Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

About thirty minutes had passed swiftly since the chaos began. At this moment, the entirety of the villagers had gathered inside the village square as though it were a defensive tower, a place where harm wouldn't reach them.

Most of them stared around continuously in fright; some shivered, a few cried out, while others prayed in their hearts that someone truly powerful would come to slay the monster wreaking havoc on the village.

Not far from the village square, a group of more than five hundred soldiers, armed with various weapons, stood around Ren, listening to his plans.

"We need to stay here for now and keep everyone safe," Ren suggested in a deeply worried voice.

"But the monsters will bring down the walls if we don't act quickly! We can't afford to lose them; they've been the only thing preventing monster attacks like these for decades," one of the soldiers immediately refuted, pointing out the flaws.

A few others joined in, trying to dissuade Ren from his decision.

Ren was at a loss for words, his mind wandering in search of a better decision in such a dire event. His heart beat rapidly, and sweat formed on his forehead.

As he racked his brain, searching for the perfect solution to the crisis, he suddenly heard a voice in his head that sounded just like Rowan's. At first, he thought he was imagining it, since he had been praying for Rowan to suddenly show up ever since the chaos began.

['Ren... you can hear me, right?'] the voice in his head became clearer, and he immediately recognized that it was truly Rowan and not his imagination.

He almost jumped for joy at that moment, if it weren't for the men surrounding him who would definitely think he was crazy if he did that during such an intense moment.

['What's happening? What is attacking the village?']

Rowan's voice sounded urgent and serious, and judging from his words, he already knew the village was under attack. This realization shocked Ren.

Ren tried to reply to Rowan through his mind, but it was quite difficult.

['Just imagine yourself speaking to me and tell me everything.']

Ren did as Rowan commanded and imagined himself speaking to him. Immediately, he felt a sudden connection, like Rowan was standing right in front of him.

'Lord Rowan, a great horde of monsters has befallen the village from all angles,' he reported.

['Explain...'] Rowan demanded.

Ren opened up inwardly and told him everything he knew so far about the monsters, how they attacked, how they were threatening to tear down the walls and invade, and every other detail he knew Rowan would require at this moment.

Following his lengthy explanation, there was silence, as if Rowan was processing the information he had just received. Ren waited eagerly for Rowan's answer, trusting that his plan would definitely work since he was a genius strategist.

Nevertheless, the silence lasted for about thirty seconds before Rowan spoke to Ren.

['Send the soldiers outside the walls to battle the monsters. You can't let them destroy the walls; if they do, the nearby monsters will surely visit the village afterward if these ones fail to finish the job.']

When Ren heard Rowan's plan and his reasoning—which was exactly the same as the soldiers'—he couldn't help but agree immediately.

Ren wasn't much of a battle strategist, so he promptly agreed with what Rowan said and told the soldiers to get on with it right away.

Rowan discussed a few strategies to kill the monsters with Ren, and Ren made sure to pass the information to the soldiers, who were already marching toward the walls with serious expressions on their faces.

The wall had been one of their protectors for several decades, and they weren't going to let the monsters bring it down—it would make the years their ancestors spent building it a waste.

The people in the village square saw the soldiers marching away and reacted in various ways—some cried because they felt defenseless without the soldiers, while others prayed fervently for them to win miraculously.

Ren did not plan to go to the battlefield himself, knowing he would only get killed since he didn't possess any sort of battle technique.

If they were facing human foes, he might have accompanied the soldiers to help as best he could. But this time, they were up against monsters, and it would take an extraordinary amount of luck to venture into their midst without getting eaten.

He stayed behind instead.

But he quickly changed his mind after a few seconds and joined a group marching towards the gate.

---

Meanwhile, in Winterseed.

Rowan was biting his nails as his mind wandered, pondering the dire situation of his territory.

He had been digging the foundation when he received a notification that his territory was under attack, and he quickly contacted Ren telepathically to inquire about the situation. When Ren told him what happened, he was truly shocked.

"Monsters appearing out of thin air are already suspicious and unnatural, but when they appear simultaneously at different points of the village, it's more than mere suspicion—this is the handiwork of some bastards!" Rowan gritted his teeth as he muttered to himself.

"Could this be the handiwork of one of my fellow transmigrators?" Rowan wondered.

"Or could this be the work of someone entirely different?" he continued asking himself.

Rowan didn't possess much information about the territories around him. His knowledge was limited to just a few small villages nearby, and those villages had no way of getting their hands on powerful magic such as summoning monsters.

While Rowan was pondering, Dragun, who was returning from the southern river where he had gone to gather herbs he would be using to brew his potion, couldn't help but notice the worried state of his son.

He observed his surroundings, and when he saw that no one was around, he began moving toward Rowan.

Dragun's Glimmerfade spell was activated, so Rowan couldn't notice his presence at all. When Dragun got close enough to his son, he deactivated the spell.

Rowan was still deep in thought when he felt a strange and somewhat powerful presence behind him and quickly turned, assuming a defensive pose.

"It's you..." Rowan hissed when he saw that it was Dragun. Inwardly, he was a little confused about how he had gotten closer without him noticing.

"What is it, son? You look so worried," Dragun said, smiling at Rowan.

Rowan scoffed and asked, "Why do you care?"

"I think I might be able to help a little if you could just explain your situation to me," Dragun replied.

Rowan scoffed but didn't dismiss the offer, even though he despised the person standing in front of him.

'Maybe he has magic spells that will help in this situation,' thought Rowan before he opened up and revealed his dire situation to Dragun.

Nevertheless, as he narrated to Dragun, he became more surprised.

"How did you get such information so easily from a village far away?" Dragun asked curiously.

Rowan lied, saying that the people had sent a crow with a letter to him, since he couldn't reveal that he could magically communicate with someone far away.

Dragun found his answer a little suspicious, but he didn't ask any questions.

"I can be of help," Dragun said with a smile.