Dealing with fairies and shadows

Soon enough, after seeking the trace of magical aura I detected emanating from Highgarden, I was finally led to a marked wall covered in thick vines and some beautiful flowers inside the mazelike garden.

{SECRET ENTRANCE}

{YOU HAVE FOUND A PASSAGEWAY LEADING TO THIS CASTLE'S DUNGEON!}

As the silhouette of a doorway formed before me, revealing a newly formed passageway, I delved into the magical dungeon without much ceremony.

Not having to wait for my command, Shadow, my feline familiar, quickly rushed forward to scout the area ahead.

'She's learning fast.' I remarked to myself in amusement, while my undead knight walked right beside me in silence.

As we began to make our descent down the set of stairs at a normal pace, the wall sealed back the entrance behind us just as I expected.

Interestingly enough, instead of the walls and steps being made of regular stone, or gold like it was on Casterly Rock, it was this time a mixture of loamy soil and thick roots, with some pillars of skillfully carved wood depicting an overall idyllic visage.

It was all perfectly cut and polished, with the forms of fungus life covering it only adding to its 'nature theme'.

Once again, the symbols spread all around the entrance were signaling that I was entering another pocket dimension.

"Here, big guy." I told my undead minion before placing my hand on his arm and casting Decompose on it.

On regular, living creatures who thrived under regular healing this would've been debilitatingly harmful, however my minion's undead nature seemed instead to become more powerful with the influx of necrotic energy.

I watched as its stats were momentarily boosted by it, prompting the undead to grow stronger, faster and tougher, almost too powerful for my control over it to keep it contained and obedient.

"Careful there…" I warned it with a cold stare while evoking blazing orbs that hovered over my palms, as both of us were fully aware of its vulnerability to fire. "…you are useful but not irreplaceable. My control over you is all that prevents me from burning you to cinders."

"Grrrr." My Undead Knight grunted, no longer attempting to resist my influence over it, eventually bowing down into submission.

Putting off the flames on my hands, briefly wishing for an opportunity to practice my Starbeam spell, I released the tall undead from the illusionary disguise I had so repeatedly hid it under all day long.

"Here." I said while retrieving from my Inventory a Greatsword that completely towered over me, which I've personally enhanced with my magical tools, before offering it to my undead minion.

As my minion easily handled the large piece of metal, ignorant to how sharper and better balanced I've upgraded the weapon, I took another great look at its physical features.

Its armor wasn't rusted or damaged anymore thanks to my previous work on it, making it resemble even more the Tv Show Zombie Gregor Clegane, although instead of the classic Kingsguard white I used the Night's Watch black.

Precisely what made me come up with a proper name for him, inspired by what fallen Paladins would be named after being shaped by the forces of evil after their death, which was Death Knight.

And contrary to the average zombie I had faced before, this one no longer had bones or entrails exposed, as its skin was grey and mostly intact.

If not for the smell of decay being worse than ever, hinting at a possible sickening and frightening aura, I would have assumed that I was slowly bringing it back to life with how muscular it had become.

"My turn." I announced to my dark guardian, who stood vigilant for any danger of the environment.

Activating my draconic scales, I noticed they were covering more areas of my body, probably because I was making progress with my Sorcerer Title, with the subtle signs of growing horns, reptilian eyes, sharp teeth and claws.

No wings or magical breath yet.

It was almost as if the draconic power I had within me was growing stronger, boosting my Metamagic effects as well as strengthening my regular spells, with the spending of my Sorcery points finally enabling me to instantly regain some portion of my Mana.

My current testing had been set on working with my Ki and finding out if it had any special attributes, looking for a way to mimic the Way of the Voice since recalling the Greybeards in Skyrim learned it from an actual dragon.

I've been studying dragonglass and dragonbones, hell, even Valyrian Steel, trying to strengthen my bond with the Valyrian traditions through those token's lingering draconic magic.

Similar to how my Divine spark made me feel my affinity with lightning and thunder growing stronger every time I witnessed a storm, producing sparks and thunderclaps from the divine link I had with the gods of wind and sea.

Although my control over the weather was still too subtle to be of substantial use yet, it still gave me an awesome feeling, as whenever I raged or used my tempestuous magic I could also feel the air surrounding me slightly charged with the static and faint smell of ozone.

The scent that filled the air right after heavy rain or a thunderstorm, so to speak.

Equipping my Runed Bronze set of armor, having finally managed to imbue a couple of infusions on it, and casting Mage Armor, I watched as layers of protection brought my Defense stat almost at its peak.

The infusions themselves weren't anything stellar, like magical propulsion or strength enhancements, instead I opted for the more easy to make ones.

No magical Utility Belt, Teleporting Boots, Danger Sense equipment or Electric Alarm headpiece, since I already had better alternatives for each of them.

Instead, I went for the good old Enhanced Defense, which crazily enough effectively made my Runed Bronze armor impervious to all non magical piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage.

I wasn't capable of testing how it would fare if a castle fell on top of me, but striking it with a castle forged steel warhammer using all my strength, while having the armor set properly anchored to the ground, didn't leave even a scratch on it while respectively damaging the weapon.

As for the other types of damage, regular fire could still make it extremely hot if left to heat for long enough, I believe the same wound applies to cold and lightning.

Though most disappointing was the fact that even the brittle Dragonglass managed to scratch its surface and I didn't need to guess how it would fare against a Valyrian Steel weapon.

That is, until I began to add several minor infusions from the resistance type, mostly to fire and cold, for obvious reasons, as well as Necrotic and Radiant just to be sure.

The cherry on top though was Force damage resistance, as it fortunately gave it a certain amount of… well, resistance… to magical weapons such as my Valyrian Steel blades.

Keep in mind that resistance wasn't the same thing as immunity, like what I got against non magical weapons.

My twin Gladius could still damage the set of armor with enough punishment, but not as easily as it was for regular protection, which was better described as cutting through butter with a hot knife.

But that's precisely why I had layered my Mage Armor on top, which successfully warded me against freaking Valyrian Steel to a considerable extent.

As for its appearance, thanks to my Second Class Illusion Spell, Magical Aura, I got both my Runed Bronze Armor and Valyrian Steel Twin Gladius to appear as non magical steel for everyone else.

Having leveled it up for all the other uses I got out of it, I finally got its effects to be permanent on my gear until someone managed to magically dispel the magic.

But enough of that…

Eventually, I got myself ready for everything.

Granted, it might be a bit of an exaggeration on my part, but it's always better to be safe than sorry since I could never know what I would find down here.

Slipping into Shadow's mind as it identified the areas of this dungeon, I was again surprised by another difference it had compared to the others I've already cleared.

It wasn't filled with the figure of the average undead I've been facing during my usual expeditions of these catacombs.

The creatures down here still moved with a jerky, uneven gait, but instead of the rotten flesh clad in the moldering apparel carrying the stench of decay, it looked instead like an awakened plant that resembled a woody shrub as it pulled its roots free of the ground, their branches twisted together to form small humanoid-looking bodies with a head and limbs.

"Don't tell me…" I rushed my pace with a small grin, prompting my Death Knight to tag along. "You are baby groot!"

'It certainly is, master.' My Wild familiar agreed, without really knowing what I was talking about.

As much as I enjoyed and appreciated individuality and a sense of self expression, it's good to not have my own Shadow doubting me.

Reaching her location after dealing with some minor barriers, I noticed that the torches on the wall weren't lighting up as they usually did whenever I passed by them.

I didn't halted my movement though, having an excellent nightvision with a massive range all thanks to my Cleric title's Eyes of the Night.

'So after all this time, things are continuing to grow more interesting.' I mentally remarked while imagining what mysteries the other dungeons spread throughout Westeros had stored for me.

As the tunnel we were traversing began to widen up, I sighted several wooden sculptures of horned green men, with some elaborated ornaments made out of living plants and numerous fruits ready for harvest.

Since gold wasn't an issue for the near future with Tywin Lannister under my control, I was much more curious about what use this Dungeon and Kingdom could offer me.

The wood tensioning noise coming from behind stopped my inspection of the soil, as Plants had just begun to rapidly grow in order to block my path.

'You shall not pass…' I heard the plants whispering at me.

Like with any regular metal, it was nothing that my Valyrian steel weapons couldn't cut through, but to me it served more of a security measure to not let any creature escape the dungeon.

'The twigs are approaching us.' Shadow informed me with a meow.

Observing them I got some useful information.

{TWIG BLIGHT, SMALL PLANT}

{LV - 15}

POW: 18

MOB: 39

END: 36

INT: 12

STL: 30

DEF: 0

HP: 300

SPEED: 20 ft.

DAMAGE VULNERABILITIES: FIRE.

CONDITIONS IMMUNITIES: BLINDED, DEAFENED.

SENSES: BLINDSIGHT 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius)

LANGUAGES: UNDERSTANDS COMMON TONGUE BUT CAN'T SPEAK.

[FALSE APPEARANCE]: While the blight remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a dead shrub.

*Blights were plants that had been tainted with necromancy magic, usually after a forest was corrupted by an evil force or ritual.

My Mental Map eventually informed me of the creatures that were about to sprout from the ground, pinpointing the hostile creatures, so when I heard noises, I blasted four overly aggressive wooden creatures with my Eldritch Blast.

Twining it just to double tap.

"Death Knight!" I called my minion, immediately drawing his attention. "Rush back and don't let anyone escape me."

The Death knight nodded, with its helmet clacking with its movement, before it charged past all the enemies currently spawning before us, unhindered by the different terrain.

