[715] What Is Gained (4)
* * *
Labyrinth Andre — World No. 1.
Unaware of what was about to happen, Shirone spoke to Mitochondria Eve.
"Even if you're not the you I know, I won't regret it. So live your best life."
With his Kar value over ninety percent, he no longer had any attachment to the decision he'd already made.
"Uga. Ugagaga."
Mitochondria Eve's hoarse voice was interpreted through the Ultima system.
"I don't know. Maybe I'm not her."
If she didn't desperately raise her brain function, she still couldn't form words properly.
So even she couldn't promise who would become the central figure in the events to come.
"It's okay. You'll definitely become the Empress someday."
Mitochondria Eve slipped away and turned her face in embarrassment.
"Am I ugly?"
There was no neat, decisive answer to a question like that.
"Uh, well…."
"I know. You're from another era. I can tell. And I know what I'll have to do from now on."
Mitochondria Eve took Shirone's hand.
"I'll help you. I'll help you find a way back."
She didn't know what other worlds were like, and the information available from the Stone Age was limited, so it had felt bleak and uncertain.
'Still, it's a relief. There's someone I can actually talk to.'
Shirone smiled and squeezed Mitochondria Eve's hand. At that moment, human screams echoed from outside the cave.
"Kuaaah!"
They were the voices of those who had fled a short while ago.
"What's that?"
"Kruaaang!"
At the dragon's roar, Mitochondria Eve leapt into Shirone's arms.
"You… found me."
No sooner had she finished speaking than the dragon's face filled the cave entrance.
A long snout covered in blue scales, vertical amber pupils crackling with electricity.
'Different from the other dragons.'
Savage, yes, but there was a certain nobility in its presence that set it apart from mere wildness.
"You were here."
As the electric gaze fixed on Mitochondria Eve, Shirone suddenly realized.
'Maybe….'
Perhaps this Mitochondria Eve wasn't fated to die here from the start.
"You are?"
All emotion drained from the dragon's face as it discovered Shirone, giving it a strongly inhuman air.
"KRAAAA!"
The cavern shook with the thunder of the roar.
"KRAAANG! KRAAANG!"
The roars weren't singular; they hit in succession like echoes that carried without losing force.
"Grrk!"
Assailed by the sonic violence, Shirone gritted his teeth and hugged Mitochondria Eve tighter.
"Come out, human from another world."
Truthfully, he didn't want to go out.
"If you refuse, I'll blast the cave with my thunder breath. You won't be able to dodge it. That's not what you'd want, is it?"
"Let's go."
They walked out of the cave with their hands clasped tight, and the dragon's face slid aside.
'Out of the frying pan into the fire.'
He'd been ready for a fight if necessary, but hundreds of dragons already clogged the sky.
'This is excessive.'
In the real world, dragon numbers were known to exceed a thousand, but it was rare to see more than one together.
"Obey. Our Core approaches."
The lightning-wielding dragon said that, then took to the air, and a gigantic shadow rolled over the distant horizon.
"That's no shadow."
Its scales were black; its bulk so immense that the other dragons looked small beside it.
Kuuuuoooom!
The ground trembled as it landed, a neck some twenty meters long rising as the dragon peered down at the tiny world below.
"Human from another world…."
When the power in its voice passed through the Ultima system, Shirone's body shuddered.
The force behind its speech was of a different order than any dragon he'd met before—an aura capable of overwhelming everything.
"I am Karatorusa, the Gradeless Dragon. Why do you disturb the world's information?"
"No way…."
Karatorusa, the Gradeless Dragon.
A dragon-king from the legends of Shirone's home world—something that existed there only in myth.
* * *
Labyrinth Andre — World No. 847.
"Divine power?"
Codename 97 Panika answered the questions Shirone had been curious about as they walked toward the temple.
"Yes. Rank depends on how well you match a god's power, and a code is etched into the forehead."
"So there can be duplicates? Like, if I'm number 50, someone else might already be 50?"
"You, number 50? Hahaha!"
Panika burst out laughing and covered her mouth.
"Sorry. That example's ridiculous. Anyway, if that ever happened everyone below you would just be pushed down one rank."
"So it's not like a tattoo. You mean the code itself."
Panika tapped her broad forehead.
"Of course. It's a mark the gods carve themselves. That's why rankers expose their foreheads. It's a symbol of rulership."
The blunt-cut bangs following the hairline looked foolish, but under this city's system it was standard fashion.
"So you can use powers according to rank?"
"Yeah. The higher you are, the better abilities you get. Below the 400,000s you get nothing, but even entering the 300,000s brings power amplification—you could lift a massive rock in an instant."
If physical strength rose with rank, it made sense why the system had never been overthrown.
"In the 200,000s you can control elements—make fire, freeze water. In the 100,000s you can wield two elements at once."
Imagining an endless pyramid of increasing abilities, Shirone understood why people feared the number 97.
"So a ranker is…?"
