《An Owl's Rise》


 Chapter 1 1 Hatching

    ?(A/N: The story really starts in chapter one. The prologue just establishes the main character and exins her circumstances. If you are not interested feel free to skip it and go to the first chapter. Though as the author I rmend reading it. Also the prologue is very dark. You have been warned.)


    When Evelyn awoke, the first thing she noticed was that everything was dark.


    She tried to move but her entire body seemed to be restrained. And no matter how hard she tried nothing would budge.


    ''Ugh, what happened, where am I.''


    The instance after she thought this, herst memory resurfaced, and she instinctively tried to reach towards her throat which suddenly burst into searing pain.


    Thest thing she remembered was having her throat sliced, and the lingering feeling from that immeasurable pain seemed to have followed her like a phantom.


    However, after a few moments the pain was gone, as she realized there was no injury to her throat, and she in fact did not feel any pain at all.


    ''What is going on, I could have sworn that bastard killed me. Did I maybe start to hallucinate, and he had actually moved me somewhere else? ''


    Evelyn continued to struggle, but it was all for naught as her body was still restricted and nothing she did seemed to work.


    ''Argh, where the hell has that bastard put me, was chaining me to the ceiling not enough, he had to put me in an incredibly cramped, wet, and warm box. Wait, why is it warm and wet?''


    After calming down a bit, she started to focus on her body. Really trying to get a feel for her situation.


    Once she had finished expanding her senses and understanding the condition of her body. She realized that something was very wrong. Not only was she restrained, but she could not feel her hands and her feet felt like they were missing some parts.


    Feeling that something was terribly wrong Evelyn began to panic shaking violently trying to free herself from what she perceived to be the next act of torture her captor was subjecting her to.


    Eventually though when she had exhausted herself, she tried calming back down to understand what was going on.


    ''Was burning cutting and beating us not enough. Now he has cut off my hands and mutted my feet. Us?... Mason, god where is my brother, I thought I saw him get killed as well, but if I am still alive, maybe that was also a hallucination.''


    Evelyn tried with renewed vigor to look around and find her brother, but her head was firmly locked in ce and the only thing she could perceive was darkness.


    She tried desperately to call out, but even her mouth could not move, and she was unable to make a sound of any kind.


    ''This is bad, has he just decided to leave me to die of thirst, did he bury me or something.''


    ''No if I was buried underground with how confined things are, I would probably suffocate.''


    Soon Evelyn realized the futility of her situation, and simply resigned herself. She had already figured she would die when she was first kidnapped. In fact, she had already thought she had died, so giving up again was not to hard for her now that she knew there was no way out.


    However, instead of dying slowly she seemed to be getting stronger as time went on. She could feel her muscles growing and her bones strengthening.


    It was all so weird to her, she wondered how she could be having a growth spurt without eating or drinking anything, and because she had already finished growing a little after she turned fifteen.


    Evelyn sat in this state of perpetual darkness and restraint, getting stronger and stronger for what seemed like days when she finally felt her confines give a little.


    At first it was just the smallest amount of extra room but soon she began forcing her way out moving her body wildly.


    She could hear and feel that whatever was confining her was cracking, even if she could still not see it.


    She continues to thrash about. Finding that using her head was the most effective since her arms and legs were still not reacting very well.


    Soon she heard a loud cracking sound, and with one more massive headbutt broke out of whatever confined her.


    ''Ha I am free.''


    No longer held in whatever prison she had been ced in; Evelyn tried to look around at her surroundings.


    However, all she could see were tuffs of fluff in front of her eyes. She tried to shake her head and move it from side to side to knock the fluff off, but it seemed to move with her and all of her efforts proved to be for naught.


    ''Great did he glue some cotton balls in front of my eyes or something. I guess I will just have to try to feel my way around.''


    Evelyn then tried to move forward, but immediately fell over onto her face.


    She started iling around trying to get back up but to no avail.


    ''Come on work legs and arms. Ugh why are they so short and useless all of a sudden. It is like I have chicken legs of something.''


    Yet in the moment after that thought, Evelyn abruptly stopped moving. She finally realized what was wrong. She was not missing her hands, she never had any, and her legs really were like those of a chicken.


    ''No no no no! This is not happening, there is no way I am some type of bird now!''


    Evelyn tried as hard as she could to deny it, she figured this was a dream, or maybe she was on some psychedelic drugs. Anything other than what was reality.


    Unfortunately, she could only stay in denial for so long, because she soon felt something pushing against her, followed by a "hoot hoot".


    Hearing this she knew that everything she had experienced was reality.


    She tried calling out with her voice, but all that came out we a few cute squeaks, that confirmed her fears. She had been reborn as an owl.


    ''This is shit, an owl, I could have at least been a crocodile or a lion or something else really big and powerful.''


    However, as she thought about it more Evelyn came to grips wither new life and even figured it was not so bad.


    ''I guess it could have been worse, I could have ended up as an ant or some other insect.'' She thought while imaging plenty of animals that would have been worse.


    After collecting herself for a few minutes, Evelyn eventually tried all manner of things she had seen in games or read about in novels


    Yet as much as she tried, no sort of system or message appeared to guide her in her new life. She was once again having to start from scratch, albeit with her memories intact.


    When she had finally given up on trying to activate some sort of system or cheat ability, she wobbly tried to stand up again, but once more face nted into the soft nest.


    ''Curse my stupidly oversized head. Why do owls have to have such unbnced bodies as soon as they are born.'' Evelyn thought annoyed by her current situation.


    At this point she had be tired and decided to give up for now. She knew it was only a matter of time before she would be able to move around.


    Afterying there for what seemed like hours, Evelyn heard what sounded like another creaturending down in the nest.


    She wondered why she did not hear anything until it was that close, but then she remembered that owls had incredibly quiet wings.


    She then heard another round of hooting, but this time instead of just one owl hooting there were two.


    Evelyn figured that her knew father must havee back to the nest and her mood immediately soured.


    Just thinking of the word father had made her remember all of the terrible things her own had done to her. And if it was not for her brother, she figured she would have written the entire male poption off as scum.


    Of course, Evelyn deep down knew that her new owl dad was unlikely to abuse her, since maliciously beating children was a predominately human trait.


    However, just the mere thought of her past father made her angry. And after what had happened thest time she trusted someone, she was not going to open up to anyone or thing readily.


    Soon though Evelyn felt arge beak pressing against hers, and she could immediately feel that there was something in the other beak.


    After a few moments she recognized the feel of what was being pressed against her, it was raw meat.


    Evelyn reflexively recoiled in disgust trying to move her new beak away from the raw meat. Much to the dismay of her mother that was trying to feed her.


    Nevertheless, after Evelyn had moved her head away from the raw meat, she felt an instinctual hunger in her stomach that was hard to resist.


    She then heard her mother or who she assumed to be her mother, let out some angry hoots before forcefully pulling Evelyn over and shoving the meat into her beak.


    Evelyn wanted to spit the meat out, but her new owl body had other ideas.


    Before she realized it, she had already eaten all of the meat given to her, marking the end of her first meal as an owl and the beginning of her new existence.

 Chapter 2 2 New Family

    ?Since Evelyn had woken up and found herself to have been reborn as an owl, she had found out a number of new things in the past few days.


    The first was that she was not the only egg to hatch in her nest, but that she had two siblings as well.


    She was able to tell this when just a day after she had hatched, when to more distinct squeaks began echoing through the nest.


    She thought that there might be more possible new siblings that werete hatchers, but after one more day she heard nothing new other than the sounds of her siblings and parents.


    The next new thing she found was when she was finally able to see, and she saw her mother for the first time.


    In front of her was an owl like she had never seen, because it had a slick coat of sliver and shimmering green feathers.


    Evelyn was pretty sure that there were no owl''s that looked like this back on Earth. Although she did not know every owl species, so maybe it was possible.


    However, after observing her new nest and mother Evelyn became certain that she was no longer on Earth.


    This was because after getting a good scale of her nest she realized that it easily had a radius of twenty-five feet and that her mother was at least eight feet tall.


    At first, she thought that it might just seem that big because of her new baby owl body, but after moving around the nest she found something to use as a scale.


    She had found something she was very familiar with, because she used to have ten of them. The bone of a human finger.


    When she first saw this, she reeled back and got as far away from it as possible.


    However, she soon realized how useful it would be for her to get a measure of the things around her.


    ''So, I really did end up in a world other than Earth. Either that or this is so far in the future that there are giant owls, though that seems just as or even more farfetched. I suppose it really does not matter. I will be able to find out more about where I am once I unlock my greatest advantage. The ability to fly.''


    After she had a good understanding of theyout of her new home, Evelyn found her new siblings that had not moved since hatching and were currently still under their mother.


    Of course, this was the normal behavior for a baby owl, and Evelyn''s new mother wondered why her eldest daughter was so adventurous.


    Once she had a good view of them, she studied how they looked in order to get a better understanding of what she herself looked like.


    Unfortunately, there were not many distinct features for her to gleam from her siblings, since they were pretty much just gray fluff balls with eyes.


    ''I guess I must look pretty simr to them as well. Huh, I wonder how long it is going to be until I can fly, staying here in the nest is incredibly boring.''


    It was only moments after that thought when Evelyn heard the soft sound of somethingnding outside.


    She then looked towards the entrance to see her new owl dade in, holding arge boar in his talons.


    Her father looked quite simr to her mother, although he was about a foot taller, and along with silver and shimmering green feathers he had a few red ones around his neck.


    She watched as her father skillfully hopped across the nest right up to her mother, and the two began conversing with a few hoots and coos, before rubbing their head together in a show of affection.


    Seeing this made Evelyn''s heart grow heavy, as she remembered her mother and father on Earth, and how at one time, they were actually happy. Although it felt like an eternity ago for her.


    Her new owl parents then separated, and the father owl left the boar he had just brought. Before hopping back towards the exit and flying away. Presumably to get more food.


    Evelyn seeing her mother start to tear into the boar and feed her siblings waddled over, since she had alreadye to ept that if she wanted to survive, she had to eat what was provided.


    After she had gotten her share of the food, Evelyn flopped over onto her head and went to sleep. Hoping that her boring days would be over soon, and that she would be able to soar through the sky.


    ¡­


    The next two weeks went by with pretty much the same routine for Evelyn, eat, sleep, repeat.


    There was pretty much nothing else she could do since it only took her a couple of days to explore the entirety of the nest, which was situated in the middle of a tree hollow.


    This made it impossible for Evelyn to see more than the endless foliage outside the hole that severed as the entrance and exit for her new home.


    And as she was currently still too small to get over the lip of the hole, her view was limited.


    At the very least her body had rounded out a bit and had caught up with herrge head. Making her bnce much better.


    She had alsoe to a realization about her new siblings. They are both dumb as bricks.


    The two of them had done nothing buty around, and when the mood strikes them do some hopping around, often into the walls of the nest.


    They also made a bunch of noise, chirping like madmen whenever their father came back with food.


    Of course, this was actually how a normal newborn owl baby was supposed to act, and both of Evelyn''s parents were a bit unsure about what might be wrong with her.


    She was far too adventurous ever since she was born. Always trying to move around and her mother even caught her once stacking objects to try and get over the lip of the tree hollow.


    ''Such an intelligent child, she is definitely going to be a handful when she begins to fly.'' Evelyn''s new mother thought.


    Yes, her parents were well aware that Evelyn disyed above average intelligence for her age, normally it would not be until muchter that she would be smart enough to use objects to her advantage.


    ''Ugh another attempt to see beyond this prison of a nest thwarted. I have to say my new mom is a real helicopter parent. Whenever I get close to getting a view of the outside, she pulls me back into the nest. I also doubt she has been outside of the nest for more than thirty minutes since me and my siblings hatched over two weeks ago.''


    However, Evelyn''s chance to get a view beyond the nest soon came. When one day her father did note home on time, and their mother reluctantly left the nest to look for him.


    ''Now is my chance, I need to be quick so that I am not stopped halfway through again.''


    Evelyn then went to collect whatever she could. From the bones of past meals and some of the thicker branches that made up the nest that she could get lose.


    After around two hours she had made a respectable staircase that she used to get her head over the lip, and look out beyond the walls she had been confined in.


    ''Wow.''


    This was the first thought that went through Evelyn''s mind as she peered out into the expanse around her.


    The first thing she saw was the endless forest of massive trees that extended like an ocean.


    However, even beyond that she was able to see mountain''s that towered into the sky, some of them with peaks that were so tall she could not see the top.


    ''How big must those mountains be for me to be able to see them from this far away, but still not see their tops. I am certain that there were no mountains like that on Earth. So that confirms it, I am on another.''


    Evelyn then moved her head from side to side which was quite easy now that she was an owl and could rotate her head nearly three hundred sixty degrees.


    Looking to her right, she saw a massiveke that glimmered like a beautiful gem under the light of the sun, and to her left were well just more trees. But theke was still nice to look at.


    Evelyn then leaned her body forward as far as she could hoping to get a look at the ground.


    Sadly, the branches and leaves of the trees were too thick, and she could not see the ground below her.


    Yet it was at this moment that one of her siblings ran into the makeshift staircase she had made and caused her to lose her bnce and fall forward.


    ''Oh crap.''


    As she fell, Evelyn tried to grasp at the lip of the tree hollow, but her talons scraped against the wood unable to find a purchase.


    She then began to fall, descending towards the floor of the forest.

 Chapter 3 3 The Dangerous Floor Of The Forest

    ?Falling out of the tree hollow that had been her home since bing an owl, Evelyn''s eyes went wide as she plummeted towards the ground.


    Luckily, as she fell, her tiny owl body unable to resist the pull of gravity, the dense and massive leaves of the tree slowed her fall.


    Shended on leaf after leaf, which slowly gave way to her weight, before sending her falling a few feet down to the next one.


    This process continued for almost half an hour, until Evelyn finally saw the floor of the forest.


    Bang!


    Falling thest couple of feet onto the forest floor, Evelyn felt pain for the first time in her new life.


    Still, she was used to pain, and since nothing was broken, she soon got ahold of herself and took a look around.


    Unfortunately, everything around her looked rtively the same. There were just trees and bushes as far as the eye could see.


    ''Great, am I going to die again. Just when I had finallye to terms with being an owl, this happens. And I was actually really looking forward to flying.''


    Her new life as an owl having taken a very unfortunate turn, Evelyn prepared herself for the worst.


    ''No, I do not want to die again!''


    However, her will to live zed up inside her, and her determination rose.


    She was still alive, and this one set back was not going to be the end of her.


    ''When my new owl motheres back, she will look for me, I am sure. She has shown that she cares about me and my dumb siblings. I just need to wait here, and she wille along.''


    Yet as Evelyn waited, and more time went by, fear began to creep back into her mind.


    She was starting to believe that her mother or even her father for that matter, did not care about her.


    Maybe they were happy that they no longer had another mouth to feed, and it was good riddance.


    Of course, this was far from the truth, but Evelyn''s past life experiences had certainly not given her the greatest outlook on life.


    ''I wanted to save this as ast resort, but here goes nothing.''


    Following her instincts, Evelyne opened her beak wide, and began emitting a high-pitched screeching sound.


    This was the best sound of distress she could make, and she hoped by some miracle one of her parents would hear her ande to the rescue.


    But unbeknownst to Evelyne, something else heard her cry. And while it may have been a cry for help to her parents, for any other being, it was the sound of an easy meal.


    Screeching out into the forest for nearly three minutes, Evelyn''s throat began to get sore, and she had to stop, the feelings of despairing back.


    Yet, her determination quickly red up, and she decided that if no one was going toe and save her, she would have to make it on her own.


    ''I may have to dig up grubs or worms to eat, but I am not going to die. I just need to survive until I can fly, and then everything should turn out oaky.''


    After getting herself amped up, Evelyn began digging at the ground aiming to get her food supply early.


    Of course, the thought of eating worms and grubs disgusted her, but she had been eating god knows what from whatever her parents brought back. So, she was already beginning to get used to eating things that were against her original human sensibilities.


    ''Hah got you.''


    And she luckily did not have to wait long until she dug up some sort of grub, through it looked a bit different than from the ones on earth.


    For one thing it was quite a bitrger, being about a tenth the size Evelyn was currently, and having an earthy read hue instead of white.


    ''Come on, stop struggling.'' Evelyn thought as the grub began whipping its body back and forth resisting her with all its might.


    Her battle with the grub continued for a good minute as she tried to pin it down with her baby owl physique, and it constantly dove back into the ground to rebury itself.


    Eventually Evelyn''s fight against the grub turned in her favor, as she was able to get both of her feet on top of it and grip it tightly with her small talons.


    After that she bent down to rip its head off with her beak and finish the job.


    Whoosh!


    As she bent her head over, she felt something fly right above her, nearly nailing her in the back of the head.


    Whipping her head around one hundred eighty degrees, Evelyn just barely caught the sight of what had just tried to attack her.


    Clinging to a nearby tree, was some sort of lizard that Evelyn could only best describe as chameleon esque had both of its eyes pinned directly on her, and its long tongue was still outstretched, stuck to a root not far from her.


    Seeing this, Evelyn knew what had just happened and that her life was still in danger.


    This chameleon like animal was easily seven times bigger than her, and definitely saw her as easy prey.


    Moving into action, Evelyn began waddle jumping as fast as she could move away, hoping to somehow escape the predator that was after her.


    Whoosh!


    The chameleon reeled in its tongue like lighting andshed it out again.


    However, instead of aiming for Evelyne who it did not think could get away. The chameleon had targeted the grub she had dug up, not wanting to let the creature escape back into the ground.


    Unfortunately, this was just the appetizer for this beast, and it had set its sights on Evelyn for the main course.


    Scrambling along Evelyn franticly did her best to run away, but her small developing owl body did not allow for much haste.


    Once again hearing the sound of the chameleon''s tongueing out, Evelyne jumped to the side and threw her body to the ground to avoid being ensnared.


    Unfortunately, her movement had failed to get herpletely out of the way, and she watched in horror as the tongue hit the edge of one of her wings.


    But by some miracle, when the chameleon reeled back it tongue, it did not have a good enough grip and only ripped out a few dozen of her feathers.


    Still panic was setting in, as adrenaline pumped through her body, trying to give her the boost she needed to survive.


    ''I am not going to die; I am not going to die.'' Evelyn thought, trying to keep her fear from freezing up her body.


    Soon she saw it, her hope for salvation.


    One of the roots of therge tree had a small opening where it lifted up from the ground, and Evelyn moved towards it with all her might hoping to find shelter from the chameleon''s attacks.


    Yet as the chameleon noticed where Evelyn was headed, it hastily shot out its tongue this time not ying around and using its full speed that Evelyn had no chance of evading with her sluggish movements.


    Except this had been what Evelyn had been waiting for, as she quickly turned her head all the way around.


    And in her beak, she had picked up a piece of fallen bark, which she used as a shield to block the chameleon''s tongue.


    Swiftly she let go of the bark and moved thest few inches to the raised root and pushed herself under, as the chameleon reeled its tongue back in and angrily crushed the piece of bark in its mouth.


    The chameleon then tried to fire back towards Evelyn again, but even though it retracted its tongue as fast as possible, it just missed as Evelyn buried herself under the tree root.


    Once inside, for a moment Evelyn felt like she was going to find some other terrifying creature, but all was quite under the root other than a few insects which scurried away from her.


    The space was actually quite small and just barely had enough room for her to properly hide in.


    Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!


    Not long after she had pushed herself up against the far corner of the hole, she heard the rustling of leaves outside, before arge shadow blocked out the light that was flowing into her sanctuary.


    Seeing this, Evelyn held her breath and pushing herself even further against the wall of dirt, as the chameleon brought its head down and one of its eyes began looking through the hole.


    Luckily there was just enough of a bend that Evelyn was able to escape the line of sight of the chameleon, and it could not find her.


    However, it was not giving up easily as it began randomly firing its tongue into the hole trying to score a hit on Evelyn.


    Yet a after few dozen tries it quickly gave up on this approach, and Evelyn thought the creature would go away, when she felt the root shake.


    The chameleon had started bashing its head against the root, trying to loosen the dirt around it before digging out the entrance a bit more.


    It repeated this process a couple of times and terror began to well up inside Evelyn as she saw the opening be wider and wider.


    Feeling her instincts kicking in, Evelyn began screeching once again, calling out for help.


    She felt that there was nothing else she could do other than pray that something, anything, came to save her.


    But it seemed that her distress only fueled the chameleon on, as it more vigorously smashed against the root and dug with greater intensity.


    Soon the chameleon had erged the hole enough to wriggle its head under the root, and it once again searched for Evelyn.


    Quickly one of its eyes found her pushed up into a corner, and the other followed suit as it locked both eyes onto its prey.


    Evelyne then could have sworn she saw a smile on the chameleon''s face as it prepared to eat its hard-won meal.


    Her heart began moving faster, he mind searched for some way to live.


    But nothing came to her.


    Closing her eyes, Evelyn felt she could only wait until she was broken between the chameleon''s jaws, and hope that next time, if there would be a next time, she might be able to live a better life.


    A second went by. Then another, and another, but Evelyn still did not feel the chameleon''s tongue hit her followed by being dragged into its mouth.


    Opening her eyes she looked out in surprise to see arge talon pieced through the chameleon''s head, blood gushing out it and a lifeless expression on its face.

 Chapter 4 4 Back To Safety

    ?With disbelief in her eyes Evelyn stared at the dead chameleon like beast that had nearly eaten her.


    Currently it had a long sharp talon pierced through its head and had blood flowing down it like a fountain.


    However, while Evelyn felt relief that the beast that was moments away from eating her was dead. Now there was an even greater threat.


    Whatever had just killed it was many times bigger, and Evelyn knew that if it discovered her, it would be all over.


    Except as she looked at the talon closely, she realized that it looked familiar, and she believed that it belonged to one of her parents.


    And just a momentter therge root that she had hidden under began to lift up, and revealed that indeed it was one of her parents who hade in response to the distress call of one of its children.


    Yet as Evelyn looked up, she saw that it was her new father and not mother, and her warm and hopeful heart turned to ice.


    Images of what her previous human father came back to her, and as her owl father reached out one of his ws towards her, she winced back instinctively expecting to get hit.


    Except that is not what happened. Instead, she was picked up in a gentle embrace and her father bent his head over and began ruffling around her feather looking for any injuries.


    Turning her head to face her new father, Evelyn saw the concern in his eyes and the love that a parent was supposed to have.


    It was a look she had all but forgotten about, not having seen it once in thest six years of her life as a human.


    Feeling the care that her owl father had for her, Evelyn began crying, not thinking she would ever feel the love of a parent again.


    Seeing this her father thought that she was simply grateful to be rescued from a terrify situation and began rubbing his face against hers while letting out aforting trill.


    Of course, this only caused Evelyn to cry even more, as her emotions welled up inside.


    Eventually Evelyn stopped crying and really looked at her father. Seeing that he himself was a bit injured, and in some ces was missing feathers and bleeding.


    Immediately she wondered what was wrong and remembered that she was able to make her set of stairs to look out of the nest, because her mother had gone in search of her father when he waste returning.


    Now she realized that he must have gotten into a fight with some other creature and ended up injured.


    Still, he hade to help her as soon as he heard her distress call even when he was hurt.


    Nuzzling her head up against her father''s, Evelyn let out what she thought would be happy squeaks to let her concerned parent know she was okay.


    "Hoot Hoot."


    Giving some hoots in conversation, her father acknowledged what Evelyn was trying to say and ruffled the top of her head with one of his wings.


    However, what happened next left Evelyn absolutely speechless, as her father opened up the w he had picked her up with, and a gust of wind picked her up and ced her onto his back.


    Witnessing this happen, Evelyn''s wide eyes went wider as she looked around in astonishment.


    She could not understand what had just happened.


    Was it some kind of freak ident, or naturally urring phenomenon that happened here?


    Of course, this was just her mind trying toe up with rational exnations, but quickly she knew what had really just happen.


    ''He manipted the wind somehow!''


    Understanding that there was no other exnation other than that her father was the one controlling the wind, Evelyn looked at him in awe.


    Certainly, there were plenty of stories that she had read where people manipted the wind like magic, but she had never expected to see it in real life.


    She had thought that this world might have been like how earth was back when the dinosaurs still roamed, and most of the animals were justrger because of higher oxygen levels or something.


    ''There is magic in this world.'' Evelyn thought gleefully.


    Though while she was lost in her fantasies about what this magical world might be like, her father took off from the ground.


    She felt herself beginning to shake and threw herself down into his feathers, while trying to grip on with her ws and beak.


    Holding on for dear life Evelyn did not want to fall off her father, but soon realized her efforts were pointless.


    A soft breeze had enveloped around her preventing her from falling off his back, as he ascended back into the canopy of the forest where their nest was located.


    Once they had arrived back at the hollow, Evelyn''s father lowered his head and another swirl of wind picked Evelyn up and gently ces her within the nest.


    As soon as she touched down her owl mother rushed over and began inspecting her with a worried expression on her face.


    However, as Evelyn looked up at her she saw that her mother was also injured, probably having backed up her father against whatever he had been fighting.


    Then when she was certain that Evelyn was uninjured, she moved over to the father and the two of them began squeaking and hooting at each other.


    Watching this Evelyn was certain that they were having some type of conversation and that the noises they were making held meaning.


    The two of them would even give asional nces at her, and Evelyn now truly understood that her parents unlike her siblings, held a high level of intelligence beyond what she expected from owls.


    When her parents had finished talking to each other, they both approached Evelyn and her father ced the items she had used to make stairs with in front of her.


    "HOOT!" Her mother said with a stern tone while shaking her head.


    Seeing this Evelyn understood what her parents were trying to say, and she lowered her head and started making remorseful sounds doing her best to convey that she was sorry.


    She now understood that her curiosity had nearly gotten her killed, and that her new parents were worried about her.


    Once Evelyn showed remorse and understanding for her actions, her parents patted her gently on the head.


    With this emergency now cleared up, Evelyn''s new owl family quickly went back to normal as her father flew off somewhere, while her mother began ripping up the chameleon like beast and feeding it to Evelin and her siblings.

 Chapter 5 5 First Flight And The Magic Stone

    ?After Evelyn''s near-death experience falling out of the tree, she acted like a model baby owl staying in the nest and not poking her nose into trouble.


    She simply waited patiently for weeks as her body grew and matured, until it was really time for her and her siblings to be adventurous.


    Once around five weeks had passed since her new life as an owl began, her mother started taking her and her siblings out of the nest and onto the branches of the tree they called home.


    At this point Evelyn and her siblings had grown to be around a foot to a foot and a half tall, and their feathers were starting toe in.


    For the most part they still looked like fluff balls, but the semnce of the owls they would be was now noticeable.


    Going out onto the branches Evelyn was very careful. She had already taken one fall down into the forest floor, and she had no desire to do so again while she could not fly.


    However, unlike Evelyn, her siblings who were still running mostly on instinct hopped around like no tomorrow, with no worry of the dangers that lurk below or above.


    Of course, their bravery came mostly from their mother who was nearby and watching them, but also that they did not know of the terrors that existed in this world.


    Over the next few weeks this became their daily routine. Evelyn''s new mother would take them out onto the branches of the tree, and slowly but surely take them further and further away so that they would get used to moving around.


    During this time, it was certain that Evelyn had the most trouble, as she was always on the lookout for anythinging to eat her.


    Still, after many weeks passed and she did not see even a single creature half the size of her other than her family, she began to rx.


    Then when around nine weeks had passed since her hatching, it was time for her and her siblings'' first flight,


    Their feathers had mostly grown in at this point and their bodies were a bit bigger, though still in line with what a normal owl''s size would be.


    Naturally Evelyn wondered about this since her parents were giants, but she had very little knowledge about this world right now.


    Maybe it would just take some more time, or it had something to do with the magic of this world.


    ''Well, I can worry about thatter. For now, I have to figure out how to fly.''


    Looking out of her nest Evelyn saw that her brother and sister were already pping around, slowly moving from branch to branch while they got a feel for flying.


    Evelyn on the other hand was still stuck on the lip of the tree hollow, finding it difficult to take the first leap into the open air.


    She still had lingering fear from her earlier foray down on the forest floor, and she was afraid to fall again.


    "Hoot."


    Making and encouraging andforting sound, Evelyn''s mother beckoned her to leave the nest. All the while saying that she was here for her.


    Taking a deep breath, Evelyn steeled her nerves believing that even if she messed up, her mother woulde and help her.


    Then she leapt out into the air and spread her wings, beginning her first flight. Or at least that was her intention. Except as she pped her wings around rapidly, she began to plummet.


    She tried pping as fast as she could but no matter how much she wanted to fly she just kept falling.


    Panic began to set in, and she looked up towards her mother expecting to see her diving to her rescue. But she was still just perched up in the tree looking down at Evelyn as she fell.


    ''Is she not going to save me? Have I been deemed a failure?'' Evelyn thought, as she counited to fall and her mother made no move to help her.


    Seeing that she was not going to be receiving any help, Evelyn with renewed vigor tried to fly, but the best she could do was slow her decent by holding her wings out and gliding.


    Still, this helped to take away some of the panic and her mind started to clear.


    Soon, she realized that her problem was that she had been trying to fly instead of doing it.


    She had been too focused on thinking of how to do it, when she should have let her instincts take over.


    Her own human mind had been fighting against her owl instincts, and what she needed to do now was to let them take over.


    pping her wings once again, Evelyn did not think but simply let her body react.


    One p, then two, then three. She slowly gained a bit of altitude and propellered herself forward onto a nearby branch.


    Landing after having flown for only an instant, Evelyn began breathing heavily and catching her bearings.


    For a moment what just happened seemed like a dream, but she had actually flown. It was not much, and it certainly was not impressive, but she had moved through the air under her own power.


    Still, she had fallen a good three hundred feet before finally catching herself and could now see small patches of the forest floor below her.


    ''It is going to be a long way back up.'' Evelyn thought while staring at her mother who was still perched high above.


    pping her wings and getting down the feeling of flying she had just experienced, Evelyn prepared herself to go again.


    When she was ready, she jumped from her branch and flew up to one a few feet away that was a bit higher up.


    She continued this process for what felt like hours until she had made it around two hundred feet back up towards the canopy.


    Unfortunately, at this point she was exhausted, and felt she could not fly another inch.


    Her stomach felt empty and was rumbling saying that it was time for food, and no more movement was happening until she refueled.


    Luckily it was at this point that her mother expertly and effortlessly swooped down and picked her up.


    Not long after her mother had picked her up and brought her back to the nest, Evelyn saw her father return and in his talons was a massive fish that was around five feet long.


    This was the first time she had ever seen a fish being brough home for dinner, but she was hoping that it might taste good.


    Thankfully it did, and Evelyn being quite famished, for the first time chirped along with her siblings for more food.


    Yet it was after they were done eating that her parents brought out something she had never seen.


    Within the fish was some type of faintly glowing dark purple stone, that her parents ripped it out for all of them to see.


    Looking at it, Evelyn wondered what it was exactly, and when her father put it down, she and her siblings approached it.


    Moving over to ,it she looked at it intently and for some reason had the urge to try and eat it.


    She did not know why she felt like this, but she was not alone as her brother and sister began pecking away it.


    However, the stone was far too big to fit in any of their mouths and it was durable enough to not be broken by their beaks or talons.


    Eventually, after they had all had a good look at it, their father picked the stone back up and swallowed it.


    Seeing this, Evelyn was certain that this was some type of teaching experience her parents were giving them.


    Though while the importance of that stone went over her sibling''s head, and they squawked for it back. Evelyn began thinking.


    ''That must have something to do with the magic in this world. I do not know exactly what it is or why it was in that fish, but it must be rted. Actually, it also probably as something to do with my parents enhanced size as well. Maybe eating that stone out of other beasts helps them to grow bigger?''


    While Evelyn was busy specting the importance of that stone her parents had just shown her and her siblings, she did not notice that their mother had ced out three smaller stones.


    Quickly her siblings ate one each, and then tried to move onto the other one that was meant for Evelyn.


    Fortunately, her parents held them back and eventually hooted at her toe over.


    Looking at the much smaller stone that had beenid out, Evelyn hoped over to it and picked it up in her beak.


    Immediately she felt the urge to swallow it but held off and slowly rolled it around in her mouth.


    She tested its vor and texture wanting to learn what she could about it.


    Then when she had held off for as long as she could, she swallowed the stone and felt a sort of warm feeling in her stomach.


    It was quite pleasant and now she knew why her instincts had been beckoning her to consume this stone.


    Eating it remined her of a bit of the warm cups of hot chocte she used to share with her first mother all those years ago.


    Thinking about this tears once again flowed down Evelyn''s eyes, a mix of both happiness and sadness. Longing for a life she already lost but also looking forward to the new one that would hopefully be better than thest.

 Chapter 6 6 The Trap

    ?''Got you!''


    Swooping down from high above the trees Evelyn nailed her prey that had thought itself hidden among the branches.


    Sinking her ws in, the poor chameleon like creature let out a pain screech as Evelyn finished it off.


    Smiling, she felt a sense of happiness now being able to dispatch a creature of the same species as the one that nearly killed her,


    Though this one that she had just gotten was a juvenile itself, and quite a bit smaller than the other one that was still a slightly bigger than Evelyn was now.


    Still for her first solo kill, it brought her great joy that she was able to take out one of these chameleons.


    ''To think just three weeks after my first flight I would be out hunting like this. I truly feel like an owl now.'' Evelyn thought while bobbing her head happily.


    In thest few weeks, she had gotten much better at flying and could do it almost expertly.


    Now it was close to as easy for her to fly as breathing. Much as how it was for humans with walking after they reached a certain age.


    Of course, even though she and her siblings were off hunting on their own, that did not mean that they were not under the watchful eyes of their parents.


    Currently Evelyn''s mother was perched high up in the trees watching down at her and her siblings who were all hunting in the same area.


    With her prey clutched in her talons Evelyn flew up towards her mother, wanting to show off what she had done.


    She still longed for her parents'' approval that was sorelycking in her past life, but now her new owl parents heaped on plenty of praise when she did something well.


    Showing off her first kill Evelyn held her head up proudly, and as she wanted her mother nodded her head towards Evelyn acknowledging her talents and efforts.


    This made Evelyn happy, and she squawked and hooted joyfully, and her mother joined along.


    At this point she had gotten pretty good at understanding what the noises her parents made meant and could hold a sort of conversation with them.


    Certainly, it was far from the level of what humans could express with words, but they were still able to convey feelings and emotions.


    Yet as Evelyn took up her mother''s attention her brother had wandered off, tracking his prey further than the area they were supposed to operate in.


    Unfortunately, it took their mother around ten minutes to finally notice this as she had been distracted further by Evelyn''s sister who had also caught her first prey.


    However, once she noticed that her son had strayed off, she took Evelyn and her sister back to the nest and told them to stay there while she searched for their brother.


    After that, Evelyn''s mother swiftly flew out of the nest and began searching the area for her lost son.


    Sighing, Evelyn looked at her prize and began tearing it apart. Eating the chameleon she had worked hard to catch.


    When she had finished eating what she could and digging the core within its body out, neither of her parents had returned.


    At this point it had been quite some time and she was beginning to get worried.


    ''Maybe I should go out and join the search.'' She thought while looking out of the hollow in the tree their nest was in.


    She could fly now and had be a lot more confident in her abilities as ofte.


    And while she still had not figured out how the magic in this world worked, she had not seen anything other than her parents wield it to begin with.


    Eventually she began to feel restless, and the waiting around was getting to her.


    She was torn between staying home where she knew it was safe or going out to search for her new owl brother who had gotten lost.


    ''I know that my adventurism got me in trouble before, but this time is different.''


    Hopping up to the exit of the nest, Evelyn jumped up onto the edge of the tree hollow and looked out.


    She scanned the forest around her and then off into the horizon to see if she could see any of her family members returning.


    Sadly, none of them were in view and she made the decision to head out herself and join the search.


    While she was not close in anyway to her new siblings, she did not want to lose any of the members of her new family.


    She was afraid that if one of them were to die it would ruin the happiness that she currently had, just as had happened back on Earth when she lost her mom Elise.


    Taking off into the forest, Evelyn remembered the direction that her mother had flown off into and went the opposite way.


    This way they would cover more ground, and hopefullye across her idiot owl brother who had gotten caught up in tracking his fast-moving prey.


    Flying around she searched in a grid pattern. Checking a certain area in a cube before moving onto the next.


    She counited doing this for what felt like a couple hours, and she made sure to keep track of where she was in rtion to the nest so as to not get lost herself.


    Though as she was beginning to get tired and ready to give up, she heard the sounds of distress.


    Listening closely, she recognized the sound and understood that it was her brother calling out for their parents.


    Unfortunately, neither of them were anywhere nearby right now, but Evelyn was.


    ''Well at least he is still alive. Now what kind of trouble has he gotten himself into.''


    Turning towards the noise, Evelyn flew her way around a number of dense trees beforeing out into a small clearing in the middle of the forest.


    But as she stared into the middle of the clearing where her brother was, she stopped flying for a moment in shock.


    There before her eyes in a metal trap was her brother.


    It was a type of spring-loaded cage, but much bigger than any she had ever seen and camouged fairly well to blend in.


    Seeing this there was no doubt in her mind that this was a human contraption, and the first sign she had seen of living humans.


    Of course, she had found the finger bone before, but that only confirmed that there were humans.


    However, this showed her that they were indeed humans operating in this forest.


    Regaining herposure after a bit, Evelyn slowly descended down towards the ground, keeping a sharp eye out for any dangers or other traps that might have beenid nearby


    When she was fairly certain that it was safe tond, she descended down towards the cage where her owl brother had been captured in a trap.


    Though as she touched down and he noticed her, he began screeching even louder, begging her to free him.


    Still, Evelyn had a sharp mind and she nned to use it to examine the situation.


    Going around and looking at the inside of the cage she noticed that there were a number of fruits, nuts, and grasses.


    She wondered why her brother had been attracted to these items when owls very rarely ate anything other than meat.


    Yet as she bent in closer while looking for the mechanism to open the cage, she smelt the scenting from these items.


    Immediately she felt and urge to consume them, simr to the weird stones that were found in beasts.


    ''Hm is it some type of bait they have coated them in, or are these maybe from special nts that hold some type of magical properties.''


    As Evelyn examined the bait that had enticed her stupid brother into what she perceived as an obvious trap, he continued to make a racket wondering why his sister had not already freed him.


    ''Yes, I hear you. Just give me a minute.'' Evelyn thought, as her brother continued to frantically make distressed noises.


    Hopping around the cage, she began searching for the mechanism to get it open.


    Unfortunately, while it would be very simple to open the cage normally, that only went for the humans that had created.


    In order to open it Evelyn found that she needed to pull up on two levers on opposite sides at the same time, but there was no way she could do so with her current physique.


    Racking her brain, she thought long and hard about how to help her owl brother out of his cage, and soon came up with an idea.


    Taking off back into the air, she began looking around intently trying to find something specific.


    ''Ah, there it is.''


    Spotting the vines she was looking for, Evelyn flew over to them and began tugging on them to find the strongest one.


    Then when she had, she slowly used her talons to cut through it until she had what would make the best rope she could hope to find in the middle of a forest.


    With the tool she needed now in her ws, she flew back to her brother who had only gotten louder thinking that she had abandoned him.


    Still, Evelyn worked through the noise, and began tying the strong vine to one of the levers before moving onto the next.


    Though this was easier said than done as she was nowcking any apposable thumbs.


    Eventually after many painstaking attempts, she finally got the vine tied around the levers, and hoped up on top of the cage.


    Pulling with all her might on the vine, she slowly began to bring the levers up, and with one great yank of her neck, got them to release.


    As soon as this happened the door to the cage opened, and her brother quickly jumped out of it, and began chirping happily at Evelyn for saving him.


    However, unbeknownst to them, someone had been watching quietly as Evelyn worked hard to open the cage.


    p! p! p!


    Hearing three resounding ps above her, Evelyn felt a sudden sense of fear greater than she had since bing an owl.


    Turning her head around there she saw it, a living, breathing person, who had hidden himself among the brush and hade out while pping his hands slowly.

 Chapter 7 7 Fleeing From The Humans

    ?(A/N: Dialogue starting with * means that Evelyn does not understand these words.)


    *"Well that certainly was something to see. Never thought I would witness a low tier wild beast being smart enough to open a cage."* The man who had just appeared from the brush said while pping his hands.


    However, while Evelyn had no clue what he said, she was not focusing on his words to begin with.


    She knew how scary humans could really be, and she doubted that this man had any good intentions. Since it was likely that he was the one that had left out the trap her brother had gotten caught in.


    "HOOT!" Evelyn said as loud and with as much warning as possible.


    She then bumped her head against her brother with as much force as she could to get him to fly off, while doing the same herself.


    She had no intention of staying around to find out what this human from this world wanted and flew away as fast as she could.


    Yet, the man just smiled as he watched the two of them fly off in the opposite direction he had appeared from, since that was exactly where he wanted them to go.


    As soon as Evelyn and her brother were about to reach the tree line and escape the clearing they were in, both of them heard a whooshing sounding from above.


    Looking up, she saw a wide had been thrown down from the trees and was going to ensnare both her and her brother.


    Seeing this Evelyn''s adrenaline that was already heightened reached its max, and time almost seemed to slow down for her as she thought of a way to avoid getting caught in this.


    She had no intention of ever being restrained again, and the fear of this forced her to take drastic action.


    From the size of the and how fast it was falling she realized that trying to avoid it by flying faster or to the sides was not going to work. So, she dipped her body down and went into a nosedive.


    Shooting straight down towards the ground, Evelyn made no move to try and stop her fall and smashed hard into the ground.


    Truly it hurt like hell for her, but she gritted her beak and took the pain, far more afraid to be caught in the.


    Luckily her reckless maneuver had managed to keep her out of the and simply a bit injured.


    Unfortunately, her brother had not been as daring and tried to escape by simply flying faster.


    Now he was caught in the that had been thrown by another human that had been waiting in the trees ready to capture both of the owls that had wandered into this clearing.


    Digging in and really pushing herself, Evelyn got up despite the pain she was feeling, and began running and pping her wings to get back into the air.


    Quickly she managed to get some altitude and began flying through the forest, away from the humans that clearly wanted to catch her.


    Certainly, she had wanted to rescue her brother, but her fear of dying another death from the cruelty of others made her flee with all her might.


    "Damn it Vorigos, you were supposed to catch both of them. Hurry up and secure that one and follow after me when you are done. We are not letting that other one get away." The man who had appeared from the brush said to the one that had been hiding in the trees.


    Continuing to fly with everything she had, Evelyn made a beeline for her nest hoping that one of her parents hade back. If she could get their help, she was certain that these two guys would not be a problem.


    However, as she was flying, she heard a loud snapping sound from behind her, and turning her head around she saw that one of the men was jumping from branch to branch and chasing after her.


    Immediately Evelyn realized that this was not a feat an ordinary person would be able to aplish, even if they were a world ss gymnast.


    No, this person, like her parents must have been using some type of magic to keep up with her as she flew as fast as she could.


    Diving down again Evelyn started attempting very risky maneuvers she had never practiced, like flying thorough branches that gave her almost no clearance.


    Still, she felt that it would be the end of her if this man caught her, so she was willing to take any risk to keep him away.


    Nevertheless, the man moved with more grace and fluidity than would seem possible, and even though she was doing her all to lose him, he was still gaining on her.


    Soon, he was only around thirty feet away and threw out a bag that exploded into arge that was aimed to ensnare Evelyn.


    Miraculously though, she just managed to spin out of the way and put a tree in between her and the man, going around it and cutting off his line of sight.


    And when the man came around the tree himself, he was bbergasted to see that his quarry was no longer visible.


    ''Where the hell did that owl go?'' He thought while looking around for Evelyn.


    Breathing heavily, she looked down from her hiding spot on the tree, having continued circling around it and quickly finding a thick area of leaves to hide in.


    Of course, she knew she could not hide forever as the man had already begun searching the area for her, but she just needed the right opportunity.


    She waited and waited for him to turn his attention away, and hopefully move further from her current location.


    Fortunately, her prayers were answered as the man searched the opposite direction of where she was first.


    Taking this opportunity, Evelyn as quietly as she could, pushed herself out of the thick branches and began flying towards the nearest tree in order to use it as a new hiding spot.


    Yet as she was flying over to it, even though she had hidden herself perfectly from one pursuer, the other who had just caught up spotted her.


    Before she even noticed, she felt a sharp pain in her left wing before plummeting to the ground.


    Wham!


    mming against the ground incredibly hard for the second time today, Evelyn had the wind knocked out of her.


    Feeling incredibly out of it, she felt a terrible weakness and recognized what was happening since it was a familiar sensation.


    ''I have been drugged!''


    Looking over towards her wing that had now gone num, she saw a metal bolt from a crossbow imbedded in her.


    ''NO, NO, NO! I REFUSE TO END UP IN CHIANS AGAIN!''


    Summoning up all of her strength, Evelyn fought through the drug and the pain. Dragging her body forward and trying to escape.


    The fear and trauma of the events that had led up to her first death drove her to run away no matter what.


    Unfortunately, even though she was able to drag herself a few inches, it was not long before the two men that had been hunting her, dropped down on either side of her, cutting off any chance of escape.


    *" I have to admit that this one''s tenacity is pretty high. I do not think that I have ever seen a wild beast continue to fight after having the extract from the moonlight gelsemium enter their system."* Vorigos said, impressed by Evelyn''s will to survive.


    *"Yeah it is unusual, but it does not make a difference. Crawling a few more inches is not going to help them get away from us."* The other guy said as he bent down to pick Evelyn up.


    Yet as he did, the two men heard a loud crashing sound like something very big had justnded above them.


    And tilting their heads up, the two men saw a massive owl that was ten feet tall staring down at them with murder in his eyes. As Evelyn''s father looked down at two soon to be dead humans harming his children.

 Chapter 8 8 Evelyn’s Father Vs The Human Hunters

    ?Launching down from atop the tree he hadnded on, Evelyn''s father dove right towards the ground right at the two men that had captured two of his children.


    Yet before he even got to the ground, the red feathers around his neck began to glow, until a half dozen spears of fire shot out towards the human men.


    Seeing this, the two of them jumped back, having no time to do anything else in response but move away.


    In fact, as Evelyn''s father had nned one of the spears hit the his son was trapped in and burned through it, separating it from the man named Vorigos.


    He thennded on the ground with a loud crash, leaving a huge indent where his ws had touched down.


    Spreading his wings out he covered both Evelyn and her brother protectively and let out a menacing screech towards the two humans.


    *"Damn it, what the hell is a peak fiend beast doing here in the Deands?"*


    *"I do not know, but we need to stay on our guard and keep him pinned down between the younger ones or we are going to be dead meat."*


    After the two men finished their conversation, Vorigos pulled out his crossbow and shot towards Evelyn, while the other man named Karsyn threw two throwing knives at her brother.


    However, as much as they were hoping this would create an opening for them to attack Evelyn''s father, all it did was making him angrier.


    With one p of his wings, he created a powerful gust of wind that knocked away the projectiles, before unleashing two sts of fire at the men.


    Having to take evasive action again, Vorigos rolled out of the way, while Karsyn jumped into the air and griped onto a tree branch to avoid being engulfed by the fire that singed him as it flew by below.


    Witnessing this, both of them were in total shock, since they never expected to see a beast that had a dual affinity out here on the edge of the world where magical energy was sparse.


    Pushing off against the ground and pping his wings Evelyn''s father burst forward, appearing in front of Karsyn in an instant.


    He then brought forth one of his ws and tired to pierce through this despicable human''s chest.


    Though as he brought his w forward, Karsyn positioned his right arm in front of himself and the metal band he wore on his arm sprung out into arge square shield.


    Still even with the protection of this shield, Karsyn watched in horror as the talons of this veryrge owl dug through the metal.


    A secondter, he was pulled down to the ground and mmed against it, fighting with all his might to keep the four talons from stabbing into him.


    Boom!


    As Evelyn''s father tried to kill one of the humans that were hunting his children. A loud explosion resounded through the forest, and turning his head, he saw that the other human had fired an exploding bolt into the air.


    This other human then began taking aim at Evelyn who was paralyzed on the ground and unable to defend herself.


    He wanted to force Evelyn''s father into either saving his children or killing Karsyn.


    Luckily, Evelyn''s father did as expected, and leapt off of Karsyn to go and save his children.


    With this opening Vorigos ran up to his fellow hunter and held out his hand while saying, *"Damn it Karsyn, I knew we should have run instead of attacking."*


    Taking Vorigos'' hand, Karsyn pulled himself up, and responded saying, *"I know you are not the smartest Vorigos, but you must have seen the look in that things eyes. It wants us dead, and if we turn tale and run we have no chance of getting out of this alive. Our only option is to keep the fight near its kids to restrain it and hope we get lucky."*


    Resolving themselves to fight to the end, Vorigos and Karsyn turned to face Evelyn''s father who had once again ced himself over his fallen children.


    Yet this time he was not going to risk leaving his position while these two humans were in range to hurt Evelyn or her brother.


    Instead, he began whipping up the wind and sent out arge gale towards the two humans.


    Unable toplete evade this wide attack, both Vorigos and Karsyn were pushed off bnce, losing their footing.


    To follow up, Evelyn''s father sent out another half dozen spears of fire towards Vorigos who was the less nimble of the two.


    Bracing himself Vorigos pulled out arge club that was on his back and tired knocking the mes away.


    Nevertheless, even with his best efforts he failed to block or dodge all of the fire spears, and two of them impacted against his body.


    One hit against his left shoulder while the other hit him on his right side, causing horrible burns that melted his flesh.


    Feeling this pain, Vorigos fell to the ground and began rolling around while screaming in agony.


    Seeing this Karsyn who had just managed to regain his footing from the earlier wind attack clicked his tongue.


    He knew that if Vorigos died he would be next, so he opened up his jacket and began rapidly throwing every knife he had on him towards Evelyn and her brother.


    To his fortune, this was just enough to keep Evelyn''s father upied as he ran over to Vorigos.


    When he arrived, he threw eight knives all at once, which was the most he could do with any sort of uracy.


    Then he pulled out a jar from one of his pockets and threw it onto the ground.


    As the ss shattered smoke began to fill the area, and he dragged himself and Vorigos over to a nearby tree to use it as cover.


    Though before he could even get there, a gust of wind blew away the smoke, and was followed up by another round of mes spears.


    "Ugh."


    As he was pushing himself and Vorigos behind the tree, Karsyn got hit in the foot by one of the me spears and had to grit his teeth through the pain as his shoes and flesh burned.


    At the very least he was able to pull himself and Vorigos behind the tree and use it as momentary cover.


    Now that they were in rtive safety, Karsyn pulled out three vials that were in a pouch on his belt and poured the contents over his and Vorigos'' injuries.


    Slowly the horrible burns began to heal, and the pain subsided greatly.


    However, this moment of reprieve was short lived, as Evelyn''s father had no intention of letting these humans live.


    Sending out shot after shot of fire, he bombarded the tree and the area around it. Setting the hiding spot of these humans on fire.


    He then whipped up anther gust of wind to speed up the spread of the fire and increase its intensity.


    Of course, he also could have simply flown over to these humans to finish them off, but he had seen that they were crafty and did not want to expose his children to anymore danger.


    Therefore, he continued to st the tree and the area the humans were hiding in, nning to smoke them out into the open or burn them alive where they hid.


    *"Well Vorigos, I did not want it toe to this, but you run one direction, and I will run the other. If we are lucky one of us will survive."* Karsyn said, seeing as how they were out of options.


    Nodding his head, Vorigos agreed. But he really did not like their chances against a beast that could fly and was much faster than either of them, especially now that they were both injured


    Standing up the two of them prepared to run away in opposite directions as the forest around them burned.


    When suddenly, they heard another voiceing from in front of them.


    *"I see that you two idiots have gotten yourselves into a heap of trouble. I cannot believe that you were able to mess up the simple job of checking the traps and retrieving whatever was caught inside."*

 Chapter 9 9 Fight For Their Lives

    ?As this other human approached and saw his two idiot subordinates about to be engulfed by fire, all he could do was sigh.


    Still, he had only so many men at his disposal out here in the far reaches of the world, so it was in his best interest to save them


    Quickly he began moving his hands in a practiced manner, and when he had finished weaving his spell, he conjured it into reality by speaking its name.


    *"Stone Circle."*


    Finishing his spell, the man''s hands began to glow, and the ground around him began to shift and move before creating a ring around him and his men.


    This forced the mes that were growing ever closer to halt their advance as they found no purchase against the solid rock.


    *"You two really are a pair of unlucky idiots. Though I suppose it was not so bad since I was close enough to hear your signal. But still, how in the world did you anger one of the maybe couple dozen fiend beasts in this forest, and a peak one at that?"* The obviously much stronger man said.


    Lowering their heads, Karsyn said, *"We were only doing as ordered and collecting the beasts caught in the traps, when one managed to escape with the help of an unusually smart wild beast."*


    *"Yeah, we simply were chasing them down to recapture them when that monster of a beast showed. And Elder Uriah, what gives? I thought this ce could not even properly support a fiend beast?"* Vorigos said with confusion.


    Sighing, Uriah said, *"You two nitwits need to read the intel reports more thoroughly. You are right that this ce has next to no chance to produce any fiend beasts, but that does not mean that there are not any that live here. A few stronger beasts asionally migrate here in order to rear their young in a safer environment."*


    The three men then continued to talk, and Evelyn''s father who had been eyeing the situation warily, decided now was the time to make a move.


    He could tell that this new human was strong, far stronger than the other two.


    It was uncertain if he would stand any chance, so while the man''s attention was on the two others, Evelyn''s father grabbed both her and her brother and took to the sky.


    However, even though the man seemed to be preupied elsewhere, he had always had the bulk of his focus on Evelyn''s father.


    The second he had begun to flee, the man smiled and finished casting the spell he had already been preparing.


    "Hands of earth."


    When the man finished his second spell, tworge hands reached up from the ground and with greater speed than would have seemed possible, they caught up to Evelyn''s father.


    Seeing this he knew he had no hope of evading without losing his children. So, he pulled Evelyn and her brother in tight while wrapping his wings around them as anotheryer of protection.


    WHAM!


    The two hands pped together in midair, crushing Evelyn''s father in between them.


    Breaking apart and falling away, after the two hands of dirt had collided together the force was too much for them to maintain their shape.


    Nevertheless, they had already aplished their job, and falling down with them was Evelyn''s father.


    After taking that powerful attack, even as sturdy as he was, he had note out unharmed with one of his wings being broken, while the other was badly injured.


    There was absolutely no way he was going to be able to fly again anytime soon, leaving him only one option. To fight.


    Pulling himself up he put Evelyn and her brother down on the ground behind him releasing them from the safe embrace of his ws.


    He needed everything he had to face down his current enemy, especially now that his wings were injured.


    *"Yes I think this one will make an excellent specimen. The researcher is likely to be thrilled when I present him with such a beast."* Uriah said as he looked at his prize.


    Screeching loudly into air, Evelyn''s father began glowing red hot as heat built up around him.


    He was summoning all of the remaining power he had for one final attack to try and take out this human.


    Still, the man named Uriah just continued to advance, paying little mind to the dangerous buildup of power around Evelyn''s father.


    When he had umted all of his strength, Evelyn''s father aimed forward, and a pir of mes shoot forth from his body.


    The fire engulfed everything in its path burning the brush of the forest as it burst forward towards Uriah.


    *"Granite Wall."*


    As Uriah cast the defensive spell he had already prepared, arge wall rose up from the ground in front of him and easily blocked the fire being fired off from Evelyn''s father.


    Smiling, Uriah put his hand on the wall, and began pushing forward, heading right towards Evelyn''s father despite the pir of fire sting against him.


    Yet as he was advancing, his honed senses of years of battle alerted him to a new danger, and he jumped back right as a de made of wind crashed into the spot he hand been standing a second ago.


    However, Uriah did not have time to try and ascertain where this new attack came from, as Evelyn''s father turned his all or nothing attack towards him now that he was no longer behind his protection.


    Clicking his tongue, Uriah was now feeling a bit of pressure, but he still easily evaded Evelyn''s father''s attack with swift movement that no normal person should have been able to aplish.


    ''There you are.''


    Finding the other attacker, he saw anotherrge owl flying around and sending wind des at him from different angles to restrict his movement.


    Still even though he was having to stay on his toes a bit, he was only feeling slightly pressured.


    ''This one is kind of a pain, but I should end this quickly before one of them ends up killing themselves.'' Uriah thought as he continued to dart around, avoiding the onught of both of Evelyn''s parents.


    "Rock Form."


    Finishing histest and mostplicated spell, Uriah''s body began to be covered up by the ground, and when it receded, he waspleted enveloped by rocks looking like some type of monster.


    At the very least, this allowed Evelyn''s parents to finally hit with their attacks as he had stopped moving while the spell activated its effect.


    Quickly he was engulfed by the pir of fire Evelyn''s father was emitting, and Evelyn''s mother stopped and began pping her wings rapidly to send down a barrage of wind des.


    Yet even after being swallowed by fire and pelted by des of wind strong enough to slice through bone, Uriah had not taken any damage.


    Jumping out of the mes, he rocketed towards Evelyn''s mother who had finally stopped moving tounch a full offensive.


    Rapidly moving his arms Uriah deflected all of the wind desing at him with the thick rock armor that protected him.


    Then he mmed into Evelyn''s mother using his own body as a projectile, and a sickening crack resounded throughout the area.


    Evelyn''s mother coughed up a mouthful of blood as her bones shattered and her internal organs ruptured from the impact.


    Grabbing onto her, Uriah pulled Evelyn''s mother down to the ground with him and left a crater where hended.


    With a hostage now in his hands, he smiled under his helmet made of rock and began walking forward dragging Evelyn''s mother with him.


    Now it would be impossible for Evelyn''s father to attack without hurting his partner, and wavering for a moment he lost control of the power he was barely clinging onto.


    His magical energypletely exhausted, he copsed to the ground, no longer able to even hold his head aloft as Uriah approached him.


    *"Well you put up a pretty good fight but it is over. Now why don''t you go to sleep, and when you wake up, I will have prepared a ''nice'' new home for you all."* Uriah said as he lifted his foot up.


    Smashing down with a tremendous amount of force he crushed Evelyn''s father''s head into the ground and rendered him unconscious.

 Chapter 10 10 The Facility

    ?Looking out in horror, Evelyn watched as her mother and father were quickly and overwhelmingly beaten down by this new human that had arrived.


    They had fought together and with everything they had and were still crushed in less than a minute without having inflicted a single injury on their opponent.


    Seeing this, tears rolled down Evelyn''s eyes when she realized that all hope was lost.


    Her parents were unconscious, and she was out ofmission as the paralytic drug hadpletely immobilized her body, but still left her awake to watch whatever cruel fate awaited.


    For a moment she even thought about trying to pray for a miracle, but she knew those did not exist. Since never once had her prayer for one been answered in this or herst life.


    *"Okay you two, the fight is over so you can stop cowering. Now get over here and tie them up while I contact the base to send us help to transport these beasts."* Uriah called out to Vorigos and Karsyn.


    Tentatively the two of them moved out from behind the tree they were hiding behind, and once they saw that the tworge owls that were stronger than them were truly down. They ran up to Uriah who had just shed his rock form.


    The two of them then pulled out some ropes from their bags and began tying up Evelyn''s parents, while Uriah pulled out a fancy looking notebook.


    Writing within this notebook, Uriah asked for some more men to help him bring back the prizes he had just acquired.


    Once he had finished writing this message, he watched the text disappear as it was transmitted to hispatriot who had a simr magical tool for long rangemunication.


    After that was done, he moved over to one of the nearby trees and leaned against it.


    He was currently feeling pretty sore, which happened every time he used his rock form spell.


    Still, it was the strongest magic he had, and without it the fight was likely to have prolonged which he did not want.


    A little over half an hourter, a dozen more people showed up at Uriah''s location and saw Evelyn''s parents.


    Of course, most of them were surprised because they were definitely the strongest beasts any of them had seen since being assigned to this area.


    *"Now that all of you are here, split into to groups of six and carry the tworger owls back to base. Vorigos and Karsyn you two grab the children and try not to mess up this time."* Uriah said, takingmand.


    Quickly the new men that arrived had picked Evelyn''s parents up, while Vorigos grabbed Evelyn''s brother and Karsyn took ahold of Evelyn who was as still as a statue.


    *"Elder Uriah, are you sure we need these two beasts when we have the other two. This one here really gave me the run around, and nearly got us killed by leading its parents to us. I would be really grateful if I could take out my frustration on it."* Karsyn said as he held up Evelyn.


    Rolling his eyes, Uriah looked at Karsyn like he was the epitome of stupid, and said, *"Sure, you can kill it but then I will kill you. Right now, the researcher is looking for quantity and wants every beast we capture to run his tests. So, killing a beast we caught no matter how weak is the same as destroying his property."*


    Lowering his head, Karsyn grumbled under his breath and did as he was ordered. He dragged Evelyn along, holding her up by her injured wing to make the trip as unpleasant for her as possible.


    During this time, Evelyn had given up and lost all hope,ing to ept that her lot in life was to suffer.


    All she could wish for now was that whatever was about to happen to her would be over quickly and as painlessly as possible.


    ''Maybe when I die again, I will get a better third life. Or this could be the hell I have to suffer for eternity. I will get to start out with a happy and hopeful life, all for it to be ripped away by circumstance I cannot control.''


    Being taken along, all Evelyn could do was watch, not even able to close her eyes due to the paralytic drug in her system.


    It felt like a horribly long journey as the humans that had taken her trekked through the woods, and she was in constant pain from the rough hold on her injured wing.


    They had not even bothered to take the bolt out, and it sent waves of pain through her every time the man carrying her took a step.


    Eventually though, they finally came to a stop in what seemed apletely unremarkable part of the forest.


    Yet it was not long after they stopped, that Evelyn saw arge hatch opening up in the ground and revealing a set of stairs.


    The men then all began shuffling down, taking Evelyn''s parents who barely fit in first.


    Finally, Karsyn was thest one to enter with Evelyn in his hands, and she looked up towards the sky, thinking that this would be thest time she would see sunlight in this life as the hatch closed behind them.


    Looking around she tried to upy her mind by analyzing the building she had been brought to, but it was incredibly sterile.


    So far all she had seen were stone walls that were periodically lined with some sort of dim lights.


    asionally they did pass by some doors, but they never stopped at any of them as they dragged Evelyn and her family down this long corridor.


    Soon, they came too the end of the corridor and in front of them was arge set of double doors that had an ominous feel to them.


    Evelyn even seemed to get a sense of dreadful d¨¦j¨¤ vu.


    She felt that this ce had a simr feel to the cer the psycho who killed her in her past life.


    It was ce where painful tortures waited for her.


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    Knocking on the door, Uriah waited for an answer, and soon a short man who was wearing a long ck robe opened the door.


    *"Ah I see you have brought the new special specimens with you Elder Uriah. The master will be most pleased to have them. Oh, and he is currently conducting his experiments so please try not to make a racket. Nowe, we have prepared the necessary containment areas for those two. As for the others, just throw them in the cages along with the rest of the wild beasts we have."*


    After this new little man appeared, Evelyn was watched intently as she was brought into the room.


    She wanted to see what awaited her, and what she saw was certainly terrifying.


    Rows and rows of cages lined the walls and in most of them was some manner of beast.


    They ranged from smaller animals like rats, up to six-foot-long boars with huge tusks.


    However, while she was still trying to look around and figure out what exactly was going on here, the man carrying her suddenly stopped.


    He then, opened up one of the cages that was empty, and unceremoniously threw Evelyn in with much more force than necessary.


    This was thest thing she remembered, before feeling an incredible pain as her head hit the back of the cage and she slipped into unconsciousness.

 Chapter 11 11 Evelyn’s Escape

    ?''Ugh, my head hurts. What happened?''


    As Evelyn starteding to consciousness after her less than gentle toss into a cage, she suddenly opened her eyes wide in realization.


    The events that had happened leading up to her capture and current confinement all came rushing back to her, and along with it a sense of helplessness.


    She was currently stuck in a cage in some sort of underground facility she did not know the purpose of.


    At first, she thought maybe it was some sort of beast selling operation. But that went out the window quickly, as she saw the mangled corpse of wolf being dragged out of another room thaty beyond a set of doors she hoped never to cross through.


    Now her options had plummeted, and she figured that it was probably one of two very unideal situations.


    Either this was some sort ofb where they were doing experiments, or these people got their jollies off of torturing animals.


    Though it really did not matter which situation it was, because as she continued to observe for hours that not a single beast that went into the room came out alive, or even in one piece for that matter.


    However, as Evelyn watched these horrors, she realized that eventually it was going to be her turn.


    ''No, not again.'' She thought a renewed sparking igniting in her.


    She remembered the torture and the pain she had suffered and would do anything she could to not die practically the same way twice.


    Feeling sorry for herself was not going to help, and now that she was not in constant crushing pain or under the effects of the paralytic drug her head had cleared a bit.


    Her human mind was her greatest asset, and she was going to need it if she was to escape.


    First, she went over and checked the mechanism that kept the cage closed but found that whatever it was could not be seen or felt from within the cage.


    She then tired ramming her body against the cage hoping to maybe get it to topple over, but that was a failure as well.


    The cage was bolted into the wall and her efforts to move it only caused her already sore body to hurt even more.


    "Hoot. Hoot."


    Crying out from the cage she hoped that maybe her parents were nearby, but the only response she got was from her owl brother who she was now ming for this mess.


    If he had not gotten caught in that trap to begin with, none of this would have happened and she could have continued her happy and carefree life as an owl.


    Letting out a sigh, she had been wishing that her parents would have been close by, but it appeared that they were being held elsewhere, or maybe had already been subjected to whatever horrors lied beyond this room.


    ''Damn, what am I supposed to do now?'' Evelyn thought, trying to figure some way out of her predicament.


    She had found it impossible to open the cage or move it, and the bars were far too sturdy for her to break through.


    This left her only escape option to be having someone else open the cage.


    Unfortunately, she had watched what went on over thest few hours, and whenever a cage was opened the beast inside was quickly grabbled by a pole with a rope on the end of it to prevent any chance of escape.


    Of course, getting out of her cage would still only be the first step, and after that she would pretty much need a miracle to escape back outside.


    Still, it was a possibility, and she was going to take her chance.


    Anyway, what was the worst they could do to her if she was caught escaping. It appeared that whatever future she had here was already going to end in a terrible, painful death. So, she might as well try to escape.


    ''At the very least I should be able to open the doors. All I have to do is push the handles and the doors seemed to slide back with ease.''


    With a basic n forming in her mind, Evelyn began focusing on the first matter at hand which was getting out of her cage.


    Luckily, she eventually came up with what she thought would be her best chance.


    Every few hours or so, someone woulde by and check on the cages and give the trapped beasts some water.


    When that happened next, Evelyn was going to make her move.


    But first she had to steel herself and prepare for some more pain.


    Bending her head down towards her feet, she stretched her body to the limit and got her ws close enough to touch her tongue.


    It was an ufortable position to hold, but she needed to do it in order to enact the first part of her n.


    Taking one of her talons she sliced her own tongue which hurt quite a bit, but was still nothingpared to what she had experienced before.


    ''Okay, now I have the blood that I need, so I just have to wait.'' Evelyn thought as she allowed the blood to pool in her mouth and released a bit around her neck.


    Soon the man that checked on the cages came by, and Evelyn made her move.


    She threw herself down heavily onto the floor of the cage and spit up the mouthful of blood she had been saving.


    For added effect she even made terrible screeching sounds that certainly sounded like a dying bird.


    Then as the man hurried over to check out what was wrong, she wentpletely still and yed dead.


    Seeing this, the guy said what Evelyn could only guess were curses as he opened the cage to pull her out and see what was wrong.


    Luckily for Evelyn these people seemed to want any and all of the beasts they had captured alive. So, by pretending to die she had managed to get this guy flustered enough to forget protocol and tie her down before opening the cage.


    The second the man opened the cage, she dropped her act andshed out at him ws first.


    Racking across his eyes she seeded in catching the manpletely off guard and blinded him.


    It was a brutal attack, but at this point, Evelyn really did not care what she had to do to escape so long as she did.


    ''It was lucky that this guy seems to be a pretty much normal person, since I am not sure what I would have done if he was another monster that could use magic.'' Evelyn thought as she jumped out of the cage, while the man she had just maimed rolled around on the ground clutching his eyes.


    With her freedom from the cage achieved, she made her way right over to the door and pushed with all her might on the handle.


    Fortunately, it required only a light force to unseal the door, and once it could be opened, she wedged her body in the crack and slowly pushed open the sliding door.


    Free of the room where beasts where held captive, Evelyn took onest look behind her, thinking about trying to rescue her family.


    Yet after just a second, she shook her head and flew off down the corridor towards the underground facility''s exit.


    She knew that going to search for her parents was a suicide mission and would only make her already low chances of escape plummet to zero.


    Certainly, she had grown attached to her parents that had loved her unconditionally, but she had really only known them for a few months. Therefore, choosing between getting out alive or sacrificing herself to try and save them, the answer was obvious to Evelyn.


    ''It won''t do me any good to die here with them. I just need to escape and not let their sacrifices be in vain.''


    Flying down the corridor she moved as fast as she could towards the exit praying that she would not run into anyone.


    And by some miracle she avoided detection down the entire corridor, as no one was traversing down it or had exited any of the doors that periodically lined the walls.


    Soon, she made it to the cer door that would lead her outside and began searching for atch or lever to open it.


    However, unlike the doors within the facility that opened easily with a push handle, this one seemed to have no way to operate it from here.


    Unfortunately, this door could only be opened by magic, which Evelyn could not use and did not know to use.


    She had made it to the goal, but there seemed to be no salvation at the end of the tunnel.


    It was only a matter of time until she was discovered and recaptured at this rate.


    ''Do I search the entire ce for some sort of button or switch that opens this hatch? Or maybe try and find another way out?'' Evelyn thought, weighing her options.


    Except, her option became limited even further as she heard footstepsing down the corridor.


    At the very least, as she listened, they did not sound hasty, so she doubted it was someone looking for her.


    ''Maybe they are leaving? I need somewhere to hide.''


    Thinking on her feet, Evelyn searched for some ce to conceal herself, and soon found the darkest corner on the ceiling.


    Flying up there she wedged herself in this corner. Just barely managing to get enough purchase to hold herself up.


    Soon the man''s who foot falls she had heard came down the corridor and up to the cer door.


    He was a man she had not seen yet, had graying hair, and wore a ck robe simr but higher quality to the little man she had seen when she was first brought into the room full of caged beasts.


    But as she looked at him closely, it was his eyes that stood out to her, because she recognized them. They were the same eyes that her killer had. Eyes that showed no remorse and reveled in the pain of others.


    cing his hand on the door the man''s arm began to glow ever so slightly blue, as he channeled in a bit of his magical energy and opened the lock on the door.


    Seeing the door opening and what appeared to be a bit of moonlight flooding in, Evelyn wanted to leap out from her hiding spot and fly out into the forest.


    Still, she restrained herself and waited.


    She needed to let this man go first and follow behind him to minimize her chances of being seen.


    So long as she was careful, it was likely she would not be spotted or heard due to her stealthy nature as an owl.


    ''Now!''


    Six seconds after the man had left, Evelyn jumped out from her hiding spot and flew towards the door that had just begun closing.


    Just barely threading through, she managed to escape the building right before the door closed and was once again out in the open air.


    She had managed to do it; she had escaped this awful facility and could now try and live her normal life in this world as an owl.


    ''The guy has not seen me and has his back to me. Time to fly in the opposite direction an get out of this forest and away from these guys.''


    Turning in the opposite direction the man was walking, Evelyne flew towards the woods making her final escape.


    There was no turning back now, and while she did really regret abandoning her family, she simply could not face down another torturous end.


    However, as so very often had happened to Evelyn, the greatest cruelties of life seemed to find her.


    Right before she passed into the depths of the forest, she felt something tugging on one of her legs, and she suddenly reeled back as if she was connected to some type of cord.


    Regaining her bearing as she started falling, she turned around and saw with horror in her eyes that what looked like a thin blue thread was attached to her left leg.


    Then there was another hard yank as she was pulled out of the sky.


    Yet she did not hit the ground instead, being caught in the arms of someone.


    Though this gave her no sense offort, as she realized who had just grabbed ahold of her.


    Looking up, she saw the man who had just exited the facility allowing for her escape. Smiling down at her with a grin that made her heart stop for a moment out of fear.

 Chapter 12 12 Experiment Begins

    ?*"It looks like the reports of your intelligence were not exaggerated. You really are able to makeplex ns and see them through. Even though I purposefully set up the situation, it is surprising that a wild beast would be able to hold this level of intelligence. I dare say you are probably smarter than most fiend beasts."*


    Smiling widely, the man who had just captured Evelyn was very happy about the results of his little test.


    He had wanted to see the actual level that the supposedly abnormally intelligent young owl had.


    At first, he had thought that the ims were being exaggerated, and the beast just got lucky to figure out the mechanism that worked their simple cage traps.


    But now that he had tested her, it was apparent that her intelligence held up to the reports.


    *"Oh, now that I take a good look into your eyes I can see it, a level of fear that just a captured beast should not have. You are absolutely terrified to your core aren''t you. You know what is about to happen."*


    After the man said this, he began cackling a bit like a mad man, absolutely thrilled to have a new promising subject to work on.


    *"Now I have waited long enough to use you and those other owls. You all are the most promising subjects I have gotten my hands on in a while, so I will make sure to collect some very useful data."*


    With Evelyn recaptured after her orchestrated escape, the man who was the lead researcher at thisb turned around and head back towards the entrance.


    This was when the freezing fear that Evelyn was feeling changed back into panic, and she tied fighting back.


    She struggled, attempting to wrest her body free, but the man just tightened his grip to the point that she could barely breathe.


    Understanding that she was not going to get away like this, she tired to jam her ws into his arm, but found that they could not even pierce his clothing.


    For all her efforts she made, she achieved no progress in escaping and the man simply chuckled at her attempt.


    He then brought her back into the base, down the corridor, and into the room where the captured beasts were stored.


    Waiting for him there were four assistants dressed in simr ck robes, one of which was the little man she had seen when she first arrived here.


    Seeing this it was quite obvious to Evelyn that this had been their n to begin with, and any notion of control she had thought she had was all an illusion.


    *"Grab the other one and then we can begin."* The researcher said to his assistants.


    The four men nodded, and one of them moved over to the cage Evelyn''s brother was being kept in and retrieved him.


    With all the pieces now ready, these five men headed into the depths of theb and passed through the set of doors that had spelled death to every beast that had ever entered them.


    As soon as they passed through these doors, Evelyn saw that there were all sorts of instruments within the room.


    Most of them looked foreign to her, but the saws and des were certainly easy enough for her to recognize.


    However, what got her attention quickly after that was her parents who were both in this room.


    The two of them were not in cages but appeared to bepletely out in the open.


    Yet when they saw their children being brought into this room of horrors, even thought they had beenpletely still before, they began thrashing around and screeching loudly.


    Unfortunately, as they tried to move forward, two circles that had been carved above and below them lit up and a barrier of some kind erected around them preventing them from leaving.


    *"Ah, it is good to see that they still have some spirit left in them. They had been so docile and quite for thest few hours that I was beginning to worry."* The researcher said with a devilish smile as he looked at Evelyn''s parents iling around.


    He then snapped his fingers, and two of his assistants went and grabbed some metallic poles that were held on the wall like pool sticks. While the ones holding Evelyn and her brother ced them on a raised tform that prevented them from moving. With what Evelyn could only guess was some kind of magic.


    With these tools in hand, they moved over to the barrier that Evelyn''s mother was sealed in and pushed them through like there was nothing there.


    Each of the four poles then grew what looked like a shimmering blue rope at the end and wrapped themselves around Evelyn''s mother.


    One secured itself around her neck, while two held her wings in ce, and the final one tied up both of her feet.


    Having secured their first subject, the researcher went over and ced his hand on the barrier which shimmered to life again.


    A momentter it disappeared under hismand and Evelyn''s mother was released.


    She tired struggling, wanting to fight back, but the restraints that had been attached to her prevented her from using most of her strength and kept her in ce.


    Watching all of this, Evelyn felt her heart ache since she knew that this was going to be the second time she had to watch her mother die.


    ''Why do I have to watch this? Why do I have to be here?'' Evelyn thought, as the fear and crushing despair weighed down on her even heavier.


    She wanted to just shut off her emotions and ride this out hoping it would be over soon, but her heart and mind simply would not listen.


    Soon the researcher and his assistants had Evelyn''s mom tied up to arge table that sat in the middle of the room and was no doubt where the administered their horrible experiments.


    Looking at each of the assistants, Evelyn was able to see that they were all holding some type of device. Though she had no idea what they did.


    Then the researcher who had left for a moment quickly came back and in his hands was a clear box that had etchings all along its borders.


    Except it was not the box that was interesting, but what was stored inside which was a small dark purple sphere that had four rings rotating around it.


    From where she was, she could see this item, and it felt oppressive. As if just being near it threatened to crush her into nothing.


    Looking out in horror, she watched as the researcher ced the box right on her mother''s chest.


    *"Now, shall we begin."*

 Chapter 13 13 (Spoiler, Title At The Bottom Of The )

    ?*"Now, shall we begin."*


    After saying this and receiving enthusiastic nods from his assistants, the researcher clicked a button on the side of the box and opened it.


    Immediately the sphere that was surrounded by four rotating rings began moving.


    It headed straight towards Evelyn''s mom like it was maically attracted to her.


    As soon as this strange object touched her it began passing through her feather, skin, and bones.


    It pressed through like there was nothing in its way and was soon inside Evelyn''s mother.


    Yet it had not caused any damage, having gone through as if it did not have any mass and was just an illusion.


    "Scraw!"


    However, the pained screeching and thrashing of Evelyn''s mother were certainly not caused by and illusion.


    Her body convulsed and her bones started creaking as soon as this item entered her.


    Blood began pouring out of her mouth, eyes, and ears, all the while she screeched out in ungodly pain.


    Seeing this Evelyn felt a spine-chilling terror, and like another hole was being ripped through her already torn apart heart.


    She had already seen one mother die and did not want to watch in happen again.


    However, as she tried to turn away, her body simply would not move. Whatever magic that was keeping her and her brother paralyzed preventing her from even closing her eyes.


    Realizing that her only option was to continue watching. Evelyn stared at her mother with concern as she continued thrashing about as bones broke and blood flooded out of her body.


    All the while the researcher and his four assistants were just watching intently, while taking the asional nce at the devices they were holding.


    This went on for a good fifty minutes as Evelyn''s mother tried her best to survive whatever the item that had entered her was doing.


    But eventually, she gave out.


    It was heartbreaking to see as thest will to struggle to survive left her mother, and Evelyn was certain she had died.


    Thest spark of life leaving her as she nced over at her children onest time.


    Now all that was left was her mangled corpse that sat in a pool of its own blood and had broken bones jutting out of it.


    Tears welled up in Evelyn''s eyes seeing this, and flowed down her face as the grief of what had just happened overcame her.


    Again, she had watched helpless as her mother died due to brutality outside of her control.


    It was all too simr as to what had happened to her before, and the emotional strain was enough to make Evelyn weep.


    *"Oh now this is most fascinating!"* The researcher said as he looked over at Evelyn.


    It seemed that he could care less about her mother who he had just run his vile experiment on, having already expected this oue.


    He quickly moved over to Evelyn and began prodding around her eyes, and looking intently at her.


    *"I never expected to see this. To think that a wild beast would cry over its dead mother! I have only ever observed this response in other people. How truly fascinating."*


    Pulling out a notebook he kept on him, he began writing down all kinds of notes about Evelyn''s abnormal emotional responses for a beast.


    Eventually though, he stopped as the short assistant came over and handed him a sheet of paper, presumably with the results of the test that had been performed on Evelyn''s mother.


    *"I see. The time shested was on average eight times more than the wild beasts we normally use and three times more than the average fiend beast. Still her time was only in the top ny percentile. I had hoped for a bit more."*


    He then received more reports from his other assistants and looked them over before nodding his head.


    *"Well I believe that at least my hypothesis is partly correct. Let us try again with the other one and collect some more data."*


    After the researcher said this, his four assistants went to work, and started by grabbing the des and saws that hung on one of the walls.


    They cut out arge incision into the chest of the corpse of Evelyn''s mother and sawed away the bone.


    Soon they had made arge hole, with which they ced the ss box over.


    Slowly the sphere that had entered Evelyn''s mother and certainly killed her, floated back out into the center of the box which closed automatically once its contents were returned.


    With the object that they were testing now returned to its container, they began cleaning up the area and carted the remains of Evelyn''s mother away.


    When things were clean once again, they started the process over again.


    First securing Evelyn''s father before strapping him down to the table and preparing their instruments.


    Once they were fully prepared, the professor opened the box again and the dark purple sphere surrounded by four rings floated towards Evelyn''s father.


    Just like before it entered into his body without a trace, and momentster he began convulsing and screeching out in incredible pain.


    Quickly the same ghastly injuries that had urred for Evelyn''s mother began to happen to her father.


    Blood poured out of every part of his body and his bones broke and pierced through his skin.


    His feather even began to fall out like an animal shedding its winter coat as the pain was to much for him to take.


    Still, he fought and fought hard to stay alive.


    Now that his partner was gone, he was the only hope his children had. And while he knew whatever had been put inside him was killing him, he could also sense that it also had great power.


    If he could somehow subdue it, maybe he could wield its power to free himself and his children.


    He struggled for over three hours which had very much impressed the research and his assistants.


    At this point he had already passed the greatest amount of time any of the other subjects had survived by over twenty minutes.


    Then for the first time the researcher and his assistants watched as one of their subjects'' bodies began to heal.


    It appeared that the integration of the item had been sessful, and the broken bones began to pull themselves back into Evelyn''s'' father''s body.


    Not long after this process began his body was fully restored, and the researcher and his assistants looked at him with eyes full of hope and intrigue.


    Yet this look swiftly vanished, as they all realized that even though this was the closest they had ever gotten, it still ended in failure.


    *"Great it died even after all that. Looks like its soul just could not keep up even though its body waspatible."*


    Chapter 13 Another Family''s End

 Chapter 14 14 Rage

    ?After watching the life of her father fade away, Evelyn felt like an ice-cold dagger had been thrust into her heart.


    This was the second time she had to witness both of her parents die, and it was immensely painful as these new wounds reopened all of the old ones she had tried so hard to forget.


    ''Next, they will kill my new brother and then it will beplete. I will have had to watch my family die again.''


    Losing herself, Evelyn''s thoughts and emotions were in so much turmoil she had practically gone catatonic.


    However, this state did notst long, as once the researcher and his assistants had finished retrieving the item that had killed both of Evelyn''s parents, he walked right up to her.


    *"Oh it looks like your spirit has begun to break. Hm, but that is no good. Ah I know."*


    Leaving Evelyn be for now, the researcher went over to his assistants and gave them some more orders, before heading out of the room.


    Yet when he came back, Evelyn was forcefully pulled from her numb state that her body had entered to try and protect herself.


    BANG!


    Being thrown down in front of her were the heads of both her parents, and the emotions she had bottled up for only a little while burst free again.


    Despair, sadness, grief, they all came rushing back to her as her parents'' heads were thrust in front of her.


    However, as she looked up from her parents'' severed heads and looked at the psychopath who had done this to them, a new set of emotion began to rise up.


    Anger, rage, hatred. Ugly emotions that she had tried to keep down since they had only made her life harder.


    Thest time she had experienced emotions like these, she killed the man who had tormentor her for years. Her original father.


    For all this man had done to her and her new family she wanted to kill him. No longer was fear what motivated her to want to escape. Now she wanted to get free and gouged this man''s throat out with her talons.


    *"Yes, that is better. I can see the murder in your eyes, that you hate me. Of course, why would you not after I had you locked in a cage and killed your parents. Now make sure to remember how much you want to kill me. It might just be what you need to survive."*


    After saying this, the researcher grabbed ahold of Evelyn and pulled her off of the tform she was on.


    Immediately she felt her body regain its ability to move, and she began thrashing around trying to hurt this man.


    Unfortunately, even though she was now far more motivated to kill him, it did not change the fact that she was powerless to do so.


    Soon, the researcher had personally tied Evelyn up to the table where her parents had recently met their ends.


    "Chief are you really sure that you want to go through with this. I think that this owl could make a good test subject for other experiments in the future. Do you really want to waste her on this when she has nearly a hundred percent chance of death?" One of the researcher''s assistants asked.


    "Yes, I do. This is the pressing matter we have been tasked with right now, and I believe that this owl has what we have beencking so far in all of our test subjects so far. Her soul is far stronger than it should be, and I believe that has been the underlying factor that has ended with every other subject being a failure."


    Nodding his head, the assistant fell back in line and began preparing to record what data he could, once their next subject came in contact with the item they were studying.


    With everything set up, the researcher once again brought out the clear box that contained the dark purple sphere with four rings spinning around it.


    cing it over Evelyn''s chest, he opened it up and waited for it to gravitate towards her.


    All the while Evelyn stared hatefully at this man who had destroyed her new life, all in the pursuit of whatever twisted goals he had.


    Certainly, she felt fear since she had seen this object kill her parents and knew it had killed many other beasts as well.


    Still, her terror could not seem to overpower her anger, and in fact fueled it.


    She was fed up with the cruelty she was always forced to experience and wanted tosh out and strike back at those who hurt her.


    However, her current situation gave her no chance to enact any sort of vengeance, and soon the object had floated right up to her.


    It quickly began passing into her chest, and Evelyne felt a slight tinglingly situation as it did.


    Then for a moment she felt nothing, before her body pulsed and the pain began.


    Now she could feel the item inside her trying attach itself to her body and soul.


    ''What the hell is this thing.'' She thought before another wave of indescribable pain washed over her.


    Just like her parents and all the beasts that had been exposed to this item, Evelyn''s body began to break apart as this sphere tried to make a connection.


    Immediately blood began pouring out of her and her bones broke apart, as the power within the sphere spread out over her body.


    She could tell that it was trying to remake her, but for what purpose she did not know.


    Pain and more pain began topile in her body as every second seemed like an eternity of agony.


    At many points she almost wanted to give in and let the pain take her until she felt nothing, but her rage kept her going.


    She could feel it now that there was some power in this object that was remaking her, and just as her father had, she realized that she may be able to use it.


    ''I have endured pain all my life. I can get through this. I have even died before, so this is nothing!'' Evelyn screamed within her own head


    The images of those that she hated began shing through her mind.


    First was her father who had beaten her all through her childhood until she killed him.


    Next was the psycho who murdered her and her brother after torturing them for weeks.


    Finally, the face of the man who had killed her new parents and was currently using her in his savage experiment.


    These were the people she could never forgive for what they had done to her, and she wanted them all to die.


    Holding onto this desire, Evelyn fought through the pain even as she was ripped apart body and soul.


    It was only due to her past trauma and her desire to avenge herself that she was able to stay alive through this process. Her soul that had been tempered through unimaginable pain and suffering, was just able to hold out against the overwhelming power held within the item that had been forced into her.


    Eventually her body stopped breaking apart and her soul was no longer being ripped to shreds.


    Her bones began to knit back together and the blood that had flowed out of her began to be sucked back in.


    Quickly she was fully restored with not a single mark to indicate that she had just gone through hell.


    Seeing this the researcher and his assistants practically began jumping with joy as they reveled in their first sesses.


    However, their celebrating did notst long, stopping the moment Evelyn opened her eyes.

 Chapter 15 15 New Favorite Test Subject

    ?As Evelyn''s eyes shot open, she felt a surging of powering from the sphere that had just merged with her.


    It pulsed with energy, and a wave of heaviness permeated her body until it burst out from her.


    Immediately the straps that were holding her in ce ripped apart under this pressure, and the table that she had beenying on began to fold and crush like a flimsy aluminum can.


    An area of ten feet around Evelyn began to be affected by the force the sphere was emitting with her at the epicenter.


    The floor around her began to sink in, and the entire room shook under the pressure that had surrounded her.


    Yet even though she was in the center of this phenomena, it was not affecting her in anyway.


    ''What is going on?'' She though as she looked around at the destruction she was causing.


    Opening her eyes wide, Evelyn quickly realized something about her current situation as she looked at the researcher and his assistants who had backed off away from her.


    Now she was free, and while she certainly had no idea what kind of power currently surrounded her or how to control it. All she needed to do was move.


    Aiming herself at the closest person, she began flying towards him, much to his surprise and as she pushed him against the wall, the force that was being emitted around her beginning to crushing him.


    Soon the man who was one of the researcher''s assistants was ttened like a pancake against the wall as Evelyne pushed herself closer.


    With one down she turned her sights on the next person and began flying towards him as well.


    She was intent to kill all of these men who had forced her to experience pain that was beyond inhuman.


    They had to pay for what they had done, and now that she had the ability to, she was going to crush them all until all that was left of them was paste.


    Unfortunately, her revenge came to an early end, as the researcher grabbed the box the sphere was formerly being stored in and threw it towards Evelyn as she flew towards the next person.


    As the box flew through the air, it began to break apart and the six panes of runic ss moved to surround Evelyn.


    All at once the power that Evelyn, or more precisely the item she had merged with was discharging was forced back inside.


    The bubble of force surrounding herpletely receded and following its disappearance, Evelyn copsed onto the ground as the box closed in around her. Sealing her inside.


    After that she felt nothing, and it seemed that time was no longer passing for her as the box ced her into a state of stasis.


    With Evelyne now contained, the researcher walked over to her and picked up the box while looking at her intently while she was frozen in ce.


    For the first time he had gotten a glimpse of the true power of the divine item that his sect had gotten ahold of, and that was his job to uncover the secrets of.


    ''Finally, we have a suitable test subject to work with.'' He thought, as he turned towards his assistants who were still reeling from Evelyn''s outburst.


    "You three, hurry up and consolidate the data we have gathered and get this ced cleaned up. I know that it is shocking that Stephan is dead, but these are the risks we take in the pursuit of knowledge."


    Nodding their heads, now that the shock had begun to wear off, the researcher''s three remaining assistants went to work on following their master''s orders.


    While they were doing that, he took Evelyne with him and began making preparation for the next step of testing, and to contact his superiors about this breakthrough.


    During this time Evelyn saw nothing, heard nothing, and thought nothing.


    Her entire being waspletely frozen, and for her it was as if no time passed even as days went by.


    Eventually though her state of suspended animation ended, and when she came to, she noticed that she was once again in theb and strapped down.


    However, this time the power that had expanded around her previously was gone and nowhere to be seen.


    Soon she felt a painful shock run through her body as a long pole jabbed into her side.


    Feeling this pain, Evelyn tried to summon the power of the item she had merged with, but it stayed dormant.


    *"Hm no reaction."* The researcher said, as he pulled back the pole that he had just used to shock Evelyn.


    He was currently standing far back in order to make sure that he was out of the range of the power that Evelyn had demonstratedst time while conducting his tests.


    Seeing him there, she squinted her eyes and red at him. Her hatred nearly palpable.


    Smiling, the researcher was happy to see that she was still motivated and stuck her again. Getting a sick pleasure out of watching her writhe in agony.


    ''I''ll kill him. I swear that I will.'' Evelyn thought as she was shocked again.


    Her rage and anger was all she had left, and every bit of pain that this man inflicted on her just became more resolve for her to pay him back for it.


    She was done feeling sorry for herself and was now wholly focused on getting revenge.


    Still, she had no means of fighting back right now, but as long as she was alive, she knew that one day her chance woulde.


    Pain had been a constant in her life for nearly as long as she could remember. So, she was able to take it as she was subjected to any number of stimuli that were forced upon her in order to get another reaction from the item that now resided inside her.


    Nevertheless, nothing seemed to happen, and the researcher and his assistants soon concluded that inflicting pain was not going to further their research.


    "Sir I think it might be a matter of strength. Th item may have merged with her, but she has almost no magical energy of her own as just a low stage wild beast. I think if we can raise her rank up, she will have the power necessary to activate the divine item again." One of the researcher''s assistants said to him.


    Nodding his head, he agreed with this assessment and told them to prepare a space for their new number one subject.


    *" It is time for you to go to sleep again."* The researcher said, as he approached Evelyn with the ss box that had put her in a state of statis.


    Quickly and without being able to put up any resistance, she was once again sealed away, only to be let out when it was convenient for the people experimenting on her.


    More time passed as Evelyn was frozen, unable to experience the flow of time, until she once again woke up.


    This time however, she was not strapped to someboratory table, but was instead back in a tree and a nest.


    Apprehension immediately took a hold of her, as she looked around in what appeared to be the outside world.


    But quickly she noticed that what looked like an endless horizon, was actually just painted walls mimicking what it would be like to live outside.


    She was still a trapped animal even if her cage had been expanded and was nicer now.


    Examining the area, she bobbed her head around getting a feel for the ce she was being kept in now.


    ''Hm, they have me trapped in a cylindrical room that I guess is about twenty feet in diameter.'' Evelyn thought once she had finished looking around.


    Next, she pped her wings around to make sure that she could still fly and that they had not clipped her wings.


    Luckily, she did not feel any problems and she was certain she could fly.


    Jumping out of the tree shended on the ground and began feeling around the area.


    ''Hm it is real dirt and grass. But how deep does it go.''


    Beginning to dig up the ground that felt like fresh soil, it was not long until Evelyn found that underneath the dirt about six inches deep was a stone floor.


    This confirmed to her that she was likely still underground and had just been put in a different room within the facility.


    ''I bet they are watching me right now. But why are they doing this. I do not think after all they have done to me, they are trying to get on my good side. Nothing they could ever do would make me forgive them.''


    However, as Evelyn wondered what their end game was here by giving her a new ce to live, she soon found out what they were trying to do.


    A panel on one of the walls slowly began to open, and out of it came a tter that had an assortment of items on it.


    Flying over to it cautiously, Evelyn found that there was food on this tter.


    Except it was not just any normal fare, but an assortment of nuts, fruits, and grasses that were simr to the ones that had been used as bait to lure her brother into a trap.


    Along with these were also a number of the stones that could be found within beasts and seemed to hold some type of power.


    Smelling them, Evelyn felt drawn to them as her instincts told her to eat them in order to make herself stronger.


    ''I see, so that is what they are doing. They want to fatten me up.''

 Chapter 16 16 Days Of Experimentation

    ?Seeing the meal that wasid out for her, and even understanding what these people wanted of her, Evelyn still dug in.


    She did not care that this was what they wanted, since she knew that this would make her stronger.


    ''I will y along for now, until I am strong enough to break free and kill them all.'' Evelyn thought, as she ate the magic stones and nts that were brimming with magical energy.


    As she ate them a warm sensation permeated through her body, and she could feel herself getting stronger.


    ''I may not know how the magic in this world works, but as long as I continue to get stronger, I should figure it out eventually.''


    Chowing down soon Evelyn consumed all that had been offered to her and a drowsiness swiftly started to ovee her.


    Having just eaten more than she ever had, her body was slow to process the overflowing energy within her.


    Still, before she fell asleep, she flew back up into the tree, and kicked the nest over to be spiteful. Before nestling herself as high up as she could.


    "I am surprised at how cooperative it is being." The small assistant to the researcher said as he viewed down upon Evelyn.


    "Yes, you are right. I was expecting her to throw the ter over and refuse to eat. Well, it works out well this way for us anyway. Now I am going to sleep, so make sure to monitor our new subject while I am away."


    The researcher then left to return to his room to get some sleep so that he would be ready for future experiments.


    Hours quickly went by as Evelyn slept, and a staggering change happened to her body during his time.


    She began growing at an exponential rate as the excess energy she had consumed was channeled through her body and made it stronger.


    When she awoke, she felt that something was off and that she was a bit sore.


    However, she soon realized why, as she noticed that she had easily grown two inches taller and was a bit more muscr than she had been before.


    ''That is definitely not normal. But I guess that exins my parents''rge size. Eating those stones from other beasts and those nts that are enriched with magical energy, I can grow bigger and stronger.''


    With this realization, Evelyn strived to make sure that she ate what was provided for her and to get strong enough to turn the tables on her captors.


    ¡­


    Once her first day in her knew encloser ended, the next came, then the next, and the days blended into weeks, and the weeks into months.


    During this time, Evelyn had pretended to act the model test subject.


    She made no attempts to escape, ate all of the food that was provided to her, and did not struggle when she was subject to tests. Many of which were painful.


    There were times when obvious escape options were even left open for her in what she presumed were test, but she never took the bait.


    It was certain that they did not trust her not to flee at the first chance she got, but she proved them wrong time and time again.


    Of course, this was all just a part of Evelyn''s n to lull them into a false sense of security as she got stronger.


    She was now a little over four feet tall, and her muscles and bones were far stronger than they had been before. As her body used the magical energy she ate every day to enhance itself.


    Yet that was not all, recently she had even start to get the hang of using magic.


    It was far from skilled, but she was able to move the wind around her like her parents had, even if it was far from what they had been able to do.


    At the very least she had been able to keep this under wraps by only creating small phenomenon that had no visible signs.


    Though she had still not been able to get the power of the object within her to activate again, even after all she had tired.


    Nevertheless, she was put through experiments nearly every other day to see if they could get the object to once again show its power.


    They would poke and prod her, electrocute her, and even opened up her chest and tired fiddling around with the thing that had rooted itself inside her.


    Nothing seemed to work though, and it was like the thing was in sleep mode and would note back online.


    Still, the researcher and his assistants had seen the power of this item, and knew that it was something beyond the capabilities of their world. Something that hade from a higher realm.


    "Chief we have not been getting anywhere with our recent tests. The divine item has simply gone dormant. I think that it is time that we switch over our subjects and try again. It was rash of us to assume that a wild beast would be strong enough to activate it even if they arepatible."


    Sighing, the researcher looked at his assistants who hade to convince him to try a new subject.


    "No, we are lucky that we were able to get it to sessfully bind to any beast. Anyway, none of the other subjects we have right now are even close to beingpatible. Our data shows that a strong soul is the most necessary aspect to be a suitable host for this item, and even the fiend beasts we have are far from good enough. We just need to wait a bit longer. We have already managed to advance it to the upper realms of a wild beast, and in a month or two we will be able to evolve it into a fiend beast."


    The researcher then turned his gaze back towards Evelyn who was sitting up in her tree unmoving.


    He was already heavily invested in her and wanted to see the experiment through even if it would take a longer time than anticipated.


    But his assistants were simply not as patient as their master, and tried to plead with him to reconsider.


    "Sir I am sure that if we requisitioned with the leaders of the sect to supply us with some awakened beasts, they would be willing to oblige. There is no need for us to continue working with the scrapes we find out here in the deands."


    Groaning, the researcher looked at his assistants like they were being morons, and said, "You know very well the there are many reasons we have not been using awakened beasts in our experiments so far. First, they are not easy to procure, and we cannot afford to be killing them off. Second our facility is not equipped to hold beasts of that level so it would need to be upgraded. Third and most important, we are here to stay under the radar. We were lucky to get our hands on this item when it fell from the divine realm a year ago, but do not think that every other power on the continent is not looking for it. If we started bringing awakened beasts and more personnel here, we might as well broadcast that something important is happening here. No, for now we wait and see how our current subject does."


    Nodding their heads, the three remaining assistants stopped their push to move onto a better test subject.


    Or at least, they did on the surface. But ultimately, they had decided that it was time to advance their experiments even if their master did not.


    "We shall just have to have Elder Uriah contact the sect leadership for us and say that the chief needs some awakened beasts. We have already collected all of the data we need from wild and fiend beasts, and it will take at least a decade to raise that owl to a suitable level even if we give it the best resources." The short assistant said.


    "Yes, you are right. Once we have the awakened beasts delivered, he will realize we were right and give in." Another assistant said agreeing.


    "Now let usy the groundwork so that we can receive our superior subjects that will allow us to advance out understand of this divine object." Thest assistant said.


    After that, the three of them began working behind the researcher''s back to procure higher level subjects.


    However, if only they had listened to the wisdom of their master, what was to happen in the near future never would have transpired.

 Chapter 17 17 Comeuppance

    ?"YOU ABSOULTE MORORNS! DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT I WOULD NOT FIND OUT WHAT YOU ARE UP TO?!"


    Absolutely livid, the researcher was yelling at his assistants.


    Naturally he had found out from Elder Uriah that his assistants had requisitioned for stronger beasts to be sent from their main headquarters.


    However, he had only found out after the orders had already been submitted, and the first shipment of three awakened beasts was already on the way.


    While he yelled at them his three assistants lowered their heads and tried to act apologetic until their master''s anger blew over.


    Yet what happened next was outside of their expectations.


    Quickly the researcher moved his hands in a certain pattern and cast a spell at them.


    "Rime Cors."


    Ice shot from his hands and attached itself to the necks of all three of the assistants who looked down in horror.


    They could all feel the cold chill of the ice on their necks and knew what could happen next.


    All of them had seen this spell before, and they knew what it did.


    "Now which one of you was the leader of this idiotic idea that I specifically disobeyed?"


    Their eyes going wide, they could tell that he was deadly serious.


    Immediately they began begging for forgiveness, and that they did it to advance their research.


    "Sir please you have to understand. We did this for you as well. The leaders are going to get impatient if we do not deliver more results, and they wille down on you. It will simply take too long for us to wait for that owl to be a suitable specimen." The smaller assistant said.


    Unfortunately for him, this is not what the researcher wanted to hear and snapped his fingers.


    As he did, the cor around the short assistant began to squeeze, and his face turned blue as his neck was crushed.


    The short assistant tried wing at his neck to break the cor, but instead his fingers simply froze to it and soon his head snapped off after his neck was fully frozen.


    "I suppose that this was a necessary lesson I had not instilled in all of you. My orders are absolute, and I will not take any dissent." The researcher said to his two remaining assistants with a stern gaze.


    Nodding their heads, the two of them with fear running through their entire beings, promised to never go against the researcher''s orders ever again.


    "Good. Now we have a lot of work to do. We are packing up and moving our operation. I must not have stressed the importance of keeping our operation here hidden, but it is imperative that we not be found by anyone."


    After saying this the researcher waved his hand and dismissed his two remining assistants and went to organize their move with Elder Uriah.


    Unfortunately, at this point it was already toote and the researcher''s fears were soon to be realized


    Days quickly went by as they organized their abrupt move that was going at full speed.


    During this time, Evelyn even though she was isted from the rest of the facility in her room, noticed that something was wrong.


    It had been five days since thest test had been performed on her. and they had never gone this long without doing something awful to her.


    The only thing that was still the same was that food was brought to her at regr intervals, but no one ever came into her encloser and dragged her off for experimentation.


    ''What is going on? Why are they leaving me alone now? Is this some type of test? Or are they preparing some new experiment that is taking time to prepare? Ah the anticipation is almost as bad as the pain they constantly put me through.''


    Unable to figure out what was going on, all Evelyn could do to upy her time was practice her wind magic.


    She still was not able to do much with it, but she had gained enough control to send a gust of wind forward with about the same force as a shove from a normal fully grown man.


    Certainly, it was not much, but she was making progress with her control over the wind.


    Eventually though after around a week of being left on her own, something new happened.


    Evelyn felt a rumble throughout the area, and dust began to fall from the ceiling.


    For a moment she thought that maybe there was an earthquake happening around them, until she heard a huge explosion.


    BOOM!


    The facility began to shake violently after this, and Evelyn began rocking back and forth as she sat on the tree in her encloser.


    ''What the hell is going on?''


    Jumping off from the tree, she began flying in the air to avoid the shaking of the facility that had even began to crack.


    The sturdy walls around her crumbled, and pieces of the ceiling were cracking off and falling.


    ''Crap!'' Evelyn thought as she dodged a piece of the ceiling.


    Certainty she was fine with the ce breaking apart if it gave her an opportunity to escape, but right now it seemed more likely that she was to be buried alive as the ce copsed.


    More rumbling from above resounded through her room and began getting louder and louder.


    Then a massive root that was at least ten feet thick pierced through the ceiling and smashed into the ground of Evelyn''s encloser.


    By some miracle it did not hit her, nor did she get buried under the tons of rubble that fell down.


    Gulping, she wondered what this was since it had appeared out of nowhere, and what might happen to her.


    There was no way she could fight against whatever this was, and if this root turned towards her, she knew there was nothing she could hope to do.


    Luckily it did not spin around and attack her, but instead began receding back upwards out of the hole in the ceiling.


    However, as it lifted up, Evelyn was able to see that under where the root had smashed into the floor there was a red stain on the ground.


    Seeing this she realized that there was some type of fight happening above, and the people that were holding her captivate and had ruined her second life were dying.


    Even though she herself was not safe from danger, a smile did creep until Evelyn''s face as she thought about all of those that had tortured her dying.


    ''I suppose that this as good a time as any to get out of here.''


    Flying up to the huge hole in the ceiling, she exited her prison that she had not left in over a week and began flying out.


    For the first time in months she was able to move about freely without any restrictions, and the liberation felt great.


    ''Well, I wanted to get my revenge myself, but I would rather not get caught again. If someone else will kill them for me, I guess that will have to do.'' Evelyn thought as she flew up the hole that led upwards.


    Unfortunately, it did not go all the way out of the facility, and as she reached the top she found herself in a familiar room.


    It was the ce where she had first been kept in a tiny cage.


    Though now the room looked far different with cages strewn about the ce and the walls and floors cracked and crumbling.


    It looked like a tornado had run through the area and the doors to theb and the corridor that led to the facility''s exited were broken open. Though thetter were blocked by a mountain of copsed earth


    RUMBLE!


    Feeling another tremor this timeing from below, Evelyn realized that the fighting was still going on in the facility.


    Flying around she looked for an opening in the ceiling in this room but did not find any that wererge enough for her to escape through.


    Once she had finished searching this room, she flew into theboratory area where she had watched her parents die and the divine item had been imnted into her.


    Yet as she entered, she saw that she was not alone, and in a copsed part of the floor a person was clinging to life.


    There the researcher was there, bloody and buried under arge amount of rubble.


    Both of his legs and left arm were crushed under tons of earth, and a pool of blood was visible around him.


    He was currently struggling to rip the top of off a vial that had a shimmering clear liquid in it.


    Seeing this, Evelyn felt that it was an act of province, that the world was delivering her the person she hated the most on a silver tter.


    Swooping down shended right above him and looked down as the slight backlight behind her illuminated her outline.


    It was an eerie sight to see as if some demon had just appeared, and the researcher''s eyes went wide as he recognized his favorite test subject, now free from her bonds.


    Jumping into the hole right on top of him, Evelyn stared at him with eyes full of murder, and his face twisted into fear and anger.


    He tried reaching for her with his one remaining limb, but he was far too injured, while Evelyn was in peak condition. She slipped right past him and raked her talons across his face.


    Blood began to fall from his face, and he had to close his eyes as red covered his vision.


    iling around he tried to hit Evelyn to keep her way from him.


    Nevertheless, in his condition he stood no chance now, even though he was normally far stronger than her.


    Landing on his shoulder, she dug her ws in deep before jumping off and continuing to torment the man who had cultivated the hatred in her heart.


    Se wanted to pay him back for all he had done to her, and the world had finally given her a chance to do so.


    Nevertheless, after a minute of shing him up with her talons, the researcher went still the blood loss to much for him to fight back any longer.


    Seeing this, she knew it was time to finish up and to make her escape.


    It was uncertain who had attacked this facility, but she did not want to stick around and get caught by them.


    Delivering onest swipe from her ws, she cut through his neck, and blood began pouring out of his throat and down his body.


    A satisfied smile on her face, Evelyn felt a weight that had been pushing down on her heart begin to lift.


    ''Whoever said that revenge left you feeling empty was wrong. I feel ted.'' Evelyn thought as she watched the life leave the man who had killed her parents and subjected her to cruel experiments.


    With the researcher now dead and her chance for freedom before her, Evelyn took back into the air and began flying around the copsing ceiling.


    Quickly she found an area where the light of the moon shone down and reveled an exited back up to the surface


    Squeezing her way into this hole, she began wing her way up the cramped space that barely was wide enough for her body to slip through.


    At some pints she even needed to used her beak to dig out the dirt around her, but eventually she made it back to the surface.


    As soon as she poked her head out she saw a sh of light in the distance followed by a loud booming sound.


    Then another, and another, all around her through the woods.


    It appeared that the battle between those who ran this facility and those who were attacking was still raging on all around her.


    ''I guess I will go that way.'' Evelyn thought as she looked in the direction that was the quietest.


    Hopping on the ground, she kept her body low and did her best to stay unseen


    There was no room for error, and she needed to be cautious in order to avoid being recaptured.


    Quickly she made her way out of the area, and when the shing and rumbling of explosions was behind her, she opened her wings and took to the air. Flying away from the facility that had been her prison for a long time.

 Chapter 18 18 Aftermath

    ?Having escaped from the underground facility that had been her prison and managing to enact revenge against her chief tormentor, Evelyn flew as fast as she could away.


    She had no desire to stay anywhere near that ce even if these woods were her home.


    Her parents had already died, and while she did not know the state of her siblings, she figured it was likely they were dead as well.


    So, she flew and flew for hours, until the sun had already risen high in the sky.


    At this point she had travelled a great distance and what stamina she had begun to wane.


    Looking around she found a decent tree that would give her some cover andnded within its branches.


    ''I just need a few hours of sleep and then I can continue. I am still in this damn forest, and I need to get out of here.'' Evelyn thought as she fell into unconsciousness.


    ¡­


    A few hours earlier after Evelyn had made her escape, a number of men wearing white military uniforms walked around the remains of the underground facility she had been kept in.


    They were looking intently for a certain object, which unbeknownst to them had flown off during their raid.


    "Have you not found it yet?" A man with golden hair and piercing blues eye said to one of the other men.


    It was quite obvious that he was in charge due to his demeanor and the number of badges all over his uniform.


    "We are sorry captain we have not found it yet. We have looked through their mainb and the body of their lead researcher, but the item is nowhere to be seen."


    Sighing, he looked over at one of the trees where three men had been tied up and said, "Fine, I suppose that I will just need to find some answers elsewhere."


    After that, all of the other men who were part of the unit that had attacked this facility looked away, and screams soon resound throughout the forest.


    "I see so you sessfully imnted it into a beast, an owl to be precise. That was most useful information." The blonde-haired man said.


    He then cast onest look at the man who had used to be one of the researcher''s assistants who was now bloody all over after a long round of torture.


    Quickly the leader ryed the information he had heard to his subordinates and had them search for an owl.


    Soon one of his men brought him a small cage, and inside was a small, frightened owl that looked malnourished and disheveled.


    "What do you mean this is not the one?" He said to the man he had previously interrogated as he showed him the owl his men had found.


    Dropping the cage that held Evelyn''s brother in it, the blonde-haired man told everyone to search again and tear the ce upside down if they had to.


    Eventually though, after many hours of searching. It was apparent that the beast that had fused with the item they were searching for was nowhere to be found.


    "Capitan, we did however find traces of it. There was arge enclosure deep unground where we found feathers, and on a more important note, we found one of the people form the facility with talon marks all over their body."


    Getting this report from his men, it became quite clear that the subject they were after had escaped in the chaos of their battle.


    "This does not bode well. The general told me that the order to secure this item from here came directly from the empress. If we do not obtain it, there is chance of all of receiving punitive action." The blonde-haired leader said.


    Still, he had not lost hope yet.


    "Spread out in groups of two and search the forest for any owls that you can find. Simply kill them and check to see if the item is imbedded inside them. Now go and hope we can aplish our mission."


    With their captain''s orders ryed, all of the other soldiers set off into the forest in search of their quarry.


    ¡­


    Just a few minutes after multiple squads of people began fanning out through the forest to find her, Evelyn woke up from her sleep.


    Looking around, she was able to see that it was already dusk, and the sun was setting on the horizon.


    ''I slept for longer than I thought I would, but I guess this is fine since it is the perfect time to secure my next meal.''


    As she thought this, her stomach rumbled a bit as she had not eaten for quite some time and had burned a lot of her energy in her escape.


    Hopping out of the thick branches where she was perched, she began scanning the area for anything to eat.


    Unfortunately, where she currently was nothing suitable showed up in her vision as she only spotted the asional small insect flying around.


    ''I suppose I will have to put in a little more effort.'' Evelyn thought as she pped her wings and lifted off from the tree.


    Flying around the area, while looking towards the trees and ground she searched out for the first prey she would be hunting in a very long time.


    ''There! Something moving over on that tree.''


    Spotting some sort of creature rustling in the branches of a tree, Evelyn flew up above the area and looked straight down.


    There she spotted some sort of rodent like animal she had never seen before.


    To her it looked like a cross between a racoon, squirrel, and porcupine.


    It had the face and feet of a racoon the slender body of a squirrel, and a bushy tail with quills sticking out of it.


    Naturally these quills had her a bit worried since they could spell disaster for her if she got hit.


    Luckily, she had other moves that a normal owl did not.


    Swooping down towards this beast, she headed right for it. Coming from the left side, and right as it noticed her, she abruptly shot her wings forward and sent out the strongest gust of wind she could with her magic energy.


    Being hit by this wind, the beast that resembled a roon, squirrel, and porcupine was ripped from the tree as its ws carved through the bark as it tried to keep ahold.


    Falling from a height of around seventy feet, the poor thing had no recourse to its current situation and soon hit the floor of the forest with a loud thud.


    Flying down Evelyn found the beast still alive, but unable to move as it had broken several bones and had blood pouring out of its mouth.


    Quickly she ended the poor thing''s suffering with her talons, before carrying it back up into a tree to eat her prize.


    She was practically starving at this point and ripped into, far from the human sensibilities she once had.


    ''Ah it has been a long time since I had meat. All they fed me were those magically enriched nts and the stones thate out of beasts.'' Evelyn thought as she tore into her meal.


    Soon she had eaten the entire creature expect for its core which she saved forst.


    With one gulp she swallowed the core and felt the familiar sense of magical energy permeating throughout her body.


    ''I feel much better now that I have eaten. Time to get out of this forest and away from the hell I was trapped in for so long.''

 Chapter 19 19 Evelyn’s Evolution

    ?Flying through the trees Evelyn continued on her way out of the forest where she was born.


    There were simply too many bad memories here, and the thought of being captured again forced her to continue moving.


    She had currently been flying for days at this point, but still the expansive forest seemed to show no end.


    However, things had slightly changed on her most recent day of flying.


    The forest''s color became a bit more vibrant, and with her keen vision and impable hearing she was able to see and hear the sounds of more beasts. Some of which were quiterge.


    She had seen to this point a number of tigers, wolfs, and some type ofrge lizard she had no desire to encounter on the ground.


    Luckily, in the treetops where she currently resided, there were not many beasts that were bigger than her. Though there were a number around the same size.


    And currently, she was in the middle of a fight over a single piece of fruit thaty hidden high up in a tree that looked different than all of the others.


    ''That silver plum is going to be mind.'' Evelyn thought as she dodged her opponent''s talons and smacked them with her wing.


    pping around wildly after Evelyn essential close lined it, the eagle she was fighting crashed into a few branches before regaining its bnce.


    Of course, back on Earth it would have been pretty abnormal for an owl and an eagle to fight over a piece of fruit, but not on this world.


    Certain nts absorbed magical energy as Evelyn had long since figured out, and eating them definitely made her, or any beast for that matter stronger.


    The second she had spotted this silver plum; her instincts had told her to eat it no matter the cost. So, she flew up to grab it, when she found that anotherrge bird of prey had imed it.


    Naturally, this eagle was fighting with its life on the line to take its prize that it had been waiting months to ripen.


    Except now a random owl happened by right before the magical fruit that was an incredible rarity was ready.


    "Craw!"


    Screeching loudly and angrily, the eagle announced its anger and hate towards Evelyn for fighting it for its meal.


    Unfortunately for it, Evelyn could care less about it, and swooped down for another attack.


    Flying up to meet her, the eagle threw its talons forward, ready to rake them across Evelyn who wasing in headfirst.


    Yet before they impacted, she spun her body downward and passed right under the eagle.


    Then with the p of her wings she sent a st of wind up at the eagle and caused it to be pushed up and go off course.


    Crashing into even more branches the eagle was battered and scraped up.


    Looking back with fury in its eyes, it saw Evelyn charging right for it, now that it was tangled up a bit.


    It had never been in a fight like this before, as normally the other birds that challenged it would simply attack head on, and the two would fight with talons and beaks as they tore into each other.


    Though while this was the conventional approach that birds at the same level as Evelyn and this eagle normally fought, she had no desire to be wed up when she could simply use counter tactics to throw the eagle off.


    In a straight battle she was sure to lose since this eagle was a bit bigger than her, had longer talons, and a stronger beak.


    Still her human intelligence allowed her to implement strategies that this eagle, while not dumb, could never hope toe up with or expect.


    Continuing to use disruption and hit and run techniques, Evelyn wore the eagle down while avoiding all of its attacks.


    Finally, when she was certain the eagle was livid and nearing exhaustion, she flew away, and as expected it gave chase.


    Smirking, she went towards the area she had spotted at the beginning of their fight and knew would be good ce to unleash a final attack.


    Flying forward Evelyn had the eagle hot on her tail, but this was exactly where she wanted it.


    As she passed under a fairly thick but flexible branch, she suddenly angled sharply upwards by using a wind gust.


    Heading upwards, she grabbed ahold of the branch and pulled up on it as far as she could, before releasing it.


    The eagle who had been following behind her had no chance to slow down or change its flight path in time, and with a loud crack was hit by the branch.


    However, this was only the first part of Evelyn''s final attack, as just around a dozen feet below the branch she had pulled up on was another that was much thicker.


    The eagle before it could right itself crashed into this branch and let out a pained screech.


    Spinning around she dove right towards the injured and stunned eagle, and with expert precision jammed her ws right into its neck.


    Blood began pouring out of the eagle as Evelyn sunk her talons in deeper, and it began thrashing about, trying to knock her off.


    But she was going for the kill and was in an advantageous situation. So, she did not let go even as the eagle''s own ws racked against her back.


    Soon the eagle''s resistance ended, and its life quickly left it as it lost a tremendous amount of blood from where Evelyn had punctured its neck.


    With her battle over, she jumped off of the eagle''s body and went andid herself against the truck of the tree she and the eagle''s corpse were on.


    Even though she had avoided getting injured too much, it had been an exhausting battle for her where she had pulled out all of her abilities and strategy.


    ''At least I managed to win. When it came flying at me from the branches as I went after the plum, I thought I was going to be a goner for a second there.''


    After taking a good twenty minutes to recuperate, Evelyn sprang into action to eat her kill while it was still fresh.


    The eagle''s meat was as good as any, and she had burned a lot of energy in her fight.


    Eating quickly, she tore through the eagle and consumed the meat on its body, before removing its core which was thergest she had ever seen so far.


    It was close to the size of a lime, while all the others she had eaten were closer to that of a blueberry.


    ''Hm, I guess it was a lot stronger than anything I have taken down. Now I wonder what it will feel like to consume this.''


    Plopping the stone into her mouth she swallowed it in one gulp, an immediately felt the warmth of magical energy flooding through her body.


    Once she had given herself a few minutes to get ustomed to the energy entering her body from the eagle''s core, she flew back up into the foliage where the plum was.


    Fortunately, it was still there, and now it had a slight glow about it that made it look even more tantalizing.


    Flying up to it, Evelyn looked around warily onest time, before ripping the plum from the branch it was one.


    However, one pull was not enough to rip it off, and in the end, she had to cut through it with her talons to get the tree to release its bounty.


    Having obtained the plum, Evelyn flew over to the eagle''s previous nest, and took it as her own.


    There she began eating the plum that she had fought hard to win.


    As soon as she took the first bite, she got a taste of its sweet juices and flesh, that reminded her of a delicious fruit tart she had once had back on Earth when she was still a little girl.


    Digging in she at the entirety of the plum except for its pit. Which she saved to nt somewhere nice as thanks to the tree for giving her this delicious fruit.


    Yet as she was about to fly off and continue her journey, she felt her body pulsing and a sharp pain permeated through her body.


    For an instance she thought that maybe the plum was poisonous, but she soon recognized this feeling.


    It was simr to when she had first taken in the strange purple sphere that was surrounded by four rings.


    She could feel it that her body was rearranging itself, as it used all of the energy that had been stored in the plum and the eagle''s core to advance her to the next level.


    Still, it was a paralyzing pain that caused her to slump over on her side and begin to twitch violently.


    Abruptly though, the pain ceased, and her body began to glow slightly. Before an itchy feeling overcame her instead.


    It was terribly ufortable, but she could hardly move, and anything she tried to do to mitigate the ufortable itchiness failed.


    Eventually all she could do was grit her beak together and bear with it as her body underwent some type of change.


    Hours went by like this, and Evelyn could only wonder how much longer it was going to go on.


    At a certain point she felt that this might be even worse than the pain she had experienced, simply because of how maddening it was to feel so itchy.


    Nevertheless, eventually the feeling began to subside, and the glow around her vanished.


    Letting out a breath of relief, Evelyn was grateful hat she no longer was in extreme difort.


    Shaking herself off and summoning a gust of wind to cool off with, she idently sted herself with her own magic and knocked herself against the side of the nest.


    She had just been trying to summon a small breeze, but instead got hit with what previously would have been the most force she could generate.


    Immediately she realized that she had gotten a lot stronger, and also quite a bit bigger as well.


    She had grown over a foot taller and was now closer to the size her parents had been.


    Of course, this was due to her evolving from a wild beast into a fiend beast, which at this time Evelyn had no clue about.

 Chapter 20 20 New Powers

    ?After her evolution Evelyn feltpletely different.


    Not only did she feel much physically stronger, but she also felt the magical energy within her had grown exponentially.


    Before she felt like she just had a small pond of it, but now it seemed that the power within her had increase to the size of ake.


    This was just the massive difference in power between her form as a wild beast and her evolution into a fiend beast.


    However, as she was inspecting herself, a sudden wave of pressure passed over her, and for the first time since it had first been imnted in her, the purple sphere surrounded by four rings began to move.


    She finally had the bare minimum amount of energy within her to activate its powers, and it was now time tomunicate with its new host.


    Immediately she felt a sharp pain in her head as information was sent directly into her mind from the divine item that had fused with her body and soul.


    Falling back over, Evelyn had a terrible headache as she processed what was being sent to her.


    Luckily the process did notst very long as she feared it might have, and the splitting headache she had a moment ago turned into a dull pain that was slowly disappearing.


    Shaking her head, she managed to disperse the lingering befuddlement from the information she had just received.


    Unfortunately, most of it from what she could tell was a diagnostic report that the Aethersphere, which she assumed was the name of this item. Was heavily damaged and running at minimum capacity due tock of energy.


    Still, it had not all been useless as it had also told her what kind of magic was sealed within this object, and Evelyn could only smile at it.


    She hade up with some theories during her time in captivity and this was probably the best one she could have hoped for.


    ''So, this thing really does give me the power to control gravity.''


    However, what it could do right now was limited to simply creating a field around her that either increased or lowered the gravity in an area.


    Nevertheless, she thought it was pretty impressive to be able to control gravity which was still a pretty big mystery that people back on Earth had barely scratched the surface of.


    Practically dancing around as she learned this, for the first time in a while she had something to be happy about.


    Having already experienced how cruel this world was, she knew she would need power if she never wanted to end up bound and at the mercy of others ever again.


    With her spirits rising, Evelyn felt like going to test out her new powers when her stomach began rumbling.


    It had at this point been several hours since herst meal, and even with the immense amount of energy that had been stored within the silver plum she ate. Almost all of her reserves had been used for her evolution.


    Needing something to eat and wanting to test out her new powers, she jumped from the nest she had appropriated, and began flying back down toward the floor of the forest.


    She really wanted to see what she could do now, and needed a worthy beast to see how much stronger she had be.


    Flying around the area, she searched for one of the threergest predators she had seen so far in this area of the forest and soon spotted one.


    Currently feasting on some type of deer, was arge male tiger.


    It was a massive beast that was two to three timesrger than Evelyn after her evolution and was considered one of the top predators back on Earth.


    Yet, while she had felt fear and wariness when she had spotted this tiger the other day while flying overhead, now it seemed about as threatening as an old house cat.


    She did not know why she felt this way, but instinctively she knew she was in a realm above this tiger.


    Swooping down, she caught the tiger that was busy eating its hard-won meal by surprise and mmed her ws right into it with her full force.


    Astonishment on both Evelyn''s and the tiger''s face as this happen was apparent, as her ws ripped into the top predator, and the strength of her blow sent it skidding a few feet across the ground.


    ''What the hell!?''


    Seeing this Evelyn could almost not believe what had happened.


    She had justunched a tiger that was muchrger than her, and sliced through its thick fur and muscle like they were made of tofu.


    Getting up and growling, the tiger looked for the being that had just attacked it, and quickly spotted Evelyn hovering in the air about twenty feet above it.


    As soon as it spotted her, the anger in its eyes turned to fear as it felt the overwhelming difference in their power.


    This tiger was only an upper wild beast, and it could feel the dense mana and strength that Evelyn had as a beast that had evolved to the next stage.


    Turning around with its tail in between its legs, the tiger did not even think about the notion of fighting back and ran away as fast as it could.


    Confusion all over her face, Evelyn had figured that a beast as prideful and violent as a tiger would attack immediately, but instead it ran in fear like a scared kitten.


    ''Wait, I haven''t even test out my magic yet.'' Evelyn thought as she flew after the tiger.


    At least as she gave chase, she figured this would be a good time to test out her greater power over the wind and her new gravity magic.


    Creating a field around herself, Evelyn lowered her own gravity by around ten percent and with each p of her wings sent a gust of wind behind her to speed up.


    However, the results were more impressive than she thought they would be, and she shot forward at a tremendous speed and easily overtook the tiger she was chasing.


    ''Looks like my power output with wind magic is a lot greater than it had been before. I wonder if I can use attacks like parents had now.'' Evelyn thought.


    Though as she remembered her parents from her second life. A sense of sadness she had been suppressing welled back up, and she paused in the air for a few moments and closed her eyes.


    After taking a few seconds to calm down and push her trauma back into the depths of her mind. She turned her attention back to the tiger that had changed directions and was continuing to run away from her.


    Luckily this hunt was the perfect thing to take her mind off of the despair she did not want to and had no intention of facing right now.


    pping her wings with gusts of wind behind her and lowering the gravity around her even more, Evelynunched forward right up to the tiger.


    Once she was next to it, she switched from decreased to increased gravity, and used all she could muster.


    In just an instance the tiger that had been experiencing normal gravity was suddenly under three times as much pressure, and its sprint soon turned into a struggle just to walk.


    Of course, her own power excluded her if she wanted, and while everything else around her in a ten foot diameter was under the effects of three times normal gravity, she was unaffected.


    Easily keeping pace with the tiger that had basically slowed to a crawl and was panting, Evelyn wanted to see just how long it could keep up.


    Unfortunately, she soon felt that her magical energy had dropped to an rmingly low level, as using the gravity powers of the Astrosphere drained her quickly.


    Turning off the increased gravity field around her, she watched the tiger suddenly burst forward with renewed vigor as its body felt three times lighter.


    ''I guess it is not even going to try and fight back.'' Evelyn thought as the tiger ran away again.


    She had purposefully stopped near it to see if it would attack, but the poor beast was far too scared of her to even think about fighting.


    Realizing that all she was doing now was being cruel to the tiger, she flew above it and prepared to unleash a finishing blow.


    Pulling out almost all of the magical energy she had left, she threw her wings forward and sent out the strongest gust of wind she could.


    Unable to even hope to avoid the attack that came from above it, the fleeing tiger was ttened into the ground by the strongest st of wind Evelyn could use, that even cracked the ground under it.


    Still, this had not killed the tiger or really injured it much. Only immobilizing it for a moment.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn had already known that this attack would not kill the tiger and swooped down on top of its immobile form and slid her talons through its neck.


    Almost instantly the tiger died, as she cut right through its spine with her talons that were now as sharp and sturdy as the best swords back on Earth.

 Chapter 21 21 Unfathomable

    ?''Ah I feel quite refreshed.''


    Shaking her head and bringing up a gust of wind around herself. Evelyn cleaned off the blood from the tiger she had just finished eating.


    Her appetite had been quite high after her evolution and testing out her new magical abilities.


    Now that she had eaten though, she felt revitalized and ready to continue on her journey to exit these woods that were full of harsh memories.


    ''Hm, unfortunately the core of this tiger really did not fill me up like they usually do.''


    Making this discovery, Evelyn figured it probably had something to do with her recent transformation that had made her much stronger.


    The cores of lower ranking beasts just were not really going to do it for her now that she was at the realm above them.


    ''At least the meat was still filling, though it is hard to believe how ustomed I have gotten to hunting down and eating prey raw.''


    Looking at the skeleton of the tiger that she had practically picked clean, she knew that had she seen this when she was a human, it would have made her queasy and likely not able to eat for at least a day.


    Yet now it did not stir up any emotions of disgust, and instead she got a sense of satisfaction for taking down what was a top predator.


    After taking onest look at the tiger she had defeated, Evelyn took back to the air and continued flying away from theb where she had been held captive and her parents had been killed.


    ''Might as well see how long I can go.''


    Activating the power of the Aethersphere which was the name of the divine item that had fused with her, she lowered the gravity around her to about seventy percent of its normal force.


    This allowed her to fly much easier, and along with it she unleashed the asional gust of wind to elerate herself.


    Unfortunately, she was only able to keep this up for around fifteen minutes, as even though she was not exerting her gravity powers to their max. it still took a huge toll on her magical energy to use.


    ''Guess I cannot use it to speed up my flying for an extended period of time. I''ll just have to save it for short bursts in case of emergency.''


    Coming to understand that even with her recent increase in power she could not use her magic continuously, Evelyn stopped using her powers to elerate and flew normally.


    Still, she was quite a bit faster now than how she had been before, and with her increased strength she flew with even more confidence.


    She felt that now that she could take down a tiger there was no reason to worry about trying to hide herself, since she had been able to take down the strongest beast she had seen since her escape.


    ''Oh, what is this.''


    Suddenly as she was flying along and had made it around forty miles from where she had killed the tiger, she felt a tugging in her chest from the Aethersphere.


    It had abruptly stated pointing in a certain direction like apass, trying to guide Evelyn somewhere.


    ''I wonder what this is. The only abilities that I thought I had ess to were to increase or lessen gravity. Everything else that it can do, whatever that may be, as it told me was damaged and inoperable.''


    Nevertheless, even though Evelyn had no idea what sort of function was at work, she decided to follow the direction the item bound to her was pointing.


    As much as at an emotional level she loathed it for killing her parents, she knew logically that it was her greatest assets in the world.


    Therefore, if it was pointing her somewhere, she decided to trust it this time to figure out where it wanted to lead her.


    Flying in the direction she was being led, Evelyn noticed that the forest once again took on a less vibrant and lush appearance.


    In fact, as she continued, the trees got smaller and other nts became sparser.


    At first, she thought maybe she was heading towards a dessert, but the air did not seem to be getting any drier and she did not see any signs of sand.


    However, the cause of the malnourished foliage soon became apparent, as she spotted a huge stem of some sort of nt in the distance.


    ''What the hell is that thing?''


    Seeing this huge nt that was bigger than any tree she had ever seen or heard about, Evelyn was stunned in awe.


    It was so tall that she could not even see the top of it that was currently covered in clouds, and all she could see was the vibrant green stem and the few dozen massive leaves the nt had.


    ''Is that where I am being led to?''


    Thinking about it, Evelyn could only conclude that her spection was correct. As the Aethersphere was definitely pointing in the direction of this nt.


    She even tried veering away from it a few miles, but there was no doubt that this was where she was being led.


    Yet as she got closer, and thendscape became even less vibrant, she realized something else.


    The reason that magical energy seemed so sparse in this region was because of that massive nt. It was draining all of the magical energy towards itself and leaving nothing for anything else.


    ''The tree that I got from the plum was also absorbing magical energy, but not like this. What sort of power must that thing have in order to need this much energy?''


    Not able to fathom the degree to which this nt must need magical energy, Evelyn could only specte on what it might be able to do.


    The small plum she had eaten, while seeming to have had a massive amount of magical energy in it. Did not even register on the same scale as the nt she was headed for.


    Getting closer and closer, Evelyn felt anticipation as to what kind of treasure she might get from this nt and wondered if it might give her a massive power boost.


    The small plum had caused her to evolve, so whatever this had to offer should be worth thousands of times more magical energy.


    ''Oh, the clouds are breaking. Whoa!''


    Being able to see the full majesty of the nt that was draining magical energy from the surroundings for hundreds of miles. Evelyn was astonished by its beaty.


    Rising high into the sky was a vibrant red flower, that was honestly more beautiful than anything she had ever seen.


    ''I have to have it.'' Evelyn thought as she gazed upon it.


    Her instincts told her to im it just as they had the silver plum, but to an even more intense degree.


    It was as if her body knew that she would be unfathomably stronger is she could get ahold of this flower.


    Except as she got closer, she saw why this flower was not being swarmed by other beasts.


    Honestly as she saw it, she realized how stupid of it was for her to approach this obviously immensely powerful flower.


    Just like the silver plum had a beast thatid im to it, this flower was already being protected by a beast that had an interest in it.


    However, what was protecting this flower was something so beyond Evelyn that just looking at it from afar sent shills down her body.


    Coiled around the flower was a vibrant green snake the size of a cargo train.


    It blended in quite well with the flower''s stem, but now that she was within a few miles she had spotted this iprehensibly strong beast.


    Even from this far away, the instinctual terror she felt was enough to make her want to fly away as fast as possible.


    She could tell that with a simple thought this creature could end her life, and there would be nothing she could do.


    Fortunately, this colossal snake had no interest in Evelyn.


    Certainly, it had long since noticed her approach. But if it went out of its way to crush every ant that approached its turf, it would waste far too much time and energy. When instead it could just continue to nap and wait for its prize to finish growing.


    Turning around abruptly, she no longer cared that her divine item was beckoning her to that nt. She flew away as fast as she could.


    That beast was so far beyond her that she wanted to get as far away as possible.


    ''Damn it, this thing is trying to get me killed. If it thinks I am going after that flower, it has more than a screw loose.''


    Flying for nearly two hours, Evelyn finally felt safe when she could no longer see the snake that had wrapped itself around the flower.


    Quickly she looked for a ce to rest, since she was exhausted both physically and mentally from that encounter.


    Finding a hollow in a tree she floated down to it, where she located a long-abandoned nest.


    Once inside this nest she allowed herself to rx, and soon sleep found her exhausted body that needed to recuperate.

 Chapter 22 22 Pursuers

    ?Waking up after her exhausting previous day, Evelyn let out a long yawn.


    Shaking her body off and creating a gust of wind around her, she blew off all of the dust that had settled on her body while she slept.


    ''Okay, time to get out of here. I need to get away from that massive flower and the snake protecting it. As well as increase the distance between me and that infernalb.''


    Hopping out of the abandoned nest she had spent the night in, Evelyn spread her wings out and pped them around a few times before leaping back into the air.


    She did not know how far she needed to travel to escape these woods, but she had every intention of heading in one direction until she made it somewhere else.


    However, unknown to her was that as she left her temporary shelter, a pair of people who were out specifically looking for owls spotted her.


    It was truly bad luck that she had got their gaze, but for these two people it could be considered quite fortunate.


    ''Huh what is that sound?''


    Suddenly hearing what sounded like a sharp whistling sound, Evelyn turned her head around in time to see a harpooning right for her.


    Spinning around and taking evasive action, she just barely dodged being impaled on the sharp and sleek metal rod.


    Looking towards the source of this attack she saw two humans, a male and a female running after her.


    Except unlike what the people who had captured and confined her before were wearing. These humans were wearing a white military uniform.


    ''Those must be some of the people that attacked the facility. I suppose that means that they were after the Aethersphere that was put inside me.''


    Seeing as how she was being pursued by unknow assants, Evelyn could only conclude that they wanted her divine item.


    Turning her head back around she picked up her pace and lowered the gravity around herself.


    Whilest time she had not been fast enough to escape the humans that hunted her, this time she hoped things might be different.


    Yet as she began gaining on the humans that were after her, one of them began casting a spell.


    "elerate."


    After the female human that was chasing Evelyn cast his spell, a soft white glow surrounded her and her partner.


    The two of them sped up dramatically with this spell, and Evelyn soon had them hot on her heels again.


    ''Damn it they are persistent.'' Evelyn thought as she banked to the left to avoid the harpoon being thrown at her again.


    With fleeing not seeming to be and option, Evelyn began racking her brains on what to do.


    She did not even consider the notion of fighting them, as she had seen her parents lose spectacrly to a single human in the past.


    Of course, these two were actually not as strong as the man who beat her parents, but she had no way to know that.


    The fear and trauma she had of humans made her see them as major threats to be avoided at all costs and to go after only if they were already on the verge of death.


    ''Agh why could they not just leave me alone?''


    Continuing to dodge attacks from these two, Evelyn was beginning to feel the pressure.


    The man had now stated using magic as well, and every time hepleted his spell, a shard of ss shot right for her.


    ''At this rate I am going to run out of magical energy and will get caught.''


    Having to use gusts of wind while also lowering her own gravity to keep ahead of these humans, Evelyn was burning through the magical energy she had.


    Eventually she was going to run out and that would be the end for her.


    But as she continued dodging the human''s attacks much to their annoyance, she came up with a n.


    It was incredibly risky, and she figured that it had a high chance of getting her killed.


    But she would rather die a quick death while trying to survive than to be captured again.


    Abruptly turning she starting going in a different direction than where she had been fleeing to before.


    There was a certain location she was aiming for now, and if she could make it there, she might just have a chance of ditching these two persistent humans.


    Increasing the output of her wind bursts and lowering her gravity, Evelyn boosted her speed again.


    She knew she could not keep this up for long, but she wanted to cover as much distance as possible quickly to avoid being hit by any attacks.


    Luckily her increased speed also forced her pursers to speed up, and now they were spending most of their energy chasing after her and could only send out the asional attack that had no chance of hitting.


    Weaving in and out of the trees, Evelyn moved quickly and purposefully towards her destination, which the humans had failed to notice because of how intent they were on catching her


    While they were not certain that she was the one with the object they had been told to retrieve. This was the first owl they hade across that had managed to continue to avoid them for this long.


    Also, she seemed to have some sort of strange power and was manipting magic quite well for a recently ascended fiend beast.


    ''There it is. Hopefully it does not kill me.''


    Flying out of the woods and into arge clearing, Evelyn was now out in the open in the area around the massive red flower that reached high into the sky.


    Though that was not the reason she hade back here, but instead for the beast that was protecting it.


    She was hoping that the humans would turn tail and run the second they saw the snake the size of a freight train.


    ''I am just a speck of dust. I am just a speck dust.'' Evelyn thought as the serpent''s eyes bored into her.


    Naturally it had sensed the entities that were moving towards its location and turned its head toward them when Evelyn appeared in its clearing.


    But when it saw what was chasing after her and recognized that they were humans. Tts eyes narrowed and it let out a murderous aura.


    It had dealt with humans in the past, and it hated them


    Immediately it understood what the owl that was flying by was trying to do.


    As soon as the humans chasing after Evelyn entered the clearing they realized where they were.


    They had been too intent on chasing Evelyn and had realized toote where they were being led.


    Freezing in fear, they stared in horror at the ruler of the deands and the beast that had imed the treasure that had drained the majority of the mana out of this area.


    No longer were their minds on the owl they had been pursuing, and all that consumed them was an all-epassing fear that ordered them to run away.


    Yet before they could even take one step, the colossal serpent swung its tail so fast that it was unperceivable, and a loud shockwave resounded thought the area as it broke past the sound barrier many times over.


    In an instant the two humans that had been chasing Evelyn were turned to mist and dust as the serpent''s tail connected with them.


    It was an overwhelming disy of power, as with one simplesh of its tail it had obliterated the two humans that had been after Evelyn.


    Following its attack, she watched the forest shake, and the area around where the serpent''s tail had impacted had left a huge scar in the ground.


    Gulping, Evelyn felt the serpent''s gaze turn back towards her, and she thought that any moment now she would be on the receiving end of its tail.


    But after just giving her a menacing nce, it lowered its head back down and nodded back off to sleep.


    It was going to give Evelyn a freebie this time since it understood what it was like to be chased by humans.


    However, if she tried the same stunt again, it would not be so friendly.

 Chapter 23 23 The Harshness Of The World Of Beasts

    ?Her heart beating wildly, Evelyn could not believe that she had survived.


    By some miracle the giant serpent had decided to let her go and killed the humans that had been after her.


    Truthfully, she thought that this was going to be the end of her, but she already knew that there were things worse than a swift death, so she had taken her chances.


    However, she came out alive either due to the serpent''s charity, or more likely indifference.


    Soon she had flown out the other side of the clearing where the colossal beast called its home and kept going at full speed.


    She was still alive, and for now her goal was to get the hell away from this ce.


    So, she flew and flew until her wings could carry her no more.


    When she was too exhausted to continue, she found a safe ce to rest and slept. Then once she was rested, she would get up and fly some more, only stopping to eat and rest.


    This went on for days until the scenery around her began to change.


    The forest she had always been in began to thin and turn into a sprawling grasnd that spread out for miles and was dotted only by the asional tree.


    Along with this change in scenery, Evelyn could tell that the magical energy in the area was now much thicker than it had been before.


    The range of the massive flower that was sucking all of the surrounding energy to itself had begun to wane.


    Just breathing in the air here Evelyn felt like she was absorbing the ambient magical energy.


    ''Ah it is good to finally be out of those woods.'' She thought, feeling a sense of relief now that she had escaped the domain that held mostly bad memories for her.


    For the first time since she had been captured, she felt that the world was wide open to her and that the possibilities were endless.


    Though be that as they were, she still had not much of a clue as to what she should do next.


    Her knowledge of this world was sorelycking, and as an owl she knew that she could not just try and enter a human settlement to learn even if she knew where one was.


    Not to mention she had no clue about thengue of this world to start with.


    Then there was also the magic that permeated this world.


    Other than the fact that she could create gusts of wind and control gravity a bit, she did not know how or why it worked.


    She had seen her parents use their magic more fluidly than she could, but what was really an enigma was the magic that the humans had used.


    Their spells were more precise in what they did as far as she could see, but they also needed to be cast with hand gestures and words.


    ''I suppose all I can do for now is continue to get stronger and survive. As long as I keep going, I should figure more out as I go. For now, I should try and find a ce to use as a base while I explore this area.''


    With no clear direction before her, Evelyn decided to just see what this new ce she hade to had to offer.


    Flying around she decided to check on a tree that she had spotted on top of a hill not too far away from her current location and see if it might make a suitable base.


    However, when she arrived, she found that this tree already had a number of upants.


    A group of what looked like a fusion between a possum and a wolverine were crowded in this tree.


    As soon as they saw Evelyn they began growling and snarling at her. Obviously having a temperament closer to a wolverine than a possum.


    ''Woah.''


    Dodging out of the way she just barely avoided being hit by a shot of spit from one of the two biggest of these beasts that were obviously the leaders.


    When the spit hit the ground below her, Evelyn heard a sizzling sound and saw that the grass had begun burning.


    ''Fine I will find somewhere else.''


    Not wanting to get into a conflict with so many beasts, Evelyn flew back up into the air and headed on her way.


    She was not looking for a fight, and simply wanted a ce to rest after traveling for so long.


    Yet as she checked the next tree, she found it overrun with another group of these creatures.


    Seeing this, she thought about heading back to the forest that always had a ce for her to rest, but she could not bring herself to go back there.


    ''I will find a ce soon enough; I just need to be patient.''


    Continuing her search, Evelyn soared higher into the air to get a better look at her surroundings.


    Except this turned out to be a dangerous idea, as a number of winged lizards that had been basking on a rock that still retained the heat of the day saw her.


    Taking to the skies these winged lizards that were around four feet long, began flying towards Evelyn who had invaded their territory.


    Spotting these beasts that wereing for her from below Evelyn began to panic.


    There were about a dozen and a half of these lizards, and she was already exhausted.


    ''I am way too tired for this.''


    Sick of running away, she went into a nosedive right towards these winged lizards and picked up speed rapidly as she increased her own gravity.


    Creating a gust of wind around herself she crashed into around a third of the winged lizards like a cannon ball.


    Then without missing a beat she spun around and raked her ws through one of their bodies and cleaved it into pieces.


    Though after her opening attack, the lizards began their own, and opened their mouths.


    Immediately Evelyn felt a sharp pain in her head as the lizards unleash a sonic screech at her.


    With her impable hearing the sonic attacks hurt even more than they would have for less sound sensitive creatures.


    ''Knock it off!''


    iling around, Evelyn sent out asrge a gust of wind as she could to blow the lizards away.


    With them now knocked off bnce, she flew around as swiftly as she could while lowering the gravity around her and using wind bursts as propulsion.


    Quickly she began slicing up these lizards, that while the same rank as her were all quite a bit weaker.


    However, what theycked in personal power they made up for with theirrge group, and soon they began swarming Evelyn.


    Feeling ws rip into her, and teeth being sunk in, Evelyn began thrashing around to knock the lizards off.


    But they would not release her no matter what she did. Their ws and teeth were locked into her and would note undone.


    ''Okay you want to paly it this way. Then let me see who is tougher.''


    Feeling her anger and panic rising, Evelyn switched her strategy and created an area of increased gravity around her.


    With the gravity suddenly bing three times greater, Evelyn along with the winged lizards began dropping out of the air.


    BANG!


    Crashing into the ground they left a small crater, and the lizards that had been under Evelyny broken and dead


    The others were now shaken from the impact and had been thrown from Evelyn''s body.


    Jumping up she got to work on dispatching the remaining lizards by jamming her talons into them.


    She had prepared herself for the impact, since she was the one who caused it and had managed to take less damage by creating a wind cushion and lowering the gravity around only her at thest moment.


    Soon all of the lizards that had tired to kill hery dead around her.


    Breathing heavily, she looked around at the carnage of hertest battle and realized how stupid she had been.


    This world was dangerous and flying out in the open like that just made her an easy target.


    ''Great, in the woods it is the humans who are after me, and here it is the other beasts. Is there nowhere that I can be safe?''


    Lamenting her situation, Evelyn limped over to the nearest lizard and began eating.


    She had used up all of her strength fighting them off and needed food to recover.


    Once she had finished eating, she felt a bit of her strength had returned to her and turned her head towards the moon that was rising into the sky.


    She did not know which direction it rose in since this was not Earth, but she decided to follow it.


    Right now what she needed was direction, and the ce where the moon rose was as good as any since it would lead her away from the ces she wanted to escape from.


    ''I will live. I already died once, but this time I am going to live out a full life.''

 Chapter 24 24 The Ruins

    ?Exhausted and beaten half to death, Evelyn was beginning to understand how harsh the world outside the forest was.


    The power and number of the surrounding beasts had gone up drastically, and it seemed that they all wanted to kill her.


    Nevertheless, at least they were not trying to throw her in a cage and run experiments on her, so she considered it better then when she had been captured by the humans.


    Still, the night was already beginning to gette, and she was no closer to finding a ce to rest.


    All of the trees she had visited were inhabited by some type of acid spitting wolverine, possumbo, and when she tired flying high for a better vantage point she was immediately attacks.


    ''Some owls live in burrows, right? I guess for the first time I may need to spend the night on the ground.''


    Dragging her injured body away from the sight of her final confrontation with the winged lizards, she headed for a rock she had spotted in the distance.


    Luckily when she found it there was no other upants around and using what little strength she had left, she began digging out the ground.


    Forty minutester she had created a small burrow she could barely fit in. but was too exhausted to do anymore.


    Then activating her gravity magic she lowered the surrounding area''s gravity as much as she could and move the rock she had borrowed under slightly so that it closed off the hole.


    The second she was secured, she fell right over and went to sleep, even though at this time she would normally still be out and about.


    Right now her schedule was all over the ce, and while normally she might be active from early evening to early morning, currently she simply could not stay awake.


    Unfortunately, while she did sleep it was not soundly as she had terrible nightmares all night, as some of her worst memories yed out in her dreams again.


    ''NO!''


    Waking up with a start, Evelyn was reaching her wing out as if trying to grab ahold of someone.


    Immediately she remembered thest dream she had been having, and a cold shiver went down her entire body and tears trickled down her eyes.


    She had just had to relive watching her brother die back on Earth.


    ''Damn it. Why does all of this have to happen to me?'' Evelyn thought as she wiped the tears out of her eyes.


    Her situation right now sort of reminded her of when she and Mason had been on the run after she killed their father.


    Only this time she was alone and with significantly more trauma than even then.


    Still, she was resolved to survive for now, and hopefully there might be some amount of happiness waiting for her in this world.


    Raising her body up, she felt sore from the battle she had yesterday and the cramped quarters she had slept in.


    But she knew she could not just stay here and waste away. So, she gathered her strength and once again moved the rock she used to block off her temporary burrow.


    Today was the day she was resolved to find a ce to call her own for at least a little while, in order to really get her bearings.


    Exiting the burrow, she headed back over to where she had her battle the day before and found that the corpses of the winged Lizards she had left were gone.


    It looked like some type of scavenger hade by and taken them in the night, and she was now especially grateful she had not given into her desire to just copse on the ground here.


    Having satisfied her curiosity, she took back into the air and continued flying in the direction that the moon rises.


    Naturally she had now learned not to fly too high after yesterday''s experience, and only kept herself around fifteen feet away from the ground.


    She did not want to attract unnecessary attention again in this open grassnd.


    With her luck, next time something spotted her it would be a massive beast she had no chance of escaping from.


    ¡­


    ''What is that?''


    After flying for hours over the grasnd, Evelyn spotted something in the distance that stood up from the ground.


    However, she could tell that it was not trees since they only sparsely dotted this biome, and it was too isted to be another forest.


    Yet as she got closer, she recognized what it was that she was seeing.


    ''It is a town!''


    Understanding that this was a human settlement, Evelyn turned in another direction to give it a wide berth, wanting nothing to do with people.


    She had mostly bad experiences with the worst of humanity in both of her lives, and she had no intention of having anything to do with people ever again if she could help it.


    Continuing to fly along, she soon passed over the remains of a long disused road.


    Seeing this Evelyn wondered why it was so overgrown, when she realized what this likely meant.


    ''That town is probably no longer inhabited.'' Evelyn though as she turned her gaze back towards it.


    Right now she was looking for a good ce to stay, and while every good area she had found so far was upied. an abandoned settlement might just be what she needed.


    She figured that it was less likely that other beasts would make their homes there, and as a former human she might find something useful.


    ''Maybe I can even get lucky and find some picture books withbels in them and try to figure out thengue.'' She thought, hoping for some good fortune.


    Turning towards the town, she began flying for it, hoping that it might just be a good base for herself.


    Hours quickly went by as she approached the area, and her anticipation grew greater and greater as she got closer.


    The road had be even worse and more damaged as she advanced, and now she could see the outline of a wall that had cracks through it.


    Soon she was close enough to see into what used to be a small town, and there was no doubt no one lived there anymore.


    The y buildings inside the wall were beginning to crumble, and there was overgrown grass all over what used to be walkways.


    Flying over the ce Evelyn did a thorough scan from the air, but as far as she could tell not a single person lived here anymore, and only a few small beasts had entered the ce.


    ''Yes, I think this ce will do nicely.'' Evelyn though as she swooped down and grabbed some sort of rodent that had been crawling through the grass.


    This ce had an abundance of easy food and would be able to provide shelter from the elements.


    Not to mention that while the wall was falling apart, it had norge gaps in it that bigger beasts that might be a threat could get through.


    Once she had finished eating her quick snack, Evelyn lifted off and began searching the buildings. Looking for anything useful that might have been left behind.

 Chapter 25 25 Exploring The Ruins

    ?Having discovered the ruins of a long-gone human civilization, Evelyn decided to make it her new base.


    It was as far as she could tell the perfect ce for her to be right now.


    Not only was it an enclosed and protected area, but there was the possibility that it might hold some valuable information or items within it.


    Certainly, Evelyn figured most beasts would fine anything humans had made to be useless. But to her as a former human, she was certain she could use what she might find to her advantage.


    ''Come on let there be something good in here.'' Evelyn thought as she flew into the first house.


    Quickly she began searching the area, but it was pretty bare.


    There were signs of things like a kitchen, but anything useful was either gone or degraded.


    ''This is all that is left?''


    Finding a singlerge y pot that was at one time filled with something organic but now all that was left was the dried-out bits of dying mold, her disappoint was immeasurable.


    The pot also had cracks in it and would not hold much of anything anymore. Making itpletely useless.


    ''Well. This house is a bust. Onto the next one.''


    Searching the next building Evelyn once again came up with squat.


    Though this pretty much confirmed to her that this ce was simply abandoned rather than some sort of ident or mass killing.


    In those situations, she would expect to find more signs of things being left, not to mention human remains.


    With the arid environment here, it would be likely that there would still be at least some pieces of skeletons should the people have met their end here.


    ''Ugh this is both good and bad. Good because if it was abandoned, it appears to have been for quite some time and I doubt anyone is going toe back. Bad because that means they probably took all of their good stuff with them.''


    Sighing Evelyn had really been hoping to find something that would give her a better insight to the people of this world, but that seemed unlikely now.


    Not to mention that this ce was so long abandoned that the treated wood in the houses had all but rotted away.


    Still, Evelyn decided to check out all of the buildings since it was possible something useful might have been left behind by those that used to live here left.


    Though it also served two other purposes.


    This way she could scope out the best ce for her to set up her temporary home and make absolute sure that nothing dangerous was skulking around.


    Slowly but surely, she made her way through all of the buildings.


    Starting with those on the outskirts and making her way towards the ones in the middle that wererger and more likely to hold something valuable.


    Unfortunately, as she searched, she found very little that would be useful.


    All that she came across in the entirety of her search were a few ss bottles that had managed to not break, and a single wood burning stove that seemed in good enough condition to be used.


    ''This is thest ce. All my hopes ride on this building. I saved the best forst, but after everything else, I am not holding my breath.''


    Entering inside thergest and most central building, Evelyn found that it was not any different from the rest of the buildings.


    It was pretty much picked clean with onlyrge items being left behind.


    Unfortunately, most things had degraded over what must have been a long period of time.


    Though when she made it to a certain room, she was surprised to see that it seemed to be in decent condition.


    ''Woah a bathtub. That is the first time I have seen one of those in any of these buildings.''


    Jumping up into the tub Evelyn began looking around and found why this room still seemed to be intact more so than any other.


    There was some sort of circle with runes carved into it on the floor of the bathtub, and it appeared that this ce had been enchanted somehow.


    ''I wonder?''


    cing one of her wings over the circle, she began trying to send out her magical energy. and to her surprise it worked.


    From out of the circle her magical energy began being converted into water, and the tub started filling up.


    Sadly, the drain plug was long gone, so the water just went out to wherever it was going, but Evelyn was still ecstatic.


    She was covered in blood, dirt, and dust, and this was the perfect opportunity for her to get clean.


    Sshing around in the water she began having herself a little bird bath and watched as all the grim that had built up on her began to wash away.


    ''Ah it feels so good to be clean again. I have not washed myself off since those bastards captured me.''


    ying around in the water Evelyn enjoyed her time in the magical bath. Though after around an hour her magical energy began to be depleted and she had to stop.


    ''This has definitely been worth it. Just this magical water creating circle was worth the entire trip here as far as I am concerned.''


    Very happy with her newfound discovery, Evelyn thought that maybe her luck was looking up.


    ''I still have the rest of the ce to search now. Maybe I can find something else like this.''


    Yet as Evelyn made her way to leave, she thought about something else she wanted to do.


    Quickly she used what remained of her magical energy to fill up the tub a bit and sat on the drain to slow down the loss of water.


    Then she looked down at the water and at her own reflection.


    She had not seen what she looks like in this life, and now was the perfect chance.


    ''Hm, I look simr to my parents, but I have a different feather pattern.''


    Looking at herself in the water''s reflection, Evelyn saw that she resembled a great horned owl, but she had colored feathers on her body just like her parents.


    Like both her mother and father she had spots of green, but along with those she had purple feathers which she found strange.


    Once all the water had drained again and she had gotten her fill of looking at her reflection, Evelyn shook the lingering water off of her body, and began searching the remainder of the final building.


    ''Oh, what do we have here.''


    Finding something of interest, she pulled away into an odd room that unlike the rest was tiled.


    Certainly, it normally would not have caught her or anyone''s eye, but one area of the tiles seemed to be loose.


    Flying down towards this area, she removed the tiles and found a pair of metal doors that led down into a cer.


    ''Come on, you can open. Do not let the rust stop you now.''


    Pulling up with all her strength Evelyn tried to pry open the metal doors that had rusted shut.


    Then with one big yank, she wrenched them open, and a cloud of dust spread out over the room.


    With one swish of her wings, she blew the dust away and looked down into the dark cer.


    Luckily as an owl her night vision was impable, and she could see all the way down to the bottom of the dirt floor.


    Of course, the stairs had long since deteriorated, but that meant nothing to her as she glided down into the cer.


    ''Score.''


    Looking through the cer. Evelyn saw that a number of ss container were still intact, and their contents still inside.


    Going up to one she pulled the sealed top off and an amber liquid began spilling out.


    Immediately the smell of alcohol hit Evelyn''s nose and she figured out exactly what it was that had been stored here.


    Feeling a sense of anger rising up inside of her, Evelyn had a burning hate for alcohol.


    Her human father had be and alcoholic after her mother''s death and it had destroyed her life.


    In a rage she quickly went around breaking all of the bottles, not caring that they might be useful.


    She wanted nothing to do with any alcohol ever, and wanted it gone.


    Soon she stood in front of thest bottle, and with one swipe of her ws shattered it. Letting the longsting liquor that had survived all these years spill out onto the floor of the cer.


    Yet as she looked down at thest of the alcohol spilling out, she felt a tug in her chest as the Aethersphere pointed her downwards.

 Chapter 26 26 (Spoiler, Title At The Bottom)

    ?Feeling the familiar tugging sensation in her chest from the Aethersphere, Evelyn waspletely caught off guard.


    Last time she felt this it led her to a colossal flower that was being guarded by a serpent the size of a freight train.


    During that time, she had thought she was going to die because she followed its directions, and only survived due to the serpent''s indifference.


    Of course, the serpent hadter saved her from the human pursers, but things could have just as easily ended up with her dying.


    Yet this time it was quite obvious that it was not pointing the direction of that flower. She had put a good amount of distance between it and herself, and this time the Aethersphere was pointing down.


    ''What the hell is going on? Why did it suddenly start doing this again?''


    For a moment she thought maybe the thing was so badly damaged that it might just be sending out some sort of false signal.


    But as she backed off from the spot she was standing on it disappeared, and when she walked back, it came back.


    In only this one spot right in front of thest bottle of alcohol was she within range of the Aethersphere''s detection ability.


    Though she had no idea exactly what it was detecting, or what met the criteria to be picked up by it.


    ''Last time it led me to that flower which I am pretty sure had some powerful magical properties. My instincts told me to do whatever I could to im it, so there is no doubt it was very valuable. Maybe this thing can point me towards things that have a lot of magic? Still, if I follow it this time, I could end up dead.''


    Thinking about what to do Evelyn was truly at a loss.


    Certainly, she could specte that she was being pointed in the direction of something that might make her stronger and help her survive in this harsh world. But it could just as easily lead her to her death.


    Still, unlikest time where the flower was above the ground, this time she was being pointed downward.


    That meant maybe there was some abandoned ruin simr to the one up here, except this one might be full of treasure.


    ''But how the hell would I begin making my way down if I wanted to look for it.''


    Curiosity and desire welling up inside her, Evelyn started thinking more and more about how to get to whatever item the Aethersphere might be leading her to.


    Any advantage she could get in this world that she knew little about was wee, and it was hard to fight the temptation.


    ''Nothing ventured nothing gained as they say. I have been racked with so much bad luck that something has to go my way eventually, right?''


    Making up her mind, Evelyn decided to try and find whatever it was she was being led to.


    Unfortunately, it was not like she could just burrow underground to it, so she went around the cer looking for some sort of ess that would lead further down.


    Nevertheless, nothing obvious presented itself like a lever or hidden button, and she quickly resorted to digging around.


    First, she tired right under the ce where she was getting the signal, but after around two feet of digging through the dirt she gave up there.


    She then went to the center of the room and tired there, but nothing came about it.


    Trying random spots for around the next two hour she had no luck and all she got for it was to make herself dirty again.


    ''I should have known it would not be that easy. Whatever it is has probably been buried even longer than this ce has existed. I might have to dig a thousand feet or more before Ie across a path that leads down.''


    Giving up on what she figured was a fool''s errand, Evelyn made her way over to the exit of the cer, when she noticed something with her keen eyes.


    One of the areas where she had shattered a ss container full of alcohol was already dry unlike all of the others.


    Normally it would have seemed an inconspicuous spot, pretty far from the ce where she was getting the Aethersphere''s direction.


    Heading over to this area, she began digging, and after around eleven inches in the dirt gave way to another hatch.


    However, unlike everything else she had found in this ruin, this hatch still seemed in pristine condition and to be made of far high quality materials.


    ''Did the people who built here originally put their town right over some sort of ancient ruin or something, and not even know about it. But this hatch honestly looks newer than everything else here, though that could just be because of its higher quality.''


    Wondering about this hatch Evelyn really could not understand why it was here.


    She thought maybe it was some ce that the original owner of this building stored stuff he did not want anyone else to find. Or maybe someone else found this ce in ruins and decided to hide their treasures here and put this hatch in at ater time.


    ''Now the question is if I can even open it?''


    Reaching her w down towards the hatch she pulled up on it, and to her surprise it opened with ease.


    Looking down she saw adder that descended for a long way down and was lit up by what looked to be slightly glowing stones.


    The light was so dim that a human probably would have only been able to see a couple of feet in front of them, but for Evelyn it was more than enough to see normally.


    ''Well, time to see where this leads.''


    Slowly lowering herself down the hatch, she grabbed her ws around the first wrung of thedder and carefully began making her way down.


    Certainly, this was far from easy for her as an owl, but she took it slowly and carefully, and whenever she lost bnce and nearly fell, she would lower the gravity around herself and send out a gust of wind to right herself.


    Time quickly went by, and soon after having traveled around a thousand feet underground, she finally hit the bottom ofdder.


    When she touched down, she felt a slight wetness on the stone and realized that it was some of the alcohol that had seeped through the ground.


    Looking around, all she saw was a rocky tunnel leading further down into the depths of the world.


    Of course, it was obviously man made since at periodic positions small stone that glowed faintly were ced into the walls.


    Feeling anticipation and fear welling up inside her, Evelyn was not certain if she wanted to continue. But now that she had gone this deep, the Aethersphere was reacting again and pointing her along the path.


    Steeling herself she had already made up her mind to see this through, and hope that whatever was at the end might be of use to her.


    ''At least now I can fly again.'' She thought as she spread her wings and began flying down the tunnel.


    It slowly became steeper and steeper to around the limits of what a person could walk down, though this did not matter to Evelyn who could fly.


    Eventually she found that the path was going in a winding pattern as it descended very far into the ground.


    ''What the hell is this ce. It just goes down, and down, and down. There is simply no way that this could be practical.''


    Thinking that this tunnel that went deep underground waspletely absurd, Evelyn could not fathom that any sort of civilization used it as means to travel to the surface from deep underground or vice versa.


    At this point all she could figure was that someone had left something they did not want anyone else to find down here.


    Continuing on, after what felt like an eternity, she finally made it to the end of the path and a door stood in front of her.


    From what she could see there was some scrawling on the door she could not read, but beyond it was definitely where the Aethersphere was pointing.


    ''Great, now what? I have no idea what this says, and for all I know this door could be trapped.''


    Yet as she approached the door tentatively, it just opened up and revealed the room beyond it.


    Having alreadye this far, she figured that she would see what was here, and walked into the room.


    As she did, a pedestal in the middle of the room lit up, and on it was some type of amulet.


    But before she could move over to it, the pedestal began growing brighter and a projection showed above it.


    A man she did not recognize then began saying something in angue she did not understand.


    Luckily it onlysted for around two minutes before it ended.


    Shrugging her shoulders, she simply went up to the amulet and grabbed it.


    She figured that it was the item she hade down here for, and it was worth the risk take it even when she had no idea what had just been said.


    Thankfully nothing bad happened when she grabbed it and the room stayed exactly the same as it had been.


    However, she quickly realized that this pendant was not what had led her down here.


    The Aethersphere was continuing to point forward even as she grabbed it. Pulling her in the direction of the wall on the other side of the room.


    Finding this strange, she flew over to this wall and noticed that it had more writing on it, along with all of the other walls in this room.


    But unlike the rest of the writing she had seen in here, there were three words writtenrger than all of the others that she could read.


    Seeing this her eyes went wide, as in front of her. written on the wall and with a space below it. were the words ''What is your name?''.


    ''What the hell is going on in here!? Why are there words from my old world written in between all of these others!?''


    Being put in front of this unbelievable situation, Evelyn could not understand what this ce was.


    Certainly, it had not been super easy to find, but once she had found it there were no obstacles to stop her from reaching this point.


    It had almost been too easy, and now there were words from Earth scrawled onto a wall thousands of feet below ground on another world.


    Still, whatever the Aethersphere had been leading her to was beyond this wall, and she decided to see what might happen if she wrote her name.


    ''Maybe someone else from Earth built this ce to help out anyone else from their home that found it? And writing your name is a sort of identifier.'' Evelyn thought, trying toe up with a rational solution to what this was.


    cing one of her ws on the space under the question, she found that it began glowing.


    Moving her w the glow followed along with it and stuck around for about a minute before disappearing.


    After discovering this she wrote her name in the space, hoping that maybe something might happen.


    As she did, her name disappeared from the rock, before repapering again much brighter, and the entire room began to rumble.


    At first, she thought she might have triggered some type of trap, but instead the wall in front of her began to part and lead into a muchrger room than the one she was currently in.


    Heading inside she saw that this ce was full of shelves and cabs with all manner of items stored on and within them.


    Yet before she could explore this room, from the center of it on a raised tform, the image of the man she had seen in the previous room appeared again.


    But this time he did not speak some alienngue she did not understand, but instead angue she knew well from her first life.


    "It appears that you found this ce as I foresaw you would. I have left everything here for you, Evie."


    Chapter 26 A Brother''s Gift

 Chapter 27 27 A Brother’s Gift (2)

    ?"It appears that you found this ce as I foresaw you would. I have left everything here for you, Evie."


    Eyes going wide and her mind going nk, for a moment Evelyn thought she had misheard what this projection had just said.


    Yet just a momentter it said, "Oh and just in case it was not obvious, it is me, Mason, your brother."


    Hearing this Evelyn''s mind that was frozen began racing, and her heart started beating faster.


    Her brother who she had watched die, had also ended up in this strange world.


    He lookedpletely different having golden hair opposed to his former brown hair, a thick beard that matched, and this man was far older than Mason ever had been, looking to be around thirty.


    Yet the way he spoke, how he called her by her nickname, it was exactly like how he had been.


    Anyway, her appearance was even more far removed than his since he looked to have been reincarnated as a human, while she was an owl.


    "I am sure that you have a number of questions, and I will be sure to answer as many as I can in the time I have. Unfortunately, I cannot be here to meet you in person and have left this recording of myself to exin what I can."


    "First as I am sure you havee to realize this world is very different from our first world. Here there is magic that can create phenomenon that would be impossible on Earth. That is how I knew to leave this ce here for you."


    "I will not bore you with all of the details right now as the amount of time I have to record this is limited, but I developed a type of magic that allows me to peer into fate. Of course, it is not all powerful, but it did lead me to finding that you would be here. Though it did also show me that if I did not intervene, your fate was to die a violent death."


    Gulping, Evelyn did not fully grasp what her brother was saying, but she definitely did not like the prospect of being killed again.


    "That is why I tirelessly searched for a way to make sure that this would not happen to you, but as it so often is, fate was cruel. In order to prevent your fate from leading only to death, I had to steal a certain item from my family in this world and gained their ire for doing so."


    The projection then paused for a moment and directed Evelyn''s attention to the side of it where the floor began to open up.


    Thening out form the ground in a clear box very simr to the one that had once held the Aethersphere, was a crimson me.


    It was currently not moving and waspletely still. But looking at this me Evelyn almost got lost in its beauty.


    Yet that was not all, as she quickly realized that this me was what the Aethersphere had been directing her towards.


    Even in its current suspended state she could feel that it held immense power.


    "This here was my family''s greatest treasure. I do not truly know much about it, other than that it is one of the sixteen heavenly mes said to have fallen to this world from a higher realm thousands of years ago. But what I do know is that with this magical me in your possession your fate changes drastically. It is no longer set in stone that you will die and has be muddled. Even I am not sure what your fate will truly have in store for you now."


    Pausing once again, Evelyn watched the projection begin to shudder and she saw what looked like tears running down its face.


    "I truly am sorry Evie. I wish I could have been here for you myself, but it was just not possible. I do not know how we came to end up in this world after that monster killed us, but I was reborn here centuries before you. By the time you see this recording I will no longer be of this world."


    Evelyn''s heart dropped as soon as she heard that her brother, who she had just found out was reincarnated as well, was already gone.


    It was just another cruel circumstance to add onto all of the loss she had incurred over both of her lives.


    "However, while I may not be here to personally help you out, I have left everything I could to assist you in your new life. This world has any number of magically imbued items and I have procured as much as I could for you here. Truthfully it is not a great amount, but it should hopefully give you a jump start on your advancement in this world. Though as for what may be the most valuable items I have left you other than the heavenly me. It would have to be is these."


    After the projection of Mason said this, one of the shelves in the room lit up and illuminated a number of books.


