In the following days, Viserys began a much bolder experiment.
Ordinary wargs could usually only form a deep connection with a single animal, but Viserys was able to establish stable mental connections with three rats simultaneously in just a few short days.
This abnormal performance plunged Viserys into deep thought.
After repeated experiments and comparing records in ancient texts, he arrived at a possible explanation: as a time-traveler, his soul had experienced the tearing and reorganization of space-time, and its essence had undergone subtle changes.
This experience made his mental strength more resilient, and his consciousness structure even more special, able to reach out in multiple directions simultaneously like the tentacles of an octopus.
Another possibility was that the innate affinity for magic inherent in the House Targaryen bloodline further reinforced this talent.
However, the original Viserys did not possess this talent, so this might also be because his transmigration activated his bloodline powers.
He began systematically training this ability, gradually increasing from the initial three rats to five, and then seven.
With each added connection, more mental strength was required, but his limit still seemed far from being reached.
Moreover, during this period he also connected with other animals, such as stray cats and stray dogs.
At the same time, he was also continuously honing his Greensight.
At a time when magic was depleted, this ability appeared particularly important.
He learned to distinguish the energetic characteristics emitted by different objects: the energy of stones was steady and ancient, the energy of flowing water was nimble and cool, while the energy of living creatures was full of vitality and change.
One late night a month later, Viserys believed the time was ripe.
He simultaneously connected with twelve rats, four cats, and three dogs, their consciousnesses interweaving in his mind into a precise network, the imagery displaying just like on a large screen in a surveillance center.
Viserys controlled these small animals, advancing along different routes toward Rhaenyss Hill where the dragonpit was located.
This huge circular building had once been the dwelling place of the House Targaryen dragons, and now only broken walls and ruins remained.
Under the moonlight, it looked like a sleeping giant beast, exuding an aura of vicissitudes and mystery.
Viserys manipulated the animals to sneak into the interior of the dragonpit through various crevices.
These paths that originally led inside had long been blocked by various debris.
Previously, Viserys could only search up to this side and had no choice but to head back; now it was just right to let these animals crawl in.
Through the eyes of these animals, he was also able to see the situation inside.
The condition inside was better than he had imagined; at least the dragonpit deep within and the dwellings on some platforms that originally belonged to the dragonkeepers were still relatively intact.
While controlling these animals to search for dragon eggs, Viserys also unfolded his Greensight, sensing the aura of living creatures existing inside place by place.
In those areas he began searching, he only felt the energy of some insects and weeds.
He felt that this should be the energy characteristic belonging to dragon eggs.
According to records in some books, dragon eggs, even when fallen into slumber, would emit unique magical fluctuations; that was the power belonging to blood and fire.
Viserys controlled all the animals to push open the room door together, and within their line of sight, they only saw some already tattered wooden furniture.
The energy fluctuation he had sensed earlier was right beneath a tattered wardrobe.
Fortunately, this wardrobe was not crafted from precious timber, and by now it had decayed somewhat.
He controlled all the rats together to chew a large hole out of the wardrobe, and buried beneath the wardrobe was an iron chest.
However, there was no lock on it.
He opened the chest and saw three dragon eggs lying quietly in padded grooves, each radiating a unique brilliance.
The one on the left had a soft pearl-pink base color, covered with golden stripes, and the whole was as warm and smooth as jade.
Those golden patterns would flow slightly when the light changed, as if it were living metal breathing.
The dragon egg in the center presented an indigo blue like a clear sky, with tiny silver-white spots scattered across the shell, as if the starry night sky were imprisoned on the smooth surface of the eggshell.
If you stared closely at it, those star spots seemed to quietly shift position as the viewing angle changed.
The dragon egg on the right exuded a warm and heavy gold, as if it were solidified summer sunlight.
The surface of the eggshell was covered with milky-white ripples, and those ripples gently undulated on the golden base color as if possessing life.
However, amidst his joy, Viserys also noticed some unusual details.
