The Golden Rule Shop
Phantom.
The list that floated up in the Golden Rule Shop. There was no arguing that every single entry was something spectacular enough to make your eyes spin. Some of them were items you couldn't buy even after placing first in the main quest rankings four times in a row.
Of course, they were all worth every bit of their price — the kind of goods anyone would covet.
The very first line was already enough to leave me speechless.
An egg of a Mythic species?
Dramut, the Guardian of the Star, was itself a kind of Mythic species. Mythic species were creatures whose very scale of existence was absurd — the kind that got treated as Elite Raid Boss monsters at minimum.
But that wasn't why I was so shaken.
White King's Fang. Eldritch's Cursed Black Grimoire. Dragon's Heart.
I'd seen those names somewhere before. Of course I had.
…Those are all the core materials I used when I crafted Unique-grade items.
A sudden stiffness seized the back of my neck, and I grabbed it hard. If it hadn't been for the Iron-Blood Lord's Heart, I probably would have been spewing a double helping of curses by now.
Unique. Divine-class items of which only one could ever exist. And the central materials for crafting those Unique-grade items were sitting right there on the Golden Rule Shop's list.
The same materials could theoretically appear by coincidence, but no matter how I turned it over, it didn't make sense.
There's no way the White King would pull out two of his own fangs.
The White King — also called the White Emperor — the master of the North. That enormous white tiger was a demigod-class Mythic species. Back when I was playing as Wilhelm, I'd spent a full month wrestling with him just to get one of his fangs. He was so fast and so good at ambushes that I'd nearly died the reverse way more times than I could count.
Even as Wilhelm, I gave up on killing him.
In the end we settled for a single fang and went our separate ways. On the condition that I never set foot in the North again, the White King handed over one of his teeth.
So unless someone had actually killed the White King, there was no way his fang should be sitting in this Golden Rule Shop.
The only possibility left…
…After Wilhelm died.
It only made sense if the fate of the Unique-grade items Wilhelm had been holding, and this Golden Rule Shop, were connected.
Wilhelm had owned eight Unique-grade items. As far as I knew, there were fifteen Unique-grade items in all of Pangenia, and more than half of them had been concentrated on Wilhelm.
But in this game, when a character dies, everything dissolves into thin air. The items they carried go with them.
When Wilhelm died, those eight Unique-grade items evaporated.
Except they hadn't completely disappeared after all.
"This isn't some secondhand resale racket…"
I was speechless. A pure and absolute goddess, scavenging items off corpses, breaking them down, and putting them back up for sale? Better to reuse them than let them vanish entirely, sure — but still.
Of course, the owner of the Golden Rule Shop might not even be the goddess. I had no idea what criteria or basis decided what made it onto the shop's list. Even so, I couldn't help the stinging sensation at the back of my head. It felt like someone was dancing on my corpse while confiscating my entire fortune.
It was strange enough that the goddess's blessing settled on me when I recited the Prayer of Adoration.
Was her conscience pricking her, so she tried to help just a little? Come to think of it — wasn't it the goddess who killed Wilhelm in the first place? Granted, even if she'd done nothing, the Demon King would have seized his body anyway. Still, I couldn't bring myself to believe the goddess was purely good.
It's not just Wilhelm. This is connected to every character's death.
And it wasn't limited to Wilhelm. For example, the Earth God's Holy Grail was something I'd never seen before either. But I knew exactly who had owned it.
The Earth God's Holy Grail. The chalice that belonged to Albheid, the Saint of the Earth.
There had been rumors he was dead — the Earth God Church had suddenly started hunting for the Holy Grail. I'd found it hard to believe at the time, but seeing the Earth God's Holy Grail sitting right here made it clear: Albheid really had died.
Which meant there was information you could dig out of the Golden Rule Shop.
Depending on which items are on the list, you can tell who's died.
For the same reason, a lot of people must have learned of Wilhelm's death. They'd confirmed it through the Golden Rule Shop, then quickly spread the whole "Eight Heroes" nonsense and the rest of it.
Judging by the fact that nothing's sold yet, almost no one has managed to accumulate Golden Rule in thousand-hour units.
The core materials for Unique-grade items. If you could buy them, you absolutely had to. If I'd held that much time myself, I wouldn't have hesitated for a second — I would have bought them on the spot.
…Or everything worth buying has already been sold.
I furrowed my brow. If they had been sold, who would have bought them? Obviously the fixtures who dominated the top of the Hall of Fame. The ones monopolizing the upper to absolute top ranks so far were Gracia, MintChocoIsDelicious, Obsidian, Master, Haksal, Drakestar, Barmusch, and the rest.
