When I stepped out of the portal, I found myself in a dense forest. I chose the territory of Rus as the first place on my journey. If possible, I will invite a witcher into my family.
Also, at fifty years old, I look like a sixteen-year-old boy. I am dressed in clothes similar to those worn by witcher, but they are made of different materials and are lighter and more flexible. Perfect for combat. I look like a prince, a little like a girl, but don't worry, it's just the beginning. Once I build up some muscle, everything will be fine. Now, as I walk towards a large crowd of people, I think about the conversation I had with my psionic teacher. About why I was given such cool abilities. This is how it happened.
A few years ago.
"Teacher, why was I allowed to take these abilities? In the future, I could be like a god.
"I thought you would ask a little later, but since you did, listen. I'm not exactly a card. Right now, I live in my own world, and I have a deck similar to yours, which I use. You see, once upon a time, an ancient god, one of the original ones, created these decks. Completely different people could become the owners of these decks, and each life was different from the others. But they had one thing in common: they had to die in their home world. All users also had a chance if they could achieve divine power in the new world and not become enemies of the entire planet. You have to understand that the power of a god and being a god are two different things. So, those lucky ones who managed to achieve this rightfully became gods, and at the same time, cards were created with their most powerful abilities. So, if you succeed, it is quite possible that you will become such a card. And to answer your next question, when you are summoned, time in your world stops.
"I see, that's very interesting.
"Oh, it seems you're not quite an ordinary person, as I can see.
"Teacher, what are you talking about?"
"Well, you've gained another ability of the deck, so to speak. With it, you can give a starter set of cards to each member of your created family.
"I see.
It's time.
So, as I was walking through the forest, I heard the roar of a beast and went towards it. After walking a few dozen metres, I saw this scene: a boy who looked about thirteen or fifteen was trying to fight off a large two-metre bear that had clearly decided to eat him. After watching the scene for a while, I decided to help the boy.
Pulling my sword from its sheath, I rushed headlong at the bear. With my first blow, I managed to inflict a fairly deep wound. However, the bear did not appreciate my move. I would say that I saw a clear grimace of dissatisfaction on his muzzle, as if he were saying, "What's this? I'm not doing anything wrong." He turned his attention to me, and his blows were very strong: he could easily break trees; however, his agility was clearly lacking. So, smoothly dodging his blows and landing my own, after a few minutes the bear fell down dead. I got a card, but I put it aside for later and went over to the boy.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. Thank you very much for saving me. My name is Alyosha, and yours?"
"Well, I'm Miguel, and don't call me that, do I look like an old man? By the way, what were you doing in the forest all alone?"
"I was looking for herbs for medicine. There's a wounded witch in my village. My parents say they're evil and not human at all. But they saved us from the monsters that were trying to destroy our village. I wanted to help them. The adults say that one of them will probably die soon.
"I see. Come on, take me to the village. Maybe I can help your heroes.
So we walked slowly towards the village for half an hour. Near the village, a young girl ran up to us shouting, "Alyosha!" and started scolding him. Only after a couple of minutes did she notice me.
"And you?"
"My name is Miguel. I'm just a traveller who saved him from a bear in the forest.
When she heard the story about the bear, she turned pale at first, but then began to thank me and invite me to their house. After a few minutes, under absurd arguments and crazy reasons, I gave in and went with them. As it turned out, those witches were also temporarily living with them.
The witches turned out to be twins. They had just finished their training with their masters and had set out to gain experience.
"Well, let's get acquainted. My name is Miguel, and I am a simple traveller.
"My name is Mick, and my wounded brother is Dick.
"Wow, that's a serious wound, but I can heal it. How will you pay me, dear hunters? However, I must warn you: I don't need money, and it's boring to take money. Think of something interesting.
They looked at each other, paused for a minute, nodded to each other, and said at the same time:
"We will follow you for three years as your warriors.
"Wow.
In those days, witch hunters were mostly mercenaries, and in rare cases they offered this method of payment: it was considered the highest payment, equal to one's life.
"All right, I accept that payment.
After that, I summoned a healing spell card and used it on him.
"That's it, he just needs to rest a little and he'll be back in action. We'll set off tomorrow, but for now, bye-bye, I'm going to bed.
Going to my room, I took out a new card and began to examine it.
Mad Bear.
Class: Common.
Level: 1/100.
Evolution possible.
Everything was as usual, except for the last item, which I hadn't seen before. No sooner had I thought about it than the following information appeared:
"Evolution is available only to a very small group of creatures. It allows you to change your appearance and power rank when you reach level 100.
