originally, the plan was to leave the city only after Lucy reached E rank.

However, a lot of people know him in the city, and staying here might be way more dangerous; if the abnormality of Lucy was found out, he would have no way to explain it.

So the plan changed. He will leave the city as soon as possible, preferably before the party that Sofia is holding.

He had the feeling that those guys would pull some crazy shit,

Like doing the party in the hotel he is staying in, then using him as a shield for some love rival or something like that. Max didn't want any of that.

He wasn't sure if he was just being paranoid or not; either way, there was no harm in being careful.

Escape the city first, then even if they wanted to use him for something like that they can't find.

... After an unknown amount of time.

Max locked on his target.

Beast forest.

This place had a long history.

180 years ago, exactly 20 years after the first clear of an SSS rank dungeon.

A huge change caught the world by surprise .

The normally inanimate dungeons became smart all of a sudden, or, to be more exact, they became more tactical.

1 SS rank dungeon and 2S rank dungeons appeared close to each other

[Beast paradise] SS.

[dark forest] S.

[the deep valley] S.

At first, no one noticed the 2 S ranks hidden in an underground water deposit.

Normally, S dungeons can't hide because of their energy wave, unlike lower-level dungeons.

However, this water deposit was exactly under the first SS rank dungeon.

At the same time, this SS-rank dungeon was simply weird.

It was one of the strongest SS rank dungeons ever recorded, so the original team that entered had no chance of surviving, but surprisingly, it didn't kill them.

The beasts inside just captured them.

If a team enters a dungeon, a second team can not enter in till the first team is completely wiped out.

Such a thing as using the first team to buy time never happened before.

The captive team was killed only a few seconds before the break-out deadline.

Just like that,3 complementary dungeons broke open at the same time, showing a power equal to SSS rank dungeons, successfully claiming a fourth of the continent.

this kind of thing happened all around the world at the same time, and no one knew why.

Max, because of his knowledge of the void battlefield, could guess that it was some restriction in the other worlds being lifted, most probably because of the clear of the SSS rank dungeon [genetic Biohazard] .

Max didn't care about all that. What he cares about is leaving for the beast Forest as soon as possible.

Of course, Max didn't plan to settle at the center of it; he wasn't suicidal.

He plans to settle at the border of it.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

an E-rank danger zone.

Also, Star Academy seems to conduct some exams there each year.

Of course, Max didn't have any bad intentions, at least not yet.

reconnaissance comes first.

...

It's already midnight so Max fell asleep.

Early morning.

Now that Max made his decision, it's time to move.

Taking both Lucy and her pigeon in hand,

Max left the hotel.

Max wanted to leave this guy behind, let him free.

But Lucy wouldn't have any of that, so he just compromised.

Lucy can hide in his T-shirt, but he can only hopelessly walk around holding a featherless pigeon.

Ignoring the gazes around him, Max headed to his first stop.

A paint shop.

Max walked into the store and purchased a few random paints of different colors and types. One of the paints is a long-lasting blue skin paint used for fake tattoos, which is the only one he needs. The others are just to confuse anyone watching him.

At first, Max even considered letting someone else buy for him, but on second thought it's unnecessary, he plan to leave the city, anyway; he didn't think anyone would actually go through the effort of following him to the other side of the continent,

After that, Max headed toward the slums,

On the road, Max couldn't help but notice multiple scammers.

Card gambling, guess games, and such.

One even tried approaching Max holding cards, then for some reason he just smiled at Max and switched targets.

Max didn't think much about it, a lot of people knew him around here.

He even had a nickname, little Gangster; this person should have recognized him.

On the side, Max was attracted to a certain scammer.

This guy is using a frog-type pet.

"Come on, people, get closer, 50 credits. Guess what's inside its belly and get double your money."

The guy even let the couple in front of him touch the frog.

Max walked closer to watch, and even Lucy popped her head up.

The scammer winked at Max the moment he saw him, then kept working on taking the two fools' money.

Max was confused a little about why the wink.

... Soon the show was over and as expected the couple lost their money and left dejected.

"hi brother, thanks for not exposing me; I know a fellow scammer... ahem. I mean a fellow trickster when I see one."

He said this while waving the money in his hand and leaving.

Max had a question mark on his face

"I'm a scammer,? How didn't I know before?, and how can I expose you? I don't even know how you can cheat in such a game"

Max said that out loud, but the guy already left, most probably to enjoy his newly earned money.

Shaking his head in confusion, Max is just left to the loan shark. That guy is his only contact to buy some equipment, otherwise max would have just left the city without paying him back.