The best kind of adventure in this game, was the kind that was initiated by a Player and their friends.

Sayooshi, Remixhorizon, and Krafty set off on to their journey, westward. They left the capital, Kurejar, and followed the main road. Which was dotted to the side by a series of tall lamp-poles that emitted bright multi-colored festive light, which also served a snow-removal clearance magic.

It was still night time in the game, and the frosty weather outside in real life helped contribute to the feeling of coziness and warmth the three friends experienced together as they ran across the Marchdom of Sonder. Their aim? Makron. A village somewhere in the western area of Sonder. A village which also had no quests crafted for it at all. Automatically generated quests can happen almost anywhere in the game, but aside from those, Makron was just another copy-and-paste random village to fill in the huge multiplayer world.

The Dwarf NPC, Rori Fletcher gave Sayooshi a quest which seemingly could not be accomplished. The clues they followed led to nowhere, but a wild assumption made by Remixhorizon felt the correct path to pursue. An odd village related to the corruption of nobles may have the answers the Players are seeking without exactly knowing what they are. Corruption in Sonder is a semi-relevant in the game's quests, but it's mostly scene by the general playerbase as static lore. This is because modern Players are used to and expect static lore, which could only progress when a new expansion releases or at least a patch. But the trio of friends, had a good feeling that they were about to experience the wonders of Divine Mortality, a game which seeks to live on without necessarily needing expansions to be released... because new expansions could be in the hands of the Players.

This is what Sayooshi was hoping for, a chance to start a Player government which could rival the predetermined AI-operated nations! Something that hasn't yet existed in the game, a game that already has the tools ready for Players to use but few have even attempted.

Problem is, Divine Mortality doesn't have a world-map... This is an inconvenient 'feature' some Players complain about. While another group of Players adamantly praise the game for.

This didn't bother Sayooshi until now. Previously, when he traveled to a place he hadn't been before, he would use easily-recognizable landmarks as a guide. Sometimes the game provided detailed information of where to go. And of course, the internet was a friend because people have been compiling a lot of information from the game into their websites. But like many Players, Sayooshi found the best way to get an idea of where to go is simply ask passer-by Players, who if they are nice, are eager to share information or sometimes even start spending time by guiding you directly to the location you were seeking.

But now, it's certainly an inconvenient problem. The place Sayooshi was searching for was a random village in the middle of nowhere somewhere on the border between Sonder and the Hinterlands (Wild zone). Funny enough, Remixhorizon and Krafty didn't mind getting a little lost. Sayooshi had become too self-conscious by trying not to waste their time. Yet they luckily enjoyed the atmosphere of exploring and trying to discover a place which may not have amounted to their hopeful expectations.

Krafty calculated that it would take them about 15 to 30 minutes (in real life) to move from Kurejar to the Hinterlands. Depending on how easily passable the terrain was.

This was actually a pretty crazy amount of time for a mmorpg-style video game, but in Divine Mortality this was the norm. And it wasn't too bad because Sonder was a relatively small region in the game and took less time to cross than some place like the Kingdom of Graypine, Plus they were starting off from Kurejar, the center, instead of crossing the entire region which would've taken an hour. Don't worry, for a walking/running simulator, Divine Mortality is stylistically beautiful to be in, especially while playing with virtual reality equipment.

15 minutes pass and the trio of friends haven't yet reached close enough to the Hinterlands. The landscape is an open forest. Groves of tall and thick pine trees dot the snowy tundra. The environment was slowly transitioning into a forest, which is what the entire Hinterlands is practically made of. The game successfully modeled the Hinterlands to Siberia... a seemingly endless place that is harsh without much happening in comparison to the rest of the world.

Until recently, the trio were following the wide stone road which connected Kurejar to other regions in the overworld. If you were going to meet a Player anywhere in Sonder, aside from Kurejar, then it would likely be in the bright open highway. But today was a special day.

Two male teenage punks were laughing loudly and talking in voice chat with another Player, who was unresponsive. The teenage punks were teenage punks because their voice and behavior said so. Their characters were both topless Himenian men, big and buff, revealing their olive colored muscles. Their character models had melee weapons attached to their waist side.

“Yo are you really a girl? Prove it, say something in voice chat lady!”

“Dude watch this chick be a guy ahaha”

To Sayooshi, Remixhorizon, and Krafty, it was clear these kids were a bit scummy, since they were clearly bothering a female-model Player. But, then again, it's a video game that encourages a little extremity in personality. So all in good fun, right?

"I pray for them..." Remixhorizon said something uncharacteristic of her

"W-wait why? Maybe we should report these kids for harrassment?" Krafty said out of concern after stumbling upon a multiplayer confrontation. But what Remixhorizon meant with what she said, flew over Krafty's mind.

"No no, Remix is right. Krafty, look at the lady's outfit." Sayooshi used his controllers to point his arm at her direction

The female-character model was a bit scantly dressed. Stocking-like leggings with short-shorts covered the bottom, while the torso was covered by a sparkling vest and loose fit shirt underneath. She had wild-like medium hair with glitter and winter ear-muffs over it. At first it looked like a casual mismatch of different pieces of equipment. But he more the trio looked at her, the more they realized she was going for some sort of...sparkly idol-style fashion?

Krafty looked back at Sayooshi and express his confusion, "wait- are you actually interested like those kids? No way duude that creepy don't do-"

"No dummy!" I better no reveal what I think about the outfit itself actually...

Sayooshi and Remixhorizon explained to Krafty that this was a very high level Player. You can't inspect the character's stats or anything like that unless they befriend you, so how did these two know? Some of the pieces of equipment on her body was from high-tier drops they recognized from online videos. Especially, the wand which the lady was holding. It was a sparkling microphone that could only be bought at a ridiculously high price or as a reward in a difficult Invasion Quest. But...most importantly was her aura...

"Her aura?" Krafty was even more confused. She didn't cast any passive spell on her or around her... so, where's this aura?

"You know when you know!.. You could just feel it!" Sayooshi and Remix said that while expressing a spooky and scary tone. It was comical.

"Hey, I've been playing this game for a long time too but I have no idea what you two are talking about... and you guys even complain about my roleplaying!"

When the trio focused their attention back at the two punks and the lady being bothered in the distance, something remarkable happened. Remixhorizon was right, the two boys needed a prayer because they were just killed before they could react.

"It was nice knowing you, boys..." a seductive voice was emitted from a low-quality microphone. It was indeed a woman!

Their character models lived long enough to turn around, realizing that the person they were bothering had blinked in a split second and dealt a direct hit to them from the backside. Icicles were stuck to their chest as their character models fell to the floor, and they were forced to re spawn somewhere far away.

As the trio were staring at her, in the middle of the dirt path that hopefully led to Makron, they were bit shaken and prepared to fight back. This person might be a Player Killer, people who choose the side of evil and for whatever reason find ways to fight with other people outside the capital cities in the open world.

Yet she casually walked up to the three, with her hands up as if she was lowering her weapon.

"Heya! I’m a magician of happiness, I brighten everyone’s day like a star. That means I’m also a magician of love. I turn young buds into blooming flowers!!! Oh, by the way, my name is Niko! Nice to meet you all" Her player model gave a big smile while waving her hands