Lynx Inn, La Valette's fief, northern area. Some time had passed since the encounter with Gaunter O'Dimm.

A black-haired witcher flung the door open and went straight to a round table in front of the counter. "One apple cider, please!" He snapped his fingers at the curvaceous bartender and took a seat beside the veteran witchers. Roy grabbed the stewed meat in front of him and wolfed it down.

"Stop eating and tell me what happened to the request." Letho took a swig of dwarven liquor. The other witchers and a scrawny kid looked at him curiously.

"I almost got myself killed saving Aryan. I wasn't gonna leave without a grand reward. I wouldn't let the baron skimp on this one!" Roy winked at his fellow witchers and wolfed down a brisket the size of a fist. He then tossed a bag of money onto the table. "I got the reward as promised."

The coins rattled in the bag, and the witcher in the grey cape's eyes hone. He quickly counted the coins, but his excitement went away immediately. "A hundred orens. This is the great wealth the baron of La Valette promised us? Does he think we're beggars?"

"This is not the full amount, of course. The baron might be a temperamental jerk who looks down on civilians, but he's every bit as generous as Foltest is. I saved his son, after all." Roy chomped on the beef and grinned toothily. He paid for the services. Of course I'm taking as much as I can.

After settling all the problems for Ignatius, Foltest, and Baron La Valette, Roy had accumulated quite a good sum of wealth. He had almost two thousand orens left even after spending a lot of their money on their gear back in Vizima.

"This is for the alcohol. I'll be keeping the rest of the money. We'll need the money in Novigrad," Roy said.

Letho fell into his thoughts. Auckes let out an exaggerated sigh, a hint of complaint flashing in his eyes.

I shouldn't try to haggle with him, or he might take all the money. He quickly held the bag and muttered, "You're paying for dinner, Roy."

"Can you not be so obsessed with money?" Serrit glared at Auckes and took the money bag from him. He tucked it away and turned to the young witcher. "I need you to explain yourself. You went missing for almost an hour in the palace, and when you showed up again, Aryan woke up at almost the same time. What happened during that hour?"

Letho looked at him coolly and wiped the wine off the corner of his lips. "If you're our companion, then you should never keep everything to yourself, kid."

Roy pursed his lips.

"You don't have to worry about us." Felix took his sunglasses off and looked at Roy. "I can protect Carl well enough." He patted the boy's head. "And I owe you guys big time. If I drag this out too long, it'll affect my work."

"Fine." Roy had no choice but to tell him, though he was moved that his companions cared about him so much. "I'll tell you what happened, but don't worry too much about it. The danger has passed."

The inn's magical lamp bathed the space with a warm light, and the bard played on his lute. As music started to fill the air, the young witcher recounted that dangerous encounter with the Master of Mirrors.

"I was gone for an hour because someone named Gaunter O'Dimm dragged me into a game. The first time I met him was way back in Aldersberg"

Roy told them about all the encounters with Gaunter O'Dimm. He was telling the truth most of the time, only omitting his level up and cutting his hand off. He also downplayed the fierce battle too. Since Gaunter O'Dimm lost the bet, he could never approach the people close to Roy, so there was no need to keep it a secret.

***

"Just when I had less than thirty seconds left, I crushed the wall with Aard, and the water filled the fountain up. Fortunately for me, I caught the Master of Mirrors thanks to the reflection in the water. I won," Roy said, still looking a bit fearful.

This was a bloody lesson for him. He realized he should never rely too much on the knowledge of this world he had. Battles were ever-changing. "As promised, he's gone, and we won't have to worry about the guy anymore."

Roy told Louisa a different story, however. He said a creature called a hym was behind this.

Letho, Auckes, Serrit, Felix, and Carl fell into silence. Everyone's eyes were shining, while Carl's jaw dropped. It felt like he just heard a bedtime story where a knight went on a quest to defeat an evil dragon. The Master of Mirrors was the dragon, while Roy of the Viper School was the knight who defeated it and saved humanity.

"Are you sure it wasn't a dream, kid?"

"Maybe. Maybe a powerful entity created a dream world and invited me to play with it. And I saved Aryan in the process." Roy looked at the red rune on his right wrist. It looked like a ball of strings made by two halves of thread entangled together. Still looks weird to me. It was a brand and a protective barrier that would last for ten years.

"No way it's a dream." Auckes rubbed his chin and processed what he just heard. "The guy can grant any wish and take their soul in return? He stops time just by waving his hand, and he can cross dimensions? That's even crazier than what gods can do."

