The Devil’s Cage

Blazing flames rose in the sky, and heat waves tumbled everywhere and caused clothes to flutter.

Darwend and Garcia looked at the fiery scene with a heavy look.

Both of them had many thoughts about the situation, and after exchanging a gaze, orders came out at the same time.

“Extinguish the fire!

“Form a perimeter around this street block!”

The men behind the duo quickly carried out the orders. The firetrucks of Theorate arrived at the scene quickly, and water was sprayed into the fiery warehouse. The fire got under control soon enough, but before the fire was completely out, Darwend and Garcia rushed into the ruins.

Both of them bent over at the burnt ruins, hoping to find something.

Twenty minutes later, Garcia stood up and walked away silently.

Right after that, Garcia’s men expanded the search perimeter and so did Darwend with his men.

The watchers who had the duo in sight were not idiots; after they saw both of them move out, they knew what had happened.

The explosion was Lude’s escape plan.

It was quite rare to see such a ‘fiery’ escape though. While everyone was shocked with the escape, they were now almost certain Lude had unsevered ties with the Index of Eat; otherwise, why would he cause such a commotion.

More thoughts and questions rose when hidden jewellery and gold was carried out by the firefighters. Despite being damaged by the explosion and fire, a person with sharp eye knew what the crates held with a single glance.

The watchers hiding in the dark exchanged gazes before they swiftly scattered into the wind.

Find Lude!

The thought bloomed in everyone’s mind instantaneously.

Of course, none of that had anything to do with Kieran anymore.

When Frost Wolf returned, Kieran took the backpack and caressed its head in appreciation.

The Frost Wolf pushed its head against Kieran’s palm a few times to show its affection. Kieran then opened the backpack in excitement, but no matter how excited he was, he didn’t forget to cover the food’s presence with the devil’s presence.

Kieran tore open the plastic wraps right away when the drumstick appeared within sight.

He had tried food nearing a Proper Meal class before but it was his first time trying an actual Proper Meal class food.

The taste of the first bite was much more unique than he expected. It had the crispiness of fried food, and the tender meat underneath was very juicy, but what surprised Kieran was its bones.

The bones should be hard, but when Kieran touched it with his tongue, it turned soft right away like jelly. Kieran sucked it into his mouth, and the jelly-like bones melted like warm jelly on top of his tongue; sweet meat juices flowed down his throat and entered his stomach.

Gluttony cheered happily when the drumstick was finished.

As usual, he transformed and distributed the drumstick’s energy to all of Kieran’s Origin Forces.

A breath’s time later, all five of Kieran’s Origin Forces started to increase in an exponential rate. If he got almost half a year’s worth of growth from eating an semi-Proper Meal class food, then after he ate a true Proper Meal class drumstick, he had gotten more than two years’ worth of growth for all five of his Origin Forces.

That was still not the end.

While Kieran was adapting to the newly increased Origin Force in his body, lines of words started to pile up in his vision.

[Absorbed special energy. Hand-to-hand Combat and Transcendence Kicks received power up…]

[Name: Hand-to-Hand Combat (Transcendence)]

[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution]

[Skill Type: Offensive]

[Effects: Your punches and kicks are your best weapon. Increases Damage by 60%]

[Special Effects: Transcendence Combat Kicks (When you strike with your feet, they will temporarily grant you +4 Strength and Agility and Outstanding Strength)]

[Outstanding Kicks: Through seasoned tempering and countless battles plus a lucky meal, your legs have reached an astounding level. Acquired +1 attack level against formless spirit beings (+1 attack level on top of your original attack level); Acquired +1 attack level against normal beings (calculated towards your original attack level). Stamina consumption greatly increased when kicking with your legs.]

[Outstanding Strength: Through seasoned tempering and countless battles, you legs have reached beyond the limits of common men. You can infuse the power of Dawn Force, Devil Flame, Plague Force and Saint Thorn Force during your attacks, creating an extra attack of a Powerful level (After the initial attack calculation, an extra attribute attack will be added). When kicking with your legs, Stamina consumption will greatly increase]

[Consumes: Stamina]

[Prerequisites: Strength B, Agility B, Constitution B]

[Remarks: Your legs are legendary!]

…

Kieran was stunned. This enhancement had truly gone beyond his expectation.

He never thought an actual Proper Meal class food could affect his Transcendence skill, despite being just a Basic skill, and the increase wasn’t that obvious.

Still, Kieran never underestimated any kind of Basic skills. Whether it was the requirement to learn advanced skills or being used as a common offensive and defensive means, Basic skills had the utmost importance.

From a certain aspect, Basic skills were considered the second core, even for the lone wolves who tried to equip themselves with all sorts of arsenal.

The lone wolves grasped skills beyond common players’ imagination; not just all-rounded but strong, but deep down in the roots, the nature of the skills would lean towards a single trait.

Some did it because they liked it while some had to because of the dungeon runs.

Amongst all the myriad of skills, there must be one or two Basic skills and some derivative skills that triumphed others. Kieran was no exception either.

In his basic combat systems, his kicks held an important position. Even if he had acquired Devil Flame, [Arrogant Word], and [Extreme Night], his kicks still mattered.

Therefore, after [Hand-to-hand Combat] got enhanced, Kieran smiled from the bottom of his heart after the little surprise.

Then, his smile got brighter because he realized in his current dungeon world, a Proper Meal class food was very rare but not impossible to obtain.

He might be able to get his hands on food above Proper Meal class.

Of course, it would require a lot more planning and brain juice to make it achievable, and before that, he still had some small problems to attend to.

