2 Throw a Rock at Your Witcher...

Troy decided very quickly that this was probably some type of reincarnation, transmigration, or something and that there was very little he would be able to do, if it turned out he were inside of his Mother's womb. There would inevitably be an extensive period of boredom, in which he would be able to do nothing other than wait. All he could do was hope that, if this was a new world, it would be full of magical and wondrous adventures.

     As such, he resigned himself to his fate and decided to do the only thing that he could think of that might possibly help him pass the time, while maintaining his sanity.

     He shut out what little sensation he could currently perceive and began meditating, lest he lose his mind due to isolation and boredom.

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     *huhhhh* *huuhhhhh* *huhhhh* *huuhhhh*

     Troy was so engrossed with his meditation, that had lasted for who knows how long, he was completely blindsided by the unexpected assault of fresh air on his mint condition baby lungs.

      After his handlers unblocked his airway, he was jolted out of his meditation and began panting heavily, as his virgin lungs attempted to adjust to this new ability of respiration. Although he had obviously spent many a year breathing just fine in his old life, he had simply gotten so used to not doing it, at this point, that it was quite shocking to his entire system to have this responsibility thrust upon him once again.

     As such, it took him nearly a full minute to calm his breathing and take in his environment.

------

      "Ohhh, Rilda, it's a boy!" Chimed the wet nurse, as she finished pulling the newborn from his mother's womb.

     As the now fully born baby was held in the hands of the wet nurse, she used a small dry rag to wipe his airways clear and waited for the crying that should've already begun.

      "What's going on? I thought you said it was a boy. Is it… is it alive?" Rilda asked frantically, upon not hearing the baby give any response.

      "He's fine, Rilda, he's fine. At least I think he is. His breathing was a bit erratic for a moment but he seems to have caught his stride now." The wet nurse reassured her, as she brought him over to Rilda's arms.

     Taking her baby and cradling it tenderly in her arms, Rilda cast her eyes over every detail of her baby's body, with a concerned look in her eyes. "Are you certain he's going to be okay?"

     "Well...as for the future, I couldn't rightly say, dear. At the moment, though, the lad seems to be as healthy as any I've ever seen."

     While giving the baby a few gentle bounces, Rilda smiled softly and said, "Yes, he does seem rather healthy doesn't he?" A single tear rolled down her cheek, as she sent a prayer out, to whichever power might be listening, that her baby would be alright.

-----

     Troy was not happy!

     Once he had calmed his breathing and taken in his environment, his expectations for this new life began to sink lower and lower, with every new detail he took in.

     'No...no...no...no...no...dammit! This has got to be some kind of joke, right?

     'No technology, no magic, and from the looks of things no money! Seriously, I get reincarnated into another world just to end up as some magicless peasant in some medieval style village.

     'Honestly, the medieval thing wouldn't be so bad, if there were magic or something similar. If there is magic here, I haven't seen hide nor hair of it.

     'Shouldn't I be able to sense some presence or something within me, if I were magical in some way? Although now that I think about it, in The Witcher, not only sorcerers and sorceresses but witchers as well would only be chosen after a certain age or event. Usually, being dumped on Kaer Morhen's doorstep or a conduit moment would facilitate such developments.

     'Yes, maybe that's it. Perhaps, I have by some stroke of unbelievably horrible luck combined with unbelievably good luck come to the The Witcher Universe. 

     'Given all the things, in the brutal and uncaring Witcher Universe, that could go wrong before I can become either a Witcher or a Sorcerer, I could easily end up dying before that chance ever arrives. 

     'However, should I survive, there isn't a single other fictional Universe that I know more about than this one. So, should I succeed in becoming a powerful person in this world, the possibilities could be endless.

     'Yes, that's it. I'll just play the waiting game for now. If this truly is the Witcher Universe, it shouldn't be too long before talk of monsters and magic comes up. Once I've confirmed that much, I'll be able to start my planning from there.'