Wow, not bad, I'll have to check out what comes of it. In the meantime, let's get some sleep.
Interlude from the brothers.
We just took on another monster-slaying quest, and then we encountered a monster that was stronger than us. Somehow, we managed to kill it, but Dick, my twin brother, was seriously injured. As if that weren't enough, the people we saved started looking at us funny. Oh well, our mentors told us that no one in the world would love us and that in some parts of the world they would even try to kill us. But we didn't believe them because we thought, "We'll be heroes." And then we found out that the boy, the son of the woman who had taken us in, had gone into the forest alone to find medicine to save my brother, and he almost died. But thank God, a sixteen-year-old boy saved him. However, he really annoyed me. He smiled all the time and was cheerful, like a child living in a world without war. However, the fact that he was able to kill an adult bear on his own spoke of his strength, and the fact that he didn't have a single scratch on him spoke of his skills. Then he offered to heal my brother for a fee, but gave us the task of coming up with something interesting. After talking to my brother mentally, we decided to offer our services. Usually, mental communication is only available to a few, but since we are twins, this ability developed very quickly. He introduced himself as Miguel and accepted our payment. Then a map appeared in his hand, and he threw it at my brother, and in the blink of an eye, his wounds began to heal, and soon there was no trace of them. Miguel said he needed to rest and went to sleep. What an interesting employer we have. We're leaving tomorrow, so I should rest too.
Morning from the perspective of the young Joker.
Waking up and stretching with all his might:
"I slept well after all. And I'm lucky. It's only my first day, and I've already received an unusual map and two witch hunters as assistants. I'm afraid to imagine what will happen next.
After greeting my brothers, I ate the food prepared by the landlady, gathered my things, and decided it was time to go. We set off, but the road was boring and gloomy, and my companions walked in silence, so I became bored.
"Hey, guys, why are you so gloomy? Today is a wonderful day.
"We're keeping quiet so we don't run into a bunch of monsters."Come on, that's boring, let's fight someone.
And then we heard:
"A-woo-woo-woo-woo.
"That's what we need.
A pack of wolves attacked us. Their coordinated attacks caused us a lot of trouble, so we fought our way to their leader and killed him, just like in the textbook. According to the plot, they should have been scared and run away. Yeah, right. They started defending the wolf's corpse and attacked even more fiercely. The slaughter continued, and after killing the last wolf, we fell to the ground, badly wounded and exhausted. You're probably wondering why I didn't use my summon, since I decided to level up first and only then start levelling up my cards. And I only wanted to use magic as a last resort. I used a group healing card. I got up and approached the wolf and saw a card next to it. After examining it, I realised that I might be staying in this area longer than I thought. This is what it said:
Emperor of Wolves.
Unique card/Possibly Legendary.
To raise your rank, gather an army for the emperor.
Available:
Emperor 1/1;
Kings 0/10;
Their retinue 0/1000;
Soldiers 0/10000.
You have five years to meet the requirements. After that, it will not be possible to raise your rank.
Wow, in that case, I might be able to find similar cards
but with different creatures. Very interesting.
"Guys, do you know any places where there are a lot of wolves?"
"Yes, there are a few places. However, I don't recommend going there: there are too many of them, so we'll just get killed.
"Well, what if I really need to?"
"Then you could try talking to our mentors. Once every five years, a large group of hunters gathers and exterminates part of their population, because if they are not controlled, they will go and kill ordinary citizens.
"Great, let's go to your mentor.
So we set off.
Two weeks later.
What can I say, it was exciting, so many adventures happened during that time. Turning my head and seeing their grim faces, I asked:
"Mick, Dick, why are you so gloomy? It was great, wasn't it?"
"Cool? Are you kidding? In these miserable two weeks, we were almost killed, eaten, poisoned, burned, and that's just a small part of what they tried to do to us. I've met more different creatures in these few days than in my entire life before. I was right after all when I wanted to offer just any service at first. And we'll be together for another two years! If we survive, I'll start a family.
"You're evil, I don't know what you don't like.
They said at the same time:
"I'll keep quiet.
In silence, we reached a small village.
"Who's there?"
"Ber, it's us, open the gate.
"Could it be little Mick and Dick? Open the gate.
We were allowed into the village and headed for our mentors. We then explained my desire to them.
"It's commendable that you want to participate. We can take you with us, but it will be a year from now. What will you do in the meantime?"
"Old witch, I saw how some people without any talent could pull objects towards themselves.
