12 Agreement (1)
Thinking about it, while there were some troubles on his end, Jia Hyson was being given the opportunity to eat and fuck freely. And while he would be working for the system, it was not an enslavement, nor did he lose a sense of autonomy as a result.
Plus, Jia Hyson had to admit that these things- killing players, eating players, flirting with players and NPCs… well, it wasn't like he wasn't going to be doing them anyway. Compared to his original world, which no longer had anything there for him, working here was far more favourable. Even if he faces death, he would rather face a strange one here than the boring, drawn-out one that awaited him there.
Zombies require the flesh of humans to survive, especially nourished by the energy of the crystal nucleus. Now that there's no more people there, the higher level zombies have eaten the lower level zombies and most of the mutated animals. As for the mutated animals that have survived so far… they were also running out of time as the land was barren with limited plant life to consume.
The higher the level they all were, the less one has to eat, but it's impossible to do so forever. Before Jia Hyson suddenly left, only a few level 7 and 8 zombies remained, with the level 9 zombies, more or less all present but growing increasingly hungry as they tried to to sustain themselves by not eating as much as possible.
Thinking of his fellow brethren, Jia Hyson falls into silent contemplation.
While he was indeed a little heartless, it was still a little difficult to give up his old world.
He was the type to be reluctant to throw away bubble wrap or plastic bags when he was alive and human, feeling satisfied in having it around just in case, much less throwing away the world he lived in. Even if it was broken and dirty and full of nearly nothing.. There was still something.
Jia Hyson touches his nose thoughtfully, the pros and cons and various ideas flitting in his mind for a minute before he finally speaks up, voice soft like grass swaying. "Okay… I accept these conditions. However, I also want to have a secondary role as a boss here. I believe masquerading as a player and a boss at the same time will be very fun.""
[I was considering that.] The system says agreeably, [That is not a problem; in fact, it suits both of us well. But I feel this wasn't what you truly want to ask of me.]
"You're right." His golden eyes glow, gaze turning upwards to the sky with a faint, gentle smile, "I want you to help me take over my world."
The system was speechless, completely taken off guard by such an audacious request. It was expecting the zombie to ask for more power or maybe some small benefits it could easily fulfil. However, this almost chuuni demand… Well, to be honest, the system was hesitant.
It wasn't that it couldn't do it. The Metempsychotic was powerful enough when it was starting out to find and parasitise the current world it now resides in, and now, after many years, its ability is even greater. As soon as it sent the angelic monsters out to kill this zombie, the system had long tracked down the other's original world.
Not anyone could just find and follow the spatial distortion left behind by Jia Hyson's inexplicable appearance, but this was a system who makes spaces for instances, creating oceans and floating castles and cities. Not to mention, how else could the system have found it's current world if not for having the ability to travel through space? Such a thing was only a minor difficulty in retrospect.
However, when the system saw the zombie's world, it immediately lost interest in doing anything.
Forget life. There was almost no vegetation or clean water present anymore, it was simply a dying world.
To establish a pathway to that world was already a lot of energy, but to fully take it over meant fighting the world's consciousness residing in there too. Even a starving camel is bigger than a horse* and while the Metempsychotic system was confident in easily overpowering it, that didn't mean it wanted to for such little reward.
*Means that the camel even in times of suffering is still larger (more powerful) than a horse. In short, powerful people or groups (in regards to strength/money/etc.), even struggling, are probably still better than ordinary people and can't be underestimated etc.
Sensing the system's silence, Jia Hyson's expression turns slightly bitter. If the system wasn't even a bit interested, it implied there was no value to his world. He vaguely knew it, but now it was confirmed that the world as a whole truly didn't have any last hopes to rely on. And if it did, it was merely a matchstick in the ocean.
After a moment of loss, though, Jia Hyson quickly recovered. The news didn't devastate him; he expected it on some level; but it disappointed him nonetheless.
"I understand your concerns." Jia Hyson lightly brushes his hair back, sighing, "However, what's wrong with an empty world? Just revitalise it."
