The Witcher: Grinding Proficiency Starting with the Witcher

Today, unusually, no apprentices were seen at the Witcher Castle training grounds.

Instead, it's a weekly monster sign-book course.

After finishing his breakfast, Li Wei followed the apprentice into the inner wall, then through a dimly lit stone corridor, and arrived at the spacious castle hall.

Inside the hall, there were all sorts of ironware and miscellaneous items, as well as various strange smells.

As for the place where apprenticeship courses are taught, it is in a small room on the right side of the hall.

It is also the meeting room where the Witcher usually communicates.

The apprentices entered the conference room in an orderly fashion, pushed open the wooden door, and their eyes were immediately drawn to the huge monster specimen hanging on the opposite wall.

Green vines twine around the narrow horns, and even as winter approaches, vibrant flowers still bloom.

Beneath the brown mane and eye sockets were a pair of eerie green eyes, staring straight ahead, filled with deathly stillness.

This is the head of the deer-headed spirit!

According to his memory, this wasn't the first time Li Wei had seen this thing.

But it still deeply shocked him.

The Deer-Headed Spirit, the sage of the forest, is absolutely a top-tier existence among monsters.

The apprentices whispered among themselves; here, even raising their voices slightly seemed dangerous.

They were terrified that the vengeful spirit of the deer-headed demon would crawl out of the specimen and tear them to pieces.

Li Wei found a seat near the podium. On the table were neatly cut wooden boards, about the size of a book, with a layer of beeswax on their surface. To his right was a wooden pen for drawing on the beeswax.

This is what the apprentices used to take notes.

He frowned slightly. In this era, paper and printing technology had not yet been invented, and expensive parchment was used.

Even the worst parchment is enough to feed an ordinary tenant farmer for a week.

Therefore, books that record knowledge are absolutely invaluable.

Li Wei suddenly had a brilliant idea.

How about we figure out how to make paper someday?

As someone with a science and engineering background, I've read a lot of books and watched a lot of videos about the manufacturing industry, so I have some understanding of it.

If all else fails, find a wizard who loves research to partner with, explain the principles to him, and he can act as an external brain.

However, after careful consideration, I put that idea aside.

Although parchment was expensive, it also represented a form of knowledge blockade imposed on the lower classes by the upper elites.

Before you have absolute strength, it's best not to think about things that will only cause you trouble.

A soft, light footstep came from behind, and the faint scent of chamomile and clove perfume wafted into my nostrils.

The meeting room fell silent.

All eyes turned to the woman in the exquisite wizard's robe who was walking toward the podium, their eyes shining.

In the Witcher's Castle, apart from Granny Lyra, there are very few other women you can see, especially one with such a great figure, mysterious and beautiful.

Li Wei looked at her, surprised.

"It's her, the sorceress from yesterday."

The sorceress stepped onto the platform, two wisps of wine-red curly hair cascading from beneath her wizard's hood, making her fair neck appear alluring.

Her red lips parted slightly, and a six-pointed star array was drawn between her five fingers.

A display board appeared out of nowhere in front of everyone.

The yellowed parchment nailed to it contained a picture of a monster and densely packed text annotations.

A cold voice came from his mouth, carrying a hint of resentment.

"Turka is not here today, so I will conduct today's lesson for you. You can call me Teacher Mavis or Sorceress Mavis, either is fine."

"Alright, let's begin the lesson."

As she spoke, she produced a slender, mahogany pointer and tapped the wooden board beside her.

"Can any of you tell me what this creature is?"

For a moment, the apprentices fell silent, and Paul straightened his back and spoke.

"Ms. Mavis, this is a water ghost, we all know that."

The apprentices all looked at Paul, then at Mavis, and smiled.

"Professor Mavis, Master Turka has told us about the Water Ghost so many times, could we have another one?"

"Could you tell me about the Leshen? Daniel said they are extremely mysterious among monsters, even rarer than pure-blooded elves."