Picking my legendary Dragonbone Crossbow out of my Inventory, casting Arcane Weapon on several bolts, I slaughtered the enemies that attempted to pursue my minion with great force and precision.

Different from the steel and iron clad zombies I've been facing, these twigs weren't anywhere near as resilient or as tough, so it wasn't all that vital to take the penalty of my Sharpshooter perk, especially since their small frame and high mobility synergized so well with their larger numbers and underground digging movement.

Despite being both made of nonconductive material and resistant to the deafness condition, making my Lightning and Thunder attacks not as optimal, Psychic damage was surprisingly somewhat effective in stunning them for a brief moment though.

So the occasional use of twinned Mind Sliver was put to use as I danced amongst them with my Twin Gladius, having them lit up with a fiery aura and almost burning all Twigs to crisps with blazing slashes.

But even with my speed and precision, this was still taking too long, as some even managed to graze my Mage Armor with their wooden claws.

This was crazy by itself, since I've faced hordes of undead back at Harrenhal without much trouble.

Problem was that most of my features and perks were specially made to fight undeads, and the fact that these creatures were brought to life with necromancy didn't seem to give them the same set of weaknesses.

Which meant that neither Turn Undead or Divine Smite would be worth the effort and cost of Divine Points.

I was left with lighting large fires here and there with my Chromatic Orb spell, watching as their heads and small frames appear to be like small torches and bonfires.

Fastening my pace even more, I felt free to not hold out as I had Shadow taking some opportunistic strikes whenever she could.

'Man, her claws just got incredibly sharp!' I acknowledged, immediately summoning my Unseen Servants to aid her.

At first it was looking like I had finally got the hang of it, but then those I didn't burn completely to ashes sprouted spores that spawned more of them.

To be fair it was an excellent training experience to face a different kind of foe, but I wasn't willing to stay here an entire day since I would be leaving tomorrow morning.

Thankfully I had a card up my sleeve, better yet, stored in my inventory.

[FLASK OF ALCHEMIST FIRE]

My personal brew, a much less unstable version of Wildfire in smaller doses but without losing its destructive power in larger quantities.

Though the loss of the classic green color was an unexpected outcome, as the flames it produced were mostly indistinguishable from regular fire, I still got what I wanted.

Unsurprisingly, the last standing foe was also the strongest among them, as it got rid of the vulnerability to fire.

Unfortunately for it, in its place it didn't have resistance nor immunity.

However, I decided to not attack it immediately.

'Alright, perhaps I got an opportunity here.'

Zombies were after all mindless creatures that I still got a way of controlling, perhaps the same could happen to these plant-like creatures.

"Listen to me blight!" I said with an angelic voice, speaking in the True Tonge I learned from my title as a Druid. "I know you possess sufficient intelligence that most creatures lack, so I order you to halt your attack!"

Surprisingly, the creature actually halted its movement, initially making me see it as if acknowledging my title as a Druid of the Old gods.

But if that's what just happened, apparently it wasn't that much devoted to them, given it had remained as an enemy in my Mental Map.

Before it could surprise attack me though, I got my Unseen Servants to retrain its movements like some criminal henchmen, and out of nowhere, just like a passing shadow in this dim lighted dungeon, I saw my Wild Companion decapitating its head.

At that moment, the plant barrier that prevented my progress withered away in agony.

'Good job girl. Your progress pleases me.' I told her mentally before throwing her a piece of cooked fish. 'C'mon, let's continue…'

I stopped mid thought, as my perception warned me of an enemy rushing towards our location.

"Stay on guard." I commanded while retrieving my flaming swords again and ordering my Unseen Servants to summon back my Death Knight.

Hearing loud shrieks heading towards us, I commanded Shadow to hide and flank them.

Using Observe from a distance…

{NEEDLE BLIGHT, MEDIUM PLANT}

It has to be said, these creatures were somewhat impressive.

In the darkness, they might be taken at a distance for shuffling, hunched humanoids. Up close though, they revealed themselves as horrid plants whose conifer-like needles grew across their bodies in quivering clumps.

As they launched their needles as a ranged assault, I noticed how my Death Knight's armor reacted to these needles piercing damage as it shielded me from harm.

Not that I needed it, since that I could just focus all of my Mage Armor into a nigh impregnable shield barrier.

In any case, these needles appeared to be capable of actually punching through common armor and flesh, which made them truly dangerous for regular people.

Fortunately, neither me nor my team were regular people.

The following shots weren't even allowed to scratch against my defenses, since they were all ignored once I opened my Inventory window and shielded myself and my Death Knight with it.

Deciding to save these needles for later studies, thinking that perhaps they might be more useful than throwing pebbles with my Arcane Weapon, I noticed something.

These creatures' ranged attacks had a rather long cooldown, so I rushed forward, ready to end things quickly.

Making use of both my Monk and Rogue's features in order to reach them in an instant and avoid most of their melee attacks, I engaged with them in combat with some of my blade flourishes.

Landing swift strikes right before slipping away without reprisal, added to the fact that I've decided to Action Surge as well, I had my own confidence propelling me through their ranks.

Still interested in the opponents I was fighting with, my Observe skill informed me that when Needle Blights detect a threat, they lose pollen that the wind carries to other Needle Blights throughout the forest.

Alerted to their foes' location, they would subsequently converge from all sides to drench their roots in blood.

'Good thing I have them enclosed in an underground tunnel.' I told myself, slightly worried of what would happen if these beings were allowed to freely multiply on the fertile lands of the Reach.

Sadly neither Shadow or my Unseen Servants were strong enough to one-shot them, but together they formed a great team, focusing on one enemy at a time just like they did with the previous twig.

With Shadow leaving some deep cuts into the back of their napes with opportunistic attacks, after my Servants either pinned them down with some grapples or distracted them with some illusionary duplicates of myself, my familiar's frame being small enough to avoid the swarm of needles.

Eventually, once my Death Knight confirmed that he had cleared all that went his way, I found it more simple to just blaze the few remaining with my Alchemist Fire once my other allies got out of range.

Since these medium-sized plants didn't have the capacity of quickly multiplying themselves like the smaller regular ones did, I decided to leave one gravely injured behind so I could make use of it in the near future.

I didn't know all the details yet, but my Portent feature gave me the feeling that I would be glad to leave at least one alive.

I know, it's just as confusing to me as it might be to you.

But while my group proceeded to loot everything that could be scavenged from the pile of bodies, I casually disarmed several traps along the way that would have proven deadly to anyone else other than me and my Legerdemain hands.

"Let's proceed." I commanded after making sure that all the traps had been completely dealt with.

After finally reaching the end of the tunnel, I activated the small opening in the wall before us prompting a passageway to appear, leading me to the Treasure Room.

More like an underground Godswood, I should say.

The chamber itself was just as large as the one under Casterly Rock, though clearly with an entirely different theme.

I noticed the upper silver ring lighting up a small signal to inform me I had unlocked Highgarden, ignoring it and the colorful mosaic tiles on the ceiling for now, I focused on something else.

Just as before, no chest could be found in the center of the Treasure Room, but sparse trees could be seen from where I stood.

Casting my Detect Magic cantrip, my focus was led to one oak tree in particular having a cryptic message carved on its trunk, which said: FEY SECRETS.

[TREE OF FEY SECRETS]

{WOULD YOU LIKE TO ABSORB THE KNOWLEDGE IT POSSESSES?}

[YES/NO]

'Of course!' I thought, immediately accepting the enlightenment.

The knowledge it gave wasn't intended to make me learn an actual new school of Magic, although the knowledge could also help me with the ones I already knew, it helped me instead make a major breakthrough similar to my Druid title.

Noticing that I've just unlocked a perk thanks to all its conditions being met, I took my time understanding its implications.

{FEY TOUCHED} (COST 5 POINTS)

*A fey mystique now surrounds you, however you acquired it, you are now someone who represents both the mortal and the fey realms. As you wander the multiverse, your soothing words brightens the hearts of the downtrodden, and your martial prowess strikes terror in your foes, for great is the mirth of the fey and dreadful is their fury. Incidentally, your exposure to the Feywild's magic or knowledge has also changed you, giving you a deep connection to the environment around you and granting you the following benefits: Advantage in persuasion with any beast, plant, elemental or fey creature and the otherworldly glamour to easily charm regular humanoids. Creatures of the natural world sense your connection to nature and become hesitant to attack you. Lastly, you can regain your reserves of health, stamina and mana considerably faster by sitting in meditation and communing with nature.

'Whoa buddy, quit drilling, you've already struck oil! This perk is definitely costly, but completely worth it! Sorry New Gods, the Old ones seem to just be showering me with their rewards.' I thought to myself before staring at my holy bracelet, not really worried if I was coming out as provocative, knowing full well it was the truth. 'Admittedly it's a little redundant in some areas and the lack of raising a stat was a little disappointing, especially with how expensive they've become, but you won't hear complaints from me. Especially since I could pretend to be Naruto while gathering Natural Chakra.'

[- 5 POINTS]

[71 POINTS REMAINING!]

'Oh my!' I thought, surprised both by the fact that I still had plenty of points and that I finally felt ready to experiment with the Heartstone, a magical item which I got from that Hag back in Raventree Hall's dungeon. 'So…becoming Ethereal is a thing for me now. Huh, I really don't know what to make about it yet.'

And…

{PING!}

[SKILL ROOT EVOLVED!]

[NEW TITLE ACQUIRED!]

[YOU ARE NOW A RANGER!]

