The Cyan Order'

As they returned he noticed the two guards that stood at the entrance had changed. 

"Hey calix, I didn't know they moved up your shift" Darcy asked one of the guards 

"I also didn't know until a few minutes ago" Calix replied.They both shared a laugh about it.

"How was your hunt?" Calix asked

"It was good until a silverback Wolf appeared, but not to worry it was no match for us" Darcy replied

"Thank goodness, a number of them has been getting too close to the village lately… we'll deal with them soon enough" Calix answered 

With a towering stature and a stern facial expression with piercing eyes, Calix's intimidating look contradicted his soft-spoken personality.

Darcy shared a few more words with the guards before bidding him goodbye, she continued conversing with different villagers addressing them in a friendly manner.

This made Levi wonder if there was a hidden benefit to being friendly with the villagers 

"Why are you so nice to the villagers, do you get special treatment?" 

Darcy chuckled softly. "Not really, but it's just how it is. If you treat people nicely, they'll be nice to you."

"People, aren't they just NPCs? " Levi questioned 

"They are but to me they are also people. After the accident I never thought I'll ever be able to walk again but here I can do more than just walk"

"I know you may not understand since you didn't want to play the game anyway but to a lot of players this isn't just a game it's a continuation of life." Darcy explained passionately.

From the original Levi's memories he could tell Darcy was an innocent soul, she was nice and always trying to help people any little way she could. Hearing this made him realize that Aetheria meant a lot to her.

'Maybe not all players are the same…' Levi realized.

"Believe me, I understand," he replied with a warm smile.

After a while they got to a tarven. Even if it added no nutritional benefit, the fully immersive experience of the game allowed players their ability to taste so it was no wonder that tarven was filled with players.

"Hey guys," Darcy called out as they approached a table with four men and one girl. 

"Snow, where'd you go? We've already ordered a few rounds " the girl Asked 

'Snow, so that's her character name…' Levi reasoned.

"I had to go meet someone, everyone meet Levi" Darcy introduced Levi as they joined the table.

"Levi, is that like your real name?" The girl asked 

She had a staff with a crystal ball leaning on the table beside her, making Levi suspect she was a mage of some sort.

Before Levi could answer, the guy beside her spoke up. "Come on, Nyx, you know it's rude to ask someone that. Sometimes I wonder if there's anything inside your pretty head."

She pouted, and lightly punched him in the arm.

"Excuse her bad manners. I'm Wolfe, the Vice Clan leader of the 'Cyan order'," he introduced himself.

He had a sword by his side and wore a full body armor, with a charming smile, well groomed gold hair and a confident and appealing demeanour.

"There's no problem, it's nice to meet you all" Levi replied.

Levi wondered just how strong the leaders of this clan were, according to Darcy this was a pretty powerful clan and the clan leader was a ranked warrior. How powerful do you have to be, before you become a ranked warrior.

"So are you also a hidden gem like our Snow here?" Wolfe said with smile

"A hidden gem?" Levi inquired

"Yeah, there's no one with a better aim than her in the whole of the Nevadar region" Wolfe said

"It's true" Nyx added

Levi turned to see Darcy's face bright red

"Th-that's not true" Darcy mumbled

'I didn't know she was that good, no wonder she was able to join a big clan like this' Levi thought to himself

"Unfortunately I can't say that I am as good as her" Levi said

"That's a shame, we could use an extra hand for our big quest in a few days" Wolfe said still maintaining his charming smile.

Levi saw this as an opportunity, he knew about the quest he was referring to, the one with Leviathan. If he could use this chance to get closer to Leviathan he could maybe devise a means to carry out his revenge.

"I wouldn't mind joining you on your quest" Levi said 

"That's great…my warrior intuition is telling me you are a very powerful warrior" Wolfe replied 

Darcy on the other hand was really pleased with how things were going she didn't have to do anything, but yet everything was progressing just like she had hoped. If Levi was to join the clan they'll get to spend more time together.

Just as Wolfe was about to speak, one of the other warriors that had since been wearing a wary expression called out.

"Why'd you have a sprite? Are you a newbie?" 

The table went flat silent, everyones attention focused on Levi. The atmosphere had changed in an instance 

"Yes, I only joined the game tonight" Levi replied

"Are you trying to say that it's your first time playing the game?" Wolfe inquired, his friendly smile gradually being replaced by what looked like disgust.

"It might only be his first time but he just slayed a B-rank silverback Wolf" Darcy quickly interrupted

"You expect us to believe he actually just defeated a silverback wolf all on his own without your help?" The other warrior scoffed

"Not only that he did it without taking any damage" Darcy added

Everybody at the table wore a look of disbelief. There's no way that was possible. Everyone except Wolfe who was getting irritated by Darcy's words

"What's your current level?" Wolfe asked Levi with a mix of anger and disgust.

Levi did a quick check and replied "level 8"

As he announced his level it caused the Warriors to gasp in shock.

"If you only joined this night that means you were able to level up eight times?!" Nxy exclaimed as she placed her hands on her mouth.

Hearing his level made the warriors to consider that he just might have killed a B-rank beast.

Wolfe firmly stated as he cleared his throat. "Even at that we can't let a Newbie join us on a quest with the moonlight clan" 

"And you Darcy I expect you to be preparing for VALHALLA instead of running around with a newbie" he said sternly

Darcy was about to say something else before Levi stopped her

"I understand," Levi calmly voiced 

"If you'll excuse me, I have some things I have to deal with" Levi got up and left the tarven.

"Levi, wait, where are you going?" Darcy called out as she chased after him

"Like I said, I have somewhere I need to be. It's okay, just go and prepare for your quest." Levi said with a smile 

"But I wanted us to be together" she said looking as if she was about to start crying.

"At least I'm here now, we can still play together anytime… just focus on what you have to do" he gave her a hug 

she wiped the tear from her eyes, smiled and then returned to the tarven.

'It would have been a good opportunity to meet Leviathan but who's to say that we wouldn't just repeat what happened before, I should get stronger before meeting him… It's not yet the right time'.

-DING-

Levi received a reminder that he has spent three hours online, he recalled the maximum limit for his console was just seven hours.

"I don't have much time left, It would take me days travelling to meet my father. That means I'll need to use the fastest horse I can get" Levi thought out loud

[Or you could easily use a 'Pathway']