The Devil's Cage

[Points: 180,000; Skill Points: 45; Golden Skill Points: 7; Golden Attribute Points: 7]

Kieran glanced over his skill tab and shifted his attention to his points tab.

He was calculating in heart how much the cost would be of leveling a couple of skills.

Though before that, he had to ask Lawless a question that has been troubling him for a long time.

"You know anything about character template limits?" Kieran asked directly.

With his relationship with Lawless, there was no need to further conceal anything.

"You’ve finally reached this level!"

Lawless didn’t answer directly but after a good look at Kieran only then did he expressed his astonishment.

Then, silence struck.

It wasn’t because Lawless needed the time to think or conclude his words, it was his bad habits acting up again.

He was waiting for Kieran to press the question but Kieran, on the other hand, knew perfectly how to deal with Lawless.

Kieran waited patiently since he didn’t want to complicate a simple topic.

After around three to four minutes, Lawless finally gave up.

"Hey! At least try to play along! If you keep quiet like this, I can’t feel a sense of achievement!" Lawless grunted in dissatisfaction.

"Play along?"

"So me finally reaching this level was shocking to you? You should know how astonishing my gifts can be and why are you shocked by it now? Do you regret letting me go the last time? Or has your heart turned weak? Becoming something that doesn’t fit your identity and position anymore?"

Kieran touched his chin and said it without any expression on his face.

"Hey hey my friend! I am asking you to play along, not let your imagination run wild, making me look like an antagonist, some dungeon last boss!" Lawless rolled his eyes at Kieran’s bullsh*t.

While feeling Kieran’s ridiculing manner, Lawless took another few puffs of his cigar and gave Kieran a middle finger.

"Character template limits are something every player will eventually come across as their attributes grow higher. Though due to many different circumstances, some happen earlier, some later. In most of the players’ eye, a player can finally be considered as a veteran once they hit the character template limit!"

"Of course there are also some that happen following your dungeon entry number! Many players argued over the matter at first but soon, everyone started to lean on the former but still keeping the theory of dungeon entry number in reserve, even though it didn’t have the most crucial point."

"Talent! When you’ve set your main attribute, secondary attribute and border attribute, talents will appear. The talents will be based on your attributes, skills and titles and provide you with corresponding benefits. For many veterans out there, talents are where their lives changed, it is also a chance for your strength to undergo another qualitative enhancement, but in order to open this talent, the process is not easy. Every player has to go through an extra dungeon run and the difficulty of the dungeon will be related to the player’s attribute maximum limit!"

"Meaning the higher your attributes are, the harder for you to open your talents, especially during talent dungeons. There isn’t the so-called failed your main mission and pay the penalty, once you fail, you will die right away! So, a lower maximum limit of your attributes is not exactly a bad thing!" Lawless explained to Kieran while looking at him seriously.

He could tell even through a layer of system blur, Kieran was giving a ridiculing smile.

"But surely it will be related to your talents right? What exactly is talent and how strong or weak it is? Somehow it must be related to the maximum limit of your attribute right? Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a powerhouse like the Witch roaming in the game back in the days!"

Kieran wasn’t affected by Lawless’s explanation but instead, his sharp senses picked up the crucial point from his words.

"I know I can’t scare you off! Yes, talents are not only related to your attribute maximum limits but also your skills. Though it was not verified most of the players believed it, so many of the players who completed their talent dungeon mission will try their best to level up their skills to the maximum." Lawless added.

"Skills eh?" Kieran unconsciously thought of [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art].

If what the theory Lawless said was true, what kind of talents would Kieran have if he has [Knights of Dawn Body Tempering Art] with him?

Or in simpler words, what kind of talents will he have when he raised ALL his attributes to the limit?

Kieran then spilled his thoughts out naturally to Lawless.

"Please don’t ever try it! Other than death, you’ll get nothing! There are quite a number of players who tried it, but in the end, none of them made it out alive. Some of them are even as lucky as you, not lacking in strength and power and having aces that you couldn’t even have imagined yet none of them escaped the cruel fate!"

Lawless’s face changed and halted Kieran’s thought when he heard it.

"Then... Most of the players will only choose a single maximum limit attribute?" Kieran asked.

Lawless went quiet instantly.

Facts spoke louder than empty words and Lawless wouldn’t lie to Kieran.

A single maximum limit attribute was what the most players chose but some chose the other path: maxing out everything.

Brave souls were never in short supply at any time, anywhere. One might consider them as risk takers as well, given that the risk bore enough benefits.

In a certain aspect, Kieran could also be categorized as a risk taker but Lawless knew Kieran wasn’t a truly courageous person by nature, but Kieran was not a person who would give up easily and with sufficient benefits waiting in the end...

Lawless knew he couldn’t have talked Kieran out of it, so he spoke after giving it some thought.

"Fine! I know I couldn’t have talked you out of this but I have to remind you, you better be prepared before opening the talent dungeon mission. It doesn’t have a cooldown, to begin with, once you set your main, secondary and border attributes, it will come to you automatically! This point did trick a lot of players back in the days." Lawless said.

Kieran nodded, expressing his understanding. He then asked out of curiosity.

"So how many maximum limit attributes does the Witch has?"

"I don’t know but at least more than three. Those Supernova fellas who are only second to the Witch, three to four of them has already maxed out three attributes and opened up some incredible powerful talents. Since the Witch is above them, surely she wouldn’t be lower than that number, but of course it might also related to her skills as well."

"Ahhh, that woman is too cryptic to talk about, common sense couldn’t even apply to her, we’re even making up theories about her now. Even until now, I’m still unable to get a grasp of what kind of power system the Witch had. She seemed to be capable of anything and able to show up in anywhere, anytime! The time when she is in the game, is the time that I had the least sense of security in my life, and also the time that the players from the same period wouldn’t want to remember."

Lawless shook his head.

Kieran didn’t object to Lawless’s words. Although he came in after that period of time, the rumors that passed down through word of mouth were enough for Kieran to paint a picture of what kind of person was the Witch.

Unparalleled strength, suppressing all with sheer force. Unpredictable emotions and killed at will.

Though regardless of what kind of comments the players had about her, marks of her existence had been branded throughout the beginning of the era of the underground game. No matter when a player entered the game, they couldn’t have missed her.

"Regardless of good and evil, regardless of justice or injustice, all that matters is strength..."

Kieran muttered as if his soul as left him.

His heart has a slight feeling of admiration.

Not the admiration of how the Witch worked but the freedom that she had.

In order obtained such freedom, there was only one path that he could go.

"Power!" Kieran took in a deep breath and started to proceed with his initial plans, enhancing his skills.