A new Place of Power

Suddenly, an earthquake-like tremor came from the distance.

Witt had only just relaxed, but he tensed up again and drew the silver sword from his back. While the Tawny Owl was still in effect, he prepared for another fight.

Even Geralt went on full alert.

But after a long time passed without anything happening, Witt and Geralt finally felt their way forward.

They discovered that the noise had come from the collapse of an elven ruin right beside the cave. Their earlier battle with the Idr Giant Centipede might have been what finally destroyed the already tottering structure.

Geralt breathed a sigh of relief and was about to mock Witt for being overly cautious when the School of the Wolf medallions on their chests suddenly began to tremble.

"There are magical fluctuations nearby," Witt said.

The two looked around and finally spotted a glimmer of white light beneath the collapsed elven ruins.

Just then, the Cat Potion they had drunk earlier wore off, making the white light particularly dazzling to their eyes.

"What's that? A portal?" Geralt asked.

Witt shook his head. The flame rune on his left forearm had shown no reaction, and he did not know what was there either.

"Let's take a look."

The two tidied up the battlefield and burned the Idr Giant Centipede's corpse, then headed toward the place where the white light shone.

Only when he stepped onto the elven ruins again did Witt discover that the passage, originally blocked by rubble, had been reopened by the tremor. The white light was coming from beneath the ruins.

Dense air elemental power flowed up from within, gradually filling the vast underground space. Witt realized what was inside.

He also understood why the flame rune had not reacted. The air here was saturated with pure air elemental power, so naturally, the flame rune could not sense anything.

"It's a Place of Power," Witt told Geralt, who came up behind him, then started to head down.

Geralt immediately raised a hand to stop Witt. "Then wait until I've gone in and taken a look first."

"What's wrong?" Witt asked, a little curious.

"Have you forgotten last time? At the Place of Power beneath the Circle of Elements, you nearly set the whole forest on fire!" Geralt said seriously.

"This one is an air-element Place of Power. That's the elemental power used to cast the Aard Sign," Witt explained with a smile.

"Is it?" Geralt pretended to consider it. He certainly did not remember Vesemir teaching them any of this.

"Yes..." Witt guessed that Geralt must have slept through that lesson of Vesemir's, so he told him:

"Fire elemental power is the most violent and chaotic of the four elemental powers that make up chaos magic. That's why I lost control back then. The other elemental powers are much gentler by comparison. The sorceress apprentices at Aretuza start learning magic through air elemental power, while fire elemental power is usually only permitted once they become full-fledged sorceresses."

"Oh, oh... I see. This is from that book..." Geralt stroked the beard growing on his chin and murmured thoughtfully.

"An Invitation to Magic, by the sorceress Annabelle Laufen. It's an introductory text on magic and runes, not particularly difficult to read. Haven't you read it, Geralt?"

"Of... of course I have! It was the first book I ever read!" Geralt raised his voice for no apparent reason.

"All right. Shall we go in, then?" Witt waved a hand with a smile.

"Fine, let's go," Geralt muttered as he walked through the entrance.

Inside the empty, lofty building, a stone pillar roughly as tall as a person stood in the very center of the floor, with a circular hollow in it.

An ancient elven rune representing the air element floated within the circular opening, constantly releasing white air elemental power.

The instant Witt stepped inside, a fierce gale swept through the building.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The gale surged from the air elemental rune, blowing continuously toward Witt. The Ring of Favor on his left hand began to glimmer as well.

Standing in front of him, Geralt could barely keep his eyes open against the gale's breath.

Witt, meanwhile, was lifted by this pure, disorderly gale and slowly began to rise off the ground.

Just as the gale was about to lift Witt to the lofty building's ceiling, Geralt's voice came from below. "Hey! Witt!"

Only then had Geralt adjusted to the gale sweeping through the entire room, and he finally noticed that Witt was actually flying.

The shout roused Witt, who had closed his eyes to feel the magic. Only then did he discover just how high up he was-more than ten meters above the ground.

Witt could not help panicking a little. It was not as though he did not know the "law" that a fall of two or three meters could kill a witcher. This height was enough to kill him several times over.

Seeing Witt's figure begin to wobble overhead, Geralt was frantic. He ran directly beneath him, actually intending to catch Witt with his bare hands.

Just as Witt was about to fall, something-the storm or something else-seemed to offer him a little guidance. The Ring of Favor's light also grew increasingly bright, drawing Witt's attention, as though it were reminding its master.

With a thought, Witt slowly raised his left hand. At this movement, the once-disorderly gale gradually quieted.

It became a gentle breeze that supported his back, slowly lowering Witt from above until his feet rested firmly on the ground.

Then, with a whistle, the breeze slowly flowed into Witt's left forearm, inscribing an air elemental rune beneath the flame rune like a tattoo.

"Looks like I worried about you for nothing." Geralt lowered his hands with a smile, happy that Witt was safe and sound.

"I'm a witcher who's going to become a master of Signs. How could a tiny difficulty like that stop me?"

With his strength further enhanced, Witt could not help feeling a little full of himself.

"Keep showing off, you little brat. You looked scared to death up there to me. Hahaha!"

"Hehe, you saw right through me." Witt scratched his head sheepishly.

Then he immediately changed the subject. "We need to tell Vesemir and the others about this place. Places of Power are among the few places that can make witchers stronger."

"Oh, right. I was so busy worrying about you that I haven't absorbed any myself." Realization dawned on Geralt's face. He turned and touched the stone pillar as he had last time, absorbing some air elemental power.

As for Witt, repeatedly absorbing the elemental power of the same Place of Power could not increase his strength again.

The last time he had absorbed power from that fire-element Place of Power, it had only been to replenish the chaos magic within him, which had been emptied when he lost control.

Under the protection of the relatively gentle air element and the Ring of Favor, Witt had not lost control and released the chaos magic within him this time, so there was no need to replenish it.