0 1 5:00 a.m. More than 3,000 players gathered in a great dome in the World Tree that stood in the heart of Alne City, at the center of the world of ALfheim Online. The winged knight monsters defending the dome’s roof gate had been removed.2 Instead, the nine fairy races now used this space to meet and negotiate, or as a venue for events. Only four players were facing the roughly 3,000 other players who had been gathered to this large, inconvenient meeting. The hulking Gnome Agil, Salamander samurai Klein, Cait Sith beast tamer Silica, and Leprechaun blacksmith Lisbeth — partners of the «Black Swordsman» Kirito, who was still diving in «Underworld», yet to awaken. At 4:20 a.m., when Klein and Lisbeth had been sending out in- game messages to every single friend on their lists, there were only three Lord-class players online. But, while pleading with them and their subordinate officers, they resorted to the taboo method of begging them to contact other players in real life. As a result, all of the players currently in the square had managed to assemble in just 40 minutes. In this sizable, hemispherical space, nearly 30% of the floating or standing players were using newly created accounts. 1 Kawahara made a typo and wrote “Seventh Day” instead. It has been corrected here. 2 Referenced in Volume 4, when Kirito fights the guardian monsters to attempt to ascend the World Tree and save Asuna.