The wind over Winterfell's ramparts tasted of snow and old stone, carrying with it the scent of pine from the Wolfswood.
Jon Stark — though once, in another life, he had been someone else entirely — leaned against the parapet, staring out over the courtyard. Men were drilling below, shields clashing and boots stamping in the frost.
The memories of his old world still burned behind his eyes: a world of books, steel, and strategy games. A world where Westeros was a story already written, a stage for betrayal and fire.
But here, he was no mere witness.
He was the heir of House Stark.
And he had the Path of the Knight-Lord — a cultivation system cloaked in the chivalric codes of this realm.
Where others swung swords with brute force, Jon refined his Knight's Core, drawing in the essence of steel and honor. Levels of advancement were named not in foreign tongues, but in the language of the Seven Kingdoms:
Squire's Tempering – the first stage, shaping the body.
Knight's Valor – the forging of courage and will.
Lord's Command – the awakening of one's aura to inspire armies.
High Lord's Dominion – where presence alone could cow lesser men.
Knight-Imperator – the peak, bending the battlefield to one's will.
Each stage demanded trials — not merely combat, but the mastering of justice, oath, and rule.
And Jon knew he would need it all.
Robert's Rebellion was coming. The Targaryens would fall. The North would survive.
But Jon did not plan for mere survival.
He planned for a Northern Empire — united under wolf banners, defended by knight-cultivators whose valor could shatter dragons.