Mitsukawa Hana's life is mostly a mix of boredom and compromise.

She's born into a prestigious family, with talent and a promising future. There are expectations from those around her. At the same time, she faces envy. Nevertheless, she accepts this reality, thinking it can't be helped since she's fortunate.

She's blessed, desired, and she possesses much.

Because of that, perhaps...

From a young age, she imposes on herself an extraordinary level of effort and continuously achieves results beyond what others expect.

Boundless expectations from adults. Growing pressure every day.

In an environment that an ordinary child can't endure, Hana continues to produce remarkable results.

Not because she's desired. This pain is her duty. She has to do it if she can.

In this way, she defines and constrains herself by her own blessed standards.

Writing this way might make it seem like Hana is a person with a strong sense of responsibility, but the reality is slightly different.

The effort that surpasses that of an ordinary person and the ability to produce results beyond expectations are mere constraints for her, something she does with a casual resolve of "Well, I guess I'll do a little more."

Even without grand resolutions or determination like "to protect my life" or "to help my family" or the specific joy of aspiring to the way of the warrior, she can still persevere and achieve results.

To others, it seems like an enviable talent, but to Hana, it's merely training wheels to overly protect her own life.

At the young age of five, she's recognized as a swordsman of the prestigious "Mitsukawa" family. At seven, she inherits one of the three divine spirits of the sword, "Black Sword." Before turning ten, she wins matches against over a hundred schools, establishing herself as the rightful heir to the Mitsukawa family.

Despite these accomplishments, she smiles wryly and thinks, "It's too easy."

It isn't the only emotion, but it's undoubtedly the most significant one.

Everything comes too easily, and to put it simply, it doesn't excite her.

Yet, she knows that her dissatisfaction is very extravagant, arrogant, and selfish from the perspective of others.

Knowing this, Hana eventually starts seeking something beyond herself.

The Dungeon.

The unknown world that awaits beyond the portal gate.

There, formidable enemies beyond human intelligence and unknown treasures lie dormant, and adventurers risk their lives day and night to challenge it.

Hana thinks, "This is it. This is my calling."

The catalyst is a TV program about adventurers.

The protagonist of the show, titled "Young Genius Adventurer Challenging Unexplored Dungeons," is a girl not much different in age from Hana.

While still a student, the girl leads a party with adults, and together they achieve great results in the dangerous dungeons.

One versus a thousand. Invincible against ten thousand. When she sees that girl beyond the vivid images, Hana's long-lost excitement is stirred within her heart.

"I want to become an adventurer!"

With that determination, she asks her mother, who holds full authority in the Mitsukawa family, and somehow manages to receive permission to take the adventurer's exam just last month.

Since then, Hana diligently trains in swordsmanship even more than usual and eagerly awaits the day that has arrived today.

The adventurer's exam—a day she eagerly anticipates, believing that her long-lost excitement and thrills will finally be fulfilled.

"Wait... what?"

However, what Hana feels there is considerable disappointment.

The spirits emerging from the dungeon are opponents that she can defeat without even using her sword or skills, yet her rivals are putting up impressive fights against "them."

Swinging weapons, utilizing spells, their struggles are flashy but not strong or impressive.

They only have power, lacking any technique, creativity, or originality.

In other words, in Hana's words, "It doesn't excite me."

And to top it off, there's the presence of the examiners.

Examiners: outstanding adventurers who supervise Hana and the others' exams, imposing significant barriers to overcome.

Eager to face off against a master like the one she saw on TV, Hana takes on the challenge with sparkling eyes, only to quickly realize the harsh reality.

His name is Jun. That examiner, Jun, Hana soundly defeats him.

Of course, considering he's an examiner and that it isn't an actual battlefield, one could argue that he doesn't use his full power—but such reasoning is nothing more than a comforting delusion.

The truth is that Hana also holds back significantly in her battle against the examiner.

Not holding back to the extent of "not killing" or within the boundaries of the exam, it goes beyond the level of following normative awareness.

She deliberately reduces her strength to the level where she thinks she can fight him, and she seals many of her techniques when clashing with him.

Hana intends to do so.

On the positive side, she thinks she'll test the examiner's abilities. On the negative side, she creates a self-imposed handicap to enjoy the challenge, but her approach is fatally misguided.

Driven by her admiration for adventurers as a profession, Hana overestimates their lower limits.