Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 167: Mission Rating: SSS Tier!

"Another orange-grade tome?"

Ethan froze for a second—then his eyes lit up with excitement.

Sure, at first glance, the mission rewards looked kind of underwhelming. Just some gold, the six core resources, and this so-called orange-grade tome.

But honestly? He wasn’t exaggerating when he thought this tome alone might be worth more than all the rewards from his last mission combined.

Why?

Simple.

First off, every mission came with a guaranteed minimum reward.

What did that mean?

Basically, if it was an A-rank mission, the total reward value would be at least the equivalent of three to five Tier-11 Royal Units. For an S-rank mission, you were looking at two to three Tier-13 Legendary Units, minimum.

And S+ missions? Don’t even get him started. Those usually guaranteed the value of at least five Legendary Units—and that was on the low end. If you got lucky, you could be walking away with the equivalent of seven to ten Legendary Units, easy.

In other words—

This orange-grade tome, Gemstone Isles, was the guaranteed reward for his second S+ mission.

And its value? Conservatively speaking, it was probably worth three to five times more than a Tier-3 Strategic Artifact like the Green Dragon Longsword.

But more importantly—and this was the real kicker—he’d already gotten his hands on another orange-grade tome before: The Iron Factory of Despair.

And that thing? It was insane.

No joke, its value was easily equal to thirty to fifty Legendary Units. Maybe even more.

Because that tome didn’t just contain lore—it held critical intel on the entire Golem Foundry unit system, plus a Diamond Golem hero who used to be part of the Crimson Ultimates.

That kind of information? It was worth as much as an entire Legendary Unit Creature Dwelling.

Maybe even more.

So yeah, Gemstone Isles might not be quite as overpowered as The Iron Factory of Despair, but it was still an orange-grade tome. Even if it wasn’t top-tier, it couldn’t be that far off, right?

Which was why, in Ethan’s mind, orange-grade tomes were basically on par with Legendary Unit Creature Dwellings.

Just thinking about it made his heart race.

He immediately pulled out the Gemstone Isles tome and handed it to Cicero, who was standing beside him.

"Cicero, take a look at this. Can you tell what it says?"

"Huh?" Cicero blinked, then shifted into his humanoid form and took the tome from Ethan. He flipped through a few pages, scanning the contents.

Then suddenly, his whole body tensed.

His eyes widened in shock as he blurted out, "A Legendary Unit Creature Dwelling?!"

"W-What?!"

"A Legendary Unit Creature Dwelling? Are you serious?!"

The moment Cicero said it, Ethan felt a jolt run through him. His whole body buzzed with excitement, his face lighting up with pure joy.

"Should be right..." Cicero nodded, then lifted the orange-grade tome Gemstone Isles and said to Ethan with a rare note of excitement, "Master, if I’m reading this correctly, this is actually a map. It marks the location of a Tier-13 Legendary Unit Creature Dwelling—specifically, for the Gem Dragon!"

"Gem Dragon? What’s that?" Ethan blinked, confused.

That name didn’t ring any bells...

"Gem Dragons are an incredibly powerful dragon species," Cicero’s eyes gleamed. "In terms of raw melee strength, they actually surpass Red Dragons under normal conditions."

Hissss—

"Melee stronger than a Red Dragon? Are you serious?!"

Ethan’s pupils shrank as he sucked in a sharp breath, completely stunned.

Red Dragons were no joke—they were part of the same brutal bloodline as Black Dragons, the undisputed kings of close-quarters combat.

Forget innate abilities—just pure brawling power alone, even Angels, Inferno Devils, or Behemoths couldn’t take on a Red Dragon one-on-one.

That’s how terrifying Red Dragons were.

And now Cicero was saying this Gem Dragon could go toe-to-toe with that?

Wait a second... could it be—

"A hidden special unit?"

Ethan’s eyes narrowed, thoughts racing. If even Cicero was calling it "incredibly powerful," then it had to be one of two things: either a top-tier unit like the Red Dragon or Angel—already sitting at the peak of the Legendary Unit food chain—or...

A rare, hidden unit. The kind that didn’t show up in any standard faction lineup but was just as deadly—if not more so.

Because let’s be real: most hidden units of the same tier were stronger than the signature units of any major faction. And the fact that Ethan had never even heard of the Gem Dragon? That pretty much sealed it.

It had to be a hidden Legendary Unit.

And that got his blood pumping.

A Legendary Unit Creature Dwelling.

And not just any dwelling—but one for a hidden Legendary Unit?

If he could claim that, it’d be a massive win. Like, game-changing.

"Where is it?" Ethan asked immediately.

"According to the map, it’s located in the Greenwave Sea, within the territory of the Storm Kingdom—one of the Five Sea Kingdoms," Cicero replied.

"Greenwave Sea? Five Sea Kingdoms?"

"Storm Kingdom?" Ethan frowned, puzzled. "That doesn’t sound familiar at all..."

"The Five Sea Kingdoms are vassal states of the Greenwave Empire," Cicero explained, his tone steady but laced with intrigue. "They’re located to the east of the main continent, across the Greenwave Sea. I don’t know their exact strength, but I’ve seen their name pop up more than a few times in ancient ruins."

