Soon, more and more pods within the Purgatory Group Gaming Office began to open as dazed members of Umbra started to file out. Most of them were basic members, but soon, an advanced member came out with a shocked expression, never expecting himself to become ruined like this.
Interestingly, the workers who managed the Purgatory Group Gaming Office seemed to have received some instruction, as they gathered all those who had their accounts deleted into a separate room but did not kick them out. This gave those who were deleted a chance to snap out of their daze and realize they weren't the only ones.
More and more soon joined them, forcing them to relocate into a large lobby area that was meant for recreation. As it were, almost a thousand people were now gathered here, and the more they became, the more they chatted and interacted, analyzing the situation and coming to an understanding.
They weren't stupid, just arrogant. With enough brains calculating and voices sharing information, they decided that the cause was the orange glow on their enemies' weapons, which was imbued by the Origin God in the void. This made sense to them, as any Origin grade attack could casually delete accounts.
Heck, even True Gods could achieve this if one wasn't a True God themselves!
"The Guildmaster must have seen it and realized it, but he did not say anything to us," another advanced member who recently came out analyzed, causing the place to go quiet.
In fact, from the first moment they saw that message, the first thought in their heads was how could the Guildmaster allow this to happen? And now, after hearing all these analyses, they understood a bit about what the Guildmaster was trying to achieve.
But... those were their accounts that they had painstakingly grown over the course of ten-plus years. Even if the Guildmaster wanted to weed out the useless or to make them realize their faults, couldn't there be a better way to achieve this?
"In fact... the Guildmaster is right..." the first advanced member who came out said with a sigh, causing all eyes to fall on him.
"Don't look at me like that. I was one of the first members to join Umbra back then. I've been playing for fifteen years and I barely passed the test to become a basic member during that initial recruitment," the fellow said with a bitter smile, not pressured at all by the focus.
"Many of you are new, so you don't know, but back in the beginning, Vice Guild Leader Riveting Night used to personally train us in terms of fighting and especially in terms of mentality. The thing she emphasized back then the most was not to become foolish due to power, but to seek the maximum benefits with the minimum effort."
The fellow sighed. "Due to her need to manage the Guildmaster's clan and also take care of her own children, she began to interact and train us less and less, focusing on the core members who had special bloodlines. Now, even they hardly see her anymore, so many of you have never even seen the Vice Guild Leader outside of her pictures."
The majority of those who were here were shocked, and some who had just entered the room in a daze snapped into attention when they heard the subject matter. For many of them who joined during the ten-year period, they truly had not seen the Evil Trio at all, and today was their first time even seeing Draco in person.
The very idea that Riveting Night could personally take them for physical and mental training was something that made them feel shocked and wonder what it was like.
"Yeah, I remember," another advanced member picked up, his eyes wistful.
"When the game first started, it was so goddamn hard. I died so many times in the span of an hour and struggled to grind to reach level 10 with much difficulty. My stat allocation was mediocre, so I got a rather common warrior-related class that limited my future."
"I remember entering Cario City and seeing that huge skyscraper and thinking that whichever guild could build that could change my fate. I joined the line to apply for their test and only passed the basic one after three tries, finally becoming one of the first batch of basic members."
"After that, my life changed. The Dragon Slaying Event, the First Guild War, the First Player Auction, the Abyss Event, the Boundless vs. the World Case, the First Inter-Player International Competition, the Class Up Era, the Sea Route Development, and the War of Extinction... I was there for it all."
Many heads that had lowered themselves snapped upwards, the murky despair and defeatism in their eyes disappearing and being replaced by willpower and firmness as they made up their minds.
"In fact, I wondered why we weren't kicked out of the building right away but allowed to come and sit here. It turns out the Guildmaster was testing us, testing whether we could rise back up after a severe fall, whether we could prove ourselves worthy to receive the love that Umbra is willing to give us!" the first advanced member said as he stood up and clenched his fists.
Huh, that's right!
There was no way that the staff in the office hadn't been notified of this by now. The time flow between the game and reality was 1 to 4, and the war against Conquest City should be long over by now, signified by the fact that no new person had come to enter this room in a while.
If they were truly abandoned by Umbra, Draco would have long sent the order for them to pack their bags, but as it were, even their Umbra membership contracts were not rescinded!
Their accounts were gone, but they were still officially members of Umbra!
Immediately, emotions surged through the hearts of everyone seated in this room, and many couldn't help but tear up. Only a person who felt lost and abandoned realizing that they were always welcome to the home they lost access to could understand how they felt right now.
It was akin to being a child and getting lost in the festival with your cotton candy stick in hand, unable to see your mom anywhere and being scared that she had left you. Then suddenly, you found her rushing to you and grabbing you into her embrace, hugging you tightly and apologizing for making you scared.
"We are at the crossroads, my brothers and sisters. Either we fall into the abyss and never show again, or we rise from the ashes and become reborn. Personally, I've already made my choice!" one basic member who had only joined for a moderate period of 7 years spoke while standing up, walking out of the room back to his pod.
Looking at him, the other members understood that one had already risen from the ashes and it was up to them to make the choice. One by one, they each stood up and filed out slowly but orderly, returning to the pods which they had just walked out from in a daze, noticing that the workers who managed the building were smiling at them while preparing them for entrance into Boundless.
They had passed the test!
Seeing this, these members of Umbra became even more moved. It seemed that they were being given more than just a second chance, but also a chance to shed off their old failures and come to terms with their now brighter future if they stuck to the path they had decided to walk at this moment!
One of the last people to leave the room, who was another advanced member that had spoken originally, felt a sudden notion to look around.
"Hey, has anyone seen that old man who spoke up earlier?"
Everyone stared at each other blankly, remembering the piercing words of the fellow but never noticing his presence after that.
Who even was that?
........
Back in the world of Boundless, Draco took his attention from the mirage he created within the Purgatory Group Gaming Office and sighed with fatigue as projecting across spacetime was super taxing.
In the end, Gremory was right. He had become too soft.