Revelations 2
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I blinked as light returned to my sight, and slowly I lifted my head from my book.
I looked at the book and was relieved to see I hadn’t drooled all over it, thank the Gods, that would’ve been fucking embarrassing. A glance towards the window let me see that light was still spilling into the room, though it was a touch milder meaning some time had passed, and since the light was still stronger from that window than the smaller, eastward facing one, I knew it was still the same day.
With that concern out of the way, I focused on the small blinking light-blue dot in the bottom right of my vision.
Interface initiated!
Congratulations recalibrated user, you have successfully lived long enough in your new dimension (5 planetary cycles in this case) to achieve Interface initiation.
However, at this point, some explanations are required.
This interface, while sharing similarities with things you may recall from your former life, is not a gaming system.
This new life is very real, and you and the people here will be dead and gone if you die.
That said, the reason the Interface is similar to a gaming system, is due to previous recalibrated users of your species being most comfortable with this setup.
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Currently, there are 6 major sections (along with various sub-sections) to your Interface.
These are:
Core Stats
Skills
Bloodline Perks
Traits
Objectives
Interface Settings and Help
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It is highly advisable that you examine each section as soon as you can to avoid confusion about how they and the Interface affect you and the world around you.
To view any section or sub-section, simply think ‘display’ followed by the section (or sub-section) you wish to see.
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Well okay then.
I wasn’t sure what this interface would involve but hearing it would be set up like a gaming system and recognising a few of the sections from RPGs, gave me a rough idea of what I could expect. Plus, I already knew two of my stats – Strength and Agility – from regaining my memory of how I ended up here. Though I knew that after I’d learnt all this, I was going to have to process that whatever being had placed me on Planetos could lock away my memories because that shit was fucking scary.
Still, I put that concern to one side for now and moved on with learning about my new… Powers? Abilities? and watched as the blue smoky text shifted around.
Core Stats
To many recalibrated users, Core Stats suggests elements of entertainment from their former existences. While this is generally true, this interface doesn’t track every stat you have.
This is because tracking many stats makes the new existence feel less ‘real’ to many users.
As such, this interface only tracks two stats.
These are Strength and Agility.
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Strength, as the name implies, tracks your physical strength – both current and potential. This affects what you can carry whether that is something like a crate, a suit of armour or a surface-to-space cannon. It also determines how high certain skills can go by limiting the tiers available for those skills based on your current strength.
Agility, as the name implies, tracks how agile your body is – both current and potential – while also affecting your movement speed and stamina, with your current value determining if you can only run as fast as an infant for a few minutes, or outrun jet planes for hours. It also determines how high certain skills can go by limiting the tiers available for those skills based on your current agility.
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In your new world, the average maximum for your chosen species is 20 for both Strength and Agility, due to your choices in recalibration however, these limits may have been raised or lowered.
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NOTICE
Due to early recalibrated users drawing unwanted suspicion early in their new lives, age limits for your Strength and Agility are in effect.
These work in two steps.
The first step is applicable until you reach 11 cycles and keeps your physical characteristics within acceptable ranges for younglings of your species.
The second step is applicable from 11 to 16 cycles and keeps your physical characteristics within acceptable ranges for young adults of your species.
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ADDENDUM
Due to selections in recalibration, the upper limit for your age has altered.
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Current Stat values [age potential] (maximum potential)
Strength: 4 [8] (33)
Agility: 5 [9] (38)
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That was a little different to what I’d expected, yet as I re-read the text, I found myself agreeing with the logic behind only tracking those two stats. While, in game terms, other stats could be tracked, the tracking of mental stats had always seemed a weird thing to do; at least when considered outside of said game. Now, I was a little surprised that tracking of my health wasn’t done, but perhaps that would be explained in another section.
The low values for my two tracked stats made sense as I was only five, as did the fact my agility was a touch higher. The small number of physical exercises and training sessions I had done were all geared towards movement and reactions rather than being able to lift things. The fact my age-limited Agility was a little higher tracked with my overall potential Agility being higher than my Strength potential.
With nothing else to concern me regarding stats, I moved on to the next section.
Skills
As the name of the section implies, this is where your overall ability to do certain things is tracked.
This helps a user see just how good (or not) they are at doing a certain thing.
However, to keep the list from growing insanely complicated, not all possible skills are tracked, and many are grouped under a group skill (indicated by the skill being underlined in the Skill List).
Certain skills will be marked with (*). This signifies that either your knowledge of that skill is higher than should be possible due to your current stats, or the skill suffers from severe restrictions due to your age and physical status.
Also, some things you will learn in your new world will not be tracked as, unless the user can come up with acceptable reasons for adding them in, they serve little purpose to be tracked other than to count skill levels.
Additionally, many skills from your old existence are not tracked as they’d either have no way to improve them in your new existence, or they would be superfluous.
Another place where the skills are important is in tracking your ability to purchase traits. How to do so is explained in the Traits section of the Interface.
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The skills currently being tracked:
Medicine (*)
Crafting (*)
Sailing
Finance (*)
Common Tongue
English
High Valyrian
Weaponry Maintenance
Astronomy
Cleaning
Cooking
Riding
Composure (*)
Deception (*)
Intimidation (*)
Insight
Negotiation (*)
Observation
Seduction (*)
Singing
Athletics (*)
Plants
Poisons
Sleight of Hand (*)
Stealth (*)
Swimming (*)
Tracking (*)
Trapping (*)
Aerial Warfare
Ground Warfare (*)
Naval Warfare (*)
1-Handed Bludgeon
Bows (*)
Brawling (*)
Crossbows
Short Blades (*)
Swords
Thrown Weapons(*)
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To view details about a given skill, or the sub-skills in a group, simply think the phrase ‘display skill’ followed by the skill name.
