Infinite Realm

In an unnamed forest on the outskirts of Black Rock City…

"You know you can't defeat me so why bother?"

A stout figure held onto a sword with the top pointing downwards as he stood in confrontation with a masked opponent.

"You never know, maybe things would be different today." The masked figure replied.

Their voice was cracked and indistinguishable from a male's or a female's so the gender of the speaker was unidentified. Even their clothing was a loose black cloak that made it difficult for one to figure out whether they were a man or woman based on physique. However, the player had a weird dagger with runes carved all over it in hand which meant that their class was most likely [Assassin]..

"Nightmare, do you really think that to be true?" The stout man said with a smile on his face.

"Enough talk, why don't we find out ourselves, Han." The masked player, Nightmare, barked.

The stout man, who was the famed King of the Hill, Han Otoki smirked as he took a battle stance. The player before him was another famed player, but a dark player.

Nightmare was a reputed player whose true identity was unknown. Be it their gender or nationality, none of that was known since the player always hide behind a mask and spoke with the exact same fake voice. Even in games where a player's looks could be faked, Nightmare still wore the same mask as if hiding from something. In the early stages of any game, where the mask couldn't be made yet, they would be wandering around in secret, hidden from the eyes of other players. But later on, Nightmare would show their face once more with the usual signature mask.

It was a known fact amongst the top-tier players that Han and Nightmare had a feud between them. The reason for the dispute between them wasn't well-known but most players knew that Nightmare would usually attack Han on sight.

Rumours had it that Han had seen their real identity once so Nightmare had decided to constantly pester him. Another rumour had it that they knew each other in reality while another detailed about their 'history' together. All in all there were different reasons spread around regarding the duo's bad blood but none could be confirmed.

"Always quick to battle. No problem, come." Han send as he stretched out one hand nonchalantly.

*Ding*

Just as Nightmare was about to attack, a ding sounded in the ears of both characters and forced them to pause. Usually, they would ignore system notifications but the notification tone was one specific only to server-wide.

[[ System notification :

Wide-Scale Announcement 

Region level: Black Rock Province server

The first ever dungeon has officially been unlocked.

Dungeon privileges and new entries have been activated.

For being the region to achieve the first unlock, dungeon rewards have been boosted by 5% in all existing dungeons in the region for 1 week(RT)

Rewards have been boosted by 10% in the unlocked dungeon for 5 week (RT)

Dungeon map will be available in the city map.

Good luck to all players.

]]

[[ System notification :

Wide-Scale Announcement 

Region level: Worldwide server

The first ever dungeon has officially been unlocked in Black Rock Province, Fallen Heart Kingdom, Main Continent.

Dungeon privileges and new entries have been activated.

Rankings have been unlocked.

[Dungeon Rankings] has been unlocked.

[Golden Fingers Rankings] has been unlocked.

[One Above All Rankings] has been unlocked.

For more information, go to the [Rankings] menu.

]]

"Looks like our fight would have to be postponed." Han narrowed his eyes.

Nightmare didn't say anything but simply vanished like a ghost, leaving behind not a single sound nor footstep.

"To think that someone would already have discovered the first dungeon." Han began sighed out loud.

"Who could it be? Rhes? Black Flame? Jackal? There's also the possibility that it might even be a dark horse."

Walking away, Han sighed.

"*Sighs* I need to take this more seriously."

.  .  .

.  .  .

.  .  .

Salt Springs Town, Sovereign guild's meeting point... 

"So the dungeon has already been discovered." Genma sighed.

"Looks like they've beat us to it." Red Knight Millim of Sovereign guild commented.

"It doesn't matter. We just have to make sure we're the first to conquer the dungeon." Genma said.

"Then shouldn't we be on our way to the city?" Milim asked confused as to their current circumstances.

"*Sighs* At this rate will I ever be able to hand the guild to you without any worries? You don't need to be worried or hyped about leaving so soon. Do you really think the first dungeon would be that easy to conquer? Heck, do you think any dungeon would be? If it were then this game would end up as nothing but a sham. Bad reviews would stream in and it would only be a matter of time before it's abandoned by players."

"Oh." Milim nodded as he looked at Genma.

"Obviously, the developers would have thought of this hence the dungeon wouldn't be so easy to conquer. I can even bet that the BOSS would be a level 20 monster at the very least. No player is capable of tanking such a powerhouse yet and without a suitable tank, the raid would be a bust. That's why I said you don't need to worry yet." Genma explained.

"Oh, that makes sense now." Milim nodded with an understanding look.

"I predict it would take at least 5 days to a week before anyone would try the dungeons out." Genma added.

"That's just more than enough time for us to have a team of level 15 players ready."

"So when do we now move? I mean, the earlier the better right?" Milim pushed on.

Genma replied almost immediately with a relaxed tone, "I guess you're right. Make a draft of the players you think would be suitable for this dungeon raid. We have to focus on them first before the others." 

"That's s going to be the first team, right?" 

"No." Genma shook his head. " We will need more than just them."

"Alright."

Similar to the situation with Sovereign guild, many of the top guilds all around the world began making preparations to take on the various dungeons in their regions. Part of the reason for this was attributed to the fact that weapons and equipment could be farmed better in dungeons but the main reason was imply because of the achievement of defeating a dungeon first, be it in their region or in the entire world. 

Just like with the Kobold King, many guessed that there would be a server-wide announcement for completing a dungeon first, be it first in their region or first in all servers; but with the latter having more rewards than the former.

The allure of having their name displayed to millions of players while gaining amazing rewards from the system was something many players wished to receive so they were all pumped all by the announcement. 

On all forums on all servers, the dungeon unlock notification was trending as many players began to make their guesses on which super guild or op tier guild would be the first to complete their dungeon. Very few players had even included Seven Star Glory on their lists as they felt that the group was a dark horse and could surprise the player community just as they did before. However, others refuted this comment and believed that the achievement of the said team was just a one-time thing, and possibly even a lucky shot. 

This theory became especially more pronounced when the news that Emperor's Might and Battle Wolves' Howling Wolf Battalion had made it to the 10th floor of Black Grill's Cave Middle region at at that time. More and more skeptical yet envious players arrived at the conclusion that Seven Star Glory had stolen the kill from the aforementioned guilds. While there was no proof of this, there was also not much proof that Sato's team had actually taken on the BOSS on their own as no video of the fight was ever released.

'So this is what the notification meant about a new location huh? A dungeon.' Sato couldn't help but smile.

'Makes sense as to why the puppet was that strong. It was the dungeon's guardian.'

Discovering a dungeon had its perks especially since there would be a reward for that. Apart from this, he would also have the liberty of exploring it first since he discovered the location first but from the way IR operated, that wasn't so. 

According to the Province-level notification, players could purchase a map with the location of the dungeons from the city hall so there wasn't much of an advantage here for him.

'Nonetheless, the rewards are indeed satisfying.'

Looking inside of his space ring, Sato spotted 2 gold coins as well as a few 3 star materials that previously weren't in his inventory. These were the rewards he had gotten for unlocking the dungeon as well as defeating the puppet.

'The ranking menu? What's that?'