—-

Out of the massive amounts of party requests he received, these three chosen members were the only individuals to pass Kieran’s filtration without idling for too long. In the end, Kieran was forced to make some concessions regarding the level requirement. However, this was only allowed for Priests. The extra damager was forced to at least be Lv.7.

Fortunately, the amount of time spent before the dungeon entrance and factoring in the time Kieran spent with Grandma Agatha allowed enough time for more Lv.7 individuals to appear. Thankfully, the one who appeared was a mage, which specialized in long-range attacks, unlike a Warrior or Thief.

A few Lv.7 Fighters sought to join their party, but Kieran denied them. A Fighter was by no means a weak class; it was just that Kieran and Altair filled all the melee-type damage roles. Accepting another melee dps one into the party would only incur failure once they reached the middle to end of the dungeon.

Thus, Kieran balanced the party’s damage output by introducing a magic class into the mix.

Surprisingly, the party’s genders were balanced as well, with three males and two females. One of the Priests was a male.

After observing their party composition, many people in the area ridiculed Kieran for his decision. In their eyes, wasting a slot on another healer wasn’t the best decision.

Aside from healing, they held no other specialties at this level. Their damage was atrocious due to the lack of Strength and a suitable weapon. Not to mention, their defense and movement speed were usually terrible since most Priests focused on Intelligence, Vitality, and a unique attribute only accessible to Priests. It was known as Spirit, and most of their healing coefficients relied upon this Attribute.

So, the more powerful their Spirit, the more powerful their heals.

Nevertheless, Kieran wasn’t the type to worry about others’ opinions of him. It didn’t help him in the slightest, nor were they related to him. Besides, throughout his experiences, especially with the Golden Brigade in his past life, he learned that most people were highly judgemental, especially inept people.

These people’s coping mechanism for their lack of ability usually manifested as them projecting their reprehensible thoughts upon others.

“Introduce yourselves. At the same time, I need you to reveal the condition of your stats. Priests; Spirit, Vitality & Intelligence. Mage―Magic Attack, and Control,” Kieran said. To be honest, he disliked the fact that he had yet to obtain enough Perception to unlock the Inspect trait. This would allow him to inspect the character sheets of party members.

For now, the only way to learn about party member stats was to ask and pray that they told the truth. If they didn’t, it would be well within the party’s right to hunt them down should they fail. After all, why should they have to pay for someone’s dishonesty? Even if the system delivered a punishment, Kieran was the type to track down said individuals and make them regret their decision.

Of course, since he was on a timeline, that would have to wait for the most suitable time.

“I’ll go first,” said the slender male Priest. He was Lv.6 Priest named Sithik. He was dressed in traditional beige priest robes that draped from his body. Kieran estimated this was common-grade equipment based on the lack of embroidery or finer detail. He possessed indigo hair and gray eyes.

He then continued, “25 Vitality, 24 Spirit, and 28 Intelligence.”

“Sufficient,” Kieran answered before turning towards the female priest named Cygnus. She was also Lv.6 but didn’t give off the pure air typically attributed to a Priest. While she seemed reserved, Kieran could tell this girl had heart based on how she met his gaze without backing down. Her hair was a dull teal color with matching foxy cerulean eyes.

She, too, wore priest robes; they were just fitted to uphold female decorum while still appearing somewhat alluring. While most of her gear was common, Kieran could tell that the top and small cross in her grasp were both uncommon-grade.

“29 Vitality, 27 Spirt, and 26 Intelligence, Cygnus responded.

“Sufficient as well,” Kieran said with a faint nod. Afterward, his attention shifted toward the last member. It was an Lv.7 Mage named Aspaira who wore mage robes that were predominately midnight blue with hints of white on areas of the robes near her limbs and at the split across her thigh.

She lightly pulled a locket of her long, light purple hair behind her ear when Kieran focused on her. From Kieran’s point of view, she seemed nervous by the way her index finger kept twitching.

However, Kieran didn’t address that. He simply waited to witness her abilities.

“72 Magic Attack, 17 Control,” Aspaira answered.

