13 Agreement (2)

An unlimited flow system dares to call itself Praespero… Jia Hyson was unsure whether the players would keel over and die from anger or unite and finally overthrow the system if they ever heard of this. 

After a moment of silence, Jia Hyson finally opened his mouth. "Then I'll call you Pero." He decides. 

Praespero was an objectively nice-sounding name, but it was really too pretentious and hypocritical, even for him. Jia Hyson could practically taste the double standard in it. Pero was much more tolerable. 

Plus, it's cuter ah.

The system was instantly dissatisfied, [What Pero, it isn't elegant and beautiful at all.]

"Pero has a charm to it," Jia Hyson argues, "Besides, it's normal for people to give each other shorthand names for each other."

[Then should I call you 'son'?] It retorts mockingly.

As if completely expecting the other to say this, Jia Hyson immediately grins toothily, a hint of playful lecherousness shining in his eyes, "Only if I call you daddy, oh~~."

The Metempsychotic System: '…'

In the end, Jia Hyson with his shamelessness and the system who was unaccustomed to being ashamed, decided on the name Pero. 

"Actually, I think it would be even cuter if I called you Peroro." Jia Hyson muses.

[…Enough!] The newly named Pero was about to explode. It even had the urge to create a table into reality just to flip it over in exasperation! (ノಠ ロ ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ 

In an alternate timeline, another system silently felt an unknown sense of sympathy. 

Of course, now that this partnership was confirmed, that didn't mean the negotiations would stop. In fact, they had only just begun. Like two companies trying to collaborate with each other, there are multiple factors to bring up and many more things that need compromise and explanation. 

Jia Hyson wanted to fight for more power and rights over his world once the system established itself there. However, he knows he's too ignorant, and there's not enough goodwill at this point to ask for such a big thing. Instead, he wishes to understand what and why the system wants what it wants out of him in more detail, as well as fight for more benefits for his plants.

It's true he can try using this method of love the system will give him to consume energy better, but his plants don't need such a restrictive diet. Even if they did, what could they even do with this method? Tentacle play NPCs until Stockholm Syndrome kicks in? 

…it was a bit interesting to think about ah. 

Still, it was too inefficient for his greedy plants, and they wouldn't enjoy the pleasure of the process either. Jia Hyson can't bear to let them be aggrieved. "My plants are good. I don't ask for a lot; just let me kill a few NPCs from time to time, ah." He barters reasonably. 

Unfortunately, Pero doesn't find it reasonable. [You don't understand. When a player kills one of the NPCs, the worst thing is that they die in the instance and then can be revived back. Maybe they'll retain memories, maybe not. You and your plants seem to be able to eat the energy that constructs the very foundation of their core.]

In short, it was like a humanoid, and plantoid, virus. The type that can completely wipe away all data.

[You can't think of them as simple game NPCs.] The Metempsychotic System stresses. After all, this was a fundamental distinction that had to be made for its own sake. [Do you think making everything into a reality that everyone can touch is like making a computer game? The effort and energy are beyond your current comprehension. If each instance wasn't harvesting an average number of souls every time they open, I wouldn't be able to sustain the cost. Maintaining it takes energy, too, especially if they're 'killed' by players, but it's not as bad as creating from scratch again.] 

Jia Hyson hums, a little disbelieving. "Don't you have a backup copy or something? Copy and paste?"

[I'm maintaining a multitude of worlds with multitudes of people.] Pero replies helplessly, like a teacher trying to fix a stubborn child's mindset over the notion that candy will rot their teeth the moment it touches their mouths. [Everyone is their own thing, and while my abilities are good, there's no storage to 'back up' even half of everything.] 

It feels a bit weak, but it was reasonable to say. Jia Hyson clicks his tongue in annoyance. You say you're interested in me killing certain people, right? You take energy from souls, so the ones you want specifically must be very powerful, right? Enough to be worth a few of yours?" He muses before smiling gently. "It should be pretty expensive. What about exchanging the soul of one player for ninety-nine standard-level NPCs and one boss-level NPC?" 

