The year is 295 AC, winter.
Ever since returning from the mines, Mako had been busy tending to the injured, his desire for the Holy Knight and Angel classes growing stronger.
He now stood atop the Griffin Tower, gazing into the distance. This tower connected to the main castle structure, much like a magical guild.
At the tower's peak was an entrance leading down to a vast space. This was where the griffins rested; several exits were specifically for their use.
The Griffin Tower was rather deserted at the moment, housing only two griffins: Swan and the one Mako had recently recruited.
After building the Griffin Tower, Mako immediately used this month's summoning quota. However, this griffin was not what he had expected.
It appeared smaller than Swan and was not as intelligent. It could only communicate in a rudimentary way. Mako estimated that the griffin understood his commands only because of the effect of his skills. He doubted the griffin would be able to understand him if it were anyone else.
This left Mako feeling a little disappointed. He had been hoping to establish a special Griffin task force for future surprise attacks and special operations!
It seemed he'd have to reconsider this plan. Mako thought as much, when suddenly! A cry from the sky pulled him back from his thoughts.
Swan, the griffin, landed behind Mako and affectionately rubbed its large head against his arm.
After their return from the mine, Mako hadn't treated Swan as punishment, telling it that it was because it disobeyed orders and that it should wait for its wounds and feathers to heal on their own.
Yesterday, after the Griffin Tower was built, Mako, seeing the pitiful creature, softened. To prevent it from being embarrassed in front of its kind, Mako used "Vitality Regeneration" to heal it.
What he hadn't expected was how miraculous the magic was, instantly restoring its wings and the scabs. It seemed the system had classified the griffin's damaged wings as wounds.
Mako was also curious as to why this magic couldn't restore missing body parts. To test this,
He had used the magic on an injured member of his people, but it didn't produce the desired results. The "Vitality Regeneration" spell could only heal wounds.
Mako stroked Swan the griffin's head and observed that its singed feathers and fur had completely regrown, showing no sign of its previous serious injuries.
The newly recruited griffin followed behind, also wanting to come and frolic with Mako, but seemed a little afraid of Swan and didn't dare approach.
Mako smiled and beckoned to it. Swan turned its head and called out to it, and then the little fellow happily ran to Mako's other side.
Mako couldn't help but laugh at this scene. It seemed that Swan had already subdued this "underling."
Griffins always had the blood of felines. Every time Swan came to Mako, it liked to rub its head against him, which reminded Mako of the kitten he had raised as a child.
Mako played with them for a while and then went back to his bedroom on his own. He had been examining the information he had brought back from the tavern these past few days.
He hoped to find some information from it and then generate a quest. After completing the treasure house quest last time, that area had returned to normal, as if it had never appeared.
Mako, who was desperately short of resources, wanted to accumulate more resources in these few months. After all, he was about to set off for The North. If his soldiers had no fighting ability, they wouldn't be able to withstand the enemies that might appear in the future.
Just then, Mako suddenly remembered that he still had a treasure map he hadn't used. The treasure map in the game was specifically used to search for the "Tears of Asha".
I wonder what kind of surprise this will bring me! Thinking this, Mako hurriedly opened his quest interface and clicked on the treasure map reward.
"Ding! Congratulations, host, you have received a treasure map. You can find this treasure point on the map! The specific location is in a valley 20 kilometers north of Griffin Fortress. The reward is subject to the actual item! Note: You can open it to view at any time."
Looking at this map, Mako was filled with helplessness. This is the rhythm of making me go dig a hole!
After writing down this information, Mako quickly wrote down some of the basic features he saw on the paper: a cave, a large tree, a giant stone, and the system's description of the valley's location.
After doing all this, Mako called Sas Tin, who was guarding outside the door, and gave him the information and descriptions he had written.
Mako asked him to give these things to Henk. Since becoming Mako's knight, he had also become motivated.
He took the lead in learning the language of the Westeros Continent. Because this guy already knew the common language, coupled with his "Skinchanger" talent...
