Chapter 198: The Ship Reaches the Smoking Sea
"The Smoking Sea is just ahead, my lord. We'll be turning south now," Darren explained to Ian from the deck. "We need to bypass the entire ruins of Old Valyria and then enter the Gulf of Grief."
More than half a month had passed since Ian and his crew set sail from Tyrosh. Their ship had crossed the Summer Sea and arrived at the coast of the Valyrian peninsula.
So far, their voyage could still be described as smooth. Although they had encountered a major storm on the Summer Sea, the crisis was successfully resolved thanks to the rich sailing experience of Captains Darren Grafson and Kohruru.
During the voyage, Ian successfully used the remaining time to clear Scene Four of the Dream Dungeon. Unfortunately, he was trapped in Scene Five until the exploration time ended, and was eventually forcibly kicked out of the Dream.
The entire Dream Dungeon gave Ian a total of 4 points of Spirit and 4 points of Agility, but in his opinion, this was not his greatest gain.
Compared to attribute points, the series of high-intensity 'simulated combat' Ian engaged in during the Dream Dungeon significantly improved his fighting ability.
Furthermore, taking advantage of learning Valyrian from Daenerys, Ian further tested the optional quest exploit he had previously discovered.
Although Daenerys found Ian's request strange, she still cooperated and gave him two quests in Valyrian that should theoretically be of "Extremely Difficult" difficulty.
Due to the exploit, both quests were completed immediately and were both judged as "Easy" by the system.
At this point, Ian finally confirmed that the difficulty of optional quests was limited by the player's own 'status.'
Even if Daenerys, with the title of 'Queen,' gave him the quests, Ian, as a 'Lord' and 'Hand of the Queen,' still could not obtain a rating higher than "Easy."
Ian had to admit that, for the developers, the setting that the higher a player's status, the lower the difficulty rating of optional quests would be was indeed a very effective balancing mechanism, which could prevent players with higher status from becoming attribute monsters.
"We must detour, my lord," Darren quickly explained, perhaps mistaking Ian's silence for displeasure. "Although there's a sea in the middle of the Valyrian peninsula on the map, it's impassable.
The Smoking Sea was part of the peninsula before the Doom of Valyria. That catastrophe shattered the peninsula, flooding the sunken land with seawater. The water there boils constantly, filled with volcanoes and smoking rocks. Some adventurers have even reported that demons and sea monsters roam there."
"I've heard of the Doom, and I have no interest in the ruins of Valyria," Ian shook his head, dispelling Darren's doubts.
Of course, Ian wouldn't be so reckless as to try to cross the Smoking Sea or explore the ruins of Old Valyria.
If there really were demons or sea monsters inside, his two ships would be easy prey—and that was the best-case scenario.
If, as some theories suggested, the ruins of Valyria truly contained something like a natural nuclear reactor, filling the entire peninsula with radiation or possessing some kind of cursed power, then it would be a guaranteed death sentence.
There was indeed some evidence for the latter. For example, in 54 AC, Princess Aerea Targaryen rode Balerion the Black Dread to the ruins of Valyria and returned looking grievously afflicted (her symptoms suggested possible exposure to some form of corruption).
With Ian's consent, the Breeze's Kiss and the Deep Blue Siren turned south, maintaining a distance of approximately 150 nautical miles from land, circling the Valyrian peninsula toward Slaver's Bay.
The last few days of the month flew by, and it was the settlement day for the fourth month.
Unsurprisingly, Ian once again topped the leaderboard.
[Congratulations to the player who ranked first on the fourth month's settlement leaderboard!
Player rewards: 30 points, 3,888 gold dragons, 1 S-rank NPC of your choice (within the region)]
The rewards had improved compared to last time, although not by much, but cumulatively the leaderboard had provided him with considerable resources.
Another piece of good news was that the number of remaining players remained at twenty-six.
This meant that of the bottom three from last month's settlement, apart from the unlucky one chosen to be assassinated by the Faceless Men, the other targets had survived their assassins. If this momentum continued, he could collect leaderboard rewards for at most another six months.
Ian wasn't in a hurry to open the new S-rank card.
Although he didn't know the exact size of the system's so-called "regional area," based on experience, he'd likely draw an NPC active in the nearest city.
If he drew now, the NPC would most likely appear in Volantis or New Ghis, neither of which were on his itinerary. Therefore, Ian decided to wait until after landing in Astapor before drawing the card.
After resolving these issues, Ian called Rol into the cabin.
Since even having Daenerys as the quest giver couldn't get him any quests above "Easy" difficulty, Ian simply handed the quest-farming job back to Rol.
Soon, Ian gained two more attribute points through this month's optional quests.
He then added all of those points to his Spirit, finally breaking the 30 mark and allowing him to upgrade his Skinchanger skill to Advanced.
After the update, Ian's stats were:
[Ian: Strength 35, Agility 31, Spirit 30 Skills: Basic Etiquette, Basic Common Tongue Reading and Writing, Basic High Valyrian, Sword Mastery, Advanced Horsemanship, Intermediate Lance, Advanced Skinchanger, Greenseer Basic Attribute Points: 0 Skill Points: 2 Points: 225 Items: Basic Skill Selection Scroll ×1 Skill Upgrade Scroll ×2]
With Advanced Skinchanger abilities, Ian could now control three creatures simultaneously, including his own body.
Leaving the cabin and arriving at the cage where his falcon was kept, Ian planned his first attempt at simultaneously controlling three bodies.
However, as soon as he entered the room with the falcon, Ian looked at the sheep kept on the ship and suddenly stopped. A bolder idea rose in his mind.
Indeed, after upgrading his skills, Ian's first thought was to simultaneously control his own body, the cat monitoring Celia, and the falcon used for aerial reconnaissance, so he wouldn't have to switch back and forth between the cat and the hawk in the future.
But seeing these sheep that provided milk for the black dragon Ion, Ian suddenly wondered, why couldn't he slip into a dragon?
The inability to become a dragonrider himself was Ian's biggest constraint, meaning his only dragonrider to rely on was Daenerys. To achieve this, he also had to ensure that he and Daenerys didn't have serious disagreements on major decisions.
But what if he directly turned the dragon into a skinchanged companion?
One reason why those without Valyrian dragonlord blood cannot become dragonriders is that they cannot withstand the high temperatures. Once they climb onto a dragon's back, they will be burned by the dragon's scorching scales.
But the soul has no temperature!
(End of Chapter)
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