Lynd was not one for formalities, so he directly extended an invitation: "I sent people to the Citadel to find you, Archmaester, hoping to enlist your services, but unfortunately, you had already come to Essos at that time.
Now that I've met you, I can extend the invitation in person."
"Very well, I accept," Marwyn replied just as directly.
Marwyn's quick acceptance surprised Lynd a little.
He paused, then asked, "You're accepting so quickly?
Aren't you going to consider it more?"
"No need to consider it.
In fact, I was already preparing to return to Westeros, and once I'm back, I will go to your territory to serve you," Marwyn said very directly.
"My entire life has been dedicated to studying magic, and you are now the embodiment of magic.
Naturally, I wouldn't miss this opportunity."
Although Lynd was pleased that Marwyn accepted his invitation so quickly, he still earnestly cautioned, "Archmaester Marwyn, I think you should consider it carefully, because if you accept my invitation, then you will not be able to leave."
He then told Marwyn some things about Black Hollow.
Upon hearing them, Marwyn not only showed no hesitation or worry but became even more excited.
To him, Black Hollow was the sacred place he had always dreamed of.
He had always wanted to find a place where he could study magic with like-minded individuals for the rest of his life.
He originally thought the Citadel was such a place, but everyone there was a group of "grey-robed sheep" who dared not study forbidden knowledge, let alone use it, only hiding it away.
Now, Lynd's Black Hollow not only possessed a large amount of forbidden knowledge but had also already achieved some results.
Faced with such a place, even if Lynd hadn't actively invited him, he would have unhesitatingly thrown himself into it once he knew about it, and no one would be able to pull him out.
So Marwyn said decisively, "No need to say more!
Even if you try to drive me away, I won't leave."
Seeing this, Lynd said no more, feeling happy that he had found a valuable magical talent.
Before leaving Summerhall, Moroa had complained to him more than once about the lack of manpower, and the talent she spoke of was not in the field of potions, but in ancient rune knowledge and magic research.
Aside from Moroa, there was no other qualified magic researcher in the entire Black Hollow.
Qyburn had no interest in magic research; he was only interested in methods of using magic, so he was only suitable as an assistant, while the actual research all fell upon Moroa.
This heavy burden was manageable for a while, but over time, even if Moroa's passion for magic didn't change, she would still feel exhausted.
Therefore, she urgently needed partners who could research a large amount of mysterious knowledge with her, rather than assistants who simply helped her test results.
Lynd then asked, "I still need to go to Kohor before returning to Summerhall.
Are you coming back with me, or shall I give you a token for you to return on your own?"
Marwyn thought for a moment and said, "I'll go with you!
I also need to go to Kohor."
"You're going to Kohor?" Lynd asked tentatively, hearing this, "Are you going because of the magical armor?"
"It seems our goals are aligned?" Marwyn nodded and said, "When I was staying in Norvos a while ago, I heard that House Soyid of Kohor had mastered the technique of making magical armor and had forged a perfect magical armor, which they plan to display in the city a month from now.
So I was planning to set off for Kohor in a few days."
"Perfect magical armor!"
Lynd could sense that the perfect magical armor Marwyn spoke of was his own, but he didn't reveal this to Marwyn, only asking, "Since you wanted to go to Kohor, why were you suddenly captured by these Dothraki?"
"No, I wasn't captured by them," Marwyn shook his head and said, "I know these Dothraki.
I treated their horses before, and they know me.
They didn't capture me.
I just happened to be coming here to record the symbols of this ancient civilization's ruins, and then go to Ge Dohe to take a boat to Kohor.
They happened to be camping here, which is why we met."
As he spoke, he looked at the Dothraki again and asked, "Do you have a grudge against them?"
Lynd said in a deep voice, "Are you trying to intercede?"
"I just think it's a shame for so many excellent warriors to die like this," Marwyn said.
"The leader of this Dothraki group is Zoko, and his father was Tekoro Khal.
