The golden sunlight shone on Vizima for yet another day.
The two empty shops in the business district were packed with dwarves. They were the construction team Cleaver recommended, and as a special favor for the witchers, they charged ten percent less than they normally would.
The shops were going through renovations at the same time. It cost the witchers twenty-five hundred crowns. Felix had a twenty percent stake in that.
The hammers banged away, and dust motes covered the air. There was the stench of paint hanging around as well. The renovations were well underway.
Kantilla and Carl were in charge of supervising the renovations of the apothecary shop, while Dandelion and Priscilla were watching the ballroom. Moore and Susie were holding Mino. A big smile hung on their faces as they watched the dwarves work.
At the same time, the witchers were a few hundred yards west of the temple island on the northernmost point of Novigrad. Eternal Fire's HQ and the People's Plaza were located right on that island.
Four figures were standing on a lone boulder near the sea. They stared down at the reef buffeted by the unrelenting waves. The droplets that sprayed into the air broke the sunlight down into a rainbow.
"Are you sure Roy's premonitions work?" Felix stared at the sun in the sky through his sunglasses. "There's actually a secret lab under the temple island, and you're telling me a Cat is held prisoner in that same lab? Are you sure it's not a hallucination he got from a drunken episode?"
"Felix, just trust us." Auckes crossed his arms, staring at the ocean that stretched into the distance. "Every witcher gains a different ability after their mutation. And Roy… Roy's really lucky. He gained the ability of precognition after his Trial. From time to time, he can see glimpses of the past and the future."
"Do you know how we got these swords?" Serrit unsheathed his steel sword and caressed the back of it. "Roy caught a glimpse of the past and told us where the blueprints were. It was how we found them and got these weapons made."
They couldn't possibly tell him Roy had Elder Blood, so that was a little lie.
"The kid's precognition has never been wrong. If that's what he says…" Letho was holding Gryphon the cat. He said confidently, "Then you're in for a surprise very soon."
"Precognition? He gained the ability to see through time? That's almost one of a kind. I just hope it's right this time." Reminiscence glinted in Felix's eyes.
Ever since he left the declining Cat School and started his wandering life, it had been years since he saw another Cat. Wonder who's the unlucky bastard. Wonder if I know him.
***
While everyone was waiting, Roy was swimming like a fish in the water. He was wearing nothing but a pair of short pants and was armed with Aerondight. The young witcher was closing the distance between him and the island. He was searching for the path that would lead to the lab.
Thanks to Aqua Blessing, a layer of elements was covering him. Not only could he breathe underwater and walk on water, but he could also move freely in the waters like an aquatic animal. The resistance became a force that propelled him forward. His legs were clasped together and moving like a fish tail, while he swung his arms in rhythm with every swing of his legs.
He was darting back and forth around the five-yard depth, searching for the crack between the boulders and the base of the sea. If someone were to look down from the sea's surface, they would see something resembling a dolphin playing in the waters.
After the gang problems were solved and the shops' renovations going underway, they had some free time to spare. Roy wouldn't waste time, so he set his sights on one dangerous spot in his plans.
A poor Cat School witcher was imprisoned under the temple island. There was a lab with multiple Cat School equipment blueprints in it.
Five minutes later, Roy had moved from the western side of the island to the northern end. All of a sudden, alarm bells rang in his head. He scanned the depths of the sea and noticed two slimy humanoids with blue skin, scales, and webbed limbs quickly closing in on him.
Twenty yards… Ten… Eventually Roy could see what they were. These creatures had white eyes and holes for a nose. Their maw was filled with sharp teeth. "Drowners?"
Roy flicked his arms calmly and steadied himself. He made a yellow inverted triangle in the air, and Quen covered him. The young witcher grasped the air with his right hand, and Gabriel appeared out of thin air.
He pulled the trigger, sending two bolts flying through the water. It broke through the resistance, making two belts of bubbles under water. The bolts hit them square in the face. The combo of Guided Arrows and Stun Bolts pierced through the monsters' skulls easily.
Crimson liquid splattered everywhere, but the seawater washed them away easily.
The pair of drowners died before they could even touch the witcher. They turned belly up and slowly floated to the surface of the sea, but Roy didn't tuck his hand crossbow away, as three more drowners were approaching him from the darkness.
