"Scholar Xiu Fu of Kohor," the Maester introduced himself.
"Lion Knight Onstein," Lynd responded.
Scholar Xiu Fu curiously asked, "You are a follower of Night Lion?"
"No," Lynd shook his head.
The Maester asked again, "Have you been to Kohor?"
"No," Lynd replied simply.
The Maester was stunned for a moment, then said, "Your armor has Kohor's forging craftsmanship, and it's master-level forging craftsmanship. Even in Kohor, only a few people have mastered this technique, and master blacksmiths who have mastered this technique are absolutely not allowed to leave Kohor." As he spoke, he pointed to the red patterns on the armor, which Moroa had created with so-called black magic, and said, "Moreover, your armor also uses Blood Magic. If I'm not mistaken, the master who forged this armor for you is a forging master from the Mukku sect."
"You are mistaken," Lynd said calmly.
"Mistaken?" The Maester looked puzzled.
Without waiting for the other party to continue asking, Lynd asked again, "Since you recognized the Blood Magic on the armor, do you know what kind of Blood Magic it is?"
"May I take a closer look?" the Maester inquired.
"You may," Lynd nodded.
The Maester moved closer to Lynd, and by the light of the bonfire, he carefully observed the bloody patterns on the armor.
After a long while, he retreated to his original position, his face full of confusion, and said, "The person who used this Blood Magic is far more knowledgeable about Blood Magic than I am, even more skilled than any Blood Magic master I have ever seen. She directly combined the sacrificial sigils of several Blood Magic spells to form a new kind of Blood Magic. You should know that for so many years, the Blood Magic masters of Kohor have still been searching for the mysteries of ancient Blood Magic, but this person has already begun to create new Blood Magic on top of ancient Blood Magic, and has done so perfectly. If the Blood Magic masters of Kohor saw your armor, they would surely go mad with excitement."
The Maester appeared very excited, effusively praising the Blood Magic on Lynd's armor.
Lynd, too, was surprised at this moment. Evidently, he had not anticipated beforehand that the magic Moroa applied to the armor would be so exceptional.
Lynd only knew that Moroa had never stopped researching magic, but he had never been very clear about the specific progress of her research. He only knew that his Dragon Rune and the sacrifice stone tablet brought back from Beyond the Wall had given her research a leap forward in progress, but Lynd was not sure exactly how much it had improved.
He remembered that when Moroa handed him the Lion Knight's armor, she said she had applied magic during the armor's forging, and that those spells were the culmination of her research over the years.
He hadn't paid much attention at the time because he didn't detect any magical aura on the armor, and neither did Glory through her eyes. So, he subconsciously assumed that Moroa's magic research had failed.
Now it seemed Moroa had not failed; instead, she had succeeded, at least in terms of appearance. Otherwise, this Maester from Kohor would not be so highly praising it.
The Maester continued, "I'm not very clear about what effects this Blood Magic can produce, but from some of the Blood Magic sigils, it seems to involve things like emotions."
"Emotions?" Lynd was momentarily stunned.
"Yes, emotions," the Maester explained very seriously, "The reason Blood Magic is considered the most dangerous forbidden knowledge, even surpassing necromancy, is because the power of Blood Magic comes from exchange. Some exchanges are life, some are health, and some are intangible things like luck. In short, to gain power, you need to exchange something of equal value, which can be your own or someone else's, but no matter which, the exchange process is uncontrollable."
As he spoke, he pointed to Lynd's armor and said, "But your armor is an exception. Although my research into Blood Magic isn't very deep, I can still see that the Blood Magic on the armor seems to be controlled by the caster. That master is able to designate the object of the Blood Magic power exchange, such as your emotions."
"My emotions?" Lynd hesitated for a moment, then suddenly thought of his collecting habit. It seemed that this behavior had been greatly amplified after he arrived on the continent of Essos, and he had been wearing this golden lion armor during that time. The two should not be a coincidence.
In other words, Moroa's magical research was successful, but this magic was another kind of mysterious power, not the magical energy that Lynd and Glory's special vision could detect.
