Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

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A golden banner appeared above the heads of Kieran, Altair, Cygnus, Sithik, and Aspaira. It was a tangible notification recording their meritorious efforts! While it didn't appear for all clears, it was present during every First Clear of a dungeon's greatest difficulty.

〈System: Congratulations, you have cleared «Forest of Beast» Very Difficult Mode!〉

At the same time, the party received an abundance of experience that made their levels skyrocket. Apart from Kieran, the other team members leveled up twice!

〈System: You have received 14,000 Experience.〉

Everyone in the party released a sigh of relief while Kieran leaned against a tree powerlessly. During this time, he brought up the Stream Chat interface and read through the comments with a proud yet helpless smile. There was a droning ring in his head accompanied by unusual exhaustion.

Only after beating the dungeon did his inadvertent transgressions dawn upon Kieran. 'I… I triggered a considerable portion of my disorder for my current state. No... Thirty points in Control shouldn't be enough to trigger even the slightest bit of this ability.'

In the past, Kieran could only exhibit signs of his abnormal condition after his Perception and Control surpassed 100. At that point, he already possessed an Intermediate Class. So the fact that he triggered this condition so early on mystified Kieran.

However, doing so also left Kieran uncharacteristically feeble. Even in the past, he didn't feel this tired after hyper-focusing to this extent. This made him speculate if some unusual change had occurred in his condition. Perhaps his timeline wasn't as long as he previously assumed if his peculiar turned out to be true.

'It took 4 years in the past for me to devolve into a hopeless condition, but it may not be safe to assume that it will be the case this time around. Fortunately, I'm not tied down by the claws of the Golden Brigade. I can only pray that said remedies already exist,' Kieran thought.

Whether or not the same experimental drugs were obtainable was a factor Kieran couldn't control. However, he remembered one thing Charles mentioned on his deathbed. There were other individuals afflicted with this unusual brain condition. If that were the case, it couldn't be a coincidence.

There had to be something that made these individuals unique. The more Kieran considered this possibility, the more he wished to unearth anything regarding his history, especially his parents, who admittedly had most of the information regarding their past erased.

Kieran didn't pay this incident any mind in the past because he was too young to think critically and analyze the inconsistencies in the details he was given regarding his parent's fate. Thankfully, it was much different now that he was an adult who had faced enough situations to mature his perspective.

'I'll definitely get to the bottom of our situations. I wonder if it's an isolated event or something that occurred all over the world,' Kieran wondered. Sadly, Kieran also understood prying into extensively hidden matters could produce dangerous situations. If it involved tremendously powerful individuals, he could be putting himself in the crosshairs of retaliation.

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After all, he didn't possess any allies in powerful places. He was genuinely alone as of now. No matter how experienced he may be, one above-average individual wasn't enough to take on a gargantuan presence.

Kieran closed his eyes for a moment before pushing his earlier thoughts to the back of his mind. Instead, he read through the sea of donations and the frantic chat moving at a mile a minute. Most of the chatters commentated on Kieran's fight against Grifear, fangirling over his movements and absurd damage.

There were even some individuals with hilarious responses that Kieran could only hopelessly ignore.

'As long as you're practically throwing money at me, you all can comment anything you like. Just be careful not to get auto-moderated and have your account indefinitely silenced. That'd be a true shame, heh,' Kieran inwardly thought with a small chuckle.

Once the chatter seemed to simmer down, Kieran waved and smirked to the audience. "Until the next time."

Kieran ended the stream, but all those watching were left in an uproar! He finished right before the juiciest part! They wanted to know what loot he received after killing such a hellish boss. The loot undoubtedly had to be outstanding.

Some of the viewers even began to curse Kieran for the way he blue-balled them. In fact, since some of the viewers were the same people waiting outside the dungeon entrance, they caused a raucous before the dungeon gates. Even if they didn't get to see the loot, they'd for sure give the streamer a piece of their mind.

Suddenly, the others ran up to Kieran the moment he ended his stream while eyes full of revelry.

"Bruh, I didn't know you were capable of something like that! You were even faster than Altair towards the end. What the hell was that? Do you have some type of skill that increases your movement speed?" Sithik exclaimed.

He was far too excited by the fact they cleared this dungeon. After all, he had never accomplished such a considerable feat. Additionally, he wasn't significantly invested in the gaming scene. It was simply a hobby that he loved.

"Skill? You could say that's what it was," Kieran nodded faintly. He didn't really speed up at all. His movements gave off the false impression that he moved faster by moving earlier than anticipated.

Earlier, when Grifear dodged his Force Slash, Kieran executed his next move before Grifear's 0.2-second delay had time to pass. So, it appeared Kieran used a skill to become too fast for Grifear to respond.

