The Witcher: Lord of the Empire

Seven days passed quickly, and Lann now no longer had the strength to scream. He just felt like someone was tying him up and injecting something into his body.

He heard a voice speaking: "Can you hear me? I'm saving you, knight. But I have to turn you into a witcher so that you can be saved."

Lann couldn't open his eyes, and he didn't have the strength to struggle, but the system's panel didn't require him to open his eyes.

[Health: 52/770]

"I'm... dying..." The voice was rough and coarse. Lann felt that only Tomas Moreau could have spoken like this before. "Meal..."

Lann needs [Gourmet] to come into play!

"You can't eat now, do you understand?" Lann heard the voice saying: "I will administer serum to you to maintain your basic life; the only thing you have to do now is to keep going, use all your will to survive and never give up."

Lann was still struggling. This man didn’t understand what he meant at all!

"If it weren't for the fact that you need to experience this process clearly, I would really give you a blow."

Hearing the voice, Lann was angry and helpless.

"Forget it, if this can make your mentality a little better - liquid food should be fine."

After a while, Lann felt a little bit of diluted broth being poured into his throat. It entered his throat drop by drop, and the total amount was very small, only about half a mouthful.

But Lann's health finally slowly started to climb back up. He finally calmed down, leaving only his twitching body continuing to suffer in endless pain.

Another seven days have passed, and the Trial of the Grasses has ended. Jerome frowned slightly. He felt that there seemed to be some unexpected changes in Lann's body, but he couldn't tell where.

This kind of physical change is not a good sign.

"Will he fail...?" But there was no turning back at this point.

After the Trial of the Grasses is over, only the last stage of mutation remains: the Trial of the Dreams. It involved mutation of the eyes, bone marrow and hormones, and allowed for better night vision, among other benefits. It also resulted in infertility. It is the deepest change and the longest mutation. It often takes several months or even a year.

Completing this stage would make Lann a complete witcher from a physiological point of view.

Jerome inserted the infusion tubes that were previously used on himself into Lan's body.

The Trial of the Dreams begins!

It is also from this step that Jerome will combine the results of Tomas Moreau's research to make changes to the Lann trial.

"Based on the Gryphon School witchers' essay, with the mutation containing the mutated giant centipede albumen as the endpoint."

"Luckily the strain of the giant centipede that attacked this 'gentleman' is the Pale Widow, so it is not necessary to find the albumen."

"In addition, some potions created by ancient sorcerers can be added to neutralize it. I remember that there are records that these were eliminated from the regular formulas because the ingredients were too valuable..."

"I'm going to look for them. My father's laboratory... that guy has everything."

"The frightener's eye can strengthen a witcher's mutation, transforming and strengthening his body..."

“The Dagon secretions… Did he really obtain materials from this mythical creature? Combined with Golem's obsidian heart, Zeugl venom, Trace of the Beyond and Striga heart, very good..."

"The Koshchey heart... I've only heard about it in myths and poetry, I wouldn't have something like that on my body, right?"

"I still need Werewolf fur... how come there isn't something like that? I'll go out and look for it..."

This would be an extremely long mutation process.

...

While Lann undergoes the long Witcher Trials, the world will not stand still.

The capital of Cintra.

Several months have passed since Lann began his mutation.

When only a few people from the expedition returned, Calanthe became furious and imprisoned them all. The palace attendants listened to the morning's quarreling and beatings outside the Queen's drawing room, and at one point a roar of 'Toussaint!' could be heard coming from inside.

The Lannister family was almost destroyed. Through the efforts of Princess Ciri and advisor Mousesack, the Lannister family estates were temporarily entrusted to the nominal custody of the royal family. In practice, they were left in the temporary custody of Ciri, rather than being inherited by a random secondary branch of the royal family.

The reason why Queen Calanthe agreed was to prepare a dowry for Ciri. The imprisoned Lannister squires were also freed.

In early 1263, Queen Calanthe announced that Princess Cirilla was betrothed to Prince Radovid V of Redania. Redania is a wealthy kingdom that benefits from trade and agriculture and one of the Four Great Kingdoms

A month later, the marriage was canceled by Vizimir II, the current king of Redania.

The conflict between Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms became increasingly fierce, with Cintra bearing the brunt.

…

Three Crows Tavern.

This place is even more lively than a few months ago. Desperate merchants are rushing to the place where the two sides of the war are connected to get money. Soldiers will also choose to spend their rest time in the tavern to relieve stress.

Only the citizens are much less visible, and they are almost invisible in the tavern, trying to prove that civilians are the biggest victims of the war.

At this time, the passing merchants and soldiers were gathered around a specially vacated card table in the center of the tavern.

Someone at the gaming table proudly tossed a card. "Look at my [Biting Frost]. Sets the strength of all Close Combat cards to 1 for both players. You will definitely lose!"

The spectators began to lament. "Oh my God, I made the wrong bet!"

“Damn it, Miri actually hid this kind of card until now.”