When Zoko was a child, over ten years ago, his father was defeated by the then-famous Balbo Khal.
He was taken away by Tekoro Khal's loyal followers and became the leader of this Dothraki group.
They are not traditional Khal, but more like a mercenary group composed entirely of Dothraki.
They accept employment from some nobles and also act as bandit groups.
They have considerable influence in this inland area.
If you could control this army, it might be easier for you to control this inland area in the future."
"Do you think I will want to control this inland area in the future?" Lynd asked curiously.
"Since you already have the intention to move on the Disputed Lands, I imagine you wouldn't want to let go of the other Free Trade City States either," Marwyn said in a deep voice.
Marwyn was clearly not just a pure Archmaester obsessed with magical knowledge, as rumored by the outside world.
He clearly possessed a certain degree of political acumen, at least more so than most nobles in the Free Trade City States.
However, even with some political insight, his vision still had its limitations.
After all, his standing was not high, and his scope of observation was not wide enough.
In his eyes, these Dothraki might be an asset, but in Lynd's eyes, they would only be trouble.
So Lynd shook his head and said, "There's no need to keep these Dothraki.
They are of no use to me; the only useful thing is some information in their leader's mind."
As he spoke, Lynd had Marwyn point out who the leader of this Dothraki group was.
Then, Lynd's hand rested on the Lost Knights Greatsword at his waist, and a freezing power emanated from him, turning the surrounding Dothraki into ice sculptures, except for the leader pointed out by Marwyn.
One moment Marwyn was lamenting the impending death of these Dothraki he knew, and the next, his attention was entirely focused on the Dothraki bodies that had turned into ice sculptures.
Although the process by which Lynd took down these Dothraki just now was also quite astonishing, he could tell that it was likely related to some kind of anesthetic.
Ordinary people could also achieve similar effects using such a drug, though the method of using it to affect only specific individuals was somewhat miraculous, it still differed greatly from magic as he understood it.
However, now Lynd, right before his eyes, had frozen so many people into ice sculptures, a process he witnessed firsthand.
This scene perfectly matched all his imaginations of magic, and he eagerly began to study it.
While Marwyn studied the frozen bodies, Lynd also tied up the last surviving Dothraki leader and then gathered several hundred warhorses.
After about a few hours, the Dothraki Lynd had left alive gradually woke from his stupor, and upon waking, immediately sensed that something was wrong.
He found himself tied up, instantly opened his eyes, and looked around.
However, all he saw were ice sculptures, and the faces on these ice sculptures were all his subordinates.
A sudden fear made him scream uncontrollably until he saw Marwyn and Lynd.
Then, he gradually calmed down from his fear and shouted loudly at Marwyn in Dothraki.
Marwyn replied a few words in Dothraki as well.
With Lynd's Dothraki proficiency, he could barely understand some of the accented Dothraki, knowing that the other party was questioning Marwyn about what had happened, and Marwyn was answering him.
Lynd had no intention of wasting time.
He directly took out the truth serum that the Blood Armor used to interrogate prisoners, walked forward, pinched the mouth of the terrified Dothraki, poured it in, and then stepped back a few paces to wait for the drug to take effect.
Soon, the truth serum took effect, and the Dothraki's eyes became somewhat hazy, as if he were drunk.
Lynd immediately used the Dothraki he had learned to ask the other party, "What is your relationship with House Soyid of Kohor?"
Upon hearing Lynd's question, the Dothraki quickly replied, but his Dothraki was too heavily accented for Lynd to understand much.
Marwyn stepped forward to act as a temporary translator, saying, "He says he has a cooperative relationship with House Soyid.
He helps House Soyid solve some problems, and House Soyid provides him with weapons, horses, and food."
Lynd continued to ask, "You robbed a mercenary team transporting magical armor near Ge Dohe.
Where is that armor now?"
