Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

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〈You are receiving a video call from Allan Peters. If you wish to end the call at any moment, you may do so by waving your hand with a closed fist gesture or uttering the phrase: End Call.〉

〈Answer? [ Y | N ]〉

Kieran tapped to answer.

"Hello, Mr. Silver," Allan greeted respectfully when the video call opened. His hands were clasped with a gentle smile, but his left leg bounced outside everyone's view.

Although Allan seemed calm on the surface, he was nervous because he called Kieran for more than one reason. His supervisors had just revealed that he was due for a massive bonus due to being the one to sign Kieran.

"Greeting, Mr. Peters," Kieran answered in a similar tone.

Allan collected himself and cleared his throat before speaking. "First off, I would like to congratulate you. I have your finalized contract in hand, and I'll be sending it to you digitally in a moment. Please fingerprint and sign it to confirm your identity."

As Allan said, Kieran received a notification that included the mentioned contract within seconds. A legal official reviewed it, but Kieran skimmed through it at lightning speeds to ensure there was no selective wording and they adhered to his demands.

For the most part, Kieran was satisfied by the offer. The set salary was based on the number of followers he acquired during said month.

And, for every bracket it increased, which referred to the number of digits of the new followers, Kieran would receive a more significant bonus.

Kieran had acquired more than 200,000 followers this month alone, but after his last stream, it ballooned to over 500,000.

Of course, he hadn't checked it since he fell asleep in-game, so he was unsure about its current number.

Kieran signed the contract with his finger and placed his thumb on the fingerprint area. The system stored his actions, and it was transferred back to Allan.

A few seconds later, Kieran received a copy of the signed contract for legal purposes.

"With your contract signing complete, I'd like to move on to the second matter. As the first player with an exclusive platform deal, I'd like to promote you on the platform's main space and in the news in the coming days. Are you comfortable flying out to Minence City for an in-person meeting? We'll prepare the best accommodations."

Kieran's eyes flashed with surprise. He didn't expect the Gamer Republic to extend this offer so soon. That meant Zenith Online should have garnered immense popularity for them to do another round of advertising.

Nemean bit his fist off to the side as he felt a pang of jealousy bubble within him. Kieran was going to be on the news! How couldn't he be jealous? He wanted to be on the news as well.

But considering the big plans Kieran had in store, Nemean felt it was only a matter of time before everyone sitting at this table became an influential presence.

"When would this meeting take place?" Kieran questioned.

"The earliest would be two weeks from now. We must finalize our slot and get our requests approved."

"If it is two weeks, that works for me," Kieran nodded. After a moment, he tapped his chin in thought. "Is it possible to extend this offer to additional people? I have my team members with me, and I would like their names also to become known."

"How many? If it's beneath 10, it will be doable," Allan said.

After the records Kieran had broken, ushering in a staggering amount of revenue from ads, views, and subscriptions, Allan felt he would be a fool not to accommodate some of Kieran's requests.

"It should be beneath that number," Kieran answered. Aside from everyone present, only one person was missing, but he suspected her absence had to do with her research that bordered on the verge of fanaticism.

"Very well, then we'll apply for the proper accommodations. Aside from this, I'd like to address the matter of your bonus. With the projected value of your channel, you're looking at a $15 million bonus. Be mindful; this is separate from your revenue generated by the channel."

Gasp!

Everyone covered their mouth and looked at Kieran in shock.

$15 million from streaming was an unfathomable number!

Streaming was indeed as lucrative as many said, especially during the early stages of new trends, where the hype was unmatched.

"Bonuses are distributed on the 15th of every month. Also, don't be surprised if brands reach out to endorse you. Your following is rapidly growing, so expect that. I suggest you prepare a manager you can trust," Allan said, fixing his glasses.

He noticed the people's shock in the background but could only smile slightly. Discussing this amount of money was enough to shock many people.

"I appreciate the suggestions," Kieran nodded.

