Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

After Dragun arrived in Vishirk's room, he was greeted by a scene that made his eyes widen at once. Though he had ventured into countless rooms under tense circumstances, this unassuming space carried an unsettling weight that sent a faint chill through his body.

The room was dark as usual, the only source of illumination being a floating, glowing crystal that circled the space, casting thin arcs of light across every corner. The gentle hum of its magical energy felt oddly ominous, as if warning him to tread carefully.

The chamber itself wasn't that big and wasn't that small either. At this moment, two figures stood inside—or at least that was what Dragun thought he saw in the shifting shadows.

One had short white hair and a perpetually grumpy expression on his face. He was adorned in a dark magic robe that burned with a fierce, swirling dark aura—he was no other than the youngest of the dark brothers, Xandros!

The other was Vishirk, or perhaps a human-shaped dummy bearing Vishirk's exact likeness. The flickering crystal light revealed an eerie stillness on that dummy's face, intensifying the strangeness of the encounter.

For reasons he could not begin to articulate, Dragun felt as though he had witnessed this exact same scene before, but he couldn't figure out when, where, or how. A sense of déjà vu weighed heavily on him, yet the memory remained shrouded in fog.
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At this moment, his brain felt as though some of its recollections were missing, causing a dull ache as it struggled to reconnect to whatever knowledge he had lost. Each attempt to remember only exacerbated the pounding in his skull.

Dragun's eyes moved down from Xandros to dummy Vishirk—his expression morphing from shock to fear, and then back to shock again.

His body began shivering nonstop, trembling under the strain of dread creeping up his spine.

"How..." he managed to voice out, his words laced with raw panic.

"Why do you develop the habit of finding me right on the scene, huh, Dragun, the great thief?" Xandros asked, an ugly scowl twisting his features.

"You have caught me for the 7th times now. You couldn't do nothing because you are weak and pathetic. If I had no use for you, I would have diced and sliced you till you met your end on the first day." Xandros continued speaking with unmasked hatred in his voice.

Dragun became even more confused and scared at these words. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, and a cold sweat gathered on his temples.

Xandros was one of those people he hoped he would never see again. Aside from Alister, of course—Alister, the gentle manipulator who could sweet-talk you right to your grave—and Xandros, the pissed-off musclehead who kills without consideration.

"I am sure you are thinking about some stupid shit right now. How you're going to react, how you're going to inform Rowan and all that, but guess what: you have thought and tried the same thing for seven times now and failed."

Xandros had already figured out that he couldn't kill Dragun at this point, or he'd ruin the plans Alister had laid out. Instead, he decided to torment him verbally.

The look of fear on Dragun's face only made Xandros more delighted. Though not as satisfying as delivering a killing blow, the fear was still worth savoring.

"What do you want? Why are you here?"

Dragun asked in a shaky voice, barely containing his stutter.

Xandros heard his question and snorted, his mouth twisting with derision.

"It's not like you have a way to use the information I'm going to share with you against me, so I don't mind sharing," he replied, tossing an indifferent shrug.

Dragun looked at him, waiting in trembling silence for an answer.

"You know about the dark seed ritual, right?"

Dragun nodded, his mouth drying up. In a split second, his mind branched out, and he suddenly recalled everything as though a hidden door in his memory had been flung open.

His eyes widened, but before he could speak, Xandros cut in.

"You have two target in your village that are perfect tool for the ritual: your lovely son Rowan and his beautiful wife, Riela." Xandros smirked, voice dripping with venom.

Dragun's eyes widened even more—he had expected only Riela to be included, given that she possessed a strong magic talent and a spirit magic affinity needed for the dark seed ritual.

But Rowan had none. He had only awakened after taking the awakening potion, which already proved his magic talent was weak. Also, Rowan only possessed a water magic affinity.

Xandros, although a musclehead, had mastered the art of reading a person's thoughts from their facial expression, a talent he had honed by watching his older brother. At this moment, he could easily tell what was going through Dragun's mind.

"Rowan has a special type of affinity or affinity awakening, whatever it's called."

"How?" Dragun asked, voice hushed as fresh alarm settled in.

Xandros made Dragun recall what transpired after Rowan's awakening.

He started with the fact that not awakening any affinity initially and then doing so a few seconds later was already strong proof.

"You guys might have thought he awakened the water affinity. But he actually stole it from his wife. If you were as strong as me, you could have noticed that," Xandros continued, crossing his arms with smug satisfaction.

He explained even more, and his elaborate reasoning made Dragun's head spin. Confusion and dread warred inside him, ramping up the ache behind his eyes. The fear he felt only poured fuel onto the firestorm raging in his mind.

How could someone steal affinity?

How was it even possible?

Even archmages could only awaken new affinities but not steal an existing one. Even powerful dark creatures like the Dream Weaver were incapable of such a feat.

"Once Alister is done with his plans, he would come, and then there would be nothing you could do to save those two. If you are even alive by then, that is."

Xandros's words were like whips, each syllable making Dragun's heart ache more sharply.

Dragun felt completely at a loss at this moment—how hadn't he realized Vishirk was a fake all along?

When he first spotted Vishirk, he sensed no hint of evil from him—he'd seemed pure, weak, and in need of help, which Dragun gave.

Now he could only regret being kind. He regretted leaving the village that night in the first place.

The village is doomed because of me!! Dragun felt like tearing up in despair.

Xandros grinned and decided to drop another bomb.

"By the way, in two weeks or so, this village would probably be wiped off the map completely by the Monster Storm approaching. By then, Alister's plan would be completed."

Xandros gave him a moment to process this before speaking again, each word dripping with malice.

He told Dragun about the cold and rainy season approaching and the mounting danger.

He revealed more dark secrets that, under normal circumstances, Dragun could have used to prevent the looming threat.

Sadly...

"You've overstayed your welcome already. Now it's time to leave and resume your patrol, chasing the enemy that doesn't exist." Xandros smirked as he brought out a strange crystal from his pocket, the subtle swirl of magic flickering around its edges.

What did he mean by that... Dragun's mind sparked into overdrive again.

He didn't understand the implication: was Xandros trying to say there was no dark creature troubling the village, or was there something else far more twisted at play?

Unfortunately, he had no time to formulate a response.

Xandros channeled mana into the hand grasping the crystal, and it burst forth with a blinding light accompanied by an ethereal blinking sound.

The next second, Dragun walked out of the door with a smile on his face, as though he had never experienced anything out of the ordinary.

"Vishirk is really hardworking. Very soon, he would have a breakthrough," he muttered happily and began his patrol.

Meanwhile, inside, Xandros smirked menacingly as Dragun walked away without a single clue of what had actually transpired.

"I could have killed that bastard right away, if not for the fact that my older brother has a use for him. For now, at least. Once his usefulness is exhausted, I'll definitely end his life." He swore under his breath.

He turned to look at the dummy with Vishirk's face and sighed. The lines of that fake visage glinted faintly in the crystal light, reflecting Xandros's sneer.

He clicked his finger, and a blinding glow snapped inside the room.

The next second, there was no more Xandros and no more dummy with Vishirk's face.

Now only Vishirk stood in the room, alive and alone.

He could be seen touching his face as though arranging the costume stuck to his body, ensuring every edge aligned perfectly with his features.

At that moment, one of the devices stored inside his spatial ring began beeping pretty loudly, forcing him to retrieve it.

It was a communication device both he and Alister shared. From the other end of the line, Alister's gentle voice could be heard, calmly delivering a location for Xandros—or rather Vishirk—to come meet him.

He heaved a sigh, brought out a magic device, and disappeared into thin air.