The Witcher: Lord of the Empire

Letho frowned as he looked at the humanoid creature in front of him. His muscle fibers and even his bones were visibly exposed, though he was not bleeding at all.

Seeing a person in that state was enough to cause a kind of empathetic pain in anyone.

"I'm sorry, my friend, but you'll have to bear with this a little longer." Letho sighed.

His thick fingers quickly formed a magic sign, and a surge of psychic energy swept towards the skinned man, returning him to the center of the Yrden Sign's magic circle.

The other three witchers also cast their Aard Signs, sending out blasts of telekinetic energy from all four corners to pin the flayed man to the ground.

"There is no... justice... or evil." The flayed man muttered, even in that situation. "Only... pain is the most real..."

His red eyes glowed in the darkness, clearly picking out Lann from the crowd. He opened his jaw, displaying a ravenous madness.

Lann took a deep breath and remembered that according to the sorcerer's notes, the experiment concluded with the summoning of an otherworldly demon that possessed the flayed man. The statue and magic circle in the laboratory were tools to summon and worship that demon.

The demon-possessed witcher unleashed incredible power, killing the sorcerer, but was trapped in the sealed underground laboratory, unable to escape.

Lann's consciousness sank into the inventory, and with a flip of his left hand, an ordinary mirror appeared in his hand.

It was a mirror so common that it wouldn't even sell for a penny at a street stall, but the moment it appeared, the flayed man stopped struggling.

Because the owner of this mirror is called: Master Mirror.

Lann signaled to the witchers to stop their attacks, then approached the flayed man step by step.

Without the suppression of the Aard Sign, the flayed man did not attempt to flee. He curled up on the ground, trembling.

The closer Lann came, the more the flayed man trembled.

Triss looked at the ordinary mirror in Lann's hand in surprise.

Lann was very pleased with the flayed man's reaction. This proved that the Master Mirror's mirror had a deterrent effect on creatures from other lower-level dimensions.

But this was not enough.

Lann stood outside the violet magic circle, waiting for the effects of the Yrden Signs cast by the other witchers to wear off. He then entered the circle, grabbed the flayed man's head, and forced it to look at the mirror.

"Look carefully," Lann said firmly. "Get out of this body!"

The flayed man couldn't help but look at the mirror, as he had no eyelids.

"Ah! Ahhh!!"

Without hesitation, Lann pressed the mirror against the flayed man's face with a firm blow.

That move seemed to break the demon's psychological resistance, and a heart-wrenching scream resounded in everyone's minds, like the howl of a cat.

It was a telepathy spell.

Then, a thick black mist began to rise from the skinned man's body, quickly forming the shape of a black cat in the air.

In desperation, the black cat launched itself at the circle of the Yrden Sign, crashing at a speed invisible to the human eye.

All that happened in the blink of an eye.

Lann barely saw the black cat appear in the air before a shadow flashed in front of him, and the violet magic circle dissolved into scattered points of light.

Finally, accompanied by a shrill cat howl, the black fog completely dissipated in the air, and it seemed to have returned to its own world.

With a thud, the flayed man fell back to the ground, remaining motionless.

By the time everyone reacted, the demon in the shape of a black cat had disappeared.

Triss was the first to come to her senses. She hesitated and asked: "Lann... did you expel the demon?"

Lann looked in the direction where the black mist had disappeared. “It seems so, I have expelled him.”

Lann put the mirror into inventory.

Triss trotted forward to check the skinned man lying on the ground. As a sorceress, she also learned basic knowledge in medicine. However, the more she examined him, the more terrified she felt.

"His muscles are completely stiff and have no elasticity, and his nerves are basically dead. The reflex system of the whole body seems to be paralyzed, and he can't respond to any stimulation from the outside world."

Triss frowned. This was the first time she saw such a person. "This is simply a living corpse. If it weren't for breathing, it would really be the same as a dead person."

