"A survival rate close to 100%?"
This was indeed groundbreaking news. Not only were the four mentors who had already joined the Witcher Academy dumbfounded, but even those who had just joined, like Master Ivar Evil-Eye, were completely shocked.
It's important to understand that for a long time, the reason Witchers as a group could not multiply and grow, and were also easily resisted and maliciously speculated about by ordinary people,
was largely due to the terrifying mortality rate during their transformation into Witchers.
From childhood, a Witcher's mutation is divided into three stages: the Trial of Choice, the Trial of the Grasses, and the Trial of the Mountains.
The Trial of Choice doesn't have a high mortality rate; it involves children taking small amounts of special herbs, elixirs, and monster body tissues to boost their immunity, toxin resistance, and reduce rejection reactions during the future Trial of the Grasses.
This step is necessary because even children, with their greater plasticity, cannot directly undergo the mutation of the Trial of the Grasses, but must constantly adapt and improve their resistance to finally barely accept the transformation of the Trial of the Grasses.
But even so, by the time of the most crucial Trial of the Grasses, less than three-tenths of Witcher apprentices would survive.
Including Geralt, almost all Witchers have experienced their childhood companions dying in large numbers because they couldn't pass the Trial of the Grasses; this is a painful experience almost every Witcher goes through.
The final Trial of the Mountains involves selecting a monster as a trial target or choosing a relatively dangerous test process, and it also carries a high degree of risk.
Even if one fortunately completes the Trial of the Grasses, many Witchers still lose their lives in the Trial of the Mountains.
What's even more tragic is that even after completing the three Witcher trials, more than half of Witchers die from various accidents in their first year of going out on commissions.
So, when calculated comprehensively, the success rate of raising a child from an apprentice to a mature Witcher is only one in ten, or even one in several dozen.
Adding in over a decade of training, guidance from seasoned Witchers, and the consumption of various materials and herbs,
training a Witcher is even more difficult than training a squad of heavily armored cavalry.
This is also one of the main reasons why many rulers and nobles, despite knowing the immense power of Witchers, are unwilling to invest their time and resources in training them.
After all, a common Witcher with strong swordsmanship doesn't necessarily have a greater impact on a real battlefield than a fully armed heavy cavalryman.
Except for individuals like Guilliman who defy common sense, individual strength has always been quite insignificant in the face of a massive war machine.
Precisely because of this, one can imagine how shocking and hopeful a nearly 100% mutation survival rate is for these old Witchers who lived through the decline of Witchers and witnessed countless comrades and apprentices die on experimental tables.
Such a vaccine is an immense shock and hope.
Over the next few days, almost all Witchers, with a mix of apprehension and anticipation, constantly monitored the effects of the Primordial Witcher vaccine.
For the first time, they selected only six members from a hundred Witcher apprentices and directly used the Primordial Witcher vaccine without going through the Trial of Choice stage of the Witcher trials.
This experiment was primarily overseen by Master Ivar Evil-Eye, who had the most mutation experience, and the High Healer Margarita, with the Witcher Academy's basement serving as the testing ground.
As a top-tier magic healer, Margarita, even without a special vaccine, could significantly increase the survival rate of apprentices by assisting in the treatment of test subjects.
Not to mention a special vaccine personally endorsed by Francesca.
Indeed, all six young apprentices who underwent the Trial of the Grasses successfully completed the Witcher mutation, and there were no particularly strong rejection reactions.
However, just as Francesca had said, these children, aside from their eyes turning into the unique cat-like vertical pupils of Witchers, experienced almost no particularly drastic physical changes.
They neither turned completely white-haired like Geralt, nor did they suffer from facial paralysis, physical deformities, or other negative effects that made them ugly, as some Witchers did.
These changes left the Witchers present both delighted and very puzzled.
Over the next few days, Margarita and several experienced Witcher mentors began observing the physical changes in these Witcher apprentices through various tests.
They found that the physical fitness changes and potential of these six apprentices were roughly twice that of ordinary humans, but their dynamic vision and reaction speed could reach four times that of ordinary humans.
Although, compared to past Witcher mutations, such physical changes could only be considered a lower-tier level.
However, one surprising point was that these apprentices, after mutating with the Primordial Witcher vaccine, surprisingly reached the level of seasoned Witchers in terms of mental resistance and toxin resistance.
This means that although they were only apprentices around ten years old, they were not only immune to most human poisons and diseases but were also capable of taking four to five elixirs at once, like seasoned Witchers, to strengthen their bodies.
They also had much greater resistance than ordinary people to mental control, fear, charm, unconsciousness, and various other negative mental effects.
Such a mix of good and bad changes was almost inconceivable, greatly astonishing the Witchers observing the experiment.
At the same time, they were both delighted and worried about the future of these apprentices.
Only Guilliman knew that the apprentices' changes were most likely due to his blood playing a role.
Both the toxin resistance, which exceeded that of ordinary Witchers, and the resistance to negative mental effects, were all advantages he possessed.
Not only that, after these six Witcher apprentices completed their mutation, Guilliman subtly developed a delicate connection with their minds and souls.
As long as he focused, he could sense the apprentices' thoughts and even had the illusion that he could control their minds.
And as time progressed, this special connection would likely grow stronger and stronger.
Perhaps in the future, his thoughts could subtly influence and control these Witcher apprentices.
Toxin resistance and mental resistance.
Just knowing these two advantages of the Primordial Witchers, he could imagine that his future Witcher legion would certainly be able to fight for him in various extreme and harsh environments, and they would likely follow the path of drug-fueled Witchers or tech-oriented Witchers.
It seems he needs to accelerate the development of Witcher potions.
At the current level of Witcher potions, they not only couldn't meet his own elixir requirements but probably couldn't even meet the elixir requirements of these apprentices.
Guilliman began recalling the more famous herbalists and alchemists in the game.
For the foreseeable future, he plans to use money, or even kidnapping and threats if necessary, to gather all these talents under his command before the war breaks out.
The first person he thought of, besides Shani, the future medical genius, was Tomira, the beautiful herbalist from the White Orchard.
He plans to act tomorrow and invite this herbalist to his island.
The herbal workshop has already been built, and he is now lacking many excellent herbalists to help him cultivate herbs and brew potions.
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