"Old witch... Well, okay, you can call me that. They can do that because they developed their powers naturally, along with those who have a talent for it.
"Can you teach me?"
"Only if you become a witch.
"Is there no other way?"
"Well, there is one way, but it's very dangerous.
"I can do it.
"All right, then listen. You must kill a werewolf ten kilometres north of here and bring back proof. Then you will be worthy of being called a friend of the witches, and I will teach you.
"All right, I'll go then.
And I set off for the werewolf. I always wanted a werewolf map.
After MC left.
"Mick, Dick, where did you find this simpleton? He's weak and easy to fool. How did you become his warriors?"
"Mentor, he's stronger than all of us put together. He probably only agreed to the task because he wanted to see what kind of creature a werewolf is.
"An interesting characteristic for this boy. Tell me, under what circumstances did you meet him?"
The brothers began to recount their journey and how they met this man. When they finished, they waited for their mentor to speak.
"Come on, let's spar.
They were very surprised why this was necessary, but silently followed their mentor and fought with him.
"Well, what can I say? You are very lucky. Don't interrupt, I'll explain everything. You haven't been in the village for several months, but you have become one and a half times stronger, and something tells me that you have become stronger in the last period. Most likely, the biggest growth spurt was in the last period. I also suspect that this young man is from some kind of magical race and is over fifty years old. Most members of such races are not allowed to leave home before the age of fifty. It is also possible that he has a ritual that will make you almost immortal. Different races have different rituals. However, I advise you to get to know him better over the next two years. There are different types of people among them. Some will consider you family, while others will see you as slaves or servants.
"But, mentor, we will turn into completely different creatures.
"Oh, you fools. Know that most of the strongest witchers have signed such contracts. After all, it takes considerable talent to become very strong, but not everyone has it, and many wish to become defenders of their loved ones and ordinary people.
"We understand, mentor. We will think about it.
Meanwhile, MC.
What can I say? It took me an hour to get to the place where I was going to kill the carcass. I was brought out of my thoughts by a howl like a wolf, and a three-metre-tall wolf came into view, walking towards me on two legs. To be honest, it was an unforgettable experience, and I even felt a hint of fear. Then it spoke. Probably to scare me even more. In a growling voice, it said:
"Little man, you shouldn't have come here. I'll tear you to pieces and eat you.
Then he lunged at me, and I, anticipating a magnificent battle, prepared for combat.
Four hours later.
You're probably disappointed that I didn't tell you about the fight that lasted four hours. I would have liked to have had such a fight, but there simply wasn't one. He gave up ten minutes into the fight. As it turned out, he was indeed very strong and intelligent, but these two qualities were outweighed by his incredible cowardice. So I killed him to put him out of his misery, and now I've been sitting here for over three hours, wondering if the other werewolves are like him.
"Oh well, it's time to go back.
I returned fairly quickly, coming back the same way I had left. My mentor greeted me with the same good humour.
"Well, how did it go?"
"Yes, here's the head. Can I get my reward now?"
"Yes, of course, here you are. This book contains techniques for strengthening the mind, which will improve your psionic abilities.
"Thank you very much.
"You will be escorted to your home for the next year.
A year flew by.
During that year, I was unable to obtain the fourth degree, but I came close. However, according to my calculations, this technique can at most help me overcome the barrier of the fourth degree and get close to the fifth.
By the way, we have almost reached the gathering of witches to begin the attack. When I came out of the forest, I saw several thousand witches in front of me — and that was only one of five groups. If the strength of one experienced witcher is at least equal to that of a weak and inexperienced elder, then it is now quite clear why the mythologies of different continents have not taken over the world. And this is only one of the forces on this planet. I began to smile, anticipating how interesting these 150 years of my journey would be.
Approaching the gathered crowd, we began to listen to the plan of attack. It turned out to be quite simple. We would gather together and kill half of the wolves. There would be nothing epic about it: usually, wolves leave half of the weakest and most infirm on the outer circle of their habitat — they are killed, and the rest live on. They are sacrificed so that the wolf clan can live on. Everything went according to plan: we gathered and set off to fight the wolves. But the experienced warriors immediately noticed that something was wrong. Ten minutes into the battle, we began to be pushed back. And not just pushed back, but brutally killed, the weakest among us. Immediately after that, the commanders called for the druids, who had also joined us. They did something and found out that the wolves were in a frenzy: someone had killed their next emperor. After hearing this and the description of the wolf emperor's behaviour, Mick, Dick and I began to suspect that the card I had received was not a mere coincidence, but had actually fallen out of the emperor's pocket. Noticing our grimaces, one of the senior witchers asked:
"Hey, newbies, do you know something?"
