Alright, I now know how to use a weapon in this game. And how the combat works, more or less. Maybe there is something magic related in this town, but so far, I’ve seen no signs of magic. I plan to be a wizard, not a warrior. There is a monastery on the other side of this town, but it's probably a place for players who want to become a priest or get into the religion system in this game. I’ll just cross this bridge for now.

It’s a small stone bridge but it’s pretty wide, like a highway. It looks like a lot of the players in the server are still in this region of the overworld. But, since the game has been released for about a whole day now, there should be a lot of people who are making (and made) a lot of progress elsewhere right now. Actually, now that I think about it, that should most people in the server because I can't imagine that there are more than one or two thousand people here at the beginning currently.

After crossing the bridge, I now see them closely, the NPCs on this side of the river aren’t villagers but it looks like they belong to different factions. Each of them has their own section of land where they established a civil outpost with tents around.

“Dear Divine Spirits! Take the carriages to the east, visit the greatest kingdom of all…the kingdom of Graypine!”

“Behold Divine Spirits, if there are adventurers among you, you’ll be wise to travel to the Chiefdom of Visiwend. All warriors who wish to become mighty, must travel to our chiefdom!”

There are multiple other faction camps, but it looks like Graypine and Visiwend are the largest. These NPCs are definitely promoting their faction. It looks like some sort of fair. Some players are heading to meet NPCs in these faction camps, but a lot of other players are still walking past them to what looks to be some sort of Inn. Not everyone is playing the game the same way of course, I see random players running around and trying to punch the NPCs or try to cheese/trick the game to find any secrets or glitches in the map.

What’s this I hear?

“More like the Kingdom of **y Pine.”

Yup, those are definitely players.

However, in the center there seem to be a group of monks or priestly looking individual NPCs. They are standing under several large trees and are also saying stuff loudly.

“Divine Spirits, please approach us for we have a lot to discuss with you.”

“We are the Monks of the Holy Temple, and the caretakers of this Holy Land.”

Sounds like lore, I’m coming!

There are multiple monks, most of them are paying attention to other players. I don’t know whether the AI is able to interact with two instanced players, so I’ll just head to the one that isn’t talking to anyone right now.

Monk: “Ah, another Divine Spirit approaches! Would you like to listen to what we have to say?

A dialogue box appears again:

[Please, tell me!]

[Tell me, but make it quick]

[No, I don’t have time]

[Does it look like I care?]

There is a range of attitude in these responses…

Let’s see, is Amulet Pond a rude dwelf or a nice dwelf? Is he sane or insane? I’ll pick [Please, tell me!] just to be safe, because I think later on, I might not be able to choose the same options if I start talking to the monk again. Plus, I definitely want to know more of the story of what’s going on here.

Monk: “How wise of you dear Divine Spirit!”

Monk: “We are the monks who were offered the responsibility by the High Gods to guard the Holy Temple from which you Divine Spirits descended from recently, and also caretake this region known as the Holy Land which is protected and blessed by the Gods. Perhaps you might not fully understand the mortal world here, you and the Gods called it the “Overworld”, but for many residents it is simply known as the world. Or a realm for which the Gods bestowed life upon!”

Another dialogue box appeared. I can either:

[Continue listening}

Or

[Ask about the map you saw earlier in the Holy Temple]

It seems like I got the ability to pick another dialogue path based on the fact I tapped to see the description of the stone carved map in the spawn temple. If I had explored other parts of the temple, maybe I would’ve gotten many other different dialogue options? Anyways, I’m definitely choosing to ask about that map.

Monk: “So, you have observed the new map of this realm? Yes, it is new. It was recently sculpted into the temple, replacing the older map. Ah, pardon for my ignorance Divine Spirit! Again, there seems to be that there is much you do not know of this world. Afterall, you had just arrived in our world from the heavens.”