[DO YOU WANNA HUNT THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME? WILL YOU BRAVE THE FIERCEST WILDS, FROM THE DARKEST FORESTS, TO THE DEEPESTS DUNGEONS AND THE MOUNTAINS OF OLD. ARE YOU AN EAGLE-EYE TRACKER AND PEERLESS ARCHER? WERE YOU BORN TO BE WILD?]

*Far from the bustle of cities and towns, past the hedges that shelter the most distant farms from the terrors of the wild, amid the dense-packed trees of trackless forests and across wide and empty plains, the majority of rangers keep their unending watch.

*Warriors of the wilderness, rangers specialize in hunting the monsters that threaten the edges of civilization—humanoid raiders, rampaging beasts and monstrosities, terrible giants, and deadly dragons. They learn to track their quarry as a predator does, moving stealthily through the wilds and hiding themselves in brush and rubble. Rangers focus their combat training on techniques that are particularly useful against their specific favored foes.

[NEW FEATURE UNLOCKED: FAVORED ENEMY!]

**You have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting and even talking to a certain type of enemy, reflecting the types of adversaries and monsters you have encountered on your adventures.

**You have advantage on tracking your favored enemies, as well as on recalling information about them. More easily learning the language that is spoken by your favored enemies, if they speak one at all.

** You gain the ability to peer at a creature and logically discern how best to hurt it, focusing your ire to increasing the harm you inflict on it.

[FAVORED ENEMIES: Urban Criminals and Undeads.]

[NEW FEATURE UNLOCKED: NATURAL EXPLORER!]

**You are particularly familiar with specific types of natural environments and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions.

**While traveling for an hour or more in your favored terrain, you gain the following benefits: Difficult terrain doesn't slow you or your group's travel. Your group can't become lost except by magical means. Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger. If you are traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace. When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would. While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.

[FAVORED TERRAINS: Dark Urban Areas and Catacombs.]

[*SPECIFIC CONDITION DICTATES THAT NO REGULAR PEOPLE WILL ACKNOWLEDGE THAT DURRANDON BARATHEON IS A RANGER. ONLY THE CHILDREN OF THE FOREST MIGHT ACKNOWLEDGE IT AFTER SPENDING ENOUGH TIME IN HIS PRESENCE*]

'Finally! It's about time I've become a freaking Ranger! With all the dungeon delving it's quite strange that I didn't get this earlier.' I mentally fistbumped myself. 'Fey connection? Enemies? Terrains? Sure, why not?'

Celebrations apart, I had so much to do.

The walls in this chamber were completely covered with fruits of all types and beautiful roses, like it was a natural greenhouse thanks to the hole in the ceiling somehow providing sunlight, and the floor was made by and divided into multiple types of soil.

Sandy, clay and loam mostly, with appropriate foliage growing on it that indicated that lack of sunlight wasn't a problem. But since this location was one of the most secure places for me, I had a special idea for it.

The scarcity of the Warlocks' Black-barked tree was proving too much of an obstacle in pushing the boundaries of my Alchemist brews, but once I got my hands on a sapling, this pocket dimension would be the safest place to cultivate it.

Alongside the goldenheart trees from the Summer Isles, known for its incredible flexibility and resilience for Bows, and the Ironwood from the north, with its impressive lightness and resistance from being split as Shields.

And don't let me get started with the absurdity of somehow planting Weirwood trees out of the ones I could get from my Nexus Market.

Gotta first get myself a proper Cultivation skill, other than my Nature Knowledge one, just like how I got Mining skill to make better use of the mines in the Westerlands despite the fact that I already had Geology.

All in all, minus one castle in unlocking quick travel, only five remaining now.

But I wasn't done yet.

Looking at Shadow, who was admiring the area we found ourselves inside, I recalled all the secret knowledge I had just absorbed.

Leaving my Death Knight and Unseen Servants waiting for our return, Shadow and I went back through the way we came, passing by the piles of burned cinders of our fallen enemies.

—————————————————————

Finally finding that same Needle Blight I've left behind weakened, I finally understood what the glimpses of the future I had were trying to tell me.

'Go on girl, it's your time again to shine.'

Before the overgrown plant could even attempt to skewer me with its nasty claws and needles, Shadow landed in between us and gave it her best shot, roaring as a bright greenish dust came out of her mouth and immediately covered the plant creature.

Similar to how my control over undeads happened.

However, instead of putting the Needle Blight under her control, it stumbled and fell on top of her, encasing my currently enlarging Wild familiar in a wooden shell resembling natural armor, granting her longer claws and teeth alongside a thin layer of protection surrounding her neck with some small antlers on top of her head.

My previously regular-sized cat now looked more like a Shadowcat equipped with natural armor and a pleasant faint smell of herbs.

'Did she just evolve? Like a Pokémon?' I wondered, not entirely understanding the implications of the future that I predicted.

Noticing that my Mental map still regarded Shadow as an ally, I grinned.

'Good job girl.' I told her mentally as the wooden shell was absorbed into her dark fur and she returned to her previous size. 'C'mon, let's get out of here.'

'Yes, master!'

As Shadow and I walked past the empty tunnel, I started to test her recent progress.

Overall, she had gained three features.

First…

[FEY PRESENCE]

*Your familiar has the ability to project the beguiling and fearsome presence of the fey. Once per day, it can choose to cause each creature in a 3-meter cube originating from it to be all charmed or frightened by it.

Great option for influencing areas of enemies from a distance.

Next…

[SYMBIOTIC SPORES]

*Your familiar is surrounded by invisible spores that are all harmless until it voluntarily unleashes them on a creature within a meter range, constantly dealing a sliver of magical poison damage and preventing regeneration while in its presence. Open wounds on enemies will fester much faster than it regularly does and regular medicine won't be able to heal it.

Makes it easier to have her fighting by my side in an actual battlefield.

Finally…

[NATURE'S STRIDE]

*Whenever your familiar moves through non magical difficult terrain, it moves at its regular pace. It can also pass through non magical plants without being slowed by them and without taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines or a similar hazard.

At least she will keep up with me.

'Nice! Now you look more like a Fey creature to me.' I told Shadow, letting her climb back to my shoulder.

'Thank you, master. I feel much better.' She replied back before noticing the heart-shaped stone and awakened grimoire I retrieved from my Inventory.

"Page, run another full analysis on this magical item." I ordered my awakened Spellbook, opening it as the ghostly face of a female scholar manifested before me.

Although this arcane sentience was made out of a fragment of my own soul, as we both appeared to be young while still showing a very mature personality, it couldn't be denied that Page was clearly her own being.

One that fortunately seemed to be very inclined to do my bidding without objections and made me company during my nights of magical study.

"At once, master." Page replied, stopping for a brief moment to stare at Shadow and greeted her with a certain amount of disdain. "Good to see you again, pet."

'Likewise, Toy.' Shadow snorted while furrowing her whiskers.

"Behave, you two." I ended their arguing before they could get any further.

'Yes, master!' They both replied, immediately dropping their confrontation.

After a brief moment, I got the result to my command.

"You've successfully attuned to the magical item, master." Page informed me. "However, your current location seems to be heavily warded against its effects."

"I figured it to be the case." I sighed. "Page, make a new volume for Feywild Magic. I want to find ways to put it to use as soon as possible."

"Understand, master." My Awakened Grimoire nodded obediently.

Stepping outside of the magical dungeon, having my Death Knight and Unseen Servants following us once again, I had Shadow jump off my shoulder and pick the heartstone once again.

Staring at the magical item for a brief moment, I finally spoke with it. "So if I use you to heal you will break…hmmm… thankfully I already got that need sorted out. Now, show me what you got!"

Raising the magical stone above my head with my arm stretched, I activated its effect.

Honestly, what came next might've been a very traumatizing, or at very least disturbing, experience if not for my Player's Mind.

The world around me suddenly shifted to be dark, gloomy, damp and slightly distorted by a ghostly breeze.

Coincidentally, a good visual analogy would be when Frodo puts on the One Ring in the Lord of the Rings, which surprisingly in many ways very much resembled going into the Ethereal plane.

'Master?!' Shadow called for me, unable to notice I was standing right before her.

'Even though she can't perceive me, our familiar bond seems still active.' I thought to myself. 'Fortunately, my control over the Death knight doesn't seem to dwindle as a result either, so leaving my Unseen Servants as a contingency wasn't all that necessary.'

Slipping again into the material plane, I greeted my Wild Familiar again, surprising her. 'Don't worry, girl. I'm just testing this out.'

'Oh… understood.' She replied back, seemingly ashamed of something.

Becoming Ethereal again was much easier on the second time.

I was no longer visible to anyone in the "normal" world, but I could still see and hear almost everything in the normal world around me, although it's all misty and fuzzy as things looked gray and I had a pretty hard time perceiving anything more than 20 meters away, as anything beyond that was just a void.

This power had no effect if I casted it while I was inside the magical dungeons under Highgarden, and I believe it would also apply to all the other dungeons spread around Westeros.

From Page's words and my own theory, it was probably due to its wards preventing most types of travel between planes, as a countermeasure to have all the monsters that spawned there restricted.

If the White Walkers' Wights were already enough to bring the apocalypse that was known as the Long Night, I could only imagine the mayhem the other types of monsters could instigate if allowed to roam freely.

More like a Conjunction of the Spheres event from the Witcher franchise.

Even my Benign Transportation from studying Conjuration magic was harder to make use of while down there, though strangely my second class Conjuration Spell, Rope Trick, small pocket dimension seemed to be an exception to that rule.

