"Woah, woah, woah, you can understand what I'm saying?"
"Yes. Despite the experimental nature of the Convergence Protocol, we have been equipped with an artificial intelligence language model in conjunction with high level proprietary reasoning to help aid with any trial you may face."
"So, in essence, you've been able to talk to me this entire time, but have withheld?"
"Correct."
"And all that time that I was fighting, like, against the huge horde of spiders, you could've been helping with battle assessments but instead watched me claw and struggle?"
"Correct."
Recalling my near-death experience of figuring out the functionalities of the spiders' webs and acids, my mouth hung open in disbelief, the nonchalant air of the system beginning to tick me off.
This system is lucky, because if it were physically in front of me I would've been strangling it by now!
"Okay, then I have a few questions to ask you."
...
Met with no response, I continue my inquiring.
"If you are able to converse with me, then does that mean that you have higher level deduction?"
The system's response took a second longer, as if it had to think of a proper response. Interesting.
"My knowledge is limited in scope to just that of yours. All I can do is offer objectifications of issues you may not be able to properly extrapolate upon due to your state of mind or otherwise mentally straining circumstances."
"Okay, fair, then what about with actual system interaction. Could you, for example, input stats for me?"
"I am neurologically linked to you, so any and all thoughts and interactions you could make regarding the system are shared to me."
Looking on at the status window, I eye the three mission rewards that I've yet to touch, again contemplating my future course of action.
"Then what would you say are the best two rewards to be chosen here?"
Again, the system's response is delayed, serving as a proof of its equal intellect to my own.
"Checkpoint and Mana Skin are your best options here. Given the unknown terrain and the unknown strength of monsters in this environment, it is safer to be able to travel to different points in instants. And with Mana Skin, you have consistently had an issue with your health running out from only a few blows from equally strong opponents."
As I lay my head on my left hand, I begin to enter a deep thought, considering the validity of the system's ascertainments.
While I'd already made these exact same points to myself, hearing it from an outside perspective did held ease my mind a little bit more.
"And what about the dagger?"
The system's response immediate instead of it's before noticeable pauses, it answered "You are in a C-rank environment. While the effects of the dagger would serve to be useful, you will surely run into other weapons of equal or greater worth later on."
Man, is this thing great.
"Do you wish for me to pick your mission rewards for you from this point onward?"
Observing the system pick the two rewards immediately after its statement, I think back on my indecisiveness, evidential of human fallibility.
The system, on the other hand, has exactly the same knowledge as me, but can look at things from an objective standpoint as it iterated.
In my eyes, there's little to no harms in increasing the automation of system interaction.
"Sure, and you may update my stats for me as well of your own volition."
With seconds passing and there being no response, I look on as the system continues on with its proceedings.
[Mana Sense: Level 1] has been granted.
[Mana Skin] has been granted.
[Checkpoint: Level 1] has been granted.
As promptly as the system went through and obtained my mission rewards, so too did it open the status window and peer over my stats.
That is, what I assumed would happen, but instead, it was met with a new prompt; this time, one pertaining to some aspect of the mission that I'd missed prior.
[The "Purge The Den" mission tasked the player with exterminating 50 D+ rank monsters, but because of the player's outstanding performance exterminating 163 D+ rank monsters, not only does the player get the mission rewards, but an additional bonus mission reward]
"What...?"
A wave of confusion passes over me as I think back to when I'd initially obtained the task of clearing the den.
"Oh, I guess there was something like that, huh?"
Instantaneously, I feel a wave usher over me, emboldening me with a new sense of vitality and power. A green aura emanates from within me, passing through my muscle with an ebb and flow before gaining velocity and spiking out through my pores, finding its way into the atmosphere as it dissipates into nothing.
At the same time, a textbox is conjured within my vision, replacing the original prompt for the mission bonus.
[Health and Mana restored to maximum capacity]
Well, that completely solves my problem of no mana. Letting out a sigh of relief, I stop straining to conceal my mana, letting it slip out again in volumes even greater than before.
At least with that recovery, I could now defend myself if I were to be ambushed.
[As the bonus mission reward, the user will be granted a legendary blade]
As soon I read through the word 'legendary' and 'blade', impossibly dominant emotion overcame me.
My cheeks beginning to proliferate a pink blush, my teeth clenched as a big smile creeped upon and assaulted the lower extremity of my face, I failed to hold back what was the most joy I've felt ever since being banished to this labyrinth.
"A legendary blade! Come on, system, let me see!"
Swiftly, the page for my inventory opened, revealing the same, dull worn down dagger and a new dagger, donning primary colors as vast as a paint canvas and equipped with such intricate design that one could simply tell it was one of high craft.
Instantly reaching out for it, the blade's deeper designs are made more evident.
The leather texture of the hilt matched the brown coloration that it held, with two fiery orange guards positioned just above where the hand held it.
The guards had sharply rigid edges that extended up and out towards the blade, almost perfectly mimicking fire as the most distal portions introduced a color gradient of orange to red to form the foundation of a flame.
With an orange protrusion of both guards combining to form a spiral that traveled down the remainder of the hilt, it eventually met with the pommel to form a mixture of orange and brown on its descent into a fully realized orange, covering the silver pommel.
The blade itself wasn't as ragged, the bottom half having one protrusion that extended out towards the hilt, and the top half having another that extended out and away. The center of the blade was a bloody red, the edges made the same color as the orange that encapsulated the hilt and constituted the guard.
Obviously entranced by the exciting colors and intricate craftsmanship, I swing the blade once, intent on testing it out.
With the simple wave of my arm, a bright wave of hellfire unleashed from the tip of the blade, covering everything in front with a fifty meter range.
"Woah! This thing is ridiculously str~"
Spontaneously, my words slur as a weakness again overcomes me. My legs give in as I fall to the ground--akin to a puppet after its strings are cut.
"Warning: MP has dropped below 10%."