The next morning, Max arrived at the entrance of the Dungeon Hall early, fully dressed.
Even though it was still early, the hall was already filled with a large circle of Professionals waiting for the dungeon to open.
Professionals of various ranks were mixed together, creating a bit of a visual impact.
Although it was Max’s first time seeing such a scene, he didn’t observe for long.
Instead, he stood quietly at the back of the line representing the Novice Dungeon, waiting for his turn.
As a Novice Dungeon, it was a benefit provided by the state to students who had just changed their class to Professionals.
Only Professionals below Level 10 could enter.
“Professional Warrior looking for a group! Just a student who finished the class change, no experience, looking for a carry from a big shot!”
“Cute girl Mage… just looking for a big shot to carry me!”
“Are there any students from Lincoln High School? Brothers, come here and see if we can put a team together!”
“I’m a bit afraid I can’t clear the Easy dungeon solo. Any team need an Archer!? I can join. The academic assessment is coming up soon, and I’m worried about failing the school test!”
“Hard dungeon needs a special class Healer! Clear rewards will be distributed according to contribution.”
“Is everyone preparing for the upcoming school tests!? Since we have the same goal, anyone want to work together!?”
While Max was in line, many of the Professionals around him who had just completed their class change were also discussing animatedly.
Most of them were graduating high school seniors who had just finished their class change and were preparing for the upcoming Academy Assessment.
The Academy Assessment was a test conducted by high schools in this world within a month after graduating students successfully completed their class change to detect their comprehensive combat power…
The assessment content changed every year.
Although it wasn’t as strict as the College Entrance Examination, failing the Academy Assessment directly meant being unable to participate in the College Entrance Examination in the future.
So, while the Academy Assessment might seem minor, it caused a huge headache for all kinds of graduating students every year…
Anyone who couldn’t pass the basic standard of the assessment would have to wait until next year to continue with the College Entrance Examination.
Regarding this, although Max knew about it, he didn’t care at all.
After all, he had a system now; why would he be afraid of some simple Academy Assessment!?
That would be a joke.
He walked straight to the dungeon entrance and asked the staff about the matters before and after entering the dungeon.
Within seconds of Max speaking, the other party quickly gave a suggestion.
“As a state-selected dungeon, the entry condition for the Novice Dungeon is that you must be a Professional entering a dungeon for the first time.”
“The dungeon difficulty is divided into Easy, Hard, and Nightmare.”
“Basically, most graduating students can pass the Easy dungeon on their first try, while top students in high schools have a chance to pass the Hard dungeon.”
“As for the Nightmare dungeon… only a very few geniuses can pass it every year.”
The staff member explained the difficulty of the Novice Dungeon to Max with a smile.
The explanation was very Easy to understand, and in just a few sentences, Max knew which difficulty to choose next!
That was Nightmare…
Since only a very few people could pass it, it meant very few people chose to challenge it.
He wouldn’t have to wait in line and could start immediately.
It could save Max a lot of time.
After deciding on the difficulty, Max directly clicked on the section to select the challenge dungeon.
Soon, a large number of message boxes popped up in front of him.
[Novice Dungeon: Ghost Shadow Cat Demon, Forest Treant…]
[Level Requirement: Level 1-10]
[Select Difficulty: Easy, Hard, Nightmare.]
[Note: To ensure the safety of newcomers entering the dungeon, you must challenge it in a four-person team. If there are fewer than four people, a match will be automatically made for you.]
“Must there be four people!?”
“It seems that’s the only way.”
Max hadn’t originally planned to team up with others to enter the dungeon.
After all, he currently had no shortcomings.
With the support of his talent and the Asura Path, he was already invincible among his peers.
Even when facing monsters far more powerful than Professionals, he could handle them easily.
There was no need to spend time looking for Professionals of other classes, getting used to each other…
and then studying how to cooperate.
That would simply be a waste of time.
But as it stood, he couldn’t avoid it.
In that case, let’s just start.
Max first randomly picked a Ghost Shadow Cat Demon in the Novice Dungeon, and then immediately set the dungeon difficulty to the highest: Nightmare!
Accompanied by an intense sense of dizziness, he was enveloped by the dungeon teleportation array.
