—-

Kieran held his sword while staring into the raging blaze before them. This combination attack wasn’t enough to kill all these wolves, which was fine. However, the special effects of this skill would inflict the status known as Burn.

Usually, this status could only be inflicted by skills that mentioned the term in its skill description. However, this was another story for Mages, who directly interacted with Mana to create an element.

As long as the conditions were perfect, a Mage’s attack could benefit greatly from its surroundings. For example, the leafy area was perfect for causing a raging inferno. Coupled with the gust of wind created by Kieran’s powerful Force Slash, the wolves were submerged in a sea of flames.

Every second they remained inside the inferno, not only did they receive upwards of 65 damage, they accrued a stack of Burn. At first, it would only deal 0.5% of the monster’s Health, but each stack added the same amount of damage with a maximum stack of 10.

In the best scenario, this attack could deal up to 65 damage + 2.5% of the Shadow Wolves’ Health every second. However, what monster would stay within that fiery zone of death? Angered snarls resounded, followed by movement within the flames.

At that moment, Kieran turned towards Altair, “Keep them inside the flames by any means necessary!”

Whoosh!

The first Shadow Wolf appeared from within the flames, but Kieran slammed his sword into the ground, using it to support his jump without interfering with the weight of his attack. Kieran channeled all his strength into his legs and dropkicked the Shadow Wolf back into the flames.

Afterward, he landed and immediately executed a Savage Break right before his body. Another Shadow Wolf appeared from within the flames, but it was met by Kieran’s attack before it could even escape.

Its lowered defense allowed Kieran to unleash a flurry of attacks.

“Use the splash effect of Fireball,” Kieran instructed, waking Aspaira up from her momentary daze. She didn’t know that skills could be applied this way. How was that possible? But, as Kieran said before, treating Zenith Online like a simple VRMMORPG game would be one’s downfall.

One needed an open mind to flourish in this setting where even NPCs could emerge as enemies.

Aspaira obliged and listened to Kieran’s order, aiming a Fireball just behind the blaze of flames. The splash damage accelerated how fast the Burn stacks appeared as it landed. The two wolves Kieran and Altair focused on died within five seconds, rewarding a generous amount of Experience.

Everyone’s experience bar received a sizeable jump, whereas Kieran leveled up and seemed reinvigorated. Aside from Stamina, Health and Mana were replenished completely upon every level up. On the other hand, Stamina only recovered by 25% at max. Otherwise, this system would support a virtually endless grinding session.

Sadly, such a matter could cause unforeseen deaths, as recorded by prior trials. So, the creators of these games reduced it to a fourth of its original value to force breaks. Furthermore, if one’s Stamina bottomed out completely, their character would be put in a kind of stasis setting that didn’t allow combat until their Stamina wholly recovered.

〈System: You have received 750 Experience. 〉

〈System: You have received 750 Experience. 〉

〈System: You have leveled up! [Lv.7 → Lv.8]〉

〈System: You have received 5 Unassigned Attribute Points and 2 Skill Points.〉

Again, Kieran placed the same amount of Unassigned Attribute Points in Strength and Vitality, increasing both his Attack Power and Health.

A few seconds later, Kieran executed another Force Slash. Simultaneously, the blaze died down, revealing several wolves with singed pelts that held flickering embers of flames. These embers were the cosmetic effect of the Burn Status afflicting them.

Ao…

The burned pelts stiffened the wolves’ movements and decreased their defenses, making them easy pickings for the quick Altair and heavy-handed Kieran. A continuous stream of Experience flooded the party’s notification window. Within two minutes, everyone within the party leveled up while Kieran neared Lv.9.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Bodies continued to hit the ground as golden radiance recurred in an almost uniform interval. By the time the last wolf was dealt with, Kieran had leveled up three more times, reaching Lv.12 while the rest of the party reached Lv.10 with at least half of their experience bar full.

While it appeared Kieran was receiving Experience twice as fast as the rest of his party, that was incorrect. Every time he leveled up, he received a smaller amount of Experience than his party. But, because their enemies were Elite Monsters, it still rewarded far more Experience than Normal Monsters. Not to mention the level difference.

“Whoa, whoa whoa! Something is not right! How are you Lv.12 already? What in the hell?” Altair was stupified. The gap in their levels was widening far too quickly.

“I mean, we just defeated like 25 of those things. We’re bound to level. Besides, you shouldn’t want to level up as quickly as possible. Cherish your low level as much as possible,” Kieran answered.

