Chapter 110: SSS-Rank Stellara Forces Her Way In! The Hall of Heroes Boots Out an A-Rank Hero

Chapter 110: Chapter 110: SSS-Rank Stellara Forces Her Way In! The Hall of Heroes Boots Out an A-Rank Hero

The next day.

John stood on the second-floor balcony of the castle and let out a yawn.

Looking down, he noticed that his main territory had become considerably more spacious than before.

After all, most of the Resource Plots, native inhabitants, and production facilities had all been relocated to Sylvie’s secondary territory, "Land of Plenty."

The only facilities remaining here were the barracks, altars, city walls, and teleportation portals.

Even now, many of his units had gone over there to queue up for upgrades at the Twilight Tavern.

"Splitting everything up really does make the place look much tidier."

John stretched and muttered to himself.

"It’s just that the castle feels a little too quiet now."

As he spoke, he opened his inventory, his gaze falling on a crystal tucked away in the corner.

[Lord Core × 1]

It had dropped from the Judgment Alliance headquarters earlier.

He had given one to Sylvie to establish Land of Plenty.

The other one had yet to be used.

But John already had someone in mind.

He went downstairs and headed straight for the dining hall.

Everyone had already gathered around the long dining table.

Sylvie was bringing the final dish of pan-fried meat to the table.

The others were chatting noisily, with everyone talking about one thing or another. Only the newly arrived Aelinda remained completely silent.

After taking his seat, John picked up his chopsticks and finally spoke.

"There’s something I want to announce today."

Everyone’s attention immediately focused on him.

John handed the Lord Core to Ophelia.

"Ophelia, you’ve already cleared the second hidden territory on Sky Island. Take this core and activate it later."

Ophelia froze, the bowl in her hands stopping halfway. She looked at John in confusion, seemingly unable to understand why he had chosen her.

"Me?"

"That’s right."

John nodded.

"Just like Sylvie, you’ll become the second sub-lord."

Ophelia’s dark golden slit pupils widened slightly.

She looked at the faintly glowing crystal on the table and remained silent for two seconds before finally speaking.

"...My lord, I actually don’t really..."

Ophelia wasn’t particularly interested in managing a territory.

Back then, she had no choice and couldn’t simply abandon her responsibilities.

Besides, she had originally had subordinates helping her manage things. Now she was supposed to handle everything herself?

She would much rather go out and fight.

"Territories are assigned according to the order in which everyone joined. It was supposed to be yours from the beginning. Sylvie was the first because she needed to separate and manage the territories independently."

John interrupted her.

"But things are already sorted out now, so the second one can only be you."

Sylvie smiled from the side.

"If you really don’t want to manage it, you can always ask me to help!"

Ophelia: "..."

This woman was just as annoying as ever.

John ignored the two of them and continued making promises to everyone else.

"Don’t worry. It’s not just the two of them. Every hero will eventually get one."

Nobody said anything. They simply continued eating the flatbread in front of them.

Arno, on the other hand, politely expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you, my lord."

John waved his hand.

"Finish breakfast first. Afterward, Ophelia, go activate the second territory. Everyone else should get ready for today’s departure."

...

After breakfast, the heroes went their separate ways.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, John went to the Hall of Heroes by himself.

He pushed open the milky-white jade doors. The interior was crowned by a lofty vaulted ceiling, and the soulflames inside the niches lining the four walls gradually lit up one after another.

Above the central altar beneath the dome, today’s Hero Recruitment Scroll floated quietly in the air.

But John sensed that something was different.

The soulflame inside the largest niche at the very center of the dome was no longer golden-yellow or silver-white like the others.

Instead, it had turned silver-blue.

"Silver-blue?"

John raised an eyebrow.

Could the Hall of Heroes actually change its appearance automatically?

He reached out and took down the scroll floating above the altar.

[Hero Recruitment Scroll (Hall of Heroes · Daily Generation)]

[Quality: Special]

[Effect: Upon use, establishes a connection with the Hall of Heroes and randomly summons one hero for the Lord’s territory.]

