Psionic Ascension Starting with The Witcher

It's much more convenient to conduct magical experiments here than in Kaer Morhen.

A large amount of chaotic magic was at Aifenso's disposal. Because he had enough magic, he didn't have to wait for the magic to replenish itself when the area was depleted, unlike in other places.

The magic of the Elemental Ring is not only abundant, but also regenerates extremely quickly, making it virtually inexhaustible.

"Hmm... First experiment: Quen Shield Regeneration."

Effensor spread his notebook out on a rock, took notes with his right hand and cast spells with his left, and began the first round of experiments.

The Quen Shield offers strong protection, but it cannot be reused for a short period after being shattered. If the Quen Shield could regenerate at an extremely fast rate, it would remain indefinitely and be difficult to break until Effinso stops casting.

A pale yellow, transparent circular shield gradually appeared around Effensor, flickering as its magic rapidly dissipated. This was to simulate the reaction of the Quen Shield when it was weakened.

When Effinso tried to replenish the Quen Shield with magic, the Quen Shield suddenly exploded, bringing with it a weak shockwave.

He immediately wrote it down in his notebook.

"The Quen Shield cannot form a continuous sign like the Igni. Rashly injecting magic will break the Quen Shield's original stable energy structure."

"Perhaps... we could change the way the Quen Shield is cast, from a single injection of magic power to a gradual, continuous injection of magic power?"

……

On the ruins of the Elemental Ring, the light of magic appeared and disappeared intermittently. In Effinso's hands, the various spell signs were cast in turn, trying out every theoretically feasible improvement scheme for the spell signs deduced over the past few days.

Most of them, after verification, were determined to be practically impossible. At least, Effensor's current capabilities are insufficient. Of the remaining ones, a small portion, while failing experimentally, still have the potential for improvement.

Of the dozens of improvement plans prepared by Effinso, only two were successful.

One is the Aden Sign. The enhanced Aden Sign can release a slowing field, reducing the speed of everyone within its range to an extreme degree, like slow motion in a movie. Previously, this slowing field also affected Effinso himself, making it somewhat useless. Now, after the correction, Effinso is not only unaffected, but can also increase his speed within the Aden Sign's range.

As for the chains of the Aden sign, Effinso had already perfected them completely. The Aden chains, like the Reverse Aard sign, could be released at will by him, and even used in daily life.

He could use the reverse Alder to pull nearby objects into his hand, and use the Arden Chains to drag distant objects over. If Effinso wanted, he could even stay in bed all day without getting up.

Another successful improvement was made by Quinn.

The circular Quen shield can now transform into a protective Quen that clings tightly to the body, making it look as if Effinso's body has been painted with gold paint.

This prevents the Quen Shield from being broken by attacks that will never even touch Effensor. At the same time, because the Quen Shield is closely connected to Effensor, it can establish a stable, low-loss magic transmission channel, slowly consuming magic to power the Quen Shield, allowing it to be maintained for a long time.

However, the cost is... because the casting method is changed to slowly deliver magic power, this continuous Quen shield cannot be formed instantly, but takes one to two seconds to become fully formed.

In the event of a sudden attack, the round Quen shield is more practical.

As for Effensor's previous attempt to increase the protective capabilities of the Quen shield, he has abandoned it.

Stillness is a necessary condition for maintaining stable and powerful magic; this cannot be changed. Most warlocks are the same; to cast a powerful spell, they must remain stationary and fully focused, otherwise they simply cannot succeed.

Unfortunately, this turtle-shell-like model is not what Effensor wanted.

He put away the notebook, which now contained a dozen more pages of dense text. Then Effensor looked at the horizon; the sun had already set, and only a faint, dim yellow halo remained on the horizon.

...Maybe I can have dinner first, then organize my thoughts for today, and try again tomorrow.

He believed that by taking advantage of the precious land of the Elemental Ring, he could definitely further improve his magic seal.

The dream of becoming a mage burned fiercely in his heart, and so did Effensor's ambition. The remnant soul of Leidenni had been of such great help to him that he even began to fantasize about surpassing ordinary mages.

Perhaps, one day this will not be just wishful thinking...

Now, Affentso needs to eat something to fill her stomach.

He returned to the campfire, poured all the ingredients into the pot, added some precious spices for seasoning, and then placed the pot on the fire. All he had to do now was wait.

Stewed venison is a common dish; wherever deer live, this dish is sure to be found.

