by ricedwlit
Timing for this card is everything: as I recall it needs five progess tokens to be explored. If you place five progress (all at once, say be questing), then it's explored and the forced response doesn't take effect (*). If you place less than five, then the forced effect kicks in and you remove one.(*): If you feel that the forced effect takes place even when it's been explored, then you'd need to place 6 on it.
Overall, key is that effect acts on the bulk number of progress tokens, not one at a time.