The Devil’s Cage

After dinner, Kieran left the study room.

Since the day he had arrived at Gordor, because of the disturbance of the plague and his initial goal of getting information about the contract, Kieran hadn’t had time to explore the not-so-big town.

In fact, even if he had enough time, he had almost zero interest in taking a casual stroll.

Cherishing time had almost became Kieran’s instinct.

However, after the God of Knowledge of Gordor had appeared before him, Kieran’s interest was sparked.

Kieran had a constant curiosity about the Gods in this dungeon world. When he realized the Gods in the city and the Gods out here were quite different, Kieran’s interest skyrocketed.

The Gordor night was quiet.

Other than the patrolling soldiers, only some scholars gathered around for discussions.

Despite being some distance away and with windows in between, Kieran heard the arguments of the scholars.

Not a single one of them wanted to give up their opinion and yet each of them respected evidence and fact, they were so hardworking and keen to learn more.

The scene was exactly what Gordor should look like.

Nothing had changed in the little town except for the lord of Gordor, who went missing after the plague, and the people who got cured, spreading news about Demigod Ryan erasing the plague.

As for the lord, the people searched for him for days. The lord did an excellent job in playing his part, a lot of the people of Gordor acknowledging his identity but as time went by, the people who survived the plague had to live on, hence only a few of the closer kin continued their search for the lord.

As for Demigod Ryan?

Everyone pledged their devotion to Kieran. The fire in his mind told them the people’s feelings were true, at least for the time being.

Being forgetful was a part of human nature.

Kieran wouldn’t force the people to feel a certain way, neither would he ask for it forcefully, because he had gotten what he was after.

The fire in his mind had grown bigger and as the news from Gordor spread to further places, it would soon grow even bigger.

Kieran was quite confident with it because other than scholars, Gordor was known for its wandering minstrels.

Of course, other than the gains in the future, Kieran had gotten another one, a closer one to be exact.

[Absorbed large amount of special plague energy, Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art and Plague Arrow increased, Constitution +2]

[Name: Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art (Transcendence)]

[Related Attribute: Constitution]

[Skill Type: Ancillary]

[Effect: After going through a dangerous start, you have learn the body tempering art that people dreaded, Constitution +7 (Basic +1, Entry +1, Master +1, Pro +1, Grand Master +1, Musou +1, Transcendence +1)]

[Special Effect: 1. Absorb Plague; 2. Release Plague; 3. Tenacious Body]

[Transcendence Option: Plague Arrow II]

[Consume: Stamina]

[Prerequisite: Constitution S]

[Remark: This is the origin of the plague, it has limited benefits to you but it bears a destructive power.]

[Note 1: You have acquired this skill through learning, not through a Skill Book. Therefore, you cannot upgrade it with Points and Skill Points. If you want to level it up, you will need to continue learning or acquire a Skill Book!]

[Note 2: This skill has reached its current limit.]

…

[Absorb Plague: Absorb the plague energy in a considerable speed and has the range of 20 meter radius]

[Release Plague: Release the plague energy in a extreme speed]

[Tenacious Body: Gains +5 buff on any Constitution authentication]

…

[Plague Arrow II: After the body tempering art reaches Transcendence, you are officially a Plague Knight. You’ve also mastered the unique attacks of a Plague Knight. Spend 2.5 hours to create a Plague Arrow that can fire without a bow or crossbow at the target no further than 500 meters. Inflicts 1 Extreme rank penetration damage and has Strong rank of plague infection (Even if the penetration damage doesn’t occur, the plague will spread). You can store the arrows, at most 3 arrows at once]

…

[Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art] absorbed the special plague energy from Plague of Decay. It boosted Kieran’s Constitution by 2 ranks, from a ZZZ+, Strong I rank to a near rank II, V level.

The increase in his Constitution was a surprise, but the more surprising thing was after [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art]’s increase, it started to resonate with [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art].

It wasn’t the faint resonance like before, but both body tempering art really connected in some way.

The Dawn Force and Plague Force in his body was pumped out from one of his hearts, flowed through his entire body and entered Fusion Heart in the end. Throughout the whole process, the two Origin Forces got faster and faster, a full cycle completed almost instantaneously.

The two Origin Forces had always changed his body in a constant speed and now in his new condition, it got a few times faster. It wasn’t the old cultivation speed anymore, which would take at least a few decades to see the effect. Now, it would only require a few years.

But a few years was still too long for Kieran.

“There may be some other way!”

Kieran pondered upon the question as he walked.

He could no longer return to the dungeon world [The Failed Great Detective], but even if he could, his problems with his new condition wasn’t something the old knight Guntherson could solve.

After all, he had a total of 5 Origin Forces in his hearts, not just Dawn and Plague anymore.

Moments after [Knights of Plague Body Tempering Art] got its new power up, Kieran tried to activate all 5 of his Origin Forces, wanting to see whether or not all 5 of his Origin Forces would work together to create some special chemical reaction.

However, the immense pain from his heart that came shortly after he activated all 5 Origin Forces told him what he should do.

Stop, and keep the idea for another day.

“Is it my Constitution? Or the fusion between the Origin Forces? Or maybe the fusion between the Origin Forces has exceeded the limits of the heart?”

More questions floated in Kieran’s mind, but no one was there to provide him with an answer.

He couldn’t have sought the answer from someone else, all he could do was try his best to explore more options.

No doubt it would be a very difficult path, but fortunately, Kieran had gotten used to it.

After some walking around town, Kieran couldn’t find anything about the God of Knowledge, not even the slightest of clue.

Failure resulted in a bad mood, but it would not beat him down.

Kieran sized up his surroundings again and started a second round of searching.

He went around Gordor again to double check before he went back to the manor with the mini tower. This time, he didn’t go back to the house that kept the histories from 300 years ago. Instead, he went over to the house with the records of Gods, the house at the right corner of the manor.

The two houses looked exactly the same from the outside, but the inside was drastically different.

The former had over a hundred books in its racks and the latter only had two books on the empty racks.

One of the two books was ‘Analytics of the temple developments in Naveya City’, which he had read before. He picked it up, flipped it through roughly, and made sure it was the same book that he read before. He then turned his attention to the remaining book.

The book had a black cover with a brown string tied over it, which formed a hard knot.

Then, the book slowly turned transparent under Kieran’s gaze, as if it was disappearing soon.

Kieran didn’t react like anyone else, chasing after the book to prevent it from disappearing. Instead, he took a step back, summoned Gluttony, who had drool all over his mouth, and allowed the cardinal sins to take over.