I loaded the Mysticism panel.

"...When?" Ares asked first.

He was a hunter by trade and was very sensitive to warfare.

"Maybe next year or the year after," Hecate replied calmly, her three voices blending together seamlessly, revealing not a trace of emotion.

"Local conflicts will first ignite on Heimers Island."

Once a spark ignites, it will spread throughout the Old World along that chaotic web of alliances.

"It could escalate into a full-scale war within three years at the latest."

"...Why?" Prometheus asked.

All eyes at the table turned to the person in the head seat.

"The superficial reason is that it's in the newspapers every day."

Hecate's girlish voice started first.

"The distribution of colonial benefits was uneven. Germania rose to prominence too late and received too little of its overseas territory, which made them envious."

Centuries-old grievances between the Franco-Albion and the Rus' Empire fueled their desire for an ice-free port on the sea.

"These are all true, but they are all just the surface."

The mother's voice followed, warm and gentle, yet it inexplicably made one want to shrink back.

"The underlying reason can be traced back to the 'annual decay rate of the curtain'."

Richard rummaged through his mind for the word.

Haldane's "Introduction to Curtain Dynamics" mentions this.

"Over the past three hundred years, the annual decay rate of the curtain has increased rapidly, and the curtain is getting thinner."

At this point, she shifted the topic to a height that none of the people present would dare to even dream of.

"When you reach the level of an expert, your spirit and body have basically merged with what's behind the veil."

"As the veil thins, their interference in the material world is actually amplified."

Richard's breathing softened.

"In the past, they were also able to exert their power in the material world."

Hecate continued speaking.

"But there's a price to pay. Every time we take action here, it's like pulling ourselves out from behind the curtain."

Richard suddenly realized something.

Based on my speculation from the literature, Grand Mastery can cause devastating destruction on a city-wide scale.

Once a master achieves a qualitative leap, destroying an island or a small country would probably be an easy task for them.

But he searched through newspapers and the city library for those meager local historical materials.

I have never read about a city or a country that was wiped out overnight by "those in power" or "natural disasters".

Conflicts are constant in the world, and wars occur every year.

But there were no large-scale natural disasters that could wipe out an entire city.

He had been trying to figure this out, but Hecate's words tonight filled that gap in his understanding.

Because from the moment they begin to master something, their real battlefield lies behind the scenes.

"Those in high positions all used to occupy their own territories."

Hecate's old woman lowered her voice.

"The world behind the curtain is vast enough that they can't reach each other, so they don't bother to fight and just live their own lives."

"But once the veil thins, the barrier of the material world loosens."

"They rely on believers, sacrifices, bloodstains, sacrificial scars... and every weak point that can continuously provide nourishment to sustain their overly large existence."

So that's how it is. Richard now understands why he shouldn't have set up a base with the power of a master.

Ares had another question.

"But why did they start with the Hammers area?"

Hecate raised her hand and threw a pool of black water into the center of the table.

"Let me show you something first."

As soon as he finished speaking, the pool of black water on the table began to churn.

Richard's inspiration caught the change before his eyes could.

The images projected by the blackwater carried a sluggish feeling, as if they had been repeatedly handled and translated multiple times before finally arriving here.

The first frame shows a peninsula.

The mountains are rugged, the valleys are crisscrossed, and the gray city is scattered among the mountains.

On that map, there was a spot that shone with an extremely deep and steady light, like an ever-burning lamp that had been burning underground for hundreds of years.

"A month ago," Hecate explained, "a great master fell in the southern part of the peninsula."

None of the people at the table said a word.

Great mastery, the ceiling for existing practitioners in the Old World.

In this segment, survival is the anchor of a city.

"How did he die?" Nemesis asked.

"I don't know," Hecate answered quickly.

"My sources only know that 'he is dead,' but I don't know 'how he died.'"

The underground lamp that burned continuously in the image went out.

The spot where it was destroyed had its cover removed, and things started to emerge from it.

The fog at the wellhead first seeped in wisps, then surged in streams.

"What that great master guards is the sacrificial scar at the southern tip of the peninsula, which is over a thousand years old."

Hecate's other voice followed.

"The Thracians have been offering sacrifices to the gods of the underworld in that area for hundreds of years, leaving deep scars and abundant nourishment."

"A fertile field that has been nurtured for a thousand years, and has only just been vacated for sovereignty," Hecate said. "What do you think will happen?"

