Over next half month, tension between House Targaryen and House Lannister sparked constantly.
Aerys called Small Council meetings constantly, seizing every chance to target Tywin.
Tywin didn't back down, picking apart every mistake with biting sarcasm.
As if cursing other to death would end this endless spitting match.
White Sword Tower.
"Skreee—!"
Caraxes sprawled at base of tower. In front of him lay two charred sheep. He snatched one in his jaws and tilted his head back, swallowing it whole.
A squad of Dragon Guards stood at their posts, locking down White Sword Tower tight.
Like they were guarding a massive secret.
Top floor council chamber.
Fire roared in hearth. A large hand hovered over flames, feeling searing heat.
Figure turned around. It was Daeron.
Meanwhile, several people sat around a Weirwood table.
Daeron sat by window. Maester Aemon sat at his left, Ser Gerold at his right, and his teacher Tywin directly across from him.
Four Kingsguard, including Ser Barristan and Ser Jon, stood around table alongside Davos, Brynden, and Tygett.
This was a private council. One that could dictate future of Seven Kingdoms.
"This is Smiling Knight's personal stash."
Daeron slid a box forward. Inside sat seven or eight assorted gemstones, clinking crisply against each other.
Tygett's eyes lit up. His breathing hitched.
Everyone instantly noticed his reaction and shot him questioning looks.
"I— well—"
Tygett stammered, his eyes darting toward his older brother Tywin, desperately trying to hide something.
Tywin kept his face straight, but a flash of doubt crossed his eyes.
With war looming, his second brother Kevan had returned to Casterly Rock to hold down fort.
His third brother Tygett was a badass fighter, so he kept him close.
Lately, Tygett had leveled up hard. He unlocked his Vitality and his strength skyrocketed, even letting him go toe-to-toe with Jaime.
"Got a problem?"
Looking at box of gems, Tywin frowned deeply.
Daeron laid it out. "These are special gems. They have power to enhance specific physical potentials."
Box held rubies, topazes, emeralds, amethysts, and aquamarines—identical to ones he mined in Stardew Valley.
Gems packed with special energy.
"Special gems?"
Tywin was ignorant on this front. To him, all gems looked same.
Lannisters sat on gold mines. People joked they shit gold for a reason.
"Let me explain."
Maester Aemon spoke softly. He dug into his sleeves and pulled out a few letters.
Months ago, Triarchy rose back up and launched a massive invasion of Stepstones, kicking off a brutal war.
Reliable intel said it was all for these special gems.
"Islands in Stepstones discovered veins of special gems. Merchants from Free Cities and pirates from all over world are fighting like rabid dogs over them."
Maester Aemon looked incredibly grim, foreseeing a dark future.
Because any fighter who unlocked Vitality could absorb energy inside these special gems to level up specific physical traits.
Rubies boosted strength, emeralds boosted speed, topazes boosted defense—
This training path was called 'Gem Sequence'.
Among Triarchy pirates, some had already used these gems to push their bodies to insane, superhuman levels.
Kingsguard listened and frowned deeply.
Prince Lewyn, holding a unique status, asked first. "Is there no limit to absorbing this special gem energy?"
In Westeros, eating special crops couldn't intentionally boost Vitality capacity.
Why should people in Essos get to infinitely buff themselves?
"There is. There's a limit."
Maester Aemon had studied it. "A person's base Vitality and physical stats dictate how many special gems they can absorb."
"Because there's a cap, Triarchy pirates usually specialize. They pick one type of gem and min-max that specific stat to absolute limit."
If there was a limit, that wasn't too bad.
Kingsguard exchanged looks, breathing a collective sigh of relief.
"How did you find this out?"
Tywin sensed danger. Special gems could blow power scaling between two continents wide open.
Maester Aemon didn't answer.
Daeron kept it cool. "Defenders of Gullet got hit. I flew Caraxes out to bail them out and ended up catching two Triarchy pirates buffed by special gems."
One ruby-buffed, one emerald-buffed.
On choppy seas, they were pretty damn effective.
But one blast of dragonfire from Caraxes—just random AOE damage—burned them both into cripples.
They were already dead from their wounds.
Tywin frowned harder, shifting his gaze to Tygett.
Tygett confessed, "Gerion sent me a letter about gem buffs. After I unlocked my Vitality, I tested it out."
"Any side effects?"
Tywin asked, but he was looking right at his student, Daeron.
"Yes!"
Daeron was dead serious. "After using a gem buff, Vitality inside body solidifies. It turns into stagnant water. It won't grow another inch."
And you can completely forget about learning Life Frequency to use 'Enhancement' or 'Coating'.
"Then it doesn't matter."
