OldBegginings:[Sorry for releasing a chapter so quickly after the authors notes. I wrote most of that chapter waiting for the poll to end, and I also wanted to give people who didn't care about the authors notes something to read. I know the pacing's quite slow, especially how it seems like I'm recapping myself rather than moving forwards, I appreciate this but all I can really ask for is patience. Hopefully I'm good enough at writing to make it worthwhile later, but for now, I hope you enjoy what's written.]

*'Hiiro'*

Hm. For a tacky looking headset, and gloves... This isn't half bad. I just went through the extensive loading screen, and was about to enter the world of Myth of Men. But before that, I was sent to a blinding white room with someone else inside... Maybe spending the last nine days straight in my dim room was a bad idea. I couldn't see a thing, but at least movement seemed natural.

I got up from the chair my body was place in, moving my hands as I would normally, I went over to the other person to see what was going on.

"I'm guessing your my boss." I said. It would be pretty obvious that this person was in charge of updating the game, since I'm a game tester and this room seems out of place in a fantasy based world, it seems like they'd be my boss.

"Yeah, welcome... 'Hiiro' was it? What an unusual name for an Angletarian..." they said in a deep, but welcoming voice. I got used to the light now, and this person seems male, but I could be wrong, I mean, it's a game for fuck's sake.

"I'm not really Angletarian, I just grew up there. Anyway... The reason I'm here?" I said, diverting the conversation. The less said about my name the better... 

This guy is one of few admins of Underscore_Gaming, even I didn't know much about this group after watching over their stuff for the last few months. Their nationality and identities are unknown, and certain conspiracies link them to national governments... But who cares. If they made a good game is my job to decide, anymore is rude and hypocritical. My life's just as unknown to them.

"Oh, sorry. Uh... Basically your job is to play. Your work requires you to help us by stating what could be improved upon. Don't forget that this game is made for everyone though, a challenge is good now and then, but the newbies need something to be able to complete too." He paused, seeming to ask whether or not I had that noted down. I nodded, confirming, and he continued. "Well that's it really. We'll tell you dates and times for events, we won't tell you any more than that though. I must say though, it's a pleasure working with you. I understand the name change, but why are you a succubus? Wouldn't an assassin be more suitable?"

"To me it was between succubus or ghost, but not wanting to become too strong, I chose succubus since it gives a good opportunity for me to die. I got bored of all the other classes, and immediately dismissed them. Sorry, I'm curious based off one interview of yours I saw. Are you guys actually making a Myth of Women game, or not?"

"Well, to each their own I guess. Also no. It won't be a full game, more like a piss take mod that only changes the menu screen or something. We called the game MythOfMen because we based it off 'man-kind' being short for huMAN kind, and men is the plural of man. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the game, I'm the admin '_______', message me whenever to talk, but don't get me confused with '________' though... That guy's pretty temperamental." Seeming proud of his 'original' name, he puffed out his chest, with eyes full of self-gratification.

"You guys really wear your name on your sleeves... Well anyway. Now that's out of the way, mind letting me go and start working?" I said. I mean really, I get they're underscore_gaming, but do all the admin's names have to have only underscores in them? I mean, even the owner is called '_____', since names have to be 5 characters long.

"Oh, sure. Well, it's been nice meeting you, hope we get a good working relationship. We know that the amount payed isn't that much, but we aren't expecting you to help us out much either, we know your busy with other things, like school. But if we feel like you've done your work well, we'll pay you more."

With that said, the room around me vanished into a black void... With that little ball in the corner of my screen and a line... COME ON! This is a fucking vr game, and you have two small gifs as your fucking loading screen! And look at the bar! It'll take another hour to fill at this rate!

-

I woke up in a small village... Weird. I expected to be at a castle or something with hundreds of noobs whining about not knowing what to do. But I guess this is for the better. It took three hours anyway, so I would have probably starting massacring people if that was the case.

I opened the menu, hm, a shortlist system... Wait. I have that many skills open to me right now? I assume they'll be upgraded later... But to have about fifty skills off the bat was surprising. By the way, I'm a succubus who majors as a Preacher, and minors as a Herbalist. As for skills, let's see what my play-style should be...

