Chapter 217 - 139 For Guarding Kael’s Smile... and Little Tail (10.6K, Additional Update 3/60)_6

The news that many locals still didn’t know was captured by the system in real time.

This is really... interesting!

...

On the other hand, the player community also began to stir.

This time was the peak period for players to log off, which, converted to real-time, was about when some office drone players were about to leave for work.

The virtual pods allowed players to enter the game in a semi-sleep state while ensuring basic mental rest, but only for the time spent playing in the game.

Exiting the virtual game to access forums or related virtual networks would immediately cancel this semi-sleep state.

Moreover, the semi-sleep mode couldn’t fully replace sleep; the players eventually had to sleep an additional 2-3 hours outside the game in order to stay sharp for the whole day.

At this moment, many players who had just logged off and were preparing to catch up on sleep were jolted awake by this piece of news.

Without a doubt, the sudden announcement made the entire forum boil over with activity.

Move faster, Fishy: "Can I say that I’m still running merchant quests? With three days left, I might not finish."

Indiscriminate Little Fish: "Damn, I just got a long-term quest from Brother Kael, and before I could even start, there’s a notice about the end of the beta test! Damn it, this quest won’t be considered a failure, right?"

God of Calamity: "QAQ Why can everyone get quests but me, not even if I eat shit to catch the tail end of it!"

Cool Colored Paper: "Damn, I was killing wolves when this server-wide announcement popped up; I nearly got reverse-killed and ended up in a wolf’s stomach."

Not Sleeping In Cat: "I suspect you’re insinuating something about me, but I have no evidence!"

Guarantor with a Soul: "Wake up, Lazy Cat, Cool Colored Paper feeding the wolves is a low probability event, but yours is a high probability event."

Sister Jiu Yue: "Miss Cat is now a qualified bard and our record keeper at Jiu Yue Heavy Industries. You guys aren’t allowed to bully her, or you can forget about your crossbow carriage orders!"

Cai Ketongshen: "Their teasing Lazy Cat has nothing to do with me Cai Ketongshen; why hold up my order? Woman, are you looking for trouble?"

Military God of Heaven’s Wings: "All pals still in the factory, let’s pull an all-nighter to finish the orders and then log off. If any local pals have time, we can go for a meal; tonight’s BBQ is on Sister Jiu Yue’s tab!"

Sister Jiu Yue: "Bought, bought! No issue at all, but since I’m paying, I can order some charcoal-grilled Nile crocodile, right?"

Push Me to Code: "But Sister Jiu Yue, can you actually finish a Nile crocodile?"

Sister Jiu Yue: "I can take down a Nile crocodile with one punch, and after I’m done with that, not enough, I want three more (groundhog screaming)!"

Braised Donut: "I’ll believe that when pigs fly, you were even saying in the group chat about riding an armored vehicle to finish off Emperor Ha, but I haven’t seen that happen!"

Wanderer of the Silent Mountain: "Nasilia, let’s chat in a voice call later with just our small group, including Chen Xin, Nan Ke, and I Love Little Yi, to discuss some plans for after the open beta."

Nasilia: "Sure, but we could try calling Sister Geng and the Rich Lady; they seem to have entered the game recently too but haven’t been in touch with us."

Experience tales at empire

Sleep Till Afternoon: "Damn, I thought it would last until the end of the month; I was so close to killing 20 Shadow Wolves."

Emperor Ha: "When did you become so powerful? How many are left?"

Sleep Till Afternoon: "Just 19 more to go!"

Honeydew: "Wake up, how is that any different from having killed none at all?"

Sister Astate: "I’m still on my way to the heresy tribunal, how can the game be ending already? I haven’t gone mad yet!"

Yi An: "You’re not wrong, this country girl is quite pretty."

Qing Ya over the Cold Pond: "Yi An, you LSP!"

Yi An: "You got it wrong, I’m not old!"

...

With the end of the beta test for the expansion pack, virtually all beta testers, as well as countless virtual gaming enthusiasts quietly waiting for the open beta, were now focused on the content of the announcement.

Of course, there was also a small group, smaller in number but special in the virtual gaming world and a necessity for any popular virtual game, who had quietly set their sights on this game.

They were club players, gold farming studios, and even a few companies keen on hyping the concept of the metaverse, already revealing their fierce claws and fat wallets upon hearing that the game was about to enter formal open beta.

...

[Human Federation - Desert Base - Underground]

In a spacious conference room, a group of individuals with special identities sat quietly around, watching a code light orb that kept flashing in the center of the meeting.

In the middle sat an old man who spoke in a deep voice,

"AO, public testing is about to start, and the restrictions on relevant personnel entering have been further lifted. There are no problems now, right?"

From the flickering code light orb came a hoarse electronic voice:

"Review approved, the ceiling on public test player numbers will be opened without limit. Whether to deploy more relevant personnel is for the Human Federation to decide."

Under that bright light, the expressions of those present varied.

...

The scene shifted back to "The Gate to the Nether."

Kael looked at the quiet night sky and the distant White Bone Christmas Tree, a smile suddenly appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Things really turned out as he expected, with some small changes starting to occur, but whether these changes would be good or bad for the future remained unknown.

Nevertheless… the next time players come in, the situation will be completely different from now.

After all, the scope restricted by the public test wasn’t just in Lancaster anymore.

While a large number of personnel will still descend within Lancaster, many more will be randomly deployed to various regions of the Duchy of England Grance.

Of course, primarily the rural areas.

Only a small portion of the lucky ones will be directly placed in the Royal Capital.

However, the odds of that happening among tens of thousands of players might be just a few, and in such a vast and untapped situation, the first thing that public test players tend to do to strategize the game is no longer to simply settle down and level up by fighting monsters.

They prefer to group up with people they know to play the game, forming small teams of players, and unify their actions according to the changes in the Dungeons around them.

In the world of "The Gate to the Nether," it’s really not easy to go it alone.

While the proportion of players who arrive in the Royal Capital is small, the sheer number of new players still adds up to a dozen or twenty people.

After all, the population of the Human Federation has already surpassed 40 billion, and space bases have even been established on surrounding celestial bodies.

Compared to before the global war, the population has now passed through the decline period and entered a new phase of growth.

Even though the main players of virtual games are the youth, and only a portion of this demographic may become aware of this game and choose to join, the influx will still be a tremendously large number of players.

This unimaginable number of new players, upon entering the game, will completely morph into a tidal wave sweeping across the continent…

Even potentially overthrowing the established ecosystem of the Nobles!

He didn’t dwell on the thought but simply walked into his residence.

He planned to make more arrangements before the official public test commenced.

The sudden end of the internal test disrupted his plans, but fortunately, he always had more than one plan ready.

He turned to Old White and said,

"Grandpa White, how’s the relocation of the refugees from the city-state that was destroyed in the recent clash between the Supreme Forest and the Undead march?"

"The relocation is basically complete and they can be integrated into the territory at any time to fill the positions vacated by the Undead."

"Good, I’ll communicate with Bishop Tettu to slightly expedite their progress. The advancement of the territory must never stop!"

Kael didn’t linger and returned to his room. He knew that he was about to embark on a new war after the Undead disappear…

This time, however, the challenge had nothing to do with the Dungeon.

He needed to accelerate the enhancement of his own foundations and occupational level.

He wondered what the players would think when they next saw him, after he had fully ascended to the Extraordinary Rank.

With this thought, his mood lightened a few more shades.

...The following is not charged...

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