[Chapter Size: 1400 Words.]
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At night, Theon arrived alone at the rear of Pyke Fortress.
A new batch of disaster-resistant wheat had been planted there. Regular wheat takes three to four months to mature on the Iron Islands, while this variety ripens in just two.
A large quantity of wheat seeds was stored in the warehouse of Fort Pyke, ready to be planted on Harlaw Island once it was cleared. The Riverlands, however, would have to wait a little longer.
When they reached Apollo's dwelling, faint rustling sounds could be heard from within the cave.
As Theon ventured deeper, the cave gradually grew brighter. Dozens of glowing stones lit the cavern with shimmering colors in the night.
To be honest, at least one-third of the jewels Theon's caravan had collected in Essos had been sent to the Dragon Caves, along with a considerable amount of gold.
Suddenly, the golden mountain before him trembled, and a massive dragon's head emerged.
When Apollo saw Theon arrive, his eyes widened instantly, and he burst forth from the glittering pile.
Theon estimated Apollo's body, tail included, to be at least ten meters long. Less than a year had passed since they last met, and in that time Apollo had grown from two meters to ten.
Theon stroked Apollo's metallic scales, then turned and climbed onto his back. The surface was rough against him, but nothing unbearable.
As Theon patted his neck, Apollo immediately spread his wings and soared skyward.
They shot out of the cave in an instant and broke into the open air. Looking down at Fort Pyke below, Theon could not help but shout at the top of his lungs.
"Ah, yes! Yo-ho!" he cried, bellowing like a wild beast. Apollo glanced back at him, eyes filled with concern.
Theon was ecstatic. The rush of icy wind against his face as he rode a dragon was indescribable. His wild, almost primal nature burst forth involuntarily.
After flying for a long while, Theon descended and patted Apollo's head. "Don't worry, it won't be long before you can reveal yourself to everyone openly."
Apollo shook his head. After years of growth, he no longer relied on blood to replenish his strength. He hunted less and less; the magic in the air gradually replaced blood as his main source of energy.
This was the greatest difference between the true dragons of Game of Thrones and the Apollo. True dragons could live up to two hundred years, but they needed to consume fire-roasted food throughout their lives.
Apollo, weary from flying, crawled back into the mountain of gold as though sinking into a soft bed.
It was clear Apollo preferred his lair, yet that never stopped Theon from mounting him. If Apollo ever reached a hundred meters in length, how could he not hover over Fort Pyke daily?
It would be the same as flaunting nuclear weapons at one's doorstep.
Later that night, when Theon returned to his chamber, Myrcella was already asleep in Selena's arms. He intended to go straight to bed, but after a moment's thought he stepped out into the courtyard.
A white shadow flashed past, and in an instant, the armor enveloped him.
Clenching his fists, Theon carefully felt the power coursing through the suit.
Thanks to the unprecedented surge of magical tides, the Armor grew stronger almost daily. With it, Theon's physical abilities were now five times that of an ordinary man.
The armor itself was indestructible. Once, it had been struck by a ballista on Seagard's city wall, leaving nothing but a shallow dent.
The Night King's strength was likely five to ten times that of a normal man, but his most terrifying powers were ice and necromancy.
Theon was uncertain of the full extent of his abilities, but one thing was clear: the Night King was a supernatural creature, not a god. He had not been assimilated into the system.
Speaking of which, the current state of the Wall was unclear. But according to the story, it would take nearly ten years before the Night King launched his assault.
If Daenerys hadn't sent her dragons north, the Night King would likely have remained trapped beyond the Wall, waiting for the coldest part of the Long Night to cross the frozen Eastern Sea.
…
A week later, a double-headed axe two meters long was delivered to Theon.
Two months earlier, a Braavosi merchant had traded a Valyrian steel sword to Tombil in exchange for the rights to sell soap in Braavos.
Theon ordered the sword, originally named Guardian, to be melted down and reforged into a massive double-headed axe with a slim iron haft. A unique weapon of tremendous size was born.
He had designed this axe solely to make cutting down foes easier and to maximize his advantage in battle.
Theon had already chosen a brown stallion, planning to empower it once the second crop of extraordinary wheat ripened.
Once strengthened, its endurance and explosive power would vastly increase. With custom-forged iron armor, who could stop Theon's carnage on the battlefield?
However, the extraordinary wheat ripened only once every six months. Since Apollo no longer required flesh and blood to grow, the supply of dragon dung would dwindle. They certainly couldn't bleed Apollo for it.
According to Theon's estimation, at most two batches of extraordinary wheat could mature. Based on Max's situation, two extraordinary creatures could be cultivated. The best candidates were Zeus and Ares, the name given to the colt.
As for people, Theon would not consider them. As the saying goes: one shining figure is enough.
Yet, judging by the ever-rising tide of magic, it was highly likely that powerful mages would emerge in the future, especially in the Shadow Lands.
In the following period, Theon withdrew a large sum of money and carefully selected several craftsmen to establish a workshop for tools.
Drawing from the memories of his past life, Theon filled notebooks with knowledge. However, his understanding of many things was only vague.
Still, he was not concerned. Once industry gained a proper foundation, development would inevitably accelerate.
All of Westeros had remained locked in a medieval aristocratic system for over eight thousand years. This was what baffled Theon the most. How strange!
Meanwhile, Theon built roads in Pyke and encouraged the common folk to devote themselves to business and trade. In truth, he wished to promote agriculture, but Pyke possessed only a small amount of arable land.
They had no choice but to turn instead to trade and fishing.
Of course, the most important industry was shipbuilding. Theon even sketched an incomplete design of a ship and delivered it to the largest shipyard on Pyke Island.
At the same time, he donated 200,000 gold coins to the shipyard. Anyone who managed to innovate upon existing shipbuilding techniques would be rewarded with hundreds, or even tens of thousands, of gold coins.
Theon invested nearly all the wealth he had earned from soap sales, without knowing how much he might gain in return. Yet even if the money were wasted, he would not regret it.
For if you fall behind, you will be defeated.
And every advancement was purchased with coin. Theon possessed few real skills. Even among the three treasures of his time-traveling knowledge, the only one he truly mastered was soap-making.
Thus, for Theon, the best method was to create a concept, spend money to transform that concept into a plan, and finally make it a reality.
Fortunately, he still remembered the design of a crucial agricultural tool, the curved plow.
The curved plow introduced several important innovations compared to earlier models.
The first was transforming the long, straight shaft into a shorter, curved one, with a freely rotating plow disk fixed at the head. This design made the plow smaller and lighter, easier to maneuver, and more efficient in turning the soil, thus saving both human and animal labor.
As a lover of historical novels, Theon naturally remembered both the diagrams and the methods for producing the curved plow.
After drafting the blueprint, he immediately handed it to Andre, instructing him to arrange for workers to choose a site and begin building the workshop.
Originally, Theon had planned to establish the workshop in the Riverlands. But after much deliberation, he decided to construct the first plow workshop on Pyke Island.
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