Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

On the facility's main floor…

Though she was initially engrossed in her work, Dr. Riley stopped all of her research to glance at the screen beside her. In doing so, she caught glimpses of Kieran's training regimen.

However, her attention wasn't on what he was doing. Instead, she silently gazed at the screen, subconsciously biting her lip. In her eyes, all that existed was Kieran's muscular body, glistening with sweat as he continued to push himself.

As she was currently alone in the facility, with everyone else in their respective rooms and logged into Zenith Online, Dr. Riley had time to fantasize about the stimulating scene before her.

"Day by day, Kieran gets sexier…" Dr. Riley muttered, lightly biting on the pen she previously tapped on the desk. She leaned into her palm and, while in a trance, she zoomed in on Kieran's image, allowing her to watch as the sweat whipped off his hair.

If anyone were present to witness her actions, they'd undoubtedly label her as being down bad. Perhaps even down horrendous.

Granted, they wouldn't be wrong.

Even Dr. Riley had to admit that her taste in men was subtly changing. She couldn't quite describe it, but the more she interacted with Kieran, the more she became attracted to him.

Perhaps it was related to how natural he acted in her presence, as if nervousness was an invalid concept to him.

From his face, eyes, and jawline, Dr. Riley moved down to ogle Kieran's body, specifically the way his muscles rippled after absorbing the impact of his movements.

Though he had put on several kilograms of muscle, resembling a ripped heavyweight boxer physique-wise, he was abnormally flexible and agile like a world-class gymnast.

'This kind of movement… is this why he's so famous inside Zenith Online? If that's so, I wonder… how strong is he? I've tried comparing his readings to the offsprings of those monsters… but it wouldn't let me do so. I don't have the clearance, plus I can't just ask for it. That'll raise too much suspicion,' Dr. Riley thought.

She sighed as she recalled her inability to acquire the information she desired. Though, while she failed to acquire any information, she did come across more about Kieran—mainly his streaming account and endless mention of him on Zenith Online's official platform.

"Aatrox… could he be somewhat skilled in understanding Latin? There's a root word in there and it's quite befitting of him," Dr. Riley nodded approvingly before scrolling through the information.

Throughout this movement, she would occasionally glance at Kieran, who continued to go against an increasing number of projectiles. While doing so, the more she uncovered about Kieran's actions, chiefly the two massacres he performed in-game, the more shocked Dr. Riley grew.

Eventually, she couldn't help but sit back and gasp and also watch tentatively. Though she was predominantly excited by knowledge, she couldn't ignore how interesting Kieran's battling style was.

"Wielding his blood in such a way? Quick, precise, and destructive," Dr. Riley muttered under her breath.

Soon enough, Dr. Riley's intrigue bubbled over as she stood up from her chair before heading downstairs. Whether this action was performed to watch Kieran firsthand or to ask a question, was unknown.

…

Kieran panted, his body creating a pool of sweat that quickly evaporated thanks to the properties of the HRT chamber. Though he had not lifted any weights, Kieran could feel a soreness building up in his body.

'Accel Shifting and Surge Stepping are demanding on the muscles as they need to exert force in a certain way. Furthermore, reabsorbing that force to stop is just as physically taxing. In a sense, learning these techniques is quite the workout in itself. But… besides that… this new level should be quite absurd.'

[You have successfully passed the evaluation to surpass the Prime standard of Reaction Speed and Precision, completing the Superhuman Response Regimen. Would you like to begin training at the Inhuman Threshold?]

[Warning! If you're unable to pass the evaluation with a 100% evasion rate, moving on to the Inhuman Threshold is not advised. Projectile speed will exceed the maximum setting for humans.]

This warning alone made Kieran ponder a few matters.

In his past life, he rarely used facilities like this to train. Most of his training was done against people. After all, Kieran understood that he could easily overcome these chambers with his reaction speed.

However, his current self was nowhere near that level. Because of that, this allowed him to come in contact with settings he didn't know existed.

For example, while he was aware of Superhumans and Inhumans, he didn't know that there was a spectrum related to the power they could wield.

Kieran had always believed it was something generalized.

After all, there was no official announcement to the world since more than 70% of the population failed to become superhuman, much less inhuman. Compared to an inhuman, a superhuman was inferior.

Whereas a superhuman could only excel in one trait, whether it was physical or metaphysical, an inhuman individual could accomplish both at an alarming level.

