Wayward King - 004 (Patreon)

Chapter 004 – Rules and Conjectures

[289 AC – Winterfell]

['History – Novice(87)' has been registered in the first 'Knowledge'-Vein. The 'Knowledge'-crystal has been set up as the first sub-crystal.]

A frown on his face, Jon was deep in thought as he 'looked' at the message in his mind and saw the tiny five-sided pyramid-shaped crystal spinning around the crystal pearl in his mind, the bottom side always facing the much bigger pearl.

On one side of the five-sided pyramid, at the very tip of the surface, small crack-like veins had started to appear, which was obviously the 'Knowledge'-Vein that represented the registered 'History' skill.

Jon had just started to read one of the three books that the Maester had a servant bring over while sitting in his freshly-made bed after a hot and thorough bath when this message popped up just after he had finished the first page.

The book itself was called 'The Great Houses of Westeros' and was just an introduction into the family history of the many different Houses that had ruled or still ruled their domain in Westeros as Wardens or Lords Paramount of one of the Seven Kingdoms.

After thinking about it for a few moments, he concluded that the action of actively 'studying history' caused the Support System to register 'History' as a skill while calculating his progress in the subject based on his memories since a single page of the book had not added anything new to his knowledge.

It was clear though that this was not the main function of the System, considering the term 'sub-crystal'. But it had given Jon a hint on how to activate the main function and use the System as specific actions seem to trigger its functions.

And based on the fact that his Support System was of the sub-category 'Armed Warrior', it wasn't far-fetched to think that his picking up and training with a weapon would do the trick, which would obviously have to wait until he was feeling better.

Still, the fact that he could still use the System while resting, even if it was its sub-functions, made his impatience and eagerness settle down easily enough.

Pondering some more, he also understood why his 'History' skill was only at 'Novice(87)', despite the fact that his past life's memories had given him a rather accurate understanding of the rough history of Westeros, as well as large parts of Essos.

His 'rough outline' was simply not enough as Jon couldn't even name ten Targaryen Kings or ten Lords of House Stark, who had ruled over the Seven Kingdoms or Winterfell in the past. And the less said about the history of the many many other noble houses in all of Westeros, the better.

History was about details and accuracy, which was what he sorely lacked despite having been taught by Maester Luwin since he was six years old. Naturally, that had to do with the fact that the teachings had been simple and had not involved much history.

The focus had been on learning to read, write, and count, instead of the more complicated subjects, given his and Robb's young age. The true lessons were still waiting for them.

Having thought of all this, Jon wanted to start reading again and see how and if the proficiency of his 'History' skill would increase but he held off on that for a moment as another thought came to his mind.

Placing the book to the side, he pushed off his covers and climbed out of his bed to get to his sideboard, grabbing one of the small pieces of paper from it as well as a carved writing feather and a small vial of ink.

Paper and ink were expensive commodities so even Eddard Stark did not allow his children to waste them thoughtlessly.

Still, Maester Luwin would pass him and Robb a few strips of paper and some ink every now and then, encouraging them to write secret messages to one another, which they did. They had planned quite a few pranks in secret like this.

Jon now realized that the Maester had used this tactic to encourage them to learn to read and write, which showed just how smart and thoughtful of a teacher the elder man was, turning something tedious and at times boring into a game fit for boys their age.

Opening the small vial of ink and dipping in the feather, Jon held the strip of paper spread out on the sideboard as he wrote his name and waited for a few moments.

His wait was in vain though as no new message rang out in his mind about a new skill registration, which meant that 'writing' could not be converted into a skill. Pausing for a moment, he thought of something else and quickly scribbled down a simple math problem of '13 x 8' before solving it.

This was naturally not something an eight-year-old could usually solve but Jon had graduated high school in another life where Mathematics had been much more advanced than it was in this world, so he didn't have a problem with calculating the result.

And while he did notice that his skills in math had deteriorated a bit due to his somewhat blurry memory, he still clearly remembered how to solve the problem, even if he didn't remember the answer.

Eventually writing down the number '104' after an equation sign, Jon paused again, and this time he heard a message in his mind.

['Arithmetic – Expert(13)' has been registered in the second 'Knowledge'-Vein.]

['Arithmetic' has advanced from Novice to Apprentice, strengthening the vein greatly. Your mental calculation ability has been enhanced.]

['Arithmetic' has advanced from Apprentice to Expert, strengthening the vein greatly. Your mental calculation ability has been enhanced.]

At the same time as this message sounded out, a warm and electrifying stream of pure energy seemed to rush into his brain, causing Jon to feel as if the inside of his skull was suddenly much much hotter, his brain itching uncomfortably.