I can't afford to take the top-tier players lightly.
This was exactly the kind of moment that demanded caution. The Unique-grade items Wilhelm had worn had been released into the world. I didn't know how many, but the combat power of whoever got their hands on them would have jumped to an entirely different dimension. Simply having the materials didn't mean you could craft them — but the top players might already be stronger than I'd expected.
What do I do?
So I had no choice but to think it over. Save up, or spend?
But the deliberation didn't last long.
The further I push the main quest, the more Broken Fragments of the Golden Rule I can obtain.
I was certain of that. Only a tiny handful would ever be able to buy anything, sure — but I wasn't worried about quest rankings. There was no one who understood and played this game better than I did.
Five things I can buy with 140 hours.
Blessing-Infused Supreme Elixir (30h). Omnipotent Core (50h). Cataclysm Talisman (60h). Moonlight Butterfly Talisman (40h). Golden Branch (100h).
The Blessing-Infused Supreme Elixir "regenerated" a lost body. The Omnipotent Core made enhancement possible regardless of materials or the type of soul you held. The Cataclysm Talisman completely rewrote every special option an item possessed. The Moonlight Butterfly Talisman, true to its name, attached a "Moonlight Butterfly" option. And the Golden Branch was a material for forging the treasured sword Durandal.
Every one of them was an item that was nearly impossible to obtain.
I bought three of them, then let a satisfied smile settle at the corner of my mouth. The Cataclysm and Moonlight Butterfly Talismans in particular were ultra-rare talismans on the same tier as the Fairy Queen's Tear.
Excellent.
I gave a light nod. My level had risen, and I'd secured an elixir and two outstanding talismans. I'd also figured out what the Golden Rule Shop was for. All that remained was to run full tilt without looking back.
The next main quest was one I was guaranteed to take first place in anyway.
The only question was…
…How thoroughly I crush the competition.
That was the only difference.
Hudson's eyes began to tremble violently.
Serengeti's lost lower body was regenerating, bit by bit.
"Th-the Blessing-Infused Supreme Elixir…!"
Even a single drop made flesh split open and push outward. Marrow knit together; bone formed. The Blessing-Infused Supreme Elixir was an extremely rare treasure of which the Goddess Sect produced fewer than ten a year — a prize that the unqualified couldn't even look at.
Players can get them from the Golden Rule Shop, sure…
But that required thirty hours' worth of Broken Fragments of the Golden Rule. Thirty hours of Golden Rule. Easy to say — but unless you were a ranker, almost no one held that much time.
A question rose naturally.
Is the Star's Successor a Player…?
Hudson didn't know the Star's Successor's name. He'd never heard it, never even seen him speak. But he hadn't particularly wanted to know. The Star's Successor was, in himself, both a name and a qualification.
Yet since coming here, the Star's Successor had become the Knight King's heir. He had met Serengeti, and was freely handing over an elixir that only a top-tier player could obtain.
So — was he a Player?
…What does that matter at this point?
Player or not, the fact that this was the man he had to follow remained unchanged. The only savior who could save Serengeti. Without him, Hudson would never have met Serengeti again for the rest of his life.
So it didn't matter. If anything, if he was a Player, Hudson might be able to repay the grace received in Pangenia out in the real world. It was hard here — but in reality, it would be possible.
"Apply one drop every two hours. You'll need a full month of that for complete regeneration."
"Then I'll have to stay right by her side for a whole month."
"I'll speak to Marquis Weiser myself. Tell him the Blessing-Infused Elixir works best when applied by someone who has no rejection response."
"…Thank you, Star's Successor!"
A proposal the Marquis Weiser could never refuse. Even if Serengeti's curse was lifted, a future without her lower body would be pitch-black — so this made it impossible to forcibly separate Hudson from her at all.
Yes. He truly was a savior. Hudson would never forget this grace, not even in death.
"It's Randolph."
"Ghk—?!"
Hudson suddenly started coughing as if something had gone down the wrong way.
"Cough! Cough!"
He couldn't calm down easily. He couldn't believe the name he had just heard.
Randolph?!
Wasn't that the hottest name among players right now? Randolph was currently the name most strongly suspected of being Phantom. And Phantom's greatest character was, of course, the Knight King Wilhelm…
Ah!
The moment the thought reached that far, Hudson shuddered as if he'd been struck by lightning.
Insane!
