Three dragons soared through the sky over the Stepstones, happy and carefree, casting shadows upon the sea.
Rhaegar observed the reefs, sea stacks, and winding waterways of the Stepstones; even though storms raged here and the land was barren, the Stepstones controlled the golden waterways, making it an excellent place to collect taxes.
To hold the throat of the world is exactly what the Stepstones do, controlling the shipping routes between two continents.
The dazzling Silver Dragon flew in the lead, its wing membranes a pale gold, its pupils molten gold, like a river interwoven with gold and silver.
The Purple Dragon and the black dragon soared on either side of the Silver Dragon like two flames; this was a dance of dragons.
Balerion was entirely purple, its talons, dragon crown, and the scales on its belly shining like copper foil, and even its eyes were purple.
Balerion had scales of black like obsidian, with blood-red eyes, horns, and dorsal spines.
With magnificent scales and full of vitality, these were the only three dragons in the world.
Rhaegar circled round and round with the Silver Emperor, rising higher and higher; the three dragons loved to compete with one another.
The dragons would occasionally snap at each other, tumbling down from the sky before dancing with claws and tail-swipes.
Their fights were always measured, merely a way to stretch their limbs, and as they descended to the sea, the dragons would quickly separate and take to the air once more.
Dragons preferred to attack from above; when they climbed between their opponent and the sun, they would fold their wings and dive down with a piercing shriek.
This maneuver was highly threatening, and even more dangerous for young dragons, as their scales were more brittle and their flames less powerful, forcing them to attack at close range to achieve maximum effect.
But the closer the distance, the greater the danger.
Rhaegar knew that in years past, many young dragons died because they flew too low, leading to them being focused and attacked.
"Fly!"
"Alert!"
"Scatter."
The young dragons could entangle themselves into a ball of scales or scatter to fly high individually.
The young dragons could maintain fierce attacks or choose harassment tactics.
Following Rhaegar's commands, the three young dragons would each perform their own movements; having been hatched through fire seeds and bound by the Blood and Fire Chain, their vigilance, agility, and sharpness far exceeded that of ordinary young dragons, making them worthy of being called natural weapons of war.
However, without the other types of binding spells, Rhaegar always felt something was missing.
The core techniques used by the Valyrian Dragonlords to train dragons—the spells of movement, stillness, and prohibition, along with the dragon horn—were what gave the dragons trained this way their greatest power.
Rhaegar could only wait until he went across the Narrow Sea in the future to see if there were any clues.
Recently, as Rhaegar had learned a bit of Water Magic, the dragons had found a game they liked even more.
Rhaegar summoned small water walls and waterspouts, and the three dragons flapped their wings to vaporize the seawater.
Such a scene was a bit like a miniature version of the campaign where Old Valyria destroyed the rhoynar people.
Rhaegar opened his panel; after acquiring the Blood of the Water, there were new changes.
[Rhaegar Targaryen]
[Identity: The Last Dragonkin, Blood of Fire (High-Order Superior), Blood of the Water (Low-Order)]
Rhaegar noticed that his identity had not changed much, only adding a low-order Blood of the Water; he might need to make a trip to the Rhoyne River when he had time to see if he could strengthen the Blood of the Water.
The Blood of Fire also seemed to have reached a small threshold; there should be other ranks above the high order, but it was currently difficult for him to break through, so he could try to find a way to break through in Water Magic.
[Titles: Prince of the Targaryen Dynasty, Supervisor of Bloodstone Customs, Interim Warden of the Narrow Sea and the Stepstones]
[Aliases: Born at Summerhall, Lucky Rhaegar, Silver Prince, Dragon Prince, The Victor, Rhaegar the spearbreaker, The Unburnt, Father of Dragons, Butcher of Duskendale, Silver Dragon Prince, silver dragon knight, Tyrant of the Narrow Sea, Ship-burner, Builder]
The titles and aliases had been officially separated; titles were more formal, while aliases came from the various names and nicknames others had for Rhaegar, being more casual and complimentary.
Aliases were now the strongest part of Rhaegar's attributes; setting aside formal titles, the list of aliases was already huge.
