Stephen Baratheon POV
Finding and talking with Daenerys was not as difficult as he thought it would be. And with that task completed, it was now time for him to continue on to his actual destination.
After departing from Valysar (the city where Daenerys resides), he soared through the air for Twenty minutes to reach Volantis. Following that, he flew for an hour along the Demon Road to arrive at Mantarys.
The reason he came to Mantarys was because there was another Valyrian road in Mantarys that led South, to the heart of the Old Valyrian empire.
Undoubtedly, the Doom and subsequent calamities, such as earthquakes and tsunamis, may have severely damaged that very road. But the best thing about Valyrian roads was that they were as straight as an arrow. So as long as he kept flying in a straight line, he'll eventually reach Valyria.
After contemplating this, he passed the remainder of the night on a nearby beach in Mantarys, waiting until dawn before beginning his flight to the South, tracing the Valyrian Road.
He flew fast, crossing miles in seconds. Until he realised that the atmosphere around him was changing.
It didn't take him long to look up and realise just what had changed.
As the dawn gave way to daylight, the once-dark blue sky now glimmered a foreboding shade of crimson. It looked ominous and he could only imagine why a phenomenon like this would transpire.
And although the crimson sky seemed ominous, it posed no threat to him. So after observing it for a moment in silence, he pivoted towards the South and proceeded with his flight.
And as he did so, it didn't take long for him to encounter his first problem.
1 HP Damage due to Magical Radiation!
He briefly glanced at the notification, then directed his attention to his Health Bar, which decreased by a point every second. However, his body's natural regeneration swiftly replenished the bar to full capacity.
He had anticipated encountering some obstacles on his journey to Valyria, so he was not taken aback by this. What he had been uncertain about was the nature of the trouble he would face, whether it would be mundane or magical.
Looks like he had his answer.
This insight also provided an explanation as to why the inhabitants of Mantarys had transformed into grotesque and malevolent beings throughout the years. Prolonged exposure to such intense magical radiation was bound to have that effect.
But he was not here to find the reason for Mantarys' monstrous reputation. He was here to find Treasures in the ruins of Old Valyria. Or for an adventure, as he had told Dany.
So without any further ado, he continued flying South.
As he did, he wondered if a normal human would survive magical radiation of this level. With his high Vit, he had Health Points that ranged in the 14K, not to mention his natural regeneration which increased his health faster than it dropped.
But normal humans only possess a few hundred Health Points, and they didn't have the ability regenerate that large chunks of their Health within seconds. This level of magical radiation would probably kill normal humans within hours if not minutes.
Was this why no human has ever succeeded in getting to Old Valyria?
Euron claimed to have done so. And he did have a Dragonbinder Horn did serve as a proof for his claims. But it was never proven that the Horn could really bind a dragon. Just that it killed whoever blew it.
Not to mention that Euron could've gained it from the Warlocks of Qarth that he captured. Or, he could've found it in one of the cities at the outer edges of Valyria which might've had lower levels of magical radiation.
All in all, he never really believed Euron's claims about having seen Valyria with his own eyes. And now that he was going there personally, he was even more certain that Euron had lied to everyone in order to boost his own reputation.
Minutes passed, and as continued to fly South, a faint, dark mist begin to shroud the entire landmass in front of him in a perpetual darkness.
He descended towards the ground and lingered at the fringes of the mist before venturing inside to investigate its nature.
1 HP Damage due to Asphyxiation!
He read the notification and found himself utterly unsurprised by it.
Of course the black mist would be unbreathable. Though the notification didn't tell him if the mist was magical in nature or mundane.
He used Observe on it and learned that it was the Volcanic smoke that had been ejected from the 14 Volcanos in Valyria, and had spread to cover the entire landmass over the centuries.
Considering that normal Volcanic smoke usually didn't hover over the land like mist, this volcanic smoke was probably slightly magical in nature as well.
