Half a year later.
Duchy of Hengfors Somewhere in the wild far away from the city.
Lynn stood in front of a small lake.
He took out several bottles of Superior Tawny Owl Potion and drank them all in one gulp.
After the medicine took effect, he made a snap and clasped his hands together, and then the magic power began to gather in his hands.
As more and more magic power gathered, hot flames appeared on his hands.
The next moment, Lynn pushed his palms forward, and the terrifying flames were like a blooming red lotus, bursting out with astonishing heat, spurting out from his palms and turning into a huge sea of fire, sweeping towards the small lake in front of him.
Tsk tsk tsk!
The lake water began to roll violently, evaporate, and emit a large amount of white gas, filling the surrounding area.
Time gradually passed, but the flames released by Lynn did not diminish at all.
Under this continuous baking, the water in the lake also evaporated at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealing the stones at the bottom of the lake.
Eventually, all the lake water evaporated, leaving only a large pit that was scorched black by the high temperature.
Lynn looked at the scene in front of him with satisfaction.
Although his face was covered with sweat, his heart was still full of joy and excitement.
This is the result of his several months of studying at the Aretuza Academy.
His previous guess was correct. After he learned the magic theory knowledge related to the major Signs, he got tips that could unlock the limit of Signs and further improve the level of Signs.
Of course, he did not hesitate to upgrade Signs's level, which raised his Signs level from master level to grandmaster level.
The power and range of the Grandmaster level Signs are more than one level higher than the Master level, just like the difference between the Master level and the Master level, and the Master level and the Master level.
The master-level Signs is a small flame at best, and it is difficult to even light firewood.
The proficient level Signs can emit decent flames, but its power is still not up to par.
The power of the master level Signs is considerable, but few demon hunters have reached the master level in swordsmanship and Signs.
As for the Grandmaster-level Signs, a realm that no demon hunter has ever set foot on, its power and range are even more terrifying. Even if Lynn's other specialty bonuses are not taken into account, the released Igni Sign can also melt weapons and armor.
The range of Quen Sign can reach hundreds of meters, which is enough to block the group charge of heavy cavalry troops.
What's even more terrifying is that the power of the master-level Signs has doubled, but the magic power consumed has decreased.
For example, the Igni Sign he released just now in order to dry up a small lake consumed only one-third of the magic power.
Even if you drank a few bottles of Superior Tawny Owl before, this energy saving is quite considerable.
More importantly, for such a range of "magic", it takes less time to charge than the orthodox magic of a warlock.
In almost half the time, he was ready to be released.
Moreover, he discovered that after Signs reached the Grandmaster level, all of his Signs effects were no longer affected by the magic-forbidden effects of Dimeritium and his own "Divine Chosen Champion" title.
This also means that if he activates the effect of the title, the opponent cannot use magic, but he can release Signs at will.
If the opponent wants to use Dimeritium against him, it will be useless.
At the end, he did a small and inconspicuous thing.
In the entire Duchy of Hengfors, 20,000 troops were raised.
Of course, the 20,000 troops are not standing troops, but militia.
However, compared to other countries that only have hasty training before going to war, or even recruit peasant soldiers to go to the battlefield without training, they have to set aside one day a week to assemble and train.
Of course, according to the standards of this era, this training intensity can actually be regarded as a regular army.
Another half year passed like this.
On this day, the nobles of Isparaden suddenly discovered that rumors began to spread in their own territory that the pass of Kestrel Gap had fallen.
At first, the nobles thought it was a rumor.
So they ordered a ban on spreading such rumors.
But as a result, instead of disappearing, the rumor continued to spread like wildfire.
The nobles, who felt bad, finally sent spies to Kestrel Gap.
Not long after, the spies who went to investigate came back and brought back news that shocked them.
Kestrel Gap has indeed fallen, and the black and golden double-headed eagle flag of Grand Duke Augustus is erected on the pass.
The nobles who did not expect that Kestrel Gap would actually fall quickly assembled an army and attacked Kestrel Gap in a mighty manner.
When they arrived outside Kestrel Gap, they sent a team of scouts to the pass.
Then, an arrow with a letter tied to it shot down from the pass and pierced the ground.
The team of scouts were frightened and left quickly.
