Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player
Chapter 60: Barren Mountain Range

Unlike before in the Chasm of Apogeton, or the Wildes in general, where Kieran's weapon remained in his inventory, it was present as he crossed the Beginner Handicap Zone threshold. Therefore, Kieran immediately noticed the signs of change he wasn't privy to before.

As he laid eyes upon the Scarlet Steel Greatsword, much of its information received a substantial increase!

「 Scarlet Steel Greatsword (Rare)

Item Level: 50

Phys. Attack Power +171

Strength +45, Agility +30, Control +25

Effect: Monsters weak to flames suffer extra damage.

Item Ability «Flaming Circle» - This ability conjures a ring of powerful flames that deal constant fire damage every second for 15 seconds. Afterward, this ability can't be used for the next 60 seconds.

Description: A greatsword created using materials boasting fiery properties. Based on the weapon's shape, it's likely that it was forged using the tooth of a beast skilled with fire.

Weight: 75kg

Durability: 350/350

Requirements: «Warrior Class», 75 Strength, Lv.15 」

Not only did the Item Level increase by 30, but the Attack Power attached to the weapon increased as well, changing from the prior 91 to 171! That was almost a 100% increase in weapon damage! Meanwhile, the Item Ability experienced a 50% duration increase.

"Not too shabby, so it was an item with an Item Level of 50," Kieran nodded in satisfaction.

The Item Level didn't refer to the character level required to wield or equip the item. The Item Level only indicated the relevancy of an item. In other words, it gave a general indication of the item's future viability. An item with an Item Level of 50 could be used comfortably until Lv.50.

At that point, it was advised for any player to begin searching for stronger alternatives if not readily available. There were other nuances to the Item Level; however, they need not be mentioned since those game features weren't currently a part of the game. It'd take quite a few updates for the game to reach that condition.

Once Kieran became familiar with his current weapon parameters, he opened up his menu and paid close attention to a few matters. The first being the Unassigned Attribute Points and Skill Points at his disposal.

Because he used them in a pinch, there weren't many remaining for convenient usage. As a result, Kieran used his 4 available Skill Points on his most practical skill before dumping the remainder of his UAP into Strength.

「Name: Aatrox

Lv.20 (Experience: 77,600/80,000)

Class: Warrior

Title(s): None

[«Stats»]-

Health: 535/535 (0.2 HP regen/sec)

Mana: 130/130 (0.15 MP regen/sec)

Stamina: 174 (0.17 Stamina regen/sec)

Attack Power: 461

Defense: 127

[«Attributes»]-

»Strength: 144 (72 + 72 + 0)

»Intelligence: 20 (20 + 0 + 0)

»Agility: 80 (47 + 33 + 0)

»Endurance: 40 (20 + 20 + 0)

»Control: 55 (30 + 25 + 0)

»Vitality: 45 (30 + 15 + 0)

»Perception: 50 (50 + 0 + 0)

[Unassigned Stat Point: 0]

[Skill Points: 0] 」

'Perfect,' Kieran inwardly noted within a smile. His primary focus was widening the gap between his Attack Power and his estimation of the monster defenses to increase his monster farming rate. 80 Agility was more than enough for a class of his type.

As for his Defense, his item ability covered that department well.

Once Kieran felt every worrying matter was taken care of, he moved forward.

〈System: You have entered the leveling field «Barren Mountain Range»!〉

Although it was called barren, this range was still filled with trees. The barren aspect came from the fact all of the verdant grass had shriveled up and gained the color of dead foliage.

Within this area of dead foliage, Kieran noticed many small to middle-sized creatures scurrying about. The color of their skin varied from slime green to forest green, and they all had protruding bellies with primitive weapons, admittedly made from nearby fallen trees.

As for what kind of monsters they were, they were the much-loved goblins! A staple in all types of open-world RPG games!

The varying shades of green on their skin indicated two things: their level and/or ranking. The darker the goblin's skin color, the stronger they were in terms of rank.

Due to his experience, Kieran was aware of this piece of nifty information.

However, since he wasn't in a party, he couldn't capitalize on the actual value of this knowledge. No matter what plans he put in motion, the nearby goblins would be alerted when he started fighting.

So, even if he solely targeted stronger goblins, he would inevitably be targeted by the weaker ones.

「Lv.21 Goblin Minion (Normal)

Goblin Type

Health: 18,000/18,000 (100%) 」

「Lv.21 Goblin Minion (Elite)

Goblin Type

Health: 23,500/23,500 (100%) 」

「Lv.22 Goblin Minion (Elite)

Goblin Type

Health: 25,000/25,000 (100%) 」

Once Kieran saw the attributes of the goblins, his expression became remarkably stoic. Although Goblins were widely known as monsters with weak defenses, this was only concerning a fight fueled by Tier 1 power.

Even the weakest goblin present required Kieran's utmost attention because they were a type of monster who tended to rely upon their allies to create unfavorable scenarios for their enemies.