The sensation though went away as fast as it came while a smile slowly settled on Jon's face, his hand that wasn't holding onto the snapped feather rubbing his temple.

A quick glance inward made him aware that a second side of the sub-crystal had crack-like veins growing on its surface, though they were much larger than the ones on the surface to the right, nearly covering a third of the area from the top, leaving two thirds still blank.

This new vein was also pulsing with a powerful light, distantly looking like runes that were simply beyond his understanding.

Focusing back on the message and the 'reward' that had been given to him for the registration of his new knowledge-type skill, Jon was both curious and somewhat speechless. He obviously wanted to try out how his mental capabilities had been enhanced but at the same time, the ability to calculate more difficult math problems seemed rather useless.

Shaking off his doubt quickly since every enhancement was better than no enhancement, he wrote down another math problem, one a bit more difficult this time.

'27 x 14 = 378'

This time he didn't have to do any written calculations and just thought for a few moments, figuring out the answer by calculating it in his mind.

['Arithmetic – Expert(15)']

A short message popped up in the back of his mind afterwards, making Jon realize that he had gained some proficiency through this simple action, the runic vein growing ever so slightly.

Not in a hurry to chase after further improvements for the moment, Jon fell into deep thought, drawing some new conclusions about his Support System with the information that his experiment had just provided him.

Turning the small strip of paper around, he wrote down some of the 'rules' by which the System seemed to work according to his analysis, using the lower half of the feather that he had snapped in half due to the unexpected and somewhat painful rush of heat in his brain just moments ago.

'First Rule: The Support System is activated through explicit actions, which those are, remains still unclear.'

This was a rather obvious observation, given that his writing didn't trigger a skill registration while reading a history book and solving an arithmetic problem did. In that same sense, neither bathing, eating, or sleeping seemed to activate the System's skill registration.

'Second Rule: The first three skill ranks are Novice, Apprentice, and Expert. The further ranks still remain unclear.'

This was also an obvious one since the notifications proved as much. For more information on the ranks, Jon would have to improve his skills or register one with a higher rank than 'Arithmetic'. Naturally, it was also possible for there to exist a rank lower than Novice but it was unlikely.

'Third Rule: According to the principle of rewarding hard work, which was mentioned in the introduction, every increase in skill rank after Novice will be rewarded. The reward is most likely related to the skill itself.'

These were the conclusions that came from his 'Arithmetic' skill registering as 'Expert' and the reward being an enhancement in his mental calculation abilities. Though with only one example to go by, it was hard to say if his thoughts were correct on the nature of the reward.

Jon would have to advance more skills to see for himself the validity of his analysis.

'Fourth Rule: The System seems to be limited to skills only.'

Up until now, only skills had been registered and he had seen no sign of personal attributes, equipment, or anything else. He wasn't sure if this would change but sensing the two glowing crystals in his mind, he was almost sure that it wouldn't. Though, like the rest of his conjectures, only time could prove him right, or wrong.

Recapping the small vial of ink and placing it back into the drawer, Jon walked to the fireplace and threw in the strip of paper and the broken halves of the feather before adding another two logs of wood to keep the fire burning strong, after which he returned to his bed.

At this point, he didn't bother trying to make any further conclusions about his Support System since the limited information made sure that whatever he thought of would be nothing but speculation.

And Jon could certainly wait a few days to regain his strength to study his System more closely while trying to register actual combat skills in the main crystal.

Taking the history book, he started his reading again to do something productive instead of uselessly pondering.

The first chapter spoke of the Great Houses of the Crownlands of which only two had ever existed, the first being House Targaryen and the second being House Baratheon of King's Landing, which made sense considering that no other House had ever sat one of their own on the Iron Throne, nor did the 'Crownlands' exist as such before Aegon's Conquest.

Reading the descriptions and remarks about House Targaryen and the list of members belonging to this nearly extinct House, Jon quickly forgot the time as a simple thought echoed in his mind, his small fingers brushing over the rough paper and the names written on it.

'My family … '

He felt an intense curiosity, the urge to learn more about his House striking his heart fiercely. He knew that it wasn't a 'pretty' history by any sense of the word as House Targaryen had produced many incapable, cruel, or even mad kings, but all that didn't matter.

This was his House, his ancestry, his blood. A place he could belong to, even if only in spirit.

And maybe it was better this way, considering that reality was often far too disappointing, with his mother's home causing him to feel unwelcome, like a stranger looking into the home of a happy family through a thick wall of glass.