When the countdown reached zero, the digital screen slowly moved upwards, and they saw rows of tables prepared for each and every one of them. The already vast Town Hall council meeting place had been stretched to become the largest instance the System had ever utilised for this particular event without reaching its limit.
Nevertheless, the System required the Mechanical Brain as an upgrade since Operation ‘Pied Piper’ would most likely encompass tens if not hundreds of thousands of Demon Rats. With Jin’s increasing customer base and more and more elaborate instances, especially the recent Tree Mall Instance, it started to tax his ‘almighty’ inheritance. That was why it needed Jin to help it by improving itself and its processing speed to handle such workload.
When Jin asked, the System admitted that while it was necessary for them to steal the Mechanical Brain, there were indeed alternate ways to reach the same goal. Until now, it had already managed by frequently reviewing its processes and purchase the necessary parts to upgrade the System’s processing ability, albeit it was at a speed that the System found it too…time consuming.
Yet, the fastest and least tedious way to get an instant upgrade would no doubt be the Mechanical Brain. Given the political situation in the Mecha World, which they while not directly responsible, had at least accelerated their world’s predicament.
The System also stated that it was also an excellent opportunity to commit the crime and blame it on somebody else. The System had strongly (and repeatedly) advised to Jin take action, specifically because the dungeon supplier was short on time (once again) to get it done before the upcoming Chinese New Year.
However, there would be time to worry about this tomorrow, today was all about the workers in the Dungeon City Fortress who deserve a well needed break.
The minions were surprised by the multiple rows of tables, all prepared neatly with the necessary cutleries. There were even accommodations to the ‘tables’ depending on the monster’s way of eating. For example, at the side of the Town Hall instance (or open fields) there were labels of various monster names such as Shadow Dagen (aka Mr. Derpy), Keyrin and even Spiky to indicate that their seats were there.
With the giant monsters at the side, the System had prepared feasts of similar sizes to fit their proportions. (On hindsight, Jin was very thankful that the Giant World existed, so he did not have to purchase thousands of chickens just to accommodate Mr Derpy or even Spiky.)
The Water Snake Demon and Fire Lion Demon whose names he did not catch from Weslie was placed on placards on the side of the fields, and the four demons were reunited like this for the first time in decades. (They all truly had a decent time catching up with each other.)
Jin was surprised that the System’s omni-lingualism enabled every monster to talk to each other until he learnt that it made everyone learn a common language. Chinese. “I guess that actually made things much simpler…” Jin humbled himself as he peeked through the curtains behind the stage and watched his monsters talk in their own social groups, seemingly a bit unsure where to sit.
At the same time, Qiu Yue and Lynn appeared on stage, hosting as Emcees for the night.
They were dressed in Santa costumes too but with the modern (cutesy) look. A erm…Red Santa red shirt and short skirt for Qiu Yue and a Santa long dress for Lynn.
“Alright, please get seated so we can start our programme. I know the allure of food right in front of the stage and at the back is tempting but please hold on to your stomachs a bit longer.” Qiu Yue announced, and the minions fastened their pace a little.
“It’s free seating so you may sit wherever you want except for those names on the placards at the side of the field. Peggies, please take a seat for now.” Lynn added and the Peggies who were manning the food booths at the front of the stage listened to their Queen.
“What about us, we no VIPs?” Kraft shouted loudly, and Qiu Yue apologised and reiterated that it was free seating. The Original Bellator frowned wondering with whom to sit down. Suddenly Kiyu was calling him over from afar, and he saw the Foxes reserved a seat for him together with the Dark Elves.
Even Pei for this rare occasion was sitting with them. Kraft half smiled and walked towards them not mentioning the fact, that she had chosen the place farthest away from his own.
Milk chose to sit alongside the Panda Nurses that were off duty, while Peppers went towards Ayse and her researchers. Zeru’s company consisted of the Mousefolks surrounding him. They were equally shocked to see a myriad of monsters bonding together. Meomi calmed them down and told them they were now all part of this big family.
Amura Rei, the newest of members, was even more shocked by the turn of events and Yun beckoned him to seat with Ayse and the other researchers to get acquainted. The Goblins and Orcs, on the other hand, did not sit with their races and instead had instinctively split up into the units or sections they were assigned to. Joining them were the Minotaurs who were assigned to their sections.
Moloch was in a bit of an odd position. He was the one to overlook the whole project, so he technically did not belong in any one section, but ironically he was also the most sought from both races to sit beside them. Eventually, he took comfort with Jespa and Hespesta who were with a section of Orc and Goblin engineers that handled the leading Mecha Developments.
Even the Merchants and Adventurer Guild from the Dungeon Cave Town had taken a day off or left it to their Goblin World assistants to handle the workload as they joined this compulsory Feast.
As for the Farming World counterparts, the Dark Templars sat along with the Werejackals with the exception of Lord Wolte who surprisingly was allowed to be stationed at the end of the long table. Apparently, he had the ability to revert back to his slug form and thus he was allowed to eat near his comrades and sat down next to Baphomet. (Mr Oink was given similar treatment at the Goblin/Orc Table.)
Separately, the Deep Ones did not abandon their lord. Initially, all of them sat closest to the Demon Beasts so that Mr Derpy would not be so lonely, but soon they watched their formidable Lord was able to make new friends with the Demon Beasts. Derpy got so engaged in the conversation that some of the Deep Ones joined the other monsters at the regular tables.
In the meantime, Shu’s placard was on the other end of the field which he did abide by. It was a funny sight to behold to see Shu walk around with its roots up and later entrench himself at the side. Naturally, Ke Mi, her Great White Snake and the ants sat closest to them. Sitting beside them were Niu Lang, Zhi Nu and Que Er along with Sandy. The Boar Knights and Pyro Jack also joined in at the side. (Along with the Gingerbread Knights and the inhabitants from Giant World like Hamatarou.)
Yun was the only one in an exclusive VIP table that was meant for the unique NPCs like Vulcan and Octofussy. It also included the System Users. Qiu Yue, Lynn and Jin but many of them noticed that Jin was not at the table with Yun.
Once the Emcees were notified that everyone had taken their seats, they officially started the Christmas Grand Feast Event.
