Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

"Lord Rowan still hasn't returned."

At the southern border of Winterseed, a group of soldiers stood guard, discussing among themselves.

"He will be back soon, I'm sure of it, and he will definitely return victorious!" another soldier responded to his worried comrade.

"The journey to Glenwood takes at least two days. We should expect their return starting tomorrow," added another.

As they continued their conversation, they suddenly heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

They immediately took battle positions, their hands gripping the hilts of their swords as they scanned the dim path ahead. The forest around them seemed to hold its breath as the crunch of leaves underfoot grew louder, closer. Each man tensed, the weight of anticipation heavy in the air.

Through the darkness, they saw the figure of a man approaching.

"Who goes there?" they called out, squinting their eyes as the figure continued toward them.

Since it was the dark of the night, they found it difficult to decipher who it was.

The figure continued moving towards them without stopping, they were only able to tell he was human due to his walking steps.

"Identity yourself!" One of the soldier yelled again.

"Hey, keep your voices down!" They heard a hoarse and faint voice as the face finally became clear.

Their eyes widened immediately.

"Lord Dragun!!"

---

The jubilation in Glenwood continued throughout the night; even as everyone returned to their homes after Rowan's brief announcement, the celebrations did not cease.

After declaring his reign, he revealed his intention to change the name of Glenwood to Winterseed, as it was now under his rule.

No one dared oppose the change; in fact, they all loved it.

Upon returning to their homes, they didn't bother going inside but remained outside to celebrate with their neighbors.

Only Rowan and the soldiers remained at the border.

Rowan ordered his soldiers to free Fagin's former soldiers, who had now become his own.

After they were freed, they immediately bowed before Rowan and performed their traditional method of swearing loyalty to a new lord. After the brief oath, they greeted him as their new leader and proceeded to socialize with Roland and the others. It took only a few minutes for them to become acquainted.

Seeing the excitement, Rowan quickly sent some soldiers to Stanis's place to bring the wine he had found.

The forty-plus soldiers returned with more than twelve large barrels of wine and a large number of wooden mugs.

Rowan gave the go-ahead, and they all began drinking to their satisfaction.

As they drank, Blaze, who stood beside Rowan, eagerly begged for a drink. Rowan tried to warn him that it was alcoholic, but he refused to listen, so Rowan let him be.

Blaze ran off and approached Bryce, who was gulping down two large mugs of wine. Bryce was shocked to see Lord Rowan's magical pet standing beside him, looking up with the cutest eyes he had ever seen. He quickly understood what Blaze wanted and gave him some wine.

Blaze quickly downed two large mugs of wine, causing all the soldiers to stare at him with puzzled gazes, wondering what sort of stomach he had.

After gulping two more large mugs, Blaze began staggering around with a drooling expression on his face.

Rowan could only shake his head and find a nice spot to sit. He found some wooden stools beside the gate and sat down; he wanted to observe his stats and see how much he had improved.

"Rowan," Liara approached him as he walked towards the gate.

Rowan turned to her with a calm smile on his face. "How are you doing, Liara?"

"I'm good, thanks to you," Liara replied as she walked beside him towards the gate.

"Thank you for standing up for our people and ending the suffering we have been forced to endure," she said appreciatively in a low voice.

"No need to thank me. I was just doing my duty, and I'm proud of the work I've done," Rowan replied.

They chatted back and forth as they approached the gate. Liara was curious about the state of her sisters and the mysterious handsome man.

Rowan explained to her who D'Andre was and how he had helped the village. He wanted to tell her that he was also a pervert who was trying to get Elara but decided against it. He didn't want to spoil the fun of his new friend, as he had a lot to gain.

After Liara's curiosity was satisfied, she bade him farewell and began walking away. Rowan seized the opportunity to study her character status.

