Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 98: The massive Treant

Green Dragon Scepter, Tier 3 Strategic Artifact. Grants +30 Spell Power, +20 Knowledge, and +10 Attack. This artifact is one of the components required to assemble the Tier 4 Strategic Artifact—Green Dragon Deity.

Special Effect: If wielded by a Green Dragon hero, permanently reduces the recruitment cost of Tier 13 Green Dragons from the Dragon Cliff in the hero’s castle by 5%. This effect stacks!

Divine Arm, Tier 3 Strategic Artifact. Increases the weekly recruitment limit of all Tier 9 and Tier 10 Creature Dwellings (including external dwellings) within the artifact holder’s castle by +3. This artifact is one of the components required to assemble the Tier 4 Strategic Artifact—Divine Arsenal.

"Wait, permanently reduces the recruitment cost of Tier 13 Green Dragons by 5%?"

"And it stacks?!"

Ethan stared at the Green Dragon Scepter’s description in shock, then immediately turned to Cicero, quickly checking his hero talent.

...

Level 2 Green Dragon Affinity: (Reduces the gold and resource cost of recruiting Tier 13 Green Dragons by 35% for the hero’s faction. Also increases the chance of recruiting higher-quality, stronger Green Dragons—or even Green Dragon heroes!)

...

"35% from Cicero, plus another 5% from the scepter—that’s 40% total! Let’s see, the original recruitment cost for a Green Dragon at the Dragon Cliff was... right, 15 million gold and 800 crystals. With a 40% discount, that’s down to 9 million gold and 480 crystals!"

Ethan’s eyes lit up immediately, excitement bubbling up inside him. "When you put it like that, the funding gap isn’t actually that huge!"

Just from quest rewards alone, he’d already earned around 4 million gold and 100 crystals. Plus, Elynn had some resources stored up in Emerald Castle. Though Ethan wasn’t exactly sure how much she had, it should be close to another 6 million gold and around 300 crystals.

If they scraped together a bit more from other sources, it shouldn’t be too difficult!

Sure, among Tier 13 Legendary Units, Green Dragons weren’t exactly top-tier powerhouses—they were more like solid, reliable mid-tier units.

But still, they were Tier 13 Legendary Units!

In Ethan’s eyes, their appeal far surpassed any Tier 12 creature. Their practical value and battlefield impact were undeniably huge!

After returning to Emerald Castle, Ethan immediately handed the Green Dragon Scepter over to Cicero.

Then, he went to find Elynn privately.

"Elynn, from now on, let’s be careful with our gold and crystal spending. We need to find a way to recruit that Tier 13 Green Dragon from the Dragon Cliff."

"A Green Dragon?"

Elynn paused, looking troubled. "Master, gold isn’t really the issue, but we’re seriously short on crystals. Even with Cicero’s talent, recruiting a single Tier 13 Green Dragon would still cost us at least five hundred crystals. That’s a huge amount."

"Are we really that short?"

"Didn’t I give you two or three hundred crystals earlier?" Ethan frowned.

"Those crystals were already spent on castle upgrades and recruiting and training Silver Pegasus Knights and Elven Pegasus Knights!" Elynn explained.

Ethan froze for a moment, then slapped his forehead with a bitter laugh.

"Damn, I totally forgot about that..."

Recruiting and training Silver Pegasus Knights and Elven Pegasus Knights required a significant amount of crystal resources. It was indeed a major drain. And honestly, putting all that on hold just to recruit a single Green Dragon didn’t seem like the smartest move either...

"Can we find more crystal resource points?" Ethan asked. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Instead of penny-pinching here, why not aim for bigger, better crystal deposits? Once we find one, it’ll become a long-term, sustainable resource. You can never have too many of those!

"The only possibility is within Gleaming Forest," Elynn replied. "Prince Cicero and I ventured deep into Gleaming Forest once before, and we discovered that the resources there are far greater than I initially estimated."

"How much greater exactly?" Ethan asked.

"At least twice the size of Fury Wasteland—possibly even larger," Elynn answered without hesitation.

"That big?" Ethan was genuinely surprised.

Fury Wasteland was vast and sparsely populated, easily several times larger than Wishing Valley, Verdant Ravine, and Suffocating Swamp Forest combined. Yet Elynn was now saying Gleaming Forest was even bigger than Fury Wasteland?

And by such a large margin?

No wonder Ethan was shocked.

"Looks like we’ll have to start exploring and developing Gleaming Forest as soon as possible," Ethan murmured thoughtfully, then turned to Elynn. "By the way, Elynn, you mentioned earlier that the two Treant heroes from the Gathering Encampment wanted to meet me?"

"Yes," Elynn nodded immediately.

"Lead the way then. Let’s go see them," Ethan said.

"Should we bring Princess Seraphina or Prince Cicero along?" Elynn asked hesitantly.

"No need."

Ethan shook his head with a relaxed smile. "We’re not going there to fight. Besides, as the lord of Emerald Castle, if I don’t even have the courage and confidence for something as simple as meeting them face-to-face, I’d just become a laughingstock."