"Those from 1 to 100. People who use the strongest ability called 'God's Knowledge.' Like me."
Panika demonstrated.
"Basically rankers can handle all abilities up to the 101st, but they also get one special extra. My power is manifested objects."
An apple materialized in Panika's hand.
"It lets me turn whatever I imagine into an object."
She offered it to Shirone as if for him to taste; he bit into the apple with skeptical eyes.
'It's an actual apple.'
"You can make anything—gems, weapons, even explosives. But it gets boring after a while. Lately I've been addicted to shopping."
Seeing a ranker on a middle-class street naturally drew attention.
'Weird. Really weird.'
These so-called powers differed from the magic Shirone knew, even from extra-regulation arts.
A plant mage might grow an apple, but only a god could make anything simply by thinking.
'Is there really a god? Or maybe….'
He entertained that possibility as they reached the temple and saw the city's upper classes strolling about.
"People ranked above 500,000 hang around here. Anyone can come, but still…."
Low-ranked folks risked trouble if they loitered.
He saw 467, 311, 109, and a man ranked 37—an impressively high number—casually reading a newspaper.
"Hey, Panika. Who's this? Your lover?"
A sharp-featured man with neatly trimmed bangs and long side hair approached in front of the temple doors.
'Number 9….'
Out of over four hundred thousand, he was ninth.
"This is Codename 9, Gale. Be careful with him."
Gale glanced at Shirone as he approached Panika.
"What's with that hair? You're not a ranker, are you? Where'd you meet her? Never knew you liked this type."
Gale had no idea an uncoded person might be here.
"Who I date is none of your business. Move—I'm busy. Isn't Mr. Drine at the temple?"
Panika was visibly tense.
"What's so busy? Clock in, will you?"
Gale grabbed Panika's chin and kissed her, and sparks seemed to fly into Shirone's eyes.
"Stop that! What are you—!"
Panika raised a hand to restrain Shirone, and Gale didn't break the kiss as he said,
"Haha! Offended? Then get revenge. By the way, what number are you? In the 100,000s, maybe?"
Sensing danger, Panika shoved at Gale's chest with everything she had.
"That's enough! Cut it out!"
"You get prickly in front of your lover, huh? Maybe I'll hang around. You might even take my ninth spot."
Despite rank determining everything, camaraderie across ranks existed because the "Exchange and Acquisition" system let people gain higher codes.
Near the pyramid's top the skill gaps weren't huge, so rankers preferred to avoid fights.
'But not Gale.'
Panika had to give in because Gale wasn't an ordinary ranker—he was a legendary ranker within the top ten.
Rankers up to 100 used the supreme ability "God's Knowledge," but those in the top ten also received an extra power called "God's Grace."
'If we fought, I'd lose no matter what.'
In the end, the code was the most powerful determinant, and Panika could only resent the destiny stamped on her.
"A number etched on someone and they act like that? Isn't that too much?"
Shirone's remark made Gale turn in disbelief.
"You… what did you say?"
"I mean the number stamped on your ugly forehead. You're not first place anyway, right? Don't you think it's excessive?"
Puhahahaha!
Gale laughed.
"Right. Low scum wouldn't understand. Someone like Panika gets huge privileges. She's probably toyed with every handsome guy she passed on the street. Same as you."
"I haven't!"
Panika shouted, cheeks flushed.
"Well, that's taste, but having only ninety-six people above you sure makes life comfortable. Even those in the ten-thousand range can do whatever they want. You're not someone to pity—Codename 97 is nothing to sneeze at."
Was Panika unhappy?
If she was, how should one judge the lives of the 427,000 people ranked below 97?
"Still, I can't accept that. Strong or weak, humans tormenting other humans is wrong."
"Sigh. Hearing that really pisses me off."
Gale, who'd been touching his forehead, strode over at incredible speed and flipped up Shirone's bangs.
"What number do you think you are, acting all high and mighty… huh?"
Seeing no number, Gale spun on Panika with murderous eyes.
"You… how dare you bring an uncoded person into the temple?"
"What's all the commotion?"
At the voice from the temple, the rankers stopped and turned.
A man with a kindly face and neatly kept bangs descended the steps, and Panika's face brightened.
"Mr. Drine!"
Codename 1, Drine.
The only absolute in this city who didn't have to take orders from anyone.
"Long time no see, Panika. Tell me what's going on."
After Panika's explanation, Drine looked at Shirone and nodded.
"I see. An uncoded person—must be awkward. Sometimes people transfer here with a codename. Come with me. The god will determine your place."
Gale sneered at Shirone.
"Brace yourself. Once you get the code, not even Drine will be able to intervene. Then I'll trample you properly."
As they climbed the steps arm in arm, Panika pressed close and whispered to Shirone.
"Don't worry too much. Even if you get a low number I'll be your friend. It won't be hard to live."
"Thanks."
It didn't matter much now what number he'd get, but in this coldly ranked world her words warmed him.