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[ Name: Liara ]

[ Occupation: Practicing Herbalist ]

[ Special Skill: Herbs Mixing (FF) ]

[ Status: Excited ]

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"Hmm," Rowan was pleasantly surprised; this was the first healing-type class-related skill he had seen in a while.

As he studied her class, Ren ran towards him to speak, and Rowan was shocked to see his class as well.

----

[ Name: Ren ]

[ Occupation: Herbalist ]

[ Special Skill: Herbal Knowledge (D) ]

[ Status: Proud ]

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Since Rowan met Liara and Ren, this was the first time he had settled down to observe their character statuses, and thus he was surprised by these new discoveries.

He hadn't been at the border earlier when both of them helped the injured soldiers with their herbalist knowledge, so finding out made him even more curious to understand their class.

Ren spoke to him and thanked him for accepting him into Winterseed and believing in him.

"I am sure you have a lot of advisers in your village and have no need for one extra adviser," Ren said with a nervous smile. "Nevertheless, aside from advising, I have other skills that would be of great importance to you."

He told Rowan about his specialization in herbalism and how he could help him with it. Of course, he wasn't aware that Rowan already knew about his skills. Rowan acted as though this was his first time hearing about everything.

"Are you trying to tell me that you can identify which herbs can heal specific symptoms and which herbs can damage whatever organ you want?" Rowan acted surprised.

Ren felt really proud seeing the surprised expression on Rowan's face. "Yes, my forefathers were genius medicine practitioners who spent most of their lives in the forests picking herbs and identifying their various uses. Their knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation and has been modified several times. Sadly, Glenwood doesn't value our craft that much."

Rowan listened to his every word with a smile before promising to make him the head of health and welfare in the whole of Winterseed.

Ren's eyes widened, and he immediately knelt on the ground to thank Rowan. "I am honored to receive such a position from you, Lord Rowan. I promise not to let you down."

Rowan nodded. "I am a man who loves good work. If you perform well, you will be promoted and rewarded."

The more promises Rowan made, the happier and more motivated Ren became.

Ren thanked him profusely for several minutes before returning to drink and celebrate his new position.

Meanwhile, Rowan proceeded to copy his skill.

[ Skill (Herbal Knowledge) copied successfully! Do you want to merge now? YES/ NO ]

Rowan immediately chose to merge.

As the skill integrated with him, strange and profound knowledge about everything he needed to know about herbs—ranging from identifying them to mixing them—entered his mind.

Rowan suddenly felt as though he had been studying herbs for more than a decade.

The feeling of acquiring a new and rare skill was satisfying.

Now that he had more than enough evolution points, he couldn't wait to acquire and evolve as many skills as he wanted!

As his mind rejoiced, he quickly called up his system and requested the criteria to evolve his territory once again.

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TO EVOLVE TERRITORY TO F-RANK, you must have....

--LAND: 40 km² (COMPLETED)

--Population: 5,000 (COMPLETED)

--Five hundred active soldiers (COMPLETED)

--Military power: F-rank (COMPLETED)

--Agriculture: F-rank (Current: FF-rank)

--Power: F-rank (COMPLETED)

--Wood-grade Authority Staff (COMPLETED)

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"There's only agriculture holding me back, but that doesn't matter. My agriculture is low because Glenwood seized my river, thus affecting the fertility and production of the farmlands," Rowan contemplated.

Now that Fagin was gone and Glenwood was under his control, the river automatically belonged to him, and with the water, his farmlands would yield even more.

More than 50% of the issues affecting his village had been solved with this new victory.

All Rowan needed now was to return home to his people and begin developing his territory as fast as he could with all the resources he had acquired from D'Andre and Glenwood. Development would become easier now!

"I can't wait to try merging with the blueprint I purchased!" he thought with a smile as he approached the gate and sat down.

The celebration continued until midnight before everyone retired to their homes. Roland and his captains slept at Fagin's quarters, while the other soldiers joined their new colleagues in their homes.

They needed to rest, as they would begin their journey back to Winterseed tomorrow.