The Devil’s Cage

”The [MG-08] is mine!”

”I raise 500 Points!”

”I raise 1,000 Points!”

”1,500 Points! That HMG is mine!”

...

The continuous increase of the price made Kieran’s jaw drop. He had not been expecting such a good reaction from the players.

Truth be told, the original price listings had already been high enough, so he had not expected the players to raise such a high starting price.

Kieran looked at Lawless unconsciously. He was no idiot. He knew that it was because of Lawless’s relationship with them that all these players had turned up.

Lawless noticed Kieran’s gaze and smirked. He replied with a private message of his own.

...

Lawless: Every single one of the players here are rich veterans who could not get their hands on any decent equipment.

Lawless: It’s extremely hard to get something good from the Broker. That evil business man will swallow u down along with ur bones and skin!

2567: The Broker hiked up the prices?

Lawless: If it was just high prices, these players could have still afforded to buy equipment! What the Broker wanted was someone willing to work for him. In other words, a contract that would sign one’s life away to him! Although it wouldn’t be forever, 2-3 dungeons are quite hard for these guys to accept!

...

Kieran furrowed his brows at Lawless’s message.

Although he had expected getting decent equipment at the secret bazaar to be quite difficult, he had not expected it to be that difficult.

Signing a life contract was not an option for these veterans, and neither was it for Kieran.

Even signing on for one dungeon with the Broker had been hard enough for him to accept, let alone two or three in one go.

From Kieran’s point of view, each dungeon should not be given up easily. Only when a player spent their time exploring all the Sub Missions and Title Missions in the dungeon could their rating at the end increase. Players could only gain an advantage in the game if their dungeon ratings were high enough. Then they were able to enter the next dungeon with a head start and form a good cycle.

According to the rule ‘The difficulty of the dungeon will increase based on the dungeon entry times’, if one gave up on a dungeon run, the advantage that player had built from the start could all go to waste.

Unless a player was as rich as Starbeck and could afford the huge amount of points it took to hire mercenaries, they would have to sacrifice their own growth and risk their lives for nothing.

No one would choose to compromise their dungeon unless they were out of options.

Kieran instantly understood why the veterans before him kept raising the price. After having the situation explained to him, such a price suddenly seemed quite normal.

For the veterans, the price of Kieran’s weapons was much more affordable than the contract the Broker wanted them to sign.

This was both bad news and good news for Kieran.

The good news was that he would benefit from additional Points and Skill Points, but the bad news was that it would become even harder for him to acquire the [Potionology] skill from the Broker.

”The Broker…”

Kieran’s mind mumbled the name subconsciously, but it was not out of hatred.

The fact that the Broker had what no one else did and had built up his own faction through his sharp insight only proved his strength. If Kieran had reached his level, he might have done the same in order to increase his own benefit.

Of course, there were some principles that Kieran would not be willing to let go of.

Kieran understood perfectly that he had Lawless to thank for everything. If Lawless had not used his reputation to gather the veterans, Kieran would never have had the chance to deal with them, let alone get the extra earnings that he was getting now.

”I’ll give 5% of whatever I earn to Lawless!” Kieran considered showing his gratitude that way.

He knew that that was what the service charges cost at the secret bazaar. He had heard people mention it more than once.

Yet before Kieran could say anything, Lawless PMed him first.

...

Lawless: No need to thank me, I’m just returning the favor!

2567: Favor?

(Kieran looked at Lawless in confusion.)

Lawless: If it wasn’t for u, my mercenary mission in the Alcatraz dungeon would have failed!

Lawless: Starbeck was quite a decent employer, so if the mission had failed, my business would have been affected greatly!

Lawless: Reputation is everything to a mercenary! Plus…

...

Just as Lawless began his gibberish BS again, Kieran turned his attention back to the auction that was still going on.

The bidding war had not cooled down as time passed. It had gotten even fiercer instead.

As more veterans entered the inn, the prices of the [Cobra-I], the [BK-20], and the [Viper-M1] kept hiking up quite a lot from their original prices.

Everything seemed to be popular among the veterans except for the [Alloy Blade] and the four cracked [Soul Shard]s. Both those items had not even had a bid.

The [Alloy Blade] might not be suitable for the veterans anymore, and the [Soul Shard]s had a skill limitation that might have prevented them from bidding on them.

The fact that the description of the [Soul Shard]s mentioned the Enchantment Platform proved as much.