About five minutes later I had my list selected. It looked like this:

Name DokiDoki19 Class Succubus Level 1 Class skills ["Bind" = Mass_Leech.], ["Stun" = Leech.], ["Heal" = Blood_Transfusion.], ["Intimidate" = Vampiric_Bite.], [passive = Life_Absorb.], [passive = Attraction_Resistance.], [passive = Attraction_Increase.],[passive = melody_of_screams] Sub-class skills <"How cute..." = Object_Examination.>, <"Eh?" = Mob_Examination.>, <"Possess" = Mob_Tame.>,<"Summon" = Summon_(Tamed_Mob)>, Weapon skills ("Have at me" = Power_Charge.), (passive = Staff_Hit.), (passive = Dual_Wield.), (passive = _Magic_Boost.) Additional skills /'Stop' = Skill_Cancellation.,/"Log Out" = Log_Out Achievement skills N/A Equipment On-Hand None Off-Hand None Head-wear None Inner-Wear None Outerwear Ragged_Clothes Foor-Wear Ragged_Shoes Accessories N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A.

I think this is good for now, well, I have to buy two swords and a staff for the weapon skills to be worthwhile, also I don't see 'Heal' being that worthwhile, I'm going for the summoner army approach, but I still don't see 'Heal' being that effective... Eh, I'll switch it if I need to later. I also skimmed over what they all do, so I find it pointless to digress and state them all here. Anyway, now I need to go shopping, and I'll ask for directions to a dungeon whilst shopping.

Whilst walking around, I realized something. There wasn't a constant pain... Odd. I was pretty sure I was still in the middle to bleeding to death in reality. Maybe this world couldn't make me in constant pain or something... I'll check that stuff later. Anyway, now it's time to actually go shopping.

...

Problem: it appears I don't have any money... Response: let's massacre shit until that changes.

I was doing the flawless strategy of walk in a random direction until things happened. A few minutes from starting, a little green fellow popped his head out. This seemed to be a goblin. With slimes, they're the most laughable mob in rpgs, but somehow still have fan-fictions about them. Don't ask... I have way too much time on my hands.

This little guy seems perfect for my army, but also for my wallet... Choices, choices. Whilst deciding, the goblin finally noticed I was like two meters away from it, and called over it's friends. Hm, what a pity, I don't like pets that bite.

"Bind." I binded the green possy, and it appears I can still move, but they can't. Perfect. A punch here, a punch there and eventually everybody died. My wallet became 140 coins better off, and I gained a level. This surprised me, I expected to work for a level up, but casually killing five goblins did it instead. It's at this point I realized I used three quarters of my AP, so stated "Stop Bind." and the bind stopped. Also, last time I remembered, Leeches weren't red, spiked tentacle like beings, but more small, smooth. slimy black things... This is a game though, fuck logic.

After about half an hour of pissing about, I accumulated about 4500 coins, and ten more levels. I met more goblins, a boar or two and some bandits and pkers. The boars had the smartest AI though. It was also pretty boring , since the same strategy worked flawlessly for all of them, and I now had over a 1000hp. Look, I know I'm a so called 'Pro-Gamer'... But this is still way too easy. Anyway, now I should have enough to buy stuff.

I was walking around this peaceful village, taking a nice stroll as I was finding where the blacksmith was, when I saw a building with an anvil out-side... I walked in.

"Howdy and welcome! Are you here to shop or use the anvils?" I was almost knocked out of the building with the amount of enthusiasm in those words, said by the sweaty clad-dressed lady behind the counter. She was thin compared to what I was expecting, but looking at my arms, she still had bigger muscles than I did. Eh, it's not size, but how you use them... is what I wanted to think, but I think not caring is more necessary. Though if I did care by god I'd be jealous...

"I'm here to buy weapons. I'd like two swords, but I don't know what I can get for what I have... Also, do you sell staves, if not, could you direct me to where they would be?"

