The text on the monitor flickered.
[I ask for the last time.]
[Will you belong to the Book of Perdition?]
[Will you become the god of a ruined world?]
This couldn’t even be called a question.
"Of course!"
The moment I answered, the Book of Perdition and the four statues shone.
Startled, I took a step back, but the light was sucked into me.
Carved into my right arm was the [Book of Perdition].
The hieroglyphs 𓏛 𓈖 𓄿 𓏏 were engraved.
On my left arm were four symbols.
𓅓 𓃣 𓊓 𓆓 were carved there.
Horus, Anubis, the Djed Pillar, the Cobra.
The symbols of the four heroes.
At the same time, marks appeared above the four symbols.
[Level 1]
[Coin 0/100]
...You crazy capitalist heroes.
* * *
The fact that it took a hundred coins just to raise a single level did baffle me, but that wasn’t my main concern.
When would I be able to use these heroes again?
My foremost concern.
After the Book of Perdition was absorbed into my arm, it didn’t answer no matter how much I called for it. Perhaps while this thing was dwelling within me, I was being granted the qualification to summon the four heroes.
The sight of me muttering at my forearm, asking when I could use it, demanding an answer, was probably somewhat cartoonish or insane-looking. And even though I was alone at home, I didn’t want to act like a fucking retard.
I asked exactly twice. Since there was no answer, I gave up.
This thing had asked if I would become a god, and I had answered that I would. The problem was that there was only water in my house. I was truly grateful to have even obtained water; I could finally flush the toilet and wash myself, but now I was going to starve to death.
Using every container in the house to draw water from the Essence of Life, I thought.
There’s no way they’d let me starve to death, right?
So at 6 AM the next day, while I had no energy and was so exhausted I couldn’t sleep, when the hieroglyphs on my left arm began to glow, I couldn’t contain my joy.
It wouldn’t glow for no reason, right?
That meant it was ready!
Currently, I had endured seventy hours on nothing but water.
I couldn’t take any more of this.
There was no need to think about what to summon first.
The warrior, Nephkent.
Nepheka was good for sweeping away areas, but his movements were too sluggish. His body was heavy, you could say. Nephkent seemed to fly around automatically.
"Kheper Nephkent."
Lying on the bed, completely exhausted, I muttered as such.
From the second symbol on my arm, sand poured out with a rumble, spilling beside the bed.
It piled up instantly like a sandcastle, and a warrior wearing a dog mask appeared, meeting my eyes.
So familiar.
This body wasn’t hungry at all and was overflowing with energy.
Before my real body starved to death, I had to quickly go out and bring back food.
I’m supposed to be a god, damn it.
What kind of god in this world starves to death because there’s nothing to eat?
Answer me, you son of a bitch Book of Perdition.
I immediately left the house.
* * *
I ran, brushing past zombies.
They said hunting drains HP.
Of course I want to hunt, me too!
I have to collect coins and raise my level too!
Becoming a god was secondary; I had to survive first.
By the way, this body—fucking Nephkent—is goddamn fast.
How could he run this fast?
Since it wasn’t a real physical body, he didn’t get tired. As he charged like a gale, the scenery changed in a flash.
He could leap over high walls in a single bound, which was fucking awesome.
Honestly, I thought I might crash, but I jumped three meters in one go!
This so-called ancient hero definitely possessed superhuman physical abilities.
No, if you think about it, isn’t magic the same?
Did magic actually exist for ancient humanity?
In the Bible, Moses parted the Red Sea, blah blah, Noah did this and that. Not just stories to tell kids, but did those things really happen? Like, wielding divine powers and stuff?
Who knows, fuck.
How would I know what superpowers ancient humans might have had?
I felt like they probably didn’t, but then again, isn’t the very fact that humanity achieved civilization a fucking miracle in itself? From that perspective, maybe they did.
While running and babbling such bullshit as delusions, I arrived at the convenience store.
So fucking fast, really.
This was the countryside, so it usually took twenty minutes to walk to the convenience store.
There were a few zombies wandering around the entrance groaning, so I stabbed them with my spear, flung the door wide open, and went inside.
There were zombies inside the convenience store too. After stabbing them all thoroughly, they crumbled into piles of sand, as if happy as could be.
Eleven HP vanished in an instant.
The problem was this body.
I could see fine with my eyes, but I couldn’t smell.
I had no choice but to check with my eyes how rotten things were.
Since the power had been out for quite a while, the refrigerated and frozen sections were pretty much annihilated first off.
I grabbed a handful of plastic bags from the counter, left only four, and tossed the rest aside roughly.
If the owner or clerk saw this, it’d be worth screaming and calling the cops, but seeing the aprons and uniforms among the sand piles, they wouldn’t be able to call in their current state. Even if they did, only police zombies would show up.
The bread might be a bit risky?
I liked bread so I wanted to take some, but it was a bit iffy.
Snacks, pie-type products, I swept them up in droves and tucked them under my arms too.
There were quite a few good drinks worth looting in the beverage fridge, but I had water at home. I needed to secure food first.
I filled four bags completely and hung several more on my sides before leaving the convenience store.
Fuck, I’m happy.
I finally have food.
It’s just snacks, but hey, don’t they eat snacks as meals in America?
What’s the reason I shouldn’t do the same?
"Eheheh."
I ran while laughing like a retard by myself.
Being careful not to tear the bags.
* * *
Fuck, I couldn’t make it home in the end.
Since I was running slowly while minding the bags, I had to deal with the ones swarming the apartment entrance, and there I ended up losing all the snack bags.
