Volume 1 Chapter 3
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
When you hear the words “dungeon entrance,” do you picture a dark, damp cave? For those raised on a diet of modern fantasy novels, maybe you’d envision something like the concrete stairs of a subway station.
But “Phase Zero”¹—the entrance looming before my eyes—looks more like an ancient Greek temple. Inside the cool, stone-carved halls, a single staircase descends from the center of the hallowed silence. They say that since the dungeons first manifested back in the year 2200, this temple-like structure hasn’t changed a single stone.
”Still has that sacred vibe, doesn’t it?” Youta murmured. “I wonder who actually built these things.”
”The ‘Dungeonites’ would say it was God,” I replied, “but I don’t think you’re a believer, are you, Youta?”
”Hardly. I mean, the Church of the Dungeon is basically a terrorist cell… but still, I get the sentiment. It feels like only a god could drop something like this into our world overnight.”
While I was talking with Youta, the instructor for Phase Zero arrived.
”One, two, three… forty. Good, everyone’s accounted for,” the teacher said. “Let’s move.”
On his command, our class filed down the stairs, trailing behind him into the depths. The descent was short, opening up into a vast, featureless dungeon floor.
”Man, I love this! My body feels so light the second we step inside!” Youta exclaimed.
”Tell me about it,” I agreed.
It wasn’t just a mental trick. If I flicked my wrist, the air sliced with a sharp whip of wind. If I gave the ground even a light shove with my feet, I could leap three feet into the air with ease. The dungeon is saturated with “Dungeon Energy”².
Once you’ve spent enough time immersed in it, your body begins to tap into that energy to augment your movements. This is the mechanism behind the phenomenon known as Physical Augmentation. Since you can store this energy within your cells, you can keep up that superhuman performance for a while even after returning to the surface.
The more active an explorer is, and the longer they stay, the greater this accumulation becomes. Those known as high-level explorers eventually reach a point where they display monstrous, almost inhuman power even outside the dungeon. Of course, since we’ve only spent a few dozen hours in Phase Zero, we aren’t anywhere near that level yet.
”Alright, everyone. Warm-ups and stretches first. You know the drill,” the instructor said.
Under his watch, we began those mysterious exercises called “Radio Calisthenics”³, which supposedly date back hundreds of years. Once the drills were over, we paired off for stretching. Naturally, I was with Youta.
”Ugh… stretching with the Class President… that lucky bastard…”
That “Mr. Perfect” classmate of mine was over there, looking way too happy stretching with the Class President—the girl I’ve always admired. They were doing the back-to-back chest opener, the one where you lock arms and lean into each other. According to my personal research, that’s easily in the Top 3 “Stretches I Want to Do with My Crush.”
”Don’t look, Kanade,” Youta warned, catching my gaze. “Keep watching that and you’re gonna develop a ‘first-love-lost’ complex. It’s a dark path, man.”
”Shut up,” I muttered. (I’m saving my weird complexes for when I’m an adult, thanks.)
After finishing our banter and our stretches, we moved on to martial arts forms. We mirrored the instructor’s precise thrusts and kicks, forty students repeating the same motions in unison. We had been practicing the forms for a while when a sudden shout broke the rhythm.
”Whoa! Something… something just changed!” a boy cried out.
One look at the raw excitement on his face told us everything.
”The first one, then,” the teacher said. “It looks like you’ve awakened your [Dungeon Job]⁴. You can stay for the rest of the lesson, or head up for an Appraisal immediately. Once you have a Job, your training here in Phase Zero will follow a different path.”
”I’m going! I can’t focus on anything else right now—I’m going for an Appraisal!” the student shouted as he bolted for the stairs.
The academy has a resident teacher with the [Appraiser] Job, so if you go to her, she can identify exactly what skills you’ve unlocked. They say if you keep training, you’ll eventually figure out your Job on your own, but since this is a choice that defines the rest of your life, I could understand why he ran.
”I—I got mine too!”
”Me too!”
”I got one as well!”
”Whoa, this is amazing… this sensation!”
Starting with that first student, my classmates began awakening to their [Job Skills] one after another, each of them dashing out of the dungeon in a daze. And then—
”Oh, so this is what it feels like! Kanade, it came to me too!” Youta yelled.
”Youta, congrats! Wait… oh… me too! Is this it?!”
It wasn’t a dramatic physical transformation. It was simply a sensation where my heart suddenly felt at peace, as if this strange place—this dungeon—had finally become my home. It was a mysterious feeling, as if I had become a part of the dungeon itself, a gear finally clicking into place.
”You got it too, Kanade! Alright, let’s go get appraised together!” Youta said.
”Yeah, let’s go!”
Still fueled by the rush of adrenaline, I ran up the dungeon stairs alongside Youta.
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Summary:
Kanade and his class enter the ‘Phase Zero’ dungeon for training in the year 2200. While practicing basic forms and calisthenics, students begin to experience ‘awakenings’—a sensation that bonds them to the dungeon and grants them a Job. Both Youta and Kanade successfully awaken by the chapter’s end, leading them to rush off for a professional appraisal of their new skills.
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Trivia:
- The description of the dungeon as ‘ancient Greek temple’ suggests a specific aesthetic or historical origin for dungeons in this world.
- The mention of the Church of the Dungeon as a ‘terrorist cell’ hints at a significant socio-political conflict involving dungeon worship.
- The ‘clicking gear’ metaphor for awakening suggests that Jobs are a pre-existing system into which humans are being integrated.
- High-level explorers possessing ‘monstrous power’ outside the dungeon establishes the long-term stakes for power scaling
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Character Insight:
Kanade’s envy toward the ‘Handsome Bastard’ stretching with the Class President highlights his typical adolescent insecurities, while his bond with Youta is reinforced through their shared awakening moment. Youta acts as the emotional anchor, encouraging Kanade to move forward.
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Lore And Worldbuilding Context:
Dungeon Energy functions as an atmospheric fuel that enables ‘Physical Augmentation.’ The setting is established as the year 2200, indicating a futuristic society built around dungeon mechanics. The existence of a resident ‘Appraiser’ at the academy shows that Job awakening is a standardized part of the education system.
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TL Notes:
The term ‘BSS’ from the raw was localized to ‘first-love-lost complex’ to preserve the nuance of a specific Japanese trope regarding stolen crushes without requiring a lengthy footnote. ‘Radio Calisthenics’ is used to maintain the specific Japanese cultural image of group morning exercises.
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Glossary:
Notes:
• Youta – Kanade’s classmate and friend. An energetic boy who recently obtained the [Heavy Warrior] Common Job. Kanade’s friend and classmate. He is enthusiastic about dungeon exploration and is the first of the duo to sense his awakening.
• Class President – The female representative of the class. Objects of Kanade’s affection. She is seen stretching with a handsome classmate.
• Kanade – A first-year student and self-described virgin who has just obtained a [Dungeon Job]. He is a fledgling Dungeon Explorer trying to activate his unique skill. The protagonist. A student at the academy. He possesses a cynical view of the government’s ‘National Citizenry’ classes and is highly attracted to the class representative, Tanaka Mana. The protagonist. A student who has spent a few dozen hours in the Phase Zero dungeon. He possesses a strong admiration for the Class President and a cynical view of his handsome classmates.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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