Chapter 1666: Negotiations
Chapter 1666: Negotiations
An awkward silence filled the final room as Lex pretended like he hadn’t heard Interlinks murmurs. Despite having a cold and artificial voice, it did not act like an emotionless entity. Rather, it was as if he was unused to talking to humans. Or maybe he was just unused to talking to non-systems.
“Host Lex Williams of Earth,” Interlink began, increasing the length of what he called Lex once again. “I can merely urge you, but I cannot force you. To accommodate your needs, I have given you a reward that you have repeatedly asked your system for. I have also ensured your safety from the sole source of danger within the quest. I cannot be any more obliging than that.
“If you do not trust me to keep my word, there are no words I can offer you to change that. Though, for the sake of this critical mission, I will share some information with you to ease your mind. I have no say in Joint quests, or how they are issued as well as to whom they are issued. You are correct in assuming, however, that the Joint quests serve a greater purpose. But, again, that has nothing to do with me.
“Your other concern is that I am here, interacting with you, while my job is merely to manage systems. Well, I can definitively tell you that the information you will provide upon completion of this quest will directly enable me to perform my job better.
“As a general rule, Joint quests are a special kind of quest which provide great opportunities to the Hosts, but also benefit the functionality and capabilities of all Systems. Other quest formats serve other purposes.
“As for your other concerns, I do not know how to alleviate your concerns. I truly cannot control your system, but the ability to access it for critical maintenance and emergencies is something I do have. The ability to provide a Custom quest is also something within my prerogative since it serves my purpose. If this is not enough to convince you, you may reject the quest.
“You will suffer no penalty for rejecting the quest, but it’s not like you’ll be benefiting from it either – especially when the quest reward is so desirable.”
Lex wanted to scratch his head, but resisted the urge. That wasn’t how the script was supposed to go. Since Interlink wanted the information on the mural so much, he should have been willing to negotiate with Lex. Unfortunately, he directly declared that Lex could reject the proposal if he wasn’t interested.
Now it was a question of who was bluffing, and who wanted their objective more. Was Lex bluffing about not wanting the reward, or was Interlink?
“Can you at least tell me why this information is so valuable? Is everything drawn on the mural true? If so… who is this serpent man? Who are these people fighting him? When did this all happen?”
“I am not at liberty to say, nor do I have the knowledge you requested,” Interlink replied.