After Kieran's comment, the call grew quiet.
Aside from being taken aback by Kieran's sheer lack of nervousness, Scarlet was intrigued by Kieran's confidence.
Though she had received in-depth information on Kieran's class after requesting what was known to the GRC, Scarlet didn't find anything extraordinary enough to warrant this overconfidence.
'Sure, he's worthy of attention right now. But today and tomorrow are two different concepts. I've yet to see anything that indicates longevity, so for the time being, I'll keep my opinion of him neutral. I've seen far too many people of absurd talent suffer an early demise but he'll have the benefit of the doubt,' Scarlet thought.
Unlike Maine, Scarlet's view was more cynical and logical. It was also backed by her ample experience.
Eventually, Scarlet placed her mug on the desk and gave Kieran a parting smile. "I'll be watching you—so I hope you perform well."
As Kieran nodded, Scarlet also terminated her participation in the conference call.
Soon, it was only Kieran and Allan left in the call and as he explained earlier, now that those two had left, Allan began to divulge the specifics of the upcoming meeting.
For the most part, it was as Kieran suspected, he was given extravagant treatment, which was also extended to those related to him.
Since the meeting would take place within the illustrious Minence City, only overshadowed by the Elysium State, the cost of accommodating Kieran wouldn't be cheap.
Minence City was a place that only the elite could afford.
"We've arranged for a private jet to bring you and your company into Minence City. Normally, we'd opt for a more practical means of transportation, but there are some people that'd like to meet with you before the national meeting," Allan revealed.
A moment later, he added: "Think of it as a bonus to the GRC placing their bets on you. It pertains to the matters I mentioned before."
"Oh?" Kieran recalled everything they mentioned but only one resonated with why people would want to meet with Kieran beforehand—endorsements.
There were undoubtedly some companies that'd be interested in having him announce his relation to them.
"The specifics are attached to the email I've sent to you. I didn't mean to take up too much of your time but as you saw, there were people interested in talking with you and I wasn't in a position to decline," Allan apologized, looking at Kieran with a wry smile.
Kieran waved off the apology, because from start to finish, the conversation didn't take more than 10 minutes. If he couldn't spare 10 minutes to converse, then something was extremely wrong.
"It's fine," Kieran murmured.
Afterward, they wrapped up the call with Kieran skimming through the email.
'What a jampacked schedule. On the one hand, I have to deal with these matters of making a name for myself and on the other, I have to deal with all of the tasks I've taken on within Zenith Online.'
Though Kieran had delegated some tasks to others, what lay in wait for him could not be taken on by anyone else. It had to be accomplished by his hand or it wouldn't be possible.
Dr. Riley noticed Kieran's furrowed brows and walked around, tilting her head to the side. "Is there something the matter? You seem conflicted and somewhat… overwhelmed?"
"Not necessarily. But I could see how my expression could come off that away. Simply trying to devise a better way to time manage," Kieran answered.
However, he soon pushed the thought to the back of his mind and led Dr. Riley into the training room. After noting her physique, Kieran waited for Dr. Riley to change into a set of training gear similar to his own.
The only difference was that whereas Kieran was topless, Dr. Riley wore a kind of sports bra-looking top. Previously, she believed she was confident enough to stand before Kieran while wearing a training outfit but after Kieran's continued silence, she grew self-conscious.
"What is it…? Does it look bad on me?" Dr. Riley questioned while fidgeting about.
The question initially didn't register in Kieran's mind, or rather he didn't respond to it immediately. Only after a few seconds of gazing upon Dr. Riley in silence did he speak.
"You perceive me not being able to take my eyes off you as you looking bad? I'll never understand women. Anyhow… stand still. I need to perform an assessment," Kieran said.
Given the authoritative tone Kieran used, Dr. Riley froze as he circled her body, noting her posture amongst other things.
After conducting this rotation a few times, Kieran knelt behind Dr. Riley and pressed his thumbs underneath her calves with a decent amount of pressure.
As he dragged his hands upward, passing behind her knee and over her hamstrings, Dr. Riley's eyes widened and she bit her lip, stifling a scream. For some reason, Kieran pressing into the back of her legs hurt more than she liked to admit.
"As expected, you carry the most evident weakness of a sedentary lifestyle. Every muscle back here is tight and somewhat fragile," Kieran noted.
