You weren’t aware of this from the start? I’m pretty sure I knew from the beginning that Ep1 was free but Ep2 needed to be bought.

On further inspection (aka going through the sign up process up to the point where you have to register an account), maybe you could have missed the fact that Ep2 was pay-to-play if you’d never looked at the ‘Support Us’ section. Maybe this should be mentioned along the way somewhere to avoid the annoyance factor when what was calling itself a “Free browser game” suddenly asks for money after the first chapter.

Your options at this point are basically either to (1) bite the bullet and pay the fee… it’s not that much and you get a fairly decent amount in Ep2 to play through. Or (2) try and win some contests for BP, or beg for freebies. And (3) keep playing without Ep2 (or find a different game)

Pretty sure the Ep2 item slots open up as soon as you buy any of the relevant items, so all you’d be missing is the story and the mission forums. Your call as to whether it’s worth it.