Chapter 179 It’s not good to have too many decent people around you. The team needs to be more diverse, right?
The mirror is veneered, the demon appears, and the seal is broken, all of this happens in one breath.
By the time everyone reacted, the black cat-like demon had disappeared.
Triss was the first to come to her senses, and she stepped forward hesitantly and asked: "Lan... did you drive out the demon?"
Lann glanced at the direction where the black mist finally disappeared: "It looks like it was driven out. "
He flipped his wrist and put the mirror back into the [Inventory].
Triss trotted forward and checked the skinned man who fell on the ground. As a sorceress, she also had basic knowledge of medicine.
But the result was that the more I checked, the more frightened I became.
"His muscles are completely rigid and have no elasticity, and the nerves are basically necrotic. The entire body's reflex system seems to be paralyzed, unable to respond to any stimulation received from the outside world." Triss frowned
. It was the first time she had seen such a person: "This is simply a living corpse. If it wasn't still breathing, it would really be exactly the same as a dead person." The snake sect demon hunters who gathered around him hesitated to speak
. I have never seen such an existence.
In the end, Lei Suo spoke up: "If it doesn't work, let's give this guy a break. In this state... life is worse than death." But
Lan shook his head and said decisively: "He can still be saved."
He raised his head. , met everyone's gaze: "Do you remember the ability of the ancient blood I told you? This is one of them." The
last skill point that had been stored in the system was consumed by Lann, and in the [Follower] panel Suddenly there was a new vacancy.
Follower, contract.
During this period of time, after going through several side missions and monster hunting missions, and not knowing what Ace had done, Lann had accumulated a lot of experience points.
At this moment, these experiences are sliding down like an avalanche, almost hitting bottom.
This was Lan's first contract with a "follower" who was not loyal to him, and the power consumed was far beyond his imagination.
But fortunately, the decrease in experience points finally stopped before the values were completely cleared, and then a new follower system panel appeared in front of Lann's eyes.
[Follower: Kyyan
Gender: Male
Race: Demon Hunter
Level: 1
Talent: Psychic Medium
Experience Value: 0/1000
Health Value : 1200/1200
Mana Value: 500/500
Inventory Column: None
Skill Column: Cat School Skills, Advanced Cat School Swordsmanship, Intermediate Cat School Seal, Beginner Alchemy, Advanced Riding, Precision Shooting, Combat Intuition, Pain Tolerance, Nightmare Strengthening
Tasks: None]
[Shared Follower Talent: Psychic]
[Psychic: For mind control skills Improved resistance, improved perception of demons, ghosts, ghosts and supernatural phenomena]
Lann raised his eyebrows, but he didn't expect that the other party actually had talent. I just don't know if the other person has a talent from birth, or if it is a "talent" left over after being possessed by a demon.
In the eyes of Triss and the four snake sect demon hunters, the demon hunter who fell on the ground suddenly began to tremble violently after Lann's palm touched him.
In just the blink of an eye, no one even realized what happened. The skinned man in front of them suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a slender and strong man.
His breathing was steady and powerful, and his muscles were well defined but not bulging. He looked like a well-trained warrior. But his skin was very delicate, and there was no scar. He looked like a person who had never been exposed to combat.
In other words, this is a new person.
Leitho's eyes widened: "Incredible. The blood of the ancients...is this the power that the Wild Hunt is pursuing?" "
Lan!" Kolgrim shouted excitedly, "This kind of treatment of yours is useful." Is there any restriction? This is a way to bring the dead back to life. If Chapelle were still here, he would kneel down and shout for a miracle!"
After hearing this, the man who fell on the ground seemed to become unimportant at this moment. Everything Everyone's eyes turned to Lan En.
Just like Kolgrim said, this is the power of bringing the dead back to life, surpassing all known treatment methods on the continent!
"I'm still exploring this power, and its limits and limitations are not very clear to me yet." Lann smiled, "I can only say: If you are injured, try to save your last breath, and then give me Take some time to prepare. At least I can save each of you like this once."
Everyone's eyes showed wonder again. This is simply a second life. They have experienced battles and understand what this means.
Perhaps the crowd's voices were too loud, so the man who fell to the ground twitched his fingers a few times and slowly opened his eyes.
The eyes were still red, but the whites of the eyes were clear, and only the pupils were still glowing with blood.
Fortunately, there is no more madness and killing inside, only confusion. He looked around aimlessly, and finally his eyes stopped on Lan's body.
