— CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE —

  Adventurer Artists: Capturing the Beauty of the World!

  Adventurer Artists: Capturing the Beauty of the World!

  In a world built for adventure, combat, and discovery, it's easy to get lost in the beauty that surrounds us. Just the other day, we climbed on top of the wall surrounding the city as part of an investigation, and looking down on this city, it struck me just how filled with wonders it is. From Solar Arena's light displays to the heights of Evermoon Palace and manicured wilderness of Constellation Park, there's more to see in this city alone than days in a month.

  But what is equally wonderful - and far easier to overlook - is how we have taken the base fabric of this world and turned it into something uniquely our own. One only needs to look to the Trade Union's offices south of the player market - originally NPC housing, they have been cannibalized and reinvented into the center of our economic administration. Or the headquarters of the contract adventuring firm Shake Spear, located between the Park and train station. What was once a tavern has been expanded into the guild's hall and a more expansive general recreational center.

  And our repurposing of the game world isn't limited to functional necessities - many players have found ways to utilize in-game tools, creative workarounds, or entirely unexpected mediums to further their personal artistic pursuits. Adventurers have turned the landscape itself into a canvas, proving that there is no limit to the adaptability of human creativity. From the proper canvas painting mechanics to arranging items, using spell effects in light shows, or crafting sculptures with dropped materials - everything is a potential avenue for expression.

  These artistic endeavors do more than simply beautify our surroundings. They transform our relationship with the game world itself. What was once merely a backdrop for adventures becomes a home, a community, a place worth caring about beyond its utility for grinding levels or acquiring loot. The artists who reshape this world remind us that we are not merely playing a game - we are inhabiting a space. Through our collective efforts, blank walls become galleries, empty plazas become performance spaces, and generic environments become places with history and character.

  Today, we would like to shine a light on some of these talented individuals and how they continue to find ways to create, innovate, and inspire. So, if you don't mind, allow me to paint you a scene of my own.

  |Ace>

  I scribbled furiously in my notebook as we walked through the morning crowd of the Sunfire District, trying to organize a rough structure for our article. Cherry marched ahead of me like an icebreaker, clearing a path through the sea of bodies.

  "Do you think we should use one of the pictures we took last night to show them what I mean about the city, or would that distract from the focus on the artists?"

  Cherry didn't turn around, just shouted over her shoulder while continuing to bulldoze forward. "Leave it off - the name of the game is speed here! It's a 24-hour news cycle, Jack! Push, push, push - that's capitalism, baby!" She kicked back her thermos, taking another chug of coffee.

  We turned down a cramped alley behind a high-end armor shop, the din of the main thoroughfare fading slightly. Cherry checked the address on a small slip of paper, then pointed to an unmarked door wedged between two larger businesses. No advertisements, no eye-catching displays, not even a proper sign - just a simple wooden door with the World Guard's issued postal address nailed beside it. If I hadn't known better, I'd have assumed it was a storage closet.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  But then we opened the door and walked into... what was quite frankly a disaster zone. The floor disappeared beneath a patchwork of masking tape and paint-splattered tarps. Every inch of wall space was covered with oil paintings - sweeping landscapes capturing the diverse biomes of the game world. Ice-capped mountains loomed over frozen tundras, volcanic flows curled through scorched valleys, ancient trees towered over misty forests, dense jungles teemed with hidden life, and rolling sand dunes stretched to painted horizons.

  The center of the room was barely navigable, cluttered with blank canvases covered in sticky notes and sketches of what might go on them one day. Palettes crusted with dried paint sat atop rickety tables, surrounded by cups of brushes and rags stained with every color imaginable.

  The back wall was dominated by a massive, half-finished canvas depicting a tundra lake. Green and red grasses surrounded a perfectly still body of water that reflected the sunset sky of deep blues through vibrant pinks and oranges where the sun was sinking behind distant mountains. Clouds hung heavy in the twilight, darkened by the shadows of the fading sun. On the far shore, a line of pine trees formed a spiny black silhouette against the colorful sky.

  As we stood taking it all in, a crash came from behind one of the larger canvases. A young man tumbled out, knocking over a tower of paint cans that clattered across the floor, leaving trails of color across the tarps. He scrambled to his feet, running a paint-stained hand through already messy hair. His clothes were a Jackson Pollock of splattered color. His nameplate read 'Call Me Kyle'.

  "Oh, you're here!" he exclaimed, wide-eyed and slightly out of breath.

  "Hey Kyle! You ready to go?" I asked.

  Kyle quickly got to his feet. "Yeah, yeah! Come in! Look around! Uh... what - what do you need me to do?"

  "I want you to just act natural; we'll handle the rest." I said, pulling out the tape recorder from my inventory.

  Cherry opened her UI camera. "Just pretend we're not here." she said, immediately snapping a close-up of his face.

  Kyle nodded quickly, paint flecking off his hair. "OK, natural. I can do that!" He immediately struck a pose so rigid and unnatural that Cherry snorted.

  I hit record on the tape machine. "Let's start with the easy stuff. You focus on landscapes, yeah? Do you have a favorite region or biome to paint?"

  Kyle relaxed slightly at the question, his eyes lighting up. "Oof, that's hard. I love painting the volcanic ones 'cause the colors are nuts - reds, oranges, purples, and blues all mixing together." He gestured toward a series of paintings showing lava flows cutting through obsidian in a snowfield. "But I think I'm weirdly obsessed with badlands and deserts. Something about the emptiness, the light, the way the land looks almost alien..." He trailed off, then nodded decisively. "Yeah, deserts. Love 'em."

  I guided Kyle around his own studio, asking him about specific pieces while Cherry snapped pictures of him attempting to act natural beside his works. He'd pose awkwardly with a brush, then realize how stiff he looked and try to loosen up, resulting in an equally unnatural slouch. Eventually, he gave up and just talked.

  He was quite the guy - he'd started as a part-time information hunter for the Protectorate, venturing into unexplored areas to map resources and enemy spawns for their database. But the sights he encountered moved him to try capturing them on canvas.

  "The first painting I did was garbage." he said, showing us what looked like a perfectly competent rendering of the Woodsea. "But people seemed to like it anyway. Then Shake Spear commissioned me to do a mural for their guild hall."

  "And now?" I prompted.

  "Now I do illustrations for the Protectorate's player guidebooks, mostly. They pay well, and I get to help new players visualize places they haven't been yet." He shrugged, looking genuinely baffled. "Still can't believe people want to pay for this stuff."

  "I think you're doing a pretty bang-up job. So, what's this one for?" I indicated the tundra piece.

  "Oh, that's going to hang in the lobby of the arena!"

  We spent another half hour going through his collection with Kyle growing more animated as he discussed techniques for capturing different lighting effects and weather conditions. Despite his self-doubt, his passion for his craft was undeniable. For him, art wasn't just about creating something beautiful - it was about preserving the wonder he felt when exploring this virtual world.

  As we prepared to leave, I posed one final question: "If someone wanted to start landscape painting in the game, what advice would you give them?"

  Kyle didn't hesitate. "Just start. Don't overthink it. Doesn't matter if it's good or bad - just paint what you see and what you feel. Oh, and bring extra paint. And snacks. Trust me."

  As we left the paint-splattered studio and stepped back into the alley, Cherry pulled up the photos she'd taken on her UI display. "Got some good ones." she said, flicking through images of Kyle gesturing excitedly in front of his work, paint smudged across his cheek and a genuine smile replacing his earlier awkwardness. He just needed to stop thinking about it.

  And then we were on to our second interview.