Raid Control (1)
A Western ranker: the Little Witch.
Shirone had been checking rankers as he levelled up, so he already knew who she was.
"Knowing me means… you've met me in the real world in some way."
The Little Witch swung her chilling gaze to the friends behind Shirone.
"W-what the—?"
Even ParakaeMashin707's party knew of the Little Witch, but locking eyes with her sent a shiver down their spines.
"She's just a machine, but something about her feels… off." Shirone felt that same strange aura.
"I see."
It was Mitochondria Eve.
Shirone had reached the High Gear kernel level, so he could read the consciousness embedded in matter.
"And that also means… Uorin understands the real world through this world."
"Everyone… step outside for a moment." ParakaeMashin707 looked puzzled, but Shirone didn't take his eyes off the Little Witch.
"Fermi, you too."
Olga's son shrugged and left the room; ParakaeMashin707 followed without argument.
With the door closed, Shirone asked, "You—"
The Little Witch put a finger to her lips.
"No need to talk about the real world. Everything we do and say gets logged."
A system designer can technically inspect everything that happens in High Gear.
"The only thing you can't check is the mind—because the quantum realm can't be observed."
"Alright. Why are you here? You're from the Ascension Guild, right? This is an Eastern hideout."
"I asked to come. I wanted to meet you. Thinking of taking down the Operator?"
The Little Witch laughed, dry as paper.
"Ha. That girl was really worried about you, huh? But it'll be hard. She may look like a pubescent girl, but inside High Gear she's definitely one of the strongest."
"So what are you getting at?"
"Want me to help?"
Shirone read something like madness in her.
"You mean you'll betray the Operator?"
"What a petty thing to say. I use people, sure, but I don't betray them."
Shirone considered the distinction and then shook his head—there was no point arguing.
"Kashan's Empress, Uorin."
The moment you pin a label on her, she'd find the seam and invade your mind.
"So how would you help? Even you can't beat the Operator here."
"Heh—still so naive." That was part of what made her appealing, she added.
"You should know who I am. The Operator probably has an idea too. Just as you have special senses, I have a trump card."
"A trump card?"
The Little Witch made a pistol shape with her hand and aimed it at Shirone.
"Murder in the real world." "Want me to tell you who the Operator is? I guarantee you'll never find them. Even if they're Mongin, you can't trace them down to the Undercoder's floor. But I can."
History Search.
"If you tell me now, I'll help. Drag the Operator here, sit them down, and we can unearth the Apocalypse, right?"
"Damn Fermi… I don't know how much information you traded, but it's obvious both sides came away satisfied."
Shirone didn't mind—he was in the same kind of arrangement—but knowing the other party was Uorin left a bad taste.
"What deal did you make?"
The Little Witch blinked for a long moment before answering.
"I don't really know much. The state of the Apocalypse, and in exchange I… w—"
"Not that. What did you make with Habitz?" Shirone cut her off. Silence fell.
"He disappeared in Kashan. They probably met—some kind of bargain was struck. Otherwise it'd be very strange that you're still alive."
"That's not a topic for here. You have things you don't want to reveal, right?"
"Of course. But once I say 'murder in the real world,' nothing else matters. I want to hear—what happened with Habitz? It'll be something to do with the cathedral, won't it?"
"Why don't you just ask him directly?"
The Little Witch's voice went soft, almost sad.
"Come ask me—come to Kashan and ask me. Do you think I wouldn't tell you? Why—because you found out what Mitochondria Eve is and now don't want to see my face?"
Why, Shirone wondered.
Yahweh wasn't narrow-minded, but ever since learning everything through Omega his heart hadn't moved much.
"Let me be clear: it's not all my fault I messed things up. I did my best. Don't pin everything on me."
She still showed no expression, but Shirone felt as if she were crying.
She slid a card across the table.
"This is a pass for the Western raid hunting grounds. Yolga's son said you'd need it."
That was the deal.
"And again—I won't talk here. If you want to hear it, come to Kashan. That's my only condition."
When the Little Witch left, Shirone checked the card she'd left behind.
Western Free Pass.
Moments later Yolga's son came in.
"How'd it go?"
There was no point reporting to Fermi, so Shirone said nothing.
Fermi shrugged and stepped forward.
"Well, we got it. With that you can get two of the four legendary items. Of course you'll need stupid luck or some trickery."
"What is it?"
"Literally a pass. Many hunting grounds in High Gear are monopolized by specific guilds. They issue passes and sell them to users from other nations. The Free Pass gets you into all the hunting grounds controlled by the West."
Shirone slipped the Western Free Pass into his pocket.
"But won't you face friction from other users? I'm Eastern—aren't we supposed to party with them?"
"Can't be helped. There are three things you need to beat the Operator: skill, level, and gear. Put skill aside for now—we can help with levelling. But there's still a 183-level gap. Above level 300 even a single level makes a huge difference."
