Three figures stand in a circle facing out in a dimly lit mine cavern surrounded by skeletal figures armed with an assortment of mining tools. The red eyes of the Lvl. 32 Skeleton Crew glowed in the darkness like scarlet stars in the night sky.

“Boris! Now!” shouted Lukas.

A huge Paladin in full armor wearing a strange-looking hat that resembled a large grey mushroom charged the undead horde, ramming them with his kite shield and scattering bones everywhere.

“Call of the Martyr!” cried Boris when he got to the center of the mass of monsters. A red shockwave emanated from the Paladin and engulfed the surrounding Skeleton Crew. All the monsters affected by the skill started attacking the man immediately but his HP bar didn’t even budge. It would come down a few points but would fill up again in seconds.

“Clear them out, Kaya. I’ll protect the rear,” said Lukas.

A Priestess in long flowing white robes stepped forward and placed both hands in front of her as she started a prayer.

“Purify!” Kaya exclaimed at the end of the invocation.

Purify[Active]

[AoE spell that removes all debuffs on allies and increases HP & MP regen for a duration. If cast on non-boss undead has a chance to instantly kill based on user’s Int and on monster’s level.]

An intricate circular seal glowed on the ground and white light engulfed the mass of skeletons that surrounded Boris the Paladin. In an instant, a third of the Skeleton Crew dropped dead, leaving their loot behind.

“Rinse and repeat, guys,” said Lukas as he hacked down every monster that got too close to the Priestess with a glowing short sword. “Keep doing it every cooldown... You okay back there, Boris?”

The old Russian gave a loud bark of laughter that echoed in the mines.

“Good! I’m good, my boy! I’ve never felt so alive!” Shouted Boris as he swung his war hammer sided to side, cleaving through the dwindling amount of skeletons around him.

Lukas couldn’t help but smile himself despite being in a deep mine in complete darkness surrounded by tool-wielding undead revenants. The Russian’s attitude in battle was infectious. Despite Boris admitting that he didn’t know how to play GFO, he proved to be an excellent tank especially with Gumo’s Crown equipped. It turned out that the Paladin class was the perfect fit for the old man. The class skills were straight forward to use and Boris unleashed them every time he was instructed to. Aside from being comfortable in the midst of enemy forces, Boris followed orders to a tee. This meant Lukas, as the party leader, had full control of what happens.

“Lukas, my boy!” Shouted Boris. “I can hear it coming!”

There was a rumble in one of the tunnels where most of the Skeleton Crew were coming from. Two red orbs glowed three meters high in the darkness. A giant boot stepped out into the light followed by a monstrous sized skeleton wearing torn overalls, a huge miner’s helmet and carrying a gigantic pickaxe. It’s HP bar was purple bordered with gold.

Lvl. 35 Skeleton Pit Boss

Mini-Boss

“There you are,” muttered Lukas.

“What do we do now?” asked Kaya. She was trembling slightly. Clearly this brought back memories of the Longhill caves where they faced the Shroom King a month ago.

But this time it was different. They were a lot stronger now. Both individually and as a party. They were here to accomplish a single quest.

Who’s the Boss?

[Find and slay the creature controlling the mines. Lure it out by slaying 100 Skeleton Crew.]

“Boris, use Guard before you taunt it!... Kaya, buff Boris with everything you’ve got. Purify won’t work on that thing so use Heal instead. Make sure you have enough MP for Boris if he gets low. Cast God Speed on me. I’ll thin out the mobs.” commanded Lukas.

Kaya faced him and cast the spell.

God Speed[Active: Buff]

[Effect: Increase Atk. Speed and movement speed for a duration. CD: 30s ]

Lukas felt his body and sword get lighter. He popped the cork of a blue potion and drank the contents to top off his MP bar. He charged forward, slaying two monsters before the bottle hit the stone floor. His Spellblade skill was more powerful than before with his Int attribute now matching that of a Mage of the same level.

The Skeleton Pit Boss roared as it swung the great pickaxe. Boris caught it with a projected shield conjured by using his Guard skill. His HP dropped by a fifth.

