Chapter 25: 0.3 update

Chapter 25: Chapter 25: 0.3 updateErza logged into the internet and was quickly drawn to the numerous posts on the forum. Thanks to Mira, who was diligently managing it, the forum had undergone a complete transformation from the chaotic state it had been in the previous day. Useful posts were now highlighted, while contentious ones were locked or buried.

"So lively," Erza murmured in surprise.

There were posts discussing various topics, such as how to train mental strength in magic. People were even selflessly sharing their insights. Erza was particularly taken aback when she noticed the name of the Magic Council Chairman, Crawford Seam, among the posters.

"Crawford Seam? Is that really him?"

She couldn't believe that such a prominent figure would show up on the internet using his real name. Curious, Erza browsed through his posts and saw that he was patiently explaining magic knowledge to others. Many responded by expressing how honored they were to be engaging with the Chairman directly.

Of course, not everyone was respectful.

Natsu: "So you're the guy who keeps fining me? All the money I make from jobs gets taken by you! Fight me!"

Erza sighed. "..."

At that moment, a knock on the infirmary door broke her train of thought.

"Come in."

"Mind if I hang out here for a bit?" Nate entered, looking somewhat exasperated. "Thanks to you, Natsu is now determined to spar with me."

"Sorry for causing you trouble," Erza apologized sincerely, knowing this was exactly the kind of thing Natsu would do—just like how he challenged the Chairman to a fight on the internet.

"This is the guild's infirmary, feel free to stay as long as you need."

Nate nodded, found a chair, and sat down to continue working on his code. Seeing how focused he was, Erza felt a tinge of curiosity but decided not to disturb him, knowing he likely needed peace and quiet. She returned to browsing the internet until she came across a featured post.

"Voldemort?"

The username made Erza frown slightly. A dark guild member, or perhaps... a dark mage? Based on the user's comments, they seemed to know many secrets of the magic world.

Dragons residing within Dragon Slayers?

After a moment of hesitation, Erza clicked "reply" and left a message under Voldemort's post.

Erza: "Hello, senpai. Do you know anything about the R-System?"

Addressing someone who might be a dark mage as "senpai" felt a bit shameful for her.

She waited a long time but received no response.

By the time evening arrived, Nate had finished a portion of his code. He glanced outside at the fading daylight.

"It's getting late. I'm heading out now. See you tomorrow, Erza."

Stretching and shutting down his coding items, Nate bid farewell as he walked out the door.

"Ah... see you tomorrow," Erza replied, but the door had already closed. Immersed in the internet, she barely noticed him leaving.

"What an amazing man to have created such an incredible magic."

Erza now understood why the guild master held Nate in such high regard. The potential of the internet magic was vast, and this was only the framework. Even at this stage, it was revolutionary to allow mages from all over the world to communicate online, something no one had ever achieved before.

Her curiosity about Nate deepened.

...

Two days later.

Nate hadn't been to the guild during this time. It was simply too noisy there, so he preferred the quiet of home to work on his project.

After two days of hard work, he had finally completed the Online Commissioning feature.

"Now it's time to release the update and hope there are no bugs."

He opened the system to check on the stats.

[Active users today: 846]

[Average daily usage: 5.45 hours]

[Total registered users: 889]

"Almost nine hundred users? Juvia's efficiency is impressive."

Nate nodded in satisfaction and checked his messages.

The Departing Traveler: "I haven't seen you at the guild lately. Lucy said you've been working on a new feature... need any help?"

Sigma Male: "It's done now. But I do need your help with something."

After replying, Nate opened the chat system.

Through the backend, he could see all the chat groups created so far.

"More than thirty groups already?"

Nate was surprised. He took a closer look at the group names.

Phantom Lord Rules the World...

No need to guess, it was clearly created by the Phantom Lord mages. The group had over four hundred members, making it the largest by far.

Next was Fairy Tail Bonds of Love, the guild's group.

Apart from these two large groups, most of the others had only a few members, like the team chat for Shadow Gear, which had only three members and was led by Levy.

Nate, as the system's developer, had the "highest permissions," meaning he could bypass restrictions and access any chat group to read all the messages. He randomly checked a few groups and quickly exited.

"A mistake."

"I should have implemented a points cost for creating groups and increasing group size."

Nate stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Currently, the only way to spend points was by playing games or using the library. He could easily add group creation and upgrades as another way to use points.

"It's not too late to implement that. Also, accessing Online Commission postings should require points as well."

With that, Nate got to work. It wasn't a difficult task, and soon it was done.

After finishing, Nate opened the Fairy Tail Bonds of Love chat group.

Sigma Male: "@Everyone, there will be an update soon. The network will go down briefly. Just log back in afterward."

As soon as he sent that message, the group exploded.

Gray: "Nate?"

Macao: "Wow, Nate actually showed up. What's new in this update?"

Erza: "Nate! I need to speak with you. Can you come to the infirmary when you have time?"

The messages flooded in like a waterfall, and Nate barely managed to read the first few before giving up.

Sigma Male: "A very convenient new feature has been added. You'll see soon."

After sending that message, Nate closed the interface and activated the update sync button.

Once the button was pressed, all users of the network were logged off.

When they restarted their rings, the first thing they saw was the update announcement.

[Alpha Version 0.3 Update Notes]

1. Added the Online Commission Listings feature. Check the details for more information (Details).

2. Creating chat groups now requires points. Increasing group member limits will also cost points.

3. Featured forum posts will be rewarded with points.

4. High-quality replies will also earn points.

With this update, Nate introduced more ways to earn points and more ways to spend them.

At the same time, the system delivered its long-awaited notification.

[Quest: Enhance the magic internet by developing a new feature.]

[Reward: 10,000 magic rings.] Sёarᴄh the NôvelFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

[Bonus reward based on feature completion quality.]

[Quest complete!]

[Calculating results...]

~~~

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