    "I have left what knowledge of this world to you as I can here in these books. And since I am not sure how long you have been here or at what level of literacy you have achieved, I have written you a guide on how to learn thengue of this continent. Also, one of these books is my own diary in which I have exined more about my new life for you."


    "Oh, and you do not need to worry about the other room you first arrived in. I put that there as a decoy on the off chance someone found this ce before you. Exining all of the details would take too long but I did write it down in my dairy if you are interested."


    "Now it looks like the time I have left to record on this device iting to an end, so I have a couple more pieces of advice for you. Do not stay in this ce for more than three months. If you stick around here for longer than that, something disastrous is going to happen, though I do not know what exactly it might be."


    "Looks like my time ising to an end here. I have done all I can for you now and hope that it was enough. Please do your best to survive Evie, and this time you will hopefully have a happy life."

 Chapter 28 28 Resolve

    ?As the projection of her brother disappeared, Evelyn instinctively reached out for him, trying to grasp onto thisst little fragment of her brother.


    Unfortunately, her brother had long since left this ce, and no longer even existed on the new world Evelyn found herself on.


    Tears had already begun streaming down her face practically from the start of the recording, but now that it was over. The full weight of what had happed hit her like a truck.


    She fell right over onto the ground screaming and mming her wings and ws against the ground.


    It was all just so much for her to take along with everything else she had gone through.


    She had found her brother again, the person she was closest to in her previous world and the one who easily held the highest ce in her heart.


    Yet in just moments he was ripped away from her again by the harshness of fate.


    They never even had a chance to meet each other, because while they had only died minutes apart, Mason had ended up in this world centuries before Evelyn had.


    The prospect of seeing her brother again had not even urred to her, yet now that she knew they ultimately ended up in the same world. Losing him again brought back all of the original pain she had felt when she watched him die.


    ''Damn it all. Why does fate, destiny, or whatever have to always be so cruel? Is all that awaits me more suffering? If that is all I have to look forward to, why do I even keep living?''


    Falling into the depths of despair, Evelyn began contemting ending it all again, wanting to somehow cease all of the pain she was feeling.


    However, she quickly shook off this feeling for multiple reasons.


    Her brother had left so much for her, and likely sacrificed his own fate to give her a chance.


    If she were to throw away her life here, it would mean everything he gave up and all he had done to make sure she could survive here was meaningless.


    It would be like her spitting in the face of his resolve and his love for his little sister that he worked hard to protect in two lives.


    Another reason that convinced her not to end her own life, was because of not knowing what might happen next.


    For all she knew, when she died again, she might be reborn as something else. Maybe ending up as a caterpir, or possibly even a microscopic organism.


    Thest thing she wanted was to start again in an even more harsh environment, or to end up in another loving home that alles crashing down around her.


    She had already fought very hard in this life and lost so much. Now was the time where she could finally move forward and try and live a good life as her brother had wanted her to.


    ''I will survive and make the best of this life, and then I will find Mason again. We may not have been able to reunite here, but there is magic on this world. If he was able to look into the future to find me here. Surely, I can find a way to get to wherever he is now. We both already died once and ended up on another world, so he has to be somewhere out there, and I will find him.''


    Finding her resolve, Evelyn steeled her heart and etched her reasons to live in it.


    She would live for her brother who had done what he could to protect her in both their first and second lives. And she would figure out the magic of this world and search for a way to reunite with him wherever he might be now.


    Once she was finished crying and had gotten herself together, with a determined look in her eyes she stared towards the crimson me suspended in a clear case.


    This was the item that her brother said had the power to change her fate, and she knew it was something incredibly powerful.


    Moving towards it she looked at the me intently for a few moments, before clicking the switch on the case that opened it.


    As soon as she did, the case opened up and the me that had been suspended began to flicker around, and an intense heat permeated the entire room.


    It was nearly unbearable, and Evelyn had to create gusts of wind around herself to keep from burning.


    Now that the me was freed from its prison, she could not help but think that it almost seemed alive as it pulsed at regr intervals.


    ''It definitely feels powerful, though I am not sure what to do with it. I suppose that I should seal it away again and see if I can find any more details about it in the books Mason left me.''


    Moving to close the case again, Evelyn found that the me moved on its own to prevent being sealed away, and actually flew at her.


    Then as it got closer, one of the rings around Aethersphere which had been pointing towards this me began spinning.


    Suddenly the heavenly me as Mason had called it, began getting sucked into Evelyn''s body.


    Immediately her body started to get incredibly hot, and it felt like her blood was boiling as this me entered inside her.


    Falling to the ground she began rolling around in extreme pain that was nearly as bad as when the Aethersphere had been imnted into her.


    She had no idea why the me had entered her body, but the pain was immense, and it took everything she had to keep ahold of her sanity.


    In fact, if not for all of the pain she had already experienced, this probably would have been enough to break her. But she stayed strong, and within just a couple of minutes the pain subsided as the mes coalesced in her chest around the Aethersphere.

 Chapter 29 29 Books

    ?Once the crimson heavenly me had finished being absorbed, Evelyn let out a long breath of relief as the pain subsided.


    Though while it no longer hurt, she could now feel a perpetual warmth in her chest where the me had taken root around the Aethersphere.


    ''Ugh, a little warning would have been nice. I had no idea that it was going to force that me into me. And why do these stupid magic items always have to hurt when they integrate themselves into me?''


    A bit angry from the extreme pain she had just experienced, Evelyn was fed up with everything hurting her.


    Still there was no doubt she felt a sense of strength in her body now that the me had be a part of the Aethersphere.


    Sending her senses towards the heavily me she felt it pulsing within her.


    Focusing on it she sent the magical energy in her body towards it, and the me began to devour the energy and growrger.


    Luckily this did not cause her any distress. and focusing on the mes as she did with the Aethersphere, she brought it outside of her body.


    BOOM!


    As the mes left her body, they went wild and hit the floor in front of her causing an explosion.


    Being blown back. Evelyn felt her head spinning from the concussive force of the explosion.


    But the heat had seemed to have no effect on her now the heavenly me was a part of her.


    Of course, what she did not know was that most entities that tried to merge with this me ended up nothing but ash, and it was only thanks to the Aethersphere''s intervention that she had gained control over it.


    Nevertheless, now that it was hers, her body was practically immune to heat and fire for the most part.


    ''Okay, not doing that again in an enclosed space.'' Evelyn thought as she got up off the ground.


    Her head was still ringing from the explosion, and as she looked over, she saw that a portion of the floor had been blown away and melted.


    Once the pain in her head subsided, she turned her attention to the shelve full of books her brother had left.


    Truly what she needed right now was information, which was something she was sorelycking in this new world.


    Normally if she had been born to human parents, she probably could have picked thengue up naturally, but her owl familymunicated in hoots, squawks, and gestures instead of words.


    Luckily her brother had left her what she needed to learn thengue of this world, and she was going to take advantage of it.


    ''Time to get started.''


    Flying over to the bookshelves, Evelyn began pulling them out, and looked for any that had been written in thengue she knew from her old world.


    She flipped through dozens of books in search of anything she could read, but most of them were written in the strangengue she did not understand.


    Sadly, there were only two books that had any of thengue she recognized in them. One being the guide Mason had handwritten for her, and the other being his diary.


    Though as she flipped through the diary, she found that it was a mixed with this world''sngue, and that the further into it she went the more it transitioned into thengue she did not understand.


    ''I am in for a real slog here trying to learn this newngue. But I suppose I do not have anything better to do, so I might as well get started.''


    Opening up the book, Evelyn found on the first page that Mason had left her a little note saying that he believed in her, and that she could learn thisngue if she put her mind to it.


    Seeing this and recognizing his handwriting, tears started welling up in Evelyn''s eyes again, but she forced them back down and continued on.


    To start, the first section had a list of the symbols used in the writing of this world and what Mason considered to be the closest counterparts to the letters Evelyn knew.


    Unfortunately, it was definitely not a one-to-one trantion as there were thirty-one symbols used in this world for writing.


    At the very least when she flipped the page, she found the numbers to be rtively easily with just ten symbols representing zero to nine.


    For the whole rest of the day, she practiced the alphabet. Trying to memorize the symbols and what they equated to, as well as sounding them out in her head ording to the phics that Mason had written down next to them.


    Nevertheless, even with her best efforts, progress was slow, and she soon felt her mind begin to muddle as she became tired.


    Feeling that she was not going to be able to make any more progress today, she lifted her head up from the book and looked around.


    Scanning the room she found quite the pleasant surprise, in that Mason had left a small living area for her in one of the corners of this room.


    There she saw a bed and chair along with a small kitchte.


    ''I guess if I had to spend the time to head back up and out of this ce everyday just to get food and find a ce to sleep, I would spend the majority of my time just moving around.


    Flying on over Evelyn was surprised how good the condition of everything was, and that there was not a speck of dust anywhere.


    She figured it was probably due to some magic imbued in the items to prevent them from degrading.


    Unfortunately, it appeared that none of the food items had survived this long other than what looked to be honey.


    ''I will find something else to eat tomorrow. For now, I need some sleep.''


    Moving over to the bed, Evelyn perched herself on top of it and leaned back, before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

 Chapter 30 30 Mason’s Diary

    ?Evelyn''s days quickly passed by as she learned thengue of this world, so that she could read the books Mason had left for her.


    It had already been eighty days since she hade to find the gift her brother had left to her, and she had made a great deal of progress.


    She had recently achieved a rudimentary understanding of this world''sngue, and could now read and understand about ny percent of what was written in the books that had been left for her.


    Of course, she could not read very fast and quite often had to reference thengue guidebook, but at least now she had the minimum understanding needed to get through the books and obtain the knowledge held within them.


    Still, the question was which one to start with first.


    She had skimmed through the first couple of pages of each of the seventeen books that she had here, in part as practice and in order to understand what was held within each book.


    ''I suppose I really should start with this one.''


    Picking up her brother''s diary, Evelyn felt a sense of trepidation about reading it.


    All she had left of her brother was in this book, and once she read it, she would know exactly what happened to him.


    A part of her really wanted to leave this a mystery in hopes that she could believe that maybe her brother had a great life that was devoid of any hardship.


    Nevertheless, she knew she needed to read what was within this book and opened it up to the first page.


    The start of the dairy was pretty much entirely in thengue they knew back from Earth.


    It detailed how Mason had been born into a highly prestigious family in a ce called Ultak Empire.


    Apparently, they were one of five major ns in this empire and inferior only to the imperial family.


    Reading this Evelyn felt a bit envious, since it seemed that Mason got just about as good a start as he could have.


    He was born to a rich and powerful family and never had to worry about much of anything.


    Not to mention he apparently had the best teachers for learning magic and was considered a prodigy.


    However, while the first thirty or so pages just detailed his early life, when he reached twenty-seven and developed the magic to peer into fate, his goals shifted as he tried to find Evelyn.


    It seemed that he thought she might be in this world as well and wanted to find her if he could.


    Unfortunately, all he found was that she did not exist in this world yet and was destined to die a violent death.


    After that his writing became a bit more fanatical, talking about he was going to do something save her.


    The entries at this point became a lot more sparse and shorter as he only updated it about once every year giving progress updates.


    Yet this was when Evelyn realized something weird. She was about two thirds of the way through the diary now and going by the dates her brother should have been somewhere around seventy years old.


    But the man she saw in the recording looked around thirty and the diary was not even near the end yet, which is probably when he would have made this ce.


    ''He has not really addressed the magic in this world in detail, but is it possible that there is a way for people to prolong their lives? Or do humans just live longer in this world?''


    Continuing on she finally got to the point where he figured out that if she obtained the heavenly me that was his family''s greatest treasure, her fate was no longer guaranteed to end in death.


    Unfortunately, other than that, he was not certain what would happen since her fate became very obscured, but at least it meant she had a chance.


    The next entry after this one was by far the longest gap being about five years, and it detailed how he was sessful in stealing the me from his family.


    He had prepared years for it and finally he got his hands on the heavenly me and made a run for it.


    Naturally his family was enraged and sent all manner of experts after him, but he barely managed to avoid or beat them back by looking into his own fate.


    Quickly Evelyn shot through the next few pages that told of how Mason avoided his family while collecting more supplies to leave for her.


    Then finally she came to thest few pages where he arrived at this abandoned ruin far from his home.


    He had been continuously divining his own and Evelyn''s fate, and his magic had pointed him here, to practically the edge of the world.


    This was the ce he had found where she was eventually going to end up and find the resources he had left for her.


    The next few entries went over how he used earth magic to dig this ce out, and what kind of things he thought might be good to leave for Evelyn.


    Sadly, he did not have all the time in the world to stick around here or eventually he would be found out.


    Finally, Evelyn made it to thest entry which was far different from the rest, which were just ounts of Mason''s life or what actions he had been taking.


    This entry unlike the others, was a direct letter to Evelyn.


    ''Hey there Evie, I guess you finally made it to the end of my diary. When I just finished reading through it, I realized that I did not leave you much useful information. Though really when I first wrote it, I was not nning on leaving it to you, so I suppose that is to be expected. Anyway, back to what I really wanted to say. This world is a dangerous ce full of beasts and monsters you probably cannot imagine, and magic that can be wielded in many forms. I just wanted to tell you to be careful and to never get full of yourself even if you get strong. There is always someone more powerful than you in this world, and for every magic there is a counter, so never be conceited. I have taken my fair share of losses by thinking myself above others and only gotten out alive by the skin of my teeth. Now on the next page I left a rmendation for what order you should read the other books in. Of course, if you already know something feel free to skip over it, I just left everything I could for you here. Oh, and in the cab to the far right of the room I left a catalog of all of the items I left you, along with descriptions. This is thest thing I am going to be able to leave to you, but good luck. I pray for you sess and happiness this time.


    Sincerely, Your Older Brother Mason.


    P.S. I nearly forgot to mention what that first room was about. As I said in the recording that is a decoy in case someone else finds this ce first. That storage amulet just contains a few kinds of rare items in it, and in the message, I ask whoever found it to get revenge against my family for me in return for the amulet and its contents. You do not need to worry about this, as I do not really hold any sort of grudge against my family. Even though it is likely that one of their agents will kill me in the future.


    Okay, now this really is thest thing I will write, or I will be at this forever.


    Take care Evelyn, I love you.''

 Chapter 31 31 Knowledge And Advancement

    ?Once she was finished reading thest message that Mason had left to her, tears began to run down Evelyn''s eyes and onto his diary.


    She now had nothing left of her brother and had read his final words to her.


    Still this only strengthened her resolve to move forward and try and find a way to reunite with him, even if he had died again.


    Both of them had already died once and ended up on this strange knew world full of magic. So, it should be possible for her to meet with him again.


    ''Now what order does he want me to read the other books in.''


    Turning thest page of the diary she found the order that her brother was encouraging her to read the books in.


    ''Well, the first couple are certainly the ones I am most interested in.''


    Putting down Mason''s diary, Evelyn flew over to the book shelve and took out the one she was most wanted to read.


    She had already read the first couple of pages as practice and to figure out exactly what was in it, but now was the time for her to really get into it.


    ''It is time. I will finally understand what this world''s magic is about.''


    Opening up the book that was titled ''Beginners Manual to Magic'' Evelyn excitedly started reading.


    There was much she did not know about this world, and the most important was definitely the magic within it.


    She so far had gained a few powers, but she was still unclear of how they worked, or what exactly this magical energy within her was.


    ''Okay yeah, I get it. Magic is not something to be yed around with and it requires dedication and responsibility. Just get to good stuff.''


    Flipping through the first pages, she skipped past the long introduction she had already read most of and went straight for the first section on magic.


    Once there she began reading intently, thengue guide right next to her to help with any words she did not know, or when she needed help with the actual meaning of words that could be different in certain contexts.


    Quickly she read through the first section and learned a decent amount about how magic worked in this world.


    First that there was magical energy in the air and that with certain techniques it could be absorbed within the body to create something called a magic core, and to enhance a person''s body to make it far stronger.


    This was the very basics of magic and was the start to learning to wield the fundamental forces of the world.


    Still as Evelyn read this, she now understood better what one of the other books was and went over to grab it, her excitement rising.


    Though when she said book, it was actually just more of stack of papers that had been put together in a binding.


    Opening it up she looked them over and realized that these were definitely the techniques the book had been talking about, though they were sectioned off into ways she did not quite understand.


    ''I think that this word means foundation which is what was mentioned in the book. But the next one definitely says water. Oh whatever, I will just try this one first.''


    Taking out the one that was titled foundation, Evelyn went to work on trying it out.


    She waspletely consumed by the thought of trying to make a mana core and begin the path of magic in this world, that she had not stopped to read more and had neglected some obvious questions.


    Reading over the technique she found that it required a certain oil to be applied to the body in the form of specific symbols in order to work.


    ''Damn now I need this ver, ven, wer, oh whatever oil. I do not need to know its actual name for it to work.''


    Flying over to the cab where her brother said he had left the catalog of items, she opened the drawer and found exactly what she was looking for.


    She highly doubted her brother would leave her a technique she could not use and began going through the catalog to find the oil she needed.


    ''Bingo!''


    Looking through it, she found the oil pretty quickly as the twentieth item on the list. and now knew where it was stored.


    ''An item used to stimte the absorption of magical energy into the body. Very effective for use in forming a mana core and used in many high-grade techniques. Located on the right side of the bottom shelve third from the left of the entrance.''


    With this knowledge, Evelyn hastily flew over towards this shelve and found the oil stored within a sealed jar that had runes carved into it.


    Grabbing the jar, she hastily flew over to the center of the room and got ready to apply the symbols onto her body in the correct locations.


    ''Well, I do not have human anatomy, but I can just put the symbols, on the closest equivalent.''


    Once she had memorized the symbols and their approximate cements on her body, she popped the top off and began applying the oil.


    Of course, this was far harder than she originally thought it would be. As her feet could not reach the majority of her body, and the tip of her wing did not make the best apparatus to apply the oil.


    Eventually though with use of her ability to lower gravity, she was able to keep the oil from running off of her as quickly, and sessfully applied all of the symbols to her body.


    ''Now I just need to open myself up to the energy in the air and begin absorbing it.''


    Focusing on her surroundings, Evelyn had already gotten used to the feeling of magical energy in the air, but now on the areas where she had applied the oil she felt even more sensitive to its presence.


    Honing in on this sense, she tired drawing the magical energy in through the symbols, and while it did seem to have some effect. It felt obstructed, like there was a massive object blocking the flow.


    As is this happened, she tried to force the magical energy into her body, but to little sess.


    She did not know what the problem was, but she figured that maybe it was due to her different anatomy as an owl.


    However, right before she was about to give up for now, the Aethersphere began humming, and the gravity around her became denser as the magical energy seemed to be drawn in.


    Within just a few moments, all of the ambient magical energy in the room was drawn to her and began flowing in through the symbols drawn on her body.


    It quickly became ufortable as so much energy converged within her, but she stuck it out and focused on the magical energy.


    The next part of the technique detailed that once she had collected enough energy, she needed to will it towards her center and form the core.


    Luckily, she already had practice moving the magical energy inside her body, and soon the massive amount she had collected from the foundation technique and the Aethersphere''s assistance began to coalesce.


    Hours went by like this as Evelyn absorbed more magical energy and sent it towards the forming magic core in her body, until she suddenly felt it be solid object.


    It felt like a small pebble within her, but she could tell that it was filled with magical energy.


    Yet what she did not realize at the time was how miraculous what she had just aplished was, as no beast at her level ever should have been able to form a magic core the way humanoids did.

 Chapter 32 32 Difference Between Beasts And People

    ?Evelyn having formed her magic core copsed onto the ground exhausted.


    It had been a harrowing experience to absorb the ambient magic energy in the air into her body andpress it until it formed a core within her.


    However, as soon as she copsed, her magic core which should not have existed within her began to resonate with the beast core she had been born with.


    It was at this moment when she realized something she had missed, being caught up in the moment of trying to form a magic core.


    ''If a magic core was necessary for someone to use magic, why have I already been able to do so?''


    Her magic and the magic her parents used was definitely different from what she had seen from the humans.


    Also, it seemed that every beast had a stone within their bodies that was filled with magical energy, and Evelyn now thinking about it realized that this was probably simr to the magic core that humans had.


    ''I do not know enough. I just jumped right into it because I was so excited, but Mason did not know that I was going to end up as a beast, so he directed me towards the way he had learned magic. Damn, I just do not know enough.''


    Understanding that she had jumped the gun, Evelyn forced herself up and pulled out another book.


    This one was about beasts, and she now thought that this one honestly should have been the first one she should have read.


    She had just gotten so caught up with finally being able to learn magic, that she had not stopped to consider the differences between humans and beasts at the time.


    But now she was worried that she had done something wrong and opened up the book on beasts and began reading.


    Hours passed by as she did so, cramming as much knowledge as she could into her head until she literally began to wobble from fatigue.


    Still, while she had not learned everything, she had figured out a great deal that answered many of her questions.


    First off, she learned that beasts were unlike humans who were not born with the ability to use magic.


    Every beast was born with something called a beast core that contained magical energy and grew stronger over time.


    And unlike people that needed special techniques to absorb magical energy, beasts could absorb it just by breathing the air.


    However, this was just one way that they increased their magical energy and apparently the most effective method for beasts was to consume the cores of other beasts or magically enriched nts.


    Of course, there was a lot of spection about beasts'' evolution that Evelyn really did not understand, but she did learn that they were ssified into six ranks and broken into four tiers within these ranks, starting at low, then mid, high, and finally peak.


    The first rank was something called a wild beast, and these were from what Evelyn could understand, pretty much just normal beast that had no magical powers for the most part.


    Then the second rank was something called a fiend beast which was where a beast started to gain control over its magical affinity, typically grew in size, and got a lot stronger physically.


    After that was something called an awakened beast that had gained full control over their magical affinity and were far stronger than a fiend beast. Also, at this level apparently some beasts gained an awakening of intelligence. Though the book did not detail exactly why this happened, just that certain beasts were more likely to gain this intelligence.


    For the next three tiers the book pretty much just had their ssifications written in it without any real descriptions other than that they were all incredibly dangerous.


    The fourth rank was ssified as a tyrant beast, the fifth rank a sovereign beast, and the sixth and highest was called a cmity beast.


    Now having a grasp of beasts, Evelyn understood that she was probably what they referred to as a fiend beast, since she figured what had happened to her after eating that silver plum was an evolution.


    ''So, I must be at the low tier of the second rank, at least ording to human standards. I wonder what my parents were at. And what about that serpent? Was it at the fourth rank, maybe the fifth, or was it all the way at the top?''


    Without a proper scale to judge the power of the beasts that she had seen, she had no way to know exactly what level the had been at.


    Learning all of this Evelyn now had a decent understanding of what beasts were, at least from the perspective of humans.


    Still there was a lot she did not know about humans and figured she would need to delve deeper into the book on magic to find out more.


    Unfortunately, she was exhausted to the point of nearly copsing, and did not have the capacity to read any more for now.


    ''I will get some sleep, and first thing tomorrow I will read some more to truly figure out the difference between beasts and humans.''


    Copsing on the spot, Evelyn closed her eyes and slept. Recharging her exhausted body.


    When she opened her eyes again, the first thing she did was grab the book on magic and continued where she left off.


    This time she did not stop until she had finished reading the entire book which took her the entire day.


    Nevertheless, the effort was worth it since now she knew that the path of magic was far different for humans than it was for beasts.


    Unlike beasts who were born with or may obtain an affinity for a type of magic through evolution. Humans were able to choose their affinity depending on what techniques they trained in and theirpatibility.


    ''So, the basic affinities are water, wind, fire, earth, and metal. While advanced ones are nature, lighting, sound, light, and darkness. Though the book says that other concepts such life and death can be used as a basis for magic and that there were numerous other affinities that could be discovered.''


    Shaking her head Evelyn was starting to get a headache from how confusing this all was.


    There were the basic and advanced elements, but then also certain concepts could be used to create magic which is what she figured Mason had done with fate.


    Still, this was only mentioned vaguely in the book which was mostly about creating a foundation in magic by strengthening the magic core.


    At least she did find out that like beasts, humans had tiers as well.


    Humans that had just formed their cores were at the initiate rank, then those that had strengthened their cores enough reached the Acolyte rank. After that the book did not detail what ssified the other ranks, but just said that their magic cores had obtained the necessary magical energy.


    ''So that is what Mason meant in his diary when he wrote he had reached the Acolyte rank.''


    Now having a bit of context for what Mason had written. Evelyn opened his diary again and looked through it trying to find the ces where Mason said he reached new ranks.


    There she found that he reached what was called the mage rank which was the third rank at the age of sixteen, he reached the fourth rank called Arcanist at forty-one, and finally the fifth rank of magi at one hundred thirteen, just a year before he made this ce for Evelyn.


    ''I guess he did not make it to the final rank which is called archmagi. Still if he was at the second highest rank, he must have been pretty strong, but I guess as he left me in hisst message that there is always someone stronger than you are.''


    With her understanding of this world''s magic now far better than it ever had been. Evelyn leaned back and began analyzing everything she had just learned so that she could try to discern her situation better.

 Chapter 33 33 Learning About The World

    ?Once Evelyn had finished collecting her thoughts on her current situation, she was left with plenty of unanswered questions and whole handful of theories.


    ''I am not sure why I was able to make a magic core when I am a beast. From what I found in the books, there is no mention of beasts with magic cores, but it is just beginners'' book. Sadly, it is the only one I have, as apparently it been best to figure out your own path past the foundation of creating and strengthening your magic core.''


    Sighing, Evelyn could not be sure exactly what it meant for her to be able to form a magic core.


    She figured that maybe it was something all beasts could do but these books did not mention it, or perhaps it was due to her having a human soul. She also figured the Aethersphere had some role to y in it, but how much she did not know.


    Mason had left her a good amount of general knowledge, but at this point she was already far from ordinary.


    From the moment she had been born into this world, she was an anomaly. A person''s soul from another world born into the body of an owl.


    Without anyone or anything else topare her situation to, she simply did not know how outside the norm she waspared to others.


    ''I suppose I will just have to venture out into the world and figure somethings out on my own. Though I do not want anything to do with any people.''


    Trying to think about where she might get more information, Evelyn remembered that the book on beasts said that beasts that reached the awakened rank sometimes gain intelligence.


    ''Maybe I can find a friendly awakened beast that does not want to kill me and can teach me more about this world.''


    Laughing despairingly at this thought, Evelyn pretty much already considered that every other beast wanted her dead, and humans either wanted the same or to run terrible experiments on her.


    ''Well, I will get to that point when it arrives. For now, I need some rest and have more reading to do tomorrow.''


    Moving over to the bed she perched herself on top of it and slept. Until she was back at her peak and ready for more reading the next day.


    Going back to her books she opened up the next one which was a as of the continent she was on.


    It had very detailed information of the surrounding areas and the names of the nations that made up this continent.


    Unfortunately, whether any of this information was still urate was impossible for Evelyn to know.


    This as had already been old when Mason first obtained it, and from what had had gathered everything here had been sitting around at least a few hundred years.


    That made the as probably at the youngest six hundred years old as far as Evelyn could tell. So by now the entire continent could look different.


    Still, it was all she had so she opened it up and began reading about the powers that ruled this continent.


    Quickly she found the Ultak empire that Mason had been born in, and it was certainly one of the strongest powers on the continent as far as Evelyn could see.


    There were four veryrge nations that controlled the majority of the continent, with one being the Ultak empire.


    Then there were a few dozen smaller vassal kingdoms or territories scattered around these nations.


    But there were from what she found in the as nine nations that werepletely independent of the continent''s four major powers, and one of them caught her attention.


    It was called the free city of Atsab and from the information in the as apparently this nation was a strange ce where beasts and people were wee and roamed the streets as equals.


    ''Hm, apparently a really powerful group of both people and beasts are spected to rule this ce. But this was centuries ago. For all I know it could have been burned to the ground or taken over by one of the four major powers by now.''


    Putting this ce to the back of her mind, Evelyn decided that she would revisit whether it was best for her to head there at ater time.


    Her information was outdated, and if she went on the assumptions that it was all still correct, she was likely to get burned.


    Continuing to look through the as, she found something else that piqued her interest.


    Many times, she came across ces that were spected to be high in magic crystals and she had seen this term before in Mason''s diary.


    Pulling out his diary as well as a book onmon magic items, Evelyn went searching for what these crystals were.


    Luckily, she did not have to search long or hard as they were actually the first thing detailed in the book.


    Reading through it she found that these crystals had dozens of uses in this world and were actually the foundation of its economy.


    They were the corepetent in any magical device and were used as ingredients in alchemy from what she read.


    But that was not all, they were also used to create dense areas or magical energy that could speed up the growth of someone''s magic core. Though the book did say that a special device was needed to turn these crystals that were solid forms of magical energy, back into the gaseous form that permitted the air and could be easily absorbed by people.


    They also came in six forms with each form above the next being considered ten times more valuable than the one below it. The weakest being green in color, followed by blue, then red, after that was purple, the second highest was silver, and the best was gold.


    ''Wait, magic crystals! I remember that was one of the first thing on the catalog of items Mason gave me.''


    Pulling up the catalog Evelyn found magic crystals third on the list, right under something called a storage amulet.


    However, unlike most of the items, these crystals were actually put within one of the storage amulets Mason had left.


    Flipping through the book again Evelyn found what these storage amulets were, and they were exactly what she had been expecting.


    ''Interdimensional storage spaces. It says that they are a rare item that are expensive and difficult to make. Still Mason left me three not including that one he had set up as a decoy.''


    Flying over to the storage amulet that was supposed to have the magic crystals in it, she grabbed it off the shelve it was hanging on.


    Then as the book had said, she tried channeled her magical energy into it, and suddenly her mind was filled with information.


    She was now able to see all of the items stored within this storage amulet, which was full of magic crystals.


    ''Four thousand six hundred thirty-four green ones, three hundred ny-eight blue, just twenty-six red ones, and three purple.''


    Using her magical link to the amulet Evelyn pulled out one of the green crystals and looked at it.


    She wondered if like the cores of other beasts or magically enriched nts, and if she could eat it to get stronger.


    Sadly, she did not have any instinctual drive to consume this crystal, and when she tired biting into it she found it too hard to crack.


    ''Well, I suppose that it had plenty of other uses.'' Evelyn thought as she put it back into the amulet.


    She had learned a lot today about the world around her even if the information was outdated, and her time to leave was fast approaching.


    ''Only eight more days until I need to leave. In that time, I need to read and understand everything that Mason left me, and finally get a true grasp on what magic is and how to use it.''

 Chapter 34 34 Out Into The World

    ?''Okay, I think I got everything I can.''


    The eight days Evelyn had left before it was time for her to leave her sanctuary had finally arrived.


    Naturally she wished she could stay longer to prepare more, but Mason had warned her that something bad was likely to happen if she stuck around any longer.


    She had just finished storing the most valuable and useful items that had had left into her four storage amulets and was getting ready to leave.


    Unfortunately, Mason had left an excessive amount of materials, so she had to leave a few things behind. Though none of what she was not taking was super valuable.


    Mostly it was just extra supplies for different types of crafting professions in case she wanted to weave magical clothing, inscribe enchanted items, or other simr things.


    Unfortunately, Evelyn could not even effectively do most sort of crafts since as an owl she did not have hands.


    Still when reading about different jobs that focused primarily on magic, she had found one that she could do.


    She had found that for alchemy, she did not need her hands, as she could ce any ingredients into a cauldron and could stir by using her beak


    Of course, while Mason had supplied her with a cauldron to use and some simple ingredients, it was not like she could be an expert in a couple of days.


    All she had sessfully made with her few attempts was a huge mess, but she felt that she was getting the hang of it slowly.


    The biggest problem was that it was necessary to use a magically charged fire to heat the caldron, but her control over the heavenly me was still pretty much nothing.


    At best she could keep a small me out for a couple of minutes, and anything else would go out of control and cause a huge explosion.


    Nevertheless, she still believed that trying her hand at alchemy was the way to go, since it would allow her to make many useful items.


    She could create potions, pills, oils, and even poisons once she had developed her skills.


    These items could have various effects from what she read in the book Mason had left about alchemy. From healing wounds, to quickly replenishing magical energy just to name a couple.


    But while she had been trying her hand a bit at alchemy, what she had really been doing most of the time was strengthen her magic core.


    She had found that it hadpounded with and boosted her beast core, and that the stronger it got, the more powerful her magic could be.


    Now she was able to increase and decrease gravity to around three and half times less of more in a diameter of twelve feet, and her gusts of wind had be a lot stronger.


    Along with that she had enhanced her already physically strong body with the magical energy from her magic core, making her a bit tougher than before.


    All in all, she had gotten a bit stronger and created a solid foundation for herself in these ny days.


    She was around an intermediate level with thengue of this continent, and she had learned at least a bit about the world. Even if her information was outdated.


    Sadly, there was one very important thing she found she was incapable of.


    Human spells required both specific hand motions and to speak the name of the spell begin cast in order to activate.


    In this way they took the raw form of a person''s magical energy and affinity and created moreplex effects than what could be used just exerting magical energy.


    That was why her parents magic was much less focused than the man who had taken them down.


    With his spells he was able to create specific phenomenon like manifesting two massive hands of earth or covering himself in ayer stone that gave him an impable defense and made his body a weapon.


    So, while Evelyn could create gusts of wind shot out a small burst of fire, and lower and raise the gravity around her. The control over her powers were minimal.


    She had even tried casting some of the wind magic spells that Mason had left behind but found that she simply could not get them to work.


    This was just another difference between beasts and humans.


    ''It is time to go.''


    With everything she could carry with her Evelyn exited the room that had been her home for thest ny days.


    Looking back as she exited the ce, she felt a sense of sorrow for having to leave her temporary base.


    It was the first ce she had felt safe for the first time since her family had been captured by the humans in the woods.


    This was a ce that also had a connection to her brother and contained thest remnants of his existence in this world.


    ''Thank you for leaving this to me Mason. It was more help than you will ever know. I promise to one day find you and thank you for it.''


    After onest look she left her temporary abode and closed the hidden wall to seal the ce off.


    Then she pped her wings and took to the air. Beginning the journey through the long and winding tunnel that would take her back to the surface.


    Soon she made it to thedder that would take her to cer of thergest house in the ruins above.


    When she had climbed up, she could see just the faintest bit of moonlight shinning down from the open cer doors.


    Flying out of the cer and then the house, she once again came out into the open air.


    Taking a deep breath, Evelyn enjoyed the crisp cool night air. Before turning her gaze towards the moon that was full and bright.


    It seemed to have an almost golden color tonight. Different from its normal very pale yellow that bordered on being white.


    ''It looks like it is a good night for me to finally begin my journey out into the world.'' Evelyn though as she gazed at the moon.


    She then turned her body towards it and continued flying in the direction it rose into the sky. Having decided to follow where it would lead her.

 Chapter 35 35 Evelyn’s Siblings

    ?While Evelyn was busy strengthening herself and obtaining the knowledge that her original human brother Mason had left. Her new owl siblings were alive and had their own hardships to deal with.


    First was Evelyn''s little sister, who had been left all alone in the nest with no one to ever return.


    She had waited for days for her parents and siblings toe back. Following their mother''sstmand to her and staying inside the nest.


    Yet on the third day she became far too hungry to wait any longer, and the reality that no one was evering back set in for her.


    With no other option she left the nest in search of food. Even though at this point she had only ever practiced hunting once, and that had been under the supervision of her mother.


    Still her instincts were sharp, and she was able to find some prey to eat and fill her belly.


    The days went on like this for her for nearly two weeks after her family had been captured, until the day her life was uprooted.


    One day when she returned home after hunting, she found that a new resident had taken over her nest, and it was one of those chameleon-like beasts that had nearly killed Evelyn when she was still a child.


    Unfortunately for Evelyn''s sister, this was a full grown one that was a peak wild beast that she had no chance against.


    In fact, when she returned home, she was almost tagged by its tongue, and only managed to avoid it thanks to her heightened senses that warned her of the iing attack.


    With her home now upied by a beast she stood no chance against and with no one else to rely on. She was forced to seek shelter elsewhere, and had to leave the home she had always lived in.


    Still, unlike Evelyn who had a human mind, her sister still only had the intelligence of a normal owl. Which while not insignificant, was not enough for her to be highly emotional about her loss.


    Her instincts kept her going, giving her drive to survive in this harsh and unfair world full of dangers.


    She simply kept on living her life in the woods. Finding a ce to stay where she could, until something stronger pushed her out.


    Truthfully, she was lucky to have survived. But she strived on and slowly began getting strong.


    Of course, she did not have a rapid explosion of growth like Evelyn had, thanks to being given resources everyday by those at the facility. Though, after months of surviving on her own, she eventually reached the peak power she could as a wild beast.


    She had fought many difficult battles and barely was able to survive at times, but she managed to keep on going and gained strength for her efforts.


    Nevertheless, it was at this point the woods that had once seemed so full of resources, were now devoid of what she needed to get stronger. Which she had an innate desire to do as all beasts did.


    This was when she began her own journey out of the deands, that was nearly devoid of magical energy. In search of a ce that could make her stronger.


    However, while Evelyn''s sister''s life was not a walk in the park, it was like a happy fairytale inparison to what happened to her brother.


    He had undergone the same torment that Evelyn had. Being captured by humans and locked away in a cage.


    Just like his sister he had watched their parents be brutally killed, before watching Evelyn undergo the same experiment.


    Luckily she had managed to survive, but after that day he did not see his sister again for quite some time.


    His days after that were spent locked in a small cage and given just barely enough to not die.


    Quickly he became filthy, and the captivity began to drive him mad.


    He had been all but forgotten, and in some ways his treatment was worse than Evelyn''s.


    Certainly, she may have been poked, prodded, cut open, and electrocuted, among other things. But she was given arge enough encloser to fly around in, and more than enough to eat every day.


    Her brother was instead left in a small, confined space given barely enough to survive. Just in case he was needed for any future experiments.


    His life during this time truly was pitiful.


    Sadly, it only got worse from there. When the facility came under attack from an outside force, his cage was broken free from the wall, but it still stayed closed, locking him in.


    Yet a glimmer of hope did arrive, when he saw his sister appear out from arge hole that had been created by one of the human''s magic.


    He tried calling out to her, but his beak had been damaged, and he was unable to open it to let out a sound.


    Rattling his cage was all he could do in a bid to get her attention, but she just seemed to ignore him from his point of view.


    Surely, he had thought she woulde to rescue him now as she had when he had been caught in that trap.


    But she did not. He watched as she did not even look for him, and he saw her escape on her own. Leaving him to die a horrible death confined in a cage.


    After that all that was left was bittiness and hopelessness.


    There was little doubt in his mind that he was going to die here.


    Not long after though, one of the humans that had attacked the ce found him and took his cage.


    He wondered if maybe they might set him free, a glimmer of hopeing to him.


    Unfortunately, when he was presented to this other human with blond hair, they quickly threw him away like trash. Leaving him in the cage to rot.


    This seemed like it was likely to be the end, but two dayster, after the humans that had attacked this ce had long since left, another man showed up.


    He came down from the sky and began looking around the ce, mumbling something that Evelyn''s brother did not understand.


    "This is just great. I finally got my hands on a treasure that fell from above and, it gets taken before my ipetent subordinates have even figured it out. I told them to be careful not to leave any trail.


    DAMN IT!"


    Having been watching the man intently, Evelyn''s brother went wide eyed as he heard the man yell loudly, before mming his foot into the ground.


    This man generated enough force with that one move to shake the ground and split it open like an earthquake had just hit the area.


    Fear welling up inside him, Evelyn''s brother thought he was going to be swallowed up by the earth as it cracked apart.


    However, before he fell to his certain death, the man seemed to warp in front of him and catch the falling cage.


    "Hm, looks like one of the beasts they were researching on. I suppose that you will tell me what I want to know."


    The man then said something which obviously Evelyn''s brother did not understand. Then in an instant, the door to his cage was ripped off by this man.


    Thinking that he was being freed, he moved to leave the cage only to be grabbed by this man''s hand and forcefully yanked out.


    His grip was like a vice and there was no means of resistance that Evelyn''s brother could offer.


    A momentter he felt as if his mind was being crushed as this man invaded his memories and searched through them.


    "I see, so that is what happened. Those empire scum attacked and destroyed my facility. But at least there is some good news. They did not get their hands on the item."


    Now done with Evelyn''s brother who he had left in a vegetative state after ripping the memories right from his mind, the man paused before throwing him away.


    This owl in his grasp was the brother of the one that had his divine item in it, and it was possible that it could be of some use still.


    ''I will go check their original nest, and if it is not there. Maybe this brother will be able to help me find his sister eventually.''

 Chapter 36 36 Days Of Travel, Fighting, And Progress

    ?Continuing to fly in the direction of where the moon rose, Evelyn made her way across the world with no real destination in mind.


    Currently all she really wanted to do was get away from where her original home and ce of capture was.


    So, she flew on hoping to one day find a ce she could call her new home, and advance her power and understand of this world''s magic in order to maybe one day reunite with her brother.


    Still, she was currently in the vast open grasnd she had found herself in, and she knew this was not the ce for her.


    At the very least there were plenty of opportunities for her to test out her new power as these grasnds were full of beasts around the same level as her.


    Currently she was fighting a group of those possum wolverinebo beasts that had seemed to taken over each of the trees that sparsely dotted this savanna.


    Flying around the tree she avoided the sts of acid that they were all firing off, and when she saw an opening, she swooped in and sent out a gust of wind that knocked one of them out of the tree.


    Then while it was helpless on the ground she would drop down and dig her talons into it as she took back off into the air.


    ''That''s eight.'' She thought as she dropped another one into the pile of bodies she was building up.


    Unfortunately, for the beasts she was fighting, they stood no real chance against her.


    As long as she yed it carefully and picked them off one at a time, they had no way to actually hurt here.


    Their acid attacks were too slow, and if any got anywhere close to hitting her, she could just bat it away with a gust of wind.


    Eventually she finally killed them all, as they refused to run away from the tree that was their home even to thest one of them.


    Now she had a huge pile of neen dead bodies she was not sure what to do with.


    Certainly, she could eat a couple of them, but the rest would just soon begin to rot, or more likely attract other beasts.


    ''I guess I will take two to eat and remove the beast ores from the rest of them. Then I will need to drop their bodies off a little way away so that I do not have any curious scavengers bothering me.''


    Having figured out what she was going to do, she pulled two of therger ones back up into the tree, before removing the beast cores from the rest and hauling their dead bodies around a thousand feet away.


    Once that was done, she enjoyed her meal and quickly swallowed down all of their beast cores to make herself stronger.


    She could feel the magical energy within them permeating into her body and strengthening her own core.


    However, she was not finished yet as she next pulled out the oil necessary for the magical energy absorption technique that would make her magic core stronger.


    Maybe she was an abomination for having both a human''s magical center and a beast''s, but it made her quite a bit stronger than she would have been otherwise.


    Hours quickly went by as she absorbed the magical energy in her surroundings.


    She was like a massive vacuum sucking in huge amounts of energy as the Aethersphere aided in her technique''s effectiveness and drew in more magical energy than would seem possible.


    In fact, her technique''s output was as high as any foundation technique the people of this world had developed, and her progress in both the strengthening of her beast and human powers were incredibly fast and of a high caliber.


    Eventually she exhausted herself having taken in the limits of magical energy her body could handle, and soon slipped into unconsciousness while perched in the tree she had won.


    When she awoke after having slept through the majority of the day, she continued her journey anew. Flying fairly low over the grasnds where she currently found herself.


    Yet while she tried to not gain too much altitude to avoid being easily visible, that did not mean other beast would not see her.


    One such beast that did see hering was an expert on catching flying prey.


    Bounding through the tall grass, it moved swiftly and stealthily towards Evelyn who had not yet noticed its presence.


    ''Crap.''


    Seeing the beast that was hunting her only as it pressed its body down to leap up into the air, Evelyn had no time to avoid its pounce.


    Bracing herself, she shot a gust of wind towards this cat like beast that looked like a caracal. Only it was twice asrge as the ones on earth.


    Still, her wind gust was hardly enough to stop the momentum of this beast that had used its earth affinity to use the ground like a spring.


    Yet as it closed the distance towards its prey, when it reached within twelve feet, it suddenly felt much heavier, and its momentum began to drop rapidly.


    Smiling, Evelyn could see that this beast that tried to take her by surprise, was astonished itself, as it entered the range of her gravity field.


    Spinning around unaffected by her own magic, she just managed to dodge out of the way as the caracal lost itsposure and failed tond a hit on her.


    Then as it fell down, she decided to go after it, keeping the pressure up with her gravity.


    As the feline beast crashed into the ground it used its powers to soften the earth as it had done countless times.


    However, even thought this lessened the blow, it still hit the ground surrounded by a field of gravity three and half times greater than it was used to and was unable to keep its bnce.


    In that moment Evelyn struck down with her talons and embedded them deep in the caracal''s back.


    Its blood began to pour out as her dagger like talons sliced into it, and it let out a pained screech as its flesh and muscles were torn apart.


    Nevertheless, it was a tough beast that was a bit of a prodigy in its own right, and it turned around to counterattack with its own ws.


    ''Too Slow.''


    Pushing off and letting go, she flew up into the air an easily avoid her attacker''s desperate swipes.


    It was still under the effects of her increased gravity and was not able to move properly, as the amount of force it used to need toplete any sort of action had gone up multiple times.


    Evelyn''s power was simply overwhelming at this level, as most low-tier fiend beast barely had a grasp over their magical affinity, yet she had three fairly well practiced powers she could use.


    In addition to her greater understanding of her powers, she also simply had more of it with her magic core in addition to her beast core making her stronger than pretty much any other beast at the same level as her.


    ''Let me see how this works.''


    Channeling the magical energy inside her towards the heavenly me, she caused it to increase in size and power and brought it forth outside of her body.


    Using all of her focus she willed it not to explode but still found it impossible to control.


    At thest moment to avoid hitting herself, she directed the explosion away from her and created a cushion of wind.


    BOOM!


    Being pushed back by the explosion of her heavenly me, Evelyn pped around rapidly to regain her bearings and keep an eye on her opponent.


    Except her caution appeared to be fruitless, as the caracal that had attacked her was now just a charred mass. Having taken the brunt of the crimson mes.


    Flying down to its smoldering remains, she tore through its body and pulled out its beast core.


    ''Hm it is a bit bigger than the others I have had. Must have been a bit stronger.''


    Eating this beast core, she felt its strength being broken down and added to her own.


    With her spoils of the battle imed, she flew back into the sky and continued on her way. Slowly but surely gaining experience and power as she fought the other beasts within these grasnds.

 Chapter 37 37 Natural Enemy

    ?Around four months went by for Evelyn as she followed the moon and crossed over the vast grasnd she had ended up in.


    During this time she had finally figured out the scale for the map she had, since previously she had no clue how to interpreted what the distance between everything was.


    And now she knew that the world she found herself on was freaking huge.


    She had already flown several thousand miles pretty much in a straight line and she had not exited this savanna yet.


    At the very least she had found that this savanna had plenty of resources for her to use and had leveled up her abilities some more.


    Her magic core had reached the beginning stages of the second level which was the acolyte rank.


    Now not only did it resonate even more with her beast core which was at the mid-tier of the fiend beast rank, but her body was now much stronger than it had been before.


    She had found herself able to tank hits from beasts bigger than herself and exert feats of strength that would not be expected even from a six-foot-tall owl.


    Along with the increase in her personal power she had finally figured out how to make very basic alchemical concoctions.


    So far, she had a sess rate of around twenty percent and had created two of each a basic healing salve and a magical energy recovery potion.


    Of course, each of these items had to be stored in special bottles that she had a limited supply of that Mason has left for her, and really their effects were not that great.


    Though Mason had actually left her some higher-grade alchemical items which were far better than what she could make for now.


    Still, it was good for her to grow her skills so that one day she might be able to make things that she would otherwise not have ess to.


    Unfortunately, one area she had made little progress in was control over her magical abilities.


    She could cause bigger phenomenon, but overall, her control over what she was creating with her magic wasckluster in her opinion.


    Gusts of wind, small shots of her heavenly me, and increasing and decreasing gravity were all she could still do.


    Really, she had been practicing trying to at least create wind des like her parents had, but she just could not seem to make the wind precise enough.


    It was always just a blunt push and while at her best she could hit with the force of a car going around forty miles an hour, that was it.


    Sadly, it seemed to her right now that she would have to figure out some way to convert the human spells that Mason had left her into something she could use, or she would forever be stuck with what she considered basic magic.


    Nevertheless, she kept going on starting to get sick of the grasnd she was in as she had found that it was getting difficult to find decent prey.


    The beasts had either started to get too weak or too strong.


    Multiple times she had seen packs of beasts roaming around and they were led by beasts she stood no chance against, with one standing out in particr.


    She had spotted a pride of lions and the leading male was the size of a tank and she felt an oppressive auraing from it even around a mile away.


    Having seen this Evelyn was certain that it was an awakened beast, as it felt stronger than every other beast she had seen, except one.


    While this lion was impressive it still palled inpassion to the serpent she had seen guarding the flower that reached high into the sky. Which felt like a mounting so tall she could not see the peak of it.


    Still the lions she saw from a distance was strong enough for her survival instincts to tell her to stay as far away as possible.


    Luckily they paid her no mind, and she was able to continue on her way.


    Eventually she did finally make it to the edge of the grasnd which began to get lusher and greener the closer she got to the next environment.


    However, while she though she would being up to arge mountain range, instead what she saw was a vast thick jungle.


    ''Um there is definitely supposed to be a mountain range here, right?''


    Quickly finding a safe ce tond she pulled out the as Mason had left her and opened it up to the page that had a detailed map of the continent''s geography.


    Looking at it carefully she moved up and down the grasnds, but in the direction she had been heading, there was no way she should have found a jungle.


    The entire western side of the grasnd was supposed to be bordered by arge mountain range that cut through nearly half of the continent.


    She knew she had been traveling southwest the entire time since that was the direction the moon rose in, and there is no way she should have missed such a massive natural barrier.


    ''Still, that is definitely a jungle in front of me and it looks pretty t from here. I know that environments can change overtime, but mountain ranges do not just disappear in a few hundred or even thousand years. Heck they shouldst millions of years before a drastic shift like this.''


    Looking all around she tried spotting any sign of the mountains that should have been at the edge of the grasnds, but there was nothing but jungle.


    ''Wait I must be thinking about his wrong. It is probably that I am just not near the mountains yet, and this used to be part of the grasnds. Weather patterns probably just changed in this area, and it suddenly got more rainfall causing it to be a jungle instead of a savanna.''


    Coming up with a more logical but actually not urate exnation for why a jungle was here, Evelyn flew back into the air and made her way over to the jungle.


    She figured this would be a good change of pace for her anyway since she was getting tired of the grasnds. Now she would have her pick of trees to use as a temporary shelter without having to fight for one every time.


    Except as she flew into the jungle, she caught the attention of a group of beasts that had been lying in wait for her kind.


    Dropping out of the tree they had been hiding in, they stalked her as she flew through the jungle until they were certain she was alone and swooped in for the attack.


    Suddenly her instincts told her she was in danger, and she picked up the sound of wings cutting through air anding towards her.


    Spinning around and changing her momentum, she moved around a nearby tree and put it between her and her attacker.


    BAM!


    mming into the tree was arge eagle that was easily twelve feet tall, and had Evelyn not dodged she would have been impaled by its talons and pinned to this tree.


    Yet her troubles were far from over, as two more eagles that were just a bit smaller than the first descended around her and had her surrounded on all sides.

 Chapter 38 38 The Eagles Attack

    ?Being surrounded by three veryrge eagles, Evelyn began to panic.


    She could tell from just looking around at them quickly that they were of a higher level than her, all being peak fiend beasts.


    Each one of them radiated an aura just as strong as her parents had, and she knew that there was no way she could win in a fight.


    Maybe if she was against just one of them, she would have some chance if she used her different powers well and out maneuvered them. But against three, she doubted she could win.


    That meant she had really only one option, and that was evasion.


    ''I have lived through way too much to end up being killed by a few eagles.'' Evelyn thought as she steeled herself.


    Luckily these eagles were underestimating her since she was supposed to be much weaker than they were, but she had more tricks up her sleeve than they knew.


    Turning towards the smallest one which was still around elven feet tall and nearly twice as big as her, she charged at full speed towards it.


    Of course, these eagles thought it was just a desperate move, until the one she was aiming at suddenly began to plumet.


    In an instant as it was hovering there, its body suddenly felt nearly four times heavier and its wings were no longer able to keep it aloft with the amount of force it was exerting.


    Using this opening Evelyn slipped past the eagles'' encirclement and flew full speed ahead though the jungle, hoping to lose them.


    Naturally they all quickly gave chase, not willing to let their prey go free so easily.


    It was their mission to kill as many owls as they could, and they were not going to let this especially weak one go.


    Maneuvering through the trees Evelyn tried to give the eagles the slip, but found they were keeping up with her even though she was increasing her speed by lowering her gravity and controlling the wind.


    ''What the hell!?''


    Suddenly feeling her feathers stand on end, she felt an incredible sense of danger and soon heard a crackling sounding from behind her.


    Arching her head around to nce at what was going on, she went wide eyes as she saw sparks of electricity surrounding the lead eagle who was thergest.


    Then a bolt of lightning was fired from its body towards her.


    Barely having any time to react, she spun her body around as the bolt passed right by her and singed a few of her feathers.


    Unfortunately, this maneuver slowed her down, and the other two eagles caught up to her, with one of them mming into her.


    This one was crackling with fire as it hit her, trying to burn her to a crisp.


    Except while at first she thought she was going to get burned, she soon found that she did not feel any pain, and in fact did not feel the slightest bit of difort.


    For her it seemed as if it had just gotten a bit hotter, but no actual damage was being done thanks to her heavenly me that prevented its host from being burned by a lesser power.


    With this stroke of luck and the fact that the eagle had not pierced her with its talons and instead opted to hold onto her own feet to prevent escape or any sort of counterattack, meant that Evelyn was actually pretty much unharmed.


    Switching up her gravity field from lower to higher, she increased the pressure around her and the eagle that was grappling with her.


    Immediately the two of them started falling towards the ground as Evelyn allowed herself to sink like a rock, and the eagle could not support both of their increased weight even as strong as it was.


    Seeing that it was going to crash, the eagle let go of Evelyn and struggled to fly up, while figuring the stupid owl would crash into the ground and they could finish it off with ease.


    Yet as soon as the eagle let her go, she twisted her body around and lowered her gravity, while sending a gust of wind under her to act as a cushion.


    Barely keeping herself from impacting the ground, she flew just inches away from hitting the surface of the jungle, much to these eagle''s surprise.


    They had no idea how this little owl pulled of such a maneuver, or how it had survived being smothered with mes.


    Still, they kept after her, not pondering these questions for long, as while they were not close to stupid, they really only had the intelligence of a normal seven to eight-year-old human child and were just doing as they had been told.


    Keeping after her, these three eagles continuously shot out their elemental attacks at her trying to score a hit.


    But now that she was on the lookout for and was wary of their basic magic attacks, she was easily able to dodge them while flying.


    The only one that could cause her any trouble was the leader''s lightning attacks, and as long as she stayed vignt, she was able predict when they were going toe, since it had to charge up for a few seconds before releasing a bolt.


    Nevertheless, she could not lose them, and was having to use a lot of her magical energy to keep ahead and protect herself.


    At the same time the three eagles were beginning to get impatient. They could not believe that a mid-tier fiend beast was giving them the runaround, when they were at the peak of the rank.


    ''Damn it. Why do they not just give up? They areing after me way more intent than just looking for a meal. They really want me dead.''


    Seeing that shaking these eagles was not going to happen, Evelyn began considering drastic action.


    ''For anyone else in this jungle, do not me me if I burn it all to the ground.''


    Funneling her magical energy to her heavenly me, she caused its power to grow and then channeled it outside of her body behind her.


    BOOM!


    Not even attempting to control the crimson me that boasted immense power, Evelyn let it cause a massive explosion behind her and right towards her eagle pursuers.


    Not expecting this and being caught off guard, all of them tried to stop abruptly and move out of the way of the fiery explosion.


    Two of them were actually sessful, but one of them got caught up in it and their body began to burn.


    Still, this was not enough to kill any of them, for while the heavenly me was powerful, its strength relied on Evelyn''s own, and it simply did not contain enough magical energy to kill the eagle it had hit with one ncing blow.


    And unfortunately, the force of the explosion had propelled Evelyn like a rocket. Causing her to lose control and m headfirst into a tree.


    At the very least her gravity was lowered quite a bit so the damage was less than it could have been, but it still left her stunned for a moment, and the two unhurt eagles caught up to her.


    This time they were not ying around and began using their elemental affinities to their fullest. As the lead eagle began crackling with greater electrical power. and the other began amassing arge amount of fire.


    Being caught off guard and unable to escape, all she could do was stand and fight. So, she began focusing all of her own magical power into wind.


    Yet before they all attacked, tworge spikes made of ice went flying towards the eagles, and they had to drop their concentration to move out of the way from being impaled.

 Chapter 39 39 Ally

    ?Watching the eagles suddenlye under attack from another source, Evelyn was stunned for a moment before moving into action.


    She had built up her full power wind attack and let it loose against thergest eagle who had been giving her trouble with its lightning attacks.


    With its attention diverted this eagle failed to notice her st of wind in time, and its body was hit hard and blown back as if it had just been impacted by a car.


    To make matters worse for it, there was a tall and thick tree behind it, and it impacted hard against it.


    CRACK!


    As it smashed against the tree there was a loud noise and Evelyn was certain it was the the sound of bone cracking.


    Now that she had dealt with one more of the eagles, she turned her gaze towards the direction of the attack that probably saved her life and was surprised to see where it hade from.


    Flying around a hundred feet away was another owl that had nearly pure white feathers except for a few ck ones that created a pattern down its wings and torso.


    Seeing it she was immediately reminded of the snowy owl from back on earth, Though like most beasts on this world, it had grown farrger than its earth counterpart, being around eight feet tall.


    Of course, just because it helped her out here did not mean she was going to trust it. So, while this new owl and the one remaining eagle were currently having a stare down, she got back up and began flying away.


    She was perfectly fine to let the two of them duke it out while she escaped and found somewhere safer to rest.


    Though both the eagle and snowy owl were surprised to see her just get up and run away, as the eagle thought it was about to be double teamed, while the owl thought she would be grateful for its help and stick around.


    However, instead of fighting each other like she had hoped, the eagle flew away not wanting to be killed, and the owl chased after her.


    ''Damn it. Just leave me alone.'' She thought.


    Unfortunately, that did not seem to be happening, so instead she circled around much to the snowy owl''s surprise as she flew right past it.


    ''If I am going to have to deal with this other owl, I might as well get something else first.''


    Soon she made it back to where the eagles had cornered her and found the one she hit trying to limp away, as it could not fly wit one of its wings injured.


    Swooping down silently Evelyn caught it off guard and sunk her talons into its neck.


    As soon as this happened it began violently thrashing around and starting crackling with electricity.


    Immediately she began convulsing from the shocks running through her and she felt an incredible pain all over her body.


    Yet she had endured worse pain before and continued to take it as she dug her talons into one of the beasts that had just tried to kill her.


    Eventually the eagle''s resistance began to wane as blood poured out of its neck, and its body went limp as Evelyn took its life.


    Jumping off of it, she felt quite dizzy from the electrical shocks, but she stayed up and turned towards the other owl which seemed to be waiting for her and was staring intently.


    Standing in front of the now dead eagle she looked at it almost ring, sending it the message that this was her prey.


    Though the other owl seemed to have no interest in the eagle''s body and was insteadpletely focused on Evelyn.


    It slowlynded on the ground not far from her and began glowing faintly.


    Thinking that it was going to attack, Evelyn moved into a defensive posture, ready to flee if she had to.


    Just like the eagles that had attacked her, this owl was at the peak of the fiend beast rank, and she doubted she could win a fight in her current exhausted and injured state.


    Luckily it did not send out any sort of attack, and instead a thin strand of magical energy flew off its body and connected to her.


    As this happened, she heard a voice in her head that said, ''Please to not be afraid. I was only hoping to help you.''


    Hearing this Evelyn was utterly shocked, since this other owl had just spoken inside her head.


    This was something totally new to her, and while it was not actually words that were transmitted, she received the meaning of what the other owl was trying to convey straight into her mind.


    ''Are you doing okay? You look to be a bit injured. Did you need any of my assistance?'' The other owl asked Evelyn.


    Testing out the connection that had been made to her, she tried transmitting her own thoughts to the other owl and it seemed to get through.


    ''No, I am fine. Thank you for your help but I no longer need your assistance. I would prefer if you left now.''


    Naturally she did not trust this new owl. Just because it helped her out did not mean it was not nning something nefarious.


    With the experience she had from both of her lives she had be very untrusting. Believing that any and everyone wanted to do something awful to her, or at least use her in some way.


    It also did not help that everyone that she ever trusted was now dead, and all that remained for her were painful memories.


    Nevertheless, this snowy owl did not immediately take off and leave. Though it did seem saddened by Evelyn''s distrust and hostility towards it.


    ''Are you sure you want me to go? I think it would be better if we stuck together in case anymore eagles'' attack. They are notorious for trying to target us owls when we gather. I assume that you are also heading for the Owls'' Roost, so it would be best to go together.''

 Chapter 40 40 Evelyn’s Decision

    ?A puzzled look on her face, Evelyn had no clue what this snowy owl was talking about.


    She had note here in search of anything in particr and had just ended up here after flying forward in one single direction.


    Also, she was not sure what this Owls'' Roost was, which it seemed to be heading to.


    Still, she could not rule out the possibility that it was just making up some borate lie about a huge gathering of owls in order to get her to follow it.


    In her mind this owl wanted to do something horrible to her, as pretty much the majority of her experiences had been.


    However, this was actually far from the truth of the matter.


    This owl had approached her because it had been infatuated by her.


    It had seen how she fought against those eagles. Standing up to them even though she was quite a bit weaker and outnumbered.


    Also, it had watched hermand both fire and wind. Which was quite rare, as to him, this made it seem that she had two affinities.


    Though while it looked this way, she truthfully only had one affinity right now, and just had divine items that granted her other powers.


    Of course, this owl was not only interested in her power. but also liked the way she looked.


    She seemed to be the ideal mate to this snowy owl, who Evelyn would not even consider. She had no thoughts on this matter and would not even think their species werepatible if she did.


    But in this world, things were quite a bit different than her original one. Any member of the same race waspatible, whether they may seem to be the same species or not. As it was actually quite rare to find the exact same species once beasts had evolved to even the fiend beast rank.


    ''Sorry I do not know about this Owls'' Roost as you call it. I just ended up here by coincidence. Now if you will excuse me, I will be on my way.''


    After saying this Evelyn jumped back and began tearing through the eagle, while keeping a close eye on this snowy owl.


    She did not want to stick around for much longer, but she did want this eagle''s beast core.


    Once she had retrieved it, she prepared to go, but before she did, the other owl said, ''Very well, I will impede you no more. However, if you do have an interest in joining the other owls in a ce where you can grow in a safer environment. Head deeper into the jungle in this direction.''


    The snowy owl then held up one of its wings and pointed her in the direction the supposed gathering of owls was supposed to be.


    He then pped his wings a few times and left Evelyn alone as she wanted, while going on his way.


    With the eagles now dead or having fled, and the snowy owl interloper gone, Evelyn was finally able to rx her guard a bit.


    She was utterly exhausted after the chase and fight with those eagles and had used up most of her magical energy and physical stamina.


    ''This should help a bit.'' She thought as she plopped the eagle''s beast core into her mouth.


    At first she actually had quite a bit of trouble trying to eat it, as it would not break apart and was slightly too big for her to swallow.


    This was due to the fact that this core came from a higher ranked beast.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn''s powers were abnormal to say the least, and she had strengths that other beasts at her rank would normally not have. And eventually, she was able to break down the eagle''s beast core and begin absorbing its power.


    Immediately she felt a surge of magical energy through her, as this was the first time she had ever eaten a beast core of something higher rank than her.


    ''Now I need to find a ce to rest.''


    Flying back up into the canopy of the trees she began searching for a ce to rest.


    Quickly she found arge hollow in one of the trees and poked her head inside.


    Finding that it was empty, she nestled herself in the back of thisrge hollow and began lulling off to sleep.


    Luckily nothing disturbed her rest and when she awoke, she felt much better than she had been before.


    Her magical energy and stamin had retuned, and she felt a bit stronger after having taken the power of that eagle''s core. Though it was still far from enough to bring her up to the upper tier of the fiend beast rank.


    Now that she was well rested and free from any sort of danger, Evelyn finally had some time to think about her situation.


    Yesterday she had been told something nearly unbelievable. That there was a ce called the Owl''s Roost where many owls gathered like how humans do.


    Certainly, this had tickled her curiosity, as the more she thought about it, the more she believed it might be a real possibility.


    She did not fully trust that other owl, wondering what its motives were, but one possibility was that it might have gotten some sort of perk if it brought her with it.


    Frankly she just did not know, but the thought of having a total safe ce to live and grow was appealing.


    Still, she figured there must be some catch. Whenever anything gathered, it was always for some goal that all those who made up the group had to participate in.


    ''It might at the very least be worth taking a look into. In this world even beasts can gain intelligence, soing together to protect each other is a very real possibility. I can head in that direction and keep my eyes out for more owlsing through to see if it was telling the truth. If it turns out there really is a sanctuary for others of my race, then I may just try and join.''

 Chapter 41 41 Gathering Of Owls

    ?Evelyn having made her decision to at least look into this Owls Roost, turned her head towards the direction she had been pointed in.


    She was still not certain whether she should be trusting that other owl, but the possibility of entering a society of owls was too tempting.


    If it were to be true, she would be able to gain a safe ce to live and would likely be able to learn all manner of knowledge that she was unable to pick up from just the books Mason had left to her.


    ''They may have even developed some spells that I can use. That way I will be able to do more than just creating basic magical phenomenon.''


    With the pros outweighing the cons, Evelyn leapt out of the tree she had been sleeping in and took off towards where the gathering of owls was supposed to be.


    Though this time she was less brazen about flying around and moved stealthy from tree to tree.


    She did not want to get ambushed by anymore eagles or other beasts for that matter. So, even while she moved much slower, it was worth it not to risk her life.


    Along the way she did actually spot another group of eagles that were in the middle of fighting it out with a high tier fiend beast ranked owl.


    Unfortunately, this owl stood little chance of winning in a three on one fight, and it would not be long until it was killed.


    And unlike the owl that had intervened in her battle, Evelyn had no such acts of heroics in her.


    Her life was the most important thing for her, and she was not going to get into any battles that did not gain her something, especially one as risky as this.


    ''Sorry, it is every owl for themselves as far as I am concerned.''


    Continuing on, she did not stay to watch the fate of this other owl, though she figured it was likely to not be pretty.


    Still, it did give her more evidence that the snowy owl had been telling the truth about what was happening.


    Continuing deeper into the jungle she began to spot other owls more frequently, and some of them spotted her.


    A couple even came over and tried to attack her but found that while her power may have seemed lower than them, she was more dangerous than they imagined.


    Even a peak fiend beast felt some fear from her when it got to close and suddenly felt nearly four times heavier.


    Entering a field of gravity that was that much stronger was ufortable for pretty much any creature, so it quickly backed off when it realized that Evelyn was a threat.


    This happened a number of times as she continued forward, now having entered into an area that was dense with owls heading to the same ce.


    The stronger owls most of which were at the peak of the fiend beast rank, would bully the weaker owls until they gave up and left, or in many cases were killed.


    However, there was risk involved with this, as some antagonistic owls got the tables turned on them an ended up horribly injured or dead instead.


    Even though they were all owls this was still the wilds, and the rule of strength was absolute.


    Only those with the power to make it to the meeting ce of the owls had a chance to enter what Evelyn did not know right now, was quite the powerful society.


    They had no need for the weak, so only the strong could enter the ranks of the Owls Roost.


    Soon she came to an area of the jungle that was covered by a thick nket of dense fog that she could barely see ten feet into even with her amazing vision as an owl.


    Though while she stopped and floated at the edge of his barrier of fog, a number of owls plunged in without any hesitation.


    ''That one was an awakened beast.''


    Looking at the other owls heading into the fog Evelyn caught sight of one of them that gave off a much more powerful presence, and there was no doubt it had evolved past the fiend beast rank.


    Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and took the plunge into the fog.


    Once inside she felt the magical energy flowing through this fog, and there was no doubt it was not a natural phenomenon.


    Still, as she advanced, she wondered what kind of magic would be powerful enough to create something like this.


    Deeper and deeper into the fog she went, flying very slowly to avoid smashing headfirst into a tree.


    To make matters worse this area had be much denser with foliage, and the trees had sharp branches jutting out of them.


    At one point Evelyn even saw an owl that had pierced one of its wings on these sharp branches, and it was likely to die from this, or at the least have to give up on joining the Owls Roost.


    Stopping and starting while repositioning herself, many times she ran into an impassible wall of trees and vines and had to change directions.


    This ce was like a maze, and the fact that she could only see around ten feet in front of her did not help.


    Hours went by as she was lost in the fog and had been turned around so many times, she was not really sure which direction she was going anymore.


    She had tired using her wind magic to blow the fog away, but it resisted her, and at best she gained herself a few more feet of visibility temporarily until the fog quickly rolled back in.


    Going around like this she felt panic beginning to set in as she started to fear she would be trapped in this fog for the rest of her life.


    ''No, I am not going out in such a stupid way. I can do this. There must be a correct path somewhere or none of the other owls would continue with this farce. This is simply a test and I need to find the answer.''


    Calming down and no longer flying around aimlessly, Evelyn emptied her mind and felt out her surroundings.


    When she did, she sensed it. There was actually a path created in the fog where there were areas with denser magical energy.


    It was faint and would not be easily detected, but as she focused, she could feel that there was definitely a difference.


    Following this path, she wound her way around the natural barriers that the thick jungle had provided and flew deeper and deeper into the fog.


    Eventually as she followed this path, the fog started to be less dense, and soon she was able to see much further around her and came out into an opening in the jungle.


    In this opening she could see that there was a circle of trees surrounding a muchrger one that sat in the middle.


    On each of these surrounding trees were a number of owls that were perched and staring towards the one in the center.


    Finding a ce among these trees Evelyn perched onto arge branch and looked out towards the central tree that had everyone else''s attention.


    That was when she spotted the three entities within this central tree, two of which were powerful owls that she could tell were stronger than any she had ever seen.


    Yet the third one was something that made her begin to feel extreme fear, as she stared at the humanoid figure sitting within the tree.

 Chapter 42 42 Gathering Of Owls (2)

    ?Looking at this humanoid figure sitting within therge tree in the center of this clearing, Evelyn began to panic.


    Her thoughts immediately drifted to this being a trap set up by some humans to lure in a bunch of owls that they could capture.


    However, as she looked closer, she noticed that while this figure may have looked human, they were actually quite a bit different.


    The most noticeable difference was that on their back they had tworge deep blue wings jutting out.


    Along with that their ears were pointed outwards, and the irises of their eyes were yellow in color just as many owls had.


    ''Wait, is she an owl that has taken humanoid form!?''


    Seeing this Evelyn could only believe that her conclusion was correct, as this woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties was nked on either side by the two powerful owls that also sat in the center tree.


    It was quite obvious from this positioning that she was the one in charge here, and Evelyn found it unlikely that this many owls would just sit around if an intruder who was not a part of their race had invaded.


    Also, as she stared intently, she could feel instinctually that they were most certainly an owl.


    She had found this out already, but other owls did not put her on edge as much as other beasts and humans.


    There was a certain kinship that they all shared, and while it certainly was not enough to keep them from fighting each other. It did give them a sense ofradery.


    ''Still, how did they do it. Is it some magic spell that transforms them? But why show that off here, when it would seem to have no purpose? Is it maybe some sort of evolution? Except I never read anything about this from the books Mason left me.''


    Her mind moving at a mile a minute, Evelyn could not figure out how this was possible.


    Nothing she had learned sinceing to this world would lead her to believe that beasts could somehow get humanoid forms.


    Yet there in front of her was the proof that it was possible, and it added onto the depths of this world she knew nothing about.


    However, her thoughts were soon interrupted as another owlnded right next to her.


    Looking up she saw the same snowy owl that had helped her before and told her about this ce.


    Almost immediately she wanted to shirk away. But held herself back from seeming openly rude.


    This owl had helped her, and while she did not know what its motives were. She had made it because of him and was willing to at least act cordial for now.


    The snowy owl seeing that Evelyn was not going to fly away, began glowing with magical energy and extended a thin strand towards her tomunicate as it had before.


    This time though it did not make the connection and waited for her approval to do so.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn gave her consent, since she had a lot of questions, and wanted to see if this snowy owl could answer them.


    ''I am d to see that you made it here. I knew with your powers that even though you are not as advanced as everyone else you would be able to do it.''


    Cockings her head to the side, Evelyn was not sure what why snowy owl meant by this, until she took a good look around her feeling numerous sets of eyes watching her.


    Of all the other owls here, she was the only one that was at the middle tier of the fiend beast rank.


    All of the others were above her. With most being peak fiend beasts, with only a few that were at the high tier.


    Then there were also around a dozen owls at the awakened rank which were the ones that were truly a cut above the rest.


    This meant that Evelyn was the weakest of the bunch in terms of rank, which was she was receiving quite a bit of nces from the other owls.


    They wondered how she had made it this far, since all of the other mid-tier fiend beast owls had either been beaten down or were lost in the fog.


    ''Yes, it looks like I really am the only one at my level to make it here. Now allow me to give you my thanks for telling me about this ce and directing me. I was a bit wary of you at first, but it seems that you are not entirely untrustworthy.''


    Of course, as Evelyn said this she lied as easily as she breaths, since she most certainly did not trust this owl in pretty much any capacity.


    To her anyone that acted nice that was not a family member wanted something from her and would use her up until there was nothing left.


    In both her lives she had been tortured and now she would rather iste herself from getting close to anyone else than risk being hurt again.


    Still, she knew she could not make it on her own, which was why she hade here to join the Owls Roost, and why she was still talking to this snowy owl.


    She wanted the information she could get from the other owls and figured she might as well start with this snowy owl.


    ''So how is it you and all of these other owls knew about this ce.'' Evelyn asked.


    ''Oh, that is right, you ended up here by chance. For all of the others I am not exactly sure how they found out, but another owl who already has joined the Roost told me about it. I had recently lost my home, so I figured that this would be a good opportunity to find a new one.''


    A slightly sorrowful expression then came over his face as he mentioned his lost home, and for a moment Evelyn felt that she could rte to this guy.


    Yet she quickly shook her head to snap herself out of this.


    She was not here to try and get closer to anyone and wanted to keep to herself. Feeling sorry for someone that was in a simr situation to was not going to help her in any way.


    ''Mind if I ask what this trick is you are using tomunicate. I have never seen anything like this before.'' Evelyn asked, the curiosity in to see on her face.


    However, before the snowy owl could answer, one of the owls in the middle began glowing slightly, and dozens of tiny threads of magical energy shot out of them which connected with all of the owls here,


    Then through this connection, this owl said, ''It is time for us to now begin.''

 Chapter 43 43 Undeserved Ire

    ?Suddenly hearing a new voice in her head. Evelyn looked back towards the central tree and at the owl that had connect himself to all of the others.


    He looked quite a bit like a barn owl as far as she could tell, and was by far thergest owl here, being nearly twenty-feet tall.


    Along with his size his plumage was quite impressive as well, as he had a beautiful golden pattern flowing through his cream white feathers.


    ''He is strong.'' Evelyn thought as she looked him over.


    There was no doubt in her mind that this owl was far stronger than any of the others that had gathered here except for hispatriots in the center tree.


    Even the awakened beast rank owls here looked pretty weak inparison, and she wondered if he was possibly a tyrant beast.


    However, her train of thought was quickly put on hold as he began transmitting his thoughts to all of the other owls now that he had their attention.


    ''Seeing that all of you have made your way here, we assume that your goal is to join us at the Owls Roost. However, if you are under the misunderstand that just making it here is qualification enough, you are wrong. We have no use for the weak in our ranks and arriving at this ce is just a preliminary. Only those who demonstrate strength and ingenuity in the uing trials shall be able to join us. Now some of you already show more promise than others and shall be allowed to join on the merit you have already have.''


    After he said this thirteen of the owls that had arrived here received another message in their heads telling them that they were already qualified to join the Owls Roost.


    Among these owls twelve of them were the ones that had already reached the awakened beast rank.


    Yet there was one owl who had caught the eyes of these examiner even thought they were still at the peak of the fiend beast rank like most of the others.


    ''Now, the thirteen of you shall follow me and I shall take you to your new home and get you inducted into our ranks.'' The barn owl with the golden patten said.


    Naturally the twelve awakened beast excitedly and with their heads held up high in superiority flew towards the central tree and waited to be led to the Owls Roost.


    Except one of the thirteen that had already been epted had not left his perch, and was instead looking down with a conflicted expression at the owls next to him.


    Looking up at the snowy owl, Evelyn wondered why he was looking at her with a sorrowful gaze.


    ''You there. Hurry up ande on over. We do not have all day. You have already been chosen to enter the Roost and do not have to take the trials.''


    Hearing another message over the magical connection, the snowy owl heard the annoyance in the barn owl''s tone.


    ''I would like to request that I take the trials as well.'' He said while taking nces at Evelyn.


    Unfortunately for him, the owl who was one of this year''s examiners was not in the happiest of moods, since he did not want to be here to start with.


    ''No, you have already been chosen to join so you cane with me now, or I will force you to leave. There is no point in having you undergo challenges you will likely beat, especially since your motives are quite clear.''


    Having seen through what this snowy owl obviously wanted to do. There was even less reason to allow him to take the trials that most would have to in order to enter the Owls Roost.


    Gritting his beak and closing his eyes, the snowy owl was full of frustration.


    He had figured that he would be able to help Evelyn out during the trials that weeded out the weakest owls, and that he would be able to look cool and get closer to her by doing so.


    But now that option was taken off the table, and he was left with entering now, or leaving with nothing.


    Eventually he made his decision and flew over to the other owls that had already been chosen.


    All of the other owls that had not been chosen looked down at him with jealousy, and his reluctance to have joined made them only angrier.


    Every other owl here would have killed to be in his position and get into the Owls Roost without having to risk their lives


    Yet this snowy owl looked reluctant to go. As if he had not been chosen to go to the paradise of the owls, but instead to some sort of horrible torture chamber.


    This made all of the other owls want to tear him apart for being so appreciative of the gift he had received.


    Though while a number of them were focused on him, plenty others were looking at Evelyn who he had been sitting next to.


    It was clear to them why he did not want to leave, and that was because they perceived that Evelyn was his sweetheart.


    Of course, that could not be further from the truth, but for every other owl here that was what it looked like to them.


    Sadly for Evelyn, that meant that a good deal of the envy and ire that was being projected at the snowy owl was being redirected towards her simply for having associated with him.


    Feeling the hostility directed at her, she looked around and saw that around two dozen owls were staring at her with malice in their eyes.


    For a second she wondered why this was, but quickly came to the understand.


    Groaning she thought, ''This is why I did not want to interact with anyone. Now things are only going to be harder for me.''


    Seeing that a number of the other owls had it out for her, she knew that they were likely to target her if they got the opportunity.

 Chapter 44 44 The First Trial Begins

    ?As the thirteen chosen owls who already met the qualifications to enter the Owls Roost began leaving, the snowy owl took onest nce at Evelyn before flying off into the fog.


    Now all of the remaining owls were left with the remaining two examiners, one of which was the humanoid owl.


    Though she seemed wholly disinterested in the current developments, and it was the other one that moved forward and addressed the hundreds of owls that remained.


    This owl in contrast to the other one that had just gone away, had pitch ck feathers that made her difficult to see in the dark fog.


    ''All of you left here have not yet met the minimum qualifications to enter our sanctuary. But do not worry, you will all have your chance to prove your worth. We have prepared a number of trials to test your speed, power, ingenuity, and luck. Those that pass shall be granted the right to join us at the Owls Roost. For those of you that fall short, the most likely oue is to be crippled or die.''


    Hearing this many of the owls began to be hesitant.


    Most of them had not known that there were going to be a series of trials beforehand and thought just making it here would be enough to grant them entry.


    ''Now I can see that some of you are beginning to worry, as you should. These trials will not be easy, and I doubt that ten percent of you here will pass. If you wish to back out now is the time, since you will not get the chance once we begin. Nothing will be held against you if you wish to preserve your own life.'' The ck feathered owl said.


    She wanted all of them to know just how dangerous it was, and to persuade those that were not resolved to die to leave.


    Almost immediately around twenty percent of the more than two hundred owls turned around and left.


    They had persevered hard in order to reach the level they were at and did not wish to die now.


    Also, they had seen that all of the owls that had reached the awakened rank had been epted. So, if they took another couple of decades to get stronger, they might be able to pierce the ceiling that most beasts got stuck at, and gain entry with no struggle at all.


    Of course, many of these owls here hade to join the Owls Roost because they had found no way to advance further on their own after being stuck at the peak of the friend beast rank for dozens of years.


    As for Evelyn, she had already chosen toe here, and figured that there were going to be some sort of tests from the start.


    Though she did think about turning around and fleeing for a bit. On ount of the hostility she had gained for simply having interacted with the snowy owl.


    Still, most of those that had been emitting malice towards her were the cowards that were leaving, and she figured one way or another she was going to have to deal with them.


    ''It will be better just to take these trials. I could spend years twiddling my wings around out in the wilds without making any progress. I was already beginning to stagnate, which is why I came here to begin with.''


    Steeling her resolve and ambition. Evelyn kept to her decision to join this society of owls and milk out whatever secrets and resources she could from them.


    She had alreadye to terms with the fact that she might die, but she would rather lose her life in the pursuit of her goals than cower away until she died.


    After eight minutes thest of the owls that had decided to not risk their lives had left. Leaving only around a hundred twenty of them left to take the trials.


    ''Well, it looks like all of you have made your decision. I can see that you all have guts, but that will only get you so far. I am going to weed out which of you actually have the talent and skill necessary to continue on. Those of you that are weak are going to fall, and it will be very quickly.''


    As the ck feathered owl said the word ''weak'', she definitely was staring at Evelyn.


    Being the lowest ranking owl here, naturally she would be seen as the weakest and likely to be the first to go.


    Not to mention that there were a number of other owls that had decided to target her during these trials simply because of their envy towards the snowy owl that she had been talking to.


    None of them could understand why he had been chosen, when all of them had been left behind to prove themselves with their lives on the line.


    However, he had been chosen from out of all the other peak fiend beasts for two reasons.


    The first was that the examiners had seen him using his technique to speak with Evelyn which was an advanced ability they would not expect to see from a fiend beast. Or even most awakened beasts for that matter.


    The second reason was that they could tell that he had a dual affinity and that while one of them was water, the other was a much rarer one.


    This had given him the qualifications in their eyes for him to be permitted to enter the Owls Roost above the other fiend beasts that had gathered in droves.


    ''All of you prepare yourselves. Your first trail is about to begin. Now all you need to do is follow me.''


    The instance after the ck feathered owl said this, she took off from the central tree and began flying straight upwards.


    As this happened many of the owls were stunned and did not react immediately as their minds processed what was going on.


    Yet one owl took off immediately, and that was Evelyn.


    Her mind was more advanced than any of the other challengers remaining, who had on average the intelligence of a seven- or eight-year-old.


    Quickly she flew up right behind the examiner who began disappearing into the thick fog that permeated the area.


    Within only a few more moments panic began to set in among the other owls and they took off as well, trying to catch up to the examiner who was moving away.


    Soon all of the owls that had gathered in this clearing were gone save for one.


    The humanoid owl was still lounging around in the center tree and had nced up where the other owls had gone with little interest.


    ''I wonder if there will actually be anyone exceptional this year.''

 Chapter 45 45 A Show Of Power

    ?Evelyn pped her wings swiftly to keep up with the ck feathered owl who was administering the trials necessary to earn the Qualifications to enter the Owls Roost.


    She had shot off without warning, and while it was a considerably slow speed for an owl like her that was at the peak of the awakened beast rank. Evelyn was already flying at nearly the highest speed she could keep up continuously.


    Too much faster and she would have to start expending her magical energy to lower her gravity and shoot out bursts of wind to keep up and this was not what she wanted.


    She was certain that just following behind this ck feathered owl was going to be the easiest part of this trial and that she was going to need to conserve her magical energy forter.


    Luckily, she did not speed up just yet, and once she had reached the canopy of the forest she leveled out and began flying straight through the jungle.


    Hot on her tail feathers Evelyn made sure to stay as close as she could, in order to not lose the examiner, and to keep the other owls that were catching up from having an easy time attacking her.


    One wrong move and their attack might hit the ck feathered owl, and that was likely to cost them their lives.


    Continuing to fly through the jungle the examiner slowly began to speed up as she went, and deftly moved through the trees making it difficult to follow her.


    Along with this the dense fog still permeated the entire area making visibility even for these owls to only be a few hundred feet at best.


    Still Evelyn did her best to keep up, but as the examiner passed around one of the trees, an opening presented itself for one of the owls that had decided to direct his malice of the snowy owl at Evelyn.


    A bolt of fire shot out of his head and right towards Evelyn as she was going to round the tree the examiner had just passed by.


    However, as she sensed the iing threat, she had to pull her body up and sent of gust of wind in front of her which reversed her momentum.


    The bolt of fire flew right in front of her, and she could feel the heating off from it.


    Clicking her tongue she had hoped that none of the other owls would target her since they really needed to keep their focus on the ck feathered owl who was leading the way.


    But this owl with orange and red plumage was not worried in the slightest about catching up if he fell a little behind and figured that Evelyn would be easy to deal with quickly.


    Afterall, he was a peak fiend beast that had grown his power in a near perfect environment. As his family unlike Evelyn''s, was still alive and quite powerful.


    He had been given all of the best resources since he was young, and his parents were even awakened beasts that had once been a part of the Owls Roost themselves until they had left to raise their family.


    Spinning his body around mes began to bust out of him and sixrge streaks of fire shot off towards Evelyn.


    Seeing this she was very surprised as this attack was by far the mostplicated one she had seen any beast unleash.


    Even her parents magic had not looked this clean and precise, and the only thing she had seen that was superior was the magic used by the human that had beaten her parents.


    But as powerful and controlled as this owl''s magic was, it made little difference to Evelyn.


    The six streaks of fire hit her and exploded on impacted, creating arge st of mes that engulfed the area.


    His face full of surprise the owl that had attacked Evelyn thought that she would at least try to dodge and ultimately fail, but instead she had just continued hovering there and took all six streaks of fire.


    Quickly though a smirk reced his surprise, as he figured that this poor dumb mid-tier fiend beast had simply been too weak and slow to even try to avoid his attack.


    Yet as he flew by the area that was still covered in smoke and smoldering fire, his body suddenly lurched downwards, as it became nearly four times heavily.


    Then flying out of the mes with her talons aimed in front of her was Evelyn.


    There was not a single scratch on her from being swallowed by mes, and she flew forward like a missile.


    She had sent herself forward with a powerful gust of wind and was increasing her own gravity, making the force behind her attack much stronger as she fell down on the owl that had just attacked her.


    Her talons pierced right through his dense feathers and slid deep in his flesh as shended on top of him.


    Naturally he was astonished to see this happen for a number of reasons. The first of which was that Evelyn was still alive.


    Even a mid-tier awakened beast should not have been able toe out from that attack unscathed if they took it head on like that, and a beast at Evelyn''s level should have left nothing but charred remains.


    However, she was not even injured and had countered attack with more power than a mid-tier fiend beast should have been able to.


    It was practically inconceivable for her talons to have sliced through the feathers and flesh of this orange and red owl so seamlessly.


    His defensive abilities should have protected him, and Evelyn''s attack should have only left a shallow flesh wound at best.


    Yet they sunk in deep and had even pierced one of the orange and red feathered owl''s lungs.


    He began coughing up blood and felt a searing pain in his body where Evelyn had jammed her talons in.


    Unfortunately for this owl that Evelyn had just dealt a devastating blow to, she was not done yet.


    She quickly removed one of her ws as the two of them plummeted and jammed it into her adversary''s chest.


    Stabbing into his heart, she felt a burst of warm blood on her foot and a dark smile appeared on her face.


    Pushing off from the now dead owl that had attacked her, she released her increased gravity and stared down at her defeated foe as he plummeted to the forest floor below.


    She then looked up at the other owls, many of whom had slowed down, or even stopped in shock seeing what had happened.


    ''Maybe this will teach them not to mess with me.'' Evelyn thought.


    She had just easily dispatched an owl at the peak of the fiend beast rank, and this showed to all of the others that she was not to be taken lightly.


    Of course, she had won due to her overwhelming advantage of themon element of fire and a very well-timed sneak attack, but that did not make it any less impressive in the eyes of those who had witnessed her feat.


    Still, no one stuck around too long, as the examiner had not slowed down at all during this scuffle and was flying away.


    ''I really wish I could get his beast core, but I need to prioritize this trial.''


    Giving herself a quick boost with a gust of wind, Evelyn took back off towards the examiner in order to reim her spot in the lead.

 Chapter 46 46 The Wicked Webs Of The Jungle

    ?After having dispatched one of the owls that was targeting her, Evelyn hurriedly caught back up to the examiner and the main group of owls that were following behind her.


    However, the demeanor of all of these owls had taken a shift, as they now looked at Evelyn cautiously.


    She had quite easily dispatched a beast two minor ranks above her, and there was not a scratch on her from the experience.


    Many of them had seen her engulfed in fire, yet she hade out of it like it had not been real but only an illusion.


    They were all now quite wary of her, and none of them wanted to be the first to approach her again. At least, not during this trial.


    Taking time to attack a fellow trial goer would only lead to them possibly losing the examiner, or maybe even getting killed.


    No, for now all of the other owls were acting civil in order to get past their current goal of getting through this trial. For those few who still wished to, it was likely that they would have ater chance to vent their frustration.


    Quickly Evelyn made it back to her position at the front of the flock, only trailing behind the ck feathered owl who was leading the way.


    She had to expend a bit of her magical energy to do so, but she definitely felt morefortable being right behind the examiner.


    Over an hour went by as all of the owls followed after the examiner, and to the this point only one owl had died during this supposedly harrowing trial, and that was the one Evelyn had killed.


    Yet as many of the owls were beginning to lull into a sort of rxation as they figured this trial was just a test of endurance, they were proved to be terribly wrong.


    In this fog it was difficult to see, but Evelyn noticed the examiner fly out of the way of seemingly nothing.


    Looking closely, she saw a thin thread that was connected between two trees and doing as the examiner had she flew around it.


    But as they moved deeper into this area, she began to notice more and more threads, some of which were connected together in arge like shape.


    Her eyes going wide, Evelyn realized that they were now in the territory of what must have been some veryrge spiders.


    Though while she realized this, unfortunately for some of the other owls, they had gotten toocent.


    Within just a minute of noticing that first web, Evelyn who was keeping and eye on her surroundings, heard the distressed screeching of another owl.


    Thisrge owl that was eight feet tall and had entirely blue feathers had gotten himself caught in the webs as he had not been paying attention.


    Thrashing about the blue feathered owl tried to break free as he shot out sts of water which was his elemental affinity.


    Unfortunately, it was a poor match against these threads that were very sturdy and each as strong as a steel cord.


    Its physically strength also proved to be of no help, and only made matters worse as he became more entangled in the webs.


    Except begin caught in this web was the least of this owl''s worries, as the creature who had spun it descended down from the trees slowly and quietly from behind.


    Then when it was right behind this owl, therge spider that was the stuff of nightmares, sunk its fangs into the struggling owl and began wrapping it up in its web.


    When it had finished this, it dragged the now paralyzed owl higher up into the tree where this spider''sir was.


    Many of the owls witnessed this happen and began flying around much more carefully to avoid these death traps.


    However, this first owl being captured set off a chain reaction through this part of the forest, and the hundreds of spiders that made it their home began descending from the trees.


    These beasts were not only trappers with their webs, but also proactive hunters. And when so much prey presented themselves to them, they were not going to pass up the opportunity.


    ''What the hell is that thing?'' Evelyn thought as she saw one of these spiders for the first time.


    Naturally she had already suspected that this kind of beast were responsible for these webs, and she had heard the unfortunate end of that blue feathered owl, but this was the first time seeing these nightmare fuel spiders.


    Not only were they ten feet long from head to end, but they also had long spindly legs that looked sharp like des, and a dark green patterning on their mostly ck bodies that allowed them to blend in better with the jungle.


    Yet the worst part definitely had to be their head, which had eight piercing eyes that made Evelyn shiver, and two long fangs that looked like curved daggers with venom dripping down them.


    Turning to the side she barely was able to avoid the web being shot at her as she was incredibly distracted by these spiders'' perturbing appearance.


    But her troubles were far from over, as this spider that had dropped down and was targeting her leapt from the web it was dangling on right towards her.


    Seeing this she was surprised, as they were currently hundreds of feet above the ground, but this thing showed no regard for its safety and single-mindedly jumped at her.


    Still while its reckless move might have worked on some, it was going to be wholly ineffective on Evelyn.


    She simply created arge gust of wind that batted the mid-tier fiend beast rank spider away and continued after the examiner who had not slowed down at all.


    Of course, she was being attacked as well, since these spiders were practically mindless creatures, not having gained any greater intelligence than what a normal spider might have, even as they had reached a higher rank.


    Though in turn they had gained more ferocity and were a social group of spiders that could work together to some degree.


    Nevertheless, the attack of these spiders were child''s y for the examiner to deal with, and any webs or spiders that got close to her seemed to bounce off an inviable wall.


    In fact, now she was not even attempting to dodge the webs, having only done so at the beginning to give a slight warning to the owls behind her, even if only a few had noticed.


    Swiftly the number of owls that were able to keep up dwindled drastically as they were caught in the spiders'' alreadyid web traps, or were hit by the constant barrage of webs being shot at them from these spiders.


    Cries of distress resounded through the area, and within just a few minutes those that were still keeping up with the first trial had dwindled to just a bit over seventy.

 Chapter 47 47 The Queen Spider’s Targets

    ?''Damn it! Get away from me!''


    Unleashing asrge a gust as she could Evelyn blew back four of therge jungle spiders that had jumped at her along with two shots of thread that aimed to entangle her.


    As they moved deeper into the spiders'' territory, their attack became far more frequent an coordinated as the prey dwindled down.


    Now even some at the peak of the fiend beast rank were attacking Evelyn, and if not for her ability to lower gravity she certainly would have been overwhelmed.


    By making these hefty spiders around a fourth as heavy as what they normally would be, she was able to blow them away with her wind magic, but otherwise it certainly would not be enough.


    Along with these increased and more ferocious attacks, she was getting farther and farther behind the examiner, who showed no signs of slowing down as she just barreled through without any issue.


    As for the other owls they had started making teams to keep each other safe, but Evelyn had found they did not want her around.


    Either because of her low rank, or the fact that they had a degree of malice towards her for their assumed connection she had to the snowy owl.


    Still, she kept at it and let her rage drive her forward as she used her wind and gravity maniption to keep up.


    ''Screw these stupid spiders. I swear when I learn how to control my heavenly me I aming back here and burning them all down to the ground.''


    Spinning out of the way of another spider, Evelyn was beginning to get tired of this and wondered how much longer they would be in their territory.


    This was only the first trial and the examiner had nearly culled half of the original participants, who were currently being chowed down on by the hundreds of spiders in this area.


    Yet a glimmer of light shown through after around another two minutes of struggling, when she saw that the webs that had been spread all over the trees in this area began to lessen.


    She figured that they would be exiting the spiders'' home soon, and hopefully be done with this first trial.


    Unfortunately, with Evelyn wasgging behind now, only ahead of one group of owls that was made up of the majority of the high tier fiends beast owls that were left, arge form descended from the trees to block their path.


    Stopping abruptly, she only just barely avoided being caught as this huge formshed out with one of its legs that had a ball of webbing on it.


    This ball of webbing then flew off past her and hit one of the other owls and exploded.


    It was like this spider had justunched a web grenade, and with one quick move it pulled in the owl it had caught.


    Unfortunately, while she had dodged its first attack, this huge sixteen-foot-long spider had no intention of letting the straggling owls get by and positioned its body between them and the exit.


    ''An Awakened Beast.''


    Looking at this spider there was no doubt in Evelyn''s mind that it was a beast that had evolved beyond the fined beast rank and was a low tier awakened beast.


    It exuded a powerful aura simr to the other awakened beast she had seen, and she could instinctively tell it was beyond her.


    And along with its muchrger size, this spider had a far more pronounced green patten over its ck body, and a number of spiky protrusions on its head that looked like a crown.


    Venom dripped down its long fangs, and as Evelyn starred at it, she thought that it almost seemed to be smiling.


    In a sh this spider queen aimed its abdomen forward, and arge web shot out over a wide range of area.


    Going into a nosedive Evelyn dove towards the ground, sending out a gust of wind behind her to elerate faster.


    But she quickly saw that she was not going to be fast enough to escape this way and changed her strategy.


    Her mind racing, she examined the web falling towards her looking for thergest opening.


    It was like time slowed down for her as she did this, and within less than a second, she found her escape route.


    Flying towards this opening she tucked her wings in and sucked in her gut to make herself as small as possible.


    Just barely she slipped through this hole in the webbing and came out the other side without being caught.


    Her smaller rtive size to the other owls had finallye in handy here, as none of the other owls could have ever hoped to make it through the opening as Evelyn had.


    Nevertheless, all but three of the other owls were now caught in this web and secured as food. While Evelyn and the others were still trapped in between the spider queen and her minions.


    Moving forward they would somehow have to get around the giant spider in their way that was at a realm far above them, and behind them the horde of its minions lying in wait.


    The other three owls though all opted to take their chances on the weaker spiders they had already gotten by. and flew back the way they came. Deciding to try and preserve their lives over passing this trial.


    Except just as Evelyn expected, they were caught and injected with venom almost immediately.


    The only reason they had made it this far was because of the spiders had split their attention on the other trial going owls.


    Now that they only had the three targets there was no way they could avoid the assault of hundreds of spiders.


    ''It is waiting to see what I do.'' Evelyn thought as she hovered in the air and stared down the queen spider.


    She could see that it was enjoying this hunt, and that it wanted her to make the next move so that it could crush her attempt at escape.


    ''The only path for me is forward. I am going to push through even if it kills me.''

 Chapter 48 48 If Being Smart Won’t Work, Then It’s Time To Be Reckless

    ?Faced with a near insurmountable predicament Evelyn''s mind was racing to find a way out.


    Currently she was face to face with an awakened beast that definitely wanted to capture and then subsequently eat her, in what she could only imagine would be a torture on par if not worse than her previous death.


    She knew that spiders would often inject their venom into their prey and leave them paralyzed for quite some time before eating them alive.


    And judging by how many owls thisrge queen spider had captured there was a good chance she could end up in its pantry for a while, suffering in agony.


    ''How they hell do I get around it. Its body is huge, and it can shoot out webs that will likely get me if I am not fully on guard, and even then, I could easily get caught. I guess I could charge it and up the gravity and hope that is enough to rip it off the web it is dangling from, but I doubt that will work.''


    For nearly half a minute Evelyn continued staring down this queen spider while trying toe up with any feasible method to get by it.


    Unfortunately, while the queen spider had been patiently waiting to catch Evelyn as she made her move. It was starting to get antsy and was preparing to make a move of its own by firing out arge web she had no chance of escaping from.


    Seeing this Evelyn realized her time was up, but as she was panicking, she had an idea.


    She knew that spiders could easily navigate their own webs and rarely got stuck in them, but this queen spider was preparing an especiallyrge that was incredibly sticky.


    With its wide area it was likely that if she got caught up in it instead, Evelyn would hopefully get at least a few seconds where it was distracted and could fly on by.


    ''It is already probably toote to catch up to the examiner, but if I can get by, I should at least be able to live.''


    With a rough n in her mind, Evelyn shot towards the Queen Spider flying up above her.


    There was very little room in this situation as she was dangling down from the treetops, but she was going to need the height advantage for her n to work.


    Of course, there was always a risk that the queen spider might decide to physically lunge at her in which case she was probably screwed, but taking this gamble was all she coulde up with.


    Luckily her bet seemed to work out as the queen spiderunched a wide range at her that there was zero percent chance she could escape from.


    But this was exactly what Evelyn had wanted, and since she had escaped thest web by slipping through one of its gapsst time, the queen spider had woven it even tighter together this time.


    However, this only helped as it gave the web more surface area and as Evelyn lowered gravity to lighten the webs and sent out a strong and wide gust of wind as she could which bounced the web back towards the queen spider.


    And the second its momentum changed, she switched her gravity control to increase it and the web barreled back down at the queen spider.


    In an instant Evelyn had reversed the situation and had caught the spider in its own web, allowing her to fly by as it began trying to shake the web off.


    Smiling, she thought she had made it out home free. There were no other spiders in her way now, and even as fast an agile as the spiders were, they would never be able to keep up with her full flying speed.


    Though as she was about to exit the edge of the spider''s territory, somethingpletely unexpected happened. The tree began to move on their own and she was hit hard by a branch.


    Except this branch did not send Evelyn flying, but instead was covered in a very sticky webbing that entangled her and put a stop to her apparent escape.


    Her reversal on the spider had been turned around again in one move she had never considered.


    Yet as she thought about it, she now understood that this must have bee the queen spider''s magical affinity.


    She had not seen any of the other spiders use magic so she had forgotten to ount that they should be able to.


    In fact, all of the spiders here had an affinity for nature magic, though the queen was the only capable of actually doing much.


    Their normal abilities were already so strong they had little reason to use their rtively weaker magic, but Evelyn had beenpletely caught off guard by this.


    Now she was stuck in a web that had her tightly bound and she could see the queen spider expertly pull off thest of her webbing that Evelyn had knocked back at her.


    It had only taken a few seconds for the expert weaver to get out of its bestting, and now it was slowly approaching Evelyn to allow her a chance to feel more fear.


    ''No, no, no, no!''


    Struggling to break free Evelyn like every other owl just found herself being entangled further, and soon she could not move at all.


    She tried increasing gravity, but this only cause the branch to droop a bit and it and the webs held strong.


    ''Damn it all. I cannot die here like this. I did not want to do this since it might kill me, but if being smart won''t work, it''s time to be reckless.''


    With her well thought out and executed n not having worked, now Evelyn was left with one reckless n that she thought was likely to fail.


    Still, she would rather go out in a huge explosion than be eaten by a giant spider.


    Closing her eyes, she focused on her beast and mana cores, and sent all of the magical energy she had left towards the crimson heavenly me and began growing its power within her.


    She had so far refrained from using it as her control over it was abysmal and it could easily set the jungle on fire which she doubted the examiner was going to appreciate.


    Nevertheless, it was do or die time, and if it gave her a one percent chance of survival, she was willing to set herself and the jungle aze.


    Yet as she stoked the mes with her all for the first time, something abnormal happened.


    Every other time she had used its power she had been afraid of what it might do, but this time she let it go unbound and without any fear.


    In fact, all her hopes were thrown upon it, and it began to resonate with her feelings.


    It quickly wrapped around her mana core and began infusing its power into it, growing in power as it dyed her human mana core.


    Then it happened, Evelyn let out all she had, and her body burst into crimson mes.


    Normally this would have looked like a suicide attack, as she was engulfed in mes, yet an eerie calm surrounded Evelyn as she was engulfed by her heavenly mes.


    Just now she had made the power her own, and it had epted her in her moment of desperation.


    The webs around her soon burned away and she was once again free from her binding.


    Cautiously the queen spider jumped back as Evelyn burst into mes, as fire was her greatest weakness.


    ''It is time to end this.''


    Opening her eyes, they were now glowing crimson just as her body was, and she shot forward towards the queen spider.


    Right now she felt invincible, and her goal shifted from escape to attack.


    Letting out a defiant screech the queen spider shot more webs at Evelyn, but they burned to ash before they could even touch her.


    Currently she was the embodiment of all these spiders'' greatest weakness, and their natural abilities were useless against here.


    Still, the queen spider was not done yet. She began glowing and the jungle started shifting as she exerted her control of it.


    Dozens of branches began closing in around Evelyn and their leaves striped away as they began sharp as spears.


    Spinning around and moving better than she ever had, she dodged out of the way, weaving through the branches and burning away those that close to her.


    Then when she was twenty feet away for the queen spider who was frantically doing all she could to keep Evelyn away, she spun her body around and sent out a twister of crimson fire that was carried by her wind.


    In a frantic effort to protect herself, the queen spider pulled the trees around in front of her to block the fire twistering for her.


    BOOM!


    As the crimson heavenly fire hit the trees it created a huge explosion that rocked this area of the jungle.


    Even the fog that permeated the area was blown back and vaporized, leaving apletely open space that was clear for the first time since Evelyn had entered the fog.


    A number of trees had now caught fire and the other spiders had fled the area in fear of their natural weakness.


    However, as the smoke began to settle, Evelyn looked out and saw that the Queen spider was still alive.


    But while she was alive, she had not gotten out unscathed.


    Half of her body was horribly burned, and she was missing three of her legs on her right side, along four of her eyes having exploded as the water in them had been rapidly heated.


    Staring her down, Evelyn who was still covered in crimson mes stood her ground as if daring the queen spider to continue attacking.


    Luckily her bluff worked and the ruler of this part of the forest scurried away to heal her wounds.


    Letting out a sigh of relief she stopped supplying the heavenly me with magical energy and it quickly died down.


    She had used everything she had in thatst attack, and just keeping those few mes around her body had been all she could do as a means of deception.


    Had the queen spider attacked her again, there was no doubt she would not be able to offer any resistance.


    Unfortunately, even though she had somehow beaten back the threat of the spiders, she was now left with a new problem.


    She had no idea which way the examiner had gone, and she was lost in middle of the jungle.


    ''I guess I will just have to pick a random direction and hope I get lucky.''


    However, as she was about to flying in the direction she had chosen, something happened within the fog.


    Parts of it began to coalesce and started glowing in small sphere that seemed to be leading her down a certain path.

 Chapter 49 49 Respite Before The Second Trial

    ?Looking at the glowing balls of fog that has just formed in front of her, Evelyn was immediately wary.


    She was currently breathing heavily, practically out of magical energy and stamina. Having only enough energy to hover and fly slowly.


    And now all of a sudden something she had not seen before was happening, and her first thoughts were that it was some kind of trap.


    Though as she thought about it, would a trap really be necessary in this situation as she was already in such a shape that probably a newly evolved fiend beast could beat her.


    Also, this fog had been incredibly resistant to any magic she had used on it, and only her all-out attack with her heavenly me had really any effect on it.


    ''What if the examiner left this here in case any of us some how made it past that queen spider. If they are looking for talent, then it would make sense to maybe leave a way for anyone lucky or skilled enough to get by to continue the trial.''


    Trying to convince herself of this, Evelyn really wanted to hope that this might be a means for her to continue the trial to get into the Owls Roost.


    This world was still very unfamiliar and dangerous, and while she was not thrilled to be associating with anyone, she knew it was necessary to advance herself in this world.


    ''I was just going to go in a random direction before. If it turns out to be a trap, then I guess I was just an idiot once again and deserve to die.''


    Deciding to follow the path of glowing fog, Evelyn continued on pping her wings as best she could in order to try and catch up to the examiner and the other owls.


    However, as Evelyn left, a figure who had been hidden in a denseyer of fog smiled seeing her go down the path that they hadid out.


    ''It would be a shame to let an owl as talented as her fail after she fought off that queen spider who was almost an entire rank above her. That me was also not something normal, it would be unfortunate if I was not able to study it further. Now, I wonder if she will be able to pass the other trials as brilliantly as this one. Oh, but first I need to contact Aldana and tell her to dy the second trial a bit so that she can catch up.''


    Flying through the fog and easily overtaking Evelyn, the administrator of this exam and the humanoid owl that had been sitting in the central tree along with the two examiners hastily caught up to the examiner and ryed her orders to slow down.


    Following the path of floating and glowing fog orbs, Evelyn continued on through the jungle which was now quiet.


    It was almost unsettling how still it was as she had gotten ustomed to being attacked from all sides and keeping her guard up.


    Yet for all her apprehension, nothing came out at her and the path remained quiet and peaceful until she saw a break in the fog.


    A circr clearing had been made amongst a group of trees, and in it she could see that the remaining owls as well as the examiner were sitting in the trees.


    It was at this point that Evelyn''s assumptions that someone was controlling the fog were pretty much confirmed to her.


    There was no way that a perfectly round area like this in the middle of it would have cleared out naturally, not to mention that these mots of floating fog lights had guided her here.


    ''I am definitely begin watched by someone and they saw my fight against the queen spider and decided that to lead me to this ce even though normally I would have already failed.''


    Realizing this, Evelyn wished she had not had to resort to using the heavenly fire so brazenly, since from what Mason had written it was a priceless treasure that anyone would want to get their hands on.


    If a much stronger owl realized what she had in her possession, they might kill her to try and im it.


    Still, she could not back and change the past, and without her heavenly me''s power she certainly would have died.


    Shaking her head and pushing her worries away, she flew into the clearing much to the surprise of the other trial goers.


    Certainly, they had never thought she would survive and ambush from an awakened beast. The difference in power between them should have been so great that she should have died without putting up any resistance, but here she was now.


    It was an irrefutable fact that she had somehow made it here. and the others trial goers could only guess she got supremely lucky and slipped away while the other owls were being ughtered.


    Some of them even wanted to protest that she had already failed since she had not been able to keep up with the examiner, but that option was quickly taken away as they all heard her speaking in their heads.


    ''Ah, it appears that we have a bit of a straggler but seeing as how you made it here before the second trial has begun, I will still consider you to have passed. We are testing your luck as well as other important attributes.''


    With that any hope of the other owls to get Evelyn disqualified was dashed away, and they could only ept that she would be continuing.


    ''Now as I sped here a bit quicker than anticipated the second trial is not quite ready for us yet. Therefore, all of you shall have one hour to rest until it is time to begin your second trail. Do with your time as you wish.'' The examiner said.


    A number of the owls were surprised to hear this since they had not expected such a long break in between what were supposed to be arduous trials.


    And normally they would have been right.


    However, the administrator of this examination had taken an interest in Evelyn and had ordered that she be given a bit of time to recover.


    ''I truly do not understand her sometimes. But whenever something piques her interest, she goes to whatever length to satiate her curiosity.'' The blue feather examiner thought as she shook her head and pictured the exam''s administrator.

 Chapter 50 50 Hunting And Gathering

    ?Evelyn let out a sigh of relief at somehow miraculously passing the first trial.


    It had been truly difficult for her to get this farm and without her sudden burst of control over the heavenly mes she certainly would have died.


    ''Well, I have an hour to rx and recover my stamin and magical energy. I had best do what I can to rest.''


    Given a reprieve she honestly did not think she would receive, Evelyn could only rejoice as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.


    She needed all the rest she could get right now and if she could get an hour nap, she was going to take it.


    Quickly her hour of sleep went by, and she was abruptly awakened by another message being spoken directly into her head.


    ''It is time for us to begin the second trial. For this trial each of you will be given a bag to collect items in, and to start will be given one beast core of a high-tier fiend beast. Throughout this area of the jungle a number of cores and magical nts have been left in various locations. Your goal it to collect ten such items and return here with them.''


    The examiner then paused for a moment to let this information sink in, and many owls cocked their heads in confusion.


    Honestly this trial sounded way too easy, incredibly so inparison to thest one.


    But of course, the examiner had only exined the basic premise of the next trail, and a devious smile came over her face as she gave out the finer details.


    ''Oh, but in addition to any treasures that we have left, there are still other beast and naturally growing magical nts around. If you can harvest the nts or kill the beast and take their cores those will be epted as well. Though only cores of high-tier fiend beasts or greater shall qualify, as well as magical nts of a certain quality. Oh, and there may or may not be enough for everyone here to pass. But if you have trouble finding items, you are free to steal them from your fellowpetitors. However, you are not allowed to kill any other owls in this trial. Doing so will have you disqualified.''


    After finishing her exnation, the examiner sat there for a moment, and then to everyone''s surprise the fog that had been ever present began to withdrawpletely around the area.


    Soon it had spread out for three miles in every direction with where they currently were being the center.


    Once this miraculous phenomenon was over the examiner handed out bags and a single beast core to everyone.


    ''Now all of you have two hours. Go out and collect the ten items you need and be back here before time runs out. Anyone who has not made it back here by then will not pass even if they have the necessary items.''


    With thatst direction all of the owls frantically wen flying into the jungle in search of beast cores and magical nts.


    However, some of the more aggressive owls began attacking their fellow trial goers right from the start, and three such owls had decided to make Evelyn their targets.


    Though while they were all targeting her as the perceived weakest owl here and easy prey, they were not exactly working together.


    Quickly two of them began squabbling amongst each other, leaving only one of them to truly go after Evelyn.


    Naturally she had suspected she would be targeted, though it being this early was a bit of a surprise.


    Still after going head-to-head against the queen spider, even an owl at the peak of the fiend beast rank really did not seem all that threatening to her now.


    Flying behind a tree Evelyn avoided the wind de that the owl chasing her fired off, and as she passed by, she lowered her gravity as much as she could and jammed her talons into the tree to abruptly stop her momentum.


    ''So, he can use wind des like my mother and father could. Still, I can tell he is not quite as good as them.'' Evelyn observed.


    Of course, she had not even figured out how to focus her own wind magic to the point of making wind des, but she still gave her internal criticism all the same.


    When the owl chasing her rounded the tree thinking that he would find Evelyn still flying away, he waspletely blindsided as she jumped off of the tree and mmed into him.


    It was like he had suddenly been hit by arge rock as Evelyn seemed much denser than she should have been.


    Along with that this owl suddenly felt himself bing heavier, and her plummeted to the ground with Evelyn on top of him.


    Unfortunately, for him under her nearly four times gravity Evelyn weighed more than two hundred pounds, and his own increased weight made him more than three hundred.


    Quickly they reached the jungle''s floor, and he waspletely unable to get his bearings with Evelyn on top of him.


    Yet right before they impacted, she suddenly became very light, and with one p of her wings and firing a heavy gust of wind below her, she shot back up into the air.


    Sadly, the owl that had antagonized her was too close to the jungle floor to recover and was pushed into the ground with an immense amount of force.


    A sickening cracking sound could be heard as he hit, and there was no doubt he had broken something.


    Nevertheless, he was still alive as it was against the rules to kill him, so Evelyn simply left him in really bad shape where he may never fly again without some type of magical treatment.


    ''And I will be taking this.''


    Rifling through his bag she pulled out the beast core that he had been given like all of them and ced it into her own bag on her back.


    ''Now I wonder how those other two boozes are doing.''


    Taking back off to where the other two owls that had targeted her were fighting, she saw that they were still battling it out, through both were noticeably wounded.


    ''Well, you reap what you sow. I will be taking your beast cores as well.''

 Chapter 51 51 Hunting And Gathering (2)

    ?Evelyn waited patiently for the two owls that had tried to attack her and then subsequently attacked each other to finish their battle.


    As they had made the first move, she had no qualms in returning their aggression.


    Currently she was nning to wait for a victor to be decided and then take out the exhausted and injured winner before iming the beast cores in their possession.


    This would give her three of the ten items that she needed to pass this trial and put her quite ahead.


    ''It is a bit of a shame that I cannot just kill them as then I would get double the cores, but I suppose that with the no killing rule it allows for even those who lose their collected resources have a chance to recover.'' Evelyn thought as she watched these two owls going at it.


    Sadly, her n soon became more of a bother than it was worth, as both owls were quite equally matched, and fighting fairly defensively while trying to provoke the other into a mistake.


    This meant that she wasted five minutes just watching them when she could have simply been gathering resources elsewhere.


    ''Screw it. I will just take them both down now. They are already injured and tired so it should not be a problem.''


    With her patience having worn out, Evelyn jumped into action.


    She waited for just the right moment when the two owls had gotten embroiled in a closebat fight and sprung her attack.


    The two of the only noticed her when she was already within just a few dozen feet, and neither one had much leeway to try and counter her.


    Spinning around she created a whirlwind around herself as she had done during the fight against queen spider.


    Then when she passed between the two of them, she released the wind she had umted around herself and smacked them both hard with more force than they could have anticipated from a mid-tier fiend beast.


    For them it was like being hit by a small car, and while her control was still not the most impressive, the force behind her attacks were.


    The two owls went sprawling through the air and Evelyn took off after the one that was slightly less injured.


    mming into him she smashed him into the ground with a heavy thud just as she had done to the other owl that had been attacking her.


    ''That is one.'' She thought as she looked toward the other one.


    He had regained his bearings and was looking towards Evelyn with disdain. That was until he saw her eyes.


    In them he could see a look he never expected a mid-tier fiend beast to look at him with. In her eyes he was already beaten. There was no look of fear, just annoyance. As if dealing with him was a waste of time she had to suffer through.


    Normally this might have made him angry to be so disrespected, but he had already seen how overwhelming Evelyn was, and he was in no shape to fight her.


    Therefore, he chose to retreat, hoping to escape into the jungle.


    Unfortunately for him, Evelyn was not about to let him escape while he had a beast core in his possession, and she flew after him with such speed that he was absolutely astounded.


    Within just a few seconds she had caught up, and she switched her gravity control from lighter to heavier and practically brought the fleeing owls she was after to a screeching halt.


    With escape no longer seeming to be an option, he tired turning around to attack her by conjuring arge rock which he fired at her.


    However, under the effects of nearly four times gravity, this rock had a hard time maintaining its momentum, and by the time it reached where Evelyn was it was barely moving.


    She simply twisted her body around and let the rock pass harmlessly by her, and then sent out a gust of wind that sent the other owl crashing towards the ground.


    With a heavy hit Evelyn smashed another owl into the ground, using it as an effective weapon along with her wind and gravity magic.


    Though while this owl had taken quite a bit of damage from the fall, he did mange to get up, owing this to having softened the earth a bit before he hit it using his affinity.


    Still, he was in no shape to deal with Evelyn, especially when his movements were so sluggish from being under the effects of increased gravity.


    After that all it took were a few well timed body ms and a strong gust of wind for him to be taken out as Evelyn mercilessly battered him around.


    ''Now for my prize.'' Evelyn thought as she took the beast core out of his bag.


    She smiled quite happily at receiving it, and then flew back over to where the other owl was, as she had not had time to procure the beast core in his possession before taking off after the other one.


    Though when she arrived at the location where she had left this other owl, she was surprised to see that he was gone.


    Looking around she tired to search for him, but he had somehow left her field of vison.


    But as she kept searching, she did find something unusual.


    Around two hundred feet away stuck on a surfaced root was the bag that owl had been given.


    Flying over towards it, Evelyn was being very cautious wondering if it might be a trap.


    She thoroughly checked any hiding spots within the nearby area where she might be caught off guard if anything attacked her.


    Nevertheless, she came up with nothing and all seemed to be clear.


    ''If they have hidden any farther away, I should be able to react in time.'' She thought before approaching the bag.


    As she did, she brough her caution and awareness to their max, being on the lookout for any sort of ambush.


    Luckily no such attack came, and she searched through the bag and found the beast core within.


    But while at first she was ted that her prize was still here, it left a big question in her mind.


    ''Where did he go?''


    It made little sense to Evelyn that if the other owl had moved on his own power that he would abandon his bag and the beast core within it.


    Also, if another trial goer had found him injured and unable to defend himself, certainly they would have simply taken the beast core in his possession.


    With not enough information to make a logical deduction just yet she began looking around for some type of clue. Wondering what might have happened.


    And not long after she did, she found the clue she was looking for.


    Not far from the bag she could see a fresh indent in the ground that left a slightly winding trail.


    ''It looks like something else must have found him. The examiner did say that there were still other beasts in the jungle, so I suppose he was dragged away.''


    Taking a moment to weight her options Evelyn ultimately decided to follow the path.


    If she was lucky, she could ambush whatever had killed the owl she had recently beaten and take both of their beast cores.


    ''I was told I could not kill otherpetitors. But if they die from unrted causes then it should be eptable for me to take the beast core from their corpse.''


    Taking off back into the air, Evelyn had a slight smile on her face as she thought about the two for one deal she was about to get that would bring her to the halfway point of passing this trial.


    Quickly she flew forward, following the trail that had been left through the brush and ground.


    ''Well, that must be itsir,'' she thought as she looked down at a pool of water.


    The trail ended at its edge, and she could distinctly see owl feathers floating on the top, presumably from the one she had beaten and unintentionally left for dead.


    Sadly, while she had located where the beast was, it was not like she could just fly under the water after it.


    Still, she was not willing to give up just yet, and got a bit lower so that she could get a better look at the pool.


    If she could get lucky maybe she could spot whatever manner of beast was inhabiting it.


    Yet as she got closer, she noticed that something else of interest was within this pool.


    At the very bottom she could see what looked like some sort of nt that was faintly glowing, and as she looked closer could see that the water was begin produced from it.


    Now bing invested in this pool as it might have just turned into a three for one deal, she lowered herself just a bit further to inspect it carefully.


    But this turned out to be quite the mistake.


    When she was fifteen feet from the water''s surface it began moving and a spear made of water flew right towards her.

 Chapter 52 52 Caught Off Guard

    ?Evelyn went wide eyed as she watched a spear made of water firing towards her.


    Time seemed to slow for her as her mind processed how to escape, and her body began moving to get out of the way.


    She tried creating a gust of wind in front of her not only to push herself away but to also redirect the spear of water.


    However, she had been caughtpletely off guard and barely had any time to take defensive actions, causing her to be unbale to fully evade the attack.


    The water spear quickly pierced into her left wing as she tried to get out of the way, and she felt a searing pain where it hit.


    With arge hole now punctured in her wing Evelyn began spiraling down towards the water where she was certainly going to be at a horrible disadvantage.


    Yet before she hit the surface, she pped her right wing wildly while using her wind magic and just managed to throw herself away from the pool of water and onto its banks.


    She smashed down hard against the muddy edge where the ground met the water, and quickly she was covered and mud and her own blood that was pouring out of her now horribly injured wing.


    After all of her sess, it had only taken one moment of carelessness and overconfidence to bring her down.


    Still, she was not dead yet, and she pulled herself up out of the mud and began running on her legs to get away.


    With her wing as badly injured as it was, flying was certainly no option, and even just trying to run away was causing her a great deal of pain while also making her blood flood out faster.


    But had she not gotten up any faster it would have been the end for her, as the master of this pool rose up out of the surface and mmed down onto the ground where she had been only a few moments prior.


    Hearing this Evelyn turned her head all the way around while still moving her body forward and she saw a huge snake that had just surfaced from the pool.


    It was a veryrge snake that resembled the appearance of an anaconda, though it had dull blue, green, and brown scales on its body giving it a pretty decent camouge for the jungle.


    Along with its impressive size, Evelyn could see that its stomach was currently bulging a bit, presumably from the other owl that it had recently eaten.


    Watching it start to slither towards her, she felt a sense of fear and panic taking over.


    The snake was quite obviously faster than her while onnd, and her injury only made it less likely that she could get away.


    It had been a long time for her since she felt this way, like a cornered animal.


    Her recent growth in strength and victory over numerous beasts at a higher rank than her had started to make her feel untouchable.


    Unfortunately, for as strong as she had gotten now, she was the one that had been caught off guard this time, and it could very well end up with her losing her life.


    ''Damn it. I should have been more cautious when approaching the water. But I am not going to die, not here and not ever again.''


    With no option left Evelyn turned around to face the snake that was closing in on her with hungry eyes.


    Apparently the one owl it had eaten was only enough for its main course, and now it was looking to have Evelyn for dessert.


    Evelyn though was not going to be made a meal so easily, and when the snake reared back its head to lunge at her thinking it had cornered its injured prey, she increased the gravity around her as much as she could.


    The snake''s attempt to lunge at her instead ended with it getting a mouthful of dirt. as its head plunged into the ground when it entered Evelyn''s gravity field.


    Then while it was stunned from this, she stoked up her heavenly me with her magical energy and sent a burst of it flying forward.


    Sensing the dangering towards it the snake used its own magic to protect itself. Creating a shield of water in front of its body and blocking the iing fire.


    An explosion of steam erupted from where the mes and water met, and the air was quickly covered by the expanding water vapor.


    A moment after this happened the snake began screeching in pain and thrashing its body around wildly. Since while its water had protected it somewhat from the mes, it had been unable to fully dissipated the power of a heavenly me.


    Seeing this Evelyn grimaced, as she had been hoping that this attack would have been enough to kill the snake that was at the peak of the fiend beast rank, but it was apparently quite tough.


    Sending more magical energy into her she prepared to unleash another burst of me and hopefully finish off her current enemy.


    But before she could it dove back into the pool of water where it had made its home.


    With the threat seemingly having ended, Evelyn sucked the magical energy and the crimson mes she had created back into her body.


    She had already expended a great deal of her magical energy just using the first attack, and as this trial was not over yet, she still needed to conserve her strength.


    Looking over at her wing she winced seeing the open wound that exposed her flesh and bone.


    It was pretty bad, especially for an owl such as herself since it prevented her from flying.


    Nevertheless, beasts were actually pretty tough in this world, and her magical energy had already gone to work at healing her body.


    The bleeding had stopped, and it no longer hurt quite as much now that she was no longer moving around.


    Still, it was pretty bad, and it would likely take her at least a couple of weeks to heal on her own to the point where she could fly at all.


    That right now was most defiantly not an option, so she pulled one of the storage amulets the had buried into her feathers out and took out one of the healing oils that her brother had left her.


    Yet as she was going to apply the oil, a loud ssh caught her attention, and she watched the snake surface one more from the water.


    This time it was not going to underestimate Evelyn and had surrounded itself with four spears made of water which it prepared tounch at her.


    Seeing this she began to panic and conjure her heavenly mes as well as whip up some wind in defense.


    Saving her magical energy now was going to be of no use if she died, so she gave it all she had.


    Soon the water spears went flying towards her, and she sent her strength into her legs and jumped to the side to avoid what she could.


    Though even with her best efforts two of them wereing right for her, one aimed at her head and the other her torso.


    Unleashing the umted wind and heavenly mes she fired out three sts, two to intercept the water spears and another to take out her enemy.


    The spears impacted with the mes and wind causing anotherrge explosion of steam as the water was heated rapidly.


    This caused Evelyn to be blown away, and she went flying trough the jungle, until after traveling almost three hundred feet she impacted against a thick tree that stopped her momentum.


    It was incredibly painful as she felt her body bend and break against the tree and there was no doubt that she had just broken something.


    She then slid down the tree leaving a red stain as she did with the wound on her wing having reopened.


    Her head was now shaken and her vision blurry, preventing her from being able to see properly.


    But she still strained to look towards the pool of water to see if herst desperate attack connected.


    As her vision slowly started to clear up, she could see movement around the pool and fear began to take grip over her.


    If she had failed to kill the snake, there was no doubt it would be the end for her.


    The wounds she had taken were just too much too much for her to fight back now, and even if she was less injured, she barely had any magical energy left.


    However, as her fear grew and grew as she anticipated the snakeing for her, it never did, and eventually she saw that its body was floating on the surface of the water, no longer moving.


    Her final shot had managed to connect and seared through half of the snake''s neck, leaving it not instantly dead but with no hopes of surviving.


    The movement Evelyn had seen were itsst death throes before it ultimately died.

 Chapter 53 53 Recovering From The Battle And Recovering The Spoils

    ?With her body aching all over and arge hole in her left-wing gushing blood, Evelyn wanted to pass out and free herself from the pain.


    Unfortunately, doing so would guarantee that she would fail the current trial, and likely have her end up the meal of another denizen of this part of the jungle.


    She had gotten through herst battle against the snake inhabiting the pool of water by the skin of her teeth and was now facing the consequences of her carelessness.


    Even as strong as she had gotten, all it took was one sessful sneak attack for her to nearly end up dead.


    ''I need to be more careful from now on. As soon as I saw the pool of water I should have just given up and tired my luck elsewhere.'' Evelyn though as she forced herself up.


    It took all of her strength and effort to pull her body up and lean it against the tree she had mmed into. With the action having caused her excruciating pain.


    Still if there was one thing she was good at, it was taking pain, and so she fought through it as she had numerous times before.


    Once she was upright, she sent what little of her magical energy back into the storage amulet she had been essing and took out the best healing potions her brother had left her.


    She had been hoping not to need to use something so valuable, as she was far from being able to replicate it herself, but nothing else she currently had was going to get her out of the situation.


    If she used any lower quality items, it was just going to take her too long to recover and she would certainly run out of time.


    ''Come on open up.''


    Trying to uncork the bottle with her beak was proving quite difficult as her current injures made it impossible for her body to move as she wanted.


    Eventually though she managed to get the top off and she guzzled down the potion as quickly as she could.


    Its effects happened almost immediately, and her body began to glow faintly green as the magic brewed into the potion permitted through her body.


    She immediately felt a pleasantly warm sensation and the pain she had been enduring practically disappeared all at once.


    SNAP!


    Suddenly her back shot up straight as her broken bones moved back into ce and knitted themselves back together.


    Next, she looked towards the hole in her wing and watched it healing over at an incredible rate.


    It was like she was watching a timepse of a wound healing and it was a surreal sight to witness.


    She even caught a glimpse of the veins putting themselves back together before being covered with muscle and flesh.


    Soon her wing had fully recovered, and her body was back in peak shape even after all that it had been put through.


    ''Wow magic really is impressive. This just goes go to show how far I still have to go. If I can one day make items as good as this one, I will be able to recover myself from even life-threatening injuries.'' Evelyn thought, incredibly impressed by the potion she had just consumed.


    Unfortunately, while it had healed all of her wounds, the area around her wing that had been pierced through no longer had its feathers and it looked quite unnatural.


    ''I guess they will grow back eventually. Hopefully this does not impact my ability to fly too much.''


    Evelyn then pped her wings around a few dozen times to make sure they were good to go and get a feel for her wing that was now missing a portion of feathers.


    When she finally feltfortable to fly again, she jumped into the air and began flying over towards the pool of water where the snake''s body was.


    As she did though she noticed that theck of feathers made quite the difference, and she had to supplement herck of feathers on her left wing with slight gusts of wind.


    Still, she could fly okay for now, but she was not going to be able to maneuver or go as fast as she had before until these feathers grew back.


    Passing over the water she peered down at the snake to make sure it was dead, and as she looked at it there was no doubt it had passed on.


    She had been aiming to take its head off, but her attack was off a little, and she had instead hit its body a couple of feet below its head.


    Nevertheless, she had sted a hole through it that had actually seared its neck shut and caused it to be unable to breath.


    ''Well, I went through all that trouble fighting it, so I might as well im my spoils as the victor.''


    Flying down over the water after she made double sure that the area was safe, she sunk her ws into the snakes body and pulled it to shore.


    Once there she pulled out its beast core and stored it within her bag, before ripping away at its flesh and making a meal out of it.


    Only now did she realize how hungry she was, and as she thought about it, she understood why.


    It had actually been a while since she hadst eaten, and during these trials she had expended arge amount of energy, both magical and physical.


    She absolutely needed to take some time and replenish her body now as this might be the only chance she would get.


    After fixing her meal she pulled out another bottle from one of her storage amulets.


    Though unlike the previous bottle that held a viscous green liquid inside it, this one was filled with slightly glowing blue pills.


    Taking one out, she threw it into her mouth and swallowed it down.


    Within around a minute she felt a surge of magical energy flow through her body as the pill was broken down and replenished her drained beast and magic cores with magical energy.


    ''Ah that feels a lot better. I have to hand it to Mason for leaving me such useful items.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the bottle.


    A moment of sorrow passed over he as she thought about her brother who she had missed in this world, but quickly shook it off and resolved herself to keep going.


    ''Now do I try and get that nt out of the water, or just leave it there?''


    Looking down into the depths of the pool that was around thirty feet deep, she stared at the magical nt resting at the bottom.


    If she were to go down there and grab it, she would have to get her entire body wet, and if something attacked her while submerged, she could be in a whole lot of trouble.


    Still this nt would count as one of the necessary ten resources she needed to gather, and after being injured and taking several minutes to recover she had lost a good amount of time.


    ''I will just need to be quick. I do not think anything else is living in this pool so it should hopefully be safe.''


    Resolving herself Evelyn tentatively moved into the pool of water while keeping her guard up.


    She refused to be caught unaware again and did everything in her ability to be aware of her surroundings and any danger within them.


    Luckily everything seemed clear, and so she plunged into the water while holding her breath.


    As soon as she was submerged, she could feel that this water was rich in magical energy, quite a bit more in fact than the air above it.


    ''This must be why that snake had not consumed the nt producing this water.'' Evelyn observed.


    Such a rich source of magical energy was something she had not encountered within an environment before, so this ce truly was special and ideal for any aquatic or semi-aquatic animal.


    On the way down when she was about halfway to the bottom, she saw arge hole in the side of the pool''s wall and assumed this was where the snake had been living.


    She took a quick check inside but found that other than the remains of some dead animals and some shredded scales it waspletely devoid of anything.


    Exiting the snake''s home and continuing her way to the bottom, Evelyn felt a sudden shift in pressure which caught her off guard.


    Of course, she knew this would happen once she passed a certain depth, but it was still strange to feel for the first time.


    Soon she made it to the bottom of the pool where the faintly glowing nt was, and she quickly began digging it out of the ground.


    She was careful to leave its roots intact in case she might get to keep it after the trial and could create her own pond with it.


    Once it had been sessfully removed from the ground, it stopped producing water and the pool seemed to be still, as if the life in it had been drained away.


    ''Well, I guess this pool will probably eventually dry up, but that is not my problem.''


    With her treasure secured, Evelyn made her way back up towards the surface of the pool.


    Though while she wanted to get back up to where there was ample air, she moved slow, still being careful after her earlier blunder had almost cost her dearly.


    When she was near the surface, she scanned around for anything around, and spotted some movement in the trees not far away.


    This time she resolved to not be caught off guard and prepared to unleash her magic as soon as she surfaced.


    When she did the creature that was in the trees nearby spotted her and she saw another owl staring back at her in surprise.

 Chapter 54 54 Collecting Tons Of Items

    ?Evelyn popped her head up out of the water and was ready to unleash her full powered attack on whatever was moving around nearby.


    Yet she was surprised to see that it was another owl.


    With this realization she sucked the magical energy back into her body, as the attack she was preparing was certainly going to be lethal and would have gotten her disqualified had it connected.


    Still, she did not lower her guard down at all, and slowly approached the bank of the pool of water, before getting back onto drynd. All while staring down this other owl.


    Like Evelyn they appeared to bear a resemnce to the great horned owl from back on Earth, though this one had almost entirely white feathers.


    However, these where not quite like the ones that the snowy owl had, and it appeared that its feathers were almost clear.


    Though along with the majority of its feathers being the nearly clear white, it had a spattering of sliver looking feathers, much like Evelyn had some that were green and purple.


    ''Looks like she is one of the few owls left that are at the high tier of the fiend beast rank. But she seems just as cautious of me as I am of her.'' Evelyn thought while looking intently at this other owl.


    The two of them had a stare down for a good minute, before the other owl jumped off the tree and began flying away, seemingly not interested in trying to tangle with Evelyn.


    Letting out a sigh of relief, she was quite grateful that had ended peacefully. Since right now she could not really fly with her body being soaking wet.


    Nevertheless, now that there was no danger around, she raised her wings and covered herself in her heavenly mes, while also bringing up a gust of wind.


    Thisbination quickly dried her off, as she evaporated the water and blew the moisture away from her with her wind.


    ''Well now that I have used magic as a hair dryer, or in this case a feather dryer, it is time to get going.''


    Taking back off into the sky Evelyn continued her hunt for the necessary items needed to pass the second trial.


    Currently she had five such treasures in her possession that would count towards her goal of ten, making her halfway there.


    But she had definitely used up a great deal of time, and she was less mobile now than before so she needed to be swift.


    At this point she figured she might have around an hour and twenty minutes left, and if she was really unlucky, she might have to go to her back up strategy and wait to ambush any owls returning to the starting point and steal their hard-earned treasurer.


    Of course, she wanted to avoid this, if at all possible. Since starting fights like that could end up in a huge brawl with multiple owls involved.


    ''Oh, is that not a good hiding spot.''


    Seeing a deep gash in one of the thick trees of the jungle, Evelyn cautiously approached it, constantly turning her head around to catch sight of any danger.


    When she got closer to the scar on the tree, she sent out a small gust of wind that hit against it.


    She wanted to makes sure that there was not anything living inside their that mightsh out at her.


    Luckily nothing seemed to react, so she slowly moved over and peered inside.


    As she looked into this gash in the tree, she could see that it ran deep, and as she had suspected at the bottom of it there was some sort ofrge seed.


    Looking at it she could see that it was both blue and brown, meaning it likely was from a nt with an elemental affinity for water and earth.


    Unfortunately, it had been put pretty deep in this gash on the tree, and there was no way she was going to be able to reach it normally.


    ''I suppose I will just have to break my way in then.'' Evelyn thought after contemting what to do for around a minute.


    At first, she had thought about trying out some of the tools Mason had left her and seeing if she could grab it that way. But soon she remembered that her physical strength was actually quite impressive, and that she was already far stronger than any human ever had been on Earth.


    Going to work quickly she pulled up the wood and broke it away to get to her prize.


    Yet as she did a cloud of dust billowed out from the scar in the tree and surrounded her.


    Not taking any changes she stopped breathing and closed her eyes, while creating a gust of wind around her to blow the dust away.


    When she was certain it had all dissipated, she looked around and quickly spotted a small bag that had been left that she had not spotted.


    ''Those bastards! They trapped the magical nts and beast cores they left. Talk about brutal. I guess that this is far from the peaceful scavenger hunts I went on as a kid.''


    Fortunately, she had managed to use her magical affinity to protect herself, but any owl in her situation without the affinity for wind magic and a quick wit, would have been hit with a paralytic powder and certainly been unable to finish this trial.


    ''Well, there is another one.'' Evelyn thought as she scooped up the seed and ced it into her bag.


    With one more item down, she continued on searching the jungle for more hidden goods.


    Quickly with her keen eye she began collecting all manner of hidden beast cores and magical nts.


    Most of them had traps that had beenid nearby them, but after almost being caught once, she was very cautious and used her superior intellect to disarm all of the simple traps.


    Along the way she also took on some of the beasts of the jungle. Targeting mostly those at the high tier of the fiend beast rank and collecting their cores.


    By the time she figured she had around twenty minutes left to get back, she had managed to collect a staggering twenty-six quality items, owing to her keen eyes andck of trouble she managed to get in after dealing with the snake in the pool.


    ''It looks like taking things a bit slower and being cautious worked out quite well. I was able to avoid any real threats by being aware of my surroundings, which in turn also helped me spot areas that would be good for hiding treasures in.''


    Feeling ted at having gathered so many resources, Evelyn began thinking about which ones she wanted to keep for herself.


    If all she needed was ten to pass, then she was certainly not going to give up the other sixteen when they would be very useful to her.


    Though currently she was having a hard time deciding which ones she wanted.


    She did not know what any of the seven magical nts she had gathered were, but she did know she wanted to try and work more on alchemy, and that they might be useful for that endeavor.


    ''I believe it will be best to just hand in ten of the high-tier beast cores I got. I have the most of them and can live without them easily enough if they get taken away.''

 Chapter 55 55 Passing The Second Trial With Flying Colors

    ?With her spoils stuffed in her bag, Evelyn made her way back to the starting location of the second trial where she would hand in her goods and receive a passing mark.


    She was one hundred percent sure that she would seed inpleting this trial, as she even had enough to pass twice over and then some.


    However, while she was in a good mood from herrge haul of valuable items, she was nheless staying cautious.


    Sess bredcency, andcency bred failure. So, she made sure to keep her guard up the entire time, having already experienced how quickly things could turn against her when she rxed even just a little.


    If she failed in thest stretch after gathering so much, by either having it stolen or being dyed for too long by another owl seeking her items, it would have made all her efforts for naught.


    Therefore, she kept her eyes out and her ears sharp for any sort of threats while also making sure to move cautiously among the foliage to keep out of sight.


    ''Looks like I was right to be cautious.'' She thought.


    Waiting around the entrance the clearing where the trial had started and would end, were a few tough looking owls that were either toozy to go out and gather, had failed in their attempts, or had figured this would be the best strategy from the start.


    ''I still have a few minutes, no need to rush.''


    Waiting around while hiding out in a nearby tree, Evelyn waited for the right moment and luckily it soon came.


    Another owl was flying by with not a care in the world. Presumably havingpleted the gathering of necessary items.


    Unfortunately for this poor owl, they were quickly attacked by a group of four owls that had banded together and were guarding this area. Taking whatever they wanted from those who brazenly came by.


    Nevertheless, this was exactly the moment Evelyn had been waiting for, and as the other owl was fighting for its chance toplete the second trail, she shot forward at full speed.


    She made a quick break for the clearing, and had crossed over half the distance before any of the other nearby owls reacted.


    Two of the ones guarding this side of the clearing chased after her, deciding that their allies would be more than capable of stealing the goods from their current target.


    Seeing the two owlsing her way Evelyn conjured a bolt of fire and shot it off in their direction.


    This caused the two of the to have to swerve out of the way and knocked off their intercept course, putting them just a bit behind her.


    They both chased close behind her while trying to hit her with their own attacks, but there was no way that was going to happen.


    She had gotten some good experience flying away from stronger beasts that outnumbered her when the three eagles chased her, and these owls were only two.


    All she had to do was deftly dodge their attacks, and with her unusually high speed she was easily able to keep in front of them.


    Soon she made it into the clearing where the trial had started and would end, and the two owls abruptly stopped in their tracks.


    If they entered the area, it would count as them having returned, and without the necessary items they needed to pass which would result in a failure.


    Looking back at her pursuers, Evelyn gave them a smug smile, before heading over to the area where the other owls that had passed were waiting.


    Currently of the around sixty owls that had seeded in the first trial, only sixteen other than Evelyn had passed, and time was quickly running out.


    At this rate it was very likely that the examiner''s im that less than ten percent of the original participants would pass.


    Also, there were still an unknown number of trials left, so it was possible that many more might fail.


    ''It could easily end up with less than ten of us actually passing. I just need to make sure that I am one of them.'' Evelyn thought while looking at herpetition.


    Though she really did not recognize most of them, but there was one that stood out since she had seen them very recently.


    The owl with nearly clear feathers and a sttering of sliver feathers was here as well. Holding her head up proud like all the others that had alreadye back with the gathered items.


    Thest few minutes of the second trial soon wound down, and a few more owls came into the clearing.


    Some of them had defeated expressions on their faces and it was obvious they had failed.


    Still, plenty of them held their heads up high, and by the time all of the owls that could return had. Evelyn counted twenty-four owls including herself that at least believed they seeded.


    Of course, until the final count was done and the resources everyone had gathered were approved, no one could be certain that they would move on from the second trial.


    "Well, that is the time. It seems that a number of the participants have not returned, but it is toote for them anyway. Now all of you line up and I will examine what you have brought and determine if you pass." The examiner who is an owl with ck feathers like the night sky said.


    With great haste the owls that had arrived first lined up, but Evelyn saw no reason to rush to be at the front.


    It was not like this had been a race, just a simple fetch quest in all honesty.


    ''Okay maybe it was not exactly simple.'' Evelyn thought remembering her struggles at the very beginning.


    "You pass. You pass. You pass. You pass."


    Going down the line the examiner would inspect what was in each owl''s bag, before giving out a pass or fail and then taking the bag along its contents.


    Naturally the first dozen owls that had lined up passed, but on the thirteenth the first failure was given.


    "You fail. This magical nt is not of a high enough quality." The examiner said.


    However, while the others were all hoping that their items were good enough, Evelyn was left with another problem.


    She was not willing to give up the surplus items she had gathered, and so quickly moved to the back of the line where she started rummaging through her bag.


    Taking out all of the magically enriched nts and peak fiend beast cores, she stealthy put them away into one of her storage amulets, and left only ten high tier fiend beast cores.


    ''There, that should do it. If all of my extra hard work was for naught, I would have felt pretty down.''


    Luckily, she had stored away what she wanted before it was her turn.


    Though as the examiner started getting to the end of the line, all of the owls were getting failed since they did not have the required number or quality of items.


    When she made it to Evelyn however, it was quite clear she had high expectations.


    "Now show me your bag."


    Opening up the bag Evelyn showed her the ten high-tier fiend beast cores which was all she needed to pass.


    But the examiner actually frowned a bit, and said, "You pass, but I was expecting more form you than the bare minimum.''


    However, before the examiner could move on, the humanoid owl that had seemed utterly disinterested in the trials to begin with, appeared seemingly out of nowhere.


    Even the examiner was caught off guard, since she honestly did not expect to see who was essentially her boss, show up during the end of the second trial.


    "Well now that was certainly an impressive disy of prowess and ingenuity. Aldana I was watching this young owl very closely during this trial, and what she showed you was not even half of what she actually gathered. She put the rest, which she certainly wanted to keep for herself, in a storage magic tool."


    Hearing this Aldana the examiner was stunned, since it was practically unheard of for a fiend beast to get ahold of something like a storage magical tool.


    "So, as the administrator of this year''s exam, I am passing her with flying colors right now. From what I have seen she is already more than qualified to join us, and there is no need to test her any further. In fact, I wish to take her as my personal disciple."


    The humanoid owl with deep blue wings then looked at Evelyn and smiled brightly, but she could see a certain greed in her eyes that sent a shiver down her spine.


    It was a look Evelyn had never seen before, and while there was no malice in it. She felt a bit of fear welling up inside her, as if instinctively she knew her life would be much harsher if she became this owl''s disciple.

 Chapter 56 56 Accepting The Offer

    ?All the other owls stood stunned as the administrator of the trials to be epted into the Owls Roost came out after having not appeared since the beginning and proimed that Evelyn had already passed.


    And not only that, but this powerful owl had also said that she wished to take Evelyn as her own disciple.


    This was an unprecedented turn of events that very rarely happened.


    However, it was the prerogative of the ones running this event to choose any of the participating owls and pass them on the spot. And even make personal offers before they made it to the Owls Roost.


    Though while this offer likely would have been immediately epted by any of the other owls here in a heartbeat, Evelyn was extremely wary.


    In her mind this was some kind of trap, or some other trick that would lead her to more pain.


    ''She must have been watching me this entire time if she knows how many items I collected and about my storage amulets. That means she saw my heavenly me. If she knows what it is, then she might just be trying to get alone to try and extract it from me.''


    With her fears racing through her mind, Evelyn came up with dozens of horrible reasons as to why the owl in charge was trying to get her to be their disciple.


    She had been burned too many times in the past, and she found that all she could think about was what sort of horrid schemes this humanoid owl may have in store for her.


    Of course, the administrator saw the fear in Evelyn''s eyes, and was actually pretty surprised as she never thought that she would be turned down.


    This was a once in a lifetime chance to for most owls, and there really weren''t any that should have wanted to turn it down.


    "Are you doing okay? Did I perhaps surprise you a bit too much?" The administrator asked to Evelyn, after making a connection directly to her with a thread of magical energy.


    Suddenly hearing a voice in her head when she was already in a slightly unstable state, Evelyn recoiled and jumped back a bit.


    At this point it was clear that she was terrified for some reason or another.


    ''Hm, I think I am doing a good job of suppressing my aura, so why is she so afraid of me?'' The administrator thought.


    "Sorry if I scared you, but I was hoping that you would be my disciple. I can tell you now that if you follow me your time in the Owls Roost will be much easier. You will not have to start off at the bottom of the rankings and do menial jobs to prove yourself. I have seen a lot of potential in you, and as one of the leading figures of the Owls Roost it is my job to nurture a talent such as yourself."


    Taking a deep breath Evelyn tried to calm herself down. She was still suspicious of this humanoid owl, but she was starting to think a bit more rationally.


    If she had wanted her for some nefarious reason, then she would have had ample chance to do all manner of things.


    She easily could have killed or abducted her during either trial, as for a great majority of time during them she had been alone.


    ''Maybe this offer is actually truthful. While she does have that scary glint in her eyes, it does not feel malicious, more like she is just very interested in me. And if I deny her, it could end uping back to bite meter.''


    Shaking her head around, Evelyn really could not figure out what to do.


    She began whishing that Mason was here to guide her and tell her what the right answer was.


    ''I just have to believe that her intentions are not baleful. If she truly wanted to do something awful to me, I doubt there is any way I could stop her right now anyway.''


    Having found her answer after much contemtion, Evelyn garnered all of her strength and calmed the storm of emotions she was feeling.


    Honestly, she never wanted to put her trust in anyone ever again, but right now she felt that she had no other viable option. And just maybe, if this owl was sincere, it would help propel her forward and closer to her goals.


    "Very well I ept your generous offer." Evelyn eventually said.


    Smiling, the administrator of the trials said, "That is great. Now I need to stay and watch the final trial and make sure that everything goes well. But once it is done, I will take you along with me to the Owls Roost."


    With Evelyn having epted the offer to be a personal disciple, she was now guaranteed a spot in the sanctuary of owls.


    But while this might have been a miraculous situation for Evelyn, it had all of the other owls that had passed the second trial ring at her.


    Naturally they were envious of her for being chosen and not having to fight through anymore trials.


    Though if any of them had already gone through what she had, they certainly would have been dead, so her merits did deserve rewarding.


    "Melisandre, I know that it is within your rights to pick any of the participants if you desire, but did you have to do it so publicly. You have made all of the other participants quite jealous." Aldan the examiner said.


    Looking over at the other owls, Melisandre could see that they definitely were feeling indignant.


    Seeing this Melisandre''s genuine smile for having recruited Evelyn turned upwards and into a devious one.


    "Very well, I suppose that I can give them all an equal shot. We will be beginning the third and final trial right now. So far, we have tested your speed, stamina, and ability to avoid danger in the first trial. And in the second trial we tested your wits and luck. Now it is time we test just how strong all of you are."

 Chapter 57 57 The Final Trial

    ?With Melisandre taking control of thest trial, Aldana could see that things were going off of the rails.


    "Wait this is not what we nned-"


    "Be quiet Aldana. I can make changes to the trial if I so choose. I was put in charge of administering these trials and now I am going to do what I deem correct. To join us they need to be strong, and what better way to prove it than to have them fight amongst each other."


    Melisandre after having taken control looked towards the owls that had passed the second trial, all of whom had curious expressions on their faces.


    "You, the one who passed the second trial first. Step forward."


    Tentatively doing as he was told, an owl with brown and ck plumage moved towards Melisandre.


    "Now you are going to fight my future personal disciple and if you win you can take her spot. If you lose then you will not ever be able to enter the Owls Roost, I will make sure of that. Otherwise, you can challenge any of the other owls here, and if you win you will be epted to enter our sanctuary, just not as my disciple."


    Her mouth gaping open, Evelyn was stunned to hear this.


    This hardly seemed like an equal shot, especially if she was going to have to fight every other owl here in one-on-one duels.


    ''Maybe he will just pick one of the other owls. He can simply choose the weakest one and pass easily. That is the best opportunity you could ask for.'' Evelyn thought.


    Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed quickly as this owl who was one of the strongest and most capable participants in this trial looked confidently at Evelyn and agreed to fight her.


    Internally groaning she had hoped to avoid this kind of conflict.


    "Very well, then it is decided. You two can battle it out right here. Everyone else move back into the trees and let them have the clearing."


    At Melisandre''smand all of the other owls moved away, and left Evelyn alone with her opponent.


    ''I guess there is no choice. I just have to win this fight.''


    Sizing up her opponent Evelyn could tell that he was pretty strong.


    He was by far the biggest owl she had seen at the fiend beast rank, as he stood just a bit over thirteen feet tall and was more than twice her size.


    ''Still inparison to that queen spider he does not feel like much of a threat. I just need to fight smart and use my agility to keep out of his range.''


    Aiming for caution, Evelyn reared herself back ready to jump into the air and create some distance between them.


    "Begin." Melisandre said.


    Taking off into the air Evelyn did not even thinking of fighting head on, and her strategy paid off almost immediately.


    The muchrger owl suddenly lunged forward and mmed hard into the ground where she had been but moments before.


    The ground below him began to crack and shatter and pointed upwards as it turned into spikes.


    Had she not moved out of the way the instant the battle began, even if she had dodged the other owl''s body m, she certainly would have been caught by the spikes made of earth rising up out of the ground around him.


    ''Whew that is definitely dangerous. But I should be able to avoid anything like that as long as I stay in the air.''


    Flying from above, Evelyn had the aerial advantage, and before her opponent could fly after her, she made her move.


    With a heavy p of her wings, she sent down a strong gust of wind, wanting to see how this owl with ck and brown feathers might react.


    To her surprise he just stood there not moving out of the way and nced up at the gust of wind as if it was not even worth dodging.


    As the gust of wind connected, he simply flexed upwards with his head and dispelled Evelyn''s attack.


    ''What the hell?!''


    Watching his happen Evelyn had no idea how her attack had managed to do nothing when she had just sent a very heavy blow out.


    However, her attack that normally would have at least knocked down even an owl at the peak of the fiend beast rank, had failed to do anything against her current opponent.


    Looking up at Evelyn with a smug expression, the owl with ck and brown feathers took off after her, not afraid of her attacks in the least having easily taken her first one.


    ''What a fool.'' Evelyn thought seeing the brazen charge.


    This owl wasing at her incredibly recklessly, thinking his victory was already secured when he had only dealt with one attack that was only meant to see how he would respond.


    Spinning her body around Evelyn built up a whirlwind around herself, and began fueling her heavenly mes.


    Quickly her entire body was engulfed in the crimson fire, and she let loose the same attack she had against the queen spider.


    It was the perfect chance to deliver a powerful blow against an opponent that had underestimated her, and she held nothing back as she fired off all she had.


    Her opponent tried creating a shield out of earth in front of him to tank the attack, but when the fire being further empowered by her wind magic hit the earth shield, it sted right through.


    A fiery explosion then rocked the area as Evelyn''s heavenly mes connected with her adversary.


    An instantter the charred corpse of the other owl fell out of the sky while still smoking.


    Seeing this all of the other owls looked out in surprise as they witnessed a show of power that none of them could have contended with.


    Evelyn''s attack had just packed too much power behind it for any fiend beast to take.


    "Well, I believe that as her opponent is dead, the winner is my future disciple. Now did anyone else want to take her on. Oh, and do know she will be given time to rest and be brought up back to her peak before the battle."


    Looking over at the other owls Melisandre waited to see if any of them would be willing to take Evelyn on now.


    Yet while the rewards were good, not a single one of the remaining owls that had passed the second trial moved forward to challenge Evelyn.


    After seeing that overwhelming disy of power, there was no doubt that in a fair head on fight that none of them had a chance to win. There was simply no way for them to deal with her heavenly me.


    Also, there was no reason for them to lose their lives in an unlikely to win battle, when they could take their chances fighting someone else


    "I see, then she has passed and will be my disciple. As for the rest of you, Aldana will organize you into pairs and you can go at it amongst each other, and the winner of each battle shall be epted into our ranks at the Owls Roost." Melisandre said before flying over to Evelyn.


    She now had very little interest in the remaining trial and was going to leave it all to Aldana. That way she could direct her attention towards her new disciple.

 Chapter 58 58 Battles For Supremacy

    ?Evelyn now having passed the final trial to enter the Owls Roost, sat on a tree overlooking the clearing where the remain owls did battle amongst each other.


    For a bit she had thought that she would have to fight against all of them, as her soon to be mentor gave an "equal chance" to every one of the owls that had passed the second trial.


    Luckily it only took Evelyn one demonstration of her power to convince all of the other owls that they did not have a chance against her, and instead they moved onto fighting amongst each other in one-on-one fights where the winner was epted to be taken to the Owls Roost.


    Currently the fifth match was going on between two owls at the peak of the fiend beast rank and both with an affinity for water.


    It was an interesting fight to watch, as in terms of physical and magical power they were close to equal, and the oue of the battle was going to be decided by which one had the most skill.


    Eventually one of them dide out on top by feinting with a head on attack that was easily blocked, but by having a spike made out of water hidden behind them and out of view.


    They cleverly used this spike made of water to deliver a finishing blow, as their opponent thought they had an easy opening to exploit and went all in on one final attack.


    After watching this fight Evelyn was starting to get a better understanding of how other owls wielded their magic and their rtive intelligence levels.


    Some of them were pretty much all brute force and did not seem all that smart, but others showed prettyplex strategies and understanding of their opponent''s abilities.


    It was quite a bit different from how Evelyn expected things to be, since from the reading she had done, she had assumed that all beasts until reaching the awakened rank had no chance of being very intelligent.


    ''I suppose that the book was written by humans, and it was only one short passage. It is doubtful that the author was able to view how beast society actually works, especially since just like people, they appear to be highly varied from what I have observed.''


    Taking in more information than she had before, Evelyn made sure to watch the battles carefully.


    Soon, it came the turn of the owl with clear and a sttering of silver feathers that she had seen in the jungle after surfacing from the pool of water.


    She was the only high tier fiend beast left, and against her opponent she looked quite frail and fragile.


    In fact, even Evelyn was bigger than her, and she was the smallest lowest ranked owl left.


    Still there was something about her that Evelyn felt was dangerous.


    Stepping up as her opponent was an owl with bright yellow feathers that were almost difficult to look at.


    Most of the owls had muted colors that allowed them to better blend in with the darkness, but this guy stood out like a spotlight.


    And it quickly became apparent that his shy coloring was not just for show, as the second the battle began, he started crackling with lighting and four bolts shot off of him towards the owl with nearly clear feathers.


    Yet as they were about to hit her, they suddenly curved around her and struck directly into the ground.


    It was a baffling disy to watch as Evelyn and all of the other owls beside the two that were running these trials failed to understand what had just happened.


    ''What the hell was that!? How did she bend the lightning around her!?''


    Looking intently down toward this owl, she tried to figure out what had happened. And as she really focused her eyes, she spotted something catch the slightest bit of light.


    Seeing this Evelyn quickly figured out what was going on and was very impressed by the intelligence that the owl with nearly clear white and sliver feathers had done.


    ''This is the first time I have seen anything with an affinity for metal. But to think she would be able to create thin wires around herself and use them as lightning rods.''


    Trying once again the almost fluorescent yellow feathered owl started crackling with more and more electricity, and this time unleashed onerge, concentrated st.


    It honestly looked almost exactly like a true bolt of lightning this time, and it moved incredibly speed and ferocity.


    However, while this world was filled with magic, electricity still followed the path of least resistance, and therge bolt was absorbed by the hundreds of threads that had created a Faraday cage around the white and sliver feathered owl.


    This exchange happened over and over again, as while the small owl that had an affinity for metal seemed highly intelligent, the owl firing off bolts of electricity did not seem very bright in terms of brain power.


    After nearly two minutes of futility wasting his magical energy and stamina, the yellow feathered owl resorted to physical violence instead, and rushed his much smaller opponent.


    But she just stayed where she was, sitting on the ground not moving an inch.


    Then not realizing until it as toote the owl with bright yellow feathers impacted into the very thin threads of metal, and his body was horribly slices all over as her rammed into them.


    It was pretty brutal to see, as he went in headfirst, and his body was cut in numerous ces as he slowly broke through the threads until he came to a screeching halt.


    He was left tangled up and unable to move, and any discharge of electricity was simply directed into the ground.


    With her opponent trapped andpletely defenseless, the owl with nearly clear white feathers along with a smattering of silver, created numerous more threads in front of herself and wound them together until they had formed into a spear.


    Then with the flick of one of her wings she sent it forward and it pierced right into her adversary. Sinking deep into his chest and ending his life.

 Chapter 59 59 To The Owls Roost

    ?As the spear made out of metal threads pierced the heart of the yellow feathered owl, blood began to pour out of his mouth and his eyes went dark as his life left him.


    It as a brutal execution, but in this world the strong would always prevail, and the weak would be trampled on.


    However, the owl that had just beaten her opponent was not done quite yet, and the spear made of threads expanded and pierced all throughout the now lifeless yellow feathered owl.


    At first this seemed to be just an unnecessary act of brutality, but as everyone looked closer, they saw that on one of the threads was the beast core of the yellow feathered owl.


    The nearly clear white feathered owl then went over and grabbed the beast core for herself, taking it as another prize for her victory along with her eptance into the Owls Roost.


    After that viscous and one-sided battle, the remaining fights between owls continued until all of the victors had been decided and thirteen owls including Evelyn had been chosen to move onto the sanctuary of owls where they would be able to grow far strongest and faster than if they were in the wilds.


    ''It really is a far cry from the around two hundred that started.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the dozen other owls that had made it through all of the trials just like her.


    Just as the examiner had said, there were less than ten percent of them left. Proving just how difficult the trials really were.


    Of course, not everyone died, as a bit more than thirty owls simply failed the second trial by not gathering the correct number or quality of items.


    This meant that in the future they would be given another chance to enter if they could pass the trials when they were next held.


    Unfortunately, for now they would be sent away with the regret of knowing that they had been unable to seed this time.


    Still, that was just how it went, and really, they should have been thankful to just make it away with their lives.


    "Okay now that you all have passed the trials and earned the right to enter the Owls Roost, it is time that I show you to your new home. There is much we have to do to get you all registered and set up before you can start enjoying the befits of our society." The examiner said as she looked at those that had seed in passing the trials.


    "Now we have a bit of a journey to make so prepare yourselves to leave in five minutes." Aldana said.


    Soon those five minutes went by and Aldana started flying southwards and the owls that had passed started following her.


    Evelyn began to move to follow as well, thinking that they would all be going the same way, but Melisandre put a hand on her shoulder and prevented her from leaving.


    As this happened Evelyn shuddered, as Melisandre was in a humanoid form, and her hand reminded Evelyn of her original father from Earth, and the people that had kidnapped and experimented on her in this world.


    Suffice to say, she did not have many good experiences with people, and just being touched sent a wave of panic through her due to the trauma she had experienced.


    Naturally Melisandre noticed this and felt Evelyn quivering. Seeing the visible fear all over her.


    "I see. You must have had some pretty bad experiences to be this afraid of just a touch. But you will find that at the Owls Roost you will not be treated as how humans treat beasts. While our trials may be brutal, we look after our own." Melisandre said in an attempt to ease Evelyn.


    "Okay since you are going to be my disciple now, your registration and orientation into our society is going to be a bit different than the rest that passed today."


    After saying this Melisandre held out her arm and rolled up the sleeve on the borately designed shirt she was wearing.


    There she had a glimmering armband that was held in ce around her bicep.


    For a moment Evelyn wondered what this was, until Melisandre took something out of it just like the storage amulets that Mason had left her.


    "Here, put this on." She said as she handed Evelyn a ring made out of some sort of ck metal.


    Doing as she was told Evelyn slipped the ring onto her left foot, and it shrunk down until it was tightly but not ufortably affixed to her leg.


    "Now you have permission to enter the Owls Roost as my guest and will not set off any of our defensive enchantments."


    Melisandre then pulled out some sort of silver talisman from her storage item and threw it into the air above them.


    Quickly it began expanding until it had formed into a ring above them and began spinning rapidly as it descended down on them.


    Holding in her panic, Evelyn closed her eyes as the silver ring passed over her.


    Immediately she felt a sense of weightlessness, and then it was as if her body was being yanked incredibly hard, as if she had suddenly just elerated very quickly.


    Then as fast as the feeling had appeared, it was gone, and she suddenly felt and overwhelming sense of nausea.


    She felt the urge to empty her stomach content all over the ce, and nearly did, until she saw what was before her.


    The shock made her forget that she was feeling sick in an instant, and she looked out at the wonderous sight before her.


    She was high above the sky on some sort of tform that overlooked a sea of trees that were floating in the air. And above her was a never-ending dusk that was almostpletely dark, except for a smattering of orange light that had not faded over the horizon.


    "Wee to the Owls Roost. This is going to be your new home."

 Chapter 60 60 A Chance Encounter

    ?Looking all around her, Evelyn still could not believe where she was and what had just happened.


    She knew there was magic in this world, but so far, the most impressive things she had seen paled inparison to what had just urred.


    She had been warped who knows how far and to who knows where in just a matter of seconds.


    It was almost as if she had been brought to another world, as everything lookedpletely different to what she had experienced throughout her time in her second life.


    In front of her were thousands of trees of different types that were floating in the sky.


    And as she looked closer, she could see that each of theserge trees that were all bigger than even the biggest on Earth had buildings made into and around them.


    Along with that there were hundreds of silhouettes flying around, as groups of owls went from ce to ce.


    Then the most impressive part was the central area within the sea of trees where sixteen trees that were easily each a mile wide and several miles tall circled around one massive tree that dwarfed all of the others.


    ''It is amazing.'' Evelyn thought as she looked out in awe at the mystical sight before her.


    It really hammered home that she was in some sort of fantasy world where magic was all around, and anything seemed possible.


    "Yes, it certainly is impressive, isn''t it?" Melisandre said as if she could read Evelyn''s mind.


    Of course, with the shocked expression on her face it was pretty easy to understand what she was thinking right now.


    "Go ahead and take it all in for a few minutes. I need to contact a few people right now to make your registration go a bit more smoothly anyway. Just do not leave the tform without me."


    With permission to look around further, Evelyn hopped off of the magic circle that she and Melisandre had appeared on and readily explored the tform they were on.


    As she moved over to the edge of it, she was able to walk all the way around on a sort of balcony and see what was surrounding them.


    However, much to her surprise, while there were numerous trees that were also buildings in front of her, behind them was just open space that seemed to go on forever.


    ''There is nothing out here except more tforms exactly like this one.''


    Looking around at these other tforms Evelyn could see that they were each pretty much the same, just being circr floating building that were made out of a light wood.


    They all seemed to bepletely quiet, until she saw one of them sh brightly with silver light.


    A humanoid owl soon came out from the tform and took off towards the numerous trees that were around a mile away.


    But before he went far, he noticed Evelyn''s gaze on him and stopped to stare back at her.


    For a moment she was stunned by his appearance, as his wings looked like the night sky. as they were pitch ck other than some spots of white that appeared to be glowing like stars.


    He was truly a sight to see for Evelyn, as he had an otherworldly presence.


    Yet while she was looking at him with curiosity and awe, his eyes sharpen towards her and radiated a level of hostility


    An instantter he appeared in front of Evelyn without her even being able to notice him move, and she suddenly felt a pressure on her just from him floating in front of her.


    It was at this moment that she realized just how far above he was inparison to her, and she felt the instinctual urge to bow her head and prostrate herself.


    Still, she held her ground and kept her head raised.


    "What are you and what are you doing here? These tforms are only meant to be essed by those they have been assigned to." He said with amanding and harsh tone.


    Though Evelyn had no idea how to respond, since she could not talk, and no magical connection had been made to allow her to convey any sort ofmunication.


    Luckily, Melisandre appeared next to her just a momentter, and said, "Ss, why are you harassing my new disciple? Surely you can see that she is currently wearing my ring that proves she is my guest."


    Melisandre then pointed towards the back ring that was snuggly fitted around Evelyn''s left foot, which indicated that she was here as Melisandre''s guest.


    In response, Ss just frowned looking at Evelyn harshly.


    "Melisandre, you cannot be serious? You have refused so many talents from those whoe from powerful families, yet you take in this unknown owl that is only at the mid-tier of the fiend beast rank."


    "Do you have nothing better to do than criticize my choices, Ss? I picked her because I saw her potential. Now I would ask that you move along. I have much to do right now in order to with register her." Melisandre said while ring at Ss to convey her annoyance.


    "Very well, you are free to make mistakes if you so wish." Ss said with a scoff.


    He then turned towards Evelyn before leaving, and said, "And hopefully you do not bring shame to Melisandre. She is far too respected here to be brought down by an unworthy disciple."


    After saying that Ss turned towards the main area of the Owls Roost and flew away at a high speed, leaving a powerful gust of wind behind in his wake.


    Once he was gone, Evelyn let out a deep breath and breathed in quickly, as she had been holding her breathe the entire time.


    She then looked towards Melisandre wanting to know what that was about, but she just said, "Another time. For now, we need to worry about getting you registered and settled. I will exin to you the intricacies of our societyter. Now follow me, and I will take you to the records hall."

 Chapter 61 61 The Records Hall

    ?After Melisandre told Evelyn they were going to a ce called the records hall, she jumped off the floating tform they were on and took off towards the city of trees in the distance.


    Following behind her Evelyn pped her wings vigorously to catch up, as Melisandre even at a leisure pace was traveling quite fast.


    Soon they made it over floating forest in the sky that doubled as a sprawling city of owls.


    It was all very unusual for Evelyn architecture wise, as there were pretty much no stairs or walkways due to how everyone could fly.


    Though now that she was closer, she could see that sections of the forest were separated into season and climates, as certain owls felt morefortable in different areas.


    It was all very fantastical, especially with the small floating motes of dim light that provided the slight illumination that the owls needed to see.


    As they continued to fly it became apparent to Evelyn that they were heading towards one of therge sixteen trees that surrounded the biggest central tree.


    Though while she wanted to look around at every little thing in this new environment, Melisandre was very goal oriented and did not slow down at all.


    Even when there were groups of owls in their way, they quickly altered their paths or stopped altogether to allow Melisandre to pass.


    It was clear that she was of a very high status, and as Evelyn looked at the other owls that were around, she could tell that most of the were at the awakened beast rank.


    ''Oh, there is another owl taking humanoid form.'' She thought, spotting another owl like Melisandre and Ss.


    Just like how Melisandre was made way for, so was this owl. Confirming that those that could take on a humanoid form were stronger and had a high status.


    When they finally made it to the massive tree that Melisandre had been leading Evelyn towards, she dove straight down and flew towards the base of the tree.


