My mom is waiting for treatment, and you're summoning me to be a hero?

Fano, the lord of Ancient Wood City, was pacing back and forth in the center of the hall with his hands behind his back.

The atmosphere in the hall was somewhat somber.

The heroes looked at each other in bewilderment.

The original plan was to explain the precautions for the abandoned mine shaft in the morning.

But he looked preoccupied.

Finally, a young warrior in his early twenties standing next to Su Lin couldn't help but step forward.

He broke the silence: "Lord Fano, wasn't the plan to explain the precautions for the abandoned mine this morning? What happened?"

His tone was undisguisedly frank, and tinged with a hint of dissatisfaction.

Fano's thoughts were interrupted by his voice.

She stopped, glanced at him, and sighed, "Wang Tong, actually I was..."

Just then, a guard hurriedly jogged in.

He knelt on one knee, and his breathing was still somewhat rapid, perhaps because he had rushed back.

"Report...Reporting to the City Lord! The situation outside the city has been confirmed! The Wind Wolf King of the Wind Wolf Territory...has indeed been killed...and moreover, all of the more than one hundred Wind Wolves in the territory have been slaughtered!"

"What?!"

"The Wind Wolf King has been killed?!"

"Who did this?!"

"A hundred wind wolves in one night?! You must be kidding me!"

……

The guard's report was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, instantly causing gasps and discussions among the heroes.

Su Lin's eyes widened suddenly, and her heart began to race uncontrollably.

A cold, aloof figure wielding a black sword instantly flashed into her mind.

"Could it be... that he did it?"

The thought made her feel a sense of disbelief.

At this moment, Fano waved his hand, signaling the guards to step back.

Then, facing the assembled heroes, his face showed even greater worry: "Gentlemen, you have all heard it; this is exactly what I'm troubled by."

Wang Tong frowned, still puzzled: "City Lord, I still don't understand. The Wind Wolf King has been killed, eliminating the threat outside the city. Isn't that a good thing?"

"Good news?"

Fano gave a wry smile and shook his head.

"You don't understand. The deaths of many Wind Wolves don't matter; they're just low-level monsters that will spawn again soon. The key is the Wind Wolf King! The skill essence it dropped is the most important thing!"

His gaze swept over the mostly innocent-looking warriors before him.

He explained in a heavy tone, "You must understand, every Beast King is a resource! When you were first summoned, I gave each of you a skill essence, which was a treasure trove accumulated little by little over several years!"

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, even with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"To be honest, I originally planned to give the essence of the Wind Wolf King's skills as a reward to the bravest who performed best and killed the most enemies during this mine trial, to help them break through the level 10 bottleneck!"

"Who would have thought...who would have thought that someone would beat me to it overnight! What am I supposed to do?"

He spread his hands, his face filled with heartache and indignation.

Upon hearing that the reward they might have gotten was gone, the heroes were immediately thrown into an uproar.

"Huh? That's it? I was thinking of trying my best this time!"

"Yeah, it's so hard to finally have a clear goal..."

"Who's so wicked! Isn't this ruining someone's future?"

"Lord, what about our rewards? We can't just have worked for nothing, can we?"

……

Wang Tong's eyes darted around, and then a smile spread across his face.

He said to Fano, "Lord of the city, please don't be too anxious."

Fano looked up at him, his eyes filled with confusion.

Wang Tong continued, "I remember there are two beast kings outside the city, the Crimson Tiger and the Vortex-Eating Bear. Wouldn't it be the same to use their skill essence as a reward?"

Fano's lips twitched violently as he barely suppressed the urge to curse.

The Crimson Tiger is level 15 and the Vortex Bear is level 14; both are significantly stronger than the Wind Wolf King.

You really dare to say that, kid!

He forced a smile and explained with a worried expression, "You don't know this, but these two beast kings are elusive and have no fixed territory, making them extremely difficult to find. I'm afraid we'll have to search for them in the short term..."

Wang Tong seemed oblivious to the city lord's predicament.

Then, remembering something, her eyes lit up: "That's right! I heard that abandoned mine we're going to has a Dark Ink Spider King there, right? It's supposedly a Beast King too! Wouldn't it be perfect to use the skills it drops as rewards? It'd save us the trouble of searching everywhere!"

When Fano heard this, he almost choked on his breath and wished he could slap Wang Tong across the face!

The Dark Ink Spider King is a level 20 Beastmaster!

With formidable strength, entrenched deep within the mines, they are an important resource for the ancient city to hone its true elite forces.

It can be considered one of the lifebloods of the city!

This brat wants its skill essence right off the bat?

How can someone's skin be thicker than a city wall!

He took a deep breath.

Suppressing his surging anger, he patiently explained, "The Dark Ink Spider King is a powerful level 20 beast king. The power contained in the essence of its skills is too immense. You are only level 10 now, and your bodies and souls simply cannot withstand it. Forcibly absorbing it will only lead to your bodies exploding and dying! This is absolutely unacceptable."

Hearing that even the Beast King's skills in the mine were useless, the heroes let out another sigh of disappointment and complaint.

Wang Tong seemed to want to argue something more.

Su Lin, who was standing next to him, couldn't stand it anymore.

She quietly reached out and gave his arm a firm tug.

Wang Tong paused for a moment, then turned his head in confusion: "Teacher Su, you..."

Su Lin shook her head slightly at him, signaling with her eyes that he should stop talking.

She stepped forward and bowed to Lord Fano, whose face had already turned somewhat pale.

His tone was gentle yet distant: "Lord City Lord, we understand. Since Holy Wood City is facing such trouble, you should attend to your business first. As for the reward for the abandoned mine..."

She paused, then smiled and said, "If we can find other suitable Beastmaster skills later, we have no objections. We won't bother you any longer."

After saying that, she pulled the still somewhat reluctant Wang Tong and turned to walk out of the hall.

Seeing this, the other heroes could only murmur amongst themselves and follow.

Watching the departing figures of these heroes.

Lord Fano stood alone in the somewhat empty hall, his lips twitching uncontrollably.

"What do you mean 'any other skill will do'? So, do I have to reveal the essence of a skill to you guys today?"

Looking back on what these summoned heroes had done in the city over the past two weeks...

They provided him with the best food and drink.

A large amount of resources are being allocated to this area.

We try our best to meet all kinds of requests.

They practically ate and took everything.

They're practically emptying out the foundation of his not-so-wealthy ancient wooden city.

Fano felt a pang of heartache whenever he thought about this.

"I'm truly fed up with these ancestors..."

He rubbed his throbbing temples, silently comforting himself.

"Just hang in there a little longer. Once they get to the Heroes' Guild, everything will be fine. Then we'll let them earn some military merits on the battlefield!"

This is the fundamental reason why city lords in various regions, despite knowing that training heroes is extremely expensive, still flock to it.

According to the laws of the Holy Kingdom.

The summoned heroes are trained by the city lord who summoned them before they reach level 10.

Once they all reach level 10, the city lord will report to the Holy See of the Holy Kingdom and recommend them to the Heroes' Guild.

After that, all the resources for the heroes were taken over by the Holy See and the Holy Kingdom.

The Heroes' Association will assign them a ranking based on the points they earn from completing quests.

Each promotion from E-rank hero to S-rank hero unlocks more privileges.

When a hero of rank B or higher reaches the bottleneck of every 10 levels, they will even receive skill essence as a reward.

The city that summons the hero will also receive corresponding resources.

It is a shortcut to quickly enhance the city's status and one's own power.

However, looking at this group of restless and impetuous warriors...

Fano was really unsure of himself.