Stephen Baratheon POV
A giant car sized spider charged toward him, but a nonchalant wave of his hand took care of it before he sat back on the wooden stump and went back to watching the spectacle.
In the distance, Mel was fighting against more of those creatures, using a wall of fire to keep most of them at bay. Every time one of them got too close, the wall grew larger, allowing her to maintain a safe distance.
Dozens of Shadows Spears emerged from the ground and impaled the spiders, their bodies providing no resistance against the shadow attacks, as if they were made of paper. The Shadows stabbed once, then twice, and then again and again until the giant spiders' Health Points reached 0, and they rolled over to the side, dead.
A moment later, their corpses turned into black shadows that dispersed into thin air.
The giant spiders left behind loot in the form of silver coins, Health or Mana Potions, a bundle of silk, a vial of poison, or even a Skill Book on very rare occasions. But Mel ignored them for now.
It was their tradition, to pick up all the loot together at the end of the fight. And while the fight itself looked effortless from this distance, he knew that Mel must be running out of Mana Points by now.
Then the ground shook and he saw trees topple in the distance before another giant spider emerged from within the forest. This one large enough that it made the other spiders look dwarves.
The Spider Queen was large enough to be the size of a three-storey building. And he was not ashamed to admit that he almost crapped his pants the first time he saw her.
He soon realised that he shouldn't have feared her. Even back then, his stats were more than enough to defeat her easily. Grind coming to his rescue as always. Nowadays, the Lvl 45 Spider Queen wasn't even a bother.
The arachnid's multiple eyes locked onto Mel and his waifu hesitated for the briefest of moments before she conjured a large ball of fire within her hands and threw it at its face.
Unlike the other spiders who took the attacks directly to their faces, unconcerned by the damage, the Spider Queen possessed higher intelligence and dodged to the side. Her massive skittering legs making her far faster than someone her size had any right to be.
After dodging the fireball, it spat out a dozen globs of poison toward Mel. Each one the size of a yoga ball. And each one with such a lethal poison that a single drop would kill an elephant.
If he had not already made Mel resistant to that poison then he would be very worried right now.
Mel ran to the side, intent on dodging the barrage of poison globs heading her way. She managed to dodge most of them, but one of them hit her square in the waist and Mel fell to the ground with a scream. Her HP falling by 1/3rd from that one attack despite her High Resistance.
"Dead." He said with a disappointed sigh as he got up from the wooden stump and flew over to her side.
"This is why Physical activity is important. If you were not such a slob in the training field, and gave more respect to the grind, then you'd had enough agility to dodge that attack properly." He said as he took out a Health Potion from his Inventory and passed it to her.
Mel groaned in reply as she drank the Health Potion, the purple poison already having lost its effect on her.
The Spider Queen put halt to their talk by spitting another poison glob barrage at them and he created a mana shield to block her attack.
"Do you want to have another go at it?" He asked and Mel groaned and curled up on the ground, shaking her head.
"Very well then." He said and threw a mana blade at the Spider Queen.
The Spider Queen tried to dodge the mana blade but it was too fast for her perception and cleanly sliced her in two before cutting a large swath through the forest behind her before it dissipated.
He helped Mel up from the ground, enjoying the view of her lower boobs being visible to him through her torn dress.
"Enjoying the view my lord?" Mel asked, trying to sound teasing despite her exhaustion.
"I would've enjoyed it more had you won." He told her and watched as she lowered her head in disappointment. "Now tell me. What did you do wrong in this fight?"
"I… I could've created a shadow shield to protect myself against he globs of poison."
"Yes. I understand that your Shadow constructs are mana expensive and that you're reluctant to use them too much in a fight. But that's why I gave you all those Mana Potions." He said before cupping her face. "You cannot afford to be careless in your battles, Mel. I may be capable of protecting you in these lower level IDs but I won't be able to do the same if you ever come up to the Higher Level IDs with me."
Mel bit her lips but nodded. "I understand my lord. And I'm sorry for having disappointed you."
"And I'm sorry for making you feel bad." He said with genuine sincerity. "Now, what else did you do wrong?"
They spent the next few minutes discussing what Mel could have done better during the fight, before moving around the forest to collect the loot left behind by the dead spiders and Spider Queen.
"19 bottles of 3rd level Health Potion, 16 bottles of 3rd level Mana Potion, 8 bundles of spider silk, 2 bottles of spider poison, 9 spider fangs, 5 spider eyes, 2 spider hearts, and 1 skill book." He announced after they'd done gathering the loot. "Plus 32 silver moon, and 264 silver stag coins."
"A bit more than 2 Gold Dragons." Mel said with slight disappointment. "Nothing of true value."
"Perhaps for us." He said with a shrug as he put the silver coins in his Inventory. "But for a normal person in this world, that's the equivalent of 2 years worth of income."
It was equivalent of earning over $100,000 back in his world, yet complaining because you were a Billionaire and such small sum held no meaning for you.
"Hmm… I can see how the smallfolk would consider this a huge sum. But it doesn't really help us in any way."
