The next day, before dawn, Castle Black's common hall was already packed with people.
The fire in the fireplace burned brightly, but it did nothing to dispel the heavy and oppressive atmosphere in the room.
All the officers of the Night's Watch who could attend were gathered here.
Only the First Ranger, Benjen Stark, was absent.
Bowen Marsh, the Chief Steward, Ser Alliser Thorne, the Master-at-Arms, and several other stewards responsible for logistics and defense, were all present.
Their faces were grim, their eyes sunken, clearly indicating a sleepless night.
The events of last night had completely shattered their comfortable illusions.
Lynn also sat at the end of the long table.
This would have been unthinkable before.
A so-called deserter would have no right to attend a meeting of this level.
But now, no one raised any objections.
Alliser Thorne didn't even dare to look Lynn in the eyes.
He just stared grimly at the tabletop in front of him.
Jeor Mormont sat at the head of the table.
He had changed into clean clothes, but the purplish finger marks on his neck were still alarming, silently testifying to the danger of the previous night.
No trace of fatigue could be seen on Mormont's face.
A never-before-seen fire burned in his sharp eyes.
"You all know what happened last night," Mormont's voice was exceptionally steady.
"Othor and Jafer Flowers, they became monsters."
"They feared neither blade nor pain."
"They… had become the legendary wights."
The two words "wights" made everyone in the room instinctively tense up.
Even those who had witnessed it firsthand felt shivers of fear when the Lord Commander uttered the word himself.
This was a fear etched into the bones of First Men, a fear that had lasted for thousands of years!
"This is not a story, nor a legend."
Mormont's gaze swept over each person's face.
"This is a fact."
"Beyond the Wall, our enemies are no longer those savage Wildling Tribes who eat raw meat and drink blood."
"But the Others, and the army of wights they lead!"
The room was dead silent.
Only the heavy breathing of the people remained.
"How many men do we have?" Mormont suddenly asked.
The plump Bowen Marsh opened the ledger in his hand.
"Lord Commander, including our brothers at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea and Shadow Tower, we now have less than a thousand Night's Watchmen who can bear arms."
"A thousand men?" Mormont gave a self-deprecating laugh.
"A thousand men to guard a three-hundred-mile-long Wall."
"It sounds like a joke."
Bowen Marsh thought for a moment and said, "We need more men, more weapons, more supplies."
"We must immediately send people south to ask for aid from the King, the Warden, and the various lords!"
"Aid?" Alliser Thorne sneered.
His acerbic nature seemed to have returned.
"Do you think those fat, complacent nobles in the south will believe us?"
"Those lords, they'll just think we're a bunch of madmen whose brains have frozen, telling old ghost stories to swindle resources!"
"They don't even take the Wildling Tribe threat seriously; do you expect them to believe in Others?"
Though Thorne's words were harsh, they were true.
The glory of the Night's Watch had long faded.
In the eyes of the southern nobles, they were nothing but a band of criminals and bastards exiled to the end of the world.
"Then what should we do?" Bowen Marsh asked anxiously.
"With just these thousand men, how can we possibly stop those monsters?"
Silence fell upon the room once more.
A sense of despair began to spread among everyone.
Just then, "We can."
A calm voice broke the suffocating silence.
It was Lynn.
All eyes instantly focused on him.
He had already performed a miracle, and he was the first to confirm the existence of wights.
He had the right to speak.
"We can?" Thorne sounded as if he had heard the greatest joke.
"Lynn, have you killed so many Wildling Tribes that you've lost your mind?"
"Do you know what you're saying?"
"I know." Lynn stood up, calmly meeting everyone's gaze.
"I know we are few, I know we lack weapons and supplies."
"But we also have our advantages."
"What advantages?" Thorne retorted.
"We understand our enemy."
Lynn's gaze swept over everyone present.
"At least from now on, we understand them better than anyone in the south."
"We know they can't be killed easily, and we know they are incredibly strong, and more importantly…"
Lynn paused.
"We know how to kill them."
He pointed to the flickering flames in the fireplace.
"Fire."
Lynn then patted the valyrian steel dagger at his waist.
"And, dragonglass and valyrian steel."
Maester Aemon's aged voice slowly rose: "Ancient scrolls do indeed record that dragonglass, and valyrian steel forged with dragonfire, can inflict fatal damage upon them."
Everyone's faces showed a thoughtful expression.
"So, what we need to do now is not send people south to beg for aid that will never materialize."
Lynn walked to the map, his finger tracing across the vast lands north of the Wall.
