The Devil's Cage

The moment Kieran was thrown down, he did a quick backflip and held himself standing once more.

Then he inspected the back of his right palm with a shocked face.

That strange smiley face was tattooed on the back of his palm with a scarlet red ink. When he moved his fingers, the smiley face gave out a wicked smile.

"What the hell is this?"

Kieran inspected his whole body carefully, but other than the tattoo on his palm, there was nothing else, nor did he feel any discomfort. He didn't even feel an itch, let alone pain.

He felt nothing when the red tattoo appeared on his palm. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Kieran would have thought nothing had happened.

Even the system notification didn't show anything, but it didn't mean he could relax.

The previous scene and the heavy voice was signalling that the red tattoo was something unusual.

It was just that…

"Someone purposely located me?"

Kieran recalled the time he had found that ball of paper.

The ball of paper was dropped down by an eagle with sharp claws and precise sight.

Not only was that eagle fast, but it possessed certain dodging skills. When Kieran raised his gun with Musou level [Firearm Weapon, Light Firearm], he couldn't even place a lock on on that avian.

Kieran was also shocked during that particular moment, but his shock was built on the fact that the eagle might be some pet or a partner of some killer player. Definitely not after what he just witnessed. What he just experienced couldn't even be considered shocking, but should be an eerie encounter.

It was as eerie as the smile on the smiley face itself.

Appearing silently within a player's room and almost disregarding the system rules, immune to physical attack, elemental attack and even holy water.

"What in the hell is that thing…"

Kieran looked at the strange smiley face on the back of his right hand, frowned and muttered to himself.

He couldn't determine what the smiley face represented now, but he was sure if this thing could ignore the system rules, the one who made this…

"Did the person find a bug or a loophole within the underground game? Or gained such qualification through certain ways and achieved such effect?" Kieran wondered, but no matter what his guessess were, it made his heart felt heavy.

"Not bad!"

"You're qualified"

"I'll count you in!"

The words, added up with the tattoo on the back of his hand, were signifying that he was getting himself involved regardless of what it was.

"Trouble, trouble, trouble again…"

"Power! I need more power and strength to boost myself!" Kieran took a deep breath.

The unknown, eerie, and strange smiley face caused a never-before-felt urgency in his heart, causing him to alter his plans before entering the next dungeon.

From reading the books about sword skills, mystical knowledge and only upgrade his skills with points and skill points, to the other way around. Using points to upgrade his skills could provide him with an immediate effect.

It was a wiser choice since the system couldn't even provide a 100% guarantee safety, and he could be thrown into the middle of a dangerous scene any moment.

Kieran already had the plans to upgrade his skills in order.

Firstly it was the Musou level [Sharp Weapon, Polearm Weapon] and Master level [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art].

Kieran picked [Sharp Weapon, Polearm] because it would increase his own stats to the maximum; using 1 Golden Skill Point to increase Agility, Constitution to B rank, which was the limit of the basic skills, was quite worthwhile. Although it would overlap with his main arms effect, but compared to [Sharp Weapon, Bow], it was considered better.

At least when Strength reached a corresponding level, Kieran could wield [Arrogant Word] with one hand, and some sort of polearm weapon with the other.

Did Kieran think of using a bow weapon when wielding [Arrogant Word]?

Unless he could get his hands on a superior bow weapon, or else, Kieran would have to grow a third hand to do that. On top of that, even if he had a superior bow weapon, after firing one arrow, he would still have to reload, and during a real tense fight, reloading time was a luxury he couldn't afford.

As for [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art]?

Given that he could assure there were Golden Skill Points left to utilize [Transform Devil] and [Desire Summoning], Kieran would choose to continue upgrading it because it was a core skill to Kieran, and every upgrade to himself was a quality upgrade.

[Sharp Weapon, Polearm, Musou to Transcendence, cost 30,000 Points, 1 Golden Skill Points. Yes/No?]

"Yes!"

[Skill has reached Transcendence level, acquired one Transcendence option!]

[Piercing: The spear/lance that you wield have extra piercing effect, +1 attack buff when facing defense authentication and when a polearm weapon is equipped.]

[Name: Sharp Weapon, Polearm (Transcendence)]

[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution]

[Skill Type: Offensive]

[Effects: You know how to use a spear, lance, and all sorts of polearm weapons, Increases Damage by 80%]

[Special Effects: Transcendence Spearman (When equipped with a Spear, Damaged increased by 60%)]

[Consumes: Stamina]

[Prerequisites: Strength D+, Agility D+, Constitution D+]

[Remarks:Your knowledge of polearms transcends the commoners' logic!]

...

[Skill Sharp Weapon, Polearm level increased, related attributes increase…]

[Strength has reached the capped limit, Unable to level up any further]

[Agility B- → B]

[Constitution B- → B]

...

[Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art, Master to Pro, cost 28,000 Points, 4 Golden Skill Points. Yes/No?]

"Yes!"

[Name: Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Arts (Pro)]

[Related Attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution, Spirit, Intuition]

[Skill Type: Ancillary]

[Effects: You know how to utilize the special stances, movements and breathing techniques, All Attributes +4 (+1 Basic level, +1 Entry level, +1 Master level, +1 Pro level)]

[Knight's Focus: Everyone has their own specialty, but not everyone can persevere; Spirit +2; Knight's Persistence: When you persist on something, you are willing to sacrifice yourself to succeed; Ignite 200 HP to +2 level in Spirit, 1 second duration, cooldown: none]

[Consumes: Stamina]

[Prerequisites: Strength D-, Agility D-, Constitution D-, Spirit D-, Intuition D-]

[Remarks: This was the Knights of Dawn entry course, but it will affect other related skills!]

...

[Skill Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art level increased, related attributes increase…]

[Strength B → B+]

[Agility B → B+]

[Constitution B → B+]

[Spirit B+ → A (Knight's Focus +10]

[Intuition C+ → B-]

...

After a moment, a warm stream filled Kieran's body, and this time around, the body synchronization process lasted for a full minute.

Kieran didn't forget his previous experience though; when the warm stream appeared in his body, he quickly started practising [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art].

At the same time, outside Kieran's room, shady figures started to gather.

Translator's Thoughts

Dess Dess

filler -_- boo