    Following behind her Evelyn went straight down and saw that it really did appear that there was an endless expanse below them


    Yet she did not see many owls flying very low, and none were flying below the trees whose roots seemed to disappear into nowhere.


    "Stop!" Melisandre yelled towards Evelyn who had gotten distracted and nearly flown past the base of the trees.


    Pulling up she failed to stop herself before suddenly hitting what felt like an invisible wall and bouncing off of it with a loud thud.


    pping her wings rapidly, she brought herself back up and saw that below her was some sort of membrane that shook where she had hit it, before quickly settling down and once again looking like an endless expanse.


    "I suppose I should have warned you that the domain ends at the bottom of the trees." Melisandre said as she floated right next to Evelyn who was staring stunned at what was below her.


    "I understand that it is impressive since this is your first time seeing it, bute along, we need to get you registered so that I can begin studying your m-, I mean so that I can begin teaching you."


    Hearing this Evelyn now understood exactly why Melisandre wanted her as her disciple, but it was toote to let her worries get to her now.


    "Here this is where the records hall is located. It is where all owls that join the Roost have to register, and their information is forever stored within." Melisandre exined as shended on arge tform at the base of the massive tree.


    Going inside Evelyn was immediately surprised to see that the inside of this tree was coveredpletely in white stone, and lined with shelves of books, documents, and all manner of other things for as high as she could see.


    Looking around she could see that there were hundreds of tforms that jutted out the sides of the walls at regr intervals, and they had some sort of desk on each of them where owls could read through whatever they wished.


    ''This is certainly as amazing as it would be impractical for anyone that cannot fly.'' Evelyn thought as she looked around.''


    The shelves went up for higher than she could see and there was not a single way up to them other than to fly.


    Still, it was apparent that everything here was designed with owls in mind, meaning it had not need to cater to any being that walked around on the ground.


    "Come along now, we need to go see the manager of the hall to have you registered." Melisandre said while Evelyn gawked at everything around her.


    Coming back to her senses Evelyn hopped along the white marble flooring, and towards arge circr station that sat at the bottom of the building.


    Sitting in the middle of this station and reading through a series of books was thergest owl that she had seen thus far.


    She was easily over thirty feet tall and towered above Evelyn who gulped loudly as they got closer.


    "Oh Melisandre, it has been a while since youst came here. Have youe to publish the results of your recent experiments?" Therge owl asked her


    "Not today, Dara. I am actually here to register my new disciple. I discovered her while administering the trials for outsiders and found that she is certainly a talent worth nurturing." Melisandre said while gesturing towards Evelyn.


    For the first time since they arrived, the owl named Dara noticed Evelyn standing right behind Melisandre and narrowed her eyes as she stared at her intently.


    "Hello there, I am Dara master of the records hall. You are quite the lucky one to have been chosen to be Melisandre''s disciple. Now I suppose we should begin by testing what species you are and recording what your affinity or affinities are."


    Dara then pulled out a few items from under her station, one of which Evelyn recognized as a needle and syringe.

 Chapter 62 62 A New Species

    ?Seeing the needle and syringe, Evelyn recoiled and jumped back in a panic.


    She had been subjected to all manner of experiments back when she was held hostage by humans, and numerous times they stuck her with syringes and either took her blood or injected her with weird substances.


    It was a very traumatic for her, and just seeing one of the items that had tormented her for weeks, was enough to send her into a panic attack.


    Turning around she moved to fly away, wanting nothing more than to escape from something that brought about a great sense of fear in her.


    Yet before she could even get off the ground, Melisandre put a hand on her shoulder which only made her feel even more afraid as she felt herself being restrained.


    "Stop panicking. No one is going to hurt you; you just need give a bit of your blood in order to test your bloodline and what magical affinities you have. Just calm down and push past what has happened to you."


    Hearing Melisandre''smanding yet caring voice, Evelyn began to do as she said and calm down.


    She took a few deep breaths and felt the fear and panic begin to diminish.


    Naturally she still did not want anything to do with needle and syringe and looked towards Melisandre while chirping and hooting to convey what she meant.


    But even though Melisandre got sort of the gist of what Evelyn wanted, she was not quite sure so she created a thin thread of magical energy towards Evelyn so that they could properlymunicate.


    Once the connection was established, Evelyn said, "Please do not make me use that syringe, I just can''t. If all you need is my blood, there must be another way?"


    Seeing the terror on Evelyn''s face, Melisandre relented and told her that they could get her blood another way, but that I was likely to hurt more than the syringe.


    Still Evelyn agreed, saying that she was willing to cut herself with her own talons rather than deal with having a syringe jammed into her.


    After their discussion was over, the two of them moved back over to Dara who was looking at Evelyn with a worried and confusion expression.


    "Is something the matter with her?" Dara asked Melisandre.


    "Yes, she was at one time held captive by humans, and I am sure you can imagine what they might have done to her. She is a bit afraid of the needle and syringe, so she will be providing her blood in another way."


    Hearing that Evelyn had been tortured by humans in the past, Dara looked down at her with pitying eyes, and said, "However you wish to give me you blood is fine. I do not need much for this magic tool to read the particrs of your bloodline."


    Dara then ced a magical device that was a box made out of a dark blue metal Evelyn had never seen before.


    "Now I just need you to ce your blood here." Dara said as she sent some of her magical energy into the device and a slide came out of the side of it.


    Doing as she was told, Evelyn cut the top of her left foot by slicing herself with her talons.


    She winced in pain as she made the deep cut, but she gritted her beak and endured the pain, believing it to be far better than to have to be stuck with another needle


    Quickly and carefully, she dropped a couple of drops of her blood off the top of her foot and onto the slide.


    Once the blood was applied, the slide automatically went back into the box, and Evelyn could hear it making some type of whirling sound as she assumed it was processing her blood.


    Just a minutetter she saw that some lights were shing on the side that was facing Dara that she could not see.


    However, as the results of Evelyn''s test came back, Dara frowned since it was not what she was expecting at all.


    "I know this may be inconvenient, but I would like to test your blood again." Dara said as she looked at Evelyn quizzically.


    Taken aback, she wondered why Dara was requesting more blood from her, and so was Melisandre.


    Still Melisandre nudged Evelyn, and said, "Go ahead and do it. I am sure Dara will exin afterwards."


    Sighing, Evelyn did as asked of her, and reopened the fresh wound on her foot, before pushing out a few more drops of blood for this magical tool to read her bloodline again.


    Soon it had gone thought the exact same process as before, and from the shing lights on the other side it was quite clear that the results came up the same.


    "My this is certainly very unusual. I cannot remember thest time this happened with a fiend beast." Dara said to herself.


    She seemed genuinely surprised by what she was seeing.


    "Dara, would you mind telling us what is going one?" Melisandre said while snapping her finger to get the master of the record hall''s attention.


    Shaking her head and looking towards Melisandre as if she had just remembered that they were here, she said, "Oh yes, I suppose I should. We have quite the rare case here. This young owl who is to be your disciple is actually apletely new species we have no records of."


    Hearing this Melisandre looked at Evelyn with a shocked expression, since it was thought that every species of owls at the fiend beast rank had been discovered.


    "That is not all either. It appears that she has three affinities. One that is wind, another fire, and ast one that is currently unknown. I am assuming that this unknown affinity is what has led her to being considered a new species." Dara added.


    "Hm now hat you mention it, while I was watching her during her trials certain things did seem to not make sense. Melisandre said as she turned towards Evelyn. "I had thought it was just your control over the wind, but might it have been this unknown magic Dara says you possess?"

 Chapter 63 63 Evelyn’s Record

    ?With Melisandre''s curious gaze bearing down on her, Evelyn felt herself beginning to panic again.


    She was not sure what to say about her gravity magic being discovered, but just like wind was one of her affinities apparently it was now too.


    Apparently, the Aethersphere had even changed her body enough for he to be considered a new species, and as she looked back on the way her body had been rearranged when divine item was introduced into her body she understood why.


    ''I suppose she was going to find out eventually anyway.'' Evelyn thought.


    She then nodded her head and both Dara and Melisandre made a magical connection with her to hear her answer.


    "Yes, I do have another magical power. I am not sure exactly what it is, only that it lets me lower or increase the weight of things.''


    Naturally Evelyn did not fully exin what she knew and kept it as vague as possible while giving her exnation.


    While she knew what gravity was, it was not a concept she hade across yet in the world and was uncertain if it was known in any capacity.


    For now, she felt it better to just say she was unsure of what her special magical power was, and especially not to mention that it hade from a powerful divine item that might have her being dissected in order for someone else to retrieve it.


    After hearing Evelyn''s exnation, both Dara and Melisandre wore pensive expressions and thought about what she had just said.


    "I suppose that you have managed to get quite the rare magic indeed, as I have not heard of something like that before. Would you mind using it on me?" Melisandre said with an ecstatic expression.


    Feeling a bit hesitant, Evelyn did not want to show off her gravity magic here, but the gleam in Melisandre''s eyes showed that she would not be taking no for an answer.


    Giving in, Evelyn activated her gravity magic and extended a field of three times gravity out towards Melisandre.


    Though surprisingly as soon as she did, Melisandre seemed to shrinking down. Though she actually quickly realized that she had sunk into the floor as the tiles cracked underneath her.


    Apparently while she looked like a dainty young woman, she must have been incredibly dense to suddenly just break through the sturdy floor below her.


    "That is enough." Melisandre said as she floated out of the ground with a perturbed expression on her face.


    Dara for her part had her beak wide open as she looked at the broken tiles in disbelief.


    "I can see that your magic is just as you described. I definitely felt my weight being increased drastically, and even when I tried to block your magic by coating myself in magical energy it had no effect. To think you posses a magic that can affect anyone, regardless of the difference in magical energy quantity and potency."


    There was a bit of awe in her eyes as she looked at Evelyn, and a very happy smile appeared on her face as she thought about how supremely lucky she was to have found such a rare talent that might be seen once every millennia.


    She then turned towards Dara, and said, "I suppose that we should give this new magic a name. As my new disciple has said it can increase or decrease how heavy things are, how about weight magic."


    Nodding her head, Dara moved over and a pen and paper seemed to float around on its own and began writing things down.


    Internally Evelyn groaned at her gravity magic now being known as weight magic, but she did not want to take the time or effort to exin a concept she truthfully only knew a little bit about, and that would expose she had lied earlier.


    "Ah and now that I have recorded the name of your new magic for our records hall, what about your species. You appear to be a variant of a Horned Zephyr Owl, but as you are the first one of your kind, you shall be allowed toe up with the name yourself." Dara said with a smile of enjoyment.


    It had been a long time since she had gotten so much interesting an new information to put into her records hall, and if not for Melisandre already having imed her, Dara would have jumped on Evelyn and taken her as her own disciple.


    Being told to pick a name for her species Evelyn was a bit taken aback at first.


    She had not expected something like this toe up, and was not great at naming things to begin with.


    ''I am guessing that my parents were probably what Dara just said were Horned Zephyr Owls, which does make sense as they both had wind magic affinities. Hm, maybe I should take inspiration from that then.''


    Quickly thinking up a name for her new species, Evelyn tried toe up with something cool, but kept creating weird names that did not really make much sense.


    ''Screw it, I will just rece Zephyr with Aether.'' Evelyn thought as she became frustrated.


    "I would like my new species to be called a Horned Aether Owl." Evelyn told to Dara.


    As she heard this name, she shook her head from side to side as she thought about it, but ultimately wrote it down even though the name sounded a bit odd.


    "Very well your species shall hence forth be know as a Horned Aether Owl and your new magical affinity shall be called weight magic." Dara said as she finished writing some things down that would be stored as Evelyn''s record.


    After that she turned towards Melisandre and said, "Now then, as her master it is only fitting that you give her a name to be designated by now that she has joined the Roost."


    But as Melisandre started thinking of a name to give Evelyn, she abruptly stopped them and said, "Wait I already have a name of my own!"

 Chapter 64 64 Newest Member Of The Roost

    ?Evelyn not wanting to be given some random name, voiced her concerns and stated that she already had a name.


    Both Dara and Melisandre looked at her with baffled expressions, since it was quite rare for a fiend beast to havee up with a name for themselves.


    It was not something needed in the wilds, and only in a more civilized organization such as the Owls Roost was a designation in the form of a name necessary.


    However, Melisandre quickly realized one ce Evelyn might have already gotten a name from, but she frowned as she wondered why Evelyn might want to keep something like that.


    "I suppose that the humans that held you captive must have given you a name, but there is no need for you to continue using such a thing. It will only serve as a reminder for the hardships you must have endured. I promise that I can give you a much more fitting name for you knew life here."


    Looking into Melisandre''s eyes Evelyn could see a certain tenderness and warmth in them as she held genuine concern.


    Still, her name was precious to her and even in another world she refused to change it.


    "I thank you for your consideration, but the name I have is the only one I want. I am Evelyn and wish to be known as such."


    Holding her head up proudly, she wanted it to be known to Melisandre that she valued her name highly, and that it was not something she was willing to part with.


    Sighing, Melisandre said, "If that is what you want, I suppose it does not matter. You may keep the name Evelyn. Though it is quite strange."


    Melisandre then nodded towards Dara who recorded Evelyn''s name down on her nowpleted record.


    "Hm that should be all I need from the two of you. Now give me a moment to have your identification cuff prepared." Dara said before pulling out an exquisite looking notepad which she wrote something down in and tore out the page.


    Watching the page, Evelyn went wide eyes as it turned into the shape of a bird and began flying away.


    A few minutester arge owl that was around fifteen feet tall came flying down from above andnded not far from Dara.


    This owl had gray and brown plumage and a curious look as he stared at Evelyn and Melisandre.


    "Lady Dara, I have prepared for you what you asked. Though I am a bit surprised. I did not think that the first batch of new recruits would be here until another two days?"


    Nodding her head, Dara confirmed that her attendant was indeed correct, and said, "Yes Erno, the ones that were selected on their talents and did not have to endure the trials will be here in two days as you said. But this owl here who is named Evelyn caught Melisandre''s eye, and thus shall be her disciple."


    Looking out in surprise and awe, the owl named Erno was caught off guard that Melisandre had taken a disciple, and one that wasparatively weak in terms of rank.


    Nevertheless, he knew that as one of the Roost''s leaders, Melisandre would never take on someone without a massive amount of talent, as she had thus far refused even the descendants of some of the families with thergest lineage within the Roost.


    Erno quickly gave the item that Dara had requested he retrieve for her, and then looked towards Evelyn intently.


    "It is a pleasure to meet you, Evelyn. I imagine that we may see each other around the Roostter, and should you need my help or advice feel free to ask." Erno said, wanting to make a good impression.


    He knew that as Melisandre''s disciple it was likely that in the future Evelyn would be quite the ally to have within the Roost. So, he was more than willing to make nice now to form possible future connections.


    After that he left with his business concluded, and Dara handed Evelyn the cuff that Erno had just brought her.


    As she took it, she noticed that it was quite a bit simr to the ck one that Melisandre had given here before they warped here


    "That shall be your identification cuff to prove that you are indeed a member of the Roost. Along with that it also will allow you to not set off all manner of magic defenses when entering public ces and private ones that you have been designated to use. Just know that does not mean you can go everywhere. Certain areas are off limits, especially for a fiend beast like you. I will not go into any details now, but I am sure that Melisandre willter. As for its second most important function, it stores for you the credits that are used as currency here within the Roost." Dara exined.


    ''I see, so it is like a passport and a debit card rolled up into one device.'' Evelyn thought as she examined the cuff.


    Once she was finished inspecting it, she pped it onto her right leg, and it shrunk down to fit against her.


    "Now to start, as a newly registered member you have been given one hundred credits, but hence forth you will need to earn any more on your own. Though I do not imagine that will be a problem with Melisandre as you mentor."


    Nodding her head, Melisandre said, "Yes I will make sure she nevercks for basic necessities, but I do not n to coddle her."


    Hearing this, Evelyn''s dreams of having a rich sugar momma went out the window, but she could already see that she was being treated far better than she normally would have been as the lowest ranking new member of the Roost thanks to her association with her new mentor.


    ''Anyway, I have a number of treasures of my own that my brother left me.'' Evelyn thought as she internally chuckled a bit.

 Chapter 65 65 A New Home

    ?With Evelyn''s registration nowplete. she and Melisandre said goodbye to Dara and exited the records hall to go to where Evelyn would be staying from this day onward.


    Once they had exited therge tree that doubled as a building, Melisandre turned towards Evelyn, and said, "Normally for a new recruit like you, your new dwelling would be located on the outskirts of the Roost and only have the bare minimum number of necessities. But as you are my disciple, I will instead be giving you a room in my estate, which I believe you will find quitefortable. Oh, and make sure that you keep the cuff I gave you on for now. I will need to register your identification cuff before you can move around without the one I gave you."


    After Melisandre told Evelyn this, she began flying off again heading back towards the tops of the towering trees.


    However, as they kept ascending Evelyn wondered where exactly they were going. They had already passed the tops of all of the trees around them except for thergest sixteen and titanic one that sat in the middle of the Roost.


    Yet it soon became apparent where their destination was, as Melisandre straightened out and began flying directly for the top of one of the sixteenrgest trees.


    There Evelyn could see what looked like a tree mansion built on top of this massive tree that was seamlessly interwoven into the tree.


    Gulping, Evelyn could now only imagine that Melisandre was more important than she had originally thought. For if she was living atop one of theses sixteenrgest trees, there was no doubt she held one of the highest positions in the Roost.


    Quickly they arrived at the front entrance of the mansion, that while at first Evelyn thought was made out of wood was actually a type of stone that blended in with the tree around them.


    Another surprise soon shocked her as the grand doors that were over fifty feet tall and went all the way up to the top of the mansion''s first floor opened on their own and revealed a huge foyer.


    It looked like pictures of massive mansions owned by the wealthiest of society Evelyn had seen before on Earth.


    ''What the hell, it is too huge!''


    Inside everything was farrger than what one would expect in a human dwelling with doors all being at least twenty-five-feet tall, and hallways being incredibly wide. Enough that multiple trucks could drive side by side in them.


    Though while Evelyn was staring around stunned by the mansion she had just entered, her attention was soon focused on something else.


    Tworge owls that were around twenty-feet tall began flying towards them, and immediately Evelyn was taken aback.


    A sense of fear welled up in her as she could feel that these owls were much stronger than she was, being at the peak of the awakened beast rank.


    Yet when theynded in front of Melisandre, they bowed their heads, and said, "Wee back Lady Melisandre. We have done as you requested and prepared a room for your new disciple."


    "Thank you for doing that on such short notice Anneli and Karina." Melisandre said with a smile.


    She then motioned towards Evelyn, and said, "This is my new disciple, Evelyn. While she may be just a mid-tier fiend beast right now, I can tell you that her potential is enormous and that she is deserving of being considered my disciple."


    After saying this she beckoned Evelyn forward as she had stood frozen in the entryway.


    Naturally she was being bombarded with all manner of new and unfamiliar things, and she was being cautious and feeling things out before letting her guard down even a little bit.


    Still, she realized that she needed to stifle her fears and hopped forward where she bowed her head towards Melisandre''s attendants and greeted them.


    "Oh, she seems quite intelligent for just a fiend beast." The owl whose name was Anneli said.


    She had bright blue and red plumage and exuded and open and bubbly personality.


    On the other hand, Karina who was an owl with dark yellow and red feathers just remined silent and was inspected Evelyn carefully with her eyes.


    "Now she does not know how to speak, ormunicate via magical energy yet, but if either of you make the connection, she is more than able tomunicatepetently." Melisandre said.


    However, as Melisandre was speaking to her two attendants a fluttering piece of paper like the one Dara had used earlier passed through the building and floated up to her.


    She held out a hand to receive it and quickly read the letter.


    As she did, she frowned and said, "It appears that I have been summoned."


    Sighing, she looked towards Anneli and Karina, and said, "I was going to show Evelyn around personally, but I suppose that will not be possible. Anneli, I ask that you show her around in my stead. But do not take her out of the mansion, I will show her the hall myself afterwards."


    Once Melisandre had delegated the task of showing Evelyn around, she left her mansion again, grumbling along the way.


    "I am going to get you back for this Ss. You could have just kept you nose out of my business."


    When Melisandre was gone, Karina took off to attend to some other duties while Anneli approached Evelyn.


    Evelyn had to crane her neck upwards to look her in the eyes, and it now became clear to her why everything was built so muchrger.


    ''If twenty-foot-tall owls are the norm than, I guess they have no choice but to make everything huge.'' She thought while looking at Anneli.


    A momentter Evelyn saw a thin strand of magical energye down from Anneli and stop a few inches from her.


    Nodding her head Evelyn gave her consent for the connection, and Anneli extended the thin strand of magical energy.


    "Now then Evelyn. I shall show you around. Please follow me, we are first going to look at your new room."

 Chapter 66 66 New Home (2)

    ?Evelyn followed behind Anneli as she flew up from the foyer and to a hallway that was at the level of where a third story would be.


    However, like many things Evelyn had seen so far, this hallway was designed in a way that only beings that could fly or at least cling to walls could properly use.


    There were no stairs or any other way to get there from the ground floor like one might have expected.


    Like the other hallways she had seen on the ground level it was around forty feet in height and a bit more than twice that wide.


    This was quite different from what Evelyn knew from her human days where hallways were normally taller than they were wide, but it was theplete opposite for owls.


    Though the reason was quite apparent as Anneli did not slow down at all and flew headfirst into the hallway.


    It was the dimensions it was to allow for even owls asrge and even slightlyrger than her to continue to fly around even while inside. Otherwise, it would have taken far too long to traverse the giant mansion that sat on top of a tree that was around a mile wide.


    They continued to fly through the hallway for around five minutes before Anneli took a turn to the left when they met at an intersection that continued forward and turned in both directions.


    Evelyn began to wonder how far they were going as they passed by a number of rooms and other hallways, and she thought that if they went much farther, she would never be able to figure out how to get to her room from the front entrance.


    Luckily it was not too much longer with only one more turn to the left and a few hundred feet down another hallway before Anneli stopped in front of one of the numerous doors that were spaced out throughout the mansion.


    "This here will be your room. Karina and I have already arranged it to Lady Melisandre''s specifications. She even had us leave a couple of gifts here for you" Anneli said with a big smile on her face.


    She then opened the door and Evelyn peered past her to look into the room that was going to be hers.


    Inside she could see arge open space and in the middle, it looked like arge tree was growing through the room.


    Yet as she moved inside behind Anneli she realized that it was not a tree that was growing into her room, but one of the branches of the massive tree the mansion was built on.


    It was an expertly groomed limb that was not too dense with leaves and had any number of smaller branches she could use as a perch, and a resting area that had been added to its top that had been manipted to be t.


    Once she was all the way inside and had finished looking at the tree like branch that grew out of the center of the veryrge room that in itself wasrger than the house she grew up in on Earth, she looked all around her in awe.


    After a few minutes of her taking everything in, Anneli moved a little closer to her and said, "So what do you think? It is very nice is it not?"


    With wide eyes Evelyn nodded her head in agreement and continued taking everything in.


    On the ground level there was a number of empty shelves, cabs, and closets, with one appliance being unfamiliar to her.


    "Anneli, might you tell me what that is?" Evelyn said as she pointed towards therge metal box that was forty feet tall and thirty feet wide.


    It went all the way up to the ceiling and was by far thergest object in the room and had naturally gotten her attention.


    "Ah you have a good eye. That is probably the most important tool in this room. It is your cold storage, for preserving food and certain magical items that lose their properties if they are not kept at low temperatures." Anneli said before hopping over to it.


    She then seamlessly opened it and Evelyn was sted with cold air.


    Looking inside it was simr to a walk-in fridge that Evelyn had seen a couple times on Earth.


    Though as she went in, she found that each level of shelving was customizable in size and temperature which Anneli showed her how to adjust.


    "Now this is something very few owls at your rank would normally get, and it would be difficult even for a peak awakened beast like me to afford something this high spec on my own. So, make sure to thank Lady Melisandre when you see her again. She has really gone out of her way to make sure that you have ess to the best magic tools that you can"


    When Evelyn was done messing around with the controls inside the cold storage magical tool, she exited and found Anneli standing right in front of therge branch that looked like a tree.


    "Come over here Evelyn. I have something special to show you." Anneli said with a jovial expression on her face.


    It looked like she was barley containing herself, like a person that was just moments away from revealing a big surprise.


    Hopping on over Evelyn looked around, but the room still seemed exactly the same to her.


    "Now brace yourself since I am going to show you the most important area of your room."


    A few seconds after Anneli said this, Evelyn watched as the floor began glowing and aplex circle made of runes lit up under their feet.


    A few momentster the floor beneath them began to shirt and they quickly started lowering down like an elevator, and soon Evelyn was able to see the second level of her room.


    Unlike the top level that was mostly storage and living quarters, this second level was filled with all manner of magical tools.

 Chapter 67 67 New Magical Tools

    ?Being brought down to the second level of her room, Evelyn was surprised by the stark difference between the two levels.


    The first level really did not look out of the ordinary for the most part, but the second level was filled with magic tools she did not have the slightest clue about.


    In fact, the only one that was familiar was arge cauldron that was affixed to the ground in one of the corners of the room and it was surrounded by sturdy walls of ss that sectioned it off from everything else.


    "Oh, do you have an interest in alchemy?" Anneli said seeing Evelyn''s gaze locked onto the cauldron.


    A big smile appeared on her face, and she said, "I am sure Lady Melisandre will be happy if you do express your intent to follow the path of alchemy. It is her favorite subject and there would not be a better teacher for you in all of the Roost."


    ''Oh, another piece of the puzzle falls into ce.'' Evelyn thought as she heard this.


    Up till now she had been wondering why Melisandre had taken such an interest in her. Certainly, she had disyed some unusual powers especially for her current rank, but she doubted that was enough for her to capture the attention of someone she assumed to be one of the leaders of the Owls Roost.


    Yet after hearing thement about Melisandre wanting to study her me and the fact that she was heavily invested in alchemy, it all pretty much made sense.


    Evelyn had read in the book Mason left her that the stronger the me one had, the more they could advance in alchemy. This was why the heavenly me was such a treasure as it could easily be used to extract the essence out of any materials in this world and make the highest quality alchemical creations.


    ''The only problem is if she tries to rip it out of me. I do not know what would happen then.'' Evelyn thought as her fears started welling up again.


    Unfortunately, she was already in too deep and had to hope that Melisandre would not do something horrible to her as she simply did not have the power to resist.


    Once they had been brough back down to the ground Anneli motioned for Evelyn to get off the elevator, and once they had it began rising back up.


    Evelyn looked at in a panic and nearly moved to fly up so as not to be trapped down in the second level.


    However, Anneli opened up her right wing over Evelyn, and said, "There is no need to be afraid. I will call the tform back down when it is time to go. Now, there are a number of tools down here that I will quickly go over for you."


    Moving Evelyn''s attention away from the now closing tform that had returned to its starting position, Anneli brought her over to one of the magical devices and began exining to her what it was.


    "This here is the advancement chamber. It was created with a special formation that allows it to break apart magical crystals that are solidified masses of magical energy."


    Anneli after exining this grabbed a bag that had been ced next to this device and opened it up for Evelyn to see.


    Inside she saw that there were five of the blue magical crystals, exactly like the ones that Mason had left her.


    "Lady Melisandre has left these here for you as a gift to help you boost your rank a bit since you are pretty low right now in terms of the standards of the Roost. It is very rare for any owls that are not at least at the high-tier of the fiend beast rank to be epted as new recruits, and I do not think I have ever heard of a mid-tier or lower fiend beast being epted as a personal disciple to someone of Lady Melisandre''s rank."


    She then went on to show Evelyn how to work the magical tool and exined that it was best used while one was resting as they would naturally be able to absorb the energy without wasting time.


    After hearing that this magical device could help her advance through the ranks, Evelyn wanted to jump right in and start getting stronger.


    Though as Anneli saw the look on Evelyn''s face, she said, "I can see that you are eager, but I rmend that you wait until Lady Melisandre gets back before you enter. It is best to have someone watch out for you in the beginning. If you try to absorb too much magical energy at once, you will find that it can make you quite sick or in some cases even kill you."


    Once she had finished warning Evelyn about recklessly using the advancement chamber, Anneli went around to the rest of the devices in the room and exined to her what they did and when they would be used.


    "And I have saved the best forst which is that cauldron you had been looking at." Anneli said as she brought Evelyn into the sealed area the cauldron was in.


    Now looking at it up closer Evelyn could see that it was far higher quality than the one that Mason had left her even though she was not a master at appraising things.


    This cauldron was just that much better made that even an amateur like her could see how well-crafted it was.


    It was adorned with all manner of runes and magical circles, both on the inside and out, and it was made of glossy ck metal that was the same as the guest cuff that Melisandre had given her.


    "Melisandre was so ecstatic to have a new disciple that she ordered me and Katrina to bring one of her spare cauldrons into your room for your personal use. It is likely that this is one of the twenty best cauldrons in the Roost so you should feel honored to use it. Even I am not offered one quite this good as only Lady Melisandre''s attendant." Anneli said with a slight sigh.


    Hearing this it became apparent that Anneli was also an avid practitioner of alchemy, and the red feathers she had likely meant that she too had an affinity for fire.


    ''Now that I think about it Katrina also had red feathers, so it is likely she also has a fire magic affinity and practices alchemy as well.'' Evelyn thought seeing Anneli looking longingly at the caldron she had been given.


    "I do hope that you have a talent for alchemy. While Lady Melisandre did leave you the necessary tools to practice other trades such as inscriptions and embroidery, I know that she is looking forward to experimenting with you in the matter of alchemy."


    When Anneli had finally finished giving an impassioned speech about alchemy and how she was looking forward to teaching and learning more with Evelyn, she finally took her back over to where the elevator tform was.


    Quickly she sent more magical energy into the ground and another circle lit up and the tform once again descended to pick them up.


    "Okay now that you have seen you room, it is time to take you around the rest of the mansion. I believe it is around time for a meal anyway so how about we start with the kitchen."

 Chapter 68 68 Using The Advancement Chamber

    ?After Evelyn had been shown her room in Melisandre''s mansion, Anneli began taking her all over the ce and showing her the facilities that she would have ess to.


    Unfortunately, while it was all very impressive, Evelyn felt that she needed a map of the mansion since it was incredibly massive. Well beyond what she had ever expected.


    Yet this was just the way that things were built in the Owls Roost since a good number of its inhabitants were quiterge and needed the space to move around.


    "And this here is the nearest washroom to where you will be staying. I know that you came from the wild, but while you are staying with Melisandre you are expected to keep yourself clean." Anneli said as she opened up the door for Evelyn to look inside.


    Poking her head into the room, she was able to see that it was simr to what she was used to on Earth, but also quite a bit different.


    For one thing there was not a sink to wash one''s hands or face in, since only owls that had somehow adopted a humanoid form even had hands, and to wash their faces they would need to get into the bathing facility.


    This part at least looked a bit simr to Evelyn as there was some sort of faucet that released water from above like a shower.


    Though as Anneli showed her how to use she found that what she thought was only a drain also could expel water quite like a fountain.


    Also, there were some cleaning products in the room, but she was not certain what they were for, as they were quite different from the soap, conditioner, and lotion she was used to as a human.


    They were all powders of some kind with different colors and smells.


    "Ah those are the cleansing powders. They will help with getting rid of grim that has built up in more difficult to clean areas. And these two here are used to give your feathers a glossier shine, but there is no need to really use them unless you are trying to impress someone." Anneli said as she went over what each of the powders was for.


    Once she had finished exining everything it the washroom, both of them exited, and she said, "Well I have now shown you the areas of the mansion you have ess to and that you are likely to use frequently. Now I would ask that you wait in your room until Melisandre returns from her summons. I am sure you are likely tired with you only recently finishing your trials without any time to rest."


    At that Anneli escorted Evelyn back to her room where she shut her inside and told her again to get some much-deserved rest.


    However, as soon as Anneli was gone, Evelyn did not do as requested and go to sleep, but instead went over to the tform that would lower her to the second level of her room.


    ''Come on, it has to work somehow.'' She thought while trying to activate the elevator.


    Eventually she figured it out when she found an area of the floor that was slightly raised, and when she pressed it down and added some of her magical energy to it, she activated the magic circle.


    Quickly the tform began to sink, and she was once again brought down into the second level of her room that was filled with magical tools she was dying to try out.


    But while she was rushing with excitement, there was no doubt she was exhausted. But that did not mean that she could not continue to strengthen herself.


    ''While the air here may already have more magical energy than I am used to, I can tell that I can take more. So, if I am going to sleep, I might as well get stronger at the same time.'' Evelyn thought as she began preparing the advancement chamber.


    She had practically not been listening when Anneli warned her against using it. With what she said having gone in one ear and out the other.


    Evelyn had already done far riskier things for power, and she was certain that she could absorb quite a bit more magical energy into her body.


    Unlike most beings she had four things residing inside her that could absorb magical energy. With her human magic core, her beast core, the heavenly me, and the Aethersphere all taking their own cut of what she brought into her body.


    ''I already know that I can take much more than some one with just one sort of core, so it should be fine as long as I do not pump this thing full with the purple magical crystals Mason left me.'' Evelyn thought as she prepared the magical tool.


    When everything was ready to go, she loaded in the five blue magical crystals that Melisandre had left her along with five of her own from Mason.


    ''From what Anneli said it seems that Melisandre wants me to reach the next tier within the fiend best rank quickly. Therefore, I can assume that she left the right number of magical crystals to help me do so. But I also want to strengthen the human magic core I have as well so I will be using some extra.''


    After she had finished getting everything ready, she entered therge chamber and sat in the middle of it and waited.


    Within a minute she felt the device beginning to work as it broke down the magical energy stored within the crystals and pumped it into the enclosed space of the chamber.


    Immediately Evelyn could feel the shift in the amount of magical energy in the air and she breathed it in and felt it being dispersed throughout her body.


    It was the first time she had been in an area of such quality magical energy, and it gave her a slightly euphoric feeling.


    But she was not done yet. She quickly applied the necessary oil to activate the foundation technique that would allow her to strengthen her magic core as well.


    As she did this the Aethersphere like always began to act on its own, sucking the ambient magical energy towards her and bringing it into her body especially quickly.


    This not only strengthened her magic core but her beast core as well, as she brought in greater quantities of magical energy than should have been possible.


    ''Ah I can really feel the magical energy enhance me. It has been a while since I felt anything remotely like this.''


    She then closed her eyes and began to slowly drift off to sleep since all she needed to do now was allow the Aethersphere to keep sucking in magical energy for her, and she could rest easy while this happened.


    Yet within just a couple of hours she woke back up and noticed that all of the ambient magical energy was gone.


    ''Damn, I guess I am more efficient than I thought, or maybe those magical crystals hold less energy than I was excepting.'' Evelyn thought as she realized she had already absorbed everything.


    Still, if she had already absorbed everything, she needed only add more. And this time she decided to try increasing the output and added in two of the red magical crystals that Mason had left her.

 Chapter 69 69 Recklessness

    ?''Okay time to get started on round two.'' Evelyn thought once she had finished resetting up the advancement chamber.


    She swiftly entered the magical device once again and waited for it to start up and begin releasing the concentrated magical energy into the chamber.


    As it did, this time she could easily tell the difference in the quantity and quality of the magical energy that was being produced that was more than double what she had usedst time with ten blue magical crystals.


    ''Oh, I see that it is not just the quantity of magical energy sealed inside, but also the quality. This magical energy is even more refreshing.''


    Closing her eyes Evelyn quickly fell back asleep and allowed her body to absorb the magical energy with the help of the Aethersphere.


    Quickly she felt her body being filled up and the energy being distributed to strengthen her two cores, the Aethersphere, the heavenly me, and her physical body.


    As the process continued, she felt her power swelling, and she could tell that both of her cores were getting close to a breakthrough and would reach the next tier.


    This would make her much stronger, and she was waiting with anticipation for it to happen.


    Yet what she did not know was how dangerous what she was doing really was.


    She had long since absorbed more magical energy than what a normal mid-tier friend beast should have been able to handle and had even gone beyond what a peak fiend beast could take.


    It was only thanks to the Aethersphere regting the magical energy and taking in any surplus into itself or redirecting it to the heavenly me that kept her from essentially going into shock from over absorption.


    This however, also came with the side effect of making the quality and speed of her growth exceptionally beyond normal measures. Especially thanks to the two cores that resided in her body which was an absolute anomaly that was only possible to the duality of her existence.


    ''Hm what is going on. Neither of my cores are receiving anymore magical energy. It is all just being sucked into the Aethersphere.'' She thought as the magical energy was no longer being directed where she wanted.


    Little did she know that the Aethersphere was saving her life right now, as she had reached her absolute limits and would need time to properly adapt to all the magical energy that she had absorbed.


    However, Evelyn just thought the divine item was acting up and taking in more than its fair share of magical energy in an attempt to repair itself since it was apparently heavily damaged.


    ''I suppose I will just have to let it do as it wants. Not like I really know how to control the thing.'' Evelyn thought whilementing her perceived halted progress.


    Though while she just sat there letting the Aethersphere take in what it wanted so as not to waste the magical energy, she lost track of time and eventually the tform from the first floor of her room began to descend.


    ''Whoops, I guess I should have gotten out sooner. I think that Anneli mentioned that I should wait until Melisandre came back.''


    Sadly, realizing her mistake now was not going to help, so she decided to simply y dumb and say that she had not fully understood Anneli''s warning.


    Unfortunately, as she exited the chamber trying to put on her best innocent face, Melisandre''s re was so intense that she recoiled and felt the urge to bow head down against the floor and ask for forgiveness.


    "What have you been doing in here?" Melisandre said with her face twitching in obvious anger.


    She was already in a bad mood from receiving a sudden summons, but when she came back and went to check on Evelyn, she found that her room was empty.


    At first, she thought that maybe she was in the washroom or perhaps had gone somewhere with Anneli or Katrina. Yet when she talked to her two attendants it became clear that was not the case.


    This left only one logical ce for Evelyn to be, and that was in the lower level of her room which she really had no reason to be in right now.


    Except when Melisandre came down, she found her engaged in possibly one of the most dangerous things she could have been doing.


    Gulping Evelyn had no choice but toe clean here under Melisandre''s gaze. She could tell that her foolhardy n to im ignorance was not going to work under her master''s sharp gaze.


    "I am sorry. I got excited about raising my rank and figured I could test out the advancement chamber. Anneli said that I would need to reach at least the high tier of the fiend beast rank quickly in order to be truly epted as your disciple." Evelyn said while hoping to get off lightly.


    Worst case scenario, Melisandre could probably make her disappear for good and not leave any trace that she had ever existed.


    Of course, these were just Evelyn''s dark thoughts swirling in her head as she often went straight to the worst case scenario that might happened to her.


    Yet right before Melisandre was about to lecture Evelyn about how she had been stupid and what she had done was dangerous. She noticed and anomaly in the room that should have not been there.


    The magical energy leaking out of the advancement chamber was far stronger than it should have possibly been with the five blue magical crystals that had been left behind to help Evelyn advance to the next tier.


    ''No, there is no way she would do something so stupid.'' Melisandre thought.


    She then moved over the advancement chamber and began inspecting it. There she found exactly how many and what kind of magical crystals Evelyn had been using.


    As she discovered this, her eyes went wide, and she looked over at Evelyn in astonishment.


    The amount of magical energy she had been absorbing into herself should have been enough to kill her three times over. But she was just bowing her head and did not look even the slightest bit in distress.


    ''Even a low tier awakened beast would have gotten sick if they tired to absorb that much magical energy at once. How is she still moving around without any problems?''


    It was absolutely baffling to Melisandre that Evelyn could be still alive, yet she was not even unwell at all.


    Seeing Melisandre moving around frantically and that her expression had changed from anger to one of disbelief, Evelyn became worried about what was happening.


    ''Did I do somethingpletely unexpected?'' Evelyn thought seeing the look on Melisandre''s face.


    "Evelyn, I have to ask you. Did you truly use ten blue magical crystal followed by two red ones, and did you spend the entirety of the time within the advancement chamber?" Melisandre said with a grave expression.


    Nodding her head Evelyn acknowledged that was exactly what she had done, seeing that any attempt at deception was likely to be caught by Melisandre''s seasoned eyes.


    Though as she admitted to this, Melisandre just hung her head, and said, "How is this possible?"

 Chapter 70 70 A Serious Conversation With Melisandre

    ?Evelyn started to be more and more nervous as Melisandre began mumbling to herself and saying things like "This should not be possible" and "How is she not dead."


    Naturally she gulped loudly hearing this, as she had no idea that she had just been risking her life in order to absorb more magical energy.


    Eventually Melisandre shook her head and then looked at Evelyn with an intense gaze, and said, "We have much to talk about. Follow me. we are going somewhere that we will not be heard by others."


    Melisandre then turned around and walked back towards the elevator tform, and Evelyn followed behind her with her head held down.


    She was still unaware as to what she had done that needed to be discussed somewhere else entirely, but she could tell that what she had just done must have beenpletely abnormal.


    ''Damn it, I should not have gotten caught up in trying to raise my rank like that. I do not know what the normalcy in this world is, so things I might consider fine could be sphemous to those that live here. I need to take more care before I do things from now on.'' Evelyn thought while berating herself.


    She had spent so long out in the wilds away from any sort of society that she had practically forgotten the need to conform to her surroundings.


    As they flew through the halls to wherever Melisandre was leading them, Evelyn just kept thinking that something horrible was going to happen to her.


    After all she had been through emotionally and physically, she always imagined the worst even though so far Melisandre had been quite nice and amodating for the most part.


    Still, she remembered how quickly her tranquility could be uprooted and turned on its head, so she was always one edge for the next terrible thing that would befall her.


    By the time they reached the door Melisandre had brought her to, Evelyn''s heart was pounding, and her head felt heavy as it raced to try and find some way out of this situation.


    Unfortunately, from the moment Melisandre took interest in her, she knew she was going to be at her mercy. There was just a clear and unsurmountable difference between their levels of power.


    ''I can get through this somehow. She seems mad, but hopefully I can get out of this with just some yelling and a light beating.'' Evelyn thought, remembering, the "punishments" her human father had given her.


    When Melisandre opened the door, Evelyn was able to see into the room that was just a in stone room with a table surrounded by cushions that were designed for an owl to sit on.


    Honestly to Evelyn, it looked like an integration chamber, and she was actually not far off from her assessment.


    Once she had stepped inside, she was startled as the door mmed shut behind her. She even jumped and let out a loud screech of fear.


    Seeing and hearing this, Melisandre turned towards Evelyn and for the first time saw the absolute look of terror exuding from her entire body.


    She looked like she was preparing to be horribly tortured, and maybe even killed. Which made some of Melisandre''s anger vanish.


    ''That is right, she was probably captured by humans for quite some time. There is no knowing what manner of horrors they subjected her to.'' Melisandre thought, remembering how Evelyn had reacted when she put her hand on her.


    "Go ahead and sit here." Melisandre said pointing at one of the cushions.


    She then took a chair from seemingly out of nowhere and sat across form Evelyn at the table.


    Though before they began speaking, she activated some sort of magical formation on the table and surrounding area, and her and Evelyn were surrounded by a thin shimmering field of dark blue light.


    "There, now no one should be able to hear us even if they were trying to listen in." Melissa said. "Now let me preface this by saying that I am mad, but I will not be punishing you for this. It is partly my fault for underestimating you. I should have just had Anneli watch you until I got back."


    Melisandre then softened her gaze towards Evelyn which made her open her eyes wide, and she nearly felt tears welling up inside her from relief.


    She thought for sure she was about to get scolded heavily and hit repeatedly for her mistake, but instead Melisandre looked at her with kind eyes.


    "To start there are a number of odd things about you that I need to have cleared up. First, where did you get those storage amulets, and what exactly do you have inside them? I need to know before you unwittingly pull out something dangerous."


    Tensing up, Evelyn became guarded about having to disclose what was in the storage amulets.


    While most of what was in them was rtively harmless and even if Melisandre inspected it, they would not cause any problems. There were two items in particr that would reveal Evelyn''s greatest secret.


    Mason''s diary and thengue guide he had left her would out her as havinge from another world, and the diary would also give away the fact that she had the heavenly me in her possession.


    These were secrets that Evelyn knew she was better off keeping to herself, and under no circumstances was she going to offer up this information willingly.


    Luckily Melisandre had not forced her to hand over the amulets to inspect them. So, she instead took them off and ced them on the table, before exining where she got them.


    "I found them hidden deep beneath a ruin or a human civilization. The person who had left it there was being hunted by some group from what I could gather and left these and the items in them in hopes that whoever found them would get revenge after the fact." Evelyn said, rying the fake cover story that Mason had left behind.


    Hearing this, Melisandre nodded her head. It was not umon for those that felt they were near their end to leave treasures behind to try and get someone to take up their mantle in some regard or another.


    Still, they would normally leave some sort of binding magic on the one that had taken their offering, in order to force them to do as they pleased even from beyond the grave.


    However, Melisandre was certain no such magic had been cast on Evelyn, otherwise she would have detected it unless it was from a very powerful and craft source.


    ''It is unlikely the one who left those amulets was stronger than I am. Their quality is about what I might expect a beast at the peak of the awakened rank or low tier of the tyrant rank to have. So, I do not believe any magic was cast upon her, but I will need to thoroughly checkter.'' Melisandre thought as she listened to Evelyn''s exnation.


    Once Evelyn was done telling where she acquired the amulets, she took out the inventory list and handed it over to Melisandre.


    This detailed all of the items Mason had left for her expect for the heavenly me and books which he had pointed out to her in his final message.

 Chapter 71 71 A Serious Conversation With Melisandre (2)

    ?After Melisandre was finished looking over the list of items that Evelyn had obtained from Mason, she looked over at her with an impressed expression, and said, "Whoever left this certainly was thorough. I doubt they ever expected a beast like you to find it, but some of these items are quite valuable. Nothing terribly rare though, and definitely more focused towards humans with all of the techniques and their silly spells that he left behind."


    Melisandre then handed the list back to Evelyn and looked at her sharply, which caught her off guard.


    "Now it seems that you were able to read this without a problem, otherwise you would not have given that list to me. How exactly did you learn to read? That should be beyond almost any fiend beast other than the rare few that attain greater intelligence when reaching the peak of the rank, rather than when they evolve into awakened beasts"


    Feeling a cold chille over her, Evelyn now understood that by handing Melisandre that list, she unintentionally confirmed her ability to read.


    And from what she knew, most beasts did not gain an intellect high enough to really be able to read until they reached the awakened rank.


    ''Damn, I should have known not to hand over that list. But I needed to do something to prevent her from searching through the amulets. Aghhh, what am I supposed to do!?''


    As Evelyn''s mind panicked, she held apletely neutral expression, and just stared at Melisandre for nearly thirty seconds.


    Then it hit her, and she said with a pained look on her face, "When the humans were keeping me captive, they performed all manner of experiments on me. I think that I got smarter from whatever they did."


    Evelyn''s face then twisted into one of sorrow and rage. Which was quite easy to do as she remembered what had been done to her.


    This took Melisandre aback, and she said, "I see, that does exin things at least a little. For now, I will not push for details as I can tell it was a difficult experience for you. But if one day you wish to tell me, I will be happy to listen."


    Hearing this Evelyn internally celebrated that she had managed to circumvent having to exin more, especially when she thought that Melisandre was going to force her to spill everything that had been done to her at the hands of the humans that had captured her.


    ''Is Melisandre maybe actually kind of a saint.'' Evelyn thought seeing thepassionate expression she had on right now.


    Of course, what Evelyn considered to be saintlike, was really more just Melisandre being a bit considerate. She was just so used to scum that, even that seemed to be beyond kind.


    "Okay I at least understand a part of your unusualness now. So, I guess it is likely that human''s experiment is what caused you to be able to absorb more magical energy as well?" Melisandre said with a raised eyebrow.


    "Yes, I believe it is. They imnted something into me to make me stronger, and I believe that it can absorb magical energy into itself. Honestly, I did not feel any sort of distress while absorbing all of that magical energy." Evelyn said, hoping to gloss over this issue.


    At this point she had gathered that what she had done was far from the norm, and that she likely would have died if not for her unique nature.


    "So, they imnted something in you. That is not good. We need to remove it immediatly. It could very well be used to kill or control you."


    Panic began to set in as Melisandre said this.


    Evelyn knew for a fact that the Aethersphere was certainly not under control of the humans that were experimenting with, it and that it was unlikely to actually cause her anymore harm now that it had rearranged her body.


    Also, she was pretty sure that trying to remove the thing at this point would kill her, and that was thest thing she wanted,


    "It cannot be removed. I saw what happens when it was removed from another beast, and they died almost instantly." Evelyn said, trying to keep Melisandre from opening her up.


    "And the people that had originally been experimenting on me are dead. I do not know the exact details, but I believe some rival faction attacked and killed them all, which facilitated my escape."


    Melisandre rubbed her temple with her right index finger as she thought about what Evelyn had said and could see the desperate look in her eyes as she tired to push beyond this subject.


    There was a mix of fear and pain in her expression as Melisandre was certainly forcing her to relive a very traumatic time in her life.


    "Very well, I will not pry further then, if you are unwilling to continue speaking about it. Anyway, I can tell that you have been telling me the truth for the most part." Melisandre said with a knowing smile.


    It was clear that she was telling Evelyn that she knew she was holding some things back, but that she was going to give her some ck and trust her.


    "You are too extortionary for me to alienate you now, and there is no doubt that in the future you have the potential to be a great member of the Roost. Maybe you will even be able to seed me." Melisandre said with a soft smile.


    Yet this gentle expression did notst long, as her lips curved up, and the warmth in her eyes vanished.


    "Now I believe it is time that I tell you what a fool you were by using the advancement chamber unsupervised, and make sure you understand not to use the magical tools I have given you until I have taught you how."


    Evelyn then received the lecture of her life, as Melisandre went off on a very long tangent about how she was reckless and could have killed herself, and that next time she did something like that she would not get off so easily.

 Chapter 72 72 To The Next Tier

    ?Once Melisandre was finished lecturing Evelyn, she let out a sigh and slumped back a bit in her chair, while contemting something.


    Evelyn for her part was stiff as a board as Melisandre had just scolded her thoroughly for nearly half an hour and continued to exin why what she had done was stupid and dangerous, while expanding on many other ways she could have hurt herself.


    ''I suddenly feel really tired.'' Evelyn thought as the tension released from her body.


    She then teetered around and barely kept herself upright as she slumped against the table for support.


    Melisandre seeing this got up and moved over to Evelyn with a frown on her face.


    "I figured something like this might happen. You took in enough magical energy to go up to the next tier, and now your body is having to absorb all that energy at once." Melisandre said as she looked Evelyn over.


    "Unfortunately, it will not do for you to go to sleep as you are now. This is not a process that is normally supposed to happen all at once." Melisandre said as she took out a bell from her storage device.


    Quickly she disabled the magic circle that was creating the sound blocking zone and rang the bell which let out a pleasant chime that echoed through the room and beyond.


    "Now drink this." Melisandre said as she took out a bottle with some sort of potion in it.


    Forcing herself up Evelyn took the potion in her beak and poured the liquid down her throat.


    Though the second it hit her tongue her eyes went wide and the sleepiness vanished from her body.


    Yet it was not because the potion had any sort of magical effect, it was just so extremely bitter and horrible tasting that it brought tears to Evelyn''s eyes.


    She desperately wanted to spit it out and throw up, but Melisandre having already expected this gripped the potion and forced her to drink it all.


    After Evelyn had finished drinking all of the most vile liquid she had ever had, she looked towards Melisandre with a re.


    "Yeah, I imagine that was not pleasant to consume, but consider that your punishment for entering the advancement chamber and being so reckless." Melisandre said as she gave Evelyn a dismissive look.


    "That potion will give you the nutrients you need to sustain your body while it advances. I imagine you would have woken up quite malnourished otherwise, and I doubt you were in any shape to eat a proper meal before falling asleep."


    As Melisandre said the word "sleep", Evelyn began wobbling with drowsiness again, as even the bitterness of the potion no longer was enough to shock her system into staying awake.


    Her body had absorbed the absolute limits of magical energy that I could, and now it needed time to rest and limate to the new power.


    ''I cannot stay awake any longer. Evelyn thought as she began to fall over.


    Normally an owl would be fine sleeping upright, but the stone she was currently standing on was too hard for her talons to pierce and grip, and she was more tired than she had been in a long time.


    But right before she fell over, arge figure caught her and she looked up sleepily to see that Anneli was here after being summoned by Melisandre, and that she had fallen against her body.


    "Now Anneli, take Evelyn back to her room, and let her get some rest. I imagine she will be asleep for some time, so simply check up with her ever two hours, and report back to me when she has awakened." Melisandre said.


    Nodding her head Anneli acknowledged her mistress'' orders and propped Evelyn up on her back.


    "Try to stay awake until we get to you room okay." Anneli said to Evelyn who had already closed her eyes and was drifting off to dreand.


    ''But I just want to sleep.'' Evelyn thought as she forced herself awake a bit long as Anneli instructed her.


    The next couple minutes felt like an eternity for Evelyn as she fought off the extreme drowsiness that was assailing her.


    Still, she managed to stay awake until Anneli brought her back to her room and ced her atop therge branch that had been shaped into a tree.


    Once there Evelyn gripped tightly into the wood with her ws that locked into ce and leaned back against one of the branches before drifting off to sleep.


    ''Ugh my mouth feels dry, and that bitter taste is still lingering.'' Evelyn thought as she was justing to consciousness.


    However, these thoughts swiftly left her, as her eyes shot open, and she realized she had just woken up after being forced to sleep by her body needing to properly absorb all the magical energy she had umted.


    Immediately she felt a huge difference in her body, and she could tell that she had easily grown at least a foot taller.


    As she looked down, she saw that her ws had grown a slight bit longer and her grip on the wood was stronger.


    Flexing her feet, she released the tight hold on her perch, and looked at the holes she had left in the wood.


    Next, she stretched out her body that felt a bit sore and swiveled her head around to get somewhat used to her increased size.


    ''Yep, I must have advanced to the next tier.'' Evelyn thought with a smile.


    She could feel the profound difference in her body and magical energy from having reached the next tier of her rank. Having gone from a mid-tier fiend beast to high-tier one.


    Yet it was not just her beast core and body that had advanced, she could feel that her magic core that she had formed thanks to her human soul had gone up to the next tier as well, and that the heavenly me had grown stronger along with it.


    ''Wow, I feel much stronger now than I did before.'' Evelyn thought as she moved around and got used to her new power.


    Though as she thought about how much stronger she felt from the jump of one tier, she wondered why the other beasts she had fought seemed so weak inparison.


    ''I thought that my extra core was making up the difference, but I can tell the amount of extra strength I got just from going up one tier was a lot. Why did even the peak fiend beasts I fought not seem all that strong?'' Evelyn thought now that she knew the great difference between a mid-tier and high-tier fiend beast.


    Of course, what she failed to ount for was how the Aethersphere had rearranged her body and was managing her growth to be the best it possibly could be.


    It was very rare for a beast at her level to actually achieve one hundred percent of their potential, but with the Aethersphere aiding her, she was as strong as she possibly could be, on top of having a human''s magic core. Making her impossibly strong for her current level.


    ''Well, whatever. Things like that can wait. I need something to drink and get this bitter taste out of my mouth.''

 Chapter 73 73 Melisandre’s Lessons

    ?''Ugh, why won''t it go away.''


    Again and again, Evelyn stuck her head under the faucet in the washroom that was closest to her room and tried to wash the bitter taste from the nutrient potion Melisandre had forced down her throat.


    While it had been highly effective, it was so awfully bitter that even after she had slept for who knows how long, the taste still was highly apparent.


    Even as she continued washing it out with water, it refused to diminish much at all, and even after twenty minutes it still seemed nearly as bad as when she had first awakened.


    "What are you doing?" She eventually heard someone say from the doorway.


    Turning around she saw that Anneli had arrived and found her washing her mouth out vigorously and had a bemused expression on her face.


    Evelyn quickly pulled her head out from under the water and looked towards Anneli with a look of embarrassment.


    "Um, well, Melisandre gave me a potion that tasted absolutely awful, and when I woke up it was still lingering in my mouth, so I am trying to get rid of it." Evelyn said frantically to justify her odd appearing actions.


    "Ah, I see you had one of those potions." Anneli said while making a sour face, obvious having had the same experience as Evelyn before.


    "I will take you to the kitchen and you can get something to eat. You have been asleep for three days, so I imagine you are likely to be hungry even after that potion. You have just advanced to the high-tier of the fiend beast rank."


    The second that Anneli mentioned food Evelyn felt her stomach began growling and gurgling.


    However, another thing that Anneli said caught her by surprise, and she looked at her with astonishment clear in her eyes.


    "Wait, I have been asleep for three days!"


    "Yes, I was quite surprised as well since I figured it would only be a day and a half at most, but once Melisandre told me how much magical energy you had absorbed, I was honestly surprised you were still alive, so I imagine that your body likely needed that much time."


    Evelyn gulped loudly from hearing once again from another source that what she had done should have killed her.


    Still, she had survived and not felt much difort in any way until she began to get drowsy.


    ''In the end I got a lot stronger from it, so I suppose it was worth it. But I need to be careful not to disy how abnormal I am too much, less Melisandre''s goodwill run out or I attract someone else''s attention.''


    Once Evelyn was dried off and was ready to go, Anneli led her to the kitchen where Katrina was already making something, and Melisandre was sitting down waiting.


    Apparently while Evelyn had been drying off, Anneli had contacted the two of them with some sort of magical tool which is how they had arrived before them.


    "It is good to see that you are awake Evelyn. And that you have sessfully risen to the high tier of the fiend beast rank." Melisandre said with a deep smile on her face.


    Though Evelyn seeing this shuddered a bit since it was the same smile Melisandre had given her when she first invited her to be her disciple.


    ''She is definitely a mad scientist, and I am what she currently wants to research.'' Evelyn thought, having a better understanding of what Melisandre was like now than she did before.


    "So, what is it that we will be eating. I am mostly just used to eating whatever I can catch or find." Evelyn said as she moved over to the table and sat down on the cushion under it.


    "Ah that is right, you adapted so well and are so intelligent that I forgot you came from the wild. I have had a special meal prepared for you though it is cooked, so I am not sure it will be to your liking." Melisandre said as she ced a hand on her cheek and looked at Evelyn with a bit of worry.


    She then went on to exin that cooking with the proper magic tools and ingredients helped to breakdown the magical energy in other things and make it easier to absorb than when raw.


    "Though I know that plenty of owls from the wild do not find cooked food quite to their liking and take time to get used to it, but I would rmend it for many reasons." Melisandre said.


    Except contrary to her expectations, Evelyn was practically beaming at the idea of having cooked food again. Even being in the body of an owl, her human mind still had a slight revulsion to eating raw meat from things she had killed, even if she had mostly gotten over it.


    Also, she knew that cooked food was likely to taste better, and since it was made by other owls, it was likely to suit her new pte.


    "Yes, I would very much like to try this cooked food. I am sure that it will be perfectly fine." Evelyn said with a bit more enthusiasm than she had meant to express.


    With Evelyn having given her consent, Melisandre beckoned to Katrina and Anneli who quickly brought the food over.


    Surprise was written all over Evelyn''s face as she looked down at what was brought before her, and she took in the smell of cooked meat for the first time in her new life.


    ''It is just a number of bs of different meat, but they have definitely been seasoned with different types of spices or sauces judging from their appearance and fragrance.''


    Evelyn went down the line of the four pieces of meat that had been brought before her, and she began carefully inspecting each of them.


    They were all unique in their own ways, ranging from different colors, textures, smells, and she imagined taste as well, though she had not tried them yet.


    "You will find that cooking can actually be considered another form of alchemy. We beast can get stronger by consuming the flesh of other beasts, and with proper cooking we can infuse them with other properties as well." Melisandre said with a glint in her eyes, obviously happy to be exining her passion to Evelyn.


    And luckily for her, Evelyn was quite invested in this topic, and looked towards Melisandre intently. Waiting for her to extol the virtues of approaching cooking like alchemy.


    "Therefore, if you cook it in a sauce made from these three items you can imbue the food with a property that increases your strength by a little bit for a few days."


    Going up to each of the food items that was in front of Evelyn, Melisandre gave quick rundown of what had been done to each of them and what effects they had.


    Not only did each one of the meats now hold more magical energy, but they all contained various temporary effects.


    "Of all of them this one is certainly the best though. It is made from a low-tier awakened beast which is why I have given you so little, but it will slightly increase the rate at which you recover magical energy during the time in which you are digesting it." Melisandre said with a very pleased grin on her face.


    Unfortunately, for as interested as Evelyn had been, she was sustainablycking in knowledge on this subject. The book that Mason had left her on alchemy was far from as advanced as what Melisandre was talking about here with adding powers to cooked food.


    ''I know only the most basics of alchemy, but this all sounds very advanced. Still, if I wish to advance myself in this field, I should listen carefully even if I do not fully understand.'' Evelyn thought in order to keep herself motivated.


    Eventually when her stomach began to rumble and growl loudly enough for the others to hear, Melisandre stopped her lecture on cooking food using alchemical principles.


    "Yes, I suppose that it is rude of me to keep you from eating after cing arge amount of food in front of you." Melisandre said with an apologetic expression.


    Naturally she felt a bit bad that she had gone on a long exnation when Evelyn had not actually eaten anything in over three days and had just advanced to the next tier which required arge amount of magical and physical energy.


    Once she was allowed to eat as Melisandre returned to her seat, Evelyn began digging in.


    She quickly tore apart the meant in front of her, and as she took in the first bite, she was pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted.


    ''This has to be the best food I have ever eaten in a long time.'' She thought as tears started to fall down her face.


    After her mother had originally died on Earth, the food she received was either prepacked or what she or her brother Mason could make for themselves. Which was far from as good as their mother''s.


    Continuing on, Evelyn ate all that was put in front of her with glee and she felt her body not only getting full, but also that the effects that Melisandre had been raving around.


    ''Ah so this is what she meant by the power of alchemy in food.'' Evelyn thought as she felt the magical energy traveling through her.


    It was slightly different than how she felt when she received pure magical energy that had no effect, and instead was a bit simr to what she experienced when she consumed the high-quality healing potion that Mason had left her.

 Chapter 74 74 Melisandre’s Lessons (2)

    ?After Evelyn had finished eating and felt much better, Melisandre moved up to her and stared at her with an interested expression.


    "How is it working? Do you feel the effects that I described?"


    Nodding her head Evelyn acknowledged that she could feel the alchemical properties imbued into the food working on her body.


    She felt a bit stronger, like her mind was able to process things faster, and that her magical energy was flowing just a bit easier.


    None of the effects were exceptionally impressive, but there was no doubt that she felt herself being enhanced.


    "Good. That means that we can begin the next lesson. You managed to brute force your way through the trials, and I saw that you were getting closer to reaching some insight, but your control over your magic is by far your weakest aspect. We need to rectify that." Melisandre said with a sharp look in her eyes.


    An instantter she turned around and instructed both Anneli and Katrina to clean up and then prepare themselves for a lesson in five hours.


    For the first time Evelyn saw them both of Melisandre''s attendants filled with ambition and they excitedly responded to their mistress.


    "Now for the next five hours we are going to work on your magic control. Follow me, I have already prepared a room for us to work in." Melisandre said.


    She then took off into the air and began flying down one of therge hallways, leaving Evelyn no time to try and ascertain exactly what was going on.


    Soon the two of them arrived in front of another door and as Melisandre opened it, Evelyn saw an expansive room that was asrge as a convention center''s main hall.


    "This is my practice room where I test out magic and items that are a bit too vtile to be used in enclosed and unreinforced spaces. You will have no need to worry about restraining yourself here and we have all manner of equipment to help you out as well." Melisandre said as she beckoned towards the center of the room.


    There were a number ofrge sheets of what looked like steel were set up like targets. though they did not have any markings on them.


    "Now why do you not tell me what you know about magic and then I will help fill in the gaps in your knowledge."


    Standing their stunned, Evelyn had not been expecting to suddenly be thrust into magic lessons. But as she began to shake off the initial shock, she started to feel a sense of excitement.


    "I know that all beasts have at least one magical affinity and that we can cause phenomenon with these affinities if we use our magical energy. I am not sure exactly how it works, but I can create gusts of wind and send out sts of fire." Evelyn said, exining what she could do.


    "Oh, and I know that humans use spells to create more detailed magical effects. I have seen that what they can do is more impressive than what beasts can do with my own eyes." Evelyn said as she lowered her head and her eyes clouded over a bit.


    She had suddenly recalled the memory of the man that had taken down her parents and how he had wielded his earth magic in all manner of unique ways.


    "Hm, yes, the humans do have their spells that they use to force out moreplex and powerful magics, but that is not the way of us beasts. There is no need for us to fall on such a crutch." Melisandre said with a proud expression.


    Though Evelyn just coked her head to the side in confusion.


    She had figured that while the human spells would not work for her, those developed by owls should, but it seemed that she was wrong.


    "I am sure that you saw during your trials the way in which some of the other beasts were able to better control their magic and form it in different ways from what you did, correct?"


    "Yes, I have seen a number of other owls with wind affinities shoot off wind des, and when I was fighting the snake during the trial in was able to form water into a spear and shield." Evelyn said, thinking back to all the times she had seen beasts use magic that was more refined than hers.


    At the time she just thought they had developed some type of spell, but from the way Melisandre was going on it seemed that was not the case.


    "Certainly, those are examples of some basic uses for magic as one gains more control and understanding. Truly I am actually surprised that all you can do is pretty much only use brute force attacks, but I suppose when you possess more powers than most it splits your focus."


    Once she had finished her opening exnation, Melisandre moved right next to Evelyn and held her left hand up.


    "Watch closely, I am going to give you a demonstration on the main three ways that magic can be used."


    Melisandre''s hand then began to glow faintly, and a ball of blue light flew out from her.


    It moved fairly quickly and struck one of the steel tes a few dozen feet away. It easily punched a hole right though the thick steel, before flying further and smashing into the wall with a loud crash that caused it to crack.


    Tch!


    As this happened Melisandre clicked her tongue, and said under her breath, "I guess I did not hold back enough."


    Hearing this, however, Evelyn looked at the punctured steel te and the wall beyond it that was now cracked and crumbling with a look of surprise.


    ''If that is her holding back, what could she do if she got serious.'' Evelyn thought as she caught a glimpse of the power Melisandre had.


    Once Melisandre got over the fact that she had just damaged her training room a bit she turned towards Evelyn who as still staring at the hole in the four-inch-thick steel te and the damaged wall behind it.

 Chapter 75 75 Melisandre’s Lessons (3)

    ?"So have you ever seen anything like that before?" Melisandre asked to Evelyn after giving her demonstration.


    At first Evelyn went to shake her head, but as she reyed what she had just seen in her mind, she remembered a very traumatic memory.


    It was during her escape attempt where she had been ying into the researcher''s hands, and right when she thought she had made a clean break.


    She remembered that he had attached some sort of thin shimmering blue thread to her foot and that it looked quite simr to what Melisandre had just released.


    "I think I might have." Evelyn said with a darker tone than she meant to.


    She then told Melisandre about the thread that the human researcher had used to ensnare her.


    "Yes, that is another application of what I just used, though what that human did would only work on anything much weaker than them." Melisandre said, confirming Evelyn''s hunch.


    "What I just used was pure magical energy. It is harder to use than any sort of magical affinity one might have, and it is also typically weaker, but it does have its uses." Melisandre said as she created another ball of pure magical energy in her hand.


    Quickly she expanded it until it surrounded her and created a shimmering sphere around her.


    "It can be used for defense as well as offense, and it does not matter if your opponent is resistant to your affinities like when that owl attacked you with fire and you emerged unharmed. Though it is the process of learning how to control your magical energy that is the most helpful in fully grasping what you can do with your affinities." Melisandre said while recondensing her magical energy.


    Once it was back to be a small glowing ball of blue energy, she held it out for Evelyn to see and she watched it change in front of her eyes.


    The ball still stayed blue, but it took on a different form and soon Melisandre was holding a ball of water instead of magical energy.


    "Now I have done what you are normally doing and converted magical energy into the element of one of my affinities. Of course, doing what I just did and expelling the magical energy first is a waste of time and energy, but I imagine that it helped for the demonstration."


    With her showcase of converting pure magical energy into one of her magical affinitiespleted, Melisandre took aim and fired off the ball of water she had created.


    It flew quickly and smashed into another set up steel te which this time instead of sting through it, created a huge dent in the te and bent the stand that was holding it up and bolted into the ground.


    "There, that allowed you to see the difference. Water actedpletely different from the pure magical energy. It spread out far more and crushed the steel te instead of sting through it this time. It was not quite as destructive as say fire might have been with the same amount of power, but all magic has its purposes." Melisandre said as she conjured another ball of water.


    Except this time instead of just firing the water off, it extended as two thin strands and wrapped around one of the steel tes.


    An instantter the water began twisting and the steel te spun around like it was made of foil until it was a crumpled-up mess.


    Watching this Evelyn could only imagine what Melisandre''stest show of magical prowess could have done to someone''s body.


    "What I just showed you was my control over the element of water. I can mold it freely and create all manner of magical phenomenon with it." Melisandre said with a smug expression.


    She continued demonstrating what she could do with her water magic, by creating a giant spear, dozens of whips and all manner of creations.


    As she did this Evelyn could only stare in awe as Melisandre used the most powerful and impressive disy of magic she had ever seen.


    "Well, I believe that will do for a demonstration." Melisandre said when she was satisfied showing off.


    "Now you said that you have seen humans casting spells before, correct?"


    "Yes, I have. I watched a man create huge arms from the earth and surround himself in stone like armor." Evelyn said while doing her best to keep her emotions under control.


    Still a scowl appeared on her face as she was forced to remember something that she honestly wished to forget.


    "Hm, well I cannot use earth, but I imagine this will be simr enough."


    Swiftly Melisandre created arge amount of water around her, and she formed them intorge hands that were eerily simr to the ones that Evelyn had seen the human man conjure.


    Yet Melisandre had no need to use any hand motions or recite any sort of spell to create this amazing magic.


    "This is the difference between most beasts and humans. They use hand motions and words to act as a catalyst to create spells when we simply use our force of will and imagination. And while it is certainly harder to master using your magic this way, I am sure you can see the merits." Melisandre said as she created two more sets of water arms in less than a second.


    Truly it was an impressive disy, and Evelyn could see why what Melisandre was doing was superior as there was nog time.


    However, watching Melisandre''s master over magic only brought more questions to Evelyn''s mind.


    "Melisandre if you can just control your magic like that, why do the humans bother with spells?" Evelyn asked with an expression of bewilderment.


    "Now, I would not consider myself an expert on humans, but I imagine because it allows them to cast more powerful magic much easier. Though that is not to say that humans can not freely control their magic either, but only those at the higher ranks typically aim to master this. I believe I have fought right or so that did not have any need to use incantations to cast magic."

 Chapter 76 76 Magical Energy Reading

    ?Listening carefully Evelyn took in all that Melisandre had said and was surprised to find out that magic really did not need any spells. They were imply just used as a crutch by most humans to createplex phenomenon.


    "Now I have taught you the basics that you needed to know, so now it is time to practice on your control. But first I have been wanting to measure your magical energy." Melisandre said with a twinkle in her eyes.


    She then pulled out what looked like a pendant form her storage item and ced it around Evelyn''s neck.


    On this pendant there looked to be a gauge, though there were not any numbers on it so it must have just measured general amounts.


    ''I wonder how Ipare to others. I imagine with two cores I should be above the curve. But will this thing even register my magic core since I doubt other beasts have one?'' Evelyn thought unsure of how this measuring device worked.


    She waited with bated breath as the she craned her neck downwards in order to look at the gauge on the pendant as it slowly moved from left to right.


    Eventually it stopped around thirty percent of the way to maximum value and Evelyn frowned seeing that it did not go very far.


    She had been hoping that her magical energy would actually be strong enough to send the gauge all the way to the right, but it appeared she was not anywhere close.


    Yet Melisandre''s reaction was enough to tell her that what had just happened was not normal, as her master''s eyes had gone wide with astonishment.


    "It is just one thing after another with her." Melisandre mumbled to herself in a bit of a daze.


    For her Evelyn defied allmon sense in many ways, and this was just thetest in her defying the normalcy of this world.


    "Evelyn, I want to try measuring again with another tool just to make sure I got the correct results." Melisandre said as she hastily took the pendant off.


    Quickly she pulled out another one, though this one was quite a bitrger and more ornate looking than the one that Melisandre had just used.


    In fact, it must have been made to be used on muchrger owls, as Melisandre had to adjust the chain on it so that it did not just flop onto the floor while it was around Evelyn''s neck.


    ''Ugh its heavy.'' Evelyn thought as she strained her neck to keep the pendant up.


    It was made out a thick brass like metal, and the pendant was bigger than her head, and weighed quite a bit.


    And an unfortunate oue of its heaviness meant that Evelyn could not gaze down at the gauge this time and just had to wait for Melisandre to finish reading it.


    "Looks to be exactly the same as thest one." Melisandre said to herself as she peered closely at the gauge on the pendant.


    Once she was satisfied that she had gotten a correct reading, she shook her head and then fixed Evelyn with an exacerbated look.


    "I do not know how you did it, but you have way more magical energy in you than you should to the point that it is absurd."


    After saying this Melisandre took therge pendant back from Evelyn and gave a long sigh while trying to figure out what to do with her new absurd apprentice.


    She was now beyond just being talented and had entered the realm of an absurdity that should not have existed as far as Melisandre knew.


    "Um, could you exin? I do not have any reference for how much magical energy that I have in rtion to others." Evelyn said with a curious and fearful expression.


    She was starting to fear that maybe she was so beyond what was reasonable that Melisandre was going to abandon her from the indifferent tone in her master''s voice.


    Luckily it was not that Melisandre did not care, just that she was so shocked that her mind was racing to keep up.


    "Yeah, I suppose you would not know how to read these gauges, so let me go ahead and tell you how far above the curve you are." Melisandre said as she pulled out the first pendant they had used.


    "This magic tool is used to measure beasts up to the peak of the awakened stage, where the strongest would bring the gauge to its limit. Even my attendants only go around ny-two percent of the way and both of them are very talented even by the Roost''s standards." Melisandre exined.


    "You on the other hand as a high tier fiend beast should have maxed out somewhere around fourteen percent at the absolute best. Yet you somehow got it all the way to thirty percent, more than twice as far as what should have been possible. This is the range I would expect from a strong low tier awakened beast, or an average mid-tier awakened beast here in the Roost. It is very far from what you should have."


    Having it spelled out to her like this by Melisandre, Evelyn now fully understood just how abnormal she really was.


    From what Melisandre said it was clear that she had around twice as much magical energy than she should have, which made since she had two cores instead of one.


    "This is just great, now I am going to have to make sure no one else measures you. This is beyond my expectations, but I guess this at least allows me to understand how you survived taking in so much magical energy." Melisandre said with an exhausted tone.


    She had figured that Evelyn would be around the maximum potential for a high-tier fiend beast, but instead she blew well past it and had as much as many awakened beasts which was unheard of.


    ''Even just an average beast at her level would only bring the gauge up around eight percent, but she is well beyond the amount of magical energy any fiend beast should have.''

 Chapter 77 77 Practicing Control

    ?With Melisandre finished reading Evelyn''s magical energy it was time for her to move onto the next phase of training.


    "Now then, with your absurd magical energy capacity we are going to have even more time than I thought to have you practice before you run out of steam." Melisandre said with a tired look in her eyes.


    She was still reeling a bit from the measuring she had done of Evelyn''s magical energy. But she was striving to move on even though what she considered themon sense of the world falling apart in the wake of Evelyn''s existence.


    "First you will need to learn to manifest your magical energy so that you can get a better feel for it. Currently you have just been fueling your affinities with magical energy and expelling the power, but now you need to focus on only expelling magical energy."


    Melisandre quickly gave Evelyn another demonstration and told her to try and form a ball of magical energy on the tip of her wing.


    ''I can do this. I just did not know it was possible before, but now it should be easy.'' Evelyn thought to pump herself up.


    When she was ready, she closed her eyes and focused on her beast core which had been with her since her reincarnation on this world.


    She dug deep into and tried moving the magical energy out and found that it came just as easy as usual.


    The problem though was that it was already infused with power of her affinity since her core was where her power over wind originated.


    As she brought the magical energy outside of her body all it did was create a gust of wind that whipped up the bit of dust in the room create by Melisandre''s attacks.


    "Again." Her master said with a reproachful look.


    It was the first time that Melisandre had looked at her like this and it reminded Evelyn a bit of her father''s eyes back on Earth, as he always looked at her like she was a disappointment.


    At the very least there was no anger or intent to harm in Melisandre''s eyes which kept Evelyn from curling up into a ball and preparing to be beaten.


    ''No, I am not like that anymore. I already killed those that hurt me. I killed my father in my old world, and that researcher in this one.'' Evelyn thought as she fought back the fear and doubt that was welling up inside her.


    However, just killing those that had wronged her was not enough to erase the scars from her mind.


    She struggled for a few more moments to recenter her thoughts, and eventually she came back to the task at hand.


    She tired once again, though this time she tired from her magic core instead of her beast core.


    Unfortunately, this just stoked the heavenly me that had melded with her magic core and given it a fire affinity.


    A puff of crimson me was all that escaped from her, and Melisandre told her to try again.


    Five more minutes passed by as she tried to not manifest the affinity of either of her cores, but to no avail.


    All she was capable of was expelling fire or wind and not actually manifesting her pure magical energy.


    ''Damn it. If my magic core as still in a null state, I bet this would have been easier. But the heavenly me merging with it was part of what gave me better control over it, and I would have died without so I cannot reallyin.'' Evelyn thought as she was getting frustrated.


    Again, and again she tired but to the same result, only able to create bursts of fire and wind.


    Eventually she actually began to run out of magical energy in her body after around three hours of practice, when even the small amounts of magical energy she had been using caught up to her.


    When she was practically running on empty, she slumped her shoulders and began breathing heavily.


    She looked at Melisandre with a pitiful look on her face feeling like she was a failure.


    Except the harsh expression Melisandre had been wearing was now gone reced with a tender one that seemed proud.


    Yet Evelyn could not understand why this was, as she hadpletely and utterly failed in manifesting pure magical energy.


    "Sorry if I pushed you a bit hard there, but it is necessary to try over and over again until you finally get ahold of it. I never expected you to get close on the first day. If it was that easy everyone would have perfect control over their magic."


    With this revtion Evelyn understood now that Melisandre seeming angry was just her trying to push Evelyn to her limits and to not allow her to let up.


    Melisandre had never expected her to get it on the first day, or really anytime soon.


    "Now take two of these and wait a few moments before trying again." Melisandre said as she handed a ss bottle to Evelyn.


    Inside were some magical energy replenishment pills simr to the ones that Evelyn had received from Mason.


    Though after she took one, she could tell that they were better than the pills that her brother had left her.


    ''I guess that Melisandre probably made these herself. I wonder exactly how good she is at alchemy?''


    As the pills began restoring her depleted magical energy, Evelyn wondered about how high caliber of an alchemist her master was and what beast rank she was at.


    ''I guess she is probably above the awakened rank since she feels totally different from them and has a human form. So, is she a tyrant beast?'' Evelyn spected.


    Still, she was not going to get any answers by just contemting it. However, when she had finally gotten up the courage to ask her magical energy had fully replenished.


    "That should be about right. Go ahead and try again. We still have a more than an hour and a half before I will begin a lesson with my attendants, so go all out until then."

 Chapter 78 78 The Alchemy Hall

    ?''I cannot go on.''


    Slumping her head down and letting her body go limp, Evelyn had reached her absolute limits trying to manifest pure magical energy.


    She had been at it now for nearly four and a half hours and she simply could not continue even if she was refilled with magical energy.


    "Hm, you have impressed me again. I figured you would copse around thirty minutes into the second round, but you made it almost an hour." Melisandre said as Evelyn slowly fell onto the floor, unable to even keep herself upright.


    Unfortunately, as much as Evelyn had given it her all and Melisandre was impressed with her, she had still failed to gleam any sort of insight into controlling pure magical energy.


    All she was still capable of was creating basic phenomenon using her affinities.


    "Now go ahead and go back to your room and get some rest. And make sure not to try experimenting with any of the magical tools I left you this time." Melisandre said with a sharp look in her eyes that would not ept any dissent.


    However, Evelyn as she pulled herself up after resting a couple of minutes held her head down in embarrassment.


    "I do not think I could find my room again from where we are right now. This ce is just so huge that I barely know where anything is."


    Hearing this Melisandre just stared nkly at Evelyn and remembered that she had not even been here a week. And that most of that time she spent unconscious.


    "Ah I kind of forgot you have only been here a little while. You just go with the motions so easily and fit in so well it just felt natural that you were here." Melisandre said. "Now what do we do. I would normally have Anneli, or Katrina take you back to your room, but I imagine that they are busy getting ready."


    Melisandre then sighed and looked around contemtively.


    Though seeing this Evelyn was confused since she figured that it would be easier for Melisandre to just show her the way.


    But when she asked this of her master, she just scratched her face awkwardly, and said, "I do not know how to get to your room either. It is in a part of the estate I rarely go to, and I do not know it all that well."


    Stunned by this, Evelyn could not imagine how Melisandre did not know her own home enough to find where Evelyn''s room was.


    Still, the ce was massive, and it was not like she could navigate it, so she at least understood why Melisandre did not know every nook and cranny.


    "Um well, I think I can find it if we can make it back to the front entrance. Do you think you could take me there?" Evelyn said.


    "Yeah, I can get to the entrance from anywhere, that is not a problem." Melisandre said as she moved closer to Evelyn and took out a ball made of pure silver that had magical formations etched all over it.


    Melisandre swiftly tossed the sphere into the air, and it opened up and spilt apart into a ring that descended down upon both her and Evelyn


    In just a few instances they arrived back at the front entrance, and the sliver ball that Melisandre used closed back together and fell down into her hand.


    It was at this point that Evelyn realized why Melisandre did not know her entire mansion. She could simply teleport around everywhere she wanted to go.


    "Oh, are you interested in this?" Melisandre said as she noticed Evelyn looking at the silver ball. "I had this made so that I can always return home instantly from almost anywhere in the Roost. It is very convenient."


    ''So magic can even do that in this world.'' Evelyn thought as she stared at the sphere, wanting something like it that would take her back to her room.


    "Sorry, it is not so easy to get one of these made." Melisandre said noticing what Evelyn was thinking.


    "I understand." Evelyn said, already understanding that it was a pipe dream.


    She then moved to head to her room now that she knew where she was, but Melisandre stopped her.


    "Actually, I have something else I want to tell you. Tomorrow I will be showing you around the facility that is housed in the tree below us that I am in charge of. I imagine that it will be an enjoyable time for us both and allow me to introduce you to some of my colleagues."


    As soon as her master said this curiosity began to well up inside Evelyn.


    She had nearly forgotten that they were positioned above one of the massive sixteen trees that sat in the middle of the Roost and that there was still so much for her to discover here.


    The fatigue she was filling almost entirely vanished and feelings of exploration began to take over.


    "Now no need to be too eager. Go on and rx for a bit. Tomorrow wille when it does." Melisandre said seeing Evelyn''s posture and general feel change.


    After that Evelyn flew to her room filled with excitement of theing day when she would be able to get to learn more about the ce she hade to be.


    ''There really is so much I do not know. Are there shops here, how many owls live here, what kind of professions there are, and all manner of things.''


    Starting to get giddy Evelyn found it difficult for her to go to sleep at first, but quickly the fatigue of the day caught back up with her and she drifted off to sleep.


    The next day she patiently awaited Melisandre''s arrival, and when Anneli came to get her, she flew out of her room with a happy spring in her wings.


    When she arrived where Melisandre was, she was surprised to see it was not at the front entrance, but in what was obviously an alchemicalb.


    "Oh, is this your personalb Melisandre?" Evelyn asked the second Melisandre connected to her with a thread of magical energy.


    "Yes, this is where I do the majority of my brewing and such. But we are not looking around here today. It is just where the entrance to my office inside the tree is." Melisandre said with a smile on her face.


    Swiftly she led Evelyn and Anneli over to a tform in one corner of the room, and it began descending lower into the tree.


    Within around a minute they finally stopped and had arrived in an ornate office that had a number of shelves filled with documents all around.


    "This is my office given to me as the master of the alchemy hall." Melisandre said with a proud expression written all over her face.


    It was clear that she wanted praise from Evelyn who obliged, telling her that she must be truly amazing to be the master of such an important ce.


    "Okay, I think that is enough ttery for now. It is time I show the hall. I imagine once you get started on learning more about alchemy you will be a frequent visitor here."

 Chapter 79 79 The Alchemy Hall (2)

    ?Exiting the office that Melisandre had in the alchemy hall Evelyn was surprised by what she found.


    She had expected it to be like the records hall that was like a huge hollow tower with tforms jutting out of the walls at regr intervals, but instead the alchemy hall seemed to have proper floors.


    Where they were now was currently devoid of life or any sort of noise, and Evelyn could not hear or perceive any presences nearby.


    "Oh, it seems that a number of them are hard at work right now." Melisandre said as she gazed around the floor that was full of sectioned off rooms.


    It appeared as if she could see through the walls, and Evelyn figured this was either due to Melisandre''s rank or the fact that she was the master of this entire ce.


    "Are there a lot of other owls in these rooms?" Evelyn asked with curiosity.


    There were three dozen rooms on this level along with Melisandre''s office and each one was quite sizable.


    "Yes, a number of these rooms are currently in use, twenty-eight of them from what I can tell."


    As Evelyn thought, Melisandre was able to tell everything that was going on here as the master of this ce.


    "Hm, I wanted to introduce you to some of those that are currently brewing here, but they are all at critical stages. I suppose we can start with the bottom floor instead and work our way up and some of them should be finished by then." Melisandre said with a contemtive expression.


    It seemed she was calcting exactly how long she expected who Evelyn assumed to be her coges would take in their brewing.


    "I am guessing that not just anyone can use the rooms up here?" Evelyn said wanting to get some more information.


    Melisandre nodded her head and told Evelyn that these rooms up here were the best alchemybs in the Roost other than her personal one in her mansion above.


    "Only those that have gained my approval can use the facilities up here and currently there are only thirty-one owls that I believe are good and trustworthy enough." Melisandre said.


    Quickly, Melisandre, led Evelyn over to another moving tform like an elevator and they descended at a rapid pace going down a long chute that could stop at every level of this tree.


    It was also a special lift that was only essible to the current head of the alchemy hall which just so happened to be Melisandre.


    "Here we are this is the bottom floor where apprentices sell their connections for credits. Some of them even put on brewing demonstrations to try and drum up business, though they can only make nonvtile brews unless they rent out a special space that can take an explosion or two." Melisandre said before they entered the floor."


    However, right before the doors to the lift opened Melisandre cloaked herself in a shroud of mist and her appearance altered to that of an owl that looked like that of a peak awakened beast rank.


    "If I just suddenly appeared on the ground floor it would cause quite the stir, so I am going to be shifting my form. And no need to worry about anyone noticing, if they do, they should have the tact to not say anything." Melisandre said, exining her sudden transformation.


    After that they moved around a few corridors until they exited onto therge ground floor of the alchemy hall in an inconspicuous location.


    As soon as they did Evelyn was hit with the pungent smell of multiple magical nts and other ingredients along with few owls that were doing live brewing.


    Luckily the smell was not in anyway bad and was more like that of a very fragrant herb garden.


    "Impressive is it not. This is thergest floor of the hall and essible by any member of the Roost. It receives a lot of attention since pretty much everyone needs alchemical items such as healing salves or potions, and especially magical energy restoration items." Melisandre said as she pointed to one such stall.


    Sitting there trying to sell their wares was a low-tier and likely newly evolved awakened beast with a number of vials and bottles lined up.


    Each one appeared to be filled with only slightly better than the lowest quality healing potions and magical energy restorations pills which were some of the easiest brews to make.


    There were a lot of ces selling these, and while it may have seemed that so muchpetition would make prices plummet. Since most of the owls in the Roost needed these items, they were still going for decent prices.


    ''Twenty-three credits for one healing potion, and neen for a bottle with five magical energy restoration pills.'' Evelyn read off the prices of the stall Melisandre pointed out.


    Unfortunately, as this was her first time seeing anything for sale, so she had no reference to just how expensive this was.


    ''Though I was only given a hundred to start and these are pretty much the cheapest things here and there are likely things that cost thousands of credits that I have no hope of buying.''Evelyn thought he shoulders slumping ever so slightly.


    Melisandre seeing this even as subtle as it was, moved to cheer Evelyn up, and said, "No need to worry. Once I am finished teaching you the basics, I imagine that you will be able to rake in credits down here if you sell your creations."


    However, Melisandre then added that Evelyn would do well to keep their rtionship a secret since it would both positively and negatively affect Evelyn''s standing.


    "You might get more sales if your association with me is known to all, but then your sess would be undermined by those saying you only made it because of me. I do not wish this to happen as apprentices riding too closely to their master''surels end up failing more often than not."


    Once Melisandre finished giving this quick warning to Evelyn, she led her deeper into the hall where they could find more interesting things for sale.


    The closer they got to the back the more valuable and rarer the items for sale became.


    There were potions that would temporarily harden one''s skin and feathers, and one that gave anyone who took it infrared vision up to a hundred feet.


    Along with that there were also rare magical nts and other materials like the intestines and blood of certain creatures for sale.


    ''Oh, that one is selling beginners kits.'' Evelyn thought as she approached the stall.


    Though upon seeing the price of three-thousand six hundred credits, she blinked rapidly in disbelief.


    This was the most basic equipment and ingredients anyone would need to get started and it cost more than thirty time the starter amount she had been given for joining the Roost.


    ''What Melisandre gifted me is leaps and bounds better than this stuff. Just how much might it be worth?'' Evelyn thought while wondering if she could ept what Melisandre was letting her use.


    She began worrying that she might break it at some point and there would be no way that she could pay her master back.


    Fortunately, her thoughts that were causing her nervousness to rise up were all but forgotten as Melisandre called her over.


    "Evelyne over here, and exciting live demonstration is going on!"

 Chapter 80 80 The Alchemy Hall (3)

    ?Heading over to where Melisandre was, Evelyn looked out towards the owl that was in the middle of creating some sort of alchemical connection.


    However, while this owl was visible, he was encased in a sturdy st resistant ss box that was used when working with materials that might explode.


    "Oh, he just but in the volcanvine fruit. This will be interesting, that could easily explode." Melisandre said mostly to herself, but Evelyn heard due to the magical thread connecting them.


    Naturally Melisandre knew exactly what this owl at the mid-tier of the awakened beast rank was making, but Evelyn was none the wiser.


    "What is he making?" Evelyn asked her curiosity overflowing as she watched the fruit that looked like arge spikey tomato get put into the caldron.


    "It is a powerful one-off explosive. Though no one often tries to make it since it can easily go off during the creation process. But it is one of the best alchemical weapons for an awakened beast, since even one at the peak would not be able to take the explosion unscathed most of the time." Melisandre said with an intrigued look.


    She then went on to exin the specifics of what was needed to make this item and how it could explode if there was even one misstep.


    "You should probably not worry about making this item in the future even if you have the ability and supplies. It certainly is strong, but not really worth the risk of early detonation. I imagine that this kid is doing this here to try and attract attention to himself, or possibly it was a request he is being well paid for." Melisandre said, specting on the reasons this owl was making such a vtile item.


    Still, Evelyn was impressed by this owl''s power and control over his magical mes.


    He had dark red plumage that was smattered with a few feathers that were orange. A clear indication to his affinity for fire


    So far even though what he was trying to create often blew up in its creator''s face, he had so far seeded in keeping it stable. And from the brief overview Melisandre had given her, she knew that this owl was nearly seventy percent of the way done.


    They continued watching the demonstration until itspletion when the owl doing the demonstration sessfully created the item that was none as a volcano sphere.


    Slowly and carefully, he pulled it out of his cauldron with arge thread of pure magical energy and lifted it up so that everyone could see.


    Looking at it, Evelynpared it to an extrarge grapefruit since that was what it looked like, but there was no doubt that a great amount of ming magical energy was stored inside.


    ''So, it is basically a magical grenade, but its force is closer to that of a high yield bomb.'' Evelyn thought as she saw the thing.


    Melisandre had told her that a good quality volcano sphere could create an explosion of fire that was around sixty-meters in diameter and had incredibly hot mes equal to that of a peak awakened beast or even some low-tier tyrant beasts.


    Certainly, for the owl that just made it if he was keeping it for himself, it could make an excellent trump card, and she could see why some would want it even with how vtile it was.


    ''That was certainly something. It is the first time I have seen any sort of higher-level alchemy.'' Evelyn thought as she looked on in awe.


    The skill level she was currently at was about as basic as could be. All she could make was the lowest grade healing and magical energy replenishment items, and at only a twenty-percent sess rate.


    Still, even what she witnessed here was likely to pale inpassion to the skills that Melisandre had, and she was welling with anticipation to watch her master in action.


    "Well that certainly was interesting. I imagine that he is going to have a bright future ahead of him as long as he does not meet and unfortunate end." Melisandre said casually.


    Though hearing the words "unfortunate end" made Evelyn freeze up since Melisandre said it like it happened often.


    "Oh, is something the matter?" She asked Evelyn seeing her suddenly stop moving.


    "Oh, no nothing. Let us continue." Evelyn said not wanting to bother Melisandre.


    The two of them continued on through the first floor of the alchemy hall and Melisandre pointed out a number of things to Evelyn.


    "Now I think it is time we head on up. There is still a lot to show you." Melisandre said with a wry smile.


    She was obviously looking forward to Evelyn''s reaction as things escted.


    Going over to the back of the hall there were a number of lifts that would take anyone up to the next floor.


    However, it was guarded by two peak awakened beasts that were giving off a menacing aura.


    "Normally only owl that have at least reached the high tier of the awakened rank are allowed above. But there are exceptions, and since you are with me it will be fine." Melisandre exined to Evelyn to keep her from being surprised.


    When they arrived, the guards did stop them for a moment, but when Melisandre still disguised as a peak awakened beast said that Evelyn was her disciple, she was allowed to head up towards the second floor where higher rank owls did their business.


    Stepping out onto this floor, Evelyn immediately noticed that it was far less crowded, and the hustle and bustle was greatly diminished.


    There were still over a thousand, maybe even two thousand owls here, but nothingpared to the floor below.


    Evelyn herself received a number of nces, but Melisandre stuck close to her, so they all turned away once they understood what was going on.


    "On this second floor you will find items that are aimed for the higher tiers of the awakened rank and a number of skilled alchemists sell their wares here. Now let us go and see what is going on." Melisandre said as she led the way.


    She quickly led Evelyn to a stand that was being manned by a high tier awakened beast ranked owl.


    ''Wow that is a lot of items.'' Evelyn thought seeing the fully stocked shelves with all manner of potions, pills, creams, and many other items.


    There were no rare ingredients here, but a plethora of ready to use items all of which made the ones on the lower floor look paltry inparison.


    It showed the huge skill gap between those on the first and second floors.


    "Those up here have been practicing alchemy for at least five years for the most part and have really honed their craft. You can tell by the price and quality of their items." Melisandre said as she pointed out a bottle holding five magical energy replenishment pills.


    Unlike the ones on the level below these were worth several hundred of the Roost''s credits and made Evelyn''s eyes bulge.


    "Would you like to buy something?" The owner of the stall said with a bright and cheery voice.


    "Oh no sorry, I am just showing my disciple around. Sorry if it was any inconvenience." Melisandre said.


    Lucky the stall owner was not bothered and even offered to help exin things to Evelyn, trying to be respectful since Even in her current guise Melisandre still was a higher rank.


    "Okay let us head deeper in and see if we can find another live demonstration." Melisandre said with an excited expression.

 Chapter 81 81 The Alchemy Hall (4)

    ?Once they had finished looking over the periphery of the second floor of the alchemy hall, Melisandre took Evelyn further in to where a live demonstration was going on.


    It was being held by a peak awakened beast with golden and red feathers and it was quite impressive to watch.


    Evelyn could see that they were using huge amounts of magical energy and their control was something else.


    "What are they making?" Evelyn said to Melisandre without taking her gaze off of the brewing.


    "Oh, they are making something quite impable indeed. A barrier piercing potion." Melisandre said with an impressed tone.


    She went on to exin that this potion was loaded with rare magical nts along with the cores and blood of a number of creatures as well.


    "I belive that they even have a human''s magic core. That will make it even stronger if it is the right type."


    Tilting her head, Evelyn was not really up to speed and asked Melisandre to borate. Especially on the subject of the human magic core.


    "I suppose you do not know. You must have thought that only other beasts and magical nts are the only useable ingredients. However, human materials are quite useful in the creation of a number of objects." Melisandre said like this was obvious. "And as for what the brew they are making, it helps one ovee the barrier between tiers within a rank. The one they are currently making might be effective to help even a high tier awakened beast breach through to the peak. Though it will not do them any good where they are at now."


    ''Wow they are making something like that. But wait why do they need it. Can''t they just absorb enough magical energy until they reach the next tier?'' Evelyn thought with a bit of bewilderment.


    Luckily Melisandre was there to exin it to her and told her why it was actually a very impressive and sought-after potion.


    "You seem to have some sort of misconception. Just absorbing magical energy is not enough to keep advancing. You will find that out personally how difficult it is to go up the tiers." Melisandre said with a serious tone.


    After that she told Evelyn that past the fiend beast rank it took more than just an excess of magical energy to advance, and that certain conditions had to be met.


    "If all it took was the umtion of magical energy everyone would just sit around in the area they could absorb the most and do nothing else."


    With this revtion Evelyn realized that she was going to be in for quite the difficult time.


    Apparently for moremon species of owl their requirements for evolution were already known, but for her, she was going to have to figure them out on her own.


    ''Not to mention that if there is some hurdle for beasts, I will likely have to ovee something for my human magic core as well.'' Evelynmented.


    While she may have been strong and unique, that only meant that her rise to the top was going to be a much steeper slope than most.


    ''I will just have to push through somehow. I have made it this far and it is toote to back down now.'' Evelyn thought, pumping herself back up.


    Both her and Melisandre watched the live brewing to its conclusion, but unlike thest one, this owl ended in failure.


    "Well, too bad. It would have been quite something if they had seeded. And they ended up wasting all of those valuable materials." Melisandre said, though her tone conveyed that she really did not care.


    "Let us move on now Evelyn, there is more for us to see, and I think it may almost be time that some of those at the top might nearly be done."


    Soon the two of them were going around the second floor again and looking at other interesting stalls.


    During this time Evelyn saw a few other owls like herself who were not really strong enough to be on this floor but were following their mentors around like baby ducks.


    Eventually they had finished touring the second floor and Melisandre along with Evelyn ducked out of the room and made their way over to where Melisandre''s personal lift was.


    "Well, now you likely have a better understanding of what actually goes into alchemy. It is a difficult craft to master but can be very rewarding in many ways." Melisandre said with her head held high and a proud expression on her face.


    However, while Evelyn had already started down the path of alchemy and taken an interest in it. Melisandre did not actually now this and was just assuming Evelyn was going to go along with her.


    "Um Melisandre, what if I do not have an interest in alchemy or the talent for it?" Evelyn asked, curious to see how her mentor would react.


    Hearing this Melisandre blinked furiously a few times in confusion, as if she could not understand what Evelyn just said.


    To her it was already a forgone conclusion that as her apprentice would go down the path of an alchemist, and it was her powerful me that would help in this endeavor that made her want Evelyn as her apprentice in the first ce.


    "What are you saying Evelyn? Certainly, the apprentice of the master of the alchemy hall must learn and excel at alchemy. Anyway, you can take it on my authority that you do have the talent." Melisandre said with a bit of panic in her voice.


    She had not even thought about how Evelyn felt, but she could not really force her to be an alchemist.


    Under duress no one would be able to brew properly and would ultimately end up as a failure.


    For one to seed they had to have both the talent and drive necessary to walk the path of alchemy.


    Though seeing Melisandre''s mood start to sour, Evelyn realized that she might have gone too far and quickly moved to mend the situation.


    "Well, if you say that I have the talent then I am very interested I cannot wait to learn from you."


    Immediately upon hearing this Melisandre perked up, and said, "Yes that is the spirit. I will make you the greatest alchemist in the Roost- no the world."


    ''I think I might just have done something I will regret.'' Evelyn thought seeing how fired up Melisandre was.


    When it came to alchemy, she was definitely a bit too fanatic, and Evelyn wondered if she was going to survive whatever her master might put her through.


    "Ah yes, someone I really want you to meet is in thest stages of their brewing and is in a stable phase. We can go see them now and you can see what close to the peak of alchemy looks like." Melisandre said with a far-off gaze as if she could see through the ceiling.


    "But are there no more floors to check out?" Evelyn asked, wanting to see the entirety of the alchemy hall.


    "Well, most of the rest of the floor are justbs and storage areas. Though there is another floor where items are sold, it would be best if you do not set foot there right now. It is only for those that have reach the tyrant beast rank and above and it is not a ce for you."

 Chapter 82 82 Melisandre’s Friend

    ?Once Melisandre was finished telling Evelyn about the other floors of the alchemy hall, the lift that would take them back to the top floor had arrived.


    When they made their way back Melisandre led Evelyn straight to one of the rooms and opened it up without knocking.


    However, while Evelyn had thought this would disturb whoever was inside, it appeared that they were waiting and smiled at Melisandre as she entered.


    ''Another humanoid owl!'' Evelyn thought in surprise.


    She had barely seen any other owls that had attained a humanoid form, but here was another one right in front of her.


    This one had wine red hair that was held up in a bun that exposed her non-human looking ears, and she had sharp features that made her look like the intellectual type.


    Her piercing eyes also settled on Evelyn, and she shuddered a bit as she saw how intently they were appraising her.


    "Oh, is this your new disciple Melisandre. I am surprised that you have taken on a high-tier fiend beast. Are they not a bit slow to keep up with you?"


    It was clear that this other humanoid owl was insinuating that Evelyn was not very smart, but that was actually the norm for most beasts at her rank. Only having the intelligence of younger human kids.


    "Quite the opposite Annalise. She is very bright and picks up on things just as well as an awakened beast. Her intelligence is truly remarkable." Melisandre said with pride.


    Natrually, she had already seen Evelyn''s craftiness during her trials, and further witnessed her unusual intelligence since weing her into her home.


    "I see. Well, there must be many extraordinary things about her if you decided to pick her as your disciple after refusing so many." Annalise said while continuing to stir the content of her cauldron.


    Noticing this Evelyn fixed her gaze on the caldron and saw that it was filled with a green and purple liquid that were swirling together and slowly mixing.


    However, it was also filled with the most magical energy she had ever sensed, and she could only wonder what Annelise might be making here.


    "This is certainly a high-quality elerated awareness potion. What creature''s grey matter did you use in it?" Melisandre said as she examined Annelise''s potion.


    It appeared that she hadpletely forgotten that she was here to introduce Evelyn to her college and friend, and instead went straight into research mode.


    Luckily Annelise remembered that Evelyn was still here and using her sidestepped answering Melisandre''s question.


    "Melisandre, I think you should save questions like that forter. You still have not properly introduced me to your new disciple." Annelise said as she nudged her head towards Evelyn who was standing by the entrance stiffly.


    Snapping her head back, it was as if Melisandre hadpletely forgotten about her, and she looked a bit embarrassed that she had left Evelyn without properly introducing her.


    "Sorry about that." Melisandre said to Annelise while motioning Evelyn over. "This here is Evelyn, my new disciple as your already know. Her talents are a true cut above the rest and one day I am sure she will be one of the strongest owls in the Roost.


    Hearing this Annelise raised an eyebrow and looked at Melisandre in surprise.


    It was incredibly high praise, and it would normally be an over exaggeration to say that about only a high tier fiend beast.


    Yet, Annalise could see that Melisandre waspletely serious, and this made her truly look at Evelyn with an abondance of curiosity.


    "Would you mind her showing me why you are so invested? I want to see exactly what Evelyn has that makes her so valuable." Annelise said with a sharp glint in her eyes.


    It was as if she was ready to measure Evelyn''s worth, which on made the subject of her staring shrink back towards Melisandre.


    ''No, I do not want to be anyone else''s research subject!'' Evelyn thought as she saw the look in Anneliese''s eyes.


    They were simr to how the human researchers had looked at her. Though at least Annelise was not looking at her as only an object of study but still another living being.


    "I am afraid that will have to wait. She still needs more training before I amfortable letting her use her magic in front of others. Anyway, you would not want her losing control and ruining your brew."


    Looking down at her cauldron and then towards Evelyn, it seemed that Annelise was now wary and was more than happy to relent on seeing Evelyn''s powers.


    "So, did you juste here today to introduce your new disciple, or is there something else?" Annelise asked after string in silence for nearly a minute.


    "Ah, you have seen through me. Actually, there is something else I would like you to do for me." Melisandre said as she took out a slip of paper and handed it to Annelise.


    She quickly read it and then looked at Evelyn with arge smile.


    "Sure, I can do that, but you are going to have to do something for me. I am running low on frostwurt root and need some more. If you can give me, say three. I will do as you have requested." Annelise said with a very bossiness like look.


    It seemed like Melisandre and her friend did this quite often, as Melisandre slipped right into a serious negotiation mode.


    "I will give you one. No way I am going to give you three frostwurt roots just for this. You know how rare they are."


    The two of them went back and forth in their negotiations, until Melisandre epted to give her two of these so called frostwurt roots.


    "Oh, looks like it is done now." Annelise said not long after she had finished negotiation with Melisandre.


    Quickly she stopped stirring and ceased the me under the cauldron.


    She then fished the continents out of the cauldron and poured it into three sizable jars, before going over and cing it on a shelf that looked red hot.


    "They need to stay fairly warm for a few more hours before they stabilizepletely. That is why she is putting them on that heated shelving." Melisandre exined before Evelyn could even ask.


    Nevertheless, she was still confused by all of what was going on as the two owls that were adept at alchemy had been using tons of technical terms she did not understand.


    ''I suppose I will just have to bear with it until I learn. There are still so many things I simply do not know.'' Evelyn thought with a slight sigh.


    After that Annelise sat down with Melisandre and Evelyn and the three of them chatted for a few minutes.


    Of course, it was mostly just Melisandre and Anneliese talking, but Evelyn answered some questions and put in a little input where she could.


    "You were right Melisandre. She really is quite intelligent. I do not believe I have ever spoken to a fiend beast before that could converse this well." Annelise said with a look of surprise.


    She understood that Melisandre had said she was smart, but Evelyn was easily as intelligent as an awakened beast and beyond thanks to her past life as a human.

 Chapter 83 83 A Fruitful Dream

    ?Soon Melisandre was finished speaking with her friend and colleague, and once she was certain that Evelyn was acquainted with her, and that Annelise would look out for Evelyn should the chance arrive, they took their leave.


    "You were very friendly with Annelise there. I figured that since you were the master of the alchemy hall that she might be your subordinate of some kind. But is that not the case?" Evelyn asked.


    Certainly, she knew that Annelise was not in any way lower than Melisandre, as the way they interacted was definitely that of equals.


    "Yes, you would be right for most of the owls here, though I would not really call them my subordinates as they do not truly work for me. But they are not my equals. Annelise and a few others though are around the same rank as me, and I have known them for years. So, while I may be the master of the alchemy hall, I still treat them as equals since lording my status over them would not get me anything but their ire." Melisandre exined.


    However, her answer had just allowed Evelyn the chance to ask a question she had been dying to for a long time but had never really felt she had the opportunity.


    "What rank are you Melisandre?" Evelyn asked with inquisitive eyes.


    "I suppose I have not told you yet have I." Melisandre said as she closed her eyes and looked through her memories to make sure she had not already told Evelyn.


    "Well, it is not that important since knowing will not make much of a difference, but I am at the peak of the sovereign beast rank." Melisandre said causally.


    But for Evelyn this was a major revtion, as it gave her a means to judge Melisandre by. And it was beyond what she had been expecting.


    ''She is on the cusp of reaching the highest rank of beast in this world! I can only imagine how strong she really is.'' Evelyn thought while she looked at Melisandre in awe.


    It turned out that her master was really something else, and it made her feel grateful to have been taken in by her.


    "Now if you do not have anymore questions for me, I do wish to introduce you to a few more of the owls on this level." Melisandre said as she began walking towards another one of the rooms here at the top level of the alchemy hall.


    Yet there was another question that Evelyn had been desperately wanted to ask, and this seemed as good a time as any.


    "Wait Melisandre. There is something else that I really want to know." Evelyn said stopping her master in her tracks. "How did you get that form? You look almost like a human."


    Looking into Evelyn''s eyes Melisandre could see a pained but also almost longing look in her eyes as she asked this.


    "Unfortunately, that is a bit of a secret. Once you reach the peak of the awakened rank, I will tell you." Melisandre said, as she turned and continued on.


    ''Great, who knows when or if I will ever make it to the peak of the awakened rank.'' Evelyn though while letting out a long sigh.


    As a former human she wanted to know how, and why for that matter, there were owls that had humanoid forms.


    Nevertheless, while Melisandre did avoid answering the question, she had given Evelyn quite the hint.


    ''If she is not going to tell me about it until I reach the peak of the awakened rank, then it must have something to do with tyrant rank or higher beasts. At the very least, now that I think about it, I have not seen a single awakened beast with a humanoid form.''


    With his new knowledge Evelyn went deep into thought. So much so that she missed when Melisandre stopped into front of another door and mmed into her.


    Yet as she did Melisandre was like a rock and Evelyn was knocked back and fell over.


    ''Crap what happened.'' She thought as she iled around to get back up.


    "Evelyn now really is not the time to be spacing out. Hurry up and get back to your feet." Melisandre said while stifling augh.


    After that Evelyn was more attentive and soon Melisandre had introduced her to a number of owls who were doing alchemy on the top floor.


    All of them were owls with humanoid forms and this only further added to Evelyn''s theory that this was something that only high-ranking owls could achieve.


    "Well, that is everyone who is free and that I wanted to introduce you to." Melisandre said after they finished speaking to another dozen owls.


    Except unlike Annelise who they visited first, none of the other owls treated Melisandre like an equal and were obviously subservient to her.


    "All of them now know that you are my disciple so they will likely help you out should you ever be in trouble while I am not around." Melisandre said with a satisfied expression.


    It appeared that was her main goal in introducing Evelyn, so that she would have more owls looking out for her.


    "Now the day is nearly up and neither of us have eaten for a while. Let us go back and enjoy some food."


    Leading the way Melisandre took Evelyn back to her office and they ascend from the interior of the alchemy hall into Melisandre''s mansion.


    Quickly they flew through the halls and too the kitchen where Katrina was already busy preparing some food.


    ''It certainly is a bit weird to watch an owl cooking.'' Evelyn thought as she saw Katrina slumped over arge industrial sized grill.


    Still, this was just the difference that beasts had on this world where they were able to gain intelligence on par with humans and learn and do things their Earth counterparts never would.


    Once they had finished the excellent meal Evelyn pattered her stomach with her wing with a satisfied expression, and she felt her eyelids starting to get heavy as drowsiness creeped up on her.


    "Hm, I suppose it is only naturally that you are tired after all we have done today. Go ahead and get some rest Evelyn, and tomorrow we can begin your training again. Before we can move onto anything else you will need to learn how to manifest and control your magical energy."


    Nodding her head Evelyn agreed with Melisandre, and soon made her way back to her room where she perched up on top and began to fall asleep.


    ''Hm where the hell am I.'' Evelyn thought as she looked around.


    Yet all around her was mostly ck space that seemed to go on infinitely and only the slightest areas of light revealed anything.


    There she saw what looked like mechanisms and magical circles the like of which she did not understand.


    ''They look broken.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the mechanisms and magic circles.


    All but just a few of them seemed to be not working, though as she looked closer, she noticed that one of the broken mechanisms was trying to put itself back together.


    Feeling an instinctual need to repair it Evelyn moved over and picked up the parts that were separate and started putting them back together.


    It seemed to take what felt like hours, but eventually it was done.


    ''Well, it is fixed. I wonder what is going to happen now?''


    It seemed that whatever it was had still not begun functioning. But a momentter it began whirling and humming, and the magic circles all over it lit up brightly, blinding Evelyn.


    A momentter she felt a pressure in her chest and fell over as she could not seem to stay upright.


    She then watched as it looked like a bright blue light was sucked out of her and into his mechanism which began moving faster and faster while the cracks began to fill in.


    ''What is going on.'' Evelyn thought before waking up with a start.


    She had fallen down onto her face and was back in her room in Melisandre''s mansion.


    ''A dream?'' She thought as she tried to lift herself up.


    However, as she did, she felt that same pressure in her chest as she had in her dream and fell back over.


    Except this time, she also felt her magical energy being drained and knew exactly what the cause was this time.


    ''The Aethersphere, it is doing something.''


    She could feel the divine artifact she knew little about spinning around inside her chest and sucking in all of her magical energy from both of her cores.


    And while this did not hurt, it was certainly ufortable. and left her feeling weakened as all of her magical energy was beign drained.


    ''Damn it. It is not going to rearrange my body again, is it?'' Evelyn thought as fear welled up inside her.


    She never wanted to experience pain on that level again, which was worse than all of the beatings her father from Earth had given herbined.


    Luckily, she did not have to experience any excruciating pain, and the process was over quickly.


    She let out a sigh of relief as this happened, but it was short lived. She was suddenly hit with information flowing directly into her mind from the Aethersphere.


    Fortunately, this time it was much less data than thest time, and it did not give her a splitting headache and was only mildly ufortable.


    When the information stopped flowing to her mind, Evelyn abruptly opened her eyes and smiled. The Aethersphere had repaired another of its systems, and she was thrilled to have its power.

 Chapter 84 84 Training, Training, And More Training

    ?With a smile on her face Evelyn jumped up from her fallen positioned and began focusing on the Aethersphere inside her.


    ''I see so it has its own magic spells imbued in it. And now that it has fixed another of its functions, I can use a new one.''


    Flying down from her bed on top of the tree like branch in her room, Evelyn moved into a corner of a room where she could test out her new power.


    She imbued some magical energy into her left foot and discharged it into the floor where a slight sh shone for just a moment before everything went back to normal.


    It seemed that the floor was unchanged, but Evelyn could feel where she had left her magic behind and jumped onto it.


    The effects were immediate a dull purple light shed again as soon as she stepped on the area and she felt her body be lighter and she shot towards the ceiling.


    It only moved her up around six feet before gravity went back to normal, but she was very satisfied with the sessful test of her new power.


    ''So, this is the gravity trap. It is certainly impressive. I cannot wait to try it out some more.'' Evelyn thought with a truly delighted expression.


    Her new power allowed her to imbue her magical energy into anything and leave a dyed area of either lowered or greater gravity.


    She was not even limited to setting it on surfaces or solid objects. It could be left in the air or even in an area of aplete vacuum.


    Still, it was not an ability that would do best in a one-on-onebat that happened in the heat of the moment. She needed about a dozen seconds to set one of these traps, but it would have plenty of uses even then.


    ''I need to practice using it. If I can quicker at setting the parameters, I can leave the trap faster.''


    Once she was satisfied with the application of her new magic, Evelyn exited her room and washed up.


    She had fallen asleep before cleaning herself yesterday and could smell all manner lingering scents of things on her from moving around the alchemy hall.


    ''Ah it feels good to be clean. I got so used to living with dirt all over me and not beign able to be properly cleaned that I forgot how refreshing it is.'' Evelyn thought as she rubbed herself down with the cleansing powder.


    It seemed to have a magic effect that allowed it to seek out and destroy grim while enhancing the natural oils that Evelyn''s body produced.


    By the time she was finished she practically was gleaming, and she felt like an entirely different owl.


    When that was done, she made her way to the kitchen where Anneli was waiting for her with some food ready.


    "Lady Melisandre is going to be busy for the next week at least, so you will be without her until then. I will make sure that you have food to eat, but other than that you will be on your own. Your only goal during this time is to train your control over magical energy."


    Having been given her task for the week Evelyn made her way to the training area that Melisandre had showed her before and got started.


    She was heavily motivated now that she had gotten a new power from the Aethersphere and wanted to advance as quickly as she could.


    Unfortunately, as much as she started out with plenty of drive, after hours of failure to achieve anything, she started to feel down.


    ''Damn it. Everything I do just ends up the same. How the hell am I supposed to bring out pure magical energy instead of just using the magic of my affinities.'' Evelyn thought in frustration.


    She had been at it for hours and this was her second time trying but she had made no progress.


    Already she felt like she was on the brink of copse having used all of her magical energy, and she was no closer to her goal.


    ''Why is this even necessary? Shouldn''t there be a better and quicker way to train other than just exhausting myself over and over again.''


    Beginning to get frustrated Evelyn wondered why there was not a more efficient way to learn control over magical energy.


    Unfortunately, this was a product of her quickly learning to do everything else she had set out to do so far thanks to either her human intellect or natural talent.


    She was used to only needing to put in an extreme amount of effort for a few days to at least get the basic handle of something and show some progress, but this time she was getting nowhere.


    Nevertheless, even as frustrated as she was, she kept at it doing what Melisandre told her to and dug in deep to pull out her magical energy.


    Soon the entire week had gone by, and other than eating, sleeping, and training Evelyn had done pretty much nothing else.


    Sadly, even with all the practice she had and all the time she put towards gaining control over her magical energy she had no real sess.


    However, in order to keep herself motivated she did practice with what magic she could, focusing on her new gravity traps.


    This allowed her to take a break from the monotonous task of trying to control her magical energy and focus on something that she felt she could improve on.


    She now had a much better understand of this magic and was able to set the traps a bit faster and make them quite versatile in their effect.


    ''Gravity really is something. It has so many applications and I am sure that I have not even figured out most of them yet.'' Evelyn thought as she practiced setting the gravity traps not only to hinder any enemies but to help herself.


    She could use them to abruptly chance her momentum while flying and make herself unpredictable.


    It would be really powerful in keeping any foes on their guard, as even if they learned to avoid her traps, she could use them as support for herself instead.


    Another aspect of her magic she had focused on controlling was shaping her fire and wind like she had seen other beasts do.


    Apparently, this was much easier once one could control their raw magical energy, but Evelyn honestly got tired of just trying that all the time and figured that practicing a little precision with her wind would not cause any harm.


    ''And wind de.'' Evelyn thought while pping her wings.


    This time she managed to sharpen her wind into the form of a de and fire it out.


    It left a slight scratch on one of the steel tes in the training room and she was a little proud of her aplishment.


    ''Yep, I can do it if I try. My parents could do this since I was born, and they were not able to freely control their magical energy. Still, I know from the demonstration that Melisandre showed that this is basically just a parlor trickpared to what she can do. I still need to keep at it until I have true control over my magic.''

 Chapter 85 85 New Missions

    ?After a week of absence Melisandre came back and she seemed to be quite haggard from whatever it had been she was doing.


    Though when Evelyn asked her what she had been up to Melisandre just brushed it off and gave a vague exnation.


    "Oh, nothing you need to worry about. Just some meeting with the other hall masters." Melisandre said while shrugging her shoulders. "More importantly, how has your practice been going? Have you been keeping at it?"


    "Yes, I have been using up arge portion of my magical energy every day, but I have not made any progress or gleamed any insight. Am I perhaps doing something wrong? Is there no other way I could go about it that is better and faster?" Evelyn asked with a bit of desperation on her face.


    She felt like a failure for not having made any progress, and the creeping fear that she might be abandoned for being defective was knocking in the back of her mind.


    "Sorry, there is nothing else to do than to keep at it until you get it. Don''t worry though, with time anyone can get the hang of it. All it takes is effort and perseverance."


    Sadly, this is not what Evelyn wanted to hear, and she slumped over feeling like she would never get where she wanted.


    "How long did it take you to learn?" Evelyn asked wanting at least someone topare herself to.


    At first Melisandre hesitated to answer, but she could see that Evelyn had slowly been slipping into despair and decided that it would be better to tell her than to not.


    "Granted this was many years ago so I cannot give you an exact amount of time, but I remember it taking about a year." Melisandre said as she tapped on her temple and thought back to a long time ago.


    "Oh, but it really can be different for everyone. It is something that us owls at the Roost practice for as long as it takes since gaining full control over your magical energy is necessary in turning your magic into spells without the need of incantations like the humans use. As long as you keep at it, I am sure one day it will just click like it does for everyone else." Melisandre said, trying to brighten Evelyn up.


    ''I see, it takes that long to figure it out. I suppose that my resolve was shallow thinking it was something that I could just do with a little hard work. It is as she said before; if it was easy than everyone would just do it.''


    Luckily Melisandre''s words had reached Evelyn and she felt a lot better now knowing that she was not a failure and that she just needed to keep at it, since even someone like Melisandre took a long time to achieve control.


    Of course, this dide with another set of problems which Melisandre had been trying to avoid by not telling Evelyn exactly how long it took her. As now Evelyn had made it her goal to master control in under a year which was not something most would consider feasible.


    "Now I have other things to speak to you about so let us move to lounge so that we may rx." Melisandre said as she began flying away.


    Evelyn followed behind her and in around a minute they entered arge room that had tables, chairs, and cushionsid out around. And as quickly as she could Melisandre slumped over into one of the chairs in exhaustion.


    Granted it was not physical exertion that had gotten to her, but mental fatigue from having to deal with so many meeting in such a short time span.


    "Thank you." Melisandre said as Katrina brought her some tea.


    It was almost weird to see a tear cup being carried by an owl, as Evelyn was still getting used to how human some of the things the owls did here were.


    "Now in ordance with the deal that I made with Annelise I have gotten some good missions for you." Melisandre said as she took out a few blue tokens from her storage item.


    Looking at them Evelyn wondered what they were and how they pertained to the missions that Melisandre was talking about.


    "Normally you would have already been introduced to this system and been forced to take on some missions to earn your keep and acquire credits to live on, but I have been providing the necessities that you need. However, staying holed up in the Roost will stifle your progress, so I have arranged for some appropriate missions for you." Melisandre said as she slid the eight tokens towards Evelyn."


    She then exined the mission hall where all manner of different jobs were posted. From cleaning up the areas of the Roost at the most basic and going out into the world and killing other creatures for their materials or even just revenge in some cases.


    ''I see, so this must be what she traded her friend for. Annelise must have some connection with this mission hall and set these aside for me.'' Evelyn thought as she looked down at the tokens.


    "Now you will not have to worry about doing anything to extreme, but there are a few hunting missions among these that will have you fighting other beasts." Melisandre said.


    She beckoned for Evelyn to pick up one of the tokens and as she did the specifics of the mission it pertained to flooded into her mind.


    It was simr as to how the Aethersphere worked, but the information was far less dense and easier to process.


    "Now this is a surprise. Most get a splitting headache the first time they use one of these." Melisandre said.


    She had been expecting Evelyn to wince in pain as she incurred a headache, but she was perfectly fine and showed no difort.


    "You did obtain the contents of the mission, correct?" Melisandre asked, wondering if the token had malfunctioned.


    "Yes, I did. I need to collect the core and fangs of a fiend beast called a venom bat. And the token also gave me approximate locations where I could find this beast. But I do not know the names of these ces or where they are."


    "Okay good, so it did work. And no need to worry about the areas, all of your missions can bepleted in a single ce. I made sure of that when they were gathered. I will tell you more about itter and show you a map, but for now learn the information from the rest of these tokens."


    With Melisandre''s promoting Evelyn let the information from all of the mission tokens flow inside her mind and she began sorting through them.


    ''Okay three hunting missions all of different fiend beasts, and five collection missions.''


    Going through them Evelyn found that all of the collection missions pertained to basic alchemy materials, most of which she already had from the stocks Mason had left her.


    Still, she figured that mentioning this would not prevent her from being sent on these missions, as Melisandre wanted her to get some valuable real-world experience.

 Chapter 86 86 Preparations Before Setting Out

    ?After going through all of the missions that Melisandre had given to Evelyn, she made sure to add one cavoite.


    "Now along with the missions from the hall I have a few things that I will want you to gather as well, while you are out there." Melisandre said as she handed a list to Evelyn.


    Along with the list were a number of pictures of the magical nts and even some ores that she wanted Evelyn to gather.


    Among them we plenty of duplicates of the same things that she was going to be getting for the missions so that Evelyn could get two birds with one stone.


    "Once you havepleted these missions you will have arge supply of most of the basic materials needed for alchemy and can purchase the rest with your reward credits. Then you will be able to start learning under me. I will make sure that you have all the equipment that you need but you will have to gather materials on your own or buy them with credits you have earned. If I just hand everything out to you, it will make youzy and content and when you need to do something by your own merit you will inevitably fail."


    Nodding her head Evelyn agreed with Melisandre and she was already fine with getting her metaphorical hands dirty.


    ''I have already fought to the death multiple times. I may have gotten a little used to howfortable things are here, but I will never forget all I went through beforeing here.''


    With her resolve steeled, Evelyn looked towards Melisandre waiting for her to continue.


    "Okay here is the map of the area where you will find all of the materials that you need." Melisandre said as she unfurled arge rolled up piece of parchment.


    On it was a very detailed map of an area that was mostly forest but had a number ofrge ins around it and a hugeke that was on the eastern end.


    But as Evelyn looked at the map more she tried to remember if there was any area like this on the map of the continent she had seen, but nothing she could think about came up.


    Still, it was not like she had inspected everything in detail and the maps in the as Mason had left her were centuries old, so it was likely a number of things had changed by then.


    "Now the only way to enter and exit the Roost is through its warp points and there is one set up in this forest which is called the Glowing Woods." Melisandre said as she ced a finger on a pint that had a blue circle drawn on it.


    She then went on to exin that the Roost itself was actually its own separate domain from the world that had been set up millennia ago by a group of powerful owls and was made to advance their species and give them a haven away from their enemies. Especially from humans.


    "It takes a lot of magical energy to maintain the ce, but it gives us pretty much guaranteed safety from the outside world. Only owls can enter here and only if they have a pass that allows them to open up a warp tunnel. I am sure you remember the cuff I made you put on before we came here. Without that you would have been unable to warp with me." Melisandre exined.


    Apparently, it had actually beenmon practice for a number of different species of beasts to do this themselves and that the owls had allies among other species of beasts.


    "And unlikest time where I used one of my personal talismans you will need to head to the warp hall that manages all of the Roosts entries and exits other than those of higher ups like myself. You will need to get used to moving around by yourself, so before you go, I will have Anneli give you a more in-depth guide of the Roost." Melisandre said as took out a type of pen and began drawing on the map.


    "These are the areas where everything you will need to collect are generally located. Of course, beasts are prone to moving and the nts and ores you need can be found in other areas as well. I will leave the gathering up to your discretion. Just make sure to not get in over your head and be careful." Melisandre said with a slight bit of concern in her eyes.


    "Now do you have any questions?"


    "Yes, why is it called the Glowing Woods? Is there something I need to look out for?"


    "No, the glowing in the woods is not from any sort of dangerous source. Ites from a luminescent moss that grows all over these woods. It is not very high in magical energy and serves as food for some lower ranked beast, so it is nothing you need worry yourself about. And as for things you need to look out for, the only thing would be the awakened beasts that make their homes here."


    Melisandre quickly exined that these woods were an area rich in magical nts, but that none of them were very rare or powerful, so it was a not popted by any powerful beasts.


    It was a ce that mostly held fiend beasts and a handful of low tier and mid-tier awaken beasts that could be considered the area''s rulers.


    "You should not have to worry about any of the awaken beasts as long as you stay out of their territory which they will have marked. Though if for some reason you doe into contact with something you cannot handle, I have prepared two items for you to use in case of emergency."


    Taking out of her storage item Melisandre took out a sliver potion that looked worryingly a lot like mercury, and a purple talisman that had an intricate looking magic circle drawn on it.


    "This is a talisman that will put up a powerful barrier that will protect you from attacks of any awakened beast for over an hour. I am sure that with it you can defend yourself and get away from any enemy. As for this potion, it is a little more extreme in its effects and does have some downsides." Melisandre said as she looked at it dubiously.


    She told Evelyn that it was a potion called unleash potential, and it brought any beast to their limit. Allowing them to wield greater than normal power for around five minutes.


    However, once its effect wore of it left the user sore and stifled the flow of their magical energy. Making them weaker for at least a couple of weeks and maybe up to a month depending on how hard the user pushed themselves.


    "It is a very powerful and valuable potion that should not be taken lightly. Though there is one thing that we will need to do before you can use it." Melisandre said as she pulled out a de.


    Apparently in order to be able to activate the effects of the unleash potential potion, the one drinking it had to register it to them by adding a few drops of blood to the finished brew.


    ''Argh.''


    As Evelyn cut herself, she winced a bit in pain. But she took it easily enough, having experienced far worse in both her lives.


    Quickly she drained around a milliliter of her blood into the potion, and it slowly changed color as it seemed to be mixed with very dull shades of green and purple.


    "There, now the potion will work only for you. But I hope that you do not have need of it."


    After that Melisandre wrapped up the map and handed it to Evelyn along with the potion and barrier talisman which she put away into one of her storage amulets.


    "Now I rmend that you empty out everything that you do not need from those amulets in your room. I have prepared bags, jars, and vials meant for containing the materials you will be gathering, and you will need all of the storage space you can get. Still, it is convenient that you have four storage items already. Otherwise, I would have had to loan you one."


    Once Melisandre was finished exining everything to Evelyn, she packed up what she had been given and went to her room as Melisandre instructed and began emptying out her storage amulets.


    ''That should be everything that I do not need to keep on me.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the no longer bare shelves.


    She had taken out pretty much all of the supplies that Mason had given her. Only keeping his diary andngue guide which were damning evidence to prove she was from another world.


    Having plenty of open space in her storage amulets Evelyn went to find Melisandre, and soon she was filled up with the bags, jars, and vials that she would be using to store the items necessary toplete her uing missions.

 Chapter 87 87 Tour Around The Roost

    ?The day before Evelyn was to set out on her missions that had been given to her by Melisandre Anneli was set to give her a tour around the Roost.


    "So, you have only seen the alchemy hall and the records hall. Lady Melisandre really has been too focused on getting you ready for alchemy." Anneli said while shaking her head.


    Normally upon arrival a new owl to the Roost would have been shown to all of the major halls and given a brief overview of important information about these ces.


    However, Evelyn''s arrival was quite unusual since Melisandre just picked her up and whisked her away to the Roost and only exined what she cared about.


    Of course, this did happen very rarely when a high-ranking members of the Roost decided to immediately recruit an owl from the entry trial. But the number of times this had happened could be counted on both of an owl''s feet.


    "Now you have at least heard about the mission hall so you know a bit about that ce so we will start there since it is very important." Anneli said before they left Melisandre''s mansion


    Once they were outside, they both took to the skies and Evelyn felt a sense of relief flying around in the open again since she had been cooped up in Melisandre''s mansion for a while at this point.


    Quickly Anneli led her towards another of thergest sixteen trees that was the mission hall.


    As they got closer Evelyn went wide eyed seeing how many other owls were moving around this ce.


    The alchemy hall had its fair number of owl''s flying in and out, but there was a massive and constant stream going to and from the mission hall.


    Though this made sense as it was apparently one of the main ways that owls were able to earn the credits necessary to purchase anything within the Roost. Especially if they had no other talents other thanbat.


    Anneli took Evelyn down towards the bottom of the tree where the most owls were congregating, nearly all of which were peak fiend beasts of low tier awakened beasts.


    Once inside Evelyn could see that there were a number of counters set up like at a government office on Earth, and the owls at these counters were registering and approving thepletion of missions.


    ''Whoa.'' Evelyn thought as she saw the wall at the far end of the floor.


    On it were thousands of blue mission tokens like the ones that Melisandre had given her, and hundreds of owls were hovering around it and snatching whatever missions they wanted.


    However, there appeared to be some rules to the area. The strongest owls got their pick of missions and bullied the weaker owls away if they tried to grab anything that had caught their eyes. Leaving them with less desirable jobs.


    And on another wall was a number of green token missions which was only beign visited by the weakest of the owls in the hall. Most of which were high ranking fiend beasts like Evelyn.


    "I see you have spotted the two mission boards. The blue ones are like the ones you have received, though I doubt any of the ones over there pay as well or are as safe as the ones you got. The other board is mostly for manualbor work within the Roost. They do not pay much but the weaker beasts without any connections have to take them to earn enough credits to pay for their living expenses until they grow a bit stronger. Luckily you will not need to worry about that thanks to Lady Melisandre." Anneli exined.


    "What about the floor above this one? I saw a number of owls going into hem as well." Evelyn asked.


    "Ah the floors above here give out missions for stronger owls that have higher ranks. This floor is mostly for fiend beasts and recently evolved awakened beasts. Above you will find more mid and higher tier awakened beasts. Then above that is the mission for tyrant rank owls, and then the final floor is for those select few like Lady Melisandre that have reach the realm of a sovereign beast."


    As Anneli said thisst part Evelyn could hear a bit of reverence in her tone and understood just how much she respected Melisandre.


    Still this did leave a question for Evelyn and she asked Anneli hoping for an answer.


    "What about any owls at the final rank? Is their no floor for cmity rank beasts?" Evelyn asked


    Hearing this though Anneli looked at Evelyn in surprise wondering where she had heard of the highest rank of beast.


    "I am surprised you know about that. But I am afraid I do not know. I am not even sure if there are any cmity rank beasts within the Roost at this moment. But if I had to assume, then perhaps our elusive leader who maintains this domain is such an exalted existence." Anneli said.


    She then exined that the leader of the Roost was supposedly living in the colossal tree in the middle of the domain, but that only the hall masters like Melisandre ever actually met with this entity.


    "Now enough about spection around things neither of us could know. There are still a number of ces that I need to show you."


    With that they left the mission hall and made their way over to the warp hall where owls could enter and exit the Roost from designated points.


    When she arrived Evelyn saw that there were dozens of tforms set up like the personal one that Melisandre has on the outskirts of the Roost.


    Each one of these tforms allowed for owls to move to specific locations within an area and open up portals to return home.


    But these portals were notpletely stationary and moved around the area they were set up to prevent any enemies of the Roost from ambushing their members upon exit.


    "This is the one that you will take to the Glowing Woods. All you need to do when it is time is present your mission tokens to the operator along with a warp pass and you will be allowed to head to your destination." Anneli told Evelyn as she went over what she needed to know.


    "What about my return trip? How will I get back if the portal moves around?" Evelyn asked.


    "Ah that is not a problem. The return talisman will lead you to and open up the portal for you. All you need to do is follow its direction when the timees."


    After exining that Anneli took Evelyn out of the warp hall and brought her to what she considered the next most important location within the Roost.


    "This is the inscription hall. It is a ce that you can buy magic items like the storage amulets you have. You can also get one use talismans and other useful items. Though what is the most valuable is definitely weapons and armor." Anneli said.


    She brough Evelyn over to one stall and showed her some leather armor fit for an owl that had magic circles inscribed on it.


    This took Evelynpletely by surprise as she had yet to this point see any owls wearing armor or wielding weapons. But apparently it was actuallymon.


    Of course, things were very different from what humans would have to fit an owl''s anatomy but there were still a number of weapons and armor.


    And when Evelyn asked why she did not see any owls wearing armor or carrying weapons around the Roost, she told her it was because it was against thews of the Roost.


    "No owl is allowed to openly wear armor or carry weapons while inside the Roost. This rule was decided on before I even came here, but apparently while it was allowed there was far more violence, and everyone moved around armed to the teeth and on edge. The only time it is now permitted to wiled a weapon is in times of emergency such as an outside invasion. But that has never happened, so I have never seen anyone with weapons out while within the Roost."


    When Anneli was done with her exnation she took Evelyn around to look at a few more things before taking her to the next of the halls.


    "Now this is the Crystal Hall. Here you can purchase magical crystals from the vendors within. It is the only ce within the Roost where these items are traded so make sure you do not purchase any from a shady source. Oh, and only owls with a special license can sell magical crystals to the hall, so make sure not to try that even if you have some. It would give you an unfavorable reputation if you made such a mistake and you might find it harder to purchase magical crystals int eh future." Anneli said with a stern expression.


    Once they had finished up at the crystal hall Anneli took Evelyn around to the rest of the hall though she considered them less important than the ones she had already shown Evelyn.


    Along with that she brought her to the area just outside the ring of sixteen tress which was filled with restaurants and other types of service care like spas.


    Around the same area were also theaters and numerous other ces that catered to entertainment for owls that had credits to burn.


    "I believe that just about covers it. Everything else beyond this are lesser establishments you will have no need of and housing. Now let us head back. They day is almost over, and you will have to leave early tomorrow."

 Chapter 88 88 Into The Glowing Woods

    ?Upon returning to Melisandre''s estate Evelyn promptly went to sleep in order to be rested for her first trip out of the Roost since arriving.


    ''I can hardly wait. It feels like I am finally starting to make some real progress, and after this Melisandre will start teaching me alchemy. Just wait for a while longer Mason. I swear I will fine you one of these days no matter where you have ended up.''


    With those thoughts Evelyn drifted off to sleep and had a peaceful and restful night.


    When she awoke, she felt a sense of anticipation and quickly began getting ready for the day.


    She first cleaned herself off very well as she knew that until she returned the best, she would be able to do was wash off with some water out in the wilds.


    Once she was good and clean, she headed to the kitchen where a meal was already being prepared by Anneli.


    "Here you go. Lady Melisandre instructed me to make the best that I can with the highest quality ingredients that you will be able to stomach. I believe you will find the taste to be quite good and the effects of the magic imbued in this food even better."


    Looking at the spread of meats put out in front of her Evelyn felt her stomach begin to rumble and she quickly tore into food.


    All of it was exquisite and she could not help but smile through the meal.


    Yet as she was eating, she had to stop and marvel at the magical effects that had been cooked into the food through alchemy.


    She felt that her thinking was a bit faster, her body felt lighter and stronger, and most importantly she felt as if the flow of her magical energy was slightly quicker.


    "I can see you are already feeling the effects of the food. While none of them are terribly impressive, I made sure that they would be as longsting as possible. I believe you will have around three days in which you will be enhanced." Anneli said.


    After the meal Evelyn thanked her for her help and consideration in getting ready.


    ''Now I just need to do a final check to make sure I have everything I might need, and I can be on my way.'' Evelyn thought as she flew back to her room.


    Swiftly she took everything out of her storage amulets and went over everything within each one.


    ''Okay I will put the healing and mana recovery items Mason gave me in the second one. The bags, jars, and vials in the third one. And the fourth one can hold the unleash potential and protective charm Melisandre gave me along with my mission tokens. As for the first one I will just keep Mason''s diary and thengue guide in there.''


    With everything sorted out, Evelyn put her items back away and was satisfied with her preparations.


    ''It is time to go. I have actually missed the freedom to just fly around as I like so I really cannot wait.''


    Existing Melisandre''s estate she made her way over to the warp hall where she would take a portal to the Glowing Woods.


    When she arrived, the ce was as busy at it had been before and numerous of the warp tforms were in use sending owls to their destination and allowing others to return.


    ''Hm now that I really think about it these tforms are almost more science fiction than normal fantasy. I wonder how they work?'' Evelyn thought as she looked around with interest.


    When she hade here yesterday, she was more engrossed in Anneli''s exnations to really look around or ponder the intricacies of this ce.


    However, as much as she wanted to know she had no clue how the magic worked, and she did not even have the means to ask.


    Before she could create a thread of magical energy formunications, she would have to learn to control her magical energy first.


    Luckily there were plenty of owls in the same boat as her and when she went over to the warp tform for the Glowing Woods, she simply handed over one of her blue tokens.


    This was proof of her permission to leave the Roost on official business, and the owl working at the tform gave her a talisman. This would allow her to make the return trip when she was finished.


    After that she waited her turn and soon enough the tform began to glow, and a shimmering circle appeared around her.


    An instantter her vision went blurry, and Evelyn felt the familiar sensation of being warped away.


    When she came back to herself, she immediately felt nauseous as she was not used to be transported this way.


    Nevertheless, she kept herself under control and the possibility that there might be threats around kept her on edge.


    ''All seems safe. I hear what sounds like some rustling around a hundred feet away, but it must be small, and I do not think it is a threat.''


    pping her wings Evelyn took to the air and flew up into a nearby tree in order to ascertain her surroundings better.


    ''Oh, it smells good.'' Evelyn thought as shended on the tree.


    As she looked more intently at the tree shended in, she noticed that it had some bright vibrant red flowers on it that reminded her a bit of cherry blossoms she had seen online.


    ''It is fairly warm here. Not quite like the jungle where I did the trials but still quite nice. The air is also filled with a good amount of magical energy. Maybe a bit more than that jungle and definitely far more than the ce I was born.'' Evelyn thought as she examined the area.


    Opening up her senses she made sure that no sort of threating beasts were around, and when she was satisfied the ce was clear she took out the map Melisandre had given her.


    ''Hm, I think I am around here. The warp portal can only be in so many locations and this seems to be the right one from what I can tell. I guess that means that theke is nearby. I will fine two of the things I need toplete my missions around there, so I should just head over while I am close.''


    Evelyn took off towards theke thaty on the eastern side of the glowing woods, feeling a bit of excitement to start her first mission.


    Yet as she was flying along, she noticed a marking on one of the trees and abruptly stopped.


    ''This is the territory of an awakened beast.''


    Melisandre had warned her that most of the awakened beasts marked their territory and that she would know it when she saw it.


    On the tree was arge gash that was far too big to have been made by any beast that was at the fiend beast rank.


    The marks themselves where nearly a wide as Evelyn was showing just howrge the ws of this creature were.


    Luckily Evelyn had been observant and noticed it. Allowing her to go around the area and head to theke through a safer area.

 Chapter 89 89 Battle For The Lily Pads

    ?''There it is.''


    Spotting theke that was her destination, Evelyn headed over making sure to remain cautious of any other beasts that might attack her.


    She was making sure to not fly too high in order to not stand out and she made sure to swivel her head around to make sure she had no blind spots.


    When she made it to the bank of theke, shended on one of the trees which provided her a good vantage point and a fair amount of cover.


    ''There are definitely more beasts around here.'' She thought as she expanded her senses.


    She could hear movement around her and there was no doubt that other fiend beasts were around.


    Of course, as Melisandre had told her this ce was teaming with lower grade resources perfect for elerating the growth of wild beasts and making a great environment for fiend beasts to live in.


    Luckily this meant it was the perfect area for Evelyn to gather resources in rtive peace without the worry of something far stronger than hering out of nowhere and killing her.


    ''There do not seem to be any around here. I guess I should fly around theke until I find an area with the nts I am looking for.''


    Taking back off she flew around theke keeping her eyes out for the shallower and still areas where her quarry was supposed to be found.


    Soon enough she came across what she was looking for. Though it was not a part of the mainke and was a branch area that had been created by arge stream that was filling up a pond.


    In it she spotted the soothing lily pads she was looking for that were ingredients for making high quality low tier healing potions, pills, salves, and other simr items.


    It was the perfect magical nt for a budding alchemist and were quite valuable.


    ''Now I need to collect the roots and the flowers which are used as staple ingredients. The only problem is that they are currently being guarded.


    Looking down into the water Evelyn was able to use her impable vision to spot what looked like threerge rocks sitting at the bottom of the pond.


    However, as she observed from her perch, she saw these "rocks" move and take bites out of the lily pads'' roots.


    ''Those are some big turtles.'' Evelyn thought as she observed the pond.


    Each of these turtles was easily eight feet long and around four feet wide, though one of them was slightly bigger and had sharp spines protruding out of its body.


    ''From the looks of it I would say they resemble snapping turtles. Gah their jaws are huge. I can tell that one bite from them, and I am done for.''


    Staring down into the pond Evelyn was at a loss for how to get the lily pads out without getting injured or even killed the oversized snapping turtles.


    They were currently underwater which would practically block all of her magical powers.


    Maybe she could use her heavenly mes to quickly boil the water and kill or at least flush the turtles out, but that would also ruin the lily pads she was trying to obtain.


    Wind magic was also a bust. She would never be able to create a powerful enough gust to hit the turtles at the bottom of the pond and their think armor would mitigate pretty much any damage her wind could do anyway.


    ''I could try just ripping the lily pads out of the water, but they are pretty big and that would be a surefire way to get attacked while burdening myself.''


    For nearly an hour Evelyn worked out ns in her mind and eventually came to what she figured was her best bet.


    ''I guess this is as good as a time as any to test out my gravity traps.''


    Flying down towards the pond Evelyn began focusing the magical energypounded with the power of the Aethersphere into her left leg and flew near the surface of the water where she ced a lower gravity trap.


    Of course, this caught the attention of the snapping turtles at the bottom of the pool, but before they could react Evelyn had already flown off.


    She did this a few more times nting her traps jus above the surface of the water.


    However, before she was able to nt as may traps as she nned on, one of the snapping turtles got impatient and rose up from the murky bottom towards the surface andunched itself at Evelyn.


    Luckily, she had been paying close attention to the turtles and saw the oneing for her.


    With a gust of wind, she changed her momentum and avoided the mping jaws of the turtle that missed her by a few feet.


    ''Got you.'' She thought as the turtle breached the surface.


    It had hit one of the traps she had set and while its hulking form that normally would have sunk back into the water actually began to lift up like it was on the moon.


    Andpounding with her gravity trap Evelyn lowered the gravity around her further with the aura from the Aethersphere. Increasing therge snapping turtle''s airtime.


    There was a look of genuine surprise on the turtle''s face as it floated up into the air, and only began to slowly descend after reaching ten feet out of the water.


    Unfortunately for the turtle this was now more than enough room for Evelyn to attack now that the turtle had lost its environmental advantage.


    To start she whipped up a gust of wind and sent the turtle flying higher in order to prevent any interference from the other ones still in the pond.


    The snapping turtle floated up into the sky like a balloon, and now that the initial shock had worn off it took a defensive position.


    It withdrew as far into its shell as it could and actually covered itself in water using its magical affinity.


    This certainly would have normally been a pretty good defense as this turtle was at the same rank and tier as Evelyn, but in its current state it really stood no chance.


    Evelyn charged up her heavenly mes and sent out arge st of the crimson fire thatpletely engulfed the turtle.


    A huge plumb of steam came off its body and it let out an ear grating pained howl as its body was cooked.


    The turtle''s vitality, however, was something else.


    It somehow managed to survive the blistering heat of Evelyn''s heavenly me, even if it had cked skin all over its body and its shell was melted in numerous ces.


    Still, it was now far too injured to put up any sort of fight and Evelyn flew around to its backside and jammed her talons through its softened shell before dragging it up into the air.


    She had seen birds of prey use this maneuver in a documentary before and figured she would give it a try herself.


    When she reached a height of around four hundred feet, she let the turtle go and it began plummeting towards the ground.


    But she was not content to let the natural gravity work alone and flew alongside the turtle increasing the gravity around it to four times what was normal.


    It hit the ground with a resounding thud and its shell cracked open as it left a crater in the ground.


    Thest of its life quickly faded and Evelyn came out as the clear winner.


    ''Now time to take care of the other two and gather the lily pads.''

 Chapter 90 90 Gathering Healing Item Ingredients

    ?After dealing with the first of therge snapping turtles that were inhabiting the pond for of soothing lily pads Evelyn quickly got to work on the next two.


    While they were more cautious after their friend had been killed by her, they did not possess very high levels of intelligence and when Evelyn started stealing the lily pads, they had no recourse but to attack.


    Unfortunately for them, this led to the same oue as their friend, and they were floated up into the air where Evelyn first cooked them before dropping them from a few hundred feet and allowing gravity to finish them off.


    ''Whew the biggest one with the spikey shell gave me a bit of trouble with those sts of water, but it was nothing I could not deal with.'' Evelyn thought as she watched the final turtle crash into the ground and quickly expire.


    While all of the turtles had been at the high tier of the fiend beast rank, this turtle seemed to have been a unique specimen simr to how Evelyn had evolved differently due to the Aethersphere''s influence.


    Nevertheless, she had managed to win with rtive ease once she lured the turtles out of their pond.


    ''Now to collect what I fought for.''


    Flying back to the now undefended pond, Evelyn quickly grabbed up all thirty-four of the soothing lily pads and ced them into her storage amulets.


    ''That was quite the haul if I do say so.'' Evelyn thought happily.


    She was quite proud of her aplishments, and she had secured even more materials than she needed toplete her mission.


    ''Now for the turtles. I do not know if they have any uses, but I might as well take them.''


    However, as Evelyn went to pick up the corpses of the turtles, she found that a scavenger had already found one of them.


    Picking through the steamed corpse of the first turtle she had killed was arge vulture looking bird.


    It was easilyrger than Evelyn was, being around eight feet tall, but it was only a mid-tier fiend beast.


    The thief never stood a chance as she swopped down silently and pierced right into its head with her talons as it was about to rip the core out of the snapping turtle.


    ''I need to be more careful about leaving things lying around. Time to clean everything up quickly and get out of here.''


    Having nearly had one of her kills stolen from her Evelyn quickly stored the vulture''s and the snapping turtle''s corpse away before picking up the other two.


    Once she had all of her spoils, she quickly left the area not intent on waiting to see if anything else might show up to investigate the rucks she had caused.


    ''This seems to be a safe enough ce.''


    Landing on top of arge t topped tree Evelyn felt she was in a decently protected area as it was high off the ground and obscured from the outside by the tree''s thick leaves.


    ''First the lily pads, then the beasts.''


    Evelyn pulled out the lily pads and began breaking them down as she only needed their flowers and roots.


    She carefully used her talons like knives and cut away the roots and flowers, before storing them in the preservation jars that Melisandre had loaned her.


    ''That is what I need for the mission. Now the rest are for me to use personally.'' Evelyn thought as she finished carving up the first three of the lily pads.


    The next dozen hours she spent breaking down the remaining lily pads and the snapping turtles that had once been guarding them.


    For the vulture she simply removed its core and tossed its body away knowing she had no need of such a weak, and frankly revolting beast.


    Though as soon as she was done and was no longer focused on her work, her stomach began growling loudly as it demanded more food.


    ''I suppose that it had been a while since Ist ate, and I have been exerting myself. I guess it is turtle for dinner.'' Evelyn thought.


    Swiftly she took some of the turtle meat she had carved up, and using her heavenly me gave it a good roasting before chowing down.


    ''Mmm, I have never had turtle before, but this is pretty good.'' Evelyn though as she torerge chunks of meat away.


    Soon she had already eaten several pounds of meat from the turtle and was feeling satiated.


    ''Now for dessert.''


    Taking out two of the cores she had just obtained Evelyn plopped them into her mouth and felt the magical energy inside break down and nourish her body and cores.


    ''Ah that was good. It had been too long since Ist ate some other beast cores. But now it is time to get back out there. I can rest once I have obtained thest things I need from this area.''


    Taking back off into the sky Evelyn headed back towards the shore of theke and began looking out for her next target.


    It was already well into the night and nearly dawn, and if she did not find what she was looking for now she would have to wait till dusk tomorrow when it was most active.


    ''There is the first one.''


    Spotting the type of beast she was looking for, Evelyn scanned the area for any sort of threats before swooping down to capture her prey.


    Surprisingly, even though she made no noise and attacked from its blind spot, the beast she was after jumped to the side as it sensed the impending danger to its life.


    It then let out a snort and the mud on the bank of theke rose up and fired at Evelyn.


    Seeing therge glob of muding for her, Evelyn created arge gust of wind that dispersed it and sent it flying away from her.


    However, while not a speck of mud got on her, the prey she was after had begun running away into the forest.


    ''Damn, I am not being out done by a capybara.'' Evelyn thought as she flew after it.


    She chased therge four-legged rodent through the forest, and with her gravity and wind magic was able to catch up even though it was doing tis best to shake her.


    This time she took no chanced and sent out a fast-moving wind de before circling around anding at the capybara with her talons ready.


    If it tried to dodge the wind de it would end up in her talons, while if it did not it would suffer quite the wound.


    Yet in what Evelyn thought was a foolish move, it tanked the wind de and went on a counter offense by firing out arge chuck of the ground towards Evelyn.


    Having to evade she spun around rapidly and shot higher up into the air where she could dodge attacks from the ground better.


    Looking down at the capybara she could see that therge gash her wind de had left was already healing and would bepletely gone in a couple of minutes.


    ''Great, the blood that I need to make healing items is making this more difficult than I thought it would be.


    Watching the capybara rapidly healing, Evelyn was pressing her mind to think up a new n of attack.


    Certainly, she could try roasting it with her heavenly me, but she needed it as intact as possible since its blood was a valuable ingredient in alchemy. If she burnt it to a crisp there would nothing left for her to harvest.


    On the other end her wind was a bad matchup against its earth affinity and natural healing abilities.


    She needed to hit it with a definitive blow to prevent it from recovering while also avoiding any of its counter attacks.


    ''There it goes again.''


    After having a stare down with Evelyn for a dozen or so seconds the capybara took off again, its natural instinct to flee taking over.


    It was a creature that survived by avoiding conflict and using its bulk and healing to shake off any persistent predators like Evelyn.


    Still, she was not going to let it go and chased it down again, not willing to let it escape.


    ''Try running when you are four times heavier.''


    Increasing the gravity around her Evelyn flew in close and the capybara immediately felt the effects of her gravity field.


    It practically came to a screeching halt as its legs began to carve into the soft dirt around theke.


    Nevertheless, even as its body became much heavier and it could not longer flee, it did not stop trying to defend itself.


    A dome of earth quickly encapsted it before Evelyn could attack. Making it so that she would have to break through its defenses before getting to it.


    ''Looks like it is perfectly content to wait things out until I get tired and give up. Unfortunately for you, now I have all the time I need.''


    Going around the earth dome Evelyn set up a number of gravity traps around the capybara, and when she was ready, she flew high into the air and focused on her wind magic.


    Then when she had built up all the power she could muster, she sent down a gale force wind on top of the earth dome and it began to crack apart as it was buffeted.


    As this happened the capybara countered just as it nned and sent the breaking dome of earth firing off in every direction like the shrapnel from a grenade.


    Evelyn was forced to avoid the fast-flying pieces of earth and in the opening the capybara took off again.


    Yet before it got far it hit one of the gravity traps Evelyn had set, and its full force sprint soon turned into a leap that sent it helplessly floating into the air.


    Now that it was off of the ground it would be unable to use its earth affinity to its fullest, as it would take it far more magical energy to create the earth from nothing than simply manipte it.


    Flying in for the kill Evelyn with her vastly superior aerial maneuverability dodged the desperate rock attacks from the capybara and scored a clean hit with her talons.


    She sunk them into its neck before dragging it up into the sky where she used the same trick she had on the turtles and dropped it from an impressive height.


    The crash on the ground left the beast limp and nearly dead. Its natural healing powers were trying to recover the damage, but they had no chance of seeding and were only slowing down its demise.


    In the end though it was another sh from Evelyn''s talons that finished it off, and she quickly took her prey up into the trees where she drained its blood into numerous vials.

 Chapter 91 91 Into The Bat Cave

    ?''That is going to have to do.'' Evelyn thought as she drained the blood out of the second capybara like beast she had caught.


    She had wanted to get more but they were difficult beasts to catch and each one had given her the run around and struggled to the very end.


    With their agility, awareness, healing ability, and earth affinity they were stupidly hard to catch and kill intact.


    One of them had even smacked her in the face with arge rock and got away. Which was why she had given up on getting anymore materials from them.


    ''I already have more than enough to fulfill the mission from the first one, and I have slightly more than Melisandre wanted me to gather personally. I am tired and have other things to do then chase giant water rats around theke and surrounding forest.''


    The day was already in full swing at this point with the sun having risen over the horizon. Warming and lighting up the area.


    For Evelyn this signaled that it was bedtime, and she quickly searched around for a decent ce to sleep and made herself a temporary abode in arge tree hollow.


    ''There that should do. I will probably be safe for a good rest.''


    After covering the entrance to the hollow with some branches Evelyn felt fairly safe and hoped that nothing would disturb her sleep.


    Luckily, she managed to get through the day without incident and when she awoke it was already at the tail end of dawn with thest rays of light from the sun just fading out.


    ''Breakfast and then back to gathering.''


    Heading out of the temporary home she had made; Evelyn found a nice area to cook up some more turtle meat and had herself arge meal to replenish her energy.


    ''Ah I have really gotten used to eating cooked food again. I do not know if the basic roasting I do makes it actually taste better, but it at least makes me feel better.''


    Having filled her belly back up, Evelyn took to the sky and began flying towards the northern part of the Glowing Woods.


    ''There really is luminous moss all over the ce.'' Evelyn thought as she flew further from theke.


    She had figured that it would mostly be concentrated around that area with the higher moister in the air and ground, but the mass that gave these woods its name really was all over the ce.


    Of course, it was not very bright giving off illuminations simr to a nearly depleted glow stick, but it was still more than enough for Evelyn to see perfectly fine.


    Within around three hours Evelyn made it to her destination what was a rocky area at the northern end of the forest.


    Here the tress were a bit sparser, and it was slightly cooler and the humidity was far lesser than the rest of the woods.


    ''Looks like that is one of the entrances. Now I just wait until I catch oneing back or one that leaves btedly.''


    Parking herself in a tree a little way from the cave Evelyn waited for her quarry to appear.


    Eventually one of therge bats with dark green nearly ck fur appeareding back to the cave, and in its mouth and feet it had some type of magically imbued fruit.


    ''Sorry but you I need your venom to make antidotes.'' Evelyn thought as she swooped down.


    The unsuspecting bat that was at the mid-tier of the fiend beast rank never saw hering, and in an instant its neck was snapped, and its major veins and arteries were punctured.


    It was dead before it even realized what happened and the fruits it had been carrying back home fell out of its limp feet and mouth.


    ''No, those are not really worth going after.'' Evelyn thought as she watched the fruits fall.


    She could tell from the amount of magical energy they were faintly giving off that they were not going to be worth much to her as she was now. So, she simply let them stter into the ground.


    With the first venom bat that was four feet long dead and limp in her talons, Evelyn returned to her nearby perch and began disassembling it while keeping watch on the cave.


    ''Crap!''


    Unfortunately, while she was trying to take out the bat''s venom nd it burst, and the necessaryponent she needed was now ruined.


    This left her talons covered in the dark yellow liquid that was the bat''s venom and with the main item she needed from it.


    Sighing she stored the now mangled body of the bat into one of her storage amulets and waited for the next bat to arrive.


    ''Great, there have not been anymoreing this way.''


    Over an hour had passed since she had spotted the first and only bat returning to this cave. and now Evelyn was starting to get frustrated.


    She had ruined the first one''s venom nd and now no more were showing up to allow her to redeem herself.


    ''I need to go into the cave to collect an ore called vendelrite anyway to make fortification potions. Might as well see if I can find any fiend beast rank bats while I am at it.''


    Flying towards the cave Evelyn kept a close eye out for any sort of threats, and when she was sure the coast was clear she flew inside.


    ''It smells awful!''


    Nearly gagging at the pungent smell Evelyn felt like she wanted to cry with how bad it was.


    Quickly she decided that she needed to do something about the smell since it was making her focus waver.


    She swiftly took out one of the flowers from the soothing lily and pulled its petals apart and ced them over her nose.


    This helped immensely as the flower had a pleasant scent that blocked out the smell of the bat''s waste that was littered all over the cave.


    Of course, this made it so she could not smell anything else, but scent was never an owl''s best sense anyway, so she felt that it would be better than smelling the headache inducing stench.


    ''This is just another reason to learn to control my magical energy. If I had perfect control over the wind, I bet I could just blow the smell away somehow.''


    With the smell problem temporarily dealt with Evelyn flew deeper into the cave, making sure to keep an eye out for the venom bats that called this ce home.


    ''The moss even grows in here, that is a bit of a surprise. But I guess if I did not, even with as good as my eyes are I would not be able to see in the pitch-ck darkness.''


    Flying through the cave Evelyn kept her eyes out for the bats and the ore she was looking for.


    ''There is one.''


    Finding another venom bat that was still hanging onto the ceiling of the cave Evelyn felt a smile creep onto her face since it was at the peak of the fiend beast rank.


    However, it was injured which was why it had not left the cave and it seemed to still be sleeping to recover faster. Leaving it as the perfect target for Evelyn.

 Chapter 92 92 Killing Bats And Collecting Ore

    ?Not letting the chance to let an easy kill go by, Evelyn charged up her wind magic and sent out the fastest de of wind she could.


    It took her a lot of focus, and it was quite the struggle that cost more magical energy than it should have, but the result created a foot long de of wind that shot through the air.


    Of course, the bat sensed the impending danger and now felt Evelyn''s presence, but it was tote for it to react.


    As soon as it opened its wings and tired to open its mouth to use echo location, its mouth was hit by the wind de and its head was sliced halfway through.


    Miraculously it managed to survive, but it was definitely on itsst leg and began falling to the floor of the cave unable to keep itself up.


    Before it mmed into the ground and made a loud noise Evelyn made sure to grab it and with her ws. Before she crushed and pieced its throat, ending its life.


    ''Its right wing was pretty injured anyway. Probably would have starved to death eventually anyway.'' Evelyn thought as she examined the venom bat''s damaged wing.


    Even at the fiend beast rank with it missing half of a wing it was unlikely to recover unless it was miraculously able to evolve to the next rank.


    Having killed an obtained another venom bat Evelyn felt her spirits lifting after her failure with removing the venom sack from the first one.


    ''Now I should see if I can find some more. If I am lucky, I wille across others that are injured and alone which make for easy prey.''


    Charging deeper into the cave Evelyn felt a newfound vigor toplete her missions here and went on ahead feeling more confident.


    Incidentally she dide across more bats, all of which were at the peak of the fiend beat rank which had debilitating injuries.


    The further in she got the less crippling the injures were, but she began wondering what had done this to these beasts who should have been close to the top of the food chain in this area.


    ''Are they at war with some other inhabitant of the forest? But the injuries are all pretty simr, and how would some of them have even gotten back to the cave in the shape they are in?''


    Finding this anomaly to be baffling Evelyn could only wonder what was going on her. But since she could not and had no intention of asking the bats, it was a mystery she was likely to never find the answer of.


    Nevertheless, it did making hunting the bats in the cave much easier as they were not as powerful as they could have been due to their injures, and with most of them being alone she was able to pick them off like the silent assassins owls were.


    ''Looks like the end of the road.''


    Sadly, her good luck could notst forever, as she soon came around a bend in the cave where she saw arger cluster of bats.


    There was no way she was going to just throw herself at them. So, since she had already collected eight bats at the peak of the fiend beast rank, she felt satisfied.


    Instead, she headed in another direction and went looking for the ore that she needed to use in the creation of fortification potions.


    ''Oh, there it is.''


    Spotting a batch of the vendelrite that she was looking for Evelyn flew down and began scanning the area.


    Everything seemed clear and so she gave the shining ck rock a test hit.


    As she had been told it was fairly brittle and crumbled easily into smaller chucks and powder.


    Still ording to Melisandre when it was ground down into a fine powder it acted as a catalyst between other materials in the brewing of a fortification potion and made it around thirty percent stronger.


    ''Might as well grab it all.''


    Going to work Evelyn smashed away and stored the chucks of vendelrite into her storage amulets.


    Soon enough she had finished off this deposit and was on her way looking for the next.


    However, along the way she spotted a group of venom bats flying arounding the oppiste direction as her.


    ''Crap.''


    Looking around Evelyn tried to find somece to hide, but there was nothing around that would be suitable as the bats were using echolocation to get around.


    ''Screw it.''


    With no other option Evelyn turned towards the bats and charged at them.


    She had already seen that the group consisted of mostly low tier fiend beasts, and peak tier wild beasts, with the only stronger bat being their leader who was a mid-tier fiend beast.


    Charging in Evelyn caught their attention fairly quickly, but she was much fast than them and was in the middle of their group as they were reeling from her sudden appearance.


    Then before they could react there was arge bust of light as Evelyn used her heavenly me which lit and heated up the cave.


    Being hit with what was essentially a shbang, all of the bats were caught off guard and stunned for a moment with a number of the weaker ones simply dropping dead from the heat.


    Lowering the gravity around her Evelyn dropped all of the bats out of the air like a balloon that suddenly lost all of its helium.


    Loud thuds echoed through the area as the bats crashed into the ground and Evelyn quickly dispatched them with her talons or some wind des before they could even attempt to get back up.


    ''Hm seven low tier and one mid-tier. I suppose I can use them for practice.''


    After taking the remains of the fiend beast ranked venom bats she had killed, Evelyn swiveled her head around and made sure that nothing else wasing for her.


    Fortunately, it seemed that all was still quiet, and she proceed in search of more vendelrite.


    But as she was smashing out the second deposit she found, she heard the pping of wingsing towards her.


    ''Hm it is a bit bigger than any of the ones I just ran into.''


    Just from the sound alone she could tell that this was a sizable bat, and when it came into view, she was able to see that it was one at the peak of the fiend beast rank.


    This was her first time seeing one of them flying around as she had ambushed the other ones while they were resting. But with its wings spread out it seemed quite a bitrger.


    ''I would say it is about the same size as me. Oh, and it has an injury as well. Though not as bad as the other ones I have seen.''


    This one was only missing one of its ears and had a scar down its face, which was far less debilitation than the others that had their wings mutted, or a foot cut off.


    ''She who strikes first wins.''


    Before the bat was in range to use find her with its echolocation, Evelyn shot out and sent arge gust of wind towards it. Taking preemptive action and trying to catch her new opponent off guard.

 Chapter 93 93 Angering The Boss Of The Cave

    ?As Evelyn flew straight for the peak fiend beast bating her way, she built up the wind around her and prepared to use a huge gust tounch herself forward.


    To increase the effect, she also lowered her gravity making her much lighter so that she could move beyond fast.


    Her n was to rake her talons through the bat''s right wing before it even had time to react and then one it was grounded it would be easy prey.


    Yet right before she was about o unleash her gust of wind, she started to feel nauseous and her trajectory changed, so she insteadunched herself into the side of the cave.


    BANG!


    She hit the wall incredibly hard, to the point that she felt something break, and she soon crumpled to the ground.


    ''What the hell was that?'' Evelyn thought as she lifted her head up.


    She had not seen the bat make any sort of move other than opening its mouth to use what she assumed was echolocation, but she some ow ended up dizzy, and now her left wing had a fracture in it.


    Looking up she saw the bat hovering in the air not far from her staring at her warily.


    Though when it saw she was still alive, it opened its mouth again, and an instantter Evelyn felt the same sickening feeling.


    That was when she remembered something she had read about on earth.


    There was a weapon that emitted a low frequency sound that could not be heard, but still had enough decibels behind it to cause damage.


    It seemed that these bats were able to do something simr and unleash unnoticeable sound-based attacks.


    Eventually Evelyn could not take it anymore and fell over onto the moist floor of the cave.


    She could not keep her bnce with how bad she was feeling and in just one encounter the bats she had been killing easily in ambushes had gotten one up on her.


    Luckily as she fell over the bat stopped its attack, since it did not have enough power to kill with it.


    Instead, it opened its mouth where its sharp venom coated fangs were and moved in to deliver a lethal bite to Evelyn now that she was incapacitated.


    ''I am not going to go down this easily.''


    Regaining a bit of her focus, Evelyn knew that her body was still not functioning properly and with her injury she would be unable to dodge anyway.


    This left her with pretty much one option, and that was to explode.


    Her mind was still a bit muddled, and it was hard to concentrate, but just recklessly sending magic energy to her heavenly me was within her current abilities.


    The powerful divine item began growing and swelling, and as the venom bat got close to deliver the final blow, she erupted in a bright sh of mes it had not been expecting and had no chance of avoiding.


    In an instant the tables were turned again, and the bat was turned into charcoal by the intense heat, while the rocks around Evelyn had melted and crystallized.


    Lifting herself up Evelyn felt really sick and nearly released the contents of her stomach onto the still smoldering ground.


    However, she held it end because she knew she would be much worse off if she expelled herst meal.


    ''I got to keep it down. I will not be able to heal as effectively otherwise.'' Evelyn thought to give her some motivation.


    When her head stopped spinning, she essed her storage amulets and began taking out some healing items.


    First, she took out a salve and applied it over the areas of her body where she was injured before down a potion to speed up the effects.


    It was far from as fast as thest time she used a magical healing item, but unfortunately, she had already drunk her best potion, and was now using some that would be considered a more middle quality.


    Nevertheless, after a few minutes her wounds had pretty much all vanished, and with a few test ps of her wings she knew she could fly again.


    ''Okay no more trying to take them intact. If I see them, I just need to hit them with my heavenly me and burn them to a crisp.''


    Resolving not to take these bats lightly anymore, Evelyn continued breaking apart the deposit of vendelrite.


    Once that was done, she felt she had enough and just wanted to get out of this cave before anything else showed up.


    ''I have had enough of these bats already, and the flowers I used to bloke the horrible scent are starting to wear off. I just want to get the hell out of here.''


    Flying back the way she came Evelyn nned to exit the cave and never look back now that she had the minimum requirements needed to finish her missions.


    Yet life was not going to be so easy on her, and as she was turning a corner and entered the passage to exit the cave system, she heard the sound of heavy wingbeats behind her.


    They were even louder than that of the peak fiend beast rank bat she had heard before, and there was no doubt in her mind that what wasing after her was an awakened beast.


    ''Crap!''


    Picking up speed and flying as fast as she could Evelyn tried to outfly the beast that wasing for her.


    Unfortunately, even as she lowered her gravity and used gusts of wind to propel herself, she could still hear the thing getting closer, obviously having picked up on her already.


    Her wing that was fractured not long ago still ached and using any more speed than she already was made it hurt unbearably since it had just been mended.


