“Keep up!” demanded Kronos from the end of the hallway.

Jacob glanced up to see where he was going and picked up his pace while reviewing the contract. He pulled out his quill and placed the contract flat against the wall when he reached Kronos’ side. He scribbled some instructions to alter the logic sequence of the contract where he noticed a flaw.

Kronos swiveled his head checking around the corners sweeping every corner of the rooms and hallway ahead. His scan came to an abrupt halt as he noticed Jacob scribbling on the parchment against the wall. “What kind of support magic are you making anyway, Veralic?”

Jacob looked up from the contract raising an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to explain before it closed. His face wrinkled for a moment in thought before becoming placid. “My support magic is a type of pact that both curses and buffs the one that accepts the pact. I’m able to manipulate your stats by cursing one trait. The curse gives me the power to create a buff that will boost another trait as a result. All that is required is a balancing of the equation between the curse and the buff.”

Kronos narrowed his eyes. “This curse isn’t permanent is it?"

Jacob waved the idea away as he rolled up the contract and said, “Not at all! The duration of the curse and the buff is limited by my current skill. I’m apparently missing components that would allow me to make a more permanent pact. Right now, the longest I could make the pact last would be for two minutes.” He tucked the contract away and creeped up by Kronos. “Do you want me to save the pact for the boss fight you mentioned earlier?”

Kronos returned his gaze to the room around the corner giving a quick nod. “Yeah, but tell me what stat you have set to be cursed and which will be buffed.”

“Ah, I figured I would target a stat that you probably don’t use a lot. My Pact of Anetha will drain your Knowledge stat while buffing your Strength. Unfortunately, all I could manage was a drain of three Knowledge for a gain of three Strength. I know that’s not much yet, especially for the duration…” replied Jacob as he chewed his bottom lip considering a thought. He pulled out his contract and quill. He unfurled the contract, pulled out a white gem from his pouch, and placed the gem on the contract against the wall. He scratched in a new sequence using an if-then logic command while Kronos gave him an annoyed look. Jacob rolled the contract up again and smiled at Kronos. “Apologies for trailing off like that. I had a moment of inspiration while talking about the duration. I recalled that one of my stat gems could affect the resources stats, PP and Fate. The Pact of Anetha now has an option to boost the duration to an hour for the cost of one PP.”

Kronos pulled Jacob forward into the dimly lit stone floored room and said, “I might do that seeing as we can’t get much use out of PP until we’re level five and at a major city with Enchanters.”

Jacob crawled forward with Kronos through the room towards a large wooden door and asked, “What can Enchanters do with PP?”

“About what you would expect from their class title. Mainly they convert your PP into element affinities and stat boosts for your gear.” Muttered Kronos as he stopped by the wooden door placing his ear to the slabs. He held up a finger to his mouth calling for silence. After a few seconds he leaned back from the door. “I don’t hear any footsteps beyond the door. This one door likely leads to the courtyard where the boss encounter will happen. How much does activating the Pact of Anetha cost you?”

“Uh, I don’t know… I forgot to check.” Replied Jacob sheepishly. He grasped the contract and muttered, “Dealmaker.”

He reviewed the options until he found the casting cost and blinked in shock at the notification windows he received.

Pact of Anetha- (1-hour)

Target: -3 KNO, +3 STR, and -1 PP.

Self: +3 KNO, -3 STR, and +1 PP.

Duration: 1-hour.

Cost: 138 M.P.

Upon Expiration of Contract:

Target: +3 KNO, and -3 STR.

Self: -3 KNO, and +3 STR.

Pact of Anetha- (2 minutes)

Target: -3 KNO, and +3 STR.

Self: +3 KNO, and -3 STR.

Duration: 2 minutes.

Cost: 70 M.P.

Upon Expiration of Contract:

Target: +3 KNO, and -3 STR.

Self: -3 KNO, and +3 STR.

Jacob swiped away the notifications, held out one end of the contract with his other hand, and said, “Bad news first, the 2-minute buff will cost me a total of 70 M.P. per cast. That’s a little under 45% of my total mana pool. My mana regenerates at 31 M.P. per minute, with just under 20% being restored per minute. So, I cannot sustain the short-term buff and use my offensive magic for very long. The good news is that the 1-hour pact is far more efficient costing only 138 M.P. So, if we use that one I’ll only be low on mana for a few minutes while you’ll be buffed for an hour. Does this sound like a good trade-off for your 1 P.P.?”