"So we have to make up the gap with equipment."
"Right. There are four pieces of gear you absolutely need against the Operator: Energy Gun Mikelan, Reinforced Gauntlets Rafael, Metal Wings Da Vinci, and Liquid Eye Donatello. They're the four legendary items. Equipping them will narrow the gap."
Shirone understood.
"Which are found in the West?"
"Mikelan and Donatello. The West won't like it, which is why we have to go now. 'Myth'-grade raids scale their difficulty to the average level of the users. Even then, they're brutal."
"How do they scale?"
"You enter an instance sealed off like Mid Gear. Once you're inside, other Ascension Guild members can't come in. We can't be responsible for what happens inside."
"Understood."
Shirone stood up.
"What about ParakaeMashin707?"
"He'll help with the Golden Wheel. We need to raise him to Magnan level before the Sun Trial, so we'll handle that. You hunt the legendary items."
Time was tight, so Shirone left the room and headed straight for the tavern.
ParakaeMashin707 asked, "Everything settled?"
Fortunately he didn't seem put off by the Little Witch's cold stare.
"Yeah. I'll have to go to the West."
Shirone briefly summarised his talk with Fermi and ParakaeMashin707 nodded.
"Hmm. Clever plan. I think that's the only shot you've got against the Operator."
DeathGongju added, "It's so hard your success rate's fifty-fifty. And legendary item drop rates are awful—you won't get them all at once. Still, we'll pray they drop."
Shirone had a rough idea of the setup.
"All right then…"
Counting down the time until the Sun Trial, Shirone followed Aegis outside.
"Taking the Atogram train is fastest. You'd need at least level 200 to be faster than the train. I'll guide you."
When they reached the plaza, reporters surged forward, but Aegis's electronic countermeasures kept them at bay.
They bought tickets and boarded; everyone around them seemed to be entering Mid Gear.
"Ah."
With this system, the journey wouldn't feel tedious.
Some users took seats to enjoy the ride, but they were all Western.
"Huh? That's Yahweh2. Did he get on the wrong train?"
To avoid suspicion, Shirone opened the Mid Gear door and stepped inside.
Energy charging.
Wires attached, and blue electricity flashed across his vision even with his eyes closed.
- Charging complete.
It was the West.
The Western capital, Democracy.
This was the first city users who left their homeland Atogram and chose the West arrived at.
Now that Shirone could tell parts apart, he saw a wide spread of level tiers.
Most users were Western, so guild marks were hard to spot, but here and there he saw Eastern users too.
"More people than Atogram." The rumor that forty percent of Western users gathered here wasn't an exaggeration.
Half the buildings were physical, half hologram, and countless ads crowded the plaza.
As Fermi had said, when they reached the square they found players recruiting for raids.
- Recruiting for Gambler's Sanctuary! Minimum level 280!
- Heading to the Ravine of Arcana. Need 3. Preference for those with Aegis option activated.
The street itself was quiet, but the wide-area broadcasts screamed in Shirone's ears.
"My head's spinning."
Only after adjusting the frequency did silence return, and Shirone filtered for "Ergos."
- Challengers wanted for Ergos. Low levels welcome. Contact via codename Mafia.
A few more messages came after, but Shirone responded to the first.
He applied and a man answered.
- Yes? You joining?
- I'm… new. Can I learn as I go?
- Hmm, what level are you?
- Level 100. I've got a Suicide Speed Machine part equipped. I've unlocked all the selective options.
His effort not to sound like a novice paid off; Mafia answered positively.
- Alright, show yourself. Where are you?
- Under the clocktower.
- We'll head there.
After about a minute a group pushed through the crowd from the east side of the square.
Codename: Mafia.
There were other codenames, but since they were Western Shirone couldn't pull up details.
"Oh? An Easterner?"
The Mafia group stopped when they realised.
"Wait—aren't you Yahweh2? Didn't you guys see the bulletin? There was a commotion yesterday."
"Don't know. I was hunting all day. What happened?"
"That guy's the Golden Wheel."
A man using the codename Dex Sensibility stepped up to Shirone.
"Hey, you got on the wrong train, didn't you? Why are you in Democracy? You should be heading East."
"I came on purpose. I heard you can get Mikelan from Ergos. Can I join?" Shirone glanced at his friends. Dex Sensibility burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! This guy's a weirdo. An idiot. How do you expect East and West to hunt together? There won't be an aggression flag, but you think we won't stab you in the back?"
"So I'm asking nicely. Let's team up." Shirone kept his calm as the man slapped his silver-metallic head in disbelief.
"Just go. What nonsense. If we go with you, they won't even issue a pass."
"I have a pass."
"Huh?"
Shirone produced the card.
"Here."
Dex Sensibility leaned in; his AI read the card carefully.
- Western Free Pass. Ascension Guild approved.
He froze as if his system had stalled, standing motionless for a long beat.