Chapter 5: Friendly Yharnamites, Plain and Frank Undead Burg
Clang, clang, clang! Metal against metal clanged in the training hall.
Lynn and Geralt, both with an unsharpened training sword, clashed at a furious rate.
Their swords rang out, continuously sending sparks flying.
They fought for quite some time before Geralt decided to step back and lower his sword.
"Not bad. From a strictly swordsmanship point of view, you're on a par with a professional Witcher."
"Lambert was right, you are indeed the best of this batch of newcomers. I at least have never seen anyone who has polished such savage sword skills in his apprenticeship."
"Then, we'll initiate your Sign training."
Lynn also dropped his sword and was panting a little.
While his "Wolf School Swordsmanship" had reached proficient level, he still had a feeling that the famous sorceress-troublesmaker hadn't shown his ultimate power in the savage duel just now.
Well, that was to be expected.
After all, he's the hero of the Witcher books and games.
Despite Lynn, in his previous life, having ridiculed heroes who were pitchedforked to death for a while.
It wasn't until his Bloodborne gaming existence, where every pitchfork in Yharnam had killed him, that he learned that pitchforks can actually kill people.
"We Witchers do not like complicated spells of sorcerers, but prefer simple spells that can be easily performed with one hand while fighting. Such simple spells, which sorcerers refer to as tricks, are our Witcher Signs."
"Although these are tricks which sorcerers despise, if used properly, they have good effects."
"Then I'll teach you them one by one."
"First is the Igni Sign."
Geralt employed his left hand to form the hand gesture of the Sign.
The next moment.
A line of flame erupted from his palm, burning a ring of blackened earth on the training ground's earth surface.
If someone had been standing in front of Geralt previously, they would definitely have been severely burned by the flames.
"Then the Quen Sign."
With his movements, an incandescent orange shield flickered around Geralt.
"Strike me now with all your strength, don't hold back. Don't worry, you won't hurt me."
Lynn nodded.
He swung his practice sword and struck down with all his strength.
Clang! As if he had hit a thick tower shield, Lynn's hands numbed from the shock of the rebound, and he almost lost his grip on the weapon.
But the bright orange shield did not budge.
Geralt put away the Quen shield and stepped forward to ask with concern.
"Are you okay, Lynn?"
Lynn shook his head: "I'm fine, just numb."
Geralt carefully examined Lynn's hand, and having satisfied himself that he was okay, proceeded to go on.
"Good, so we'll keep going. when you cast the Quen Sign and your opponent is as numb as you were just now, you can take the opportunity to finish him off."
"But it must be realized that the Quen Sign does have two modes:"
"One is constant casting like I just did. As long as you constantly channel Chaos magic, the shield will not easily fall;"
"The other is to put a shield around you, not constantly channeling magic, but the disadvantage is that it's very easy to fall."
"The weak point of the former is that you cannot move or attack while continually casting, and you need to maintain concentration; the latter has no weak point like this, so how to employ which mode in combat has to be carefully chosen."
"There is also a defensive Sign named Heliotrop, which is exactly the same as Quen, with the exception that Heliotrop is done by crossing your hands to cast, and it's used for defending against magic attacks only."
Lynn nodded to indicate that he understood.
"Good, then we'll proceed. The third is the Yrden Sign," Geralt slapped the palm of his hand on the ground, and some purple lights shone on the ground. "After an enemy gets trapped in it, they will be slow, like mired in a swamp."
"The Yrden Sign is best used in one-against-many situations. Even a swordsmanship master is in danger when he finds himself besieged by alone."
"Sometimes a pitchfork jab from the rear can kill you. Nor are Witches nor sorcerers immortal."
"Thus using the Yrden Sign in a polymorphic way in order to discover weaknesses of enemies who were originally in concordance is the key to turning the tide of battle."
"Apart from that, the Yrden Sign can also force wraiths and other beings to assume material bodies, which is vastly important while fighting such beings."
"Next, I'll show you the Aard Sign."
Geralt slapped a training dummy in the yard with his flat hand.
Boom! The shockwave of nothing was a wall, thudding against the dummy.
The straw and wood dummy flew apart at once, shattered.
Straw rained like a shower of petals.
"Well, you've felt the impact of the Aard Sign. Like the Yrden Sign, the Aard Sign is also well-suited for combat with more than one foe."
"But it should be kept in mind that the power of the Aard Sign is reduced with range, so you need to master the range.
"Also, the Aard Sign will be less effective in combat with large monsters or strong-armed foes, which should also be remembered."
"Huh, what's wrong? What's that look?"
Geralt stroked his face puzzled.
Thinking that there was something on his face that was dirty.
And then he heard Lynn say dryly, "That dummy you just knocked away was just finished by Master Vesemir, took him a whole day."
Geralt's face turned rigid.
How dashing his Aard Sign just then.
How weak he seemed to be cleaning up straw now.
Lynn helped Geralt in picking up the scattered straw.
Then, while Geralt repaired the dummy, he was rehearsing his Signs in the side.
Starting with the Quen Sign.
Of all the Signs, only Quen and Heliotrop are defensive Signs.
Offense can be the best defense for others, but Lynn believes that only the living can do harm.
He concentrated and executed the hand gesture for the Quen Sign.
The next thing.
He could feel the magic in his physique build towards his left hand like a wave, and release it at last.
There was a bright orange barrier around him.
It was effective, but not completely.
Since the Quen shield flashed on and off, like an old light bulb.
It probably would not even be worth using arrows to knock it down on its own.
It was completely not on the same level as the effect Geralt had just achieved.
"It's okay, it's like that in the beginning. It's natural to not be able to maintain the stability of the Sign. Everybody has gone through this point, just practice more."
Geralt, who was repairing the dummy at the opposite side, observed this and comforted him patiently.
Lynn nodded.
With no disappointment, he continued practicing.
When the sun fell, Eskel and Lambert didn't appear.
It was the same the next day.
It was not until the third evening that Eskel and Lambert arrived.
In the training yard, Geralt looked at the two who had returned and asked, "How was it? Did our Cat School 'buddy' lose his way in the Blue Mountains?"
"No, we sent him off personally from the Blue Mountains. And in turn, he offered us an international gesture of friendship."
As he was saying that, Lambert was on the verge of making the gesture.
But he was immediately stopped by Eskel.
"Lambert, there is a child here."
Lynn, who was warming up Signs on the sidelines, couldn't help it.
It was just the middle finger, he'd already witnessed it.
What was the middle finger? He even knew a couple of applications for it. Was he also proud of it?