Testing

Theon gave an awkward laugh. "I came out for a walk and happened to see you practicing archery. Um, is that the archery instructor the lord hired for you?"

Gary had no fondness for him. "Did you need something from me?"

Theon took the initiative and sat beside Gary. "I heard you burned your hand? Oh, sorry, I didn't come to gloat."

Noticing signs that Gary was about to get angry, he immediately apologized.

Gary raised his eyebrows. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Theon continued, "I was watching how you shoot just now and noticed that you hold the bow in your right hand and draw the string with your left."

"Is there a problem?" Gary asked, puzzled.

Theon waved his hand, a hint of eagerness to please in his voice. "N-no problem. Everyone has their own habits. What I mean is, you could hold the bow in your other hand and draw the string with your right. It might help you get past your current difficulty."

He was skilled at archery, so naturally he knew how much losing the sense of touch in one's fingers affected shooting.

If Gary had to keep wearing a glove on his left hand, then he really ought to practice drawing the string with his other hand.

What he had not expected, however, was that Theon would actually give his situation some thought and offer such a constructive suggestion.

Seeing that Gary was seriously considering it, Theon suggested, "I hold the bow in my left hand. I could share some tips with you."

"You want to help me?"

Gary looked at him in surprise. "Why?"

Theon hesitated. He glanced back at Robb and Snow nearby and said quietly, "Because I don't want to be shut out, so I'm going to try to be friends with you."

Gary stood up, bow in hand. "I'll accept your help, but we can never be friends."

"All right. As long as you don't reject me, I can stay friends with Robb," Theon said with a nod.

Why not mention Snow? Did he look down on Snow for being a "bastard"?

Gary did not answer. He walked to a suitable shooting spot and began trying to draw the string with his right hand.

At first, he was so unused to the movement that he could not even loose an arrow properly.

Only after three or four hours of practice did he slowly begin to adjust. Still, he was a long way from shooting proficiently.

During Gary's breaks, Theon corrected his shooting stance and shared his own experience.

Noon came, and it was time to eat.

The children ate the bread they had brought, quickly finishing lunch.

Theon also took the opportunity to strike up a conversation with Robb. After receiving his forgiveness, he stayed with him.

As for Gary, after finishing his bread, he used the pain in his hand as an excuse to return to the castle alone ahead of everyone else, skipping the afternoon training.

In Snow's room on the fourth floor of the Main Castle.

Gary shut the door, slid the wooden bolt into place, and carefully sat on the bed.

He removed the glove from his left hand. "Finally, some time alone. Let me get a good look at what you can do."

For a moment, even the temperature in the room seemed to drop a little.

First, Gary held his left hand out flat in the air and kept it still for several minutes.

"Hmm, I can't create ice out of thin air."

He poured a cup of water, then dipped his left index finger into it. The water instantly froze. It froze so quickly that cracks even formed throughout the ice.

"I can only turn water into ice. And with my current abilities, I can't freeze a large area."

With the Crystal inside him, Gary had plenty of mana. But he had yet to learn how to control that immense power, and the slightest carelessness could easily send it out of control.

It was like someone without much strength lifting a large bucket of water to fill a small kettle. Often, before the kettle was full, they would run out of strength.

At that point, they could only set down the bucket and stop pouring. If they insisted on continuing, the only outcome would be a spill.

That was Gary's current situation. Only by improving his control would he dare to use more mana.

"Next, it's time to try out Shatter Iron."

He looked around, searching the room for iron objects.

"The lamp base is iron, but I'll need it for light tonight. Is there anything else made of iron..."

Snow's room was simple. There were already quite a few things in it, but even fewer were made of iron...

Aha, the door was made of wooden planks, iron bands, and rivets, and the bands and rivets just happened to be made of iron.

Hmm, there were two broad iron bands on this door, one at the top and one at the bottom. Rivets secured them in place, supporting the door's overall structure.

If I only destroyed one or two rivets, the door probably wouldn't fall apart, right?

Gary walked over to the door and gently rested his left hand on a rivet.

Pop.

With a soft sound, the rivet shattered straight into flecks of ice.

"Holy shit, matter conversion? Iron turned into ice? It's that powerful?"

He put on his glove and tested it again, but this time he touched an iron band.

Crash.

The palm-wide iron band instantly shattered into icy fragments that spilled like mercury, clattering against the floor.

"It works through the glove too, but there seems to be a delay of a second or two."

Gary carefully recorded his observations, increasingly convinced that this ability was utterly broken.

In future duels, it would be extremely useful.

One touch to shatter a weapon. Two touches to destroy armor.

Brilliant!