For some reason, he felt that the blond young man with strange eyes in front of him exuded a kind of friendly temperament, which made him feel at ease and made him want to trust him involuntarily.
"Man, are you still awake? Do you remember your name?"
"Name?" The man's eyes were dull for a while, and he murmured to himself, but a word came out before he could think about it, "Kiyaan."
"Yes, Keyan." His eyes lit up, "My name is Keyan!"
Lann laughed, this cat-sect witcher, he saved.
.........
Cat pie is full of lunatics. This is a joke, but it is also a fact.
Sometimes Lan also wonders whether he should involve the Cat Faction in his plan to revive the Demon Hunters. If it is just to "gather cards" to gather the schools and plant a time bomb in his own power, then It's too much to gain.
But after much consideration, Lan finally decided to accept Cat Pie.
For one thing, in the original work, there are still sane people in the Cat Faction. Lambert of the Wolf Faction has a close friend of the Cat Faction. In Lambert’s own narrative, this Cat Faction cares more about him than Geralt. appetite.
Secondly, every school has its foundation, and the swordsmanship of the Cat School does have its merits. It can be used as a reference when training new demon hunters or even elites among mortal soldiers in the future.
Third, Lann believes that Cat Pie's madness is not irredeemable.
Before you understand why the people of the Cat Faction are so crazy, you need to first understand the history of the Cat Faction: At the
end of the Demon Hunter Order, Arzu's departure caused the Order to lose its direction. Gradually, some Demon Hunters began to go against the grain, and even went so far as to compete for commissions. Fighting swords against their comrades, eventually erupting into a large-scale conflict within the witchers, leading to the order's disbandment.
It was at this time that a group of witchers wearing cat-head pendants quietly left the witcher order. They hoped to save the waning prestige of the witchers and regain a good reputation for the witchers.
That's right, the Cat School, which led to the notorious reputation of witchers, initially hoped to regain a good reputation for witchers!
This group of demon hunters secretly took away a batch of mutant materials and experimental equipment, but they were recovered by the Demon Hunter Order. They rejected the order's offer to stay and were no longer willing to get along with the changed demon hunters. But they also lost the complete mutation formula and had to turn to new warlocks for help.
Fate played a trick on these ambitious young witchers.
They made their way south, eventually settling at Styga Castle. Based on the formulas provided by these demon hunters, Stiga's mages began to modify mutations in order to blunt emotions and make the demon hunters more rational; but the result was just the opposite. They created a group of cruel, sensitive, and irritable lunatics. .
The mages put the failed products of these experiments into cages, trying to analyze the reasons for the failure. After all, biological weapons such as demon hunters are really rare in history, and they are too tempting for every mage.
At this time, a half-elf demon hunter named Gizlas climbed up from the corpse of his companion. He used his extraordinary courage and skill to liberate his companion. At the same time, he led his comrades to join the elves' camp and seek refuge by attacking humans. and rewards to strengthen yourself.
After his wings were full, Gizlas led his companions back to Stiga Castle on a dark cloudy night, one by one to settle accounts with the mage who created them, and took away their lives in their sleep.
After reason faded away, when madness shrouded the world, and blood surged, the Cat School was established.
The Cat School witchers no longer have a stronghold and use the ever-moving caravan as their shelter. They are crazy and continue to follow the crazy mutation formula, and even create a female witcher by mistake.
And they also discovered that: the neutrality of the cult has long been trampled on by them, and killing people is far easier and more profitable than killing monsters; out of hatred for their parents who sold themselves off, the mages who conducted cruel experiments, and the unruly people who went back on their word. , Cat Faction is more often willing to accept the commission from elves.
Fate likes to play tricks on people. The pioneers who first left the order with the dream of revitalizing the school ended up doing unacceptable things. Every other witcher was reviled and scorned in the countryside. Their contribution was indispensable.
The madness of Cat Pie comes from the flaw of mutation, and also comes from the experience of the first generation of Cat Pie people. It is these first generation of Cat Pie people who passed down the madness.
Lann believes that finding a true master of bioalchemy to re-study the witcher mutations, and then giving the new Cat Faction a more cohesive and secure training environment can cultivate new and more stable Cat Faction witchers. .
Moreover, even in today's environment, there are occasionally lucky cat demon hunters who can gain normal sanity. In the original work, Kyaan is one of them. He is a "relatively sane" cat-type demon hunter.
Based on the above reasons, coupled with experiments on his [Follower] panel, Lann finally decided to recruit Kiyaan. Similarly, Lambert's close friends and the sane cats that players have met in the game will also be taken under Lan Lan's command if he has a chance in the future.
