The Devil’s Cage

1 million Points!

Even for Kieran, whose net worth was high at the moment, couldn’t look past such a huge cost.

After all, Kieran’s value mostly came from his personal equipment and as long as nothing was wrong with his brain, he would never sell off all those equipment.

Though at the same time, Kieran also understood the value of [Emerder’s Deal] since the system stated 1 million Points as a repair fee.

But…

[Points: 66,000; Skill Points: 12; Golden Skill Points: 1; Golden Attribute Points: 1]

Looking at his Points and Skill Points tab, he frowned.

His previous dungeon reward was relatively less and the items with real values were [Emerder’s Deal], the [Thunder Fall Stone] and the [Puppet’s Cord].

Both [Emerder’s Deal] and the [Thunder Fall Stone] were obviously not for sale and while [Puppet’s Cord] might be a Rare item, it has a special prerequisite to use it.

For those who fit the requirements, it would, of course, hold a high value but for those who didn’t, it would be a piece of trash.

“Even if I found a player who has the requirements to use [Puppet’s Cord] and sell it to them at a higher price, factoring in my Points and Skill Points and maximizing all the prices of conversion, I would only get a fifth of the repair fee!”

Kieran’s attention automatically turned over to the corner of his room.

The corner was where he placed the items he brought out from the dungeon world but didn’t sell, most of it them were books but there was something else.

[Great Swamp Scale] and the stone tablet embedded with hundreds of different gemstones which he had gotten together with the former.

If he were to sell the stone tablet, using the premium price of the same color gemstones plus the values of 4 cracked rank and 1 intact rank gemstones, it might be hard for him to get 1 million Points but it wasn’t impossible.

Though Kieran shook his head the next moment.

If the hundred different kinds of gemstones embedded on the stone tablet could sell, he wouldn’t wait until now. Given that he had gotten the stone tablet together with the [Great Swamp Scale], it was enough for him to treat it with utmost vigilance.

For the things related to divine beings, it could be never too safe from Kieran’s point of view.

It was true he hoped for bigger gains but he would never lose a great deal trying to save a little.

Kieran took in a deep breath and swiftly put away his gaze at [Great Swamp Scale] and the gemstone tablet.

He muttered to himself, “So do I give it up temporarily or… choose the other riskier way?”

…

The weather in the big city constantly changing.

There was no so-called weather forecast or any kind of pattern to read the weather.

A moment ago, it might be sunny for miles but a moment later, gloomy rains might pour down relentlessly; the temperature would also fluctuate.

Under the downpouring rain, Blair was carrying his new weapon under his raincoat, standing beside the street, humming a small tune while he gazed at the rain.

Blair was not too concerned about his mission.

He was stationed there for a week plus going into two.

From the initial nervousness to the current casual behavior, Blair believed that his target would not appear to open the door into the room behind him and take the spoils of war inside.

After all, anyone could tell the place was rigged with traps.

Almost out of instinct, Blair took a glimpse at the other guy hiding in the shadows across from him.

No doubt the guy was also a veteran and it took Blair a few seconds of utmost focus to notice his existence.

The guy in the shadows was also one of the players in charge of Blair’s group.

As for Blair, he was just one of many collaborators in the group.

Although his position was of the utmost importance, it wasn’t that high either.

A simple look at the position he was standing proved as such. At the spot where he was standing, other than being treated as a signal to warn the others during an ambush, there was no other function.

Blair was perfectly clear about his own use, he was there to allow the “target” to attack him but he didn’t rant or complain about the arrangement because of how sizable the reward was.

Blair unconsciously looked at the spear on his shoulder and the leather armor under his raincoat.

The spear was a Magic rank weapon with Average attack rank together with the Lvl 1 Piercing attribute, it had more attacking power than a common gun.

His leather armor’s defense even reached the Strong level and with the Lvl 1 Tenacity attribute, it allowed Blair to ignore most of the gunshots fired at him.

He lifted his finger and touched wooden spear pole and his leather armor.

Even if it wasn’t his first time feeling his equipment, Blair was still full of praise at the meticulous craftsmanship.

He wasn’t a boorish fellow who knew nothing at all. He might not be an expert in leather armor but Blair had quite the experience in crafting simple weapons, and other than the slightly complicated bows and crossbows, he had some attainments in crafting also.

So, Blair was clear how exquisite the skill of the player who crafted this Magic rank spear was.

“They might be at least Master rank, or… no, no, Pro rank in crafting weapons!” Blair commented on the crafter’s technique.

Then, he thought of his own skill which had only reached Entry level, he couldn’t help but sigh.

Especially when he knew the player with the exquisite crafting skills was one of his employer’s men, Blair who ranged between a rookie and a newbie felt instant depression because he didn’t even have the qualifications to be an official subordinate of his employer.

Though Blair clenched his fist right away.

“I will surely catch up to those veterans’ progress! I will definitely earn enough money with this game!” Blair made a vow in his heart.

Then, he started to perfect his future plans.

“Before the next dungeon starts, I’ll need to level up [Sharp Weapon, Polearms] to Master level to bring out the potential power of this Magic rank spear. [Evading] and [Adaptive Armor] will need to be in Entry as well, and also [Weapon Crafting, Simple Weapons]!”

“I think the Points and Skill Points are not quite enough…”

Points and Skill Points will forever be a pain in the neck for every player, Blair was no exception.

Blair frowned as he went into deep thought. His attention was all focused on his own matters, so he didn’t even notice the veteran in the shadows across from him being sliced open by the throat and falling to the ground, disintegrating into light particles. Neither did he notice the rest of the collaborators who took up the other watchpoints vanishing without a sound.

The rain stopped finally and the sun hung up high once again.

Blair took off his raincoat and stuffed it inside his backpack before he stretched his body.

Compared to the watery scene, Blair liked the charming sun better.

Most of the people shared the same thought, especially after standing in the rain for two to three hours.

So, Blair turned his eyes towards the other positions where the collaborators were.

When he saw the first position was empty, he couldn’t help but criticize the player being irresponsible in his heart.

When he saw that the second position was empty, he frowned, feeling something wasn’t right.

Then the third, the fourth and the fifth, Blair shockingly realized all of the other collaborators’ positions were empty!

Not only the collaborators, but even the veteran in the shadow was also missing!

Even though the hired players would occasionally sneak off, they wouldn’t be absent altogether like the current situation, let alone the veteran player.

Something went south!

The thought appeared in Blair’s heart.

Then, Blair who was still quite calm ran towards the place where he assumed was safe while pulling up his PM tab to message the temporary leader of the team.

It wasn’t the veteran in the shadows but a higher rank player who ran the operation.

However, when the message was sent off, the notification that Blair received made him freeze on the spot.

[The player you are messaging is dead!]

Spine freezing coldness rose up in an instant.

Even standing under the sun, Blair couldn’t feel a bit of warmth.