His plan might seemed flawless, but since he had his own plan, outsiders might be able to spot his flaws.

Things unfolded just as expected. Evening, Senile knocked on his dorm door, and when Kieran opened it up, he saw Professor Tyrese behind the teacher.

The professor was sizing Kieran up carefully.

“Why are you here? Because of Lude? Or did Derton Lab lose its Proper Meal class food?” Kieran asked to seize the advantage.

“Is there any difference?” Professor Tyrese retracted his gaze and asked in an interested tone.

“Yes, there is. Because of the promise I made with Derwend and Garcia, I can’t tell you anything more than you already know about Lude, but if you are looking for the lost Proper Meal class food, I have some news on hand. Of course, not for free. One Bento class, no negotiation,” Kieran said calmly as he stood before his door.

He had no intention of inviting them in, nor did he have time to negotiate with them.

“A Bento class food? What pricey news you got there. I really wanted to know, but I can’t afford the payment.”

Professor Tyrese in his casual clothes and glasses shook his head with a sigh and chose to leave instead.

Senile kept quiet all the way. He frowned at Kieran before he followed the professor away.

Both of them vanished beyond the corridor, and Kieran went back into his room and started to think seriously.

It seemed like he had once again passed the test.

Using Devil Force as cover, Professor Tyrese didn’t notice anything about the drumstick.

However, based on the bits and pieces he revealed through his words, it was enough for Professor Tyrese to relate into more things. At least the professor would start to doubt where Kieran got all this information.

Kieran wasn’t worried about that; instead, he was quite happy to see such a reaction, not just from the professor but from many others as well.

The more doubts sparked, the more questions and speculations, and the higher the speculations, the better it would be for his plan.

Fishing in muddy waters, wasn’t that always his plan?

The water wasn’t just getting muddier, the fishes were increasing too.

Judging from the two meetings, Professor Tyrese should represent the true force of Theorate School.

The forces behind Darwend and Garcia were their respective research labs within the campus.

Based on the rankings and positions, Garcia should listen to Darwend, but from their interactions, it wasn’t exactly true.

They knew Kieran was going to trade information with Professor Tyrese, yet they still appeared before him, and shortly after that, Professor Tyrese rejected Kieran’s suggestion.

If the tension between Darwend and Garcia wasn’t sufficient to prove the problem, Professor Tyrese’s rejection in his little test earlier gave Kieran a deeper insight about Theorate itself: the school would not interfere with the competition between the research labs.

As for why?

Perhaps the research labs had gotten too powerful, or the school wanted to sit back and watch the fire burn on the other side of the river.

Either was possible, and regardless of which, they benefited Kieran.

He believed Darwend and Garcia should have found Lude’s men, who were responsible for spreading rumours.

Likewise, Kieran also believed those two idiots wouldn’t last very long, Darwend and Garcia would figure out a lot of things soon. However, the thing they sought wasn’t with the two idiots, so they would expand their search.

Eventually, the hidden party who had their eyes on Lude would enter the sights of Darwend and Garcia.

Kieran never doubted the malicious intent of those in the dark, just like he never would with Darwend and Garcia’s capabilities.

What would happen when two different forces collided?

Kieran was quite looking forward to the scene, but it would be a few days from now.

Now, it was time for dinner.

Despite having a Proper Meal class drumstick earlier, it didn’t stop him from eating dinner on time.

He stood up from his chair, hung his feather coat on the rack, and walked towards the cafeteria.

The cafeteria during dinner was as merry as usual.

The student who finished their lesson for the day joked and laughed as they walked to the cafeteria.

Kieran didn’t join them though. Instead, he went to the underground kitchen.

It wasn’t just because he wanted to avoid the noisy environment, but also because the kitchen had more choices of food in sufficient amounts.

A few seconds later, the cooks in the kitchen fell into shock once more.

Kieran moved like a gale and swept everything clean again. After a round in the kitchen, he wiped his mouth in satisfaction before he returned to the surface.

He saw Senile, who parted ways with him earlier.

“Hey, 2567.” Senile was smiling as he called Kieran.

“Seems like Professor Derton gave you quite the benefits?” Kieran asked after a glance at his smiling face.

That meaningful frown that Senile showed before he left earlier was enough to explain everything.

“I knew I couldn’t get past you. Professor Derton is anxious to find the missing Proper Meal class food, so he agreed to your conditions and… he even said he will help you in the future, as long as it doesn’t cross his bottom line and is within his capabilities,” Senile replied with his smiling face.

“Ho ho? Seems like the Proper Meal class food in the lab is much more valuable than I thought.”

Kieran touched his chin as if he was considering raising his price.

“Of course, it is valuable. All Proper Meal class are valuable, especially for Professor Derton. His research in this Proper meal class has entered the crucial stage, and if it is stolen or vanishes, everything will go down the drain. So, even if you raise your price—in an appropriate way, that is—Professor Derton will not reject.” Senile didn’t try to hide the facts, and he didn’t mind Kieran raising the price.

Even though Senile was a teacher of Theorate, he had chosen to side with Professor Tyrese firmly. Other than basic respect for the other professors, he wasn’t really fond of them.

Those professors only served Theorate in name; beneath the surface, they were working for their respective secret sects and families. Senile wished calamity to befall on all of them.

“So where is Professor Derton?” Kieran glanced at Senile and understood his thoughts right away.

“Follow me.” Senile then walked towards the coffee shop near the cafeteria, the one where Kieran had the negotiation with Darwend and Garcia.

However, before they truly approached the coffee shop, a sharp scream came.

“HELP! SOMEONE IS DEAD!”