After Administrator Alpha revealed that "closed beta testing was coming soon," it was as if lightning had struck the vast majority of the people online in the forum. They began discussing it even more excitedly in their groups.
The group had nearly 3,000 members by now, and its activity was off the charts. This news had sent a thousand ripples across the water, making messages fly so fast that no ordinary person could keep up. It was basically 999 messages every ten seconds.
Chatting under those circumstances was impossible.
So the major guilds started discussing things in their own smaller groups, while some well-connected "electronic sprites" kept creating new ones to share their joy over the coming update.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the forum was as lively as New Year's Eve.
But Alpha, the "culprit" behind all this, had vanished. He was like a rascal who'd tossed out a huge bomb, left everyone reeling, and then slipped away.
In truth, Murphy had been unfairly blamed.
It was true that he'd dropped an inside scoop to tease everyone as a "secret uncle," but he was also genuinely busy. Midnight would mark not only the successful conclusion of the ten-day Blood Festival, but also the departure of the "student delegation" bound for Chardo Port.
Professor Malcolm had temporarily handed over his duties as First Secretary of the Governor's administrative team to Mirian. That night, he would leave Transia alongside the carefully selected children and merchants from the Batasin Trading Company.
The route had already been decided.
They would enter Smuggler's Woodland from the Andmar Hills and reach the border between Transia and the Kato region. From there, they would head south along Lake Shurper to Moka, the halfling border city at the northernmost tip of the Genoa Peninsula. They