Elynn froze for a moment.

Then she immediately dropped to one knee, ashamed and remorseful. "My lord, forgive me. I was being shortsighted..."

In truth, it was a simple matter.

As the lord of Emerald Castle, Ethan was now undeniably a king in his own right.

And if a king lacked even the courage and dignity to meet others personally, it would be an insult—not only to Ethan himself, but also to everyone who called Emerald Castle home.

"Alright, alright, get up already. Take me there and let’s have a look," Ethan chuckled lightly, clearly not bothered by the earlier incident.

"Yes, my lord..."

Elynn immediately nodded, rising swiftly to his feet. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a majestic Tier 12 Wyvern Monarch. The massive creature gracefully landed, lowering its head and wings respectfully, allowing Ethan to easily climb onto its back.

Elynn himself summoned his own Pegasus.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Moments later, the Wyvern Monarch and Pegasus soared into the sky together, heading swiftly toward Gleaming Forest.

Meanwhile, back at Emerald Castle, Elyra watched curiously as the two figures disappeared into the distance. "Seraphina, where do you think Master and Elynn are going?"

Seraphina glanced casually in the direction they’d flown. "Probably Gleaming Forest, I’d guess."

"But why didn’t Master take us along?"

"Elyra, you’re grown up now. You can’t always cling to Master. Besides, he must have his reasons. Let’s just be good and wait patiently."

"Fine..." Elyra sighed, then perked up again. "Hey, Seraphina, wanna go hang out in Fury Wasteland?"

"Fury Wasteland? Hell yeah! I’ve been itching for a good fight with those Ancient Behemoths anyway. Got nothing better to do. Cicero, you coming?"

"Nope, nope, nope!" Cicero shook his head lazily. "With weather this nice, why wouldn’t I just take a comfy nap instead?"

"Sleep, sleep, sleep! That’s all you ever do! Master was right to call you a slacker. Fine, suit yourself. Elyra, let’s go!"

"Alright, Seraphina, let’s head out!"

...

Meanwhile, deep within Gleaming Forest, a massive Treant suddenly opened his eyes, murmuring with a complicated expression, "Bromir, I sense the call from deep within the forest again."

"Are those damned underground creatures attacking our base again?" Another giant Treant, Bromir, immediately grew agitated, cursing angrily, "Those filthy, disgusting underground vermin!"

After a pause, worry crept into his voice. "Eldorin, what should we do now? If our territory falls, we’ll have no choice but to defect from our Creature Dwelling—or else we’ll be controlled!"

"Then let’s defect."

"What?!" Bromir’s expression changed drastically. "But...but if we defect, we’ll lose our chance at resurrection!"

In theory, both regular units and unit heroes could be resurrected multiple times, as their souls were bound to their Creature Dwellings. As long as the Creature Dwelling remained intact, fallen units and heroes would return there upon death, ready to be recruited again—essentially a form of resurrection.

However, each resurrection consumed soul energy.

In the world of Glory Lords X, every individual’s soul energy was limited and extremely difficult to replenish. Once completely depleted, death became permanent, with no chance of revival.

Unit heroes had a slight advantage: upon death, they’d first lose levels and consume only a small amount of soul energy. But once a hero dropped to level zero, they’d become no different from ordinary units, requiring the full amount of soul energy to resurrect.

Thus, although heroes could endure more deaths than regular units, even they had their limits. Once that limit was reached, death would become truly permanent.

Besides that, there are a few other ways heroes and regular units can permanently die.

First, there’s natural death—old age, illness, or simply reaching the end of their lifespan.

Second, if their Creature Dwelling is destroyed or if they betray their Creature Dwelling, they lose the chance to be resurrected. Once they’re killed in battle, even if there’s enough soul energy, they’re gone for good!

The Creature Dwellings are essentially projections of the "World Will" in the universe of Glory Lords X. They grant you the chance to resurrect fallen units, but at a price—resources and gold!

Whether you’re a lord or a faction leader, if you want to revive fallen troops or hero units, you’ve got to pay up! You must hand over gold and various resources to the Creature Dwellings.

"If we betray our Creature Dwelling, it’s true we’ll lose our chance at resurrection. Our souls will even bear the mark of ’traitors,’ making it nearly impossible to join another Dwelling. But if the alternative is becoming pawns of the Underworld, I simply can’t accept that!"

The massive Treant known as Eldorin spoke coldly, his expression stern and resolute.

"And Bromir, remember—I am now the king of our Treant lineage! My decisions shape the future of our people!"

The giant Treant Bromir’s expression shifted immediately, and he quickly replied, "Forgive me, Eldorin. I spoke out of turn!"

"Your will is absolute, my king..."

Eldorin’s expression softened gradually. His deep eyes flickered thoughtfully, and he murmured quietly, "Besides, it’s not like we’ve completely run out of options..."

"Really? Eldorin, what other choice do we have?" Bromir asked eagerly.

"Have you already forgotten the Emerald Castle envoy who came to recruit us a few days ago?" Eldorin slowly replied.