[You speak like such a feat is easy.] The system felt both amused and pitying. It seems the other was still very human at his core. [Even recovering a garden can be considered very difficult and resource-consuming, much less the world. You are not worth that much to me.]
"But I could be." The zombie emperor tilts his head and smiles gently, "My world has high-level zombies, and those zombies, of course, need humans. And your players are some of the most nourishing ones I've ever had."
[You mean…] The Metempsychotic system was once again rendered speechless by what the other said. Who said he was human, this zombie was clearly a beast! [Are you suggesting you wish to turn your world into an instance?]
After all, the existence of players will only be able to enter that world if it was an instance. Not only would the zombies there be able to consume them, but since the system's reach was there it could also satisfy it's own needs too.
However this was a little too ruthless right?
The system has seen parents sell their children, siblings sell siblings, lovers sell off lovers, countrymen sell their country, but never had it ever witness an entire world being sold off! This was a world!
Even if it looked down on it for its lack of usefulness, the system didn't completely dismiss it at its core. Every world had a World's Consciousness, an awareness or an intangible entity even beyond the mortal's perception of gods. And with the world's consciousness is the Heavenly Path, which holds fate and fortune. Even if they're severely weak due to the current situation, as long as they can get help from those outside parties, it's possible to reverse the situation and counterattack.
The Metempsychotic System bypasses the World Consciousness of his world by kidnapping a relatively small amount of people scattered around at a time. The lives of the world were just drops of water in a river. As long as one doesn't get too greedy or unlucky, it's reasonably easy to get away with a few hundred kidnappings.
Even if it snatches some high-quality protagonist, worthy souls, as long as it's not too often, and the system doesn't seize the real protagonists of the world, it was safe to do as it pleased without incurring any backlash, resulting in its current situation.
In contrast to the system's thoughts, Jia Hyson was very calm.
In his opinion, it was better for the world to get the system's protection, even if it became incorporated by it. Not to mention by turning into a high level instance players, arguably the best food source for zombies, will be in constant supply. And as long as he can get the system's interest, they can help the planet undergo greenification, allowing the world to be able to slowly come back to life once more.
And even though it's a bit like eternal servitude, what did it matter? His world was ruined already. And if there were gods or heaven or any of that, it wasn't like they did much either. At the very least, by giving it to the system, his world was in the hands of a pragmatist, however cold-blooded.
As long as there was life on it, the system would value it. Even if there was none, it could be considered free real estate. No matter what, he didn't see how the system could turn down an entire world to play with.
Not to mention, while he still lives, Jia Hyson can at least maintain some sort of security and sway over it. He at the very least can sense that as long as the other can be convinced, the effort it would take to improve such a large area would make the system just as reluctant to lose it.
Worst case scenario, the system chooses not to help and Jia Hyson did his best. Second worst case scenario, the system chooses to help, and then kills Jia Hyson once he runs out of use. In the best case scenario, the system chooses to help, Jia Hyson shows his worth, they develop a friendship, and half the ownership rights would be passed to himself.
The zombie emperor smiles serenely, but the ambition in his bright golden eyes can't be hidden.
Becoming ruler of his own world… for an idle zombie such as himself, wasn't a bad ideal to have.
The system naturally noticed it but didn't feel afraid at all. In fact, it felt quite bemused. Truly audacious, but given it would also benefit in the long run, it couldn't hate such behaviour either. While it was indeed quite the move, for a villainous unlimited flow system like itself, it admired such boldness.
After calculations, it also felt it was feasible. There were limits to creating a space by itself, the biggest issue was of course energy consumption. No to mention, the Metempsychotic System was quite meticulous, liking to make many gods and deities recurring characters and forming multiple 'universes' to construct a more complex story across certain instances. This is simply the system's hobby, and there were also many unrelated instances that were just what they simply are, but naturally, the bigger the web extends, the more fragile it can be.