Not sure if it has anything to do with the fact that I'm making a portal rather than shifting through other planes.

Got to investigate it further.

In any case…

As I ventured the border regions of the Ethereal Plane, in the area where it overlapped with my current plane, I discovered that I could choose to remain like this for up to a few minutes with a cooldown just as long, or until I voluntarily dismissed it with no time out.

During that window, I was capable of moving in any direction I wanted to, even up and down or diagonally as if I was flying, however at a much slower pace than my regular walking speed.

Basically becoming a ghost.

Theoretically, while on the Ethereal Plane, I could only affect and be affected by other creatures that also inhabited this plane.

But I never met one to test that theory.

As the other creatures that weren't on or from the Ethereal Plane, they wouldn't perceive me and neither interact with me, unless they had special abilities or magic that gives them the ability to do so, most likely something from the Divination School of Magic.

Phasing past trees and walls on the labyrinthian garden, I confirmed that my body ignored all objects and effects that weren't on or from the Ethereal Plane, allowing me to move through solid spaces I perceive on the plane that I've originated from.

And when the effect ended, I was immediately returned to the material plane, in the spot I was currently occupying.

This also reminded me of the classic trope of Instant Dungeon in most The Gamer/System stories, where the protagonist could cheat their way around it and have the perfect stealth mode for infiltration purposes.

For obvious reasons I wasn't willing to test out what would happen if I ended up occupying the same spot as a solid object or creature when this happened.

Would I be immediately shunted to the nearest unoccupied space that I could physically occupy? Would I take any damage from it? Or be instantly killed?

Was I more like the Xmen's Shadowcat or like My Hero Academia's Lemillion?

As you could understand, it wasn't a risk I was willing to take yet.

But all of this gave me some interesting ideas for new spells, which I've yet to work the minimal details and test it out with Page.

—————————————————————

The day of leaving Highgarden finally came.

Days of following the Tyrell family in their routine, I think I've been successful in painting myself in a good light.

From regular visits to their own library and sept, I stood out as a wiser and more pious royal than my father despite my much younger age.

Mace Tyrell wasn't subtle with how he already viewed me as a potential son-in-law, fortunately Lady Alerie was constantly there to help toned it down.

As for the younger Tyrell siblings, I treated both Loras and Margaery with the same kindness and respect I showed Alyssa as we grew up, singing songs and sharing some of my stories.

Fortunately the duo reciprocated that cordiality back to Pia, my lowborn companion that occasionally insisted on acting as my servant.

I'd also managed to get acquainted with both Willas and Garlan while also speaking highly of my Royal Legion for Willas and formally giving Garlan my personal recommendation to one day enlist.

However, I still warned him that the recommendation was meant to help him avoid waiting too long for his time, proving his capabilities to the standards my Legion was looking for was still paramount, as my officials responsible for recruiting had all the support to not be influenced by his family's influence.

That seemed to have the intended effect of making Garlan even more sure to prove his worth in a group that valued people based on talent, effort and achievement.

In any case…

I commanded Sandor and Daven, after their daily sparring and drilling of the soldiers, to have my Legionnaires break camp outside the castle's walls and get ready to march towards Oldtown.

Pia was a little sad to leave, probably having grown used to living at this fairytale castle with its beautiful gardens and gentle inhabitants, but she wanted to follow me on my journey even more.

As for Tyrion, he had just struck a casual deal for military provisions and qualified manpower with Lord Mace Tyrell in exchange for some of my fertilizers and 'very successful' agricultural techniques.

And it was during that process of taking the road that one of my first patients had finally reached out to speak with me, finally confident that her health had returned her, while I was being guarded by my disguised Death Knight.

Lady Olenna was a small woman the size of a child, slightly shorter than me with a body considerably more frail than mine.

The white-haired lady appeared wrinkled and wizened, with soft, spotted hands and gaunt thin fingers, smelling of rosewater, but also had an old woman's sour breath and toothless smiles.

"Leaving so soon, my prince?" Lady Ollena asked while being accompanied by her daughter-in-law, Lady Alerie. "I've been expecting to see what the grandson of Lord Tywin was growing into."

Olenna walked with a cane and constantly claimed to be near deaf, however I knew that both were part of her feigning to be more frail than she actually was.

Not that different from how Pycelle acted most of the time.

But while the Grand Maester pretended to be docile and subservient, Olenna rarely shied from stating her opinion, being described as a wizened, cunning old woman with a wicked wit and a sharp tongue.

Which suitably earned her the moniker 'Queen of Thorns'.

"My Lady, I'm glad to see you've recovered from your illness." I greeted them with a respectable bow before approaching.

"Thank—" Lady Alerie attempted to speak in gratitude for my gentle words, but was immediately cut off by her mother-in-law.

"Ah, I see good manners aren't a mystery Lord Tywin has kept from you." The old woman replied bluntly with a sharp smile before she looked at me up and down. "But I suppose it can't be denied either that you are your father's son. Just look at you, you are still a child but I can already see a mighty warrior in your future."

Clearly not the most patient of women, with a regular habit of mocking members of her own family, Ollena still was a staunch supporter of Tyrell family interests.

I gave her a friendly smile in return, glad that the previous illness hadn't changed her in any shape or form. "You flatter me, my lady. I still have much to learn in order to even compare to my father."

"How kind of you, my prince. I'm sure both your parents must be proud of the child they brought to this world." Lady Alerie spoke again, to the annoyance of The Queen of Thorns.

"Let me speak, dear. You've had all his stay to flatter him." Ollena suddenly allowed her vicious tongue loose for a moment, before actually chuckling at my response. "I'm not certain if that was false modesty in your tone or genuine humbleness on your part."

"Does it really matter?" I gestured dismissively with smiling eyes. Noticing that my retinue was now waiting for me to begin moving, I decided to not stall any longer. "Sadly my time here is short now, let's not waste time speaking of such trivial matters, my lady."

My response seemed to have caught both women by surprise.

I've figured that to not find myself being mocked like Tyrion was by The Queen of Thorns, I had to act more bold from time to time while dealing with her, so as not to present myself as either slow minded or rude.

Thankfully, before the atmosphere between us became awkward, I heard Lady Olenna's chuckle of approval.

"Perhaps on my next visit to this wonderful castle and delightful family of yours, we will have the opportunity to have a proper conversation." I said while mimicking the appropriate facial and body language for what I was trying to convey.

"Indeed, a real pity we missed our chance now. But if you don't mind satisfying an old woman's curiosity, since no one can tell for how much longer I will live…" She eventually forsake subtleness in favor of practicality, even if her words provoked a stare from her daughter-in-law. "…I would like to know what it is that the ward and Grandson of Tywin Lannister is doing so far away from his presence? I mean, with all due respect, but has he already grown tired of you?"

Before Lady Alerie could even apologize for Olenna's words, since I was both the Crown Prince and still under her hospitality, I spoke up.

"If you must know, my lady, I've been requested by my own grandfather to become acquainted with the lands belonging to my father, the King." I replied, sounding like an obedient and gullible boy while shifting the Queen of Thorns' attention towards my grandfather.

Just like how Varys could become an unnecessary opposing force if my magic was known before the time was adequate, Ollena could very much decide to get rid of me if I appeared to be someone too hard to manipulate.

Neither a monster like Joffrey or a genius like Tywin would do for her.

Not that I couldn't survive the occasional poisoning or hired blade, but I much rather avoid unnecessary trouble and hostility. It also made all my plans less likely to suffer from sabotage or espionage from other players of the game threatened by me.

Deciding to earn some approval from Lady Alerie Tyrell, I added. "For that reason I will continue on my journey around your family's kingdom. My next destination will be your parents' house, my lady."

Lady Alerie, who was once a Hightower before marrying into the Tyrell family, politely requested me. "Please, my prince, send my father and siblings my best regards."

"Certainly, my lady." I assured her.

"If that's the case, I can only wish you safe travels, my prince." The older Tyrell finally nodded in acknowledgment of my response to her question, probably overthinking about my Grandfather's schemes. "Do keep in mind though, that you will always be welcome here. Margaery will certainly miss you."

At that moment I noticed that both Margaery and Loras were waiting for their cue to join us.

"Safe travels for you, my prince." The little Tyrell girl said, obviously fighting with her shyness as her brother merely nodded.

"Much appreciated, my lady. I will certainly miss all of your family, they have been very hospitable during my stay. I will not forget it." I nodded, a little uncomfortable about the way Ollena was raising her Granddaughter, while pretending ignorance to her plans before motioning to leave. "Farewell."

Ollena nodded back and watched with a serious stare as I left to join my retinue.

Thanks to Shadow being so inconspicuous with her presence, I managed to hear through her ears what they began to discuss.

Alerie Tyrell immediately turned to speak her mind to Olenna. "Mother, I don't believe that was the proper way to speak to a prince—"

"Don't call me Mother. If I'd given birth to you, I'm sure I'd remember." The Queen of Thorns immediately dismissed her daughter-in-law's concerns, silencing her once and for all.

"Are you sure we are of the same age?" Margaery finally asked with a glint of admiration, still finding it hard to believe it despite having me around for an entire fortnight. "Talking to him felt like he was much wiser than Willas. He carries himself like a proper King ought to."

"Yes, yes, my dear." Ollena replied, signaling for Alerie to give them some privacy and join Mace's side, proving right then who was the real matriarch of the Tyrell family. "He's growing fast just like his father. Though his Targaryen traits and Lannister upbringing seem to be having an effect on him as well. That might complicate things for us."

