I was watching the news over breakfast as I did every morning when a report on dungeons caught my attention. It stated that the number of people entering dungeons had significantly exceeded safe capacity. To prevent potential accidents in the overcrowded environment, the government was imposing a limit on the number of daily entrants for the foreseeable future.
Finally. That was my first thought. Considering the congestion I saw in the surface floors every time I went, I felt the move was overdue. I suppose government work involves a lot of red tape, but I wished they had moved a little faster.
"They're starting entry restrictions, Daiki," Mika said.
"Well, it’s probably for the best. It’s a fact that things were getting way too crowded. As long as the selection process is fair, it should be fine."
"Hmm."
Mika questioned me without putting down her chopsticks. A lottery system seemed like the most reasonable approach for applicants. The TV report didn't go into specifics, so I figured I’d check the Dungeon Association website later. I sipped my miso soup, turning the thought over in my head.
The news report continued, announcing that a rank system would be introduced for explorer licenses. Apparently, the number of injuries among explorers was trending upward every month. The goal of the rank system was to reduce these accidents by recommending appropriate floors for explorers based on their verified skill levels.
Having a visible metric like a rank would likely discourage people from being reckless. Of course, there would always be a certain number of idiots who ignored the warnings out of baseless overconfidence.
"Still, a rank system, huh... I wonder how they’ll decide them," I mused.
"Wouldn't it be based on the number or types of monsters you kill?" Mika asked.
"How would they verify that? It's not like a video game where your kill count is automatically recorded."
"Um... Oh, I know! Maybe by having people bring back subjugation parts?"
Mika tilted her head, struggling to come up with a logical answer.
Monster parts, huh? I suppose that’s a classic trope in games, but...
"That wouldn't work. Even if you tried to bring back parts, monster corpses vanish after a short time. Anything you cut off would just disappear with the rest of the body. Even if they used drop items as a substitute, those don't always drop, and the types are inconsistent. It would be hard to prove you killed a specific monster that way."
"Ugh. Then... what about self-reporting?"
"People would just lie. Since everything happens inside the dungeon, the Association staff have almost no way to verify claims. They can't exactly assign an official to follow every single explorer."
"Th-they could make everyone carry cameras..."
"You expect the Association to provide and maintain cameras for every explorer? The budget would be insane."
I gave Mika an exasperated look as she threw out increasingly desperate suggestions.
If there were 100,000 explorers and only 30% were active at once, that’s 30,000 people. You’d need at least 30,000 cameras. Including spares, probably 50,000. Even at 10,000 yen per unit, that's a 500-million-yen budget right there.
Making explorers provide their own wouldn't work either, from a security standpoint. Unless the Association inspected every unit to ensure they weren't modified or running fraudulent software, the footage couldn't be trusted as an official record. It would be a bureaucratic nightmare.
"Then what are they going to do?"
"If I had to guess... since the rule is that the Dungeon Association buys all drop items, they’ll probably base the ranks on total sales earnings."
"Wait, does that mean...?"
"Yeah. High-ranking explorers will basically be outing themselves as high-income earners."
It was essentially a public ranking of high-value taxpayers. I just hoped there was no obligation to make the names public.
"I don't like the sound of that," Mika said, pulling a face.
"Probably not, but there isn't much other data they can use."
I shrugged at her dissatisfied expression.
Entry logs and frequency of use don't actually prove if an explorer is talented or just persistent. At the end of the day, you have to assume the ones earning the most are the most capable. Some people might get lucky with a rare skill scroll or magic item to boost their numbers, but luck is a skill in itself in the dungeon business.
I popped a piece of rolled omelet into my mouth and decided to change the subject.
"Anyway, enough about that. Mika, aren't your private school entrance exams coming up? How’s the studying going?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I got an A-rank evaluation for my top-choice school on the last mock exam. As long as I don't totally bomb the real thing, I'm well within the passing range."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah... Actually, Daiki? What exactly did you think of my grades?"
I found myself at a loss for words.
How did I see her? Could I really tell her I thought she was struggling because of all the mistakes I saw in her workbooks? No, I definitely couldn't say that.
I looked away, avoiding her eyes.
"Sigh... You know, Daiki? My rank for the last periodic test was in the top ten for my whole grade."
"...It was?"
"It was! Good grief... How does the person tutoring me not know that?"
"I... uh, sorry."
I looked back at her in surprise, only to see her wearing a look of pure exhaustion.