Hearing Lynd's question, Marwyn couldn't help but be stunned.
He quickly realized that the magical armor forging technique claimed by House Soyid of Kohor might have come from Lynd, and that so-called perfect magical armor might also belong to Lynd.
The Dothraki quickly replied, and Marwyn translated in due course, "That's a demon's armor.
Many of his subordinates died while transporting the armor, and the armor has been sent to the mine."
"The mine?" Lynd couldn't help but be stunned after hearing this.
He had just thought that his magical armor was the so-called perfect magical armor that House Soyid was preparing to display soon, but now it sounded like his armor had not been sent to Kohor.
"The mine he's referring to should be the Liate Mine, located deep in the Kohor Forest north of Kohor.
There are several metal mines there that are extremely important to Kohor, and House Soyid owns one of them," Marwyn explained.
"These Dothraki often capture people from merchant caravans or towns down the Lorne River and sell them to the Kohor mines as slave laborers."
Lynd also suddenly realized why the Dothraki, after seizing the magical armor, didn't send it back to Kohor but transported it to the mine, and why many Dothraki died during the transportation.
This was likely due to a magical power burst from the magical armor.
The moment the fallen knight armor was forged, all its Dragon Runes would be activated, and they would actively absorb external magic.
Because of the complete guiding runes at work, the Dragon Runes on the armor would not, like other single Dragon Runes, directly convert absorbed magic into Dragon Rune power, accumulate it on the surface, and then quickly release it.
Instead, it would absorb magic into the interior of the Dragon Runes to accumulate, awaiting activation by someone who understood how to use Dragon Runes.
Therefore, the fallen knight armor would remain in the state of ordinary armor for a period of time until it accumulated a large amount of magic that could not be released or used, only to dissipate, forming a magic burst.
Moreover, this magic burst was extremely destructive, and its power and coverage would continuously expand with each successive burst.
Undoubtedly, if estimated based on the magic accumulated by the fallen knight armor at this moment, the destructive power generated by its burst could easily freeze half a city the size of Pentos.
Presumably, House Soyid was also worried that the armor's magic burst would cause damage to the city of Kohor, which is why they transported it to the depths of the mine to hide it.
"Do you know the location of House Soyid's mine?" Lynd asked Marwyn.
"Yes, it's not a hard place to find," Marwyn replied.
As Marwyn's words fell, the Dothraki who had taken the truth serum also turned into an ice sculpture before his eyes.
Marwyn sighed softly, then asked, "Are you going to the mine now?"
"No, first to Norvos.
I still have some matters to attend to."
Lynd then explained the situation with Kevira.
After listening, Marwyn thought for a moment and said, "I think I know why Quinan Tassis, or rather, the Tashi Family, would go to such lengths to move against Kevira and try to seize Ge Dohe."
"You know?" Lynd was surprised and asked, "Why?"
"For the Loisne treasure," Marwyn explained.
"The Loisne treasure?" Lynd's face showed a thoughtful expression.
In fact, he had also heard rumors about the Loisne legacy or treasure.
In the book "History of the Loisne Wars" recorded in the Citadel, the entire process of the Loisne War was detailed.
Although the book described the war between the various Loisne city-states and Valyria as lasting over two hundred years, in reality, those two hundred years were only sporadic border conflicts, not true warfare.
The only period that could truly be called war was Valyria's full-scale invasion of Loisne.
In that war that destroyed the Loisne city-states, the Dragon Kings of Valyria easily annihilated all of the Loisne people's city-states with overwhelming force.
It was also at that time that Nameria, the Loisne warrior queen, led the surviving Loisne people across the sea to migrate to the continent of Westeros.
Although the book did not mention how long the War of Destruction lasted, based on other collateral clues, it should not have exceeded a month in total.
The rapid destruction of the various Loisne city-states also meant that the wealth accumulated by these city-states was trapped in the ruins, which is the origin of the Loisne treasure.
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