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In the world of Game of Thrones, morale is an elusive yet crucial force.
Leaders like Jon Snow and Daemon Targaryen, who possess extraordinary personal charisma, can inspire their troops, allowing them to perform beyond their limits even in dire circumstances.
On the other hand, commanders like the Crabfeeder and Forrest, who rely on harsh methods and personal strength to maintain control, bring about the complete collapse of their forces the moment they fall in battle.
Thus, when Jacaerys severed Forrest's head with a single, decisive stroke and raised it high for all to see, the already wavering troops of the Kingdom of the Three Daughters lost all will to fight. One by one, they dropped their weapons, fell to their knees, and surrendered.
With that, the first phase of the battle—divided by the towering wall of fire—came to a dramatic end.
Meanwhile, high above the battlefield, Vermex remained steadfast in executing Jacaerys' orders, relentlessly hunting down the retreating fleet of the Kingdom of the Three Daughters and harvesting points for his traits.
The dragon, however, did not recklessly engage the five formidable warships armed with anti-air weaponry. Instead, he focused on the smaller, defenseless ships, swooping down and unleashing torrents of dragonfire upon them, reducing vessel after vessel to charred husks adrift on the waves.
By the time the remnants of the enemy fleet managed to escape to the shores of Bloodstone Island, only seven or eight small ships remained scattered around their five surviving warships.
Unwilling to risk Vermex's safety in a direct confrontation with the heavily armed warships, Jacaerys made the calculated decision to recall his dragon through their mental connection, content with the destruction already wrought.
With the battle now concluded, it was time to clear the battlefield and assess the spoils of war.
One of Vaemond Velaryon's officers hesitantly proposed pursuing the fleeing pirates, but Jacaerys dismissed the idea without a moment's hesitation.
Recognizing his prince's resolve, the officer wisely refrained from pressing the matter further.
After all, Vaemond's most trusted aides and personal guards had all been aboard the Queen Rhaenys—and by now, they had either perished in the flames of battle or been captured by the pirates.
This battle had cost House Velaryon dearly: three large warships and two medium-sized vessels were lost, and nearly eight hundred men were either dead or missing.
The losses were severe, to say the least.
However, these losses mainly belonged to Vaemond's forces, while Jacaerys' own troops had suffered only minimal casualties.
At the same time, the rewards of victory were just as remarkable.
Three of the enemy's largest warships had been reduced to ashes, along with at least twenty to thirty smaller vessels. Meanwhile, four large warships had been captured intact, alongside more than ten medium and small ships.
As for enemy casualties—
Preliminary estimates put the number at 1,600 dead and 500 taken as prisoner.
By the time dawn broke over the horizon, neither Bloodstone Island nor Grey Gallows Island would possess the naval strength to set sail and challenge House Velaryon's fleet in open combat.
With control over both the skies and the seas, House Velaryon had now firmly established its dominance over the Stepstones.
But for Jacaerys, the greatest reward of all was the trait points that Vermex had earned.
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[Pet Name: Vermex
Owner: Jacaerys Velaryon]
Length: 13.97 meters (550 inches)
Weight: 6,407.53 kilograms (14126.18559 Pounds)
Unlocked Trait Slots: 2/2
Trait Quality (Upgradable): Gluttonous (Green) – Increases appetite by 20%, growth rate by 20%, Agile (Green) – Increases agility by 20%
Current Trait Points: 10,238
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Vermex had grown in both size and weight, but Jacaerys barely spared those details a glance.
What truly caught his attention was the five-digit trait points total.
This was a harvest—no, an enormous harvest!
When he had left Dragonstone, he had possessed only 2,500 points.
Yet, in just over a month in the Stepstones, he had accumulated nearly 7,500 more.
If he had relied solely on the passive daily gain of two points from Vermex's feeding, it would have taken him around ten years to amass this amount.
This proved that leaving Dragonstone had been the right decision.
After taking a moment to steady his excitement, Jacaerys turned his gaze toward the new changes on the trait panel.
