Labyrinth Shop (1)
Luddera Central Continent, High in the Skies
The backroom space accessible only to GM
Paat!
Albus and Kartesia materialized into view.
"Are you alright, Kartesia?"
Albus caught Kartesia as she pitched forward weakly, cradling her in his arms.
"Albus... 'twas thee who brought us hither?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"...I see."
Kartesia bit her lip.
It had been a humiliating defeat.
Even if she hadn't returned to her true form and had fought while protecting Albus, to lose to a mere human without ever gaining the upper hand was unacceptable.
Without Albus, she would've collapsed disgracefully right there.
Maybe it was for the best.
'How warm.'
At least she'd ended up in Albus's arms like this.
"What in the world was that woman, Albus?"
Albus explained everything that had happened to Kartesia in response to her question—the story of the divinity and saintess now usable in reality, the existence of the core bastard, and finally, the tale of the Empire's Empress.
"I see."
Kartesia nodded.
"So that's how it was."
Come to think of it, there had been an Empress like that in the Empire.
Just the fact that she, the Empire's guardian dragon who had led its golden age, hadn't recognized her showed how little interest that woman had in humans.
"That's why I wanted to discuss all this with you, Kartesia," Albus said with a sigh.
He'd originally just planned to ask her about divinity, but somehow his life had piled up with one mess after another.
"The good news is that the Empress can't leave the fourth floor of the Labyrinth Tower."
Lea, sustained as a spirit due to her incomplete resurrection.
She'd gained player status, but since she wasn't properly registered with the System, she couldn't use the warps inside the Labyrinth Tower.
Each dimension within the tower existed independently, making travel impossible without warping.
Lea was trapped outside the Miracle Great Forest.
"We'll have to figure out why she's so interested in me later, but for now, we can put it on hold. The most urgent issue right now is that core bastard."
"The concept of a 'core' is still unfamiliar to me, but if there's an entity meddling in Luddera at will, and tracking it proves difficult, why not dig a trap and lure it in?"
"A trap?"
A trap...
Albus fell into thought.
He still didn't know the core bastard's goal.
How could he set a trap to lure it without even knowing what it wanted?
"How do we dig a trap when we don't even know the core bastard's identity or objective?"
"A hunter never rushes. A hunter ignorant of their prey refines the bait through repeated traps until they grasp it. We refine the trap until we understand this core entity."
"But that method takes way too long."
"The 'origin' forming Luddera's core exists in reality. As long as no one accesses that origin in reality, none can tamper with thy authority."
"Then..."
After parting with Kartesia, Albus returned to reality and lay on his bed.
The illusion magic constituting Luddera.
According to Kartesia, as long as no one interfered with the origin of that illusion magic, GM's authority couldn't be altered.
If the core bastard couldn't touch his authority, he could clean up whatever mess it made afterward.
He'd thought it was an emergency, but apparently not.
"As long as my authority doesn't vanish, the core bastard's no longer a problem."
If it stirred up new trouble, he'd just catch it in the act.
"Trap... trap... What kind of trap should I prepare?"
If he were that core bastard, what would he want?
It had tampered with Solaris's memories to create the first emperor's ideal mentor.
...Fulfilled the first emperor's dream?
"No way that's the goal—someone else's happiness."
Albus's head began to throb.
Pushing aside the core bastard issue due to the headache, Albus recalled what Kartesia had explained about divinity.
'I myself have never wielded the power of divinity, so I know not how to handle it. But I do know 'tis the power of a god that grants all desires.'
"God's power."
A cluster of white-glowing divinity gathered in Albus's palm, forming an orb.
'Faith from believers births divinity. That divinity accumulates to birth a god. Congratulations, Albus. Thou treadest the path to godhood.'
He'd witnessed the first emperor ascending to divinity with his own eyes, yet it didn't feel real.
Me, a god?
'Likely the recent faith in GM hath gathered unto thee. The more players love Luddera, the more divinity shall flow to thee.'
"So the better Luddera does, the stronger my divine power gets."
He had no desire to become a god and rule.
He just wanted to have fun and kill time.
Luddera was made to gather players and play in the world they formed anyway.
Maintaining the status quo should increase this divinity and make it usable.
Albus lay on his bed and summoned the Luddera community screen into the air.
It was his habit to check hot community posts from inside Luddera.