“Boris! Back off a bit! You’re taking too much damage!” shouted Kaya.

“I’m okay, little girl!” shouted Boris through gritted teeth. He was bleeding from a big cut on his forehead. “Just kill this thing quickly so we can feast!”

Kaya smiled and threw Heal after Heal bringing the colossal monster’s health lower each time. Lukas quickly swept the perimeter clear of any remaining mobs to join the battle with the Skeleton Pit Boss after consuming another blue potion.

I’m going through a lot of these. Lukas thought as he tossed the round empty bottle. His MP regen still needed help keeping up with Spellblade.

The great monster roared again but this time it sounded frustrated. Boris, who was standing in front of it was dodging every swing of the giant weapon and every time it did connect with a blow, the Paladin took it like a granite statue.

Lukas grinned. This was the exact reason why he picked this quest. He had fought this Mini-Boss hundreds of times before. Its attack patterns were repetitive, predictable and easy to dodge even for someone as inexperienced as Boris. Plus, it gave a decent amount of Exp points and dropped valuable loot that they could use or sell off for some desperately needed gold.

“Kaya, buff me again!” Lukas called out. The Priestess acted immediately without even glancing at him and continued her assault on their undead foe.

She’s getting better at this. Lukas thought as his body became light once more. Kaya had shown more resilience in high-pressured situations lately. The more they fought, the more she became focused.

The Skeleton Pit Boss was now at a third of health. Lukas positioned himself at its left flank and charged, narrowly evading the swinging pickaxe. His blade sliced completely through once, twice, two more times as God Speed turned his shortsword into a glowing blur and he finished the combo with Wild Strike. The red glowing eyes of the giant skeleton dimed and went out completely. Its colossal form crashed to the ground in an explosion of loot.

Quest Complete: Who’s the Boss?

***

The party of three appeared at the city square of Babel in a flash of blinding light from the teleportation scroll they used. Boris guffawed as they arrived, still exhilarated from the battle they just fought.

“That goliath stood no chance against us!” the Russian boasted.

“Well, it shouldn’t,” commented Lukas. “We out level it by quite a bit.”

Name: Lukas Corvo

Class: Swordsman Subclass: Conjurer

Level: 41

Name: Kaya Artis

Class: Priestess Subclass: N/A

Level: 42

Name: Boris Alexeeve

Class: Paladin Subclass: N/A

Level: 42

“But still, you have to admit we’re getting better at this,” said Kaya with a smile.

“Yes, little girl! Exactly!” agreed Boris. “And soon, it will be the Dark Lord’s turn!”

Lukas let out a grunt of agreement that he did not fully support.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

It had been a month since he made a deal with Damocles and so far their leveling had slowed down considerably. Mainly due to the fact that death was an actual possibility in this world and Lukas had opted to pursue safer leveling areas instead of his usual ones. But nevertheless, he was determined to honor the deal with the celestial. It will just have to take a while to complete. The quest, bordered in gold, visible in his HUD was a constant reminder.

The Deal

[Objective: Slay Dark Lord Obsidius.]

The city square was buzzing with activity. Several parties were running around either turning in or acquiring quests. There were guilds trying to recruit new members but once again, Lukas and his party were ignored completely. Most of the players below level 60 weren’t even given a second glance unless they were a particularly useful class like a tank or support.

Lukas also noticed that there were several people coming out of the cathedral again. The newcomers wore the same expression they themselves had a month ago on their first encounter with Damocles. The day they found out the reason for being stuck in GFO. Some were in complete shock and some were even crying.

“How many people you think are in Patriam now?” asked Kaya. Lukas saw she was looking at the newcomers as well.

“I don’t know.”

“It’s kinda sad, isn’t it?” said Kaya while looking at a particular girl blindly wandering the streets sobbing.

“Yeah... But they get a second chance in life. They’ll adjust eventually. Just like us… Besides, we all have a way out.” said Lukas.

Kaya looked up him with one eyebrow raised and sighed.

