I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Old Eggplant's takeout arrived; he ordered braised eggplant with pork and shredded potatoes with white rice.

Normally, when it comes to this kind of fast food delivery, I would just eat a little bit of old eggplant.

But today, perhaps due to the fatigue from farming, Old Eggplant found the food particularly delicious.

Whether it's eggplant soaked in oil or shredded potatoes with a spicy and sour flavor, they're both quite delicious with rice. In no time at all, Old Eggplant finished his food, leaving only the takeout box, without even needing to sort the trash.

Having resolved his personal issues, he saw that the charging was almost complete and put his helmet back on.

Back in the Kingdom of Night, Old Eggplant looked at the fields he had cultivated, and a surge of ambition welled up within him.

In the past, my predecessors also braved thorns and brambles and explored the unknown in such a desolate and wild place, and now it is my turn.

He held a hoe and gazed at the dark forest.

"Farming is so much fun!"

Chapter 715 The Prototype of the Magic Network

While Old Eggplant was leading the players in farming and developing the forest, [Only Know a Little Bit] was also busy at work.

He didn't understand magic, but it seemed that Lu Ban and the others didn't really need to understand magic themselves; they just needed to explain computers to that mage.

"...Therefore, such a structure can be established."

I forced myself to finish explaining the basic principles of computer network communication. Having only a tiny bit of knowledge, I carefully reviewed my notes again, afraid that I might have made a mistake and misled the other person.

Fortunately, the monk was quite clever.

[Only Knows a Little Bit] Because he makes science videos, he has met many people with a good thirst for knowledge. He knows that being smart and knowing a lot are not equivalent descriptions.

For example, many people think that if they traveled back to ancient times, they could make a living by relying on their modern perspective and knowledge. This is because people in modern society receive a lot of information, and even elementary school students can learn a lot through the Internet.

But intelligence is the speed at which one can understand new things. For example, this young mage in front of me, although he knows nothing about the Internet or computers, he can quickly understand what I've just casually explained and put forward his own ideas. Some of these things, even those who only know a little bit about them, only have a vague understanding and know that such a technology exists.

"Therefore, we can actually adopt such a magic network structure. Compared to relying on only a few gods to bear the pollution, this method of distributing the pollution to everyone connected to the magic network can better eliminate the effects of the pollution."

Jost took notes while confirming his ideas.

"However, this magic network model has two problems. First, even so, several powerful nodes are still needed to store core magic. In other words, we still need to find some beings with god-like qualities and use them to memorize knowledge. Other spellcasters who join the magic network are only used to maintain its existence."

"Another problem is that a large number of ordinary spellcasters need to join the magic network. When there are too few spellcasters in the magic network, the pollution is still serious. At least several thousand mages are needed to maintain the normal operation of the magic network."

"Indeed, putting the first problem aside for now, the second problem is also difficult to solve in the Night Kingdom now, as there are too few court mages."

Xia agreed.

Through the explanations of "Only Knows a Little Bit" and her discussions with Jost, she also gained some understanding of the underlying design of the Magic Network.

In Sia's time, mage towers were commonplace, but in this era, such architecture is almost nonexistent.

Sia couldn't help but suspect that the mage tower itself might be a kind of magic network amplification device.

A mage tower is a magical structure that makes it easier for ordinary mages to connect to the magic network near a mage tower, and also amplifies the spells they cast. For example, the Gray Tower is the largest mage tower in the Night Kingdom.

Now, Sia understands the function of this structure better. Through the amplification of the mage tower, nearby mages can more easily bear the pollution. Therefore, the construction of the Gray Tower must be due to the needs of the magic network. The two are closely related.

Conversely, Sia believes that each mage tower is a high-level node storing knowledge and pollution, a concrete manifestation of the magic network.

As for the number of court magicians, Sia couldn't think of a solution either.

Even if the magic network could be established, and ordinary people could immediately sign a three-way handshake agreement to access it, these uncorrupted ordinary people would certainly lose their minds immediately and even contaminate the magic network. It would be extremely difficult to find thousands of court mages to access the magic network at the very beginning.

However, none of the difficulties are as great as finding some gods who can withstand the pollution and imprisoning them to serve as the garbage cans for the pollution.

Lu Ban thought for a moment, wondering if he could find Charlotte or Leopard to fill in, but then he felt that if such a fun person really connected to the magic network, they might post some strange, bizarre, and forbidden knowledge on the magic network to punish those curious mages.

He decided not to bother the two.

A clap of thunder came from outside, and Drizzt, who was listening nearby and was completely confused, looked outside.

In the distant forest, a thunderous storm was brewing.

The thunderclouds were far larger than usual, and were still clearly visible even from more than a hundred miles away.

"That's a curse too."

Jost explained.

"A powerful mage can leave behind a curse before he dies."

"curse?"

Drizzt looked at the deep purple thunderclouds and felt a chill run down his spine.

"Yes, the more powerful a mage is, the more corruption they bear. When they are young, when they have great power, and when they still maintain their rationality, this corruption can be suppressed. Some mages will also choose to mutate a part of their body to alleviate the torment of corruption on their rationality."

Jost answered.

"But when they get old, their reason is exhausted, and the pollution in their bodies reaches its limit. They may lose control at any time, and some mages have almost lost all their reason and gone mad. At this time, many mages will choose to end their own lives."