Its magical nature would also explain why his Hyper Enhanced Respiratory System failed to filter out the impurities, and provide him breathable air. And why the Ocean surrounding the Old Valyrian continent was renamed the Smoking Sea.
At that moment, his notification panel pinged with yet another interesting notification.
1 Resistance to Magical Radiation!
Immediately afterward, the slight drain on his Health Points caused by the magical radiation vanished, eliciting a smile from him.
This was yet another reason why he loved the Gamer System so much. It basically made you immune to all forms of damage over time.
Of course, if he entered areas which had a higher level of magical radiation, then he'll still lose Health. But not as much as before, and he'll soon gain Resistance to that as well.
The system was truly remarkable, and made him wonder if he would acquire resistance to asphyxiation as well.
And if that happened, then would it mean that he'll be able to move around without having any further need to breath?
Would it mean that he'll one day be able to fly in space as well?
He supposed that only time will tell.
With that thought, he dove back into the black mist and continued flying South along the Valyrian Road. The mist was thick enough to blot out the entire landmass from up in the sky, but up close, it still gave a visibility of about 20-30 meters, though everything outside that was covered in total darkness.
As a result, he had to maintain a low altitude of 10-20 meters to stay on course along the Valyrian Road. And as he did so, he realised something that he hadn't when he was flying up high in the sky.
He realised that he could hear the chitter chatter of bugs, and other noises that he never expected to hear in a place like this.
The sound of commonplace noises from the outside world filled him with discomfort in this place, as his heightened sense of hearing detected the chirping of crickets, buzzing of bees or wasps, croaking of frogs, and squeaking of small animals.
In all honesty, he didn't anticipate any living creatures to survive in an environment with such high levels of magical radiation. However, once again, Mother Nature proved to be full of surprises.
Of course, the fact that all these insects of tiny mammals survived in this place, meant that they were no doubt mutated by the heavy magical radiation in this place.
Nevertheless, he had no desire to investigate how the radiation could affect a group of ants, rodents, crickets, bees, or any other creature.
Logically, he knew that even if these insects had grown to the size of cats due to magical radiation, they would still be unable to do anything to him. But the primitive part of his brain was fucking terrified at the thought of actually facing those insects, and he sped up his flying just in case those insects had a method of sensing him.
He also wondered how those insects were able to survive here, considering that the heavy mist coated the entire landmass, allowing only a little bit of sunlight to trickle down to the earth.
With that little sunlight, no plants should survive in this place. And with no plants, there shouldn't be any insects. And without those insects, there shouldn't be any frogs, rats or other small mammals either.
…was the magic in the atmosphere sustaining these bugs?
The thought unsettled him. Since his only way of dealing with large scale problems was to throw a mana bomb at it. However, he recognised that using a mana bomb against creatures that fed on magical energy would be a hilariously bad idea.
Like… here is a fire demon, I'll kill it by pouring gasoline over its head.
Yeah... No.
He was brought out of his dark thoughts by a Notification ping.
He looked at his window and was surprised to find that he had gained another skill.
Magical Breathing Lvl 1: This skill allows you to breathe in atmosphere where it'll be hard, if not impossible for normal humans to breathe. It also allows you to hold your breath for longer periods of time. 10 MP/sec.
Hmm… he was expecting a Resistance to Asphyxiation, but this was nice as well.
It made him wonder if he'll be able to breath in space once his Magical Breathing skill is high enough.
Only time will tell, he supposed.
He was still losing 1 Health to Asphyxiation every few seconds, meaning that Lvl 1 of this skill wasn't good enough to help him in this place. And that he'll have to level it up before it became useful.
However, utilising this ability came with a high cost of 10 MP per second, resulting in a drain of 600 MP per minute. This equated to a depletion of his mana reserves in just 19.46 minutes, assuming he didn't take into account his mana regeneration.
