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Due to the inconvenience of Kieran’s current condition, returning to Aeredale City took over ten hours. This was almost triple the amount of time it took to reach the Forest of Marshullum, to begin with, but there was nothing the party could do about it.

The party’s pace remained slow even after Kieran’s Stamina started to return naturally. After all, it wasn’t a simple jump from 50% back to full potency once those first 3 hours passed; it was a gradual return to Kieran’s former condition.

Perhaps if Abhorrent Paroxysm were used alone, it would be a different story, but that wasn’t the course of Kieran’s action. His Constitution was overworked and required time to recuperate. Naturally, this meant Kieran had no intentions of returning to combat until he was fully healed.

“Finally!” Nemean groaned exhaustedly. The gates to Aeredale City were before their very eyes, and although Kieran didn’t look it, the weight of his character was immense due to how high his Strength attribute was becoming. The higher the Strength attribute was, the denser that character’s muscles, bones, etc. Because of this increased density, the character’s weight similarly increased.

Although Nemean and Bastion were wider than Kieran in terms of their frames, Nemean was certain their bodies weren’t as compact.

“Is the end of this excruciatingly slow journey back?!” Cyr cried out in both relief and exhaustion. Unlike running at top speed, where they didn’t need to pay much heed to the distance crossed, a slow trek made it extremely difficult to focus on other matters.

“I believe so,” Luna commented. “I think this is where we’ll part ways.”

After hearing this, Kieran turned toward Luna and nodded faintly. “I appreciate the hospitality. You didn’t need to escort us back, but you did, and for that, I will remember your debt. That said, may I ask what your plans are now?”

“Plans? Well, first, I need to settle some matters with the Merchant Association, and then afterward, I believe I should focus on finding other dungeons to clear to bring my party’s overall gear and level up,” Luna answered.

While she had reached Lv.30, the others were still far below that number. Still, they were high enough to make it on the Level Leaderboard present inside everyone’s system interface.

“Is that so?” Kieran murmured before sifting his gaze through Luna’s party. After giving the matter some thought and glancing through the Level Leaderboards, he continued. “Not only you, but your party also sits about the experience curve. Rather than level, I suggest you visit the Training Hall and understand your skills better.”

Luna didn’t know why, but when she heard this, she frowned a little. Perhaps she felt Kieran was downplaying her skills by urging her to train. “Are my skills not sufficient? Then… was I lacking during our run?”

Luna didn’t answer these questions out of insecurity; instead, she asked them because if there were indeed some insufficiencies present, she preferred for them to be highlighted so that she may do her best to deal with them.

Of course, this was all in Luna’s head as Kieran softly shook his head. “Not necessarily, because I’ll be recommending the same thing to my people. It might be thrilling to increase your skill arsenal quickly, but it means nothing if there’s no essence to how you apply them. Besides, it’s for the best that everyone learns to create several rotations of their skills that neutralize the issue of cooldowns.”

“I see,” Luna muttered as a flash of realization hit. During their fight, the main issue they faced was their skill cooldown. After dealing burst damage, everyone was either forced to take a step back and await the passing of this period of inactivity or deal minimal to no damage with basic attacks.

Aside from Kieran, whose basic attacks were turned into default blood attacks thanks to the effects of Blood Mania, everyone’s base Attack Power was pretty low, hovering between 400-700 depending on the person.

Considering that Lv.30 Elite Monsters generally possessed Defense of above 600, most players would struggle to deal damage without their skills present. For this, one needed to understand combat to supplement basic attacks.

“So, you’re saying that it’s possible to train our skills without going into leveling fields and dungeons?” Luna questioned. The only effective way to reduce the cooldown period of some skills was to increase their level. However, as expected, some skills had a cooldown that couldn’t be changed. Increasing their skill level would only increase their duration or the skill damage

/effect.

“It should be,” Kieran nodded. “I once sparred against my mentor, and the results increased my skill level considerably. Of course, it wasn’t a single spar. More like a couple hundred fights, but you get the picture.”

The event Kieran mentioned was not his spar with Scar. In fact, he was referring to an entirely different timeline altogether. This occurred back when Kieran first started the game. Since he was so far behind other professional players, Kieran spent most of his time in the Training Hall to perfect his limited skill arsenal. It was time-consuming, but the honing effects were worth it.

Although Kieran never accomplished it, he had a feeling that if a player completed enough spars or even succeeded in beating their mentor, a bonus reward awaited them. Sadly, Kieran could never confirm this theory. Before he could train to his desired state, his mentor was called away and perished in a war involving the Adventurer Guild and other parties.

“Sparring against mentors? Hmm, that sounds like PvP from other games. I wasn’t aware that this game had such a function,” Zafir commented. An abnormal fire set ablaze in his gaze as he revealed a slight grin. It was clear that Zafir held some interest in PvP.

