"My birth was an accident."

In Merlin's living room, Geralt, the legendary witcher and now Uncle Next Door, sat on the sofa, sipping the wine Merlin had given him, and while telling his story to the little boy Merlin in a "senior" attitude, he threw the last quaint card in his hand on the table.

Seriously, this feeling of seeing the real person is much better than reading an autobiographical book.

Except for Merlin, who has lost 7 times in a row in this strange game, almost all of the thousands of dollars on his body have been lost to the legend in front of him.

"My mother was a famous witch in the early Middle Ages, and she had me in a bad drunken accident. But she had already dedicated her life to magic, so she ended up sending me to the witchers who were in the ascendant at the time. ”

"I grew up there, studied, followed in my adoptive father's footsteps, and became a witcher of the Wolf School."

Geralt touched the wolf's head pendant around his neck, which represented his identity.

"Then I met Yennefa, I met my little Hiria, I met a lot of people, I experienced a lot of interesting and uninteresting things in Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, and then I got a knighthood, I had my own estate, I thought my life would be like that... It wasn't until Yennefer and I were dying of age that we encountered something odd. ”

At this point, Geralt was silent for a moment, he didn't seem to intend to say much about it, and while putting away the Gwent cards on the table, he changed the subject more stiffly.

"That should have been in 1314. In short, after that incident, my dear Yennefer's alchemical experiment succeeded, and we regained our youth, and we regained the emotions we had lost... I don't feel like a witcher anymore, but actually, I'm still a witcher. ”

He drank all the wine from the cup, raised it up, and said to Merlin:

"Is there vodka? It's not very strong. ”

"Uh, yes, wait a minute."

Although Merlin has already seen a legendary vampire who has lived for 1,200 years, the Supreme Duke is a vampire after all, unlike humans. And now, with a living fossil of human history sitting in front of him, Merlin really had too many questions to ask in this situation.

He stood up, took a bottle of vodka from the wine cabinet, walked briskly back to Geralt, and filled it for him.

The latter put the wine to his lips, sniffed it, and said with satisfaction:

"That's the question... My wife is fine with everything, but she doesn't allow me to drink more, saying it's for my health... Oh my God, I've lived for 1,300 years, I'm healthy or something, I don't care anymore. ”

He spat out on his mysterious wife, then tilted his head and poured the glass of wine into his mouth.

"Uh..."

He let out a pleasant groan, placed the wine glass on the table, and seemed to regain his youthful feeling, and with a wave of his finger:

"One more drink!"

Merlin didn't speak, but silently poured another glass of wine for the uninvited senior.

And just as Geralt was drinking his second drink, he suddenly remembered something, and he fumbled in his pocket, and finally took out a small wooden box and placed it in front of Merlin's eyes.

"I almost forgot about this, little Ulysto and I brought you the 'reward'."

"Remuneration..."

Merlin didn't refuse the gift, and he was curious about what the master witcher had brought him.

He took the wooden box, which was a little heavy in his hand, and it seemed to contain something made of steel. Merlin opened the box and found a pair of armours inside.

In the black leather cushion with metal clasps, there was a silver metal box on which some small runes were engraved. The internal structure of the box is somewhat elaborate, as if it were some kind of firing weapon.

"Oh, it's a Hidden Blade."

Geralt, who was pouring himself a drink, glanced over to the side, and he immediately recognized what the strange thing was.

"Hidden Blade?"

Merlin looked at the armarmor in his hand, and said:

"Is this a weapon?"

"Yes, an assassination weapon."

Geralt drank another glass of vodka, then reached out and took Merlin's armarmor in his hand, and showed him how to use the alien weapon in front of him.

The legendary witcher put the black armour on the wrist of his left hand, fastened the three metal clasps, and then moved his five fingers, and under Merlin's gaze, Geralt raised the finger in his left hand, and the strange weapon was also activated at this moment.