“That’s not what I meant… if what Damocles said is true about the criteria for landing yourself here, then all of these people regretted the way they lived… I just can’t believe that there are so many of them. So many people just like us… It’s kinda sad.”

Lukas hadn’t thought of that. He personally knew why he was in Patriam. He saw himself as a burden to his poor mother. Every day since losing the ability to walk at the age of ten, he wished that he could do more,.. could be more. He didn’t have time to enjoy his life. His muscular dystrophy sought to that. His teen years were filled with the feeling of regret and being cheated by the world. Does that mean all these people around him felt the same? What about Kaya? What about Boris? Both of them longed to get back to their families, but is the life waiting for them back home worth living in the first place? What did they regret so much that it earned them a place in Patriam?

“Lukas, my boy,” said Boris as the old man scanned the faces of the newcomers himself. Lukas knew the Russian was checking if his grandchildren were among them.

“Yeah, Boris?”

“How long before we face the Dark Lord?”

Lukas sighed.

“It’ll take a long time… The last time I faced Obsidius, it took my party a year to do it.”

“Then we start now, yes?”

“We’re not strong enough,” Lukas explained. He could sense that the old man was eager but impatient. “We have to get stronger and even then we’ll need help… and I doubt that any other player would risk their lives to do the raid. Not unless we show them that it is possible… But we’ll make it out of here. That’s a promise. It will just take time.”

Boris regarded him for second and nodded seeming satisfied for the time being. “My shield is yours. We shall get stronger together as comrades. What you say, I do.”

“Speaking of getting stronger…” said Kaya. “Why haven’t you advanced class rank yet?... why are you still a Swordsman?”

“It’s because I took a subclass,” explained Lukas.

“So you’re stuck being a Swordsman?”

“Nope… I can rank up at level 50.”

“What is a subclass?” asked Boris. “Why does mine say ‘Nah’? What does ‘Nah’ mean?

Lukas palmed his face. Boris and Kaya were excellent party mates but he found himself constantly explaining the mechanics of the game more often than not.

“It means none applicable. You don’t have a subclass yet… it was in the patch notes. Didn’t any of you read the-”

Lukas saw Boris’ face crumpled in confusion and Kaya wore the same blank expression when she found out there was teleportation in the game.

“Okay… let me explain the best I can.” Lukas started taking a deep breath. “In the previous version of Grand Fantasy Online, players start off as a Novice class. You can then advance to a Rank I class at level 10, Rank II of the same class at level 30 and finally Rank III at level 60…”

Boris and Kaya nodded to show that they followed so far.

“...but the game creators felt that the META was getting stale…”

“What is this META?” interjected Boris.

“It means ‘most effective tactic available’,” answered Lukas. “It refers to the current best trend on a game; what classes to pick, what attributes to max, what items to get, which monsters to hunt... Anyway, the META was the same for the longest time and the creators wanted to mix things up. So they added subclasses to the latest expansion... You could still rank up at the old fixed levels, but players now have an option to chose a subclass starting at level 25 but you forfeit your Rank II main class until level 50 and your Rank III until you reach level 75…”

“Owwwkaaay…” said Kaya, a little unsure if she understood it or not.

“Now with subclasses in play, that means there would be a lot more diversity that could lead to new builds instead of the old traditional ones. You could have a Paladin Swordsman or a Priestess Mage or a Swordsman Conjurer like me! The possibilities are practically endless!” Lukas finished excitedly.

Silence followed. Lukas could practically hear crickets chirping in the background.

“Sooo… we can have subclasses too?” asked Kaya.

“Yeah… at level 50, but that means you won’t be able to advance to Rank III until level 75.”

“Can I pick any subclass?” asked Kaya.

“No.., you can only pick a Rank I class and it stays that way.”

“Well that doesn’t sound that strong…” commented Kaya.

“But that means you get to use skills and items only exclusive to that class… look,” said Lukas as he referred to his equipment. He wore a mix of black leather and cloth armor. Some were exclusive to Swordsman class to give him good protection and some pieces were for the Conjurer class to gave him a bonus on Int. attributes.

