The ice in the bottom of his glass chinked together as Titan replace it back on the bar; now empty of it's liquid contents. It had been refreshing after the morning spent grinding against whatever flora and fauna he could find that would give him experience. As he ordered a burger off the menu, he heard the familiar ring of mail echo throughout the Tavern as the whole place was immediately engulfed in silence. Pulling up the main menu, Titan found the message that he presumed everyone had received simultaneously.
To: Everyone on the 1st floor
From: Saito
With this message I want to let everyone know that there will be a speech in the old ruins near Horunka Village. I'd like everyone to attend it... Players and beaters.
Before anyone else could react, the small girl child whom had parked herself on a bar stool two stools down jumped off her seat and raced out the door before disappearing into the distance.
'Wow, she's eager,' he thought to himself before turning back to the message at hand. It would take him a couple of hours to make the trip over to Horunka Village, provided creatures didn't disturb him. Although with the spawn rates at the moment, even a level one newbie could make the trip without seeing or aggravating any monsters set to spawn between the two places.
Offering his meal to a kind around the age of fourteen sitting beside him, Titan got off his stool, equipping his heavy armour before heading out the door. He was surprised to see players of differing levels and ages making their way towards Horunka Village, while others tried to keep out of the way. Obviously something big was going down at the ruins, and if anything, Titan felt it as his duty to be there, especially with so many weak looking players heading that way.
"I heard they found the Boss Dungeon," One of the players excitedly told his friends.
"Nah, don't be silly, it's a Beater hunt," One of his comrades' responded.
"This guy I did a quest with just told me not to go, that it's a bunch of PK'ers."
He listened onto the hundreds of different scenarios people began coming up with, some even ridiculous like they knew a glitch that would get them out of the game. To Titan at least, if Kayaba went to all the trouble of doing this in the first place, he highly doubted that he would leave room for glitches to undermine his entire operation. The game was flaw less and almost perfect, it was a prison death-game and the only true ways to escape was to beat the game, or die trying. The later Titan was willing to accept if it ever came to it, but each day was a new day, and each day he woke up assuming that it would be his last.
Horunka Village Ruins weren't big enough to support the amount of players that had convened around the pillars and crumbling walls with players climbing up pillars, trees and sitting almost any surface that would support their weight. People whispered to one another as Titan pushed his hulking, digital body through the mass of bodies to a place where he could hear and see what was going on at the epicentre. He noticed several high ranking guilds present, as well as several players setting up temporary shops to sell goods, no doubt at exorbitant prices given the amount of players all in one location. One thing he did notice, was the presence of PK'ers around the gathering's edges, no doubt waiting for a moment, if there ever was going to be, to strike hard and fast. A meeting like this was like feast, all the individual players and their items gathered together in one place.
