners after struggling with his training sword.
• Vesemir praised Arwen’s swordsmanship and taught him about drowner alchemy ingredients and salvageable parts.
• Vesemir assigned Arwen to run laps before his afternoon alchemy lesson, while he and Geralt handled the drowner remains.
• Arwen synthesized 125% drowner mutagen and received the option to install the Underwater Breathing talent.

Arwen installed a drowner mutagen and joined the other apprentices for lunch after training. The chapter ended with Vesemir and Geralt quietly discussing the apprentices and how many had survived the Trial of the Grasses.

• Arwen installed the drowner mutagen, which gave him a modest boost to his speed without visibly changing his face.
• Arwen met Paul and the other apprentices, who praised him for killing four drowners, while Aiken challenged his achievement.
• Winston defused the tension, and Arwen joined the apprentices, Vesemir, and Geralt for lunch.
• Vesemir told the apprentices a tragic story about a werewolf and a country woman before sending them to rest ahead of alchemy lessons.
• Geralt and Vesemir watched the sleeping apprentices and discussed how many of them had passed the Trial of the Grasses.

Arwen attended an alchemy lesson at Kaer Morhen taught by Lady Viris, a herbalist sister who filled in for Vesemir. A system notification unlocked Herbal Alchemy for Arwen, and he began processing herbs for the classroom test.

• Arwen noticed that Lady Viris's footsteps were unlike Vesemir's as she entered the alchemy chamber.
• Lady Viris introduced herself, explained the dangers of potion toxins, and began the lesson by asking the apprentices to identify broadleaf vine.
• Arwen received a system notification unlocking Herbal Alchemy at level 1 with 85 experience out of 100.
• Arwen collected a tray of herbs and tools, identified broadleaf vine, white fern, and boneknit grass, then prepared to process them.

Arwen improved his herbal alchemy under Lady Viris’s guidance, gained the Alchemy Perception talent, and brewed a Swallow potion on his first attempt. Lady Viris praised his work but began to point out a flaw.

• Arwen followed Lady Viris’s advice to prepare herbs and raised his herbal alchemy to level two, gaining the Alchemy Perception talent.
• Arwen stayed after the lesson to prepare leftover herbs and earned enough experience to level up.
• Lady Viris invited Arwen to brew a potion and supplied celandine, a drowner brain, and dwarven spirits.
• Arwen used Alchemy Perception to brew a Swallow potion successfully on his first attempt.
• Lady Viris praised Arwen’s potion, asked his name, and began to tell him what he had done wrong.

Arwen learned to identify an impurity in Swallow Potion and heard from Lady Viris how alchemy once devastated Lake Mokva. Viris appointed him her temporary assistant, and Geralt summoned him to the training grounds after dinner, alone.

• Arwen used [Alchemy Perception] to spot drowner fascia in the Swallow Potion, and Lady Viris explained how it weakened the potion.
• Lady Viris told Arwen about the alchemist whose potion wiped out life in Lake Mokva and stressed the need for precise alchemy.
• Arwen asked Lady Viris to teach him, and she offered him a temporary assistant position with occasional pointers.
• Geralt arrived, learned that Arwen had brewed the Swallow Potion, and expressed surprise at his skill.
• Lady Viris told Arwen to meet her the next afternoon, and Geralt asked him to come alone to the training grounds after dinner.

Arwen met Geralt at night for a swordsmanship lesson, where Geralt tested his skills and taught him the School of the Wolf Witcher Swordsmanship. Arwen unlocked the advanced skill and began training under Geralt’s harsh corrections.

• At dinner, Paul and the other apprentices teased Arwen about visiting Lady Viris, then realized they had forgotten their curiosity about her after leaving the stone chamber.
• After the apprentices fell asleep, Arwen sneaked to the training ground, where Geralt was waiting to duel him.
• Geralt overwhelmed Arwen with a series of attacks, corrected his footwork, and judged that his Apprentice Swordsmanship qualified him to learn the School of the Wolf style.
• Geralt demonstrated the School of the Wolf Witcher Swordsmanship, and Arwen unlocked it at level one after watching the movements.
• Arwen reproduced the techniques while Geralt attacked him and ordered him to move faster, dodge, and stay ready to block ambushes.

