Chapter 654: Right Before a Trillion

"Female-exclusive armooooooor!!"

"Grudge Tears of the Black Death... I see, so this is the dud pull, huh?"

"Noblu ScythelentBlack Heavens Dustless Scythe!! You attack with debuffs!?"

Joy and sorrow alternating in rapid succession—that's exactly what this is. The moment True Quiet-san, having been showered with healing potions like it was a bath, disappeared, a drop item appeared in each of our hands.

There were those who danced in frantic joy after pulling the Noblu Scythelent, a heavy warrior (male) who fell to his knees after pulling female-exclusive armor, and those who sighed with the Grudge Tears of the Black Death in their hands. Me? I got a materialGrudge Tears of the Black Death, naturally... I'm going to pretend I didn't see Akitsu Akane pull the Noblu Scythelent.

"Well, unfortunately for you, 'Ivory,' we easily cleared the fifth layer as well."

『...Unfortunately? On the contrary, Sunraku, I am currently immersed in feelings of pure joy.』

Oh?

『The Supreme Spirit of the Black Death was an irregular entity born from the Number One Humanity species—a fascinating observation target that became an entity closely aligned with mana while still retaining the 'mold' of humanity. However, its nature was essentially that of a natural enemy to all those who 'fight'... yet, you all achieved what could only be described as a perfect shut-out. You have stepped over and surpassed even the manifestation of death. To me, those footsteps are the supreme joy.』

Long, long, long, but somehow I feel like I understand its feelings now. This is like watching monsters you've raised fight instead of fighting yourself, isn't it?

You feel attachment and affection towards them, but you still make them fight, and you rejoice when they win... I didn't quite click with the situation since we are the ones being 'raised,' but I get it now.

"I see... I feel like I understand you a little better now."

『You say such delightful things, Sunraku... Now then, my beloved children, let us transfer you to the Sixth Layer.』

◆

The Sixth Layer. I guess we've finally reached the halfway point.

Come to think of it, to think our initial decently-sized group would be reduced to just ten people... I guess the real hidden bottlenecks were the third and fourth layers. Once information about True Quiet spreads, the fifth layer could easily be cleared solo... And knowing Ivory, she'd probably allow it with a 'Good job sharing information' kind of attitude. 'Isana' was like this too, but these AIs seem to tolerate—no, actively welcome—humanity doing civilized things.

"So, what do we have to do on the Sixth Layer?"

『From here, the policy changes slightly. From here on out... we advance to a more civilized phase.』

Which means?

『An information mass of 100,000 Magibytes per person. That is the clearance condition.』

"Magibytes... What does that mean? Professor?"

"This is the first I've heard of the concept as well, but I can form a rough deduction. Information mass, Magibytes, that must mean... our inventories, right?"

『An excellent deduction, Professor. Your assumption is correct. Information mass is the physical value of materials stored within the expanded spatial technology provided to the First and Second Humanity species by default... the so-called 'Inventory,' recorded directly onto the bodies of the next-generation primitive humanity species.』

"In short, everything placed inside the inventory, whether it be a sword or a stone, possesses a numerical value known as information mass, and the unit for that is Magibytes."

『——Splendid.』

I really wanted to tell her to acquire the skill to explain things as clearly as Bansai-shi before showering us with praise, but since saying that wouldn't actually accomplish anything, I swallowed the thought.

In short, all we have to do is stuff items into our Inventory or Inventoria until it reaches 100,000 Magibytes.

"Then I'll go fir—"

"No, wait, Sunraku-kun. I apologize, but... if you go first, it won't serve as a reference point for anyone."

"Ehh..."

"First, we should start with players who have the fewest items to get a rough baseline. Is there anyone whose inventory is almost completely empty?"

"I'll go, then. Aside from materials, I only have about two or three healing items left."

The one who raised her hand was Big sis Exploding Green Peas. Having chucked every item she had during her stalling battle against the Swimines on the fourth layer and the fight against True Quiet on the fifth, she was completely out of ammo. In the center of the Sixth Layer—a place that looked somewhat like a city filled with various objects—she stepped onto a pedestal, and a number appeared above her head.

"350..."

"350, huh..."

"Exploding Green Peas-san got 350..."

"Hey, we're talking about Magibytes, right?"

Well, yeah, obviously. No one is talking about kilograms. Still, failing to even reach four digits... is that simply because she has a low volume of items, or is it because even a fully stocked inventory of materials and healing items wouldn't be enough?

"Hmm... I will go next. Since I haven't been heavily consuming my items, a value slightly higher than my information mass might serve as the 'standard' baseline."

The Professor's inventory contained healing items, several weapons and armor sets for varying situations, and the drop items obtained from our progress so far... Essentially, a very standard, default loadout.

"...Hmm. 3280."

"Professor, I think I'll probably get a higher result than you, even though I have more empty space in my inventory."

"Oh? I would very much like to see your demonstration and hear your reasoning."

"It's just a guess, but wouldn't weapons and armor that require more effort and processing yield a higher Magibyte value than raw items? If that's the case, then my inventory, which holds more weapons and armor than yours, should..."

Taking The Professor's place, Bansai-shi stepped onto the pedestal, and sure enough, the number displayed above him surpassed everything so far: 4012.

"Huh, it didn't even break 5000... This is more troublesome than I thought."

"No, not necessarily. This demonstration just practically solidified the method for clearing this. It seems we can easily break through by filling our inventories with high-rarity weapons and armor... Or rather, while that might be difficult in a sense, we can simply utilize the surrounding facilities, correct?"

『Exactly. You can shop on this layer using the Behemoth-exclusive currency you've obtained on the way here, or will obtain from here on out. It may be inferior to the Leviathan in terms of entertainment value, but that fact does not directly translate to an inferiority in technological prowess... Fufufu. A certain kind of rivalry... what a nostalgic dynamic.』

I see. So that's why there are Type-Men series units lined up looking like they belong in a clothing store. Though, I'm sure the punchline is that you can't take them outside the ship unless you clear up to the eighth or tenth layer, making them basically useless.

And so.

"Alright then, to kick things off, let's have you go, Sunraku-kun. I'm expecting the highest score."

"Leave it to me."

Now then. With everyone present, including Ivory, focusing their attention on me... just to be safe, I stored almost all my equipment (plus Saina) inside Inventoria and jumped onto the pedestal.

"Wait, how many digits is that?"

"Ones, tens, hundreds..."

"It's over ten thousand, right?"

『896 billion 538 million 615 thousand 246 Magibytes. Unquestionably the highest record in history.』

"Damn, it didn't reach a trillion, huh."

Weapons? Armor? A truly capable man keeps robots and ships in his pockets...

Author's Afterword

Scorpion nouveau riche Sunraku.