The Devil’s Cage

It didn’t take long for Lawless to reply.

“2,000 Points, 1 Skill Point!”

It was an ideal price for Kieran. Although it might fluctuate in the future, it would not be by a lot. After doing business with Lawless a couple of times, Kieran was able to trust him, although not completely.

His previous experience in trusting people had made him not trust others easily.

“What about embedded?” Kieran asked.

“If it were embedded, it would cost about 500 to 1,000 Points. 1,000 Points would be considered a success.”

Lawless replied in an instant. It seemed like he had sufficient knowledge on embedded jewelry.

“Wanna sell it? Jewels sell for a good price among veterans,” he told Kieran.

“Let me think about it,” Kieran replied. He didn’t want to shun him, he truly needed to consider it.

He glanced at his character window.

[Points: 12,200]

[Skill Points: 5]

[Golden Skill Points: 1]

[Golden Attribute Points: 1]

The SS rating had earned Kieran more than 10,000 Points again, and his almost depleted Skill Points had also recovered to a considerable level.

The Golden Skill and Attribute Points also made him excited.

The former was related to the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Arts], but the latter could instantly rank up any of his attributes.

What was even better, was that it could be used straightaway in the dungeons. He wouldn’t need to access it through the [Shop].

Such rewards would have seemed luxurious to someone else, but for Kieran they were still not enough.

[Hand-to-hand Combat (Master→Pro), costs 4,000 Points, 2 Skill Points, Yes/No?]

[Firearm Weapon (Light Firearm) (Master→Pro), costs 3,000 Points, 2 Skill Points, Yes/No?]

[Tracking (Master→Pro), costs 6,000 Points, 4 Skill Points, Yes/No?]

[Sharp Weapon (Dagger) (Master→Pro), costs 3,000 Points, 2 Skill Points, Yes/No?]

[Evading (Master→Pro), costs 3,500 Points, 2 Skill Points, Yes/No?]

[Undercover (Master→Pro), costs 3,500 Points, 2 Skill Points, Yes/No?]

[Medical Treatment (Master→Pro), costs 1,500, 2 Skill Points, Yes/No?]

[Medical and Medicinal Knowledge (Master→Pro), costs 3,000 Points, 2 Skill Points, Yes/No?]

…

If Kieran wanted to level up all his skills, it would cost him 27,500 Points and 18 Skill Points.

Even if he sold the other nine pieces of jewels, he would only get 18,000 Points and 9 Skill Points. If he added those to the 12,200 Points and 5 Skill Points that he already had, he would have a total of 30,200 Points and 14 Skill Points.

Although the Points would be sufficient, the Skill Points would not be enough.

Still, that was not all. Kieran had learned quite a few new skills in the dungeon as well.

His [Lockpicking] and [Explosive Weapons (Explosion)] skills were only at basic level, and to level them up to Master Level would cost him 2,400 Points and 2 Skill Points.

The [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Arts] was already a core skill for Kieran after he had experienced its magnificent effect, and The [Barsical Kick] had had outstanding results when used against Troot. He had better level them up as well.

[Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Arts, (Basic→Entry), Received lecture from skill instructor, cost dropped to 2,500 Points, 1 Golden Skill Point, Yes/No?]

[Barsical Kick, (Basic→Entry), costs 3,000 Points, 2 Skill Points]

The two skills required 5,500 Points and 2 Skill Points, plus one Golden Skill Point.

Moreso, [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Arts] was already discounted because of Guntherson’s lecture. If Kieran had not been given that lecture, he could only imagine how big the cost might have been. It might even have cost more than one Golden Skill Point.

“27,500 Points and 18 Skill Points plus 2,400 Points and 2 Skill Points, plus another 5,500 Points and 2 Skill Points… The total is 35,400 Points and 22 Skill Points!”

After a simple calculation, Kieran could not help but sigh at the cost. He only had 30,200 Points and 14 Skill Points, and the amount that he needed was really high.

He looked at the only cracked jewel among the bunch. He believed that if he sold it, it would definitely lighten his burden.

But was it really worth it? He was still having second thoughts.

“Jewels sell for a good price among the veterans!”

Lawless’ words lingered on Kieran’s mind.

Maybe the veterans needed the jewels to power up in order to face even stronger monsters, like the colossal Crocodile Primus.

The skills on the crocodile’s body and the damage reduction had been ridiculous. Normal damaging methods had not worked against it.

However, the jewel might have been able to change that. If Kieran had embedded it onto a firearm, given enough time, he might have been able to take out Primus using his skills and he wouldn’t have had to escape from the mouth of death and barely make it out, like he just had.

“No, I can’t sell it!”

After thinking about it, he decided to keep it for himself.

It was only the first time he had entered a dungeon, and he had already encountered a monster like Primus. Taking into account that the dungeons increased in difficulty, if the second dungeon he entered also hid a monster, it would definitely be more dangerous than Primus.

Then his only option would be to give up any Sub Missions and the Title Mission and just complete the Main Mission.

For Kieran that was not even an option. He had set his new goal and he was not about to give up on the advantages that he had. He needed to expand his advantages gradually as he progressed through the game. That was the right way to reach his goal.

“If I keep this cracked jewel, I’ll need a weapon that it can be embedded on. The [Viper-M1] is not bad, but firearms might be restricted based on the timeline of each dungeon. The increase in reloading time would not allow the jewel’s potential to be realized. I think I’ll need a faster weapon to make use of the jewel’s effect.”

“In that case, it would be either a dagger or gauntlet.”

“Still, I do not have any suitable dagger or gauntlet…”

“If I were to get some, the rarity would have to be at least [Great] and that would cost at least 1,000 Points. Plus, the embedding process would cost another 1,000 Points, so that would be a total of 2,000 Points!”

“I still have the [Basic Medicine Crafting Platform] to use, but that would cost me another 8,000 Points…”

After giving it some thought, he realized the hole in his budget had gotten deeper. In order to fill such a deep hole, he would need to broaden his sources of income and reduce his expenses. To do that, he would need to enter another dungeon.

However, the single player dungeon would be in cooldown for a week.

As for entering a team player dungeon? Kieran would have to pass.

If a consistent team or some kind of contract existed, entering a team dungeon would be the best choice. Kieran was a lone wolf by nature though, so it would most likely hinder his progress and be the worst choice he had ever made.

Without a consistent team or contract, the players who entered the dungeon together would be much more dangerous than the NPCs.

No dungeon was peaceful, and Player Killing (PK) would definitely start occurring once there were enough benefits or rewards. No one would mind it either. Not even Kieran himself. Once he thought about the fact that he would need to both focus on the mission and beware of his own team members, he could not help but shake his head. It was definitely not a good option for him.

Since he had extreme advantages over other equal ranking players, no one could guarantee what would happen if they got jealous.

Jealousy could end up in betrayal.

If the previous dungeon had been a team dungeon, Kieran’s team members might have gotten jealous of his achievements and chosen to side with Duke Wayne.

The results would be unimaginable.

That was why a team dungeon had never crossed his mind before.

Since the cooldown would last a week, and Kieran had no intention of entering a team dungeon, increasing his sources of income would be impossible for the time being.

All Kieran was left with was limiting his expenses.

He looked at his skills again. He would need to pick the skills that he could utilize the most based on his strength. Considering that he could not level everything up, this was the most sensible choice.

As for [Primus Arm]?

If he were to sell it, everything would be solved in the blink of an eye. He might even have leftover points. However, that thought had never crossed his mind either.

Selling [Primus Arm] would be like killing the hen in favor of the eggs. Kieran knew what he wanted for the future, and he was not about to do something as stupid.

He had already selected the skills that he would level up.