Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

—

While back on Earth, Kieran remained wary of how much time passed inside Zenith Online. Aside from showering to wash away the uncomfortable feeling, Kieran also ate a small meal Dr. Riley prepared.

Once two hours passed inside Zenith Online, Kieran returned to the medical bed and placed the VR Helmet on his lap. He gazed at the device absentmindedly before tapping his wrist.

'It's almost the beginning of June, so these last generation virtual equipment will soon be outdated. Advertisements for upcoming virtual equipment are already surfacing on the internet. It won't be long before the sale goes public. Fortunately, I'm not too worried about the price.'

Because Kieran remained indecisive about returning the Gold to Mayor Lowe, his inventory was flush with Gold. If he sold some off in bits and pieces after completing the Gladiator Coliseum, he could make a killing with a ridiculous amount left over.

However, Kieran wouldn't go that far. Although indecisive, he intended to return at least a sizeable portion soon. Why? Because he needed to upgrade Aeredale City's standard to create considerable allure to other organizations.

A city like Aeredale wouldn't sway organizations like the War Deity Council and Merchant Association, but the Xesian Empire was a different story.

Having one of its kingdoms experience great success would elevate the Xesian Empire's standings amongst the many empires.

However, promoting a city's standings required tremendous trade traffic and player attraction. It was faster than Kieran liked, but it was inevitable.

Players were bound to flock to the Aeredale Kingdom after learning of his continued success.

Kieran looked across from him at the studious Dr. Riley, who jotted down several notes in her log. "Don't obsess over my health. I'll be fine. So make sure you get some proper rest."

Dr. Riley gave him a side-eye but nodded slightly nonetheless. "Okay. Just dive back into your game already!"

Kieran scoffed because he felt Dr. Riley wouldn't take his suggestion seriously. As he latched the device on his head, Kieran muttered under his breath. "Women…"

"What was that?!" Dr. Riley slammed the writing utensil on the desk and seethed, but Kieran responded with a thumbs up and an impish grin.

…

Kieran opened his eyes back in Scar's residence while hearing footsteps approach his position. His chest felt like it was on fire as he sat up and touched it.

'The natural healing rate of a True Berserker is ridiculous.'

Because he was out of combat, his passive no longer applied. But in exchange, his bodily regeneration was accompanied by increased pain.

While wincing in pain, Kieran soon understood the premise of Torment's Belief.

'So that's what it is. The skill doesn't neutralize the effect. It delays the effects, and everything assails me in one tremendous wave. Damn! I don't know how I feel about this passive. What would happen if I partook in a cataclysmic battle where I suffered an ungodly amount of damage?'

Trepidation filled Kieran's eyes as his mind traveled to this question's outcome.

Experiencing all that pain at once could potentially fry his brain and damage his synapses in real life. Although X-hancers appeared to be a heavenly treatment, from what Charles revealed in the past, it wasn't a panacea.

Once a certain damage threshold occurred, an X-hancer couldn't revert the damage done. If it could, Kieran wouldn't have died. Then again, Kieran also couldn't trust Charles at his word, so he wasn't certain X-hancers couldn't perform miracles.

Scar squatted in front of Kieran and tapped his head with his giant finger. "Twerp, wake up! You've had enough rest. Back to training we go!

"I'm up," Kieran groaned and waved, attempting to push away Scar's finger.

"We will cycle through every one of your skills, and I will analyze your mastery of each. Understood?"

"Understood," Kieran replied. He searched through his mind and looked at Scar. "Will we be starting with Crimson Current?"

Scar blanked with the urge to slap Kieran. "Why would we start with a skill we just examined?!"

Kieran snickered and stifled his laughter. "Gotcha, bitch!"

Scar's eye twitched, but he exhaled and grumbled. 'So this is how Lord Agrianos felt when experiencing all of my little pranks.'

Kieran began with a skill he was intimately familiar with—Wild Crash. The essence of this skill was Savage Break. The only difference was the ranged effect gained after Kieran could exert more power.

After revealing it, Kieran moved on to Fury Rush. Scar's opinion wasn't outstanding, but he felt the skill was passable.

From Fury Rush, Kieran moved on to Sanguine Slashes. This particular skill gained Scar's attention as he beamed.

"Oh? You've trained your Sanguine Slashes quite well compared to everything else."

This was to be expected. After all, Sanguine Slashes' current level was shocking.

「Sanguine Slashes (Lv.12)

Skill Rank: C

Skill Type: Active

Mastery (00.00%)

Description: The True Berserker gains an increase in attack range by burning their vitality. Every attack inflicts one Bleed stack. There is a chance of inflicting dual Bleed stacks if the enemy is in a weakened state. (The number of Bleed stacks inflicted can't exceed Blood Mania's maximum.) [Note: This skill no longer possesses a cooldown. In exchange, this skill's consumption has changed accordingly.]

