"Hello, Axel. I must say that you are quite smart but you should know that being over-smart might be disastrous to you.", said the system.
"I don't know what you are saying?"
"Oh, you don't know anything? You want me to think that the name 'Fairy Tail' was a coincidence?"
"System, what does the name have to do with anything? I don't think that you can control the name of MY mercenary team that I built with all of MY hard work.", said Axel with a smile.
"Axel, let me give you some free advice. You are playing with fire here, messing with the emotions of the creator. I just want you to succeed in what you are doing. That is what I am programmed to do. So, it is my duty to warn you. Don't mess with the host of the creator.", said the system as if a senior was giving some advice to a junior.
"System, I don't get any of it. What do you mean by messing with the creator and the host? I don't know anything about them and you have not revealed anything."
"Oh really? Does the name 'Fairy tail' come out of your mind just as a coincidence? You knew that the host of the creator was a part of that guild, right? You might also have a very good idea who the host really is. Right?"
"I don't have any idea what you are talking about.", said Axel with a smile and the system grew even more frustrated.
"Axel, I just want to tell you that this mission and me, all of this is like a secret mission. So, I must implore you to keep all of this a secret and never reveal it to anyone. This will be for your own good.", said the system.
"Ok, let's get real here. This is the first time in this life that you personally called me in some sort of a weird space to talk about this. This means that almost no one is hearing our conversation. Not even the creator that you work under.
This must have taken a lot of your limited energy right? I don't know what your agenda is. I don't even know if you are an ally or an enemy. And even if you say that you are an ally, I am not going to believe you one bit.
But I know that if this mission or whatever this is, is supposed to succeed, then we should start to trust each other. Isn't that right?"
"That is right? Axel, I may have done some questionable things and have not given you any reasons for it but even you must realize by now that my life depends on this mission. My life depends on you being the knight of the creator.
So, even if you don't believe me, do believe that I want you to fulfill the mission."
"You have been with me for almost 17 years. So just for the sake of these 17 years, let me ask you a question. After the mission is over and I become the knight of the so-called creator, will I die?"
"No, you will not."
"Then let me rephrase the question again. After the completion of this mission and after I become the knight of the creator, will I have my own consciousness? Will I have my own freedom to make any choices that I want? And I want you to give a 'Yes' or 'No' answer for both of these questions.", asked Axel.
The system who looked exactly like Axel didn't speak anything. As if the system had lost its voice, it didn't give any facial reaction either.
"Thank you system for being truthful for once.", said Axel.
"Axel, it is not what you think. You know that I cannot answer that question, not even here. But it is not that you will cease to exist and regarding your freedom, there will be some restrictions."
"You don't have to explain yourself to me, system. You are also bound by something to work like that. I don't blame you and don't worry, I will not reveal any secret that you think I know cause I don't know them."
The system looked like it wanted to say something but Axel told it that he wanted to get out of this white space.
So, the system complied with it and Axel was out of the dream. But before he came out, he heard the system voice saying, "Everything has a price, Axel. Do remember that."
He looked around and found out that it was already morning by this point in time. He had a lot of questions before but after talking to the system, he could confirm certain things and the questions had increased even more.
After living with the system for so long, he could proudly say that he knew 2 things or restrictions of the system.
First of all, Of course, he may know the identity of the host of the creator. (He is only thinking that he 'may know' cause he is afraid to even think about it.). That was why he deliberately chose that name cause he wanted to get a reaction from the system and his hunch was right.
Coming to the restrictions of the system, he came to realize that unless he says or thinks in a confirming tone, the system cannot make a decision.
That was why he said that he didn't know anything about the host of the creator. That was why he still thought that he might know the identity of the host of the creator. He was not confirming it.
The second restriction was that the system could never lie to him. The system may use some words or speak in a certain way making him believe another thing but the system could not lie.
That was a huge restriction that he recently learned about the system. So, when he asked the system about the future when he becomes the knight of the creator and asked a yes or no question, the system didn't respond. That could only mean that...
"I must just be a pawn in this whole game. This new life that I gained is actually borrowed so that I do the bidding of others."