"I find his eyes and hair truly mesmerizing." Loras suddenly said, still watching my figure from afar, drawing the attention of his grandmother and sister.

"He certainly isn't bad looking, for a child, I will give you that." Olenna shrugged before turning her eyes to Margaery's. "Gods, if not for that accursed cold, I would've managed to learn more about him. Perhaps even settle down a marriage arrangement for you, my dear."

"Grandmother, you shouldn't disregard your health so easily, you are still recovering." Margaery acted concerned while hiding her blushing cheeks, immediately prompting Loras to offer his aid to their grandmother. "Besides, it is far too soon for any of that. As you've just said, we both are still just children."

"Nonsense, my dear. He clearly thinks and behaves more maturely than his peers. And I don't know why, but Tywin Lannister certainly has a different plan for his ward to have him wandering aimlessly around the continent. A union with the Reach would be the best strategy to assure his right to rule." Ollena dismissed their concerns while also lecturing them more about the Game of Thrones. "And don't worry about me. You and your brothers are the future of our House."

Both siblings stared at one another, a little unsure about what their grandmother was talking about.

"Come now, my children, now that the opportunity has been wasted, there's no use crying about it." Olenna called for them, now signaling to be shielded on both sides by her twin guardsmen, which she shrewdly nicknamed as Right and Left, while walking back to their castle. "We'll have plenty of opportunities to prepare, especially now that I hear that one of your brothers wants to enlist into the Royal Army."

"It's the Royal Legion, Grandmother." Loras corrected her, with a mixture of pride and defiance in his tone, to Olenna and Margaery's surprise.

"Mmm. Good to know." The Queen of Thorns replied, having more respect and tolerance for her actual grandchildren than to her Daughter-in-Law.

'That will be enough, Shadow.' I mentally informed my Wild Familiar as the Tyrells seemed to have dropped the subject for now. 'Return to me.'

'Yes, master.' She replied back, subtly coming out of a nearby bush and striding towards me without a problem.

We still had plenty of ground to cover until reaching Oldtown, so I began finding ways of keeping me occupied.

—————————————————————

On my way through the countryside of the Reach, I managed to practice more of my Horse Riding skill, finding the animal's saddle an excellent place to appreciate the view while delving deep into my meditation.

Main topic I had in mind though couldn't be anything else…

Fey Secrets and Fey Touched… they gave me a better understanding of the natural order and its environment.

As I took a deep breath and felt the gentle breeze blow past me, after commanding that my horse kept following my retinue, I managed to briefly become one with nature and gain knowledge of the surrounding territory while communing with nature.

I could feel the knowledge of the nature filled land within 5 Kilometers of me, sensing bodies of water, caves and other natural underground settings, with a limited radius of a hundred meters beneath me, and even some small communities of people.

That last one would be immensely more useful to use once I'm back in the Westerlands, finally accomplishing my idea of exploring its underground tunnels.

Also, I got a better understanding of the True Tongue spoken by most plants, minerals and animals, that the wind so gently spread around.

Which effectively info dumped on me basically everything there was to know about that land.

It was all, for a lack of better words, supernatural.

Having played several games with familiar themes and mechanics, I knew that Druids and Rangers in general drew their magical essence from Mother Nature itself, worshiping nature and its creator.

Arguably, in this setting, the Old Gods occupied that space, alongside many other pantheons not that popular or long forgotten.

The unofficial School of Nature was not seen as a proper field of study by many academic wizards, who saw their practitioners as school dropouts, slow learners, eccentric, social weirdos or just plain charlatans.

Safe for Necromancy magic, which carries a lot of taboo in both magical and mundane communities, Divination magic was the next closest branch of magic to suffer from a similar treatment.

Which was really ironic, given how many scientists and scholars from both worlds that I've lived in would've said the same thing about anything related to magic.

Either claiming it to be fictional or too dangerous to be allowed to exist.

But nevertheless, some practitioners of magic far and near were drawn to the wild and untamed nature, having their own reason to escape into the wilderness, either going in hiding or studying magic inside nature in solitude.

While many of them lived as hermits outside civilization and protected their habitats against evil or trespassers, some did welcome travelers or lost souls, but they still remained skeptical or reserved even in those instances.

The years of isolation turned them to be more like the Children of the Forest, or the Ifequevron of Essos.

From this newfound understanding I got from the magical Dungeon under Highgarden, I learned a new skill that immediately grew to an impressive level…

[SURVIVAL Lv-40 (0%)]

{YOUR ABILITY TO FOLLOW TRACKS, HUNT WILD GAME, GUIDE YOURSELF AND OTHERS THROUGH FROZEN WASTELANDS, IDENTIFY SIGNS THAT DANGEROUS BEASTS LIVE NEARBY, PREDICT THE WEATHER, OR AVOID QUICKSAND AND OTHER NATURAL HAZARDS.}

…and boosted another one I already had into a similar place.

[NATURE KNOWLEDGE Lv-40 (0%)]

{MEASURES YOUR ABILITY TO RECALL LORE ABOUT TERRAIN, PLANTS AND ANIMALS, THE WEATHER AND NATURAL CYCLES.}

'I must be one of the most cosseted survivalists to ever live. Not that I never tread by places such as Flea Bottom and grim magical dungeons, but still… I'm the fucking crown prince of Westeros, there must be plenty of hunters and farmers more worthy of such a status.'

My Thaumaturgy cantrip was another example of an improvement in my arsenal.

{THAUMATURGY Lv- 24 (44%)}

{**Predict what the weather will be at your Location for the next 24 hours. Shield a 3 meters radius sphere from rain and snow, control the temperature in a twenty meters radius (making it neutral if it's mildly something, mildly warm if hot or mildly cool if cold). Make seeds sprout, flowers blossom, fruit to ripen, and opposite effects like make seeds infertile, plants to wilt and leaves to dry.}

'An amazing upgrade for a cantrip that already did basically everything. Transmit messages, mend stuff, repair gear, minor Alchemy and plenty more. My "Instant Wonder" as I've nicknamed it, since "Swiss Army Knife" got a little tiresome.'

Honestly, predicting the weather had a bigger impact for sailing than it had for agriculture, as the seas and oceans were definitely more volatile than the atmospheric conditions inland, even if the seasons just became much shorter than they once were.

Shielding an area from rain and snow, while also regulating the temperature, could be the thing to make farming during winter much more possible, alongside exerting direct influence over seeds, flowers and fruits.

In any case, in the brief moment I had from dusk till dawn before leaving Highgarden after coming out of its dungeon, I continued to work with Page, my Awakened Spellbook, and discussed with her about this new discovery.

And you guessed it right!… Or I at least hope you did… I got new Cantrips!

{THORN WHIP Lv- 1(0%)}

[NATURE CANTRIP: You create a long, vine-like whip covered in thorns that lashes out at your command toward a creature in range, either from you or from a surface area in a natural environment. Making a melee attack against the target, if the attack hits, the creature takes magical piercing damage. Or if instead you choose to wrap it around a creature that is Large, Medium and Small, you pull the creature, or object, up to 9 meters closer to where the whip originated from.]

CASTING TIME: 6 SECONDS

RANGE: 10 METERS

COMPONENTS: V, S, M (the stem of a plant with thorns)

DURATION: INSTANTANEOUS

My first attempt at it was mildly interesting, as upon extending my hand, a weave of thorny strands hissed as it lashed out of my palm.

Missed a few times, with the whip whizzing around my target and soon slinked off, as the thorns failed to grasp anything.

Once my aim finally proved its worth, the whip wrapped itself around my target, it being a practice dummy I've found on one of Highgarden's training yards while no one was around, and as I pulled it I felt the thorns catch and tear its body.

This made me wonder if I could also use it like a grappling hook, pulling myself and even swinging like Spiderman by Twining it.

More like Tarzan though, but still, other than the markings of the thorns in the surface I anchored myself to, it was a pretty neat experience.

Hey, I already got the Spider Climb by altering my body to have magical barbs, so reaching some hard-to-reach areas, especially since I couldn't Wild Shape into anything capable of flying yet, was very gratifying.

As for the other Cantrip…

{INFESTATION Lv- 1(0%)}

[NATURE CANTRIP: You cause a cloud of mites, fleas, and other plaguing parasites to sprout out of you and momentarily swarm one creature you can see within range. The target takes magical poison damage and will run desperately to get rid of the cloud while having its perception hindered. Incidentally, if aimed at plant life that isn't magical, the parasites will act independently and potentially, slowly but surely, devastate crops while causing major agricultural damage to a small farming area.]

CASTING TIME: 6 SECONDS

RANGE: 10 METERS

COMPONENTS: V, S, M (a living flea)

DURATION: INSTANTANEOUS

Okay, this one was a little gross.

Think of Insect Swarm from Bioshock and you've got a pretty good picture of it.

In any case, it reminded me of my Necromancy Cantrip, Decompose, only this time for plants.

And in times of war, destroying an enemy's crops and harvest will be a great advantage to have.

Perhaps a war crime as well, but who's counting?

Immediately shifting my attention away from my previous reflections, I heard some talking to me.

"You see that, Don? The oldest city of Westeros stands before us." It was a young man speaking to me in a sarcastic tone, apparently mocking our destination.

Took me a brief moment for me to identify him.

'Gods, this new meditation method gave me an awesome sense of the massive area surrounding me, but to the detriment of everything else that was really nearby.' I mentally sighed while quickly recovering from my deep state of meditation. 'Fortunately my Alert perk would warn me if I was under any danger.'