Lan turned his hand and took out the Cat Pie Badge Necklace from the [Inventory].
Passing the badge in front of Kiyaen, he chuckled and said: "The thing has returned to its original owner, Kiyaen. Don't lose it again in the future."
Kiyaen's consciousness has just recovered, and he can still respond to Lann's words. React.
He stared blankly at the badge, and then a rush of memories swept toward his brain.
His eyes began to flash red, and his face, which had returned to smoothness, began to tremble like a cramp.
Cargo ships, warlocks, seas, storms...
experiments, anger, pain, numbness...
Countless scenes began to flash back, and every scene seemed to be stained with blood. Some scenes even only had transparent lines, but Kiyaen could still see them Feel the overwhelming emotions.
Until these memory fragments are connected in a string, they begin to be pieced together, combined, and logically made.
He remembered it all.
As a Cat-sect witcher, he has hated his identity since he was a child. After entering the life of a lone ranger, he soon got tired of the precarious commissions and no longer wanted to work for anyone. He even refused a prince's personal bodyguard offer and instead became a bodyguard on a smuggling ship. After a few years, he was stable. days.
Until one day, the captain arranged for a warlock to enter his room on the grounds that the cabin was crowded.
At that time, he had already restrained his explosive temperament of fighting with others. Unless fighting, there were many compromises in his daily life.
He was a warlock, full of wisdom, and he made people feel like a spring breeze when talking to others. Although he had an extraordinary enthusiasm for himself, Kiyaen didn't care at first.
Later, while he was meditating, the other party used magic and potions to paralyze himself.
In his hazy state of consciousness, he vaguely heard the waves surging and the storm raging outside the cabin, and the familiar voices no longer laughed, but howled; he couldn't help himself, and was taken back to the laboratory, whereupon a period of Bloody and dark days.
He didn't want to recall the memory after that. He only remembered that in the last moment of consciousness, he saw a cat statue with red eyes.
I remembered it, I remembered it all.
Kian raised his head, his eyes were blood red, his face was cold, but his tone was very soft.
Looking at Lann, who gave him an inexplicable sense of affinity, Kiyaan asked: "Did you save me?" The
griffin badge hanging around the other person's neck made him feel more intimate, even more intimate than a cat.
"I am Lan of Cintra, Lan Lannister Leanne, a demon hunter of the Griffin School. Welcome back to the normal world." Lan asked, "How do you feel now?"
Kai After hearing the question, Yan closed his eyes and clenched his fists. He felt a power surge through his body that was far greater than he had ever experienced before.
He twisted his neck and moved his limbs, making a crackling sound of fried beans. Not only that, the hidden injuries from previous training and the inconvenience in exerting force caused by some old illnesses also disappeared without a trace at this moment.
The life force contained in his body shocked himself.
"I have never felt so good as I do now."
Kian looked around at the four snake demon hunters and a sorceress, as if he had just discovered them: "You also saved me?"
Representative Leisuo The snake sect demon hunter shook his head: "We were only involved in part of the process of changing you back from that... appearance. It was Lann and Triss's credit for bringing you out of the underground laboratory." Kiyaan
automatically Ignoring the word "Triss" in his words, he turned to look at Lan, his gaze becoming more intimate and hot.
Lann deliberately asked: "So Kian, what are your plans in the future? Are there any companions sent by cats to look for, or are there other friends who can take refuge?"
Kian glanced at Lan, lowered his head and pondered: "I would like to ask, what year is this?"
"1264."
Keyan was mentally prepared for it, but he couldn't help but sigh after hearing this: "Thirty years have passed."
The sadness and loss in those words made everyone listening feel sad.
"Then, the people you used to know must have changed a lot, so you should take your time to find them, right?" Lann advised very considerately, "Then why don't you stay with me and help me now? Just treat it as a My commission to you. To be honest, I am the Earl of Cintra. Cintra is currently planning to rebuild the Order of Demon Hunters. We already have griffins, wolves and snakes. If you are added, we will be far away. The goal has been further advanced, but I have encountered a little trouble recently..."
"Okay!" Kiyaen's reason seemed to suddenly snap again, and his enthusiasm when he agreed was far more than what he should be grateful to his savior.
It seemed as if he was just waiting for Lan to invite him and then agreed.
Lan was interrupted, but he showed a satisfied smile.
.........
Will Lann have empathy for Kyaan? Because the other party suffered cruel experiments, are both demon hunters filled with indignation?
