With the formation of the Miracle Fleet, Miracle Port was also on the right track; even though the urban area of Miracle Port was still only a plan on paper, some merchant ships had already begun to dock and unload goods there.
Various goods were transported north from the Bone Road, through Summerhall, to Green Valley City, and then by water to various territories in The Reach.
Alternatively, they were transported south from Yronwood to the heart of Dorne, especially the scarce materials in the Dorne March area, which were greatly supplemented by the Bone Road trade route.
Cities in the Dorne March, such as Blackmont, High Hermitage, Starfall, King's Grave City, Skyreach, and others, were increasingly valuing this trade route, even forming their own merchant teams to directly trade goods at Miracle Port.
After dealing with the matters of the Miracle Fleet, Lynd handled some miscellaneous affairs, such as the personnel appointment of Ser Jason Fryed.
Most of these knights who wanted to follow Lynd were appointed to positions suitable for them, with only a few still unappointed. Ser Jason Fryed, whom Lynd favored and had him lead a team to Summerhall ahead of time, was one of them.
The reason for his non-appointment was not because Jason Fryed's ability was poor, but because several departments were interested in Jason Fryed's abilities and wanted him to serve in their department. Moroa was temporarily unable to make a decision and handed it over to Lynd to decide.
After reviewing Moroa's evaluation of Jason Fryed and the departments that had applied, Lynd finally decided to let Jason Fryed serve as the Army Instructor in the Army Camp.
Changing the military system was the first thing Lynd did after taking control of the territory. He no longer adopted the method of temporarily recruiting farmers, artisans, vagrants, and others to form an army during wartime, but instead adopted a standing army similar to a city guard. This part of the army was independent of the city guard and conducted combat training in the Army Camp every day, doing nothing else. There were a total of three thousand men.
Although doing so would significantly increase the territory's financial expenditure, the benefits were also obvious. Moreover, for Lynd, he was not short of money now.
Thanks to the Slayne People's resource map of the Red Mountains, Lynd easily found two silver mines, a small associated gold mine, as well as copper, tin, and iron mines in the Red Mountains. He also discovered an open-pit coal mine. This was only a part of the resources marked on the map, and a large portion had not yet been officially located. With so many resources as a cornerstone, Lynd could boldly implement various reforms within the territory.
The Privy Council, the Naval Camp, the Army Camp, the Circuit Court, and so on, were all established in the past year or so. Although some minor problems occurred during this process, overall, it was still very good.
Lynd spent a day reviewing all the accumulated administrative documents, large and small. In fact, because of the Privy Council, the amount of administrative work he ultimately needed to handle was not particularly large; one day was enough to complete it.
In the evening, Lynd went to the castle to check on the construction progress. On his way back to his temporary residence, he suddenly remembered Moroa's words from yesterday, so he changed direction and went to Moroa's laboratory.
"I thought you weren't coming today," Moroa said with a hint of complaint, then without further ado, she directly led Lynd to the dungeon of the laboratory.
Qyburn was already waiting outside a cell. Upon seeing Lynd, he turned and opened the cell door behind him, walked in first, and lit the braziers inside.
In the dungeon, a person was chained with iron chains. This person's physique appeared extremely strong, with exposed limbs showing bulging, taut, and firm muscles, looking like a bodybuilder from his previous life.
However, upon closer inspection, the muscles on the person's body differed from the perfect muscles of a bodybuilder. The muscles on his body were unbalanced, some very large, some very small, which not only lacked aesthetic appeal but even made one feel deformed.
"What is this?" Lynd asked Moroa.
As soon as Lynd's voice fell, the person bound by iron chains suddenly raised his head as if stimulated by something and charged towards Lynd. However, the iron chains on his body dragged him back after only two steps, preventing him from getting close to Lynd. But he still stretched his neck, opening his mouth and biting towards Lynd, as if he had a deep-seated hatred for Lynd.
Lynd, being observant, noticed that this person's pupils were somewhat abnormal. His pupils were much smaller than a normal person's, having shrunk to the size of a grain of rice.
