The Divine Hunter

ase up from time to time as he went through all the complex yet necessary steps of making potions.
Once all the ingredients got to know each other in the cauldron, Letho heated them up and poured them into a flask.
Then he sat cross legged and placed the concoction in his lap.
He sent his mana into the potion and used it to neutralize all the conflicting elements in the concoction.

“The mana required for neutralization is a tenth of what we spend on signs, and you cannot spend it all at once.
You must be slow and gradual, or you’ll destroy the potion.”

A while later, Letho raised a flask of green potion, and a dose of Swallow was done.

***

Of all the three training sessions, Roy was accustomed to alchemy the most.
He had gone through the same kind of training twice, and the third time’s the charm, so he adapted to it well.
Roy’s agility increased significantly after the trial, and thanks to that, his coordination and hand speed increased as well.
He could weigh the ingredients, handle the base of the concoction, and use all the apparatuses smoothly at this point.

Roy would rarely make any basic mistakes like taking the wrong weight and underheating or overheating the cauldron.
After seeing Letho’s presentation, Roy managed to create a dose of Swallow after ten failures.
His mana was almost fully depleted, but he managed to make one, though its effect was only a third of what Letho’s Swallow was.
However, it was a huge improvement, as he had to go through a few grueling days to make one dose the last time.

He mastered Swallow in two days, and the process of making Thunderbolt and Petri’s Philter was about the same, so no accidents happened.
Roy’s alchemy skills were growing slowly but surely, and he enjoyed that kind of feeling.
However, the only problem was money.
They spent more than three hundred crowns in a single week, and eighty percent of that was wasted.

***

After alchemy and dinner, it was time for Serrit’s theory class.
Roy thought Serrit would only read the text of Almanac of Creatures word by word, but instead, Serrit veered off script and brought up interesting examples every time he talked about a creature.
Most of the time, the example came from his own experience, though he modified it a little.

“So you memorized two pages last night.
Not bad.
Here’s a question.
What’s the most distinct difference between drowners and nekkers?”

“Drowners can’t see too far, while nekkers can’t see too clearly.” Roy experienced those himself, and the memory was still vivid.

“Good.
Looks like Letho taught you some basics.” Serrit smirked.
“Let’s move on to some of the more advanced knowledge.
Trolls, to be specific.
Not ice trolls, not forest trolls, but trolls.
They are powerful humanoid creatures.
They are fat, and their muscles are thick.
They are nearly invincible, and they possess significant strength.
They can tear off our head and arms easily and shove it up our ass.
So what should you do if you run into a troll, kid?” Serrit looked at Roy.

“Run,” Roy blurted.
He was still too weak to face trolls, but he thought he could run even if he couldn’t fight it.

“You fool! That kind of reaction would only make it think you were a threat, and it would attack you.” Serrit shook his head in disdain.
“You would only take two steps at most before the troll smashed your bones with a boulder, and it would toss the boulder at you.”

“So what should I do, Mr.
Serrit?” Roy looked down humbly as he requested for the answer.

Serrit loved that attitude.
He straightened his hair band and puffed his chest.
“Trolls might possess great strength, but they have simple minds, and they are slow.
That’s their weakness, and you can exploit it.
If you run into them, the best course of action is to stop moving and crouch down.
Cover your head with your arms, and the trolls might stop attacking, since they’ll think you’re a rock.
Then you can slip away while they take a nap.”

“Um, are you sure that will work?” Roy was doubtful.
“Won’t they tear me limb from limb and make me into a human stew?”

“It will work.
Speaking from experience.
That’s one unforgettable memory.
I was eighteen back then, and I had just departed the great Gorthur Gvaed,” Serrit said.
“I was injured after handling a ghoul request in a village, and I ran into a troll on my way back.
It was right beside the wooden bridge.
I pretended to be a stone, and I managed to slip by.
Then I used the same trick three times at the same spot.
Back then, I wondered how a humanoid creature with such low intellect managed to survive for so long.
By the fifth time, I couldn’t hold my curiosity back, so I raised my hands and slowly went over to have a chat.”

“You had a chat with a troll?”

“Yes.
Trolls speak human tongue as well, but they have limited intellect, and their temper is short.
Naive and stupid, so to speak.” Serrit emphasized, “If you wish to talk to them, you have to master the art of conversation, and you have to think on your feet.
You must not show any kind of nervous emotion, or they will smash you into bits, thinking you want to cross the bridge.”

“So what did you talk about with the troll?” Roy asked.

“It told me about bridgemaking and how to cook mushrooms, while I taught it how to count using fingers,” Serrit said.
“Trolls usually only know how to count up to five, while I taught it how to count until ten with its fingers.
It was delighted, and I knew that if I were to invite him, I would gain a friend, an underling, and a goon, or a bodyguard.
Trolls do not understand betrayal.
That concept doesn’t seem to exist, so their loyalty is guaranteed.
It was a shame I had no place to keep that giant, and it had a big appetite, so I couldn’t sustain it.”

Roy gulped. Whoa, if I can convince a troll to join me, that’d be more convenient than forcible Taming. “How did you manage to become friends with it?”

“Oh, I wrote an article about it, titled ‘How to Deceive an Innocent Troll Using the Art of Conversation.’ All the details are in there.
Interested?”

“Yes, of course.”

***

It was already night after the theory class, so Serrit took Roy and left Cintra for the wilds.
Sleuth work, tracking, and hunting were included in Serrit’s class.
Since witchers would have to live in the wilds a lot, hunting and survival skills were crucial to them.
Letho had taught Roy the basics, but Serrit went deeper, and he easily taught Roy about the most important parts.

First, he taught Roy about the traps he could make to catch some fish, birds, rabbits, and marmots.
The traps were made using anything that was available in the wild, including vines, twigs, and fallen leaves.
They made the traps at night, and if they were lucky, they could get something the very next day.

Then, he showed Roy how to use their witcher senses to track bigger prey using their urine, footprints, fur, and feathers.
Then they would hunt down their prey, skin and disembowel it, and finally make barbecue out of it.

“You’ll be on cooking duty from now on, kid, so learn how to grill,” Serrit said nonchalantly as he chomped down on the meat.

“Why me?”

“School tradition.
Youngest witcher is on menial duty.”

***

Roy liked Serrit’s class the most out of the three sessions.
It was interesting, and Roy could train his crossbow skills, and he could gain some EXP as well. Three birds with one stone.
Or in my case, one bolt. He would have fallen in love with Serrit at this rate, but alas, Serrit wasn’t a woman.