Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 33: Huge deal incoming!

The tavern was easily the liveliest place in any major city across the entire game. There were plenty of reasons for this, but the biggest one was that NPC heroes would often show up here. If you had the right qualifications—or just got really lucky—you could recruit them.

And landing a hero? That was like winning the lottery!

So naturally, everyone wanted to try their luck.

At the same time, the tavern was also a hub for intelligence exchanges and resource trading.

Take Silver Horn City, for example—just the daily volume of private player transactions in the tavern often exceeded hundreds of thousands!

And if a big deal went down? It could easily break a million!

And we’re talking gold coins, not real-world money.

Yeah, it was that insane...

Right now, in a small private room on the second floor of the Silver Horn Tavern, a tall, lanky man with a thin mustache looked genuinely surprised.

"Starlily, you’re saying you ran into him in Sunfire Basin? That’s on the outskirts of Sylvanwood, isn’t it? What were you guys doing in such a dangerous place?"

Across from him, a stunning woman with an elegant figure responded, "Blackblade took on a C-rank quest—one of those chain quests. This particular step happened to be in Sunfire Basin. We finished the quest and figured we’d grind some levels while we were there. But before we even got started, we ran into him."

A closer look revealed that the woman was none other than LoS_Starlily.

And the mustached man? He was LoS_Marty, the official unit merchant of the Legion of Shadows guild—one of the most well-known figures in all of Silver Horn City.

His personal combat skills were nothing special, but his business acumen was top-tier. He had a knack for making money and had earned the Legion of Shadows a fortune, which made him highly valued within the guild.

Also in the room was another man—this one in his thirties, exuding an imposing presence. His in-game name? Doombringer.

And that name carried serious weight—not just in Silver Horn City, but across all of North America.

Because Doombringer was one of the Legion of Shadows’ top ten elites.

Sure, he wasn’t at the very top of that list, but even being in the top ten was terrifying enough.

The so-called Legion of Shadows’ Top Ten were the guild’s most powerful players—the ones who stood at the very peak. Two of them were even ranked in the Monarch Leaderboard’s top 100, which spoke volumes about their strength.

As for why LoS_Starlily was hanging out with these two high-ranking figures? Simple—she was Doombringer’s little sister. Yep, his actual, real-life sister.

"Bro, this Valkarion is an absolute gaming prodigy! He’s so young, yet he already has Tier 8 units—not just one, but multiple! And he even holds a noble title in the kingdom! He’s insanely strong! If we could recruit him into Legion of Shadows, who knows? In a few years, we might have another top-tier elite on our hands!" LoS_Starlily said excitedly.

"Starlily, don’t talk nonsense. Becoming an elite isn’t that simple," Doombringer said, shaking his head at his sister’s enthusiasm. Then, he turned to LoS_Marty, who seemed deep in thought.

"Marty, what do you think?"

"Me?" LoS_Marty paused for a moment, his eyes flickering with thought. "For someone this young to already have Tier 8 Elite Units—and more than one—it’s obvious he has backing. Recruiting him? Forget it. No one would be stupid enough to let go of a player like that. And even if we somehow managed to bring him in, who’s to say we could trust him?"

"Exactly..." Doombringer sighed, shaking his head. "Glory Lords X is practically a second reality. We don’t even know his real identity or background. There’s no way to trust him."

It was clear he was saying this for LoS_Starlily’s benefit. She blinked, opened her mouth as if to argue, then pouted in frustration but didn’t push the issue.

Now that she thought about it, her earlier idea was a bit naive.

You could never truly know a person’s heart.

And if you couldn’t trust someone completely, even if you did recruit them, they’d just be a ticking time bomb. No one wanted that...

At the same time, a thoughtful look flashed across LoS_Marty’s eyes as he spoke slowly.

"Also, based on Starlily’s description, I actually think that kid might not even be from our region... He might not even be from the Unicorn Duchy."

"What do you mean?" Doombringer raised an eyebrow.

"Just a random guess," LoS_Marty said. "North of the Unicorn Duchy is the Staghelm Duchy—that’s Russian player territory. That said, there are still quite a few independent players from our country over there. If he was just traveling along the outskirts of Sylvanwood and had a Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knight—which is insanely fast—crossing Sylvanwood to get here wouldn’t be all that difficult."

As he spoke, LoS_Marty’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he muttered, "If that’s really the case, then he must have come here with a purpose..."

BANG!

Just then, the door to the room burst open. A player rushed in, looking absolutely ecstatic.

"Boss—b-boss! Huge deal incoming!"

LoS_Marty blinked in surprise. "How huge are we talking? Enough to make you lose your mind like this?"

"Tier 8 units!"

"...What?!"

"Tier 8 units? Are you sure?!"

"Holy—!"

Three simultaneous exclamations filled the room.

...

A short while later, in another private room on the second floor of the tavern, Ethan looked at LoS_Starlily in surprise.

"Huh, what a coincidence. Starlily, you’re here too?"

"Valkarion—y-you—you’re selling Tier 8 units?!"

LoS_Starlily stared at Ethan in complete shock, as if a Category 12 hurricane had just torn through her mind. This was insane.

"Yeah, I saw your guild’s pinned post on the trading network. So? You guys buying?" Ethan narrowed his eyes slightly, smiling.

"Buying! Of course we’re buying!" LoS_Marty immediately stood up and extended a hand toward Ethan. "Nice to meet you. I’m LoS_Marty, the unit merchant for Legion of Shadows."

"Nice to meet you. Valkarion." Ethan shook his hand with a smile.

