Traveling in a medieval-like world is indeed uncomfortable. The pace, to Su Ming, is as slow as a snail, and from time to time, there are carrion creatures jumping out from the roadside bushes.
These monsters, with their decaying bodies emitting a foul stench, pose no threat to Su Ming. Their teeth and sharp claws can't penetrate his armor's defense.
But even a toad on your foot is annoying even if it doesn't bite, and the group has to occasionally stop and clean up.
This, however, isn't the most time-consuming part. The key issue is that both Geralt and Ciri behave like squirrels. After killing monsters, they have to strip all the useful materials from the monsters before they can move on.
This is not a game; monsters don't just drop one or two items. In reality, those monster materials are actually growing on them.
A group of more than ten Evil Ghosts, just collecting the materials takes more than ten minutes, longer than the battle itself. When will we ever reach Novigrad?
...
"Igni!"
Geralt bent over, picked up a Hive from under the tree, patted the small flames on it, put it in his backpack, and returned to the roadside to mount his horse.
Becoming a Hunter Master indeed requires great patience. To survive, potions are indispensable, so various materials must be prepared at all times.
Geralt didn't seem to have any intention of hurrying, or perhaps he wanted to prepare thoroughly before dealing with the Bloodthirsty Beldam. In any case, he collected any alchemy materials he saw by the roadside.
Just watching him continuously pluck herbs completely quashed Su Ming's interest in Demon Hunter alchemy.
Ciri clearly wasn't enthusiastic about it either, but she had to help Geralt collect these things. Her expression now was as bored as when she attended theoretical classes as a child.
"Ciri, I talked with Geralt earlier, and I'm thinking of taking you to a school in the Otherworld. What do you think?"
Ciri swayed left and right on the saddle, glanced at him curiously, and pointed to herself.
"Me? School? No way!"
Su Ming's mouth twitched slightly. She's still so averse to studying. Although she's very smart, she just can't sit still.
"I'm not asking you to study reading and writing, but to learn other skills, like combat. Haven't you thought about learning the combat styles of other worlds you've visited?"
Ciri touched her hair, as if recalling something: "I've learned a lot, like the Wild Hunt... but I can't leave Geralt. I'm not going to other worlds anymore. This place is my home."
Su Ming sighed inwardly. He was thinking of their best interest. If the Wild Hunt really came, the elves, who experienced the last defeat, wouldn't be so easily beaten.
If Ciri gave up exploring the multiverse just to stay with Geralt, wouldn't that waste the talent her parents gave her to traverse worlds?
Not long ago, he had just given motivational speeches to the girls at the Red House, letting them feel hope, thereby gaining trust and goodwill.
And now he had to give Ciri a bit of that too, to make her aware of the crisis, understanding that she must gain enough power to protect those around her.
Geralt can't protect her all the time. Facing the Wild Hunt army alone will be too much.
"Then what will you do if the Wild Hunt comes again?"
Su Ming walked beside the horse, plucking a wildflower by the roadside.
Ciri sniffed indifferently and sat up straight on the saddle.
"Then we'll fight them. We already won the last time."
"And what was the cost? Ciri, the Northern Countries' army was heavily damaged by the Wild Hunt, Kaer Morhan was breached, and the Wolf School now has only four people? Even counting you with that cat badge hanging around your neck."
Ciri touched the badge on her neck. She had snatched it from a pervert who took pleasure in hunting Demon Hunters and had kept her captive for a long time, training her to be a gladiator.
Ciri ultimately killed him and took his three badges: a wolf, a cat, and a snake.
The wolf badge she gave to Geralt while she wore the cat one. The snake badge? She didn't know where she had put it.
Su Ming saw her start to think and continued: "Vesmir, sigh, a venerable old man. I think he shouldn't have died. If the Wild Hunt attacks again, who will sacrifice next?"
Ciri immediately thought of the old man who taught her since childhood, dying in battle to protect her.
And now, those still alive cannot be lost again.
She had been running away, with the Wild Hunt pursuing her across different worlds. Eventually, to escape this seemingly endless fate, everyone decided to make a stand.
There are always sacrifices in battle. Last time it was Vesmir, who will it be next time?
Ciri was shaken.
"Look, I have a school where you'll be very safe. The Wild Hunt is dangerous for your world, but it's nothing to ours. Let me show you something good."
Su Ming drew a pistol from his waist.
"What's that?" Ciri's attention shifted to the new and strange object.
"This is a gun. You can consider it as a special hand crossbow." Su Ming removed the magazine, showing her the golden bullets inside: "These are its arrows. See that Spiky Demon over there?"
In the ruins of a distant village, several figures were wandering. The distance was such that even Ciri had to squint to discern them.
They looked like human corpses, with pale skin and decaying faces.
However, their bodies were covered with red spikes. When fighting with creatures, if they found themselves at a disadvantage, they would alter their internal enzyme cycle to self-destruct, causing those red spikes to shoot out like flying knives, making them very troublesome monsters.