The witchers who had gathered around were hesitant to speak. They had never seen anything like this either.

Finally, it was Letho who spoke: “If there is nothing else to do, it is better to give this poor guy a rest. In this state... it is worse than death.”

But Lann shook his head and said firmly: "He can still be saved." He raised his head and met the eyes of everyone. “Do you remember what I told you about the power of the Elder Blood? This is one of its effects.”

The last ability point that had been stored in the system was consumed by Lann, and a new vacancy suddenly appeared in the [Follower] panel.

During this period of time, after several side quests, and without knowing what Ace had done, Lann had accumulated a lot of experience points.

At that moment, the experience came down like an avalanche, almost completely exhausting itself.

It was the first time Lann had hired a follower who was not loyal to him, and the power consumed was far greater than expected.

Fortunately, the experience decrease stopped just before reaching zero, and a new follower panel appeared in front of Lann.

[Follower: Kiyan

Gender: Male

Race: Witcher

Level: 1

Talent: Medium

Experience: 0/1000

HP: 1200/1200

Mana: 500/500

Inventory: None

Skills: Techniques of the Cat School, Advanced Fencing of the Cat School... (+)

Quest: None]

[Shared Follower Talent: Medium]

[Medium: Increases resistance to mind control abilities, improves perception of demons, spirits, ghosts and supernatural phenomena.]

Lann raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect that the other party actually had a talent. He just didn't know whether this was a talent that the other party was born with, or a 'talent' left over after being possessed by a demon.

From Triss and the four witchers' perspective, the skinned witcher began to tremble violently when Lann touched him.

In the blink of an eye, before everyone could react to what had happened, the skinned man in front of them turned into a thin and strong man.

His breathing was strong and regular, with muscles defined but not bulging, looking like a trained warrior. However, his skin was smooth, unscarred, like someone who had never fought.

He was like a newborn man.

Letho's eyes widened. “Incredible. The Elder Blood… is this the power the Wild Hunt is after?”

"Lann!" Kolgrim shouted excitedly. “Does your method of healing have limits? It’s a form of resurrection! If Chappelle were here, he would fall to his knees and shout that it’s a miracle.”

The man lying on the ground seemed to become unimportant at this moment, and everyone's eyes turned to Lann.

Just as Kolgrim said, this is the power of resurrection, surpassing all known treatments on the continent!

"I'm still exploring this power, and I don't know its limits and limitations very well." Lann smiled. "I can only say: if you are injured, try to hold on to your last breath, and then give me some time to prepare. I can at least save each of you like this once."

Everyone's eyes showed amazement again. This is simply a second life. They, who have experienced many battles, know what this means too well.

Maybe the noise of the crowd was too loud, and the man lying on the ground twitched his fingers a few times and slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were still red, but the sclerae were normal, only the pupils emitted a crimson glow.

Fortunately, there was no more madness or bloodlust, only confusion. He looked around aimlessly, finally stopping on Lann.

For some reason, he felt a strange confidence in the young blond boy with peculiar eyes in front of him, a feeling of security that made him want to trust him.

“Dude, are you conscious? Do you remember your name?”

“Name?” The man muttered to himself, and one word was out of his mouth before he could think: “Kiyan.”

“Yes, Kiyan.” His eyes brightened. “My name is Kiyan!”

Lann smiled, he had saved this witcher from the Cat's school.

...

Lann sometimes wondered if he should include the Cat school in his plan to revive the Witchers. If it was just to have all the schools represented, inserting a time bomb into their ranks wasn't worth it.

However, after thinking about it, Lann decided to accept the Cat's school.

On the one hand, there are still rational people at the Cat School as Lann recalled from The Witcher Series.

Secondly, every school has its foundation, and the Cat School's swordsmanship has its merits. It can be used as a reference when training new witchers or even elites among mortal soldiers in the future.

Third, Lann believed that the Cat School's madness was not incurable.

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