The voice was one I was very familiar with.

It was the voice of a boy of seventeen years of age that was a year away from turning into a fully grown man, although this world already regarded him as such.

"And yet, it is probably the most well kept." I finally said in response, teasing him about his pride over Lannisport. "At least compared to King's Landing."

Daven sat on top of his horse, who looked splendid in comparison to the average horses most freeriders had, right beside me and Sandor Clegane on the hill the Roseroad led us through.

This time I had decided to have my Death Knight marching alongside my Legionaries to send them the message that even the great Ser Knight wasn't above such training exercise.

Back to my talk with Daven…

The future Lord of Lannisport was just over six feet, with blonde hair and green eyes. His features were sharp, and I could see cheekbones and a jawline beginning to peek out underneath his long stubble that he had been cultivating to grow into a full beard.

And as the previous months had proved to the world, he was a warrior through and through, although you wouldn't be completely sure about it by his casual demeanor.

"You certainly jest, my prince! Lannisport makes this seem like a northerner town. Are you sure it's really the richest city in Westeros?" He questioned, proudly defending his family's home. "Besides, how bad can the Capital really be?"

"Well, it's not that hard to beat those small communities up in the north, unless you are comparing it to White Harbor. That reminds me, weren't the Manderlys a house from the Reach?" I asked with a casual chuckle to the boy, who was actually ten years older and two heads taller than me, clearly being so easy to tease. "And believe me when I tell you that King's Landing doesn't live up to its name. I wouldn't hold it entirely against the Targaryens though, after all, keeping the order over half a million of people, smallfolk and nobles alike, got to have its fair share of challenges. And from what I've read, Oldtown isn't that far away."

"Aye, I suppose it isn't that simple. But your father must be making up for that. By the way, Don, have you ever been to the North?" He asked a little curious, while my eyes scanned the whitewashed walls of Oldtown from afar.

"Never. You?" I immediately replied before turning to him, my answer was so quick that it was easy for him to tell it was truthful.

Inspecting his facial features and body language, I noticed that Daven's face had changed from the normally flippant and carefree look, to an awkward one.

"No, I just heard stories about it." He finally replied. "Been thinking about how life must be there now that winters come and go each year."

"A real shock for the Starks, I'm sure." I replied, finding it somewhat amusing how the stupid feud between the Lannister and Starks applied to even the houses of thier kingdoms.

Speaking of the Westerlanders…

Originally, Daven was not an expected companion of mine by any means. In fact, canonically he wasn't even meant to be the next lord of Lannisport.

I was expecting instead to find him as the son of Tywin's brother-in-law, someone who I would grow tired of being around within the next year or two. But we had taken a liking to each other, after we had spent enough time together.

Being surprised at how more skilled I was compared to him and how unusually respectable a royal prince like me was with him and his family, the scion of the offshoot house of the great Lannisters of Casterly Rock, was thankfully easy to talk to and didn't mind learning in silence despite his cheery disposition.

That was extremely valuable to me, as I was not interested in having mere brute fighters following me around, too confident with their own skills and not willing to listen to my teachings would be the worst candidate for me to work with.

'Gems could not be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.' Was the mantra I was going with.

Because of that, I've added him to my party and raised the bar for what I expected him to become, which in return made Daven a formidable individual with enough experience, eager to learn more even from Tyrion and Sandor, who I've also just recently added to my party.

"Has Lady Westerling stopped swooning over you yet, Daven? I've heard she keeps sending you letters." I suddenly asked with a grin, mentioning another matter I knew made him embarrassed.

Apparently Daven had met her during one of the patrols of my Royal Legion around the Westerlands I had him join to gain experience alongside Tygett.

Thanks to those experiences, the young lad was more than talented with the sword and shield. Not Jaime Lannister talented, mind you, but that wasn't out of his reach anymore.

Hearing my words, Daven groaned, immediately recalling his encounter after dealing with some lowly outlaws.

"It's just hero worship coming from a child, she'll grow out of it." I reassured him, finding it so amusing that Jeyne Westerling and I had the same age. "Besides, I doubt your parents will favor such a match for their only son."

"One can only hope, Don." Daven said as we trotted our horses back to join my Legionnaires and the traveling carts ahead of us. "There's something wrong about that girl, I just don't know what."

I merely grinned at the difference between Daven and the Young Wolf's judgment of character.

"Poor lad, isn't he, Clegane?" I asked my Swornshield. "To have ladies swooning all over him."

Sandor actually snorted at that notion, scratching his burned scar, not missing my sarcastic tone.

"Just don't tell my uncle about it." I warned Daven with a casual smile. "He certainly will cry you a river."

"Yeah, more likely to drown you in one." Sandor added with his gruff voice.

"Okay, okay. I get that I sound silly saying stuff like that." Finding it better to laugh with us, Daven replied. "But please, enough with the teasing."

"Alright." I eventually told him, deciding to not push him too far with the friendly banter.

"You seem to be in a good mood, my prince." Sandor suddenly pointed out. "You normally aren't that talkative."

"Must be my uncle's antics rubbing off on me." I explained not really believing in it. "Or just that we are about to reach a place I've been dreaming of visiting ever since I was a kid."

"Apologies, my prince, but you still are a kid." Sandor continued to impress me with his observation skills.

"I mean, even younger." I replied back. "After all, I began studying with Grand Maester right after my first name day, as I was finally learning how to speak."

Daven's eyes betrayed his surprise. "That young?! I mean, what could you possibly learn back then?"

I shrugged. "Mostly how to read and write."

Feeling the sudden silence from my companions, I raised an eyebrow.

"With all that intelligence, you must understand how abnormal you really are." Sandor finally said what I believe Daven must've been thinking.

"Of course I know that." I told them. "I just never cared about comparing myself with others, unless they were better than me. Pycelle was smarter, Ser Barristan was stronger and even Syrio was faster than me. So I was very keen to learn everything I could from them."

Sandor snickered at the memory of my Water Dance instructor.

"I see." Daven remarked as if he had come to an interesting realization. "Changing subjects… you said we were reaching a place you've been meaning to visit for quite a while now. Is it the Citadel?"

"Precisely." I confirmed, actually impressed he didn't guess it was the city itself.

"But from what you've once told me, you were in a hurry to visit it." Daven continued, surprising me with his long lasting memory.

"Indeed. My worries may never amount to anything, but I don't want to miss the chance to visit such a place. Who knows what tragedy might come to pass with all the current economic instability the winters have brought us or all the experiments they perform inside it?"

"You must be overthinking it, Don." Daven attempted to reason with me. "From what I know, the Citadel has been standing for thousands of years now. Besides, if the old Alchemists of the capital have managed to handle their wildfire, I believe the Maesters can handle a few books and scrolls."

"Old Valyria was allegedly just as old and possibly more powerful than both institutions together." I argued back, immediately silencing him. "Their scion branch didn't even last three centuries without them."

"Point taken." Daven acknowledged while Sandor nodded. "So… where will we be staying this time?"

As the three of us continued on our way discussing lighter subjects, I couldn't help but wonder, why had I once received a particularly vivid vision?

One with Oldtown sacked and the Citadel ablaze.

In any case, I must get all of those books and scrolls before the worst happens.

—————————————————————

A couple of hours later…

One could see the legendary Hightower from kilometers away.

At first it was just a speck on the horizon, but as we got closer, still far away, I could finally see it pointing up into the sky high above everything that surrounded it.

But it was only when Oldtown itself heaves fully into view that I could properly appreciate how much on a different scale it was in comparison to everything most people have seen in their entire lives.

This surely was one of the greatest wonders made by man anywhere on this planet, compared to the proportions of The Rock, Harrenhal and The Wall.

Besides, there was much to say about Oldtown itself, since it was after all the oldest and, until very recently, the largest city in Westeros.

However I could elaborate on that some other time.

For now, my retinue with marching soldiers and riding scouts pushed its way through the throng of people towards the Hightower itself, as it stood in the middle of the city.

Not gonna lie, gazing up at it, it really felt awe inspiringly tall.

"Perhaps someone was compensating for something." Tyrion finally said what I was just thinking.

"Heh." I allowed myself to spare a chuckle at his comment.

But stupid jokes aside…

I've been to higher places in my travels, Harrenhal and the Rock immediately came to mind, but this was undoubtedly amongst the highest man-made structures on the continent.

Perhaps even the entire world.

It was said to be higher than The Wall itself, to the point that it was said that one could even see the icy barrier from the top, some 3 or more kilometers away.

Seems very unlikely to me, having spent enough time gazing at the horizon from the top of Casterly Rock.

I suspect that the prospect of that claim lacking any dispute spoke more about the small number of people who have actually been to the top of the tower than its actual veracity.

Seeing its streets, I saw that the city itself seemed to have grown out from the Hightower with the older parts huddled together close to it, with the newer developments further away.

Not that any other buildings could get too close, for the Hightower stood apart on an island in the estuary of the Honeywine River, considered one of the most lovely sounding rivers in all of Westeros as it entered into the Whispering Sound bay.

Again, also considered to be the most wonderfully named bay in the Seven Kingdoms.

The Honeywine bifurcated the city, straddled by the Citadel as well as all manner of merchant houses and the likes.

And all along both banks were docks and keys that made it easy for people to find someone who would take them out into the middle of the river to get a closer look at the Hightower.

Fortunately for me, I had a boat belonging to the Hightowers themselves waiting to take me and my close companions there.

