Lex leaned back in his creaky chair, tapping his finger on the edge of the desk. His eyes were glued to the shop window in front of him, his mind buzzing through the options.
The basement hideout was cold and dimly lit, its concrete walls stained from years of neglect. The stale air smelled faintly of dust and old booze, the remains of whatever shady business had been run here before the world flipped upside down. Yet Lex didn't mind. He'd been in worse places—way worse.
Instead, Lex was focused on something else.
He wrote down on a piece of paper a list of potential blessings he could purchase first. He had done this countless times: jotting down blessings, calculating which "builds" or "sets " of blessings to buy and which would maximize his efficiency.
He ran his thumb over the paper, finding the old combinations he knew worked.
Strangely enough, in this Game, there were no "stats," strictly speaking. Everything was based on blessings or "traits."
"Alright," he muttered, scanning the list. "Bleeding build… poison build… speed build…"
He paused for a second, thinking. Blessings were fundamental in the tutorial phase. They were passive abilities that could enhance the effects of actions but always came with conditions.
They weren't like Aspects, which were active and supernatural by nature. No, blessings require you to act first. Like the bleeding build—brutal, but effective. It enhanced bleeding effects, but only if the enemy was already bleeding. You couldn't just buy it and expect it to work without setting the stage for it to work.
He scribbled a note next to the bleeding build: "Bleeding Enhancement... Hemorrhage Strength… Blood Frenzy…"
Then came the poison build. Another favorite, especially in the early stages where there was little to no poison resistance. The poison blessings worked to weaken enemies over time, but again, you needed to apply the poison first, or it would be useless.
"Poison enhancement... lethal venom... Increased venom length..." Lex scratched his chin, remembering the fights where he'd used them. He muttered the words as he added them to the list.
The speed build was different. It wasn't as flashy, but in the early game, speed was life. Outrun enemies, dodge hits, get in and out of dangerous spots before anyone could react.
The speed blessings enhanced movement, and the best part was that the "conditions" for activation were usually simple, unlike most builds. Most blessings in the speed set only required you to "move," or sometimes just having bones or being able to see was enough to activate the blessing.
These conditions made it incredibly easy to activate, and in some cases, the blessings were always active. It made speed blessings a reliable choice, especially in the early stages.
"Speed Benediction... lightweight bones... reflex boost..." Lex muttered, scribbling them down on his list.
There were other options—fire resistance, stamina boosts, vision enhancements that would work with all builds. They were akin to basic survival skills and could help in any situation.
But his coin total, while decent this early, would be far from enough for everything. He needed to be strategic. In the worst case, he could buy them later on if he needed them.
He leaned back again, the chair creaking under his weight. The selection of blessings in the tutorial was fundamental as it would carve your future path.
He'd seen too many people blow their tutorial choices on flashy things without thinking ahead, only to be shredded apart at their first real fight.
"Blessings are only temporary for the tutorial anyways." Lex reminded himself, tapping the paper with his pen. "Once it's over, they evolve into those expensive...traits."
Traits were the permanent version of blessings and would obtain "stars" and thus could evolve. But they were prohibitively costly if not evolved from blessings obtained in tutorials. Sure, with enough coins, you could buy traits after the tutorial, but the prices skyrocketed afterward.
In short, while the tutorial is going on, you can buy blessings for very cheap. Once the tutorial ends, those blessings will transform into their permanent form: traits. Those traits would be extremely expensive if bought afterward, so it was important to get as many good blessings as possible in the tutorial.
Most people didn't realize it, but the tutorial was a rare "gift" from the Game—a "safe" environment designed for growth. Those who didn't take advantage of this opportunity would spend the rest of their lives regretting it.
Not a single player who had passed through the tutorial ever looked back without wishing they had pushed themselves harder, fought smarter, seized every chance to grow stronger early on, or why didn't they buy this blessing as it was very cheap.
Lex then turned his attention to his aspects.
Aspects worked differently than blessings. Aspects were active, supernatural abilities—things that didn't need conditions or triggers to be used. In a way, calling them "superpowers" wasn't wrong. They allowed players to do things they couldn't possibly achieve under normal circumstances, like manipulating elements or bending the laws of reality.
Of course, Aspects and blessings could work together.
Players with Aspects like blood manipulation, for example, would always seek blessings like "blood control," which enhanced their blood-based abilities.
The condition to activate this blessing would be "Using a blood-related Aspect," something that only players with such an Aspect could fulfill. Without that, the blessing would be useless, making Aspects some sort of key to unlocking the full potential of many blessings.
In short, blessings, or traits when the tutorial ends, were meant to amplify what was already there, turning an ability into something stronger.
He glanced at one of his own aspects, "Master of the Game." Sadly, he couldn't do much with this in terms of blessings. Although you can buy anything from the Game, a "game master build" obviously existed. It's just that the price was so exorbitant, even in the tutorial, where it is supposed to be way cheaper. Lex did not even bother trying to make such a build.
As for Die to Begin...
"I should have enough coins to buy this build this time. Once we finish the tutorial, those traits would become too expensive to buy even after years."
Lex wrote down the names of different builds on his list. Though he was jotting it down, his mind had already settled on it the moment he chose to hide rather than scramble for every easter-eggs all over the world.
"Ghost of the Past, Chrono healing , Time Rewind, Temporal Stasis, Deja vu..."
It was a Time build.
The most basic condition for these blessings was having a time-related aspect. There could be others depending on the blessing.
"Usually, I wouldn't even dream of affording even two of these at the same time." he mused, glancing at the lengthy list.
Time-related blessings were notorious for being among the most costly existing blessings. Lex had a build for it, but the required blessings were staggeringly expensive. Even the requirement to use those blessings was difficult to meet since it required a rare time-related aspect... Luckily, he met this requirement.
"Each of these blessings is priced at an exorbitant rate," he thought, "far beyond what most players could ever save up in a single loop. I don't think I could obtain all of them. But to at least secure a few."
He clicked on the shop window, his finger hovering momentarily over the confirm button. Lex had bought something, two things to be exact. Yet, those were not blessings but items. He wouldn't have enough to buy a time-related blessing with his meager 700 coins anyway. The number of his coins slowly dwindled as he purchased them.
"... Some sacrifices must be made. Even if a lot would die because of this. I need to obtain those blessings."