8 Lambert's Surprise

The next day was sunny and fine, ideal for a battle. Wayne had boldly declared that he would challenge Geralt, Lambert, and Eskel, the three seasoned members of the Wolf School, to prove his readiness to become a witcher. Vesemir, the witcher mentor, agreed to his request.

After breakfast, Lambert has been impatiently urging everyone to go to the training ground, ready to start the competition. He is a short-tempered person, and now he is full of thoughts, to teach his young junior a good lesson, let this ignorant witcher apprentice, give up his illusions, and stay in Kaer Mohan to hone his skills, instead of rushing down the mountain and dying in some unknown monster's lair.

In the training ground, Wayne and Lambert stood facing each other, while Vesemir, Geralt, and Eskel stood on the periphery of the training ground with great interest.

The sullen Geralt even made a bet with Vesemir and Eskel on who would win.

"Bet on Wayne to win, one loses three."

"Bet on Lambert, two for one."

"Are you interested? Let's bet at least fifty Orens."

Eskel couldn't help but grin when he heard the minimum bet, and he said to Geralt in a teasing tone, "It seems like you've made quite a bit of money this year, Geralt. You're quite the ladies' man and a crowd favorite."

"I've still got some money left, fifty Oren. I'll bet on Lambert. He's been a witcher for over 60 years, he shouldn't lose to a young one," Eskel replied.

Geralt smiled and then turned to Vesemir with curiosity and asked, " Vesemir, do you want to make a bet as well?"

The old witcher snorted softly. Having spent the most time with Wayne, he understood that this young half-elf was typically cautious in his actions and seldom took risks. Throughout his training, Wayne consistently undertook his tasks with dedication and precision. It was as if he believed that there was a significant reward for successfully completing each assignment, motivating him to put forth his best effort.

"I bet Wayne would win."

He took out a money bag and threw it into Geralt's hand, carefully analyzing and saying, "I know Wayne's talent very well. He rarely does things that he is not sure of. I believe he will win."

Geralt opened the purse and discovered a hundred Orens inside. Considering the three-to-one odds, he couldn't help but feel uneasy about his wager.

Although White Wolf is considered to be one of the most unrestrained witcher, as an old fritter who likes to eat, drink, prostitute, and gamble, his expenses are much higher than

ordinary witchers.

Thinking of his wallet, he quickly turned his attention to the training ground, he silently prayed that his fellow witcher would put up a good fight and not disappoint his bet.

At this time, the battle between Wayne and Lambert also began.

Lambert, with a sneering smile on his face, held an unopened steel sword and adopted the offensive stance of the Wolf School's swordsmanship and addressed Wayne.

"Kid, it's still too late to admit defeat, I really won't show mercy".

Wayne drew a deep breath, grasped his steel sword, and adopted the aggressive stance of the Wolf School's swordsmanship. He smiled earnestly and spoke:

"Brother Lambert, I'm about to launch my attack. Just a friendly reminder, I'm exceptionally fast," Wayne said with a grin.

After saying this, Wayne exerted all his strength, his figure turned into a thunderbolt and he rushed to Lambert in the blink of an eye.

The steel sword in his hand danced at a high speed and turned into three afterimages that could not be seen clearly, and directly aimed for Lambert's throat, chest, and wrist.

Lambert and the onlookers were shocked immediately because Wayne's speed at this time far exceeded his usual performance during training.

Although witchers are often called superhumans, their physical abilities are still not on par with monsters, at most, they are only two to three times stronger than regular people.

Bang!Bang!Bang!Steel swords collided.

In the face of Wayne's rapidly stabbing blade, Lambert remained composed, drawing on his decades of combat experience. He skillfully swung his steel sword and successfully blocked all three of Wayne's stabs.

However, before he had any counterattack, more attacks enveloped his body, and Wayne's sword skills were like a storm, precise, swift, and continuous.

For a moment, the sounds of the two steel swords striking each other became one, clanging, and there was no pause at all.

The battle seemed to be in Wayne's favor as he managed to suppress Lambert. Eskel, observing from the outside, was taken aback and turned to Geralt, asking, "What's happening? Why is this little guy so fast?"

"The speed of swinging the sword has far exceeded the time when we became apprentice witcher."

Geralt also had a serious face and didn't answer. He already felt that the Oren coins in his pocket were about to leave him.

The intense battle continued for about 4 minutes, and during that time, Lambert was consistently on the defense. Wayne's rapid and precise attacks were aimed at vital points, causing Lambert to break into sweat and struggle to keep up with the onslaught.

Defending against Wayne's relentless attacks was taking a toll on Lambert, as it requires more energy to defend than to attack. Wayne's sword speed at this time is almost the fastest that Lambert has encountered in these years. As soon as Lambert blocked one strike, another one followed, targeting different vital points. This relentless assault put tremendous pressure on Lambert.

This made him dare not be distracted, so he could only resist with all his might. However, long-term defense is bound to fail. When Wayne saw that Lambert's physical strength had declined, In a moment of hesitation, he seized the opportunity to feint a move, evading Lambert's defense. He swiftly closed the distance between them, and Lambert, realizing the danger, attempted to hold back his strength to avoid injuring Wayne. However, Wayne swiftly pressed the unopened steel sword against Lambert's throat, securing his victory.

Seeing this, Lambert smiled wryly, put down the steel sword in his hand, and muttered "Damn it boy, you swing your sword too fast, even abnormally fast. Just like the cat school witchers recorded in the books, their sword skills are very suitable for dealing with humanoid creatures."

Lambert speculated whether Wayne's elven heritage might have contributed to his exceptional performance, particularly his agility and sword skills that resembled those of the Cat School witchers.

Wayne smiled slightly. He recognized that the Wolf School's swordsmanship was primarily designed to combat monsters, and this specialization made them less prepared to face rapid human opponents in combat.

Wayne's swordsmanship level has reached level five, which increased the power of his swordsmanship by 25%. This is not an ordinary improvement, but an all-round enhancement of a quarter of his original swordsmanship level.

Coupled with his professional specialty, cat agility, which increases attack speed by 20.%, it is no wonder that all the witchers present were shocked by his attack speed.

Wayne turned his head to look at the other members of the Wolf School, thought for a while, and explained:

"I'm not too sure, it should be the elven blood in my body that played a role. It's made my reflexes faster, but the growth in strength has been lacking. I plan to practice archery in the future. I have a hunch that I should also be very talented in archery."

Lambert was taken aback when he heard this. For so many years, witchers have used bombs, crossbows, traps, and often poison, but very few people used bows and arrows.

However, he didn't think too much, instead, he sighed, turned to Vesemir, and said

"Old man, I lost. I recognize Wayne's swordsmanship skills".

Expert-level task: [Leadership] 1/3 completed.