However, he relied on his mana to enable him to fly in the area and combat any potential adversaries he may encounter that couldn't be defeated by his physical strength or Valyrian Steel sword.
He called up his status and glanced at the 292 Free stats he had saved up over the years.
With that many Free stats, he'll be able to increase his Intelligence from 106 to 250, basically taking his total Mana points from 11K to 50K with the aid of another perk.
It would also take is Wisdom from 51 to 100, which would increase his Mana Regeneration by a lot.
His finger hovered over the () sign on his Intelligence stat, as he contemplated whether he should use up his Emergency stash or not.
After thinking on it for a moment, he removed his finger from over the () sign and dismissed the status window.
No, the 'Emergency Stash' was named that for a reason. And he was not facing an emergency right now. Only mild difficulty.
After a moment of contemplation, he decided against using the Magical Breathing skill for now.
Sure, he was losing a Health Point to Asphyxiation every few seconds. Meaning that he was technically still dying from a lack of air. But with his natural regeneration, he'll never actually die from it. So no point in worrying about it right now.
With that decision made, he continued flying South along with Valyrian Road.
—
It took him about an hour of continuous flying to arrive at his first major city.
He had encountered several destroyed settlements prior to arriving at the major city, including small villages and towns along the way. However, after using his ability Observe, he discovered that none of these locations held significant value in the past. Thus, he decided against searching for any treasures in those ruins since he knew there wouldn't be any worth his time.
But this city was large enough that he would probably be able to find something of value in this city, even if it was not Valyria.
Using Observe informed him that this city was named Oros. It did not have self-rule and was instead governed by the men and women sent from Valyria to rule in the name of the Freehold.
It also informed him that this city was very wealthy and prosperous back in its day. So hopefully he'll find some good loot here.
A cursory look over the entire city gave him an estimate that it was large enough to fit about four entire Kings Landing inside it, with some room left over for a fifth one. Though half of the city was now submerged under black murky water and thus inaccessible to him.
Though the strangest thing about this city, was the fact that the dark Volcanic mist didn't enter the city. Being kept at bay by the large walls of the city.
However, considering that the walls were broken in many places, the volcanic mist should've gotten in. Except... it didn't. This made him realise that the mist was probably being held out by some form of magical ward.
This was new to him. As there was no mention of magical wards in the canon timeline.
...with the exception of the Wall, which presumably had magical wards to safeguard against the undead, or the abandoned city of Yeen, which curiously managed to prevent the encroachment of the surrounding forest onto its grounds.
Upon reflection, he realised that the existence of magical wards was not unprecedented. However, it was still unusual to witness it firsthand, particularly since there was no mention of it in historical records and the Targaryens had not displayed any use of such magic.
Then again, the Targaryens didn't show the use of 'any' magic. So it was a moot point in the end.
Despite the unusualness of magical wards, he continued his exploration of the vast city and made a beeline for the section with the grander and more opulent structures. He was determined to fulfil his primary objective of scouring Valyria for treasures. Though he would not say no to magical tomes either.
As he flying around in the richer district, he noticed something from his peripheral vision and immediately came to a halt, floating in the middle of the sky as he gazed into the distance with surprise.
In the midst of the ruins of two towering buildings, he spotted the bleached white skeletal remains of an immense dragon. A broad grin crept across his face, and he eagerly flew towards the dragon bones.
He couldn't believe that he actually forgot about the possibility of finding dragon bones in Valyria. But yeah, dragon bones are valuable.
You can sell the skull of a dragon for hundreds of thousands of gold coins to Essossi collectors. Or carve the bones into bracelets, medallions, or other such decorations, which would once again sell for quite a bit of money in the Essossi market.
Not to mention the potential military applications of these bones - they could be fashioned into spear shafts or crafted into bows.
Dragonbone bows were rumoured to be the best bows in the entire world. One step above the Weirwood and Golden Heart bows, both of which were capable of piercing steel armour.
