The Devil’s Cage

Kieran heard the busy tone from the communicator.

Advance Rank Intuition allowed him to expand his hearing range to an unimaginable limit as well as increased his sensitivity for capturing noise or smell.

Conventional means could not fool Kieran’s Intuition, let alone when the communicator sounded without cover and in an open space.

However, Kieran didn’t stop.

The three professors related to Index of Eat were all targets. Derton was already dead, and if he had not intervened and saved Tyrese, the professor would have been the second. Now, Eiderburgh going missing hit Kieran like an alarm clock.

There were some forces behind the scenes taking out anyone who was related to the Index of Eat.

And he would also be on that list.

Speaking from a particular aspect, Kieran was the fuse that ignited all this: he had been the one to bring the secretive Index of Eat up to the public eyes.

Considering the level of hatred, Kieran should be the most despised of them all.

The mastermind’s plan had been brewing in the dark for a long time, and Kieran had accidentally stepped into it. The mastermind must be eager to tear him apart!

As Kieran thought of this particular point, so did Tyrese.

Tyrese brought Senile and gave chase to Kieran.

“2567, wait! You are in danger now,” Tyrese said in a heavy expression.

“Em. So you should go look for Eiderburgh,” Kieran said as he walked around the two of them and headed back to his dorm.

The mastermind should have known Tyrese survived the blast.

Given such circumstances, as long as Eiderburgh did not die on the spot, he would not be in much danger. The mastermind still needed to use Eiderburgh as bait in order to distract Tyrese. The optimal case would be to lure Tyrese completely away from Kieran.

“But you…”

“Don’t worry, find those guys quick. I am much safer than you think,” Kieran waved his hand as he walked away.

“Professor?” Senile looked at Tyrese after Kieran went out of sight.

Tyrese sighed again.

Although he could forcefully ensure Kieran’s safety, forcing people wasn’t his style. However, he simply couldn’t just leave Kieran alone.

“Bring a group of guards and stay around 2567 at all times. I’ll be right back,” Tyrese said after some thoughts.

“Understood. Please be careful,” Senile nodded.

“Em. I’ll grant you the authority to contact the principal in desperate situations directly, but remember, it must be utterly desperate like your life and death depends on it!” Tyrese reminded.

“It’s already down to this?” Senile shivered and looked at Tyrese in shock.

The principal was the highest authority in E Block of Theorate. While Senile was still a student, the principal was already in power as the overseer of E Block, and even after Senile had become a teacher with a particular reputation, he had only seen the principal twice in his life.

The first was when the Dark Eaters invaded E Block, and the other time was the anomaly in the Forbidden Area.

Every time was a life and death situation where the well-being of the whole school was on the line.

“Hope this is not, but…”

Tyrese didn’t say anything else.

He could never be too careful or overestimate an enemy who managed to kill Derton in a single blow and caused Eiderburgh to go missing.

…

When Kieran safely returned to his dorm, Standler was waiting in front of the door.

When Standler saw Kieran, he, as the First Seat’s aide, walked over with a bitter smile, “I know the First Seat has a certain authority, but skipping class on the first day? The teachers really aren’t pleased with you.” Standler then took out a little notebook, “Here, this is your homework. I’ve listed out the main points.”

Kieran took it and flipped it over, the handwriting in the notebook was impeccable.

Cooking Utensils History Class: copy down all of the cooking utensils used during the Second Popular Period.

Practical Ingredient Class: plantation visit next Monday.

Tutorial: next weekend, the 3rd year will tutor the freshmen in actual battle.

The points were all taken down in great detail. Kieran glanced over the contents and closed the notebook.

“Got it,” he said and walked to his room.

He had zero intentions of inviting Standler inside, and the aide seemed to have become used to the weird behavior of the First Seat. Standler shrugged helplessly, but just as Kieran pushed open his door, cold killer intents flashed over Standler’s eyes, and he thrust his hand towards Kieran’s back.

It should have been the hand of a human, and yet it was unusually sharp like a blade, glaring coldly under the corridor light. It was exceptionally honed.

Huu!

