Su Ye looked at the mark on his wrist, the lords heart.
The main reason he hadn't upgraded before was the fear of rank suppression; while the gap between minor levels isn't that large, there is a real reduction in effectiveness between major ranks.
But now, Su Ye could give it a try, given the dual amplification of the crystal palace and the Hall of Valor, plus the Hall of Valor's guaranteed survival mechanism.
And most importantly, he had gained another God-tier troop type and a Hero Unit.
[Ding: Do you wish to consume 200 origin crystals to upgrade the lords heart?]
"Upgrade," Su Ye's voice rang out.
[Ding: 200 origin crystals deducted. Your lords heart has been upgraded. Current Level: Black Iron 3-Star. You may select a new term; you can view specific attributes yourself.]
Su Ye felt a warm current flow from the lords heart on his wrist through his entire body, strengthening him.
Every time the lords heart upgrades, it is accompanied by a strengthening to enhance the lord's own power.
"Black Iron 3-Star now." Su Ye exhaled a breath of turbid air.
In just two days, raising the lords heart to Black Iron 3-Star was an unprecedented feat.
"That's enough for now. I'll see how difficult the Void Trial is tomorrow before deciding anything else." A glint flickered in Su Ye's eyes. Today, everything that appeared was at the black iron 9-star level.
Now that he had leveled up, what about tomorrow? The Bronze Rank? He would play it safe, check the difficulty of tomorrow's Void Trial, and then decide whether to continuously upgrade the lords heart.
"Since things have come to this, I'll pick a term first. System, select terms." Su Ye's voice rang out.
Three golden lights appeared before Su Ye.
"No red terms?" Su Ye looked at the terms this time; three golden terms and not a single red one. It was basically a pity-timer guarantee.
Golden term: Absolute Loyalty! Golden term: Fates Hint! Golden term: Wall of Sighs!
Su Ye looked at the three terms and began to examine them.
Absolute Loyalty: Golden troop term. Troop loyalty +30!
"This term..." Su Ye raised an eyebrow. How should he put it? It was very straightforward and also very powerful.
One shouldn't look down on this 30 loyalty. One must know that when troops are first recruited, their loyalty is generally only 50, which is just the level of being obedient. If you do something they don't like or fail to meet their needs, they won't listen, and their loyalty might even drop.
For a lord, any term that adds loyalty is a top-tier term, even if it only has that one attribute. Loyalty that isn't absolute is absolute disloyalty.
If troop loyalty is too low, mutinies really do happen; it's no joke.
Red terms are unique terms; if one lord has it, no other lord will have it.
"Pity, I don't need it." Su Ye shook his head and looked at the second term. His troops' loyalty was already maxed out; he didn't need this at all.
Fates Hint: Golden lord term. Once per day, the lord can ask a question regarding their own destiny!
"This one is pretty good. Isn't this equivalent to prophecy?" Su Ye looked at the attributes of this term. Being able to ask a question about his own destiny once a day.
"Seems okay." Su Ye couldn't help but nod, feeling slightly tempted, before finally looking at the last term.
Wall of Sighs: Territory term. Your territory's spatial barrier is linked to the comprehensive strength of your troops. The stronger your territory's troops are, the harder your territory's spatial barrier becomes.
"Emmm, this term." Su Ye looked at this term. Although it was a golden term, for him, it was no different from a red term.
This term was golden likely because it was tied to the comprehensive strength of the troops.
After all, the stronger the troops, the stronger the spatial barrier, making it harder to break. Conversely, if the troops weren't strong enough, this term would be a joke. This was why the term was golden.
"It's a bit of a difficult choice." Su Ye looked at the terms before him.
He wanted both Fates Hint and Wall of Sighs. If his hands were fast enough, could he pick them all?
"Forget it, I'll choose Wall of Sighs." Su Ye made his decision, mainly considering the future.
While Fates Hint was good, for Su Ye, it was more of an 'icing on the cake' rather than 'help in a time of need'.
What Su Ye had to consider wasn't just the novice lord period. Once that period passed, the real journey would begin, with all lords residing within the Eternal World.
Anything could happen at any time. The most common occurrences were territory invasions—by monsters or by other lords. A sturdy spatial barrier would make Su Ye's territory much safer.
At the very least, when others tried to invade Su Ye's territory, the first thing they would have to face would be this Wall of Sighs.
If they couldn't even open a spatial rift in Su Ye's territory, what talk was there of an invasion?
"For future safety... my troops are all God-tier. With their comprehensive strength stacked up, my territory's spatial barrier will only become increasingly firm. As for Fates Hint, I'll see if I have a chance to encounter it again later. Since it's a golden term without the unique property, I might have a chance to roll it again in the future." With this thought, Su Ye made his choice.
"Bind term: Wall of Sighs." Su Ye said in a deep voice.
[Ding: term bound: Wall of Sighs. The lord can view specific attributes in the lords heart.]
Su Ye took a deep breath and opened the lords heart panel.
Name: lords heart
Level: Black Iron 3-Star
terms: Super God Evolution (Red), crystal palace (Gold), Wall of Sighs (Gold)
Upgrade: origin crystal X300!
...
After a quick glance, Su Ye closed the lords heart attribute panel and then checked his resources.
origin crystal X7100, Gold Coins X70040, High-Grade Meat Resource Card X10!
Gold coins were the most abundant. Currently, Su Ye's daily expenditure for recruitment was only 40 gold coins at most, and there were no other places to spend it.
"All done." Su Ye stretched. Today's tasks were finished, and for now, there didn't seem to be anything else that needed doing.
As for upgrading the territory? That wasn't within Su Ye's considerations for the moment. This was mainly because a territory upgrade provided negligible benefits for him.
He could upgrade the territory at any time, but currently, Su Ye only had 60 units of troops. Upgrading meant the area he had to defend in the Void Trial would become larger. Without enough troops, upgrading now would bring no benefits other than looking for trouble.
Just as Su Ye was planning to head to the Wine Pool and Meat Forest for a look, a private message notification from a friend rang out.
Su Ye directly clicked open the private message.
[Little Merchant: Big shot, the seed of darkness you wanted has been found. How does a price of one thousand origin crystals or twenty thousand gold coins sound to you?]
Su Ye looked at the message sent by Little Merchant. To be honest, this price was a steal. After all, the seed of darkness was a 'Rare Treasure' grade item. This grade wasn't particularly high or low, but one thousand origin crystals or twenty thousand gold coins was truly a bargain price.