An entire afternoon passed.
A perfectly good game of Gwent was turned into a game of Truth or Dare by Guilliman.
It wasn't until the Elven Queen, who was playing the game for the first time, lost dozens of rounds without winning a single one, that she could no longer maintain her elegance. She gritted her teeth and chased the Witcher out of the room, finally bringing an end to the meeting.
Heh heh, gentlemanly conduct? What's that?
How could our Lord Guilliman let your intentions succeed and get you to reveal secrets?
With his superb card skills and the silent use of his storage space to cheat, no one could beat the Witcher at Gwent if he didn't want them to.
And this afternoon of Truth or Dare allowed Guilliman to truly understand Francesca, the beautiful sorceress who was famous in the original work but about whom little information was disclosed.
He was no gentleman; dozens of 'no lying' questions directly dug up many of the queen's secrets that even close acquaintances probably wouldn't know.
From what food she liked to what color she hated?
From embarrassing incidents in her childhood to her unluckiest experiences as an adult?
If it weren't for the fact that, in the end, even the Elven Queen's underwear color and size were asked, Francesca, this deeply calculating sorceress, probably wouldn't have lost her composure and chased him out of the room.
After this, the Elven sorceress would probably be so angry she couldn't eat, and then secretly practice her Gwent skills, hoping to win back a round in the next game.
Early the next morning.
Valessa, who had been defeated five times in a row last night, had already woken up refreshed and gone out to work.
Only the Witcher, who had been 'cultivating' all night and whose kidneys were a bit sore, sighed in bed:
"There's no land that can be over-cultivated, only oxen that die from exhaustion."
Having finalized the cooperation and indulged all night, Guilliman was in a good mood.
Taking advantage of Ammonite Village being absolutely safe and having free time, he opened his panel, looked at his 1800 Soul Power, and began to prepare to upgrade his skills.
As the saying goes, it's better to break one finger than injure ten.
Broad but not refined, varied but not pure.
At this time, his Soul Power was not abundant; rather than upgrading multiple skills, it was better to concentrate and upgrade only one.
The first thing Guilliman thought of was Quen Sign, the life-saving skill most used by Witchers.
Although this Sign simply forms a magical protective shield on the outer layer of the body to defend against incoming attacks, it is exceptionally useful in combat.
And because it's instant, powerful Witchers can even block multiple attacks with a single Sign, maintaining a magic shield on their body throughout the entire battle.
Especially in melees and wilderness explorations, Quen Sign can always defend against attacks the Witcher himself might not notice, greatly increasing the margin for error.
Without much hesitation, Guilliman began to inject Soul Power into the Quen Sign, which was currently only at the entry-level.
Deep blue, add points for me!
Ding!
[Quen Sign] Entry-level upgraded to LV1, consumed 100 Soul Power.
[Quen Sign] LV1 upgraded to LV2, consumed 200 Soul Power.
[Quen Sign] LV2 upgraded to LV3, consumed 500 Soul Power.
[Quen Sign] LV3 upgraded to LV4, consumed 1000 Soul Power.
The seemingly large amount of Soul Power didn't last long, running out in just a few minutes.
Fortunately, these 1800 Soul Power just happened to upgrade [Quen Sign] from entry-level to LV4, directly crossing the first tier and becoming his first second-tier skill.
[Quen Sign] Level: LV4, Spirit increased by 0.4, Magic increased by 2.4. Special Skill: Exploding Shield. Shield Strength Level: 4, Shield Duration Level: 3.
Current level cap LV6, advancing to the next level requires 2000 Soul Power.
The data for [Quen Sign] on the panel was not complex; this Sign seemed to focus more on increasing magic power and magic strength.
At just the fourth level, it provided him with 2.4 points of magic attribute, which was quite terrifying.
And the special skill provided by the current skill was somewhat similar to the game.
Exploding Shield likely meant that when the Quen shield was destroyed, it would create a magical explosion shockwave around him, capable of pushing back, knocking away, or disrupting the attack rhythm of enemies surrounding him.
If caught off guard, it could very likely expose fatal weaknesses in some enemies, making it a very practical technique.
Not only that, but the skill panel also detailed the strength and duration of [Quen Sign].
A strength of level four was roughly equivalent to the defense of a military heavy leather armor.
As long as the enemy's attack did not exceed the strength required to pierce this heavy leather armor, his current Quen shield could continuously defend against three such attacks, lasting several minutes, which was very powerful.
In short, [Quen Sign] did not disappoint him. Unfortunately, subsequent upgrades consumed too much Soul Power; the next level would require 2000 Soul Power, which was terrifying.
And upgrading the Sign skill did not cause a violent reaction in the Witcher's body, only a noticeable dizzy sensation, and his internal mutated organs seemed to be strengthened in some way, becoming more active.
It wasn't an instant feeling, but rather the strengthening effect was achieved gradually over the next few hours.
In the afternoon.
Guilliman did not stay long in Ammonite Village and soon returned to Vizima City.
After emptying the pterodactyl materials from his storage space, he still had twenty pterodactyl eggs left to deal with.
The first person the Witcher thought of was the red-haired sorceress Triss, with whom he was quite familiar.
Unfortunately, Triss was not interested in pterodactyl eggs; all her energy was still focused on the Catriona Plague, hoping to save the suffering people of the North.
However, after hearing the Witcher's troubles, she thoughtfully told Guilliman that rarity makes things valuable.
If he sold so many dragon eggs at once, it would severely affect their price and allow greedy merchants to drive it down.
If he was willing to consign one or two dragon eggs to an auction house and sell them slowly, it might take a few months, or even years, to find buyers willing to collect them and sell them for a good price.
However, the impatient Witcher was unwilling to wait that long.
In a few years, he would probably already be a superpower in this world; why would he care about such small profits?
Seeing his urgency, the thoughtful red-haired beauty, Triss, offered him another suggestion.
That was to visit the headmistress of Aretuza, Margarita, who was still staying in Vizima.
She was a senior researcher in life sciences, and pterodactyl eggs were quite rare research materials, which might interest this beautiful sorceress.
As for money, heh heh.
A healer of Margarita's caliber could earn several years', or even decades', worth of savings for an ordinary person by simply treating some influential figures. Her earning ability was excellent; she was one of the wealthiest sorceresses, so there was no need to worry about that.
This was indeed a very good suggestion.
Guilliman quickly bid farewell to Triss's home and headed to a high-end hotel in the rich district.
Headmistress Margarita and the amnesiac Yennefer were currently staying at this hotel, trying to find Yennefer's past memories.
When the Witcher came knocking, the two sorceresses had just finished dinner and were now lounging lazily on the sofa, their clothes thin, exuding the charm of mature women.