Chapter 38: Lord Of Evolution

Cassian made a mental note to purchase additional Worker Summoning Cards once sufficient funds became available.

​This time, however, he wouldn’t fuse them to the absolute limit.

​The previous fusion had undoubtedly increased the efficiency of his administrative team, but it had also reduced their total numbers dramatically.

A single SSS-Grade Overseer might outperform hundreds of ordinary workers in high-level logistics, but even the most talented administrator couldn’t physically be in two places at once.

​Territories required raw manpower: roads needed builders, fields needed laborers, mines needed miners, and warehouses needed handlers.

The larger the domain grew, the greater its relentless demand for physical labor.

​A healthy, sustainable balance between quality and quantity was necessary.

​Cassian rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ’Should I take the same approach with my combat units?’

​The idea lingered in his mind for a brief moment before he dismissed it.

​Combat and territorial infrastructure were fundamentally different. Workers benefited from numerical volume; armies did not necessarily follow the same rule.

​This was the Lord Era, an age where individual, legendary power could utterly shatter common sense.

There were supreme Lords capable of annihilating entire continents, Lords capable of subjugating worlds, and cosmic beings capable of erasing entire solar systems from existence with a single command.

​At that supreme level, raw quantity alone became meaningless, a single overwhelmingly powerful summon was worth far more than ten thousand weak ones.

​No, when it came to combat units, quality remained king.

​That didn’t mean he would stop purchasing combat summoning cards; additional summons were always useful for expanding his baseline force.

It simply meant he wouldn’t hesitate for a second to fuse them if doing so produced a higher-grade, game-changing monster.

​Having reached that conclusion, Cassian finalized his strategic roadmap:

​More Worker Summoning Cards to build a sustainable labor force.

​A steady influx of Combat Summoning Cards.

​Massive bulk resources to continuously fuel his Fusion loop.

​The moment his market listings cleared out, he would begin purchasing everything he needed. Until then... he could only wait.

​Cassian glanced back toward the Cemetery.

​Nyxara was still undergoing deep recovery within the grave pit, and the four Elite Skeletons were still slowly healing from their brutal encounter with the Immature Bonedevourer.

Based on his estimates, none of them would be fully battle-ready for at least another three hours.

​The two Special Elites assigned to reconnaissance, the Umbral Mothkin and the Giant Bone Worm, were already en route to the Kragmar Dominion.

His card inventory had been completely exhausted, his fusion experiments were finished, and the Trade Market had yet to finish processing his remaining sales.

​For the first time since entering the Lord’s Domain, Cassian found himself with absolutely nothing to do.

​"..."

​It was a strange, eerie feeling, especially considering how frantic and chaotic his first day had been.

​Cassian folded his arms. ’So now what do I do?’

​The question had barely formed in his mind when he suddenly froze.

​A sudden realization struck him, and his eyes widened slightly.

​"...That’s right."

​Since arriving in the Graveshade Expanse, he had been so hyper-focused on surviving, conquering territory, optimizing summons, and exploiting Fusion that he had completely overlooked a major universal feature, a feature every single Lord used, connecting countless aspiring rulers across the cosmos.

​Cassian immediately materialized his Ledger interface, his gaze sweeping through the primary tabs:

​[Lord’s Ledger]

​[Status]

​[Trade]

​[Map]

​[Chat]

​His eyes locked onto the final option, the one tab he had completely ignored since the start of his regressor journey.

​[Chat]

​A slow, expectant grin spread across Cassian’s face.

....

Cassian opened the chat interface.

​The World Chat was one of the most vital functions within the Lord’s Domain. Through it, Lords across dimensions could communicate, exchange critical information, conduct trade, and occasionally ruin each other’s lives.

​At the moment, however, Cassian only had access to the Astral Dominion Channel.

​That was completely normal, newly awakened Lords were restricted to their home civilization’s regional network until they achieved specific territorial milestones.

​The moment the chat interface fully materialized, countless messages flooded his vision in a dizzying stream:

​[Selling Refined ★ Iron Ore ×300]

[Buying Common ★★★ Monster Cores — DM Offers]

[Need construction workers urgently! High pay!]

[Offering escort service for high-risk resource runs]

​Message after message scrolled past at breakneck speed. Nobody had time for idle chatter, the Lord’s Domain rewarded rapid expansion and ruthlessly punished stagnation.

Every second spent talking was a second not spent developing one’s domain.

​Cassian skimmed through the endless trade posts, nodding quietly to himself.

​’It’s good I’m setting this up early.’

​A moment later, he opened the posting function. His fingers moved quickly across the interface, entering a brief listing.

​Less than a minute later, he tapped submit. The post immediately dropped into the raging current of the Astral Dominion Channel:

​[Buying: 900 Units of Grave Dust Powder]

[Payment: Negotiable]

[Contact Directly]

​Simple, direct, and completely misleading.

​Cassian leaned back against a nearby gravestone, a faint smirk playing on his lips. The resource itself wasn’t important; what he wanted was something else entirely.

​Or rather... someone else.

​The messages in the public channel continued flowing at a ridiculous pace, hundreds flitting past every minute.

Yet Cassian wasn’t worried that his post would get lost in the noise, his listing was merely bait, and bait only needed to attract one specific fish.

​Sure enough, less than thirty seconds later, a notification chimed in his ear:

​[Private Message Received]

​Cassian opened the direct channel. A message greeted him instantly:

​"Is what you posted real? Do you actually need nine hundred units of Grave Dust Powder?"

​Cassian’s smile widened. ’Bingo.’

​His gaze lingered on the sender’s public profile card:

​[Lord ID: Lord of Evolution — Carrion]

​Most Lords viewing the post would have paid no attention to the name, but Cassian didn’t ignore it, because he remembered it very, very clearly.

​In his previous life, the Lord known as Carrion had become one of the most infamous, legendary figures within the Astral Dominion.

A genius, a madman, a pioneer, she had gone by many titles over the decades.

​However, what had initially made her famous among early Lords was her bizarre obsession with purchasing obscure, seemingly worthless crafting materials.

Many had believed she possessed a unique talent for identifying future market trends, despite none of her early purchases ever yielding an immediate profit.

Others simply assumed she was out of her mind.

​But Cassian knew the ultimate truth from his past life. This was the future Mother of Evolution, the very same Lord who would eventually discover the groundbreaking Origin Formula.

​A cold, satisfied smile spread across Cassian’s face.

​The Grave Dust Powder had never been the true objective, the seller had been.

​Now that the fish had taken the hook, all that remained was reeling him in.