Tywin hadn't unlocked Vitality. Looking at it like a ruthless tactician, he said grimly, "Stepstones are loaded with special gems. If Essos monopolizes mining, they're going to mass-produce an army of heavy hitters."
Westeros always got short end of stick when it came to Disputed Lands.
Once Essos takes lead in Vitality research, every coastal region in Westeros is fucked.
Hell, they might even see a repeat of First Men or Andal invasions.
Tygett jumped in. "Brother, special gems are highly liquid. Plenty of people in Reach and Westerlands are flipping them."
Tywin scoffed coldly, still pessimistic.
Anyone sitting on a gold mine knows: if you don't control digging, you're someone else's bitch.
Daeron was perfectly calm.
Actually, he was a little pumped about special gems showing up.
It all tied back to his trip beyond Wall.
'Bloodraven' Brynden passed on two key pieces of intel through Child of Forest, 'Leaf'.
First: 'Bloodraven' Brynden was Three-Eyed Raven, but Three-Eyed Raven wasn't 'Bloodraven' Brynden.
Bloodraven was running out of time.
He needed Prince That Was Promised to step up ASAP to fight off coming Long Night.
Second: With birth of baby dragons, tide of magic was surging, growing stronger every single day.
Most obvious proof was Daeron finding more and more forageables in wild. Even his three dragons occasionally caught special fish while hunting at sea.
That was unthinkable before.
Even crazier.
Over last six months, he kept hearing rumors of nobles and knights eating special crops and finally unlocking Vitality.
Even an average fighter like Tygett managed to randomly unlock it.
Every sign pointed to same thing: a new era was crashing down on them.
"And I've already perfected Life Frequency path."
Daeron was fully confident.
After getting Dark Sister back, his progress with Life Frequency resonance exploded, letting him unlock next stage.
He called it 'Life Seed'.
You use your own Vitality to mimic Dark Sister's frequency. Once they resonate, you draw it back into your body and relentlessly compress it.
Eventually, it condenses into a solid seed inside you.
This seed acts as a core for all your Vitality. It stays active but incredibly stable, making Life Frequency a permanent, passive buff.
No more holding your breath to use 'Enhancement'.
Life Seed regulates it automatically.
You could even buff your body and coat your weapon at exact same time.
Only downside? Talent requirement was stupidly high.
And during compression phase, you had to burn a massive amount of Vitality to make sure you didn't run dry and fail outright.
Daeron had eaten a Stardrop. He didn't give a shit about talent requirements.
He only had to eat a single Ancient Fruit to form his Life Seed.
Ancient Fruit: "Seeds take 27 days to mature, harvests every 7 days."
Daeron closed his eyes. Three inches below his navel, he could feel a Life Seed shaped exactly like an Ancient Fruit.
"Ancient Fruit really is an insane special crop."
He opened his inventory. A single slot held one Ancient Fruit.
He had harvested three in total.
Ate one, tossed one in Seed Maker to get a seed back, and kept third one for research.
Seeing Daeron completely unfazed, Tywin immediately thought of his eldest son Jaime learning Life Frequency.
"Daeron, have you figured out another way to level up?"
Daeron nodded. "Yeah. Totally different from Essos's Gem Sequence. I created Life Seed."
Barristan and Ser Arthur Dayne had already shown flashes of it at Tourney at Harrenhal. No point hiding it.
Unlike Gem Sequence, where literally any idiot could do it.
He broke down exactly what Life Seed could do.
"Requirements are too high."
Tywin shook his head, laying down his verdict. "Based on what you're saying, barrier to entry for unlocking Vitality has dropped, but requirements to use your method have skyrocketed."
Gem Sequence was low requirement, low ceiling—a volume game.
Life Seed was high requirement, high ceiling, but bottlenecked almost everyone.
Cost of a Valyrian steel weapon, Life Frequency training, raw talent, and a massive supply of special crops? You could buy an ocean of special gems with that and force-feed an army of high-tier heavy hitters.
"High requirements. Isn't that perfect?"
Daeron looked around room. "Every knight standing here has potential to form a Life Seed. Your future ceiling will completely eclipse those Essos pirates."
Tywin thought it over, then looked at his eldest son in his silver armor and white cloak.
Standing behind Ser Gerold, Jaime sounded confident. "Lord Commander agreed to let me borrow Valyrian steel sword 'Vigilance' to complete life resonance. I just need some special crops, and I can start compressing my Vitality to form seed."
That was half reason he joined Kingsguard in first place.
To get his hands on royal-exclusive training methods and catch up to his idol, 'Sword of Morning' Arthur Dayne.
He felt like he was right on edge of succeeding.
Finally, some good fucking news for Tywin.
"Iron Throne might have Life Seed method, but we can't ignore Gem Sequence buffing route."
