The mirror was glued, the demon appeared, the seal was broken, and all this happened within a breath.
By the time everyone reacted, the black cat-like demon had disappeared.
Triss was the first to come to her senses. She stepped forward hesitantly and asked, "Lan... did you expel the demon?"
Lann glanced at the direction where the black fog finally disappeared: "It looks like it has been expelled."
He flipped his wrist and put the mirror back into the [Inventory].
Triss trotted forward and checked the skinned man lying on the ground. As a sorceress, she also learned the basics of medicine.
But the more I checked, the more frightened I became.
"His muscles were completely rigid and had no elasticity, and his nerves were basically dead. It was as if his entire body's reflex system was paralyzed, and he could not respond to any external stimuli."
Triss frowned. This was the first time she had seen someone like this. "This is simply a living corpse. If it weren't for the fact that it was still breathing, it would really be exactly the same as a dead person."
The snake-faction demon hunters who had gathered around were hesitant to speak, as they had never seen such a creature before.
Finally, it was Lei Suo who spoke up: "If there is no other way, let's free this fellow. This state... is worse than death."
Lann shook his head and said firmly: "He can still be saved."
He raised his head and met everyone's gaze: "Remember the abilities of the Ancient Blood that I told you about? This is one of them."
The last skill point that had been stored in the system was consumed by Lann, and a new vacancy suddenly appeared in the [Follower] panel.
Follower, contract.
During this period of time, after completing several side quests and demon hunting missions, and not knowing what Ace had done, Lann had accumulated a lot of experience points.
At this moment, these experiences seemed to be sliding down like an avalanche, almost hitting the bottom.
This was the first time that Lann had contracted a "follower" who was not loyal to him, and the power consumed was far beyond his imagination.
But fortunately, the decrease in experience points finally stopped before the values were completely cleared, and then a new follower system panel appeared in front of Lann.
[Follower: Kaiyan
Gender: Male
Race: Demon Hunter
Level: 1
Talent: Psychic
Experience value: 0/1000
HP: 1200/1200
Mana: 500/500
Inventory: None
Skills: Cat School Skills, Cat School Swordsmanship Advanced, Cat School Seal Intermediate, Alchemy Elementary, Riding Advanced, Precision Shooting, Combat Intuition, Pain Tolerance, Nightmare Enhancement
Mission: None]
[Shared Follower Talent: Medium]
[Medium: Improves resistance to mind control skills, and improves the ability to perceive demons, ghosts, ghost-like creatures and supernatural phenomena]
Lann raised his eyebrows, not expecting the other party to have such talent. He just didn't know whether this talent was born with him or was a "talent" left over after being possessed by the devil.
In the eyes of Triss and the four snake-faction demon hunters, the demon hunter lying on the ground suddenly began to tremble violently after Lann's palm touched him.
In just a blink of an eye, before everyone could even react to what had happened, the skinned man in front of them suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a tall and strong man.
His breathing was steady and powerful, and his muscles were well-defined but not bulging, making him look like a well-trained warrior. However, his skin was very delicate and without a single scar, making him look like someone who had never been in combat.
In other words, this is a new born person.
Lei Suo's eyes widened. "Unbelievable. Ancient Blood... Is this the kind of power that the Wild Hunt seeks?"
"Lann!" Kolgrim shouted excitedly, "Is there any limit to your treatment? This is a means of bringing the dead back to life. If Chapelle were still here, he would kneel down and shout "It's a miracle!"
Hearing this, the man lying on the ground seemed to become unimportant at this moment, and everyone's eyes turned to Lan En.
Just like Kolgrim said, this is the power of resurrection, surpassing all known healing methods 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 once like this."
Everyone's eyes were filled with amazement again. This was like a second life, and they, who had experienced many battles, understood what this meant.
Maybe the crowd was too noisy, the man lying on the ground snapped his fingers a few times and slowly opened his eyes.
The eyes were still scarlet in color, but the whites of the eyes were clearly visible, and only the pupils were still emitting blood.
Fortunately, there was no more madness and killing inside, only confusion. He looked around aimlessly, and finally his eyes stopped on Lann.
For some reason, he felt that the blond young man with strange eyes in front of him exuded a friendly temperament, which made him feel at ease and he couldn't help but want to trust him.
"Hey man, are you still awake? Do you remember your name?"
"Name?" The man's eyes were dull for a moment, and he muttered to himself, but a word came out before he could think, "Kayan."
"Yes, Kaiyan." His eyes lit up, "My name is Kaiyan!"