"He's probably not a god," Serrit disagreed. He looked at the young witcher. "I think I heard about it somewhere. It's probably something that invaded our world after the Conjunction of the Spheres. It possesses a lot of powerful abilities." He knocked on Roy's abs and asked, "You came out of a bet with something like that alive? And your ribs are healed? How'd that happen? Did you suddenly get invincible?"

"No, because I'm smart." Roy took a swig of the cider and poked his temples. He joked, "And cats have nine lives thanks to their affinity with chaos energy. I'm not as great as cats, but I have two lives. Ask Letho about it."

"You're just lucky you got out alive!" Letho doused his joy. He felt weirdly exhausted after leaving the castle. Now that he knew what happened, he realized it must have been the aftereffects of Gaunter's spells. I didn't even know I was under someone's spell. Calling this despair is an understatement.

"Calling its name and talking about him might draw his attention. We need to play this safe. From now on, nobody is allowed to say its name," he said solemnly.

The air got grim all of a sudden. The witchers looked around. They realized the danger was far more threatening than they could imagine, and they wondered what they should do next.

Auckes broke the silence and raised a toast to Roy. "Why the long faces, mates? Don't ruin the mood. Not like we haven't run into any danger before. Who cares what it is or how powerful it is? Roy won and came out alive. That calls for a celebration. Let's raise a toast to the victor!"

Everyone heaved a sigh and shed their grim looks. They raised their mugs.

"And me!" Carl stood on his tiptoe and raised his mug too. It was blueberry juice, of course.

"Meow!" Gryphon stuck its head out and mewed.

The witchers, an apprentice, and a cat raised a toast. Drinks flew everywhere, and the scent of alcohol wafted in the air. It swept away their grim feeling.

"Let's put this case to rest," Letho said. "Aryan's awake, and Lady Louisa should release the troupe members as promised. They'll be getting their recompense too."

"On the way," Roy said. "We'll be getting the news tomorrow afternoon at most. And we should be leaving soon. I'm fully healed. No need to stay around anymore."

Roy wondered how the baron and Louisa would pay for the damages they caused to civilians. Their greed and ego destroyed the troupe, and they lost two members forever: Collins and Amos. Wonder how that's gonna work out. Roy looked ahead coldly. Perhaps they'll need my help.

***

Felix and the other witchers took Carl to a training ground after the little celebration. They were bored. Letho, Serrit, and Auckes had lived a long life. Training an apprentice was a fun thing for them. They volunteered to teach the kid alongside Felix. The four of them were whipping the boy into shape.

Roy used to train under Letho, and it was a grueling period. Letho forced him to work to his full potential. He could still remember the training hell like it was yesterday. Roy had gotten his basics down after a year of training. He was more than capable of handling himself in some situations.

The Viper School witchers let him do whatever he wanted. Most of the time, he would ask them to train him himself. Carl was going through the same hell he did, only worse. Four of them at the same time. That's gonna be harsh. Roy sympathized with him for a moment and happily went to the stable behind the inn.

He refilled the trough with some peas and patted Wilt's mane, then he took Gryphon out of his hoodie. It was wobbling and mewing from the alcohol it had. Roy held it in his arms and patted the cat. He had been neglecting them lately, but the critters had been loyal to him all this time. He didn't have to stay with them all the time, but they would always be kind to him.

He played with them for a while and sat on the stable's hay. The young witcher took out a journal and recorded his trip in the baron's land. He wrote down the case from start to finish, the careless mistakes he made during the investigation, the analysis he made for every decision, the mistakes he made in the maze and the battles in there, as well as Gaunter's details.

'23rd of October, year 1261. La Valette's land. Aryan saw his mother having an affair with the king. Traumatized by the events, he fell for the Master of Mirror's promise and was trapped in a dream. Gaunter O'Dimm is something like a demon? God? It's almost omnipotent, but it's restricted by the contract when it comes to soultaking Has a degree of freedom when it comes to certain stuff, like killing someone.'

Roy categorized Gaunter as a relict. It was more powerful than The Unseen Elder, the leader of higher vampires. After Roy was done with the records, he took out the loot he got from the mazethe details of the Manticore School.

Roy went through it slowly. There was a reason he picked Manticore School's recipe as his reward. Roy had a rough idea where the Wolf School, Bear School, and Griffin School were. Felix from the Cat School was traveling with them, so he could probably exchange the formula down the line.

