Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 72: It was all the same

"I’ve thought it over carefully, and I think this plan is feasible." Elynn nodded, speaking in an orderly and composed manner. "The Dungeon world is too mysterious for us, which naturally makes us fear it. But if you really think about it, no matter how mysterious or terrifying it is, it’s not like Ultimate Units are lurking around every corner... Besides, given Emerald Castle’s current strength, aside from 14-Tier Mythic Units, we don’t even need to fear 13-Tier Legendary Units."

Ethan froze for a moment,

falling into unexpected silence.

It wasn’t that he disagreed with Elynn—

it was just that, suddenly, her words actually made a lot of sense.

The biggest impression the Dungeon world had left on him was its mystery.

And mystery often bred fear,

which led people to avoid it...

But in reality, if he really thought about it, no matter how mysterious or terrifying the Dungeon world was, it wasn’t like Ultimate Units were everywhere!

And even if they were,

it wasn’t as if every single one of them was a 14-Tier Mythic Unit, right?

As long as that wasn’t the case, then for Emerald Castle, the pressure wasn’t as overwhelming as they had assumed... In other words, the Dungeon world wasn’t some untouchable forbidden zone like they had initially thought—

it was a treasure trove!

A vast, unexplored goldmine waiting to be claimed!

"Elynn, you’re right..."

With that realization, Ethan nodded, acknowledging Elynn’s perspective.

At the same time, Elynn smiled and continued, "Master, in my opinion, Emerald Castle is currently facing three major problems."

"First, we’ve risen too quickly, and our foundation is too shallow. We don’t have enough capable people, so we’re relying entirely on Seraphina and Cicero to hold everything together."

"Second, we’re under immense financial pressure. We have the qualifications to recruit more forces, but we simply can’t afford to bring them in."

"And third, we have no retreat. If Emerald Castle falls, we have nowhere to go."

At this point, Elynn’s eyes gleamed as she spoke with conviction. "But the vast underground world of the Dungeon can solve all of these problems for us!"

"You’re absolutely right!"

To everyone’s surprise, Seraphina spoke up, agreeing with Elynn’s reasoning. She said slowly, "The Dungeon world is easy to defend and hard to attack. If Emerald Castle were ever overrun, we could retreat into the Dungeon, and our enemies would struggle to follow us. That way, we’d have a chance to regroup and strike back instead of being forced to flee in disgrace..."

"Exactly! That’s exactly what I was thinking, Your Highness Seraphina." Elynn was clearly delighted to have Seraphina’s approval.

"In that case, we can settle on a general direction for now." Ethan nodded, his eyes gleaming with determination. "Emerald Castle’s development plan will be divided into three phases. First, we’ll focus our efforts on conquering and developing the Gleaming Forest. Once we’ve built up enough strength, we’ll move into the second phase—exploring and conquering the Dungeon world. As for the third phase, that will involve dealing with the Behemoth of the Fury Wasteland and the potential existence of the Green Dragon clan deep within the Gleaming Forest!"

Pausing for a moment, Ethan turned to Seraphina and said, "Seraphina, I’ll need you to work closely with Elynn from now on."

"Rest assured, Master. I will follow Elynn’s commands." Seraphina responded without hesitation.

"Oh, right..."

Suddenly, as if something had just occurred to him, Ethan spoke up. "Seraphina, can your Sacred Realm teleport others besides yourself?"

"Yes," Seraphina nodded.

"You can?" A flash of excitement crossed Ethan’s eyes as he quickly said, "Then let’s add another plan. We’ll send a team ahead to explore the Dungeon world. If they die, they can be revived through the Creature Dwellings’ binding. That way, we can gather intel on the Dungeon in advance through them."

In Glory Lords X, there was a concept known as unit soul binding.

What did that mean?

Essentially, when units belonging to a player’s castle died in battle, their souls wouldn’t just vanish. Instead, they would return to their recruitment point and be prioritized for recruitment again!

However, this ability was exclusive to castle-owning Lords—

and it only applied to units born from Creature Dwellings within the castle’s domain.

Wild Creature Dwellings didn’t count...

And it wasn’t like units could be revived indefinitely.

Every unit had a finite amount of soul energy. Each time they died and were revived through recruitment, their soul energy would weaken. Once it was completely depleted, they would be gone for good.

Ethan hadn’t known about this at first.

It was only after Elynn explained it to him that he realized just how many hidden privileges castle Lords actually had!

Unit soul binding was essentially a form of multiple revivals.

And if used wisely, it could be incredibly valuable!

"I understand. I’ll make the arrangements right away," Elynn responded immediately.

"Alright, that’s it for now. Everyone, get to work. Cicero, get ready—we’re heading out for some fun in a couple of days."

Ethan stood up and looked toward Cicero as he spoke.

Now that the development plan was set, all Emerald Castle needed to do was follow through step by step.

Whether Ethan was here or not didn’t really make a difference.

It was all the same.

With Elynn and Seraphina around, everything was well under control.

Besides, if he thought about it, it had been quite a while since he last left Icelight City.