As for the ability to "turn corpses into wights and living creatures into White Walkers," testing it in the room would not be convenient.

He planned to find an opportunity in a few days to sneak outside the castle and test it.

With the "strengths" tested, it was time to try the weaknesses.

White Walkers had everything going for them. Not only were they strong and tough-skinned, but they could also control corpses...

Yet they still had one fatal weakness: Valyrian steel and dragonglass.

Weapons made from these two materials could easily injure White Walkers. Moreover, if they pierced deep into a White Walker's skin, the White Walker would instantly die and turn into shards of ice.

The peerless Night's King had met his end exactly that way in the television series.

Gary happened to have a Valyrian steel sword, Dark Sister, and he intended to use it to trim his nails.

He returned to the bedside, picked up the hide-wrapped sword, and casually pulled off the layer of hide around it, revealing its true appearance for the first time.

Both the scabbard and the hilt were exquisitely crafted, and every gemstone set into them was worth a fortune.

Judging by its design, this appeared to be a woman's longsword.

The family crest on the scabbard depicted a three-headed dragon breathing flames, lifelike and imposing.

It was the crest of House Targaryen...

House Targaryen had survived the fall of Valyrian civilization. With their dragons, they had once ruled all of Westeros for hundreds of years.

Even after the dragons became extinct, they had maintained their rule for over a century.

Only a little over a decade ago, with the outbreak of the War of the Usurper, had House Targaryen left the stage of history and relinquished the Iron Throne.

As for Valyrian steel, it originated from the long-destroyed Valyrian civilization. It was a hard, lightweight magical metal that did not rust.

With the disappearance of Valyrian civilization, the techniques for making Valyrian steel had also been lost.

Valyrian steel was therefore a "nonrenewable resource," exceedingly scarce, with every gram worth a fortune.

The nobles of Westeros often took pride in their families owning a Valyrian steel sword. For instance, the ancestral heirloom of House Stark, rulers of the North, was a Valyrian steel greatsword named Ice.

A sword like Gary's, even setting aside its historical significance and considering only the value of its Valyrian steel, could buy a castle with a population of several thousand.

Gary drew Dark Sister. Its blade was predominantly dark silver, covered in "black" patterns.

Black patterns on the surface of the steel were a major characteristic of Valyrian steel, as well as an important means of identifying it by sight.

Gary sighed regretfully. "A shame it's a woman's longsword. It's still too slender."

Holding the sword in his right hand, he drew it across a claw on his left, failing to leave the slightest mark.

It seemed his nails were quite hard. He immediately applied more force.

He still failed to damage the claw in the slightest...

Gary kept at it, going from "slicing" to "chopping," then from "chopping" to "hacking." Finally, a full-force swing barely managed to shave off a small piece of nail.

"Phew. Looks like clipping my nails is going to be a hassle from now on."

Since he could not test it on his nails, he could only try somewhere else.

The back of his hand and his arm were covered in scales. Only his palm was relatively soft.

Gary hesitated, then gently poked his palm with the sword tip. He did not dare use much force. What if he wounded his hand and his entire arm shattered into ice?

He was no Yang Guo, and he had no desire to become a one-armed hero.

Gently, slowly. Just break the skin a little.

After all, ordinary steel could not pierce a White Walker's skin at all.

Knock, knock!

The sudden knocking startled Gary, who had been concentrating intently.

His hand jerked, and the sword tip pierced straight into his palm...

"Holy shit!"

Gary went pale with fright. He hurriedly tossed Dark Sister aside and gripped his left hand tightly with his right, praying inwardly, Please don't turn into shattered ice. Please don't...

To his delighted surprise, not only did the wound in his palm fail to bleed, but it quickly healed instead.

He let out a long sigh of relief, arriving at an unexpected conclusion. "Valyrian steel can hurt my left hand, but my left hand heals quickly. It probably isn't cause for concern."

As for the other material, dragonglass, Gary had none on hand and could not test it.

Still, he reasoned that since the mysterious Crystal could help him "fix" his weakness to Valyrian steel, it must have "fixed" his weakness to dragonglass as well.

Knock, knock, knock!

The knocking sounded again, more urgent this time.

Gary slid Dark Sister back into its scabbard and hid it in the blanket on the bed.

He put his glove back on and opened the door, his face full of impatience. "Who is it? Don't you know I'm injured and need rest?"

A tiny little girl stood outside. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, and a brown cloak wrapped around her whole body, making her look very round.

The little girl glared at Gary with puffed cheeks and demanded, "Strong freak, come play with me!"

The corner of Gary's mouth twitched. He forced a smile. "Arya, why are you here all by yourself? Where's your sister Sansa?"