Rowan didn't go back to join the soldiers after bringing Riela home.
He stayed with her and kept watch over her, alongside Dragun and Vishirk. Only when nighttime approached did the two of them leave the couple alone. Before Dragun left, he gave Rowan a few tips to ensure Riela was okay.
At this moment, it was nighttime, and Riela still hadn't woken up.
Rowan was sitting beside her on the bed, watching her with caution.
'Hmm, how long is she going to remain ?' Rowan couldn't help but ask himself with a worried expression on his face.
It had been more than half a day now since she fell asleep, and there was not a single sign of her waking up anytime soon. Rowan naturally became worried.
He inspected her body for the umpteenth time with his inspection skill.
[ Occupation: Arcane Threadmaster ]
[ Special skill: Enchanted Embroidery, Magic ]
[ Magic cultivation: 1st Level, apprentice stage ]
'Show her health status,' Rowan asked again.
He had checked her character status more than twenty times since nighttime began, and he made sure to check her health condition every single time.
[ Health status: 100% Healthy ]
It was the same response as usual.
Rowan let out a deep sigh. He had never been this worried for someone before—he didn't even understand if he was being this caring because Riela had become an important asset to the development of his territory or if it was because he truly loved her.
Rowan usually dismissed the idea of true love, believing it no longer existed on Earth since before he transmigrated. To him, true love had died in the nineties, a time when people genuinely loved each other for who they were. Without that kind of love, he thought relationships had become nothing more than two people having sex without needing to pay, which was why he never got involved.
[ Criteria for the next territory evolution has been updated ]
Rowan was still thinking about the condition of Riela when a notification from the system drew his attention.
"It is here already!" Rowan's eyes widened as he read the text. He almost stood up from the bed.
"Reveal the criteria," he commanded.
TO EVOLVE TERRITORY TO E-RANK, you must…
–Be in Top 5000 in Novice ranking (current rank: 8900)
–Survive 3 Calamities (Current: 0/3)
–Possess 100 F-rank soldiers (Current: 0/100)
–Agriculture: E-rank (Current: F-rank)
–Power: E-rank (Current: F-rank)
Rowan read the criteria, and his face froze when he saw the first three on the list. Especially the second one, which was new and confusing. Even when he played the game, there was no such thing as calamity.
"What sort of calamities are you talking about, system?" he quickly asked without wasting time.
[ Calamities exist in different forms—monster attacks, disease outbreaks, uncontrollable death rates, and disastrous weather conditions. What sort of calamity you would face is not predetermined; survive these calamities and fulfill one of the criteria for your next territory evolution ]
Rowan studied the system's response, and a frozen look washed over his face. The whole explanation didn't make sense no matter how he looked at it.
"Wait, the previous hordes of goblins and hobgoblins that attacked my village? Could that be considered a calamity?" he asked quickly.
[ Negative, that is just a simple monster horde. Monster hordes considered as calamities are more powerful and more numerous than the previous attack on your territory. Be warned, host, and prepare yourself for the worst! ]
The last message of the system caused Rowan's heart to beat really fast.
"What the heck? A horde of more than one thousand monsters with the power to topple over my village in a matter of minutes is not considered a calamity!" Rowan was really confused.
"What about the one at Winterseed II?"
[ Not a calamity as well ]
"What the heck!" Rowan cussed out loudly.
There were so many questions in his mind at this moment.
He asked the system all of them, and thankfully, the system didn't keep quiet today and actually answered those questions—the answers were not fully understandable but it was better than being ignored.
At least now, he had something to work with.
The other criteria were pretty harsh, especially the first one which required him to be in the top 5000 of the Novice ranking, and the second one which asked for one hundred F-rank soldiers.
For the first criteria, he would have to improve his territory faster than those above him in order to surpass them.
For the one involving the soldiers, he would have to take them into the south forest to hunt for monsters.
Aside from those two, the others were pretty easy to accomplish, especially the one involving his power being at E-rank.
"Come to think of it, I haven't checked how many evolution points it would take to enter E-rank," Rowan muttered as he opened his character status and clicked on [ POWER ].
--10,000,000 evolution points required for E-rank
NOTE: Evolution to next rank would be ten times more painful than the last one.
"Why the heck is everything about the system trying to scare me shitless today?" Rowan frowned.
"When I am ready, I'll evolve Resistance skill to help reduce the pain when evolving. That will be in a few days from now, when I begin preparing to visit Winterseed II," Rowan thought.
After he was done studying the new task at hand, he heaved out a loud sigh and prepared himself mentally to begin working towards completing all of them tomorrow.
At the same time, Riela's body suddenly moved, drawing Rowan's attention at once.
Riela's eyes opened and turned to look at Rowan with a pretty lively smile on her face. She struggled to lift her upper torso up.
Rowan immediately moved closer to her and held her body with a genuine smile on his face.
"How long have I been asleep for?" Riela asked as she observed the room. She noticed it was nighttime and thus she was curious.
"For a few hours, but you are awake now," Rowan spoke to her softly.
After ensuring she was alright, he went to the kitchen and warmed the meal he had prepared for her and gave it to her to eat.
After she ate, he proceeded to discuss with her about her newfound magic, enquiring about everything she experienced during the awakening and how she felt currently—he was curious to know how, since his magic awakening would be anytime soon.