Afterward, he turned towards the floor full of loot. He could see some equipment hidden within the collection of coins and materials at a glance.

“I call dibs for anything pertaining to a Warrior,” Kieran said.

“I have no issues with that,” Sithik replied.

“Me either,” Cygnus shook her head.

Sifting through the items, the coins totaled upwards of 2 Silver. At the same time, he came across several pieces of equipment that were extremely useful. The equipment rewarded by the unique package only had an item level of 5. However, the equipment before Kieran all had item levels of 10, and they were uncommon equipment!

At this level, all items of the uncommon rarity or below were identified by the name. Uncommon equipment was known as Novice equipment.

“Lv.10 Cloth Top. That goes to Aspaira. Lv.10 Leather Gloves and Shoes, that’s Altair. Oh?” Kieran’s eyes glistened as he picked up a greatsword with a sharp edge than his current. Additionally, it was much heavier, which indicated increased attack power.

Kieran equipped the weapon without hesitation while reading through its information.

「 Novice Greatsword (Uncommon)

Item Level: 10

Attack Power: 30

Effect: This item increases attack damage by 4%.

Durability: 40/40

Weight: 23 kg

Description: A sword made from decent material to assist new adventurers. 」

After divvying up the equipment, the party’s capabilities rose exponentially. Kieran’s Attack Power alone rose past 120. However, Kieran frowned when he looked at his Experience. Now that he was Lv.12, it required more than 5,000 Experience to level up.

‘I suppose the medallion is both a gift and a curse,’ Kieran thought. Although it increased his Experience acquisition rate significantly, he approached the level of the monsters too quickly. It was almost nonsensical. Even the parties that managed to clear the Difficult Mode wouldn’t be anywhere near his current level. Sadly, it dawned upon Kieran that if he leveled too quickly, it’d be painting a target on his back.

After all, the Leaderboards would soon appear once players left the confines of the Beginner Zones. Of course, the level leaderboard was only one section of the all-inclusive record. But, in its infantile stages, many individuals and organizations would pay attention to that particular section.

In their eyes, it was a good demarcation of talent.

Thus, Kieran looked toward Altair while considering something.

Once the looting event was done, Kieran and his partner advanced down the center path. Compared to the other four that were all dead ends, this one was exponentially longer. Since they were still in recovery mode, Kieran only walked with his party to allow their Stamina to maintain a stable rate of recuperation.

So, a distance that could be covered in approximately 20 minutes while running turned into a 90-minute walk.

During this time, Kieran conserved both his Attribute and Skill Points as he tried to remember the shift in this particular dungeon while checking his stream. Surprisingly, the viewer count had ballooned to almost 20,000! What’s more, the comment section was filled with people conversing about the inferno taking place and the Warrior and Thief’s mechanics.

Some people even recognized this party as the one that wanted to attempt the Forest of Beasts without a tank. However, after seeing their current progress and how many levels this dungeon rewarded, some of the people who ignored the party notification felt some regret. That could be them receiving an abundance of Experience.

What’s more, Kieran also noticed some unusual and quirky comments laced within those who called him a hacker or something.

[Stream Chat <Ballbuster69>: Yo devs, how do you allow someone to exploit your game like this? Where did this huge fire come from?! Either ban or suspend this account!]

[Stream Chat <Reasonablefool>: Nah, Nah. I think ya got it all wrong. He’s a smurf or something because I’ve never heard of a goddamn Aatrox. What even is that? Like. HELLO?!]

[Stream Chat <AllisCRINGE2>: What the hell? I hope you get sent back to the lobby soon. Ahahahaha!]

Kieran could only chuckle softly at the conversations and comments made, mainly because most of these comments originated from several donations in the notification bar. A few larger gifts stood out because they seem related to organizations seeking information.

Of course, Kieran couldn’t address that right now. His expression became solemn as his eyes narrowed. They approached the sector that divided this dungeon into two parts. Beyond this area, the monster would undergo a change.

A large wolf with black fur stood in their path. Unlike the Shadow Wolves, this particular enemy seemed to have some intelligence along with unusual silver accents on every hair. Its pitch-black eyes locked on the party while its information was displayed for all to see.

「Lv.12 Hrulhar, the Vanisher (Special Elite)

Beast Type, Dark

Health: 4,000/4,000 (100%)

Special Traits: «Vanish» «Tri-Attack» 」

“Just our luck… it had to be Hrulhar,” Kieran smiled wryly.