(Eddard Stark's point of view)
When Rodrik and a maid entered my study, I was leaning against the wall, looking at the fireplace. They waited for me to speak to them. This child needed to grow up like a true northerner. Should I withdraw my permission for him to train in other things? Would his swordsmanship training be better?
"Rodrik, do you know what Aermir does in his free time?"
"I have seen him playing with your sons and practicing archery at the range, my lord. Aside from that, people usually see him in the Godswood or the library, my lord."
Then the maid raised her hand, and I gestured for her to speak.
"My lord, I sometimes see him playing with his crows in his room."
"He has crows?"
"Yes, my lord. He found them in the Godswood and has raised them since they were chicks."
Hearing this, I thought he was still a child and needed time to play, too. I sat down at my desk, then looked at the maid.
"I have punished Aermir with a month's confinement to his room. During that time, he is to have only two meals a day, consisting of bread and water; delivering his food to his room will be your responsibility. You must not pass this duty to anyone else; this is your first priority this month. Of course, no one will break open the bread to see whether there is meat inside."
Her eyes filled with surprise when I finished speaking.
"Do you understand what I mean?"
"Yes, my lord."
(The protagonist's point of view)
When I reached my room, soldiers stood outside the building it was in, preventing me from leaving. From now on, I had to be prepared; I had been too naive to think everything would be fine as long as I had talent. No, in this world, status meant talent, and status meant power.
So I had to climb higher and higher, but I had to start somewhere. This made me realize I could not settle for being a good swordsman. I had to excel at everything I did. I had to be the best at everything. I had to grow strong quickly. What could make me strongest was not a sword, but magic.
I had to work harder, but there was a drawback. The main religion on this continent, the Faith of the Seven, forbade magic and declared it the work of devils, so I had to hide myself carefully. Until I was one hundred percent certain I could protect myself from them, I could not use magic in public. I could not go to the Godswood to train for a month, but I could still use my most useless skill, the Infinite Training Skill.
It was a four-meter-by-four-meter space with nothing inside, but at least I could use all the spells I wanted without anyone knowing. First, though, I needed to bond with Erebus. I walked over to him and tried to pick him up, and he tried to bite me.
"Hey!!! Stop being such a bastard; today has been bad enough already." I shouted at him angrily. He looked at me and spread his wings, cawing as he challenged me.
"Fine, then I won't play with you; I'll only play with Bo. Come on, Bo, let's play."
I rose from my chair, sat on the bed with Bo, and played with her.
Because my back was to Erebus, he could not see anything, and crows were social, curious animals.
When he came closer, I got up and went to the other side of the room, ignoring him and playing only with Bo.
If I tried to grab him and force a bond, he would resist. I did not have enough mana to forcibly bond with a crow. I thought I would need at least 45 mana to force a bond, and I only had 31.
I kept doing what I was doing for about two or three hours, and Erebus was angry about it the whole time.
Crows really were intelligent animals. I thought I had heard in a documentary that they were as intelligent as two-year-old children.
After a while, Erebus came over and began tugging at my clothes to get my attention. I turned toward him and held out my hand again. This time, he approached me, then hopped onto my hand. After that, I held him in both hands and began bonding with him. This time, I felt the mana flow more smoothly, and I knew what to do and when to do it.
I loved the 5x Experience Skill; it was as though I had formed many bonds. I even knew why the first time had taken so long and used so much mana.
I had wasted at least five mana simply because I had been impatient. When Bo pulled back, I should have waited a few seconds for her to adjust, but I had never let that happen, so I had spent more mana and more time pulling her back.
This time, I was very patient. I finished at least a few minutes sooner and spent four less mana. But I realized something: I could not keep bonding with other animals. My soul had a capacity, and I could feel it. Now I had no room for another animal.
But I also realized something else. My eyesight had improved nearly threefold. Just as I had thought, every bond would give me a buff.
I spent the rest of the day training my mana.
First, I trained in the space for about three hours, since I could only stay there for six hours a day. After using up all my mana, I needed to come out so I would not waste my limited time inside.
After that, I planned to take a short nap to replenish my mana. Then, around the time for physical training in the evening, I went back in for another three hours so I would not get rusty.
