It was still the early hours of the afternoon, and the rays of the sun beat down harshly on the south forest, filling it with scorching heat. The air shimmered with warmth, and the distant chirping of insects seemed muffled by the oppressive atmosphere.
Rowan stood alone in the middle of the south forest, staring into midair with a calm expression on his face. His eyes reflected a deep focus, as if he was lost in thought. Thanks to the huge, tall canopy trees around him, the intense glow and heat of the sun didn't really affect him.
Confirm to proceed with evolution... COST: 10,000,000 evolution points
WARNING: This evolution would be extremely painful and might result in a fatal wound to the body and soul; death is also not impossible.
Rowan read the system's text calmly, his heart steady despite the ominous warning.
Thankfully, no one was here to witness this evolution, unlike the last time on the battlefield, which had caused all his men to become extremely worried.
Rowan had finished his task supervising the village and then left for the south forest when no one was watching, in order to prevent being followed by anyone.
Now that he was finally alone, he called up his system and proceeded with his evolution.
"What is the current danger rate of the evolution, System?" Rowan asked.
[ Current danger rate: 99.5% ]
Seeing the danger rate, Rowan couldn't help but shiver; with this rate, dying was certainly possible. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what was to come.
Without wasting time, he asked the system to evolve [F-rank Resistance] to a higher rank.
After evolving, he inquired about the danger rate once again.
[ Current danger rate: 89% ]
Seeing this, Rowan smiled and muttered to himself, "I knew evolving Resistance would help. Thank God I copied this skill from the Ratax general that day. System, evolve Resistance again and gimme the new danger rate."
[ Resistance E-rank -----> Resistance D-rank ]
[ Danger rate has been updated, new danger rate: 77% ]
"Continue," Rowan commanded again.
[ Resistance D-rank -----> Resistance C-rank ]
[ Danger rate has been updated, new danger rate: 67% ]
Rowan repeated the process until he reached the highest rank of the skill.
[ Resistance C-rank -----> Resistance B-rank ]
[ Skill (Resistance) has reached its peak, cannot be upgraded further ]
[ New danger rate: 40% ]
Rowan was quite surprised that Resistance couldn't be upgraded further than B-rank. Nevertheless, he didn't complain, as the new effect of the skill was really good.
[ Resistance: Passive skill, grants user extraordinary ability to resist 70% physical attacks, resist 50% magical attacks, and resist 20% soul attacks ]
The new stats were impressive, far surpassing his previous capabilities.
Before, the skill could only resist twenty percent magic and physical attacks. But now, not only had the percentage of attacks he could resist increased, but there was even an addition of soul attacks.
Although Rowan didn't really understand what soul attacks were, he was still quite appreciative that he would be able to resist 20% of them.
"But System, is there a way to break the limit of these skills? Like a special item or special level?" Rowan asked.
[ Positive. You will get the reward to break limits of skills and power when your territory enters Top 100, intermediate territory ranking. ]
"Advanced territory? What is that?"
[ Ranking for territories above E-rank and under B-rank ]
Hearing this information, Rowan's zeal to evolve himself and his territory became even greater.
"System, begin the evolution!" he commanded.
[ Beginning evolution ]
[ Deducting cost of evolution... Successful ]
Following the series of prompts, Rowan's body was invaded by a ghastly sensation of pain, as though he had just swallowed fiery hot lava.
Rowan fell to his knees on the ground as the unexplainable pain grew more intense by the second. His vision blurred, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
[ Boosting physical strength... 3% ]
[ Boosting physical defense... 8% ]
A series of notifications popped up as the pain kept growing worse every second.
Just as the system had explained, this evolution was so much more painful than the first.
Even with the evolved Resistance skill, which should reduce his pain by a large margin, the pain he was feeling right now was almost as painful, if not more so, than the first time.
[ Boosting vitality... 20% ]
Time went by slowly as Rowan was engulfed in hellish anguish.
If Riela or any of his men were here right now witnessing this, they would definitely think that Rowan was dying.
[ Improving evolution core... 57% ]
[ Improving core compatibility... 77% ]
As time went by, the evolution got closer to its conclusion.
Rowan was still kneeling on the ground, clutching his stomach with a pained expression on his face. But something truly spectacular was taking place in his body at that moment.
A dark, misty aura could be seen escaping vigorously from his body, swirling around him like a living shadow.
A sizzling sound could also be heard from his body, coupled with the sound of bones cracking and rearranging themselves magically.
The pain Rowan was feeling at this moment, as his evolution got closer to finalizing, was so much greater than at the beginning.
The harsh burning sensation was still there, along with a new feeling as though his body was being torn from within.
It was almost as though he was experiencing an extraordinary growth, which was naturally intense and painful.
Rowan's knees grew weaker, and his body collapsed onto the ground, head kissing the green grass. His hands were still clutching his stomach, fingers digging into the soil as he fought against the overwhelming agony.
Unfortunately, while he was busy getting stronger, not too far away from him, a pack of powerful wolf-type monsters, about the height of a full-grown bull, could be seen.
They were about fifty in number. They all had jet-black fur and purple eyes.
Among the pack, there was one that was the size of two bulls combined. It was the leader.
It let out a loud and sharp howl, echoing through the forest, and the other wolf monsters obediently gathered around it, their eyes glowing with uncontrollable rage and bloodthirst.
The leader let out bestial growls as if communicating with its pack.
Reacting to the words of their lead, they all gritted their teeths hungrily and furiously and began matching towards Rowan.
Do not unlock now...