The Devil’s Cage

Kieran looked at the hole with a furrowed brow. The pursuer had disappeared inside it a couple of seconds ago.

The hole before Kieran and the sudden explosion caused by the sniper showed that their enemies had been well-prepared.

Everything had been planned ahead of time, from the meeting with the Hellfire sniper to the man’s explosive demise.

”Why did he do it? Why would the sniper kill himself?”

Doubts were clamouring in Kieran’s mind.

Had the sniper been ordered to meet with Kieran?

That one was not that hard to guess. The moment the sniper had been caught, he must have gotten punished. He had already taken a desperate gamble. It was easy to control someone in his position.

”So what was this arrangement for?” Kieran said under his breath in confusion.

Lawless and his friends also shared the same expression.

None of the veterans were idiots. They all had noticed that something was off.

Their doubts did not stop them from exploring the hole in front of them though.

A scrawny guy holding an LED remote control guided a puppy-like robot down the hole.

The LED screen projected what the robot saw inside the hole.

When the robot discovered a dozen red explosives underneath, everyone, including Kieran, drew in a cold breath.

If one of them had gone blindly into the hole…

”I think they’re motion-sensitive explosives… Sh*t! Back off!” the scrawny guy yelled after examining the visual through the remote.

Everyone quickly turned away and sprinted out of the square.

Boom!

As soon as Kieran stepped out of Shameiken Square, the whole place was blasted to the sky in a thunderous explosion.

The tremendous shockwave sent him rolling on the ground.

”HOLY F*CK! MY DOG! THOSE ASSES! Don’t let me catch you, or you will feel the wrath of my 2,000 volt lightning gun!” the scrawny guy that controlled the puppy-robot shouted furiously all around the blazing square when he got up again.

The other veterans, who were covered in ashes, were also shouting in outrage.

A couple of them were chasing a guy, but he slipped away and they almost fell into a trap. That alone insulted their status as veterans in the game. It infuriated them even more than trying to take their lives.

Amidst all the cursing and scolding, Kieran noticed that Lawless seemed a little absent-minded.

”What’s wrong?” he asked.

”Just a little something. So do you want me to help you sell the equipment you got from Shielder and Correy? I’m quite looking forward to the 5% commision!” Lawless replied with an awkward laugh.

”I’ll leave it to you then,” Kieran answered straightforwardly.

He noticed that Lawless was trying to divert the subject. His excuse was very poor-crafted.

5% commision was what the service charge at the bazaar was, and Lawless was not a greedy man.

Kieran was certain that Lawless had noticed something unusual during the incident, but he did not press the subject any further.

If Lawless had made enough effort to come up with an excuse to avoid the subject, then it had to be hard for him to talk about.

It was meaningless for Kieran to pursue it. It would only cause estrangement between them.

After the explosion, Lawless went on to introduce all the other veterans that had turned up for the little meeting.

Kieran rejected the offer to have another drink back at the Harvest Inn and left soon after.

His plan to study had already been delayed by the sudden incident. He didn’t want to put it off any longer.

...

During the next two weeks, Kieran exchanged daily messages with Lawless, asking about new information on the Killer Organization, and spent the rest of his time in his lobby room.

Without proper guidance though, he got a similar notification every time he finished a book.

[Alchemy experience has increased a little after reading…]

[Astrology experience has increased a little after reading…]

...

Every book only resulted in a small increase of experience. There was no notification that indicated a huge increase of experience, like when Kieran had a proper lesson with a highly skilled individual.

”Seems like I need to spend more time on this,” Kieran said softly.

His original plan had been to level up [Astrology] and [Alchemy] to a Basic Level before entering the next dungeon, but judging by his progress, this did not seem possible anymore.

The next day was the day he would be entering the team dungeon.

Kieran took a deep breath and placed his book down.

Although he was frustrated that he could not follow his original plan, this did not prevent him from moving forward with his other plans.

His frustration was just affecting the next step of his plan because he had failed to complete the previous one.

Kieran checked his remaining Points and Skill Points.

[Points: 86,500; Skill Points: 21; Golden Skill Points: 3; Golden Attribute Points: 2]

After he had completed two Honor Kills, gotten compensated by the cyber law enforcers, sold the two killers’ equipment, and put together a [Soul Shard] bundle by combining shards from his own stash and the newly acquired ones from the previous dungeon, his Points and Skill Points had reached a considerable amount.

While selling the killers’ equipment, Kieran had favored Skill Points over Points.

”Rare Skills consume Skill Points more than regular ones. Be prepared!” Lawless had advised him as a veteran.

Kieran had no reason to ignore his advice.

In order to boost his confidence before the upcoming dungeon, Hanses had also made a generous contribution.

Kieran was sure that this was because Lawless was the middleman.

