Internet Magic in Fairy Tail

"I've had too much to drink…"

Nate massaged his temples, using magic to suppress the alcohol in his system.

He stood up and glanced around. A group of drunken girls lay sprawled across the sofas in various positions.

"I… I'm not drunk… Drink… Let's keep drinking!" Cana slurred, waving her arms around in a daze.

Shaking his head, Nate walked over and picked her up.

The royal suite had ten rooms, but with fourteen girls, some had to double up.

Erza shared a room with her mother, Irene.

Lucy and Future Lucy bunked together.@@novelbin@@

Wendy and Carla shared one room.

Ultear and Meredy stayed in another.

The rest had individual rooms.

Carrying each drunk girl to her respective room one by one was exhausting.

Then there were the clothes.

Returning to the living room, Nate was greeted by a chaotic mess—clothes scattered everywhere. Sighing, he began picking them up and tossing them into the bathroom in one big pile.

Once the area was finally clean, he sat down and made himself a cup of sobering tea.

Playing the King’s Game with the girls had been fun, and the eye candy was certainly satisfying. But with no outlet for his frustration, he had no intention of sleeping with a drunk woman.

At times like this, there was only one way to calm down: coding.

He opened the backend development tools for the Magic Net platform and decided to start on the [Dragon Hunter] app.

Since it wasn’t a real game, the functionality didn’t need to be overly complex. The main feature was a character creation interface where players could create their avatars—their Stand.

Thanks to the experience gained from developing earlier apps, the process went smoothly. By the time he finished and tested the app, it was still before dawn.

He glanced at the clock on the wall—it was only 4:00 a.m.

"What else can I work on?"

Reflecting on recent projects, Nate realized he’d been focusing solely on game development:

[Celestial Pokémon], [Getting Over It], and now [Dragon Hunter].

It was time to update the social features of Magic Net.

What was Magic Net missing? Plenty.

Leaning back on the sofa, Nate contemplated what to develop next. A music app like [Spotify]? A microblogging platform like [Twitter]? A video-sharing app like [TikTok]? Or even a ride-hailing service like [Grab]?

"Better focus on social features for now… Maybe add a [Moments] feature and something like [Tinder]?"

(TL: This shouldn't be called [Tinder] but [Shake It]. It functions the same, but instead of swiping like on [Tinder], you just shake your phone, and ta-da, you match with someone!)

Inspired, Nate quickly outlined his plan.

The current chat system on Magic Net was basic, limited to familiar contacts only. It didn’t align with the trend of expanding social circles. A feature like [Tinder]—allowing users to connect with strangers—was perfect.

However, since Magic Net wasn’t mobile, [Tinder/Shake It] wasn’t feasible. You couldn’t exactly shake a magic ring.

"What about 'Tap'? Just tap your hands, and you’ll match with another user who activated the function at the same time."

Perfect.

Fueled by inspiration, Nate dove into coding. By the time the sun began to rise, he was finished. The new features were relatively simple and took only two hours to complete.

Skipping extensive testing, he decided to release the update immediately. Bugs could be addressed later.

He wrote and posted the update announcement:

[Magic Net Update]

New Feature: [Moments] for sharing updates with your network.

New Feature: [Tap] to Connect for meeting new people.

With a satisfied sigh, Nate stretched, glanced out the window at the rising sun, and decided to take a nap.

But not before posting Magic Net’s very first [Moment]:

Sigma Male:

"The dark night by the sea." [Image attached]

"Have you ever seen the sun at 4 a.m.? ☕️"

…

[Magic Net Alpha 0.9 Update Announcement]:

1. New Game Added: "Getting Over It"

(Created by the talented game designer Levy McGarden)

2. New Feature: Magic Net Map

(Currently covering only the Ishgar Continent, click for details)

3. New Feature: Moments

Users can now post text and images in Moments.

Friends can comment or like new posts.

Only mutual friends can see each other’s comments or likes.

4. New Feature: Tap to Connect

Activate this feature and clap your hands to connect with another user doing the same.

A new way to make friends!

5. Minor Bug Fixes

…

Afternoon, 1 PM

Nate finally woke up. The first thing he did was head to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. While brushing, he opened the Magic Net forums to check feedback on the update.

The forums were as lively as ever, with threads refreshing like a waterfall. Nate mainly focused on bug reports and feedback on the new game [Getting Over It].

Bug reports were surprisingly quiet. However, the gaming section was a completely different story.

The most popular thread had an intimidating title:

[Who Is Levy McGarden? I Will End Their Life!]

"To be honest, I was really excited when I saw the update."

"I immediately went to play the new game as soon as I could."

"After two hours of serious gameplay, I just have one question: WHO MADE THIS GAME?! WHY DO THEY WANT TO HURT ME?!"

Nate: "…"

Clearly, this player had suffered significant emotional damage. The sheer number of exclamation points spoke volumes.

But the post itself was relatively tame compared to the replies below:

Replies:

1. [This game is amazing! I’m going to play until I die!]

2. [OP must be a troll. This game only costs 1 Magic Net coin—practically free!]

3. [Don’t listen to OP! The game is incredible. Strongly recommend everyone try it! 🫡]

4. [I also played for two hours, and now I feel like I’m in heaven. It’s so intense! Is it even legal to be this intense?]

5. [More thrilling than late-night pool livestreams! I swear!]

After that, hundreds of replies followed, all praising the game in oddly specific ways.

Finally, after about 100 replies, someone angrily admitted they had been tricked. The thread now had over 100,000 comments.

Nate didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "Netizens are the same everywhere," he thought. They’ve suffered through the pain and now want everyone else to suffer too.

"How’s the performance?"

Nate quickly split a part of his consciousness to check the Deep Web. The stored Cursed Energy had exploded from 0.1 stars to over 1,000 stars and was increasing by the second.

"Excellent!"

Although he didn’t yet know what he could use it for, seeing the cursed energy reserves skyrocket filled him with joy. "How much negative emotion must this be?" Unimaginable.

Suddenly, a flashing notification caught his attention—it was Levy.

Levy: "Sensei!!!"

Levy: "😭"

Nate thought for a moment before responding to comfort her.

Sigma Male: "Congratulations, Levy, you’re famous now! You’re rich!"

Levy: "!!! I feel like the angry players are going to kill me! 😭"