Chapter 47: The Whole House Ascends—At This Very Moment!

As the moment for the grand plan's launch drew ever closer, the Valyrian Peninsula had entered a state of semi-military control.

In the heart of the Freehold, slave miners who worshiped the Many-Faced God had begun a massive excavation project in the Valyrian Mountains. Groups of fanatical followers bustled about like ants, digging trenches one after another atop the sacred Fourteen Flames. In response to public objections, the Dragonlord Council brushed them aside with vague claims that it was merely the second phase of the Fourteen Flames' development.

Those privy to the truth of the grand plan understood all too well: what was unfolding was merely the final stage of perfecting the Source Alchemy Array.

Not only had the surface of the Fourteen Flames been thrown into chaos, but even the intricate network of mine shafts—originally carved out for the extraction of burning steel—had been interconnected and repurposed as part of the alchemy array.

For thousands of years, Pan and the Dragonlord Council had used mining as a cover to quietly inscribe the array's patterns into the inner structure of the Fourteen Flames.

Every action proceeded in an orderly manner, fully under the control and will of the Dragonlord Council.

The Council's summons had stirred countless wanderers outside the Valyrian Peninsula to return to their homeland.

Seated atop the dome of House Targaryen's main fortress, Aegon gazed into the distance and saw scenes of daily celebration playing out both inside and beyond Valyria. Wealthy merchants and nobles who had returned seemed eager to flaunt their riches, as if reveling in the glory of their triumphant return home.

In the gladiatorial arenas on the city's outskirts, savage duels raged without pause, day and night.

It seemed as though Valyria's slave stockpiles—accumulated over millennia—were being exhausted within just a few years. The brutal and bloody scenes of slaves being used up were almost unbearable to witness.

Yet, driven by the influence of the gods they worshiped, the slaves accepted the suffering inflicted upon them by the Valyrians as if it were a divine offering.

Aegon sat silently atop the fortress, watching the Valyrians lose themselves in indulgence and revelry. Once again, he found himself repeating the words he'd once spoken atop Bloodsource Peak in a past life:

"This cruel pleasure will end in cruelty."

Time marched forward without pause, and the days slipped by.

Aegon's favorite pastime now was to bring a bottle of fine wine to the top of the fortress and quietly watch the Valyrians revel. When night fell, he would return to the Emerald Dream to spend time with Daenys.

Research into the bloodline synthesis technology had come to a temporary halt.

Aegon's remaining Destiny Points were few, and he needed to reserve several hundred to deal with any unforeseen events that might arise when the Doom arrived.

Previously, when his youngest daughter departed, she had taken the 22 Life Seeds with her. Aegon had solemnly warned them: unless the family was facing a true life-or-death crisis, those Life Seeds must not be used. They contained Tiamat's [Life Code] talent, and their side effects were severe.

Amid the eager anticipation of the fourteen Dragon Pillars, the long-awaited day of the grand plan's activation finally arrived.

On a cliff overlooking the bay of House Targaryen, Aegon was in the process of sending Dreamshade away. Using the mental power of her dream ability, Daenys issued a command for Dreamshade to keep flying west.

Aegon watched as Dreamshade flew into the distance, uncertain whether it would succeed in reaching the far-off Dragonstone.

After descending the cliff, Aegon boarded a carriage driven by his elderly steward, Farlen.

Even now, Pan's attitude toward Aegon remained ambiguous.

It had started when Aegon sent his family to sea. Pan had noticed that Daenys' soul was no longer on the ice bed. Then, when he saw Aegon's ability to ride Dreamshade—a feat far from ordinary—Pan began to suspect that Aegon had discovered his secret.

But the grand plan was already in motion; there was no turning back.

Aegon's seemingly compliant behavior had caused Pan to lower his guard slightly, and thus, no further conflict arose between them.

As the carriage traveled down the road, the occasional corpse of a slave laborer could be seen lying by the roadside, while numerous Valyrian vagrants wandered aimlessly.

With the Valyrian Peninsula's territorial waters sealed off for nearly five years, the people's livelihoods had inevitably suffered. Merchant guilds that once depended on exporting goods to the eastern continent of Essos had since collapsed and gone bankrupt.

