The Witcher: Lord of the Empire

Jad's voice has long been hoarse, and as he talks, his tone of voice can't help but take on a hint of an ancient and weird accent. 

"Okay, okay… There are three steps necessary to become a witcher" 

"The Choice is the first of three incredibly painful tests that young people will undergo in order to become witches. It mainly consists of following the special diet of witches, which consists of mushrooms, mosses and herbs, and strenuous physical training. Many did not survive the ordeal, succumbing to liver or heart failure and sometimes madness, and many were left with overly aggressive tendencies." 

"The second step is the infamous Trial of the Grasses. It is incredibly painful, requiring the absorption of special virus cultures plus alchemical ingredients known as 'the Grasses' to modify the physiology of the human body. It takes about a week. The grasses in question include corn lily, nightshade, speargrass, wildrye and wolfsbane. Additionally, mutagenic elixirs are also essential. Before beginning the main part of the trial, a portion of the grasses will be served in the form of tea." 

"The grasses and elixirs were injected directly into the veins of the immobilized children. Most will die on the third day. The survivors, shaken by attacks of sudden madness, would fall into a deep stupor. Your eyes will become glassy, your hands will search for any nearby clothing, and your breathing will be loud and hoarse. After giving the elixirs again, children's cough will turn into vomiting. They will also suffer convulsions, while cold sweat will break out over their skin. Thus weakened, they will fight against the mutagens, herbs and viruses that penetrate their bodies. When they wake up on the seventh day, their eyes will have already become like those of a cat. No more than three or, at best, four out of ten will survive; the rest will die in agony." 

"Finally, there is the Trial of the Dreams... and a new mutagenic elixir. This changes your bone marrow and hormones, taking away your ability to have children. Guess what the survival rate is at this step?" 

Lann recorded the details of what the other party said with an expressionless face, especially the formula of the elixir, and said: "Don't talk about topics that are not related to the trial." 

"No, no, no, this is of course a topic related to trials. Guess what the survival rate is? The answer is... 30%. This is data from hundreds of years, and the success rate of apprentices over ten years old is... zero!" 

Jad panted and looked at Lann. The previous waterboarding made it very difficult for him to concentrate, but even so, his eyes were still full of teasing. "Poor noble kid, no matter how you look at it, you are over ten years old. You learned some stories from bards or from strange books about witchers, and now you want to be one of them." 

"Become a monster, neither human nor beast, expelled by soldiers and officials, rejected by the civilians you saved, hunted by twisted monsters, and become a monster wandering on the edge of human civilization!" 

Lann closed the notebook silently: "You may not believe it, but I may know the witchers better than most people in the world. I respect your group very much. Of course, that does not include you." 

"I've asked you all I want to know; do you have anything else to say?" 

The small prison was immediately filled with a chilling atmosphere because of these words. The witcher had already anticipated his own end. He had long known that such a day would come to him. Now that disaster is approaching, he doesn't feel afraid. 

"Hahahaha, hahahahahaha. Go and become a witcher, noble kid! Go and become a witcher, you will die, you will definitely die! Hahaha, hahaha!" 

Crazy laughter echoed behind him. Lann turned, grabbed the sword, and slashed his throat. 

The amber pupils completely extinguished their light, and the experience value on the panel rose slightly. The amount of experience is not as much as that gained from catching a thief. 

Hearing the movement in the cell, the jailers who had been watching and waiting outside immediately came up. They quickly carried the witcher's body after Lann left. The body will eventually be thrown into the wilderness with other executed prisoners. 

Stepping out of the prison, the sun was shining brightly outside, and all the cold atmosphere brought out from inside was driven away. 

Horse attendant House saw Lann coming out and immediately went to the stable to bring Lann's mount out. 

Lann was in a good mood. Although his first encounter with the witcher was not a pleasant one, he unexpectedly achieved part of his goal and clarified the content of the Witcher Trials. 

It's just that the success rate of this trial is a little bit low. Becoming a witcher is to allow Lann to gain better strength. If he gambles his life because of this, it would be better to look for other alternatives. Lann decided that the next phased goal was to try to increase the success rate of the Witcher Trials, or in other words, his own success rate of passing the Witcher Trials. 

This process is much more difficult than obtaining the Witcher Trials, and inevitably requires the participation of a mage. The royal family of Cintra does have a mage who supports them, but he is not here now. 

Lann felt that he needed to think of a suitable reason to hand over the content of this trial to the other party and persuade the mage to help him solve the problem together. 

Speaking of which, Jad's corpse may be a good experimental material, which can help decipher the witcher's trial and investigate what changes have occurred in the witcher's body. 

It's just that Lann currently does not have the academic quality to decipher anatomy, and there are no mages who are capable of deciphering it. 

Everything has returned to the starting point of 'long-term planning'. 

Lann thought. Before the mage comes back, it may be difficult to move forward with his plan to become a witcher. Now that I have nothing to do, I might as well take the city guards out to complete the missions. 

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen them today? Where are the city guards?" Lann turned around and asked the attendant. 

"My lord, you forgot. You let everyone rest today." Sword Attendant Swade reminded him. 

House, who was leading the horse, interrupted at this time: "You also gave everyone a lot of rewards this time. I just saw them walking towards the Rose Garden..." 

As House was talking, he suddenly felt that the entire team's pace suddenly stopped. 

Lann asked strangely: "Where is the Rose Garden? Shouldn't their favorite place be the Three Crows pub?" 

The young earl glanced at the three attendants. Sword Attendant Swade was the strongest in combat, the most honest, but not sociable. In comparison, the other two are much more sociable, especially House who usually goes to have fun with the soldiers of the city's defense army. 

"House, you say." 

House, Ace, and Swade looked at each other and said hesitantly: "The Rose Garden... is more expensive. It is a place where everyone will go after they have saved some money." 

'Rose Garden...Rose, Garden?' Lann chewed the name over and over again and seemed to get a taste of it. 

Lann narrowed his eyes: "You all know Rose Garden?" 

The three attendants hesitated for a moment and nodded. 

"Am I the only one who doesn't know?" 

The three attendants hesitated for a moment and shook their heads. 

Lann lowered his head and thought for a while, then said to the three attendants: "Simply, I have nothing to do today. I also want to see what my soldiers are doing on their days off. Rose Garden, right?" 

The three attendants' eyes lit up and they nodded vigorously. 

"We will accompany you!" 

... 

The next day, it was three o'clock in the morning, at Lannister Mansion. 

Lann was sweating profusely and stood motionless in the middle of the courtyard with his sword in hand. 

After a while, Lann took a deep breath, recalling the actions of the witcher in the previous battle and the key points learned during yesterday's torture, and his body gradually began to move. 

Like a cat taking clever and light steps, in stark contrast, the upper body rotates wildly like a windmill, and the long sword is driven by Lann to sweep every space around him. 

[Whirl]! 

"However, it is only an appearance and has no power." 

After spinning wildly for a few times, Lann stopped and sighed as if he was finally tired of playing. 

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