10 Don't Test Me, Bruh, Don't Test Me

Geralt moved towards the arena's barricade and hopped over it into the fighting ring. He drew his sword as he slowly approached the Endrega. The monster, having finally noticed his presence, immediately began to charge at Geralt.

      Geralt cast the Quen sign and he was quickly enveloped by a pale sheen covering his entire body. Using his upright nature as a natural advantage over the creature, he jumped just high enough to allow the Endrega to pass beneath him.

     After landing behind it, Geralt spun directly to the right and brought his sword all the way around and slashed into one of the Endrega's legs.

     The Endrega let out a horrible screech, as black-ish fluid leaked from its wounded leg. Being thoroughly infuriated and having reacquired its target, the Endrega sent a pincer out snapping at Geralt's thighs.

     Geralt ignored the incoming blow, moved closer to the Endrega, and raised his sword up with both hands and the blade pointing downwards. 

     Bringing the blade straight down with all his might, the sword pierced through the Endrega's head just a fraction of a second after the Endrega's pincer broke through Geralt's Quen shield and sliced a chunk of his thigh away.

      Geralt fell to his knees grimacing from the pain of his injury. The Endrega was dead and so Geralt had passed but that victory hadn't come without a cost.

     "Well, you passed but, as I'd already told you, your signs aren't at the level of being able to use them to take a blow head on. If you had listened to me, you wouldn't be in this situation. As for your performance, well your footwork wasn't bad but could use some improvement and your reactions were spot on, even if your tactics were a bit on the basic side.

     "Lorkin, take Geralt to the mages and see if they can do something about that injury. It looks pretty nasty. You're lucky it missed the artery, boy, or else there wouldn't even be time to get you there." Vesemir chided him, as he turned away and refocused on the remaining trainees.

     "Alright, Jorgen, your turn."

      Jorgen had been a bit surprised, after seeing Geralt being injured by the Endrega, but he quickly composed himself and jumped into the ring. Dorden then released another Endrega that quickly locked on to Jorgen's position and began charging towards him.

     Halfway through its charge, it jumped at Jorgen with frightening speed. Not having time to react effectively, all he could do was fall to the ground and roll out of the way.

     Jumping back onto his feet, Jorgen sidestepped the Endrega's next attack and swiped at its tail. The Endrega stalled just long enough for Jorgen to cast Igni and set the monster aflame.

     The monster was clearly not liking the temperature adjustment and began bringing its legs in as it writhed in pain. This, of course, offered Jorgen just the opening he needed to plunge his sword through the Endrega's head.

     Keeping his sword inside of its head as he twisted it in for good measure, Jorgen placed one foot on its thrashing tail as it flailed about for the last few seconds of its life. Finally, the Endrega had died and Jorgen removed his sword, wiped it clean, and headed back to his seat.

     "Very good, Jorgen! Obviously, you had the benefit of watching Geralt's battle first but learning from other's experience is also a valuable characteristic for witchers to possess. You saw that Quen wasn't all that effective and chose a more appropriate sign.

     "Your footwork wasn't what I'd call impeccable so keep working on it and your reactions were just a tad bit on the slow side, so work on that as well.

     "Troy, you're up and no sorceries. This is a witcher trial not a sorcerer trail. If you want to test yourself in that field, then Nazad can work something out for you. As long as you're doing witcher training with us, you'll stick to signs and swordsmanship, understood?"

     "Understood!" Troy responded, as he crossed the barricade and into the fighting ring.

     The next Endrega Worker was released and Troy kept his eyes focused intently on the monster's every movement. He watched as the monster began running towards him and gauged it speed and timing.

      After reaching a certain point, the Endrega jumped at him forcing him to abandon his original plan of attack. He could only dodge but he did so in a timely fashion and targeted the Endrega's now exposed back with Ignis.

     First, using its primary manifestation, to stagger the Endrega, who was still trying to recover from its own inertia. He then switched to its secondary manifestation. A potent and steady stream of flames poured from his palm, as he fixated the stream into the Endrega's face for several seconds.

      Using the Endrega's weakened and stunned state as an opportunity, Troy grabbed his sword like a baseball bat and brought it up from under the monster's head. The blow left a deep gash on the Endrega's underside but also sent it reeling and screeching head over end.

      The Endrega landed on its back writhing and flailing. Troy walked up to the monster's squirming body and stomped down on its tail to keep it still. Grasping his sword so that its blade ran parallel under his forearm, he angled the tip downwards, targeted a weak spot between the joint at its neck, and thrust his sword forcefully and accurately through its exoskeleton and into its brain.

      The Endrega reflexively twitched a couple of more times, before its body became still, signaling its death.

     Troy removed his sword, gave it a quick wipe down, and began walking back to the stands.

