Zenith Online: Rebirth of the Strongest Player

Chapter 512 Hard To Believe

Kieran speculated that blending an Inheritor's innate Class Abilities and the abstruse power of Significance would be an ambitious goal. However, he also hoped that conjecture would be disproved, allowing them to find straightforward success

…It hadn't been.

His assumption stood firm, and the days that passed verified this.

The Sacred Inheritor and Kieran became vexed with the seemingly unattainable target. Countless failures had almost driven them mad, but nothing like the Flame could accomplish.

Kieran was all too familiar with madness. This wasn't madness — it was insanity.

'Fuck! This is insane. We've been at this for days, and it feels like we haven't made an ounce of progress.'

Kieran cupped his eyes and groaned, giving the weary oculi a brief massage. Unfortunately, it wasn't as pleasant as he could have hoped for. A whiny voice echoed in his mind, and it didn't belong to the Flame.

"Moron… I think you're the one to blame. We've been at this for days with minimal rest. Shouldn't we… you know, take a break? No, I know we should take a break! This is useless."

The Sacred Inheritor complained nonstop, badgering Kieran for days while supposedly being holed up in an idyllic oasis that made the Temple of War and Flame seem more ghoulish than Kieran remembered.

Though she enjoyed the sanctuary of an admittedly safe place, the lack of conflict and unchanging repetition of each day eventually led to her ennui. At some point, a change in pace or something spontaneous was needed.

The strangest part about her desired breaks, however, was her refusal to break the Call of the Anchor. Apparently, she had grown accustomed to having someone to talk to. Though she felt connected to the spiritual creatures she was surrounded by, the human likeness wasn't there, and it somewhat unsettled her.

Because of that, Kieran had lost count of the number of times the Sacred Inheritor he considered breaking the Call of the Anchor, but he was also worried that severing the connection after so long would call for an absurd cooldown period.

With how erratic the events of this Trial had been recently, Kieran didn't want the Call of the Anchor inactive because of forced dormancy. Thus, he accepted the Sacred Inheritor's constant whines, snide remarks, and the blame she cast.

In hindsight, however, Kieran's Will had always been the most potent force in their attempts to meld the two powers as one or create a link between the two abilities. By now, he felt confident his Will was par for the course. His ability to stimulate Significance and his understanding of the Sacred Link's innate Class Abilities wasn't suitable.

That… the Sacred Inheritor would not tell him. He understood why, but he desired a more complicit partner in their current situation.

'I know a Master's Presence is the root of interacting with Significance, but there has to be more to it. I can only move a limited amount of Significance, and it's not enough.'

As the Sacred Inheritor took her brief respite to gather herself, Kieran shifted his focus from the Call of the Anchor, the Anchor, or the nagging woman. He sat beneath the Furthered Scales of Balance like he had done to the Anchor and basked in its presence.

The balance he attained gave way to equanimity, where he used levelheadedness to delve into the scattered remnants of those mystic characters. Among those characters was a strange, incoherent, and almost indecipherable symbol with an uncanny resemblance to the Sacred Inheritor's ability.

The executions may be unique in their effect, but the similarities between the foundational properties were staggering.

'Whatever Supreme Letter that represents… it's nothing like Judgment.'

Judgment was taxing to learn, and it took days, but deciphering even a hint of this other character drained his mind completely. If he wished to comprehend the thing thoroughly, it was something he'd have to devote himself to. Sparse spare time was insufficient to dissect the vast knowledge embedded inside the character.

Which made Kieran question if it was a manipulated Supreme Letter… or part of the unique derivations the creator of the throne room had endeavored upon.

'All that muted brilliance. When it starts to shine… even the sun's radiance can't compare.'

From his earlier erroneous attempts, Kieran had learned to avoid directly looking at the throne room's facsimile.

There were a couple of reasons why.

Firstly, as the Anchor relinquished his Will, part of his mind came with it. That allowed for a more refined ability to imitate. Secondly, his weakened eyes would only suffer from peering at that room for too long. His mind felt gorged and overloaded, which led to an uncomfortable sinking feeling in his eyes.

Still, the bit of information he was gathering proved invaluable. For example, he realized this particular symbol was present in every string of mystic characters, almost like it served a ubiquitous purpose.

'It's not very different from…'

Kieran thought on the matter briefly and was reminded of Weasel of the Net before nodding.

'Coding. Weaving these fine Syllables together is like a programmer creating code. Sort of…'

What Kieran knew came from his past interactions with Weasel. His knowledge was superficial and lacked the foundations any skilled programmers would possess. Yet, he could at least emulate Weasel's marvelous algorithms when needed.

Kieran tapped his temple with a smug grin.

'Brainpower.'

After a few moments of internal gloating, Kieran attempted to incorporate what he had extracted from this new symbol into what he was trying to accomplish with the Sacred Inheritor.

Kieran had to find a workaround since she refused to shed light upon the intricacies of her innate Class Abilities. Their current problem was achieving the required bandwidth. Alone, the Sacred Inheritor barely improved the connection to include another Chain, but they needed a stable connection capable of communicating with all the Inheritors simultaneously.

Kieran had a few ideas, but again, those ideas relied upon the Sacred Inheritor, who had admitted to neglecting her Class Abilities. Her personal knowledge was sorely lacking due to laziness.

'At least we know why her name has yet to resound throughout the gaming community. She's lazy as hell.'

Nevertheless, the situation would not be resolved in a couple of days, and Kieran understood that which is why he didn't hound the Sacred Inheritor, who promised to practice her abilities.

…If her promises meant much. Kieran remained skeptical of her character. Did her word mean anything to her? Time will tell.

Sometime later, the Sacred Inheritor returned with renewed passion.

"You know, I don't know how such an insane moron ended up gaining such a powerful and critical Class. But hey, what do I know."

Kieran chuckled dryly.

"…Huh. What a coincidence. I asked myself a similar question — how did such unfit people end up becoming the next line of Myths? But, hey, they wouldn't believe us if we told them, right? That's the thing about Myths — hard to believe."

The Sacred Inheritor hummed a tune of agreement.

"Well, you're not wrong. Myths are rarely believed. Wait. Hold on a minute, mister. Does that mean they don't believe in us?"

"Or the opposite. Maybe they believe in us too much because they understand the glory of a Myth. You know what would be even more glorious?"

"…What?"

"To understand the Sacred Myth. How about it?"

"No. Request denied. But, I think you'll be happy to hear that I may have found a solution to our problem."