Chapter 187: Main Mission Three
As for the last option, the Black Goat Temple Cavalry of Qohor, this was the second time they had appeared. Their statistics were average, and while they came with a set of Black Goat Enchanted Plate Armor, it was sold in the third-level mall for a mere 10 points.
They were basically worthless to the current Ian and were destined to once again play the role of mere cannon fodder.
Finally, Ian confirmed his choice: the Pirate King of the Stepstones.
[Kolu: Strength 34, Agility 32, Mental Strength 3
Skills: Advanced Swordsmanship, Advanced Throwing (Handaxe and Spear), Navigation Proficiency, Basic Spoken High Valyrian, Basic Spoken Common Tongue
Equipment: long sword, throwing axe, chain mail shirt]
The stats were satisfactory, but that didn't matter. The only thing Ian cared about was Kolu's proficiency in navigation.
"Where is Kolu's current location? Does he still have a ship? Or at least some subordinates?" Ian called upon the long-silent system assistant and asked a series of questions.
"Tyrosh. No. No," Anne answered, simply and curtly.
Tyrosh was one of the nine Free Cities of Essos, located on the edge of the Stepstones. The two 'no's were the answers Ian had expected. After all, every NPC he had acquired before came with no power or wealth beyond the equipment they wore.
"Why not? He's a pirate king, after all. It's not like his ship just sank, right?" Ian still had to ask. The fact that these NPCs, despite being natives of this world, possessed no power or wealth had long troubled him.
"On the eve of the competition's official start, all NPCs cultivated by the organizers relinquished their original positions, power, and property, retaining only the equipment they carried while they awaited selection by the players." This time, Anne gave a more detailed answer. "This prevents an NPC's inherent power from affecting the fairness of the competition among players."
*No wonder*, Ian nodded. *Huh. Wait a minute.*
"They gave everything up on the eve of the competition? It's only been three months since then. If I ask them to recruit their former subordinates now, is it too late?" Ian asked immediately.
"..." Anne paused, then recited the familiar line, "Sorry, I can't answer questions beyond my authority."
"That's fine," Ian nodded, satisfied. If the system couldn't deny it, it was possible.
If Kolu could reclaim some of his original men and even his ship, then this would be a massive gain.
Moreover, Rohr had mentioned training troops in the Disputed Lands; perhaps he could speak with Kolu in detail later and leverage the man's connections to expand his own advantages.
"Alright, then have Kolu wait for me in the largest inn next to the port of Tyrosh," Ian gave the instruction.
The function of sending a message to an NPC through the system was incredibly useful. Unfortunately, players could only use it once upon first acquiring an NPC, and the message could only be used to tell them where to meet or wait. Otherwise, the practical value of NPCs would be countless times higher.
After processing the settlement rewards, Ian clicked on his information page. He consumed a basic skill scroll of his choice to learn Basic High Valyrian. His tight schedule didn't allow him to learn a new language from scratch. He needed a foundation, and he could then use his spare time to practice with Daenerys or Celia until he could speak it fluently.
His updated stats were:
[Ian: Strength 35, Agility 27, Mental Strength 22
Skills: Basic Etiquette, Basic Common Tongue, Basic High Valyrian, Sword Mastery, Advanced Equestrian, Intermediate Lancer, Intermediate Skinchanger, Basic Green Seer
Attribute points: 0
Skill points: 5
Points: 191
Items: Basic skill scroll of your choice*1, Skill upgrade scroll*2, Dream copy opening scroll*1]
Only then did Ian notice his Common Tongue proficiency was listed as 'basic'. Fortunately, the Common Tongue of Westeros was identical to English from his previous life. With an IELTS score of 7.5, he hadn't yet encountered any problems with the language in this world.
Ian closed the data card, switched to the quest log, and began to review the newly updated main quest.
To his surprise, the third main quest was different from the first two, which had required him to choose one of three options. This one presented a direct series of objectives.
[Main Mission Three: Empire Building
Mission Objectives:
* Rule over 500,000 people (30 points)
* Rule over 3,000,000 people (100 points)
* Rule a city with a population of more than 500,000 (100 points per city)
* Possess 10,000 soldiers whose system quality evaluation exceeds B-rank (30 points)
* Possess 30,000 soldiers whose system quality evaluation exceeds B-rank (100 points)
* Annihilate (kill or capture) 10,000 enemy soldiers whose system quality evaluation exceeds B-rank (30 points)
* Annihilate 30,000 enemy soldiers whose system quality evaluation exceeds B-rank (100 points)
* Achieve an epic victory (automatically evaluated by the system) (100 points per victory)
Mission Rewards (can be claimed after completing all of the above, with at least one epic victory and one city of 500,000 people): 1,000 points
Note: The city occupation mission can only be settled the first time a qualifying city is captured.]
The first main quest sought wealth, the second a title, and the third sought a kingdom. *This difficulty spike is entirely in character for the game's sadistic designers,* Ian couldn't help but think.
However, the mission was surprisingly reasonable.
First, though it was called "Empire Building," it didn't require him to obtain the title of king or any such thing. Instead, it simply measured three metrics: the number of elite soldiers, the number of enemies destroyed, and the population under his rule. The objectives were straightforward, leaving players no loopholes to exploit. This made Ian wonder if the loopholes in the early missions had been intentionally left for players to discover.
Second, although the difficulty was extremely high, the rewards were worthy of the challenge. The total reward of over 1,000 points gave Ian a glimmer of hope that he could reach the 10,000 points required to declare final victory.
Exiting the quest log, Ian clicked into the points mall again.
With the arrival of a new month, the random slots in the third-level mall had been refreshed. The weirwood seed paste he had consumed before had been purchased from this section, so Ian wanted to see if he could find another treasure this month.
[A Book from Yi Ti (written in the YiTish language, who knows what's inside?): 5 points
A Large Piece of Mysterious Black Stone (a building material of unknown origin. This smooth, oily black stone mysteriously appears in every corner of the known world, wherever there are ancient wonders): 5 points
Ice Spear (a spear made of ice that does not melt at room temperature): 30 points
"The Evolution of Weapons and Warfare" (a book by a Citadel maester recording the military history of Westeros over tens of thousands of years. Although the final conclusion is that there was almost no development, it's still quite interesting, no?): 30 points]
"Uh..." Ian's mouth twitched. This month's selection seemed rather lackluster. They were all items that seemed interesting at first glance but were ultimately useless.
"That's all for now." Ian chose not to buy anything and exited the system.
When he left his room and came out onto the deck, the sky outside had brightened. The sun rose from the eastern horizon, casting a faint glow upon the clouds.
Watching the *Kiss of the Breeze Goddess* round the last great bay, Ian knew they had finally sailed clear of the Port of Pentos.
The difficult voyage against the wind was over.
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