The Manticore School was located in Zerrikania, east of Blue Mountain. He had no idea how to get there, making it impossible for him to get the formula. Gaunter saved him a lot of time. "Manticore School's Trial of the Grasses formula: green, blue, and red mutagens Mother's Tears, Wildrye Juice, Witch's Herb. It's made up of different things from the Viper School's potion. No need for a griffin mutagen. Good, Gryphon is safe."

"Meow, meow?" Gryphon stuck its head out and rested on its master's shoulder, looking around curiously.

Manticore school's potion was a lot different from the Viper School's. Green mutagen took up a large part of the ratio. Red and blue mutagens took up a lot less of the ratio. The ratio was about six to one to one. A trial that increases Constitution and decoction tolerance, huh?

Roy's Constitution would rise if he could take the trials, and he could ingest more decoctions at one go as well. The problem was he had to make it through. Nobody knew how dangerous a second trial would be.

"Once I get the Cat School's formula from Felix, I'll compare them and prepare for one. Then I'll fill my EXP bar and wait for the next Full Recovery."

There were some special steps in the Manticore School's trial as well. The aspirant must make a special inspiration potion made up of wolfsbane, the leaves of beggarticks blossom, and a few hallucinogenic herbs. They would then have to drink it, and then they would come face to face with their deepest desires.

The aspirants would keep doing it and increase the dosage every time to train their mind and soul. Some of them emerged stronger, but some became addicts. Yep. Just like the Merten guy who defected to Lebioda. "They're the best decoction makers, but they're tortured by the same addiction. That's one hell of a cautionary tale."

Once Roy sorted out the Manticore School stuff, he turned his attention to the strengthening procedure of the Elder Blood. He treated this carefully. The procedure Gaunter found was no orthodox 'strengthening.' He came up with another way. This procedure would use different potions to stimulate it, making it fight and destroy any new bloodline that would take its place. In short, the Elder Blood would get stronger through battling other bloodlines.

However, since it was the top bloodline in the witcher world, not everything could fire it up. Roy would need the blood of a higher vampire, a dragon, and a powerful sorcerer, then he would need to gather a few herbs. He would have to go through a grueling process to make a potion that could motivate the Elder Blood to fight. It wasn't life-threatening, but it would put Roy in a world of pain.

Aretuza would have the sorcerer he needed. Roy could ask Coral for help, but dragons and higher vampires were beyond him at the moment. "This is more than enough for now. I'll come up with a plan down the line."

Still, he managed to find a way to strengthen the Elder Blood, and most importantly, he did not have to hurt Ciri for that.

***

Finally, it was time to power himself up. Roy concentrated on the character sheet. After the trial with Gaunter, Roy finally leveled up. 'Level 7 Witcher (360/4500).

Main Stat (Will): 12.5 13.5

Remaining stat point: 1. Remaining skill point: 1.'

Roy allocated the stat point to his main stat.

'Will: 13.5 14.5.'

He felt a weird dizzy feeling emerge from his soul. He spaced out a little and lost himself. When he regained his focus, he heard the sound of a needle popping a balloon, as if he broke through some barrier. His Will had changed his body somehow. Roy closed his eyes and tried to feel it, but he felt nothing.

The young witcher moved his gaze downward and allocated the skill point to Meditation.

'Meditation: Level 5 Level 6

(A full Meditation cycle grants one use of Activate. Activate heals you for (20% 30%) of HP and Mana.)

Constitution: 12 12.5

HP: 160 165

Spirit: 14 14.5

Mana: 180 185.'

Roy had been growing rapidly after the trial. His Strength, Dexterity, and Perception grew a little.

'Strength: 9.3 10

Dexterity: 10 10.6

Perception: 8 9

***

"Whew" A surge of warmth traveled through his body. The young witcher's face was getting a little red. It felt great to get stronger little by little. His Will and Spirit had surpassed all his companions, including Felix. This was probably another path witchers could take.

"No need to be obsessed with a particular school. All I have to do is get stronger." He made up his mind and calmed down, then he grabbed a blade out of his inventory space.

'Gwyhyr

(You have a Brewess' arm in your inventory space and a ladle made out of unknown metal. Gwyhyr shall now be strengthened

Requires higher Constitution. Strengthening canceled.

Thanks to your powerful Will, Gwyhyr has gained another effect in this powerup.)

Type: Steel sword

Components: Dark iron ingot, magma, meteorite ore, leather, pine wood, powdered monster leather.

