Why does Krafty need so much money anyways? I think he didn’t get to answer me my question. Oh right! How did I already forget this… RemixHorizon called Krafty a “kid”, which is pretty ironic. Especially considering the fact that Krafty is probably much older than Remix. Krafty could even twice as old as Remix, like 39 years old! Afterall, he did say that he was somewhere between 25 to 40... I guess because of that age ‘reveal’ we all just drifted away from my question and forgot about it, until now of course. Anyways, it doesn’t really matter for me to know why Krafty needs so much money, does it? That’s simply how it works in real life too, most of the time that is. Just do the job and then earn the money, no questions asked unless something goes wrong.

“Somethings gone wrong!” Yelled RemixHorizon from another room, on the second floor of the inn which could be heard throughout the whole building by other Players, but not by NPCs.

Jeez what perfect timing, if it’s not an insane roleplayer this time then what am I going to deal with now?

“Well, I’m not logging off yet. I’ve still got plenty of shopping that I need to do, hehe! And then I’ll go meet May because she’s paying me a friendly visit…, and then I’ll-“

“I assume you heard Remix, sorry Krafty looks like I need to hurry and check out if Remix already called another person an ‘idiot’ or not. Don’t bother waiting for me, I’ll probably log out soon enough afterwards”

“Alrighty, take care and see ya next time Sayooshi. I’m ready to help you out anytime with your government thing, probably, bye bye!”

“O-ah, yeah thanks, bye bye!”

Krafty calmy lifted himself off his seat and his Sunmel character’s tummy joyfully bounced a bit as he walked out the inn into the morning Kurajur. Simultaneously, Sayooshi leapt off his seat with full force. Today he became excited with the prospects of a new and brighter future, and unlike before in Divine Mortality, with potentially new friends he felt like a child excited to check out whatever his other friend was doing.

Sayooshi realized that his newfound happy energy originated from his lucky encounters with two new (relatively) interesting people that he’s met by chance. In the past, if Sayooshi had randomly met a ninja brat or a silly RP guy, then he would’ve probably treated them as a nuisance or barely even acknowledge their presence unless the situation involved himself somehow. For Sayooshi, those two would’ve simply been forgettable bumps along the road. Yet, due to having failed enough times at various activities throughout his past, both in the real-world and ingame, those experiences allowed an opening for a new adventure for Sayooshi. This time he’s now taken a refreshingly newer route in Divine Mortality, separate from all the other previously attempted routes which had either failed or led to indifferent conclusions. So, this new route means that Sayooshi has now begun to enjoy the diversity and complexities of many more Players different from his own preferred style.

As Krafty left, Sayooshi rushed upstairs and entered one of the multiple medium-sized rooms which he and RemixHorizon rented at the inn. It was a plain room with several humble wooden-log beds attached to the walls. Player's don't need to sleep on those to log out safely, but it's a nice touch anyways. However, the most notable feature in the whole room was the single rectangular shaped window, with flaps which could open or close it to the outside. And outside the window, the view was not the spectacular snowy wilderness which they marched through during the night, or the outdoor hot springs bubbling away. Instead, it displayed a narrow cobblestone alleyway surrounded by several other inns clumped next to each other (including this one) and various other miscellaneous buildings.

Sayooshi and RemixHorizon are in the outermost layer district of Kurajur, far away from the center of the actual city. This district is known as the Trades Quarter, due to the presence of external trade into the city. The external influx of people which trade brings in during the winter causes many outsider NPCs to settle down temporarily inside the city until moving freely once more during other seasons. But this is technically the first winter of Divine Mortality since release, so this is all just theory for now. The NPC locals also refer to this district as the Foreigners Quarter.

RemixHorizon stood in one spot and jumped their character up and down while looking out the window. Are they excited?

“What’s the problem? What went wrong?”

“This inn doesn’t have a news orb! I don't see one outside either!”

“You mean, like those celestial orbs?”

“Yeah, that’s what they’re called. I looked throughout the inn and swept through our entire room…I couldn’t find one!”

“Hold on, why did you expect there would be a celestial orb here?”

“Isn’t it common?”

