Three years later, in the year 287 AC, Witte and Gonsol arrived at Highgarden by carriage to attend the tournament hosted by House Tyrell. Of course, they weren't there to compete; they had business to discuss with Renly.
Highgarden was located between Storm's End and Oldtown. Over the past few years, Witte and Renly had communicated regularly via Raven. For more important matters, they would often meet in Highgarden to discuss things. This was also to cultivate good relations with House Tyrell, which was what Robert hoped for. There were still quite a few families in the Reach secretly loyal to the Targaryens. The task of stabilizing the southern Reach and Dorne was essentially entrusted to Witte and Renly.
Over these three years, Witte's first pursuit was the study of Ravens. Ravens were considered low-level magical beasts, and since he possessed magical power, he learned quickly. After forging a black iron ring to represent his mastery of Raven studies, he concluded his studies. He then began writing letters to his three older brothers.
In 286 AC, Robert and Cersei had a golden-haired young prince, Joffrey, and were living happily.
Stannis was still single, unmarried, but whether he had a mistress or not was unclear. His second brother replied with only a few lines each time, always asking how to increase the betting revenue of the tournaments. He wanted to be a betting tycoon.
Renly mentioned that Robert had sent a bastard daughter named Myah Stone to Storm's End for him to raise. This Myah Stone was already several years old, and it shocked him.
Witte also frequently wrote to Nymeria, expressing his longing. After all, she was his fiancée, and considering the open customs of Dorne and the fact that Nymeria was three years older than him, he worried that he might be cuckolded if he wasn't careful.
The stories of online relationships that lasted for years, where the couple never met and the man kept sending money to the woman, only to find out she was an older woman, were often reported. Now, Witte wanted to build a relationship with Nymeria first. This would reduce the risk of being cuckolded once their feelings were strong.
And then there was her sister, Tyene Sand. Because Nymeria had taken the surname Martell, she was considered the heir of the Martell Prince. Tyene had also officially become Nymeria's squire and was learning to concoct poisons with her father, Martell, threatening to poison Witte if he ever treated her sister poorly. The little girl didn't know anything.
He heard that Oberyn had gone to the Eastern Continent to be a mercenary and hadn't been seen for a long time. He didn't know if it was true, but could he still be called the Red Viper if he wasn't out and about?
The second thing he crafted was the copper ring: medicine. Using common sense from the later ages, he astonished the scholars of the Citadel. Things like sterilizing with strong liquor, using catgut sutures, blood typing methods, and disease isolation. That year, scholars across the land began to stock strong liquor and surgical supplies, and the mortality rate of the wounded was greatly reduced.
The third thing he crafted was the gold ring: economics. The economic system in this world was too simple. He wrote a tournament economics model that fascinated the scholars. He couldn't let other people know about the ways to make money for himself.
The fourth thing he crafted was the white steel ring: metallurgy. With the system's forging technology talent bonus, he gained a lot of experience while forging the white steel ring.
He made a treadle-type belt pulley machine, similar to a modern sewing machine but not as precise. The hammer and grinding wheel could be used to process jewelry, and the Citadel and Storm's End were now producing them in small quantities, as demand wasn't high.
The fifth thing he crafted was the bronze ring: astronomy. Witte had majored in mechanical engineering in his previous life. He created the 24-hour timekeeping method and time measurement algorithms of later ages, and combined them with his mechanical engineering knowledge to design a 24-hour clock. The timekeeping methods in Westeros were very primitive. Except for the scholars who could measure large seasonal changes, people still lived their lives by the sunrise and sunset.
Witte had given the blueprints to the Citadel for free. The Citadel immediately established the local time using the meridian standard and then, leveraging its connections, contacted lords from various regions to fund the construction of clock towers within their cities. The Citadel would then dispatch an astronomer to calibrate the clock towers daily.
Now, every capital city had a clock tower, and the practice was gradually spreading to other cities. The Citadel was highly motivated by the profits from construction and operation, and apprentices studying architecture, metallurgy, and astronomy frequently sent Witte meat as a gesture of gratitude.
Of course, these large clocks were of the most primitive mechanical design; otherwise, Witte wouldn't have given the blueprints to the Citadel. Witte's plan to make money involved clocks small enough to keep at home.
Since he hadn't yet developed a quartz timekeeping mechanism, the clocks needed to be manually adjusted daily, so he needed the Citadel to popularize clock towers first. Trying to do it himself would take years; the Citadel had the connections.