Everyone immediately turned their attention to us. Well, there was no point in denying it, so we confessed:
"Well, it looks like we killed him, the emperor.
There was a moment of silence, broken only by the sounds of battle from the battlefield with the wolves. After that, loud laughter rang out.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha, well done.
"You just happened to be passing by and killed him.
"Good replacement is growing up.
...…
And many similar comments. We looked at them in shock, not understanding what was going on.
"You don't seem to understand. Let me explain. If the emperor were alive, he would have caused us a lot of trouble, if not this year, then in ten years. He would have definitely gone to war against us, and there would have been many casualties. But now, you've only added a little difficulty for us. However, since you are such heroes, perform one more heroic deed.
Oh, I don't like his smile. Oh, I sense something interesting is about to happen, but I'm not going to like it.
"You will sneak into their rear and kill their kings.
No one paid any attention to our arguments about our incompetence and just sent us on the mission.
"Well, what are we going to do?"
"What can we do? We'll have to go to the kings and kill them.
They looked at me so strangely that I became afraid for my life. I had a feeling that after this massacre, they would do something to me. Well, it's time to get serious, or they'll really kill me. Then I spoke in a calm and serious voice:
"All right, now I'll put on our disguises, and we'll move around this little war and get behind them. Be extremely careful, because if we make too much noise, the other wolves will come running, and then we're dead. Is that clear?"
"Yes.
They said it in a detached way. I looked up and saw their shocked faces, smiled smugly, and led them to the enemy's rear.
These stupid wolves, it feels like they're all paranoid. Who would set up a patrol three kilometres away from the battle? We had to find a way around them, I don't know which road to take. But we managed to get around them and sneak into the rear. Right in front of us sat the kings.
"Well, are you ready to fight them?"
They just nodded briefly. Then I cast a silence spell so that no one would accidentally hear us, and we rushed into battle.
To be honest, I wanted a battle like this: it was at the limit of my strength. The kings were clearly very angry and didn't hold back at all. They were exhausting themselves completely. It was hard for me, as it was for my brothers. At this rate, we would lose, so we had to give ourselves a chance to win. I signalled to the others to wait for the right moment, and began to gather telekinesis energy, which would allow me to stop these wolves for a moment, long enough to kill them. I would need a few minutes. Now the main thing was to hold out for those few minutes.
Our battle had already been going on for two minutes. I couldn't count how many obstacles we had overcome. After all, we couldn't retreat. No, of course we could, but remembering the simple smiles of those simple people, I felt sick at the thought of abandoning them to be eaten. And I'm sure my brothers felt the same way.
We stood shoulder to shoulder, covered in blood, facing the kings, waiting for the moment to attack.
"Well, are you ready? Our destiny is about to be fulfilled.
And we rushed at them. Before the clash, I used telekinesis and was able to stop them for a split second, which put the wolves in checkmate. Miraculously, we managed to kill them and drag them away from that place. I felt like I had gained a lot of cards, but decided to deal with that later. Now we headed for headquarters with our last ounce of strength. I couldn't even summon a healing card, because my mental powers were almost at zero. God knows how many hours later, we could see some witch doctors running towards us, after which we fell, and at least I passed out.
I woke up in a tent with my brothers lying next to me. Soon they woke up too, and one of the leaders of the operation came to us.
"Well, you guys really did it. We thought there was only one king in that unit, but it turned out there were five of them. I can't imagine how you survived. But we are still grateful to you. If you hadn't managed, many more of our fighters would have died, but now we have won, so congratulations.
Then he left, saying goodbye.
A month later.
Oh, I've recovered. I could have recovered much earlier, but I decided to recover like the rest of them — with simple medicines. It was a good experience, I must say. And the female staff there are very nice... Oh, I got distracted. So, now I'm sitting in the house they gave me and decided to see what I got.
I've filled out 70% of the Emperor of Wolves card, which is very good. My mood has also improved because of these cards:
Experienced Witcher.
Rank: normal.
Level: 0/100
Special ability: has intelligence, can talk, remembers his life.
There are only five of these cards, but the advantages are enormous. If they can teach their art to other creatures that will serve me, that would be wonderful.
And there are three more cards like this:
A group of witches.
Rank: normal.
Level: 0/100
That's all, but it's still very good.
