The Devil’s Cage

Unlike Fire Raven, Old Book used almost 30 seconds to digest [Drops of Finest Cream] and transform it into his own powers. When the energy wave in his body triggered by [Drops of Finest Cream] finally faded, Old Book’s complete attributes displayed itself before Kieran for the first time.

[Name: Canberlanor]

[Type: Incomplete Alternate Divine Being (Low Tier)]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Attack: Strong]

[Defense: Strong]

[Attribute: 1. Swift Read; 2. Quick Memory; 3. Wise Deduction; 4. Cast]

[Effect: 1. Mystical Knowledge (Pro); 2. Miscellaneous Knowledge (Musou)]

[Prerequisite: 1. Submit; 2. Contract]

[Remark: Canberlanor is known as the God of Knowledge but it wasn’t a fitting title. Although he is quite knowledgeable in various fields, Drops of Finest Cream provided him with more possibilities]

…

[Swift Read: Canberlanor can read books or any kind of literature 10 times faster than common reading speed]

[Quick Memory: Canberlanor would never forget the things he read before]

[Wise Deduction: Because of Drops of Finest Cream, Canberlanor isn’t just passively receiving knowledge anymore, he can simulate data and models in his mind and record those knowledge with logical deduction. Able to spend more time to boost a certain knowledge deduction to a higher level (Limit is Rare rank)]

[Cast: Canberlanor knew a lot of Common level magic and techniques]

…

[Mystical Knowledge: Pro level allows Canberlanor to understand most of the Mystical Knowledge]

[Miscellaneous Knowledge: Culture, customs, medical, cooking, even stories and tales are all within his knowledge range (Limited to the world he had been through)]

…

Kieran went over the newly displayed attributes and paused on [Wise Deduction] for a moment.

“It’s related to his own rarity?”

Kieran wondered as he looked at the term ‘Limit is Rare rank’.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“I’ve never felt better! Some knowledge that I remembered but couldn’t understand are all made clear to me, I’ve even many new insights! I believe that when I arranged all the knowledge in my head, I will be able to ascend to newer heights!” Old Book bowed again.

“New heights?” Kieran was concerned about the things that caught his attention.

“Yes. The methods for my appearance have set me apart from you, my lord, and everyone else here. I am not good at battle and the only way for me to reach a higher level is to read more,” Old Book explained.

“Which means if you have sufficient new and never before read knowledge, you can level up on your own?” Kieran asked.

“Yes, that’s right,” Old Book nodded.

“If that’s the case…”

Kieran somehow thought of Nikorei’s book collection and also the mission scroll she gave him, [Nikorei’s Mission Scroll].

Kieran of course wouldn’t simply use the scroll, not just because of the [Anonymous Cost] but also because where he was now: the big city!

With the series of events earlier, Kieran already had many guesses in his heart and none of them were that pleasant.

Huu!

Kieran took in a deep breath and emptied his brain. He pointed at the books at the corner of his room and told the Old Book, “I’ll pay more attention to that. You can now read any book in my room. It may not be a lot but it’s better than nothing.”

“Thank you for everything.”

Old Book bowed before he walked to the pile of messy books.

As pages flipped, Bloody Mary, Agernessa, and Averdore Lily all went away.

Bloody Mary had its own mission and the other two returned to their respective contracted space. All went off except for White Jack, the skeleton attentively walking to Kieran.

“My lord, do you need cleaning of the room?” it asked.

“Sure,” Kieran thought for a moment before nodding.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like a clean room, it was because he didn’t have time to clean up, so the garage was messy. Now with White Jack’s offer to clean“ the place, he of course wouldn’t reject it.

“Leave it to me!”

The moment its words subsided, an apron appeared over the skelton and a broom, mop, and a water bucket appeared in both its hands.

To Kieran’s surprise, White Jack seemed to be very skilled at doing chores. It wasn’t just quick and precise, it cleaned up the place very well, not even the smallest seams missed.

Just when Kieran was about to praise White Jack, the skeleton found two stones in the corner.

“My lord, is this your collection? Do you need me to build a rack to display them?” White Jack asked with the stones in its hand.

