Max stepped into a high-class restaurant nestled on a bustling street corner of Kain-city.

A waiter guided him to a table near the window, where he could observe the city's new, unsettlingly organized atmosphere.

After ordering a simple meal, grilled meat, soup, and some bread, Max leaned back in his chair and pulled out his phone. The translucent screen flickered as he swiped through the latest updates, curious about the sudden transformation of Kain-city.

It didn't take long for the news feed to fill in the gaps.

There was just One big Headline : "Renowned General about to Pass Through Kain-city"

The article detailed how a high-ranking military General was en route, planning to make a brief stop in the city. The piece speculated about the General's itinerary, but it was clear that his presence was raising eyebrows.

He was just a C-rank but he had an army of C and B-ranks and even two lieutenants at the A-rank.

Max frowned. "passing through the city just like this? Out of all the routes he could take?"

.....

That wasn't all, after his phone checked the news in detail across this month, than switched to private conversations, and news that weren't shared or weren't big enough to be announced:

The first was about a Former A-Rank Powerhouse who Retires in Kain-city :

A newly retired A-rank powerhouse, someone once feared on battlefields, had decided to settle down in his hometown (Kain-city).

Max raised an eyebrow. "An A-rank settling here? Sure, why not? It's not like this place was crawling with nobodies a few months ago or anything."

The second news was that The universities in the surrounding territories had abruptly decided to hold their exams near Kain-city.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

originally only a few of them would've held it around here, and it shouldn't be this soon. The article highlighted the top class of the year, students so talented they were making waves across the continent.

Max muttered to himself, "So the academic elite are suddenly pouring in now? What's next, royalty deciding to vacation here?"

Finally, an announcement about a well-known A-rank adventurer group moving its base to the city made Max's eyes narrow. These weren't just random mercenaries; they were the type to bring significant attention and resources wherever they went.

Max's fork hovered over his plate as his thoughts churned.

'The will of the world,' he thought , a sharp gleam in his eyes.

It was limited by certain rules ones of its own nature, and others from the void Battlefield, but it had its methods.

It couldn't outright declare, "Kain-city is about to be attacked," yet it could create situations that prepared the city without directly exposing the threat. Manipulating luck, coincidences, and timing was its modus operandi.

However It wasn't omniscient, and it shouldn't have been aware of every event endangering it's territories.

Max leaned back in his chair, his mind racing. 'The will of the Central world must have found out about the attack from the Oubach tribe, While it was keeping an eye on me"

The realization made him smirk. Apparently he was the reason for after all.

But His smirk turned predatory. "If it's moving its chess pieces, guess I'd have to used that, don't blame me for what happens." he whispered to himself, the final word carrying an edge of danger.

...

Max shook his head ignoring the matter for now, As he went back to reading, not wanting to miss any important news in the city.

As he scrolled through his phone, his sharp senses caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Someone was approaching his table, not from the entrance, but from within the restaurant itself.

He didn't look up immediately, pretending to be engrossed in his device. But he already recognized the face by using Mystic eye on his table.

Elias White.

The man he'd encountered not long ago, a seemingly ordinary individual who hadn't left much of an impression at the time. Yet now, as Max watched him approach with a small group in tow, a wave of suspicion crept in.

'Why here? Why now?' Max thought, his mind already racing through possibilities. When they first met, Elias had seemed unremarkable, but the timing of this encounter set off warning bells.

'Is it my bad luck drawing him here? Or am I thinking too much.' Max mused, narrowing his eyes slightly as Elias drew closer. For now, it was only conjecture, and he wasn't sure of anything. But Coincidences rarely stayed coincidences for long in his world.

Elias reached the table and greeted him with a broad, almost too-friendly smile. "Max! Fancy seeing you here! We didn't part on the best terms last time, but isn't this quite the coincidence?"

Max met his gaze, his expression unreadable. The smirk he wore earlier was gone, replaced by a cold neutrality that masked the calculations running through his head.