Since ancient times, happy moments have always been brief, and Keira Metz, smiling joyfully in Professor Moreau's underground laboratory, was no exception.
Gradually restraining her smile, the sorceress released the witcher's arm. She glanced sideways at him. "So! Dovahkiin Stormborn, Mr. Victor Who Crossed the Desert, about this thick, huge thing of yours, don't you think you should explain how it suddenly appeared?"
"Ha! Woman, what kind of attitude is that? I, Victor, have lived my whole life as I please. Why should I explain myself to you! You even dare glare at me sideways? Believe it or not, I'll give you a fierce beating with my staff!" That was what the witcher thought in his heart.
Standing above her, he looked down through the neckline of the hunting outfit. Snow-white skin, and beneath her collarbone, a small mole could be seen clearly.
Opening the front flap of the herbal satchel and letting Keira see his movements clearly, Victor reached in and took out his dissection tools. "I found this herbal satchel in a ruin. It has storage functions, but it seems to be limited to my personal use."
Handing the herbal satchel to the sorceress, the witcher walked to the gargoyle and began breaking it down for materials. This was a treasure urgently awaiting development. Gargoyle Heart and Gargoyle Dust were named alchemical ingredients, and the golem heart that controlled the magical circuits was an even greater treasure. A single one could brew many Blizzard potions.
As for Keira, who was currently studying the Endless Herbal Satchel, Victor did not pay much attention. Since he had used this method to deal with the monster, he had already mentally prepared himself to reveal the existence of the herbal satchel to her.
In any case, as long as he guarded the core secret of his incredible alchemy, a mere item that was limited to one user, similar to an ancient artifact, was tempting, but not so tempting as to be irresistible. It could be used to test whether he could continue trusting the other party. Besides, even if it were taken away, he could summon it back with a wave of his hand at any time.
...
Some time later, Keira came to Victor's side while he was earnestly dissecting and returned the herbal satchel. "So this is the confidence you had in Vizima, a storage container that can hold dimeritium products and cannot be identified by magic... Tell me, does it regenerate?"
The sorceress guessed that it could regenerate because the moment she took it in hand, she felt a sense of familiarity, as if she had seen an identical one before. And no matter how she probed it with magic, the feedback was ordinary and unremarkable, just like the herbal satchel she had personally burned back then...
But she had also truly seen the witcher take dissection tools from inside it, as well as that stupidly huge, thick, black dimeritium greatsword. This utterly discordant phenomenon, this creation that did not feel magical at all, filled her with the urge to study it.
Without lifting his head, still focused on his work, he admitted calmly, "That's right! If it is destroyed, it can be reborn near me."
Every word was true, only full of misleading implications. In truth, whether it was destroyed or not did not matter. The truth was that as long as he called, "Satchel, come," or even merely thought of it, it would appear in response, no matter where in the world it was.
The sorceress was very satisfied with the "truth" the witcher provided.
Connecting it with the many suspicious points she had found when investigating the scene after he escaped Vizima, Keira quickly pieced together cause and effect. Staring at his profile, she slowly said, "So on the day of the bank robbery... you were...?"
With a swing of the knife, Victor chopped off the gargoyle's horn, then turned and met Keira's eyes.
The magnificent facial markings radiated wild charm.
"I remember now...
"I was once Vizima's Dark Knight...
"I am the friend of women!
"I was once... I am... Batman!"
Taking in a sharp breath, assaulted by the domineering aura leaking straight at her and those deep blue pupils, the sorceress said that her heartbeat was accelerating violently, and she was completely unable to suppress the urge to retort that almost leapt out of her chest. "So you're that pervert who 'walked around the street with his bird out, dressed strangely and behaving bizarrely'!?"
Turning his face away and rubbing his nose, the witcher indicated that he did not want to talk to her.
...
"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me."
, Batman Begins
...
The gargoyle was broken down into alchemical materials and stored in the herbal satchel along with the Dragon-Slaying Sword.
After confirming it could not be used, the herbal satchel was...
With his arms crossed before his chest, Victor leaned against the wall and turned his face away, refusing to look in the sorceress's direction.
Standing in the center of the cleaned hall, Keira Metz cast a spell. Magical lightning crackled as it struck the four charging crystals around them at the same time, opening all twenty-one portals of the three-layer teleportation hall.
Twenty-one blue circles shone, and the portals roared. Lifting a nonexistent skirt, Keira dipped her knees slightly. "Oh, my dear Vic, enough already! I admit I've never seen Batman. Other people were the ones who said pervert, so stop throwing a childish tantrum. I promise I'll forget the matter of the strange costume and bizarre behavior. Now hurry over and use the witcher's specialty. See which door is the right one."