Kieran believed that if there was a requirement for an Enchantment Platform, there would also be a requirement for a related skill.

As the seconds turned into minutes, there were only a couple of veterans left bidding fiercely on the equipment. Everyone else had already gotten what they wanted.

Kieran was of course the biggest winner of the price war, since he owned all the equipment.

[Cobra-I] rocket launcher, 15,000 Points, 4 Skill Points each.

[BK-20] light machine gun, 5,000 Points, 2 Skill Points each.

[MG-08] heavy machine gun, 15,000 Points, 6 Skill Points.

[Viper-M1] 12,000 Points, 5 Skill Points.

Kieran had completed all the deals according to the new price listings.

The prices that concerned Kieran were those of the dual attribute heavy machine gun [MG-08] and the sniper rifle [Viper-M1]. The [MG-08] had even surpassed the price of the rocket launcher [Cobra-I], and the price of the [Viper-M1] had also been hiked up a lot.

”Attributes are more important than Attacking Power?” Kieran was puzzled by the fact.

From what he understood, the two stats were complementary to each other.

”It’s because of the enchantment! Equipment that has natural attributes has a higher chance of succeeding at enchantment! Of course, your [Alchemy] must also be above a certain level!”

Lawless took two deep puffs on his cigar as he spoke. He looked at the final price of the [Cobra-I] and smiled awkwardly.

”I was really low on Points and Skill Points back when I bought the [Tekken-II] from you…”

”Enchantment is related to the [Alchemy] skill?”

Kieran did not care about what Lawless had to say, so he just cut him off with his own question. Since [Alchemy] was related to [Mystical Knowledge], he was really keen on finding out.

He did not care for Lawless’s apology.

Both parties had willingly accepted that deal, and Lawless’s help afterwards had been more than enough to reimburse him for the value of the rocket launcher.

Kieran was sure that if Lawless had bought the rocket launcher from him at a normal price, they would not have grown so close to each other.

After all, Lawless had also had reimbursing Kieran in mind while he had been communicating with him, or else he would not have shared so much information with him. Only veterans knew that kind of information.

Technically speaking, Kieran had still earned the most out of that deal.

He might have needed to take a detour to reach his goal if it hadn’t been for Lawless’ help.

Kieran knew that if he had not been careful enough, he would have already lost his life.

After all, all this had led Kieran to the auction currently happening and the prices of his equipment rising thanks to Lawless. The price of his equipment had exceeded common market prices, just like their deal about the [Tekken-II].

Kieran understood that the value of his equipment was not that high, so he could not be calculating with Lawless.

Lawless, who had been interrupted by Kieran, was startled at first, but soon he started smirking.

He went on to explain about enchantment in a lighter tone, ”[Alchemy] is necessary for enchantment, but I am not quite familiar with either one. Don’t worry though, someone will explain it to you soon enough!”

Lawless was acting all mysterious and secretive as he pointed at the screenshots of the four [Soul Shard]s.

Kieran quickly shut up. He was too familiar with Lawless’s bad habit.

The veterans around them laughed out loud at the scene. No doubt they also knew how nasty Lawless’s character could be.

One of the veterans, who seemed to be a close friend of Lawless’, started to joke, ”Yo, Lawless, are you going to say it? If you don’t, I’ll have the pleasure! Last chance! I’m counting to three! One, two-”

”Its Lemour the Alchemist!”

Before the veteran player could spill out the name, a person interrupted their conversation, crossing the crowd in Kieran’s direction with a smile.

”Pleased to meet you again, 2567! Seems like I’m late to the party! Although, even if I’d come earlier, I could not have afforded anything!” he mocked himself.

”Hey, Nobian! How could you KS1 my chance! I’ve waited for a long time for the chance to shut Lawless up for good!” the veteran player told Nobian, who had just appeared.

”I’ve waited for a long time to shut Hanses and Lawless up for good myself!” Nobian said with a laugh.

Everyone in the crowd laughed even louder except for three people. Lawless, Hanses and Kieran.

Lawless and Hanses did not laugh because they were being made fun of by Nobian, and Kieran didn’t because of Nobian’s sudden appearance. He still remembered the malicious intent he had felt in his gaze during the bazaar.

”What have you come for?” Kieran thought silently as he looked at Nobian.

TL Note

KS1: Kill steal, get the credit before someone else does.