Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

Chapter 596: What Are You?



Ezra agreed with Kieran's recommendation to shift the conversation.

After all, the guild was in a bit of a crisis that couldn't be ignored, deferred, or avoided. It required immediate attention, and their best bet was Ezra.

Allan also scoped out his realm of connections to find a thread to pull on. However, as Kieran feared, many were beginning to keep a tight lid on their supply of X-hancers and wouldn't part with them even after Kieran gave him permission to far exceed market price if necessary.

It was a desperate move that betrayed their desperation, but Kieran didn't much care about the particulars. In some cases, it was best to set aside one's pride for the sake of the whole.

Of course, stepping too far in that direction would have its own set of dire repercussions. One could easily be taken advantage of if they revealed too much of their desperation. Making a proposition from a place of weakness opened up an additional bundle of vulnerabilities for the stronger side to exploit.

It was not beneath many people in this world to kick someone while they were down. That downed person was often their competition, and kicking them would usually lead to a larger advantage.

Was that advantage worth the depreciation of character, though?

Kieran didn't know that answer. Not everyone's moral compass was set on the right track despite their flaws.

After giving Ezra some time to gather her thoughts, they walked abreast, slowing their stroll through Aeredale.

Considering how dire their situation was, Ezra prefaced the subsequent conversation with a cautionary statement.

"Okay, so I should begin by saying it's not all good news."

Kieran thought himself ready to bear any bombshell Ezra had to throw at him, giving an affirmative nod.

"Would you like the good or the bad first?" Ezra asked.

Kieran's attention remained focused on the distance, but he smiled and answered. "Bad. It'd be strange to want a sour taste in my mouth after having something incredibly sweet. Besides, you know the saying - always darkest before the dawn."

Ezra nodded, letting out a melodic chuckle beside Kieran. She combed a locket of raven hair behind her ear, revealing a slightly red-pink ear.

"So, the bad news is that Alexandria's pull in her family isn't as great as we hoped. In fact, we approached her at a horrible time. She is in a spat with her family, and they're chewing her head off for wanting to go independent."

Kieran remained silent for a while.

He recalled his brief meetings with Alexandria, or Luna as she called herself within Zenith Online. Like Altair, she had chosen the Thief Type in the beginning, but her progression veered off the general stealthy path that most would take to achieve that hallowed Assassin skillset.

It was a prevalent choice in many scenarios, and Kieran understood why. The swift hack-and- slash style boasting stealth, precision, and lethality resonated with the dreams of many. Sometimes, people projected themselves into the situation and basked in the misplaced revelry.

Luna had seemed staunchly independent. So much so that Kieran couldn't help but wonder why she was trying so hard to prove her ability. Of course, she wasn't entirely alone.

Kieran also remembered some of her strange team members who came to her defense almost as if tasked with doing just that. After learning of her identity as one of the Hall Family's princesses, Kieran assumed some team members were bodyguards she couldn't escape.

Curious, Kieran sought out additional information on the matter.

"Why exactly is she having a spat with her family?"

Ezra grimaced, avoiding Kieran's gaze like a plague. "How do I put this... a lot of the blame should be shouldered by you."

"Me? Kieran said, taken aback and pausing where he stood.

Ezra stopped, too, reversing so that she faced him. Her expression was a mix of confidence, accusation, and uncertainty. "You want to tell me that you're not responsible for being the one who auctioned Guild Creation Orders?!"

It was here that Kieran was stumped once more.

To his knowledge, Alexandria wasn't among the people who won his Guild Creation Orders after engaging in pure lunacy. The show of financial might was so absurd it left Kieran unthinkably rich overnight. Other factors played into Kieran's soon-to-be exhausted wealth, but nothing did as much as that auction.

"What about the auction? I targeted Mors and Solomon, two well-known Guild Masters of Behemoth-level Guilds. She didn't win the auction over my items."

"I know she didn't, but what do you think that did as a whole to everyone? It ignited a fire under their asses, and Alexandria hunted an order with that same abandon as the others until she got one."

Kieran nodded, understanding the gist of Ezra's words and where she was going with this. "So she created one of the current official guilds. Her family caught wind of her success, and now they're likely fighting to claim what is hers due to their relationship?"

Ezra blinked in wordless shock, opening and closing her mouth without uttering a word. Then, when she finally spoke, it was a single word, "Yes."

Kieran started to frown as his mind churned. "Does part of that fighting have to do with limiting her access to X-hancers?"

Ezra nodded, a thin smile worn on her face.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

She understood how bleak their situation could be. The Hall Family was, after all, Eclipse's X- hancer lifeline. Due to her severing ties with the guild, however, Ezra couldn't simply ask the Hall Family or Eclipse to charter their rise.

Sanguis Requiem was blatant competition, and they'd be fools to lend their adversary a hand. They didn't see it as having someone beneath them with immense potential indebted to them; they saw it as willfully feeding into their inevitable demise.

"Weaponizing their influence, huh?"

Kieran sighed and shook his head.

This situation played into why he despised stepping into this particular echelon of status, power, and influence where the top brass already had friends in high places. It made the odds very unfair, and anyone poised to make a wave was reduced to a mere ripple via overhead

oppression.

"Yeah. They're always under the impression that there isn't enough for everyone to go around when that isn't the case. If so, why would there be massive storage of said serum in protected vaults? It's all a power move to assert dominance," Ezra sighed.

Kieran wholeheartedly agreed. It was all a foolish display of might that was pointless in the

end.

Nevertheless, he didn't waste too much time dwelling over the problems that afflict them and

obstacles that stood in their way.

"That's the bad... what is the good?"

Ezra smiled, pressing her palms together, giddy with excitement. "It's Alexandria. Not only

will she meet with us. She'll even provide a share of X-hancers to tide us over. Far more massive than I initially provided to you."

That was good news, yes. Kieran couldn't argue there. But how he saw it, Alexandria's willingness could very well be a cry for help.

If her family was pressuring her and she still found it within herself to render aid to a struggling guild... either she possessed a supply greater than she could use, or she was a

kindred risk-taker.

'What are you, Alexandria?'