Shrugging her shoulders, the administrator, did not look very concerned about this question and responded saying, "It is meant to make people stronger. I set things up so anyone could reach the peak so long as they put in enough effort. Other than that, I guess it does serve as some entertainment for me from time to time. Though I am normally too busy to be paying close attention here."
The administrator then took another sip of her seemingly endless cup of hot chocolate waiting for Marcus to ask his next question.
Sadly, the answer he had just gotten was not exactly what he wanted, since he had also been hoping that the administrator would give away what her goal was in making people stronger.
Of course, Marcus could think of a few, but some of them like being fattened up for slaughter were not very pleasant, so he pushed them to the back of his mind.
'Looks like she is only going to give me direct and straight forward answers. I need to be more careful with what I ask in order to get more information.'
With his first question being answered, Marcus now had quite a few more, but there was one that had been bugging him for the longest time. And even though it might not help him in any way he just had to know.
"How did I die back on Earth?"
Hearing this, unlike his first question the administrator put on a devilish smile that gave Marcus chills. and said, "Are you sure you want to know the answer to that? It is not like it matters at this point since you are already here and have come this far. Anyway, have you not already been told that you died in a gas leak. Are you saying that you were lied to?"
After the administrator said this to him, Marcus stared at her intently, trying to figure out what she really wanted.
She had answered his first question readily and without any pretext, but now she was playing mind games.
Unfortunately, her expressions and tone were hard to decipher, and Marcus found it impossible to gage what she actually wanted.
Either she really did not want to tell Marcus the answer to this question, or she was trying to steer him away from a worthless question he already knew the answer to.
Or maybe she was just messing with him and did not care either way and was just having some fun at his expense. He really could not tell even though he was pretty good at reading people.
'No. I already asked the question knowing it might be fruitless. I just have to know to get it out of the back of my mind.'
With a resolute expression Marcus looked at the administrator and said, "Yes, I really want to know. Please tell me how I died."
The administrator after hearing this began laughing. An almost diabolical laugh that made Marcus shudder.
"Ah I really did not think you would ask me about that. Oh, well not that it really matters. But if you must know… You did die from a gas leak. It was just a freak accident that happened because of shoddy workmanship."
Hearing this Marcus let out a sigh of relief, even though the administrator had been gaslighting him a bit.
He was relived to here that he had not been killed in some otherworldly plot he did not understand, but also bit let down to here that his death was nothing special.
However, what the administrator said next got his attention.
"Since you just asked a worthless question, I will give you a bit of a freebie. During your time to ask questions when you had first died, I had it cut off short so that you would not find out that you were going to be a ghost. I thought it would be funny, and I did not want you to go back on your wish to be untouchable."
Rolling his eyes and groaning Marcus had figured something like that had happened, but at least now he had confirmation that the administrator had indeed been messing with him.
Still even though the start had been really rough, and he nearly lost his sanity. He was doing pretty well now and being a ghost had already given him plenty of opportunities he would not have had otherwise.
"Now you have one more question. I recommend you make it count."
Taking a minute to think Marcus felt like he could ask the administrator another thousand questions and not have his curiosity satiated.
Yet a certain question came to mind and Marcus figured it might be worth a shot.
"Would you tell me your entire life story?"
Frowning the administrator obviously did not want to talk about herself.
"Sorry, that would take far too long, and I have no intention of revealing anything directly about myself to you at this time."
"Hurry up and ask your final question. My time is running thin."
Seeing that he had upset the administrator with his last question, Marcus could only shrug it off and try again.
He thought it was unlikely that the administrator would answer that question, but it certainly would have given him a great deal of information if she had.
"Okay. Then can you tell me what you have planned for me and Roxene."
Smiling the administrator looked more pleased by this question and said, "For you directly I have no plan per se, but I do have hopes. If one day you grow strong enough, I would not mind having you work under me. It is always helpful to have strong allies. But I am not one to bind others, so you are free to do as you please. As for Roxene, while she is free to do as she wishes, I assume she would like to rejoin her parents and I after she exceeds the peak of this world and is able to protect herself from our enemies."
After finishing answering Marcus' last question the administrator stood and the chair she had been sitting on and the hot chocolate she was drinking disappeared.
"I will need to be going now, but it has been good to talk to the two of you. Oh, and keep your eyes out for any similar books. If you find any make sure to send me a message. I have enabled that function in your personal status. Just make sure not to contact me frivolously, I am a busy person."
The administrator then began leaving when she abruptly stopped and turned around.
"Oh, and just a bit of advice before I leave. You should search those crystal caverns around Recha's shrine more thoroughly. You may find something useful down there."
With those last words the administrator left Marcus' tent and disappeared into the blizzard heading on her way.
Once she was gone the tension Marcus had been feeling left all at once and he fell back on his cot, his head pounding.
He then looked towards Roxene who had a forlorn expression on her face, and for a minute thought about asking her some more questions about the administrator.
'No, she already told me she would not. Anyway, I already learned a lot and can figure out the rest later.. For now, I need to focus on what is going on around me at this moment, instead of what may or may not be in the future.'
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