Bright emerald flashes flickered and faded. Reinald, visibly stunned, looked around at his surroundings. Then, as if to verify something, he instinctively touched his head.
Not even the slightest dizziness—this was a godsend for witchers traveling long distances!
He took in the place with a careful gaze. Only after a moment did he realize he was now standing at the stronghold of the Griffin School, Kaer Seren.
"No wonder this is the Griffin School," Reinald marveled. "The architecture... It's something we never even considered when we built Kaer Morhen. And after all these years, their castle is still so well preserved!"
Vesemir quietly explained the evolution of the Griffin School beside him, causing Reinald's expression to shift again in awe.
Meanwhile, Lann was already rushing off toward Mousesack's laboratory.
He was eager to begin reconstructing Reinald's armor.
Lann had been eyeing Reinald's gear for quite some time. Compared to the others from the Wolf School, he knew far better just how much that armor boosted combat effectiveness.
In his past life as a player, each witcher school had its own unique armor set, and preferences varied based on aesthetics: the Cat School's hooded light armor was sleek and agile, the Bear School's long robes had a heavy, masterly feel, and the Wolf School's medium armor jacket suited modern sensibilities.
But the set Reinald had designed himself—known as the 'Forgotten Wolf' armor—had achieved a rare consensus among players: it was beautiful in its sheer power.
At the very least, it far surpassed any of the sets Lann had gathered so far, including the Superior Griffin Set he was currently wearing.
In a sense, Vesemir hadn't been wrong—if Reinald had brought that armor back to Kaer Morhen back then, perhaps it really could have reversed, or at least delayed, the downfall of the Wolf School.
But sadly, there were no what-ifs.
At the moment, even Yoana, who had been supervising military production back in Cintra, had been dragged here by Lann. Though Cintra had now been restored, Yoana—who had arrived as part of the reinforcements from Skellige—had not returned to the isles with the others, instead choosing to remain in Cintra.
The Tordarroch clan didn't object. Skelligers encouraged roaming and honing one's craft—wandering and adventure were part of their cultural romance.
Lann was more than happy to have a future master blacksmith remain in Cintra, and so he brought Yoana into his military production system.
Now, the golden-haired girl was huddled with Reinald, murmuring over the schematics as they exchanged their respective forging techniques.
On the other side, Lann had just finished explaining Reinald's origins to Mousesack, eliciting another sigh of wonder from the druid.
"Kaer Seren used to have its own forge as well," Mousesack offered. "I've visited it before. Thanks to the djinn's wish, it's been restored quite nicely. Perhaps it's time to reopen it."
Lann nodded, then gave a slightly apologetic look. "And that means I'll have to ask even more of you. This armor incorporates a lot of alchemical craftsmanship—I don't know if we can integrate it with our current imbuement techniques or other methods, but maybe some of the new alchemical processes we've developed can replace the old ones for better performance. Once we've finalized the secondary mutation procedures, I'll need your help to launch this project."
Mousesack tapped Lann lightly on the chest with his index finger, shaking his head with a helpless smile. But then, lifting his chin slightly and catching Lann's confused look, the old druid smiled with subtle satisfaction.
"Actually," Mousesack said with a grin, "we can start researching the armor right now."
"…What do you mean?" Lann asked, puzzled at first—then realization dawned, and delight lit up his face.
"You haven't been wondering where Jerome went?" Mousesack patted Lann's shoulder. "The secondary mutation project has reached a breakthrough. It can now be performed safely on Geralt and the others. But we've run into a shortage of materials—especially Pale Widow eggs—so Jerome's gone back to the lab in Toussaint to look for some."
"At this stage, we can't apply the mutation to too many people just yet. The Pale Widow is far too rare, so we've decided to start a breeding program rather than burn through our stock in one go."
Lann nodded vigorously, fully supporting Mousesack's approach. Then he asked, "Assuming we stick to sustainable use, how many people could undergo the secondary mutation at this point?"
"Probably two to three people," Mousesack estimated. "As for who should undergo the mutation, that's for your brotherhood to decide internally."
Lann took a deep breath—then couldn't help but laugh.
"With the secondary mutation and new armor, witchers might actually be able to solo high-tier vampires now."
"Duke Lannister!"
Before Lann could fully revel in the breakthrough of the secondary mutation experiment, Yoana's voice called out from behind.
She was gripping the schematics for the Forgotten Wolf armor, her face flushed with excitement.
"I've confirmed it! The school schematics you gave me earlier actually follow the same core framework as this one. That means it should be easy to forge the base, unenchanted versions first!"
