Illyrio’s attitude startled both Shamira and Belwas, making them shudder.
Aegon’s eyes flickered slightly.
Right now, he had no protection whatsoever, and his personal martial arts skills were just mediocre.
If not for his identity, Belwas could take him down with a single hand.
Illyrio had been a swordsman in his youth—a genuine swordsman who licked blood off the blade.
Even though his body had grown old and bloated, his anger still made people feel tense.
Young Griff was born to him and the woman he loved.
Calling his son a bastard was something he simply couldn’t tolerate.
But he immediately realized he had lost his composure, and Illyrio hastily brightened his expression once more.
He stepped forward and placed a hand on Aegon’s shoulder, but the moment he opened his mouth, his bad breath hit Aegon like an uppercut, nearly choking him.
Aegon had no choice but to push him a bit further away.
Illyrio didn’t mind and continued speaking:
“Ah, my Cyrus, that is a friend’s child whom I promised to take care of.
I am a merchant, and the most important things to a merchant are credit and promises…
Don’t you want to join the army?
I bought you the position of cavalry commander, and you can go the day after tomorrow.”
Cyrus was the fake name Illyrio had given to Aegon, a name meant to commemorate his deceased wife, ‘Serra’.
Perhaps that ‘Young Griff’ was supposed to bear this name in the first place.
Mentioning becoming an officer seemed to sweep all of Aegon’s displeasure aside, and he began to ask about the condition of the troops under his command.
“Three hundred men, five hundred horses—very majestic.” Illyrio piled a smile onto his fat face, coaxing him like a child.
“When the time comes, I’ll have Belwas go with you, alright?”
“Fine then.
I won’t go back tonight; I’ll stay outside.”
“Stay—stay in a large one, the large ones are comfortable.”
“Did I need you to tell me?!
If there’s nothing else, you should head back.”
“Alright, alright, heh heh.”
How could Aegon not know Illyrio’s intention in keeping Belwas by his side?
Even Shamira was his spy.
Sometimes Aegon thought that if he had no other support, he would have to find a way to hunker down and survive, and perhaps going to defect to the Dragon Mother when she rose to power would be a way out, but…
Aegon looked at the bottom right corner of his vision, where a string of text that seemed directly projected onto his retina changed:
[king-making project loading 99.9%]
‘It actually took half a month to load, just like before time-traveling.’
king-making project was a simulation management and character cultivation game Aegon played before time-traveling.
One of the game’s most outstanding features was its rich selection of mods, spanning ancient and modern times, China and abroad, all dynasties, and even fictional world mods like the Game of Thrones world.
Players could research historical records themselves for faction building and participate in major historical events to change the course of history.
The character system loaded with artificial intelligence made every historical character extremely three-dimensional, bringing a strong sense of immersion when interacting with them.
It wasn’t the kind of artificial intelligence that only knew how to fool beforehand and apologize afterward.
In the era Aegon traveled from, artificial intelligence had already shouldered the important mission of running human society.
Simulating historical figures naturally came easily to it.
And in the process of interacting with these historical heroes, the player’s own resourcefulness and scheming were greatly exercised.
However, the core gameplay of the game was still character cultivation, using in-game rewards to turn an ordinary person into a great lord capable of competing with historical heroes, providing a fantastic experience.
Specifically, players expand territory, build armies, and manage territories, and then the game rewards players with attributes and items, which players rely on to further develop their forces, forming a cycle.
As a veteran player of this game for ten years, Aegon didn’t consider himself a fool, but coming alone to such a world, inheriting such an identity, and having to clear it in a single life made him feel nervous and even terrified.
But with the blessing of the game system, he now had the confidence to stir up storms in this world.
Aegon stared at the progress bar in the bottom right corner of his vision, and the next second——
[“king-making project” Loading Complete]
…
…
In the afternoon, the sun, which seemed to have been angry all day, sank into the sea, and the sea breeze blew gently, bringing precious coolness.
Intending to thoroughly study his cheat, Aegon sent Shamira away, lay on the bed, and watched a sci-fi-esque blue light screen slowly unfold.
In the center of the light screen was Aegon’s bust, with silver hair and purple eyes, and a slightly pale complexion.
Above his bust was the [Dominance] attribute in bold golden font.
[Initial Dominance 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100]
For every 10 increase in Dominance, there was a treasure chest waiting for him to open.
And Dominance was also the main storyline of this game.
The increase in Dominance would grant a large amount of material rewards and character attribute rewards, bringing huge improvements to the player at each stage.
Of course, besides Dominance, there were also rich side quests, which would also bring many considerable rewards.
Below the bust was the character’s detailed information:
[Skills: Military lv1, Swordsmanship lv1, Archery lv1, Riding lv2, Valyrian lv2, Common Tongue lv3, Etiquette lv2, History lv1, Inspiration: lv3, Mathematics lv5]
[Attributes: Physique d, Health c, Charm d]
Aegon looked at his attributes and found them all to be very basic.
