Chương 9: Chapter 9 Planes
"However, when Ian saw through the organizer's plot, this information instantly became the biggest card in his hand at the moment.
Now, Ian's next plan has become clear, he will change his initial characteristics and then go to approach other players in locations that are likely to be considered rendezvous points for allies.
The place where he is now is Harrenhal, so the nearest meeting point to him, likely chosen by other players, is undoubtedly the Crossroads Inn at the intersection of the north south Kingdom Avenue, the east west River Avenue, and Valley Avenue.
This intersection connects the North, the Riverlands, the Valley, and the Kingdom. Ian believes that many players will gather there, either because they've agreed to meet for an alliance or simply passing through.
The next question is how to disguise himself and, once successfully hidden, how to deal with other players upon discovery? Neither problem is easy to solve.
The first challenge is changing his initial characteristics. This idea is appealing but not easily executed.
Every piece of equipment that distinguishes Ian's appearance is essential - weapons, armor, and horses. These items are critical for his current survival. Even his choice to begin as a hedge knight was influenced by this equipment.
With only 200 silver deer on him, he can't afford better armor. In other words, changing his appearance means downgrading his equipment, significantly reducing his combat effectiveness. This could lead to encountering other players without the means to defeat them.
Unlike me, who was a civil servant in his previous life and relied solely on knowledge, many players attracted by the high bonuses were martial arts champions or experts in combat with cold weapons. Their combat experience and skills far surpass what's displayed on the game page.
Unless his average attribute is no more than 5?
"Traveling merchant!" Ian suddenly thought of this profession.
As a traveling merchant, even if the soul of the Magic Mountain or the Divine Sword Arthur Dane were put into his body, it wouldn't help, right? After all, he can't even wield a good weapon.
As soon as this idea popped into Ian's mind, clues began connecting rapidly.
Firstly, it's undeniable that the Traveling Merchant is a popular starting choice, and many players must be selecting it.
Secondly, driven by the "First Blood" mission, powerless traveling merchants won't dare to meet with potential allies, as they lack the means to kill other players and may not trust their appointed allies. Unless they recruit mercenaries, which coincidentally happens to be the most popular starting choice with the least noticeable characteristics. But recruiting mercenaries is a considerable risk, and they need to frequent places where mercenaries gather.
Therefore, traveling merchants at the start make excellent hunting targets for Ian. They lack allies and mercenaries.
But the traveling merchants who avoid their allies also provide no clues and Ian needs to look for them blindely. "No," Ian shook his head immediately, "There are still clues."
Since they can't kill others to gain points, traveling merchants can only rely on the main mission for points.
So, what is the main mission for traveling merchants?
Ian may not be able to guess the main tasks for other professions, but for traveling merchants, it boils down to running a business to make money.
Moreover, Traveling Merchants have a significant advantage at the beginning they start with a full 100 dragon gold coin!
For Ian, a task like "earning 1,000 gold dragons" is nearly impossible, but for traveling merchants, if they operate well, it's not entirely out of reach.
Therefore, those businessmen are likely to start a business, especially in the Riverlands where Ian currently resides. The Riverlands offer excellent connectivity and public security, making it an ideal place for business.
The question is, what product should they deal in? Northern fur? That's a good choice. They can buy fur cheaply in northern villages and sell it in southern cities at double the price (or even higher if they avoid customs duties).
It's a great business route, but there's a time problem. Westeros is vast, and even starting in the north, it would take at least two months to transport goods to the south. For players who might be targeted by assassins within two months, the fur trade might not be attractive.
If fur doesn't work, what about iron ore from the Western Region?
Iron ore is also highly profitable, and the business route is shorter. The distance from the Western Region to the ideal shipping point in the Riverlands or the Reach is less than one third of the northern route.
However, with Ian's limited backpack space, transporting iron ore is challenging, and the profit may not increase substantially due to its volume.
Furthermore, iron ore might still be controlled by the government. According to Westeros' fiefdom system, it's nearly impossible for any commodity to be government owned, even mining in the western region is owned by the lord of the land without any interference from the king. Wait... government owned? !
"Salt!" Ian suddenly became excited.
Salt and iron have always been government controlled due to their immense profits. However, in Westeros, the management rights of territories are scattered among hundreds of lords, and the royal family can't monopolize them. Salt and iron trade were left to lords and merchants.
In medieval times, personal salt production was a crime punishable by beheading, but it didn't deter merchants. The profits in these industries are beyond imagination.
So, among all the merchant players starting in or near the Riverlands, who can resist the temptation of salt? "If they want to engage in salt trade," Ian flipped through the map of Westeros, which he knew by heart.
Ian recalled what the organizer's receptionist had told him before entering the game: "This time, we've integrated competition into the game from the beginning. Players start competing as soon as they land. We're providing extremely limited development resources, and players will have to take significant risks to obtain them. In fact, many players may not receive any resources from the auxiliary system and could exhaust themselves due to certain mechanics."
The receptionist's words hinted at the daunting difficulty of the main mission. Ian slapped his forehead.
"If we can't obtain points by completing tasks, and to avoid being targeted by the assassination mechanism (Faceless) due to low ranking, we can only gain points by hunting other players?" Ian shivered at the thought.
Feeling a tremendous pressure, Ian continued to read.
He remembered that the mission update prompt had sounded twice, meaning the bounty mission was updated when the game officially started.
[Bounty Mission 1: First Blood Mission Objective: Complete the first kill on another player. Reward: 3,000 gold dragons (2,500 in gold bars), 3 attribute points, 3 skill points, 2 Level S NPCs (in the area). Note: After completing this task, other players will be notified one day later]
"???" Ian froze, looking at the astonishing reward.
Is this what the receptionist meant by "extremely limited development resources provided by the system, requiring players to take huge risks to compete for"? Since completing the main mission early on seems nearly impossible, any player who claims the 'first blood' resource will undoubtedly advance faster than others, even more than that if he is smart such a huge amount of gold can easily snowball giving him huge advantages.
" Not receiving development resources from the system is a significant disadvantage in this game. Unlike solo time travel stories, where the time traveler can rely on their knowledge of the original work and modern insights to make an impact, in this 100-player game, all players are familiar with the future events. Any player suddenly appearing in an unusual situation will be quickly identified by others. Exposing one's identity without sufficient strength is akin to suicide."
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