    ''Okay I am going to have to fight. But I soon as it is in range to use its sonic attacks, I am done for. Even just the one at the peak of the fiend beast rank was able to incapacitate me, so this one just might outright kill me.''


    While trying to think of a strategy Evelyn heard therge bat closing in, and to make matters worse, some other bats returning to the cave.


    Naturally they were all startled to see Evelyning through, and before they could do anything else, she unleashed a st of her heavenly me and torched them.


    ''Whew none of them were above mid-tier fiend beasts, so they went down easily enough.'' Evelyn thought as she flew by the charred corpses of the bats.


    Still, she had to slow down a bit to deal with the iing bats and as she looked back, she caught a glimpse of the bat chasing her.


    It was farrger than any of the other bats she had seen. Being around fourteen feet long and having a wingspan that just barely fit in this cave.


    Its face was incredibly vicious as well. Looking like rabid wolf with a sunk in nose, and to makes matter worse it had something utterly despicable looking around its neck.


    Dangling around its neck was four dead venom bats that had been at the peak of the fiend beast rank when they were still alive.


    All of them had their eyes gouged out and huge hole in their chests, likely where their cores had been.


    Seeing this Evelyn now realized why all the bats at the peak of the fiend beast rank had been injured. It was because of their boss being an absolute tyrant.


    The bats at the peak of the fiend beast rank were the ones closest to evolving, but before they could even attempt to, this one would cripple them to prevent any challenger from appearing to try and take its ce as the boss of the bats.


    ''Great, if it kills me, it might string me up on its neck as well.'' Evelyn thought as she flew towards the mouth of the cave.


    She could now see the exit in sight and if she could get out, she would have a much better chance since the bat''s sound attacks would have more space to spread out and not be as precise.


    But before she could make it to the exit the boss bat opened its mouth and unleashed a wave of sound towards Evelyn.


    Sensing the danger iing this time, Evelyn acted quickly and began spinning around to whip up the wind.


    Sound could only travel through a medium, and where they were right now that was air which she had some power over.


    As she spun and lowered the gravity around her, she made the air around her thinner, and when the soundwave hit far less of it made it to her than before.


    An instantter she sted out of the caves and into the open air. Swiftly flying upwards and towards the canopy of the frost.


    The awakened beast bat, however, was not intent on letting her go, and sted out of the cave right behind her with fury in its eyes.

 Chapter 94 94 Clash Of The Awakened Beasts

    ?Swiveling her head around while maintaining her speed Evelyn could see that the boss bat was stilling after her.


    The thing was obviously livid that she hade into its home and killed its underlings. It was the only one allowed to do that.


    It also did not help that bats and owls were naturally at odds and this awaken rank bat wanted to put Evelyn down before she could be more of a threat.


    ''I can tell from the look in its eyes it is willing to chase me to the ends of the world.'' Evelyn thought as she felt her heart racing.


    While she had fought back an awakened beast before, that came down more to luck than her overpowering it.


    Her heavenly me was just an impable match up against the queen spider whose webs and magic were ineffective against powerful mes.


    This bat did not have that same weakness and its sound-based attacks could score heavy damage from afar, well outside the range of Evelyn''s mes.


    She had managed to cushion the blow of its first attack by thinning the air around herself by creating a vortex, but that was not something she could continuously do.


    ''My only hope is to lose it somehow.'' Evelyn thought as she dove into the woods.


    With her smaller frame and wind affinity she would be able to mauver better than the boss bat, and she hoped that would make up for the difference in their speed.


    It also gave her obstacles to move around through to avoid its sound-based attacks.


    Unfortunately, the bat was defter than she thought, and while it was not gaining on her as quickly as before, there was no doubt that it was.


    Racking her mind, she began thinking of ways to deal with it.


    A frontal confrontation was likely suicide.


    She would probably need to hit it multiple times with everything she had to incapacitate it, while it only needed one good hit to end here.


    At long range it was superior with its sound attacks, and at short range it had venomous fangs that would spell death if they so much as nicked her.


    Her mind raced as she weaved in out of trees, some of which broke apart and fell over as the bat unleashed sonic sts at her.


    As a constion, at least whenever it unleashed an attack it slowed down a bit an gave her more time to think.


    ''I guess that might be my only option.''


    Remembering a strategy she had used a long time ago when she was being chased by humans after her escape from theboratory, she had lured them to where the colossal serpent was protecting the flower that shot into the sky.


    She had been lucky enough then to have the serpent kill the humans with one sweep of its whiplike tail.


    This allowed her to get away as the serpent had given her a pass and dealt with her problem.


    Of course, right now she doubted she would find such a convenient ally, but all she needed was another beast around the same level as the bat to attack it and get it off her back.


    While flying through the woods slowly being gained on, she looked all around for any sort of marking.


    ''There.''


    Not too much longer, she spotted a rock that had a smear of some sort of green substance on it which let out a pungent and honestly revolting smell.


    This was some sort of beast at the awakened rank marking its territory, and Evelyn did not hesitate to fly in.


    The bat in its rage did not even notice the marking and just continued to chase after Evelyn while sending out powerful attacks that had no chance of hitting in the dense woods.


    Flying around with her senses reached out to the max Evelyn tried to find the awaken beast that made this area its territory.


    ''There it is.''


    It turned out she did not even need to look for it.


    The violent rampage the bat was on to kill her had alerted it to their presence, and it was now bounding towards them.


    It was a massive frog though unlike any Evelyn had ever seen.


    It had six legs instead of four, its head was a bit reminiscent of a bull frog, but it had five rows of teeth in its mouth like a shark, and a sort of slimy glop was flowing out of it.


    It four eyes were also creepy, and it had trained half on Evelyn and half on the bat.


    With iting right for them even the rage filled bat noticed the new arrival, and this was something it could absolutely not ignore.


    The two awaken beasts roared at each other and it seemed that Evelyn''s n was going to work.


    However, suddenly they both turned on her as if they had collectively decided to do her in before doing battle themselves.


    The bat released another sonic st and the frog sent out a huge ball of mucus from its mouth.


    With no other way out, Evelyn increased her gravity and shot down like rock. Just barely avoiding the two attacks that collided with each other.


    Almost crashing into the ground Evelyn began righting herself, but not in time.


    The frog had leapt towards her, and the bat was bearing down from behind her.


    She was pincered in and she doubted she could avoid both of them.


    In a panic she built up some wind and fire behind her and shot forward like a rocket.


    She had practiced this once before while training, but it was hard to pull off, used up an immense amount of magical power, and she had almost no control where she went.


    On the bright side it allowed her to avoid begin hit by either the frog or bat. On the downside she smashed through a bunch of branches, some of which pierced into her body.


    It was very painful, but it had saved her for the moment.


    Gritting her beak and taking the pain, she turned her head around and looked towards her enemies and felt an immense sense of relief.


    The two of them had crashed into each other when she shot out of the way, and now their little alliance to kill her first was gone and they were fiercely battling it out.


    ''Another potion.''


    Being too injured to really move Evelyn took out another healing potion and down it quickly.


    She was currently in a tangle of branches and vies with thorns. With sticks piercing her body in multiple ces as well.


    Luckily with two potions she was able to heal up this new damage for the most part, but she now felt horribly tired after forcing the epted healing on her body multiple times.


    Still, she could not pass out here. Not when her life was teetering on the edge.


    The frog and the bat were still duking it out, but when one of them won it would be the end for her if she stuck around.


    ''So, this is what a battle between awakened rank beasts looks like.'' Evelyn thought in awe.


    The power these two wielded was quite something.


    They had caused a lot of destruction around them and theirrge sizes made them practically like mini natural disasters.


    Nevertheless, as impressive as it was Evelyn knew that these two were still far from what real power looked like.


    Their control over the magic was not even close to what Melisandre could do, and it was clear they could not control their raw magical energy and use magic at its best.


    ''Oh, the bat managed to bite the frog with its fangs. This is probably going to end soon.'' Evelyn thought.


    The bat''s venom was definitely very strong, and it was clear that the frog was already beginning to waver.


    She knew from the mission token that the fiend beast rank venom bats could kill just about any other beast of the same rank as long as they did not have a venom resistance. So, it was likely also true for the evolved awakened variant.


    Yet as Evelyn was about to fly off and leave to safety, she had another thought.


    The frog now knowing that its life was on the clock was fighting far more aggressively. It knew that it was already going to die so it wanted to take this bat with it.


    ''Hm, nothing ventured, nothing gained.''


    Certainly, this had originally started as a mad dash to escape with her life, but she would rarely ever have such an opportune chance such as this.


    She had no confidence in taking out an awakened beast by herself at this point, but two injured ones not expecting a sneak attack could end up allowing her some very valuable materials.


    ''I just need to aim for the bat. The frog is already going to die, so if I can kill the bat I win.''


    Flying into the air and going straight up, Evelyn made sure to get in the bat''s blind spot well above it.


    Currently it was focused on its fight with the frog, trying to inflict more damage and wear it out faster to speed up the venom''s damage.


    It had all but forgotten Evelyn, believing her still stuck in the branches of a tree.


    Of course, how could it expect her to down a bunch of healing items and get back up from that situation. Most beast at her level did not have storage amulets and ess to healing items.


    This gave Evelyn a once in a lifetime chance to strike a definitive blow against an awakened beast, and she was not going to pass it up.


    Diving down she moved silently and prepared to hit the bat as hard as she could.


    Eventually it did notice her descent and turned its head up. Surprised to see her.


    It was preparing to attack her with a sound st, but unfortunately, itspse in attention towards the frog proved fatal.


    It managed to get its teeth around one of the bat''s wings and bit down hard.


    This coupled with Evelyn spinning her body around to dodge allowed her topletely avoid the sonic attack from the bat, and she slipped by and racked her ming ws against the bat''s stomach.


    She pierced into its flesh and seared its insides, causing it to spit up a mouthful of boiling blood.


    The frog then pulled it deeper into its mouth and chomped down on its head, ending the bat''s life.


    A momentter the frog itself lost its footing and slipped down onto its stomach.


    It spit the bat''s corpse up and was breathing heavily.


    The venom had done its work and the frog was now paralyzed and just a couple minutes away from death. Making Evelyn the victor in a sh between awakened rank beasts.

 Chapter 95 95 The Fruits Of Labor

    ?''Ugh, this bastard is tough.''


    With her talons pierced through the flesh of the giant frog Evelyn was doing her best to butcher the beast.


    But its skin was quite tough, and its huge size made it difficult for her to get through it all.


    After the battle she had stored the bodies of the frog and bat into her storage amulets and then proceed to sleep the day away.


    Then when she woke up, she got right to work and was now hours into the process of dismantling the frog''s body.


    It was back breaking work for her and even with her talons that were like swords, cutting through a beast that was a rank above her was not easy.


    Though while she was having a difficult time of it, most other beasts at the same level as her would never be able to pierce the skin of this frog.


    By the time the night was almost over Evelyn had finally separated out all of the parts of the awakened rank frog.


    It had yielded several hundred pounds of meat, not to mention its bones, blood, and entrails.


    Certainly, Evelyn was unsure if this particr beast''s parts were going to have any use in alchemy. But seeing as it was at the awakened rank, she was not going to waste anything just in case.


    ''I will have to do the bats tomorrow. For now, it is time to see how this frog meat tastes.''


    Picking out arge b of meat Evelyn roasted it up and began tearing it apart with her beak.


    Immediately she was met with a delicious vor and her entire body felt a sense of warmth flow through it from the magical energy that was in the frog''s meat.


    ''This is pretty good. Not at the level of what Melisandre has given me. But for something I killed and cooked on my own, it is the best I have had.'' Evelyn thought while savoring her meal.


    Soon she had eaten the entire dozen pound piece of meat she had pulled out and was feeling quite satisfied.


    Yet before it was time to pack it in and get some more rest, she pulled out the frog''s beast core and swallowed it for desert.


    ''Whoa.''


    As her body started to break the core down, she felt a wave of magical energy wash over her and she a sense of tion as she absorbed its power.


    Very rarely would a beast be able to consume the core of anything higher rank than it, but when they did the effects were always impable.


    ''I am starting to feel pretty tired now.''


    Exhausted from the long hours of working on breaking down the frog, and now having a full stomach and a beast core to break down, fatigue hit Evelyn all at once.


    Quickly she flew towards her temporary home in the hollow of a tree and fell into a deep sleep.


    During her rest the Aethersphere began working, as it directed the immense magical energy from the frog''s core to where it needed to go.


    When she awoke Evelyn felt amazing.


    She could tell she was stronger now even if she did not go up from the high tier to the peak of the fiend beast rank.


    ''I feel like I am close. Just one more little push and it will be there.''


    Swiveling her head around and pping her wings she limbered up and prepared to get to back to work.


    She still had all the bats'' bodies to carve up before she could get back to her missions and that was her goal for the day.


    ''I only have one more beast that I need to hunt, and then the rest are just ingredient collection. Though most things of value normally already have something sticking im to them.'' Evelyn thought while she was carving through the venom bats.


    It took her a few tries before she was able to sessfully extract the venom nds from them, but the ones she messed up had all been low tier fiend beasts, so the loss did not really bother her.


    Once she made it to the final one at the peak of the rank, she was pretty confident in her ability to disassemble the bats and obtain their valuable materials.


    Finally, she had only the bat at the awakened rank to do.


    When she took it out though, she frowned. Its body was far from in pristine condition.


    Its head was crushed and shredded where the frog had gotten ahold of it with its mouth, and its torso had deep cuts and burns through it where Evelyn had struck.


    ''Well maybe the venom nd is still intact. Worst case scenario, I still get its core.''


    Luckily by some miracle the bat''s venom nd managed to not be damaged, and with careful precision Evelyn extracted it and ced it into a jar for useter.


    She then nearly discarded the rest of the bat since its other parts were not of much use with its meat being poisonous. But she stopped before she did.


    ''Just because the ones at the fiend beast rank are not valuable other than their core and venom nd does not mean the one at this rank will be. I might as well keep it just in case.''


    Putting the butchered body back not her storage amulet Evelyn had a satisfied expression on her face.


    Her haul from this trip had been quite impressive so far. And while her life may have been on the line yesterday, she had made it out fine and with more materials than she could have hoped for.


    ''Now I think I should focus on the sapphire fruits of the venairier tree. They will be necessary for magic recovery pills and the like.''


    With her next goal set Evelyn set out into the forest in search of the tree.


    From what Melisandre told her it was a type of nt that could not really absorb magical energy from the ground like most did. It had to be fed magical energy directly from those that were picking them in order to enrich them, but it was well worth the effort.


    ''Oh, there is one.''


    Spotting a tree that had sparkling blue fruits on it that had a simr shape as a lemon.


    On the tree there were a few beasts but none of them were even close to as strong as Evelyn, and just her presence had them scattering.


    ''That looks like the best spot.''


    Sighting an area with a denser quantity of the fruits high up towards the top of the tree, Evelyn chose that as the ce she would get to work.


    As soon as shended and locked herself in ce with her talons, she began allowing her magical energy to flow into the nearest fruit.


    The thing naturally wanted to absorb magical energy and all she had to do was let it flow and the fruit would take it in.


    Quickly the one she had chosen first began to swell, before she heard a loud popping sound and it burst in her face.


    ''What just happened?'' Evelyn thought as she wiped the fruit juice from her face.


    She had been doing as she was told, but suddenly the fruit she was focusing on exploded.


    While shaking her head to get the exploded fruit off of her, she thought about what the problem might have been.


    ''Maybe it was not fully matured and that had some adverse effect?'' Evelyn thought, figuring that might have been the problem.


    Next, she tired the ripest looking fruit of the bunch and allowed it to drain her magical energy.


    Unfortunately, the results were the same and it ended with her receiving another round of exploded fruit all over her face.


    ''What is the problem!?''


    Frustrated Evelyn moved onto another fruit and got the exact same results.


    At this point she realized that she must be doing something wrong and thought heavily about what the problem might be.


    ''It either has to be the speed or quantity of the magical energy the fruit is taking in. Either it is going too fast, or I am letting it have too much.''


    Testing out her theory Evelyn allowed the fruit to take in only a bit of her magical energy before she pulled back an cut off the supply.


    It has swelled a little but not burst. And its bright glowing began to dimmish, and it shrunk a little when she cut off the supply.


    She did this a few more times until she was confident she had given this fruit more of her magical energy than the others before they burst.


    ''I see. I must have been going too fast. They can take more, just not all at once.''


    Now that she knew what the problem was Evelyn went back to work, but eventually she found the fruit''s quantity limit as well and it exploded again.


    This time however, since it was filled with more magical energy, the explosion was far more violent and some of the seeds actually embedded in Evelyn and knocked her out of the tree.


    ''Ow.'' She thought as she crashed into the ground.


    At the very least the fall was not too bad as she had lowered her gravity and created a wind cushion, but she still had around a half dozen seeds that had embedded themselves in her like bullets.


    Once she had healed and removed the seeds from her body she went back to work, now knowing the limits of these fruits.


    Soon she had collected around forty of them which as much more than she needed, but she wanted to get what she could while she was in the area.''


    ''Okay. Time for bed again, and then tomorrow onto the next item.''

 Chapter 96 96 Ambushing The Enemy

    ?Days went by as Evelyn gathered the other materials she needed toplete her missions for the Roost and Melisandre.


    She had collected everything she needed expect for thest item on her list and she was poised to get it today.


    ''I need the nectar from arge flower called a Rakus, which apparently is carnivorous.''


    This was the item Evelyn was the most trepidatious about gathering since she had no idea how dealing with a carnivorous nt might go.


    It was apparently not an inactive type of nt either and hunted for prey by uprooting itself and walking around.


    ''I just need to be careful and extract the nectar at night when they are less active. As soon as I get this done, I will be finished with everything I need to do out here.''


    Searching the southwestern area of the glowing woods where these Rakus flowers were supposed to be most prominent, Evelyn found that there were none to be found no matter how long she searched.


    ''Where the hell are they? Have they may be moved areas. or did something wipe them out?'' Evelyn thought as she was starting to fear she would not find her target.


    Eventually though as she circled around the area and headed east, she dide across a Rakus. Well, the remains of one.


    ''Damn it, someone else is out hunting them. And they are not just taking the nectar but killing them. At this rate there might not be enough to go around for me.''


    Feelings of panic setting in Evelyn frantically began searching for any living Rakus flowers, but only found a trail of destruction left by whatever else was after them.


    It appeared that the entity or entities going after the Rakus flowers were making sure to kill all of them and were doing so with extreme prejudice.


    ''Did some awakened beast decided that they were an eyesore or something and is just going around and exterminating them.?''


    Seeing the carnage around it was hard for Evelyn to imagine it was being done by a single creature unless it was at a higher rank.


    Though when she eventually came across one of those that were killing off the Rakus flowers she felt her rage building up inside.


    ''Humans,'' Evelyn thought with malice practically oozing out of her.


    Her experiences with humans in both of her lives were mostly unpleasant. With her brother being the only one that she could truly say she did not hate.


    She had been tortured by people in both her old and new life and had those she cared about killed by them.


    Certainly, she knew that not all people were bad, but frankly she honestly did not care about that right now.


    ''They are humans and getting in the way of my goal. I have no reason to not kill them here and now. Anyway, I am sure that if they saw me, they would try to kill me for my beast core. I am simply going to do the same.''


    Switching her current target from the Rakus flowers to this group of humans, Evelyn watched them closely from a safe distance.


    She may have been angry but that did not mean she was going to be reckless.


    If these humans were obviously stronger than her and she had no chance against them she would have to abandon her n to take them all out.


    ''Looks like a group of five. Two of them have what look like halberds, one has a sword, another arge hammer, and the final one has a bow.''


    Taking note of their weapons Evelyn figured that the ones with the halberds and the one with the bow were the most dangerous to her due to their longer reach.


    Still, she was not sure how adept at magic they were, but she figured they were probably around the equivalent human rank to her since fiend beasts predominantly inhabited this area.


    ''Their magic is not really impressive. They seem to just be using basic spells and I have only seen two of them using elemental spells. I believe they are all around the mid to high tier of the acolyte rank just a I thought.''


    Getting a good assessment of the humans after watching them fight a few times, Evelyn was now confident that they were not out of her league.


    They were certainly weaker than the man that had beaten her parents, though stronger than the ones that had chased her and her brother around.


    Nevertheless, there were five of them and their coordination was pretty good from what Evelyn could see.


    They would not be caught off guard easily or taken down without putting up a good fight.


    ''I need to take out he guy with the bow first. He is using some sort of wind magic spell to keep aware of their surroundings and he is the only one that could probably hit me while I am flying in the air.''


    With her first target located Evelyn waited patiently for her time to strike.


    ''Ah there is a Rakus Flower.'' Evelyn thought as she spotted therge flower.


    Currently it was resting but its purple red flower petals and tall stem that stood twenty feet tall made it hard to miss.


    Naturally the humans that were out here hunting these flowers took notice of it as well and got into formation to attack.


    They always led with the samebo as far as Evelyn could see.


    The two that could use elemental magics and not just basic physical buffs would attack from afar, and then the others would gang up on the flower and attack with their weapons.


    ''Right before he lets loose the arrow I will swoop in for the attack.''


    Leaning her body forward and getting poised to attack, Evelyn waited for just the right moment.


    Then when the archer pulled back his arrow and the tension on the bow string just began to loosen, she dove towards her target.


    Flying quickly and silently she went unnoticed until she entered the range of the archer''s detection spell.


    He turned to see what the intruder was and saw Evelyning right towards him.


    Right now he was vulnerable, his friends all attacking the Rakus Flower while he was in no position to counter attack against Evelyn''s swift charge.


    ''That is not going to stop me.'' Evelyn thought as she saw him draw arge hunting knife.


    The man tried swinging at her, but she looped around the sh and ripped her talons into his neck, before flying by.


    In just a manner of seconds the man had gone from begin the hunter to the hunted, and now a fountain of blood was pouring out of his neck.


    He tired to slow it down by pressing his hand against the injury and went to grab a healing salve at his belt.


    However, the blood loss was too great, and he fell to his knees and passed out before applying the medicine.


    Not long after he fell his fiends noticed that he was on the ground bleeding out, but Evelyn had already retreated into the trees and was not visible.


    The young girl that was wielding the hammer left her friends who were fighting the Rakus Flower and went over to the fallen archer.


    She had a look of distress on her face, and it was obvious that she cared for the man that was on hisst leg.


    Unfortunately for her, she soon met a simr fate as Evelyn swooped down on her and caught herpletely by surprise.


    A blow of heavy wind knocked her over, and Evelyn fell down on her and jammed her talons into the girl''s back.


    They slipped in deep and punctured many of her organs, causing her to go unconscious swiftly and die not muchter.


    This just left the other three who now noticed Evelyn.


    Two of them disengaged from the Rakus Flower while thest one was keeping it busy.


    "Icicle needles."


    Afterpleting a quick hand motion and saying the name of the spell, the other human in their group that could use elemental magic shot an attack at Evelyn to get her away from hispanions.


    The other one was running right behind the barrage of ice needles with his halberd ready to strike whichever way Evelyn went to flee.


    Yet she had no reason to even try to avoid this attack since it was going to be unable to hurt her anyway.


    She simply released her heavenly mes and covered herself in it.


    Before the icicle needles could even reach her, they vaporized. Unable to get near her.


    While the two humans were stunned by Evelyn suddenly bursting into mes, she leapt off the corpse of the girl she had just killed and pressed the attack.


    She flew right by the guy with the halberd, easily dodging his wild swing and mmed one of her wings into him as she flew by.


    The heavenly mes coating her seared through his armor and into his skin which began bubbling from the extreme heat.


    He quickly copsed onto the ground and began screaming from the intense pain of the third and second degree burns on his stomach.


    With another person from this group of humans down for the count, Evelyn made her way to the one that was capable of ice magic and was wielding a sword.


    He tired casting another spell and sent a sh of ice towards Evelyn, but she easily dissipated it with her heavenly me.


    When she was in range, she lowered the gravity in the area and forced the man to his knees with a st of wind before sinking her zing ws into his neck.


    By the time his body hit the ground he was already dead, leaving only onest human to be dealt with.


    ''Looks like he ran away.''


    Looking towards the Rakus Flower Evelyn could see that it was now dead and the final person that had been fighting it has fled.


    But Evelyn was not going to let them get away so easily and flew up high to locate them.


    ''There you are.''


    Spotting them hurriedly running through the forest Evelyn went into a nosedive and focused the wind around her.


    Then when she was around forty feet away, she stopped abruptly and sent out a wind de.


    Her attack cut through the air with impable speed and sliced straight through the fleeing man.


    He never even stood a chance as it cut through his leather armor and into his back.


    ''Yep, that killed him for sure.''


    With her wind de having gone clean through, the man was split open with his blood and organs having fallen out. Giving him zero percent chance of surviving.

 Chapter 97 97 Final Collection And Return To The Roost

    ?After having taken down thest of the humans that had been resource gathering in the woods Evelyn flew over to the body of the one that had tried to escape.


    However, as she got closer and saw the look of anguish on his face along with his blood and organs leaking out of his body, she suddenly became nauseous.


    This was her first time killing someone that had not done unspeakably horrible things to her, and where she was able to see the aftermath.


    She started imagining the fear and pain of the people she ambushed and put herself in their ce as she had already experienced death once before.


    ''What have I done? Am I just like those monsters that tortured and killed for their amusement?'' Evelyn thought as her emotions were in turmoil.


    When she first came across these people the fury she felt towards those that had wronged her in the past welled up, and since they were getting in her way she had decided to get rid of them.


    Now however, she was wondering if she was any different from those that had brought pain and suffering to her in the past.


    Eventually though, as much as she was in turmoil, the rational part of her mind took back over, and she began to calm down.


    ''No, I cannot think that way. I am not like them. I did not get any enjoyment out of killing these people, nor did I purposefully make them suffer. This is just the way of this world. I must kill to get stronger and everyone else is trying to do the same. These people were out killing for resources same as I am, and I just happened to be stronger than them. The same could just as easily happen to me.''


    Shaking her head and forcing the negative thoughts and emotions down, Evelyn strengthened her determination.


    She could not start feeling pity or doubting herself now that she had chosen to be stronger.


    It was certain that her road would be paved with the corpses of those she killed to advance herself.


    With a cold sharpness in her eyes now she moved over to the body of the man she had just sliced open and took all of his possessions.


    ''Here it is.'' She thought as she found the Rakus Flower nectar in the man''s bag.


    There was a good amount of it, enough for her to finish the mission for the Roost, and this was only from one of those she had killed.


    This also helped to elevate some of the guilt she had been feeling, as she had not just mindlessly killed these people, but had done so to further her own goals.


    Still there was one other thing that she had to do that made her feel queasy, no matter how much she tried to mentally steel herself.


    Jamming her ws into the man''s body, she reached around until she got ahold of his magic core.


    It was basically the equivalent of the beast cores that beasts had, and she knew that it had a number of uses.


    ''This is my first time seeing one this closely and it definitely is a bit different from a beast core.'' Evelyn thought as she examined it.


    While beast cores were more like rough stones and could be in a multitude of shapes, the human magic core was perfectly spherical, like it had been thoroughly polished.


    It also had a vibrant blue color just like a magic crystal, and Evelyn believed she had read somewhere that the core''s color was associated with the rank of the person.


    ''This is definitive proof that all of them were at the acolyte rank.''


    With everything she needed from this man now in her possession, Evelyn made sure to light the body on fire and burn it to ash.


    She did not want to chance any sort of allies finding their corpses and somehow discerning she was the culprit.


    ''Can''t be too careful in a world full of magic.''


    Flying back to the other bodies she had left, Evelyn found that the one she had burned with her wing was still alive and trying to crawl away.


    Seeing this she felt a bit remorseful. She knew just how painful terrible burns could be.


    Diving down she quickly pierced into his head and heat with her talons and put him out of his misery.


    Now with everyone of them dead, she went around collecting their belongings and pulling out their magic cores, before lighting them on fire.


    ''Now I have more than enough of the Rakus Flower nectar and some bonuses I was not expecting to acquire. I suppose that I will get some rest, and then I can head back to the Roost with my spoils.''


    Having aplished all she needed to and more, Evelyn left the sight of her final battle in the glowing woods and returned to the tree hollow that she had been calling home.


    The next evening when she awoke, and it was time to leave. Though as she did, she felt a sense of sadness in her heart, as she abandoned the ce that had been her shelter for thest two weeks.


    But she could not stay here any longer, and a greater part of her was welling with anticipation to go back to the Roost and advance herself further.


    ''I am sure I wille back again to gather more supplies. At that time, I can use this ce again.''


    With onest look towards the tree hollow Evelyn took to the air and followed the direction of the return talisman she had in her beak.


    It would point in the direction of where the warp portal back to the Roost would currently open, and then go limp when she arrived.


    Yet when she made her way to the area, she was surprised to see another owl there.


    ''Oh, that is a familiar face.'' She thought.


    It was the one she had run into during the second trial and who had white feathers that were almost clear, as well as a smattering of silver. Though what Evelyn remembered her most for was her rare metal affinity that had allowed her to beat an owl that was a tier above her with ease.


    Her control over her magic had also been impable, and Evelyn wondered how she had managed such a thing.


    The other owl when spotting Evelyn began to panic momentarily until she also recognized Evelyn.


    They both were wearing the identifying cuff of an owl belonging to the Roost, and this immediately gave them a connection that was not seen in the wilds.


    Of course, they were still a bit wary of each other since they did not particrly know each other. But neither of them were hostile.


    Eventually Evelyn lowered her head in a show of respect and let out a few hoots tomunicate her wish to be amicable.


    The other owl seemed to slump her shoulders in relief and sent a positive response to Evelyn.


    Unfortunately, neither of them had any means to trulymunicate, but they could get by fine with gestures and the noises they could make.


    It appeared that this owl, like Evelyn, had been out herepleting a mission. Though unlike Evelyn she did not have a storage magic tool.


    Instead, there was arge bag strung around her like the one that they had used during their second trial.


    Currently it was filled to the brim with something, and while Evelyn was curious as to what, she refrained from prodding.


    The other owl began to look at Evelyn with interest as well. Looking confused to see that she wascking anything to store her items.


    Upon seeing this, Evelyn pulled out one of the storage amulets she had and showed it to the curious acquaintance she had made.


    This caused the owl with the metal affinity to go wide eyed, and she lowered her head, understanding that Evelyn was out of her league.


    Of course, she had seen her get taken away by Melisandre who was one of the leaders of the Roost. This put her and Evelyn inpletely different worlds.


    After giving the greeting and making nice, Evelyn excused herself and moved thest few feet to where the warp gate would open.


    Open activating the return talisman, arge swirling portal appeared above her, and see was quickly swallowed by it and transported back to the Roost.


    As always, when she arrived, she felt a bit shaky and nauseous. Needing a minute to recover her bearings before moving very far.


    During that time the other owl returned as well, and she looked even worse for wear than Evelyn did.


    ''Well, it was an unexpected, but nice chance meeting. However, I need to head to the mission hall and turn in my items for the rewards. And then I can head back over to Melisandre''s mansion and begin my training in alchemy and magic anew.''


    Leaving the warp hall Evelyn quickly flew on over to the mission hall which was as crowded as ever.


    Quickly she located one of the windows like those at a government office back on Earth, where she could turn in her missions and receive the credits she was owed.


    When she arrived at the front of the line the mid-tier awakened rank owl extended a thin strand of magical energy and waited for Evelyn''s acknowledgement to connect.


    Nodding her head Evelyn epted the connection, and now the two of them could converse.


    "I havepleted these missions and would like to receive my rewards." Evelyn said as she pulled out the eight blue mission tokens. Much to the surprise of the mission hall clerk.

 Chapter 98 98 Loads Of Credits And Melisandre’s Astonishment

    ?Looking at the eight tokens that Evelyn had taken out the mission hall clerk was stunned for a few moments.


    Very rarely would any owl try toplete more than three missions at the same time, and certainly a high tier fiend beast like Evelyn should have found such a task unbearably difficult.


    It also did not help that Evelyn appeared to be empty handed, and it was practically unheard of for a fiend beast to have a storage item.


    Though before the clerk could start questioning her, Evelyn started taking things out of her amulets and cing them on the counter.


    However, it quickly became apparent that there would simply not be enough room to amodate everything, and Evelyn was attracting quite a bit of attention.


    Swiftly the clerk suggested that they move to a private room which was used for assessing and rewarding those who had brought in items toorge or numerous to be checked out in the hall''s main area.


    "Here, now you may bring out the items to provepletion of your missions." The clerk said to Evelyn once they were in a private room.


    A quick nce around the ce and Evelyn was able to tell that it was a bare room that only had arge table in it for assessing the materials that she had acquired.


    ''Hm well I suppose this is better. I was starting to stand out in midst of so many other owls.''


    Getting back to it, Evelyn began pulling the items she had acquired out in order of her acquisitions.


    "Here are the roots and flowers of three soothing lilies. Eight vials of blood from a regen capybara. The venom nds of two venom bats. Three pounds of vendelrite¡­"


    Pulling out everything in session the clerk nodded as she examined the items Evelyn had collected.


    "This is all very impressive. I would not have excepted a fiend beast to be able to gather all of this. And with such high quality." The clerk said after inspecting everything Evelyn had brought.


    Some of the items such as one of the venom nds of the venom bats belonged to a peak fiend beast, which should have been nearly impossible for Evelyn to take down as she was a tier below it.


    "Everything is certainly in order, and as representative of the mission hall I have confirmed that you havepleted these eight blue missions. Please hold out your identification cuff so that I may transfer the credits you are owed." The clerk said while extending her own cuff.


    As soon as Evelyn touched the two cuffs together a slight light shone between them before going dim again.


    "The transfer was a sess, but please check you new bnce of credits to make sure that everything is in order."


    Nodding her head Evelyn did just that, but as she saw the numbers her mouth went agape in shock.


    Her measly one hundred credits had now shoot up to over six thousand, which was a sum she had not been expecting in the least.


    ''Six thousand four hundred eight two.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the numbers disyed on her cuff.


    It was such arge amount inparison to what she had before and had been expecting, that she was unable to process what had happened immediately.


    ''I thought at most I might get around three hundred or maybe four hundred per mission at best. But this is nearly eight hundred per mission.''


    After doing some quick math in her head Evelyn realized just how much she had earned frompleting each of these missions.


    However, as she thought about it, she remembered that Melisandre had these specially picked out for her, and it was likely that they were among the highest paying blue rank missions that were suitable for fiend beasts and low tier awakened beasts.


    ''With this much I should be able to purchase the other alchemy ingredients I need just as Melisandre expects.'' Evelyn thought while trying to remember the prices she had seen in the alchemy hall.


    Her business in the mission hall now concluded, Evelyn left with quite the smile on her face from the impable gains she had made.


    Yet as she was flying back to Melisandre''s estate four owls came up to her, and it was clear that their intentions were far from friendly.


    The group of the were all peak fiend beasts and it seemed that they were intent on taking Evelyn''s storage items from her.


    Of course, they must not have been the brightest owls, since unlike all of the awakened beasts that had seen Evelyn they did not realized that she likely had a powerful backer and it was best not to get involved.


    Narrowing her eyes, she red at the leader of this stupid group, and menacingly squawked at them to back off.


    Though like the idiots that they were, they only got more riled up by Evelyn''s resistance and began charging her.


    They nned to rip the amulets off of her by force, but they were soon to find that they had made a huge mistake.


    Evelyn had already figured things might get violent and had been weaving a gravity trap from the start.


    She flew away at thest second before the first one closed in on her and they activated the trap.


    Suddenly all four of the owls felt a tugging sensation on them as they were drawn towards the gravity trap.


    To add to the effects Evelyn lowered gravity as much as she could which was now a bit more than four times.


    The four owls smashed into each other incredibly hard, and soon began plummeting from the sky as they sustained serious injuries.


    ''Hopefully I do not have to deal with owls like them again.'' Evelyn thought as she flew away.


    Soon she returned to Melisandre''s estate, and her cuff lit up to announce her arrival.


    The door opened up to her and she waited in the front entrance until Anneli came to get her.


    "My, you are back quicker than I would have expected Evelyn. Truly you are a talent to havepleted the arduous missions that Melisandre set before you." Anneli said with an impressed expression.


    Honestly she thought that Evelyn would need at least a month to gather everything toplete not only the missions for the Roost, but to also gather the ingredients that Melisandre wanted her to.


    "Now Lady Melisandre already knows of your arrival, but she is in the middle of her brewing. In the meantime, while you wait, please go to your washroom and get cleaned up. Then when you are done,e to the kitchen and I will have a meal prepared for you."


    Doing as Anneli suggested Evelyn flew back towards her room and entered the washroom where she began cleaning herself off.


    ''I got used to living in the wilds again and did not realize how much grim I had on my.''


    Partictes of dirt, wood, exploded fruits, and blood washed out of Evelyn''s feathers as she allowed the pleasant water from the shower to wash over her.


    When she was well and washed off, she applied the cleansing powder and let it do its magic.


    ''Ah that is much better.'' She thought once she waspletely clean and actually glistening.


    With the quick use of her heavenly me and wind, she dried herself off and felt like apletely new owl now that she was clean again.


    Having cleaned herself off Evelyn flew towards the kitchen and found that a very alluring and pleasant aroma was wafting out from the room.


    ''It looks like Anneli is preparing something special.'' Evelyn thought seeing her hard at work.


    Not long after she delivered Evelyn her first exquisite meal in a while, and she was surprised to see that this one was not entirely meat.


    ''She cooked with some magically enriched fruits and vegetables this time.''


    Seeing this brought back some unpleasant memories of when she was forced to eat such things everyday along with beast cores while being held as a test subject.


    The humans there had wanted her to raise her rank as quickly as possible. So, they omitted meat pretty much entirely from her diet in favor of forcing her to advance.


    Still this meal was heavily bnced towards meat and the other items were more just garnishes.


    Digging in Evelyn thoroughly enjoyed the meal, and she felt the magical energy within it enriching her body and cores.


    "Thank you for the meal Anneli. I have missed eating here. The food out in the wilds is simply not up to the same level." Evelyn said.


    Anneli looked proud for receiving theplement and thanked Evelyn for it.


    "Now I received a message from Lady Melisandre not long ago that she has finished her brewing and is ready to see you. Let us go posthaste."


    Following along behind Anneli Evelyn was brought to Melisandre''s personalb which was in far more disarray than when she hadst been here.


    Ingredients were all over the ce, along with all manner of documents, brewing equipment and magical devices Evelyn did not recognize.


    Nevertheless, Melisandre had a very satisfied expression on her face, so it was certain that whatever connection she had been making was a sess.


    "Evelyn, you have returned and much sooner than I expected. Your talent still astounds me, and I certainly am d that I took you as my disciple." Melisandre said.


    She then beckoned Evelyn to show her what she had gathered, and in a few minutes she hadid out everything she had obtained in the Glowing Woods.


    "How in the world did you obtain all of this in just two weeks!" Melisandre said in utter astonishment to the loads of items Evelyn had brought.

 Chapter 99 99 Final Preparations To Learn Alchemy

    ?Once Evelyn had taken out everything she had collected from the glowing woods, both Melisandre and Anneli stood there stunned.


    She had brought out far more of pretty much everything that Melisandre had asked her to gather and many things that she had not.


    In fact, this was a valuable horde of materials any fiend beast and plenty of low tier awakened beasts would have struggled to collect. Yet somehow Evelyn had.


    "This is an awakened rank venom bat. And you have the body of behemoth frog as well. How in the world were you able to take down beasts like these?" Melisandre said with a shocked expression.


    Naturally she was bbergasted to see the materials from two awakened rank beasts which should have been far stronger than Evelyn was currently.


    "Oh, when I was in the caves killing venom bats and collecting vendelrite the boss of the bats came after me since I killed a few of its subordinates I suppose. I managed to keep ahead of it for a bit until I found the territory of another awakened beast. Luckily, they practically took each other out for me." Evelyn said as she exined what had happened.


    Nodding along, Melisandre could better understand what happened, but it was still remarkable that Evelyn was able to survive the situation and get in a solid hit on a beast a rank above her.


    "Well, I know that you brought the bat''s corpse thinking it might have some use, but unfortunately, it is just like its fiend beast variant. Only the venom nd and core are useful." Melisandre said as she pushed the bat''s corpse aside.


    Shrugging her shoulders Evelyn had been expecting this, but on the off chance she was wrong she had brought it anyway.


    "The behemoth frog on the other hand is an excellent ingredient for alchemical cooking. Combined with the right ingredients and it can make a delectable dish and temporarily increase one''s agility. Its bones and skin are also useful for certain items, so if you sell it to the inscription hall you should make a fair number of credits." Melisandre exined.


    However, she quickly went back on this idea since it would be a bit too eye catching for Evelyn to sell these materials herself and asked Anneli to do it in her stead.


    "Now as for the tank turtles and the one spiked tank turtle, their meat is also quite delicious, but it appears that you melted the best part, lowering their value considerable." Melisandre said with a disappointed expression.


    Evelyn had melted a bit of therge snapping turtles'' shells making them far less valuable than they otherwise would have been.


    Melisandre inspected every item that Evelyn had gathered one by one. Giving herplements and critiques on what she had gathered and how she had messed up on a few things.


    Yet when she got to five blue orbs she stopped and stared at them for a few moments before whipping her head around so fast Evelyn did not even see her move.


    "Where did you find these?" Melisandre said with a grave tone.


    Hearing how serious she was Evelyn was taken aback since it was a far cry from what she had expected.


    "I found them killing Rakus Flowers and collecting their nectar. They were making it difficult for me so instead of looking around for my own, I ambushed them and took what they had harvested."


    Clenching her firsts Melisandre seemed especially angry and fear began welling up inside Evelyn.


    She figured she must have done something terribly wrong. Maybe she should not have killed those humans. She had thought it would be fine since Melisandre exined that human magic cores were used in alchemy as well. But maybe it was not okay to just kill any random human they came across.


    "I am so sorry Melisandre. I did not know it would be such a problem to kill those humans. Please go easy on me." Evelyn said as she lowered her head to the ground and waited for her punishment.


    Luckily Melisandre was not mad at her, and no physical violence came to Evelyn who still expected to be beaten whenever she did something wrong.


    "Raise your head, Evelyn. You have done nothing wrong. In fact, you have helped out." Melisandre said as she waved her hand and beckoned for Evelyn to get up.


    Letting out a sigh of relief she felt a weight off her shoulders thinking that she had done something horribly wrong.


    With Evelyn no longer prostrating herself, Melisandre exined that the Glowing Woods should not have had any humans in it. It was far from any known civilizations and had a veil around it that should have made it hard to locate from the outside.


    "It is an area that the Roost has cordoned off because it is especially useful for gathering materials and as a safer environment for newer members to get some experience. If humans are entering it that means that the veil has weakened, or maybe even faded entirely and that they have set up a settlement nearby. I will need to address thister with some others, but I am d you brought this to my attention."


    No longer fearing that she made a mistake Evelyn was feeling quite proud to beplemented by Melisandre for her work.


    "Now you have collected everything that asked you to and more. Tomorrow we will begin your lessons in alchemy. But before that here is a list of items you will need to buy. Not everything you needed could be obtained in the Glowing Woods, but you should have no problems purchasing the rest from the bottom floor of the alchemy hall." Melisandre said as she handed the list to Evelyn.


    Taking it in one of her ws carefully, she ced it down and began reading the contents.


    There were not too terribly many items on the list, and most of them were just supplementary ingredients that either boosted the effects of potions or increased the time that theysted.


    ''There really is so much about his world I do not know.'' Evelyn thought as she read through the list.


    Little intricacies andmon knowledge of many things were still beyond her, and she felt that it might take an eternity to learn everything.


    Nevertheless, she was determined, and her first step was to learn alchemy from Melisandre who was the foremost expert in the Roost.


    ''I could ask for no better teacher. I can already tell that she ns to have me make more advanced brews than what were in the basic alchemy book that Mason left me.''


    With her belly full, her body clean, and Melisandre''s permission, Evelyn headed down to the bottom floor of the Alchemy Hall whichy below Melisandre''s mansion.


    Just likest time the lower ranked owls of the Roost were all milling around buying and selling items.


    It was a lively ce, but it made sense that it would be since magical pills, potions, and the like were so useful.


    ''If it were not for what Mason left me, I certainly would have died already.'' Evelyn thought as she remembered the times that the healing items she had been left saved her life.


    Going around the numerous stalls on the ground floor of the alchemy hall, Evelyn purchased all of the ingredients that she required and watched solemnly as her credits began to plummet.


    ''Only two thousand sixty-seven left.'' She thought as she looked at the now much lower number.


    She had to spend over four thousand of her hard-earned credits to get everything on Melisandre''s list, and now she knew why she had toplete so many missions all at once.


    ''Whatever, I can get more creditster, and it is not like I need them for daily living expenses or anything anyway.''


    Having finished up her shopping Evelyn ducked into the corner of the hall and slipped away to the area that was normally only essible to Melisandre.


    There she took her master''s private elevator back up to the top of the Roost and entered into her office where she ascended back to Melisandre''s personalb.


    There she found her master waiting for her with an expectant look on her face.


    "Did you manage to get everything?"


    Nodding her head, Evelyn took out each item one by one and showed them to Melisandre.


    "Yes, this is everything that you needed, and with pretty good quality as well. Now we can finally get started on your training in alchemy. But first let us go to your room so that I can teach you how to use the equipment I have left for you. Then you can rest for the remainder of the day and tomorrow we will begin your lessons."


    Melisandre then warped them back to the front entrance which made Evelyn a bit nauseous. But once she had recovered herself, she brought Melisandre to her room, and they descended down to the second floor where the majority of the magical equipment Melisandre was letting Evelyn borrow was.

 Chapter 100 100 Learning Alchemy From Melisandre

    ?"That should be everything you need to know before our lesson tomorrow. Now get some rest and be ready. The next few days are going to be harrowing as I teach you the fundamentals of alchemy and how to create a number ofmon potions, pills, and the like."


    After saying this Melisandre left Evelyn to her own devices, and with nothing else to do and having gotten back home after a long time away, Evelyn took Melisandre''s advice and got a good long rest.


    The next day when she awoke, she felt very refreshed and raring to go.


    Quickly she washed herself off and then went to grab some food before her first lesson in alchemy from Melisandre.


    "You are up early, Evelyn. You must be excited for your lesson today." Melisandre said as soon as Evelyn entered the kitchen.


    Though seeing as how she was here already and was practically beaming, it seemed to Evelyn that Melisandre was the one who was really excited.


    Once the two of them had finished their breakfast which was specially cooked to increase their magical energy and stamina recovery, they returned to Evelyn''s room to begin.


    "Now the most important item for alchemy is almost always the cauldron. There are few things that are made without it, and it will be quite some time before we worry about any of those." Melisandre said as she quickly went over what she had told Evelyn yesterday.


    She then nodded her head towards the cauldron and had Evelyn check it over to make sure that it was clean and that there were no damages to it.


    Melisandre had stressed the importance of doing this every time before using the cauldron, since if even the slightest bits of remains from thest brew were in it, whatever was trying to be made this time would fail or be of a lesser quality. Also, it was important to make sure the cauldron was notpromised, less it leak or even explode.


    Of course, as Evelyn had not used this cauldron before, so it was in pristine condition with not even the slightest trace of anything inside it.


    "Good, let us begin." Melisandre said once Evelyn had finished checking her equipment.


    To start Melisandre was going to demonstrate the entire process for creating a basic healing potion and then allow Evelyn to try.


    Of course Evelyn already knew what to do as she had followed the instructions in the book that Mason left, but there was always knowledge to be gleamed by watching a master work.


    "First, we ce in the soothing lily''s roots. Then add the appropriate amount of heat to the bottom of the cauldron and wait until enough liquid has seeped out. It is important that you master the timing for this step as it is important in the creation of almost every alchemical item. You need to make sure to bring out most of the magical energy and properties of the nts you are brewing with. Too short a time and you will make an inferior product, to long and you will degrade the essence of your ingredients." Melisandre exined.


    She then created some fire with her magic and ced it under the cauldron.


    Staring at the bright orange mes that were dancing around the caldron Evelyn could not help but be in awe by its beauty.


    Soon enough the soothing lily''s roots had dissolved into a bright green liquid that had a pleasant scent to it.


    Next Melisandre added the flowers and lowered the amount of energy her mes were producing and waited for it to dissolve in the mixture as well.


    Following that she added a single vial of blood from the regen capybara all the while stirring with a long stick that she was sending her magical energy through.


    A few more supplementary ingredientster and a lot of stirring, and she had finished the healing potion which was now a very dark green.


    The amount she had made would easily fill up two dozen potion vials and showed how far the ingredients could go.


    Scooping it out with adle Melisandre swiftly and expertly sealed the potion into bottles and finished showing Evelyn the process.


    "It is also important that you be able to discern the quality of what you have made. So, pull out a potion you have from that human''s stash that you found." Melisandre instructed.


    Understanding what she wanted Evelyn pulled out a potion, though it was not one Mason left her but one that she had made herself when she was practicing.


    The second she took it out she could see the massive difference between what she had made before, and that Melisandre had made just now.


    Her potion was green as well, but it was murky, and it seemed that not all the ingredients had fully dissolved as they should have.


    There was no doubt that while Melisandre''s potion was about as high quality as possible, hers was at the lowest of the low.


    "I am honestly surprised that someone left this around. It is pretty much garbage. It would likely taste as foul as it looks, and it might heal a few bruises and scrapes over a time of a few minutes. The ingredients were also preserved for longer than they should have been and lost some of their effectiveness. Plus, only the base ingredients were used not even half of what is necessary to make a quality potion was put into this. Truly why would anyone leave this thing around. The vial it is stored in is worth more than the contents." Melisandre said as she grimaced at the potion Evelyn had presented.


    As her work was torn into Evelyn''s expression started to cloud over, and she dropped her head as she remembered how proud she was when she was able to make something that Melisandre equated to garbage.


    Once Melisandre finished her rant about how horrible the quality of the potion Evelyn had presented was, she noticed that her disciple was slumped over and looked dead inside.


    It was at this point that she remembered that Evelyn had a beginner''s book on alchemy, and that this was probably a potion she had made herself.


    "However, while this potion is not of a high quality, it is still a sess. It takes time and practice to make truly quality items, and in the beginning, everyone fails many times during the learning process." Melisandre said with an approving tone, hoping to brighten Evelyn up.


    Hearing this Evelyn raised her head with a hopeful gaze, and Melisandre let out a sigh of relief to see that she was bouncing back.


    "I have now demonstrated how to make a healing potion and imparted my wisdom to you. Now show me what you are capable of."


    Nodding her head and with a renewed vigor, Evelyn got to work on creating her own batch of healing potion.


    ''First the roots of the soothing lily.''


    After making sure the cauldron was thoroughly cleaned, she ced the first ingredient inside the cauldron and then created a whisp of her heavenly me.


    Seeing the flickering crimson me Melisandre leaned in closer and examined it intently.


    Luckily, she did not interrupt Evelyn or make anyments, so Evelyn continued and ced the me under the cauldron.


    ''Wow this is much easier than before.'' Evelyn thought as she adjusted the me''s output.


    Thest time she had tired alchemy she was still afraid of the heavenly mes'' power and was barely able to use it without it blowing up in her face from her own indecisiveness.


    Now it was responding to her a lot better and in a matter of a dozen seconds she had only the liquid essence from the soothing lily''s roots in the cauldron.


    Next, she added the flower just like Melisandre had, and adjusted her me so that she did not degrade the flower.


    ''Stir, stir, stir, stir, stir.''


    With a brewing stick in her beak Evelyn swiveled her head around and allowed her magical energy to flow into the brew.


    Though unlike Melisandre''s, her brewing stick automatically absorbed her magical energy since she did not have perfect control yet and could not be expected to regte the output on her own.


    Continuing on and going step by step she did just as Melisandre had, and soon enough she hadpleted ambient the healing potion.


    Inside was a vibrant green color simr to Melisandre''s, and it actually seemed to sparkle somewhat when it caught the light.


    ''Wow this was so much easier than what I did before. Not only do I better understand my me now, but the materials and equipment are all so much better. And Melisandre''s instructions were leagues above what were written in that old book.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at herpleted product.


    It was iparable to what she had made when she initially practiced alchemy after finding the necessary materials and instruction left to her by Mason.


    Though as Evelyn was smiling and proudly thinking about how far she hade, Melisandre coughed and brought Evelyn back to attention.


    There was still one more step toplete, and if Evelyn dawdled too long her brew would start to degrade.


    Quickly she began portioning out the liquid into potion vials until she had emptied the cauldron and filled up twenty bottles.


    Then once she was done with that the calmposure that Melisandre had been holding vanished, and she smiled brightly and practically skipped her way over to Evelyn.


    "Truly what was that!? You me is not like anything I have ever seen! No way that is just a normal affinity! It has a quality to it that is even more potent than my fire magic!"

 Chapter 101 101 Melisandre’s Blunder

    ?Evelyn recoiled back as Melisandre got right up in her face and started raving about her heavenly me.


    There was an almost fanatic gleam in her master''s eyes, and she suddenly felt quite ufortable.


    Still Melisandre seemed to not have any restraint to hold back any longer. She had been waiting since she first saw Evelyn used the heavenly me to ask her about it.


    ''I do not think she is going to just let it go this time. But what should I tell her to get out of this?'' Evelyn thought while panic set in.


    Ever since Melisandre showed interest in her heavenly me Evelyn was afraid that she might try and remove it from her. Which very well could kill her.


    Unfortunately, while she had been afraid of this, when Melisandre first came to her, she was more afraid to reject her offer and just be kidnapped and be experimented on again.


    She had hoped she would be able to avoid the issue ore up with some sort of exnation other than the truth.


    ''I guess I will just try to y dumb.''


    With no better exnation that came to mind, all Evelyn could do was deny knowing what her me truly was.


    "I am sorry Melisandre, but I do not know what this me is exactly. It was one of the things that the humans were experimenting with on me." Evelyn said,ing up with the most logical lie she could.


    Melisandre had already epted that there were things she did not want to speak about in rtion to her time in a humanb and hoped that would work again here.


    However, whilest time Evelyn was telling the mostly truth and only hiding some details, this time Melisandre picked up her tant lie.


    She did not get as strong and old as she was without being able to pick up when someone far less experienced than her was lying.


    Narrowing her eyes and looking at Evelyn harshly, Melisandre was not going to ept a roundabout answer this time. Not when this was what she primarily wanted to know about Evelyn.


    "Do not lie to me. I can tell that everything you just said is far from the truth. You never once mentioned this before, and I could see you toiling around for an excuse to not tell me. I am certain you know exactly what that me you have is. The is no way that it is an affinity you just picked up. I imagine that you somehow assimted with an elder fire elemental''s heart or something simr to produce such a powerful me at your rank. Now tell me what it is. I believe I have been amodating enough and should have at least a bit of your trust at this point."


    Gulping Evelyn could feel the intense pressure that Melisandre was giving off, and it seemed that she was not going to take any excuses for an answer.


    But Evelyn still did not want to tell her if she could help it.


    Maybe if she just left Melisandre would leave her alone. Though this might not be a possibility.


    ''If I refuse, she might torture me for information, or maybe she can just make some sort of truth serum that makes me speak. I do not really know what she is capable of.''


    With no discernable way out that did not carry any sort of risk Evelyn clench her beak together and prepared to answer with the truth.


    "Before I tell you, what do you n to do with me? Did you just bring me here to experiment on me, or do you n on somehow stealing my power once you know what it is?"


    Bringing up her fears Evelyn wanted to know what Melisandre''s intentions were before she shared any information on her me.


    Of course, she was afraid that no matter what she did or said that she was screwed. But she had felt this way from the moment Melisandre had locked onto her, even if she had pushed it to the back of her mind.


    However, as Evelyn asked this, Melisandre back off and sighed while shaking her head.


    She realized that she had just gotten really heated and practically ordered Evelyn to reveal what was obviously a very closely guarded secret. One that she feared others knowing would cause her to be killed or experimented on.


    ''Calm down Mel. As much as you want to know what her me is, forcing it out of her is no good.''


    Understanding that from Evelyn''s perspective she had pretty much threatened her life, Melisandre took a step back and lowered her head.


    "I am sorry about that Evelyn. I got a bit too excited seeing a powerful me I do not fully understand. You are right to be guarded in keeping your secrets, and I should not be trying to pry them out of you. If you wish to keep it to yourself, I will ask no more about it. And I just want you to know that I am not like those humans that tortured and experimented on you. I will never do anything cruel to you. I may push you, but I will never do something that is not to your benefit. I did not bring you on as my disciple just to try and steal whatever power you might have. I saw that you were a rare talent and wanted to make sure you reached your potential. Please forgive me for making you fear for your life."


    After giving her long apology full of assurances Melisandre stepped back and waited for Evelyn''s response.


    "Thank you for understanding Melisandre. I would very much like to keep the origins of my me a secret if that is fine. Maybe one of these days I will tell you what it really is." Evelyn said with a look of obvious relief in her eyes.


    She could see that Melisandre really was sincere in her apology, and that she meant what she said about not harming her. But still, Evelyn was not going to offer up the information about her heavenly me so easily.


    Her trust in anyone other than her brother has been long shattered, and she had no intention on divulging anything that mighte back to harm her if she could help it.


    Seeing that Evelyn had no desire to tell her about her strange and powerful crimson me, Melisandre decided to just move on and act like nothing had happened.


    "Now allow me to thoroughlypare the potion that you made with the one that I did." She said as she took one bottle of each and began examining them closely.


    Though as she did, she frowned and constantly nced back over towards Evelyn with a conflicted expression on her face.


    "You truly are remarkable. I dare say that your potion is only slightly inferior to mind. If I put it in terms of a beast''s rank my potion would be at the peak and yours would just be one step away from reaching the same height. I imagine that the only difference was the fact that I can control my magical energy better. Once you can do that, I daresay you have the makings of an even better alchemist than me." Melisandre said, praising Evelyn''s efforts and talent.


    Of course, what she had made were still only lesser healing potions that at best could mend minor broken bones or heal fare sizedcerations. But other than for truly grave injuries, they were more than enough.


    "Now if you are up for it, I will demonstrate how to make some other items such as magical energy replenishment pills, antidotes, fortifications potions, and the like." Melisandre said, wanting to know if Evelyn wished to continue.


    After what had just happened, she did not want to push Evelyn any further, since she was already ufortable.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn nodded her head in agreement wanting to learn more. Already having put Melisandre''s quick interrogation out of her mind after her master''s apology.


    "Good. Then we will begin with the magical energy replenishment pills. The first and most important ingredient in this recipe are these venairier fruits."


    Melisandre then picked up therge slightly glowing fruit that Evelyn had allowed to absorb her magical energy.


    It was this property that made them perfect as the main ingredient for creating magical energy restoration items.


    "Now you can simply use the fruit by itself and make a decent product, but with the proper supplementary ingredients you make something superior." Melisandre exined as she went over her own personal recipe.


    Continuing on Melisandre demonstrated each of the brews for making basic alchemical items which were quite useful to have on hand and would be great to sell as a source of credits.


    Soon enough Evelyn had made a batch of each of the items Melisandre had shown her to make, and they were all of excellent quality as if made by a master alchemist.


    ''That me of hers is more special than I thought. It seems to be able to bring out one hundred percent of the magical properties within any ingredient. That is beyond even what I am capable of with my powers. Truly, I wonder what its secret is?''


    Letting out a sigh, Melisandre knew that she could ask no more without risking pushing Evelyn away. She had dozens of questions swirling around through her mind, but still, she held back out of respect for her disciple''s wishes.


    "Now I have taught you what I consider the basics. I will leave the recipes with you to allow you to practice when you wish. Spend the next week or so honing your skills in alchemy and controlling your magical energy. After that I will have processed the necessary paperwork for you to sell your creations and make more credits. You are going to need much more to continue advancing yourself in the future."

 Chapter 102 102 Advancement And Requirements For Evolution

    ?After having been taught the basics of alchemy by Melisandre, Evelyn spent her time creating items for personal use and to sell.


    ''That is thest of my regen capybara blood. I will need to restock before I can make more healing items.'' Evelyn thought with a despondent frown.


    This was the only ingredient that she had just gotten the bare minimum of, because the capybaras were so difficult to catch with their strong defensive abilities and ability to heal from injuries at a fast rate.


    Still, she now had over a hundred bottles worth of healing potions, which was no small amount.


    Along with that she had dozens of antidotes, bottles filled with magical energy replenishment pills, and a few fortification potions that made the body tougher for a short time.


    ''I suppose I will go practice my magical energy control for the day.''


    With her brewing done for the day, Evelyn headed on over to the training room and got started on her daily training.


    So far, she was still in the same position she had been before she left on her trip and was unable to gleam any insight into controlling her raw magical energy.


    Nevertheless, she kept at it since she had seen how impactful the power was and she knew it would be better to learn sooner rather thanter.


    ''I can''t go on.'' Evelyn thought as she slumped over.


    She had already used all of her magical energy three times over by constantly refilling it with he replenishment pills she had made.


    But her body had reached its limit and now she was exhausted from continually draining her magical energy over multiple hours.


    Leaving the training room, she made her way next to the kitchen where she ate a mealprising of pretty much meat as per usual and then headed off to her room. And once there she would spend about an hour in the advancement chamber before going to bed.


    ''Okay just three blue magic crystals as Melisandre said.''


    Following the strict guidelines that her master had given her Evelyn no longer tried gorging herself on magical energy all at once, but instead was taking it slowly as instructed.


    And after being observed for four days she now finally had the privilege to use the chamber alone even after her earlier blunder that would have killed any other fiend beast but her.


    However, not long after she started her session this time, she felt her beast core and magic core hit some type of bottle neck, and the Aethersphere began absorbing all of the magical energy instead.


    Immediately Evelyn exited the chamber and went back up into the main section of her room.


    She could already feel the drowsiness setting in as her body prepared to amodate her growth and breakthrough to the peak of the fiend beast rank.


    ''I knew I was close already, but it really did not take very long.'' Evelyn thought as she drifted off to sleep.


    When she awoke, she immediately noticed that she had gotten a bitrger by the way her body was bnced.


    ''I think I might be about nine feet tall now. Close to what my mother was.''


    Quickly going into the nearby washroom, Evelyn checked out her appearance in the mirror and felt a sadness welling up inside her.


    She now looked quite simr to how her mother from this world did. Only being a bit smaller and having a smattering of purple feathers to go along with her green ones.


    ''I have reached the same rank that my parents were at before they died.'' Evelyn thought as she remembered all her hardships and the progress she had made sinceing to this world.


    Eventually she shook her head to push the dark thoughts creeping out from the back her mind back down.


    ''I have just taken another step towards my goal. I do not know how long it will take me, but I will find wherever Mason is now.''


    With her resolve steeled again, Evelyn put back on a smile and soon enough felt a rumbling in her stomach.


    She had just had the equivalent of a massive growth spurt, and while she had been well fed before it happened, now she was feeling particrly ravenous.


    There was also the fact that she had no idea exactly how long she had been out. Sincest time it had taken her three days to go from the mid-tier to the high tier. Though this time was different since it had been a more gradual gain towards the end. Giving her body more time to adjust and get ready for the jump.


    Luckily when she arrived at the kitchen and found Anneli cooking, she simply greeted Evelyn like normal and asked her what she would like to eat. Which made it clear she had not been out longer than a single day.


    But her nonchnt and normal attitude faded quickly when she realized that Evelyn had changed since shest saw her.


    "Evelyn! You have moved up to the peak of your rank!"


    Anneli was very surprised to see this, since it was not long ago that Evelyn had just advanced from the mid-tier to the high tier. But now she was already at the peak.


    Normally this would have taken her at least a few months if not a year, but she heavily advanced her growth when eating the beast core from the behemoth frog which was an awakened rank beast.


    Along with that she was eating the high-quality food provided in Melisandre''s mansion and had ess to the advancement chamber which further increased her rate of growth.


    Still, it was astonishing for anyone to see how explosively Evelyn had gone up the tiers of the fiend beast rank.


    "I need to contact Lady Melisandre immediately. She is going to be surprised and overjoyed." Anneli said with a frantic but delighted expression.


    Soon enough Melisandre came warping into the room and locked her eyes right onto Evelyn.


    "It is true, you really have made it to the peak of the fiend beast rank! But how is this possible?"


    Going up to Evelyn, she asked her if she had been pushing herself in the advancement chamber again, but Evelyn shook her head and denied this.


    "Remember how I showed you the materials form the behemoth frog. I suppose that you did not notice that the core was missing." Evelyn said.


    Coming to a sudden realization upon hearing this Melisandre remembered noting that it was not there but was quickly distracted by everything else Evelyn had brought out.


    "I see, so you ate it. I must say that was a bit reckless, but it appears to have pushed you quite far." Melisandre said with an impressed expression.


    She then turned around, and mumbled, "Even after consuming such a core, only now did she push to the peak of the rank. What kind of monster is she to be able to properly utilize so much magical energy?''


    Once the shock and excitement had settled down, Melisandre told Anneli to put away whatever she was cooking and make something special to celebrate Evelyn''s achievement.


    "Now Evelyn I know that you have seen some explosive advancement, but things are going to be much more difficult from now on." Melisandre said with a serious expression.


    Sitting up straighter and giving her master her undivided attention, Evelyn waited for her to continue.


    "I believe I mentioned that past he fiend beast rank it is not just a matter of absorbing more magical energy, correct?"


    Nodding her head Evelyn acknowledged that she remembered Melisandre telling her this before. Though at the time it was not pertinent to her.


    "Good, so you remember. Now let me rify what those requirements are. There are two things you will need to aplish before you can evolve to the awakened rank. First, is that you must advance your understanding of you affinities. You will find that just producing wind or fire is only the basics of what you can do with magic. You will need to discover what each of these powers can really do and explore how it works for you. And while I can guide you a bit here and there. Often there is a difference between each induvial, so figuring out the majority on your own is important. The second requirement is likely going to be much harder for you. In order to go up to the next rank your body will need at least one catalyst. but likely more. Over the years we at the Roost have learned a great deal about this, and for most owls the requirements to go from a fiend beast to an awakened beast are known from past generations. But as you are a new species, you will need to find what items are necessary for you to evolve."


    Hearing this Evelyn grimaced. She never thought that it would be this difficult to evolve to the next rank and could onlyment that her merging with the Aethersphere was going to make this much harder.


    ''Still, I just need to persevere. I have seen plenty of awakened beasts out in the wild, so it must be possible to find or simplye across what is necessary to trigger my evolution to the next rank.''

 Chapter 103 103 Problems With Quality

    ?"Now enough about what you need to do to reach the awakened rank. Before that there are plenty of other things you need to worry about." Melisandre said, seeing the contemtive look on Evelyn''s face.


    Though as Evelyn heard this, she tilted her head to the side, wondering what Melisandre was talking about.


    She figured that getting up to the next rank would be the most important for her since it would give her a huge boost in power and status.


    "Melisandre what else could be more important than getting me to the next rank? Is that not the goal that all beasts have?"


    Evelyn knew that she had an instinctual drive to get stronger along with her own desires, and when she was still starting out in this world it had driven her to seek out other beasts to consume their cores.


    In fact, this very drive is what got her owl brother caught in the humans'' trap to begin with when he was tempted by the magically enriched nts hidden inside.


    "Yes, it is, but it is better to take things one step at a time. If you try to rush yourself, you can stifle your potential at best and kill yourself at worst. Before you even attempt to move up to the awakened rank you will need to practice and get a feel for your affinities. Normally this would not be so difficult for an average fiend beast, but you have not only exploded in your growth and barely had any time to get used to your powers but are also a rare talent to have three types of magics at your rank. I imagine it will take you sometime to reach an eptable point of understanding." Melisandre said, pointing out Evelyn''s need to really understand what magic is.


    "Also, whatever items you may need could take quite a while to procure and could be quite costly. Therefore, in the meantime it would be best to save up a sizable fund of credits while also practicing your magic. And to that end I have gotten everything set up for you to open your own stall on the ground floor of the alchemy hall." Melisandre said with a proud expression.


    Thanking her for her help and insight Evelyn promised that she would do her best to sell the items she had made in order to make Melisandre proud.


    "Incidentally, how much should I be selling these items for, and what of the things I can make are in the highest demand?"


    Pondering Evelyn''s question, Melisandre thought about it for a good five minutes before shaking her head.


    "Sorry I am not really sure about the intricacies of the lowest floor. It is the most vtile in both quality of products and purveyors. I am certain though that healing potions and magical recovery pills will always be hot ticket items. Though an eptable price for what you have made is hard to tell."


    Unfortunately, Melisandre was stumped in this regard, but soon perked up as she had a good idea.


    "Ah I am sure that Katrina will know. She is aways doing market research and such to make sure that her own prices in her store will her the highest profit she can."


    With this epiphany Melisandre called her other attendant who Evelyn had rarely interacted with down to the kitchen.


    When she arrived, she seemed as cold as always. In stark contrast to the warmer and bubbly personality of Anneli.


    "You called for me Lady Melisandre?"


    "Yes, I need a bit of information for my disciple." Melisandre said as she motioned towards Evelyn. "She has recently finished her basic alchemy training with exceptional results I might add and is ready to begin selling her creations. However, I am not sure exactly what current market prices her goods should go for and was hoping that you could give us some insight?"


    Melisandre then produced one of the healing potions that Evelyn had made and handed it over to Katrina who began looking it over intently.


    After looking at it for a few minutes Katrina turned herrge head towards Evelyn and bowed.


    "I would like to apologize to you Evelyn. It appears that my harsh judgment of you was unfounded. I believed that there was simply no way that you could hold up to the expectations Lady Melisandre had for you and that you would be a waste of time. However, there is no denying that this potion, while only a basic one is of almost peak quality. Something even I still struggle to make. You truly are a rare talent."


    ''What the hell just happened.''


    Evelyn to this point just thought that Katrina was just a reserved individual, not that she actually had something against her.


    However, apparently, she had been harboring a grudge this entire time unbeknownst to her which was why she acted do cold.


    "See Katrina, I told you that she would make a worthy disciple." Melisandre said while holding her head up high and looking pleased with herself.


    "You were right Lady Melisandre. I never should have doubted your wisdom." Katrina said while giving an even deeper bow.


    When she raised her head Evelyn could tell immediately that the harsh and icy aura that she normally gave off had subsided significantly.


    Of course, she still did not seem that happy go lucky type like Anneli, but there was a noticeable difference in her demeanor.


    "Now back to the matter at hand. I believe that Evelyn will have trouble selling a potion of this quality on the first floor of the hall." Katrina said as she ced the bottle back in front of Melisandre.


    But her response simply baffled both Evelyn and Melisandre who could not understand Katrina''s reasoning.


    ''I am certain I saw other potions of way lesser quality for sale for only a bit more than a dozen credits or so. Surely, I could just raise the price of mine to like thirty or forty and that would be fine.'' Evelyn thought while wondering what the problem could have been.


    "Katrina, would you mind exining your reasoning? Evelyn''s creations are all quite potent and as you said near the peak. Certainly, they could be sold at a high price on the first floor of the hall?"


    "It is true that what she had produced is of an exceptional quality, but that is where the problemes from. This is a potion of a higher quality than what could normally be bought on the first level of the alchemy hall. It is more in line with something from a higher end store on the second floor like my own. She is simply that much more talented, just as you were able to discern Lady Melisandre." Katrina exined.


    Frowning, Melisandre now understood exactly what Katrina was getting at, though Evelyn herself still looked confused.


    "Why is it a problem for my creations to be of a higher quality? Doesn''t that just mean that I can sell them for a bit more than others with lesser quality and those who want he best will buy from me?"


    Shaking her head, Katrina said, "No. that is not what would happen. You would undoubtably have to sell your creations at a lower price at first to garner attention, and it would be pretty much unfeasible for you to ever sell them at the same price they are going for on the second floor since no other owls around your level would be able to afford them consistently. But in doing so you would be selling a quality product normally unobtainable on the first floor of the hall for less than on the second. It would not take long for it to start hurting the business of the owls around my level of skill, and naturally they would do whatever they could to put a stop to you to preserve their own sales."


    Having it spelled out for her like this Evelyn now fully grasped the situation.


    At first she would likely make a good profit, but once higher ranked owls caught onto her they would buy her cheaper potions instead of the ones from the second floor and hurt the business of her seniors.


    Naturally the other owls that were leagues above her in rank would not take kindly to this and do whatever they could to shut her down.


    "But couldn''t Melisandre do something to prevent this? She is the master of the hall." Evelyn said looking towards her master hopefully.


    "Sorry Evelyn, that would not be a very practical solution. Sure no one would mess with you, but your sess would not be your own and plenty of owls would try to get close to you just to reach me. But along with those that wanted to get close to you, there would be others that wanted to harass you either because they do not like me or are envious. I already mentioned that revealing your rtionship to me to everyone would simply cause more problems than benefits at this point."


    Sighing, Evelyn drooped her head and ground her beak in frustration.


    It seemed like there was nothing she could do, and all her hard work would be for nothing.


    She would not be able to sell in of her creations and would lose out on a valuable source of credits that she would need in the future.


    Luckily, she was quickly saved from her despair as Melisandre chimed in with a solution.


    "Katrina, would you be willing to sell what Evelyn has made this time in your own store. If you do this, I will be more than happy to give you another personal lesson."

 Chapter 104 104 Solution

    ?"If you are willing to go out of your way to give me a private lesson, then I am more than happy to oblige and put the creations Evelyn has made on the shelves of my store. But still, this is only a stopgap measure. It would be best if she was able to sell her own product."


    "Yes, you are right about that Katrina, but making an inferior product on purpose would be a waste of ingredients¡­ Oh, I cannot believe I did not think about this earlier!" Melisandre eximed.


    She then turned towards Evelyn with a big smile on her face and began telling her about how she could make lesser quality potions without wasting ingredients.


    "This is rarely done since when making a potion or the like you want the best that you can get, but there is a method of reducing the quality of a brew while increasing its quantity. That way we can increase the yield instead of just wasting materials."


    Hearing this not only did Melisandre garner Evelyn''s attention, but Katrina and even Anneli who was still making a meal to celebrate Evelyn''s advance to the peak of the fiend beast rank.


    "Oh, you never taught us anything about this before Lady Melisandre." Anneli said, jumping into the conversation over continuing to cook.


    "I never taught either of you because it is not amon practice. But if the two of you really want to know I can teach you at the same time as Evelyn."


    Melisandre could tell form both Katrina''s and Anneli''s faces that they were not going to pass up on learning a new piece of information in regard to alchemy. So, she simply agreed to teach them as well.


    "Thank you, Lady Melisandre." They both said in unison.


    After that Anneli went back to cooking and Katrina went to help since Melisandre told them that she would hold the lesson immediately after they finished eating.


    Soon enough the food was prepared and the four of them ate all together with Katrina and Anneli almost in a frenzy.


    ''Wow that was good.'' Evelyn thought once she finished off thest bite of meal.


    Whatever it was that they had made was absolutely delicious and she feltpletely energized and very focused.


    "Hm, I can tell that two you really are excited to learn this technique by what you made. But really it is not something as amazing as you might think. I already told you that it simply allows one to create arge quantity of a brew at the cost of quality." Melisandre warned.


    She did not want the two of them hyping up this method to the point where their expectations were unreasonable. It was not something that often needed to be used other than when a massive amount of a certain item was needed, and the quality was of less consequence.


    When they arrived in herb for the demonstration, she simply brought out the materials to make the same type of healing potion that Evelyn had in order to make it easier for her to understand.


    "Now for the most part all of the steps are exactly the same. You just make the potion as usual as I have done, but at the end you add water to dilute it."


    Melisandre then used her magic to pour in water until it was exactly equal to the contents of the brew and then stirred for another thirty minutes.


    "There it is done. As I said it is not a difficult or revolutionary technique. It simply allows one to dilute the brews they have made."


    Now knowing the technique both Anneli and Katrina were wholly underwhelmed.


    They had thought this might be interesting, but it would really only be useful in times of war when a mass quantity of potions was needed over those of quality.


    It would not really make sense profit wise either, as having more inferior product would most of the time lead to less profit for almost all alchemical items.


    However, for Evelyn''s situation where she was able to make potions of outstanding quality which were above her rank''s normal skill, it was the perfect way for her to still be able to brew and sell her creations.


    "Oh, but this will not work for making pills, but in that case just adding any number of harmless powders as filler works the same." Melisandre said before running off to a cab and grabbing some random white powders.


    Soon enough she demonstrated the process with pills as well andpleted her demonstration.


    "Now with this method you will be able to make items that are not above the quality sold on the ground floor. Though as to how much you should lower the quality by, I am not sure. But perhaps you know Katrina?"


    Melisandre turned her head towards Katrina and gave her a hopeful look.


    For a few moments she contemted her master''s question before answering with what she believed to be best.


    "Seeing as how Evelyn is a peak fiend beast now, I would say somewhere between forty to at best fifty percent of the quality of her creations is eptable. It would still be on the high end, but not out of the realm of possibility and would not likely gain her any ire from those on the second floor."


    "There you have it Evelyn. Now all you need do is create more items and dilute them to between forty and fifty percent of their effectiveness." Melisandre said with a smile.


    But for Evelyn there was still just one problem.


    "Melisandre, what should I do about making more healing potions though. I am out of the regen capybara blood, having used it to make my current stock. Would it be okay for me to just water down what I have already made?"


    Unfortunately, things were not going to be that easy, and Melisandre shook her head, and said, "Sorry now that the potion is cooled and bottled, putting it back into the cauldron would degrade it horrible. Then trying to water it down would likely have you end up with a product only marginally better than that first potion you showed me. No, it will be best that you start from scratch."


    Hearing this Evelyn sighed since that meant she was going to have to go back out and collect more blood from the elusive beast that was fast to flee and difficult to take down.


    ''How many rocks to the face am I going to have to take this time.''


    Though as Evelyn wasmenting her situation, Melisandre gave her a lifeline.


    "Just this once seeing as how you have done everything I have asked, I will loan you some of the ingredients you are missing. Then once you have made enough sales, you can pay me back then."


    Looking up at Melisandre like she was a savior, Evelyn thanked her profusely for not sending her out after more of those difficult to capture capybara.


    "Now feel free to spend the rest of the day practicing your magic and I will procure a decent stock for you to work with. Then tomorrow you can make some new product and after that open up your shop and start earning credits and a name for yourself."

 Chapter 105 105 New Stock

    ?''I am exhausted.''


    Perching herself up in her room and leaning against a branch Evelyn closed her eyes and allowed herself to fall asleep.


    She had done just as Melisandre instructed and practice magic until she was unable to go on.


    Unfortunately, she still felt no closer to a breakthrough than she was before. But keeping at it was necessary, and she knew that it took even Melisandre a year to gain control over her magical energy.


    Luckily after a good long rest her exhaustion hadpletely faded, and she woke up to the next day invigorated and ready to get started.


    ''Oh, has she already had it brought to me?!''


    Looking down near the entrance of her room Evelyn saw that there was a small crate that had not been there before.


    And as she opened it up, she found exactly what she was expecting to.


    ''This is more regen capybara blood than I thought she would send. Though I suppose that this is probably enough to use the remainder of my other ingredients with.''


    Taking out the vials Evelyn quickly stored them into one of her storage amulets and then headed to her washroom.


    However, she was not there to clean herself off but was instead filling up a fewrge containers with water to use in diluting her potion.


    Once she had what she considered a sufficient amount she eagerly returned to her room and descended to the lower level.


    She was feeling excited to get started, and after quickly checking over her cauldron to make sure it was in pristine shape, she began making a new set of healing potions.


    ''Okay it is practically done. Now I just need to add the water and stir until it had diluted the correct amount.''


    Carefully pouring the water in, Evelyn aimed for around an even split this time, just as Melisandre demonstrated, and what would make potions on the high end of what would be eptable for her to sell.


    But as she kept the brew going, she found that it was much more difficult for her to equally mix in the water to dilute what was in her cauldron.


    ''My neck is starting to hurt.'' Evelyn thought after two hours of continuous stirring.


    After Melisandre''s demonstration she thought that this would only take around half an hour, but unlike her master, she did not have perfect control over her magical energy, and it was taking her far longer to infuse the necessary amount into the watery potion in order to get it to be perfectly mixed.


    Still, she could tell she was making progress and getting closer and only needed to keep at it.


    Another ten minutester and she was finally done with getting the potion mixed with water to create what she needed.


    Sadly, she was not able to take a break yet and had to go through the painstaking process of bottling up the connection she had just made.


    After that she took some time to rest and when she was ready again, got back to work on creating more product she would be able to sell.


    This process went on for the next couple of days as Evelyn made the items she knew how to and then diluted them to be applicable to sell on the lowest floor of the alchemy hall.


    ''Phew, this has been some hard work, but tomorrow I can finally start seeing some results.''


    Looking at the results of her efforts Evelyn stared as the numerous shelves that were now covered in bottles of potions and pills.


    She so far only knew how to make four basic items, but still they were all very useful and in high demand for their universal need.


    ''I think this should be enough for quite a while. I have around three hundred healing potions and bottles of magical energy replenishment pills. Along with nearly two hundred antidotes and just over a hundred fortification potions.''


    With her stock now ready all that was left was to locate her stall and set up shop.


    ''I guess I can just ask Melisandre when I see herter at the next meal.''


    Having a couple hours to spare Evelyn took the time to thoroughly clean herself off and simply rx for an extended time.


    Soon enough though it was time for food and when she arrived, she found Melisandre already waiting and reading a book.


    "Ah, Evelyn, you are here. How did your brewing go?" Melisandre asked as she extended a thin strand of magical energy to Evelyn in order to allow her tomunicate.


    "It went well. I have made a decent amount that shouldst awhile. Here you can look at what I have made."


    Evelyn then quickly took out a few examples from each of the times she had made and passed them over to Melisandre.


    Once she had looked them all over a smile appeared on her face and she nodded in acknowledgement of Evelyn''s sess.


    "Good job. You have managed to make these items around fifty to sixty percent less effective just as Katrina suggested. Now you will not gain the ire of those above you."


    Getting Melisandre''s approval, Evelyn felt quite happy and the anticipation she was feeling began to settle down.


    There was no doubt she was worried that what she had painstakingly made might be rejected but is seemed her worries were for naught.


    "Oh, but I do have a couple of questions. First where is the stall I am going to be using located? And second, how much should I be pricing my goods for?"


    "Well, I have an answer for the first one, but we will need to call in Katrina again for the second."


    Melisandre then took out a sheet of paper and handed it to Evelyn before exining that it was her permit to sell products on the first floor of the alchemy hall.


    "I have made it so that you will have a good location near the center of the hall. It is not the best, but it would be odd if you just suddenly took over a prime location. So, I have given you something decent to start out with. All you need do is go early tomorrow before the hall opens to everyone and hand this to the overseer of the first floor and they will show you to your location."


    When Melisandre finished her exnation about where Evelyn was going to be set up, she called in Katrina to give her a good estimate to what prices Evelyn''s goods should be sold at.


    "Well, you have four different brews with a bit of varying quality so you cannot just price everything the same. And you will want to undercut the market a bit at first in order to attract more business to yourself. I would say for your healing potions below your best quality should be priced around one hundred forty credits, and your best ones should be at around one hundred eighty. As for the magical energy replenishment pills, for a bottle of the lesser ones go for one fifty and for the best ones go one ny-five. The antidotes are a bit less valuable so around one twenty for the weaker ones and around one fifty for the better ones. Finally, the fortification potions are not asmon, and a bit more difficult to make so their supply is more limited. But they are still immensely useful. I would go with around two hundred thirty for the lower quality ones and around two ny or maybe even a bit higher for your best ones."

 Chapter 106 106 Setting Up Shop

    ?''Okay Evelyn, no need to be nervus. All you have to do is go in there, get set up, and wait for the sales toe in.''


    Steeling herself as she floated in front of the entrance to the alchemy hall, Evelyn finally worked up the nerve to enter.


    Standing in front of therge double doors were two mid-tier awakened beast owls who were they to make sure no one tried sneaking into the hall unauthorized before it opened for the day.


    Flying towards the entrance the guards watched Evelyn warily, having already noticed her presence for a while.


    They wondered why she had simply been floating around, and at first they thought she was trying to make sure to enter the hall as soon as it opened, but apparently that was not the case.


    As she got closer one of the guards moved forward and motioned for her to stop and at the same time extended a thin strand of magical energy so that they couldmunicate.


    "What businesses do you have this early at the alchemy hall?" The guard asked as soon as Evelyn epted the connection.


    Frantically she reached into the bag she had wrapped around her and grabbed the papers Melisandre had given her that were proof she could operate and sell products at one of the hall''s stalls.


    Taking the papers and looking it over the guard found nothing wrong, though he was certain he had never seen Evelyn here before.


    "Well, you are free to enter but make sure not to cause any trouble. Just because this is your first day do not expect to receive any special treatment and make sure to follow the rules."


    After giving that warning the guard stepped aside and opened a side door that was used by those entering to set up shop early.


    Once inside Evelyn saw that the normally bustling hall was practically empty with only a few dozen other owls around preparing their shops.


    It was still very earlier, before most would arrive to get ready for the day. So, only those that had a lot to get done before opening or were nervous about having enough time to be ready like Evelyn were already here.


    ''Where are they?'' Evelyn thought as she looked for the floor''s overseer.


    Quickly she spotted them in a booth that was perched higher up on the floor and overlooking the area.


    Seeing that they were currently busy Evelyn went back and forth on whether she should fly up their now, but when she saw another owl get in line to speak with the overseer she felt a panic that if she did not go now the line might get too long and she would miss her chance.


    "Oh, I do not think I have seen you around before." The overseer said once it was Evelyn''s turn to speak with him.


    He was surprisingly a humanoid owl with one bright red wing and one dull gray one that looked quite strange to Evelyn.


    Still, he gave off a very dangerous feeling that was different from Melisandre''s.


    For her she felt overwhelming, but this guy seemed to have so little presence that it was scary.


    "Excuse me miss. What business might you have with me?" The overseer said to Evelyn as she was lost in thought.


    Coming back to herself she again rushed to pull out her papers and handed them over.


    "Ah. I see, a new seller for our hall. But for your first time you seemed to have gotten a good area. Your family or master must be quite wealthy or well connected to have gotten you a stall in this area right off the bat?" The overseer said, probing Evelyn.


    He had a few ideas as to who had set everything up for Evelyn, but he wanted to see if he could fish for more information.


    But Evelyn just shook her head and said nothing about Melisandre, just as she had instructed her to.


    Seeing that he was not going to get any information out of her, the overseer just shrugged his shoulders and continued registering Evelyn.


    "Now hold up your identification cuff and I will register you to your stall so that you can enter and work without setting off any of the anti-theft formations."


    Doing as she was asked Evelyn held up her left foot which had the cuff on it and waited for the registration to be done.


    "It is finished. Now you can use stall number two hundred sixty-four without any issue. Good luck with your business, and if you run into any minor problems ask the guards around the hall. Though if something majores up feel free toe to me directly."


    With what she needed to do herepleted Evelyn left the overseer''s area and flew down to the floor of the hall in search of her stall.


    ''Two hundred fifty-nine, two hundred sixty, two hundred sixty-one, oh there it is.''


    Spotting her stall after searching round for a few minutes, Evelyn hopped along and right up to it.


    Her stall looked exactly like the others in the area with a number of shelves behind arge counter where business would be done.


    There was also a set of magic circles engraved around it which Evelyn figured were the anti-theft measures the overseer had mentioned.


    Moving into the stall Evelyn looked around and found that it was pretty basic with just some shelves to set up her product.


    Nevertheless, it was more than suitable for her purposes, and she got to work on taking things out of her storage amulet.


    Quickly she set up the sign she had made the night before that listed the prices of her wares.


    She had made it a bit colorful to attract attention, and along with it was her name to allow other owls to better identify and remember her.


    Once that was done, she began taking out dozens of bottles and set them up in the shelving for disy and ease of acquisition when making a sale.


    Then once she had filled up the shelves, she set out one of each of the items she had for sale on the front counter to be used for disy.


    ''Everything looks good. All I have to do now is wait for people toe in and rake in the sales.''


    With nothing else to do, Evelyn simply sat in behind her counter and waited for the hall to opened.


    Of course, as more purveyors entered, they noticed Evelyn who was a new face. But while some were curious, they left her alone for today and went about their business.


    Plenty times a new owl would open a stall and their products would not sell well and they would be gone by the end of the week, so there was no reason to approach a newbie until they at least made it through their first day.


    Eventually it was just a few minutes before the hall opened and Evelyn felt her nerves starting to well up again.


    She was wondering if she or maybe her set up was repulsive somehow since not a single other owl had approached her.


    And of course, with her personality and mental scars she was not going to approach any of the other owls by herself.


    Soon enough though, her thoughts moved away from the other''s that were selling their wares, to therge doble doors that were opening to allow any and all owls to enter the bottom floor of the alchemy hall.


    At first only a trickle of early risers came in and began looking around, but it was not long before swathes of owls starteding in and out.


    Unfortunately, even after around forty minutes into the opening of the hall Evelyn had yet to make a sale.


    She had a few others nce over at her stall but not a single owl had even approached her stall.


    They were either turned off by the price of her goods, noticed how stiff Evelyn looked, practically announcing she was a greenhorn, or abination of both.


    ''I just have to stay patient. Eventually someone will get curious ande up, right?''


    Evelyn tried to keep a positive outlook, but after three hours of standing around without a single potential customering her way despite all of the traffic in the area she was feeling quite down.


    ''I need a quick break.''


    With a slumped head Evelyn temporarily closed down her stall and headed to the washroom that could only be used by the purveyors of the hall.


    Once inside she sshed her face with some warm water and let out a long sigh.


    ''It is still just the first day. I just need to keep at it as always, and if I fail, I am sure I can get advice from Melisandre, Anneli, or Katrina.''


    With her mind in a better ce after taking a break for a few minutes, Evelyn returned back to the floor of the hall and headed back to her stall.


    When she arrived though she found that an owl was intently looking at the items that were on the shelves.


    Perking up at a potential customer Evelyn nearly ran back to her stall and hoped that she might be able to make a sale.


    Though when the low tier awakened rank owl saw Evelyn approaching and the entering the stall, she was absolutely astonished.


    And while Evelyn as cing the samples back out with a smile on her face this owl extended a thin strand of magical energy towards Evelyn and waited for her to ept the connection.

 Chapter 107 107 Booming Business

    ?Seeing the floating strand of magical energy in front of her, Evelyn immediately epted the connection in hopes that this owl was a customer wanting to buy her products.


    However, before she could say anything the owl that had recently risen to the awakened beast rank started asking their own questions.


    "It is clear that you are the one manning this stall, but are you also the one who has made these potions? Or perhaps you have some supplier?"


    Caught off guard by the sudden questions, Evelyn thought about what they had asked before simply answering them with the truth. Though quickly she figured there was no reason not to.


    "Yes, I am the one who made these potions and pills. I know they are not much, but I did put a lot of effort into them, and I believe that their quality is fairly good." Evelyn said, trying to make herself and her products sound better to hopefully get a sale.


    "So, you really are the one who made these! That is impable! You must be quite talented to have made so many high-quality potions when only a fiend beast. Would you wish to join the group I am a part of? You would certainly be a valued member, and I am sure it would be worth your while to have some backing."


    ''What!?''


    Standing there stunned Evelyn had not expected a sudden recruitment, especially when she thought she was about to snag her first customer.


    Never had she been expecting such a thing and she wondered why this owl was making such a big deal about her items.


    From what she had heard from Katrina, she figured that potions of a simr quality were stillmon enough on the first floor of the alchemy hall.


    "Well, what do you think? Do you want to join the group I am with? We are led by a half dozen peak awakened rank owls who are all quite powerful an influential, so I can assure you that with your talents in alchemy that you will receive plenty of resources from them to advance your craft." The owl said as she kept trying to push Evelyn to join up with her group.


    But even if Evelyn wanted to, which she certainly did not. She already had Melisandre, and there was no better mentor for her to have. Not to mention from the way this owl was talking, she figured that it was likely that they just wanted her chained to a caldron to make alchemical items for their group.


    "Sorry but I am already affiliated with my master, and they told me not to join any sort of groups until I was stronger. But if you wish to have some of my connections, you are free to buy some." Evelyn said as she craned her neck to point at her fully stocked shelves."


    Luckily the other owl epted Evelyn''s refusal amicably and said that she would purchase a few items.


    "If possible, I would like one of each of the lower quality potions and pills?"


    Nodding her head Evelyn quickly gathered up what was asked for and ced them on the counter, before holding up her left leg.


    The other owl quickly followed suit and lifted up the leg her identification cuff was on and transferred the necessary credits for payment to Evelyn.


    "Thank you for your business. Feel free toe back any time if you needed anymore." Evelyn said as the other owl packed the bottles away in her bag.


    ''Wahoo! I just got my first sale!'' Evelyn thought while resisting the urge to jump up and down.


    After hours of waiting without getting any real interest, she had finally gotten a customer and they had bought four items from her for quite the sum of credits.


    Feeling ted, Evelyn bobbed her head back and forth a bit. And now that her demeanor was far less stiff, more owls took the time to examine her goods instead of going by after ncing at Evelyn.


    At first no one actually came up to purchase anything still just trying to get a feel for the now shop.


    But around an hour and a half after making her first sale, a group of two dozen owls came up to Evelyn''s shop and began looking around with interest.


    One of them though Evelyn recognized as the owl that had previously bought from her, and that made it clear that the other owls were part of her group.


    Not long after they arrived the leader of their group extended a thread of magical energy to Evelyn which she epted.


    "It seems that what Mimi said was true. You really do have the basic brews at the best quality that can be only rarely found on this floor in great quantities."


    Hearing this Evelyn thought she was going to get another recruitment, but instead the owl leading this group asked her something else.


    "Is there a limit on how many one owl can buy at a time?"


    Shocked again, Evelyn had never thought about this as she had never expected to suddenly get so many potential customers at once.


    For a moment she thought about saying that there was no limit, but she had the sinking feeling that would not actually be good for business.


    "The limit is a max of three of any type of item per owl." Evelyn eventually said, thinking that was a good number.


    "Very well I shall by three of everything then." The owl said as he held out his cuff to make the transfer.


    Hearing this Evelyn''s eyes bulged as this would be a sale that was worth over four thousand credits.


    And only now realizing this did Evelyn understand just how valuable all of the items she had made really were.


    "Let me just go grab your items." Evelyn said in a fluster.


    Almost in a frenzy she began taking bottles off the shelves until she had twenty-four of themid out for the lead owl''s purchase.


    Quickly they made the transaction of credits and items, and Evelyn watched the number on her cuff go up and beyond what she had even afterpleting eight missions for the Roost.


    And what happened next astounded her, as all the owls in the group lined up and purchased as many of her items as they could reasonably afford.


    "Thanks. We will probably be back tomorrow to buy more if you still have any." The leader owls said as he took his group away.


    ''What the hell just happened?'' Evelyn thought, too astonished to be giddy like after her first sale.


    Quickly she began organizing the information in her mind and soon came to the conclusion that even after diluting her brews, she was still defying themon sense of alchemy for most.


    ''When Katrina said that potions at these levels were eptable, she meant that they were around the very best that appeared on this floor. And from what that owl said to me. only rarely do potions as good as my best ones show up for sale, but I have whole shelves full of them.''


    Now understanding that even after trying to not stand out, Evelyn undoubtedly was selling potions and pills that were in high demand and low supply.


    Soon enough her stall''s reputation for having quality products for cheaper than market value made its way around, and dozens of owls at the low tier of the awakened beast rank came to buy her products.


    For Evelyn it was like a sudden flood, and she almost certainly would have had a panic attack if she was not too busy to even have a moment to think.


    Her stall had practically caused a frenzy of business, as owls mored to buy from her before she inevitably ran out of stock.


    Even when she resupplied her shelves with the extras in her storage amulets, they were quickly bought up by the owls that wanted her quality products.


    Within just an hour after word got out about her stall Evelyn waspletely out of stock and had to turn down a bunch of angry owls that were hoping to get their hands on her items.


    It got so bad that the guards stationed within the hall had to intervene and get the crowd that had spread like wildfire to disperse.


    ''What the hell just happened?'' Evelyn thought now that she was not being swarmed.


    She had never excepted her stock to be bought up in a single day, but it had been, and she certainly could have sold far more if she had more to sell.


    Then to add to her crazy day, she looked down at the new number of credits she had not even tried to keep track of since her first big sale and saw the six-digit number that it now disyed.


    ''Over six-hundred thousand!''


    This was a confounding number for Evelyn to see as it was a hundred times what her previous high that she had already thought was a lot.


    She could not even imagine what she could buy with this many credits, or what she might need them for.


    But it was not long before more owls came up to her stall and interrupted her thoughts on what had just happened.


    Of course, none of these owls were customers as the hall was already closing down for the day. No these were herpetitors who had noticed her day one explosion.


    "You must be one lucky fiend beast to have someone supplying you with so many quality potions and stealing our business." One of the owls said with a particrly nasty tone.


    Seeing the group of mostly angry vendors from the first floor of the alchemy hall Evelyn realized something important.


    ''Katrina''s n worked. I did not gain the ire from those on the floor above. I got it from all the owls on the same floor as me.''

 Chapter 108 108 A New Plan

    ?Being surrounded by a bunch of veteran owls that had their shops on the first floor of the alchemy hall for months or even years, Evelyn began to panic.


    It was clear that a lot of them were angry at her, and now they were demanding that she give up her source on who had given her such quality potions.


    Of course, none of them wanted to believe that she made them herself since it seemed impossible.


    No fiend beast should have been able to do what she had and only a talented low tier awakened rank owl would be able to rarely produce potions of the same quality as her best.


    Thus, Evelyn''s stock of potions that were at the peak of quality for the bottom floor had upset the bnce of the hall in just a single day.


    And this was actually not the first time this had happened, but in all other cases it had been that a perpetrator was supplied these potions in order to make a quick buck for a more experienced owl.


    This was why the owls on the first floor were so angry and were verbally attacking Evelyn to try and make her close-up shop and never return.


    Yet an unexpected ally came to her aid and broke the group up.


    "Now it is quite rude to gang up on a newbie and try to chase them out."


    Turning a around to look at the source of the voice, all of the owl''s went wide eyed to see the overseering to Evelyn''s aid.


    It was incredibly rare for him to get involved, and seeing him here meant that he was nning to take Evelyn''s side.


    Immediately a number of the gathered owls quietly moved away, not wanting to be involved anymore, but some of the braver ones stuck around to argue their point.


    "Overseer Garth, you know it is against the rules to sell items made by a higher-ranking owl that are at the top or above the best quality those of us on this floor can make. This owl here is clearly in vition of that rule. If we allow those like her to operate with impunity, they will ruin the economy of the alchemy hall."


    Other owls quickly joined in and back this stance and the overseer simply nodded his head and agreed with them.


    "Yes, you are all correct in that assumption. However, that is not what has happened here. In the paperwork I received it was stated that Evelyn here was selling only goods that she herself made."


    Hearing this the other owls were not so easily convinced and continued arguing, saying that the documents could have been forged.


    "The confirmation came directly from the top, Lady Melisandre herself. I imagine that she already knows about this young owl''s talent, which is why she gave her personally approval. If you have anyints, you can take it up with her." The overseer of the first floor said.


    Thispletely pacified the crowd. They knew there was no way that they could go against the overseer when he put up such a fight.


    All they could do was grit their beaks and hope Evelyn could not continuously bring out such a supply of exceptional potions and pills.


    "You certainly are a surprising one, aren''t you?" the overseer said as soon as he was alone with Evelyn.


    Now that he had watched her performance on her first day, he was even more intrigued.


    She had put out a stock of items that were rare to be seen on the first floor of the alchemy hall and taken the ce by storm.


    This made the overseer believe she must have some powerful backing, but her demeanor suggested otherwise.


    It was clear she had been really nervous when she first opened her stall, and even when she was surrounded by a bunch of other owls she did not try to ward them away by borrowing the authority of whoever was behind her.


    "For mine and your sake, would you mind showing me how you made potions of that quality while at your level. Normally peak fiend beasts at best might make something a little better than half as good as yours, and only really talented low tier awakened bests could match you."


    Yet the overseers attempt to watch Evelyn brew was met with her shaking her head.


    "Really, are you sure? If you show me that you really are capable of making those pills and potions on your own, I can better get others to back off by saying that I witnessed your skills firsthand." The overseer said as he tired to push Evelyn towards his goal.


    He now really wanted to see how she brewed and hope to gleam some insight into who was the one backing her.


    But Evelyn could only shake her head and deny his request. She knew how much of a problem it would be for her brewing to be seen by others.


    It was clear that while the supremely good quality equipment Melisandre had lent her was one factors in her above standard brewing, her heavenly me was the main culprit for her ability to make things of a higher caliber than she should be able to.


    ''There is no way I am going to show him that what I have here is actually diluted from the alchemical items I can actually make. It will be best to simply reevaluate myself and dilute my brews even more.'' Evelyn thought.


    Luckily after vehemently refusing a few more times, the overseer he let her go. Since while he did want to know who was backing Evelyn, he did not want to anger them if they stood above him.


    Now that the day was finished Evelyn left the alchemy hall and headed back to Melisandre''s mansion.


    Along the way though she noticed that she had a tail that was trying to follow her, and when she found that she could not lose them she simply went and confronted them.


    This owl that was at the low tier of the awakened rank seeing that he had been discovered frantically flew away.


    ''Well at least they gave up easily enough.''


    Returning to her course Evelyn flew around the Roost a bit more to make sure no one else was following her, and when she was certain she was good she made her way towards Melisandre''s mansion.


    Once safely inside she let out a sigh of relief and then immediately went to find Melisandre so that she could talk to her about what to do next.


    So many things had happened that we outside of Evelyn''s expectations or ns, and she was hoping that Melisandre might know a way to fix things.


    Unfortunately, when she found Anneli the news she told her did not bode well.


    "I am sorry Evelyn, but Melisandre has stepped out for the night. She informed that she would likely be back by tomorrow for dinner, but she said she had an urgent an important meeting tonight and tomorrow."


    Internally groaning, Evelyn had really been needing Melisandre''s wisdom but now she was not here.


    "I understand. In that case could you find Karina for me, and I can ask my questions to the two of you?"


    Nodding her head Anneli did as Evelyn asked and soon the two attendants of Melisandre were waiting to hear what she had to say.


    To start she told them about what had happened during the events of her time on the first floor and about how she had made quite the wave.


    Anneli seemed pretty much none the wiser about the situation, but Katrina pped her face with her wing and shook her head.


    "I am sorry Evelyn; I cannot believe how stupid I am. I was simply thinking about you not ruffling any feathers from the owls on the second floor, when I did not even think of the first properly. Yes, the potions you made after being diluted can appear on the first floor, but they are still rare. Showing up with such arge stock on them was bound to get you both good and bad attention. I should have thought of this earlier and warned you." Katrina said while lowering her head in regret.


    "Well then, I can simply dilute what I make down even further to conform with what I should normally be able to make. Everything will be back to normal if I do that." Evelyn said confidently.


    "No that would not be a good idea. It will seem far stranger if you suddenly show up with vastly different quality potions than before. I can imagine that this will only make your customers angry at you, since they will want more of the high-quality stuff. Also, it will just reenforce to the other vendors that their notion of you cheating is correct." Katrina said.


    "What should I do then? Just keep making the same potions like today and ignore the other vendors?" Evelyn asked.


    "Sorry but that will likely not help much either. But there is something you can do to try and alleviate the situation. You need only make a couple dozen at most of the higher quality potions while also having a variety of even more diluted ones to around twenty-five percent of your best. And if anyone asked why your stock is so different, just say you sold only your best that you had been making for months on your first day. Then you can keep you stock of the higher quality lower but not nonexistent so that no one questions you abilities. I imagine that if you do this, after a few days everything will smooth over."

 Chapter 109 109 More Sales And Melisandre’s Gains

    ?With Katrina''s new advice Evelyn got to work on getting ready to produce more product to sell on the first floor of the hall.


    However, she was out of supplies now and needed more.


    But instead of going out an gathering it herself this time she allowed her hard earned credits to do the work for her.


    The next day instead of opening up shop she went around buying everything she needed to make more potions.


    ''Just to restock what I had to start I had to spend around thirty thousand credits. But I suppose I should be able to make quite a bit more, so it was well worth the price.'' Evelyn thought once she had finished her shopping.


    Of course, no other owl anywhere near her rank could make as much profit as her off of alchemy. Not only would their creations with the same materials be far inferior, but also, they had a chance of failure while Evelyn did not.


    Her heavenly me as well as the equipment Melisandre loaned her put her in the absolute best position for creating alchemical items. And this was what contributed to her immense sess.


    ''Stir, stir, stir, stir.''


    Once she had all of the ingredients she needed, she got back to brewing. Though this time she made sure that most of her products were diluted much more than before and that she only had a few of the better ones that were still only around fifty percent of her best.


    ''I think that should do it.'' Evelyn thought as she brushed the top of her forehead with her wing.


    She had spent a few days on a brewing binge and had made what she hoped to be enough product tost her at least a few days this time.


    Unfortunately, during this time that meant she had not been able to sell anything or practice her magic, but she considered it a necessary step for the future.


    ''I do not know exactly what Melisandre thinks I will need so many credits for, but I suppose having more cannot hurt.'' Evelyn thought as she cleaned up her cauldron.


    During thest few days, she had not seen Melisandre once. Apparently her important meeting had been extended, and now it was not known when she woulde back.


    But now that she had what she needed she nned to open up shop again and hopefully this time she would not ruffle any feathers.


    The next day she got up early and made her way to her empty stall that had been closed up for thest few days.


    Luckily it was not unusual for stalls that ran out of product faster than they anticipated to close down for a bit and take some time to restock. Though it normally did not happen after their first day of being open.


    ''I can feel all of their eyes on me.'' Evelyn thought while she was staking bottles on her shelves.


    She had been gone for many days now and many thought that she would not being back, but here she was.


    A number of the other owls organizing their stalls wandered by hers to check it out and where surprised and relieved to see that her stock was not nearly as impressive in terms of quality.


    "Looks like you have far less of those top-quality potions this time. Why is that?" One of the curious vendors that had no ire towards Evelyn asked.


    This owl did not deal in themon brews that Evelyn made and only created more umon but still very valuable brews in order to make his credits.


    "So, you noticed. On my first day I unloaded only my very best that I had been making for many months. I managed to make a few more in thest few days but now I am going to need to unload my less quality supply of potions and pills." Evelyn said, thankful that someone asked so that they could spread the information around.


    She wanted to get it out as fast as possible and not be in the spotlight anymore.


    Thankfully the owl that had asked her this question started disseminating the information and it would not be long until all the other owls knew.


    Soon enough the alchemy hall opened again for the day and numerous owls began pouring in.


    A few of the customers that had bought from Evelyn before came over, excited to see if they could get more quality potions as before.


    Unfortunately, while they were not totally disappointed, Evelyn had far less for sale thanst time, and also limited it to one of any type per person so that one group could not just buy them all at once.


    This caused her to get far less sales overall, but she still did well for any owl on their second day and easily sold all of her better-quality potions.


    When the day came to an end, she had only made around twenty thousand credits instead of the astounding six hundred thousand from before.


    ''Still. this better. I made a good amount and stood out far less than before. I already earned way more than I probably need. I can just steadily increase my credits now.'' Evelyn thought as she closed up shop.


    When she was done this time, she was not osted by a horde of owls that thought she had broken the rules, but instead by just a few that wanted to get closer to her.


    However, Evelyn just blew them all off, not wanting to get to know any other owls, as she wanted to get by with as little interaction with others as possible.


    ''Most likely they want to use me for something anyway.'' Evelyn thought as she made her way back to Melisandre''s mansion.


    Her experiences told her that most of the time all she would get by trusting others would be to be used and abused.


    When she arrived back at the mansion, she was suspired to see that Melisandre was finally back.


    She appeared to have just recently arrived as Anneli and Katrina were in the middle of greeting her.


    "Ah, Evelyn, perfect timing. Katrina and Anneli have been telling me that you want to speak to me. We can do that now if you are ready?" Melisandre said with a brighter smile on her face than normal.


    Just looking at her Evelyn could tell she was in a better mood than normal. and this took a weight off of her shoulders since she was afraid that something bad had happened that was taking up Melisandre''s time.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn epted Mmine''s invitation and soon enough the two of them were brought to Melisandre''s room with her teleportation item.


    "Now before we begin, would you mind telling me how many credits you have right now?" Melisandre said as she sat down.


    Figuring that this was a fine segway into what she wanted to ask Evelyn held up her identification cuff and showed Melisandre the number on it.


    Seeing it, even the leader of the alchemy hall was fairly impressed that Evelyn had made so much in a such a short amount of time.


    "You never cease to astound me. I may not be that up to date on the intricacies of fiend beasts, but I am certain that no other could make as much as you. In fact, I would say that you have made closer to what most peak awakened beasts can expect to earn." Melisandre said with a proud expression.


    Hearing this, Evelyn could only frown as she wondered what all of these credits were actually supposed to be spent on.


    But she had other things to discuss with Melisandre first and told her about what had happened on her first day open for business on the first floor of the alchemy hall. Though she also made sure to mention just how interested the overseer was in her.


    "Hm, well I suppose that is a bit of a problem, but the solution Katrina suggested should work fine. If anyone gives you any real problems, I can take care of it in the worst-case scenario. As for the overseer, he is just a curious guy and doing his job. He wants to make sure that the whoever backing you is not going to cause any problems in the alchemy hall. He is not the most tight lipped induvial though, so I do not wish to make our rtionship know to him at this point. Judging by how he gave up easily enough he does not want to ruffle any feathers. I rmend you just keep doing as you are for now and things will cool down quickly."


    With her worries abated by Melisandre, Evelyn let out a sigh of relief and then asked her about why she had been gone so long.


    "That is a secret, but for you I do not mind sharing." Melisandre said with a big grin on her face. "Truth be told I got a lead on an item that I need to evolve to the next rank and was able to track it down and obtain it. Now I am one step closer to bing the highest ss of beast."


    Melisandre then did a double take around as if to make sure no one else was around, before taking an item out of her storage armband.


    As soon as it was out in the open the temperature of the room spiked exponentially and was bathed in a red glow.


    Practically mesmerized by it, Evelyn stared at the beautiful red gemstone in Melisandre''s hands.


    "This is an inferno crown diamond. A very rare magical item that has umted an immense amount of magical energy in a ce of extreme heat."


    Staring at the diamond, Evelyn felt her instincts urging her to take it, but the rational part of her mind told her that it would be supremely stupid to try and do so.


    Luckily, she did not have to fight herself for long as Melisandre put the gem away.


    "Your self-control is astounding. Most beasts would have been frothing at the mouth to try and grab such a powerful magical item." Melisandre said with an impressed expression. "But enough about my gains in get closer to evolving. It is time that we begin focusing on yours now that you have an abundance of credits."


    Taking out a list, Melisandre handed it over to Evelyn and let her read through it.


    "What might this be?" Evelyn asked as she was not familiar with what was on the list.


    "Those are items that are used in the known evolutions of zephyr owls. As you appear to be an offshoot of their species. It is possible that some of the same items will be used as a catalyst for you to reach the next rank."

 Chapter 110 110 Blowing Through Funds

    ?Now realizing what the list of items Melisandre had given her was a list of items that might help her evolve into the next rank, Evelyn looked it over far more carefully.


    The list had neen different items ranging from beast cores from other beasts with a wind affinity to rare magical nts.


    Of course, these neen items were not all necessary for a normal zephyr owl to evolve but were known items that were used as catalysts for numerous different possible paths of evolution for the species of owl that Evelyn''s parents were.


    ''Looks like the most any of these known species need it just three items. But that does not really help me since I could need twenty for all I know.'' Evelyn thought still not really understand the mechanics of how evolution worked for beasts past the fiend beast rank.


    For a fiend beast there had never been a recorded need for more than three items necessary to cause an evolution.


    "So, am I going to need to go out an collect everything on this list until I get a hit?" Evelyn asked thinking she was going to have to go on an incredibly long quest to do so.


    In response Melisandre justughed and shook her head, finding the idea quite amusing.


    "Well, you could certainly try, but I imagine that would take a very long time to aplish as some of those items are notmon. No, what would make the most sense would be to exercise the credits you have earned. You will find that money can move even mountains." Melisandre said as she rubbed her fingers together and wore an evil smirk.


    ''I see, this is why she wanted me to earn so many credits.''


    Now understanding Melisandre''s intention, Evelyn began asking her how she could go about purchasing these items.


    "You should already be able to find all of them at the Roost since they are in high demand for a number of fiend beasts that want to evolve. And if not, you can submit a request at the mission hall along with an appropriate reward. This way, with enough credits, you can even entice a higher-ranking owl to get something for you that would normally be out of your grasp." Melisandre exined.


    Nodding her head, this made sense to Evelyn.


    With enough money it was possible to pay the best at any job to do it for you rather than getting your hands dirty yourself.


    ''This is how the Roost operates. I cannot do everything on my own, but with enough credits I can get an army of other owls to work for me.''


    Evelyn had earned an unfeasible amount for a fiend beast and now she had something to spend it on.


    "To start, I suppose I need to know how much these items cost. It is possible I could need any of them, right?"


    "Yes, that is the case. And I suppose with what you have earned you can probably afford them all. I believe that the most expensive item the gale pearl might cost between seventy to a hundred thousand credits. Depending on current market supply and demand of course."


    Though while Melisandre said this causally, Evelyn''s eyes bulged hearing that just one of these items might cost her a hundred thousand credits.


    "Oh, but you do not need to worry. Most of the items on that list are only around three to fifteen thousand credits. All in all, I do not believe it should be more than four hundred thousand or so to simply purchase them all." Melisandre said like it was no big deal.


    However, for Evelyn this would amount to her spending arge chunk of her earning in one go.


    "No need to worry. This is what credits are meant for. You would not believe what it cost me to get information on the item I showed you just a little while ago. But in the end, it waspletely worth it. You can always get more credits, but when there is something you need, it is best to just spend what you have without holding back." Melisandre said with a proud look as if she was extoling the greatest of wisdom.


    But for Evelyn it just sounded like Melisandre was bad with her money and would blow it all in one go without a care for keeping anything in reserve.


    ''I suppose I would still have over two hundred thousand left even after this, and my stall can probably make around twenty thousand a day even at a low estimate. If I can get even one item that might be used for my evolution it would be worth it.''


    In the end though, while Evelyn thought it was not a great idea to use so much money at once, she could not resist the allure of getting closer to reaching the awakened rank.


    Aftering to this conclusion Evelyn asked Melisandre what the best way for her to purchase all of these items was.


    "That is a bit tricky to answer. Most of the magical nts can be purchased from the alchemy hall. But for others, I would imagine that the market hall will carry them. They should have things like gale pearls for sale there along with other rare items. Though it is possible none are currently in stock. In case you cannot find something, immediately posting a job request with a fairly sizeable reward will be your best bet" Melisandre said while stroking her chin in thought.


    Hearing her suggestion Evelyn thought back to when Anneli was taking her around the halls and telling them about them.


    The market hall was one she glossed over and did not even show Evelyn the inside of.


    All she knew was that it was a ce where goods not rted to alchemy, inscriptions, or magical crystals which strictly were under the jurisdiction of their respective halls was sold.


    ''That is probably where Anneli and Katrina buy the meat we are always eating. While they may use alchemy on it, the meat itself is not actually an ingredient, so it is not sold in the alchemy hall. I imagine that there are probably numerous other goods sold there as well.''


    Now having her path before her Evelyn began making ns to go around and purchase all the items on the list Melisandre had given her.


    Though as she was toiling around with when to go, Melisandre seemed to read her mind and interjected.


    "I think you should wait around another week before taking some time off. This way you can show that you are not going anywhere and build up a more stable customer base. It will also get you more credits to use in the event you need them. Then you can simply close down shop for a couple of days and gather the items you need. I would have it done for you, but it is important that you learn to do certain things on your own."


    Thinking over Melisandre''s advice, Evelyn concluded that in this instance she was right and decided to do as she said.


    "Good, now we can go and have dinner. I am starving and have missed Anneli and Katrina''s cooking."


    Their discussion now over, Melisandre and Evelyn head to the kitchen for a delicious meal, before retiring to their respective room.


    ¡­


    Quickly the next week went by where Evelyn sold her good in the alchemy hall until it closed and then practiced her magic for a few hours before going to bed.


    But once the week had gone by, instead of opening her stall as normal, Evelyn took the day off and made her way to the market hall to purchase the goods she needed.


    When she entered, she found that it was simr to the alchemy hall in terms of there being stalls set up everywhere.


    However, in terms of what was being sold, there was a huge difference as there were hundreds of different types of items for sale. With some stalls honestly just being a random assortment of things.


    ''Stay focused Evelyn. Just stick to the list and ignore everything else. If you get caught up trying to understand what everything you see here is, you will not get anywhere.''


    Making sure to concentrate on her goals, Evelyn went around in search of the items that she needed and slowly but surely began buying them up.


    ''Gah, one hundred eleven thousand!''


    Staring at thest item that she needed to purchase, Evelyn was taken aback by how stupidly expensive it was.


    The most costly thing she had bought up to this point was a part of a magical nt called a whispering vine seed cluster, which had cost her forty-two thousand credits.


    Now she was going to have to shell out more than double that for the gale pearl which Melisandre had already informed her was the rarest and most expensive item on her list.


    Unfortunately, at this point she wasmitted, and even though the item she needed was currently above its normal market value, she still handed over the massive amount of credits to purchase it.


    Once the transfer was made, she had spent in total and astound four hundred thirty thousand credits. Reaching the upper end of what Melisandre estimated.


    Taking the gale pearl Evelyn could feel the wind magical energy inside of it and could tell that it was a league above the other items she had bought.


    ''Now all I need to do is follow Melisandre''s directions and try to attune my magical energy to them. Then she said I would get an instinctual knowledge that it would work for my evolution if it waspatible.''

 Chapter 111 111 Tedious Task

    ?With her shopping nowpleted, Evelyn left therge and varied market hall and flew back to Melisandre''s mansion toplete the next step in her goal.


    She needed to use a special magic tool that drained her magical energy for her and imbued it into each of the items she had just bought.


    Of course, she could have done this on her own, but it would have been much harder and taken far longer since she did not have perfect control over her magical energy.


    ''Okay I will start with the least expensive and work my way up. Once they have been tainted by my magical energy each of these items bes far less valuable.''


    Taking out the box shaped magic tool Melisandre was loaning her Evelyn ced it in the floor of her room and inserted the first item.


    Then she grabbed ahold of a nob on the outside of the box and allowed it to drain her magical energy and imbue it into the item.


    It was a particrly boring and ufortable process that Evelyn wished she could have avoided, but there was no way around it if she wanted to find out if any of these items were useful to her.


    ''Nope, the first one is a dud.'' Evelyn thought as she did not receive the instinctual reaction she was told she would.


    Though she had no idea what this reaction was supposed to be, but Melisandre, Anneli, and even Katrina assured her that she would know if she found the right item.


    ''Well, the first one was not what I needed but maybe the next.'' Evelyn thought as she ced a peak fiend beast''s core from a beast that had a wind elemental affinity into the box.


    Around twenty minuteter the process was done, and she looked over the next item that was aplete failure as well.


    At least in this case she could easily repurpose it and swallowed the core which allowed her to restore the lost magical energy and stock up for her evolution.


    The next seven items all ended up not being of any use to her as well, having her go through around half of what had been on Melisandre''s list anding up with nothing.


    ''There goes thousands of credits down the drain for nothing. Ugh, I need a break. I am nearly out of magical energy, and I feel famished.''


    Tired and hungry Evelyn left the monotonous work of imbuing the items she bought forter, and went to the kitchen to get something to eat.


    Unfortunately, it was not a scheduled time for a meal, so neither Anneli or Katrina were in their cooking right now.


    ''I cooked a bit in my old world and here I have magic to help me. I am sure I can make something for myself.''


    Going through the cabs and magical cold storage Evelyn found an assortment of ingredients and began picking out the ones she thought would be best.


    ''I think this is what Anneli uses a lot when she is making food.'' Evelyn thought as she grabbed some sort of magical herb.


    Once she had everything she believed she needed, she tired to figure out how to use the heating magic tool but found she had no idea.


    Eventually Evelyn just gave up on that all together, and used her heavenly me, wondering why she had not done so from the start.


    However, she found a slight problem at first when she idently melted the pan she was using.


    She had figured that he same level of heat she used on her caldron would be eptable, but this was just a normal metal pan instead of an enchanted item. So, it only withstood the heat for around half a minute before losing its shape and quickly turning molten.


    ''Oops. I guess I will need to buy another one.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the misshapen pan she had ruined.


    Finding a waste disposal magic tool Evelyn tossed the pan in and watched it disappear before her eyes.


    ''Note to self. Do not put my wings or feet in there.''


    After her first fiasco Evelyn focused a lot harder on controlling the output of heat of her heavenly me and lowered it down to an appropriate temperature to cook with.


    Soon enough she had a b of meat form a creature she did not know the name of that wasthered with an already prepared sauce and coved in a few types of magical herbs.


    Yet as Evelyn took the first bite, she knew immediately she made a mistake somewhere.


    Spitting out the food and gagging she felt tears welling up in her eyes from how bad it tasted.


    ''Where did I go wrong!?'' She thought as she frantically washed out her mouth.


    The foul taste in her mouth was nearly as bad as the potion Melisandre had given her before she made the jump to the high tier of the fiend beast rank many weeks ago.


    Luckily it came out much easier, and Evelyn decided not to try using any ingredients she did not understand.


    Nevertheless, she was still hungry, but this time she did nothing fancy and simply heated up a couple pieces of meat and ate them in. Which was more than satisfactory to fill her stomach.


    Evelyn No longer hungry and having spent enough time to recuperate, deiced that it was time for her to get back to the tedious work of imbuing her magical energy into numerous items.


    Eight more itemster and Evelyn had still hit all nks.


    Not a single one waspatible with her, and she was beginning to get quite upset over how much time and credits she had wasted.


    ''Now all that is left is the whispering vine seed cluster and the gale pearl. If neither of those are of any use, all of this will have been for nothing.''


    With far less enthused movements than when she started Evelyn ced the seed cluster into the box that drained her magical energy and imbued it into items.


    This time though there was far more pushback from the seed cluster not wanting to ept the foreign magical energy, and it took her nearly an hour of exhausting work toplete the process.


    And when she checked on the results of her work she was simply met with another dud. Just as she wasing to expect.


    ''Great, I should have known this would not work. My lineage may be that of a zephyr owl, but I mutated thanks to the Aethersphere and am apletely different species now. It is possible I may never be able to find what I need to go up to the next rank and am stuck like this forever.''


    With dark thoughts creeping into her head Evelyn felt like giving up and just selling back the wind pearl to recoup some of her losses.


    At this point she was pretty sure that her species had changed to the point that she only bore the slightest resemnce to what she would have been before being bound to the Aethersphere.


    But the slight possibility that if she tried one more time, she might hit a winner just like a gambling addiction had her ce the gale pearl into the magic tool and start the long process of imbuing it with her magical energy.


    A bit surprised, she found that unlike the whispering vine seed cluster, this one did not present any resistance from what she could tell and easily took in her magical energy.


    Yet this created another problem as it seemed capable of draining what seemed like an infinite amount of magical energy. And to make matters worse, Evelyn was already more than half drained from all she had already done, had to take a few magical energy replenishment pills and work in intervals.


    ''It is finally finished.'' She thought after two hours.


    Opening up the magic tool she found the gale pearl sitting inside and now glowing far more brightly than it had before.


    Seeing it she had no reaction, just like everything else, and figured she had drawn another nk. That is, until she moved to pick it up.


    As soon as she touched it, she felt a reaction and her eyes went wide.


    She could tell that this item imbued with her magical energy could make her stronger.


    ''So, this is what they meant. Truly I cannot understand why I feel this way, but I do know that this is something I need to get stronger. Ah I am so happ-''


    "AGHHHHHHHHH!"


    While holding onto the gale pearl Evelyn suddenly felt a searing pain in her chest, and the Aethersphere began spinning at an uncontroble speed. Simr to how when it first integrated into her.


    All the remaining magical energy inside her as well as the in the area began being drawn towards it.


    The storage amulets currently hidden within Evelyn''s feathers even broke apart as their energy was forcefully stolen and their contents shunted out of their subspace.


    In a matter of seconds, the magical crystals that Mason had given her which were now out in the open were absorbed by the Aethersphere as it broke them apart into pure magical energy.


    During all of this Evelyn had fallen to the floor and was rolling around in pain nearly as bad as what she initially felt when joining with the divine item.


    And when the pain in her chest subsided after the Aethersphere absorbed enough magical energy, her head was assaulted with an iprehensible amount of knowledge that she could not process all at once.

 Chapter 112 112 Access To Knowledge

    ?As a flood of information was transmitted directly into her mind, Evelyn felt a pain that was nearly unbearable.


    But eventually it began to settle down and she took a deep relived breath when the sharp pain only became a lingering dull one.


    And as she began being able to think again, she started going over the information that had been sent directly into her mind.


    ''To think that there was so much information stored in this thing. I have to wonder what its original purpose was.'' Evelyn thought as she sorted through all the information she had received.


    When the Aethersphere had sensed the gale pearl that was an item necessary for Evelyn''s evolution, it activated one of its functions that allowed it to pick out known items that would lead to its host''s best evolution.


    However, as it was still damaged it could not perform this process properly and began draining the area of magical energy topensate.


    Then instead of just giving Evelyn the knowledge of what would be necessary for her personally it imnted the knowledge of tens of thousands of items of the rank she needed into her mind as the divine item malfunctioned.


    Now her mind was filled with so much information that it was difficult to sort through it all.


    ''At least afterwards it highlighted the items I need right now.'' Evelyn thought as she pulled up the pertinent information.


    Going over it, she found that for her strongest evolution as the Aethersphere had determined she would need not only a gale pearl, but something called a hellfire rose, and a high-quality float stone around a foot in diameter.


    Each of these times were attuned to one of the affinities she had and form the knowledge the Aethersphere had forced into her were all necessary for her to move up tot eh next rank.


    Though along with this she also had what she considered a bunch of useless information about random things, with just a bit of it being useful.


    Now she had the knowledge of numerous magical nts, beast parts, and other misceneous items that would be useful in alchemy.


    Still, it only told her what sort of brew these items were used in and not exactly how to make them so all in all the information was pretty worthless since Melisandre could just teach her anyway.


    ''But I still have to wonder what this thing actually is supposed to be. It not only has given me the power to manipte gravity but also has knowledge stored within it.''


    Unfortunately, no amount of pondering got her any closer to the answer and the Aethersphere itself was not going to present any clues. Especially in its damaged state.


    Once she had finished sorting out her thoughts Evelyn looked around the room and sighed deeply.


    Her storage amulets had busted open because of their close proximity to the Aethersphere that was in her chest and their contents were no flooded over the floor.


    Along with that all of her magical crystals had been broken down and absorbed by the divine item and used as fuel for it to rapidly repair itself.


    ''Now I will need to get some other storage magic tools and magic crystals.''


    Going around her room Evelyn picked everything up and began cing it on the shelving in her room.


    Luckily there was an abundance of space ass eh was able to make full use of the verticality of the room thanks to her ability to fly.


    It took her hours to get everything organized and now she just had twost items she was deciding what to do with.


    ''Should I even hold onto these anymore?'' Evelyn thought as she stared at Mason''s diary and thengue guide he left her.


    Both of them were definitive proof she was from another world and the diary detailed how Mason had stolen the heavenly me from his family.


    In all honesty these two books were incredibly dangerous to Evelyn as they revealed some of her greatest secrets.


    Yet she did not want to destroy them if she could help it as they were thest mementoes of her brother.


    In the end she could not bring herself to get rid of them and hid them among the other things on the shelf until she could acquire more storage items to ce them in.


    After that she was faced with the unfortunate situation of trying to somehow exin all of this to Melisandre.


    Certainly, she could just stay quite but just because she knew what items she needed to further her advancement it did not help since she had no idea how to obtain them.


    Maybe she could get lucky and simply find them at the market hall but if that did not work, she would be out of luck on her own.


    ''She has respected my privacy up to this point. Hopefully she will just ept what I say without asking any questions.''


    Working up her nerves Evelyn sought out Melisandre and found her in the middle of creating some sort of concoction in herb.


    Luckily it was in a stable period where she did not need her full attention and she happily invited Evelyn inside.


    "So, what brings you here today, Evelyn?" Melisandre asked while stirring arge cauldron.


    "Well, some things happened, and my storage amulets broke. On the other hand, I found out that the gale pearl is indeed necessary for me to evolve tot eh awakened rank."


    Nodding her head, Melisandre absentmindedly said, "That is nice", before she actually processed what Evelyn had said.


    "Wait, what? Your storage amulets broke? How did that happen." Melisandre said with a baffled expression.


    She had even been so caught off guard that she stopped stirring for a moment before frantically moving to start going again.


    "I do not know what to tell you, they just broke. I guess they were pretty old and just gave out." Evelyn said offering up the best fake exnation she coulde up with.


    Of course, Melisandre could tell she was lying immediately but just shook her head and took it in stride.


    "Very well, storage magical tools can be reced. It will likely cost you several hundred thousand credits to getparable tools, but I am sure you can do it."


    Hearing this Evelyn winced as she never realized how valuable the amulets Mason had left her were and how much it was going to cost her to rece them.


    "On the other hand, it is great news to hear that the gale pearl ispatible with you. But I suppose that you will likely need something else as a catalyst. In that case we will just have to try out a number of other items until we get another hit just like what I am currently doing."


    "Actually, I already know the other items I need to reach the awakened rank. Something called a hellfire rose, and a float stone of a high quality and around a foot in diameter." Evelyn said confidently.


    Stopping abruptly Melisandre nowpletely disregarded her brewing and approached Evelyn with sharp eyes.


    "How did you figure that out? Just finding one item you need should not have triggered some sort of epiphany."


    It was clear that Melisandre really wanted answers to this question, but Evelyn just turned her head and did not meet her gaze.


    "Evelyn, I need you to tell me where you got this information. Neither of those items are easily obtainable for certain reasons, and I have to be sure that your source is credible before we start making ns to obtain them." Melisandre said with a deathly serious expression.


    Seeing this Evelyn could tell Melisandre was not going to take a vague answer this time and decided to tell her some of the truth.


    "I found out from the item that the humans embedded into me. When I touched the gale pearl it gave me the knowledge of the other items I need to evolve to the awakened rank. I do not know exactly how it works but it seems to be able to help me get stronger." Evelyn admitted.


    Frowning, Melisandre was now wondering just what had been put inside Evelyn that it could allow her such important information.


    "Evelyn, I believe we should remove that item from you. There is no telling what those humans did to it, and it could possibly kill you in the future. I have never even heard of a float stone being a necessary item to evolve for any beast. It is possible that thing is sending you false information. It is too dangerous to keep inside you." Melisandre said with worry written all over her face.


    "I am sorry Melisandre, but I do not believe it can be removed now. It is connected to my heart and beast core. Anyway, it has always given me strength and helped me out despite that pain it sometimes puts me through. I think that it is meant to help me grow stronger."


    Listening to Evelyn''s exnation Melisandre became even more warry, but she could tell that Evelyn was telling the truth out the item killing her if removed.


    "Very well I will ept your exnation for today. But I hope one day you trust me enough to tell me everything."

 Chapter 113 113 Perils Ahead

    ?Evelyn, after managing to brush over what had just happened, was currently listening to Melisandre''s exnation on why it would be difficult for her to obtain the other two items she would need to evolve to the awakened rank.


    "First, the float stone. It is not something that us owls ever really bother with as we can fly naturally. But there is one species that uses it in many things, and that is humans. If you are going to need a piece of the size and quality you described, most likely you will have to steal it from them." Melisandre said with a grave look in her eyes.


    Hearing this Evelyn''s heart rate started to spike as all the horrors she had ever been subjected to by people began to rise up in her mind.


    Truthfully, she wished to never deal with humans ever again, but it seemed that it would not be so easy when even on this world they were still considered the dominant species.


    ''I have already resolved myself to do whatever is necessary. I just have to do this, or I will never get past my current point.''


    Nodding her head, Evelyn let Melisandre know she was prepared to do whatever it took.


    "I see, then when the timees, I will help you gather the knowledge and tools you might need, but do not expect me to be directly involved. I cannot fight your battles for you, and it would only make things worse for you if I were to help explicitly."


    Sighing, Evelyn had hoped that Melisandre might assist her here, but it was a longshot from the start, so she epted it.


    ''She already said that she would not coddle me. All she is providing for the most part is knowledge, tools, and a ce to live. For everything else I am on my own.''


    "I understand that you will not assist me in the actual acquisition of the float stone, but from the way you have been speaking, I assume you know of how to would go about it?"


    Pausing for a moment Melisandre contemted for a few bit whether she should go ahead and tell Evelyn now. Before eventually deciding that it should be fine.


    "Let me preference this with that you are far from ready to attempt any of the three methods I am about to suggest, and that you should learn to control your magical energy before attempting any of them." Melisandre said with an intense stare that would allow for no argument.


    Taking a step back Evelyn felt the weight behind Melisandre''s look and frantically nodded her head in agreement.


    "Good. Now as for the first method it would be to raid from one of the human''s mines. I am certain with enough digging you could fine the locations of plenty of them. Of course, knowing the location is only the first step. Afterwards you would have to infiltrate it somehow, locate the necessary stone, and excavate it. All while staying hidden. You could also try killing everyone at the mine, but I doubt that even Anneli or Katrina could do that by themselves."


    Unfortunately, most of what Melisandre had just said did not help Evelyn in anyway, and basically was telling her t out that it would be impossible.


    If Anneli or Katrina who were peak awakened beasts and talented themselves could not do it, then what chance did Evelyn having being a whole rank behind them.


    "Melisandre I may be sort of stealthy, but I doubt I could just sneak into a mine like that if it is that well-guarded." Evelyn said with a despondent expression.


    "Yes, I imagine that it would be difficult since the humans do guard their resources well to prevent others of their kind, or crafty beasts like us from stealing from them. But with the correct preparations almost anything is possible, so do notpletely give up on it yet." Melisandre said encouraging Evelyn.


    "Now for the next method you would also be stealing from humans, but in this way, stealth would honestly be pretty much impossible. One of the main purposes that the humans use high-quality float stones for is to create vehicles that can fly through the skies. Therefore, if you were able to sessfully bring one down in an attack, you could steal the float stone from a skyship. But to do this you would need to pick your target carefully and bring the required forces to take it down. In many cases, this is likely to be even harder than even storming one of their mines."


    With the next suggestion seemingly at least, but more likely more difficult than the first, Evelyn was wondering if Melisandre was just trying to crush her spirits.


    So far all she could apparently do was sneak into a mine and hope not to be caught or attack a flying ship that would have numerous defenses onboard.


    "Is there not anything else I can do?" Evelyn asked with a sorrowful look in her eyes.


    In response, Melisandre smiled, and said, "Yes there is. You simply need to scour the world for an undisturbed deposit of float stones and dig it out. I am sure that given a few decades you might even be sessful."


    Feeling all of her hopes dashed Evelyn sunk down and allowed her head to fall against the floor.


    Everything Melisandre just said made it sound like she had an impossible task in front of her.


    ''So, my best bet is to aimlessly look around until Ie across a deposit. If I am lucky, it could take only a few months. But from what Melisandre said it is more likely to take several dozen years.''


    Lamenting her situation Evelyn almost felt like crying with how hopeless Melisandre had made it out to be.


    "I see that you are still in the wrong mentality. Did I not say that all of this would be difficult on your own. It was only a couple of days ago that we discussed the importance of credits. With enough of them you can even hire an army of other owls to help you out. There is no reason to force yourself to do something that is impossible alone when you can simply hire the help you need."


    Hearing this, Evelyn quickly perked up and realized that Melisandre waspletely right.


    If she were to try and attack a human mine or skyship she could hire out the services or other owls to help her in an attack.


    Or in case of the mine, she could hire just a few to act as decoys and lure the mine''s guards away while she slips in and takes what she needs.


    Being able to hire help opened up so many other possibilities that Evelyn began pushing her mind to think about the best approach.


    "Whoa there. No need to contemte this too hard right now. You still have along way to go before even considering taking on a bunch of humans." Melisandre said, seeing how seriously Evelyn was thinking.


    This did break her train of thought and she remembered that Melisandre made her promise to get her magical energy under control before she pursued this path.


    "Anyway, you have another item to worry about obtaining that is equally difficult but in different ways." Melisandre reminded Evelyn.


    Perking back up, she looked attentively at Melisandre and waited for her to exin.


    "I only know of one ce that you can get a hellfire rose, and that is in the inferno field. A ce that is constantly at temperatures over two hundred degrees, where ash perpetually rains down from the sky, and fires can re up at any moments. And those are its pleasant qualities."


    Stunned by this Evelyn could hardly imagine that such a ce could even support life like flower, but its name including hellfire must have been very apt.


    "In the inferno field you will find beasts and magical nts that are highly in tune with the element of fire, but they are the least of your worries. There are far more dangerous beings called elementals that havee through a rift in dimensions that created the inferno field to begin with. They are beings that attack anything other than their own kind on sight and are often very powerful. I once ventured into the ce in search of a specific item when I was a peak awakened beast and was nearly killed. Going there is not something that should be done lightly." Melisandre said, with a rare tinge of fear in her eyes.


    Yet, while Evelyn was taking her warning to heart a number of other things had piqued her interests.


    "Melisandre, what is an elemental? And what about this rift you are talking about? I have never heard of anything like this. I thought that there were only beasts, humans, and nts that inhabited this world."


    A look of shock on her face Melisandre was surprised to hear that Evelyn did not know. But then remembered that she had been living carefreely in the wilds beforeing to the Roost.


    "Yes, I suppose you would not know. Let me see. If I remember correctly around four hundred years ago, rifts in this dimension began to appear and the beings that have been ssified as elementals since their bodies are made up entirely of such things as fire or water began pouring into this world. It is unknown to us at the Roost at least why this happened, but it is safe to say that some force greater than what any of us can understand caused it."

 Chapter 114 114 Testing Evelyn’s Immunity To Fire

    ?Evelyn could only sit with a shocked expression as Melisandre exined what little she knew about the beings known as elementals, whiche from another dimension from the one Evelyn has found herself in.


    "A few expeditions have been made to enter these rifts, but none ever came back so such foolishness was halted quickly. Now all that is done is that the powers closest to each rift monitors them and tries to keep whateveres out under control. For the ones in control of the rift that created the inferno fields, you will not have to worry. We are not really allies but neither are we hostile. You need only leave any tortoises you see alone, and everything should be fine."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn took it in stride that a group of tortoises simr to the Roost were in charge of the territory and agreed to not get involved with them.


    "But this actually sounds much easier than trying to steal a float stone. All I have to do is go to the ce and get the flower. No humans involved at all." Evelyn said with a pleased smile.


    Yet Melisandre narrowed her eyes and gave Evelyn a harsh look for thinking this would be easy.


    "Did I not just tell you about how dangerous the elementals are. Even the weaker ones are pretty strong, and they attack with extreme ferocity whenever they spot any living creature. Being overconfident will lead to your downfall." Melisandre warned.


    Still, Evelyn had pretty much figured out that she was immune to fire and figured that she would have no problem dealing with beings that wereprised of it.


    "No need to worry Melisandre, fire cannot hurt me. You were watching when that other owl attacked me. I got off without even getting singed." Evelyn said confidently.


    "Very well, let us put your theory to the test. Certainly you took the mes of another fiend beast without any problems, but how will you fare against mine."


    Seeing the dangerous glint in Melisandre''s eyes, Evelyn almost mmed her head onto the floor to ask for forgiveness. But she managed to stay strong and hold her ground.


    Arger part of her really wanted to fine out if her resistance to fire would go so far as to protect her from even Melisandre''s mes.


    "If it would be no trouble, then I would be happy to test it out with you Melisandre." Evelyn said with as much confidence as she could muster.


    In fact, she surprised Melisandre who figured that she would back down.


    "Okay, let us head to the training room then." Melisandre said as she lifted into the air and began flying towards the exit of the room.


    A couple of minutester she and Evelyn were in therge training room that was reinforced to be able to take powerful attacks.


    "I will start off with a fairly small and weak attack." Melisandre said as she lifted up her left index finger and a small ball of fire burst up out of it.


    "This is around the strength of an attack from your average mid-tier awakened beast give or take a little. If you cannot at leaste out unscathed from this, you have no chance of taking the attacks from an elemental."


    After giving this warning Melisandreunched the small ball of mes at a speed Evelyn could barely keep track of.


    In an instant it connected with her left shoulder and began expanding until it covered the upper part of her left side.


    For most owls at Evelyn''s rank this would leave them horrible burned with melted feathers and flesh fusing together.


    However, just as Evelyn had said, she seemed immune and hade outpletely unharmed. Much to Melisandre''s surprise.


    "You really are highly resistant to fire. This just renews my wanting to know what makes your me so special, but I shall hold off since you are not ready to tell me."


    Melisandre then conjured a much more intense ball of fire that emitted enough heat to raise the temperature of the entire room by a dozen degrees.


    "This has the intensity of heat from of newly evolved tyrant rank beast. This is quite the jump up in power from before, so brace yourself since it might really hurt." Melisandre said before firing out the small ball of me.


    This time it moved even faster, to the point that Evelyn could not keep track of it, and she did not know it hit until she felt it impact against her shoulder in the same spot as thest one.


    This time though it did not expand, as Melisandre wanted to be careful and not really harm Evelyn by keeping the affected area condensed.


    Except her worry seemed for not, as when the intense me died down Evelyn was still perfectly fine.


    "Now this is unprecedented. That me was over four thousand degrees and would have melted steel easily. But you arepletely unharmed without even deploying any form of defenses." Melisandre said with an astonished tone.


    She knew already that Evelyn seemed unnaturally resistant to fire and heat, but this was beyond what she originally thought possible.


    Certainly, she had held back a lot on the area of effect from her attack, but the intensity of the fire was still around the level of a newly evolved tyrant beast.


    "I see that your im was not just bravado. Now allow me to test exactly how far it goes." Melisandre said with a serious glint in her eyes.


    The next small ball of fire that she conjured was far brighter than the others and the heat it radiated felt like a small sun.


    Even the reinforced flooring around Melisandre began to lose its solid structure under the immense heat she was generating.


    "This is as hot a me as I can currently create. You will find that it is around ten thousand degrees. Judging from how well you have resisted my mes so far, even if this does affect you it should not be lethal. But still, before we proceed, I would ask that you reconsider. I truly do not wish to hurt you." Melisandre said with worry in her eyes.


    Up to this point she had been confident that Evelyn would get off with just a few burns, but now she was exerting the full intensity of her fire magic even if she was holding back heavily on the area of effect.


    Even her attendants Anneli and Katrina would start to burn just by being within the vicinity of the me she was currently using, and she was very afraid to do something horrible to Evelyn.


    "No, I want to keep going. This is to not only prove to you but myself my immunity to fire." Evelyn said while tension formed throughout her body.


    She believed she would be able to take any sort of me ande out without any damage, but it was still initiating seeing the intense ball of fire hovering above Melisandre''s finger.


    With Evelyn''s stalwart desire to test out her resistance to mes, Melisandre steeled her heart and fired the ball of me at Evelyn.


    As it traveled the ground below it began to melt just from the heat it radiated, and when it hit Evelyn the area around her quickly turned molten and she became unseeable in a bright sh of light.

 Chapter 115 115 Ways Around A Fire Immunity

    ?As the light from her attack began to recede, Melisandre waited with bated breath to see if Evelyn was okay.


    She knew she had done as her disciple had asked, but she still felt panicked to have thrown her hottest possible fire magic at her even if she had resisted everything else.


    Yet when she saw Evelyn, she let out a deep sigh of relief to see that she waspletely unharmed.


    But this relief soon turned into amazement, as she could not really believe that Evelyn was still unscathed from being hit by an attack hot enough to melt practically anything on the.


    ''I really took that without even getting slightly scorched.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at her shoulder where the small ball of me hit.


    The heat itself had actually felt a bit ufortable when it touched her, but other than that no damage was done to her even though the floor around her had melted.


    Luckily, she had not been on the ground when this happened, otherwise she would have been covered in molten stone which would have been difficult to get off.


    When things began to calm down after a few seconds of silence, Evelyn raised her head proudly towards Melisandre.


    "See, I told you that fire could not hurt me. I do not exactly understand it, but I am immune to be burned or overheated."


    Nodding her head, Melisandre could only agree as she had witnessed it for herself the absolute ability to withstand fire that Evelyn had.


    She was able to take a hit from fire hot enough to kill any other fiend beast just by being in its presence, showing her unnatural power that should not have been possible.


    ''As long as it is fire based, she can take the attack from even a peak sovereign beast like me. That is an ability far greater than any simple me is capable of. I do not know what kind of power that crimson me she has acquired is, but it must be something more exceptional than I ever imagined.''


    Racking her brain Melisandre tried toe up with some sort of exnation for Evelyn''s immunity to fire, but each was so farfetched that she found them hard to believe.


    But when all other answers were impossible, all that was left must have been true, and this left Melisandre wondering which of the few possibilities she coulde up with pertained to Evelyn.


    "It seems that you really are immune to fire as you said you are." Melisandre said after approaching Evelyn and patting her on the back. "In that case even a ce as dangerous as the inferno field will not be much of a problem as long as you are careful, but you should not let this power go to your head. There are still ways that you can be hurt by fire even if it cannot burn you."


    An instant after Melisandre said this, she created a farrger ball of fire in her hand and caused it to explode in front of Evelyn.


    Before she knew it, she had the wind knocked out of her, and she was flung back dozens of feet before impacting hard against a wall.


    ''Ow.''


    Pulling herself up, Evelyn could feel dull pain all over her body from the impact she had just taken.


    Certainly, the heat of the fire had not caused her and damage, but the sudden explosion''s concussive force still did.


    When Evelyn got back up, she could see Melisandre already standing over her with a smug look on her face.


    "That is just one way that I already devised to harm you even though you are immune to fire. You need to be very mindful of your opponent''s abilities even if you believe they cannot harm you." Melisandre said as she extended a potion to Evelyn.


    Taking it, Evelyn downed what was obviously a healing potion and she felt the damage she had taken being fixed at an incredible rate.


    "Now fly up into the air and wait for my next attack. I am going to show you another way I have devised to defeat you even with mes." Melisandre said, giving Evelyn no room to disagree.


    Knowing that she had no choice and that this would be a good learning experience, Evelyn took up into the air and waited with her beak clenched for Melisandre''s next attack.


    To her astonishment this time instead of just a small amount of fire like she had been using up to this point, Melisandre unleashed a massive storm of fire and wrapped it around Evelyn like a twister.


    Surprisingly as she braced herself for some type of damage nothing happened even while she was engulfedpletely in a swirling storm of fire.


    For a minute she just stayed there waiting for something to happen, but it never did.


    Eventually she tried to fly out and tell Melisandre that whatever she was trying failed, but when she did the fire twister followed her.


    She kept trying to get away from it, but wherever she went it followed.


    Then after a few minutes she began to get lightheaded, and as she gasped for air none came to her.


    All of the oxygen in the vicinity was being burned up by Melisandre''s fire and there was not any left for Evelyn to breath.


    Soon enough she began to copse and fell towards the floor as her consciousness started slipping.


    But right before she impacted, she felt someone catch her, and as she suddenly was able to breathe again her consciousness was slowlying back to her.


    "There, I believe that was a good demonstration of another way your immunity does not protect you." Melisandre said as she put Evelyn down.


    As the fuzziness in her head from being asphyxiated started to clear, Evelyn looked towards Melisandre with both respect and fear in her eyes.


    She had just shown Evelyn two ways around her immunity that she certainly would not have expected and would allow her to be wary of them in the future.


    However, the fact that Melisandre thought both of them up so quickly was what scared Evelyn.


    In only a matter of a few minutes she had devised multiple ways to kill Evelyn even with an element she was supposedly immune to.


    "Thank you for showing me my weaknesses, Melisandre. You are right in that I was feeling overly confident in my ability to be immune to mes, and in the future, I could have been in trouble if you had not shown me what you did. From now on I will be careful even if my opponent is using fire magic." Evelyn said as she bowed her head in gratitude.


    It was quite clear that Melisandre had just given her a bit of pain now so that in the future she would not be killed by her arrogance.


    "I am d you were able to understand what I was trying to teach you. But truly, your immunity to the heat of fire is nothing short of astounding. I know you wish to keep your powers a secret so I will not pry, but should you ever wish to tell me, I am all ears."

 Chapter 116 116 Routine Days And Contemplation

    ?After Melisandre taught Evelyn not to be conceited in her immunity to the heat generated by fire, she continued training her for the rest of the day to teach her ways to defend herself against anyone else crafty enough to pick up on the methods that could still harm her.


    "I suppose that will have to do for now. When you eventually get control over your magical energy you will be able to do more, but in case someone around or a little stronger than you tries to use any of these methods to harm you even with fire, you should be okay now."


    Completely exhausted from the training Melisandre had just put her through, all Evelyn could do was nod her head ever so slightly and let out an exhausted grunt.


    "Since you worked so hard and showed me something interesting, I will take you back to your room." Melisandre said as she picked up Evelyn effortlessly.


    Sometimes Evelyn still found it surprising to see how physically strong Melisandre seemed even though her humanoid form was far smaller than she was now.


    Soon enough Melisandre had carried her all the way to her room and ced her a top the tree branch growing in there where she was able to rest.


    "Now get some rest and take it easy tomorrow. You have been trying to move at full speed ahead, and while your progress has been exceptional it could lead you to ruin if you do not slow down. Just know that you have plenty of time, so simply go at a steady pace and slowly advance yourself. No one climbs the ranks in a single day and to really get stronger takes long term dedication, not just immense bursts of progress."


    Once Melisandre had given thisst piece of wisdom, she left Evelyn to herself, and she quickly drifted off to sleep.


    The following weeks Evelyn decided to take Melisandre up on her advice and take things slower.


    She had been rushing herself to get stronger for a while now, but she had hit a wall that could not be ovee by simply forcing herself forward, and now she needed to take some time and develop her skills.


    Her days became far more routine as she would sell her creations in the alchemy hall around four or five days a week, and then after that practice her control over magic.


    Then one of the other two days she would either receive lessons on alchemy from Melisandre or simply practice her control more and more.


    Some days Melisandre would send her out on more missions, primally to the glowing woods she was already familiar with to obtain more and sometimes new ingredients she needed for alchemy.


    During this time, she also reced her now broken storage amulets with two rings that had smaller capacities and one very expensive cuff that had a capacity that was asrge as three of her previous amulets.


    All of these items had cost her several hundred thousand credits, but her alchemy shop was doing pretty good business, and over a few months she had more than made up the cost of buying the storage magic tools.


    Currently she was heavily embroiled in training her magical energy while also familiarizing herself with the magical affinities she hade to possess.


    By way of her bloodline from her parents she had the fairlymon power over wind, the crimson heavenly me had given her the power of fire, and the Aethersphere, a divine item she still had little clue about had given her the extraordinary power over gravity.


    In order for her to take the next step, she not only needed catalysts to bring about her evolution, but also a sufficient understanding over her magical powers.


    ''What is wind, fire, and gravity?'' Evelyn thoughting back to the question she had been contemting for a while now.


    She certainly knew plenty about the first two from her time in school back on Earth, and at least a bit about gravity as well. But this world was far different than herst one.


    In her previous life there was science, but in this one there is magic. Yet the more she looked at the magic in this world the more she understood that it did follow rules just like science.


    However, they were certainly still different, and what rules governed magic she was not quite sure about yet.


    Nevertheless, Melisandre had also told her that one''s own understanding of magic was often different from another''s and that what mattered most was how confident one was in their understanding.


    First, she focused on wind the element she had been able to use for the longest and was naturally apart of her.


    She was able to use her magical energy to create gusts of wind and after a great deal of practice des, but there was much more that should be possible.


    She had seen all the amazing ways that Melisandre was able to manipte both fire and water, which were far beyond what she could do.


    Then there was the human that had defeated her parents.


    His magic was far from as polished as Melisandre''s and he had to use indications to activate his spells, but he was able to create phenomena that were beyond just basic maniption of an element.


    ''I know that in extreme cases wind can create tornados and hurricanes, but it can also be gentle and refreshing.''


    For dozens of minutes Evelyn contemted this and about what wind meant to her and how to use it before moving onto fire.


    ''Fire can burn hot and turn everything to ash. It is undoubtedly the strongest weapon I currently have. But that is not all it can do. I have used it for cooking, illumination, and warmth. When not used for destruction, it has great potential for helping to keep things alive. If I think about it that way in its most extreme form, it is like a star. From the correct distance it brings warmth, life, and light. But too close and it incinerates everything.''


    When she was finished with fire she moved onto gravity, but this was something she was far less familiar with.


    She knew that it was what kept things from simply floating around and that it was somehow tied to mass and weight, but and that the greater something''s mass the more gravity it was supposed to have.


    But somehow her Aethersphere was able to alter the gravity in a specific area around her or even set up traps. All without altering anything''s mass.


    This was an effect that Evelyn simply could notprehend in a normal scientifical way and for now could only chalked it up to being magic.


    Eventually she moved on from this line of thinking as she was not getting anywhere and moved on to magical energy as a whole.


    It was a sort of ambient power that permeated the air in this world and that living beings could store inside themselves.


    Evelyn for her part was a real anomaly with two cores that were able to store this energy giving her even more than normal.


    Along with them though she developed magical affinities which were influenced by her lineage and the outside powers she had absorbed.


    ''But how do I control this power within me. I can use it to cause fire to burst out or shot out gusts of wind. Or even change the gravity around me. Yet I still cannot fully control it. Melisandre said that if I kept practicing one day it would all just click, but there must be some way to figure it out.''


    Digging deep and feeling towards her beast core Evelyn tried once more to draw out her pure magical energy, but with no sess.


    All she did was create a gust of wind and when she tired using her magic core instead she just caused a puff of fire.


    In both cases it was apletely underwhelming affect for how determined Evelyn was.


    Her two cores had already long since adopted the magical affinities within her body, making it harder for her to draw out an manipte the pure magical energy.


    Eventually she started to be more desperate and began doing things like bncing on one foot or resting her entire weight on her head.


    Of course, none of these positions helped her in anyway and she just looked silly.


    ''I am exhausted again.'' Evelyn thought after she had fruitlessly tried numerous positions in hope of reaching some sort of enlightenment.


    With another day not making much progress, she sighed and headed back to her room after having spent the whole day training.


    When she arrived, she flew back up to her normal perch and settled into to go to sleep.


    Except as she was in the area of her consciousness waning and her mind was still thinking of ways to allow her to control her magical energy, she had an idea far more promising than any she had thought of before.


    ''This just might work.''

 Chapter 117 117 Breakthrough

    ?With a new ideaing to her mind as she was about to drift to sleep Evelyn shot fully awake as her exactment pushed past her exhaustion.


    For months now she had had no real sess with trying to control her magical energy as Melisandre demonstrated not long after epting her as a disciple.


    It was the mark of the truly strong in this world as it allowed whoever could master this skill the ability to use magic more fluidly.


    Right now, there was little to no intricacies in Evelyn''s control over her magic. All she could do for the most part was just unleash it in gusts of wind or bursts of fire, without much finesse.


    Of course, she also had her gravity powers which were more refined, but those were innate powers of the Aethersphere, not something she was doing on her own.


    ''Come on you stupid lift, go faster.'' Evelyn thought as she descended to the second floor of her room.


    Before the elevator even reached the floor, she jumped off of it and rushed over to the advancement chamber.


    Once there she opened up the slot where she could deposit magic crystals and put in four red ones which was far more than she ever had before.


    Though before closing it and starting up the magical device, Evelyn hesitated.


    ''If this fails, I will be out quite a few credits. Even just these red ones cost at least thirty thousand a piece from the vendors in the crystal hall. Also, I am certain that Melisandre will be angry if she finds out, since this is above the limit she set for me. But if this is to work, I need a huge amount of magical energy in the air.''


    Going back and forth on what to do, Evelyn eventually decided to go ahead with her n and closed the slot before starting up the advancement chamber.


    Soon enough the magic device was ready, and she entered into it as it was flooded with magical energy.


    Immediately Evelyn could feel the far greater density than what was outside, and as she breathed in the magical energy flowed into her.


    Yet her body and cores were already at their peak and could go no further until she reached the next rank. And once her emptied cores were refilled, the magical energy began overwhelming her body very quickly.


    Luckily the Aethersphere began whirling within her chest and took in the excess magical energy, since it needed what Evelyn could only assume was an absurd amount to fix itself.


    ''Focus on the flow. Right now what ising in is pure magical energy that has not been absorbed by my cores. This is what I need to figure out how to bring out instead of just using my magic affinities.''


    Dozens of minutes went by as Evelyn turned all of her attention to how the magical energy was moving around her body now that it was flooded with so much.


    Normally this would have made any other beast sick or even killed them, but the Aethersphere was preventing her from overdosing on the immense amount of magical energy that was currently within the same confined area as her.


    Continuously she tried getting a reading on the flow of magical energy while pushing what was stored in her cores out in the form of fire or wind while trying to get a feel for the difference.


    Then after nearly thirty minutes when the magical energy was just beginning to lessen around her, she noticed something.


    The magical energy that came out of either her beast core or magic core had a different feeling than the pure energy she was currently taking in.


    It was faint and minute, but it was clear that as soon as her magical energy left either core it was already imbued with the power of her affinities. Which was why when it left her body it either created mes or wind.


    Next, she tired doing the same with the Aethersphere, and felt the magical energy she sent into it change again as the divine item manipted her magical energy.


    ''I see, I just need to some how pull my power out pure instead of already primed with my affinities.'' Evelyn thought having made the first bit of progress since she started trying to control her magical energy.


    With a path to go down now she left the advancement chamber and flew back to the training room.


    She wanted to get started immediately, but she was not sure if what she did next might cause damage to her surroundings, so she made sure not to continue any further in her room.


    To start she expelled a huge amount of magical energy at once and created arge gust of wind with it.


    Her goal was to get a feel for how exactly her magical energy felt being used to create wind and then to focus on what the difference was between pure magical energy and what was already dyed in her affinities.


    Circting her magical energy around her body, she tried multiple times to try and bring it to its pure form. Then after many tries, she eventually managed to separate just the smallest amount of pure magical energy.


    As soon as she had this little bit of sess her heart rate began to spike, and anticipation welled up inside her.


    Slowly she brought out the small amount of pure magical energy she had managed to separate from the influence affinities and brought it to the tip of her wing.


    Once it left her body, it came out as a small whisp of blue light before and quickly dispersing into the air as it lost its form.


    However, even just seeing this little bit of progress was enough to bring Evelyn to tears, as all her efforts to try and control her magical energy finally showed even the slightest bit of results.


    ''Now I just need to figure out how to bring it out of my cores in its pure form instead of running it through my body like a centrifuge until I get the smallest amount of pure magical energy.''


    Unfortunately, as Evelyn renewed her resolve to continue training, she suddenly began to wobble, and she felt a hard impact on the ground as her head was spinning.


    She had already been exhausted before she attempted her new training method, and now her excitement could no longer push past her physical limits which she had already exceeded.


    Her body simply could not go on any longer, and within just a few minutes her consciousness left her.


    When she woke up, she found herself back in her roomid down on top of therge branch in her room.


    Immediately she could feel how sore she was from having slept on her back which was not normal for owls.


    ''Ugh I feel like i just took a beating.'' Evelyn thought as she propped herself back up.


    Swiftly she rubbed the fuzziness out of her eyes with her wings and let out a long yawn.


    But as soon as she was slightly more awake and aware of her surroundings, she noticed that someone was sitting in a corner of her room and staring at her.


    "It looks like you are finally awake. Would you mind exining to me what you were doing before you copsed?" Melisandre said with a cold tone.


    Wincing and taking a step back, Evelyn could tell that she was furious due to the smile on her face that did not reach her eyes.


    Moving over to Melisandre, Evelyn waited for her to extend the thin strand of magical energy and exined what she had been doing.


    Luckily this seemed to make Melisandre forget all about her anger when she heard that Evelyn had a very small amount of sess in controlling her magical energy.


    "Really!? That is amazing! Go ahead and show me right now!"


    Doing as her master said, Evelyn focused within herself and used the same method she had before.


    Within a few minutes of swirling her magical energy around inside her she managed to separate out a small bit of pure magical energy and expelled it outside of her body.


    The instant Melisandre saw this she jumped up and made a gleeful sound Evelyn waspletely shocked by.


    "You really are talented! To be able to do even that much after not even four months of training is astounding!"


    However, as she said this, she remembered what sort of crazy training method Evelyn had used to bring about this result, and once again fixed her with a harsh look.


    "Now while the results may have been impressive, what you did was beyond reckless. I already warned you about how too much magical energy at once could kill. Next time you want to try something like thise to me first and we can discuss it together and I can watch over you." Melisandre said with a serious tone.


    Nodding her head Evelyn agreed not to attempt anymore rash experiments with herself as the test subject.


    "But still, a celebration is in order. You have taken the first step in learning to control your magical energy, and once you have perfected your ability to do so we can really begin your training in how to use magic." Melisandre said with a bright smile on her face that had reced the scowl she had been giving Evelyn just a minute ago.


    After that Melisandre had Katrina and Anneli make a veritable feast of delicious food for all of them to enjoy together, and they spent the rest of the day celebrating Evelyn achievement in controlling her magical energy.

 Chapter 118 118 The Next Step In Learning Control

    ?After the celebration for Evelyn''s sess in taking the first step towards learning to control her magical energy, Melisandre began making a new schedule for her.


    "Now that you are getting closer you will need more time to practice. To that end until I am satisfied with your abilities you will need to cut back on your alchemy training and running your stall in the alchemy hall. I believe that only selling your creations three days a week will suffice and we can spend the other four wholly devoted to teaching you how to properly use magic."


    Nodding along, Evelyn was excited enough to pretty much not care about anything else, and even suggested that she simply work at learning to control her magical energy every day until she had it down.


    "I am d you are enthusiastic but there is no need to work yourself that hard. If you force yourself to exhaustion like you did yesterday, you are more likely to make a mistake and hurt yourself. Even the four days a week is an intense training schedule to begin with." Melisandre said, trying to keep Evelyn in check.


    She had a habit of going all out whenever she learned something new that could make her stronger, and often it ended with her ending up unconscious from overwork as what happened yesterday.


    epting Melisandre''s advice, Evelyn calmed down and thought back to her most recent copse.


    ''I want to get right to it and learn how to really use magic just like Melisandre, but I would prefer not to feel as awful as I did yesterday.'' Evelyn thought,ing to the decision to take it easier.


    With that decided she spent the rest of the day practically idle and for the first time just sat down and read a book Melisandre had loaned her.


    Her understanding of thengue in this world had only been at an elementary level to begin with, but she had been getting a bit rusty and this was a good opportunity to brush up on it.


    Hours went by this way until it was time again for bed and Evelyn happily went to sleep knowing that tomorrow she would practice how to use her magical energy and build on what she had achieved.


    Around another dozen days went by as Evelyn spent the majority of her time practicing her control over her magical energy and only on the twelfth day was she able to sessfully bring out her pure magical energy one hundred percent of the time.


    "Very good. You have made remarkable progress again with your determination and out of the box training methods. Now that you can manifest your pure magical energy, we can work on shaping it as you desire." Melisandre said with a proud smile.


    In contrast, Evelyn while excited, was breathing heavily and slumped up against a wall.


    She waspletely exhausted after working on being able to seamlessly bring out pure magical energy.


    It had not been an easy process as the magical energy within her always wanted toe out already imbued with the power of her affinities.


    But continuous practice and getting a feel for her magical energy had paid off, and now she could bring out the power within her without activating either of her magical affinities.


    Still, while she had gotten to the point of being able to do it a hundred out of a hundred times, which was the requirement that Mmine had set. She was too tired to go on.


    "Melisandre would you mind letting me rest for the rest of the day and tomorrow as well? I think I have reached my limit." Evelyn said with a pleading expression.


    This actually caught Melisandre by surprise as she had expected her disciple to want to push full steam ahead.


    "Sure, that is perfectly fine. We can begin your magic practice when you are ready."


    With Melisandre''s go-ahead, Evelyn returned to her room and passed out practically immediately.


    The next day she took some rare time to just do pretty much nothing and enjoyed some idle time.


    However, she eventually became bored and for the first time since she arrived in this world, she really longed for the entertainment that Earth had.


    ''While I enjoy books, Melisandre has very few stories and I wish I could watch a show of some sorts or y a video game.''


    Yet as she thought about his she remembered that the Roost had an entertainment area that Anneli had glossed over.


    There she would be able to watch ys at least and decided to go and give it a try.


    ''That was certainly different.'' Evelyn thought after she finished watching a y.


    It had not been like anything she had ever seen back on Earth which was to be expected since it was performed by owls.


    Unlike the ys that took ce on a stage in the Roost the performance area was a giant sphere that allowed the owls that were performing to move around in three dimensions without much restriction.


    Also, the story had been somewhat different from what might be expected from an Earth, performance as a group of stalwart owls went out to gather rare materials for their sweethearts.


    Overall, the y had been alright. The story from Evelyn''s perspective had been in and not very engaging. But the effects that could be pulled off with the owl''s aerial maneuverability and magic was something to be seen and carried the entire show.


    Her day of leisure now reaching its end, Evelyn returned to Melisandre''s mansion for dinner, and soon went to sleep to rest for the big day where she would begin training how to use magic.


    Upon her awakening Evelyn felt in peak condition and after washing herself off headed straight over to the training room.


    When she arrived, she found that Melisandre was not there yet and decided to refresh herself on controlling her magical energy.


    Luckily everything went well, and she had no problems bringing it out and felt ready to take on the next step.


    "Oh, you are already here!" Melisandre said with a little surprise in her voice as she warped into the room.


    "Yes, I was feeling anxious and could not wait to get started." Evelyn said through the connection Melisandre had established with her.


    "Good, then we will begin with a simple magical energy attack. I am sure you remembered the first time I showed you what I did but allow me to demonstrate again."


    Swiftly Melisandre held out her right and the blue glow of magical energy quickly coalesced in her hand before she fired it off.


    With the same devastating power it had the first time she saw it, Melisandre''s magical energy attack sted right through a steel panel like it was made of wet paper.


    "Whew, this time I managed to hold back enough and not damage the wall." Melisandre said under her breath.


    She then turned to Evelyn and said, "Give it a try. I doubt you will be able to blow through the steel te like I did, but you might be able to put a small dent in it."


    Having received Melisandre''s encouragement and instructions, Evelyn held both of her wings forward and focused.


    She had already gotten used to moving her magical energy and expelling it, but this was the first time she was going to focus it into a projectile.


    Slowly and carefully, she brought out more and more energy forming it into a ball just as Melisandre had.


    ''I wonder if it would work better if I made it spin like a bullet fired from a gun with rifling.''


    However, the moment after she had this almost absent-minded thought, a memory of hers that was almostpletely repressed surfaced.


    Vividly she recalled the time she shot her human father when she felt she simply could take no more of his abuse.


    This caused he concentration to wane and the half-formed projectile became unstable and exploded around her.


    Yet somehow, she felt no pain, and when she opened her eyes expecting to see her wings damaged, instead Melisandre was standing right in front of her, and they were surrounded in a shimmering blue barrier of water.


    ''What just happened!?'' Evelyn thought as she could not quite process what was going on.


    One moment she was losing control of her emotions and magical energy, and the next she was standing behind Melisandre surrounded by water.


    "Evelyn are you alright?" Melisandre said with worry visible on her face.


    "Yes, I think I am fine." Evelyn said still in a bit of a daze from all that had just happened.


    Not only was she feeling frightened by the near explosion she caught herself up in, but the memory of her killing her father was currently ying through her mind.


    Letting out a sigh of relief Melisandre dropped the barrier she had created around herself and Evelyn and looked intently at her disciple.


    "What went wrong? You seemed to have everything under control, but suddenly your magical energy went haywire."


    Lowering her head Evelyn knew she could not say what had actually been on her mind. But she at least told Melisandre that she had suddenly remembered something traumatizing from her past.


    "I see. Then if you need some time to get your thoughts in order, might I rmend speaking to Anneli. She is quite empathic and is good at listening to others'' problems."


    "No, I will be fine. It was simply a phantom from the past. It cannot really hurt me anymore. It just made me lose concentration for a moment. That is all."

 Chapter 119 119 Learning To Use Magic

    ?With Evelyn''s assurance that she could continue, Melisandre assented to her wished and stepped back to let her try again.


    Though this time she was far more on guard so that if she noticed Evelyn losing control again, she could intervene before it became explosive.


    ''Just calm down. Empty out all unnecessary thoughts and look towards the future. What happened in the past is gone, all I need to focus on now is making a better future for myself.''


    When she had steeled her mind and resolve, Evelyn opened her eyes resolutely and began collecting magical energy in the tip of her wings again.


    This time she did not allow forging thoughts to invade her mind and held fast on her concentration.


    ''I cannot contain anymore.'' She thought when she had umted the maximum amount of magical energy she felt she could control.


    Then she imagined it firing off and sot the magical energy just as Melisandre had.


    It moved far slower than her master''s and arge amount of the collected energy broke off before it reached the target. But the shot did hit the target with a loud bag and exploded in a burst of energy.


    ''I did it!'' Evelyn thought with exhration.


    She had now seeded in her first application of using pure magical energy and fired off a basic attack with it.