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Damm. That was a long list. And according to the Interface, it was shorter than it could be.
The mention of skills being restricted explained why there’d been times I’d felt as if I couldn’t do something I should have been capable of or struggled to remember things I knew how to do. Yet the more I thought about this Interface placing limits on me, the more a rising fury and disbelief began to grow like a fire in my breast.
I breathed slowly, taking deep breaths to control my anger at having something able to limit what I knew and eventually, I felt the fire subside enough that I was to look at what had been done without the first ten thoughts being curses. While the anger wasn’t gone, the implication that previous users – and that was a whole other kettle of fish I’d have to think about at a later point – had aroused suspicion due to being smarter/stronger/faster than any child should be given the actions of the Interface – and whoever controlled it – some validity. But the fact they could not only limit my ability to use something I knew but lock away other things (for example, I spoke enough Farsi to hold a basic conversation for about five minutes) was just terrifying and enraging at the same time.
Still, I was able to keep my feelings under control for long enough to move on.
I examined the various skills that were either limited or had sub-groups to see what was going on. Most skills were limited due to my age or lack of strength and/or agility; which made sense when I took my emotions out of it; or tried to. Having a five-year-old know how to use a knife to kill someone silently would raise questions even in a world as prone to war as this one. The sub-skills often only had one or two things listed under them, meaning there were other things I still had to learn – which for the various combat skills, made perfect sense – or it was done to streamline the Interface; just as the description had stated.
I had also discovered that there were nine tiers for every skill (Lacking, Deficient, Average, Talented, Trained, Accomplished, Master, Paragon and Mythic). Even my highest skill – English – was only in the Accomplished tier, which hinted that reaching the highest tiers would be a lot of work. And given to their names, that made sense. Other skills, like my mental and social styled skills, were limited due to my age and physical body – just as the Interface stated they would be and again, without the emotional and physiological issues that brought up, it made sense. After all, who but the most pathetic or fucked-up people would be intimidated or seduced by a five-year-old child?
Yet, for all my issues with how the Interface tracked my skills, being able to see where I was in each one was something that I could see as being very useful. Or so I hoped.
With the sunlight spilling into the room starting to dim – hinting that it’d taken me longer than I’d realised to contain my anger at the limits placed on me – I finally moved onto the next section.
Bloodline Perks
These are perks that are a result of the families you chose to be born into, and their ancestry, or as a result of how the Interface interacts with your new dimension.
Please note that certain bloodline perks are locked or hidden due to factors that this Interface cannot detail. However, be assured that they will be revealed when they’ve activated the requirements to reveal them are achieved.
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Currently known perks:
Blood of the Andals [Medium]
Blood of the First Men [Major]
Blood of the River [Minor]
Child of the North [Major]
Child of the Sun [Medium]
Westerosi Bastard [Known]
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NOTICE
To learn more about a perk think ‘display’ followed by the perk in question.
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Hmm, things linked to where, and to which families, I was born… Now, this was interesting.
Or it was until I started to read.
Blood of the Andals granted a small (ten per cent) boost to my ease to improving my skills when using a weapon made from steel. Blood of the First Men granted a similar boost with weaponry, though in this case, it was five per cent to bronze or wooden weapons. While Blood of the Rivers simply indicated that I had the faint traces of the Rhoynish in me.
Overall, the three Blood perks had only minimal uses, at best.
The two Child perks weren’t much better. Child of the North meant I had a natural resistance to the cold, or damage taken from a cold source – which, for a moment, I assumed meant being attacked by someone with an icicle – while also hinting that it might affect how I dealt with people. Child of the Sun was similar, though the resistances came against heat and damage from fire along with being quicker to anger due to my Dornish blood.
The last perk, Westerosi Bastard, was what I’d expected. Simply put, most nobles – save for most of those in Dorne and the followers of the Old Gods – would look down their noses at me for being born a bastard. People would also look down upon me if they were devout followers of the Seven, which partially explained why Joenne was such a bitch towards me. There was also a chance this could also affect how people in areas of Essos saw me, but the description didn’t go into detail, likely due to the sheer size of the continent.
All in all, that section was a disappointment.
Traits
These are special abilities that you can either purchase, are rewarded through exploration and study, or granted to you based on your status as a recalibrated user.
Acquisition of purchasable traits is determined by your overall number of skill levels, though do note that only the highest skill in each sub-group is counted for this).
For every 5000 skill levels, you gain one Standard Trait Point (StTP).
For every 10000 skill levels, you gain one Special Trait Point (SpTP).
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Current skill level total: 6370
StTP: 1
SpTP: 0
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Current Traits:
Athletic
Bastard [Known]
Comprehension [*]
Emotionless Recall [*]
Feline(*)
Herculean(*)
Heterochromia
Perfect 10(*)
Intelligent
Large
Left-Handed
Shrewd
Well-Endowed [L]
Well-Endowed [G]
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To learn more about a trait, simply think ‘display trait’ followed by the trait in question.
If you wish to see the traits available to purchase, simply think ‘available traits’.
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NOTICE
The traits Comprehension and Emotionless Recall are unique to recalibrated users.
These help the user settle into their new world by making it easier to learn the local languages while retaining everything learnt in a former life without any emotional baggage.
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I’d known about all those traits except Emotional Recall – though most only because of the memory that’d been restored to me that morning – but it was still nice to see them listed there, with the same descriptions as mentioned before.
