VRMMORPG: Dragomancer Reborn

ƥαṇdαs ηθνε|·ƈθm

Arthur wondered just what kind of probability were Zaddreus and his predecessor were playing with.

'Were they trying to do this regardless of what kind of person they got?' Arthur wondered.

"We had set up several ways of contacting and making the regressors aware about the truth. Some of these methods were long-winded, and some were risky. Only a few were safe that would work. But you… were possibly one of the best candidates we could get." Zaddreus continued to speak.

"I see… but there must be more to this? Isn't there?" Arthur questioned. "For you to do all this, there should be a reason? After all, turning back time is not something easy to do from what you've told." He elaborated.

"Indeed… For this, I can tell you that, your world is not what it seems like." Zaddreus answered.

"You said the same for Morpheus Online." Arthur replied.

"Indeed… The two are not so different." Zaddreus said making Arthur gulp, more thoughts appearing in his mind. "That is all I can hint at for now. There are limitations to what I can say too. We have to watch for the game's AI too. It is something that might be troublesome to us." He added.

Arthur's nervousness just shot up several times more. He recalled all the novels and games that he had played in his past life. There were many plots that were similar, where one had to go up against a rouge AI.

"Will the game's AI oppose us directly?" Arthur asked. "Will it interfere in my quests and more?' he questioned in an anxious tone.

"It mostly should not. The only time it will interfere is when an anomaly appears and it will try to stop it. In our case, our interaction is an anomaly." Zaddreus answered.

"Then does it mean it will contact me or take action against me?" Arthur inquired.

"Not this time, now… We had a precaution set up for this. We knew the AI would try to do something, thus we had made it so that when we contacted the first person, they would be forcefully disconnected from the rest of the game." Zaddreus explained. "But know this, it is just a one time measure."

"You can't do it again?" Arthur was disappointed.

"Doing it once alone is a great risk. We have to do it in such a way that the AI thinks of it as a normal error. Thankfully this is just the start of the game and is barely the second day. The AI as well as the system admits will take it as a starting glitch. In fact, they should be expecting something like this." Zaddreus clarified, making Arthur a bit relieved.

"I see… that's good then," Arthur said feeling a bit better. "But then, if I am to seek you out, how will that go? Won't the AI know that too?" he asked.

"That is one of the reason why I am not a singular entity and am separated into multiple instances. If there was just one of me interacting with you, again and again, the AI would definitely know." Zaddreus replied. "The rest of my instances are hidden among quests, that you will have to seek." He stated.

"The AI won't know if we interact after the quests?" Arthur was still a bit doubtful.

After all he knew just how strong and complex the AI of the game was. Even the developers couldn't interfere in its working much after the AI had been launched. They had their limitations too, as going any further would need the destruction of the AI.

"While there are still some risks, they should be minimized. The quests are a way to 'distract' the AI. You see, whenever a quest happens, the AI takes it as a seed of causality. The bigger the quest the bigger this causality will be.

Its outcomes are something the AI cannot predict either. It simply has to let them run. So it is within this garb of causality that we will work." Zaddreus explained.

Arthur had to think about to deeply to grasp it all. 

'As long as it is within a quest that causes big enough change, the AI wouldn't know.' He did get the gist of it though. 

"So what quests are these?"  Arthur asked.

"You will get it as soon as you are out of this place." Zaddreus replied.

"You mean the bonus from the class change?" Arthur inquired.

"That does include them, but there are more of them." Zaddreus answered. "Though the class quests that you would get are highly important. I recommended you to do them as soon as you can. They will help you survive what is to come." He added in a grim tone.

Arthur unwinking gulped, wondering just how big of a task this was. At the same time, he got another thought. A thought that was opposite to everything.

"But… what if I don't want to participate in all this? What if I just want to play as I want to? Or what if I just stop playing?" Arthur asked with courage.

"You are free to do that." Zaddreus said much to his surprise.

"Huh?" Arthur was stunned.

"I cannot stop you and neither do I have the right to do that." Zaddreus replied.

"Why…?" Arthur asked.

"After all, we were the ones who brought everyone back in time. In a way, you can take it as a selfish decision. Even if it was for something grave, we knew the risks that would come with it." Zaddreus spoke. "We were prepared for people denying us too. We simply hope that there would be someone willing to help us." He explained.

This gave a lot to Arthur to think about, but it also gave him his answer.

"I see… Well I see no reason to go against your decisions… at least for now." Arthur stated. "I wish to pursue the quests too, I wish to get stronger too." He said with determination.