"And beyond that, the Greenwave Empire itself is one of the true superpowers of the seas."

"Back when the Holy Griffon Empire was still around, they fought four major naval battles against the Greenwave Empire—and lost every single one."

"After that, the Holy Griffon Empire completely shut down its sea routes. Total maritime lockdown. So, if nothing’s changed, the Greenwave Empire’s overall power might even surpass the Holy Griffon Empire at its peak."

"Seriously? That strong?" Ethan raised an eyebrow, surprised but not overly concerned.

Because honestly, it was obvious—the Greenwave Empire had to be one of those top-tier, world-dominating nations.

But that was a problem for another day. It was way too far removed from his current situation. Just knowing the basics was enough for now.

"Greenwave Sea, huh?" Ethan muttered, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "If I’m remembering right, once you sail north from the Unicorn Duchy, the second major sea you hit is the Greenwave Sea..."

"Looks like I need to move up my plans to head out to sea."

Both of his orange-tier tomes—The Iron Factory of Despair and Gemstone Isles—were pointing him toward the ocean. The clues, the leads, everything was drawing him there.

He couldn’t afford to delay any longer.

If someone else got to the Diamond Golem hero or the entire factory-based troop system first...

Or worse, if someone beat him to the hidden Legendary Unit—the Gem Dragon’s Creature Dwellings...

He’d be screwed. No amount of crying would fix that.

Suddenly, a string of system notifications rang out in his ears.

Ding!

"Congratulations! Valkarion unit hero Seraphina has successfully completed the S+ tier special mission: Annihilation of the Behemoth Lair! Target eliminated: Tier 11 Manticore – 112/112 kills confirmed!"

"Congratulations! Valkarion unit hero Elyra has successfully completed the S+ tier special mission: Annihilation of the Behemoth Lair! Target eliminated: Tier 12 Venomspike Manticore – 41/41 kills confirmed!"

...

"Congratulations! Valkarion unit Seraphina has successfully completed the S+ tier special mission: Annihilation of the Behemoth Lair! Target eliminated: Tier 14 Chaos Hydra – 7/7 kills confirmed!"

"Mission Rating: SSS Tier!"

"S+ tier special mission – Annihilation of the Behemoth Lair: Reward calculation in progress. Estimated time: 10 minutes. Please wait patiently."

...

"The mission’s done?!" Ethan blinked, then lit up with excitement.

He didn’t even need to think about it—out of the three S+ tier missions they’d taken on today, the Behemoth Lair was hands-down the toughest. And the most valuable.

And now, with an SSS rating on top of that?

Yeah, the rewards were gonna be insane. Definitely worth getting hyped over.

BOOM!

Just as Ethan was still riding the high, a massive figure came charging toward him, skidding to a stop right in front of him. Gasping for breath, it spoke in a strained voice, "Master, it’s done!"

"All enemies have been eliminated! Please confirm."

Ethan blinked, then looked up—and even someone as powerful as Seraphina was panting hard, her body battered and bruised. Her health bar was barely hanging on, sitting at less than a third.

She looked like she’d been through hell.

"Seraphina, are you okay? Are you hurt badly?" Ethan rushed over, concern written all over his face.

"Don’t worry, Master. It’s nothing serious," Seraphina replied without hesitation, shaking her head firmly. But there was a spark of emotion in her eyes—clearly, having Ethan worry about her meant the world to her. It was an honor she didn’t take lightly.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

At that moment, Elyra, Elynn, and Lilith returned one after another. The next second, they all dropped to one knee in front of Ethan, their voices filled with pride and joy.

"Master, all enemies have been eliminated!"

"Excellent! That’s fantastic!"

"Stand up, all of you. You’ve really outdone yourselves this time."

Ethan helped each of them up, his expression a mix of excitement and concern.

Even Seraphina, the strongest among them, had less than a third of her health left. The others were in even worse shape—Elynn, Elyra, and Lilith were all heavily wounded, their health bars down by nearly 75%.

If the battle had dragged on any longer, they might’ve started losing people.

But thankfully, it was over.

And not just over—they’d won. Completely. Decisively.

Emerald Castle had claimed a flawless victory.

"Master, shedding blood for you is our greatest honor," Elynn said firmly, picking up on the guilt and worry in Ethan’s voice. She shook her head, her tone resolute. "This is what we’re meant to do."

Then, after a brief pause, a proud, satisfied smile spread across her face. "Besides, this fight? It was actually a blast."

"Totally! Master, this was the most fun we’ve ever had in battle!" Elyra chimed in, stepping forward and tugging playfully at Ethan’s sleeve, her eyes sparkling. "Next time something like this comes up, you better take us with you, okay?"

Ethan couldn’t help but laugh, a wide, genuine grin spreading across his face. "Don’t worry. There’ll be plenty more chances."

In that moment, he felt it deep in his bones—having such loyal, brave, and downright lovable companions by his side... it was the greatest blessing of his life.