Its been a month and a week without any communication^^ Thank you for everyone's patience, as always. I feel the progress is starting to show the picture of our gameplay.
Implemented:
Various bug fixes
Morale stat and loss mechanics (during exploration)
Improved exploration mechanics, where edge hexagons offer options to travel to nearby territories
Initial Thrive Desires to earn extra Thrive Marks (for unlocking content) (see attached pictures)
Additional exploration events
Item system
New battle flow
Improved UI and UX
Adjusted bonding unlock system, which now requires varying amounts of Thrive Marks (TM)
Many exploration event graphics
As for the next release date, aside from a few more UI and UX refinements, I’m contemplating whether we should complete the monsters’ debt system and a few monster troubles, along with additional exploration events. Even now, I’m considering ways to enhance the debt system design and possibly simplify a few elements into one cohesive mechanic. We need challenges and tools to get the feel of the core gameplay loop. I need a bit more time. 