It was just that, because he himself possessed too much power, the Blood Magic power obtained through some kind of exchange ritual simply could not manifest its effects on him.
But Lynd quickly thought that this magical power might be usable on ordinary people, unlike his Dragon Rune, which would be suicidal for ordinary people to use.
At this moment, a commotion nearby interrupted Lynd's thoughts. He looked up and saw that the Maesters and students of Sphinx Academy, who had recovered from their panic, were digging in the ground with their tools.
Lynd turned to Scholar Xiu Fu and asked, "Are you trying to excavate the Ghis Empire ruins below? Why aren't you excavating during the day?"
"You actually know that the ruins below are from the Ghis Empire?" Scholar Xiu Fu looked at Lynd in surprise.
"It's easy to tell," Lynd pointed to the Harpy symbol carved on a beam propped up behind him.
"No, it's much harder than you think. This symbol is a cipher, not a common symbol. Ordinary people don't know what it represents," Scholar Xiu Fu shook his head and said, "The Dragon Kings of the Valyrian Freehold destroyed the Ghis Empire very thoroughly. Most of the documents were destroyed, and very few remain. Some are preserved in the Great Pyramid of Meereen, and some were taken by refugees to the Oldtown Citadel in Westeros…" At this point, he seemed to guess something and looked at Lynd, saying, "You must be a Maester from the Oldtown Citadel, right?"
"No," Lynd simply denied the other party's guess.
However, Scholar Xiu Fu seemed not to believe Lynd's words, thinking that Lynd was merely disguised. After all, who would have thought that a person dressed as a knight would be a Maester from the Citadel?
And he presumptuously assumed that Lynd might have come to the continent of Essos with a special mission and needed to disguise his identity, so he did not continue speaking. Instead, he shifted the topic back, saying, "The reason we chose to excavate at night is to avoid the Prince of Plos's patrol. After all, no one wants to see their land dug up and full of pits."
Upon hearing this, Lynd hesitated for a moment and said, "So, you haven't obtained permission from the Prince of Plos to excavate on his land? Then just now…"
The Maester shrugged playfully, a hint of triumph in his expression, and said, "Just now, I was merely stating the fact that this land belongs to the Prince of Plos. I didn't lie and say I had obtained permission from His Excellency the Prince."
Upon hearing this, Lynd couldn't help but smile. This Maester from Sphinx Academy was just like the subordinates in his impression: flexible and adaptable in their work, not bound by rules. He thought that perhaps he should also establish a similar academy in his territory to cultivate the talent needed there.
As his territory expanded, Lynd's talent gap grew larger and larger. Although he had repeatedly applied to the Citadel for Maesters and even apprentices, the Citadel had provided support, sending many people to Summerhall, but for Lynd's talent gap, it was still a drop in the bucket.
However, talent cultivation clearly takes a long time, and distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. If he started building an academy now, it would probably take several years before qualified talent could be cultivated.
But now, this Maester from Sphinx Academy passively provided him with a solution: directly move the Sphinx Academy from Pentos to Summerhall, and the talent from Sphinx Academy would naturally be acquired by Lynd.
Thinking of this, Lynd had the idea of actively befriending the other party, so he pretended to be concerned and said, "How long will it take you to fully excavate the ruins by secretly digging at night like this? Moreover, you might not see any problems with your digging now, but once you dig large enough, the daytime patrol will definitely notice, and then all your efforts will be in vain."
Scholar Xiu Fu frowned upon hearing this. In fact, he had thought of this point before coming, but he couldn't think of any solution.
He had already met the Prince of Plos five or six times, and each time he had been rejected by the Prince of Plos. If he didn't act privately, he probably wouldn't be able to know what was buried beneath here in his lifetime.
"Let me help you!" Lynd said as he stood up and walked towards the excavation site.
Although Scholar Xiu Fu felt that one more person digging wouldn't significantly increase the excavation speed, having help was much better than having no help at all.
However, to his surprise, this enthusiastic Lion Knight did not pick up a tool to help with the digging, but instead bypassed the excavation site and walked down the hill.
