Chapter 124

Kaer Morhen castle.

Geralt's hoarse but uniquely mocking voice rang out.

"Hahaha, Lambert, you're out of cards, aren't you!"

"Look at my Horn card—melee unit strength doubled. Seventy-two points. You lost."

A few seconds later, Lambert said with annoyance: "Damn it, Geralt, you must have cheated. Drawing three Horn cards in one game—how could there be such a coincidence?"

Geralt waved his finger with some triumph and said: "Luck, this is luck."

"I don't know why, but every time I play cards with you, my luck is especially good."

"Alright, don't be a nag like a woman. Hurry up and hand over the bet—twenty crowns, enough for me to buy a barrel of good wine."

Lambert handed over the gold coins somewhat reluctantly and then muttered:

"Damn it, if I had known, I wouldn't have bet so high. The money I saved for a year isn't enough to lose a few games."

Geralt didn't care about his brother's complaints. He tilted his mouth at Lambert and said: "It's fine, Lambert. If you don't have money, you can go ask Wayne to borrow some. Aren't we going to Wyzima with him to execute a mission when spring comes?"

"The reward he offers you will definitely be very high. That little guy is very rich now."

Lambert was very disdainful of this and said:

"Your master Lambert hasn't been poor enough to go ask a junior for money."

Geralt chuckled and teased:

"This winter is still very long. When you lose until you have no money to play Gwent, let's see if you're still so stubborn."

And just as the Gwent duo were bickering, Wayne was also on the training ground outside the castle, conducting swordplay combat training with Eskel.

This winter, at Kaer Morhen, practicing swordplay was one of Wayne's main tasks.

In terms of the strength of his Signs, he should already be at the top level of all witchers, but while he had a top-tier physical constitution, his swordplay level could only be considered excellent and could not compete with those true swordplay masters.

This was not a lack of speed or strength, but a gap in actual combat experience and various combat techniques.

However, Eskel could definitely be called a swordplay master, and although his personality seemed dull, he was not stingy at all about helping his brothers train. Moreover, he was experienced and steady in his actions, making him a quite excellent swordplay teacher.

Wayne had heard Geralt say that this guy never went to brothels and liked the opposite sex with horns on their heads the most; his personality was actually a bit reserved.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Bang! Bang! Bang! On the training ground, the two held iron training swords, fighting back and forth, neither giving an inch.

If they didn't use Signs to assist, although Wayne could suppress Eskel in speed and strength, he would often be suppressed in turn by the special swordplay techniques or feints and other strategies Eskel used in less than two rounds.

This made Wayne somewhat annoyed while also frantically absorbing these actual combat experiences.

As the training time lengthened, perhaps the gap in strength and speed couldn't completely defeat Eskel, but often when the high-intensity battle between the two reached a certain limit, Eskel would lose due to lack of stamina first.

He waved his hand, wiped the sweat from his forehead, sat on a wooden stump nearby, and panted heavily:

"Can't do it, can't do it. Young people have more drive. I need to rest for a while."

Wayne was also panting slightly and said with a smile:

"I just have the advantage of better stamina. But according to the teacher, after you transplant that large red mutagen, your strength and agility should have a major increase."

"By then, I shouldn't be able to suppress you in this regard."

Hearing Wayne mention this, a smile also appeared on Eskel's face, and he said with emotion: "I have to thank you for this matter, brother. I have been looking for a suitable large red mutagen for many years but haven't found one."

"I didn't expect that you would bring me such a big surprise after only being out for a year, and you were even willing to let me have it."

"Don't worry, when you need this thing, I will definitely return a better one to you."

Wayne waved his hand indifferently and said: "Talking about this is being too formal. The evil god mission at the shores of Wyzima will soon need your help. Being able to let your strength improve a bit is also a good thing for me."

Eskel nodded, didn't say any more polite words, and just simply said:

"No problem, just call me when the time comes. I'll probably be looking for contracts near the Kingdom of Temeria in the first half of the year."

Wayne smiled. The brothers of the Wolf School were all easy to talk to. When he proposed that he needed their help, no one had any opinions; they just asked nonchalantly: where, what monster to fight, when to come.

They didn't worry at all that their brother would cheat them, and they never talked about rewards, which made Wayne feel warm inside.

He took off the magic wine pot from his waist, pressed a switch, switched to the iced cola compartment, tilted his head, and poured several large gulps into his mouth. The sweet taste, the refreshing iced texture, and the slightly bitter bubbles made him unable to help but burp.

