"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
end
"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?"