After determining his lineage, profession, and growth path, Ivan turned his attention to the last option—the starting location.
"Where do you finally arrive?"
"Westeros, Essos, Sothoryos"
Looking at this option, Ivan couldn't help but twitch his lips. He could understand Westeros and Essos, but what was with putting Sothoryos in there?
That was a desolate, toxic, and uninhabited ghostland, where even the greatest explorers couldn't survive.
If a player started there, wouldn't that just be a true 'instant death on landing'?
After some thought, Ivan clicked on Westeros, mainly because the original work described this area in more detail, and Ivan believed that with this knowledge, he could develop better in the early stages.
Subsequently, more detailed locations were displayed.
"Crownlands, Riverlands, Stormlands, Reach, Vale, Dorne, Westerlands, North, Iron Islands, Beyond the Wall"
This time, Ivan chose the Riverlands, mainly considering its accessibility, which would allow him to Reach any competitive event as soon as he heard about it.
However, just as Ivan was about to select a specific city, the system did not display the next option.
This surprised him, as it meant the player's specific starting point was random.
This way, players who had agreed to form an alliance couldn't start in the same city. They would only be able to travel to their pre-arranged meeting point after a random landing.
Of course, this wouldn't give Ivan any advantage, as meeting up wouldn't take them more than a few days.
After confirming that the selected information was correct, Ivan clicked the confirm button.
"Please enter your name."
"Name?" Ivan repeated, then casually entered "Ian."
"Please design your appearance."
"Eh? I can even customize my face?" Seeing the preview image of a mercenary knight fully armored, holding a hand-and-a-half sword, and riding a trained horse, Ivan was stunned for a moment, then began to try modifying the knight's face.
Before long, Ivan realized that he really had no talent for face customization. The faces he created were as ugly as those in Mount and Blade.
So he placed his hope in random generation. After three minutes of effort, he finally clicked confirm on the image of a typical golden-haired Andal youth with above-average looks.
"Character creation complete."
Soon, a complete background story was presented to him.
"Background Overview:
You possess both First Men and Andal blood. (Strength +2, gain skill 'Common Tongue Speaking')
Your father was a farmer in the Vale, and your mother was a lady-in-waiting in the manor of a local landed knight.
In 281 AC (Note 1), you were born into this world as the eldest son of your family. Your father named you Ian. It was an unusually warm late winter, as if spring had arrived early because of your birth. However, at the end of the year, the cold of winter suddenly returned to Westeros, and heavy snow fell everywhere. This year was called the False Spring. (Starting funds +200 silver deer)
When you were one year old, Jon Arryn, the Lord of the Eyrie and liege of the Vale, raised his rebellion banner and declared war on the Targaryen royal family. Your father was conscripted by the local lord, took up arms, and went south, but never returned.
After the war, to pay off the debts your father incurred for equipment before the war, your mother had to sell the family mill, then took you to the knight's manor to be cared for. Your quick wit earned you the affection of the knight's wife, who arranged for you to be a study companion for her son, who was your age. (Spirit +1, gain skills 'Etiquette Basics', 'Common Language Literacy Basics')
At the age of 11, you and your young master were sent to the count's castle, where you began to learn swordsmanship, horsemanship, and jousting from the master-at-arms. Your performance was excellent. (Strength +4, Agility +4, gain skills 'Basic Swordsmanship', 'Basic Horsemanship', 'Basic Jousting')
Two years later, in a tourney, you defeated your young master and earned the right to serve as a squire to a knight of the count's family. (Strength +5, Agility +5, gain skills 'Intermediate Swordsmanship', 'Intermediate Jousting', 'Intermediate Horsemanship')
At 16, you distinguished yourself in a campaign to clear out the Vale's mountain clans. Your master knighted you after the battle. That night, you anointed yourself with the seven holy oils and completed your vigil in the sept. (Strength +10, Agility +10, gain skills: 'Advanced Swordsmanship', 'Advanced Jousting', 'Advanced Horsemanship')
Soon after, you married the daughter of the landed knight's steward. She was not beautiful, but you were deeply infatuated with her.
But on your wedding night, your former young master, drunk and accompanied by four guards, burst into your bridal chamber. With the anger of having been defeated by you, he declared that your new bride was his liege, and he would exercise his holy right as lord—the right of the first night.
However, the right of the first night, a tradition originating from the First Men, had already been abolished during the reign of the fourth monarch of the Targaryen Dynasty, Jaehaerys I, the Conciliator, at the suggestion of his queen, Alysanne.
Therefore, you regarded the other party's command as provocation and humiliation. You loudly called for your squire and friends to support you, and a fierce battle immediately broke out between the two sides.
After a struggle, you killed your former young master and his guards, but your wife and companions also died in the melee.
The battle caused a great fire, and the manor where you had spent your entire childhood was soon engulfed in flames. You had no time to spare, hastily packed your belongings (a hand-and-a-half sword without an emblem, a complete set of old chainmail without an emblem, a trained horse, 200 silver deer), and fled the Vale overnight, drifting to the Riverlands, beginning your life as a mercenary knight."
After the background story was detailed panel information:
"Ian: Strength 21, Agility 19, Spirit 1
Skills: Etiquette Basics, Common Language Literacy Basics, Intermediate Swordsmanship, Intermediate Horsemanship, Intermediate Jousting"
(PS: Reading and writing skills for the same language will directly overwrite speaking skills. Speaking skills are only displayed if one can speak but not read or write.)
"Hint: The bodies used by players are bionic humans deployed into this world by the organizers. They appear out of thin air, and the native inhabitants of this world will have no memory of the player characters," AI Annie said after confirming that Ivan had finished reading the information.
"But the system generates a reasonable background story for the player based on their custom choices. Players can acquire knowledge and memories consistent with their background, to better integrate into the world of ice and fire with their new identity."
"That's quite user-friendly, isn't it?" Ivan couldn't help but nod. This was indeed very helpful for players, after all, even the players most familiar with the original work and history would certainly have many omissions regarding the true daily life details of a certain profession in this era.
But this obviously also brought a problem, which was that it would be even more difficult for players to discover each other. If they disguised themselves well enough, two players sitting together in a tavern chatting and laughing might not even realize the other was a player.
This clearly contradicted the receptionist's statement that players would be in fierce competition or even mutual slaughter from the start.
From a planner's perspective, if he wanted players to kill each other from the beginning, he shouldn't design a mechanism that helps players hide their identities.
This was unreasonable. Ivan silently recorded this issue in his mental notebook.
"You have now completed all processes of the creation phase. You just need to click the confirm button to officially cross over," Annie reminded. "Although you cannot act before all players have completed the crossing, you can use this time to understand the complete game mechanics and the functions of the auxiliary system."
Ivan felt that Annie made a lot of sense. After all, the organizers had a rule that detailed game mechanics could only be understood after entering the game.
If he used the preparation time to analyze the mechanics, then he wouldn't waste a second after the official start.
Thinking of this, Ivan no longer hesitated and directly clicked the confirm button.
The moment he clicked it, he suddenly felt as if he was melting. His vision, hearing, and touch disappeared one after another, and the entire world turned into a vast expanse of white.
Note: 1. AC (Years after Aegon's Conquest) means 'years after Aegon's Conquest', with the coronation of Aegon Targaryen I, the Conqueror, as King of the Seven Kingdoms as year zero. It is the common calendar system in Westeros, also known as Aegon's Calendar.