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"When will the new leader of the Black Falcon mercenaries be chosen?" Ian asked.
"The injured are already heading back. They should arrive at our station before tonight," Dorian, the adopted son, replied after a moment of calculation. "Then Sir Harrison, the landlord, will send word to the mercenary captains at nearby stations to return. That will take at least half a day. It will be at least a month before the new leader is officially selected."
"I don't have time to wait a month," Ian frowned and then asked, "You mentioned before that your rank in the mercenary group is third at best. So, who are the first two?"
"Kelvin, the cripple, and Sir Harrison," Dorian answered. "Kelvin is the adoptive father's confidant and the deputy leader of the mercenary group. Most of the forces loyal to the adoptive father will support him. Sir Harrison is the deputy leader of the group as well, and he controls a separate faction. After all, he provided the headquarters for the mercenaries."
"In other words, as long as we have the support of those two, we can skip the formalities of campaigning for the group leader, right?" Ian quickly deduced the key point.
"Theoretically, yes, but I'm afraid it won't be that easy."
"I'll handle the difficult parts. You go and prepare," Ian ordered Dorian and his three men. "We'll leave soon, and our goal is to reach Sir Harrison's room before nightfall. We'll go to the castle."
Seeing Ian's determination, Dorian gave a slight salute and left the room with the others.
"Sir Grantham, you and your people will accompany me. The arrangements at the inn remain unchanged. We'll give up control of the King's Road for now. We'll only control this inn temporarily, with Denzel from Dornish in charge," Ian instructed.
Sir Erwuzi acknowledged the order and left.
Then, Ian gave Jenny a glance, signaling her to leave, so that only he and Rohr remained in the room.
"Alright, let's proceed with the test now," Ian said, preparing to use Rohr for the first step of the test.
Since the NPCs rewarded by the system were not bionic people, and Rohr was a native of this world, if Rohr's request didn't trigger the task, Ian would find another way to test it.
"Let's start with something simple," Ian said, handing a golden dragon to Rohr. "Remember what I say next. If you help me clean these cups, I'll reward you with this golden dragon."
"If you help me clean these cups, I'll reward you with this golden dragon." Rohr didn't ask why. He simply picked up an empty cup from the table and handed it to Ian.
Ding! A prompt echoed in Ian's mind. He quickly closed his eyes and accessed the system to check.
[Task triggered: Wash the cup]
Mission objective: Clean Rohr's cup
Mission reward: 1 golden dragon
Additional reward: Unknown
[Accept (consumes 1 point)] [Reject]
"What the hell? Is that really possible?" Ian's expression lit up with excitement.
"Sir? What are you doing?" Rohr finally couldn't hold back his curiosity. His inquisitiveness was always stronger than that of other religious followers.
"You can think of it as a kind of religious ceremony," Ian smiled, clicking 'Reject.' He already had an explanation prepared, so there was no need to make up a new one.
Sure enough, Rohr lowered his head in reverence and stopped asking questions.
"Now, for the next step. Use this golden dragon as a reward and ask me to help find Blackfire's national treasure," Ian instructed.
"If you help me find Blackfire's national treasure, I'll reward you with this golden dragon," Ian repeated. This time, Rohr seemed much more familiar with the process.
[Discover the triggered mission: Blackfire's Treasure of the Restoration]
Mission description: A bandit group known as the 'Ghosts of White Wall City' has been operating near White Wall City. They are rumored to be searching for the wealth that Earl Bartway hid to launch the second Blackfire Rebellion. Rohr hopes you will help him find this treasure.
Mission reward: 1 golden dragonAdditional reward: Unknown
[Accept (consumes 1 point)] [Reject]
"Yes!" Ian clenched his fist. "It's real!"
[Accept]
[Optional Mission 2: Blackfire's Treasure of the Restoration]
Mission Description: Find Blackfire's Restoration Treasure.
Mission reward: 1 golden dragonAdditional reward: Unknown
[Current remaining points: 12]
The Blackfire Restoration Treasure! How much could the treasure of Earl Butteraway, Lord of Whitewall City, be worth? Fifty thousand gold dragons? Or maybe a hundred thousand?
Ian didn't expect anything too extravagant. After all, no matter how wealthy the Earl of White Wall City was, he was just an Earl of the Riverlands, not the Hightower family of Oldtown.
But then, Ian paused, stroking his chest to calm his excitement. It suddenly hit him—the bug he discovered seemed much more significant than he thought.
The triggering mechanism for the optional mission was far too simple. It could be triggered by simply finding someone and asking them to make a request.
If players exploited this bug to gather intelligence, wouldn't it be game-breaking?
For instance, if a task required capturing players in a certain area, simply looking at the task's trigger would reveal how many players were present. From there, it would be easy to narrow down their exact locations.
Shaking his head, Ian realized he'd overlooked the potential danger. After all, he had successfully eliminated the threat from the assassination mechanism and the standings system earlier, which made him forget the fear the original design had instilled in him.
How could someone with seven levels of expertise in setting traps, like him, let such a fatal bug slip through?
Could this all be a trap set for him?
"Let's talk about the next task," Ian suddenly became alert, deciding to continue his testing. "If you can help me go to King's Landing and challenge Duke Eddard Stark to a duel, I will reward you with this golden dragon."
"King's Landing? I think the Lord of Winterfell is probably afraid right now."
"Don't worry, just do it," Ian interrupted Rohr.
"If you can help me go to King's Landing and challenge Lord Eddard Stark to a duel, I'll reward you with this golden dragon."
Ding! The system beeped again.
[Discover trigger mission: Challenge Ed Stark]
Mission objective: Find Lord Eddard Stark in King's Landing, challenge him to a duel, and defeat him.
Mission reward: 1 golden dragonAdditional reward: Unknown
[Accept (consumes 1 point)] [Reject]
"Damn it!" Ian's face darkened immediately.
This trash system not only triggered the task but also failed to fix the error message! Using the system to gather intelligence was clearly a trap designed for players!
"Alright, here's the next one," Ian decided to hit the system again. "If you can help me find the acolytes of the Scourge hiding in the north and destroy them, I'll reward you with this golden dragon."
"If you can help me find the acolytes of the Scourge Legion hiding in the north and destroy them, I'll reward you with this golden dragon," Ian repeated.
The confusion in Rohr's eyes deepened.
[Discover the triggered mission: Acolytes of the Scourge Legion]
Mission goal: Find the Scourge acolytes hiding in the north and destroy them.
Mission reward: 1 golden dragonAdditional reward: Unknown
[Accept (consumes 1 point)] [Reject]
"Seriously?" Ian pinched his eyebrows in frustration.
His plan to use the system to gather intelligence was a complete failure.
Well, on the bright side, at least Rohr, having completed the test, wouldn't fall for it like some other players. They might blindly trust the mission details and end up doing something wrong, thinking they'd completed the task when they hadn't.