Outside Forest of Beast's Dungeon Entrance…
A large, growing crowd formed outside the area as their jaws dropped upon reading the announcement sent out to all of the villages in the vicinity. Although every village was somewhat unique, they still followed the same base structure, including dungeons.
So, even if the type of monsters inside the dungeon changed, the methods to clear the dungeons weren't all too dissimilar. As long as one understood how to take advantage of their setting and move efficiently, there was a good chance that the dungeons could be cleared with the proper party composition.
The only issue with this matter was the party composition.
It'd take ample troubleshooting before the right variation could be found. If one could get a party full of individuals who claimed the unique and maybe even rare packages, there wasn't necessarily a need for two Healers. The special skills granted by a Priest's unique package were said to be better than any of the other ones.
Of course, Kieran never verified this information because few people released details regarding the awarded skills to keep their trump cards in times of conflict. A single formidable skill could be a game-changer when pinned against an enemy of equal or greater power. Hence, such skills were known as Tide Turners amongst the gaming community.
"No shot! Are you telling me that there are extra rewards for feats like this? That means on top of whatever disgusting loot they got from clearing the thing, they've gained even more experience and coins?!" Someone shouted in the crowd.
Another followed up with a seemingly jealous tone, "Damn! That's insane. I wonder what level they've reached. If the Difficult mode could make a party level up three times with absolute certainty, what about the Very Difficult mode?! Surely, they've already reached Lv.10!"
Upon listening to the remark, everyone sucked in a sharp breath. The game had been live for no more than 6 hours in real-time, yet it was possible someone reached beyond Lv.10 already? The idea of clearing that mode was just too ludicrous.
Then again, one could only imagine the look on these people's faces if they were to know that one individual in the party reached Lv.17 while the others neared Lv.14 after gaining the achievement experience! Perhaps their jaws would drop in utter stupefaction!
Meanwhile, under the commotion created by his action, Kieran unequipped his armor, returning to the state of a beginner character. The only pieces of decent equipment he left on were the ring and necklace recently acquired. Afterward, he slipped away from the crowd by concealing his presence.
In return, Sithik and the others became the objects of attention.
"Hey! You there! You lot just came out of the dungeon, yeah? Say, how about you spill the beans concerning how to clear the dungeon, eh?" A tall, slender said within the crowd. They approached Altair and the others with two daggers strapped behind their waist.
Evidently, this individual was a Thief like Altair. They went by the name of Despot. What's more, they weren't just some unknown passerby. This individual belonged to a gaming organization known as the Shadow Cartel.
The conversation made Kieran pause momentarily and turn around while shielding his presence behind a large tree. His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized Despot's appearance.
"I'll have to respectfully decline because I don't know the answer," Altair replied with an emotionless expression. He didn't back down as he stared Despot in the eyes.
Despot clicked his tongue in annoyance before scowling at Altair. "So, you mean to say you cleared the dungeon but don't know how to clear it? Do you think my Shadow Cartel will believe that half-assed excuse?
Kieran's eyebrows rose at the mention of the Shadow Cartel. It was one of the darker organizations with origins in the United States. The Shadow Cartel was only a third-class organization in terms of power and structure, but they were needlessly hostile. As far as he knew, only the head of this gaming organization was a Ranker.
As for the rest, they were skilled but far from enough to become Rankers on what's known as the Exemplar Record. This record was a compilation of all renowned gamers with incredible potential and talent, created by the Gamer Republic Corporation.
Rankers were just the beginning of the Exemplar Record. In the grand scheme of things, even Rankers were barely worth mentioning. After all, there were far more significant presences that could squash them under their foot.
Still, Kieran was intrigued by the appearance of a third-class organization. They were called organizations for the time being because official guilds couldn't be formed yet inside Zenith Online. Establishing one would require ample preparations of strength, achievements, and financial outreach―requirements that currently escaped all players' capabilities.
'Shadow Cartel, is it? Trying to strongarm their way into obtaining information?' Kieran thought with a faint smirk. He didn't need to lift a finger because he noticed Altair imperceptibly reached for his daggers.
The moment Despot tried to make a move, he would strike. Not only was his attributes and level superior, but so was his equipment! The odds of Altair losing a fight was practically zero.
