Lord Evolution: Starting With SS-rank Skills

3rd Day

The third day's hunting trip began pretty late because the soldiers were still exhausted from last night's hunt, both physically and emotionally.

Rowan and Winston's solo hunting trip went unnoticed. With Blaze patrolling, the soldiers were calm and unfazed, and thus had no need to seek Rowan's presence for safety.

Also, naturally, it was nighttime, and hence it was almost impossible for them to find out that Rowan and Winston had sneaked out.

Even when Rowan called Blaze to come burn the corpse of the monsters they had slain, none of the soldiers noticed his absence.

When both of them returned from their solo hunt, most of the soldiers had already fallen asleep.

Morning time arrived, and none of the men got up early unlike the last two days.

Rowan didn't bother waking them up — they needed time to get themselves together, and Winston also needed adequate sleep considering he had slept for less than two hours before morning arrived.

Rowan distributed food and let them eat, then rest for about three hours before they began their journey to their first hunting zone.

Rowan planned for 4 hunting trips.

The first one happened in the morning hours and ended a few minutes before noon. The soldiers performed impressively; the effect of last night's hunts was being displayed.

Their battle sense became sharper, and they fought aggressively, though not as aggressive as Bryce and Winston.

The second hunt began about an hour later — the number of F and FF-rank monsters were less compared to the previous hunts; on the other hand, there were more E-rank monsters in this horde than the previous ones.

Rowan and Blaze had to step in and take care of the E-rank and stronger F-rank monsters, while the soldiers took care of the weaker F-rank and FF-rank monsters.

With this, they were able to conclude the second raid faster than expected.

Considering the raid took little time, Rowan decided to let the soldiers relax for the next one hour before proceeding to their third hunting zone for the day.

At the third hunting zone, they experienced the same situation as the second raid, but this time the number of F and FF-rank monsters were fewer, while the E-rank spiked by over 20%, surprising everyone.

But they had no choice and fought as though their lives depended on it.

The raid lasted for more than one hour even though the number of monsters were 30% smaller than the previous one.

At the moment, the soldiers were harvesting monster cores as usual, while Rowan and the captains analyzed the hunts.

"The monsters are getting stronger," Roland said first.

"Yeah, they are stronger than the ones we faced yesterday. Some of my killer moves that took the life of yesterday's monsters on first impact didn't even faze some of the monsters I faced just now. It was pretty annoying, but at least I survived," Bryce said, boasting a little bit.

Gregor also added and told how he needed more than two arrows to slay off the monsters. Your next chapter is on My Virtual Library Empire

"Even the goblins today are way stronger than yesterday's. I thought my shot was losing power, but it seems like it was the monster who got stronger," he added.

Rowan listened to the captains.

'The monsters at the deeper part of the forest are always more powerful and scarier than those closer to human settlements. It is natural,' Rowan analyzed inwardly.

'They can't see the rank of monsters; if they could, they would have noticed how the numbers of FF-rank monsters are decreasing while the number of E-rank monsters are increasing.'

'At this rate, we might face a D-rank monster before the end of this hunting trip. I wonder how strong a D-rank is compared to E-ranks and how much evolution points I would get from slaying one, considering I am still E-rank.'

'I don't mind facing E-rank and D-rank monsters, but what about the soldiers? Even if they gang up against a single E-rank monster, the chances of them surviving are really low. They will die in the first minute if they even go up against a D-rank.'

This hunting wasn't about improving himself but improving the soldiers, so facing a stronger opponent is not on his list of actions at this moment.

"We won't be going for a fourth hunt today anymore," Rowan told the captains.

They were all surprised.

"Are you suggesting this because we talked about the monsters becoming stronger? Do not worry, Lord Rowan, we are ready to face stronger monsters," Josh spoke up.

"Yes, Lord Rowan, the stronger monsters we face, the better we become at taking down stronger monsters. It is a win-win situation, though it would take us a long time to master," Bruce added.

"Smashing the skulls of stronger monsters brings more joy than slamming weaker monsters. Let us go deeper!" Bryce flexed his muscles and said with a grin.

Rowan shook his head; it seemed they misunderstood his intentions.

"The monsters get stronger the deeper we are in the forest. But the monsters at the deeper part are too strong for you guys to handle with your current strengths," he first explained.

"What I am suggesting is that we walk back and then take another route in the east or west side before going deeper once again. This way, we would be able to clear the monsters closer to the village before the hunting trip ends."

With his explanations, the captains realized his intention and agreed immediately.

"When are we going to get stronger, Lord Rowan? As strong as you?" Bryce asked.

"Very soon. Keep slaying more monsters and if you are lucky, you will be able to evolve before this hunting trip ends," Rowan said.

Bryce smiled in anticipation; he could not wait to experience how it felt to be as strong as Rowan, to be able to move heavy objects with ease and also be able to move fast.

While they were discussing, the soldiers finished gathering the monster cores and gave them to Rowan as usual.

After they were done, Rowan and the captains explained the new plans to them, which they accepted without a single complaint.

The next four hours were spent travelling back.

They were able to stroll around casually because they had already slain the monsters revolving around the route they took.

It would take at least two weeks before more monsters began resurfacing in these areas.