Uncrossing his arms, Victor activated his extraordinary five senses and walked to the center of the room to observe the twenty-one portals.
The portals had standard arched shapes. Their blue light showed that they were fixed portals. There were no significant differences in the patterns on the doorframes, and the murals between them depicted the goddess Melitele helping the people of the world.
Victor had no memories from his previous life regarding this puzzle, but his rich gaming experience made him focus on observing the movements of the figures in the murals. He quickly discovered that all the women in the first-floor murals, embodiments of the goddess Melitele, were looking either left or right. Only one faced forward.
Considering that Professor Moreau's lifelong ambition had been to save his child, the answer was very simple and easy to understand. On each level, the door at which Melitele gazed straight ahead was the correct answer.
But there was no need to explain such things. Mystery was what made it stylish.
Victor walked in front, Keira followed behind, and the two passed through three layers of portals in succession before being sent to a corridor.
They raised their guard and advanced step by step, but there were no further obstacles. They walked into the great hall at the end, where the lights had not gone out.
The vast space was roughly the size of two basketball courts. The right wall was an entire bookshelf, while on the left stood a projection megascope composed of five copper pillars. Ahead was a complete set of alchemical equipment, including a cauldron. Deep inside were several prison cells, and the remaining areas contained all sorts of strange instruments whose specific uses were unknown.
Among them, the most eye-catching facility was an upright coffin resembling an iron maiden. At first glance, it was eighty percent similar to the mutation chamber where Captain America went from weakling to muscleman.
The feeling of déjà vu was unmistakable. There was no doubt, this was Professor Moreau's laboratory!
Filled with excitement and exhilaration, Victor walked down the stairs. With his extraordinary five senses fully open, he directly picked up a crystal from the desk and another from the bookshelf. After examining them, he walked to the copper pillars beside the megascope and inserted them.
This projection megascope could store five video crystals. The two originally missing ones were filled in by Victor as soon as he arrived. Then, after briefly checking the structure, he activated the projection with the Aard Sign.
The sorceress, who was skilled at reading people, watched every action he took after entering the great hall. Judging from his performance throughout the expedition, the witcher did not know the detailed situation inside the laboratory, otherwise he would have had no reason to invite her here. Yet what he was doing now clearly showed that he knew this megascope stored images and was missing two crystals.
There was only one reasonable explanation for this phenomenon, future vision! Vic's future sight was real!
The images began to play. Standing diagonally behind Victor, the sorceress watched Professor Moreau's experimental review with him.
The black-and-white image appeared in three dimensions. Professor Moreau wore round glasses. There were wrinkles on his forehead, and his lower face was thick and square. He was clearly a stubborn and resilient scientist-type mage.
One of the megascope crystals said, "A certain day of a certain month in the year 1102. Today, I shall begin the most crucial project of my life, more important than all the explorations I have undertaken thus far, because this research concerns my son directly.
"Fifteen years ago, I was attacked by a monster in the forest, and a witcher saved my life. He asked me for the Law of Surprise as payment. At the time, I never imagined the price would be my son's future fate.
"If I could turn back time, I would rather lose my own life than give my only son to the witchers! So on the day the witcher took my son away, I swore that I would absolutely restore my son to normal.
"After years of research and preparation, today I have finally created a device that will allow me to study mutation. If merciful Melitele can lend me her aid, I will be able to find a way to reverse mutation and allow Jerome to regain his normal life."
Victor rubbed his chin. "Sure enough, the professor's starting point was not to strengthen witcher mutations, but to reverse them... Wait, perhaps this is also a direction worth researching?"
Keira did not speak. She was thinking about the key word in Victor's sentence, "sure enough." Sure enough, Victor had "once" seen this footage before.
Switching to the second megascope crystal: "Observation 22. Although an excessive amount of toxic substances was administered, the subject still shows no signs of poisoning. I believe this is one of the consequences of mutation. This is a decent little discovery. Mutation makes Jerome more able to tolerate toxicity."
Victor frowned. Another mage who placed research above all else.
The third megascope crystal said, "Observation 30. The mutation did not occur immediately. Instead, it manifested only after a period of time. For the mutation to reach completion, appropriate mutagens must be used continuously.
"The subject's condition is not good, but I have found a way to make the mutation less painful and exhausting. Using mutagens as a base, I added protein from mutated giant centipede eggs. The centipede eggs then ceased developing and could remain small in size. This phenomenon is quite astonishing, and after mutation, they emit a dazzling glow. I can only hope that adding the protein will not produce strange side effects in the human body. Time will tell."
Keira noticed that Victor's joy upon first arriving had completely vanished.