As far as he knew, attribute ratings ranged from S to E from highest to lowest.
E-grade rating was the lowest.
If some female characters were used, the strength rating would be E.
Being able to have his current strength, endurance, and agility ratings was the result of practicing martial arts for a year.
This upgrade speed was still somewhat slow, and judging by his physical condition, there would also be an upper limit.
But with the blessing of the game system’s rewards, there would soon be a rapid improvement.
As a king, formidable personal physical condition and superb martial arts proficiency had a huge impact on rule.
Looking at the skills he had mastered, Aegon, in his past life, engaged in professions related to mathematics and data statistics, maintaining a quite good level of mathematics.
According to the development of this era, his mathematical level should be among the very top tier.
In other words, for skill ratings, level five might be the upper limit.
If swordsmanship could reach level five, Aegon believed he could exchange a few blows even with the legendary’Sword of the Morning’ Arthur Dayne.
If he could also upgrade his physique representing qualities like strength and agility, his martial arts would have no rivals across the entire world.
Aegon remembered that completing quests could grant’skill card’ rewards, and skill cards could directly upgrade skills.
To the right of the bust were the five major indicators: [Territory] [Title] [Army] [Charm] [Family].
These indicators, combined with Aegon’s personal skill status, determined the character’s level of Dominance.
Behind the five major indicators besides skills, they were all uniformly [None].
Speaking of which, if this cheat was given to the ‘Beggar King’ Viserys, it would probably be a bit troublesome, with nowhere even to start.
Fortunately, Aegon had Illyrio as his nominal father.
With his wealth, he could sneak into the Pentos army and secure an officer position.
In this way, the two attributes of Title and Army could be unlocked, making it easier for him to quickly open up the situation.
Aegon had already thought it through: first find a way to master the army, and then step by step by step by step by step walk to the very top!
Just as this thought arose, the cheat provided feedback.
[Your will has been sensed, main quest initiated]
[Welcome to the world of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Here there are Seven Kingdoms, Nine Free Cities, Slavers Bay, distant Eastern empires, dragons and magic that have perished but are about to revive, as well as Others and death growing in shadow and cold.
From now on, complete challenges, raise your Dominance, and become a generation of Dragon King!]
[Note: Dominance rewards and various side quest rewards will provide you with assistance, and even grant you extraordinary abilities.]
Looking at the information given by the cheat, Aegon found it hard to suppress the corners of his mouth.
As an ordinary person, he knew there was a natural talent gap between himself and those outstanding heroes.
When he learned of his situation after time-traveling, the first thing he felt was panic.
Although the king-making project game had given him considerable edification in political mindset, given his current condition, he couldn’t figure out how to break the deadlock.
Illyrio undoubtedly wanted to push his own biological son onto the Iron Throne, yet he didn’t kill Aegon, which left Aegon unable to find a reason why.
He remembered that the Targaryen bloodline possessed magic.
Could it be that he was preparing to use him for some kind of sorcery sacrifice when the time was right?
After his memories awakened, Aegon spent every day ill at ease.
Now, with the cheat, he could finally stretch his muscles and make a grand display!
Just as Aegon was pondering the main storyline of the Game of Thrones story, the cheat provided a prompt once more:
[Initial Reward: As a leader, squeezing in rest whenever possible is an essential skill.
No matter the situation, you can fall into sleep within five seconds and enter high-quality sleep.
Combined with your character identity—Targaryen bloodline, you will simultaneously gain the following abilities:]
You can eat twenty catties of meat in one breath and then go without food for a week,
You can sleep for a day and a night in one breath, and then maintain abundant energy for three days and three nights.]
‘Awesome!’
Just the reward of sleeping well felt good enough to Aegon.
A person spends one-third of their time sleeping, and high-quality sleep means one-third of their life will be spent very well.
Sleep is the most important thing for the human body; whether it is growth and development or repairing damage, it plays an irreplaceable role.
Moreover, once a person is full of energy, they will feel hopeful, which in turn affects their state for the whole day.
In addition, this ability to eat twenty catties of meat in one breath was also great, saving him a lot of time, especially in certain special circumstances, minimizing the impact brought by hunger.
If it were in the world before time-traveling, it could save a huge sum of money; he could just go out to eat buffet every day.
All in all, combining the two skills was equivalent to having a robust, energetic physique, allowing him to confront his opponents with high intensity twenty-four hours a day.
Plus, most rulers are advanced in age, and an unpretentious ‘outlive the old man’ tactic could give him a huge advantage.
Not to mention there are other even more heaven-defying rewards in the game.
Recalling his memories of the game before time-traveling, Aegon entered dreamland with a sense of anticipation and excitement.