As for Emotionless Recall, that – as the name suggested – meant I could recall everything that had happened to me in both lives (as much as I’d like to forget my earliest years in this one) though with the added benefit that my memories from my former life wouldn’t carry any emotional baggage.
That explained why I’d been so calm about being reborn and hadn’t suffered from bouts of depression about my former life and a desire to go back. Yet a caveat in the trait’s description stated that this trait wasn’t active between the time of my death and rebirth, although to my memory, I remembered everything with crystal clear clarity. Even if there were some things I didn’t want to.
After checking all the traits were as they should be and learning about the ones I didn’t know I had, I browsed what traits I could purchase.
Available Traits
Current skill level total: 6143
This grants you (1) Standard Trait Point (StTP) and (0) Special Trait Points (SpTP).
You have spent 0 StTP and 0 SpTP.
StTPs are listed normally.
SpTPs are underlined.
Traits available for purchase:
Boosted Book Learning
Boosted Martial Learning
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Boosted Stamina
Unlock Magic [***]
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To learn more about a trait, simply think ‘display trait’ followed by the trait in question.
To purchase a trait, simply think ‘purchase’ followed by the trait in question.
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NOTICE
Due to at least one of your bloodline traits being of the Medium variety and being inclined towards magic, the Special Trait Unlock Magic has been reduced to a Standard Trait, allowing you to purchase it with 1 StTP.
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Just to be sure, I examined all the traits, but my mind was already focused on the Unlock Magic option. The ability to use magic of any form in a world with dragons, shadow monsters, ice demons and who knew what the fuck else was just common fucking sense. Even if said magic seemed to come at a price to the caster – based on what I remembered and the warnings Cordin had given about magic in my lessons – not taking it just felt like a worse idea than taking it.
The three other traits, as their names implied, boosted my ability to learn from a book, from physical training/real combat or gave me increases to my overall stamina and its regeneration rate; though I had no idea what those were or how to discover them as nothing in the Interface had hinted at such a thing as of yet.
Having done the proper reconnaissance of the other traits, I thought ‘purchase ‘Unlock Magic’. There was no text to confirm my purchase – something I noted as I’d have to be sure before I purchased my next trait – though a second later, the blue floating text shifted around.
Magic Unlocked!
Initiating Section integration.
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Magic section ready for integration.
Initialization will occur during the user’s next sleep cycle.
In addition, Bloodline Perks have been altered, where applicable, to reveal any hidden magical effects they produce.
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That was anti-climactic as fuck.
I mean, I figured I’d pass out again, but instead I’d have to wait until I slept; and of course, now I was too excited to go to sleep.
Fucking wonderful.
Still, as my annoyance at the delayed reveal of my magic took place, I cast my mind back to the only book in the series I’d read. Unlike the show, there'd been a scene showing Bran dreaming. Since it involved a three-eyed crow and happened before he woke up after his fall, I always suspected that was when his greenseer ability had awoken. However, based on the fact I had to sleep to unlock my magic, perhaps it had done more than just unlock greensight.
And now I was concerned about having the man in the tree (in the show he’d been called Brynden but since I’d not read far enough in the books, I couldn’t be sure that was his name there. Or here for that matter) appear in my dreams.
Putting aside that concern for now – though I was already considering how to handle things if the bird showed up in my dreams – I returned to the Bloodline Perks section. There I discovered that the three Blood perks had changed, though not all for the better.
While Blood of the First Men now granted me double experience when using magic – suggesting that magic would use something similar to skills to determine what I could and couldn’t do – along with a twenty per cent decrease in the cost of using mana (how the Interface defined my magical reserves). It also granted me a ten per cent increase in the damage potential and longevity of any spell, ritual, rune empowering or other magical activity I engaged in plus the same percentage protection from directed magical attacks. Since it was weaker, Blood of the River granted weaker bonuses, though there, the protections and bonuses – all being five per cent – were based around water and ice magic.
The downside came from Blood of the Andals which made sense given to their faith being very anti-magic. That perk increased the cost of all magic, regardless of what type or form it took, by ten per cent though it did increase my resistance against magical attacks by the same amount. While that was not something I wanted, I could see a use for it since, at least for the next few decades, most of my fighting was likely to take place in Westeros where the religion and bloodline were dominant.
With those changes noted, I moved on to the next section.
Objectives
These are possible goals for you to achieve during your second life given to you by the Overseers.
Sometimes they will be to go somewhere or meet someone. Other times they will want you to carry out certain actions. Others still will conflict with other objectives.
Objectives may or may not also carry a time limit.
While there is no requirement for you to complete an objective nor penalty for failing to do so, the Overseers will offer rewards for doing so and not completing certain objectives could have ramifications for you and those close to you in later years.
However, the same can be true for completing an objective.
The choice is yours.
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Current Objectives:
A Friend for Life
A Morning Blade
A Mother’s Love
Dragon Killer
Dragon Lover
Highest of the Seven
Keeping it in the Family
Making the Eight
The Far North
The Bastard who Would be King
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So, the ones responsible for my rebirth were known as the Overseers? Nice to at least have a name to curse at when something fucking insane happened.
As for the actual objectives, the fact that I didn’t have to do them was encouraging yet the warning that not completing some of them might cause me problems was a concern. Hopefully, it would be easy to tell which ones were important and which weren’t. Though reading through the initial list, it became clear which ones were… flavour objectives and which would have ramifications.