Although our guide informed us that this city was further south than some parts of Dorne, its climate didn't seem to reflect that.

The city was famously described as often foggy, and when it was, everyone could best appreciate the fundamental purpose of this tower being here.

It was after all a lighthouse, guiding ships through the fog into a safe dock.

On such days, and in the depths of night, our guide aid that the flame that burned so brightly from the top of the tower seemed to hang in the night sky, piercing almost supernaturally through the fog.

But today, thankfully, was not a foggy day and we could appreciate the view of the city.

So, as the Hightower boat that received us slowly approached the island, its oars splashing gently against the Honeywine, I got my first close-up view of the tower, and it was noticeably ancient.

"I've heard that Humans have lived here for a millennia." I mentioned it to Tyrion, who was close by my side.

"Most often people talk about houses being ancient if they have descended from the First Men, but you should remember that the First Men were not actually the first humans on this continent at all." He replied, a little proud of having his inputs appreciated. "Before them there were others, their names lost to us, who traded and settled in coastal areas like this, almost certainly founding Oldtown itself."

Noticing how I remained silent waiting for him to continue, he did just that.

"House Hightower was quite possibly the descendent of some of these, and like their ancestors, they have maintained a commendable commitment to trade and diplomacy over warfare ever since. But of course, even their ancestors weren't the first occupants here." Tyrion recollected everything he remembered hearing and reading about them. "Whenever back in antiquity the Hightower was first moved on to Battle Island, and incidentally no one seems to know why it's called Battle Island. Presumably there was a battle here once, but between whom and who won has been lost in the mists of history."

"So when the Hightowers moved in, it was to a

fortress that already existed?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes. Like we are now, they pulled their boats up to this island and discovered a construction that was not just older than them, but far far beyond anything they could dream of building." Tyrion nodded, showing enthusiasm about this role of teacher he had been relegated to.

Shifting my gaze towards the construction we were talking about just now, I remarked that while from afar, the Hightower looked to be of pale stone reaching up into the sky, here up close I could see its base and foundations of the opposite appearance.

They were jet-black.

My mind immediately went back to the Sea Stone chair recorded to be located in Pyke castle, the throne of the Lord of the Iron Islands.

It was made of a black stone that felt unnatural somehow, as if it were made by magic or some long-forgotten and powerful race.

The foundation stones of the Hightower were a mystery even to their current occupants. Exactly, it has to be said, the kind of mystery that the Maesters who were based so close by were drawn to.

But even they were divided in their views as to what it was. It seemed to be the same sort of stone as the Sea Stone chair, but less oily to the touch and fused together with great artifice or magic.

Kinda like how my Thaumaturgy was capable of flawlessly mending together materials.

To some it looked and felt much like the Black Walls of Volantis or the Dragon Roads of the Valyrian Freehold. But unlike those Valyrian structures, it was unadorned, plain and almost functional.

So, although the straightforward answer was that it was probably Valyrian or of some antecedent of the Valyrians, some Maesters say it was the work of the Deep Ones, those legendary half-human half-sea creatures. And others even claimed that the maze makers of Lorath were the ones responsible for it.

But whatever the truth of it, the Hightowers moved in and have been here ever since.

At that point, as my inner circle of friends reached the entrance of the castle, the heir of Lord Hightower welcomed us into his family's glorious tower as their guests.

"Welcome, my prince. It's an honor to have you in our respectable castle." The handsome man over his forties with a splendid reputation announced while bowing respectfully, alongside his wife, stepmother, four of his siblings and the guardsmen of his house.

Ser Baelor Hightower, also known as Baelor Brightsmile, was married to Rhonda Rowan and had Rhea Florent as stepmother.

He was also the man that Rhaenys' mother was almost married to, if not for Oberyn's nickname for the Hightower to prompt Ellia to always laugh at him.

Of Lord Hightower's children, the only one, other than Baelon, whom I had any previous knowledge of was his youngest daughter, Lynesse.

The woman that would be the ruin of the poor Jorah Mormont and eventually end up as chief concubine of a merchant prince in Lys.

Speaking again, this time with some hesitation, about his Lord father's absence. "Apologies for my father's absence. He hasn't been feeling well as of late, the winters have been taking a toll on his health."

This time the other members of his house betrayed his words by acting as if their father was drunk somewhere in the house.

I could see from that small interaction that they weren't much believers of his father's appreciation of the higher arts, though not that they would dispute Baelor's excuse for him.

"You need not to make excuses, Ser Hightower. I'm already pleased by your hospitality." I finally replied, making use of my charisma to make my words very believable. "And send my regards to your father whenever you can, for I'm sure he must be receiving all the medical support he needs, but still… all my prayers are with him."

"Aye, my prince." Baelor replied before leading me and my small retinue inside his tower.

Honestly, I had all but forgotten that canonically his father, the Old Man of Oldtown, Leyton Hightower, was supposed to have only locked himself up there without leaving for an entire decade after the Greyjoy rebellion took place.

Perhaps Lord Hightower, as was rumored of several other members of his house over the years, had become too focused on his studies of the higher mysteries once the seasons were no longer what they used to be.

Or perhaps, he and his daughter Malora Hightower, nicknamed as the Mad Maid, have had a similar vision about their home and city in ruins.

Regardless, after eating the food and drinking the drink off our host's table beneath his roof, our guest right was invoked.

During a pleasant conversation with Baelor, I recalled giving him his sister's best regards and he thanked me for it, remarking how he missed her.

It has to be said, this guy didn't only behave as a good man, my Observation skill betrayed nothing bad about him. Even his first nickname, as cruel as it was, was mostly regarded as an awkward moment of his life, rather a slight he would be willing to seek vengeance upon.

From what I heard during our conversation, his sister, Malora, was taking care of their father, and has always acted as the mother of the house, probably due to how many wives Lord Leyton had come to lose either during childbirth or during some terrible sickness.

Poor Lady Florent, the current wife of Lord Leyton, none of his children were his, and neither of them seemed particularly fond of her.

The third child of Lord Hightower was Garth, a knight of some repute that led the troops of Oldtown. Daven seemed particularly interested in him, probably thinking of one day being responsible for training the troops of his own city.

And also because he could see the youngest Hightower, Lynesse, gave him the chills just like Jeyne Westerling did.

The third and fourth sons were Gunthor and Humfrey, the former was a novice at the Citadel, while the latter was responsible for sailing and trading with the Arbor.

Tyrion immediately became acquainted with them, obviously interested in the life inside the Citadel as well as in the prospect of buying a stock of Arbor Gold.

After all, he wasn't prohibited from drinking, I just had him prioritize quality over quantity.

As for the other members of the family, there were four sisters married and living elsewhere, including Lady Alerie to Mace Tyrell.

Taking the excuse of being tired from our long journey, I asked to be led to the guest chambers, already knowing that they had something special reserved for a member of the Royal family.

Leaving the exploration of Oldtown for tomorrow, as there were plenty of matters to be dealt with within this magnificent City, I immediately sneaked out of my room, leaving my Death Knight standing guard at my door while allowing Sandor the night of rest, and went exploring the famous tower.

All my work with the heartstone I looted from the Night Hag all those months ago, and my short experience with the Ethereal plane, allowed me to get something else from it.

Something I've been thinking about ever since I first came into contact with the illusion school of magic.

{INVISIBILITY Lv- 1(0%)}

[SECOND CLASS ILLUSION SPELL: A creature you touch becomes Invisible until the spell ends. Anything the target is wearing or carrying is Invisible as long as it is on the target's person. The spell ends for a target that attacks or casts a spell, as well as receives damage.]

CASTING TIME: 6 SECONDS

RANGE: TOUCH

COMPONENTS: V, S, M (An eyelash encased in gum arabic)

DURATION: CONCENTRATION, UP TO 1 HOUR.

Thankfully Magic wasn't completely restricted by the laws of physics, given how I could still see, despite the fact that the vision as we know is based on the light rays that enter one's eyes, and block my view by closing my eyes.

Just as fortunate was that my mind instinctively understood where all my limbs were, allowing me to keep my dexterity with both my hands and feet.

{-20 MP}

Now, onto my exploration…

To start with, given all their wealth they had long abandoned these dark cold corridors and halls that I saw here down below, the original structure being square and almost without light inside.

Honestly, it was labyrinthine and unwelcoming.

It's defendable to be sure, but it wasn't the kind of home you would expect a mighty lordly family to make do with.

Especially with a member like Lynesse.

And so, at some point, the Hightowers started to build upwards.

First there was a squat wooden tower rising no more than 15 meters above the ancient foundations, it was in truth more of a glorified lighthouse than anything else, but it was a start.

After that, came three more wooden towers,

each taller than the last, but none were quite grand or strong enough.

So Uthor of the Hightower ordered the construction of something that would last the ages, a stone tower 60 meter high, still with a lighthouse at the top but with chambers and halls fit for a mighty house.

The person the legends tell us that he had commissioned to do this was none other than Bran the Builder, he who built the wall and founded Winterfell and House Stark.

Whether this was true or not, it was after all thousands of years old, it does at least give another reminder of how old house Hightower actually is, as four massive constructions were built, lived in and torn down before House Stark was even founded.

The nature of the black stones in general and their construction technique has been a mystery many have tried to unravel, with no luck.

The Hightower's foundations were an even more vexing dilemma, since its style of construction seems older than other traditional Valyrian styles, and lacking any kind of ornamentation… well, almost any kind.

Though nothing that I could make heads or tails of.

