"Ding! Congratulations to the host, you have obtained a component of the advanced treasure, the 'Horn of Plenty', 1/3."
The Horn of Plenty, which randomly increases special resources by 1 point and gold resources by 500 points each month. After obtaining all 3 components, it becomes 3 points and gold resources increase to 1500 points.
Marco was playing with the horn in his hand, and he was also very happy. With this advanced treasure, his resources would be somewhat guaranteed in the future.
"Ah! Who would have thought! Some skills and treasures that I never paid attention to before are now so important!
Ah! The world is unpredictable! When will I have a real angel! Although the Blessing Ritual is powerful, it's not a true angel after all!"
Marco thought silently in his heart, his mind filled with thoughts.
Then, Marco turned his head towards the two people standing beside him and said in a calm tone:
"The things you gave me are very useful to me, I like them very much. Go back and rest."
"Don't overthink it. We're still in danger. If I need anything, I'll come to you myself!"
"Yes, Master Marco!"
Finny and Nira replied in unison, then left together.
After they left, Marco turned his head towards Moonshadow, only to find her talking to something.
As if sensing Marco's gaze, Moonshadow turned to him and said:
"The sisters told me they felt the fluctuations of our kin's divine power, seemingly directly north of us!"
"That should be the Three-Eyed Crow and the others. He seems to have sensed us. Can you communicate with them now?"
"Not at the moment! Marco, the souls here are constantly weeping, as if something is about to happen! Could it be the evil gods the sisters spoke of?"
"I seem to feel the gods weeping, dying bit by bit. Will the world be destroyed, Marco!"
Moonshadow's words carried a trace of sorrow, as if infected by those deep, melancholic emotions. The rhythm of the original language was 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 hands, and anything that tries to destroy it will be obliterated!"
The small banquet continued until late at night. Marco and the others simply rested in the hall.
In the latter half of the night, a white raven suddenly flew onto the roof, perching gently on a beam.
The white raven searched the hall, looking for its target. Upon spotting Marco's location, it hopped excitedly and gave a "Caw!"
Asleep, Marco unknowingly entered his consciousness world again. He knew his old friend had come to find him once more.
The Three-Eyed Crow, still in the form of Brynden Rivers after all this time, wore that eternally mournful expression, which left Marco speechless.
Marco truly couldn't believe this guy was the same person as the infamous "Bloodraven Duke"!
"Marco! You seem to have grown quite a bit on this journey, and your strength appears to have increased again!"
The Three-Eyed Crow spoke first, seemingly pleased with Marco's progress.
Marco gave him a long look and said:
"Does my getting stronger benefit you? Three-Eyed Crow, you seem to have gotten stronger too. Is it because of me?"
The Three-Eyed Crow shook his head, saying, "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 ask:
"Where are you guys? Moonshadow said you were in the North, right? If that's the case, let's meet at Fist of the First Men!"
The Three-Eyed Crow replied, "We set off from the Red Keep and are already heading there. We should arrive soon!"
After that, the two of them chatted some more, and 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.
"Someday, I'll know? Humph!"
——————————————Scene Break: The Journey Begins—————————————————
Fist of the First Men was a ring fort built by the First Men during the Dawn Age. It's located on the Milk River. In the TV series, the Night's Watch ranger expedition was attacked by White Walkers here, and almost the entire army was annihilated.
It was precisely because of this event that a series of events involving the Night's Watch followed.
Fist of the First Men was a hill that abruptly rose in the Haunted Forest. The west and north sides of the hill were steep slopes, while the east and south sides were only slightly gentler, providing a good vantage point to command from the summit.
The peak, exposed to the cold wind, was very steep. A ring of gray stone walls surrounded the summit, which was covered in scattered rocks, visible even from miles away.
But with the passage of time, only ruins remained. The once-lofty defensive walls were now just foundations, barely reaching chest height.
A small stream flowed slowly from the foot of the mountain, its gurgling waters seeming to narrate the glorious past of this relic.
Due to the addition of 19 people, Marco and his group's speed slowed down considerably, taking about 10 days to reach here from Craster's Keep.
"Caw!"
A swift hawk flew overhead, seemingly conveying information to those 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:
"My... Lord Marco! We haven't found anything unusual yet. This area seems normal!"
"Wolf Fang! Always remember to stay vigilant. The things we're dealing with now are all quite… magical.
Ah, whatever! It doesn't matter. I was always going to come here and take a look. Tell everyone to move out!"
After hearing Wolf Fang's report, Marco didn't completely relax. Ever since the ambush by the White Walkers, Marco had increased the patrol frequency.
Now, Henk and Wolf Fang basically took turns. Although they hadn't been attacked by the White Walkers again, Marco still inexplicably felt a trace of unease.
He didn't want to experience a "Fist of the First Men" battle prematurely. His subordinates were precious!
They weren't just a bunch of data like in a game. Moreover, even in a game, Marco would always try to ensure a battle was completed without any losses.
Back on Skagos Island, Marco had already planned to come to the Fist of the First Men because his initial goal was to search for the legendary "Horn of Winter".
In the legends of the First Men, this horn possessed the power to bring down the Wall. Whether this legend was true or not, Marco wanted to get his hands on it!
After all, his goal was to conquer the world. In this low-magic world, the White Walkers' sea of corpses tactic was an unsolvable problem.
Marco didn't want to be caught off guard by the White Walkers breaking through the Wall. Although he had repaired the magic array, he couldn't guarantee there wouldn't be any unexpected situations.
