Cute Little Princess

Levi took a deep breath, based on his predecessor's memories, this wasn't an uncommon situation between him and his landlord. Despite his nasty demeanor when it comes to rent day, Mr Lucky harbored a soft spot for Levi, likely stemming from his past friendship with Levi's late father.

'So maybe there's a way out of this' Levi reasoned.

"Yes I know we agreed no excuses this month" Levi replied as he moved to unlock the door.

"But the thing is I had to use the money for something very important," he added, switching on the light to his studio apartment.

"What do you mean you used my money for something very important?" Mr Lucky asked without trying to hide his displeasure.

Levi sighed, shamefully pointing to the Xgear console sitting on his table. 

Mr Lucky was dumbfounded by Levi's audacity. He now wore a very grim expression fueled by rage.

"Levi" he said with a calm scary tone, "give me a good reason why this is more important than you having a roof over your head"

"You see…" Levi went on to explain in detail what led up to him buying the console. During this time Mr Lucky simply sat on the chair, quietly listening.

"So you are saying you did it for Darcy?" Mr Lucky asked in an understanding tone after calming down.

Levi nervously replied "Yes,"

After a few seconds of silence, Mr Lucky said with a brightened mood "You should have led with that, if it's for our cute little princess then there's nothing we can do about it…"

Levi felt a wave of relief hearing those words. 

"Why does your Xgear look like shit?" he asked, shifting his gaze to the console.

Levi let out a nervous chuckle "It's all I could afford," 

"But why did you buy this scrap, with that $1600 you could have gotten one of the customized versions of the console, like the Spearhead Xgear 3rd Gen, it would look way cooler than…" he picked up the console to have a closer look "than ductape?"

"It's a long story but I actually got a used console, and it needed a little repair" Levi laughed dryly.

Mr Lucky was visibly horrified by Levi's words, "You what?! Don't you know it's illegal to buy a used console, and also very dangerous… I've heard countless stories of people dying from it," Mr Lucky ranted with concern.

The way Mr Lucky spoke with enthusiasm made Levi understand that he was one of the fanatics for Aetheria online.

"Wow Mr Lucky, I didn't know you were also a player," Levi inquired. Now it made sense to him why his landlord was always huddled away in his room.

"of course I am," he said proudly, "don't try to change the topic, how would you soil the title of a warrior, don't you know a warrior's pride lies in his console?"

"Don't worry it's perfectly safe, I didn't want to use all the rent money, I still have part of it left, it's not complete but I can-"

"No no, you should hold on to that, you'll need it if you're going to survive until next month" Mr Lucky interrupted.

Levi's eyes teared up with gratitude, "thank you sir,"

"Don't get too excited, you'll still have to pay me back somehow" Mr Lucky said

"What's your class in Aetheria?" He asked

"Craftsman apprentice" Levi replied.

"I've seen a few people acquire the Craftsman class but I don't think I've heard of an Apprentice before, it must be a hidden class. How did you get one so early?" Mr Lucky inquired with enthusiasm.

Levi hadn't prepared this far, he couldn't explain the exact situation of how he acquired the class, "I guess I was lucky" he chuckled.

Mr Lucky pondered for a moment, stroking his chin "Can you craft weapons with this class?" He questioned

"Not really, but I know where you can find a very good Craftsman," Levi replied referring to his father.

"If he is as good as you say he is then that would be very helpful for my clan," Mr Lucky replied heading for the door.

"I've sent you a friend request on the AET app, you can share your in-game location with me so I can reach you in Aetheria" he added.

Levi picked up his phone to accept the friend request.

"And Levi…I won't take any excuses next month," he added in a cold, scary tone before leaving.

Levi let out a heavy sigh of relief before lying on the bed.

'I need to earn some money… maybe I should start going to work at the bookstore in the morning' he reasoned.

It was already past seven so Levi could return to Aetheria but he remembered that he hadn't spoken to Darcy about the failed quest, he reasoned that she might need someone to talk to after the whole ordeal.

She answered the call almost as soon as it rang. At first, her voice sounded melancholic but as they spoke her mood brightened up, and before long they were laughing and teasing each other.

According to her at first the quest was going smoothly until the Lich king awakened, he immediately took out most of the top players, and from there everything went downhill. With the presence of the Lich King, the undead warriors became stronger and even more difficult to kill. 

Their numbers grew until they overpowered the remaining warrior forces. Some of her clan members got away but she wasn't so lucky.

Levi felt relaxed speaking to Darcy, she was one of the few reasons he wasn't fully consumed by hatred. Just her presence alone gave him hope. They spoke for an hour or two before they both dozed off.