The forest had grown quiet once more.
Only the soft murmur of the creek broke the silence.
McCall stood motionless, his eyes fixed on Master Rowan.
“…A tournament?”
Rowan nodded.
“The King’s Tournament.”
He bent down and picked up the ordinary-looking football lying on the ground.
“This tournament has existed for thousands of years.”
“It appears only once every generation.”
McCall frowned.
“Who joins it?”
“The strongest.”
“The bravest.”
“The most talented.”
“And…”
He looked directly into McCall’s eyes.
“…those chosen by the Legacy.”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
“So it really is beginning.”
Rowan sighed.
“Earlier than I expected.”
McCall took a step closer.
“If I don’t enter…”
“Can I avoid all of this?”
For several seconds…
Nobody answered.
Finally, Rowan spoke.
“No.”
McCall lowered his head.
“I thought so.”
“The moment the Heart of Football accepted you…”
“…your fate changed.”
“The Ravens will chase you.”
“The Eagles will protect you.”
“And other organizations…”
“They’ll try to recruit you.”
McCall let out a slow breath.
“So there’s no normal life anymore.”
Rowan smiled sadly.
“There never was.”
The old guardian started walking through the forest.
“Come.”
McCall and Adrian followed.
After several minutes…
The trees opened into an enormous hidden valley.
McCall stopped in disbelief.
“What…”
Before him stood a massive stone stadium.
Ancient vines covered its walls.
Gigantic statues of footballers surrounded the arena.
Each statue wore a different crown.
The place looked abandoned…
Yet strangely alive.
Golden lights flickered beneath the stone.
The symbol on McCall’s chest began glowing.
“It recognizes me…”
Rowan smiled.
“It recognizes the Heart.”
As they approached the entrance…
The enormous stone gates slowly opened by themselves.
A deep voice echoed through the valley.
“Successor detected.”
“Access granted.”
The stadium trembled.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Ancient torches ignited one after another.
McCall looked around in amazement.
“This place…”
“It’s beautiful.”
Rowan nodded proudly.
“This is the Sanctuary of Kings.” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“For centuries…”
“Only true successors have been allowed to enter.”
Inside…
The arena was breathtaking.
The football pitch was unlike any McCall had ever seen.
The grass shimmered with faint golden light.
Around the stadium stood twelve enormous stone thrones.
Eleven were empty.
One…
Contained a cracked golden crown.
McCall pointed toward it.
“What’s that?”
Rowan’s expression became respectful.
“The Throne of the First King.”
“No one has sat there since his disappearance.”
Suddenly…
The System appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Special Location Discovered
Sanctuary of Kings
Reward:
+500 Experience
Legacy Synchronization:
0.3% → 0.8%
New Feature Unlocked:
Legacy Archive
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Golden light surrounded McCall.
Warm energy flowed through his body.
His senses became sharper.
His muscles felt lighter.
Adrian smiled.
“The Sanctuary accepts you.”
Without warning…
The ground shook violently.
BOOOOOOM!!
One of the empty thrones cracked.
Stone fragments fell onto the field.
A transparent figure slowly emerged.
McCall’s eyes widened.
It was the figure of an old footballer.
His body was made entirely of golden light.
He wore an ancient jersey unlike any modern design.
A silver crown floated above his head.
The spirit looked at Rowan.
“…You brought him.”
Rowan bowed respectfully.
“Yes.”
The spirit turned toward McCall.
“So…”
“The Heart has found another child.”
McCall swallowed nervously.
“Who are you?”
The old spirit smiled.
“I am King Arthur.”
“Second Football King.”
McCall froze.
“There were…
others?”
Arthur laughed warmly.
“Of course.”
“The First King wasn’t meant to stand alone forever.”
“There have been eleven Kings.”
“Each inherited part of the Legacy.”
“But only one…”
His smile faded.
“…can inherit everything.”
McCall looked around the stadium.
“Twelve thrones…”
Arthur nodded.
“The twelfth throne…”
“…has remained empty for over five hundred years.” You are reading on g.com, the official source.
“Waiting.”
“For you.”
McCall’s heart pounded.
“Me?”
“You still have much to prove.”
Arthur’s expression became serious.
“The Heart chose you.”
“But the other Relics…”
“They may reject you.”
Before anyone could speak again…
A bell echoed across the Sanctuary.
DONG…
DONG…
DONG…
Every statue surrounding the arena suddenly opened its glowing eyes.
The System flashed urgently.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
World Event Activated
Invitation Received
The King’s Tournament begins in:
30 Days
Current Qualification:
Pending
First Requirement:
Defeat a Legacy Candidate.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
McCall stared at the message.
“A Legacy Candidate?”
Arthur nodded slowly.
“You won’t be the only one competing.”
“There are successors all over the world.”
“Some trained since childhood.”
“Some possess fragments of the Legacy.”
“Some…”
His golden eyes became cold.
“…would kill for the Heart inside you.”
McCall felt a chill run through his spine.
“So this isn’t just about football anymore.”
Rowan placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
“It has always been about football.”
“But football has never been just a game.”
Far away…
Inside a magnificent underground arena somewhere beneath Europe…
Hundreds of young footballers trained under the watchful eyes of masked instructors.
One teenage boy completed a breathtaking bicycle kick.
BOOM!!
The net exploded.
An instructor smiled.
“Excellent.”
“The African Successor has awakened.”
The boy caught the ball effortlessly.
His emerald-green eyes narrowed.
“So…”
“My first opponent has finally appeared.”
He smiled with absolute confidence.
“I’ve been waiting.”
On a nearby screen…
McCall’s photograph appeared.
Beneath it were the words:
TARGET IDENTIFIED
CURRENT LEGACY SYNCHRONIZATION: 0.8%
The boy picked up his football.
“McCall Johnson…”
“When we meet…”
“…I’ll take the Heart of Football from you.”
Thousands of miles away…
Completely unaware of the powerful rivals now watching him…
McCall stepped onto the glowing pitch of the Sanctuary.
His journey to become the greatest football player in history…
Had truly begun.