From afar, the flaxen-haired girl in robes stood at the village entrance, waiting with eyes full of longing.
If I had snuck away, she probably would have cried for a long time, right?
Asa thought with a wicked sense of humor, though his body honestly returned to the edge of the ruined village.
"Ah! Asa, did you really bring the horses back?"
Saskia was so happy she nearly jumped for joy. She ran over to Grape and took the reins of the other horse from Asa hand.
Anyone who saw her would think she was just an innocent girl, never suspecting she was actually a green dragon.
Asa watched Saskia jumping and dancing around the horses, but his mind was on the prompt that had just popped up: "Congratulations on establishing a bond of 'Friend (Affinity)' with the important plot character Saskia Saosi. You may now claim your reward."
Innocent children are so easy to trick.
[Congratulations on obtaining the reward: Dragon Mutation Potion formula.]
Asa heart stirred.
A Dragon Mutation Potion?
Asa consulted the potion formula, and it was exactly as he had imagined; the Dragon Mutation Potion was a potion that could replace subsequent mutation materials during the Witcher trials!
This mutation potion could provide a new path of mutation for Witchers who had survived the Trial of the Grasses.
In addition to the physical capabilities a Witcher would normally gain, the Dragon Mutation Potion could also provide the Witcher with a certain degree of Elemental Magic damage reduction, the ability to intimidate ordinary monsters, and a certain level of magic talent!
The mortality rate drops to 50%!
It was equivalent to an enhanced version of a standard Witcher, as if they had gained a portion of a real dragon's abilities!
However, this formula was not perfect.
Like other versions of Witcher mutation potions, the Dragon Mutation Potion required much rarer materials and also carried the side effect of infertility. It could be considered an improved method of Witcher transformation.
"It seems I really could pull together a Dragon School," Asa realized suddenly.
It was too early to think about that now. The Witcher trials consisted of more than just the Trial of the Grasses; they included the choice, the Trial of the Grasses, the Trial of the Mountains, and so on.
The Dragon Mutation Potion could only replace the mutation materials used after a Witcher consumed the Grass decoction, not the entire process.
The secret of the Grass decoction was kept at Kaer Morhen Castle in Kaedwen, guarded by Master Vesemir, and even the sorcerers on Thanedd Island only had a superficial understanding of the Trial of the Grasses process.
If Asa wanted to raise a squad of Witchers called the Dragon School, he would inevitably need to obtain the processes for the Trial of the Grasses and the other trials from Kaer Morhen Castle.
There would be plenty of time for that later; he would plan for it then.
It was a pity that the White Wolf was already a Witcher; otherwise, it would have been nice to use him for experiments.
He accepted the potion.
Saskia excitedly named her pony "Apple," clearly borrowing from the naming convention of "Grape."
Asa clapped his hands to get the little she-dragon's attention and said with a smile, "Let's go, we're heading to Wizima."
With the first tier of affinity rewards being so generous, Asa felt he needed to help this little she-dragon.
At the very least, he couldn't let her end up like in the original game, controlled by a Sorceress using Mind Magic, reduced to a puppet, and eventually disappearing without a trace.
...
Nothing was said along the way.
The two rode their horses, heading east.
Wizima was situated on Lake Wizima, which was part of a tributary of the Pontar River, located within a river valley.
The first game already featured a map of Wizima.
After Wizima was occupied by the Nilfgaardian Empire in the third game, players could still experience the royal Castle of Wizima, which Emperor Emhyr used as a temporary war palace.
Riding up the hill and crossing the ridge, the scene before them suddenly opened up.
This was a river valley named the Ismina Valley. Looking down from the hilltop, the lake was vast and boundless, sparkling with clear water, and there were many small islands in the center of the lake, where exquisite buildings were situated.
To the east of the great lake was a swampy graveyard, currently shrouded in mist, with a magic tower revealing its form within the fog.
To the north of the great lake, the medieval city seemed as if it were built upon the surface of the lake.
With abundant waterways and a vast lake surface, and towering city walls, it gave the illusion of being an ancient, impregnable fortress like Xiangyang.
"The capital of the human kingdom is much prettier than the scenery on the mountain."
The dragon maiden, seeing such a vast scene for the first time, marveled at everything.
"It is," Asa sighed as well; the city in the game and the city seen in reality were, after all, two different things.
Traveling through the heavens and worlds, witnessing different scenery—wasn't this exactly one of the sights he had wanted to see?
"Let's go." Riding their horses, the two charged down the hillside, heading towards the main road to the east of Wizima.
As the capital of the Kingdom of Temeria, the daily flow of people entering and leaving the kingdom was immense.
Entering the city from outside, one first entered Old Wizima, then passed through the embankment to reach the barbican of New Wizima, and from there proceeded to the true urban area of Wizima.
With multiple layers of defense, it was clear how much the royal family valued the security of Wizima.
Asa and Saskia walked through Old Wizima, leading their horses.
At first, the dragon maiden was quite lively, looking left and right, but soon the scenery before her made her fall silent.
This was because Old Wizima did not look like the capital of a kingdom at all.
The city was enclosed by low fences; along the way were wooden thatched huts, hens foraging in the streets, children running about, and one or two beggars lying in the corners.
What was even more striking was that most of the beggars and residents here were elves and dwarves; clearly, Old Wizima had become a slum where non-human races gathered.
"Is this really the capital of a human kingdom? How can such a place exist?"
Saskia found it inconceivable. Were elves and dwarves not equally sentient beings? Why were they considered inferior?
Asa indicated he didn't know. He wasn't an elf, so he couldn't empathize with them.
Passing through the dilapidated Old Wizima, the man and the dragon stepped onto the embankment leading to Wizima, about to enter the urban area of Wizima.
"Asa, where are we going now?" Saskia asked curiously.
"To find an acquaintance and collect our reward." A smile hung on the corner of Asa mouth.
...
Mr. Wilson Phil Oster was currently very distressed.
Unlike the green dragon and the Witcher, who stopped and started along the way, enjoying the scenery and playing around, the Caravan Master Oster had returned to Wizima early.
What greeted him, however, was his son and a woman beside him with a slightly rounded belly.
It turned out that during the few months Oster had been to Novigrad, his son had tasted forbidden fruit with his childhood sweetheart, getting her pregnant.
For someone who valued their reputation, a premarital pregnancy was a huge scandal.
Fortunately, Oster's son had some sense of responsibility; he had brought her home beforehand, preparing to marry her after his father returned.
But this made things chaotic.
When Mr. Oster parted ways with the Witcher, he had thought it impossible for his household to have any new members, perhaps just a pet or some new furniture, but the first thing he saw when he returned home—something he hadn't known about—was the child in his daughter-in-law's womb.
According to the law, the unborn child in his daughter-in-law's womb did not belong to their family.
How could this be?
Oster instantly regretted it.