The Devil’s Cage

Kieran lifted his foot and allowed the interrogator to crawl up.

She wiped her swollen face and carefully glanced at Kieran before she headed to the north section of the same floor.

Up until now, the interrogator was still a little bit blurry.

She didn’t know how the situation turned into this or how the man before her eyes hit her with his kicks.

She should be formless, incapable of receiving physical attacks, but the pain in her face reminded her what she should do.

Soon, they reached a certain row of book racks in the north section. The interrogator then presented a book to Kieran.

“This is the book,” she said softly.

“Just one?” Kieran frowned after simply flipping through it.

The amount was far less than he expected, and the book he held wasn’t a specialized one about the Index of Eat, but just a random book that recorded cooking utensils.

“Em, there is only one book in the whole second floor.” The interrogator nodded.

“Second floor?” Kieran sharply grasped on to the point in her words.

“I can’t go down to the first floor or up to the third and fourth floors, so I don’t know,” the interrogator answered honestly.

“Which means you know every single book on the second floor?” Kieran turned around and asked.

The interrogator felt the question was related to her fate, so she nodded without a second thought. “Yes, I know all the books on the second floor.”

“Very good, I’ll call for you when I need you. What’s your name?” Kieran said after some thought.

For Kieran, who was in serious shortage of all sorts of information, a ‘living’ book guide was much more effective in providing him with a sizable gain than a Magic to Rare rank school badge.

In fact, if it weren’t for the guard at the entrance, Kieran would have sent the Old Book Canberlanor to read and arrange all the books on his behalf.

“In… Agernessa.”

Agernessa wanted to utter the title she was familiar with, but before the word truly formed, she reacted wisely.

She slightly glanced at Kieran but did not see any bad reaction to her ominous name. Agernessa simply heaved a breath of relief.

“Go get me a cup of tea.”

“Right away, sir.”

Agernessa did not even think about rejecting Kieran’s order and proceeded without any resistance.

Pain will always teach one about reality, including non-living beings like Agernessa.

Every section in the second floor was equipped with its own pantry, and the small refrigerator even had some pastries. Agernessa picked two different kinds, served them on the tray and carried them back to Kieran along with a cup of tea.

When she got back, Kieran was already reading the book in his hand.

Agernessa kept quiet and placed the pastries and tea beside him on the table before vanishing.

Reading, especially a concentrated reading, required time.

The book in Kieran’s hand was quite thick and nameless, proving to be a problem to Kieran because it contained a lot of ancient languages of this dungeon world. Although it had the common language as reference and support, Kieran had to compare, relate and ponder upon the words to figure out their meanings.

Huu!

When the sun rose, Kieran finally closed the heavy book in his hand before taking a long breath.

After the intensive reading session, Kieran finally knew what kind of item the Index of Eat was.

Index of Eat wasn’t just a mere recipe book, but also a crafting book that taught how to craft cooking utensils. Because of that, the nameless book was kept in the north section.

If Kieran continued his search in the east section, he would gain nothing even if he flipped the entire section over.

Kieran was very concerned about the crafting of cooking utensils in the Index of Eat, which was mentioned in this nameless book.

It mentioned something about a special kind of liquor glass! That’s right, a liquor glass!

The matching recipe… no, it should be the ‘brewing technique’— was also very astounding to Kieran.

According to this nameless book, when the special glass and the brewing technique converged, it would produce a liquor that surpassed common Proper Meal class and truly reached the Grand Meal class.

Grand Meal class food, a brand new level that surpassed what Kieran had read yesterday.

“The first floor is all basics?” Kieran sighed before he flipped through the book again to carefully read through the description about the Index of Eat.

The liquor temperature! It was the term that he concluded after reading through all the descriptions about the brewing technique. He squinted his eyes.

He wasn’t fond of alcoholic drinks, as he passed out once after drinking [Osiris Brew] at Rachel’s, so he was even more reluctant to try, but if there really was some kind of liquor that surpassed common food classes before him, he’d still be hesitant about it.

Kieran shook his head and smiled shortly after.

He wasn’t even sure whether or not the Index of Eat had truly appeared, yet he already started to think about reaping his gains?

It was a little early even for him, but it didn’t stop him from giving orders to Bloody Mary to proceed according to plan.

Compared to the initial plan, his current plan had been greatly altered because the person that he had to confront was no longer the same.

Kieran closed the book and returned it to its rack. He glanced across the stairs connecting to the third floor of the library and went back down to the first floor.

The third floor of the library wasn’t a place he could get access to right now; even with his First Seat and Branch Leader identity, he still couldn’t get in.

In order to get to the third floor, a professor’s permission was required.

Other than the professor known as Tyrese, Kieran didn’t know a single professor in Theorate.

He only met Professor Tyrese once during the welcoming dinner, and given how shallow their relationship was, the professor would never grant him permission.

Kieran planned to contact the professor through Senile because it was part of his altered plan and also one of the most important ones.

He would not require a permission letter. All he had to do was to release some news to gather more attention to himself.

…

E Block, cafeteria, teacher’s lounge.

Kieran easily located his target as he stepped inside: Senile.

Senile was drinking a big cup of warm milk, and beside him was a plate of sandwiches, three servings.

Leonard, who was always seen with Senile, sat opposite him eating a bowl of soup noodles while his hand held two fried buns with fillings.

“Morning, 2567,” Senile and Leonard greeted Kieran as they munched on their breakfast.

“Morning. Senile, I want to have a meeting with Professor Tyrese.” Kieran laid his gaze on Senile alone.

