"Lord Linde, you should change into a set of leather armor, preferably with a leather jacket underneath," the Old Bear said, frowning as he looked at Lynd, who was wearing fallen knight armor among the Ranger team. "You're dressed too lightly, and you're wearing steel armor on the outside. If you go Beyond the Wall like that, you'll freeze to death in no time."
"Commander, do you believe in the Seven Gods?" Lynd, riding on Black Wind's back, smiled and asked the Old Bear.
"I believe in the Old Gods," the Old Bear replied.
"When you pray, do the Old Gods answer you?" Lynd asked again, then, without waiting for the Old Bear to answer, continued, "When I prayed, the Seven Gods answered me. He told me that the cold would stay away from me, and the Eternal Winter Land would be like a Highgarden garden to me."
As Lynd spoke these words, the Seven Gods believers among the Rangers behind him instinctively made a gesture of prayer. Seeing this, Jeor Mormont's face couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, revealing a strange expression.
In just seven days, Lynd had already become an object of worship for the entire Night's Watch at Black Castle. Most Night's Watch members who believed in the Seven Gods firmly believed he was the Seven Gods' human incarnation. This was the effect of him spending most of his time in the library.
However, Jeor Mormont had to admit that Lynd was an extremely charming person. If he were a dozen years younger, perhaps he would also worship Lynd as much as these young men at Black Castle.
Because when Lynd displayed that god-like strength, everyone knew those rumors were true. Hundreds of well-trained Night's Watch brothers were as fragile as blades of grass. In just dozens of breaths, all the Night's Watch brothers fell to the ground. This was the result of him using an unsealed training sword. If he had used the two legendary magic Greatswords of Lost Country Knight he wore at his waist, it was likely that everyone who fought him would have already died.
Whether they participated in the martial arts tournament or not, the Night's Watch members now faced Lynd with nothing but worship. If Lynd were to stay at the Wall for another ten days or half a month, Jeor Mormont believed that the entire Night's Watch would become Lynd's private army.
With a command from the complex-minded Jeor Mormont, the Black Castle's passage gate slowly opened. The Rangers entered one after another, with Lynd and Glory walking at the back of the team.
The moment he entered the Wall passage, Lynd was constantly checking the status of the Dragon Rune, feeling the power contained within the Dragon Rune becoming complete. At the same time, as the Dragon Feast Rune in his heart recovered its power, it also caused the power generated by the Dragon Feast Ritual to begin a more complete transformation of Lynd's body.
Lynd only felt his blood boiling, as if his blood was burning, and a large amount of evil thoughts surged in his heart, wanting to slaughter everything in front of him.
For this, he had to take out several Dragon Rune necklaces and wear them, while also using the Ice Dragon Rune to cool his body.
The convergence of hot blood and cold air made him like a steam engine, constantly emitting hot air from his armor.
Fortunately, the Wall passage was pitch black. Apart from the torches in the Rangers' hands, nothing else could be seen clearly. Although a few Rangers occasionally looked at Lynd, they did not notice anything unusual about him.
As the three iron bars were opened, the Rangers had already passed through the middle section of the Wall passage, effectively entering Beyond the Wall.
The anomaly in Lynd's body gradually subsided after passing through the middle section of the Wall. He felt that his physical fitness and extraordinary strength had greatly improved, as if he had completed another Dragon Feast Ritual. Moreover, the powers from the previous Dragon Feast Ritual that had not yet been fully digested were now completely integrated into Lynd's body. Theoretically, he should be able to perform another Dragon Feast Ritual.
But that was only in theory. What happened just now made Lynd realize that his previous two Dragon Feast Rituals had not been fully utilized at all, and a large amount of ritual power was sealed within the Dragon Rune, just like the Dragon Rune on the Lost Knight's Greatsword.
This time, he was lucky enough that the power of the first Dragon Feast Ritual, which took a year to digest, did not accumulate with the power of the second Dragon Feast Ritual. Otherwise, he might have fallen into the danger of losing control just now.
Therefore, before completely confirming that the power of the Dragon Feast Rune in his heart had been fully digested, he should not perform a third Dragon Feast Ritual. Now he also understood why, in the memories of the Lost Country Knight, they were so cautious about using each Dragon Feast Ritual.