As the air-breaking sound came, Standler’s fingers were almost at Kieran’s back, almost.

Almost and did were different, and such a difference was like that between heaven and earth.

Bang!

A loud thud later, the attacker who so closely resembled Standler looked down at his chest: a long rapier pierced his body.

He had no idea when the rapier had appeared; there wasn’t any whistle, and it was unusually sharp as well. It was much sharper than his hand, in which he prided himself so much.

“You think you…”

Pak!

His heart had been stabbed, and he started to shout like a loser behind Kieran. Kieran, however, had no interest in whatever the man had to say.

[Dandelion Pierce] flashed, and the shouts ended abruptly.

A green glowing item appeared on the man’s body, Kieran picked it up.

[Name: Sil Table Knife]

[Type: Wonder Item]

[Rarity: Magic]

[Attack: Common]

[Attribute: Cut]

[Effect: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark; It is the basic weapon or tableware of the Sil Sect]

…

[Cut: When cutting food, attack level +1, 2 times per day]

…

Kieran wasn’t surprised by the magical tableware at all. Compared to his previous legendary chopsticks and another spice bottle, it was really nothing.

Kieran placed the knife and the spice bottle, which was only as big as half of a grown man’s palm, together.

[Name: Five Flavor Bottle (Replica)]

[Type: Wonder Item]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Attack: None]

[Defense: Strong]

[Attribute: Season]

[Effect: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: This is a replica of the Five Flavor Bottle; some people really like it.]

…

[Season: Turn the lid to the correct area, able to get juices of sweet, bitter, sour, spicy, and salty. 3 times per day]

…

Kieran glanced over the description of [Five Flavor Bottle (Replica)] and carefully checked the body. After making sure he hadn’t missed anything the first time, he walked towards the stairs beside the corridor.

An almost naked Standler laid there, knocked out cold.

Kieran looked at the unconscious Standler, and he raised his foot over to the neck without a second thought.

Kak!

A distinct bone-cracking noise later, the neck was snapped. The seemingly unconscious man widened his eyes in shock. The imposter did not understand how he could possibly have been discovered.

The disguise technique of them both should have been flawless, and together with their teamwork, even if someone had been able to dodge the first ambush, they would have lowered their guard at the second ambush.

Their combined trickery had fooled a lot of famous people, so how could a mere First Seat see through them?

Until death, the imposter widened his eyes in shock, as if he was seeking answers, but it was his destiny to die a restless death.

Kieran picked up a fork that had formed on top of his body before searching for other possible clues in the area.

He would not tell the imposter that traces left behind were very hard to alter even if the imposter changed his face. Even more so, under Transcendence [Tracking], all the hidden traces were revealed to Kieran’s eyes, and it was too easy for him to tell them apart.

[Name: Sil Fork]

[Type: Wonder Item]

[Rarity: Magic]

[Attack: Common]

[Attribute: Poke]

[Effect: Aroma Lock]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark; It is the basic weapon or tableware of the Sil Sect]

…

[Poke: When poking food, attack level +1, 2 times per day]

…

[Aroma Lock: When you have Sil Table Knife and Sil Fork, you can trigger this effect. The fork and knife will lock the aroma of any food it touches until you finish your meal (Duration no longer than 1 hour), 1 time per day]

…

“Not too bad.” Kieran, who had failed to get any more clues in the area, looked at the triggered effect, and he curled his lips into a grin.

He wasn’t surprised. Drop items could trigger a hidden effect when used together. Maybe it was almost useless to others since the effect was only viable to food, but it was quite decent in Kieran’s point of view.

The most concerning point was the drop rates of items and equipment in this dungeon world.

It was apparent that as the difficulty lowered, the drop rates surged as well.

If he were in his normal difficulty, this kind of petty criminal wouldn’t have provided him with a loot.

However, the discovery did not change Kieran’s plan at all.

Or rather, when choosing between 10 Magic rank items and 1 Legendary item, as long as Kieran wasn’t out of his mind, he knew what his choice would be—he’d take them all!

Pak!

Kieran snapped his finger, and Bloody Mary appeared behind him. The smart Frost Wolf also ran out of his dorm.