The Dragon's Treasure Guild, once run by Aegon, had been quietly relocated to Meereen, a Free City in Slaver's Bay. All other branches of the guild had been cut, leaving only the slave trade, now entirely managed by the loyal steward, Ramon.

Ramon answered only to the head of House Targaryen. The Dragon's Treasure Guild had become a family asset of the Targaryens.

Aenar was now relying on the slaves brought by Ramon to accelerate the construction of Dragonstone.

The carriage rolled slowly into Valyria, where the city still retained its former grandeur—crowded and vibrant as ever. With the immense economic foundation it had built up over thousands of years, the Freehold seemed more than capable of weathering a few years of isolation with little difficulty.

As the carriage continued on, they passed through the Freedom Shield in the northern district and entered the region surrounding the Fourteen Flames.

Waiting as promised at the entrance to the Fourteen Flames was Tallasya, the female knight who rode a white King-tier Dragon. She sat quietly, awaiting their arrival.

Ever since Aegon's wives had departed over the past few years, nearly all of the Destiny Points he had earned came from missions carried out alongside this woman named Tallasya.

Aegon climbed into the saddle of Tallasya's dragon, then gave a gentle wave to his old steward Farlen before flying off.

Farlen stood watching as the last member of House Targaryen disappeared from sight, and a tear slipped from the corner of his eye. In truth, from Aegon's subtle hints—and from Daenys' dragon dreams—he had long since pieced together the fate awaiting Valyria.

Today, Farlen had deliberately donned a fresh butler's uniform. After dutifully serving Aegon on this final journey, he would return to the main stronghold of House Targaryen, close his eyes, and quietly await the end.

The white King-tier Dragon soared through the peaks of the Fourteen Flames. Looking down, Aegon saw that the Valyrian Mountains had been completely ravaged by the slave miners. Crisscrossing rune-carved trenches stretched across the mountains like glaring, open wounds.

And that didn't even account for the mines deep within the mountains—now fully connected into one massive network. The entire mountain range was scarred and devastated beyond recognition.

Seeing Aegon's gaze fixed on the rune trenches, Tallasya let out a light laugh.

"Digging out those trenches wouldn't have been possible without help from the Many-Faced God. He lured those slaves into working themselves to death—literally. Just during excavation alone, more than a million died.

Back then, even when we lashed them with whips, we couldn't get the slave miners to lift a finger. Just goes to show—faith really is a strange and powerful thing."

Aegon simply shook his head.

"Something even stranger is about to begin."

Tallasya knew he was referring to the grand plan and burst into laughter.

"Haha! We true dragons may not be able to achieve immortality like you Dragon Pillars, but just by extracting Dragonblood from the common Valyrians, we'll get to live for several hundred more years. That's one hell of a profit!"

Aegon just smiled faintly and shook his head again.

Before long, they arrived at the Deep Pit Abyss.

The place had undergone a drastic transformation. Numerous steel pipelines had been newly installed, stretching outward through the rune trenches, twisting and turning into the distance as if without end.

The inner pipelines, meanwhile, extended straight down into the depths of the abyss.

Once the white dragon landed outside the Bloodsource Abyss, Aegon dismounted and joined Tallasya on a specially constructed slide, descending slowly into the abyss together.

After dropping several thousand meters, Aegon stepped off the slide and found himself once more in the banquet tower where he had previously met with the council members.

He pushed open the door of the Blackstone Tower and entered the banquet hall, which was as lavish and decadent as ever.

The fourteen council members—or rather, the Dragon Pillars—were in high spirits, raising their glasses and toasting each other in a lively, raucous atmosphere. As soon as Aegon stepped in, the head of House Edderion let out a hearty laugh, holding two glasses filled with deep crimson wine, and strode directly to the door.

Aegon reached out and took one of the blood-red goblets.

"Cheers."

Clink! With a clear chime, the two men downed their drinks in a single gulp.

At that moment, Pan's figure emerged at the front of the banquet hall. His expression was solemn as he declared:

"The Source Alchemy Array is now fully excavated. The true dragons have returned to the peninsula.

The time has come for our bloodline to ascend!"