The rest of the Visit went pretty much as usual, with everyone watching the evening news and eating dinner.
When it came time to leave, I faked "fell asleep," which caused me to be used as an excuse for going home. Around an hour later, I found myself tucked into my crib and finally alone.
Once I was one hundred percent sure that Amanda and my father had gone to bed; only then did I sit up and open Arkadia.
’Things were too hectic, so I didn’t get a chance to look and see if there was any progress in my quest.’ With that thought, I navigated through to the Event Quest panel, and confusion took over when I saw what Arkadia was telling me.
[The Event Quests are Live]
[Earthling Exclusive Event: Back to the past]
{Arkadia has distributed 5000 Resonance Convergence Pills}
{By taking this pill, upon death, those 5000 Earthlings will be sent back in time, Soul and Mind, to an age before the Descent of Arkadia.}
[You have two available and three locked Quests.]
{Quest One: Help Expedite the Descent of Arkadia.}
{Quest description: omitted.}
{As a being from the future… omitted.}
{NOTE: omitted.}
{Since this is a long-running… omitted.}
{The top 10 Influences on Arkadia’s Descent will receive more lucrative rewards.}
{Descent of Arkadia: 10,103.5 Years.}
{QUEST COMPLETE}
{If you would like to claim your rewards, state the command, "Claim Event Quest Rewards" at any time}
{You have unlocked the Timeline Ranking Board; please indicate what Name or Alias you would like to use so that you can be added to the Ranking. If an Alias is not chosen within 24 hours of completing the quest, your real name will be added to the Rankings. }
{Note: The Ranking is Public to everyone who has access to Arkadia and has met their initial quota.}
{Current Influence: 10 Years 6 months}
’What in the actual f**k…’ For the first time in a long time, I couldn’t comprehend what I was reading as I stared blankly at the screen.
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It was as if time had stood still for me, as for a solid 15 minutes, I didn’t move and barely blinked.
’That’s…that’s it?’ when the little hamster wheel in my head began turning again, I ended up falling over and staring up at the animal mobile over my crib.
"Heh, hehe, hehehehe," incapable of containing myself, I began chuckling in a manic manner; it all seemed too unbelievable to me.
By simply exchanging five tiny coins, no matter how old, I was able to progress the Timeline by a full ten years.
I couldn’t even fathom how those five coins had any potential effect on the Timeline. Still, no matter how long I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a plausible excuse, leading me to finally settle down and work out a command prompt for Arkadia.
’Arkadia, give me a detailed explanation as to how and why my act of exchanging the five Ancient Greek Gold Stater of Pantikapaion’s was able to progress the Descent by ten and a half years.’
It took some sophistry and multiple tries, but eventually, that was the command that triggered a response from the finicky system.
[The history of the five Ancient Greek Gold Staters of Pantikapaion that you used in the Arkadia Exchange reaches further than the past. In the Year 2029, when the Alpha Shop became available to all Earthlings, a select individual used said five items to advance his strength rapidly.]
[By exchanging the aforementioned items in 1993, not only have you pushed the Descent clock by ten and a half years’ worth of energy, but you have stripped that Individual of his potential future, thus earning the ten years of life they obtained from the use of said items.]
’Oh hah, s**t,’ wearing a massive s**t-eating grin, I pushed Arkadia for answers since I was curious about whose life I had messed up, but unfortunately, no matter what command I spoke, I didn’t receive a response.
’Man, haha, this is crazy; hopefully, it was one of those bastard heroes that got screwed over, regardless, it doesn’t really matter, I have now put myself in a good position.’ My previously excited expression contorted into a sadistic grin as I began contemplating an Alias for the Ranking.
’Alright, let’s put some thought into this one; I definitely can’t use Xipher cause all that will do is trigger a manhunt for my ass, putting a target on my back that I can do nothing about.’
’It’s a similar case with using my real name since the official story was me dying before Brenden Took over the guild; if I recklessly use my real name, it will not only draw attention to Brenden but also eyebrows will be raised about what I had been doing if I wasn’t dead.’
’The name I come up with has to be clever, one which will cause anyone to read it to be in awe; I can’t really use a Villain-ish sounding name because that won’t end up well, so I may as well come up with a new Hero Name.’
Tapping my chin with my baby hands, I ran through a list of fitting names before finally settling on one.
’Arkadia, set my Ranking Alias to Nexus.’
[Ranking Alias acknowledged any further advancements pertaining to the Timeline Ranking Board will reflect this change.]
’You couldn’t just automatically bring up the Ranking List, could you, sigh, fine, Arkadia, show me the Timeline Ranking Board.’
[Timeline Ranking Board]
{1st Place: TeraNova = 103 Years.}
{2nd Place: Look I Did the Thing = 95 Years.}
{3rd Place: F**k, STOP, ARKADIA DON’T PUT THAT! = 88 Years.}
{4th Place: Bladestrike = 80.5 Years.}
{5th Place: Devastator = 61 Years.}
{6th Place:HydroLift = 44 Years.}
{7th Place: Terunotaku = 30 Years.}
{8th Place: Aelsthsa Greenleaf =27 Years.}
{9th Place: Moira Hazelcraft = 25 Years.}
{10th Place: Vormstrun the Iron = 22.5 Years.}
To say my hopes were high upon finding out I had advanced the Timeline by over ten years would be an understatement; I had been expecting to be in at the very least 3rd place; however, when I saw the top ten, the light in my eyes vanished, and I fought the urge to facepalm.