Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 212: Kirin Sea Temple

"Roooaaar..."

The Sacred Kirin—majestic, noble, and radiating an overwhelming presence—didn’t even glance at the others.

Instead, their glowing eyes locked onto Ethan, studying him intently, as if weighing his worth.

As Mythic Units, the Sacred Kirin had absolute authority when it came to recruitment.

If the summoner didn’t meet their standards—if they weren’t moved, or didn’t deem the person worthy—they could cancel the contract on the spot. No questions asked. The entire recruitment process would be forcibly terminated. This wasn’t just a quirk of their personality—it was a right granted to them by the world will of Glory Lords X itself.

"Roooaaar..."

But just then, a deep, resonant dragon’s cry echoed from the distance.

The three Sacred Kirin froze. They turned their heads toward the sound, and their eyes narrowed slightly. In that moment, a very human-like range of emotions flickered across their faces—pride, hesitation, wariness, contemplation...

And finally—recognition. Submission.

A Crimson Ultimate Hero.

The one recruiting them had a Crimson Ultimate Hero under his command. That alone was enough.

"Roooaaar... Roooaaar... Roooaaar..."

All three Sacred Kirin bowed their heads low to Ethan, signaling their allegiance.

Ethan gave a small, satisfied smile. "You’re free to move around. I’ll call you if I need you."

"Roooaaar..."

With a unified, low rumble, the three Sacred Kirin turned and took off.

Meanwhile, Ethan turned to Thalassa and Mareth, who were still frozen in shock. He chuckled. "You two gonna stand there all day? Come on, tell me what’s going on with the Stellamaris Kingdom."

The two snapped out of it like they’d just woken from a dream.

They exchanged a quick glance, and then Thalassa stepped forward.

"My Lord," she began, "our Stellamaris Kingdom treasury currently holds about 1.1 billion gold coins. As for the six core resources, we’ve got anywhere between a hundred thousand and five hundred thousand units of each..."

"That’s it?" Ethan frowned.

Sure, 1.1 billion gold and a few hundred thousand of each resource sounded like a lot—but for a kingdom-level faction? That was practically pocket change. Barely enough to keep the lights on.

"Yeah... that’s all we’ve got," Thalassa said with a bitter smile. "You probably already know—we’ve been hiding out in the interdimensional space, too scared to venture out. But that space is limited. There are only so many gold mines and resource nodes in there. We’ve done what we can..."

"Alright," Ethan said with a shrug. "What about your troops? How many do you have?"

"I’ll skip the low-tier units..." Thalassa’s eyes flickered as she spoke slowly. "Above Royal Units, we’ve got around 500 Tier-11 Naga Swordsmen, 150 Tier-12 Naga Swordmasters, and... 17 Tier-13 Legendary Units—Kirin."

"Only 17 Kirin?" Ethan raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled. "With your strength, you’re telling me you couldn’t even take down a single Kirin Creature Dwelling?"

Five hundred Tier-11 Naga Swordsmen, a hundred and fifty Tier-12 Swordmasters, and seventeen Tier-13 Kirin... Even without a unit hero, they could’ve overwhelmed the Soul Sentinels guarding the place just by sheer numbers. Sure, Legendary-tier Creature Dwellings were tough—but not that tough. That kind of force should’ve steamrolled it.

"Well..."

Thalassa hesitated, her expression darkening.

After a long pause, she gritted her teeth and said, "My Lord, come with me."

Without another word, she summoned one of the Legendary Kirin and took off, flying deeper into the interdimensional space. Ethan called for Cicero and followed close behind.

Several hours later, Ethan and Queen Thalassa of Stellamaris Kingdom stood before a grand, regal ocean palace...

"This... what is this?" Ethan stared at the palace in front of him, his voice tinged with confusion and suspicion.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he could feel the distinct energy of a Creature Dwelling radiating from within the structure.

"This is the Kirin Sea Temple," Thalassa said quietly. "It’s the Creature Dwelling for the Legendary Kirin Units."

"It really is a Creature Dwelling?" Ethan blinked, stunned. Then his brows furrowed. "But why..."

He didn’t finish the sentence, but what he meant was obvious—why didn’t this Creature Dwelling have an option to attack or capture it? Even if a dwelling had already been claimed, it should still be possible to seize it by force. That was standard. But this one? Nothing. No prompt. No option. Like it was locked out of the game entirely.

What the hell was going on here?

"Master," Cicero suddenly spoke up from behind him, his voice low and focused. "There’s a Crimson Ultimate Hero’s aura inside."

Ethan’s body tensed. His pupils narrowed as he turned sharply to look at Thalassa.

"There’s a Crimson Ultimate Hero in there?" he asked, his voice tight.

"Come with me, my Lord," Thalassa said, already stepping forward into the temple.

Ethan and Cicero exchanged a glance, then followed her inside.

It didn’t take long before they reached a chamber deep within the temple. At its center stood an ancient altar, bathed in a soft, ethereal glow.

And on that altar... was an egg.

"An egg?" Ethan blinked, his eyes flickering with realization. "Wait... is that a Crimson Ultimate Hero’s egg?"

Cicero and Seraphina had both been born from eggs—Ethan had seen it with his own eyes. So the idea wasn’t far-fetched at all.

"This looks like a Kirin egg..." Cicero said slowly, stepping closer, his gaze locked onto the egg. But his expression darkened. "But... something’s wrong with it."

