Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory

Chapter 1198: Three Days to Mournvale

Ethan didn’t press for details. He just led Korvath straight into a command tent near the center of the camp.

Once they were inside, Ethan lifted a hand and released a layer of defensive energy. Transparent lightning crawled along the outside of the canvas, sealing the interior off from the world. The barrier snapped into place, and the noise outside vanished instantly, leaving only the faint hum of energy inside the tent.

Ethan pulled a chair out and sat down, casually grabbing a piece of fruit off the table and taking a bite.

"Talk here and nobody hears a thing."

He looked at Korvath.

"What is it? Say it."

Korvath didn’t waste time.

He took out a map and spread it across the tabletop. It was far more detailed than anything Ethan had seen before, packed with markings—Castles, mineral veins, abyss zones, mountain ranges, and danger regions. Korvath tapped a few points, then looked up at Ethan.

"Our world has endless mineral resources."

His finger traced across a huge stretch of territory.

"But the factions are scattered. Everyone’s holed up in their own corner, guarding their own little patch, and nobody wants to unite. If an outside enemy invades, there’s a good chance we get picked off one by one."

Ethan nodded.

He’d known that from the beginning.

When he’d first arrived in this world, he’d used the contradictions between factions to wipe out several small Castles and seize massive mineral resources. The powers here were too fragmented, too suspicious of each other. If you found the crack, you could break them apart in sequence.

The only reason it hadn’t turned into open slaughter was because Ethan had been selective.

A Castle like Korvath’s wasn’t something he’d casually move against.

But outsiders wouldn’t care about any of that.

Those invading monsters only wanted minerals. They wouldn’t care if a city’s people were decent or innocent. If there were resources here, the whole place would get ground into dust.

"So you want to pull most of the cities together," Ethan said, drawing a broad circle over the map with his finger.

"Build an alliance."

Korvath nodded hard.

Then he pulled out a cube-like device and set it in the middle of the table. He pressed a point on its top, and light immediately spilled out—projecting into the air inside the tent.

The world’s mineral distribution unfolded in front of them.

Resource nodes around each Castle. Underground veins. Energy core production sites—each marked in different colors. The brighter the region, the denser the energy and the richer the veins.

"Ethan. You get it," Korvath said, his voice turning urgent as he pointed into the projection.

"But the strength I have in my hands... it’s too thin. I need you with me."

He looked straight at Ethan, expression solemn.

"I want your full support. Together... we unify this world."

Excitement lit up Ethan’s eyes.

He hadn’t come to this world for sightseeing. He was here for the mineral wealth hidden underground. And now a native powerhouse was not only willing to lead the way, but also help him consolidate the major factions—this was a once-in-a-lifetime opening for Emerald Castle.

"Alright."

Ethan stood up on the spot.

"Then from now on, we’re allies."

He was already turning to head out.

"I’ll gather the army immediately. We move now."

Korvath hurriedly reached out and stopped him.

"Don’t rush."

He shook his head, and the excitement on his face was quickly replaced by something heavier.

"Some things need time. There are extremely dangerous existences in this world."

As he spoke, his finger landed on one corner of the map.

"Like here."

"Mournvale Abyss."

Ethan looked to that location, his brows pulling together.

He’d sent people to scout that place too. But what came back was almost nothing—only a name: Mournvale Abyss. As for what forces were inside, what kind of power they held, how the mineral structures were laid out... it was basically a blank.

The last scouting team had reported something deeply wrong down there.

A strange energy that actively devoured the aura of anyone who got close.

Even hovering near the outer edge made it feel like your flesh and soul were being dragged downward.

"This place is terrifying," Ethan said in a low voice.

"If we force an attack, we’ll lose people."

He paused, then looked at Korvath.

"Is there a way to talk them into surrendering?"

It sounded naive, even to him.

But at this point, Ethan truly didn’t want to keep smashing everything head-on.

Emerald Castle had gotten reinforcements and held onto its core strength through the war—but the losses were still brutal. Many Sky Fortress units were heavily damaged. A lot of powered combat armor had been scrapped. Even the Fallen Star Guard needed time to recover. In the short term, they simply couldn’t gather enough force to storm a place like Mournvale Abyss.

Korvath could see exactly where Ethan was coming from.

He didn’t shoot the idea down right away. Instead, he pulled out a golden gem and set it lightly on the table.

The moment it touched the wood, the energy inside the tent trembled.

"Ethan."

Korvath pointed to where Mournvale Abyss sat on the map.

"That place has the richest mineral reserves in the entire world."

His voice dropped even lower.

"If we can take it, we can truly seize control of this world."

Something in Ethan’s gaze shifted.

He looked down at the golden gem, and he could feel his resolve start to tilt.

Emerald Castle was weakened right now—no one knew that better than he did. But that was exactly why they needed resources, fast. Enough to rebuild, expand, and stabilize before the next wave hit. Otherwise, if another major power in this world chose this moment to strike, Emerald Castle could get dragged under.

After a brief calculation, Ethan slammed his palm down on the table.

"Fine."

The map and the projection shook from the impact.

"Then we set the plan right now."

Ethan met Korvath’s eyes.

"The army rests here for three days."

"Three days from now—we march."

"And we take Mournvale Abyss."

Korvath lit up on the spot.

He immediately pulled out every gem he had on him and dumped them onto the table. Stones of every color rolled along the edge of the map, each one releasing an incredibly dense energy aura.

Ethan’s eyes brightened.

These were top-tier gems. Absorbing even a single one would noticeably ease his injuries.

Before Ethan could say anything, Korvath had already grabbed a communication device and spoke into it in a quick, clipped rush of orders. Not long after, shipments started arriving at the Emerald Castle camp in waves.

Minerals. Energy cores. Gems. Special metals.

They piled up until the camp’s temporary warehouses were stuffed full.

With that energy supply backing them, the entire Emerald Castle army’s recovery speed jumped immediately. The wounded were sent into energy arrays to rebuild their bodies. Damaged powered combat armor was reforged. Sky Fortress units began swapping out core components.

The next three days were—rarely—calm.

Everyone in Emerald Castle seized the time to recover, while also deploying temporary Creature Dwellings and using the energy of the local mineral veins to summon fresh troops. Inside the camp, new units stepped out of pillars of light almost every moment, and the army’s size expanded bit by bit, tightening into something sharper.

By the third day, most of the departure prep was done.

The army formed up. Sky Fortress rose into the air. The native powerhouses Korvath had brought regrouped into fresh formations. Everyone knew exactly where they were going this time.

Mournvale Abyss.

But right as the колонны were about to move—

A bizarre figure appeared in the sky.

He floated high above them, his entire body wrapped in purple-red lightning. Every arc that snapped off him left warped trails in the air, like the atmosphere itself couldn’t recover fast enough. More eye-catching than that, though, was the purple gem embedded in his forehead.

Inside that gem churned a thick, terrifying concentration of Infernal Primordial Power.