The second frame appears.

This frame is even blurrier than the first frame, so blurry that its shape is almost impossible to discern.

Two enormous, non-human-scaled objects confronted each other in the sky above the peninsula.

Richard glanced at the two lumps and his intuition began to guide him.

"The conflict between the two experts was caused by that well that had just been emptied."

As Hecate finished speaking, the two enormous shapes in the mist collided.

Richard could not see clearly; he could only see the changes that occurred on the peninsula itself after the contact took place.

The first contestant, Hecate, did not submit a registration number; she only submitted a video clip.

In the mountains of the southern part of the peninsula, all the rivers flow backward at the same time, and then quickly flow back together.

The whispers of the Thracian gods from the underground water veins were seized from the ground and twisted into a rope.

Fate, rivers, and underground threads—all are held in this one's hands and wielded as weapons.

The second one is even harder to see.

The frame projected by Hecate showed the entire peninsula's shadow rising up from beneath its owner's feet.

The shadows of the mountains, the city, people, and trees... all detached from their physical forms and surged in the same direction.

It was just like the night Richard pried open the seal on the Sphinx Lamp; in Nail Lane, the streets were filled with shadows detached from objects.

That night, however, he pried open a tiny oil lamp.

The person before us has shaken up the "darkness" of the entire Heimers Island.

There was no sound when those two masters sparred.

It was completely different from the kind of massive upheaval, like mountains collapsing, cities crumbling, and countries being destroyed that Richard often imagined.

The real battle takes place behind the curtain.

Only a tiny bit of scrap material can seep out from this side of the substance.

The river flowed backward for three breaths, and the shadow stood up and then lay back down.

For seven consecutive days, no babies were born at the southern tip of the peninsula, and the flock of sheep knelt down in the same direction.

People would attribute these to drought, plague, or bad harvests.

"One won, and one retired."

Hecate retracted the blurry frame, restoring the black lines.

"The winner is now pulling the wellhead back into their own hands."

She gestured towards Richard's side:

"Hermes' deduction just now was pretty much correct."

"The Industrial Revolution changed many old vulnerabilities and even gave rise to new types of vulnerabilities that had never existed before."

The atmosphere at the table was kept at a minimum.

"A new field where no one has planted their flag yet, and those in positions of power are scrambling to bring it to life and fatten it up."

"The method to induce childbirth is very simple: cause mass death."

"The fastest way to form blood spots is through war."

"And so..." Her three-tone voice rang out together.

"In diplomatic notes, make the ambassador's wording slightly stronger than usual."

During the military exercise, the fleet was directed to deviate from its course by a few nautical miles.

In the border skirmishes, let that shot be fired.

The entire table was deathly silent.

The clash between those two experts on the peninsula is likely just the prelude to this struggle.

The overlapping gazes beneath the golden masks fell upon the faces of everyone at the table.

"I'm showing you this so you can hurry up."

"The curtain is thinning, and the wells are being emptied one after another, only to be filled one after another."

Those in positions of power are playing their games more and more hastily; once war breaks out in full force, the entire Old World will become a vast blood-soaked wasteland.

"By then, no one will be able to stand on the shore."

"The tricks and cleverness you have are nothing compared to that game of chess."

But this is the only thing you can use to move forward right now.

Her three-phase tone fell together.

"Those who walk too slowly, by the time the fire reaches their doorstep... I don't need to elaborate on their fate."

The four people at the table took a while to recover.

Ares loosened his clenched fist with his right hand, which was trembling slightly.

The flames above Prometheus's head reignited.

Nemesis's tilted scales were almost completely tipped over.

Richard leaned back in his chair, trying to calm his slightly unsteady breathing.

"That's all for tonight." Hecate looked away.

"The next gathering will be in mid-April."

"Everyone is familiar with the way to leave."

"Close your eyes and count to seven."

Richard closed his eyes.

one two three.

In my mind, the half-open well on the peninsula and the two enormous figures facing each other high up receded layer by layer.

Four, five.

He thought of the Sphinx lamp and the still very young shadow beneath his feet.

Perhaps it's the same root.

On one side is a newcomer who hasn't even signed his name yet, and on the other side is an expert who can shake the entire peninsula from "darkness".

six.

How long is that road, and how far will he go on it in his lifetime?

seven.

The sea of ​​stars has dispersed.