Rewards Settlement (Part 2)

"If that's the case, isn't it a little too shabby that my performance today was only rated as a D-Class highlight?" Ian pursed his lips. He didn't understand—it was him who got the first kill!

"The final score for a highlight is determined by multiplying the base score by the highlight coefficient. Your current highlight coefficient is too low, so you can only reach the minimum D-Class standard."

"Highlight coefficient?"

"Positive comments from off-site viewers that receive a high number of likes regarding one of your actions, as well as recommendation votes and monthly passes you receive during a particular action, will increase your 'highlight coefficient.' Likewise, negative comments with a high number of likes about one of your foolish actions will lower your 'highlight coefficient.'"

"Oh, oh." Ian more or less understood what Annie meant and continued scrolling down.

Day One Settlement Report: Current Remaining Players: 98

Only two people had died on the first day, both at Ian's hands. It seemed that, just as Ian had expected, the players who had agreed to form alliances had not all rushed to the designated meeting place within a single day.

After checking his mailbox, Ian opened the quest tab.

Clearly, he had already fulfilled the completion conditions for the Path of Gold in Main Quest One.

So, he clicked Accept beneath Path of Gold.

A new email immediately arrived in his mailbox.

Completed Main Quest One: "Path of Gold." Received 5 points, 3 Attribute Points, and 3 Skill Points.

After claiming everything with one click, Ian opened his profile card.

Ian: Strength 23, Agility 19, Willpower 2

Skills: Etiquette Basics, Common Tongue Literacy Basics, Swordsmanship Intermediate, Riding Intermediate, Lance Intermediate

Attribute Points: 6

Skill Points: 6

Points: 14

"Annie, what's the best way to allocate these points?" Ian was still rather confused about the attribute system in this world. At least, he hadn't seen any clear explanation in the starting feature guide.

"I will not answer questions beyond my authority."

Uh. Asking Annie for allocation recommendations seemed like it might count as the "organizers" interfering with the course of the competition?

"Then introduce the rules for allocating points," Ian asked instead.

"The rule for Attribute Points is that one Attribute Point adds one point to an attribute."

"The last time I heard such an exquisite design was the last time."

"There are seven skill levels in total: Basic, Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, Mastery, Master, and Legendary. Upgrading from Basic to Elementary requires 1 Skill Point, from Elementary to Intermediate requires 2, from Intermediate to Advanced requires 3, and so on."

"Then what about going from zero to one? In other words, what does learning a new Basic skill require? Zero Skill Points?" Ian immediately asked.

"New skills must be learned by the player personally, or obtained through special items that allow new skills to be learned. Such items may appear in the Points Store and also have a certain chance of appearing as quest rewards." Annie merely answered according to her established program.

Hearing that, Ian began allocating points on his profile card.

He evenly divided the six Attribute Points between Strength and Agility, then upgraded both Swordsmanship and Riding from Intermediate to Advanced.

What? You're asking why he didn't upgrade Lance?

Since ancient times, spearmen had E-rank luck. Ian didn't want to make himself miserable, and besides, he no longer planned to personally participate in knightly tournaments. He felt there was little chance he would need it.

After allocating his points, the new personal interface appeared before Ian:

Ian: Strength 26, Agility 22, Willpower 2

Skills: Etiquette Basics, Common Tongue Literacy Basics, Swordsmanship Advanced, Riding Advanced, Lance Intermediate

Attribute Points: 0

Skill Points: 0

Points: 14

Once he finished allocating points, Ian's head swam. A huge number of new memories regarding swordsmanship and riding training flooded into his mind. That was right—only memories of training.

This further deepened Ian's understanding of the interface data.

The Strength and Agility shown on the interface took effect almost immediately, or at most required a few days to adapt to. Skills, however, needed much longer periods of training before they could truly become his own.

Thus, relying on point allocation to rapidly increase combat power was nothing more than wishful thinking.

After recovering for two minutes, Ian opened the core NPC profile card toolbar to gain a more comprehensive understanding of his own strength and forces.

Roar: Strength 34, Agility 32, Willpower 4

Skills: Swordsmanship Mastery, Riding Advanced, Lance Advanced, Coaching Advanced, Common Tongue Literacy Basics, Valyrian (Volantis Dialect) Literacy Intermediate

"Is this what they mean by an S-card? Not only can he fight, he can also work as a coach and a Valyrian teacher," Ian could not help but sigh. "Should I be paying him three salaries? Ah, no, he's one of my Religious Zealots. I don't need to pay him at all."

Ian smiled and shook away those absurd thoughts, then impatiently opened Keith's profile card.

Keith: Strength 46, Agility 38, Willpower 2

Skills: Swordsmanship Master, Riding Advanced, Lance Mastery, Battle Axe Mastery, Common Tongue Spoken Basics, Valyrian Spoken Basics

Clearly, if Roar was a utility-type NPC, then Keith was a typical super soldier. His Strength and Agility both utterly surpassed Roar's, while his weapons skills included one at Master level and two at Mastery level.

Moreover, his actual combat performance had been even more astonishing. Back then, Keith had faced three Mercenary Cavalrymen alone and cut down two of them in a single exchange, without the slightest effort.

"But here's the problem. Roar and Keith are clearly the same class. Is such a huge difference in a single attribute really normal?" Ian asked Annie in his mind. "Keith's Strength is 12 points higher than Roar's."

"The higher the class, the greater the variation in its data. For S-Class professions, a difference of up to 15 points in a single attribute is within the normal range," Annie explained. "Of course, differences exceeding 15 are also possible."

"For example, when drawing Kingsguard, a lucky bastard might get Arthur Dayne, the Faith of the Seven who could 'hold his dick while pissing with his right hand and cut down every other Kingsguard with his left,' while an unlucky bastard could only get Meryn Trant, who 'any random male prostitute could take on three of'?" Ian gave a half-joking example.

However, the emotionless AI Annie remained as cold as ever and would not respond to Ian over matters unrelated to the setting.

Finding no amusement in it, Ian shrugged and switched to the quest system.

To his surprise, although Main Quest One showed as completed, Main Quest Two had not updated immediately.

Likewise, the Bounty Two interface was completely blank.

"Annie, did the system bug out? Why haven't the quests updated?" Ian immediately asked.

"After every main quest is completed, there will be a one-week buffer period before the next stage of quests is released. Bounty quests, meanwhile, will be released according to the time originally set by the planners."

Ian nodded upon hearing that, then exited the system.

P.S. Today was mainly for recap and settlement, with no plot, so I posted three chapters. Tomorrow begins the second arc, "Red Dragon and Black Dragon." Please vote.