Once Kieran tightened his grasp around the Scarlet Steel Greatsword, he exploded with incredible momentum. At the same time, the Warrior's Aura blazed around his body with a blueish-silver tint that complemented Kieran's armor to create a riveting sight. A warrior clad in armor sprinting into the heat of battle!

Great strength coursed through his limbs as the ground trembled slightly with each of his heavy steps.

A strong draft surfaced as Kieran suddenly swung his weapon in a horizontal arc. The edge of his sword connected with a Normal Goblin Minion within his range while the draft tickled some of their skin.

-466

Skrrrrreeee!

Angered shrieks sounded from the goblins as they frantically flailed their clubs around. These weren't the most brilliant monsters, so they were incapable of intelligible communications. At most, they could only convey their feelings through the pitch of their shrieks.

Since it was ear-piercing, Kieran could sense the fury in their actions.

"Come," Kieran taunted with a faint smile.

At the same time, Kieran kept a mental note of how long each battle took while also noting the difference between the Normal and Elite Goblin Minions of the same level. While the Normal ones averaged around 135 to 140 Defense, the Elites varied between 200 to 210.

This Defense was equal to the bosses that Kieran faced within the Beginner Zone!

Not to mention, this was the lowest part of the spectrum. Monsters would only grow stronger from here on out, especially the inevitable Champions he would have to face.

"Phew," Kieran exhaled while dodging the clubs of many Goblins.

While their agility was much higher than the average beast found in the Fanged Forest, Kieran was in a partially heightened state. After experiencing the fight against Zirgirak's Phantom, it felt like monsters of this caliber had slowed down considerably, allowing him to track the trajectory of their attacks with ease.

While dodging, Kieran would sometimes kick a goblin's chest and send it flying back while using Charge on another to stun it. Although he was at a disadvantage number-wise, these monsters didn't even begin to touch upon his realm of combat experience.

The first Normal Goblin Minion fell within 125 seconds. Despite all that Kieran tried, focusing on one enemy proved to be a tall task slightly beyond his current parameters. He couldn't keep every enemy at bay while focusing solely on the weakest enemy present.

〈System: You have gained 600 Experience!〉

Sometimes, his connecting attacks would be sacrificed to deal extraneous damage upon an Elite Goblin Minion whose Agility eclipsed its brethren. After seeing that his first kill on the weakest monster fell outside of his comfort zone as far as the allotted time per kill went, Kieran immediately activated the ability attached to the Bear King Pendant.

A rippling soundwave burst from Kieran's body, placing many Goblins in a Dazed state. Once this happened, Kieran followed up with the item ability attached to the Scarlet Steel Greatsword.

Information regarding the usage flowed into Kieran's mind as he abruptly plunged the sword into the ground. A long line of flames seared the ground, and once it reached 5 meters in length, it rapidly formed a flaming circle on the floor.

Once the Dazed state elapsed, pained shrieks sounded from the Goblins trapped within the flaming ring. These particular goblins were vulnerable to both ice and fire because of their fragile skin. It didn't consist of ample layers like a human; goblins only possessed one thin layer of skin covering their muscles.

Thus, the item's ability dealt additional damage.

Once Kieran learned of their extreme vulnerability to fire, his eyes filled with passion. The muscles in Kieran's left arm swelled until the sight of visible veins peered through some of the slight openings in his armor.

A blast of air accompanied a relentless swing that could only be described as a more robust version of the Force Slash. Those Skill Points invested into a skill were naturally used on Force Slash since it was the most practical action. It was, without a doubt, his highest damaging skill with an extremely low cooldown.

For the 10 seconds that the Flaming Circle lasted, Kieran unleashed two Force Slashes. Each skill execution dealt upwards of 2,400 damage to those directly hit by the attack and 1,200 damage to surrounding goblins.

Coupled with the Flaming Circle's sustained damage, Kieran's damage per second skyrocketed until their health bars drained at a visible rate. From what Kieran gathered, the Flaming Circle should deal a base damage of 500 damage per second.

However, this value essentially doubled because of the goblin's innate weakness.

Once the ring disappeared, over twenty goblins were left with scabbed skin that fell off in large patches, exposing raw muscle.

Whoosh!

Kieran took advantage of their current state and jumped, thrusting his sword directly into the exposed muscle. Every attack launched in this way dealt critical damage. A short 30 seconds later, the first Lv.21 Elite Goblin Minion fell.

〈System: You have gained 900 Experience!〉

Approximately 10 seconds after that, another Lv.21 Elite Goblin fell.

〈System: You have gained 900 Experience!〉

〈System: You have reached the limit of a Tier 0 Class. Your trait «Zero Loss of Potential» has activated!〉

〈System: Character Level frozen at Lv.20. All additional Experience will be accumulated in a pool. [Current Accumulation Value: 0/?]〉