In the middle of her pursuit of monsters, Haruka got a system notification.
**The last tutorial is finished. The global ranking list is now available.
The first screening is done by the player level.
If player levels are the same, the second screening is done by the total number of stats.
If the total numbers of stats are also the same, the third screening is done by the number of titles.
If the total number of titles is also the same, the fourth screening is done by the number of skills.
If the total number of skills is also the same, the fifth screening is done by the addition of all levels of monsters the player killed.
'I wonder where I am.' Haruka opened the list enthusiastically and instantaneously fell into depression.
'Rock bottom. We are the only players that didn't level up. Aki said only people above 15 years old can get a system.
That's okay, but why am I higher than Aki? We are on the same level, our stats are the same, and even our titles are the same. Even skills, we only did that one skill dungeon.
So…I killed more monsters than him? Day by day, I am becoming like a boy, wait, I am still a girl, right? No, no. What am I thinking, Aki must be slacking off or I am just too enthusiastic.'
She killed every monster she found while Akira only killed monsters above level 10.
Meanwhile, Akira checked the list.
'So she killed more than me? I can't become a burden to her. It's a pity that we couldn't become the number 1 rank. When the list is released, the number one rank gets the title [first number 1 rank]. All of his stats increase by 10.
But that's okay because the title I want gives 10% resistance to all damage. Although it is not as good as free stats now, it will outweigh as the enemy attack power increases. At that time, if I even slack off on defense, my title will outperform that title many times.'
One day later, Haruka and Akira met at a skill reward (red) dungeon.
"Black bear, we should discard our mobiles; they can track our location," said Haruka in a hurry as soon as they met.
"Calm down." Akira searched on the mobile and showed it to Haruka.
Haruka read. "The government gave a huge contract to Tele Tele Company to make communication devices and services only for players. Isn't that the network we are using? What do you mean by this?" Haruka asked.
"They are trustworthy, so don't worry."
"No…that…I mean. Actually, someone is after us," said Haruka. "They seem to be murderers."
Haruka recounted her experience.
Akira was speechless. 'So he was with the organization from the beginning. Then Shinichi, I am sorry, but I can only kill you. I wanted to save you, but you are already with them.'
"White rabbit, you did a good thing by running away. You should only think about surviving when you are not with me."
"You too." She caught his jacket and pulled him closer. "Don't do anything without me."
'Ruka...' He understood she was scared, so he comforted her by patting her back gently. "Yes."
She got back with embarrassment, realizing they were hugging. "By the way, I still need 2 more dungeon's first reward to get the title." She turned away.
"I just need one," said Akira, "then let's raid this red dungeon."
'This dungeon is also another reason why I didn't level up.' Akira thought as he entered the dungeon tower.
**You entered Khashmora forest.
Enemies are boosted by levels. Each enemy you encounter will be 10 times the level of your level. If 2 players encounter the same enemy, the enemy will be boosted by the highest-level player. Earn 1000 points. Each point is equal to the level of the monster you kill.**
"This is…isn't this way too easy?" Haruka asked. "Wait, no. It's actually hard because it's time-consuming to kill 100 level 10 monsters."
"Yes," said Akira and thought, 'but this is the only dungeon that no one cleared even after 14 years. Unlike other dungeons, a player can't exit in the middle of this dungeon.
Someone with an extra life challenged this dungeon, and only then did the world know this dungeon was unbeatable because of the rules.
More importantly, none of the surrounding red dungeons have intelligence scaling skills, and this is a hundred kilometers away from that second dungeon we raided.' He heard the news from the internet.
They reached the reward room entrance portal in a few minutes after killing level 10 monsters.
"We encountered a big monster village," said Haruka. "Good thing I didn't encounter such places when I was alone."
They entered the room, and they both got notifications.
Akira quickly went to see the skills and jumped with joy as if he found the most important thing in his life.
"Ruka, come and see. Come quickly." He urged her and forgot to call her with a code name.
When she came and saw, she was equally shocked and jumped with joy.
