Chapter 27: Thread 3: The Rise of Kisaragi

502: Anonymous Explorer

It's wild how we've already reached thread 5 when there was nothing a few days ago, lol.

503: Anonymous Explorer

Probably the hottest explorer right now.

Unknown poster

Wouldn't know, though.

504: Anonymous Explorer

Turns out, he's an actual monster.

505: Anonymous Explorer

Is it okay to consider him human?

506: Anonymous Explorer

He's a high schooler, you know.

507: Anonymous Explorer seaʀᴄh thё NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Saw some so-called influencer Rank A going off on social media about him.

508: Anonymous Explorer

That's just his usual thing.

509: Anonymous Explorer

Yeah, typical meltdown.

510: Anonymous Explorer

Losing it whenever someone stronger appears is the cringiest thing ever.

511: Anonymous Explorer

Who was the idiot that said he's only strong because of his Shikigami?

That was a lie.

512: Anonymous Explorer

The Shikigami are strong because he's a monster, right?

513: Anonymous Explorer

With that kind of strength and infinite Shikigami, he's basically a cheat.

514: Anonymous Explorer

Nerf him.

515: Anonymous Explorer

Kisaragi Tsukasa makes it four EX explorers now.

516: Anonymous Explorer

Jinguji Kaede: Monster

Aizawa Ryosuke: Monster

Kamishiro Rion: Monster

Kisaragi Tsukasa: Monster ←NEW‼

517: Anonymous Explorer

EX = Monster, as usual.

518: Anonymous Explorer

They're EX because they're monsters.

519: Anonymous Explorer

EX stands for "exceptional," so they're not even human.

520: Anonymous Explorer

Isn't it insane that he's still in high school?

521: Anonymous Explorer

It'd be insane even if he weren't in high school.

522: Anonymous Explorer

But how come nobody knew about him until now?

523: Anonymous Explorer

Aren't there any explorers here?

524: Anonymous Explorer

I go to the Naha Dungeon, so Tokyo's irrelevant to me.

525: Anonymous Explorer

Kobe Dungeon regular here; never heard of him.

526: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞524

So there are explorers here, huh?

527: Anonymous Explorer

I'm a mid-layer explorer in the Shibuya Dungeon, but I've never heard of him.

528: Anonymous Explorer

He's an EX, so he's probably always in the lower or deep layers. You'd hardly ever run into him.

529: Anonymous Explorer

True.

530: Anonymous Explorer

When the website says, "UNKNOWN has resolved the issue," they're talking about him, right?

Then he's probably zipping all over the Kanto region pretty often.

531: Anonymous Explorer

Even though he's in high school, he's a corporate slave.

532: Anonymous Explorer

What a depressing world.

533: Anonymous Explorer

Especially here, where it's full of NEETs.

534: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞533

There are some explorers here too...

535: Anonymous Explorer

If you can't reach the mid-layers, you're just a part-timer.

536: Anonymous Explorer

What's the deep layer like, I wonder?

537: Anonymous Explorer

Since S-rankers and A-rankers don't stream, it's a total mystery.

538: Anonymous Explorer

They don't need to stream, but they could at least record and post the footage.

539: Anonymous Explorer

We barely know anything about the lower layers either.

540: Anonymous Explorer

There's someone overseas who streams lower layers, though.

541: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞538

Since no one else is doing it, they probably feel awkward being the first.

542: Anonymous Explorer

Maybe their cameras just get destroyed.

543: Anonymous Explorer

There are some photos from the deep layers online, though.

544: Anonymous Explorer

But it's just photos.

545: Anonymous Explorer

And those are from the California Dungeon, right?

546: Anonymous Explorer

The one near San Francisco, the sea dungeon.

547: Anonymous Explorer

They call it the California Dungeon, but isn't it basically in Oakland?

548: Anonymous Explorer

I don't care about America.

549: Anonymous Explorer

Is the Shibuya Dungeon dangerous on a global scale?

550: Anonymous Explorer

Apparently, it's easy up to the mid-layers.

551: Anonymous Explorer

But the difficulty spikes once you hit the lower layers. I nearly died, so I'm never going back.

552: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞551

So you're at least Rank C, huh?

553: Anonymous Explorer

Turns out Asagao-chan is his classmate, lol.

554: Anonymous Explorer

Well, yeah.

555: Anonymous Explorer

Asagao stans are losing it.

556: Anonymous Explorer

Only the die-hard fans are freaking out.

557: Anonymous Explorer

They're on a first-name basis now!

558: Anonymous Explorer

LOL

559: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞557

Stop it, lol.

560: Anonymous Explorer

They call him top-tier, and now I finally understand why.

561: Anonymous Explorer

It's hilarious how he's moving too fast to be seen, even with recorded footage.

562: Anonymous Explorer

Someone bring a hyper-slow-motion camera.

563: Anonymous Explorer

So that's what it's like at the top of the explorer world... I'll just stick to grinding in the upper layers.

564: Anonymous Explorer

Go deeper.

565: Anonymous Explorer

I'm going to get an explorer's license.

Then I'll become EX.

566: Anonymous Explorer

You should probably rethink that.

567: Anonymous Explorer

Do you really think you could ever reach that level?

568: Anonymous Explorer

Good luck being the fifth EX.

569: Anonymous Explorer

All those fake UNKNOWN accounts were a joke.

570: Anonymous Explorer

Of course they were.

571: Anonymous Explorer

No one believed them to begin with.

572: Anonymous Explorer

Has anyone found his social media account yet?

573: Anonymous Explorer

Not yet.

574: Anonymous Explorer

Maybe he doesn't have one.

575: Anonymous Explorer

He didn't seem too tech-savvy.