Still, I gained twenty-two coins, which was maddening.
"Kheper Nepheka."
I immediately summoned the mage and possessed him, heading toward the apartment entrance.
Slow, this bastard is too slow!
He waddles when he runs, fuck.
I’m not the one waddling!
Damn it, it can’t be helped.
"Uraah!"
I shouted.
The five hundred zombies gathered in the apartment parking lot swarmed over in droves.
"Yeah, come."
I crept toward a corner of the flower bed, putting my back to the wall.
"Path of Sand."
A massive sand energy wave fired toward the front.
Zombies crumbled in droves.
[System: Obtained 29 coins.]
Look at this insane farming.
I had cleared the front row completely, and now tightly packed bunches of them were coming from behind, clustered so close they were tripping over each other. Rather than waiting, it’d be better to go to them to kill more for sure.
So as I ran forward,
"Path of Sand."
When the zombies were massively bathed in the beam, a strange sound rang out.
Slightly softly, a sound like "harararara" came out. It was like a flute or an ocarina, or like children singing in a chorus—strange, anyway.
The zombies crumbled in droves, turning to sand.
[System: Obtained 38 coins.]
See?
I’m killing so fucking many.
But, well.
It was only exactly twenty meters to the apartment entrance, but too many zombies had swarmed there.
"Argh, this is fucking insane!"
I can’t get through!
Fuck, I could probably force my way through, but Nepheka the mage bastard is slow, so he’d get caught while waddling and lose tons of HP. In the end, I wouldn’t be able to bring those bags home!
Damn it, since it’s come to this, let’s just lure a fuckton of them and hunt them all at once.
I gathered the zombies in the corner.
This time, I didn’t use magic even when the zombies came right up to my nose.
Seeing them up close really hits home; they’re completely rotten through.
How does skin turn blackish-green?
At that level, shouldn’t they be lying dead a bit more decently?
They have no humanity!
A zombie scratched my arm.
They swarmed in droves and began tearing at my body.
I couldn’t feel anything.
The torn parts just crumbled like sand.
Not feeling pain is this body’s greatest advantage.
They had swarmed in completely.
"Path of Sand."
Hararara—where the light passed through.
The densely packed zombies were swept away in one go.
[System: Obtained 49 coins.]
[Mental power has reached its limit.]
[You are being annihilated.]
I opened my eyes in bed.
"Ugh...! My snacks, fuck."
I tumbled and rolled off. It was the most miserable sight.
"Huff, huff. No energy, ah...!"
There was a water jug beside me, but I didn’t even have the strength to grip it.
Try starving for seventy hours!
"How many coins do I have now...?"
[System: Coins held 147]
I can raise one level.
Which one...
Should I raise the warrior?
Ah, wait.
"If I level up, can I use the one I used again...?"
No answer.
Fuck, you son of a bitch Book of Perdition.
I’m starving to death here.
I’m supposed to be a god!
"Huff, huff."
My vision was spinning.
If my body were at least fine, I wouldn’t know, but now was not the time to rely on chance.
If I raised the warrior’s level but only stats increased and I had to wait until tomorrow morning, it would be too hard.
Water.
The hero who made water.
What if I raised that guy’s level?
"Kheper Nephaket."
Sand poured out from my arm with a flash, flowing like a snake into the empty space.
It piled up a sand tower on its own, gradually forming a human shape.
We made eye contact, and I possessed him.
My hunger stopped.
"Ah, fuck. My real body is going to die. How do I level up?"
[System: Will you raise Nephaket's level?]
"Yeah."
[System: 100 coins have been used.]
[System: Nephaket's level has increased.]
[A new skill has been acquired.]
New hieroglyphs were engraved on Nephaket’s right forearm.
[Primordial Animal Husbandry]
𓄿 𓈗 𓃒 was understood by me as such.
"...Primordial Animal Husbandry?"
Then a new hologram appeared at the end of the staff.
I had already experienced this when creating the Essence of Life.
This time the shape was different. It looked a bit like a vessel made of sand. It looked like it would feel soft and fluffy to the touch.
I didn’t know what this was, but the important thing was where to make it.
Yeah, well.
Let’s make it next to the Essence of Life and keep it as a sort of interior decoration.
But this is flat.
Uh, over there. The small glass table next to the dining table. That would be good.
I lifted the table, placed it next to the Essence of Life, and put the vessel hologram on top.
"Place."
Sand emerged from the air with a rustling sound, clumping together to form a vessel.
And, sure enough.
Like with the Essence of Life, it was an empty vessel.
I’d probably have to use coins.
I had forty-seven left after spending a hundred.
"I’ll use coins."
Ten were immediately deducted.
And then, above the vessel.
Sand clumped together to form an oval, which became an egg.
One, two, three, endlessly, continuously.
Eggs appeared and stacked up, forming something like an egg pyramid.
"...Crazy."
Are these real eggs?
There’s roughly a hundred of them, right?
I took one from the top and cracked it in front of the sink.
This wasn’t my body.
There was no sense of touch.
I couldn’t control my strength.
It immediately cracked with a snap, and the egg spilled out, the yolk falling straight into the sink.
"Whoa, crazy!"
This is it!
It’s eggs!
"H-how do I release this? Release!"
Beside the bed.
I had been crouching weakly, but unable to contain my joy, I sprang up.
I didn’t know at that time.
What kind of future awaited me.
That the gas and electricity were cut off, and there was no way to cook the eggs.
I didn’t know at that time.