Kronos grasped the offered side of the contract and said, “I can live with losing 1 P.P. for that buff, but I get the Astral Fruit that drops from the boss. That’s only fair since I’m the one losing the P.P. Agreed?”

Jacob hesitated for a split-second at the mention of Astral Fruit before agreeing. I’ll need to do some research about these Astral Fruits later, especially if they’re worth the cost of P.P. I can’t really be upset about giving up the fruit since I’m already getting a free carry and P.P. from Kronos out of this.

Jacob gripped his end of the contract tighter with his right hand while his left hand hovered palm up beneath the center of the contract. He intoned the activation sequence as he said, “To thee this binding I offer!” A green swirl of energy radiated from his end as a notification popped up for Kronos’ player.

Veralic offers you the Pact of Anetha:

Should you accept, the following changes will occur: -3 KNO, +3 STR, and -1 PP.

After 1 hour the Pact of Anetha will expire resulting in: +3 KNO, and -3 STR.

Do you accept these terms?

ACCEPT

DECLINE

Kronos read the notification twice taking care that there was no tricky language or phrasing. Satisfied he clicked accept causing a similar swirl of green energy to burst forth from his side of the contract joining Jacob’s. Together the energy pooled above Jacob’s palm in the center only to begin pulsing.

Each pulse pulled colored wisps of energy from the two players. From Kronos came three strands of azure energy trailed by a single snowy strand that joined the mass of energy in Jacob’s palm. From Jacob came three strands of crimson energy that dived into the pulsing orb of energy. A final pulse of light shone out before the energy collapsed in on itself sending waves of energy traveling up both players’ arms and into the core of their being.

Jacob stretched lightly as his haptic suit sent a massaging vibration in a wave to simulate the energy that had washed over Veralic. He smiled pleasantly and brought up his status window while Kronos did the same.

Character Screen: Veralic (Pythag3)

Level: Contractor 1 /Experience(EXP): 0

Race: Half-Demon

Origin: Dark

Base Stats:

Health Points (HP) – 165/165

Mana Points (MP) – 52/190

Health Regen (HR) – 10/minute

Mana Regen (MR) – 34/minute

Strength (STR)-7

Knowledge (KNO)- 14 (+1/Level)

Endurance (END)-10

Spirit (SPI)- 10

Agility (AGI)- 10

Social (SOC)- 11 (+1/Level)

Resource Stats:

Potential Points (PP) - 51

Fate -11 (+1/Level)

Abilities:

Bound by the Light – Prevented from gaining experience from defeating/killing enemies.

Gifts of the Dark- Able to exchange your PP to the Dark for stats, EXP, abilities, and resources.

Dealmaker- Able to create contracts allowing the trade of stats, EXP, abilities, and resources.

Hellfire Ball - The caster summons an orb of hellfire to fling at targets. Can be dodged due to being subject to the caster’s agility for throwing speed. Has a 2x damage multiplier versus environment targets.

Burns for 6 seconds dealing 5 (+.7) fire damage each second. Cost to cast: 38 mana. (20% Max MP)

“Ah yeah!” cried out Kronos in joy. “We’re going to wreck this boss easily. I’ve got an extra 30 health and 6 points of damage per sword thanks to my abilities and your pact!”

Jacob flashed him a grin and said, “I’m sure you’ll be amazing when we do take him on, but I’m still a scrub that’s never fought one of these bosses before. I need four minutes to refill my mana so can you give me a quick run-down of our strategy?”

Kronos returned Jacob’s grin with a cocky smirk and explained, “The fight is pretty straightforward. The only hiccup in our plan will be the extra guards in the opening salvo due to the prisoner escape route being triggered by you earlier. Fortunately, you have an AoE spell that can burn two guards at a time. So, I’ll take the lead using my knockdown ability to throw a guard into another one. While they’re recovering you’ll burn them with your spells. If there are only two guards nearby I’ll execute them to help conserve your mana, otherwise I’ll engage the extra guards.”

Kronos glanced at Jacob’s sword that had seen little action and commented, “This time follow your spells up with a few slashes of the sword. You won’t be doing any impressive damage, but the extra 5 to 10 points of damage can save you mana in the long run.”

Kronos paused for a moment to collect his thoughts and continued with his plan, “I estimate that we’ll have four to six guards to deal with in the courtyard. Two of those guards will be praying to a statue if the boss is a Celestial Construct. Otherwise, all six guards will be flanking a paladin, probably a human one if the manor guards are any indication. Those are the two most likely scenarios for the boss. There’s a third one that’s unlikely to occur given the recent Apocalypse event… In any one of these scenarios, it’s imperative that we take down the guards in the courtyard as quickly as possible. We cannot afford to take sustained damage from them or we will die to the boss. Understand?”