"Use it."

The scroll in his hand transformed into a cloud of light. It spun once in midair before shooting straight upward, disappearing into the silver-blue soulflame beneath the dome.

The pillar of light suddenly exploded.

John’s heart skipped a beat.

Within the silver-blue radiance, he suddenly saw a flash of green light.

The two colors began pushing against and colliding with each other, as though two people were fighting over a spot in a narrow passage.

A system notification appeared before him. For once, its text was accompanied by a red warning.

[Warning: Soul rejection detected within the Hall of Heroes!]

[Original Summoning Target: A-Rank Elf Hero · Wind Whisperer Eluna]

[Intervening Soul: Unknown (Quality Cannot Be Determined)]

[The intervening soul is forcibly occupying the summoning channel... The original target has been forced to withdraw!]

John froze for a moment.

"What just happened? Did one soul actually push another A-Rank hero out?"

As if responding to his question, the emerald-green light was completely swallowed by the silver-blue radiance, crushed, and finally vanished.

The pillar of light stabilized once more.

Silver-blue radiance descended from above, spreading throughout the entire Hall of Heroes.

A figure slowly emerged from the light and landed on the floor, dropping to one knee.

It was a young girl, seemingly around sixteen or seventeen years old.

Her long silver-blue hair fell all the way to her waist, and a pair of pointed ears peeked out from beneath her hair.

Behind her was a pair of semi-transparent, star-shaped wings of light. They occasionally spread open before folding back again.

Her features were delicate and immaculate. Her presence was colder than Ophelia’s, yet more lively than Sylvie’s.

The girl raised her head. Her pupils were silver-blue.

"I am Stellara, the last princess of the Starlight Kingdom. I pay my respects to you, my lord."

Her voice was clear and melodious, without the slightest hint of distortion.

John raised his hand and opened her status panel.

[Hero: Stellara]

[Race: Primordial Elf (Starlight Royal Bloodline)]

[Quality: SSS]

[Level: Lv. 1 (0/10,000)]

[HP: 20,000/20,000]

[Attack: 4,000]

[Defense: 3,000]

[Skill 1: Starfall Barrage (Lv. 1 · Active) — Calls down a bombardment of starlight upon a designated area, dealing Magic Damage equal to 400% of ATK. Deals double damage to Dark-type and Parasite-type targets. Cooldown: 20 seconds.]

[Skill 2: Starwing Aegis (Lv. 1 · Active) — Unfurls her starwings, granting shields to allied units within the designated area and cleansing negative effects such as corruption and slow. Shield value equals 200% of the caster’s ATK. Cooldown: 30 seconds.]

[Skill 3: Primordial Starlight (Lv. 1 · Passive/Aura) — While deployed in a formation, all Elf, Mage, and ranged units under her command receive a 200% increase to all attributes. Can sense all traces of subterranean corruption, parasitic energy, and shadow auras within range. Detection range increases with her level.]

[Background: The young princess of the Starlight Kingdom. Her mother was the previous generation’s Primordial Star Spirit. After the kingdom fell, she was sealed within the Hall of Heroes, waiting for someone with a special destiny.]

John had barely finished reading her status panel when another system notification appeared.

[Ding!]

[Primordial Star Spirit · Stellara requests to form a contract with you. Do you accept?]

John was slightly taken aback.

Normally, whenever a hero was summoned, the system would automatically establish a contract.

This was the first time he had been given a choice.

John also recalled what had just happened.

Clearly, another hero had originally been intended to form a contract with him, but someone else had taken her place.

Did this mean that the two of them weren’t automatically bound by a contract after all?

John looked at Stellara.

The girl remained kneeling on one knee, her silver-blue eyes fixed on him.

She neither urged him nor offered any explanation. She simply waited quietly.

"Accept."

John still chose to accept.

The moment the contract was established, a fragment of memory that didn’t belong to him suddenly flooded into his mind.