As Marwyn's words fell, silence descended upon the room.
Karl held his wine glass, not speaking, just watching Marwyn.
And Marwyn appeared very patient, waiting quietly.
It wasn't until an unknown amount of time had passed that Karl finally put down his wine glass, clasped his hands in front of him, and slowly spoke, "What do you want to gain?"
"Or, to be precise, what do you want me to do for you?"
Karl had finally broken the silence, but facing his words, Marwyn shook his head.
"I have never had any thoughts, I am very satisfied with my current life, Your Majesty."
Facing the readily available temptation, Marwyn appeared very calm, as if it were truly so.
But Karl smiled, tilting his head slightly.
"I once heard a saying, 'The more a person knows about this world, the smaller he will feel.' Dr. Marwin, what kind of existence do you think you are in this world?"
Without any warning, Karl smoothly shifted the topic.
Marwyn froze, his eyes widening involuntarily.
"The more a person knows about this world, the smaller he will feel," Marwyn murmured, repeating Karl's words.
Then he remembered another sentence Karl had spoken earlier in the day at the Citadel gate.
"Knowledge is power."
As if he had understood something, Marwyn's previously peaceful smile turned bitter.
He looked at the young King before him.
"If I follow your words, I might be less than a grain of dust in this world, no, more than that, I am just a fragile ember that can be crushed by a single breath—"
Karl smiled contentedly, "See, now you have a very clear idea, don't you?"
Marwyn smiled bitterly again.
Then he took a deep breath, stood up, placed one hand on his chest, and knelt, bowing deeply to Karl.
"May you have mercy on this poor mortal."
Marwyn's tone was pious, as if praying to a deity.
Then, in the next second, a gilded longsword suddenly appeared on his shoulder.
Marwyn was slightly startled, and instinctively looked up.
He saw that Karl, who had been empty-handed moments ago, now had a longsword resting on his shoulder.
Yet, just a moment ago, he was 100% certain that Karl had no weapons on him, nor were there any in the room they were in.
The knowledgeable Dr. immediately narrowed his pupils.
Karl, however, remained seated on the sofa, holding the sword with one hand, pointing it at Marwyn's shoulder.
"I answer your prayer in my name, Marwyn."
After the King finished speaking, in the next moment, Marwyn knew where the longsword in the King's hand had come from.
Because in the blink of an eye, the longsword that had been on his shoulder had vanished, replaced by a green wine bottle.
As if everything that had just happened was an illusion.
"This is a moment worth celebrating, Dr. Marwin, and I wish to share this fine wine brewed by elves with you."
Karl said, pulling out the cork from the wine bottle and taking a wine glass to fill it for Marwyn.
A peculiar aroma, mixed with an unheard-of fruity scent, permeated the room, and Marwyn instinctively took a deep sniff of the fragrance.
He was well-traveled, but had never smelled such a wine aroma, and—.
"Elves, what are elves, are they a type of creature?"
Marwyn instantly grasped the key word in Karl's speech, and his emotions became somewhat agitated as he quickly asked.
Karl was very satisfied with his reaction, and pushed the filled wine glass from the table towards him.
"According to your knowledge and understanding, they are indeed a race, perhaps similar to the Children of the Forest."
"Only, unlike the Children of the Forest, they are more beautiful, and also more powerful and intelligent."
"They have their own civilization."
"By the way, if you like it, the rest of the wine is yours."
Marwyn dazedly accepted the information in Karl's words, instinctively taking the wine glass and the wine bottle in front of him, which looked like green crystal, with a blood-red liquid sloshing inside.
"You just said 'they', and you also mentioned civilization—but I have never heard of such a race."
"It just so happens that those connected to me are all female, and as for why you haven't heard of them, it's very simple: they do not belong to this world." To Marwyn's endless questions, Karl answered every single one.
He constantly tempted the man before him with the unknown, guiding him step by step.
