The Devil’s Cage

The scroll flew out and placed itself before Kieran.

Then, on the cooldown column, [5/10] quickly blurred out and it increased to [6/10]!

That was still not the end though, looking at the quickly changing cooldown counter, Kieran squinted his eyes and turned to Starbeck.

The mimosa at that moment was more terrified than ever, his body was shivering non-stop.

In front of Starbeck, there was also another scroll that flew out, it was laid open and the cooldown counter also changed as well.

Huuu!

Kieran took in a deep breath saying, “If you don’t want to die, bring every piece of equipment and item that can save your life, we will start the dungeon right now!”

“B-But…But…”

“T-This…is…”

Starbeck who was in a state of stupefaction stuttered intensely.

“Now!” Kieran said in a heavy tone.

A sudden terrifying aura erupted from Kieran, the pungent sulfuric smell even filled noses.

Starbeck dared not object at all and quickly moved as he was ordered.

“What is going on?”

The astonishment in Lawless’s eyes was hard to conceal. He knew Kieran had the [Blade of the Daybreaker (Sub Scroll)] and Starbeck had the [Blade of the Daybreaker (Main Scroll)] but he never thought it would change this way: the unique title mission main scroll didn’t even require its owner to experience a dungeon run yet the cooldown number changed.

“Must be Broker’s nasty work! Is Starbeck’s sixth dungeon limit almost up?”

Kieran didn’t answer Lawless, he asked himself instead.

“Yes, a few more days, we are already preparing for it… YOU’E SAYING?!”

Lawless answered out of habit but the moment the words escaped his mouth, he suddenly realized something. He couldn’t help but widen his eyes in Kieran’s direction.

“Yes, that’s what that bastard is planning to do.”

“Starbeck’s dungeon limit is almost up after a few days and I don’t think that bastard picked this time out of coincidence. He was not satisfied with the title Broker, he wanted another, Blade of the Daybreaker! More so, he can kill two birds with one stone by removing me, the thorn in his side! That is why he and his men disappeared without a trace recently because they are using some special method to hasten the opening of Blade of the Daybreaker and maybe even… change the dungeon itself!”

Kieran took a deep breath and replied to his good friend’s confused gaze.

“But, how?” Lawless was still unwilling to believe.

“What how? The underground game has items that we can’t even imagine that allow you to enter a dungeon via special means, even though the dungeon is a Unique Title dungeon, it’s not impossible.”

Kieran was quite confident in his understanding ofwhat was going on since he used [Emerder’s Deal] before.

Based on [Emerder’s Deal], as long as one paid the appropriate cost, it wasn’t that hard to enter any dungeon they desired.

What were the things that Broker had an abundance of?

Points! Skill Points! Equipment, items!

These were the things that common players sought after like a flock of ducks; although Broker couldn’t get as much as he wanted, it would still be enough for him to do something, more so…

Kieran suddenly realized something and he looked at his friend again.

“Have you ever thought of the effect of a Unique Title?”

“The common titles that we have would give us some benefits, but what about the Unique Title?”

“The title of Witch made people tremble with fear because she represented absolute power and slaughter that people dreaded.”

“The title Broker, on the other hand, was always neglected by people because he hid himself very well, or was it his title effect that made others instinctively neglect him. What he had built was all business connected, most of the time players dealt with him in trades of items but other than that, what do people think of him?” Kieran asked.

“Cunning but always has the good stuff?” Lawless answered in an uncertain tone.

“That’s right! Cunning, but always has the good stuff! This is the first impression from most people. Even though it was expensive, he does have all the good stuff. But does anyone think about where he got all the good stuff? Or did anyone reach out to the players that sold him the good stuff?” Kieran continued.

Having one or two good equipment and selling them to Broker wasn’t anything weird. If Kieran didn’t have Lawless’s help, he would do so as well but were there players that sold their top tier items to Broker every time they acquired them? It wasn’t realistic.

As players’ dungeon entry numbers increased, so would their knowledge and experience. Especially during the auction in the secret bazaar, it was all public to the veterans and all of them would get their items appraised for their value, so there would be no cheap selling anymore.

So, if Broker wanted to buy things at a cheaper price than the market, it was quite impossible.

Still, under these circumstances, why did Broker look like he was earning an astronomical amount of Points and Skill Points?

Other than a heavy disguise, there was only one route left for him: Broker had a channel that allowed him to acquire a large amount of equipment and items in a fairer price.

Where did this “channel” come from then?

The meaning of the title “Broker” itself was self-explanatory enough.

“You are saying?” Lawless looked at Kieran with a look full of disbelief.

“It should be what you are thinking right now. “Broker”, a Unique Title related to reselling to earn profit but everyone was paying attention to his reselling but neglected his source of getting all those items. In addition tothat cunning bastard’s arrangements, even if someone did a background check on him, they would be mislead to believe he had a steady flow of “players’ channel” and naturally forgot about the most impossible answer: buying all his items from the system’s Shop!”

“As the holder of a Unique Title, it’s reasonable for him to buy something from the Shop that common players can’t see and can’t buy since it is a one-of-a-kind existence!”

Kieran smiled coldly when he saw the cooldown number on his sub scroll increased from [6/10] to [7/10].

“That is why he wanted to get another Unique Title! An ancillary type title “Broker” has benefited him in every way possible and if he has another, obviously an offensive type title, Blade of the Daybreaker, it’s like adding wings to a tiger! Then, it will be easy for him to become the next Witch!”

“This Goddamn bastard, having such a big ambition!” Lawless cursed.

“I’ll gather the manpower and go in the dungeon with you guys!”

Lawless said right after he finished cursing but at the next moment, Lawless cursed in a more furious manner, “Why can’t we party up?”

“It must be that bastard’s nasty work again! They must have foreseen the changes at hand, so he knew how we would react to this: using our own average dungeon entry number to prevent his alteration. But he will not allow us to easily change that, a bunch of people carrying the coward Starbeck through the dungeon, despite how hard it will be, it wasn’t dangerous. What if I alone had to carry Starbeck?”

“Truth be told, if it wasn’t impossible, I believe he might have isolated Starbeck completely but he missed one thing,” Kieran said calmly.

“What thing?” Lawless was stunned.

Kieran pointed at Starbeck who came back.

TL Note:

The dungeon limit mentioned for Starbeck is the one “player needs to enter a dungeon at least once in 3 months. Now Kieran wanted to help Starbeck to clear the dungeon because of the previous agreement and also the pressing matter of the title dungeon.