The salt spray of the Narrow Sea stung Viserys's face, a harsh reminder that they were no longer royalty, but cargo. Behind him, the silhouette of Dragonstone faded into the mist. Beside him, Daenerys whimpered in her sleep, her small hand clutching his tunic.
In the corner of his vision, a translucent blue interface flickered to life, visible only to him.
[CONDITION MET: EXILE]
[SYSTEM ACTIVATING: ARS TECHNICA]
Current Status: Level 1 (Fugitive Prince)
Knowledge Points: 0
Available Research: Basic Metallurgy, Sanitation, Botanical Hybridization.
Viserys closed his eyes, the memories of his previous life as a mechanical engineering student in a world of concrete and electricity surging against the medieval reality of Westeros. His father, Aerys, had been a slave to the fire in his blood. The rebels were slaves to their pride and titles. But Viserys? He would be a slave to nothing but Logic.
He looked down at his own trembling hands. He could feel the "Dragon's Curse"—that erratic, burning pulse in his veins that the Maesters called 'Targaryen temperament.' In truth, it was a genetic disaster, a byproduct of centuries of incestuous pride.
I need a lab, he thought. And I need a way to pay for it.
"Viserys?" Dany's voice was small. Her eyes were wide, reflecting the purple hue of the sunset. "Will the Usurper's ships find us? Will we die like Rhaegar?"
Viserys pulled her closer, his gaze hardening as he looked toward the Free Cities. "No. Rhaegar fought for a crown of gold and a woman's smile. I am fighting for the Natural Law."
"What is that?" she asked, tilting her head.
"It is the truth that fire doesn't burn because a god wills it, Dany. It burns because oxygen and fuel meet a spark. It is the truth that a king is only a man, and a man can be unmade by a piece of lead moving faster than sound." He smiled, a terrifyingly sane expression. "I am going to fix us, little sister. I am going to purge the rot from our blood with a serum of my own making. And then, we will show them that we don't need dragons to set the world on fire."
[NEW QUEST: THE CHEMIST'S FIRST STEP]
Objective: Create a high-purity Distillation Apparatus using Braavosi glass.
Reward: +50 Tech Points & Blueprint: Black Powder.
As the ship surged forward, Viserys didn't look back at the kingdom he had lost. He looked forward to the Republic he would build. The age of magic was dying; the age of the Steam and Steel was beginning.
(Timeskip)
The smells of Braavos were a thick soup of salt, rotting fish, and unwashed humanity. To most, it was the scent of the greatest city in the world. To Viserys, it was a biological hazard.
"The lye must be precise, Davos," Viserys said, his voice calm but firm. He wasn't speaking to the legendary smuggler, but to a scarred orphan he'd pulled from the gutters of the Ragman's Harbor. "Too much, and you'll burn the skin off the customers. Too little, and the fat won't saponify. Science does not forgive sloppiness."
Davos stared at the bubbling vat in the basement of their rented warehouse. "You talk like a Maester, Prince, but you work like a baker. Why are we making wash-balls when you could be buying sellswords?"
Viserys adjusted the primitive Safety Goggles he'd crafted using the System's blueprints. "Sellswords fight for gold. Gold runs out. But a man who can see his children survive the winter because he learned to wash the 'invisible monsters' from his hands? That man will fight for a Republic."
Upstairs, the "luxury" side of the business was thriving. Daenerys stood behind a counter of polished weirwood, showing a silver-haired Magister a pair of Biconvex Spectacles.
"It's not sorcery, Magister Loro," she said, her voice echoing the lessons Viserys drilled into her every night. "The glass simply redirects the light. My brother calls it Refraction. It is a law of the world, as constant as the tides."
The Magister slipped the glasses on. He gasped, looking at his own wrinkled hands as if seeing them for the first time. "I can... I can read the ledgers again. I can see the ink!"
"Ten gold honors," Dany said with a regal, practiced smile. "And a seat at the Sealord's next dinner for my brother."
As the Magister hurried out, clutching his new eyes, Dany slipped into the basement. Her face clouded. "Viserys, the headaches... they're getting worse. Every time I sleep, I see the Red Keep in flames. I see dragons that aren't there."
Viserys stopped stirring the soap. He looked at his sister, seeing the faint tremors in her fingers—the 'Dragon's Curse' manifesting as neurological instability.
"The serum is ready," he said, reaching for a sealed vial of translucent blue liquid he'd refined using the Distillation Apparatus. It was his first masterpiece, a combination of local herbs and System-derived chemical stabilizers.
"Is it magic?" she whispered, looking at the vial with a mix of hope and terror.
"No, Dany," he said, uncorking it. "It's Biochemistry. It's the cure for our blood. Drink, and the madness ends. Our reign as 'Gods' is over. Our life as leaders begins."
Dany took the vial. As the liquid hit her tongue, a blue notification pinged in Viserys's mind:
[QUEST COMPLETE: PURGE THE BLOODLINE]
Reward: 500 Tech Points Unlocked.
New Branch Available: [Internal Combustion] or [Basic Firearms].