Klay wasn't interested in the banquet that was about to begin. The only thing that might interest him was the delicious food.
Winterfell's material conditions were a bit worse than White Harbor's, but the kitchen quality was surprisingly good. Of course, it might also have something to do with Klay being tired of eating fish every day in White Harbor.
Originally seated near the main table, Klay quickly finished eating to escape. He picked up his plate and went to the long table where the guards were gathered near the door.
"Klay, what are you doing here?"
It was Jon Snow speaking, mixed in with the crowd. This usually quiet boy was now reeking of alcohol, his eyes a little hazy as he asked Klay.
"I can't understand the jokes of the lords and ladies. I felt like an idiot sitting there."
Klay shrugged, pointing at the seat he had just left.
"That's true, you could leave. Look at Robb, he's practically chewing his fork to pieces over there," Jon said, pointing at Robb, who was sitting across from the Queen at the main table looking extraordinarily awkward. He then grinned and took a large swig of wine.
Lord Eddard rarely let his children drink, but today, no one seemed to care.
Klay took a roasted chicken wing, glistening with oil, from the table and tossed it to the white direwolf curled up beneath the table. This direwolf, named Ghost, had become quite familiar with Klay these past few days.
The movement was fluid. The wolf caught the chicken wing in its mouth before it even hit the ground and began to devour it, lying down beside Klay's feet.
Klay enjoyed petting the white wolf, and Ghost didn't resist Klay's touch.
Under Jon's envious gaze, Klay became more and more enthusiastic in his petting, and Ghost, being stroked, let out a comfortable purr on the floor.
"Is that your wolf, young man?"
Someone asked from behind Klay. Klay looked up and heard Jon say, "Uncle Benjen!"
He already knew who had arrived, so he stood up and turned to look at the tall Night's Watch man standing behind him.
"It's not, it's Jon's wolf. You sit, I'll go outside for a walk. It wouldn't be seemly to throw up from too much drinking."
Klay took the opportunity to leave his seat. The Chief Ranger, who was covered in the wind and snow, didn't recognize Klay at all. He just thought he was an ordinary guard and nodded at him indifferently before sitting down to chat with Jon.
Slipping out of the hall, Klay pretended to be drunk and quickly returned to his room. He scooped up a small basin of cold water from the water tank to sober himself up.
Picking up the small bundle of clothes, Klay opened the door and walked towards the Godswood in a very natural manner.
As expected, Klay was right. House Stark attached great importance to the king's security. Lord Eddard had drawn a large number of guards to the vicinity of the Winterfell hall, and the sentry posts along the way were now deserted.
At the entrance to the Godswood, Klay finally spotted two House Stark guards in chainmail from afar, but there were only these two. Moreover, the two were dealing with the tortillas in their hands, their attention completely focused.
A good opportunity!
Klay immediately went around the entrance, keeping his distance. The side of the Godswood within Winterfell had a relatively low wall. It was a dark and windy night, and it was a good time to kill... no, to climb the wall.
Very smoothly, Klay scaled the wall into Winterfell's Godswood, taking advantage of its weakest defense. The moment his feet touched the soft ground, a faint smell of decay hit his nostrils.
It was the smell of layers of fallen leaves piled up, a massive shedding in summer – not a good sign.
Although it was still high summer, as House Stark's words proclaimed: Winter is Coming…
The world was pitch black before him. Thick, black tree trunks dominated his vision, while high branches clustered together, blocking out the scant moonlight. Klay moved cautiously, mindful of tripping over the raised roots on the ground.
It was too dark, too quiet. Klay felt as though eyes were watching him in the inky, viscous darkness, always watching…
Klay understood why people who once lived here developed the obscure and vague faith of the Old Gods. In this environment, one had to find hope in anything, and the clearly defined gods simply couldn't satisfy their needs.
It took Klay nearly half an hour to cover a short distance. Finally, after navigating through what seemed like endless fallen leaves, he saw the ancient Weirwood tree standing quietly in a pool of black, cold water.
Strangely, no other vegetation grew around this, possibly the largest Weirwood in the North. Klay guessed House Stark had cleared the surrounding trees, as it was a place the lord frequented, and it needed to be spacious.
Moonlight spilled down, making the tall Weirwood's trunk shimmer silver. In the night, the deep red leaves were forced to bow and turn black.
Taking a deep breath, Klay stepped forward. Whether or not he could replenish his mana pool depended on this one shot!
Ignoring the eerie, terrifying face on the tree trunk that seemed even more sinister in the moonlight, Klay finally arrived before the Heart Tree. He had a feeling, a sense, that the face was staring at him, but he couldn't care less at this moment.
He removed his exquisitely crafted leather gloves and placed his hands on the trunk.
The next second...
A vast and chaotic power surged through Klay's arms and into his defenseless body. This power was too violent, like a raging bull, and Klay almost lost consciousness instantly.
A thought flashed through his mind, and the illusory dark blue system appeared before his eyes. Gritting his teeth, Klay's bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the numbers behind the mana pool.
"75..." The number didn't change.
But the next moment, the number changed to 76, then 77, and then it went faster and faster!
While Klay was still stunned, the number had already broken through 100 and was rising even faster.
His ears were filled with a buzzing sound, and Klay couldn't hear the rustling of the tens of thousands of leaves of the huge Heart Tree, which were moving without any wind.
After a few breaths, Klay's mana pool had accumulated over 150 points of mana. This was more than double the mana Klay had stored when he first obtained the system. He could now push the success rate of the Grass Trial to its limit and negate two negative effects.
Klay wanted to stop, but he found he couldn't. His hands seemed firmly pressed against the tree trunk, as if he was about to merge with the Heart Tree.
Mana continued to pour in. The greedy mana pool seemed to have no upper limit, but Klay's body was about to give out.
A strange feeling of blockage filled his body. Klay breathed deeply, but the oxygen entering his lungs felt like it was crawling. He was like a drowning man, his face slowly turning pale.
"Damn it." A beautiful curse, not of this world, escaped Klay's lips. Gaining a moment of clarity, Klay used all his strength to slam his head against the tree trunk.
Amidst the rustling of leaves, there was first a heavy thud, followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground.
Klay, lying on the ground, gasped for breath, looking at the incredibly conspicuous number behind his mana pool, and bared his white teeth.
Far beyond The Wall, in a deep, dark cave, a blood-red eye suddenly opened in the darkness. It let out a silent, furious roar, because just now, the largest eye in The North had been injured!
Invisible sound waves spread out, and countless crows in the cave flapped their wings and took to the sky in the dark night. They flew south, with only one destination in mind: Winterfell!
....
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