Bear School Astartes

Lann immediately received the redundant parts prepared for him by Belengar.

If all these parts were installed, the armor could be expanded to accommodate a height of 2.5 meters.

This would match the appearance of Lann’s completed skeletal enhancement.

As he received the armor, Lann also prepared to set off towards the Dark Water.

The Lady of the Lake’s communication came two days ago, and the crack of the celestial sphere conjunction was once again surging with waves of chaos magic.

After bidding farewell to his friends in Gos Velen, Lann departed.

Ged was preparing to take up some work in the north, to try out the advanced Bear School Armor.

Lann made a copy of the letter meant for Geralt for Ged, hoping this Demon Hunter could encounter his fellow Wolf School members while wandering.

Recently in the city, the atmosphere has been growing tense.

Though the Airetusa Academy, a symbol of magic, stands nearby, the anxiety and pressure have been brought to the city by merchants and sailors from all over the world through ocean trade.

The non-human races keenly felt this, and though the markets and bazaars remained bustling, dwarves, elves, and a few gnome citizens were trying to avoid going out alone and going to human-dense areas.

Lann didn’t know how such keen senses were developed, but he imagined the process couldn’t have been pleasant.

Because of this, Fergus and Shilton had reduced their interactions with Lann considerably.

Finally, while saying farewell to Margaret, the current dean was still overwhelmed with an administrative document from the academy.

Of course, she still found time to look up and gave Lann a long kiss.

”When you come back next time...”

Her lips approached Lann’s earlobe, speaking like a breath.

”I need to find a way to tamper with that cone-shaped crystal; I can’t let a goddess monopolize the communication crystal I gave you.”

Lann blinked, his reason telling him it’s best not to say anything at this moment.

-----------------

By the time Lann stood again on Black Seagull Island of Vizima Lake, a week had passed.

This time he finally had the chance to leisurely complete his plan of riding a horse, wandering around, and relaxing his mind.

But the bad news was that Bopai was exhausted.

His armor was heavier, and with skeletal development, his bone mass had increased dramatically. This horse from Codwin couldn’t quite handle nearly 300 kilograms of weight.

Lann thought, if Bopai ever retires, he must arrange a top-tier stable for this mare and let her have a good rest in the days to come.

After the Demon Hunter settled Bopai as per the usual routine, he took a boat to meet the Lady of the Lake.

”I told you, I won’t let you leave alone and come back alone.”

The lady sat on a throne lifted by waves, winking at Lann.

In the former temple of Da Gun, the fragrance of lotus flowers and leaves seemed to have grown more intense from the Lady of the Lake’s long-term stay.

Lann looked at the celestial sphere conjunction crack that gradually rose from the lake water, like a broken mirror.

The Demon Hunter took a deep breath, pinched out the Quen Rune with his left hand, and a layer of golden chaos magic power quickly formed a shield.

With the blessing of Grandmaster-level armor, the shield was twice as sturdy as before!

Lann twisted his neck left and right to focus.

”Hope this time it’s not like Yan’an...”

The Demon Hunter mumbled, then turned to wave at the Lady of the Lake, walking into the crack.

This time the celestial sphere conjunction crack gave him back that familiar feeling.

Dizziness and swelling in the brain, the internal organs felt like they were thrown into a centrifuge and put back...

But this very uncomfortable experience relaxed Lann psychologically.

Luckily.

The Demon Hunter thought to himself.

No dreamlike feeling, nor any other bewildering new sensations.

As usual as going to Alia’s hometown, and then to Iwami.

Looks like this time, he doesn’t have to deal with any spooky entities.

But immediately, this sense of reassurance vanished in an instant.

— He smelled the scent of the sea.

”Hmm?!”

In the moment a second before emerging mid-air, there was only a vast sea before Lann.

The nearly 300-kilogram weight pulled him down instantly.

”Splash!”

A surge of waves, the Demon Hunter plunged straight into the sea surface.

The massive weight made him sink straight to the seafloor upon entering the water.

Falling into water with heavy armor... From ancient times to now, from one country to another, countless have perished in such situations in sea battles.

Armored dunking is arguably the most horrifying and feared scenario for soldiers.

But besides the initial surprise upon entering the water, Lann’s mind quickly calmed down.

”Mentos, give me a solution.”

While assigning tasks to the biological brain, Lann began to autonomously intervene in his body’s metrics.

By controlling the pacing rate of the Second Heart, he could slightly reduce the total oxygen consumption.

Additionally, he calmly reached into the back waist’s Alchemy Pouch.

In the Alchemy Pouch, he had prepared a magic potion just in case, called Killer Whale.

This potion could greatly prolong a Demon Hunter’s breath-holding time.

A series of actions, if put on an ordinary person, they’d probably waste their precious lung air straightaway out of surprise.

But here with Lann, in two seconds, he completed the whole process of ’calming emotions, making decisions, starting to act’.

A mature Interstellar Warrior Commander can even complete the analysis of the entire battle situation and make and dispatch a combat plan within a second.

In continuous Memory Deep Diving, he had witnessed such urgent scenarios, and at the same time cultivated a resilient and calm spirit.

”Solution exporting...”

Mentos, whose computing power had increased, reacted much faster than before.

It instantly designed two practical plans.

”Solution one: We can use the explosive impact of Alder’s Rune to slow down the descent process, providing you with time to remove the armor and put it back into the Alchemy Pouch. Solution two: We can slightly alter the release form of the Quen Rune to...”

As soon as Lann got the first plan from Mentos, he immediately prepared to implement it.

But before he could infuse magic power into the hand gesture of Alder’s Rune already held, the contact sensation from his feet made his eyebrow twitch.

”Wait, Mentos. It seems we are... in shallow waters?”

Looking up in the water, the light and shadow on the surface seemed to be just as high as a person from him now.

Lann gathered his hair, the molten silver-like hair floating in the water, obstructing his vision.

Looking back, a clear slope extended upwards, in the direction of the land.

The impact of descent stirred the seabed mud, concealing the water depth. And when the Demon Hunter emerged, he was facing the sea, missing the land behind.

”Alright, the situation is much better than we thought.”

Lann said to Mentos in his mind.