Yoana continued to excitedly explain her ideas: "And because of the similarities in these armor sets, I haven't just reproduced the School of the Forgotten Wolf set exactly as is—I've also been able to disassemble and modify it."
Her speech picked up speed: "Witcher masters from other schools won't necessarily have to wear armor styles that don't suit them—they can still gain substantial boosts in power!"
At present, the Witcher Order had basically gathered all the design schematics from the five major original schools.
Lann had previously acquired the Cat and Wolf School diagrams from Oxenfurt and Temple Isle respectively. Kaer Seren naturally came with the complete Griffin schematics. The Bear School's designs were carried in personally by Gerd, and the rest of the Wolf School diagrams had been discovered by Geralt and the others at Kaer Morhen under Lann's guidance.
Though not all of them were Grandmaster-level blueprints, each school's armor design philosophy was fully embodied within them—more than enough for Yoana, a future Grandmaster armorer, to fully digest.
The Witcher armor system differed greatly from conventional armor found in the outside world.
For traditional combat units, armor served a single function: defense. The thicker the plate, the harder the charge, the greater the glory.
Thick armor often became a family heirloom—there were even suits of plate armor that got passed down and worn by three generations of grandfather, father, and grandson.
Most people kept layering on heavier and heavier armor. Only a rare few—like Witchers—dared to go lighter over time.
In the development of Witcher armor, defense was just one factor. At higher levels, armor primarily served as a base upon which to inscribe alchemical runes, used to enhance Signs or other Witcher-specific abilities.
This was a design philosophy entirely distinct from modern armor design.
And due to the differing combat styles across the schools, matching armor to the Witcher's fighting habits was critical.
Take, for instance, this Forgotten Wolf set. Though it provided excellent boosts to both Signs and close-quarters combat, at its core it was medium armor. It would feel comfortable for the Griffin and Wolf schools—but for Cat School Witchers who preferred light armor, or Bear School Witchers who favored heavy armor, wearing it would be uncomfortable.
So much so that Cat and Bear Witchers would rather forgo the bonuses entirely and return to their original armor sets. After all, combat isn't just about the stats on a character sheet.
But now Yoana was confident—she could overcome this problem!
Not only could she forge a set of armor from the blueprint perfectly tailored to both the Griffin and Wolf Schools, she could also use it as a foundation to fully upgrade the Cat, Viper, and Bear School gear!
"Master Reinald's design was truly inspiring," she added modestly.
Lann immediately gave a sweeping gesture, officially appointing Yoana as the Witcher Order's in-house armorer, in addition to her duties in overseeing Cintra's military production. He also granted her access to Kaer Seren and authorization to freely draw from its resources.
From that moment on, Kaer Seren's forge belonged to her.
...
Watching the flushed young woman rush off with the blueprints in hand alongside Reinald, Lann let out a long breath.
"What? Surprised?" came a voice.
"Hm?" Lann looked over at Mousesack in confusion. "Surprised about what?"
"She's been putting enormous effort into the Witcher armor schematics all this time, even while managing Cintra's day-to-day production. So the moment she got her hands on a new blueprint, she immediately began extrapolating improvements for other schools' gear."
Mousesack chuckled.
"But that's not all she's capable of. With our support in alchemical technology, she's already extrapolated gear based on the most basic Cat and Bear School blueprints that's comparable in performance to the Griffin School's Enhanced set."
"She's done so much innovation that we're confident—even if we someday find the actual Enhanced diagrams for the Cat and Bear Schools—they wouldn't outperform the versions she's already theorized."
"Really?" Lann asked, clearly intrigued. He had always known Yoana was talented—but he hadn't realized she was this talented.
Mousesack nodded with a smile.
"The armor she completed just a few days ago only finished testing with our help. We hadn't had the chance to report it to you yet."
The druid sighed softly.
"You've gone far, and fast—perhaps too far and too fast. But everyone is working hard to keep up with you."
Lann smiled faintly.
Ever since the war to reclaim the kingdom, he had been running nonstop. Only after a breakthrough in the Witcher mutation research had he returned briefly to Kaer Seren to attend Leo's mutation. After that, he had gone back to Cintra's royal palace to deal with various affairs and had barely gotten any rest.
It wasn't until he heard of Yoana's breakthrough in armor crafting that he realized how little attention he had paid to matters beyond state affairs.
Seizing this rare opportunity, Lann decided to use the moment to get a better understanding of the various ongoing initiatives—particularly those outside Cintra.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---