“Whatever,” Kieran answered.

“Eh? That’s weird? Why does my lord seem a little depressed all of sudden? Is it because of these two rocks?”

White Jack looked at the two stones in its hand, its soul fire flickering brightly. It carefully placed the stones down, wanting to clean up the garage first before it built a delicate rack with some wood to display to two stones.

As all the companions and followers were busy, Kieran went offline for a while before coming back.

When he came back, he saw White Jack was making a display rack with wood and nails that it somehow found. Kieran’s eyes twitched for a moment before it turned a blind eye at it.

What is out of sight is out of mind.

He sat down at his seat and opened his Points and Skill Points and character tab..

[Points: 89,000; Skill Points; 5; Golden Skill Points; 5; Golden Attribute Points: 0]

…

For a normal player, the amount of points was quite substantial but for Kieran, it was lacking, likewise for the Skill Points. As for Golden Skill Points, although a lot, it was still lacking when used to level up the skills and attributes. Fortunately, his Skill Points may be less but not his gains.

Kieran glanced over his attributes in his character tab, nodding in delight.

Even his weakest attribute—Intuition—had almost reached rank II after eating a series of Proper Meal class food; Strength and Agility were in Strong II rank and Constitution in Strong III rank. As for the strongest Spirit attribute, it had officially stepped into rank V.

“Maybe it’s a compensation but [Meaning of Eat] is really my kind of dungeon world. As for the next…”

Kieran squinted his eyes and fell into deep thoughts.

He thought of [Mordin Sculptures] and [Hell Breath].

Without a question the sculptures could increase Devil Force, which was proven when he devoured the First, Second, Third and Sixth, despite it being in a special kind of way.

However, [Hell Breath] still concerned him, or more precisely, the words on the base.

Recalling what happened in [Heroes and Villains], Kieran opened his PM tab and contacted Lawless.

2567: I need some high quality Holy Water or similar items.

Lawless: Leave it to me.

…

Although Dawn Force could achieve a similar effect, for a person as vigilant as Kieran, he’d never minded adding more countermeasures.

Time flew as Kieran spent his days practising his skills.

Soon, when the dungeon cooldown finally reset, Kieran started to tidy up for entry.

Three 10 ml test tubes containing glimmering liquid were given to him by Lawless.

[Holy Water IV]!

It was the highest grade of Holy Water that Lawless got him.

[Name: Holy Water IV]

[Type: Potion]

[Rarity: Great]

[Attribute: Within 1 minute, terrorize high-tier spirits, negative energy beings. When come in contact with high-tier spirits or negative energy beings, Lethal damage will be inflicted!]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Remark: This is the work of a great alchemist, as for its name? It comes from an ancient potion prescription, it is ranked at IV! Remember, don’t need to drink it, just smear it on your body or weapons!]

…

Able to terrorize high-tier spirits and negative energy being, any contact with them would inflict lethal damage—[Holy Water IV] was exactly what Kieran sought.

The price of course was high too: 3 tubes for 50K points.

The price was already a friendly price from Lawless. Although only a three rank leap, [Holy Water IV]’s price had far exceeded [Holy Water VIII], almost ten times the price.

Kieran carefully exchanged the three [Holy Water IV] with the 1 [Elementary Healing Potion] and 2 [High Healing Potion] in his [Safety Potion Pack]. The new purchase was placed together with the 3 [High Healing Potion], 3 [Holy Water VIII} and 3 [High Calming Potion].

He didn’t waste the 3 potions he took out either—he gave them to Old Book.

Compared to the nearly undead Bloody Mary and White Jack, who also coincidentally had similar undying traits, or Agernessa and Averdore Lily, who were already special existences, Old Book was the weakest.

He was even weaker than Frost Wolf and Fire Raven in terms of self-protecting capabilities.

Kieran didn’t wish for anything to happen to Old Book before he truly grew useful.

He was quite looking forward to that [Wise Deduction]!

He got his backpack and a glimmer of light brought him away from Wallway Street 13th.

