The Devil’s Cage

Everyone saw Kieran move his chopsticks into the container and take out a shrimp which radiated gold under the sun, then put it into his mouth.

Crunch, Crunch!

The crispy skin, the juicy shrimp, the delicious noise entered everyone’s ears. Lucan, the big wild man who got to the boxes of food first looked at Kieran in a dull state, the food box falling out of his hands and onto the ground.

Bam!

The thump broke the silence in the campsite, everyone coming back to their senses.

Their gazes shifted between the fallen food box and Kieran’s one, ultimately they couldn’t help but sigh.

The sigh sounded very sour. They were passionate about fighting each other for the food box, but now it seemed a little meaningless.

Many of them knew where each other’s strength levels were at after a few times fighting each other for the food box before Kieran’s arrival.

Some, who had the idea of teaming up, formed an alliance.

Some, who preferred to work alone, stood their ground.

As for the rest?

It would be better for them to rest their minds and hone their edges.

They would, however, fight each other again for the food boxes, but that was before Kieran took his thermal container out.

Now, all thoughts of fighting faded away and the scene ended abruptly.

The smell of the food in the boxes wasn’t that amazing, why would they fight over the food for the past 2 days?

The participants must be nervous, hence making them overreact.

That’s right, their nervousness affected their performance.

All the young men and women looked at each other.

The few widely acknowledged powerhouses stood out from the ground and walked to the cart full of food boxes, the rest of them automatically walking to the two huge basins of rice and potatoes, including the eye-catching Lucan.

Like what Daliphen said earlier, Lucan had a great appetite. Even though the portion of food in the box was sufficient, it was not enough for him.

If it was two days earlier, after Lucan finished the first box, he would fight others again for the second.

Today was different.

While Lucan had a bowl of rice with potatoes, he saw Kieran enjoying his food from the thermal container: fried shrimp, egg roll, beef, broccoli, fried sausages, all the food was stuffed into his mouth endlessly.

In fact, not only Lucan was staring at him, the others did the same as well, including those who got the food boxes.

All of them stared at Kieran, some even moving their noses to capture the smell, as if sniffing more would make the plain rice and potatoes in their hands taste better, or rather, it would be easier for them to swallow.

Unknowingly, these men and woman got closer to Kieran.

The closer they were, the better they smelled.

The one closest to Kieran was, of course Daliphen, who facepalmed himself when he saw how the young men and women reacted.

He understood that this ‘warm up’ competition that he held had failed miserably.

With better food in the mix and out of reach for them, it was almost impossible for Daliphen to arouse the young men and women’s fighting spirit with food anymore, unless…

Daliphen looked at Kieran, who had just finished his food in the first container.

“You are good at cooking?” Daliphen seized the window for a question.

“I don’t know how to cook, but my little brother does. He’s very good,” Kieran answered honestly.

“Can he come here and cook for us?” Daliphen was being very direct.

He did not soften his voice or hide any of it, hence everyone around him heard what he said, the young men and women’s eyes shone bright.

“Song Shi Family is willing to pay my brother a million a year,” Kieran said.

The shining eyes of the young men and women instantly dimmed down.

An annual income of a million!

The Herders weren’t that wealthy to begin with, so a million was an astronomical figure for them. Maybe one or two of them could earn such an amount, or higher, once in a blue moon plus a huge deal of luck, but men could not always rely on luck because it wasn’t always sunny in the sky.

Lingering on the verge of poverty, relying on the organization for three meals, there were many, or the majority, of the Herders like that, why else would the majority of Herders be part time?

Many of the Herders were just normal people with normal gifts and strength. Trying to make a living or feeding their family by being a Herder full time was a very hard mission.

The young participants of the Battle of Winter Night indeed possessed a certain level of strength, plus some natural talents, but it didn’t mean they had a great sum of savings.

These young participants might not even understand the concept of saving, they tended to invest their money into their equipment and items, not savings under their pillow or in the bank.

To them, youth was power, youth was money.

Therefore, no one was able to compete with the astronomical figure. Moreover, they also understood not even a million a year could move Kieran’s little brother.

“Ahem!” Daliphen coughed slightly to cover his embarrassment.