A Friend for Life dealt with getting an animal companion; likely something similar to the direwolves the Stark bonded with. While having such a beast as a companion would be amazing, the odds of that happening were… slim.
I would not be completing A Mother’s love. No matter how attractive I felt my mother was, I wouldn’t be bedding her. And the same went for Keeping it in the Family which wanted me to bed two members of my family. Well, unless it was counting my new stepfamily, in which case I might be willing to consider it. Once I was at least a decade older.
A Morning Blade was interesting. I could either, somehow, become the new Sword of the Morning, or train a future member of House Dayne to earn the title. While wielding Dawn was something I was interested in, I wasn’t a huge fan of greatswords. Their size, while good for the field of battle, made them problematic anywhere else. Still, not the worst objective to consider.
Dragon Killer and Dragon Lover were opposing objectives. The former wanted me to kill all remaining direct Targaryens before any retook the Iron Throne. That would be incredibly dangerous as without Daenerys’ dragons, fighting off the Others would be next to impossible, at least in my mind. The latter objective required me to seduce and bed a member of the family. That had some appeal as Daenerys was described as an otherworldly beauty in the books; though if the choices were sleeping with Viserys or killing him, I’d kill the fucker and save the world the grief.
Highest of the Seven was right fucking out. No way in a million years could I see myself becoming High Septon. Well, unless it was part of a ruse to destroy the Faith from the inside and bring down the Great Sept and Starry Sept. Preferably in a manner matching the show. While I didn’t approve of the reason for destroying the Great Sept, watching it explode was enjoyable.
Making the Eight was, like a few previous objectives, one that revolved around sex which made me wonder if the Overseers were voyeurs who got off on watching the people that they rebirthed sleeping with those in their new worlds. Regardless, bedding one person from each of the seven kingdoms and the Crownlands wasn’t something I was opposed to. Given the right targets that was. Though I was curious if the Riverlands and Iron Islands counted as one kingdom or if it was an either-or situation.
The Bastard who would be King was interesting. Unlikely as hell to happen but interesting as it wanted me to become king, either by conquering the Seven Kingdoms (or another kingdom on Planetos) or marrying the ruler of a kingdom. There was appeal there, though how to pull it off (or why a princess/queen would want to marry me) would take a shit ton of planning.
The final objective, The Far North, was probably the easiest as all I had to do was step foot north of The Wall. That, in theory, shouldn’t be that hard to pull off.
I suspected that new objectives would be added in, though hopefully not at random times or in batches as that would be irritating. However, I had little control over such things.
With that section finished I headed to the last.
Interface Settings and Help
This section is a place to discover information on the Interface when a user is unclear about a feature, or a new feature is added, or alter certain effects of the Interface.
Possibilities include, but aren’t limited to;
The way the Interface informs a user of a change in skill, stat or objective.
The colour of the Interface.
How much of the Interface is displayed at various settings.
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To access the Help menu, simply think ‘Display Help Menu’.
To access the settings, simply think ‘Display Settings’.
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That was about what I expected, though I still spent some time seeing what I could change. In the end, I stuck with the blue tint for the Interface, though I had it display my Stamina and Mana bars in the top left corner of my vision. While there was no health bar per say, if I was infected with any disease, poison or other such substance that could be inhaled, ingested or inserted into me a warning alert would appear there.
With the setup of the Interface finished, I returned to my book as, while I wanted to sleep and discover how my magic would activate, my mind was too active to allow me to do so.
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For one brief moment, I thought I was actually falling.
Then I remembered that I’d gone to bed then tossed and turned as sleep eluded me. Since I wasn’t in my room and was currently high above Westeros, I quickly concluded that I was dreaming and that I was about to go through something similar to Bran’s ‘awakening’.
Wonderful.
Still, even if this was a dream, the detail of the world below me was incredible. Oh, it wasn’t on par with what I’d seen during my recalibration, nor the same as satellite imagery from my old life, but it was far, far better than what I’d expect if I was truly skydiving.
And now I found myself reminiscing about that part of my old life. While there were no emotions tied to the memories, I still found myself wishing there was wind in this dream. If only to make the experience that bit more realistic. Being SBS meant I didn't have to do many HALO insertions, but I’d done the cross-training required for it for charity and found I loved it almost as much as I enjoyed carrying out amphibious assaults on vessels that needed to be freed or seized.
Bringing my attention back to where I was, so to speak, I focused on the land below and felt my vision zoom in on Starfall. Since it was night, there wasn’t much activity to see, though I could easily pick out the guards on the walls, ramparts and guard stations due to the torches that burnt nearby those locations. There was far less light coming from the main keep, but I could see a light emanating from my uncle’s solar, meaning he was likely working late Provided that what I was seeing was real.
I also thought I heard a gentle buzzing coming from somewhere in the keep, but I couldn’t place the exact location.
Putting Starfall aside, I followed the Torrentine river inland until coming to where a major tributary joined it. There, on the banks just north of where the two rivers met, sat High Hermitage. For a moment I considered zooming in to see if I could see what my arsehole of a cousin, Gerold Dayne, and his father were up to, but frankly, I had little interest in trying to find them in a castle I knew nothing about.
As I travelled further upriver, eventually spotting Blackmont – home to House Blackmont, my grandmother’s birth family – I realised that while I was falling, it was far slower than I should be. While I hadn’t yet determined the exact strength of gravity on Planetos, a few simple experiments – like dropping an apple from a balcony and seeing how long it took to hit the ground – had me realising the gravitational acceleration here was close to what it was on Earth.