If Demon Hunters don't have commissions, they generally won't go near them because even if they win the battle, they're often only left with a few worthless intestines.
"I see it, but we'll avoid it."
"Technology changes life. When you have a gun, these monsters are actually trivial," Su Ming raised his arm towards them, calculating wind speed and trajectory, far beyond the range of a handgun.
But in Ciri's view, it seemed as if there wasn't even any aiming process, she just saw Slade pull the weapon's trigger.
A crisp sound accompanied by a strange scent occurred, and she saw the distant monster's head explode like a pomegranate while the other monsters searched frantically for the source of the attack.
They found nothing and could only frantically wander around in place.
But the weapon fired several more times, and all the monsters fell to the ground.
"Bullets cure any kind of Living Corpse, one shot at a time."
Actually, if these monsters aren't hit in the head, they can quickly self-heal by devouring corpses, but using a gun is a mercenary's basic skill.
Little cousin excluded, he put all his gun skill points on trash talk.
"Amazing, this way we can harvest a complete Spiky Demon corpse; can I see the gun?"
The gunshots caught Geralt and Jian's attention, but Ciri was eager to see this weapon.
Su Ming smiled slightly, plan achieved.
He turned on the gun's safety, did a gun trick, and handed one end of the grip to Ciri: "Consider it yours; this thing is so common in our place, even farmers have a box of it."
"Even farmers can handle monsters?" Ciri took the handgun, feeling its weight; she played with it back and forth.
"Avoid pointing the muzzle at yourself or good people, watch out for accidents," Su Ming stopped her from peeking into the barrel: "So if the Wild Hunt comes to my world, maybe a farmer could send them running, not to mention there are even more advanced guns."
Su Ming drew out the Divine Gold Gauss from a silk pouch, its artistic appearance and the beautiful engravings on it indicating it's not an ordinary weapon.
Ciri watched wide-eyed as he took out a weapon as tall as her from a small pocket.
"That's a handgun, and this is a rifle, like the difference between a hand crossbow and a bed crossbow. You can see its materials are rarer, all bullets crafted with special techniques and all enhanced with Divine Power."
"Divine? Does God really exist?" Ciri seemed more interested in this question.
"Gods are merely beings more powerful in certain aspects. The ability to traverse worlds you possess is enough to be called divine. When everyone uses grass forks and kitchen knives, you have a gun, you're a god. When everyone has guns, you can wield sword and gun, impervious, you're a god. When everyone can fly, but you traverse different universes, you're still a god."
Ciri listened, dazzled; she couldn't understand what this was all about, but it sounded impressive nonetheless.
"Don't understand."
"In general, gods are mortal; their existence or lack thereof doesn't matter to the world, a world operates on concepts; they are just beings who understand a world's concept better."
Su Ming explained.
"Hmm... still don't get it."
Ciri pondered hard, her small face scrunched up, but eventually, she ended up slumping against her horse like she'd given up.
"That's why you need to go to school. Just learning to cut monsters with swords and knives isn't useful; you don't even know how to use a gun, and you've wasted monster materials."
"Hmph, it's impossible; the Wolf School uses monster materials in the most reasonable way." Ciri sat up, raising her chin.
Su Ming wasn't upset either; it was the world's limitation: "Do you know monster bone powder can be used to make porcelain? Bone china is very beautiful and can greatly improve your economic situation by selling it to nobles."
"Uh, what's porcelain?"
"See, you don't know, do you? Also, last time Geralt killed a Griffin, chopped off the head and discarded the body, wasting four grilled lion thighs and a pair of giant roasted wings, not to mention all the entrails; that's money."
Su Ming shook his head with regret, as if in deep sorrow.
"Is Griffin edible? Geralt?" Ciri turned to look at the Demon Hunter nearby, he had come closer, wanting to hear what Slade and Ciri were talking about.
He didn't expect it to be about eating Griffin.
"I don't know; no one has tried it; Demon Hunters don't eat monster corpses."
Upon hearing this reply, Ciri felt a bit enthusiastic, wondering why she'd never thought Griffin might be tasty before. It had to be better than rats, right?
"A Demon Hunter is also a kind of Hunter; I think there's lots of prey that can be eaten; it's the food chain and natural law. See, Ciri, you need to catch up on biology."
Perhaps some monsters definitely can't be eaten, like Living Corpses, but many other kinds of monsters must be edible, right? Even if they're poisonous, they can be detoxified:
"Fork-tailed Dragon, Winged Dragon, Giant Centipede, Crab Spider, Gliding Lizard, they all seem like great supplements. My school principal is especially good at cooking; he can turn many incredible things into delicacies."
"Incredible things?" Geralt seemed to develop some interest too, wanting to hear what another world was like.
"Have you heard of the Slime Monster? It looks like black sludge at the bottom of a well, but after he's finished with it, it turns into a nourishing soup for human Spiritual Power."
"Uh..."
The Demon Hunter still showed an uncomfortable expression.