Lann laughed. He saved this cat-faction witcher.
…
The cat faction is full of crazy people. This is a joke, but it is also true.
Lann sometimes wondered whether he should bring the Cat School into his plan to revive the Witcher. If he planted a time bomb in his own forces just to put together a school like "collecting cards", it would be too costly.
But after much consideration, Lan finally decided to accept the cat faction.
First, there are still rational people in the cat faction in the original book. Lambert of the wolf faction has a close friend who is also a cat faction. According to Lambert's own narration, this cat faction is more to his liking than Geralt.
Secondly, every school has its foundation, and the swordsmanship of the Cat School does have its merits, and it can be used as a reference when training new demon hunters or even elite mortal soldiers in the future.
Third, Lane believes that the madness of the Cat Party is not hopeless.
Before you understand why the people of Cat Party are so crazy, you need to understand the history of Cat Party:
At the end of the Demon Hunter Cult, the departure of Alzu made the cult lose its direction. Gradually, some Demon Hunters began to go against the grain, even turning their swords against their comrades in order to compete for commissions. Eventually, a large-scale conflict broke out among the Demon Hunters, leading to the dissolution of the cult.
It was at this time that a group of witchers wearing cat head pendants quietly left the witcher cult. They hoped to save the witcher's fading prestige and regain a good reputation for the witcher.
That’s right, the Cat School, which made the witchers infamous, originally hoped to restore the good reputation for the witchers!
This group of demon hunters secretly took away a batch of mutation materials and experimental equipment, but they were eventually recovered by the demon hunter cult. They refused the cult's request to stay and were no longer willing to get along with the demon hunters who had changed their ways. However, they also lost the complete mutation formula and had to seek help from a new warlock.
Fate played a joke on these ambitious young demon hunters.
They headed south and eventually settled in Styga Castle. The Styga mages began to transform mutations based on the formula provided by the demon hunters, with the goal of blunting emotions and making the demon hunters more rational; but the result was the opposite, they created a group of cruel, sensitive, and irritable lunatics.
The mages put the failed products of these experiments into cages, trying to analyze the reasons for the failure. After all, biological weapons like the Demon Hunter are so rare at a historical level that they are too tempting for every mage.
At this time, a half-elf demon hunter named Gizlas crawled out from the corpse of his companion. He used his extraordinary courage and skills to free his companion. At the same time, he led his comrades to join the elf camp, seeking shelter and rewards by attacking humans, and strengthening themselves.
After growing fully grown, Gizrath led his companions back to Styga Castle on a cloudy night, and one by one they sought to settle accounts with the mages who created them, taking their lives in their sleep.
After sanity faded, madness enveloped, and blood boiled, the School of Cats was established.
The Cat School witchers no longer have a base, and live in constantly moving caravans. They continue to follow the crazy mutation formula and even create a female witcher by accident.
And they also discovered that the cult's neutrality had long been trampled under their feet, and killing people was much easier and more profitable than killing monsters. Out of hatred for the mages who sold their parents cheaply, the cruel experiments they conducted, and the unruly people who went back on their words, the cat faction was more often willing to accept the elves' commissions.
Fate likes to play tricks on people. The pioneers who first left the cult with the dream of reviving the school ended up doing unacceptable things. Every abuse and spurn that other witchers suffered in the countryside was due to their efforts.