"Perhaps not yet. But the farther you go in the ID, the more you earn. With the number being almost doubled after each level." He said "So eventually, you'll be able to earn hundreds if not thousands of gold dragons in each ID run."
Not that he would allow either him or Mel to use that gold.
Using a little bit of gold or silver from the ID would not change anything. But if they started using thousands of gold dragons that they farmed from the Dungeon, then they'll cause an inflation in Westeros, with the value of gold dragons decreasing rapidly.
Such an event had the potential to ruin the lives of millions of people. So he needed to be very careful with the gold he'll eventually earn in these IDs.
"Well, let's go back now." He said and took Mel's hand before he used ID Escape and they appeared back in her room.
It was dark in her room but he could see the first rays of dawn coming from the horizon.
"I'm tired. Going to take a nap." Mel announced before she dropped onto her bed. And within a few seconds, she was sound asleep.
Fighting inside a giant spider infested forest for hours would tire anyone out. Well... anyone whose Vitality stat was not as high as his own.
He covered her with a blanket before he went to his own room through the secret door that connected their rooms.
He personally didn't need a lot of sleep. His Vitality being high enough that he could make do with only an hour of sleep a day. Or one night of proper sleep per week.
Despite that, he still took a full 8 hours of sleep every 2-3 days, since not getting at least that amount of sleep made him feel strange.
Not today though. Today, he had a lot of work to do. Mostly because by noon, he'll be departing to Kings Landing to check up on his various businesses and properties.
—
He entered the workshop and the nauseous smell of dozens of chemicals, organic fumes, and other substance hit him like a solid wall.
He almost staggered at the assault on his over sensitive nose before he dimmed it down with his Shaper power and continued, making his way past a few acolytes until he eventually reached the person he wanted to meet.
"Lucerys. You need to air out these fumes regularly." He told the main scientist working in the lab. Well, scientist might be a generous term considering that Lucerys had no higher education but it fit what he was doing well enough. "It is not healthy for either you or your acolytes to work in such conditions. Even with the air filter masks I recently made for you."
Lucreys, whose face was mostly hidden due to the large air filter mask he was wearing gave a nod before he ordered everyone to leave the room after the latest batch of tests were finished.
After a few minutes, they were outside and one of the acolytes started working on the handle rotating exhaust fan to clear the lab.
Lucerys removed his air filter mask at this point, his face looking pale and his eyes having large eye-bags as the young man gave him a huge smile.
"Your grace. You should've told us that you'll be coming. I'm sure we could have created a demonstration for you."
"If I announced that I was coming then I wouldn't have learned that you were working under such abysmal conditions." He told his head scientist, a hint of reproach in his voice. "We'll have to add a new safety rule for the lab. Have one of your acolyte use the hand rotated exhaust fan and clear the air every hour or so."
"Hmm… the fumes stopped bothering me due to the air filter mask. But I can see where you're coming from. It'll be done your grace." Lucerys said thoughtfully before an excited grin took over his face. "I guess you want to see just how much progress we've made."
"I do."
"Excellent!" Lucerys said before he barked out a few others at his acolytes to bring him the 'latest sample'. "We're still a bit far away from making what you asked of us. But we're getting closer. I can feel it in my bones."
He nodded, intent on judging the results with his own eyes. Though he doubted that Lucerys would lie to him about this. The man was even more excited about this venture than he was. Not even caring about the large sum of gold he'd promised the man and his acolytes if they succeeded.
Within minutes, the acolyte that were sent by Lucerys came out of the lab with a set of papers.
Lucerys took one of the paper from the top and showed it to him proudly.
The paper was yellow in colour and a bit translucent in its thinness. It was also a bit uneven, and had chips of wood and other stuff ingrained in it here and there.
He attempted to tear the paper, and it tore in half much more easily than if it had been a linen paper, even breaking in a few places like a dry leaf.
Then he took the next few samples and put them through similar testing process. Even writing on a few of them.
By the end, he'd come up with his conclusion.
"It is definitely better than the samples you presented me a moon ago. Far better in fact. I'm proud of you, Lucerys. And your hard working acolytes. A bonus reward for you this moon."
Lucerys beamed at his praise, and the other acolytes cheered upon hearing the bonus reward part.
He wanted to say that they'll have to put in a lot more work and effort before the wood pulp paper will actually become good enough to sell. But no point in dousing their enthusiasm right now.
The fact that they'd come this far within a few short months was already very impressive.
He'd personally thought that it'll take years of research before the wood pulp paper is ready for production and sale. But it seemed like his dream might come true far earlier than that.
Hiring Lucerys was indeed one of the best decisions of his life. The young knight and his sharp intellect would've been wasted in Driftmark.
He stayed for a few more minutes with Lucerys and his acolytes, giving praise for their hard work and telling them about his expectations for the future before he moved on to meet the next person on his list.
—
"Hello glum chum." He said as he took a seat in the tavern. The other people in the tavern blissfully unaware of his presence due to the giant hood that covered his face.
By this point, word of his victory against the Ironborn had spread throughout the realm. And the people of Dragonstone now saw him as something of a messiah/celebrity.