On the other hand, Kieran didn't wish for any conflict in his current condition. Should he suffer any setback, that would undoubtedly spark an enmity that the Shadow Cartel would most likely come to rue!
"Tch, so that's how it will be? Good, I've understood your message loud and clear," Despot smirked, glancing over the other party members. However, it dawned upon him then that they were missing one.
'Is this not the party leader, Aatrox?' Despot thought. Unlike most people here, he was one of the people who didn't watch the stream. Despot only came here after noticing everyone pool from Gena Village. Thus, he wasn't aware that the person he sought was in fact a Warrior.
Nevertheless, an ignorant mistake on his part was still a mistake.
After sparing Altair and the others a sinister look for a few moments, Despot withdrew from the area and walked away casually. He understood there was more than one way to acquire information. Besides, too many eyes and ears were present to properly capitalize on any given information.
On the other hand, Kieran smiled helplessly while watching the indicator on his screen flash nonstop. There were countless friend requests and an insane amount of message requests attached to the friend requests.
Initially, Kieran planned to disable the friend and party invite function, but he delayed that action for a moment. As he read through the messages, he came across multiple individuals sending messages on behalf of various third-class and second-class organizations. These messages were received on both Kieran's stream and in-game channels.
Since the two accounts were now linked, he received mirrored notifications. Meaning, if he was in his stream account, he could see the message received in Zenith Online despite not being active and vice versa.
'I suppose it's beneath first-class guild organizations to reach out to me. However, the pockets of those reaching out to me should be deep enough,' Kieran surmised. The opportunity offered by the countless messages was just too great to pass up! All of these guild organizations were asking for insider information. Amongst the offers, two of them stood out from the rest.
'Look who it is… the Shadow Cartel. Interesting. Now, this other one, the Warhead Syndicate—they're quite an infamous bunch if I'm not mistaken,' Kieran thought while silently evaluating the choices at hand.
This was undoubtedly an opportunity to make some much-needed money. After all, if it was one thing he needed, it was money. Kieran was sure that establishing a plan to deal with his irreconcilable enemy would have an absurd cost. Therefore, while the market within Zenith Online was malleable and susceptible to drastic changes based on the knowledge and items introduced, Kieran needed to make prudent choices.
First, he sifted through all of the names present until he pinpointed any name linked to a significant backing. Once he did so, he sent out an identical message. The contents were vague, so it could be aimed at anyone. However, Kieran didn't mince his words in the slightest.
In the reply, the first matter he mentioned was that he wasn't dispensing any exclusive information. It'd be accessible to all who could afford it. Whether or not they could make any considerable impression in their region would depend upon their individual skill.
Next, Kieran divided the amount of information into three different packages—Basic, Standard, and Premium. The Basic Version only mentioned the class combinations that worked well in beginner dungeons and what skills to pick. The Standard Version addressed what skills should be leveled up and chosen to tackle these early dungeons. Lastly, the Premium Version vaguely hinted at environmental manipulation but not entirely.
Instead of providing this on Zenith Online's forum space, Kieran added a special link under his stream's saved video description. This action would not only generate more plays but also allow anyone to directly purchase from the interface.
This way, Kieran dealt with the incoming messages without exposing himself to the unneeded conversation. Since this information was geared towards organizations that took gaming seriously, Kieran adjusted the price accordingly.
The price of the information ranged from $500-$2,500. Naturally, the most basic information was $500, and the premium information was $2,500. The drastic jump in price for the last package happened because it included information that could be carried later into Zenith Online. Eventually, it would become widely known, so Kieran would rather profit from guiding them in that direction earlier.
Furthermore, controlling the flow of knowledge permeating the gaming community would give Kieran a clear understanding of the community's current events while maintaining a relatively large control over possible future events. If this information fell into the right hands, it could also make the rise of larger guilds in Zenith Online a tad more difficult while keeping his identity comparatively hidden.
Additionally, Kieran used the Gamer Republic Connect platform because its internet security was among the highest available. The information inside the package couldn't be duplicated by any outside parties. Then again, Kieran wasn't particularly worried about this. He simply needed to guarantee some type of income for the immediate future.
Once that was done, Kieran denied all of the friend requests and disappeared from the leveling field, heading back to Gena Village.
