Statues of a tall man filled the city. 'Rebrow, the strongest mage in the world' was inscribed below them.

"Look, mom." A little girl pointed to a green-robed man. His mantle had a gold brooch holding it. "A gold mage!"

"Oh, but he isn't Rebrow, just a common mage. Rebrow has a platinum one. Don't pay him any attention." They kept walking.

"After years of conquering thousands of S and SS dungeons, this is all I get?"

"Don't worry, master." A teenage girl with a bronze brooch hugged him. "In my eyes you are the number one!"

The mage smiled and patted the girl's head. They entered the mage guild.

"A bronze rank at that age, that's not something you see often," the attendant said. He looked at the mage. "You're that guy... Emm... The one below Rebrow. Right?"

He ignored the attendant and looked at a dungeon sign. 'Stay out. SSS rank. Mage Organization.' He noted the location on his diary. This was the second time a dungeon was classified SSS rank. The first one had been conquered by Rebrow.

"There's nothing more inviting to a mage than an 'stay out' sign."

"I don't recommend you that one," the attendant said. "Not even Rebrow could conquer that dungeon."

The mage pointed to a statue of Rebrow at the entrance. "You will see. I will conquer it and step above you."

The attendant covered his laughter.

Outside the dungeon, the second strongest mage wrote on his diary 'Today I'm going to surpass Rebrow!' and put it on the safest place of all, his chest, just above his heart. If someone managed to destroy it, then his live will be destroyed next.

"Master, let me go with you."

"No. Stay here."

"I never left your side since we met, why must I do it now?"

"Shina, you're only a bronze rank. It's too dangerous. You have to wait until you're gold rank."

"Hmph. Fine." She held a green stone. "I will wait for you."

He entered the first room. The floor was covered with corpses. The corpses fused together into a huge golem.

"A Zombie Golem, huh? That's only an S rank monster." He waved his staff. The staff was made from the claw of an SSS rank monster with a strange ruby as catalyst. A ray of light hit the Golem. Souls escaped from its body as it sat back, confused. Soon, it became corpses on the ground once more, leaving behind a tiny rock. The mage didn't care to take it and kept walking forward.

The puzzles and labyrinths weren't that much different from SS rank dungeons. After completing hundreds of them, he could do them while blinded. A group of adventurers caught his eye. They all wore bronze and silver brooches. They were being pushed back by a small group of ten SS monsters.

"Sigh... Amateurs. Just because you can beat the S rank gatekeeper, doesn't mean you can freely explore the dungeon."

He waved his hand. A hail hit the monsters, but evaded the adventurers. The monsters froze in a matter of seconds. He waved his hand again. The ruby shone and the monsters exploded.

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"Thanks." They exhaled in relief.

"Don't forget it, my name is..."

*Booom* A huge five meter tall minotaur broke the wall behind him.

"An SSS monster. Run!"

"Leave him as a decoy and run." They escaped.

"Damn, these people. Why do I even bother saving them..." He extended his hand. A purple barrier appeared. It was his strongest spell. The monster attacked with his axe, but not even an SSS monster could break it. "Hmph." He sneered. He hammered his staff against the big monster. The arm of the minotaur became smithereens.

The minotaur staggered back. Its bull mouth opened to its limits and its eyes opened even more.

"Disappear." He did the last blow.

"Rooou." The minotaur became a crystal which the mage picked up. The crystal of an SSS monster fetched a very high price on the market. But money was of no use to him.

"Heh, I can make Shina a nice ornament when I'm back." He smiled.

The puzzles, the monsters, the traps, nothing hindered him in the slightest. Only the last boss would. If he could find him.

"Where is the last boss? I've been searching for four hours already, and no trace of him..." He stopped in front of a wall and frowned. "This wall isn't right. There should be no wall here." After thousands of dungeons, he understood their patterns and designs better than anyone else. He touched the wall. "Disappear."

The wall disappeared. What he saw behind was something that changed the course of his life. The whole atmosphere changed. Blood and flesh covered the ground. Half-naked women were chained together. Unconscious humans and beasts floated in tubes with a strange light-blue liquid. Their mana left their body and joined a big ball at the middle. It was like he wasn't in a dungeon anymore.

Not daring to waste a second, he reformed the wall and casted an invisibility spell on himself.

"This is..." His wide open mouth became a smile. "gold! Slaves? Mana farms? Those things are prohibited by law. Only Rebrow can do this in a place like this. If people find out about this, Rebrow's reputation will fall like a meteor storm."

The mage opened his diary. The pages filled with images of what was in front of him. A few gold rank mages moved around, but they couldn't notice him at all, they lacked the qualifications to do so.

"Heheheh." He took photo after photo. The his smile disappeared. He sidestepped and blocked. *Booooom* A two meter tall man appeared in front of him. He had a platinum brooch. "Rebrow!"

"I don't know who you are, but you aren't going out of here alive." Rebrow extended his hand. He didn't need a wand to use magic. Four beams of red energy went out of his hand. Each one of them could single-handedly destroy an SSS rank monster.

A purple barrier appeared around the green-hooded mage. The four beams collided with the barrier. It was hard for the green-hooded mage; he had to concentrate fully to maintain the barrier, but so long as nothing happened, he will keep it up.

After a moment, the beams stopped, he gritted his teeth and dashed out of the place. This wasn't a good place to fight. The gold mages waved their staves. Their mana fused together and a huge mana torrent went after the mage.

The mage turned back and used his staff to fight back the power. With a wave of his staff the torrent dissipated. Seeing that Rebrow was preparing a spell, he waved his staff again and disappeared.

Teleportation wasn't a move he would normally use, since it drew power from your life and was risky, even for him, but he couldn't be picky now.

He supported himself on a pillar. There were now a few more wrinkles on his face. A magic formation shone on the pillar for a second before disappearing. He ran toward the entrance of the dungeon. The exit was so close, yet so far away.

Rebrow materialized in front of him. As soon as he appeared, four beams flew out from his hand.

The green robed mage created the barrier again. The barrier stopped the four beams. He couldn't move, but he wouldn't get damaged. "This will be a battle of attrition. Let's see what the other mages think when they see their adored Rebrow assaulting another mage." Even if the barrier used a lot of mana, he could hold the barrier for at least a day, maybe even two.

"You're strong." Rebrow slashed his left arm with his hand. Bright red blood floated in the air. "Now die." The blood became a fifth red beam and joined the other four.

*Booooom* The barrier vibrated. "Goodbye, Shina." The green-robed mage smiled.

The beams penetrated the barrier. His diary became ashes.

The green stone in Shina's hand broke. "Master!" She screamed. She cried even more than when her parents died. "Master!!!"

Years passed. The SSS dungeon had yet to be conquered. A green-hooded girl with a gold brooch stood in front of a pillar. She did a secret magic formation and a book appeared on her hand. She opened it.

'Shina... Saving you and becoming your master was the best decision I took in my entire life. I sought glory, but now, so close to death, I understood that the recognition of a million strangers is nothing compared to the recognition you gave me. Thanks.

'Shina, seek your own happiness. Don't lose yourself in revenge. Leave this place immediately and live a happy life.

'Goodbye.'

"Master..." A tear fell on the diary.

Behind her, a man with a platinum brooch smiled.