To think I hadn't noticed her progress, despite acting as her makeshift tutor since she quit her club in the summer. I bowed my head and apologized for my lack of awareness.
"...I had no idea you were that smart, Mika."
"What are you saying? My grades only got this good because you started teaching me."
"Is that so?"
"Yes! I was only slightly above average until last year. My scores shot up once you started helping me."
Now that she mentioned it, I remembered her saying her evaluations were borderline right after she retired from her club. She must have improved significantly in the last few months. Jumping from the borderline to a guaranteed pass was an impressive feat.
"Honestly, I thought you were some kind of master teacher. I couldn't believe I improved this much in just three months. And yet, the teacher himself had no idea what he was doing..."
"Yeah... I'm really sorry about that."
Apparently, I had unintentionally built up an idolized image in Mika's head.
A master teacher? Who, me? All I did was show her study methods because she didn't seem to have a system—techniques for solving problems and memorizing things. I didn't remember doing anything particularly special.
"Well, anyway, that's why my exams will be fine."
"I see. That's good."
"Yeah."
It seemed my worrying had been for nothing.
Thinking back, she hadn't seemed particularly stressed about the exams lately.
After finishing breakfast, I went back to my room and pulled up the Dungeon Association website on my PC. The home page featured a massive pop-up regarding entry restrictions and the rank system. I clicked through to see the details.
"Let's see here..."
I skimmed the text. The gist of the entry restrictions was as follows:
- Excessive numbers of entrants per dungeon are hindering exploration activities.
- To resolve this, daily entry will be limited for a set period.
- Entrants will be selected from applicants; if a date is overbooked, a lottery will be held.
- Reservations must be made via the website using the registration authentication number on an Explorer Card, or at an Association counter.
- Only one application per ID is allowed per day.
Essentially, it was a reservation system similar to booking a flight.
I tried opening the reservation page. After logging in with my ID, it asked for the dungeon location, the desired date and time, and the number of people in the party.
"Huh. They even break down the entry times. I guess if everyone rushed in at the same time, it would defeat the purpose of reducing congestion. And entering the party size at once must be so groups can dive together."
When I checked the current reservation data for our usual dungeon, I let out an involuntary groan.
"Ugh! Look at these numbers for the weekend! The morning slots have nearly double the number of applicants than the capacity allows!"
The counter for the weekend morning slots was staggering.
It was likely due to the influx of students and office workers who could only dive on their days off. Considering how recently the news had broken, those numbers were only going to go up. I sighed at the screen. The odds for early morning or late-night slots were better, but the future looked complicated.
I closed the reservation page and moved on to the section about the rank system.
"Okay. This is... pretty much what I expected."
The notice read:
- A rank system is being introduced to reduce injuries caused by explorers attempting floors beyond their capabilities.
- Please stick to floors appropriate for your rank.
- Ranks are divided into seven tiers: S (Top Class), A (Advanced), B (Upper-Intermediate), C (Intermediate), D (Lower-Intermediate), E (Elementary), and F (Beginner).
- Standards are based on monthly entry records, maximum depth reached, and the total cash-in value of drop items.
- Ranks are updated monthly upon application, following an Association review.
"Using entry records and total earnings... so they're looking at the average profit per dive?"
If one explorer earned a million yen over ten dives and another earned the same in one, the latter would be ranked higher. It was a reasonable, if somewhat luck-dependent, metric.
Since drop item rarity and value increase the deeper you go, it wasn't a terrible way to judge skill.
"But really, the rank system doesn't change much for us."
Being high-ranked didn't seem to come with any special perks.
Maybe the Association or private companies would eventually offer specific contracts to high-ranked explorers, but that didn't matter to me right now. Rank was just proof of how deep you could go and how likely you were to bring back results.
"Man, this is starting to feel exactly like a game."
I wondered if we'd eventually see official corporate-sponsored explorers.
On the message boards, people were already trying to form guilds. Several club-like organizations had already popped up, with the largest apparently reaching nearly a hundred members.
However, since they were just loose gatherings of strangers, they weren't very disciplined. Some groups had already gained a bad reputation for harassing others or trying to monopolize hunting grounds.
"Well, time for school."
I shut down the PC and got ready. I swapped my loungewear for my uniform, stuffed my books into my bag, and headed out.
I’d have to talk to Yuji and Hiiragi-san about our plans once I got to school. Based on those reservation numbers, getting into the dungeon on weekends was going to be a gamble. We’d have to discuss whether to try a different dungeon or change our schedule.
Good grief, everything was becoming a hassle.