The only thing that upsets me is how long it will take me to train these cards. Considering all the places I'll visit and how many cards I'll find, it will probably take me two or three thousand years. Which isn't too bad.
Shortly after we were discharged, we were awarded medals. We were told that we would receive the main award in the capital. After that, there was a party, and my friends and I decided to stay in the village for another year to train.
A year later.
I just got the last wolf needed for the emperor's army. Phew, it was difficult: after that mess with the wolf kings, the animals scattered and hid, and I barely managed to find the right number. But that's not the most important thing that happened. A week ago, my brothers expressed a desire to go on a journey with me, and I, in turn, offered them to join my family. They agreed, for which they received almost immortality from the demons. They didn't get wings, just like me, but they did get a starter deck of cards. It contained twenty-five common cards, five rare cards, three unique cards, two mythical cards, and one legendary card.
I also learned that when I became equal to a deity, I would be able to grant them the title of "Follower," which would give them eighteen more cards.
Now about the cards themselves.
The common ones were witches.
The rare ones, like mine, were dummies that could be trained to do whatever you wanted.The unique ones were completely random, because I couldn't connect them to my friends in any way.
The mythical ones were given animals that inhabit this territory.
And finally, there were the legendary cards, which gave their owners the most advantages. These were incredibly powerful witches who took on the task of training them.
Now we are preparing to leave for the capital. They say that there you can learn a lot about magic, sword fighting, and other weapons. Well, and the main reason is to get our reward. If this capital is as great as they say, then we can stay there for a few years to train and only then move on.
"So, are you ready to march to the capital?"
"Yes, we're ready, but how are we going to get there? Straight there, or are we going to stop off in different parts of the forest to get new maps for your collection?"
"Most likely the second option.
"Understood, then we're ready.
"Then let's go, my loyal friends.
"Yes.
So we set off on our journey through the various nooks and crannies of these dense forests.
Along the way, we encountered all sorts of creatures: wild boars, bears, and other unknown creatures. Well, the guys just called them beasts.
After walking several dozen kilometres, we came across a large hut. And the guys started to enlighten me:
"Most likely, a very old witch lives here. The older they are, the more powerful their magical refuge. We'd better leave.
Then a beautiful female voice rang out:
"Well, I don't know, she doesn't look like an old woman, do you think?"
A beautiful girl in a dress, about twenty years old, came out of the hut. In my previous life, girls like her won beauty contests purely because of their beauty, not because of connections or other means. She looked as if a goddess herself had descended upon us.
"Hey, Mick and Dick, if all the old women are witches, let's go to them first and then to the capital.
"Agreed. Oh, no, she's probably under a spell that changes her appearance.
They quickly realised what they had said and tried to change direction, but I remembered. Oh well, let's give it a try.
"Hello, beautiful, would you like to join my family?"
My conversation partner always freezes after I say that, but not this time.
"Sure, why not?"
I was blown away by her words and smile.
"Wow, won't you tell me why you agreed?"
"No, it's no secret, my mentor told me how to tell the difference between ordinary people and those who have undergone a ritual performed by higher beings. I had her research, in which she said that witches choose their masters very carefully, so I agreed without hesitation.
"I see, well then, that's fine. But before that, what can you do?"
"Well, I'm almost a master jeweller and potion maker.
"Alright, let's get started. You...
"Ketrea.
"Ketrea, are you ready to join my family?"
"Yes.
"Are you willing to stand with me in battle until the very end?"
"Well, I don't know. All right, I'll try.
"Are you ready to give yourself completely to your new family?"
"Yes.
"Then I confirm the ritual, and from now on you are a new member of my family.
After that, she received a deck of cards and her body was transformed into a demonic form. And we set off for the capital. We got there pretty quickly, and there before us stood a huge ten-metre gate.
When they saw our brothers, they let us in immediately. We made it to the witcher headquarters, where we received passes to the training ground for an indefinite amount of time and for an indefinite number of times.
At first I was upset, but then I learned that all skills on this training ground grow five times faster. After that, we headed to these training grounds to learn and practise the skills we already had and would acquire in the future.
Eight long years passed.
Time flies so fast. We were able to become several times stronger and greatly improve our cards. Now we have decided to visit a territory opposite Europe, go to the mountains, and enjoy the views of those places. They say there are many flying creatures and powerful tamers and warriors there, which will give us the opportunity to learn something new. After calculating the places we will visit, I estimated that we will spend an average of ten years in each place. So now we are heading to the next place of adventure.
***
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