Five years later

Early the next morning, Gary resumed his Archery practice.

He used the afternoons, previously devoted to practicing Mana control, to practice Ding Baiying's Qi Family Saber Technique instead.

For this, he even made a wooden saber modeled specifically on the curve of Falling Plum's blade.

And so Gary established his training routine: ten thousand bow draws and ten thousand saber draws every day.

He left early and returned late to train, and the days passed one by one.

One morning a month later, he happened to notice a Raven watching him from afar. This continued for several days.

Gary realized that the Raven was probably Aunt Wind Spirit.

Unfortunately, he did not want to live under the Three-Eyed Crow's surveillance, so he could only respond coldly.

Wind Spirit understood what Gary was thinking, so she kept her distance. She usually appeared only outside the city, never entering it or getting close to Gary.

She was like a guardian deity, watching Gary from afar every day and secretly protecting him.

Another three months passed. Wind Spirit no longer came as frequently, but she still visited Gary from time to time.

Seeing that he was still safe and healthy put their minds at ease.

A year later, Gary's Archery hit a bottleneck. An ordinary wooden bow no longer suited him. He needed to find a good bow before his Archery could improve further.

So he resumed training his Mana control, cutting his daily Archery practice down to half an hour, just enough to keep his touch.

Time flew, and five years passed in the blink of an eye.

The once wet-behind-the-ears brat had grown taller and stronger, becoming a handsome youth brimming with vitality.

Inside Winterfell.

A white-haired youth with mismatched eyes rode slowly into the city on a black warhorse.

Dozens of House Stark soldiers followed him. They had just returned from suppressing bandits outside the city, and several bandits' heads hung from one side of each man's saddle.

The youth wore brown leather armor, with an ordinary wooden bow on his back. A wooden canteen, an animal-hide coin purse, and an exquisitely crafted lady's longsword hung at his waist.

Strangely, his saddle was perfectly clean, without a single head hanging from it.

Had he killed no enemies? Then why did the soldiers behind him all look at him with awe?

After passing through the gates, the youth dismounted and handed his reins to a servant nearby.

The soldiers dismounted as well. Naturally, they had no servants to take their reins. Fortunately, they had entered Winterfell through the south gate, and the stables were on their left, just a few steps away.

After tethering their horses, they still had to exchange the heads for military merit. They had no time to linger.

The youth had no interest in military merit. He went out to kill only to hone his Archery and saber technique.

Military merit? Hah. He could hardly stay cooped up in Winterfell his entire life. That stuff really was useless to him.

The youth walked to the Training Yard and stopped to watch.

Inside the Training Yard, two boys a head shorter than him were sparring with swords. The red-haired boy was clearly no match for the black-haired boy and was gradually showing signs of defeat.

They exchanged another dozen or so moves before the black-haired boy seized an opening, striking the red-haired boy's wrist with his sword and knocking his sword out of his hand.

The outcome was decided.

The white-haired youth applauded from the sidelines. "Snow, it's only been a few days, and your swordsmanship has improved again."

"Luke? You're back from fighting bandits?" Snow lowered his wooden sword and gave Gary a hug.

Robb rubbed his wrist and said with a smile, "One-handed swordsmanship is about the only thing Snow has to show off."

The two were twelve this year and had entered puberty. Fuzz had begun to grow around their mouths, and their voices had grown deeper and fuller.

Gary was the same age as Theon, seventeen, a full five years older than Robb and Snow. Naturally, he was somewhat taller than them.

But the difference in height was only temporary. Given a few more years, Snow and Robb would soon catch up.

"Why haven't I seen Theon? Where is he?" Gary looked around but found no sign of Theon.

His relationship with Theon was still nothing special, but at least they no longer clashed as they had as children. They could be considered ordinary friends.

After all, they had lived under the same roof for five whole years.

Mentioning Theon made Robb laugh. "He fought Arya a few days ago, and she stabbed him in the backside with her spear. Hahaha... He's probably lying on his stomach in bed recovering right now. Want to visit him?"

"No." They were not close enough for a "visit." Gary declined with a smile.

Speaking of Arya, she had suddenly come to Gary about a year ago, saying she wanted to learn the foreign martial arts in his dreams.

Gary brought her into a dream, intending to teach her everything about Lu Wenzhao's orthodox Qi Family Saber technique. But after watching the dreams for over a month, she had learned only the six spear moves within it.

Seeing that she had an affinity only for spear techniques, Gary finally abandoned his plan to have her learn everything and had her specialize in those six spear moves instead.

Unlike the slow Western spear techniques in Game of Thrones, Lu Wenzhao's six spear moves all emphasized speed. The spear thrust out with unstoppable momentum.

Theon had not known how formidable they were, so it was perfectly normal for Arya to defeat him.

Gary chatted with the two for a little longer before preparing to return to his room to rest. He had spent several days on the road and really needed a good sleep.

