บท 205: Viper School
Through Gwent and pipeweed, Wayne became a well-known and popular figure in Beauclair City in a short period of time, making many powerful connections. After his deliberate inquiries, he soon obtained some interesting information from these manor owners, nobles, businessmen, and celebrities.
First of all, the Duke's two daughters, Anna Henrietta and Sylvia Anna, are almost coming of age, still living in the palace of Beauclair, and are not yet married. However, due to the Curse of the Black Sun, the current noble class generally has a disdainful and even fearful attitude towards Sianna, and does not support the Duke's eldest daughter's right to inherit the title.
What's even worse is that, as Sianna's parents, the current Duke and Duchess of Beauclair believe in the Curse of the Black Sun more than anyone else and are firm supporters of this prophecy. They believe that Sianna, who is burdened with the Curse of the Black Sun, will bring disaster to the entire kingdom.
Rumors have even circulated in the palace that when Sianna comes of age, she will be expelled and exiled by the Duke, and the Duke's youngest daughter, Anna Henrietta, will inherit the title.
Anyone who has played The Witcher 3 games knows very well about this plot. The final result is that Sianna was expelled and suffered a lot of torture during the expulsion process. She joined a gang of thieves and returned to Toussaint twenty years later, using high-level vampires to seek revenge and trying to use gangs of thieves to cause chaos.
When mentioning this, I have to talk about the Curse of the Black Sun. The Curse of the Black Sun, also called the Curse of the Dark Sun, refers to a prophecy by the mage Eltibald, predicting the ultimate destruction of human civilization at the hands of sixty girls born during or after a specific solar eclipse. This seemingly outlandish prophecy led to dozens of girls from wealthy and aristocratic families being killed or imprisoned in towers because they were believed to be cursed or tainted by the sun.
Among these cursed girls are several quite famous characters, such as Sianna, Princess Renfri, who had an affair with Geralt, and Eskel's destined daughter Deidre Ademeyn. The daughters of these aristocratic families were all hated and tortured by their parents and the people around them because they were believed to be cursed by the Black Sun since childhood, resulting in quite miserable fates.
The second piece of news Wayne learned was from a manor owner who had a large vineyard on the outskirts of Beauclair. The owner told Wayne an interesting piece of information: yesterday at dusk, a barrel washer in his employ saw a gray-green dragon flying into the Carberta Forest while washing barrels by the river. This huge beast flying in the sky scared the barrel washer so much that he fell into the river and lost two oak barrels. Some people thought he was lying, while others claimed they had seen it too.
The manor owner used this matter as a topic of conversation and had told it to many people. Wayne overheard this information by chance, which made him think of the witcher chasing a giant pterodactyl that Francesca had mentioned.
After receiving the news, he immediately rode a newly purchased horse to the Carberta Forest that the manor owner had mentioned. Upon entering the forest, he quickly hid the horse in a cave. After killing some evil spirits in the cave, he also sprinkled some dragon excrement at the entrance to ward off other potential evil creatures.
Fortunately, Wayne's ability to tame animals proved very useful. Even his newly purchased mount was very obedient and had a natural affinity for him. If this cave had been inhabited by animals like bears and wolves instead of evil spirits, he might have been able to persuade the horse to befriend them.
After safely placing his mount, worth two hundred crowns, Wayne immediately donned his magic flying carpet and soared towards the heights of the Carberta Forest. Similar to the habits of most flying monsters such as griffons, pterodactyls also prefer high altitudes. Their large size makes it inconvenient to navigate areas with crowded trees, as it would hinder their landing and takeoff.
Unfortunately, the Carberta Forest was vast. Wayne flew over it for half an hour, using animal language to ask birds he encountered along the way, but he couldn't find any trace of the pterodactyl. Unexpectedly, however, he received intriguing information from a sika deer.
The deer told Wayne about a small pond where it had just drunk, near which a beautiful blue-purple light ball was floating in the air. Around this light ball, many beautiful flowers and plants were growing.
Energized by this news, Wayne quickly flew towards the small pond the deer had mentioned, using his magical flying carpet. It didn't take long for him to discover the place. Above the pond was a magical node, shining with magical light. This was a brand new magic power node, not recorded by the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. In fact, most of the magic power nodes in the southern kingdom were not documented by the Brotherhood.