    Was it overly impressive in terms of power, no. But Evelyn still felt extremely proud that her efforts hade to bear fruit.


    "That was pretty good, but you brought out too much energy. That may have been the most you can barely control at once, but it became unstable the second you fired it off. Use a smaller amount you can manipte easier and make it more stable so thatrge chucks of magical energy to not break off." Melisandre said, critiquing Evelyn''s first shot of magical energy.


    Doing as her master said, Evelyn tried again and while the st had less overall power when she fired it, this time it did not break apart as much and actually reached the target with more force behind it.


    "Good, you pick this up pretty quickly, though I am not all that surprised at this point." Melisandre said with a delighted expression.


    She then instructed Evelyn to continue firing of shots of magical energy with different amounts until she was satisfied with the results.


    Yet, before Melisandre every gave her approval, Evelyn felt her magical energy stores reach empty and she copsed from exhaustion.


    "Your capacity never ceases to amaze me. I figured you would have given out thirty minutes ago." Melisandre said with an impressed look. "Now drink this and recover a bit of stamina before going to bed. We will start again in two days when you are back to your peak. Just spend tomorrow selling your creations in your shop. It can be detrimental to stay closed down for too long."


    After her first day of training to use magical energy, Evelyn retired to her room with droopy eyes and a worn-out body.


    When the next day came, she took her time getting up and only made it down to the first floor of the alchemy hall slightly more than a minute before opening.


    ''I am d Melisandre told me not to continue practicing today. I am still beat.'' Evelyn thought while she slowly refilled her empty shelves.


    As the owls flooded in as usual, she received slightly more business this day than normal since her regr customers were moring to buy her potions, pills, salves, and oils that they needed more of.


    At this point she could now make twelve district items thanks to Melisandre''s teaching, and all of them were quite useful and sold well.


    It was safe to say that on the first floor Evelyn now had one of the best performing stalls even when only being a fiend beast.


    ''I made a bit more than forty thousand today. After subtracting the material costs, I guess I earned somewhere around twenty-five or twenty-six thousand credits in profit.''


    With the daying to an end Evelyn packed up her shop and headed back up to Melisandre''s mansion to eat a meal and get some rest.


    Once the next day came Evelyn found herself back to unleashing shot after shot of magical energy under Melisandre''s supervision.


    Yet even after the next day she did not receive a passing grade from Melisandre. And after another day of working her stall, she got back to what was an endless firing of magical energy.


    This went on for nearly two weeks. Where she would use all of her magical energy creating projectiles of magical energy and then the next day she would open up her alchemy stall and rest for the day.


    Finally, on the thirteenth day of this routine as when she started firing off shots of magical energypletely on reflex without thinking about it at all did Melisandre stop her.


    Coming out of what was pretty much a stupor, Evelyn looked at Melisandre in surprise as she had almost forgotten that there was anything else other than just firing off her magical energy.


    "You have finally gotten to the point where you do not need to consciously control your magical energy and release it from your body. You have nowpleted the third step in learning to control your magical energy and finished all of the hardest parts that many give up on." Melisandre said while patting Evelyn on the back.


    She continued to congratte her for her efforts, but Evelyn was still wondering if she had done anything so impressive.


    But when she asked this of Melisandre, her master responded, saying, "Huh? Of course, it is amazing. Not just anyone can get this far. It takes a lot of perseverance and dedication. It is normally not something a fiend beast would ever learn and is normally picked up after around five or ten years after one reaches the awakened rank. Your progress is astounding in that regard. You are likely one of the fastest in the Roost''s history to learn this skill." Melisandre said whileplementing Evelyn.


    Though her praising did notst long before she gave Evelyn her next assignment.


    "Now I am sure that you have noticed by now how much easier it is to mold your pure magical energy and control it. This time instead of just a sphere, make it into a thin point like a needle." Melisandre said while giving and example.


    Looking closely Evelynmitted to memory the shape of Melisandre''s magical energy and did her best to reproduce it.


    And just as she had said it was much easier to manipte its shape and only took Evelyn around a minute to do so.


    "Good, now fire it off and then do a repetition of thirty shots in a row." Melisandre instructed.


    Doing just that Evelyn found by the twentieth shot it was pretty easy to shape her magical energy like a needle and she began firing them off without thinking about it much at all.


    "Perfect you managed to get into the rhythm of it pretty easily. Now alternate between a round shot and the needle shot for sixty sts in total."


    Trying this out, Evelyn found it a bit more difficult at first to alternate between the shapes, but near the end it was just as easy to do as firing them out sequentially without changing their shapes in between each st.


    After that Melisandre had her do this in different sequences until she eventually ran out of magical energy.


    "I believe that will suffice for today. You have ovee the hardest part of learning to control your magical energy. Now I have a bunch of things I need to do, so for the next three weeks continue to practice on your own. Familiarize yourself with molding your magical energy into as many different shapes as you want. This will help youter when we start incorporating your affinities into your training." Melisandre exined.


    Evelyn''s lesson for the day now over she flew to the kitchen where Anneli had prepared another feast to celebrate her achievements.


    "To think you could pass through all of these milestones so quickly. My teacher only passed me after I did simr training for six weeks, and I was an awakened beast already. But I suppose you are not only talented but fiercely dedicated. It just makes me realize I need to work harder as well." Anneli said while they were eating together.


    It seemed that Evelyn drive to get stronger had also rubbed off on Anneli, and by the looks of it Katrina who was wearing a determined expression as well.


    The three of them then got to chatting and Evelyn found out that Anneli had been at the peak of the awakened rank for sixteen years and Katrina had been there for thirteen.


    And while Evelyn thought this was an extremely long amount of time, it was apparently not umon for it took take several decades for a peak awakened beast to raise their rank to be a tyrant beast.


    "Well good luck with your continued training Evelyn. You can count on me to keep producing delicious meals that will restore your stamina and magical energy." Anneli said while giving Evelyn a wink.


    "Likewise, if you need my help or advice about any of the intricacies of the Roost, feel free to ask." Katrina said.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn thanked the two of them for their continued help and support before heading off to her room and getting some needed rest.

 Chapter 120 120 Learning To Use Magic (2)

    ?Over the next few weeks just as Melisandre said Evelyn experimented with molding her magical energy into different shapes.


    She tried numerous different objects and forms along with continuing to practice the basics of simply firing off small shots of her magic energy.


    At first, she found it difficult to rapidly change the shape of her magical energy, but as she got more familiar with whatever it was, she was trying to create it got a lot easier for her.


    Of course, certain things were just pretty much impossible if they were too intricate, or she did not fully understand how to form them.


    ''Nope, stairs are not happening. I cannot think of a reason why I would need them anyway so best to give up and move on.''


    Once she had finished trying out a few more of her oundish ideas, she practiced the practical things she hade up with before Melisandre arrived.


    Today was the day she would be teaching Evelyn how to really use magic.


    "I can see that you have been training hard." Melisandre said as she appeared in the room.


    Nodding her head and smiling, Evelyn felt quite happy to see her master again.


    It had been three weeks since Melisandre hadst been home, and this time apart made Evelyn realize how close she had grown to her.


    "Now show me what different forms you have be adept at."


    Doing as Melisandre asked, Evelyn pulled out her pure magical energy and first formed it into a basic sphere like she had first been taught, and then a needle.


    Then she switched to something moreplicated and made it into a de, before switching it into an arrow.


    Next, she brought arge amount of her magical energy and formed it into a thick wall in front of her.


    Quickly she went through what forms she had been practicing and showed them all to Melisandre.


    "Very good. Your imagination and ability to bring it about is impable. I say that you have a passing grade from me." Melisandre said, happy to see Evelyn''s progress.


    "Now there is onest thing I need to teach you before we move onto the next step. Focus your magical energy around your head and send it out in a thin strand towards me."


    Realizing what Melisandre meant by this, Evelyn started beaming with joy. She was finally learning the technique that would allow her tomunicate directly with others.


    Turning all her attention to this task Evelyn imagined the thin thread of magical energy like the string that connected two cups and allowed for people to talk from a distance.


    Certainly, it was not exactly urate to what was going on since there were actually no sounds being transmitted this way, but the mental image helped to focus her intent.


    Soon enough she had extended the thread of magical energy to Melisandre and made the connection.


    "Can you understand me." Evelyn sent through the first connection she had ever made.


    "Yes, your intentions areing through very well. It seems that you have gotten the hang of this part rather easily." Melisandre said in return.


    After that Melisandre had her practice keeping the connection up while moving and from father distances.


    This was certainly not easy for Evelyn as she often broke the connection or had to make adjustments. But she was slowly getting the hang of it and with more practice would eventually be able to keep it up.


    "Okay that is enough of practicing maintaining your connection. While in the Roost you should not have any real need to do it while flying around wildly or using other magics so we can take it little by little to get you better. For now, it is time we work on using your affinities to create magic for you to use."


    Welling up with excitement this was the moment that all of Evelyn''s hard work was leading up to.


    She had seen plenty of amazing things in this world and the magic Melisandre used so fluidly was one of the best.


    "First, focus on your magical energy and imagine a shape you are confident with in creating." Melisandre said while demonstrating herself making a shield of water in front of herself.


    Following her example, Evelyn created the object she had the most experience with an created a needle out of fire.


    To her surprise it was extremely easy to do and soon the crimson mes appeared in the shape of a needle at the tip of her left wing.


    Melisandre then told her to keep it like that for around a minute as she examined it.


    "That will do. Go ahead and fire it off and show me how far you can send it."


    With Mallinder''s approval, sheunched the needle made of crimson mes, and it quickly traveled the length of the room before hit the wall.


    Where it did the powerful me began melting through the magical enchantments and warped the small area it impacted.


    "I see that your me is just as impressive as always. To think you would be able to damage that reinforced wall with such a small attack." Melisandre said while shaking her head.


    "Well, that was a littleck luster for your first magic so how about you try multiplying it. Say six dozen needles of fire instead of just one."


    Gulping at what seemed like a daunting task, Evelyn centered her mind and focused on creating the number of fire needles that Melisandre had instructed her to.


    Surprisingly it was not all that difficult to do, and soon she sent of the barrage of fire needles at a steel te that was set up as a target.


    Soon enough it was peppered with the crimson needles and holes formed all through the steel te.


    "Looks like all that practice has paid off. That attack in terms of aparison to a human spell would be considered a low tier grade three. Or something suitable for a human at beginning stages of the mage rank, which isparable to a low tier awakened beast. And that is not taking into ount the unusual power of you mes which makes it far stronger. Plus, I am sure you can add more needles and send them in a moreplicated attack pattern if you focus."


    Encouraged by Melisandre, Evelyn tried adding more needles made of fire and found that right now she capped out at one hundred twenty-eight without having to really strain her focus.


    Along with the increased number, she tired imagining them not just flying in a straight line but also approaching from different angles and found that she could fire them off in other patterns as long as she ingrained it in her mind first.


    "Now that is what I am talking about!" Melisandre said excitedly after Evelyn had unleashed her attack.


    The steel te she had been using as a target now looked like swish cheese from how many attacks she had sent at it, and it was certainly impressive for Evelyn to see how much power her magic had.


    "I would say that you have definitely mastered your first magic attack. It is not the most shy or powerful, but I can tell you that it will be useful, especially if you find yourself under siege from many weaker opponents. Imagine how easily of a time you would have had against the spiders in the forest if you were able to use this magic then."


    Thinking back to, Evelyn could see how this would have made it much easier for her. She could have just pelted the swarm of spiders with fire needles from every direction and would not have even needed to worry about taking evasive action like she had.


    ''Wind wall.''


    Suddenly being inspired Evelyn this time used her wind magic and conjured the wall she had been practicing with her pure magical energy.


    Then she began manipting it and adjusted her wind so that it would not only block attacksing towards her but also blow it back the way it came.


    "Wow, to think you could use such an application n your first try doing that!" Melisandre said with an impressed expression. "Let us see how well it works though."


    Holding up her hand Melisandre conjured a rtively weak me for herself, but it was still incredibly powerful in terms of what Evelyn could do.


    With the flick of her wrist, Melisandre sent the huge ball of fire towards Evelyn''s wind wall and the two magics began fighting against each other.


    However, instead of being blown back, the ball of fire began to spin when it hit the wind wall.


    Soon its heat that had been expertly adjusted by Melisandre broke apart Evelyn''s magic and she was engulfed by mes.


    Of course, even while being consumed by fire Evelyn felt nothing but a bit of heat, and when it passed, she was still perfectly fine.


    "That is a good power you thought up there, but remember that nothing is absolute. I was able to determine the way your wind was moving and used an appropriate fire attack to disrupt it and negate it. Of course, I could only do so because of how much more magical energy and experience I have, but just make sure to stay on guard." Melisandre warned.


    Evelyn agreed to do so taking her master''s words to heart and began shaping her magic into different forms and using them like human spell.


    Except she did not have to make hand motions or say any incantations and was able to create phenomenon simply by imagining and practicing it.

 Chapter 121 121 Evelyn Progress

    ?BOOM!


    Rapidly flying out of the way Evelyn narrowly avoided being sent flying away by arge explosion.


    To mitigate the effect, she had created barrier of wind around her and increased her gravity by four times to anchor herself.


    ''Damn, she is not holding back today.'' Evelyn thought as she avoided another attack from Katrina.


    "You nearly dropped the connection after that one. Make sure to keep at least the bare amount of attention on it." Anneli who was also training with them said through the thing magical strand Evelyn was using to connect the two of them.


    ''Take this. Jet Javelins.''


    Creating six two-foot-long javelins made of her crimson mes, Evelyn spun them around with her wind magic andunched them off like missiles at Katrina.


    This was one of the best attacks she currently had, and Melisandre had told her that even a low tier tyrant beast would note out unscathed if they did not evade or guard against it.


    Of course, Katrina who was currently acting as Evelyn''s adversary was not just going to let the attack hit.


    In a sh, a cage of electricity surrendered her and blocked Evelyn''s attack.


    Then the lighting that was crackling around Katrina broke apart and shot towards Evelyn.


    Unfortunately, neither her fire, wind, nor gravity could currently do much to stop the lighting, and her only recourse was to create a barrier of pure magical energy.


    ''Gah this hurts.'' Evelyn thought as she got shocked by the electricity that broke through.


    Even when she was holding back Katrina was still stronger than her, and she found it difficult to block her attacks.


    Still, this was important training for Evelyn, and she continued to sh against Katrina while keeping up her connection to Anneli.


    ''Sunspot.''


    Needing some time to recover, she created arge sh of light with her heavenly me and flew away while taking out three bottles.


    Quickly she ripped off the tops and swallowed down a magical energy replenishment pill, a healing potion, and a stamina recovery potion all at once with practiced motions.


    This helped her to keep going longer, and once she was feeling recovered, she began attacking again.


    "You did pretty good this time. You managed tost a bit more than twenty minutes against me while I was pressing you pretty hard." Katrina said when they had finished their match.


    However, Evelyn did not respond as she was currentlyid out on her back and wheezing.


    Her training battle with Katrina had been intense, and she had truly given it her all to win.


    "Really, you are amazing Evelyn. You only learned how to truly use your magic a month and a half ago and you have already created and master so many magic spells of your own. That one where youbine your wind with your fire and shoot it off is quite impressive." Anneli said, raving about Evelyn''s magic.


    She had worked really hard toe up with useful attacks, defenses and support abilities with her magic now that she had control over it.


    But truth be told, it was actually her memories from Earth that had helped her the most. She was able to think up applications simr to weapons from her original world or even sometimes things she had seen in movies or video games.


    This made her creativity with her magic seem more impressive than in actually was, since she was just copying things she had already seen before.


    "Yes, your ingenuity and control has gotten a lot better since our first match. I daresay if I was still a mid-tier awakened beast you might have beaten me." Katrina said, alsoying on some rare praise.


    Once Evelyn had recovered enough to get back up, she went with Katrina and Anneli and went to the kitchen where they began cooking together.


    She had now gotten to the point where they were teaching her how to imbue magical properties through alchemy into cooking.


    Overall, it was pretty fun for Evelyn, and she had gotten really close to both of Melisandre''s attendants.


    In contrast, she had not actually seen her master all that much since she learned how to control her magic.


    Recently she was gone for several days or even a couple of weeks at a time, and only showed up for a bit to check on Evelyn''s progress and give her some pointers.


    "Your cooking has also gotten better recently." Anneli said as she tired the meat from a type of pig beast Evelyn had cooked.


    She had added the blood of a poisonous fish as well, which when treated properly and then heated actually lost its potency and tasted pretty good. While also giving a slight boost in stamina for a couple hours.


    "Yeah, but you both are still way better than me. I have along way to go." Evelyn said in response.


    Though while Evelyn believed what she was saying, both Anneli and Katrina told her that she was being too humble, and to take a bit more pride in her achievements that were beyond any other fiend beast.


    "So do either of you know what Melisandre has been up to?" Evelyn eventually asked out of curiosity.


    Naturally she had already asked Melisandre before, but she just skirted around the question.


    "Sorry we do not know anything more than you do." Katrina said.


    But on the other hand, it seemed that Anneli actually did know a bit more and told what she had heard.


    "From some of my associates, and a few mumblings I heard from Lady Melisandre herself. I have heard that some of the leaders of the Roost have been going out on joint missions with other powerful beasts that are allied with us. But all of this is just little rumors I have heard."


    "Oh, that is interesting. Melisandre said in passing that the Roost had allies, but who might they be?" Evelyn asked curious about this subject.


    "Hm, if I remember correctly, the Roost has friendly rtions with the crows who have a simr set up to ours, and the cunning foxes. From what I know the crows are only allies with us for our mutual enemy in the eagles, and the foxes ally with tons of other beasts as well as us. Those are the closest ones that I can think of." Katrina said, giving out the knowledge she had.


    Apparently, it was still rare even for beast societies that were allied to actually work together, so if the rumor that Anneli heard of the higher ups all getting together was pretty unprecedented.


    "Ah, but if there is no real proof that anything is going on. I am pretty sure that what Lady Melisandre is doing is gathering rare ingredients or searching for another item she needed to evolve." Katrina said to steer them way froming up with all manner of fantasies.


    After that they quickly finished up their meal, they all headed off to their respective rooms in order to get some rest for theing days.


    Yet just two dayster when Melisandre returned, she called all three of them to her room.


    When they arrived, she had quite the smile on her face and told them that she had some important news to share.

 Chapter 122 122 A Great Opportunity

    ?"Oh, how I have been waiting to be able to share this with all of you." Melisandre said excitedly.


    It appeared that whatever she had been doing in secret was quite exciting and now she was finally going to tell Evelyn, Anneli, and Katrina what she had been up to.


    "To start, let me tell all of you that one of our scouts discovered a small continent out in the middle of the vast ocean around three months ago." Melisandre said, dropping some very important news.


    ''Wait, there is a continent on this world they did not already know about?'' Evelyn thought in confusion.


    On Earth every continent had been discovered and documented by the eighteen hundreds, before even the rise of technologies like nes.


    But on this world, even Evelyn could fly across hundreds of miles easily. And there were many entities way more powerful than her, so it seemed a bit weird that every majorndmass had not been discovered.


    ''I suppose that this world does seem bigger than earth by a fair amount. Now that I know exactly what the measures of distance are I was able to figure out that the continent we are on is around the size of Asia, Africa, and Europebined.''


    Chalking it up to this world just being that much bigger, Evelyn figured it would eb possible for a whole continent to go unnoticed.


    "Really, that is amazing Lady Melisandre! Is that why you have been busy sotely? Have you already been there?" Anneli asked in a fervor.


    "Yes, it is why I have been going out for extended periods of time. And I have flown around it with some of the other leaders of the Roost and our allies to map the general shape and get a feel for the powers on the continent."


    Practically vibrating in excitement, Anneli asked a few more rapid-fire questions, but Katrina pped her with her right wing and told her to calm down.


    "So, what does this have to do with us? I don''t think you would be telling us if it was not important." Evelyn said, wanting to know exactly what Melisandre was nning.


    At this she smiled, and said, "You caught on pretty quickly. Yes, there is quite the opportunity for the three of you. This continent is rtively weakpared to our own. With no areas of high-density magical energy necessary to nurture anything above a tyrant beast. Along with that, there were no humans there, so it could be considered a perfect ce for us beasts to reap plenty of resources."


    Hearing this both Anneli and Katrina looked very happy, as if Melisandre had just offered them a treasurer trove. But Evelyn picked up on something else.


    "What about the beasts that are already there? You said that it could not support anything greater than tyrant beasts, but that most mean that there are some there?" Evelyn asked.


    "Certainly, there were a couple hundred tyrant rank beasts there, but they are all gone now."


    Eyes going wide, Evelyn asked for more details, and Melisandre said that the owls of the Roost along with their allies the crows and foxes had recruited those beasts that were the same race as them and then killed the rest.


    "Yes, our Roost is soon going to have quite few more promising youngsters among them. Along with four tyrant rank owls we have another couple hundred from the awakened rank that will be joining us. Of course, most of them were more than happy and now toe over here, and now most of the strongest owls on that continent will be moving to the Roost." Melisandre said happily.


    For Evelyn, though, this seemed quite deplorable morally. The Roost and their allies had taken who they wanted from this continent and were willing to kill the rest as resources.


    ''No, I need to not be set in my mindset. This is apletely different world. My old feelings do not have a ce here. Not to mention I have already killed a bunch of other beasts. Just because it is being done on a continent-wide scale, does not make much of a difference. In this world, only those who kill get stronger.''


    Shaking off her previous sensibilities, Evelyn tried to look at this in a more positive light. Now she would have a new ce to gather resources and would also not have to worry about humans there either.


    "Now as I said earlier, this is going to be very beneficial to the three of you. The other sovereign rank beasts and I from the Roost, along with our allies have made a rough map of the continent. But we still need to send in teams that will thoroughly mark areas of resources and develop good training locations. This is a once in a millennia chance to have discovered such a perfect ce for beasts all the way up to the tyrant rank to have a rtively safer environment to grow. To that end, I have managed to get slots for all three of you on the teams that the Roost will be sending over. If you want to?"


    Immediately Anneli agreed to the proposal, and not far behind was Katrina.


    However, Evelyn was a bit warry and wanted more details before she agreed to go off on a mission she knew nothing about.


    "Melisandre what exactly would I be doing there? And why would they want to send in a fiend beast like me when the Roost has plenty of awaken beasts?" Evelyn asked.


    "Those are some good questions, Evelyn. To answer your first one, you would be going with a group and searching out areas with specific resource deposits. Be it beasts, nts, ores, or other useful items. For your second, while certainly, we could just send awakened beasts, there are areas that are lower in magical energy that are obviously really only suitable for fiend beasts or newly evolved awakened beasts at best. Just like the Glowing Woods. If we sent in powerful awakened beasts, all for the local poptions would hide in fear and it would be difficult to get and urate assessment. Plus, there would be nothing in it for the stronger awakened beasts, so they would not want to do it. Also, for you personally there is the possibility of finding something very useful to yourself." Melisandre said with a wry smile.


    In response Evelyn tilted her head. Not understanding what she might obtain there that would be that valuable to her.


    ''Right now, what I really need is a hellfire rose which can only be gotten from the inferno field, and a high-quality float stone, which the humans pretty much have a monopoly on. What could I possibl- wait is that what she means!?''


    Eyes going in wide in realization, Evelyn understood what Melisandre was hinting at.


    "I see you got what I meant. Yes, a continent without any humans on it means that the possibility of an untapped deposits of floats stones would be much easier toe across. If you say, were to happen to locate one while searching and cataloging the resources in the area. It would be no problem for you to take a bit as your right being the first to discover it."

 Chapter 123 123 To The Inscription Hall

    ?Smiling brightly, Evelyn was happy to hear that she might have a higher chance of finding the float stone that she needed as a catalyst for her evolution.


    Before her only options were pretty much to sneak into a mine that was under control of humans, or attack one of their airships and steal the float stone after bringing it down.


    Of course, she could have searched thend for a deposit, but with all the best ones on the continent the Roost was connected to being under some human nation''s jurisdiction. That would be pretty difficult.


    But on this new continent that had no humans and was only inhabited by beasts. Her chances went up by quite a bit.


    Still, it would all be a matter of luck, but it was worth a shot if she could obtain the material without any threat of getting involved with humans.


    "Yes, I believe I would also like to join in on this expedition." Evelyn said with resolve in her eyes. "Though you said that you managed to get spots for all of us, but is there anything else I need to do to prove myself?


    "No, all of you are epted on my word alone. There will be trials held to pick out some of the remaining spots to be filled, but you need not worry about that. In the meantime, before you head out, I rmend that all of you stock up on potions, talismans, and the like. In fact, Evelyn you should probably get some armor, and weapons if you want."


    At the prospect of getting some armor and weapons Evelyn perked up.


    She had pretty much forgotten that the owls here made things like that for themselves, since it was not permitted for them to be worn in the Roost.


    ''I wonder what kind of weapons they have. Can I even hold a sword or something simr in my feet. Though I guess my talons are already kind of like swords. Hm, but these are weapons developed by owls, so they must have some usability.'' Evelyn thought while picturing what kind of weapon she might want.


    "Oh, by the way how many credits do you have right now?" Melisandre asked while Evelyn was pondering.


    Picking up her foot and looking at the number the cuff was disying, Evelyn checked the number and ryed it back to Melisandre.


    "Nearly two million huh. That is pretty good for a fiend beast. That should be plenty for you to pick up some high-quality armor and weapons."


    Melisandre then suggested what types of weapons she thought were the most useful and gave Evelyn some general advice.


    "Now make sure not to buy anything above high tier grade three which is normally meant for awakened beasts. Anything stronger than that would be too expensive, and you would not be able to properly use it. Items above your means will just eat through all of your magical energy really quickly." Melisandre warned.


    She then turned towards Katrina and asked her to apany Evelyn.


    "Without an escort she will not be able to enter the second floor which is meant only for stronger awakened beasts. But the lower quality equipment on the first floor will not be good enough for her"


    Nodding her head, Katrina agreed to take Evelyn to the inscription hall and act as an escort so she could enter the second floor.


    As they left the mansion and flew to the nearby hall, Evelyn felt quite the sense of tion.


    She was finally going to be able to buy some weapons and armor in this world that she hoped would make her look really cool and strong.


    When they arrived, they flew right up the entrance of the second floor which was being guard by two high tier awakened beasts.


    They gave Evelyn a stare that was almost like a re in an attempt to unnerve her, but she stood strong, and with Katrina escorting her she was allowed in even though fiend beasts normally weren''t.


    "It has been a while since I wasst here but allow me to introduce you to some stores that I use whenever I need inscribed items." Katrina said and led Evelyn towards the center of the hall where the best shops would be located.


    Along the way she saw all sorts of things for sale.


    Not only were there armor and weapons but plenty of other magic tools the likes of which that Evelyn had never seen were there as well.


    She wanted to ask what each of the were, of course. But refrained, since it would have taken a long time to exin each one and Katrina had a very goal-oriented personality.


    Soon enough they came to the first shop Katrina rmend that specialized in all manner of talismans.


    "Oh Katrina, it has been a while. And who might this be with you?" the shop owner asked.


    "This here is Evelyn a friend of mine. She is above the average fiend beast owl by quite a bit. So, I am helping her pick things out that are more suitable for her on this floor. You would not happen to have any haste, invisibility, scent dampening, and basic elemental resistance talismans?"


    Nodding their head, the owl specializing in talismans pulled out over a dozen boxes and set them on the counter.


    "I do happen to have all of what you are asking for, though a very limited quality of the highest quality ones." The shop owner said.


    Katrina asked to see the goods, and the owl opened up the boxes and showed the talismans to them.


    "Okay, I will take all of your highest quality talismans of these types. And for Evelyn, she will take three of the haste, ten invisibility, ten scent dampening, and two of each of the elemental resistance talismans at the lower quality. Oh, actually no need for fire." Katrina said without any input from Evelyn.


    ''I guess I will just trust her expertise in these matters.'' Evelyn thought while going along with it.


    "Let me see, for you Katrina, that wille out to nine hundred twenty-eight thousand six hundred ny credits. And for Evelyn it will be four hundred thousand exactly."


    Shaking her head, Katrina did not agree with the price, and began to haggle with the shop owner.


    Eventually they came to an agreement. And since they were buying such arge amount, she managed to get the prices to be lowered to just a straight nine hundred thousand credits for Katrina, and three hundred seventy thousand for Evelyn.


    "This is why I hate doing business with you Katrina. Your knowledge of market prices it too good." The shop owner said with a sigh as he handed the merchandise over.


    Though while he was trying to look upset, the smile on his face told otherwise. It was quite clear he was happy to make the big sale, and from Evelyn''s perspective more than enjoying conversing with Katrina.


    "I will probablye back againter with Anneli to order some more specialized talismans. Please do your best to prepare some good material in the meantime." Katrina said before they left.


    After that they went to another store and Katrina had Evelyn buy a notepad that could send messages over a long distance by ripping out the page and sending it flying.


    "You will find that tool invaluable when working in a group in the wilds." Katrina had said.


    Then she led Evelyn to the ce she had really been wanting to go to. An armor and weapons shop.

 Chapter 124 124 Evelyn’s Weapons And Armor

    ?Evelyn gleefully hopped into eh weapons and armor shop and began looking around with bright eyed excitement.


    Getting cool new gear was always special, and when she used to yputer games at the library while wasting time before heading home, she always felt a sense of aplishment when she acquired something new.


    "Katrina, you did not break your armor again?" The owner of the shop said with a dreading expression.


    It appeared that she was not as enthusiastic about her business as the talisman shop owner was. Since Katrina always came in with busted gear.


    "No, it has a little bit of damage on it, but nothing is broken this time. Right now, I am helping her to buy a set of armor and some weapons for herself." Katrina exined.


    The shop owner sighed in relief and slumped her shoulders over. Obviously very grateful to not have to fix Katrina''s armor again.


    She then really looked at Evelyn, and a perplexed expression came over her face.


    "Katrina, I do not mean to be rude, but we do not have anything suitable for a fiend beast. Go to a lower end store or the first floor if you want something for her." The shop owner said, dismissing Evelyn as a customer.


    "No, it is fine. She is quite special. I am pretty sure no fiend beast in the Roost is even close to her. Evelyn, go ahead and let out your magical energy at full strength."


    Tentatively following Katrina''s direction, Evelyn brought out as much magical energy as she could at once and showed it off to the shop owner.


    This elicited a loud gasp of surprise, and she looked at Evelyn like she could not believe she was real.


    "How is this possible?! Her magical energy is far stronger than I have ever felt from a fiend beast!" The shop owner said in astonishment.


    Of course, she was right to be so shocked by Evelyn''s power, as it was well beyond any other fiend beast, mostly thanks to her additional magic core and the support of the Aethersphere.


    For a few moments the shop owner contemted something, before nodding her head.


    "Very well, she should be strong enough to be able to handle some the gear that I make. But none of my best work. If that is eptable?" She said to Katrina.


    In response, Katrina nodded her head, and now with permission Evelyn began looking around the shop.


    For starters, she looked at their types of armor that was being sold but passed up the first ones she saw which were pretty heavy.


    Her fighting style was more about begin fast and hitting quickly with her wind and fire magic. Even if she could reduce the effects of the weight with her gravity magic, she still did not want to be unnecessarily encumbered.


    ''Oh, that is some nice-looking armor.'' Evelyn thought finding some that suited her taste.


    It was made of some type of leather from a beast called a multiheaded sea serpent apparently, and its dull blue color attracted Evelyn.


    ''Gah, one million two hundred thousand.''


    Seeing the price for the armor that consisted of a main torso piece and a helmet, Evelyn was caught off guard by the immense price.


    She had nced at some of the other armor sets, but none of them had exceed nine hundred thousand from what she saw.


    But this sea serpent leather armor apparently had a bunch of useful effects. Like increasing the wearer''s resistance to extreme pressure, allowing them to move better underwater, and even provided an oxygen bubble that couldst up to thirty minutes for diving.


    Along with that it was really sturdy and was about the toughest light armor that the shop owner had on disy that Evelyn could buy.


    ''It could be pretty useful, especially if I am ever in a situation where my quarry is underwater. Though my powers do not work very well under there to begin with. Still, in case I ever end up in another situation where my opponent is using water terrain to their advantage, it could help me out.'' Evelyn thought while trying to figure out if it was worth buying.


    Eventually she gave in and decided to purchase it. Even though it would eat through the majority of her remaining credits.


    With the amor she wanted now decided on, she started looking at weapons and found that there were actually things like swords and spears, but their shapes and handled were quite a bit different to be able to be better held by owls.


    Though Evelyn decided against something like that and instead went for the weapons that were more specialized for an owl.


    ''These should do.''


    Picking out a set of ws made out of a ck metal, Evelyn tired them one attaching them to her feet.


    While she already did have her own talons, these weapons would fit over them and not only help to protect them but increase her attack power.


    The set would cost her only a hundred eighty thousand credits, remarkably cheaper than the armor. Of course, their quality was a bit less, but Evelyn was certain that it would be find since her magic had vastly improved, and she was better at long range anyway.


    Next, she looked at some wing attachments and found some that were pretty light that could be affixed to the tips of her wings which des would pop out of if she fed them with magical energy.


    This way she could simply fly by any of her opponents and slice through them.


    For two of the more basic ones, it was going to cost her one hundred seventy-five thousand, which was the majority of her remaining credits.


    ''I can see why Melisandre wanted me to earn as many as I could. While a million may seem a lot, the finer products cost absurd amounts to purchase.'' Evelyn thought as she started bringing over the items she had chosen to buy.


    Naturally the shopkeeper was surprised to see what she had brught up, as it was all pretty expensive. Especially the armor.


    "Katrina, are you paying for her as well?" She asked, not believing Evelyn had anywhere near enough credits to purchase all this.


    "No, that was not the arrangement. Evelyn, I assume you have enough for all this?" Katrina asked with an expression clearly saying she was not going to help if she did not.


    "Yeah, I do. Just barely. Here you can see." Evelyn said holding up her cuff and showing off the bnce.


    Seeing that she did indeed have just barely enough, with only a few thousand credits to spare, the shop ownerpleted the transaction and handed Evelyn''s purchases over.


    "Here, if you would not mind repairing these?" Anneli said as sheid out her own weapons and armor.


    Looking at them, Evelyn could see that Anneli used a huge variety of weapons. Likely to be prepared for any situation.


    Her gear was also scuffed up in many ces, but as she said it was not broken this time.


    "I think it will take me a week. Come back then and I will have it done." The shop owner said as she stored away Katrina''s gear.


    With that they were done and bid the shop owner goodbye and headed out of the hall and back to Melisandre''s mansion.

 Chapter 125 125 Gathering For The Expedition

    ?With her new gear purchased, Evelyn could not wait to try it out.


    When they returned ack at Melisandre''s mansion, she enthusiastically asked Katrina to spar with her a bit so she could get used to her armor and weapons.


    Luckily, Katrina agreed, and soon enough they were battling it out in the training room.


    ''Whoa!''


    Dodging a bolt of lighting by a hair''s breadth, Evelyn could feel the pressure that Katrina was putting on.


    She was going much harder on her than usual after Evelyn had started the match off by elerating as fast as possible and nearly slicing into Katrina with the new des that extend from the tips of her wings.


    Also, with her armor on, Evelyn could take more punishment than before, and Katrina showed no signs of letting up.


    Eventually Evelyn went down for the count, as she felt her muscles seize up from a powerful lighting attack and was subsequently hit by a huge explosion of fire.


    Of course, the heat of the attack did nothing to her, but as Melisandre had shown earlier, the explosive force still could harm her.


    "That was a pretty slick move you pulled at the beginning. I really did not think you could elerate that quickly." Katrina said as she came over to Evelyn who wasid t against the floor.


    It was clear with herst attack that she had won, and now she was praising Evelyn for her speed.


    However, from Evelyn''s point of view, Katrina was far more impressive. Even when caught off guard. she had somehow moved fast enough to get out of the way by wreathing herself in lightning.


    "Yeah, that was my fastest attack, but you still dodged it. How does your magic work to let you move so quickly?" Evelyn asked.


    But Katrina just gave her a smile and told her that she would tell her if she ever beat her in a fight.


    After that the two of them went to eat dinner along with Anneli, before retiring for the day.


    ¡­


    Around two monthster it was time for the expedition to the new continent to begin now that all the members had been selected.


    It had apparently been a grueling process for most that wanted to participate, but for Evelyn, she had simply spent the time training her magic skills and practicing her alchemy thanks to Melisandre''s rmendation.


    ''This is the ce.'' She thought as she stood in front of arge door.


    Currently she was in the mission hall where the details of the expedition would be exined in arge meeting room before they headed out.


    Entering inside, Evelyn found that there were currently only eight owls that had gathered for the meeting since she was a bit early.


    ''They are all low tier awakened beasts except for one who is at the mid-tier.'' Evelyn thought as she analyzed them.


    Seeing this, she figured that they must have been the leaders for the mission for lower ranking owls like her.


    She already knew that the group of seventy-two owls that would be a part of the same expedition were fifty peak fiend beasts, with the other twenty-two being recently low tier awakened beasts. Well except for the group''smander, who was obviously the mid-tier awakened beast.


    Not long after Evelyn entered, one of the members the leader''s squad flew over to Evelyn and extend a thin strand of magical energy tomunicate. Which she naturally epted.


    "If you would not mind showing me your identification cuff so that I can confirm that you are a member of our team?" The owl with emerald green feathers asked.


    Doing just that, Evelyn held up her cuff and the owl brought forth a magical device that began glowing blue.


    "Okay. you are confirmed. Please go ahead and find a seat and wait until we begin." They said before heading back over to the others and continuing their discussion.


    Looking around, Evelyn toiled with where to sit, and eventually decided that at the edge of the third row would probably be best. That way she would not stand out or be in anyone else''s way.


    Slowly a few more owls trickled in until it was just ten minutes from the start of the meeting when most of them arrived at the same time.


    All of them simrly had their identities checked like. Evelyn and a few were turned away for not actually being a part of the mission.


    Soon enough thest few owls came rushing in, and to Evelyn''s surprise she recognized two of them.


    One was the owl with white feathers that were almost clear and had a smattering of silver, while the other was the snow owl that had originally told her about the Roost.


    Spotting them, Evelyn was pretty surprised. This meant that they were likely some of the best fiend beasts in the Roost even though they had not even been here for a year.


    ''I am pretty sure that the clear feather owl was only a high tier fiend beastst time I saw her in the Glowing Woods. Well, I guess I was as well so it makes sense that she would have advanced since then.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the two familiar owls.


    Though as they noticed her staring, she went wide eyed and ducked her head in embarrassment for being caught.


    She hoped that they would just forget they saw that and go about their business withouting up to her.


    Unfortunately, her wishes went unanswered, as the snowy owl came flying over to her in practically a frenzy.


    When he arrived in front of her, he had bright gleaming eyes and he got ufortably close. which caused Evelyn to abruptly back off.


    Realizing he had startled her, the snowy owl back off and slowly extend a thin magical thread tomunicate properly with Evelyn.


    ''Do I have to?'' Evelyn thought, not wanting to ept.


    She was still a bit mad about how the other owls targeted her because of their jealousy of the snowy owl who was picked over them even though they were the same rank.


    Still, since they were going to be going on a long-term expedition together, she could not simply ignore him and epted the connection.

 Chapter 126 126 Some Old Faces

    ?Once the connection had been established between her and the snowy owl, he said, "It is blessed to see you again. I was fraught with worry when you did not show up with the group of owls that passed the trials."


    Taken aback by how fervent the snowy owl was about seeing her again, Evelyn nearly broke the connection and flew away.


    She was really not good with dealing with other she did not know. Especially when they were so energetic.


    Still, in the spirit of cooperation Evelyn stuck around and tried to have a normal conversation.


    "Uh, thank you for concern, I guess? But yes, I am fine. I was simply scouted by one of the examiners and brought the roost a different way." Evelyn said.


    Of course, she did not borate further as Melisandre had warned her repeatedly not to tell anyone that she was her disciple.


    "I see. I knew that you were as talented as you are beautiful the first time is saw you. It is only natural that the examiners saw your potential as well." The snowy owl said while holding his head up proudly.


    But while he thought he wasplementing Evelyn; this only made her scrunch up her face and look at him warily.


    From her experience, anyone giving out unwarranted praise like this normally wanted something, and she had no desire to get wrapped up in whatever she figured this owl was scheming.


    However, before she broke the connection and moved away, the owl with very light white feathers came over as well. And far from the brash snowy owl tentatively extended a line of magical energy towards Evelyn.


    Feeling that she was a much more kindred spirit, Evelyn epted the connection while breaking the one with the snowy owl.


    He looked sadden by this, but Evelyn felt like she was done speaking to him for now and would rather converse with the other owl.


    "Hello, I am d to see that you are still doing well." The owl with nearly clear feathers said.


    "Same to you." Evelyn responded.


    After that they just sat there in an awkward silence, before the nearly clear feathered owl spoke up again.


    "I did not see you at the selection trials for this mission. How did you get epted to the expedition?"


    "Oh, my master rmended me." Evelyn responded curtly.


    Seeing that their conversation was not going anywhere, Evelyn who normally took a passive approached decided that for once she would need to lead.


    "So, what did these selection trials entail? Were they simr to what we had to go through to enter the Roost? Evelyn eventually asked.


    Luckily this seemed to do the trick, as her acquainted began speaking happily about what they had to do in order to pass the selection trials.


    About halfway through her exnation the snowy owl who was no longer wanting to be ignored, jumped in on the conversation and ryed some more details to Evelyn.


    "That sounds like it was pretty tough. But I guess they only want the best of the best on this mission." Evelyn said after finding out what they had to go through to pass the trials.


    Apparently, it was very rigorous, and to even participate they had to show that they could control magical energy. Which was rare for fiend beasts.


    But like Evelyn, these two had mastered it. And in the snowy owl''s case, he had already known before entering the Roost.


    "I just realized that we have not properly introduced ourselves. The name I took upon entering the Roost is Bylur. What might yours be?" The snowy owl asked.


    "My name is Evelyn. And what about you?" She said turning to the owl with nearly clear feathers.


    "My name is Rehni." She said shyly.


    With that they were all introduced to one another and began talking about what they had been doing since they entered the Roost.


    But before they got too far, Rehni spoke up towards Evelyn to say something that had been on her mind for a long time.


    "I just wanted to thank you for not attacking me during the second trial. If you hade at me intent to take my beast cores and magical nts, I know I would have lost."


    Once she had said this it seemed that a big weight had been taken off her shoulders.


    Apparently when she first saw Evelyn pop out of the water, she figured that was the end for her.


    Even though Evelyn had actually been a tier below her at the time, Rehni had been watching her battles and knew she was stronger.


    "No, I should be thanking you for noting after me. I saw the way you use your metal threads, and I was actually not in the best shape when we came across each other. I am certain that I would have been the one to lose had you attacked." Evelyn said.


    The two of them then ended up in a sort of loop praising each other''s abilities until the Bylur cut in and asked Evelyn more about her powers.


    "Um, well you already know I have a wind and fire affinity. I recently learned how to control my magic, so I can do a few things with it. But it is not like I can show you here. What about you? All I know is that you have ice. Do you happen to have anything else?"


    Answering her question quickly, Bylur told Evelyn that along with his ice affinity he also had the rare gift of life magic.


    Surprised to hear this, Evelyn asked what this entailed, and Bylur began ecstatically telling her about what he could do with it.


    "I see, with you around we will not need to worry about wasting healing potions. Your powers are certainly toe in handy." Evelyn said ecstatically.


    This made him feel quite proud, as he had finally done something that impressed Evelyn.


    And he was about to continue singing his own praises to try and get her toplement him more, when the leaders of their expedition mission called for silence so that they could begin the meeting.

 Chapter 127 127 Briefing

    ?With a loud sound that gathered all of the owl''s attention, the room wentpletely silent, and everyone turned their heads towards the slightly raised stage in the front of the room.


    There on the stage were the eight leading owls who were in charge of the lower ranked areas expedition.


    "First, I want to thank you all for gathering here. There is no doubt that most of you have proved yourself to be the best and brightest of the peak fiend beast and low tier awakened rank owls in the roost." The top owl said, using a magic tool to transmit sound instead of making a magical connection with every owl.


    Though as he did, he nced a bit harshly at a few owls in the crowd. One of which was Evelyn.


    Suddenly feeling the unexined ire that she was very sensitive to; Evelyn shuddered and began pondering why.


    It did not take her long to figure it out though, as she remembered the words that the leader of the expedition had just said.


    ''I guess that the owls he looked at just now are like me and got in on rmendations alone.''


    Sighing and understand that she was likely to be looked down on the leader until she proved herself, Evelyn resolved to not be useless and made sure to pay attention to the presentation.


    Soon the opening formalities were over, and the overall leader took a few steps back, one of the other owls on the stage came forward.


    Looking at her Evelyn could not believe she was at the awakened rank since she was tiny. Being only around a foot tall.


    Truly she was the smallest owl Evelyn had seen in the Roost so far, butter she found out that she was a rare species of pygmy owl that did not really increase in size no matter how high their rank.


    "First off, we are going to be heading to another continent that has been designated Falisgisa. It is a lot smaller than the one we are currently connected to and has a far lower overall disruption of magical energy. However, this makes it the perfect ce to develop as a resource gathering and training area for fiend beasts and awakened beasts. To that end we will be scouting out and cataloging valuable resources in the areas that have a suitable quantity of magical energy for fiend beasts and low tier awakened beasts." The tiny owl said.


    She then activated some sort of magical device and Evelyn watched as a projection appeared on therge wall at the front of the room that all the owls were facing.


    Currently being shown was arge rough map of the continent Falisgisa that had been made by a few sovereign rank beasts flying around the continent''s border.


    There were also a few notable spots on the map that had been mark and were areas of the highest magical energy quantity.


    Likely these were the ces that tyrant beasts had been living, and subsequently either recruited or annihted by the higher rank sovereign beasts from the roost and their allies.


    "As I am sure that all of you can see, some areas have already been partial mapped, but these are areas that we will be steering clear of. There is plenty of other ground for us to cover over this six-month long expedition."


    After saying this the pygmy owl used the same magic device to change the projection, and suddenly a farrgernd mass appeared on the screen.


    Looking carefully at it Evelyn recognized it as the continent that was detailed in the as that Mason had given her.


    ''Hm? But a chunk of it is missing.'' Evelyn thought.


    The area that had once been a nation where beasts and humans were supposed to coexist was just water, and thend within a hundred miles of the main city was gone.


    Seeing this, Evelyn could only wonder what sort of cataclysm could have urred to wipe that muchndmass off the map. It would have likely taken dozens of hydrogen bombs which were the strongest weapons from her old world to reach a simr level of destruction.


    Unfortunately, while she would have liked to find some answers to this, the presentation was still going on and right next to the image of the continent Evelyn had been reborn on was the one of Falisgisa.


    Inparison it was much smaller, only around a fortieth the size.


    Still, from her time figuring out the measurements in this world and how they rted to the ones she knew from Earth, she could tell that this new continent was about the size of Greend.


    Its shape was certainly a bit different being thinner, and also it had dozens of long peninss jutting out at different points.


    "As you can see this new continent is much smaller than the main one that is connected to our Owls Roost but is still quiterge enough to warrant detailed exploration. However, along with our allies, we have split the new continent into three sections." The little owl currently giving the presentation said.


    She then fiddled with her magical device a bit more and the map was highlighted into three different areas.


    "As you can see this is how the roost and our allies have decided to spilt up the areas of the map. We have been given this area that is highlighted in yellow which goes up from the southeastern part of the continent up to the northern area."


    Staring at the map, Evelyn made sure tomit to memory which part the owls had, but it seemed a bit weird how the areas were decided.


    The owls had more of a long thin stretch that started at the southeastern part of the continent and slowly got wider as it went north until it epassed around sixty percent of the area there.


    There were also parts along the way where it suddenly jutted out or receded into the other beast''s territory. Making it look sort of like a map Evelyn had seen that was an example of gerrymandering.

 Chapter 128 128 Briefing (2)

    ?Once the pigmy owl who was in charge of the detailing the map had finished going over a few intricacies and the main points of the route that they would be going, she looked back towards the leader and nodded.


    With her work done the little owl stepped back and the leader came forward to announce something.


    "Now I hope that all of you were paying attention, because this was all important information that we hope to not repeat too much. But now I have someone special who will be indispensable to our mission. I would like all of you to wee Neve. A very recent addition to the Roost, and an original resident of Falisgisa." The head owl said.


    Slowly an owl with bright white and gold feathers stepped forward tentatively.


    It was quite obvious that she was very nervous to be standing in front of such a crowd, especially since she had been living in the wilds on another continent not too long ago.


    However, as she tried to use the magic tool that projected a voice across the room, she found herself unable to do so even after making attempts for two minutes.


    She then looked pleadingly back towards themander of the group, and he sighed beforeing to help her out.


    Another five minutester and she managed to get the tool working and began speaking incredibly shyly.


    "I-it is good to meet everyone here today. I am, uh, Neve¡­ oh, but you already knew that."


    Getting flustered and not knowing what to say exactly, she looked around frantically for a moment and caught the eyes of one of the owls in the crowd who was giving her a reassuring look.


    Eventually she managed to muster up the courage to begin speaking again after getting encouragement from this other owl.


    "Um, asmander Deshal said, I am from the continent that you are calling Falisgisa. I was chosen to be your guide since I have traveled around quite a bit and know some of the areas you will be looking into. I¡­ I hope to do well to help you all out now that this is my new home. Please take good care of me."


    After saying this, she swiftly moved back to the leader whose name was apparently Deshal and handed him back the voice creating and projecting magic tool.


    In return, he just rolled his eyes obviously not happy with the disy of the timid Neve.


    "It is as Miss Neve has said. She will be our guide on the new continent where her experience will be quite helpful in areas she is familiar with. But I would like to preference this with that she does not know everything about all of the ces we will be scouting out, so do not put too weight on her knowledge and get sloppy." Deshal said with a stern tone.


    He then passed the device off to another one of the lead owls who was by far thergest here and had dark brown feathers all over his body.


    "Now, while everything you have heard is important, what I am about to say is going to be a matter of life and death." The huge owl said as he looked out over the room. "I am security chief Roark, and on this expedition, it is my job to make sure that as many of us as possible make it back alive."


    Going on, he told all of them what type of gear was going to be distributed to them along with whatever else they had prepared.


    "Most importantly though is the squad makeup we are going with. As there are seventy-two of us in total, we have decided to designate twelve groups of six. In each of these groups there will be at least one awakened beast though in some there will be more. We have already assigned these groups and their leaders, so do not think you will be able to form them yourselves. This is not a vacation to have fun with your friends. We are trailzing a wild area full of dangers we do not fully know yet." Roark said with deadly seriousness.


    ''Aren''t the supplies they are giving us kind ofckluster.'' Evelyn thought hearing what they would be getting.


    Each of them would be given a low capacity storage ring that could only hold one hundred cubic feet, ten healing potions that were about thirty percent as good the best Evelyn could make, two bottles of six magical energy recovery pills that were of a middling quality, a single bottle of stamina recovery pills, a number of rations that couldst three says, and an emergency signal re talisman.


    From Evelyn''s perspective this was not even one percent as effective as the potions, gear, and other necessities she had prepared. Plus, even her storage rings that were fairly small for what was on the market were able to hold three hundred cubic feet each, while the cuff could hold around two thousand.


    Of course, this was just Evelyn''s skewed point of view, as she had such a great talent in alchemy to make what any other beast here, even the leaders, would have considered an absurd amount.


    Most of the fiend beasts here did not even currently have storage magic tools, and getting these rings was one of the big boons that they had fought so hard to receive.


    Continuing on, the leaders of the expedition all introduced themselves and talked about their roles in the uing mission.


    ''So along with the pygmy owl in charge of the map, Neve who is our local guide, and Roark the security chief, we have the scouting expert Keva, the inscriptionist Idris, the alchemist Adolophine, and finally the doctor ine. Oh, and the overallmander Deshal.'' Evelyn thought going over the names an upations of the leaders.


    "That is all we have to say right now, so we will now arrange ourselves into our assigned squads." Deshal said as he manipted the projection and showed the list of names in each squad.

 Chapter 129 129 Teammates

    ?Staring at the project Evelyn looked over the names searching for her own.


    Along the way she also picked out the names of the heads of each squad and found that six of the owls that were in charge of the expedition were also squad leaders.


    Of the top owls two were not heading a squad. With one being Neve, who was ced in the same squad with Deshal for obvious reasons, while the other was the doctor ine, being in the same squad as the security chief, Roark.


    As for the other six squads they were being headed by the strongest awakened beasts that had earned the right to join the expedition.


    ''Ah, there I am.'' Evelyn thought as she found her name.


    Seeing who her leader was she smiled. It was the lead alchemist on the expedition, Adolophine. Plus, there was someone else she knew who was a part of the same squad, and it made Evelyn happy to see them there.


    "It seems that we are in the same squad, Rehni. I am d it will not just be other owls I do not know at all." Evelyn said happily.


    Rehni also seemed quite pleased to be in the same squad as Evelyn and said that they would be able to have each other''s backs.


    On the other hand, the snowy owl was frowning as Evelyn and Rehni rejoiced, because he had ended up in a different squad.


    He was going to have to go with the squad led by Roark and which also had the doctor ine.


    ''I guess they probably know our abilities pretty well and for those of us with any specialization they ced us in the same squad.'' Evelyn thought.


    Of course, this was just spection, but she had ended up on the team with the lead alchemist, while Bylur had ended up on with the doctor when he could also use life magic.


    "Don''t be so down. We will be moving as a single unit for the most part. The squads are just used when exploring the areas." Rehni said tofort Bylur.


    Still, he seemed down even so. He figured that if he was in the same squad as Evelyn, this would be his chance to redeem himself and show off how cool he was.


    But yet again, that possibility seemed to have been ripped away from him.


    "Well, we should go and meet out teammates. It looks like the squads are starting to form around their leaders." Evelyn said while tugging on Rehni to go.


    Soon they had left Bylur alone to sulk in his misfortune and joined up with the rest of their group.


    When they arrived, they found that the other three members had already gathered around their leader Adolophine.


    "And you two are Evelyn and Rehni?" She asked seeing them approach.


    They both quickly showed their identification cuffs to her, and she checked them over and nodded her head.


    "Good, looks like everyone is here now. How about we all go around and introduce ourselves."


    Starting with the only other awakened rank beast in their group they went down the line and introduced themselves.


    "I am Osten. I specialize in earth magic." The other awakened rank owl with grey feathers said.


    "My name is Hawise. I can use nature magic." An owl that was slightly shorter than Evelyn and had green feathers that made a vine pattern down her mostly brown feathers said.


    "Call me Isander. My specialization is lightning." A slim owl who was actually the smallest among them said.


    Next Evelyn introduced herself the same as the others, giving her name and what her magic affinities were. Though she naturally left out gravity and only stated only wind and fire.


    Finally, it was Rehni''s turn, and she gave her name followed by her affinities.


    "And the magic I can use is metal and sound." She said once she had worked up the nerve.


    Surprised, Evelyn turned her head to look at her as she did not know she had a sound magic affinity.


    So far, she had only seen her use metal, and expertly at that. With another magic and an even rare one under her, it seemed like Rehni was stronger than Evelyn thought she would be.


    "Well, you all know my name and as we will be working together, I will tell you that I can use fire and nature magic." Adolophine said to finish off their greeting.


    She then turned to Evelyn and smiled brightly, before she began addressing her.


    "So, you are the supreme talent that has recently shown up in the alchemy hall." She said with extremely inquisitiveness in her eyes.


    "You also got in on rmendations alone, so you must be the disciple of some tyrant rank beast, or maybe even higher?"


    It seemed that Adolophine wanted to probe Evelyn about her circumstances, but she was definitely not going to give any sort of straight answer.


    "Yes, I am the disciple of an esteemed alchemist, but they do not wish for me to go using their name to solve all of my problems, so I have been instructed to not say anything. But if you must know, I can set up a personal one on one meeting for you with them?" Evelyn said with a very dangerous glint in her eyes.


    Seeing this, Adolophine actually felt fear racing through her even though Evelyn was in the rank below her.


    Her instincts were telling her that she was dangerous, and that taking her up on this offer would be a death sentence.


    "No that is fine. Every owl is allowed their privacy. Now we should really focus on ouring expedition." Adolophine said, changing the subject.


    She then told them that their squad''s main focus would be on cataloging magical nts that they came across. Especially ones that were already known to be useful in alchemy.


    "Also, in case we find any undiscovered ones, we can also do some experiments and see if they are useful substitutes for certain brews or can even make them stronger."

 Chapter 130 130 Onward To A New Continent

    ?After Adolophine had ryed what their squad''s mains tasks would be, she turned towards Evelyn and asked her an question.


    "I notice that you already have a few storage devices. Do you happen to have your brewing equipment stored within?"


    Shaking her head, Evelyn told her that she did not. Having not expected to need to do any alchemy on their expedition.


    "No, we most certainly will!" Adolophine said like it was obvious, and that Evelyn should have already known this. "Each of us only can hold a limited supply of potions, pills, and the like in our storage magic tools. It is all but certain we as alchemists will need to create more to resupply along the way with whatever materials we find."


    ''Ah, that is right. The others do not have as much storage capacity as I do.'' Evelyn thought as she looked down at her own storage devices.


    Currently she had dozens of the highest quality brews she could make, along with plenty of lower quality ones for appearances sake.


    But most of the owls here were only just receiving low-capacity storage rings for the first time for this mission, and even the leaders honestly had much less than Evelyn who could make plenty more credits with her skills.


    "I am afraid that I cannot go and grab my alchemy equipment. It is on loan to me you see, and the caldron is actually affixed and can''t be moved." Evelyn said apologetically.


    Sighing Adolophine seemed a bit upset about this, but just told Evelyn to wait while she got a staff member of the mission hall to fetch her a spare caldron and brewing stick, along with measuring containers.


    Eventually things began to wind down in therge meeting room, and themander of the expedition force went around to all the leaders. Asking if they were close to ready to get going as they would be warping to the new continent within the hour.


    "I am sorry sir, but we are waiting on a caldron and some other brewing supplies to be delivered for Evelyn here." Adolophine said, motioning towards her.


    Turning his gaze to Evelyn, it was clear that Deshal was not happy about this, and he let out an angry grunt before speaking.


    "Looks like your rmendation has not given you any brains. Of course, you would need your tools. You are here only here for your skills in alchemy. If the equipment is not here by the time we need to leave, you will be left behind."


    Making this snap judgment, Deshal walked away, obviously peeved.


    ''Is he an idiot?'' Evelyn thought.


    She knew that this guy had no idea that it was Melisandre who got her assigned to this expedition, but still whoever was above him definitely had told him of the decision. And Evelyn was certain he would get in trouble if he left a member of his team behind for such a petty reason.


    In fact, Evelyn could see Melisandre having him reced in a heartbeat and pulling whatever strings it took for Evelyn to be kept on this mission.


    Luckily it did note to that. as the mission hall staff brough the supplies Evelyn would need, and she stored them into the new ring she had recently acquired that held the other supplies that had been given to her for the mission.


    ''It just barely fit.'' Evelyn thought feeling that the ring had reached max capacity.


    Also, the caldron along with the other items were much smaller than the ones she normally used. Having been made easier for travel. Though on another note, one nce told her that they were pretty low quality, even worse than what Mason had originally left her with.


    ''I should have just flown back and grabbed the supplies Mason left for me. But I did not want to risk missing anything important or being left behind.'' Evelyn thought.


    Now that she had her new alchemy gear, the threat of her being left behind was gone, and Adolophine went to inform Deshal that they were ready.


    Not long after, he addressed the crowd of owls that had been getting to know their squad mates and made an announcement.


    "Thest straggler is finally ready to go, so it is time that we head over to the high-performance warp gate that will take us to Falisgisa. And be sure to be on your best behavior. One of the esteemed leaders of the Roost is going to be operating the warp gate for us and it would not do for anyone to offend them."


    Having received their order to get ready to go, all the owls began flying out of the meeting room in a line. Following their leaders to the high-performance warp gate.


    When they arrived all the owls stared stunned at the huge gate that were made of branches that wrapped around itself in a spiral pattern from two sides before meeting up around a hundred feet in the air.


    There were also smaller branches full of leavesing off of the man ones and were faintly glowing. Giving off a very fantastical feeling.


    Currently perched on top of this warp gate was an owl that Evelyn recognized and did not have a good opinion of.


    ''Ss!''


    Looking up at him, Evelyn felt her heart beating rapidly. He was the first owl she had met whening to the Roost, and he had been quite hostile towards her.


    It was clear he did not approve of Melisandre taking her as a disciple and had even apparently made a fuss about it that Melisandre had to deal with.


    Now he was staring down at her with a smug smile on his face that made her shudder.


    However, before she could think about what to do, Deshal bowed his head as did every other owl. Forcing Evelyn to follow suit.


    "Commander Deshal. I will now open the gate. Make sure to get all of your team through quickly and orderly. I can only keep it open for a few moments." Ss said.


    "Of course, lord Ss." Deshal responded.


    He thenmanded everyone to be ready to go and they all got in position to take off.


    An instantter and the gate opened and all the owls began flying through. Going off to a new Continent.

 Chapter 131 131 Separated

    ?Following the other owls in front of her, Evelyn flew into the shimmering warp gate and was assaulted with the familiar nauseating sensation she always felt.


    She had thought she was getting use to it, but it seemed that this warp gate was a rougher ride than the normal warp portals.


    The transition alsosted much longer, and at one-point Evelyn started to feel what felt like turbulence.


    Soon she felt like what was a massive blow against her body, and she watched as she slipped away from all the other owls who were flying through the warp gate as well.


    ''What the hell!?'' Evelyn screamed in her mind while also screeching loudly.


    Her body was suddenly begin tossed around in some sort of outer stream of the warp gate, and eventually she was shunted from it altogether.


    When her eyed began to focus again she noticed that she was falling towards arge blue mass.


    Unfortunately, when she tried to right herself, she felt incredibly sick and even her best efforts did not prevent her from losing herst meal along with arge quantity of stomach acid.


    Now her throat and stomach hurt, and her head was incredibly fuzzy as she plummeted towards the water below.


    By some miracle though, she managed to right herself, and only her farthest extending chest feathers skimmed the surface of the waves before she began ascending once more.


    She used both her gravity and wind magic to make it easier and allow her to fly up vertically faster than normal.


    When she reached a height that was around three thousand feet in the air in the air, she looked around. But all she could see was ocean extending for what seemed infinitely.


    At first Evelyn tried to figure out what had happened, when she remembered the smile that Ss had given her.


    ''That bastard! He did this on purpose!'' Evelyn thought ass he became frothing mad.


    Of course, she had no evidence, but her gut was telling her that this was no ident and that he had done this to her as an act of malice.


    ''Damn it! damn it!''


    With nothing around her and in the middle of the ocean, Evelyn had nothing to use to figure out exactly where she was or what way any direction was.


    Right now the sun was high up in the sky, and the cardinal directions could be in any direction right now for all she knew.


    And even if she did know which way the cardinal directions were, she was in the middle of the ocean and had no bearings to go by.


    ''Just calm down. Think about a way to turn this around.'' She thought.


    It was not like she waspletely helpless. She had a magic and a number of magic tools on her.


    Quickly she began thinking if she had any magic or could develop something that could help her, but she figured that nothing she had right now would do her much good.


    She dide up with what she thought might be theoretically feasible with her gravity magic. Except she did not think it currently had any chance of working with the amount of magical energy she had.


    ''I am not sure what altitude I can actually reach. If I fly up high enough, I should be able to spot some sort ofndmass. But I could also hurt myself trying to do so, and I am not sure if there are things that patrol the skies around here.''


    Saving flying up into the upper atmosphere as ast resort, Evelyn began thinking of some other way she might be able to find her way to her destination, or at least back to the Roost.


    Nothing came to mind to her at first, but eventually she just began going through her inventory and hoping to find something to help her.


    ''Ah, I can''t believe I did not think about this to begin with.'' She thought as she took out a certain magic tool.


    It was the far distancemunication notepad that Katrina had made sure she bought.


    With it one could send out flying messages that would head towards the user''s target. It did have a range limit, but it was pretty far. and Katrina had actually registered her own notepad with it, so that it could reach even further distances by locking onto the magical signal.


    Writing a note, Evelyn stated that something had happened, and she was forced out of the warp gate before reaching her destination. Then she sent off the message.


    By some miracle it began flying, showing that it was within the hundred-mile range where it could detect connected devices of a simr type.


    Feeling hope well up in her, Evelyn began following the flying message which had taken off at a good pace.


    ''Oh, I see and mass.'' Evelyn thought after following the message for a bit over an hour.


    She was currently going about thirty miles an hour, matching the same speed as the flying message, and now just on the horizon she could see the shoreline of argendmass.


    Along with it were a number of inds that made an archipgo that sat just to the west of it, but for now Evelyn ignored those.


    ''Suck it, Ss. Your little trick did not work well enough. I am going to make it even with your interference.'' Evelyn thought knowing that this was the continent where the expedition would be held.


    If it was not, the flying message would not have been traveling this way, since Katrina was already there. Her group having left around an hour before Evelyn''s.


    Within a little more than two hours, Evelyn was finally flying over the ind and saw that there were trees that looked like the kind that would grow in the tropics back on Earth.


    Unfortunately, her appreciation of the secondary did notst long, as she watched a figure quickly increase in size as it rapidly flew up out of the jungle towards her.

 Chapter 132 132 First Battle On A New Continent

    ?Seeing the figureing towards her, Evelyn started to panic a bit and looked around to see if there was any way she could get away.


    Sadly, she was just way too high in the sky right now to make a dash for the tropical jungle below before the beast would intercept her.


    Quickly she decided that her best recourse to avoid a battle was to fly up and hope that the creature descried to return home when she got far enough away.


    But when she turned her head back, she saw that it was stilling for her at a high speed that matched her own.


    Coming to the conclusion that she had no real chance to get away, Evelyn stopped ascending and flew down to meet whatever wasing.


    ''Maybe it will be friendly, and it just wanted toe any investigate what I am.'' Evelyn thought, trying to stay positive.


    Though as she got closer and was able to make out exactly what wasing for her, she knew that there was no hope of a peaceful resolution.


    Flying into the sky towards her was a giant stag beetle the size of a semi-truck.


    She already new that bugs were very aggressive, and apparently never reached all that high of intelligence, even when they made it to the awakened rank.


    Of course, there were likely exceptions, but that did not change the fact that whatever wasing towards her seemed hostile.


    ''Let''s see how you like this. Jet javelins.''


    Creating six short spears of made of her heavenly me, Evelyn wrapped them up with wind and shot them out like missiles.


    This was one of her best attacks, and she was hoping to deliver a decisive blow quickly and end the battle before it really began.


    But the giant stag beetle was more agile than she thought it would be and spun around to avoid the mesing at it. And as it opened its pincers, it unleashed a st ofpressed wind towards Evelyn.


    Seeing this, it was clear that like her, this huge stag beetle had a wind affinity.


    ''Blowback wall.''


    Conjuring arge wall of wind in front of her, Evelyn watched carefully as the stag beetle''s attack impacted her defensive magic and waited to see what happened.


    Fortunately, its attack ended up being weaker than her wall, and quickly the wind that had been fired at her was redirected.


    This time the stag did not dodge, however, and took its own attack head on.


    Tch!


    ''It has some type of wind barrier.'' Evelyn thought seeing the reflected attack be deflected.


    Flying around to keep out of its physical range, Evelyn analyzed more about her opponent as they traded ranged attacks.


    Quickly she was able to tell that it was an awakened beast, and one at the mid-tier at that.


    It definitely did not have full control over its magical energy like Evelyn did, though. As its magic was far sloppier than hers.


    ''I might be in more trouble if it could properly use magic. But as long as I stay away from its pincers, I should be able to win.''


    Turning her body down into a nosedive Evelyn shot towards the ground and the giant stag beetle followed.


    It seemed very intent on killing Evelyn who had flown over its domain.


    ''That''s right, continue following me. I just need a little longer.'' Evelyn thought as she prepared to strike.


    Then when she was ready, she released a surge of magical energy in the air and slowed her speed down.


    The stag beetle, thinking it had her, elerated in a huge burst with its pincers wide open ready to grab her.


    But when it passed over the area Evelyn had released magical energy, its trajectory was forcefully changed.


    In its haste it had unknowingly run into a gravity trap Evelyn had set, and it was suddenly made many times heavier, along its point of greatest attraction as directed away from Evelyn.


    It looked almost like it had bounced off an invisible wall and began rocketing towards the ground at a dangerously high speed.


    Somehow it did manage to right itself before impacting against the ground. Thanks inrge part to how high they had still been in the air.


    However, Evelyn had never expected the ground to settle this battled for her, and she was rapidly descending while twisting her body around.


    Looking up, the stag beetle no longer saw the much smaller owl, but a huge raging tornado of fireing down on it.


    All of its instincts began to send it panic signals and it used a gust eleration to try and fly out of the way.


    Yet it was already toote, and as she got close enough Evelyn let loose the strongest magic attack she currently had avable to her.


    ''Crimson Twister.''


    Watching her attack being separated from her, Evelyn saw it consume the giant stag beetle that had attacked her and st its body into the ground below.


    The stag beetle for its part tried to resist the attack using the strongest barrier it could create. But as it waspletely engulfed, the air around it began to rapidly heat up and its carapace started to ignite into mes even before Evelyn''s attack reached it.


    Quickly its resistance waned, and the heavenly mes closed in and turned the giant stag beetle into charcoal


    When the dust cleared from her attack, Evelyn could only see the ckened corpse of the stag beetle, along with a rapidly colling molten ss surface made in the sand where it had impacted.


    ''Wow I have never seen exactly how much destruction that attack can cause.'' Evelyn thought.


    The area for a couple hundred feet around where the twister had touched down was devastated, and nts not even actually hit by it had burst into mes just from the heat.


    Luckily Evelyn had not created a massive forest fire, as the heavenly me burned so incredibly fast that it did not actually have the capacity to spread easily once she cut off its supply of magical energy.

 Chapter 133 133 Meeting Back Up

    ?Evelyn having overwhelmed and killed the giant stag beetle that had attacked her when she flew over its territory, floated down towards its charred corpse and began slicing into it.


    ''Finally. Its core was in there pretty deep.''


    Pulling her foot out of the chest of the stag beetle, Evelyn held thergest beast core she ever had that was roughly the size of a softball.


    Of course, it was not perfectly round or anything, and she was certain that there was no way she could eat it whole with how big it was.


    ''It is quite a bitrger than even the cores I got from the behemoth frog and awakened rank venom bat. I guess that there is quite the difference between a newly evolved awakened beast and one that has made it to the mid-tier.'' Evelyn thought while examining the core.


    Once she was satisfied that she was not going to get anything else of value off of the stag beetle. she stored the core away and brought back out her messaging notebook.


    In the battle she had lost track of her previous message and needed to use another one in order to continue following it to Katrina.


    Quickly she wrote up anther message and ripped the paper out of the notebook, before tossing it into the air.


    As it fluttered there, it quickly formed itself into the shape of a bird and began flying off into the jungle.


    Following behind it, she weaved in and out of the trees. It was certainly much harder than flying in the open sky, but she did not want to invade the air space of another awakened rank beast that decided she was a threat.


    Going along, she kept her eyes and ears out for any threats. And while there were a number of beasts around, none of them were anywhere close to as strong as the giant stag beetle and did not pose any danger to Evelyn.


    Not long after she had entered the jungle, Evelyn saw a group of four owls flying around and caught a glimpse of the identification cuffs around their legs.


    ''I think I saw them when we all gathered for the meeting before we left for the expedition.'' Evelyn thought, recognizing that these owls were part of her team.


    When she started flying towards them, they seemed rmed for a moment, before perking up and swiftly flying to meet up with her.


    The one in the lead who was a low tier awakened beastnded on a branch and extended her magical thread formunication.


    "You are Evelyn, are you not?" They asked the second the connection was made.


    Nodding her head, she sent back a confirmation and the other owl let out a sigh of relief.


    "Your message reached us a few minutes ago, and the peak awakened beast who is your mentor ordered that search parties be sent out to find you. Now we need to send up a signal that you have been found."


    After saying this the leader of this group of owls pulled out a talisman from his storage ring and activated it.


    In just an instant the piece of magically enchanted paper burned up and what looked like a firework shot up into the air and exploded.


    "Good, now let us head to the base camp. Themander was fuming about the whole situation and has some questions for you."


    With that the group owls took off and Evelyn followed behind them towards the area that was being set up by the two expeditionary forces the Roost had sent.


    It took them around another thirty minutes to reach the edge of the clearing where the owls from the Roost had currently gathered.


    Right now, both the team of low tier awakened beasts and peak fiend beast, as well as the team of high tier and peak awakened beasts that Katrina and Anneli were apart of were setting up in the same area after being transported by the warp gate.


    And standing in the middle of the area next to two spiraling branches that formed a gate was the singr tyrant rank owl that was heading the team that Anneli and Katrina were a part of.


    ''He has a humanoid form.'' Evelyn observed.


    Heading over to him, the owl that had found Evelyn brought her to this tyrant rank beast before quickly going on his way.


    "So, you are the one that went missing, huh. Katrina made quite the fuss about it, especially when she received your message. d we were able to find you without much difficulty. It would have been a bad omen to lose one of our members before the expeditions even started." The tyrant rank owl said.


    Not long after, themander for the lower ranking owls came flying over with an obviously furious look on his face.


    "You there, Evelyn. What sort of nonsense did you do to get yourself knocked out of the warp gate?" He said, using her of doing something right off the bat.


    It was clear he believed that she must have been messing around during the warping and that was why she had been separated from them.


    Of course, she had not done anything and figured that it was likely the work of Ss trying to get her lost or killed.


    Though it was also possible it could have been some malfunction, but her gut was telling her that it was a malicious attack.


    "You certainly moved fast to me her. But what could a fiend beast possibly have done to identally or even purposefully break out of a warp gate begin stabilized by a peak sovereign beast?" The tyrant rankmander asked to Deshal.


    Flustered by being rebuked by his superior, Deshal back pedaled and apologized for jumping to conclusions.


    At this point, another owl came flying in, and it was Katrina. Naturally she had heard of Evelyn''s arrival.


    Before she evennded, she had already begun extending a strand of magical energy formunication and did not even wait for Evelyn''s permission to connect.


    "Evelyn are you alright? What happened?" Katrina said in a rare show of worry.


    She used to be incredibly cold to Evelyn and aloof, but now that they had started training together, they were actually pretty close.


    "I am fine, but I do not know exactly what happened." She said, not wanting to divulge her theory in front of others.


    Even if she did use Ss of trying to harm her it would not get her anywhere, and she would likely face far more repercussions if she tried.


    Over the next few minutes, she answered the questions of the two leaders of the expedition, telling them exactly what had happened before she was knocked out of the warp gate.


    "I see, it sounds like you were supremely unlucky." The tyrant rank leader said.


    Evelyn, Katrina and Deshal were still confused though, but it seemed that he knew something they did not.


    "Commander Evander, what do you mean?" Katrina asked.


    "Well, it is quite rare ,but when warping over such long distances the gates can sometimes have their anchor to each other weakened. This is likely what happened, and Evelyn here got caught up in an area that was no longer stable and was shunted out of the portal."

 Chapter 134 134 First Day Of The Expedition

    ?After Evander gave his hypothesis to why Evelyn had ended up being expelled from the warp gate, both Katrina and Deshal easily epted it.


    Evelyn, though, still believed that Ss had something to do with it, and purposefully weakened the gate to force her into the middle of nowhere.


    ''I mean, what are the chanced this rare defect happened and only affected me.'' Evelyn thought while following Deshal back to where the lower ranking owls were setting up.


    They were going to be spending a few days in this location with the other high-ranking owls before the two groups would go their separate ways.


    When she got back to the expedition team she was a part of, the snowy owl was the first to fly up to her, obviously distraught.


    He quickly tried extending a thread of magical energy towards Evelyn, but she sidestepped it and started heading over to her squad that was approaching.


    She did not really care for the snowy owl, and rather wanted to speak with the members of her squad first.


    To start their leader Adolophine created a connection between them.


    "I am d that you made it back to us. When we arrived and you were not here, it was quite disconcerting. In fact, one owl even had to be restrained since he was so caught up in trying to find you." She said while nodding her head towards the snowy owl.


    Swiftly after Adolophine, the other members of her squad connected to her, and everyone started asking questions.


    Seeing this as his chance the snowy owl did the same, and this time she allowed it since it would have been more of a pain to block him again.


    "From what themander of the other expedition said it seems I just got unlucky. I got caught up in some sort of rare distortion that pulled me out of the warp gate." Evelyn said to answer their questions.


    Eventually their conversation began to wind down and they went out hunting for dinner as a squad.


    Soon enough they had caught enough prey for their meals, and all began eating.


    "Oh, you are going to be using alchemy to cook!" Adolophine said when she saw Evelyn putting her catch into her caldron.


    She had never expected anyone to try cooking out in the middle of the wilds where resources were scarce, and time was precious.


    However, Evelyn was already pretty used to eating her food this way now. And while she had no problem with raw food, she preferred it to be cooked.


    Anyway, what she was currently making would give her a slight boost in stamina and magical energy replenishment for around next twelve hours, so she figured it was worth it since they were rtively safe anyway.


    Just like that the first day of the expedition came to an end. With the watch was taken and the other owls going to sleep.


    As the sun was just beginning to set the enter expedition force was awakened and began preparing to go off and explore the surrounding areas.


    Right now they were located in a subtropical area that was not high in magical energy, but to the west there were areas suitable for fiend beasts and to the northeast was a ce suitable for awakened rank beasts.


    This is why both expeditions had started here. As the leaders of the Roost when first mapping the perimeter of the continent had figured it would be a good ce for the expedition to start.


    Going with her squad, Evelyn flew in a V formation with them. Having her position being at the very back of the right side.


    Currently they were on the lookout for valuable magical nts andndmarks that they could mark down.


    "Oh, looks like we are getting near a river. Pull up a bit high just in case any aquatic beasts get sight of us." Adolophine said through the six-way connection they had.


    Doing as she said, they all raised their altitude and soon they were flying over a tributary that flowed into a muchrger river.


    ''Wow!'' Was all Evelyn could think when the main body of the river came into view.


    It was by far thergest she had ever seen in person, in either of her lives. And it remained her of photos she had seen of the Amazon River.


    "Careful not to fly directly over the main river. No telling what we might attract if we do that." Adolophine said while sticking close to the bank and flying through the smaller streams feeding into the river.


    They continued searching the area for around another half hour when one of the members of the squad spotted something.


    "I have eyes on some soothing lilies." Hawise, the owl that specialized in nature magic said.


    Quickly their entire squad moved in on her location andnded in the trees near the ce the soothing lilies were growing.


    They had found their home in a part of the stream''s bank that had copsed and made a area where the water flow was pretty slow.


    "Looks like eight of them. Let us mark down the general location on the map where we found them and catalog them as a species that grows here as well." Adolophine said, giving out her orders.


    Once Osten who was in charge of the map, and Rehni who had a catalog of known magical nts began writing things down, Adolophine asked Evelyn to retrieve one of the lilies.


    Yet something about this seemed off to Evelyn, and she did immediately go down.


    ''Shouldn''t there normally be some beast guarding these. I know not all magical nts have something watching over them, but it is moremon to find someone else having already staked their im. But I do not see anything else around.'' Evelyn thought.


    Of course, she voiced her concerns, but Adolophine said she did not sense anything, and that it was just likely these lilies did not have a keeper or perhaps they were away at the moment.


    Unable to simply disobey orders any further, Evelyn flew down towards the soothing lilies with her guard all the way up, and only after she had downed a fortification potion.


    But as she got closer all of the lilies began to shift and she watched with wide eyes asing up out of the water was arge form that had been hiding under the mud.


    As it came towards Evelyn who had already been anticipating some sort of attack, she surrounded herself in a wind barrier while lowering her gravity in order to quickly fly back up.


    Unfortunately, she was not quite fast enough to escape getting attacked, and a webbed foot with sharp ws protruding out hit her.


    Luckily her barrier of wind and the armor she had made sure to wear protected her, and instead of being impaled by ws she was knocked upwards.


    And it was a good thing she had not been cut by its ws as a viscous venom was flowing off of them.


    When she managed to right herself, she saw the creature that had attacked her, and looked down in shock at what it was.


    ''A typus!

 Chapter 135 135 Platypus Battle

    ?Looking down in disbelief Evelyn never expected the beast that just attacked her to be a typus.


    But other than looking a bit different from the pictures she had seen back on Earth what she was currently facing down was no doubt one of the most unusual mammals from her original world.


    ''And the soothing lilies were not even real.'' Evelyn thought looking at the protrusions sticking out of the back of this beast.


    It seemed to have somehow grown lures that looked startling like soothing lilies out from its back. Which were frankly far too convincing.


    Even Evelyn and Adolophine who were alchemists and had seen themonly used healing item ingredient, had never suspected that the flowers were fake to begin with.


    "Leader what should we do?" Osten asked over their connection.


    While Evelyn had just been attacked, she was perfectly fine and as the beast before them was terrestrial and aquatic. If they just flew away there would be no need to battle.


    "We will engage. We have the numbers advantage, and it is just a peak fiend beast. But I do not believe I have ever even heard tale of a beast like this, so it could be an unknown species. It will be best if we collect it to see if it has any uses in alchemy or as material for creating other items. So, make sure not to damage its body too much" Adolophine said to everyone.


    With the go ahead given the first to react was Evelyn. She was quite angry at being hit with a sneak attack even if it had not caused her any damage.


    ''Gravity crash.''


    Shotting back down at the beast that had attacked her, Evelyn increased the gravity around her as high as it could go which was slightly above four times.


    Along with that she created a huge and concentrated gust of wind around her which impacted the typus and crushed it into the ground.


    A huge ssh of water and mud flew up into the air as the unsuspecting typus could not react remotely fast enough to Evelyn diving in at it.


    ''It is actually able to move!'' Evelyn thought in surprise.


    Even while being crushed by immense wind pressure and far higher than normal gravity, the typus raised its ws up even as its muscles and bones strained under the pressure.


    In fact, Evelyn was certain she heard a popping sound from its arms as its ligaments started ripping from the stain. But it still reached up towards her to attack.


    At the same time the water and earth around it began to shift and flew up towards Evelyn.


    With her first attack not being as an effective restrain as she thought, Evelyn backed off as the earth and water came towards her.


    Though as she did, to her and everyone else''s surprise, the nts in the area began moving and vines started wrapping around each other to enclose Evelyn.


    But before they could entangle her, she unleashed a series of wind des which cut them up, and she retreated higher into the air where the rest of her squad were.


    "Evelyn what are you doing?! Do not just charge in before we make a n of attack!" Adolophine said, visibly angry.


    When she had made the decision to fight, she did except Evelyn to simply charge in by herself without informing anyone else.


    "I understand that you have probably always fought on your own up to this point and were upset that it attacked you, but we need to coordinate. We are in squads for a reason so that we can use our advantage in numbers, but that does not work if one person attacks recklessly." Adolophine said, mostly to Evelyn, but making sure that the rest of their squad understood as well.


    While being berated for her recklessness, Evelyn was getting angrier herself.


    She had voiced her concerns with going down to get the soothing lilies and was attacked because her worries were dismissed.


    Had she not prepared ordingly and put her defenses up, she could have been horribly injured or even killed.


    Then when she went in for the attack after the okay was given, she was getting chewed out for not coordinating with her team.


    ''I should have just incarcerated it instead of worrying about getting it mostly intact.'' Evelyn thought, already fed up with following Adolophine''s orders.


    However, she gritted her beak and apologized for her behavior anyway, since she did not want to be kicked off the expedition.


    Her main goal was to find some high-quality float stone on this continent that had never been touched by humans, and that would not be possible if she was sent back to the Roost.


    ''Why is it just sitting there.'' Evelyn thought seeing that the typus had not moved.


    She was certain she had not hit it hard enough topletely immobilize it. Yet it was just tilting its head around and looking intently at all of them hovering well above it. :ike it was picking out a target.


    Normally in this situation it should have tried running away by swimming into the depths of the stream and heading for the river, as it was clearly at a disadvantage here.


    ''Maybe it thinks it can win? It does have three affinities which is really rare, so it must be pretty strong.'' Evelyn thought while barely listening to the orders that Adolophine was giving.


    "Now begin." Adolophine said once she had finished making her n of attack.


    To start Isander the slim owl with a lighting affinity flew down near the beast and got its attention whileunching bolts of lightning.


    The typus though was ready for this, and the mud around it shot up and blocked the bolt


    Of course, this was all apart of the n as Rehni came up from its blind spot and created dozens of threads made of metal, which she sent them towards the typus.


    But as if it had eyes in the back of its head, roots sprang up from the water and grappled with the metal threads. Preventing them from wrapping it up and at the same time dragging Rehni in.


    Before she was pulled in though, Adolophine who was acting as support unleashed a de of fire from her wings which sliced through the roots.


    Finally, Osten the other awakened rank owl came smashing down as he had covered himself in a thick armor of earth not unlike the man that had beaten Evelyn''s parents.


    In response the typus shot up a huge st of water that slowed Osten down. Then, instead of trying to move out of the way with its limbs, it warped roots around its legs and pulled itself out of the way.


    With a huge crash Osten smashed into the muddy ground of the bank of the creek without doing much of anything.


    Except while the typus had managed to survive an assault it honestly should not have been able to at its rank, there was seemingly no way it could react in time to therge branch shaped like a spearing at it that was being controlled by Hawise the nature magic using owl.


    Yet right before its head was pierced, the branch abruptly stopped and splintered apart.


    The typus using its own nature magic affinity had stolen control away from Hawise in a show of absolute dominance.


    ''My turn.'' Evelyn thought after seeing the careful assault n Adolophine had made failing.


    She had been ordered to only act in a support position and help out as a defender just as Adolophine was.


    But in the case the initial attack failed, which it had. Evelyn was allowed to make a move and deliver the finishing blow.


    Spinning her body around she brought in a huge amount of wind around herself, and when she had built up enough, threw her wings forward and released the attack.


    ''Whirlwind sickle.''


    As the huge de of wind came down on it, the typus tried bringing mud and watered up in order to counter, but found that its defenses were cut through, and soon its head was shed into.


    Surprisingly, it did not die form this. Even as crimson blood gushed out of its neck. it still kept going with a gash that was carved nearly halfway through its neck and only stopped at its spine.


    ''I know I held back so as to not do too much damage, but what the hell is this thing.'' Evelyn thought, seeing it still going as if nothing had happened.


    Eventually though it did fall to the relentless assault of six owls that were the same or higher rank than it. With Osten delivering the finishing blow by driving a spike of earth directly into its brain.


    This caused it to finally stop moving after it had taken plenty of other hits that should have brought it down.


    ''Well, so much for killing it in good quality.'' Evelyn thought, seeing how damaged the typus was.


    It has been so resilient that tamer attacks simply could not finish it off, and in the end, they had roughed it up quite a bit.


    Blood was pouring out of numerous wounds, it had scorch marks from being hit by lightning, and two of its legs had been cut off by Evelyn''s wind magic and Rehni''s metal magic.


    "That was certainly more difficult than it should have been, but we managed to win. Osten we are going to take it back to base camp right now and inform the others about this resilient species. As you are the strongest among us, carrying it will be your job." Adolophine said.


    Nodding his head, Osten did as he was ordered and went over to pick up the corpse of the beast they had just beaten.


    Except as he dug his talons into its body, the fake flowersing out of its back shot out and tangles of sharp vines began wrapping around his body.

 Chapter 136 136 Parasitic Vine Tangle

    ?Looking out in shock, Evelyn along with all of the other owls that were part of her squad could not believe their eyes.


    What they thought was some sort of lure mimicking soothing lilies that the typus had made itself, began moving.


    And soon enough its form began to shift, and it no longer resembles the useful magical nt. Instead, now having taken the form of a tangle of vines.


    It swiftly wrapped around Osten, and while he tried to fight it off, he was easily restrained by the numerous vines wrapping around him.


    With little resistance these vines pushed through the opening in the earth armor he had formed and forced their way into his body.


    ''We have to do something!'' Evelyn thought frantically.


    But she and everyone else hesitated as there was clearly no way to attack the vines without attacking Osten as well.


    Unfortunately, their hesitation proved to be enough time for the vines topletely slip into Osten''srge body and he began rapidly spasming about.


    Then after around thirty seconds of his body shacking uncontrobly, it became still.


    ''No way! Did it really just take over his body?''


    Seeing what was going on this was the first thing that came to Evelyn''s mind, and it soon became quite clear that this was the case.


    Osten, or rather the parasitic vine tangle, took off now that it had secured its new host that was stronger than its previous one.


    As this happened no one moved to do anything. This was beyond what any of them had ever seen or heard of, and it left them stunned for a few moments.


    But the first to jump back into action was Evelyn. She took off into the air and began flying after Osten''s retreating figure.


    Did she do this out of some sort of loyalty, no. Almost immediately she realized that the loss of a member of their squad on the first day, especially after her problems with the warp gate, could have them all sidelined.


    She needed to be out here in the field searching for the float stone she needed, so anything that might jeopardize her goal was uneptable. That was why she chased after Osten.


    Luckily this spurred on the rest of their squad, and they quickly began chasing after Evelyn.


    Before long they had reestablished the magical connection between all of them and Hawise and Isander began asking their leader what to do.


    Of course, Adolophine did not have a n either, they were all just being spurred on and going after Osten mostly on instinct.


    "We just need to restrain him. Rehni''s metal magic will do the best. Once we have him captured, we can take him back to the rest and hope that another owl knows what to do." Adolophine eventually said to them all.


    Yet while the others agreed, Evelyn was quite certain this would not work.


    This parasitic vine had already proven that it was able to overpower Rehni''s metal magic, and even if they did restrain Osten, there was nothing stopping it from killing him and thentching onto another one of them in the process.


    "No, just restraining him probably won''t work. We need to force that thing to leave and try to take over me. I have a way I can guarantee take care of it once it is out of his body and attached to me." Evelyn said confidently.


    But as she expected, Adolophine rejected her proposal.


    "That is not happening. We cannot risk another one of our members. In the worst case it would be better to put Osten down than allow him to continue being controlled." She said with conviction


    Naturally this was the right call to minimize any possible casualties. If they threw everything they had at it, they could likely obliterate Osten and the parasite all at once.


    Still, this would not lead to the oue that Evelyn wanted, so she continued to push her n while they closed in on their dominated squad member.


    "I promise I can do it. All we need to do is cripple Osten so that he can no longer fly. Once we do that, I bet the nt that has taken him over will try to take over someone else if the opportunity presents itself. I will make myself vulnerable and when ittches onto me, I will burn it to a crisp." Evelyn said pushing her n.


    In the end, she was nning on going through with it whether Adolophine gave the okay or not, as she was confident it would work.


    She had already risked her life many times to aplish her goals, and she was more than willing to do so again.


    "If that is your n then it makes more sense for me to be the bait. I have fire magic as well, plus my nature magic may give me some more protection." Adolophine suggested.


    Hearing this Evelyn was actually pretty surprised, since so far, she thought that their leader would honestly not risk her life for them. She had pretty much been delegating all of the most dangerous tasks to everyone else like having Evelyn pick the soothing lilies.


    "That might not work. Your mes are weaker than mine. I guarantee that I can kill it before it takes me over, but it could resist you."


    She was not going to pass this role up when she felt that she was the only one that could get the job done. There was simply no way she could trust it to anyone else.


    And if Adolophine had anymore objections, she unfortunately did not have time to voice them, as they caught up to Osten who under the control of the parasitic vine had been trying to fly away.


    Yet while it now had control of an awakened rank beast, Osten was on the heavier side and was actually the slowest member of their squad even though he was equal in beast rank to Adolophine and higher than the rest of them.


    ''Now you are not getting away.''


    Sending out her gravity field now that she was in range, she increased it to four times the normal amount around her, and her quarry quickly plummeted under the strain.


    Though this was not enough to keep him down fully, and eventually the controlled owl managed to p his wings harder to stay airborne.


    But there was no doubt his mobility had been greatly reduced, and Evelyn along with the other owls began pelting him with spells.


    Even if they had not totally solidified their n, one thing was certain. They had to clip Osten''s wings and force him to the ground.


    Surely it would be painful for him and would leave him severely injured, but once he was free from the control of the parasitic vine, they could heal him.


    Obviously, the vine did not just take their assault lying down and began using its and Osten''s magic powers to defend itself.


    At this point it was clear that the typus it had been controlling never had three affinities but only two.


    This abomination of a nt had power over nature and then was able to control the innate magic of those it had dominated.


    In this way it created a shell of sturdy earth around Osten''s body and willed the nearby nts toe to its aid.


    Their first attacks were all blocked by numerous branches swinging about and the powerful armor of earth.


    However, the intended effect of grounding Osten still worked. With the heavy earth around him coupled with Evelyn''s increased gravity forcing his body to the ground.


    Now realizing it had no way of escape, the parasitic vine switched from defense and evasion to offense.


    Huge stone spikes began sprouting up out of the ground and along with a storm of razor-sharp leaves began flying up at Evelyn and her squad.


    Taking evasive actions, they all flew around to avoid the assaulting from the ground while at the same time raining spells down from above.


    This went on for around a minute as they did all they could to try and cripple Osten, but his natural defensive abilities along with the power of the parasitic vine allowed him to withstand their restrained assault.


    If they wanted to just blow him away, they likely would have been able to, but they were still desperately trying to save their squad member.


    ''Rehni now!'' Evelyn said over the connection they had.


    She had been making separate ns with her acquaintance, trusting her abilities more than the others.


    When she gave the signal for her to go, Evelyn alsounched a fire ball down near Osten, and it created a huge explosion.


    This managed to blow Osten''s body away from his entrenched position and burned away all the nt matter in the area.


    Certainly, it was a bit rough, but they need to do something, so she used a more powerful attack.


    Then while the parasitic vine was adjusting itself, Rehni came down and opened her mouth to release an echoing st of sound.


    It was by far louder than even the explosion that Evelyn had caused, and for a moment even under the forceful control of the parasitic vine, Osten''s body was shaken and could not move for a few moments.


    In that time Evelyn flew down and mmed her ws into his right wing and chest.


    A sh of magical energy appeared for a moment before disappearing, and Evelyn flew back now that her traps were set.


    Once she had gotten far enough away, she activated them, and watched the as Osten''s body was pulled forward and his wing pushed back.


    A resound crack followed, as even with the earth armor on his body, his frame simply could not take the opposing gravitational forces pulling him in two different directions and his wing snapped.

 Chapter 137 137 End Of The Menace

    ?With a loud snap one of Osten''s wings broke and his body crumpled to the ground.


    It was only a momentter, though, that he forced himself back up, and it was clear that like it had done with itsst host, the parasitic vine tangle was pushing the body it had taken over beyond its physical limits.


    Essentially, as long as its nervous system was not damaged to the point of being unresponsive, it could force even a broken body to move.


    Still, no bird was going to be flying with a broken wing no matter how hard it tried to, and this prevented the parasitic vine from even attempting to take off again.


    ''Nowes the most dangerous part.'' Evelyn thought as she flew above Osten''s body.


    She needed to somehow get the parasite to leave Osten and try totch onto her, but even though he was injured, it could still use his magic and would attack anything that got close.


    Even now it as still firing projectiles made of earth at them, but there was a limit that it would eventually reach.


    Every being had a finite amount of magical energy inside of them, and when it reached that limit, that would be the time to strike.


    "Now we just need wait for him to run out of magical energy. Then I will go and restrain him and creating an opening for whatever that thing is totch onto me." Evelyn said over her squad''s connection.


    Unfortunately, now that they had some more time as Osten was not going anywhere and his attacks were not able to really reach them so long as they focused on evasion, Adolophine decide to bring up their earlier disagreement.


    "No, I will do it. I have more physical strength and am at a high rank both as a beast and squad leader. It is my job to do this." She said obstinately.


    "It has to be me. If you do it, I only see you failing. In that case we will be back to square one, and unlike Osten, I am probably the only one that can keep up with you. And I do not think I would be able to go through another long, drawn-out fight with you. I would just have to kill you." Evelyn said sharply.


    She made sure to fix a re filled with pressure at Adolophine, and once again she felt a sense of fear seeing Evelyn''s gaze.


    For some reason, even though she was a higher rank, Evelyn gave off a presence that seemed insurmountable and her instincts told her she could not win.


    "Fine, but the same goes for you. If you fail, we will have to put you down along with that parasite." Adolophine said with as confident of an expression as she could muster. Which was really not much.


    ''Yeah, I am pretty sure if that thing got full control over me and could use all my powers properly, it would kill all of you.'' Evelyn thought imagining how it would go down.


    However, she was certain that would note to pass. There was simply no way that thing should be able to survive being consumed in her heavenly me.


    Flying down towards Osten, she created a powerful barrier of wind in front of her and shaped it like a giant bullet.


    Sensing the iing threat, the parasitic vine tangle used thest of its magical energy to create a wall of stone that was reinforced with roots that stuck out like spears.


    Normally this should have been enough to stop the charge of any fiend beast, but Evelyn pushed her power over her first affinity to its max and shot forward like a missile.


    The powerful gale force wind she had created around herself smashed into the wall of stone and roots. And for just a moment, it held her back, before the roots splintered and the wall crumbled.


    Most of her power was lost in breaking through, but with the remaining strength she had, she mmed into Osten''s body and the two of them skidded across the ground.


    Quickly she increased the gravity around them and restrained his body with her own.


    For a few moments the parasitic vine tried to force Evelyn off, but she was actually stronger than she looked. Inrge part to the human magic core she had.


    With her normal physical strength, she could likely match Osten, and with his body current injures and her gravity weighting down she had the clear advantage.


    Soon enough the parasitic vine stopped futile struggling andunched numerous tendrils out of Osten''s mouth and began clinging to Evelyn.


    Quickly it dragged its body out of its previous host who was now crippled, and began wrapping around Evelyn.


    Once she was certain that enough of it had attached to her, she began struggling to spur it on and jumped away from Osten using a gust of wind to propel herself.


    This pulled the rest of the vine tangle''s body out of her squad member, and it fully gripped its body around Evelyn and tried forcing its way down her throat.


    ''Got you.'' She thought as it wrenched her beak open.


    So far, she had not used her heavenly me during the battle since it would do too much damage. But also, so that this parasite would not be wary of her.


    If it knew she could use mes that could hurt it, there was a chance it would not have left Osten''s body and fought to the death instead.


    But now she had it where she wanted it, and as soon as it tried crawling into her, she let loose fire from her mouth like a dragon and burned the invading vines to ash.


    The nt let out a horrendous sound as part of it was burned away, and it tried to unwrap itself from Evelyn.


    Before it could though, she covered her entire body in her crimson heavenly me and engulfed it and herself.


    The parasitic vine iled around as its entire body began to burn and all the moisture in it began to vaporize.


    In just a couple of seconds, the once formidable enemy was reduced to nothing, as Evelyn destroyed it in its entirety.


    ''Whew, so it did work. I knew it would, but that creeping doubt I might fail was always in the back of my mind.''


    Letting out a sigh of relief at her sess, Evelyn slumped over onto her butt and began breathing heavily.


    She had used up most of magical energy and stamina, and her body felt like a rock now.


    Nevertheless, their goal had been aplished, and while Osten was currently unconscious and is body battered horribly, he was still alive.


    Swiftly the other owls in their squad flew down, with Adolophine going up to Osten and pouring a healing potion down his throat and trying to reset his wing.


    "Are you okay Evelyn?" Rehni said as shended right in front of her.


    "Yeah, just tired. I used up pretty much all I had left there at the end. But at least it worked out." Evelyn responded.


    She then hiked herself up despite her fatigue and took out three bottles.


    Inside was the basic recovery items of a healing potion, magical energy replenishment pill, and a stamina recovery potion.


    Quickly she downed them all in the practiced motion she had picked up in her sparing matches with Katrina and let out a long sigh once she had finished consuming them.


    Just a few momentster she felt the magical powers of her potions working and her heavy body began to feel a bit lighter.


    "How is he doing?" She asked after hoping over to where Osten was.


    Currently Adolophine was looking him over and had a frown on her face.


    "It does not look good. He is pretty roughed up not just on the outside, but internally as well. I have given him some of my healing potions, but he is going to need something stronger or the help of our doctor, ine. At this rate, I think carrying him back to base might kill him though. Whatever that thing was did not use his body gently."


    ''Guess I do not have a choice." Evelyn thought.


    Holding out her spatial storage cuff she took out a very vibrant green potion that shimmered with a beautiful glow.


    Seeing it Adolophine was stunned for a moment, and she looked at Evelyn in astonishment.


    "Is that not a grade four potion?! That is something only a tyrant rank beast or higher should be able to make."


    "Yes, it is. My master made it for me before the expedition. It was supposed to be used in an emergency and I think this qualifies." Evelyn said as she brought the potion up to Osten''s beak.


    Pouring it down his throat she watched as the wounds he had that were not able to be healed by the lower quality grade two potions that Adolophine had used began to close.


    Within just a minute Osten took in a deep breath and his eyes flung open, before in exhaled in relief and fell unconscious again.


    "There, looks like it worked." Evelyn said seeing that the potion had healed Osten.


    Still, Adolophine who knew exactly how valuable the potion Evelyn had just used could only stare at her in disbelief.


    "I cannot believe you just used something that would cost at least three million credits! Even to save squad members life."


    Shrugging her shoulders, Evelyn responded, saying, "It had to be done. It was a gift from my master, so it did not cost me anything. Anyway, I already put in too much effort to back out at the end simply because I needed to use an expensive potion."

 Chapter 138 138 Return To Base

    ?Now that they had freed Osten of the control of the parasitic vine and his wounds had been healed by the potion Melisandre had given to Evelyn, it was time for them to return.


    Right now, they were all physically and mentally exhausted, and there was no way they would be able to continue exploring the area in their conditions.


    "Let us head back. This continent has already shown us that it has dangers we are unaware of, and it would be best that we return back t rest and report our findings." Adolophine said, taking charge.


    However, Evelyn could see that she was stiffing a grimace on her face, and it was all too obvious why.


    During the incident with the parasitic vine, she had not been able to do much of anything, and honestly it was Evelyn who had taken charge and resolved the situation.


    Now Adolophine''s pride as a leader was in tatters.


    Still, Evelyn could honestly care less about this, and as long as now knew not to fight her on making decisions it would all be fine.


    "So how are we going to carry him? He is pretty heavy." Rehni said as she tried to lift up Osten.


    Out of all of them he was by far the biggest and strongest owl, so carrying him was going to be an ordeal.


    "I will do it. I am probably the only one that can do it by myself, and we will be slowed down tremendously if more than one of us has to carry him." Evelyn said nearly immediately.


    The others looked a bit shocked at Evelyn''s deration, since by all ounts she was only around two-thirds of his size and did not look strong enough to do so.


    Not to mention that she had pretty much exhausted herself on the front lines of the battle and had used nearly all she had.


    But when she hiked hisrge body up onto her back and managed to lift off the ground by pping her wings rapidly while also supporting herself with wind magic. There was not any argument the others could give.


    ''Thank God I can use gravity magic. If I was not making him four times lighter no way I could carry hisrge body.'' Evelyn thought while getting the feel of supporting herself.


    Soon enough they were on their way again and began retracing their steps and flying back towards their base camp.


    When they arrived, they certainly received a number of looks, as dozens of owls that had stayed behind turned their heads towards them.


    ''Okay that is a bit creepy.'' Evelyn thought as she watched this.


    While she had gotten used to the ability to swivel her head around all the way, watching multiple owls do it at once was a bit unsettling.


    Nevertheless, their gazes soon receded, and they made their way over to where themander was.


    Currently he had a wooden desk out with a number of documents lined up in neat stacks.


    It was almostical for Evelyn to see this, as it looked like an owl doing office work.


    ''I guess that I am not fully ustomed tot his new world yet.'' Evelyn thought while holding in a chuckle.


    When theynded, though, the atmosphere changed immediately, and themanding expression that Deshal normal had was reced by one of exhaustion.


    "I imagine you have something to report to me as well. And judging by the situation I doubt it is good news." Deshal said as she looked from Adolophine to Osten who was passed out and strung over Evelyn''s back.


    "Yes, we encountered an unusual nt while searching the jungle. It- it had the power to enter beasts'' bodies and take them over." Adolophine said with a hint of fear still in her tone.


    Hearing this Deshal sighed, but it did not seem that he was all that surprised by this news.


    "Your squad as well huh. Two other squads reported that they also encountered a being such as the one you have described. But each of their squads suffered casualties. One lost two of their members and another lost four." Deshal said with a shadow over his face.


    He was in charge of their unit and these losses on the first day were a really big blow.


    Their group of seventy-two owls had apparently now been cut down to sixty-six within such a short amount of time.


    "I see that your squad managed to get through without anyone dying and only one member being incapacitated. Would you please tell me what happened?"


    Nodding her head, Adolophine described their encounter with the typus type beast and how they managed to defeat it.


    However, when Osten theirrgest and strongest member went to pick it up, the parasite took him over as a new host.


    After that she detailed their daring rescue mission. Though she did try to make it seem like she did more than she really did, and that she had fullmand over the situation.


    At the very least she still gave Evelyn her due credit in being the one to take the vanguard position in the battle and risk herself to save Osten by acting as bait.


    "I see. You managed to save yourrade even after he was already taken over." Deshal said with a conflicted expression his face.


    He then sighed, before turning a far fierier gaze than he had been showing towards Evelyn.


    "It seems that I misjudged you. I consider myself an earnest owl, and I did not take kindly to members being assigned to my team without having to prove themselves like the others, or even any consideration on my part. But I will take Adolophine''s words at face value and want to apologize for how I treated your earlier. Also thank you for pushing yourself to save a member of your squad when there would have been no risk to you had you not. As the leader of this expedition, you have earned my respect." Deshal said with a far morepassionate look then Evelyn had seen him give.


    ''I guess he is not as much of a hardass as I thought.''


    Seeing him take aplete one eighty on how he was treating her, Evelyn now understood themander of the expedition a bit better now.


    He did not really have it out for her, he was just upset about those above him making decisions without his consent and possibly sending him dead weight.


    With their report wrapped up, Adolophine led her squad away and they began preparing to rest.


    All of them were both mentally and physically exhausted and could use a could rest.


    ''Today was a lot more dangerous than I thought it would be. This continent may have less magical energy overall, but it is still dangerous. I need to be¡­ more¡­ careful.''


    With thesest thoughts Evelyn slipped into unconsciousness and slept like a log.


    Upon theing of the next day, it was decided that the members of the lower ranking expedition team that had encountered the parasitic vine tangles would be meeting with those in the higher-ranking expedition in order topare notes on what had happened.


    "So, you also encountered far more magical nts with wills than normal as well." Commander Evander said, once Deshal had told him what they had found.


    Apparently, this continent had a number of magical nts that could move around and preyed on beasts, which was not normal for the continent the Roost was connected to.


    Of course, there were moving magical nts like the Rakus Flower that Evelyn had hunted in the Glowing Woods, but that was the only one she had evere across or knew about beforeing to this continent.


    Yet while they were supposed to umon, between the two expedition units they had already discovered nine unique species of moving nts that were not know to the Roost in a single day.


    "This I certainly disconcerting. Between our two groups we have lost nine owls and we have only just gotten started." Deshal said with a despondent expression.


    "Yes, it is an unfortunate loss, but we have learned much in this single day. From this point onward I rmend that we err on the side of caution. We should try to keep squads closer together while exploring the areas. That way they can offer aid in case of emergencies. I know this will slow us down, but now that we know that this ce is more dangerous than initially expected I believe it would be the best option. To that end, I think it would also be in our best interest to have our inscriptionists work on more signal re talismans, and have the alchemist create some herbicides." Evander said, taking control of the situation.


    Swiftly new ns were put into motion by the leadership of the expedition and the squads that had lost members were reorganized.


    They had certainly taken a huge blow on their first day, but the expedition teams had gained new knowledge and insights and were now going to be able to work together to move forward on their goal of exploring this new continent.

 Chapter 139 139 The Expedition’s Progress

    ?After the dangers and deaths faced on the first day of the expedition, formations were tightened, and more measures were taken tobat the threats of the new continent.


    This certainly slowed down their progress in searching the areas for where the best resources were, but it did prevent many more casualties from happening.


    Along with increased vignce the owls of the expeditionary forces began getting a better understanding for the powers of the moving nts that were quitemon on this continent.


    Now that they knew what to look for and other measures such a preparing herbicides had been taken, the expedition moved forward with far few deaths than before.


    Of course, being on an unfamiliar continent and searching it for resources had theming in conflict with the local inhabitants plenty of times and a few more owls died in the weeks that they searched the jungle.


    At this point the two expeditionary forces had separated but those from the lower ranking one that Evelyn was a part of was now down to sixty-one members from their original seventy-two.


    However, it could not be said that their losses were in vain, as their group had found numerous rare resources among the areas they had searched.


    This included magical nts, ores, and even beasts that had unusual properties that would be useful in numerous industries such as alchemy.


    But their greatest find so far was a magical crystal mine, which were pretty much all taken on the continent the Roost was based in.


    Naturally it was not a particrlyrge or high-quality deposit of the magical crystals since they were searching areas with rtively low magical energy where fiend beasts thrived. With it mostly being filled with the lowest type being the green crystal, while having a healthy amount of the next highest blue crystals, and just a small number of red magical crystals growing in the center.


    Still, it was an impable find that would be worth several hundreds of thousands of credits for all of the expeditionary members.


    Though while this was great for all of the other owls, it was not much for Evelyn whose skills already allowed her to make plenty of the credits used as a currency in the Roost.


    She had yet to find what she was looking for, which was the float stones, but they had only cleared out around a third of the areas assigned to their group, so she was still hopeful.


    And in case the higher-ranking force found the float stones she had Anneli and Katrina who would inform her.


    At the very least things had not beenpletely worthless to her, as along with Adolophine and the other alchemists on the expedition, they had found numerous ingredients that had been unknown to the roost before.


    ''Almost done¡­ Come on just a little more¡­ Hehe, I did it.''.


    Looking down at the contents of her caldron Evelyn gave a satisfied smile.


    She had just finished making a new concoction that had never before been seen in the Roost or maybe even the world.


    ''Carefully now. I do not want to get any of this on me.'' She thought as she poured the substance into a number of containers.


    Once it was stored into a few bottles she sealed them up and ced a few talismans she had asked one of the inscriptionists to make.


    These talismans all used simple magic that oscited whatever they were attached to and would actually break the container that Evelyn had ced them on.


    This was exactly what she wanted of them though.


    The alchemical item she had just created was in fact an incredibly strong adhesive that could stick to pretty much anything.


    It also would note off easily and took multiple hours using fire and water magic to get it off the first time Evelyn had idently caused it to explode all over Adolophine when they were still in the trial phase.


    ''Now what am I going to call it?'' she thought as she looked at the mostly ck substance that looked a bit like oil.


    As the creator of this new item, it was her right to name it, but everything she came up with did not sound right.


    ''I don''t think calling it super glue is really urate.''


    Toiling around with it for a little while she eventually decided to just call it entangling tar.


    Then with a name for it she found Adolophine and told her that it waspleted.


    "You really made something quite horrible." She said as Evelyn showed her one of the jars filled with the viscous ck substance.


    Just looking at it made her wince as she remembered being covered by it and losing a number of her feathers when it was removed.


    "Yeah, but it is pretty useful. It works well on restraining movements, and if anything gets caught in it, they are pretty much done for." Evelyn said, proud of her creation.


    Sighing, Adolophine, as much as she did not enjoy having been wrapped up in Evelyn''s experiment, could not deny how powerful the alchemical item she had created was.


    "Still, you used plenty of rare materials we just discovered to make a single batch, and the main ingredient is the resin from that horrible moving nt that disguises itself as a normal tree." Adolophine said as she remembered their encounter with that very nt.


    It had managed to catch them all by surprise and it sprayed out its sticky resign not unlike the item Evelyn had made.


    Though inparison, what the nt could make by itself was far tamer than what Evelyn hade up with by increasing its effectiveness and changing some of its properties with alchemy.


    "Even so, I think once the area stats receiving more traffic, the ingredients will start flowing into the Roost. For now, though, I will just keep some on me for personal use and sell the recipe to the alchemy hall when we get back." Evelyn said in response.


    Unfortunately, there was no sort of patentws in the Roost, so anyone could just copy whatever they wanted as long as they knew the recipe.


    Of course, if the creator never made that recipe public, they could keep the concoction for themselves, but if they tried selling it in the alchemy hall it was likely to be reversed engineered.


    So, to prevent all of the owls from hoarding useful knowledge for themselves, the alchemy hall would pay a set amount for new creations and release the recipes to the entire Roost.


    ''Now I think it could use some live testing.'' Evelyn thought.


    With that she went around with Adolophine and gathered her squad to go and test out her entangling tar on some of the local beasts.


    "I think those fleet foot rabbits we found nearby will make the perfect targets." Evelyn said to everyone as she exined her n.


    Luckily, they all agreed to go out with her on the condition that she give each of them one of the jars of the tar.


    After that they took off once they had permission and headed over to therge loosely wooded ins that they had been investigating the day before.


    Once there they quickly found one of their targets which was a mostly brown furred rabbit that looked quite simr to the ones from earth.


    Though like most beasts in this world its size was gigantic, and even the high tier fiend beast specimen they came across was the size of a small car.


    Along with that it had much sharper ws which they used for grip while running and to ward off predators.


    ''And away we go.''


    Launching one of the jars, Evelyn tossed it out with her wind magic and aimed it directly in the path of the rabbit that was trying to flee from her.


    Crack!


    Not long after she tossed it the talisman attached to the jar activated. Creating an oscition that shattered the container and released the contents all over the area.


    The rabbit fast as it might be, was unable to avoid the falling substance that spread out over arge distance.


    Its entire body was soon covered and after it bounded forward a couple more times it becamepletely wrapped up and skidded to a stop.


    ''Looks like it is more than effective enough against even fast beasts.'' Evelyn thought as she watched the fleet footed rabbit struggle.


    All four of its legs had gotten tangled up in the tar, and when it tried to bite its way out its mouth got stuck as well.


    Certainly, it was a terribly unfortunate turn for the rabbit, and if just left alone it would have died a slow and horrible death.


    At the very least Evelyn was not going to let it suffer. She knew all too much about what it was like to be tortured, and quickly pierced her talons through its throat and ended its life.


    ''Well, there is definitely one problem with using this stuff. It makes it practically impossible to retrieve anything worthwhile from whatever it is used on.'' Evelyn thought as she dug the beast core out of the rabbit.


    She would have also like to take its meat since they tasted pretty good, but sadly it was contaminated by the tar.


    ''I suppose I need to make some sort of solvent that can remove it as some point. Luckily it does not really work on me.''


    Wreathing herself in her heavenly m, Evelyn began burning away the entangling tar she had gotten on herself when retrieving the beast core of the fleet footed rabbit.


    Her power me so far was the only thing she found that could easily remove the substance. but she was the only one who could use it this way without being burned to ash.


    Now that the test was done, she prepared to head back to the camp the expedition set up when a surprise message came fluttering over to her.


    ''Oh, it is a little early for the regr correspondence from Katrina or Anneli?'' Evelyn thought as she saw this messageing her way.


    The three of them had stayed inmunication during the expedition. Updating each other on their rtive progress and what interesting beasts, magical, nts, ores, or other such items they hade across.


    Though it had only been a couple days ago since theirst messaging and normally they only did it at the end of each week.


    Holding out her left foot Evelyn snatched the flying piece of paper out of the air as it floated around her.


    Carefully she opened it up so as not to pierce or rip it with her talons and began reading the contents of the message.


    Yet she did not get past the first line before her eyes went wide in astonishment.


    The first thing written on the message said, ''We found it. There is a deposit of float stones near the area we have been searching.''

 Chapter 140 140 Whatever Is Necessary

    ?After reading the first line of the message that Katrina had sent her Evelyn actually began jumping up in joy.


    Pretty much her entire purpose foring here was to get her hands on an untapped vein of float stones, and finally it was going to be in her grasp.


    Certainly, it had mostly been a pipe dream, something that was not likely to actually happen. But her seniors Anneli and Katrina hade through for her.


    Unfortunately, it seemed that her celebration had been premature.


    Once she began reading the message further, she found that obtaining the float stones was not going to be a simple procedure.


    Why? Because where the deposit does not belong to the territory of the Roost.


    Katrina and Anneli found it just beyond the border of where the Roost''s territory stops, and their ally the foxes'' territory begins.


    This meant that they could see where the float stones were located, but they had no im to it.


    "I mean this cannot be that big of a problem, right? I may not know much about the Roost''s rtionships with other beasts, but they are allies. I am sure that I can facilitate some sort of trade with them if I go through Melisandre.'' Evelyn thought, not allowing herself to get down.


    Quickly she wrote up a response and ripped it out of the notebook she had.


    The slightly glowing white piece of paper then folded itself into a bird and began flying towards its target.


    Watching it fly away Evelyn let out a slight sigh now that her mood had fallen and went to gather up the rest of her squad and return to the expedition''s camp.


    When they made it back everyone else went to sleep to recovery after a long day, but Evelyn sat there impatiently waiting for Katrina to send her back another message.


    She waspletely wired, and she knew that se would not be able to get any rest until she knew more about the situation.


    ''Ah, there it is!''


    Spotting the flying white message Evelyn in her excitement did not even wait for it to travel thest thousand feet and flew to intercept it.


    Taking ahold of it, she hastily opened it up and began reading.


    Though as she did, she scowled since it did note with a favorable response.


    ''Sorry Evelyn, I wish it were that easy. If it were the crows that found it that might be possible, but the foxes cannot inherently fly like us, so they have more uses for such a rare mineral. They are also sly and cunning and only make deals that highly benefit them. Especially when they have the upper hand. It is highly likely they would ask for something that not even I or Anneli could obtain in return. And the instant you show interest in it any chance of obtaining it will be pretty much impossible. You really only have two options. Give up; or steal it. Take some time to make your decision. Anneli and I will help you out however we can with whatever you decide.''


    Reading through the message a few times Evelyn began clenching her beak incredibly tightly in frustration.


    The item she was here for was so close but out of reach.


    ''What should I do? It is possible that we could find another deposit in the area afforded to the Roost, but it is not guaranteed. And if I pass it up now, I probably will not get another chance at this deposit. Just like how we brought in more personnel to secure the magic crystal mine we found, the foxes are likely to do the same with the float stone. If I want to steal some, I will need to do it before they have properly secured it.''


    Evelyn continued to toil around with what to do, but she found both positives and negatives in either approached.


    If she was found out it could end up with her being killed or possibly even the Roost going to war with the foxes.


    Of course, her other options were not that much different, since unless she got lucky enough toe across another deposit on this continent that was in owl territory, she would have to attack humans instead. Who she frankly wanted nothing to do with ever again if she could help it.


    ''Why am I even hesitating? There is only one answer I can go with. I already decided to do whatever I had to in order to get stronger.''


    Finding her resolve, Evelyn wrote another message to Katrina telling her that she intended to steal the float stone from the foxes and that she would like their help if possible.


    After sending out this message she felt a calme over her now that the path forward was certain. If she had to make an enemy out of the entire world to reach her goal, she would do so.


    Soon enough another message came flying in which confirmed that Katrina and Anneli would help her.


    ''So, we will meet up tomorrow halfway between our current positions in an area that is incredibly low in magical energy to avoid any threats or being found out so that we can make a n in person. All I need to do is slip away unnoticed while the expedition unit is resting.''


    With the next step settled and nothing else for her to do today, the focus that had kept Evelyn awake quickly waned, and the fatigue of the day caught up with her and she drifted off to sleep.


    The next day came and went just like normal with her squad exploring their designated area and recording any valuable finds that they came across.


    Overall, it was uneventful, and other than finding a small outcropping of a rare magical nt called star clovers nothing of note happened.


    Then once they had returned and everything began to settle down Evelyn prepared to leave the encampment to go and meet up with Anneli and Katrina.

 Chapter 141 141 Meeting With Katrina And Anneli

    ?With nighting to an end and the suning up, the majority of the owls from the expedition unit were getting some rest.


    Other than the lookouts who were on watch, everyone else was already drifting off to sleep. Making it the perfect time for Evelyn to go and meet up with Anneli and Katrina.


    ''To think I would be waiting for it to be daytime to have a ndestine meeting.'' Evelyn thought while internallyughing.


    For humans it was normally standard to have such engagements done at night when most people were asleep, but with most owls being nocturnal it was theplete opposite.


    Slowly spinning her head around, Evelyn took in her surroundings and located where each of the sentries keeping watch over the area currently were.


    Then when she was certain that none of them were watching her, she took out two talismans from one of her storage rings.


    ''Invisibility and scent dampening.'' Evelyn thought as she activated each of them.


    These were two of the talismans that Katrina had made sure she purchased beforeing on the expedition, and while it was the first time she was using them, she was now d to have them.


    Quickly her body began to fade into the scenery and any sort of odor she was giving off was sealed tightly around her and mostly kept from permeating into her surroundings.


    Now certain that she was well hidden, she quietly took off from her perch and began flying towards the area she was supposed to meet Katrina and Anneli.


    It was around forty miles away from where she currently was and would take her only around an hour to reach at a steady pace.


    Luckily, she managed to make it there without incident, and once she had gotten into the area she pulled out her message notebook and sent one off to Katrina.


    ''Okay they are that way.'' Evelyn thought as she watched the paper bird start to fly.


    She was currently only in the general area of their meet up and needed to use this convenient magic tool to make it to their exact location.


    Within just another three minutes, she saw therge imposing forms of Melisandre''s attendants and some of the only beings she trusted at all in this world.


    "It is good to see that you have made it." Katrina said with a serious expression.


    In contrast Anneli was her usual self, being quite bubbly and unreserved.


    "Hey there Evelyn. You would not believe some of the crazy things we have seen and gotten into here. I know we have beenmunicating via messages, but you can only share so much that way." Anneli said with an exited tone.


    Luckily before she went off on a tangent and told Evelyn about the entire adventure she had experienced, Katrina cut her off.


    "Anneli we are here for something far more important than rying our entire journey. We can get caught up on that another time. For now, we need to make a n for Evelyn to obtain the float stone she needs."


    Sighing, Anneli relented from detailing her adventure up to this point.


    "To start I want to thank both of you for helping me with this. I never would have known about the float stone deposit without you both and your offer to help is very much appreciated. But are you sure? If you help me and we fail, the two of you could end up in trouble or even dead. I can do it alone if you just tell me where it is." Evelyn said with a concerned look in her eyes.


    While she had wanted to avoid making any attachments over thest few months, she had lived and trained with these two and they had helped her out immensely. There was just simply no way she could not be a little close to them.


    "No, we want to help you out Evelyn. We have to put in a good showing for our precious junior." Anneli said while raising her head up proudly.


    "Well, I am not as magnanimous as Anneli here. But I also do want to help you. And we can simply say that you owe me one." Katrina said with a slight smile on her normally expressionless face.


    Nodding her head Evelyn epted their assistance now that it was clear that they were truly fine with helping her out.


    "To start, I guess I need to know where the deposit is. Would you mind showing me?" Evelyn asked.


    Pulling out a map she had, Katrina unfurled it and pointed at where the deposit is located.


    "As you can see it really is close to the Roost''s territory, but I am pretty sure the foxes had already figured out something valuable was there before they sent in an expeditionary force."


    Looking at what Katrina was pointing out Evelyn definitely agreed with her, since this was one of the areas where the territories jutted out unnaturally.


    Of course, there were plenty of areas like this in favor of the owls as well, but for Evelyn this was quite unfortunate as it was so close to having been very easy for her to obtain the float stone deposit.


    "Anyway, Anneli and I approached the area not realizing we had crossed over the territory borders and were met by a group of foxes that are there setting up a way point for a warp gate to lock onto. They were not overly hostile when we arrived, but they did shoo us off pretty quickly and made it very clear we were in their territory."


    "So, they already know about you two. That makes some options unusable, but I am d to know that they will at least not attack us on sight. Oh, and were you able to get an urate count of how many there are?"


    "Yep, I could a good count of them." Anneli said chiming in. "There were five by what I could tell. Three at the peak of the awakened rank and two at the high tier.

 Chapter 142 142 Engaging With The Foxes

    ?Evelyn winced and gritted her beak as she heard about how strong and how many foxes were currently overseeing the float stones.


    ''We are outnumbered and out matched.'' Evelyn thought while grimacing.


    And it was not just a matter of their numbers and ranks being higher, these were beasts from an organized force like the Roost.


    They would not be like beasts that simply live out in the wilds like the ones Evelyn was used to dealing with.


    These foxes would have magic weapons, potions, talismans, and who knows what else to increase theirbat potential and survivability.


    Also, their use of magic would be at aparable level of control and sophistication.


    Still, Evelyn already resolved herself to fight and could not give up on her goal that was right in front of her.


    "We will need a good n if we are to beat them then." Evelyn said as she looked at Anneli and Katrina resolutely.


    With that decided they began hammering out how they would deal with the foxes and contingency ns should things go awry at any point.


    "Okay, I believe that we have done all we can to prepare. Thank you both for going out of your way to help me here. I promise I will make it up to the two of you in the future." Evelyn said with genuine gratitude in her eyes.


    "Hehe, it is no problem. We have to look out for each other, and this is not our first time doing something questionable for a valuable resource." Anneli said.


    "Yes, well you are wee. Just do not forget that we will need to meet up in two days tomence the operation. You will need to slip away from your squad, and you might get in trouble, but it is imperative we make our move at night so make sure to cover your tracks." Katrina said with a serious expression.


    After that eh three of them went their separate ways and headed back to the respective encampments of their units.


    When she arrived, she stealthy made her way back to her spot and got some bted rest.


    The next day she feltpletely exhausted since she slept far less than normal, but she pushed herself hard to excel since she knew she would be ditching her squad tomorrow.


    "Are you okay Evelyn? You seem a bit on edge." Rehni asked while they were taking a break.


    She had picked up on Evelyn unusual behavior while they were scouting the area assigned to them.


    During the expedition the two of them had naturally gravitated to each other within their squad since they already had met before and were simr in personality.


    "No, I am fine. Just did not sleep well." Evelyn said while stifling a yawn.


    Once they had finished up their break, Evelyn''s squad got back to work and began collecting data on the area they were currently in.


    ''Done atst.'' Evelyn thought when they returned back to their base camp.


    She was really starting to real tired, and when she found a good perch, she slipped away into unconsciousness within just a couple seconds.


    Upon theing of the next day the anticipation was beginning to get to Evelyn and she felt a bit jittery.


    ''Just got to keep it together for a couple more hours.''


    Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed herself down and went about her routine to get ready before her squad set off to continue exploring.


    An hour after they left, and she was only surrounded by her squamates Evelyn slowly distanced herself away from them making it seem like she was just investigating something.


    Then when she was at the edge of the range of their magic connection that allowed them tomunicate, she slipped out of view behind a tree and quickly activated an invisibility and scent dampening talisman.


    With the setup done, she broke the connection with her squad and began rapidly flying off in the direction of the float stone deposit that was around two hundred miles from her current location.


    Naturally her squad began to panic when she broke the connection, and they frantically went around to search for her. But none of them immediately found anything. It was as if Evelyn had simply vanished into thin air.


    Flying through the trees Evelyn hastily made her way towards the rendezvous point that she had set up with Katrina and Anneli two days ago.


    When she arrived, she found them already there as they had less distance to cover than she did.


    The three of them quickly reconfirmed the n before going their separate ways.


    Evelyn made a beeline for where the float stone deposit, while taking out certain talismans and potions and using them beforehand.


    She was now magically enchanted by a resistance to mostmon magic elements, while also having fortified and quicken her body with potions.


    ''My preparations areplete. Now all I need to do is enact the n and hope it goes off without a hitch.''


    Soon enough she saw where her destination was as a mountainous area appeared within her vision.


    At the top of one of these mountains there were a number ofrge rocks that were floating above the area and had thick vines or tree roots that connected them to the surface.


    Seeing it Evelyn thought it was quite surreal and one of the most fantastical sights she had witnessed sinceing to this world.


    But she was not here for sightseeing, and swiftly suppressed her awe and kept on going.


    As she approached the area and entered the territory of the foxes it was not long before one of them appeared.


    ''Wow it is big.'' Was Evelyn''s first thought upon seeing it.


    This fox was easily sixteen feet long and bit more than six feet tall.


    Truly it was an immense beast inparison to the foxes Evelyn had seen on Earth, but that also pertained to her as well.


    Along with that it had a gray coat of fur that almost seemed to sparkle in the dim moonlight


    Thankfully this fox did not attack her on sight and looked up curiously at the owl that had appeared in their territory.


    Putting on a fake look of relief, Evelyn made sure to sh her identification cuff and began slowly descending towards the fox.


    Shended on the ground a dozen feet away from it, and before she had the chance to it herself, the fox extended a magic thread towards her to speak. Obviously wanting to quickly get this over with.


    "What are you doing here? This is the territory of the foxes. The area allowed to you owls is that way. Head back to where you came from." The fox said, trying to get Evelyn to leave.


    "Oh, I am really sorry to invade on your territory, but I got separated from my squad when we were attacked by a group of moving nts, and do not know where I am. You are the first ally I havee across, and really it is a godsend for me. Even if I do fly back into our territory, I would still be lost. Would you happen to have a map that I could see? If I had that I would at least be able to get a general idea of where my unit''s base camp is." Evelyn aside with an expression of desperation.


    She was doing her best to ham up that she was in distress and asking for help. Not that she had any malicious intent.


    Of course, the fox being the ever cunning being that its race is know for, was being a bit cautious, but Evelyn''s act worked on it pretty well.


    If she had been a higher-ranking beast, maybe it would have been a bit more cautious. But Evelyn was currently only a peak fiend beast, while it was at the high tier of the awakened rank. Nearly and entire realm above her.


    From the logic of this world, it should be impossible for Evelyn to be any sort of threat.


    That was just the fundamental difference between the ranks.


    "Sure kid, I can get you a map. I do not have one on me, but my leader does. Just wait a moment while I call her over." The gray furred fox said with a smile.


    The foxes had a lot of allies, and while they were cautious and cunning by nature when they did not feel any threat, they were actually quite helpful.


    Unfortunately, this fox''s willingness to help and fairly friendly demeanor made what Evelyn about to do that much harder.


    What she was doing was definitely considered wrong, as she was going to be killing her ally for their resources.


    Nevertheless, she was already prepared for this. Even if these foxes were saints, it did not matter. She had a goal and would stop at nothing to aplish it.


    Eventually another four foxes appeared as their entire group came out to see the little peak fiend beast ranked owl that had gotten lost.


    Seeing all of them before her, Evelyn gulped as she could instantly feel the power behind them.


    ''Their leader is especially strong. And this was not part of the n.'' Evelyn thought seeing them all appear.


    Never did she think that all of them woulde out.


    She had been expecting the most likely scenario was that the two weakest members would be dispatched to speak with her, or at best the leader and one other.


    Still, they had contingencies for this unlikely scenario, and Evelyn was determined to keep going along with their n.

 Chapter 143 143 Fight For The Float Stone

    ?Being surrounded by five powerful foxes that were all well above her rank Evelyn started to feel quite nervous.


    She hade prepared to fight but seeing the force in front of her she now really understood how powerful they were.


    But if she allowed her fear to show it could tip them off, so she did her best to suppress it and waited for them to pull out their map.


    Soon enough the leader of their group who was arge fox with tinum fur pulled out their group''s map andid it out for Evelyn to look at.


    "Here you go little lost owl. Our current location is right here. I hope this helps you out." The lead fox said.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn thanked her for helping her out, and began examining the map.


    It was quite simr to the one that her group had, but the areas that had far more details were different. With the foxes'' territory begin filled in with a good amount of information.


    For the area given to the crows and the owls there were only majorndmarks, but this was still enough to get a rough estimation of where everything in her surroundings were.


    "Yes, this has been very helpful. I at least know generally where I am and the direction of my base camp now. Thank you very much."


    A momentter though, a loud explosion rocked the sky high above them and all of the foxes simultaneously looked up.


    They could feel the powering from this magic and watched as a huge fire ball began descending down on them.


    Immediately they began preparing their defenses to block this sudden attack which they could tell came from a beast at least as strong as their leader.


    Yet this was the signal for Evelyn to make her move.


    It madeplete sense for the foxes to turn their undivided attention towards an attack that wasing from a much stronger source than the owl before them who was supposedly their ally.


    And in that moment, Evelyn unleashed all she had in the strongest attack she could muster at a moment''s notice.


    Her crimson mes burst out of her body and were wrapped up in a torrent of wind that stocked and spread them out with extreme speed and force.


    At the same time, she lowered the gravity to a point greater than she ever had, exceeding her former limits in this moment where she unleashed her all and made everything experience four and a half times more gravitational force than normal.


    This prevented the foxes from using their high agility to escape, and one of them even fell over as the ground beneath him melted and broke apart.


    Then to make matters worse for them, the huge fire ball from above smashed into the swirling explosion of fire Evelyn had created, and the two powers mixed together into a massive inferno that covered the area.


    A few momentster four figures jumped out of the ze that had engulfed them.


    However, while they had managed to survive the surprise attack on them, each of these four foxes were injured. Even the leader of this group.


    There was simply no way that they could have been prepared for such an attack toe from a fiend beast, and the fox with gray fur that originally met with Evelyn was missing one of its front limbs that had been burned to ash.


    Though while these four managed to survive, albeit with serious burns. One of their members had not been so lucky, and never came out of the inferno that had just appeared.


    Before they had time to reallyprehend what was going on, two more owls swooped down from the sky and aimed for the foxes that were most injured.


    In the next moment the moonlight seemed to shift around the foxes'' leader and phantom images of her group appeared around her.


    This allowed them to avoid the sudden attack from Anneli and Katrina as they were unable to pinpoint which were the real foxes.


    "I recognize you two. You are the ones that showed up a few days ago." The leader snarled at them both.


    She was a rare exception that had learned to actually speak using magic and red with murderous intent in her eyes.


    It was quite clear what was going on here now that these two had revealed themselves and after such a tant attack.


    "To think that you would use some fined beast as a distraction and blow her up as a sneak attack. You owls must be rotten to the core." She spat.


    Except Anneli and Katrina just smiled, and an instantter the supposedly dead fiend beast flew out of the inferno that was dying down with the charred corpse of the fox that had not escaped in her talons.


    All of the foxes looked at this in disbelief as there simply should have been no way for Evelyn to survive begin in the center of that attack.


    Even the leader of the foxes doubted she could have survived being in Evelyn''s ce.


    What she had done should have been a suicide attack that left her nothing but ash, yet she did not even have a scorch mark on her.


    ''Found them.'' Both Anneli and Katrina thought at the same time.


    They had been using these couple of moments to pinpoint where the foxes really were with their keen hearing and swooped towards their prey.


    Anneli went right for the leader while Katrina attacked towards the other two peak awakened beasts.


    They were still outnumbered after their surprise attack, but their enemies were shaken and injured, so as long as they acted fast, they would have the advantage.


    ''Nope you are my opponent.''


    Flying forward Evelyn unleashed a number of wind des towards the gray furred fox who had tired to attack Anneli from behind as she fought the foxes'' leader.


    The gray furred fox was barely able to dodge the attack by skidding to a halt with its now three legs and jumping back as the wind des carved into the earth.


    Seeing this happen the gray furred fox went wide eyed as these wind des certainly could have hurt him, and it did not seem possible that they coulde from a fiend beast.


    Evelyn quickly interposed herself in between this fox and the battles that were now going on between Anneli and the foxes'' leader, and Katrina and the other two.


    It was clear that she was saying that if this gray furred fox wanted to join that battle, he wound have to get by her.


    ''Woah!''


    Quickly elerating to the side Evelyn just barely managed to avoid being ensnared by a chain that shot out of the ground bellow her.


    It had seemed toe out of nowhere, and at first Evelyn thought that it was metal magic simr to Rehni''s.


    Yet as she looked closely it definitely had a different appearance than metal and had a far less solid look.


    Little whisps of the chain were even floating off of it, and it only took Evelyn a few moments to notice what it was.


    ''Smoke!?''


    Witnessing this, she was a bit taken aback since she had never seen or heard of smoke magic.


    However, she did remember that when she first learned about the magic in this world that it was not confined to just the normal elemental affinities but to pretty much anything.


    In a simr way her gravity magic existed in the same vein as this fox''s smoke magic in that it was not something normally acquired.


    Still, while she was a little caught off guard by the chain of smoke that appeared, it did not really make much of a difference.


    Evelyn knew she needed to win this fight, and no matter what sort of tricks this fox pulled out all she had to do was counter them ande out victorious.


    ''Jet Javelins.''


    Creating one of her signature attacks she fired off the half dozen javelins of fire wrapped in wind.


    They flew at a blistering speed and headed fright for her opponent.


    Of course, he was not going to just sit there and take it, and before the ming javelins reached him, a smokescreen shot up around his body.


    Six bright shed and resounding explosions went off in the area of the smokescreen, and right after Evelyn backed off and waited to see what was going on.


    Except as she waited for the fox''s next attack, nothing came, and she suddenly had a bad premonition.


    pping her wings rapidly she crated a huge gust of wind that blew away the smoke.


    When it was gone, she saw that the fox had multiple empty potion bottles at its feet and had just ripped out a piece of paper from a notebook.


    A momentter the paper folded itself up into the form of a bird and went flying away towards the innermost area of the foxes'' territory.

 Chapter 144 144 Fight For The Float Stone (2)

    ?Watching the flying message heading away from the battlefield Evelyn started to panic


    If the foxes found out that it was her, Anneli, and Katrina who had attacked them there were going to be terrible repercussions for them.


    It was very likely that the foxes would demand their lives and some other form ofpensation from the Roost.


    In that situation even Melisandre probably would not be able to protect them, as what they were doing right now could be considered an act of war.


    Another possibility was that these foxes had allies near enough that the message would reach them quickly enough to bring in reinforcements and turn the tide of the battle right now.


    ''I cannot let it get away.'' Evelyn thought as she rushed towards the message realizing all the ways things could go wrong if it got to its destination.


    Focusing on all of her powers at once she lowered her own gravity, at the same time created three mes behind her that acted like rocket boosters, and finally moved the air around her to lower its resistance and use it as a tailwind.


    This allowed her to burst forward at an incredible speed that the gray furred fox who was her opponent could not anticipate.


    In just an instant she caught up to the message and exploded in a st of fire that burned it to ash.


    ''Impossible.'' The gray furred fox thought.


    Not only had Evelyn suddenly moved with speed that should have been impossible. She had also harmed the magic message that should have been untouchable.


    They had a magic weaved into them that allowed to pass through solid objects and while in flight only those that had specialized understanding of them or a magic that could interact with intangible items should have been able to destroy them.


    Yet Evelyn''s fire had just destroyed it without any trouble, which the gray furred fox could not understand.


    However, this was simply the absolute power of Evelyn''s heavenly me which could burn through anything so long as it was fed enough power.


    ''I need to always be pushing him. Not matter what, I cannot let them get out a message.'' Evelyn thought as she turned her gaze back towards her opponent.


    Immediately sheunched some more wind des at him to prevent him from trying to do anything else sneaky.


    As long as she kept the pressure on, there would be no way that he could send another message or use any more magic items to recovery.


    Unfortunately, her earlierpse in judgment had allowed it to use some healing potions. Now most of its wounds were gone with the only noticeable damage being its still missing left front leg.


    At the very least it did not have a potion strong enough to restore the missing limb Evelyn had burned away with her opening attack.


    The gray furred fox quite easily avoided the wind des that Evelyn had sent at it.


    Even with only three legs he was still a high tier awakened rank beast with dozens of years of experience under his belt.


    As powerful as Evelyn was, he was till fundamentally stronger than her in almost every way.


    Quickly he created multiple fox paws with sharp ws out of smoke and began sending them Evelyn''s way.


    Taking evasive action, she flew away from the paws made of smoke, but found that they began chasing after her like heat seeking missiles.


    In response she created a wind barrier around herself which managed to blow the smoke away momentarily.


    Yet even when it was blown away, the smoke paws reformed and kept after her presently.


    And along with having to avoid this assault, Evelyn knew she needed to attack as well to prevent the gray furred fox from having time to breath.


    To that end she created to swirling spheres of fire around her head and began having them shot off needles of her heavenly me like machine guns.


    Overall, this attack did not have much power behind it, but right now she needed more output rather than an actually decisive attack.


    Luckily this was enough to keep the gray furred fox on its toes, as it could not keep up its own assault and dodge while doing anything else.


    This went on for nearly two minutes, and for both of them it seemed like they were in some sort of bullet hell game.


    Evelyn was being chased by relentless smoke projectiles while she unleashed a barrage of me needles at the gray furred fox.


    But one of them was at a clear disadvantage. And that was Evelyn.


    In terms of overall magical energy, she actually matched or even exceeded the gray furred fox, but the problem was that she had used up arge amount of her stores in her opening attack.


    And while it did hit pretty big, even killing on of the foxes. It meant she was running on far less power at the start of this fight than she normally would have and was poised to run out before the fox who was her opponent.


    A battle of attrition waspletely out of the question for her, and she knew it. But how she was to break through this stalemate was difficult for her to figure out.


    ''I can only keep this up for another three minutes at most. If I do not win by then I will run out of magical energy and be a sitting duck.''


    Evelyn quickly began racking her brain looking for the correct answer, but only came up with three real possibilities.


    ''I can try charging him with my full speed and unleashing a powerful attack at close range, but if it fails, I will be out of means to win. No, I will have to go with one of the other options even if I do not want to.'' Evelyn decided.


    She was in no position to hold back on any of her resources, and it was time to take extreme measures.


    Stopping for a moment, she activated her storage cuff and pulled out a certain talisman.


    However, as she did this all of the smoke paws closed in around her and began crashing against her wind barrier in force.


    As much as her wind magic was quite effective against smoke magic, in such arge quantity and with all the power behind it, her barrier was liable to break within just an instant. Which it certainly did.


    For all intents and purposes, this should have been the end of Evelyn, as she was hit by powerful magic attacks.


    Except before the paws made of smoke reached her a bright blue glow surrounded her body.


    Each of the attacks that hit her easily bounced off and were repelled without any difficulty.


    It was a befuddling sight for the gray furred fox to witness. Its attacks were by no means weak and should have rended a peak fiend beast into nothing more than scrapes of meat and bone.


    ''Looks like it works just as well as she said it would.'' Evelyn thought as she observed the power of the barrier around her.


    She had ultimately decided to use one of the two powerful tressures that Melisandre had given her before her first trip into the glowing woods.


    Now she had a barrier around her that could indefinitely take any attacks from an awakened beast for the next several minutes.


    With this she would no longer need to worry about expending any of her magic energy on defense and could simply go on the attack with as much reckless abandon as she wanted.


    Charing right in Evelyn ignored the powerful smoke magic attacksing for her and burst through.


    Then she swirled her body around and unleashed a torrent of spiraling wind des that were wreathed in her heavenly fire.


    Her two affinities simply worked impably well together and allowed her to use suchbo attacks like this which increased their speed and attack power by leaps and bounds from what they would be alone.


    The entire area around her and the gray furred fox was cut up and melted by this attack and Evelyn''s target was unable to get away unscathed.


    Multiple of the des had gazed its body and it lustrous fur was burned, and its flesh cut into.


    The gray furred fox tried multiple times to break through the barrier surrounding Evelyn, but all its attacks failed to even scratch the powerful magic barrier that the talisman Melisandre had given Evelyn had created.


    Eventually the fox realized it had no chance of winning against such a power and created a smoke screen in an attempt to escape.


    But this was just what Evelyn had been waiting for.


    As the gray furred fox turned away from her to flee, she put all of her magical energy into one final attack.


    ''Ignis wings.''


    Coating her wings and the des that extended from the tip of them with her heavenly me, she turned her own wings into swords that were so hot they could easily cut through steel.


    With her attack ready she elerated forward at her maximum speed and shot towards her fleeing adversary.


    In an instant she caught up, and while it tried to jump out of the way Evelyn simply spun her body around and the de on the tip of her left wing carved into the side of the fox and ran across its body as she shot by.


    A horrible wound in its side the gray furred fox copsed to the ground and howled in pain as its own blood boiled inside it from being hit by Evelyn''s heavenly me.

 Chapter 145 144 Fight For The Float Stone (3)

    ?Turning her head around Evelyn looked towards the fallen fox she had just cut through with one of her ignis wing des.


    Yet as she did, her entire body started feeling incredibly faint and she feel towards the ground with a thud.


    She had used up all of her magical energy in thatst attack and now her body could no longer keep going.


    ''No, I cannot go down here. Anneli and Katrina still need me.''


    Opening up her storage cuff, she pulled out the strongest stamina and magical energy replenishment items she had and quickly swallowed them.


    Within just a few moments she felt a relieving sensation through her being as she started gaining a bit of her magical energy back.


    Still, it was not an immediate process, and even the six pills and potion she took at once were going to need around five minutes to fully restore her. And she was likely to feel quite sick not long after from overconsumption.


    ''I just have to keep going no matter how hard it is on me.'' Evelyn thought as she picked herself up.


    Now that her head did not feel nearly as rattled and her vision hade back into focus, she looked towards her opponent to see what condition they were in.


    As soon as she saw them, she let out a sigh of relief. The gray furred fox she had been fighting was no longer moving at all and the life in its eyes were gone.


    The injury she had inflicted on it was simply too much for it to try and recover from. Her heavenly me had vaporized some of its blood, and the organs on the left side of its body had either exploded or burned up from the heat.


    Even for as tough as beasts, especially those in the awakened rank and beyond were, that level of damage was simply just not something they could take.


    With the certainty that her fight was over, Evelyn looked towards the raging battles that were happening not too far away from her.


    Anneli was fighting the leader of the foxes who seemed to be using her magic to create tricks with the moonlight, but Anneli''s fire and water magic were doing well to protect her and cause widespread damage. It seemed that the two of them were fighting on rtively equal terms.


    On the other hand, it was clear that Katrina was on the back foot.


    She was taking on two peak awakened rank beasts, who while weaker individually than Katrina, were at the same rank and overpowering her together.


    It was clear that she had taken on the hardest battle wanting to relive the burden off of Evelyn and Anneli.


    ''I am not sure how much I can do, but while I still have the protection from the talisman Melisandre gave me, I need to keep going.'' Evelyn thought as she analyzed Katrina''s battle.


    Just because she had won her own fight did not mean that the battle was over, and if any of them fell it would be the end.


    With a bit of her stamina and magical energy now recovered, Evelyn took flight again and headed right over to where Katrina was fighting two of the foxes.


    When she arrived, she made sure to fire off a big attack, elerating herself ws first towards one of the foxes that had ck fur with bluish white stripes.


    The fox noticing Evelyn''s charge only gave her a quick look of contempt before creating a wall of ice in between it and Evelyn.


    Unable to stop, she impacted the wall and sunk into it, causing it to crack in multiple ces.


    However, while this was impressive in its own right, she did fail to break through, and in the next instance the ice began bending and turned into a sphere around her.


    It began constricting, trying topletely crush her.


    Thankfully, the barrier from Melisandre''s talisman was still active, and the ice as it tried to crush Evelyn shattered apart.


    Being freed from the attack, Evelyn caught the foxpletely off guard as it was sure it had just easily killed the little fiend beast that had reckless charged it.


    In that moment Evelyn created a st like a shotgun, unleashing several hundreds of ming needles around her.


    It was an omni directional attack that was pretty much impossible to deal with at lose range. So, instead of dodging, the fox decided to jump in and take the attack in order to deliver a finishing blow to Evelyn.


    It tanked through the me needles that broke through its defenses and pierced into its skin.


    Then as it got close enough to Evelyn with movements she could not hope to keep up with, it opened itsrge jaws and chomped down.


    Yet as it did, the barrier around Evelyn stopped its attack. Which scraped against it worthlessly.


    ''Got you.'' Evelyn thought with a wide grin.


    She had been preparing something just in case this fox tried to get close to her, and with the slightest tap of her right foot nted her gravity trap on the fox.


    In the next instance it suddenly felt a great weight pushing down on its body and it began plummeting towards the ground.


    At the same time Evelyn used her own gravity field to increase the weight of the fox even more and it smashed right into the ground.


    Unfortunately, Evelyn went with it, as she was still trapped tightly in its jaws even if it could not break through the barrier around her.


    And to make matters worse for her, all the magical energy she had replenished had been used up and she was back to running on empty and feeling woozy.


    Looks like I did enough though.'' Evelyn thought as she watched arge shadow descend down on the fox she had just knocked down.


    While she had taken ahold of its attention Katrina was able to have a one-on-one with her other opponent and came out victorious.


    Now she came flying in and pounced on the shaken fox Evelyn had brought down and pierced her talons into it.


    As this happened it retaliated and began recklessly freezing the area.


    Ice began creeping up Katrina''s body and Evelyn waspletely covered by a thick coating.


    But before long, Katrina began lighting up as electricity crackled off of her body and fire engulfed all of them.


    It quickly became a battle between fire and lighting, against ice. in which the winner would be the one to survive.


    In the end, after around six seconds of struggling, the fox could no longer keeping going as its body seized up from the electricity.


    With its resistance over, Katrina''s fire and lightning overpowered the ice in the area, and all that was left of her opponent was a charred and sizzling corpse.


    "Katrina your left foot!" Evelyn said as she used what little magical energy she had to make a connection.


    Looking towards her ally and friend, Evelyn saw her left foot was now gone. Having been frozen and broken off.


    "Yeah, looks like I will need some specialized healing to restore this. But no need to worry, I will be fine." Katrina said while putting on a tough fa?ade.


    Nevertheless, it was quite clear to Evelyn that Katrina was in rough shape. With her now missing foot not being her only injury.


    She had been taking on two foxes at the same rank as her, and while she had kept up with them, it was clear that her injures were no joke.


    Sadly, there was nothing that Evelyn could do in this situation but grit her beak and watch as Katrina took a healing potion.


    The two of them did not have long to recover though.


    Just a momentter they heard and felt a loud crash nearby and saw the broken form of Anneli in the middle of arge crater.


    Both of her wings were now bent out of ce, her beak was shatter, and one of her eyes had been gouged out.


    It was clear that her battle had been intense, and the injuries she had made what Katrina had incurred look negligible in contrast.


    Panic began to set in for both Katrina and Evelyn. With Anneli''s copse here it meant that she must have lost her fight and that the leader of this group of foxes'' must have won.


    Within just a moment they spotted the form of their strongest opponent in the sky,ing down from where she and Anneli had been battling it out.


    Except, as they focused on her body, they noticed that it was missing something vital. Her head appeared to be ripped clean off.


    Soon enough the body hit the ground with a loud thud and a sttering of crimson blood all over the ce.


    ''Where is her head?'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the decapitated body.


    Swiveling her neck around, she took in her surroundings and swiftly found what she was looking for.


    In Anneli''s ws, ripped out at the neck, was the head of leader of these foxes.


    It seemed that while it appeared at first hat she had lost, in theirst desperate struggle she had actuallye out victorious and taken the head of her enemy.


    Rushing over, both Katrina and Evelyn forced themselves over to their fallenrade and began pouring healing potions down her throat and all over her body.


    She had chunks of flesh missing all over and her feathers werepletely disheveled.


    These wounds were the worst Evelyn had seen since she watched her parents being destroyed by the human''s experiments with the Aethersphere.


    Truly it was a miracle Anneli was still alive, and with the immediate treatment with healing potions from Evelyn and Katrina she was able to escape death''s door.

 Chapter 146 146 Gathering Float Stones

    ?Now that the battle with the foxes had reached its conclusion, Evelyn plopped over onto her rear and let out a sigh of relief.


    It had been a harrowing battle where the odds were not stacked in their favor


    Normally if you told two peak awakened beasts and a peak fiend beast to go and kill two high tier awakened beasts and three peak awakened beasts, they would tell you it would be impossible.


    There was simply just a huge insurmountable difference in the power between these two groups.


    Yet, with proper nning, Evelyn unnatural strength, and a bit of luck. They managed toe out victorious without any casualties.


    Of course, that did not mean they got awaypletely uninjured, as both Katrina, and especially Anneli, were cripplingly injured.


    They would need specialized medicine and healing to restore themselves and were certain to be taken off the expedition at this point.


    "Evelyn, I understand that you are tired and worried about us but leave looking after Anneli to me. It is uncertain how long we will have before anymore foxes show up to investigate. As we are now, we would be killed easily." Katrina said after they had a few minutes to recover.


    Turning her head towards Anneli, Evelyn looked at her with worry, but ultimately did as Katrina said.


    She knew that if they failed to get the float stone she needed, all of their efforts would go to waste and the injures that her two seniors had suffered would be for naught.


    Pulling her body up, Evelyn pped her wings a few times to loosen up her stiff body, and then began ascending towards the massive floating rocks that were loosely attached to the top of the nearby mountains.


    When she arrived at her destination, she could immediately feel a reaction not only from her instincts but also the Aethersphere.


    ''It really is what I need. Now I only have to break through until I make it to the area with pure enough float stone to act as a catalyst for my evolution.''


    Landing on top of thergest rock which she had gotten a reaction from, Evelyn pulled out a pickaxe that she had specially bought just for this situation.


    Lifting the tool up over her head with one of her feet, she braced all of her muscles before swinging down.


    With a loud ng she broke through the firstyer of rock andrge chunks began to fall down.


    Again and again, she swung her pickaxe. With each swing she broke through just a little bit more, and once she had enough magical energy back, she used her gravity magic to help increase the weight of her swings.


    After twenty minutes of breaking through what was pretty much normal stone. she finally started making it to her goal.


    Small chunks of the rock she broke off did not fall normally and had a weightlessness to it like a balloon.


    However, what she had just reached was still only the weakest form of float stone which could do little more than keep itself from descending at a normal pace.


    No, what Evelyn was after was the purest stone near the center, which couldpletely disregard the hold of this world''s gravity.


    Time seemed to blur for Evelyn as she repetitively broke through stone to get ever closer to her goal.


    At this point she had a number of pieces of stone floating around her. But she disregarded it all since it was not receiving any reaction from her or the Aethersphere.


    What felt like an eternityter she finally got in deep enough to find what she was looking for.


    The stone at this point now had a blue tinge to it and glowed faintly. Showing that it was bing much purer.


    She could feel it in her gut that this was what she needed and the Aethersphere finally showed a reaction.


    Putting away her pickaxe, Evelyn no longer needed the rough instrument and instead brought out a chisel and hammer.


    Now the hard work began for her, as she carved out an appropriately sized piece of the purer float stone that she would need for her evolution.


    With razor focus shepleted the tedious work and carved out as perfectly round of a piece of float stone as she could.


    Once it was free from therger mass it used to be a a part of, it began acting as its name''s sake and elevated upwards.


    However, it was still trapped within a tunnel that Evelyn had created through the rock to get this far.


    ''Now I need only store it away and I will have what I- What the hell is that!?''


    Suddenly a single ray of bright blue light began to shining through where Evelyn had cut out her chuck of float stone.


    It was incredibly captivating and as she looked towards it, she could see some sort of blue gem at the center of the float stone.


    For a few moments Evelyn just stared at it in awe beforeing to her senses.


    ''I have what I need so it would be prudent for me to leave now. But I do not know what that is. It feels powerful and it is possible that I may need more float stone in the future. So, carving around it to get a better look should not be a problem.''


    Convincing herself to keep going, she began taking out chunks of the pure float stoner around this gem and slowly opened up around it to get a better look.


    Eventually she went the entire way around it and had collected around thirty time the amount of float stone she needed as a catalyst for her evolution.


    ''It is unbelievably beautiful.'' Evelyn thought as she stared at the floating gem.


    She was not sure what it was, but it had a breathtaking blue luster and was in the shape an octahedron.


    And now that it was no longer being pressed against by the float stone, it began spinning around with about one revolution every eight seconds.


    Staring at it, Evelyn was certain that this gem contained an immense amount of magical energy and was rted to the float stones in some way.


    ''I do not have time to just sit here and look at it. I need to go. I can ask Melisandre more about it when I get back.'' Evelyn thought as she reached out to grab it.


    Yet as she did some sort of barrier repelled her and she was violently thrown back.


    ''That felt like my gravity magic!''


    Getting a simr feeling from this gem that she did from the Aethersphere, Evelyn approached again, and this time activated her gravity field.


    To her surprise, her power and the gem''s shed as blue and purple sparks flew as the two magics met.


    Unfortunately, it seemed that Evelyn was not going to be able to break through with her gravity field alone and began weaving the strongest gravity trap she could.


    ''You are going to be mine.'' She thought as she thrust her foot forward.


    Her magic and the gem''s fought once again, but this time Evelyn just managed to break through, and the gravity trap she had activated pulled the gem towards her.


    When it was within reach, she quickly put it inside her storage cuff and the blue gem promptly disappeared.

 Chapter 147 147 Float Stone Finish

    ?Evelyn smiled brightly as she managed to secure the gem that had been at the center of the float stone deposit.


    She was not really sure what exactly it was, but seeing as where it was located and the amount of magical energy she could feeling off it, there was no doubt it was quite the rare and powerful item.


    However, her tion was short lived, as the rock she was currently in began to rumble not long after she ced the gem into her storage cuff.


    Cracks began forming in the tunnel she had created, and her body was suddenly thrown against the top of the area she had carved out.


    For a few seconds she was stunned and could do nothing as the felt a pressure bearing down on her.


    It did not take too long though for her to regain herposure and realize what was going on.


    The giant rock that surrounded the deposit of float stone and the gem at the center was only able to defy gravity due to the properties of the float stone.


    But now that Evelyn had mined out the purest pieces as well as taking the gem in the center, the massive rock could no longer stay in the air.


    It''s weight that had been held up by magical properties of the float stone deposit within it was now bearing down and threatening to crush Evelyn into the ground.


    ''I have to get out of here.'' Evelyn thought in a panic.


    Swiftly she turned around and began waddling her way through the tunnel she had made. Which had cracks forming all through it at an rming rate.


    ''I am not going to make it! Evelyn thought as she watched chunks of rock fall down around her.


    She could see the exit, but her path was quickly being blocked off, and the impending sense of crashing made it seem like time was moving torturously slow.


    Yet as she felt hopelessness closing in along with the copsing walls, she came up with an idea.


    Reaching in deep and focusing on the Aethersphere, Evelyn pushed it to her limits and beyond, and created a gravity fieldrger than she ever had.


    If the giant rock was falling and breaking because she had taken its ability to change defy gravity, then she need only do it herself.


    In an instant the tunnel ceased copsing, and while the rock was still falling it was much slower now.


    She had spread out her gravity field over the entire thing and lowered its weight to be four times less.


    With this she was able to push her way through the cramped tunnel and jump out just before the rock crashed into the ground with a loud bang.


    Chunks of stone went flying in several directions as the several dozen tons rock impacted against the top of the mountain it had been floating over.


    Having just escaped her impending doom Evelyn let out a sigh of relief.


    She had been very closed to be crushed to death and for a moment did not think she was going to make it.


    ''Note to self. Make sure to make the tunnel big enough so that I can fly out of it if I ever have to do this again.'' Evelyn thought, remembering the cramped confines of the tunnel that prevented her from moving fast enough.


    Her business here now concluded, Evelyn turned back towards where Katrina was looking after Anneli and prepared to head on over to them.


    Expect something else caught her eye first and she turned around to look at the wreckage of the rock that had just fallen.


    Among the broken apart pieces were chunks of float stone that were now rising up unabated by the heavy rock they had been held within


    This created what looked like a bunch of floating lights ascending into the sky. And for a few moments Evelyn could not help but hover and stare at this amazing sight.


    ''As harsh as this world is, it does have some very beautiful things to witness.'' Evelyn thought with a smile on her face that she could not suppress.


    Once she had her fill of watching the float stones ascend into the sky, she took off towards Anneli and Katrina.


    When she arrived, she was happy to find that Anneli had woken up. Though her wings were still bent out of shape and scars dotted her body.


    "Anneli I am truly happy to see that you are awake. For a minute I thought you might not make it, and I am not sure how I would forgive myself if you died."


    "No need to worry, Evelyn. I am tougher than you can imagine. This is not even close to enough to keep me down." Anneli said while making a show of standing up.


    Of course, this was just a fa?ade. She was actually in immeasurable pain and could barely move at all.


    Still, she wanted to alleviate a bit of Evelyn''s worry.


    "Yes, she is too hardheaded to go down easily." Katrina said with a smile. "However, enough of the pleasantries. Did you get what you needed?"


    Nodding her head, Evelyn told them she got more than enough high-quality float stone to act as a catalyst for her evolution.


    "Good, then it is time we leave. We have already been here longer than I wanted and at any moment more foxes or other curious beast might show up."


    After saying this, Katrina despite her own wounds moved to help Anneli up and prepared to take off.


    "Wait! What about the foxes and their possessions? I do not see them around so did you already collect them?"


    Looking around Evelyn could no longer find the corpses of the foxes. With all that was left to prove there was a battle here was numerous scorch marks and warped stone from fire magic.


    "No, I did not. I cremated the foxes'' bodies and both me and Anneli consumed their cores. As for their storage items I tossed them out into the forest in random direction. There are many different types of magics in this world and it would be a huge risk to keep anything from those foxes on us. It is possible that they could be used to track us down." Katrina exined.


    Hearing her reasoning, Evelyn thought that it was sound and epted it easily. She was a bit interested in whatever the foxes may have had on them, but she had aplished her primary goal and there was no need to let greed lead them to ruin.


    With everything now settled the three of them set off back into owl territory. With Katrina carrying Anneli on her back and Evelyn taking up the rear and keeping an eye out for any beast hat might ambush them.


    Unfortunately, along the way it became clear the burden of keeping Anneli aloft was too much for Katrina. It looked like at any moment she might fall to the ground.


    To help them out, Evelyn flew up beside them and pulled out one of therge chunks of float stone she had acquired and offered it up.


    "Here, use this. If you ce it under Anneli it should relieve some of the burden."


    Smiling and taking the piece of float stone, Anneli and Katrina did as she advised.


    Then with the help of the float stone they were both able to keep flying for longer. Until they reached a safe area that they had already been nning on stopping at.

 Chapter 148 148 Return To The Expeditionary Force

    ?All three of them copsed when they arrived at the designated safe area they had picked out beforehand.


    They were exhausted from the battle with the foxes and had pushed their bodies to their limits. With Evelyn having especially forced herself to keep going through sheer force of will and magic pills and potions.


    On the other hand, Anneli and Katrina had incurred serious injuries that left them unable to fully recover with the items they had on hand.


    "We will rest up here until the next day. Then we will need to go back to our respective units and face whatever consequences await us." Katrina said as she set Anneli down.


    Even now that they hadpleted their objective and Evelyn had obtained the float stone she needed. There will still other problems for them to deal with.


    The three of them had abandoned their squads and duties and were likely to be reprimanded.


    In Anneli and Katrina''s case it was quite possible they would be taken off of the mission due to their injuries, and it was foreseeable that Evelyn would face the same punishment for going off on her own.


    Still, right now, none of them had regrets, and Evelyn was incredibly thankful for the help of her two friends.


    With their ns now set and exhaustion setting in the three of them drifted off to sleep after setting up the bare minimum of safety precautious


    "Evelyn, wake up. Night fall has alreadye."


    Begin shook awake Evelyn''s eyes shot open and she saw Katrina standing in front of her.


    She had been dead asleep and even when called out to she remained unconscious. Only after being violently shaken did she wake.


    However, when she tried to get up, she suddenly felt her head spinning and fell over t onto her face.


    All of a sudden it was like she had experienced an intense bout of vertigo and she could not get her body to move as she wanted.


    "Evelyn!" Katrina said in surprise and concern.


    To her it looked like Evelyn had suddenly woken up and then immediately copsed.


    ''I knew this was going to happen.'' Evelyn thought with a sigh.


    She had pushed herself to her limits and beyond. Using alchemical items like pills and potions to keep going to the end.


    Now she had to pay the price for going further than what her body could handle.


    "I am okay Katrina. Just feeling a bit sore and nauseous from consuming too many alchemical items yesterday and using all of my magical energy many times over. I just need a bit longer to recover a bit." Evelyn said to stop Katrina from worrying.


    After that she needed nearly a half hour to feel well enough to pull her body back up and lean against a nearby tree.


    Taking a few deep breaths, she focused on her body and found that not only was she sore all over, but her magical energy had yet to fully recover, and her flow was lower than normal.


    Currently she felt as if she might be able to use around twenty percent of her usual strength if she pushed it. But only for a couple of minutes max before ending up as she had been just a little while ago.


    Once she had gotten her bearings to a reasonable level, she turned towards Katrina and Anneli who were waiting nearby.


    They both looked a lot better now, and other than her missing foot Katrina seemed fully recovered.


    On the other hand, while Anneli''s minor wounds were gone, her wings and beak were still broken and would need much longer to heal.


    Putting one foot in front of the other, Evelyn moved forward slowly to regain her sense of bnce and headed over towards Katrina and Anneli.


    "I again want to thank you both for helping me out here. I promise that I will pay you backter for what you have done." Evelyn said while bowing her head deeply.


    "It was no problem. I already have some things I n on having you assist me with so look forward to it. Though that will have to wait until you have reached the awakened rank." Katrina said with a big smile on her face.


    "Um I have not really thought of anything, but I am more just d to be able to help you out. But if I ever need your help, I will make sure to ask." Anneli said.


    The three of them then spent just a little longer resting and getting everything in order before going their separate ways.


    "We will probably not see each other again until we return to the Roost, so good luck with the rest of your time on the expedition. When we have learned of what is going to happen to us, I will send you a message even if we are to be sent back." Katrina said as she lifted Anneli up onto her back.


    After saying that she took of and slowly disappeared into the woods. :eaving Evelyn on her own.


    ''I suppose it is time I head back as well. I do not know if my excuse is going to really work, but hopefully I am not taken off the mission.''


    Turning towards where her unit''s base camp was Evelyn carefully and slowly ascend into the air and steadily began flying through the forest.


    It took her many hours to return as she could not fly as fast with her body in its current condition and also had to take periodic rests.


    At the very least she managed to avoid any encounters with other entities by taking a roundabout path through areas with lower quantities of magical energy.


    Another boon of her winding route made it so that she appeared in the base in apletely different direction from where the float stone deposited was located. Making it not apparent that this is where she had been.


    When she arrived in the camp, she turned some heads from those that were still there and watching the permitter.


    And soon enough some of the owls came up to discern her identity and went wide eyed.


    Naturally her squad had reported her missing, and now after having been gone for over an entire day she had turned back up again.


    Quickly she was brought to the expedition''s leader who was in charge of holding down the base as the highest-ranking owl in their group.


    "I am d to see that you are back and alive Evelyn." Deshal said with relief in his eyes.


    Honestly when they did not find her after sending out search parties the previous night, he figured that she had died.


    Certainly, they had not been on the best of terms at the start of the expedition, but after Evelyn had risked her life to save her fellow squad member during the parasitic vine tangle incident his option of her had changed for the better.


    She had also proved time and time again how capable of a member she was throughout the expedition. So, Deshal thought far more highly of her now than before.


    This was why he did not go off on her immediately as he would have when the expedition had first started.


    "Now tell me what happened. You have been missing for over a day and it is clear that you are in rough shape."


    Being asked exactly what happened to her, Evelyn ryed the fake story she hade up with.


    "So let me get this straight. You got distracted chasing after a beast you had never seen or heard of before. And when she eventually caught up to it you found yourself in its home surrounded by enemies on all sides. It was at this point you realized that your squad had not kept up with you and you were on your own. Then a fierce battle ensued between you and these beasts in which you got even more turned around while fighting back and running away. Eventually you got away and after spending necessary time to recover you began making your way back here. That is the gist of it correct?


    Nodding her head Evelyn confirmed everything that Deshal had just said.


    Of course, it was all an borate lie Evelyn had made up.


    She had even picked an animal from Earth she had note across in this new world and described a ring-tailed lemur as the beast she had followed and been attacked by.


    Though if anyone went out searching for these beasts, she doubted they would find them. There was a slight possibly they existed though.


    ''Did he buy it?'' Evelyn thought as she carefully examined Deshal''s face.


    Luckily in it seemed that her exnation did manage to work, as Deshal sighed and told her not to let it happen again.


    "Next time you spot a beast you want to go after making sure to contact your squad. If this happens again, I will have to take you off the expedition. And as punishment for this time, you will be taking the first day watch for the next week."


    Hearing this, Evelyn looked devastated.


    Yes, she had avoided being kicked out off of the expedition and it seemed that Deshal was fine with her exnation. But now when she was already exhausted, she was going to have to lose more sleep by taking watch duty during the day.


    ''I almost would rather just be sent back. I already got what I wanted, so I no longer need to be here.'' Evelyn thought,menting her situation.


    Still, she took her punishment and struggled through keeping watch during the mornings for the next week, along with keeping up with her other duties.

 Chapter 149 149 Amazing Sights On The New Continent

    ?''I can finally get some real rest.'' Evelyn thought after she finished herst day watch.


    Her punishment for disappearing for over a day and abandoning her squad had been to take an extra day watch shift every day for a week.


    This had been coupled with her usual duties of heading out with her squad, and on one day taking both the first and second shifts of the day watch. Which had been terribly exhausting for her.


    Not to mention that she was still not in peak shape from pushing her body to the brink multiple times while fighting against the foxes.


    Using magical items to push past her limits had really taken a toll on her, and even now she felt at only around eighty percent.


    Nevertheless, now that her extra work was done, she would be able to sleep through the entire day like normal.


