Chapter 24: Upgrade
[Congratulations, you have completed a forbidden hidden quest (Even Death Does Not Grant Peace). You have gained the "Quasi Cannibal" trait. The system is upgraded.
[Quasi Cannibal - This person ate human flesh indirectly. Continuing this act may have severe consequences.
-10 All Attribute Points]]
As the taste of the blood slowly left my mouth, I came to my senses and realized what I had done. All I thought was taking revenge so I didn't think about the ramifications of my actions. I could have Winter do it by himself and my hands would have stayed clean but I went overboard.
However, what surprised me was what I have gained or lost as a result of my actions. The trait of "quasi cannibal" reduced my attribute points a lot and I didn't wish to see what would be reduced if it had been full cannibalism.
However, there was some good in everything as my system was upgraded but still, I didn't know what were the new features of the system and even if I asked or thought about it, the system did not give any hint. So I did the only thing I could do and opened my status screen.
[Host: Eddard Stark
Diplomacy: 16 (-11) [+/-]
Martial: 33 (-10) [+/-]
Stewardship: 22 (-10) [+/-]
Intrigue: 9 (-9) [+/-]
Learning: 9 (-10) [+/-]
Fertility: %150 [+/-]
Remaining Attribute Points: 5
Remaining Trait Points: 2]
The only thing I could say after seeing my attribute points was "fuck". It was normal for something like this to happen but to be honest, I didn't expect it. However, what surprised me was the plus and minus sign just beside the numbers. Looks like the upgraded system was allowing me to decrease and increase my attribute points at will.
This would be very beneficial to me because I gained many martial attribute points thanks to my traits and limiting it with 40 attribute points was enough because Westerosi standards were only around 35.
Another thing that caught my eye was the fertility percentage. Like the attribute points, I could also increase and decrease the fertility percentage. Honestly, that was something I wished to do since I gained "Zurvan's Blessing" which increased my fertility by a hundred percent. I mean it was all good but making children like Lord Frey was another matter. I already had six children and that was enough for me.
I was still thinking of giving Berena a child so she wouldn't think she is barren and lords wouldn't talk behind her back. Being sterile at this age was a really bad thing for a woman. However, before this upgrade, my concern was about causing her death by making another quintuplet but the upgrade will definitely help me in this matter.
I also realized I have some undistributed attribute points which I gained from killing Styr. However, I did not use them for now because I still wanted to explore the system and learn if there is anything that could be useful to me. Thus, I opened my trait list but an additional screen popped out.
[You can now sell the traits you own and gain their points back]
Now that is something very powerful. I mean being able to buy traits was godly on its own but this… I can sell all the negative traits and buy new ones with the trait points the system will give back. Anyway, time to look at my traits...
[Trait List:
[Brilliant Commander - This person is one of the best commanders in the known world. The army he leads will be a herald of victory.
+7 Martial Attribute Points
+2 Intrigue Attribute Points
Cost: 4 Trait Points]
[Heavy Infantry Leader - This person is skilled at leading heavily armoured infantry into battle. His leadership will allow heavy infantry in his command to be more skilled.
Cost: 2 Trait Points]
[Lead From the Rear - This person prefers to lead from the back, so he can get a better overall picture of the battlefield and not risk harm to himself.
Cost: 2 Trait Points]
[Formidable Fighter - This person is one of the greatest fighters in the known world, favoured by the gods and dreaded on the battlefield. Only legendary heroes can contest with him.
+5 Martial Attribute Points
Cost: 4 Trait Points]
[Temperate - This person believes in the virtue of moderation; a valuable trait in rulers and stewards. Angering him will not be easy.
+2 Stewardship Attribute Points
Cost: 2 Trait Points]
[Proud - This person is prideful of his lineage and culture, he will not allow people to undermine him. People will be wary of their words in front of him.
Cost: 1 Trait Points]
[Brave - This person never shies from personal danger, enjoying the respect of vassals but the envy of cravens. He will not be afraid of the threats against his life.
+2 Martial Attribute Points
Cost: 3 Trait Points]
[Authoritative - When this person speaks, he speaks with a natural authoritative tone. His words will hold more weight and make people listen to him.
+1 Martial Attribute Point
+1 Diplomacy Attribute Point
Cost: 1 Trait Points]
[Green Dreams - This person dreams of the future.
+1 Intrigue Attribute Point
Cost: 4 Trait Points]
[Duelist - This person is a masterful fencer and a duelist. His losing in a duel would be a miracle.
+3 Martial Attribute Points
Cost: 1 Trait Points]
[Genius - This person is blessed with a towering intellect which will be reflected in the person's attributes. Learning new things and implementing them will be easier for him.
+5 Attribute Points For All Attributes
Cost: 3 Trait Points]
[Zealous - This person burns with religious fervour and cannot tolerate heretics, infidels, or heathens.
+2 Martial Attribute Points
+15 Same Religion Opinion
-5 Foreign Religion Opinion
Cost: 1 Trait Points]
[Zurvan's Blessing - This person is blessed by Zurvan and his blood will carry the power of Gods.
+7 Attribute Points
+10 Trait Points
+100% for Fertility
Cost: 14 Trait Points]
[Master Architect - This person is one of the best builders in the world. He loves buildings, architecture and anything related to siege warfare. The things he built will be more durable and the time it costs to build will be shorter.