Gulp, a mouthful of saliva was swallowed again by Marwyn into his parched throat, but this did not alleviate his dryness, so he picked up the wine glass from the table and drank it all.
The strange wine aroma instantly invaded Marwyn's taste buds, and once again confirmed to Marwyn that he had never tasted such wine.
Whether it was the color, aroma, taste, or anything else, it was as beautiful as a work of art.
Coupled with the miracle of its magical disappearance and reappearance right before his eyes.
"If I could witness everything you speak of, I would offer my life for it."
Dr. Marwin's expression was extremely serious, as if he were declaring his life's manifesto, his life's ideal.
"You can."
Karl gave his first promise to Marwyn.
Then his smile also deepened.
"So, let's talk about my views on the Citadel."
Karl stayed in Oldtown for nearly two months.
Every day he spent there felt incredibly real.
It was also there that his understanding of this world deepened significantly, no longer the superficial golden age of civilization he had seen in the Eastern Continent when he first arrived in this world.
Nor was it merely the vague understanding of this world he had only seen in books and films in his previous life.
And at the same time, during his time at the Citadel, a small, unnoticed group, lurking beneath the Citadel, was quietly developing.
Although its members were not many, it already had a pleasant name—the Society of True Knowledge.
As for Karl himself, he had been immersed in the world of knowledge until a letter from Highgarden awakened him.
Putting down a book on "magic" he was holding, Karl took the letter.
In the letter, Jon apologetically stated that he had spent so much time digesting the gains from Highgarden and reminded the King that they were ready for war again.
Putting down the letter, Karl pulled his thoughts from the unfamiliar world he had just encountered and returned to reality.
His fingers lightly tapped the letter paper on the desk as Karl pondered silently.
After a long while, Karl turned to look at a young Maester beside him, who was also a member of the Society of True Knowledge, and like Marwyn, his "bloodline" caused him not to be trusted.
"Maester Stroud, please inform House Hightower that I plan to leave tomorrow, and I hope they have made all the preparations."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The Maester named Stroud looked up at the King before him with reverence, then bowed and left, allowing the room, which the Citadel had specially reserved for the King, to return to silence.
Karl's time in Oldtown would, of course, not be wasted.
Moreover, his ostensible purpose for coming here was to subdue House Hightower.
So, no matter what, he had to do what was appropriate for his current status.
And the most fitting action for Karl's identity now was nothing more than to defeat his uncle, who had still not chosen to submit, and truly ascend to his throne.
Therefore, during this time, Karl naturally needed House Hightower, who had already sworn allegiance to him, to send troops and contribute, to answer his call, and to be loyal to their King.
It must be said that the strength of House Hightower somewhat exceeded Karl's expectations.
Although nominally one of the most powerful and wealthy vassals under House Tyrell, in reality, House Hightower was simply the strongest house in the entire South.
Even the combined forces of House Tyrell's vassals, who responded to their call during the Battle of Highgarden, were roughly on par with House Hightower's strength.
They are one of the most deeply rooted families in The Reach, with marital ties to families like Florent, Tyrell, Rowan, and Redwyne.
They even intermarried with the Targaryen Family over a hundred years ago, and their ancestral heirloom is a valyrian steel longsword named "Vigilance."
Moreover, as one of the oldest and proudest noble houses in Westeros, the bloodline of House Hightower can be traced back to the First Men.
In the Dawn Age, they once reigned as kings, ruling Oldtown and its surrounding areas.
When the Andals invaded, they assisted them without resistance, and later submitted to the successive Kings of The Reach, retaining their ancient privileged status in exchange for relinquishing their crown.
However, the Lords of the Hightower, though powerful and extremely wealthy, always preferred trade and disliked war, so they rarely participated in the civil wars of Westeros.
House Hightower invested in and built the Citadel, and has protected it ever since.
The Starry Sept in the city, before being replaced by the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing, was truly the grand cathedral of the Faith of the Seven and the seat of the High Septon.