He didn't know how true those rumours were, and whether Dragonbone bows were actually the best in the world. However, he was aware that they were highly effective.
As he flew towards the dragon skeleton, thoughts of forming a specialised unit like Brynden Rivers' Raven Teeth, who all had access to Wierwood bows, started forming in his mind. Except, his men would have Dragonbone bows.
Those men will have to be the cream of the crop, the best of the best. Not to mention loyal to him and him only. And they'd have to be led by competent captains who have actually fought in real wars, and not summer knights who're merely looking for glory.
The anticipation rose in his heart as he flew closer to the dragon skeleton until he noticed something that he hadn't from the distance.
There was not one dragon skeleton. But two. A large one resting over the remains of a slightly smaller one.
A chuckle escaped his lips as he flew down to land on top of the giant skeletons.
He had seen the skull of Balerion the Black Dread in his brief stay in Kings Landing, so he had a good idea of how big dragons could be.
These skull of these dragons were smaller than Balerion's skull. The larger skull was about 2/3rd the size of Balerion's. And the smaller one was about half of Balerion's skull.
A strange way to measure the size of dragons, but it gave him a decent idea about their total length and a good guess to their ages.
Not that their size or age mattered to him right now. No, what held his attention more than that, was the manner of their death.
Judging by the way they had crashed on this places, as well as the various visible wounds on their bones, it was clear to him that these dragons fought each other to death.
And that, raised so many questions.
Was this how all the dragons in Valyria died? They went feral and fought each other to death.
Was there a spiritual connection between the dragons and 14 Volcanos? So that when those volcanos erupted, the dragons simply went mad and started killing everything and everyone in sight?
Thoughts ran a mile a minute in his mind. Questions upon questions. Guesses, theories and hypothesis for answers. But in the end, he had nothing concrete.
It's highly plausible that the riders of these two dragons held a grudge against each other, or perhaps one of them harbored animosity towards the other. And once they saw that Old Valyria was gone, they realised that they were no one to stop them and launched an attack on one another.
He wouldn't know until he has seen Old Valyria and has studied more dragon skeletons.
For now, he needed to secure these dragon bones.
The Dragon skulls were the size of a small carriages, and were thus too large to fit into his into his Inventory. As were their bones.
So he took out his sword and used Mana to enhance it before he started cutting the dragon bones to a size which could fit into his inventory.
It was a long and boring process, but the thought of having an elite Archery unit of his own kept him going.
It was when he was halfway through with the first dragon skeleton, that he finally noticed the presence of yet another skeleton, buried beneath the dragon bone and some of the rubble.
A… human skeleton, covered in tattered clothes that he could tell had once been a luxurious dress.
In addition to that, the skeleton's garments were fastened to a harness, which was in turn connected to a large leather saddle.
He didn't need his High intelligence to put two and two together, and come to the conclusion that this skeleton belonged to the dragon rider of the larger dragon.
He used Observe on the skeleton and found that it belonged to a woman named Salaehna Baelnaeros.
She was the 4th daughter of House Baelnaeros, which was one of the 40 prominent Dragonlord Houses in Valyria. She was only 23 and recently married to her younger brother Daemyx Baelnaeros.
Both of them had come to this city in order to celebrate their new life together. Only, the Doom arrived, and she died.
He immediately approached the other dragon's remains and carefully inspected it until he discovered another human skeleton fastened to a separate saddle.
And just as he had thought, the name of skeleton turned out to be Daemyx Baelnaeros. Meaning, that not only were the dragon riders siblings, but also newly married husband and wife.
So, the chance of them suddenly turning on one another and fighting to the death seemed negligible.
This suggests that the Doom indeed fucked up with the mind of dragons. And the dragons that belonged to House Targaryen only escaped because they were so far away from Valyria.
"His contemplation on the Doom's relationship with dragons ceased abruptly when he noticed something poking under the tattered clothes of the human skeleton.