Venison doesn't have a strong gamey smell; in fact, it develops a unique aroma after being stewed until tender. If you're willing to add some spices like Ifenso did, the final taste will definitely be quite good.

The aroma of stewed venison wafted from the pot, and white steam rose continuously from the gap between the lid and the pot.

Night quietly descended.

Affentso suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his heart and a sense of unease.

It's so quiet.

In late autumn, the temperature has dropped significantly, and Kaermohan is completely silent at night.

But if there is neither the hooting of owls nor the howling of wind, nor the roaring of wild beasts in the mountains, then something is clearly not normal.

Furthermore, he discovered that... the magic around him was rapidly dissipating!

Effensort stood up abruptly. He looked around and noticed an eerie light emanating from the ruins of the Elemental Ring.

When he tried to go forward to check, he bumped into thin air, as if there was an invisible wall in front of him.

Effensor reached out and touched it, then frowned.

"This is... a barrier?"

He then walked around the invisible barrier, finally confirming that it was a barrier surrounding the ruins of the Elemental Ring.

"Hmm, it seems Vesemir wasn't wrong, and what those ancient books recorded is correct." Effensor stroked his chin thoughtfully. "The Elemental Ring does indeed have some special functions. Whether it was the former chief of the Wolf School or those resident mages, they would all go to the Elemental Ring together every once in a while."

"The overflowing magic seems capable of activating the Elemental Ring. This barrier was probably designed solely to prevent disturbance to those inside. But the designer likely didn't consider the possibility of the person activating the Elemental Ring voluntarily leaving its area..."

However, it must be said that even after the Elemental Ring, now reduced to ruins, was activated, it still gave Effensor a tremendous sense of oppression.

Inside, some kind of magic circle or magical artifact is greedily absorbing the surrounding chaotic magic power, frantically sucking in the magic power near the elemental ring, like a black hole.

Because Effensor had consumed a significant portion of the elemental ring's originally immense magical power, it even began absorbing magical power outside the barrier, directly affecting the surrounding environment. For example, after a large amount of wind element disappeared, even the mountain winds gradually ceased. Although the creatures in the mountains could not perceive the changes in the chaotic magical power, they could detect the anomaly from the changes in the surrounding environment, and thus they all fell silent, not daring to make any rash moves.

Effensor remained quietly in place, watching the changes in the elemental ring intensify.

He can't do anything right now; this barrier is far more powerful than he imagined, and he simply doesn't have the strength to break through it.

After a while, the light of the Elemental Ring shone even brighter, like stars shining on the earth.

A blinding flash of light, like a shockwave, momentarily dazzled Affinso. When he rubbed his eyes and looked again, he found a new portal had appeared.

The barrier dissipated at this moment, but Effensor did not relax. He drew the hero's sword, Brock Rhine, and watched the portal warily.

The portal rippled slightly, a sign that something was passing through it.

The magic from Brok Rhine quickly covered Effensor's body, but there was no obvious benefit.

This is something Effensor has never been able to understand. After he got the sword, he fought against some bandits and brigands, but apart from being exceptionally sharp, this hero's sword had no other special features.

What is the purpose of this magic, and the magic contained within the sword? Effensor had no idea.

The next moment, the portal flashed, and a large amount of frost spread out from it, rapidly expanding across the land until it stopped at Effensor's feet.

That cold feeling, as if it were dragging everything into eternal silence, accompanied by a magic with the attribute of "imprisonment"... was White Frost.

Upon sensing the appearance of the white frost, the magic set up inside by the monitors immediately activated. Tiny, fluid-like shadows seeped from the blade of the sword, then gushed out, climbed up the portal, and gradually spread inward from the edge of the portal, eventually engulfing it.

It seems the shadowy figure, the watcher outside Novigrad, wasn't wrong after all.

A portal leaking white frost appeared before Effensor, as if confirming the statement that "this was a mission entrusted to him by fate."

Affinso had to shut down the portal. For one thing, this was Kaer Morhen, his homeland, and he couldn't allow it to be swallowed by the White Frost.

The shadowy mass surrounding the portal shrank little by little, and vanished without a trace in no time.

Effensor knelt down on one knee beside him, watching nervously, fearing something might go wrong. He could imagine things like "suddenly failing before the seal was complete" or "a monster bursting out when the seal was only halfway done," and he thought it was quite possible.

However, nothing unexpected happened until the portal completely disappeared. Everything was calm and uneventful.