He had seen the option to upgrade trait quality before, back when he first gathered 1,000 points.
But now, it had evolved further—he could spend 10,000 points to upgrade a green trait to blue.
The price was steep, but the benefits would undoubtedly be significant.
However, Jacaerys' attention was drawn instead to another option: unlocking a new trait slot.
[Spend 5,000 points to unlock a new trait slot and receive a randomly generated trait!]
Spending 10,000 points to enhance a single trait would either make Vermex even hungrier and grow faster or refine his agility.
Yet, in the short term, neither of these would significantly boost the dragon's combat capabilities.
By contrast, if he spent 5,000 points to unlock a new trait slot, he would still have enough points left to reroll for a desirable trait.
Additionally, he could still spend 1,000 points afterward to ensure it reached green quality.
After carefully weighing his options, Jacaerys made his choice.
[Cold-Blooded Killer (White): Increases damage against humanoid creatures by 10%]
The newly unlocked trait turned out to be rather underwhelming.
For a dragon, slaughtering weak humans was as simple as a swipe of its claws or a breath of dragonfire.
There was no real need to increase damage against them.
However, Jacaerys found the nature of this new trait intriguing.
If it could increase damage against humanoid creatures, then what about…
A thought struck him, and without hesitation, he began spending 100 points at a time to reroll the trait.
During the process, he cycled through several previously seen traits—Cowardly, Fragile, Clumsy—each as worthless as the last.
He also came across some new ones, like Dieting (reduces food consumption by 10%) and Cold Adaptation (reduces frost damage by 10%).
Then, on the eleventh reroll, the exact trait he had been hoping for finally appeared.
[Dragonslayer (White): Increases damage against dragon-type creatures by 10%]
This was it!
In the era of the Dance of the Dragons, what mattered most?
Was it manpower? The size of one's territory?
No. It was dragonriders and their dragons.
Aemond and Vhagar had always been a sword hanging over Jacaerys' head.
For years, he had trained Vermex with Aemond as his imagined opponent.
And now, this trait was the countermeasure he had been desperately searching for against Vhagar.
Without a moment's hesitation, Jacaerys selected the Dragonslayer trait and immediately upgraded it to green quality.
[Dragonslayer (Green): Increases damage against dragon-type creatures by 20%]
The Dragonslayer trait was an absolute game-changer for dragon-on-dragon battles.
However, it did not directly increase Vermex's overall combat prowess.
With that in mind, Jacaerys turned his gaze toward the 500 kneeling prisoners, packed tightly on the decks of three captured warships.
Unlocking Dragonslayer had cost him 7,100 points, leaving him with a balance of 3,138.
If he could harvest another 2,000 points, he could unlock an additional trait slot.
No—he needed an extra 1,000 points for rerolling and another 1,000 for upgrading the new trait.
Would he really sacrifice 400 living prisoners to strengthen Vermex?
That was…
Absolutely worth it!
The Kingdom of the Three Daughters' main fleet still had around twenty to thirty thousand troops, and each Free City held at least several hundred thousand people.
Enough! Time to focus on the task at hand.
Having made up his mind, Jacaerys ignored all the voices warning him about the dishonor of executing prisoners, the ill omen of slaughtering captives, and the potential harm to his reputation.
He coldly ordered Rudy's squad to select twenty prisoners at random and lead them to a makeshift execution platform, crudely assembled from broken shipwrecks.
The prisoners seemed to understand what was about to happen.
Some fought back desperately. Others hurled curses at him, spitting venomous words. Some collapsed, trembling, their pleas for mercy swallowed by the crashing waves.
Above them, Vermex hovered, utterly indifferent to their final moments.
With a single breath of searing dragonfire from him, their bodies were instantly reduced to charred husks, the acrid scent of burning flesh thick in the salty sea air.
[Trait Points +140]
Huh? What was this?
He had executed twenty enemies—so why had he only received points for fourteen of them?
Was his system panel taxing his earnings?
..
..
[IMAGE]
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[Chapter End's]
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