"Wow"

With a crisp metal crash, a silver blade like a short sword ejected from the tip of the Hidden Blade.

The force was amazing, and in Merlin's perception, he could even feel Geralt's arm shake the moment the blade popped out. In close combat, this thing can penetrate the skull of a monster in an instant.

"The ratio of holy silver to potion-hardened steel is perfect, and it combines the demon-breaking effect of the silver sword with the sharpness and tenacity of the rigid sword. The Hidden Blade is engraved with demon-breaking runes, which are also good for dealing with those dark wizards, and ordinary talisman charms can be easily broken when touching the blade. ”

Geralt stroked the ejected Hidden Blade, and he whispered:

"Most importantly, it's stealthy enough that it's still useful even when dealing with dangerous monsters. As long as you can take advantage of the opportunity, it only takes one blow to lock the battle. ”

With that, the legendary witcher put the Hidden Blade in front of his eyes and sniffed, his nose moving like a cat, and after a moment, he said:

"This cushion is dragon skin, and it's tough, which means you can use it as a shield in hand-to-hand combat."

"It's a very nice gift, as far as I know, in this day and age, it seems that only demon hunters would be equipped with such weapons, which is a status symbol."

"Wow"

As Geralt's fingers moved, the Hidden Blade retracted into the silver box as it opened and closed as the mechanism opened.

The White Wolf took off his Hidden Blade and handed it to Merlin, who said:

"Ulysses must have given you his Hidden Blade, use it well."

Merlin took the Hidden Blade, and frankly, he didn't really need this external equipment right now, he had enough equipment on hand to use, and he would rather have some magic that would help him with his current situation.

But this kind of thing can't be forced.

"Speaking of which, I have something I want to ask you, Mr. Geralt."

Merlin held the Hidden Blade in his hand, and he looked at Geralt, who continued to drink, and said:

"You must have traveled to all corners of the world in your life, so Supreme Mage..."

"No, I'm not going to tell you anything about it."

Before Merlin could finish his words, Geralt flatly refused.

The latter raised his glass and said to Merlin:

"If you want to find Kama Taj, you have to go to that snowy mountain to find it yourself, this is the rule set by the Supreme Mage. And for the powerful power, there must also be a sense of awe. ”

He looked at Merlin, and he shook his head:

"Truth be told, you're not ready right now."

"What do you mean?"

Merlin asked rhetorically.

"To harness power, you have to have a will that matches it, and your will is strong, like a sword out of its sheath, but the problem is that you need to use it to fight against the dark magic that exists in your body... There aren't many psychic powers you can wield, and the esoteric magic of Kama Taj that requires full dedication is not for you. ”

Geralt is a legendary man in stock, and he explains in detail to Merlin:

"What's more, the Supreme Mage is beyond time, and even if you find the Kama Taj Sanctuary and get permission to enter it, you don't know how long it will take for the Supreme Mage to return to this node from the sea of time... You yourself should know your situation, how long can you wait? 2 years? 4 years? Anyway, it definitely won't be more than 5 years. ”

"That..."

Geralt's meaning was clear, and he thought Merlin shouldn't have sought the help of the Supreme Mage.

The uncertainty of this path is too great.

"What about the Eternal Rock?"

Merlin asked:

"I found a document about it from Vlad III's relics, and I heard from a friend that it was one of the advanced powers of witchcraft?"

"Sort of."

The white wolf nodded, rubbing his beard, and said to Merlin:

"The Rock of Eternity carries the 'power of the near gods', and that place is also where the magic of the dimension gathers, and it is exactly the opposite of the two extremes of Kama Taj's cultivation method."

"It invokes the power of the legendary 'gods' to give their mages a variety of powers... That's for you, as long as you can get into it and get the approval of the wizards of the Eternal Rock, you'll be able to gain great power almost instantly. ”

"But the problem with Eternal Rock is that the way it picks its apprentices is through Discord's 'fate.'"

