Now this was magic!

The North, Sea Dragon Point Peninsula, House Flint Castle, Council Hall.

"You lot, bring those things over here. And you, move that crate over this way..."

Under the direction of the guard Thin Pigeon, the guards carried in all sorts of ores and materials. Several animal pens also held young animals.

Lion Lizards (crocodile-like creatures from the Neck to the east), Grizzly Bears, Hill Wolves, Rock Mountain Cats (something between leopards and wildcats), Swamp Pythons, and Scale Turtles (a kind of enormous carnivorous snakehead fish)-these young animals came from the Neck east of Sea Dragon Point Peninsula and the Western Mountains. They were also the "materials" Eddard would use for his magical experiments shortly.

After the guards withdrew from the Council Hall, only Eddard, Maester Albert, Ralf "Eel," and Bran "Housecat" remained in the room. Under Eddard's guidance, Ralf and Bran had already entered the Dream World, where the White Holy Tree would teach them how to use their powers.

Eddard began explaining magic circles to Maester Albert. Demonic magic circles were formed from flames and sulfur, whereas those of the Children of the Forest were spiral magic circles composed of the "Mark of the First Men."

Eddard was very familiar with this magic circle of the Children of the Forest, because in the television series from his previous life, it had been assembled from mutilated corpses. Aside from the grand spectacle of men and women battling each other, this symbol had left the deepest impression on him.

"This magic circle comes from another world. It's completely different from those of the Children of the Forest. Perhaps in the demons' eyes, the magic circles of the Children of the Forest are no more than stones piled up by mischievous children."

As Eddard explained things to Maester Albert, he used a quill to draw the magic circle. Maester Albert had requested this; faced with this entirely new system, he wanted to witness every part of it, little by little.

After drawing the complete magic circle, Eddard took sulfur from a glass jar beside Maester Albert. The deep-yellow sulfur mixture gradually turned to powder in his hands, while the crystal on his left wrist continuously emitted strange pulses of energy.

Amid a strange atmosphere, Eddard walked to the center of the Council Hall. Then vicious incantations poured from his mouth. Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, lust, and gluttony-the vicious incantations composed of these negative emotions filled Maester Albert with uncontrollable fear.

Boom...

Once that strange, terrifying incantation had built to a certain point, terrible energy erupted. With its appearance, a huge blood-red hexagram magic circle materialized, and the temperature in the Council Hall gradually rose.

The smells of sulfur, blood, rotting flesh, and all manner of indescribable odors began spreading with the appearance of the magic circle. The young animals confined in their cages immediately began roaring, but as their cries continued...

Mooo...

An indescribably terrifying aura began spreading around the magic circle. Sounds like the lowing of cattle came from within it, and then a somewhat twisted, blood-red hand appeared in its center.

With the appearance of that dreadful hand, its grotesquely twisted body gradually emerged in the center of the magic circle. Beneath the monster's blood-red muscles, lava seemed to flow. Not a single organ anywhere on its body was intact; it looked like a lump of undigested meat fished out of some disgusting monster's stomach juices.

Thump, thump...

At that moment, Maester Albert's heart felt as though it would leap out of his chest. At the sight of this terrifying creature, his soul seemed to have been drawn away by it. Maester Albert wanted to speak,

but it felt as though something had seized his throat. "Hmm! Just as I thought. There really is some power obstructing these demons. This fellow's strength has been weakened considerably, and it nearly got killed. Then what would happen if I did this?"

Eddard watched these strange creatures and muttered to himself. The summoning circle he was using was one of Demon B'lack's most frequently used slave-summoning circles, and this fellow was the Lesser Demon progenitor in Eddard's Dream World. He had intended to use it to test the power of the magic circle, never expecting such a result.

Having thought of a method, Eddard deftly took a piece of Dragonglass emitting black light from his jacket pocket. For his experiments, he had specifically had the Demonspawn produce three low-grade test subjects: a Lesser Demon, a Demon Child, and a Parasite Demon.

The White Holy Tree had quite a large reserve of souls, and purified and absorbed them relatively quickly, considerably faster than the Demonspawn. Sealed within the piece of Dragonglass in Eddard's hand was a Twisted Soul. He very much wanted to test what would happen when Chaosfire met a Twisted Soul.

Awooo...

As Eddard stabbed the Dragonglass into it, the Lesser Demon progenitor let out a terrible howl. The twisted creature instinctively wanted to attack Eddard, but after sensing the suppression of his higher-grade bloodline, the Lesser Demon, which retained a beastlike consciousness, could only quietly endure his "torment."

Two energies, extreme cold and extreme heat, alternately collided within the Lesser Demon's body. One side rapidly expanded while the other rapidly contracted. After countless rounds of torment, its lava-like skin gradually cooled.

Crack...

Amid strange sounds of grinding glass, clusters of Black Dragonglass pillars sprouted from the Lesser Demon's body. This dense Black Dragonglass covered its entire body, growing thickly in some places and resembling ordinary scales in others.

The Lesser Demon now looked like a mutated cave monster. Clusters of Dragonglass pillars covered its head, which resembled that of a monstrous, large-headed infant. All the nutrients throughout its body seemed to have been absorbed by its body, leaving it looking extraordinarily distorted.

The mutated Lesser Demon's facial features had vanished completely, leaving only a huge, tumor-like protrusion, as though light were shining within it. Eddard sensed a terribly chilling aura inside.

However, the monster soon recovered. After adapting to its surroundings, the mutated Lesser Demon walked out of the magic circle. Sensing Eddard's bloodline, it knelt toward him.

"This... this is truly incredible. I... I must take a part of it..."

Hiss...

Maester Albert shouted in extraordinary excitement and rushed over to the mutated Lesser Demon in a few quick strides. In his excitement, however, he failed to notice its hiss.