“No way” Sayooshi waved his virtual reality handles left-to-right so his ingame character moved his hand in a ‘no’ gesture

“That’s stupid, I swear that I’ve had them in almost every inn I rented…damn, I should’ve checked if this inn had one or not in the first place, but I just blindly agreed to this one since you proposed it”

“Wait, before I tell you all about how celestial orbs are certainly NOT common, I’ve been wondering this for a while…you don’t seem to be actively staying in this region since you didn’t already have a semi-permanent place set up…so, don’t tell me you came all the way up here to join the Chocolate Milk Kittens?”

“…maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. None of your business!”

“I’m just wondering, because…it would be really dumb of you to travel from one region to another just to join a small-time guild like that.”

“Hey! I’m the one who is supposed to call you dumb! A-an-and-and…heehee…You’re only calling it a small-time guild now because they’ve kicked you”

“Dumb dumb dumb dumb! DUMB! Anyways, I’ll just believe you just like cute things and wanted to be part of a lame and unambitious guild like that”

“Keep your bad opinions to yourself mister. Pff, if you want to know so badly…I LOVE the pets in this game, and they are not just cute but also ADORABLE! There! Happy? Now, tell me why this dumb inn doesn’t have a news-information ball or orb thing?”

Happy, my calculations were correct.

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you actually. Besides the fact that I’ve never heard or seen of an inn of having a celestial orb in this region, the Marchdom of Sonder, or the Kingdom of Graypine, or even the Holy Lands. Where did you come from anyways?”

“I haven’t been to those places. I was in the Free Counties almost the whole time I’ve been playing this game. When I spawned, I instantly went to the free counties because there is a city with a type of adorable zoo, and I thought that was cool so I wanted to see how that would look in a video game.”

“Was it cool?”

“Yup, but you couldn’t buy any of the pets”

“So, you became a ninja to steal the pets?”

“Hell no. Actually, I don’t even have the pet taming ability yet, crazy huh?”

“Yeah, that’s actually strange for someone like you”

...

“Don’t judge, weirdo.”

“Only a little…”

“Whatever. So, what you’re saying is that everywhere else besides the Free Counties region is poor and can’t afford those celestial orb things?”

“I guess so, I haven’t actually ever considered that.”

“Do you know where I could find one here and listen to it?”

“Sure, they’re available usually at places like a town hall or a library, or anywhere prominent. The Chocolate Milk Kittens also had one, so I barely ever used one outside of that guildhall in this region.”

“I guess I’ll go to a library or something here in Kurajur tomorrow and maybe find a quest there too. It’s a bit weird here in Sonder, almost all the NPCs I saw in this region are all located in this dense city but everywhere else is kinda barren.”

“I get what you mean, but I actually like it because that means I’ll probably have more breathing room once I start forming MY very own Player Government!!!”

“Sure, thing weirdo”

…

“Say, Remix, you don’t seem to be the type who would use a celestial orb. If you want to read the patch notes, community events or highlights, or look at the official messaging board…then you could just open one of the tabs in the settings menu, y’know?”

“Duh, I know, do you think I’m blind or something? Everyone always sees that ‘Information Board’ button every time they press their ESCAPE key…”

So, now I know that Remix uses the keyboard to play the game instead of a controller or handles like I do. Oh no, maybe she also plays the game without a VR headset…poor thing.

“No, but what else would you use a celestial orb for? You don’t strike me to be the type of person who cares about the Overworld politics or random messages from various NPCs broadcasting the happenings of their world. There isn't anything like a ‘radio program’ or ‘internet podcast’ where you could listen to an NPC talk about their “Favorite Cute Pet Mob-Animal of the Week!”, sort of thing.”

I sure hope that stuff won't ever be implemented into Divine Mortality. Or else the game's download size is going to make me cry...

“Actually, some of the voice actors for this game do produce those official community short videos every day, I like those.”

Ahh that’s true but thank God those are internet based

RemixHorizon continues “Eitherway, I don’t get why you imagine me like that. So stupid. Just because you believe I’m a kid and like to call me a brat, like an a***ole, that doesn’t mean I don’t care about what happens on this server. I like to listen in on what happens inside that mysterious broken-apart Lunar Empire, which seems to be a place only for high levels. Also, I’m interested whenever a new Invasion Quest occurs, I’ve never participated in one and I want to try them out”

I’m actually a bit surprised, but Remix does have a point…

“Sorry, it’s true, I think I did judge you a bit unnecessarily without even knowing who you are. But if you stick around with me maybe then we’ll also hit the news in the NPC world when creating a successful Player Government!”

