Looking at the densely packed books related to dragons, Dany was almost furious to the point of bursting a lung—angry at the stupidity of the Targaryen ancestors and filled with hatred for the vile scheming of the maesters from the Citadel.
Especially when she pulled out The Dance of the Blood Dragons and skimmed through it—she felt as if she had become the mother of those twenty dragons who died unjustly.
The Dance of the Blood Dragons wasn't a scholar's historical account—it was the execution log of the "Dragon Extinction Plan."
That's right. The bloody civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, which stripped House Targaryen of its divine status and ultimately ushered in the Age of Decline, was instigated by the Citadel's maesters working behind the scenes. At least ten maesters serving top noble families at the time were directly involved.
Let's start with the cause of the Dance of the Dragons.
Two hundred years ago, House Targaryen was flourishing—not only did they have a large family, but they had also successfully hatched over twenty dragons.
Back then, the Targaryens were arguably at their peak in all of history.
King Viserys I and his first queen, Aemma Arryn, had three children, but only Princess Rhaenyra survived. Thus, Rhaenyra was raised as the heir from an early age.
Not long after, Queen Aemma died, and the King remarried—this time to a trueborn daughter of House Hightower from Oldtown, who bore him three sons and a daughter.
Despite the presence of a stepmother, King Viserys did not become a "stepfather." To strengthen his eldest daughter's claim, he not only allowed the young Rhaenyra to attend the small council but also commanded all the lords of the realm to swear an oath defending her right to succeed him.
Under normal circumstances, Rhaenyra's succession was legitimate and unquestionable—the realm had even sworn oaths.
But the new Queen came from Oldtown.
That's when the maesters' "Dragon Extinction Plan" officially began.
They didn't need to act directly. As shadowy manipulators, they easily influenced Queen Hightower to consider disinheriting the "Crown Princess."
However, Rhaenyra had done no wrong in court and was performing admirably. The King loved his eldest daughter dearly, and their father-daughter relationship was exceptionally harmonious.
So, the plan to depose the Princess failed.
But no matter—every noble house had a maester at their side. The Citadel could easily stir up a public opinion storm: rumors of discord between the Queen and the Princess, and that Prince Aegon might contest the throne with his half-sister.
In truth, it didn't mean much. The lords had sworn oaths. Rhaenyra had not erred. Even if the Queen and Princess's conflict became public, few would actually believe the heir could be replaced.
Until King Viserys I passed away. At that time, Princess Rhaenyra was at Dragonstone—a title held by the Prince or Princess of Dragonstone was virtually synonymous with heir to the throne. Yet the Citadel deliberately delayed the raven meant to inform her.
They encouraged the Queen to immediately place her son upon the Iron Throne, establishing a fait accompli. Anyone with sense knew such an act would spark civil war. After all, Rhaenyra had been Crown Princess for thirty years, and the old King had spent those decades helping her build power. She was fully prepared to rule.
To put it plainly, Prince Aegon (later Aegon II), who was forced onto the throne, had never initially wanted to usurp his half-sister's crown.
After all, Rhaenyra had held the position for so many years, and their father had always supported her. Her half-brothers had no desire to steal the throne.
But then the maesters, through the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Criston Cole, told Prince Aegon:
"You know your mother and Princess Rhaenyra have been at odds—both openly and secretly—for over a decade, don't you? Once she ascends the Iron Throne, she will surely kill your mother and your siblings. Don't doubt it. Even if you refuse the crown, Rhaenyra will still find out what happened today. Do you think she'll spare any of us who participated in this rebellion?"
And that was the truth. Aegon had already been pushed onto the throne. Even if he leapt down and ran to his sister in tears, crying that he had been forced, Rhaenyra—wanting to solidify her reign and establish her authority—would likely never let him or his mother live.
Thus, the civil war broke out, just as the maesters had scripted.
Even after the war began, the maesters didn't stop meddling.
The most horrifying incident was when mobs in King's Landing stormed the Dragonpit. Five fully grown dragons were tragically killed by axe- and sword-wielding rioters.
One passage described the event as follows:
"'Woodsman' Harb quickly mastered the technique taught by Maester Dick. Dick even gave him a top-grade iron axe forged in Qohor and sent him with the mob into the Dragonpit.
Harb did not disappoint. Syrax (a fully grown female dragon) was bound in chains. He swiftly leapt onto her neck—right at the third joint.
Our research was correct!
Syrax couldn't turn her head to breathe fire at him, nor could she shake him off. Harb was perfectly positioned at the weakest spot on the dragon's skull—comparable to a human's temple.
Shouting the names of the Seven, Harb hacked at Syrax's skull with his axe—fifteen times in total—until the bone at the so-called 'Wing Point,' named by Maester Danis, finally cracked.
Ah, no wonder dragons are legendary creatures representing the pinnacle of physical power. Even their weakest 'wing point' was tougher than steel—his axe blade was dulled.
Boiling blood and brain matter gushed out. Harb's head was instantly melted into pulp, but he fulfilled his mission and became one of the rare 'dragon slayers' in history.
Afterwards, we heavily promoted the legend of 'Woodsman' Harb, reducing the number of strikes to seven in the story.
In the tale, Harb acted as the avatar of the Seven Gods, a great hero who slew the 'demon.'
