Despite its name, the Green Room was not, in fact, green. The origin of the name was as mysterious as the dark ages, but everyone went along with it anyways. In fact, this one wasn’t even a room either. If I had to compare it to anything, it’d be a mall. The first area we saw was large and open, with comfortable, well-used couches and tables, surrounded by small storefronts. At the back of the room, two wide entryways led further into the building.

The space was alight with conversation as players and their companions idled. Clothing made of both saturated brights and deep contrasting darks splattered over the beige furniture. Players dressed uniquely, that’s for sure.

“Follow me, I’ll find us a spot,” spoke Ronin, who was already darting through the room.

I ran after him, through the left entryway, where a small food court was.

“Hey! Ronin!” beckoned an unfamiliar voice.

I saw Ronin’s face light up as he waved to a person sitting alone.

“What’s good Iwasaki? How've ya been?” exclaimed Ronin as we sat down at the table.

“Oh man, it feels like it’s been forever! I haven’t been up to anything special, what’s up with you?” he replied.

“Well not much personally, but one of my school friends, Kian, just registered as a player today,” explained Ronin, gesturing to me. “Kian, this is my buddy Iwasaki, Iwasaki, this is Kian.”

“Nice to meet you dude,” he said as he leaned over the table and shook my hand. His hands were tough and wide, his arms lean, but clearly toned. Dark hair with a slight violet sheen fell just above his shoulders, although the top was tied back. Still, a decent amount had fallen loose, framing his face. He was dressed in a loose lavender tank-top, black armbands wrapped around his biceps complemented his olive toned skin.

“So, why’d you decide to join us?” asked Iwasaki.

I flinched a bit as Ronin’s worried face glared from my periphery. “...Uh, well, I guess it’s ‘cuz of money?”

Iwasaki smiled warmly. “Yup, that’s the way it is for a lot of folks, sure, sure. I get it.”

My shoulders relaxed a bit. He was leaning back in his chair, his legs reaching under the table. Stretching, he raised his arms up and yawned.

“Well it’s cool to meet an old friend of Ronin’s, he doesn’t talk much about himself.”

“Really?” I asked. That didn’t sound like the boisterous Ronin I knew. I looked at him, his cheeks starting to glow ever-so-slightly pink.

“Did he have a super embarrassing childhood or something? C’mon, I wanna know the deats,” prodded Iwasaki, grinning evilly at my friend.

“Oh come on man, I was a perfectly normal kid,” pleaded Ronin.

“Actually, yeah. Besides bein’ an obnoxiously energetic teenager who flirted with every girl in our class, he wasn’t that abnormal.”

“Oh, really now?” drawled Iwasaki.

“Oh god, just stop. Stop.”

“C’mon, you’re telling me the withdrawn, sensitive, emo, edg--”

“Noooo!” protested Ronin, jumping up and grabbing his tormentor’s shoulders.

“Wait, what? He really acts like that?” I grinned. “I guess it makes sense. He always did love to make a show of everythin’,” I commented, enjoying poking fun at an old friend.

“Oh no, can you not?” whined Ronin, facing towards me and shaking my arm.

“I mean, pretty much all of us grew up on farmland, so Ronin always had big dreams of goin’ to the big city,” I started, before Iwasaki burst out laughing.

“Wait, wait, wait. You guys are hicks?!” he hollered, wracked with uncontrollable laughter.

“You didn’t know? You never told anyone?” I questioned Ronin, giggling.

“Ugh… This is exactly why I didn’t,” he groaned as he slid down in his chair.

“I can see Kian, but oh man… Ronin, the dark, emo edgelord, a redneck? Dave wouldn’t believe me if I swore on my life,” he chuckled. “Judging by your astonished reaction, you probably don’t know how your old pal acts around his city friends,” he said, grinning in my direction. “Ol’ Ronin here’s very popular with the dramatics for being all dark and mysterious. Always the edgy loner. Can’t say it doesn’t work though, I gotta be honest, I play the same bit.”

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“Honest?” I asked.

Iwasaki nodded. “Yeah, I’m usually pretty obnoxious and outgoing, but that type isn't popular except in comedies, and I’m not good at much except fighting and forging.”

“You’re a fighter, then?”

“Yeah, a rogue. You know much about classes? Decided yet?”

“No, but he’s probably gonna go with something down the fighter tree,” interjected Ronin, the redness still fading from his face.

“Mm, got those strong farmer stats?”

Ronin nodded. “Yeah, and really high endurance for a newbie.”