The greatest and most secretive of all. To everyone who had ever played Pangenia, Phantom was a figure of pure legend. The achievements of the characters believed to be him were beyond counting — adventures, romance, challenges against the impossible. Just hearing the stories was enough to make your heart race.
So he must have misheard.
That doesn't make sense.
Common sense. How could that Randolph — that Phantom — be standing right in front of him? A being who had been pure fantasy itself, revealing his identity to Hudson alone? A passing puppy would laugh at that.
"The moment Serengeti opened her eyes, she called your name."
"…"
"If the Pure White Knight trusts you, then I can trust you as well."
"…"
…So he hadn't misheard.
"Ahh…"
Tears suddenly spilled from Hudson's eyes. Because the man had given him his name? No. It wasn't that simple.
He wouldn't know this, but—
Phantom was a single ray of light to me.
To Hudson, Phantom had been light. To a man who had loved his character in the game, whose affection for Pangenia ran deeper than reality, Phantom's existence had brought vitality itself.
At first, everyone had treated this place as fake. Pangenia was just a world inside a game. Everything happening to them was nothing more than a god's prank.
But Phantom had explored this world. Seriously. Deeper than reality itself. And through that, he had shown everyone that this place was not a mere game — that it was another reality.
The most brilliant light illuminating Pangenia. That was what Phantom was to Hudson.
"Is learning my name really that moving?"
"Yes."
"…"
"It's moving enough that I regret not recognizing you until now."
Why hadn't he realized it? If this man was Phantom, everything that had happened so far made perfect sense.
"No matter what happens — I will take this secret to my grave, My Lord."
"…My Lord?"
This was getting more and more absurd.
"Yes, My Lord."
Hudson's eyes were so deadly serious it felt like they might bore a hole through his face. Phantom let out a small sigh.
"Just call me the way you have been."
"B-but how could someone like me…"
"Shut up."
"Yes, sir. Star's Successor."
Phantom barely held back the urge to kick him.
"I'll return in a month to lift the curse. Until then, protect her well from the marquis — and from the duke."
Serengeti was a Transcendent. Once the curse was lifted and her body restored, there would be no shortage of work that needed her.
"Yes. Don't worry. Even if it costs me my life, I will protect her."
Hudson nodded furiously — then, belatedly sensing something odd, asked again.
"…But a month from now? Where are you going?"
"To the northern fortress."
"The northern fortress… Y-you don't mean the monster city of Kramdel? Humans can't even enter that place!"
The monster city of Kramdel. A city whose masters were things that were not human — a place where humans were attacked the moment they set foot inside. An invincible fortress existing under the White King's grace, so rich in resources that humans still didn't dare lay a hand on it. A natural stronghold of heaven itself.
And he was going there?
"Yes. I'm going to Kramdel."
The answer was almost casually brief. Hudson's face went pale.
"Th-that's dangerous. And I heard finding a warp there is impossible…"
Even Transcendents avoided the monster city of Kramdel. Intelligent monsters of every kind, Mythic species, even unknowable things that had spilled out of the rifts — all of them lived there. On top of that, the locations of the warps connected to the city shifted constantly. Only guide-monsters granted the proper qualification knew where they were.
I can find the path with Mutation.
But Phantom wasn't worried. One of his thirteen Hidden Traits — Mutation. With that alone, he could find the hidden warps without trouble.
I'll clear the next main quest in a way only I know.
A city no human could approach. He would go there and complete the fifth main quest — Obtain the Mystery. In a special method known only to him, he would claim the most powerful Mystery of all.
Priest Andrew.
He was offering prayers before the statue of the goddess. Because he had seen it with his own eyes.
O Goddess…
The form of the goddess that had appeared when the Prayer of Adoration was recited. Unbelievable as it was, it had unmistakably been the goddess. The goddess had kissed the Knight King's heir.
In all his years as a priest, he had never witnessed such a phenomenon — so he couldn't endure without praying. Wasn't this the same goddess who never appeared no matter how hard one prayed? Those within the Goddess Sect who had actually seen the goddess could be counted on one hand, and even those claims were nothing more than unprovable words.
But the time for prayer did not last long.
…Because he had appeared.
The Knight King's heir, who had received the goddess's love — the one who had granted Andrew absolution.
And yet Andrew couldn't simply be glad to see him.
"So you're saying…"
What the man had suddenly appeared and demanded of him was far too outrageous.
Priest Andrew spoke with a flustered expression.
"…You want me to hand over the Indulgences?"