Spending My Retirement In A Game

"So, the quests disappeared, and then suddenly came back a few weeks ago?" Eisen asked, really just repeating after Aaron. He slowly nodded.

"Yes. They told me how I was supposed to... sabotage everything," Aaron started, fiddling with his fingers. He clearly didn't want to look into Eisen's eyes, "That's generally what the quests would be from a certain point on. The first quests that I got were practically guiding me into getting the abilities and skills that I needed, and then the 'real' quests began. Affecting which nobles were in power, who was in charge of which trading outposts... I even made sure that certain areas of Litgern would be underdeveloped. Now, I assume that it was for the purpose of allowing Artificials to do so in our stead."

Eisen stayed silent. That was exactly the reason, just as Aaron guessed. Clearly, this was a system for Samuel to keep things in order beyond what Eisen and the others already knew about thus far. And that made sense as well. Possessing everyone to make changes obviously wasn't the most effective way. Instead, creating an algorithm or maybe even just assinging individuals someone to give them quests to change the path that a country was undertaking was much more viable as a large-scale operation. Now it made sense why there were parts of this world that just seemed so untouched. These sorts of quests were used to properly curate the ins and outs of the narrative that Samuel wanted for this world.

"And throughout this process, you learned to act so well that you didn't even feel surprised at seeing the Filth?" Eisen asked, and Aaron tried responding quickly, almost replying by instinct, but he slowly stopped and tried to carefully collect his thoughts.

"I've always been good with words, and things such as acting and hiding my true intentions was just as easy, to tell you the truth. And then, as the years progressed, I learned how to completely fade out everything but what the quests told me to do. It's like a trance, you see? When I see that quest window in front of my eyes, when I feel the

sting

of it in the corner of my eye, it's like I'm a different person. I just do whatever I need to, so I can... so I can live on," Aaron explained, "Which is kind of ironic, right? Because I chose to simply follow along, waiting for my own death just earlier."

"... Right, what was that about? It's not like

you

could have dropped that bomb."

"That's what it was?" Aaron asked, "The last quest simply told me to hold out and make sure everyone important was in that room when the

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end

came. I have been following these quests long enough to understand what that meant. But then, the timer reached zero, and... nothing happened."

Eisen closed his eyes for a moment. If that was the case, then there was at least an explanation for everything. Even if it was one that made Eisen feel a little... conflicted. Aaron wasn't possessed directly, but he was still completely groomed into this behaviour. From what Eisen could tell, this was the truth; an extremely relieving truth, honestly. It was better than believing that Aaron was a complete psychopath that tried to cause havoc for no reason, but there were still parts that made the old man nervous.

For one, as much as this hurt Eisen to even think, he doubted that he could really trust Aaron as an ally anytime soon. Unless they figured out a way to permanently block him from receiving these quests, there was no way they could see Aaron as a perfect ally. And that wasn't for any fault of his own, but if the quests practically put him into a trance at this point, then that was too much of a risk.

And even more than that, this meant that there were many, many more people that were directly influenced by Samuel than Eisen and the others originally thought. That meant they had to act a lot more careful. And the fact they could force particular actions onto others around the ones that were given the quests was even more startling and confusing. Did quests have more power than Eisen thought they did?

Either way, quests had to be a function of the internal, original power that is imbued in everyone from this world that was then later curated by the system. Experience, levels, growth, magic, special abilities, evolution, classes; all of that were special abilities that were basically innate to everyone here, and they followed a very simple theme. Growth. Becoming stronger, better, improving. But what purpose did quests have?

There were a few more things that didn't quite fit the 'growth' theme, such as the messaging system, but Eisen could excuse that away as something that the system itself introduced rather than being an innate power. But the quest system was different, since it directly connected to that growth, improving and supporting it.

Eisen followed the thought, feeling like he was at the cusp of some sort of realization. Clearly, if quests were more powerful if he thought, he couldn't just dismiss them. What was it about quests that made them special? What did he know for a fact they did, and how could he extrapolate that?

And then, it came to him. Quests could give others Experience. The actual force of 'experience' could be placed into them. This 'experience' was probably the true nature of what made this world special; it was something that allowed someone to transcend what would usually be physically possible. Why would it not have the power to influence their actions if applied properly?

But then why didn't they just influence the people who were given the quests in the first place? There had to be some more restrictions to it. But then, what were the rules of placing experience into others, and where did it come from? Eisen assumed that this world followed the rule that energy could not be created nor destroyed as well, so the experience had to have a source.

And then, it clicked.

The experience came from others. Everyone had a bit of experience stripped from them to keep the system running in the first place, or at least, that was Eisen's assumption for a while now. But he thought this was just the system syphoning some experience as it was being gained by the individual. But what if that wasn't the truth? What if the system could take experience whenever it wanted to, and then give it later?

Of course, there had to be a system for Samuel to take the experience of all the players to bring magic onto earth in the first place.

"It's so obvious, why did I never think about this? That's what it is, I-" Eisen muttered, realizing the true nature of the 'quest' system for himself.

Quests were the ability to 'teach'. To give experience to another. But again, experience was an energy that could not be created from nothing, so it must be given from the teacher to the student.

Quests were the mechanism through which Eisen and the other originals gave up their own experience to help create the arficials; the bodies of the first players.

"Stay here," Eisen said, stepping toward the door, "Do not leave my domain, even for a moment, you hear me? I'll be back in a few minutes."

The old man rushed out the small office, making his way over to where the others had to be right now. And luckily, they weren't that far away.

"Eisen! Are you alright?" Xenia asked, clearly concerned, "You just dragged Aaron out of the hall earlier, what's going on?"

"Quests. That's what's going on."

"Huh?" Xenia let out, almost startled, "What do you..?"

Eisen looked around at his friends, "Quests are just a cover for the ability to give 'experience' from one person to another. It's how we reset our own levels."

The other four immediately understood what Eisen was saying, as a sense of nostalgia ran over them. It was the trigger for a new memory.

"Holy fucking- You're right, that only makes sense!" Brody replied, "But hold on, how did you get that from your conversation with Aaron?"

"I'll explain that in a second, but more importantly... do you four think it's possible to hijack the quest system?"