Pero: […Are you the devil?]

Seeing that the zombie was serious, the system silently calculated the costs. To be honest, it was extremely rare for one of its people to die so utterly and completely, and now it had to adjust its mindset to give even more up voluntarily. While it was a large cost, Pero was still rich enough, especially if Jia Hyson kept his end of the bargain and brought him those high-level, matured souls. But that didn't stop its heart from bleeding at the thought. 

Like a stingy businessman, even if they can easily afford it, pulling out a dollar from the wallet was akin to pulling teeth. Really painful.

But Jia Hyson was right. The souls of the ones it wanted were on another level. A pure protagonist blessed by the Heavenly Path is found maybe one in thirty million people. But of course, such a soul was worth at least eighty million or more, depending on the protagonist type. 

As a gorgeous and death-fearing system though, Praespero didn't dare take such people in. While incredibly tempting, the chance of turning over is too high. After all, only protagonists can truly fight against systems like itself. Even the weakest ones had a chance, no matter how small.

It wasn't stupid. No matter how greedy it was, no matter how powerful it can get, all it takes is one protagonist and their usually overpowered love interest to ruin everything it's worked so hard to achieve. 

Thus, Praespero can only get the next best thing: high-level souls. 

If this was a story, they would probably be classified as characters who were supporting male or female leads, characters that were overpowered but tragic, the mighty elder brother of the protagonist, the rival of the male lead, the genius cannon fodder, the talented white moonlight or even the witty classmate. People who were outstanding in their own rights but were only missing the luck of a protagonist halo to allow them to rise up to the next level. 

Such souls, when immature, were already worth roughly a few thousand souls give or take, which was still pretty good. However, the more they go through the baptism of fire and blood, the more their soul will grow and mature, tempered under the extreme conditions. Just like how talent and potential can burst under life-threatening events and experiences, so can the potential of the soul. 

Not to mention under great stress, ironically emotions become a contradictory mess. Scared of emotional entanglement but needing the softness of feelings to make them stay human, venting their fear with lust and desires, everything simply becomes more intense. Even apathy was an emotion that can be enjoyed. And after betrayal after bitter betrayal, true camaraderie and true love may become rarer but will add a deep and unforgettable flavour once bred. 

As long as these high-class souls get better and better, their worth to the system becomes exponentially more. If they reach the level of an SSS-class player, they practically have a soul equivalent to a protagonist, a 'faux' protagonist if you will. Eating one would be like eating eighty-million! How amazing! The system didn't mind the time carefully cultivating them at all as long as it could have such an end result.

Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible. 

Because it wasn't a normal Unlimited Flow system. It was the Metempsychotic System. 

As the system calculates, it roughly explains how the quality of souls expected from Jia Hyson was naturally different to a normal players. Jia Hyson takes this in stride, considering this new information thoughtfully to try see if there was any benefit to gain with this. 

By now his plants had long taken root in the cavern, enjoying propagating and absorbing the nutrition around, they can't help but be unsatisfied with the lack of sunlight. The gigantic Monstera had already begun to move and drill its roots up into the cavern walls, with many other plants taking advantage of the resulting cracks to do the same. 

"Can I also help with nurturing the players?" Jia Hyson asks, "You said friendship and love can help right? I can act as a companion, speed up the process a bit and then kill them. In that case you get a good soul at a relatively faster rate, and with me around their chances of dying too early will be significantly lowered. If I also add this service in, shouldn't the reward be naturally higher?" 

[You speak as if we are raising pigs and you're offering hormone laced food to them.] Pero can't help but sigh. While it appreciates the other's intelligence, it didn't like such a crude sounding description which was not beautiful at all. [But yes, if you're going to put the effort in, the reward will be raised. I don't ask for the highest standard, but if you can raise the assigned players to A-class before harvest then I can give your plants ninety-nine normal level NPCs, and two mini bosses. If you can get them to S-class, then I'll double the reward. But naturally if they die at B, it's halved, and any lower it'll be halved further.]

