Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

Morning came swiftly.

At a big, vacant hall inside the Castle of Might, the survivors could be seen discussing with each other about their blissful experience they had in the night. Some talked about the delicacies they received, some talked about managing to strike a conversation with the beautiful maids, while some discussed the romance that blossomed between them and their fellow survivors.

There were different topics being discussed, but none of them had even the slightest hint of sadness or discomfort.

Everyone had smiles on their faces.

"What? You really made out with one of the maids?"

Rowan's eyes widened as he asked Eliman, who had a smug look on his face as he bragged about his experience last night.

"Of course. Do you take me for some type of weakling who can't woo a lady over? I didn't even exhaust all my romantic lines and tactics before she fell for me."

Eliman bragged with a grin on his face.

Rowan smiled. He could not deny that he was proud of the friend he had made in the short while inside the cult's hideout.

Both of them discussed even more about their situation last night, though it was mostly Eliman bragging about his ability to woo beautiful ladies.

While they were discussing, Rowan proceeded with a plan he had in mind the previous night — asking for the assistance of his friend.

"An horde is going to attack your village?"

Rowan nodded. "Yes. I do not know the exact moment the hordes would attack or how many monsters we would be facing, so I need all the help I can find."

"Damn, that is going to be tragic. The last time a monster horde attacked my territory was over three decades ago, and we lost more than ten thousand people."

Eliman sort of understood the predicament of his friend, as he too had heard stories of human territories getting destroyed by monster hordes, though it rarely happens.

Nevertheless, those territories never became the same after the experience. Some were completely wiped out of existence, while others only sustained thousands of casualties.

Eliman could not help but feel sympathy for his friend at this moment.

"Do you want me to come with you? I can be of assistance. My blood magic is powerful against fellow humans but even more powerful against mindless beasts."

Hearing Eliman's proposal, a smile appeared on Rowan's face, and he quickly stretched out his hand for a firm handshake.

Both of them shook hands.

"Your assistance would contribute a lot to my cause."

Eliman smiled back. Although he had only known Rowan for a short while, he felt really excited to be of help to him.

On the other hand, while Rowan wanted Eliman's assistance, he also desired something more — his blood magic attribute.

He already had it in mind from the very beginning to copy and merge with his affinity.

Merging with blood magic would cause so much pain, as the affinity is very unique, unlike water magic, which is one of the basic affinities that he could easily copy and merge with. It would definitely draw unwanted attention if he tried copying it in a place filled with mages.

If it was at Winterseed, where the majority of the population does not know about magic, he could easily absorb and merge with as many affinities as he could without anyone discovering.

Thus, Eliman coming to Winterseed with him was of greater importance than the blood mage could imagine.

Besides Eliman, Rowan also had another target in mind.

He scanned the gathering, and his eyes landed on a pretty, raven-haired woman discussing with her friends. She was the one who summoned the purple hobgoblins during the battle against the cultists, she was the only summoner in the group.

'Being a summoner and a beast tamer at the same time would be interesting.'

Most especially, due to the incoming monster horde, having a skill that allows him to summon extra hands would be great.

'But how do I go about this?'

Rowan was pretty social. He could approach her, make friends with her in a short time, and manage to get her to come with him to Winterseed, then he could copy her summoning affinity.

Or he could simply copy her affinity here and now, with the risk of drawing unwanted attention.

'I am in the castle of a powerful Lord. He definitely has some powerful mages lurking around who would easily notice when I attempt something like that.'

After the incident with the cult, Rowan has made up his mind to calculate his every step, to prevent becoming the center of attraction for a bad group of people.

If he knew Xandros was a cultist back then, he wouldn't have merged with Riela's water affinity right in front of him.

"What are you thinking about, darling?"

Riela arrived before Rowan and hugged him from behind with a smile on her face. She spoke in a soothing voice.

Rowan smiled at the sound of her enticing voice.

'Well, I can just use Riela to get the help of the summoner. When we reach Winterseed, obtaining her affinity wouldn't be that difficult because I already have beast-taming ability, which is somewhat similar.'

A smile adorned his face as this thought settled in his mind.

He spoke to his wife and gave her the assignment to win the assistance of the raven-haired summoner.

Riela was happy to help, she strolled towards the raven-haired mage.

Rowan could see both of them getting along pretty fine. They discussed and laughed. Rowan also noticed the moment Riela introduced him to the mage as she turned in his direction and flashed him a calm smile.

Rowan smiled back.

The next minute, he noticed a concerned expression on her face having heard about the monster horde.

Apparently, monster hordes weren't that uncommon among bigger territories. Everyone in this place had either heard of or experienced a monster horde once in their life — they knew just how disastrous it was.

A few minutes passed. Riela and the raven-haired mage strolled towards Rowan. Riela had an accomplished smile on her face while the mage had a concerned expression.

"Hey, the name is Merla."

She introduced herself upon contact. Rowan shook her hand and introduced himself.

Without hesitation, she revealed her intention to help, which Rowan was already aware of.

Rowan thanked her for her kind heart.

On the other hand, Eliman, who was standing beside him, could not stop staring at the summoner, it was as though he was lovestruck at first sight.

He became even more motivated to help after hearing that she would be coming with them.

The agreement was quickly made. Rowan promised her an unforgettable gift for her assistance.

The four discussed amongst each other while awaiting a response from the Castle of Might.

The response did arrive in the form of aged mages dressed in long sacred white robes with big hoods that covered their heads. There were seven of them — about four of them could only walk with the assistance of walking sticks.

Nevertheless, despite their weak appearance, they radiated a powerful magical presence.

Rowan even checked their character status and was surprised to see that they were only two ranks away from being archmages.

The men introduced themselves as the seers of the kingdom. They were here to do a final examination of the survivors' cores to check for impurities or abnormalities that the cult might have inflicted on them.

Fortunately, there were none.

Confirming this, the seven seers left, and another group of younger mages entered the hall, leading them outside the hall where a group of unique, tamed flying beasts could be seen, creating a peculiar scene.

The flying beasts were their only means to their homeland, very, very far away.

A few minutes passed, each survivor had already mounted a flying beast alongside the mage assigned to them.

They waved a final goodbye to one another before flying away.

Five flying beasts flew in a particular direction — Rowan, Riela, Dragun, Eliman, and Merla were approaching Winterseed.