Chapter 22: ...Time
"I don't understand why you want the Demon King's crown. It's merely just a relic now," Glint said in surprise.
"It's the key to something more, but that's not your concern. I've already kept my end of the bargain, so show me where it is," Aiden demanded.
Although Glint couldn't understand why someone would go through all this trouble for a useless crown, he knew that if someone as mysterious as Aiden needed it, he definitely had his reasons. Aiden had previously told Glint the answer to a riddle, so it was time for Glint to fulfill his part of the deal.
Glint went to the altar and broke one of the clay tiles on it, revealing a crown wrapped in old rags. The crown was black with red lines etched along the edges and a few dull red stones.
As Glint handed Aiden the crown, he couldn't help but notice the changes in Aiden's demeanor. Without Levi around, Aiden was no longer shy and scared; rather, he exuded a sense of arrogance.
"It's real, it's all real," Aiden murmured with a mix of disbelief and satisfaction. The crown in his possession meant that everything he had heard was true, but he would only learn the full story after he got to the end.
...….
As Levi opened his eyes he could vaguely see the timer on the screen counting down, it wasn't clear due to the amount of sunlight pouring through the window behind him. It made the numbers on the transparent screen of the console harder to see.
"It's morning already" he sighed
He took off the console almost immediately. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the early morning sunlight.
He reached for his phone, turning on the screen to see the time, it was a few minutes past seven.
Normally this was about the time the original Levi would be preparing to go to work at the bookstore down the road, but he had to return to Aetheria as soon as possible so he couldn't go.
He had two hours before he could go back to Aetheria.
After taking a quick leak in the toilet he returned to his bed and opened the AET app on his phone.
He received a notification that his request to join the public community group had been accepted and he could now send and receive messages to the group.
He had no plans on sending messages, just getting information. For him, the group was the easiest way to get up-to-date info about the game. Like how after a few scrolls he discovered that the Moon Knight VALHALLA' quest was in a few hours.
According to one of the members, the quest could last for more than six hours so most participants with an Xgear third-gen would be offline until it was close to time.
It was the first SS-grade quest in the history of Aetheria, and that was why it had gained so much attraction. Exploration-type quests like this were always really difficult because players couldn't know what to expect.
Some members of the group believed that Valhalla would be filled with undead warriors of B and A rank, which would make the quest hard since the mob would just keep on respawning until the boss was defeated.
If the boss turns out to be a named S-rank monster, then the quest might almost be impossible to clear.
These types of comments sent the group into an uproar as other members began naming all the top warriors who were participating, stating how impossible it was for them to fail.
With three of the world rank top 10 warriors, 20 of the world's top 100 warriors, and most of the rest warriors being ranked, it was inconceivable that they would fail the quest.
The amount of confidence these people had in Leviathan's abilities to lead this raid to success almost made Levi pray for the quest to fail, but he couldn't do that because Darcy was also part of the quest.
In Aetheria if a player was to die he'd lose 10 levels and also wouldn't be able to log in for five days, and since it gets difficult to level up the higher you go, top players try to avoid dying at all costs.
Levi reasoned that if that happened to Darcy who is trying to be a top player, she wouldn't be too happy about it.
Whether they make it or not only time would tell.
He had spent more than 30 minutes on the app before he reasoned that he couldn't go back to Aetheria and spend the next few hours on an empty stomach.
There was only one thing available to eat and it was the only thing he wanted to eat.
He entered the kitchen and saw the last three packs of noodles, thankfully, that could serve as three different meals three different times.
But Levi couldn't resist the temptation. He tore open all three of them and decided to have a feast. He had never been one to delay gratification.
It was like the most fulfilling moment of his life. The food was so much that at some point he had to take a break before diving back in.
"This stuff almost makes dying worth it" he mused.
As he finished eating, the reality of his actions tried sneaking into his mind but was solidly kicked out by the satisfaction he felt from an extremely full stomach.
There were only a few minutes left until he could return to the game. With nothing better to do, he returned to the app and just continued surfing through. This was a good time to learn more about the warriors.
A few walkthrough videos showed the varieties of monsters in Aetheria, creatures Levi never imagined existed.
There was even a class of beast higher than S-rank, known as Sovereign rank beast, although there were hardly any visual pictures of these beasts other than the Dragons, and these monstrosities were not an easy target even for the top players.
The only player known to have defeated a sovereign beast is the #2 rank warrior 'Zero –The Dragon Slayer'. He fought and killed the beast during the first Ragnarok Event: The Draconic War.
He is also considered the strongest warrior in Aetheria and is part of a two-man clan with the 6# rank 'Dragon tamer– Fu Hao', another abnormality that was able to train a Dragon, although it isn't a full-grown Dragon it still counts as a Sovereign beast.
There were numerous videos solely dedicated to top players like this, so it kept Levi occupied for the rest of the Time.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone