The Goal Is 100
The goal was—
The unidentified god floating before me was a raccoon.
Golden fur that glowed even in the dark of those pupils, and a stubby little tail. Unusual, certainly, but for a being that had reigned like a god over countless people for thousands of years, the form was remarkably simple. There wasn't a shred of dignity to be found anywhere on it.
"That's a raccoon, not a raccoon dog. The two are completely different animals."
"That's right. Very similar to that raccoon, actually."
Reach Diamond or above in PVP ranked matches, and you could meet the raccoon with golden fur and a blue ring. Through that raccoon, you could access the Honor Shop — and meet the guide who carried divinity, along with items containing the authorities of the Eight Seats and Pretus. Which meant that the identity of this primordial god was...
Yaaawn... Ah. Back to work already... huh?
"Hello there."
The raccoon's eyes fluttered open, and it jolted upright, fur bristling in an instant. Its golden pupils doubled in size, and with a sharp crackle!, a blue ring materialized above its head.
"Rika?"
That raccoon from the Honor Shop did the same thing.
Who on earth was Rika, that everyone kept mistaking me for her?
"Who is Rika?"
"Well, it's you... no, wait. It's not you. The user, Lily Elbrit."
The raccoon's left golden eye flared with light. It had just pulled up my information, apparently.
The raccoon that connected to the Honor Shop managed the 'PVP Ranked Matches,' a system the game had built into itself. The raccoon before me wore the same ring, so it must have had access to some portion of that system authority as well.
The sword with Caums sealed inside it trembled violently. Had it only now truly felt the god's power? Until a moment ago it might as well have been an ordinary raccoon — but the instant that ring appeared, the raccoon became something else entirely. At the very least, not even fifty Caumses and Akrons swarming it at once could win.
"Users aren't supposed to come find me for at least another two years..."
"I'm a bit ahead of schedule."
"You. Stay still."
"Yes."
The raccoon stretched out its short little arms and conjured countless golden spears in the empty air. Not spears as weapons — spears as information. It combed through the mountains of data, then crumpled its narrow brow and let every single spear collapse into nothing.
"Ugh... damn it. What on earth did you do? What did you do to make my whole island fall?!"
"I didn't want it to happen either."
I'd only planned to grab some Blue-Red Stone and leave. But Caums just had to pull his little scheme, and now everything had spiraled into this. It was absolutely not the case that I'd come here with a plan to occupy the place and then claim its leadership for myself.
"...Really?"
"Of course."
I did nothing wrong.
The raccoon heaved a long sigh and shook its head.
"No wonder I had my doubts when they handed me a cushy posting like this. Damn it."
"Handed it to you? Who by?"
"Who do you think? A Higher Being. Someone the likes of you couldn't so much as face, let alone look in the eye."
"...Hmm?"
"Not someone you need to know about yet, so don't go getting curious."
A Higher Being, hm. There weren't many I could call by that name. But if I wasn't meant to know yet, I'd let it slide for now.
"I came to collect my reward. There wasn't a single quest here beyond the one."
Normally, running a field quest of this scale would spawn a whole chain of follow-ups. It had been that way with Sgaredo, and with the World Tree too — interfere with a particular worldview, and quests naturally followed. But the Primordial Island had offered nothing beyond verifying the true nature of the seal within Caums. Because of that, there'd been no rewards at all, and I'd had to go scrounging for them myself.
Under normal circumstances, I would have marched straight into the Primordial Origin and claimed a suitable reward on my own — but my counterpart here was, technically speaking, an NPC. A being charged with administering a fragment of the system itself. If anyone could furnish me with a proper reward, it was this one.
"And why would I do that? You swallowed my entire island, you know."
"If you'd rather not, I'll simply take what I want."
For starters, I intended to make off with most of the island's Blue-Red Stone, and a fair portion of the Primordial Power that saturated the land. If I just analyzed the energy flowing through those pupils and siphoned off a little of it, mass production would be more than—
"...Do you want to die?"
The blue ring shuddered. A fierce golden current of electricity swirled around the raccoon, so intense it looked ready to blow me apart on the spot. Caums had apparently fainted outright, not stirring in the slightest, and Sre hid her enormous body behind me with a low growl.
There was no question about it — the raccoon was strong. A rank of an entirely different order than mere world bosses or powerful enemies enfolded the creature like a blessing.
"If you simply hand over the rewards I was owed, I'll withdraw peacefully."
"That's what I'm saying — why should I?"
"You accepted the job, didn't you?"
The raccoon had been granted the qualification to manage and operate this island by a Higher Being. Which meant that looking after users who arrived here was its responsibility too.
A brief war of nerves stretched between us. Just as holding out against the divinity was becoming difficult even for me—
"......Ugh, fine."
Fizzle...
The electric current subsided. Only then did Sre relax, flopping flat onto the ground with a heavy thud.
"Outsiders are the worst, I swear. No wonder the other raccoon complains about them every single day."
Ding!
Multiple quests have been completed.
List — Liberation of the Original Sin of the Primordial, Subjugation, Salvation...
You have gained a massive amount of experience.
LV.105
"Oh. One-oh-five."
105. With each level now demanding well over ten billion experience points, I had jumped a full four levels at once.
"For the record, the world boss hasn't been marked as dealt with. You didn't kill it in the first place, after all."
"Understood."
That much I could accept. I'd sealed Caums into a weapon, resurrected Lise, and taken everything worth taking.
The raccoon glared at me with evident displeasure, then gave its little hand one more flick.
Tap.
With the sound of something hard settling into place, a single sliver of wood, threaded with blue fur, dropped in front of me.
◈ Grants one-time access to the Treasury of Yellow-Blue.
◈ May be used at any time.
"Let's call it even with this. I never properly defined your rewards anyway."
"What is this?"
"It's written right there. A pass to the treasury. Use it whenever you like."
"Ooh."
I wonder what's inside. I doubted it held anything as absurd as the legacies of the Eight Seats, but somehow I found myself looking forward to it. Surely there'd be at least a weapon forged of pure Metamor, or something imbued with a special authority?
"...For the record, you may take exactly one item. One. Taking more is absolutely not tolerated."
"And if I take two?"
"Then I will hunt you down to the very depths of hell and burn you alive."
The raccoon fixed me with a dead-serious glare.
It looked adorable, but I knew better. At the very least, it's on Pharaoh's level. It might not match Rasty, who had climbed to the very apex, but it carried the same rank as Pharaoh, who had clawed his way to the upper-middle tiers. As things stood now, I couldn't beat it even with my crown on.
"Understood."
After collecting my rewards, I returned to Akron and Lise. They had already finished their discussion, and the moment Lise saw me, she bowed her head deeply in thanks. There were still Venetus remaining, and the task of rebuilding the newly won land still lay ahead of them — but if anyone could manage it, these two would.
Lise nodded along, jotting down everything I told her.
"...Understood. As you have said, we will manage this place ourselves. Should you ever have need of our strength, please send word. We will come running in a single stride."
"I trust you. And Akron."
"Yes."
"The goal is one hundred."
"...Huh?"
"Then good luck. I'll be waiting."
"No, wait just a—"
"Um... yes! I'll do my best!"
Akron sputtered in bewilderment, while Lise nodded with the air of someone bracing for a battle.
Now it's really time to go home.