Jacob smiled and affirmed with a nod. Kronos returned the smile only to let it drop into a serious line as he said, “If you hear me scream ‘Fubar’ after engaging the boss then you know we have scenario three, a light-origin player. In this case we’re going to probably die due to not having a third player. If this happens don’t hesitate to use a Fate point to avoid death and get an instant restoration. I know using a Fate this early sucks, but we will more than make up the difference in rewards by defeating the player. Got it?”

“Fubar means everything is hitting the fan.” Remarked Jacob. “So, pull out the safety umbrellas and go to town. Got it.”

“Good.” Said Kronos as he shifted his grip on his twin blades. “That should be enough time for your mana now. Let’s move out.”

He pushed open the door letting a burst of sunlight flood the room. Both players shielded their eyes waiting for them to adjust to the new light level. Emerald and azure images came into focus as the sky and trees became visible in the new light level. Kronos led the way into the courtyard stepping onto the crisp neatly trimmed grass lawn. Jacob followed suite scanning for threats.

Both players made it fifty steps from the gate that would lead to freedom when they heard the pounding of boots from the nearby gate house. They spun to meet the advancing guards, six in all. Behind the guards, a figure in full-plate armor walked confidently forward.

“Paladin scenario!” hissed Kronos as he raised himself on the tip of his toes ready to spring into action. “Full-plate is the boss. Focus my right then swing left.”

The boss continued his slow stride forward pulling a steel kite shield into place and drawing his steel longsword. He pointed the tip in the direction of Jacob and Kronos. “Blessing!” he shouted causing a creamy flash of light to engulf the six charging guards. The charging guards roared with bestial vigor as the light faded.

There was little time to process when Kronos slammed the first guard into a second. Already Kronos was dancing his blades in a flurry of slashes at a third guard. Jacob initiated the plan flicking one Hellfire Ball at the two downed guards and spun to flick a second blocking the advance of the guards on Kronos’ flank.

The blade shifted into Jacob’s primary hand as he ran towards the recovering guards and sliced twice. Both guards were charred and bloody but managed to stand raising their blades. Two swift stabs pierced Jacob, a twin spray of scarlet blood splashed the ground.

-23 physical damage.

-15 physical damage.

The haptic feedback sent vibrations into Jacob’s chest that left a feeling akin to two soft punches. A kiss of tingling electricity danced across his chest warning him of the in-game damage. His eyes went wide as panic took hold causing him to stumble back from the guards.

The two bloodied masses stepped forward in pursuit. Jacob swung his blade defensively to keep them at bay. The one on his right redirected Jacob’s blade leaving his chest exposed to the lunge from the guard on his left. The blade slide into his belly eliciting another spray of blood in-game followed by a twinge of electrical shocks to his abdominal muscles from the suit.

-42 *Critical* physical damage.

Jacob screamed in irritation chunking his sword at the guards while jumping back. He flicked both wrists summoning twin Hellfire Balls. A sadistic grin painted his face as he flung the flaming orbs at the two guards assaulting him.

Both screamed in agony as they were engulfed in the hellfire. No more than six seconds passed before their screams died with them. Jacob pressed down on his wounds trying to stop the bleeding while huffing out of breath. He looked to his HP and saw that he only had 85 left. We are so screwed. That did not go how Kronos said it would go. Kronos!

Jacob whipped his head up in time to see Kronos execute the last of the guards. Two lay decapitated behind him, a third behind him as a bloody and charred mess on the burnt ground from Jacob’s earlier attack, and the last impaled on Kronos’ twin blades. Kronos tilted the last guard off his blades letting him slide to the ground. Jacob picked up his thrown sword from before and ran to Kronos’ side.

Jacob stared at the unmoving boss that had his sword planted in the ground while he rested his hands upon the pommel. “Why isn’t he moving?” asked Jacob.

Kronos shrugged and charged the boss as he said, “Scripting maybe?”

Kronos was fifteen strides away from the boss, when the boss yanked his sword from the ground and pointed his blade to the heavens screaming, “Righteous Vengeance!” A blinding crimson and white arc of energy launched from the corpses of the six defeated guards into the boss empowering him.

Kronos was committed to his attack as his blades connected with the shield and sword of the boss. A series of blows were exchanged as Krono’s eyes widened in fear. “Fubar! Fubar! Fubar!” he screamed.

“Fubar…” groaned Jacob.