"Wake up, kid, how are you feeling?"
In a low and hoarse greeting, Roy opened his swollen eyes with difficulty, looked around with pain all over his body, and found himself lying in the room of the tavern.
It was close to noon, and the light outside the window was dazzlingly bright, and the surrounding tables, chairs, cabinets, and everything were plated with a layer of ghosts... so that he could not see clearly.
He closed his eyes again and shook his dizzy head. After a long while, the phantoms overlapped, and the scene in front of him returned to normal.
"Lesso, how long have I been in a coma?" He frowned and blocked the light reflected from the bright forehead beside the bed with his hand, "Can you sit in another place and shake my eyes."
Hearing this, the witcher shrugged helplessly, moved his butt to the chair, and handed over a bowl of white water.
"You were in a coma for a day and a night, which was shorter than I expected, which shows that your physical fitness is very good." The witcher's tone was flat, like a doctor's statement to a patient.
"I don't feel very well, as if I've died once."
Roy greedily drank a bowl of water upside down.
There was finally a hint of coolness in his body. In contrast, he thought of the extremely wasteful state after drinking the pro-drug.
It seemed like a fire had been lit in his chest, and every blood vessel and every cell was burning, screaming in pain, and at the same time, there were thousands of sharp weapons piercing back and forth in the bones and flesh. In short, it was like someone was using a red-hot knife to cut the meat and deboned it.
"You should have warned me in a more severe tone..." Roy's tone was filled with dissatisfaction, and there was a faint shadow and a little fear in his heart. He didn't want to experience that feeling again in his life.
"It is indeed different from my judgment," the witcher narrowed his eyes and forced an apologetic expression, "I thought that in that state of extreme pain, you would quickly fall into a coma. In fact, over the past hundred years, most Most of the apprentices who take prodrugs don't last five minutes, nine out of ten less than three minutes, and they're all unconscious. Their pain only lasts so long, and you—"
"Me?"
"You persisted for six minutes." Leto took out a gray notebook, turned a few pages, and said solemnly, "There were no symptoms of incontinence, babbling, cramps, and vomiting blood during the whole process."
Roy suddenly felt a chill on his back, and he was extremely fortunate that he had specially strengthened his physical attributes before.
"Why didn't you tell me about these unexpected situations in advance?"
"It's not fine now? You've made it through." Leto patted him on the shoulder and reassured, "Don't worry, kid. Only the first time you take the prodrug will you have such intense pain... Continue later. Taking the pain is halved, getting lower and lower... Waiting for a complete adaptation, it will make you frown."
"I thought I would just take one?" Roy swallowed, a look of fear appeared on his face, even if only half of it was painful. "How many more to drink?"
"It lasts three months in total, one a week, so there are eleven left."
"… "
Roy took a deep breath and rubbed his sticky cheeks covered with cold sweat. The matter has come to this point, if you don't continue drinking, isn't the sin of life worse than death in vain
"Your willpower and physical fitness are more than 99% of the Snake School apprentice." Lesso observed his face from the side, saw that the other party didn't refute, secretly relieved, and immediately changed the subject, "It may also be because you are older. Older and more mature. Other apprentices start taking prodrugs under ten years old. And you are not far from fourteen, right?"
"According to you, older age has an advantage, so why do witchers prefer to train younger apprentices?" Roy suppressed his doubts.
"A child is a blank sheet of paper... full of infinite possibilities, let the guides draw the future on it..." The witcher seemed extremely patient at this time, "The child's body is not yet fully developed, and can obtain systemic effects under the action of herbal medicines. Remodeling. The body of an adult who has finished development has already been finalized, and the difficulty of remodeling will be much higher than that of a child. Basically, the mutation will not end, and the body will collapse first and die.”
Reshape, collapse
Roy now began to truly understand the meaning of the trial of green grass, instead of the simple sentence "70% mortality" that he read at the beginning.
If you can't stand it, your body will collapse. If you can stand it, then it will go through again
"Can mutation only be done once?" Roy asked the question he had been asking all along, "If you take the herbal medicine from the Snake School, you can get through it. Can you continue to take the herbal medicine from other schools? For example, the Wolf School, the Lion School Eagle School?"
According to his previous understanding, the formulas of herbal medicines of each school are different, and after the mutation and remodeling, the emphasis of strengthening is also different: the cat pie wears light leather armor, is flexible, elusive, and the strengthening after mutation is mainly inclined to agility Attributes; the wolf faction is relatively balanced, and each attribute is strengthened; the gryphon seal is powerful, and it mainly focuses on spiritual attributes; the bear faction wears heavy armor, two-handed swords, and swallows more potions in a short period of time, and the strengthening direction should be physique. Attributes…
If someone can survive the green grass trials of multiple schools, what kind of existence will he become
Theoretically, after one trial of green grass, the body's resistance to toxicity will be greatly increased. Will it be easier to do it a second time
Of course, it is more likely that some fatal conflicts are hidden between different herbal medicines.
