Non-Ranked

Rankers

Chapter 1:

[Status] Non-Ranked: Yuuki Machida.

No matter where he went, this title would always stand out. Non-Ranked. The lowest of the low, never able to compare to the rankers. Non-rankers would never outrank the weakest ranker. They were simply good at eating the crumbs off the rankers' table, nothing more than pawns to be used by the rankers. Some non-rankers were fortunate enough to live as regular human beings in the regular world, but for the unlucky ones, they became human mules for the rankers. Yuuki, who was already in debt, had no choice but to be a mule for the rankers.

The work was dangerous, and rankers abused him, made fun of him, and to make matters worse, the pay was pathetic.

If it weren't for the debts his parents left him, he would have quit by now and lived a regular life. Unfortunately, for someone like Yuuki in his mid-twenties, lacking any tangible job skills, there seemed to be no other way but to remain a ranker's mule if he wanted to pay off his parents' debt of a million yen. Where were his parents, you might ask? They had already died working as rankers' mules, and all he got was a letter of service his parents did and ten thousand yen. The best he could do for his parents was to use the ten thousand yen he got for their burial. The ranker's association did nothing for the non-rankers and only pandered to the rankers.

One might argue that he had no choice in the matter. He could have simply run away. But no, he chose to stay because he had a dream. A dream that one day he would take revenge on the Association and the Rankers that treated the non-rankers poorly. That was why, even though he didn't want to, he simply had to participate in the raid supervised by the Association.

Rankers operating within the same district tended to know each other well. As the raid portal opened up, rankers would be notified, and those in that district would come to take the job.

The rankers who arrived early could be seen sitting in their gears, choosing the mules they wanted to take to the raid. Usually, the strong and big ones got taken quickly, so rankers would come early to get the best. They would enjoy their coffee and teas handed out by the Ranker's Association, exchange greetings with each other, while the mules were left out in the cold with nothing. They could only hope to get selected so that they could work and, if lucky, get fed.

"Hey! Watch where you step, you bitch. You stepped on my new armor. This armor is worth more than your family," one ranker said to a non-ranker as he beat him.

All the non-rankers could do was stand there quietly and watch their fellow friends or even family members get beaten, and all the Ranker's Association would do is watch, and if it got too serious, they would intervene and apologize for the inconvenience.

"You."

Someone pointed at Yuuki and gestured towards the cargo. Yuuki quickly grabbed his stuff and went to the cargo he was pointed at. He was one of the lucky ones to get selected, so he quickly headed to a table where non-rankers could get fed. As he ran, he saw that all the food was gone, and only water was left. Thinking he was still lucky, he filled his stomach with water.

"Umm, here, have some bread."

A woman hands a bread to Yuuki and greets him. Her name is Yurina Suzuki, and her voice sounds warm as the log fire next to him.

“You must be our non-ranker, pleasure to have you here. Hope you can be a great help to us in this raid! If anything goes wrong, be sure to rely on me!”

She extends her hand for a shake, and Yuuki slowly puts his hand out and shakes her warm hand. He feels lucky to have joined a group that has a nice person, and he's amazed that such a high-ranked player is being kind to him.

In this world, the lower the number, the stronger the player. It's rare to find a player with a number less than 10,000 in a free raid without a guild's involvement. Usually, players with ranks lower than 10,000 are in a guild and have spirits with them, making them even more special.

Today's raid doesn't involve a guild, which means there might not be much profit to be had. Typically, non-rankers would be happy about it because they would make more money, as it wouldn't be evenly distributed or maybe not distributed at all. However, it also means that the raid's difficulty would be low, and the non-rankers wouldn't have to fear that this might be their last day.

As the rankers and non-rankers settle in and the required number of players is met, a man in a suit stands up and briefs the details of the raid. After the meeting, the rankers all stand up and start walking, while the non-rankers grab backpacks with tools, equipment, and potions. As they enter the portal, the man in the suit bows down and says, “We wish you the best and hope you all come back safely!”

