Chapter 228: A Question for the System
[: 3rd POV :]
Hearing the system’s answer, Daniel frowned slightly.
"That sounds like a very polite way of saying ’no’."
[: It is a precise way of saying no :]
"...Yeah, I figured."
He exhaled, then looked forward again, more serious now.
"Explain it to
properly. Not the system version. The real reason."
A brief pause followed.
[: The system is not rely a tool. It is an accumulation of every single existence of pure energy throughout all existence, the non-existent universe. I’m a being that owns every single existence of records and has existed before nothingness mattered :]
Daniel narrowed his eyes. "That didn’t answer my question."
[: The fusion process you underwent was not an addition. It was convergence :]
Another pause.
[: Two incomplete existences cannot remain separate after convergence without destabilising both :]
Daniel’s expression softened slightly.
"So if you split again... we both break?"
[: Correct :]
He let that sink in for a mont.
Then he let out a quiet, almost amused breath.
"So it’s not that you’re dying...it’s that you can’t exist twice anymore."
[: That is an acceptable simplification :]
Daniel tilted his head back slightly, staring into the space above.
"...That’s kind of unfair, you know."
[: Unfairness is not a asurable system variable :]
"Of course you’d say that," Daniel muttered, though there was no real frustration in it.
A brief silence passed.
Then Daniel spoke again, softer this ti.
"...If you’re becoming part of , does that an I’m becoming part of you too?"
The system hesitated.
A rare delay.
[: Affirmative :]
Daniel blinked once.
Then he let out a small chuckle.
"So I guess there’s no ’goodbye’ then."
[: Incorrect :]
Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
[: There is only integration completion :]
He nodded slowly, then smiled faintly.
"...That’s just a fancy way of saying goodbye without saying it."
The system did not respond imdiately.
[: ...That is an inefficient interpretation :]
Daniel laughed under his breath again.
"Yeah, yeah. Inefficient. Sure."
He glanced forward, his tone softening.
"...Still. If you’re going to disappear into , don’t get weird and start judging my decisions from inside my head."
[: I will maintain optimal advisory functions :]
"That’s not reassuring."
[: It is honest :]
Daniel shook his head lightly, still smiling.
"...Yeah," he said quietly, "I guess that’s the problem."
Daniel let out a slow breath, his expression softening as the thought settled more clearly in his mind.
"...Maybe one day, before that happens," he said quietly, almost as if testing the idea aloud, "I’ll find a way for you to exist properly outside of ."
A faint pause followed, his gaze drifting into the endless void as though he could already see it taking shape.
"Maybe... just maybe... I could create a physical form for you."
Daniel continued, his tone growing more certain with each word, "and finally... I could give my thanks to you in person. Treat you to a dinner or sothing."
The system remained silent for a brief mont longer than usual, as if processing the concept of "dinner."
Then it responded.
[: I guess that would be a fair trade, considering the amount of powers I have granted you :]
Daniel chuckled softly at that, shaking his head slightly.
"Now you’re bargaining?" he asked lightly.
[: I am assessing value equivalence. It is logical :]
"Yeah, sure," Daniel said, his smile lingering.
"Logical."
He tilted his head slightly, tone becoming gentler again.
"But I an it. If there’s even a chance, I’ll do it."
A brief pause followed.
[: Host is expressing an unusually sentintal projection of future probability :]
Daniel shrugged faintly.
"Call it whatever you want. I just think... it’d be nice."
The system paused again, then replied in a quieter tone.
[: ...Acknowledged :]
Daniel exhaled, then added with a faint grin, "And when that happens, I’m picking the place. No complaints."
[: Understood. However, I reserve the right to evaluate the nu :]
"That’s not how dinner works," Daniel said, chuckling.
[: It is now noted as a variable :]
He laughed a little more openly this ti, shaking his head as the emptiness around them felt just slightly less empty than before.
Eventually, Daniel’s expression slowly settled as the earlier lightness faded, replaced by sothing more grounded, more deliberate.
"...Aside from all of that," he said quietly, his gaze fixed into the endless void as though looking past it.
"I think it’s better to ask you now, system."
There was a brief pause, the kind that didn’t feel empty, but instead felt like sothing waiting to be spoken into existence.
"What is your true purpose, system?"
His voice remained calm, but there was intent behind it now, a seriousness that ca from understanding how much both of their existences had already been rewritten.
"I don’t care about why you chose ,"
Daniel continued, tone steady, "because I’m glad you did. But if my true goal is freedom... then what’s yours?"
Silence followed imdiately.
Not the usual kind.
This one was heavier and longer.
As if even the concept of answering had montarily stalled the system’s internal structure.
[: My true purpose...? :]
The system’s voice finally responded, but there was sothing different in it, a delay that had never existed before, like a function attempting to access a variable that had no defined value.
Daniel raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Co on," he said softly, almost teasing but not unkind, "don’t tell
you really don’t have a purpose for choosing ?"
Another pause and longer this ti.
Then Daniel leaned slightly forward in thought, continuing before the silence could fully settle.
"You told
yourself," he said, voice more certain now, "that you’re the Above All System. That you existed before nothingness and you were there before anything had aning or structure."
He tilted his head slightly.
"That makes you an absolute existence, doesn’t it?"
A faint shift passed through the void, almost imperceptible, as if reality itself acknowledged the weight of the statent.
"So in a sense," Daniel continued, his tone sharpening just slightly with logic rather than emotion, "there’s no reason for you to choose
specifically."
He paused briefly.
"And that’s what bothers ."
His gaze narrowed a fraction, not in suspicion, but curiosity.
"If you had no reason... then either you acted without one...or there is a reason you’re not telling ."
The silence stretched again.
Daniel exhaled slowly, then added more softly, almost as an afterthought but carrying real intent beneath it.
"I can accept that I have a goal," he said. "Freedom and that’s mine."
He looked up slightly.
"But you...you don’t feel like sothing without direction."
A faint pause.
Then, more gently.
"...And who knows," Daniel said, his tone easing just a little, "maybe I could help you with yours."
For the first ti, the system did not respond imdiately.
And in that rare, unfamiliar silence, it felt less like absence... and more like sothing finally beginning to question itself.
After a long silence, the system finally spoke, its tone noticeably different from before, as if it had shifted from hesitation into careful acceptance.
[: I guess I could explain to you...after all, with your current "existence
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