As Kieran considered his answer, he glanced behind him and saw Dr. Riley standing next to the glass.

"Delay the decision," Kieran commanded.

Afterward, Kieran stepped out of the chamber with an arched brow that posed a question without him having to move his lips.

"Uh, your training is pretty intense. No… it is very intense. Is it fun?" Dr. Riley questioned, nervously twirling her hair around her finger.

Kieran's expression grew even more mystified, finding something strange about her question. The tone she employed left an impression on Kieran because it implied that she was very interested.

"To me, it's very fun. You can think of it as a form of release. We all get frustrated, so training can be therapeutic for some people. I happen to fall under that categorization of people," Kieran voiced.

Dr. Riley momentarily averted her gaze before shifting it back to Kieran. "If I asked you to train me, would you agree? I think I've become quite… pudgy."

As she spoke, Dr. Riley pinched her waist and sighed.

However, in Kieran's opinion, he felt the lady was delusional. Pudgy? That was the wrong word to use when describing her shape.

If Dr. Riley were to wear her lab coat less often, Kieran was confident it'd be difficult to take his eyes off her. After all, on their escapade through the city, Dr. Riley had garnered an unimaginable amount of stares.

"Train you?" Kieran parroted, examining Dr. Riley's physique. "If you really want me to train you, I can… but you'd have to be willing to become uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?" Dr. Riley blinked in slight confusion.

Kieran nodded, clarifying further. "Yes. I'll most likely have to touch you to adjust your form. I'm sure that'd make you uncomfortable."

A light shade of red graced Dr. Riley's cheek as she hid a faint curl at the corner of her lips. "Right, uncomfortable. I'm okay with being uncomfortable."

"Alright. As long as I have your consent. But, before all that, I'd like to attempt this challenge," Kieran said.

After Kieran voiced his desire, Dr. Riley stepped back and nodded as Kieran re-entered the HRT chamber.

Upon his return, Kieran started up the sequence to enter the Inhuman Threshold.

At this point, his body felt essentially depleted of energy, but Kieran was the type to drive himself to the verge of collapse to accomplish what he sought.

Besides, Kieran was a firm believer that the most significant progress occurred when at the verge of collapse, where pure instinct kicked in and drove the individual.

[Training inside the Inhuman Threshold will begin in T-30 seconds.]

[...Commencing Protocol IT-1. The previous limiter placed on the projectile speed shall be removed and all projectiles will be fired at the new maximum velocity.]

[New Maximum Velocity: 125%]

'An immediate 25% increase?' Kieran mused.

His eyebrows jumped because, even after entering the Hypervigilance phase, Kieran found it difficult to cope with the projectiles firing at 100% of their maximum velocity.

[3…]

[2…]

[1…]

Bang! Whoosh!

Only one projectile was fired from the wall before Kieran, but it happened so fast that it broke the sound barrier.

'This is past Mach One!' Kieran screamed in his mind.

As he just managed to turn his body, Kieran inhaled sharply as he felt a searing pain against his skin. Looking down, Kieran witnessed a red streak across his abdomen. The speed of the projectile made it hot enough to burn his skin, the pain of which couldn't be ignored.

Still, as someone used to pain, Kieran ignored it for the time being.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Only one projectile fired at a time, yet the speed made it cumbersome to evade.

In this case, relying on his senses was ineffective. By the time the sound of the projectile being fired occurred, it crossed 80% of the distance separating Kieran and the wall.

Nevertheless, Kieran continued to use his senses. The point of Hypervigilance was to shatter and then refine the scope of one's senses in preparation of unlocking one's Omniscience.

Thus, Kieran's senses needed to be strong.

As Kieran reacted to the absurd projectile speed, trace amounts of obscure energy moved to his central nervous system and flowed throughout, permeating his body at a rapidly increasing level.

It soon moved to the areas responsible for his hearing and eyesight. Though the other three senses were important, what Kieran stimulated most of all was his sense of sight and hearing.

The rate at which Kieran perceived auditory and visual information increased rapidly while the depth of its clarity also increased. But aside from that, Kieran's body also underwent a change, gradually becoming resilient enough to handle the abrupt twitches of his muscles.

Fwoosh!

Seconds later, despite the numerous markings on his body, Kieran executed his finest Accel Shift to date, avoiding the projectile by millimeters. This allowed Kieran to conserve a great deal of energy.

Sadly, after accomplishing this numerous times…

[...Now commencing Protocol IT-2.]

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