Although there was a small accident of losing control, Lynd gained a lot of benefits. At least now he felt that his combat power was no weaker than a formal Lost Country Knight who had completed the Dragon Feast Ritual for the first time.
After his body's abnormal state subsided, Lynd tried to use his extraordinary vision to see the situation inside the Wall, but all he saw was a vast expanse of magic, like looking at a ball of light from a close distance. Then he tried to borrow Glory's eyes.
But after completing the visual sharing, his eyes were pitch black. Feeling puzzled, he exited the visual sharing, turned to look at Glory, and found that Glory was completely closing his eyes and walking forward with his head down. Clearly, the Wall's magical light was too stimulating for him.
Seeing this, Lynd did not force Glory to open his eyes, giving up on observing the magical mysteries of the Wall from within.
Soon, light could be seen penetrating from the gap of the drawbridge at the exit ahead of the passage. The Rangers quickened their pace and arrived in front of the drawbridge. As the Ranger guarding the drawbridge raised it, the Rangers, who had had enough of the dark environment, eagerly rushed out.
"Where do we go next?" Lynd also emerged from the passage and asked Benjen Stark, who was leading the team.
"We'll go to White Tree Village first to rest for a night, then go see our Night's Watch friend Kraste, to see if he has any news of the Savage Tribes. After that, we'll stay at Kraste's fortress for two days and patrol the surrounding Ghost Shadow Forest," Benjen Stark quickly answered Lynd's inquiry, telling him their itinerary.
Although Benjen Stark was not like the other Seven Gods-believing Rangers, who worshipped Lynd like a devotee, he still held Lynd in great reverence. And this reverence stemmed from an earlier period, back when Lynd participated in the martial arts tournament.
Lynd thought for a moment and said, "I'll go with you to Kraste's fortress, then we'll separate. I'll go further north to take a look. If your patrol mission ends and I haven't returned, you can go back yourselves! After I've resolved my matters, I'll return to the Wall on my own. It's just that, at that time, you'd best inform the Rangers guarding the passage, so as to avoid any misunderstandings when I return."
"Yes, my Lord," Benjen Stark nodded and then asked, "Do you need a guide?"
Lynd smiled and said, "No need. I might know Beyond the Wall better than you Rangers now. Who knows who will be whose guide."
Benjen just smiled, not taking Lynd's words seriously, thinking he was joking.
Under Benjen's command, the Ranger team began to advance towards White Tree Village. After crossing a snowfield, they entered the Ghost Shadow Forest.
After entering the forest, Glory seemed to regain his wildness and quickly disappeared from sight. Through visual sharing, Lynd knew he was chasing an elk.
After entering the Ghost Shadow Forest, the Rangers became silent. They vigilantly observed their surroundings, as if someone might ambush them from behind the bushes at any moment. Some experienced Rangers had already tightly wrapped themselves in cloaks. Although the inner layer of the cloaks could not block steel arrows, it was enough to block the Wildlings' bone arrows.
On their first day as Rangers, their predecessors had told many stories of Wildlings lurking on Ranger patrol routes, ambushing unsuspecting Rangers, and told them what to do if they didn't want to be the next example heard by new Rangers.
However, these so-called experiences were not particularly useful. When ambushed, no matter how well prepared, those destined to die would still die. These so-called experiences only made them feel a little better.
Compared to the caution of these Rangers, Lynd, who was following behind, was clearly more casual, feeling more like he was on an outing.
Not to mention that Glory, wandering around, could detect any humans attempting to approach, Lynd's extraordinary perception, which had also improved with his physical fitness, could also easily detect abnormal movements in the surroundings.
However, Lynd did not tell the Rangers about his abilities, but rather let them follow their usual training. This kind of patrol training would undoubtedly allow new Rangers to better integrate into this perilous environment.
Although White Tree Village was marked on the map as being very close to the Wall, as if it would only take about ten minutes to reach White Tree Village after entering the forest, the actual distance between the two places was very far, feeling even further than the journey from Queenscrown to Black Castle.
Moreover, due to the blizzard a few days ago, the snow in the forest had already exceeded a person's height, and it was all soft, loose snow. Once stepped on, both person and horse would sink halfway in.
Although the lead was an old Ranger who could easily find suitable walking paths in the forest, he had no solution for the entire forest being covered in loose snow. He could only slowly push forward through the loose snow like a bulldozer.