Despite having only met the duo a few times, Kieran knew which one of them was the leader.

“Meeting with Professor Tyrese? Why?” Senile was stunned.

“I want to get a permission letter to the third floor library,” he said.

“Impossible! Even if you are the First Seat of this year and a Branch Leader, Professor Tyrese will never give you permission, no matter how kind his character.” Senile rejected Kieran, his gaze turning strict.

“The third floor of the library is different from the first and second. It has powers! Before you have sufficient academic scores to prove yourself, it’s impossible for you to get a permission letter from any of the professors.” Senile shook his head.

“Then what if I have enough academic scores?” Kieran asked.

“Impossible! You are just a freshman. Before you reach your 3rd year and follow your teacher into the Mystic State for hunting, there is just no way for you to get the required scores to exchange for a permission letter.” Senile denied Kieran in a straightforward manner.

Kieran smiled, as Senile’s reaction was just as expected.

Kieran straightened his body and continued, “Based on what I know, there are many other ways to earn academic scores other than hunting.”

“Exchanging valuable information for scores is also viable, and coincidentally… I have a very valuable one.” A pause later, Kieran stated his bargaining chip. “The Index of Eat!”

He did not lower his voice, hence it echoed throughout the lounge, and all the teachers that were eating suddenly went quiet.

Every one of them shifted their gaze to Kieran, shocked and dubious.

Both emotions had to do with the fact that a freshman knew about the Index of Eat.

The Index of Eat wasn’t some street level item. Even as Theorate teachers, they only got the news recently.

Amid the quiet and somewhat depressing atmosphere, Senile looked at Kieran in silence. Leonard also put down his bowl and looked at Kieran with serious gaze like never before, as if it was the first day he met Kieran.

Senile and Leonard were two very unreliable teachers. Although they were truly unreliable, both of the were not idiots. Quite the opposite, in fact. As Elite Teachers in Theorate, they were considered quite smart; therefore, the moment Kieran’s words subsided, both of them knew what Kieran wanted to achieve.

“You will only put yourself in big trouble like this,” Senile said after a deep breath.

“I have no shortage of troubles all along, and I think I’m getting the hang of it.” Kieran said.

“This kind of trouble is different from the kind you are used to… Sigh, whatever, that will be your problem. I’ll try to contact Professor Tyrese as soon as possible, but I can’t guarantee the professor will see you in the end.”

Senile ought to voice his advice and reminder, but before he truly finished, his character that avoided problems like the plague made him shrug and stop advising.

“That will be enough.” Kieran then stood up.

This was the teacher’s lounge, and although it didn’t state a student couldn’t dine here, most of them would abide by the unspoken rule.

If Kieran really wanted to have his meal here, no one would stop him, but compared to the teacher’s lounge, Kieran was more fond of going down to the kitchen.

Eiderburgh had banned him from entering the transfer hub, but he didn’t ban him from going into the kitchen, and when he got to the kitchen… there would be food.

Everything in the teacher’s lounge returned to normal following Kieran’s leave, but Senile sharply picked up something unusual in the lounge.

Sigh.

Senile couldn’t hold back his sigh and looked at his colleague.

“Eat your breakfast,” Leonard said while munching on his buns.

“Em.” Senile nodded.

Senile had no idea why Kieran wanted to go to the third floor, but he knew it wasn’t something that he should be involved with. All he could do was contact Professor Tyrese as soon as possible.

Senile subconsciously quickly finished his meal and so did Leonard.

After the two of them finished their meal and placed the tray back on the collecting spot, they left the lounge. The others in the lounge also stood up and left after the duo. Within 10 mere seconds, the crowded lounge was emptied of people.

15 minutes later, a secret message started to spread in a small circle.

Those who heard the message either showed disdain, doubt, greed or pleasure in the misfortunate, but regardless of which, all of their attention was placed on Kieran.

Despite the possibility that it may be false, they wanted to know the answer. However, who would guarantee that it was true?

Wishful thinking was inherent in life, it would not decrease along with the increase of age. Quite the opposite, sometimes wishful thinking might grow as one got older.

…

Kieran swept over the underground kitchen like a gale. He then hid in a secluded corner, wiped his mouth, and did not even care about the scoldings and rants that happened behind him in the hot kitchen. He grinned and walked back up to the surface.

Although he was no longer able to have a buffet, he still needed a sufficient amount of food for breakfast to provide himself with rich nutrients.

As he walked up to the surface, there were many groups of people waiting for him outside the cafeteria. There were groups from the students, the teachers and the professors.

All of them waited quietly in scattered locations, sizing up and judging each other.

When Kieran finally appeared, the group representing the professors stood out as three people walked up to him.

The other groups didn’t leave though; they were unwilling to leave, or rather, they thought they still had a chance.

Kieran grinned as he looked at the trio before his eyes and captured the prying gazes around him.

Things were progressing much smoother than he anticipated, but he didn’t let his guard down because he knew the important part was coming up.

“Are you all here for the Index of Eat?” Kieran asked.

“Yes, we are,” the well-dressed middle-aged man in the middle said with a smile.

The young man on his left nodded, and the only middle-aged woman on his right sized Kieran up with a dubious gaze, a sense of hatred flashing by her eyes.

“I still need to wait for Teacher Senile’s reply. Before that, I won’t say anything,” Kieran said.

“First come, first serve. Reasonable.”

The middle-aged man didn’t object and the young man nodded again, but the woman grunted coldly.

She stepped up, pointed at Kieran’s nose and scolded in a sharp voice. “Who do you think you are?!”