576: Anonymous Explorer

We'll know when he registers his details.

577: Anonymous Explorer

There are already tons of fake accounts, though.

578: Anonymous Explorer

The moment his name got out, everyone updated their profiles to say "I'm Kisaragi Tsukasa" or "I'm a high schooler," lol.

579: Anonymous Explorer

What about checking the follow list of the other EX accounts?

580: Anonymous Explorer

Jinguji Kaede doesn't even do social media. She's said so.

581: Anonymous Explorer

Aizawa Ryosuke has one, but...

It's just work announcements for the explorer union.

582: Anonymous Explorer

A corporate slave on social media, lol.

583: Anonymous Explorer

EX salaryman hits different.

584: Anonymous Explorer

Kamishiro Rion is pretty active online.

She posted some pics from a Major League game the other day.

585: Anonymous Explorer

What is she doing, lol?

586: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞584

Is she just free to do whatever?

587: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞584

Forget that, she should be streaming Shibuya Dungeon's deep layer.

588: Anonymous Explorer

That was some deep layer somewhere, right?

589: Anonymous Explorer

Nobody's been able to pinpoint which dungeon's deep layer it was.

590: Anonymous Explorer

So where was it, really?

591: Anonymous Explorer

Best guess is somewhere in Australia.

592: Anonymous Explorer

That's too broad.

593: Anonymous Explorer

Yep, she's definitely doing whatever she wants.

594: Anonymous Explorer

Not a single mention of anyone foolish enough to challenge UNKNOWN.

595: Anonymous Explorer

That was all talked out yesterday.

596: Anonymous Explorer

A lot of explorers with big egos out there.

597: Anonymous Explorer

Yeah, there are some who think they're special just because they're explorers.

598: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞596

He's in high school, right?

I'd have a big head too.

599: Anonymous Explorer

I get it.

600: Anonymous Explorer

If I were a high schooler who could use magic and fight in dungeons, I'd be cocky too.

601: Anonymous Explorer

The only mistake was picking a fight with the wrong person.

602: Anonymous Explorer

That's for sure.

603: Anonymous Explorer

If you challenge an EX, that's how it ends.

604: Anonymous Explorer

He's lucky he didn't get seriously hurt.

605: Anonymous Explorer

He'd be dead if that happened.

606: Anonymous Explorer

Think I found his account.

607: Anonymous Explorer

Didn't even use Shikigami, lol.

608: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞606

Is this for real?

609: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞606

Says he plans to stream; is that legit?

610: Anonymous Explorer

Only following official game accounts and the union, lol.

611: Anonymous Explorer

That's us.

612: Anonymous Explorer

What's he going to stream?

613: Anonymous Explorer

Stream the deep layer exploration!

614: Anonymous Explorer

If he actually does it, it's going to be huge.

615: Anonymous Explorer

There's no one else streaming deep layer content except for Kamishiro Rion.

616: Anonymous Explorer

Is it fair to call that silent stream of hers a deep layer walkthrough?

617: Anonymous Explorer

And she only did it once.

618: Anonymous Explorer

She's a bit of a wildcard.

619: Anonymous Explorer

Whatever, I'm hyped. I already followed.

620: Anonymous Explorer

He updated his SNS, saying he'll be helping Asagao-chan for a while, so his streams will just be her training sessions.

621: Anonymous Explorer

That's actually super valuable in its own way.

622: Anonymous Explorer

Asagao should stream it too.

623: Anonymous Explorer

It's basically a collab.

624: Anonymous Explorer

Starting out with zero followers and locking in a collab is hilarious.

625: Anonymous Explorer

So Asagao-chan is finally doing an offline collab with a guy? For real?

626: Anonymous Explorer

Not fair. I want Kisaragi-kun to train me too.

627: Anonymous Explorer

Wait, that's what you're focused on?

628: Anonymous Explorer

The die-hard fans are going to flip.

629: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞627

Look, no matter how cute she is, if it's between a girl streamer and an EX, who are you going to choose?

630: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞629

EX, obviously.

631: Anonymous Explorer

＞＞629

Japan's full of beautiful women, but there are only four EXs.

632: Anonymous Explorer

So the ultimate dream is to get trained by a beautiful EX like Kamishiro Rion?

633: Anonymous Explorer

That's never going to happen.

634: Anonymous Explorer

Kisaragi-kun isn't going to do it either.

635: Anonymous Explorer

The person closest to making it happen is that one corporate slave.

636: Anonymous Explorer

If you make it to Rank B, the salaryman will let you join his party.

It's part of his junior mentoring or something.

637: Anonymous Explorer

Corporate slave is really living up to his name.

638: Anonymous Explorer

Man, I wish someone would just do a crazy stream.

Everything's so stale these days.

639: Anonymous Explorer

One Japanese explorer streaming anything from below the lower layers would be enough to dominate.

640: Anonymous Explorer

Hoping for big things from Kisaragi-kun.

641: Anonymous Explorer

With how valuable the magic stones from the lower layers are, they probably don't need the money from streaming.

642: Anonymous Explorer

So Kisaragi-kun's doing this as a hobby?

643: Anonymous Explorer

Probably. EXs must be rolling in cash.

644: Anonymous Explorer

High schooler and rich? He must be drowning in girls.

I'm officially a hater now.

645: Anonymous Explorer

That was fast.

646: Anonymous Explorer

No one's calling him UNKNOWN anymore; everyone's calling him Kisaragi-kun, lol.

647: Anonymous Explorer

Yeah, UNKNOWN sounds kind of cringey now.

648: Anonymous Explorer

Stop it. Maybe Kisaragi-kun thought it was cool.

649: Anonymous Explorer

He is a high schooler, after all.