Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 287: This is amazing

"As expected... here it comes."

A faint smile tugged at the corner of Ethan’s lips.

The rewards he’d just received were different from the earlier ones. The first batch had been for scoring the first kill on the Crimson Ultimate hero. But these? These were the payoff from that S-rank hidden chained quest—one of the trump cards he’d been keeping up his sleeve.

Thirty units of Tier-13 troops, either chosen or random.

Ten units of Tier-14 troops, also chosen or random.

More than enough to give his army a serious power boost.

"I’ll take the Tier-13 Green Dragons and the Tier-14 Gold Dragons," Ethan said without hesitation.

Everything was going according to plan. Time to reinforce his high-tier ground forces.

As for why he picked Green Dragons and Gold Dragons? The logic was pretty straightforward.

The Tier-13 Green Dragons were a no-brainer. Same race as Seraphina and Cicero, and with the passive skill Green Dragon Commander in play, their overall combat effectiveness could easily rival the strongest Legendary Units out there.

So when it came to picking a Tier-13 Legendary Unit, unless you had some ultra-specific strategy in mind, there was really no reason to overthink it. Just go Green Dragon and call it a day.

Now, for the Tier-14 Mythic Units.

First, he had to rule out the Black Dragon, Inferno Arch Devil, and Ghost Dragon.

All three were Dark Alliance units. And yeah, he was definitely tempted—Black Dragon’s melee invincibility and the Arch Devil’s instant teleportation were both insane. But for now, he had to grit his teeth and pass.

He was still operating in Light Alliance territory. Couldn’t afford to get cocky just yet.

Next, he crossed off the Titan Giant, Phoenix, Chaos Hydra, and Ancient Behemoth.

The Titan Giant, from the Tower faction, was hands-down the strongest ranged Mythic Unit. Perfect for defense. A castle guarded by Titan Giants? Basically a death trap for anyone dumb enough to attack.

But that only held true when the power gap wasn’t too wide.

If the enemy was overwhelmingly stronger—like the Dungeon army he was up against now—then even Titan Giants couldn’t hold the line. In that kind of mismatch, turtling up was just a slow death sentence.

So it wasn’t that the Titan Giant was weak.

It just wasn’t the right fit.

Same deal with the Ancient Behemoth.

Amazing in close combat, but Ethan wasn’t in a position to wage large-scale melee battles right now.

So that was out too.

What he needed now were fast, mobile units that could hit and run, spread out, and wage guerrilla warfare. The Phoenix actually wasn’t a bad option—fastest unit in the game—but its damage output was just too mediocre. It could bully Bone Dragons, sure, but that was about it.

Gold Dragons, on the other hand, weren’t exactly powerhouses either, but they hit harder than Phoenixes and were still lightning-fast—second only to the Phoenix in speed. Among dragon units, they were top-tier. All things considered, they offered better value and versatility.

So he passed on the Phoenix without a second thought.

As for the Chaos Hydra? Not even worth discussing. Bottom-tier Mythic Unit, right down there with the Bone Dragon. Great for stomping weaklings, but completely outclassed by anything stronger. Classic glass cannon—bullies the weak, folds against the strong. Total extremes.

Which pretty much narrowed his viable choices down to the Archangel, the Gold Dragon...

And a few of the more niche Mythic Units.

Ethan didn’t even bother considering the more obscure Mythic Units. If they were off-meta, there was a reason—usually a glaring flaw. If they didn’t have one, they’d already be mainstream, just like the top-tier units from the major factions.

That left him with two real options: the Archangel and the Gold Dragon.

To be honest, the Archangel was probably the stronger pick. But Ethan wasn’t too keen on drawing the Castle faction’s attention. Given his current situation, he was definitely going to be working with Cain for a while.

And if that was the case, there was no way he could keep the Archangel under wraps.

The Castle faction was notorious for being territorial when it came to Mythic Units. They treated ownership like a sacred right. If they found out he had one of their prized Archangels, it’d be a whole mess he didn’t need.

So, to avoid the drama, he passed on the Archangel.

And went with the Gold Dragon instead.

Actually, there was a hidden perk to choosing the Gold Dragon—Auremax.

As the Mythic Ace Unit of the Gold Dragon race, Auremax held serious clout among her kind. That meant Ethan wouldn’t have to micromanage them too much. They’d naturally fall in line, maybe even fight harder just to impress her.

So while the Gold Dragon might not be the absolute best pick on paper, it was definitely a solid one. No regrets.

Ding!

"Player Valkarion has selected specific unit rewards: 30 Tier-13 Green Dragons and 10 Tier-14 Gold Dragons. Please wait... Beep—Selection complete! Please check your inventory."

Ding!

"Player ’Valkarion’ has used a random special resource item. Initiating randomization... Beep—Randomization complete!"

"Congratulations! You’ve received 500 units of Elemental Crystal. Please check your inventory."

"Elemental Crystal? Wait... no way—seriously?!"

Ethan froze for a second, eyes narrowing in surprise. Then a grin spread across his face.

He popped open his inventory.

Sure enough, sitting right there were 500 units of a glowing, shimmering resource: Elemental Crystal.

He pressed his lips together, trying to contain his excitement, and immediately pulled up the item’s description.

Elemental Crystal: A rare Tier-13 special resource. The core energy source of the Holy Psychic Elemental, containing all elemental attributes except Chaos, Time, and Space. An extremely valuable high-tier magical material!

Can be used to craft various magical items, including the Forest Library, a powerful S-rank special building. Also used in constructing magical libraries and other advanced structures. High value.

"It really is Elemental Crystal! Hell yes—this is amazing!"

Ethan practically lit up.

He hadn’t expected to get this lucky.

One of the core materials for the S-rank special building Forest Library, and he’d just pulled it from a random drop. Sure, he hadn’t seen any of the other required materials yet, but this was a damn good start.

Every journey starts with a single step.

And this? This was one hell of a first step.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a sleek figure burst out of the ocean with a splash—Kyros.

"Master, I’m back!"

He landed on the deck with a thud, water dripping from his armor.

"Man, that guy was brutal! He actually banished the Leviathan nest under the sea! But I got the bracelet the Gem Dragon clan wanted—and a bunch of other stuff too. Here, take a look!"

Kyros’s voice boomed as he dropped a pile of loot at Ethan’s feet.

At the same time, several gleaming Strategic Artifacts materialized on the deck of the warship, catching the sunlight and throwing off dazzling reflections.