"Well. For your first point, we have Bronze, Bone, Iron, Ebony, Steel and Lead swords here, in order of tier. Single-handed swords are priced at 50, 150, 200, 400, 500 and 1000 in order of tiers. Mind you, this is for basic, not enchanted swords made by rookie blacksmiths. And to answer your question, no. We don't sell Staves or bows here. The wood-worker's is next door, they should still be open."

"Thanks. Sorry I'm new to swords, what is the main difference between Bone and Iron?"

"Don't be, we're all new to things once. Bone is a natural material, meaning it's lighter and more durable, and enchants have more effect on bone based things compared to iron based things. The main reasons why it's considered lower tier though, is that Bone can't cut through bone, whereas Iron can, and basic sword vs basic sword, Bone does marginally less damage than Iron does. Basically it depends on what you use it for."

"Okay, can I have two Bone one-handed swords, with a durability bonus enchant?"

"You can, but it costs 300 coins each, totaling to 600 coins. Also, do you want armour? Same tiers, but base prices for full sets are: 300, 700, 800, 1400, 1600 and 2200."

"I do, can I have a full set of not enchanted Bone armour too?"

"Okay, the total is 1300. Is that all?"

"Here. That's all. Thanks for the service." I said... Although I felt like throwing up after saying it, I felt that it would be better to make this person like me, so pushed myself to be nice. She was also generally kind enough to teach me the tiers and such. Now I'll never have to do it again.

"Alright, thanks for coming, come again." She waved as I left. 

Now, the wood-worker was next door, right?

A guy about a head taller than me was behind the counter this time. They seemed to be reading something, but when the door closed, they noticed me. I say 'they' because I could only see their head, and this is also a game...

"Welcome. Are you here to buy stuff, or do you want to use our crafting room?" They sounded male, so I went with that for now.

"I heard you sell staves. Which kinds do you have?"

"Hm. In order of base tier, we have Magic, Pine, Oak and Mahogany. Do you know which you're buying?"

"Depends, what can I get in the range of 1000 to 2000 coins?"

"Any really. Since that gives your alot of freedom, would you like to tell me what you're after, so I can suggest something?"

"I want something with high power, I'll be using it quite alot, but I won't be completely relying on magic to get kills."

"How about trying a mediocre-made Magic Wood stave, with durability 3, power 2, AP regeneration 2, mute enchants for 1950 coins?"

"What is 'Magic wood'? Also what's mute?" I'm curious since 'magic wood' was the lowest tier of wood, but it's being suggested for this price range, I mean, staves weren't that expensive, were they? Also Mute seems like a disadvantage, not allowing me to use my skills on my shortlist, why was it on this staff if that's the case?

"Magic Wood is a relatively common type of wood, at default, it's the worst tier, but it makes up for it by having way more enchantment spots than the others, normal ones have a max of 5, but this has a max of 10. Normally it's durability is a liability, and it's attack power isn't enough to make up for it, but with enchants, it's better than the others we sell. As for mute, it allows the user to say shortlisted skills without anyone hearing what's been said, even a preacher can be almost silent with this enchant."

"Interesting, I'll take it." I handed out the money, and he gave me the staff. Okay, I like this build I have going. Mob army here we come. "Oh, by the way, is there a nearby dungeon I can test my new gear on?"

"The Mumble Tree is pretty close if I remember, it's starting level is like 10, but it's boss is level 25. It's hard to do without a party though. It should be about half a mile from the east of the village..."

"Okay, I'll check it out tomorrow. Thanks for the advise."

-

I left the shop, and logged out. I'm feeling tired, it'll be about a week until I can do a week straight again, so I went to sleep.

I'll go and complete this dungeon tomorrow, and see if it's more difficult or not. Then I'll complain to ______... wait, it's ________? 

Fuck those guys with their ridiculous names! Anyway from my experience so far though, apart from the whole giving me all the tools of the trade off the bat thing making the game way too easy, the game was really immersive, feeling realistic with movements and animations, the character models were well made, and pain you previously had disappeared whilst playing... Seems like fun. I thought, whilst drifting off to sleep.