Chapter 199: Dragon Spirit
Ultimately, a dragon was an animal, and theoretically, it was also a potential target for skinchanging.
Even if the speculations of those irresponsible maesters in Westeros were true—that dragons were products of Valyrian sorcery—
hadn't the system assistant already said that the magical power players gained through the system didn't conflict with any spell type?
Even if a dragon contained Valyrian magic, it wouldn't affect the player's use of skinchanging.
Thinking this, Ian decided not to wait any longer.
Ian didn't know how much a fully grown dragon's mental strength would develop, but he felt he had a chance with a one-month-old hatchling.
Immediately, Ian went straight to Daenerys's cabin. Although Ian also wanted to raise the dragon in his own cabin to build a bond, the little creature always stayed with Daenerys, never leaving her side.
Reluctantly, Ian could only acquiesce to letting her raise the dragon.
"Who is it?" Ian heard Daenerys's voice from inside the cabin after knocking for a while.
"It is I, Your Grace," Ian replied, knowing Daenerys would recognize his voice.
About half a minute later, the door to Daenerys's cabin opened a crack.
"Lord Darry?" Daenerys timidly peeked out, her silver hair disheveled.
After confirming it was indeed Ian, she hesitantly opened the door and invited him in.
Ian didn't stand on ceremony and immediately began searching for the black dragon, Ion.
Daenerys lit the candles in the cabin, the pale yellow light instantly filling the space.
"What brings you here so late?" the young Queen asked softly.
Late? Holy shit! Ian turned to look at Daenerys, only then noticing that the young Queen was only wearing a thin silk nightgown, her face flushed red to her ears in the candlelight.
When she noticed Ian looking at her, Daenerys's gaze darted away, seemingly both afraid and expectant of some answer.
The Seven Hells! Ian couldn't help but cover his face.
The system's end-of-month settlement was at midnight, and after finishing it, he rushed here as soon as the idea of becoming a dragon spirit took hold.
And now it was 2 AM!
Shocking! A shameless lord is knocking on the door of the unmarried Queen in the dead of night!
At this hour, anyone would misunderstand, right?
The worst part was that Ian glared at Daenerys. You just opened the door like that?! That's too trusting! Confess, have you been wanting this for a while?!
Young ladies really need to protect themselves when out and about.
"I'm sorry to disturb your rest, Your Grace," Ian quickly cleared up her misunderstanding. "I'm here to see Ion."
For some unavoidable but necessary reasons, Ian planned to let the young Queen pine for him for a few years first.
"Ion?" Daenerys was completely dumbfounded. She opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately couldn't think of anything to say.
Ian mentally added a line for her: I'm beautiful enough that men would line up from here to Westeros for me. I opened the door for you in the middle of the night, and you act like I'm invisible? You actually came to see a dragon?
"Your Grace, please allow me to take my leave." Ian bowed again, then went into the cabin, picked up the black dragon Ion, who was sleeping soundly in his nest, and, amidst the bewilderment of both dragon and Queen, left Daenerys's cabin with Ion.
Even long after Ian left, Daenerys remained standing there, stunned. She couldn't understand what had gone wrong.
Finally, her gaze fell on her chest.
She found the answer.
Sure enough, Ian's claims at Illyrio's manse about my breathtaking beauty and how no man could resist me were just flattery, like saying Viserys would be a wise king!
Back in his cabin, Ian first fed Ion a bowl of goat's milk. This little creature was still nursing, seemingly treating itself like a mammal. Once calmed down.
Once Ion was completely relaxed, Ian suddenly launched an invasion of its consciousness.
Ian's mental attack wasn't intense. It was largely exploratory.
After all, there was no precedent in the original timeline of a skinchanger bonding with a dragon, and he couldn't guarantee there wouldn't be any unexpected events. So, he planned to withdraw immediately if he encountered an unpredictable situation.
To Ian's surprise, establishing the skinchanging bond went unexpectedly smoothly.
The little black dragon Ion, barely a month old, had even weaker mental strength than the orange tabby Ian had previously bonded with. Perhaps for the long lifespan of dragons, a month's mental development was negligible.
In short, Ian slipped into Ion with almost no resistance.
Even after flapping his wings twice in the cabin as a dragon, Ian still felt a sense of unreality.
Only when the system notification appeared in his mind did he snap out of that dreamlike state.
Logging into the system, Ian saw a new message in his inbox.
[Successfully bonded with a dragon, achieving the special achievement 'Dragon Spirit', gaining 30 points]
"A special achievement?" This was indeed a novelty. The reward points were more than an intermediate achievement, but less than an advanced one, and there was no scroll. Overall, it wasn't a huge windfall.
But achieving such an achievement clearly told Ian that this wasn't an illusion. He had truly become a dragon spirit.
This was a terrifying advantage.
Although the approaching Long Night wouldn't give his dragons enough time to grow, preventing them from reaching an age where they could easily dominate, if dragons like Balerion the Black Dread, with wingspans of hundreds of feet and capable of swallowing aurochs whole, still existed, then other players would be out of the running. No matter how much they struggled, it would be futile.
Ian's dragon would likely only grow to five or six years old at most. The Long Night would begin to descend in about four years, and its full arrival would take another year or two.
In any case, this competition would inevitably end before Ion reached ten years old, and a dragon only a few years old was inherently vulnerable. During the Dance of the Dragons, even adult dragons in their twenties were killed by mobs (perhaps sellswords and knights disguised as mobs), indicating that dragon scales weren't truly invulnerable in the early stages.
But dragons could be used for more than just frontal attacks! Especially a dragon directly controlled by the will of a skinchanger!
Ian quickly found several uses.
High-altitude reconnaissance: When the enemy also had skinchangers, no matter how fierce the bird, he could guarantee victory in a one-on-one fight.
Attacking scouts: Solo scout teams couldn't carry scorpions. Eliminating these riders would blind the enemy commander.
Attacking granaries/supply routes: If the enemy's granaries lacked sufficient anti-dragon weapons, simply burn them. If scorpions were available, he could attack enemy supply lines at any time without taking unnecessary risks. After all, supply convoys couldn't always carry scorpions, and if the enemy did choose to do so, their supply transport burden would increase exponentially.
It could even be used on the main battlefield. By coordinating dragons with ground troops, it was easy to effectively circumvent enemy air defenses.
This was a true strategic weapon!
(End of Chapter)
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