Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory

Ethan followed behind, his brow never once relaxing.

He wasn’t bothered by the fact that Rhazek could change size whenever he wanted.

What bothered him was the white energy sphere he’d just buried in the guy’s skull.

After it went into Rhazek, Ethan could still feel the white lightning inside it. But that power didn’t remain in Rhazek’s body. Instead, it slid forward along some unobservable route—moving fast—until it reappeared deeper in the corridor.

Why had that energy sphere left Rhazek?

And how the hell had it gotten to the front?

In a place the group couldn’t see, a cluster of researchers in white lab coats were gathered around a workbench.

The white energy sphere was fixed in the center of a transparent container.

Lightning kept snapping inside it. Every time it struck the container’s inner wall, the surrounding instruments recorded strings of rapidly changing data. The researchers stared between the screens and the sphere, their eyes holding no fear—only a near-mad excitement.

"What is this thing?"

One of them pressed his face close to the container, watching the flow of white arcs.

"Why did it come out of that body?"

Another researcher adjusted the instruments at high speed.

"More outsiders just entered."

The first one whirled around, voice tight and urgent.

"Prepare more bodies!"

He looked back at the energy sphere in the container, greed deepening in his eyes.

"We can’t stop at a single test. What we want is infinite power!"

The researchers around him answered in unison, heads lowered.

"Yes!"

At the back of the lab, someone wearing a golden crown stood in silence.

A golden mask hid his face, leaving only a pair of indifferent eyes. A gold scepter rested in his hand. After confirming the researchers had begun their preparations, he turned and left the lab, walking alone down another passage toward the palace.

He would personally "welcome" these special outsiders.

Rhazek led the group through several stone corridors, finally arriving at a sealed palace hall.

This place was nothing like the ancient structure outside the pyramid.

The floor was laid in smooth metal. The walls were inlaid with gold ornamentation and gemstones, yet there were no torches anywhere. Steady light shone from inside the ceiling and pillars, bathing the entire hall in bright, even illumination.

At the far end stood a golden throne.

The masked figure from the lab was already seated there.

The crown sat heavy on his head, the golden scepter angled in his right hand. He looked down at the newcomers, and his gaze finally settled on Rhazek.

"Rhazek. Leave."

His voice carried through the palace walls, unnaturally imposing.

"I’ll speak with them. Naiseman is nearby—go find it."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Rhazek bowed.

As he lowered his head, his large body began to shrink. Shoulders, arms, legs—everything rapidly returned to its original proportions. The giant beast Ataneya had just smashed into the ceiling moments ago was back to an ordinary gnoll in the blink of an eye.

Everyone watched it happen.

Ethan’s doubts only deepened.

Rhazek’s size change clearly wasn’t just raw physical transformation—there had to be external control involved. But for the moment, Ethan couldn’t pinpoint the source inside the palace.

Rhazek hoisted his weapon and left through a side door.

Ethan stepped half a pace toward the throne, keeping his manners.

"Your Majesty, we didn’t mean to disturb you or your country."

He glanced around the hall.

"We only came in to get out of the heat. We’ll leave soon."

The man on the throne didn’t answer immediately.

His golden scepter lowered to the floor and began to tap in a fixed rhythm.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Each sound echoed through the sealed palace, pressing itself into the gaps between their breaths.

"My name is Zareth II," he finally said.

"I am the second king of this country."

The scepter struck again.

Thud.

"You will stay here."

There was no warmth of invitation in Zareth II’s voice. It was closer to an order that had already been decided.

"Outside the pyramid is an endless desert. There is no road to leave."

Ethan lifted his gaze toward the throne.

White lightning appeared in his palm, then was reined in tight, kept close to his skin instead of released.

Because the moment Zareth II began tapping his scepter, the palace had started to change.

At first, it was only a golden statue rotating by the smallest angle.

Then objects at the base of the pillars, along both sides of the throne, and near the walls—things that looked like mere decoration—began to creep closer to them. There was no mechanical whine. The movement was so smooth it was almost silent.

The entire palace was coming alive.

And they were standing right in the center.

"If we insist on leaving anyway?" Ethan didn’t look away. "Will you still make us stay?"

The mask hid all expression.

But Zareth II’s arm—tight around the scepter—began to tremble.

Not fear.

The tremor sent out thin ripples of energy from the golden scepter. Every device that had been closing in on them froze at once, as if waiting for the final command.

A king’s order could not be disobeyed.

"Do you truly intend to go?"

Zareth II lifted the scepter slowly.

The golden tip rose over the front of the throne, pointing straight at Ethan.

Only then did the "decorations" along the palace walls fully reveal what they actually were.

A gem-studded long table split down the middle, exposing neatly arranged machine guns. The surfaces of the pillars folded aside, and magnetic-flow cannons extended from within, their muzzles gradually lighting up.

Metal spheres in the corners rose into the air. Their shells unfolded, revealing gravity bombs inside.

From beneath the floor, traction devices lifted into position.

Shield generators along both sides of the throne lit one after another, and transparent layers of energy quickly wrapped around Zareth II.

Machine guns.

Magnetic cannons.

Gravity bombs.

Traction devices.

Shield generators.

And more equipment—devices whose functions weren’t immediately obvious—continued unfolding from under gold ornamentation.

In an instant, the dazzling palace lost all resemblance to an ancient kingdom.

It was a weapons depot wearing a crown.

Ethan stared at it all, left with only one question.

Was this really what a "golden, glorious palace" was supposed to look like?

His answer was action.

A white energy sphere shot from his palm.

The moment it left his hand it expanded, lightning spiraling around its surface as it streaked in a straight line toward Zareth II on the throne.

But in front of real technological defense, that power was checked almost immediately.

The first transparent shield lit up in front of the throne.

The white sphere slammed into it, and gravity warped on the spot. The attack—once tightly focused forward—was dragged to both sides. The sphere’s surface was compressed into an irregular, distorted shape.

Then a second layer appeared: a quantum barrier.

After passing through the first layer, the lightning scattered. When it hit the second, it was sliced into countless thin beams.

A third layer—material-energy shielding—closed right after.

The scattered white light was gathered again, then redirected along another path straight into the defense system itself.

The researchers hadn’t fully understood Ethan’s power in such a short time... but based on the data they’d captured from that first energy sphere, they’d already stacked multiple shield layers to counter the attack pattern.

Gravity-distortion shielding.

Quantum-barrier shielding.

Material-energy shielding.

Layer on top of layer.

And behind all those energy screens, there were even real bodies.

Several expressionless people stood in front of Zareth II.

They weren’t there to tank the hit with flesh.

They were there to collect cleaner, more direct data the moment energy made contact.

Insane.

And—worse—effective.