Learning knowledge was very convenient, and his progress was also significant, directly leaving the other two "former chieftains" far behind. Mako sometimes had him in charge of intelligence work, and he also intended to cultivate him as his intelligence chief.
Because Henk could be said to be the person who knew the whole of Skagos Island the best, Mako felt very reassured to leave these things to him. He believed that information about the valley would come soon.
After giving these instructions, Mako buried his head back in the intelligence pile.
"Hmm!"
Suddenly, Mako found a piece of very interesting intelligence from the pile of papers. He picked it up and read it silently.
"It is reported that three days ago, Bael II of Driftmark said he saw green oil fire in a house near the market, but Joramun of King's Hall said that he was drunk from eating the lees! He even sent him back that night!"
"Interesting!"
Mako looked at the document, and a trace of doubt flashed through his mind. On Skagos Island, many people were using Whale Oil Lamps for lighting.
But on this land, all the whale oil lamps cast the yellow light of candles; green fire had never appeared.
"That's not right! There's a kind of oil that glows green!"
Mako, who had just realized this, was instantly covered in a cold sweat. The scene of Stannis' fleet being destroyed was still fresh in Mako's mind.
That terrifying power, like "TNT" explosives, was extremely shocking even to someone from the Blue Star.
"Wildfire" was a highly flammable liquid on the Westeros Continent that could burn for a long time. Once ignited, it would completely consume an object. It originated from the Alchemist's Guild.
It could even seep into clothes, wood, leather, and even steel, causing them to catch fire. Wildfire could even burn on water, making it an ideal weapon of war.
However, wildfire appeared very few times in the TV series, but every time it did appear, it caused extremely terrible damage.
In his previous life, a netizen had commented that Cersei Lannister didn't know how to use wildfire; she only used it for political games.
But right now, those weren't things Mako should be concerned about. What he was most worried about was whether or not his castle truly contained such a thing.
Thinking about it now, it was very possible! The North was perpetually cold, which was indeed very suitable for storing Wildfire.
"So! Is it really true?"
Mako silently asked himself in his heart. Then, he spent some time digging up some strange intelligence from the past few days.
Mako found a few reports related to green flames. For example, someone claimed to have seen green will-o'-the-wisps in the fields near a farm.
Another example: someone accidentally started a fire when lighting an oil lamp at home, and the flames were initially green.
After Mako silently read through all the information, a quest interface immediately popped up in front of him.
"Ding! Wildfire, which can burn everything, has been brought into the beautiful Griffin Fortress by a few little mice. You seem to have noticed their existence! Find them, eliminate them! Quest reward: 2000 gold."
After reading the mission description, Mako finally confirmed his guess was right. Wildfire was indeed present here!
But this made Mako even more puzzled. Wildfire was barely mentioned in the TV series, and it certainly never appeared in The North.
Or maybe I'm relying too much on my knowledge of the plot! This is, after all, a real world.
Could it be that many major events have occurred in places I don't know about? The appearance of Wildfire in The North could be one of them!
Mako muttered to himself. He had always been strategizing based on the plot, never considering the possibility of changes.
But now he realized he had fallen into a trap, failing to consider "people," the biggest variable of all.
Every person was alive, they could think and act, and it was very possible that one person's idea today could become the root of the world's end in the future.
Mako relied too much on the plot. This way of thinking was very bad and could cause him to suffer greatly in the future.
"It's a good thing I discovered this problem ahead of time, or I might have been in trouble this time!"
Mako thought with a bit of relief. He always had a table listing people or things that could threaten him, with Wildfire's danger level on par with a fleet.
Mako's only enemy right now, or rather, his only known enemy, was Lord Roose Bolton of the Dreadfort, since Mako had stolen his future logistics base.
Moreover, this guy had been planning for years. Mako didn't believe he only had Mantis and Capo as his connections. This guy was best at hedging his bets, hiding in the shadows to be the ultimate winner.