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
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.