The fourth megascope crystal said, "Observation 58. Sometimes failure is the mother of success. I have discovered a method to transform one type of mutagen into another using a specific raw material. This is a great scientific discovery!
"In addition, I have also discovered that the mutagen injected today brought the subject almost to the brink of death. Then he suddenly awakened, and his strength recovered rapidly. Although he did not fully recover, returning from the edge of death is already quite impressive. At present, I cannot determine whether this phenomenon was caused by mutation influence or pure coincidence. I must experiment further."
Victor let out a long sigh. One could not demand that people of the present live by the morals of the future.
He activated the final megascope crystal. The professor who appeared in the image sat dispiritedly on the ground. "Several years of experimental research, and all my efforts have turned into bubbles. I have been unable to achieve the goal I set. The mutations I induced in the test subjects are all ineffective on Jerome!
"I originally wanted to heal his witcher body and let him return to a normal life, but the result was that I made his mutation even more severe, further enhancing his speed and strength, making him drift farther and farther away from humanity. It seems my son can only be a witcher in this life... I have failed!
"It seems it is time to abandon this place and return to dear Lydia. Perhaps she may still be willing to accept me. I will leave the formula and mutagens in the laboratory and let them fade away with time... just like my dream of reclaiming my son."
When the image ended, events from one hundred and seventy years ago scattered with the wind.
Keira broke the silence. "These crystal recordings show that Professor Moreau wanted to neutralize the effects of witcher mutation, but in the end, he could only strengthen them. He used giant centipede egg protein to cultivate mutagens. You really are lucky. His failure looks like it will become your success!"
Victor shook his head, not optimistic. "Let's study the documents first. I seriously doubt the precision of the experiment, and after a hundred years have passed, who knows whether those mutagens can still be used!"
Pointing at the stacks of documents on the table, the sorceress issued an order. "I'll study the literature first. You inspect the surroundings."
Shrugging, Victor had no objections.
The sturdy prison cells deep inside were not only used to imprison people, but had also once been used to confine centipedes. The large hole in the wall was clearly "life finding a way." The corridor dug by the centipedes was so dark that one could not see one's own hand.
Walking to another room, Victor used the Aard Sign to strike a crystal, activating a fixed portal. He guessed that it should be Professor Moreau's private dedicated passage.
The test run indeed led straight through. The witcher was teleported to the bottom of the Sansretour River. Fortunately, it was a two-way portal, and he was also skilled at swimming underwater, so with a couple of strokes, he returned to the laboratory dripping wet.
...
Some time later.
In the spacious laboratory, the sorceress set up her tent. A campfire rose inside, allowing Victor to come in and dry his soaked armor. Keira leaned against the bed, reading the experimental records.
With his back to the sorceress, clack by clack, the witcher removed the pieces of Undvik armor one by one.
Lifting her head from the documents and admiring Victor as he removed his armor, Keira laughed softly. "Your caution was right. This Professor Moreau had broad thinking and dared to try things, but if we really followed his crude methods, I think the success rate would probably only be thirty percent."
"What a coincidence, the same as the success rate of the Trial of the Grasses?... Ha! I know someone whose success rate would be one hundred percent, the White Wolf, Geralt of Rivia. If he came, he would definitely succeed!"
"Tch, stop joking. You're an alchemist too. Look at the data yourself later, and you'll know. With the current conclusions, wanting a one-hundred-percent success rate is absolutely impossible! Besides, he and Triss are busy being all lovey-dovey. Where would he find the time to accompany you in an experiment?"
As she spoke, Keira's eyes were bright as she watched Victor carefully place the last piece of leg armor beside the campfire. At this moment, only a soaked white undershirt and shorts remained on him. They were thin and transparent, clinging tightly to his solid physique, fully revealing the taut lines of his defined muscles.
"All right! It doesn't matter. You've already helped me a lot. You can go back first tomorrow. In any case, now that there's a back door to enter and exit, it will be very convenient for me to come in again."
As he spoke, he took off the white shirt and combed his hair back with his hand, his stretched back muscles powerful and rugged.
"We'll stay here for a few days and focus on overcoming the difficult problems! In any case, my storage space has enough food, and I believe your herbal satchel isn't just for show, right?"
Hearing Keira speak behind him, the wording was clearly a question, but her tone was a statement! It had been some time since he had heard her speak in that tone. Victor chuckled. The long-missed sorceress style.
"Of course! You are more than welcome. What price do I need to pay to..."
Because a vital point was seized, he sucked in a breath of cold air, and suddenly could not speak clearly!
Then softness and warmth pressed against his back.
"Shh... quiet... Just let me borrow you for a few days!"
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