     Troy, having finally decided on a course of non-action, was carried into the kitchen by his now recovered mother after the wet nurse had departed. Sitting down at the table with him wrapped in a tote cloth and feeding at her breast, she immediately began stripping and cleaning the baskets of vegetables arranged around the table.

     'Damn! Talk about culture shock! I can't even begin to imagine a 21st century woman just popping out a baby, latching it on to her titty, and then sitting down to start shucking corn! 

     'Well, regardless of whether this is the Witcher Universe or not, it doesn't look like I'm going to have it easy. Yep, looks like it's gonna be a hard knock life after all. Not that I would've expected it to be easy, especially if I were to walk the witcher path.'

[===== 5 Years Later =====]

     As Troy had suspected, listening to the chitter chatter between his parents and the village peop, uhh...people of the village had yielded many answers in a very short period of time.

      In a little over a week, he had determined conclusively that he was indeed in the Witcher Universe. He wasn't yet certain what year it was but he was currently thinking of ways of discovering this, without raising too many suspicions.

      The town, where he was born and currently residing, was called Ban Glean. Although he knew that this wasn't the closest place to Kaer Morhen, he also knew that there were many places he could've ended up that were much further away. Not only that but Ban Ard Academy was also not far away, making him feel incredibly lucky just to have landed so close to both of these places of magical opportunities.

     With so many Witchers and Wizards nearby he felt much better about his prospects of surviving long enough to enter one of these institutions.

     Even though he was still just a young child, he made certain to stay as active as possible. He didn't do any type of strenuous exercising but he certainly made sure that he was at least physically exhausted by the end of every day.

     Living in a place like the Witcher Universe, almost required either magical excellence or physical excellence. There were very few places for weak people to survive long, at least not outside of the nobility. Thus he worked on his physical excellence, since it was the only excellence he could currently strive for.

     Troy had tried to hide his abnormally high intelligence but most of his family were on to him, at this point. They all suspected there was something special about him and that he was, at the very least, much smarter than any of his peers.

     Living on a farm at the outskirts of Ban Glean, a small city near Ard Calleigh in the kingdom of Kaedwen, his family didn't have much in the way of security. If some horrible creature did decide to attack, his family would most likely be one of the first victims. The thought of this made him even more grateful for his proximity to the two schools but he knew he couldn't rely on them exclusively. 

     Troy, named Dravis by his new parents, decided as early on as he could to put his adult intelligence to use and he had insisted upon his parents that he be allowed to sleep in a makeshift bed in the rafters.

     Given his young age, he wasn't yet expected to do anything too difficult but, when his parents came home and saw him attempting to build himself a rafter-bed with leftover lumber, they couldn't help but pester him with endless questions.

     Troy made a stand on this particular issue and refused to relent on the idea of building himself a rafter-bed. He wanted something like a bed shaped box that would ensure that he was the least conspicuous sleeper in the house. No man or creature would even suspect his presence, unless they opened the bed-box.

     Of course, he didn't detail all of this to his parents. He also didn't like throwing them under the boss monster like this but the Witcher Universe was a cruel place and it was either him or them. They had always been good to him but he wasn't going to lose what was possibly his only chance at transmigration due to poor sleeping habits. Thus, a little over a week ago he had finally finished building his rafter-bed box, with the help of his Father after convincing him.

     As soon as he had confirmed that this was the Witcher Universe, he had begun making all manner of plans and back up plans that would somehow get him to Kaer Morhen and into the witcher training program.

     He really wanted to become a sorcerer but he knew he would have to first have a conduit moment. He couldn't be certain but he didn't think it was normal for people to have conduit moments at such a young age. His plan so far was to begin witcher training as soon as possible and, once he knew his trial of grasses was closing in, try his best to force a conduit moment, in order to get the Academy's attention.

     'At the worst, I would just end up becoming a witcher or even better I might get to become a sorcerer. If everything goes my way, however...well...let's just say... this world will rue the day that it gave birth to the likes of me! Muhahahahaha!' Thought Troy, as he released all of the pent up cringe in his heart.