“Oh, maybe a tank or brawler then?”

“Yeah, I was thinking that or a swordsman.”

“He got any sword skills?”

“Well, no, but basics aren’t much rep.”

“Wait, hold up!” I interrupted. “What?”

“Oh, right,” mumbled Ronin.

“Hmm. Very fresh,” contemplated Iwasaki.

“C’mon guys, I have no idea what you’re on about,” I pleaded.

“Sorry, sorry. Honestly most people who become players know a lot of this stuff already, I keep forgetting,” said Ronin.

“Not everyone’s a die-hard like you,” I retorted, causing Iwasaki to start laughing again.

Ronin sighed. “Ok, really quickly, the main fighter classes are swordsman, tank, brawler, swordsman, archer, gunner and… uh…”

“Monk, and rogue, of course,” Iwasaki completed, bowing slightly with a dramatic flourish.

“Right. Since you’ve got tier five magic, you’re best off being a fighter.”

“Tier five? Shit, man. Sucks.”

“We said brawler and swordsman because they’re melee classes, and tanks need a lot of endurance,” explained Iwasaki.

“Oh, gotcha.” To be honest, I didn’t really know if I understood or not.

“It’s fine,” comforted Iwasaki. “Don’t worry, you’ll pick it up as you go. Until then, your experienced seniors will guide you,” he boasted, right before Ronin punched him in the arm.

“Hey, that hurt!”

“Anyways, we originally came up here to talk about being a player. You said you had some questions?”

“Oh, right.” I’d nearly forgotten in the lightning-fast pace of the conversation. “Well, I’m still confused with what you guys do, I guess.”

“Okay, well everyone knows the basics right?” Ronin started. “Players do interesting things, which the streamers record, which is viewed by patrons, who sponsor their favorite players.”

“Right,” I nodded.

“Well, on a day-to-day basis, when we’re working, we either participate in stream events, train, or research. Most of our time is spent training and researching though,” stated my friend. “We research stuff like what events are coming up, what items would be useful for raids, and so on.”

“Raids are a type of stream event,” Iwasaki interjected. “There’s also episodes and specials.”

“I was getting to that,” Ronin complained. “Anyway, like he said, there’s three main kinds of events. Episodes usually center around the same group of players and repeat on a regular basis, while specials usually have an original premise or a random group of players.”

“Eh, specials aren’t usually original though, they usually have the same structure,” argued Iwasaki.

“Well, yeah, but the important bit is that they don’t have the same players.”

“Of course, you’re ab-so-lute-ly correct.”

Ronin groaned. “Whatever. So, the last kind of event, raids, are the most common, at least for the action types. They’re usually at a fixed place where there’s a challenge or puzzle. Dungeons, escape rooms, you get the drill.”

“Yeah, I think I recall you goin’ off about raids or some shit before,” I said.

“Probably,” he replied. “Well, although raids are stream events, they don’t always have someone streaming in the area, because they’re so common. So most of the time we do raids to train. If there’s not many people streaming you get less rep but you can worry less about your image.”

“Your image?”

“Yeah, even though I make fun of the dark prince here for it, he has a reason for acting that way,” Iwasaki chimed in. “Since action’s so popular, a lot of people think being a player’s all about fighting. But if you think like that, you’ll never get better.”

“Right, most of a player’s income comes from patrons,” Ronin agreed. “A player who’s been around a while should have at least one patron. Having five means you’re probably talented, and having over ten means you’re really getting strong.”

“Having over fifty is where you start getting in the big leagues. The international stage. Most of those guys have at least one executive patron,” explained Iwasaki. “That’s the formal way of saying ‘A Patron Who’s Really Fucking Loaded’,” he whispered intensely, grinning.

“Having money’s really important to staying relevant. New equipment, food. You can even buy some skills with it. And well, besides that, there’s not much else we do,” Ronin finished.

“Ya say that like it’s simple,” I sighed. “I feel like I’m in school again.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you study,” said Ronin, elbowing me in the side.

“Oh shit,” exclaimed Iwasaki suddenly. “I gotta head out, I’m meeting Alissa and Jamil for a raid. Time flies, huh?” He shot up from his chair, standing at a height not much taller than my own. He was wearing tan linen shorts that revealed his muscular build.

“Hey, I’ll message you!” yelled Ronin as Iwasaki started bolting towards the exit.

“Yeah, yeah, catch ya later!” shouted the energetic rogue, vanishing from sight.