"Ding! Congratulations to the host, you have obtained a component of the advanced treasure, the 'Horn of Plenty', 1/3."
The Horn of Plenty, randomly increases one point of a special resource and 500 gold resources each month. After obtaining all three components, it becomes three points and the gold resources increase to 1500.
Marco toyed with the horn in his hand, and his heart was filled with joy. With this advanced treasure, his resources would be somewhat guaranteed in the future.
Ah! Who would have thought! Some skills and treasures I never cared about before are now becoming so important!
Ah! The world is ever-changing! When will I have a real angel! Although the Blessing Ceremony is very powerful, it's not a real angel after all!
Marco thought silently to himself, his mind filled with thoughts.
Afterwards, Marco turned his head towards the two people standing beside him and said in a calm tone:
"What you gave me is very useful to me, I like it very much. Go back and rest."
"Don't overthink it. We're still in danger. If I need help, I'll come to you!"
"Yes, Lord Marco!"
Finny and Nira replied in unison, then left together.
After they left, Marco turned his head to Moonshadow, only to find her talking to something.
As if sensing Marco's gaze, Moonshadow turned her head back to him and said:
"My sisters told me they felt the fluctuations of our kin's divine power, seemingly directly to our north!"
"That should be the Three-Eyed Crows. He must have sensed us. Can you communicate with them now?"
"Not at the moment! Marco, the wights here are constantly weeping, as if something is about to happen! Could it be the evil god my sisters spoke of?"
"I feel like I can sense the gods weeping. They are dying, bit by bit. Will the world be destroyed, Marco!"
Moonshadow's voice carried a hint of sorrow, seemingly infected by those low, mournful emotions. Her words, in the original language, were filled with a sense of impending doom.
Marco gently patted her shoulder, comforting her softly:
"Don't worry! I'm here! Nothing will dare to harm you. This world will ultimately be in my grasp, and everything that tries to destroy it will be annihilated by me!"
The small banquet continued until late into the night, and Marco and the others simply rested in the hall.
In the dead of night, a white raven suddenly flew in from the roof and lightly perched on a beam.
The white raven searched the hall, looking for its target. Upon seeing Marco's position, it hopped excitedly and let out a "Caw!"
Marco, asleep, unknowingly entered his consciousness world again. He knew his old friend had come to see him again.
The Three-Eyed Crow, still in the form of Brynden Rivers, sported that eternally glum expression, leaving Marco speechless.
Marco truly couldn't believe that this guy was the same person as the infamous "Duke of Blood Raven"!
"Marco! You seem to have grown quite a bit on this journey. Your strength has increased again!"
The Three-Eyed Crow spoke first, seemingly pleased with Marco's progress.
Marco looked at him deeply and said:
"Does my becoming stronger benefit you? Three-Eyed Crow, you also seem stronger. Is it because of me?"
The Three-Eyed Crow shook his head. "I am still me. We have been forgotten by time. Perhaps only you are the hope of the future!"
Seeing him speak in riddles again, Marco could only shake his head helplessly and asked:
"Where are you guys? Moonshadow said you were in the North, right? If that's the case, let's meet at the Fist of the First Men!"
The Three-Eyed Crow replied, "We've set off from the Red Keep and are heading your way. We should arrive soon!"
After that, the two spoke for a while longer. This time, the Three-Eyed Crow stayed a bit longer than before.
As Marco's strength grew, his control over the world of consciousness became stronger. He could now sense these subtle changes.
One day, I'll know? Hmph!
The Fist of the First Men was a ring fort built by the First Men during the Dawn Age. It was located on the banks of the Milk River. In the TV series, the Night's Watch's ranging party was attacked by Wights here, with almost the entire army wiped out.
It was precisely because of this incident that the subsequent series of events involving the Night's Watch began.
Fist of the First Men was a hill that suddenly rose up in the Ghostwood. The west and north sides of the hill were steep slopes, while the east and south sides were only slightly gentler, which provided a good view for commanding from the summit.
