The Devil’s Cage

As Kieran’s voice subsided, the shining core of [Philosopher’s Stone] shook.

It radiated blindingly and within a breath’s time, [Philosopher’s Stone] turned into a mini sun.

Amid the endless light, a hymn of sorts started singing.

“Knowledge is like stairs, climb and you will reach the peak!

Life is like gemstones, embed and you will shine!

Wealth is like mountains, hold and you will be burdened!

Fate is like wind, swirl and never predict it!

What…do you seek?”

The hymn was loud, like a clap of thunder, and it attracted Kieran’s attention right away.

But soon after, Kieran’s attention was captured by the place where the light couldn’t reach: his back!

Bathing under the light of the core of [Philosopher’s Stone], his body cast a shadow behind him, and with the strong light in front, his shadow looked dark and heavy, like ink swirling around, distorted endlessly.

“Knowledge is the key to death!

Life is the stone beside your feet!

Wealth is the gem in your heart!

Fate is the game of the high!

You see me, you call fate!”

Under Kieran’s watch, his shadow came alive as the heavy mutters echoed repeatedly in his ears. Kieran squinted his eyes and stood still in the middle of light and darkness.

The hymn in the light grew louder, while the voice in the shadow grew stranger.

However, his powerful Spirit allowed him to ignore all the effects on him.

He carefully examined and observed the differences happening on the core of the [Philosopher’s Stone].

His examination seemed to have attracted dissatisfaction from the two voices.

The light became pressuring, like a mountain falling on his body.

The shadow became cold, a spine-chilling feeling moving around his neck like a blade.

It was ncomfortable, it was fair to even call it torture.

The feeling went straight into his body and it made him frown. He activated the Origin Force in his body and released Gluttony’s presence all of a sudden.

The light stopped and the shadow froze.

Both light and darkness were like rabbits in front of a beast when Gluttony’s presence came out, shrinking back from where they came from.

The core was still the core and it somehow felt rushed.

The voices Kieran heard vanished, as if nothing had happened.

Only Kieran himself knew what happened, though it was a little precautious, or more accurately, some defensive mechanism.

It might be a natural defensive mechanism or something Victor added in at a later time.

Regardless of which, they were dangerous.

Kieran was certain he would not end up well should he answer to either one of the voices.

As for what would actually happen?

Kieran didn’t want to know or think about it.

He preferred to solve problems with his own methods, not stepping into enemy’s turf and following their pace.

Therefore, when Kieran placed his hand over the core, Gluttony’s presence came out again.

This time, a speck of light flew out from the shining core and wanted to escape, yet before it could move further away, Gluttony came out and chomped it down.

This speck of light must be the sensor Victor set inside the core. It tasted rather decent.

The five lively Origin Forces in Kieran’s body surged again at an absurd speed, yet all were limited to Basic level.

Just like what Kieran predicted earlier, even if he reached his current state’s maximum limit, there were still no signs of his Origin Forces leveling up, as if he was on total lockdown by the chains in that space.

As though the space sensed Kieran’s thoughts, it appeared before him again.

Kieran looked up to that stone door, the chains around him still flickering.

He reached out his hand to one of the flickering chains and grabbed it. Similar to every other time, the sense of danger appeared again.

The feeling was just like how he remembered it: lethal danger.

“Is this one of your schemes as well?”

Kieran released the chain and looked at that stone door, suddenly speaking in a very leisurely tone.

He was rarely seen in such leisure ever since he entered this Unique Dungeon, and the reason for the leisure was that he had finally located clues to Broker’s true goal.

That’s right, Broker!

When that malicious wind forced him and Starbeck into this dungeon world, Kieran was utterly sure it was from Broker, or at least someone very closely related to him.

Other than Broker, Kieran couldn’t think of anyone who could simply send men to him just to sacrifice.

Therefore, he was very cautious and careful ever since he entered this dungeon.

He didn’t expect Broker to opt out all of his goals after spending such a great amount of effort to bring him here so that he could simply enjoy a Unique Dungeon run.

There must be secrets in this world!