When he regained his senses, he was sitting on a wooden chair. The surroundings were familiar, it was Randletine Street 17th. It was originally Ferris the Freezer’s place and after the Freezer pledged his loyalty to Kieran, it became his important base in Alkender City.

[Entering single special dungeon!]

[Dungeon difficulty: 8th dungeon]

[Background: This is a wonderous world that houses superheroes and supervillains. They are at constant conflict because of their separated ideal. Your ‘good deed’ has earned you quite the reputation, you are well-known by the people but the dead villains will only attract more from outside the city. They have their eyes on the city and as one of the Guardians of the city, you need to defend the city and fight off these villains…]

[Main Mission: Fend off those ill-intentioned supervillains in 12 weeks (The more you fend off, the higher the ratings)]

[Temporary language pack, Disappears upon exiting the dungeon.]

[Clothing, backpack, weapons, and other items remain unchanged, Temporarily altered appearance, Returns to normal upon exiting the dungeon]

[Note: This is a special dungeon, you cannot fail the main mission. Once you fail, it’s game over!]

…

Kieran glanced over the system notifications, checking the surroundings first to make sure it wasn’t another Witch Enigmatic Realm before he stood up.

He opened the door and headed downstairs to the round living room.

“My lord, please hold on, breakfast is almost ready.”

The Freezer’s voice came out from the kitchen, the buff Bloodman Odork preparing the table nervously.

Emma Eddie—in a T-shirt, jeans, and buzzcut—had a new nose stud and was helping Bloodman carry the plates.

Compared to the loyal Freezer and Bloodman, the little lady had more thoughts in her mind.

“2567, according to your promise, I can leave now?” Emma Eddie asked after she set up the plates.

“Of course,” Kieran nodded straightaway.

He and her were collaborators to begin with; after fulfilling the contract, he had no reasons to restrict her freedom.

“Emma, you are leaving?” Bloodman looked at Emma Eddie in surprise, unwilling to part with the little lady.

“Em. After all those crazy things, I think I should find a place to lay low, have some rest. I’ll think about what to do next after I clear my thoughts, I can’t be rolling in the streets for the rest of my life right? Don’t worry, I’ll visit sometimes,” Emma Eddie said with a smile.

Emma Eddie did not treat Bloodman like Kieran, who she revered, and the Freezer, who was a loner in nature. She and Bloodman got together pretty well since both of them were from the streets.

“I can’t stop you from choosing but you must remember, we are friends. Remember to tell us if there is any trouble,” Bloodman said seriously; Freezer also slightly nodded after serving breakfast.

Nothing forged friendship better than fighting alongside one another.

Even more so when the two absolute loyal subordinates treated Emma Eddie as one of their own, the friendship blooming rapidly.

“Sure,” Emma Eddie nodded, smiling and taking a sandwich before she sized Kieran up.

She saw Kieran was carried away in his meal, the pleasant look on Kieran’s face making her heave a breath of relief but also feel a little disappointed. But right away, Emma Eddie discarded the disappointment out of her mind.

‘What are you thinking Emma! That guy has been using you as bait, he is a cold bastard and everything is profit first! He is powerful but not a reason for you to fall for him!’

Emma Eddie warned herself in her head, covering up those ridiculous thoughts with the bad memories.

It seemed to work effectively, but there were always two sides of a coin!

When the bad side appears, the good will follow.

Emma Eddie unconsciously thought of the scene where she fell into despair back at Pudder’s collection room and how Kieran appeared before her as promised.

‘No! No! Stop thinking!’

Emma Eddie quickly shook her head. She stuffed the sandwich in her mouth and finished the milk beside the plate before she stood up.

“Goodbye everyone!” Emma Eddie then strode towards the door.

The door opened and closed and Emma Eddie vanished beyond the exit.

“I’m gonna miss you,” Bloodman said in a muffled voice as he took the sandwich she left behind and also shoved it into his mouth.

Then…

Ding Dong!

The doorbell rang.

Freezer opened the door and saw Emma Eddie again.

But unlike how she left, Emma Eddie’s body looked stiff and her hands were in the air; her face was showing a forced and ugly smile.

“Hey… I think I ran into some trouble!”