After piecing together the situation from everyone's overlapping explanations, Ethan finally formed a clear picture of what Ethereal's Energy Pool system actually was.

The concept itself was outrageous.

This newly unlocked system, fully integrated into the game world, allowed ordinary people to strengthen themselves simply by using VR Capsules. More than that, it generated a faint but genuine trace of Energy within their bodies. The rate at which this Energy grew depended on the supply level granted by the Energy Pool, which players could enhance by purchasing multipliers with large quantities of in-game gold.

At present, every player within Ethereal's Harmony City region was affected. In the real world, this region corresponded exactly to Magnolia Valley. Any player who logged in using a VR Capsule would receive an Energy Pool supply. Buying multipliers was optional. Even without spending a single coin, a baseline flow of Energy would still be delivered, allowing passive Energy wielding simply by logging into Ethereal each day. No special techniques, no training routines, no struggle.

The moment this mechanic went live, the outside world erupted.

To ordinary people, it sounded like something ripped straight from science fiction. But for the hidden layers of human society, the impact was nothing short of catastrophic. Energy Users, Mutants, and ability holders were thrown into complete chaos. Many of the so-called geniuses in those circles flatly refused to believe it at first. Their disbelief lasted exactly one day.

In Magnolia Valley, the Energy Pool was no longer a theory. It was an undeniable fact.

That region already contained its share of hidden practitioners and Mutants, many of whom were also Ethereal players. When they experienced the Energy Pool's first wave, their skepticism collapsed instantly. Their strength surged, their Energy grew measurably stronger, and when they looked around, they realized something far more unsettling. Ordinary people were changing too. Children, neighbors, coworkers, people who had never trained a day in their lives now carried faint traces of Energy within their bodies.

What countless aspirants had chased for years, sometimes decades, had been handed rememberlessly to thousands overnight.

As he listened, Ethan could not help thinking back to his own accidental Energy awakening on the road to Shadow Lynx Village. That single event had stunned Celeste and the others. Now, his shock took on an entirely different flavor. He could barely imagine how many so-called Energy Users Magnolia Valley had created in one night.

No. The term did not even fit anymore.

For Magnolia Valley, this was no longer exceptional. It was becoming the baseline.

And all of it traced back to him.

Because he had conquered four Advanced-Tier Fortresses in the Harmony City region, the Energy Pool system had activated locally. No other region in the world was experiencing this phenomenon.

"But if that's the case," Ethan said, frowning, "why are Energy Users and Mutants flooding into Magnolia Valley? VR Capsules are personal equipment. What do they think they can do there? Steal them?"

"It's not about stealing Capsules," Lyla replied. "They're after the leaked Energy."

She explained that VR Capsules did not absorb Energy with perfect efficiency. Ethereal had published the numbers publicly. A Basic Capsule only absorbed about twenty percent of the supplied Energy. Even the top-tier Model XVI-701 capped out at roughly eighty percent. The remaining twenty to eighty percent dissipated into the surrounding environment when the player logged out.

This excess Energy lingered in the air for around twelve hours. It could not be reabsorbed by players inside the game, but traditional Energy Users could harvest it using their own methods. The concentration was highest at the exact moment a Capsule session ended.

That detail ignited a frenzy.

Practitioners poured into Magnolia Valley like prospectors rushing a gold field. They fought over prime locations near clusters of low-efficiency Capsule users. Some went even further, forcibly entering ordinary homes, intimidating families, and coercing them into logging in and out on command. Order collapsed almost overnight.

Their justification was disturbingly simple. In their words, there were no ordinary people left in Magnolia Valley. With that excuse, they operated openly, arrogantly, without even pretending to hide.

The Ninth Division had intervened, but their efforts were limited. The Eight Noble Lineages had also sent personnel to help restore order, though it was an open secret that many of them were equally interested in securing Energy-rich territory for their own families.

Ethan checked the time on his interface. "Twelve hours online, twelve hours offline," he said. Lyla nodded in confirmation.

"Idiots," he muttered quietly.

He had returned intending to move against the Divine Sea Temple. He had not expected to be confronted with this level of chaos. He might not care about every corner of the country, but Magnolia Valley was different. His friends, his classmates, people he knew personally lived there. Their lives were almost certainly a nightmare right now.

Ethan had never seen himself as a hero, and he had no savior complex. But this situation existed because of him. If he had not captured those four fortresses, the Energy Pool would not have activated, and ordinary people would not have been dragged into this mess.

He could not look away.

"We're going back to Ember City," Ethan said decisively.

At his words, Lyla let out a breath she had clearly been holding. The relief on her face was immediate and unmistakable.

Ethan noticed it at once. "There's more you haven't told me, isn't there?"

Her eyes reddened almost instantly. "Father still hasn't woken up. Ninth Granduncle brought members of the Silverwood family to Ember City. We've heard there are already more than a hundred casualties. I was afraid you wouldn't want to get involved. But if you're there… I know it'll be okay."

Ethan's expression hardened. "It's already that bad?"

Open conflict, triple-digit losses, even one of the Noble families bleeding heavily. The situation had clearly crossed a line. There was no longer a simple solution.

"Move out," Ethan said. "Micah, lock down the Sumeru Array."

His tone left no room for argument. His combat mech formed around him, armor snapping into place as he shot skyward.

No one questioned him. They followed without hesitation, lifting off one after another. They had barely returned, and now they were leaving again.

Just as Ethan accelerated upward, a small, agile figure streaked toward him like a living projectile.

"Ethan! I found him!"

The sharp excitement in Yaya's mental transmission made his heart jump. He had almost forgotten she was still on Ascension Isle. But the moment she spoke, he knew exactly who she meant. The entity that could turn living beings into puppets.

"Can you capture it?" Ethan replied mentally without slowing.

"Yes! He's trapped. I've been setting this up in secret for days!"

"Do it."

As Yaya reached him, she phased directly into his body, returning to her place within his Mindscape. Within the vast reach of his Soul Sense, she made a simple pinching gesture.

The world exploded.

A thunderous blast erupted from a distant section of Ascension Isle. Rock and earth were torn apart as a massive knot of vines and thick roots burst upward, writhing violently as they broke free from the ground.

A shrill, inhuman screech echoed across the island.

From within that living prison, a monkey-like creature was dragged into the open air, thrashing and shrieking as it struggled. Its cries were guttural, savage, and unmistakably non-human.

The explosion made Uncle Jed and the others whirl around in alarm. Their eyes locked onto the chaos in the distance just as Ethan's mech banked sharply, redirecting in a streak of light. The Twilight War Spear materialized in his hand, its familiar weight settling instantly.

A violent acceleration followed, the mech breaking the sound barrier with a thunderous crack. Ethan leveled the spear, its tip blazing with tightly condensed Energy, and executed the technique Uncle Jed had taught him long ago: Pathfinder's Guidance.

The strike flew unerringly toward its target.

The creature looked identical to the wispy parasites that had fled from the skulls of the puppets he had destroyed before, except this one was fully physical. Solid, Massive.

And far more dangerous.

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