Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 134: Real goal

"Are faction forces really that powerful?" Emily felt like her entire worldview had just been turned upside down. freēwēbnovel.com

She had always known that faction forces were strong, but because she was too weak and the gap between them was too vast, she had never been able to grasp just how powerful they truly were.

She knew they were formidable—but to what extent?

She had no clue.

Completely in the dark.

No concrete concept of their strength.

But now, everything Ethan was saying was finally giving her a rough yet clear understanding of what faction forces were capable of.

Rough yet clear—

Two words that seemed contradictory, but in reality, weren’t.

They could coexist.

Because if even Ethan—who was far more experienced than her—only understood a fraction of what faction forces were truly capable of, then what chance did she have?

People often say that your greatest enemy knows you best.

But if you’re not even qualified to be their enemy—if you’re not even worth noticing—then how could you possibly understand them?

"It’s not just real," Ethan said, his brows furrowing slightly. "Faction forces are far stronger than you can even imagine." He hesitated for a moment before continuing, "But that’s not what I’m worried about right now. What concerns me is..."

"You’re worried they’ll use this as leverage to force me into joining Castle, or that they’ll manipulate Hall of Radiance behind the scenes?" Emily caught on immediately, her expression turning serious as her eyes flickered with thought.

In Glory Lords X, once a player completed their personal hero advancement quest and became a unit hero, it was almost a given that they would be invited—if not outright coerced—into joining a faction. Cases like this were so common in the player community that they were practically routine.

It wasn’t that faction forces were so overwhelmingly powerful that they didn’t care about lower-tier heroes.

On the contrary, as long as someone was a hero—regardless of their tier, even if they were just a white-tier Common hero—they were still a valuable resource. Every faction wanted them.

Why?

The reason was simple.

No organization, no matter how powerful, could survive on just one or two top-tier elites.

It was like a complex machine—sure, the core components were crucial, but without countless smaller parts working together, the whole thing wouldn’t function.

It needed support. Coordination. A system where every piece played its role.

That was the only way to keep things running smoothly—better yet, to keep growing stronger.

The bigger and more powerful a faction was, the more territory it controlled, and the more responsibilities it had. There was no way its leaders could personally handle everything. They needed people to share the burden, to manage different aspects of their influence. Otherwise, they’d just be an empty shell.

And that was exactly why even low-tier heroes had value.

But was joining a faction as a hero really such a great thing for a player?

"This is kind of a blind spot in the player community... No, actually, I wouldn’t call it a blind spot," Ethan said thoughtfully. "For any player other than me, joining a faction—whether voluntarily or under someone’s control—is still more beneficial than harmful."

Compared to faction forces, the player community was so weak it barely even registered.

Completely insignificant.

In that kind of power dynamic, even if a faction was just using you, making you work for free, it was still a win for the player.

Because even the tiniest crumbs from a faction’s table were enough to let a player feast.

At the end of the day, it all came down to strength. Players were so weak that even the scraps discarded by a faction could make them rich—overflowing with resources, even.

And since players were so powerless, factions didn’t see them as a threat.

Which meant there was no need to deliberately suppress them, either.

But that logic didn’t apply to Ethan. For him, even though he was still far, far weaker than the major factions... at least now, he could see a path to rising up.

He wasn’t starving anymore—he was starting to crave more.

His ambitions were growing.

And with that, he was becoming less and less willing to be used, to work for free, to have his fate controlled by someone else.

Especially in Glory Lords X, where the ownership of a soul—whether for a regular unit or a hero—was everything.

Soul ownership determined resurrection rights.

In other words, whether you could revive after dying in battle depended entirely on your lord’s decision.

If you ever dared to betray your lord—or if they simply didn’t like you and wanted to get rid of you—all they had to do was kill you once and refuse to resurrect you.

And that would be it. Game over.

Unless you were willing to start over from scratch. But betraying your lord came with a steep price—your level would be reset to zero, your soul would suffer severe damage, and even your hero tier would drop.

In short, betraying your lord was not an option unless you were prepared to pay a devastating cost.

And now, Emily was facing that exact dilemma.

If Castle wanted to recruit her—maybe even force her to join—should she accept or refuse?

The thought made her uneasy. She turned to Ethan and asked, "Ethan, what do you think I should do?"

"Refuse," Ethan said without hesitation, shaking his head. His eyes gleamed with determination. "The weak have no rights. But if you’re too weak, then this wouldn’t even be a question worth considering. We are different. With me backing you up, you need to start thinking more carefully about every decision you make."

"As we always say—Glory Lords X isn’t just some virtual game world. It’s a real world. And in a real world, one wrong step can lead to a lifetime of regret. If you let a faction get its hands around your throat, you could end up like the Unicorn Duchy—looking powerful on the surface, but in reality, walking on a knife’s edge, forever trapped as someone else’s pawn. Is that what you want?"

"Of course not!" Emily shook her head firmly. Then, as if making up her mind, she nodded and said, "That settles it. If they try to use this to pressure me, I won’t agree—even if it means giving up my class advancement!"

"Relax, relax," Ethan chuckled. "It’s just a Tier 9 special hidden unit hero advancement quest. Even if you complete it, it’s just a stepping stone."

Then his eyes narrowed, his voice turning resolute.

"Our real goal is Crimson Ultimate Hero."