Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

The night was going pretty well for Rowan and his soldiers—the temperature was comfortable, and the sound of the cool breeze rustling the leaves created a soothing background that made relaxation more enjoyable.

With Blaze and Rowan keeping watch over them, the soldiers were able to sleep with their eyes closed.

While they slept, Rowan went through their stats one by one, noting the soldiers he would need to send to the front lines for tomorrow's hunt to increase their evolution points, which were significantly below average compared to the others.

Most of these soldiers belonged to the archers group, which was understandable since they primarily served as support for the team.

On the other hand, the close-range fighters were doing well, as they could slay more monsters.

Rowan contemplated many ways to address this minor deficiency.

He needed every one of his soldiers to evolve as soon as possible.

The trial would soon begin, and Rowan did his best to improve all his cards to pass the trials without losing not only his people but his entire territory.

After finishing his review, Rowan closed the system and ordered Blaze to keep watch while he rested his head a little.

Blaze agreed.

Rowan found a nearby tree and leaned against it. The cool breeze blew against his face, providing a refreshing sensation that quickly lulled him to sleep.

Nevertheless, while his soldiers were sleeping soundly, Rowan was not.

He was plunged into a nightmare.

He found himself in a dark cave with strange symbols and intricate texts engraved on the walls.

As he stared at the symbols, Rowan felt as though he had seen them before. He strained to recall where and how he had encountered them, but no memories surfaced about the engravings.

As his consciousness explored the symbols and text, a sinister and unclear voice echoed through the room, capturing his attention.

He turned and was confronted by a mighty throne—so formidable that no words could adequately describe it.

Sitting on the throne was darkness!

Yes, darkness.

It had no shape or form, just pure darkness that seemed to possess life.

It appeared to be speaking to Rowan, though in a very unclear tone—similar to the voice he heard after awakening his mana core.

The voice kept repeating the same phrases over and over.

At first, it was unclear after the first few hundred repetitions.

But after more, it began to grow a bit clearer.

"Ki... V..able.."

This was the clearest so far.

Rowan couldn't help but wonder what message the darkness was trying to convey.

He listened more attentively, trying to grasp what this darkness had for him.

"Kill..."

It repeated, this time, more unclearly.

"Kill... Ven.. earable... Mario,"

'Why does it sound like it's asking me to kill someone?' he wondered.

The voice repeated even more and finally became really clear.

"Kill Venerable Mario!"

Rowan finally understood what it wanted.

He was confused.

He wanted to ask a question.

He wanted to question his current reality—where was he, and why was the empty throne, filled with nothing but darkness, asking him to kill one of the strongest transmigrators in the world at the moment?

He tried to make sense of it.

He knew immediately that he was stuck in a dream, a stupid one.

He wanted to leave. He slapped himself, bit himself, and inflicted all sorts of pain on his consciousness in an attempt to cause a pain reaction that would jolt his body awake from the nightmare—but it was futile!

Just as he did this, the voice began getting louder and clearer each second. It was as though someone was steadily turning up the volume, but in reality,

Time passed, and the voice intensified, becoming even louder and carrying much more emotion than before.

Anger, authority, disgust, hatred, and other negative emotions could be heard and felt from the sinister voice.

It also became more menacing.

So sinister that Rowan's consciousness began trembling.

"KILL VENERABLE MARIO!"

The voice roared.

Its roar came with a powerful force that blasted Rowan across the space.

He cried out and screamed in fear as his body was hurled through the air like a rag doll toward a sharp, spike-shaped rock.

The only thing he saw at that moment was—Death!

"I don't want to die!" Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire

He shut his eyes and yelled with all the strength and willpower left in him.

A second passed, two seconds passed, and ten seconds passed, but Rowan felt nothing—he was still alive.

He even felt different as a calm breeze blew against his face.

He opened his eyes quickly and was greeted by the faces of Blaze, surrounded by his soldiers—their gazes fixed on him at that moment.

"Lord Rowan, are you okay?"

"It seems you had a nightmare, Lord Rowan."

They commented.

Their faces shone with relief as Rowan awoke.

Rowan quickly maintained his composure and dismissed his soldiers, leaving only his captains.

"You have been shivering for the last two hours. We tried to wake you up, but you didn't respond. We were pretty worried," Roland said to Rowan with a relieved expression.

Rowan nodded his head slowly.

"I am okay. It was just a scary nightmare," he said.

"For Lord Rowan to react as such to a nightmare, it must have been very frightening," George commented.

Rowan faked a smile while the captains went to hold a brief meeting with the soldiers before the day's hunting adventure began.

Rowan, on the other hand, was pretty shattered inwardly.

He wasn't a child and wasn't new to nightmares.

However, he had never had such a realistic nightmare.

It was as though Rowan didn't actually dream it but truly experienced it.

He recalled the dream over and over again, especially the words the voice kept repeating—KILL VENERABLE MARIO!

For strange reasons, he even felt as though he had heard those words before.

This confused him even more.

He tried to make logical sense of the situation, but there was none. He halted his overthinking after some time and went to prepare his men for the day.