Although Duke Ned had granted him a suit of armor earlier, for the purposes of the tourney, this armor was not outstanding.
Especially in terms of protection, thickness was sacrificed for the sake of being lightweight, so it needed to be reforged no matter what.
Although Jon had already made up his mind to only participate in the archery contest under the premise of ensuring his survival.
But being prepared for anything is the nature of those who follow the "way of the苟" (gou - staying low/surviving). Anyway, no matter how heavy the armor is, only the warhorse will suffer. The transmigrator can naturally add more creative modifications to it.
Among them, what gave Gendry the biggest headache was not the overlapping lames, nor the polishing treatment on the chin.
But a bracket extending from the left chest requested by Jon.
As a qualified blacksmith apprentice, especially after working in King's Landing for many years, Gendry had mastered all the necessary skills.
During his service in the shop, he had forged armor for noble knights more than once and secretly forged many gadgets for himself.
But no matter which knight, whether they fought on foot or charged on horseback, the requirement for the integrity of the breastplate was always the top priority and primary choice.
And the device Jon mentioned would not only affect the protective nature of the armor but also likely become a catching point for the opponent's lance in the joust.
However, since the master had spoken, the squire naturally couldn't say much.
Ignoring Gendry's doubts, Jon naturally had his considerations.
If he participated in the joust, wanting to win the championship meant he was destined to fight the Mountain.
For now, this was tantamount to courting death.
In contrast, archery was much safer. Moreover, he had a "killer move," so he would definitely stand out in this competition and securely win the reward of twenty thousand Gold Dragons.
As the tourney officially kicked off, the entire King's Landing was instantly ignited.
Even King Robert, who had always been lazy in governance, sat at the highest point of the viewing stand every time, admiring the heroic postures of the participants.
Although the commoners were blocked outside and could only climb to the treetops or on top of buildings to watch from afar, this did not hinder the bards from loudly proclaiming the exciting moments of the tourney in the taverns.
In addition, the dark underground gambling dens located in King's Landing were also extremely active, opening bets on the results of the competition one after another.
However, as for which knights could stand out, people had already reached a conclusion.
All because Ser Gregor Clegane, the Mountain, was also impressively listed!
After all, even King Robert had said that even in his youth, he might not necessarily be able to defeat the Mountain.
Therefore, people turned their attention to the runner-up and the archery contest.
However, dark horses were far from as rare as people expected.
In this archery contest, more than one expert stood out, with the shadow knight Dontos, who wore a full helmet and armor and covered his face, being the most famous.
People discussed it spiritedly for a time, especially since rumors had long leaked from the channel selling slots that this masked Dontos was impressively a young junior.
As for the Dontos people spoke of, it was naturally Jon without a doubt.
Although looking at the entire Westeros, there were countless archery experts who surpassed his ability, by relying on the modified bow stand, Jon had already used mathematics and "hard work" to mark the bullseye in advance.
The only deviation was another eye-catching guy, and that was Ser Loras from the Reach.
This extraordinarily handsome noble actually participated in two competitions at the same time and entered the finals for both, making the final betting situation confusing.
Fortunately, compared to the joust, the archery contest was rarely paid attention to because it was not tragic enough, and was even arranged at the back of the jousting arena, so Jon could naturally act freely.
Precisely because of his style, many participants who already lacked confidence chose to withdraw from the competition after watching Jon's skills.
By the last day of the competition, Jon had no opponents left to speak of.
He only needed to wait for Ser Loras, whose score matched his, to finish the joust first before the two could determine the winner of the archery contest.
Regarding this, Jon naturally expressed indifference and quietly chose to go watch the joust.
Previously, he had thoughts of participating in it under Dontos's name.
But thinking of the risks involved, the transmigrator finally wisely chose to give up.
At this moment, as the horns sounded continuously, excited shouts began to ring out from the entire viewing stand. Almost every watching noble bet their Gold Dragons, preparing to make a big profit from this opportunity.
Among them, the Master of Laws bet ten thousand Gold Dragons on Ser Loras, publicly expressing support for his good friend.
But unfortunately, his support did not attract the attention of others, because in yesterday's competition, the Mountain put his opponent to death with just one charge.
regarding this, almost no one cared about winning or losing anymore; instead, they changed their bets to whether Ser Loras could survive the duel.
As the mournful horns sounded successively, the noise in the stands solidified at that instant, and the knights at both ends of the track raised their lances high.
Gregor Clegane—"The Mountain"—was like an iron colossus crawling out of a hellish furnace, straddling a black warhorse draped in heavy armor and snorting white steam.
Under his inhuman weight, the warhorse appeared irritable and restless, constantly snorting and stomping the ground.
The Mountain held an oak lance thicker than an ordinary person's calf, its iron-clad tip flashing with a fierce light, almost merging with his heavy plate armor as dark as night. Only two bloodthirsty slits were revealed under the bucket helmet.
Opposite him, Loras Tyrell—"The Knight of Flowers"—seemed to be the incarnation of light.
His shiny silver armor flowed with holy brilliance under the scorching sun of King's Landing, and the exquisitely carved vines and roses fascinated all the women present.
The white horse beneath him was as elegant as an iceberg, tied with a bright green ribbon symbolizing Highgarden, its perfect posture highlighting the incarnation of a knight.
As the horn sounded again, the dead silence was instantly torn apart!
Then, the two beasts began to accelerate at the same time. Hooves as violent and heavy as battering rams trampled the earth, even making the stands tremble slightly, and the raised dust was filled with the breath of destruction.
At this moment, the Knight of Flowers' white horse was like a silver arrow leaving the string, light and swift, carrying that dazzling pure white to pierce through the dust.
The distance rapidly returned to zero amidst the thunderous sound of hooves!
Two hundred steps... one hundred steps... fifty steps!
Ten steps!
Time seemed to freeze. Countless people in the stands held their breath, their throats strangled by invisible fear.
With a loud explosion, the lances of the two knights thrust out at the same time, accurately and perfectly piercing each other's breastplates!
The huge impact caused the specially made lances to shatter instantly, and the silver-white figure was almost torn from the horse's back!
Opposite him, the Mountain just shook his head, snorting heavily as he reined in his warhorse at the end of the track.
"Lance!"
"Shield! And lance!"
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