As for the dungeon of this castle, I had an easier time finding its entrance.

Though for sake of brevity I delved in it alone.

As I was expecting, the theme of this one was the mysterious blackstones that sucked all the light of the environment, even the ones casted by my Minor Illusion.

A darkness so deep that even my regular Darkvision had some trouble guiding me through it.

However, the sudden absence of visual stimulus allowed a certain segment of my mind to finally rest, probably due to the observant perk being always active.

Having only my Mental Map to rely upon this time, I found it the best opportunity to explore my blindsight, a general term for the natural ability of certain creatures to perceive their surroundings as well as a sighting creature without using visual senses.

Senses that could contribute to a creature's overall blindsight included enhanced hearing, an acute sense of smell, sensitivity to vibrations, or such specialized senses as echolocation that I so unfortunately lacked.

So for now, in a radius of 3 meters, I could see normally.

Frankly, this experience gave me a serious Horror movie feeling, with all the wailing and presence of the undead.

Sneaking past all of them, I was so grateful to not find any Shadows or other monsters down here that could be more of a threat than a regular zombie unable to see in this gloom.

And if there was any being stalking me from afar, I could find respite in the fact that I'm probably too well defended and mobile enough to react appropriately for it to risk engagement.

The traps were surprisingly easier to deal with thanks to my blindsight and alert perk, especially without companions to protect.

By the end of the seemingly never ending tunnel, my common sense was already expecting some bullshit twist of events, something like a beacon to lure all the undeads I've successfully avoided up to that point.

But finding the entrance to the Treasure Room and activating it to open provoked no such thing, safe for the occasional glimpse of dim light that made some of the more far away zombies stir.

Although, after using my Arcane Lock spell on it to seal the entrance shut once again, I made sure that they wouldn't have reasons to disturb me.

Now, turning my head to inspect what I've earned for cheating another dungeon, I was mildly disappointed.

From all the cultural background importance I've learned from Oldtown, the chamber itself wasn't anywhere near as large as the one under Highgarden, as it kept the same theme it had up to this point.

An underground chamber without windows, carved completely out of the same blackstones I found in the lower levels of the Hightower castle, if not for its foundations being made of a oily variant that visually absorbed all the light of the room that came its way, making it seem like they were doors to the same void I just came out of.

Making sure that the upper silver ring lit up a small signal to inform me I had unlocked Hightower, I turned to face the ceiling and the colorful mosaic tiles on the ceiling depicting a scene of war.

One with dragonriders fighting what appeared to be merlings, mostly known as the deep ones, and their… are those Krakens?

Oh boy, if that's accurate, then reality is indeed weirder than fiction.

Probably because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities, reality isn't.

Focusing now on something else, I found no chest in the center of the Treasure Room, to be more exact, if not for a single Glass candle this was an empty room.

Casting my Detect Magic cantrip, I felt the door I've just locked with some abjuration magic and the pillars of black oily stone, one in particular having a cryptic message carved on its surface.

Similar to the one I've found on Highgarden, this one identified itself as: SHADOW SECRETS.

[STONE OF SHADOW SECRETS]

{WOULD YOU LIKE TO ABSORB THE KNOWLEDGE IT POSSESSES?}

[YES/NO]

'Sure!' I thought, immediately accepting the enlightenment.

Just like with Fey Secrets, this knowledge seemed to help me to be more expert with the knowledge I already had, interestingly enough, it also aided me with making a major breakthrough related to my Ranger and Monk titles.

[TITLE "RANGER" HAS LEVELED UP TWICE!]

[TRAIT UNLOCKED: GLOOM STALKER!]

*Gloom stalkers are at home in the darkest places: deep under the earth, in gloomy alleyways, in primeval forests, and wherever else the light dims. Most folk enter such places with trepidation, but a Gloom Stalker ventures boldly into the darkness, seeking to ambush threats before they can reach the broader world. Such rangers are often found in the Underdark, but they will go any place where evil lurks in the shadows.

[FEATURE UNLOCKED: DREAD SKIRMISHER!]

*You master the art of the ambush. Always the one to strike first, with great spurs of speed during each lunge, hitting harder with each attack and always difficult to pin down. You are also adept at evading creatures that rely on darkvision. While in darkness, you are invisible to any creature that relies on darkvision to see you in that darkness.

[TITLE "MONK" HAS LEVELED UP!]

[TRAIT UNLOCKED: WAY OF SHADOW!]

*Monks of the Way of Shadow follow a tradition that values stealth and subterfuge. These monks might be called ninjas or shadowdancers, and they serve as spies and assassins. Sometimes the members of a ninja monastery are family members, forming a clan sworn to secrecy about their arts and missions. Other monasteries are more like thieves' guilds, hiring out their services to nobles, rich merchants, or anyone else who can pay their fees. Regardless of their methods, the heads of these monasteries expect the unquestioning obedience of their students.

[FEATURE UNLOCKED: SHADOW ARTS!]

*You can use your Ki to manipulate the shadows. Spending 2 ki points you get to cast a veil of shadows and silence radiates from you, masking you and your companions from detection. For ten minutes, each creature you choose within 10 meters of you (including you) has a bonus to their Stealth stat and can't be tracked except by magical means as any creature that receives this bonus leaves behind no tracks or other traces of its passage.

[FEATURE IMPROVED!]

*You gain the ability to step from one shadow into another. Additionally, when you are in dim light or darkness, you can teleport up to 6 meters to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in dim light or darkness.

'Wonderful, I can finally have the night as my playground.' I acknowledged.

Noticing that I've just unlocked a perk thanks to all its conditions being met, I took my time understanding its implications.

{SHADOW TOUCHED} (COST 5 POINTS)

*A shadowy mystique now surrounds you, however you acquired it, you are now someone who represents both the mortal and the shadow realms. As you wander the multiverse, casting a strange pall over the physical presence surrounding you, the spark of life that sustains you can be muffled by it, as it struggles to remain viable against dark energy that imbues your soul. Incidentally, your exposure to the Shadowfell's energy or knowledge has also changed you, giving you a deep connection to the negative energies around you and granting you the following benefits: You barely bleed, even when badly injured, and can choose to be very hard to notice. You can also see through magical Darkness. Your existence in a twilight state between life and death makes you difficult to kill, for once a day, if your health bar is reduced to 0 you get to recover a sliver of it, effectively resurrecting you from the dead. This won't work if you have been killed with Radiant damage.

Man, Rhaenys would certainly find it awesome, as even creatures of the night are prey to my superior vision in magical darkness and Nightcrawler shadow steps.

Not to mention the massive boost to my stealth stat, imagine if I stack Invisibility on top of it.

As for the undead-like feature, it was kinda like what I've been seeking with my studies of Necromancy. Though the one death per day is a little bit much, given that I still had the Warrior of the Gods feature which made resurrection spells not cost anything on me.

But I'm not sure if either of the New or the Old Gods would like it.

[- 5 POINTS]

[69 POINTS REMAINING!]

I'll cross that bridge later. Hopefully the Stranger will find it even more amusing.

Now making my way out of the dungeon and up the levels, easily passing by any guard watching the hallways thanks to my Stealth and Invisibility, I eventually reached the top layers of the Hightower.

The highest floor was currently occupied by both Lord Leyton Hightower and his eldest daughter, performing some ritual with a glass candle faintly lit while surrounded by piles of ancient tomes that I could only identify as a desperate attempt to delve into Divination magic.

Were they trying to contact someone else faraway or perhaps scry into the past or future?

The vision of Oldtown sacked might be what made them enter this desperate state earlier than in the cannon, but still, will the Long Night be that much of a threat?

What I'm saying, of course it will.

I'm just not sure if it will be the only future threat I will have to deal with.

Leaving Lord Hightower and the Mad Maid to keep trying their rituals, I found a window and began climbing from outside.

Fortunately today the Hightower's beacon was being refurbished and there was no light nearby to spoil my observations of the wonderful view from such an altitude.

I took a deep breath, enjoying the seaward breeze from the top of the Hightower, looking as the sun slowly hid under the Sunset Sea, its orange light gradually diminishing over the bustling city before me.

Looking downwards, I saw the waves crashing against the sharp rocks of Battle Isle.

Pulling both Shadow and Page from their respective pocket dimensions, I allowed them to enjoy the same view as I began to meditate.

Feeling the energy of both the Feywild and Shadowfell swirling inside me fighting for dominance, I took an active role in order to find balance in that struggle.

The hand with my holy bracelet shone with Radiant fey energy while my other hand oozed necrotic darkness.

—————————————————————

(06/12/2021)

(11/12/2021)

(22/06/2022)

*Hope this chapter is of your liking.

Anything you wish to ask or suggest, feel free to do so.

Check out my auxiliary chapter if you still haven't.

Thanks as always for your attention and please be safe.

Any problems with my writing, just point them out and I will correct them as soon as possible.

** Sorry for the constant delays.

*** As for the constant info dumps about the logistics of raising and maintaining a personal army, I will stop with them for a while since most of you seem to not enjoy it that much. 😅 I'm aware that my writing skills aren't that high to make it more of a pleasant reading experience. Sorry if it really bothered you.

**** Shoutout to both fics: "The Ladder" by "Twubs" at Fanfiction.com and "Purple Days" by "barus" at forums.spacebattles.com. Really digging both stories.

***** I've been avoiding adding the MC's status window for the sake of keeping the pace of the narrative and also because I was told that it was very annoying to read through. 😅 Where do you think I should be keeping it so you guys don't get lost in his rapid progression?