[===== 3 Months Later =====]

     'It's happening! It's happening! It's finally happening!' Troy giggled in his mind.

     Despite knowing that the start of his witcher training would also be the start of much more pain and suffering than he had ever known, he couldn't help but feel intensely excited at the prospect of leaving this boring ass farm and finally getting to see the reality of the Witcher Universe.

     Just last night, he had overheard his parents speaking about some strange and mysterious circumstances inside the city proper that had caused the nobles so much grief that they had actually called upon the services of a witcher.

     This fortunate event would hopefully be his ticket out of this place. He couldn't simply walk all the way to Kaer Morhen all by his five year old self but what kind of witcher would just leave a perfectly good Witcher candidate roaming about in the wilderness by himself.

     'Now that I think about it, that's actually a very real possibility... but I've got to try. I'll never become anything impressive just sitting around this farm all day.'

     Troy watched, as the summoned Witcher rode past the alley he was hiding in. Only being five years old, he, of course, would never be allowed to simply wander off without supervision and so he had to sneak out with a clever distraction.

     Knowing that the witcher was coming and being able to confirm that he was actually coming directly from Kaer Morhen, was a massive benefit. This knowledge allowed him to plan his escape perfectly.

     Troy first snuck into the city proper whenever the gates first opened in the morning. Dropping down from the carts undercarriage, he spent the first couple of hours constantly moving from alley to alley in an effort to avoid any adults.

      Now that the witcher had finally arrived, there was only one thing left to do. Run back down the path the witcher came in on and wait. 'Technically, that's two things but, oh well. 

     'This may very well be the most dangerous thing I do in this life considering the complete lack of offense and defense of the current me. Regardless, I have to try. No risk, no rewards!' Troy thought, as he finally exited the city proper and began paying extra close attention to his surroundings as he made his way through the city's outskirts.

      After finally reaching the path the witcher had rode in on, he kept close to the ground, using the tall grasses to remain hidden. As he made his way slowly and carefully, parallel to the path, towards where the path entered the forest.

     Once he was precariously and unsoundly inside the sketchy ass forest, he found the tallest and most easily climbable tree and began his ascent. Given his current height, tree climbing wasn't something that was particularly easy but, after a few failed attempts, he finally managed to reach the middling branches that were closer together.

     At this point, things became much easier and, after a bit more effort, he finally reached a decent perch close to the top where he could wait for the witcher.

     Troy was already feeling immensely uncomfortable, while sitting on his tree branch. 'Fuck! This is going to suck! Even though it took me nearly four hours to get here, what with all the creeping and climbing, It'll probably be several more hours before the witcher comes this way again.

     'That's assuming he actually does come this way again. I suppose he could wander off to some other city but that doesn't really change what I have to do. If I can't find a way to get to Kaer Morhen soon, I'll probably have to put all of my hopes into inducing a conduit moment. 

     'Either way, I've got no more time to complain about being uncomfortable or being in pain. It's time to start making myself into a man. For the sake of my survival.'

     Although he couldn't really compromise on his sitting position, at the moment, he nonetheless attempted to enter a meditative state to pass the time and focus his mind away from his discomfort.

-----

     Nearly twenty six hours later just when Troy was thinking that he might have to risk sleeping in this forest or going back to his parents, he was taken out of his meditations by the sounds of travelers on the road. It was well past a dozen times now that he had roused himself only to find some simple merchant or diplomat passing by.

     This time, however, he looked down at the road below and there he was. 

     The Witcher!

     Waiting until just the right moment, Troy took a rock out of his pocket and threw it directly at the passing witcher.

     The witcher simultaneously, reached into the air and plucked the rock out of it as if it were an apple on a tree, pulled his horse to a stop, and looked directly up at Troy sitting in his tree.

     'Holy Shit! That was cool! Such a fucking badass! Just like a witcher should be! Well, I guess this is the do or die part! Keep it together, Troy. You can do this!' He coached himself, as he began climbing down from the tree.