The neatly arranged inscriptions were accompanied by illustrations of Valyrians gradually taming dragons.
With just one glance, Rhaegar recognized the third row's "prohibition" spell.
Above it were the "flight" spell, which aided in taming dragons, and the "dragonfire" spell, which assisted in combat.
Both flight and dragonfire were merely symbolic names.
They were inscribed using High Valyrian script, carrying layers of meaning—some straightforward, others obscure—revealing various dragon-riding techniques.
Rhaegar was overjoyed, carefully committing every word on the mural to memory.
The Fitznyc family placed extraordinary importance on knowledge.
Each dragon-riding technique was accompanied by a corresponding illustration.
For example, a simple "landing" command.
The stone wall depicted emergency landings, battlefield descents, and soaring over the sea.
Before speaking, one had to engage the magic in their blood to ensure the dragon clearly understood the rider's commands.
This prevented tragedies where novice dragon riders fell to their deaths upon landing or drowned after crashing into the sea.
Similarly, the "dragonfire" spell relied on meticulous wording to ensure the dragon maintained "relative rationality" in various situations, allowing the rider to control its attack direction.
Rhaegar stared unblinkingly, finally grasping the practical concept of the restrictive spells.
A beginner-friendly dragon-taming manual!
"No wonder the top-ranking Dragonlord families had such an impressive number of dragons. This is the true meaning of 'Fire and Blood.'"
Rhaegar reached out to touch the cool stone wall, his eyes burning with excitement.
A bold hypothesis formed in his mind.
In ancient Valyria, Dragonlord families lived for generations in towering fortresses, worshiping blood mages and fire sorcerers.
From birth, their children learned to manipulate the magic in their blood and studied the art of restrictive spells.
Once they fully mastered these spells—known as "Dragon Speech" by the Dragonlords—they could easily command a dragon and establish a strong bond of dominance and submission.
Of course, there was a prerequisite:
The opportunity to tame a dragon—and an untamed dragon to tame.
In ancient Valyria, dragons were held in the highest regard, far more so than the Targaryens of today, who had long since diminished their reverence for the creatures.
Thus, the relationship between dragon riders and dragons was not one where the rider chose the dragon; rather, the dragon chose its rider.
Apart from hatchlings emerging from dragon eggs, most Dragonlord heirs had to travel to the family's domain within the borders of the Fourteen Flames to seek out and tame an unclaimed or wild dragon left behind by their ancestors.
With the power of their bloodline and restrictive spells, one-third of Dragonlord heirs were successful.
They would find a dragon, earn its favor, and take to the skies upon its back.
The remaining two-thirds, however, would be ignored by dragons that did not see them as worthy—or worse, burned alive by particularly ill-tempered ones.
Over generations, this cultivated a deep respect for dragons among the Dragonlord bloodlines and naturally selected for the strongest heirs.
Rhaegar's thoughts drifted, filled with emotions.
"A competitive environment where the strong grow stronger, and the weak perish."
After witnessing how the top Dragonlord families trained their heirs,
he now understood why the Targaryens had ranked in the lower middle among Valyrian families—and why, during Aenar's era, their dragons nearly went extinct.
Take the present as an example:
Targaryen dragons were hatched and immediately imprisoned and raised in captivity.
This stunted their natural growth and weakened the sense of reverence riders had for them.
Even further, the abilities of the riders varied wildly, and their personalities were unpredictable.
Rhaegar's generation of siblings was lucky—each one was given a dragon and successfully tamed it.
But in ancient Valyria, such a scenario was extremely rare.
During Jaehaerys I's reign, excluding children who died young, only three of his remaining heirs became dragon riders.
And yet, the Targaryens of that time possessed more than just the five dragons tamed by the Old King, his wife, and their three children.
In the Dragonpit of King's Landing, Balerion was still alive, and Dreamfyre had been locked away after Rhaena's death.
On Dragonstone, at least two dragons resided—Cannibal and Sheepstealer.
Most likely, a third or even fourth wild dragon also lived there, though they may have been killed by Cannibal or met an untimely demise.
This much was almost certain.
When witnessed, Cannibal had been seen devouring numerous dragon eggs and even hunting newly hatched dragonlings.
Who knew how many more atrocities it committed when no one was watching?
Sheepstealer and Grey Ghost survived due to two main reasons:
First, luck.
Second, their unique traits.
Sheepstealer was highly intelligent and had tough, mud-caked scales.
Grey Ghost excelled at hiding, so much so that even fishermen avoided him.
Any young dragon without a special talent—or one that was simply too reckless—had little chance of escaping Cannibal's clutches.
From this, it was evident:
Even among the pureblooded Targaryens, dragon riding was not a guarantee.
As for wild dragons, no one dared to approach them.
Rhaegar had gained fame in his youth for challenging the monstrous Cannibal.
Aemond had been lucky—Sheepstealer took a liking to him, and he passively tamed a wild dragon.
Had those two wild dragons not been claimed, one of Rhaegar's six siblings would have ended up without a dragon to ride.
Rhaegar took a deep breath as a sudden realization struck him.
He had just thought of the tides of magic.
"The tides of magic only surge once every few hundred years, and yet they conveniently coincided with the peak of Targaryen rule?"
Rhaegar furrowed his brow, a vague suspicion forming in his mind.
A phrase had appeared in his dreams before—simple, yet ominous:
'Prosperity begets decline.'
His eyes flickered, and he whispered:
"Black… Green… Velaryon… Daemon…"
The dragon riders of today were roughly divided into four factions.
If any one faction failed to suppress its ambitions, war would inevitably erupt, leading to dragons slaughtering each other.