Not long after, he returned to the hill with a large group of mercenaries, then pointed to the cart full of bandit heads that were being rewarded, and then to the excavation site. The mercenaries immediately picked up tools and began digging. Those who didn't get tools even snatched them from the Maesters who were already digging, or simply used their own weapons to dig directly.
"This is the power of wealth," Lynd said as he returned to the bonfire and sat down.
Scholar Xiu Fu looked at Lynd, stunned, and asked again, "Are you truly not a follower of Night Lion?"
"No," Lynd still gave the same answer.
With the addition of the mercenaries, the excavation process became much faster. The Maesters and students of Sphinx Academy also transformed from laborers into supervisors, dividing the excavation sites and collecting the small items that were dug up.
This small hill itself was not very large, and the soil covering the ruins was not very thick. By midnight, half of the small hill had already been excavated, and the buried Ghis Empire ruins were exposed.
However, when Scholar Xiu Fu saw the excavated portion, an inevitable look of disappointment appeared on his face, and he gestured for them to stop digging further.
The reason Scholar Xiu Fu signaled to stop the excavation was that continuing to dig would not yield anything useful. The Dragon Kings of Valyria had burned this place very thoroughly, even turning rocks into lava. Only a few black stone pillars, used for decoration, had survived, so there was no need to continue digging.
Scholar Xiu Fu organized his men to move the black stone pillars onto the carts he had prepared. Because the operation was more successful than anticipated, he had too few carts. This forced him to hire a few extra carts, planning to transport the stone pillars back to Sphinx Academy overnight.
As he was leaving, Scholar Xiu Fu extended an invitation to Lynd, saying, "Lord Onstein, when you arrive in Pentos, you are welcome to visit me at Sphinx Academy. I believe the Dean would be very pleased to meet you."
Lynd, who was already planning to go to Sphinx Academy, naturally did not refuse the invitation.
After the Maesters and students left, Lynd had people distribute all the heads from the carts as payment for their work in excavating the ruins.
The next morning, when the patrol arrived at the inn and saw the half-excavated hill, they were shocked, rubbing their eyes to make sure they weren't mistaken.
And when they learned the situation and wanted to confront the mercenaries who had dug up the hill last night, they found that there weren't just one or two, or even twenty, but hundreds of mercenaries, and each one had a head hanging from their waist. The careful ones noticed that all of those heads were of notorious bandits from the bounty lists.
So, the patrol, realizing their misunderstanding, no longer dared to trouble these mercenaries. Each one pretended not to have seen anything and continued along their usual patrol route towards the next patrol point.
Because he was already close enough to Pentos, and this area was frequently patrolled, there were no safety concerns. Lynd set off alone early in the morning, before dawn, without the merchant caravans following him anymore.
Traveling alone, he moved very quickly. The sun had barely fully risen from the horizon when he arrived outside the city of Pentos.
Originally, he planned to find a place to change out of his armor and disguise himself as a common mercenary to enter the city, as he had done in Myr. But before he could find a suitable spot, a troop of cavalry rode from the direction of Pentos, and they immediately sped up upon seeing Lynd.
Seeing this, Lynd quickly made a judgment: this troop of cavalry was clearly coming for him. He naturally wouldn't hide. Instead, he picked up the long spear hanging from his saddle, removed its sheath, and prepared to deal with this troop of cavalry.
However, as this troop of cavalry approached Lynd, they immediately slowed their pace and deliberately showed their hands, rather than placing them on their weapons, seemingly wanting to demonstrate that they had no ill intent towards Lynd.
"May I ask if you are Lord Lion Knight Onstein?" The leading knight came before Lynd and respectfully inquired.
Lynd nodded and asked, "Who are you?"
The knight quickly replied, "We are servants of Master Illyrio. He commanded us to escort you to his manor."
Lynd was not surprised that Illyrio had discovered his identity. However, he was somewhat surprised that Illyrio had discovered his true identity so quickly and knew his exact location.
"Lead the way!" Lynd thought for a moment, nodded, and commanded.
Subsequently, the group did not enter Pentos, but instead circled the city walls of Pentos, arriving at a hillside with a collection of villas and manors in the suburbs, and entered one of the manors located by the sea.
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