The team crossed the ridge of a small hill, passed through several dense woods, and even walked over several small rivers covered by ice and snow.
By one of the small rivers, they found an abandoned Savage Tribes camp. From the condition of the remaining items in the camp, the people in the camp did not leave in a hurry, taking all portable items with them. From the snow on top, it was not difficult to judge that these people must have left before the blizzard arrived.
Outside the camp, there was also a bonfire, and inside the bonfire were the remains of bodies that had not been completely burned. From the situation, it was possible that someone of high status in this camp, such as a leader or a witch, was burned.
The Rangers only knew that burning the bodies of the dead was a tradition of the Beyond the Wall Wildlings, but they did not know that the Beyond the Wall Wildlings did this to prevent these bodies from becoming wights.
"Something is wrong here," Benjen said, looking at the camp in front of him. "The Savage Tribes in the Ghost Shadow Forest all know that this place is too close to the Wall, within the Rangers' patrol range. They would never establish a camp here."
"Could it be a defeated tribe that fled here?" an old Ranger speculated. "Wars between Savage Tribes are very cruel. Some survivors flee in panic, running to places near the Wall, using our presence to deter the pursuing Savage Tribes from approaching."
"Possibly," Benjen couldn't be completely sure.
Lynd also made a discovery at this time, so he dismounted, swept away a pile of snow, revealing a pile of bones covered by the snow. They appeared to be human bones, but there were many teeth marks on them.
"The people in this camp must be a cannibal tribe," Lynd picked up a leg bone with teeth marks and threw it to Benjen, saying.
"Cannibal tribe?" Benjen asked with a puzzled expression after taking the leg bone, "Is it the cannibal tribe from beyond the Great Glacier?"
The others also took the leg bone and looked at it, their expressions becoming much more solemn.
Immediately after, someone else found a wooden carving in a dismantled makeshift tent. The carving depicted a strange symbol.
Seeing this symbol, Benjen's face also darkened, and he said, "Yes, it's the cannibal tribe from beyond the Great Glacier."
Someone asked in confusion, "How could a cannibal tribe cross Frostfang and come here?"
Someone answered jokingly, "Perhaps they wanted to try something new, to taste what the people east of Frostfang taste like."
However, no one who heard this joke laughed, because to them, this joke might very well be the real reason for the appearance of the cannibal tribe from beyond the Great Glacier in the Ghost Shadow Forest.
Lynd learned from the Rangers that on the west side of the Frostfang mountain range, on the Frozen Coast, lived a cannibal tribe. They had been enemies with another Savage Tribes in that area, the Walrusmen, for many years and were extremely powerful.
Now, the appearance of such a powerful tribe on the east side of Frostfang was definitely not a good thing for the Night's Watch.
The Rangers did not linger and continued to advance towards White Tree Village. Before dark, they had already reached the vicinity of White Tree Village, but they all stopped and did not continue forward, because from the direction of White Tree Village, there was thick smoke from burning damp wood and firelight, which meant there were people in White Tree Village.
This made the Rangers think of the cannibal tribe camp they had discovered earlier, so the Rangers skillfully dismounted, then each took out their weapons and stealthily approached White Tree Village.
Lynd did not participate in the battle, because Glory had already gone to White Tree Village ahead of them and saw that the people camped in White Tree Village were also Rangers.
Sure enough, after a while, laughter came from the direction of White Tree Village, followed by Benjen Stark's voice from the same direction. The Night's Watch members guarding the horses led them and walked towards White Tree Village, and Lynd followed.
"Lord Linde, allow me to introduce you. This is Mance Rayder, the Chief Ranger of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea," Benjen said, pulling a young man with long brown hair.
There is some contradiction regarding when Mance Rayder broke his vows. The information says he broke his vows before Benjen joined the Night's Watch, and that Benjen and Eddard had never met Mance Rayder. But later it is mentioned that Mance Rayder had once visited Winterfell with the Night's Watch Commander and met Eddard Stark, and also saw young Robb and Jon Snow, which clearly contradicts the earlier information.
So I simply pushed back Mance Rayder's oath-breaking a bit, making Benjen and Mance Rayder acquainted, so that the two of them would have more conflict.
One is called the Scourge of the Free Folk, the other the Bane of the Night's Watch.
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