Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

The next day arrived swiftly, and Rowan was already prepared to depart from the village.

He discussed his departure and the duration of his stay at Winterseed II with the captains.

The captains volunteered to accompany him, even though they knew he was more than capable of taking care of himself.

Rowan politely declined and thanked them for their kind offers before meeting with Vishirk and Dragun.

With both of them present, Rowan wasn't worried about any danger befalling the village during his absence.

Before leaving, he made sure all the necessary arrangements were in place, giving final instructions to ensure everything would run smoothly while he was gone.

Afterwards, Rowan and Blaze left the village.

They sprinted down the lane that ran through the forest on the north side of the village—the one that bordered Winterseed II.

The forest was dense and full of life, with tall trees casting shadows over the path and the sounds of wildlife echoing around them.

Since they were alone, Rowan and Blaze had no reason to slow down, they raced through, covering a long distance in a short time.

Blaze's magical aura drew out some demonic beasts from the forest that tried to challenge him, but he easily blasted them away with Fireballs and Flame Disks.

Rowan also took the opportunity to earn some evolution points by slaying some of the demonic beasts.

At their pace, they reached the gate of Winterseed II in just three hours.

Rowan and Blaze were instantly recognized by the soldiers guarding the gate, who hurried to open it.

"Welcome back, Lord Rowan."

The soldiers greeted him while opening the gate.

He nodded at them in response.

"You came at the right time, Lord Rowan. Something strange is happening to Ren!" the soldiers reported, hints of sadness and worry in their voices.

Rowan couldn't admit that Ren was actually the reason he came, so he pretended he had just learned of his condition.

"What is happening to him? Is he alright?" he asked with genuine concern.

The soldiers shook their heads.

"We don't even know if he's okay or not. He's been asleep for more than twenty-four hours without any signs of waking up," the soldiers explained to Rowan.

They even mentioned how the elders in the village presumed he was unconscious and tried to wake him with traditional methods but failed.

"His family has been really down, they're scared he won't make it," the soldiers continued.

Rowan listened attentively and told them to take him to Ren.

They led him to Ren's place, where a small crowd was gathered outside.

As soon as they saw him, the crowd greeted Rowan.

Rowan waved at them and went to check on his deputy.

Inside, Ren was lying on the bed, surrounded by his family—his beautiful middle-aged wives and his two lovely, really pretty daughters.

The room was filled with a tense silence, broken only by the soft sounds of their worried breathing.

Rowan was quite surprised to see Ren's good-looking family, but he was too concerned about Ren's condition to dwell on it.

He immediately looked around the room and telepathically asked Blaze to sniff out any traces of dream mixture.

Blaze confirmed his suspicions—there were traces of dream mixture in the room.

"This is not a simple coincidence at all," Rowan thought.

Ren's family immediately realized who Rowan was upon seeing the huge and powerful flame monster walking closely beside him.

After they returned from the other village where Ren had hidden them before the war, they heard stories of the young and handsome Lord of Winterseed, who had defeated and taken over Glenwood with the help of his soldiers and his magical pet.

Thus, upon seeing the handsome Rowan with his powerful magical pet, they knew who he was and stood up to greet him with a bow.

"Lord Rowan, thank you for coming," Maryanne said softly.

Rowan nodded at their greetings and inquired about Ren's condition.

"My father went to sleep perfectly fine the night before all this. He was with us outside, taking in fresh air before retiring to his room to rest..." Ren's youngest daughter began explaining, a worried expression on her face.

While she was explaining, Rowan checked her stats and those of her mother and sister.

---

[ Maryanne ]

[ Occupation: Midwife ]

[ Special Skills: Midwifery (C) ]

[ Status: Worried ]

[ Ophelia ]

[ Occupation: Cook ]

[ Special Skills: Cooking (C) ]

[ Status: Worried ]

[ Shelia ]

[ Occupation: Cook ]

[ Special Skills: Cooking (C) ]

[ Status: Worried ]

---

Maryanne is Ren's wife, Ophelia is his oldest daughter, and Shelia is the youngest.

"Impressive stats," Rowan muttered after observing them.

"Can you help my father? I don't want to lose him," Shelia said worriedly.

"He will be okay," Rowan replied reassuringly.

