Erza logged onto the Internet and was immediately drawn to the many posts in the forum. The once-chaotic space had been transformed, thanks to the efforts of Mirajane, the dedicated administrator.
Today's forum was organized and brimming with activity. Useful posts were highlighted, while controversial or disruptive ones were buried.
"It's so lively," Erza murmured, impressed by the change.
She scrolled through posts about magic practice, mental strength training, and even saw people sharing their experiences without asking for anything in return. What caught her attention the most was the name of someone she never expected to see online.
"Crawford Seam?"
Erza blinked in confusion. The chairman of the Magic Council? Such an influential figure using the magic network—and under his real name, no less!
Curious, she opened his post and saw that he was patiently explaining magic knowledge to others. The comments beneath were filled with awe, with people expressing how honored they were to interact with the chairman directly. Of course, not all the responses were so respectful.
Natsu: [You're the one who keeps punishing me! All my commission money is taken by you! Damn it, fight me!]
Erza sighed. "Natsu…"
Just then, a knock on the infirmary door interrupted her thoughts.
"Come in," she called.
The door opened, and Knight stepped in, looking a little exasperated. "Mind if I hide out here for a bit? Natsu's been after me to spar ever since our fight."
Erza smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry for causing you trouble. That's typical of him, challenging people on the magic net and in person."
Knight nodded and found a chair. "It's fine. I'll just sit here and work." He opened his laptop and resumed his programming.
Erza watched him out of the corner of her eye, intrigued by how focused he was. She wanted to ask about his work but decided against interrupting him. She returned to the forum and continued browsing until she came across a post from someone with a strange nickname.
"Voldemort?"
Her brow furrowed. Is this person a dark wizard? From their replies, they seemed to know a lot about the hidden aspects of magic, including a claim that dragons still existed within dragon slayer wizards. Hesitating briefly, she decided to reply.
[Hello, senior. Do you know anything about the R-System?]
Erza felt odd addressing someone who might be a dark wizard as "senior," but she was too curious to let the chance slip. Hours passed, but there was no response.
As evening approached, Knight stretched and glanced at the darkening sky outside. "It's getting late. I'll head home now. See you tomorrow, Erza."
Lost in her internet browsing, Erza barely looked up in time. "Ah, see you tomorrow…"
As the door closed behind him, she murmured to herself, "He's incredible… creating magic like this." She was impressed by Knight's ability to craft such a revolutionary form of magic, agreeing with the guild master's earlier sentiment.
The magic network was still in its infancy, but its potential was enormous. It allowed magicians from across the world to communicate with each other, a feat no one had accomplished before.
Erza's curiosity about Knight deepened.
Two days later, Knight had stayed away from the noisy guild, opting to work from home. After two days of hard work, he finally completed the new [Online Commission] feature.
"Finally done. Now, let's hope there aren't any bugs."
He opened his system dashboard to check on the network's activity.
[Active users today: 846]
[Average daily online time: 5.45 hours]
[Total registered users: 889]
"Almost 900 users? Juvia's really doing a great job spreading the word," Knight muttered, feeling satisfied.
He glanced at his private messages.
Departing Traveler: [I haven't seen you around lately. Lucy said you've been working on something new at home… Need help with anything?]
Sigma Man: [It's done. I could use your help for the next phase, though.]
After sending the reply, Knight checked the chat groups. As the developer, he had access to see all groups and conversations on the network.
"There are more than 30 groups already?" he mused, scrolling through the names.
The largest group was Phantom is the Best, clearly created by the Phantom Guild, boasting over 400 members. The next was Fairy Tail Love Each Other, which had almost as many members. Other groups were smaller, typically consisting of guild teams like Shadow Gear, which had only three members.
As the developer, Knight had "superuser" privileges, allowing him to peek into any group. However, after skimming a few, he realized this was a bad habit.
"Yeah, this needs fixing," he muttered. "I should make group creation cost points and increase the limit on group members."
The idea struck him as a great way to balance the system's economy. There were currently only two ways to spend points: playing games to redeem in-game currency or using the library feature. Adding points as a requirement for creating and managing groups would make things more interesting.
Satisfied with his plan, Knight quickly coded the changes.
He then opened the Fairy Tail Love chat group.
Sigma Man: [@everyone, an update is coming later. The magic network will briefly go down, but just log back in afterward.]
The group chat exploded immediately.
Gray: [Knight?]
Macao: [Whoa, Knight's actually here! What's in the update?]
Erza: [Knight! I need to talk to you. Could you come to the infirmary when you're free?]
The flood of messages was overwhelming, and Knight could barely read through them.
Sigma Man: [A useful new feature. You'll see soon.]
After sending the message, Knight closed the interface and initiated the update. All users were momentarily logged out.
When the network rebooted, users were greeted with the following announcement:
[Alpha 0.3 Version Update Notes]
[Online Commission] feature added.Creating chat groups now requires points. Increasing the group member limit also requires points.Featured forum posts will earn points as rewards.Excellent reply posts will also be rewarded with points.
The update was aimed at expanding the points system, offering more ways to earn and spend them.
Simultaneously, Knight received a system notification:
[Task Completed: Improve the Magic Internet by Developing a New Feature.]
[Reward: 10,000 Magic Rings.]
[Bonus reward: Determined by the quality of the new feature.]
[Results being calculated...]
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