The peak, exposed to the cold wind, was very steep. The top was covered in scattered rocks, and a circle of gray stone walls surrounded it, visible even from miles away.
But as time passed, only ruins remained. The once towering defensive walls were now only waist-high foundations.
A small stream flowed slowly from the foot of the mountain, the water murmuring as if recounting the glorious past of this relic.
Their pace had slowed considerably with the addition of nineteen more people. It took Marco and the others about ten days to get here from Castle Black.
"Screech!"
A swift hawk flew overhead, seemingly conveying some information to the people below.
This swift hawk was Wolf Fang's animal companion. Wolf Fang had just used it for reconnaissance. After exiting the Other mode, Wolf Fang said to Marco:
"Lord... Marco! We haven't found anything unusual yet. This area seems normal!"
"Wolf Fang! Always remember to stay vigilant. We're dealing with some extraordinary beings now.
Forget it! It doesn't matter. I'm coming here to take a look anyway. Tell everyone to get ready to move out!"
Marco didn't completely relax after hearing Wolf Fang's report. Ever since the ambush by the Wights, Marco had increased the patrol frequency.
Now, Henk and Wolf Fang basically took turns, and although they hadn't been attacked by the Wights again, Marco still felt a strange sense of unease.
He didn't want to have a "Fist of the First Men" battle with the Wights prematurely; his subordinates were precious!
They weren't just a bunch of data like in a game, and even in a game, Marco would try his best to complete the battle without losses.
Back on Skagos Island, Marco had planned to come to the Fist of the First Men because his initial goal was to find the legendary "Horn of Winter."
In the First Men's legends, this horn possessed the power to bring down the Wall. Regardless of whether the legend was true, Marco wanted to get his hands on it!
After all, his goal was to conquer the world. In this low-magic world, the Wights' sea of corpses was an insurmountable threat.
Marco didn't want to be caught off guard by the Wights breaching the Wall. Although he'd already repaired the magical arrays, there was no guarantee against unexpected events.
Marco wanted to eliminate all such possibilities, buying time for the development of his Griffin Fortress.
Moreover, he now had a reason to seek it out. If he wasn't mistaken, the Horn of Winter should be one of the other two components of the "Horn of Plenty."
After Marco's party entered the ruins of the Fist of the First Men, they had been meticulously searching for the Horn of Winter.
Their efforts paid off. After searching for over an hour, Wolf Fang and the others finally found the massive horn, carefully wrapped, in a pit.
This horn was jet black and enormous, appearing to be over a meter long. The wide opening was large enough to completely swallow a person's head.
The horn was inlaid with ancient runes in gold, which had faded to brown over time. When Marco held it, he could still feel the faint magical energy of the runes.
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, you have obtained a component of the high-level treasure, the 'Horn of Plenty', 2/3."
"Ding! The current available resource points are 2, and the available gold resources are 1000. Please keep up the good work, host!"
After this prompt, the horn in Marco's hand turned into a ray of light, which gradually converged into Marco's body, just like the Wights horn at the beginning.
Just as Marco was about to check his resource points, Wolf Fang and the others suddenly ran over to report that they had found a basement near this treasure trove.
"My Lord Marco! Please come and take a look. This is the underground entrance we just discovered. This entrance is really hidden; you wouldn't notice it if you didn't check carefully!"
Wolf Fang reported respectfully to Marco.
"Have you checked carefully? Is there air circulation? Have you tested it?"
Marco looked at the entrance to the underground tunnel and asked Wolf Fang without turning his head.
"Lord Marco! As you instructed, we already conducted tests in advance, and it's safe!"
"Good! Then I'll go down with Sas Ting and the others! I'll leave this place to you!"
Henk was a little anxious after hearing Marco's arrangement. He hurriedly said to Marco, "My Lord! This won't do! We should send down some more people! Your safety...!"