    ''I suppose it was worth it since I at least got to stay.'' Evelyn thought with a slight frown on her face.


    Just as they had suspected, Anneli and Katrina were sent home via a scheduled warp gate opening with the Roost.


    Both of them had crippling injuries that needed to be treated back at home, but more importantly they had abandoned their duties.


    For Evelyn since she had presumably been alone, she was able to get by with the excuse she had gotten lost in the heat of a chase of a rare beast. But since Anneli and Katrina were together, it was pretty clear that they intentionally left their squads to go about on their own.


    Of course, they did not tell the truth of what had happened. They had instead said that they found a valuable magical nt while scouting and did not report it so that they could obtain it on their own.


    Their story then got fairly simr to Evelyn''s in that they had gotten into a hard-fought battle against numerous awakened rank beasts that had injured them heavily.


    ''At least that is all that has happened. It does not seem that any investigation the foxes are doing has led them to us as of yet.''


    So far, no sort of news of their attack had reached the expedition unit Evelyn was a part of. Though this made sense for a number of reasons.


    One being that her unit wasposed of fiend beasts and low tier awaken beasts other than their leader.


    In no way would it ever be assumed that any member of their group could have sessfully led and assault on the foxes Evelyn, Katrina, and Anneli killed.


    The second reason was likely that the foxes did not want to give away any information to the Roost or their other allies on the continent, the crows.


    On this continent they were likely the biggest threats to each other, and it was possible that either one of their allies could have organized an attack that was sanctioned by their organization.


    Though that was naturally not the case, and Evelyn had gone through with the attack without informing anyone else.


    ''I suppose all we can do is wait and hope that we covered our traces well enough.''


    With thisst thought. Evelyn having entered the hollow in a nearby tree, closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep for the few hours she had before her squad would go back out.


    ¡­


    Many more weeks went by as her expeditionary unit went around cataloging the magical nts and beasts that inhabited the areas they had been assigned.


    Already they had found many new species not seen on the home continent of the Roost. Some of which had proved valuable in a number of fields.


    For Evelyn specifically the numerous moving magical nts had provided rare ingredients that could be used to enhance or change the properties of already established brews. Not to mention the entirely new entangling tar she had developed.


    One such nt even allowed for healing pills to be taken in advance and have a slow release function so that they could continue to be effective mid battle.


    This way should she ever know she was going into a fight; she could take a couple beforehand and have increased healing capabilities during battle. It was too bad this magical nt''s properties had not been discovered before her battle with the foxes.


    Along with the gains in magical nts and beasts, there was another benefit to exploring this new continent that had never been taking over by an organized force. There were numerous amazing sights to see.


    Much like with how fantastical the float stone deposits hanging over a set of mountains, there were many natural wonders to witness on this content.


    In one of the forests there were trees that actually hummed different tunes depending on the weather, and during the night Evelyn hade across them they were humming quite the beautiful melody.


    Following that they had discovered arge teau which at the top had a basin that was surprisingly filled with salt water.


    They were many miles ind at this point, so it was quite fascinating to find a body of water like this.


    It remined Evelyn of the rare saltkes that existed back on Earth that were considered to be attraction of certain areas.


    However, they soon discovered that thiske located in the basin a top a teau was not just salty, but actually somehow connected to the ocean.


    They were able to identify numerous rare nts that did not grow anywhere else, along with beasts that were only known to live in the ocean.


    This was quite the boon since harvesting from the ocean was normally fraught with innumerable dangers, as powerful beasts could appear at any moment without warning. Yet in this basin none of thergest and most dangerous beasts could get in. Making it rtively safe for how dangerous the ocean was.


    After that came arge canyon in the middle of a dessert area which wasposed of strange beasts and different types of cacti.


    In fact, there was one type of cactus that formed itself into what looked like a caterpir and roamed the dessert in searched of food.


    At one point Evelyn had even witnessed one of these cactuses wrapped around a camel like beasts and draining the blood out of it.


    And this was only just what was around the canyon. Inside it was all manner of elemental lizards of different types.


    Each one had specific body shapes and lustrous scales that showed what type of affinities they had.


    This area had been a big boon to locate as these lizards were useful in alchemy, inscriptions, and ording to a couple owl, artwork.


    Along with the lizards there were also elemental gems that were in high supply within arge number of caves that dotted the canyon.


    Finally, and what Evelyn thought to be the best, was a series of underground rivers that were inrge tunnels in an area were the ground was unstable and broken apart in many ces.


    Along the bottom of these rivers were a type of algae that produces light simr to the moss in the Glowing Woods. This illuminated the water, and depending on the area the algae had different colors ranging from a light green to a vibrant red.


    The area had also been rtively safe as it had a low overall amount of magical energy in the atmosphere. But it was so beautiful and fun to fly through the tunnels that Evelyn did not care much about theck of useful resources.


    Sadly, their unit had left the area fairly quickly once they had scouted out most of the underground river system and continued heading up north.


    Now they were in a Boreal Forest at the base of a tall an imposing mountain range far from the tropical jungle they had started in.


    This was thest area with which they were going to be exploring, and after that the expedition would be over.


    ''I do not think I have ever been anywhere this cold.'' Evelyn thought while keeping a floating fire in front of her.


    With her heavenly me she was able to mitigate the cold and within around thirty feet of her all the snow had melted.


    This caused her squad and a lot of other owls to gather around her as it was the warmest area.


    However, there was one owl that was around that was not there for the warmth.


    The snowy owl naturally feltpletely at home even in the temperatures that dropped well below freezing, and instead just wanted to be close to Evelyn.


    His one-sided infatuation had yet to be reciprocated in anyway, and even though he was on the expedition with Evelyn, they had few chances to interact. At least so far.


    Now that they were at the end of the expedition and going to be exploring a dangerous mountain range, the squads had been doubled up and mixed together. Allowing him to be ablet to go on thest leg of the journey with Evelyn.


    ''This time for sure I will show her how reliable I can be.'' He thought while staring intently at Evelyn.


    Nevertheless, she did not even look his way, and instead averted her gaze wanting nothing to do with him.


    By nature, Evelyn did not want to form any close bonds, and currently the only ones that had really wormed their way into her heart were Anneli, Katrina, and Melisandre.


    ''I just have to get through a few more days and we will go our separate ways. After that I will not have to interact with him anymore.''


    Though at this point she did not know how important the snowy owl would be to her in the future, and what terrible dangers awaited them in the mountains they thought to be safe enough to explore.

 Chapter 150 150 Scouting The Mountain

    ?"Okay today we are going into the mountains above us. This is likely to be the most hostile area we have been in, mostly due to high-speed gusts of wind and the cold. To help deal with that we are rying a lot on you Evelyn so that everyone else does not have to expend their magical energy." Adolophine said as she gave a quick speech before they departed.


    At this point Evelyn''s ability to manifest heat over arge area as well as her expert control over wind magic had her being used as a counter to the harsh climate the expeditionary unit found themselves in.


    This was so far a great boon for any of the owls that could not handle the cold weather as well as others.


    ''I just wish my job had not beenpletely relegated to a space heater though.'' Evelyn thought while internally sighing.


    As she was able to control a farrger area than any other owl in her squad, and by using less magical energy thanks to how powerful her heavenly me was, she had been ced to be slowly on controlling the weather around them.


    By doing this she would allow all of the other owls to not need to expend magical energy to mitigate the harsh cold and heavy winds.


    On the other hand, it meant that unless she was under attack herself or the situation was desperate, she was not going to be participating in any battles so as to not waste her precious magical energy that was being used as climate control.


    When it was time to go Evelyn moved into the center of her expanded squad that was now ten owls instead of six and included the snowy owl that was infatuated with her.


    "Here you go." Evelyn said to the entire group.


    In the next instance she created a ball of her crimson me that was about three feet in diameter above her head and a gentle warmth filled the freezing area.


    Around her for around three hundred feet now there was a pleasant warmth that all of the owls that were more adapted to hotter climates enjoyed.


    After that Evelyn''s squad began pping their wings and they ascended in the sky.


    They began wrapping around the mountain, going all the way to the far side in the north which was their designated area to explore.


    It had been determined that with the snowy owl''s resistance to cold and Evelyn''s heating abilities'' that their squad would be most suited for taking the farthest and coldest area.


    Their group continued to fly at a steady pace going around the left side of the mountain until they came around the back of it which had been so far unseen to them.


    Looking around with their bird''s eye view the located a nice opening in the trees at the base of on the mountain and headed down.


    In order to get any sort of close examination they needed to be closer to the ground and began weaving their way through the trees that shot up five hundred feet into the air and had thick trunks.


    ''This is kind of weird.'' Evelyn thought as she examined the trees.


    All of them seemed to be the same species, but their leaves were all drastically different.


    Some had needles like pine trees while others had small and short leaves like a live oak.


    Yet others had huge leaves that were nearly as big as Evelyn and did not seem to fit in such a cold and snowy area.


    Except what was most unusual was the some of the trees had leaves of multiple types on them.


    ''I guess it must be helpful for the trees in some ways.'' Evelyn thought without being able to get a clear answer.


    Naturally her group collected samples from a number of the trees as they were a before unknown species and could have some useful properties. Even if it was unlikely since they seemed to have almost no magical energy in them.


    Though this presented another slight oddity as they continued to explore the area.


    While the magical energy in the atmosphere seemed to be at the level they had been expecting, thend itself was pretty low.


    Any magical nts they found growing were at best barely suitable for use for a fiend beast and most of the time they were more in line of something a wild beast would consume to get stronger like the ones the humans fed to Evelyn when they had her captive.


    To that end, the number of fiend beasts in the area was a bit low. Though since there was enough magical energy in the air, they were more abundant than the magical nts.


    And to that regard all of the beasts were far more aggressive than normal as their greatest resource was eating each other.


    ''Damn, how many of them are there.''


    When they had moved up the mountain a bit, they hade across an area with dozens of burrows in the snow.


    Naturally the went to investigate and lured whatever was inside out, and were now faced with hundreds of beats that were like a cross between a badger and a chipmunk.


    They had long sharp ws just like a badge and long pointy teeth meant to tear through meat, but also the incisors like chipmunks had to crush nuts with.


    Their other features were mismatched as well. With them having a face more resembling a chipmunk but with the coloring and more elongated body of a badger.


    Though what made them incredibly annoying was their ability to climb trees exceptionally well.


    This had allowed them to surround the Evelyn''s squad by getting above them by climbing up the trees in swarms and jumping down without any care for their safety.


    Along with that, the stronger ones that could use any form of magic were attacking them from below. With the majority of them having either an affinity for ice or earth, thought the asional one had a nature affinity which made them really annoying.


    However, while they were numerous and tenacious, most of them were just wild beasts and honestly throwing themselves at the owls like cannon fodder.


    Only twenty of them that had appeared so far were even at the fiend beast rank and of them only three were at the peak.


    With only this much power behind them, they were not much of a threat to Evelyn''s squad that wasposed of seven peak fiend beasts and three low tier awakened beasts.


    Whenever they were attacked, magic spells went flying and dozens of these beasts died in the process.


    Quickly they began whittling their numbers down, all while avoiding the few attacks that could actually hurt them.


    Still, even though they were stronger in overall power, they began to lose magical energy with each attack and were slowly losing their strength.


    And when they thought they had nearly won, as the attacks started to stop. The ground began to shake, and arger badger chipmunk came out of the borrow.


    It as easily fifteen feet long and had a thick and stout body that exuded the aura of an awakened rank beast.


    There was no doubt that this was their leader, and they had now shown up to deliver the finishing blow to the exhausted owls.


    Except this is exactly what they had been waiting for.


    "Evelyn now is you time to shine. Take them out." Adolophine said.


    Smiling, Evelyn was happy that it was finally her chance to get in on the action.


    Throughout the fight she had kept up her job as a heater, and only attacked when absolutely necessary to defend herself.


    So, she still had plenty of magical energy and was given the go ahead to unleash a devastating attack.


    At this point all the other owls knew she was the strongest in their group regardless of her only being a fiend beast and trusted her to deliver the finishing blow here.


    ''You never should have shown yourself. I have been waiting for this.''


    Charging straight ahead, Evelyn began spinning her body around and creating a torrent of wind which she released mes into.


    ''Crimson twister.''


    Using her current strongest attack, the same one she used to feel the giant stag that had attacked her when she first arrived, Evelyn crashed into the surprised lead badger chipmunk.


    Naturally it and its subordinates tried to stop Evelyn''s full power attack. But everything they threw at her melted away and turned to pretty much nothing when it reached her heavenly me which was being rapidly spun around by her wind magic.


    When she collied with her target the area around them began to steam, and the snow turned into water vapor immediately creating a number of pressurized explosions in the area.


    In fact, the damage to the area was far greater than any of the owls expected. including Evelyn herself.


    Also, it was safe to say that the target of her attack was utterly destroyed. With not even a trace left from being engulfed in Evelyn''s crimson tornado attack.


    ''Maybe I should have held back a little more.'' Evelyn thought while looking at the destruction she had caused.


    Not even the beast cores were left as they had been burned away as well.


    The remaining badger chipmunks that had survived began fleeing and the other owls in Evelyn''s squad used this time to hunt down the few remaining fiend beast specimens so that they could be brought back to be studied.


    Yet it was not long after Evelyn''s attack that the entire mountain began to rumble, and as all the owl''s looked up they saw an avnche like a tidal wave rushing down towards them.

 Chapter 151 151 Search And Rescue

    ?As the avnche came barreling down the mountain, all of the owls began pping their wings in a panic.


    Even though they could fly, they were currently close to the ground. With a few of them havingnded to retrieve the corpses of the beasts they had just beat


    And the oing tide of snow, ice, rocks, and trees was gettingrger by the moment.


    ''UP! UP! UP! UP! UP!.'' Evelyn frantically shouted in her head.


    She was using every power at her disposal to ascend higher. Wanting to get above the top of the trees that were about to be engulfed by the avnche.


    She knew that even if she got above the mass of tumbling snow many of the trees were likely to be knocked down in its path, and if she did not ascend above them, she could end up crushed by one of the massive trunks falling on her.


    Thankfully with her gravity magic along with her wind magic, she was able to achieve almost perfect vertical lift and shot up high before the avnche reached her.


    Some of the other owls unfortunately, were not as quick as Evelyn. And while none of them were close enough to the ground to be swept up in the avnche itself. A number of the nearby trees began falling and made for a precarious situation.


    Watching along and unable to do anything, Evelyn saw two owls get hit by thick branches of falling trees and be pushed down into the rushing avnche. One of which was her long-time squad mate and the owl that she had saved from the parasitic vine tangle, Osten. Who was simply too slow and bulky to escape fast enough.


    ''No, this is all my fault.'' Evelyn thought watching two of her allies get swept away.


    As strong as beasts were in this world, at their currently ranks they were still not able to content with the raw power of a natural disaster. Especially one with the ferocity of an avnche made of several hundreds of thousands of tons of debris and moving at incredibly speeds over a hundred miles an hour.


    Seeing this happen Evelyn could only look back at her brash actions. She had plowed headfirst into the strongest enemy with her most powerful attack without thinking of anything else.


    Now in hindsight, it was painfully obvious that and explosive force of that magnitude was likely, if not certain to cause and avnche on this snow-covered mountain.


    With nothing to do about theirpanions being caught in the avnche, all the other owls grouped up and Evelyn had a darkened expression on her face.


    Certainly, she was pretty cold hearted when it came to those she viewed as enemies. But while she could not say she was very close to Osten and barely remembered the other owl''s name, it did not mean she would not feel bad when causing them to be hit by an avnche due to her negligence.


    "I am so sorry. It is my fault they swallowed by that avnche." Evelyn said while hovering in the air and bowing her head.


    In response all the other owls in her squad looked over at her with confusion all over their faces.


    None of them understood what Evelyn was getting at, as this was their first time seeing an avnche and honestly had no real idea what it was.


    "What do you mean Evelyn. There is no way you could have known that a snowslide was going to happen." Adolophine said to her.


    However, Evelyn shook her head and told everyone that her attack caused what all of them were calling a snowslide simply for its resemnce to andslide.


    All of them just looked at her like she was crazy, and it became clear to Evelyn that they did not know anything about avnches.


    Not even the snowy owl who presumably came from a cold environment knew anything about them. Leading Evelyn to a certain conclusion.


    ''I guess that while the Roost does extensive research on magical nts and beasts, they are not really interested in natural disasters like people were back on Earth. It makes sense though. I doubt many owls have ever been caught up in an avnche since we can fly above it in time in most cases. The only reason that Osten and the other owl even got caught up in one this time was because it was truly huge, moving impossibly fast, and we were already near the ground. Plus, it was really only those exceptionallyrge trees falling over that even pushed them into the avnche.''


    Now having her thoughts in order, Evelyn understood why none of the other owls really understood the avnche, and that she had definitely been the cause of it.


    "Anyway Evelyn, even if your attack had caused this, it is my fault as leader for ordering you to go in. Also, there is simply no way that you could have known this would happen." Adolophine said to console Evelyn.


    She could tell that she was pretty frantic about her fellow owls in a far different way than ever before.


    Whenever they had been in danger previously, like with the parasitic vine tangle, she had normally remined the calmest and done what she could to get them out of the situation.


    This time thought, it seemed that since she perceived herself to be the cause of the incident she was far more frantic.


    "There is nothing you can do by ming yourself. Now, once this snowslide has settled down, we will begin searching for ourrades. While Braulia might not have been able to protect herself, I am almost certain that Osten''s natural bulkiness in addition to his magic will have allowed him to survive." Adolophine said confidently and like a good leader.


    Hearing this Evelyn did soon calm down as she thought things over more rationally.


    ''That is right we are not normal owls. All of us have magic and are far stronger than the beasts from Earth. At the very least, I have seen Osten take plenty of heavy hits and keep on going. It is feasible he survived this avnche.''


    Soon enough the raging rush of snow, ice, rocks, and trees came to a stop at the foot of the mountain and the eight remaining owls in Evelyn''s squad split up and beganbing over the area in search of their squad members.


    This went on for quite some time, as they searched for hours to no avail. Until Evelyn discovered something quite unusual.


    There was a thin beam of light shooting up from the piles of ice and snow that had been left in the wake of the avnche.


    Naturally Evelyn tried to see if this was some trick of the light or a reflection from the moon, but the beam was definitely shooting up out from the snow.


    Getting closer Evelyn examined it and tossed something over it to test if this beam had any destructive potential.


    She had heard ofsers before that could cut through steel and wanted to make sure this beam of light would not shot right though her.


    Luckily the rock she tossed went by without a problem, and the beam after being broken began rapidly shing in what looked like distress.


    ''Don''t tell me this is Braulia''s power!'' Evelyn thought in astonishment.


    When they had been introduced to the owls that were joining her squad, they had all gone over what each other''s affinities were, and Evelyn was recalling now that Braulia was said to have a rare light affinity.


    Flying over the light itself Evelyn let it hit her body, and when she did so it began shing way more rapidly.


    This all but confirmed to Evelyn that this was one of her lost squad members. Though not the one she was expecting to find alive.


    Descending to the ground she closed her eyes and ced her beak right in front of the small hole about the size of a small te.


    "Hoot!"


    With as loud of a sound as Evelyn could make, she called out into the hole and waited for a response.


    A couple momentster she heard a strained and muffled response and was certain that an owl was trapped under the snow here.


    ''How far down is she that I cannot properly see her.'' Evelyn thought when the light disappeared.


    She tried looking down by everything just seemed white and snowy as far as the could see.


    Still, this had confirmed that Braulia was alive and buried deeply.


    However, this presented another problem. Evelyn was not certain how to reach her.


    ''I will just have to try melting it slowly and work my way down.''


    Carefully Evelyn nned on how she would descend through the snow and ice to reach her trapped squad mate.


    She figured that the reason that Braulia had not created a holerge enough for her to escape with her light magic was because it caused the snow and ice to copse in on her when she tried.


    This was why she had made the hole much smaller and sent up a distress signal instead.


    Going about it this way Evelyn decided to create a hole in the snow carefully by using her heavenly me.


    Luckily since she wasing from the top and was able to not just melt the snow but vaporize it, the area did not copse. And for insurance she had lowered the gravity around her to lessen the weight of the snow just in case.


    Eventually she reached a point around forty feet down after she painstakingly created arge enough hole to see Braulia though the smaller one she had created.


    With that the trapped owl now had enough room to st her way out of the snow without it copsing in on her.


    In a bright sh of light Braulia shot out from the snow and a rumble followed her as the area she had been in was crushed by snow and ice filling it in.


    "Thank you so much Evelyn. You really saved." Braulia said now that she was free.


    She was truly ecstatic to not be buried anymore, and away from the terror and cold of being under so much snow and ice.


    After that Evelyn brought out her heavenly me to heat Braulia up since it was obvious she was incredibly cold.


    She had definitely used up arge amount of her magical energy protecting herself, and that burst had drained her dry and left her no way to defend against the cold temperatures.


    "Let us fly higher and I will send a signal to the others that I found you. Everyone right now is also out searching for Osten, so we are pretty scattered right now."


    Nodding her head, Braulia did as Evelyn asked and soon the two of them ascended high into the sky in order to get the attention of their other squad members.


    Yet, before Evelyn took out the signal talisman, she noticed something astonishing now that she was so high.


    ''There is a huge hole- no, a crater in the side of the mountain!''

 Chapter 152 152 Into The Mountain

    ?Evelyn stared at the over three-hundred-meter-wide crater in the mountain in almost a daze.


    The avnche she had caused revealed therge scar in the side of the mountain that had been there for presumably a long time.


    ''Did a meteor hit it or something?'' Evelyn thought, wondering where this massive crater could havee from.


    It was truly astonishing to see suchrge hole in the side of the mountain.


    However, from her current vantage point high in the sky she could see that while the initial impact only went around a hundred meters deep, there were numerous smaller tunnels in the crater that went deeper into the gargantuan mountain.


    Seeing this, Evelyn''s meteor idea seemed a bit off. Or perhaps the initial crater and the tunnels within it were wholly unrted.


    "Evelyn, are you not going to send off the signal?" Braulia asked while tilting her head in confusion.


    "Ah, yeah. I''ll do that now."


    Turning her attention away from the cater Evelyn pulled out the signal talisman and once it was used sent off arge re into eh sky which exploded like a firework.


    This allowed the other owls in their squad to know that one of their missing members had been found.


    "I imagine that you must be tired. Let usnd and wait for the others to arrive." Evelyn suggested.


    Nodding her head, Braulia agreed and the two of them descend andnded in one of the trees that had not been overturned by the massive avnche that just swept this side of the mountain


    Once there Evelyn who mostly wanted to just sit and wait in silence so that she could ponder about the crater, was instead forced into conversation with Braulia.


    "I have heard you are and exemry alchemist that is as good if not better than Adolophine. What kind of things go into your alchemy?" Braulia said with starry eyes.


    Sighing Evelyn gave some random answer that were only surface level, but Braulia just kept asking questions and making conversation no matter how much Evelyn hinted she did not want to.


    Naturally Evelyn found her sudden insistence on talking strange and annoying, since they had barely had any conversations before. But chalked it up to Braulia now wanting to get close to her rescuer.


    ''She should definitely not be so trusting. Just because someone helps you does not mean they have good intentions. You can easily end up in a far worse situation than before.''


    A scowl came over Evelyn''s face as she thought this and remembered the man who had killed her and her brother.


    He had seemed nice at the time but turned out to be a real sadistic bastard.


    ''If I was there now with the power I have gained, I could rip him in half.'' Evelyn thought as the unpleasant memory she normal kept buried.


    Her mood bing worse by the second, Evelyn was about to snap at Braulia when their attention was routed somewhere else.


    The other owls from their squad were getting close, and Evelyn saw that they had found the other missing member


    ''Good, looks like Osten managed to survive as expected. I worked pretty hard to keep him alive before and he is fairly strong, so it would have been a shame if he ended up dead.''


    With her thoughts being redirected away from her worst memories of her past life, Evelyn''s deteriorating mood bounced back, and she was back to her more neutral demeanor.


    Soon enough all of the members of their squad had reconvened.


    "It is good to see you safe Osten. I am sorry that you got caught up in that because of me." Evelyn said.


    Osten for his part was confused for a moment, but then remembered that the leader of their group had told him that Evelyn med herself for the avnche.


    "It is fine. No way to know that was going to happen. Anyway, it will take more than that to do me in." Osten said to reassure her.


    After they had all settled down and finished up celebrating the survival of all their members, they got to discussing what their next move was going to be.


    "I believe that we should head back to base camp and report what happened. We already got a good amount of information about the area." Adolophine suggested.


    While they had not explored the entire area, they had gotten a fairly good idea about theposition of beasts and magical nts.


    Also, it was already certain that this area had less magical energy than others they had been in so far. Barely having what it took for the single awakened rank beast they had seen to exist.


    It was likely that this area would not even be worth developing at all due to itsck of resources and the environmental dangers.


    However, there was one thing that Evelyn was still curious about and brought up therger crater in the side of the mountain, about two thirds of the way up to its peak.


    Of course, some of the other owls had seen it as well and their curiosity was piqued just like Evelyn''s.


    "Yes, I suppose it is possible that we might some rare beasts, magical, nts, or even ores in the vicinity. But we have already done quite a bit here and I do not want to put the squad in anymore danger when we are almost finished with the expedition. Adolophine said with a look of worry on her face.


    They had nearlypleted their mission and her entire squad had made it through without casualty.


    Today though, she nearly lost two members to an avnche and wanted to simply return back to base camp and wrap things up without worrying about the dangers of continuing to explore.


    Still, she wanted the rest of her squad''s opinion on the matter, since if any of them made a fuss that she had not done her job well enough in leading them on their exploration then it coulde back to bite herter.


    And unfortunately for Adolophine, the majority of the squad wanted to keep going and investigate the crater in the side of the mountain.


    "Very well, we willmence our investigation tomorrow. I imagine that everyone is quite tired from today''s incident." Adolophine said begrudgingly.


    She really wanted to just call it at this point but could not deny the will of the majority of the squad at this point and time.


    With their path decided, Evelyn''s squad found a good ce to rest for the night and set up watch like usual while the others went to sleep.


    Upon theing of the next night, they were all up and fairly energetic.


    So far exploring this mountain had been kind of boring inparison to the previous areas they had been in, but now they were raring to go.


    The discover of such arge crater was soothing that had gotten those that liked exploring very interested, and Evelyn herself wanted to get a better look at the interesting sight.


    "Let us go now. But make sure to keep a tight formation. We have made it this far and I do not want anyone dying thiste in the game." Adolophine said before taking the lead.


    Quickly they all ascended higher and higher as they headed for where the carter scarred the mountainside.


    When they arrived directly above it, they could now peer into it much better than before and looked at it in awe.


    ''This really is a big crater. But those tunnels are the most ungual thing rather than the crater itself. I wonder what caused them?''


    Looking down now that she was closer Evelyn could see that the tunnels were not shallow and went deep into the mountain.


    Each one was quite a bit smaller than the crater itself but stillrge enough for any of the members of her squad to fly through.


    "To begin with let us search the outside. We might find an exposed vein of a rare metal, or a type of ore used in alchemy." Adolophine said directing her squad.


    Flying down lower the owls scoured the crater for anything that might be of value, but there was nothing there was rock.


    ''Hm, no meteor of anything at the center. Whatever made this crater is long gone. Perhaps it was even taken away in the avnche yesterday which exposed this ce.'' Evelyn thought as she made multiple guesses as to why whatever made this crater was no longer here.


    Within around an hour, the ten owls of their squad had determined that there was nothing of value on the outside of the crater.


    Nevertheless, the tunnels that bored into the mountain still had secrets for them to uncover.


    "Very well we will go through the tunnel that is closest to the base of the mountain and see where it goes. Just make sure to stay close and be vignt. We do not know what could be within." Adolophine said before their squad flew into the tunnel to explore the inside of the mountain.

 Chapter 153 153 What Lies At The Heart Of The Mountain

    ?Entering into the dark tunnel it was not long until the faint bit of moon and starlight from outside became too little for even the Evelyn and the other members of her squad.


    Luckily, they had an easy source of light and Braulia with her magical affinity began to faintly glow and bring in enough light for the owls to see in the pitch-ck tunnels going deeper into the mountain.


    ''There is definitely no way this is natural.''


    Examining the sides of the tunnel her squad was flying through, Evelyn could see that on all sides it was perfectly smooth which should not have happened for any natural tunnel.


    There was also a fact that the tunnels only appeared in the giant crater and not anywhere else they had searched while exploring the mountain.


    Eventually they made it to there first turn in the tunnel that had been uniform in size and direction so far.


    Now going at a downward angle Evelyn''s squad was going deeper and deeper into the mountain with no signs that the tunnel was going to be stopping anytime soon.


    ''Oh, there is something shinny over there.''


    Spotting something that reflected the slight amount of lighting off of Braulia. Evelyn stopped everyone else so that they could investigate.


    "Oh, I believe this is durium!" The snowy owl said in excitement.


    It turned out that he was an inscriptionist and had been taught about rare magical metals.


    "Really, it does not look exactly like what I have seen before?" Adolophine said as she examined the vein of dull blueish metal.


    "Yeah, there is no doubt that this is durium. My master has shown me it a few times and how he works with it. But you are right that it seems a little off. Its luster is greatly diminished." The snowy owls said with a quizzical expression on his face.


    For around the next hour their squad dug out and inspected the vein of the rare magical metal that Evelyn had spotted.


    Yet as they uncovered more of it, the snowy owl who knew the most about it began to frown.


    "There is something not right here. This is definitely durium, but it is far more brittle than any I have ever felt before. We should not have been able to break off even a small piece with our current strength, but Osten was able to. It is as if its magical properties that make it strong have been taken out."


    Hearing this Evelyn suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. She was certain she had seen something simr before.


    It was in the back of her mind, but she could not quite recall what was bugging her right now.


    ''Is it just because there is not enough magical energy in the area?'' She thought while trying to rack her brain.


    In the end though she could not figure out what was giving her this sense, and her entire squad quickly came to the conclusion that the area just did not have enough magical energy to support the creation of this metal in its perfect form. Which was why the vein they had found was of a very inferior quality.


    "Let us keep going. Even if it is of diminished power this is still a rare metal that is valuable. If we find more this could be a new mine for the Roost." Adolophine said, now wanting to explore deeper.


    If they were able to find arge quantity of durium here even if it was not as strong as usual, it would be a huge boon for her and her squad in terms of the credits they would receive uponpletion of the expedition.


    Continuing on they found other veins of durium but also a couple of other magical metals. Albeit ones that were not as rare.


    However, all of them seemed to not have enough magical energy either and were of a diminished quality from what was to be expected.


    Still, it was clear that this mountain was rich with resources on the inside no matter how inferior they were inpassion to normal.


    ''I suppose the extra credits will be useful. After we return, I will need to prepare to head out to the inferno field and obtain a hellfire rose in order to get he finally catalyst for my evolution.'' Evelyn thought as they went farther into the tunnel.


    At this point she was feeling that their mission was nearly over, and it was time to start thinking about what it was she needed to do next.


    Yet as they got deeper all of the owls noticed a sudden change in the atmosphere.


    Certainly, it had not been nearly as cold in this tunnel now that they were no longer exposed to the cold outside air, but the temperature was beginning to steadily rise.


    Before it had maybe been around fifty degrees Fahrenheit, with it getting a bit warmer when they got fairly deep in. But now Evelyn figured it was closer to somewhere between seventy and eighty degrees.


    Nevertheless, the temperature change while unusual, did not seem threatening in itself, and it was determined that they would continue for around ten more minutes more to see if they came across any other valuable minerals.


    Except, instead of finding what they were looking for, they saw a bright glowing out from the other side of the tunnel.


    This seemed practically impossible as they were now miles beneath the surface and there should not have been any light.


    "Oh, perhaps we came across some sort of luminous stone or crystal." Braulia said with her interest piques.


    Hearing this all the other owls figured it as likely this was something she might need for her evolution. Which exined why she was seemingly so excited.


    ''Ugh, but it smells like rotten eggs and a swamp.'' Evelyn thought as they got loser.


    Still the horrible smell did not deter Braulia, who was already banking on the fact that they may have found what she needed for her own evolution.


    Going on with this hope she took the lead as after not encountering anything dangerous so far, they had rxed their formation.


    Though as the others flew out of the tunnel and caught up, they were all stunned by what they were seeing.


    There were certainly no luminous stones or crystals here in the center of the mountain.


    Instead, what was creating the light and heat was a pool of bubbling magma.


    It was slowly rising and falling within the camber that was oval in shape and was several hundred meters wide and tall.


    Truly it was a massive room within the very heart of the mountain, and something that should not have been there.


    ''What the hell is that thing?!''


    Looking out into the middle of the chamber there was something suspended with thick roots attached to all of the walls.


    Along with that there was one thick ck root that went all the way down into the pool of magma and continued for far greater distance than any of the owls in Evelyn''s squad could see.


    Currently therge form in the center was encased in some sort of membrane that was pulsating every so often.


    Immediately upon seeing this the entire squad of owls froze in terror at this form that was above them.


    They could feel the immense magical energy that wasing off of whatever it was and it was impossibly oppressive.


    It was also at this moment that Evelyn realized why she had felt such unease earlier.


    She had seen something like this before, when she was still trying to escape from the deands she had been born in.


    The entire forest was incredibly low on magical energy not being suitable for even raising up a fiend beast. And it was all because of a single magical nt.


    The giant red flower that towered into the sky was sucking up almost all of the magical energy for thousands of miles.


    ''This nt is doing something simr. That is why the magical energy of the nts above and the metals in the mountain seemed lesser than they should have been. This thing is draining immense amounts of magical energy from thend.'' Evelyn thought as her mind began racing for an exnation.


    Immediately after that she was the first to unfreeze while her squad had been floating their stunned for nearly a dozen seconds.


    No longer did she mind anyradery and turned to flee without trying to get anyone else to move.


    Evelyn could tell it was a conscious being as her instincts were screaming at her to get away. Unlike with the red flower that she had been drawn to.


    No, the feeling she got from this nt draining thend in the center of this mountain was closer to that of the giant serpent that coiled around the red flower.


    An overwhelming force she had no chance against and that could kill her easily if it wished to.


    Unfortunately, as she flew towards the tunnel they had juste from, the nt began to shift around, and its roots moved to cover the entrance of the tunnel that Evelyn''s squad hade from.


    Not only that, it moved to prevent them from leaving via any exit and covered up the other tunnels that entered into this chamber that was equal to the number above in the crater in the side of the mountain.


    Now effectively trapped, Evelyn and her squad mates all looked out in terror as this monster cut off any route for escape.

 Chapter 154 154

    ?Evelyn and her squad now being unable to escape looked towards therge membranous pod in the center of the chamber.


    It was now pulsating even faster than before and small threads of it were breaking away and forming up intorge tendrils.


    "Everyone get into a defensive formation! Osten use your earth magic to create an opening into one of the tunnels. We need and escape route. Use any and every potion or talisman you have to strengthen yourself." Adolophinemanded.


    The entire squad hearing her snapped out of their shock and formed up in order to deal with the threating their way.


    Now was not the time for them to give into despair, but to give it all they have to survive.


    ''At least it is taking a bit of time.'' Evelyn thought as she pulled out every useful talisman and potion she had.


    Unfortunately, her reprieve was short, and while she was downing a fortification potion the tendrils that had finished forming shot toward all of them.


    Wide eyed, Evelyn took evasive actions as a dozen two-foot-thick tendrilsunched towards her.


    ''Gravity trap.''


    Unleashing the trap she had been preparing, Evelyn just barely redirected some of the tendrilsing for her by increasing the pull of gravity downwards.


    A loud crash followed by the entire chamber rumbling urred right after Evelyn deflected the tendrils and they pierced into the walls.


    Just hearing this Evelyn could tell how much power had been behind these attacks and knew that if they hit her, she would have instantly been killed.


    ''How did everyone else do?'' Evelyn thought as she nced towards everyone else.


    However, what she saw was horrifying.


    Three of the members of her squad had failed to dodge or block the attacks directed at them and had been pierced through by a tendril.


    The two that had not died instantly tried to struggle but could not shake off or do any damage to the tendril that had pierced them.


    And before any help could arrive, they were reeled in towards the membrane and pulled inside. Where the shadows of their forms were still visible as they quickly dissolved.


    ''It killed three of us in an instant when it is not even trying. There was no magic and it does not even appear to be consciously attacking us. That was simply a reflexive response.'' Evelyn thought as terror started to overtake her.


    This thing was far stronger than they were, and even while not paying them any mind it was killing them like swatting flies.


    "I managed to break through! A path is clear, let''s go!" Osten said while the monstrous nt was preparing to unleash another attack.


    Turning around, all the owls that still remained began flying towards the opening Osten had made in hopes of getting away.


    Yet as Isander the owl with a lightning affinity flew in, more roots burst out of the connecting hole Osten had made and pierced through him.


    Watching this happen, everyone but Evelyn froze up as their escape was cut off again.


    "Ahhhhhh!"


    Screaming loudly and barreling through, Evelyn wreathed herself in her heavenly me with all she had in order to punch through.


    Miraculously as her mes hit these roots, they began burning away even though nothing anyone else had done could seem to cause any damage.


    Forcing her way through Evelyn scrambled through the opening Osten had made and into the tunnel that would allow her to exit the mountain.


    Quickly all those that remained flew in as well. But it became clear they were not going to make it.


    The tendrils hade back together and unleashed another attack towards the group of owls trying to escape.


    Except before they skewered everyone, a thick wall of earth spread out in front of them, and arge form spread out to take the hit.


    "Osten what are you doing?!" Adolophine said as she watched her lieutenant get pierced through in dozens of ces.


    Using his magic and body as a shield he managed to protect everyone else.


    "I was just going to slow all of you down anyway. Now go. Don''t let my sacrifice be in-"


    Unable to finish what he wanted to say, Osten was reeled into the membrane along with the wall of earth he had made and quickly dissolved.


    Gritting her beak, Adolophine turned around and began flying after the remains of her squad that were frantically trying to escape.


    ''Looks like the only ones that made it out were Rehni, Braulia, the snowy owl, and Adolophine.'' Evelyn thought as she looked back behind her to check for any sort of pursuit.


    Luckily it did not seem that anything wasing for them, but just to be safe Evelyn pulled out her message notebook and sent off a distress signal to the leader of their expedition unit.


    As soon as the piece of paper was ripped out, it formed up into the shape of a bird and began flying through the mountain in a straight line towards its target.


    Continuing to fly through the tunnel, Evelyn and the remains of her squad booked it as fast as they could. Often not even caring if they smashed into walls when they took turns so long as they did not have to slow down as much.


    They were all gripped with fear of the entity that sat at the heart of this mountain that had killed half of them without even being conscious.


    Eventually they saw the light of the outside before them, and it seemed that they would be able to escape, as so far, no pursuit wasing for them.


    ''Once I get out of here, I can use my full eleration and fly away in a straight line. I am not going to die here.'' Evelyn thought as she closed in on the exit.


    However, unbeknownst to her and the rest of her squad that was flying away as fast as they could. The creature that had surrounded itself in a protective and healing membrane began to stir. Having felt the presence of an incredible power it wanted for itself.

 Chapter 155 155 No Escape

    ?Evelyning out of the tunnel that led deep into the mountain prepared to shot off like a jet immediately.


    With such a looming threat nearby, she decided topletely prioritize her own safety and was going to abandon the rest of her squad.


    She knew that at her full speed none of them would be able to keep up and was not willing to slow her escape down for them.


    At the end of the day, she valued her own survival above any of her squad members.


    ''Hopefully they will be fine anyway. It did not seem like that thing was pursuing us.'' Evelyn thought as she prepared a gravity trap.


    When it was done, she set it behind her and active it.


    Suddenly a powerful force began pushing on her, and she went with it.unching herself at and incredibly speed.


    As she picked up momentum, she moved the air around her to lower drag, coiled it around in three miniature twisters behind her, and funneled her heavenly me out like rocket boosters.


    This sent her flying at truly fast speeds that exceed that of what even most peak awakened beasts could reach.


    Of course, she had no real means of steering herself and was just explosively traveling in a straight line as fast as she could.


    Yet when she was about to cross past the base of the mountain, she crashed into an invisible wall and was knocked off course like a ricocheting bullet.


    Before she could even figure out what happened, she crashed into the snowy ground below her and carved a deep trench in it until she came to a stop.


    ''Ugh, what the hell just happened?'' Evelyn thought as she pulled herself out of the snow.


    All at once her momentum had been blocked and the next thing she knew, she was crashing headfirst into the ground.


    By some miracle though she managed toe out from her crash without too much injury and was mostly just rattled.


    This was thanks to all of the buffs from potions and talismans that were still on her, as well as the loose snow making for a fairly softnding inparison to what the hard earth would have been.


    ''I do not think anything is broken. Ow, but I have a few scrapes and bruises.'' Evelyn thought as she examined her body.


    Once she was certain her body was fine, she looked towards the area where she had suddenly impacted something.


    At first it looked like nothing was there, but upon closer inspection she could see a barely visible light blue shimmering barrier.


    Seeing this Evelyn began to panic quite a lot and flew over to try breaking through this barrier.


    Shooting out a stream of her heavenly me she tried to st a hole through the barrier.


    But while she was damaging it as her heavenly me burned through it, the barrier was constantly fixing itself to the point that she could not break through.


    Quickly it became apparent that she was not going to break out and was only wasting her magical energy.


    ''Damn it. What is this?'' She thought in frustration.


    Still, she did notpletely give into panic and began flying upwards. Hoping that maybe this barrier did not extend all the way into the sky and that she could fly over it.


    Though along the way, she spotted the rest of her squad that was still alive flying towards her.


    "Evelyn what are you doing? Why did you take off like that?" Adolophine said when they got back into range of their magical connection.


    "I was trying to get away as quickly as possible. I hate to say this, but I am faster than all of you."


    Hearing how cold Evelyn sounded, Adolophine frowned but could not berate her in this situation.


    They had juste across a creature that easily killed half their squad and they barely managed to get out of the mountain alive.


    "So, what is the problem? Why have you not gotten further away?"


    "There is some kind of barrier blocking the way. Itpletely stopped me, and I cannot break through it." Evelyn responded while jerking her head towards the barely viable shimmer.


    Looking at it closely Adolophine noticed it as well. And soon so did Braulia, Rehni, and the snowy owl.


    "How is this possible?!" Adolophine said once she was finished analyzing the barrier.


    She could tell that it was made out of pure magical energy and that it dwarfed the power that any of them had.


    "Let us try going up. It may only extend so far." Adolophine said, having the same idea as Evelyn.


    Sadly, when they reached a few thousand feet into the air they found that the barrier had a domed ceiling that prevented them from escaping.


    Desperation creeping in, Adolophine told all of them to try attacking the same point of the barrier all at once with their best attacks.


    However, none of them other than Evelyn were able to so much as put a scratch on the barrier, and it proved to be no more fruitful than Evelyn''s earlier attempt.


    ''Why is it noting after us?'' Evelyn thought after a while.


    It had been quite sometime since they escaped from the central chamber in the mountain, but the creature there had not made any attempt toe after them.


    Still, it had created a massive barrier that epassed several miles of area in order to keep them from escaping.


    "Let us try flying around and search for any sort of opening. A barrier thisrge is sure to have some sort of weak point we might be able to break through." Adolophine said, trying to keep them looking for a solution.


    "Wait, I might be able to get us out. I just need a moment." Evelyn said to stop them all.


    She had onest trump card to y, even if she did not want to.


    Opening her storage cuff, she pulled out a certain potion that was mostly silver in color with a few blotches of green and purple mix in.


    Bewilderment came over Adolophine''s face as she saw this, since it was something she had never seen before.


    "What is that?"


    "My strongest potion given to me by my master. It may give me the power I need to break through this barrier."


    After saying this Evelyn moved to break the top off the bottle, when the entire mountain began to shake.


    Then, where the crater on the side of the mountain began to crack, and the massive membranous pod that had been in the center broke out into the open.


    Staring out in terror the five remaining owls froze and held their breaths, as the creature that had killed their other squad members and trapped them, emerged from the depths of the mountain.


    An instantter it began shifting and the pod that was containing the creature within began to split and reveal what was inside.


    Thousands of gallons of a green liquid began pouring out as the pod opened, and when it hit the ground, it began eating through it and causing thend to sizzle and smoke.


    Within just a minute the entire pod had peeled away to reveal the torso of a giant green woman whose lower body was a massive bulbous purple flower that attached into the ground with the thick ck root.

 Chapter 156 156 Stalling

    ?"AHHHH-HHAAAAAA!"


    As the giant nt woman peeled back the pod she had been within, she let out an earthshaking yawn.


    This simple act held behind it more power than Evelyn had ever seen as waves of magical energy came off of this creature and created the same force as a hurricane.


    ''Damn it!''


    Being assaulted by the waves of energy Evelyn along with what remained of her squad had trouble staying airborne and Braulia, Rehni, and Bylur, were even swept away and smashed into the ground.


    Eventually, the waves of magical energy started to settle down as the monstrous nt woman stopped yawning.


    However, this only made the situation far more frightening, as Evelyn could fell a terror she had not experienced since her escape from the human''sboratory. Absolute helplessness.


    She could fell that there was nothing she could do against this entity.


    ''There is no way. We cannot even hope to run from that thing.''


    Falling into despair, Evelyn could not fathom anyway out of her current situation and shutdown as she prepared for the end.


    "What are you doing. You said you would be able to break out of this barrier if you drank that potion. Hurry up and do it. I will stall it even if just for a couple seconds. I am leaving getting everyone else out to you." Adolophine said as she charged towards the unbeatable enemy that had appeared before them.


    Evelyn hearing and seeing this snapped out of her overwhelming hopelessness and focused on what she could do.


    ''She is right. It is not over yet. I doubt that this point will be enough to give me any chance of winning. But if it gives me even a millionth of a chance of escape, I have to fight to the end.''


    Evelyn with the unleash potential potion in her ws broke the top off and prepared to down the contents, as Adolophine flew off to by whatever measly time she could.


    Yet before either of them could aplish what they were trying to do. The giant nt woman exercised the tyranny of her overwhelming power.


    She did not even throw a nce at Adolophine and burst past her at an incredible speed which caused the leader of Evelyn''s squad to spiral out of control and go crashing into the ground.


    Unable to even bring the potion to her beak, Evelyn was now being stared down by a being more than twenty times her size and that was immeasurably stronger.


    "My, at first I thought all these years of recovering might have dulled my senses. But you really do possess a heavenly me!"


    Her lips curving up into a smile, it was clear that this giant nt woman was quite pleased to find that her mind was not ying any tricks on her.


    Gulping, Evelyn could tell that this woman was looking at her like prey.


    "Wh- who are you?" Evelyn said, finding the courage to establish a magical connection to speak with the monstrous entity before her.


    Taken aback, the nt woman had never expected Evelyn to try to strike up a conversation.


    "Oh, you are certainly braver than I thought you would be. I do not believe that a fiend beast has ever been able to remain lucid in my presence. Normally they either freeze up, fall unconscious, or try to run away as fast as possible."


    Seemingly amused by Evelyn ''s ability to notpletely fold to terror, the giant nt woman did not simply grab her and be done with it as she had nned.


    "Now, I am a bit curious as to how a simple fiend beast got their hands, or in your case ws, on something so rare and valuable as a heavenly me. Please go ahead and tell me, and if your story entertains me, I will do my best not to kill you while extracting it."


    Hearing this Evelyn went wide eyed and felt her heart starting to speed up even faster.


    This overwhelming entity before her had just inly stated that it was going to steal the heavenly me within her.


    ''Calm down. This is not over yet. It thinks it has won already, but I might still have a chance. I just need an opening to drink the potion Melisandre gave me and I might just be able to somehow escape. If I y along for now and wait for now, I will get my chance. I already know that if it tries to remove my heavenly me I am likely to die in the process. And even if it somehow could keep me alive, I doubt the Aethersphere would not react, and it would definitely kill me if she tried to remove that.''


    Gathering what nerves she could, Evelyn steeled herself to keeping fighting for any chance she might have to survive this situation.


    "Su- su- sure, I will tell you how I got it. But will you answer my question first?" Evelyn said, trying to keep this monster talking.


    "Ha, ha, ha. To think that you would ask something like that of me. I cannot tell if you are fearless, or just stupid. But I do find you entertaining, and it has been over two centuries since Ist had a conversation. So, I suppose I could indulge you for a bit." She said with her smile growing wider.


    "I believe you asked me who I am. To answer that my name is Hollis, and I am the strongest being of nature. An empress dryad. Now go ahead and tell me where you got that heavenly me from. little fiend beast owl."


    With her initial question answered, Evelyn could tell that stalling any longer was not going to work and began rying how she obtained her heavenly me.


    Once she was finished, Hollis startedughing profusely. Obviously finding the tale funny in some way.


    "I do not think I have ever heard something so out there. But I can tell that you really believe what you just said to me. Your mind must have been turned to mush at some point. Even I have never heard of peopleing from another world and being reincarnated into this one. It is beyond farfetched. Ah, this has been a bit entertaining, but I think that it is time I finish up here."


    Slowly reaching out her hand, the empress dryad moved without any haste or worry to pluck Evelyn out of the sky.


    "Wait! Before you do this. You said you had spent thest two centuries recovering. Before you take the heavenly me from me, could you tell me what happened?" Evelyn said in a desperate attempt to keep the conversation going.


    Immediately after she asked this question. The jovial demeanor of the empress dryad changed, and an aura of wrath began spreading out from her.


    "Yes, I did mention that earlier didn''t I. Fine since you so thoroughly entertained me, I will tell you. A bit more than two hundred years ago I fought for a fruit that had fallen from the heavens onto this continent. But when I was to be the victor, that bastard dragon appeared and caught me off guard. That little runt barely managed to beat me when I was already exhausted and stole the fruit from me. But I am not so easy to kill. I have spent all this time regaining my power by siphoning the magical energy from this miserable continent. Truthfully, I probably need another century to make a full recovery. But once that heavenly me is mine, I shall have enough power to easily crush that dragon and take my ce at the height of the world once again."


    ''Now!''


    The opening she was waiting for here Evelyn took her shoot. For just a moment, Hollis took her attention off of her as she monologued. And in that window of opportunity Evelyn downed the unleashed potential potion.

 Chapter 157 157 Unleashed Potential

    ?Draining the contents of the strongest potion Melisandre had given her, Evelyn felt a hot burning feeling going down her throat and into her stomach.


    For a moment something she had been unable to feel since assimting the heavenly me assaulted her. She felt like she was burning up.


    Naturally the sudden spike in her power caught the monstrous empress dryad''s attention, and she turned towards Evelyn with a look of astonishment.


    "I see, I thought that potion in your hands felt a little strange. It is some sort of limit breaking item. Still, that will be far from enough to close the distance between us."


    Reaching out her hand, Hollis aimed to capture Evelyn before the potion''s powers could take full effect, and then force the heavenly me out of her one way or another.


    But as she was doing this, an unexpected interruption came her way.


    ''Icicle Edge.''


    Having managed to make a recovery from his earlier fall, Bylur. the snowy owl. charged in with reckless abandon with the strongest attack eh could muster.


    He had elerated as fast as possible and incased himself in arge spear of ice that flew right for the monster that was about to kill Evelyn.


    Yet even his full power headlong attack was unable to connect.


    The empress dryad barely speared him a nce and unleashed a wave of pure magical energy that crashed into the icicle he had formed around himself.


    In an instant his strongest attack was shattered, and his body blown back.


    However, that single moment that he had bought Evelyn was enough for the potion she had taken to show its effects.


    The world suddenly seemed to warp around her and a crimson ze shot up from within her body.


    "What the-"


    Before being able to react to Evelyn''s sudden burst of power, the giant nt woman was hit by an immense wave of gravitational force and sted back away from Evelyn.


    Completely caught off guard, Hollis could not anticipate that the insignificant fiend beast she had been lording over, would without notice be able to push her back.


    With a loud crash her huge form smashed into the side of the mountain and created a simr crater to the one that had led Evelyn and her squad into their current situation.


    Normally just using an unleashed potential potion would have been far from enough for a beast at Evelyn''s level of power to exhibit this level of force. But the potion had not only affected her.


    Its potent properties had also seeped into the heavenly me and Aethersphere. Bringing more of their powers to bear.


    The Aethersphere especially became far stronger, and an immense amount of magical energy that had been sealed within it was released into Evelyn. Giving her the power to create magical phenomenon well beyond her.


    ''I can feel it. This is closer to the real power of the heavenly me and the Aethersphere.'' Evelyn thought in a moment of rity.


    Feeling more strength than she ever had before, Evelyn turned her attention back towards her current enemy.


    ''Try this on for size''


    Using one of the spells she had created, Evelyn conjured six javelins of her heavenly me and wrapped a torrent of swirling wind around them.


    Except unlike when she normally used this attack. With her current swelling power, they were no longer the size of normal javelins, but instead had the size of intercontinental ballistic missiles from earth.


    Firring them off, they burst past the speed of sound and impacted into the mountain where the empress dryad was recovering from her dazed state.


    Six huge explosions then rocked the area, and a massive heatwave expanded and melted the snow and ice on the mountain.


    ''Now I need to get out of here. I doubt that was enough to beat her, but it should slow her down.''


    Evelyn then turned towards the barrier that was still up and prepared to break through it with the far greater power she had now.


    But before she could, powerful waves of magical energy emanated off of the spot she had just bombarded.


    Large roots and vines began bursting out of the ground in the wake of this magical energy and what looked like a tsunami of nt matter headed towards Evelyn.


    ''Give it all you''ve got.''


    Steeling herself, Evelyn sent her thoughts to the Aethersphere, which was releasing more power than it ever had since she obtained it.


    In response to her thoughts and its higher functions begin forcefully activated. The divine item bared its power for Evelyn and created an imprable barrier of dense gravity around her.


    As the roots and vines tried to swallow her, they found that they could not force their way past Evelyn''s gravity barrier and were crushed whenever they got close.


    "Don''t get full of yourself you insignificant insect."


    Appearing back in front of Evelyn, Hollis'' previously superior expression was gone, and was now reced with one of rage.


    With the wave of her hand, she sent out a st of pure magical energy thatpletely engulfed Evelyn. And even with her barrier she was blown away and began bouncing off the ground where shended.


    ''Take this.''


    Slowing herself down she spun her body forward andpressed the gravitational barrier around her into a thin line.


    Evelyn then pped her wings forward and sent out a de of pure gravitational force that cut through everything in its way.


    Thick trees began sprouting up in its way to slow it down as Hollis tried to block the attack.


    Yet the immense power from the Aethersphere, an item from the divine realm far above where Evelyn currently found herself could not be stopped so easily.


    The trees in its way did not even slow it down, and when it hit the empress dryad''s barrier it broke through and cut a deep scar into her body.


    "AHHHHHH!"


    A loud scream of pain filled with fury bellowed out from the Hollis, who for the first time since appearing had been injured.


    Nevertheless, the deep cut that went from her right shoulder all the way down to her bulbous flower bottom quickly began to seal back up before Evelyn''s eyes.


    ''Like I will let you.''


    elerating like a jet Evelynunched herself right above her enemy and rained down a storm of her crimson heavenly fire.


    Another far more anguished scream escaped her opponent''s mouth this time, and it was clear her heavenly me was highly effective.


    "Do not think this is enough to beat me!" Hollis screamed as she mmed her hands together.


    Immediately a shimmering light formed around her body and sted away Evelyn''s heavenly me.


    Dozens of beams began assaulting Evelyn, and she had to rapidly fly away as fast as possible to avoid them.


    However, while she was doing so, Hollis was gathering more and more power to unleash a finishing attack.


    A giant tangle of nts and light energy had formed above her head in a massive amorphous shape.


    ''It all of nothing.''


    Digging in deep, Evelyn once again activated the Aethersphere''s power, and focused right above Hollis.


    Following her will, the divine item created a huge pir of increased gravity well over a hundred times the normal amount for this world.


    This began crushing the empress dryad into the ground and prevented her fromunching the attack she had been building up.


    But this was only the precursor to Evelyn final attack, as she began building up the power of her heavenly me and formed a huge sphere of it in front of her.


    Soon it had reached a sizerge enough to engulf the entirety of the massive form of the empress dryad and looked like a miniature crimson sun.


    ''Eat this.''


    Evelyn fired off her strongest possible attack, and as the massive sphere of heavenly me flew forward, the air began to burn, and thend melted.


    With an earthshattering explosion the heavenly me impacted its target and rapidly expanded.


    The force behind the attack could only remind Evelyn of a nuclear bomb, and she was blown away by the sheer tremendous force behind her own attack.


    pping her wings rapidly, Evelyn managed to stabilize herself and gazed towards the smoldering earth where her attack had hit.


    ''Wow. To think I could do something like that.''


    Staring in awe, Evelyn could hardly believe the attack just now hade from her. As it was easily a thousand times stronger than anything she could normally unleash.


    Yet she quickly found out that there was a price to be paid for using such power well beyond her means.


    The Aethersphere which had been effectively sent into overdrive by the unleashed potential potion reached its limit and began to go out of control.


    The divine item was already damaged to beginning with and had only started to repair itself when Evelyn forced it to exert more of its power.


    A wave of bacsh from the item that had given her a fighting chanced rippled through her body, and numerous blood vessels in her body burst open and many of her bones cracked and shattered.


    Blood poured out of her body at an rming rate, and with all of her bones damaged, she lost the ability to fly and began plummeting towards the ground.


    ''Is this how I die again?'' Evelyn thought as her consciousness started to fade.


    Except the painful crash into the ground she was expecting never came.


    As she was falling, a figure flew up out of the distance and caught her.


    Bylur, the snowy owl had managed to use healing items to recover himself and caught Evelyn before she smashed into the earth below.


    In a panic, he pulled out the best medicines he had left and began applying them over Evelyn''s body to try and keep her from dying.

 Chapter 158 158 (Spoiler, Title At The Bottom Of The )

    ?Evelyn feeling her entire body broken, could hardly hang onto her consciousness.


    The bacsh from using more of the Aethersphere''s power than her body and the already damaged item could handle was more than she ever could have anticipated.


    However, the immense pain she was feeling was suddenly dulled a bit as a soothing sensation began washing over her body.


    ''What is happening? Is my body shutting down because the pain is too much to bear?''


    Believing that she simply could not take anymore. Evelyn took the fact that her pain was starting to ease a bit as a sign that she was dying.


    But her senses did not start to fade away like they hadst time she died, and she realized that this was not what was going on.


    She struggled to open her eyes, and when she did, she was surprised to see Bylur dumping potion after potion on her body and using his life magic to unleash pulses of healing energy.


    And when he saw that Evelyn was awake, he started cing potions up to her beak as well and letting her drink them.


    This helped to fix her broken body even faster, but the quality of potion that Bylur had on hand was not strong enough to fix all of the terrible wounds that currently permeated Evelyn''s body. Even with the added effect of his life magic.


    Still, it was at least capable of keeping her from dying on the spot which certainly would have happened without his help.


    "Thank¡­you¡­for¡­ saving¡­me." Evelyn said with immense strain over the magical connection Bylur had made with her.


    Truly she was grateful for his help and knew that without it she would have met her end again.


    "Don''t force yourself tomunicate. I do not know what happen to you, but your body is a wreak. It is a miracle you are alive. Now brace yourself, I am going to get you out of here."


    Slowly and carefully, Bylur began positioning Evelyn on his back so that he could carry here off of this hellish mountain.


    "AGHHHH!"


    Suddenly an ear-piercing scream erupted from the huge plumb of smoke that was left in the wake of Evelyn''s final attack.


    "DON''T THINK THAT WAS ENOUGH TO COME CLOSE TO TAKING ME DOWN!"


    Roaring as loudly as she could, Hollis emerged from the smoke that had been obscuring her and fixed an enraged re towards Evelyn.


    No longer was there any amount ofposure in her face that was warpedpletely in wrath.


    ''How is it still alive after all that!?'' Bylur thought in astonishment.


    He had witnessed Evelyn''s final attack and never figured anything could survive being engulfed by such a devastating inferno.


    Except not only was the empress dryad not dead, but her injures were mostly superficial.


    Certainly, she did have scotch marks all over her body, but they were only at the surface level. With the only major damage that had been done being that her left hand was missing.


    Yet even the little bit of damage Evelyn had given her all for and broken her body in the process of achieving was already healing at a rapid rate.


    This was simply the overwhelming difference in power between them. Even with the boost from the unleashed potential potion Evelyn''s power fell quite short of being able to kill an entity this strong.


    Panic setting in, Bylur who literal had Evelyn''s life on his back took off and began flying away as fast as he could.


    He knew that trying to fight was foolhardy and that escape was the only option.


    "You will not get away from me!"


    Vines began exploding out with tremendous speed from Hollis'' body and headed directly for Bylur.


    Doing his best, he used his magic liberally to create blocks of ice that impeded the vines while also doing difficult aerial maneuvers that were only more challenging with Evelyn on his back.


    "Just¡­leave¡­ me¡­I¡­am¡­ her¡­target."


    Feeling that she could not drag the snowy owl down, Evelyn asked that he simply abandon her and save himself.


    Of course, in response he told Evelyn to stay quiet to conserve her energy and leave everything to him.


    For nearly a minute in an astonishing disy, he did manage to keep ahead of the vines chasing him and keep Evelyn safe. But in the end, it was not something he could keep up, and his magical energy gave out as he was hit hard by one of the vines.


    It took everything he had just to keep Evelyn on his back, as he lost control of his momentum and crashed hard into the ground.


    Now his own injuries were quite bad, and he found that one of his wings were sprained. Making it so he could no longer get back into the air.


    Though even if he had been fine, it would not have made a difference in this situation. The enemy he had been doing his best to avoid was now positioned right above them with thousands of vines spread out around her body.


    "This is the end for the two of you. In honor of your struggle against me, I think I will preserve both of your corpses as trophies."


    Raising her hands Hollis prepared to deliver the final blow with all the vines around her vibrating as they charged up for onest attack.


    BOOM!


    Before the attack could be unleashed though, a colossal explosion of me suddenly assaulted the outside of the barrier that had been preventing Evelyn and her squad from escaping the area.


    Then with a resounding crash, like breaking ss, the barrier fell apart and the immense ze shot down on top of Hollis.


    It seemed that this powerful attack which had saved Evelyn and Bylur from being skewered was going to spread out and kill them instead.


    Except, the raging mes did not even touch Evelyn or Bylur, and actually formed a protective dome around them.


    "WHO DARES?!" Hollis screamed as she jumped out of the mes and looked for their source in a fury.


    Quickly her eyes trained on the origin of the attack, and she saw the humanoid owl with dark blue wings standing right in front of Evelyn and Bylur.


    "Melisandre!"


    Completely shocked, Evelyn could not believe her eyes. Standing in front of her was her master who should have still been at the Roost.


    However, before Evelyn could say or do anything else, the empress dryad resumed her attack andunched a massive beam of light at them.


    "Why don''t you cool off and give us a minute."


    Waving her hand Melisandre created a torrent of water that shot off in the shape of a giant serpent.


    When the spell impacted the st of light from Hollis, the two battled it out for a few moments, before Melisandre''s won out and began wrapping up the empress dryad.


    "There, that ought to give us a little bit of time." Melisandre said as she turned towards Evelyn and Bylur.


    "You did a good job holding out until I got here. Now take these and leave everything else to me." Melisandre said as she handed two golden potions to Bylur and Evelyn.


    She then turned to face her opponent who was close to ripping off the water serpent restraining her.


    "Wait...how¡­did¡­you¡­get¡­here?" Evelyn asked.


    "Your message got through to your leader who ryed it back to Roost and asked for aid. The other higherups of the Roost are still debating if the threat is credible, but I trusted you and flew over as fast as I could. There is no way I am just going to let my treasured disciple die fighting a monster that outsses her when I can help it." Melisandre said with a confident smile.


    After that she waved her hand and a whirling barrier of water surrounded Evelyn and Bylur before she took off to face down Hollis.


    "Sorry to keep you waiting. I just had a couple things I need to do first." Melisandre said as she floated around three hundred feet away from Hollis'' face.


    At this point the empress dryad had broken out of the binding spell Melisandre had used and was eying here warily.


    "A peak sovereign beast. Now this is unexpected. However, it makes no difference. I have killed beasts that are stronger than you in the past. If you value your life, you should leave those two. It is not worth dying over just two fiend beasts."


    Hearing this Melisandre beganughing, and said, "Spare me your weightless threats. I am not so blind that I cannot see you are bluffing. Truly your rank is higher than mine and equivalent to a cmity beast, but do not think I cannot see how injured you are. There are cracks all through your soul that have yet to heal. I am certain you cannot even use half of your true power right now. In your current state you stand no chance against me."


    Grinding her teeth, Hollis'' frustration was rising. Melisandre waspletely right that she could use far less power now than when she was at her peak over two hundred years ago.


    In her current crippled state, she could at best use around forty percent of her power. But after using so much energy to erect a wide scale barrier and having taken a few damaging attacks, her limits were closer to thirty percent.


    "Even so, I am still stronger than you. I can understand wanting to protect that fiend beast since she has assimted a heavenly me, but I will have it. If you stand against me, I will simply remove you."


    Chapter 158 Melisandre''s Intervention

 Chapter 159 159 Melisandre Vs The Empress Dryad

    ?Squaring off, Melisandre and Hollis stared each other down as they waited for the other to make the first move.


    Both of them understood that they were fighting an opponent they could not take lightly and needed to be as alert and cautious as possible.


    In the end though, Hollis broke their stalemate. Realizing she needed to finish this battle fast.


    It was clear that all the owls that had showed up here were part of an organization, and if any more fighters as strong or even stronger than Melisandre showed up, she knew that she would be unable to win.


    To start things off the empress dryad unleashed and attack far more viscous than any she had thrown at Evelyn or Bylur.


    Now that she was no longer maintaining such arge-scale barrier, she was able to use more magical energy, and knew that only her best was going to be able to defeat Melisandre.


    Huge thorny vines that were as thick as shipping containers burst out all around her and beganshing out past the speed of sound.


    Each of these frenzying vines on their own packed enough force behind them to leave scars in the mountain where they hit and would have been devastating blows to Melisandre. If they could connect with her.


    With extreme grace Melisandre flew around with a swirl of water under her, allowing her to move around unpredictably and at odd angles.


    Then as she saw an opening, she swiped her hand froward, and a thin line of extremely hot me cut through the vines and into Hollis like a hot knife.


    ''Boiling meteor shower.''


    Following up on her first attack Melisandre mmed her hands together and a wave of magical energy proliferated out from her body.


    Controlling this energy, she formed it into hundreds of giant fifty-foot diameter balls of water above her head and conjured extremely hot mes within each one.


    The water instantaneously began boiling incredibly hot and would have vaporized if not for Melisandre''s expert control that kept the water in its liquid form despite the fact it should have be a gas.


    All of this happened in only a single second before she unleashed the spell, and it began raining down upon the area.


    In response, Hollis surrounded herself with an even greater number of light bullets and fired them off at the falling boiling meteors.


    Yet she could not wholly focus her attention on this as Melisandre gave her no time to rest.


    A hugence over three hundred meters long made of spiraling water appeared above Melisandre''s head andunched itself towards her enemy''s chest.


    In order to block this Hollis held out both of her arms and conjured arge glowing flower which absorbed the water on impact.


    It then began glowing even brighter and redirected the force of Melisandre''s attack in the form of a beam of light.


    Unable to avoid this wide ranged and fast-moving attack, Melisandre instead created a multyered barrier in front of herposed of fire, water, aand pure magical energy.


    As she took the st of light her shields began to shake and crack, but she managed to hold out till the end.


    ''Looks like its time.''


    When she had finished blocking the powerful attack directed at her, Melisandre smirked and cast her gaze upwards.


    While all of her boiling meteors had been destroyed, that was not enough to stop this spell''s second form.


    Now instead of therge spheres of water the attack had stared as, it came in a downpour of rain which was still superheated thanks to Melisandre''s immense control over her own magic.


    This boiling rain began falling down around the mountain. Causing the area to melt or catch on fire.


    It was almost imusible for rain to be starting fires and melting the earth, but this was just how good Melisandre was atbining her magical affinities into spells.


    "AUGHHH!"


    With the boiling rain falling down upon her, Hollis screamed out in pain as her skin began melting like it was acid and not water falling on her.


    She had paid not mind to the showering down on her, that she figured would be harmless after she disrupted Melisandre''s earlier, and far shier attack that served as its prelude.


    "I can see that you simply rely on brute force for the most part. Your attacks have no finesse about them." Melisandre said as she began weaving more spells.


    This served to only anger Hollis even more and led her to unleash a number of attacks that while powerful, never had a chance of hit Melisandre.


    Shooting around like a jet Melisandre was constantly in an ebb and flow of attacking and defending. All while setting up for a decisive blow.


    She had created numerous smaller magic phenomenon around her during the battle and now they had added up into one major attack.


    Fireflies.''


    Suddenly thousands of tiny mes began flying around the area at high speeds and irregr patterns.


    Each one of these little mes did not pack much punch, but against a massive opponent like the empress dryad, they were practically impossible to block or evade.


    At the same time water that had been shaped in the form of small lizard began crawling up the giant ck root that was connecting Hollis to the ground and would explode periodically into sharp des of water.


    Hollis could do nothing about Melisandre''s nimble assault that took fully advantage of her opponent''s bulk.


    "Enough!"


    Screaming out loud the empress dryad had reached the limit of her anger and exploded in a giant burst of light all around her.


    This powerful attack quickly disappeared all of the little attacks Melisandre had been using and forced her to create some distance to avoid begin caught up in the st.


    When it receded, the mountain they had been fighting on no longer had its upper two thirds and had been shavedpletely t.


    ''Oh, she is trying to be sneaky.''


    After the light was gone Hollis''rge form was nowhere to be seen, and Melisandre surmised that she had hidden herself underground.


    It was a pretty obvious strategy to avoid her attack, and she had wondered how long it would take her enemy to try it.


    ''Looks like she is attacking again.''


    Coming up from the ground thick trees began spouting with their branches snaking out in sharp points and heading straight for Melisandre.


    Under this assault, she took evasive action, and when unable to dodge would use a highlypressed me shield to incinerate any branches that got near her.


    But as she was moving around while nning her next move, Hollis''rge form suddenly shot out of the ground, and she grabbed ahold of Melisandre with both of her hands.


    "Ha, you got sloppy. Did you think I would not attack you personally? Your magic skills may be great, but I can tell your physical prowess is well below mine.


    The empress dryad then smirked as she began squeezing. nning to crush Melisandre before she could retaliate.


    However, the supposedly caught owl just smiled.


    "You really are just a brute. Anyone with half a mind could have seen through your n. You never should have touched me."


    The instance after Melisandre said this, her wings burst into ck mes which cut through Hollis'' hands.


    Then with the p of her wings the ck inferno shooting out of her in the form of two des sliced right through the body of the empress dryad.


    Feeling her body being cut into four sections, Hollis could only stare out in shock at what had just happened.


    "It was a big mistake for you to assume I did not have a power that could easily break through your defenses at close range. This technique may be hard to use, but so long as I am in physical contact it is my strongest weapon."


    With another p of her wings, she sliced the head off the tyrannical being that had nearly killed her disciple.


    "How could this happen? I, a being that has lived for millennium is to die on such a pitiful continent, in this state. If only you and silver dragon had never appeared. I could have been the ruler of this world and ascend beyond it." Hollis said as her head burst into ck mes.


    The remains of herrge form then crashed into the ground with a resounding thud that shook the earth.


    ''I should put it out before it all burns up. It is not often I can get such high-quality material.'' Melisandre thought as she diminished the mes eating way at Hollis'' body.


    Once that was done, she ced the entire body into her storage cuff which had a far greater capacity than any Evelyn had even heard about.


    Melisandre then turned towards where she had left her disciple, and Bylur who had saved her life.


    ''Good, they are still fine. For a moment I was afraid that the empress dryad might decide to go after them. But she really was a straightforward and simple creature.''


    Touching down on the ground, Melisandre could see that the two potions she had handed over had been taken, and that both Bylur and Evelyn had all of their injuries healed.


    "Melisandre, that was amazing. What were those ck mes?" Evelyn said, the astonishment clear on her face.


    Now that her injures had recovered, she was able tomunicate without taking long pauses in between each word.


    "Ah, I guess I have not shown you that yet. I also have an affinity for darkness magic as well, and Ibined it with my mes for my strongest power. Though it is difficult to control so I can only use it as an extension of my body. But enough about that. We need to move to collect the rest of your squad. Some of the others might still be alive."

 Chapter 160 160 Broken

    ?''What is happening here?''


    Watching in astonishment Evelyn could not believe the battle she was witnessing.


    After drinking the golden potion that Melisandre had given her, all of her wounds that were incredibly grave began to mend themselves and she no longer felt on the edge of death.


    Of course, she was still terribly exhausted, but the sight before her had been enough to make her forget about her fatigue.


    She had known that Melisandre was strong, but what she was witnessing was beyond anything she had ever expected to see.


    It even made the output of her power under the unleashed potential look cute byparison.


    And on the other side it was clear that the empress dryad had never taken dealing with Evelyn or any of the other owls with any amount of seriousness.


    The attacks she had been using on Melisandre were wholly on another level, and it was clear that now that she was not maintaining a massive barrier that she could use her true power.


    ''So, this is what the peak of the sovereign rank looks like. But if Melisandre is already this strong, what kind of power do those beasts that reach the cmity rank possess?'' Evelyn thought as she was continual astounded by the fight she was witnessing.


    Eventually the battle becamepletely obscured when Hollis erupted in a bright light, and for a moment Evelyn thought that where she and Bylur was going to be swallowed.


    Luckily the attack did not reach where they were, near the base of the mountain. But the aftermath of the attack left Evelyn stunned.


    Around the top two-thirds of the mountain had beenpletely vaporized, leaving and open area where once a massive peak had been.


    This was a power Evelyn could hardlyprehend, and truly made her realize how crazy this world was.


    ''Did she blow herself up?''


    Seeing that Melisandre was the only one in the air, Evelyn wondered if the empress dryad had gotten so frustrated she used a suicide attack.


    However, this notion did notst long when she saw a forest of massive trees begin sprouting up out of the ground and proliferating to attack Melisandre.


    Theirrge branches went at her like seeking spears, but Evelyn''s master was not going to be done in by that and expertly dodged and blocked everythinging her way.


    And just as Evelyn was beginning to feel extreme pride for Melisandre''s abilities, the worst happened.


    Hollis'' main body erupted from the ground and caught ahold of her.


    Watching his happen, Evelyn started to panic and a fear she had not felt for a long time gripped her.


    She was all too familiar with the loss of those she cared about and watching Melisandre getting crushed made her realize that in her heart she already thought of this mentor who had picked her up like family.


    ''No, not again!'' Evelyn thought as tears started flowing down her face.


    Yet by some miracle the bloody pulp she had expecting Melisandre to be turned into by the empress dryad''s immense strength never came to be.


    Her master''s wings erupted in a pitch-ck me and carved right through her enemy like butter, and immediately relief came to Evelyn.


    ''She won! She really beat that monster!''


    Evelyn could almost not believe how spectacr the ending of the fight was, and all of the worry she had been feeling practically evaporated all at once.


    Then after a few minutes Melisandre returned.


    When she did Evelyn asked her about the ck mes she had used to finish the fight and found out that Melisandre was not only proficient with water and fire, but also darkness.


    "But enough about that. We need to move to collect the rest of your squad. Some of the others might still be alive."


    After Melisandre said this Evelyn snapped back up and remembered that there were three members of her squad that also escaped the initial assault of the empress dryad.


    It was still possible that some or all of them were alive even after the devastating battle that had just urred.


    They had simply been blown away by the sheer force of their enemy but never actively attacked, so their chances of survival were not zero.


    "You are right let us get going." Evelyn said, ecstatic that Melisandre had won and that she had survived.


    She knew just how close she was to death''s door for the second time, and after all the progress and connections she had made in this world she had no desire to die.


    However, when she tried to fly, she suddenly felt a wave of pain and fatigue throughout her body.


    ''What the hell is this?!'' Evelyn thought as the pain assaulted her.


    It was focused in two areas. One in her chest and the other in her lower left side.


    Except at first, she could not understand where the pain wasing from since all of her wounds had been heled by the miraculous potion Melisandre had given her.


    Still, it only took her a few moments to realize what was in each of these locations and why they were in such pain.


    Close to her chest was where her beast core was located, and on her lower left side where the magic core she had miraculous form was.


    Each of these were power centers where she stored her magical energy, and her affinities were located.


    Unfortunately, she did not have long to think about what was going on before she passed out. The world going ck around her.


    ''Where am I?'' Evelyn thought when she seemed toe to consciousness.


    Yet she quickly concluded there was no way she was really awake.


    All around her was a distorted shimmering blue pace that seemed to go on forever.


    And another thing that led her to know this was not reality was the form she had. She was back to looking like she had before dying. Back to being a human girl.


    ''Wow this is weird. I had nearly forgotten what it was like to have hand.'' Evelyn thought as she moved her arms in front of her.


    But as she looked at them, she froze and stared in disbelief. All up and down her arms, up to her shoulder, all over her torso, and down to her legs were cracks. Like a porcin doll that had been dropped and nearly shattered.

 Chapter 161 161 The Price For Power Beyond One’s Limit

    ?Seeing her body with cracks running all over it, Evelyn let out a panicked scream.


    But no noise seemed toe out of her mouth, and when she realized that while she looked broken, it was not like she was feeling any pain.


    ''This is just a dream.'' Evelyn eventually told herself to calm down.


    However, a creeping feeling that this was much more than that.


    She then remembered another dream she had recently where there were numerous mechanisms that she needed to fix, and afterwards the Aethersphere had unlocked a new power.


    ''This ce is different and for some reason I am in my human form, but it feels simr to the previous time.''


    Looking around Evelyn tried to make sense of what was going on, to see if this dream truly did have any meaning. But all around her was just empty space and dark blue swirling energy.


    ''Perhaps I am meant to do something with it?''


    Reaching her hand out ever so slowly as she was afraid she would break apart, Evelyn touched the nearest mass of this energy.


    As she did, she felt it start to wrap around her form and she recoiled away.


    She had not expected whatever it was to try and attach itself to her and it did not feel like it was supposed to be here.


    But while it felt foreign, Evelyn also noticed something when she examined the hand that had just touched it.


    While it was only slight, on her left hand some of the cracks on the tips of her fingers had begun to seal.


    It was not much but it was defiantly there, and Evelyn eyed the dark blue substance with curiosity.


    Her instincts were telling her that it did not belong here, but even when she touched it, she did not feel and danger or aversion. Just that it was not meant to be here.


    ''Is this what I am supposed to do? Can I use this stuff to fix myself?''


    Tentatively Evelyn held her hand out and allowed the swirling blue mass to begin coiling around her.


    As it did so she watched in awe as it began to seep into her and the cracks all over her from slowly began to seal up.


    Unfortunately, this one swirling mass of dark blue energy was not enough to fix herpletely, but there were plenty of others that she somehow willed herself towards.


    After the tenth one she could tell that every crack had been mended, and while she had not noticed it before, it was like a mountain had been lifted off of her shoulders.


    ''So, did I do it? Did I aplish the goal of this dream or whatever it is?''


    Evelyn having repaired her form in this dreamscape looked around waiting to see if she would wake up.


    Except, even when she waited for what felt like hours nothing happened.


    She was still stuck in this mostly empty ce only surrounded by dark blue energy that had fixed her.


    ''Great, did I actually die, and this is limbo or something. I remember feeling a sharp pain throughout my body and passing out, but since I no longer seem to be an owl maybe I really did die, and this is where I will be stuck for eternity.''


    Seeing that was nothing was happening, and no amount of spection was going to get her anywhere, Evelyn decided to simply pick a direction and start floating.


    Maybe eventually she would find something, or simply wake up.


    ''Oh, another pile of nothing. This ce keeps getting better and better.'' Evelyn thought as she flew along.


    Everything around her looked exactly the same, and she had no measure of progress other than the blue energy around her.


    An eternity seemed to go on for Evelyn as she continued. Until finally something new came into view.


    What looked like arge purple moon rotating around a massive light blue, that had dozens of broken shards around it.


    Though as soon as sheid eyes on this, Evelyn suddenly gripped her chest and felt a searing pain inside her for some reason.


    ''Why? Why am I feeling pain all of a sudden?!''


    Gritting her teeth, she forced her way through the agony that had begun assaulting her and headed towards the purple moon and blue.


    When she made it there the pian had only increased, but it was not something she could not handle.


    ''I see it is broken just like I was. Then perhaps?''


    Getting and idea Evelyn tried going over to the nearest patch of the swirling dark blue energy and brought it over to the blue.


    When she touched it against the surface it started to be absorbed, and she watched as the fractures began to seal themselves just as her form had.


    Still, it seemed that she would need a lot more to fix this than what she needed to heal herself.


    ''If only there were some way I could just get that dark blue energy toe straight towards me?'' Evelyn thought as she calcted how long it would take to gather enough.


    Yet it seemed that her will was able to take shape here, as the nearest mass of this ever-present blue energy did start to inch closer toward her.


    Seeing this happen, Evelyn was bbergasted as this stuff had seemed to just be free floating in this strange and broken world.


    With her hopes up. she closed her eyes pushed the pain out of her mind and focused on bringing the dark blue energy towards her.


    This seemed to work as the harder she willed it the more gathered around her and as a torrent of it came flooding in, she directed it towards the broken.


    Slowly the fractures in it and the shards that had broken off began to fix itsel, and the pain in her chest began to wane.


    With more and more willpower she forced that which was broken to be fixed, and when all of the shards had reconnected themselves the thing lit up brightly.


    A white light then shot off of it into the distance.


    Following it she found that there was another mass off in the distance that was also broken, and she seemed to almost warp there when she thought about going to it.


    Looking over she found that this one was different.


    It was perfectly smooth unlike the first one''s rough exterior, and instead of a purple moon it had a crimson inferno all around it.


    ''I see, so these really are- oh whatever. If this is the imagine my mind needed to conjurer up, then whatever. Hopefully this gets it done.''


    Focusing once again Evelyn brought in the dark blue energy that had at one time flooded the ce and began sending it towards the broken.


    Time began to slip for her as she focused on nothing but repairing what was in front of her, until she realized the blue energy she was using was all gone.


    Seeing this, she frowned as the she had visited first and this one had not been fully mended.


    Both still had cracks in them, but she had nothing left to fix them with.


    And before she could think of anything else to do, she watched as the world around her seemed to copse and her consciousness faded.

 Chapter 162 162 The Truth

    ?"Eugh! Gahh!"


    Suddenly feeling herself being pulled out of some sort of liquid Evelyn began coughing and wheezing for air.


    She felt like all of the oxygen in her body was stale and she needed something fresh immediately.


    "Take it slowly Evelyn. Slow, deep breaths."


    Hearing this soothing and familiar voice Evelyn managed to calm down a bit.


    Within around three minutes she finally had enough wherewithal to look towards who had been speaking to her.


    Standing right next to her was the familiar form of Melisandre and right behind her Anneli and Katrina.


    ''So, I am alive. I really thought I might have died there.'' Evelyn thought as tears streamed down her face.


    As much as she had been through already, the fear of death still hit hard for her. Especially now that she had made connections she wished to live for.


    "Come on, there is no need to start balling. You are going to be able to live. Now we need to get you washed off or this stuff is going to start to solidify." Melisandre said with a tranquil tone.


    Wondering what she was talking about, Evelyn looked down and found that she was sitting up in some sort of capsule that was filled with a dark blue liquid.


    It was thicker than water, a bit like a gel. Though a very thin one.


    Seeing it triggered Evelyn''s memory, and she could only think of the dark blue energy she had seen within her dream that she used to fix herself.


    "Thank you, Melisandre." Evelyn said now that she realized what had happened.


    "Don''t thank me yet. This is not over, and we have a lot to discuss. But before any of that get cleaned up, and then I will fill you in on what happened after you fell unconscious."


    Nodding her head Evelyn did as she was told and tried to get up.


    However, she immediately slipped back over as her body would not do as shemanded it.


    Her muscles felt weaker than they had been before, and her body would not move properly.


    Thankfully Katrina and Anneli helped her up and brought her to the nearest washroom where they began hosing her off.


    "I am d to see that both of you have recovered. You were in pretty rough shape when Ist saw you." Evelyn said while begin cleaned.


    Anneli and Katrina though looked at her with conflicted expressions, and Katrina said, "You should really not worry about us. Our wounds are fine. What happened to you was far worse."


    "Yeah, but do not let it get you down. At the very least Melisandre will make sure you have afortable life." Anneli added.


    But as she said this Katrina snapped at her and told her to be quiet.


    ''What are they getting on about?'' Evelyn thought feeling a sense of foreboding.


    Unfortunately, any inquiry she put towards Anneli, or Katrina was redirected, and they simply told her to wait for Melisandre to exin.


    When she was cleaned off, she was brough to a familiar room where Melisandre had once asked her about her past.


    "Thank you both for helping Evelyn out. I will take it from here."


    Anneli and Katrina, while bowing their heads left the room that was filled with a solemn atmosphere.


    ''Something bad must have really happened to me. I have never seen Melisandre with such a strained expression.''


    A few minutes went by inplete silence as Melisandre toiled with where to begin.


    "Evelyn, I know what I am about to say will not be easy to ept, but you have been asleep for five months."


    ''Asleep for five months. What does she mean?'' Evelyn thought with a confused expression inly visible on her face.


    It just seemed to far fetched to be real. The longest she had ever slept was for was just a few days when she pushed her body to go from the mid-tier of the fiend beast rank to the high tier in one go.


    "Melisandre stop messing around. I could not have just slept for five months, right? That seems impossible. It is not like I had a horrible head injury."


    "I know that it might be hard to believe, but the damage you took was far greater than I could have anticipated. Truly it is a miracle you are alive now. I honestly did not expect you to recover."


    Seeing the despondent expression on Melisandre''s face and the truth in her eyes, Evelyn could no longer hang onto denial.


    "So, I really was asleep for five months. Please give it to me straight, what happened to me?" Evelyn said resolutely.


    Sighing, Melisandre returned her gaze, and said, "I am not exactly sure what did it, but your soul and beast core were damaged quite badly. Honestly it should have killed you, but you managed to live thanks to having more than one core and an especially tough soul. A human soul."


    After Melisandre said this Evelyn began to panic.


    It was clear that while doing all she could to save her, Melisandre had discovered a number of Evelyn''s greatest secrets.


    Numerous questions began rushing through Evelyn''s head, as she wondered how much Melisandre really knew.


    In the end however, she realized it did not matter. With all that her master had done for her, she decided she had the right to know the entire truth.


    "I see that you found something out about me during your treatment. If you would exin everything that happened to me after I fell unconscious, I will tell you all of the secrets pertaining to myself I have kept hidden or answered with vague questions."


    Surprise on her face, Melisandre did not expected Evelyn to so readily agree to give up her secrets when she had kept them so closely guarded before.


    "You do not need to do that Evelyn. I may have been probing you a bit there, but I still n to honor my word. I will never harm you and won''t push you to answer anything about yourself. I want you to truly trust me before you divulge such information."


    However, in response Evelyn just shook her head.


    "No, I have already decided to trust you Melisandre. You have saved me more times than I can count. I think that it is time that I learn to trust a little. Even if it is only you."


    Looking incredibly happy Melisandre was beyond ecstatic to hear this from Evelyn, the embodiment of distrustfulness.


    She had always kept everything close to herself and only told as much as necessary in any given situation.


    Except this only made what Melisandre had to say that much harder.


    "Thank you for that Evelyn. Now I will tell you what happened after you fell unconscious."


    To start Melisandre told her about how frantic both she and the owl named Bylur were to see her suddenly pass out.


    The potion that Melisandre had given both of them was called drops of life and was able to restore any physical damaged so long as the one it was applied to was not already dead.


    "That was when I knew that something must have been terribly wrong. And when I checked in on your soul, I saw that it was only being held together by the thinnest of threads."

 Chapter 163 163 The Truth (2)

    ?Listening to Melisandre tell her how bad her soul had been damaged Evelyn grimaced.


    She had seen the damage in her dream, and it was clear she had been one step away from breaking past the point of no return.


    However, there was something else that was even more pressing to Evelyn, and that was the fact that Melisandre had been able to tell that her soul did not fit with her body and took the form of a human girl.


    "I do not know how this is possible, as you are clearly and owl. But I assume that if you know this, it is part of the truth about yourself that you n on telling me?" Melisandre said.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn confirmed this to be the case, and Melisandre continued telling Evelyn about what had happened after she fell unconscious.


    "As soon as I realized how bad the damage to you was, I flew back to the emergency warp gate that had been setup by the higher-ranking expedition unit. I felt a bit bad leaving that member of your squad, I believe Bylur was his name, alone. But you took precedence. To repair the damage you had taken, I needed a specialized facility and a potion that one needs to submerge themselves in. Which is what you found yourself waking up in."


    Listening carefully Evelyn took in everything that Melisandre had to say, and things became a bit more clear to her.


    "So, you out me into that capsule with this potion and it began repairing my broken soul and cores. Is there anything else or did I just sleep for the next five months?"


    "Yes, there are some other things that I need to tell you about. The first is that three other members of your squad managed to survive. Unfortunately, you squad leader was not found. I assume that she was consumed by the empress dryad''s light attack. Though it could have been any number of things that ultimately did her in." Melisandre said with a sorrowful look.


    For Evelyn this was a bit hard to hear. Certainly, she had butted heads with Adolophine a number of times, but they had still spent months together and she had helped Evelyn out a few times with her alchemy.


    Still, she put this aside for now and waited for Melisandre to continue.


    "Thisst part is a bit difficult to tell you, and things might change depending on what it is you have to say. If you still wish to tell me about yourself, now is the time?" Melisandre said with a look anticipation.


    She had wondered for a long-time what Evelyn''s secrets were, and finally she was going to learn them. Albeit not in the situation she had been hoping for.


    "To start how much do you already know. You said I have a human soul, but what else did you learn about me in these five months I have been unconscious?" Evelyn asked


    "Along with that fact that you have a human soul I also found that you have a magic core within you which should be impossible, and that you have melded with a heavenly me. I had thought that might be a possibility for your unusually powerful fire magic, however, it seemed so farfetched that I did not really consider it. That is until the empress dryad confirmed it. Except that was still not the most puzzling thing about you. That item, the one you said the humans imnted into you, I could not get a read on it no matter what I tried. I all I found was that it was tied not only to you body, but your soul and beast core as well. Now I have been wondering this Evelyn, but these researchers you told me about. Did they imnt your soul into the body of an owl and you used to be human?"


    Asking this question Melisandre wanted to know if what she believed happened was the cause of Evelyn''s mismatched soul and body.


    Truly she could not think of any way to actually sessfully transfer a soul to another body, especially one that was wholly different than original. But Evelyn was already so full of mysteries that she thought this could be possible and was the most likely option.


    Of course, it was actually way off the mark, and even as farfetched as the hypothesis Melisandre hade up with was, it was far more believable than the truth.


    "No, that is not quite right. Those researchers did not imnt my soul into this body. I was born anew this way."


    Evelyn then began exining that she was originally human, but that she came from a world far different from the one she was currently on. One that did not have magic and where the only intelligent species was humans.


    "Not to go into details, I ended up being killed on my old world and when I next gained consciousness, I was an owl. I have no clue how or why this happened, only that it did." Evelyn said, exining what little she knew about how she became an owl.


    Melisandre after hearing this just stared at Evelyn with a stupefied expression for nearly two minutes.


    Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to learn that Evelyn was not only originally human, but that she hade from apletely different world.


    "This is certainly more impossible than I ever thought. But you at least believe you are telling the truth. I can see that. Please continue, I think I have cleared my head enough now."


    Going on, Evelyn told Melisandre in more detail about her life after being reincarnated as an owl. How she had lost her new family to the human researchers, and that they had imnted the Aethersphere inside of her.


    "I knew it must have been something beyond me, but you really have a divine item embedded in you. One that not only makes you stronger but gave you a power called gravity magic."


    Once she had collected her thoughts again, Melisandre asked Evelyn some more questions about the Aethersphere. Though she did not really know all that much about it.


    "Now I believe we should leave that where it is for now. It is time I tell you how I got this heavenly me." Evelyn said with a calm expression on her face.


    She then took a few deep breaths and told Melisandre about her brother who had died just a few minutes before her on earth but ended up here centuries ahead of her.


    "He found that my fate would only end in death if he did not intervene and found that stealing his family''s heavenly me would give me a shot at a better fate. That is how I came to possess it." Evelyn exined.


    After that she told Melisandre about how she used the materials Mason had left behind to learn more about this world and somehow created a magic core for herself in her haste to practice magic.


    "At the time, and up until today I could not be certain why I was able to do this, but I now realize it must be because my soul is still originally that of a human. And that is the entire truth about myself and all that I currently know about how I came to live this second life as an owl."

 Chapter 164 164 To Live Or Risk It All

    ?Once Melisandre had heard the entirety of Evelyn''s truth, she was left there contemting what to do.


    She had honestly never imagined that the disciple she picked up for her exceptionally powerful fire magic would hold so many secrets. Some of which seemed utterly impossible.


    Still, she was certain that she had enough experience under her centuries of life to know when someone so much younger, and far less crafty was lying. And she was absolutely sure that Evelyn had only been speaking the truth.


    "Thank you for telling me all of that Evelyn. Now I have a question for you. Do you wish you had been reborn a human, or that you could be one again?"


    Taken aback, Evelyn had not expected this out of nowhere. But the answer was obvious.


    "No! I hate humans. They have taken everything from me many times over. I know they are not all evil, but I have met more of them that are vile than good. They enjoy watching others suffer. Beast may kill each other, but they never do it as cruelly or derive so much pleasure from it as humans do. I have seen what atrocities they are willing tomit just for their own enjoyment."


    As she said this Evelyn began to shudder, and her breathing started to get ragged as she thought about the awful things humans had done to her in both her lives.


    Eventually she did manage to get her emotions under control and continued to answer Melisandre''s question.


    "I like being an owl so much more. Certainly, some things are harder now, but I have enjoyed being an owl more than a human. At least now I can fly where I want, and even though the Roost bears some semnce to a human society, there are plenty of differences as well. So, no I do not want to be human again."


    After Evelyn gave her answer resolutely, Melisandre sighed, before a slight smile crept onto her face.


    "That is good. If you still wished to be human, then at some point it is possible you might have betrayed the Roost. But I can tell that your hate for them burns deeply, even more so than most beasts. Therefore, I have decided to ignore that you were once human and continue treating you as an owl. Since that is what you wish to be."


    However, Melisandre''s smile quickly faded and she gripped her fist tightly.


    "Evelyn I am really d that you told me everything about yourself, but that only makes what I have to say next that much harder. I am sure you are aware that your cores are still damaged. Your soul and a great deal of the damage was recovered by the miracle bath, which is the name of the potion I had you submerged in. However, there is still lingering damage to both your beast core and magic core. This will make your magic much weaker, and it will be nearly impossible for you to advance any further with you power centers are crippled. And I do not have the materials necessary to try and repair them any further. It took me decades to gather what I needed to already fix what damage I have. Nevertheless, I will look after you. After all you have been through, I think it would be best if you simply lived out your life infort and without any more strife."


    Melisandre tried to give Evelyn a reassuring smile, but for her this news was devastating.


    "Melisandre, you said nearly impossible. There is a way for me to continue getting stronger, right?" Evelyn asked, desperation leaking out into her tone.


    It was taking all she had to keep it together now that she had found out that her journey might havee to an abrupt end.


    For her part, Melisandre looked highly conflicted about telling Evelyn anything more.


    Truthfully, she just wanted her disciple to live an easy life at this point and not worry about going any higher into the ranks of beasts.


    Hearing about all she had already been through, and that she died a violent death in her first life, Melisandre simply wanted her to avoid continuing to fight to grow stronger.


    The road to power was always filled with endless battles no matter how high one went, and Melisandre knew that fact very well.


    Most would either have their bodies or hearts broken along the way, and ultimately have to bow out while only a few continued.


    Yet as much as she wanted to prevent Evelyn from going on after all this, she could see the determination in her eyes.


    "Yes, there are two ways that you might be able to recovery. The first is if I can get ahold of the supplies I need to make another miracle bath, or possible obtain some other item that would repair the damage. Unfortunately, it could take me longer than your current lifespan to aplish either of these things. The second way is quicker, but far more dangerous and will likely kill you. I would not rmend you attempt it." Melisandre said with a grave expression.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn stayed resolute.


    "Please tell me the second method. I do not want to waste my time waiting for something that may nevere. I have already decided to stake my life on gaining the power I need to aplish my goals. If I die in the process, then I will at least know I did all I could."


    Gritting her teeth, it was clear that Melisandre did not want Evelyn to give up her life. If she told her the second method to fix her damaged cores, there was a great chance that Evelyn would perish in the process.


    It was clear though that Evelyn nned to continue doing whatever it took even without Melisandre, and she would rather help her out then let her do something reckless without her knowledge.


    "Very well, I will tell you." Melisandre said with a resigned sigh. "The second method can only be aplished because you are already at the peak of your rank. This is because you are ready to evolve up to an awakened beast. Even with your damaged cores you can still initiated the evolution should you have the correct catalysts. However, doing so in your current state will likely kill you. There are a number of recorded cases of those with simrly damaged cores attempting this, and from what I have heard maybe one in forty survive, and the evolution process fixes the damage."


    "I see, thank you for telling me that. I will attempt the second method. One in forty odds is better than living my life out until I slowly wither away without any chance to aplish my goals." Evelyn said with a determined smile.


    This was not what Melisandre wanted to hear, but what she did expect.


    "If that is your decision, I do not believe I can really stop you without chaining you up and making myself no worse than those humans you despise so much and breaking my own word. I will submit a request with the mission hall for a hell fire flower. All you need do is supply the credits to pay for the request."

 Chapter 165 165 Preparations To Evolve

    ?Evelyn hearing from Melisandre that she would need to provide credits to pay for a request frowned.


    She had used up pretty much all she had in preparation for the expedition and was only sitting on a few thousand.


    And with her magic core and beast core in such sorry states she doubted she be able to do much alchemy to earn what she would need to pay for a request that involved going to a ce as dangerous as the inferno field.


    ''I suppose I will just need to sell the gear I bought and whatever else I have left on me. I will end up with way less, but I suppose that is another price I will have to pay. I can always start over if I survive the evolution.''


    Being despondent over having to give up the items she had worked hard for Evelyn let out a deep sigh.


    Naturally this did not escape Melisandre''s notice.


    "Evelyn, what is the matter. If you are having second thoughts, you are free to take all the time you want. I understand that this is not easy to go through with, and I would honestly be happy if you did not." Melisandre said with a kind expression.


    She was really hoping that the weight of Evelyn risking her life had caught up with her and she was reconsidering it.


    "No, that is not the problem. I was just thinking about the credits I would need. I do not have very many, so I will probably need to sell off a good number of my valuable items." Evelyn said as she looked down at her storage cuff with sad eyes.


    Melisandre now understanding what was going on frowned. Knowing that Evelyn had not changed her mind at all.


    "Evelyn did you forget that you are owed a sizeable sum for your participation in the expedition. I heard that you made a quite a few discoveries as well for an added bonus. I am sure once you have received yourpensation you will have all you need to pay for the mission to obtain a hellfire rose. Though it will likely cost you quite a bit, it should not be out of the realm of possibilities."


    After receiving Melisandre''s words of encouragement Evelyn perked up, as she remembered that she would receive pay for her time on the expedition


    For the majority of the trip she had been far more focused on her goal of obtaining a float stone that she practically forgot that she was also earning credits.


    "Okay that makes sense. Thank you for reminding me of that Melisandre. I suppose that is what I will do tomorrow."


    With their talk now over Melisandre allow Evelyn to go back to her room and get some rest. While she made her own preparations.


    ''If she is going to go through with this, I need to make sure that she has the best possible chance.'' Melisandre thought as she resolutely flew off to meet with a certain owl.


    Upon theing of the next day Evelyn made her way to the mission hall and was able to get the credits she as owed for participating in the expedition.


    Luckily, she was not penalized for being whisked away before it truly ended, and in the five months it had been while she was asleep most everyone had returned, and warp points were now being established over the continent where valuable resources were known to be found.


    Then once she had gotten a status update on the expedition the receptionist for the hall that was helping her transferred over the credits she was owed.


    However, there was something that happened that Evelyn had not been expecting.


    The members of her squad that were deceased had their own shares split up between the surviving members.


    ''Even in death they are helping me onest time huh. Maybe while I am searching for my brother''s soul, I will look for them as well.'' Evelyn thought as she remembered the owls she had traveled with for thest few months.


    Certainty they had known each other for that long, but they had fought life and death battles together. And while she had not really been looking out for them. They had died and allowed her to live, so she felt she owed them at least a bit of gratitude.


    Now that she had gotten a bit more information and picked up the credits she was owed, Evelyn asked to ce a request with the mission hall.


    "Are you sure that you would like to set the reward as one point two million credits. This is definitely a difficult mission, but the reward is still quite high just to collect one item." The receptionist said, worried about Evelyn spending too much.


    Evelyn though just nodded her head and said this is what she wanted to do.


    Since she had gotten more credits than she anticipated she would rather pay for the best and fastest service she could.


    If she offered a greater reward than normal, it was certain that only the strongest awakened ranked owls would take the job for the sizable number of credits.


    ''Melisandre said that I would probably need to make the request at least eight hundred thousand, which is about what I would have gotten if not for getting the share from the others. I figure if I increase the amount by bit, it will be much more appealing and bepleted quicker. I would rather either get over my weakness or die and move on as soon as possible.''


    With Evelyn''s insistence the receptionist took her request and told her that it would be posted after being processed. Which would take a couple of days at most.


    "Here the credits to pay for the request." Evelyn said as she transferred over the majority of the credits she had just received.


    Now she was sitting at only a bit more than two hundred fifty thousand.


    ''All I have to do is wait. Once that hellfire rose is in my possession, I can move forward.'' Evelyn thought as she left the mission hall.


    As she did, she wondered if maybe she should get in contact with Bylur, Rehni, and Braulia and tell her that she had awoken.


    However, she decided against this. There was a good chance that she would die when attempting to evolve and forcefully fix the damage to her cores.


    She figured if she lived, she would try and contact them. Especially Bylur, the snowy owl.


    He had really stuck his neck out for her and without him she was certain that would have been the end.


    ''Without him struggling for that minute after I was hit with the bacsh from the Aethersphere the empress dryad would have gotten me. I at least owe him enough not to give him the cold shoulder anymore.''


    With thatst thought of her fellow squad members Evelyn returned to Melisandre''s estate and waited for her request to be aplished.


    Many weeks went by as she lived a fairly monotonous life.


    During this time she had pretty much nothing to do for the first time. So, she simply read what she could to upy her idle moments with. Learning more about the world around her.


    Then it finally happened. She received a notification that her request had beenpleted and that the hellfire rose was waiting for her to collect it at the mission hall.

 Chapter 166 166 Ready For The Next Step

    ?Receiving the message that the hellfire rose she had been waiting on had finally been acquired Evelyn flew out of her room in a hurry.


    She was feeling a create sense of tion now that she would finally be able to progress again.


    Thest few weeks had been spent doing practically nothing but lounging about, and while she had enjoyed the break at first, restlessness had soon overtaken her.


    Her drive to push froward that she had already ingrained into herself was always in the back of her mind and she felt on edge being unable to do anything.


    ''But now I can finally fix that. Melisandre told me there was a good chance I would die, but I just have to keep going on with the hope I will make it through this.''


    Soon enough Evelyn made it to the mission hall where the hellfire rose was waiting for her.


    ''Wow it is beautiful.'' Evelyn thought when she saw it.


    It was currently being held in a clear crystal container that was keeping the flower from degrading.


    A top the rose where its petals should have been, instead were dark red mes that flickered around.


    Its thick green stem was covered in yellow thorns that were clearly extremely hot as they were glowing with a faint light. Like a piece of metal that had juste out of a furnace.


    Along with these characteristics the hellfire rose was also farrger than any type of flower Evelyn had seen in her previous life.


    It stood a whole fifteen feet tall and the flower atop it was several feet wide.


    ''I am not getting the same feeling I got from the float stone or the wind pearl since it is incased in crystal, but it certainly has the appearance of a rare material.''


    Satisfied with the hellfire rose that had been presented to her Evelyn stored it along with the case into her storage cuff and finished the record detailing the request''spletion.


    Then once she had left the mission hall, she booked it back to Melisandre''s estate at full speed with a great sense of anticipation.


    ''I finally have everything I need to evolve. Certainly, it may be the end of me due to my damaged cores, but I at least can try.''


    When she arrived, Melisandre was already waiting for her at the front entrance. Having received a message earlier from Evelyn.


    "Can I see the wind pearl, float stone, and hellfire rose. I want to confirm their quality before we attempt this. From the deeper studies I have delved into regarding your current condition, the better the catalysts used apparently the greater chance of sess."


    Evelyn nodded her head and did as Melisandre requested. Pulling out the three items that she would be using.


    She still had the wind pearl that had originally triggered the Aethersphere giving her all manner of knowledge on simrly ranked items and the other two she would need. Along with that the piece of float stone she would be using had been picked out for quite sometime now. And finally, there was the hellfire rose that she had just obtained.


    Melisandre painstakingly examined all of them and checked for any sort of damages or impurities.


    "Well, the wind pearl and hellfire rose are pretty good. Though not the absolute best I have ever seen, they should be good enough quality. The float stone however, I believe is exceptional. I have not seen very much of it even in my time, but I have done some extra reading up on it and believe this is quite high quality."


    With Melisandre''s approval of the items Evelyn ced them back into her storage cuff and began to follow her master.


    Apparently, she had set up a special ce for Evelyn to evolve that would help her chances.


    ''Last time when I went from a wild beast to a fiend beast I simply sat in a nest. I wonder what Melisandre has prepared?'' Evelyn thought while flying.


    Soon enough they reached their destination which Evelyn recognized.


    It was the training room where she had practiced how to use magic and fight.


    Except there was now something entirely different sitting in the middle of the room.


    ''An advancement chamber?''


    Seeing the familiar magical device sitting there Evelyn was a little taken aback. Wondering what it might be used for in this process.


    There was also the question of what Melisandre had prepared one in this ce when the one in either of their rooms should have sufficed.


    "This one is a bitrge if you have not noticed. Normally this would be unadvisable as it could disrupt the process and lead to a failed evolution, but I need to be there to manage your condition." Melisandre said, seeing Evelyn''s confused expression.


    She then pulled out six very small vial that each only had a single drop of liquid in them.


    Yet each one of these drops were glowing gold and were reminiscent of the potion that Melisandre had given Evelyn and Bylur to heal their wounds.


    "What are those?" Evelyn asked, unable to keep her eyes off the golden liquid.


    It was far more vibrant than even the potion that Melisandre had given her, and she could feel an incredible amount of power from them even while still sealed.


    "These are the main ingredient of the potion that I gave you before. Normally I would use one of them to create two dozen of the drops of life potion, but this time I am using them as is since their healing power is far greater undiluted. They cannot heal damage to the soul or your cores, but if during the evolution process your physical body bes damaged these will fully restore you. No doubt about it. Even if my head were cut clean off, if one of these was applied within a few seconds I would be restored." Melisandre said, telling Evelyn just how powerful these little golden drops were.


    "Melisandre are you sure? Those must be extremely valuable. Would the potion not be just as effective?" Evelyn asked in concern.


    "No, the potion does not work as well if not consumed and is not as potent in general. During this process I am doing all I can to make sure you can survive. Anyway, these were a gift, so they cost me noting. If you do survive this though, you will need to thank the leader of the Roost personally, since she provided these to me at my request."


    Gulping, Evelyn was now thinking about meeting the most powerful owl in the Roost.


    Quickly her mind began racing about what they might be like or if they were going to except her.


    "I think you would be better off worrying about surviving your evolution rather than meeting with the Roost''s leader. This is not going to be easy no matter what and being unfocused for even a second could spell the end for you." Melisandre warned with a stern tone when she saw Evelyn''s worried expression.


    Hearing this from her, Evelyn shot up straight and nodded her head.


    "Now let us begin. This could be a long and harrowing process, but at the end hopefully you wille out as an awakened beast with your cores recovered."

 Chapter 167 167 Evolution Struggles

    ?Evelyn once inside the specially prepared advancement chamber, took a deep breath and steeled herself.


    She did not want to die, but she also did not want to waste away, so this was her only real option other than hoping for a miracle.


    ''I just have to believe that if I die here, I will get to start over again just likest time. And who knows, maybe if I eat it here, I might end up wherever Mason is.'' Evelyn thought in order to give her some amount offort.


    Still after this one thought she strengthened her resolve and prepared for the evolution that would either fix or break her.


    "I have set everything up from outside. In three minutes, the chamber will be flooded with an immense amount of magical energy to help facilitate the process. If all goes well your body should use the energy to fix your damaged cores and bring you up to the awakened rank." Melisandre said as she entered and sealed the chamber.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn thanked Melisandre for all she had done and was going to do to give her the highest possible chance of sess.


    ''I guess it is time.''


    Taking out the three items she needed as catalysts for her evolution, Evelyn ced them in front of herself and prepared to absorb them.


    For the first time she removed the hellfire rose from its case and felt immediately that it was most definitely one of items she needed as a catalyst.


    With everything now set up, she and Melisandre both waited until the chamber began being flooded with magical energy.


    When the magical energy began pouring in Evelyn approached the wind pearl, float stone, and hellfire rose, and began spreading out her magic energy around them.


    It was a difficult process that created a sharp pain where her damaged cores were, but she managed to do it and the three items along with her body began glowing as they resonated.


    Slowly but surely her magical energy became intertwined with theirs and the magical properties sealed within each of these items began flowing into Evelyn.


    Within around thirty minutes all three of the items lost their lusters and became nothing more than mundane items.


    The hellfire rose had lost its ming petals and its stem was brown and shriveled up, the float stone had crashed to the ground and stopped glowing, and the wind pearl was no longer a vibrant green and had shattered like ss.


    Thispleted the first step of Evelyn''s evolution as she had now absorbed the power she needed from these three catalysts.


    ''I can feel it. I just need to let go, and the evolution will take over.''


    Evelyn feeling it was time allowed the overwhelming magical energy that she had absorbed loose. And the evolution process from a fiend beast to an awakened beast began.


    To start, all the magical energy she had been absorbing wrapped around her like a cocoon, and she began glowing brightly with light green, crimson, and purple light.


    The powerful magical energy of the three times she had absorbed began melding with her own affinities and making them stronger.


    Yet it was at this point when the first sang was hit.


    Evelyn''s damaged cores were unable to keep up with this level of power and the changes going on in her body and she began to shudder violently.


    Some of the magical energy went out of control and she felt something snap in her body, before her breathing became incrediblybored.


    It was a momentter that she realized that her ribs on her left side had broken and pierced her lung.


    Blood began flooding out of her mouth and she felt that she was moments away from sumbing to unconscious.


    That was when she saw a single drop of golden liquid hit her in the chest and she was enveloped in a new light.


    The damaged to her body was instantly recovered and the evolution process continued.


    ''Whew, I nearly met my end there. I really am going to need to find some way to thank Melisandre after this.'' Evelyn thought as she continued to guide the magical energy around.


    On two more asions her body received critical damaged as she absorbed more and more magical energy, but Melisandre''s intervention prevented her from dying.


    When she finally had fully absorbed the magical energy, she felt her body begin to shift and change, as it began the process of bing an awakened beast.


    Not only would her cores be much stronger her physical form would be drastically different.


    Unfortunately, things were not going to be so easy.


    While so far there had only been minor snags, what happened next was practically the worst-case scenario.


    Evelyn being flooded with magical energy and beginning to evolve had triggered the Aethersphere. Which had been in a dormant state since she used the unleashed potential potion to forcibly activate more of its power.


    The item had already been damaged when she originally obtained it, but her reckless action had caused it to end up in an even worse condition than when it had first melded with her, and now it wanted to repair the damage.


    All of the magical energy within Evelyn began being sucked in towards it, and her body started being crushed and broken by its overwhelming force.


    Unable to do anything about this, Evelyn began screaming out in immense pain that was on the same level as when the divine item had originally rearranged her body.


    However, this time the damaged Aethersphere was not doing anything to keep her alive and was simply trying to absorb enough magical energy to activate its auto repair function.


    Watching this happened, Melisandre began to panic.


    What should have been the most dangerous phase of the evolution process should have been over with only a few incidents, but now Evelyn, or more precisely the Aethersphere was going out of control.


    Immediately Melisandre tossed another of the golden drops at Evelyn and it began enveloping her in its light and healing her.


    Except while this did fix Evelyn, the damage to her body continued. And soon she actually started to noticeably sink in as if she was begin sucked up by a ck hole.


    In response Melisandre threw in another golden drop while pulling out dozens of red magical crystals. She noticed that Evelyn had ack of magical energy and was trying to increase the ambient amount in the chamber.


    But what happened next was outside her expectations. The magical crystals broke down on their own and were sucked towards Evelyn just as soon as they were brought out.


    It was something that should have been impossible, but the Aethersphere was bringing in all the ambient magical energy and absorbing it and had no problem breaking down magic crystals on its own.


    Melisandre quickly realized that the red crystals were far from enough even though what she had already used would have already been overkill for any other fiend beast going to the awakened rank.


    With haste she pulled out the next grade being purple crystals and watch them disappear just as fast.


    By the time she pulled out a dozen and tossed thest golden drop she had in reserve to heal Evelyn with, she knew that drastic actions were going to be necessary.


    ''The amount of magical energy she has already absorbed would be enough to kill any awakened beast, but she can still take more. I will have to bring out everything I have and hope it is enough.''


    Having no other possible recourse, Melisandre opened up her own storage cuff and took out fifty silver magical crystals along with three golden ones that were the highest possible grade.


    These were her own personal stores that she had been nning to use when she attempted to evolve to the cmity rank but decided to bet on them being enough to help Evelyn out. As she acted as a funnel draining all of the magical energy in the area.


    As soon as the immense magical energy held within these crystals started being broken down, Evelyn let out a sigh of relief.


    The force behind the Aethersphere began to wane slightly now that it was finally receiving the power that it needed to begin repairing itself.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn''s body was still under great strain, and as the evolution process began, she felt her body being drowned in magical energy while also begin broken apart and reconstructed once again by the Aethersphere.


    Her consciousness quickly began to slip, and she felt that it was only going to be a few moments until she could no longer keep ahold of herself.


    ''I did not give inst time and I will not give in this time! This is not going to kill me!''


    Internally shouting Evelyn summoned up all her will power and began channeling the magical energy that was flooding her.


    She sent what was needed to her beast core and magic core, while also making sure that the Aethersphere received the proper amount it was greedily sucking in.


    At the same time, she had to endure a pain that would have driven most mad.


    Fortunately, and unfortunately, pain was something she was well acquainted with, and even the mind shattering suffering was something she had grown somewhat used to.


    Days went by this way as she was enveloped in a cocoon of magical energy and dunging this time Evelyn needed to keep her will strong while Melisandre did what she could to manage her condition externally.


    Then after the third day she felt a shift in her chest and the Aethersphere started to calm down.


    It had finally absorbed all the magical energy that it deemed necessary to begin repairs and finished straightening Evelyn''s body.


    Her cores had also been repaired by the process and soon the glow around her body faded as the evolution finished.

 Chapter 168 168 Awakened Rank

    ?As the cocoon of Magical energy around Evelyn began to fade her new appearance became visible.


    She still looked rtively the same with the base shape of a great horned owl, but many things were now different from before.


    To start the most noticeable difference was her size.


    In contrast to most awakened beasts, she had not gottenrger as expected but instead was now back to only being around six feet tall.


    Certainly, this was not unheard of, but it was quite rare for a fiend beast to shrink when going up to bing an awakened beast.


    This could clearly be seen in examples like Anneli and Katrina who were both around twenty-feet tall at the peak of the awakened rank.


    However, before Evelyn could even get used to her new shape, a mass of energy released from her body in the form of a powerful gust of wind, a ze of fire, and an expanding force of gravity.


    This sudden st caught even Melisandre off guard, and she was momentarily blown away from her position as the advancement chamber took the brunt of the hit and exploded.


    The entire reinforced room shook under the immense pressure and cracks even began to ripple out around Evelyn.


    Eventually the power she was releasing began to settle down, and when it did, she copsed onto the ground unmoving.


    Seeing this happened Melisandre rushed over towards Evelyn and began checking on her condition.


    ''She is alive.''


    Relief washed over Melisandre as she confirmed that Evelyn was still breathing and had simply fallen unconscious.


    Naturally she had ben through a lot dunging the lengthy process of evolving and her body had been destroyed and put back together again numerous times quite violently.


    Many times she hade close to death during this process due to her damaged cores and the Aethersphere going out of control.


    ''Still, to think that she would shrink back down so much. Yet I sense that she is far stronger than before. And not just the magical energy within her, but also her body. I find it hard to believe that she is just a newly evolved awakened rank beast.'' Melisandre thought as she picked Evelyn up.


    Very gently she then flew through her estate and to Evelyn''s room. Where sheid her down on the nest sitting atop the branch that jutted out of the middle of the room.


    "Make sure you keep getting stronger and growing. I am expecting you to one day pay me back for everything I have invested into you today." Melisandre said as she brushed Evelyn''s head and looked at her warmly.


    After that she left Evelyn to rest and headed off to take care of a few things that would require her attention.


    During this time, she slept like a rock until nearly a day had gone by and she began to stir.


    However, before she fully awakened, she found herself back in a familiar ce.


    ''Here again huh. I wonder what the problem is this time.''


    Looking around, Evelyn found herself in the same open space she had when submerged in the miracle bath that had healed the damage to her soul and fixed her cores to the point where she was no longer dying from the damage they had sustained.


    ''Still look human. I guess that means that my soul really is the same as before and I am not just an owl that inherited these memories. Though that begs the question. How did my soul from another world end up in an owl?''


    Unfortunately, Evelyn did not have the answer to this question and probably never would. So, instead of contemting something she had no answers for, she tried to figure out why she was in what she had dubbed her ''inner world'' again.


    This time though she knew more about how this ce worked and that it responded to her will.


    Within an instance she appeared in front of the manifestation of her beast core and began examining it.


    Thankfully it appeared to be fully fixed and was now teeming with a far more vibrant luster than before.


    At the same time the Aethersphere which had seemed mostly inactivest time was now moving around far more animated than before. Even having one of the three rings surrounding it moving when they never had before.


    ''I guess it has managed to fix itself a bit more now. Or at least I hope this is what it means.'' Evelyn thought with a pensive expression.


    And almost as if the divine item could hear her thoughts, it directed a beam of light directly at her head and began imnting more knowledge into her.


    Except unlike every time before it did not hurt her, and the information was given to her slowly enough to not cause any distress.


    ''I see, so that is what it really is. I suspected something simr. But the most important part is definitely the new power it has given me.''


    Evelyn could not help but smile as she learned more about the divine item that had been apart of her for now most of her life as an owl.


    True, it acting up had almost killed her multiple times now. But the power it provided was still great, and hopefully from this point it would not cause any more problems so long as she did not push it again.


    ''I can unpack everything I learnedter. For now, I have one more thing to check on.''


    Focusing on her magic core, Evelyn warped over to it within her inner world and examine it as well.


    She wanted to make absolutely sure that the damage was fixed and would not be a problem in the future.


    When she arrived what met her was a bit different than she was expecting. The core that had been light blue before was nowpletely crimson, and the heavenly me that had been resting around it had now fully merged with the core.


    Inside Evelyn could also swear she saw the heavenly me taking the shape of a bird at times, but like all fires it was constantly in flux and moving around.


    ''I suppose this means that it has fully merged with my magic core. Before it was only attached, but now they are one and the same. I imagine that any attempt to remove it currently would certainly lead to my death. I need to be careful when using it around those that are extremely powerful or knowledgeable. Less I end up in a simr situation as with that empress dryad that led me to nearly dying.''


    Now that she had checked up on everything within her inner world Evelyn felt a weight fall off her shoulders and the lingering fear that something might be wrong left her.


    This acted as the trigger for her awakening, as she no longer had to worry that when she came back to conscious that something would still be wrong with her.


    When she came to, she took a deep breath and flung her eyes wide open.


    It had been several days since thest time she had been truly conscious and now her body and mind were being hit wit a bit of whish from all the changes she had undergone.

 Chapter 169 169 Full Recovery

    ?Upon waking up Evelyn took many deep breaths and calmed herself down.


    She had finally recovered from the crippling damage that had urred when she pushed well past her limits and used a power she was far from ready for.


    It had been quite the ordeal that nearly had her ending up dead multiple times, but now that it was over, she had ascended to the next step on the path to power in this world.


    ''Hm, I felt it when I first finished the evolution, but I really have gotten smaller. I am now a bit less than half the size I was when at the peak of the fiend beast rank. I think I am much closer to when I previously just evolved. Maybe my body just reset itself again and I will growrger again as I climb up the awakened rank? Or perhaps this is the size I will stay and not growrger like most owls?''


    Unsure as to what the decease in her size meant, or whether it might have had some thing to do with her damaged cores. All Evelyn could do was keep it on her mind and watch how she changed going forward.


    Evelyn now awakes and feeling more aware began stretching her new body out and getting a feel for it.


    Her drastic change in size would also mean a significant difference in how she moved.


    Her wingspan was one thing that was going to make a big difference, and she knew it would take her a bit of time to get used to being smaller again.


    ''Well, I need to go and find Anneli, Katrina, or Melisandre. I am sure they are worried about me after all that has happened.'' Evelyn thought as she prepared to leap from her nest.


    Thud!


    Yet as she did a single p of her wings sent her straight into the ceiling as she had misjudged how much power her new body could generate.


    It was safe to say that while she had lost more than half her size, she was easily more than twice as strong as before.


    ''Ow.'' Evelyn thought as she crashed into the floor after ricocheting off the ceiling.


    While letting out a low groan at her ipetence, she pulled her body back up and began wiping herself off with her wings.


    ''Let''s try this again.''


    Giving her wings a few test ps, she slowly tried to get more used to the extra power behind her, and with her wind magic at the ready to help her out now she slowly began ascending into the air.


    After that she did a few testps around her room to make sure that she was getting ustomed to how to fly now that her body had undergone such a major chance.


    When she finally felt ready to go, she turned towards the door and entered into the hallway outside her room.


    To her surprise, Anneli was waiting out there and her head perked up when Evelyn came out.


    Swiftly she extended a thread of magical energy to her so that the two couldmunicate.


    "It is great to see you back up Evelyn. For a bit I was truly worried you were not going to make it. If we lost you, I am not sure what we would have done." Anneli said with some tears in her eyes.


    She was always pretty bubbly by owl standards and right now she was overflowing with relief.


    Evelyn had gotten very close to her and Katrina, and both of Melisandre''s attendants felt that she was like a little sister to them.


    "I was also a bit concerned for a bit there, but I made it through. I guess now I can be added to that statistic of those that managed to survive evolving with a damaged core." Evelyn said whileughing to try and lighten the mood.


    Thankfully this worked, and Anneli was soon back to her old happy self and told Evelyn toe with her to the kitchen to get something to eat.


    Evelyn hearing this felt her stomach rumble, and likest time it was obvious that she was famished after evolving which used a bunch of energy.


    Quickly the two of them made it to the kitchen, and after Anneli sent off a couple messages to inform Katrina and Melisandre she began cooking up a feast.


    Within just a couple of minutes both Melisandre and Katrina came flying in and greeted Evelyn as well.


    "Everything still seems normal. Your cores have fully repaired and there is no lingering damage to your soul. When you passed out immediately after evolving you really had me worried, but I am d that everything has worked itself out." Melisandre said after giving Evelyn a quick examination.


    Soon with the help of Katrina, Anneli had finished cooking and they all sat down to enjoy a meal together.


    "I have made sure that the food this time is quite hardy and will help with stamina and magical energy recovery. We want to make sure that you get back to normal as quickly as possible." Anneli said with her head held up high.


    "Thanks for the consideration. Though I am feeling a lot better now than before already. But I am sure the food will help me all the same." Evelyn said before digging in.


    Nearly an hour went by as Evelyn packed away more food than she ever had before. Eating everything that was put in front of her to the point that it would seem her stomach should have long met its capacity.


    "You would think with your decreased size that your appetite might be less, but I think you just put away more than double what you normally do." Melisandre observed.


    "Yeah, I think I really needed food. It has been a few days since Ist ate. And while I am smaller, I feel as if I can eat more than before."


    Pursing her lips, Melisandre seemed to be deep in thought, but decided to leave any investigation fortter.


    "Anyway, now that you have eaten and seem to be doing better, I think now is as good a time as any to assess your magic. Many beasts can struggle to control their new power immediately after reaching the awakened rank, and their newfound intelligence can lead to a lose in instinct. Though in that case, it appears you will not have any problem being one of the rare cases to have already achieved high intelligence before reaching the awakened rank." Melisandre said.


    She then beckoned for Evelyn to follow her, and they headed out to the training room where Evelyn had undergone her evolution.


    "Wow, it does not even look like anything happened here."


    As they entered Evelyn had wondered if fragments of the advancement chamber she had blown up might still be around, but the room waspletely bare.


    Along with that, the damage she had caused to the floor was also repaired. Leaving no trace of the wave of magic she had unleashed upon evolving.


    "Naturally. It has been a few days since then giving ample time to clean up. And the damage you caused while not insignificant was still within the rooms repair function. Now let us get down to business. Show me what you can do with your magic now."

 Chapter 170 170 Better Than Ever

    ?Evelyn being prompted by Melisandre began focusing on her magic energy and testing out what she could do.


    It was apparently quitemon for a newly evolved beast, especially from the fined beast rank to the awakened rank to need quite some time to learn how to control their new magical power.


    ''I will start with the basics. I have been making gusts of wind since before I really even knew what magic was in this world. I am confident I can still do that much.''


    With her first magic decide on Evelyn began letting the energy within her flow and with the p of her wings unleashed what she figured would be a casual gust.


    Instead, what was released whipped up a st of wind that shot forward and caused a loud booming sound when it impacted against the back wall.


    ''Woah!''


    Watching what just happened Evelyn was surprised by the power behind her magic now.


    She had expected it to be stronger, but that casual gust had nearly as much power behind it as a serious attack from before she evolved.


    "As I thought, your power has grown exponentially. Now you are not evenparable to the other beasts at your rank other than maybe the best prodigies. That divine item you have really is formidable." Melisandre said while shaking her head.


    Evelyn had already been an anomaly that was far stronger than most at the same rank, but now that she had evolved the gap was even greater, and Melisandre doubted that the strongest owls within the roost at even up to the mid-tier of the awakened rank would be Evelyn''s match. Despite the fact she had just evolved.


    "Go ahead and keep at it. I am sure you want to see what you are capable of and get a feel for the greater magical energy you have." Melisandre said as multiple targets rose up out of the ground.


    Smiling, Evelyn nodded her head and took aim. Creating a needle made of her heavenly me as she had practiced thousands of time when learning to control her magical energy.


    Thankfully she had no problem with the shape, though at first it was a farrger size even though she used the same quantity of her magical energy as before.


    ''There, that is about right.'' Evelyn thought as she adjusted the power back down to where it had been before she evolved.


    Seeing her do this, Melisandre was actually astounded, as this showed how profoundly adept Evelyn was at controlling magical energy.


    Slowly Evelyn upped the power of her me needle attacks until it reached her current peak.


    ''That is a bit more than I expected.''


    Looking at the hole she had put in the steel te and the wall behind it, Evelyn could hardly believe that this was the same magic she had first learned.


    Her mes were on a profoundly different level, and with careful observation, she had noticed the steel start to warp before the mes even hit it.


    After finishing her first experiment, she went through all of her usual magic spells one by one, and lowered them down to her previous max, before bringing them up to her new peak.


    However, she hadpletely neglected her gravity magic up to this point. She wanted to do far more extensive tests with the new powers granted to her by the Aethersphere once she had a better understanding of the quality and quality of her magical energy as an awakened beast.


    Yet right before she was about to start, Melisandre saw Evelyn momentary pause as a sign that she was finished.


    "Truly that was spectacr. I believe that you could probably fight on equal footing against most any peak awakened beast now even at your current level. But this brings with it its own set of problems. Your power is so absurd now that it breaks all notions of normalcy. If others see what you are capable of now, they are bound to start digging. And that would not be in your best interest. To that point, I believe it would be best if you never exceed above sixty percent of your current power and refrain from using your heavenly me in the presences of others, unless your life is in danger. Now that you are an awakened beast you will not fall under the radar as much. You could easily garner the wrong kind of attention if it is discovered how strong you are, and that you possess a heavenly me."


    Hearing Melisandre''s warning, Evelyn nodded her head in agreement.


    She did not want to stand out more than necessary, and she certainly did not want any of the other powers in the Roost or beyond to show interest in her.


    As Melisandre said, now that she was an awakened rank beast she would not be as easily dismissed as before.


    Fiend beasts were pretty much considered rabble in the Roost, and only once they made it to the awakened rank were they really full-fledged members.


    ''It is not like I was out broadcasting my powers before. I will just need to make sure not to stand out.'' Evelyn thought.


    Once she was finished conversing with Melisandre and agreed to keep her power in check, she moved back to testing out her new magical potential.


    "Oh, I thought that you were finished?" Melisandre said with a raised eyebrow.


    "No, I have another magical affinity to test. The power that the divine item gives me." Evelyn said as she turned her focus back towards the targets in the room.


    But before she unleashed her gravity magic at them, she instead turned to Melisandre and asked her if she would help her out as a partner.


    "Sure, I do not mind. As strong as you have be, I do not think you will be able to do much to me." Melisandre said confidently.


    She then moved towards the center of the room and waited to be Evelyn''s punching bag.


    ''Here goes nothing. Full force, ten times gravity.''


    Spreading out her gravity field Evelyn increased it to tens time what was normal, and the training room began to shake and shudder under the extreme force.


    Melisandre for her part was quite surprise. She suddenly started sinking into the floor, just as she hadst time Evelyn used this power on her.


    Luckily the floor in the training room was very sturdy, otherwise she would have likely fallen straight through the floor of a less reinforced room.


    "My that power of yours really is impressive. Even with a field of magical energy I cannot block it. The only recourse is to apply enough strength to resist it." Melisandre said as she pped her wings heavily to lift her body up.


    Still, while she could not stand properly due to the floor simply being unable to support her, even under ten times normal gravity she did not seem the least bit perturbed.


    ''Just how strong is she? I am pretty sure a normal person would have copsed and passed out practically immediately under this much gravity. Yet she is able to take it like it is nothing. But let''s see if she can take my new power.''

 Chapter 171 171 Evelyn’s New Gravity Power

    ?Channeling her magical energy into the Aethersphere, Evelyn prepared the new ability it had given her.


    In terms of raw power, it was definitely the best it had, and she as certain that it would be useful.


    ''Extreme Press.''


    The second Evelyn used this new magic she felt even the massive amount of magical energy she possessed after evolving draining away. But that was a necessary price to use such power.


    A vibrant circle of glowing purple energy swiftly surrounded Melisandre, and she looked at it curiously before suddenly begin mmed into the ground.


    Even the ten times gravity she had been feeling before was nothingpared to this. Which pushed down on her with even greater power thatpounded along with Evelyn''s gravity field.


    This new power of hers allowed her to create a focused increased or lessened gravity attack on single targets that were within her gravity field''s range and hit them with far greater effects.


    Its only downside was the immense amount of magical energy it required, but it made practically everything within twenty meters of Evelyn her area of attack.


    ''Looks like even Melisandre cannot take that much easily. Though I should stop before the floor gives out.'' Evelyn thought, happy to see how her new power worked.


    But before she could, Melisandre exploded with magical energy, and she froze up.


    A waterspout then formed under Melisandre and lifted her up despite the heavy gravity pouring down on her.


    Now that she had a tform that would not copse under her, she looked towards Evelyn with a sharp glint in her eyes.


    "Truly, this is more impressive than I thought. I think even some low tier tyrant beasts would struggle under this much pressure. Now let''s see if your defense has gotten any better."


    Hearing this, Evelyn immediately tensed up and jumped off the ground and into the air to better evade.


    She had fought a bit with Melisandre, though never all that seriously. But the look in her master''s eyes right now made her afraid.


    And in response to her terror, Melisandre created arge ball of water in front of her which she filled with fire.


    It was simr to the boiling meteor shower attack she had used before. Though much smaller and only a single ball instead of hundreds.


    When Melisandre fired it off, Evelyn''s mind began racing as the projectile rushed towards without caring for the ten times gravity it was flying through.


    ''Extreme press and reverse press.''


    Pouring out her magical energy with no restraint, Evelyn created two more circles with which to use her power. One which sheid in the path of Melisandre''s attack, and another she ced right below her.


    In an instant the projectileunched by Melisandre shifted downward as Evelyn hit it with her strongest increase in gravity. While at the same time doing the reverse for herself and shooting upwards no that she was as light as a feather.


    By a hair''s breadth she avoided the attack as she flew towards the ceiling, and it was forced towards the ground.


    A loud boom followed, and she looked behind her to see the floor of the room carved out where Melisandre''s attack had impacted.


    After her shock had worn off Evelyn could only turn her gaze towards Melisandre and fix her with an incredulous look.


    "What were you thinking?! That could have killed me!"


    Naturally Evelyn was a bit angry with suddenly being assaulted with such a powerful attack. Especially after she had just made a recovery from herst near-death experience.


    "Oh, I doubt an attack on that level would have done all that much damage to you now. I think you must not realize just how tough you have gotten. Here allow me to show you."


    In a sh Melisandre had created another ball of water and fire, but this one flew out much faster and Evelyn had no time to really defend against it.


    The next thing she knew shew as being reintroduced to the ground and skipped across it like a ball since the gravity around her was still lowered.


    ''Ow.''


    Feeling sore in her chest where she had been hit, Evelyn just wanted to role over and pass out.


    Still her eyes quickly shot back open when she realized she had not died or been seriously injured.


    "See, what did I tell you. You have be more durable than you thought you were. Before that attack would have probably ripped into you, but now it just gave you a hefty bruise."


    Once she had finished making her point, Melisandre sshed a healing potion on Evelyn and the damage she had taken faded away within a few seconds.


    "Was that really necessary. You could have just told me that I was able to take hits better. Anything you attack with scares me now that I know what you are really capable of." Evelyn said as she got up.


    "Oh no, I think that was very necessary. Now you know exactly what you can take and can gage what attacks are really a threat to you. Also, I want to make sure you do not get conceited just because you got stronger. There are still thousands of owls just within the Roost that are still more powerful than you, and out in the world there are many, many more. Even I have to be careful not to let my power here in the Roost go to my head. I may be among the strongest here, but there are easily several hundreds of beings that I would stand little chance against outside of the Roost."


    Receiving Melisandre''s warning, Evelyn could only grit her beak in frustration, because she knew her master was right.


    She had gotten a little full of herself with her new gravity power she had obtained, and it showed when she let herself get caught up in momentarily knocking Melisandre down.


    "Anyway, I have to say that your powers really did catch me off guard. I do not think I have ever seen anything quite so unfair. It works on your opponent no matter what the difference in your level is and all the tricks I tried did notion to get rid of it. Even your heavenly me is not quite that oppressive in that I can still at least block it with magical energy as long as I use enough. So, in that regard I rmend that you try to limit you use of it as well. It is quite the mysterious power even if it is not all that showy. Some might start asking questions should they find out about. If possible, I rmend you just stick to wind magic for the most part. It is prettymon, especially among birds, and no one will bat an eye at it."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn agreed to adhere to Melisandre''s warning. She figured that so long as a fight could be settled with her wind magic, that she would use it over her other shier powers.


    "Good, make sure to keep everything I told you in mind. I want to make sure you have enough time to get stronger so you can protect yourself. Now go get cleaned up and get some rest. Tomorrow we are going to see the leader of the Roost. You have to thank her properly and after what I told her about you, she wants to meet you personally."

 Chapter 172 172 Meeting The Leader Of The Roost

    ?''Okay, I am well rested and cleaned up. Now I need to meet Melisandre at the front entrance before we head over to meet the leader of the Roost.''


    Turning towards the door of the washroom Evelyn tried to move forward but neither her wings nor legs would budge.


    Her nerves had been building up since Melisandre told her the day before that she would have to personally meet with the Roost''s reclusive leader.


    As far as she knew, only those that were part of the upper brass ever had any contact with her but now out of pretty much nowhere Evelyn was being brought before her.


    ''For all I know she might notice the heavenly me and decide to rip it out of me. I doubt that even Melisandre could stop the Roost''s leader if she really wanted to do something to me.'' Evelyn thought as her breathing became shallow andbored.


    She was afraid that this meeting might end with her dead or possible tied up and experimented on again.


    Of course, Melisandre assured her that this would just be a simple meeting. She would only have to thank the leader of the Roost for supplying the golden drops that had been used to keep her alive during her evolution process.


    Still, it started at the back of her mind that something more might happen and now this thought had creeped its way to the forefront.


    ''I just have to get through this. I know there is no way to cack out. If something happens, there was nothing I could do about it. There is no point in being afraid of the inevitable.''


    Evelyn managing to calm herself down a bit began moving towards the door in order to head to where Melisandre was waiting. Though she still shook a bit as she did.


    Soon enough she had made it to the front entrance where Melisandre was waiting as well.


    Unfortunately, her normally confident master had a somewhat strained expression which showed that even she was on edge a little. This naturally did not help with Evelyn''s own misgivings about this meeting.


    "Well let us go. It is time for you to meet our leader and the strongest owl within the Roost." Melisandre said to Evelyn before turning around.


    Therge set of doors leading into the estate then opened up before them and they set out into the air. Their destination thergest tree that sat in the middle of the Roost.


    "Evelyn, wait here for a second. There is a barrier here preventing unauthorized entities from entering. I will need to get permission for you to enter."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn did as she was asked to and waited while Melisandre slipped through the barrier without any problem.


    And to Evelyn''s surprise not only did the barrier keep beings out but also obscured what was going on beyond. As Melisandrepletely disappeared from view.


    Around ten minutester Melisandre reappeared and with her was another humanoid owl who Evelyn had never seen before.


    However, this owl gave off a simr presence if not a more imposing one as Melisandre, and Evelyn could tell just how powerful they were.


    "I have been ordered to bring you to see Lady Minerva. My name is Georgine, and I am our leader''s head attendant. Give me a moment to register you for temporary entry." The new owl whose name was Georgine said to Evelyn.


    An instantter the identification cuff on Evelyn''s leg began to glow and when it died down Georgine said, "Everything is ready now. Please follow me."


    With that she took off back into the barrier. Leaving Evelyn no time to ask anything.


    "Come on. Now is not the time to freeze up. Georgine can be pretty harsh if you inconvenience Lady Minerva." Melisandre said to prompt Evelyn who had frozen up to move.


    Hearing Melisandre''s warning Evelyn snapped out of her stupor and followed along. Finding that she was able to pass through the barrier with ease.


    On the other side she had been expecting to see somethingpletely different from the image transmitted by the barrier, but found that it looked pretty much exactly the same.


    The only thing that was different was the presence of a few owls that were moving around.


    All of them were certainly at or above the tyrant rank as they had humanoid forms. Which Evelyn had already figured out was something that could only be achieved beyond the awakened rank


    "This way. And make sure to stay close. As you are just a visitor if you stray too far from me before we arrive the defenses will detain you." Georgine said to Evelyn.


    After that they flew right towards the top of the massive tree that easily several miles tall and more impressive up close than Evelyn could have imagined.


    Soon they had ascended up to the top of the tree and just like where Melisandre lived there as an estate that had been built there.


    Georgine purposefully led them through a side entrance and began taking them down therge hallways that were bigger than any Evelyn had ever seen.


    ''I think they might be able to fly a jumbo jet through this ce!'' Evelyn thought in astonishment.


    Along the way she kept her eyes out but other than some tapestries on the walls the ce was empty, and they did not run into any other owls along the way.


    Eventually they stopped at a set of massive and ornate doors and even with them closed Evelyn could feel an overwhelming presence on the other side.


    "Beyond here is Lady Minerva. As she has asked, I have brought you here and will leave you alone. But take head to keep you disciple in line Melisandre." Georgine said before flying away.


    Once she was gone the doors began to open all on their own and arge room opened up before Evelyn and Melisandre.


    Taking the lead, Melisandre headed in first, with Evelyn right behind her.


    Yet the moment Evelyn entered she stopped abruptly. Right before her eyes was thergest owl she had ever seen.


    She had mostly golden feathers with a pattern of dark read going down her chest and out to her wings.


    Overall, she easily stood over a hundred feet tall, and dwarfed Evelyn byparison.


    ''I now know for certain. That serpent really was at the cmity rank.''


    Seeing the leader of the Roost, Evelyn finally had someone topare the massive snake curled around the flower that reached into the sky that she had met in the deands.


    "Evelyn, bow you head!" Melisandre said after a couple of seconds of Evelyn staring in a daze.


    Frantically she looked forward and saw the Melisandre had her head lowered and quickly moved to follow suit.


    A loudugh then reverberated through the room and Evelyn shook more and more with each chuckle.


    "Please be at ease you two. There is no need to be on edge. This is just a friendly gathering for me to meet the disciple you have told me so much about Melisandre." The leader of the Roost said.


    Then the most astounding thing happened. The form of the giant owl in front of them started to rapidly shrining down until they had taken a humanoid form.

 Chapter 173 173 Meeting The Leader Of The Roost (2)

    ?Evelyn stared in a daze as the giant owl before her suddenly transformed into the form of an average height human woman.


    Of course, like all the other humanoid owls she had seen, Minerva, the leader of the Roost, did not look fully human. Having feathered wings sprouting out of her back, more pointed ears, and the ssic yellow eyes of an owl.


    Along with these characteristics she now had long flowing golden hair the ended in dark red tips, and what Evelyn would describe as a killer body that remined her of photos she had seen of models back on earth.


    Still, the most surprising thing was watching her form change from that of an owl to be more humanoid. This was the first time Evelyn had seen this and she now wondered if all the humanoid owls could simrly switch from one form to another.


    But as much as she wanted to ask this question, under the immense pressure she was feeling being in the process of the most powerful owl in the roost, she held her tongue.


    "Melisandre I truly am happy that you disciple was able to survive her evolution, despite the damage to her beast core. I would have hated to lose the most promising owl we have likely ever had amongst us. Giving you six of my tears was certainly worth it." Minerva said with a smile on her face.


    In response Melisandre lowers her head and thanks the leader of the Roost for her assistance, and then pushed Evelyn forward.


    For her part, Evelyn was momentarily confused. Wondering what these six tears were, until she remembered the six glowing drops that Melisandre had sued to keep her alive.


    There is no doubt in her mind that without them she would have died before reaching the end of her evolution. But she had never expected that they were actually the tears of the Roost''s leader.


    Though before she could finish processing what was going on, the Roost''s leader said, "Now would you mind showing me the heavenly me that you have assimted with? Melisandre has already told me about it in order to get my help."


    With a nk expression Evelyn looked up at the leader of the Roost while trying to process all the information she had just received.


    However, while Evelyn was slow to respond due to her mind being in somewhat of a flurry, Minerva took it as a sign of hesitance.


    "I understand you are guarded, but there is no need. If I wanted to take the me from you, I would done so already, and certainly would not have offered my help. Here, allow me to show you something of equal value as a sign of good faith."


    Minerva then held out her hand and Evelyn watched in astonishment as a golen em bust out in the shape of a sphere.


    It was incredibly beautiful, and Evelyn stared at it almost like in a trance. But something she had not been expecting soon snapped her out of it.


    After so long the Aethersphere once again reacted to something and began pulling Evelyn forward. Pointing at the me that wasing out of the Minerva''s hand.


    And to follow suit, the crimson me within her began to stoke all on its own, and she felt as if some sort of resonance was happing.


    In that moment Evelyn realized something.


    ''She also has a heavenly me!''


    Watching the golden me flickering before her, Evelyn was certain that this was also one of the heavenly mes.


    Her brother had written that there were supposed to be sixteen in total around the entire world, and now the Roost had two of them in its possession.


    Seeing this, Evelyn''s mind began to calm down and she held out her left wing and summoned her own heavenly me.


    The crimson fire formed into a sphere as well, and the two heavenly mes danced as if rejoicing in their reunion.


    "Yes, there is no doubt that is one of the heavenly mes. And the crimson one at that. Last I heard it should have been in the possession of Revon family in the Ultak Empire. But somehow you havee into possession of it. Might you tell me how?"


    Curiosity was clearly written all over Minerva''s face. She truly wanted to know how Evelyn came into possession of her heavenly me.


    Except to tell her the truth would reveal that Evelyn was from another world and that her brother left it to her.


    It was clear from this question Melisandre had not told her everything, and Evelyn certainly did not want to either


    Nevertheless, she did not think that the leader of the Roost was going to take no for an answer.


    That was when she had a sudden idea.


    Maybe she could not tell the whole truth, but she could tell a half truth.


    ''She will likely see through me, but hopefully the bit of truth I tell her will be enough.''


    With her n settled Evelyn began retelling the fake reasoning that Mason had left in the first hidden room in case anyone else found the ce.


    "I see. So, one of their family members stole the me and left it behind when he felt his life on the ropes. And he asked whoever came across it to get revenge. Certainly not unheard for those believing they are about to die to do, but I find it strange he did not leave any magic to bind you to follow through." Minerva said with an arched eyebrow.


    Gulping, Evelyn was certain that she had been seen through, but luckily Minerva epted what truth she had divulged and decided not to press the issue.


    "This certainly is something. I have not heard anything about it so they must be keeping it quite well under wraps to have not let loose any information in so many centuries. I wonder how I might be able to use this information?"


    In practically an instance Minerva seems to forget that anyone else is with her and begins toiling away at how to take advantage of the intel Evelyn had just given to her.


    "Um, is that all you want to talk about?" Evelyn eventually says.


    Minerva then whips her head back towards Evelyn with an embarrassed expression on her face. Realizing she had gotten lost in thought.


    Swiftly though she reces her expression with one that masks all emotions and coughs twice for good measure.


    "Um, no, there were a few more things that I wished to talk to you about. Melisandre also mentioned you had a divine artifact embedded in you that gives you an amazing magic. Would you mind showing me that as well?"


    Nodding her head, Evelyn knows this is less of a request and more of an order seeing as how ites from the leader of the entire Roost.


    Suddenly the room is under less pressure than it had been before, and both Minerva and Melisandre look surprised when they feel their bodies get much lighter.


    This was the first time for either of them to feel this way. As in Melisandre''s case, she had only ever been hit with Evelyn''s increased gravity.


    "My what a wonderful power. I have never experienced anything quite like it. Is there anything else it can do?" Minerva said with a bright smile on her face. Clearly showing her fascination.

 Chapter 174 174 Meeting The Leader Of The Roost (3)

    ?Upon hearing Minerva''s request to see what else Evelyn''s gravity powers could do, she went through everything except her gravity traps which she had not even shown Melisandre set.


    "Truly and immersive power and what I would expect from a divine item. Nothing I did allowed me to escape its power." Minerva said with a very immersed expression.


    She then began asking Evelyn for exnations on her power, but even with her knowledge from Earth it was not like she was an expert on gravity. Which was still wrapped in a fair bit of mystery even for those that studied it.


    "I see I do not really understand but nevertheless it is very amazing." The Leader of the Roost said while smiling brightly at Evelyn.


    "Now I have questioned you enough. Is there anything you wish to ask me?"


    Suddenly being given the go ahead to start making inquires of her own Evelyn was frozen for a few moments.


    Honestly, she had not been expecting to be given a chance to ask anything of her own while in the presence of the Roost''s leader and figured she would need to talk with Melisandreter.


    "Yes, there is something that has been on my mind. You said that you gave Melisandre your tears to help me. Is that what those golden drops were?"


    "Oh, did she not tell you? Yes, those were my tears. All of my tears have healing properties though the ones I gave her are special and I can only produce once every four months. I am a phoenix after all." Minerva said before giving Melisandre a wry smile


    Evelyn''s eyes went wide at this revtion.


    She knew that this world was filled with magic and incredible creatures she had never seen before, but this was the first time she had heard about a mythical being such as a phoenix.


    "But you looked just like an owl. I thought phoenixes were supposed to be different. How does and owl be a phenix?" Evelyn said, perplexed.


    From all the depictions she had seen on Earth she did not ever remember a phoenix having the shape of an owl.


    "Hm, it is simple really. Any beast that is a bird can be a phoenix through evolution, so long as they have an affinity for fire and meet the correct requirements. Though they are far from easy as your master knows full well." Minerva said, shattering Evelyn''s view on the mythic bird.


    Yet it was thest thing that soon stuck in Evelyn''s mind and she turned her head to look at Melisandre.


    She had known she was trying to evolve but did not know she was aiming for something as amazing as bing a phoenix.


    "Yes, my goal is to follow in Lady Minerva''s footsteps and be a phoenix. However, I am still a long way from my goal. It could take centuries before I am ready." Melisandre said with her lips pursed.


    In response Minerva beganughing and said, "Oh but you already could have evolved if you wanted to. Most of the items you would need be unnecessary if you have a heavenly me. All you would have needed to do was take it from your disciple."


    Hearing this from Minerva, Evelyn shuddered violently.


    If all it took for Melisandre to take the next step in her own evolution was Evelyn''s heavly me then she had all the reason in the world to off her and take it.


    Evelyn herself had been willing to kill five foxes for one of the items she needed to evolve, and she had not doubt that Melisandre had killed for far less.


    "Lady Minerva I would apricate if you did not deliberately scare her. I already told Evelyn that I would never do anything to harm her. I have other avenues and have not intention of taking what is hers." Melisandre said with an almost angry expression.


    Minerva just continuedughing. Clearly pleased with how riled up she had gotten both Melisandre and Evelyn.


    "Yes, I already know that. Youpletely rebuffed me when I mentioned it while you were petitioning for my aid. I simply wanted her to know just how much you care and look out for her. Anyway, now that she is healed, it would not make any sense to do anything untoward. One day she is likely to join the leadership of the Roost."


    At this Melisandre nodded her head in agreement.


    Evelyn on the other hand just sat there nkly.


    She was not excited to hear that the leader of the Roost suggested Melisandre steal her heavenly me, or that she might one day be a leader of the Roost.


    Overall, her life experience in total would not even have her being considered an adult by Earth standards and she had no experience leading people.


    However, when she put forth her objection, Minerva just said, "Others follow the strong whether the one in question wants it. Unless you are a true monster and simply kill anyone how approaches you, there will be those that look up to you. I can tell you from my experience, when thousands look towards you for leadership you have only a few options."


    Shaking her head, Evelyn vehemently refused to ever be involved with leading others.


    "Well, there is no need to discuss this now. You are still young and have along way to go before other owls will start flock towards you. Simply enjoy your time now and push anything else to the back of your mind. You are only young once after all." Minerva said while giggling.


    She then became quite serious all of a sudden and both Evelyn and Melisandre tensed up and their backs became straight.


    "Melisandre make sure you do all you can to raise Evelyn to be strong. Whether she wishes to lead or not she is one of the greatest potential assets the Roosts has. And I do not think I need to say this, but make sure that you do not tell anyone, not even the other hall masters about her. If anyonees to question you about any of the peculiarities of your disciple, tell them to bring their inquiries to me."


    Nodding her head, Melisandre affirmed she would do as Minerva had asked.


    "Now as much I have enjoyed speaking with the two of you I have things that do require my attention. But before you go, I have a gift for you Evelyn."


    Minerva then pulled out of seemingly nowhere a badge that had a detailed carving of a golden owl on it and handed it over to Evelyn.


    Seeing this, Melisandre''s jaw opened wide, and Evelyn imagined that if they lived in a carton world it would have hit the floor.


    "Lady Minerva, are you sure?" She said as she turned towards the leader of the Roost with a look of disbelief.


    "Yes I am." She said to Melisandre before turning to Evelyn. "That is my personal emblem. If you should ever feel your life or freedom are in danger from any within the Roost, feel free to sh that emblem. It proves that you are under my direct protection. But make sure you do not abuse it. I do not want to hear that you are using my authority inappropriately."


    Gulping, Evelyn made sure to say she would not abuse the gift that Minerva had given her and thanked her profusely for it.


    "Now be on your way. I am sure that we all have much to aplish."

 Chapter 175 175 Beasts And Humanoid Forms

    ?Once they had left the residence of the Roost''s leader, Evelyn and Melisandre made their way back home.


    When the doors closed behind them a level of tension that they both had vanished in almost an instant.


    ''So that is the leader of the Roost, huh.''


    Having gotten through such a nerve-racking meeting Evelyn thought back to what she had learned and ruminated on it.


    "Well, I am beat after that. How about we get something to eat and unwind." Melisandre suggested.


    A smile forming on her face, Evelyn agreed, and the two of them soon found themselves in the kitchen with Melisandre making something personally.


    "Wow this is really good. You brought out the quality meat today." Evelyn said in between stuffing her face.


    She was certain that this was by far the best food she had eaten ever.


    "I am d you are enjoying it. That is from my own personal stock and came from a tyrant rank boar type beast. Make sure not to overindulge though, it could make you sick if you eat too much"


    Evelyn hearing this stopped eating, with food still half hanging out of her mouth, and looked down in shock.


    Never in her wildest dreams did she believe that she would just be casual eating the meat from a being that was an entire rank above her.


    She then swallowed with an audible gulp and looked towards Melisandre for answers.


    "Did this reallye from a tyrant rank beast?"


    "Yes, it most certainly did. I killed it on myst foray into the open world when I was searching for items I need to evolve. Normally a newly evolved awakened beast would not be able to consume this without absorbing too much magical energy, but I figured that you could take it and that it would be quite the treat."


    Seeing that Melisandre was not kidding around, Evelyn once again looked down at the food before her in disbelief.


    "Oh, are you not going to continue eating? Especially when I made something so special for you." Melisandre said with a fake hurt expression.


    However, while she seemed to be ying around to help ease their earlier tension, Evelyn became quite serious.


    "Melisandre, I know you told me you would exin more about how you and other beasts have humanoid forms when I reached the peak of the awakened rank. But after seeing the leader of the Roost transform before my eyes, I really feel as if I need to know."


    With Evelyn changing the atmosphere around them with how serious she was, Melisandre sighed and nodded her head.


    "Yes, I suppose it would not hurt. In light of everything you have told me, I suppose this is not much." Melisandre said as she stood up.


    In an instant she went from looking like a human with owl wings to suddenly being a sixty-foot-tall owl.


    Even in the room with such a high ceiling she had to duck down, and it was clear that she was barely able to fit.


    "As you have likely surmised, the form you have seen me in is not my only one. That is not to say that either of my forms is not the real me, they both are."


    After saying this Melisandre shrunk back down into her humanoid form and retook her seat across from Evelyn, who was sitting there with her mouth agape in astonishment.


    "Impressive is it not. When I evolved into a tyrant rank beast many years ago, I was able to take this humanoid form."


    "So, it really is a requirement to be a tyrant beast to have a humanoid form. Do all tyrant beasts get one?" Evelyn said as she eyed the boar meat before her.


    As much as she loathed humans for all they had taken from her in both lives, as a former human she felt that she would not be able to stomach eating anything that held a humanoid form.


    "No, not all beasts gain a humanoid form when they evolve into a tyrant beast. Though if it is possible there are no downsides and plenty of advantages to it. So, most beasts in an organization like ours aim for it."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn could see how the humanoid form could be useful, at the very least in terms of space and limbs that are easier to work with.


    Creating cesrge enough to amodate massive sixty-foot-tall beasts like Melisandre would be quite difficult. And when she took into ount the size of the Roost''s leader, beasts of that size would need massive hallways just to move about.


    "I think I understand a bit. But other than your size and shape, what other benefits are there? Honestly speaking, I am conflicted about ever having a humanoid form again."


    Melisandre frowned at this. She remembered all the horrible things Evelyn had told her happened at the hands of humans, and ow she vehemently denied ever wanting to be one again.


    "As for the benefits other than being able to fit in smaller spaces, it does allow us to infiltrate human settlements when the need arises. It can certainly be a pain to hide our wings and ears, but plenty of humans wear baggy cloaks to hide themselves anyway, so we do not stand out much if we prepare properly. Also, while it is not the same as the magic core you have that is identical to a human''s, I along with any other beast that took this path of evolution gain a pseudo magic core that gives us more magical energy. It does not allow for us to learn new affinities like you can, but extra magical energy is always useful."


    After hearing Melisandre''s exnation, Evelyn pursed her beak together and thought long and hard about this.


    "Since I already have a magic core, I would not need to follow the evolution that gives me a humanoid form, right. I already shrunk when I evolved so I might not end up gigantic anyway. I think if I can, I would like to avoid ending up begin humanoid again." Evelyn said a resolute expression.


    Hearing this Melisandre''s face that had been fairly neutral turned into a frown, and she looked at Evelyn with a glimmer of pity in her eyes.


    "I am sorry Evelyn, but I doubt that you are going to be able to do so. You already have a magic core, and your soul is that of a human. I would not be surprised if you only path forward is to gain a humanoid form. Normally in order to evolve like this a beast would need apatible magic core from a human, but you already have one that is fully apart of you."


    Evelyn began grinding her beak as she heard this. She truly wanted nothing to do with humans again and was afraid that gaining a humanoid form would bring up bad memories, or maybe even to an aversion to herself.


    In the end though, it was something she just had to ept and decided to worry about itter when the time came.


    ''I have to get stronger to aplish my goals. If I be humanoid again to do so, it will not matter. Heck even if I have to be apletely monstrous being I have steeled myself to push forward.''


    With her thoughts quicklying back into order, Evelyn decided she had learned enough about this topic and turned her attention to one of the factors that had led her to explore this thread.


    "Melisandre, so was this boar humanoid?" Evelyn asked as she eyed the food before her warily.


    "No, it was not. I do not doubt it was intelligent, but I killed it in one blow before it noticed. Frankly thinking about things like that is bad for your health. Now go ahead and enjoy. This was supposed to be a rxing meal to get our minds off of troubling matters."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn took Melisandre''s advice and did not think too heavily about the food she was eating.


    When they were finally finished, she still had something on her mind about tyrant rank beasts and humans but determined to table those for now.


    She could tell that Melisandre was just as tired as her and really did not want to delve into such heavy topics right now.


    "I think now is a good time for both of us to go get some rest. You have still only recently recovered, and suddenly having to go meet with the leader of the Roost is bad for my heart. Make sure you rx well since tomorrow we will begin your alchemy training anew. Now that you have evolved you are ready to work with higher grade materials and learn to make more powerful brews. Then after that I think it would be a good idea for you to go out gathering materials again. You are pretty low on credits and supplies and fighting beasts in the wilds will help you to better understand just how much stronger you have gotten." Melisandre said.


    With that the two of them went their own ways for the day, and Evelyn now had the anticipation of continuing her alchemy training to upy her thoughts.


    ''I wonder what we are going to be using. Up to this point I have only really been working with lower grade potions that use fiend beast materials and items that form in ces with lower magical energy. Perhaps I will even get to learn how to make potions that can regrow limbs.''


    Her thoughts filed with alchemy now, Evelyn settled down and pulled out the basic books she already had and reviewed for the remainder of the day. Despite Melisandre telling her to rx.

 Chapter 176 176 Back To The Grindstone

    ?Upon theing of the next day Melisandre began Evelyn''s alchemy training anew.


    Up to this point she had been working with what would be considered low quality ingredients by the world atrge.


    Now, however, that she was at the awakened rank, Melisandre was teaching her how to handle appropriately leveled ingredients.


    "To begin with I will demonstrate how to make intermediate healing potions. You have used some of these in the past and I am sure you know how effect they are. Their powers allow them to restore even grievous injures and fix injured organs as long as they are not too badly damaged. If you are quick, they can also allow for the attachment of lost limbs." Melisandre exined while showing Evelyn how to make the potion.


    When it was done, she moved to the side and allowed Evelyn to try it for herself, and soon she had created an exceptional healing potion nearly on par with Melisandre''s.


    "Your heavenly me never ceases to impress. It wrings out all the best of your ingredients without any hassle. All you need to do is control the heating with it to make sure it does not burn what you are working on. Still, there are other aspects you need to continue working on. Your stirring got a bitx at the end, and your channeling of magical energy was good but not even throughout the caldron. You need to work on these aspects if you want to produce the absolute highest quality like I have."


    A sharp glint in her eyes Evelyn looked back into the caldron and started over again. Hoping to reach Melisandre''s expectations.


    ¡­


    Days went by as Melisandre continued to instruct Evelyn on the ways of alchemy.


    For the most part they just went over how to make more potent versions of brews she already knew. Though some of them now had different variations of ingredients that came from other sources and could be used to change the effects of certain potions.


    Nevertheless, there were other things that Melisandre showed Evelyn how to make. Most of which were poisons.


    "This one here will induce paralysis if it touches most types of creatures. However, even if you miss it creates fumes that when breathed in will also be effective. Albeit, not quite as quickly. Whenever you use it make sure to create a barrier of wind around yourself to prevent getting hit yourself." Melisandre said as she closed a lid over the ominous looking yellow liquid in her cauldron.


    Watching this process Evelyn looked at it dubiously but could not deny that it might be useful.


    Sure, she might have been stronger, but she had alreadye up against plenty of situations where she was hopelessly outssed.


    Having even one more option in these situations could be the difference between life and death, so she paid careful attention to her session where learning to brew poisons.


    Eventually Melisandre taught her to make one that was lethal nearly immediately to up to mid-tier tyrant rank beasts as long as they did not have a resistance to poison.


    "Even if I got hit with this stuff without any antidotes already in my system, I would start to feel sick, and would die if I did not get a remedy within about a week. I do not know why these damn mushrooms needed such a powerful poison, but pretty much nothing can so much as touch them without dying." Melisandre said as she carefully used her magical energy to drop a piece of a bright purple mushroom into her cauldron.


    Just seeing this little bit Evelyn shuddered as she remembered the full form Melisandre had shown her earlier.


    Apparently, these mushrooms could move around on their own, and they were known as blight mushrooms for how they poisoned thend they lived in.


    Luckily, they were pretty rare, and this was one of the ingredients that Melisandre told Evelyn that she would prepare for her. Since it would be way to dangerous to procure on her own.


    "There it is done. Now help me carefully move it into a few containers and make sure that none of it gets on you, or the floor. If even a single drop gets loose, I will have to quarantine the entire room and deep clean it" Melisandre said with a very serious expression.


    Thankfully they got it transferred out of the caldron by using a special valve that kept it fully sealed and was meant for dealing with such vtile substances.


    "Whew, I think that does it. Make sure to remember what I showed you because you will have to do it alone sooner orter. But for now, it will take even my cauldron a couple days to cleanse itself, and I dare not use any other for making this poison." Melisandre said as she looked back at the bottles of dark purple liquid that basically gave off an aura of death.


    With her alchemy training finished for now, Evelyn took a deep breath and thought about all she had learned


    There were many new things she had been taught with some being secrets that only Melisandre knew from trial and error she had done in her youth.


    ''But now I need to obtain all these ingredients to make more potions. I do not have nearly enough credits to buy them outright, and Melisandre told me it would be a good experience.''


    Now that one thing was finished it was time for Evelyn to move onto the next task. And to start, she began by asking Melisandre where she might procure the items she needed.


    "Hm, well the best ce to star-"


    Yet as she started to exin the best locations to find the items Evelyn would need, she stopped and fixed her with an almost devious smile.


    "Actually, I think it would be better if you found this information out yourself. Last time I simply gave you a location to go to, but you need to learn to gather information on your own. I will not be able to help you out forever and this will be a good opportunity for you to learn."


    Taken back at first, Evelyn was slightly upset not to have gotten the information she wanted, but quickly realized that Melisandre was right and looking out for her.


    ''In the future I may need to gather information in a hostile environment. It will be best if I have some practice while still in the Roost where it is safe.''


    eding to Melisandre, Evelyn did not push for her master to give her the knowledge she needed right now.


    Instead, she decided to head to the records hall for the first time since she had originally arrived and do some research on her own.


    ''If I think about it how I used to stay at the library all the time it will be fun. I mostly read stories or yed games onputers, but sometimes I really enjoyed learning about new things and could spend several days delving into one topic.''


    Having her n for the next day set, Evelyn helped Melisandre clean up theb they had been using, before they both headed on their way with her going back to her room to rest.

 Chapter 177 177 Back In The Records Hall

    ?''I have my notebook that has the list of ingredients I need for each potion. Now all I need to do is head to the records hall and learn where to find everything.''


    With onest quick check Evelyn was certain she had everything she would need.


    Now ready to go, she exited her room and began flying towards the front entrance.


    Along the way she even began to happily bob her head unconsciously, since she was actually getting quite excited to dig deep into some research.


    Soon enough she had exited Melisandre''s estate and found herself in front of the entrance to the records hall.


    However, this was not the same one she had used when first arriving but one that stood about halfway up the colossal tree.


    The one at the bottom was only for new registration for the most part and normal library resources were situated around the middle area.


    Heading on in Evelyn found the ce was fairly crowded, with other owls that were flying around and plucking documents and books from the ever ascending and descending shelves in the hall.


    ''You know,st time I was here I was so nervous I did not get the best look at this ce. But the fact that there are shelves that go all the way from the bottom to the top is incredibly fantastical.''


    Simply having a moment to enjoy the sight before her, Evelyn took in the entire area that was a cylindrical archive of all types of documents.


    In her old world a ce like this would have been stupidly impractical, but for a species that could fly it was quite efficient.


    ''I guess that is enough gawking. I need to rent one of the carrels and then locate the materials I need.''


    After she had her fill of looking around the area, Evelyn moved towards therge suspend tform that sat slightly below the entrance.


    This was one of the ces where the employees of this hall were stationed, and Evelyn could get the information she needed.


    When shended, she found herself looking up at three dozen owls that were all between twelve and twenty feet tall.


    With but a nce she could tell they were all at the awakened rank and ranging from the low tier to the peak.


    Each one of them had their own line of owls that were waiting to be served, and it seemed the higher their beast ranks the more popr they seemed.


    ''I suppose that makes sense. The stronger owls have likely worked here longer and know more.'' Evelyn thought as she examined the situation.


    If she wanted to be served quickly she could join one of the lines where a low tier awakened rank owl was, or if she wanted the assumed best service, she could line up where the peak awakened owls were working.


    ''I could also fly to one of the other tforms. They have them around every two hundred feet and with this one being the closets to the main entrance it is likely to be the most crowded.''


    Soon enough Evelyn decided to give one of the other tforms a shot and began ascending towards the next one up.


    Unfortunately, it was about as busy, and when she made her way to the next one above it, there were still a fair number of owls waiting to be served.


    ''It''s a bit of a smaller line at least.'' Evelyn thought with a bit of resignation.


    Where she was now only would maybe put her one or two ces ahead and she figured if she had just stayed at the first one it probably would have still been faster.


    No easy to find shortcut she was hoping for, Evelyn resigned herself to stand in line and went for a high tier awakened beast who had a long line, but nearly as much as the ones at the peak.


    Time seemed to go by slowly as she waited in line. Which brought some old memories.


    ''It feels like an eternity since I waited in a line like this. I had forgotten how boring it is.''


    Eventually she managed to make it to the front of the line and the owl working the stationed asked her what she needed.


    "First, I would like to rent a carrel. How much would that be?"


    "An awakened beast and this is your first time renting a carrel. Are you new? But the next set of recruits should not being in for at least another month." The owl helping Evelyn said with a bewildered expression.


    Seeing this, Evelyn realized just how unusual her circumstances with Melisandre were. Normally most beasts would have had to do research on their own from the start, but she had received Melisandre''s guidance and wisdom instead.


    "Yes, this is my first time. My master has been instructing me instead, but now it is time for me to gather information on my own."


    "Ah, I see." The owl helping her said with a slightly envious expression.


    "Well, to rent the basic carrel will be two thousand credits and hour. If you want apletely private one you will be six thousand an hour."


    Hearing the price Evelyn winced a little. She had not been expecting it to be that expense and per the hour.


    ''This hall has to make money somehow I suppose.'' Evelyn thought as she forked over sixteen thousand credits to rent a normal carrel for eight hours.


    "Okay, your payment isplete. Your identification cuff has been registered to carrel number two hundred thirty-seven. It will be located closer to the bottom of the hall between the floor and the first tform. Is there anything else you need help with?"


    Frowning, Evelyn looked around and was certain that there were plenty of free carrels closer than the one she had been assigned.


    ''I am closer to the top than the bottom, but I will have to go pretty much all the way down.'' She thought with a dissatisfied expression.


    "Excuse me, if there is nothing else you need there are owls waiting behind you."


    Coming out of her momentary daze. Evelyn looked at the impatiently waiting owls lined up behind her.


    "Sorry about that. Yes, if you would not mind helping direct me to a few things I am looking for." Evelyn said.


    She then pulled out her notebook which listed all the numerous ingredients she needed and began rambling them off.


    The owl that was helping Evelyn soon began twitching in annoyance, as Evelyn listed things off for over a minute. Before she finally stopped her.


    "Miss, that is far too much for me to simply direct you to. As you can see there are others I need to help as well. If you want, I can direct you to a personal guide. Though they are quite expensive, especially the ones that are truly knowledgeable. Or you can purchase the record hall''s information booklet which will help you locate the resources you are looking for."


    Being abruptly stopped as she listed things out, Evelyn realized that she was being a huge nuisance, and apologized.


    "Sorry about that. I will take the booklet. How much?"


