Psionic Ascension Starting with The Witcher

Effensor understood it roughly, but only roughly.

Cohen appeared anxious; he was very worried about the situation on the other side of the strait.

However, after calming down and thinking it over, he chose not to think about it.

He still has a mission on his shoulders and shouldn't be distracted by thinking about something he can't control.

As darkness fell, the fighting on the other side of the river continued, but the three of them needed to find a place to spend the night.

So they arrived at Madney Ferry, their original destination.

The sudden battle on the other side of the river disrupted the original plan. When the three of them arrived at the Madeney Ferry, they found only empty houses and deserted docks.

In this era, soldiers and bandits were indistinguishable. Regardless of whether they were rich or poor, powerful or powerless, people were terrified at the mere mention of soldiers.

However, this is convenient; you only need to tidy up a little before spending the night, and you don't even need to light a fire or keep watch.

The three of them found a relatively large three-story wooden house, each found a room to settle down, and went to sleep early.

Their plans changed, and they could no longer board a boat at the Madeney ferry crossing to travel downstream. They would have to ride their horses westward along the river until they found the next ferry crossing with people and boats. This meant that the next period of travel would be arduous.

……

Of course, those who fall asleep do not include Effensor.

late at night.

Effensor opened his eyes and sat up in bed.

He quickly dressed, pulled a thick stack of leather notebooks from his saddlebag, then carried the research materials out the window and slowly made his way along the wall towards the window of Cohen's room.

Soon, he saw Cohen sleeping soundly through the window.

"Bang! Bang!"

"Um?!"

Cohen was instantly jolted awake. He sat up abruptly and was about to draw his sword when he saw Effensor clinging to the window with one hand and carrying a stack of books in the other, climbing into the house by stepping on the windowsill.

He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Why didn't you use the door?

Cohen didn't ask Effensor's purpose for coming; instead, he asked about a question that came from the depths of his soul.

"Why...why should I use the door? Isn't it common sense to use the door during the day and climb through the window at night?"

"……never mind."

Cohen decided to drop the discussion on this issue.

Although he had never heard of this common knowledge.

And Effensor would never admit that this was just a subconscious, thoughtless act.

"What do you want from me?"

"I'm seeking some guidance."

Effensor snapped his fingers, and Igni flames ignited in his left hand, but he miraculously bound them. Even though the flames continued to burn fiercely, they were confined to the surface of his hand.

Cohen's eyes lit up, and he said with some surprise, "You've already grasped the basics of fire element. Incredible."

"Actually, it was a trick." Effinso extinguished the flames, and then conjured another Quen sphere in his left hand. He manipulated the translucent pale yellow magic ball to change shape at will, transforming it into various forms.

"I call it Magic Shaping. At first, it could only be used on Quen, but now it can be used on all signs except for the Axii sign."

"What kind of trickery is this? This is a technique for advanced magic, it can be used for Polymorph, tangible spells... you name it." Cohen looked approvingly at the constantly changing Quen sign in Effinso's hand.

"However, I think I shouldn't work in isolation. Therefore, I really want to exchange some insights with you about the Dharma Seals... Every Griffin sect member is a master of the Dharma Seals."

Cohen shook his head, a bitter smile that was hard to tell whether it was relief or angst, and said, "You've already surpassed all the Witchers, Effensor. This can't be called a sign anymore. Apart from the books I've memorized, I can't help you with anything else. I'm just a theorist."

Effensor shook his head and opened the first notebook, which was filled with dense charcoal writing and meticulously drawn pictures.

"Those who are successful come first, but I still need your help."

……

Effensor himself could sense that his research on signs had gone beyond its original framework and was no different from real magic.

Quen, Ald, Arden, Igni... these signs have completely entered the realm of magic and have transcended the category of "magical tricks".

Even with the Axii Mark, Effensor had glimpsed a hint of its mysteries. It was a power to control minds, but directly and brutally controlling others was undoubtedly a poor strategy; a silent and subtle approach was far better. After thoroughly studying the relationship between magic and mind when using the Axii Mark, Effensor also began to develop an advanced version of Axii—Mind Link.

Mind connection can link two minds together, enabling direct inner dialogue; essentially, it's mutual mind reading. This isn't actually what Effensor wanted; he desired one-way mind reading, not this two-way connection.

However... this is the only way for now.

Just before dawn, Effensor and Cohen roughly concluded their discussion, which had lasted for most of the night.

Although they only discussed eight topics in total, these eight topics were all quite in-depth.

Finally, Effensor asked the ninth question he wanted to know the answer to.

"The mind transcends material things... How exactly should I do that?"

"To be honest, I don't know."

Cohen admitted.

He then shrugged, somewhat helplessly, and said, "No one has ever succeeded in this experiment. I don't recommend you try it either. I'm only including it because you might be the only one who meets the experimental requirements. But even so, the risks are still extremely high."

"The known necessary conditions for success are... First, you need a physique that surpasses that of humans; second, you need an extremely strong will; third, you need a certain level of spellcasting ability, preferably with a powerful talent for spellcasting. Finally—I think you should at least have some knowledge of dimensions and understand how to connect with other dimensions."

