The Devil’s Cage

When the sun rose in the morning, Kieran was already on his way to the cafeteria.

“Morning.”

The janitors who were cleaning the school greeted him, but Kieran didn’t answer with words, he nodded instead.

The janitors were quite familiar with the First Seat by now after seeing him almost every day as he walked to the cafeteria. He would always be the first and also the most punctual, so it strengthened his impression in others’ minds.

Kieran seemed cold but wasn’t arrogant and would never look down on others.

Although there were all sorts of rumours stating that the First Seat should not be meddled with, he was still very polite.

More importantly, he didn’t act as he pleased with his powers, which was a point the janitors looked highly upon.

As the lowest ranks in the school, they were always in a constant state of nervousness. They couldn’t find any safety in the campus, as they were afraid any misstep would put them in a difficult position.

However, that wasn’t the case with Kieran.

As long as one didn’t provoke him, nothing would happen. One might even feel safer around him because someone said that wherever the First Seat walked, there would not be monsters from the Mystic State in that area for some time, regardless of whether it was day or night.

For the janitors who were responsible for the school’s cleanliness, it was great news; hence, they showed much enthusiasm towards him. Nothing changed despite Kieran replying coldly to them.

“Set A, B, C; each five sets coming right up!”

When Kieran entered the First Seat lounge, the server at the counter automatically processed the orders before Kieran even said anything.

Kieran nodded as gratitude before he sat down and waited patiently for his meal.

Hunger drowned him like the rising tide. Part of the hunger was from himself and part of it was from Gluttony.

Kieran was very good at controlling his hunger since he knew he would get his meal soon, but Gluttony…

“I told you before, don’t eat with your stomach, use your brain!

“You should save up when you hunt, not finish everything in one go! But what did you do?

“You slightly opened your mouth and want to eat the whole building.”

Kieran scolded Gluttony in his mind, and Gluttony sobbed as if he was being wronged.

He didn’t know those monsters from the campus were such cowards. Gluttony had controlled himself to divide the meals and his bites into half, but all those monsters still ran away before he could finish.

If he knew this from the start, he would have eaten everything in one go.

Gluttony missed that elephant-like monster. The first bite he took filled his mouth with meat, and when he licked his mouth, he could still savour the fats.

“M-Mystic State,” Gluttony stuttered.

“Not now. I can’t go in there with my current identity.”

Kieran understood what Gluttony was thinking: he wanted to have a buffet in the Mystic State.

As a matter of fact, Kieran was also quite curious about the Mystic State, but he couldn’t excuse himself because the school’s anniversary celebration was around the corner.

Kieran wasn’t interested in the celebration itself, nor was he fond of crowded places, but for the food competition, his interest was piqued.

Given the possible reward, he could endure the crowd for a while.

Aside from that, the gathering of the Dark Eaters would also be held on the same day and there would be a lot of goods waiting for him.

Most importantly, Professor Smith.

Many days had passed since the explosive battle between Romuse and Smith. The latter hadn’t shown up since then. He didn’t even leave a single clue behind, which alarmed Kieran.

“Hope you won’t make your move during the anniversary and mess things up, or else…”

Kieran was determined to get all the prizes from the food competition and what the Dark Eaters were dealing; therefore, he labeled the anniversary celebration as his exclusive chunk of meat. Anyone or anything that disturbed him during the anniversary would suffer total annihilation, from body to soul; nothing would be left after his wrath.

The aroma of food came.

Braised beef and roast chicken skewer.

Green bell peppers and potatoes.

Milk oatmeal and mini wontons.

The different styles of food were mixed together, and it elevated his appetite quite a bit. He put away the thoughts in his mind and concentrated on eating.

Five minutes later, Kieran wiped his mouth, stacked the plates, and put them back in the sink.

Once Kieran left the First Seat lounge, only then did the freshmen arrive in the cafeteria.

“Morning, First Seat.”