Bris entered the room, bringing me food.
"Are you all right, dear? I don't understand why those nobles would bully you."
I began acting like an innocent child and said, "I really don't know. They keep bullying me." Then I pretended to remember something and said, "Oh, maybe it's because I beat them all."
She looked shocked for a second, then said with a serious expression:
"Dear, you must never say something like that out loud; it isn't wise. I know you're angry, and you have every right to be, but you cannot speak or act like that. You need to pull yourself together and live your life well. Commoners like us cannot hold our heads high before nobles. They have all the power; if they cannot hurt you, they will attack the people around you."
She walked over to me, ruffled my hair, and said, "Please don't do anything like that again; don't stand against them. You must respect them, even if you don't want to. Please don't do anything dangerous. I promised your mother I would look after you, and I will."
She set the tray she was holding in front of me, then kissed my cheek.
"You must have done something right if his lordship is taking care of you like this. I'll take the tray away when I come back for dinner. Goodbye."
She ruffled my hair again, then left the room.
"Hmph, is this how he takes care of me? Stale bread and water." I bit into the bread, then felt something juicy and chewy. Then the flavor hit me: there was meat inside. I turned the bread over, looked at my bite mark, then tore it open. There was a large piece of meat inside. "Oh, she meant this was how he was taking care of me." At least he had some conscience.
(One month later)
This month, most of my training had focused on my mana, and I had gained another two mana. I felt I was starting to have more mana because I now had two familiars.
I experimented with a few things. I could not bond with any more creatures, but I could dominate animals. This was different from bonding. I could not see through their eyes, give orders remotely, or sense whether they were within 100 meters of me.
If I did not dominate them for about a week, they would become free. They could understand basic commands such as attack, follow, and retreat, but ravens and crows were exceptions.
In some respects, they were as intelligent as children aged two to four. For example, crows could understand analogies, exercise self-control, make tools, and enjoyed playing-all signs of "intelligence."
Because of this, they could answer my short questions by nodding, and I could use them to track people because they could recognize people's faces.
People began to think that so many crows and ravens gathering around the building was an ill omen. They thought it was a sign that an attack by the Ironborn or Wildlings would come soon.
In the religion of the Old Gods, they did not believe ravens were ill-omened creatures, but they still considered them omens because they were carrion birds. In the Faith of the Seven, the first raven was said to have been released into the world when the Crone peered through the door of death.
Some priests in the Iron Islands believed ravens were servants of the Storm God. In short, people on this continent were a little obsessed with ravens. Ravens were also the best means of communication. Maester Luwin handled communications with the various lords, and I could not dominate his ravens. I did not know why.
I had been using all those crows and ravens to hunt small animals. Even though the lord was secretly letting me eat meat, two meals a day still were not enough for me, since I trained in my room all day.
I grew hungry quickly, so I sent the birds out at night, and they brought back prey. I possessed Erebus, stole a knife from the kitchen, then had the other birds bring me dry wood from the Godswood.
After that, when I entered the training space, I lit a small fire and cooked the meat. It was monotonous, but better than going hungry. I did not know why I did not get carbon monoxide poisoning in the space.
At first, I was frightened and did a little experiment to see whether I would become dizzy inside, but I never did. Afterward, I came out and did the same thing in my room, breathing in smoke. I became dizzy, so I was not immune to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Because I had not been using my mana to train the elements, I felt I had hit a bottleneck with them. I had been spending all my mana on possession.
I learned this word from the Stark children's nursemaid. When I needed to spend my mana, I would possess Bo or Erebus, and sometimes I would fly; sometimes I would go to the castle to listen to her tell stories.
She told Robb, Jon, and Sansa many stories about the Age of Heroes, magic, and magical creatures.
Sansa was Robb's younger sister. She was four, and before I was punished, I sometimes talked and played with her. She was a sweet, obedient little girl. If Lady Catelyn forbade her from doing something, she would not do it.
Once, she played hide-and-seek with us, and she always got caught because she would not run.
I asked her why she did not run, and she held her head high as she told me, "A lady never runs." She was so adorable. That day, I restrained myself from pinching her chubby little cheeks.