When he opened his eyes again, the scenery before him had changed drastically.
The crowded Dungeon Hall had turned into a dense and opaque black forest.
At the same time, what met his eyes were three other challengers besides Max.
They all radiated a glow different from basic classes…
Seeing this, Max directly used his team permissions to check their class templates.
They were Water Witch, Earth Knight, and Shadow Assassin, all of whom were leaders among hidden classes.
Compared to his Puppet Master class, they were worlds apart.
While Max was examining the three people in front of him, they were also examining him.
The group first cast scrutinizing glances, but after seeing that Max was actually a Puppet Master, rumored to be the most useless hidden class, they all cast contemptuous looks…
However, this look flashed by and was Hard for a normal person to notice.
But then, they saw the Asura Path standing quietly behind Max.
That highly oppressive visual sense made them feel doubtful.
Was that Max’s puppet!?
But how was that possible?
How could a puppet look exactly like a human!?
But these doubts were soon pushed to the back of their minds.
After all, someone who had the guts to choose Nightmare difficulty for their first dungeon entry…
was either an idiot or a leader among their peers.
“A Puppet Master!? No way, why would someone who awakened as a Puppet Master enter a Nightmare-level dungeon!?”
“They probably chose wrong.”
“I don’t know, but that puppet wearing the Red Cloud uniform looks very strange.”
“…”
The three of them gathered together and discussed.
Max had no intention of explaining…
Once the dungeon entrance opened, he would choose to go his own way alone.
“Brother, you might have accidentally chosen the wrong difficulty for the Novice Dungeon.”
“After the dungeon starts, just stay behind us. Be careful not to get killed by the cat demons that slip through the battlefield.”
“…”
Marcus, who had the Earth Knight class template, was tall and strong.
He broke the somewhat awkward situation and spoke to Max.
In their understanding, a professional like a Puppet Master had no combat power at all during the first class advancement.
It was already good enough if they didn’t get approached and finished off by a cat demon.
Even if Max supposedly had a powerful puppet, that was only a possibility.
“Alright, Marcus, the team is full, and the dungeon entrance is open. Let’s start the challenge quickly.”
“There are only a few days left before the Academy Assessment. Time is money now.”
The two people in front turned and interrupted Marcus, reminding him that the dungeon was now open and they could start the challenge, so there was no need to waste more time.
Regarding this, Marcus naturally couldn’t go against their wishes.
After giving Max one last instruction, he turned and left.
Standing there, Max watched the three of them walk away and then decided on the direction for his dungeon challenge, which was completely opposite to Marcus’s group.
“Although I expected Puppet Masters to be discriminated against… I didn’t expect it to be this awkward.”
“However… I didn’t expect to actually find a match for a Nightmare dungeon.”
Although Max felt a bit awkward, his movements didn’t pause for a second as he controlled the Asura Path behind him to walk toward the dense forest.
The dark forest in front of him stretched for dozens of kilometers, and the air was covered by thick black mist, making visibility very low.
Without lighting items, one would likely get lost here.
But for Max, who had recently obtained the Rinnegan, this was no obstacle at all.
As the supreme ocular power in the Naruto World, it at least provided basic visual enhancement.
With the support of the Rinnegan, the dark forest in front of Max was like walking on level ground.
What was even more outstanding was that not just the limit of human vision hundreds of meters ahead, but even thousands or tens of thousands of meters ahead were within Max’s range of vision.
Soon, he arrived deep in the forest.
The sound of rustling leaves came from all around.
Max cast a Detection Technique forward, and a message box soon popped up.
[Race: Cat Demon]
[Level: Level 7]
[Strength: 27]
[Constitution: 31]
[Agility: 40]
[Intelligence: 7]
[Skills: Bite, Ghost Image…]
“Is this a Cat Demon!?”
“I’ve finally encountered one.”
Looking at the black humanoid cat beast baring its teeth at him, Max didn’t show any fear; he was even a bit excited…
Normally, a Level 7 monster with such 4D attributes would be a handful for Professionals of the same level.
But that obviously didn’t apply to Max.
With a sudden thud of feet hitting the ground and dust flying, the Asura Path, which had just been standing there, appeared before the cat demon like a ghost and instantly grabbed its neck with one hand.