Chapter 4: Signs

The principle of a Witcher's spellcasting is completely different.

From childhood, every Witcher must take the Trial of the Grasses dozens of times. Most children die during the first dose because their bodies cannot withstand the pain of mutation; this is the most difficult part of the Trial of the Grasses, and even with the assistance of a sorceress, the success rate is only about thirty percent.

As these children grow, their internal organs undergo extremely severe mutations under the influence of the potions, becoming more adapted to Chaos Magic.

These mutated organs, in addition to giving Witchers a metabolic rate dozens of times faster than ordinary people, also make their physical functions very powerful; their stamina, resistance, recovery, explosive power, and Sign speed far exceed those of ordinary people.

Besides this, these mutated organs can also convert the Witcher's stamina and spirit into Chaos Magic, stored within their bodies, used to cast Witcher Signs.

This is why Dimeritium has a much smaller effect on Witchers than on those spellcasters.

Of course, this physical mutation does not bring only benefits. The years of painful torture during the Trial of the Grasses cause the minds of most Witchers to become somewhat twisted, and the mutation of various organs in the body also seriously affects the generation of various pheromones in their bodies, destroying certain functions of their bodies, and even causing many Witchers to become directly expressionless.

Although their lives can be extended to hundreds of years, after becoming a Witcher, their bodies have already developed huge differences from humans; not only can they no longer reproduce offspring, but even whether they are still human is questionable.

Standing in the center of the training ground, Wayne took a light breath. As a half-elf, he had a slight advantage in agility and spirit, and with the spiritual blessing of having lived two lives, once he calmed down, he could clearly feel the flow of the Chaos Magic stored within his body.

Following Vesemir's guidance, he stared at the wooden dummy in the training ground, concentrated his spirit, mobilized the Chaos Magic in his body, made the hand gesture for the Igni Sign with his left hand, and pushed lightly toward the dummy.

In an instant, he felt the Chaos Magic in his body, under his control, blend and roll according to a certain rule, turning into a stream of scorching energy that rushed rapidly up his arm and shot directly out of his left palm.

In less than a few seconds, a yellow, dazzling flame sprayed out from his palm and exploded directly in the air.

Although it was only a fireball the size of a watermelon and flew less than half a meter, the fact that he successfully completed the casting of the Igni Sign on his first attempt made Vesemir, who was watching from the side, feel somewhat shocked.

Looking at the Witcher apprentice who was full of joy because of the successful casting of the Sign, the old Witcher smacked his lips, coughed lightly, and said:

"Alright, child, don't be proud."

"Your talent for Signs is indeed very good, but I have seen several Witcher apprentices with such talent hundreds of years ago."

"Now, calm down and continue to cast the other Signs."

Hearing this, Wayne calmed his joyful mood. He had been in the Witcher world for so long, and although he had become a Witcher after a painful trial.

But until now, aside from his physical abilities becoming stronger, he hadn't really experienced that sense of fantasy of swords and magic.

Now that he had personally cast the Igni Sign, he could finally truly feel the magic of magic.

With the successful experience of casting the Igni Sign, Wayne successfully completed the next four Signs on his first attempt, which made Vesemir feel both excited and somewhat worried.

As the grand mentor of the School of the Wolf, he naturally hoped that a powerful Witcher would appear in the school.

But as an elder who had lived for hundreds of years and experienced countless joys and sorrows, the old Witcher knew very well that people with outstanding talent often do not represent success, but more hardships, and even dying prematurely.

The life of a genius is always full of twists and turns, and geniuses who can live to the end and truly achieve great accomplishments are often just a very small minority.

But no matter what Vesemir thought, Wayne was quite happy after successfully casting five Signs.

Aside from being happy about his talent, it was also because, after casting only five Signs, he heard the system's prompt sound.

Sign proficiency +1, current progress: 1.

Sign LV1: Sign strength +5%.

He discovered that Sign proficiency seemed easier to improve than swordplay, and unlike swordplay, which is affected by age and body size, Signs not only have offense and defense, control, and traps, but are also quite simple to use.

Thinking of this, Wayne secretly made a decision: he would focus his training on Signs first, and try to gain enough self-preservation ability in a short period of time.

Anyway, a Witcher's lifespan is long enough; as long as he can survive, his swordplay will definitely become stronger and stronger.

However, those were things to consider later.

After successfully casting five Signs, Wayne revealed a smile to the old Witcher and said cheekily:

"Master, I have completed your mission; you can give me the reward now."

Looking at this smiling face, which rarely appeared among the expressionless Witchers, Vesemir also temporarily put aside his worries, and a smile of approval appeared on his face.

He took out an ancient-looking dagger with a sheath from his lower back, reached out to stroke Wayne's short golden hair, and then handed the dagger to him, saying:

"Child, this is a very useful meteorite iron dagger, a gift from a master blacksmith. It can cut through the bodies of those tough monsters."

"I originally intended to wait until your birthday to give it to you, but since you performed very well today, I will reward you with it in advance."

Wayne excitedly took this reward, and at the same time, the system's mission completion prompt sounded in his ears.

Ordinary level, 【Training Mission】 completed.

Reward: 3 experience points, one Ordinary Treasure Chest.

Ordinary Treasure Chest: Can randomly obtain a certain amount of gold or random items of ordinary level.

Although the reward for the Ordinary level mission seemed a bit shabby, and the experience points for the mission were only 3 points, Wayne didn't mind.

According to the calculation that reaching the second level only requires one hundred experience points, if he accepted a training mission from Vesemir every day, it would only take about a month to level up, which felt quite good.

Thinking of this, Wayne restrained his somewhat scattered thoughts, put the meteorite iron dagger Vesemir gave him aside, wiped his forehead, which was sweating from casting five Signs in a row, and said to the old Witcher:

"Master, let me meditate for a few minutes, and then we will continue practicing."

"I'm not afraid of hardship; please don't be polite, use the strictest standards to require me."

Seeing that Wayne was not proud because of his talent, but instead asked to be taught more strictly, Vesemir nodded with gratification.

The smile on his face flashed and disappeared, and he immediately said in a reprimanding voice:

"Successfully casting a Sign is only the foundation of a Witcher's foundation."

"You are still far behind in casting speed, casting consumption, and the timing of casting."

"Next, I will teach you strictly."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 5 =====