Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

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It was neither the objectives nor the rewards that first caught Kieran's eyes. The quest details that first caught his eyes were the severe failure penalties.

Five levels? With Kieran's tripled experience requirement, losing five levels was akin to a player with a standard class losing fifteen!

Accommodating such a drastic loss of Experience would require a tremendous amount of work. The tremendous requirement in such a scenario would place a considerable delay on his timeline, which was already expedited by the attention of strong individuals and organizations.

Aside from losing five levels, there was also the matter of reputation. Should Kieran sadly fail this quest, his World Fame standing would become obsolete inside the entire Aeredale Kingdom.

World Fame worked well when an area's general reception was neutral, without favoring positive or negative views. However, World Fame worked best when area's people held you in an honorable regard.

Not even World Fame could correct this upset if one's reputation plummeted.

Lastly, the Desertborn Brigand's total retaliation would lead to all other consequences. The destroyed area and merchandise would lead to price hikes. Overall, these severe repercussions made Kieran hesitate to accept this quest.

However, as bad as the penalties were, the rewards were fantastic. Alone, each reward held tremendous attraction in the eyes of any player, especially the Unique Grade Treasure Chest.

'I can share this with up to 9 players? But the recommended party level…'

Let alone Lv.38 or higher, most players were lower than Lv.35! And although the quest could be completed or rather attempted at a lower level, it wasn't advised. The lower one's level, the more challenging the subjective difficulty became.

Kieran understood he couldn't accomplish a quest like this alone. As an eradication-type quest, Kieran knew he couldn't underestimate the total number of Brigands he would have to face.

Furthermore, members of lower skill, such as Sithik, Cygnus, and Cyr, didn't fulfill Kieran's minimum requirements. The short time limit meant the Desertborn Brigade would most likely consolidate their forces soon.

A few factors caused this result.

One, because Kieran killed Deserea, the leader searched intently for her whereabouts, or at the minimum, her remains. Two, the dispatched teams would report the lack of any cargo once it didn't arrive.

Lastly, because contacting Jackson would become impossible, the leader would likely believe Jackson set him up and dispatch forces to deal with him. These three factors alone were enough to

However, to make matters worse, the brigand's leader was no fool.

Evident by how he carried out his thefts, the leader was a calculating individual. Chances were that he would soon realize that Jackson had been apprehended.

After accepting the quest, Kieran looked at  Mayor Lowe before eyeing Jackson. "What will you do with him?"

"I have no clue," Mayor Lowe answered. Numerous thoughts circulated in his mind, but he knew it wasn't humane to enact any of them. The public's view of him may change if word ever got out.

However, only Kieran, Mayor Lowe, Jackson, and the receptionist remained in the room. If a secret was kept, how would anyone know?

"If that's the case, can I just kill him?"

Fear flashed in Jackson's eyes, but he couldn't voice it as Kieran's large hand covered his mouth. Kieran has predicted Jackson would react like this, given how cowardly he was.

"Kill him?" Mayor Lowe muttered.

His expression made it clear that Mayor Lowe genuinely considered the suggestion. Wouldn't the city be better off without this foul vermin contaminating its peace and prosperity?

As for why Kieran wanted to kill Jackson, it was all Experience for him in the end. That's all that mattered. An Elite NPC at this level should be a decent source of Experience.

Although Kieran had just leveled up, he needed all the Experience Points he could amass if he were going to take on this challenging mission.

"Do as you must. It'll be one less expense for this city."

Jackson's eyes screamed for mercy while his mouth couldn't. Kieran tightened his hand until his blood gauntlet pierced Jackson's skin and held him in place with little to no effort.

Kieran leaned by Jackson's and whispered in a tone that sounded like the song of death. "Next time you believe you can outsmart a city and its abundance of officials, don't and realize you were a fool all along for entertaining that idea."

Pcht!

Blood sprayed from Jackson's throat as disbelief filled his eyes. He never thought the Mayor, the one who usually seemed like a pushover, would have him readily killed!