Gwent can be said to be the only form of entertainment for mainland residents in their free time and has a long history. Among them, the cards drawn by dwarves are the most exquisite. The ingenuity of the dwarf masters in treating weapons will extend to the cards. Court nobles and wealthy businessmen often collect these miniature arts.

The masses at the bottom often don’t have any good cards. And because of time issues, the decks and card types at this time were far less rich than those in later generations. The two soldiers fighting at this time all used the basic cards of the Northern Kingdom.

The soldier sitting in front of the table watched the merchant before him play [Biting Frost], and his face contorted with anger, almost breaking his back molars.

"Kahn, play quickly, you only have one card left!"

The soldier of Cintra reluctantly showed the last card in his hand, which turned out to be...

[Lion Knight - Lann]

The lively atmosphere around the card table suddenly cooled down. This is a card that can be regarded as a treasure by the soldiers of Cintra.

The merchant sitting in front of him seemed to want to laugh, but considering the environment he was in, he tried hard to suppress his expression and said with a forced smile. "Uh... actually, if it weren't for that terrible accident, this card might have become a gold card in the future and wouldn't have been affected by [Biting Frost]..."

The soldier stared at his opponent with reddened eyes. "Shut up. You've won. Apart from this card, all my cards are yours, only this one isn't."

The merchant looked around and shook his head in resignation. "Okay, okay..."

The soldiers lost interest in continuing to play Gwent. As the night progressed, some furiously banged on the table, shouting in anger.

“Lord Lannister must have been attacked by the Nilfgaardians, and Toussaint was definitely an accomplice!”

A companion next to him held down the drunkard who started talking nonsense, shook his head and shouted to the bard on the side of the tavern: "Bard, sing a song for our Lord Lannister."

Everyone also raised their glasses in cooperation at this moment: "Here's to Lannister!"

Milo Glass nodded and began to strum the strings: "Kind Lannister... Heroic Lannister... Generous Lannister... Compassionate Lannister..."

At the bar, two men dressed as warriors were drinking. There was an empty circle around them. People passing by clinked their wine glasses, but no one came to join them.

They are Ace and House.

Only Milo Glass, who had finished singing, came over to toast the two attendants at this moment, and they barely met each other.

“To Earl Lion, my two lords.”

Ace raised his glass in response. "We are not nobles, in any way."

House picked up the wine glass and responded: "Thank you for your song, poet. But why are you back?"

The bard plucked the strings of his lute and said with a smile. "Everyone likes Count Leon's songs. And this place has always been a source of inspiration for me. I also hoped that I would be lucky enough to meet the Count again, after all, I still owe him a drink."

Ace smiled bitterly. If Lann were still here, he would hate these meddlers who get so close. These greedy fellows stare down the little Lannister family, always hoping to gain favor or lick the crowns dripping from the generous earl's fingers.

But now that the count has passed away, he can only sigh for this traveling poet.

"The Earl never offered a drink with the expectation of being paid back. He's different from those stingy gentlemen you've seen. And you won't be able to find new stories here to compose your songs in the future."

"Abandon Cintra, bard, do not follow those reckless merchants who only seek profit in times of war. If you want to pay the count for his wine, spread his poems. Knights like him must not be forgotten."

Milo Glass smiled nonchalantly and said: "Of course the glasses must be returned, it's a matter of courtesy... and I don't think I'm short of stories to compose either."

After a brief chat, the opinionated bard greeted the two attendees and departed, leaving the two in silence once more.

The tavern owner continued to pour wine for the two people, and the next second they picked it up and drank it in one gulp. After a long time, Ace finally asked: "Swade still not coming?"

House nodded. "He is never far from Her Majesty the Princess. He was on guard until he fainted two days ago."

"Fortunately, Hardy discovered it in time. He always felt it was his fault because he was the only one among the three who followed the Count."

Ace sighed. "Do you blame him?"

House glanced at Ace. "What about you?"

The tavern owner poured them more wine and they clinked their glasses, drinking to the bottom.

Ace suggested: "We should meet more often. The more time I spend with those officers... the more I miss Earl Lannister."

House shook his head. "Who doesn't miss him? Those court knights really... there will never be another knight like the Earl."

"But perhaps it's not a good idea to meet so often. Isn't it your father who made you captain of the city guard? Newly promoted, you shouldn't be so free."

"And I am learning the duties of a butler with Mr. Enns, perhaps I will become one of the palace chamberlains in the future."

Ace lowered his head. His former comrades-in-arms were falling apart due to the death of his lord. He gathered his courage and asked again: "Do you have any news about Mr. Geralt?"

"Queen Calanthe almost executed him, but Advisor Mousesack intervened and saved his life. In the end, Queen Calanthe demanded that he never set foot in Cintra again, or else he would be beheaded."

Ace sighed. "Then we may never see Mr. Geralt. He is also an amazing warrior."

House suddenly remembered something and said: "But Mr. Mousesack seems to have asked him to do something. It may be something related to magic. The specifics are not something I should know about."

"Speaking of magic... Didn't the Earl have a sorceress friend, what was her name?"

“I heard she was an advisor to Temeria. I forgot her name.”

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