By the time Lord Murphy, fresh from his successful demon-slaying and wearing a mysteriously refreshed smile, arrived at the players' assembly area, the place was already in an uproar.
Nearly all the players currently in the game had been summoned. Aside from the few who had duties too important to leave, everyone else had shown up to lend a hand.
In theory, organizing such a large gathering would have been difficult. After all, the players had different gaming habits and logged on at different times. But perhaps they should thank the "mask years" in the real world, which had left players with plenty of free time to spend on this kind of "group activity." For once, Murphy was seeing a lively "family portrait" of the player base.
After a series of "recruitment drives," the number of players in the game had surpassed six thousand. Two thousand of them were total newbies who had joined within the past week. Guys like Potato Dad and Black Sheep had never seen more than five thousand players gathered in one place, so they were feeling a little awkward and at a loss.
Madam Judy was making the rounds with her clueless husband, visiting the veteran players who had already made a name for themselves. The builders from the Stonemasons' Brotherhood had hastily put together stone steps for people to rest on. Big shots like Old Chen were happily swapping tips with people from other trades, while the younger players clustered together, eagerly discussing how they were going to butcher the gnolls.
Compared to the veterans, who were calm as old dogs, the newbies were rather noisy. They saw this as one big, lively team-building event and were itching to show the veterans just how formidable they were.
Their antics made the assembly area feel