     "Excellent work, Troy! The benefit of being the last to try aside, your footwork was on point and your reactions were quite good, as well. Both could use some work but they were nearly perfect. 

     "Of course, your skill in using signs goes without saying. What with your special training and all, I'm surprised you even bothered with your sword.

     "I had actually been worrying that your sword skills might have been lacking, due to your other training. I'm glad to see that isn't the case. 

     "Alright, Jorgen, Troy, we've still got quite a few Endrega to go through and even more than that, since Geralt won't be here. Jorgen, you're up again. Get in there and give it another go."

     Troy and Jorgen spent the rest of that class using the Endregas as practice dummies and then attended their other classes, as usual. They were concerned about Geralt's condition but there was nothing to be done about it, other than to await the mage's assessment. 

[===== One Year Later =====]

     Geralt, as Troy knew he would be, had recovered just fine and returned to training after a couple of days. Although, he was much more enthusiastic about his training, after that incident. He seemed to have been somehow traumatized by that event and made it increasingly hard for Jorgen and Troy to stay ahead of him.

     While they had started their rivalry with the intention of helping each other to get stronger, Troy and Jorgen were now wondering whether or not that had been such a good idea. Geralt had, seemingly overnight, transformed into a training maniac, even according to witcher trainee standards.

     This past year had been particularly hard on Troy as he tried to stay ahead of Geralt and Jorgen. After an entire year of trying to train even harder than Geralt while also maintaining his magic classes, Troy felt it was time to let the boy take his rightful place as the best witcher trainee.

     Troy simply couldn't maintain his current routine without eventually ruining his health by overexerting himself. He needed sleep and recovery time, which he absolutely wasn't getting by continuing to match Geralt's training hour for hour.

     He had finally decided that today would mark the end of his masochistic training regiment. He would resume his normal training program and, if he continued to be the best, then so be it and, if not, then he wasn't about to kill himself just to make a point.

     With all of the extra studies he had, on top of his normal training, it was already a completely mad idea to add extra on top of it. He would still try to keep up with Jorgen and Geralt, if possible, but his health simply wouldn't allow for him to be the best witcher, while also studying sorcery.

     Troy currently had an intense look of concentration upon his face as he was in the middle of his lessons with Nazad and was having a bit of a hard time. Above his left hand hovered a small metal sphere and next to his right hand was a bowl of water. The water inside the bowl was churning and undulating, as if it were attempting to get up and walk out of the bowl.

     "That's it. Remember the flow of the water has to move as one. You can't have currents running through it. The entirety of the water must be one current."

     Nazad looked on with glee, as Troy slowly shaped the water into a sphere the same size as the one above his left hand. As he attempted to move the water sphere into position above his right hand, his face became grim and sweat began running down his cheeks.

     As the water sphere was raised slowly towards the same height as the metal sphere, it could be seen quivering. Small waves undulated across its surface but began growing larger and more unstable.

     Just as the unstable water sphere had nearly reached the height of the metal sphere, it completely lost any semblance of stability and fell like a large raindrop onto the tabletop.

     Troy, despite being physically tired, was also mentally exhausted and felt the need to sit down.

      Nazad quickly hid his excitement at his pupil's exemplary performance and addressed in a neutral tone. "Hmmm...not bad, Troy. Keep it up and you should be able to perform this exercise to satisfaction, within a few days. Once you're proficient in this exercise, I can start teaching you enchanting. 

     "As for today, you've performed acceptably and so you may take your leave. Tomorrow's lesson will be at the same time, so don't be late."

      Troy nodded his consent and made his way wearily towards the door.

     After Troy left the room, a wide grin began to dominate Nazad's face. He had been quite pleased with Troy's progress so far and had started him on this advanced training just to test him. Of course, he hadn't told Troy that it was advanced training. He had only mentioned that it was required to learn enchanting.

      This wasn't at all true any more than being able to perform signs is a prerequisite for learning magic. This practice was, again like sign training, simply an exercise that could only be excelled at by those with the necessary talent to excel in enchanting.

      Unlike sign training, this exercise was far more difficult and, of course, could only be performed by those who can wield magic.

      Normally, this exercise wasn't at all required to start learning enchanting, since every Mage's education would cover enchanting at some point and, by the time they started that learning, their growth would have already made the exercise unnecessary.

     This was simply something Nazad had come up with to see if the boy had the potential to get an early start in the enchanting field.

     He had only started testing Troy yesterday and yet he had nearly completed the exercise just now. He truly couldn't be more proud of his little prodigy but, of course, he knew it simply wouldn't do to tell him that. He had already convinced himself that cold and standoffish was the correct attitude to display towards such a disciple and he had every intention of maintaining that facade.

