8. The Wonders of Drowner Heart Essence
No diverse array of potions, no highly targeted blade oils. Only the jack-of-all-trades Witcher elixirs. Drink a sip when starting a fight, boost attack and reduce damage. Drink another when injured, stop bleeding and ease pain.
After confirming once again with Hughes, Allen could only helplessly accept reality. Time quietly slipped away as he processed materials on one side and pondered the future on the other. Even with divided attention, Allen handled the materials remarkably well.
"Nearly perfect dissection technique," Hughes praised, hands crossed over his chest as he inspected Allen's work, "the drowner brain intact, and no damage to the magical nodes in the drowner tongue."
"If this were at Ban Ard Academy, you'd get top marks for material handling."
This was almost an exaggerated compliment. Ban Ard Academy was one of only two magic schools in the North, renowned for ambitious sorcerers and a variety of exotic alchemical products across the continent.
In alchemy, Ban Ard Academy was undoubtedly the most professional. Material handling, as an important branch of alchemy, naturally couldn't surpass the expertise of professional wizard apprentices like Allen.
Allen nodded humbly in thanks.
"Hughes, have you been to Ban Ard?" Hughes curiously asked.
Allen was curious about this question as well. Both Kaer Morhen and Ban Ard were in the Kovir Kingdom, and their castles were carved from the same blue mountain rocks. The only difference was that one trained witchers, and the other trained male witches.
"I've been a few times."
"Why?"
"Why would a Witcher go anywhere but to deal with monsters?" Hughes rolled his eyes, somewhat impatient, "Of course, it's to solve monster problems."
"But doesn't Ban Ard have its own magic school? Why hire Witchers?" Hughes was puzzled by the follow-up question. Apprentices weren't entirely ignorant of the world outside Kaer Morhen.
There were always rumors circulating among the older children, brought from the outside world, about "Witchers created by wizards," "apprentices at Ban Ard don't have to go through cruel trials," and "King of Kovir favors male witches."
Ban Ard Academy's prospective male witches, due to their lack of trials and promising future, always became objects of envy and jealousy among Witcher apprentices. Sensing something unusual in Hughes' tone, the Witcher Master paused his inspection of the materials, turned to face the two apprentices, and said solemnly: "Because Witchers are the best monster hunters."
"We live by this, but we're also doomed by it."
The weight of his words carried a heavy implication, even a carefree child like Hughes could sense it.
For a moment, the three fell into silence. Hughes turned back to resume material inspection. Hughes lowered his head, silver hair covering his eyes, his thoughts hidden.
Doomed by it?
Allen muttered to himself, staring absentmindedly at the cold, ancient castle. It wasn't until Vesemir's reprimanding voice broke the silence that he snapped out of it.
"Hughes!"
"Did you even listen to my lecture earlier?"
Vesemir's voice shattered the calm.
"The most important part of the drowner tongue is the magical node at the base."
"Look at the materials you handled..."
"Tsk tsk, with this quality of material, only ignorant farmers would fall for it."
Letho also appeared at this time.
Curiously, Hughes asked, "What would farmers want with drowner tongues?"
"Hahaha," Letho laughed heartily, dodging Vesemir's swatting hand and jokingly said, "Drowner tongue in alcohol. There are always people willing to try strange recipes for men's vigor, right?"
"Men's vigor?" Hughes had a puzzled look.
Vesemir kicked at Letho, who skillfully dodged and ran off laughing.
With Letho's interruption, Vesemir noticed that it was almost noon.
After shifting the topic with a headache, Vesemir earnestly pointed out Hughes' questions one by one, then handed the demonstration materials—given as a reward for exceptional apprentices—to Allen. Then he let them go back to the apprentice dormitory for lunch.
"By the way."
"Stay away from Ban Ard; they don't welcome Witchers."
Just after bidding farewell to the apprentices, Vesemir suddenly remembered something and turned back to warn the two of them seriously. Without explaining further, he walked towards the direction Letho had left.
...
After parting ways with Vesemir, Allen and Hughes returned to the apprentice dormitory located at the southwest corner of the castle.
The apprentice dormitory was quite large. Surrounded by cold gray stone walls, over forty wooden beds were tightly packed together, leaving only a narrow aisle for passage.In the empty room, only four beds had neatly stacked beddings on them. It felt desolate and gloomy.
Looking at this scene, who could imagine that just ten days ago, this place was filled with orphans and abandoned children from various northern countries?
Among this group of apprentices, Allen's pass rate for the grass trial was less than ten percent, far below the forty percent average.
For the Wolf School, this year might be considered a slow year. After returning to the dormitory, neither Allen nor Hughes had much enthusiasm. They each put away their belongings, cleaned themselves up a bit, and changed into clean clothes.
Bond and Fred, who had already "rested" after eating "lunch" early, were already asleep. Their portion, belonging to Allen and Hughes, was placed on the table near the door. A beer glass filled with viscous gray mushroom juice.This was Allen's lunch.
In the ten days after passing the grass trial, their meals consisted of various strange liquids. These liquids could help the mutated bodies recover to a "normal" state quickly.
After drinking their lunch, Allen and Hughes each returned to their beds, waiting for the medicine to take effect.
...
There were ants crawling in his muscles. Pain and itching intertwined. Although it was far from the pain of the grass potion dissolving his internal organs, it was still difficult to endure.
Allen instinctively moved his body, silently reciting "The Witcher's Handbook" in his mind. The effect of "lunch" lasted quite long, and he needed something to distract himself.
[Name: Allen]
[Age: 13]
[Title: Son of Miracles]
[Level: 2]
[Health: 100% Stamina: 56/56]
[Attributes: Strength 5.3 (+0.1), Agility 5.4 (+0.1), Constitution 5.6 (+0.2), Perception 7.2 (+0.3), Mystery 3.3 (+0.2)]
[Special Skills: Witcher LV1, Appraisal LV1]
[Skills: Wolf School Two-Handed Sword LV2 (0/500)]
[Evaluation: Noob!!!]
Attributes increased!
Allen was surprised, and his Constitution attribute increased by another 0.1.
The mushroom juice was so effective!
Although he had felt a slight increase in the past two days, there was no panel to confirm it. The immediate increase in values brought a sense of pleasure, easing much of the discomfort. Although the rate of attribute increase was slowing down, he could still gain a little more before the "rest" ended.
"No wonder those Witcher's stats are so high," Allen thought.
Ignoring the glaring evaluation. After collecting all the rewards for the task, Allen opened his inventory.
[Items: Drowner Heart Essence*3, Small Experience Pearl*19, Drowner's Chest*8, General Chest*1]
The quantity of Small Experience Pearls wasn't enough to upgrade the two-handed sword, so he decided to keep them for now.
"The attributes are still increasing. Should I wait to use the essence after the medicine wears off?" Allen hesitated in his mind.
After a moment of contemplation, Allen decided to try one bottle of the drowner's heart essence first. After all, drowner's heart essence wasn't a precious reward; it dropped from every drowner he killed. It was just scarce now because Allen couldn't move freely and leave Kaer Morhen. With his mind focused on the item, a bottle filled with blue liquid disappeared from his inventory.
A cold sensation reappeared in his throat. The next moment, Allen's expression changed drastically.
"What the hell!"
"Drowners are such priceless treasures!"
.....
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