As they enter the portal, all they see is darkness in a cave. It's quiet, and all they can hear are droplets of water coming down from the ceiling and the sound of armors and equipment moving around.

“Hey, hand me a torch,” Yuuki says.

He hears some rustling as someone tries to search in their backpack.

“Hey! I said hand me a torch!”

“Sorry… I um… I think I forgot to pack it.”

A ranker gets mad and, in frustration, starts to beat up the non-ranker.

“I can't believe I picked an idiot to handle my things. If anything happens, just know you are going to be the first to die.”

The non-ranker cries and pleads for forgiveness as he's being beaten. Yurina happens to walk up to them and hands a torch to Yuuki.

“Stop beating him up, he's a human too, you know. Just like you. Here, take my torch.”

The ranker stops and gasps for air, while the non-ranker lies there in pain, gasping for breath. As he's about to say something, he sees Yurina's hand with her rank number and becomes quiet. Yurina treats the non-ranker and apologizes for the ranker's rudeness, barely keeping the non-ranker alive.

“Thank you, miss,” the non-ranker says while crying and holding onto her.

Yurina asks her guildmates, whom she was teaching today, to help her pick him up and assist him. They continue to proceed, with the rankers defeating monsters and the non-rankers collecting loot and mining special ores.

While Yuuki is mining, a monster sneaks up behind him, and just as it's about to pounce on him,

"Terra!"

A green-colored bear spirit comes out, knocking the monster down and sees him viciously tearing it apart. Yurina quickly comes to Yuuki and asks,

"Are you okay?"

Yuuki can do nothing but stare at her in shock and slowly nods. As this is happening, you hear other Rankers quietly whispering to each other, seeing how powerful she is and witnessing a spirit being called into action for the first time. Out of the blue, another non-ranked player screams,

"Uh, hey, something is happening over here."

Everyone rushes over, and another portal inside the raid portal opens up. Everyone stands in shock because it's their first time seeing a raid portal opening within a raid.

"Huh, is this some kind of hidden entrance?" One Ranker says.

"Maybe it has secret loot that no one has ever seen yet."

The portal is black. It's the first time anyone has ever seen a portal colored black. Everyone is getting curious and is hesitant about whether they should enter or not. Yurina walks up to it and advises everyone that the guild should handle this and that it should be reported to the Rankers Association. However, one of the Rankers says out loud,

"Nah, you aren't taking this away from us. We found it."

As one of the Rankers says this, things start to get messy, and you hear others saying, "Yeah, this is our loot, we're not going to let the guild take all the money and let this opportunity slip away." As things get hectic, one of the Rankers grabs a non-ranked player.

"I told you, you're going to be the first to die, right?"

"Please, please! Forgive me, I'll do anything!"

The Ranker throws him into the portal, and all you can hear is him screaming in despair. Everyone stands in shock, and a few seconds later, an arm comes back flying out, covered in blood. Everyone starts to scream, and the ground begins to shake. A beast slowly emerges from the portal, with eyes all around its body and 8 arms, covered in blood.

As it comes out slowly, everyone panics and starts to run away. Yurina summons her spirit, but her spirit gets ripped in half right in front of her. She quickly runs away, and as Yuuki is behind her, trying to desperately escape, the monster slowly catches up to them. She looks back at Yuuki with a disgusting smile on her face and casts a spell to knock Yuuki over.

"Please, please! Don't leave me. You told me I could rely on you!" Yuuki desperately says, reaching out his hand.

"You non-ranked players are nothing but tools. You should be honored to die like this, to protect me!" Yurina says, looking at Yuuki with a devilish smile.

The entrance door begins to close, and Yuuki, lying on the ground, holds it up with nothing but a pickaxe, tears streaming down his face. He starts to think about the hardships he has endured and how unfair life is, wishing he were stronger to avoid this situation. He thinks to himself in anger,

"Why? Why does life have to be unfair? Why does it have to happen to me?"

<Chapter 1 Fin>