Chapter 149: Rushing Home

Chapter 149: Chapter 149: Rushing Home

For the remaining three days of their tower permit, Squad 07 turned the Fifth Floor into their personal training ground. They moved with effortless precision through the high-tier bounty boards of The Crossroads Citadel, hunting down rogue mana-beasts, securing trade routes, and letting their newly expanded Level 20 stats and elemental affinities fully settle.

By the time their seven-day stay expired, the squad was sharper, completely synchronized, and carrying a heavy purse of guild rewards.

Passing through the colossal runic gates at the tower’s base, they made their way directly back to the Academy grounds for their mandatory post-expedition debriefing. In the high-ceilinged tactical hall, Rowan presented their official logs—detailing the clearance of the Eighth Floor’s four elemental domains and their flawless completion of the Four-Fold Synthesis hidden trial.

He kept the official report clean, focusing on their achievements while letting the Imperial Academy administrators marvel at Squad 07’s staggering progress and their newly minted Champion of Paragon titles.

The moment the debriefing wrapped up, Rowan excused himself from the group. While Caelen, Mirei, Barney, and Princess Lyra headed off to the elite dormitories to recover, Rowan’s mind was anchored entirely elsewhere.

The assassination attempt by Garrek’s party inside the Crucible had left a lingering, vigilant edge in Rowan’s chest. If hostile factions were bold enough to deploy a lethal ambush squad inside a tower domain, he couldn’t naively assume the outer world was free from danger. His thoughts immediately rushed to his family’s home on the quiet outskirts of the district.

Rowan covered the distance quickly, his boosted Level 20 physical conditioning making the trek feel effortless. When the familiar timber-and-stone house finally came into view, bathed in the soft glow of late afternoon sunlight, the tension in his shoulders began to thaw.

Stepping through the front gate, he was greeted by the comforting, earthy scent of his mother’s garden. His father was sitting on the porch, oiling a set of leather boots, while his mother rested nearby in a comfortable chair, her face relaxed as she gently rubbed her noticeably rounded stomach.

"Rowan!" his mother called out, her eyes lighting up with instant warmth as she stood to greet him.

A deep sense of relief washed over Rowan as he embraced his parents, taking in the peaceful safety of his home. He knelt slightly to place a gentle hand near his mother’s bump, feeling the steady, healthy pulse of life from his soon-to-be sister.

While offering a casual smile and recounting light stories from the lower floors, Rowan subtly planted his heel into the soft soil beside the porch. He channeled a quiet, concentrated thread of his domain authority deep into the bedrock.

Luminous, invisible root structures expanded beneath the entire perimeter of the property, establishing an unyielding earth-and-flora ward around the house—ensuring that whatever dangerous political shadows followed him from the Crucible, his family would remain completely protected.

***

Dawn had barely broken over the horizon when Rowan opened his eyes. Sunlight filtered softly through the wooden shutters of his childhood bedroom, bringing a calm serenity that felt worlds away from the violent trials of the Crucible.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Rowan closed his eyes and took a long, steady breath. He centered his mind, reaching inward to channel the vast pool of mana granted by his Level 20 stats. Deep within his soul, the dormant authority of his Gardener of Eden class hummed with quiet power.

Rowan willed his mana outward, activating his innate domain ability.

[Domain: The Virgin Soil]

The bedroom dissolved around him. The familiar timber walls and wooden floorboards melted away into a shimmering veil of golden-green light and soft, swirling mist. When Rowan opened his eyes again, he was standing barefoot in the center of the Primordial Garden.

The domain was a breathtaking sanctuary of untamed, primordial beauty. Before him lay vast, endless rolling hills of dark, nutrient-rich soil that practically vibrated with ancient life force. Clear, mirror-like streams of liquid mana snaked smoothly through carved earth channels, nourishing the pristine earth. The air was cool and heavy with the rich scent of rain-soaked soil, blooming flora, and pure, concentrated atmospheric energy.

Stepping onto the untouched earth, Rowan felt an immediate, profound link to the domain. The Virgin Soil was a completely isolated pocket space, untouched by the corruption or chaotic mana of the outer world. Here, the laws of nature bent to his will; crop growth rates were magnified exponentially, and extinct or high-tier botanical specimens could thrive without restriction.

A gentle breeze swept across the Primordial Garden, carrying the soft hum of domain mana. Looking out over the vast, waiting landscape, Rowan smiled softly. With his heightened Earth affinity and his newly acquired extinct botanical seed, this pristine sanctuary would become his ultimate stronghold—a hidden cradle of power where he could cultivate legendary resources to protect his squad and his family for the battles ahead.

***

Walking across the pristine, soft grass of the Primordial Garden, Rowan made his way toward the sprawling Orchard Region. The air here hummed with a dense, intoxicating concentration of natural mana, sustained by two of his domain’s prized botanical treasures. To his left stood a grove of Amethyst-Gold Peach trees, their crystalline bark gleaming softly while deep purple and gold leaves rustled in the domain’s gentle breeze. To his right, the Sun-Crystalline Eden Apple trees radiated a soothing, sun-like warmth, their translucent red-and-gold fruits pulsing with pure, restorative energy.

Between these two legendary groves lay a pristine plot of undisturbed, dark soil—the perfect cradle for an extinct legacy.

Reaching into his spatial storage, Rowan retrieved the Preserved Ancient Avocado Core. Stripped of its stasis field, the dark, heavy seed felt surprisingly warm in his palm, vibrating subtly as if sensing the rich, mana-dense atmosphere of the Virgin Soil. Rowan knelt on the soft earth, cupping his hands to dig a neat, deep hollow into the nutrient-rich ground.

He placed the ancient seed at the center of the pit, carefully covering it with the velvety earth. Closing his eyes, Rowan laid his right palm over the freshly packed mound and activated his Gardener of Eden authority.

A radiant wave of emerald-green mana surged down his arm and plunged deep into the soil. Augmented by his recently heightened Earth affinity and his Level 20 stat pool, the domain responded instantly. The surrounding ground shimmered with pale golden light as liquid mana from the nearby pristine streams funneled straight into the subterranean earth beneath the orchard.

Within seconds, a soft, vibrating hum echoed beneath his hand.

The 120-year slumber of the extinct core was shattered completely. Under the absolute nurturing power of the Primordial Garden, the dark shell split open. Thick, healthy taproots shot outward into the virgin bedrock, greedily drinking in the concentrated earth energy. Then, with a gentle rustle of shifting dirt, a vibrant, thick stem burst through the surface.

It grew at a visible, mesmerizing pace, unfolding a pair of deep emerald leaves that shimmered with a delicate, silver-rimmed vein network. Resting between the radiant Amethyst-Gold Peaches and Sun-Crystalline Eden Apples, the young ancient tree took firm root, blossoming under Rowan’s watchful eye as a true herald of a forgotten era restored.