Chapter 45: Sylvie Remembers Her Previous Life?! Is There More to John’s Rebirth Than Meets the Eye?

John’s body suddenly stiffened. He, too, was utterly stunned, staring at Sylvie in disbelief.

Won?

Had the alliances been driven away?

Wasn’t that something from his previous life?

Why did Sylvie still remember it?

"You..."

John’s voice tightened slightly. "Besides that, what else do you remember?"

Sylvie tilted her head, her crimson eyes filled with confusion.

"Remember what?"

She clearly didn’t understand what he meant.

The three heroes standing nearby were even more bewildered.

All they knew was that the two people in front of them seemed incredibly close, as though no one else could possibly fit between them.

All three felt somewhat excluded.

Raistlin and Bladeborne, at least for the moment, could accept it.

After all, both of them had only just joined the territory.

Only Ophelia raised an eyebrow, feeling inexplicably irritated.

Why does my lord seem to know this newly summoned female hero so well?

And Sylvie’s clothing didn’t resemble anything from the attire of any race Ophelia could recall.

Combined with the strange atmosphere between them and the girl’s obvious closeness and dependence on John, she hardly seemed like a hero who had just signed a contract with her lord.

Ophelia had far too many questions.

But John wasn’t in the mood to explain anything to them. He took a deep breath, turned toward the three heroes, and spoke.

"That’s enough for today."

His tone had returned to its usual calm.

"Raistlin, find yourselves rooms in the castle. Any unoccupied room will do. We’ll meet in the castle hall at 8:30 tomorrow morning."

"Yes, my lord."

The three heroes had plenty of questions of their own, but the absolute obedience demanded of heroes by their lord meant they had no choice but to comply.

In an instant, only John and Sylvie remained in the plaza.

John held out his hand.

"Come with me."

Sylvie obediently nodded and hurried after him, lightly hooking her fingers around his sleeve.

John turned to look at her.

The moment the girl noticed his gaze, her face reddened again. Even the tip of her red ponytail seemed to burn with embarrassment. Her eyes darted everywhere except toward his.

...

One hour later.

The second-floor bedroom of the castle.

The curtains were drawn tightly, allowing only a thin sliver of moonlight to enter.

The room was somewhat messy.

The blankets were crumpled into a heap, the bedsheet had been dragged onto the floor, and Sylvie’s burgundy leather armor lay beside the bedside table. Her bracers and boots had been scattered in different directions.

The air carried a faint warmth, mingled with the fragrance of a young woman’s hair and the lingering scent of sweat.

Sylvie was lying half-prone on the bed, her red ponytail undone, her long burgundy hair spread across the pillow.

Her eyes sparkled as she looked at John, her chest still rising and falling slightly.

John lay beside her, one arm tucked behind his head, watching her without blinking.

Under his gaze, Sylvie began to feel self-conscious. She reached for the blanket, pulled it over her waist, and spoke softly.

"So..."

She cleared her throat, her voice still a little hoarse.

"You mean that this continent is actually your Newbie Map? After our territory was destroyed in our previous life, time was reset?"

John nodded.

"That’s right."

Absentmindedly, he twirled a strand of her burgundy hair around his finger.

"I was shocked, too. I never expected you to retain your memories from your previous life when you were summoned."

"Sylvie, before you were reborn... do you remember anything else?"

Sylvie furrowed her brows and thought for a moment.

"Anything else... Not really. Nothing particularly unusual."

She tilted her head, and another strand of red hair slipped across the pillow.

"It just feels like the moment between my death in my previous life and being summoned by you again lasted only an instant. I closed my eyes, opened them again, and suddenly I was standing in the plaza."

She paused, then raised her small hand and examined it from different angles in the moonlight.

"But when I was being summoned... I think I felt a warm energy flowing into my body from above my head."

John sat up.

"Bring up your status panel. Let me have a look."

"Okay!"

Sylvie immediately sat up obediently on her knees. The blanket slipped slightly from her shoulders, but she didn’t seem to notice. She raised her head as the status panel appeared in front of her.

John leaned closer to examine it.

[Hero: Sylvie]

[Race: Human (Kin of the Spirit of Abundance)]

[Quality: SSS]

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

[Health: 8,000/8,000]

[Attack: 1,500]

[Defense: 1,000]

[Skill 1: Resource Replication (Lv.1 · Active): Can replicate three resource nodes of Divine quality or below each day and permanently map them within the Lord’s territory. Uses reset at midnight each day.]

[Skill 2: Absolute Perception (Lv.1 · Passive): Automatically detects all hidden resource nodes, dungeon entrances, and special opportunities surrounding the territory. Detection range increases with the hero’s level.]

[Skill 3: Abundance Aura (Lv.1 · Passive/Aura): Increases the output of all Resource Plots within the territory by 50%. Each harvest has a 10% chance to trigger a production critical, multiplying the yield by five.]

[Background: The last mortal devotee of the God of Abundance. Born with an innate resonance with the earth, she can hear the pulse of the land and sense the locations of mineral deposits.]

"SSS rank..."

Even after seeing Sylvie’s status panel again, John couldn’t help feeling emotional.

He had already learned her rank from the system announcement, of course.

But he still had no idea why this had happened.

In his previous life, Sylvie had been an S-rank hero specializing in economic development.

It was precisely her ability to locate resources and discover hidden dungeons that had attracted the attention of the Judgment Alliance.

And ultimately, that ability had brought death upon them both.

John looked at the girl kneeling on the bed, a faint blush still lingering on her face. Yet only one thought occupied his mind.

This time, I’ll never let that happen again.

No one is allowed to lay a finger on her.

"But..."

John shifted his gaze back to Sylvie’s skills.

Most of them were similar to those she had possessed in his previous life, but one new skill genuinely surprised him.

Resource Replication.

Three uses per day, allowing her to copy resource nodes of Divine quality or below and bring them into his territory.

What did that mean?

It meant he would no longer need to send people out to gather resources manually. Whenever he found something valuable, he could simply replicate it three times and bring it home.

Three free resource nodes every single day.

Not only would this save the time spent traveling, but it would also eliminate the risks of exploring dangerous areas.

If other players ever learned about this skill, they would be green with envy.

"Let’s test your Absolute Perception first."

John pointed toward the second skill.

Sylvie obediently nodded and closed her eyes.

"Okay."

The next instant, a map of the entire territory unfurled before John with a whoosh.

Resource nodes within a radius of 500 kilometers around the castle immediately appeared as points of different colors.

Green represented wood, brown represented stone, gray represented iron ore, and gold represented gold coins...

There were also several orange and purple markers labeled Dungeon Entrance and Hidden Opportunity.

John’s breathing grew heavier.

Wasn’t this range a little too large?

In his previous life, when Sylvie was still an S-rank hero, the maximum range of her Absolute Perception had only reached a radius of 200 kilometers.

Now, that range had more than doubled, and the information she could detect was far more extensive and detailed.