MC Bookstore Chapter 1144: Where Gold Becomes Thunder
Chapter 1144: Where Gold Becomes Thunder
Ethan didn’t dodge.
He snapped his arm forward and threw the lightning sphere.
The transparent ball met the saber arc head-on. The two forces collided in midair.
The slash tried to cleave the sphere in half. Transparent lightning detonated from inside, latching onto the arc’s edges and ripping inward like jaws.
Boom!
The explosion of light burst over the mine.
The shockwave rolled outward, shaking the golden mountain so hard that sheets of loose rock broke free and tumbled down. Emerald Castle soldiers below threw up shields on instinct, barely holding back the pressure that slammed down from above.
Using the split-second gap created by the collision, Ethan opened the system interface and ran a rapid scan on his opponent.
The information flashed up almost immediately.
Kharvexis.
Tier 35, mid-stage.
Able to command a portion of this world’s Primordial Force.
Ethan’s gaze sharpened.
This one wasn’t like the Solaryn he’d just butchered.
Kharvexis’s power was savage—and more importantly, he had a real grip on this hidden world’s Primordial Force.
As the system data appeared, Ethan also saw it with his own eyes: Kharvexis lifted a hand casually, and the energy between heaven and earth leaned toward him, gathering of its own accord.
That wasn’t simple borrowing.
Some portion of this world genuinely recognized his authority to move it.
Kharvexis hovered in the air with his long saber held across his body. Primordial Force kept feeding into the blade.
The glow along the saber grew brighter. The pressure grew heavier. Even the golden energy mist above the mine was pulled partly away, and the surrounding space began to "tilt" toward him, like the battlefield itself was choosing sides.
Ethan understood immediately.
This was Kharvexis’s home turf.
If Ethan tried to brute-force Primordial Force against him here, Kharvexis could keep replenishing off the world itself. Even with Ethan’s raw output, there was no reason to grind against an enemy in the one area he held the biggest advantage.
If Ethan wanted to win...
He needed a different angle.
Kharvexis swung again.
This slash was faster than the last—and heavier, like it had gained weight midflight.
Ethan raised his hand and condensed transparent lightning, catching the blade arc head-on. Their forces smashed together again, saber-light and lightning exploding in overlapping bursts, ripping shimmering cracks across the sky over the mine.
Ethan used the impact to drift backward.
He didn’t look beaten, and he didn’t rush a counterattack. He simply rode the recoil and floated higher into the sky.
Seeing Ethan retreat, Kharvexis’s contempt deepened. He lifted his saber, ready to pursue.
But Ethan raised his hand.
He didn’t throw his power at Kharvexis.
Transparent lightning dropped from his palm in a straight line, stabbing down toward the mine’s core region.
It didn’t explode. It didn’t create a destructive shockwave.
The moment it touched the layer of golden ore, it unfolded—becoming a bright pillar of light that drilled deep into the vein itself, locking on like a conduit.
Kharvexis’s expression finally shifted.
He realized Ethan wasn’t attacking him.
Ethan was linking to the mine.
The next instant, a heavy roar thundered up from the depths.
A flood of dense golden energy surged out of the ground, shooting up the pillar and pouring straight into Ethan’s body. The ore’s power flowed like a opened dam, streaming endlessly into the sky.
For a moment, golden patterns surfaced across Ethan’s Powered Combat Armor.
Then the transparent lightning and that golden energy began to merge—forming a thicker, heavier wave of power that made the air around him throb.
Ethan’s aura began to climb.
So did his level—rising fast, visibly, like something being forced upward by sheer intake.
When Kharvexis saw the mine’s golden energy pouring up the pillar and into Ethan’s body, his pupils blew wide.
He’d thought that controlling part of this world’s Primordial Force meant he held the absolute initiative.
This was his home field. The world’s power answered his call. Even the mine’s energy should’ve been his fuel in a drawn-out fight.
But Ethan didn’t contest him for Primordial Force control at all.
He sidestepped that entire route—and latched straight onto the golden vein beneath them.
The mountain started to roar.
Waves of golden radiance surged up from underground, flowing through shattered rock, mining rigs, and the remnants of Solaryn structures, all of it funneling into Ethan.
Dense patterns lit across the surface of Ethan’s Powered Combat Armor. Transparent lightning and golden energy intertwined, and the cold, razor-edged electricity gained a heavier, steadier texture—like it had weight now, like it could crush instead of merely cut.
Kharvexis’s expression finally shifted for real.
He didn’t dare wait.
He raised a hand, pulled a gray gemstone from his gear, and slammed it straight into his own chest.
The instant it touched, the skin and energy channels over his sternum split open—almost like his body made room for it on purpose.
The stone sank into him.
Gray light spread along his breastbone and flooded into his limbs. Violent energy erupted outward, kicking up a dense shockwave that slammed through the air in a heavy ring.
The atmosphere between heaven and earth was pushed to a peak.
Space beneath Kharvexis’s feet bent outward in layers. The glow on his saber thickened, gaining a brutal weight. Even the energy that had been flowing back toward the mine was forcibly dragged partway toward him.
The powerhouses who’d followed Kharvexis through the breach saw that scene and lit up with renewed excitement—like they’d already decided their lord was about to flip the board.
If it were anyone else, they would’ve backed off the moment that kind of pressure hit.
Ethan didn’t move an inch.
He hovered above the pillar of light, letting the golden energy keep flooding into him. Only when the power inside him reached its peak did he slowly raise his palm and compress everything—golden energy, transparent lightning, the Powered Combat Armor’s core output—into a single point in front of his hand.
A gigantic energy sphere formed.
Golden light rolled across the surface in violent waves. Inside, transparent lightning crisscrossed like blades.
The moment it appeared, the air around the mine collapsed outward. Even the clouds overhead were dyed a blinding gold.
Ethan lifted his hand—and smashed the sphere forward.
Golden radiance surged like a tide.
The sphere didn’t just shoot straight for Kharvexis. As it flew, it expanded, swallowing the surrounding world. The mine, the ruins, the armies hanging in the sky, even the torn dimensional wall in the distance—everything was washed into a golden sea.
The power was so overwhelming that even the source-energy Kharvexis had just condensed with that gray gemstone was forced down a notch.
The gray light around Kharvexis was swallowed by the gold. The Primordial Force that had been answering him turned sluggish, delayed, like the world itself had been pinned.
Kharvexis’s face darkened—but he still sneered.
"So that’s your trick? You’re just borrowing the golden energy here!"
He tightened his grip on the saber. The gray gemstone in his chest kept flashing.
"When this mine runs dry, you’ll have nothing left."
As he spoke, Kharvexis lifted his hand again, starting to reshape Primordial Force—
But before his palm even rose halfway...
Ethan vanished.