Chapter 45: Testing the System
"When will the new commander of the Blackwing Company be chosen?" Ian asked.
"Clubfoot is already on his way back. They should reach our base by this evening. Then Ser Harrison will send word to all nearby company captains to return. That'll take at least two weeks, and the actual selection won't happen for at least a month." Dorian considered before answering.
"I don't have a month to wait." Ian frowned. "You said your position in the company is third at best—so who are the top two?"
"Clubfoot Kelvin and Ser Harrison. Clubfoot is my adoptive father's right hand and second-in-command. Most of my adoptive father's loyalists will back him. Ser Harrison represents another faction in the company—after all, he provides our headquarters."
"So if we have both their support, there's no need to go through the formal selection process, correct?" Ian immediately identified the key point.
"In theory, but I'm afraid it won't be that easy."
"I'll handle the difficult parts. You go get ready." Ian ordered Dorian and his three men directly. "We'll depart soon and try to reach Ser Harrison's castle before nightfall."
Seeing Ian's determination, Dorian stopped objecting, bowed briefly, and left with his men.
"Ser Grayson, you and your men will all accompany me. The deployment at the inn stays unchanged. Abandon control of the Kingsroad and focus solely on the inn for now. Dennet will command."
Ser Grayson also obeyed and departed.
Ian then dismissed Jeyne with a glance, leaving only himself and Roll in the room.
"All right, time to test this." Ian planned to use Roll for the first experiment.
After all, according to the system's design, the NPC rewards weren't robots, and Roll was a native of this world.
If Roll's request didn't trigger a quest, he'd find someone else to test on.
"Well, let's start simple." Ian handed a gold dragon to Roll. "Repeat exactly what I'm about to say. If you can help me clean these cups, I'll pay you this gold dragon as a reward."
"If you can help me clean these cups, I'll pay you this gold dragon as a reward." Roll didn't ask why, simply picked up an empty cup from the table and handed it to Ian.
Ding! A notification sounded in Ian's mind, and he quickly closed his eyes to check the system.
[Quest Trigger: Wash Cups
Quest Objective: Clean Roll's cups.
Quest Reward: 1 Gold Dragon
Additional Reward: Unknown]
[Accept (costs 1 point)] [Reject]
"Holy shit, it actually works?" Ian's face lit up with delight.
"Ser? What in seven hells is happening?" Roll finally couldn't contain himself. His curiosity was always more intense than other fanatics.
"You can think of it as some kind of religious ritual," Ian said with a smile as he clicked "Reject." With a ready-made explanation, he didn't need to invent one.
As expected, Roll simply bowed his head reverently and stopped asking questions.
"Now, use this gold dragon as a reward and ask me to help find the Blackfyre restoration treasure." Ian continued.
"If you can help me find the Blackfyre restoration treasure, I'll pay you this gold dragon as a reward." The second time through, Roll seemed much more comfortable with the process.
[Quest Trigger: Blackfyre Restoration Treasure
Quest Description: A bandit company known as the 'Whitewalls Ghosts' has been operating near Whitewalls. They're said to be searching for the wealth Lord Butterwell hid to launch the Second Blackfyre Rebellion. Roll hopes you can help him find this treasure.
Quest Reward: 1 Gold Dragon
Additional Reward: Unknown]
[Accept (costs 1 point)] [Reject]
"Excellent!" Ian clenched his fist. "It really exists!"
[Accept]
[Optional Quest 2: Blackfyre Restoration Treasure
Quest Objective: Find the Blackfyre restoration treasure.
Quest Reward: 1 Gold Dragon
Additional Reward: Unknown]
[Current Points Remaining: 12]
The Blackfyre restoration treasure! At minimum, it's Lord Butterwell's fortune—how much would that be worth? Fifty thousand gold dragons? A hundred thousand?
Ian didn't hope for a larger figure. After all, no matter how wealthy Lord Butterwell was, he was still just a Riverlands lord, not House Hightower of Oldtown.
Wait. Ian patted his chest to calm his excitement. He suddenly realized the exploit he'd discovered might be too powerful.
After all, the trigger mechanism for optional quests was absurdly simple. Just find someone and have them make a scripted request, and it would trigger.
If players exploited this to gather intelligence, wouldn't it be devastating?
You could issue a quest to capture multiple players in a location and simply observe whether it triggers to determine how many players are actually there.
Then by narrowing the quest's scope, you could pinpoint players' exact locations.
Thinking this through, Ian shook his head. After securing his kill, he'd successfully escaped the threat of the leaderboard assassination system, forgetting the initial terror the developer had inflicted on him.
Given how devious the developer is—possessing maybe 70% of my own cunning—how could such a fatal exploit exist?
Could this be another trap?
"All right, let's continue." Ian said, suddenly alert and intending to keep testing. "If you can help me travel to King's Landing and duel Lord Eddard Stark, I'll give you this gold dragon."
"King's Landing? I imagine the Lord of Winterfell is probably..."
"Don't worry about it, just do as I say," Ian interrupted Roll.
"If you can help me travel to King's Landing and duel Lord Eddard Stark, I'll give you this gold dragon."
Ding! The system notification chimed again.
[Quest Trigger: Challenge Eddard Stark
Quest Objective: Find Lord Eddard Stark in King's Landing, challenge him to a duel, and defeat him.
Quest Reward: 1 Gold Dragon
Additional Reward: Unknown]
[Accept (costs 1 point)] [Reject]
Damn it! Ian's face darkened instantly.
This garbage system not only triggered the quest but failed to correct the false information! Using the system to gather intelligence was a trap set for players!
"Okay, one more test." Ian decided to throw the system a curveball. "If you can help me find the Scourge Cultists hiding in the North and eliminate them, I'll pay you this gold dragon as a reward."
"If you can help me find the Scourge Cultists hiding in the North and eliminate them, I'll pay you this gold dragon as a reward." The confusion in Roll's eyes deepened.
[Quest Trigger: Scourge Cultists
Quest Objective: Find the Scourge Cultists hidden in the North and eliminate them.
Quest Reward: 1 Gold Dragon
Additional Reward: Unknown]
[Accept (costs 1 point)] [Reject]
"..." Really doesn't validate anything, does it? Ian pinched the bridge of his nose.
His plan to use the system for intelligence gathering had completely failed.
Well, looking on the bright side—after completing this test, at least I won't be like some clueless players who blindly trust the quest descriptions like idiots, or even undertake impossible quests, right?
(End of Chapter)
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