Targaryens had ruled Westeros for over a century.
In that time, only four dragons had died.
And three of them perished in battle.
Meraxes, her descendant Silverwing, and the rogue sea dragon Moondancer.
Rhaegar let out a quiet chuckle.
"Partitioning power is the better choice. Ancient Valyria endured for thousands of years without collapsing due to internal strife."
History confirms the truth.
Aegon the Conqueror was the first generation, having only the two sisters he married.
Aerys and Maegor were the second generation, appearing harmonious on the surface.
Jaehaerys was the third generation. Maegor had successively killed his nephews Aegon and Viserys. The Black Bride, Rhaena, sought to support her two daughters in competing for the Iron Throne.
The conflict that erupted was intense, even resulting in the death of a dragon.
Aemon and Baelon were the fourth generation. The fate of their thirteen siblings was tragic—almost as if they had been born only to be sacrificed.
Viserys and Daemon were the fifth generation, their relationship repeatedly breaking and mending.
Rhaenys once competed for the Iron Throne, and tensions between the Targaryens and the Velaryons remained strained.
In Rhaegar's generation, his four siblings were all half-siblings. His stepmother, Alicent, frequently caused trouble.
And this is only six generations—already filled with countless sordid affairs.
By contrast, during the era of Old Valyria, forty dragonlord families continuously invaded the continent of Essos, seizing colonies and enslaving people.
Yet, they coexisted in relative peace, maintaining centuries of glory.
Rhaegar, broad-minded, chuckled and said, "Look to the long term—only then can our family remain prosperous."
Sizzle!
With a flick of his hand, he swung the True Fire, slashing at the binding spell on the mural.
As per the usual practice—leave no trace.
A few quick strikes, and it was done. Rhaegar nodded in satisfaction. "Nicely handled."
Then, he thought for a moment—someone had been here before.
Common looters weren't an issue. There wouldn't be any survivors.
"Daemon should have recognized it by now."
Rhaegar mused to himself.
No wonder he only took two books and excitedly claimed he had gained a great deal.
"Forget it—he'll find out sooner or later."
Rhaegar shook his head, not dwelling on it.
The binding spell would eventually be passed down to family members. It was only a matter of time.
The key was to establish rules to prevent the spell from spreading beyond the family.
Turning around, Rhaegar walked along the four stone walls, examining the murals.
They were similar to those found at the ruins of House Balerion.
Most of the mural's content chronicled the long history of House Fizznik.
According to the records, the house had once been extraordinarily illustrious—it was among the first Valyrian shepherds to discover and attempt to tame wild dragons.
However, their practices were questionable, and their power fluctuated constantly.
By the time this semi-ruin was built, House Fizznik was in decline. Among the forty dragonlord families, they had been pushed out of the top ranks, now only ranking in the upper-middle tier.
At their peak, they had possessed as many as fifty-four dragons, with over forty dragonriders.
Slightly inferior to House Daenlygar.
Rhaegar carefully studied the accounts, analyzing House Fizznik's rise to power.
Taming dragons. Breeding dragons. Learning blood magic.
A straightforward pattern—these were the essentials for any top-tier dragonlord family.
And then there was...
Having children! Having children! Having children!
Internal family marriages—brothers and sisters, uncles and nieces, aunts and nephews...
Often, there were even multiple spouses.
For external alliances, surplus children were married off.
Dragonlord family?
Marry into it!
Powerful seafaring family?
Marry into it!
Local noble family of the Lands of Long Summer?
Still marry into it!
These three groups formed the core of Old Valyria's power—dragonlord families ruled the skies, seafaring families controlled the seas, and the local nobility of the Lands of Long Summer held vast, fertile lands.
Not every dragonlord family intermarried with other dragonlord houses, but they never missed the opportunity to marry into the seafaring families or the local nobility.
After all, conquest required soldiers and wealth, and the Narrow Sea region particularly highlighted the importance of seafaring nobility.
Both the Velaryons and the Celtigars had ancient and noble bloodlines and had been steadfast allies of the Targaryens for many years.
When Aenar fled Valyria, they followed closely behind.
The local nobility, however, never left their lands, so the Targaryens lacked allies in that domain.
Or perhaps they had once had them, but after leaving Valyria, those ties were lost.
Back to the point.
House Fizznik relied on internal marriages to produce a vast number of offspring.
With many offspring, they could arrange numerous political marriages.
As a result, the family had an extremely large number of members, and their allies were countless.
A pure "victory through childbirth" strategy.
But with such strength came complications.
Too many children—
Not enough dragons to go around.
Those with dragons stand high above, while those without are of lowly status.
The capable receive a larger share of the family estate, while the incompetent merely idle away, waiting for their fate.
Over time, internal strife within the family becomes inevitable.
Because of these internal conflicts, the Fitznick family has gained widespread notoriety—a surname both envied and scorned by other Dragon King families.
A single internal conflict, when kept under control, is usually resolved within a few months.
Several—sometimes even a dozen or more—Dragon Riders join forces, rallying their allies to battle one another.
Each conflict results in the deaths of hundreds of Fitznick family members.
At its most intense, even dragon battles erupt, leading to the tragic fall of mighty dragons.
However, the moment the scales of victory tip in one side's favor, the infighting ceases immediately.
To make up for the losses, the victors become even more eager to bear children.
Within a few decades, the family's numbers recover, and new dragon eggs hatch.
Moreover, at times, the family displays an unusual sense of unity and shared conviction.
Rarely do they allow their infighting to escalate to the point of disregarding a dragon's survival.
As a result, even though they are often excluded from the uppermost ranks, they never fall below the middle tier.
Absolutely outrageous!