He had zero intention of continuing the topic.

Song Shi Family, annual income of a million, it was something beyond his league, it would be better for him to stay close to reality.

“You and your brother are really close I see. He prepared that much food for you to participate in the Battle of Winter Night, but you should also try to get used to the camp life. You are having dinner here, with our food,” Deliphen said, in reference to the food.

The young participants instantly heaved a breath of relief.

‘Right!

It’s just a meal!

We’ll get through it in no time!

After this meal, he will have to eat the same food as us, the camp food!’

The thoughts rose in everyone’s mind, instantly making the young participants feel that the food in their hands weren’t all that bad.

Then… They saw Kieran take out another container from his backpack.

Everyone, including Daliphen, was dumbstruck.

They looked at the huge backpack and a bad feeling rose in their heart.

“Royan, how much food did you bring? Don’t tell me your backpack is full of them!” Daliphen’s voice started to shake.

“Em, yeap,” Kieran nodded.

He then opened his second container without giving much care about Daliphen’s twitching face.

Twice Cooked Pork Rice!

Nice!

Kieran smiled and put a piece of meat into his mouth, the pork didn’t lose its original taste due to time.

Great! How did Starbeck prepare this? His cooking was far beyond anyone’s imagination.

Kieran squinted his eyes subconsciously.

Everyone else looked at Kieran, the aromatic smell of pork assaulting their noses and throwing them into despair.

Why?

How did this guy bring such a huge load of food here?

Shouldn’t he be prepared for the Battle of Winter Night and bring all sorts of supplies?

It was just food??

What about medicine? Other supplies? Extra weapon? The backup supplies for emergencies?

Everyone could barely hold their burning questions in, yet they did because they saw the ugly ‘tent’ Kieran built. All the questions were swallowed back.

They couldn’t bear looking anymore! Anymore glances would drive them crazy, they might jump on Kieran to rob his food!

Everyone discarded the bad thoughts away from their mind.

Personal conflicts between Herders were forbidden. Once broken, it wouldn’t just be a simple punishment.

Such punishment was extremely scary to these young participants.

Daliphen watched Kieran gobble down his second container. He opened his mouth, trying to say something but nothing came out. He sighed and returned to his own tent.

Lunch started noisily, yet ended in silence.

After the young men and women finished their meal, they returned to their respective tents to rest.

In order to perform in the Battle of Winter Night, every one of them ought to keep their best condition. They could only afford to relax during meal times.

As for the rest of the time?

Kieran heard sword grinding and gun loading noises. It seemed like this group of young men and women were constantly prepared.

Kieran put away the three thermal containers in front of him, loading them back into his backpack and taking out the thermal flask, which was also Starbeck’s handy work. He used the cover as a cup to hold the tea.

The aroma of tea spread, the sword grinding and gun loading noises paused, before all of them got fiercer and more violent.

Kieran didn’t care at all. Three cups of tea later, he put the thermal flask away, carried his backpack, and closed his eyes for a catnap.

Song Shi wasn’t around!

Kieran was very certain he did not sense her in the group!

Not only did the monsters have their own camp, even a half-breed like Song Shi got their own?

Humans, monsters, hybrid.

A triangle war?

Kieran pondered upon the question quietly. The sun slowly slid down to the west.

When the sun was on the horizon, fire in all sizes were built across the campsite, the light from the fire replacing the sunlight in bringing light and warmth to the people.

When the fire burned bright, Lucan with the bear rug came out from this tent and walked to Kieran.

“Give Lucan food, Lucan protect you!”

Lucan’s northern accent was very heavy.

Kieran didn’t say anything, giving the big man a glance and showing a little bit of killer intents.

The buff and tall northern man got terrified, his face turning pale as though he saw the infamous ferocious beast deep in the woods of the north, faltering backwards.

Seven to eight shaky steps later, Lucan stopped, sizing up Kieran from top to bottom once more with dreadful gaze mixed with a little bit of fear.

“Why did someone like you get arranged here in the normal camp? You should have gone to the Inhuman camp!!” Lucan said.