Consumption: 1 Health per second

Prerequisites: «Blood Mania» 」

After Sanguine Slashes, Kieran moved on to Crimson Barrage, Blood Wave, and Blood Bind.

Once they reached Blood Bind, Scar cringed and flailed his arms. "Wait, wait, wait! Hold on! What foolishness am I witnessing?!"

Crrrrrrrck!

Scar wrapped his large hand around the blood chains and broke them effortlessly. The strength behind his actions was equal to what the War Deity Council's weakest members could muster.

"These bindings are trash! They're akin to paper. Such thin bindings will never hold up against your opponents in the Gladiator's Coliseum. Furthermore, the skill lacks its essence!"

After shaking his head and sighing, Scar snapped his finger. This action covered the entire floor in a pool of viscous blood at least three centimeters thick.

The blood trembled and thrummed as if boiling before spiked chains the size of Kieran's arm sprouted from the ground and snaked around Scar's body.

"Your chains are smooth. Where is the ruthlessness? We want to restrain and torment our enemy. At best, your current display will disgruntle and annoy your enemy. Its effects are not up to par."

Kieran grimaced while receiving Scar's vehement scolding. 'What does Scar expect from me?! The skill is only Lv.2, dammit! Compared to Sanguine Slashes' level, it's not worth mentioning.'

Kieran relied upon repeated usage to refine his skill level to conserve Skill Points. For now, his Skill Points mainly went to acquiring skills, not leveling them up. However, Kieran's class didn't require that he level up his skills expeditiously.

Focusing on Blood Mania would affect everything in his arsenal as the basis of all of his skills.

Nevertheless, Kieran felt awestruck while witnessing Scar's chain. It didn't carry the tyrannical power Kieran experienced on that grand battlefield, but it felt extremely solid.

"How much Mana did you pour into these chains?"

"Not much. But more than you're capable of. However, the amount of Mana in the chains is unimportant. Can you feel it? Your issue is the shape of your chains and the essence. You are a vessel of emotion and vigor; release it."

Kieran acted upon Scar's advice and tried channeling his emotions into his attacks. But, he felt zero difference after cycling through the earlier skillset.

The action stumped Kieran for quite some time, leaving him to ponder another solution. If pooling his emotion into his blood was too advanced for his current mental power, there was another alternative.

Kieran closed his eyes and sat still for over 20 hours without Scar so much as uttering a word. During that time, Kieran focused on the rune imprint in his mind and injected his emotion into the rune.

The change was gradual and took more than a day, but two things flashed within when Kieran opened his eyes.

Ruthlessness and a bleeding crimson light.

〈System: «Blood Mania» has absorbed a missing core piece. The information about your skill has been updated.〉

〈System: «Blood Mania»'s Skill Rank has changed! [S+→SS]〉

Out of curiosity, Kieran opened up Blood Mania's new information to see the changes.

「 Blood Mania (Lv.3)

Skill Rank: *S+ → SS

Skill Type: Hybrid

Mastery (76.66%)

«Vampiric Blood Encrustation»...

«Blood Strengthening»...

«Vim Restoration»...

*New «Fervor Augmentation» - This ability must be triggered manually. Unless the user wills it and injects their emotion into their actions, this feature won't activate. After instilling a blood action with emotion, the action's properties will change depending on how intense the feeling is. If infused into an attack, its lethality will increase as well. The only limit to this ability is the strength of the user's emotions. [Strongest Augmentation: Wrath]

Prerequisites: True Berserker 」

'To believe the answer sat in front of me the entire time, but I neglected it out of fear. Emotion is only dangerous if it gets the best of you. But, reinforcing Blood Mania's source rune to perceive emotion is ingenious. This class is truly unusual, but it continues to surprise and enthrall me,' Kieran thought.

After unlocking Fervor Augmentation, Kieran tested it with Vim Restoration.

Upon channeling some of his repressed anger, he found the blood was more malleable. Kieran led the energy to his healing bones rather than his muscles and viscera.

A pleasant feeling permeated his body as Kieran sighed in relief. His bones were mending faster than before since most of the energy penetrated Kieran's bones with undesirable wastage.

However, wastage was unavoidable. Kieran's mastery of this ability was rudimentary at best.

Nevertheless, Scar laughed mirthfully.

"You've done it, twerp! But that only means we can ramp up your training. Emotional imbuement is only the beginning. Now you must deepen your connection with all of your skills. From here on out, you'll be fighting against me nonstop until I feel you're on the verge of collapse!"

A reluctant and somewhat frightened gulp echoed in the room. Perhaps understanding this ability wasn't a good thing. It was the gateway to more pain and arduous training!