From Blackmont my gaze turned eastward. I quickly found my way through the mountains to Skyreach. From there, I followed the Greenbelt River to Yronwood then my gaze travelled along the northern coast of Dorne. I passed Ghaston Grey – feeling a strange coldness as I did – and the Tor before reaching Ghost Hill and the Broken Arm. There, I turned south and soon saw first the Water Gardens then Sunspear.
Sunspear was, as I expected, dominated by the Tower of the Sun and the Spear Tower. I wanted to explore the castle and the Shadow City that existed in and around the wall of the castle, but as I focused on Sunspear, I felt something unexpected. Several things actually, as when I concentrated on them, the largest and most dominant feeling was of a presence that was calm and serene on the surface but held the threat to wipe away any who challenged it; anger and fury that rolled just beneath the surface like a hurricane. That presence didn’t feel like a threat, nor did it feel like something warm and inviting.
However, the last presence felt… wrong. It was faint, almost as if it was being drowned out by the other presence yet I could still feel it brushing my senses, a ravenous fire aiming to destroy and devour everything in its path without care. Morbidly curious, I focused on this small feeling and realised that it wasn’t centred on Sunspear as a faint, yet firm tendril of shifting fire extended out of Sunspear and across the Narrow Sea and the Stepstones. From those islands, other tendrils emerged with the strongest coming from Bloodstone. I sensed more tendrils emerging from Lys, Tyrosh and Myr. All the tendrils began to merge as I continued east, and the smell and taste of ash and burnt meat invaded my senses as I reached the Rhoyne. Down the river, I followed the tendril as it grew thicker and more menacing – though upriver I thought I felt something similar to the strongest presence in Sunspear- until I reached Volantis.
As my eyes caught sight of the Black Walls of Eastern Volantis, the tendril reached its source, and as it grew more powerful and dangerous, as if from a bonfire into a sun it turned its focus on me. I recoiled as my senses were overloaded with the smells and tastes from earlier, though now they were joined by chanting and the pained screams of millions dying horribly.
A great pillar of fire reached up from the city, and even though I was hundreds of miles away, I instinctively knew to pull back from the oldest of the Free Cities. The flames spread through the sky lighting the world in a hellscape of red and orange and I knew it was searching for me. I kept my focus on Starfall and silently prayed as the flames crawled through the sky; searching for me.
Only when they finally pulled back to Volantis did I relax, though still I kept a careful watch from the corner of my eye on the city. Whatever that was – and I had a few ideas – it was far too dangerous for me to risk antagonising it any time soon. Which took Volantis off the list of places I wanted to visit; or at least, pushed it to the pile to not visit until I was sure I could survive in this world.
Fly.
I turned my head to the left upon hearing the voice in my mind and saw a raven flying next to me. Well, gliding since if it flew, I’d fall below it quickly since even with the delayed gravity of the dream I was still falling. “What if I don’t want to?” I shot back. “I’m enjoying falling.”
When you hit the ground, you will die.
“Why? This is a dream and you’re just something my mind made up. So when I hit the ground I’ll just wake up.” I countered, playing into what the raven would expect me to think. I wouldn’t play out and out dumb, as there was a chance I could learn a few things from the raven, but no need to let on just how smart everyone thought I was. And certainly not just how much I really knew. Though once again I was cursing myself for not reading all the books and the show for not going into details about just what the Three-Eyed-Raven could do.
Is this a dream?
I glared at the bird as it glided around me. “I went to sleep and woke up here. If this isn’t a dream, then what is this place and why am I here?”
You are here because your mind wanted you here. Now fly.
I scoffed and waved my arms. “How am I meant to do that? Unlike you – and how are you talking by the way – I don’t have feathers.” I doubted he’d answer the middle question but dropping it in might help me get lucky with understanding how some of his magic worked.
Not all wings need feathers, and I am here because your mind summoned me.
My glaring at the bird intensified but that had no effect on it. I fucking hated riddles and hidden meanings, though it was a good thing I already knew enough to work out that he meant he was here because my magic had unlocked and that to fly I only had to concentrate on it.
Still, with my rate of descent being far slower than it should be, I suspected I had anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes – if such things really mattered here – to fly. Because of that, and to spite the annoying bird, I chose not to and instead turned my gaze north of Dorne.
I saw Highgarden pass by on my left, though I barely gave the massive, well-decorated castle much thought. The same was true of Storm’s end, though there I sensed something different. Faint, likely because of how far the castle was from my gaze, but there. There was something similar to what I’d felt in Sunspear, but not quite the same. From King’s Landing a twisted, vile smell wafted in the air, but I paid it no heed and kept heading north.
The only reason I spotted Casterly Rock was because of just how high into the sky it reached, though my attention was drawn by a rotten, broken feeling that came as I passed over Harrenhal. If I had to guess, I suspected the castle was cursed, which fit with the few stories I’d heard about the place.
Like Casterly Rock, The Eyrie only stood out because of how high up it was but a glance towards it left me short of breath. The castle was so high on a mountain that, given how long it’d stood and my understanding of how geography worked, it should’ve fallen due to natural causes centuries ago. Yet still it stood, suggesting there was more to its construction than just the science of this world. Though that could also be true of the other seats of power I’d passed over.
Moat Cailin passed by quickly, though there was something elusive, hidden within the swap that stretched across the Neck. Yet, my eyes were soon drawn to Winterfell. That castle, while not decorative as Highgarden, as politically important as Casterly Rock or King’s Landing nor as high up as the Eyrie still took my breath away. Winterfell was massive, on a scale that was hard to comprehend. Starfall was a large castle – on par with some of the largest on Earth – yet, at a guess, I felt Starfall could fit inside Winterfell’s outer walls (of which there were two) three or four times over.