"SSS rank skills? Is this even real?" Haruka asked. "But then again, the difficulty is understandable. But it feels like this is just the beginning, so why did they give such a high-rank skill?"
"Well, no matter how high-rank a skill is, it still depends on player level. High skills can only give the power to players a few levels above."
"Which skill should I take?" Haruka asked.
As Akira read, he saw a skill and excitingly said, "The ability to control any kind of strings with intelligence scaling. This is my dream skill. This trip is worth it even if I didn't raid any other dungeon on the way."
"Strings? Ho, right! I also got S-rank strings from the weapon dungeon. I think it is called centerline steel strings."
As soon as he heard it, he quickly hugged Haruka tightly. "Are you my lucky charm or what? Why does every time I am with you, something very good happens to me?"
Haruka felt something happy but a weird feeling inside her when he suddenly hugged her. She unconsciously wished for time to freeze forever.
Her voice became very soft and gentle. "Aki."
Akira quickly came back with embarrassment. "Sorry, I forgot myself there."
Haruka lowered her head and looked away, saying, "It's fine. I am happy that you are so happy."
To break the awkwardness, Akira picked his skill and was about to say something, but the system notified him.
**You received the title veteran rookie dungeon raider for getting first-time rewards for 10 dungeons at level 1.
Title: Veteran Rookie Dungeon Raider.
You receive 10% resistance to any kind of damage.**
**You cleared the dungeon. You received 50,000 + 25,000 exp, 25,000 + 12,500 coins.
All the coins and inventory storage of the fallen players are rewarded to you as more than one day passed since someone claimed the reward.**
Many things appeared.
"What are these?" Haruka asked.
"Reward of fallen players," said Akira.
"Isn't that only come when the dungeon is about to vanish?"
"It said if one day passed without anyone taking the reward, it would give the fallen players' items to the one who claims it. Half of it must be waiting for you; quickly take the sword skill. That is the weapon you are using, right?"
"Yes." Haruka took the sword skill. And she also received a notification.
But Akira got a notification again.
**Error...
Your partner took 8 first-time dungeon rewards alone and 2 with you her being 2nd. Will you give away 20,000 exp to exchange the 2 2nd time rewards as first-time rewards?**
'What?' Akira was taken aback. '20,000 exp is nothing, but it is not a small amount at the beginning. There might not be dungeons remaining for the first reward. Let's exchange.'
Then Haruka got a notification.
**You received the title veteran rookie dungeon raider for getting first-time rewards for 10 dungeons at level 1.
Title: Veteran Rookie Dungeon Raider.
You receive 10% resistance to any kind of damage**
"Black bear, why did I get this title? I still have another dungeon."
"No, you actually had 3 more, but for some reason, the system counted our entry together as one. But even so, you only entered 9 reward rooms with 10 rewards. Did you count it wrong?"
"No. I am sure of it. I even noted my record in mobile look." Haruka gave her mobile to Akira.
He checked and confirmed she only did 9 dungeons with the first reward.
Akira thought hard, and he remembered Shinichi and quickly checked artifact dungeons near where Haruka met Shinichi.
"White rabbit, this artifact dungeon, how tough is this?"
"Ho! That was a desert and some monsters with tentacles pulled players into the sand. We had to collect 10 tokens to find the exit.
I used the octagon barrier to walk a foot above ground because I noticed they capture the vibrations on the ground when we step."
'I think I know now. She might think it was easy but that was a tough dungeon. This necklace that Shinichi gave must have come from that dungeon, so even though it only has 9, it counted Haruka as a first reward winner.
Other artifacts have descriptions, so they are not as important as this. This is not useful anymore because the number of uses is 0. But I will still keep it as his memento.'
"Did you find the reason?" Haruka asked.
"Maybe not all dungeons have 10 rewards. I only assumed it from the information I got in the nightmare. Many things proved wrong, so this is one of them."
They exited the dungeon. "Mhm!" Haruka stretched. "I am beat. Let's take a rest."