"So... it's over?" Effensor stood up, muttering to himself with a hint of disbelief, glancing around repeatedly.

Everything remains the same...

A surge of icy blue energy drifted in and entered Brock Rhine. Effensor could feel a new power within the sword that he could control and release.

"It's not that difficult..."

The moment Effinso had this thought in his mind, he felt the magic in the direction of Kaer Morhen suddenly surge.

He looked back and, in his perception, a terrifying source of magic appeared in Kaer Morhen, carrying some strange and peculiar magic, radiating outwards at an eerie speed.

Then a loud bang came from Kaer Morhen, and the terrifying source of magic vanished without a trace.

Seeing this, Effensor quickly ran back and started packing his luggage while cursing.

"Oh shit!"

Why Kaer Morhen?

After kicking the campfire a few times and stomping out the embers, Effensor stuffed a piece of the leftover venison into his mouth, then dumped the rest on the ground. He then hastily packed up the pot, tent, books, and other miscellaneous items, stuffing them into his huge backpack.

Finally, Effensor lit a torch and hurried down the mountain along a path.

He couldn't wait a moment longer.

……

By the time Effensor hurriedly returned to Kaer Morhen, it was already dawn.

The sun was just rising, and although the world was not very bright, the darkness had already been dispelled.

Upon entering the castle through the main gate, Effensor was greeted by a scene of utter devastation.

It was as if someone had dropped a bomb on the training field; everything was blown to pieces. The training dummies and wooden stakes were broken or shattered; nothing was intact.

The lawn on the ground was swirled into a vortex by magic, and the center of the vortex was roughly where he had previously sensed the source of the magic.

At this moment, Geralt, with one arm wrapped in cloth, was sitting on a fallen wooden stake nearby, staring blankly at the vortex.

He didn't even notice Effensor approaching until Effensor's hand landed on his shoulder, which startled him awake.

"Are you hurt?" Effinso sat down next to Geralt and pointed to his arm.

"It's broken. But it's not serious."

"What about the others?"

Geralt sighed upon hearing this and said, "Escal hit his toe on a rock, Lambert broke his ribs, but Vesemir is perfectly fine."

"Cohen... he wasn't injured, but it might have been worse. Thank goodness you weren't here, it would have been a disaster."

A weight lifted from Effensor's shoulders, and he finally asked, "So what exactly happened?"

"Hmm..." Geralt touched his chin with his uninjured hand, then turned to Effinso and asked, "When you were in Cintra, did you notice Ciri... displaying any magical talent?"

Effensor thought for a moment, then decisively shook his head.

"no."

In his memory, Ciri looked no different from any other little girl, except that she was a bit bolder and had a resilient personality.

“Then we have even less idea why she went berserk.” Geralt shook his head as well. “Lambert went to the cellar to get some wine and saw Ciri all alone at the training ground.”

"Then he went over and looked, then he patted Ciri on the shoulder, and then... Lambert was slammed against the wall."

"There was a loud bang that woke us all up. When we went down, we found that Ciri had unleashed a magical storm that had turned the training ground into this mess."

"She also made some kind of...prophecy about Cohen? She said Cohen would be pierced through the chest by a pair of sharp, long teeth. Finally, Vesemir knocked Ciri unconscious, and that was the end of it. She's sleeping upstairs now."

After saying that, Geralt showed a rare look of confusion.

Effensor had some vague guesses in his mind.

It's probably not frost.

Did this thing make her go berserk? He felt it was unlikely to be a coincidence.

However, he has no evidence... so such speculation is not very reliable.

However, what Effensor couldn't understand was that since Ciri's magic was so powerful—more powerful than any sorcerer Effensor had ever seen—why was the Ciri in his memory later wielding a sword and cutting people down?

This is a question that probably no one can answer for the time being.

Effinso patted Geralt on the shoulder, telling him to continue standing there in a daze, then picked up his backpack and walked into the main building of the castle.

He originally wanted to eat something first and then unload the messy things from his bag, but he was conscripted by Vesemir as soon as he went in.

"Eat!"

Vesemir tossed him a piece of cheese, dry and hard, like a yellow stone.

"Then get to work!" He pointed to a large pile of broken training equipment inside the main building of the castle, where Cohen and Eskar were hammering nails into a wooden figure.

Effensor reached out and caught the flying cheese, taking a big bite. Then he tossed his bag into the corner and joined the repair work.