"And you'll also need that lost ritual..."

Cohen rubbed his forehead, frowned, and pondered for a long time before finally shaking his head.

"That's all I can remember. Although I feel like I should have something else..."

"I am not familiar with this experiment, and it has only been performed once."

"So—you might encounter some unpredictable situations."

"Don't take my words too seriously."

"It's okay, I understand."

Effensor nodded and did not ask any further questions.

He turned his head to look at the horizon. Although the east was not yet bright, the deep night was already beginning to fade.

See you later.

"Ha, you're right." Cohen laughed. For a witcher, not sleeping all night is normal, and not sleeping for several days is no problem.

See you later.

Effensor climbed out the window and returned to his room, but instead of resting, he put his things down and slipped out the window again, heading towards the distant woods.

Although neither he nor Cohen had the habit of eating breakfast, Kayla did. When she savored her exquisite meals every morning, her elegant eating manners always whetted the appetites of both men.

So now Affinso and Cohen also eat breakfast.

So Effensor ran into the woods to see if there was any game in the woods that could serve as breakfast in the early morning.

In addition, his conversation with Cohen had further solidified Effensor's ideas, and he had developed some initial plans. He couldn't wait to test them out.

Soon, Effensor caught an unfortunate rabbit. He approached it silently, and by the time the rabbit noticed Effensor, the distance between them was less than five meters.

Reverse Alder firmly locked the rabbit in place, and no matter how frantically it struggled, it was to no avail. Finally, Effensor grabbed its ears, lifted it up, and held it in front of him.

He glanced at the rabbit that was trying to kick his chest, then switched his right hand to hold its ear, and then spread his left hand with his fingers spread, aiming it at the rabbit.

"Alder, separated from his flesh and blood..."

Effensor muttered the name he had just come up with, and then released a special Alder.

"Sizzle!"

That was the sound of skin and muscle tearing, and a large amount of blood burst from where the rabbit had been, splattering all over Effensor's face and blinding him.

After wiping the blood off his face, he looked again and saw that all he was holding was a skeleton held together by a few bits of flesh.

The rabbit's flesh and blood were scattered all over the ground, with rotten flesh flying everywhere, and blood staining the ground about a meter in front of Effensor.

"Tsk..."

Effensor casually tossed away the rabbit's skeleton; the carcass on the ground certainly couldn't be used for breakfast.

That's a pretty ruthless move.

Through practicing magical shaping, his control over chaotic magic became more precise, which allowed him to realize this sudden idea.

The scope of the Aard Seal used to be a region or a broad object, but if it is refined so that its target is a part of a broad object, then the effect is naturally surprisingly good.

For example, just now, Effensor did not choose the rabbit as a whole, but instead chose the rabbit's flesh and blood to release the Aard Signet.

If the target of the spell were a human...

That scene must have been quite tragic.

Effensor circled around and arrived at the Yaruga River. He jumped into the river and swam around, catching three fish using the reverse Ald. He also washed away the bloodstains on his body, and even the smell was so faint that it was almost undetectable to a Witcher's senses.

After cleaning the fish slightly on the bank, Effensor threw the fish guts into the river and carried the three fish back to Maddeni Ferry.

Cohen was catching up on sleep, but Kayla was already up. Candles were lit in her room, and through the window, only a blurry shadow could be seen combing her hair.

She really loves dressing up.

Even when camping in the wild, she would use magic to conjure up a dressing table and transform herself into a radiant version of herself before Effensor and Cohen woke up.

Effensor stopped in front of the cabin, removed the wooden door, started a fire, and began grilling fish.

As he watched the three skewered fish slowly char over the fire, he suddenly remembered a small incident that had just happened.

Instead of knocking on Cohen's door normally, he inexplicably chose to climb through the window.

Effensor himself didn't know why he did it.

In the past, he would never have taken it to heart. After all, it's common to do strange things on a whim, and almost everyone has experienced it.

But now… he suddenly took off his left glove and stared blankly at his left hand, which had lost most of its gold color.

Is it that damned fragment of the soul?

Is this how he is subtly influenced?

Or is he just paranoid?

But Effensor needs to be more suspicious. In this cruel world, if you don't have some paranoia, you'll actually be harmed sooner or later.

After glancing at it a few times, Effensor put his gloves back on.

So far, he doesn't have a good way to guard against this hidden danger, but he already has some ideas.

He only needs to continue studying the Axii Mark and intervene through mind magic. He can now actually try to establish a mental connection with the soul fragment in his hand, but this two-way transparent connection is not appropriate and may even accelerate Effensor's influence and assimilation.

Once he figures out a way to make this mental connection one-way, then he can give it a try.

A moment later, Cohen came downstairs rubbing his eyes, and upon seeing Effensor, casually tossed a can over his shoulder.

Effensor quickly reached out and caught it, and upon closer inspection, discovered it was a jar of brown oil.

"What is this?"

He asked, puzzled.

