Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player-Novel

Though the system didn't reveal any such thing, Kieran viewed the combination of these two colors as a serendipitous omen or an accursed fortune.

They were equally as bad so they remained interchangeable in Kieran's mind.

As he looked inside the box, Kieran felt a searing pain in his chest. Upon looking down, Kieran realized that his Dormant Arcane Symbol wasn't so dormant anymore.

Given the nature of the symbol, it could only mean one thing—there was a Realm Fragment located in the center of the box. More specifically, there were two.

Considering that a Realm Key required six fragments to complete its formation, Kieran had acquired one-third of it in one go. Normally, Kieran would be ecstatic to gain progress toward an SSS Rank Quest, but not this one.

The Arcane One had warned him that, although many of his followers were wounded by his actions, their strength remained at a frightening level. Of course, it wasn't enough to threaten entities like the War Deity Council, but it could precipitate some unfortunate events.

While he rubbed on the subsiding symbol, Kieran looked at the other items inside the chest. One was a tooth, that when removed from the chest, expanded to tens of times its size, almost two meters long when laid on the ground.

「 Tiamat's Broken Tooth (UNIQUE Material)

Item Rank: Ancient (169)

Item Level: N/A

Item Usage: Can be used to create a suitable piece of equipment with demonic, draconic, and sinister properties. If used with inferior quality materials, the creation process will fail with 100% certainty.

Description: An infantile tooth, broken by a mighty warrior in an ancient battle. Once belonging to the Draconic Monarch of Misery, it now has no owner yet it carries traces of the young Tiamat's will. Exercise extreme caution went dealing with the item or the sinister aura may pervade the handler's mind. 」

At this point, Kieran started to question his decision to open these chests.

Though they were two unprecedented chests, Kieran couldn't help but feel like his world was being turned upside down.

The last item inside this chest was something Kieran didn't expect.

A damned egg.

When he tried to obtain information on it, it appeared as expected: ???

Helpless, Kieran couldn't only attempt to put the egg in his inventory.

However, to his dismay, it couldn't be stored that way. When Kieran released it, the egg fell to the ground and shattered part of the ground.

After knocking on it, Kieran felt egg's shell was some of the hardest material he had laid his eyes on to date. Not even Crimson Ashrune, which was forged from a formidable metal could compare.

Thankfully, Kieran came to this assumption without having to test it out. Otherwise, Crimson Ashrune would have been doomed.

"Considering the nature of my items thus far and this unusually dismal feeling the egg exudes, I'll put my money on the fact that it's something malevolent in nature."

As he couldn't store the egg properly, for the time being, Kieran decided it would be best to set it inside the Mystical Chest that wouldn't disappear.

Unlike the Rare Enigma Chest, this one was provided by the system and existed within the limits of Zenith Online.

Considering the surprises he had already withstood, Kieran felt the remaining four Treasure Chests couldn't be that bad. After all, it was two Unique Treasure Chest and two Epic ones.

With a deep breath, Kieran extended his hand and closed his eyes.

One by one, the sounds of chest tops flinging open sounded within his ears, but Kieran kept his eyes closed until he counted four sounds.

Taking a moment to prepare himself mentally, Kieran finally opened his eyes and gazed into the chest. A variety of items filled his sights, but none of them were ridiculous enough to baffle him again.

On the contrary, after looking through the medley of items, Kieran's eyes glinted with a wicked light.

"Oh, this is good. Very good. Fantastic, even. With this… I can create quite a stir."

Out of the 10 items that appeared from the chest, four of them, despite being two sets of duplicates, posed such an immense value that Kieran couldn't help but confirm their effects.

The first was the Official Guild Creation Order, bringing his tally of this item up to a whopping three. But the other was something much more valuable, even to Kieran though he had no intentions to use it.

「 Guild Promotion Order - Platinum

Item Rank: N/A

Item Level: N/A

Item Usage: When brought to the Adventurers' Guild, it allows the user to employ the privileges of a Platinum Adventurer and promote the level of their official guild by one.

Description: A rare item that few chance upon as it is a ticket to success without suffering the grueling effort one typically needs to put in. Applicable only up to the limits of a Platinum Adventurer Badge. 」

Either of these items could start a large wave if Kieran introduced them to the starving guilds. Though he was sure someone manage to procure at least one Guild Creation Order by now, the problem was completing the other requirements to become a Guild Master.

