The Devil’s Cage

The Harvest Inn was as merry as usual.

Just when Kieran, Lawless, and Starbeck stepped into the establishment, cheers from the crowd sounded.

“Congratulation, 2567!”

“Welcome to the veteran line!”

“Yeah, welcome man!”

Hanses and Coll were standing side-by-side, Ramont was standing next to them both while Raven was further away. Kieran even saw the Blood Alliance’s boss, Allen.

Allen was sitting in the corner of the inn, toasting a cup at Kieran.

Kieran nodded to reply to him and everyone else, then he glanced over the other unfamiliar players that he had never seen before settling down at the table, neither far nor near to the bar.

Then, Kieran brought up the screenshots for the damaged [Fighter’s Bandage], [Interrogator’s Knife], [Dark Venom Dagger], [Nimble Boots] and [Calga’s Crush].

[Dandelion Pierce], [Ourin’s Glare], [Orinder Soft Mail] and the two-handed greatsword [Elmerius Sword] together with the [Ring of Protection] and the [Ring of Blessing] were kept.

Keeping [Dandelion Pierce] was because Kieran was purely attracted by the word “ominous”, while [Ourin’s Glare] was because of the Spirit attribute’s authentication.

[Ourinder Soft Mail] and [Elmerius Sword] though?

The former provided Kieran extra layer of defense and the latter would provide various styles of attacking patterns in combination with [Sharp Weapon, Dual Wield Heavy Arms].

Kieran was unwilling to let go of both of them.

As for the remaining [Ring of Protection] and [Ring of Blessing], although they were purely consumables, possessing decent effects, they were enough for Kieran to use them on a rainy day.

Despite keeping most of the good stuff to himself, when Kieran brought up the screenshots, it still attracted quite a bit of attention from the lone wolf players, especially those unfamiliar ones as they gathered around even more.

Kieran didn’t stay at his seat but went over to Lawless.

“They’re the newcomers?” Kieran’s words sounded a little surprised.

Although Kieran wasn’t really paying attention to the newcomers of the underground game, occasionally he would surf the forums for news and he knew the newcomers came in a limited number and most of them would be attracted to the guilds, only less than a handful of them would end up being lone wolves.

“Mm. There’s a spike in new players in the game in the recent two weeks. People are saying that a garage loaded with the memory cards of the underground game was raided and quickly flowed to the black market. But from what I know, that garage has uncountable ties with that bastard Broker.” Lawless said while drinking his [Margarita].

“Which means, all of this is Broker’s handy work? He’s not afraid of being targeted by the Union authorities?” Kieran frowned.

Based on his knowledge, Broker shouldn’t be so careless, unless…

There was someone within the authorities that helped Broker to cover it up!

Kieran’s heart skipped a beat.

It wasn’t by any means good news since Broker was his enemy. It wasn’t until that very moment that Kieran realized he had never thought of the influence Broker had in the real world.

Judging from the forces he ran in the underground game, it wasn’t hard for Broker to pull it off and it might be even easier because of the existence of contracts and sorts.

All Broker needed was a slightly proper “target”.

Lawless who was staring at Kieran shook his glass and laughed.

“2567, you are thinking too much! Broker might have a certain level of influence but it is also very limited. I am very sure that since you entered the game, other than the necessary offline time, you’ve never contacted others. If you do, you will notice the underground game has its own extra rules.”

“First, you are not allowed to reveal the game details to people other than the players on your own initiative!”

“Second, you are not allowed to force others into the game!”

“Third, you are not allowed to set normal conditions or contracted conditions that will affect the real world’s matters other than the currency!”

Lawless put up three fingers and continued with a smile, “In fact, I wished that bastard Broker would really do something that would affect the real world and not just spend some money to bribe rats to make shady deals in the dark,” Lawless spat aside disdainfully as he said.

Though when he saw Rachel coming over, Lawless awkwardly moved his feet and wiped away the spit unnoticed.

“What will happen if the rules are broken?” Kieran followed up with his question after Lawless had finished his awkward actions.

“Different levels of punishment will happen based on different levels of rules. The most severe punishment is direct death from accidents and the lesser one would be decrement of Points and Skill Points but most of them would be dungeon difficulty increases.”

“Believe me, those punishments of difficulty increases are definitely not anything good, at least for the couple of guys that I knew it didn’t end well.” Lawless’ tone suddenly became serious.

“Those couple of guys are the one who privately exposed the underground game’s content?” Kieran immediately had guesses who were the few that Lawless mentioned.

“Yup. That “couple” of them, none of them lasted till the next dungeon. A bunch of naive bastards. I must say, they really thought the Union authorities could save them but in the end… The news that they leaked only circulated around a small area and was treated as urban myths, it didn’t turn out like what they expected.”

“But, so what if everyone knew? The power that fills the underground game is not something those guys we see on TV can compete with.” Lawless said before he drained the glass in his hand.

Kieran noticed Lawless had gone through emotional changes because of the topic.

“Oh well, these talks really don’t benefit me much since I never contacted others. So, what other things that I should pay attention to?” Kieran then shifted the topic.

“Remember to drink less when you go offline and if you have a habit of sleep talking, better tape your mouth before you sleep.” Lawless then signaled Rachel for a second drink.

Rachel looked at Lawless, slowly saying, “The wine money that “someone” owed me is enough to sell the guy ten times and over right?”

Lawless was instantly frozen.

“That “someone” still says he will work here to pay the tab right?” Lawless then laughed forcefully.

“That “someone” didn’t forget it right?”

Lawless shook his head repeatedly.

“Then why are you still sitting there? Get your ass up and start serving customers!”

Lawless quickly took the menu on the bar table and flew over to the customers in the inn.

Kieran was staring at Lawless all the while and until he noticed Lawless didn’t react strangely, he turned to Rachel.

“My treat!”

A faint golden [Honey Wine] was placed in front of Keiran.

“Thanks.”

Kieran inspected the wine carefully before taking up the glass since he had similar “experience” before.

Kieran and Rachel might look normal on the outside but they were actually sending private messages to each other.

…

2567: Any solutions to solve the flawed character of Lawless?”

Rachel: You want to help?

2567: Yes.

Rachel: Moved by the silliness that guy showed you?

Rachel: But even if you wanted to help, you must possess a certain level of strength as well.

Rachel: Your current strength is still a little bit lacking.

…

“Oh right, congratulations on advancing to the Advance Ranks!”

The female owner suddenly spoke to Kieran after ending their private message session.

Kieran was stunned at the spot.

Advancing to the Advance Ranks? “I”?