After Geralt’s extra swordsmanship lesson, Arwen began windmill training with the other apprentices at Kaer Morhen. Aiken completed the dangerous course in twenty-nine seconds, and Vesemir called Arwen to take his turn.

• Arwen earned his first point in Wolf Witcher swordsmanship after three hours of training with Geralt, then learned Geralt had mastered the basics in two run-throughs.
• Arwen returned to the apprentices’ room and slept; the next day, Vesemir and Geralt led the apprentices through their usual training before Vesemir introduced windmill training.
• Geralt demonstrated how to cross The Comb and strike the gem on a windmill dummy to stop its spinning claws.
• Aiken crossed The Comb, took a blow to the shoulder, struck the dummy’s chest gem, and finished the course in twenty-nine seconds.
• Vesemir called Arwen next, and Arwen ignored Aiken’s taunt as he stepped forward.

Arwen impressed Vesemir and the apprentices by completing the Comb’s windmill test in eighteen seconds, but Vesemir then unleashed three pendulums to test his swordsmanship and senses. Arwen remained on the Comb as he tried to adapt, ending with his eyes closed after Vesemir told him to rely on more than sight.

• Arwen recognized the Comb’s posts as matching the School of the Wolf’s footwork and struck the windmill dummy’s magic stone in eighteen seconds.
• The dummy suddenly attacked, and Arwen blocked a pendulum while balancing on a post near the cliff’s edge.
• Vesemir activated a second pendulum, and Arwen dodged and blocked while Geralt confirmed that he had taught Arwen swordsmanship the previous night.
• Vesemir released a third pendulum, which struck Arwen and nearly knocked him off the Comb, while Geralt moved to intervene and Vesemir stopped him.
• Vesemir urged Arwen to use his other senses; Arwen closed his eyes, prompting Vesemir to scold him, and then stepped forward.

Arwen passed the three-pendulum windmill test by striking and cracking its magic stone, earning praise and a chance to advance toward learning the School of the Wolf Witcher Swordsmanship. He went to find Viris for ointment, while Geralt began to suspect that she was a sorceress.

• Arwen used his enhanced senses and speed to evade the pendulums and strike the windmill dummy’s magic stone.
• Vesemir praised Arwen and explained that passing the windmill training would qualify an apprentice to learn the School of the Wolf Witcher Swordsmanship.
• Aiken regained his determination after learning that Arwen had advanced through training, and Vesemir sent Paul to attempt the windmill next.
• Vesemir told Arwen to find ointment for his back, and Geralt revealed that Arwen had become Viris’s alchemy assistant.
• After Arwen left, Geralt asked Vesemir about Viris, who gestured toward Geralt’s wolf-head medallion and led him to suspect she was a sorceress.

Arwen visited Viris to sort herbs in exchange for access to her knowledge and books. When she saw his training injuries, Viris became furious, then prepared a salve to treat him.

• Arwen went to Viris’s room and agreed to sort a crate of herbs for her.
• Arwen admired Viris’s books, and she explained that knowledge came at a price.
• As Arwen bent to reach the crate, his back hurt, and Viris ordered him to remove his shirt.
• Viris saw Arwen’s bruises and welts, assumed they came from an experiment, and angrily demanded it be banned.
• Arwen explained that his injuries came from special training with Vesemir, and Viris took out salve to treat him.

Viris treated Arwen’s wounds and examined his rapid healing before having him sort herbs for alchemy. When she revealed that moonlight grass contained magic, Arwen realized she was a sorceress and wondered why one was at Kaer Morhen.

• Viris applied ointment to Arwen’s wounds and marveled at how quickly his bruises were fading.
• Viris gave Arwen a clean silk apprentice outfit and told him to continue his work while she recorded his mutation data.
• Arwen used Alchemy Perception to identify and sort herbs, earning Herbal Alchemy experience.
• Arwen failed to recognize a silver-leaved herb, and Viris identified it as precious moonlight grass that contained magic.
• Viris drew silver particles from the moonlight grass with magic, leaving Arwen stunned and questioning why a sorceress was at Kaer Morhen.