“I’ll leave this to you guys,” Kieran said.

“It’s my pleasure to be of service.”

Bloody Mary, who was wearing an ordinary student’s face, bowed slightly before it went off with Frost Wolf to pursue the potential attackers.

Three minutes after Bloody Mary and Frost Wolf left, Senile brought a group of guards to the student dorm.

The freshmen, alarmed by the messy footsteps, stuck their head out their doors cowardly, trying to see what had happened; the brave ones came out directly, but when they saw the body in the corridor, their faces changed and shrunk back.

Although they had successfully entered Theorate, they were still freshmen and hadn’t been through the test of blood and fire. They were still nothing but rookies.

Senile couldn’t help but shake his head at the freshmen’s reaction, but right after the corridor, when he saw Kieran with his ever calm face, his face began to twitch.

Kieran, a freshman who behaved and acted nothing like one. His sharp and precise means shook even a teacher like Senile and caused him to sweat, let alone mere students.

Again, Senile’s curiosity at Kieran rose, but similar to the last time, he was smart enough to suppress it.

No one liked their secrets to be pried open, not Senile, and definitely not Kieran.

However, carrying out standard procedures was a different story.

“What happened just now, 2567?” Senile asked, “The dorm’s surveillance camera has been destroyed. I need you to tell me what happened.”

“When I return to my dorm…”

After Kieran briefly explained the situation, the guards that had been searching the entire building finally found Standler, almost naked, at the Stairs to the upper floor.

Fortunately for him, other than having been knocked out, Standler hadn’t suffered any injuries.

Standler was escorted back to his room, and Senile started to arrange the guards.

“Split into three groups of six, guard the gate and the roof, and set up two fixed outposts in the perimeter. Two more of you will patrol the premise.”

Kieran didn’t think Senile’s arrangement would be any use in the upcoming matters. Still, he did not object to it either because the increased security would filter out a significant number of goons that weren’t worthy of his time.

“From today onwards, Leonard and I will be in the dorm office 24 hours a day in shifts. The surveillance will be fixed before the morning, and the blind spots will be removed. Remember to contact me if you notice anything unusual,” Senile said in a serious tone before handing Kieran a communicator.

The communicator was Theorate’s special item. It was similar to a smartphone but had a lot more functions. It could even be considered as a representation of its owner.

“This is the communicator Professor Tyrese promised you. You might be the first in recent years to get your own communicator this fast among the freshmen. Though, I would assume even if the other students had the chance to mimic your way of getting your hands on a communicator, they would not do it either. Remember to bind it with your school badge.”

Senile then checked on the body covered with the white cloth.

As Kieran bound his school badge with the communicator, Senile cried out in shock after removing the disguise from the imposter.

“Randel?!”

As if Senile couldn’t believe his eyes, he checked the body meticulously before standing up with a heavy look and going to the other body.

After checking both bodies, Senile looked gloomier than ever.

“Things are much more complicated than expected! Do you know who they are…”

“Sil Sect?” Kieran interrupted Senile.

“How did you…right, you have your own information source. It’s not all that surprising that you’ve heard of Sil Sect, but I bet you did not expect them to make a move against you, eh?”

With the Index of Eat as a reference, although Kieran was still a freshman, no one treated him as one.

More theories and guesses popped up, and a lot of people started to suspect Kieran was from a secretive sect or family.

Senile shared similar thoughts. He sized Kieran up and said in utter seriousness, “What are you going to do now? Oh wait, on second thought, I don’t want to know. But let me warn you, don’t involve the others in the school in this!”

Kieran fell into deep thoughts at Senile’s warning.

It seemed like the intervention of sects and family in Theorate’s matters were worse than he had imagined. It was so severe that Senile, the school’s teacher, only gave him a verbal warning rather than taking other actual actions.

Kieran was almost sure that had he done something wrong or worse, no severe consequences would follow if he really was from one of those sects or families.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t, but the two imposters that he had just killed were.

On top of that, in the foreseeable days, he would be killing even more from those sects and families.

“I’m really looking forward to this!”