After hearing this, Mavis's tone became serious.

"Quiet!"

That sound seemed to explode in everyone's minds.

Li Wei clearly felt a sharp, piercing vibration in his eardrums, and even his heartbeat quickened considerably.

The meeting room fell silent.

Mavis held the pointer and gave a soft hum.

"It seems you know quite a lot."

"Then can someone tell me, what are the basic habits of a water ghost?"

The apprentices, no longer frivolous, spoke in unison.

"They live in groups, fear fire, are weak to silver, eat carrion, have poor eyesight, and have excellent hearing."

"A textbook answer." Mavis nodded, her gaze sweeping over everyone. "All right, and all wrong."

Upon hearing this, all the apprentices showed expressions of astonishment.

Li Wei also frowned slightly.

Mavis pointed her cane at the grotesque image of a water ghost on the parchment. "You've heard so much from the official Witcher that you might think water ghosts are just the most boring trouble in lakes and swamps."

"A mere silver sword coated with anti-ghoul sword oil, or a fire sign, is all it takes to easily take down this nobody."

"But this applies to experienced witchers."

"As for you apprentices, your arrogance toward the water ghost will be more deadly than its claws."

She took out a prepared glass bottle from her wide sleeves and placed it on the podium.

The bottle contained a cloudy, greenish viscous liquid.

Does anyone know this place?

Everyone fell silent.

Li Wei glanced at it, and many related memories surfaced in his mind.

"Ms. Mavis, this is the mucus from the belly of a water ghost."

Mavis glanced at him. "Lee Vision, you're right."

All the apprentices turned their gazes toward him.

Li Wei didn't care. He had heard this thing many times when the original owner was a child at the Winter Witcher Party, which was the only time the original owner felt happy.

Witchers returning from all corners of the world will undoubtedly bring a wealth of fascinating stories.

"Do you know the function of this abdominal mucus?"

Li Wei fell into thought, "I remember it could be used to make a waterproof layer."

Mavis smiled. "I'd say you're half right."

"In winter, most animals hibernate, and even we humans reduce our outdoor activities due to the weather."

"For water ghosts, these are the days when food is most scarce, so they will spit out some mucus to attract small animals to the water's edge, which is also known as water ghost bait."

Li Wei's eyes lit up, and he picked up his pen to write it down.

Mavis nodded slightly. "What does this mean?"

Silence fell over the meeting room.

"This means they have a minimum hunting limit; even if we think their spirit is dead, their bodies will break down without food."

She picked up the bottle. "Next question: why do water ghosts only appear in specific bodies of water and never stray far?"

Brad began, "Because they can't live without water."

Mavis pressed on, "Why can't you leave?"

The meeting room fell silent once again.

She sighed, clearly losing patience with her apprentices' lack of knowledge.

"Their skin needs to continuously absorb trace minerals from the water to maintain its firmness. If they are deprived of water for more than 24 hours, their skin will crack and ooze pus, eventually disintegrating into a pile of rotting flesh."

"But if there is a heavy rain, they will also come ashore and walk to other rivers, and will also invade villages along the way, especially mining areas."

"This is also my third question: why do they migrate?"

The apprentices looked at each other and whispered among themselves.

"Is it because there's no food left in the water?"

"No way, didn't Ms. Mavis say that they regurgitate abdominal mucus? Even if they've eaten everything in the water, there are still small land animals to eat."

"Yes, if the rain stops suddenly and they go back inland, won't they just die on land?"

Li Wei murmured to himself after hearing this.

"It cannot exist without the minerals in the water...minerals..."

Suddenly, my eyes lit up, and I found the key point.

"Yes, the only reason they can leave their environment is because the current environment is unsuitable for them to live in, and the water quality is polluted."

Upon hearing this, Mavis's gaze immediately fell upon him. She slowly walked to Levi's table, her tone revealing surprise.

How did you come up with that idea?