[Aptitude: Talent of the Dragonlords, Dance of Water and Fire (Dual high-order sorcerer of water and fire, an unprecedented feat, representing the collision of two legendary bloodlines), Heart of a Sword and Soul of a Zither, The Awakened Dragon, Dragon Dreamer]
Rhaegar noticed that "Dance of Water and Fire" had appeared, perhaps because he had simultaneously activated Water Magic, making him the only dragon king to master Valyrian Fire Magic and rhoynar Water Magic.
And strictly speaking, he could also be considered to possess dragon blood and rhoynar blood.
[Charisma: Child of Destiny (Peerless Silver Prince, Early Bloomer, triumphant general, silver dragon knight, Friend of Dragons)]
Rhaegar felt that perhaps because too many charisma bonuses had stacked up, all the charisma had aggregated into "Child of Destiny."
This was something profound and mysterious, with charisma constantly stacking.
[Achievements: Fate Changer, Game of Thrones (Player), Commander, lucky one, Explorer, Weapon Mastery, Precision Strike]
These traditional achievements were still unremarkable; they were the most outstanding among the masses, but among Rhaegar's achievements, they were not as eye-catching as the magic achievements.
[Magic Achievements: Eater of Fire Seeds (Fountain of Youth, Nameless River God Fire Seed, Golden Three-Headed Eagle Fire Seed, Dawn Fire Seed), Rune Combiner, dragon pact, Blood and Fire Chain, Dragonrider, Dragon Dreamer, Fire Sight]
Rhaegar found that the magic achievements hadn't changed much, still being those types; the most powerful were still the fire seeds and runes, which were the most overpowered functions—the more absorbed, the more it promoted the concentration of his bloodline.
[Collections: Rhaegar Targaryen's dragon kings ring, heart of fire dragon nest, Fire Sight Magic Stone, Cursed Fire of the Iron Throne, Cursed Eye of Harrenhal]
Rhaegar noticed the change in the collections tab; it seemed that curses also counted as a type of collection—infamy was still fame, and it counted as a kind of evil collection.
Rhaegar felt pleased; his trip to Dorne was not in vain. Although Water Magic was not as strong and domineering as Fire Magic, it also possessed infinite wonderful uses.
He could fully rely on Water Magic to show off his power on the sea.
Rhaegar let out a long roar in the sky, and the dragons followed suit, their voices like thunder and lightning.
Rhaegar looked at his three young dragons; dragons almost never stopped growing, but the growth rate would gradually slow down, with the fastest speed in the first few decades, becoming slower and slower thereafter.
The dragons arrived over Bloodstone, where the scene below remained bustling.
Rhaegar saw that a circle of earthen hills had been built around the perimeter of Bloodstone, steep on the outside and gentle on the inside; those ugly fences had been trimmed and leveled, built atop the earthen hills, looking down from a great height, appearing very perilous.
The inner rocky mountain of Bloodstone had been transformed into a castle, with those corridors and underground passages beneath it.
These secret passages had long been polished by pirates, and now they benefited the Iron Throne army.
Rhaegar named this castle "Dragon's Roar"; when the dragon roars, all things are shocked.
Rhaegar looked down from a high vantage point at the great construction site of the Stepstones.
Currently, the Iron Throne had a great advantage in managing the Stepstones, possessing at least two advantages compared to the Stepstones wars of centuries ago: first, Dorne was unified, and the Stepstones had fewer worries behind them.
Second, the Kingdom of the Daughters was divided, with Tyrosh stuck in the middle.
With the Stepstones as an outpost and Dorne and the Stormlands as reinforcements, the dragon had three heads.
This was also the formation of the snake of Mount Chang.
Strike the head and the tail arrives; strike the tail and the head arrives.
Rhaegar looked at his masterpiece, feeling very proud; as long as the super project on Bloodstone was completed.
Then the Stepstones defense line would be a nightmare for the enemy for a generation.
With reinforcements roaring in from Dorne and the Stormlands, and pirate ships charging out from Tyrosh, the enemy would find it impossible to move an inch.
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