The Year of Burning Fire

The high tower still stood, but the flames had yet to be lit.

Something was still missing, Jost thought. Something pure, fundamental, something that reached all the way to the source.

The conditions for the magic net to exist were threefold.

First was the pact between mages and monsters. It represented contracts and oaths, law and order—the foundation of everything.

Second was knowledge. The knowledge that came from the Great Beings, the Old Ones, and ancient tomes passed down from time immemorial, along with the spells derived from it, formed the source of everything.

Finally, there was the sacrifice.

A sacrifice to bear the corruption, to offer itself in the eternal silence, to sacrifice itself.

That was what would carry everything onward.

At that moment, the players had already signed the pact and reached an agreement with the magic net. The foundation had been laid.

Through Jost's ritual, that ancient knowledge would also pour into the magic net, becoming spells that anyone could wield. The source would stretch back into the distant past.

Only the sacrifice was missing.

Once all three conditions were confirmed, Jost could immediately materialize the magic net. Everyone in the Night Country would have the opportunity to connect to it, and in an instant, the flames of the Spirit Torch would spread across the land, illuminating the deep night sky.

From then on, the Night Country would embark on a history of struggle and sacrifice stretching across a thousand years. Countless people would die because of it, while countless others would be born amid that struggle, opening their eyes to behold this world.

Monsters surged toward them like a raging tide, sweeping up everything, annihilating all things, and destroying the world. They blotted out the sky, and even the air seemed to carry the mingled scent