“Very well, I will heed your advice and visit the Training Hall,” Luna said. Afterward, she bid her goodbyes to visit the Merchant Association. Since it appeared she was in a rush, Kieran assumed it was either related to the large sum of coins she amassed or to purchase some of the items in the Merchant Association’s item shop.

Either way, since her purchasing power was high, Kieran felt either one could be a good decision.

After a brief pause, Kieran turned toward the others. “I’m guessing you all need to log out, eat, and more?” Factoring in the time since he logged in, Kieran had spent more than half of a day inside the game.

Naturally, the others would need to eat and possibly even freshen up.

“Absolutely, because I can already tell my body is starving. My character is beginning to feel sluggish,” Altair nodded. Altair could easily sense the changes in a fast-paced class like an Assassin. A break was definitely required.

After talking the matter over, Kieran decided to let everyone take a break. However, he also checked to see if anyone was currently employed since that could affect their gaming schedule. Aside from Aspaira, who now spent her time inside the Alchemist Circle, toiling away to become an Alchemist, the others were completely free.

‘I should probably give everyone the option to make income from this game. The 50 Gold given to them is worth a decent amount of money, but money is akin to a running stream of water in this day and age. Spending money and watching it slip away is an unavoidable matter.

Eventually, only Kieran remained inside Aeredale City as everyone took their break. He strolled through the city’s streets before entering the commercial district flush with bustling activity.

Players and NPCs alike walked the streets in a quantity that could only be seen as crowded. Regardless of how busy the roads were, Kieran managed to slip by everyone and enter the Adventurer Guild.

Like when he first entered this place, the Adventurer Guild’s lobby was filled with players registering as a Trainee, picking up assignments, or giving proof of quest completion.

Looking through the crowd, Kieran soon found what he was looking for. He waved as he approached the receptionist’s desk not too far away. “Sammy, right?”

The new receptionist was momentarily startled when she heard her name, but when she looked up, Sammy realized it was a face that she couldn’t forget. “Oh! It’s the mister who accepted the quest to gain a Gold Adventurer Badge!”

Sammy first looked around before leaning close and whispering in a voice audible only to Kieran. “Erm, Sir Aatrox, have you tried the quest yet? Is it too difficult? I’ve heard rumors that the source of those ogres might be a large enemy of their forcing them out of their usual habitat.”

Sammy’s voice was tender, and the fact she whispered to keep Kieran’s situation private made him smile. The girl was probably more genuine than some players he had come across. Furthermore, she addressed Kieran as Sir because he commanded as much respect as the kingdom’s knights.

Kieran replied in kind, using a whispering tone. “I’ve completed the mission. I’ve come to ask for Vice-Guild Master Hugo.”

“Ah!” Sammy yelped in surprise. But, when her abrupt noise caused a slight disturbance, she covered her mouth and gestured for Kieran to follow her.

Sammy led Kieran through the curtain behind the desk and ultimately knocked on Hugo’s door. There was no response at first, but after a few seconds, the door creaked open. Because Sammy used the knock given to her, Hugo knew who it was.

An unusual sight greeted Kieran and Sammy upon walking into the room. A dense silver aura pulsated from Hugo’s body, and with each pulsation, that aura grew wilder until it felt strong enough to fill the entire room.

Kieran’s brow arched in surprise as this presence felt somewhat familiar. ‘This… this ability is similar to Warrior’s Aura except it is many times more powerful. As expected, Hugo’s class is a branch of the Warrior.’

“Hmm?” Hugo opened his eyes gradually after sensing two presences instead of one. His gaze immediately shifted from Sammy to Kieran. “Aatrox, so you have returned. Seeing as you are stronger than when you first entered this place, I can assume you have completed this mission?”

“I have,” Kieran nodded. While responding, Kieran retrieved the cyclops’ large head with a huge thump. The cyclops head was larger than both Kieran and Hugo.

Ding!

“To think you’d succeed in slaying a cyclops with your current strength. I must say, commendable.”

〈System: You have completed the Unique Quest «Adventurer Guild’s Gold Task»!〉

〈System: You have received 200,000 Experience.〉

“This is yours,” Hugo said. A hexagonal gold badge with a brilliant cerulean border rested in his palm. In the center of the badge was an emblem with a shield overlaid by a sword—the emblem of the Adventurer’s Guild.

〈System: You have received a «Gold Adventurer Badge»!〉

〈System: Your status has been updated, and all matching privileges have become accessible.〉

〈System: Do you wish to broadcast your special feat to this world? Y | N ?〉

‘Oh? Why not… The entire world shall know the name of Aatrox soon enough. Why would I keep it from resounding at every moment?’ Kieran thought with a prideful smirk.

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Zenith Online World Announcement-

Congratulations to the player Aatrox for being the first to gain a Gold Adventurer Badge. The player has received rewards befitting of their feat.

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