Geralt rubbed his forehead and explained to Merlin with a bit of a headache:

"I've only seen the passage of the Eternal Rock open a few times in 1,300 years, and what I can tell you is that the mages there are a bunch of authentic 'gods', do you understand what I mean? Their way of thinking is illogical, they are idealistic, and it takes luck to join them..."

"It's not that ordinary luck, it's the luckiest luck. Speaking of which, have you had any luck growing up? ”

Geralt looked up, looked at Merlin, and asked a question.

Merlin shook his head expressionlessly.

He has confidence in everything about himself, but he is lucky for this... He really didn't have any faith at all.

"Oh, you're finished."

The white wolf shrugged:

"The unlucky people will never meet them, and you can die about this."

"So what should I do?"

Merlin was sentenced to death for the two paths he had managed to find, which made him a little dazed for a while, and he looked at the white wolf, and he said:

"There must be some way to help me, right? Wizarding civilization has developed for thousands of years, and before that, there was an even more mysterious age of gods, and as far as I know, you personally slew a legendary vampire lord who escaped from hell... Is there any way you can help me? ”

"Nope."

The white wolf spread his hands bluntly and calmly:

"I know someone can save you, but it's one thing to be able to save you, and it's another thing to be willing to save it. There are so many people in need of help in this world that if you lend a helping hand to everyone, they won't have to do anything every day... I mean, you have to keep going until the turning point in your life comes. ”

"However, I have a less mature idea of your current situation."

"Huh? Let's hear it. ”

Merlin asked urgently.

Geralt thought for a moment, and said to Merlin:

"Do you play video games?"

"Uh, no."

Merlin was stunned for a moment, and replied:

"But my adopted son loves to play. Does this have anything to do with my problem? ”

"Absolutely."

Geralt stretched out his finger and shook it in front of Merlin, and he said:

"I try new things once in a while, and those video games are actually quite interesting, but that's not the point, the point is, in video games, if you're a mage, you cast magic through magic."

"If your mana is 100 and it takes 10 mana to cast a spell, then you have to cast it 10 times to clear it, and if you count the mana auto-regeneration, then you have to cast it more times."

"But later in the game, when you've mastered a lot of advanced skills, maybe a single spell will consume a third of your mana... It's very similar to your situation. ”

The white wolf pointed to Merlin, and he explained:

"I don't know much about the Three Palaces Demon, and in my time, it didn't appear in this world. But I've heard stories from some of my friends about how it gives every child seeds of strength, and in my opinion, those seeds of power are 'elementary skills', and by collecting other seeds of power, the power of a demon child can become more and more complex and advanced. ”

"I mean, when you've collected enough power seeds, when your demonic power reaches a certain limit, when you need the support of all the magic power in your body every time you use your abilities, maybe your problem won't exist."

"When you use your power once, you will empty half or even more than half of the magic power in your body, and the magic power in your body can't support you to cast spells with all your strength, so how can those dark magic power have time to erode your soul?"

Merlin frowned, and after listening to the white wolf's advice, he said:

"But every time I absorb a power seed, I will be one step closer to the evolution of a half-demon, maybe I can't support the time you said, I will lose my human body, and I will completely become a half-demon."

"Yes, it's risky, that's why I said it was an immature idea."

The white wolf stood up, he drank all the vodka Merlin had brought, the legendary witcher looked at the time, and he said to Merlin:

"But this kind of forced transformation of the body will not affect the purity of your soul, on the contrary, if you continue to hesitate like this, it is likely that your soul will be transformed first."

"So, Merlin, that's an option. Opportunities are always fleeting, and hesitation is giving up opportunities. ”

"Do you want to be a demonic soul that lives in a perfect human body, or do you want to keep a human heart under a demonic body?"

"You're not still childishly expecting a happy ending, are you?"

"You should be able to understand that there is no such thing as a perfect ending in the true sense of the word, right?"