"The situation’s not looking good?" Ethan froze for a second, then glanced a few more times at the Kirin egg before turning to Thalassa, whose expression was a mix of emotions. "Tell me—what’s going on here?"

Thalassa let out a slow breath, her eyes drifting toward the Kirin egg resting in the center of the altar. Her gaze was complicated, heavy with memory.

"I’m the third monarch of the Stellamaris Kingdom. A long time ago, one of our ancestors saved a Crimson Ultimate Hero from the Kirin race. He didn’t repay the favor back then, but thousands of years later, that same hero returned to Stellamaris... and left behind this Kirin egg."

Her voice was calm, but there was a trace of bitterness beneath the surface.

"But word got out. Our neighboring sea nations, and even the dominant powers across the Seven Seas, all found out about it."

"And that... stirred up their greed."

"No one knows exactly how many forces joined hands in secret, but they destroyed Stellamaris. During our escape, something happened to the Kirin egg—it was damaged. The Crimson Ultimate Hero’s Primordial Force began to leak out. It’s now on the brink of death... and can’t hatch."

On the brink of death? Can’t hatch?

Ethan’s expression tightened. He slowly stepped toward the center of the altar.

[Kirin Egg]

Status: Life Force at 35%, Critically Injured, Unhatchable

Note: 100% = Healthy, 70–99% = Congenital Deficiency, 50–69% = Weak, 30–49% = Critical Injury, below 30% = Near Death

Anything Weak or below = Unhatchable

Congenital Deficiency = Hatchable, but will affect the hero’s growth and ultimate potential

Life Force...

Ethan frowned, thinking it over. It was clear now—this had something to do with the Primordial Force Cicero had mentioned before.

And this egg... it only had 35% life force left?

Yeah, that thing was seriously messed up.

"So Crimson Ultimate Heroes really don’t come easy, huh..." Ethan let out a bitter laugh, rubbing his temples. This was giving him a headache. He’d finally found a Crimson Ultimate Hero, but now it turned out the damn thing couldn’t even hatch?

It was like having treasure right in front of you, but no way to reach it.

Frustrating didn’t even begin to cover it.

There probably weren’t many things in the world more infuriating than this. And the worst part? He didn’t know jack about this whole "Primordial Force" thing. Not a clue.

So, he turned to Cicero, silently pleading for help, and asked, "Cicero, take a look. Is there any way to save it?"

Cicero shifted into his humanoid form and walked over to the Kirin egg. After a moment of examining it, he shook his head without hesitation.

"Master, the Primordial Force inside the Kirin egg has been drained too severely. There are only two ways to save it."

"Two?" Ethan’s eyes lit up. He’d been expecting a dead end—two options sounded like a miracle.

"First," Cicero said slowly, "find another Crimson Ultimate Hero... and kill them. Use their Primordial Force to restore the egg."

Find... and kill a Crimson Ultimate Hero?

Ethan’s eye twitched hard.

Yeah, no. He pretended he hadn’t heard that and quickly asked, "What’s the second option?"

"The second is the long game," Cicero said, counting on his fingers. "Seraphina and I both carry Crimson Ultimate-level Primordial Force. We can transfer it to the egg, bit by bit..."

"Hold on!" Ethan cut him off mid-sentence.

"You’re saying you and Seraphina would give up your own Primordial Force? Wouldn’t that hurt you?"

To Ethan, Seraphina and Cicero weren’t just powerful subordinates. They were his earliest companions—the ones who’d helped him change his fate. In his heart, Cicero, Seraphina, and Elynn each held a place no one else could replace.

If saving this Kirin egg meant hurting them in any way...

Then screw it. He’d rather let the egg die.

Hearing Ethan’s words, a flicker of emotion passed through Cicero’s eyes—subtle, but unmistakably touched.

He paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Master, it’s true that giving up some of our Primordial Force will affect us... but Crimson Ultimate Heroes can regenerate it over time. It just takes a while, that’s all."

"By my estimate, if Seraphina and I work together, it should only take a few thousand years to fully restore the egg."

"This is a Kirin egg we’re talking about. Once it hatches, odds are it’ll be another Crimson Ultimate Hero like us. Compared to that, a few thousand years of effort is nothing."

Dragons already had insanely long lifespans, and once you added Crimson Ultimate status into the mix? They were practically immortal.

No exaggeration—living hundreds of thousands of years was just the baseline.

So yeah, from that perspective, a few thousand years really wasn’t a big deal.

"That so? Then that’s a relief..." Ethan let out a breath, but his brows stayed furrowed.

Because he wasn’t like Cicero. Maybe to Cicero, a few thousand years was just a long nap—but to Ethan?

That was a lifetime. No, more like a hundred lifetimes.

He was only in his twenties. A few thousand years? That was a hundred times his entire existence.

What kind of concept was that?

Sure, if there was absolutely no other way, he’d still go through with it. He knew exactly what a Crimson Ultimate Hero meant—there was no way he’d give that up unless he had no choice.

But if there was even the slightest chance of finding a faster, more efficient method?

He’d fight tooth and nail for it.

Because to him, a few thousand years wasn’t just "a while." It was an eternity.

Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

And while Ethan was silently stressing over the whole situation, Thalassa—who’d been standing quietly to the side—suddenly looked like she’d been struck by lightning.

"L-Lord Ethan... wait... are you saying... you have more than one Crimson Ultimate Hero under your command?" she stammered, eyes wide in disbelief.

...