"Labyrinth Shop... Ah, floor four's cleared."
The community was flooded with Labyrinth Shop hype.
Labyrinth Shop
Additional content placed inside the Labyrinth Tower.
The tower's winner-takes-all structure meant only the player with the highest main story contribution per floor got proper rewards, leaving others out.
To prevent polarization between top and low-tier players—which killed motivation for the latter—this shop was created.
Players earned special coins based on main story contributions while clearing the Labyrinth, which they could spend at the Labyrinth Shop on items.
From special consumables like the debuff-removing Miracle Spring Water from floor four to rare equipment or class items hard to obtain on the Luddera continent.
Placing these items in the shop was also an experiment.
Elixirs and classes earned in Luddera affected reality, but not unconditionally.
Hidden classes or elixirs Albus created via command window clicks had zero effect.
Only items or jobs earned through trials and tribulations worked in reality.
Luddera's owner, unable to gain real-world power unlike players.
Albus sought a way to apply Luddera's power to himself.
What about items bought with coins at the Labyrinth Shop?
That's what Albus aimed to test.
If coin-bought items worked in reality, he could earn coins in-game and bring power to reality too.
Maybe scrolling community posts would reveal the answer, so Albus browsed.
"Let's see... Labyrinth Shop, Labyrinth Shop."
It wasn't hard to find.
With notifications sent to all players about the shop's opening, the community buzzed solely about it.
But the content differed slightly from what Albus expected.
"Miracle... Spring Water. Hair loss... treatment?"
...Did I put hair growth tonic in the shop?
Gulp.
Staring at the massive warehouse stretching beyond the horizon, the Emperor swallowed hard.
Compared to this divine warehouse, the imperial stores were mere anthills.
The sheer overwhelming scale left him agape, frozen.
"Welcome. How may I assist you?"
A neatly dressed lady approached and greeted him.
"...Huh?"
The Emperor blankly echoed her.
"Hehe, it's quite large, isn't it?"
The lady chuckled at his reaction.
"Ah, y-yeah. It's huge. No end in sight. How does a place like this even exist?"
Even seeing it with his own eyes, the Emperor couldn't believe the sight.
"'Tis all the omnipotence of GM, this world's master. All realms within Luddera belong to him."
"I-is that so..."
GM...
The god of the rapidly growing new religion centered on beastkin, and Luddera's lord.
Fine for faithless beastkin, but its spread among other races was unnaturally fast, giving headaches to the Holy Kingdom and Divine Kingdom lately.
He'd thought GM just oversaw Luddera...
'Even a devout priest of Deus might lose faith and worship GM after seeing this.'
The shop's grandeur was that awe-inspiring.
"This is the Labyrinth Shop. Players can purchase special items using Labyrinth Coins earned in the Labyrinth."
The shop NPC lady smiled brightly and handed the Emperor a holographic catalog.
"This is..."
The Emperor took it and asked her.
"The current open item list. More items unlock as tower floors clear, but with floor four cleared, these are purchasable now."
The Emperor scanned the catalog.
Holy Sword Excalibur, Divine Spear Gungnir, Godslayer Longinus.
Unfamiliar names, but their designs outshone the Empire's greatest treasures.
'Prices... minimum one million coins.'
The cheapest weapon cost a million coins.
Next to it floated: [Labyrinth Coins: 300]
"How do you get these coins?"
The Emperor pointed at his coin balance.
"Oh, coins are earned based on Labyrinth contributions."
"Contributions?"
"Yes. Upon clearing a floor, contributions are tallied. The top contributor claims ownership; others get coins proportional to theirs."
'These 300 must be from conquering floor four.'
He'd done little himself, but summoning Lea must've counted as contribution.
'Even so, just 300. Nowhere near enough for a weapon.'
Wondering if he could buy anything, the Emperor scrolled down.
Consumables appeared.
'One-use items are cheap.'
Affordable with his coins.
'...Hm?'
Then, an item caught his eye.
◈ Applies to the user and designates one active debuff to manifest and remove it.
"Whoa! You know the Miracle Spring Water. From your logs, you've experienced Labyrinth Tower floor four. That item's effect removes the strongest debuff you believe afflicts you..."
The lady spotted the Emperor paused mid-catalog and began explaining, but he heard nothing.
Click, click, click.
Entranced, the Emperor smashed the buy button three times.