     Testing Troy wasn't the only purpose of this exercise or else he would have simply divulged the truth of the matter to him. Nazad had long ago begun suspecting that Troy wasn't showing him his full potential and was keeping secrets.

     This suspicion first arose whenever he had questioned the witcher Lorkin, why he had never revealed the boy's nature before that night. As it turned out the boy's earlier words had been true and he apparently had done an excellent job of masking his true nature. 

     Just this fact alone told Nazad that Troy obviously had a thorough understanding of what kinds of things could draw unwanted attention to oneself and that some things should simply remain secrets forever. The boy clearly knew when, where, and how to exercise discretion and, during Nazad's attempts to question him about his conduit moments, he had always been rather mum about it all and even seemed uncomfortable talking about it.

     If it were anyone else, he may have simply just shrugged it off as not wanting to talk about a traumatizing experience but he simply couldn't see Troy being of that disposition.

    Thus, he had schemed against his unwitting disciple and had committed to deceiving him into thinking that the increasingly difficult tasks he gave to him were simply run of the mill sorcerer training, when in fact, many of them would be exercises that targeted more advanced students.

     'One day, Troy, I'll be sure to let you know how I truly feel and I'll get you to show me your true strength but, until then, I have a duty as your Master to ensure that you're grounded and well disciplined.'

[===== Four Months Later =====]

     "So they're putting you through another trial, despite you having already passed yours?" Jorgen asked, incredulously, as the three of them made their way back to their room.

     "Yeah, they said something about me being more compatible with the mutations and some new concoction." Geralt responded, resignedly.

     "What the hell, man? How can they do this? Are they trying to kill you or something? If they want us all dead, why don't they just get it over with? Haven't they tortured us enough, already?" Jorgen asked, angrily.

     "Jorgen, I really don't think they are trying to kill us. I think they simply want to take advantage of Geralt's unique condition, to see if they can make him even stronger. As for me, I think I'm going to ask them, if I can undergo this new trial as well." Troy added.

     At this moment, Geralt and Jorgen both looked at Troy as if he were crazy. Their expressions clearly indicated they were wondering whether or not they had simply hallucinated Troy having also passed the trials. Obviously, no one who has ever been subject to the trials of grasses and dreams would ever volunteer for such an experience. Yet, here stood this incomprehensible anomaly doing just that.

     Of course, Troy couldn't tell them that he had known all along how brutal the trials could be and that he had volunteered himself for the package deal and so he simply kept walking, once they had reached their rooms, and continued on towards Nazad's study.

     Troy knocked on the door to Nazad's study and then entered, when he was permitted.

     "Ahhh, Troy mi boy! You're early today! Eager to begin our lessons, are we?"

     "I'm as eager as I always am but, more importantly, I wanted to ask you a question." Troy calmly stated, as he assumed the same posture and composure that he had that night nine years ago and stared directly into Nazad's eyes.

     Nazad recognized Troy's unusual behavior and glared at him, before asking, "What is it?"

     "I wish to be included in the experimental trial that you all are going to put Geralt through."

     Nazad was initially shocked by this request but he slowly recovered himself and continued, "Are you certain that this is a wise decision? This trial could be just as deadly as the others and possibly even more so. I know that your magic saved you during your other trials but I wouldn't advise just going around depending on fortunate acts of unconscious magic to pull you out of a bind. I would have thought that you, of all the trainees, would be mature enough to understand something like this. Was I wrong?"

     "You were wrong but not how you imagined yourself being wrong. I'm well aware of what I'm doing and I may even be able to consciously replicate what I did during my previous two trials. The first time could easily be considered an anomaly but, after learning about that occurrence, the functions of the mutagens, and having advanced this far on my path of magic, I'm confident that I'll not need more than a day to conquer this trial. 

     "I know this may seem somewhat brash but rest assured that I wouldn't rush into something like this without knowing that I'm capable of succeeding." Troy explained, while maintaining his piercing stare and calm and confident demeanor.

     Nazad gave Troy an inquisitive glare, while examining his expression for a moment longer, before saying, "Very well, I'll see to it that you're included in the experiment. Was there anything else you wanted to ask about?"

     "Thank you, Master! And, no, that was all."

     "Good, in that case, have a seat and we'll begin today's lesson."

     Nazad would normally not permit his student to undertake such a dangerous and unnecessary trial based on such weak arguments but he had just witnessed his student's mask slipping and he was now even more sure of his hypothesis.

     After hearing Troy's plea, he was now certain that his student was far more capable than he was letting on. Knowing this, however, gave him the confidence to allow Troy to proceed with the trial. 

     He now suspected that at least some of Troy's previous successes in the trials had been intentional and, with these thoughts in mind, he was able to trust that his disciple would find a way to pull through.