Chapter 11

"Behind me!" Harry ordered as his horse rode out of the Gate of Winterfell, followed by the 20 Skagosi men he had brought with him.

A lot had happened in Winterfell, and Harry couldn't wait to return to Skagos. He was now officially a noble in Westeros. Eddard Stark had aided him in the hardest step to becoming someone of social status.

In any aristocratic society, the jump from commoner to even a small noble was a massive mountain, and even if you managed it, prejudices would follow your house for generations.

Harry, on the other hand, while being from a noble house in his own world, had never grown up in such a way. Neither was House Potter recognized in Westeros, and it would be hard to accomplish.

But his connection to House Stark allowed him to be recognized as a Cadet Branch of the Stark Family, one of the Great Houses in Westeros. While it didn't mean much in the South, apparently, where they were the worst kind of nobility, it gave him a ton of recognition in the North.

Most importantly, this allowed him to have the time to smoothly cement his hold over Skagos without any interference from any other houses. It was a legal shield until he was powerful enough that nobody could remove him either way.

Before his conquest of Skagos and his visit to House Stark, his growth had slowed simply from the lack of any skills to grind. But now he had 142 new books filled with knowledge and spells for him to study.

As far as he could tell, it included the whole Hogwarts curriculum up to the NEWT level, including runes and arithmancy, and even more advanced magic in certain areas.

The most advanced magic was transformation up to mastery level; considering that Sirius was an Animagus, it wasn't a surprise. Followed by Charms, specifically combat-related Potions, and the Dark Arts beyond Hogwarts Level.

The Dark Arts were probably something Sirius had picked up while growing up in the Black Family. Potions was slightly above Hogwarts Level because his father, James, and Sirius had to brew the Animagus Potion.

Lastly, there was some basic knowledge in different areas, like warding and healing. It was nowhere close to a professional level or mastery, but enough to learn the basics.

That's as far as the wizarding knowledge that Sirius had left behind was concerned. His descendants had added their own notes, understandings, and completely new types of magic.

Over the years, they had become adepts in multiple magics, one of which was greenseeing, which was a mental magic related to the Weirwood Trees of the Children of the Forest. They could dive into that interconnected network of trees and gain access to visions of the past, present, and even the future.

The second magic the Ancient Starks had learned was the art of skin-changing. The ability to use their minds to connect to animals.

They could not only make them obey them but even use their senses for themselves. This was where their Direwolf Banner came from. The animal that had the highest affinity with the Starks was the direwolf.

It didn't take long, and they were out of the reach of the Winterfell Towers and in the wilderness, away from any human settlements.

"You guys continue towards Skagos. I will go ahead by myself. Take my horse with you," he ordered his men as he unsaddled his horse.

"Yes, Lord Potter. We will meet you on Skagos. As you requested before, we will avoid any settlements in order not to cause any suspicion about yourself," replied the man Harry had chosen as leader of that guard troop as he took the reins of the horse from Harry.

As soon as his men were out of sight, he pulled his invisible cloak out and climbed onto his broom. He wouldn't spend a month traveling by horse again if he could avoid that.

———

By mastering enough transfiguration spells, you understood one of the basic concepts of the transfiguration branch of magic.

[A new skill has been acquired!]

[Transfiguration: Shape Manipulation (Active) Lv. 1: The ability to freely shape any inanimate material into any form without changing its properties.

Maximal Size: 1 cubic meter ]

'I didn't expect that,' Harry thought as he saw that notification. But it made sense that wizards have such magic.

Changing a bird into a brick is a very inefficient way of constructing anything.

Harry had been busy since his return from the Starks. Not only had he begun to properly organize his land, but he had also been grinding through the new books Sirius had left for him. It didn't hurt that the old Starks had left three chests filled with gold, silver, and gems inside that hidden chamber.

He obviously had cleaned it out completely; it wasn't like three chests of gold worth around 20,000 gold dragons would hurt the Starks. They didn't even know it existed. Neither do they need the books, with knowledge they can't use, the crown; they are no longer kings; or Ice, their previous ancestor's sword; they have the Valyrian steel replacement.

He could use the gold to jumpstart his economy.

Not like it was much for such a large patch of land. At most, it could buy him 4–5 moderate trading ships or something similar. House Stark earns every year more in taxes than that.

No, that money would be more useful for him; he would put it back in the future once he could make it easy again.

But he had been busy developing his land. Obviously, he wouldn't let his army of almost 16,000 Inferi rot away in some cave.

Instead, he decided to use them productively by splitting them into 16 groups. Two groups he assigned to start quarries on different spots on Skagos. Wood buildings were nice and all, but stone was superior.

The remaining ones were used to start different mines: 3 copper mines, 4 iron mines, 2 silver mines, 2 coal mines, 1 group for gemstones, and the last 2 were split further for the different smaller metal deposits like tin, lead, and aluminum.

This would be the backbone of the Skagos economy.

The tireless working force of Inferi was useful. His next step was to establish a village at each mining location. He needed people that could process and transport the metals the Inferi would bring to the surface. These villages are now focusing on setting up simple homes and food production in the form of farming and hunting.

Since pillaging was forbidden and all Skagosi were bound to his contracts, farming could finally become part of Skagos. While he didn't know a lot about farming, he knew enough about crop rotation, fertilizers, and tools to introduce the concepts to the people and make the new economic branch more effective.

He also gained some new skills while planning out the different settlements.

[Architecture Mastery (Novice) (Passive) Lv. 1: You have a rudimentary understanding of architecture, construction, and city planning.]

[Engineering Mastery (Novice) (Passive) Lv. 1: You have a rudimentary understanding of engineering, machines, and the corresponding sciences.]

The engineering skill came from him modifying the blueprints for water and windmills he found in the Stark Library, used for grain grinding, into blueprints for a water-powered smithing hammer and sawmill.

While he wasn't educated in engineering or anything, his education from his previous life was enough to apply these concepts. With enough time, he would even be able to replicate something like a simple steam machine or motor; after all, he understood the principle behind them.

Lastly, he laid the foundation for a larger settlement on Skagos; the largest until then were the three wooden forts of the three noble houses, whose locations had actually been strategically relevant to defending the island from outsiders.

Basically, Skagos was surrounded by mountains, the largest one being the one above the veil, with a big valley in the center of the island containing flatlands, forests, and hills. The island had four entry points where ships could land, while the mountains acted as natural walls.

Three of these entry points were relatively small gaps in between these mountains, which proved that the ancient Skagosi nobles hadn't been as stupid as the current ones. Because the Noble Houses of Skagos decided to place their ancestral seats at exactly these points.

The Forts at Kingshouse, Deepdown, and Driftwood Hall act as chokepoints for any invading force. The only really viable entry point for any invading force was the large shoreline in the southeastern part of the island.

But until the ships arrived there, the Skagosi could already have spotted them and gathered their army to throw them back.

And exactly at that southern part, Harry was planning to construct a large port city from which a large trade and fishing industry would originate.

The Three Forts would become military strongholds for his army, including small hidden ports for a defensive fleet. Lastly, his personal home and castle would be erected on the top of the tallest mountain on Skagos, right above the Veil of Death.

That's why he had been grinding his transfiguration spells. He had never learned how wizards constructed buildings, like Hogwarts, for example. The most logical method in his mind had been transformation as the main guiding force, with enchantments and charms in support.

In the end, his guess turned out to be right when he gained a new skill after maxing out enough of the transfiguration spells that Sirius had left behind for him. He could use it now to construct at least a basic home for himself, one from which he could open his dimensional business. It was about time.

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