Chapter 74: A Bountiful Harvest
Somewhere beyond the Wall, Saelen and Mag had fought through the night and run for an entire day. Exhaustion and hunger pressed heavily on them; their bodies had reached their limits. They needed to find a place to rest and eat something to recover their strength.
They eventually stopped by a riverside, deciding to rest there for the night and continue their journey at dawn. Mag went off to gather firewood, while Saelen shifted his consciousness into a hawk and sent it scouting back along the path they had taken.
Through the hawk's sharp vision, Saelen monitored every movement in the forest below. Not even the slightest disturbance escaped his notice. The hawk flew all the way back to the river crossing from earlier that morning, but there was no sign of the Night King.
Relieved, Saelen guided the hawk back. On the return journey, he spotted a plump wild rabbit by the riverbank, drinking water. Its round body looked well-fed, and its long ears stood upright, constantly alert to its surroundings.
Saelen directed the hawk into a silent dive.
In an instant, its talons locked around the rabbit's neck. The claws pierced through fur and flesh. The rabbit struggled violently for a moment before going limp.
The hawk lifted the prey into the sky. Saelen gauged its weight—over 5 kg at least. Dinner was secured.
By the time the hawk returned, the fire had already been lit. Several fat river fish were roasting over the flames—Mag clearly hadn't been idle. Saelen cleaned the rabbit and set it over the fire as well. The food likely wouldn't be enough for both of them, but there was no time to hunt larger prey. For now, they could only eat what they had and regain some strength.
After finishing their meal, they agreed on a simple watch rotation. Mag would rest during the first half of the night while Saelen kept watch; later, they would switch.
Before long, Mag was already asleep by the fire, snoring loudly.
Saelen opened his system panel:
Name: Saelen Stark
[Note: This surname is forcibly bound by the system and cannot be changed]
Strength: 6.02 + 0.02 [trainable]
Agility: 4.00 + 0.02 [trainable]
Endurance: 5.02 + 0.02 [trainable]
Spirit: 100 [MAX reached. Further upgrades require completing construction tasks. Can be increased by killing magical creatures. Can control up to 100 animals simultaneously]
Status:[Body injured] ▶ [Heal]
[Congratulations, host. Spirit has reached level 100. Construction tasks unlocked. Please scroll down to view.]
Sunflame [Consume 10 Mana to hatch? Yes / No]
Bloodshadow [Consume 10 Mana to hatch? Yes / No]
Mana: 100 [Obtained by killing magical creatures: Wights +0.1, White Walkers +10, Night King +100]
Mana: 0 [Convert]
Spirit: 0 [Convert]
[Exchange Ratio: 1:1]
Swordsmanship: MAX
Archery: MAX
Spear Mastery: MAX
Horsemanship: MAX
Construction Tasks:
Porcelain Workshop [Completed]
Glass Workshop [Completed]
Weapons & Armor Factory [Completed]
Paper Mill [Completed]
Sugar Refinery [Not Completed]
Since he hadn't been training recently, his strength, endurance, and agility hadn't changed much.
The real highlight was his spirit. Its cap had increased from fifty to one hundred. It seemed that over the past two or three months, Maester Rosmund had successfully established the paper mill.
Whether the paper produced met proper writing standards, however, remained to be seen.
Once this journey was over, Saelen made a mental note to return and check it himself.
This time, Saelen had slain four White Walkers and several thousand wights. Most of those wights were likely thralls created by those very Walkers—once their masters died, the undead they had raised collapsed in droves.
His spirit, which had just reached its new cap of one hundred, was instantly maxed out. A full one hundred points—and with it, a new construction task had been unlocked.
Scrolling down to the bottom of the system panel, Saelen saw that the paper mill task was now marked as completed. In its place, a new objective had appeared: Construct a Sugar Refinery.
He opened it briefly. The system generated a detailed interface outlining everything required—raw materials, production processes, equipment, site selection, and labor division. After skimming through it, he closed the page.
In Westeros, sweets were primarily derived from honey and fruit. Honey was expensive, a luxury only nobles could regularly afford. Common folk rarely tasted it, except in diluted forms like mead or adulterated honey products.
Fruit was much the same. Most smallfolk could only eat what they grew themselves. Otherwise, they had to pay for it.
If he could produce refined white sugar, the profits would be enormous. High-quality sugar could be sold to nobles at premium prices, while lower-grade sugar could be sold cheaply to minor lords and commoners. Profit from both ends.
At that point, he would control three major revenue streams—porcelain, paper, and sugar. Making money would be inevitable.
Saelen continued scrolling and tapped [Heal].
The interface shifted:
[Detected: Host has suffered severe injury. Consume 10 Mana to heal? Yes / No]
He selected Yes.
A warm current spread through his left thigh, flowing steadily through the wound. Soon after, an intense itching sensation followed, like thousands of ants gnawing at his flesh. He resisted the urge to scratch. Within the time it took to eat a meal, new tissue had formed, and the wound rapidly closed, leaving behind only a crescent-shaped scar.
Saelen paid it little mind. His Mana had dropped from one hundred to ninety. He continued reading.
[Detected: Cold God's Mark present within host. Consume 10 Mana to remove? Yes / No]
This "Cold God's Mark" was clearly the mark left by the Night King on his arm—the same mark that allowed the Night King to track him. For some reason, however, after pursuing him all night, the Night King had stopped.
Saelen decided to keep the mark for now.
Once he returned and made proper preparations, he could use it as bait—lure the Night King into a trap and gather enough forces to destroy him in one decisive battle, ending the threat of the White Walkers altogether.
Of course, this was only a preliminary idea. The exact execution would require careful planning and discussion to ensure success in a single strike.
Scrolling further, Saelen noted that his Mana now stood at ninety, with a cap of one hundred. To increase it further, he would need to complete the Sugar Refinery task.
It was a bit of a pity. He had killed so many wights and White Walkers, yet much of the potential gain had been wasted due to the cap on spirit and Mana.
Still, he now had enough Mana—twenty points—to hatch both Sunflame and Bloodshadow, with seventy points remaining. Once this journey was over, he would return immediately to hatch the dragon eggs.
From then on, he would truly become a dragon rider.
When the hatchlings grew, he would be able to travel on dragonback, drastically reducing travel time. And in battle, dragons would be a devastating weapon.
Closing the system panel, Saelen fell into thought.
This journey had nearly cost him his life when he encountered the Night King, but he had survived—his only loss being a wounded leg, which, thanks to the system, was hardly an issue.
More importantly, he had gained immense spirit and Mana, and strengthened ties with both the giants and the free folk. If he could win their loyalty in the future, he would have both wealth and manpower at his command.
Add to that two dragons—and the support of the North—
Even the Iron Throne… might not be beyond his reach.