'Finish him off? What do you even mean?'
Jax was genuinely confused as to what to make of this weird system's words. Wasn't it stated clearly that he had to find a man? Now, why did it feel like they were both on two entirely different frequencies here?
[Nothing serious. You just have to kill him.] Nexus interrupted his thoughts saying these few words so casually that Jax had a trouble understanding them for a good few seconds.
However, it didn't take him more than a couple of seconds to realize the real meaning behind its words. But he just brushed it off as him hearing Nexus unclearly.
He must have heard it incorrectly, right?
Yes, it must be the case.
However, was that even possible, when the voice was actually ringing his own ears?
And, that was what Nexus confirmed in it's awfully adorable yet irritatingly childish and excited voice...
[You heard it clearly. Kill him and you will get a handsome reward. Isn't that awesome?]
Nexus brought up the reward particulars as if he were participating in some heated Olympic finals and was just one step away from clinching the gold medal.
But Jax couldn't feel any excitement or high for that matter, he couldn't even understand how finding someone turned into murdering him all of a sudden.
Did he need to repeat his discontinued educational achievements and learn the meaning of the word 'find' again?
'Kill... ? Kill who?'
Nevertheless of all the thoughts that were rummaging his mind like a giant wheel, he still asked a question, a question which wouldn't even cost a few brain cells to work over for a toddler to decipher the answer.
[Of course, you are going to kill Marco. You have to search for him, so that you can kill him. He was just your first target.]
Wasn't he actively trying to find ways to escape his sentence? Why would he kill a person and close the gates to his freedom with his own two hands?
Wait that was not the point....
'Just my first target?'
Will he have to kill more people in the future? Just what kind of mess had I gotten myself into?
No way in the hell would I be agreeing to do something like this!
[. . .]
But Nexus didn't him answer him back. It was the second time it chose to remain silent, and should he assume that it was half correct again?
Jax didn't even know how to describe his current predicament anymore, he felt like being tossed like a volleyball from one court to the opposite.
'Don't just keep mum and say something. What do you mean by first target?'
[It was as I said earlier, he was only your first target.]
And Nexus answered half truthfully yet again. But Jax wouldn't just leave it like that. It was human lives they were talking about. And killing them would only make him a murderer, levelling up or not, he would be labelled as a criminal and he wouldn't be able to clear his name ever again.
That was his utmost concern.
Thus, he could only choose to refuse whatever requests Nexus presented him with. If they were tasks that had the potential to cut of his wings to sore into the skies, he didn't even want to consider doing them. And anything and everything that was remotely related to killing a person, was a big no no.
'No I won't kill anyone. Not even over my dead body.'
Jax firmly rejected the idea, in what he felt like the most no more nonsense tone. But he forgot that just this afternoon the system clearly saying; himself being able to access the so called privilege of being able to reject a quest.
He needed points, XP points to be more precisely to reject the system's choices, which were as good as finding oasis in the middle of a deserted continent.
And the most ironic thing in this situation was, he have to complete the given tasks to earn these points, in order to reject these kind of quests in the future.
[You don't have a choice in this.]
Nexus replied coolly, not even bothering to consider his situation. Well it was just a system, taking commands and replying to requests were the only things it was capable of doing.
What more could he expect it to do?
'. . .'
Now it was Jax's turn to maintain silence, well it was highly impossible to do so, because it just needed him to think about something and the system will be able to grasp his every single thought.
So he chose to be quiet mentally, and he achieved doing so by steering clear all of his thoughts about the topic at hand and started thinking about anything and everything, of course the most useless things. From how many threads they would need to weave a single duvet to what type of fillings they have used to puff up the pillows and mattresses.
[Jax, you ignoring me won't get us anywhere.]
Mental silence from Jax.
[It would only complicate things for you.]
Nexus was almost whining in its sickly sweet voice now.
Again no response, it was as if Jax was an airhead, whose mind wouldn't let anything enter his brain cells no matter what.
[You will level up, and it will be for the best.]
Left with no other choice Nexus tried to remind the plus points of this entire debacle, which indeed earned a reaction but it was not to its liking.
'Whatever, I don't care.'
[. . .]
It seemed like Nexus was having difficulty in enticing the youth to do its bidding, but it definitely couldn't give up, otherwise they will have to face serious repercussions.
Thus it tried to persuade again.
'Why are you insisting on it so much?'
[Its not within my capabilities to answer any queries related to the ultimate purpose. But if you earned a total of 100 points, I will be able to answer one question of yours.]
What??? He even needed points to get any answers from this system now?