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The Smoking Sea was a nightmare for ordinary people. Step foot in it and the environment would break you fast.
The air was thick with toxic sulfur and mineral fumes that burned your lungs and poisoned your blood. Stay too long and you'd either get deathly sick or drop dead on the spot.
The brutal conditions and lingering traces of magic had also twisted the local wildlife into what locals called "monsters." These things weren't just dangerous—they were rabid, blood-crazed freaks.
Any normal human who stumbled in here usually ended up as lunch.
So grabbing regular people for slave labor was pointless.
Onyxia, however, had found the perfect solution.
The stone men afflicted with greyscale.
To normal humans, these stone men were cursed, incurable, unclean freaks. Society had thrown them away to rot in the Sorrows.
But in Onyxia's eyes, she saw the truth behind "greyscale."
These stone men were indeed cursed in a way.
More precisely, it was a magical disease.
What's more, Onyxia sensed a faint, almost imperceptible trace of dragon essence within them.
She had never seen the dragons of this world, but she couldn't mistake that subtle draconic aura.
She suspected greyscale was a failed magical experiment from the old Valyrian sorcerers.
But it was exactly because of greyscale—and that tiny hint of dragon essence—that their bodies had changed enough to accept her magic modifications relatively easily.
Her father, Deathwing, had researched similar magic: using "dragon essence" mixed with mortal flesh to create war constructs called Dragonspawn.
These were special beings that could freely shift between human and dragon forms. In human shape, they had scales like the stone men.
In Onyxia's memory, she had dabbled in this magic herself. The moment she saw the stone men, an idea formed. After some testing, it worked.
So she began hunting stone men across the region, capturing them and performing minor magical modifications to make them stronger, able to survive the Smoking Sea's toxic environment, and serve as labor to rebuild her lair.
Of course, Onyxia's remaining magical energy was precious. She wouldn't waste it turning them into true Dragonspawn—that wouldn't even be possible, since the dragon essence in them was extremely faint, almost negligible.
She only used a tiny amount of magic to transform them into usable servants.
After her first successful test, she confirmed her theory. It took almost no magic energy at all to modify a stone man.
Onyxia decided to call the modified stone men "Dragonspawn."
The transformed stone men—or Dragonspawn—could quickly adapt to the environment. They absorbed the residual magic in the air to sustain themselves, needing only small amounts of food to fuel a full day of hard labor.
In simple terms, she had used magic to turn "insulators" (unable to absorb the lingering magic) into weak "conductors" (able to draw in trace amounts of magical energy).
Now Onyxia had a steady supply of disposable labor.
For the stone men themselves, becoming slaves was actually a blessing in disguise.
Their bodies had undergone a fundamental change. The greyscale no longer tormented them toward death. Instead, they grew stronger. At their core, they were now semi-magical beings.
So when the new captives saw the previously captured ones emerging from the cave—looking vigorous and healthy instead of miserable and defeated—they were stunned.
Onyxia was careful. Remembering Leo's warning that dragons had been extinct here for over a century, she never flew openly over human cities.
She always traveled at night in dragon form, then shifted to human shape to scout or enter settlements, staying hidden.
The stone men lived in the Sorrows, the ruined area where the Rhoyne and Lhorulu rivers met—an ancient Rhoynar city now in ruins.
Because of greyscale, it was a forbidden zone that normal people avoided at all costs. The stone men were outcasts.
So Onyxia's captures went unnoticed by human society.
With no father or brother controlling her, and a temporary truce with Leo, Onyxia felt incredibly free and content. She focused entirely on building her new home.
But every so often, thoughts of Leo and their Dragon Blood Contract would creep in, bringing a strange irritation.
When she learned Leo was coming to Essos, she couldn't help feeling a flicker of anticipation.
She even considered summoning him to the Smoking Sea to show off her new lair and territory—to share the joy of having a home.
She loved the Smoking Sea. It felt tailor-made for her.
Now, with a fresh batch of laborers captured and ready for transformation into new Dragonspawn, her thoughts drifted to Leo again.
"Hmph! That annoying human… I wonder what he's up to right now?"
Onyxia caught herself and muttered, "What am I doing? Why am I thinking about that annoying guy? It must be because I want to finish the Dragon Blood Contract and regain my freedom as soon as possible!"
"Yes, that's it!"
"That annoying human can drop dead in some ditch for all I care! Then I won't have to do those three favors for him!"
Onyxia cursed Leo a few more times in her mind.
But not long after, a strange loneliness crept over her.
Because she couldn't help thinking: in this entire world, only she and Leo were outsiders from another place. Only Leo knew her real past. If he actually died…
There would be no one left to talk about the old days with…
Never mind. Better if Leo doesn't die too easily.
That's what Onyxia told herself.
Meanwhile, far away in Pentos, Leo had just left Illyrio's mansion when he suddenly sneezed twice.
"Damn it. Onyxia must be talking shit about me behind my back again!"