This trip to Highgarden was to sell the first batch of home clocks produced at Storm's End to the Tyrell family; this was the real business for Witte and Renly.
Being a mage was expensive, and Witte and Renly had come to realize this recently. Witte's advanced magic and Renly's intermediate magic were no longer something they could just read about and cast; they needed auxiliary equipment to experience the flow of magic during practice, and this equipment had to be made of Valyrian Steel to contain the magic.
Although his current forging skill couldn't create Valyrian Steel, he could still reforge it. The magic auxiliary equipment wasn't magical items, but rather devices that conducted magic, similar to laboratory equipment in the later ages.
According to Dr. Sergud's book, "Inventory," there were an estimated thousand weapons like Valyrian Steel swords and daggers that were circulated during the late Valyrian Dynasty. In Westeros, there were 227, along with a few other damaged magical artifacts, and some knives, forks, and jewelry.
Let Renly have people search the continent for fragments of Valyrian Steel to be sent to the Citadel, where Witte would reforge them into magical auxiliary items. After Witte tested them, he would write down his thoughts and send them back to Storm's End for Renly. It wasn't until one day when Renly was distributing monthly profits to the staff at Storm's End, and the steward announced that there was no money, that Witte and Renly began to think of ways to make money.
Highgarden, as the capital of the Reach, had the most beautiful surroundings. The white castle was surrounded by fields and flowers, and many golden roses. The city walls were in a three-layered form, a series of concentric circles.
The first and second layers contained various residences and meticulously maintained plant mazes. Without a guide, one couldn't find the city gates. Many fortresses of this era adopted this maze structure to increase the difficulty of a siege.
Going further in, one entered a huge garden, courtyards, fountains, artificial waterfalls, marble corridors, and stone carvings. It truly deserved to be the most beautiful castle in the Seven Kingdoms. Storm's End, belonging to the Baratheons, looked like a large prison compared to Highgarden.
However, the Tyrells' rule didn't have the most legitimate origins, and many of their vassals were unhappy.
About 300 years ago, Aegon the Conqueror burned the entire family of the old king of the Reach. The Tyrells, as stewards, opened the city gates and surrendered. Aegon then made the steward the Duke of Highgarden and Warden of the Reach. The other nobles were immediately displeased. They had soldiers and supplies, and they were nobles. Why should a steward like Tyrell become the Duke of Highgarden? But they dared not act because of Aegon's strength. Afterward, the Tyrells could only rely on constant marriages and the distribution of benefits to consolidate their position.
Garlan Tyrell was welcoming them at the entrance of the hall. The little chubby boy had lost some weight. His brother had also given him a nickname: Garlan the Gallant.
"Ser Witte, Uncle Gonsol," Garlan greeted the two men.
Having eaten some of the bread and salt from the nearby attendant's plate, Witte asked,
"You've gotten stronger, Garlan. How many pounds is your training sword now?" Witte's strength was now comparable to an adult's. Every time he came to Highgarden, he could easily defeat Garlan, and the little fat boy was very impressed with Witte.
"I can now wield a 5-pound sword for a whole morning."
"Where are Duke Mace and the old lady?" Although they were relatives, etiquette demanded they first visit the hosts when visiting someone else's home. Gonsol saw many Reach nobles gathered in a large group on one side of the hall, but he didn't see the two of them, so he asked Garlan.
"Father and Grandmother are right in the hall. Renly has already arrived, and Grandmother asked me to bring you over." Garlan said, leading the two through the crowd.
Squeezing through the crowd to the inner circle, they saw a clock about one and a half meters tall placed against the wall on one side of the hall. Beside it stood the elegantly dressed Renly, who was introducing its features to Mace and Olenna. "The entire clock is made of fine sandalwood. The dial is crafted from twelve inches of pure silver, and each numeral is inlaid with pearls, making it extraordinarily luxurious."
Renly then opened the side of the clock face, revealing the intricate mechanical structure of the clock, which was considered incredibly precise for this era.
"The real essence is inside," Witte said, "All designed and made by me personally. It can run continuously for twenty days with an error of no more than one second."
Each detail drew gasps of admiration from the nobles gathered nearby.
Olenna and Mace spotted Witte and Gonsol approaching. They simply greeted them with, "We'll go to the study later," clearly captivated by the clock.
....
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