Chapter 21: 21. Tracking.
Upon hearing this, Vesemir's smile froze on his face. He squinted, examining Allen's innocent face stained with murky blood. The clean and clear blue eyes on the apprentice's small face made people can't help but feel close to him.
"It must have been influenced by Leto. How could a thirteen-year-old apprentice understand these things?" Vesemir thought to himself.
He glanced at the newly shiny silver sword and sighed. Even after killing eight drowners, Elsa's sword was still spotless. Then, Vesemir handed Allen a dagger and said, "Handle all the materials. Remember what I taught you yesterday?"
Allen nodded, took the dagger, and squatted down to handle the materials. The materials needed to be handled from the drowners were only their tongues and brains. After Allen processed two, the remaining few were behind a large rock.
This rock happened to block Vesemir and Leto's line of sight.
After squatting down, Allen hesitated for a moment and used the dagger to cut open the drowner's chest.
Does drowner's heart essence come from the drowner's heart?
Allen had wondered about this yesterday, but Vesemir had been watching him the whole time. The sharp dagger cut from under the drowner's jaw along the midline to its groin. At the moment when he broke open the bloody ribs, a strong stench hit Allen's face.
Allen's pupils also dilated at this moment.
In the black-red chest cavity, surrounded by thick blood vessels, the center was empty without a trace, and the cut around the heart was very neat, as if the space around the heart had been moved away in one piece.
"The drowner's heart essence indeed comes from the hearts of the killed drowners," Allen thought to himself.
Although he was mentally prepared, seeing this scene with his own eyes still brought him an indescribable shock.
When was the heart taken?
Was it when he killed them, or when the mission was settled?
And how did the Witcher's Journal take these hearts away?
Was it magic?
"No!" Allen shook his head.
In the past two days, Vesemir and Leto were both there when he killed the drowners, and at the apprentice training ground yesterday, they were surrounded by a circle of Witchers.
They all had the Wolf School badge that could alert them to magic and monsters. If the Witcher's Journal's method was magic, it couldn't have escaped their notice.
Or was it a more advanced method than magic?
Divine power?
Allen sighed. There was too little information, and he could only jot down this intelligence for now. There weren't many materials to handle, and Allen soon removed all the drowners' tongues and brains. However, the number wasn't eight pairs. The tongues and brains of three drowners had been split into two by Elsa. Such materials were useless.
Vesemir roughly inspected Allen's spoils and nodded satisfactorily: "Not bad, not bad... Handling drowner materials may be simple, but patience is crucial. It's very rare for you to handle the materials so well while maintaining speed."
Vesemir didn't mention the several damaged materials.
During battle, killing enemies came first. Going into battle with the mindset of demanding intact materials was irresponsible to life. Although materials could be exchanged for money. But no matter how much money, without life, what's the point?
After the inspection, Vesemir handed Allen a specially made material bag. After sorting them into categories, Allen, Vesemir, and Leto set off again.
Unlike in the game, the mountain road leading to Kaer Morhen couldn't be ridden on horseback. Generally, Witchers would leave their horses in the village at the foot of the mountain and hike up.
Allen's group didn't have horses either. In the rugged mountain forest, they went along the direction of the water flow, looking for the next group of drowners. Since noon, Vesemir seemed to subconsciously avoid interacting with Allen.
Allen didn't mind. He took the opportunity to open the treasure chest.
Looking at the inventory with a total of ten treasure chests, Allen licked his lips satisfactorily and quickly opened half of them.
[Ding! Drowner Treasure Chest*5 opened]
[Obtained: Small Experience Orb*3, Rotten Flesh*2]
The small experience orbs were okay, but what use were these rotten flesh for?
Just to fill up the treasure chest inventory?
Allen shook his head, hesitating whether to open the remaining five treasure chests today. He looked up at the angle of the sun. It was still early, probably around three in the afternoon.
"I'll open them!" Allen made up his mind.
They were just drowner treasure chests; being so frugal was too petty.
[Ding! Drowner Treasure Chest*5 opened]
Among the four white lights, there was one mixed with blue. How many colors were there in these treasure chests?
Allen couldn't help but comment. White was the worst, gold should be top-tier, so where did blue stand?
Somewhere in between?
Which game doesn't mark the probability of obtaining items?
Sure enough, it's a trashy game. Allen continued to look.
[Obtained: Drowner Whistle *1, Small Experience Orb*4]
Switching to the item panel, he checked the information on the drowner whistle.
[Name: Drowner Whistle]
[Type: Bait Flute]
[Function: Blowing the drowner whistle emits a sound that attracts drowners]
[Note: Witcher + Drowner Whistle = ?]
Allen vaguely felt that this whistle had many uses. But he didn't need it now. If he suddenly pulled out a whistle with Vesemir and Leto still around and said he could summon drowners, wouldn't he be taken for a fool?
However, the drowner whistle was a very useful item. At least opening these ten treasure chests wasn't a loss.
After opening the chests, Allen also took a look at the character panel.
[Name: Allen]
[Age: 13]
[Title: Son of Miracles]
[Level: 3]
[Health: 100%, Stamina 80/80]
[Attributes: Strength 6.1, Agility 6.2, Constitution 8, Perception 8.9, Mystery 4.3]
[Special Skills: Witcher LV1, Appraisal LV1, Tracking LV1]
[Skills: Wolf School Two-Handed Sword LV2 (0/500), Kunen LV1 (0/100)]
[Formula: Slaughter Whale (Unavailable)]
[Items: Drowner Heart Essence16, Rotten Flesh*5, Small Experience Orb*58, Drowner Whistle*1, Twenty-three Cooking Methods for Drowners"]
[Evaluation: Mediocre!!]
The tracking skill appeared on the panel, and Allen's character level had also risen to level 3 after completing the mission. The tracking skill automatically appeared in Allen's mind. Just as he was about to try out the newly acquired skill.
"Allen, come over here and try to find this group of drowners," Vesemir crouched in the grass by the stream, kicking the grass with his right foot.
Allen closed the panel and walked over to Vesemir's side, carefully observing. This clump of grass was close to the water source, shimmering with water droplets everywhere. Obviously, the method of observing mucous reflection and tracking traces couldn't be used here. Vesemir deliberately chose such a location.
"But, it's a good time," Allen thought to himself.
Tracking.
The moment the skill was activated, the world as observed by Allen's naked eye darkened slightly.
The originally fresh and natural streamside grassland now showed many messy crimson claw prints, uniformly extending in the direction of the water flow into the distance. Out of curiosity, he walked up to one of the deep red traces, wanting to see how the Witcher's Journal determined these traces. Allen squatted down, focusing on the moment of the claw print, and his field of vision changed.
Hmm?
Can it still be like this?
.....
📢10 advanced chapters on p@treaon📢
For advance chapters: [email protected]/Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)
22. Twins.
23.Will It Work?
24. The Nature of Sorceresses.
25. Mirage Pearl.
26. Prophecy.