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Chapter 597: Unbalanced

As a leader, he had to deal with splintering his attention to tend to various matters. Amongst those matters were detailed reports on the Godhand Bazaar\'s sales record, the production rate of the Godhand Consortium, and a growing list of prospects interested in joining the

organization.

However, Kieran was already dealing with the consequences of his first haphazard recruitment. It was nowhere near as tailored as he wished for it to be.

Another thing he learned was that out of the people he, Alice, Altair, and Lillian had meticulously picked out inside the hotel, many had either turned down the offer to be evaluated to join or simply didn\'t respond to the outreach.

It was to no surprise that they many sought a home elsewhere.

Some of the other guilds were beginning to lay their foundations and focus on providing in- depth training to those who joined. A sign that many were growing aware and adapting to the effects Zenith Online was having on people who played it.

For this reason, Kieran felt more incentives were required to keep what little people they had on their roster in check. Though he had a deep well of combat knowledge and could simply train others to a high degree, in their current condition, Kieran couldn\'t supply a livable salary to many members. And shelling out an enormous amount of Gold was counterintuitive to his plans for the guild.

Ezra had posed some solutions for those issues, but Kieran wasn\'t sure how effective they would be. It put a lot of expectations on the members themselves, and Kieran wasn\'t too sure they\'d want to work so hard for something perhaps unattainable.

Nevertheless, this meeting served as the perfect environment to pose those ideas. Altair had messaged him a few minutes ago, detailing where he had found. It was a palatial building with a large auditorium inside with a lofty ceiling and amphitheater seating, as well as a second level where others could be seated.

From the description he was given, the building sounded like it could comfortably seat everyone. Thus, that\'s where Ezra and Kieran were currently making their way to.

As they walked, however, they passed the Adventurers\' Guild, where a throng of people moved in and out the front doors, some shuffling impatiently and others trudging through waves of pain. It was clear they had entered the Arena to test themselves. And some didn\'t fare so well.

"Have you tried it?" Kieran asked, his eyes glued to the enormous open-dome edifice occupying the rear of the Adventurers\' Guild. From a distance, it looked to be made of bone spires tapered to form arches that didn\'t meet.

It suggested a larger surface than what could be assumed from sight alone.

Ezra followed Kieran\'s gaze, glimpsing what little of the Arena she could see from her low vantage point.

"Not yet, no. It\'s open to everyone, and I mean everyone. That includes the denizens of this place. And some of them are truly terrifying."

Unlike most players, the denizens of Xenith had years to hone their techniques. So, while players matched denizens of a similar Tier, that wasn\'t to say their battle effectiveness was the same. Some denizens could execute more with lacking energy than a player could achieve with all their resources combined.

That ability was culminated through years of experience and tempered in the crucible of grim battle.

When death was unknown, or perhaps inevitable, that morbid understanding tended to eke out something terrifying from a Disciplined. Not all Disciplined could muster that ability, but from what Kieran had pieced together, the point of the Priming wasn\'t to make a Novice stronger... but to temper their character.

It was a revelation he received after thinking about the meaning of the Trialmaster\'s words. And it also stemmed from his changed mindset upon return. He was more mellow and not as easily aggravated. But he didn\'t know if that was a good thing.

If his dormant state was like this... what would his enraged condition look like?

Pushing that thought aside, he averted his gaze and asked:

"Why not?"

"The fighting can get pretty brutal, and sometimes, it\'s not a simple one vs. one match-up."

Kieran didn\'t feel that that was a bad thing, and his opinion showed in his expression. "Isn\'t pressure what you\'re looking for? That sounds like a good thing."

Ezra grimaced.

Under normal circumstances, Kieran wouldn\'t be wrong, but there was... something off- putting about the Arena.

"If I had to gripe about something... it\'s how unbalanced the Arena is. Not in terms of disparity in Tier but more on the rules. There\'s a lot of risk and little reward."

Kieran tried to comb through his foggy memories for information on the Arena of Refinement, but what he got back was fragmented.

In one particular memory, he recalled himself standing atop a mountain of fallen challengers while letting out a bestial roar of triumph. The refined bone spurs lingered at the fringe of the memory, hinting that the scene happened inside the Arena of Refinement.

He leaned in her direction. "Explain?"

Ezra pinched his arm, squinting at him suspiciously. "Why are you getting so close?"

"Ah, my bad. I was too interested and didn\'t realize what I was doing." "Right," Ezra muttered. Then, she retracted her hand and continued. "It\'s the Death Penalty. Most matches are unprotected, so if you lose... you\'ll be inflicted with the consequences." Hearing about the Death Penalty, Kieran understood why she was averse to entering the Arena. Still, he didn\'t feel it was absolute or the only outcome.

"I think that might only be \'unfair\' from a player\'s perspective. You have to remember the denizens of this place aren\'t as fortunate as us. Once they die, it\'s over. It\'s just something you\'ll have to accept."

Ezra sighed, because Kieran\'s reasoning was ironclad. She couldn\'t refute it despite wanting to. The denizens faced far more dire consequences, and those consequences spoke of the world\'s severity.

It was not all sunshine and rainbows and bereft of hardship.

A true Disciplined had to put their life on the line to advance. And the threat of death loomed over their heads, and that grim fate fueled their endeavors even as they desperately ran to

escape it.

Ezra frowned. "But we have finite lives, too. What if someday that advantage we holdn/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

vanishes?"

Kieran could only shrug at that question. "So be it. If you feel that could one day be a reality, start taking steps to prepare for that fateful occasion."

"Always the philosopher."

Afterward, Kieran and Ezra approached the palatial structure to find members of Sanguis Requiem pouring inside. A bevy of members caught glimpses of Kieran, but before they could address him or tap their associate to regard their Guild Master, he was gone.

He had drawn on his Agility to storm inside the building, kicking up subtle storm winds that many had to defend their eyes against. Ezra was left dumbfounded, blinking as people pointed and stared.

She wore a grimace and covered the side of her face with a hand as a wave of embarrassment

washed over her.

"So damned awkward. Why didn\'t you just say rush inside?"