Specs: Weighs 3.06 pounds, hilt measures at 9.3 inches, blade measures at 36 inches.

Effect:

Circulation, Ignite, Painful Strike, Teleport

Suppression (New): Your Will can interfere with reality now. Every time you swing Gwyhyr, your will of massacre will interfere with your enemy's body and soul. Any enemy with a lower Will than you will be suppressed. Their stats will receive a small debuff, and their focus will be drained that much faster. They will get distracted easily and fall into emotions of anxiety, fear, and terror. Suppression ignores all defenses and gets stronger with every passing moment.'

***

Roy sighed regrettably. "I wonder what Brewess' arm and the ladle are gonna add to the sword." It's a pity I need more Constitution. "Suppression is okay, I guess. A continuous debuff." Some sort of domain or something? Roy thought, This has its pros and cons. Most battles won't last too long, especially a battle between swordsmen. It'll be done in mostly ten seconds. Suppression will probably need more time to take effect, but the battle will have ended by then.

However, if I run into some troublesome monsters or a skirmish, I'll gain more advantage the longer the battle lasts. "This is some late-game skill."

***

He tucked the blade away and pulled out a crimson sword.

'The Lake Lady's SwordAerondight

(Aerondight has received its second powerup. Thanks to your powerful Will, it now gains another effect.)

Type: Silver sword

Components: Tearstone, dark iron ingot, cured draconid leather, powdered monster tissue, nymph blood, silver ingot.

Specs: Weighs 6.06 pounds, hilt measures at 11 inches, blade measures at 40 inches.

Effects:

Mana Reduction, Aqua Blessing, Aqua Summoning, Teleport.

Suppression (New).'

"Yep." Roy caressed the blade. "Suppression works better with silver swords. It'll shine in battles with monsters."

***

'Gabriel

(Gabriel was a rudimentary hand crossbow at first. It has dramatically changed after its fourth powerup. Now it's as good as any great weapon. Thanks to your powerful Will, it now gains a new effect.)

Type: Hand crossbow

Components: Mulberry wood, tendon, hemp, mana.

Specs: Weighs (7 8) pounds, measures at (0.7 0.73) meters, draw strength (50 60) pounds, effective range (64 73) meters.

Effects:

Simplify, Guided Arrows, Blink

Stun Bolt (New): Fills your bolts with willpower. If your enemy's Will is lower than yours, they will be stunned for 0.1 second. This effect ignores any defenses, but it consumes a lot of focus.'

Roy's eyes widened in shock. The new effect wasn't weak at all. In fact, it was incredibly powerful. Thanks to Simplify, there was only a 0.4 second lag between each shot. If the enemy was stunned by every shot, there was no way they could win any battle.

He could see it in his mind. They were in front of a wooden bridge in a village. Letho, Auckes, and Serrit were attacking a guardian troll in front, swinging their blades and casting their signs, while he kept firing bolts.

The troll would try to hit the Vipers, but it would keep trembling as if it had an episode of fits. In the end, it fell to its death, covered in wounds and bolts. Not once did it manage to land a hit.

Stun Bolts, huh? Gonna be great in team battles. I don't even have to bother with Blink and Fear if we're targeting a sorcerer that's casting a spell. Guided Arrows, Stun Bolts, and continuous shooting thanks to Simplify

I can break through most defenses in two blows and kill my target in three. And I get to stop their spells too? "What am I? An anti-sorcerer?"

Roy held his excitement down and tested his weapon somewhere near the stable. He practiced all five starting stances for his swordplay. Since his companions were not around, he had no idea how effective Suppression was.

His marksmanship was more important at the moment. Let's see how many Stun Bolts I can fire at one time. He shot a few bolts, and they arced across the sky. A row of shivering bolts were buried in the wooden stake beside the stable.

About eight bolts later, Roy started feeling weak in his body. His mind was starting to get jumbled up too, and he couldn't stop it. He got dizzy after ten bolts, and he couldn't even focus. At that point, he lost most of his battle power.

Roy kept on with regular marksmanship training after that. Ten minutes later, the symptoms started to fade, and he made a full recovery in thirty minutes.

"So Stun Bolts are supposed to be used in short bursts. Eight bolts should be enough to deal with most emergencies," Roy said. "And I should gain more uses as my Will grows." So now I have Suppression for melee and Stun Bolts for ranged battles. It's a good powerup. It's time to head for Novigrad and wait for a reply from Geralt. And I wanna see if I can get the Cat School's trial formula from Felix.

***

***