The Weirwood on Crow Island was the largest Weirwood Daenerys had ever seen, nearly one and a half times larger than the one in Weirwood Square. Its enormous canopy almost completely covered the entire small island.
Beneath its moss-covered roots, exposed above ground, she could still see some broken, dried black oilstones, but the magic contained within these stones had long since dissipated.
Perhaps it was these magic-drained black oilstones that endowed this massive Weirwood with such vigorous vitality and magical fluctuations. This also led to the Citadel nurturing its unique magical creatures—black ravens and white ravens.
Upon sensing the rich magic contained within this Weirwood, Meraxes unceremoniously lay down beneath the great tree.
The ancient and abundant natural power of the Weirwood made her feel very comfortable, and here, Meraxes felt the power within her body become exceptionally active, similar to how she felt previously beneath the Weirwood on Holy Flame Island.
Daenerys, led by Scholar Ruiwen, arrived at the White Raven Tower. It was very clean, without the pungent odor typical of raven towers. Perhaps it was because not many white ravens were kept here.
"Princess Daenerys, there are a total of sixteen adult white ravens kept here. Following the method you provided, we tried it, and it was indeed effective. A few months ago, two clutches of small white ravens hatched, and a total of nine survived!"
Currently, only Ruiwen and his two young apprentices were with Daenerys, and they were the people Daenerys had arranged to enter the Citadel.
Ruiwen, through the information Daenerys secretly passed to him and the specially prepared feed, had become the person in charge of Crow Island over the past two years, thanks to his excellent rearing techniques and raven training abilities.
And after Ruiwen became the person in charge of Crow Island, he immediately opened the door for many people arranged by Daenerys to enter the academy. Almost all the apprentices on Crow Island were poor orphans he had personally selected from outside.
Therefore, to some extent, Crow Island was already under Daenerys's control.
"Oh! No wonder you became the person in charge of Crow Island so quickly. White ravens are difficult to breed, and for you to successfully raise nine of them at once is no small contribution to the Citadel!"
Although Scholar Ruiwen was not arranged by Daenerys to enter the Citadel, she had given him much help and support during his days of being ostracized and suppressed in the Citadel.
Furthermore, Daenerys had arranged for all his family members in the Riverlands to be safely settled in White Sheep Town, where they lived a prosperous life. Therefore, Ruiwen was now considered Daenerys's key supported individual within the Citadel.
As they spoke, everyone had already arrived at the place where the small white ravens were being raised. The smallest of the nine small white ravens were already much larger than ordinary pigeons. Although their feathers had not yet fully grown, and large patches of pink tender flesh were still exposed on their bodies, their bright black eyes indicated their intelligence.
Daenerys took the feed box filled with large green worms from the apprentice, picked up a plump green worm with long bamboo chopsticks, and brought it to the mouth of a small white raven.
Seeing this, the Dragon immediately opened his mouth excitedly and swallowed the green worm whole. His siblings, seeing this, also immediately squawked and pushed their way over.
Their pink mouths were wide open, eagerly awaiting Daenerys's feeding. Daenerys found using chopsticks too slow, so she simply picked up the green worms directly with her hand and fed them one by one into the mouths of the cute small white ravens.
Scholar Ruiwen and the others present were secretly amazed that Princess Daenerys was not at all afraid of the large green worms that usually made noble ladies scream.
The small white ravens' appetites were enormous now, and they quickly finished an entire box of green worms, yet they still looked at Daenerys with hopeful eyes.
Because ravens are omnivores, the apprentices quickly brought out the prepared dough feed, a mixture of pork, breadcrumbs, and eggs, and handed it to Daenerys. The dough balls were perfectly sized, so the small white ravens were quickly fed their fill.
Just then, a fat rat suddenly scurried out. Daenerys instinctively grabbed the Fire Meteor Dagger in her hand and threw it, precisely pinning it to the floor.
Looking at the still twitching fat rat, Daenerys couldn't help but grin mischievously,
"It looks like these little white ravens can have an extra meal today."
So she walked to the rat, picked up her Valyrian steel dagger, and with a few quick slashes, cut the large rat into pieces of meat. Then, she used bamboo chopsticks to pick up the pieces one by one and feed them to the small white ravens.
Perhaps it was their first taste of fresh blood, as the small white ravens seemed exceptionally excited, but the fat rat quickly filled them up.
"I see there are many rats in the Citadel. Since the white ravens like to eat them, why don't you catch more and feed them? It can both eliminate pests and feed these small white ravens!"
Daenerys joked with Ruiwen and the others as she took the dragonflame wine from Mongo to clean her hands.
At this moment, Ruiwen held a plain wooden box and handed it to Daenerys, speaking softly,
"Princess Daenerys, here are 12 white raven eggs that were just laid recently. No one knows about them except for me."
Daenerys happily took the wooden box and placed it in her satchel.
In fact, the breeding rate of white ravens is not low, but their fertilization rate is very low. Moreover, intelligent white ravens do not have strong maternal instincts; even if they lay eggs, they may not hatch them. Even if chicks occasionally hatch, they are unwilling to raise them, which is why the number of white ravens in the Citadel has never increased.
It was only after Ruiwen received the artificial incubation technology provided by Daenerys that he successfully hatched and raised nine white ravens in a few months, but that consumed nearly 50 white raven eggs.
Daenerys gently stroked her satchel, pondering to herself,
"I wonder how many small white ravens these 12 bird eggs can hatch?!"
Daenerys liked the environment of Crow Island very much, and she was also very interested in Ravenry, but even though Maester Tigris doted on her, he refused to teach her knowledge about Ravenry.
So Daenerys stayed on Crow Island for a long time today. Scholar Ruiwen was an outstanding figure in the Citadel's Ravenry, and Daenerys learned many true skills from him.
As night fell, the ravens that Meraxes had startled away cautiously returned to Crow Island. When they realized that Meraxes had no intention of attacking them, they cautiously landed on branches far from Meraxes.
When Daenerys came downstairs, content, she surprisingly discovered that the energy surging between the sleeping Meraxes and the tall Weirwood in the courtyard had intertwined.
So Daenerys immediately made a decision and said,
"I plan to rest under the Weirwood tonight. You all go about your business!"
"Ah?!"
Without explaining much, Daenerys walked directly to Meraxes, climbed onto her back, sat cross-legged, and entered a state of meditation.
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