He subconsciously stepped back again and stopped in front of the nearest campfire, as if the heat and light from the fire expelled the coldness from his body.

Scary! Too scary!

Lucan was never a coward! Yet he had never thought he would meet someone that could frighten him away with just a gaze, especially in this normal camp.

He thought he was the strongest and most special one among the others.

Unless…

A sudden thought popped up in his mind.

“You are here to search for something? What are you searching for? If your goal is different from mine, we can team up!” Lucan would never hide his thoughts, nor did he think he had to, so the question was very direct.

“I’m used to working alone,” Kieran rejected.

Lucan tried to think of something to persuade Kieran to take back the rejection, but after a while, not a single good excuse came out from him. Ultimately, the man from the north said, “I’m looking for a sculpture of a bear the size of a palm, it’s made of wood and it’s not painted. If you find it, tell me, I’ll pay you handsomely.”

The man from the north took out a pebble the size of a marble from his bear rug and placed it in front of Kieran.

“If you want to contact Lucan, crush this stone. Lucan will know and Lucan will find you.”

Lucan beat his chest and bowed in a very unique salutation, then returned to his tent.

Kieran thought about it for a while before he picked up the pebble.

[Name: Communication Pebble]

[Type: Wonder Item]

[Rarity: Magic]

[Attack: None]

[Defense: None]

[Attribute: Communication]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Remark: Communication Pebble is one of the specialties of the northern lands. It is made out of ancient alchemy together with modern alchemy.]

…

[Communication: Crush it, the owner of the bigger piece will be able to locate your location, but unable to truly communicate via voice or image.]

…

Kieran read through the description of [Communication Pebble], then put it aside without much comment.

He would never simply accept someone else’s item, despite it seeming pretty harmless.

The reason why he picked it up was because he thought [Communication Pebble] might be somehow related to [Water Purify Stone], but the Remark proved him wrong.

The sun had sunk into the horizon.

When the last bit of sunlight disappeared, the campsite swiftly fell into darkness, leaving only the individual campfires lighting up the place.

The young men and women had their own lighting devices but no one would choose to use them here, due to the upcoming Battle of Winter Night being the more suitable location and much more valuable to use.

Daliphen came out again with dinner, but unlike lunch, all the food was loaded in translucent food boxes and it was scrumptious. It made the young participants very happy and shocked at the same time.

The dinner before the Battle of Winter Night would be a feast for them.

Subconsciously, the young men and women looked at Kieran, who reached out to his backpack again.

A lot of them started to chuckle in sneers.

The thermal container might keep the food warm, but the function wasn’t forever.

Starting from afternoon…No, starting from Ai City, the food was put inside the thermal container from day to night, it was a very long period of time and no matter how good the thermal container would be, it would no longer function in this kind of timing.

Regardless of how good the food was, once it became mushy and sticky, the taste would be ruined.

So, the young men and women did not expect another assault of aroma from the container anymore, but when Kieran opened the container, the aroma inside spread like a strong wind, blowing in every single direction.

The young men and women paid the cost due to their naiveness.

“H-How is this possible?”

“Why is the food inside the container glowing?”

“This is unreasonable! It’s crazy!”

…

The young men and women were baptised by the the aroma from the food Starbeck cooked, further plunged into despair, but what pushed them deeper was the steam flowing out from the container, like it was freshly made.

It was definitely not something a mere thermal container could do! It’s not some magical item!

Daliphen saw the scene, his eye twitching.

Being vastly experienced and knowledgeable, the veteran Herder knew what he saw.

Transcendence!

Transcendent level of cooking!

What a bad joke!

It’s impossible!

How could someone with such skills exist?

It must be some secretive technique!

Speculations formed in Daliphen’s head but he was unwilling to believe it due to such talents being a dream to many people. A lot of talented men and women sought after it yet many of them were trapped by hurdles and obstacles. Yet, someone had reached the transcendent level with culinary skills. It wasn’t something that was easy for him to accept and believe.

He shook his head hard, trying to discard the thought out of his mind, and in order to kill the thought completely, he shouted to the other participants.

“Hurry up and eat you people! We have some distance to cover after dinner! The Battle of Winter Night is about to start!”