The secrets must be the ones that could help Broker, such as further unsealing the seals in his body.

Or… pushing the stone door open.

Of course, all these weren’t part of Broker’s arrangements.

He was very powerful and Kiera admitted that, yet he wasn’t powerful enough to ignore the rules of the big city—he was cunning though.

He would never mind using the rules of the big city to aid himself, and if he could simply erase Kieran, the thorn in his side, along the way while going around the rules, it would be an ideal situation.

Broker must have quite the confidence to pull this little trick.

After all, starting from common sense, after Kieran removed the chains on his torso, he would eventually notice the flickering ones and that stone door.

Although the danger sensor in the heart was going crazy, the majority of the people would take a try.

Even those cowardly and careful people would have ‘try, and if you can’t, run’ type of thoughts, yet such an attempt would bring catastrophic results.

Kieran trusted his instinct a lot, and the same went for his strength.

The sense of danger struck him when he hadn’t fully unsealed his strength and he accepted that wholeheartedly, yet as he gradually returned to his prime form, the sense of danger lingered, the acceptance in his heart replaced by doubt.

In short, he would still feel danger, even if he was at his prime, so the danger behind the chains must be VI+ or even VII!

From what he saw in this dungeon world, even those powerful three kings were only around IV or V. Of course, there was a possibility of this world having some unknown existence that surpassed all.

BUT!

That was the dungeon world itself, not the seals on his body.

Kieran only dared to imagine his skills or talents reaching its limit, such as VI+ or VII. He didn’t think the big city would think so highly of him.

Moreover, this seal of his powers from the start wasn’t actually complete: his Spirit limit reaching rank V, the contract power with Bloody Mary was beyond the seal and the talent and Unique Title, The Warden and Blade of the Daybreaker, were all beyond the seal, meaning that the seal’s limit should be around rank V, nothing beyond that.

Therefore, Kieran was suspicious.

His instinct wouldn’t lie to him, and the seals indeed cut off the majority of his powers.

Then… where did the sense of danger come from?

When the question came afloat, he unconsciously thought of how he entered his Unique Dungeon when the malicious wind attacked.

He killed a ‘malicious invader’, that’s why he was granted a chance to enter this Unique Dungeon.

With the hint in his hand, a bolder speculation appeared in his mind: what if those flickering chains and stone door weren’t the seal, but a protection?

The moment the bold thought appeared, his thoughts expanded like a flash flood.

It might seem like a seal but it was actually a protection.

Protection for him, an outsider, so that he wouldn’t be ‘targeted’ by the ‘outside world’.

Therefore, only the dangerous outside world caused the lethal sense of danger in his heart.

Once he opened the protection chain and door, he would expose himself in front of everyone in this world.

What kind of situation would that be?

Simply the thought of it numbed his scalp.

Since he made a bold speculation about all this, he still needed a crucial point to verify it.

He ought to locate the positions where his skills, title, and talents were really sealed.

Kieran had some guesses for the locations already but in order to precisely locate it, he had to get help.

Kieran looked towards the core of the stone.

“I offer a part of the equipment and items in this room, and in exchange, I wish to see the location where my abilities are sealed,” Kieran said, carefully selecting his words.

He avoided the words ‘skills, titles, and talent’ because the carefulness he displayed was part of his instinct.

Wuing!

The core shook for a bit.

After a dozen equipment and items in the room disappeared, Kieran saw his own ‘skeleton’, from top to bottom.

The spots where the mystical runes were branded in his bones were being wrapped around by chains as thin as hair, and although it did not affect his mobility, it limited his transcendence.

Then, his heart. Both his hearts had similar chains around them, one of the chains extending to his right hand, wrapping around it like a bandage.

Kieran curled up his lips into a grin when he saw the scene. He had evidence to support his speculations!

The chains from the void and the door weren’t sealing him down.

Next, things became easier.

“I offer a part of the equipment and items in this room, and in exchange, I wish to see the seals on my bones unsealed,” Kieran said.

The moment his voice subsided, a large amount of items and equipment started to disappear.

