—-

The message appeared right on time, just as Kieran had planned it.

The three-minute delay of his stream activation wasn’t an arbitrary action but an arranged one. According to his estimations, it should’ve taken no more than three minutes to acquire the information on his party, enter the dungeon and then employ a tactic to lessen the hurdle placed at the beginning of the dungeon, namely the three Shadow Wolves.

If dealt with under normal circumstances, it would require three individuals to keep each one at bay.

However, Mages at this level could not keep most monsters far away from them, especially those that specialized in Agility. This limitation rose from their spell cast times and the way their points needed to be allocated. It didn’t allow much room to focus on mobility attributes.

Meanwhile, a single average tank wouldn’t suffice to tank more than one Shadow Wolf due to the effects granted by the Relative Difficulty System. Every monster possessed exceptionally high Attack Power that would deal substantial damage.

Unlike the Fanged Forest that occasionally spawned high-ranking monsters, choosing a dungeon’s highest difficulty would ensure no Normal monster appeared! By default, this meant an individual would need to be over-leveled or over-geared not to suffer a disadvantage. Sadly, gear wasn’t readily available; therefore, being over-geared was a moot option.

Alternatively, being over-leveled before entry wasn’t a great option either since it reduced the experience rewarded by 20% for every level above the recommended level range. Thus, Kieran used the one feature that many would have overlooked before―the dungeon’s environmental conditions. Those conditions could hinder progression, but if appropriately manipulated, they could also be of great assistance!

Meanwhile, Kieran glanced in the corner of his right eye where the stream interface sat. It was a simple user interface consisting of an eye, which symbolized the viewers currently watching the stream, a typical textbox icon representing the chat feature, and an obscure icon resembling a coin below it to indicate the number of donations made.

As of now, all of these icons read zero. However, Kieran wasn’t worried about this matter. After all, the stream option wouldn’t be functional without wanting to garner some attention.

A notification appeared before every player inside the game and anyone acquiring information regarding this game on the forum website.

〈System: This is a notice alerting all players that the streaming service, GamerHub.tv, a platform belonging to the Gamer Republic, is now live!〉

Immediately after, the Gamer Republic Connect tab flashed with a faint blue light. The only way to cancel the flashing light was to open the tab and browse it for a moment. A decision, that while somewhat annoying, was extremely practical in terms of generating exposure.

Initially, this tab shouldn’t have gotten any attention until PvP events surfaced. But, Kieran understood how lucrative streaming was in the gaming industry. Therefore, he could only take advantage of the platform before any other famous gamers could snag the limelight.

After all, his financial situation wasn’t the greatest. If he wanted to solve the issues plaguing his life, then he needed to generate as much income as possible, as soon as possible.

At the top of the screen, the eye icon began blinking with a steady and almost negligible rise in number. Some people who opened the tab went on to view the only available stream for the Zenith Online category. In contrast, others only browsed the platform for a second before closing it.

Either way, Kieran understood the spotlight was his for the moment. To ensure he would attract viewers later, Kieran even added a title to the stream: [Steamrolling FoB’s Very Difficult Mode.]

‘Good. It’s all going according to plan. I managed to start the stream without exposing this tactic,’ Kieran thought. This action aligned with his future plans. Afterward, he minimized the stream interface so it would obscure his vision of the wolves.

On the other hand, Sithik and Cygnus blinked with their mouths agape. In addition to the tree trapping the two wolves in place, they suffered 1,000 damage flat, which these two found to be odd.

“What the hell? We can do things like that?” Sithik muttered. He even rubbed his eyes to make sure they weren’t tainted and playing tricks on him. In his perspective, those Shadow Wolves were reduced to the same level as a Feral Wolf! Granted, these two didn’t account for the increased attributes of the monsters here.

Conversely, Kieran didn’t make that mistake.

〈System: Do you wish to upgrade «Charge» four times at the cost of 4 SP? [Y / N]?〉

Kieran agreed, and as a result, the information regarding the Charge skill changed drastically. Like a character’s level, raising a skill to its fifth level was a small watershed. Something about the skill was bound to experience significant changes.

Despite Charge having an inherently low ranking, it was a great utility skill with even more combat rotations.