"How many mini-bosses is worth a boss-level?"

The system laughs in anger, [Do you know how important a boss is? It's the core of the entire instance. The entire scenario would have to be shut down!] It nearly shouts in agitation as it can't help but look at the now mostly eaten corpse of the River God with a bleeding heart. 

Jia Hyson clicks his tongue, "So inflexible? I understand." If they can't be killed, it's not bad to mutilate them, right? 

An arm or two is still a lot of nourishment. In fact, it's probably even better ah. He can use it as a reward and make the plants even more codependent on him, diminishing the chances of them revolting once they get too powerful even further. 

Future bosses: …We may not be human, but you're a real dog*.

*Saying they're not human, but he's also worse than human in nature. Dog is common to curse with like using bastard. 

Not realizing the depths of Jia Hyson's thoughts, the system felt the other was surprisingly quite understanding and was once again in a pleasant mood. [I don't mind you raising up players, in fact it is a good idea. We can arrange different player identities for you too as well, otherwise people may notice quickly something is wrong.] 

[As for your NPC status, that's actually much simpler. Giving you a special role will allow you to move freely between instances, after asking for my permission, of course. As long as you don't do anything extreme, you're free to do whatever. You can consider it your exclusive VIP pass.]

As it spoke, a black screen opens up in front of Jia Hyson's eyes, with white silvery text that reads: {The Wandering God - ??? Level boss. Whether you flourish or wilt upon meeting depends on his whims.} 

While reading the text box, a blackish-green, shimmering mist lifts from the ground, swirling around Jia Hyson's feet before moving upwards. As it moves, it leaves the previously barely clothed body covered with fine luxury, from sleek, classy shoes to a three-piece suit and jacket. The clothes were the same colour as the mist, making his pale skin even whiter but, at the very least, also helping the faint green tinge on his pallor less noticeable.

Jia Hyson touches the fabric of his suit with slight wonder and emotion. How long has it been since he has been dressed so nicely like this? Even though it's been a long time, his hedonism is practically carved into his bones. From the comfortable feel of the fabric and the ease of movement, he can feel the clothing was not only extremely high-end but tailor-made for his body. 

Originally, he was admittedly fairly average height for an Asian man, not very tall but not considerably short. However, his proportions were really great, and he had a little muscle to fill his figure a bit. Jia Hyson had to say that other than being a bit shorter than he preferred, he was absolutely satisfied with his body. 

However, since becoming a zombie and essentially infusing himself with various plants, his limbs had elongated, his spine stretched out, and thus, even his neck was visibly a bit longer than one would expect from a normal adult male. At first glance, the zombie was tall and had a great figure like a supermodel, but the more one looked with scrutiny, the more one would feel a chill instinctively go down their back. 

He was beautiful, but everything was slightly 'off'. It was hard to put into words at first, like a picture slightly on an angle or a photograph where the shadows were different from the lighting. However, once you notice it, you can't help but see it, even if you don't want to. 

Jia Hyson has long since been disgusted by his appearance that he has become nearly numb to it. After all with less and less people there was hardly anyone to impress anymore other than himself. And it was too tiring to hate himself at a certain point, much less go out clothing shopping to find some flattering outfits.

Besides, at the very least, his face was still handsome. 

Now though, dressed so thoughtfully up, Jia Hyson felt his sense of narcissism become strongly provoked. If he didn't want to keep face for himself in front of the system, he would have run over to the water to see his reflection. 

However, he didn't expect the system to actually be more enthusiastic than him. 

[Wah! Wah!] The relatively cool voice of the system suddenly cheers as if injected with chicken blood*, [Yes, this feeling is really good! It gives a sense of uncanny yet inexplicable intrigue, plus that face and slender, tall body! Kek, kek, I can eat ten bowls of rice just looking at it!]