Marco now wanted to eliminate all these possibilities, to buy time for the development of his Griffin Fortress.
Furthermore, Marco now had a reason to come looking for it. If he wasn't mistaken, the Horn of Winter should be one of the other two components of the "Horn of Plenty."
After Marco and his group entered the ruins of the Fist of the First Men, they had been carefully searching for traces of the Horn of Winter.
Their efforts paid off. After searching for more than an hour, Wolf Fang and the others finally found a huge horn wrapped up in a pit.
This horn was black and enormous, appearing to be over a meter long. Its wide opening could even completely contain a person's head.
The horn was inlaid with ancient runes in gold, which had gradually faded to brown over the years. 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 advanced treasure, the 'Horn of Plenty', 2/3."
"Ding! The current available resource points are 2, and the available gold resources are 1000. Please continue to work hard, host!"
After this prompt sounded, the horn in Marco's hand turned into a ray of light, gradually merging into Marco's body, just like the White Walker horn at first.
Just as Marco was about to check his resource points, Wolf Fang and the others suddenly ran over to report that they had found an underground chamber near this treasure point.
"My lord Marco! Please come and take a look. This is the underground entrance we just discovered. This hidden entrance is really concealed; you wouldn't have found it without a careful inspection!"
Wolf Fang reported respectfully to Marco.
"Have you inspected it carefully? Is the air circulating? Have you tested it?"
Marco looked at the entrance to the underground tunnel and, without turning around, asked Wolf Fang, "How is it?"
"Lord Marco! As you instructed, we tested it 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!"
Hearing Marco's arrangement, Henk became a little anxious. He quickly said to Marco, "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 wights!
All of you, live well! I want your service, not your lives!"
"Yes! My lord!"
Henk and the others replied in unison.
After that, Marco led Sas Ting and the others down. This time, he brought along only system-created soldiers.
Wights were also defaulted 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 out" squad.
In the game, many of the initial heroes recruited from the tavern were similar, only leading such small forces.
Moonshadow also rode her shadow lynx behind the troops. Moonshadow was only ever close to Marco. Finny and the others tried several times to get close to her, but the "little one" never paid them any attention.
Marco was now Level 5. Combined with the abilities the system had granted him, his strength was almost equivalent to the additional status of a character in the game that was over Level 10.
The passage beneath the ruins was very spacious. After trying it out, Marco found that the passage could even accommodate five people walking abreast.
With the faint light of the torches, Marco discovered that this seemed to be an artificial underground cavern.
After finishing the rudimentary stairs, Marco and his group saw a carved-out cavern, and a passage leading from it.
Each of the chambers here was filled with corpses. These skeletal remains were intertwined, as if they had been through a brutal battle!
At this moment, Naksis, who was beside Marco, suddenly said, "It seems a fierce battle took place here. The resentment of the undead is permeating everywhere. Who knows what powerful undead might appear? Everyone, be careful!"
As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen skeletons with glowing green eyes crawled out from the bone piles and rushed towards Marco and his group. Marco's thoughts stirred, and the wights also roared and charged forward.
These skeleton soldiers seemed to have just regained their consciousness and only possessed the most basic combat awareness.
They didn't use weapons like in the game, only using their bone claws and mouths to attack. In just a short while, they were smashed to pieces by Marco's wights.
Although these skeletons were easily destroyed, as Marco and his group went deeper, the number of skeletons in these chambers increased, and their combat power also grew stronger!
However, they were all too weak. Although they kept resurrecting, they were quickly eliminated by Marco's wights. If they hadn't given so little experience, Marco would've wanted to grind experience here!
After walking for about 10 minutes and eliminating countless skeletons, Marco and his group arrived at a more spacious chamber.
Inside was a huge stone table, which looked like a meeting hall, surrounded by a large number of corpses.
Various weapons and armor lay scattered on the ground, still faintly radiating runic magical power, and had not been completely corroded like the corpses outside.
In the center of this area, there was a huge stone throne, and on the throne was a dry corpse. A longsword inlaid with rubies was thrust through its chest, and it looked like it had been dead for a long time.
"My Lord! Come and take a look at this. I don't recognize their writing!"
At this moment, Naksis, standing in front of a stone tablet, suddenly called out to Marco.
Marco walked over to the stone tablet. In front of it lay two corpses, which appeared to be the craftsmen who had engraved the inscriptions.
"'He' was clearly killed by us, but why is he alive again! Fortunately, I have already informed the King of the North, and I hope the allied forces can eliminate them!
They are breaking down the door, we can't hold on much longer. May the gods bless us, we will fight to the death!"
After reading the inscription, Marco turned his gaze to the desiccated corpse upon the throne, seemingly pondering its identity.
According to the information provided by Maester Aemon, there was only one person connected to the Horn of Winter beyond the Wall: Joramun, the King-Beyond-the-Wall from ancient times!
A thousand years after the end of the Dawn Age, the White Walkers returned, this time sending a female White Walker to seduce Bran Stark, then Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.
In the end, this Stark had the audacity to incite a massive rebellion and declared his intention to establish a kingdom on the Wall, proclaiming himself the "Night King."
Ultimately, he was suppressed by his brother, the King in the North, and Joramun, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, who joined forces against him.
"It seems! It should be the resurrected Night King, bringing his army of Wights here to take revenge on this King-Beyond-the-Wall, but why isn't there any record of it in later history?"
Seeing this, Marco couldn't help but murmur to himself.