As I came closer, I felt something powerful, ancient within the massive fortress that nothing but an army of insane size would be able to breach easily. That sense of power came from the large forest within the walls, or more specifically the red-leafed weirwood tree that dominated the Godswood. The raven beside me cawed as I focused on the tree, and as I did, I saw the carved eyes upon it turn to look up at me.
Unlike in Volantis, whatever was behind those trees – or at least whatever was there before the Three-Eyed-Raven and would likely be there long after him – didn’t consider me a threat. Or at least it didn’t lash out as we gazed upon each other. A twist of a branch almost like an arm extending outward drew my attention from the tree towards the centre of the fortress. There, from where I saw steam rising from a few opened windows, I felt a faint tremor. There, somewhere, was something calling to me. Something important.
Something has caught your attention?
I ignored the bird’s question as I focused my gaze on the area around what I instinctively knew was the main keep within Winterfell. Whatever was down there was calling to me. Yet, as much as I wanted to search for whatever that was, I knew my time in the sky was limited and there was one place I still had to go.
Reluctantly, I pulled my gaze from the seat of House Stark and let it travel further North. I passed over the mountains that were home to the mountain clans of the north – and there I felt a passing presence that reminded me of the weirwood tree in Winterfell – saw Bear Island far to the west and the Last Hearth to the east, though by this point my focus was on the long, massive wall of glittering blue and purple ice that ran across the continent.
The Wall was said to be impossible to miss from the ground as you passed Last Hearth, but from up high it was visible from the southron kingdoms. Yet, seeing it from there was nothing compared to watching it grow as my gaze approached it; something only matched by the growing sense of power that radiated from the Wall. The power was strong and unyielding, immovable as if the ice had actually frozen it in place, yet it held no animosity towards me and I felt no fear. Though the more I focused on the Wall, the more I realised the projection of power was just that. The source behind the power wasn’t anywhere near as strong as it should be for the projection it was sending out.
“It’s failing,” I muttered as I realised what this meant. “The… magic that powers it is losing strength.” The raven cawed before replying.
Yes. The magic that has empowered the Wall for millennia, that has kept the great threat sealed in the Lands of Always Winter, is slowly fading. Soon, within a lifetime or two, it will lose its strength and the threat it sealed away will rise to endanger all life once more.
That was more than I expected the raven to reveal, but it did open up an avenue for me to ask about. “Y-you mean the Others? I thought they were nothing but legends.”
All legends have some truth. If you wish to know the truth, look deeper upon the north.
I chuckled and shook my head at that. I wasn’t falling for that so it could try and convince me to work for it to stop the Others. Oh, I didn’t want them to win, but I also had fuck all intention of becoming one with a tree. “No thanks. I think I’ll just trust you.” I turned my gaze back to the wall. “That power is magic. It’s what I’ve sensed in other places, and I’m sure if the Wall has magic, then so do the Others. And since I’m seeing all this, maybe I also have magic. IF that’s the case, the longer the Others don’t know about me, the safer I’ll be.”
Wise words for one so young. Yet wise you have shown yourself to be Cregan. The blood of three ancient magical linages flows through you. The Blood of the First Men is the strongest, but not alone. Powerful you might become, but that power, attract dangerous attention it will.
“Like what I felt in Volantis? Fucking wonderful.” I muttered, before realising that this wasn’t acting my age. The raven knew I was smarter than normal – suggesting it had been watching me already, which was a touch terrifying – but I could still act like a kid when I wanted. Plus, I’d already pegged Volantis as a potential problem and was leaning towards this magical threat being linked to the worship of R’hllor.
The raven said nothing, and I pulled my gaze back south. Yet on the way, I felt something fucking awful, something that reminded me of a water bloated corpse. I wasn’t prepared to go close enough to find out what the stinking, decrepit feeling was, but I realised quickly that it was centred around the Iron Islands. It wasn’t on par with Volantis as a threat, but it certainly was a threat; one that was far too dangerous for me to deal with anytime soon.
As I noticed details appearing on the tops of the mountains of Starfall without me concentrating on them I let my gaze drift out into the Sunset Sea. Thanks to the recalibration I knew there was a sizable landmass far to the west, but whatever was there was too far away to trigger any reaction from my ‘magical senses’. Thus I shifted my focus to Essos, though I made sure to give Volantis a wide berth.
From Old Valyria I felt something malicious and decrepit, yet the power lurked like a dormant volcano while over the Dothraki Sea there were faint murmurs of weak power. Something that, in the past may have been strong but was now little more than dust in the wind. In the far east, I saw the Five Forts and within them powerful magic. it was similar to that that came from the Wall, though darker, more violent, soaked in and dripping with blood. Yet, even at this distance, I could sense the same kind of decaying power as from the Wall. Whatever those were built to keep out were also a threat to consider as when the magic of the Five Forts faded, that threat would be able to breach the defences.
I pulled my gaze back, though not before quickly passing over Yiti. From there I sensed more magic, and far to the south something malformed and malicious, like in Old Valyria, rested. I kept my gaze far to the south to avoid Volantis, and though I didn’t linger, I sensed more malevolent presences in Ulthos and Sothoryos.
If you do not fly soon, you will die.
The raven’s words drew my gaze back sharply, and I felt whatever it was in Volantis ripple as I did, though thankfully it didn’t lash out again.
I glanced down and saw the bird had spoken true. The towers of Starfall were coming into focus with faint lines of brickwork starting to stand out where light existed.