Being shrewd planners, they have always been the biggest patrons behind the Maesters and the Faith.
It can be said that from ancient times to the present, House Hightower has always been one of the never-absent protagonists on this continent, only they have always been low-key.
But this does not negate that House Hightower is inherently the rightful ruler of this land, the King of the Tower.
After simply tidying his belongings, Karl walked out of the study.
A glass candle made of obsidian in the room extinguished the moment he walked out.
This was one of the four glass candles brought from Valyria to the Citadel before the Doom of Valyria descended.
These four glass candles were one green and three black, all long and twisted, and the one Karl brought out of curiosity was one of the black ones.
After closing the door, Karl ignited the glass candle with magical power.
However, he didn't expect the light emitted by the glass candle to be an uncomfortably bright glow.
And it would also cause strange changes in the surrounding colors.
White was bright like fallen snow, yellow shone like pure gold, red turned into flame, and black was so deep that it seemed like a bottomless void suspended in mid-air.
"Four types of elemental power—as for black, it seems to be able to absorb light, creating an area similar to an anti-magic field—but it seems to be more than that?"
Karl didn't gain much from his research on the glass candles, and due to the unknown and lack of time, he couldn't delve deeper into it.
As for some information he learned from books, the sorcerers of the old Freehold of Valyria would use these glass candles to project their sight across mountains, oceans, and deserts.
And by sitting before such candles, they could also enter others' dreams to display illusions, or even communicate messages across half the world.
But Karl couldn't replicate any of these; he didn't know how those sorcerers used this power.
Because this was completely different from the magic he learned in the game world.
However, as for the last ability, communicating across half the world, Karl had roughly achieved it in his own way.
After experimenting with Robert, he surprisingly developed a spiritual connection—of course, this was not manifested through the power of the glass candles, and Karl could not create such a resonance with other people.
Karl roughly guessed that this was because Robert's body contained the same magic factors as his own, after all, this guy could be revived.
It was entirely because he had stewed a large dragon in an iron pot on a volcano when he was in the game world.
However, Karl still doesn't understand whether Robert's revival was due to magic, temperature, or the iron pot.
Because Karl did not have a second dragon egg to experiment with.
But Karl actually had another guess in his heart.
That is the volcano.
In the Game of Thrones world, dragons and volcanoes always have an indescribable connection, though this connection is more subtle compared to the direct correlation with the density of magic tides.
Moreover, in the Game of Thrones world, dragons, besides being magical creatures, also have all the materials that construct their bodies associated with volcanoes in one way or another.
Dragon eggs turn to stone after death.
The bones of dead dragons also turn black like obsidian, and their teeth are like scimitars made of black diamonds.
This is because dragon bones have a very high iron content, which is why they appear black, and precisely because of this, dragon bones are also a highly sought-after material for crafting.
Because they are malleable.
Furthermore, dragons emit heat, which is especially noticeable on cold nights, as if their entire bodies are smoking.
Their scales are immune to the effects of fire to some extent, and even the blood that flows from them is as hot as molten steel, because it is said that the flesh and blood of dragons are actually composed of fire.
It was precisely because of this that Karl, in his subsequent review, realized that Robert's true awakening might have been due to the volcano, in addition to being immersed in a magic-rich environment by magical potions.
It should be noted that there were no volcanoes before the game version update.
He had never thought of bringing a dragon egg to a volcano in the real world.
If the game version hadn't updated with a new map, and Artex hadn't inadvertently brought her stone dragon egg there because she was pregnant and needed to hatch a dragon egg, Karl might still be holding a piece of stone, wondering why his dragon wouldn't hatch.
Thus, Karl walked towards the Citadel's exit, pondering the matters on his mind, and simultaneously connected with Robert in his thoughts, informing him about their departure tomorrow.
Advance Chapters avilable on patreon (Obito_uchiha)