His eyes glinted with murder. Two bolts flew through the water and destroyed the drowners. Roy was just about to launch another bolt, but he could sense the stench of that last drowner closing in.
It was already inches away from him. Roy could see its pale eyeballs and teeth in disgustingly clear detail. Still, he switched Gabriel out for Aerondight without missing a beat.
Fear. The fighters clashed. Roy's blade cut through the water, and the drowner's blood was swept away unceremoniously. Both halves of its body slowly floated to the sea's surface.
'Five drowners killed. EXP +100. Level 7 Witcher (1130/4500).'
***
Roy broke through the surface of the waters and spat a mouthful of saltwater out. He swam to a beach that was between the island and the sea.
Roy took a towel from his inventory space to dry himself, then he changed into Manticore armor. The young witcher whipped out a short sword and cut up the bloody drowner corpses easily. He plucked their teeth, nails, tongues, and eyeballs out, then he slashed their bellies and extracted all the valuable organs.
The young witcher rummaged through their brains and found a red mutagen the size of half his palm. "This is a pleasant surprise. I'll put this in the 'items for next Trial' section."
Once he was done with the drowners, Roy easily climbed up the uneven rock wall near the beach. When he couldn't find the entrance after scouring the whole area, he realized he must have gotten the wrong idea.
Maybe the entrance isn't underwater. Maybe it's hidden among the mountains.
The scorching sun shone on a humanoid figure that was climbing around the rocky cliffs at an inhuman speed. He was like a lizard crawling through walls. Not even a master in rock climbing could have that kind of speed.
Roy searched around for a bit, and he eventually found what he was here for—a precarious path hidden behind a boulder and covered in grass and moss. Roy went down this path and arrived at a narrow cave about two minutes later.
"Finally."
***
The cave was lit by nothing but the fire of a torch. Shadows of different sizes hung on the wall. Five witchers were staring at a wall filled with rocks.
"Are you sure the entrance is right behind this rock, Roy?" Auckes stood on the pile of rocks. He was holding up the torch with one hand and knocking on the cold hard surface with the other. Obviously, he was unconvinced. "You sure about this? What are we supposed to do? Blow this place up?"
"The gang lords will think we're robbing the treasury if we do that."
"Bombs won't do anything, you fool. Don't you feel the elements in the air?" Serrit held his vibrating pendant. He had a wary look in his eyes. "The elements are converging in this place. This is no regular wall."
"This is a powerful illusion cast by a sorcerer." Letho brushed his hand across the wall. It took him down memory lane. "We saw a similar illusion back in a cave at a riverside in Nilfgaard. And also in Mahakam."
"We found the secret lab of an empire's advisor for magic and got ourselves a big sack of light essence and infused dust." Serrit had a trip down memory lane too, and it was a good trip.
"So Roy's right? There's actually a secret chamber underneath the island?" Felix adjusted his sunglasses. He probably thought of something, and he stared at the young witcher.
He was the youngest and weakest witcher of his school, but at the same time, he possessed a powerful ability that allowed him to practically search for any kind of treasure that everyone would miss.
"I need everyone to try and dispel this illusion." Roy massaged his temples. He was wracking his brains here. This illusory wall would have been easily dispelled if he had the Eye of Nihaleni given by Keira Metz, but he didn't have that thing right now.
"Remember how we got through this in Smiack back at Mount Carbon, kid?"
"You mean the mural that protected the Child of the Sun?" Realization struck Roy. He recalled what happened back then. A limping Letho brushed his hand across the mural, and his hand was covered in some kind of powder. "Oh, dimeritium!"
"At least you're not a total idiot."
Roy reluctantly took the expensive dimetirium powder out of his inventory space and tapped some of it on the wall before them.
A golden patch appeared on the spot he touched, and it spread through the wall. Like a burning paper, the wall started burning away, until it disappeared in full, revealing a dark cave behind it.
There was a dark sensation billowing from the cave. It sent chills down everyone's spine.
"Stay on guard, everyone." Roy doused the torch. He warned solemnly, "I have a feeling something evil is waiting for us inside."
***
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