The cabin reeked of medicine, with a faint trace of blood in the air.
Lo Quen's consciousness clawed its way out of the haze, and he slowly woke.
At once, agony crashed over him like a tide—his whole body felt as though pierced by a thousand red-hot needles, forcing a muffled groan from his throat.
He shifted his eyes with effort, and his vision gradually cleared.
His body was swathed almost entirely in coarse linen bandages, layer upon layer, many blotched with pale crimson stains that traced the outlines of the wounds beneath.
Even the smallest breath tugged at his chest and abdomen, while the deep, bone-baring gash along his spine sent waves of searing pain through him.
Creak—
The door swung open, and Janice's small figure appeared in the doorway.
When she saw his eyes open, joy burst like flame in her sapphire gaze. "Lo Quen—you're awake?!"
Her voice broke, half a sob, as she nearly flung herself to his bedside.
Lo Quen forced a faint, reassuring smile, his voice hoarse. "Mm. I'm fine. I made you worry."
The words weren't just for comfort.
While unconscious, his vast Magic had trickled back together like streams into a river, instinctively repairing the fatal damage first—his torn organs and shattered bones.
Though his body was still a ruin of burns and gashes, the deeper, truly mortal wounds had already been mended by more than half.
But the effort had nearly drained him of Magic.
At a thought, he summoned the system panel only he could see:
Host: Lo Quen
Age: 13 (Lifespan Limit: 304 years)
Magic: 41,300 / 223,000 (Passively absorbs ambient magic, or actively from magical items and creatures)
Passive Skills:
① Dragon Bloodline (Bloodline Purity: 22.3%. Slain magical units may yield Dragon Souls. 100 Dragon Souls = 0.01% Purity. Higher Purity raises magic limit, lifespan, physique, Dragonflame strength, Flame Knight capacity, and Dragon Soul Guard capacity.)
② True Dragon Physique (Purity strengthens the True Dragon form's body)
③ Fire Affinity (Purity enhances fire affinity and resistance; fire immunity consumes no Magic)
Active Skills:
① Dragonflame Breath (Human: 3m fireball / 7m range / 1 Magic per sec; Dragon: 15m fireball / 92m range / 5 Magic per sec)
② Blazing Inferno (Human: 3m dragonflame armor / 2 Magic per sec; Dragon: 15m flame domain / 10 Magic per sec)
③ Dragonblood Pact (Bind a human as a Flame Knight through absolute loyalty. Grants dragon blood and reshapes their body. Purity increases Pact capacity. Flame Knights may raise the dead as Dragon Soul Guards; Purity increases their number. Current Flame Knight cap: 3. Cost: 1000 Magic each)
④ Dragonbond Lineage (Drip Dragonblood into a dragon egg, infuse Magic. The hatched dragon and its line bond to the host, granting Dragonbond Lineage to the host and descendants. Cost: 10,000 Magic per egg; fossilized eggs: 70,000. Active egg cap: 4)
Ultimate Skill:
True Dragon's Descent: Transform into a 67-meter True Dragon. Purity increases size. Cost: 1000 Magic to activate, 1 Magic per sec to maintain.
In battle, Lo Quen had slain a purple-feathered chimera, a bat-winged lizard, and a white-feathered serpent. Using the thick fog, he lured the beasts into each other's fire, leading to the deaths of two griffins and three more Mela.
The lizard and feathered-serpent, each around thirty meters long, yielded 10,000 Dragon Souls apiece.
The two griffins, each barely ten meters, together gave 10,000. The purple-feathered chimera dropped none. The three lion-goat-serpent-headed bird, killed by the Sphinx, were under ten meters and dropped 25,000 in total.
Lo Quen remembered the chimera once kept by the Bloodmage—also lion-goat-serpent-headed, similar in size—but its yield had been far lower.
The disparity could only be explained by the evolution triggered by that black stone.
A total of fifty-five thousand Dragon Souls had raised his bloodline purity to 22.3%.
With purity surpassing 20%, the system panel showed several changes.
[Fire Affinity]'s fire immunity no longer consumed Magic, greatly extending his endurance in battle.