I pushed aside any doubt I had about not being able to fly, spread my arms wide and, as I flapped them, I willed myself to fly.
Somehow, someway, something caught against my flapping arms and I began to glide on the not-wind. I banked gently, beginning a slow circle of Starfall and looked around trying to work out how the fuck this had just happened. Oh, I knew it was magic of a form, but part of my mind was still trying to understand how it worked. “Well this is weird,” I muttered as I watched my arms flap against nothing yet provide lift.
There is more in this world than what you can learn in a book, young one. Keep your mind unlocked and you might just discover what.
I shook my head ruefully. “Shame you couldn’t have said that before I pissed off whatever it was in Volantis,” I mumbled back.
When I’d been reborn here – and during the recalibration process it seemed – I’d expected there to be some magic here. Dragons, ice zombies and shadow monsters existed after all. Yet I’d expected that beyond them, and the regular power-hungry morons that seemed to exist everywhere, that was all I’d have to face. Now I knew different.
There were threats out there that potentially could be as dangerous as – or more so – than the Others. And most, I had to assume, would consider me a threat.
“Why let me see all of this?” I asked the raven as we glided high above Starfall.
Winter is coming. Darkness and chaos with it. But perhaps you can rise as night falls.
“No pressure,” I mumbled after letting out a barking laugh. “I’m just one person, and a bastard at that.” Oh, I know I chose to be a bastard, and I didn’t regret my choice, but it was something to use to suggest doubt to the raven; and the man behind it.
One you may be. Yet one who should not be you are. Already you have caused unforeseen ripples. Fate, power, swirls around you. A hand in the path this word will take you will have as the power within you emerges.
“So this whole thing, this dream, it was a test to prove I was worthy of using magic?” I spat at the bird. “You let me see just how dangerous the world really is to see how I’d react?”
In a way, yes.
“And if I was a threat? What? You’d let me fall and die?”
Only if magic failed to awaken within. With many over the years, I have done this, most do not wake. Those that do must choose their own path once the curtain is pulled back and they see what exists out of sight.
The Old Gods see something in you, young Cregan. Something unexpected and powerful. I sense you know more than you should, things none but the Gods should. That makes you useful to me, to them.
“I’m nobody’s pawn!” I snapped back and flung an arm towards the bird. It easily avoided the attack, which caused me to lose control of my glide and begin to tumble over.
Yes, you are. You are a pawn of Gods and powers beyond even my understanding. And you know this even if you choose to deny it. Perhaps the future will be better with you here, perhaps not. The paths are not yet chosen. I find that most refreshing.
I bit back a retort about what the bird could do with its mumbo-jumbo. The Dumbledore/Yoda vibes it was giving off likely weren’t helping as I wasn’t a fan of either character; or the wise old mentor stereotype in general.
I opened my mouth to fire back, only for the raven to bank towards me. “What ar…”
That was all I could get out before its beak struck me in the forehead, and as it did, everything faded away into darkness.
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I awoke with a jolt. Blinking rapidly as my mind processed my ‘dream’, I looked around my room to see the first rays of light creeping in the eastern window.
Groggily, I shook my head then pushed the covers off my body.
“That was a fucking weird dream,” I muttered as I kept my eyes down to stop the room from spinning.
“Cregan!”
My head snapped around at hearing my name, which made me groan from the sudden movement. Myra, who was the one who’d called out, was standing having just placed a bowl on a short table for me to use in my morning wash.
“Where did you learn such language?”
I blinked to help me focus as she glared at me. “I think it was when cousin Gerold was here,” I replied slowly as my mind began to spin a tale to cover my arse. “Or maybe it was from someone in the yard,” I added before shrugging. “I’ve heard it a lot but where I first heard it I couldn’t say for sure.”
Which was true as even with Emotionless Recall I couldn’t find the memory from when I’d first heard that curse. Perhaps that is what the Interface meant by my memory being affected before I was reborn. Still, both examples I’d given were true as Gerold had called me a ‘fucking bastard that was in his way’ while the language in the yard was far from suitable for polite conversation.
“Your mother won’t be happy to know you’re using such language,” she commented as she rested her hands on her hips.
I shrugged at the threat as my mother had heard me swear already. And I’d only been a babe back then. Not that I was much older now but hearing swearing from a babe was likely far more unsettling than from a young child. “She’s heard me say it before.”
“And what was her response?” Myra asked, a twitch of her lips suggesting she had an idea what my punishment had been.
“Grounded in my room for a week,” I replied, not really caring. While the punishment now would likely be worse, with my mother recently married I knew – and had heard, Gods how I wished I could wash those nights from my mind – she had other things on her mind. Besides, a few weeks of being grounded would give me time to understand the full breadth of the Interface and my magic; once I dealt with the blinking blue dot and unlocked that section.
Mysa locked her eyes on mine and held my gaze before sighing and shaking her head after about half a minute. “Just… don’t use such language around others.” She finally replied. “Your washing basin is ready. Once you’re washed and changed, your mother is waiting in the Great Hall.”
I waited until Mysa had left the room and closed the door before I concentrated on the blue dot.
Interface Section Unlocked!
...
Magic
This section has been unlocked by using a Standard Trait Point (on the downgraded Special Trait Unlock Magic) and surviving this world’s magical activation event.
However, as you may or may not be aware, magic on Planetos is not an easy thing to use.
All magic here requires sacrifice.
While this is normally a sacrifice of your internal energy – defined as Mana from here on out – which deepens with the more magic you cast, most of the more complex and visually impressive magic requires rituals, blood offerings and extreme sacrifices.
