After that day, Arya Stark never saw Mycah again.
In a relationship like theirs, she held all the power. If Arya herself didn't want to meet, then a mere butcher's apprentice like Mycah could never approach a noble girl of her standing.
Still, to make herself feel a little better—and on Aedric's advice—Arya secretly arranged for a Stark guardsman to occasionally instruct Mycah in swordsmanship. It was her small way of compensating him.
Yet, losing even the simple freedom to make a new friend weighed heavily on her. For several days, the carefree little wolf was uncharacteristically quiet and downcast.
But such lessons were inevitable. Understanding the cruelty of the world early was part of growing up.
After all, this wasn't a fairytale filled with kindness and happy endings.
Just as in the "show" Aedric remembered — when Arya's direwolf bit a prince, the wolf paid with its life; when Mycah did nothing wrong, he still ended up dead.
Sometimes, the gap between people was greater than the gap between a man and a dog.
In a world of giants, a small creature could be crushed to death by accident, even if the giant meant no harm.
Still, Aedric was relieved to see how quickly Arya understood. A smart student was a joy to teach. Had she been a blockhead, he might have been tempted to "beat enlightenment" into her personally.
Of course, his decision to keep Arya away from Mycah wasn't purely out of concern for her safety.
Aedric had to admit—he was being a bit possessive. His "little cabbage" was only eleven years old; which wild boar of a boy dared come sniffing around? The fact that Aedric hadn't drawn his sword already was proof of his remarkable restraint.
Anyone who tried to play a "Lolita raising project" with his student would be chopped into eight neat pieces, no discussion.
After that, Arya threw herself into training with even greater zeal.
A month later, she finally completed eighty-one full cycles of inner energy circulation, forming a dust-sized inner core in her dantian — achieving the first level of the Postnatal Inner Core Skill.
The manual stated that even the most talented disciple would normally need a hundred days to condense their first core, but Arya had done it in just thirty. Her aptitude truly was extraordinary — one in a million.
Compared to the "Faceless Men" path she would have taken, Aedric thought bitterly, what a waste of such talent.
And that wasn't all.
The day she succeeded, Arya ran to him in secret, eyes shining with excitement — she had awakened her warg ability. She could sometimes enter the mind of her direwolf, Nymeria, and see through her eyes.
In the novels, all five Stark children (except Sansa) — including Jon Snow — were wargs.
But in the show, only Bran had that gift.
Now Arya had it too.
To Aedric, that confirmed the power of the Postnatal Inner Core Skill: not only did it cleanse the body and strengthen the soul, but it also unlocked a person's latent potential.
And it wasn't just Arya who'd advanced. After a month of cultivation, Aedric himself had reached the third layer of the Inner Core Skill.
The "wolf blood" in his body had evolved — his warg ability had become completely controllable. He could enter Ghost's vision at will, and occasionally even connect with other animals. His power seemed to be transcending ordinary wargs, reaching toward the legendary level of a Greenseer.
Even more astonishingly, his resistance to fire had grown steadily. He could now hold his palm over open flames for long periods without burning — the hallmark of a true Targaryen "Unburnt."
Only Daenerys had shown this trait in the original series, and now Aedric possessed it too.
He loved this ability. Fire immunity wasn't just useful in a medieval fantasy world — it'd be just as handy in the modern one.
If he could one day completely ignore the heat and force of explosions… the possibilities made his blood boil with excitement.
And there was something else.
According to the histories, Valyria had been destroyed in a cataclysm of volcanic fire. The ruins still burned with endless flame and magma. Only a true "Unburnt" could possibly explore it and survive. Anyone else who entered would be reduced to ash.
So this gift might one day open paths no one else could take.
The only question was — could these talents transfer to other worlds? Probably not without paying the "System's" inevitable price. That greedy bastard of a System never let anything come free.
When the group finally reached King's Landing, Lord Eddard immediately began his duties as Hand of the King — and within days, realized he'd been completely swindled.
His old friend Robert Baratheon turned out to be the very definition of an incompetent ruler.
The man had no concept of governance whatsoever.
If he wasn't drinking, he was feasting; if he wasn't feasting, he was whoring.
The royal treasury was all but empty.
Thank the gods that Westeros operated like a feudal system — each lord managing his own lands.
If this had been a centralized empire like Tang or Ming China, Robert would've been another Yang Guang, the Sui Emperor — plunging the realm into chaos long ago.
Even so, the Seven Kingdoms were only functioning thanks to the late Jon Arryn's tireless efforts.
And now that he was gone, Robert needed a new fool to clean up the mess.
Enter Eddard Stark — King of the Fools.
The perfect, honest sucker.
Watching Ned's face turn green with stress on the very first day of work, Aedric couldn't help but sigh. "Poor guy. Some teammates you just can't save."
While Ned buried himself in endless paperwork and royal nonsense, Aedric used the time to explore King's Landing. Sometimes he disappeared beyond the city walls altogether, doing… things he never explained. Not even Arya knew what he was up to.
Ned, meanwhile, was far too overwhelmed to notice.
Between the affairs of state and the king's personal whims, the man was drowning.
As for Aedric's "lowly bastard" status, it served as convenient cover — no one paid him much mind. He avoided the show's infamous drama entirely, steering clear of the nest of vipers that was the royal court.
His most notable outing was when he took Arya to the underground crypts to see the dragon bones.
For her, it was awe-inspiring.
For him, it was profitable — the bones radiated faint but potent luck energy, and he quietly absorbed it.
Thanks to the butterfly effects of his earlier interventions, Tyrion Lannister had never been captured by Catelyn Tully, meaning the Starks and Lannisters hadn't yet fallen into open hostility.
But time marched on, and some fates could not be avoided.
Before long, Lord Eddard Stark uncovered the truth about the royal children's parentage.
The day of reckoning was drawing near.
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