"But to take the offensive."
"Take the offensive?" Mormont's brows furrowed.
"Lynn, you mean…"
"We can no longer be passive as before."
Lynn's voice became firm and powerful.
"We must send out our most elite Ranger teams, deep beyond the Wall, to search for traces of the Wildling Tribe, for clues of the Others, for anything that might be useful to us!"
"For example, the miraculous items bestowed by the Old Gods beyond the Wall."
"For example, uniting Wildling Tribes willing to ally with us against the Others."
Hearing about uniting the Wildling Tribes, everyone present's expression changed.
But due to Lynn's status as a prophet of the Old Gods, no one dared to cause trouble at this critical moment.
Even Thorne, who usually disagreed with Lynn, closed his mouth.
These words were truly too bold.
One wrong move and it could be branded as treason.
Mormont frowned, fearing Lynn would say something even bolder, and quickly stopped him.
"Lynn, the grievances between the two sides have accumulated for thousands of years; let's put this aside for now and not mention it again."
Lynn knew Mormont was protecting him out of kindness, and he wasn't disheartened, nodding.
It would be perfectly fine to unite when the Night King marched south.
He was merely giving everyone a heads-up and didn't expect to persuade them all at once.
Lynn's gaze finally fell on the area marked "Haunted Forest."
He was deliberating his words, not speaking for a long time.
The others didn't make a sound, quietly waiting for Lynn to continue.
Combining the frostheart grass he had previously obtained with the Wildling Tribe leader's human skin map, perhaps the marked point on the map was the origin of the miraculous plants bestowed by the Old Gods!
However, Maester Aemon said that frostheart grass only had a strong effect the first time it was consumed, otherwise Lynn would truly choose to keep it all for himself.
Revealing this news was entirely to enhance his prestige among the Night's Watch.
But, benefits couldn't be given away for free.
He had to get something in return first.
Thinking of this, Lynn said, "My Lord, I know a place where the Old Gods' blessed items are produced, and I can lead people to find it!"
Everyone's breathing became rapid, even Mormont's.
This was no secret; of course, they knew!
Some could improve reaction time, some could make people incredibly strong… The reason the Wildling Tribes were so robust was also related to this.
If they could truly find the source of these blessed items, then everyone's strength would skyrocket!
The threat of the dead would also be invisibly reduced!
"Are you serious?" Mormont stood up excitedly.
Lynn nodded. "I can't guarantee it, but I have a fifty percent chance."
Fifty percent is good enough!
Just as Mormont was excited, Lynn said, "But."
Mormont knew very well what these two words represented.
It meant that what came after "but" was the real point, and everything before it could be disregarded.
Lynn pointed to his Guards.
"But if I find those herbs, my men must have priority in using them!"
"This is a prerequisite!"
"Only after they have all consumed them, can the remainder be distributed as you wish!"
Blessed items sufficient for a hundred men were no small number; after his own people consumed them, the Night's Watch might not get much benefit.
But people are ultimately selfish, and Lynn was no exception.
After Lynn said this, Toren felt so moved he almost cried.
Such a good Lord!
Where could one find another like him?
Mormont pondered for a moment, then finally nodded in agreement.
The other Night's Watchmen also expressed no dissatisfaction.
Lynn had discovered this himself, and he had men under him, fully capable of keeping it all.
Yet Lynn still revealed this secret.
It was enough to prove that Lynn was indeed a righteous man who cared about the safety of all humanity!
They admired Lynn too much to object.
Besides, consuming more of the same plant was useless.
This meant that everyone might get some benefit, so why would they object?
Only someone with a brain full of water would object!
Doing so would only make it impossible to survive in Castle Black, leading to an outcome of being scorned by everyone!
Seeing no one nitpick, Lynn nodded in satisfaction.
In the future, he planned to control Castle Black. Even if this harvest was great and benefited these people, increasing their strength, wouldn't the benefits ultimately be his own?
Thinking this way, it wasn't a loss.
"It's this; I found it in a Wildling Tribe leader's tent."
Lynn pulled out the map, made from tanned human skin, from his 懷.
He spread the map on the long table.
Everyone gathered around.
When they saw the eerie, eye-like symbol drawn in blood-red dye in the center of the map, they were all perplexed.
"What is this?" Mormont asked.
Lynn explained: "The specific location."
"This thing seems very important to that Wildling Tribe."
"I believe this location should be the source."
"And I won't hide it from you all, I found a frostheart grass."
"It should have come from this tribe!"
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