Witcher: Master Kiliman’s Grand Ambitions-Chapter 68: Upgrading Quen and Visiting the Headmistress

All afternoon long.
A perfectly good game of Gwent had been turned by Kieriman into a relentless truth-or-dare session.
It wasn’t until the elven queen—who was encountering this game for the first time—lost dozens of rounds without winning a single hand and could no longer maintain her composure, grinding her teeth as she drove the Witcher out of the room, that the meeting finally ended.
Ha—gentlemanly manners? What are those?
Could old man Kieriman let your plan succeed and coax secrets out of you?
With razor-sharp card skills and the silent cheating trick of using his stash space, if a Witcher wanted to, no one could beat him at Gwent.
That whole afternoon of truth-or-dare, however, did give Kieriman a real glimpse of Francesca—the beautiful sorceress who had a big reputation in the original account but about whom little concrete information had been revealed.
He was no gentleman. Dozens of questions where lying was forbidden unearthed many secrets the queen might never have revealed even to close acquaintances.
From what foods she liked to which colors she disliked;
from embarrassing childhood incidents to the unluckiest thing that had happened to her as an adult;
and, if not for the finale, even the elven queen’s underwear color and size wouldn’t have been asked.
Francesca, a sorceress with deep reserves of composure, probably wouldn’t have lost her temper and thrown him out of the room under other circumstances.
After this, she was likely to be so infuriated that she couldn’t eat and would secretly practice her Gwent skills, determined to win back a game next time.
Early the next morning.
Valessa, who had been defeated five times in a row the night before, was already up and cheerfully out to work.
Only the Witcher, who had farmed all night until his back ached and feeling a little numb, lay in bed and murmured:
“There’s no land that can’t be plowed, only oxen that work themselves to death.”
Having settled the cooperation details and indulged a little the previous night, Kieriman was in a fine mood.
With Ammonite Village absolutely safe and some free time on his hands, he opened his panel, saw his soul power totaling eighteen hundred points, and began preparing to upgrade a skill.
As the saying goes: rather than injure all ten fingers, better to sever one.
Wide but shallow is worse than focused and deep.
Since his soul power wasn’t abundant, it made more sense to concentrate on one skill rather than spread the points thinly across many.
The first thing Kieriman thought of was the Witchers’ most-used lifesaving skill, the Quen Sign.
Although this sign simply forms a magical protective shell around the body to guard against incoming attacks, it’s incredibly useful in combat. Because it’s instant cast, strong Witchers can even use a single Quen sign to block multiple attacks, maintaining a magical shield throughout a fight.
Especially in chaotic skirmishes and wilderness expeditions, the Quen Sign can defend against attacks the Witcher himself might not notice, massively increasing margin for error.
Without much hesitation and looking at his Quen Sign, still at the novice level, Kieriman began to channel soul power.
Deep Blue, give me a boost!
Ding!
[Quen Sign] Novice upgraded to LV1, consumed 100 soul points.
[Quen Sign] LV1 upgraded to LV2, consumed 200 soul points.
[Quen Sign] LV2 upgraded to LV3, consumed 500 soul points.
[Quen Sign] LV3 upgraded to LV4, consumed 1,000 soul points.
It looked like a lot of soul power, but it didn’t last long;
in less than a few minutes the total drained down rapidly to zero.
Fortunately, those eighteen hundred soul points exactly pushed [Quen Sign] from Novice all the way to LV4, leaping past the first tier to become his first Tier 2 skill.
[Quen Sign] Level: LV4. Spirit increase: +0.4. Magical power increase: +2.4. Special: Explosive Shield. Shield strength level: 4. Shield duration level: 3.
Current cap LV6. Advancing to the next tier requires 2,000 soul points.
The panel data for [Quen Sign] wasn’t complicated;
this sign seemed to emphasize magical power and power intensity.
Just at level four it granted him +2.4 magic—quite terrifying.
The special effect the skill provided also resembled some mechanics in games.
Explosive Shield likely means that when the Quen Shield is destroyed, it triggers a burst of magical force around him, knocking back or launching surrounding enemies, or interrupting their attack rhythm.
Caught off guard, some opponents might expose fatal openings—an extremely practical technique.
Moreover, the skill panel explicitly listed the [Quen Sign]’s strength and duration.
Strength at level four roughly equated to the defense of a piece of military heavy leather armor.
So long as an enemy’s attack didn’t exceed the piercing power to penetrate that heavy leather, his Quen Shield could consecutively block three such attacks and last several minutes—very powerful.
In short, [Quen Sign] did not disappoint. Too bad subsequent upgrades required far more soul power—2,000 points for the next tier was brutal.
The enhancement of the sign also didn’t cause violent changes to the Witcher’s body;
he simply felt a noticeable dizziness, and his aberrant organs seemed to gain a certain strengthening, becoming more active.
It wasn’t an instant transformation, but over the next few hours the effects gradually consolidated.
In the afternoon.
Kieriman did not stay long in Ammonite Village and quickly returned to Vizima.
After clearing the stash of Wyvern materials, he still had twenty Wyvern eggs left to deal with.
The Witcher first thought of the red-haired sorceress Triss, with whom he was relatively familiar.
Unfortunately, Merry wasn’t interested in Wyvern eggs—their full attention remained on the Catriona plague, hoping to find ways to save suffering northern civilians.
But after hearing the Witcher’s dilemma, she kindly offered advice.
Rarity drives value;
selling so many dragon eggs at once would drastically affect the price and invite unscrupulous merchants to undercut them.
If he stored one or two eggs in the auction house and sold them slowly, maybe over months or years he could find collectors willing to pay a good sum.
But a hotheaded Witcher wasn’t about to wait that long.
In a few years he’d probably be one of the world’s top powerhouses and would no longer care about these small profits.
Seeing his impatience, the considerate redhead had another suggestion.
Visit Aretuza’s headmistress, Margarita, who was still staying in Vizima.
Margarita was a senior researcher in life sciences;
Wyvern eggs were rare research material and might interest the dazzling sorceress.
As for money—ha.
A healer of Margarita’s caliber could easily earn, in a single treatment of a noble, savings equivalent to years or decades for ordinary people. She was one of the wealthiest sorceresses;
money wouldn’t be a concern.
That was indeed a fine suggestion.
Kieriman quickly took his leave from Triss’s house and headed to a high-end inn in the wealthy district.
Headmistress Margarita and the amnesiac Yennefer were currently staying at that inn, trying to recover Yennefer’s memories.
When the Witcher arrived.
The two sorceresses had just finished dinner and were now lounged lazily on the sofa, wearing thin clothing that radiated the mature allure only adult women possessed.