"Fire-resistant oil, a new formula developed by Lambert, is considered a magical material. It can burn continuously while also having high heat resistance. You can apply it to your sword, just a thin layer, and then ignite it. Your sword will catch fire without damaging the sword itself."

Cohen explained slowly, then sat down next to Effensor and watched the grilled fish turn brown.

Effensor unscrewed the jar and smelled it; it was indeed something new he'd never seen before. He then put the jar away, turned to Cohen, and said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Cohen answered without turning his head.

The fish is almost cooked.

Just as Effensor was about to cut open the fish to see if it was cooked through, he suddenly heard a strange cry.

"Gurgle gurgle..."

It sounded like the sound of a drowning person choking on water.

Cohen and Effensor both looked up at the same time and turned to the side.

A dozen or so blue figures emerged one after another from behind a wooden house.

"Water ghost."

Effensor sighed, put the grilled fish aside, and drew his sword.

These disgusting things...

Cohen turned and ran quickly upstairs. He had just gotten up early in the morning and only came down for breakfast; of course, he wouldn't be carrying a sword. Now he had no choice but to hurry back to get it.

Without waiting for Cohen, Effensor picked up his sword and walked alone toward the water ghost.

As he walked, he began to cast the Quen Shield on himself.

Pale yellow magic appeared on his body, clinging tightly to it and forming a magical cycle that wouldn't break even when struck, but would slowly repair itself.

The water ghosts stood there in a daze for a while, watching Effensor approach, seemingly not understanding why this human wanted to come and die.

They rushed forward only when they saw the human's left hand glowing with a dangerous red light, but it was too late.

Effensor ignited a blazing fire in his left hand, then swung it forward, the solidified flames flowing out like a liquid.

The high concentration of fire element clings to the skin of these water ghosts the moment it touches them, like a poisonous wound, and then uses their bodies as fuel to transform them into human-shaped torches.

Nearly half of the water ghosts lost their ability to move after just one encounter, and could only lie on the ground rolling around, struggling desperately to extinguish the flames on their bodies.

The remaining seven water ghosts no longer posed a threat to Effensor and were soon killed by his sword.

When Cohen rushed over, he only saw corpses scattered all over the ground and Effensor sitting on the ground, panting and resting.

"Is everything resolved?"

Cohen was taken aback.

"Hmm." Effensor nodded. "Igni Bone-Body, I told you about it before. It's very effective."

Cohen glanced at the charred corpse of the water ghost and nodded approvingly.

"Fire element itself has a strong adhesive force, and you've amplified it... Honestly, I think you're a genius."

"Me? A genius?"

Effensor laughed, then shook his head.

"I don't want to be called that. When I accept the so-called title of genius, that's when I begin to become mediocre."

"……All right."

Cohen didn't quite understand. In his view, even if Effensor didn't accept the title, it didn't change the fact that he was a genius.

……

"Eek~"

Kayla clung to the curtains, grumbling unhappily.

Her room wasn't filled with the toiletries Effensor expected, but rather with all sorts of strange magical items.

It wasn't for nothing that she put in so much effort and money; now, through peeping, surveillance, and theft, Kayla has finally gotten a general idea of ​​Affinso's little secret.

This witcher was indeed unusual; his left hand had some strange feature that allowed him to cast spells like a sorcerer.

This must be related to the extra soul she discovered before, but she doesn't know the specific connection between them.

The fact that a Witcher could cast spells was bizarre, but not without precedent. Throughout history, a few lucky individuals had retained their spellcasting talents during mutations within the Witcher race. However, what was truly inconceivable, in Kayla's view, was that this Witcher's affinity for chaotic magic was even greater than her own.

In other words, Effensor's talent is better than Kayla's.

Damn it, who is the warlock here?

She was actually a tiny bit jealous.

But she simply didn't want to admit it. As a sorceress from Aretusa, how could she possibly admit that her talent was inferior to others? Especially not to an unknown witcher.

If Effinso were placed in the Ben Ade Magic Academy, the witcher would achieve far more than she did.

Unfortunately... there are no ifs. This witcher didn't go to Ban Ade for further training, but instead spent his time by the Yaruga River killing water ghosts and grilling fish.

"Hmph..."

Kayla opened the curtains, sat gracefully in a chair, crossed her legs, and began to comb her hair.

Once she finds a good opportunity, she must find a way to figure out how this witcher possesses such powerful spellcasting talent.

She was indeed curious about this; she harbored an endless desire to learn about new things. But besides curiosity, it was also her own ambition at play.

If this talent wasn't innate but acquired... could she have it? Could others have it?

If she were to possess this secret, wouldn't all the kings and nobles of this continent be begging her for the ability to cast spells and to have long lifespans?

Kayla seemed to see unparalleled power and wealth beckoning her.

Although the probability of such a thing happening was very low, and it could be considered nothing more than her delusion, Kayla was still immersed in it, swimming and indulging in beautiful fantasies of the future, unable to extricate herself.

"Giggle giggle..."

The sorceress's soft laughter could be faintly heard from the room, rising with the sun and disappearing as the moon set.

When the door was pushed open, Kayla's expression remained unchanged.