Only My Dungeon Equipment Levels Up! (SSS-Rank Weapons)

I admired that girl.

In the dim dungeon, her long hair, shining even in the darkness, fluttered as she cut down a demon twice her size with a single stroke.

She cut down that monster, which I couldn’t even scratch, as if it were nothing.

I admired that scene.

That beautiful, yet awe-inspiring scene.

I wanted to become an explorer like her someday, to fight as beautifully as she did.

To fight like watching petals fall, like watching a beautiful dance.

But I had no talent.

I was expelled, fired, mocked as useless.

So, I gave up that dream once.

But I want to try one more time, just one more time.

For my family, for my sister, for money.

And above all, for myself.

So I will challenge it once more.

To make that exciting world my job.

To become a dungeon explorer.

◇

“Happy New Year, everyone!!”

A famous TV host gave a typical New Year’s greeting.

Behind him sat a rugged, middle-aged man who looked out of place in a variety show, like a mercenary.

“Today, we have the strongest person in Japan, no, in the world! The leader of the guild ‘Evening Star,’ Ryunosuke Tendo!!”

The man introduced with applause remained unfazed.

However, he slowly opened his closed eyes.

His gaze was sharp, like a hawk eyeing its prey, even through the TV.

“Mr. Tendo! Thank you for joining us despite your busy schedule!”

“No, it’s part of the job…”

His blunt, low voice didn’t fit the festive variety show.

“Uh, um…”

The host threw a question, looking slightly troubled.

“I heard you recently conquered the big boss on the 59th floor, setting a new record for humanity’s highest reached floor! How do you feel about that?”

“…It was the worst. It was a terrible fight, and a friend died.”

Silence enveloped the program.

The audience felt the heavy atmosphere.

The host seemed lost for words.

I, too, found it hard to watch and changed the channel.

On the other channel, a special year-end shopping program was starting.

“Even the top guilds still lose people…”

It’s been twenty years since a huge tower, called a dungeon, appeared in Tokyo Bay.

A massive tower with a 10-kilometer radius.

A dungeon that existed before I was born.

Japan was in a panic back then.

The military was deployed, fearing the appearance of monsters, but nothing happened.

A survey team was assembled to investigate the tower.

The investigation revealed that the inside was filled with imaginary monsters called “creatures” and a labyrinth-like dungeon.

They would have left it alone if it weren’t harmful, but the items the survey team brought back changed the world.

Those items were…

“Knight’s Gauntlet…”

The gauntlet was introduced on the TV shopping program.

Exaggerated commentators promoted the product with exaggerated reactions.

“Ohhh! The sound of the Knight’s Gauntlet!!”

“Look at this body!!”

The familiar voice of a woman and the high-pitched voice of the president desperately promoting the product.

The woman then wore the gauntlet.

In front of her was a rice bale.

“This rice bale weighs 50 kilos!”

It’s quite heavy for an ordinary woman to lift.

But…

“Hmph!”

The woman lifted the rice bale.

Not effortlessly, but it was still an impressive feat of strength.

This is an “equipment” item excavated from the dungeon.

The equipment brought back by the first survey team changed the world.

The gauntlet earlier is part of the Knight series.

It’s a D-rank equipment with not much power, but it can still grant anyone supernatural strength.

People worldwide sought this equipment.

Celebrities for protection and collection.

Anti-government groups for military power, nations for deterrence and military force.

Today, exporting equipment has become Japan’s major industry, surpassing even cars.

No one imagined Japan would hold the power balance of the world’s military.

That dungeon appeared twenty years ago.

The profession of dungeon explorer also began twenty years ago.

I aspired to be a dungeon explorer one year ago.

And I gave up six months ago.

Expelled, fired, laughed at, scorned as useless.

I gave up just six months ago.

But I decided to chase my dream once more.

To attain ordinary happiness.

“A high schooler has no other way to make big money.”

I prepared and stepped outside.

From there, I could see the giant tower piercing the clouds.

And the mystical star visible beyond the tower.

No one knows what that star is.

A star that looks like it’s there, but no one knows what it is.

It’s invisible from space, like an illusion, looking like Earth.

No one knows if reaching the top of the dungeon will reveal its nature.

Yet, people venture into the dungeon.

Chasing dreams, hoping for a fortune.

And I seek ordinary happiness.

…

Dungeon’s second floor.

In a dim room surrounded by stone, two creatures fought for their lives.

Two goblin corpses already lay there, and the remaining goblin was gravely wounded.

I, too, was gravely wounded.

I fought for my life, bleeding.

“I have to earn money!!”

“Gyah!!”

I then cut off the last goblin’s head with an iron sword, achieving victory.

Wiping the blood from my sword, I sat down.

“Huff, huff, I did it! Today’s quota is met.”

Forcing my exhausted body, I opened the bronze treasure chest that appeared after defeating the third goblin, and the gate.

This gate leads to the next floor.

I opened the treasure chest.

Inside was a “Soldier’s Gauntlet.”

This gauntlet sells for five hundred yen each.

Today, I worked desperately all day and made ten of them.

That makes five thousand yen in earnings.

“Huff, five thousand yen for half a day… It might just barely be enough for a high school student, but…”

The boy lay down on his back and collapsed on the spot.

“With earnings like this, should I try challenging the third floor…”

He then sat up, shaking his head.

“No, no. What if I die? With this level of stats, I’d just become dungeon fertilizer.”