After determining his lineage, profession, and growth path, Alex turned his attention to the last option—the starting location.
Finally, you arrived...?
Westeros
Essos
Sothoryos
Looking at this option, Alex couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. He understood Westeros and Essos, but what the hell was Sothoryos doing there?
It was an uninhabited, poisonous place where even the greatest explorers couldn't survive.
If a player started there, wouldn't it truly be an instant death sentence?
After some thought, Alex clicked on Westeros, primarily because the original books described this area in greater detail. Alex believed that his knowledge of Westeros would allow him to develop better in the early stages.
More details then appeared.
**Kingdom, Riverlands, Stormlands, The Reach, The Vale, Dorne, Westerlands, The North, Iron Islands, North of the Wall**
This time, Alex chose the Riverlands, mainly because it was centrally located and connected in all directions. No matter where a major competition or conflict arose, he could get there as quickly as possible.
However, just as Alex was about to select a specific city, the system didn't display the next option.
This surprised him because it meant the player's specific starting point was random.
In this way, players who had agreed to form an alliance couldn't start in the same city. They could only rush to their previously agreed meeting point after randomly landing.
Of course, this wouldn't give Alex any advantage, as a rendezvous would take them several days anyway.
After confirming for the last time that his selected information was correct, Alex clicked the OK button.
**Please enter your name**
"Name?" Alex repeated, then casually entered "Ian."
**Please formulate your image**
"Eh? You can still customize your face?" Seeing the preview of a mercenary knight wearing armor, holding a longsword, and riding a tame horse on the screen, Alex was momentarily stunned, then began to try modifying the knight's face.
After a while, Alex realized he had no talent for character customization. The faces he created were so ugly they looked like they belonged in a low-budget historical film.
So, he put his hope in random generation. After three minutes of diligent clicking, he finally settled on the image of a typical, good-looking blond Andal youth.
Character generation completed
Soon, a complete background story was sent to him.
Background Overview:
You have the blood of both the First Men and the Andals. (Strength +2, gain skill 'Common Language Speaking')
Your father is a farmer in the valley, and your mother is a maid in the manor of a local wealthy knight.
In 281 AC (Note 1), you were born into this world as the eldest son in your family, and your father named you Ian. This was an unusually warm late winter, as if spring had arrived early because of your birth. However, at the end of the year, the coldness of winter suddenly returned to Westeros, and heavy snow fell everywhere. This year was called 'The False Spring'. (Starting capital + 200 silver stags)
When you were one year old, Jon Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie, Warden of the East and Defender of the Vale, raised a banner of rebellion and declared war on the Targaryen royal family. Your father was recruited by the local lords, took up arms, and went to the south, but he never returned.
After the war, to repay the debt your father incurred purchasing equipment before the war, your mother had to sell the family mill. She then took you to the knight's manor to care for you. Your astuteness was loved by the knight's wife. She arranged for you to be a tutor for her son, who was the same age as you. (Spirit +1, acquire the skills 'Basics of Etiquette' and 'Basics of Common Tongue Reading and Writing')
At the age of 11, you and your young master were sent to the lord's castle and began to learn swordsmanship, equestrianism, and lancing from the master-at-arms. Your performance was very good. (Strength +4, Agility +4, acquire the skills 'Basics of Swordsmanship', 'Basics of Horsemanship', and 'Basics of Cavalry')
Two years later, you defeated your young master in a joust and won the qualification to serve as a squire to a knight from the lord's family. (Strength +5, Agility +5, acquire the skills 'Swordsmanship Beginner', 'Lance Beginner', and 'Horsemanship Beginner')
When you were 16 years old, you distinguished yourself in an operation against the mountain clans in the Vale. Your master named you a knight after the war. That night, you completed the vigil in the sept after anointing yourself with the Seven Holy Oils. (Strength +10, Agility +10, acquired skills: 'Intermediate Swordsmanship', 'Intermediate Lance', 'Intermediate Horsemanship')
Not long after, you married the daughter of the housekeeper of a wealthy knight's manor. She wasn't beautiful, but you were deeply enchanted by her.
But on your wedding night, your former young master drunkenly broke into your new house with four guards. Driven by the anger of having been defeated by you, he declared that your bride was his property. He wanted to exercise his sacred power as a lord – the right of first night.
However, the right of first night, a tradition originating from the First Men, had been abolished as early as the reign of the fourth Targaryen monarch, King Jaehaerys I, on the advice of his Queen Alysanne.
Therefore, you regarded the other party's order as a provocation and humiliation. You loudly called for your attendants and friends to come to your aid, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.
After a struggle, you killed your original young master and his guards, but your wife and companions also died in the melee.
The battle caused a fire, and the manor where you spent your entire childhood was quickly engulfed in flames. You had no time to mourn, hurriedly packed up your belongings (a half-hand sword without heraldry, a complete set of old chain mail with heraldry, a tame horse, and 200 silver stags), and fled the valley overnight. You escaped to the Riverlands and began your career as a Hedge Knight.
The background story was followed by detailed layout information:
Ian: Strength 21, Agility 19, Mental Strength 1
Skills: Basic Etiquette, Basic Common Tongue Reading and Writing, Intermediate Swordsmanship, Intermediate Horsemanship, Intermediate Lance
(P.S.: Reading and writing skills in the same language will directly supersede speaking skills. Speaking skills will only be demonstrated if you can only speak but not read.)
"Reminder: The bodies used by players are all bionic humans released by the organizer into this world. They appear out of thin air. The natives of this world will have no memory of the player characters." After confirming that Alex had read the information, AI Annie spoke.
"However, the system generates a reasonable background story for the player based on the player's custom choices. Players can obtain knowledge and memories related to their background to better integrate into the world of A Song of Ice and Fire with a new identity."
"Isn't this quite considerate?" Alex couldn't help but nod. This feature was indeed very helpful to players. After all, even players who knew the original work and history best would still have many gaps regarding the real-life details of a certain profession in this era.
But this also clearly presented a problem: it would be harder for players to discover each other. If the disguise was good enough, two players could be sitting together in a tavern, talking and laughing, without realizing the other was a player.
This seemingly contradicted the receptionist's earlier statement that players would be plunged into fierce competition and even kill each other as soon as they started.
From a game design perspective, if the goal was for players to kill each other at the start, this kind of identity-hiding mechanism shouldn't have been implemented.
This was illogical. Alex silently made a note of this discrepancy in his mental notebook.
"Now that you have completed all processes in the creation phase, you only need to click the OK button to officially travel," Annie reminded. "Although you cannot act in advance before all players have completed traveling, you can use this time to understand the full functionality of the game mechanics and auxiliary systems."
Alex thought Annie had a point. After all, the organizers had regulations requiring players to understand the detailed game mechanics after entering the game.
If he used this preparation time to analyze the mechanisms, he wouldn't waste a second once the official start began.
Thinking this, Alex no longer hesitated and clicked the OK button directly.
The moment he clicked it, he suddenly felt as if he was being melted. His vision, hearing, and touch disappeared one after another, and the entire world turned into a vast whiteness.