"Either way… that was- that was just awesome!" Aspaira commented with sparkling eyes. She had her doubts initially, but she was sure of it now. This guy could turn out to be something great. He had the foundations to do so.

But, reality soon struck Aspaira, and her expression deflated when she recalled her shortcomings. 'There's no way he'll be willing to party with someone like me. I'm really just a noob in his eyes.'

"Alright, alright. We still need to go over the Boss's loot," Kieran said before storing his Novice Greatsword right away. He stood up from the tree, but his eyes widened when an even fiercer wave of exhaustion assaulted him.

'What the hell?! This isn't good at all,' Kieran said upon noticing that his Control felt worse than when he first logged into the game. It was a sign that the synchronization rate was experiencing drastic fluctuations. In other words, Kieran had amassed severe mental fatigue.

Nevertheless, Kieran moved forward and browsed through the loot. Seeing as the Boss was a Rare one, it didn't drop any Copper Coins. The lowest currency was Silver Coins, immediately drawing excited gazes from the party. From what they saw, there were at least 25 pieces!

Needless to say, this abundance of loot came from being the first clear of the hardest difficulty, especially the one within the Beginner Area. It increased the dungeon loot by a grand total of 200%!

Additionally, Kieran noticed several rare pieces of equipment. Most were armors, but some of them were weapons. In particular, there was a staff, a cross, a longsword, and twin blades. One item, however, stood out from the rest. It was a necklace with an amber crystalline gem in the form of a bear's claw.

Kieran picked it up, inspecting its quality with glistening eyes.

「 Bear King Pendant (Accessory)

Item Rank: Rare

Item Level: 15

Health +150

Defense +25

Strength +15, Endurance +10, Vitality +5

Item Ability «Spirit of the Bear King» - Activating this skill releases a ferocious growl that affects any enemy inside a 12-meter radius, putting them in a «Dazed» state for 10 seconds. This ability has a cooldown of 120 seconds.

Description: A decently made pendant that harnesses the ferocious spirit of a Bear King. All of its defining traits are perfectly emulated. 」

Although the other equipment was good, nothing compared to the item in his hand. Aside from decent weapons, one accessory made more of a difference than a piece of equipment. Of course, this didn't include equipment that was a part of a set.

Set Equipment generally possessed effects that would only shine when at least 2 of the pieces were collected.

"I'll take this piece of equipment. Anyone against me doing so?" Kieran asked out of respect for the others.

"Are you smoking crack or something? Who the hell would care if you took an item and didn't say anything? In fact, I feel you could take half this loot, and I wouldn't utter a single sound of displeasure," Sithik answered while repeatedly shaking his head.

The others unanimously agreed. Without Kieran's outrageous damage and helping at every turn, they wouldn't even have survived past Hrulhar.

"Alright, you all can divvy up the loot and prepare to leave. We'll have to be mindful because I'm certain there will be a crowd awaiting our appearance. Of course, I have something in mind to help with that if you all trust me," Kieran commented.

Until now, he had yet to do anything with a recurring notification that blinked before his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure I speak for all when I say we trust you. By the way, don't forget I've forfeited coins," Altair added.

"Yeah, but don't forget to pick up those good pieces of leather armor. There's no reason to forfeit your stats as well. You still need good stats to level up further and aim for your class promotion," Kieran said in return.

Eventually, Altair reluctantly agreed. He chose all of the leather equipment present while the cloth pieces were split between the other three. Finally, Sithik decided to relinquish the cross to Cygnus in exchange for a Lv.15 Rare Cloth Top.

When Kieran seemed to ignore the rest of the items, the others felt something was unusual. They all looked at Kieran with peculiar expressions. "Wait, what about these other items that we can't use? They should be worth quite a lot, no?"

"Err, you guys can sell it. Soon enough, you'll need funds to support new gearing amongst other things. Anywho, it's time for us to leave," Kieran answered.

Suddenly, Aspaira waved her hands and ran up to Kieran. "WAIT! Let's add each other as friends first. I know you said to sell the stuff, but you still deserve your portion. I'll personally message you when it's ready."

Kieran was partially surprised by Aspaira's suggestion, causing him to slightly arch his brow. He entertained the idea before eventually agreeing to it. As a result, everyone's Friend Lists increased by 4 people.

Afterward, Kieran continued with his actions.

All of a sudden, a notification appeared through Gena Village and some of the bordering villages.

「 Village Announcement-

Congratulations to Party Members: Aatrox, Altair, Cygnus, Sithik, and Aspaira for obtaining the First Clear of «Forest of Beast» Very Difficult Mode. They have been rewarded 50 World Fame, 10,000 Experience, and 10 Silver Coins. 」