But it was the newly unlocked [Dragonbond Lineage] that carried far greater weight.
It meant not only the possibility of resurrecting and commanding dragons, but also the chance to establish a bloodline of Dragonriders—his own house of dragons, like the Valyria Dragonlords of old.
The thought set his heart ablaze.
At that moment, Jaelena entered, her face full of relieved concern. "Lord, you've finally awakened. While you were unconscious, we continued sailing west..."
Inside the cabin, she reported every matter of the voyage in detail.
When Lo Quen heard the account of Terys's attempt to abduct Janice, his gaze shifted to the little girl pressed close to her sister's side.
He reached out, his touch both approving and gentle, running a hand through Janice's silver hair. "Janice, you did well."
That tender gesture and unreserved praise lit her violet eyes at once. Warmth rushed through her, and a blush bloomed across her pale cheeks.
Lifting her small face, she spoke with newfound resolve. "Before, whenever danger came, it was always you and Sister protecting me. Back then, I swore that one day, when danger came for you, I'd stand up to face it. I've already asked Sister to train me in combat. I won't be a burden hiding in the back anymore."
Her earnest courage stirred Lo Quen deeply.
He too had strength, yet no true training.
Turning to Jaelena, poised and resolute as ever, he said, "Jaelena, count me in for training as well."
The warrior gave a solemn nod.
Then, with a serious expression, she lifted a longsword in both hands and presented it to him.
The scabbard was plain, but when she slowly drew the blade, a shard of cold light seemed to flare through the cabin.
The sword's metal was a deep, near-black hue, its surface etched with countless twisting runes that glimmered faintly with a dark crimson sheen.
It was nothing like the ornate brilliance of the Lannister sword "Brightroar," but radiated a dangerous, mysterious aura.
"This was Terys's sword," Jaelena said in a low voice. "A fine blade of Valyrian steel."
She paused, then added, "I've kept his armor safe as well. It can be delivered to you whenever you wish."
Lo Quen's eyes fixed on the rune-etched Valyrian steel, thoughts stirring within him.
He finally looked back at Jaelena, who asked quietly, "Lord, where shall we sail next?"
Where to?
Lo Quen's mind raced.
As a transmigrator thrown straight into the hell-tier dungeon of Valyria, his first priority had been survival.
With the system, he had clawed his way through the ruins and survived. But for someone like him, survival alone meant nothing. Only conquest mattered now.
And to conquer, he needed power.
He could transform into a dragon, he could hatch dragon eggs—but both demanded immense reserves of Magic.
Outside Valyria, without its constant replenishment, he carried only a few ghost grass seedlings, uncertain if they would even grow.
Even if he restored his pool to its cap of two hundred thousand with what little ghost grass remained, it would only fuel dragon combat for a few dozen hours.
The immediate priority, then, was seizing land—building a domain where he could study ways to replenish magic while raising an army.
Dragons alone could not conquer the world, not unless he had so many he could station one at every castle to prevent rebellion.
But where to carve out such a domain?
Here in the world of Ice and Fire, his greatest advantage was the system—and his knowledge of the story.
He did not know which year it was after Aegon's Conquest, but whatever the year, to use that knowledge he would have to go to Westeros.
Yet in Westeros, there was no place left for a foreigner like him to claim land.
He needed a foothold nearby—unguarded, uncontested, and easy to hold.
The Stepstones came to mind at once.
That archipelago at the meeting of the Narrow Sea and Summer Sea, riddled with pirate dens and smuggler havens, contested by Tyrosh and Lys—a chaos full of possibilities. The perfect place to begin.
But not yet.
Lo Quen's eyes flicked to the Lannister lion banner fluttering outside the window.
Sailing into the Stepstones beneath such a banner would only invite unnecessary trouble.
"Volantis first," he decided firmly. "We'll change ships there, replenish supplies, and buy slaves before setting sail for the Stepstones."
Volantis—the very place where his fate had begun.
It was there he had been purchased by the mad Gerion, set on the road that led into the abyss of Valyria's doom.
Now, with the thought of returning to that city—familiar yet foreign—Lo Quen's mind drifted.
...
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