"Wight?" Seeing this person's appearance, the first thing that came to Lynd's mind was a wight, but he quickly dismissed it, because the wounds on this person's body were still bleeding, which meant this person should be alive.
Moroa took out some powder and sprinkled it on Lynd. The person who had been attacking Lynd like a madman a moment ago suddenly calmed down, kneeling on the ground, his whole body emotionless like a piece of wood, as if what had just happened had never occurred.
"What's going on?" Lynd asked Moroa.
Moroa explained, "It's a deodorizing powder made from merfolk oil, which can block human scent."
"I'm not asking about the powder." Lynd frowned, pointing at the person in front of him, and said, "I'm asking about him."
"This guy is a thoroughly bad fellow; not only did he rob and kill, but he also dug out and ate hearts. He was just caught by the City Watch a while ago, and I requested him for my experiments," Moroa introduced the situation of the person in front of them, then looked at Lynd and said, "You promised Qyburn that some thoroughly bad fellows could be used for experiments."
"You know what I'm asking," Lynd said, somewhat displeased.
Moroa stopped teasing Lynd and said seriously, "Do you remember the Other sacrifice stone tablet and candles you had brought back earlier? This is the result of our research."
Lynd couldn't help but be stunned, asking in surprise, "You've unraveled the secret of the sacrifice stone tablet so quickly?"
"The reason it was so quick is because someone had already studied this sacrifice stone tablet before," Moroa beckoned to Qyburn, who immediately took out a very ancient-looking book he had prepared and handed it to Moroa.
Moroa opened the book, turned to a page, handed it to Lynd, and explained, "In the Age of Heroes, before the Citadel was built, Prince Peremore, the second son of King Uthor of Hightower, gathered countless wise men, teachers, priests, doctors, singers, wizards, alchemists, and others who possessed various knowledge to Oldtown, and recorded their knowledge. These recorded knowledge formed the initial foundation of the Citadel."
"Among the many visitors, there was a Braavosi from distant Qarth in the East. This Braavosi presented some ancient books to the Prince. Those books were said to come from Qarth, the first city in this world, and also the origin of all sacrifice rituals in the world. These books recorded a large number of ancient and evil sacrifice rituals."
"When the Citadel was established, these books recording primitive sacrifice rituals were sent to the Citadel for preservation and were among the earliest forbidden books. However, my ancestors still copied these books and preserved them in Hightower."
"Among my ancestors were many crazy individuals who were obsessed with these ancient sacrifice rituals and conducted many studies. Among the research materials left by one of them, there was research material on this sacrifice stone tablet. Therefore, this sacrifice stone tablet might not come from the Others, but from Qarth."
Lynd looked at the content on the page Moroa pointed out, seeing a large amount of messy and cryptic text. In the middle of these texts was an exquisite drawing, the content of which was the sacrifice stone tablet. However, compared to the stone tablet in the Other's hand, the sacrifice stone tablet in the drawing was much larger and contained more content.
Moroa then took out the four candles whose flames would not extinguish in the cold wind and said, "The candles brought with the sacrifice stone tablet are made of merfolk oil and are also one of the main materials needed for the sacrifice ritual."
"Are the merfolk you're talking about the legendary mermaids?" Lynd asked doubtfully.
"Yes," Moroa nodded.
Lynd did not ask for details about mermaids, but returned to the topic of sacrifice, saying, "Have you already performed a sacrifice using the sacrifice stone tablet according to these research contents, and then created this person?"
"Indeed, a sacrifice was performed, but this person is merely an accidental product," Moroa gestured for Qyburn to take a Myr-made glass bottle from a nearby box and hand it to Lynd, saying, "Our product after the sacrifice is actually it."
By the light of the fire, Lynd looked at the contents of the bottle with confusion. He saw a lump of flesh, but this lump of flesh was not dead; it was alive and constantly wriggling, feeling like some kind of skinned mollusk.
"What is this?" Lynd asked doubtfully.