Faced with such an unexpected surprise, Wayne had no reason to refuse the opportunity. When he arrived at the magic node, he began to absorb its magic power.
Ding! The magic node is detected. Absorb/Decline
Ding! Magic absorption completed. 3 ability points obtained.
Current total ability points: 6.
With six ability points, Wayne was now four-fifths of the way to unlocking the next stage of bloodline powers. This time, when Wayne sensed the world on the other side of the newly formed crack, he found it to be quite lacking in magic power.
Moreover, this magic was neutral, neither evil nor light, and very low in activity, which reassured Wayne. Based on this quality, Wayne judged that the opposite world was a low-magic world with no overly powerful enemies and high exploration value. However, he was currently busy searching for the witcher chasing the pterodactyl and had no time to explore this new world. He recorded the coordinates on his map and used an improvised sealing array to close the space crack.
The Space Seal was the first spell Wayne had learned. Though his skills were not yet mature and he had to scrape together materials, the quality of the casting materials compensated for his technical shortcomings. Perhaps it was a combination of good luck and resourcefulness.
After dealing with the space rift, Wayne continued his search for the pterodactyl on his magic flying carpet. Suddenly, he was drawn to the sound of an explosion. Hearing the distinctive sound of gunpowder, he felt a surge of excitement. In this era, few people could skillfully use bombs. Apart from professional blasters who carried out mining work, this ability was primarily possessed by witchers and alchemists.
Without hesitation, Wayne steered the flying carpet swiftly towards the direction of the explosion. Soon, he heard a thunderous roar and saw a huge beast with bronze scales, a lizard-like head, and a total length of nearly ten meters emerge from the woods. Its chest had been injured by an alchemy bomb; scales were missing, blood oozed out, and scorch marks marred its body. However, compared to its size, the injury was not particularly severe. The beast was enraged and began to attack instead of fleeing.
Wayne quickly maneuvered the magic carpet to hover above the battle, giving him a clear view of the scene below. Fighting the giant pterodactyl were two witchers clad in black light armor. One was a burly, bald man with a round face marked by scars, while the other was a slender man with short black hair. Despite the brief duration of the battle, the bald witcher had already slashed the pterodactyl's wings multiple times, rendering them bloodied and broken, stripping it of its ability to fly. The slender witcher moved with agility, wielding his sword in swift strikes to distract the beast and create openings for his companion.
The two witchers displayed excellent teamwork. Their faces showed the effects of witchers potions, enhancing their physical functions to peak performance, giving them the upper hand against the pterodactyl.
Observing the situation, Wayne decided not to intervene to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. He controlled the magic carpet to remain suspended in mid-air, waiting quietly and watching the battle unfold.
The battle between the witchers and the pterodactyl lasted another five intense minutes. Through their coordinated efforts, the two witchers successfully wore down the pterodactyl, inflicting significant damage and sapping its strength. Finally, the burly, bald, and scarred witcher seized an opportunity to climb onto the beast's back and deliver a fatal blow to the back of its head.
With the pterodactyl defeated, the dust settled. Instead of collecting trophies, the two witchers held their swords and looked cautiously at Wayne, who stood on the hovering magic carpet. The bald witcher spoke in a low voice, "My friend in the sky, who are you? Why are you waiting there?"
Wayne, having anticipated this encounter, had removed his disguise and was now wearing green dragon leather armor with the conspicuous medallion of the Wolf School displayed prominently. Recognizing these characteristics, the witchers on the ground seemed to consider him a potential ally.
Smiling gently, Wayne lowered the magic carpet to land about seven or eight meters away from the two witchers. "Friends," he began, "I am Wayne, a witcher from the Wolf School. I heard that a witcher was tracking a giant pterodactyl, so I came to find you."
The bald, round-faced witcher, still wary, introduced himself. "I am Letho from the Viper School." He paused before asking, "Wayne of the Wolf School, why are you looking for us?"
Wayne nodded respectfully and replied, "Letho, I came because I was intrigued by the hunt. I wanted to offer my assistance and possibly learn from you. It's not often we hear about such formidable prey." He gestured towards the fallen pterodactyl. "Seeing how well you handled this beast, I'm even more eager to exchange knowledge and experiences. Perhaps we can help each other in future endeavors."
...
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