Axel had come to a horrible realization that even if he completes the mission and takes care of Arceus and becomes the knight, his life may not be his own.
The system did say that he would have certain restrictions when he became the knight but that was too vague. What sort of restrictions? Will he have to make a vow as a night to protect the host at all times? Or will his consciousness be merged with the host so that the host would gain all of his powers?
Axel had to come to realize that there were 4 players here. First was the host of the creator, then the creator himself, then the system and then finally him.
The host and the creator were different and it looked like they might not be on the same page. Even if they were on the same page, he didn't care about it cause he was still going to lose his freedom.
He needed to do something and he needed to do it fast. And he had an idea of how to do it. But would he be able to do it was a completely different thing.
Before waking up, the system did say that 'Everything has a price, Axel. Do remember that.'.
The system might have said it cause it wanted to play with his mind but he knew that the system would not lie. It might be a general statement but he thought otherwise.
'Everything has a price, huh. So, that means that the powers that I gained from the system and this new life that I have has a price. So, does that mean that if I don't use the power of the system anymore, the price that I have to pay or the restriction that I will have will decrease?'
That was very much possible but that gave him another question. How can he not use the system's powers cause he cannot deactivate the power of the system?
'Hmm, I want to deactivate the power of the system.', thought Axel.
---
Ding!
Do you want to deactivate the power of the system? Please confirm and note that if you deactivate the power of the system, you need to pay a huge price to activate it again.
---
Suddenly the notification came up and now Axel was even more sure of his hypothesis. He could deactivate the power of the system. This means that that he had a choice and he was not a slave.
Axel could tell why this option was given. Because when he becomes the knight of the creator in the future, he would not have the right to ask the question that everything was forced on him and he didn't have the option to deactivate the system in this life.
So, everything was done on his own accord and since he had used the power of the system, he must pay the price. Axel didn't know why the creator of the universe had to follow such a stupid rule but he was not going to complain.
'What is the price that I have to pay to reactivate it and what will happen after I deactivate the system?', asked Axel in his mind.
---
Ding!
The cost of reactivation varies. If the host reactivated the system after 3 hours of deactivation, the cost is 10 years of the host's life force.
If the host reactivated the system after a week of deactivation, the cost is 30 years of the host's life force.
If the host reactivated the system after a month of deactivation, the cost is 50 years of the host's life force.
If the host reactivated the system after a year of deactivation, the cost is 80 years of the host's life force.
If the host reactivated the system after 10 years of deactivation, the cost is 100 years of the host's life force.
The host cannot reactivate the system after more than 10 years.
After deactivation, all the powers that the system provided will not apply anymore.
---
'Hmm, I don't want to deactivate the system, right now.', said Axel.
Of course, he was not going to do this, at least right now. If he didn't use the power of the system, then he could not complete the mission. He had to deal with Arceus in the future. Axel was going to use the power of the system as much as he could.
But what if the game gets harder? Axel didn't believe that Garchomp of Cynthia reached pseudo-champion rank so soon because it trained so hard. Axel didn't believe that a guy like Brine would pop out out of coincidence.
He could tell that this was a butterfly effect that he had created himself and this was partially done by the system to lower the price that he had to pay in the future.
If he struggles more with some unknown huge power suddenly arising, then the price that he has to pay would decrease.
'System, can you make the game harder for me?'
---
Ding!
Yes, this world can get harder if you want. Please select the difficulty level:
1. Normal
2. Hard
3. Nightmare.
The current difficulty level is Easy. Please note that once the difficulty level is selected, the user cannot downgrade the difficulty level and can only rise up.
Also, the host is advised not to select the nightmare difficulty level cause it is almost impossible for the host to clear the mission while selecting it.
---
"Damn, it is like I am playing a game right here.", shouted Axel.
He didn't immediately choose the difficulty level cause he was not stupid. He had to make a lot of calculations for that to happen and also had to make ample preparations.
He took his phone and immediately dialed a number.
"Yes, Ashmita. Please cancel all of my appointments today. Tell the team that I want to be alone today and I will be busy.
Yes, thank you."
"I have to make some plans now. Let's call my teacher."
---
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