    Ten thousand creditster and Evelyn had the booklet giving her information on the records hall.


    ''I need to go find my carrel and get started. In this case, time really is money.''

 Chapter 178 178 The Price Of Information

    ?Down near the bottom of the record hall between the stone floor and the first raised tform Evelyn found the carrel she had rented.


    It was a fairlyrge space for one, being muchrger than any she had seen back on earth for the use of people.


    ''I suppose when some owls are twenty plus feet tall, they need to be at least this big.


    Landing down on it, Evelyn felt a sort of barrier wash over her, and when she looked down at her identification cuff a timer showing eight hours had appeared on it.


    ''Looks like my time has started now. I was afraid it would have been going since I paid the rental fee, but it is good that it only active once I arrived.''


    Heading over to the desk, Evelyn set down the guidebook she had bought and began leafing through it.


    ''Seems that the ce is at least fairly well organized. Hm, looks like section 4-E is where the majority of the resources I need will be. And of course. It is closer to the top, about two-thirds of the way up.''


    Letting out a long sigh, Evelyn packed up the guidebook and began flying back up the massive archive.


    She needed information on the location of dozens of different beasts, nts, and minerals if she was to gather ingredients necessary for alchemy. And she was going to have to do it the hard way.


    When she arrived at the section that had the resources she wanted, she found that it was fairly crowded.


    Many other awakened rank owls were doing research here. Trying to pick up on the locations of valuable materials they could acquire for credits or personal use.


    ''No, no, no¡­ Ah! Perhaps this one.''


    While scouring the shelves Evelyn finally came across something she was looking for. A record on beast sightings that contained some of the species she was interested in.


    Immediately she moved to take it, but some sort of field blocked her.


    She then watched words written in light appear on the shelving above the book that read,


    ''This item costs twenty thousand credits to use. Please do not store it or attempt to leave the hall with it. Make sure to return it when finished.''


    Seeing this Evelyn now understood another way this ce made its money. Valuable information could not be checked out for free.


    With a despondent expression she held out her identification cuff and transferred the twenty thousand credits.


    The barrier magic preventing her from taking the book then disappeared and she easily grabbed ahold of it.


    ''Not being able to put it in my storage cuff is quite the inconvenience. I will only be able to gather a few things at a time before needing to return to my carrel. At the very least there is no time limit for how long I can borrow these resources.''


    The first book she needed in her ws Evelyn went searching for another one, and when she found it had to pay eighteen thousand credits for it.


    A quick trip back to her carrel and she began reading through the books in search of the knowledge she wanted.


    Soon the eight hours she had rented the carrel for was down to only three minutes left and received a warning that her time was running out from some automated magic.


    ''Guess I should wrap this up for today. I used more than half my credits, but I managed to find out the usual locations of some of the items I need, as well as dangers I need to look out for. There are stills some things I want to go through before I head back out into the world, but I can do that tomorrow.''


    Picking up all the resources she had been using, Evelyn flew to the nearest tform to return everything, before leaving with the notes she hadpiled.


    The next day she returned and went through the process of collecting information again, and by the end of it was back down to only a few thousand credits.


    Nevertheless, she had gotten credible information on around sixty percent of the items she was going to need for the advanced brews Mmine had taught her and was ready to go out an gather them.


    ''I will need some more credits before learning where everything else is, but I think a break out in the open world to just explore on my own again will be good for me.'' Evelyn thought as she waited in line to return her materials.


    Once she was fished giving everything back, she left the records hall that would be closing soon and made her way back to Melisandre''s estate.


    Along the way she mapped out her ns for the next day in her head and deiced to go to the mission hall and pick of requests for items she would already need to gather. Just like she had on her first foray out of the Roost.


    "Oh, backte again. Did you spend all day gathering information today as well?" Melisandre said when Evelyn arrived in the kitchen.


    She along with Anneli and Katrina had already sat down to eat, and it appeared they were nearly finished.


    "Yeah, I wanted to get it all done at once. No point in checking out the same resource twice when they cost so much to use." Evelyn responded.


    Both Anneli and Katrina shook their heads in agreement at this. Remembering all the times they had used their hard-earned credits to ess information they needed.


    "Well, looks like you learned one of the lessons I wanted to teach you. Everything has its costs, and sometimes you need to pay up to learn things."


    "Yes, I certainly learned that." Evelyn said with a slightly dejected tone.


    At this point she was practically destitute, with barely any credits to her name. Still, it was not all bad. She had learned plenty, and Melisandre''s aid was keeping her from having to pay for daily necessities.


    "So where did you decide to go first? You must have put together at least a basic n by now."


    "I think I will try out the Elmot Gorge and the nearby Velinis Desert. A good number of the resource I need will be there."


    Hearing this, Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina all stopped eating and looked at Evelyn with concern.


    "You know that the Elmot Gorge is particr dangerous. Plenty of powerful beasts make their home there, and it is not like the glowing woods which the Roost hasid im to. A number of powers use it for resources. Humans included." Melisandre warned.


    "I know. But it has a great variety of the items I will need, and I feel like if I y it safe my progress will stagnate. I will make sure to do my best not to get in over my head and stay safe."


    Seeing the determined look in Evelyn''s eyes Melisandre back off and decided to let her do as she wanted.


    "Very well, but make sure toe see me before you go. I will at least give you another defensive talisman to protect yourself with."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn thanked Melisandre for her help. Before sitting down to eat with the rest of them.

 Chapter 179 179 Unintentionally Making A Name For Herself

    ?With theing of the next day Evelyn had made her way over to the mission hall in order to look for requests she could aplish while gathering materials for herself.


    She currently had ack of credits and was low on supplies for alchemy and needed to replenish both.


    ''Time to see what sort of requests I can pick up.'' Evelyn thought as she entered the mission hall.


    Yet this time she did not go to the lower level where most fiend beasts and low tier awakened beasts picked up requests, but instead the second level.


    When she entered, she found that the entire ce was popted by awakened beasts. With very few of them being in the low tier.


    This was a ce where the majority were mid to peak awakened beasts and Evelyn''s presence garnered a few interested nces.


    Still, it was not as if she was not allowed here now that she was at the awakened rank and was not the only low tier there as well.


    ''Looks like the same rules apply here as they do on the lower floor. The strongest owls are surrounding the boards that has the best missions, while the weaker ones have to take those that are less desirable.''


    Once she was finished observing the state of the hall, Evelyn moved in towards one of the boards as she searched for requests that could bepleted in the Elmot Gorge.


    Along the way some of the other owls exerted a bit of pressure on her as a sort of test to see if she could even make it to the board without getting cold feet.


    However, Evelyn only smirked at this. None of the owls bearing down on her were even close to Anneli or Katrina, and incredibly far from having a presence as powerful as Melisandre.


    ''Hm, that one should do.'' Evelyn thought as she reached out to take a request.


    But as she did, a farrger owl moved to grab the same request, and their foot gripped around Evelyn''s while she had ahold of the magical wooden chip the request details were stored in.


    "Oh, sorry about that. It seems we were after the same mission. I know you got it first, but you will not mind relinquishing it to your senior, would you?"


    Looking towards the owl that had gotten in her way, Evelyn examined them to see if they were actually a threat.


    ''A high tier awakened beast. Though he seems weak for his level. I imagen that those that are actually stronger need not pull petty tricks like this.''


    A rebellious smile on her face, Evelyn pulled back against the owl getting in her way. And slowly she overpowered him despite the fact he was nearly three times her size.


    "I am afraid that I will be taking this. As you said, I got it first. And whether you are older than me, have been at the roost longer, or are a higher rank, I do not recognize such a weakling as my senior." Evelyn said as she ripped her foot out of her aggressor''s.


    A look of shook filled their face. He never excepted Evelyn to defy him, and especially not have enough strength to break free from him.


    "You little- don''t think that you will get away with this."


    The other owl then moved to leave in frustration, but Evelyn stopped him.


    "Oh, running away. I thought I was not going to get away from this. How about a duel if you are confident you are stronger?"


    Turning around, the owl that had just tried to bully Evelyn looked her up and down.


    "Fine! A recently evolved awakened beast has gotten on her high horse and does not know her ce. You may have a great deal of physical strength, but I will show you the magical prowess of a high tier awakened beast."


    The duel epted, Evelyn followed behind the high tier awakened owl that had attempted to scare her off.


    Soon they found themselves in a fairlyrge room that was used to settle matters such as this.


    The Roost was perfectly fine with allowing spur of the moment duels in order to allow the strong to show off and the weak to learn from their loss and strive for greater power.


    ''Looks like we have a few spectators.''


    Scanning her surroundings, Evelyn could see that some of the owls from the hall that had witnessed the altercation hade to watch. There were a few stands in which others could view these public duels, and around twenty owls hade to watch.


    Of course, many of them expected Evelyn to get beat down, but others that had simrly been target by the same owl as Evelyn were hoping she would win.


    "If you surrender now and bow down and apologize, I will let you off without a thrashing. This is yourst chance to ept my good will."


    Scoffing, Evelyn could not believe how full of himself this owl was. Especially wen he was nothing special.


    "Sure, if you beat me, I will bow down and kiss your feet while begging for forgiveness. But if I win, you will make sure to leave me alone for the rest of your life."


    In response her opponent red at her, and said, "Sure. But you are not going to win. And do not think I will be letting you off easily. You are going to need a week to recover after I am done with you."


    Holding up her identification cuff Evelyn sent out the request to duel and the antagonistic owl epted it.


    A thirty second countdown then began.


    "Three, two, one, Start of the duel."


    With an automated voice sounding off, the battlemenced.


    To start both owls lifted up into the air and hovered as they waited for their adversary to make the first move.


    In the end it was the rude owl that had started this fight with Evelyn that lost out in the battle of patience andunched an attack first.


    ''Oh, looks like he had a water affinity.''


    Seeing arge, spiked ball of water appeared in front of her enemy, Evelyn now knew what type of magic he had.


    Still as she watched him form the attack, she waspletely underwhelmed.


    ''Is that really the best he can do. His control is pretty bad. It took him that long to amass only that much power.''


    Calmly observing the other side, Evelyn became disappointed to see that he was actually pretty weak.


    Of course, it was not that he was actually all that bad, being just a little below average for his rank. It was just that Evelyn was used to training with Anneli and Katrina who were considered at the level of prodigies.


    Therge spike ball of water soon came flying her way, and its size left little room to evade it in these closed off confides.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn did not falter in the least, and shot froward while twisting her body around.


    A torrent of wind began forming around her and she was quickly enveloped in her own personal twister.


    This attack which was not even Evelyn''s full power boasted a wind speed of two hundred miles per hour, and with it she easily pierced through the spiked ball of water.


    Using this magic, she was like an unstoppable spear and she burst out the other side of her enemy''s attack with ease, before mming into him.


    He was then violently caught up in the spiraling wind and tossed all around the duel room. Being mmed into the walls numerous times with only a hastily made barrier of magical energy to prevent him from being turned into a bloody pulp.


    When Evelyn finally let up, her opponent was already rendered unconscious, and his wings were bent out of ce.


    ''Guess he really was all bark and no bite. That was not even a good warm up. I was hoping to be able to test out how much stronger I was against him, but it seems he was just too weak.''


    Her victory achieved, Evelyn left the room while the owls that had been watching were left stunned.


    None of them had ever seen a low tier awakened beast unleash an attack of that level.


    Swiftly news of Evelyn victory against a high tier awakened beast got spread around, and when she made it back to the mission board no other owls tried to get in her way.


    ''I think this one, that one, maybe this one¡­''


    No longer having any impediments she easily picked out five more requests for a total of six that she nned toplete at the Elmot gorge and the nearby Velinis Desert.


    She then moved to one of the receptionists who happily registered her missions and gave herpliments for crushing the owl that attempted to bully her.


    Yet unbeknownst to Evelyn, there were other owls watching her from afar.


    "So, she is the one that beat Den? Seems a bit small. You sure it was her?"


    "Yeah, that is her. One of my guys watched the fight. But I am surprised by her size as well. Not many awakened beasts that small."


    "I see. You think we should offer her an invitation to join our faction. As a low tier she did beat a high tier."


    "Sure, but that is still not that much of a measure of strength. Den is not even ranked in the top five thousand awakened rank owls within the Roost. There are some other low tier awaken ranks that I can think that could beat him."


    "Another test then. She appears to be going out for some missions. When she returns, we only need one of our members to antagonize her and get into a fight. We can test her true power then."


    With that decision made by these two owls, Evelyn unknowingly got a target ced on her back.

 Chapter 180 180 Into The Elmot Gorge

    ?"Make sure you prioritize your safety over anything else. Within the Elmot Gorge even some sovereign rank beasts make their home, and you would find it impossible to do anything against them. Luckily, they will show no interest in you so long as you leave them alone, and you can lessen your chances of running into more powerful beasts by sticking to areas that have less magical energy in them."


    Before heading off Evelyn hade to see Melisandre and was now getting a long lecture on safety.


    Of course, after what happenedst time, she understood why Melisandre was worried.


    "I promise to prioritize my wellbeing. I will not make a spectacle or take unnecessary risks."


    Satisfied with Evelyn''s answer Melisandre only said a few more words of concern before letting Evelyn go.


    "Here, take this talisman. It is the same as thest one and will help you get out of a tough bind if you need. Oh, and when you get back there may be something I need your help with that could take a bit of time. So be prepared for that." Melisandre said as she sent Evelyn off.


    ''I wonder what it is she needs my help with? But I guess I should focus on my own missions first.'' Evelyn thought as she flew towards the warp hall.


    Soon enough she had her mission confirmed and was granted ess to use the nearest warp point to the Elmot Gorge.


    However, while Evelyn had been teleported to the glowing woods alone this time there were four owls that were going with her


    Surprisingly they were all at the peak of the awakened rank and it was clear that they were a group.


    As the preparations for the warp portal were underway these four owls constantly gave Evelyn confused gazes that were mixed with concern.


    Eventually the warp portals were activated, and Evelyn felt the now familiar sensation of being transported a great distance all at once.


    When the world came back to her, she found herself standing in arge rolling in.


    Along with her were the four other owls that had been warped with her, and immediately she raised her guard against them.


    While it was forbidden for members of the Roost to attack each other outside of duels that did not mean they would not.


    Thankfully that was not going on here and the leader of this group of peak awakened beasts came up to Evelyn and expressed his group''s worry for her.


    "If you are nning on going to the Elmot Gorge I rmend you go back. It is not the kind of ce you want to go to when you are only a low tier awakened beast."


    "Thanks for the warning but I have already made up my mind to go there. I will be fine." Evelyn said before turning around and preparing to fly.


    However, the owl that had been talking to her hastily moved in front of her and held up his wings to stop her.


    "Wait, if you are that obstinate on going how abouting with us? We can all work together to aplish our missions. It might take longer but I think it would be for the best."


    Narrowing her eyes, Evelyn now viewed all these owls with extreme suspicion.


    She was not sure why they wanted to bring her along, but for her it reeked of some sort of trap.


    "No thanks. I work alone. Now would you get out of my way."


    "Fine I understand. Just do your best not to die. Too many newly evolved owls believe they have be invincible and end up dead when they underestimate the world."


    With that the leader of the four owls headed back to his group and flew off. Leaving Evelyn alone.


    ''What was with that guy. Was he trying to trap me? But why not just attack right here and now if that was the case. Could he have actually been concerned for me.''


    Unable to determine exactly what significance of that interaction was, Evelyn pushed it to the back of her mind but made sure to be wary of any sort of ambush from those four owls.


    Once she had determined that nothing else was around, Evelyn took off into the air and surveyed the area.


    All around her was open field as far as she could see but as she got higher off in the distance, she could make out what looked like a thin line through the earth.


    ''That must be the Elmot Gorge. And I believe I can see just a bit of Velinis Desert off in the distance.''


    Her destination spotted Evelyn began flying towards the gorge at a stead pace.


    Along the way she saw some roaming bands of beasts, but she simply ignored them and they did the same.


    She was not looking to get into any fights she did not have to and taking on a whole pack or random beasts was not what in her ns.


    ''Wait what is that?''


    Spotting something in the distance, Evelyn got a little closer and pulled out a potion that would help enhanced her already impable eyesight.


    Yet when she saw what it was, she turned around and began flying the opposite direction.


    Off in the distance she had spotted one of the things that Melisandre had warned her about. Humans.


    There was arge camp set up at the edge of the gorge and Evelyn wanted nothing to do with them. Making the decision to head to the other end of the gorge and stay as far away from them as possible.


    ''She told me the ce was popr and dangerous, but I never expected to see so many humans here. There were easily over sixty people in that one group.''


    Increasing her pace, Evelyn hightailed it away from the humans and did not stop until they were out of sight.


    She then lowered her altitude and got closer to the edge of the gorge which she had been flying around two miles away from.


    Melisandre had warned her not to fly high over the gorge under any circumstances. There were apparently entities in there that scanned the skies and would attack anything that they spotted.


    ''As long as I stay close to the ground though it should be fine.''


    Landing at the edge of the gorge Evelyn looked down but could not see the bottom.


    ''Not much light is there. Even as an owl it will be hard to navigate the deepest areas dunging the night. But creating a light might as well put a target on my back so I should only do that in emergencies.''


    Once she had finished gazing into the gorge, she dropped off the edge and slowly descended down into it. Going off in search of the beasts, nts, and other items she was looking for.


    Soon she had made it over two hundred feet deep when she came across the first denizen of the gorge.


    It had a lizard like appearance, but Evelyn could tell that it was actually a type of smander by the texture of its skin.


    ''Looks like I am in luck. I have already found one of the beasts I am looking for.''

 Chapter 181 181 First Hunt At The Awakened Rank

    ?Evelyn having perched herself on the root of a tree that was growing off the side of the Elmot Gorge observed the smander she had spotted.


    It was a fairlyrge beast being around ten feet long, but its ck skin that had dark green spots dotting its back allowed it to blend in with the dark and lush gorge fairly well.


    Still its slow movements had not evaded Evelyn''s vision and she had locked onto it.


    ''Yep, that is definitely the vergif smander. Judging from the magical energy it has I can tell it is at the mid-tier of the awakened rank. The perfect specimen for making higher quality antidotes.''


    Her prey in sight, Evelyn kept track of its movements. She wanted to know where it was going and if it might lead her to more of its species.


    Nearly an hour went by as she stealthy followed the vergif smander.


    It moved painfully slow for Evelyn who could fly, but she was determined not to hastily jump in and miss out on a greater haul.


    Luckily her restraint was rewarded, as the smander eventually came up to a well-hidden cave in the side of the gorge.


    It was blocked off by numerous vies that grew in the area and without the smander leading the way Evelyn would likely have never found it.


    Ever so carefully she stuck her head inside, all the while being ready to unleash her magic if necessary.


    What she found though was not a nest of other smanders, but the one she had been tracking taking care of a magic nt.


    It was a small bush of some kind that had long blue leaves that glowed softly.


    Even from a distance Evelyn could tell that this bush had a fair amount of magical energy within it, and after racking her brain for a bit, she recognized it.


    When she had been learning new brews form Melisandre this was one of the ingredients used in the longsting magical energy rejuvenation pills that would work for twenty-four hours and were prized for their usefulness during long and harrowing missions.


    ''I did not even know this grew here. It was one of the items I had not gotten around to researching before I ran out of credits but I am happily surprised to have found it.''


    Having located two of the items she wanted, Evelyn waited and watched for a little while longer to see how the smander took care of this magical nt.


    To start it dug a few holes around the bush, then opened its mouth and began depositing something into each hole.


    For nearly a minute Evelyn from her spot at the front of the cave entrance could not tell what these objects were, but eventually caught better look at one as it fell from the smander''s mouth.


    ''Beast cores! It is using beast cores as fertilizer for it. What an ingenious little smander.'' Evelyn thought as she watched this.


    Seeing this it was clear to her that awakened rank beasts really did have quite the level of intelligence.


    Still, while Evelyn was certain that this smander was not merely a simple beast like most she had killed, she would need to not get hung up on that fact.


    ''Sorry but you have to die for me to get stronger.''


    Evelyn now ready to take out the smander and reap her rewards stepped fully into the cave and prepared to attack.


    The vergif smander quickly took notice now that she was not longer concealing her presence and was building up her magical energy.


    It turned around and looked at her menacingly and let out an intimidating screech while making itself look bigger.


    Magical energy began welling up inside its mouth and it deployed a barrier around itself to defend.


    But it was toote for it.


    Evelyn had already built up her magical energy and thanks to her intense training and high quality of magical energy, she had finish crafting her attack first.


    The attack she went with was practically the first thing she had learned. A me needle.


    However, this one waspressed heavily with as much power as she could pack into it and sped up and spiraling like a bullet with her wind magic.


    A single shoot was all it took for her to bring down the smander before her.


    The me needled flew fast and straight for its head, bored through the barrier of magical energy it had deployed, before drilling right into its head.


    Within but a second its brain was burned to ash and all life left the vergif smander''s eyes.


    ''Looks like a mid-tier awakened rank beast living out in the wilds is not much of a challenge. Still, I need to be carful not to be conceited. There are plenty of threats out there I have no chance against.''


    After easily killing the vergif smander Evelyn hopped over to its body and began taking it apart.


    She had to be extra careful while doing so, since it excreted a powerful toxin from its skin that worked even with only the slightest touch.


    It was thanks to this that vergif smanders were hardly hunted, but Melisandre had extolled how they could be used to make very powerful antidotes.


    ''Whew, that was hard. But I managed to get by only getting poisoned once. d that I still had my older antidotes and applied them quickly. This thing is really toxic since I still feel a bit sick.''


    Once she was finished with the smander, she moved her attention to the bush that it had been cultivating.


    At first she thought about digging up the beast cores the smander had buried, but decided to leave them.


    While plenty of magical nts needed to be plucked form the ground to be harvested this particr one did not and would continue to produce its glowing blue leaves so long as it received enough nutrients.


    ''In the future I cane back and check on it again. If I am lucky, it could even give me a steady supply of its leaves for as long as I need them.''


    Going around the bush Evelyn picked around two third of itsrge leaves and ended up with a healthy supply of thirty-three.


    This would be enough for her to use as ingredients for a fair number of brews for herself and to sell for a profit.


    ''Now then. Do I rest here for the day or keep exploring?''


    Weighing her options Evelyn decided to call the day early in this cave. She knew that this gorge was quite dangerous, and it would be difficult to find ces to rest that she did not have to worry about being ambushed in.


    Of course, there was no guarantee that something would not venture inside the cave, so she set up a barrier string that would alert her if something entered.


    ''That should do it. Now time to eat and then get some sleep.''


    For dinner Evelyn pulled out some dried meat Anneli had prepared for her and began happily eating it.


    Then when she was finished with the main course, she pulled out dessert.


    The beast core of the vergif smander she had just killed was quite the treat, and now that she was at the awaken rank, she could use it to increase her magical energy.


    With one big gulp she swallowed the core and felt the magical energy within breaking down and being sent out to make her Stogner.


    Now full and feeling content with a beast core strengthening her body, Evelyn nestled within the back of the cave and quickly drifted off to sleep.

 Chapter 182 182 The Bottom Of The Gorge

    ?Upon her awakening Evelyn found that there were no noticeable signs that any other beasts hade by and let out a sigh of relief.


    ''This ce is fairly well hidden, and now that I have taken out its previous own it is empty and ripe for the taking. I suppose that is will do excellently for my base of operations while I hunt and gather in the gorge.''


    Evelyn having had a peaceful rest in the hidden cave decided to make it her home during her time in the Elmot gorge.


    It was not easily found, and in this dangerous ce she was likely to find no better ce to rest.


    Once she had finished eating some breakfast, she went about preening her feathers and making sure her body was clean and in working order.


    ''I have finished up my morning routine and seem to be in good shape. Time to get back out there and see what I can rustle up.''


    Carefully Evelyn exited the cave hidden by vines and scanned her surrounding in all direction.


    Luckily one of the perks of being an owl was her ability to rotate her head all the way around which allowed her to observe her surroundings with only minimal movement.


    When she was certain that there were no prying eyes anywhere around, she slowly hopped from thick roots and jutting rocks. Descending farther down into the gorge.


    ¡­


    Weeks went by as Evelyn searched the gorge that was rich in magical energy for items she needed.


    Many times she managed to find magical nts, beasts, or other minerals she required for alchemy.


    Dozens of beasts that called the gorge home found themselves on the end of her talons and carved up for their materials.


    Magical nts were also abundant, and most of them had been imed by a beast already that was using them to propel themselves forward through the ranks.


    Numerous of these beasts met their end to Evelyn''s stealthy and ferocious attacks.


    The gorge was thick with nt life, and she used the massive roots and vines that grew throughout the area as cover during her hunts.


    Of course, she was not perfect, and sometimes would be noticed and receive a counterattack from her targets.


    Other times she would find that no matter how careful she was that other beasts would get the drop on her.


    The gorge for the most part was fairly dark, so beasts that specialized in ambushing their prey thrived there, and some of them were just as good if not better than Evelyn.


    Still, her senses were honed well and her body tougher than it would seem thanks to the Aethersphere making sure she was as durable and strong as physically possible.


    This allowed her to shrug off attacks most beasts at her rank would find devastating.


    Her gravity powers also served as practically an unbeatable trump card.


    Other than getting out of her range there was no counter to it, and only beasts that were very physically strong could resist her new extreme press magic that could push the gravity she could exert on a single creature to nearly forty times.


    In her days in the Elmot Gorge she had taken out hundreds of beasts, taken possession of as many magical nts, and mined out hundreds of kilos of valuable ores.


    At the current time she had managed to gather around ny percent of the items she was looking for in the gorge and hadpeted all but one of the missions she had taken.


    ''Where am I to find these stupid Destaphia Roots. I have looked all over the walls of the gorge and even checked to see if they were growing in the beds of dirt that had developed in some of the dead and rotting trees that grow out of the side of the gorge. But still I have not found them. At the very least I need to locate them before going back in order toplete the mission I took.''


    Evelyn was beginning to get frustrated that she could not find the remining items she was searching for.


    When she had first started out, she found things quite easily,ing across useful beasts or magical nts within every few hours.


    Yet now that she had obtained most of what she was after, finding the remaining things was bing increasing more difficult.


    In the end she figured that most of what she was after was likely in an area she had avoided going to.


    The bottom of the gorge in many ces contained the strongest concentrations of magical energy within the air and ground, making it rich with resources.


    But with these rarer and more potent resources also came more powerful beasts.


    So far Evelyn had avoided doing battle with anything stronger than a high grade awaken beast. Which in of in itself had been a bit of a struggle, since it was far stronger than the owl of the same rank she had beaten in the mission hall.


    Still, she had searched all of for the Destaphia Roots in what she had deemed the safer areas of the gorge ande up empty.


    Either they were very well hidden, or in order to find them she would need to brave going to bottom of the Elmot Gorge.


    ''There are bound to be all manner of things down there that are valuable. I need only keep my vignce up and make sure not to antagonize anything I cannot handle.'' Evelyn thought, psyching herself up.


    Of course, she was not foolish enough to simply head into such a dangerous ce, and pulled out some of the invisibility and scent dampening talisman she had and activated them


    After that she drank a number of potions that would work together and increased her defense, speed, hearing, eyesight, and magical energy flow for the next eight hours.


    The buffs were certainly less effective in rtion to her current power since they had all been made when she was a fiend beast. But they still helped out.


    ''I am on a timer now. I need to finish this before the potions and talismans wear off.''


    Plunging into the depths of the gorge Evelyn tucked her wings in and dove straight down.


    So far, she had not made any rapid movements, but thanks to her invisibility and the natural quietness of owl feathers, she feltfortable speeding her way down to the bottom.


    Within just a few minutes of what was pretty much a free fall she could see the river that ran through the gorge and spread her wings to slow down.


    With a few turns of her head she scoped out the general area she was in and found that this area of the river was moving fairly slowly and had arge bank on the western side.


    Heading over to where the was solid ground shended on the bank and found that it was slick with moistering off from the river.


    ''Wow, the magical energy really is much denser down here.'' Evelyn thought as she took in a few breaths.


    She was certain that where she was now had the same quantity of magical energy as the advancement chamber after using a half dozen red magical crystals.


    This was the kind of environment a beast would get stronger in simply by breathing in the air, but that meant that there were plenty of powerful entities that would live in such a rich environment.


    Now at the bottom of the gorge Evelyn began scouring it for the item she was intently searching for, but even after five hours she had not found it.


    However, she had already run into three different tyrant rank beasts and dozens of peak awakened ranks while at the bottom.


    Luckily thanks to the stealth enchantments she had and by staying absolutely still whenever in these beasts'' presences she had managed to get by undetected.


    Nevertheless, the experiences had been nerve racking and she felt that her spirit could not take much more of being in such a dangerous ce where she had already seen countless beasts meet their ends in bloody battles.


    ''I was right not toe down here at the beginning. This ce is terribly dangerous. If even one of these beasts found me, I would be in trouble.''


    Feeling that she was taking too much of a risk, Evelyn contemted heading back up earlier, when she finally came across what she was searching for.


    It was an area that was devoid of other beasts thankfully, and the dark green roots that were stripped grey were quite distinguishable from the vines that littered the area.


    ''Finally, there they are. Now all I need to do is dig them up and take the deepest part which is useful in alchemy as a stabilizing agent for many powerful brews. Melisandre told me how important it was for getting numerous ingredients that normally react poorly together to not create problems while brewing.''


    ted to have found what she was searching for, Evelynnded down on the ground and began digging up the ground with a w attachment that was shaped like a shovel. With it she was able to dig into the dirt much easier than with simply using her foot.


    Quickly she cut through the topyer of roots and vines that covered the surface to reach the parts she wanted.


    Yet ack of information on the item she was trying to gather soon reared its head.


    All she had found out about the Destaphia Roots was that they were located in the Elmot Gorge. And it was because of thisck of follow up that she had no idea how dangerous the Destaphia nt truly was.

 Chapter 183 183 Endless Rampage

    ?Evelyn, while digging up the Destaphia Roots she needed suddenly felt a presenceing from behind her.


    In a sh of movement, she leapt into the air and spread her wings to gain some altitude.


    A momentter the ce she was standing was mmed into by arge form.


    When the creature lifted itself from the hole in the ground it had created Evelyn looked at it with wide eyes.


    Before he was not a beast like she had excepted but instead what looked like a giant Venus flytrap.


    Its mouth was easily five meters long and it had long sharp teeth and an obviously highly caustic acid dripped out of its mouth.


    ''Wait it has gray stripes going along its body.'' Evelyn observed.


    That was when she realized that this was the main body of the Destaphia, and she had just been attacked for trying to dig out its roots.


    Mentally berating herself Evelyn made sure to remember to follow up on investigating the ingredients she was going to be looking for.


    ''I guess just knowing it was here and having seen the example of the root Melisandre had shown me was not enough. Still, while it seems fairly powerful and menacing, I think I will be fine against just one.'' Evelyn thought as she prepared to square off against the Destaphia.


    Except as she prepared to attack, she had a bad feeling in her stomach. And with a few quick nces she noticed that she was already surrounded.


    Coming out of the crevasse in the wall of the gorge where it seemed that just ordinary vines were growing hundreds of Destaphias had appeared.


    All of them had the form of giant Venus flytraps. With the smallest begin around three meters long and thergest being over ten.


    Each of them was far bigger than Evelyn, and she found herselfpletely boxed in with nowhere to escape to.


    For a couple of seconds everything was calm with the only movement begin the pping of Evelyn''s wings.


    Then as if the stillness had all been an illusion every single one of the giant mouths filled with razor sharp teeth and acid came flying towards Evelyn.


    Without hesitation she wreathed herself in crimson fire and whipped up a tornado around herself.


    mes and wind began slicing through and incinerating the Destaphias that came at Evelyn in an unending wave.


    The first several dozen never even got close to her, but she could only generate so much power in a single instant and eventually one broke through.


    It opened its mouth to try and swallow her as it got through a break in her magic, but its teeth failed to reach her.


    The crimson me surrounding her like armor burned its fangs away before it could bite down and quickly its entire body was begin burnt to a crip.


    Still, it managed to connect with Evelyn, and before it waspletely turned to ash it smashed right into her.


    This sent her spiraling back towards the ground and more and more of the Destaphias started crashing into her with no regard for their lives.


    ''Ugh! Back off!''


    Anger welling up inside her Evelyn activated her gravity field and lowed the gravity in the area.


    This made the blowsing at her much lighter, and it took far less power from her wind magic to blow the creatures back as she built up more of her heavenly me around her.


    After she had made some room, she no longer held anything back and began unleashing indiscriminate sts of her heavenly me.


    It ate through her magical energy at an astronomical rate, but she torched every single one of the hundreds of Destaphias trying to eat her.


    Three minutes quickly went by with Evelyn going berserk on the nts that were trying to eat her.


    Eventually not a single one remained. Only the ash in the air and surrounding area to show that they ever existed.


    ''I really freaking hate nts in this world.'' Evelyn thought as she kicked some of the limp vines that had at one time been attached to Destaphias heads.


    When her anger was cated, she began going back to digging up the roots she needed for her alchemy and toplete one of the missions she had taken.


    With monotonous motions Evelyn began digging up the dirt and unearthed the Destaphia Roots that she needed.


    Using her talons she sliced them apart and sealed them away in preservation jars before storing them away.


    This went on for nearly five minutes as she gathered what she needed toplete the mission and a bit for herself.


    Yet before she could get all that she wanted; a new foe arrived.


    Her battle with Destaphias had caused quite themotion, and other beasts hade to investigate.


    Now standing in front of her was arge goat that had two heads.


    Seeing it, Evelyn recoiled back by how unsettling its appearance was, but fear soon gripped her for another reason when she felt its aura.


    It exuded the power of a low tier tyrant rank beast, and she knew that she was not ready to take something like this.


    ''I need to get out of here.''


    With no hesitation she turned around to fly away, but before she could the goat bleated loudly and the earth around her rose up and mmed closed around her.


    Covered in her heavenly me Evelyn annihted the ground around her and melted away the stone that had nearly crushed her to death.


    ''Extreme Press.''


    Seeing the surprise in her opponent''s eyes that she survived, Evelyn used the small opening to use her strongest gravity attack to hold her new enemy down while she escaped.


    Unable to resist, the massive two headed goat sunk into the soft ground of the riverbank, and Evelyn took leave into the air.


    She figured this would be the end of it, but the tyrant rank goat was not going to let her escape so easily, and after getting out of the hole Evelyn had sunk it into, it began running up the wall of the gorge by creating tforms with its earth magic.


    And as Evelyn thought the situation could not get worse, another entity appeared from above.


    A giant ape beast at the peak of the awakened rank had now shown up to investigate what was going on and began swinging from vine to vine towards Evelyn.


    Now she had a dangerous foeing from the front and back.


    Still a peak wakened beast was far easier to deal with than a tyrant beast, so Evelyn kept going full steam ahead.


    With careful use of all of her magics she jetted by the gori in a bust of me and wind.


    Luckily by leaving it behind, the tyrant rank goat chasing her turned its attention towards the gori instead and allowed Evelyn to create some distance.


    Yet when it seemed she would be safe, something she had not expected to ever see came at her from below.


    A pod of flying dolphins that were constantly using their echolocation to pick up on her location were making a beeline for her.


    And this was not all. From above more beasts wereing to look into themotion she had caused. It had truly turned into a rampage of beasts that were all converging around her.

 Chapter 184 184 Endless Rampage (2)

    ?Beastsing at her from all angles, Evelyn realized she had caused a very dangerous situation.


    Certainly, she was strong, and even against a low tier tyrant rank beast she was somewhat confident in escaping. But she could sense hundreds of presences converging.


    Battles were already breaking out all over the ce from the agitated beasts that her indiscriminate sts of fire and wind against the Destaphias had worked up.


    Soon she found the pod of flying dolphin beastsing for her, but before they got any closer, arge crabunched itself off the side of the wall and broke their formation.


    A quick nce and Evelyn could tell this was another low tier tyrant rank beast havinge to pick off the weaker beasts.


    With a blindingly fast motion it had gripped ahold of two of the dolphins and crushed them in its ws.


    The rest of the pod began angrily circling around it. Not caring that it was stronger than any of them.


    Unfortunately, this was not the only fierce battle going on around Evelyn. And while she was distracted by what was going on with the flying dolphins and crab that was at least three times bigger than thergest tanks, the two headed goat caught back up with her. The body of therge gori pierced through n the horns of one of its heads.


    It seemed that the first beast that hade after her was very intent on catching her, and Evelyn had a fairly good idea why.


    If it had sensed just how impressive her me was it might have thought it could take it for itself, or that perhaps eating Evelyn beast core would give it greater power.


    ''Damn it, another one.''


    This time from above a new tyrant rank beast descend upon the area and cut Evelyn''s ascent off.


    Now hovering above her was arge blue dragon fly that was nearly eight feet long.


    It was actually one of the smaller beasts that had appeared, but there was no doubt that it was also a low tier tyrant beast from the aura it gave off.


    Its eyes seemed to focus on everything around it, and with incredible agility itunched itself towards Evelyn.


    At the end of its legs, it had sharp ws which left mist in their wake.


    Seeing this, Evelyn realized that it was imbuing its attack with ice magic, and that whatever got hit by it would be frozen solid.


    Evelyn could barely keep up with the attacking for her and she needed to use a fast and risky maneuver to avoid it.


    With practically no time she simply created a jet of mes behind her that shepressed with wind and shot away from the dragon fly.


    Yet even with all the speed she could muster, its freezing ws still grazed her, and her entire back was covered in ayer of ice.


    Pain from the cold immediately assaulted her, and for a second it felt as if she was being burned. An experience she had not had since obtaining the crimson heavenly me.


    However, while she was feeling the burning pain from the cold, it was actually the least of her worries.


    Her reckless maneuver to avoid a direct hit had her shooting off towards the wall of the gorge.


    She did what she could to slow down, but the ice on her back made it much harder to p her wings and just wind magic alone could only slow her down so muchpared to the burst of speed she had gained from her jet propulsion.


    But around twenty feet before she crashed into the gorge, she smacked headfirst into something else.


    One of the flying dolphins had moved into her path and she crashed into it with full force.


    A momentter she crushed it into the wall, and while it was not an overall soft impact, the dolphin acted as quite the cushion and heavily lowered the damage she would have taken.


    ''Ugh, I am d that my fortification potion is still in effect, or else that would have been way worse.'' Evelyn thought as she pulled herself out of some rubble and shook her head off.


    The force of her crash into the dolphin and then the wall of the gore had caused rocks to fall down on top of her, but by some miracle she had not fallen too far andnded on arge ledge.


    Laying next to her was the flying dolphin that had cushioned her crash into the wall, and while it was not dead, its eyes were rolled back, and blood was flowing out of its mouth.


    ''Oof, and its tail is bent at an unnatural angle. Sorry, but your sacrifice will not be in vain. I will keep on living in your stead.''


    With one final swift shake off, she dislodged herselfpletely from the wreckage around her and looked over the situation.


    Numerous battles were still going on all over the ce.


    This section of the gorge had turned into a massive free for all with hundreds of beasts ranging from the mid-tier of the awakened rank to the low tier of the tyrant rank participating.


    Just the damage from the stray attacks had warped the gorge forevermore, and Evelyn felt a bit bad about all the damage she had caused by stirring things up.


    ''At least I do not have to worry about hat two ahead goat of ice dragonfly right now.'' Evelyn thought.


    The two tyrant rank beasts were currently going at it with each other and busting out some powerful attacks that were as strong, if not more so than what Evelyn had seen Anneli and Katrina dish out.


    ''Well, while they all fight and have forgotten about little ol me, I can make my exit.''


    Moving inconspicuously, Evelyn reapplied an invisibility talisman since the previous one came undone when she hit by the Destaphia.


    Except what she had not expected was that the activation of the talisman itself would garner the attention of some of the beasts.


    Suddenly she had a target on her back once again, and just being unseen did not make her truly undetectable.


    Plenty of the beasts had heighted senses that allowed them to hear, or even smell where she was. Despite the scent masking talisman she still had in effect.


    Others even had more urate ways to find her. Like the blue dragonfly that could sense the movement of the wind within a certain area around it, and the flying dolphins that had echolocation.


    Without warning Evelyn found herself under attack anew, and she had to take evasive action to avoid being heavily injured.


    ''Screw it. You can all enjoy ten times gravity.''


    Up to this point Evelyn had been avoiding using her gravity field much since it could burn through her magical energy, which was already a bit low from her earlier barrage of me and wind attacks against the Destaphias. But right now, the situation demanded it.


    Under the pressure of the ten times gravity that Evelyn spread out, plenty of beasts lost their bearings and plummeted down.


    Foot holds that were able to support them a moment ago lost their strength and broke away, wings were unable topensate for the increased wight fast enough, and those relying on magic to stay in the air had to pour it out to offset the force from Evelyn''s gravity field.


    Taking all the beast by surprise, Evelyn figured she had made the perfect opening to escape. When the worst possible scenario she could think of happened.


    Dozens of robed figures began descending down the walls of the Elmot Gorge, and Evelyn felt fear grip her as humans start unleashing spells against the beasts that were being restrained by her power.

 Chapter 185 185 An Enemy That Must Be Destroyed

    ?With the addition of humans joining the fray, the already chaotic battle of beasts became far more hectic.


    The timing was absolutely the worst for the beasts that were already embroiled with each other, and Evelyn had just used her gravity field to slow them all down. Under the added pressure of her magic, it became much harder for them to evade of block the humans'' attacks.


    And to make matters even worse, as the humans wereing from above the increased gravity actually strengthened their heavier attacks by quite a bit.


    Evelyn watched as dozens of beasts were hit by the spells cast by humans. This was her first time seeing so many humans attack at once, and it was clear why they were feared.


    Their coordination was impable, with multiple spells targeting one opponent and focusing on weaknesses that the beasts had.


    ''Damn it! They had to show up right now.''


    Faced with a new threat, Evelyn had to make a difficult decision and cut off her gravity magic.


    While the other beasts were certainly not her friends, and many had been trying to kill her. The humans were far greater enemies in Evelyn''s eyes, and she would rather not be inhibiting the other beasts in this situation.


    Once her magic was shut off the other beasts were able to regain their bearings quickly, and the majority of hostilities amongst each other ceased to deal with the humans.


    Pretty much all beasts that lived in the wilds had a hate for humans. They would constantlye into their homes and kill them. And while other beasts may do the same, the cruelty that humans showed often had them loathed by any beasts that knew of them.


    Magic continued to fly all around, and now that she was no longer the center of attention Evelyn tried to slip away.


    She certainly had no love for humans. Not after all they had taken form her in both her lives. But she was not going to throw herself into an unnecessary fight when she was already exhausted from everything that had happened.


    Yet as she was leaving, one of the humans caught her attention.


    Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a spell that she could never forget.


    Tworge hands made of stone had popped out of the side of the gorge''s wall and were crushing one of the flying dolphins.


    At first Evelyn figured it was just another human using the same spell. She knew that humans had created standardized magic to use amongst themselves to increase their power.


    But still she could not help the knocking in her chest and the fire in her mind thatpelled her to make sure.


    Surely, she figured that the man who had taken down her parents was dead. The group of other humans that had attacked clearly won the battle in the research facility.


    Slowly and carefully as to not draw attention to herself, Evelyn approached and attempted to look under the man''s cloak. And as he moved around the area manipting the earth in the around him that Evelyn caught a glimpse of his face.


    It was now horribly scarred unlike before, and his left leg was actually made of stone. But she could never forget his face.


    ''So, he managed to survive after all. I already killed the researcher, but of them all, he was the second highest on my list.''


    Immediately any thoughts of escape left Evelyn''s mind. With blind rage overtaking her.


    Not only was this man here, but all the other people with him were part of the same organization which had been the cause of her new family''s death.


    ''I do not know how he lived but it is time I rectify that.''


    Without any care for stealth or how much magical energy she had, Evelyn burst into a ze with her heavenly me and charged towards Uriah, the man that had crushed her mother and father.


    "Stone circle."


    Uriah seeing the iing ball of me, cast a defensive spell and molded the wall of rock around him into a thick barrier.


    However, Evelyn, in her fury did not even bother to try and stop her charge. Plowing right through the stone headfirst.


    Her heavenly mes easily melted through it, and the bulwark of wind she had conjured in front of her cushioned the blow.


    "Obsidian Lance."


    When she broke through Evelyn found herself immediately begin attacked by Uriah''s next spell.


    ''Extreme Press.''


    To counter it Evelyn brought out her gravity field and hit thence made of earth with the maximum amount of gravity she could.


    The mass of rock could not maintain its trajectory under such pressure and plummeted into the side of the gorge. Where it caved in deeply before crumpling away.


    ''Die!''


    Having caught the man off guard, Evelyn gave him no time to cast another spell. She opened up her mouth where she had coalesced her heavenly me and fired it out in a beam.


    To protect himself, Uriah who did not have enough time to cast a spell activated the wristband he had on his left arm and created a gleaming silver shield in front of him.


    The beam of Evelyn''s crimson fire hit it with enough force to blow the man back against the wall of the gorge, and his shield that should have been able to block even the attacks from peak awakened rank beasts began to melt.


    His skin started to ck away and turn to ash. The mes were quickly consuming him, and it seemed that Evelyn would be able to sessfully kill the man she held responsible for her parent''s death.


    However, before she turned the man into nothing but a charred corpse, arge sphere of water crashed down on him and protected him.


    A huge eruption of steam followed and covered the area in a denseyer of fog that made it difficult to see.


    ''Out of the way.''


    Whipping up a gust of wind Evelyn blew the fog away and looked towards the man she wanted to kill.


    ''He is still alive.''


    Grinding her peak, Evelyn was frustrated that her vengeance was blocked. All that currently filled her mind was taking out the man that had ruined the happiness she had achieved in her second life after living through hell in her first.


    Unfortunately, the one that had protected him was now standing in Evelyn''s way, and it was clear he was no pushover.


    Floating in the air was arge jellyfish made of water and standing on top of it was a man with long azure hair and a stupidly handsome face.


    He had positioned himself in front of Evelyn and was wearing a confident smile.


    "Uriah, it looks like you managed to gain the ire of a pretty strong beast. What did you do to get on this inexplicably power low tier awakened beast''s bad side?" The azure haired man said while smirking down at the fallen and injured Uriah.


    "Sir, I did nothing to it. It just attacked me out of the blue. But I felt it. The unknown power from the reports. That is the owl that has our divine item."

 Chapter 186 186

    ?Evelyn grimaced as she heard the man known as Uriah divulge that she had the Aethersphere. Though he had simply called it the divine item since only Evelyn had been privy to its name when she integrated it into her body and soul.


    And unfortunately, she was not the only one to have a reaction to this. The handsome man with azure hair that had saved Uriah looked toward Evelyn with glee.


    "I must be supremely favored by the heavens in order to have the missing specimen appear before me. After this I will almost certainly be brough into our leader''s inner circle."


    Rolling her eyes, Evelyn could care less about this man''s monologue and instead turned her attention toward Uriah.


    Her goal of killing him had not changed, and if her attacks were being blocked, she would simply use something that could not be stopped.


    ''Even the leader of the Roost could not defend against it, so these guys certainly will not be able to.''


    Spreading out her gravity field again, she focused on her target and hit him wit her extreme press ability.


    Immediately Uriah copsed to the ground and the ledge he was on began to crumble under the added pressure.


    Blood started to pour out of his mouth as he was crushed into the ground. Unable to circte enough magical energy to fortify his body due to his injures.


    Evelyn smiled as she got close to her goal of avenging her parents. She wanted nothing more than to kill this man who had ruined her life.


    But before she could finish the job, the azure haired handsome man got in her way. The jellyfish made of water he was riding on reached out with numerous tendrils andshed towards Evelyn.


    Unable to react fast enough, she had to shut off her increased gravity and instead lessen it around to allow her to move faster and weaken any blow that might hit her.


    A few deft aerial maneuverster and she had moved back out of range of the jellyfish''s tendrils with only having taken a few ncing blows.


    Still, this was enough for her to know that what she was dealing with was not simple water.


    The jellyfish shape was not just for show, and on the tip of each of its tendrils was a pocket of poison.


    As soon as she realized what was going on Evelyn pulled out the best antidots she had and downed them in an instant.


    This helped to offset the poison''s potency, but she still felt a bit numb.


    ''Damn, it is some sort of tranquilizer and is stronger than the medicine I have. At this rate I will not be able to fight at my full potential.''


    Her breathing growing heavier and her wings pping slower, Evelyn could tell she was in a bad spot.


    "You are more resilient than I figured you would be. A normal low tier awaken beast like you would normally have been paralyzed by now. That antidote you have taken most be helping, but I am still surprised. But judging by the items you have on you some sort of organization has taken you in. That means you must be intelligent enough to understand me. I will give you a great chance. Come back with me to the Deamhain Sect and you will be treated properly. The item you have in you originally belonged to us, and even though you took it we will be willing to forgive you if youe back peacefully."


    Hearing this, Evelyn nearly opened her beak wide in shook at how shameless this man was.


    He was making her out to be some sort of thief, while his sect were forgiving and would wee her back even after her transgression.


    ''Yeah right. Like I would ever go back with them. I would rather die than ever be someb rat again.''


    With defiance in her eyes, Evelyn red right at the man and used wind magic in a way that mimicked a voice.


    So far she was not too good at it, but she felt like right now she would be able to get her simple reply out.


    "Go fuck yourself!"


    A vein began to pop on the azure haired man''s forehead as he heard Evelyn crass response. And in return he said, "So be it. You cane back as my captive with your wings and feet removed instead."


    After giving her response Evelyn found herself under attack again.


    The jellyfish made of water and poisonshed out at her and she had to focus her all of defenses in order to not get hit.


    Nearly a half minute went by as she danced around using all of her powers to move her body in impossible ways and blocking what she could with her magic.


    ''Damn this guy is strong. I assume he must be at the arcanist rank which is equivalent to the tyrant rank for beasts.''


    Out matched and pressured, Evelyn was having a difficult time simply not being hit and had no room to counterattack.


    Quickly she realized that her only chance was to use the defensive talisman that Melisandre had given her and try to run away as fast as she could.


    With one swift motion she pulled the trump card she had been given out and activated its power.


    A shimmering blue barrier of magical energy then formed around her.


    To test how effective it would be, she allowed it to take a few hits from the jellyfish''s tendrils and found that it held up well enough.


    ''Now for my escape. I really do want to kill that guy, but I am not going to end up captured again to do so. I now know the name of their organization and can find themter when I have gotten stronger.''


    Evelyn now feeling protected thanks to the barrier talisman, turned her body straight up and prepared tounch herself out of the gorge at fully speed.


    Yet before she could, something she had not anticipated happened.


    The azure haired man threw some sort of glowing crystal at her, and when it hit her barrier, it began to fade away into nothing.


    "That certainly was a powerful item you had there. But do not think you are the only one with tricks up your sleeve. Now stop resisting and I will make this as painless as possible."

 Chapter 187 187 Slipping Away

    ?Evelyn watching her barrier fade away gaped in horror.


    The trump card Melisandre had given her as a means to defend herself was now gone.


    Her body was weak from poison and her magical energy was beginning to run low from constant use.


    The situation was grim, and it seemed that there was little she could do to fight back.


    Luckily, she had a moment to collect her thoughts. The azure haired man was waiting to see if destroying her barrier would break her spirit and she would stop resisting.


    Her eyes darted all around and she looked for anything that might help her.


    This was not like the time with the empress dryad when it was only her and her opponent in the area. Numerous battles were going on all around them.


    ''Overall, the humans are winning but there are three tyrant rank beasts here who are putting up good fights. I need only get one of them to take on this guy for me while I get away.''


    Evelyn''s mind raced as she picked out the best path for her to escape, and she soon locked onto her target.


    The two headed goat was currently doing battle with a woman d in lighting.


    It was expertly using its earth magic to move around in normally impossible ways and used poles made of earth to absorb any sts of electricity that came for him.


    And of course, there was no way that the human woman who was a practitioner of lightning magic was going to be able to get into closebat with the two headed goat that was easily twenty-five feet tall and had powerful body.


    ''They will do. The goat is the only one in a one-on-one battle, making it the perfect target.''


    Having decided on her course of action Evelyn turned towards the battle she was going to intrude in to try and make her escape.


    "Do not think you will be able to get away from me!"


    With the wave of his hand the azure haired man sent out the tendrils of the water jellyfish he had conjured, and they moved to encircle Evelyn and give he no path for escape.


    They moved in faster than she could normally react to, but she had been subtly weaving her insurance while racking her brain.


    Three gravity traps she had set around herself all went off at the same time around her.


    The first two pushed back the iing tendrils while the third was ced directly behind her.


    Gaining immense momentum like she wasunched by and invisible spring, Evelyn shot away from the tendrils that closed around her a moment toote.


    Then when she got in range of the battle between the two headed goat and the lighting magic using woman, she activated her gravity field and extended it out only to the woman.


    ''Reverse Press.''


    Targeting the woman, Evelyn hit her with the greatest lowered gravity she could the moment the woman had elerated in another direction.


    This caused her already swift movements to be even faster, and she found herself unable to avoid a collision with the wall of the gorge.


    Thanks to the opening that Evelyn had just created the two headed goat used his magic to control the wall of the gorge and the stunned woman found herself swallowed up by the earth.


    ''And for the final touches.''


    Sensing her opponenting from behind, Evelyn turned around with a goading smirk on her face.


    The Azured haired man who as previously acting haughty and invincible, now had a twisted expression full of rage.


    "Aqua kunai."


    Evelyn watched as her persistent adversary cast a new spell and dozens of sharp and fast-moving projectiles came for her.


    However, this was exactly what she wanted, and the final gravity trap she had been preparing appeared before her and acted as a shield.


    With it she redirected the kunai that would have hit them and sent them right for the goat.


    Of course, her power was pretty much invisible, and the two headed goat viewed what just happened as the azured haired man attacking him.


    He quickly turned his attention towards his new enemy and the two headed goat rushed past Evelyn.


    She was no longer his target after her assist and the fact that he was just hit by a powerful human.


    ''So, I guess he is my scapegoat.'' Evelyn thought while restraining a chuckle.


    A fierce battle between the azured haired man and the two headed goat then began, and he no longer had the liberty to focus on Evelyn no matter how much he wanted to.


    Though despite the fact she had gotten rid of her biggest problem, a new one had emerged.


    Her use of gravity traps and reverse press had left her scraping the bottom of her magical energy reserves despite the extraordinary amount she had.


    The number of powerful spells she had used were simply too many for her to continue firing off in rapid session, and the poison in her system was slowing her natural recovery down.


    ''I want to get out of here, but above me is too many battles going on. I will have to go down.''


    Evelyn turned her head down and began descending back into the depths of the gorge. Her only hope of escape to go back down and try to lose the humans that were after here.


    The azure man tried firing off more spells at her and shouted and screamed in fury but could not get away from the two headed goat that had be his opponent.


    "Everyone who can get away, after that owl. Whoever captures her will be rewarded by me personally and given a higher position within the sect. Catch her alive if possible. Dead if you must." Yelled the Azure haired man.


    In response to the order from their superior all the humans that could broke off and pursued Evelyn. But of course, it would not be so easy for them.


    For as many humans as there were, there were just as many if not more beasts.


    Now that they had joined this battle, they found it difficult to abandon it. And a few of the humans even took mortal wounds when trying to disengage from battle.


    Nevertheless, four of them did get by and continued after Evelyn. Intent on getting the reward and rank up for capturing her.

 Chapter 188 188 Washed Away

    ?''Damn it. Why are they always so persistent.''


    ncing behind her Evelyn could see the four pursuing humans that had managed to break away from the fighting.


    Still, at the very least these humans were weaker than the azure haired man that had been easily pushing her around.


    ''If I had my full magical energy, I could easily lose them. But they are not even giving me a chance to recover.'' Evelyn thought as she dropped another pill bottle.


    Every time she took out a recovery item the four humans wouldunch attacks at her and force her to rapidly evade.


    Among them one of them especially was giving her trouble with his spear that was able to extend insanely fast and catch up to where she was in only a second. And unfortunately, as she was now, she had no way to block the attack.


    The only thing keeping her going was her superior physique she had obtained from the Aethersphere reworking her body and the powerful evolution she had recently attained.


    However, even this one advantage was slowly failing her. The poison that was still in her body despite the antidote she had taken was seeping in deeper and making it more difficult for her to move. Every rapid movement she made to avoid an attack only sped up the spread of the paralytic poison.


    Panic was starting to set in as her breathes became morebored and Evelyn frantically tried to think of ways to get out of her current predicament.


    ''I am not going to be captured again. I refuse to be ab rat. If I am going to lose, I might as well take the out with me.''


    Feeling her body starting to seize up Evelyn decided if she was going out, she would go out with a bang.


    She had enough power left in her for one final attack and would use it to create an explosion with her heavenly me.


    ''Here goes nothing. I am leaving everything else up to the fate my brother saw and bet his life on.''


    When she had built up her remaining magical energy, Evelyn abruptly stopped her momentum by holding her wings out, and with a heavy punched herself back towards the humans chasing after her.


    They had not been expecting her to suddenly fall back towards them, and the attacks they had already initiated were going to hit her.


    All of them had been doing their best to not kill her since their leader had asked for her alive if possible. But her unexpected movement ced her directly in the path of their attacks.


    Yet despite it seeming like she would take a fatal wound; Evelyn jerked her body around to take the hits where her armor protected her.


    With expert precision she managed to have all the attacks nce off her, though that is not to say they did not hurt quite a bit.


    Her amor had prevented her from being sliced or pierced but the impact of the attacks still hurt, and she felt some bruises already setting in.


    ''But you are all in range now.''


    ''re Burst!''


    Positioned in the middle of the four humans Evelyn unleashed the magic she had been building up and a powerful explosion created by her unrestrained heavenly me enveloped the area.


    Unable to withstand the surprise attack, all four of the humans found themselves burning away and frantically trying to use their magical energy to protect themselves.


    In the end only one of them managed to survive. Though their left arm and leg had been turned to ash and the entire rest left side of their body had terrible burns.


    Evelyn of course escaped from the st mostly uninjured, but she had drained thest of her magical energy and the poison in her system had made it difficult for her to move.


    Quickly she plummeted from the air, and with her fading consciousness saw that she was about to plunge into the river at the bottom of the gorge.


    ''This had better work.''


    Before passing out from expending all of her magical energy Evelyn activated the effects of her sea serpent armor and created an air bubble around her head.


    This would allow her to breath even underwater for thirty minutes, and she hoped that it would make a difference.


    She then fell right into the river unconscious and was dragged away by the current.


    Along the way she was thrown about and smashed against rocks. Completely at the mercy of the river.


    If she had been a normal owl there is no doubt her body would have been broken within just a few seconds, but she was tougher than steel now that she had made it to the awakened rank. And even though it left her battered, none of the impacts into the rocks caused major damage.


    However, while she could take the thrashing from the river even while unconscious, she only had thirty minutes of air.


    There were numerous times when the current dragged her under for a prolonged time and without the magic from her armor, she certainly would have drowned.


    Dozens of minutes passed for Evelyn as the rapids of the river pulled her further from where she started, and soon her armor''s power was going to end.


    When it did, it was likely that she would drown as her body was seized up from poison and unconscious.


    Yet by some miracle the river began to calm, and Evelyn''s limp body washed up on a shallow bank.


    Her body was slowly sinking into the mud, and she was covered in dirt, but she was no longer begin dragged away by the river and at risk of drowning


    Except this brought with it a new set of problems.


    Now that she was out of the raging part of the river there were beasts that were living in the calm, and one of them noticed Evelyn unmoving body.


    Arge alligator that was at the high tier of the fiend beast rank eyed Evelyn warily while lowly moving closer to her.


    Even though the alligator was an apex predator, down here at the bottom of the Elmot Gorge his rank made him a small fry inparison to many others.


    Normally he would never move towards the bank and had gotten by eating the numerous lower ranking fish that lived in the river and absorbing the plentiful magical energy in the area. But the prospect of being able to eat Evelyn who was at the awakened rank was too tempting to pass up.


    The lumbering beast soon was standing in the shallows and walking towards Evelyn with a gleam in its eyes.


    It could tell how much eating her would raise its rank, and its instinctspelled it to consume the meal that it normally would never have a chance to get.


    "It has been a while since I have had alligator. You will make a nice treat."


    Without any warning the alligator that thought it was all alone heard a voice and felt a presence that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.


    It slowly turned towards the direction of the voice and found that a cloaked figure was standing there.


    Immediately it tried to turn around and flee back into the river but found that its head was separated from its body before it could even take a single step.


    After the alligator was dead, the entity that had killed it swiftly shoved it into a spatial bag.


    "Oh, and what do we have here. I cannot remember thest time I saw an owl down here. Some poultry might be nice as well."


    Noticing Evelyn, the hooded figure leisurely approached her, but stopped when she caught sight of something on Evelyn''s body.


    "I see. A member of the Roost. I suppose that I cannot just eat her then. I might as well take her back and see if she will wake up on her own."

 Chapter 189 189 Scramble To Find An Exit

    ?Slowly consciousness began toe back to Evelyn. Her eyes still felt heavy, and her body was horribly sore all over.


    ''What the hell happened to me. It feels like I was used as a pinball.''


    Her mind still foggy she tried to remember what had happened. And when she did, her eyes shot open, and she tried to get up.


    However, despite the fact that she had woken back up, the poison in her system had not worn off and the paralysis along with the damage she had taken kept her from moving for the moment.


    Unable to move all she could see was a ceiling above her that had brightly glowing blue crystalsing out of it.


    They were releasing a strong light and a gentle heat that was actually quiteforting.


    In contrast, the b of stone she wasying on was nice and cool, and the contrast on the front and back of her body was a bit soothing.


    ''Where am I? I know I fell into the river, but I passed out after that. Did I wash up into a cave or something? No that cannot be it. I do not hear any water flowing. And what is that smell?''


    Sniffing the air Evelyn could distinctly pick up a delicious aroma that she had not expected to fine at the bottom of the Elmot Gorge.


    ''Someone is cooking something. And it smells great.'' Evelyn thought. Letting the aroma wash over her.


    Yet a momentter she snapped out of it and her heart began to beat rapidly.


    Food did not just start cooking on its own. Someone or something had to be doing it.


    This meant that she had been picked up, and while she was not dead, she could easily be an ingredient that whoever had found her was nning on using.


    ''I have to get out of here. Other than bing a test subject again, ending up someone''s meal is probably the second worst thing that could happen to me.''


    Stirred on by a new sense of urgency Evelyn forced her exhausted, injured, and poisoned body to move.


    It was a terrible struggle, one of the worst she had ever had. But eventually she got her head up.


    Immediately she looked down towards her storage cuff and rings to pull out some recovery items. Except when she saw her left leg where they should have been, there was nothing.


    Panicking she nced over to her other leg to see if her identification cuff for the Roost was still there, and luckily it was.


    ''Did theye off in the river? No that should not be possible. Maybe the rings, but definitely not the cuff. I would likely lose my leg before it came off from simply being battered around in a river. Whoever has captured me must have taken them knowing what they are.''


    Evelyn swiveled her head back and forth now that she had made the extreme effort to lift her head and took stock of what was around her.


    First and foremost, she pinpointed where the smell wasing from and found that it led deeper into the cave system she was in.


    Along with the path the smell wasing from there were two more, and all she could do was hope that one of them would lead her out.


    ''Come on. You will die if you do not move.''


    With gritted beak she pulled herself off the raised stone b she had been ced on.


    Just standing up took pretty much all her strength, but with the magical energy she had recovered she lowered her own gravity to make it easier on her body.


    ''If only that poison was gone, I could deal with the soreness. But both of them make it feel like I am lifting a mountain every time I move.''


    With immense struggle Evelyn lifted one foot in front of the other and began walking down the nearest corridor that did not have the smell of fooding from it.


    Her only goal right now was to get away from wherever she was, and presumably avoid being eaten by whatever had captured her.


    Unfortunately, after all her struggles to move, where she found herself was most certainly not an exit.


    For hundreds of meters all she could see was a field of magical nts that went all the way to the end of the room she had entered.


    ''A huge garden growing magical nts. But that should be impossible without a great amount of magical energy to use. Even the one Melisandre has is not this big.''


    Evelyn looked around in shock and amazement at the rows of magical nts before her.


    Many of them were high quality and she recognized quite a few of them asponents she needed for alchemy.


    A few momentster when she shook off the daze she had fallen into, she closed her eyes and took a deep breathe.


    Inhaling deeply, she could feel the ambient magical energy better and opened her eyes wide in surprise.


    The area she was in was very dense with magical energy, and she could tell now that this garden was being fueled with enough magical energy to make her sick if she did not have the Aethersphere topensate.


    ''At the very least this environment is helping me recover my magical energy much faster. But where am I? This is basically a tressure trove. Who or whatever lives here must be incredibly powerful toy ownership over it.''


    Understanding now how great the danger she was in was, Evelyn turned around and began waddling back to where she hade from.


    There was still another tunnel to go down and she could only hope it would lead to an exit.


    Thankfully, despite the fear welling up inside her, Evelyn did not find her captor waiting for her in the small room she had awakened in and was able to go down the other path unabated.


    Yet despite getting her hopes up, all she found was arge storeroom with no other way to go.


    ''No! What am I supposed to do? The only other way is the direction the smell ising from, but that is likely where the owner of the ce is. Though perhaps they are currently gone and just left a pot going. Or maybe I missed an exit in that garden. I could not see every inch of the backwall because of the tall magical nts.''


    Weighing her options Evelyn decided to go back towards the garden first. She had left earlier because of how rich in magical energy it was, and she was afraid of overexposure, or worse giving the Aethersphere enough power to start its next repair and give away her location.


    Nevertheless, it was the option she felt was best and she slowly made her way back despite the strain moving so much was putting on her.


    When she got back everything seemed the same, and she started walking through the rows of magical nts in search of another path along any of the walls.


    "Are you going to stop snooping around my home anytime soon. I figured I would be patient and wait for you toe to me, but you are going to get yourself killed if you stay in here at your rank."


    Startled by hearing a sudden voice, Evelyn turned around to face where it hade from.


    Looking over she saw the owner of this ce and was absolutely surprised to find what they looked like.

 Chapter 190 190 Evelyn’s Rescuer

    ?Standing before Evelyn was the owner of the ce she had found herself when she woke up.


    At first, she thought they were a human, but that notion was quickly forgotten when she got a better look.


    They had bestial qualities just as the owls she had seen take humanoid forms.


    On top of their head were a pair of fluffy ears and their hands and feet were uncovered with sharp ws, and fur growing on them. And wrapped around their leg was a long white and bushy tail.


    ''She is some kind of canine type beast. But her hair and fur is all pure white. Though she does not look old and has a fairly pretty face.'' Evelyn thought after looking over the woman before her.


    However, along with her appearance Evelyn was also able to tell what rank her supposed captor was. And it made her shudder.


    In front of her was a peak tyrant rank beast, and a very powerful one at that.


    Her presence was nothingpared to the Roost''s leader or Melisandre, but she made Anneli and Katrina seem like weaklings.


    Evelyn knew immediately that she had no chance of winning.


    Even if she was in perfect condition, this was an opponent thatpletely outssed her, and in her current state, she could not even attempt to run.


    Frantically Evelyn tried to find some way to possibly get out of this. Her head swiveled around looking for something. and when she finally decided to try and hold the magical nts in the garden hostage and threaten to burn it down, the owner of the ce spoke up again.


    "Are you especially slow or something? I already told you that you are going to die if you stay in here. Right now, there is enough magical energy in here to make a peak awakened beast sick. If you stay here much longer you are going to pass out again."


    Calming down, Evelyn realized that she had heard them giving her a warning.


    Still while they seemed to be acting cordially to a certain degree, she felt it might have just been an act to get her to lower her guard.


    ''She must be afraid that starting anything here might damage her garden. She might just be acting friendly to try and get me out of here and then finish me off.''


    Like usual Evelyn''s mind went for the worst-case scenario, and she never imagined that the person before her might actually be friendly.


    Naturally they noticed Evelyn''s posture and re and let out a sigh, before disappearing.


    Evelyn could do nothing as the white-haired woman suddenly disappeared. and in a sh, she felt herself begin dragged away.


    When her vision refocused, she found herself in the tunnel that led between the garden and the room she had awakened in.


    But as she was still barely able to move thanks to her injuries and the paralytic poison, she began falling over once her momentum had stopped.


    It was actually quiteical how she slowly hit the ground and bounced a couple of times thanks to the lesser gravity field she still had wrapped around herself.


    "What in the?!"


    Completely caught off guard the canine beast in humanoid form could not believe what she had just seen and felt.


    Not only did she witness Evelyn fall slower than she should have, but she also felt the effects of Evelyn''s gravity magic when she grabbed her.


    She had felt that Evelyn was significantly lighter than before, but the magic had also affected her.


    ''Ugh, I feel sick.'' Evelyn thought as sheid on the floor unable to get up.


    After the sudden eleration she felt a sense of nausea and vertigo that made her head spin.


    At the very least she had nothing in her stomach, so she was able to prevent herself from throwing up.


    Yet as she was starting to feel a bit better, she was pulled up to her feet suddenly and felt another wave of nausea.


    "What is this? When I found you on the bank you were not emitting this magic." The owner of this ce said.


    Evelyn not feeling well did not give her and answer, and instead let out a pained groan.


    When she did, the woman holding her up remembered that Evelyn was injured and poisioned, and that right now was not the time to be questioning her so violently.


    "I suppose that getting you welles first."


    She then dragged a confused and sick Evelyn to the room where she had smelled the delicious aromaing from.


    Once inside Evelyn saw that it was arge kitchen, and sitting over arge glowing stone that was emitting heat was a massive pot with simmering liquid in it.


    Quickly the white-haired woman dulled out arge bowl for Evelyn and pushed it towards her.


    "Go ahead and eat. I have added some herbs to it that will neutralize the poison in your system and help you recover."


    Evelyn stared nkly at the bowl in front of her.


    Everything was happening so fast, and she was unsure what was going on.


    She had thought she had been captured and was likely to end up in the soup in front of her, but it seemed that this woman actually wanted to help her.


    ''What is it that she wants from me? Is this soup poisoned? No, I am certain if she was going to kill me, she would have already done so.''


    Her mind racing, Evelyn tried to figure out what sort of ulterior motive this woman might have.


    "Hurry up and eat while it is still warm. It will lose some of its potency once it cools down."


    Being urged on Evelyn decided to do as her captor- or perhaps rescuer wanted and began eating the soup.


    The instant she took the first sip she felt a warm magic permeating her body and it spurred her on to consume more.


    Soon the entire bowl was empty, and Evelyn could feel her wounds healing and the poison in her body being neutralized.

 Chapter 191 191 Evelyn’s Rescuer (2)

    ?Once her wounds had been healed and the poison flushed from her system Evelyn let out a sigh of relief.


    "Good it seems that you have recovered for the most part now. I would ask that you eat some more, but first, I believe we have much to discuss. To start, my name is Lucia. Would you mind telling me what you are called?"


    Upon being addressed Evelyn pulled her head up from her bowl and looked intently towards the woman named Lucia.


    She wanted to try and feel out what her intentions were, but her face waspletely neutral.


    ''I suppose I should be a bit courteous. She likely did save my life, and while she might still have some malicious intent, all I can do is go along with her for now.''


    Evelyn having resolved herself created a thin strand of magical energy and extended it towards Lucia so they couldmunicate.


    With a nod her host epted the thread of magical energy and Evelyn began sending her thoughts over.


    "To begin with, I would like to thank you for helping me out. I was a precarious position and had barely gotten away from my attackers. Without your help I would probably be dead. And as for my name, you may call me Evelyn."


    With their introductions now finished, Lucia smiled and began asking Evelyn some questions.


    "Would you exin to me what you are doing down here, and how you ended up so beat up and poisoned?" Lucia asked.


    "Yes, I guess I owe you at least that much." Evelyn said while nodding her head.


    She then went over that she hade to the gorge to collect materials and ended up getting involved in a massive brawl of beasts.


    Yet the battle soon became even crazier when a group of humans arrived.


    "And that is how I ended up falling into the river. I went unconscious afterwards, so the next thing I knew, I was here in your home."


    "I see. You must be quite lucky to have gotten through that, but also very stupid toe here in the first ce. This gorge is not a ce for low tier awaken beasts to wander into, and the bottom of it is certainly not somewhere you should have ever ventured. You could have easily attracted far stronger than low tier tyrant rank beasts and a group of humans if you were in the wrong ce." Lucia said with an exasperated sigh. "Now I know why you are here and ended up like that. If you would like to ask any questions of me, you can now."


    "Um then would you mind telling me what happened after you found me?"


    "Sure, that is no problem. When I came across you an alligator at the high tier of the fiend beast rank was about to eat you. But I killed it since I was out looking for ingredients for dinner. I thought about using you as well since I so rarely have the chance to eat bird meat. But you have an identification cuff from the Roost, so I brought you to my home instead to heal you and let you recover."


    Hearing that her host was thinking about eating her, Evelyn shuddered.


    ''I guess I have the Roost to thank for me not being dead right now.'' Evelyn thought as she nced at her identification cuff.


    However, this brought up a few more questions for Evelyn.


    "Why does being apart of the Roost make you willing to help me? Oh, and I had a storage cuff and two rings. Where are they now?"


    As Evelyn asked her first question, Lucia leaned back in her chair and her expression darkened as she remembered an unpliant memory.


    "A long time ago I had a friend that was apart of the Roost. We were in a group of mixed races that you would not expect to see often. It is because of their goodwill towards me in the past that I am helping you out today. Unfortunately, they along with all my friends died when Astab fell."


    Seeing the pain on Lucia''s face Evelyn felt a sort of connection.


    They had both lost everything before and she was certain that they were kindred spirits that had gone through simr suffering.


    But another thing she had said also caught Evelyn''s attention.


    She remembered reading about Astab in the as that Mason had left her. It was apparently a ce where beasts and humans of all types had congregated and lived freely together. It was somewhere she had contemted going towards before she stumbled across the Roost.


    But she hadter learned when Melisandre showed her a more up to date map that the once proud city state had been blown off the continent, and all that remained was a crater that had be part of the ocean.


    "So, you were from the free city. I do not know much about it other than that it was destroyed at some point. Would you mind telling me about it?" Evelyn asked with a curious expression.


    "If you want to find out more about it, I am sure that you can easily collect information at the Roost. I do not wish to speak of it. And anyway, you should worry more about the present rather than the past. Did you not want to know where your storage items were?" Lucia said, expertly changing the subject.


    And Evelyn took the bait hook line and sinker and forget about Astab when her storage rings and cuff were brought up


    "That is right. Do you have them? I had all my gathered materials and some other valuable items stored within them."


    "Yes, there certainly were some rather rare items for a low tier awakened beast to have. Some of them even interested me. And as I am sure you must realize; it is hard to get storage items down here. So, I think that my keeping them should suffice as payment for saving your life." Lucia said with a smirk.

 Chapter 192 192 A Growing Relationship

    ?Evelyn''s expression warped into one of devastation when she heard Lucia say she would be keeping her storage items as payment for saving her life.


    Certainly, from a logical perspective she could understand this as a fair deal, since if she had died having these items would not have done her any good. However, emotionally it was a heavy blow to think about.


    Practically everything she had was stored within her cuff and rings. Including all the materials she had risked her life to gather in this gorge.


    ''But most importantly is Mason''s diary and thengue guide he gave me. I cannot allow anyone to see those.''


    Letting out a quick sigh, Evelyn steeled herself to ask for at least those items.


    "Lucia if you really wish to have my storage items and what is inside them there is nothing I can do to stop you, and it would be fair since you saved my life. But while it may be rude of me, there are two things that I simply cannot part with that I have stored within the cuff. They have no real value to anyone but me and are quite sentimental. I would ask that you allow me to have them back if nothing else."


    For a moment there was only silence between them, before Lucia burst out inughter.


    "Sorry about that, I just did not expect you to get so serious all of a sudden. At first, I thought you would beg me for all your items back when I saw how stunned you were, but you are pretty earnest to only ask for the things that have personal value to you. In the first ce thought I was just messing with you. I always intended to give you back your stuff."


    "I see, so you were just messing with me." Evelyn said with a relieved expression.


    "Yes, I just wanted to see how you reacted and get a little kick out of it. I do not often have much in the way of friendly conversation down here. I have a few acquaintances down here, but for the most part any rtionships are at the bottom of this gorge are business rted. I have enjoyed being able to speak with you. Most lower ranked beasts would be shivering the entire time they are in my presence, and those that are closer to me would rather fight and take what I have than be friendly." Lucia said a smile creeping onto her face.


    Yet she seemed to realize that she was allowing herself to show her emotions, and quickly put a neutral mask back on as she refilled Evelyn''s bowl.


    "Now go ahead and eat. I will let you rest here for a day or two to recover and then you can be on your way. Of course, my saving you was not free, but we can discuss what I want for paymentter. I was not lying when I said that there were things that I cannot get down here."


    Lucia then got up and told Evelyn that she was free to use the kitchen as she liked and to rest in the room she had awoken in but to limit herself to these areas.


    "I will go and grab your storge items and bring them back to you. Make sure you eat some more, or you will not get better."


    After saying that Lucia disappeared further into the system of tunnels and rooms that were home and left Evelyn all alone.


    The first thing she did was dig into the delicious soup.


    She could tell that it was made using alchemy just like the cooking that Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina did.


    ''Wow this really does wonders. I was thinking that alchemical cooking was lesser than creating magical items like potions and pills, but when you have the time for it there is nothing better.'' Evelyn thought as she filled up her bowl again.


    By the time Lucia returned she had eaten seven full bowls and her stomach was bloated and she had a satisfied expression on her face.


    "You certainly seem to have made yourself quitefortable. Even if this is someone else''s home." Lucia said as she looked up and down at Evelyn.


    "Well, I have decided that begin on guard against you will not bring me anything but grief. If you wanted to kill me or hurt me in some way, you already would have done so. I have had plenty of experiences in the past where those that helped me at first turned around and stabbed me in the back. But I feel like I can trust you at least." Evelyn said in a rare show of certainty.


    Normally she would be wary of someone for a long time no matter how much help or consideration they gave her. In fact, she had not even fully trusted Melisandre until she saved her from the empress dryad.


    Still, with the simr experiences that she and Lucia had with losing everyone they cared about, and the fact that she saved her life. It made it easier for Evelyn to trust her.


    "If that is how you feel then I suppose it is fine. From how you reacted when you first woke up and met me, I do not get the feeling you take to others for the most part. So. I will not warn you about being too trusting."


    Lucia then returned the storge rings and cuff to Evelyn and she quickly checked the inventory.


    As she did though she frowned since somethings were missing.


    A number of the magical nts stores she had gathered in the gorge were lower than they had been.


    However, before she could ask about it, Lucia noticed the look on Evelyn''s face and brought it up herself.


    "I used some of your materials in the soup. I imagine you do not have any problem with this, seeing as how it was mainly for you to eat and use to recover."


    "Yes, that is fine. I just wanted to make sure that it was you that had taken them and not that my items were damaged, or that someone else got to me first and took them. And thank you again for the soup." Evelyn said while bowing her head.


    Once the two of them had finish with dinner and talking about a few more things they each retired to different parts of the cave system.


    Evelyn went right back to the room she originally found herself in and hopped up on the raised stone b she had beenid down on and leaned her back against the wall.


    ''Yep, since I have be an owl, it is always morefortable to sleep upright. Every time I wake up on my stomach or back it is after I have been either beaten unconscious or am too exhausted to even sit up.''


    When she was nestledfortably against the wall, Evelyn closed her eyes and allowed sleep to take over.


    Normally she would have kept at least some level of awareness in case an enemy tried to sneak up on her, but her mind was far too tired, and she felt safe enough to fall into a very deep sleep. Completely forget about the world and her worries for at least a little while.

 Chapter 193 193 A Growing Relationship (2)

    ?The next day when she woke up Evelyn was feeling astoundingly better.


    She had been sted, poisoned, and mmed around just a day ago, but already she felt nearly back to full health.


    ''I am not sure how much of it is from soup Lucia made or my own natural toughness, but my recovery really is pretty unnatural with how bad I was yesterday.'' Evelyn thought while checking herself for any lingering wounds.


    But other than the spots where she had been struck by the jellyfish tentacles that still had a slight discoloration, she had no visible injuries.


    A few stretchester and she felt more limber and headed to the kitchen.


    There she found Lucia already preparing something to eat, and Evelyn''s mouth began watering.


    "What might this be? I do not think I have seen or smelled meat like this before." Evelyn said as Lucia took off the meat she had been grilling.


    She thought that it looked a little simr to chicken, though it was a bit darker in coloration and had a distinct scent to it that was different than any other bird she had smelled before.


    "Oh, this is alligator." Lucia said nonchntly.


    Yet Evelyn remembered that what she had been told yesterday about how she was almost eaten by an alligator and asked if this was the same one.


    "Yep. I had nned on it being my dinner yesterday but made the herb soup instead. I imagine that even though you ate a lot of it that you probably did not get truly full, so I made plenty for breakfast."


    Once Lucia finished her exnation, she served up tworge helpings. One for Evelyn and one for herself.


    And while she may have looked like a refineddy, at the end of the day she was a canine type beast and tore the alligator meat to shreds with her sharp teeth.


    "Wow this is good. Your cooking is easily the second best I have ever had. Only behind Melisandre''s." Evelyn said absentmindedly while chowing down.


    Yet when she mentioned her master''s name, Lucia stopped eating and looked at Evelyn in shock.


    "Do you know Melisandre?" Evelyn asked seeing the way Lucia had reacted.


    Slowly she put down the piece of alligator she was eating and nodded her head.


    "Yes, I do. My friend that was part of the Roost told me about some of the influential individuals from his home. Melisandre was one he talked about quite a bit, since his older sister was a friend of hers and a high-ranking member of the Roost''s Alchemy Hall. I believe that her name is Annelise."


    Upon hearing this name Evelyn racked her memories and soon recalled the one owl that Melisandre had introduced as a friend.


    Of everyone in the alchemy hall she was the only one that had not acted subservient to Melisandre and treated her closer to an equal.


    ''I have not seen her since, but there is no doubt that I have met her.''


    Once she was certain that they were thinking about the same person, Evelyn told Lucia that she had met Annelise.


    "Melisandre is actually my master and introduced me to her. I did not know that she had a brother though." Evelyn said.


    "I see, so she is at least still alive." Lucia said with aplicated expression.


    Evelyn felt her heart strings begin pulled at when she saw this and offered to deliver a message to Annelise if Lucia wanted.


    "No, it is fine. I have not seen her for over a century at this point, and we were not really close. I only met her a few times when she came with her brother to Astab to do business. She was a higher rank than everyone in our group, so she did not really get involved. The day the city fell she was there though, so just knowing she survived is good news to me."


    After saying this Lucia quickly changed the subject and began asking Evelyn about alchemy instead.


    Lucia herself was a fairly skilled alchemist in her own right, though she did not have a fire affinity and had to use magic tools to supplement this shoring. And unfortunately, this meant she would always be limited in her abilities no matter how knowledgeable she became.


    "That is reminds me. What affinity do you have? I assume it is light, but is it perhaps something else?" Evelyn asked, curiosity written all over her face.


    Lucia, however, became guarded when asked about this. One''s affinities were not something to be divulged easily.


    "Why might you think I have a light affinity? I could have something like wind or maybe even life."


    "No, I can tell it is neither of those. When you moved me out of your garden there was a brief sh of light. I figured that was what you used to move so fast."


    Hearing Evelyn''s logic, Lucia could only sigh and gave up on trying to hide her magical affinity.


    "Yes, my only affinity is light. And you are right that it is the power I used to move you out of my garden. It seemed you were getting ready to blow up and take what you could with you when I found you."


    With a regretful look on her face Evelyn apologized, since she really was going to blow up the garden if it came to it.


    "Now I answered your question, therefore I think it only right you answer mine. What was that strange magic you used? It made me feel significantly lighter, but you also fell slower and bounced off the ground in a strange way I have never seen." Lucia said with interest.


    ''I suppose I can tell her. She did save me, and I probed about her magic first.''


    Once she had resolved herself Evelyn told Lucia about her gravity magic and how it worked to the best of her knowledge.


    She did of course leave out the parts about her gravity traps and extreme and reverse press abilities.


    "I cannot say I fully understand, but it sounds like quite the powerful magic."


    Lucia was genuinely impressed by how amazing Evelyn''s magic was, and the two of them got into a friendly discussion about the fundamentals of magic and how they viewed their own affinities.


    "You certainly have wisdom I would not expect from a newly evolved awakened beast. Were you perhaps an early bloomer when it came to intelligence?"


    Evelyn pursed her beak together at this question.


    She did not want to lie to Lucia, but the truth was she had been intelligent since the moment she had been born. Thanks to having fifteen years of living as a human beforeing to this world.


    "Yes, I gained true awareness before reaching the awakened rank. I am told it is rare but happens frequently enough to not be too big of a deal." Evelyn said.


    She then switched the topic and asked Lucia what she wanted her to get as payment for having saved her.


    "Ah yes, I suppose we have been talking for a while and the day is gettingte already." Lucia said as she checked some sort of time telling magic tool she had.


    "Before, when I said it is hard to get storage magic items, I was not lying. If you could get me a ring or band that can hold at least three thousand cubic meters, I would be most appreciative."


    Blinking her eyes rapidly, Evelyn sat their frozen when she heard hat Lucia wanted.


    Storage items were expensive, but therger they got the more exponentially valuable they were, and the price went up to match.


    ''How much is this going to cost me. Five million credits? More? I did not even look at the prices for storge items thatrge, but they must be absurdly costly.''


    Unfortunately, Evelyn owed her life to Lucia, and hade to like her. Meaning there was no way she would refuse this request.


    "Very well. I am not sure how long it will take me to get one, but once I have amassed the number of credits I need, I will obtain one and bring it to you. But how will I find you again after I leave?"


    Her mouth going wide, Lucia seemed to suddenly realize that this would be a problem.


    A momentter she rushed back into the part of the cave system Evelyn had not been in, and a few minutes came back with a pendant.


    "If you pour your magical energy into this it will send a signal to the receiver that I have. Its range is quite far, so as long as you are within the area of the Elmot Gorge I will pick it up. Once you have the storage item, you need onlye back and activate it and I wille find you." Lucia said.


    Giving a curt nod, Evelyn agreed to this method and ced the magic item into her storage cuff.


    "Now what did you want to do. You are free to stay here a couple more days if you want to rest a bit longer." Lucia said with a hopeful expression creeping onto her face.


    She had enjoyed Evelyn''spany and was wanting her to stay a bit longer.


    However, Evelyn had other things she needed to do and there was a time limit on the request that she had taken from the mission hall.


    "Thank you for the offer, but I think it would be best if I left today. I need to head over to the nearby Velinis Desert and gather a few things there."


    Her offer rejected; Lucia had a dejected expression for just a moment, before directing a smile at Evelyn.


    "Very well, I understand. Give me a few moments to prepare and I will lead you safely out of the gorge. No point in you dying on your way out after I went through all of the trouble to save you."

 Chapter 194 194 The Velinis Desert

    ?Evelyn followed behind Lucia who easily navigated the Elmot Gorge using a route that avoided the territory of any of the more powerful beasts or nts living within the ce.


    In fact, the trip out of the gorge was incredibly easy and they did not encounter a single obstacle due to Lucia''s presence repelling any beast that might have gone after Evelyn.


    ''To think that she could move through that hellscape so easily. Even when I was stealthy, I normally got into a fight every couple of hours. But she got us out of there without any problems.''


    Once they reached the top of the gorge Lucia gave her farewell to Evelyn and reminded her onest time that she would be waiting for her to deliver the high-capacity storage magic tool.


    After that she descend back into the gorge and left Evelyn alone once again.


    ''Well, that was certainly an unexpected encounter, but not wholly unpleasant.'' Evelyn thought as she watched Lucia disappear from view.


    She then turned her head southwest in the direction of the Velinis Desert which was her next location.


    There were a few more items she needed from there. Though not nearly as many as she had required from the Elmot Gorge.


    It was also not quite as dangerous. Being a ce that was on average only able to support beasts up to the mid-tier of the awakened rank, and with spots that were richer in magical energy being highly contested by the beasts within.


    ''It is already nearly sunset which is the best time for me to get started. During the height of the day, it will be too hot and bright for me to operate, and the creatures I am looking for will be resting and in hiding.''


    With a few ps of her wings Evelyn set off into the air and began the short journey to the nearby desert.


    By the time she had arrived thest few glimmers of sunlight were fading away and a slightly less than half moon was taking center stage in the sky. Giving off more than enough illumination for Evelyn to see clearly.


    With her eyes trained to the ground she began searching for the beast that was her target, and luckily with the unobstructed view she had of the desert from the sky she spotted it soon enough.


    It was moving fast and leaving a dust trail in its wake and in front of it was the prey it was hunting down.


    ''So that is what a roadrunner looks like. I never saw one in person back on earth, but there was a famous depiction of it in a cartoon I used to watch.'' Evelyn thought as she watched from above.


    The roadrunner was just about to catch up to its prey, which Evelyn could see was arge snake that was trying desperately to get away.


    Of course, like most beasts on this world the roadrunner wasrge than its Earth counterpart and stood around seven feet tall. Being closer to the size of a raptor.


    Inparison the snake it was after was nearly fifteen feet long, but its rank was lower than the roadrunner who was one of its natural predators.


    ''Looks like the fight is about to start.''


    Keeping her distance from high in the sky, Evelyn watched the roadrunner catch up to its prey and the hunted snake turned around to make ast stand for its life.


    It tried using some type of acid magic and at the same time spitting venom at the roadrunner, but the roadrunner was too fast and nimble to be hit.


    Soon enough it had maneuvered around the snake, and with a quick swipe of its ws decapitated the snake and sttered blood all over the desert.


    ''That was over pretty quickly. I honestly expected the snake to put up a better fight.'' Evelyn thought as she observed.


    With its prey now dead, the roadrunner went to work on tearing apart its meal and going straight for the best part.


    It shoved its beak deep into the snake''s thick torso and began tearing through its flesh in order to rip out its core.


    In that moment when it was distracted Evelyn went into a nosedive and elerated with extreme speed.


    She even went ahead and increased the gravity around her to descend faster and controlled the wind to lessen her air resistance.


    Yet despite initiating what she though was a perfect sneak attack, at thest moment the roadrunner with incredible agility jumped back and shot dozens of feet away from Evelyn.


    Her ws hit nothing but air, and in her surprise, she nearly missed the timing to swoop back up and almost smashed into the ground.


    ''A quick little bastard isn''t it.'' Evelyn thought while breathing heavily in relief from her narrowly avoided crash.


    The roadrunner itself was looking at her with a smirk. As if mocking her for even trying toe after it.


    It was a high tier awaken rank beast that was near the top pf the food chain in the desert. While Evelyn was at the low tier just like the snake it had just killed, so it was feeling pretty confident.


    To wipe the smirk of its face Evelyn created a barrage of me needles in front of her and fired them off like a shotgun st.


    The roadrunner sensing how dangerous Evelyn''s mes were bounded away in a sh. Leaving the ce it had been standing right before Evelyn''s attack hit.


    Thin holes in the desert sand were carved out where Evelyn''s me needles hit, and it quickly melted into ss which reflected the moonlight.


    Though while this effect was enamoring, Evelyn had other worries at the moment with the roadrunner firing back with its own magical attack


    It had begun running in a circle at high speed and whipped up a dust devil using its wind affinity.


    The tornado which had picked up a load of sand went flying right towards Evelyn and the suction behind it was pulling her in and preventing her from gaining altitude.


    ''It certainly is crafty. Most other birds would find it difficult to escape this even if they can fly far batter than that roadrunner. However, I can easily counter this.''


    Pouring out her magical energy, Evelyn began spinning around herself and sent a counter twister towards the roadrunner''s.


    The two forces of wind and the opposite rotations they had caused them to wear down on each other until they both copsed.


    A powerful wind expanded out as the two tornadoes fell apart and a plume of sand shot up into the sky.


    ''Got you. Extreme Press.''


    Using the chaos of their two attacks colliding Evelyn managed to get within range of the roadrunner that had been keeping away from her and hit it with the strongest gravity she could.


    Its normally light body that could run across the desert then became several times heavier and the sand around it failed to support its weight.


    It sunk in deeply before it could even react and was buried in a hole until it hit a bed of sandstone around nine feet deep.


    The roadrunner in a desperate attempt tried using its wind magic and physical strength to pull itself out, but every time it blew the sand away more filled in on top of it.


    ''Looks like my gravity magic is especially effective in the desert. The ground is too loose to take the sudden increase in pressure, and anything that cannot fly well will just end up swallowed by the sand.''


    Her target now incapacitated; Evelyn decided to not prolong its suffering as it constantly had to use its magic to keep the sand from suffocating it.


    When an opening presented itself, she fired off a swiftpressed bullet of her heavenly me that was further elerated with her wind magic.


    The roadrunner was unable to defend against the swift and unexpected attack while it was distracted trying to keep the sand from consuming it and its head was blown off before it could react.


    The moment her target was dead Evelyn released her gravity magic and swooped down and created a strong gust of wind to prevent the body from being buried by sand.


    Swiftly she dove into the hole and with her talons pulled the roadrunner''s body out.


    ''That went pretty well. Now I need to pluck its feathers and preserve them.'' Evelyn thought as she made her way over to arge t rock she had spotted earlier from the sky.


    She needed the roadrunner''s feathers as a main ingredient in making an agility potion as they contained an oil on them that when made into a potion would allow for one to increase their reflexes and speed.


    After Evelyn had finished the meticulous work of plucking off all of the feathers, she carefully removed the beast core and stored it away along with the snake''s core that she had picked up as well.


    ''I suppose that now is a good time for dinner.''


    Puling out a long spike Evelyn pierced the prepared carcass of the roadrunner and began roasting it with her heavenly me.


    The smell of cooking meat soon spread through the desert and some scavengers came by to investigate. But none of them were even at the awakened rank and ran when they felt Evelyn''s aura.


    ''Ah, now that hit the spot. It was a little tough, but it tasted pretty good. The tips on using certain herbs that Lucia told me about really did make a difference.'' Evelyn thought once she had finished eating.


    Now that she was full and the night still young, sheunched herself back into the sky and went on the hunt for more ingredients.

 Chapter 195 195 Gathering In The Desert

    ?Nearly a week went by for Evelyn as she continued hunting and gathering materials within the Velinis Desert.


    Many creatures that she was after were quite elusive and many times she would have to track her prey for several hours before finally catching up to them.


    ''I finally found some but of course it has some guards.''


    From above Evelyn had spotted the rare magical nt she had been searching for.


    It was growing on arge ledge of a nearly sheer cliff that protruded out of the desert.


    This magical nt was quite beautiful with thick triangr leaves that spread out in a start pattern with long sharp spines protruding out of it and arge yellow flower sprouting out of the top of it.


    It was a necessary ingredient for the highest quality stamina potion that Melisandre had taught Evelyn to make, and quite valuable just by itself.


    ''One, two, three, four, five, six. That should be enough. I need three for one of my missions, but I can keep the other three for myself.''


    Of course, it was not going to be as simple as collecting the nts.


    Sitting on the ledge right next to them were four huge sheep.


    Yet these were not the ssic white fluffy kind that humans sheered for their wool but instead the tough muscr kind with short fur and huge horns.


    And unfortunately, as Evelyn had found them just a little after dawn, they had easily spotted her from the light that was beginning to illuminate the desert.


    Still, they could not really do anything to Evelyn who was hovering around five hundred feet above them.


    They could have tried taking shots at her with their magic but that would just be a waste of energy and they felt no threat from her so long as she stayed high above them.


    ''Two high tier awakened ranks and two low tiers. Overall, they are one of the stronger groups I havee across in the desert and it could get a bit dicey if I fight them all at once.'' Evelyn thought as she circled around.


    She was trying to decide if a fight was worth it or if she might want to search elsewhere for an easier battle.


    Though in the end she had already been searching for this magical nt off and on the entire time she had been in the desert, and this was the first time she hade across any. If she passed up this chance, she could waste days trying to find more.


    ''I at least have one advantage. My rank does not truly represent my power and they do not know that.''


    With her choice made Evelyn slowly lowered her altitude towards the desert sheep.


    When she got to around a hundred and fifty feet above them the sheep got up and took defensive stances.


    The earth around them started to shift and form into numerous spikes and they prepared to send a volley of attacks at Evelyn should she get any closer.


    ''Wind de.''


    To start things off she targeted down one of the high tier sheep with a rtively weak attackpared to what she normally used.


    She wanted them to believe that she was just a cocky low tier awakened rank beast and that they could deal with her easily enough.


    Her attack was easily blocked by the sheep''s'' earth magic, and they returned fire at her.


    This song and dance went on for nearly three minutes as Evelyn would firing offparatively weak wind attacks and then dodge the sheep''s retaliation.


    Eventually one of the high tier sheep got frustrated and charged towards Evelyn to either shoo her off or kill her if possible.


    ''That is right. Come get me.'' Evelyn thought with a smile on her face as she turned around led the sheep away.


    During her supposed retreat she made sure to stay low enough to the ground and not fly too fast to allow the sheep to keep attacking her and not forget the rage she had induced by assaulting its home.


    Soon enough she had it around a thousand feet away and itunched arge attack at her that forced her to fly up rapidly to avoid.


    After that it felt she would get the message and turned around to return to its family and continue protecting their treasure.


    ''I suppose this is far enough.'' Evelyn thought.


    With the sheep''s back now turned to her Evelyn no longer attacked with any restraint and poured out her magical energy into her heavenly me.


    The desert sheep that had been chasing her immediately noticed the spike in her magical energy and turned around to see her create a massive sphere of crimson fire.


    Using her wind magic Evelyn began spinning the mes around and speeding them up and when she felt the attack had the power behind it she wanted she increased the gravity around her and used her extreme press on the sphere ofpressed wind and me.


    Like a burning meteor Evelyn magic feel down onto the sheep that had begun running away when it felt her true power.


    When Evelyn attack was only a couple of seconds from hitting the fleeing sheep, the apex beast of the desert knew it could not get away and tried to defend instead.


    Its body quickly became coated in metal, and it created arge dome of earth around it.


    BOOM!


    With a resounding explosion Evelyn''s magic attack thatbined all of her powers hit the dome of earth, copsed in on itself and a spray of sand and rock spread out for hundreds of feet.


    Once everything had cleared, Evelyn could see that the ground was molten and in the middle was the desert sheep clinging to life.


    By using its metal affinity to strengthen its body it just managed to avoid being killed by the st, but it was in terrible shape despite living.


    Third degree burns spread over most of its body, and it was wheezing from being overheated.


    Without immediate attention from a high-quality healing potion or entity that could use powerful life magic it was sure to die.


    ''Wow, that did more than I thought it would. This is the first time I have tried using everything at once in a single attack, and I have to say that the results were impable. The only problem is that took nearly twenty percent of my magical energy in one attack.''


    Evelyn was shocked by the power that her all out attack had and for a few moments just stared at therge molten crater she had created.


    The fact that the sheep had survived this even if it had great defense was a testament to how powerful it.


    The loud sounds of distress soon took Evelyn''s attention over her own power, and she noticed the other three sheep running towards her


    It seemed that they were concerned for theirrade and were rushing over to aid it.


    But as touching as this scene was, Evelyn had no intention of letting any of them go now that she had chosen them as targets.


    For the next six minutes she and the sheep had a hit and run battle where they traded magic attacks until she finally was able to fell the final high tier awakened rank sheep.


    It went down with a loud bleat of a death cry as the blood loss from the numerous wounds Evelyn had inflicted on it brought it to an end.


    ''That was a bit difficult. These were not your average awakened rank beasts. They were all of a higher quality like I am.'' Evelyn thought while huffing and puffing.


    The three sheep coordinating together put up a pretty good fight against her and now that the desert sun was higher the heat was getting to her and her magical energy was at only around thirty percent.


    Nevertheless, she had won the battle that should have had her hopelessly outmatched by the difference in numbers and rank.


    Now that the guardians of the magical nts she wanted were dead Evelyn headed on over to collect her prize.


    Of course, she did make sure to pull out all the sheep''s corpses and horns as well since they were valuable materials.


    ''Ever so carefully dig out the roots.'' Evelyn thought while pulling out the first nt.


    She needed to make sure not to damage them, or worse mess up and get pierced by their poisonced needles.


    However, when she was trying to pull out the second one, she felt a new presence approaching her.


    It was not as strong as the high tier sheep, but she could tell it was not a weakling.


    ''A mid-tier beast of some kind. Must have been attracted by the battle.'' Evelyn thought as she turned around to face the new foe.


    Except when she saw them, she just looked at it in a daze for a moment since it was not what she was expecting.


    Before her was a tiny owl that was less than a foot tall despite being at the mid-tier of the awakened rank.


    With a quick nce she looked towards its feet to see if it was wearing an identification cuff, but it had nothing on it.


    ''I guess it is an enemy then.''


    Standing up straight and spreading her wings Evelyn let out an intimidating screech to try and get the other owl to leave. She was already tired and did not want to go through another battle if she did not have to. Especially against a member of the same species.


    "Please wait! I do not mean you any harm. I only want to ask for your help, oh great one." The tiny owl said using wind magic as it mmed its head into the ground in a show of subservience

 Chapter 196 196 The Burrowing Owl’s Request

    ?Evelyn looked on with a bbergasted expression as the tiny mid-tier awakened rank owl bowed its head to her.


    It had said something about wanting her help, but she was not really sure what was going on and wondered if this was some type of trap.


    But as she expected the tiny owl to attack her, or possibly for some allies to jump her, nothing happened.


    The small owl just kept its head bowed against the ground in a pose that could only be considered the height of groveling.


    "What is it that you want me to help you with?" Evelyn eventually asked using wind magic to create a voice.


    Upon hearing her speak the prostrating tiny owl showed visible relief and began telling Evelyn of its plight.


    As it went on Evelyn only became more and more annoyed.


    Frankly she did not care that his flock of burrowing owls had been kicked out of their ancestral home by a group of ospreys, which were a type of hawk.


    ''Ugh this is a nuisance. What makes this little owl think I can help.''


    Once she was fed up with what was going on Evelyn raised a w to stop the owl who had introduced himself as Po.


    "Why is it that you are seeking my help? I am just a low tier awakened rank beast while you are at the mid-tier. Surely you cannot think I can be enough to sway such odds. And what would be in it for me anyway?" Evelyn said with quite a critical tone without hiding any displeasure.


    At this Po mmed his head which he had slightly raised back into the ground.


    "I have witnessed your power oh great one. Yes, you may be at on the low tier of the awakened rank, but you are of such immense power that you could only be of the strongest ss of beast. You defeated the rulers of the cliffs of the western desert. Their family has stood over this area for three decades and kept ahold of it thanks to their superior powers. For you to have beaten them you must be the strongest beast of your rank and tier in the entire desert. If not even far beyond." Po said, ttering Evelyn more than she ever had been before.


    Yet she only red at him as if asking him to get to the point.


    "Of- of course we would not ask you to risk yourself for us for nothing. Our ancestral home is home to a spring that fills with magical energy once every month. Anyone who bathes within it can absorb an immense amount of magical energy at once and raise their tier with ease. It is also the only ce within the desert where Chryseos Vines grow. They produce a powerful fruit that has many benefits other than simply being rich in magical energy. If you were to help us, we would naturally repay you with the greatest hospitality we can offer."


    After giving his best pitch for Evelyn''s help, Po kept his head pressed against the ground and his eyes shut tightly.


    He was not certain if Evelyn would help him and his flock. Especially with how dismissive and obviously annoyed she had been.


    Still, she had listened to him and he could only hope that she would help.


    And luckily for him the information about their home had piqued Evelyn''s interest.


    ''Do they really have a stable magic spring!?'' She thought when she heard the description of the burrowing owls'' greatest treasure.


    Melisandre had once told her about these natural marvels that sometimes appeared throughout the world.


    They were areas where the magical energy that flowed deep within the earth burst towards the surface in a concentrated area.


    Their power could range fromckluster and not worth much to practically divine as Melisandre had described it.


    However, most of the time they only filled up once or at most a couple of times before going dry and losing any magical properties.


    But while she had nevere across one, Melisandre did say that there were rumors that some springs were consent in filling with magical energy and were real treasures depending on how much power they received.


    ''Judging by the location it is probably not one that is immensely powerful, but it probably is at least strong enough to help break into the peak of the awakened rank if it is considered valuable in this desert. Melisandre told me that the water from such springs was a universal ingredient for alchemy that could make any potion brewed with it stronger by a certain degree depending on the potency of the magical energy from the spring. But even she has very little of this spring water and uses it sparingly for potions she wants to be extra effective. I believe she mentioned that it was also one of the main ingredients for that miracle bath she used to save my life.'' Evelyn thought as she pulled up all the information, she could remember about magic springs.


    She was weighing whether getting involved would be worth it or not. From the sound of it the ospreys that had taken over were pretty strong and lead by two members that were at the peak awakened rank which was very strong for this desert where the majority of the areas could only support up to mid-tier awakened rank beasts.


    Still if these burrowing owls had ess to such a powerful magic spring how did they get driven out.


    Though when Evelyn asked this of Po, she found out that their flock''s patriarch had been undergoing his evolution to a tyrant rank beast when they were attacked, and their other strongest fighters were mostly gone at the time.


    This led to them fighting a very bloody battle which they lost, and their weaker members had to retreat elsewhere.


    They did meet up with a majority of their other members who had been out of the burrow at the time and tried to take back their home but failed in the end and suffered heavy casualties.


    Of course, the invading ospreys did not get off without losses either, and their numbers were now down to somewhere between two dozen to three dozen with only their leaders left as strong fighters.


    ''So, the spring is rich enough in magical energy to get a beast to the tyrant rank. It must be stronger than I originally thought if this owl is telling the truth. As for these Chryseos Vines, I have no clue what they are. There is also a chance this is all just an borate lie to lead me into some sort of trap. Though this little owl would have to be a very good actor to sell it as well as he has.''


    With the prospect of what was quite an enticing reward should what this owl had said was true Evelyn took some time to consider her options.


    She had nearly finished up all the gathering she needed to do and could easily pick up the remaining materials and safely go back to the Roost to continue on to her next step in gaining power.


    Or she could take a big risk and get involved in a conflict between two different factions within the Velinis Desert in hopes of greater rewards.


    In the end the allure of getting ess to a rare stable magic spring was too much for Evelyn to pass on.


    "Very well I at least meet with the rest of your flock and determine if there is any chance we have of winning and go from there." Evelyn said once she hade to her decision.


    Hearing this Po beamed and thanked her profusely for agreeing to help them.


    "Now follow me. I shall bring you to where we are currently staying a temporary abode we have created not too far from here." Po said enthusiastically.


    "Wait! I have materials to gather here still. We can leave when I am finished. Just wait a little way from here and do not approach me until I am done."


    Bowing his head Po did as Evelyn asked and waited outside the desert sheep''s former home for Evelyn.


    Going back to her work Evelyn slowly and carefully pulled out the star-shaped magical nt that had a yellow flower growing atop it.


    In fact, she went slower than necessary and swallowed a longsting magical energy replenishment pill.


    If she was going to risk herself by following Po to the rest of his flock, she was going to make sure she at least fully recovered her magical energy before doing so.


    ''The worst-case scenario is should probably at least be able to get away as long as I am not being led to a tyrant rank beast of stronger. But I doubt that or otherwise Po simply would have gone to gather such an ally rather than approaching me.'' Evelyn thought, going through a number of scenarios and remaining distrustful.


    Once she had fished collecting all of the magical nts she headed back out to where Po was and found him sitting in the shadow of the cliff waiting for her.


    His smile was still there from when she agreed to at least meet with the rest of the members of his flock and he enthusiastically led her towards them.


    When they arrived at the entrance to the burrowing owls'' temporary home, Evelyn found that it was covered by a fairlyrge rock which Po moved using his magic.


    Yet there were two problems for Evelyn.


    The first was that she would never follow a stranger into such a cramped space, and the second that she could not fit to begin with since the tunnels were only two feet in diameter.


    "Oh, I did not even think of this." Po said with a troubled expression.


    He then told Evelyn that if he mobilized some of the others of his flock, they could widen the entrance tunnel that led to the main chamber which wasrge enough to fit her.


    "No need for that. I do not trust you enough to simply walk into an unknown tunnel. We can do our business out here or I will simply leave." Evelyn said.


    Po became frantic at the prospect of her leaving and began bowing his head again and asking her to wait only a few minutes while he gathered up the other higher-ranking members that remained among his flock.


    Ten minutester Evelyn was faced with every awakened rank beast they had left and could tell that she was in for a rough time if she really wanted to take back the burrowing owls'' home.


    ''Only neen of them and most of them are just at the low tier like me but far weaker. Five at the mid-tier including Po, and one at the high tier who is their current leader.'' Evelyn thought as she analyzed the forces of the burrowing owls that had beseeched her help.

 Chapter 197 197 Rallying The Troops And Plan Of Attack

    ?Evelyn now seeing the entirety of the burrowing owls'' forces was less than impressed.


    Their strongest member was at the high tier of the awakened rank and was the only one at that level.


    The ospreys who were their enemy apparently had two peak awakened rank beasts and greater numbers.


    As strong as she was thanks to the heavenly me and Aethersphere she doubted that just her inclusion alone would make up the difference in power between the two groups.


    And while she was analyzing the capabilities of the burrowing owls their current leader, who was the strongest among them, came forward and fixed her with a disheartened look.


    Of course, with him being less than a foot tall Evelyn did not find the gesture intimidating but rather had to stifle augh.


    "Po you say that you have found an outsider owl that will aid us but all you brought was a low tier. From how you said she killed the rulers of the cliffs of the western desert I assumed she was at the peak of the awakened rank. There is simply no way that she will be able to provide any real assistance." The leader of the burrowing owls said.


    He then turned towards Evelyn and said, "I thank you for your intentions and that you would offer your help, but you are not enough. Head back to where you came from and go about your own business."


    With the current leader of the burrowing owls telling her to leave, Evelyn shrugged her shoulders and prepared to go.


    If they did not want her help, she was not going to push the issue.


    In the end she had onlye here at the prospect of getting a valuable reward, but she did not lose anything by not helping them.


    However, before she took off Po leapt forward and used the maneuver he was almost too good at executing and mmed his head into the ground.


    He begged Evelyn not to go and began extoling her power to everyone else.


    "I know she may only be at the low tier of the awakened rank, but her power is greater than any of ours and rivals our leaders before he was killed by the osprey while undergoing his evolution to the tyrant rank. If we just give her a chance, I know that she can help us reim our home."


    After Po''s impassioned speech the other burrowing owls got reckless and some of them looked towards Evelyn hopefully.


    Unable to simply brush off Po''s show, the leader of the burrowing owls turned towards Evelyn once more and asked her if she would give a demonstration of her power.


    For nearly a minute Evelyn contemted whether it would be worthwhile to continue and show what she was capable of or simply be on her way.


    ''There is possible merit in helping them but is it greater than the risk.''


    Eventually after much consideration Evelyn decided to at least try to win back the burrowing owls'' home.


    If at any point the situation became too dangerous, or she felt it was not worth it, she could simply leave. And if she was sessful the possibility of having ess to the stable magical spring was quite tantalizing.


    "Fine allow me to show you a bit of my power."


    Focusing on her magical energy she poured it out and molded it into the shape she wanted before imbuing it with her magical affinities.


    First, she brought out her heavenly me and formed it into a dozen spears and then wrapped it up with her wind to increase its speed and power.


    ''Jet Javelins.''


    When she was ready se unleashed one of her stapple attacks and fired it into eh desert.


    Twelverge explosions rocked the desert here her attacks hit, and plumes of sand shot up into the sky.


    All of the burrowing owls were left stunned not only by the power behind Evelyn''s attack but also by her control.


    Only their former leader, who was now dead, had been able to weave magic so quickly and with as muchplexity.


    "Was that enough of did you need to see some of my stronger attacks." Evelyn said confidently.


    She wanted to give off an air of superiority in order to make these burrowing owls more willing to follow her even if it was not really her style.


    "No that was more than enough. I can now see why Po believes you can help us. Your power is so far beyond the norm for a low tier awakened rank that it is baffling." The leader of the burring owls said.


    Then once he had shaken off his shock, he looked towards Evelyn and bowed his head.


    "Please allow me to apologize for my rude behavior earlier. You truly are as powerful as Po told us. And allow me to now formally introduce myself. I am Otis. The son of the former leader of our flock and our current leader. Though by default."


    After saying this, he exined to Evelyn that before the osprey attack, he had three older siblings who were all at the peak of the awakened rank and in line to be the next leader of the burrowing owls well before him.


    Unfortunately, they had died in the battle even if they fought valiantly. Leaving him to lead when he never thought he would have to.


    "But with your gracious help we will have a chance to take back our lost home that the invading osprey from afar took. We will make preparation to attack and with you leading us we will strike back against those hateful ospreys." Otis said with a murderous glint in his eyes.


    But Evelyn held up one of her feet and stopped him.


    "No, we will not start an attack on them yet. First, we need urate information on their forces and to bring victory into our favor. It would be suicidal to simply charge in headlong"


    Once she had brought the burrowing owls'' fervor down, she began exining what it was that they needed to do.


    In terms of knowledge of tactics, while she was no master of war she might as well have beenpared to these burrowing owls.


    Their idea of an attack was simply to barge in and start throwing around magic.


    Of course, Evelyn was able to find out that they did use ambush tactics when hunting but the burrowing owls did not seem to have themon sense to put this into practice while fightingrger organized groups like the ospreys.


    "First, we need a more urate count of their numbers. To that end we should assign some scouts to sit outside the entrance to your home and count the ospreys thate and go. Your small size should do excellently for a mission like this.


    Then once we have that information, we can start strategically whittling them down as they go out to hunt. If we do this well, we should be able to bring their forces down to around the same level as yours." Evelyn exined.


    All the burrowing owls nodded along at her ideas, and they looked at her like she was some sort of genius.


    ''I suppose just being intelligent does not make you knowledgeable.'' Evelyn thought while continuing to give out her ns and ideas.

 Chapter 198 198 Scouting Out The Enemy

    ?Evelyn and the burrowing owls After spending hours making ns and going over them multiple times until they were better refined, finally had everything ready to go.


    As it turned out Evelyn''s slow and steady approach was not going to work as well as she would have hoped.


    There was one major factor that was going to get in the way of this and that was the magic spring within the burrowing owls'' former home.


    Once it became active again it would allow the ospreys that were still a bit weaken from the battle to massively increase their strength.


    Their lower ranked members would get exponential stronger, and their overall forces would swell past the point of where the burrowing owls had any chance. Even with Evelyn''s help.


    This gave them only six days to enact any ns before they would have to storm the former home of the burrowing owls or give up on it entirely.


    ''Still if we y it right, we should be able to at least get our forces to around equal before then and we can try and take the base in a less disadvantageous fight. But it will all depend on how many forces we can take out prior to the final battle.'' Evelyn thought once they had finished making their ns.


    She had also figured out something else while conversing with the burrowing owls. They were all pretty simple and straightforward.


    It seemed that they were not capable of much in the way of deception and Evelyn could get a read on them all pretty easily.


    Thankfully this helped her in making her decision to assist them. If she felt like they were difficult to get a feel for she would be worried about being backstabbed the entire time.


    For the most part the majority of the burrowing owls looked at her with a bit of reverence and even the worst reaction she found was indifferenceing from the couple that seem to have already given up on reiming their old home.


    With her part done for now Evelyn left the temporary base that the burrowing owls had made and told them that she would meet back up with them the next day.


    The first part of the n involved the burrowing owls having scouts watch theings and goings of the ospreys to get a more urate read on their numbers and their patterns when leaving the nest.


    Naturally, Evelyn, being quiterge and having plumage that stood out in the desert was not part of this mission and was going to make her own preparations while the burrowing owls gathered information for her.


    Then after three days it would be time for her to shine when they began attacking the ospreys that left their base to hunt.


    ''In the meantime, I have more pressing matters to work on.'' Evelyn thought as she took off and flew back towards the cliffs that she had conquered earlier.


    She figured this would be the best base for her since the other inhabitants of the desert already knew this area was owned by powerful beasts and would be less likely toe by.


    When she got back everything was still quiet and she got to work.


    The burrowing owls had less numbers and average rank than their enemy. That meant they needed to make up for this difference in any way they could.


    ''I have enough crate enough a few different potions and pills for each of them without bringing my stock of ingredients too low. I just wish I could use the caldron Melisandre left in my room. The one I have stored is not very high quality and my brews will be less powerful.''


    Pulling out her alchemy supplies, Evelyn got to work on creating items to turn the tide in favor of her and the burrowing.


    For the next three days this was pretty much all she did other than checking in with the burrowing owls each day to go over the information that they had gathered from watching the ospreys'' movements.


    On the fourth day, however, it was time to put what they had learned to use and start whittling down their enemy.


    Luckily the intel that the burrowing owls had gathered was quite helpful in this regard.


    The ospreys for the most part would leave in groups of three or four to go hunting and only two groups were ever gone at one time.


    They were normally led by one of the same four high tier awakened rank osprey that were the flock''s sub leaders.


    As for the two that were at the peak of the awakened rank, the burrowing owls never saw them leave once during thest three days.


    This could have been for a number of reasons but what Evelyn and the burrowing owls surmised was that the ospreys did not want to leave any chance of being unprepared in case of an attack.


    The magic spring was simply far more valuable than any of the beasts they might be able to hunt or items that they might be able to gather in the desert.


    Along with this information the burrowing owls had been able to observe at least twenty-five unique individuals among the osprey that were at the awakened rank. Of course there were likely more than this with some not having left in thest three days.


    Most of them had been low tiers like the burrowing owls, but their number of mid and high tiers were in greater numbers than what the burrowing owls had.


    The scouts had also observed a number of peak fined beasts asionally going out with the hunting parties, but Evelyn pretty much disregarded them since their strength in theing battle would pretty much be zero.


    The difference between a fiend beast and an awakened beast was massive in most cases.


    For Evelyn the only reasons she had been able to stand up to beasts above he rank was thanks to her intelligence from formerly being a human in another world, the heavenly me, and the Aethersphere.


    Had she been missing any one of these she likely would not have been able to go toe to toe with so many awakened rank beasts while she was only a fiend beast.


    The burrowing owls themselves had a number of lower ranking beasts among them as well but using them in the battle would be akin to having them act as cannon fodder.


    There was simply no reason to do so, especially if the burrowing owls were to make aeback after the battle was over.


    "Now we need to take out as many of the osprey as we can before bringing the fight to the home, they have stolen from all of you. To do that we ideally need to kill at least two of their hunting groups to even have any chance. In order to do this, we need to strike when at least two groups are out and split our forces ordingly. I will lead one strike team while your leader Otis will take the other. This is going to be the decisive factor in whether we can win or not. Now scouts go back and wait until a party leaves the nest and thene back and inform us. It is time that we hunt the ospreys instead of the other way around."

 Chapter 199 199 Ambushing The Ospreys

    ?With the n set and ready to be started, Evelyn, along with the burrowing owls waited for the scouts to return.


    When they did, they brought with them fortuitous information.


    Two groups of four ospreys had left the base in quick session. With one going south and the other going east.


    This was the perfect time for them to initiate their attack and after they had gotten all the information from the scouts it was time to set off.


    "I will go after the ospreys that are going south since they have two mid-tier awakened ranks among them. Otis you take your team and go after the ones heading east." Evelyn said, takingmand.


    After receiving her orders, the burrowing owls led by Otis that numbered eight in total, set off towards the eastern group of ospreys.


    Evelyn, once she had seen them off, turned to her own team headed towards the south to intercept the other osprey hunting party.


    With her were six of the burrowing owls at the awakened rank and her second inmand was Po. The burrowing owl that had originally asked for her help.


    Flying high they scanned the horizon for their quarry and thirty minutes after they spotted the group of ospreys attacking a number of fleeing hares.


    ''Perfect. They are busy hunting their own prey and believe themselves the rulers of these skies. The chances that the look up for an attack from above is low.'' Evelyn thought when she saw the situation.


    A quick orderter and all of the burrowing owls following her ascended and moved into position above the osprey.


    They then began picking out their targets and Evelyn assigned a pair of the burrowing owls to fight the ospreys.


    This left her alone to take on their leader, but she knew it would be better this way since her magic could have a wide range and be quite harmful to her allies if she was not careful.


    Once they were all set they waited for the right moment, when the osprey were at their most preupied.


    "Now!" Evelyn ordered when the ospreys caught a couple of hares and were distracted by finishing off their prey.


    Leading the burrowing owls Evelyn went into a nosedive and began rapidly descending towards her target.


    She was going after thergest of the ospreys which was at the high tier of the awakened rank.


    And thanks to it being absorbed in putting down therge hare in its talons it did not notice Evelyn until she was within around a hundred meters of it.


    It let out a loud screech to alert its allies of the iing attack and reared up towards Evelyn in an intimidating fashion.


    However, this was thest thing it ever got to do.


    The moment she was in range Evelyn activated her gravity field and hit the osprey with her extreme press.


    The lead osprey immediately felt the effects of the impossibly powerful gravity on it and mmed into the ground where it began sinking into the sand.


    Immediately it began using its earth magic to solidify the area around it to prevent itself from sinking.


    But before it had the chance to raise its head, arge sphere of crimson fire descended upon it and it was consumed in a scotching ze.


    For nearly three dozen seconds it held out by circting its magical energy around its body in a barrier, but its power could not keep up and when the barrier broke it felt its wings burst into mes and begin to melt.


    It died soon afterwards without having been able to put up much resistance and all that remained of it was ash that scattered into the desert.


    ''How are the rest of them doing?'' Evelyn thought while turning her head to observe the other battles.


    Luckily what she saw was not the burrowing owls struggling even in a two on one battle but them deftly handling their opponents.


    They were not as weak as Evelyn had initially thought they would be, and while their small size made them ineffective in physicalbat, they were quite nimble, and their use of magic was fairly adept.


    The fighting onlysted around four minutes in total before all the ospreys were dead and Evelyn along with the burrowing owls were the undisputed victors.


    Some of the burrowing owls had minor injuries but nothing that would be debilitating.


    "Good job all of you. Now let us head back and see if the other team haspleted their mission."


    Having killed all four the Osprey, Evelyn along with the six burrowing owls she had been leading flew back their temporary base.


    When they arrived, they found that Otis'' team had already returned, though they were clearly despondent.


    Scanning through their ranks Evelyn quickly figured out what the reason was for their sour moods.


    One of the burrowing owls had not returned and two others had heavy injuries that would take multiple days to heal naturally.


    This would effectively lower their forces by three and make it much more difficult for them to win the raid on the ospreys.


    "Otis would you mind telling me what happened?" Evelyn asked the second shended.


    With a downcast gaze the leader of the burrowing owls retold what had transpired between his team of burrowing owls and the ospreys hunting party.


    They had swiftly caught up with their target, but in their haste had not taken enough precautions and were spotted before being able tounch a surprise attack like Evelyn''s team had.


    A bloody head-to-head battle ensued after that and while the burrowing owls did win thanks to their greater numbers, they lost one member and had two others incur serious injuries.


    "We can hardly call this a victory, especially when you came back with everyone and no major injuries. I am not fit to be the leader of the burrowing owls." Otis said with a dispirited tone.


    "No, you did a perfectly fine job. We simply got luckier and caught our targets while they were busy. You still took out four ospreys at the cost of only one member, so our gains are still well above our losses." Evelyn said to try and cheer Otis up.


    She could not have the burrowing owls'' leader being crestfallen or it would hurt morale.


    "But two of my team are too badly injured to continue fighting for at least a week. By then it will already be toote." Otis said.


    Evelyn though simply raised up one of her feet and pulled out two potions from one of her storage rings.


    All the burrowing owls stared at her in awe as this happened and they wondered what sort of magic she had employed.


    "These are healing potions. Give them to the two heavily injured owls and they will recover practically instantly."


    Carefully the burrowing owls brought the position bottle which were around half their size over to their injuredrades and poured the liquid over their injuries.


    A soft green light enveloped the two burrowing owls and their wounds quickly disappeared.


    "This is another advantage that allying with me brings. I have magic items that are rare to find in this desert and will use them to give us an even greater advantage."

 Chapter 200 200 Begin The Assault

    ?Once Evelyn had finished showing off her magic items, further cementing herself among the burrowing owls, shemanded their scouts to head back and keep a watch on the ospreys'' movements.


    They had just killed eight members of the ospreys'' flock and Evelyn was certain that some sort of response woulde.


    And upon the next day, thest they had before the magic spring would be active again, fortune came their way.


    With neither of their hunting partiesing back the ospreys sent out a team to locate their missing members.


    In the lead of this group was the two remaining high tier awakened rank ospreys followed by eight others for a total of ten.


    It was quite a powerful group, especially for the Velinis Desert where the strongest beasts were normally at the mid-tier of the awakened rank unless they had ess to something like the magic spring that resided in the burrowing owls'' home.


    However, Evelyn considered this to be an amazing chance for them to diminish the forces of their enemy and make them far weaker.


    "Everyone other than the two guards protecting the lower rank burrowing owls prepare to head out. We will be taking out these ospreys that think they can take your home." Evelyn said to rouse all of the burrowing owls.


    She then handed out a number of potions and had them drink them.


    Each one of the burrowing owls felt greater power coursing through them as they drank the potions.


    Now they were more enthusiastic than ever, and morale was at an all-time high.


    Not long after Evelyn led sixteen of the reaming eighteen awakened ranked burrowing owls to attack the group of ospreys that were out searching for their missingrades.


    When they found their targets a blood battle ensued between the two groups of birds and in the end all of the ospreys met their end.


    ''We lost two low tiers, but we managed to kill all ten of the ospreys. Including the eight we killed yesterday that brings our kill count up to eighteen. Even with a generous estimate I would say the ospreys have around a dozen awakened ranks left. Our forces should be greater now. At least in terms of numbers.'' Evelyn thought whileing up with strategies for their raid on the remaining ospreys.


    She doubted that in the time that they had left they would get the chance to kill any more of the enemiesing out of the base and would have to defeat the rest when they took the burrowing owls'' home back.


    Of course, while they likely had greater numbers now, the ospreys still had their aces in two peak awakened ranks


    Evelyn and the burrowing owls on the other hand did not have any at the same or greater rank, which would put them at a disadvantage.


    ''Can I take both of them on at the same time? Perhaps if they are especially weak for their rank, but it is likely they are stronger than that.''


    While mulling over how to deal with the two osprey leaders Evelyn felt a presence approaching behind her and found Otis looking at her with a determined expression.


    "Lady Evelyn, might I have a moment to speak with you alone?"


    Nodding her head Evelyn agreed to talk with Otis and the two of them flew away from the other burrowing owls. Though she was still a bit ufortable with how all of the burrowing owls had started calling her Lady Evelyn.


    "So, what is it you wanted to discuss?" Evelyn asked once theynded.


    For a few moments Otis shuffled around nervously, before finally steeling himself.


    "I would like to request that you allow me to fight the ospreys'' patriarch. I watched him kill my father who was unable to defend himself while evolving to the tyrant rank and wish to avenge him along with my siblings who died."


    "I see. I can understand where you areing from, but do you think you can honestly win?" Evelyn asked.


    Otis was only at the high tier and was likely weaker than the ospreys'' patriarch.


    Certainly, he was not weak, but he was also not something special like Evelyn was. Only being a bit stronger than the average high tier awakened rank.


    "No, I am certain that as I am now, I cannot win. I saw just how strong the two leaders of the ospreys are, and while the patriarch is a bit weaker than their matriarch, I know I am not a match. Still, I am the most powerful burrowing owl left and it is my duty to take on one of them. I cannot make you fight both of our strongest enemies." Otis said, his expression resolute.


    "Very well, I was toiling around with what to do about this myself. I am not wholly confident I could beat both of them at the same time. However, you will not fight alone. Pick out the two mid-tier awakened ranks among your people and fight with them. Even if we win it will not mean anything if their leader is not still around."


    After receiving Evelyn''s permission Otis thanked her and bowed his head before flying off to pick out the other owls he would be fighting with.


    ¡­


    Come the next day Evelyn and Otis stood at the front of all of the burrowing owls and prepared to take off to attack the remaining ospreys.


    Their scouts had kept watch through the day and not since thest group of ospreys left had there been in movement at the entrance to the underground cave system that the burrowing owls had made long before the current generation.


    "Today we take back our home. Three weeks ago we were forced to flee from where we were all born and our ancestors have lived for centuries. But thanks inrge part to Lady Evelyn, an owl from far away, we have the power to take back what is ours. Now let us go show these ospreys that they cannot push us around. And once we have won, we can repay our benefactors kindness and offer her all we have." Otis said in a rousing speech right before they left for battle.


    Cheering hoots escaped all the burrowing owls that were ready to go, and it was clear that their spirits were high.


    The moment soon came for them to head out, and right before they did each of the burrowing owls drank three potions and swallowed a pill that Evelyn had prepared for all of them.


    One of the potions was a fortification potion which boosted all of their defenses, another was a persistent healing potion that would constantly supply magical healing for the next hour, and the third was an enhanced reflex potion.


    Finally, the pill was a longsting magical energy replenishment pill and would allow the burrowing owls to really let loose without having to worry about running out of power as quickly.


    With everyone now buffed up and ready to go, Otis and Evelyn, taking the lead, shot up into the air and began flying towards the burrowing owls'' home that the ospreys had upied.


    When they arrived, they found that a single guard was watching the exit and when she saw the squadron of owlsing turned to flee deeper into thework of burrowers and warn her superiors.

 Chapter 201 201 Setting The Stage

    ?''Like I am going to let you get away.''


    Creating a burst of mes behind her like a rocket, Evelyn shot off at a blistering speed and chased right after the fleeing osprey guard.


    She had no intention of letting it regroup with the rest of its flock and inform them of theing assault.


    In an incredible burst of speed, she easily caught up, and before the osprey knew what hit it, Evelyn had sliced its head off with one of the retractable des attached to her wings.


    ''That is one more down. Now so long as our estimates were not horribly wrong, we should only be dealing with a dozen more at most.''


    Having finished off the guard watching the entrance, Evelyn now had a bit of time before the burrowing owls caught up and she used it to survey the area.


    Though as she did, she wondered why the tunnels were sorge.


    Even the massive ospreys seemed able to fly through easily enough, but the burrowing owls were all tiny and could have made their home much smaller in order to preventrger intruders in the first ce.


    ''A question for another time. For now, I need to focus on taking out our enemies.'' Evelyn thought as she saw the burrowing owls catching up.


    Once they had reassembled their forces, Evelyn followed right behind Otis who led the way to the main chamber where the magic spring was located.


    It was likely that the ospreys would be entrenched there to make a final stand.


    Along the way the burrowing owls checked all of the branching paths and rooms on Evelyn''s orders to make sure that the ospreys were not hiding in wait to ambush them.


    Luckily it did not seem that their tactics were any better than the burrowing owls without Evelyn and no sort of attack came.


    Soon enough they came into arge open area that was illuminated by multiple glowing crystals that jutted out of the ceiling.


    Immediately Evelyn could feel that this ce had a great deal more magical energy in it than anywhere else she had been in the Velinis Desert.


    And in the center was arge circr pool of water that was clearly the magic spring.


    However, no matter how amazing the sight she hade across was, Evelyn did not have time to take it in as the ospreys had been waiting for them.


    The second Evelyn and Otis appeared in the chamber the two lead ospreysmanded what remained of their subordinates to attack, and multiple spells went flying.


    It was clear that the Ospreys wanted to take out as many of the burrowing owls as possible while they were in the tunnel leading to the main chamber.


    Of course, Evelyn had figured this would happen and neither she nor any of the burrowing owls were surprised.


    With practiced coordination they used their magic to push back, and Evelyn took the lead by creating a vortex that pushed the weaker attacks away.


    Without taking any damage Evelyn and the burrowing owls pushed into the main chamber and hovered around in formation while the ospreys were stunned by failing in their attack.


    ''Looks like there are only ten left at the awakened rank including the two leaders. Most of them are only at the low tier with two at the mid and none at the high. Our earlier attacks really did take out the majority of their forces.'' Evelyn thought while analyzing the situation.


    Naturally the ospreys were assessing the situation as well, and the two leaders narrowed their eyes and red at Otis.


    They recognized that he was the highest-ranking burrowing owl and believed him to be the leader.


    As for Evelyn, they had seen her use impressive magic, but she still only had the aura of a low tier awakened rank despite how powerful she was. This led them to practically disregard her.


    "There are only ten of them. Use the formation that we nned for this scenario." Otis said to his fellow burrowing owls.


    Quickly they formed up and began charging the ospreys who had been waiting for their attackers'' move.


    Once the burrowing owls and Evelyn began flying right for them therge birds of prey took to the sky and flew to meet the burrowing owls.


    They knew that in a physical fight theirrge size would give them an edge over the burrowing owls as it was what they had done when they originally invaded.


    The burrowing owls were of course aware of this weakness and began spreading out when the ospreys starteding towards them


    The enhanced reflexes potions that Evelyn had given them all allowed them take shaper turns and stay out of reach of the farrger ospreys.


    Their strategy that Evelyn hade up with was to stay nimble and pepper the ospreys down from multiple sides and use the burrowing owls'' now superior numbers to prevent the ospreys from getting to attack.


    Though there were two problems with this n, and that was the ospreys'' leaders who were significantly stronger than any of the burrowing owls.


    For them they could catch up to the burrowing owls easily enough and overpower them by simply having superior magical energy and control.


    This was where Evelyn and the three strongest burrowing owls would step in.


    Otis, leading the two mid-tier burrowing owls he trusted the most went after the ospreys'' patriarch, while Evelyn went after the matriarch who was the most powerful.


    Launching a few weaker wind magic spells, Evelyn easily got her opponent''s attention and the ospreys'' matriarch followed after her as she separated from the main group.


    ''This is almost too easy. All of the ospreys moved exactly how we wanted them and now that the two leaders are away from the others the burrowing owls should have no problem cleaning up the weaker ones.'' Evelyn thought ass he led the osprey matriarch away.


    When she felt she had created enough distance she turned around and faced her enemy head on.


    A powerful bolt of lightning flew towards her the moment she stopped and for most low tier awakened rank beasts this would have spelled the end.


    For Evelyn though, she had dealt with stronger attacks when training with Anneli and Katrina, who were at the same rank as the two osprey leaders and knew what to do.


    Lightning was tricky to block or dodge due to its nature, but a barrier of pure magical energy that was stronger could block it easily enough.


    After deflecting the first bolt easily enough Evelyn activated her gravity field and used her most unfair power to send the osprey matriarch plummeting.


    ''Extreme Press.''


    Suddenly being hit with gravity that was around forty times greater than normal the twenty-foot-tall peak awakened rank osprey matriarch was unable to resist.


    The ground was only a few dozen feet away with a loud crash the osprey matriarch left arge crater in it.


    To follow up Evelynunched multiple high-speed javelins made of her heavenly me like missile barrage.


    Explosions resounded though the area and bright shes of crimson light bathed over everything.


    For a moment Evelyn could not see anything and her enemy was blocked from view by her own attack.


    Any lesser beast certainly would have died from that attack or at least been heavily injured, but Evelyn was surprised to see the osprey matriarch was only slightly singed.


    ''I suppose that this is not going to be as easy as I hoped.''

 Chapter 202 202 Evelyn Vs The Osprey Matriarch

    ?After her first attack failed to finish the battle against the osprey matriarch, Evelyn created some more distance and prepared for a prolonged battle.


    It was clear that in terms of magical energy quantity she was a bit outmatched and would need to use all of her tricks to win.


    Still, her increased gravity kept her opponent pinned to the ground and she used her superior maneuverability tounch numerous attacks from multiple angles.


    This put the osprey matriarch mostly on the defensive, since if she failed to block Evelyn''s heavenly me with pure magical energy, she was certain to be horribly burned.


    However, this did not mean that she could not use some of her focus for attacking and Evelyn found new bolts of lightning chasing after her every couple of seconds.


    For nearly two minutes they kept up the exchange until Evelyn finally got a solid hit to connect and one of her wind des sliced deeply into the osprey matriarch''s side.


    Red blood began pouring out of the wound and crashing against the ground faster than normal thanks to the immense amount of extra gravity Evelyn was still pushing onto her enemy.


    She then prepared to push the attack and deliver one final powerful blow but found that she had walked into the osprey matriarch''s trap.


    The bolts of lightning her enemy had been firing off had coalesced above Evelyn and began raining down around her.


    Taking evasive maneuvers, she dodged the lightning that was falling onto her and used her magical energy barrier to block those that she could not.


    It seemed that she managed to weather the attack but once the lightning stopped moving, she realized how wrong she was.


    ''How good is her control over magic!?''


    Evelyn found herselfpletely trapped inside a cage of lightning after evading being directly hit.


    This level of control was beyond what she was currently capable of, and it showed the difference in her experience controlling magic.


    Truthfully, she had not been able to really manipte her own powers for an entire year, but the enemy before her was decades old and had fought through many more battles than she had.


    Caught with no way-out, Evelyn could only watch as the cage surrounding her swiftly began to close around and leave no avenue for escape.


    Arge sh filled the chamber as all of the lightning connected with Evelyn, and when her gravity magic ceased, the osprey matriarch smirked, believing she had killed Evelyn.


    Yet when the bright sh from the lightning cleared, Evelyn was still flying in the air and was far from being dead.


    Nevertheless, she had not escaped unscathed and felt her body reacting much slower after being shot full of electricity.


    ''Ow, ow. That really hurt.'' Evelyn thought.


    At thest second, she had stopped using her gravity magic to reinforce her barrier to prevent herself from taking a fatal blow, but she still got hit with enough lightning to cause her some damage and slow her movements down.


    Unfortunately, she did not have much time to recover, as now that the osprey matriarch knew she was still alive, Evelyn found herself under attack again.


    ''Reverse Press.''


    With her enemy flying right at her Evelyn used her gravity magic on herself and lowered it as much as possible to give herself a burst of speed.


    Her body was practically as light as a feather and just one p of her wings was enough tounch her away.


    She narrowly avoided being caught in the osprey matriarchs'' ws and electrocuted by the lighting surrounding her opponent''s body.


    The lowered gravity also served to cause the osprey matriarch to fly well off course as the normal amount of force she needed to fly caused her to go much faster and further than anticipated.


    Tch! ''She almost crashed into the ceiling.'' Evelyn thought while clicking her tongue.


    Her suddenly lowering gravity had nearly ended up with her enemy taking a hit and bing disoriented, but they managed to recover and use the ceiling as a springboard tounch back at Evelyn.


    ''I suppose that is probably my best option.'' Evelyn thought as she began fleeing.


    She could tell in a head-on battle that she would be at a disadvantage and needed to set the area up for her victory.


    Her matchup was pretty bad against lightning magic and physically she would never be able to overpower the osprey matriarch, who was more than three times her size.


    Instead, she spent the next few minutes zipping around the same area and moving unpredictably to not get caught again.


    Of course, she was not just flying around randomly for no reason and soon enough was ready to set her n in motion.


    ''It certainly was not easy leading her around by the nose and preventing her from running into any of them early, but I finally have everything set up.'' Evelyn thought as she abruptly stopped.


    Seeing this, the osprey matriarch pressed on towards Evelyn, thinking that she would be able to catch up and end the little pest that had been running away.


    Yet before she could reach Evelyn an unexpected glyph appeared in the air, and she felt herself knocked back by a sudden force.


    ''You are not the only one that can set up a cage.'' Evelyn thought as a vicious smile formed on her face.


    For thest few minutes she had been leaving numerous gravity traps around and had enclosed the osprey matriarch within them.


    Now her enemy had no recourse and was being bounced around like a pinball by dozens of gravity traps.


    Still, this would not be able to kill such a sturdy beast as the osprey leader, but all Evelyn needed her traps to do was keep her enemy pinned down for a bit.


    No longer having to worry about being attacked, she focused her magical energy and began forming a massive sphere of her heavenly me in front of her.


    This was the same attack she had tested out on the desert sheep and the most powerful she could currently use.


    Fire, wind, and gravity worked together in tandem and when herst gravity trap was used up Evelynunched her greatest attack.


    The osprey matriarch was unable to dodge the st after just having been bounced around by Evelyn''s gravity traps and could only brace herself with the strongest magical barrier she could produce.


    A grand explosion erupted in the burrow and waves of intense heat filled the area. Causing even the far away battles to be affected.


    In the immediate area of the attack the ceiling and floor turned to magma and the burrow began copsing.


    Thankfully Evelyn was quite far from the magical spring, otherwise her attack likely would have destroyed it.


    ''If that did not do it than I am out of options and will have to flee.'' Evelyn thought while throwing a magical energy replenishment pill into her mouth.


    She had used up pretty much all of her power creating numerous gravity traps and unleashing such a devastating attack.


    If she needed to fight anymore, she would be unable to do anything meaningful.


    Luckily her worry that her opponent might have survived proved to be for nothing.


    At the bottom of therge crater that was filled with magma was the charred corpse of the osprey matriarch.

 Chapter 203 203 Retaking The Burrowing Owls’ Home

    ?With her opponent good and dead, Evelyn let out a sigh of relief.


    There was no doubt that the osprey matriarch was the strongest enemy she had fought except for the empress dryad and for a bit the battle had not been in her favor.


    ''Still as much as I want to rest, I need to help where I can.'' Evelyn thought as she cast her gaze towards the ongoing battles.


    Otis and the two mid-tier awakened rank burrowing owls were still fighting the other osprey leader and it seemed that they were on the back foot despite the fight being three on one.


    Thankfully the main battle between the bulk of the burrowing owl and osprey forces was going in their favor.


    Their superior numbers had given them quite the advantage and only half the ospreys were still alive with only two burrowing owls having fallen.


    ''Oh, looks like some of the fiend beast rank ospreys tried to join in, but their fate was pretty obvious.''


    Unlike Evelyn, these fiend beast rank ospreys were not a cut above the rest andcked the power to stand up to awakened rank beasts.


    They had notsted very long, and their broken bodies littered the floor. Though it was likely that their sacrifice had prolonged the battle.


    ''I would like to help Otis, but I am pretty exhausted and low on magical energy. My assistance will be best finishing off the rest of the weaker ospreys and then joining in with the bulk of the burrowing owls to overwhelm the osprey patriarch with numbers.''


    Enacting her n, Evelyn jumped into the fray, and with her help the remains of the ospreys'' main force fell within a couple of minutes.


    Now free from their battle all of the burrowing owls swarmed the osprey patriarch and even as powerful as he was the numbers were too great of a difference to ovee.


    ''I was a bit slow though.'' Evelyn thought once the battle was over.


    One of the mid-tier burrowing owls fighting with Otis had perished while she was cleaning up the remains of the ospreys.


    Nevertheless, the battle was won and only a few of the burrowing owls had died.


    ''But there is still clean up to do.''


    Looking towards the back of the chamber Evelyn could see that the remaining lower ranked ospreys were panicking.


    Certainly, none of them possessed human level intelligence like awakened rank beasts, but their instincts were telling them that they were going to die if they stuck around now that their leaders were gone.


    Unfortunately for them, Evelyn was not so kind as to allow future enemies to escape and grow stronger, and with the help of the burrowing owls they eliminated every osprey within the burrowing owls'' home.


    Once it was done Otis let out a loud victory hoot and the other burrowing owls followed him.


    The home that they had lost when they were at their weakest was now theirs again and it was enough to raise their previously broken spirits.


    Of course, they were far from as powerful as before the ospreys'' attack and it would take them a long time to get back to where they had been at their height, but they now had the means to do so by reiming their home.


    "Lady Evelyn, on behalf of all of us, I give you our upmost thanks and can now offer the hospitality of our home. To that end, we have decided that when the magic spring bes active tomorrow you may be the sole recipient of its power." Otis said with a bowed head.


    Swiftly all of the burrowing owls imitated him and bowed their heads to Evelyn and gave out their heartfelt thanks to her.


    However, despite how heartwarming this scene was, it did not move Evelyn in the least.


    She had only helped the burrowing owls for her own gain and was actually contemting disposing of all of them now that the ospreys had been defeated.


    ''No, if I kill them, I will not have any means to hold this ce, and as soon as it is discovered another group for beasts will move in. I could ask for Melisandre''s assistance, but she would likely bring this ce to the Roost''s attention in order to get personnel to protect it. In that case, I will lose my ready ess to the ce. I suppose it is best for me to simply leave the burrowing owls here since they are already so indebted to me.'' Evelyn thought while receiving the burrowing owls'' praise.


    Things soon began to settle down and new roles were assigned to the burrowing owls that had survived the raid.


    The first thing that needed to be done was cleaning the ce up.


    The bodies of several ospreys and a few burrowing owls littered the area, and they would be unable to live in the ce as it currently was.


    Then once that was finished a group of the burrowing owls headed back to their temporary base where they had left their lower ranked members.


    It was imperative that they safely bring the future generation back with them as with the magic spring restored to them, they could rapidly advance therians of their weaker members and regain the missing power the war with the ospreys had caused.


    "I will make sure to stick with all of you until next month to make sure no other group takes your home from you again. It would be a waste of all of my efforts for all of you to die after I worked so hard to win you back your home." Evelyn said.


    This elicited her even more cheers and thanks as her continuing help despite it only being in self-interest was a great boon for the burrowing owls.


    With everything she needed to do finished, and the burrowing owls having everything under control, Evelyn moved into a small chamber a bit of distance from the main one and prepared to get some rest.


    Naturally she was still wary of the burrowing owls and set up a few manners of protections before going to sleep. But once she was done, she quickly fell into a deep sleep.

 Chapter 204 204 Dip In The Magic Spring

    ?''What is that!?''


    Suddenly feeling an immense amount of magical energy, Evelyn shot wide awake from her deep slumber.


    She had no idea what was going on and at first, she figured that a powerful entity had invaded the burrowing owls'' home, but quickly realized that was not the case.


    The magical energy she was feeling did not seem to have any will and felt more like when she used the advancement chamber.


    Soon after, while she was wondering what was going on, Po, the original burrowing owl that had pleaded for her help came flying towards the chamber she was resting in.


    "Lady Evelyn, the magic spring has be active. I know that you must be quite tired from the battle yesterday but within a few minutes the spring will be filled and ready for you." Po said frantically.


    Evelyn''s eyes went wide as she heard this as she had not expected to sleep for as long as she had since she missed the initial activation of the spring.


    ''I suppose that I must have been more exhausted than I thought. Still, while it is a shame I missed the start, the end is more important for me.''


    Now that she knew the magic spring was active Evelyn hastily made her way to the main chamber.


    When she entered, she saw that all of the burrowing owls were gathered around therge spring that sat at the back of the chamber.


    However, it no longer looked like in water as it had yesterday, and bubbles of pure magical energy were flowing into it from where water normally entered the spring from underground.


    A bright glow was filling up within the spring showing the progress of the magical energy and it truly was a wonderous sight to behold.


    Along with that growing up along the walls around the spring were numerous vines that Evelyn had noticed the day before, but now they simrly had a far more beautiful luster than before and small rainbow fruits that looked like grapes were slowly growing on them.


    ''Those must be the Chryseos Vines that Po told me about. I have never heard of them before, but it is clear that they produce a high quality magical fruits.'' Evelyn observed as she closed the distance to the spring.


    When shended the burrowing owls that had gathered all surrounded her and bowed their heads.


    Then Otis hopped over to her and opened his right wing and pointed towards the spring.


    "Lady Evelyn, as promised for your assistance we wish to allow you the honor of being the sole user of the magic spring. Normally this is only allowed when the leader of our flock is ready to ascend beyond the awakened rank, but for the immeasurable help you have given us in reiming our home we are more than happy to allow you to use the magic spring alone."


    After saying this Otis exined that once the spring was fully filled with magical energy it would begin pulsating and let out a bright light.


    "It is time Lady Evelyn. Here another gift from all of us." Otis said, presenting her with the beast core from the osprey patriarch.


    In order for her to raise her tier, she would need an item that shared an affinity with her and was sufficiently powerful enough.


    Luckily the osprey patriarch had a fire affinity and using it along with the magical energying from the spring Evelyn should have been able to raise her tier from low to mid.


    ''I have noticed that I need to absorb an absurd amount of magical energy to feel any difference in my capacity after reaching the awakened rank, so hopefully this spring will finally be able to give me the boost I need.'' Evelyn thought as she took the core from Otis.


    With everything now ready she entered the spring, and the moment she felt her foot touch it the magical energy began rushing into her.


    It was a wholly different experience than she had ever felt before, and it was incredibly pleasant. Like slipping into a warm bath after an especially stressful day.


    Slowly she advanced into the spring until only her head was above the water and focused most of her attention on absorbing the magical energy.


    However, she did make sure to keep her senses at least somewhat trained on the burrowing owls just in case they had been deceiving her and nned to attack her while she was distracted.


    Of course, this was just her distrustful paranoia, and the burrowing owls had no intentions of harming who they considered to be their savior.


    Nearly an hour went by as Evelyn absorbed more and more magical energy into herself, until finally something new happened.


    The beast core she was holding in her left foot began to break apart and all of its properties were absorbed into Evelyn.


    Her ascension to the next tier had begun now that she had absorbed enough magical energy.


    Just like the spring Evelyn began to glow and her body began undergoing a change as she advanced to the next tier.


    Normally this would have taken at least a few hours, but thanks to the properties of the spring, Evelyn felt her body changing at a more rapid pace.


    Thankfully it was only mildly diforting, and within around thirty minutes she had reached the mid-tier of the awakened rank.


    ''Finally, that took a while even though I have been eating plenty of high ranked beast cores.'' Evelyn thought as she examined the changes to her body.


    She was used to making fast progress, being able to reach the next tier rtively easy enough. But had found that things truly became much more difficult once she reached the awakened rank.


    In fact, her progress using the magic spring could only be considered astounding, as it would normally take a couple years for a newly evolved awakened rank beast to reach the mid-tier even if they had numerous resources at their disposal.


    ''It seems that I have reached my limit after advancing to the next tier. Only the Aethersphere is absorbing any magical energy now.'' Evelyn observed.


    Her body, while having obtained the ability to absorb far more magical energy than before after evolving, still had its limits, and she had reached hers.


    Nevertheless, the Aethersphere needed magical energy to continue repairing itself and this was the perfect time for her to receive an immense amount of magical energy she would normally not have ess to.


    ''I should also fill up some jars while I am at it.'' Evelyn thought as she looked into the glowing water.


    essing her storage items Evelyn took out a dozenrge jars and filled them with spring water.


    She knew that it was a useful brewing material that could enhance the potency of her potions and nned on using it along with her best ingredients to make a number of powerful potions for her personal use.


    Once she had finished sealing up thest jar, she began swimming through the spring and towards the other side where the Chryseos Vines were.


    The rainbow-colored fruits that resembled grapes had finished growing and swelled up to the size of plumbs now.


    ''They certainly look appetizing, but I am already filled up on magical energy from the spring, so I will just take some forter.''


    Going around the vines Evelyn reached out and plucked off around a half dozen of the fruits that were within her reach.


    This was exactly half of the fruits as the four vines each only produced three fruits.


    Having gotten all she wanted from the spring, Evelyn began making her way back to the shore.


    When she arrived all of the burrowing owls were looking at her with stunned stares.


    A momentter they all bowed their heads to her.


    "You truly are a great one. Only those leaders that have ascended to the tyrant rank have ever been able to stay in the spring and enrich themselves with its magical energy for so long." Otis said in awe.


    The other burrowing owls simrly expressed their reverence for Evelyn and began praising her.


    This only made her feel awkward, and she now realized that perhaps these burrowing owls were a bit too zealous.


    ''So, this is what Minerva meant. Those that strong will always be looked to for their leadership.''


    Sighing, Evelyn had never thought of herself as much of a leader, but now that she looked back at it, she took charge of the burrowing owls and had down all she could to make them win.


    Naturally this had just been for her own self-interest, but that did not change the fact that she had effectively led them to victory.


    Once things began to settle down Evelyn made mention that she was finished with the magic spring and that the burrowing owls could use the remaining magical energy for themselves.


    This caused all of them to swiftly enter the magic spring and soak up the rest of the magical energy.


    ''Wow the magical energy really goes fast when there are that many of them.'' Evelyn thought as she watched the burrowing owls.


    While there had only been about forty percent of the magical energy left in the spring once Evelyn was done with it, when spilt between all the burrowing owls it did notst that long.


    Still, it had helped some of the low tier burrowing owls that were already close to the next tier advance. Showing just how powerful of an asset the magic spring really was.

 Chapter 205 205 Finishing Up In The Velinis Desert

    ?A month quickly went by as Evelyn stayed with the burrowing owls to make sure that no other interested parties tried to take the magic spring again.


    Luckily, while a few other beasts wandered in and tried to take out the burrowing owls, they were not much of a threat.


    Norge, organized force like the ospreys came by in the time Evelyn was there and she had not even needed to intervene in any of the few battles.


    Naturally she did not spend the entire time cooped up in the burrows and made time to collect more resources from the desert while she was there.


    This saw her supplies of items found their shooting up and she would be very well stocked for quite some time.


    However, on thest day she nned to stay with the burrowing owls she did not leave and watched the magic spring intently.


    Last time she had been asleep when it started to fill with magical energy from the depths of the world and she had no intention of missing it this time.


    For hours she simply watched the spring until finally she saw bubbles of magical energy begin to pour into the magic spring.


    It was quite a beautiful sight and Evelyn made sure to ingrain it into her mind.


    ''I suppose that I can consider this undisputable proof that this magic spring is stable. But that begs the question, where is the magical energying from, and why at such consistent intervals?'' Evelyn thought while watching what was going on.


    Unfortunately, unless she wanted to start excavating the area and find where the water wasing from, she would likely never find the answer. And if she were to do this, she would very likely ruin the spring.


    In the end, all she could do was specte and forget learning the truth.


    The usefulness of the spring was simply too great to risk damaging or destroying just to find out why it was stable.


    Once the spring was filled and began glowing brightly, Evelyn along with a number of the burrowing owls got in.


    Unlikest time she was not being given the privilege of having the spring to herself, but she was fine with it this time.


    She needed the burrowing owls to get stronger so that she could feel safe in leaving them here to guard the ce for her.


    To aplish this the burrowing owls were focusing on their peak fiend beast rank members who were ready to evolve to the awakened rank.


    Thankfully they already knew the item they needed to act as a catalyst and thirteen of the burrowing owls would be advancing to the awakened rank today.


    ''There really is a significantly lower amount of energy for me to absorb with so many others but monopolizing it for myself now would likely hurt me long term.'' Evelyn thought as she soaked in the magical energy.


    While doing so she also headed over to the Chryseos Vines and plucked off four more fruits.


    This brought her up to ten and was the amount that the burrowing owls had beenfortable parting with.


    Of course, Evelyn could have gotten more if she pushed harder as the burrowing owls were heavily indebted to her, but she did not want to sour rtions in any way.


    She was certain that she would frequent the spring at least once every few months and did not want the burrowing owls'' gratitude to turn to contempt if she took too much from them.


    Until she reached the tyrant rank, this ce was likely going to be the best resource she had ess to.


    Within the hour the magical energy from the spring had been exhausted and Evelyn got out along with a number of the burrowing owls.


    For now, many of their ranks were going up to the next tier or even evolving.


    It was amazing to see. as one would not normally witness so many beasts advancing all at once.


    This was simply how potent the magic spring was.


    ''As soon as thest one is finished, I will head out. I have been gone for quite some time and I do not need Melisandre getting worried about me.'' Evelyn thought as she watched on.


    By the end of the day all of the burrowing owls that were evolving had finished and a new set of awakened ranks were now among their flock.


    This brought them up to almost thirty and would be more than enough to fight back against most other beasts in the desert.


    "Lady Evelyn, should you ever need anything from us or wish to use the spring again, please feel free to drop by. We are eternally grateful to you and will make sure to pay you back no matter how long it takes." Otis said to Evelyn as she stood at the burrow''s exit.


    He along with a number of the burrowing owls hade to see her off and were expressing their gratitude for her help.


    They never would have reimed their home without her, and their flock would have lost the prominence it had held for centuries.


    "I n to take you up on that offer. I will probably be back sometime within the next three or four months to use the spring again. Make sure to protect it and not lose it again."


    After saying this Evelyn turned around and took to the sky without looking back.


    When she made it high into the air, she pulled out the return ticket she had to use the Roost''s warp portals and followed it to where the entrance was.


    With how long she had been gone there was no doubt that the portal''s location had changed many times and without the ticket''s guidance she would never find the entrance.


    Within a few hours she made it to an inconspicuous spot in the desert and the ticket reacted. Showing that she was in range of a warp portal.


    ''It is finally time to go back. I will have failed a number of the missions by taking too long, but securing the magic spring was more important.'' Evelyn thought as she activated the warp portal and was taken back to the Roost.

 Chapter 206 206 Back In The Roost Again

    ?Once the light of going through the warp portal faded Evelyn found herself back in the Roost.


    Looking around she saw numerous owls going anding back using the warp tforms that littered the hall.


    ''It is good to be back.'' Evelyn thought as she let out a sigh of relief.


    While she had gathered a great deal of materials and made plenty of gains out in the wilds, there was also an ever-present sense of danger out there.


    In the Roost she felt quite a bit safer. Though she never fully dropped her guard except when she was at Melisandre''s mansion.


    Exiting Warp Hall, Evelyn made her way over to the Mission Hall with a grimace on her face.


    Of the many missions she had taken only two had not already expired.


    This meant she was going to be penalized for her failures even if she had the items toplete all of her missions.


    When she arrived and met with one of the receptionists, she received a long lecture about not overextending herself and taking on only missions that she could certainlyplete.


    While she was receiving this talking to, Evelyn had to resist the urge to role her eyes, since she did not fail because she was inept, but that she had prioritized protecting the magic spring.


    In the end, all the credits she had earned from the twopleted missions were taken aspensation for her failures, and she was barred from taking missions for six months.


    ''Well not like I was going to be going out on any more mission any time soon anyway. Now that I have plenty of brewing ingredients, I can start making more alchemical items and sell them in my shop.'' Evelyn thought towards the end of her transactions with the mission hall.


    With what she needed to tend to first finished, she finally made her way back to Melisandre''s mansion.


    When she arrived, she was surprised when a tyrant rank owl in humanoid form she had never seen beforeing flying up to her.


    "Evelyn you are finally back! We were really starting to get worried about you!" The unfamiliar owl shouted as she embraced Evelyn.


    Suddenly being grabbed by who she thought was a stranger, Evelyn became terribly rmed at first, until she recognized the simr presence.


    "Anneli?!" Evelyn asked, using wind magic to create a voice.


    "Huh?! Oh right, this is your first time back since I managed to evolve. Yeah, it is me." Anneli said as she smiled at Evelyn.


    Not long after Melisandre along with Katrina came flying in as well. Alerted by Evelyn entering the mansion.


    Yet just like Anneli, Katrina was also in a humanoid form and clearly had evolved to the tyrant rank as well.


    This took Evelyn quite by surprise as she had not been expecting them to so suddenly advance.


    ''Looks like it is going to take me even longer to catch up.'' She thought.


    Once the initial fanfare spurred on by Evelyn''s return settled down, Melisandre began questioning her about what had happened and why it took her so long toe back.


    "It is going to be a bit of a long story. Would you mind if we moved somewhere morefortable?" Evelyn asked.


    Quickly they all headed to a nearby lounge room Evelyn had never been in and she told them what had happened starting from the beginning.


    "That is most disconcerting. To think that you would run into one of the men that kept you captive. And that they would recognize you." Melisandre said when Evelyn got to the part where she encountered the Deamhain Sect members.


    "I have heard of them before. They are one of the thirteen major organizations that rule over the Tyrannis Union, which is one of the three major powers on this continent. Them knowing you are alive is very bad. The item within you is valuable enough that they will likely do everything in their power to track you down." Melisandre said pensively.


    She wanted to think up some sort of counter, but it was easier said than done.


    The Roost itself was almost certainly stronger than the Deamhain Sect, but not the entire Tyrannis Union.


    Still, it was unlikely that the Deamhain Sect would want to publicize that Evelyn had a divine item and would do everything in their power to retrieve it quietly.


    "Evelyn, I would rmend that you leave the Roost as infrequently as possible from now on. I would not be surprised if there were several humans looking for you at this moment. Of course, I realize you will not be able to stay here indefinitely, butter I will bring you a map with ces you should absolutely avoid in order to stay out of areas within the Deamhain Sect''s influence."


    Thanking her master, Evelyn was very grateful for all she had done and was going to do for her.


    Continuing on, she retold the rest of her adventures outside of the Roost. About how she was rescued by Lucia and then went on to assist the burrowing owls.


    "Of course, I did not help them for free. I got these as my reward." Evelyn said as she took out one of therge jars of the magically enriched spring water and a Chryseos Fruit.


    Both Anneli and Katrina just looked inquisitively at the two items, not knowing what they were. But Melisandre went wide eyed seeing them.


    To this point Evelyn had not mentioned the stable magic spring and it was all to get this reaction.


    "Evelyn, where did you get these!?" Melisandre said with a stern tone.


    Taken aback, she had not expected such a harsh order, but quickly exined the details of the magic spring.


    "Anneli, Katrina, not a word of this to anyone. Evelyn has found a great enough treasure that she would be the target of many if any found out about it." Melisandre said with a fierce expression.


    Bowing their heads, the two servants promised that they would not say a word regarding the matter.


    "Still, to think you would not only find a stable magic spring, but Chryseos Vines growing in it." Melisandre said, shaking her head in disbelief.


    Now knowing what one of the items Evelyn had, Anneli and Katrina looked in awe at the jar filled with spring water. Though they still did not know what the Chryseos Fruit was.


    Seeing that neither of her attendants nor her disciple knew what it was, Melisandre borated.


    "That rainbow fruit there is said to contain the power of all of the natural magical affinities such as fire, metal, lighting, light, and so on. It is one of the main and easily the rarest ingredient in an evolution potion. As long as the potion is made properly, and the ingredients are at the correct rank, the potion can take the ce of one of the catalysts one needs to evolve. And judging by how much magical energy is within the fruit Evelyn has, I would say they are suitable for any peak awakened beast going to the tyrant rank."


    Hearing this, Evelyn, Anneli, and Katrina were stunned.


    Finding the items needed to evolve could be a time-consuming endeavor. As they all knew well.


    Anneli and Katrina had been searching for thest item they needed to reach the tyrant rank for many years now and only just a little over a month ago had they both found what they needed while searching a remote volcano.


    However, if Evelyn hade back with these fruits sooner, they could have forgone their search and just the potion as a recement.


    Unfortunately, now it was not useful for them, as the magic spring and the fruits grown from it were not rich enough in magic to go past the tyrant rank.


    After Evelyn finished rying everything she went through on her journey into the Elmot Gorge and Velinis Desert, Melisandre began discussing their next steps.


    "You now have enough alchemy supplies to make plenty of potions, pills, and salves, so it is time we get your store up and running again. Your goods will be far too exceptional for the first floor at this point, so I will get you set up with a stall on the second floor. You will need to move a bit slower there in order to not ruffle any feathers, but within a year I guarantee you will have one of the most sessful shops." Melisandre said, already having a forgone conclusion of what was going to happened.


    Of course, with Evelyn''s heavenly me her ability to produce high end alchemical items was second only to Melisandre, and so long as she had enough magical energy to get through the process, she could make just about anything at the highest quality.


    "Um Melisandre, I can understand you are ecstatic to continue Evelyn''s path down alchemy, but did you forget the letter." Katrina eventually said to put a halt to Melisandre''s fervor.


    "Oh, I did push that to the back of my mind." Melisandre said with an uncaring expression.


    "Evelyn, your squad mates from the expedition sent me a letter asking about you. They were trying to inquiry about your condition, and they believed you were still unwell."


    Pursuing her beak and making a guilty expression, Evelyn remembered now that she had meant to contact Bylur and Rehni.


    They had both helped her out enough to earn a bit of her trust, and Bylur especially had risked his life to save her.


    "I suppose before I do anything else, I should get in contact with them. I at least owe them that much after all we went through together."

 Chapter 207 207 Meeting With Bylur And Rehni

    ?After her meeting upon her return with Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina, Evelyn returned to her room and began preparing letters to send to Bylur and Rehni.


    Naturally the two of them were quite worried about Evelyn, since thest time they saw her, she was on the verge of death from far exceeding her limits.


    It had already been several months since then, and other than Melisandre updating them once that Evelyn was alive, they did not know what her current status was.


    In fact, Evelyn had meant to send them both messages earlier, but got caught up in evolving and rebuilding her stash of materials for alchemy.


    Still, she figured betterte than never, and quickly wrote practically identical letters to them and sent them off to the addresses they had listed in the letters they sent to Melisandre.


    The next day she was surprised to have received responses from both of them.


    Each of their letters were filled with their relief that she had survived and congrattions on her sessful evolution to the awakened rank.


    At the end they both expressed their desire to meet with her and actually suggested the same ce and time.


    ''I suppose that they must be in contact with each other and agreed on this meeting together beforehand. They want me to meet them at a ce called the Emerald Landing in three days.''


    Leaning back on the cushion she was sitting on Evelyn thought about what to do for a few minutes.


    She was not sure where this ce was or whether it was safe.


    Generally, the Roost was not a dangerous ce, but scuffles could happen even if they rarely led to deaths, since the punishment for killing another owl outside of a sanctioned match was exile at best and execution at worst.


    ''I trust both of them to a degree since they have already done a lot for me, but I should check up on the ce first.'' Evelyn thought.


    With her goal set she flew over to the records hall and found the information on the establishment.


    Thankfully it was not very expensive to ess documents that pertained to public spaces in the Roost, and she found out that it was a mid-ss restaurant that catered to low to high tier awaken beasts for the most part.


    Once she had finished researching the ce Evelyn feltfortable meeting there and returned to her room and wrote up a response to both Bylur and Rehni.


    ''Still, if they are wanting for us to gather at a restaurant that serves those at the awakened rank, they must have both evolved as well. I suppose I was out for several months, so they had plenty of time to find and gather what they needed to evolve.''


    With the letter grasped carefully in her beak, Evelyn made her way to what was essentially the Roost''s post office and sent out the correspondence.


    Now everything she needed to do in rtion to her acquaintances wasplete and she decided to use the next few days to finally get back to brewing.


    Since her evolution to the awakened rank, she had not done any serious alchemy by herself and only learned a number of new brews from Melisandre.


    ''It has already been a while so I should review everything first.'' Evelyn thought as she stood in front of her cauldron.


    Taking the notebook she wrote the instructions and ingredients for each brew in, Evelyn went over the ones she was nning on making today, and when she had them memorized got started.


    A brewing stick in her mouth Evelyn got to work on making potions, pills, and poisons.


    When she had been out on her own, she noticed how easily she got overrun byrger numbers and knew she was going to need a way to counter being outnumbered in the future.


    This was where the poisons Melisandre had taught her how to make came into effect.


    A number of them turned into a toxic gas when exposed to the air and were perfect for creating a diversion when trying to get away.


    If she had already made some before her trip into the Elmot Gorge, she could have simply deployed a jar of poison behind her to get rid of her pursuers instead of having to riskily use arge explosion that knocked her unconscious.


    She also made sure to prioritize making a number of powerful antidotes, as it was poison that had nearly caused her to be captured and she wanted to have fail safes in the future. Especially on the off chance she identally poisoned herself or any allies.


    For the next three days Evelyn brewed for most of the day until she was out of magical energy and her neck hurt from the repetitive motion of stirring the brewing stick that she held in her beak.


    However, despite all the time she had spent on alchemy, she was still far from having made everything that she wanted to.


    But despite her wanting to continue, she had a meeting to attend that she had already agreed to.


    ''I have all of the items that I made personally for myself and enhanced with the water from the magic spring. Just in case any sort of battle happens, I should be prepared.'' Evelyn thought as she checked through her stock of items.


    Satisfied in her preparations, Evelyn left Melisandre''s mansion and flew away from the center of the Roost.


    The restaurant where she was to be meeting Bylur and Rehni was deeper in the Roost in a part Evelyn had never been to.


    For how long she had been a part of the organization, she really spent most of her time in only a few locations and was fairly well isted from everyone else.


    Of course, this was both due to her distrustful nature and as a precaution against anyone finding out about the heavenly me and divine item that were attached to her body and soul.


    ''This looks like the ce.'' Evelyn thought as she floated above a certain tree that had arge sign hanging from the branches denoting it as the Emerald Landing.


    Scanning the area, she looked to see how the seating was done and found that there were areas set up like nests with tables on them outside, but also that the tree was hollowed out and had room to eat inside as well.


    ''It does not look like they are outside. They must either be inside or have not arrived yet. Though I suppose it is also possible that I might not be able to recognize them after their evolutions.'' Evelyn thought while looking around.


    When she was certain that she would not find them outside, she entered the building and found a couple of owls waiting to act as servers.


    All of them were at the low tier of the awakened rank and one of them quickly moved to greet Evelyn.


    Brushing off the pleasantries, Evelyn got right down to business and asked about Rehni and Bylur.


    "Ah yes, they are already here and waiting for you. Allow me to show you to where they are." The server said.


    Soon she was led deeper into the tree that served as the building for the restaurant and tucked away in one of the corners was a table that sat Bylur and Rehni who despite having evolved were still easily recognizable to Evelyn.

 Chapter 208 208 Meeting With Bylur And Rehni (2)

    ?Spotting Rehni and Bylur, Evelyn headed on over to them.


    They were sitting around a rtively small table, though since it was made for owls that could grow up to twenty feet tall it was not actually tiny by any means.