Marco waved his hand at them and said, "Enough! Enough! The more people there are, the harder it is to operate. Besides, there are those Ghouls!
You all better live well. I want your service, not your lives!"
"Yes! My Lord!"
Henk and the others answered in unison.
After that, Marco led Sas Ting and the others forward. This time, he brought only system-generated soldiers.
Ghouls were also classified as level 2 units by the system. With 16 level 2 units, 3 level 3 units, and 1 level 4 unit, they barely formed a "starting" squad.
In the game, many of the initial heroes recruited from the taverns were similar, only leading a small number of soldiers.
Moonshadow also rode her shadow lynx behind the troops. Moonshadow was only close to Marco. Finny and the others tried several times to get close with her, but the "little thing" never paid them any attention.
Marco was now level 5. Coupled with the abilities granted to him by the system, his strength was now equivalent to a character in the game with a level 10+ bonus.
The passage beneath the ruins was extremely spacious. Marco found that it could even accommodate five people walking side by side.
With the faint light of the torches, Marco realized that this seemed to be an artificially excavated underground cavern.
After descending the crude steps, Marco and his group saw an excavated cavern, which connected to a passage.
Every cavern here was piled high with corpses, their skeletal remains intertwined, as if they'd been through a brutal battle!
Naksis, who was by Marco's side, suddenly said, "It seems a fierce battle took place here. The resentment of the undead is everywhere. Who knows what powerful undead might appear? Everyone, be careful!"
As soon as he finished speaking, more than ten skeletons with green eyes crawled out of the bone pile and rushed towards Marco and his companions. With a thought, Marco's Ghouls also roared and charged forward.
These skeleton soldiers seemed to have just regained consciousness, possessing only the most basic combat instincts.
They wouldn't use weapons like they did in the game, only using their bone claws and mouths to attack. In just a short while, they were smashed to pieces by the Ghouls under Marco's command.
Although these skeletons were easily destroyed, as Marco and his companions went deeper, the number of skeletons in these caverns also increased, and their combat strength grew stronger!
But they were all too weak. Although they kept reviving, they were quickly eliminated by Marco's Ghouls. If they didn't provide so little experience, Marco would have loved to grind for experience here!
After walking for about ten minutes, and eliminating countless skeletons, Marco and his companions arrived at a more spacious cavern.
Inside was a massive stone table, resembling a meeting hall, surrounded by numerous corpses.
Various weapons and armor were scattered everywhere, faintly radiating runic magical power, unlike the corpses outside that were completely decayed.
In the center of this area, there was a giant stone throne. On it sat a mummified corpse with a longsword embedded in its chest, encrusted with rubies. It appeared to have been dead for a very long time.
"My Lord! Come and look at this. I don't recognize their script!"
At this moment, Naksis suddenly called out to Marco, standing before a stone碑.
Marco walked over to the stone碑. In front of it lay two corpses, who seemed to be the craftsmen who had carved the inscription.
"'He' was clearly killed by us, but why is he alive again! Fortunately, I have already informed the King of the North, hoping the allied forces can eliminate them!
They are breaking through the gate, we can't hold out much longer. May the gods protect us, we will fight to the death!"
After reading the inscription, Marco turned his gaze towards the desiccated corpse on the throne, seemingly pondering its identity.
According to the information from Maester Aemon, the only person from beyond the Wall connected to the Horn of Winter was the ancient King-Beyond-the-Wall, Joramun!
A thousand years after the War for the Dawn, the Wights returned again. This time, they sent a female Wight to seduce the then-Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Brandon Stark.
Eventually, this Stark went mad and initiated a massive rebellion, declaring he would establish a kingdom on the Wall, and proclaimed himself the "Night King."
In the end, he was suppressed by his brother, the King in the North, and Joramun, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, working together.
"It seems! It should be the resurrected Night King, bringing his Ghoul army here to seek revenge on this King-Beyond-the-Wall, but why isn't there any record of it in the later history?"
Seeing this, Marco couldn't help but murmur to himself.