“If I keep sticking around with you while playing this game, then I feel like I might start getting worse luck happening to me. Like with the stuff just now”

“With Krafty? He didn’t really mean to harass us like that, since he just lost a bad bet with a friend”

“True, but he’s still a weirdo. Did you hear him describe his “friend” May? Who becomes friends with someone like that, someone that treats a person as a “younger brother” and an “overseer”? Pfff, talk about a bother!”

“Am I also a weirdo?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Right. Then, how about you?”

“Hmm… I wouldn’t call myself a normie, but I’m certainly not a freaking weirdo like you two.”

“Well, why do you consider me a weirdo?”

“It’s not something I need to think about, I can just tell. You’ve admitted it yourself, haven’t you?”

“That’s true, right after we met like over an hour ago. But guess what happened then?”

“I attacked you- oh, right…Yeah yeah okay okay. I admit that was a little stupid of me, but you obviously shouldn’t be calling anyone a ‘brat’ just after meeting them, either a jack**s or a weirdo does that online and I can’t tell whether I should apply both of those to you.”

I smell a bit hypocrisy, Remix is also judging a lot...aren't they? But I'm not sure anymore since right now I'm trying not to make any unnecessary judgements, which I just said. I'll just ignore it, maybe it should be bothering me but I think I don't mind it very much.

“Hang on a moment, Remix, you really think it’s surprising when random people like me behave like idiots on the internet?”

“Well, I guess not the internet, but you super definitely shouldn’t be doing that in Divine Mortality.”

“Huh, I can’t say I fully agree. I mean, sure in a perfect world, but wouldn’t that be boring? The world would be a lot less challenging without the idiots getting the way. Overcoming challenges is an awesome part of any game too, right?”

“Well duh a perfect world doesn’t exist…and yeah, it’s great and all having challenges in an online game like this, but there are just too many dumb**ses in this game in my experience. Oh, and I don’t mean new players or players who are bad at the game, I mean jerks who ruin other people’s fun. Like how before Krafty told us his situation, I thought he was just another one of these horrendous (yet even crazier) jerks just getting in the way of normal players trying to do their things.”

“Wouldn’t you say that when you attacked me, it was a bit random and unfair? At least from my perspective?”

“Yeah yeah, not so random but a bit unfair, I guess so.”

…

They both stood there in a very short moment of silence, but that momentary silence felt twice as long because both of them felt like saying more but didn’t have the energy or willpower to get to the next level.

But Sayooshi could actually decide to go halfway to the next level of the conversation. He didn’t care to strive to convince RemixHorizon into joining his plan, and he especially didn’t want to try and manipulate people like RemixHorizon into doing what he wanted if he got the chance, like now. Whether or not it would work, Sayooshi believed at this moment he could pressure RemixHorizon into joining his Player Government project on the basis of giving RemixHorizon the opportunity to eventually employ her power over those she didn’t like. Yet, he didn’t want to because that would’ve gone against one of his recently adopted personal philosophies. Compromise and self-restraint. He’d rather attempt to form a Player Government without relying on any unnecessarily devious methods because if he did then that would’ve meant his plan to let go of his selfishness and cooperate with others in compromise may as well have failed. And even more surprising to Sayooshi, tonight he also realized that he’d rather value working towards a true friendship with RemixHorizon, a person who has a fairly differently personality versus his own, over the creation of his Player Government. Since a realistic Player Government could not, or better yet should not, ever just be “his”. Inevitably, Sayooshi understood that a good Player Government would be formed from a combination of many different people with various values and would all “need” a Player Government for different reasons. And there was one more final thought which Sayooshi took into consideration. It was the best answer to silence the rest of Sayooshi's doubts. The fact is, this “Player Government” simply does not even exist yet. At all. Socialization within Divine Mortality, whether Sayooshi liked to see it this way or not, is the foundation to what gives the very notion of a “Player Government” it’s reason of value and existence. So, still very early on his new adventure, Sayooshi has already decided in the back of his mind that he’d rather hang out with RemixHorizon for fun, than keep the dream of a Player Government alive. To Sayooshi, the value of family and friends happened to be a higher priority over his nationality and over the community of his country, the society which he has already rejected in exchange to continuously play Divine Mortality rather than sacrifice his core values for something 'not worth it' like a rise in a career.