Once Maester Albert came close, the mutated Lesser Demon swiped a claw at him. Before its hand could land the attack, however, Eddard restrained it with his perception.

His perception was now as flexible as his own limbs. Within several meters of himself, Eddard could even move his tentacles and body that did not exist in the Real World. Perhaps in the near future, he might even be able to merge the Dream World with the Real World.

"All right, my dear Maester Albert, this fellow is a demon. Don't let its appearance deceive you. If my senses are right, that crystal on its head, the one like a large swelling, is an organ specifically for detecting body temperature. Wait until I've tamed it before studying it! All right, let's move on to the next one!"

Watching Maester Albert, who still wanted to go up and break a piece of Dragonglass off the mutated Lesser Demon, Eddard stopped him somewhat helplessly.

"All right! All right! Let me see, then. Your next test subject is a Parasite Demon-that's a newly coined term, yes?"

Soon, Eddard, who had fully mastered operating the magic circle, summoned the Parasite Demon as well. To reduce the corrosive effect of this world's power on it, he employed his perception. The White Holy Tree had helped him analyze these problems before, so he had two approaches: one was to summon normally with the magic circle, and the other was to assist with his perception.

After bringing the magic circle within the range of his perception, Eddard activated the Golden Eye's power. As the tentacled demonic eyes on his head writhed, the magic circle seemed to become surrounded by something in the Dream World.

Hiss...

After a slightly excited hiss, a creature resembling a combination of a silkworm and a centipede appeared in the center of the magic circle. This was the Parasite Demon mother. The White Holy Tree had designated the first Primordial Bodies of the Demon Seed, Demon Child, and Parasite Demon as their primary bodies. With unusual demon species such as Parasite Demons, a mother would emerge.

The Parasite Demon mother was a very distinctive individual, endowed with the ability to lay eggs. Although those eggs might not hatch successfully in this world, this was still considerably better than Eddard directly summoning Parasite Demons, and it also saved him a great deal of time in the process.

Hiss...

After sensing Eddard's power, this mother, which already possessed a measure of intelligence, expressed its submission to him. Compared with those brainless Lesser Demons, Parasite Demons were already among the best of the lesser demons.

Eddard then picked up the Parasite Demon. It was about the size of a corgi, and its fat body and sharp claws even looked a little cute. After extending his perception into its body, Eddard exerted his influence over the creature.

"Take it! Feed it plenty of flesh and Dragonglass, and have it lay more eggs. If these larvae hatch successfully, they'll be the best tools I have for taming animals."

After handing the limp Parasite Demon mother to Maester Albert, Eddard gave him his instructions. Seeing the maester's mixture of fear and delight, Eddard found it rather amusing.

Demons like the dim-witted Lesser Demons could barely understand a few simple commands. No such concern existed with the Parasite Demon mother. After receiving Eddard's orders, it waited peacefully for Maester Albert to feed it.

Eddard then walked toward a pile of Dragonglass pillars on the floor. The Demonspawn modified by Demon B'lack was working desperately to help Eddard produce more Progenitor Demons. Three low-quality Primordial Bodies had already been used today.

However, because they were mothers, the positives and negatives balanced out, leaving them less terrible than Eddard had imagined. These three kinds of basic demons would gradually become the most ordinary magical creations under his command as time passed.

For now, however, many of Eddard's basic construction projects had to rely on their power. They were also inexpensive to produce and not particularly complicated to summon, so they might become routinely summoned creatures in the future.

Eddard had specifically asked the residents of Pasture Town to gather this Dragonglass. Because they lived near the Western Mountains, the townspeople also traded grain with the Clan Warriors for Dragonglass and minerals.

These Dragonglass pillars had nearly exhausted Pasture Town's entire stock. If Eddard's experiment worked, this Dragonglass would become more valuable than gold, and it would also become the fundamental mineral of his magical industry.

While Maester Albert shakily tossed meat to the Parasite Demon mother, Eddard had already picked up a prism-shaped obsidian pillar. He then gently cradled the Dragonglass pillar in his palms.

After sinking his perception into it, Eddard found the "wisp of flame within the ice." In certain legends, Dragonglass was the blood of the gods. The ancient Valyrians had called it "Frostfire."

According to one theory about the Valyrian Freehold's Doom, the terrible catastrophe had been caused entirely by the Valyrians' abuse of Dragonglass. Some believed that the Valyrians had mastered the power to use Dragonglass, but Dragonglass ore only appeared in particular locations or mineral deposits.

Dragonglass in this world could not be manufactured by cooling lava in water. Thus, to obtain more of it, the Valyrians had built their cities near the unbroken chain of active volcanoes known as the Fourteen Flames.

Rumor held that it was precisely the Valyrians' reckless mining of Dragonglass and other deposits within the volcanoes that had caused the Fourteen Flames to erupt simultaneously, destroying the Valyrian Freehold and bringing those insatiably greedy Dragonlords to their end amid the earth's furious roar.

As Eddard's perception delved deeper, the seemingly frozen "flame" appeared to awaken to something. Yet the strange powers surrounding it continued to suppress its awakening.

Soon, he directly summoned the soul of a Child of the Forest residing in his Dream World. Guided by Eddard's perception tentacles, the soul entered the center of the flame.

Boom... rumble...

The meeting of these two powers was like gasoline coming into contact with a flame. The terrible burst of combustion immediately ignited the outer layer of "solid ice," and scorching flames burned in Eddard's palm.

From a distance, it looked as though Eddard himself had caught fire. Watching the strange phenomenon in Eddard's hand, Maester Albert forgot what he was supposed to be doing and simply stared at him blankly.

"A new era has begun, my maester, and you will witness every bit of it!"