THE MOMENT
Dread followed the girl out of town. The teenager followed the well-worn path toward the tutorial boss and Dread sped up her pace once she realized where the girl was headed. She saw a chance to be helpful and jogged up to the stranger to introduce herself.
"Hey, you new?" she asked. "I'm Dread," she extended her hand and was met with a smile along with a gentle, warm grip.
"Hi!" the girl nodded. "I'm Jenny," she said. "It's my first time in the AlterNet! It's super rad that I'm on another Earth!" she giggled and Dread couldn't help but smile too. "I'm about to finish the tutorial...," Jenny pointed at the dark cave in the distance. "Are you new? Wanna party up?"
"Uhuh...," Dread nodded with an almost dazed expression on her face; but, she quickly shook her head. "I mean no!" Jenny looked surprised and Dread corrected herself again. "I mean no I'm not new. I'd love to group up and show you around; but, you can't be in a party for the tutorial boss...," she explained. Jenny didn't know what to expect in the cave and she was glad she knew to be ready for a fight now. "I'll keep you company if you want," she added.
"Okay," Jenny nodded. "What class are you? I picked Engineer."
"Beast Master," Dread replied. As she answered, brilliant sparkles took the form of a large golden tiger that walked next to Dread. "This is my pet, Thunder," she introduced the beast and it looked at Jenny with a soft rumbling purr that immediately justified its name.
"Do you have an assistant yet?" Dread asked. As they continued forward, the golden tiger faded out of existence after a few steps.
"No...," Jenny shook her head. "..am I supposed to?"
"Oh, sorry. Wasn't thinking," Dread shook her head. "You're still in the tutorial. A lot of Engineers create an A.I. assistant; but, you're not there yet I guess. I don't know many Engineers, so I don't know how you get access to that exactly. But I can find out for you," she added quickly. Jenny giggled and shrugged.
"Thanks," she said. "I'm sure I'll find out when I'm supposed to. The AlterNet has been really great so far. I did the node tutorial yesterday and I'm totally excited to get this done too. After I finish this I absolutely NEED to try roller derby," she said. "Oh! Do you play roller derby??" Dread nodded with a broad grin.
"Yeah, I've got a practice track on the Schoolyard server if you wanna try it out," she said.
"Schoolyard?" Jenny asked. She slowed her pace because the cave was getting closer and she wanted to hear more about the roller derby track. "I didn't see that on the server list...," she said. Dread pointed at the cave.
"Finishing the tutorial opens up more servers. But, the Schoolyard isn't an 'official' one, so you can only get there by Traversing," she added. "I can show you how."
"Yes, please!" Jenny nodded. "That reminds me though. Are you a Unique Soul? I gotta get used to asking that too now," she said. They were now walking at a snail's pace with the cave entrance only a few feet away.
"#42, La Calavera," Dread nodded. "You?"
"#46, El Sol," Jenny answered.
"A Sol?" Dread asked. "Let me know when you're ready to create your Court, I wanna join," she said.
"My what?" Jenny asked.
"Your Court...? You know, your group of Uniques loyal to you... didn't Mundo cover it?"
"Oh..," Jenny shook her head. "I haven't visited Mundo yet, too many other things to be excited about," she giggled.
"You're kidding...," Dread chuckled. "The node told you you're the highest-ranked Unique Soul and you didn't rush to Mundo to learn more?"
"This is the most advanced tech my Earth has ever seen!" Jenny replied as she showed off her transparent node. "Priorities dude," she giggled and Dread joined in the laugh. By now they were at the entrance to the cave.
"So, what's the boss like?" Jenny asked. She peered in but could only see darkness inside. The quest text in her log wasn't very helpful either. It marked the location of the cave and the only instruction was 'Complete the Tutorial'. "Got any hot tips for me?"
"It's the most powerful monster in the game," Dread replied. "It's gonna be a tough battle."
"It's the strongest?" Jenny asked. "It's the tutorial boss, right? Shouldn't it be easy?"
"It is the tutorial boss," Dread nodded. "That's why it's so strong. It's there to teach you something."
"What, does it have some weird mechanics I have to learn or something?"
"No mechanics, just straight impossible," Dread answered. "It's a scripted fight you can't win."
"What? That's dumb...," Jenny shook her head but, she dropped her shoulders in resignation and took a step into the cave. "That doesn't teach me anything...,"
"Sure it does...," Dread nodded and patted Jenny on the shoulder as she continued forward. "The real game is what happens after you fail."