Jacob played the boss fight over in his head, a scowl forming with every hesitation and missed opportunity. I spent most of that fight gawking or running. I lack physical combat skills and stats which severely limited my viability for that extended fight. I can fire off five Hellfire Balls getting in about 165-damage with my normal stats within fifteen to thirty seconds. That’s fine burst damage for regular in-game mobs, but a glaring weakness against players and bosses. I basically became a dead fish for the minute after firing off all my magic. The only reason we won this fight was through burning a Fate stat point for a full Revive and that is not a sustainable fighting style.

Jacob propped himself up on his arms, his scowl turned bitter. I need a way to disengage my opponents or a way to buy myself time while my mana regenerates. I could use a trait ability that makes my spells more efficient or cost effective. Maybe I should invest in another ability purchase from my Gifts of the Dark. But my PP is limited currently, and I don’t know where I can get more yet.

I need information! Jacob sighed letting the scowl melt from his face. His eyes tracked Kronos moving from corpse to corpse. I’ll also need an ally to help me with my fights this early in the game. I severely underestimated the difficulty of the beginning levels with a build that focuses on growth potential. Sure, I have great potential utility in the future, but I need combat utility now if I’m going to make it to the future.

Jacob checked his health and mana points. Satisfied with his level of recovery, Jacob stood up and walked over to Kronos. The other man stood up from the current corpse he was looting and greeted Jacob with a wave. He followed up the wave by tossing a pouch to Jacob that jingled with the clanking of metal when caught.

“Six marks is your share from the twelve I found on the guards we killed.” Shouted Kronos walking towards Rothven’s corpse.

“Thanks!” said Jacob as he tied the pouch next to his other and followed Kronos. Jacob pointed to the remains of Rothven and asked, “Why didn’t he Revive using a Fate stat like us?”

Kronos gave Jacob a confused sidelong look and answered, “Because he queued up as a Boss encounter. In CF, you’re able to participate in several challenges that give various awards based off your performance. Since he queued as a Boss, he was restricted to one life and could be no higher than two levels above the instance. For a tutorial instance that, limits players to level three. I just didn’t expect a player since level three is still an early level to attempt the Boss challenge.”

Kronos squatted down by Rothven and slapped the lifeless husk. “This fellow had a paladin class with the avenger ability as his new game plus choice. The paladin class for tanking and the avenger ability to boost his stats is the reason why he queued so early. Not many parties can take on that combination without taking some losses. I’m just surprised someone actually applied the theory crafting behind the combo, most dismissed the style as being too risky.”

Jacob held up his hand to pause Kronos’ explanation as his mind raced through dozens of questions from the information. “Okay, I understand he was limited to one life, but what was the incentive for him to play the role of the boss?”

“Do you remember when he kept on saluting and declaring us marked by Fate for death?”

Jacob nodded his head. “Yeah…?”

“Well that’s one of the Boss abilities the challenge allows you to select.” Explained Kronos with a matter-of-fact tone. “Most players use that ability to harvest Fate stats from the marked players they defeat. There are a few ways to gain Fate in-game and harvesting through the Boss challenge is the most popular for tanks.”

Kronos tilted his head to look up at Jacob as he contemplated, “He’s probably the main tank for a guild or party whose primary character was defeated in the last Apocalypse cycle. They’ll use the experience boost light origin players receive from the Apocalypse to power level him. If they level him up high enough he could become a real powerhouse when the light origin players get to strike back during the Purification cycle.”

Jacob plopped down on the ground by Kronos throwing both hands up into the air. “Okay. Hold up. What are these cycles, Apocalypse and Purification, all about?”

Kronos gave Jacob a shocked and dumbfounded expression. “The cycles are the main theme of the CF. An eternal struggle between the origins of Light and Dark. The last week of every month triggers one of the two cycles, alternating every month. During an Apocalypse, all dark origin players receive a stat multiplier that makes them a threat equivalent to an instance boss of their level. Vice versa during a Purification for the light origin players.”

“Each cycle results in a push by the powered side for land and resources on the contested continent of Lachesis. There are eight fortresses surrounding the mountain Origin. Successful capture of all eight allows the side to invade the enemy’s home continent. The light will invade Atropos, and the dark will invade Clotho.” Kronos grinned, his eyes distant recalling a recent memory. “Invasions give you plenty of opportunity to score more resources for character creation such as the new game plus features. Each one is a bonus perk that can be applied to a new character or to your current character if you reset back to level 1.”

“That’s what I did.” Kronos shifted his gaze back to Jacob and smirked, “The reset to level 1 allowed me to purchase extra stat points per level from my invasion spoils.”

Jacob massaged the side of his head and asked, “If you get new game plus abilities from invasions, then how did Rothven gain his since we just had an Apocalypse?”

“Ah,” replied Kronos. “That’s a core game mechanic. If your character’s Fate resource stat ever reaches zero, then your character will be sealed unable to be played. When that happens you’re automatically given a new game plus award for a new character.”