He did a quick analysis on Ren, and it was exactly the same as Liara's.

They were perfectly fine health-wise, their state was as though they were asleep, but the downside was that none of them seemed to be waking up anytime soon.

At this point, Rowan was forced to trust his initial intuition that their condition was not a minor coincidence.

If both of them were from advanced Earth, where they could easily communicate with phones, Rowan might have believed they had called each other and agreed to make and drink the dream mixture at the same time.

Sadly, this world wasn't Earth, and communication wasn't that advanced.

Rowan consoled the family once more before leaving the room with Blaze.

The first thing he did was to go check on the soldiers.

He inspected the soldiers and noticed that most of them had improvements in their skills. Their Swordmaster skills, which were usually rank F, had advanced to E and D ranks for most of them. It was a great improvement.

A few elders took it upon themselves to explain to Rowan what had been happening in the village, since Ren wasn't in a state to do so.

They even told him about the savior who came to the village, how valiant and strong he was. They thanked Rowan for sending him to save them.

"His bravery inspired all of us," one elder remarked. "He fought off bandits and protected our homes."

After speaking with the elders, Rowan went to inspect the farms and was greeted with a pleasant surprise.

The farmland in Winterseed II was about twice as big as that of Winterseed.

However, not all the farmland was used for growing crops, about a quarter of the land was used for rearing livestock.

Chickens, sheep, cows—all kinds of livestock were present on the farm.

Very large wooden enclosures were built around the livestock.

Currently, many farmers wearing large robes and makeshift gloves could be seen feeding the cattle with large amounts of fresh grass.

Rowan was quite surprised to see how well-maintained the livestock farm was.

Livestock was quite popular back when he played Emperor's Domain, but only a few players with special skills could actually rear them.

Those who didn't possess the special skills could still rear livestock, but there was always a 99% chance the livestock would develop deadly symptoms and die afterward. Rowan was one of those players without the special skill.

"Looks like things are different here," he thought, observing the healthy animals.

Thankfully, this was the real world of Emperor's Domain, and skills were not necessarily needed to keep the livestock alive.

Also, it's not like Rowan would be the one taking care of the livestock personally, so it wouldn't be much trouble.

The farmers working noticed him and immediately came to greet him.

"Good day, Lord Rowan!" they called out, smiling warmly.

Rowan responded, and without hesitation, he proceeded to the important matter, inquiring about the livestock.

They discussed with Rowan, and he learned that most of the animals on the farm had given birth.

"Lord Rowan, are you interested? If you are, we can give you all the young ones, especially the chickens and cattle. The young ones of the sheep are about two months old, so they are not advisable," they offered.

Rowan nodded and inquired about the numbers.

"We have about three thousand chicks and up to one hundred calves available," they reported.

Rowan's eyes widened—the amount available was already more than enough.

"I am sure this will make the farmers very delighted. I might even earn some evolution points," he smirked.

"I will take all of them when leaving," Rowan told the farmers.

The problem he had right now was mobility.

How would he be able to move so many animals at the same time?

Even the carriage D'andre left wouldn't be able to carry so many animals at once.

Rowan pondered the issue for a few seconds before an idea appeared in his mind.

"If only I had a way to transport them all efficiently," he mused.

.....

Riela was up, carrying out her usual tasks when suddenly a voice appeared in her head.

"Riela?"

The voice was so gentle and serene.

She didn't even feel any sort of fear when she first heard it, she even replied, "Yes, darlin'," in a calm voice, thinking Rowan was beside her.

But the realization quickly dawned on her a few seconds later.

"Rowan is not at home, how am I hearing his voice? Am I thinking of his voice because I miss him already?" she asked herself inwardly.

But then the same voice sounded in her head once again.

"Riela, it's me, Rowan. I'm communicating with you telepathically," he explained.

Rowan spoke to her gently and explained everything before she finally relaxed and listened to his words.

"I want you to tell Dragun to come meet me at Winterseed II... also inform him that there is a dream mixture here," Rowan's voice said to her.

"Dream mixture?" She questioned mentally, she hadn't heard that name before.

"I will explain when I get back, Dragun would understand if you tell him that."

She nodded to herself, realizing the urgency.

"I'll let him know right away," she replied mentally.