"Now?" Jon's first reaction was to continue to the salt farm to eliminate the squatters.
Unlike the entanglement and panic he felt before drawing his sword against the Brotherhood hunter who attacked Harui, Jon no longer had any psychological burden about hunting other players.
Just as that unworthy hunter had shot an arrow into the chest of Harui's substitute without warning, and just as Harui hadn't hesitated to order his mercenaries to kill Jon once he discovered Jon was a player—this was the way of things.
The relationship between players was inherently one of life and death. Ever since they had signed the agreement and entered this world, they had become unrelenting enemies.
Although Jon still felt the urge to vomit when looking at the corpses on the ground, he understood better than ever at this moment.
If he had shown even a hint of softness or hesitation in the previous confrontation, it would now be Harui standing over his body, sighing about the nature of life.
Therefore, continuing to hunt the merchants in Salt Farm Town remained a good choice. After all, he had made a detailed plan, and now with two more knights, his chances of success had undoubtedly improved.
But for someone who already had two powerful knights and a huge investment of more than 3,000 gold dragons, was this still the most cost-effective solution? Jon suddenly questioned his own plan.
After all, his hunting strategy in Salt Farm Town targeted only traveling merchants, and he had estimated it would take a month to get just one kill—which he would have considered a success.
Admittedly, this result had seemed ideal before. As long as he earned kill points, he could gain a period of development time free from the threat of the assassination mechanism.
But now, no longer threatened by the standings, finding a way to develop quickly was most important. And if he wanted to develop, the best approach was to establish a business.
"Let's find an inn to rest for the night, and make a decision tomorrow," Jon said. He wanted to settle his rewards first and analyze the new tasks.
"If we're looking for an inn, the closest one is the Crossroads Inn. We're at most two hours' ride away," Rohr nodded. "We can rest there for the night, restock on wine and food, and then make plans."
"Crossroads Inn?" Jon's eyelids twitched when he heard this familiar name.
"Although the Crossroads Inn isn't far from here, we've already dealt with all survivors. Even if the bodies here are found tomorrow, no one will suspect us." Seeing Jon's expression, Rohr thought he was worried about discovery.
Jon shook his head and said that wasn't what concerned him.
The name had simply brought back memories.
The Crossroads Inn was where he had originally planned to hunt.
Unlike Salt Farm Town, where traveling merchants could only stay temporarily, the Crossroads Inn had a special geographical location at the intersection of four provinces. The probability of players appearing there was likely among the top three in the entire world of ice and fire (the first being Pentos, where many players sought the dragon mother. The second location Jon didn't know, as he had a habit of not listing all three).
In short, the Crossroads Inn was almost a perfect hunting ground for Jon, who had discovered a major flaw in players' starting equipment.
He had abandoned going to the Crossroads Inn and chosen Salt Farm Town because he worried he couldn't defeat players with strong force points from his previous life.
But now, he had two powerful NPCs and substantial funds.
He only needed to confirm with any mercenary captain that there were no newcomers in their team when recruiting, just as Harui had done, allowing him to safely hire fighters and gain an absolute advantage.
Therefore, the plan to hunt at the Crossroads Inn was once again on the table.
But was the cost-effectiveness still too low?
In the early stage, a player was only worth 4 points, and if Jon didn't kill them personally, only 2 points—with almost no additional benefit. Perhaps staying here for two months killing players wouldn't bring as much benefit as running a business.
Thinking this through, Jon shook his head again, rejecting the notion.
Although hunting players didn't yield many points, it denied other players the opportunity to obtain points. If he could use this strategy to reach the top of the ladder, the value of the reward resources plus the attribute points gained from hunting players might well surpass any business venture.
And even without these rewards, eliminating players in the early stage was definitely beneficial. After all, one never knew how far players might develop later on.
For example, that Harui—with the strength he had shown, had he not died but continued developing, what threat might he have posed later?
Taking advantage of their current position, the best solution was to nip as many of these threats in the bud as possible.
"We'll go to the Crossroads Inn," Jon ordered. He planned to have a good meal and a proper night's rest first.
Before setting off, Jon asked Rohr to remove his armor and let Jon ride with him, claiming he was too tired. They had captured three horses, which could be used to carry their supplies.
Of course, the real reason was that Jon needed to close his eyes to access the system interface, and he couldn't ride a horse with his eyes closed for long.
After they were on the road, Jon closed his eyes to log into the system and began reviewing his rewards.
The first thing that caught his eye was the red dot on the mailbox. Jon, who had a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder, clicked on the mailbox without hesitation and began reading the received messages in chronological order.
[Completed bounty mission 1 'First Blood'. Obtained: 3 attribute points, 3 skill points, 3000 golden dragons, and two S-level NPCs of your choice (received)]
[Successfully killed a player: gained 4 points, captured 1 point, and gained 2 extra points of strength]
[Subordinates successfully killed a player: gained 2 points, seized 1 point, and gained 1 extra point of mental power]
"Eh? The points gained from the kills are also counted as 1 point? Is this rounded up?" Jon smiled. Although 0.5 points wasn't much, free points were always welcome.
He continued scrolling through the messages.
[Achieved D-level highlight operation: gained 1 point]
"Highlight operation? How is that calculated?" Jon wondered. Hikaru had mentioned this during her explanation of the game mechanics, but he had temporarily ignored it because there was too much information to absorb.
Yet he had accidentally earned points through this mechanism.
"Highlight operations primarily refer to players making impressive decisions in planning or responding to contingencies, resulting in significant positive outcomes. The evaluation of highlight operations is based on the system's built-in AI algorithm. The highest highlight level is S, and the lowest is D," Hikaru answered Jon's question a moment later.
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You can read the advance chapters here : patreon.com/Vigilante04