The Compendium's Author

Launch day was upon us.
Kage Hoshino's alarm rang at 1 AM that day, and as he sat up in the bed of his apartment, the only thing on his mind was the video game.
Re.Terra, or ReT, was a highly anticipated VRMMO due to release today, and Kage had pre-installed the game, ready for this moment.
The VR headset, an old model from renowned company ALTERIA, lay on the desk opposite his bed with a gleam, inviting him over to it, and a ready meal and microwave had been placed right beside it, as preparation. He wanted to log in ASAP, so he needed something quick to eat.

He pressed a few buttons on the microwave and launched the headset.
Using the pass-through technology of the headset, he was able to begin launching the game while his ready meal cooked. When it was finished he grabbed the plate, and ate his breakfast, before hitting 'Login'
...
...
The loading screen persisted, giving Kage a second to let out a laugh. It seemed even the servers of this massive game could not handle the thousands of players connecting.
It gave him a chance to look in the mirror while he waited.
Kage was a black-haired, pale-skinned freelancer, who worked from home on programming, designing applications for small and large companies to bring them convenience. He wore mostly plain black clothes, which directly contrasted the painted yellow headset over his face.

After 5 minutes of admiring his average body, a woman's voice - clearly sounding robotic, came from the headset.
"Welcome to Re.Terra. Please shape your avatar to your will, then breathe life unto it."
The loading screen faded to reveal the voice's owner, kneeling before him, her head bowed in respect, as if addressing a god.

Kage looks at the scene around him, the woman knelt before him, and the holographic shape of a male to his side.
Aside from his 'avatar', the entire place looked like a storybook definition of a god's palace.
Kage approaches the hologram and began sculpting his new avatar.
The avatar stood before him, his golden hair as short as his own, and a rather generous amount of muscles on his body. The avatar wore a basic cloth, that looked thin enough to allow a fingernail to cut it.
Kage looks upon his creation with a smile and clicked confirm.

"I see. Please give your avatar a name."
This was the only detail Kage had decided on from the beginning, quickly pulling up a virtual keyboard and typing 'Author' into the text box.
Author's movements perfectly mimicked Kage's. Kage smiled, turning to the woman to await the next step of character creation.
Except she had vanished.

Instead of the woman speaking, 'Author' began speaking out
"My lord, I require guidance, please decide upon a class for me to take as my own.
3 copies of his avatar appeared, one wearing heavy-looking armour, a sword and a shield, the class name reading 'Swordsman'. Following the swordsman was the 'Hunter', wielding a bow and a knife, and wearing light armour, and finally, the 'Spellcaster'.

Unlike Kage's initial look over the first 2 classes, Kage had begun to show an interest in the Spellcaster, it's black robe covered the entire body, and it wielded a large book of spells and a staff. It looked perfect for his intentions.

Re:Terra was a realistic game with a focus on the 'what if'. Magic existed in this world. A player's status was not visible on any menu normally, but could be viewed with the use of a scroll  attached to a player's hip.

All these details would surely leave any casual player confused on what they should do, but Kage, who had selected his class as 'Spellcaster', had his ideals set out before him. It would take a week or more for the wiki to even start up online, and the downside to it would be how long it takes to open the website, as the headset did not allow web browsing mid-game, without removing it altogether, which would leave any player vulnerable to attacks.

Thus, the only thing he could do was simple: He would write an in-game compendium, a book of sorts that both acted as a wiki on every enemy, but could also inform players of anything they wanted. Spellcasters also carried the extra ability to 'enchant' items, which would include the basics, like coating the blade in an element or granting it skills, but it also allowed the Spellcasters to create items with custom features, like programming their own item, so long as it couldn't be abused to break the system.

This would be the ultimate feature for making the compendium, and maybe make more money selling enchanted items with uses.

Kage once again smiled, as he hit confirm and Author spoke one last time
'Very well, I shall begin my journey as a Spellcaster.'
A blinding light shone, causing Kage to shut his eyes, and only open them when the light had gone.
The palace-like room he was in had vanished, and Kage, now in the body of Author, found himself stood in the middle of a huge city. The name 'Glasslyn' appearing at the top of his vision.

Kage pulled out his status scroll, ignoring the city around him for now. A menu popped up from the scroll, causing him to smile as he saw the rather basic stats and the equipment he had equipped.
His HP was a nice round 100, while all of his other stats appeared as a simple 10, aside from Luck, which read '2'
Turning over, he reviewed his equipment.

He was wearing a 'Hastily Patched Cloak', along with 'Worn Boots' and 'Unremarkable Pants' which also appeared badly damaged. The weapons he carried were the 'Snapped Branch' which served as his staff and the 'Torn Book'.
The Snapped Branch had nothing of note, while the Torn Book possessed 'Basic Flame' and 'Basic Heal' moreover, these two spells, along with the book and staff, possessed a notable 'Development Bar'. Looked interesting.

He then changed to the next tab of the menu, finding details on the city.
'Glasslyn is the city of the forge, home to the most famous blacksmiths in the world. The town is seen as incredibly powerful due it's naturally abundant metal reserves and well-crafted weaponry, and as such, while it's king has a small army, he is said to have never lost a war. The town worships Hephaestus.' After reading the impressive description of the town, Kage sighed. He would likely have a hard time finding new magic equipment in the blacksmith stores, so a town full of metalworkers would mean not many people would be creating spellbooks or staves. He'd have to either learn to make his own, try searching for some outside of town, or move town. The second option seemed like a good place to start.

Players were stood around in small groups, talking between themselves and some were advertising their services, or willingness to join a group
'Looking for a Hunter and Spellcaster for a temporary party!'
Came the shout of a rather confident looking Swordsman, who clearly understood a few things about class diversity.

Having teams with all the classes would be incredibly advantageous to players, if they wanted an easier time levelling and earning money. Swordsmen excelled in physical damage, but lacked in both range and elemental skills, and generally had lower magic defence. Hunters had access to high range and could use the environment, such as a nearby torch, to deal elemental damage, but had medium defence on both physical and magic, and Mages had low physical and ranged damage, medium-range and low physical defence and high magic defence, but excelled in using many different skills.

Kage wasted no time approaching the Swordsman with a smile, which the swordsman returned.
"Interested in joining? We just got a hunter in the team."
Kage nods, holding his hand out for the Swordsman to shake.
"I'm Author
"Author, huh? Nice to meet you, Author, I go by 'Wall' here, this is the Hunter, uh.."
A girl stood by his side, carrying a broken bow on her back, hastily repaired with a sort of glue. The same could be said about everyone's weapons, their clothes in a similar destroyed and hastily repaired state.
After realising she was being spoken to, the girl spoke
"Zoey, nice to meet you." She bows, her black hair swaying when she did.
The two of them exchanged a greeting, before turning to Wall.
"Looks like we're all ready, we'll split the loot evenly, but anything we can't split evenly we roll dice for. Sound good?" After a nod from both his teammates, Wall continued. "Nice, let's head out."
They left to the fields outside, Kage excited to see what this new game would bring.