All the freshmen would greet him along the way, similar to those janitors, and Kieran would reply with nods, not words.

The freshmen weren’t surprised. Unlike the janitors, the freshmen spent more time with Kieran, so they knew what kind of person he was.

He might be cold, but he was definitely not an unreasonable person.

While being showered with the greetings, Kieran made his way back to the dorm room, and when he was some distance away, he saw Gutti in front of the dorm with a stack of documents in her hands.

Kieran frowned when he saw them, but he didn’t run.

Since he received the benefits of the role, he had to pay by working. The honest thought drove Kieran forward.

“Morning, Branch Leader. These are the documents you need to sign. I’ll come for them in the evening. And… do you have time later tonight?”

After passing the documents to Kieran, Gutti mustered up enough courage and asked.

“No.” Kieran rejected right away.

The cafeteria was serving his anticipated braised pork set this evening; he had no time for Gutti.

“Oh. Okay. It’s nothing anyway. I’ll be back for the documents.”

Gutti laughed awkwardly and ran away.

Kieran carried the documents up to his room without even looking at Gutti.

He was used to Gutti with her split personality—she was sometimes serious, sometimes awkward.

Gutti would find him a few times each day. Thankfully, he had an adaptive nature and strong mind; otherwise, he might go crazy because of her.

Away from the freshmen dorm, Gutti hid in the bushes and knocked her head against a tree trunk.

Bang Bang Bang!

The heavy thud stated that she wasn’t playing.

The tree would slant a bit with each knock, meaning she was hitting her head full force on the trunk.

“I’ve failed 520 times! Failure is painful, but I won’t give up. The harder it is, the stronger I must become!”

After some cracks and screeches, the tree snapped and fell.

Gutti took a deep breath, tapped the dirt away from her forehead, and walked out with a smile.

…

Dak Dak Dak.

Standler appeared in the corridor with his hurried footsteps. He looked excited and nervous at the same time.

“Morning, First Seat. The person from the wailing tree appeared again. This time, I will find out the truth!”

When Standler walked past Kieran, he greeted and spoke quickly before he ran off again.

Kieran looked at Standler who ran off like a gale. He shook his head.

After going through the so-called school myths a few times, Standler didn’t put his curiosity under control. Quite the opposite, it grew even stronger, and he started to go after more myths.

However, Standler would surely be disappointed in the end.

But…

“It may not be all bad.”

Kieran exclaimed before he opened the door to his room.

Monitor after monitor had invaded his entire room.

Other than the washroom, even the little corridor and the bedroom were filled with monitors. All the monitors were displaying the live footage of most of the places in E Block.

“Got it?” Kieran placed the documents on the table and asked Lester.

“I’ve locked on to two possible locations. After all these years, they never grew. They are still using the most outdated set of tactics. I am sure it is these two spots.”

Lester pointed to one of the monitors with a smile.

“Strainer Alley?” Kieran muttered as he looked at the monitor.

Strainer Alley, one of the branching alleys of E Block. The place fit every criteria of being a Theorate alley. It might seem close to the main teaching building, but it would actually take a long time to reach.

Therefore, using the alley as a secret gathering spot was never so suitable.

Only a few watchers were needed as outposts in the main street. Should anything happen, everyone could scatter away through the alley.

Unless all the security guards of Theorate jumped on them and sealed the alley off, no threats would befall the Dark Eaters.

“Keep your eyes on the place and continue searching for Smith’s location,” Kieran ordered.

“Yes, my lord.” Lester looked serious when Smith was mentioned.

He had installed surveillance cameras in almost every place in E Block, but he still couldn’t find Smith. The man might have already left Theorate or might be hiding in one of the other blocks.

However, Kieran didn’t allow him to install surveillance cameras in the other blocks.

Lester treated Kieran’s orders seriously and would obey them without question, despite the fact that he did not understand why. All he had to know was that it was part of Kieran’s arrangement.

