Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 1006: The Core Remained

Ethan didn't let up.

He gathered power again. This time, he compressed every last scrap of energy he had to the absolute limit, forging it into an even denser sphere. It wasn't big, but it felt impossibly heavy—like an entire storm had been crushed and sealed inside.

He whipped his arm and threw it.

The strike punched straight through the lightning domain, dead-accurate, and drilled through Zerathrax's chest.

The energy detonated inside him.

"BOOM—!"

With a rumble so deep it felt like the world itself had flinched, Zerathrax's body finally failed to hold its shape. The cracks on him went out of control in an instant, and his entire form burst apart like a container blown open from within.

Flesh, energy, abyssal aura—everything exploded into the air at once.

A chain of blasts echoed across the sky. Shards of broken space and violent energy currents intertwined and scattered, and the whole heaven-and-earth was swallowed by that savage force.

When it finally started to settle—

Only a single dark brown-black bead remained in the sky.

It hovered between fractured space, its surface giving off no light at all, yet constantly releasing a heavy, eerie pulse.

That pulse seemed to press on everything around it, making even the air feel thick.

Ethan didn't hesitate.

He shot forward and snatched the bead in his hand.

The instant he touched it, his consciousness felt like it got tugged for a split second by some unseen force. The energy inside the bead wasn't violent, but it was unfathomably deep—like a bottomless well.

He immediately opened a system scan.

A moment later, his eyes lit up.

This bead—

was one of this world's Primordial Cores.

And it was composed entirely of pure Dark Abyss power.

Ethan's breathing turned a shade heavier. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

A core at this level didn't just mean strength. It meant authority—control over the very source of an entire region.

He didn't waste time.

"All forces, move out. Dark Abyss."

The moment the order left his mouth, he'd already turned and surged toward the abyss.

Emerald Castle's army had just fought a brutal battle, and their energy still hadn't fully recovered. But the second they heard the command, not a single person objected. They regrouped at speed, fell in behind him, and pushed toward that land of darkness.

But when they actually arrived at the Dark Abyss, what they saw was… unexpected.

The entire region—empty.

The large garrison that should've been here was simply gone. Obviously, during the earlier fight, Zerathrax had pulled every last unit away to encircle and wipe them out.

Which also meant—

this place's defenses were completely hollow.

Ethan met almost no resistance as he pressed deeper and deeper, until he reached the very heart of the Dark Abyss.

When he stepped into the center of that area, his breathing caught for an instant.

The energy density here was far beyond the outside world.

The air was saturated with Dark Abyss aura so thick it was almost solid. Mixed into it wasn't just infernal energy, but something even stranger—like an older, more primal force, flowing slowly under everything.

"Spread out," Ethan ordered quietly. "Find the source nodes."

As soon as he spoke, everyone split up.

They could feel how abnormally rich the energy was here too. No one hesitated. They pushed out in every direction, searching for more resources.

Ethan, meanwhile, tightened his grip on the Primordial Core.

The bead trembled faintly, like it was pointing the way.

Following that subtle pull, he quickly arrived at a stretch of ruins that looked ordinary at first glance. There were no obvious energy fluctuations. It even looked a little desolate—totally out of place compared to the surroundings.

But that was exactly why—

it felt wrong.

Ethan didn't pause.

He raised his palm and slammed it into the ground.

White lightning erupted instantly.

Thunder raced down along the fractures in the earth, spearing straight into the deep veins below. The force drove like a lance through the strata, forcibly awakening the energy structure hidden underground.

A few seconds later—

something answered.

A wildly violent surge of power blasted upward from deep beneath the ground.

"ROAR—!"

A low, ancient tremor rolled through the earth.

The entire area began to shake. Cracks split across the ground, and dark energy poured out of them without end. That force was tangled with infernal aura and a kind of indescribable, alien pulse—something that made danger spike in the bones on pure instinct.

Ethan smiled.

He didn't back off.

Instead, he quickly pulled out two temporary Creature Dwellings and set them down around him.

Energy began to circulate.

In an environment this dense, the Creature Dwellings activated almost instantly. In just a few breaths, a dozen goblins stepped out.

And these goblins—

were abnormally strong.

Their bodies had been reinforced by thick Dark Abyss energy. Savage light flickered in their eyes, and the pressure they gave off was even worse than the ones he'd seen before.

Ethan didn't pause.

He condensed power again.

A massive sphere of energy formed above his head, white lightning braided together with abyssal aura. He slammed it down into the ground.

"BOOM—!"

The earth layers were pierced clean through.

A huge passage leading into the deep earth veins opened up right in front of everyone.

Ethan stood at the edge of the opening and held out his palm.

The next second, enormous amounts of Dark Abyss Primordial Force surged up from below, flooding into his body like a torrent. It was violent but pure, and he could feel his energy tier rising almost instantly.

He didn't stop it.

He guided it—on purpose.

Then he released his own power into the sky, forming a complex, eerie symbol high overhead. It looked like a gigantic rally mark, pulling every nearby energy fluctuation into a single, unified flow.

Not long after, the people of Emerald Castle regrouped and rushed back in.

Every face was lit with barely contained excitement—clearly they'd all found something during their own searches. But the moment they saw the tunnel at Ethan's feet, the shock and hunger in their eyes sharpened.

"This is the world's most central energy node," Ethan said evenly, his voice calm but carrying absolute authority.

"Link to it. Absorb it. And then—summon your armies."

No one questioned him.

They jumped into the passage one after another and started absorbing that primal power like their lives depended on it.

Time itself seemed to speed up.

As the absorption continued, the energy in the Dark Abyss was rapidly drained away. The once-suffocating aura thinned by the second. At the same time, Emerald Castle's forces recovered at a terrifying pace.

Wounds knit closed.

Energy rebuilt itself.

Even levels that had been stuck for ages started to break loose.

Many who'd been stranded at the peak of Tier 32 finally crushed through the bottleneck after taking in that Primordial Force, stepping into Tier 33.

Ethan remained at the edge of the channel into the deep veins, the power inside him rising like a tide that refused to stop.

He could feel it clearly—each continuous surge of Dark Abyss Primordial Force brought a qualitative change to his level and energy.

This wasn't just numbers going up. It was a leap in structural tiering. Even his range of perception expanded rapidly, as if the world was being unsealed in front of him.

And what surprised him even more—

was the efficiency his Creature Dwellings showed in this environment.

In a short span of time, the goblin count had already broken one hundred thousand.

These newborn goblins weren't ordinary troops. Their bodies had been steeped in dense Dark Abyss power, and every single one of them radiated a violent, unstable presence—like a walking energy bomb that could be set off at any moment.