Reborn As An Evolving Monster

385  The Weight Of Information

"Can you answer those questions?"

Seeing the white-scaled Monster's silence, the Undead Lich pressed.

"You offer Souls and Bodies to Necromancy. You offer everything in its pursuit. You care about the lowly being born from that? It's pathetic. You don't understand Necromancy, or yourself. They just rise up you say? A Necromancer isn't that simple. You offer up and use everything for the sake of your goal and pursuit. Friends, foes, allies, lovers... I've even seen some use family members. You take them all, and turn them into puppets. Their Soul is bent and broken to fit whatever it is you want. You care about them? Of course, you do. They were made for and by you after all. All of them-"

"Shut the fuck up." Mark interrupted, his eye wide with repressed anger. "Are you trying to get a reaction out of me? Cause that's not happening."

The white-scaled Monster's hand was twitching, but the Undead Lich could tell that it would take more than that to make him leap, fangs baring and claws extended.

Mark has gotten better at controlling his anger and frustration.

He has also gotten better at letting it out when the right opportunity presents itself.

"Well, does this mean you want to move on to-"

"I'm guessing that'll take some of that goodwill away. Since you were purposefully trying to get me to break the Contract."

The Undead Lich chuckled, but its tone was on the severe side.

"It very well might."

"I think I get it then. You've done your job."

"I'm pleased to hear that. Now, onto yours. What makes you think that the Soul comes before the Body with such certainty?"

"You're an Undead Lich. Isn't that enough? You keep your Soul bound to those Bones, but they are not your Body."

"Souls are born when Bodies is born. These Bones might not be my original Body, but my Soul was born with my original Body." "So you had a Body before this one?" Mark inquired, keeping in mind the Mural he had seen outside.

"That has nothing to do with this."

"I want to renegotiate the Contract."

"Absolutely not. I've done my part."

"You've helped, I agree. You've helped define the problem, not solve it."

"Solving is your job."

"The Contract we signed entailed that you would help in solving the problem."

"That's how you want to play this?"

"Plus, it came from you, didn't it? You said that I had already thought about these things. In that case, you've only added clarity, not given a solution."

"That problem of yours isn't something that can be fixed easily."

"The fact that it came from you has to account for something, right?"

"Tsk. Perhaps."

"You want me to solve your issue, while you only added clarity to mine."

"Solve my issue? That question isn't something that can be answered easily. If anything, you would only be adding clarity..."

The Undead Lich stopped halfway through its sentence.

"Exactly." Mark smiled. "In that sense, getting to ask three questions after that is unfair, don't you think? In the first place, you said that I had less time, which makes your information more valuable. But I disagree. If I only have a few decades, you might have centuries of thinking about the answer, endlessly going in circles. What do you think?"

The Undead Lich sighed.

"My answer is also a secret, in a way. Secrets are more valuable than information. In the first place, I didn't get a precise piece of information. I only... Picked your brain?"

'Fuck. He's only reaching for straws but... The System might listen to his arguments.'

"The answer. How much of a secret is it?"

"I haven't told anyone, ever. Only a couple know of it."

"Weigh it then."

"Weigh it?"

The Undead Lich brought a hand to its chin.

'I thought he was familiar with Contracts after that but... Weighing it might be a bad move. The fact that he's unfamiliar with Contracts could add to the System's pity on him... Might as well have some more good will on my side.'

Sigh-

"Weighing the information. It happens often in Contracts involving exchanges of Information. You ask the System to weigh that Information, and it will assign it a value in Gold Coins. This way, we can both make sure that neither is taking the short end of the stick."

"And that Value is subjective, I assume."

"Of course. The information's value depends massively on whose hands it lands in. What you can do with the information, how much it means to you, all that is taken into account. There's also an objective side to it, of course."

"Fine with me. I'm confident in the information I have to share."

"System, weigh the Information I have shared with him this far-"

"That's cheating. Weigh only what was concerning the problem with my Skill."

"System, subtract the Value of Information that didn't have to do with the Skill, Necromancy, or Rituals."

"That's cheating."

"Is it? There's value in blabbering on, don't you think? Is there anything I said about those three topics that you would have rathered me leave out?"

 "... Nothing comes to mind."

"Good."

[Calculating...]

"75.000 Gold Coins." The Undead Lich declared a second later.

"Am I supposed to take your word for it?"

The Undead Lich snapped its fingers, and a screen showing that exact value appeared in front of Mark.

"How can I make sure this isn't an Illusion or something?"

"You doubt your eyes that much?"

"I do."

"Well, I refuse to give out further Information before we deal with this issue."

"System, is there anything weird with this screen or value?"

[There is nothing wrong with it.]

"Satisfied?" The Undead Lich asked obnoxiously, guessing what had appeared in front of the white-scaled Monster.

"Yes." Mark asnwered.

He thought silently for a bit.

'I only have about 500 Gold Coins on me. If I had enough, I wonder if the System would have accepted payment instead of an exchange of Information. It probably can't enforce it though. Enforcing it could work... But would drive the value that I would need to pay higher. Probably? I can't ask him much more for now. Not while this Contract is valid.'

"Well?"

"System. Weigh the Information I have in mind."

"That's cheating."

"Is it?"