*injected with chicken blood- excited and energetic

Jia Hyson: …I didn't even know systems could eat rice. 

Suddenly multiple mirrors appeared around him, showcasing his figure in 360 degrees. As he turns around, he can see his clothing changing subtly into different variations of the outfit, from the cut, to the fabric type, to the coloration. The zombie who was watching it all, felt deeply that Pero really had good taste, as almost all the outfits really complemented his strange figure fairly well.

[This color is good, this long coat look is also really good-looking, it would be interesting to have some leather and chains too…] Hearing the satisfaction in the system's voice Jia Hyson couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from twitching as he touches his nose thoughtfully. Could it be the system was a beauty con?

After a few minutes, the system finally calms down a bit. Coughing awkwardly, it apologizes. [Sorry about that, I'm a beauty con. I just like good looking things.]

Jia Hyson: Damn, it really admitted it so casually.

Unsure how to address this, Jia Hyson deftly puts the topic aside with a simple, 'It's okay.' He then once again looks at the black text box floating in front of him. 

"The Wandering God?" Jia Hyson hums, "I'm honoured."

[There are many god-level bosses around.] Pero explains, also smoothly taking up this new segway in subject: [Given your strength and how you will be able to traverse various instances, it's logical to put you into this category. Unlike other gods, though, you don't need to lay any necessary groundwork to enter a new instance, so your existence is still very unique among them.]

Reaching out toward the black title card with faint curiosity, Jia Hyson's hand passes through it like it was just air. While he knew it was holographic in nature, he couldn't help but try. Absentmindedly, he makes a sound of acknowledgment to the system's words.

[Arranging your identity as an NPC isn't difficult given your fairly unique and mysterious role, which makes you unattached to any current mythology. However, your player identity is a bit harder. If you want your true appearance, power and character retained in your NPC identity, then as a consequence, you need to be different as a player.]

"Makes sense," Jia Hyson agrees easily, "So do you just create something for me or-?"

[To put it in layman's terms, humans and NPCs are inherently different, like cats and dogs. Even if I provide a shell for you, you will still have the scent of an NPC. It's easier to be detected and more importantly your assigned identity's abilities would be greatly limited.] 

Jia Hyson sighs, it's never that easy. While he didn't grasp what it means to be more limited, for now he was more impatient to start this new course of action and was willing to bypass the relatively small stuff in order to understand the bigger picture first. 

Maybe when he was younger and more cautious with his… less humane interests, would he insist on hearing all the details to get a proper understanding of the situation but now Jia Hyson was used to the arrogance of the strong. Many of his previous habits as a normal human that came from the anxiety of the worst case scenarios, paranoid worry, a need for control, and even vulnerability, had long been smoothed out to a large extent by reality repeatedly showing him time and time again his own power and ability that dominated everything. 

Jia Hyson still understood the values and felt the importance of following them in this situation, but it was simply that he was too used to years of not needing them anymore, causing him to subconsciously be a bit more careless and blasé without realizing. Fortunately the system was still very interested in their partnership and currently didn't have much intention to take advantage of this weakness if it noticed. 

[Simply put, I can't provide the outer coating, but as long as we find some… good material, I can put it on you.] Pero explains, tone light and casual, yet to anyone else, they would only feel themselves go cold and nauseous as they process the sinister implications.

Jia Hyson wasn't just anyone though, and after a moment, smiled. His lips split apart, literally, and his eyes curve into crescents, shining with a cruel interest. "Interesting~" 

"I'm glad you see it that way." Praespero hums, a hint of a smile also in it's voice. The Metempsychotic system couldn't help but be deeply satisfied by this deadly flower it had found for itself. While it can't say it didn't have its worries, the unconventional beauty of the other was genuinely intoxicating, both in appearance and soul.

The system felt the other was worth cultivating to be worthy of something akin to almost an equal. 

And if he failed? Well, what's one more pretty little plant in his garden of hell?