At present, this is just an idea of Roy.
"You mean to carry out multiple mutations and remodeling?" Lesso's eyes shot a dangerous light, and warned very sternly, "Little devil, why do you have such arrogant and ignorant thoughts?!"
"I have lived for decades, and I have never heard of anyone who dares to take two different herbal medicines, even one after the other. There is no such idiot in the world! If there is, it must have become a pile of bones!"
"Okay, kid, you didn't even get past the pro-drug stage, don't make senseless fantasies." Leto's voice calmed down again, propping up the notebook on his knees. "Now tell me, do you feel a change in your body? You usually get a little benefit after taking the pro-drug for the first time."
"Change?" Roy temporarily put down his fantasy and turned his attention to the template.
Health: 30/55 (Poisoned)
A direct drop of 20 points shows that the toxicity of the prodrug is severe. In comparison, the toxicity of the cypress stem fruits and dandelion sunflowers he devoured before is completely negligible.
Looking down, he couldn't help but twitch his eyelids.
Among all attributes, the will has changed, 5.8→6.
It has increased by 0.2. It is normal for his willpower to be tempered after he wants to go through the torment that is worse than death. But it probably only works the first time.
Other than that, there are no other changes in the template.
"Could it be because my physique has surpassed that of ordinary people, so I haven't improved?"
He originally thought that he would develop a toxicity-related ability. Was it because the prodrug was not taken enough
"There's been a little bit of a change..." Roy said. "I can feel it... My mind and will have become more firm and solidified."
"Okay." A trace of disappointment flashed in Leto's eyes, "It's consistent with the results I checked just now, maybe you're a little older... But it doesn't matter, we won't know the final effect until the first stage is completed."
…
After Roy rested for two days and his body completely recovered, he was ready to leave Edsberg with the witcher.
He also didn't intend to go to Kadel's house to say goodbye, just to add to his sadness.
The dwarf wine merchant suddenly came to the door.
With a hearty laugh, he came towards him in high spirits. It could be seen that he had lived a very nourishing life these days. Signs of troubled insomnia.
He behaved like meeting long-lost relatives, his big hands covered with black hair tightly held Roy and Leto's hands from left to right.
"Thanks to the help of the two of you this time, I finally let go of the big stone in my heart. When I return to Edsberg in the future, I must come to the mansion to gather, and let me do my best to the friendship of the landlord."
Roy waved his hand nonchalantly. In fact, the benefits he got from this "transportation business" were already quite generous.
The dwarf went on to say,
"You are heading west with Master Leto, and you will soon cross Mahakan. But recently, there are aliens in the mountains, and there are levels set up by the elders everywhere. If you go empty-handed, I am afraid that there will be many obstacles on the way."
"But how can I embarrass friends and brothers? A handwritten letter of recommendation. Take it and the two of you will have no trouble in Mahakam. I still have the face of Sevier Hogg."
As he said that, he blinked at Roy, who took the envelope, but was slightly apprehensive.
"Sevier, you don't have any other purpose, do you?"
He always felt that there was a special meaning in the blink of the dwarf's eyes.
"What is this, I am not an ungrateful person, and I will never entertain friends and brothers with conspiracy and tricks."
Under the repeated assurances of the dwarves, Roy calmed down and glanced at the contents of the letter:
Brothers in Mahakam,
The two gentlemen who appeared in front of you are from the Viper School, superb and skilled hunter masters. They helped me solve a big problem in Edsberg and became my good friends. Brothers, please be sure to With due respect and kindness, let the two of you cross the Mahakam by the way.
Salute here
Your brother, Mahakam Squirrel, Sevier Hogg
1260, November
It was indeed just an ordinary letter of recommendation, and Roy no longer struggled.
He hesitated at last to ask the Dwarf Wine Merchant to help look after the children and teachers of the Kadel House.
The other party also simply agreed.
Soon after, the two of them packed their luggage and sat quietly and closed their eyes for a while.
They didn't have much luggage, but they actually only had a few changes of clothes, potions and alchemy props for Roy. Two packages were enough.
In the past, Leto was alone in the world, and he didn't need extra clothes at all.
Going in the water and mud in the wilderness, ten days and a half months without washing up is sparse, waiting for half a month to go to the pub to refresh, find a woman to have a good night, and have nothing to do with the low-level men who work hard like sailors, coachmen, and bodyguards. What a difference.
However, Roy is more particular than ordinary people in this era. He takes baths often to prepare for the future. It made Leto, who was not so particular, a little uncomfortable.
The two chatted and walked out of the city gate of Edsberg, along the west side road, towards Mahakam shrouded in clouds and mist.