JON IV

Two moons had passed, and Jon's life fell into a new, relentless rhythm—one dictated not by castle bells but by the System's glowing text. Fear still lingered like a cold stone in his gut, yet a burning, desperate ambition now overshadowed it. The System offered him a path, and he would walk it, whatever the cost.

His days began in the pre-dawn chill, when only bakers firing their ovens stirred. While Winterfell slept, Jon moved like a ghost across its rooftops. He'd designed his own challenging circuit: out his window, up the barracks' slanted roof, a daring leap across to the armory, then a grueling climb up the Great Keep's sheer stone wall.

The leap had once terrified him, but now, with his [Feather Fall] skill integrated, it became an exhilarating, calculated dance. The mental map burned into his mind through synchronization guided him, revealing paths invisible to others. In these solitary hours, with cold wind whipping his face, he experienced a freedom unknown on the ground.

After breaking his fast, he would head to the training yard. He no longer sparred with Robb or Theon; his style had become too different, too precise—too easy. Instead, he convinced older, more seasoned castle guards to spar with him, men whose experience tested him better than Robb's raw power. His most frequent partner was Garth, a grizzled man with a broken nose and surprising quickness, cousin to the master of horse.

"Come on then, Lord Snow," Garth would grunt, a wry smile on his face. "Let's see if that fancy dancing can stand up to a real soldier's work."

At first, they had been indulgent, but they quickly learned to take him seriously. His [Perfect Parry] skill neutralized their strength as he honed his abilities against their varied, practical fighting styles. He could now hold his own against two guards at once, his blade a blur of deflections and counters. Using superior footwork, he separated them, turning a two-on-one fight into sequential one-on-one duels. Against three, however, he still struggled.

When a third man joined, the angles became impossible. There was always a blade he couldn't see, a thrust he couldn't parry. Their combined pressure inevitably overwhelmed his defenses, forcing him to yield. Yet he knew he would reach that level soon. This frustration fueled his resolve like fire.

After the midday meal, he would retreat to where he felt he could truly advance: the library. Maester Luwin had become his unwitting mentor, guiding him through history's labyrinth. With the System's aid, Jon's mind absorbed everything. He didn't merely read about historical battles—he analyzed them, visualizing troop movements and identifying key tactical moments on maps.

When Maester Luwin showed him accounts of the Field of Fire, Jon saw beyond the simple dragon story to the tactical genius behind the victory. The combined armies of the Rock and the Reach, vastly superior in number, had planned to flank Aegon's smaller force and smash his center with a massive cavalry charge.

Rather than meeting them head-on, Aegon arranged his men in a defensive crescent, baiting the attack. Jon watched, captivated, as the System showed the allied charge beginning to break the Targaryen spear lines. Only then, with the enemy fully committed, did Aegon and his sisters take to the air.

They didn't simply burn the enemy—they used the wind, setting dry fields aflame upwind of the charging knights, trapping them in a roaring inferno of their own making. Men who escaped the flames were cut down by Lord Mooten's forces, safely positioned away from the fire's path. Never meet an opponent's strength head-on, Jon realized. Let them commit to their attack, use the environment to turn their momentum into a trap, and then strike with overwhelming force at their moment of greatest weakness.

He studied the Battle of the Trident, Robert's Rebellion's pivotal conflict. Robert's masterful, reckless charge taught how a commander's personal valor could inspire thousands. But as Jon traced the battle lines, he also saw its critical flaw: everything hinged on a single point of failure. When Robert and Rhaegar met in the ruby ford, the entire war's fate rested on their duel. Rhaegar's death instantly broke the royalist army. A centralized command is powerful, he concluded, but its leader is a critical vulnerability. Eliminate the head, and the body will fall.

He pored over accounts of the Blackfyre Rebellions, particularly the Battle of the Redgrass Field. He saw Daemon Blackfyre's devastating cavalry charge, but his attention was drawn to Brynden Rivers' cold, brutal calculus. Rivers positioned his archers, the Raven's Teeth, on the Weeping Ridge. From that high ground, they rained arrows not on common soldiers but on Daemon and his sons. Rivers recognized the rebellion was a cult of personality. Control the high ground, Jon realized. Identify and eliminate charismatic leaders to demoralize their followers.

Maester Luwin had also begun teaching him High Valyrian. The ancient language felt strange on his tongue, full of flowing vowels and hard consonants, yet somehow... familiar. He learned with a speed that left the old Maester shaking his head in disbelief—a fact Jon attributed to the System's accelerated learning protocol.

Amidst all this, his personal quest gnawed at him. He searched for any mention of his mother, any clue, but the histories remained silent. He cross-referenced them with his father's known movements during the Rebellion. Nothing. A wall of silence. He tried to gauge his father, using The Sight whenever possible, but Lord Stark's aura was always a calm, impenetrable grey-blue, his thoughts a fortress. [Intent: Stoic. Paternal.] Nothing more. The secret remained locked away.

[Status]

Name: Jon Snow

Title: The Bastard of Winterfell

Rank: 2

Experience: 200/500

Skill Points: 0

He had spent his last two skill points just days ago. After weeks of sparring with the guards, a notification had chimed: [Prerequisite Met: Defeat 50 enemies with a single weapon type.] The "enemies" were castle guards in the yard, each "defeat" a yield in practice, but the System counted every one. He immediately purchased [Blade Proficiency (Longsword)], and the change was palpable. His sword now felt like a natural extension of his arm—lighter and quicker than before.

He had grown more agile, more skilled, a blade being honed in shadows. He sensed the System was preparing him for something. He just didn't know what.

That evening, returning to his chambers from the library, the answer came. A new notification flashed into his vision, its text sharp and clear.

[New Field Test Quest Available: A Thief in the Town]

Description: A petty thief has been plaguing the merchants of the Winter Town, stealing supplies and vanishing into the night. The castle guards have been unable to catch them. This is an opportunity to test your skills in a live environment.

Objective (1/2): Identify the thief.

Objective (2/2): Subdue the thief without being identified yourself.

Reward: 150 Experience, [Ghost] Proficiency.

Jon stopped mid-hallway, his heart beating faster. This was different—not a training exercise or tower-climbing quest. This was real. It involved the town, other people, and a target actively evading capture. His first true test as an assassin. And he knew, with a certainty both terrifying and exhilarating, that he would not fail.

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[A/N]: Quick question! I've mapped out Jon's full skill tree for my own planning, but I'm curious—would you rather:

A) Discover each skill naturally as Jon unlocks them during the story?

B) Get access to a separate glossary/auxiliary chapter that breaks down the full skill tree now?

Let me know your preference in the comments. Thanks for reading and supporting the story!