Bronze King

Bronze King

His violet eyes widened as a dazzling panel floated before him.

The three dull gray card images in the center were the most eye-catching. Below them was a gleaming golden hourglass, beside which read: Essence Quantity: 3.

The background was a vast expanse of white, as though he were standing amid mist.

It was empty and ethereal, utterly fantastical.

"The cheat is here!"

Aemon was so excited he nearly shouted. He reached out with his little hand and poked the edge of the panel.

Wasn't the good life finally here?

The panel reacted to his touch. Ripples spread through the white void, covering everything before changing into another display.

Aemon Targaryen

Talent: Dreamer (Gold)

Skills: High Valyrian (Mastery), Common Tongue (Proficient)...

Magic Cards: None

Status: "A human child severely lacking sleep. It has begun to affect his physical development."

"Huh, there's more?"

Aemon studied it carefully, paying particular attention to the status section.

He lowered his head and looked himself over. His tiny arms and hands were fair and chubby, and he did not look malnourished.

Aemon frowned and used his hand to measure the distance from his head to his feet.

It seemed his height was a little lacking.

He was nine this year, though strictly speaking, he was only eight years old.

He was just over a meter tall, not quite reaching it by much.

Children his age, especially Vale children descended from the bloodline of the First Men, were all a head taller than him.

"So it wasn't that they were growing too fast. I was growing too slowly?"

Aemon finally understood.

No wonder. He had half the blood of the First Men too.

He stared at the dazzling panel again, but it did not respond.

It was probably standalone.

Since it had no name, he would call it the Magic Essence Panel from now on.

"How do I use this? I don't want to grow into a little potato."

Aemon felt a trace of unnecessary worry and poked the status section.

"..."

Nothing happened.

Aemon was somewhat speechless. Letting the aloof status section go, he turned his thoughts elsewhere.

After about half a quarter-hour, he had thoroughly figured out the Magic Essence Panel.

The white panel was the exchange page, used to view "Magic Essence" and "Exchange Cards."

The other side was the personal panel, showing Aemon's current condition in real time.

Gains and losses were laid bare.

Having worked out the rules, Aemon cradled the Black Dragon Egg in one hand while poking at the exchange page with the other.

"I need a way to improve my sleep." It was already too late to hatch the dragon egg, so solving the nearest problem came first.

Pop~~

Three rays of different-colored light flashed in succession, and the three gray card images flipped over one by one.

1. Guidance Once: "A small opportunity."

The card showed a golden finger pointing in a direction against a white background.

2. One-Handed Sword Mastery: "Brave knights all like it."

The card was entirely green, depicting a longsword covered in rust.

3. Solid as a Rock: "Skin hardening, as hard as stone."

The card was blue. A grayish-white little figure struck a powerful pose, with +1 and +1 floating above its head.

Clearly, the three cards belonged to three different tiers.

"They're all good things, but the prices..."

Aemon's eyes shone, but he recoiled at the different numbers beneath the cards.

The white card read: 10 Essence.

The green card read: 60 Essence.

The blue card read: 150 Essence.

Each was more expensive than the last. Glancing at the Essence Quantity beside the golden hourglass—3—he silently withdrew his eager little hand.

"It's fine. If I don't have enough Essence, I can find more."

Aemon did not give up. He already had an idea.

According to the Magic Essence Panel's rules, once he found an item containing magic, he could absorb part of it and convert it into Magic Essence in the golden hourglass.

He closed the panel and held the Black Dragon Egg in both hands.

The system notification from earlier had come from the treasure in his hands, providing "Magic Essence +3."

Dragons were top-tier magical creatures, and dragon eggs capable of producing hatchlings naturally contained abundant magic.

"Fortunately, it won't harm the hatchling's foundation."

Aemon carefully placed the dragon egg back into its incubation vessel and patted his chest in relief.

There were conditions to absorbing magic as well.

Unless he deliberately drained it dry, the Magic Essence Panel would only absorb excess magic.

Every magical creature and item possessed something special that unconsciously drew magic from the air to cling to it.

The dragon egg had a deep reserve of magic. Every so often, it could accumulate the equivalent of 3 points of Magic Essence.

Absorbing that would not affect the dragon egg itself.

This function applied to other magical items as well.

"Then it's settled. Growing taller and sleeping better will start with finding magic."

With a way to solve his problem, Aemon pushed open his door and quietly slipped out.

He avoided the maids preparing lunch and bypassed the idle people making noise in the castle's outer courtyard.

As one of the most powerful noble houses in the Vale,

House Royce of Runestone possessed vast fertile lands and a strong army.

During their spare time, some branch family members and subordinate vassals gathered here to strengthen the castle's defenses.

As a result, the outer courtyard was crowded every day.

Aemon did not want to attract attention, so he passed by with barely any presence at all.

Before long, he reached a sparsely populated area.

Aemon opened a wooden entrance in the castle's rear courtyard and crawled into House Royce's Tomb Cellar.

Though it was called a tomb cellar, it was more like a storage room.

It was pitch-black, with bronze wares and old junk piled in the corners along the walls.

"Where is it? Where is it?"

Aemon took down an oil lamp and searched around by its dim glow.

He kicked aside obstructing spiderwebs. The stone-brick passage beneath his feet stood out sharply against the dusty surroundings.

This was his secret base.

A child with no one to keep him company always needed somewhere to belong.

His ancestors' tomb cellar was a good place.

Quiet, with no one to disturb him.

Do not ask whether he was afraid. If he really encountered a ghost, it would only be some ancient ancestor from who knew how many generations ago.

Who did not have one or two reliable relatives underground?

Flutter, flutter!

After searching through a corner while squatting down, he laboriously dragged out a rusty suit of Bronze Armor.

Aemon wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled in satisfaction.

House Royce had a long history. It had once been the true ruler of the Vale, its territory encompassing the vast plains along the Vale's East Coast, where Runestone stood.

As well as the entire Vale plain and the treacherous Moon Mountains.

Two thousand years ago, House Royce established the "Bronze Kingdom."

Until the Andals invaded Westeros, ending the Bronze Kingdom's rule.

From then on, the Vale was ruled by the Arryn Family of The Eyrie, while House Royce became one of its most powerful vassal houses.

Most of the time, even the words "one of" could be removed.

Aemon crouched down and carefully blew the dust off the Bronze Armor, revealing the mysterious runes engraved across its surface.

The moment his little hand touched it, a system notification sounded by his ear:

"Touched a damaged magical item. Obtained Magic Essence +5."

Aemon was overjoyed. It really worked.

House Royce carried the bloodline of the First Men and believed in primitive bronze civilization.

They also engraved runes onto their armor, believing they could protect the wearer from harm.

Of course, they had not been very effective.

Those ancient ancestors who wore Bronze Armor still died when they were supposed to be killed.

And now, it's all mine!

Little Aemon, reporting in!