Chapter 178: Achievement Sequence
"Hatch my first dragon," Ian said, deliberately using the word 'my'. "No matter how much of a fool Viserys was, he still had the blood of kings flowing in his veins. If my judgment about the conditions for hatching dragon eggs is correct, his blood will be a sufficient price for the birth of one."
"Before we sail to Astapor," he continued, "the dragon will be large enough to be recognized for what it is. Then, we can use it as a bargaining chip in exchange for eight thousand Unsullied."
"But how will you convince Daenerys to take a dragon egg and walk into the same flames that consumed Viserys? Surely she won't be willing to die for her brother?"
"That question does not align with the intelligence you displayed back in Pentos, Celia." Ian narrowed his eyes. "Should I reassess your value? Or should I give you a chance to prove it?"
"I..." Celia lowered her head. "I will help you convince her."
"That's more like it," Ian said with a clap of his hands. "Compared to the NPCs the system provides, isn't your greatest advantage the fact that I don't have to teach you everything?"
"Without your direct order, I would not dare to touch Her Majesty the Queen." She spoke the word "Queen" with a strange, mocking inflection. "If you suspected me of having ill intentions, my life's journey would reach its end, would it not?" Celia seemed to have grasped the limits of his tolerance, and her tone grew bold, almost sinister.
"Then before you do anything in the future, if you are not certain whether it will arouse my suspicion, you will explain it to me in advance. You will act only after you have my consent."
"Besides," Ian added, sweeping Celia up by the waist and striding toward the cabin, "do not mention Her Majesty the Queen to me again."
"What are you doing?"
"Learning Valyrian."
"Are you mad? You aren't afraid of her?" Celia growled, a note of horror in her voice.
"Of course I'm not afraid," Ian cut her off. He entered the room, tossed her onto the bed, and turned to bolt the wooden door. "I did not go to all this trouble to bring her out of Pentos just to find myself a master."
"No one in this world can be my master. Everything here is mine. This ship, the mercenaries and sailors on it, the treasure and food in the hold, the dragon eggs... you and Daenerys. All of you belong to me."
***
The next morning, Ian awoke very early, his mind perfectly clear.
He had noticed some time ago that since he began increasing his mental power attribute, he could recover a great deal of energy with only a short amount of sleep.
He glanced at Celia, who lay beside him. Her breathing was even, and she was sleeping soundly, both hands clutching one of his arms tightly. A peaceful smile graced her lips, as if she were lost in a pleasant dream.
*You certainly slept well*, Ian complained internally.
But it was to be expected. Since following him, Celia's situation was far safer than it had been. Any players who might threaten her would be dealt with by him; she only needed to worry about the threat he posed.
And she had obviously learned his boundaries. As long as she kept her cat close, stayed within his sight, and did not betray him, she had nothing to fear... at least not until victory was finally declared.
Ian gently slid his arm from Celia's grasp without disturbing her. After all, he had spent the better part of the night studying High Valyrian with her; she was truly exhausted.
*The process? The process was uninteresting. What could possibly be interesting about learning a foreign language? You lot were never this dedicated in class.*
After sitting up, Ian began his usual routine of checking the previous day's settlement report.
The number of remaining players had dropped to twenty-six. The time for the standings to be canceled and for Bounty Mission 3 to begin was gradually approaching. Then again, perhaps it wasn't so imminent. The rate of player decline had slowed to a crawl recently. If he hadn't killed two of them in Pentos, the elimination progress would have stalled completely.
After reviewing the report, Ian was about to log out of the system when he noticed several new emails in his mailbox. They certainly hadn't been there when he'd checked yesterday morning.
*But I didn't complete any tasks yesterday*, he thought, opening the emails one by one with a sense of doubt.
> [Successfully killed Viserys and achieved the advanced achievement **"Kingslayer"**.
> Earned 50 Points and 1 Mysterious Dream Scroll.]
> [Successfully stole items worth more than one thousand gold dragons and achieved the primary achievement **"Thief"**.
> Obtained 3 Skill Points, 5 Points, and 1 Basic Skill Scroll of your choice.]
> [Successfully stole items worth more than ten thousand gold dragons and achieved the intermediate achievement **"Theft Expert"**.
> Obtained 20 Points and 1 Skill Upgrade Scroll (this scroll can upgrade any skill below legendary by one level).]
His updated data card read:
> **[Ian]**
> Strength: 35
> Agility: 27
> Mental Strength: 22
>
> **[Skills]**
> Basic Etiquette, Basic Reading and Writing (Common Tongue), Proficient Swordsmanship, Advanced Equestrian Skills, Intermediate Lance, Intermediate Skinchanger, Basic Greenseer
>
> Attribute Points: 0
> Skill Points: 5
> Points: 151
>
> **[Props]**
> Basic Skill Scroll of your choice * 2
> Skill Upgrade Scroll * 2
> Dream Copy Opening Scroll * 1
*Well, now.* Ian blinked, a bit slow to react. This wave of rewards was a genuine surprise.
In his mind, the greatest gains from his venture in Pentos were Daenerys and the dragon eggs, followed by the tens of thousands of gold dragons' worth of treasure looted from Illyrio. His actions had not been mission-driven in the slightest, so he hadn't expected any extra rewards from the system.
He certainly hadn't expected the system to grant him three achievements.
And judging by the points, it seemed these hidden "achievements," which were not shown to players until they were unlocked, were the primary source of points.
The requirement to declare victory was a staggering ten thousand points. As the top-ranked player, Ian's current total was barely in the triple digits. Relying on the paltry points from main missions and killing other players to reach that goal was a pipe dream.
In comparison, grinding achievements seemed far more efficient.
With that thought, Ian decided to study these so-called achievements more carefully.
He clicked into the system's achievement toolbar and saw the ones he had currently unlocked. There were six in total: [Primary, Butcher], [Primary, 'Road to Nobility - High Promotion'], [Intermediate, 'Road to Nobility - Under One Man'], [Advanced, Kingslayer], [Primary, Thief], and [Intermediate, Theft Expert].
Ian mentally sorted these into four sequences based on how they were obtained: killing players, advancing in the Royal Council, assassinating native targets, and stealing property.
The player-killing sequence was self-explanatory.
Regarding the political promotions, if becoming Prime Minister was only an intermediate achievement, then either the sequence capped out at intermediate, or the advanced achievement required one to become king.
The assassination of native targets was his best guess for the 'Kingslayer' sequence. After all, the advanced target was a king. It stood to reason that the intermediate target might be a count and the primary a knight.
*No, not a knight.* Ian immediately dismissed the idea. The mercenary captain Kammer, whom Rolle had killed on his first day in this world, had been a knight. Since the archer who killed Viserys counted as his own kill, then Rolle's kills should count as his as well. But the system had never granted him an achievement for Kammer's death. This meant the primary level was likely for killing a lord, not just a knight, while the intermediate level was for killing a high lord, a duke or its equivalent.
Then there was the most important sequence: [Thief].
Because he had transferred Illyrio's Unsullied garrison away in advance, Rolle and the others had faced no opposition. Clearly, the system had therefore classified the loot from Illyrio's manse as 'stolen' rather than 'robbed'.
Why was this the most important? Because an achievement sequence centered on stealing seemed almost tailor-made for players who chose the thief profession at the start.
Following that line of thought, did the game designers create exclusive achievement sequences for each starting class?
If so, and if these custom achievements could also be completed by players who had chosen other professions... then he could start using the growth strategies of different classes to see if he could unlock *their* achievements, thereby gaining a massive number of points and system props.
---
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