Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

Rowan's Place

Dragun and Riela could be seen sitting on the bare floor of the room. Riela leaned her head on Dragun's shoulder, tired and dizzy, and she looked extremely famished and worn out.

Dragun, on the other hand, tried his hardest to remain awake for Riela's sake, even though he was equally exhausted.

As for Xandros, he was the complete opposite, selfishly gnawing on a finely prepared magical beast meat while absorbed in the same scroll he had been studying for hours.

The three of them remained in the room—two too hesitant to start a conversation to break the deafening silence while the other remained utterly unbothered.

It was nighttime, so even outside was eerily quiet, further intensifying the awkwardness.

But it soon ended!!

"They are back!"

"Lord Rowan is back!"

"My husband!!"

"My boyfriend!"

The screams of the villagers soon erupted, alerting the three.

Riela's eyes widened with excitement upon hearing her husband's name. Dragun shared the same reaction. Sadly, their excitement lasted only about two seconds before their precarious situation snatched it away.

Both of them turned to look at Xandros, who didn't seem the least bit bothered as he continued his meal.

'What evil plan is he scheming in that dark mind of his?' Dragun couldn't help but wonder.

The noise outside kept increasing as more villagers rushed in the same direction.

Riela felt a strong urge to dash outside and meet Rowan, yet she knew it would only result in her being hurt by Xandros.

Although Xandros hadn't laid a hand on her, she could already tell he was capable of killing her without a second thought, so she stayed calm while wondering how Rowan would handle the situation.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Lady Riela, Lord Rowan is back."

Some ladies from the tailoring house had come to call Riela.

They knocked once again after receiving no response on the first attempt.

"What is wrong? Lady Riela did not come to the tailoring house today, and we haven't seen her leave the house to meet Lord Rowan. Is she okay?"

"I do not know at this point."

They knocked again, and with no response, they left, thinking that she might have already departed and they hadn't noticed her.

Riela felt really bad, but there was nothing she could do.

About five minutes after the women left, a strange pattern of knocks came from the door.

Xandros stood up, stored his scroll in his spatial artifact, and strode to open the door.

Outside was empty except for two dark mages who bowed upon his arrival.

"Winterseed Lord has arrived," they reported.

"I have ears; I already heard about his arrival," Xandros replied plainly.

"But there is something strange…" one of them murmured.

"What?"

The two dark mages promptly reported their observations.

"There is a new magical beast with him—a Superior Realm Skyshifter!" the first one said.

"Also, his men have a strange energy aura about them; we couldn't figure out what it was, but it wasn't mana," the other added.

Xandros hummed as he absorbed their reports.

"Rowan is always full of surprises, but I never expected him to return with two major wonders. It is no wonder he is considered talented enough to be used for the dark seed ritual," Xandros muttered to himself.

He instructed the two dark mages to call their colleagues to gather in front of the house.

Thirty seconds later, ten dark mages stood before him, awaiting his orders.

Xandros did not waste time and began speaking with them. He ensured the door was closed behind him so that Dragun and Riela wouldn't overhear their plans.

"You've already been instructed on what to do—begin the first phase."

---

Meanwhile, the other villagers welcomed back Rowan and his soldiers.

The entire village had gathered around them, hugging their loved ones and dancing in celebration.

Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire

"Welcome back, Lord Rowan!"

"Lord Rowan has done it again—welcome back."

"Gallant men of Winterseed, you've made the village proud once more. Peace will prevail from now on!"

All sorts of words were spoken in their warm welcome.

However, amid the happy crowd were a few sorrowful souls.

"Where is my son?" a woman demanded as she grabbed the clothes of Roland, her face marked by a deep scar of grief.

Roland stared at the mother—she was the parent of one of the soldiers under his command who had died during the night hunt.

Immediately, a sorrowful expression crossed his face as he spoke in a low voice, "We lost him, sorry."

"WAAAA!" she wailed loudly before collapsing to her knees.

Not only her, but many other women mourned their deceased loved ones—sons, brothers, uncles, lovers, fathers.

Their mourning created a gloomy atmosphere among the otherwise joyful villagers.

The captains felt ashamed for not protecting their men as they should have, while other soldiers wished they had been strong enough to help their comrades fight death.

Rowan observed the activities with a calm expression; he had long grown accustomed to such situations, so he remained largely unfazed.

While interacting with the villagers around him, he couldn't stop scanning the crowd for a glimpse of his beloved wife.

"Riela would never miss a gathering like this, even if she were in the midst of something extremely important," he muttered to himself as he scanned the crowd.

"There is no trace of Dragun nor Vishirk among the crowd either; something is definitely amiss."

Rowan asked the ladies who worked with Liara at the tailoring house, and their responses were unanimous—none of them had seen Riela since she hadn't left the house.

"When we went over to call her in the morning, she said she was busy with something and would join us soon, but she never came. Before coming to welcome you, we even stopped by her place, but she wasn't there; we assumed she had already arrived here," one of them told Rowan.

"What about Dragun and Vishirk? Did you see either of them today?" Rowan asked, and they again gave the same negative answer.

Rowan's eyes turned cold immediately.

"What have those two bastards done to Riela!"@@novelbin@@

He began hurrying away from the group of young ladies who had just answered his questions. Some other women tried to speak with him, but he ignored them and kept moving.

Blaze had also noticed that Riela was not around, so when he saw Rowan hurrying away, he immediately suspected that something was wrong and accompanied him.

BOOM!!!!

They hadn't even gotten far when a loud explosion caused the entire village to tremble.