"So, what Tier 8 unit are you selling?" LoS_Marty asked, his expression turning serious.

"You guys should already know by now, right? Tier 8 Silver Pegasus Knight," Ethan replied.

"An 8-Tier Silver Pegasus Knight?!"

Gulp.

Legion of Shadows’ LoS_Marty shuddered slightly, swallowing hard as he quickly suppressed his excitement. Looking at Ethan, he said eagerly, "No problem, no problem! If you’re really buying, we can make the trade right now... but the price will be a bit lower. Mr. Valkarion, you should know that among all 8-Tier units, the Silver Pegasus Knight has the cheapest recruitment cost, and its damage output isn’t that high... How about this—250,000 gold per Silver Pegasus Knight? What do you think?"

As soon as LoS_Marty finished speaking, Ethan shook his head, his tone calm but tinged with disappointment. "If this is all the sincerity you can offer, then I don’t think there’s any point in continuing this discussion."

With that, Ethan stood up, his expression unreadable, and prepared to leave.

"Wait!"

A commanding voice rang out. Doombringer stepped forward slightly, blocking Ethan’s path just enough to pause him. Speaking in a low voice, he said, "Business is all about negotiation, right?"

At the same time, he shot a meaningful glance at his sister, LoS_Starlily, who sat across from him.

She hesitated for a brief moment before instantly catching on.

"Valkarion, why don’t you sit down first? Don’t worry, Legion of Shadows is absolutely sincere about this deal. Tell us your price, and we’ll negotiate from there. How does that sound?" LoS_Starlily said smoothly.

However, Ethan didn’t respond to her immediately.

Instead, his gaze shifted to Doombringer, his expression unreadable.

In that instant, the sharpness in Ethan’s eyes and the subtle pressure of his presence made Doombringer’s heart skip a beat.

A real expert! Doombringer’s pupils contracted slightly as he studied Ethan with a mix of surprise and uncertainty.

"Alright, Starlily, I’ll give you some face..." Ethan finally withdrew his gaze, sitting back down as he looked at LoS_Marty. His voice remained calm as he said, "I don’t like haggling, and I’m not good at it either. So I’ll just be direct—three Silver Pegasus Knights, flat price: 1.1 million gold."

"That’s way too expensive!" LoS_Marty shook his head immediately.

"No, not only is it not expensive, it’s actually a bargain," Ethan replied, his tone steady. "Among 8-Tier units, the Silver Pegasus Knight may not have the highest damage, but it’s a flying unit. And that alone makes it incredibly valuable—do you understand?"

In Glory Lords X, the game world was as complete and functional as reality itself. Because of that, flying units had immense strategic value.

Aerial reconnaissance, surveillance, treasure hunting, air combat—the list went on.

That’s why flying units, with their unparalleled mobility, were always in high demand.

In other words, flying units were practically synonymous with wealth.

"But..." LoS_Marty understood the logic, but he still wanted to push the price down. However, before he could finish his sentence, Doombringer cut him off.

"1.1 million gold. Flat price. I’ll take all three Silver Pegasus Knights," Doombringer said decisively.

"Doombringer, you—" LoS_Marty turned to look at him, but Doombringer simply shook his head, signaling him to let it go.

"Let’s make the trade," Ethan said, a faint smile appearing on his face as he finalized the deal with Doombringer.

A moment later, the crisp sound of gold being deposited echoed in Ethan’s ears.

His eyes narrowed slightly in satisfaction.

He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. Everything’s going according to plan.

1.1 million gold!

Converted into Silver Pegasus Knights, that was thirteen of them!

More than triple the profit margin—this was practically daylight robbery!

And if he could successfully liquidate this 1.1 million gold, combined with the support of his three top-tier heroes—Seraphina, Cicero, and Elynn—he was fully confident that he could hold out for a long time against the looming threat of the S-rank quest: Blackmire Castle’s Hostility.

After all, with the insane amount of leveling he had done recently...

Ethan’s character level had already reached Level 21!

What did that mean?

It meant 42 attribute points in total!

It meant 21 points in both Attack and Defense!

And when all those Attack and Defense points were applied to his Silver Pegasus Knights...

Against neutral creatures in the wild, even those of the same Tier, his units would practically steamroll them!

In certain situations, they could even punch above their weight class, going up against lower-end 9-Tier units—which was absolutely insane.

So why was Ethan, at just Level 21, already this powerful?

Simple.

Because his Hero Tier was Epic (Purple)!

As an Epic-tier hero, Ethan gained two attribute points per level-up—twice the amount of any other player at this stage!

In Glory Lords X, only heroes could gain attribute points upon leveling up. But the Hero Tier determined how many points they received and their level cap.

Here’s how it worked:

Common (White) Heroes → Max Level 40, +1 attribute point per level

Rare (Blue) Heroes → Max Level 50, +1 attribute point per level

Epic (Purple) Heroes → Max Level 60, +2 attribute points per level

Legendary (Orange) Heroes → Max Level 80, +2 attribute points per level

Ultimate (Crimson) Heroes → Max Level 99, +3 attribute points per level

Right now, across the entire player base, the highest level anyone had reached was just over Level 40.

Which meant, in terms of Attack and Defense attributes, even the strongest players only had around 40 points total.

In other words, when it came to raw hero stats, Ethan was already one of the strongest players in the world!

Because before him, no player had ever managed to become an Epic-tier hero.

He was the first Epic (Purple) Hero!

The first player to gain two attribute points per level-up!

At this rate, after just a few more levels, he was guaranteed to become the #1 player in the world in terms of attribute points!

So yeah—his strength wasn’t just luck.

It was earned.