Meaning that people flocked to him for blessings whenever he's out here in the Port Town. So he needed to hide his face since he didn't want to get surrounded by a mob, and disrupt the business of the tavern owner.
"What…" Asha gave him a bleary eyed look and sighed. "You're here to make fun of me as well."
"You know I would not do that Asha." He said as he put a supporting hand on her shoulder, giving her a slight massage as he did so, using his Shaper power to relax her tensed muscles and the girl relaxed at his touch.
"I really need to ask you to give me a proper massage one of these days." Asha said as she sobered up a bit.
"Oh trust me, I have no problem with having a naked girl on my bed and giving her a massage that she'll remember for the rest of her life." He said in a teasing tone. "I might even add a happy ending to it, if she begs me hard enough."
"Keep dreaming." She said with a roll of her eyes before she slumped on the bench once again.
"That bad huh?"
Asha nodded. "A moon. That's how long I've been trying. But I've only managed to hire 23 people by now. That's not even half the crew I require for the ship you promised me."
"You do realise that if you stop being greedy and take one of the smaller Carracks or one of the cogs, then you'll have no problem manning it with a crew that size, right?"
"Yes, but I want to travel wherever I please in this world, sail through the roughest seas, and brave the toughest storms," she declared, a glimmer of her old passion returning to her eyes before fading once more. "And I can't exactly do that with a small carrack, can I?"
"Perhaps. But you're not getting a larger crew Asha. I mean, look at how difficult it has been for you to hire these few sailors. And you've already wasted an entire moon doing so. If you wait for too long, then these people will leave you as well." He told her.
"None of this would be a problem if you just let me hire some of the Ironborn in this island." Asha said, almost petulantly before she gave him a pleading look. "Stephen. Please-"
"No." He told her, his face serious for once. "I can't let you take these people Asha."
"Why not? Why do I get to roam around freely while they're forced to do manual labor for a pittance. Are they not just as much Ironborn as I am."
"You are a princess… were a princess. They are not." He told her.
"What difference does that make?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.
"The difference is that you, Asha, are here as a ward, while they're here as prisoners. So while I can give you a lot of freedom in what you can and can't do. I can't, and won't do the same for these people. And nothing you say will change my mind."
Asha stared at him for a moment before she slumped. "Figures."
"Asha. Just take the smaller carrack. Get started. Once people see what a capable ship captain you are, they'll flock to work for you."
"But then I'll have to ask you for yet another ship." She said with a pout. "I don't want to do that when I already feel so indebted to you."
"Then don't." He told her. "I'll tell you about some of the most profitable sea routes in the Narrow Sea. Use them to get rich, and then buy a new, larger ship for yourself, with your own gold."
Asha looked thoughtful for a moment before she gave a nod.
"That's not a bad idea. And... thanks Stephen. For everything you've done for me." She said before she leaned forward to place a kiss on his lips.
Only for him to lean away from her lips. "Not while you're drunk."
Asha frowned at his words. "What's wrong with that?"
"Everything. First, you're drunk so you don't have a sound judgement. And I don't want you to regret kissing me. Second, I won't take advantage of you like this. And third." He gave her a disgusted look. "Your breath stinks."
Asha gave him an incredulous look before she huffed. "Oh fuck you and your high standards, asshole."
"Not when you're drunk." He told her.
Asha gave him a blank look before both of them burst into chuckles.
Once they calmed down, Asha took his hand into her own. "No seriously. Thank you for everything Stephen. Without you… well, I don't even want to imagine how your mother would've treated me without you."
"Well, she wouldn't have kissed you into a stupor for once." He said, teasingly.
"You did not kiss me into a stupor." Asha protested as she crossed her arms and mock glared at him. "I was just… a bit dazed."
"That's what you call being in a stupor."
"No, it's not."
"Yes, it is."
"No, it's not."
"Yes, it is."
"No"
"Yes"
"No"
"Yes"
"No"
He leaned forward and kissed her on her lips.
High level Kissing skill and Shaper power went to work and by the time he stepped back, Asha was in a stupor once again.
She came down from the high he'd given her and stared at him. "What happened to you not taking advantage of me while I'm drunk?"
"Are you drunk right now?"
Asha looked confused at his words and thought deeply about it before she gave him a frown. "I think?"
He chuckled at her words before his face became serious. "I'll leaving Dragonstone for a few days. Perhaps a week or more. I wanted to inform you before I left."
Asha frowned at that. "Where are you going?"
"Kings Landing. I have a few properties there that I needed to check up on. Will you be alright here?"
"Can I come with you?"
"No." He said immediately. "In fact, I would prefer if you do not go to Kings Landing when you eventually start sailing. It is… not a nice place. And many people in that city still hate the Ironborn."
"I make no promises." Asha said but raised her hands in surrounded upon noticing his unamused look. "Okay. I'll try to stay away from that place. Happy?"
"Yes. And go to Mel if you want anything. She'll arrange it for you."
"Go to the sexy lady in red. Got it."
"Very well. Now let me escort you back to the castle before you stumble into a gutter."