If it had just been Hanses and him, it would not have been the same.

Kieran took out the orange Skill Book.

A system notification popped up.

[Discovered Skill Book, Blade Kick]

[Prerequisites met, Learn skill?]

”Yes, please!”

[Learned Skill: Blade Kick]

[Name: Blade Kick (Basic)]

[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution]

[Skill Type: Offensive]

[Effects: A slashing wave attack from either one of your feet, The damaging wave from the attack authenticated as a weak qi wave, Consumes 100 Stamina, 5-minute cooldown]

[Consumes: Stamina]

[Prerequisites: Hand-to-Hand Combat (Master of Kicks), Strength D-, Agility D-, Constitution D-]

[Remarks: This is a fierce martial art technique. You will need to seize the opportunity to use it!]

...

[Strength has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

[Agility has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

[Constitution has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

…..

Kieran read about [Blade Kick] carefully. The effects did not disappoint him. It was just a Basic Level skill, so it was only natural after all.

[Blade Kick] required 500 Points and 2 Skill Points to be upgraded from Basic to Entry.

Lawless’s advice about the high consumption of Skill Points had already been proven right.

Based on the upgrading rules, Kieran could imagine how costly it would be to level [Blade Kick] up to a certain level.

He had already prepared himself for that though, and he leveled up [Blade Kick] without any problems.

[Blade Kick] Basic → Entry → Master.

Upgrading from Entry to Master cost him 3,000 Points and 6 Skill Points.

The cost was almost twice as high as the previous level.

[Name: Blade Kick (Master)]

[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution]

[Skill Type: Offensive]

[Effects: A slashing wave attack from either one of your feet, The damaging wave from the attack authenticated as an average qi wave, Consumes 150 Stamina, 4-minute cooldown]

[Special Effects: Harder Training (Your Blade Kick attack and Sharp Edge will increase according to your level]

[Consumes: Stamina]

[Prerequisites: Hand-to-Hand Combat (Master of Kicks), Strength D-, Agility D-, Constitution D-]

[Remarks: This is a fierce martial art technique. You will need to seize the opportunity to use it!]

[Strength has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

[Agility has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

[Constitution has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

…..

After upgrading twice, the special effect [Harder Training] increased the attack and sharp edge of the [Blade Kick] to average level.

To Kieran’s knowledge, the average handgun’s attack shared the same power.

Kieran could not help but get excited over the fact when he saw it.

”Is this a Rare Level attacking skill? One qi wave from a kick equals the damage of a normal bullet!”

It was not even the final form of [Blade Kick], but of course upgrading to the next level would require Kieran to increase his Strength, Agility and Constitution as well.

It was not a major problem for him though, as he had the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] as a supporting base.

Everything was progressing smoothly.

Kieran had also discovered something else along with his new skill.

”Attribute points are even more precious than I expected! Even with the Rare attacking skill, there is still a huge limitation on increasing attributes…”

”So does this mean that once I reach a certain level, only Legendary Skills will help attributes grow? Or will even Legendary Skills be unable to do it? Will I have to rely solely on Golden Attribute Points?” Kieran thought silently before eventually shaking his head.

He still had a long way to go to get there from his current level. There was no point in trying to figure it out now. He just needed to keep it in mind.

After taking a deep breath to collect his thoughts, Kieran opened up the upgrading options for the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art].

[Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art (Entry→ Master), costs 9,000 Points, 3 Golden Skill Points, Yes/No?]

”Yes, please!”

[Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art has reached Master Level, Choose a Special Effect…]

[A: Strength +1]

[B: Agility +1]

[C: Constitution +1]

[D: Spirit +1]

[E: Intuition +1]

A long list appeared before Kieran for him to choose from. He made a quick decision after a single glance.

”D please!”

The uniqueness of Spirit influenced his choice.

[Player chose D: Knight’s Focus (Spirit+1)]

[Name: Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art (Master)]

[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution, Spirit, Intuition]

[Skill Type: Ancillary]

[Effects: You know how to perform special stances, movements and breathing techniques, All Attributes +3 (+1 Basic Level, +1 Entry Level]

[Consumes: Stamina]

[Prerequisites: Strength E, Agility E, Constitution E, Spirit E, Intuition E]

[Remarks: This is the Knights of Dawn entry course, but it will affect other related skills as well!]

...

[Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art leveled up, Related attributes increasing…]

[Strength C- → C]

[Agility D+ → C-]

[Constitution D+ → C-]

[Spirit E+ → D]

[Intuition C- → C]

...

After Kieran confirmed his choice, he fell into a trance.

He tried his best to keep his eyes open and prevent himself from falling asleep.

He savored the feeling throughout the whole process.

Translator’s Thoughts

Dess Dess

This is a long chapter!