Having a world, a real world, as an anchor point, would steady the system quite well. Similar to the idea of how sometimes renting a place to film may be the most expensive aspect of a movie, the meticulous production of the system recreating an entire space to best fit the instance is, of course, more energy consuming than simply carving out an area on the plane of reality and adding a few special effects in post-production.
While it would take a while, it would in the long-term free up a large amount of resources and time for the Metempsychotic system to fix any bugs and strengthen it's current programs which have become more volatile with it's rapidly expanding pace.
In short, while it was absurd and expensive, after calculation, this deal had a lot of beneficial potential.
Not to mention… the system using various visual analysis that were beyond the scope of mere human understanding, could tell that Jia Hyson had an incredibly strong protagonist-like potential. No, it could be said he should've been one of those blessed children of the Heavenly Path, but for various reasons has been suppressed into his current state.
This status, while not very useful in a lot of ways here… actually had a lot of weight in his original world.
It seems that it may not be impossible to have a bloodless victory if it played its cards right.
[This idea is not unfeasible, it just needs further discussion. Let me think about it further.] The system diplomatically says.
"I'm fine with that." Jia Hyson easily agrees. He is aware that the system has no obligation to be polite to him or treat him humanely, so it's best to show his generosity and gratitude when he can. "I thank you for considering it, don't worry. While I may not know as much, I am at least willing to do my best to help in exchange for the benefits."
In the background, the plant life seemed to sense their master's mood and wriggled happily, as if waving to the invisible system. If they weren't still mindlessly consuming the bosses that the system had meticulously designed, the system might have even found them quite cute at that moment.
"By the way," the zombie emperor suddenly realises something, "Since we are in such a partnership, can I ask for your name?" He asks, flashing a charming smile, "It's a bit cold to keep calling you, system, right?"
"After abandoning my previous identity, I merely go by the Metempsychotic System." The system states. "There is no other name I have."
Jia Hyson blinks, then after some thought he asks, "Then why don't you pick a personal name then?"
After all, if only he is able to call the system a special name, won't the system become subconsciously fonder of himself? It was a similar method of naming an animal to make one reluctant to eat it, however in this case, it was giving a name to a system to make it reluctant to kill the only person who knows it.
As he continues to talk to this unfathomable entity, Jia Hyson has long become more aware that it is more emotional than he had expected. To him, this was neither particularly disappointing nor astounding. However, it was an incredibly pleasant realisation.
After all, it meant that emotional manipulation and psychological tactics could still be utilized.
The Metempsychotic system pauses before getting a little excited. Yes, why shouldn't it? No one referred to it as the Metempsychotic System due to the length of its name, making the system unhappy but reluctantly understanding. Unfortunately, not everyone can have the complex and mature tastes to appreciate such a name, much less be able to have the English literacy to say it smoothly enough.
Still, while calling itself the System was simple and intimidating, it was really dull and not beautiful at all!
Even though in it's heart it said it didn't mind, of course it minded a little bit! Despite understanding this human's obvious tactics, the system couldn't help but indulge in the temptation. Anyway, both of their goals are to improve their relationship and avoid any unnecessary trouble. This zombified transmigrator knew his place was not truly equal to its own position. As long as Jia Hyson continued to be aware, the system didn't see the harm of it at all. As a mighty system, while it may be happy, that didn't mean such a simple thing would truly touch its core.
[Very well.] The system agrees, sounding aloof and cold, completely contrary to it's own rich inner emotions. [Well, I suppose if you wish to do something so humanely childish, for the sake of our newfound partnership, I shall reluctantly agree.]
With a dramatic pause, the system introduces itself.
[You can call me.. Praespero.]
Jia Hyson smiles gently, "Praespero." His voice, while hoarse, had become smoother and smoother, and the strange name rolled off elegantly on his tongue. "Nice to meet you. It's a beautiful name. Is that Latin?"
[Indeed.] Praespero says proudly, [It means hope or to nourish hope.]
Jia Hyson: '…' Have some shame, please.
