In every age, one name rises above the rest.
Eustass.
He was the first, and so far the only, SS-Rank Adventurer in history. A man whose very existence shaped the course of the world.
He united the four great guilds of the North, West, East, and South under a single banner. Wars that had raged for decades ended in his presence. The lands breathed a fragile peace, and a new era, the Age of Adventurers was born.
Legends spoke of him with reverence. Statues bore his likeness in every city. Tavern songs echoed his name. Every adventurer grew up dreaming of even walking a fraction of the path he had carved.
He was not a king, nor a ruler. He was the pinnacle of adventure itself, the measure of greatness, a symbol of what a single person could become.
And yet, even legends cast shadows.
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Far from the grandeur of guild halls and the bustling cities, nestled deep in the mountains, lay Yoima Village. A small, quiet place where adventure was a story told by travelers, not a life lived.
Here, a boy named Dante dreamed.
Dante had grown up on the stories of his father, a man who had strived to become the first S-Rank Adventurer from Yoima Village. His father's ambition was legendary in the village; he dared to reach heights no one else from their small home had ever dreamed of. But fate had been cruel. He passed before his dream could be realized.
Now, it was Dante's turn. He swore to finish what his father had started. To bring honor to his family. To be the first S-Rank Adventurer from Yoima Village.
And yet… that was not enough.
Dante's eyes were fixed on a name that outshone all others: Eustass, the Adventurer Deity.
He wanted more than to match his father's dream. He wanted to surpass it.
He wanted to surpass the legend.
To become the second ever SS-Rank Adventurer in history, a class retired in awe of Eustass's greatness. A class the first Head of the United Adventurers Guild once said would only be granted to the one who could go beyond Eustass. The old man had laughed when he spoke of it, saying it might be impossible…
But Dante didn't believe in impossible.
"Father… I'll do this for you. But I'll go further. I'll surpass him. I'll become the one who defines the next Age of Adventurers," Dante whispered to the mountains, his voice carried by the wind that had once howled through the village.
Beside him, his older brother Yamato. Calmer, more cautious, but just as determined, nodded. Together, they would leave Yoima Village. Together, they would step into a world that had only ever known the shadow of a legend.
"How hard can it be to become a legend?" Dante asked aloud, a grin on his face, as if challenging the world itself.
He had no idea.
But that was the beauty of it.
For every legend, every obstacle, every impossible feat waiting in the world… Dante intended to face it all.
And perhaps, one day, the name Dante would echo just as loudly as Eustass, carried on the lips of adventurers, dreamers, and storytellers alike.
The Age of Adventurers had a legend.
And now, it was about to witness the rise of a challenger.