Tywin's ambition was massive. He proposed, "Iron Throne needs to buy up every special gem we can get our hands on. Once news from Essos hits Seven Kingdoms, we flip them to fill royal treasury."
Maester Aemon spoke slowly. "We could also hold some back. Reward loyal vassals, boost their strength to fight off foreign threats."
Everyone knew it. Seven Kingdoms were about to pop off.
And right outside Westeros, Essos raiders were watching like starved wolves.
"Oldtown and King's Landing are busiest trade hubs. We start buying special gems there."
Daeron agreed.
Sure, he could farm gems in Stardew Valley mines all day, but he couldn't live down there.
Running a gem-flipping hustle on side wasn't a bad idea.
Daeron pushed box of gems forward, playing generous. "Anyone not aiming for a Life Seed, grab a gem and buff up."
Kingsguard aggressively shook their heads.
Prince Lewyn looked tempted, but his knightly honor beat out his greed. He passed on quick power-up.
Brynden watched whole thing play out. He plucked an amethyst from box. "I don't have gold to buy these. I'll take one to study."
That left Davos and Tygett as only two guys in room who had unlocked Vitality.
Davos wasn't a fighter. His talent was garbage. He only unlocked Vitality because of a bowl of soup.
Davos rooted through gems. "I don't have fighter stats. Gem Sequence is perfect for me. What color do you want?"
"Topaz!" Tygett answered without hesitation.
Two hit it off perfectly. Davos grabbed three emeralds, Tygett grabbed two topazes.
Smiling Knight mained emeralds, so he had farmed a bunch of them.
With box mostly empty, Daeron pulled it back.
Leftovers: one ruby, one aquamarine, two amethysts. Rubies sold high, other two were garbage tier.
Meeting was basically wrapped up.
Door suddenly pushed open. Cersei walked in carrying a tray of wine, playing cupbearer.
"Prince, try some."
Cersei poured for Maester Aemon and others first, saving Daeron for last. She held tray against her chest, giving him a deeply expectant look.
Daeron wasn't a fan of booze, but he took a sip and didn't hold back on praise. "Thank you, Cersei."
He threw her an appreciative look.
Cersei's heart did a flip. She couldn't stop corners of her mouth from turning up into a smile.
"Ahem—"
Tywin coughed, killing mood. "We still have business to discuss. You can leave now."
"Yes, Father."
Cersei curtsied slightly, looking like she'd rather be anywhere else but leaving.
Daeron waved her off.
His trip to Wall had completely changed his mindset.
Rule was simple: don't let good girls slip away, and don't waste bad girls.
Cersei had face of hottest woman in Seven Kingdoms, a killer body, and a seductive vibe.
Plus, she was currently a bit of a lovesick fangirl (without going through Rhaegar and Robert grinder, she actually had raw talent for being a hopeless romantic).
Daeron had zero reason to turn that down.
With Targaryens and Lannisters at each other's throats, taking Cersei in was a perfect way to keep his teacher Tywin on leash.
Seven Kingdoms was a literal garbage fire where everyone raced to bottom.
Tywin was a top-tier politician. There was no better tool in box.
Daeron had to use him, and milk him dry!
As for what happens after he sleeps with Cersei...
Daeron swirled his wine, asking casually, "Still no word on Rhaegar?"
"Nothing."
Tywin looked cryptic, like he was working an angle. "Dragonstone is empty. Rumors say Rhaegar and Lyanna bolted across Narrow Sea."
Daeron turned to Prince Lewyn. "With Rhaegar MIA, how is Prince Doran reacting?"
Prince Lewyn stayed quiet and shook his head.
Rhaegar's absolute dogshit move had shocked Seven Kingdoms. Even mastermind Doran Martell was paralyzed by sheer stupidity of it and was just watching board.
"Rhaegar and Lyanna elope. Where does that leave Targaryens, Starks, and Baratheons?"
Daeron condemned them out loud with venom.
But inside, he was calculating how to use this massive fuck-up to bring back Targaryen tradition of taking multiple wives.
Tywin would never let his daughter be a mistress.
Shaena—
Daeron was absolutely taking multiple wives. Old Valyria traditions were coming back.
Rhaegar already had a wife, Elia, and now he had eloped with Lyanna.
Westeros only had widows, not divorces.
House Martell sure as hell wouldn't accept a 'divorce'.
If Rhaegar wanted to protect Lyanna and legitimize their future kid, he had no choice but to push for polygamy.
This was great!
Daeron wanted a war, Rhaegar steps up to take blame.
Daeron wants polygamy back, Rhaegar steps up to take blame again.
"Big bro, this is what you owe family."
Daeron felt zero guilt. Just layers and layers of ruthless plotting.