But, Kieran didn't doubt that some people had fulfilled the requirements but lacked the creation order. After all… defeating a Team Dungeon on Hell Mode was impossible without enough DPS and a frightening tank.

In a sense, it could be said that Kieran commanded the ability to control the market. And because he understood his possession of this power, Kieran swiped his hand and gazed at the Universal Currency Exchange Trading System.

'The moment the Godhand Bazaar goes public… it'll trigger the second stage of the UCETS. If it was before, I'd want to refrain from letting it happen, but with these orders… someone will undoubtedly become his victim,' Kieran thought.

For a second, Advent and Eclipse came to mind but when Kieran considered his relationship with them, he found that they were severely lacking in several areas.

In his eyes, gifting them was not a worthwhile investment.

Not when he required X-hancers that their identity couldn't help with. As Overlord-level guilds, the supply of X-hancers Advent and Eclipse received was finite.

Kieran required a bigger fish if he was going to solve the issue of X-hancers in the near future. His purchase from Advent could suffice for now, but what would happen once Altair and the others entered the Inhuman Threshold?

His current supply couldn't tide over future expenditure.

Aside from items related to guilds, Kieran also acquired a collection of nifty lifestyle items. But, since Agatha was here, he felt they could be improved upon. And, even if she wasn't willing, he would find a way to extort.

'Let's call it… repayment for my trauma. The pressure of three powerhouses was enough to give me a heart attack. Yes… yes. This is an amazing excuse. There's nothing she can say against me,' Kieran thought, wickedly rubbing his hands together with a scheming smile.

Though there were other items, Kieran couldn't be bothered with them because something important and quite unusual dawned upon him.

"How strange," Kieran hummed and stared at the open chests before him. "All these chests… and not a single piece of equipment? Isn't that suspicious?"

Equipment wasn't guaranteed when opening a chest, but the reason for Kieran's suspicions lay in what he received. If he looked at the bigger picture, several of the unmentioned materials could create equipment.

So, in a sense, Kieran received deconstructed equipment, including Tiamat's Broken Tooth.

If Kieran didn't know any better, it was almost as if the system was making a fool out of him in terms of equipment. As if it were telling him to "git gud" and make his loot.

Despite wanting to curse the Treasure Chests he opened, Kieran also desired to open more. It seemed he awakened some kind of gacha addiction, becoming addicted to the adrenaline that the probability produced.

Storing what could be stored, Kieran gave the Fallen Monarch's Mask and Eternal Caliginosity Cloak another glance.

One a Lost Item and the other an Inferior True Relic. Tempted, Kieran considered equipping them both.

But, reason returned to him.

"Scar and the others said True Relics are not something a person of my State of Being should wield. The compendium might not mean any harm, but those two items carry sinister or bleak origins… do I truly want to involve my current self with them?"

Kieran spoke his thoughts out loud but because no one was present, it was more so him reasoning with himself.

After moments of weighing his options, Kieran decided to store them in his inventory. Whereas the egg refused to be stored this way, both the mask and cloak entered his inventory without any issue.

Upon finishing with his Treasure Chest, Kieran left them all upstairs because he would order them to be smelted at some point. Skilled forgers could produce nifty equipment with chests of a certain rank.

Hamon currently lacked the skill to do so, but Kieran was confident in his foresight, which resulted from his knowledge of the future. Even though Kieran could feel his effect on the timeline, certain matters seemed to be anchors.

For example, Hamon still followed the path of the hammer. And Daedric and Altair claimed their respective Mythic Classes.

In addition to preparing to open the door, Kieran brought up Zenith Online's official forum page. The buzz of his actions had yet to die down, which was understandable, seeing as it happened just hours ago.

But Kieran ignored it, using his verified profile to create a post. On that post, Kieran announced that he was looking for people to join his Union.

Within seconds, the page lit up with countless messages, but Kieran had accounted for this outcome. Kieran had supplied everyone with directions. If interested in joining his Godhand Consortium, they were to meet him outside the Lifestyle Union building one hour from now.

In the meantime, Kieran pulled out one of the rewards he received as a prize for creating the first Union.

"I don't have time to manage a bunch of burly men, so I'll naturally have to up the temptation to get Hamon to do it."