After returning to his room, Kurosaki Rei took out Dreamless and replaced the large bed he'd originally had.
Since returning from the Kengan world, he hadn't rested at all—this was the perfect chance to test the effects of this "freebie."
In a relaxed state, he fell fast asleep in under five minutes.
Twelve hours later, Kurosaki Rei reluctantly crawled out of bed.
"Mm… damn it, that was careless. This bed really is worth the price."
Kurosaki Rei felt he needed to take back his earlier opinion that anyone who bought a bed in the Space had something wrong with their head.
Yeah… this was really good.
Leaving aside the sheer comfort, the recovery effects on Soul Source and Life Source alone made it an absolute must-have for home and travel alike.
Considering that task worlds usually didn't allow quick in-and-out runs, sleeping on Dreamless after a battle would provide outstanding recovery, saving him a lot of consumables.
He could heal physical injuries with Kaidō, but that consumed Soul Source—and while Kaidō could mend wounds, it didn't restore Life Source.
Just like when he'd trained with Unohana-sensei before: even if the external injuries healed, the depletion of vitality couldn't be replenished. On the Life Source level, the loss remained.
So if used well, this bed would generate massive long-term value.
That sailor-uniform girl really was something else. Being able to make a bed like this—and with only rare quality, no less. If she used higher-grade materials, the effect would probably be even more outrageous.
After getting up and washing, Kurosaki Rei felt refreshed and energized.
He was pretty much broke at this point, but that didn't mean there was nothing to do in the Space.
Earlier, he'd heard that the Terminus Space had an Arena, where explorers of the same tier could fight each other. Since these were simulated battles, death in the arena didn't mean real death—making it an excellent place to build real combat experience.
And if you climbed high enough in the rankings, the Space even offered extra rewards.
Kurosaki Rei felt his strength was more than adequate, so he decided to head to the arena and casually grab the top spot.
Looking at the massive ring-shaped structure before him—reminiscent of a Roman colosseum—Kurosaki Rei observed that there was no one in the central combat zone. Instead, numerous translucent screens floated in the air, each displaying live matches between explorers.
There were quite a few spectators in the stands.
Naturally, the Space protected explorer privacy. Participants had their faces masked—what opponents saw was a virtual mask chosen before the battle began.
[The pioneer is currently Tier One, rank: 140,402.]
Upon entering the arena, Kurosaki Rei received the system prompt.
He wasn't surprised by the number of Tier One explorers. Based on his experiences, the Terminus Space likely selected humans from countless worlds—spread thin across each world, they barely made a ripple.
At present, there were roughly 140,000 Tier One explorers, with deaths and new recruits balanced by the Space.
[Begin matchmaking for the pioneer?]
Kurosaki Rei selected Yes, then chose a Hollow mask from Bleach as his face concealment.
Once matched, his body felt light—and in the blink of an eye, he was transported to a desert battlefield.
His opponent stood there blankly, clearly just as confused—probably their first time in the arena.
Kurosaki Rei stepped forward and drew his blade.
The other explorer was sent flying out before they even understood what was happening.
[Congratulations on the pioneer's first arena victory. Please choose your First Win Reward.]
After being returned to the waiting area, Kurosaki Rei heard the prompt and felt pleasantly surprised. He hadn't expected the arena to have a first-win bonus.
The menu offered three options:
1,000 Terminus Coins
B. Random Skill Scroll
C. Random Fine-Quality Item
…Pretty stingy, honestly.
But thinking about it, this was a reward everyone could get—of course it wouldn't be extravagant. More of a motivational bonus.
Kurosaki Rei briefly considered it and discarded A and C immediately—the value was too low. The random skill might turn up something useful, so he chose B.
[Randomly distributing skill scroll…]
[Distribution complete. Acquired Skill Scroll: Scouting]
Kurosaki Rei examined the scroll. As the name suggested, it was a scouting skill.
Using it allowed him to view the attributes of targets whose Spirit stat was no more than three points higher than his own. The greater the Spirit gap, the less information he'd see.
He couldn't say whether he was lucky or unlucky—but judging by this skill, the "random skill" pool probably consisted of basic survival-oriented abilities, meant to improve Tier One explorers' odds.
From that perspective, Scouting was actually pretty decent for him. At the very least, he could now see more precise values instead of relying entirely on intuition.
After his first win, Kurosaki Rei chose to continue matchmaking.
He was aiming for the top.
Ten minutes later…
[Pioneer has achieved a four-win streak. Rank increased to 112,103.]
Kurosaki Rei sat in the preparation room, thinking quietly.
Matchmaking was extremely fast. He spent most of his time in the randomly generated arenas studying the flashy and varied skills other explorers used.
But after several matches, he felt it was a waste of time—the lower-ranked Tier One explorers were simply too weak.
So he sped things up.
Once matched, he'd enter the battlefield and send his opponent straight back with a single decisive strike.
Kurosaki Rei spent ten straight hours in the arena, reaching a 260-win streak—yet his rank had only just entered the top thousand.
Mental fatigue wasn't too bad, but he felt hungry. So he stopped for the day, planning to return tomorrow.
At higher ranks, the overall level of explorers improved noticeably. Those he faced now were all level 10 explorers, with attributes pushing close to 30—definitely not weak.
After reaching this rank, Kurosaki Rei deliberately slowed his pace.
Not because he felt pressured, but because he wanted to see what abilities the top-tier Tier One explorers possessed. Broadening his horizons would only help him in future task worlds.
And so—
Six consecutive days passed with Kurosaki Rei practically living in the arena.
After chasing down and cutting down a female mage—while she stared at him like he was a monster—Kurosaki Rei finally heard a system prompt that sounded downright beautiful.
[Pioneer has achieved 968 consecutive victories. Rank increased to 1.]
[Pioneer has obtained the title: Unrivaled · Tier One]
[Unrivaled · Tier One: All attributes +1 (effective only when attributes are below 50).]
[Note: This title will disappear when the pioneer advances to the next tier or loses rank in the arena.]
Of course, Kurosaki Rei had no intention of permanently guarding his title in the arena.
But the Terminus Space had a mirror function—when he wasn't present, the Space would generate a mirror copy based on the strongest performance he'd shown in the arena, allowing it to "defend" his rank for him.
Unrivaled was a special title. It took effect even without being equipped.
Kurosaki Rei was very satisfied.
The sudden shift of the Tier One arena's top rank caused a small stir. Many explorers took note of the name that had abruptly risen from the bottom, silently committing the nickname "Prison Demon" to memory.
Just as Kurosaki Rei was considering heading back to treat himself to a proper feast, he received a message notification.
After checking it, his mood improved even further.
It was a reminder sent via contract from the sailor-uniform girl—
His custom-made equipment was finished.
Tomorrow: entering a new instance.
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