The Devil's Cage

On top the fire that was kept burning for three days, there were last two cans of beef soup from Schmidt"s collection of rations.

Schmidt seemed to be in a good mood since they were hours away from completing the second trial.

Although Kieran kept quiet for the past three days which caused Schmidt to spend his time in boredom, he treated it as a long overdue vacation since there was nothing there to bother him,

He was humming an unknown melody while adding branches to the fire and adjusting the canned beef soup.

For Schmidt, the biggest gains that he got from the past three days was definitely understanding the essence of grilling a canned soup.

The adorable chief officer was already at the point that he knew what was the best angle to heat the soup to produce a best flavour and bring out savoury texture from the beef inside, and one would have to admit, the results were outstanding.

"Smells nice!" Kieran opened his eyes and said with a smile.

"How was it?" Schmidt asked directly.

Since Schmidt had involved himself in the mystical realm, he eventually knew what Kieran was doing for the past three days without uttering a word. With their relations.h.i.+p, Schmidt didn"t feel it was over or awkward to ask.

"Better than I imagined!" Kieran answered. He was being honest.

Originally, when Kieran was able to save around 10,000 Points the first night, he thought it was quite an incredible amount but still his expectations were still exceeded as he entered the practice state for a longer period of time. The results were even better than his initial expectations.

[Through practicing, Grand Master level Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art acquired a significant amount of experience, the leveling cost decreased by 79500…]

[Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art, Grand Master to Musou, cost 0 Points, 9 Golden Skill Points. Yes/No?]

Numbers were the best facts. When the notifications popped up in his vision, he couldn"t help but grin happily.

He saved around 80,000 Points through practicing; it was not a small amount even to Kieran. Even more so, he did it within a mere three days period.

"If I had even more time… Maybe I can also decrease the required number of Golden Skill Points!"

Kieran looked at the unchanged Golden Skill Points requirement and couldn"t help but sigh.

Though, he quickly replaced the depressing thought with a self-mocking smile.

Greed was part of human nature. Unless one can become a saint that has no urge or desire, it will always exist in one"s heart.

In order to restrain one"s greed in the most effective way possible, other than having greater temptation to cover the first, all that was left was to face greed directly in the face.

With the experience from the Creature of Desire and the cardinal sins, Kieran chose to face his devilish desires and emotions heads on.

It was not just only to restraint himself but also because of the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art].

When Kieran found out that he could better enter the practice state on the island, he was pondering the question of what caused it.

Eventually, his thoughts led him to the uniqueness of the island and how it affected its inhabitants deepest, darkness emotions and it was also the only part that the island was different than the other places.

Meanwhile, Kieran too had a deeper understanding of [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art].

The understanding was not only about the effects that the skill granted but also the origins of the skill itself, since he was able to explore the deepest part of the skill.

"Church of Dawn was not a radical religious sect back in the days. Quite the opposite, they lived a simple life. Even during festivals or celebrations, all they did was alter their meals a bit. The living style was similar to the dervish"s traditions. When the Church of Dawn was starting to become known to the public, only the traditions were ditched."

"At the same time, it was also the turning point for the Church of Dawn. It was the beginning of their downfall. The scrumptious materialistic life and temptations of wealth started to corrupt the people within the church, even the knights that were protecting the church were no exception. They weren"t strong enough to hold their thoughts together under all sorts of negative emotions, causing the [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] to slip into a stagnant state. Even more so since it caused some unpredictable side effects!"

"When the firearm revolution started, that was the reason for the knights being unable to withstand their firepower. Otherwise, even with the rise of firearms, if there were more knights like Guntherson to protect their church, they wouldn"t even need that many. A small squad of formidable knights was enough to alter the tides of the battlefield. In terms of ambus.h.i.+ng, a.s.sa.s.sinating, every aspect was fearful to the enemies!"

Kieran"s guesses in his heart made him sigh.

Although they were all uneducated guesses, he was almost sure they were the true recollection of events.

Let aside the sad end of being affected by the negative emotions, which Kieran had witnessed tons of similar cases, Guntherson the old knight was the best example of a tradition well kept.

Other than his extremely gifted sense, the dervish kind of lifestyle might be the true reason for his [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] to reach Musou level.

"Able to hold one"s heart before the face of temptations? As expected from the body tempering art that was named after the knights! But what about Dawn? What does it mean? The light after darkness? Does it represent hope, warmth?" Kieran wondered.

He didn"t forget the canned soup on the fire, with his [Secondary Elemental Damage Resist] body, he easily neglected the heated can and picked up the meal from the fire, giving one to Schmidt and himself.

"Tastes nice!" Kieran praised after giving it a taste. It was not some courteous remarks, he was speaking his mind.

In fact, since every meal was canned beef soup, Kieran could tell the difference easily. It was much better towards the end.

"Of course! When I retire, I wanted to open a restaurant, selling nothing but grilled canned soup!" Schmidt said with a delightful smile.

"I think… It will be out of business the day it opened! You need to cherish your pension money!"

Kieran advised with a serious manner. It was the real advice that came from his tongue after comparing it with the previously owned Musou level [Cooking].

With Schmidt"s current cooking, it might be better for him to treat it as a joke since it might very well closed down the day it opened.

"I"ll try to grind my skills more!" Schmidt however sounded very confident.

Then he saw Kieran gobbled down the soup, swallowing the last piece of beef and put the empty can aside in a hurry.

Schmidt"s understanding of Kieran made him know that something was up, he reacted to it quickly by reaching to his firearms and grenades aside.

"Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds?" Schmidt pointed at the door.

"The trial is going to end soon, surely they will take the final risk. The fact that they were able to hold it to the very last moment was already out of my expectations. It seems like they are able to form an accord even under the influence of the island. Is there someone with powerful capabilities that gathered them together?"

Kieran then picked up [Arrogant Word] and his backpack before pus.h.i.+ng the door open.

Outside, there were over thirty of the trial-goers standing in a scattered formation, ready to confront Kieran.

The duo that led the group was standing at the farthest point possible.

Kieran laughed when he saw the scene. No doubt the trial-goers were scared by [Reverse Scar]"s lightning but after using the relic once, if it was possible, Kieran wouldn"t wanted to use it again.

It was just the normal level of [Whisper of Evil] and to Kieran"s surprise, it shared the same properties as [Creature of Desire] by not leaving any spoils of war behind after killing an enemy.

The attribute made Kieran have an unusual understanding about Black h.e.l.l Banning and some of the reasons behind his actions.

Possessing [Reverse Scar] under normal circ.u.mstances and never even provided proper spoils of war after battle but Banning could still reach the level he was at. It was very impressive to Kieran.

Though. Kieran wasn"t Banning to begin with. Since he was a lone wolf and decided to proceed as he was, he has much more means to deal with the situation beforehand.