“Whew…” Raidishier released a long, deep breath of what was almost a sigh, but not with any negative emotion. The adrenaline produced by his initial excitement finally wore off after walking around the city for a bit and being disappointed by the scenery, only to be replaced by awe… He was finally here. Within virtual reality, in a game. The emotions buffeting him now most closely resembled what Raid experienced after working at his first part-time job for a few months, when he finally had his own money to spend on whatever he wanted. To celebrate that first step into adulthood, his parents dropped him off at the mall with Michael and Angela for a couple hours, where Raid felt a brand-new form of freedom.

A freedom not from responsibilities or the like, but one that meant he was no longer being coddled as a child. Similarly, Raid now found himself within an entirely new world by himself. No parents present to guide him. No chaperone to watch over him. And for some hours, not even any friends to share the experience with.

None of that was bad, it was just...new. And a little overwhelming.

Eventually, Raidishier’s reverie ended and he was brought back to the present. He had just created a character, appeared in the Spawn Building where players received an optional video tutorial, skipped the tutorial which he’d seen on YouTube, distributed his stat points, walked through Beginnerville for a little bit, and now sat on a bench next to a water fountain.

The starting location for the entire playerbase of Authority Fought For, Beginnerville, was nothing particularly interesting--save for its size, which was comparable to the largest cities of the real world. Beginnerville mirrored every traditional medieval European town to appear in media anywhere, which was disappointing to Raid, who appreciated when game designers went out of their way to represent uncommon or original architecture and culture. Fortunately, according to player reports on YouTube and the forums, original stuff like that did appear outside of the beginner city...but unfortunately, Raidishier probably wouldn’t be going to any of those places soon, given his unique plans for progression.

The teen pulled his virtual phone--which sported the Aff logo when on standby--out of his virtual pocket to check the in-game time. The appointed meeting time was 8, so he had...over three hours to himself. Neat. He hadn’t spent long creating his avatar at all.

‘I should check my weapon out.’

Raidishier pushed all other thoughts to the back of his mind as he reached for the inventory pouch--which every new player spawned with--hanging from his left hip. When his hand entered the pouch a translucent screen appeared in only his vision, floating within arm’s reach in front of him. The inventory pouch contained 10 slots, and only two slots to the left were filled--one by a coiled mass, and the other by bread. With a mental tug Raidishier selected his weapon, and his hand suddenly felt the texture of a flexible leather handle in its grip, which he pulled out of the pouch.

“This is awesome,” Raidishier whispered to himself with eyes wide, floored by how magical it felt to pull the whip from his inventory, which now resided within his grasp. Bullwhip, specifically. Unadorned, made solely from leather, and seemingly not in top condition. Perhaps because it was a starter weapon the bullwhip looked a bit frayed and weathered, as though it had been used for years. It was likely encouragement for new players to seek out better equipment, just like how they received no armor or special robes at the start, forcing them to carefully invest in their first gear.

“Interesting,” he spoke to himself again, getting a feel for the bullwhip’s grip by experimentally waving the weapon. However, he was seated within a crowded space and obviously couldn’t extend it to its full length of two, maybe three meters for an attempt at cracking it. That would probably be a crime. He’d have to test it out in a training field and maybe ask a few people to spar with him. Although Raidishier--like all hot-blooded teens--wanted to overestimate his talent for combat and confidently stroll into the wilderness to slaughter monsters, he held himself back. He’d hear no end of it from Angela and Michael if he died within an hour of entering the game.

Suddenly, while Raidishier moved to place his bullwhip back into his inventory, a player he assumed was previously just passing by called out to him.

“Oi, Raidishier,” the man wearing starry robes said. When he got Raid’s attention, the man gestured to the bullwhip with a jut of his chin. “That’s a whip, so you’re a Monster Tamer. You know what you’re getting yourself into?”

Raidishier focused on the Celestial Mage before him, causing a username and number to materialize above his head.

“I do. I read all about the Classes in the forums,” the teen replied with a smile, holding up the bullwhip. “The fun is in the difficulty.”

“Won’t be fun when nobody wants to party with you. Delete now and you’ll only have to wait like, three IRL days before you can make a new character,” the Level 3 Celestial Mage commented, his expression neutral.

Raidishier’s smile brightened after confirming that the man’s intentions were good, even if he didn’t care too much if his advice was followed. That was much better than encountering some rando whose day wasn’t too great and looked to take pleasure from mocking others.

“I have IRL friends to play with, but thanks for the concern, Yugahar.” Raidishier dismissed his whip into his inventory and stood from the bench, ending the conversation. He genuinely appreciated the concern from the stranger, but nothing would come of continuing the interaction. Not only wasn’t the man open to the idea that Monster Tamer was a valid Class choice, but their brief exchange attracted the attention of a few more passerby players, some of whom seemed exactly like the type to mock others. One Tinkerer in particular, covered in inventory bags and wearing generic smithy wear, held a smirk and seemed ready to enter the conversation.

The Celestial Mage opened his mouth to comment further, but ultimately decided against whatever he was going to say, instead giving his farewells with, “Good luck, then,” as Raidishier made to leave the plaza.

‘A good first impression of the playerbase,’ Raidishier thought to himself as he checked the Beginnerville map on his phone. ‘Much better than what I was prepared for.’

In truth, the boy wouldn’t have been surprised if after revealing his bullwhip in public many more random players than just that Tinkerer had something potentially malicious to say. After only just an in-game month his chosen Class was notorious in the Aff community for its ambiguous instructions on proper use. Or to be more precise, the complete lack of instructions.