And took the arrow with the letter tied to it and delivered it to the nobles.
The content of the letter is:
If they are willing to surrender, they can take only a small number of followers and go to the pass to surrender.
By doing so, they can still retain their title and half of their territory.
If they don't want to, then let's have a decisive battle the next day and let our strength speak for itself.
"Keep half of the territory? Even though you said it was all before."
In the past two years, the nobles of Isparaden have all taken turns stationed at Caed Dhu Fort, and naturally they have all received the surrender letter left by Letho when he sneaked into the pass.
But the conditions given to them by Kovir at that time were to ensure the integrity of their title and territory.
Now, only half of the territory is reserved.
Half of it was directly deducted.
However, even with such harsh conditions, some of the nobles still wavered.
After all, the strength of the Kovir army was somewhat beyond their expectations.
Originally, in order to prevent the Kovir army from attacking, they had left five nobles and five thousand soldiers in Kestrel Gap.
Logically speaking, even if faced with the siege of tens of thousands of troops and a pass guarded by five thousand soldiers, it would not be possible for it to be captured without even sending out a message for help.
But Kovir Army did this.
Doesn't this mean that the Kovir army attacking this time is extraordinary?
Then if they insist on fighting against it, won't they be hitting a stone with an egg?
Little did they know that the five nobles stationed in the pass happened to be the same nobles who expressed their loyalty to Lynn.
That's why Lynn gathered an army and captured Kestrel Gap without any effort.
The five nobles and their respective private soldiers were also in the pass at this time.
It's just that they didn't fly their flag.
Although some nobles believe that they should agree to the conditions offered by Lynn.
But the remaining nobles felt that they should fight to the death with the Kovir army.
The reason is also very simple.
They believe that even if the Kovir army takes the pass, it will definitely suffer a lot of casualties, and it is absolutely impossible to have much military strength left.
They still have a chance to win.
Since there were only a few nobles who felt that they should surrender, they finally decided to go to war the next day.
Time soon came to the next day.
The two armies deployed on a plain far away from the pass.
When the noble coalition forces saw that the Kovir army on the opposite side only had 500 cavalry, they couldn't help but feel a surge in confidence.
You know, even though they sent troops here, due to haste, they only gathered 10,000 people.
But these ten thousand people were much more than the five hundred cavalry.
One mouthful of saliva can flood the other side.
How can we lose?
Even last night, those nobles who thought they should surrender no longer mentioned surrender at this time.
But just when the nobles were about to give the order to attack, they saw the opponent put down the flag, turned around and ran away.
The nobles were surprised at first, and then overjoyed.
"Hurry up and chase, don't let the enemy escape!"
The soldiers also became excited.
They know that chasing a fleeing enemy carries the least risk.
So Isparaden's noble coalition forces began to charge regardless of their formation.
Everyone strives to take the lead, fearing that they will fall behind others.
Especially those who recruited peasant soldiers.
You must know that civilians in this era are obliged to provide military services to the nobles, but the nobles only need to take care of the food and will not even pay wages.
Therefore, the enthusiasm of civilians to participate in the war will naturally not be too high.
This is also the reason why recruiting peasant soldiers will easily collapse once the war goes wrong.
But if it is a smooth battle, especially a task such as chasing enemy soldiers, the morale of recruiting peasant soldiers will become particularly high.
Because no matter what you can grab, it belongs to you.
However, no one noticed that a small group of nobles who also supported the decisive battle with the Kovir army last night restrained their subordinates and prevented them from leaving their formation, as if they had discussed it in advance.
And he always deliberately walked slowly and fell at the back of the team.
The Kovir army ran very fast.
They only wore light leather armor, and in order to run more easily, they first threw away the flag, then the lances and sabers.
The coalition of nobles who followed behind hurriedly grabbed things, and some soldiers even fought over the spoils of war.
The chaos spread throughout the army, so much so that the nobles had to chop off several heads to finally stop the riot.
But by this time, the Kovir army had already run far away.
"Let the cavalry stop them."
The nobles thought for a while and decided to let the cavalry separate from the infantry and pursue it alone.
Autonomous Dominion of Eszpádén also has cavalry, but the cost of raising cavalry is too much.
Therefore, even the entire coalition of nobles only had a few hundred cavalrymen together.
