Downloading the Iron Thrones - Chapter 2

At the dawn,

Waking up from the bed, Artys washes up and get fresh.

Getting outside, there were horses and 6 guards already standing along with his mother and father waiting next to each other.

Seeing this, Artys walked towards them smiling.

“Good morning father.”

“Good morning mother.”

“Are you ready boy? Careful when you ride. There are danger everywhere even when you have guards. Follow your mother’s instruction along the way. Don’t walk around alone and take your guards along with you.”

“I will father.”

“Okay. And remember, always be careful out there.”

“I will remember it.”

After a short conversation, the group move towards the Dock to board on the ship sailing towards GullTown, the only port city of Vale.

On the ship, Artys was looking outside the window. Thinking of the various plans of getting more abilities and skills. He wanted to get close to wargs as they have some good abilities of controlling the animals but they seems to be outside the wall currently. And although Brandon has similar and more powerful ability, he may not have activated or acquired this talent currently. Have to visit him sometime to see.

This power seems to have much larger range of use, only disadvantage is to be immobile while using it. And there seems to be prophetic/future seeing abilities, useful for better planning and managing.

And if we can also download abilities of living beings other than humans, then this cheat truly will be able give him the survival capability in this world and more. This thought brought greater ambition to his heart as it grew bigger and bigger. Suddenly his thoughts were broken when he heard his mother calling him.

Seeing him thinking deeply Lysa asked, “What are you thinking dear? Do you feel sick?”

“No mother. Just feeling a little discomfort. I didn’t think the sea travel was so shaky and uncomfortable.”

With the conversation, Artys put aside his thoughts and focused on the journey.

Few days later, the ship finally reached Gull Town. The ship slowly docked on the port of Gull Town. Getting off the ship, Artys looked around curiously. The Largest city of Vale, although not as large as King’s landing, does have its own charm. Being a coastal city and a major port of the Vale or Arryn, there are a lot of ships docking on its port. Gull Town here, is ruled by House Grafton.

This is also seems to be the place where one of the top conspirator, Petyr Baelish got his first big opportunity to enter a powerful position by increasing its income by tenfold.

After few minutes, Lysa Arryn along with the guards came towards Artys.

“How do you feel dear? Are you feeling okay now?”

“Oh yes mother. It feels much better to be on land.”

“Okay be ready. The house Grafton will send guards to lead us. We will be their guest temporarily.”

Then a group of guards came near them. One of the guards in front came towards them.

“My lady, my lord. Lord Grafton awaits your arrival. We were sent to escort you to the mansion. Please follow us.”

Following the guards, soon they came before a mansion. Entering the mansion, they were greeted by Gerold Grafton, current head of the House Grafton and the Lord of GullTown. Gerold Grafton was a wide man with thick arms and shoulders, but he was not tall. His hair was a dirty blond mop and with a booming voice.

“My lady, my lord. Welcome to GullTown, hope you had a comfortable journey. Please come inside. We have prepared a feast for you.”

Inside the hall, there were food placed on the table. After the sumptuous feast, Lord Grafton asked,” How is Lord Arryn, my lady?”

“He is in good health, Lord Grafton. Busy as the king’s hand managing the kingdom for the king.”

“Oh it sure must be tiresome. And our little lord also seems to have grown quite a bit.”

Hearing about Artys, Lysa smiled,” Yes, my son has grown. He will be soon be a great lord of the vale.”

“True words my lady. Ah! You must be weary from the journey. Ser Bryan, please lead our guests to their chambers.”

“This way my lady, my lord.”

Next day in the streets of the GullTown, Artys was looking around to download. He was downloading various knowledge from the people. He found out that the skills or knowledge is harder to download from people than inanimate objects but more rewarding too. His physique has been slowly increasing in the past few days. He now not only has sword fighting but other fighting skills though only basic for now.

Maybe he can download higher skills from the knights after increasing his physique. So he is trying very hard to download from people to strengthen himself.

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After few days, following the road along the mountains, he finally reached the Eyrie. One of the tallest castle though small, has its own advantage. On top of a peak in the Mountains of the Moon several thousand feet above the valley floor below is considered almost impregnable by conventional armies except for the dragon. Seeing the castle, Artys was once again fascinated by the magnificence of the building in this world.

Entering the castle, Lord Nestor Royce, the current high steward of the Vale, welcomed them.

After the dinner in the High Hall of the Eyrie, Lord Nestor Royce reported the current affairs in the Vale.

“Oh please. You don’t have to do that now Lord Royce. My husband, the hand of the king trusts you with the Vale.”

“But it’s my duty my lady, to report to my lord.”

“My son requires rest from the tiresome journey. If you must, we can do this tomorrow.”

“As you wish my lady.”

The next day, Artys walks toward the training ground. With a practice sword in his hand swinging on the wooden dummy.

After few minutes, he calls one of the guards to practice his swordsmanship. With each strike, Artys became more and more fluid with his sword. Finally, few days after downloading the skills, he finally made it his own.

Now, he feels that he can try the intermediate sword fighting skills. Searching for the right candidate, he found one among the guards that came with him.

Well although he would want to download both contents, he doesn’t want to stay keeping in physical touch with the guards. So, he only downloaded the sword fighting. After few minutes, the skill was downloaded. There was some pain in body and mind, but he gritted his teeth.

“Are you alright my lord? You seem to be uncomfortable.”

“No, I am just tired from the practice. I am going to go wash up and rest.”

Returning to room, he was digesting the skills he just got. After a while, he walked toward the hall to have dinner.

Seeing Artys entering, Lysa asked,” How was your practice today? Are you feeling alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No mother I am not hurt. And the training is going good. I have finally gotten used to the swing of the sword.”

“I heard from the guards that you are a genius at sword fighting, my lord. They seem to be praising how you have learnt the swords fighting so quickly. You don’t seem to be swinging sword for the first time but for years.”

“Thank you for the praise Lord Royce. But I have more to learn from them.”

After the pleasant dinner, he returned to his room to rest. Only a proper rest will help him to grow.

The next day after the practice, he walked toward a horse to try one of his guess. As he came in carriage, he was not able to get in physical touch with the horses and he did not thought of trying. With the touch there was a screen in front of him. Seeing this, he was delighted.

“Sweet. It seems that I can indeed download from animals. Although its large files, it can be worth it. And what is this Zoo-lingo? Is it the language of animals? Well, let’s download up to the intermediate contents for now. I don’t think I can download advanced contents for now. ”

After 16 minutes, the contents were downloaded. He felt more pain than previously downloaded skills. Perhaps due to the direct link to the physical level, it pains more to download such contents. It seems that I have to be more careful while downloading such contents.

After few minutes, he felt the pain subside. He had some strange knowledge along with the increased strength. Maybe he can physically match the guards now. But first he has to learn to control the sudden increase in his strength or he can’t fully show his skills.

At night in his room, Artys was checking his folder.

Seeing this, he felt satisfied with his progress. Within few weeks of his coming in this world. It was very good to make this progress. And with today’s experiment, he had even more ways to increase his power. With this in mind, he slowly drifted to his sleep.