“17, is it? Any available Attribute Points? Or did you go for the glass cannon build?”

“G-glass cannon build? And I have 5 points still available from my previous level up.”

“Good, put two more points in Intelligence and the other three in Control,” Kieran instructed.

Sadly, Aspaira pursed her lips slightly. “Is that… I thought I should focus on health and defense now.

“Nope, you’ll be most successful by following my advice. I promise. But, if you don’t want to trust me, then that’s understandable as well. I can’t hold it against you. We’re strangers,” Kieran said almost indifferently.

He was honestly looking out for her because Control also related to how well one could manipulate their spells. Lacking Control would soon reduce the casting speed of spells once a mage was required to activate it with complete independence.

“Okay… okay, I’ll trust you. Just make sure we clear the dungeon, please. I really need some new equipment,” Aspaira pleaded.

“That’s the plan,” Kieran nodded.

While Aspaira reconfigured her stats, Kieran took the time to pull up the character menu. However, it wasn’t the normal one that toggled his stats, inventory, quest, knowledge, and skills. This menu seemed unique because while most of it was blacked out, symbolizing nonfunctioning systems, one of them was illuminated with an eye-catching and glorious logo. It was a tab labeled GRC.

It stood for the Gamer Republic Connect, which was a community created by the Gamer Republic, one of the heavy investors in Zenith Online’s launch. Hence, why its features were already up and functioning despite it being the first day, a few hours at that.

〈System: Would you like to link your account with the Gamer Republic platform? [ Y / N ]?〉

〈System: Success! Congratulations, Aatrox, you have linked your Zenith Online account.〉

〈System: You have gained access to the GamerHub.tv streaming service. Would you like to activate it now? [ Y / N ]?〉

“Delay activation. Begin stream in 3 minutes,” Kieran responded. As a result, a mechanic voice sounded in his head, with a small timer appearing in the left corner of his vision.

“Alright, boys and girls, let’s give the world a spectacular show,” Kieran said with a faint chuckle.

The chuckle seemed a tad dark as the difficulty on the party request remained unlabeled. Had Kieran revealed that he was heading into the Very Difficult mode, the chance of anyone joining Kieran would plummet to zero. And the reason for that was plastered before his very eyes.

〈WARNING: You have chosen «Forest of Beasts» Very Difficult. Entry Count: 1/1.〉

〈WARNING: Death Penalty inside this mode is increased. Failure will cost 75% of the player’s Experience. All of the Experience & Items earned from a failed run will be revoked. Monsters have been strengthened, and the map has been enlarged.〉

Kieran didn’t pay the notice any mind. He didn’t have much time before the newly acquired members thought about quitting. Thus, he instantly accepted and was sucked inside the dungeon with the rest of his party.

While generic MMORPGs would require the entire party to ready up in a sense and deliver their consent to entry, Zenith Online didn’t require this action. As long as the party leader approached the dungeon portal, it’d be registered as the entire party acknowledging entry.

Of course, the members could always just leave, but that would incur the failure penalty for those who deserted the dungeon.

Needless to say, Kieran entering this mode caused an enormous commotion, chiefly amongst those who had already cleared the dungeon. They were all too familiar with how challenging the former difficulties were.

“That man is absolutely bonkers! Straight to jail, he should go! Who in their right mind would tackle that difficulty right now? Without a tank, might I add! Man’s brain is inside his ass. He has shit for brains I tell you,” someone shouted in the crowd after watching the ominous display that followed a party entering the Very Difficult mode.

“I agree! The boss will probably bitch slap them!” another commented.

Meanwhile, Bastion paid close attention to the dungeon entrance with an intrigued look. “Cyr, ready to go again?”

“I’m up for it,” Cyr nodded.

“Good, then we’ll dive right back in. We can empty our loot later on,” Bastion said. He and his party then entered the same difficulty just seconds later, sending the area into an even larger uproar.

“What the hell? Have these guys taken PP pills or something? I swear their BDE is through the roof; it couldn’t be me,” an onlooker said. However, he remained in the area to learn if they would succeed or fail while trying.