Ethan’s gaze slowly shifted back to the Primordial Lake beside him.
The water remained still.
But in his eyes, it was no longer just a lake.
It was—
The control node of the entire world.
He raised his hand.
No hesitation.
He plunged his palm straight into the water.
HUMMM—!
The first resonance hit.
HUMMM—!
A second pulse followed.
HUMMMM—!!
The power buried deep within the lake stirred violently, as if it had just found a new conduit. Energy surged, rippling outward in a frenzy.
And then—
The forest around the lake erupted with change.
The nests embedded in the trees suddenly lit up.
But this ti—
What leapt out wasn’t skeletons.
It was goblins.
Short, muscular, tightly coiled with energy.
The mont they hit the ground, they moved—
Fast, coordinated, eyes sharp and focused.
Ethan’s breath caught for half a second.
Then his eyes lit up with unfiltered excitent.
"Knew it."
He hadn’t been wrong.
The nests didn’t summon a fixed race.
They were—
Tied directly to the summoner’s power structure.
Bonehell was a world born from death.
So naturally, its default summons were skeletons.
But Ethan was different.
His power ca from beyond this world.
His system already included goblin summoning rights.
So when his energy resonated with the Primordial Lake—
What awakened wasn’t the lake’s default.
It was his.
His army.
anwhile—
The battle between Daybound and Nightveil was nearing its end.
Bodies littered the ground.
Energy reserves were nearly drained.
Morvakar and Aurelion stood across the ruined battlefield, chests heaving, barely able to stay upright.
They didn’t even have the strength left to insult each other.
Just as they prepared to burn the last of their power for one final clash—
They noticed sothing.
Movent.
In the trees.
All around the lake.
Goblins. Dozens. Then hundreds.
Pouring out of the forest, forming into a massive, organized force.
Each one carried a strange, nacing weapon—
Crude in shape, but radiating lethal intent.
The power rolling off them—
Was enough to make the air itself ripple.
Shock.
Confusion.
Fear.
It spread like wildfire through both armies.
"No way!"
"The Primordial Lake can’t summon those things!"
"This is a skeleton world!"
"It’s him—!"
"That outsider! He’s corrupted the energy balance!"
Shouts and accusations exploded from both sides.
And every single gaze locked onto Ethan.
The battlefield—
Detonated.
Ethan looked down at the scene unfolding before him, the corner of his mouth lifting into a faint smile.
He didn’t respond to the flood of questions from the four factions. Their voices were growing louder, more frantic, even shrill—but he didn’t care.
His curiosity had already drowned out the noise.
He began summoning.
Not with reckless urgency, but with calm, practiced rhythm—
Drawing in energy, channeling it with precision.
And the goblins kept coming.
From the shattered forest, their numbers surged.
Twice as many as the armies that had just torn each other apart.
And still growing.
Endless.
Unstoppable.
"This energy... it really is endless."
A grin tugged at the corner of Ethan’s lips, excitent flickering in his eyes.
He hadn’t expected the lake’s power to be this dense. He’d been summoning for this long, and yet the reservoir hadn’t even begun to run dry.
A rare sense of ease settled over him. With this kind of power backing him, Erald Castle’s future no longer felt like a distant dream—
But he didn’t rush forward.
Instead, he kept watching.
"Looks like these goblins aren’t just mindless brutes," Ethan murmured. "Their summoning seems to be woven into sothing... deeper. A more complex system tied to this world’s energy."
His attention shifted to the two leaders still standing nearby—Morvakar and Aurelion.
They weren’t far. The tension between them was so thick it felt like the air might tear apart.
"I ca here to dismantle the skeletons," Ethan said quietly, eyes narrowing. "To destroy their control system. Maybe even take this world for myself."
A cold glint flashed in his gaze.
"But it looks like... you two already did most of the work for ."
Morvakar and Aurelion locked eyes—then fury surged through both of them.
Their armies had bled for this lake. Paid in lives and power. And now, everything they fought for was being stolen—effortlessly—by an outsider.
To them, it was nothing short of humiliation.
"You—!"
Morvakar’s voice was a snarl, his teeth clenched tight. Rage poured off him in waves.
"You think you can just waltz in and take this power?!"
He yanked a glowing orb from his belt and shoved it into his mouth.
A second later, a violent surge of energy exploded from his body, warping the air around him with sheer pressure.
"I don’t care who you are," he growled, voice raw and low.
"This power still belongs to this world!"
"And today—"
"You’ll pay for your greed!"
At the sa ti, Aurelion pulled out an identical orb and swallowed it.
His aura flared instantly, skyrocketing in intensity.
The two elders moved in unison, power roaring around them, thick enough to crush stone.
But before they could even reach Ethan—
They were stopped.
A wall of goblins surged forward, fast and unshakable, forming a living barrier between Ethan and the two charging leaders.
These goblins weren’t like the first wave.
Their presence was heavier. Their power—comparable to Morvakar and Aurelion themselves.
And then—
Three of them rged.
Their bodies fused into a single, towering goblin brute, its aura punching through the air like a hamr.
The two elders froze mid-charge.
"These goblins..." Morvakar muttered, stunned.
"These aren’t ours. We didn’t summon them."
Ethan stood off to the side, relaxed, almost amused.
He wasn’t in a hurry to retaliate.
He’d already guessed that this world’s energy system wasn’t as simple as it looked.
The Primordial Lake wasn’t just a power source—it was deeply integrated into the world’s very fabric.
Its energy couldn’t be drained by brute force.
It wouldn’t break that easily.
He adjusted his stance, took a slow breath, then reached out again—
And plunged his hand back into the lake.
HUMMM—!
A deeper, heavier resonance echoed out.
Power surged into him like a flood. The energy around the lake spiked, thickening until the very air began to crack.
"Still not enough," Ethan whispered.
He kept drawing more, calm and steady, until faint fractures began to spiderweb through the space around him.
But then—
Sothing shifted.
A ripple of unease passed through the goblins.
They stopped moving.
Then, without a word, they began to gather—
Converging in one spot, as if waiting.
For a signal.
...
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