"Clang!"
With a flourish, Allen flicked the mixture of oil and blood off Elsa and sheathed his sword. A red line of blood appeared on the pure white snow.
"Whoo~"
After letting out a long breath, Allen didn't check the witcher journal first. Instead, he walked over to the severed corpse of the swamp hag and inspected the peculiar bone on its right arm.
[Name: Foglet Arm Bone]
[Type: Sacrificial Artifact]
[Function: By using a special method to activate the bone, one can transform into mist]
[Note: Are you sure you want to use this?]
"Sure enough, it's related to the Foglet," Allen thought.
Looking further down to the type column.
"Sacrificial Artifact?"
Allen muttered, feeling like there was a lot of information in this. Recalling the sorceress telling him about the "Omen of Evil and the Sacrificial Rites of Evil Gods" the day after he used the drowner whistle, Allen immediately sensed something was off.
This is a sacrificial artifact, so could this swamp hag have been a priestess?
Do swamp hags have their own deities?
Why hadn't Vesemir and the others mentioned anything this important?
Allen's mind buzzed, unable to make sense of it after thinking for a long time.
He shook his head, sighed, and thought: "Forget it, I still know too little about the gods in the witcher world. Forcing it won't bring any important conclusions."
Besides, from the note, it seemed he couldn't use this item anyway.
So, Allen took the arm bone from the swamp hag's right arm, put it in his backpack, and planned to ask the sorceress about it later that evening.
Then, Allen focused his thoughts and opened the witcher journal to check the rewards from this hunt.
[Monster Group "Swamp Hag" Lv31 Defeated!]
[Reward Calculation: Overcoming the Enemy, Basic Rating D, Level Surpass +3 – C, Decapitation Intimidation +3 – B, Overcoming Many with Few +3 – A]
[Final Rating: A]
[Obtained Loot: Swamp Hag Heart Essence, Drowner Heart Essence13, Experience Orbs12, Swamp Hag Treasure Chest5, Drowner Treasure Chest5]
[Ding! Monster Encyclopedia "Swamp Hag" Activated]
[Ding! Hunting Task: Swamp Hag I Activated, Accept?]
"No wonder it was so strong, the swamp hag's level was really high."
"But my level is the sum of ordinary skills. On what basis are monster levels evaluated?"
Curious, he flipped through the previous witcher evaluations.
"Drowner King Lv26, Old Spearhead Lv24, Foglet Lv19…"
The Foglet made sense, but the Drowner King and Old Spearhead, both of whom were much stronger than the swamp hag in terms of power and chaos magic, were rated lower in level.
Why?
Could it be that large monsters and ordinary monsters have two different rating standards?
Questions formed in his mind, but they couldn't be answered now.
He was used to this; the witcher journal always seemed shrouded in a layer of mystery. The more he explored, the more mysteries were revealed. Allen shook his head and continued reading.
High-level monsters ensured that even lower-level ones brought decent rewards. It's a pity the main storyline tasks hadn't appeared for a long time, and most of the activated tasks were hunting tasks; otherwise, this evaluation could have been even higher.
"Still, it's a small harvest."
After reading the system prompts and accepting the swamp hag hunting task, Allen closed the witcher journal.
"????~"
After some rustling of clothes, Allen took out the material bag and then removed the drowner tongues and brains one by one. The sorceress had plenty of materials available, but since he had come this far and killed them, it would be a waste to leave the materials behind.
About ten minutes later, Allen had taken all the drowner materials and picked up the empty corpse oil bottle. But he faced a dilemma with the swamp hag. He had never processed swamp hag materials before, but since it was a fairly high-level monster, he couldn't just leave it here.
"Sigh~"
"If only I had a Roach."
Allen sighed, washed the swamp hag's head with snow, and hung it on his waist. Then he carried the corpse and continued towards the Ring of Elements.
----------
The winter sky was clear and cloudless. Perhaps because it was cold, the lake was calm, and even the wind seemed frozen in place. Snow lay on the trees on both sides of the lake, frosted and still. It looked like a painting of mountains, waters, and trees.
"Crunch, crunch, crunch~"
The sound of heavy footsteps on the snow. With his physique and the thick leather armor he wore, Allen didn't feel cold. Carrying an extra person's weight made him sweat from exertion. He wiped the sweat off with the cotton cloth on his leather armor.
As he walked along the lake, he remained alert to the shadows in the forest on his left. In the early days after his arrival, he had learned about the High Mountain Trial from Vesemir and had once asked the witcher master in confusion:
"Do we really have to swim across to get to Old Speartip's cave? Can't we walk along the shore?"
Vesemir had rolled his eyes, as if Allen had asked a foolish question: "If you swim, you might survive. Walking along the shores means certain death."
At the time, Allen didn't quite understand, but after the encounter with the swamp hag, he truly got it. The forests on both sides of the lake were full of dangers.
Allen had barely strayed from the lake and hadn't even gone deep into the woods when he encountered a swamp hag nearly ten levels higher than him. If not for the monster making a strategic mistake by using a skill countered by corpse oil, it might not have lost so badly.
Even if Allen hadn't been alerted by the drowners' unusual aggression and hit by that special snowball, facing four drowners and a high-level swamp hag would have left him at least slightly injured. But then again, Given the swamp hag's slow movement on land, without the mist-forming artifact, it might not have risked coming ashore to hunt.
So, is it all fate?
Thinking this, Allen shook his head. Except for opening treasure chests, he didn't believe in fate, nor could he.
If everything were predestined, should Kaer Morhen not be saved?
"Sigh~"
Thinking of the war that destroyed the School of the Wolf, Allen's heart sank, and he was about to continue contemplating ways to change fate when,
Suddenly, A breeze carried a thick scent of blood to his nose.
Allen looked in the direction of the scent and was stunned.
At the edge of his vision,
There stood a pyramid!
...….
📢20 advanced chapters on p@treaon📢
For advance chapters: p@treon.com/Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)
101. Hmm? So Weak?
102. How to Increase Critical Hit Rate?
103. Plan Failed.
104. Are You a Transmigrator Too?
105. The Charity Job.