Shifting the dragon rider's skeleton to one side, he grinned broadly at the sight of a scabbard containing a sword that remained nestled within it.
The hilt of the sword was ornately decorated with such valuable gems that the hilt alone was probably worth more than the entire wardrobe and jewellery collection of Queen Cersei.
And… he very much doubted that someone would use such a precious hilt to hold a normal steel blade.
He took hold of the hilt and slowly brought the sword out of his scabbard.
And was greeted to the sight of blade filled with beautiful rippling patterns, confirming the Identity of this sword. Or rather, the metal used in its creation.
Valyrian Steel.
He used Observe regardless, and learned that the sword was named Red Morning. It was a Longsword that was given to Daemyx Baelnaeros on the day he claimed his dragon. It was one of the 14 Valyrian Swords held by House Baelnaeros.
14 swords… holy fuck!
For a House to have that many Valyrian swords, it definitely confirmed that House Baelnaeros was either one of the most powerful house in Old Valyria. Or, House Targaryen was simply one of the lower drags of their society of Dragon riders.
He ignored that thought in favour of going back to the previous skeleton of Salaehna Baelnaeros. He rolled her skeleton to the side, and was immensely joyed to find yet another scabbard with an ornately decorated hilt, partially hidden behind her tattered dress.
He slid out the sword from its scabbard, and a huge smile formed on his face as he noticed that this one was a Valyrian Steel sword as well. Though this one was a one handed arming sword, and smaller than the previous sword which was a Longsword.
Not that he minded it too much.
He took out both the swords and admired their beauty before his hyper sensitive ears suddenly picked up something that shouldn't exist in a place like this.
Footsteps.
Or to be more exact, hurried footsteps of multiple people that were quickly converging in this location.
He reluctantly put both the Valyrian swords inside his Inventory and turned to greet his new guests.
He was greeted by the sight of a dozen figures, shambling and stumbling towards him. Except, these men were not men in the normal sense of the word.
All of them were covered from head to toe in rocky protrusions that he knew intimately well, from having removed them himself from Shireen's face only two years ago.
Grayscale. Or, the later stages of it at least, when the entire body is covered by stony protrusions. Making the men who're afflicted with this disease be known as the Stone Men.
But… why were there Stone Men in Valyria? Where did they come from? Were these people the old residents of the city who've survived through the centuries through some unknown means?
A simple use of Observe informed him that these men were not, in fact, the residents of this city. They were people from Mantarys, who contracted Greyscale and were sent to the Valyrian continent to live out their days in the embrace of mother Valyria before they passed away.
Though, how they managed to reach this city was still a mystery. Did the magical radiation and lack of air not bother them?
Despite his curiosity, he did not hesitate to act. Drawing Stag Song from its sheath, he infused it with mana before unleashing a crescent-shaped blade of energy towards the approaching Stone Men.
The mana blade sliced through all of the Stone Men, causing them to collapse to the ground with black pus like blood slowly oozing out of their wounds.
However, he was taken aback when the upper halves of the creatures began to crawl towards him, despite the fact that their severed spines should've killed them.
Okay, there was definitely some magical fuckery going on here.
In order to prevent the Stone Men from reaching the dragon skeletons and tainting the bones, he grabbed some rubble from the ground, ripped it apart with his bare hands, and hurled the fragments at the advancing creatures.
The fragments of rubble soared towards their targets with remarkable precision and velocity, moving so quickly that they were nearly imperceptible to the unaided eye. They hit the stone men, and their heads exploded at the impact.
Within seconds, all the Stone men were dead and he let out a sigh of relief that none of the blood splatter hit the dragon bones. But his relief immediately turned into annoyance when he heard even more footsteps running in his direction.
He closed his eyes and rubbed his nose as the number of footsteps kept increasing and increasing.
Seems like he'll have his work cut out for him today.
This city better have a mountain trove of treasure for him, or he'll be pissed.