+1 Martial Attribute Points
+2 Stewardship Attribute Points
Cost: 4 Trait Points]
[Diligent - This person is dutiful and diligent. He is someone who works very hard and is very careful at work.
+1 Attribute Points For All Attributes
Cost: 1 Trait Points]
[Gluttonous - This person eats and drinks excessively or voraciously. He is a person with a remarkably great desire or capacity for something: a glutton for work; a glutton for punishment.
-2 Stewardship Attribute Points
Cost: 1 Trait Points]
[Cruel - This person is a sadist and takes pleasure from the suffering of others.
-1 Diplomacy Attribute Points
+1 Intrigue Attribute Points
Cost: 2 Trait Points]
[Warg - This person has the ability to enter the mind of an animal and control its actions.
Cost: 3 Trait Points]
[Quasi Cannibal - This person ate human flesh indirectly. Continuing this act may have severe consequences.
-10 All Attribute Points
Cost: 1 Trait Points]]
All good and sound but I realized something. The selling price of some traits was not the same as their buying price. I mean I bought the "warg" trait for five trait points but its selling price was three trait points.
However, I knew what I was going to sell; gluttonous, cruel and quasi cannibal. They gave me four trait points which I was going to use to buy some neat traits. After looking over my other traits to see if there is anything else I could sell, I closed my trait list and opened the system shop to look if there are any upgrades in there.
However, there was no change in the system shop except for some new traits like "attractive", "serial killer" and "bard". All of their prices were reasonable but I didn't intend to buy anything right now as I wanted to search for more useful traits later. Thus, I decided to distribute my attribute points. I gave all 5 points to the learning as I realized I was still lacking in my judging skills.
[Host: Eddard Stark
Diplomacy: 27 (+11) [+/-]
Martial: 43 (+10) [+/-]
Stewardship: 34 (+12) [+/-]
Intrigue: 19 (+9) [+/-]
Learning: 19 (+10) [+/-]
Fertility: %150 [+/-]
Remaining Attribute Points: 5
Remaining Trait Points: 6]
My attribute points were back to normal but I still had some job to do as with the upgraded system I had the choice to increase and decrease them at will.
First thing first, I lowered my fertility to fifty percent and surprisingly, one attribute point was given for every ten percent that was decreased. A smile spread to my face when I saw this. I continued by lowering my martial attribute points to forty. That gave me 18 undistributed attribute points in total.
Of course, I increased learning first by thirteen attribute points and then used the rest on intrigue. I was still a bit naive in espionage matters so I was hoping that with this increase, there would be some improvements in my decisions. In the end, my status screen looked really strong.
[Host: Eddard Stark
Diplomacy: 27 [+/-]
Martial: 40 (-3) [+/-]
Stewardship: 34 [+/-]
Intrigue: 24 (+5) [+/-]
Learning: 32 (+13) [+/-]
Fertility: %50 (-%100) [+/-]
Remaining Attribute Points: 0
Remaining Trait Points: 6]
…
I returned to the castle when the sun was rising and people were beginning their work. Berena was already awake as she was an early riser. I found her in the great hall ordering servants to prepare the table for us. She smiled seeing me and came to me with slow steps.
I kissed her from her brows and she giggled and asked, "Ned, you were always sleeping longer than me but, today, I didn't see you when I woke up. Where were you?"
I thought I would get my beautiful wife some northern flowers." I took out a posy of winter roses and gave it to her. I picked them from the glass garden while coming here as I needed some excuse for my absence.
A serene smile spread to her face as she took it and smelled iy. Then, she threw her arms around my neck and kissed me roughly.
"Ewww!" Suddenly, some noises came from our side and we parted to see who it was. I saw Rickon, Arya, Sansa and Brandon making ugly faces as they eyed us. I shooed them away with a smile as they ran to the table for their breakfast.
I turned back to Berena and tried to continue our kiss again but she stopped me by putting her hand to my face and pushing me back. I sulked as I watched her small but swaying hips leaving me behind and going to the head table.
I sighed and followed her to the head table. The table was already ready and the children were waiting for me to start. They were rather early to wake up because today, they were going to start their sword training. They were already nearing their sixth year and I wanted them to start a bit early as they were my offspring and needed to uphold my prestige.
Anyway, I filled my plate with loads of sausages and cheese as usual. However, after eating a few sausages and a few slices of cheese, I felt like I was already full. I frowned as, usually, I ate at least three times more than this.
Only then did I realize the reason why I ate so much was my "gluttonous" trait. Of course, after I sold it, I was going to eat less than usual. Seeing me stopping to eat, Berena looked at me frowningly.
"Did something happen, you are eating less than usual?" she asked.
I smiled wryly and said, "I realized I was getting a bit fat so I thought I should eat less."
She snorted, "Then you should train more, not eat less."
"I was thinking of a different sort of exercise…" I said as I caressed her leg.
She hit my hand and looked at me meaningly, "You are too rough! Last moon, I wasn't able to walk for a day."
"What if I promise to be gentle?" I grinned and asked.
"We will see that." She rolled her eyes and said.
After we broke our fast, I took the children to the yard. It was their first day in training soI wanted to be the one that gave them their first lesson.
Asha was also with them. She was a bit lonely because there wasn't anyone her age in Winterfell but Berena was trying to fill that emptiness by accompanying her in her training.
Children were excited and they were jumping around but I had to be the one that was going to crush their hopes because they were not going to begin swinging their sword right away.
...
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