(Bonus chapter for "The Leisurely Survivor," brother, 3/5)
As time passed, the weekend rolled around once again. That meant a new batch of players would be entering Transia, ready to serve Lord Murphy's cause with fresh faces and boundless enthusiasm.
But today's new recruits were different from those who had come before.
This time, the players entering the game weren't all personally vetted and selected by Murphy. Nearly thirty of the newcomers had been chosen by player guilds.
Most came from Happy Stick's Crimson Sickle and Hammer Corps and Taipal's Riptide Knights. They were currently the only two guilds in the game to have reached Level Two in the Adventurers' Guild's rankings, earning them the right to recruit new players independently.
But "independent recruitment" was only a manner of speaking. Before receiving their helmets and entering the game, these new players still had to go through Murphy and Triss's "screening."
The standards had been relaxed considerably, but they were still enough to ensure that these new players all had some useful skill.
Governor Murphy, walking through the shadows, pulled out his battered pocket watch and checked the time. Thirty minutes remained before the new players arrived.
He picked up the Core Orb and contacted Triss.
"My dear assistant, Little Triss, have we finished preparing today's update announcement?"
"My dear superior, Administrator Alpha, the document has been revised and is ready to post on the forum at any time."
Triss's dutiful voice came from the orb. She spoke with a hint of excitement and anticipation.
"I've never tried such a large-scale reconstruction of the psionic projections before. Are you sure we can finish all this in two hours?"
"At most, it can't take more than four!"
Murphy's tone was serious.
"This is the first 'server maintenance' since True Otherworld began operating.