If Sayooshi could translate the closest version of his “ideal” government into reality, even if it could only exist on virtual space, and also secure a true friendship, then Sayooshi would win his game.

…

…

“Hello? Heeeeellooooooo? Earth to Sayooshi? Erm…I guess it’s ‘Overworld’ to Sayooshi? Anyways, either this weirdo is spacing out like weirdos do or they’re AFK and I’m just wasting my time here. I guess I should just log off soon-“

“Wait!”

Sayooshi stopped RemixHorizon from walking towards the corner of the inn’s room and opening the settings menu to log out. He really wants to tell RemixHorizon that the both of them could create a Player Government which could punish the various jerks in Divine Mortality by punching them all out with an authoritarian fist. But, instead, he decided to settle on something normal. A simple request.

“I won’t ask you to join my project in creating a Player Government or whatever. But, if I’m not too much of a weirdo, do you want to play the game tomorrow with me?”

“Eh…I guess wouldn’t mind! But, on the other hand… I don’t think you mentioning your weirdness helps because usually a “brat” like me is the one who usually asks for help from stronger players to do errands and stuff. But I’m not sure how much I trust you since you’re the one asking and I’m thinking “oh what’s in it for you?!”. Afterall, I did just reveal my fear and hatred against jerks in Divine Mortality. And believe me, as much as I hate to admit, I’ve been scammed a few too many times from those f***ing sh**h**ds…”

Well, your really shouldn’t be telling your enemies that you can get easily scammed either…

“I understand. I think I would've also thought something like that in your shoes.”

“How about we add each other as friends, at least temporarily. Because I actually do want to fight a rematch with you. I haven’t mentioned this yet, but I’ve been super salty over my loss. I was a bit careless and underestimated you, but I’m pretty sure I only lost because of the snow getting my way.”

“Oh, sure thing! By the way, I doubt it was only because of the snow…and if my memory serves me right, you actually used the snow to your advantage...and still lost!”

“Shut up.”

Both Sayooshi and RemixHorizon stood facing each other while adding each other to their own friends list. As to contact each other for the next time they happen to be online at the same time. Little did Sayooshi understand about how RemixHorizon viewed their growing friendship. To him, RemixHorizon, accepted his acquaintance because of slight interest in his combat abilities as to challenge him for a fight once again, which is true. But Sayooshi still held reasonable doubt with a true friendship with RemixHorizon since he believed he understood that this situation they were in also slightly pressured RemixHorizon into accepting acquaintance out of common politeness. After all, they planned to split off from each other soon after arriving at Kurajur.

But RemixHorizon was actually far more invested into their acquaintance than Sayooshi gave them credit for. RemixHorizon saw the chance encounter with Sayooshi with similar fascination since Sayooshi was someone that had just been a member of the Chocolate Milk Kittens until getting kicked because of his absurd continuous actions which annoyed half the guild and gave way to a lame banishment. Sayooshi was also an oddly strong Player, since most who fight against assassin-type fighters in single combat during the nighttime usually lose. Especially those who wield Spear-type weapons, such as the lance which Sayooshi used, since shorter blades are far more maneuverable up close during combat, and they also have a higher chance to roll a hit versus a miss. So, even though RemixHorizon treated the loss mostly because of the presence of snow as a terrain slowing down their movement, even Remix understood that a quality Player such as herself shouldn’t have so easily lost to Sayooshi. Yet they did. And finally, while the verbal cursing and displays of RemixHorizon’s mood throughout the couple hours did not seem like they were massively entertained, RemixHorizon was still nonetheless enjoying their time socializing with other Players. But the most important part of this whole scenario which Sayooshi was ignorant to, yet many Divine Mortality Players are not, is the simple awesomeness of meeting new people in a genuine fashion. Sayooshi personally understood and greatly appreciates his chance encounters with RemixHorizon and Krafty, yet he doesn’t require the component of aesthetic “awesomeness”. Sayooshi is the type of Player who manifests his imagination and enjoyment from directly the mechanics of the gameplay, which are the icons of the spells or the ‘real’ effects of snow in the game. While RemixHorizon is more like the average Player in this regard. Since RemixHorizon can draw on both the ‘real’ gameplay mechanics and also the design aesthetics shown by the world but can be consumed from internal imagination, which is kind of leaning to what roleplayers do.

“I guess I’ll log off now for today, see ya later”

“Yeah, sure whatever, I’ll actually log off too now. Bye.”