He switched the wine pot to the high-end dwarven spirits compartment and handed it to Eskel, saying with a smile:

"Want a sip? The finest dwarven spirits, brewed by the dwarven master blacksmith O'Henry. This master is also a quite famous master brewer among the Carbon Mountain dwarves."

Eskel raised his eyebrows. Although he hadn't heard of O'Henry's reputation, dwarven master brewers never disappointed those who loved spirits.

He took the wine pot, first observed it in his hand, and sighed.

"A magical piece of equipment."

Then he tilted his head and poured a large gulp into his mouth. However, the strength of the finest dwarven spirits obviously exceeded his expectations. In less than half a minute, Eskel's face turned bright red, and he even felt a wave of heat rushing out from his body. He closed his eyes and savored it for a long time, then exhaled a turbid breath and said with a smile:

"What a strong wine! Wayne, how much is in this wine pot of yours? Pour me a pot later too; I really like this taste."

Wayne, of course, was not stingy. In fact, compared to high-concentration dwarven spirits, he preferred mellow red wine and various fruit wines with sweet tastes, and the few modern drinks were things he kept to reward himself when he was in a pleasant mood.

Just as the two were chatting, an old man with a tall stature, white hair and beard, and wearing what seemed to be a bear-skin coat walked in from outside the castle gate.

Seeing the two sweating profusely on the training ground, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he said: "Not bad, Wayne, Eskel. Swordplay is the craft we witchers use to make a living; we should practice it diligently."

"Geralt and Lambert must be playing Gwent again, right! Wayne, you shouldn't teach this kind of decadent game to your brothers; it will only make them lazier and addicted to pleasure."

Wayne shrugged. He was long accustomed to such preaching from Vesemir. He noticed the fluffy white ball of fur that the old man was holding inside his coat against his chest and couldn't help but ask: "Teacher, what is that in your arms? A wolf cub?"

Vesemir stroked his white beard, nodded, and said:

"Didn't you say yesterday that you had read a secret guide on animal taming from a druid?"

"I originally wanted to go to the mountaintop to find a winter hawk cub for you, but unfortunately, I didn't find one. However, when I went to look in a wolf den, I found a newly born direwolf cub."

"This little guy is so strong right from birth; it must be a good seedling. In the future, whether it's guarding the house or fighting and treasure hunting, it will be able to bring you help."

"But without the correct method, it is difficult for ordinary people to tame such a direwolf. Whether you can become its master depends on your own ability."

Wayne became interested immediately upon hearing this. Direwolves were the offspring of some wolf-attribute monsters and ordinary wolves after the Conjunction of the Spheres, and could be considered a variant of ordinary wolves.

Adult male direwolves could even grow as large as wild lions or tigers and were quite famous and quite rare fierce beasts in the Northern Kingdoms.

He reached out and took the snow-white little wolf from the old hunter's arms. This little guy was probably only a month old, all fluffy, and hadn't even opened its eyes yet. It was estimated that it hadn't been weaned yet. After leaving the old witcher's warm arms, it immediately began to shiver, and a pitiful whimpering sound came from its tiny mouth.

I wonder where its parents went? Perhaps they were killed by Vesemir.

Seeing this cute performance, Wayne immediately fell in love with this little guy.

He remembered the Chinese rural dog he kept at home in his previous life. Although it didn't look pretty, it was exceptionally spiritual. Unfortunately, time waits for no one; after he grew up, that dog died of old age.

It's just that I don't know how long the lifespan of this direwolf, which inherited monster blood, is.

Watching familiar people and things quietly pass away was also a sorrow of being a long-lived witcher.

"Seeing that it is snow-white all over, let's call it White Fang. I hope this little guy can obey my orders; otherwise, it would be a pity to kill it."

Thinking of his animal taming technique, Wayne had high expectations. Training direwolves or horses—these combat partners—was secondary.

His dream was to train a batch of aerial mounts, like griffins, drakes, or manticores—fierce mounts that could carry people into the sky.

If witchers could possess such a batch of powerful combat partners, I'm afraid no one would dare to look down on them by then.

Unfortunately, such beasts were often very fierce and brutal, and there had never been a legend in the witcher world of anyone taming a griffin.

Dragon riders were a bit more possible; after all, dragons were all very intelligent and knew how to adapt to circumstances.

(End of chapter)