The Devil’s Cage

Receiving a governor was a big deal for Augen Manor.

Especially after Anne Aldrich Augen became the mayor of Edland City, the rare visit was a very grand occasion for the entire Augen Manor.

From the most basic reception to the decoration of the manor, preparation of the feast, and the last and the most important, guaranteed security, all of those were enough to hustle everyone around with their feet hardly touching the same spot.

Though other than the last factor, the others were not related to Kieran but he wasn’t a person that allowed himself to be free.

After giving his word to Anne Aldrich Augen that she will be safe for the entire day, Kieran immediately went to Mayer’s turf within the manor: the secretive training place.

The place was off limits to everyone except for the owner and Mayer and with Kieran staying at the manor since then, the list of people that could enter the place had Kieran’s name on it eventually.

Mayer didn’t express anything with Kieran’s entrance, he didn’t even greet him.

Kieran was used to it already, he took out [Charlie Graff’s Note] as he watched Mayer punching and kicking in a rhythmic pattern.

The green notebook had recorded quite a number of throwing techniques plus two secret spell level skills but unfortunately, all of them has a prerequisite of [Hand-to-Hand Combat, Master of Fist] and for Kieran who chose [Master of Kicks], he couldn’t learn it like any other skills with just a click.

Still, it didn’t stop Kieran from understanding the techniques through reading.

Kieran didn’t wildly expect that he could learn all the techniques but he hoped that when he encountered enemies with similar techniques, he could easily come up with counterattacking means.

It was the key that determined the victory of a battle, or even life and death!

So, Kieran was very serious in reading and even moved his fist our occasionally.

He was so focused on reading and didn’t notice the time fly by until Mayer suddenly called out to him.

“You shouldn’t do that.”

Edland City strongest fighter would never have reminded Kieran of the time, instead, he uttered out something that fit his identity more.

He stood still on the spot and said seriously, “Your kicking techniques have reached a decent level, what you need to do is to further improve it and elevate it to the next level. You shouldn’t be distracting yourself in learning others, or you can choose to find out about the energy within your body.”

“Distractions will do you no good at your current state, though there’s a saying ‘grasping a typical example to learn the entire category’, but it requires an ultimate state as your foundation. Whether it is your kicking techniques or the special power in your body, none of them have reached their ultimate form.”

Kieran was surprised over Mayer’s sudden words.

Although both of them sparred a lot, they didn’t talk much other than that, such words of guidance were even the first of its kind.

Kieran would never think lightly of Mayer’s guidance.

Even though Mayer wasn’t a mystical individual, his strength could easily suppress the majority of the mystics out there. Even some famous mystics didn’t possess the ability to hit back against Mayer.

A body of iron, and speed near instant teleporting in addition to a fist that could penetrate inches thick of iron had forged Mayer into a walking killing machine.

Still, Kieran was more concerned about the special power Mayer had with him.

The power felt like Dawn Force but entirely different, Kieran still had a fresh memory of that since their first friendly spar.

“What is the ultimate state?” Kieran asked as his heart thought of a term, Transcendence.

“The ultimate state is a state you achieve when you successfully break through all the chains and bindings, like this…”

As Mayer continued his explanation, to Kieran’s surprise Mayer started demonstrating.

Mayer punched out in a straight posture without further preparing and quickly retracted his fist.

There wasn’t any powerful wind that broke the air nor any fierce aura. The whole process was simple and it felt like anyone could have achieved that level of punch, even a child could do so.

But Kieran’s face turned heavy because, at that very moment, he lost his senses of Mayer.

He could see Mayer with his eyes but he couldn’t sense him, as if he unconsciously ignored Mayer’s existence.

“Can you show me one more time?” Kieran was stunned slightly before requesting again.

Mayer didn’t reject and demonstrated his punch out and retracted his fist again.

This time, Kieran widened his eyes, trying to capture every possible detail yet once again, he ignored Mayer again but with results.

He noticed the moment Mayer dished out his punch, changes occurred surrounding Mayer but the changes were too blurry and fast for Kieran to see it properly.

Kieran was sure it definitely wasn’t because of his lack of Intuition.

Then, Mayer punched out again but this time it was different than the previous times because Mayer punched out towards Kieran’s face.

Right away, a familiar occurrence happened before Kieran’s eyes, as he looked at Mayer’s fist he felt like he saw a sword, an unrivaled famous sword dazzling in its sharp glare.

It wasn’t the ultimate state of an illusion but a real existence.

“Dragging illusions into reality?!” Kieran uttered softly.

If he still thought the “ultimate state” that Mayer was referring was Transcendence level, after the third punch he was sure it wasn’t the same thing.

Transcendence didn’t possess such a level of power or in other words, the power was beyond Transcendence.

Kieran witnessed such powers before from the Prairies King and Great Swamp. He called those powers as divine powers but now Mayer before him presented such power.

It instantly astonished Kieran. Likewise, Mayer was shocked too.

“Dragging illusions into reality? Not a bad description! As expected, 2567 your talents are much better than I expected. You should cherish your talents more! I am anticipating the day you achieve the ultimate state, until then we shall spar again!”

Mayer looked at Kieran and gave him a rare smile before leaving the room.

“Achieve the ultimate state?”

Kieran looked at Mayer’s back, he couldn’t hold back his shaking head.

He wasn’t lacking in confidence but he knew should he reach such a level, it wasn’t possible for him to spar with Mayer again.

The limit break dungeon would not present him with a continuous special dungeon.

Unable to hold back his thoughts, Kieran revealed a bitter smile but soon adjusted his emotions.

Since he had graduated from the ranks of a newbie, he knew what should he do.

Recall Mayer’s demonstration! Otherwise, wouldn’t he let down the goodwill of giving him such guidance?

After a month long of sparring, Mayer has broken through his limits and if Kieran still couldn’t break through his -1 limit, wouldn’t it be embarrassing?

Kieran took in a deep breath, recalling the demonstration in his mind as he kicked out fiercely.

Air breaking sounds swiftly echoed around the room.

It was relentless and continuous as if it was a storm passing through and a particular energy was brewing inside the storm.

When the energy grew bigger and stronger…

KAKROOM!

A loud clap of thunder echoed around the room!