When he called upon the Stranger—the final deity of the Seven—the gods answered. They granted him divine power, allowing him to break through Syrax's scales and bones and smash into her brain."
If Dany had a physical body, she would've shattered her silver teeth in rage.
"Damn it! Damn it all!" she cursed loudly, venting her fury. It was as if the one who had been killed wasn't Syrax, but her own "son," Drogon.
Yes, the page even included a full-color illustration—Harb astride the dragon's neck, mid-swing. It was clear that Syrax had also been a black dragon.
But the more she read and the deeper she understood the truth behind the Dance of the Blood Dragons, the quieter Dany became.
Indeed, while the Citadel had schemed in the shadows and incited the Targaryen civil war, the Targaryens themselves had acted with incredible cruelty and foolishness throughout the Dance.
"Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first drive mad."
In the struggle for the Iron Throne, nearly every Targaryen became a kinslayer.
Besides the two main contenders—Rhaenyra and Aegon—several Targaryen bastards also rose up and proclaimed themselves kings. During those years, King's Landing was a place where banners changed constantly, one show ending just as another began.
The divine status of House Targaryen was completely shattered by a group of rebellious sons and disgraceful descendants.
"Why settle for being a lord when I can be king?" declared a bastard named Hugh when he claimed the crown.
Faced with doubt, he retorted confidently, "This is the right of the Conqueror—I ride a dragon, damn it!"
Indeed, in order to strengthen her own side, Rhaenyra allowed Targaryen bastards to go to Dragonstone and tame dragons. Hugh was one of them. But as it turned out, bastards were utterly untrustworthy—several ended up betraying the Princess.
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The devastating event known as the "Dance of the Dragons" that led to the dragons' downfall—two parts of the blame lie with the Citadel, five parts with House Targaryen, and the remaining three parts with the other noble houses of the Seven Kingdoms.
Had all the nobles honored their oaths like the Starks, the Dance of the Dragons would never have escalated.
Indeed, during the war, the Northmen did not break their vow to King Viserys. They always stood with Princess Rhaenyra.
Of course, having hard heads doesn't mean they were foolish. With dozens of dragons fighting, getting involved would've been suicidal.
So, while honoring their oath, their involvement was minimal—they only sent 2,000 cavalrymen south, forming the "Winter Wolves" army in support of the crown.
"A bunch of brainless idiots. Sooner or later, I'll kick you fools out of the family tree!"
Fuming, Dany muttered curses and threw the book back onto the shelf.
She then left the "dragon" section and decided to look for something more uplifting. The arcane arts of Valyria were just the thing to soothe the soul!
Just like the "Shaolin Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic" and the "Six-Meridian Divine Sword of Dali" sections were empty in the Blissful Library, the Valyrian magic section was also almost bare, with only a few scattered notes.
Dany picked up the thickest of the books and flipped through it. The author was a maester named Genny from a thousand years ago.
Genny had sold himself into slavery in Valyria and worked for the Council of Mages for fifty years, eventually learning a Valyrian magical art of "remote communication."
Yes, it was the sorcery through which archmages used magical orbs to contact city-states across the world.
The last time Dany contacted Marwyn was sheer luck. They were too close in proximity, the obsidian candle came from Valyria, and the novice, Laretha, had no awareness of magical shielding.
This sheepskin book—half as thick as a Xinhua dictionary—recorded only one spell: the "Arcane Network." It came with detailed illustrations, describing the complete process of crafting a magical orb tower.
Unlike the one-on-one, real-time communication of obsidian candles, the complete "Arcane Network" could store information and process multiple data streams simultaneously.
For example, when Dany contacted Marwyn via obsidian candle, it was strictly one-on-one. Both had to light their candles, and no other spells could be used simultaneously.
But with the Arcane Network, even if Marwyn was "offline" or thousands of miles away, Dany could leave him a message—and vice versa.
If Dany and Marwyn were chatting through the network and a third or fourth person wanted to reach her, she wouldn't need to shut their "chat window." She could multitask and converse with multiple people at once.
If Quaithe happened to call—her soul signal flickering on the wrist mark—Dany wouldn't need another obsidian candle. Through the Arcane Network, she could project her spirit directly to Quaithe's side, all while continuing other conversations.
The Valyrians' "Arcane Network" resembled a kind of magical internet. A sorcerer's mental waves acted like data streams, transmitted across vast distances in an instant.
However, in the preface, Maester Genny noted two fatal flaws of the Arcane Network:
The magical orbs must be constructed atop a volcano, maintained by the magic within molten lava.
Only a high mage with perfect lineage can craft the core spell matrix for the network's central node.
"Sigh, why is this book so thick? Hundreds of thousands of words—I'll never finish it, let alone remember everything!" Dany groaned.
To her, the two flaws weren't a problem at all. She had the perfect lineage, and Dragonstone—ancestral seat of House Targaryen—was a volcanic island. The Iron Throne could be forsaken, but Dragonstone must be reclaimed.
Dragonstone was built directly atop a volcano.
"If all else fails, I'll just take it by force!" she finally decided, gritting her teeth.
Setting down the massive tome, Dany continued to rummage.
She was right—the Citadel had brought back a large amount of meditative training materials from Valyria along with the obsidian candles.
In the Citadel's history, over a hundred scholars had studied meditative magic and left behind precious cultivation notes for future generations.
(End of Chapter)
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