He now had a private room of his own and no longer had to share a cramped room with Snow.

Although they were no longer roommates, his relationship with Snow had not grown distant. Instead, they had become even closer.

Robb, on the other hand, had grown less enthusiastic as he grew older and the differences in their status became apparent. Sometimes he even deliberately distanced himself from Gary and the others.

Perhaps Catelyn had been instructing him behind the scenes, making him realize that, as the Young Wolf, he was fundamentally different from bastards—Gary and Snow—and a hostage—Theon.

Gary lay in bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

Insomnia had plagued him ever since Bingling passed away.

He was afraid to dream, so before going to sleep, he always sealed off his Consciousness Space with Mana.

Over these five years, he had never shaped another dream. Only when studying saber techniques did he enter his Consciousness Space to watch the "dream recordings."

"Luke, I've come to see you!"

Arya ran excitedly to his door and called out loudly.

Helpless, Gary could only get up and open the door for her.

"Arya, you're really noisy. I just got back and need to rest, all right?" He bent down and vigorously kneaded Arya's chubby cheeks, venting his displeasure.

Arya held up a new canteen. "I came to give you a present!"

"A present?"

Gary took the new canteen and held it up for a look. The entire canteen had been carved from a single bone, with House Stark's sigil carved into it—a lifelike Direwolf's head.

Arya said with a mysterious look, "This is dragonbone. I spent loads of money buying it."

Gary sighed. "You were scammed. This is wild ox bone."

"No way!" Arya refused to believe him and insisted it was dragonbone. "It's a dragonbone canteen. Look again."

Gary did not want to shatter a child's dream. "All right, all right, a dragonbone canteen. It's so pretty, I'd better keep it on display in my room."

Arya was annoyed with him. "No! You have to carry it with you! Throw away that old wooden canteen and use mine."

Gary did not carry a canteen around to quench his thirst.

Rather, it was because he wanted to use Ice Magic more conveniently.

He could not create ice out of thin air and could only obtain it by freezing liquid water. If he was somewhere without water, he could not use Ice Magic.

That was why he always carried a canteen, in case he needed it.

"The canteen is beautiful. I like it very much. Oh, I have a present for you too."

Gary turned and went to his bed, dragging a long wooden box out from underneath it. Carrying the roughly two-meter-long box, he returned to Arya.

"Open it and have a look."

Arya crouched curiously. Looking at the long wooden box on the floor, she had already guessed what was inside. She patted the box happily. "A new spear?"

Gary did not answer, merely gesturing for her to open it herself.

Arya opened the lid. An Ice Spear lay quietly inside, giving off waves of cold.

The entire Ice Spear had a distinctive design: its translucent spearhead was pointed and sharp, but it was so thin that it looked as though a gentle bend would snap it. Between the spearhead and shaft "coiled" a lifelike Chinese dragon, its scales, claws, horns, and teeth all clearly visible. White cloth wrapped the shaft, hiding what lay beneath. The butt was covered with auspicious cloud reliefs, echoing the dragon at the other end.

"What a beautiful spear!" Arya tried to lift the Ice Spear from the box, but it was far heavier than she expected. Not only did she fail to hold it steady, she nearly fell to the floor herself.

Gary reacted quickly and caught her. He explained with a smile, "I infused this Ice Spear with my Mana, making it as hard as iron. I originally prepared it as your coming-of-age gift, but I'll give it to you early today."

A coming-of-age gift? Arya felt frustrated. She was only seven this year. She would have had to wait another nine years!

"It's so heavy. How am I supposed to use it now?"

Gary flicked her forehead. "This Ice Spear is extremely dangerous. For now, you can only look at it. You'll have to grow a little older before you can actually use it."

"Dangerous? Are you afraid I'll hurt someone?" Arya held her forehead, her face flushed with anger.

Gary shook his head. "This Ice Spear can't wound people. It can only kill them. My Mana is inside it, and it releases that Mana when it wounds an enemy."

"Releases Mana?" Arya did not understand.

Gary put it more plainly this time. "If you stab someone with it, the person you stab will instantly turn into ice shards. So this is a very dangerous weapon."

He had nourished this Ice Spear with Mana for an entire year to achieve its current effect.

"Still, the Mana inside it is limited. One day, it will run out. Once I find enough Valyrian steel in the future, I'll make a Valyrian steel spear tailored to you."

With that, he closed the wooden box again and added, "Oh, it has another drawback. It can easily freeze your hands."

Arya did not care about any of those advantages or disadvantages. The Ice Spear was hers now, anyway. She called over several guards and had them carry the wooden box back to her room.

"Luke, will you always stay by my side?" she suddenly asked before leaving.

Gary thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth. "No. You'll grow up someday, and someday I'll leave Winterfell too. But I'll definitely come back to see you."

"Oh," Arya replied coldly. Then she kicked Gary hard and ran off.