猫派的疯，来自于突变的缺陷，也来自于第一代猫派人的经历，也是这些第一代猫派人将疯狂传了下来。
兰恩相信：寻找真正的生物炼金学大师重新研究猎魔人突变，然后给予新猫派一个更加有凝聚力、更加安心的训练环境，这些都可以培养出新的、更加稳定的猫派猎魔人。
而且，哪怕在现今的环境中，也偶尔有幸运的猫派猎魔人能够获得正常的理智。原著中，凯亚恩就是其中之一，他是“相对理智”的那种猫派猎魔人。
综上的原因所述，再加上对自己【随从】面板的实验，兰恩最终决定对凯亚恩进行招揽。同样的，兰伯特的挚友、玩家曾经在游戏中遇到的理智猫，这些如果兰恩以后有机会，也是要收入麾下的。
兰恩手一翻，从【物品栏】中取出了猫派徽章项链。
将徽章递到凯亚恩的面前，他轻笑道：“物归原主了，凯亚恩，以后可别再弄丢它了。”
凯亚恩的意识刚刚恢复，对于兰恩的话还能做出反应。
他呆呆地看着徽章，紧接着，一股记忆的狂流朝着他的大脑席卷而来。
他的双眼开始红光闪烁，已经恢复平滑的脸上抽筋似得开始颤抖。
货船、术士、大海、风暴……
实验、愤怒、痛苦、麻木……
无数的画面开始闪回，每一个画面都似乎沾染着血迹，有一些场景甚至只有通明的线条，但是凯亚恩依旧可以从中感知到磅礴的情绪。
直到这些记忆碎片连成一串，开始拼凑、组合、合乎逻辑。
他全都想起来了。
作为一名猫派猎魔人，他从小就憎恨自己的身份。在进入独行侠的生活之后，他也很快厌倦了朝不保夕的委托，不想再为了谁卖命，甚至拒绝了一个王子的私人保镖聘请，转而去当一艘走私船的保镖，过了几年安稳的日子。
直到有一天，船长以“船舱拥挤”的理由把一名术士安排进了他的房间。
那个时候他就已经收敛了与人争斗的爆裂性子，除非战斗，日常中多有妥协。
那是一名术士，充满智慧，与人交谈的时候让人如沐春风，虽然对于自己有种超乎寻常的热情，但是凯亚恩起初并不在意。
后来，对方趁着自己冥想之际，用魔法和魔药一起麻痹了自己。
意识迷胧之间，他隐约听到船舱之外有海浪澎湃、风暴肆虐，熟悉的声音不再发出大笑，而是哀嚎；他则身不由己，被带回了实验室，就此开始了一段暗无天日的血腥日子。
之后的记忆再不愿意想起，他只记得意识的最后一刻，看到的是一座双目泛着红光的猫类雕像。
想起来了，全都想起来了。
凯亚恩抬头，他的目光血红，面色冰冷，语气却很柔和。
看着莫名给他一种亲和感的兰恩，凯亚恩问道：“是你救了我？”
对方脖子上面挂着的狮鹫徽章更让他感觉亲切，比猫还要亲切。
“我是辛特拉的兰恩，兰恩·兰尼斯特·雷安伦，狮鹫学派猎魔人，欢迎回到正常的世界。”兰恩问道，“你现在觉得怎么样？”
凯亚恩听到问题之后，闭眼握拳。他感觉到了一股远超过他以前的力量在身体中涌动。
他扭动脖颈，活动四肢，发出一阵噼里啪啦的炒豆脆响。不仅如此，以前训练时候的暗伤、一些积年旧疾导致的发力不便，在这一刻也都消失得无影无踪。
身体里面所蕴含的生命力令他自己都感到震惊。
“我从未如现在感觉这么好过。”
凯亚恩环顾四周，看着周围的四名蛇派猎魔人和一个女术士，好像才发现他们一样：“诸位也救了我？”
雷索代表蛇派猎魔人摇摇头：“我们只是参与了把你从那副……样子变回来的部分过程，把你从地下实验室带出来是兰恩和特莉丝的功劳。”
凯亚恩自动忽略了话里的“特莉丝”，转而看向兰恩，那目光更加亲近而炙热。
兰恩故意问道：“那么凯亚恩，你之后有什么打算呢？有什么猫派的同伴去寻找，或者有其他的朋友可以投靠？”
凯亚恩他看了一眼兰恩，低头沉思：“我想请问，今年是哪一年？”
“1264年。”
凯亚恩早有心理准备，但是听此还是不由地叹了一口气：“已经过去三十年了。”
那话语中的心酸和失落，让听着的人都不由地一阵唏嘘。
“那么，你以前认识的人肯定也都变化很大，要慢慢去找吧？”兰恩非常善解人意地劝道，“那不如现在先我身边给我帮忙怎么样？你就当做是我给你的委托。实不相瞒，我是辛特拉的伯爵，辛特拉最近正打算重建猎魔人教团，我们已经有了狮鹫、狼还有蛇，如果加上你的话就距离目标更进一步了，不过我最近遇到了一点麻烦……”
“好！”凯亚恩的理智似乎又突然绷断了，他答应时候的热情远超过对于救命恩人的感谢应该有的程度。
似乎就好像只等兰恩对他发出邀请，然后就顺势答应一般。
兰恩被打断了话，却露出了满意的笑容。
……
兰恩会对凯亚恩共情吗？因为对方遭受了残酷的实验，同为猎魔人而义愤填膺？
并不。
别忘了兰恩重生以来遇到的第一个猎魔人是谁，他们之间又发生了什么故事。
虽然兰恩已经成为了猎魔人许久，但是他的情感还没有这么博爱。他或许会为了希里、为了莫斯萨克、为了杰隆等人豁出性命，至于其他人——
哪怕对于前世玩家的好兄弟蛇派，兰恩也只是友好，而不是亲和。说到底，感情还没到这个分上。
所以就更不要说凯亚恩了，虽然他的经历很可怜，但是说到底他也不是什么好人。凯亚恩曾经接受王子的雇佣屠杀了一支科考队，杀人夺宝，事后又成为了一支走私运奴船的保镖。