Amid the clicks on the keyboard, the surveillance cameras were tuned to perfection.

While Lester was working on the watch, the communicator that Kieran placed aside rung.

It was Professor Tyrese.

“The Proper Meal class food that you exchanged for is at my place. When do you want to get it?”

“Right away.”

Kieran hung up the call and waved at Lester before he headed towards the security garrison, where Professor Tyrese’s office was.

Kieran traveled there as if he was strolling in his backyard; not a single person stopped him. He successfully arrived at Professor Tyrese’s office after half an hour without hindrance.

Professor Tyrese was not in a good condition though.

His dark eye circles were heavy, his face was exhausted, and it seemed like he hadn’t rested properly for a while now.

Why? Kieran knew why.

Therefore, he went straight to the metal box beside the table. Through the glass on the box, Kieran saw a bowl of golden… steamed egg!

[Name: Energizing Steamed Egg]

[Type: Food]

[Rank: I]

[Attack: None]

[Defense: None]

[Attribute: Golden Blessing (Broken)]

[Effect: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: Energizing Steamed Egg is a replicated product of Golden Steamed Egg. It is one of the oldest foods during the golden age, but lacking one of the main ingredients, its effect was greatly reduced.]

…

[Golden Blessing (Broken): Replenish and optimise your attributes]

[Note: When the food is out of the preserving container, its rarity will drop by time]

…

Kieran’s eyes showed joy when he went through the description of [Energizing Steamed Egg].

He suppressed his joy and the restless Gluttony before he looked at the professor, who was rubbing his temples.

“Thank you,” he said sincerely.

“No need. You exchanged for it anyway.”

Professor Tyrese waved his hand with a smile as though it was very reasonable. Kieran, however, understood that if it weren’t for the professor, the food in the container would not be the [Energizing Steamed Egg], because Kieran did mention about [Golden Blessing] when he exchanged his vouchers.

Professor Tyrese took the requirements to heart.

“If you have trouble with Professor Smith, I can help. Consider it as returning the favour.”

With that, Kieran took the box and left.

Professor Tyrese couldn’t help but smile bitterly as he saw Kieran off.

“What a weird personality you have. Wanting to help but claiming it as returning the favour. But… you are not all that bad.”

Huu!

A deep breath later, Professor Tyrese endured the tiredness and went back to work.

Whether it was Smith or the upcoming anniversary, it exhausted Tyrese a lot. And when he heard about the fierce fights between the Sil Inner Sect and the Ryde Family near the school campus, he sought to keep his guard up all the time.

One needed to know there were at least two members from the Sil Inner Sect in Theorate, and no one knew what those two were doing in the campus.

If the Ryde Family sent people to infiltrate Theorate as revenge against the Sil Inner Sect…

Tyrese’s head hurt again as he thought about the possible outcome.

It had been a while since he had such a serious headache.

‘Why are things going wrong recently?

‘Why are there so many things happening?’

Ding!

Just when Tyrese was about to rant, the alarm rang.

The blinding red light made him stand up and rush outside his office.

As he ran outside, an unknown thought rose in his mind, and he had a hunch this alarm had something to do with Kieran again!

…

Kieran happily returned to his dorm with the container in his hand, but when he was about to reach his destination, a figure stopped him.

The figure was holding a longbow and arrow in each hand. His eyes had obvious hatred, and his aura was so fierce that it froze the air around him.

Some bugs in the ground even started to run away.

Kieran was sure it was the first time he was seeing the person; thus, he couldn’t understand the hate.

Nevertheless, he clearly felt the malicious intent and killer aura that came along with it.

“Did you think you could live any peaceful days in Theorate after Garcia died? I will teach you…”

Bang!

Duyer’s speech was interrupted when a foot landed on his face. He didn’t even have the chance to dodge.

His cold face distorted, and his body was sent up into the air, his threatening words flying away abruptly.