Moreover, the cavalry of the aristocratic coalition was extremely poorly armed. They did not have lances specifically for cavalry. They still used infantry spears, and their armor coverage was not good.
But now we are chasing the enemy, so it shouldn't be a big problem.
As a result, the cavalry of the noble coalition broke away from the army and pursued them directly.
Upon discovering that the enemy cavalry was pursuing them, Kovir troops also accelerated their escape.
Soon, together with the cavalry of the noble coalition, they disappeared from sight.
The nobles roared and told the infantry to speed up, and the soldiers gritted their teeth and ran.
Finally, after running for a while, a forest came into their sight.
"Forest?"
"Where is the Kovir army? Where is our cavalry?"
"Judging from the messy horse hoof prints on the ground, it must have been chased into the forest."
"It won't be too late, let's hurry up and follow."
"No, wait a minute, something's wrong."
Quiet.
It's really too quiet.
Moreover, this place looks too much like an ambush.
At this moment, screams suddenly sounded.
The nobles were shocked.
Then they saw an incredible scene.
From an unknown moment, some of the friendly troops who had deliberately fallen to the end of the team actually launched an attack on them.
"You bastards, are you crazy? You are attacking friendly forces!"
However, the only answer he received was the arrow that was shot.
At the same time, the Kovir army also came out of the forest.
And it's not five hundred, but twenty thousand.
Although only 3,000 of the 20,000 soldiers are standing troops, the rest are militiamen who only train once a week.
But even if it is just a militia, in terms of training and fighting will, it is much better than the peasant soldiers recruited by the noble alliance.
Because Lynn's militiamen here are well paid.
The Kovir army, which surged out like a tidal wave, slammed into the front of the aristocratic alliance that was out of formation and at a loss. The aristocratic alliance was knocked to pieces before they could even form a team.
Those conscripted peasant soldiers who had been brought here to make up the numbers, when they saw this situation, they immediately dropped their weapons and ran away.
As long as one escapes, there will be a second and a third...
Then, they were defeated.
After this battle, most of Isparaden's nobles and their private soldiers were wiped out.
Only those nobles who had secretly taken refuge with Lynn were left.
In this way, Autonomous Dominion of Eszpádén, which had caused headaches to all Kovir kings in the past, completely fell into the hands of Lynn.
And it's not just superficial allegiance, but actual control of most of the land.
After Autonomous Dominion of Eszpádén effectively became the property of Lynn, the non-human race that the Kovir caravan secretly transferred from the territory of Kingdom of Kaedwen no longer needed to be sent to Novigrad.
Autonomous Dominion of Eszpádén is a vast land with few people, and there is plenty of land to accommodate these non-human races.
Time passes quickly.
In this way, several years passed.
The year 1263 came.
That is the year when First Northern War broke out in the original plot.
Elder Sea Keep, Kaer Morhen's training ground.
A group of young apprentices are sweating and undergoing arduous training.
"Master Lynn is here."
I don't know who shouted, and the apprentices stopped and looked at the black-haired young man passing by outside the training ground with admiring eyes.
The black-haired young man also waved to greet them.
Without this adult, they, who had become orphans for various reasons, would have died long ago.
While saving them, this adult also gave them a new life in which they could gain something as long as they were willing to work hard.
For their predecessors, becoming a demon hunter not only meant that they could gain powerful power, but also gain a status that was equivalent to that of a knight.
In this feudal and backward era, how difficult is it for a commoner to achieve a class leap?
It is not easy for a native farmer to settle down in the city, let alone become a knight.
Why are the poems of bards about people becoming knights from common people so popular?
This is because there are too few such examples in reality.
But now, this gentleman has generously given them such an opportunity.
Previously, Lynn gave each apprentice two opportunities to choose because Improved Trial of the Grasses did not have a 100% success rate.
After all, most of these children were under ten years old when they began to receive physical training from demon hunters, and by the time they were about to officially undergo Improved Trial of the Grasses, they would be almost fourteen or fifteen years old, and their minds and thinking abilities were different from before.
If they regret it, Lynn allows them to go back on their word.
Even if they don't become witchers, based on the training they received in Kaer Morhen, they are enough to be called elites.
After all, anyone may fail you, but only your efforts will not.