In the boiling, dark green seawater, architectural remains half-submerged in the water looked like the withered bones of giant beasts. Beneath the murky surface, the faint dark red glow of magma could be seen.
The small boat threaded through the wreckage in the shallow waters. Occasionally, strange, eerie fish could be seen flashing by, disappearing into the broken buildings.
The large ship was blocked by the reefs and shallow waters, so it could only rely on several small boats to transport people to that cursed land in batches.
When Aegon's feet stepped onto land again, he was already in the fifth batch of people to set foot on this cursed land.
Along the coast, the rotting remains of ships were stranded. Dark green waves slapped against them, and unknown bone fragments rose and fell with the tide.
When the last person jumped off, the small boat sailed back to pick up the next batch. They needed to wait here until everyone had gathered before heading into the depths of the ruins together.
Seeing the small boat depart, Aegon and the others did not linger and began walking toward the shore.
Not far from the messy shoreline, several batches of mercenaries who had arrived earlier than him were gathered. They had already set up a fairly large... camp?
Aegon looked around and couldn't help but be a little surprised. This speed was too fast, wasn't it?
If they had just lit a few bonfires and sat around them, calling it a temporary camp would be more reasonable.
But they had even put up fences and walls, cordoning off a large open space. Inside, more than a dozen tents of various sizes had been pitched. They were camping here? Did they plan to stay long-term?
Aegon was puzzled. He thought that although he had come with the fifth batch of boats, he hadn't arrived that much later than them, had he?
And they had already whipped up a camp?
He even saw several large pots set up in the center of the camp. Firewood crackled beneath them, and steaming hot soup bubbled inside the pots.
Wait, they were already planning to eat?
It wasn't that Aegon was just being a curious child, but in this eerie place, one couldn't afford a single moment of negligence! Not to mention that this journey was full of strange things.
Even if the first batch to arrive had started building the camp immediately after getting off the boat, setting up fences, pitching tents, and even cooking food should have taken at least half a day. Besides, where did they get the materials?
This efficiency was almost eerily high.
Unless... they hadn't built these at all!
Just as doubts were rising in his mind and he was warily scanning the camp, a familiar figure ran over excitedly from a bonfire.
"Brother Hain, The Seven protect us, you've finally made it to this hellhole!" Henry's chubby round face was covered in sweat, but his smile was very sincere. The belly under his iron armor jiggled as he ran.
Aegon felt something was off when he heard those words. Moreover, with that "Faith of The Seven," was this fat guy a Westerosi?
He really couldn't tell before!
This guy had always spoken the language of the Free Cities before, even with a bit of a Volantis accent.
"Hey, this hellhole is nothing but stones and bones. It's really uncomfortable!"
"See that camp? It saved us a lot of effort!"
Hearing this, Aegon observed the surroundings and asked calmly, "You guys moved really fast. You're even about to eat?"
Upon hearing this, Henry wore an expression as if Aegon had just gotten a great deal. He lowered his voice and spoke with a bit of mysterious excitement: "Fast? Not at all! We were in the third batch to arrive, and guess what? This camp was already standing here! The fences, the fire pits, even the holes for the tent stakes were already there! We just tidied it up, added some firewood, and set up the pots! Heh heh, convenient, right?"
Exactly! Aegon thought, confirming a suspicion in his mind. This was by no means a temporary setup, but a base that had been used repeatedly.
And whose base was it? Who built it? Aegon already had the answer in his heart.
"Come sit over here! Just in time, the soup is ready!" Henry enthusiastically pulled Aegon's arm and led him to a large rock a bit away from the bonfire, where it was relatively quiet.
He himself acted like an eager waiter, running to the large pot, picking up two clay bowls with chipped edges, and laboriously scooping out two large ladlefuls from the boiling thick soup—inside were several pieces of white fish that were unrecognizable and some unknown roots. He handed them to Aegon.
Holding the bowl and sniffing it, a salty, fishy smell entered his nose, along with a faint scent of sulfur.
Aegon's mouth twitched. The cook who made this soup was definitely a 'talent.' He really dared to throw anything into the pot, without worrying whether the fish in the Smoke Sea were contaminated or poisonous. The key was that he dared to make it, and someone actually dared to eat it!
Aegon looked toward the figure busy by the iron pot. The person seemed to sense something and turned back, meeting his gaze exactly.
Perhaps misunderstanding something and thinking Aegon found his cooking delicious, he actually raised his chin proudly and tapped the iron pot with an iron ladle, seemingly waiting for a compliment.
Aegon's mouth twitched again. He withdrew his gaze and ignored him. Henry, who was beside him, had stood up and gone off to do something while Aegon was staring at that "talent," leaving only the two bowls of salty, fishy fish soup on the large rock.
Aegon didn't touch the fish soup. Instead, he summoned the system panel to check the check-in mission.
Although the system clearly stated the mission was to check in deep within the Valyrian Ruins, they had only just landed on the edge of the ruins. It was still early!
But Aegon still opened the system panel to take a look. Check in deep within? Where was the deep part? How far into the Valyrian Ruins did he have to go? He still had to manually open the system to check if he had reached a location where he could check in.
Aegon was also quite speechless about this system. It couldn't even issue a mission clearly. If it hadn't saved his life before, he would have started cursing it long ago, even though it didn't even have an intelligence.
Ding! Accompanied by a notification sound, a panel that only Aegon could see appeared before his eyes.
Name: Aegon Targaryen
Strength: 20 (Evaluation: You are very strong but have not yet reached the human peak; there is still room for improvement)
Spirit: 67 (Evaluation: Your spirit is abnormally strong. When you perceive them, perhaps they have noticed you too!)
Agility: 20 (Evaluation: Agility twice that of an average person allows you to seize the initiative everywhere)
Physical Constitution: 23 (A healthy body makes you rarely fall ill, except for curses?)
Current Status: Cursed (Hint: The souls consumed by blood and fire are still cursing the dragon lord bloodline that steps onto this land!)
Current Gacha Chances: 0
Current Check-in Location: Depths of the Valyrian Ruins (In progress)
Ding! Detected that the host is approaching the check-in location. The map guidance function has been activated.
Enable? Yes/No.
Aegon looked at the system panel in surprise. The face-slapping came so fast; a new function was already enabled!
And Aegon also noticed that his attribute evaluations had changed, but for now, the new function was more important.
Looking at the newly added map guidance function, Aegon clicked "Yes" without hesitation.
As the system panel automatically closed, he couldn't help but look around in confusion.
But nothing had changed. Suddenly, an intuition guided him to look up at the ruins behind him.
If the Smoke Sea and the coastline it consumed were a damp, sweltering, dark green abyss, then the depths of the Valyrian Ruins were a terrifying lava hell.
Dark red magma flowed deep within the cracks of the earth. Swelling volcanoes spewed heat waves and toxic smoke that scorched everything, dyeing everything in sight an ominous crimson.
And deep within that crimson, there was a faint golden glow—
Guiding him in the right direction!