Moroa explained, "A rabbit, a rabbit after the completion of the sacrifice ritual."
Qyburn interjected at this point, "This lump of flesh itself is not dangerous, but if some blood is extracted from the flesh and injected into a person's body, that person will immediately undergo deformation. While gaining immense strength, they will also lose all sanity, fear no pain, and attack all living things. Only by sprinkling powder made from merfolk oil on them can they be made to forget to attack."
He then looked at Moroa and said, "That powder isn't a deodorizing powder. Such a small amount of powder couldn't completely mask the scent on the body. It should be that the merfolk oil candles contain something that can restrict the sacrifice product. Lighting merfolk oil candles can also produce the same effect."
Moroa did not pay attention to Qyburn's correction of the name. She looked at Lynd and said, "This should only be one of the secrets of the sacrifice stone tablet." Then, she pointed to the book that recorded a large number of ancient sacrifice rituals and said, "If combined with this book, perhaps more secrets can be found."
Lynd listened to Moroa's words and fell into deep thought. After a long while, he handed the lump of flesh in the glass bottle to Qyburn and asked, "Is there a way to control the mutation of the blood in this lump of flesh on the human body? For example, increasing strength without deformation. Forgetting pain, but without losing sanity."
Qyburn took the bottle, thought seriously for a moment, and said, "It's possible, but it would require a large number of experiments, and they would be human experiments."
Lynd thought for a moment and said, "Dagon, Asha, and Beller are about to depart for the Stepstones. There are plenty of vicious and unforgivable pirates there. Using them for experiments would be perfectly suitable."
"You would actually agree to use many people for experiments?" Moroa looked at Lynd with interest and said, "That's not like you?"
"Do you think you know me well?" Lynd looked at Moroa and said in a calm tone, "I will not allow any experiments to be performed on innocent ordinary people, but for those who burn, kill, plunder, and commit all sorts of evil, I have never considered them human."
"Flexible justice, I like it!" Moroa looked at Lynd and deliberately nudged Lynd's arm with her chest, then returned to the main topic, saying, "If we are to continue the experiments, this place is no longer suitable. The commotion caused by this guy earlier has already made people think this place is haunted, saying nonsense like the ghosts of Summerhall have moved into this room. We need to find a more secluded and secret place to build a dedicated laboratory."
Lynd seemed to have seen through Moroa's thoughts and said, "Since you're bringing it up now, you must already have a suitable location."
Moroa didn't speak immediately, feeling that this was not the place to discuss matters, so she and Lynd walked out of the cell. Qyburn extinguished the flames behind them, closed the cage, and followed closely.
Upon reaching Moroa's office, she took down a map of the Red Mountains from a nearby bookshelf, unfolded it in front of Lynd, and said, "There's a valley in the middle of the road from the Crimson Guard River Valley to Summerhall. The prospecting team found a natural cave near that valley. There's only one mountain path leading from the valley to that cave, and the path is surrounded by cliffs. We just need to repave the mountain path and renovate the cave, and it would be very suitable as a secret laboratory."
"I have no objection to establishing this laboratory," Lynd said after looking at the location. "However, this laboratory must be supervised by the Silent Monks of the Redemption Sanctuary, and the people sent for experiments must be jointly deemed unforgivable by Bishop Hulen, Sister Melissa, and Elder Colin before they can be handed over to you."
"What? Let the Seven Gods Church supervise us?" Moroa looked unwilling.
"Only this way can we ensure you don't act recklessly," Lynd looked at the two very seriously and said, "You two are too dangerous. You actually performed a sacrifice without notifying me. Fortunately, this time it only produced such a lump of flesh and created such a monster. What if this sacrifice caused some evil force to descend upon Redemption Town?"
Moroa and Qyburn both looked nonchalant.
Lynd said in a deep voice, "Having the Church supervise your future experiments is the best choice."
Moroa could tell that Lynd would not change his mind, so she could only state her demand, "They can only supervise the experiments, but they cannot interfere with anything."
"Agreed," Lynd nodded.
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