"That shouldn't be the case. I consume X-hancers regularly, I should be stronger than the average human in that regard," Dr. Riley responded.
However, Kieran shook his head.
Believing X-hancers to be some kind of magical serum was foolish.
Without performing at least a basic amount of exercise to promote proper digestion of the serum's energy, most of its efficacy would be consumed to repair damage sustained by vital organs.
When it came to using the energy provided, muscles were considered low priority.
After all, the purpose of X-hancers was to enhance longevity. This was naturally best achieved by keeping one's vital organs in an optimal state.
Following the completion of her legs, Kieran conducted this pressure examination on her arms, shoulder, back, and abdomen. As he expected, there were a lot of imbalances in her strength and flexibility.
Luckily, this wasn't an irreparable issue.
Since he knew what to address, Kieran soon devised a strategy. "We'll warm you up and then loosen your body. There are bound to be remnants of untapped X-hancer energy hidden throughout your body. Let's attempt to get your body to draw it out."
Kieran wasn't sure if Dr. Riley's physique was enough to enter the Inhuman Threshold, but it didn't bother him too much. At most, Dr. Riley's training would simply become a work in progress.
The first matter on Kieran's agenda was monitoring Dr. Riley's strength, which as expected, wasn't that great. With his current body, Kieran could exert close to ten times the power she could and this was evident when her full-force punch felt like a tap against his hand.
Then again…
"Your form is wrong," Kieran said, criticizing and correcting where Dr. Riley went wrong. By the time he finished correcting her form, Dr. Riley stumbled.
"It'll take some getting used to, but using perfect form from the beginning is ideal as it'll become second nature fast,"
"Okay," Dr. Riley murmured, struggling to stand upright.
Once she stopped rocking side to side, Kieran instructed her to attack him again.
While on the defensive, Kieran noticed that Dr. Riley was an erudite individual, not just with theoretical knowledge, but physical application as well.
Though, her stamina was laughable.
After ten minutes of striking Kieran as he instructed, Dr. Riley heaved and gasped for air.
"You'll definitely need to train more often, but your base isn't as terrible as I expected it to be," Kieran said, backhandedly praising her.
Listening to Kieran's comment naturally led to Dr. Riley squinting with a sour expression. "Oh? So you had extremely low expectations of me? That's good to know."
"Did I… say something wrong?" Kieran muttered, blinking absentmindedly.
"I don't know, did you?" Dr. Riley scoffed.
Stumped, Kieran could only scratch his head.
As Dr. Riley was not accustomed to exercising in any form, Kieran decided to keep it light for the first day.
Once they finished here, Kieran conducted his round of training, pushing himself to his physical limits before entering the showers and washing away the sweat.
Due to the awakening of his Hypervigilance, the shower felt oddly pleasing as if numerous water jets were beating against his skin.
The clarity of his senses gifted Kieran some nostalgia.
'This feeling of being more aware… I missed it. I'm glad to have it back, even if it's just a fraction of what I could accomplish before.'
A couple of minutes after his shower, Kieran came out and changed into the set of fresh gear Dr. Riley had prepared for him. Aside from that, he also went upstairs to enjoy a meal.
During his meal, Kieran's mind shifted to what awaited him in the Godhand's Bazaar once he returned to Zenith Online. 'My first mass opening… I wonder what the result will be.'
Seeing as how Kieran had already covered all of his bases, whatever he received from the Treasure Chests could be considered a bonus.
Hence, Kieran wasn't concerned about the outcome.
Still, three of the chest in his possession were quite absurd, which left him somewhat curious—if Bastion could obtain such remarkable items, couldn't he?
…
Roughly one hour later…
Kieran sat atop the new medical bed he helped Dr. Riley put together. He consumed a few more 25% X-hancers until he felt his body was teeming with energy.
Because of his upcoming schedule, Kieran had informed Dr. Riley that he'd most likely be confined to Zenith Online for several days. Though he felt bloated at the moment, Kieran knew his body would readily digest the X-hancer serum in his system and continue to refine his senses.
However, the rate at which this would occur was unknown to Kieran.
Though vague, he had gleaned a few things from Maine's tone when mentioning that he looked forward to Kieran's progress.
"After your training… your vitals seem to have stabilized further. There should be less danger involved, but as always, I'll continue to monitor you closely," Dr. Riley said, giving Kieran a charming similarly.
He similarly smiled back, laying down as he re-connected to Zenith Online.