放在这个时代的世界观下，那也是个狠人。
在兰恩的预想中，猎魔人教团最理想的成员该是兰伯特的挚友那般的猫派。
但是【随从】面板的存在，让他想要尝试一下收服凯亚恩。
凯亚恩可能算不上好人，但是恰好兰恩身边的“好人”、“骑士”一流的人太多了。
哪怕是专精刺杀任务的蛇派，其实也是道德底线及其稳固的一群人。
一名合格的领袖，身边的人总不能同质化太严重了，对吧？
好在，兰恩的【随从】面板没让他失望。
而且根据【随从】面板所显示的天赋和技能，凯亚恩哪怕比不上学派中如维瑟米尔一般的这种导师级别人物，也肯定也是远超一般的猎魔人。
兰恩简直不能更满意这次探索神殿岛之行的收获了。
那么自此，兰恩正式获得了四名猎魔人蛇派猎魔人的投靠，收获了一名猫派猎魔人的“随从”，还获得了“沙佩勒”的友谊，预想中以后还能够获得诺维格瑞这座“北境的首都”的支持。
远远超出预计了。
一时间，他甚至觉得镜子大师的任务都不是这么重要了，自己来诺维格瑞的收获已经足够了！
好吧，开玩笑，话这么说就有点太飘了。
任务还是要做的，但是在那之前，要先把暗处的手一一剁掉，免得节外生枝。
兰恩想了想，思维转回到一开始的目的。
“雷索，你们之后怎么打算，继续回到里恩斯那里去潜伏吗？”
雷索摇了摇头：“我们和里恩斯平时基本不见面，只有在提前约定了的时候才会碰头，一般都是商讨任务的事情。”
很松散的队伍结构啊。
兰恩又问道：“那就先待在我们这里吧，你们原本计划什么时候发动袭击来对付我和沙佩勒？”
雷索答道：“七天之后。”
兰恩点头，时间还很充裕，足够自己的计划一点点执行了。
“凯亚恩，我也想要你帮我一个忙。”
新加入的猫派猎魔人直起身子，竖起耳朵。
……
沙佩勒的变形怪纯良本性，他不愿意让自己的事情牵连诺维格瑞的市民，因此想要提前解决掉黑帮的三头目，不让他们发动暴乱。
奥克斯、瑟瑞特、寇格林姆，分别去刺杀乞丐王、霍桑和砍刀。
因为担心打草惊蛇，所以三人没有立刻出击，而是一直在兰恩的住处蛰伏着等到距离计划中的暴动只剩下一天时间，才在夜色中四散开来，亮出毒牙。
其中，奥克斯的行动是最快的。
在原著游戏里，蛇派小队曾经被玩家扮演的杰洛特所救，从此便对玩家掏心掏肺，不但帮助玩家一起对抗狂猎、照顾失忆的叶奈法，还因此被尼弗迦德皇帝逮捕进而走上弑君之路。
奥克斯原本的结局十分令人唏嘘，他在游戏中会计划刺杀科德温的国王，结果却一头撞上了玩家。彼时玩家扮演的杰洛特失去了记忆，根本不记得自己生死与共的兄弟，最终阴差阳错之下杀死了奥克斯。
Of course, Oaks' fate has changed now.
At this moment, he was tracking a homeless man.
According to his observation, the man was about to "pay taxes".
The Beggar King is a very unique existence in Novigrad. He is different from the gang-like Machetes and the family-like Hawthorne.
He named himself the Beggar King in order to mock the red tape of the court, but he also took some of its essence and actually established a functioning order in the underground of Novigrad.
"Paying taxes" is the most important part of the order he established, used to maintain his decent life and class authority.
Following the tramp, Oaks arrived at the Beggar King's territory known as the "Rotten Forest". The sealed gate and sporadic guards were no problem for the experienced Snake Faction demon hunter.
In the night, a dark shadow shuttled through the shadows of every corner and over the eaves.
Soon, Oaks found his target.