Chapter 81: The Awakening of Jerome Moreau

Inside the metal cultivation chamber, out of sight of everyone, violent coughs began to be heard, as if someone were choking, followed by heavy, slow inhalations that echoed in the narrow metal chamber.

With a bang, the thick metal hatch suddenly flew out, hitting a drowner who was trying to get closer, smashing him into the wall. For a moment there was a heartbreaking sound of bone crushing, followed by a large amount of blood seeping in front of the hatch.

There is a clear handprint on the back of the metal hatch that flew out.

"I am... free?" A man's hoarse voice sounded in the darkness.

Lann was fighting with the drowners. He stuck his right arm into a drowner's mouth to block the creature's teeth. Then, ignoring the claws clawing at his chest, he stabbed the creature's neck. Blood dripped and he nearly lost a piece of flesh from the bite.

He looked expectantly at the metal cultivation chamber knowing who was inside.

Jerome Moreau, son of Tomas Moreau, a witcher of the Gryphon School.

About his story, Tomas Moreu has told a lot about him before when he was in a neurotic state. If Lann had not killed Tomas Moreau first, Lann estimated that Jerome would be very willing to be a filial son and let him continue his eternal rest.

The key lies in Jerome's possible power.

In The Witcher Series, among the witchers with appearances and battle records, the oldest is the mentor of the Wolf School witchers: Vesemir.

He is the oldest witcher of the current generation and the strongest besides Geralt. Two battles can be used to estimate his combat power more intuitively.

Sword fighting is a sport in which the older you get, the more you suffer. However, at the age of nearly two hundred years, Vesemir once single-handedly fought and killed many 'Wild Hunt' heavy-armored warriors who fought across dimensions. The sign of the witcher is a simple magic that does not require spells and magic is a skill that becomes increasingly stronger with age. At the age of 70, Vesemir was able to use the fire power of Igni Sign to melt the frozen lake surface in a few breaths, creating a scene of early spring.

There is no clear historical record of when Jerome Moreau was born. It is only known that he was taken away for training by witchers in 1087.

Jerome was imprisoned by his father with magic in 1121 and began cruel experiments. In other words, he fought with real swords for 34 years, and then was strengthened through various experiments and mutations for a full 141 years.

So how strong is Jerome after going through all this?

The power that had been silent for almost a century and a half began to boil in that metal chamber, waiting for an object to enter.

The drowners and ghouls were shocked when they saw the metal hatch that had just been blown out. At this time, they approached cautiously.

Suddenly, Lann felt that the air around him was much colder. He quickly reacted and made preparations for rolling.

A terrifying blizzard howled out from the metal cabin, like a giant beast roaring. The approaching monsters were frozen into ice sculptures within a breath, and then were torn and shattered into ice cubes by the hurricane's impact, turning into part of the blizzard and sweeping across the entire laboratory.

The entire metal cabin turned into a lump of ice and cracked, and the culture tank that was only affected by the aftermath also quickly became covered with a layer of ice.

In an instant, it felt like winter was approaching in the laboratory.

[Aard Sign: Piercing Cold]

The man slowly walked out of the ice, his amber eyes were confused, and his body covered with scars staggered.

"I am... free."

Lann lay on the ground shivering from the cold, unable to get up due to fatigue and blood loss. The toxins from the giant centipede were destroying his body all the time, making him feel sleepy.

At that moment, he couldn't articulate words, he just wanted to hold on to the last ray of hope in front of him that could save his life and tried his best to make weak movements to ask Jerome Moreau for help.

But Jerome, who had just freed himself from the experiments, was still confused, barely aware of his surroundings. The only cognition he could accept was...

"I am... free."

Lann watched the man in front of him stagger to the end of the laboratory, and suddenly put his hand on the rock wall.

A flash of yellow light flashed and the [Quen Sign] appeared on his body.

Immediately afterwards, the entire laboratory seemed to be placed in the crater of a volcano. Magma-like flames spurted out from his hands. An astonishing heat wave swept through every inch of the space, making people feel like they were in a world of ice and fire.

The rock wall in front of Jerome was actually burned and melted, turning into real magma. It sputtered in all directions, but it did not damage the yellow protective film in front of him at all.

The rock wall in front of Jerome suddenly had a bottomless tunnel.

[Igni Sign: Firestream]

Then Jerome waved his hand, and [Aard Sign: Piercing Cold] was displayed again, and the tunnel in front of him suddenly cooled down enough for him to enter.

After he entered, for a while, there were waves of heat and ice alternating from the depths of the tunnel. Jerome actually wanted to use this method to dig a tunnel out of this underground laboratory

Outrageous!

Faintly, Lann heard excited shouts coming from the depths.

"I am free!!!"

 Lann smiled bitterly. "I... am in big trouble."

