"Where did it go?!"

Max looked around in search of the red-hooded figure. But he had already lost it in the sea of crowd.

The city gate was obviously one of the most crowded areas. Max searched for a while but failed to even find its shadow.

"Let's get into the city first," Max mumbled before moving ahead.

When Max was finally into the City, he looked around and the red hooded figure in a distance entered his eyes.

"Wait!"

Max sped up after the figure and when he finally grabbed the person's arm, a message popped out.

« Passive Buff «God's Halo» has been deactivated.»

Max looked at the message and realized that the person must have left the designated area. He had lost him.

If so, then who was this person.

"Hi, handsome! You look really fired up to drag me like this." The lady said as she stretched her fingers across Max's chest and licked her lips.

'Shit!'

'I thought that they only moved around in the red light district.'

Max gulped down as he noticed that besides the red hood, there wasn't much clothing on this lady. It was too revealing.

The lady pushed her chest closer to Max as she noticed him staring at them and put her finger on Max's face as she lightly caressed them.

'Sigh! I should have visited the red light district in the trial and conquered it. What a pitiful sight I have revealed.'

"Do you want this Big Sister, boy?" The lady said flirtatiously.

Max quickly pulled himself out of the lady's reach as he tried to explain, "Sorry! I seem to have the wrong person."

"Well, then isn't that fate which brought us together then. Here take this….I don't have time now. But you can meet this sister at this place tonight. I am free after the event." The lady said as she handed Max a pamphlet before leaving.

Max noticed that she had a bundle of them and seemed to be passing them around.

'I see…that's why I bumped into her here.' Max thought after looking at the pamphlet.

The red light district seemed to be organising one of the biggest auctions this year. It was nothing out of the ordinary. They did it every year.

The auction here was the most unique or you could say disgusting too. It was because you could buy slaves.

Slaves here are those people who have too much debt on them and were not capable of repaying them. They are sold according to contract based on the time period after which they get their freedom.

There were obviously slave laws to protect their rights like they couldn't be physically abused, sexually abused or mentally abused.

But....

No one knew if it was followed or not. If someone was checking it or not. If one asked Max, he would obviously reply that these laws were bullshit. Everyone knew that beautiful slaves were expensive. Why does beauty matter when you are just trying to get a slave for doing household chores?

Anyway, Max was happy for one thing at least...

'Talk about timing. If I put a piece of Iron clay in the auction, it would sell at twice its price.'

Max smiled as he thought about it. He was really lacking money.

"I should get some money from the low level cores of the beast that I hunted along the way." Max mumbled as he began moving towards the direction of one of the most famous shops in the city.

….

Max walked out of the shop with a bunch of cash and a satisfied smile. The cores and the ores he had found all this while had earned him enough to live a few months without worry.

Obviously, that wasn't Max's plan. Besides, that much money was still lacking for Max to get a decent gear. Max only had a spear which could be considered to be 3★ Artifact and nothing else worth mentioning.

….

Max first went to get an inn and then went out to get a cellphone. His previous phone had taken its last breath in Blackie 3's jaws.

The rest of the time was spent loitering around. Max travelled around the city while his ears took in every kind of useful information he could. He wanted to know what was happening in the city as well as the overall world.

….

It was almost turning dark, Max entered a cheap looking tavern but Max knew that the food here tasted good and the alcohol was great as well.

'Hm...8 months have passed since the incident. It's surprising. I thought the people would still be terrified about it. But it seems that it has already become a thing of the past.'

'The All Academy Competition has been postponed too. It would be held at the end of the year. But I can't understand one thing, why have the students of the Academy suddenly turned into celebrities. Besides, why are people so excited about the All-Academy Competition?'

'No wait!....It makes sense. I don't know which sly b*stard thought of it. But he did it very well. They postponed the Competition. They must have promoted and broadcasted exhibition matches between Academies too. Without that, it's impossible. Driving the fear away by showing the new generation's potential while limiting the information available for the Arcane incident. It might sound good if considered the overall picture. But it is cruel for the people who actually suffered the disaster.'

"Hey, can I have a seat here?"

The voice pulled Max out of his thoughts and he noticed the person in front of him.

'Talk about coincident. I never thought about meeting him here.'

Max stared at the guy for a second before speaking, "Sure, go ahead."

"Oh! Thanks." The guy looked at Max in surprise before taking a seat.

"Hey cutie! Bring me something good to eat."

Max looked at the guy who was giving the waitress flirtatious looks.

'Huff! You really can't believe the rumors. The 3rd Young Lord, Lear Barnes, was the trash of the family. I don't know what kind of eyes that person who spread this rumours had.'

'This guy is clearly a monster.'