「Charge (Lv.5)

Skill Rank: E

Mastery (00.00%)

Skill Description: Channels a Warrior’s force throughout their body, focusing on their leg to unleash a large burst of momentum. This skill deals 205% of the user’s Attack Power and leaves the victim in a «Stunned» state for 2.3 seconds upon contact. The next attack deals 20% increased damage.

Consumption: 3 Mana

Prerequisites: Warrior Class

Cooldown: 30 seconds 」

Skills with utility effects generally possessed longer cooldowns than pure damaging skills. This difference was employed to prevent spamming. Just as important as skills were, mechanics were even more sought after. Even guilds examined the ability to handle opponents without heavily relying upon utility skills when choosing members. After all, many MMORPGs revealed bosses that were immune to stun lock in the past.

In that type of event, awareness and positioning were paramount for success. This was why Kieran was on the fence about leveling his skill too high. At some point, it would yield diminishing returns should he face an opponent that couldn’t be stunned.

Granted, he was thinking too far into the future. It was impossible for monsters at this level to resist stun. Not to mention, the game hadn’t entered even entered Stage One Hyper-Reality yet. So, there was nothing to worry about.

Upon realizing this fact, Kieran grinned. ‘I should stop overthinking. I need to remember that it’s only in its beginning stages. Take it one step at a time.’

Kieran brandished his greatsword straightaway and wrapped around the fallen tree with a decisive leap. During his jump, Kieran activated his Charge skill, gaining frightening momentum. An instant later, a loud echo filled the forest as his shoulder met one of the wolf’s necks.

Sadly, it didn’t achieve the outcome Kieran expected, making him frown and subtly rub his shoulder. Nevertheless, a comparatively large number appeared above the wolf’s head.

-100

‘Mm, their defenses are pretty high. At least double that of the Feral Wolves outside,’ Kieran judged. Initially, his Charge should have dealt slightly over two hundred damage, but half of it vanished. Thus, Kieran estimated these wolves’ defenses hovered somewhere in the region of 100 points.

Similarly, Altair frowned when he noticed how minor the damage he dealt was. His primary attack, unleashed by his light daggers, only dealt -11. However, on the other hand, his skills, which dealt single hit burst damage by targeting vitals, dealt upwards of 80.

“Are you sure this is clearable, bro? These monsters are sturdy. Wait a minute… what?!” Altair exclaimed in the party chat. Because he was focused on dodging the Shadow Wolf’s claws that were enveloped in dark energy, he didn’t notice when Kieran pinned his opponents under the tree.

“Focus. Don’t worry about me over here. This is only the beginning. These wolves will be the least of our worries as we advance through the dungeon,” Kieran said seriously.

Similarly, he turned towards the Mage, “Help him. Don’t just stand around with your mouth wide open. We need to move as a unit and conserve Mana and Stamina.”

“O-Okay!” Aspaira stammered after recovering her wits. She then pointed her staff at the Shadow Wolf and performed a small chant. A cluster of Mana coagulated at the tip of her staff before turning into water. Afterward, Aspaira fired it toward the Shadow Wolf.

This skill was known as Aqua Bullet, an essential E Rank skill with a relatively short cooldown and high fire rate. But, unsurprisingly, Aspaira’s Water Bullet missed the Shadow Wolf completely!

“Oh, what the hell,” Kieran groaned after watching this scene. He couldn’t understand how she missed that shot. Altair’s flurry of dagger strikes kept the wolf in a hit-stunned state. Although it differed from the Stunned state, which immobilized the enemy completely, hit-stun still neutralized a large part of the monster’s mobility.

In fact, Altair had to stop his assault altogether and avoid the attack. There was no friendly fire system within Zenith Online. After all, was there such a thing as friendly fire in real life?

No. There could be casualties from friendly and enemy attacks alike in real life, so Zenith Online mimicked this principle.

“Damn! I don’t need a bath, lady. I need you to dish out damage!” Altair exclaimed with a hint of frustration in his voice. Even if his basic attacks didn’t inflict much damage, these wolves didn’t have regeneration factors. Whatever health they depleted would remain depleted.

On the other hand, Kieran frowned slightly. The piercing glint returned to his eyes as he looked at the wolves again. Unlike before, he could see an almost imperceptible glow enveloping the wolf’s head. While others wouldn’t understand what this glow represented, Kieran was very familiar with this glow.

Thus, Kieran raised his sword with a ferocious aura and slammed it down.

Boom!

-636!