[Name: Lann Lannister]

[Sex: Male

Race: Human

Level: 17

Talent: Elder Blood (Unawakened)

Experience points: 948/1500

Health: 40/270

Mana: not enabled

Inventory: Knight Armor (upper, damaged) ...+

Skill column: Muscle Memory (5/5) ...+

Follower slot: none (unavailable)]

Lann was shaking and struggling to crawl on the ground. His health had bottomed out and was still falling.

There is no one else in the room except him, and he must save himself.

The only thing that can help is the system.

If he could level up, all the negative conditions on his body can be removed and his health points can be fully restored. It's just that such a huge gap in experience cannot be filled in a short time.

Unless his guard soldiers could immediately train themselves to complete the task [Iron City Guard – Part Two] that Lann did not yet understand how to complete, only then could he be saved.

It's a pity that this is just a dream.

The only hope now was to use the abilities of his system. Was there any skill that could help him in this desperate situation?

Lann continued to crawl painfully across the ground, his vision becoming increasingly blurry, and he groped like a blind man over the wet ground. Large shards of glass cut into his hands, causing them to bleed profusely.

[Source of magic found]

Absorb.

[Ability Point +1]

Lann quickly browsed the skills that could help him. He now needs to regain some mobility first.

He glanced at his health.

[Health: 26/270]

Add points - Ability Branch: General - [Survival Instinct]!

[Survival Instinct]: Increases maximum Vitality by 500.

Simple and crude introduction. General abilities do not have levels and a considerable boost can be obtained by clicking on them.

[Health: 518/770]

Lann's health, which was originally only 270, suddenly almost tripled. The Health of a witcher in the game can easily exceed a thousand or even tens of thousands, so this skill has never been noticed.

In reality, Lann had no intention of adding this skill at the beginning. It was expected that after becoming a witcher, the increase in health would be greatly increased. This type of fixed boost ability would no longer be useful later in the game, since it cannot be reset, and Lann wanted to save his ability points.

Unexpectedly, this ability has now become his lifesaver.

The moment he added some points, Lann felt that his breathing became much more normal, his physical strength had recovered to a certain extent, and the pain in his body had also weakened a lot. He tried to hold on to the wall to prop himself up. He was still wobbly though, but at least he didn't have to crawl so miserably anymore.

But the symptoms of poisoning have not been relieved. Lann's head is feeling groggy at the moment, as if he is about to fall asleep at any time, and his health is still falling at an alarming speed. If he doesn't find a way to solve the poisoning problem, he will still die.

Lann continued to explore the laboratory, touching every object he could find.

[Ability Point +1]

[Ability Point +1]

...

[Ability Point +1]

A total of seven ability points were gained, which is enough to become much stronger. But Lann's priority now is survival.

Add points - Ability Branch: General - [Metabolic Control]!

[Metabolic Control]: Increases maximum Toxicity by 30 points.

Toxicity is the upper limit of the total amount of poison a person can withstand. Lann remembered that the witchers numbered more than two hundred. However, humans' ability to resist poison is much weaker than that of witchers, and the increase of 30 is a great help to Lann now.

In an instant, Lann's mind became clearer. The feeling of lightheadedness and pain, similar to having been hit on the head, now felt more like the fatigue of going two days without sleep.

But it's not enough. Continue to Add points - Ability Branch: Alchemy [resistance improvement], top it up directly!

Among the current system skills, there are five categories in the [Alchemy] branch, namely [Brewing], [Oil Preparation], [Bomb Creation], [Mutation (not available)], [Trial of the Grasses (not available)]

Five categories, of which points can be added to the first three, probably because in addition to witchers, humans, alchemists and pharmacists can prepare and use potions, bombs and sword oil to a certain extent. The last two are exclusive to witchers. The situation is similar to the [Combat] branch. The categories that are not exclusive to witchers are available, while the parts exclusive to witchers are firmly closed.

And [Heightened Tolerance] is the first ability in the [Brewing] category in [Alchemy].

[Heightened Tolerance]: Increases maximum potion overdose threshold caused by toxicity from 75% to 100%. Potion duration time: +25%. (5/5)

Witchers will not take poison damage until they reach the toxicity threshold, and the further they exceed this threshold, the faster their hit points will decrease.

This is also an important pre-ability for a certain type of violent style of drug use in the late game. Once this playstyle is formed, the user can use abnormal poison resistance to support the increase in consumption of more magic potions, and the toxicity itself can be reduced by other skills to further improve personal statistics.

Although humans did not have the ability to ignore toxicity until they reached the threshold, this ability itself can also enhance resistance to poison, which allowed Lann's physical condition to recover to a certain extent.

He lowered his head and looked at the area where he was bitten by the giant centipede. It seemed that the swelling had subsided.

It was not enough. Lann looked at the health value that was decreasing every moment. This was just extending his life from dozens of minutes to a few hours.

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