Isabella Carter’s father, William Carter, had never said anything outright—

but Ethan could clearly sense the pressure and anxiety he was feeling behind the scenes.

The unit trade deal was something their Nocturnal Crescent guild had been working on with Scarlet Legion, yet after all this time, there was still no progress.

Not a single update.

Saying he wasn’t worried? Yeah, right. That was impossible.

More importantly, if Scarlet Legion ran out of patience, Nocturnal Crescent would be in serious trouble.

Ethan himself wasn’t afraid of Scarlet Legion—

but Nocturnal Crescent? They definitely couldn’t afford to piss them off.

That was exactly why Ethan knew the unit trade deal needed to be put back on the agenda—immediately.

Even if he didn’t need the money anymore,

he wasn’t the type to forget where he came from.

Without his father-in-law’s financial support in the beginning, there was no way he would’ve been able to take Blackmire Castle so smoothly—

which had directly propelled Emerald Castle’s overall strength up by three whole tiers!

So forget making a profit—

even if he had to take a loss, the unit trade with Nocturnal Crescent had to continue.

Besides, 8-Tier units weren’t even a big deal to him anymore.

"That said, now that Elynn has awakened her new talent skill, we can’t sell Pegasus Knights or Silver Pegasus Knights anymore..." Ethan muttered to himself before turning to Elynn. "Elynn, keep some funds in reserve, but use the rest to recruit as many 8-Tier and 9-Tier units as possible—doesn’t matter what kind."

The Elven Pegasus Knight was a 10-Tier special hidden unit, incredibly valuable, and once they reached a certain scale, their power would be formidable.

Because of that, the Pegasus Knight and Silver Pegasus Knight, which were essential for their formation, couldn’t be sold recklessly anymore.

But other 8-Tier and 9-Tier units? Those didn’t matter.

Things like 8-Tier Ogre Mages or 9-Tier Gorgons—

they were just cannon fodder anyway.

Might as well sell them off. No reason to feel sentimental about it.

"Understood, Master." Elynn nodded immediately.

"Chirp chirp!" Cicero also nodded excitedly, looking absolutely thrilled.

Getting to go out and have some fun with Ethan? That alone was enough to make him happy!

And last time they went out, he’d had an absolute blast.

If he got another chance like that this time? That would be perfect!

Clearly, for both Ethan and Cicero, the world outside Emerald Castle—

at least within the player community—

was basically one giant amusement park.

A place to relax and unwind.

Sure, indulging in too much fun could lead a dragon to ruin—

but hey, a little fun every now and then wouldn’t hurt.

Cicero thought to himself, feeling quite pleased.

"Hmph... hmph! Hmph!"

Seraphina shot Cicero a jealous glare,

huffing loudly several times.

Her pouty lips made her feelings crystal clear.

"Alright, alright, don’t be upset. Next time, Cicero can stay home, and we’ll go out on our own." Ethan chuckled, quickly trying to console her.

"Really?" Seraphina’s eyes lit up instantly. She immediately put on a tsundere act, turning to Cicero with a smug look. "Fine, I’ll let you have this one. But next time, you’d better stay home and guard the place, got it?"

"Chirp chirp!"

Cicero, of course, wasn’t the least bit intimidated. Instead, he burst into laughter, rolling around on the ground, clutching his belly.

"Pfft—hahahahahaha!"

Seeing this, Ethan couldn’t hold back either and laughed out loud.

Elynn, standing nearby, also had a smile on her face.

The only one who wasn’t laughing was Seraphina—

her face had turned bright red as she grabbed Cicero and "disciplined" him on the spot.

The scene was warm and lively.

...

A little while later, Ethan logged out and called Isabella.

"Hello? Ethan..."

"My gorgeous, absolutely stunning wife, did you miss me?" Ethan grinned mischievously, his tone playful.

"Ugh, stop it. What nonsense are you talking about..."

On the other end of the line, Isabella’s voice carried a hint of embarrassment. Then she asked, "Ethan, weren’t you busy with something lately? Are you done now? Or...?"

"Pretty much wrapped up." Ethan smiled. "Where are you right now? At school or in the game?"

"I’m in the game. Nocturnal Crescent has had a lot going on lately, so my dad asked me to stay home and help him out," Isabella explained.

"Perfect." Ethan chuckled. "I’ll head over to Nocturnal Crescent in a few days. Let your dad know I’ll be bringing the first batch of units with me—tell him he doesn’t have to worry anymore."

"Really?"

Isabella’s voice on the phone was filled with surprise and excitement.

"That’s amazing! My dad is definitely going to feel so much better after hearing this!"

Ethan frowned slightly. "Has Scarlet Legion been putting a lot of pressure on him?"

Isabella hesitated for a moment before answering honestly.

"Well... it is Scarlet Legion, one of the top ten guilds. It’s not just the pressure they’re putting on him—he’s also putting a lot of pressure on himself."

She paused for a second, then added, "But Emmie has been helping us negotiate and buy us more time. If it weren’t for her, I probably would’ve reached out to you about this a while ago..."