(Male protagonist's POV)
It had been two days since I left Winterfell. I had hunted those knights like ducks, then spoken with Lord Stark and set out immediately. Lord Stark had allowed me to travel north for two years, but I had promised not to leave the North. He had given me 50 gold dragons and a pass to help me along. With this pass, I could enter every castle in the North as Lord Stark's representative and receive a warm welcome.
First, I returned to the cabin in the Wolfswood and took all my familiars with me. As the days passed, the chill of winter grew stronger. It had rained nonstop for the 24 hours since yesterday evening, so now snow lay everywhere. The snow on the ground was about 10 centimeters deep. This, in turn, affected the horse's speed. My own movements were somewhat restricted as well, because of the layers of coats and furs I wore.
I broke my fast and set off at first light, but along the way, I could not travel as quickly as I had yesterday. The snow on the ground grew deeper, and the temperature dropped below freezing, making it difficult for the horse to move. Although I frequently rubbed the horse down and used Traceless Movement, I covered only twice the distance an ordinary horse could in a day.
Thanks to this journey, I discovered another effect of the stamina buff. It could slightly increase resistance to the external environment.
However, when I camped at night, I slept in the training space to avoid the cold. I used four hours of my eight-hour training allowance to sleep and worked hard during the remaining time to learn how to use magic and a sword together. I could not bring the horse into the space, so every night I built an earthen shelter for it with the Mold Earth spell.
My first destination was the Wall. Ever since hearing of its existence, I had read everything about it and expected to reach it within 8 to 14 days. It would have been utterly impossible to build a 215-meter-high wall of ice without magic, and such an enormous, long wall of ice still stood tall after eight thousand years.
The distance between Winterfell and the ice wall was about 1,000 kilometers. In summer, a fast horse could cover that distance in eight days, while a slow horse would take around 14 days. Considering the bitter winter weather and the snow, even with all my buffs, it would take at least eight days to reach the Wall. In summer, I might have been able to reach it in three days.
It had been seven days since I set out, and the arduous eight-day journey was nearing its end. As I linked with Bo and flew, I could now see the Wall.
Its grandeur and beauty were breathtaking. I still had a day's ride ahead of me, but Bo could reach it within an hour. Bo could fly at 150 kilometers per hour, but he could only maintain that speed for 10-15 minutes. His average speed was around 100 kilometers per hour. I flew along the magnificent wall for several hours, admiring the spectacular view until Bo grew tired. I would reach the Wall tomorrow evening.
We all entered the training ground for our evening training. Berus was still unwilling to fight and would leave the training ground even if he suffered only a slight injury.
Bo and Erebus were fighting two dummies with all their might. In one-on-one combat, they could quickly kill a dummy if it only defended itself. So I had to make them fight a dummy that attacked as soon as possible.
On the other side, I was fighting two dummies with magic and a sword at the same time; I was using Im's poison at close range. He had grown accustomed to this way of fighting too. Since he was no longer as small as before, he could not move as freely as he once had. But his running speed made up for this disadvantage. He ran so fast that the dummies often did not know they had been bitten until the pain struck.
While resting, I turned to watch Erebus and Bo train. As usual, Erebus attacked with vengeance in his heart. Just then, Bo was blocked by the dummy's defense and fell to the ground. She looked very angry, quickly took off from the ground, and began circling the dummy.
Then she suddenly dived toward the dummy, but halfway there, my eyes widened as I saw Bo gathering mana on her wings.
Then, with one final beat of her wings, she hurled the mana from her wingtips toward the dummy. The instant the mana left her wings, it took on the properties of the wind element, then struck the dummy, knocking it to the ground and caving in its chest.
Did she just cast Wind Ball? I saw it with my own eyes, but I still find it hard to believe.
"Stop!" I said, and all the dummies froze.
"Bo, what did you just do?"
"I copied Daddy."
"You copied me?"
"Yes, Daddy always uses his mana and casts spells when he fights the dummies, so I learned to draw mana out from inside because I wanted to be like Daddy."
"I still don't understand how Daddy makes fire, earth, and lightning, but I can understand how you make wind. So I copied Daddy and used it to hit that dummy. Daddy, did I do something wrong? I thought I did it right."
I was still shocked to learn that she could cast magic, but I composed myself and spoke.
"No, no, no, you did wonderfully, Bo. My beautiful daughter is amazing; you're a genius raven."