"Has your rationality decreased...?"

Drizzt glanced at his remaining sanity and suddenly began to contemplate his own end.

According to Lu Ban and the others, they should have chosen to stay in Lu Ban's world and seal away the ancient rulers who were about to awaken.

But Twisted Fate doesn't currently possess any method to seal the Great Old Ones, and he really can't imagine how he made that choice.

But Twisted Fate's own sanity was indeed dwindling; after two more missions at most, he might truly descend into madness.

If that time comes, Trist thinks he might really choose to sacrifice himself, just like Lu Ban and the others said, to leave something for this world.

Just like those mages.

"Yes, these mages will venture deep into the Black Forest, trying to avoid affecting humans as much as possible. Then, they will use all their remaining power to construct a unique magic that belongs only to themselves. This is the curse left behind by the mages."

Jost explained.

"For example, Agni the Firebringer, one of the greatest mages in history, single-handedly destroyed two Demon Lords. Before his death, he chose to enter the depths of the far north forest and transformed into a giant fire tornado. In the north of the kingdom, after nightfall, one can see that crimson expanse when looking north."

"And this one is probably a curse left by Thunderclap Solal. This curse has been hovering above the Black Forest for many years, moving and causing devastating effects on the monsters in the Black Forest."

As he spoke, he looked at the deep purple lightning in the distance, the lightning illuminating his profile, making him look focused and serious.

Chapter 716 Bumper Harvest

The second batch of recruitment qualifications has everyone eagerly awaiting.

Although it has only been three days since the first closed beta test began, thanks to the promotion by various closed beta testers, "The Cage" has become a benchmark for new-era games.

The quality of a game cannot be fully reflected by the manufacturer's promotion or media reviews.

But players' word-of-mouth can't be faked.

Games with mixed reviews and those with rave reviews seem to have different levels of appeal to players.

Needless to say, Lu Ban has never disappointed before.

The excellent quality of 【Summoning Night】makes it even more anticipated.

To be honest, besides being amazing, the feeling of "The Night of Summoning Souls" left people wanting more.

It's like giving everyone a pancake. This pancake is fragrant, delicious, and incredibly beautiful, but the problem is that it's finished in one bite, and it's not enough.

As for the "Cage," based on what players in the closed beta have mentioned so far, it's not just a pie in the sky, but a grand feast of land and sea, a Manchu-Han banquet, the kind where you might be so full you still wouldn't be able to finish even half of it.

That's not a game, it's a world.

During the three-day closed beta test, the Night Kingdom that players explored consisted of only a small town with a few hundred inhabitants and the surrounding forest area, which was not even comparable to a slightly larger university campus.

In this world, players can do whatever they want.

Some people farm, working hard every day, waiting for the harvest.

Some people took up arms and hunted in the forest, going from the initial state of "every monster in this forest has killed me" to later taking on four-legged animals alone with a broken sword and no clothes on.

Others used their expertise to rationally plan the original farmland, or to help the baron's mansion reorganize and prepare tools for production and construction.

The old eggplants are now in anticipation of being harvested.

In fact, the crops he planted have already matured twice, and now the third round is about to mature as well.

The crops of the Night Kingdom truly broadened Old Eggplant's horizons.

This wheat-like crop sprouts overnight after being planted and turns into lush green seedlings by the next morning.

The next day, visible green ears of grain began to sprout from between the branches.

On the third day, while the old eggplant was still figuring out how to harvest it, the crop was already ripe.

That evening, they ate bread made from these ingredients.

These breads didn't taste very good, but they weren't too bad either.

In this era, many breads not only used flour from the scraps, but also contained things like sawdust that weren't food in themselves. They weren't exactly delicacies, but they were at least tasteless.

For Old Eggplant, these breads can't really provide his body with nutrition, but they can at least alleviate his hunger in the game to some extent.

For those who have long relied on the mountains and rivers for their livelihood, this is simply a gift from heaven.

The townspeople quickly finished the food, and the players received more seeds from Lu Ban to continue planting.

Less than nine days have passed since the Kingdom of Night was established, and the town has already stockpiled a considerable amount of food. If this continues, at most one month later, Dusk Town will be able to store enough food to last through the winter.

The old eggplant felt the joy of a bountiful harvest.

He began to understand why his grandparents' generation loved farming so much, even though their children were well-off and they could enjoy their retirement, they still loved working in the fields.

When people see a bountiful harvest and warehouses full of food, the sense of happiness is unparalleled.

Not to mention that all of these things were grown by my own hands.

Of course, the old eggplant also encountered some problems.

For example, there was too much grain, and most of the townspeople in Sunset Town grew just enough to eat. The only places to store grain were under their beds and in their stomachs. There were no proper granaries in the town.

For example, the townspeople's houses are all made of wood, and the only mud-brick baron's mansion is a creation from who knows how many years ago. The town's civil engineering is basically in the stage of pure craftsmanship, full of craftsmanship spirit, but it is not very adaptable to modern building structures. If you want to build a house, you probably have to make the tools first.

Fortunately, there were still some old weapons left in the town. With the players' ingenuity, they managed to get some wood and temporarily build a place to store food.

While still grinning foolishly at the golden ears of wheat in the field, Old Eggplant suddenly felt the sky darken.

He looked into the distance and saw that the deep purple storm that had been hovering above the Black Forest had disappeared.