Thankfully, the blood and sacrifices don’t have to be from you or any allies you gain. At least not most of the time.
Also, for a new magic-user, such spell work is far beyond them.
Now, a user can discover many different forms of magic, however for all but the most common, usage with that branch of magic is restricted until it is learnt.
This can be from a long-forgotten source like a book or magical storage device, from a magic user skilled in that form of magic or from discovering a way to unlock the branch through private research and application.
...
With the Magic Section unlocked, it is time for you to determine your initial magical ability or elemental preference.
Please note that selecting a preference doesn’t preclude you from learning other elemental forms, or gaining a preference with them. As a recalibrated user, you are not limited in such a way.
However, taking a preference, while making that elemental form easier to use, learn and improve, will hamper your ability with its opposite elemental form.
In future, however, there may be branches of magic that when taken, lock off another branch. Also, there may exist the opportunity in the future for the user to spend a Special Trait Point to unlock a currently locked branch of magic. However, this is not guaranteed.
...
NOTICE
Due to your Bloodline Perk Blood of the First Men being of the major variety, you may select one of the skinchanging or Greensight branches of magic for free.
...
WARNING!
Current planetary conditions make any usage of magic considerably more difficult.
The mana cost, effectiveness and experience gained with any type of magic is increased or decreased accordingly by 500%.
This will last until the ********* event occurs.
...
Available Magic abilities:
Earth Compatibility
Fire Compatibility
Greensight (Free)
Prophetic Dreams
Skinchanging (Free)
Water Compatibility
Wind Compatibility
...
To learn more about an ability, simply think ‘details’ followed by the magical ability.
To select a magical branch, simply think ‘purchase’ followed by the magical ability.
...
Okay, that was a lot to take in.
Magic here came in branches, which made sense I guessed, but most were locked away from me, so even if I knew about them – such as the shadow monsters Melisandre used or the raising of the dead used by the Others – I couldn’t learn anything about them without help. While infuriating, I could understand the logic. Playing around with magic that powerful, and others like it, without having any idea about what I was doing was the kind of shit that resulted in apocalypse-level events.
Though thinking about those two branches of magic made the interface blinking light appear. I concentrated on it and had what I suspected confirmed.
Magical Branch Discovered!
Shadow Magic discovered though it shall remain locked until studying from an appropriate source is undertaken.
...
Magical Branch Discovered!
Necromancy discovered though it shall remain locked until studying from an appropriate source is undertaken.
...
Yeah, that was what I’d expected. And regarding Necromancy, I had zero interest in it. That was far, far too much of a dangerous thing to ever think about using. Or so I hoped.
I thought again about the magic section, and the text shifted to return to the earlier details. From there, I began to read up on the various branches available to me.
The compatibilities were for the four standard magical elements (which had my mind drifting back to watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. That might be a useful place to start for possible ways to use those forms of magic. Each compatibility made that element easier to use (costing twenty-five per cent less mana to power and maintain) and grow (a ten per cent growth in that branch's magical experience counter, whatever that was). It also carried synergy bonuses when used with the two close elements, though the downside was that the opposite element – fire to water, earth to air – would be twenty per cent more difficult to power and maintain.
One thing I also had to consider was how my Bloodline Perks would affect any magic I took. That had me cursing the Andals and their anti-magic ways once more. This was far more than the low-level magic world hinted at in the books and show, so their anti-magical hysteria was going to be a fucking pain to deal with and since they’d managed to all but kill magic in Westeros, I’d have to be careful about how and when I used magic. The chance that a devout follower of the Seven discovered my magic and then reported it to the Faith was going to be a constant danger for decades to come.
I put aside deciding on which elemental magic I’d take and read about the other three magic branches. Two of which were free while one wasn’t.
The one that wasn’t free, Prophetic Dreams, wasn’t something that sounded interesting and after reading the details, I’d be giving it a hard pass. While having hints about what the future may hold might be useful, the sheer amount of uncertainty around such dreams made it dangerous. After all, if to avoid the death of someone I cared for, I chose to do the very thing I shouldn’t have, only because it’s what the dream said I shouldn’t, yet that person still died, I’d feel like shit. And that was only one example of the flaw with glimpses of the future in my mind.
Greensight was frankly downright terrifying. While being able to see into the past and future – or a possible future as the further forward one went the less certain it was to occur – wasn’t the worst thing, the fact that it could slowly cost me my ability to emotionally connect with people petrified me. While I hadn’t been the most social of people in my old life, the idea of not having any connection with others was something I didn’t want to experience.
That left Skinchanging as the choice for the free power. While the chances of me ever getting a familiar on-par with a direwolf was slim, the ability to use the senses of an animal was tempting. My mind could already see the tactical advantages of being able to get a bird’s eye view of an enemy’s army or castle or sneaking into a location as a snake to kill a target or using a squirrel of something of similar size to scout an enemy’s defences before a battle or using the nose of a hound to track a target lost in the woods.
That one was a power I’d liked since before my rebirth, so taking it now was a no-brainer; especially since it was free.
Magical Branch Unlocked!
Skinchanging is now unlocked and usable.
Skinchanging into the mind of an animal will depend on your skill with the branch, your mana reserves, your relationship with the targeted animal and its general belligerence and intelligence level.
...
With that done, I turned my attention to which elemental compatibility I would take. I was leaning towards fire since the Others were the clear and present magical threat, however I wasn’t going to rush into a choice without taking the time to consider things carefully for at least a day.
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