Jackson choked and sputtered as blood pooled in his throat and robbed his ability to speak. The light in Jackson's eyes rapidly faded, sliding to his knees in a pool of blood.

A few seconds later, he fell over and croaked, creating a notification for Kieran.

〈System: You have received 120,000 Experience.〉

Considering that he required over 800,000 Experience to level up, Kieran found this reward acceptable.

News of Jackson's crimes quickly circulated through the ranks of the city guard.

"No way, Jackson? He was also so dutiful and reserved. I guess looks can be deceiving. I have learned my lesson and will never judge a book by its cover again."

"It's always the quiet ones who are up to something. Jackson was the type to sit back and observe. Those types are usually the ones to plot nefarious schemes."

"Serves him right. I wouldn't care if he rotted in jail or someone killed him. He banded with criminals to almost forsake our city and take away my damned pay! Off with his head!"

After learning the truth of Jackson's actions, not a soul came to his aid or defended his name.

The two guards who left in search of Jackson's Personal Vault returned with a massive chest. Inside was what seemed like hundreds of thousands of gold.

Naturally, Jackson wasn't given this much gold. However, the guards exchanged several items inside the vault for their market value, ending up with more than 600,000 Gold.

"Tch," Mayor Lowe clicked his tongue. "What fool steals just to hide away the loot?"

"You've already answered your comment," Kieran commented.

However, Kieran's wonder lay elsewhere. 'If this is Jackson's portion, even if he spent some of it, what does the Desertborn Brigand's portion amount to?'

"Bring the gold to the reserve cellar downstairs. Have the attendee count it. I want every piece logged and accounted for. However, you may take 10 Gold each as a token of my appreciation," Mayor Lowe ordered.

The first guard nodded, but the second one gazed at Jackson's dead body. "Do you need us to deal with that?"

Mayor Lowe decided it was best if someone promptly and properly handled the clean-up, so he agreed.

Meanwhile, Kieran considered his options.

There was only so much time until he would be pressed for time to clear this new quest. Unlike the Arcane One's and Isadora's quests, this one's time limit was undeniably short.

Five days might seem like ample time, but it wasn't when accounting for the distance of travel and conflict along the way. If Kieran wanted the highest chances of clearing this quest, he would need additional people outside of the ones he had in mind.

Left with no choice, Kieran took a seat in one of the chairs filling the Mayor's Office, and waited for Luna to respond to his video call.

Luna answered the call 30 seconds later, and from the background, it seemed like she wasn't busy at the moment. Her hair, which was usually styled into a neat bun, was currently in an alluring fishtail braid.

Kieran was momentarily stunned by her beauty but cleared his throat. However, before Kieran could speak, Luna's velvety voice sounded first.

"You've really flourished. I saw what happened and how overbearing you were. But… I couldn't help but notice the difference in the way you fought. It was… fascinating, to say the least."

"Yeah?" This comment seemingly amplified Kieran's pride, but he soon set it aside. "You aren't so bad yourself. You should consider allowing me to train you. Or, at least spar with Altair."

"That's another thing I wanted to mention. Altair's presence during the fight was sparse, but his effect was immense. How did he become so fast? He's on my friends' list, so I know he's still a simple Assassin," Luna was fascinated with both Kieran and Altair's strength, but this intrigue didn't command an answer.

"That's a secret. I'll let you in on it if our relationship ever deepens," Kieran said with a mischievous smile. However, he soon grew serious as he asked Luna a critical question. "Are you interested in gaining a few levels? I have another opportunity."

Luna's ears perked up the moment she heard opportunity. She would be lying if she said she didn't look forward to another adventure. The rewards from the Underground Labyrinth were what allowed her to increase her party's strength.

"I'm interested," Luna replied unhesitantly. She hadn't even heard the details, but she agreed based solely on Kieran's accomplishments thus far.

She had already decided that even if it resulted in her making enemies, she would befriend Kieran.