Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 873: The World Chose a Side
Ethan stood at the edge of the rift, weighing the risks in silence.
Then he raised a hand, signaling the others to hold position.
"I'll go in first."
"Maintain perimeter security. If anything goes wrong, seal the rift immediately."
Before the words had fully left his mouth, he extended his hand toward the swirling edge of the vortex.
The moment his fingers touched it—
A violent suction force exploded outward.
He barely had time to react before his entire body was yanked inside.
BOOM—
HUMMMM—
Space twisted violently around him, warping his vision into a blur of color and distortion.
When everything finally stabilized, Ethan found himself standing on unfamiliar ground.
The air was thick with a strange, dark red hue.
Not mist—this was a highly concentrated energy field.
A low-frequency hum pulsed through the world, like the land itself was breathing in slow, heavy rhythms.
And within the crimson currents—
Countless strange insects floated through the air.
They were small, but their bodies shimmered with a golden sheen. When their wings vibrated, they resonated with the surrounding energy, releasing waves of stable, powerful pulses.
"…Interesting."
Ethan's instincts flared.
These weren't ordinary lifeforms.
He was just about to capture a few for scanning when—
A figure shot out from the distant mountains like a missile.
The killing intent hit first, sharp and suffocating.
A tall man clad in gold-etched battle armor streaked through the air, eyes cold and locked on Ethan. In his hands, a golden energy axe crackled with power.
"Where did you come from?"
"You dare touch my swarm?"
"Are you looking to die?"
Before the last word even landed, the axe came down, splitting the air with a roar.
Ethan's pupils contracted.
No time to explain.
He instinctively dodged back, his Powered Combat Armor snapping into combat mode. Energy surged into his hands, forming a massive Energy Greatsword in a flash.
—CLANG!!!
Gold and blue-white energy collided head-on.
The shockwave tore through the air like a sonic boom.
The two figures clashed midair, exchanging blows at blistering speed. In just a few seconds, they'd already crossed blades over a hundred times.
Power, speed, reflexes—
They were evenly matched.
But as the fight dragged on, a cold realization crept into Ethan's mind.
He was only holding his ground because of the Powered Combat Armor's sustained energy output.
If the armor's reserves dropped—
He'd be at a deadly disadvantage.
And then—
The golden insects began to drift toward him, drawn by something unseen.
A few landed gently on his armor.
In the next instant—
Golden energy flowed through the armor's seams, feeding directly into the core energy circuit.
Ethan's body jolted.
The armor's energy levels—were rising.
"…?"
He instantly understood.
The energy inside these insects could be directly absorbed and converted by the Powered Combat Armor.
And not just absorbed—
Converted with incredible efficiency.
Ethan's eyes lit up.
All hesitation vanished.
He cranked the armor's output to max, actively drawing in more of the swarm.
Golden energy surged into him like a tide.
His power didn't wane—it climbed.
"You—!"
The armored man finally realized what was happening.
Fury exploded across his face.
"Stop!"
"You dare steal this world's energy right in front of me?!"
He raised his axe high, power surging wildly from his core. The red energy saturating the sky began collapsing toward the blade, drawn in like a vortex.
Just as the man prepared to unleash his full-force strike—
Ethan suddenly turned.
His figure blurred into a bolt of lightning, shooting straight toward the tallest blood-red mountain nearby.
BOOM!!!
Without hesitation, he slammed headfirst into the mountainside.
The man's expression changed instantly.
That wasn't just any mountain.
It was the core source of this world's Primordial Force.
If it were damaged, the entire energy cycle of the realm could collapse.
"Damn it—!"
He abandoned everything else and gave chase, tearing through the air in pursuit.
Ethan had already sensed something off during their earlier clash.
Every time their weapons collided, the man's energy didn't drop.
In fact—
The closer they got to the blood-red mountain, the more stable and potent his power became. It was as if some invisible network was feeding him energy nonstop.
"Just as I thought…"
The moment Ethan breached the mountain's surface, his suspicions were confirmed.
That man wasn't fighting on raw strength alone.
He was tethered to the mountain—linked to it by a continuous energy stream.
Constant. Unbroken.
Ethan, by contrast, had to rely on absorbing the golden insects to replenish his armor's reserves. But that was still an external supplement.
The man, however—
Was drawing directly from the world's native blood-red energy.
If they kept fighting head-on out there, the outcome was obvious.
"If this drags on, I lose."
The moment that thought settled, Ethan stopped holding back.
He surrendered his body to the armor's propulsion system, becoming a streak of thunder as he dove deeper into the mountain's core.
RUMBLE—
RUMBLE RUMBLE—
The rock layers behind him collapsed in waves, violent energy shockwaves rippling through the earth's veins.
The deeper he went, the thicker the blood-colored energy became.
Until finally—
A crimson glow burst open in the depths below.
A lake.
But it wasn't liquid in the traditional sense—it was pure, condensed energy in fluid form. It churned, pulsed, and breathed like a living thing.
Just being near it made Ethan's mind sharpen, his senses heighten.
"…This is the source."
He didn't waste a second.
He plunged his hand into the lake.
The Powered Combat Armor's fusion protocols activated instantly. Streams of data lit up across the armor's surface as it began forcibly parsing and extracting the energy.
The blood-red force surged through the armor's conduits, flooding into the core.
The sensation was overwhelming.
Wild. Dense. Brimming with primal vitality.
In just a few seconds, Ethan's power level spiked noticeably.
He was already considering—
Could he take the entire lake with him?
But before he could act, a familiar, violent presence crashed down from above.
"…So that's it."
The armored man descended slowly to the lake's edge, eyes locked on the crimson waters. For the first time, his voice carried real killing intent.
"You actually found it."
"This was your goal all along, wasn't it?"
His gaze shifted to Ethan.
"Now that you've seen the core of the Primordial Force—"
"You're not leaving alive."
The moment the words left his mouth, he dropped all restraints.
The blood-red energy around them surged like it had been summoned, rushing toward him in a frenzy.
The lake churned violently, and streams of crimson power flowed into his body along glowing energy paths.
HUMMM—
HUMMM—
HUMMM—
A deep, ominous resonance echoed through the underground chamber.
Moments later, a blood-red gem began to form on his forehead.
It pulsed faintly—like a living heart.
And in that instant, his entire presence transformed.
His tier, his energy density—everything was pushed to a new peak.
With just a glance, the surrounding rock walls cracked under the pressure.