Monk: “In order for me to explain you the map, I must inform you of the recent changes which have occurred in our realm. It is a matter of not only politics, but also life for many residents. For the longest time, as far as recorded history knows, the Holy Temple has stood here for many generations. Our order of monks was once in higher authoritative positions. You see, our lands are ancient, rife with much history. Both joyful and sad. At times chaos reigns the land, as it had just a year ago. To put it simply, we were once a theocracy here in the Holy Lands, but our ranks were corrupted over time and eventually a war broke out between the various factions all over the nearby regions. After the war ended, our order was reformed but scaled down. It was by the grace of the gods that we managed to hold on our ancient lineage, but now we are not longer a powerful theocratic state and instead a revived monastic order, as you can see now. It is also the first time in this era where the High Gods spoke to us mortals a year ago. By their command, this Holy Temple must no longer be trespassed by us natives, besides a select few such as us monks. And this Holy Land as well, has once became a universally sacred territory. What you see now around you, are the various countries which are actively trying to recruit all of you Divine Spirits into their causes. They are not allowed to cross certain physical boundaries, and this is as far as they are able to send their representatives to the Holy Temple. Divine Spirit, I cannot pry into your affairs for those like yourself are unique beings, good or bad, it must be your choice to choose where you wish to venture!

That was a lot of lore. I have another dialogue box and it’s asking me whether I wish to hear more, or I am satisfied. I have a feeling that I will learn more about the story in this game later on, after all this is still the very start, so I’ll probably hear information like this often.

Monk: “Very well, it has been a pleasure to aid you Divine Spirit. Bless you!”

Okay cool. So, it sounds like before we arrived in the game, there was a big war and now the war is over. With the war over, there were some special changes made and for some reason we are special people called Divine Spirits. Now that we are here it looks like certain NPC factions want to us because we are special or whatever, since we are players and are probably powerful. I don’t know if I want to join any faction, but it won’t hurt to check them out.

Random Player: Hey guys, look! An event is happening.

I see two large human-looking NPC men, they are both super buff! One is wearing a red tabard with leather armor and the other one is wearing a blue tabard with pieces of plate armor. Looks like each of them represents their own faction.

Visiwend Recruiter: “You better stop lying to this Divine Spirit pine-f**k”

Graypine Recruiter: “Lying? What is there to lie about? You barbarians simply can’t understand the greatness of our kingdom. The Divine Spirit is better off relaxing in the Free Counties rather than in your savage lands.”

Visiwend Recruiter: “There is no greatness in fooling a Divine Spirit. You, Divine Spirit! Do not listen to this Himen’s snake words. He’s right about one thing, it would be better for you to leave towards the Free Counties instead of joining the ranks of their “noble” kingdom’s army as a lapdog!

Graypine Recruiter: “Hah! Such slander! Divine Spirit, are you really going to believe this wild beast? For the sake of the god’s, do not listen to these infidels. Come to Graypine or go to the Free Counties, but for the sake of all that is holy, do not venture into the hands of these barbarians.

Looks like these two NPC characters are about to brawl it out! They’re raising their fists!

May: “Hey, Krafty, how come you got this event to occur?”

“Krafty” seems to be the player who those two AI characters are talking to right now. His character is part of a beastfolk race in the game, actually there are only two beastfolk races and both of them are basically cat people. I remember seeing a model like his while creating my character, they’re called the “Sunmel”, so basically summer cats? It’s actually pretty weird to see a very cat-like humanoid character in VR. The other person sounds and looks like a female, they’re an elf. Tall, pointy ears, but the hair color is red? Well, she looks Elf enough to me.

Krafty: “I don’t know! Did I screw up May?”

May: “Why are you asking me? Nah, of course not but you will if you don’t answer them soon. I hear the events and quests in this game are almost all timed, depending on what it is of course.”

Krafty: “Do I pick Visiwend or Graypine?”

May: “Sigh…you really do want me to play the game for you? Well since we are in a party, I guess I have some control over this too. Besides Visiwend or Graypine, it sounds like you can also pick the free counties?”

Krafty: “Yeah there is the [Free Counties] option”

May: “Pick that then, it sounds like both of these dudes are recommending it anyways.”