All of Allan's suggestions fell well within Kieran's expectations, so his response wasn't dramatic. He had heard of many focus streamers earning a whopping $50 million in a single month thanks to bonuses based on their projected earnings.

"If you don't mind me asking. Do you have future streams planned to capitalize on your current momentum?"

"For now, I don't. But I'll plan something to once more awe my following. I can't let my viewers down when they're funding me with their hard-earned money," Kieran answered.

Kieran had a few matters that he could stream, but since he was running with Khaos, he felt he should at least get his permission first. Otherwise, he could potentially expose secrets that Khaos didn't want to reveal to the public.

After a few other basic questions, Allan ended the call on a good note.

As soon as the call ended, Nemean and Bastion exploded with countless questions. "What the hell?! All that money?! Also… you're taking us along with you? Have I ever told you that you're the best boss ever? Woohoo!"

"Forget what he's talking about! Open your stream account! Please show us the stats from your last stream! It must be fucking insane for them to project that incredible bonus."

Kieran had to admit that after hearing Allan's words, he also grew curious about the stream. The last time he checked, the live stream had over 200,000 concurrent viewers. But what did that vod reach?

A vod was simply a recording of a live stream attached to the streamer's account. Anyone could access them by pressing the streamer's account and visiting recent videos.

Kieran pulled up the stream analytics that only he could view, making his jaw drop.

┌───────────────────

«Stream Analytics» -

Recent Streams (1-week duration): 1

Maximum Viewers: 516,498

Total Views: 11,956,899

New Followers: 494,550

New Subscriptions: 376,785

Stream Time: 4hrs 46 mins 37 secs

Donations: 1,917 ($594,756)

Stream Earnings (Estimate): $7,470,488

└───────────────────

Over $8 million from a single stream!

But after including the vod, the number surpassed $10 million easily thanks to the rapidly increasing number. The number continued to grow before Kieran's eyes, far exceeding 30 million views.

Kieran suspected the stream was a trending topic that players shared with their friends. Otherwise, its current reach should be impossible!

Kieran curiously checked Zenith Online's official, and as he suspected, the top ten posts were in some shape or form related to his stream. However, many of them questioned his class and why the stream went mute at the end.

Some intelligent players connected the dots and realized it was muted during the crowd's stupefaction. If it were left unmuted, the public would have undoubtedly revealed the origins of Kieran's power, which couldn't happen this early on.

"God damn!" Bastion shouted, covering his mouth in disbelief.

"If I'm not dumb and my math is correct, aren't you going to earn more than $25 million? Damn… boss, you're about to be raped by taxes!"

"What do you mean?" Kieran blinked and looked at the bewildered Nemean.

"T-taxes… that will undoubtedly be taxed," Nemean muttered. But he grew quiet after he felt something was amiss with Kieran's expression.

"If it was going to my personal account, yes. But who said I'm withdrawing the funds?"

Kieran had no intentions of moving this money to his personal account.

Instead, he would open a specialized account meant for large businesses. Their taxes applied differently, and that's what Kieran needed currently.

'I'll place everything under the guild. I'll own it, but it'll be an entity separate from myself,' Kieran thought.

Of course, he would have to visit a global bank in person. Because he would immediately become a private client, the first meeting had to be conducted in person for security purposes.

'This lines up perfectly. There's a branch of the Regal Finance Bank located in Minence City. I can handle all of those matters then,' Kieran devised.

After considering how hard everyone had been working, Kieran glanced at everyone and questioned. "Do you all want to go out? I feel we have earned at least a few hours of relaxation. Continued stress with no time to unwind will eventually wear away at our psyche."

Bastion slammed his hands on the table and frothed at the mouth. "Yes! A thousand times, yes! But wait, I didn't pack those kinds of clothes."

"Well, considering that we have an upcoming major appointment, I think we should go shopping anyway," Kieran said.

"Shopping?" Alice's eyes sparkled the moment shopping was mentioned. Cygnus similarly became giddy.