Chapter 8

We pass through the White Knife as we make our way into the Wolf's Wood. Of course I take in as much river water, and forest soil as possible.

Finally after a few hours of riding we reach Winterfell, and oh my god, I can see the rocks weathering. I mean, yes, I get it. Brandon the Builder, the progenitor of the Starks himself built the keep, but come on, it has literally been thousands of years since his time - the Age of Heroes came and went, the Andals and the Rhyonar invaded, the rise and fall of Valyrian Freehold, the creation of the 7 Kingdoms, the rise and now, fall, of the Targaryens and yet the freaking stone walls have not been changed yet. Just keep on building wooden beams to support stone roofs that are literally older than the floor they stand upon.

No wonder most of Winterfell was dust by a single fire caused by Theon fucking Greyjoy.

This won't do at all. Some point later on, this is all going, the city of the Kings of Winter deserves better. At most, the core stone structure that Bran the Builder himself created will remain, but the wooden support and the stone extensions since then will all go.

It doesn't help the architecture at all that water is running through it CONSTANTLY. Winterfell is built on top a hot spring of water, so the Starks of old drove the water between the walls to make the keep warm. While I do like the innovation, the fact that even after thousands of years of constant weathering by air, snow and water still didn't make the stones mush leads me to believe that Bran the Builder may truly might have had magic. That and an ice wall 700 feet tall and 300 miles wide. The Wall definitely sold it for me.

Coming back to Winterfell, the biggest disappointment I saw was the way people lived. Rags, as far as the eye can see. With no public baths, no proper sewage system, (thank god for the snow, other wise it won't be just King's Landing with a famous stink) no schooling, no hospital system, minimal court system, pre-medieval agricultural techniques and the Northmen truly look like a sorry bunch, no wonder Joffrey and Cersei had egos as big as Casterly Rock, the smallfolk don't help at the matters.

I mean, it's different from reading about it, but when you really look at poverty and desolation in the eye - its desperation, its true horror; this simply can't do at all. I guess I'll just have to "invent" the textile industry. Nothing industrial, just better, more medieval looms than the ancient kinds these people are using right now. Along with more times of fabric than just cotton and linen, and I will get another stellar star in my legacy.

Right as I thinking about ways to economically dominate the world (demon baby) we finally reached the keep. I checked the mini map and yep, there it is - 1 out 5 servants in the castle is a spy/has bad intentions.

The North being a politically important kingdom due to close relations with the Crown, along with Eddard "The Quiet Wolf" Stark refusing to create a spy network of his own, and yet a situation in which an assassin dares to try to kill a trueborn son of the Lord Paramount and Warden of the North.

Now the situation isn't extremely dire, most of the spies present are in lowly positions. No important man or woman is a turncoat, thankfully. And the spies themselves are also just reserves, meaning that they only report when something major happens - like sudden increase in army inscriptions, hoarding of more food, birth of a Lord's son or daughter, that kind of stuff. Only a handful are true spies, reporting everything they see.

I also analysed how the networks themselves were structured, and got to say, I am impressed with Varys. I mean Olenna and Tywin just do the normal filling the ranks with trusted or bought out or even brainwashed men, whereas the less experienced like Doran and other big lords just use the same men. These men just see big movements, and sell the information to as many men as possible.

But Varys, now Varys has a true network - every single aspect of the city is spied on by different "birds", whereas each bird has multiple aspects to spy on as well - then there are "birds" that are placed in strategic locations that only tell of interesting things, and "birds" whose entire job is to liaise information to other "birds" and spares and reserves aplenty, all in all it's a truly well oiled machine. Don't worry I'm going to burn the Spider's web of, but you know, Talent recognize Talent.

Also, why didn't I mention Littlefinger? Because he doesn't have a spy network right now? Baelish might be the Master of Coin by the time of Robert's death, but right now, he's just a small time lord of the Fingers. It'll take time for Baelish's precious chaos to set in.

Finally, me and Robb are left alone in the nursery. I go back to the Farm and first bring out the soil

[New Soil Detected]

[Soil Variability Increased. Spatial Soil reached level 5]

[Micro-organisms in soil introduced]

[Plant growth rate has increased from 15 to 20-fold]

Then I pump out the river water

[New Water source detected. Water variability Increased]

[Spatial Spring has reached level 5. Plant Growth rate has increased to 25-fold]

[Congratulations! Level 10 reached!]

[Ranch is now open]

[Seeds can be extracted from root crops]

[Increasing house size]

[World Map opened]

[3 teleport points can be set]

[Increasing range of monitoring station from 1 to 2.5 km radius]

[Host is given a Cane to control farm variedly. Cannot be damaged. Cannot be dropped. Soul Bonded. Host is to select the Cane's style]

Just like the light novel a grid opened up in front of me with staffs of various kinds. Along with that, there swords, pickaxes, rods and other weapons as well. As long as it was handheld, there were options for it. I even saw a crystal ball.

But unlike the light novel, I have the LOHP, so I know exactly the powers that these canes will give me.

I filter out the absolutely useless and purely aesthetically pleasing shit, if I want something beautiful I'll put a glamour charm on it.

Left with the mega useful, but more muted staffs, I look through my options, until I see an option too good to pass up on, I take a sharp intake and read the description -

A magic amplifying wand.

(Writer's Note - Comment down below of what materials you want the wand to be made out of. Go crazy! In the light novel it's mentioned that thousands of different canes made of absolutely unique materials were up for grabs. Just remember that the materials themselves must be from the HP and the GoT world)