The forum was as lively as New Year's.
Since the forum had previously enabled browsing for people who'd successfully signed up for the test, a mode nicknamed "window-shopping to satisfy your cravings," it wasn't just the 60 lucky players with test access chatting now. Nearly 200 more who hadn't made the cut were also enthusiastically joining in.
There were two main topics of discussion. The first was the sleep-link feature, which seemed completely unscientific no matter how you looked at it.
Most of those interested in it were engineering geeks. Two middle-aged guys known as Mud Truck and Shovel led the way, while a bunch of other people—no one knew where they'd come from, but they all seemed pretty knowledgeable and suspicious—were going at it in another thread.
Even more people were focused on the game itself, specifically the new "vampire" race announced this time around.
Invincible Tyrannosaurus Car: Oh my god! The hidden quest Niu Niu and I did earlier was about this! It was Lady Triss's secret experiment. She seemed to have used a special potion to reweave our psionic projections, turning us from human mode into vampire mode in an instant.
Pomegranate Sis Pulls Up a Willow: Who understands the psionic principles behind this stuff? Tell us what it felt like!
Feeling Your Poverty: @Pomegranate Sis Pulls Up a Willow, playing games here instead of working, huh? I've been undercover for days, and I finally caught you!
Niu Pomegranate! Check your DMs!
Now!
Pomegranate Sis Pulls Up a Willow: Ah! Who are you? Damn! Don't use people's real names online, you bastard! Just wait till I get my hands on you. Fine, we'll talk in DMs. Who's scared?
With that, Pomegranate Sis and the mysterious Feeling Your Poverty vanished from the thread.
This immediately caught the attention