Engraved on the inside of the iron chest were some strange symbols.
Through the Greensight, he could see that these symbols were emitting a faint, unsettling blue energy.
This energy formed a stark contrast with the energy of the dragon eggs themselves, as if suppressing the vitality of the dragon eggs.
What made him even more vigilant was that in a corner of the iron chest, he found some unique instruments, which looked like they were used for carving runes.
There were also several paper fragments covered in handwriting; although most of the handwriting was blurred, he still recognized a few keywords: “suppression”, “degeneration”, “sterilization”.
Viserys cautiously dragged out a relatively intact piece of parchment with his mouth, checking the content on it.
“According to the instructions of the Grand Conclave, it is imperative to ensure that these eggs can never hatch.
We have carved suppression runes inside the stone chest; this ancient craft can block the resonance between dragon eggs and magical energy.
The dragon’s bloodline must be ended.”
“These magical creatures bring only chaos and destruction.
We have hidden the three eggs here, waiting for the appropriate time to transport them back to The Citadel, and in the future we will get more dragon eggs, but without arousing the attention of House Targaryen and other traitors.”
“The Citadel’s mission is to guard knowledge, not magic; the age of dragons must end.
We are convinced that we are fulfilling a great mission, even if it costs our lives for this.”
Seeing this, Viserys felt a chill rise from his spine.
These words confirmed his worst conjectures.
The Citadel was not only tampering with the dragon eggs, but was also systematically and plannedly wiping out all things related to magic.
He recalled the history he had read during this period.
Around 130 AC, which was the period when the number of dragons drastically decreased, The Citadel did indeed dispatch a large number of “dragonkeepers” to assist House Targaryen.
On the surface it was to better care for the dragons, but in reality some people among them were executing the vicious plan to exterminate the dragons.
The Citadel had always harbored hostility toward magic, and dragons, as representatives of magical creatures, were naturally the objects of their key “research”.
Just like the dragonpit itself, it was originally suggested to be built by the maesters.
Their meaning was said to be for the safety of everyone else in King’s Landing, and also to let the dragons receive better care.
As a result, most of the dragons confined inside grew slowly and were irritable, causing many members of House Targaryen to die in the process of training dragons.
At this time, he also remembered what Archmaester Marwyn of The Citadel said to Samwell Tarly in the original work: “The Citadel is building a world without magic.”
Marwyn himself was an “oddity” drifting outside the orthodoxy of The Citadel, who firmly believed in magic and possessed practical knowledge.
He was more like a mystic and a man of action rather than a traditional scholar.
In The Citadel, it seemed only he and a few of his disciples wore Valyrian steel links symbolizing magic and mysticism.
He had also traveled to the continent of Essos in pursuit of magic, and had even been to the ruins of Valyria and survived.
The three fossilized dragon eggs given to Daenerys by Illyrio in the original plot seemed to have also been identified by him.
Viserys thought that these dragon eggs were able to survive, probably only because that egg-stealing dragonkeeper had not yet had time to transport them out before others discovered the dragon eggs were missing, and then King’s Landing was put under lockdown.
Later on, he might have even died directly in the storming of the dragonpit.
Thinking carefully, behind the event “Dance of the Dragons” where the dragon family went from prosperity to decline, there was the shadow of the House Hightower, and the House Hightower were the lords of Oldtown, the very location where The Citadel was situated.
Oldtown was also the location of the Starry Sept, the Great Sept of the Faith of the Seven, while the Great Sept of Baelor would only be converted into the Great Sept when the “High Sparrow” became the High Septon in the future.
The Faith of the Seven and the House Targaryen dynasty moreover harbored a deep blood feud.
Although during the reign of King Jaehaerys the Conciliator, the two parties finally reached a reconciliation, and even until now they seemed to be getting along harmoniously.
However, in the previous struggles between the two parties, supreme leaders on both sides had died because of it.
Therefore, beneath this stability, just how much undercurrent was surging.