Kronos raised a hand to stop Jacob from talking and continued, “The seal on your character is temporary. There are three ways to unseal your character. For the first method you simply wait for the time limit of two cycles to be up. In the second method you complete the Origin Labyrinth shattering the chains that bind your character’s statue. The last method is through a premium item you can purchase from Trinity Games called Fate’s Intervention for $5.00, which can then be used to unseal a character or add 50 P.P. to any one character.”

“I didn’t realize how cut throat and player versus player focused this game was…” mumbled Jacob.

“Didn’t you read any of the primers?” remarked Kronos.

Jacob shook his head. “Not really. I did read some about the character creation options back in March when the game first released. Those combined with the positive reviews and gameplay footage from the demos convinced me to start buying the parts for the game in April. I finally finished teaching for the school year at the end of May which is when I ordered the M.U.C. Because I was teaching I didn’t get as much time to read up on the end game mechanics. So, when everything was finally installed, I just kind of dove in head first…”

Kronos blinked in shock. Exasperated he asked, “You have a full V.R. rig!? Do you know how expensive those are?”

Jacob began to speak when Kronos waved him off, “Of course you do. You bought one after all. Just how can you afford one off a teaching salary?!”

“Bribes from parents to pass their kids.” Replied Jacob in an attempt at humor.

“Is that legal?” asked Kronos skeptically.

Jacob buried his head in his hand. “I was joking! I’m a frugal person. I spend so much of my time during the school year either at work or at home making content for my classes. I do this so often that I never really get to spend my money except for movies and the random dinners on weekends. Other times I just eat at home or watch some shows online. A few years of that and I ended up with a lot of money just sitting around. So, when Trinity Games presented the haptic feedback suits with the M.U.C. for a more immersive VR experience, I had to bite. My nostalgia for games was too strong to resist since I could afford the cost.”

Kronos whined, “Man! I wish I could afford one. I’m stuck playing with just a helmet, gloves, trackpad, and motion sensor. It’s a minimal set up but it gets the job done.” He eyed Jacob with envy and said, “I could do so much more in this game with a full feedback system like that. The suit assistance features must be real handy when using your dodge skills.”

Jacob’s face reddened as he looked down and muttered, “I don’t have any dodge skills yet…”

“Jesus man!” shouted Kronos. “How could you miss out on that with your hardware? Look that doesn’t matter. When you get to the starter village we’re going to one of the skill trainers and you’re going to spend 75 of your starting P.P. on a dodge or dash ability.”

Jacob rubbed the back of his head and meekly replied, “I only have 51 of my starting P.P. left. I had to spend the rest on my abilities at the start to escape the room.”

“Gah!” shouted Kronos. “Okay, new plan. We check the boss for loot and see what we can use to help you out. After the loot we’ll take the portal back to Atropos where we’ll meet up with some of my guildmates. From there we should be able to power level you through some beginner dungeons for their one-time clearance rewards.”

Jacob brightened with a smile and said, “Thanks!”

“No problem, I enjoy helping noobs out, it’s part of the reason I do the new game plus option all the time!” exclaimed Kronos as he patted down the boss. His hands swarmed over Rothven pulling off three pouches and a supply bag. Kronos opened the supply bag and smiled with joy. He looked up at Jacob and pulled out a blue fruit that looked like grapes. “Astral Fruit! One for each of us! Which is good because I was going to feel bad taking the only one after finding out you had so little P.P. left.”

He tossed the Astral Fruit to Jacob and moved on to the pouches. Each pouch jingled with the sounds of marks as Kronos dumped the contents out for Jacob to see. Kronos separated the marks into two equal piles of 46. He picked up his half and handed the rest to Jacob.

“Alright.” Said Kronos. “Go ahead and eat the Astral Fruit for a 10 P.P. gain and then we’ll head out.”

“You’re not going to eat yours?” asked Jacob.

“Nope!” laughed Kronos. “My friend in the guild has a farmer character that can harvest the seeds from the Astral Fruit getting one to three seeds. He has the soil reagents needed to grow Astral Fruit every three days.”

Jacob hesitated, “Shouldn’t I save mine then?”

“Nah, you’re just starting out and need the P.P.” said Kronos turning towards the courtyard exit. “Besides that, you don’t have the resources to pay Hannah for the cost of the soil, yet.”

Jacob shrugged and took a bite of the Astral Fruit.

+10 P.P. – Astral Fruit.

Kronos opened the courtyard gate for Jacob who stopped suddenly to look back at the mansion. Jacob looked back to Kronos and said, “Shouldn’t we go back for that other player from the basement?”

Kronos laughed and said, “That player died and was requeued into another tutorial instance when they declined to Revive. They probably freaked out due to you triggering the escape route so early.”

“Ah,” sighed Jacob in relief.

He hurried through the gate with Kronos. When the two of them stepped outside the courtyard, the sky darkened to a purple hue as storm clouds formed above. A flash of light followed by the deafening crack of thunder burst from the clouds as a lightning bolt struck the ground ahead.

Both players were blinded for a second. When their vision returned, a swirling mass of black and purple energy formed a portal tunneling into the ground with black smoke curling up to the sky. Kronos jogged forward grinning back at Jacob. “There’s no place like home!” he shouted as he jumped into the portal vanishing.

Jacob laughed and followed Kronos through the portal as he shouted, “Goodbye Kansas!”