part1 · 066-ep66

Episode 66: Rank 1, Unknown

Since the dungeons had appeared, the world had been changing, little by little.

Monsters. Magic stones. And the special abilities that manifested in humans.

One after another, people were learning of things that had never existed before.

And one more thing.

A strange magic tool, unearthed from a dungeon.

"So this is... the registration magic tool?"

"Yeah. Apparently it was found inside a dungeon."

At a glance, it was nothing but an unremarkable pedestal of black stone. And yet it could read the information of anyone who touched it, and register that person.

Name. Age. Abilities. And a few other pieces of information.

It was not something humanity had made. No one knew who had made it.

Even so, the magic tool worked, plain and simple. Each nation studied it, and used its mechanism to build their systems for registering adventurers.

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Then, while examining the records of registered adventurers, a strange phenomenon was discovered.

"...A ranking?"

"Yeah."

The dungeons had a ranking, based on the conquest records of adventurers.

No one knew who had made it. It was nothing humanity had set up. And yet the dungeons evaluated adventurers all on their own.

It also turned out the information could be checked through the registration tools placed around the world. Adventurers everywhere began paying close attention to that ranking.

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One day, a single adventurer was checking the ranking.

"...So this is the world ranking."

He went through the displayed names one by one. The strong of the world, lined up in a row.

And at the very top of them all—

there it was.

Rank 1: Unknown.

That was what was displayed.

"...Unknown?"

The adventurer tilted his head. It was a name he didn't know.

"Who is this guy?"

"No idea."

The companion beside him shook his head too.

"Never heard of him."

And it wasn't just the name. No affiliation. No nationality. No one had ever seen his face.

There was no record of an adventurer like that ever registering in the first place.

"And yet... number one?"

No one could answer.

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Unknown. Rank 1 in the world ranking.

That alone was the only certain information.

Why number one? How strong were they? Which country were they in? Who even were they?

Nothing was known.

Even so, the name stood there in the dungeon's ranking, plain as day.

And—

even as the ranks shifted. Even as new adventurers appeared.

Unknown alone never moved from the top.

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Before long, the name Unknown had spread across the world.

'World ranking No. 1: Unknown'

'An adventurer of unknown identity'

'Why does someone with no registration record rank first'

All sorts of speculation flew back and forth.

"You think some country's hiding them?"

"Nah, maybe the whole thing's fake?"

"Or the dungeon's just got it wrong."

No one knew the truth. And that was exactly why people kept talking about Unknown.

Maybe they were the strongest in the world. Maybe they were operating in secret somewhere.

Or else—

maybe they weren't even human.

The rumors alone kept swelling, little by little.

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Around that time, adventurers the world over had started to fixate on Unknown.

"Someday, I'll surpass Unknown."

"I'm going to be number one in the world."

Some even made that their goal.

But—

Unknown knew nothing of it.

Not the top spot on the world ranking. Not that the name was known around the globe. And not that people were searching for who they really were.

Nothing at all.

Just one person.

In a place no one knew of—

they were making their way deeper into the dungeon again today.