“So you came up with your build just by reading patch notes?” asked Kaya sounding impressed.

“Sort of… I didn’t know it would actually work. I’m glad it did though. We wouldn’t be here if it didn’t.”

“Yup. That confirms it,” said Kaya with a mischievous grin.

“Confirms what?” Lukas asked.

“You are a nerd,” she said with a smile.

“I don’t understand any of this,” said Boris with a crumpled expression. “All this talk of classes and blah blah blah… it’s making my head hurt. You just say what needs to be done and I will do it. But for now, what do you say to some roasted boar and mead?”

Lukas and Kaya laughed at the old Russian. Even though food was no longer a necessity in GFO, Boris had influenced them in the joys of feasting and drinking as much as you can after a hard-fought battle.

“Come on… Let’s go find a good pub,” said Lukas. “I’m buying.”

The three walked off and soon blended with the crowd filled with regretful people.

***

On the highest chamber of the city cathedral, a tall figure in an immaculate white suit stared through the stained glass window. His scarlet eyes were fixed at the party of three immersed in conversation in the city square.

There was a knock at the door.

“Enter,” said Damocles without averting his gaze.

A Lord Knight in silver armor opened the door, entered and knelt down on one knee.

“My lord,” said Argenti in his soft voice.

“Rise… what are your findings?” asked the celestial, turning away from the window and taking a seat in a large intricately carved wooden armchair.

Argenti rose and spoke.

“I am pleased to report that more people are fighting now. Almost all of them go out of towns every day and slay monsters.”

Damocles smiled.

“Yes. I thought that would happen. It appears that the deal I made with young Lukas lit a fire under everyone. I think I’ll give them more motivation to go home than to stay from now on. Hope is such a strange thing...”

“But there is some bad news, my lord…” Argenti paused.

“Well?... out with it.”

“There has been an increase in casualties… especially in the higher ranks. Some of them perished while conducting raids to kill one of the Seven. The Dark One’s forces…. They are getting stronger, my lord.”

Damocles leaned on the table in front of him and steepled his fingers in thought.

“I know giving people hope is a good thing…” started Argenti. “But it’s also making them reckless…They need to know that dying, especially against powerful enemies, has further consequences for the rest of us.”

“Some of them have figured that out already I suspect. You don’t have to tell them,” commented Damocles, unconcerned. “Your race is a lot more intuitive than you give them credit for, my dear Argenti.”

“That is one of my concerns, my lord. My guild has been tracking disturbing rumors about a group calling themselves the Magister Mortis. They have been linked to the deaths of several players already.”

“And you still deem it prudent to inform the public on the true nature of the decree I invoked?”

Argenti pursed his lips.

“Informing the public will put people on guard against those with ill intent at the least, my lord.”

“Or it could easily lead to a bloodbath,” said Damocles, starting to sound annoyed. “I like your race, Argenti. But humans are greedy and easily go blind in the sight of power. Deal with this Magister Mortis as quietly as possible.”

Argenti looked as if he wanted to say more about the matter but decided against it.

“What about the real reason why we’re here?” asked Argenti, instead.

“What about it?” Damocles asked dangerously.

Argenti took a deep breath seeming to steady himself.

“Why not tell them the truth? If more people are going to risk their lives, especially now that you have given some of them hope of returning home… you at least owe them-”

“I owe them nothing,” cut-off Damocles coldly as he got up from the chair and walked to the window once more to look at the square. “As long as the mortals think I have the upper hand in this war the better things will be.”

“But-”

“But nothing,” Damocles cut-off again. “You may leave now.”

Argenti stood there for a moment as if wanting to say something more but resolved to do as he was told instead. He knew he had overstepped his boundaries.

“My lord,” the Lord Knight said bowing before turning on his heels to exit the chambers.

Damocles’ scarlet eyes were back on the three figures in the city square. They were laughing now and walked away to the direction of the food markets.

“I have high hopes for you, young Lukas,” Damocles whispered to himself.

The Class System...