"Everyone, spread out! Search for any useful intel, gold mines, the six basic resources, and any Special Resource locations. Report back immediately if you find anything!" Ethan ordered without hesitation.
Now that they had access to a full range of Tier 1 to Tier 10 standard units, their next moves were going to be a whole lot smoother. He had to admit—sometimes, sheer numbers really did make all the difference.
All the standard units and heroes, from Tier 1 to Tier 10, responded in unison and quickly dispersed, each heading off in a different direction to carry out the mission. Over the past year or so, Emerald Castle had grown rapidly, and with that growth came a wave of new heroes—white-tier Common, blue-tier Rare, and even a few purple-tier Epic ones.
Still, compared to the likes of Seraphina and Cicero—those Crimson Ultimate heroes—or Elyra, Eldorin, and Lilith, who were all orange-tier Legendary, these newcomers didn’t quite measure up in terms of importance. So Ethan hadn’t paid them much attention.
But now that he was taking a closer look...
He actually had quite a few of those white, blue, and purple-tier heroes under his command already.
"Elynn, how many of those white-tier Common, blue-tier Rare, and purple-tier Epic heroes do we have now?" Ethan asked, turning to her with curiosity.
"Master, we currently have close to a hundred white-tier Common heroes. Most of them come from Tier 1 to Tier 4 standard unit races, though there are a few exceptions from Tier 5 races."
"As for blue-tier Rare heroes, we’ve got nearly forty. They’re mostly from Tier 5 to Tier 8 units, with a few rare cases from Tier 4."
"And the purple-tier Epic heroes..." Elynn paused for a moment, then continued, "Besides Halston, Arbachel, Bromir, and Thalassa and Mareth from the Stellamaris Kingdom, we’ve got four more:
Intheris from the Energy Elementals, Dubenstein and Darcy from the Silver Pegasus Knights, and Kenedi from the Gorgons."
"Not bad at all..." Ethan nodded in approval, then shifted his focus back to the matter of the Creature Dwellings.
He turned to Cicero and Auremax. "Cicero, Auremax—Eldrin’s found some guarded Creature Dwellings. Looks like they might be around Tier 12. Let’s go check them out."
Cicero and Auremax nodded without hesitation.
"Eldrin, lead the way."
Under Eldrin’s lead, they quickly descended into a massive rift nestled at the bottom of a deep abyssal canyon.
Calling it a "rift" didn’t quite do it justice—this place was enormous. Even if dozens of Gold Dragons were circling overhead at the same time, there’d still be plenty of room to spare. The space was wide open, vast, and eerily quiet.
It was hard to even wrap your head around the scale of it.
"My Lord, over there," Eldrin said, pointing toward a massive, pitch-black cave.
Ethan followed his gaze. The cave was shrouded in darkness, but even through the shadows, he could make out the faint outlines of countless metallic gears and factory-like structures embedded into the walls—silent, unmoving, and ominously still.
"What kind of Creature Dwelling is that?" Ethan muttered, clearly surprised.
He couldn’t recall ever seeing anything like it—neither in this world nor back in his original one.
But after squinting at the strange architecture for a few more seconds, something clicked in his mind. His eyes lit up with sudden realization.
"Wait... is that a Foundry?!"
Most Creature Dwellings that produced Metal Golems followed a similar design—industrial, mechanical, and unmistakably Foundry-like. He might not have seen this exact structure before, but he’d definitely encountered the homes of Gold Golems, Iron Golems, Bronze Golems, and even Diamond Golems.
And this one? It looked like it followed the same blueprint.
"Master, look at the guards posted around the dwelling..." Cicero suddenly spoke up. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
Ethan turned his attention toward the entrance, narrowing his eyes to get a better look—and finally saw them clearly.
"Diamond Golems? No... wait, what’s with those crystals embedded in them?!"
"What the hell are those things?"
They looked like Diamond Golems at first glance—tall, gleaming constructs made entirely of Special Resource-grade diamond. But these ones were different. Their bodies weren’t smooth and pristine like the usual Diamond Golems. Instead, they were studded with jagged, pitch-black crystals of varying sizes, jutting out from their limbs and torsos like some kind of unnatural growth.
"A brand-new unit type... never seen anything like it before."
"But it looks like they were modified from Diamond Golems," Ethan said, frowning. "Eldrin, do you recognize them?"
He turned to Eldrin, only to find the elf staring at the creatures in silence, his expression darkening.
"My Lord... those black crystals—they look like Ebonite Crystals," Eldrin said in a low voice.
"Ebonite Crystal?" Ethan blinked, then his eyes widened. "You’re saying these things are some kind of hybrid? A fusion of Diamond Golems and Ebonite Crystal?"
"That’s what it looks like. But something’s off about them..." Eldrin said, his brow furrowed deeply. "Their energy feels... unstable."
"Master, want me to test their strength?" Cicero offered, already stepping forward.
"Diamond Golems fused with Ebonite Crystal..." Auremax mused aloud, his voice tinged with fascination. "That sounds like something from the old Tower faction—back when the Seven Cities Alliance was still around. They had a project... ’Project Ascendant Metal Golem.’ These might be the result of that."
His eyes gleamed with curiosity now, clearly intrigued.
It was obvious he knew about the Tower’s long-abandoned experiment—and he was just as eager as Ethan to find out whether these strange constructs were the project’s crowning achievement... or its failed monstrosities.
"Go," Ethan said with a nod.
He had absolute confidence in Auremax’s strength. The guy could move in and out of 13-Tier Legendary Unit Dwellings like it was nothing—so a place guarded by what looked like 12-Tier units? That was child’s play for him.
This was well within Auremax’s wheelhouse.
"Yes, Master," Auremax replied, then launched into action without hesitation.
He moved like a golden bolt of lightning, vanishing in a flash and streaking straight into the pitch-black cavern. As he entered, his massive golden wings flared open, unleashing a surge of terrifying magical energy. Arcane particles swirled around him, pulsing with raw power and pressure as he dove straight at the strange, crystal-studded Diamond Golems.
It took just one strike.
One devastating, overwhelming blow—and those bizarre Golems were obliterated. Shattered. Reduced to rubble under the sheer force of Auremax’s assault.
Watching it unfold, Cicero shook his head slightly and said, "Definitely not 13-Tier Legendary Units. Looks more like a 12-Tier variant—stronger than standard Diamond Golems, sure, but still just 12-Tier."
"Yeah..." Ethan nodded, a flicker of disappointment crossing his face.