Aff did not have Class tutorials or anything of the like. There were methods of obtaining training from NPCs for weapons and skills mastery, but so far, no NPCs had been found to give anything more. The most popular theory was that stuff like that would only be available after players attained a certain benchmark--maybe Level 10--so that nobody would be forced into a playstyle they didn’t like, but no one knew for sure.

The lack of Class information being the norm didn’t affect the other five Classes, however. Only Monster Tamer, because everything else was quite intuitive. Warriors fought using melee means, Tinkerers learned crafting skills by experimenting and learning crafts from NPCs, for the most part Sorcerers and Celestial Mages memorized incantations, and Bards learned to play simple musical pieces with instruments and sometimes songs that produced various effects. Monster Tamers, on the other hand, gained most of their combative potential through taming creatures governed by sophisticated AI. Sure, they had their own melee weapons and access to some common magic, but without a monster at their side they were effectively useless compared to the other Classes.

And how were monsters tamed? That was the entire problem. Raid read through the forums and watched everything on YouTube, but if any Monster Tamers had been fully successful, they hadn’t let it be known. Everyone had at first just assumed that taming would be similar to how Pokemon worked--that once a monster was near death it could be tamed using the Taming spell, but...that wasn’t the case at all. That news wasn’t too bad by itself because it meant the developers had put more thought into the Class than expected, and the playerbase would need to get more creative. Yet... The plights of three specific creative players in particular showcased why the Monster Tamer Class wasn’t seen fondly.

Kylo was the first Monster Tamer whose failure became viral in the community when he--a pro wrestler in real life--dumped all his stat points into Strength and Vitality and attempted wrestling various monsters into submission. The Aff community showed their support by overwhelming his posts with encouraging comments, but everyone soon became disappointed when, after days and days of attempts, no monsters submitted to the Taming magic, apparently because his Intelligence was too low. Kylo eventually managed to tame a bear two days before Raid joined Aff, but only because the specific creature type he wrestled was one that utilized wrestling in combat. It seemed that beating it at its own game impressed it enough to submit, which wasn’t feasible for every monster or even every individual Monster Tamer.

CompressedCloud also discovered a method of taming a beast--two, in fact--but it was similarly disadvantageous of a strategy as Kylo’s. CompressedCloud happened to save a mother badger and its child from another monster, and tamed the mother… But the mother badger refused to follow her into combat because it needed to raise its child, which began a Quest to assist in the raising of the baby for an entire in-game month. However, CompressedCloud’s story wasn’t too bad, because so far as anyone had progressed, Monster Tamers were limited to a single monster and by completing the Quest she’d gain a second one.

Lastly, a rich woman by the username of Pohna used her IRL wealth to obtain many high-quality in-game foods which she used to tame a far stronger horse-type monster… But like with the previous examples, there was an obvious downside. Even after being tamed the horse demanded more expensive treats, unwilling to follow commands unless it was satiated.

‘I think this is the place.’

Raidishier paused his thoughts to look over the entrance to the East Training Grounds, which according to the details on the map written by the playerbase allowed entry to players below Base Level 5 for free. The compound was surrounded by a tall stone wall, and the entrance was simply a mostly-undecorated gap in that wall with a wooden board above it displaying the name. He promptly walked through it and passed the toll-booth-looking thing where an NPC sat reading a novel. The attendant merely glanced at him before returning to the book, confirming that the information on the map was correct.

After locating the melee practice field--an area full of indestructible practice dummies and people hitting said dummies--Raidishier retrieved his bullwhip from the inventory pouch at his hip and began making his way to the nearest dummy. Almost immediately, the long, flexible weapon was noticed by other players, some of whom he heard whisper to each other, but he paid them no mind. It was slightly embarrassing, but they’d soon return to their own business.

The straw-filled scarecrow-looking dummies were all separated by about five meters to their neighbors, so Raidishier encountered no trouble when extending his weapon to its fullest length. He’d never held a whip in real life, much less cracked one, so simply began his practice with a wide swing.

When his ineffectual attack pathetically whapped the dummy’s side, a notification rang as the teen received a Quest, which he immediately accepted.

[“Training Grounds” Quest: Train in any of Beginnerville’s Training Grounds for a total of 20 hours.

Limitations: Complete within 30 AFF days of beginning.

Rewards: +1 stat point to every stat.]

When Raidishier first learned of the Training Grounds Quest on the forums, he, like everyone else, was unamused. Twenty hours of mindlessly striking at dummies? Could that be done?

‘Not for most people, but only because they don’t think it’s worth it.’

His opinion on the subject was quickly changed when commenters in the forums reminded everyone that they could use the internet while in-game, meaning the training wouldn’t be mindless at all. Sure, it was still twenty hours, but it would be twenty hours of YouTube videos, TV shows, movies, music, and anime. Most importantly, it didn’t have to be completed all at once, but could be done for one hour daily across twenty days. Not too bad of a time investment to obtain what amounted to free power.

Unfortunately, the Quest couldn’t be cheated by simply striking a dummy once every hour, or something similar. The clock counting down from twenty hours that appeared in the top right of Raidishier’s vision while within the Training Grounds stopped ticking a couple seconds after he stopped moving, requiring him to maintain a steady barrage of blows to bring the time down. Interestingly enough, however, once Raidishier grew tired of attacking and began resting, the clock continued ticking until he was fit enough to continue training.

Raidishier didn’t really have any plans for spending his time before the meeting with Michael and Angela, so pulled up an anime on his phone and turned on the feature that made a screen appear in only his vision for him to view it on while he learned the ways of the whip.