Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

Rowan managed to harvest only a small number of monster cores from the slain monsters. He collected fewer than one hundred cores, which was significantly less than 10% of the total monsters they had defeated.

However, Rowan didn't feel discouraged by the low yield of monster cores. He had taken the soldiers out to hunt today not to farm monster cores, but to make them stronger, and in that, he had succeeded.

As they strolled back to the village, Rowan couldn't stop thinking about how they would be able to hunt more effectively in the future.

"Even if we use the same bait we used today on another day, I'm not sure we'll be able to draw out as many monsters as we did today. We'll have to go deeper into the forest to hunt in the future," Rowan muttered to himself.

"Most of the soldiers earned only a small amount of evolution points today. Some even had to fight and kill the same monsters repeatedly to earn points," Rowan continued.

"I hope next time we'll be able to get our hands on a lot of low rank monsters," he prayed inwardly.

Blaze was walking beside Rowan, the look of regret still hadn't left his eyes. Because of his greed, he had missed the opportunity to collect monster cores from Rowan.

This made Blaze really moody and silent, a side of him that Rowan hadn't seen before.

The soldiers behind Rowan were chattering happily, discussing how they had been able to slay the monsters and demonic beasts with their new skills. They also voiced their readiness to partake in more challenges like this.

As they walked past the farms, the few farmers currently working informed them about the arrival of Dragun and Vishirk.

Rowan was ecstatic upon receiving the news of their arrival. Now he would be able to know his wife's affinity and also be able to leave the village for Winterseed II to see what exactly was wrong with Ren. He also needed Dragun's help to heal Liara.

He had been trying to contact Ren telepathically, but Ren seemed to be in a deep sleep-like state and couldn't receive his messages.

Rowan left the soldiers and rushed towards the Tailor's Home near the village square.

However, when he arrived, he was told that Dragun and Vishirk had already left. Riela informed him that she had delayed checking her elemental affinity until he was present, which gladdened Rowan's heart.

"Did they tell you where they were going?" Rowan asked the women.

"No, they just left after speaking with Lady Riela," they replied.

"Hmm," Rowan hummed as he pondered where they could be at this moment.

He bade Riela farewell and left, still pondering to himself. Blaze strolled beside him.

"Liara..."

He quickly recalled that name.

If Dragun was in the village and had heard the story about what happened to Liara, he would naturally go to see her.

He communicated with Blaze telepathically, and both of them began heading towards her place.

They first arrived at her house, which was closest to them.

It was empty.

Then they quickly headed towards Bruce's place.

Thankfully, Dragun and Vishirk were there.

Vishirk was standing outside the house, so he was able to spot Rowan and Blaze approaching. A sweet and friendly smile crept onto his face as he went to greet them.

"Hope you guys had a safe and interesting journey," Rowan said with a smile.

"The journey was far from safe, but it sure was interesting," Vishirk replied enthusiastically.

Being talkative, Vishirk was about to narrate the whole event to Rowan, so Rowan immediately shushed him by asking other questions.

"Rowan, I don't think you will actually be able to awaken anytime soon," Vishirk suddenly let out with a sigh.

"Why?" Rowan asked with a frown.

"The ingredients are too expensive! They're even more expensive than I expected, and we could not find some of them as well," Vishirk continued.

Rowan frowned as he heard all this.

Vishirk saw his expression and immediately spoke up, "But do not lose hope. If you have at least one million gold coins, we might be able to purchase an awakening potion from the black market, but its quality might be really poor. But that's better than nothing, right?"

Rowan thought about it for a few seconds.

"I can check the quality of the potion with my system and purchase one of better quality. As for the one million gold coins, it's not that big of a deal, one hundred million evolution points easily covers it," Rowan thought.

"That's great then," Rowan said.

Vishirk quickly looked at him with a frown. "You heard the price, right?"

"Yeah, don't worry about the price, I'll deal with it when the time comes," Rowan replied.

Vishirk looked at him for a few seconds before nodding. "If you can, then be fast about it. There will be a big event at the black market around three to four weeks from now. There will be a lot of awakening potions for sale at a cheap price there."

Rowan nodded his head.

"I will make sure to get the money prepared before then," Rowan said with a smile on his face.

Vishirk smiled and nodded.

"By the way, Senior is inside with Liara. I think something strange is wrong with her, you should go in and see for yourself," Vishirk told Rowan.

Rowan nodded and went inside the house.

Inside, Liara could be seen lying gently on the bed while Bruce, his wife, Elara, and Dragun stood around her. The first three had worried expressions on their faces while Dragun observed her with a frown.

Rowan approached them.

"Will you be able to cure her with healing magic?" Rowan asked.

Elara, as well as Bruce and his wife, greeted Rowan when they saw him to which Rowan responded with a nod.

Dragun turned to him with the same frown on his face and said in a really worried voice, "Something is not right here, Rowan."