Arwen discovered that Viris was a sorceress and impressed her with his ability to sense the rhythms and poison in herbs. Though Viris warned that his witcher mutations made him poorly suited to magic, she gave him ten minutes to study a basic meditation scroll, and he mastered it.

• Viris corrected Arwen's herb classification and explained how alchemists sensed the rhythms of their materials.
• Arwen sensed the faint magical aura and hidden toxin in moonlight grass, impressing Viris with his perception.
• Arwen asked to learn magic, but Viris warned that his witcher mutations had greatly reduced his sensitivity to chaos energy.
• Arwen insisted on trying, and Viris gave him ten minutes to study a scroll on basic magical meditation.
• Arwen memorized the scroll and unlocked Basic Meditation at level one.

Viris explained to Vesemir that she had come to Kaer Morhen after seeing Ithlinne's prophecy of the White Frost destroy the world, followed by a mysterious figure with a silver sword who restored life. Vesemir wondered whether the figure was a witcher, but Viris did not know.

• Arwen thanked Viris for teaching him meditation and promised not to share the method.
• Vesemir visited Viris and asked why she had stayed at Kaer Morhen for two months.
• Viris criticized the witchers' cruelty but thanked Vesemir for letting her assist with the Trial of the Grasses, which six of seven apprentices survived.
• Viris recited Ithlinne's prophecy of the White Frost and told Vesemir she had witnessed the world's destruction in a vision at Aretuza Academy.
• Viris described a faceless figure carrying a silver sword who cut through the frost, and Vesemir asked if the figure was a witcher.

Arwen accepted Aiken’s challenge to a duel in the apprentices’ room and used the fight to gain swordsmanship experience. He defeated Aiken by exploiting an opening, leaving his foot on Aiken’s back and his wooden sword at his neck.

• Arwen returned to the apprentices’ room and found Aiken showing off his swordsmanship to the other apprentices.
• Aiken challenged Arwen to a duel, and Arwen accepted as Horton volunteered to referee.
• Aiken attacked aggressively and drove Arwen backward while the apprentices watched and placed bets.
• Arwen studied Aiken’s movements with [Dual Souls] and gained experience in the School of the Wolf Witcher Swordsmanship.
• When Aiken lunged with an exposed thrust, Arwen knocked his sword aside, struck his knee, and brought him down.
• Arwen planted a foot on Aiken’s back and pressed his wooden sword to the back of Aiken’s neck.

After defeating Aiken in a duel, Arwen tried to practice Lady Viris’s meditation method and woke beside an unfamiliar river after apparently taking a potion. A drowner charged him, and he drew a silver sword coated with necrophage oil to face it.

• Arwen defeated Aiken in a wooden-sword duel, then offered to spar with the other apprentices.
• Vesemir watched the apprentices hide their swords and was pleased by what he saw.
• Arwen left the dormitory at midnight to practice meditation alone, honoring his agreement with Viris not to teach it.
• Arwen sensed a strange scent, became dizzy, and woke beside a river with the taste of cursed buttercup in his mouth.
• Arwen recognized a drowner approaching and drew a silver sword coated with necrophage oil.

Arwen fought through the Trial of Dreams while Vesemir and Viris watched, and Geralt brought the injured Blyde to safety. As Arwen faced an abnormal swarm of Drowners, Viris sensed a powerful monster approaching him.

• Arwen killed Drowners with his silver sword and gained strength, stamina, experience, and Drowner Mutagen.
• Vesemir explained to Viris that the apprentices had taken hallucinogens and were confronting their greatest fears during the Trial of Dreams.
• Geralt brought Blyde back after he killed three Drowners, reopened his arm wound, and passed out from fright and exhaustion.
• Viris told Vesemir that Arwen's mental strength made the hallucinogens ineffective, while Vesemir worried over the apprentices.
• Arwen killed more Drowners, but an unusually large swarm surrounded him at the river.
• Vesemir recognized that Arwen's situation had exceeded the trial's limits, and Viris sensed a powerful monster approaching.