Krafty: “A-alright then!”

Not only me, but other players nearby are watching this event unfold. This isn’t uncommon to see in MMORPG games but it’s less common seeing it in VR. It also seems like a normal quest chain, there doesn’t seem to be anything special about the topic itself. So, this type of event looks like it will be an occurrence which can happen a lot throughout the game…which is awesome! To me, it’s proving that the AI and the interactivity with the world in this game is amazing.

Both these NPC men slowly started to calm down. They lowered their fists.

Graypine Recruiter: “Very well Divine Spirit, I cannot fault you for your decision. But do remember that the king of Graypine welcomes anyone worthy enough to become their vassal!”

Yeah…but I can’t see this Krafty guy participating in government, even in game.

Visiwend Recruiter: “Bah, at least you didn’t choose to run off like a fool into the hands of Graypine. Remember, Divine Spirit! You are weak now, but if you do choose to become stronger, the Chiefdom of Visiwend welcomes anyone friendly to the clans!

I hope this recruiter isn’t the friendliest person in Visiwend, or I also don’t see Krafty ever joining that place.

Krafty: “Ah…I’m glad that’s over! Those two men reminded me of my boss at work…too much pressure.”

May: “Krafty, what would you without me? By the way, how did you trigger that event? Doesn’t look like other people are getting it to happen to them when they talk to those NPCs.”

Krafty: “I don’t know, I guess it’s maybe because I asked a villager before about these recruiters…and then I talked to a lot of them first to see if there is any easy quest to do without accepting their offers…but then the game just forced me into that event! Like I had to-

Oh? I see different player approach that Elf and Krafty.

WiseMaster667: “Like you had to choose one of the options, but couldn’t ignore it?”

Krafty: “Uh, yeah. But I didn’t even ever- “

WiseMaster667: “But you didn’t even ever choose any dialogue option to suggest that you were interested in joining their factions?”

Krafty: “Hey! Why do you keep interrupting me and knowing what I’m going to say next!”

May: “I’m impressed… where could I learn your powers?”

WiseMaster667: “Ha, it’s a simple matter of context and prior knowledge, milady!”

Gah! That hurt, who says stuff like that! I guess we are in a roleplaying game… oh this guy…he certainly has a strong personality.

WiseMaster667: “They call me, *whirls around*, WiseMaster666! But you may simply call me “Wise”.

May: “Nice to meet ya, call me “May”!

Krafty: “I’m Krafty…”

Now, I’m looking at him more closely and he looks like an average human. He’s light skinned, average in height, brown hair curly hair, also is wearing a robe like me, and…and…where did he get those round GLASSES from?!

May: “So, Wise, how did you know what little Krafty was exactly going to say?

Krafty: “I’m not little and I wasn’t going to say it exactly like he did!

Oh dear, it looks like “little” Krafty got ignored. Wait, Krafty is definitely not little. He’s slightly shorter than May but, compared to them, I’m far smaller!

WiseMaster667: It’s because I just now figured out a certain feature of this game! The AI here is not only interactive, but the world does indeed dynamically react to the player! Because our dear Krafty here talked to as many NPC characters as he could, it eventually culminated into a tug war between two major factions in the overworld right now, the Chiefdom of Visiwend and the Kingdom of Graypine. Obviously, those two NPCs were recruiters, but they aren’t simply standing around waiting for each player to tap on them and select certain dialogue options. Oh no, you could say, that these NPCs appear as if they are little bit alive!

May is comically clapping her hands lightly and Krafty is visibly embarrassed. And “WiseMaster667” over here…he just flicked his glasses up, adjusting them, like in a cartoon show! Oh...I bet he thinks he’s so smart knowing some stuff about the way this game works! I bet he spent a while researching it a lot beforehand, and-oh no, he reminds me of myself.

I have a weird feeling inside of me right now. Maybe I’ve been playing the game too long? No…it’s not in my head…somewhere inside of my soul. I’m not necessarily angry…but maybe irritated?

Is this how it feels like to see your first rival?!