In return, system notifications popped up repeatedly.

[Hand-to-hand Combat, Transcendence Kick Combat unsealed!]

[Firearm Weapon, Light Firearm unsealed!]

[Tracking unsealed!]

[Evading unsealed!]

[Undercover unsealed!]

…

Notification after notification, Kieran saw the mystical runes on his bones lit up again and they once again nourished the flesh and blood around it.

This time, the chaotic darkness was absent, thus the mystical runes reached their prime form in a moment.

Huuu! Huuu!

Kieran took a few deep breaths to adjust himself to the discomfort of enhancement. After it quickly went away, he looked at his two hearts wrapped around by chains.

The two hearts were the source of the Origin Forces without a doubt.

Only when he unsealed them could he truly return to his prime form.

Though…

Quantity really couldn’t cause qualitative change?

He felt the Basic Origin Forces in his body grew denser. Kieran hesitated for a moment and then prepared himself to give it a shot.

Kieran believed that quantity could cause qualitative change.

If it couldn’t, the quantity wasn’t enough!

Just like what he was experiencing at that moment!

He had enough, but his body couldn’t contain that amount, hence being unable to cause qualitative change.

So, it was natural that he ought to make his body stronger!

“I offer the item and equipment in this room, and in exchange,my Constitution will increase to its maximum limit!” Kieran was very clear with his wording.

Since all the items in the room couldn’t go back to the big city with him, he ought to maximize his gains. He watched the bulks of the item and equipment vanish, sensing his body rapidly getting stronger.

[Acquired the Power of Wish, Constitution III (Strong) → IV (Weak)]

[Acquired the Power of Wish, Constitution IV (Weak) → IV (Average)]

[Acquired the Power of Wish, Constitution III (Average) → IV (Strong)]

…

The change of a major rank happened every time the notification popped up and a dozen items and equipment would vanish each time. When the last notification popped up, the Legendary and Advanced Rank items from the three kings’ secret vault turned into smoke, one after another, absorbed into the core of [Philosopher’s Stone], but that wasn’t the end of it.

[Philosopher’s Stone] core kept shining brightly!

A little more!

Without second thoughts Kieran tossed [Sharp Standard-Issued Blade], [Gordor’s Chain], [Acard Blade (Shard)]. [Healing Potion (Witchcraft)], [Soul Keeper Bracelet], [Scorching Blade], and much more into the light.

Lastly, [Philosopher’s Stone (Shard)] too!

Yet it did not cause the expected reaction from the core of [Philosopher’s Stone].

It wasn’t enough and Kieran frowned.

He still had some more items on him.

Other than the items and equipment which he could bring back, there was one more item which he planned to keep for a rainy day: [Seodi Stone (Complete)].

A little hesitation later, Kieran took [Gothe Blade] and [Scarlet Moon] out too.

When he tossed the twho rank II and rank IV wonder items, respectively, inside, [Philosopher’s Stone] shone to its brightest.

[Acquired the Power of Wish, Constitution IV (Strong) → V (Weak)]

…

Dong, Dong, Dong!

When his Constitution reached V, both his hearts beat vigorously.

The chains that wrapped around the hearts almost lost control of the heart, latching themselves onto his heart tightly and giving their best effort to hold the two hearts in shackles.

Gluttony was the first to sense his ‘big brother”s enhancement, so he stopped holding back in the energy conversion and went all out to convert the energy he absorbed.

A moment later, the Basic level of all five Origin Forces skyrocketed.

Two to three breaths later, the energy level broke Kieran’s original body’s limit and the energy started to match itself to Kieran’s new body.

Kieran observed everything carefully. He had prepared himself to fail this time, yet a part of him really hoped this would work.

Things unfolded smoothly and headed in the ideal direction.

When all 5 Origin Forces reached the limit of his new rank V Constitution, some bizarre changes happened!

They started to evolve on their own!

Quantity finally caused qualitative change!

Kieran’s tight lips curled into a smile.

Through his eyes, he saw the chain that bound both his hearts down… snap!