No.
Don’t forget who was the first demon hunter Lan met since his rebirth, and what happened between them.
Although Lann has been a demon hunter for a long time, his emotions are not yet so philanthropic. He might risk his life for Ciri, for Mossack, for Geron and others. As for others - even
for the Snake Faction, the good brothers of the previous life player, Lan is only friendly, not friendly. In the final analysis, the relationship has not reached this point.
So let alone Kiyaen. Although his experience is very pitiful, in the end he is not a good person. Kiyaen once accepted the prince's hiring to massacre a scientific expedition team, killing people and grabbing treasures, and later became a bodyguard for a slave-smuggling ship.
Given the worldview of this era, he was also a ruthless person.
In Lan's imagination, the ideal member of the Witcher Order would be a cat like Lambert's best friend.
But the existence of the [Follower] panel made him want to try to conquer Kiyaen.
Keyan may not be considered a good person, but Lann happens to have too many "good people" and "knights" first-class people around him.
Even the Snake Faction, which specializes in assassination missions, is actually a group of people with a very solid moral bottom line.
As a qualified leader, the people around him cannot be too homogeneous, right?
Fortunately, Lann's [Follower] panel did not disappoint him.
And based on the talents and skills displayed on the [Follower] panel, even if Keyan is not as good as a mentor-level figure like Vesemir in the school, he is definitely far superior to the average demon hunter.
Lann couldn't be more satisfied with the results of this trip to explore Temple Island.
So since then, Lann has officially gained the support of four demon hunters from the snake sect, gained the "entourage" of a cat sect demon hunter, and also gained the friendship of "Shapelle". Able to gain the support of Novigrad, the "capital of the north".
Far beyond expectations.
For a moment, he even felt that the Mirror Master's mission was not that important anymore, and what he had gained from coming to Novigrad was enough!
Okay, just kidding, it’s a bit too fancy to say that.
The task still needs to be done, but before that, the hands in the dark must be chopped off one by one to avoid unnecessary complications.
Lann thought for a while and returned to his original purpose.
"Leso, what are your plans in the future? Will you continue to go back to Riens to lurk?"
Leisu shook his head: "We usually don't meet with Riens. We only meet when we have made an appointment in advance. Usually It's all about discussing tasks."
It's a very loose team structure.
Lan asked again: "Then stay with us first. When did you originally plan to launch an attack against me and Chapelle?" Reso replied: "
After seven days."
Lan nodded, there was still plenty of time, Enough to implement my plan bit by bit.
"Kyyan, I also want you to do me a favor."
The newly joined cat-sect witcher straightened up and pricked up his ears.
.........
Chapelle's shapeshifter has a pure nature. He doesn't want his affairs to implicate the citizens of Novigrad, so he wants to get rid of the three gang leaders in advance to prevent them from launching a riot.
Oakes, Seret, and Kolgrim went to assassinate the Beggar King, Hawthorne, and Machete respectively.
Because they were worried about alerting the enemy, the three of them did not attack immediately. Instead, they stayed dormant in Lan's residence until there was only one day left before the planned riot, and then they spread out in the night and showed their fangs.
Among them, Oakes' actions are the fastest.
In the original game, the Snake Squad was once rescued by Geralt, played by the player. From then on, they took care of the player. Not only did they help the player fight against the Wild Hunt and take care of the amnesiac Yennefer, but they were also killed by the Nilfgaard Emperor. Arrest and then embark on the path of regicide.
Oakes' original ending was very disappointing. In the game, he planned to assassinate the king of Kaedwen, but ended up running into the player. At that time, Geralt, played by the player, lost his memory and did not remember his brother who shared life and death at all. In the end, he killed Oakes by mistake.
Now, of course, Oakes' fortunes have changed.
At this moment, he was tracking a homeless man.
According to his observation, the man was on his way to "pay his taxes."
The Beggar King is a very strange existence in Novigrad. He is different from the gang-like Machete and the family-like Hawthorne.
He proclaimed himself the Beggar King, intending to ridicule the red tape of the palace, but he himself also took some of its essence and actually established a functioning order in the underground of Novigrad.
"Paying taxes" is the most important part of the order he established to maintain his decent life and class authority.
Following the tramp, Oaks arrived at the Beggar King's territory known as the "Rotten Forest". The sealed gates and sporadic guards could not stop the experienced snake sect demon hunters.
In the night, a black shadow shuttled across the shadows and eaves of every corner.
Soon, Oaks discovered his assassination target.
(End of chapter)