    As soon as Evelyn made her presence known, both Bylur and Rehni turned to look at her and had relived smiles on their faces.


    Seeing this, Evelyn was taken aback a bit, since she had not expected them to be so happy just to see her again.


    ''Perhaps I made more of an impression on them than I thought.''


    Joining them at the table, Evelyn hopped up onto a stool that had been prepared for her as she was a bit too short to sit on the ground and reach the tablefortably.


    Even after going up to the mid-tier of the awakened rank, she had barely increased in size and was only around six and a half feet tall after growing six inches.


    Yet while she was considered short for an awakened rank beast, Rehni who had been small before had also shrunk down when she evolved and was only around four feet tall now.


    It was quite surprising as most beasts got bigger when they evolved in order to gain greater physical power, but sometimes certain evolutions had them getting smaller.


    On the other hand, Bylur had certainly followed the established trend, and was easily two feet taller than before and looked quite a bit bulkier.


    Other than that, he did not seem much different. Though his feathers seemed to have a glossier luster to them.


    Once Evelyn had taken her seat, both Rehni and Bylur were quick to extend strands of magical energy to her in order tomunicate.


    Nodding her head, she epted them, and the connection was made.


    "I am d to see that you are alright, Evelyn. It truly seemed that you were going to die after being attacked by that monster." Rehni said with a glint of fear in her eyes.


    She had witnessed the entire battle after being blown away by the shockwaves of fierce magic being thrown around and was nearly killed just by being in the area.


    "I wanted to help you like Bylur did, but I just could not get my wings to work. That thing was just too far beyond me." Rehni said while trembling.


    The appearance of the empress dryad that was far stronger than any of them even now had naturally paralyzed her with fear. Even if she wanted to help Evelyn, she had been too gripped with terror to move.


    "I already told you not to let it get to you Rehni. I barely found my own courage to move and bought only a couple of seconds despite getting fatally injured. If Lady Melisandre had not shown up, we all would have been dead no matter what we did." Bylur said to reassure Rehni.


    Watching this exchange closely, Evelyn could tell that the two of them were far closer than they had been before.


    During the expedition Rehni had been more reserved, and Bylur had mostly paid attention to Evelyn despite her finding it annoying.


    ''I suppose living through something like that does forge strong bonds. It is in a way simr to how Mason and I grew closer the more our father beat us.'' Evelyn thought.


    Of course, she felt a closer connection to them as well, and even though she had not really cared for Bylur before, his saving her had endeared him to her a bit.


    It took a long time or a great act to gain any amount of Evelyn''s trust, but him nearly dying for her had won not a small amount of her trust. Even after all she had been through in both of her lives.


    "There is no reason for you to feel down Rehni. When the Empress Dryad initially attacked, I was gripped with fear as well and fled without worrying about anyone else. The only reason I did not leave all of you behind is because it set up some sort of wide range barrier. I also only fought because I felt it was the only way for me to survive. It is not cowardly to run away if you believe there is no chance of winning. Once you die, that is the end. Your life is over, and everything you fought for and hold dear is taken away."


    As Evelyn said this, a dark grimace formed on her face. She was remembering her first death and all the pain that came along with it.


    Thankfully, her words and expression helped Rehni to shed the bit of guilt she felt for being unable to do anything in the face of the empress dryad.


    "Bylur, I also need to thank you. Your intervention saved my life. Without your help, there is no doubt I would be dead now. I know I have been cold to you in the past, but it is because I do not trust easily. And to be honest, how pushy you were made me annoyed and wary. However, I now believe that you are unlikely to harm me." Evelyn said as she bowed her head towards the snowy owl who had saved her.


    Bylur, receiving such praise and genuine words from Evelyn, looked away bashfully and gratefully epted her thanks and eptance.


    After they had everything regarding the incident with the empress dryad behind them, they all began rying what they had been generally up to for thest several months.


    For the five months that Evelyn had been unconscious, Bylur and Rehni became friends and started working together.


    Having witnessed what kind of absurd power was out in the world, they began working as hard and fast as possible to advance.


    Nevertheless, they did not cut corners and made sure to attain the highest quality evolutions that they could, and just like Evelyn they had needed to gather three items as catalysts.


    At the very least, while both of them actually were fairly rare species of owls, the requirements for their evolutions were still known. And after several months of hard work, they had obtained what they needed.


    "Except it seems that you must havee across something truly spectacr Evelyn. Even though you were unconscious for five months, you have already shot up to the mid-tier of the awakened rank." Rehni said with awe.


    Both her and Bylur were still only at the low tier despite having evolved before Evelyn.


    This proved that some sort of anomaly must have happened, or Evelyn never would have been able to make so much progress in such a short amount of time.


    ''Should I tell them about the magic spring?'' Evelyn thought, considering allowing them in on one of her secrets.


    She was feeling indebted to Bylur for saving her life and she liked Rehni quite a bit. Perhaps then allowing them ess to the spring might make a good gift to reward them for their help.


    ''No, it is too soon for that. I trust them to a degree, but one can never be too careful. I have realized that I need allies, but I cannot show them one of my best cards yet. Perhapster I can use it as a test of their loyalty.'' Evelyn thought, contemting how to make Bylur and Rehni her allies.


    During her time in the gorge and desert she had found herself needing help in both ces. With Lucia rescuing her in the gorge and teaming up with the burrowing owls to take out the ospreys in the desert.


    In either of those scenarios, she would not have been sessful alone. And while she still did not like the idea of working with others, she knew that it would be a necessity.


    That was where Bylur and Rehni came in.


    Both of them had shown through their actions that they were to be trusted enough to not stab her in the back at least.


    ''I guess I can win them over more by handing out some of my lower quality alchemical items for free and going out on missions with them.''


    Satisfied with her conclusion, Evelyn was going to make her suggestion, when another opportunity to work together was presented to her.


    "I know this may be forward of us, but we actually asked you here for another reason other than just confirming you were okay." Bylur said with a bit of hesitancy.


    "I am sure that you have heard of the Ranking Hall, right?" Rehni added on quickly.


    Racking her brain, Evelyn tried to remember what that was, and recalled when she was still fairly new to the Roost Anneli showing her around and mentioning the name.


    ''I believe it is one of the halls she glossed over and said was not really important for me at the time.''


    After recalling what little she knew of the ce, Evelyn nodded her head in acknowledgement.


    "Yes, I have heard of the ce but never actually gone into it. What does it have to with the two of you?"

 Chapter 209 209 Bylur And Rehni’s Proposition

    ?With baffled looks Bylur and Rehni could not understand Evelyn''s question.


    For them it wasmon sense why the Ranking Hall was important, yet she did not seem to have much of an inkling about it.


    "Evelyn what have they been teaching you in your sses? Some of the first things we learned about were the halls and their functions. And among them the Ranking Hall is one of the most important." Rehni said.


    Tilting her head, Evelyn was the one who was a bit confused now.


    Anneli had told her that the Ranking Hall was not all that pertinent to her, but now Rehni and Bylur were saying it was a fundamental hall she should have known about.


    "Hm, most of my sses have been about controlling my magical energy, learning how to fight with magic, and alchemy. I know about the halls I have been in, such as the Mission Hall and Inscription Hall, but I do not really know much about the Ranking Hall other than its name. What exactly is its purpose?"


    After hearing that Evelyn''s education upon entering the Roost was so much different than theirs, both Rehni and Bylur could only stare at Evelyn in stunned silence.


    Since the moment they had arrived at the Roost they had been ced into a ss of owls that were at the same rank and tier and taught many different types of lessons.


    They had learned the areas within the Roost such as the major halls, how to use spend credits in order to use the facilities around the Roost, the geography of the ces that were under the Roost''s control outside the separate dimension, and plenty else.


    Yet it seemed that Evelyn was not receiving this standardized education that should be taught to new members of the Roost.


    Instead, what she had learned was mostly highly focused topics and only the bare minimum of what she needed to get around the Roost.


    "Wait, are you not enrolled in one of the Roost''s sses for teaching new members?" Bylur eventually asked, finding it hard to believe that Evelyn could have received such different teaching from everyone else.


    "No, I have never attended anything that could be considered a new member ss. Melisandre and her attendants have been teaching me what I need to know personally."


    "You are to say that you are not a part of a ss. But I thought that all owls below the tyrant rank were required to be enrolled?" Rehni said with a befuddled expression.


    Evelyn, seeing that theirmon sense was vastly different, asked Rehni and Bylur to borate.


    And as they did, she realized just how different she was to almost every other owl in the Roost.


    Normally when joining the Roost new owls were ced into a ss based on their rank and taught the relevant knowledge they would need to advance and live in the Roost.


    These sses also served as a ce where the new owls could forge bonds ofradery.


    Except, instead of being ced into one of these sses, Evelyn had mostly received personal instructions from Melisandre.


    "I see What you have described is quite a bit different than what I have experienced here. I rarely have any contact outside Melisandre and her attendants. With the others being those owls that work at the halls I have been to. In fact, I would say that you two are the only ones that I have any sort of friendly rtionship with that are around my rank."


    Once Evelyn finished exining her circumstances, both Bylur and Rehni now realized just how isted she was.


    For the most part she stayed cooped up in Melisandre''s mansion, and when she was not there, she was either in the alchemy hall or out gathering materials.


    "To think someone as amazing as you does not have anypanions or followers." Rehni said out loud absentmindedly.


    From her point of view Evelyn had seemed like a zing beacon of strength that anyone would want to follow.


    But now that she knew more about her circumstances, she realized that Evelyn was practically cut off from the rest of the Roost.


    Of course, it was not as if Melisandre had kept her locked up, it was just that Evelyn was not one to ever seek out others on her own.


    "I suppose with how strong you are, you are not in need of the Roost''s usual teachings. But anyway, we have gotten off topic from what we really wanted to ask you about." Rehni eventually said.


    Following up Bylur jumped in and exined what the main reason why wanted to meet with her was.


    "To tell you the truth we were hoping you would be the leader of our team and help us rise up the ranks in the Ranking Hall. I know that you are way stronger than either of us, but we could not think of anyone better to team up with."


    Pursing her beak together Evelyn thought about what this offer would entail.


    "While I can gather what the ranking hall is to a certain degree from its name and what you have told me, there is still much I need to know before agreeing. First and foremost, what merit is there to it?"


    ted that Evelyn had not turned them down, Rehni enthusiastically told Evelyn everything she knew about the Ranking Hall.


    "Hm, I believe I understand now." Evelyn said after Rehni finished exining.


    To summarize, the Ranking Hall was where owls of the same rank could do battle to earn des and rewards.


    Those that rose high up thedder received better rewards and could even get scouted by a higher-ranking owl to be a servant or apprentice if they caught anyone''s eye.


    One could say it was a ce where ambitious owls could further themselves quickly.


    However, it was not without its dangers.


    During the fights it was possible to end up dead or crippled. Even if it was frowned upon to cause permanent injury.


    The rankings were also separated into three different groups. With their being rankings for individuals, teams made up of three, and factions which were farrger organizations made up of up to several hundreds of owls.


    This system was in ce to promote growth through battle and to make sure that the owls of the Roost did not getcent.


    So long as there were challenges to ovee, plenty would rise to the asion to do so. Especially when there were valuable rewards to be had.


    "For both the individual and team rankings getting into the top five thousand promises a reward of two hundred thousand credits each month. So long as they can keep their rank. As for higher rankings, I know that the number of credits goes up by a hundred thousand for each thousand ranks you ascend, but past that the rewards are not explicitly known. I have heard though from an acquaintance whose brother was in the top nine hundred that he received fifty red magic crystals along with the credits and several hours within a premium advancement chamber. I am sure that those at a higher ranking receive even more amazing rewards." Rehni said passionately.


    Evelyn on the other hand was not really tempted by any of these rewards.


    For credits, she could gather them faster by simply focusing on alchemy and selling whatever she makes. And while red magic crystals were valuable, it was not like they were that hard to obtain and could be bought with credits. As for ess to an advancement chamber, Evelyn could use the one in Melisandre''s mansion, and her finding the stable magic spring actually made it fairly useless until she reached the tyrant rank anyway.


    Still, she was a bit interested since perhaps those closer to the top could expect rare items that were hard toe by as rewards rather than things that could simply be bought.


    ''On one hand I do want to gain them both as allies since I already know I can trust them to a degree. But it seems that the merit of participating is not all that high. For me at least. Participating would also bring me to the attention of the other owls of the Roost, which I have been trying to avoid. If I was to fight, I would need to refrain from using my heavenly me or gravity magic and stick only to wind.''


    Going back and forth, Evelyn was having a tough time making a definitive decision on whether she should join Bylur and Rehni as a team.


    If she did it would be a good way to getbat experience with them and further grow their bond. She knew as much as she did not want to that gaining allies was a necessity.


    Sometimes things were simply too difficult to aplish on your own and you needed help.


    Nevertheless, she did not really want to garner any attention if she could help it.


    In the end, she could note to a decision immediately.


    "Before Imit to anything I should ask Melisandre for her opinion. I am not saying no, but I will need her to weigh in on this before I can agree."


    Not receiving a definitive answer both Rehni and Bylur''s expression turned disheartened.


    Evelyn had seemed to show a fair amount of interest, and they were hoping to secure her cooperation.


    At the very least, she had not turned them down. Plus, depending on what Melisandre said, she might still join them as a member of their team.

 Chapter 210 210 Melisandre’s Input

    ?Evelyn, having finished her meeting with Bylur and Rehni, returned to Melisandre''s mansion.


    She wanted to get her master''s input before agreeing to join Bylur and Rehni''s team, and there were still a few things that she wanted more information on.


    Luckily upon her return Melisandre was within the mansion and not particrly busy.


    She readily agreed to Evelyn''s request to have a discussion and the two of them moved to the kitchen to eat and talk at the same time.


    "So that is what those two wanted." Melisandre said in between taking a big bite out of the cut of meat in front of her.


    She had met Bylur and Rehni already when she came to rescue Evelyn from the empress dryad and did think somewhat highly of them, especially Bylur for the help they gave Evelyn.


    "While I am not opposed to you teaming up with them, there are reasons to stay away from the Ranking Hall. Even if you only use wind magic your powers are a bit stronger than most others and you are bound to garner a bit of attention as you rise up the ranks." Melisandre warned.


    Of course, this was the biggest concern Evelyn had as well, and the main reason she had not agreed.


    "However, I cannot deny that there are merits to it as well. You mostly only have experience fighting against Anneli and Katrina and you can fall into a stiff fighting style if you only train with the same partners over and over. I know that you get more experience fighting other beasts and humans out in the world but that is a bit different since you normally ambush weaker opponents. There is also the fact that you rely on your gravity magic and heavenly me to do the majority of your damage and keep wind relegated more for support or to enhance your other magic. And I understand why since your other powers are stronger, but this could be a good opportunity for you to gain some more experience with using your wind magic."


    Taking Melisandre''s words to heart Evelyn carefully thought things over.


    She had not even considered that these battles could be a good experience for her.


    Certainly, she would be going in with a handicap by only using wind magic, but it would allow her to better develop her control and application of her first type of magic.


    ''If things get to the point where higher-ranking owlse after me, I can always pull out the emblem Minerva gave me to get them to back off.''


    Her mind nearly made up Evelyn decided to ask one more question that would influence her decision.


    "Melisandre, Rehni told me about some of the rewards that could be obtained but only knew vaguely what those at the top rank can get. Would you happened to be able to better enlighten me?"


    "Sure, I can tell you what I know. I was in fact in the past at the top of the rankings when I was at the awakened rank." Melisandre said with a nostalgic smile.


    Nearly two hours went by as Melisandre recounted her time fighting through the ranking hall when she was younger.


    For the most part she barely even touched on the rewards, which was what Evelyn wanted to really know about and instead talked about her greatest exploits.


    Only when Evelyn explicitly asked her what she received at each sessive rank did Melisandre remember to tell her.


    Still, Evelyn did get the information she wanted out of Melisandre and was convinced that it would be worth it to rise up to the top of the Ranking Hall.


    ''To think that those in the top one can even receive materials from tyrant rank beasts.'' Evelyn thought after hearing Melisandre''s ounts.


    After learning all she could about the Ranking Hall, Evelyn decided that the positives would outweigh the negatives.


    There was much for her to gain and the only thing that was really disadvantageous to her was the attention she might attract for her stronger than average magic.


    ''I cannot hide away forever, especially at the cost of my own growth. I have taken penalty of risks in the past in my pursuit of power, and this is far from the most dangerous one.''


    Having learned everything she wanted to from Melisandre, she thanked her master and informed her that she intended to take Rehni and Bylur up on their offer.


    "Sounds like you have made your choice. Oh, and if you want to stay under the radar for as long as possible try taking up a support role rather than doing the majority of the damage. If you are less shy and set your teammates up, you with attract less attention." Melisandre said, giving Evelyn onest piece of advice.


    With their discussion now over, Evelyn took her leave and returned to her room to write a response to be delivered to Rehni and Bylur.


    ''We will need to set up a training schedule and work out what sort ofbination we can use with our magic. Oh, I will also need to make sure to inform them that I will not be using my gravity magic. Then there is the matter of my alchemical creations. From what Melisandre said we are allowed to use a limited number of items during the matches.''


    While writing her letter Evelyn had arge, excited smile stered on her face.


    Even if she did not realize it, she was looking forward to getting closer to the two owls that had wormed their way into her heart despite how closed off she was.


    For a few moments she was able to forget all her past pain and the betrayals she had experienced and looked forward to making new friends


    Certainly, she was close to Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina, but they were all like mentors to her rather than equals. This was the first time since she had died that she was finally decided to actively grow stronger bonds with others.

 Chapter 211 211 Forming A New Team

    ?Two days had passed since Evelyn sent out her letters to Bylur and Rehni agreeing to form a team with them, and she now had their responses sitting in front of her.


    ''I will read Rehni''s first. She is more to the point than Bylur.'' Evelyn thought as she picked up the first letter.


    Then with one of her talon''s she expertly opened up the letter and took it out.


    Swiftly she read through the contents and nodded her head.


    Everything written was concise and easy to follow and had set the date for their next meeting so long as Evelyn could make it.


    ''So, they want to meet at the Ranking Hall and go ahead and form our team. I just hope they do not expect to take on any battles on the same day.'' Evelyn thought.


    Once she was finished with Rehni''s letter she opened Bylur''s which was filled with far more superfluous detail.


    He was certainly far more emotional than Rehni and it came out clearly in his writing. There were lines in his letter such as ''I really cannot wait to get to fight with you'' and ''I know we are going to make a great team. You can leave all the healing to me. Though not like I will let you get hit.''


    Just reading his letter was a bit difficult with how all over the ce it was, and Evelyn was grateful she had read Rehni''s first because gathering the same information from Bylur''s letter would have been a challenge.


    ''At least he is enthusiastic.'' Evelyn thought as she wrote a brief response.


    They had all agreed to meet four days from now and she needed to send her acknowledgement as was polite.


    When she had finished writing she stored it away since it was alreadyte and nned to deliver it tomorrow.


    ''I think it is time for bed. I have already exhausted myself with brewing for most of the day.''


    With that thought Evelyn hopped away from her desk and flew up into her bed. Allowing herself to quickly fall asleep.


    ¡­


    The next four days came and went fairly quickly for Evelyn.


    She had pretty much just spent her time using all of the materials she had collected into alchemical items for personal use and to sell.


    Her new shop on the second level of the Alchemy Hall was not quite ready yet, but she was making sure to have an adequate stock prepared for when it was.


    ''I think I have everything I could possibly need just in case.'' Evelyn thought as she checked the contents of her storage rings and cuff.


    Feeling certain she was ready she left Melisandre''s mansion and headed for the Ranking Hall.


    Just like all of the halls it was located in one of thergest trees that circled around the central area of the Roost where Minerva lived.


    Surprisingly the ce did not look too busy inpassion to some of the other halls Evelyn had been to.


    ''I suppose that those that do not think themselves all that strong will not bother participating until they are confident in their abilities.'' Evelyn thought ass eh entered.


    Like all the halls there were a few owls standing guard outside, but they only gave Evelyn a quick nce to determine her rank and did not impede her from entering.


    Once inside the massive tree Evelyn could see that it was mostly hollow and had numerous tforms going up it just like the Records Hall.


    ''Huh, I honestly thought that there would be some huge arena or something.'' Evelyn thought as she looked around.


    However, as much as she spun her head around and observed the ce, she did not see any area where it seemed that other owls were doing battle as she expected.


    ''Well, I can figure out where the matches take ceter. I need to go and see Bylur and Rehni for now.''


    While scanning the hall she had spotted her two acquaintances sitting in what seemed to be a gathering area and they had locked eyes.


    Even though she wanted to looked around more it would be rude not to approach them and she figured that she could get more information out of them anyway.


    Flying on over, Evelynnded next to them and did her best to put on a friendly smile.


    Except the expression did note naturally as she normally wore a ck expression or scowl. And she came off as rather unsettling.


    "Are you oaky Evelyn?" Bylur asked the moment they made a magical connection.


    Apparently, her trying to make a smile instead came off as her seeming to be displeased.


    "Yeah, I am fine." Evelyn said, sighing and letting her face go back to its natural expression.


    This alleviated the tension that had formed and Rehni and Bylur visibly rxed.


    Now that Evelyn had joined them, the three of them exchanged a few pleasantries, before getting down to business.


    "Okay the first thing we need to decide on is a name for our team. We cannot register without one." Bylur said enthusiastically.


    He then suggested a series or shy names such as, zing Blizzard Boom, which corrted to Evelyn''s fire magic, Rehni''s'' sound magic, and Bylur''s ice magic.


    And while he certainly thought they sounded cool, both Evelyn and Rehni were visibly disgusted and turned them down.


    "I think something simple is probably best. We can just go by Bylur''s Team or Rehni''s Team." Evelyn suggested


    Yet she received pushback almost immediately just as Bylur had.


    "While I believe using one of our names is fine, it should be you Evelyn who leads us." Rehni said.


    But despite this not being what Evelyn wanted, Bylur jumped onboard as well and said that if none of his ideas were any good, he was fine with them being Evelyn''s Team.


    Unable to squash their enthusiasm for taking her name for their team, Evelyn relented.


    "Fine we can take my name but remember what I wrote in my letter. My main goal will be to act as support using wind magic. Unless one of us is about to die or be serious injured, I have no intention of using either of my other magics."

 Chapter 212 212 First Team Battle

    ?"Yes, we understand that you do not want to stand out too much and we already agreed that it was fine that you only use wind magic." Rehni said, epting Evelyn''s decision to act as support.


    "I still think you should be showing off everything you have so that everyone else can see how great you are. But I will follow your decision to keep some of your powers hidden." Bylur said.


    "Thank you. I have my reasons and am grateful that you are fine teaming up with me despite the fact I will not be using my full power."


    Once the three of them had everything squared away, they moved up therge counter in the center of the area and began the registration process to solidify their new team.


    "That is everything. If you will just give me a few minutes I will have Evelyn''s Team registered in the ranking hall." The receptionist that was helping them said.


    While waiting around the three of them suddenly felt their identification cuffs start to rumble and a message appeared.


    ''Huh, guess it has something simr to a pager function.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the message that had appeared.


    Their three cuffs now showed that they were part of a team and had added things like a team bnce which they could all put and take credits out of.


    "Now as you are a new team you are currently unranked. Would you like to register for a random match, or have you already agreed to a bout with another team?" The receptionist said.


    Evelyn got ready to turn her down and was about to say that they woulde back another time, when Bylur jumped in and asked for them to registered for a random match.


    With shocked expressions, both Rehni and Evelyn were on the same page about not fighting today, but Bylur had jumped the gun.


    And before either of them could stop the receptionist she had already begun signing them up for a match and got a hit.


    "Looks like the lowest ranking team currently waiting for a match is rank number twelve thousand forty-three. You have been sessfully assigned to battle them thirty minutes from now. Should you win, you can take their rank, but if you lose you will receive the lowest avable rank which is rank fourteen thousand six hundred ny-seven. Oh yes and if you win your team will also receive ten thousand credits."


    After receiving these instructions, the receptionist told them that they would be able to wait for their match to begin in room number two hundred sixteen and directed them to where it was.


    "Um could we actually cancel the match. We were not actually nning on fighting today and just wanted to register. It seems that Bylur just got a bit excited and acted hastily." Evelyn said wanting to get out of the bout.


    Unfortunately, things would not be so simple.


    The only way to cancel the match would be to forfeit and, in that case, they would be dropped down to the lowest rank and receive a fine.


    "Also, perpetual forfeits can lead to being banned from the Ranking Hall. I am sure you can understand that we do not want teams simply scheduling matches and canceling them. The Roost has quite the vest interest in our hall."


    Sighing, Evelyn thanked the receptionist for her help and began flying towards the room they had been designated to.


    When they arrived and the door was closed, both Evelyn and Rehni fixed Bylur with cold stares.


    "What were you thinking!? We have not had any time to practice together and barely even know what each other are capable of! This is not the time for us to just start taking on other teams that know how to work with each other already!"


    Bylur lowered his head and apologized to Evelyn as she went off on him.


    He had just wanted them to go ahead and start ranking up and figured that one match would not be a big deal.


    Of course, Evelyn could not be too mad since she had not made her intentions clear enough, even if Rehni had picked up on them easily enough.


    "It is what it is. We are just going to have to do what we can. In fact, this will be a good chance for me to see what the two of you can do. I will not step in unless you both are going to lose." Evelyn said.


    "Yes, allow me to make up for my mistake by winning single handedly. I will show you exactly how strong I am." Bylur said, bouncing back quickly.


    Rehni could only grumble a bit since she was being dragged into a mess that Bylur had made.


    Still, she agreed to fight as well and allow Evelyn to witness her abilities.


    The three of them continued to wait in the room until the thirty minutes were nearly up and began to worry about what was going on.


    They had already checked to see if there was some other exit out of the room that would lead to an arena of some kind, but there was only the door they had entered through.


    At first, they figured that someone woulde to get them before the match started and lead them to where it would be, but that did not seem to be the case as time counted down.


    "I will go ask one of the receptionists what is going on." Evelyn said when there were only a few seconds left.


    However, before she left the room began to glow and in an instant, they were whisked away.


    When their vison came back to them, they found themselves in what looked to be a lightly wooded forest.


    ''Was that a warp portal!?''


    Seeing as how they were in apletely different area Evelyn could only think that they had been teleported.


    And as she figured this out, it was clear now why she had not seen any sort of area designated for the matches.


    They had simply been teleported to a separate dimeson like the Roost where they would fight against another team.

 Chapter 213 213 First Team Battle (2)

    ?Having appeared in an unknown forested area Evelyn quickly began swiveling her head around and taking everything in.


    Certainly, she may not have been nning on participating in the battle so that she could watch what Rehni and Bylur were capable of, but she still needed to stay on guard in case she got attacked.


    ''Oh, here theye.'' Evelyn thought of seeing three owls flying towards them.


    Their three opponents had taken up a V formation with thergest one flying in front to act as a shield.


    It was clear that they already knew ow to fight together, unlike Evelyn''s team which had not had time to develop any strategies or even practice together.


    Sure, they had been on the expedition in the same squad but that was quite a bit different. Plus, Bylur only joined them on thest day and at the time none of them were at the awakened rank.


    There was a huge difference between how they were now that all of them had evolved.


    ''Looks like all three of them are only at the low tier. I suppose that makes sense with them being fairly low ranked anyway.''


    Once she was finished observing the situation Evelyn leapt back and took up a position a few dozen feet above and behind Bylur and Rehni.


    She wanted to have a good vantage point, and just in case she had to step in she was ready to do so.


    ''They actually seem to already have a good idea on ways to work together.'' Evelyn thought, watching Bylur and Rehni''s opening moves.


    To start Bylur whipped up a dense flurry of snow that obscured the area and Rehni began sending out thin metal wires and attaching them to the nearby trees.


    This immediately turned the environment to their favor, and if the enemies rushed in they would certainly have a disadvantage in the zone filled with snow and iron threads.


    Sadly, it was not going to be that easy and the opponents did not recklessly charge in.


    They had been in a number of matches before and were not simple meatheads that went right for their opponents.


    A win came with it a mary reward, but a loss meant injuries that would need time to heal and a huge blow to their rank and egos.


    A few seconds after they stopped, they came up with a n to counter Bylur and Rehni''s and took to the air.


    From above they beganunching attacks into the obscured area that was covered in a perpetual cloud of snow.


    It was a simple but affective attack as Bylur and Rehni were forced to leave the area they had prepared or be crushed by falling boulders of earth that all three of the enemy owls were dropping.


    Of course, Evelyn, who had been hiding in the snowstorm as well had to flee and found that all three of their opponents had decided toe after her since she had flown in the opposite direction of Bylur and Rehni.


    ''I suppose that they want to pick me off first.'' Evelyn thought.


    Naturally she had been identified as the biggest threat since she was at the mid-tier of the awakened rank.


    Using her wind magic Evelyn deftly avoided their three-pronged assault and kept ahead of them.


    Her rtively small size made her more agile than the three farrger owls attacking her, and their magic, while not bad, was too slow to hit her so long as she had her guard up.


    ''Looks like they are still not that well versed in team battles.'' Evelyn thought as she led them around by the nose.


    The owls attacking her had gotten so fixated on their chance to take out the biggest threat that they had neglected Bylur and Rehni.


    This proved to be a big mistake as they were slow to react to several blunted spears made of ice flying at them.


    Hastily they deployed shields made of earth in front of them to absorb the blows, and Evelyn used this chance to move farther away from them and take up her position as an observer again.


    And when she turned back to watch the battle, she saw the three owls returning fire towards Bylur with pirs of stone.


    Yet while Rehni was nowhere to be seen Bylur was holding his own three on one and showing off that while he may have only been at the low tier like his opponents that he was actually really strong.


    Any of the attacks that got near him became coated in ice and would rapidly lose their momentum and became easy for him to dodge.


    It was actually an incredibly impressive technique that surprised Evelyn as it was simr to her own gravity field.


    Though such a powerful spell that covered a wide area certainly took arge amount of magical energy to fuel and could not be used indefinitely.


    During this time Rehni seemed to have disappeared and was not assisting Bylur in any way.


    He was holding his own, but that was all. His chances of winning three on one were fairly low and without her help he was going to eventually run out of steam and falter.


    And by the look on his face, it was clear they were not coordinating at all, and he was quite distressed by her disappearance.


    Except, even if she was not working with Bylur, she was not going to let the opening he had made go to waste.


    After heunched an especially big attack in desperation and the owls they were fighting against were forced to focus fully on defense, she made her move.


    Several inches think cables of steel fell down from one of the trees and wrapped up thergest off the enemy owls who had been acting as a tank and absorbing most of Bylur''s attacks with a rounded shield of earth.


    A momentter hisrge form was dragged up into a tree and engulfed by its thick foliage.


    Evelyn watching this happen went wide eyed. What she had just witnessed was akin to something that might happen in a horror movie.


    Loud rumbling sounds could be heard in the tree. A clear sign that the owl that Rehni had captured was fighting back, but after an impossibly loud screech everything went still.


    ''Damn, she really did not hold back on that.'' Evelyn thought as she felt her ears ringing.


    She knew that Rehni could use sound magic, but even from several hundred feet away her attack was still loud enough to hurt.


    Then, to add even more distress to their opponents, Rehni allowed therge owl she had captured to fall out of the tree and dangle from multiple steel cords.


    Just one look was enough to unnerve the other two that remained. Theirrade''s eyes were rolled into the back of his head, and blood was pouring out of his ears.


    It was not long after Rehni''s sessful ambush that she and Bylur won the battle.


    The other two owls were not able to put up much of a resistance with their mental state broken by Rehni, and Bylur for the most part simply overpowered them.


    ''Looks like they are quite above the curve as I thought. Those three I would say were probably just a bit stronger than average, yet they still won while being outnumbered. It seems that I picked a good pair to be my teammates.''

 Chapter 214 214 Celebratory Meal

    ?After Evelyn''s team had beaten their opponents, the separate dimension they had been warped to that acted as an arena began to fade away.


    In another bright sh they all found themselves instantly transported back to the room they had been in as if nothing had happened.


    Except, while they appeared in the exact same positions, there was plenty of evidence that what had just urred was real.


    Bylur had taken a few ncing blows during the battle and still had a few shallow wounds on his body.


    Another indicator was the magical energy that had been used up.


    Each one of them could feel that they were not currently at max capacity.


    ''So that is what the Ranking Hall''s matches are like. They certainly have set up an interesting system.'' Evelyn thought, looking back on the experience.


    Not long after they won all of their identification cuffs lit up and a notification of their team''s victory appeared for a few seconds before disappearing.


    Along with that their team bnce had gone up by ten thousand credits.


    Still, this begged the question, how does the Ranking Hall make any profit.


    If every victory earned a team ten thousand credits and the losers lost nothing unless they forfeited, then there was no way the hall could be in the ck.


    ''I will just have to ask one of the receptionists.''


    And when Evelyn did, she found out that for higher ranking bouts the hall sold tickets and there was also betting that could be done on in match in one of the viewing rooms where owls could watch the bouts that were going on. This was how the hall earned credits. Though if it ever was going negative it would be subsidized apparently since the institution was too important to the growth of the owls to allow it to go under.


    "Okay, I am finished up here. I will be heading back home now. We can discuss finer details when we meet up in three days for our first training session." Evelyn said now that what she needed to aplish was done.


    Yet as she moved to leave Rehni and Bylur stopped her.


    "Come on there is no need to be distant. We are a team now right. Let us go out and get something to eat to celebrate." Bylur said in his usual overly friendly way.


    Though Rehni, who was more reserved also got on board, and said, "I think that it would be nice. Even if it was this idiot''s blunder that we were in that battle we still won together."


    "No, the two of you who were victorious. I did not really do anything other than observe."


    Naturally, Evelyn did not see why she should be celebrating any sort of victory when she was not truly a part of the battle.


    "No, you did a lot by just being there. Our opponents were barely able to keep themselves together because they were so worried about you. And you also led them around for a bit and allowed me to get set up. Without you I am not sure that Rehni and I could have won." Bylur said, praising Evelyn for doing pretty much nothing.


    "I agree that your presence helped us to win. However, I am certain I would have been able to beat those three on my own." Rehni said haughtily, seeming to havee out of her shell around Bylur and Evelyn. "Now all you have to do ise with us and eat. This will be our first meal to celebrate forming our team and our first victory."


    Being dragged along, Evelyn decided that any further resistance would be worthless and went with her teammates to a nearby restaurant.


    Once there they ordered some food and talked about their recent battle and made ns to solidify their strategies.


    There were a lot of rewards to be gained by doing well in the Ranking Hall and all of them were striving to get stronger.


    When the food arrived, Evelyn thought it looked a bit simple.


    ''Yeah, it does not taste as good as what Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina make. But it feels a bit warmer somehow.'' Evelyn thought ass eh ate and talked with Bylur and Rehni.


    "Do you have something in your eyes Evelyn? Your eyes seem to be watering." Rehni said, noticing the tears slowly falling down Evelyn''s face.


    Not having realized what was going on, Evelyn brought one of her wings up and wiped away the tears.


    ''What is going on? Why am I crying?''


    Not understanding what was going on, Evelyn tried to figure out what was going on.


    Her eyes had not been particrly dry and the amount of tears was far more than she would need to moisten them.


    Yet the tears kepting and she could not find a logical reason for why it was happening.


    And after she had exhausted any rational reason, she quickly came up with an irrational one.


    ''No, I am just trying to use them. They are just meant to be pieces that help me out when I cannot aplish something alone.'' Evelyn thought while shaking her head.


    So many times she had lost those that were close to her that she no longer wanted to form rtionships, less she have to experience the pain of loss again.


    Yet no matter how much she wished to close off her heart and be cold to everyone, she found it impossible to do when the others were sincere.


    The first ones to worm their way into her heart after the loss of her second family were Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina.


    However, she chopped this up to them being in the position of her mentors and caretakers. She could not help but rely on them.


    Bylur and Rehni though were more like colleagues, but now that they had be a team, Evelyn was finding it more difficult to keep them at wing''s length.


    Slowly but surely, they were beginning to feel more like friends to her, and the way they invited her out reminded her of the few close rtions she had when still a human.

 Chapter 215 215 Internal Turmoil

    ?When Evelyn returned home after her celebratory meal with Bylur and Rehni, she immediately went to her room and delved deep into thought.


    She was stuck between her fear of experiencing more pain and the natural desire to havepanions she could rely on.


    Unfortunately, as much as she wished to simply suppress all of her emotions, it was easier said than done.


    ''I have done so well not getting attached to many others, but ¨C Damn it!''


    mming her head against the desk in her room, Evelyn tried to calm herself down.


    For the most part she approached everyone with an extreme amount of cation and mistrust, but she could feel her barriers being broken down by Bylur and Rehni.


    They had been kind to her and even when she was cold to them, they pushed through to get closer to her.


    And while Evelyn normally ounted those trying to friendly with having vile intentions towards her, she was certain that was not what Bylur and Rehni were trying to do.


    Neither of them was buttering up to her in order to take advantage of her, or stab her in the back as she had been before.


    But this just made her feel even more distressed as she grew more and more worried that they might meet the same end as all those she had held dear to her before.


    This made her want to reject any possible friendships and treat them as a means to an end as she did most but found it hard to do when they were so genuine.


    ''Is it really okay for me to try and have friends again? I do not know if I could take getting close to anyone again and losing them.''


    Evelyn could tell that her heart was already filled with scars from those she had lost in the past.


    First was her originally mother, next the loving father who she felt died along with her mother, then Mason when he was killed by the psychopath that had also killed her and when she found that he was already gone from the new world she found herself in.


    After that her second owl family had been torn asunder and opened up the wounds that had been healing and left even more.


    ''I just need some sleep. It has been a long day and my head is not in order. All I need is some rest to get back to normal.'' Evelyn thought pushing down all of her emotions and giving into fatigue instead.


    While she did manage to sleep it was a restless one, and when she woke up, she found that for the first time since she became an owl that she had a fever.


    She now felt far worse than when she went to sleep and had difficulty moving around.


    Her body felt stiff and warm, and her head was pounding like crazy.


    ''Did I catch some sort of disease from all the other owls I was around yesterday?'' Evelyn thought as she wabbled around, barely able to stay upright.


    Quickly she took out one of the best healing potions and drank it down.


    Yet instead of making her feel better, the added magical energy in the potion seemed to go wild inside her and she was unable to keep it down.


    It was as if her body had simply rejected it, and not long after going down her throat the liquid came right back up.


    This did not help her to feel any better, and in fact made it much worse.


    She copsed face first into her nest and felt her entire body shivering.


    Thankfully the added distress from drinking the potion did notst too long, and eventually she was able to shakily pull her body back up.


    Summoning up all her willpower, she took out another potion and hoped for better results.


    ''Perhaps an antidote will help instead?'' She thought hopefully.


    Unfortunately, she was only met with the same result as when she drank the healing potion and was once again shuddering while face down in the positions that her body had rejected.


    Once she recovered a certain degree from her second failed attempt to cure whatever ailed her with a potion, she dragged herself to the edge of her nest and slumped against it.


    ''I just need a bit of time. I am sure I will start to feel better if I just steady my breathing and wait.''


    For the next several hours she tried to get herself under control and see if she would feel any better with a bit of time.


    She had been sick before when she was human and had gotten through the days on her own and felt she could do it again.


    However, her condition did not seem to get better no matter how much she rested, and things were only getting worse.


    The biggest worry though was that she was not really sure why she was feeling sick.


    All she really had was a fever. No sore throat, stuffy nose, or difficulty breathing.


    It was as if her body was simply giving her a fever for no reason.


    ''More sleep. I am sure I will be fine after a little more res-.''


    Before she could finish herst thought Evelyn passed out feeling no better than she had before.


    When she next woke up she felt someone shaking her shoulder, and in a panic her eyes shot open.


    Standing in front of her was Katrina with a concerned expression on her face.


    "Evelyn, what is wrong!? You are burning up and do not look all that well!"


    "It is just a little fever, I am sure I will be fine after a bit of time." Evelyn said, not wanting to bother anyone with her problem and not wanting to receive any assistance.


    "Did you already try taking a healing potion? Most illnesses would clear up after having one." Katrina said, the worry in her voice growing heavier.


    "Yes, but it did not stay down. I do not feel that bad I am sure that it will pass in a little while."


    Except, hearing that the healing position had not worked and seeing the wet spot on the other side of the nest, Katrina knew something was terribly wrong.


    "Okay, that is enough of you trying to act strong. I am taking you to Melisandre."

 Chapter 216 216 The Root Of The Issue

    ?Unable to put up any resistance, Evelyn was scooped up by Katrina and swiftly carried off to where Melisandre was.


    Frankly a part of her did not want to rely on any help, especially since she was still unsure about how to deal with her budding friendship with Bylur and Rehni.


    She wanted to both close herself off again as she had been before and reach out to make new connections.


    ''There is nothing I can do this time. Melisandre will know what to do and then I can just get over this fever.'' Evelyn thought as the hallways flew by her vision.


    Soon enough Katrina had brought Evelyn to Melisandre''s room and frantically knocked on the door.


    "I am busy brewing right now. Come back in twenty minutes and I should be done." They heard Melisandre say from the other side of the door.


    "Lady Melisandre it is an emergency! Evelyn is sick and healing potions do not have any effect!" Katrina called out.


    Only a couple seconds afterwards the door was pulled open and Melisandre in her haste actually ripped it off its henges.


    Without a nce at Katrina, she looked down at Evelyn and closely examined her.


    "She does not have any of the signs of magic degradation fever at least." Melisandre said with a relived sigh. "Bring her inside and give me a few minutes to prepare a ce for her to rest. I have a couple of ideas of what might be wrong, but I will need to examine her to be sure."


    While Evelyn waited Katrina held her in her arms and she could hear things being tossed around further back in Melisandre''s brewing room.


    "Follow me. I have prepared a ce to set her down."


    Nodding her head, Katrina followed behind Melisandre and went over to herb.


    There one of the tables that was normally fully covered in items had been cleared away and a long cushion had been ced on it.


    Carefully, Katrina put Evelyn down and Melisandre dismissed her.


    "If I need either your help or Anneli''s I will contact you. For now, go about the rest of your day as normal."


    "Understood." Katrina said.


    She then moved to leave, but before she left, she gave Evelyn onest concerned nce.


    "Melisandre, it really is not a big deal as Katrina made it out to be. I am just feeling a bit warm and lightheaded. I am sure I will be fine in a little while." Evelyn said, trying to brush off the situation.


    "Don''t make light of this. It is very rare for a beast at the awakened rank to get sick. The magical energy within you protects you from most diseases, and the few that could affect you would likely fail due to the heavenly me. I imagine that no disease could take its heat. No. what is wrong with you must have something to do with your magical energy."


    After saying this she quickly examined Evelyn by sending a bit of her magical energy inside her. Which Evelyn honestly felt was sickening and felt worse than whatever was wrong with her.


    "It is as I thought. Your magical energy is in disorder. Luckily it does not seem to be from any external stimuli or even from the two items that havetched themselves onto your body and soul. I have only ever heard of this happening and never seen it before, but you must be incredibly unsure and torn about something incredibly important that you define yourself by. Your magical energy has gone out of control because you are stuck between choosing two wholly different paths. Your emotions have great impact on your magical energy and yours are in turmoil."


    Hearing all of this Evelyn thought it made sense to a degree but could notpletely wrap her head around it.


    She had experienced great emotional distress before. Like when her new family was killed and when she found out Mason had already left this world before her.


    Yet neither of those times did she end up getting sick.


    But when Evelyn brought this up to Melisandre, she rified why.


    "It is not just that you are experiencing strong emotions. It is because they are at odds with each other. I am not sure what you are so conflicted about. But until you resolve it your magical energy is only going to be more unstable until you lose all control, and your body is ravaged from the inside. Now I can prepare something to help sooth you and take the edge off, but ultimately you will have to work out the problems that have brought you to this state yourself. Of course, if you wish to confide in me, I can offer you advice as well."


    Melisandre waited for a few moments looking at Evelyn with a caring expression, that for some reason made her hurt even more.


    "No, I think I can figure it out on my own." Evelyn said obstinately.


    Frowning, Melisandre had been hoping she would tell her what was causing her such emotional turmoil but forcing her would likely only make the situation worse.


    "Very well. I will gather a few things that may help you focus your mind. While I do, try to understand what is dragging you in two different directions."


    Quickly Melisandre left the room and allowed Evelyn to be alone. She had told her what she knew about Evelyn''s condition and could only pray that she could deal with the chaos that had formed in her heart and mind.


    Thankfully Melisandre''s words let Evelyn understand where the root of the problem wasing from.


    She was disoriented from trying to decide whether to truly get close to others again, or simply use them as she needed in order to not feel pain should she ever lose them as she had multiple times in the past.


    Except while she logically understood the problem, actually getting her emotions under control was a far harder task than she realized.

 Chapter 217 217 Coming To Terms

    ?''I just need to make a decision. That is all.'' Evelyn thought, trying to pick between the two emerging natures in her.


    She was torn between her distrustfulness born from many past experiences and her desire to havepanions again.


    However, while she figured that it would be easy to make a concise decision and bring her emotions under control, it was not.


    Fear gripped her heart and mind whenever she thought about truly bing attached to anyone again and then having them die violently.


    Yet when she thought to give up on ever having any rtions and living a lonely solitary life, only using others for her own ends, sorrow welled up inside her.


    Either choice felt like it would be tearing her apart and leaving her not herself anymore.


    After finding Mason''s will that had been left behind for her, she decided to reach the heights of magic and try to find him again.


    He was her brother, the person that stood with her in their darkest moments and the person that still held the strongest ce in her heart even now.


    But if she closed herself offpletely, how could she retain her wish to see him again.


    ''Can I really just be willing to sacrifice everything in order to reach my goal. If I had to kill Melisandre, Anneli, or Katrina to take another step forward, could I do it?''


    This thought caused Evelyn to struggle immensely.


    At some point if she continued to reach greater heights, she might surpass Melisandre and everyone else in the Roost for that matter.


    This could take several centuries but it was certainly possible.


    When that happened, she could simply take all the Roost had and leave it as a wastnd since it would no longer be as useful to her intact.


    She had alreadye to terms with the fact that her path towards power would leave a mountain of bodies in her wake, but would she be willing to cast aside even those that helped her in order to gain more power.


    ''No, I cannot do that. I will not bee a heartless monster.'' Evelyn thought as the researcher that had experimented on her and her family came to mind.


    While she knew that she would need to kill to get stronger, she had decided to never be cruel to advance herself, or for the fun of it as she had experienced before as the victim of such cruelty.


    Drawing this line helped her emotions to calm down a bit, but she was still far from the root of the problem.


    Whether she could truly create bonds with other people or remain indifferent to them was what really troubled her.


    Would she be the person that looked after those that were close to her or be willing to leave them behind should she ever be in danger.


    She had already experienced this when the empress dryad attacked Though things were a bit different now.


    At that time her rtionship with Bylur and Rehni had been far less than it is now. But when Bylur risked his life to save her when there really was no gain in it, Evelyn found it difficult to simply not let such a gesture affect her.


    Now she wondered if she would simply leave the both of them behind to help herself.


    As she thought about trying to protect them images of her brother and her getting beaten by their father as well as the psychopath who killed them shed through her mind.


    Nothing either of them did had been able to protect each other and in the end their close bond created incredible pain for each other.


    Evelyn could still remember the despair she felt when she watched the life leave her brother''s eyes.


    She had already dragged herself out of the pit of anguish multiple times before and she feared ever going there again by losing anyone else that was close to her.


    At the end of the day, as cold as her experiences had made her, Evelyn was still just a young girl that had never even reached adulthood.


    She longed to have others she could rely on and look to for help even through the fear of losing everything again.


    ''It is already toote isn''t it. I already epted Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina didn''t I. I can say it is different since they are stronger than me and can protect themselves, but at the end of the day I already know that losing them would be a massive blow. This world is different than my previous one. Here I can gain more and more power until I can protect what I care about.''


    Slowly Evelyn was able to quelle the turmoil she was feeling in her emotions.


    Even though the fear of having those she cares about dying was what made her not want to create any close bonds was something she could not fully shake, she found that it was impossible for her to bepletely cold to others.


    Certainly, she would still be cautious and distrustful to those she did not know, but over time when their actions spoke volumes and they did so much for her, how could she simply remain indifferent.


    She would have died many times over if not for the help of those that had already grown close to her and cutting them off from her heart simply to avoid feeling the pain of loss again was not something she felt she could do.


    ''There is no certainty that I will not lose anyone again, but I cannot bottle everything up just to avoid my fear. There are those that care about me and those that I have grown to care about in turn.''


    Once she had fully managed to get her emotions under control the heat in her body that had been growing from her magical energy responding to her internal turmoil began to subside.


    Almost immediately she began to feel better and when she opened her eyes, she noticed that she was surrounded by a light cloud of pink smoke, and Melisandre was sitting close and carefully watching her.

 Chapter 218 218 A New Lease On Life

    ?"Melisandre, what is all this!?" Evelyn asked, shock in her tone.


    All around her was light pink smoke that smelled faintly sweet.


    In fact, if not for her distress of suddenly finding herself surrounded by it, she felt that it would be quite rxing.


    "I did tell you that I would prepare a few things to help take the edge off the turmoil you were experiencing. This is a soothing incense I made. I am sure that it helped since you did not notice it until you resolved the chaos inside of you. Without it you likely would not have been able to focus for so long." Melisandre exined.


    "How long was I out? It felt like an eternity and only a single moment all at once."


    "It has been nearly two days since Katrina brought you to me. Frankly I am just d that you were able toe to a resolution. You look like you are much more at peace than before."


    After Melisandre pointed this out Evelyn soon felt what she meant.


    Normally her expression was fairly hard and showed the pain she had endured, as well as the distrustfulness so many bad experiences had given her.


    Yet now her expression was softer and calmer, and she felt like a heavy burden had been lifted off of her chest.


    ''I see my fear really was eating away at me the entire time.'' Evelyn thought, now noticing just how much of an effect the anguish she had been feeling was.


    "Melisandre thank you. Thank you so much for all you have done for me. I really cannot express how much it means to me." Evelyn said in a rare show of genuine emotion and vulnerability.


    Tears even began flowing down her face and seeing this Melisandre moved over and embraced Evelyn in her arms.


    For nearly twenty minutes the two of them simply stayed there and Melisandre allowed Evelyn to let out all of the emotions she had left bottled up.


    Even with all the impossible difficult experiences she had been through Evelyn was still just a young girl at heart.


    She had kept so much bottled up for so long but now it was bursting out like a broken dam.


    "I am feeling better now Melisandre. Thank you again for helping me out time after time."


    "Think nothing of it. You are my treasured disciple. I took you in because I saw potential in you, but what I feel for you is much more than that now." Melisandre said as she stroked Evelyn''s head.


    Once again Evelyn wanted to start crying, but held it in and instead just allowed the warm feeling rising up in her to take over.


    ''I really am not alone anymore.''


    Understanding now that she had found a new family again Evelyn felt a sort of tranquility she had never experienced.


    There were people that she could truly trust and would unconditionally look out for her. And in turn she would do the same. That was what it meant to have a close bond with another.


    "Now it has been a few days since youst ate. I am sure you are hungry."


    Immediately upon hearing this, Evelyn''s stomach, as if on cue, began to rumble and let out a loud enough noise to easily hear.


    "Yes, I think I could use some food." Evelyn said with a bashful look.


    A smile on her face Melisandre took out the talisman that allowed her to warp to set locations in the mansion and brough them both as close the kitchen as she could.


    The two of them then flew the rest of the way and got to work on cooking.


    "It has been a while since youst worked with food in a proper setting, so I imagine you skills have gotten a bit rusty. Let us first start with an invigorating stew that will get your energy back." Melisandre said as she pulled out an especiallyrge pot that was several times bigger than she was.


    With clear and concise directions Melisandre instructed Evelyn on how to make the dish and only intervened when she was about to make a mistake.


    In what was quite an enjoyable experience the two of them cooked up arge meal together that was filled with a number of magical nts and an abundance of different meats.


    It was an incredibly hearty meal and by the time it was finished Evelyn felt her moth watering.


    This was by no means what might be considered normal fare for an owl, but with their intellect they were able to do far more than just eat raw unprepared foods.


    Around the time they began pouring portions of the stew into bowls for themselves Anneli and Katrina showed up.


    Surprise was all over their faces when they saw therge pot of food that had been prepared.


    "Looks like you both arrived at the most opportune time. We just finished making diner." Melisandre said, warmly beckoning the two to join them.


    However, instead of the food what truly garnered their attention was Evelyn being up and well.


    In a flurry Anneli rushed over and grabbed Evelyn while voicing how relieved and happy she was to see her better.


    "I am d too. Thanks for your concern Anneli. It means a lot to me." Evelyn said, returning the embrace.


    This caught Anneli off guard as Evelyn would normally recoil against any physical contact but had instead epted it happily.


    Immediately both Anneli and Katrina could sense a drastic change in Evelyn, as if a wall she normally kept up had been brought down.


    Though this was not entirely true. The wall was still there, it was just that Evelyn had installed a door and allowed certain individuals through it now.


    When Anneli had gotten her fill of rejoicing Evelyn''s recovery she moved away and allowed Katrina to approach.


    "I am in need of thanking you as well. You dragged me out of my room when I was willing to try and resolve this problem on my own. Without your help bringing me to Melisandre I probably never would have been able to face my problem. Thank you." Evelyn said while bowing her head deeply.


    "Just doing what needed to be done. Any of us would do all we can to help you."


    "Yes, I think I have finally realized that. I also share the same sentiment. I know I am weaker than all of you are but if you need my help, I am always here for you as well." Evelyn said as she cast her gaze at all of her caretakers.


    "Okay, this is really touching, but I am getting hungry, and we do not want to the food getting cold." Melisandre said, breaking the atmosphere.


    With that all of them filled uprge bowls of the stew Evelyn had made under Melisandre''s instruction and began eating.


    Just taking the first bite filled Evelyn with energy and the taste urged her on to eat more.


    For some reason she felt that it was the best thing she had ever tasted even though she acknowledged that Melisandre was definitely a better cook.


    ''It has been too long.'' Evelyn thought as she ate the food she had made along with those that she considered her family.

 Chapter 219 219 New Alchemy Shop

    ?Once Evelyn had finished eating with everyone else, she could feel that her strength had mostly returned to her.


    She now felt better than she had in what seemed like an eternity.


    epting that she could form close rtions with others and rely on those that she trusted had helped her move on from the immense fear and pain she had experienced.


    Of course, the scars were not gone, she would bear those for the rest of her life. But at the very least they did not ache nearly as much.


    "Now go get some good rest and be prepared to get back to work tomorrow. You have been out ofmission for three days and have gotten behind." Melisandre said with a smile after they had finished dinner.


    Doing just that she returned to her room which she found had been cleaned after she had made a mess with the potions her body had rejected.


    ''I will need to thank Anneli and Katrina for thatter.'' She thought as she moved to her usual perch and fell asleep.


    And while she had technically been out for nearly two days, she had certainly not gotten any restful sleep and went out like a light.


    Upon waking the next day, she got right back to work on making alchemical items. Her new store was poised to open the next day and she needed to make sure that she had a decent stock ready.


    ''I am practically out of credits and really need to make some sales. Come on and stir faster.'' Evelyn thought as she made a batch of middle grade healing potions.


    Naturally she made sure to water them down to make more with a lower effectiveness since her heavenly me allowed her to make better potions than should have been possible for her level.


    By the days end she had made the minimum quota of pills, potions, and salves that she had set as her goal.


    Still, she was certain that it would be enough for the first day.


    Unlike on the first floor there were far better shops on the second but also fewer. Most of the owls that made their purchases there had regr shops they always used and would not even nce at Evelyn''s.


    There was no point in buying cheaper potions if the quality was bad so new shops on the second floor saw only a little business until it was assured that their products were quality.


    ''It might take a couple of weeks, but I am sure that word will get out eventually. Everyone sniffs out where the good deals are in time.'' Evelyn thought as she reviewed the pricing list that Anneli and Katrina had helped her put together.


    The two of them were very familiar with how things worked on the second floor and had even run their own shops there until recently.


    However, now that they had reached the tyrant rank, they had closed their shops down and were learning new skills from Melisandre before starting up again.


    With onest satisfied look at the hundreds of bottles she had stacked up on numerous shelves Evelyn headed off to bed once again and with a giddy feeling fell asleep.


    When she woke up the next day, she felt a level of excitement welling up inside her as well as a bit of nervousness.


    This was going to be her first day selling products on the second floor of the Alchemy Hall and she was looking forward to it.


    ''Okay everything is stored away and ready to go. All I need to do now is head on out.''


    Leaving Melisandre''s mansion Evelyn flew down the length of the massive tree until she came to the entrance of the second floor.


    Like all the entrances it was guarded by a pair of owls, but these ones were at the peak of the awakened rank and quite imposing.


    ''I heard that just the base line for guards at the peak of the awakened rank is five hundred thousand credits a month. Sometimes it makes me wonder if I took up the wrong profession when I could make a lot just sitting around all the time.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the guards.


    As were their jobs, they stopped Evelyn who was trying to enter the hall before it opened but let her through easily enough once she showed her credentials.


    She then went by the floor''s supervisor and registered herself as the owner of a new store.


    "Your shop is located near the southwest corner and is number six hundred fifty-two. Good luck on your first day." The supervisor said waving Evelyn off once she waspleted her registration.


    Hopping out of the office, she took to the air and began flying towards her new shop.


    ''Looks like Melisandre was right. My spot really is about as bad as they get.'' She thought when shended in front of her new storefront.


    Unlike on the second floor where she had been given what could be an exemry first location, on the second floor strings were not as easy to pull since fewer shops shut down with no warning like on the first floor.


    Evelyn was having to start out like all the rest of the new arrivals and was being given a ce that was far from the entrance or in the back where the best shops normally were located.


    Nevertheless, she was determined to make the best of it and began setting up her sign along with what she was going to be selling.


    ''Just basic items like healing potions, magical energy recovery pills, and antidotes at first. No one is going to buy the more expensive and high-end items from me until I have proven that my basic brews are good.'' Evelyn thought while she set out bottle after bottle.


    And while she set up her store the owl who ran the one next to hers came flying by to check her out. A deep scowl on their face.

 Chapter 220 220 Disgruntled Rival

    ?Evelyn turned her head towards the owl flying towards her that was showing obvious displeasure and was perplexed by what had made them so aggrieved.


    ''Are they just having a bad day? No, they are staring right at me. But I have never seen them before, so I doubt that I could have done something to make them mad at me. I suppose it is possible they are rted to the owls that my team beat a few days ago. Though that would be quite the coincidence.'' Evelyn thought, trying to reason out why this random owl seemed to be sending animosity her way.


    Thankfully they were not radiating hostility or bloodlust, more along the lines of extreme irritation.


    When theynded in front of her, they immediately extended a thread of magical energy and rudely did not wait for Evelyn to ept the connection.


    Of course, she could have broken it and refused tomunicate but she felt that would just cause more problems and she just wanted to get over whatever was going on as quickly as possible.


    "So, you are the newbie that is setting up shop next to me. I heard that you were a big deal on the lower floor before suddenly disappearing. And now you have suddenly reappeared on the second floor and some how already reached the mid-tier of the awakened rank."


    It was clear that this other owl was suspicious and feeling threatened by Evelyn and when he cast his gaze over to her sop and saw the process on her items his eyes went wide.


    "How the hell can you be selling these for so cheap? There is no way these potions are as good as you say. You would not be able to make a profit at these prices!"


    Already fed up with her neighbor''s outburst Evelyn rolled her eyes and sighed.


    She knew what was going on. Her new shop was a threat to this owl, and they were here to try and intimidate her since they were afraid of losing their business.


    "My prices surely are at the lower end of what is eptable, but I will more than make a profit. I gathered all of my ingredients myself so there was no cost involved." ''Also, I can make about eighty percent more than most owls at my rank since my heavenly me allows me to make higher quality brews that I can cut with water. Though I am not going to tell them that.'' Evelyn thought.


    Hearing that Evelyn had gone out and obtained the ingredients'' for her own potions, the owl that had been angrily ranting at her could not believe it.


    Very few alchemists would gather their own ingredients since it was normally more profitable just to stay in rtive safety and keep making items instead.


    They could simply hire the other owls to gather for them instead of risking their lives.


    "You must know that this is not sustainable. Your shop will not stay in business if you have to close up every time you run out of stock in order to grab more ingredients yourself. If you do not raise your prices you are going to fail."


    Internally scoffing, Evelyn did not care for this rival shop owner''s fake concern.


    They simply wanted Evelyn to have prices simr to their own so that she did not garner the attention of their customers.


    Eventually the other owls would home in on the fact that she had quality items at a bargain price and would flock to her.


    Then once she had built up her reputation, she could move her storefront to a more desirable location and start selling more than just basic items once she had a loyal customer base.


    It was a simple strategy, but one that would work well for her since she sourced the ingredients herself and had the best foundation for alchemy possible.


    "Why do you care so much about my business? If I fail it is of no concern to you. I have already set my prices and will be keeping them there for a while. If you do not want your customersing to me then you should just lower your prices as well." Evelyn said, finished with this conversation.


    She then broke the connection and turned her back to the other owl and contoured getting her shop ready.


    Naturally this just pissed them off and they fully released their aura at the mid-tier of the awakened rank at Evelyn to try and intimate her.


    However, an alchemist like them that rarely ever left the safety of the Roost felt about as intimating as a kitten, and Evelyn in turn let them feel her killing intent.


    This caused her disgruntled business rival to take a few rapid steps back and even fall over.


    It was then that they noticed that a few other shop owners around were watching what was going on.


    Plenty of them looked at the owl that had tried to intimate Evelyn with pitiful expressions, while others were visiblyughing.


    Another group instead was looking at Evelyn, fear in their eyes.


    They had simrly thought about hazing the newbie but swiftly decided against it.


    All of the owls in this area were at the same tier and they could tell that Evelyn was beyond them


    She may not have lived for as long as any of them, but she had seen many more life and death battles.


    ''Well, that seemed to have worked out pretty well. Anneli and Katrina warned me something like this might happen, so I am d I was ready.'' Evelyn thought as the owl that had harassed her scurried away.


    After that no one else came to bother her and she was able to finish setting up without any problems.


    Soon the Alchemy Hall opened up for business and hundreds of awakened rank owls began flooding onto the second floor to replenish their stock of necessary alchemical items that no owl would be caught without.

 Chapter 221 221 An Unexpected First Day

    ?With the beginning bustle of the day Evelyn stood at attention and waited for the other owls toe by.


    She was in a pretty bad location that did not see much traffic, but it was not long before a few owls came flying down.


    ''Yep, looks like it is all just lo tier awakened ranks to start with. Those with the fewest number of credits are going to being here where everything is cheaper.'' Evelyn observed.


    Most of these owls did not even give Evelyn''s new shop a nce and instead went for the ones that they already frequented.


    They knew the quality of the items they bought and were not out to try and find a better deal right now.


    A couple of more curious owls came and checked out Evelyn''s shop, but none of them even approached her and asked any questions.


    Certainly, they could see what the types, quality, and prices of her potions were, but they were not going to simply buy them based on this information.


    Unlike the first floor the cost of the potions were quite a bit pricier here and fewer owls were willing to risk buying a product that was worse than advertised or possibly even wholly ineffective.


    That was why a new store normally did not get much business until the few that did take the risk bought from them and word of mouth spread.


    Yet while Evelyn expected this to be the case for her, she had actually made quite an impression on the first floor and some of the awakened rank owls that used to buy her lower grade potions soon noticed her new shop.


    ''Oh, it is that group.''


    Seeing a cluster of owlsing her way Evelyn recognized them.


    Among them was the owl who first bought from her when she still did business on the first floor and had brought her entire group to buy from her.


    ''I believe her name was Mimi, though I did not catch the names of any of the other owls in their faction.'' Evelyn thought as they approached.


    "So, you really have set up your shop again. And on the second floor no less. You certainly are full of surprises." The leader said.


    "Yes, a lot happened, and I managed to evolve. I am sorry that I was closed down for so long, but I should be up and running much more consistently now." Evelyn informed them.


    After that each one of the owls bought the maximum number of items they could. Already trusting in the quality of Evelyn''s brews.


    "I see that you only have the basic mid-grade items such as healing potions and magical replenishment pills for sale. But might you perhaps soon be selling other types as well as stocking up some low grades of a higher quality again?" Mimi, her first ever customer asked once she hadpleted her sale.


    It seemed she had caught onto Evelyn''s n by only having the basics but was certainly interested in everything else.


    Naturally Evelyn had nned on introducing new items slowly and eventually putting out low grade items of a higher quality than what she used to sell on the first floor, but if she already had a loyal customer base, then perhaps she could elerate her ns.


    "Currently I do not have anything else in stock other than these types of items, but I certainly do n on making others in the future. Next week I should have at least two new types of items." Evelyn said.


    This elicited a positive response from the two dozen owls that hade to buy her goods and once their business was finished, they happily exited the hall.


    After that a few more owls that had noticed themotion came by and purchased what Evelyn had to offer.


    They were naturally shocked by how low her prices were, and some were afraid that it was a scam and left without buying any, but others took their chances and bought from her.


    ''Wow to think that I can sell these things for six thousand credits a pop. And they are not even the best quality I can make. Mid-grade items really are that much better than low grade ones.'' Evelyn thought as she looked at the rising number of credits on her identification cuff.


    Even her rarest and best items on the first floor did not even go for a thousand credits, but that was simply the difference in effectiveness.


    Take for example a low-grade healing potion which was what she had been selling before.


    Even at the highest quality it would be difficult to heal a fractured bone with one and would likely take several.


    Yet even a mid-grade healing potion that was only at about thirty percent of what the potion''s peak effectiveness could reach was able to fully heal a shatter bone or damaged organs.


    For anything worse though like healing a missing leg or wing they would need high grade potions but those could typically only be made by tyrant rank beasts and above and cost an exorbitant amount.


    The day swiftly went by for Evelyn and her business was far better than she had anticipated.


    A number of the peak fiend beast ranked owls she used to sell to had also evolved while she was in hera and when they learned that she had opened a new shop they came by and made some purchases.


    This was a surprise to many of the other owls with stores around her, as it was practically unheard of for a new shop to do so well on the first day.


    However, it was also a shock to Evelyn, and she had not realized how much of an impression her first floor shop had made.


    ''I suppose that going missing for so long actually helped me out. A lot of my former customers have now evolved and can purchase items on this floor now. Though they do not have too many credits only having recently made it to the awakened rank. But my potions are already as cheap as they can get. Thanks to all of that, my sales have easily been twenty times better than I anticipated.'' Evelyn thought with an uncontroble smile as her first day ended.

 Chapter 222 222 Moving Forward

    ?With the opening of Evelyn''s new shop on the second floor of the Alchemy Hall she began bringing arge number of credits.


    Her store was more sessful than she had expected and after the first day her business had steadily increased and now, she had plenty of regr customers that came to buy her wares.


    After only two months she had moved from the corner of the hall closer to the center where more prominent stores were located.


    This helped increase her exposure even more and at the end of the day she found herself being sold out of about half of the items she offered with only the more niche things like tar she had created on the recently discovered continent not being bought out.


    Overall, this gave her an explosion of credits. Though it slowed down a bit when she ran out of the initial ingredients she had gathered, and she had to start purchasing what she needed to contour brewing.


    Along with her shop doing well she had certainly grown closer to Bylur and Rehni and the three of them had climbed up the ranks and were now at rank five thousand three hundred fifty-six.


    However, tomorrow they had a match against a team that was ranked in the top five thousand and would finally cement them among those that were considered the top teams.


    Of course, it was still a long way from the actual top of the rankings but the top five thousand were where the Roost started recognizing the team''s potential.


    ''Damn it. Closing down took a bit longer than I thought it would.''


    Hastily Evelyn shut up her store which was now instead of a stall, a proper building with four walls and a roof.


    Once she had finished doing so, she flew towards the exit of the Roost and flew directly towards the ranking hall.


    There she moved through the massive building to a certain location and using her identification cuff like a key card entered a certain room.


    Inside was Rehni and Bylur waiting for her.


    "Sorry I amte. I had customers up until thest the moment and it took a little while to close down." Evelyn said to her teammates.


    Luckily the two of them did not seem all that bothered as Evelyn was only a few minuteste and seemed more wound up about it than they were.


    "It is not a big deal. We have not been waiting long and picked out our first practice field in the meantime anyway. But still, I think you should consider hiring a helper as I have said before. Your shop has simply be to popr to run alone. Between training with us, participating in matches, making the items you sell, and doing all the management of your shop yourself you seem to barely have enough time to even sleep." Rehni said, worried about Evelyn''s wellbeing.


    She had been pushing herself pretty hard since oveing her internal turmoil, and while she was making great progress, it was definitely starting to wear on her.


    "Yeah, I know. I will consider it after our match tomorrow. It is just not easy for me to trust anyone new with my shop before getting to know them."


    Sighing, both Bylur and Rehni knew this meant that Evelyn was brushing off the issue as she had said it before.


    As she did not have the time to carefully inspect anyone, she could not so easily trust them with her shop. And thus, she had to do everything by herself.


    Naturally Bylur and Rehni had offered to help but Evelyn had been obstinate in not having either of them work in her shop. She did not want to be the boss of her friends.


    It was certainly a weirdplex as she was the leader of their team, but sinceing to terms with her wish to make close bonds Evelyn had done her best to treat Bylur and Rehni like equals.


    "Anyway, we can worry about things like thatter. We need to practice our strategy for tomorrow and get used to the possible terrains that we might be fighting in." Evelyn said moving over to the control panel in the training room they had rented.


    The facility was expensive, but it was able to generate separate dimensions like the ones the rank battles took ce in and gave them a secluded and safe ce to practice their magic.


    Quickly Evelyn activated the warp portal that would bring them to a separate dimension and they appeared in the middle of a heavy rainstorm in a thick jungle.


    "Are you sure that this is one of the likely terrains and weather conditions we are going to face? It is a little extreme." Bylur said as they all crowded around Evelyn who created a wind barrier.


    "I believe it is. Since we are the challenges, the other team gets to pick the field we will be fighting in. Two of their members have water affinities while the other has wind. They know that this type of field is to their advantage and will make it more difficult for Bylur and me. My sound magic will not work as well in such conditions with so many trees around and the strong winds and rain getting in the way. Same with Bylur''s ice magic. It will be hard for him to utilize his abilities in these conditions." Rehni said, acting as the team''s strategist.


    It was her job to gather information on the teams that they were challenging.


    Now that they were at a higher rank random matches were not as easy toe by as higher ranked teams did not want to lose their spots by getting thrown into an unfavorable battle.


    That was where challenges came in.


    Teams that were within five hundred ranks of each other could issue challenges and if the other team had not fought in a match in thest five months they had to ept.


    This system was put in ce to prevent higher ranking teams from simply sitting on their spots and doing nothing while receiving rewards every month for their ranking.


    Also, if they did not participate in a match at least once every eight months their teams rank would be reset back down to the bottom.


    Finally, another difference between random and challenge matches was that each team had to add credits to a prize pool that differed based on the teams rank and the winning team would receive all the credits.


    This was just another rule to incentivize that both teams do their best during any matches so that thrown battles were umon.


    Naturally the Roost had no need for matches that were fixed and wanted thepetition to be fierce to promote growth. Meaning they would crack down on any foul y.


    "I suppose that if we do fight in such turbulent conditions, it will be best for us all to stick together and for me to use a wind barrier as I am now to keep things around us clear." Evelyn suggested.


    Certainly, without her the conditions would make it much more difficult for Bylur and Rehni to just fly around. Let alone use their magic effectively.


    "That is probably what the other team would want us to do in this situation, but you are right that we would be at an even greater disadvantage alone." Rehni said.


    "It doesn''t matter to me. Just tell me what to do and I will break through and beat our opponent''s." Bylur said, having a more straightforward approach than Evelyn or Rehni.


    "At the very least in these types of conditions we can utilize your wire strategy fairly effectively." Evelyn said looking at all of the trees around them.


    With such tight spaces to move around in, setting up plenty of trap wires would further limit the mobility of their opponents and bring the battlefield to their advantage.


    They often used this strategy whenever they were in a biome that was densely filled with cover like this one.


    The world was filled with different environments and the Roost made sure that the owls that lived in it could practice fighting in diverse locations.


    Certain affinities had advantages in specific areas and weather conditions and being prepared for these asions could easily be the difference between life and death.


    In caves and other enclosed areas usingrge amounts of fire magic could rapidly deplete the oxygen in the area and leave you or your alliescking air. While in rain or near bodies of water, water magic could be used on grander scales and with less magical energy.


    These were not always the biggest factors, but sometimes the smallest advantage could turn the tide of a battle.


    "Now Bylur, see how you can do outside of Evelyn''s barrier. We need to know how long you canst." Rehni said.


    Nodding his head, he left the sphere of wind that was shielding them from the heavy rain and was immediately being soaked.


    To prevent this, he activating a freezing aura around himself, and the rain quickly became ice.


    He then was able to control them and push them away, but with how heavy the storm wasing down it soon became too much for him to keep up with and some of the frozen rain drops began hitting him and making it more difficult to fly.


    Certainly, he was pretty resistant to the cold, but the mass of all the frozen raindrops hitting him was enough to slow him down and make him use more magical energy.


    To effectively move through the rainstorm, he had to really exert himself.


    "Looks like sticking together is probably for the best. We did at leaste up with some countermeasures we can all take though." Rehni said once they had fished practicing in the stormy jungle area.


    After that they did a few more simtions before calling it a day and heading back to their respective homes. Each of them wanted to be fully rested tomorrow for their match that would finally bring them into the top five thousand.

 Chapter 223 223 Before The Match

    ?''Okay, everything is ready.''


    With onest check of her items Evelyn felt she was ready to go.


    Each participant was allowed the use of three different expendable items be they potions, pills, talismans, or anything else along those lines.


    And for today Evelyn had prepared some of her best items to give them the best chance of victory that they could get.


    ''Finally, there is the lunch that Melisandre made for us. She really went all out with the ingredients to give us some powerful buffs.'' Evelyn thought with an almost devious smile.


    Certainly, they were only allowed three items each during the match, but that did not mean they could not prepare beforehand with a few buffs.


    It was actually even expected for this to be done to some degree and was considered proper preparations.


    If you knew you were going to battle, why wouldn''t you stack as much in your favor as possible?


    Once she waspletely ready Evelyn headed off to the Ranking Hall where she was going to be meeting up with Bylur and Rehni.


    ''I need to find room three hundred sixty-eight.''


    Immediately upon arriving at the hall, Evelyn got the information about what room her team had been given for the day''s match and found her way to it.


    ''Oh, I am the first one to arrive!''


    A bit surprised she was normally thest one to show up among their team, but in a rare show her anticipation had gotten her here early.


    However, she figured that this was a perfect chance to get things ready and she began setting up the meal that Melisandre had made so that Bylur and Rehni could enjoy it with her as soon as they arrived.


    Quickly she had all of the food spready out on a number of dished and set up on the tables that the room provided.


    Not long after she had finished Bylur and Rehni, who apparently lived in the same building, came in.


    The shock on their faces was immediate. Never had they expected to show up and find that arge and delicious smelling meal would be ready and waiting for them.


    "Evelyn, what is all this?" Rehni said,ing out of her daze first.


    "Just a little present from my master to give us our best chance at victory. Each one of these dishes will help us by giving us a few magical buffs."


    Evelyn then went on to exin what each dish was made out of and what kind of effects it would have.


    "This one will increase the sharpness of our hearing. This one here will give us a bit of extra power to our muscles. Oh, and this one¡­"


    Happily, Evelyn went over each dish and Rehni and Bylur only became more astonished.


    The food provide here was way better than what pretty much any other awakened rank beast could get.


    Of course, that was to be expected as it was all prepared and provided by one of the strongest owls in the Roost.


    "Feel free to have what you want. There is plenty to go around." Evelyn said with a slight smile creeping on her face.


    She had really been enjoying her time with Bylur and Rehni and having a group of friends that she could trust and rely on.


    It reminded her of when she was still a young girl in her first life before her family was struck by tragedy.


    With around an hour before their match was to begin the three of them leisurely enjoyed their meal while going over somest-minute strategy.


    They had done pretty much all the preparations that they could and were in their best condition to fight.


    Breaking into the top five thousand teams was actually quite a milestone. Especially for their team that was rtively low tier inparison to the others they had beenpeting against.


    Evelyn was still the only one that was at the mid-tier of the awakened rank. Though Bylur and Rehni were getting closer.


    Their opponents however, consisted of two high tier and one mid-tier awakened rank.


    In terms of their advancement Evelyn''s team was certainly behind, but more than simply what tier and rank a beast was at mattered.


    All three of them could be considered well above average for their levels and they had all trained and practiced hard to gain control over their magic.


    Those that only chased reaching the next tier and rank often found themselves with shallower powers than those that took time to develop their foundations.


    "Looks like the five-minute countdown has started. We should clean up and then I will hand out the items I prepared for the two of you." Evelyn said when a timer suddenly appeared on the back wall of the room they were in.


    She had nned to give out the items earlier, but they had all gotten caught up in their conversations and the food.


    Swiftly Evelyn stored all of the dishes back into her storage cuff and took out six bottles. Three for both Bylur and Rehni.


    "These are the highest quality healing potions, and magical energy replenishment pills that I can currently make."


    "And these are our secret weapons." Evelyn said, pointing to the two other bottles she had taken out.


    Giving a quick exnation she exined what each of the alchemical items she had specially prepared for Bylur and Rehni were.


    "If you ever feel you are in trouble or believe that these will give you the edge to deliver a decisive blow, feel free to use them at your own digression."


    Nodding their heads, Bylur and Rehni epted the items Evelyn had prepared for them.


    As the countdown continued all the three of them felt the anticipation welling up inside them.


    This was going to be their biggest battle yet and their first step into the higher ranks.


    ''After this we are certainly going to garner more attention. But I already prepared for that. Thesest two months I have made a lot of progress and fighting in unique environments against many opponents has made me quite a bit stronger. I am ready to take the next step.'' Evelyn thought, steeling herself.


    The countdown soon reached thest ten seconds, and when it hit zero, they were engulfed in a bright light and found themselves warped to the separate dimension where their match would take ce.

 Chapter 224 224 Battle In The Storm

    ?Once the light of the warp portal began to vanish, Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni found themselves being sted by rain and wind immediately.


    As they had predicted. their opponents had chosen to have the battle set in a raging storm. Yet the location was different from what they were expecting.


    Instead of a jungle, forest, mountain, or any sort of environment with a lot of cover, they were out in an open field that proved nothing to hide behind.


    They werepletely out in the open and while the heavy storm did lower visibility it was not enough to hide from the keen sight of another owl alone.


    Already around a half kilometer away they could see the silhouettes of their opponents.


    Swiftly before they were drenched Evelyn created a barrier of wind around them as they had practiced beforehand.


    "Looks like they do were more afraid of your wires than we anticipated." Evelyn said.


    They often used Rehni''s metal magic to set up hard to see wire traps all over the terrain and turn the area to their advantage.


    However, in an open field that was not going to be possible, and all they could really do was meet their opponents head on.


    Of course, this would seem to put them at quite the disadvantage since they were at a lower level than their current adversaries and there were not really any tricks they could employ.


    Not only that, but the heavy storm was also a far greater detriment to them than the opposing team that had two members with water affinities.


    Overall, this was probably the worst possible condition for them to fight in.


    "They even made sure that it was a lightning storm and not just a regr downpour." Rehni observed.


    This was likely another way to counter her metal magic which had been the crux of many of their past matches.


    If she were to use her metal magic here, she risked being struck by lightning and taking unnecessary damage.


    "Top teams really do know how to n better." Bylur said as they simply floated in the shield Evelyn had made.


    Currently their opponents were just hovering in the air as well, likely making some preparations or waiting for Evelyn''s Team to make the first move.


    Either way, there was nothing to really do but engage in a head-to-head battle.


    Of course, if one side wanted to use an invisibility talisman they could try and catch the opponent off guard, but even then, they would still disrupt the rain wherever they moved and any owl that was slightly attentive would notice that.


    "They areing. Bylur stay in front and prepare to intercept any water spells. Evelyn keep the rain off us and deal with any wind magic attacks. I will try using my sound magic to strike them back and disrupt their formation." Rehni said, acting as their strategist.


    Between her and Evelyn, one of them would take the lead, and they had previously decided to allow Rehni to make their initial ns while Evelyn would keep watch over the battle and make adjustments as they went.


    Within just a dozen seconds their opponents had made it to their location and began their assault.


    Using the rain, the two with water affinities created a barrage of water arrows and fired them off at Evelyn''s wind barrier.


    Each one of the arrows did not have all that much power, but they were strong enough to punch through the rtively weak barrier Evelyn was maintaining to keep the rain off her and her team.


    Before they pierced the barrier though, Bylur, who was acting as their tank, swung his wings forward and sent out arge st of cold energy.


    In an instant the hundreds of water arrows were frozen solid and began harmlessly falling all around them.


    It was at this moment that the enemy owl that had a wind affinity had moved around to their back and sent out arge wind de directly towards Bylur from his blind spot.


    It moved fast and had a great deal of power. Slicing right through Evelyn''s wind barrier.


    However, this had been exactly what Evelyn had been on the lookout for and interposed herself between the wind de and Bylur.


    Spinning her body around she caught the de of wind in her own personal twister and redirected it around Bylur.


    Yet she was not done yet.


    When the wind de hit the other side of her barrier, instead of flying out it got caught up in it as Evelyn increased her control and output. The wind de then began moving around and went back the way it hade. Flying towards the owl that had initially created the attack.


    This caught it heavily off guard as redirecting an attack from another source was no easy feat. Even if you shared the same affinity.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn''s control over her wind magic had gone up leaps and bounds, since it was the only type of magic she used in the Ranking Hall, and straightforward attacks like a simple wind de were easy enough for her to redirect.


    Unfortunately, it was not enough to take out one of their opponents. As surprised as they were, the enemy with a wind affinity was able to avoid the oing attack.


    Still, this left her open and Rehni who had been keeping herself poised to attack let loose a loud concentrated st of sound.


    Even when directed away from them Evelyn and Bylur were slightly shaken by the loud noise, but thankfully they had bought some earplugs that helped dampen sounds over a certain decibel level.


    This would naturally not help if they were the target of the attack and got hit by the concussive force behind it, but thankfully Rehni was not their enemy.


    ''Damn! Their teamwork is pretty good. I guess that is just what to expect from a team that is in the top five thousand.''


    Right before Rehni hadunched her attack one of the opposing owls that had bene trying to break through Bylur moved over to defend their teammates and created arge shield of water in front of them.


    This had absorbed Rehni''s sound magic attack and made it so that her target got off without taking any real damage.

 Chapter 225 225 Battle In The Storm (2)

    ?After both sides hadunched their initial attacks, Evelyn''s team and their opponents were still in pretty much the same position from the start of the match.


    None of their attacks had managed to break through each other''s defenses and now they were back to staring each other down as they made new ns of attack.


    The only problem was that Evelyn could tell they were at a disadvantage.


    Their opponents had far greater mobility than they did since every member of their team could fly through the storm without issue.


    Two of them had a water affinity and being surrounded by rain was actually a huge boon for them and the one with the wind affinity was doing the same thing Evelyn was but on a smaller scale.


    Meanwhile, Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni were stuck within Evelyn''s wind barrier and had to move together as a unit.


    This limited their mobility greatly, which was one of their best assets.


    It was quite difficult for them to initiate any sort of attack and left them waiting for their enemies to make the first move while they tried to counter.


    For nearly three minutes they continued to trade probing attacks that did not amount to much, before the opposing team finally made a big move.


    The three of them broke off from trying to assault Evelyn''s team and flew higher up into the air.


    Once they had reached around a kilometer into the sky they began rapidly flying around in tandem and creating a far more powerful phenomenon than any one of them could make on their own.


    A huge flood of water began congregating around the two that had water affinities while the third created a tornado that sucked up all of the water.


    Soon they had a giant mass of wind and water which they dropped down on Evelyn''s Team.


    "Use your strongest barriers! Our only hope is to block it!" Evelyn shouted out to Bylur and Rehni who were caught up in a daze seeing such a powerful attacking for them.


    The attacking for them was far stronger than anything they had taken in any other match and was their first time seeing such a devastatingbo.


    It was certainly simple, but the sheer mass and force behind it would be enough to kill them all if they did not do everything they could to defend.


    As quickly as they could they worked together to create a three-tiered shield. Using Evelyn''s wind barrier which she morphed into the shape of an umbre, followed by Bylur''s ice magic, and Rehni''s metal magic.


    This created a thick and powerful barrier that they could only hope would take the attack for them.


    When the water tornado hit there was a resound explosion and their barrier began being pushed back almost immediately.


    ''Damn! It is not going to hold!''


    Immediately Evelyn could feel her wind which was at the front of their barrier faltering and knew that it was only a matter of time before the torrent of water and wind smashed into them.


    However, Evelyn had another card to y, even if she had nned on keeping it under wraps.


    ''It will probably be impossible to notice in this situation anyway. And we will likely lose if I do nothing.''


    Steeling her resolve, Evelyn sent an immense amount of her magical energy into the Aethersphere, and for the first time in several months activated her gravity magic.


    ''Reverse Press.''


    Decreasing the gravity in the area around her, Evelyn lowered the mass of the water crashing down on them and the force behind it dropped significantly.


    Thanks to this intervention their shield managed to block the attack sessfully, and the moment they were out of danger she brought gravity back to normal.


    "Evelyn, did you just use your gravity magic?" Rehni asked her having felt herself get lighter for a few seconds.


    Evelyn had already made it clear that she had no intention of using anything but her wind magic as her other two types were a bit too eye catching, and she did not want others to know that she had such rare abilities.


    Yet just now she had used what could be considered her strongest power to save them. Despite the fact that it could stand out.


    "Yes, I did. I doubt that it will have bene noticeable to anyone but the two of you. From afar it probably just looked like our shields held out and repelled the attack. Now let us not worry about that for now. We managed to survive but our opponents are still unharmed. We need to focus on them instead." Evelyn said as she reformed her wind barrier back into a sphere.


    Luckily it seemed that they had a moment to recollect themselves as the opposing team was stunned that their strongestbination attack had been so thoroughly blocked.


    Naturally they were not used to their enemiesing out unscathed from such a devastating attack, and it had taken no small amount of magical energy to create.


    "They are taking magical energy replenishment pills. While they do that, we should do the same." Evelyn said catching sight of the bottles each of their opponents had taken out.


    Swiftly, Evelyn, Bylur, And Rehni swallowed the pills that Evelyn had prepared for them.


    In only a few instances they felt the magical energy they had expended being restored and were not far from being back to peak condition. At least in terms of magical energy.


    Still, the fight had not gone much of anywhere except to slowly be exhausting both sides.


    Neither had been able to deliver a decisive blow yet, and right now it seemed that it was going to be a war of attrition.


    But Evelyn knew that they would not win this way.


    Rehni and Bylur were strong, there was no doubting that. But they probably could not hold out as long as their opponents if they stayed on the defensive.


    "We are not going to win at this rate. Drink the potions I gave you and go in for the attack without worry. I will support both of you." Evelyn said resolutely.

 Chapter 226 226 Battle In The Storm (3)

    ?At Evelyn deration to use the potions she had prepared, both Rehni and Bylur wavered.


    She had also said that she would support them, and they knew what this meant.


    Evelyn hade up with this strategy to give them the best chance to attack, but it left her pretty vulnerable. Which is why they both hesitated to do.


    "Hurry up and drink the potions. Our enemies are setting up for their next attack and using their own consumable items. If we falter here, we are going to lose." Evelynmanded sternly.


    With no other choice but to follow Evelyn''s orders, Rehni and Bylur pulled out the potions Evelyn had prepared for each of them and quickly drank them.


    In only a matter of moments the magical effects of each potion began to activate.


    Bylur''s white feathers seemed to gain a crystal sheen to them and Rehni''s body began vibrating and moving faster than what seemed normal.


    ''Looks like they worked well. It was worth using all those rare ingredients as well as some of the magical spring water.'' Evelyn thought.


    What she had given Bylur and Rehni were two high-grade potions that she had spent a lot of credits to purchase the materials for.


    Normally these were items that only tyrant rank beasts could work with, but she had been able to sessfully create both potions thanks to her heavenly me and the superior equipment Melisandre had provided her.


    The brew that Bylur had consumed was called a diamond shell potion and was an advanced form of a fortification potion.


    Instead of just strengthening the outer body as a fortification potion did, this one made the entire body far studier and even made his feathers resistant to all types of attacks.


    For Rehni, what Evelyn had given her was called an eleration potion which was the advanced version of an agility potion.


    It not only made the drinker faster but sped up their thought process and slowed the perception of time.


    Both were very powerful, and the ingredients cost Evelyn around three million credits each to make.


    This had taken a good chunk out of her savings, but she wanted to make sure to have some powerful trump cards for this match.


    ''And for the finishing touch.''


    Cancelling the wind barrier she had surrounded them in, Evelyn instead wrapped Rehni and Bylur up in personal wind shields that would keep the rain off them and increase their movement speeds, while also adding anotheryer of defense.


    However, this left Evelyn without any shield from the rain, and instead she was allowing her armor that was geared towards helping her out in such conditions keep herself dry.


    It was not perfect, but it was taking most of her focus to keep the enchantments she was giving to Bylur and Rehni going.


    "Now go. We need to strike fast and hard to catch them off guard."


    With their preparationsplete Bylur and Rehni angled their bodies upwards and flew up into the sky where their opponents had simrly been getting ready.


    Staying back but flying up as well, Evelyn kept within the range she needed to be to retain the wind enchantments she had given to her teammates.


    Naturally their sudden charge surprised the opposing team, as so far Evelyn''s team had been stuck on the defensive.


    Now through, Bylur and Rehni wereing right for them, and they moved to intercept.


    Yet they were a slight bitte to react, as like a bullet Rehni shot up towards their weakest member and unleashed a powerful sound wave.


    The mid-tier awakened rank owl that had a water affinity set up a shield in front of it which absorbed a good amount of the st, but it was still knocked off course andunched away.


    Immediately after this happened the other members of the opposing team moved to attack Rehni but found that her movements were too quick to easily lock down, and by the time they even had her in their sights, Bylur had arrived.


    d in arge, blunted spear of ice, he impacted into the enemy owl with a wind affinity like a missile.


    It was certainly a devastating blow, but not enough to take out a high tier awakened rank beast.


    Using a few gusts of wind, the owl that Bylur had hitunched himself away and put some distance between them.


    At the same time Rehni was facing down the high tier awakened rank owl with a water affinity and was moving around them and barraging them with sound attacks.


    In response it had created a shell of water which was absorbing the blows and lessening the impact of the sound attacks.


    Unfortunately, it seemed even with as fast as she was now Rehni was unable to deliver a conclusive attack.


    Her opponent was two tiers higher than her and simply had stronger magic even if they could not keep up with her.


    Bylur on the other hand was doing fairly well against his opponent and firing off powerful ice attacks. That while not doing much damage to his opponent, were steadily wearing them down.


    Except this bnce as soon to be broken as the third member of the opposing team moved to join back into the battle after being blown away by Rehni.


    ''Looks like I will need to get involved.''


    Evelyn with a few swift ps of her wings brought herself in between the mid-tier awakened rank owl that had a water affinity.


    Even though she had most of her focus tied up in keeping Bylur and Rehni enchanted, she needed to keep their battles from being interrupted.


    ''I suppose three one on one fights are best for us in this situation. Their teamwork and abilities are simply better than ours in these conditions.'' Evelyn thought as she stared down her enemy.


    Currently she could not really use her magic freely without dropping the spells she had used on Bylur and Rehni, and instead was going to fight with her physical abilities.

 Chapter 227 227 Battle In The Storm (4)

    ?Sending out a small pulse of magical energy, Evelyn activated the attachments on the ends of both of her wings and the des hidden within popped out.


    This gave her opponent pause for a moment and at that time Evelyn struck.


    With reckless abandon she charged forward at her full speed.


    Naturally her physical abilities were top notch just as her magic was and her opponent was unable to react fast enough to keep up.


    At thest moment they just managed to use the rain around them tounch a ball of water at Evelyn, but she forced through it by spinning her body around like a top.


    With little resistance the des on the end of her wings carved into her opponent as she moved past them like a deadly pinwheel.


    However, the wounds, while substantial were not quite enough to defeat her opponent and fueled by the rage of the pain they were in, fired off a powerful spray of water to try and knock Evelyn to the ground.


    Doing her best, she tried to evade the attack but was unable to get thest half of her left wing out of the way and felt the crushing force of the water hit her.


    This caused her to begin spinning again, but this time it was not of her own choice.


    ''Damn it!''


    After getting hit by thatst attack Evelyn was knocked off course, and the continuous shower of rain and the water magic attacks she had taken made her entire body soaked with water.


    It was now very difficult for her to maintain her altitude and fly fast and she could tell she was going to move out of range to keep her wind enchantments up on Rehni and Bylur.


    ''Hopefully they can do the rest on their own. I need my magic back now.'' Evelyn thought of seeing her opponent pursuing her.


    She had a n, but to make it a sess she needed her wind magic and had to cancel the support she was giving to Rehni and Bylur.


    With the ability to use her magic back Evelyn allowed herself to continue falling and made it seem as if her left wing was more damaged than it was.


    If her n was to work, she needed her opponent to follow her, and luckily, they fell for her trap.


    Naturally they would want to finish her off now while she was injured instead of giving her time to drink a healing potion ande back at full strength.


    ''Now.'' Evelyn thought as she released a bottle from her storage cuff and sent it flying upwards with a gust of wind.


    Yet the owl chasing after her had been expecting some sort of retaliation and used their water magic to knock the battle away.


    It then saw out of the corner of its eyes a number of pills being scattered everywhere.


    The bottle Evelyn hadunched at it simply contained her magical energy replenishment pills and was a feint.


    Her real attack came a momentter and her opponent did not catch it in time because of the blind spot they had created knocking the first bottle away.


    This second one on the other hand contained a viscous ck liquid and when it was within around five feet of Evelyn''s opponent it shattered and released its contents.


    Unable to fully block the substance the mid-tier awakened rank owl with a water affinity found that they were now covered in a sticky substance that would note off.


    It had set fast despite the wet conditions and even with water magic Evelyn''s opponent was not able to get it off fast enough.


    Their movements were now sealed, they could not fly with their wings stuck to their body by the tar Evelyn had covered them in.


    With her opponent basically unable to move Evelyn flew around them and created a whirlwind thatunched them towards the ground like a meteor.


    She then used her momentum to fly upwards while her opponent crashed into the ground with a heavy thud.


    Bylur and Rehni were still in the middle of their own battles, and she was worried that without her help they would not be able to win.


    Except when she arrived to help, she found that the two fights were nearly over.


    Bylur''s opponent was covered in frost and barely able to fly. Clearly reeling from the added weight and extreme cold.


    The potion that Evelyn had given him allowed him to worry less about defense, and even though the environment was not the best for him, the added moisture in the air did increase the power of his ice magic.


    Rehni''s opponent on the other hand had found themselves struck by lightning from the storm thanks to a clever trap by Rehni.


    Instead of fearing to use her metal magic she had created wire and wrapped it around her opponent and allowed it to be struck.


    She had taken a bit of damage from the lightning as well, but since she had kept her opponent above her, they had taken the brunt of it.


    It was now only a matter of time before Rehni and Bylur finished up, and with Evelyn''s assistance the match soon ended with the high tier water affinity owl holding out the longest.


    ''They were quite a bit tougher than I anticipated and showed us the difference between those that fight often and those that do not. Even the mid-tier was stronger than some of the high tiers that I have fought. It just goes to show me once again that rank is not everything.''


    As theirst opponent fell and was clearly unable to continue the match was called in Evelyn''s team favor.


    An instantter the world of rain and wind they had been fighting in vanished and they were warped back to the room that they had been in before the match started.


    "We finally did it! We managed to get into the top Five Thousand!" Bylur said excitedly the moment they were back.


    "Yes, we have now reached our first milestone." Rehni said with a proud expression on her face.


    The three of them had worked hard to get this far and while theirst battle had been grueling and difficult, they had managed toe out on top.


    "I agree we have much to be excited about. We will now be able to collect a hundred thousand credits every month. Plus were got three hundred thousand as a prize for being the victors." Evelyn said while holding up her identification cuff.


    The numbers on their team ount had just jumped up and she showed it off to Bylur and Rehni


    The two of them looked at the much higher number with amazement and glee.


    Unlike Evelyn, who could make arge sum of money from alchemy, the two of them did not have such a lucrative talent.


    Bylur was able to make a steady ie using his life magic, but he was not near good enough to make close to what Evelyn''s shop did.


    Rehni on the other hand earned her credits throughpleting missions and participating in the ranking hall. It was a major source of ie for her.


    "Stilt this battle has shown us that the top five thousand is no joke. We were barely able to win, and this is one of the lower ranking teams. Before our next match. I believe it would be best for us to train and raise our levels as high as possible. We are going to lose if we recklessly keep trying to charge up the ranks." Rehni said after they had all calmed down a bit.


    They were now contending with high tier awakened rank owls and next time they could be up against a full team of them or even have to face an individual that was at the peak of the awakened rank.


    IF they kept up their current momentum it was only a matter of time before they hit a hard wall they could not currently get over.


    "I agree. Our opponents are not only getting stronger in terms of their levels but also their control and coordination. I believe as we are now this is about as high as we can go." Evelyn said.


    Bylur on the other hand had seemed ready to keep challenging stronger and stronger teams and deted when Evelyn and Rehni suggested that they slow down now that they had reached the top five thousand.


    "Wait, we are not going to fight anymore? Are we just going to go back to focusing advancing instead then?" Bylur asked.


    "Yes, that is what we are going to do. You two need to reach the mid-tier of the awakened rank before we try and go any higher. To that end, I have something special that I want to show you both. It is how I was able to get where I am so quickly. And it will be a show of my trust in both of you."


    Curious, Bylur and Rehni turned towards Evelyn. Their attention fully on her.


    Of course, they wanted to know what sort of miraculous situation had allowed her to jump up from a low tier to a mid-tier so quickly.


    Her speed was practically breaking records, and it was honestly astounding. Especially since she needed a lot more magical energy than any other beast at the same level as her thanks to the Aethersphere and her human magic core.


    "Well, since you both seem to want to know so badly, I will tell you. I happen to know the location of a stable magic spring."

 Chapter 228 228 The Magic Spring And Paying A Debt

    ?With a proud expression and her body puffed up Evelyn told Rehni and Bylur about the stable magic spring.


    She had grown to trust them quite a bit during their time training and going up the ranks together.


    And now that they had broken into the top five thousand teams, she felt that allowing them to use the magic spring was a perfect reward for all their hard work.


    However, this also served another purpose.


    As much as Evelyn was far less distrustful than she used to be, she wanted to make sure that Bylur and Rehni truly could be trusted.


    To this end she was going to show them the magic spring and see if they could keep it to themselves.


    If they leaked the information on it or brought anyone else to it, then she would know that she could not trust them. Though after getting to know them better and forming fairly strong bonds with them she doubted that either of them would betray her at this point.


    "Um what is a magic spring?" Bylur said not long after Evelyn''s reveal.


    This quickly deted her, and she looked at him like he had a screw loose in his head.


    Frankly she had figured that just about any awakened rank owl within the Roost would at least be vaguely aware of what a magic spring was since they were so valuable.


    ''What about Reni?''


    Turning her head toward her other teammate, Evelyn wondered if she also was in the dark about magic springs, but her stunned expression said otherwise.


    "Evelyn are you serious! That is something that could be considered a true treasure. Should you even be telling us about it?" Rehni said, visibly shaken by this bit of information.


    Being far better read and having utilized the records hall much more frequently than Bylur, she had information on just about any phenomenon like the forming of a magic spring that might help her advance through the ranks.


    Rehni then turned her head to Bylur, and said, "Do you seriously not know what a magic spring is? It is a fairlymon urrence where magical energy fills into a body of water that is easy to absorb. You could think of it as a better version of an advancement chamber. It is not as harsh as taking in the gaseous magical energy and since it is not in an enclosed area will not smother you as easily even if the amount of energy is more than you can normally take. However, they are normally just one-off situations. Magic springs rarely ever appear in the same location twice, but I have heard that some of them can even allow you to raise your tier all in one go. Finding an active one can be considered among the luckiest encounters. Yet Evelyn has located a stable one. From what I have read the number of stable magic springs that the Roost has learned about is in the single digits. And all of them were destroyed in battles to try and possess them."


    Hearing Rehni list all this off, Evelyn was taken back.


    She knew that Rehni often went to the records hall to study, but apparently, she had done extensive research and had a profound knowledge Evelyn had not expected her to have.


    It also seemed that her exnation got through to Bylur and he now realized how amazing the stable magic spring Evelyn had found really was.


    With it they could all advance far quicker than normal, and it was the secret behind Evelyn reaching the mid-tier of the awakened rank before them.


    "Evelyn, as Rehni said, are you sure that you should have told us something like this? It sounds like the kind of secret you should not divulge to anyone."


    "Certainly, it is not something to publicize, but you two are myrades. As much as it does note easily to me, I can trust others, I believe that the two of you have earned my trust. I think of you both as friends and if we are to continue fighting together, I need both of you to keep up with me. If I used the spring but left you both out, then I would soon leave you both behind. Honestly, I have enjoyed being able to fight together with the two of you and do not want to get too far ahead that we can no longer rise up the ranks together."


    After hearing Evelyn''s speech both Bylur and Rehni were quite moved.


    They could remember how distrustful Evelyn was of them when they first met. Especially Bylur.


    He had helped her out when she was being assaulted by a group of eagles, yet afterwards she had treated him as a major threat.


    At the time her wounds were still fresher, and her suspicions were more prominent. She thought that everyone was out to get her and anyone being nice was just looking to get her guard down.


    "Thank you for revealing this to us. I promise that I will not tell anyone about this magic spring." Rehni said resolutely.


    A momentter Bylur also gave his assurances, and Evelyn thanked them both for being willing to keep the spring a secret.


    "Now it will be active again in around two weeks. We will want to leave a few days before then to make sure that we arrive on time so clear your schedules."


    Nodding their heads, Bylur and Rehni agreed to leave in eleven days to follow Evelyn to the magic spring.


    The three of them then left the Ranking Hall in high spirits and made their way to a restaurant to celebrate their victory.


    Once they had finished there, they all went their separate ways and prepared for their trip to the magic spring.


    ''I am going to need to work as hard as possible in these next few days. I need to earn a stupid number of credits to purchase the storage magic toll that I promised to give to Lucia.'' Evelyn thought when she returned home.


    Immediately she got to work on brewing potions, pills, salves, and other such items. She was going to have to work herself to the bone if she wanted to purchase the specified storage item.


    ¡­


    In the blink of an eye the eleven days had passed, and it was time for Evelyn to meet up with Bylur and Rehni to show them to the magic spring.


    ''It was close, but I just barely managed to scrap the credits together.'' Evelyn thought as she looked down at the new cuff on her leg.


    This was the storage item with a three thousand cubic meter storage space that she had promised Lucia.


    Buying it for eight million credits had left herpletely destitute with only a couple hundred credits left to her name.


    She had even had to empty out the team funds that they had been building up and get a loan of a million credits from Melisandre, but she had managed to get enough to purchase the expensive tool.


    The thing had cost far more than she was expecting it to, but that made sense as only tyrant rank owls or above were the ones that normally could even think about purchasing such a thing.


    The seller in the inscription hall was actually surprised to see Evelyning in to purchase it.


    ''Ah there they are." Evelyn thought, seeing Bylur and Rehni flying towards her.


    Quickly they exchanged their greetings and then entered the warp hall where they purchased the tickets, they would need to go to the nearest warp point to the Elmot Gorge.


    ''Gah I am down to the double digits now.''


    After purchasing the tickets Evelyn found that her credits had hit pretty much rock bottom, and she now had fewer than when she originally came to the Roost.


    Still money could be gathered again, and she was fine with spending it when it was to help her continue advancing on her journey.


    With their tickets ready, they moved over to the specified warp tform and were whisked away.


    When their vison returned, they found themselves in a field around twenty kilometers away from the Elmot Gorge.


    "Follow me. There is an errand I need to take care of fist before we head to the magic spring."


    Talking to the air the three of them fly towards the Elmot Gorge and descend when they reached it.


    Flying high over the top of the ce was a bad idea, and one liable to get anyone stupid enough to do so killed.


    Being extra careful, they flew into the gorge down around two hundred feet and then flew across.


    Luckily, they did not encounter any sort of enemies and made it to the other side without incident.


    ''It should be about here.'' Evelyn thought as she scanned the area.


    She certainly did not remember the entire route that Lucia had taken to go from the bottom of the gorge to the top, but she had made sure to memorize where the exit point was.


    Having reached that location Evelyn activated the magic item that Lucia had given her to get in contact and then waited for eh to arrive.


    Around a half hourter they all spotted a figure rapidly ascending the side of the gorge.


    They were clearly humanoid in shape, and Rehni and Bylur began to panic when they realized that a tyrant rank beast wasing right for them.


    "There is no need to worry. That is the individual I told you both about. She saved my life and now I am paying back the debt I owe her."

 Chapter 229 229 Deal With Lucia And The Burrowing Owls’ Welcome

    ?Thanks to Evelyn''s assurances that the figure approaching them was who they were here to meet, Bylur and Rehni calmed down.


    Naturally any beast that saw an entity that was much more powerful than theming right for them would begin to panic and fear for their lives.


    "I see you have brought some friends with you this time." Lucia said curiously, looking between Bylur and Rehni.


    She had been expecting Evelyn to be alone, but instead there were two other beasts with her.


    At first, she was wondering if it might be some sort of ambush for her, but the addition of two low-tier awakened rank owls would not be any threat to her.


    "Ah yes, we have another errand to attend to nearby and on the way, I figured that it would be best if I brough you the item I promised. I always make sure to pay my debts and you did save my life." Evelyn said, gratitude in her voice.


    "Wait! You have already procured such arge storage magic tool. I was expecting it to take you at least a couple of years. It has only been around five months" Lucia said in shock.


    When Evelyn had left, she was still only a low tier awakened rank, and the item that Lucia had asked for was something that normally only tyrant rank beasts couldfortably afford.


    "Well, I did have to work very hard and take out a loan from my master, but I figured it would be best to secure the item for you as soon as possible. I do not like things like this hanging over my head. If I had put it off, I felt like I would have kept doing so for a long time."


    After saying this Evelyn took the storage cuff she had recently purchased and held it towards Lucia.


    With a quick nce at it to make sure that there was no sort of trap she took the cuff and attached it to her left arm.


    "It works quite well. I can tell that the inscriptionists at the Roost are still quite talented." Lucia said after storing a number of random objects into her new magic tool.


    And despite her doing her best to keep a neutral expression, a small, satisfied grin did appear on her face.


    "I am d that it is up to your standards. It was not easy to obtain but it was a small price to pay for still having my life."


    Lucia, satisfied with the item, thanked Evelyn for going through the trouble of procuring it for her.


    "Now that I know how punctual and trustworthy you are, would like to make a business deal with me?" Lucia asked, looking at Evelyn in a fairly favorable light.


    Instinctively taking a step back, Evelyn waspletely caught off guard by this request.


    She had figured once she dropped off the storage magic tool that would be it. Lucia would head back into the Elmot Gorge, and they would never see each other again.


    Now though it seemed that Lucia had other ideas.


    "I mean we can, but I am not sure that I can really be of use to you. I managed to obtain that storage item after some grueling work and borrowing the extra funds that I needed. Obtaining items that are suitable to a peak tyrant rank beast like you is pretty beyond me." Evelyn said, a slightly worried look on her face.


    "I understand that. There are just a few things that I need that are difficult for me to procure in the Elmot Gorge. You need not gather them in a timely manner as you did this time. I am patient and am willing to wait. In return I can offer you some of the excess materials I have. I believe that it will be a win win situation for us both." Lucia said with a smile on her face, trying to entice Evelyn to agree.


    "Very well, I see no reason to turn you down. I am sure that a tyrant rank beast like you can obtain things that I could only dream about getting my hands on."


    The deal struck Lucia asked Evelyn toe back in a few days after she had finished whatever errand she was on with Bylur and Rehni.


    She had not been expecting Evelyn to return so soon and needed time to prepare a list fo things that she would want her to procure at the Roost, and a list of items she had to trade for them.


    "Okay, we will be back around in probably four days or so. I will pick up the list then." Evelyn said.


    Their business nowpleted, Lucia descended back into the Elmot Gorge and was gone from sight within just a dozen seconds. Seemingly eaten by the dark abyss.


    "You really are impressive Evelyn; you spoke with that tyrant rank beast like and equal. I could barely keep my head up in her presence." Rehni said, a lingering tension still visible on her face.


    With a single wave of her hand Lucia could have killed them all, and Rehni was hyper aware of this fact.


    Just being in her presence was oppressive, and most awakened rank beast would not have been able to keep their heads up and look her in the eyes.


    "Hm, I suppose her aura is a bit formidable, but it is nothingpared to Melisandre''s. She did not have any hostility and was not trying to oppress us, so I did not really feel any pressure." Evelyn said, wondering why Rehni and Bylur seemed as afraid as they were.


    However, as they exined it to her, she started to understand a bit better.


    Normally it was expected for lower ranked beasts to act more subservient to upper ranked beasts, rather than treating them like equals as Evelyn had.


    ''I suppose that it is just a difference in the way we think. I have my memories and experiences from back on Earth. It seems natural for me to treat anyone I am having a polite conversation with as an equal.''


    Shrugging her shoulders, Evelyn had no n to change her ways, and unless a higher-ranking beast forced the issue, she was not going to correct herself.


    "Now we should head to the Velinis Desert. We will find the magic spring there." Evelyn said before taking off.


    The three of them swiftly flew through the sky towards their destination, and within a few hours as the sun was beginning toe up, they reached the entrance to the burrowing owl''s home.


    ''They have hidden themselves well. I can tell that there are four of them down there keeping watch, but their small size makes it difficult for me to pinpoint exactly where they are.'' Evelyn thought, staring down at the entrance.


    Slowly she began lowering her altitude, leaving Bylur and Rehni up in the sky so as not to spook the burrowing owls.


    Thankfully when she was within clear view, one of them flew out to greet her.


    "Lady Evelyn, you have returned!" They said excitedly.


    It was clear that their appreciation for her help in reiming their home was still strong, and this guard was more than happy to lead her and her friends inside without any hassle.


    "Are you sure you do not need to speak with Otis first and get his permission to let us in?" Evelyn asked the guard who was happily taking her to the central chamber.


    "Nope there is no need. He already informed all of us to show you inside as soon as you arrived. Even if you have brought your friends with you this time. It would be rude to have our savoir wait outside for something so trivial."


    Soon enough the three of them had been brough to the central chamber of the burrowing owl''s home.


    There the magic spring was, softly gleaming from the slight illuminationing from the glowing crystals that protruded out of the ceiling.


    "I suppose that is it?" Bylur said pointing a wing at the spring.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn gave her acknowledgement and scanned the area.


    She could see that a number of burrowing owls were in this room. Some looking at her with reverence, while others seemed curious.


    ''I can guess that the ones that are looking at us curiously are those that have recently evolved. They certainly have raised their numbers a fair amount.'' Evelyn thought, seeing around a dozen new awakened rank burrowing owls.


    Not long after they arrived, Otis along with Po came flying in. Both with ted expressions on their faces.


    "It is good to see you again Lady Evelyn." They both said before bowing.


    Watching all these interactions, Bylur and Rehni could not believe how subservient all of these burrowing owls were to Evelyn.


    All she had said was she provided a bit of assistance to help them reim their lost home, but it must have been more than that with how all of the burrowing owls seemed to practically worship her.


    "I see that you have brough somepanions with you this time. Would you mind introducing them to us?" Otis asked after greeting Evelyn.


    "Sure. This is Bylur and Rehni. The big snowy owl is Bylur, and the smaller one is Rehni." Evelyn said.


    Otis then gave them a formal greeting and weed them as Evelyn''s friends.


    "I can assume that you are here to use the magic spring, and that will not be a problem. There are a few of our members that are exception to use it to reach the next tier, but I will keep the numbers down so that you and yourpanions may receive the best possible benefits." Otis said, more than happy to extend his aid to Evelyn.

 Chapter 230 230 The Burrowing Owls’ Advancement

    ?Having secured Otis'' permission for Bylur and Rehni to use the magic spring Evelyn had aplished their main goal.


    Of course, she had never thought that Otis would refuse her request since he was beyond grateful to her for helping to reim his home.


    "Now if there is nothing else that you need or had nned Lady Evelyn, I could show you and your friends around our home. We have made some improvements since thest time you were here and would love to show you." Otis said as he moved a bit closer towards Evelyn and gave her a wide grin.


    "That sounds good. You seem pretty proud, so I am expecting that you have something amazing to show me." Evelyn said, easily agreeing.


    His smile widening, Otis began happily leading them to show them how the ce had changed.


    "This is the secondrgest chamber in our burrow and before it was mostly just amunal area we would use for various things, but now we have put it to better use." Otis said holding his right wing out and pointing it at what now filled the chamber.


    Spread all over were the corpses of several different species of beasts that dwell in the desert and even a few humans.


    It was certainly not what Evelyn had been expecting to see and for just a moment it made her queasy.


    Luckily, she got over that feeling quickly enough, which was a lingering vestige of the innocent young human girl she used to be.


    ''What even is this? Did they just turn this room into a waste disposal area? But that does not really make much sens- Oh! So that is what they are doing.''


    At first Evelyn could not tell the purpose of all the bodies in the room, but after scanning through it she spotted what was going on.


    The moisture in the room was very thick and on some of the older bodies she spotted that a certain type of mushroom was growing.


    It had a dark red coloration for the most part but had a pattern of ck lines that spread out from its center. Giving it a very sinister look.


    However, these mushrooms were actually harmless to consume and a very useful magical fungus.


    They were known as vitshrooms, and they helped restore and sustain energy.


    Their effects were not the most impressive, but they were able to grow fairly fast and were a main ingredient in stamina restoration pills.


    ''Still this level of growth seems unnatural. How did they get them to take so fast. It should have taken at least a few more moths for them to mature to the level they are at.'' Evelyn thought.


    And when she asked Otis, he told her what they had done.


    "We got the idea from you Lady Evelyn. You said that the magic spring water would enhance the potency of those potions and pills you gave us, so we wondered if it would help with growing magical nts. As you know the Chryseos Vines grow only aroudn the spring and fill with magical energy when it is active. This gave us all the confirmation we needed to know that it could help us cultivate certain magical nts and fungi. To that end we have a few of those among us with a water affinity use the spring water to keep this room moist and a perfect environment to grow these vitshrooms." Otis exined.


    He was clearly proud of their work and Evelyn was actually pretty impressed with what they had done.


    "This is truly wonderful Otis. I never expected you all to think of something like this and execute it so well." Evelyn said giving the burrowing owls some praise.


    This seemed to surprise Otis since before Evelyn had actually been pretty aloof with them. It was like she was a different owl now.


    However, this was simply part of the change that had urred when she epted that she wanted to grow bonds with others and trust again.


    As for Otis and the burrowing owls she figured that they were close enough that she could rely on them and not act like they might stab her in the back at any moment.


    In a way they were like her followers, and she felt no reason to distrust them anymore.


    "Now these are not the only things we are currently trying to cultivate down here with the help of the magic spring, but it is certainly our most sessful. Though it pains me that currently none of the vitshrooms are matured and worthy to present you with. However, when once we have harvested the first batch, we shall save the best for you to have." Otis said, with a devoted expression on his face.


    "Thank you, Otis. I will be looking forward to receiving the fruits of your efforts."


    After that Otis led them around the rest of the burrow and showed them what other magical nts and fungi they were attempting to grow, to various levels of sess.


    Yet as they continued, while Evelyn and Rehni seemed more and more impressed, Bylur was growing increasingly frustrated and irrationally angry.


    It took him nearly an hour to figure out why but eventually it hit him.


    The problem was Otis. Specifically, how close he was always to Evelyn and the way he seemed to be so easily winning her affection.


    Once he had reached the awakened rank and gotten a bit wiser, plus some advice from Reni he had taken arge step back and given Evelyn some room.


    He had figured that he could slowly build up their rtionship as friends first and show her how reliable and powerful he was.


    And certainly, things had been going well from his point of view.


    Evelyn had recently be far less distant from him and through their battles in the ranking hall hade to rely on him.


    It did not seem that she had developed any romantic feeling for him like he had her, but he figured it was only a matter of time. He was the only male owl that had any sort of rtionship with her in the first ce.


    At least that had been the case until now.


    ''Don''t think I can''t see what you are trying to do by closing up to her, Otis.'' Bylur thought with disdain as he red at the tiny burrowing owl that was constantly within close proximity to Evelyn.


    As he did this at one point Otis turned his head all the way around sensing the hatred Bylur was directing his way.


    Then when he locked eyes with Bylur he gave him a knowing smirk and turned his head back around and began happily chatting away with Evelyn.


    This made Bylur erupt in fury, and he imagined himself squashing the tiny burrowing owl that was several dozens of times smaller than him.


    Nevertheless, despite his rage, Bylur did not do anything rash.


    While Otis was much smaller than him actually attacking and sessfully killing him would be difficult.


    He was a high tier awakened rank beast that was getting close to making it to the peak and even though he had a higher quality, Bylur''s chance of winning a head on fight was at best fifty-fifty.


    There was also the fact that attacking Otis would certainly displease Evelyn and it was very likely that all the trust she had in Bylur would be lost in an instant.


    ''You can act smug for now, but we will only be here for a few days, and after that, Evelyn willpletely forget about you again.'' Bylur thought to make himself feel better.


    Still seeing that he was not the only one that was after her, a light sparked in him and he decided that once they returned to the Roost he was done being as passive as he had been.


    Their rtionship as friends was fairly solid and now that she trusted him all he needed to do was win her over.


    He had been infatuated with her from the first moment he saw her, and nothing was going to stop him from pursuing his feelings.


    And while Bylur was having his internal struggle and trying to figure out ways to win Evelyn over, Rehni was instead evaluating the worth of these burrowing owls.


    ''Some of their methos are pretty crude, but with proper direction the magic spring might be able to be used to grow far rarer magical nts. It might be worth pursuing bringing in more specialized equipment from the Roost along with other magical nts to grow. It is normally very difficult to grow most types in captivity, but the magic spring seems to have properties that promote growth far better than most magic tool the Roost has.''


    Reni could tell that the Burrowing owls werepletely devoted to Evelyn and that they were already trying to be of use to them.


    In a way they were like her own little organization outside of the Roost.


    If properly utilized, they could help their team grow much stronger at a rapid pace.


    At their disposable was one of the rarest resources that rarely ever existed and with it they had a chance that few would ever even dream of.


    "That concludes all of the new additions we have made to our burrow. Would you like me to lead you to your room now? The chamber you used has been prepared for whenever you are here." Otis said.


    "No, I will stay in the same room as Bylur and Rehni while we are here, so I will need arger chamber. Could you have something prepared for us?"


    "Yes! I will have it done right away. We will prepare avish chamber for you and your friends." Otis said enthusiastically.

 Chapter 231 231 Planning With Otis

    ?After Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni had finished their tour of the burrowing owl''s improved home, Otis led them to a fairlyrge room that had been set up to wee them.


    "We have prepared the best fare that we can for you and your friends Lady Evelyn. While we prepare a chamber for you, please feel free to have whatever you like." Otis said, directing them to arge t b of raised earth that was acting as a table.


    It had been perfectly created to fit Evelyn''s height, making it slightly too tall for Rehni, and far too short for Bylur.


    "Here allow me to make it morefortable for the two of you." Otis said.


    He then used his earth magic to create a slight rise in the ground for Rehni and created a deep depression for Bylur.


    However, while what Otis did for Rehni was well executed, for Bylur he had made a simple hole that would barely fit him.


    "Please, go ahead and enjoy yourselves." Otis said, giving Otis another smirk when no one else was looking.


    Naturally this only made Bylur even more angry, and he was already nning on dealing with Otis in the future when he had the chance.


    He also stepped around the hole that Otis had made and instead simply bent down to pick things off the table. Even if it was a bit annoying and made him stand out.


    "I see you have prepared quite a bit for us. Thank you, Otis. And why don''t you join us? There is something else I wish to discuss with you." Evelyn said once they were all settled.


    "Understood Lady Evelyn." Otis said without hesitating.


    Swiftly he created a tform of earth right next to Evelyn and brought himself up to the height of the table.


    Once there a few other burrowing owls moved around on top of the table and began serving the meat and magical nts that had been prepared.


    It was ratherckluster than what Evelyn usually ate since it was only raw ingredients, but the quality of what had been brough was fairly good, so it was enjoyable enough.


    "Now Otis, it is clear that you are close to reaching the peak of the awakened rank and after thates the tyrant rank. Do you already know what materials that you need to evolve?" Evelyn asked, broaching the topic she wanted to discuss.


    Almost immediately Otis'' happy demeanor from being able to talk with Evelyn plummeted. He had not been expecting this subject toe up and knew that his answer was unfavorable.


    "I am sorry Lady Evelyn, the materials necessary to evolve to the tyrant rank were only disclosed to the leader of our flock and their heir. As I had many older siblings, I was not privy to that information. And when my father was killed by the Osprey''s while undergoing his evolution, and my brother who was poised to be the next leader after him died in the ensuing battle, that information was lost to us. After I reach the peak of the awakened, I will have to search out the items on my own." Otis said, a sorrowful expression on his face.


    He then exined that normally the leader of the burrowing owls upon reaching the tyrant rank would immediately leave. The Velinis Desert, even with ess to the magic spring, was no ce for a tyrant rank beast to continue to grow. As for other members, once they reached the peak they would stay for a while to protect the flock and leave once a new member had reached the peak of the awakened rank. Only the leaders were allowed to use the spring to reach the tyrant rank.


    "I see, so it could take a while on your own. However, we may have an easier time finding out what catalysts you need to evolve. I mentioned to you briefly that I am from an organization that is full of owls. It is called the Roost and they had detailed information on the necessary requirements to evolve for arge majority of owls. We may be able to find out what it is you burrowing owls need to reach the tyrant rank." Evelyn said.


    This brought hope back to Otis'' eyes and he thanked Evelyn in advance simply for trying to help him. Even if she was ultimately unsessful.


    "I would almost like to say that you shoulde to the Roost yourself, but I need you to stay here and protect the spring." Evelyn said, to quash any request to follow her back to the Roost.


    "Of course, this is my home and I have no intention of leaving it until I am sure that my brethren are strong enough to protect it without me. And for you as well Lady Evelyn. I must make sure that the magic spring is safe for whenever you wish to use it." Otis said with a confident smile.


    Bylur, who had been holding his breath through this entire exchange let out a long sigh of relief.


    He was afraid that Otis might worm his way into joining the Roost. Which would be an absolute nightmare since it would give him ready ess to get close to Evelyn.


    Yet his relief was short lived as what Evelyn said next practically shattered him.


    "Once you have reached the tyrant rank though it will be best if you do join us at the Roost. It will be the best environment for you to continue advancing and we can work together to get stronger."


    "That sounds great Lady Evelyn. I will be happy to join the same organization as you once I reach the tyrant rank. Now I am more motivated than ever. I shall stive to boost the power of my fellow burrowing owls and reach the tyrant rank so that I can join you as soon as possible." Otis said, practically beaming.


    In contrast Bylur looked dead inside. It seemed that his rival in obtaining Evelyn''s affection was going to catch up to him and soar past him all in one fell swoop.


    ''No! I cannot let myself get down. Evelyn certainly only thinks of him as someone that is useful to her. We are already friends while Otis is practically just her subordinate. I only need to win her over before that little rat with wingses to the Roost. It will likely take him several years yet to reach the tyrant rank. I still have the far greater advantage.'' Bylur thought. Pumping himself up.


    He had no intention of losing to Otis and was going to go all out to win over Evelyn.


    While Bylur was off in his own world, nning how he was going to woe Evelyn, the others were busy discussing their n for while they stayed with the burrowing owls.


    "You are right that there are other spots in the desert that contain rare and valuable resources, Miss Rehni. But the ones that us burrowing owls know about are guarded by equally powerful groups. Taking them would be difficult and there is no doubt that our magic spring is the greatest resource in the desert." Otis said in response to Rehni''s question about other ces in the desert that might be of interest.


    "Hm, I still think it might be worth checking out these locations to see if we can take the resources from them. What do you think Evelyn?" Rehni asked.


    She had figured that since they were going to be here for a couple more days waiting for the spring to be active, they might as well gather some materials in the from desert.


    After mulling it over, Evelyn ultimately decided that their time would be best served trying to gather rare items than simply sitting back in the burrowing owl''s homes.


    "I would ask that you show us to the nearest location that you know of that has rare materials. We shall rest for today and head out early tomorrow so take that time to prepare."


    "Yes Lady Evelyn, I will make sure to gather a contingent of our best to guide and guard you. But I do ask that you please only scout the ce out and refrain from attacking it until you return, and my subordinates can report the situation to me." Otis said, his concern for Evelyn obvious.


    "Sure, that is fine. I woulde back anyway to gather what strength we need. No point attacking if we cannot guarantee a win." Evelyn said, agreeing to Otis'' request.


    It was as they were in the middle of their discussion that another burrowing owl flew into the chamber and began speaking to Otis.


    "It seems that the room for the three of you has been prepared. Would you like to go and see your amodations now?" Otis asked.


    "That sounds good. I am starting to get a bit tired from our journey here. We can continue discussing our n for tomorrow on the way. Let us go now and see what you have prepared for us."

 Chapter 232 232 A New Target

    ?While flying along through the tunnels of the burrowing owls'' home, Evelyne and Rehni further discussed the other valuable resources that could be found in the desert that Otis knew about.


    "Are you serious!? There is really a magic crystal deposit that close to here!" Rehni said when Otis told them about the nearest treasure to be found in the desert.


    "Yes, I do not know much more than it exists and what manner of beasts have taken it as their home, but I am certain that arge deposit exists around one hundred thirty kilometers from here." Otis replied.


    Rehni then grilled Otis about it, but he really did not know anything else of use.


    "I see. So, a pack of beasts called brass jackals live there and have the run of the area." Evelyn said after Otis exined all he knew.


    Apparently, these brass jackals were quite strong and one of the top groups of beasts that lived in the Velinis desert just like the burrowing owls.


    However, unlike the burrowing owls they were not currently weakened by a huge loss of their most powerful members.


    "I am sorry that I do not know anything else. They are outside of our normal territory, and we have silently agreed not to get involved with each other.


    If the two groups were to go to war with each other it would lead to a huge drop in overall power that would likely see both of them wiped out in the aftermath by otherpetitors.


    "It sounds like it may be more trouble than it is worth to take the magic crystal deposits, but I believe we can still go and check it out at least. Perhaps we will get lucky, and their current strength is not all that high. I would not wish to risk your flock in a fruitless battle." Evelyn said to Otis.


    He thanked her for her consideration and soon after they had finished their discussion, they arrived at the chamber that would be serving as Evelyn, Rehni, and Bylur''s room during their stay with the burrowing owls.


    "Hm, it looks to be more thanfortable enough. Thank you again for setting this up for us Otis." Evelyn said once she had finished examining the room.


    "It was our pleasure. You are our savior Lady Evelyn, and we would have likely faded into one of the weaker groups in the desert without your help." Otis said while giving a slight bow.


    Once Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni had finished setting up a few things in their room they promptly prepared for bed.


    It had been a fairly long day for all of them and they were in need of some rest before their mission tomorrow to scout out the magic crystal deposits that the brass jackals had imed.


    "There I have set up the detection magic string that will go off if anyone passes over it, but are you sure it is necessary? I do not think any of the burrowing owls would ever even contemte harming you." Rehni said.


    "Yes, I believe you are correct, but it is better to be prepared. We are not in the Roost anymore but in the wilds. It is possible that some type of beast specializing in stealth could sneak in and try to kill us in our sleep." Evelyn said, her cautious nature still mostly intact.


    At the very least she did not suspect the obviously loyal burrowing owls and was instead being especially careful on the off chance of an outside danger.


    Once Evelyn was satisfied with their safety precautions the three of them moved to their sleeping locations and prepared to rest.


    "Bylur are you not a bit too close to me?" Evelyn said, noticing his proximity.


    The room they were in was quite spacious, yet he had moved himself rtively close and was only a few feet away.


    "Ah sorry, I just felt that this spot was the mostfortable. But if it is making you feel anxious, I will move." Bylur said, a slightly disappointed expression on his face.


    He then inched away to what was the minimum eptable distance away from Evelyn and closed his eyes.


    ''Whatever.'' Evelyn thought before closing her eyes herself and letting unconsciousness take her.


    Upon waking the next day, they found that once again Otis had prepared asvish a meal as he could for them.


    It was in but high-quality fair and better than they would normally except to eat out in the wild.


    "Now, have you prepared the team of burrowing owls that will be apanying us?" Evelyn asked after she finished eating.


    "Yes, I have selected our strongest scouts, and among them is Po who is the leader." Otis said, before beckoning them in.


    Five borrowing owls then shuffled into the room and stood in a line.


    Two of them were at the high tier of the awakened rank, Po being one of them after having advanced during thest instance of the magic spring activating.


    The other three were all mid-tiers and Evelyn recognized them as those she had fought alongside against the ospreys.


    "I see that they are all familiar faces. I am certain I can expect good things from them." Evelyn said, satisfied with the personnel that Otis had picked out.


    Otis himself actually wanted to apany them to make sure that Evelyn stayed safe, but as the leader of the burrowing owls and their strongestbatant he had to stay at the base to make sure that it was secure.


    He was already sending away the majority of his best fighters and losing any more strength would put their home at risk.


    With her team assembled Evelyn handed out a small pouch that contained a healing potion and bottle of magical energy replenishment pills to the five burrowing owls that would be apanying them.


    "These are more of the items like the ones I handed out when we fought the ospreys. Make sure not to be conservative with them. If you need them, take them." Evelyn said with a sharp tone. "Now, let us go and scout out these brass jackals.

 Chapter 233 233 A New Target (2)

    ?Taking off from the burrowing owl''s home, Evelyn set off with Bylur, Rehni, and the squad of burrowing owls that were apanying them.


    They had time to kill and the Velinis desert still had resources that they could use.


    One of which was a magic crystal deposit that was currently under the control of a pack of brass jackals.


    "Lady Evelyn we are getting close to their territory." Po, the leader of the burrowing owl squad said to her.


    "Got it. Then let us fly up higher. We do not want to be spotted." Evelyn responded.


    Soaring up into the air to the point that even Bylur appeared to just be a dot to those looking up from the ground, Evelyn and her team began scanning the area.


    None of the current burrowing owls knew exactly where the brass jackal''s den was, so they began searching for their target from high in the sky.


    ''Nothing so far. I have spotted a few wandering beasts, but nothing that resembles a jackal in any way. Still as far as Otis knows this is still their territory, and it is unlikely they have been kicked out. Though I suppose it is possible, since the burrowing owls were.'' Evelyn thought, running through a few possibilities.


    Nevertheless, while she wasing up with exnations for why they had not seen any jackals yet, the answer was simple.


    The brass jackals excelled at stealth in the desert and were not easy to spot so high up from in the sky.


    Eventually though Rehni did manage to catch a glimpse of one of their targets, but only because she spotted the beast it was attacking in destress.


    ''Damn they really blend in. Their fur blends in well with the sandy and rocky desert, and it seems that they almost have a quality to them that makes them hard to spot.'' Evelyn thought as she tracked their target.


    In order not to lose sight of them she had taken a visual enchantment potion which made her already spectacr vision even better.


    Without it she would not have been able to urately follow the brass jackal from how high up she currently was.


    ''Looks like they move in groups. The weakest one is currently hunting on its own, but four stronger jackals are trailing not far behind it. I suppose that this might be how they train those that have recently evolved.'' Evelyn spected, watching what was going on from above.


    She was also able to gauge the strength of the group of brass jackals from above and while she could not feel their auras from so high up she could get a rtive approximation for the jackal''s strength.


    "I believe that only the leader of the group following the one that is hunting is at the mid-tier of the awakened rank. The others are all low tiers" Evelyn said to her party.


    This at the very least was not bad news as if they hade across a group that was entirely made up of high or peak ranked beasts, they would have had topletely call off the mission.


    Still, just observing one group was not enough to urately gauge the power of the brass jackals and they continued to watch the group they had spotted through the night.


    ''They are finally returning.''


    After following the group of brass jackals the entire night, Evelyn''s team had finally been led to their home.


    Like the burrowing owls'' home, it was underground, but the entrance was farrger, looking like a meteor had smashed into the ground and carved it out.


    Sitting at the entrance were a contingent of six jackals all at the mid-tier of the awakened rank.


    These were obviously the guards keeping watch in case of any sort of attack.


    "Okay we have found their base. Now let us wait and see what level the jackals returning are at. We need to have at least a general idea of how many they have above the mid-tier of the awakened rank before deciding on our n of action." Evelyn instructed.


    For the next couple hours as the sun began climbing into the sky, they kept watch over the entrance to the jackal''s home and counted how many there were.


    ''We saw at least thirty unique individuals, but most of them were at the low tier. Of them there were nine mid-tiers including the guards and only one high tier. I would guess that at best they are about as strong as the ospreys were and at worst a bit weaker than the burrowing owls are now. It might be a bit difficult, but it is possible that we could take them out.''


    Making numerous ns in her head Evelyn tried toe up with the best n of attack that would give them the best chance of victory and fewest possible casualties.


    ''I suppose our best bet would be for me to use that. But I will need to be very careful with it'' Evelyn thought, shuddering at the prospect of using the most dangerous item in her possession.


    Still, she could not think of anything better, and if it seemed that it would be too difficult for her team and the burrowing owls to take out the jackals with their own strength then she would be willing to use it.


    However, before shemitted to actually killing the jackals and taking their home, she needed to make sure it was really worth it.


    A small deposit of magic crystals of lower quality would not be worth the effort.


    "I am going to go in and check out the magic crystals myself." Evelyn eventually said.


    Except as she moved to fly towards the den of the brass jackals, Rehni, Bylur, and all of the burrowing owls moved to stop her.


    "Evelyn you cannot be serious! I know you are strong, but a frontal assault by yourself would be suicide!" Rehni said frantically.


    All the other owls were in agreement with her and asked Evelyn to reconsider.


    "I do not n on getting into any fights at all. I will use an invisibility and scent dampening talisman and fly in undetected. And if I am noticed I will get out as fast as possible. I simply want to see exactly how valuable this deposit of magic crystals is for myself.

 Chapter 234 234 Inside The Jackals’ Den

    ?As Evelyn insisted that she would go and take a look at the magic crystal deposit herself, every other member of her group vehemently protested.


    Even when she stated that she would be using magic items to hide her presence, no one else was onboard with allowing her to go into enemy territory alone.


    "Lady Evelyn, allow me to go in your stead. I am much smaller, and it will be easier for me to sneak in without being discovered. And even if I am, my loss would be far less impactful than if something were to happen to you." Po said, offering himself up for the task.


    Naturally at his size that was under a foot, he would make the best choice for a stealth mission, especially when enhanced by the magic items Evelyn had brought.


    ''Still, I need to see it for myself if I am to properly evaluate the deposit and determine if it is worth taking by force. Plus, if I am found out I have the best chance of escaping unscathed.'' Evelyn thought.


    While she had been sticking pretty much to only using win magic within the Roost out her in the wild, she would hold nothing back and could use all of her different types of magicbined to escape if necessary.


    "No, I will be the one to go. If I am found out I am probably the only one that can get away. It will be best if I go alone. If things get really dicey, I do have some tricks I can use." Evelyn said holding up her storge cuff.


    Inside of it she had a slew of alchemical items she had made and a couple of really nasty ones that Melisandre had gifted her for self-protection.


    Eventually, with how obstinate she was, Bylur, Rehni, and the squad of burrowing owls gave in.


    "But if you are not back within thirty minutes, I am busting in to look for you. There is no way we are going to abandon you." Bylur asserted.


    And to Evelyn''s distress Rehni who was normally cool headed followed along and assured that she would charge in as well.


    Of course, the burrowing owls were also onboard with this n, willing to die for Evelyn if the situation called for it.


    "Okay, I will be quick and careful. Just be ready to assist me in the very rare case that I am being chased on my way out." Evelyn said, giving into their fervor to help her.


    With their n settled Evelyn activated the invisibility talisman and scent dampening talisman.


    In an instant she vanished from sight and for a moment Bylur, Rehni and the group of burrowing owls lost all track of her.


    Only when they truly honed their already impable hearing to the max were they able to pick up the faint pping of her wings as she floated there. And even then, this did not give them a precise location of where she was. Only a general awareness that she was there.


    ''Looks like even when I am not trying to be particrly quiet, they can just barely tell that I am here when they focus. As long as I do not do anything conspicuous, I should be able to slip by easily enough.'' Evelyn thought after testing out her stealth on her own allies.


    Nowpletely satisfied that it was very unlikely she would be found out she slowly descended towards the brass jackal''s den.


    When she eventually got within a dozen meters of therge opening going into the ground she stopped and floated in the air for a minute.


    She wanted to gauge the guards'' reactions and see if any of them picked up on her at all.


    ''Nope it does not seem that they can detect me at all as I expected. Not a single one of them reacted at all.''


    Having confirmed that she was undetected, Evelyn flew into the brass jackals'' den. With the guardspletely unaware that an extremely dangerous entity had just slipped by them.


    Once inside the tunnel around a hundred meters Evelyn began to notice that the magical energy in the area was getting thicker than the ambient magical energy outside in the desert.


    It was only slightly greater though and nothing that would make much of a difference. But it was still a sign that this ce did indeed possess properties that were greater than normal.


    ''Ah, and there are some green crystals. At my rank those are pretty much worthless. Still, that proves that there really is a deposit here. Now as long as there are up to red crystals this will be worth it.'' Evelyn thought as she continued to glide along.


    Soon she found that the crystals had turned blue to show that they were saturated with greater magical energy.


    However, she also spotted more jackals for the first time since entering their den.


    It was a group of fiend beast ranks that had a single low tier awakened rank acting as a caretaker.


    They were tucked away in a branching path that opened up into a sizable chamber filled with blue magical crystals.


    ''I suppose that they probably do not let them out until they have reached the awakened rank. The desert is simply too dangerous for most fiend beasts to try and get by sessfully.''


    Quickly finishing her observation of the younger brass jackals Evelyn continued going deeper, staying aware that if she was too slow her allies were going to storm the ce.


    Continuing on, Evelyn found that the deposit did have red crystals within it, and far more than she was expecting.


    ''There have to be hundreds of them in here. Yet even with all these here the jackals do not know how to properly use them. All they are doing is taking in the slightly greater ambient magical energy that slowly releases from the crystals naturally. If they had something like an advancement chamber, they could make so much more progress.'' Evelyn thought as she observed a group of mid-tier awakened rank jackals sleeping near the red crystal and sleeping.

 Chapter 235 235 Inside The Jackals’ Den (2)

    ?After she was satisfied with observing the brass jackals that were sleeping within a chamber filled with red magic crystals, she turned to head deeper.


    There was onestrge chamber to explore that was a part of the brass jackals'' den and Evelyn was feeling the anticipation welling up inside her.


    She had already confirmed that there were red magic crystals within this deposit, yet she had not found the high tier awakened rank jackal she saw earlier.


    That meant that it was almost certainly in thest chamber and that there must have been something greater in there.


    And when she flew inside, she saw that the red crystals slowly turned to purple towards the center of the ceiling and hanging right in the center was a single silver magic crystal.


    Seeing all that was in this chamber Evelyn''s eyes went wide. It was better than she had even imagined.


    ''This deposit is extremely valuable. Probably not quite as impressive as the magic spring since its resources are finite, but still, this is something that will keep us going for a long time.'' Evelyn through tas she counted the crystals.


    However, while she was absorbed by the magic crystals for a few seconds, the upants of the room soon garnered her attention.


    Sitting right under the single silver magic crystal was undoubtedly the boss of the brass jackals.


    He was not much taller than any of the rest of the species which were all about the size of huskies, but the leader was bulkier and had enough muscle that he had entered what Evelyn would consider the uncanny valley.


    ''I have never seen a ripped dog before. But he definitely fits that description.'' Evelyn thought while she examined the leader of the brass jackals.


    Just as she had expected they were at the peak of the awakened rank and sitting around him in the chamber were three brass jackals at the high tier.


    One of them was the individual Evelyn had spotted earlier and she had now confirmed exactly how many were within the brass jackals'' upper ranks.


    ''They are a bit weaker than the ospreys were before we took them out, and a little stronger than the burrowing owls are now. But with Bylur, Rehni, and my help we should be able to make up the difference in power. It is definitely worth taking this as our own.''


    Having confirmed that the magic crystal deposit was truly valuable enough to fight for, Evelyn prepared to turn around to leave when she noticed that the jackals'' leader had woken up and was sniffing around the air.


    Immediately Evelyn felt a sense of panic grip her and she swiftly moved to leave.


    Then the instant right after she moved a st of metal like buckshot from a shotgun wasunched by the jackal leader.


    Thankfully it had aimed at where Evelyn had been before and due to her quick decision to trust her instincts and flee, she had avoided the attack.


    Naturally the other jackals in the room who were asleep shot up and looked at their leader while assessing the situation.


    However, while he had thought that there was some foreign presence in the chamber, his attack had not hit anything.


    In the end, the leader concluded that he was just a bit jumpy and went back to sleep. Putting the experience out of his mind.


    Evelyn on the other hand felt her heart racing and she was constantly turning her head around expecting to see pursuers.


    Yet by the time she was back to where the green crystals started not a single jackal had moved to try and find her.


    ''It seems that I have not been found out. I guess that maybe the leader slightly felt my presence and sent out an attack to test if anything was around. Luckily it looks like I managed to get away without truly being discovered.'' Evelyn thought while letting out a sigh of relief.


    Soon she had made it back to the entrance of the den and flew over the heads of the guards without alerting them and began flying towards where her allies were waiting for her.


    ''Damn. It is hard to fly when the sun is all the way up in the sky and there is no cover like trees to offer any protection.'' Evelyn thought as she flew with her eyes practically shut.


    Their search for the jackals'' base had taken them most of the night and she had started her infiltration just a bit after sunrise.


    Now it was stupidly bright outside and as an owl adapted for living at night, the ring sun was quite difficult to deal with.


    ''I need to find or make a pair of sunsses after this. I have managed to avoid day for the most part or been in a thick forest on the few asions I did have to fly while it was light out. But this is too much.'' Evelyn thought as she struggled to fly with the sun practically blinding her.


    Nevertheless, despite the sun making it more difficult Evelyn eventually found the temporary shelter that Po and the other burrowing owls had made.


    ''I never knew how much I would miss darkness.'' Evelyn thought as she entered the temporary burrow.


    Getting out of the light brough her instant relief and it no longer felt like her eyes were burning.


    "Evelyn, you are back!" Bylur said excitedly when he noticed her return.


    Along with Rehni, the two of them approached Evelyn, with Po and the other burrowing owls close behind.


    "So, how did it go? Is the deposit worth taking for ourselves?" Rehni asked after the fanfare of Evelyn''s return died down.


    "Yes, it is more valuable than I anticipated. Unfortunately, the jackals'' strength is about as high as I expected and greater than the burrowing owls. But with our help it should be possible to take them out. Now let us rest here until the sun goes down. I will tell you all the details back at base along with Otis and we can make our n of attack."

 Chapter 236 236 Bylur And Rehni’s Advancement

    ?Once Evelyn and those apanying her had returned to the burrowing owls'' home, she immediately set up a meeting with Otis and disclosed all she had found out while investigating the Jackals'' den.


    "And that is all that I saw while I was inside the base."


    After hearing Evelyn disclose all the information she had found out, Otis wore a contemtive expression on his face.


    He was the leader of the burrowing owls, and it would be his decision whether to support Evelyn or not.


    "Lady Evelyn, might I ask how many of us burrowing owls you believe you will need to conquer the brass jackals'' den?" Otis eventually asked.


    As much as he would like to help Evelyn out unconditionally, he was the leader of his people and could not send them into a reckless fight without at least understanding the entire situation.


    "Hm, if you can spare the five you sent with me as well as seven others of any tier of the awakened rank, I should be able to conquer the den without any problems. It is possible that I could get away without even a single casualty." Evelyn said.


    This caused everyone in the room to lose theirposure and visible signs of surprise were apparent on all of their faces.


    "Lady Evelyn, I know that you and yourpanions are strong, but is that not underestimating your opponents just a little." Otis said, not sure how fifteen owls even led by Evelyn had a chance against more than double the number of brass jackals.


    "Yes, if we were going to fight head-to-head it certainly would be unlikely that we could win. However, I have a means of weakening if not outright killing a majority of the jackals before we even engage them. It should honestly not be too difficult for us to take them all out." Evelyn said, as if it was already a done deal.


    She then exined what her n was to everyone who was in the room, and they all grimaced at what Evelyn said she was going to do.


    Truly it was quite a horrid idea, but there was no doubt that it would be highly effective against the brass jackals whose home only had one entrance and exit.


    "Very well, I shall assign the specified number of personnel you have asked for to you." Otis said, a slightly fearful expression on his face.


    While Evelyn was technically on his side, he was now able to see just how scary she was to have as an enemy and was thankful that she had never turned against his people or they surely would all be dead.


    "Good. We willmence our attack just before dusk in three days." Evelyn said, bring a conclusion to her n of attack.


    "Why are we waiting for three days? Could we not just go tomorrow?" Bylur asked, wondering why they were putting it off.


    "Certainly, we could attack now, but our chances of sess would be slightly lower. I want you and Rehni along with some of the burrowing owls to use the magic spring first in order to get stronger before we attack." Evelyn exined.


    At this everyone nodded their heads, understanding the logic in waiting.


    "From the way you phrased that Evelyn, it sounds like you do not intend to enter the magic spring?" Rehni asked, having picked up on the nuance of Evelyn''s response.


    It seemed that no one else had thought and they looked a bit surprised as they looked between Rehni and Evelyn.


    "Yes, you are right that I am not going to be entering the magic spring this time. I am already at the mid-tier of the awakened rank and do not want to get too far ahead of you and Bylur. Plus, if I were to enter the spring alongside all of you, I would end up taking the majority of the magical energy." Evelyn said, giving her reasoning.


    The main point of their journey had been to catch Bylur and Rehni up, and there was little point in Evelyn stifling their growth for just a slight increase in her own power.


    She had already made huge leaps that few others got to experience and was fine growing a bit slower and getting used to her ever-growing power.


    As the saying went, haste makes waste, and Evelyn wanted to make sure that she did not end up weakening herself by moving too fast.


    With the meetinging to an end Evelyn and her team went back to get some rest before the magic spring would be active during the next day.


    ¡­


    "So, this is what the magic spring looks like as it fills with magical energy!" Rehni said in awe as they watched the spring bubble up and start to glow.


    It was finally time for it to be active again just like it did every month like clockwork.


    "Yes it is quite the sight. When I first saw it, I had my breath taken away as well." Evelyn said as she enjoyed watching Rehni and Bylur''s stunned expressions.


    A few minutester once the spring was fully filled, Bylur, Rehni, and six burrowing owls entered the spring. All of them holding the catalysts that they would need to go up to the next tier


    Among the burrowing owls were four low tier awakened ranks that were going to the mid-tier, one mid-tier going to the high tier, and Otis himself making the jump up to the peak of the rank.


    Watching so many individuals all go up a tier was quite an amazing sight as it was so rare to happen.


    ''I am reminded once again just how amazing this magic spring is. In just several months Otis has made it from the high tier to the peak of the awakened rank. Though I am not sure how long he was at the high tier so perhaps it was longer than I realized. Still, the spring allows anyone to make such swift progress that it is almost baffling.'' Evelyn thought as she stared out at all those taking a dip in the spring.


    Several hours passed by as they all absorbed the magical energy filling the spring until one by one they began to advance to the next tier.


    Soon Rehni and Bylur following not long after began to rise to the next tier.


    It was a fairly quick process thanks to the spring and within thirty minutes the transformation had beenpleted.


    ''As expected Bylur got bigger again, but Rehni stayed rtively the same size.'' Evelyn thought, looking at how her friands had changed. Orck thereof for Rehni.


    After reaching the next tier every owl in the water exited and began drying off, and eventually only one individual was left to absorb all of the remaining magical energy.


    Otis now sat alone in the spring and was trying to reach the peak of the awakened rank.


    He naturally needed more magical energy than anyone else who had joined the spring with him, and it was uncertain if there would be enough left for him.


    In the end the magical energy left within the spring was just not quite enough for him to make it to the peak of the awakened rank, and once the light had faded her still sat at only the high tier.


    "I seem to have underestimated just how impressive yourpanions are Lady Evelyn. They absorbed more magical energy than I anticipated. I should have had one of the other burrowing owls stay out of the spring this time." Otis said, the disappointment clear on his face even if he was trying to hide it.


    He had been attempting to reach the peak of the awakened rank as soon as possible in order to truly be worthy of his title as leader of his flock.


    In the past every leader had already been at the peak of the awakened rank before taking the title and he was the only one to ever have inherited while only being at the high tier.


    "It was a simple miscalction. Come the next time the spring bes active you can certainly make the final push towards the peak of the awakened rank. And until then we will stay to help protect your home." Evelyn said tofort Otis.


    Thankfully her words had an immediate impact on Otis, and he perked up and smiled at Evelyn.


    On the other hand, Bylur grimaced since he could figure that Otis would sue this time to try and get closer to Evelyn.


    "Now I am sure that you are all hungry. Allow me to personally fix something for everyone to eat." Evelyn said, eliciting cheers from Bylur and Rehni, while all the burrowing owls present titled their heads in confusion.


    "Lady Evelyn, surely it would make no difference to allow us to prepare the meal. We can just as easily gather the food as you can." Otis said, not understanding what Evelyn was about to do.


    "Oh, I am about to do more than gather ingredients and eat them raw. I am going to show all of you how food is prepared at the Roost."

 Chapter 237 237 Good Food And Training

    ?With all of the magical energy enriching the spring absorbed, Evelyn began preparations to make a hardy meal for all those that had just gone up a tier.


    While the spring itself actually made the advancement not as stressful on the body as it normally would be, it still took a lot of energy both magical and physical to undergo the process of raising one''s tier.


    To help alleviate the fatigue that can be felt afterwards Evelyn decided to cook a meal for her friends and all of the burrowing owls.


    This would also serve another purpose in showing the burrowing owls how to use alchemy to cook, which would in turn make the fare they served better. Oh, and as a secondary effect make them a little stronger, though Evelyn mostly cared about being able to eat better food.


    This was one of the few vices that she had, and she wanted to be able to indulge in a delicious meal even when staying with the burrowing owls.


    "Okay so the three of you have fire magic affinities. I am going to teach you how to do some basic alchemical cooking that will make the food taste better and give you temporary buffs simr to the pills and potions I handed out when we fought the Ospreys." Evelyn said to the burrowing owls she would be teaching.


    After she exined this the three burrowing owls became quite attentive and prepared to sear all of her institutions into their mind.


    Swiftly Evelyn taught them some easy enough recipes and how to make them from the ingredients avable in the desert.


    She herself was not an expert but she was able to teach them at least a few easy meals to prepare.


    "And now all we need to do is serve it up to everyone and enjoy." Evelyn said once everything was ready.


    Multiple burrowing owls then brough out several tes of food and served them to those that had been int eh magic spring first.


    However, as Evelyn stood by and wanted to watch everyone''s reaction to the food, she instead was just met with expectant stares.


    "Lady Evelyn, you should join us." Otis said after around a minute of them silently staring at each other.


    He and all of the other burrowing owls did not feel it right to eat before Evelyn who they put above themselves, and Bylur and Rehni wished to eat together with her like they usually did.


    "Very well. I will join you." Evelyn said with stifling a sigh.


    She was then led to the head of the party and a te of food was ced before her.


    Quickly she took one of the cut-up pieces of meat that was covered in a sauce that helped quicken stamina recovery and took the first bite.


    Following her, everyone else that had been served food picked up a single piece and began eating.


    Each and every one of the burrowing owls went wide eyed as they tasted how delicious the meat that Evelyn had prepared was.


    Without hesitation they all began filling their bellies with the food and eating it with smiles stered on their faces.


    Bylur and Rehni on the other hand were enjoying the food but it was not awe inspiring to them.


    They had eaten better meals at the Roost, but it still beat the in items that they had been eating with the burrowing owls so far.


    "Truly Lady Evelyn this is easily the best meal I have ever had. And you made this simply using the raw ingredients that we normally provide?" Otis said, excitement clear in his voice.


    "Yes, I simply used what was provided. Of course, I am sure that the desert has more to offer and that other items can create unique vors as well. During our stay here I will continue teaching the three that assisted me and bring them up to the level of being able to make descent meals."


    Bowing his head Otis profusely thanked Evelyn for her generosity.


    To him this seemed like some kind of well-kept secret, but for Evelyn, she considered it pretty muchmon knowledge in the Roost.


    Once all those that had taken a dip in the magic spring had finished eating, Evelyn went back to work and made enough food for all of the awakened rank burrowing owls.


    This caused her to receive wave after wave of thanks, and the admiration the burrowing owls had for her already had increased.


    After everyone had filled their bellies those that had used the magical spring and advanced to the next tier began to feel fatigue and headed off to rest.


    Their bodies needed time to recover and the best way to do that was to get some sleep.


    Upon theing of the next day, Evelyn brough Bylur and Rehni to arge empty chamber.


    "Now I want both of you to seriouslye at me. You need to get used to the increased magical energy in your body now and learn how to wield greater amounts at once. The best way to do that is with somebat training." Evelyn said, giving her friends a stern look.


    She wanted to make sure that they knew toe at her wholeheartedly. If they did not give it their all then the practice would end up being fruitless.


    Unfortunately, while Rehni seemed to be able to attack Evelyn without holding back, Bylur was having trouble really putting his all behind his attacks.


    Unconsciously he always held back and hesitated when aiming any sort of attack at Evelyn.


    "That is not going to do. You could not beat a low tier awakened rank beast with that kind of attack, let alone anyone as strong or stronger than you." Evelyn said, snapping at Bylur.


    She thenunched a powerful wind attack at him and sted him into the wall of the chamber.


    "Come on and hurry up. You can use life magic so those wounds should not take you but a second to heal. If you do not want to practice attacking, the least you can do is learn how to heal better." Evelyn said beforeunching Bylur across the room again.


    She continued to do this until he was able to heal the damage he was taking almost immediately.


    Certainly, this method was a bit more brutal than she had intended but it was helping Bylur to learn to control his increased magical energy better.


    "Good you have gotten much faster now. I imagine that it will be difficult for anyone to take you down without being able tond a critical hit on you." Evelyn said to praise Bylur''s advancement with his life magic.


    "Now, since you are having a difficult time with me as your opponent, I have called in for some help." Evelyn said, turning her head towards the entrance to the chamber they were in.


    Hopping in was Otis, a smirk on his face due to how pathetic he thought Bylur looked sprawled out on the ground after taking numerous attacks from Evelyn for several hours.


    Bylur, seeing his rival in obtaining Evelyn''s affection, immediately picked himself up and fixed a re at Otis.


    ''I am still not sure why they seem to dislike each other. But if this helps motivate Bylur, that is all for the better.'' Evelyn thought seeing the tension between the two of them.


    In a way it was almostical since Bylur was several dozens of timesrger than Otis, but Evelyn knew that while Otis did not reach even a foot tall, he was still at least a bit stronger than Bylur.


    "I will continue training with Rehni in another room. I except that both of you will have no problems holding back against each other." Evelyn said before leaving.


    The moment she was gone Bylur leapt towards Otis and attacked as viciously as he could. The hesitation he had against hurting Evelyn was nowhere to be seen now.


    While Otis and Bylur duked it out Evelyn went back to having practice matches with Rehni who was still having tubule withrge scale attacks.


    She normally used her metal magic with great finesse and her sound magic was powerful, but she was not adept at using an immense amount of magical energy tounch big attacks.


    This was what Evelyn worked on with her and over the next two days of practice, she got a bit better and could wield more devastating attacks than before.


    "I wonder how Bylur, and Otis are doing. We are going to raid the brass jackals'' den tomorrow, so I hope that they have made some progress." Evelyn said to Rehni as they flew to the chamber Otis and Bylur were in after finishing their own training.


    But when they arrived what they found looked like a warzone, and both Bylur and Otis were quite horribly injured


    Neither of them had taken a single break during the days before the raid on the jackals'' den, and continuously fought until they both could not go on any longer.

 Chapter 238 238 Evelyn’s Devious Plan

    ?With a furious expression Evelyn stomped into the room where Bylur and Otis had been training and fixed a re at both of them.


    "What is the meaning of this? I can tell that your wounds go beyond what should be incurred in training. Not to mention that you have both exhausted all of your magical energy" Evelyn said, a cold tone in her voice.


    This caused Bylur and Otis to gulp loudly and struggle with all their might to stand up.


    "We just got a bit carried away Evelyn. It is not that big of a deal. Any way your n worked. Against Otis, I was able to get used to my increased magical energy and even figure out a few new attacks." Bylur said, trying to shift the subject.


    He was hoping that Evelyn wouldtch onto the fact that he had gotten stronger and forget about how much of a mess he and Otis were, but she was not so easily distracted.


    "It is good that the training and its intended effect. Still, that did not answer my question. Why are the two of you in such rough shape? Do not think I have not noticed that you two seem to hold some hostility for the other. What sort of problem could you both have with each other?"


    Evelyn then turned up the intensity of her re and exuded all of her pressure to try and force the answer out of either Bylur or Otis.


    Under such force Both Otis and Bylur made uncharacteristic squeaks, and it was clear that they were afraid.


    Yet neither one of them broke under Evelyn''s re.


    "It simply was that we got too heated during the training and did not hold back. I promise that there is nothing hostile between Bylur and I." Otis said, having gathered his courage to speak.


    Surprise was written all of Evelyn''s face after he said this. She knew that this was not the truth and never did she expect Otis to tantly lie to her.


    "Fine, I suppose that if you two are willing to at least act cordial then I will leave it here for now. But know that the next time you both go this far I will use you for my own target practice."


    After giving this warning, Evelyn took out two potions from her storage cuff and sshed the contents onto Bylur and Otis.


    Almost immediately their wounds began to visibly heal, and in around a minute they were back to normal.


    ''At the very least this gave the perfect opportunity to test out the potions I enhanced with the spring water. I can say for sure that they are more effective than normal by probably about thirty percent.''


    Once Evelyn had finished analyzing the results of her healing potions, she told Bylur and Otis to get some rest, because they were going ahead with the attack on the brass jackals'' den on schedule whether they were fully recovered or not.


    Then once they had both left the room, Evelyn turned towards Rehni and asked her if she knew what had caused the tension between Bylur and Otis.


    "I do know, but I do not think it is my ce to disclose that information. You should just wait for Bylur and Otis to settle it themselves." Rehni said, shocking Evelyn again.


    ''When did whatever event that caused them to dislike each other even happen? And how do I not know about it?''


    Going through her memory she tried to find the point in time when she first noticed that Otis and Bylur started to radiate hostility towards each other.


    Except while she could remember around when she first noticed it, no sort of incident urred that she could think of to set them off.


    ''It seems that Rehni knows, but why am I the only one that is oblivious to whatever happened?'' Evelyn thought, racking her brain for an answer.


    Unfortunately, no matter how much she pondered the situation, she could note up with a clear answer.


    Certainly, she never would have guessed that the two of them disliked each other because they were both pursuing her affection. She had died in her own world when she was still just a young girl and due to her family situation, she had never once even thought about romance.


    In the end all she could do was push it into he back of her mind and hope that neither of them would do anything rash and try to kill the other.


    Several hours went by and when the sun was still in the sky at what would have been around four pm on Earth, Evelyn took off with her strike force.


    For her n to work she needed to catch the brass jackals while the majority of them were in their base, and that meant they had to leave during the day.


    ''Damn it is bright and hot. It is hard to believe how cool it feels at night in this ce. I can understand why most creatures that live here onlye out at night.'' Evelyn thought as they flew along.


    Even when it waste in the afternoon and the sun was on its way down the conditions were intense, and Evelyn felt it chipping away at her.


    Not long after they left, she decided that preserving their magical energy was not worth it and had Bylur use his ice magic to cool things down, while Evelyn used her wind magic to circte the cold air around the entire group.


    This at least mitigated the heat by a good amount, but the sun was something that they had to put up with and was hard on their eyes that were geared towards seeing in low-light conditions.


    Eventually they managed to make it to the resting spot they had nned in advance and escape from the sun.


    "Okay, I am going to sneak into the den as I did before. Give me thirty minutes toe out before you start your attack on the guards waiting outside." Evelyn said, going over the n onest time.


    When she was confident that it was around an hour till sunset, she set off towards the brass jackals'' den.


    ''This is as close as I can get without using the talismans. Time to see if this will work.''


    essing her storage cuff, she pulled out the invisibility talisman and scent dampening talisman and activated both of them.


    Her presence now well hidden, she flew down towards the brass jackals'' den and entered undetected once again.


    As she flew through the tunnels, Evelyn found that the ce was more active than it had been before.


    It was getting close to time for the brass jackals to go out to hunt again and many of them were awakened now when almost all of them had been asleep when she was herest.


    Thankfully none of them detected her and Evelyn kept flying until she reached her destination.


    ''Yep, it looks like the majority of the awakened ranks are still in this chamber and the one at the very back. All I need to do is drop the vial here and everything should be over soon.''


    After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves Evelyn pulled out arge vial that contained a dark purple liquid that with one look anyone could tell was bad news.


    This was a vial of poison that was synthesized from a blight mushroom. It was the strongest poison that Evelyn had on hand, and one that she had made only the single vial of with the help and supervision of Melisandre.


    The moment she took it out of her storage cuff all of the nearby brass jackals noticed her.


    Naturally they felt the magic in the cuff being used and the vial seemed to suddenly appear from thin air.


    However, it was already toote for them. They could not react fast enough to stop Evelyn and before any of them moved she threw the vial down on the ground as hard as she could, and it shattered.


    Almost immediately the purple liquid uponing in contact with the air turned into a gas that began filling the area.


    Then Evelyn swiftly turned around, and with the p of her wings sent arge gust of wind out behind her and sted the gas into the chambers where the strongest brass jackals currently were, and simultaneouslyunched herself away.


    Without any care for being noticed now, Evelyn shot towards the exit at full speed. Using her wind magic and heavenly me to propel herself like a rocket.


    The brass jackals that did see her as she left were unable to stop her at the speed she was going, and she soon came out over the heads of the six guards. Much to their surprise.


    ''And it looks like the others are already in position.'' Evelyn thought as she saw fourteen silhouettes in the sky rapidly flying down to assist her.

 Chapter 239 239 One Sided Slaughter

    ?After leaving the brass jackals'' den Evelyn rose up into the air to the point, she was certain that any attack directed at her would be easily dodged.


    She had no intention of taking any part in the battle going further until absolutely necessary and was nning to wait and observe while her allies cleaned up the brass jackals


    Soon spells from the six mid-tiered awakened rank brass jackals came flying towards her, and while in a head-on fight she might have had a bit of difficulty dealing with all of them at once, all she was focused on was evasion.


    ''Looks like the brass in the name of their species was not just for show. They all seem to have metal magic affinities.'' Evelyn thought as she weaved her way through multiple attacks.


    Thankfully she did not have to avoid enemy spells for long, as her backup soon arrived.


    Leading the charge, Bylur sent down two dozenrge spears of ice that fell down towards the brass jackals that were guarding the entrance.


    Leaving deep impact craters, the spears of ice covered the entrance and forced the brass jackals to scatter.


    Following Bylur the burrowing owls and Rehni began their attack as well. Flying around to cut off the dispersed jackals and prevent them from forming up.


    In only a few moments each of the six brass jackal guards had two or three opponents to deal with and were hopelessly outmatched.


    They were not weak by any means, but each of the burrowing owls were at least equal to the brass jackals if not even stronger.


    Nevertheless, metal magic was quite powerful when on the defensive and the brass jackals were able to hold off until help arrived.


    Sixteen more brass jackals being led by their leader came running out of the base in pursuit of Evelyn and found their home under attack.


    Yet despite the numbers advantage being turned in the brass jackals favor, Evelyn saw that there was no need to intervene.


    ''Looks like that poison really is quite nasty. Even the leader who is at the peak of the awakened rank already ahs one foot in the grave.''


    With but a nce from her position in the sky Evelyn could see that all of the brass jackals that had left the den were poisoned already.


    Their fur was darkening in many ces all over their body and falling off, and their veins that would normally be hidden were visible swelling and had taken on a purple tinge from the poison that was destroying them from the inside.


    A few of the weaker ones were even already bleeding from the eyes, ears, and mouth and clearly did not have long to live.


    The leader that was at the peak of the awakened rank was the only one that was in any fighting shape, and he could actually only use about half his power.


    With the brass jackals'' having congregated, Bylur, Rehni, and the burrowing owls flew higher into the sky and fired off a continuous bombardment from the air.


    They had not killed a single one of the brass jackals yet, but they could tell that a war of attrition was in their favor.


    The majority of their opponents were badly poisoned, and they would die soon enough without them doing anything.


    A minuteter the first brass jackal that had been poisoned dropped. Unnatural purple colored blood pouring out of their body.


    Within a dozen seconds the other brass jackals at the low tier of the awakened rank fell as well cutting the brass jackals ranks by nine.


    It was not much longer before the attacks from the sky overwhelmed the poisoned mid-tier brass jackals and they were quickly killed as well. Unable to keep up their defenses as poisoned ravaged their bodies


    One by one the brass jackals were killed either by poison or a flurry of attacks from above that they could only barely hold out against until their defenses crumbled.


    Eventually only five of the six original guards who had not been affected by the poison and the leader who was about to copse were left.


    ''They put up a better fight than I had expected they would, but it really was just a matter of time.''


    With onest pained howl and a look of pure hatred toward Evelyn, the leader of the brass jackals fell over onto his side and began convulsing.


    Despite the poison having spread out over arge area and having onlye from one vial, it had still been potent enough to kill a nearly century old beast that ruled one of the powers in the Velinis Desert without them being able to put up any resistance.


    This went to show just how deadly the poison that Melisandre had developed from a blight mushroom that was said to leave its surroundingspletely devoid of life was.


    As their leader died without having been able to do anything against the invaders, the remaining five original guards began to flee.


    It was clear that theirrades and leaders had died from some sort of poison and that they could not expect anyone else in their den to be alive.


    All they could do was retreat and try to build their strength up again while roaming the desert.


    Perhaps as the burrowing owl had after their first defeat, they could eventually try to retake their home.


    However, Evelyn was not about to let them get away.


    She had already seen what could happen if you did notpletely wipe out those that originally held dominion over a treasure.


    It was possible that the brass jackals may be able to enlist a powerful helper, or they might even try to lure some of the other powers in the desert and bring them to the magic crystal mine just to harm the burrowing owls.


    To prevent these situations from having any chance of happening Evelyn rained down sts of her heavenly me and cut off the remaining brass jackal''s escape.

 Chapter 240 240 Loaded

    ?Having cut the fleeing brass jackals off, Evelyn simply watched and waited as Bylur, Rehni, and the burrowing owl squad fished them off.


    They were certainly tenacious and held on until the end, but they did not have a chance against a force that was nearly three times their numbers.


    It was over within just a couple minutes and all across the area were the corpses of the brass jackals.


    The battle hade to an end inpletely favor of Evelyn and her allies. They had not lost a single member of their attack force and every single one of the brass jackals was dead.


    Surely it was brutal and in no way could they be considered the good guys. But still, they had reaped an incredible reward by ughtering all of the brass jackals.


    "Good work everyone. We managed to get off a wless victory." Evelyn said, praising her allies who had done all of the fighting.


    "No, we were only able to do so well thanks to your help and strategy. Without you having used poison to weaken them, it would have taken the entire force of us burrowing owls to even have a chance at winning. And then we would have incurred devastating losses." Po, the leader of the burrowing owl squad said. Heaping arge amount of praise onto Evelyn.


    Bylur, Rehni, and the other burrowing owls joined in, and showered Evelyn withpliments. In their eyes the victory was achieved almost entirely through their efforts. All they had done was clean up after she had set the stage for them.


    With an awkward smile on her face Evelyn took the admiration, since she knew trying to y it down would not work.


    Eventually things calmed down and it was time to collect their rewards.


    They had not only wiped out the power that held the magic crystal deposit but would be able to take the materials from their dead foes.


    Unfortunately, when Po began heading towards the leader of the brass jackals to remove is core and present it to Evelyn, she stopped him.


    "We need to make sure that no one touches the bodies of those that were killed by the poison I released. It may no longer be permeating the air, but it will still be in their blood. They will need to be cleansed with my me. It is unfortunate, but only the six guards that were outside and remained unpoised have any materials we can take. Even the cores of those that are poisoned will have been corrupted. In a way, this is a price to pay for using the poison that I did." Evelyn exined.


    This dampened the mood quite a bit, as now only materials from six of the brass jackals could be gathered.


    For the others, Evelyn flew a few feet above them and wreathed them in fire until their bodies were nothing but ash.


    ''That is all the ones outside. Now I have to go back into the den and cleanse it as well.'' Evelyn thought with a grimace on her face.


    The sight of the dead bodies of the brass jackals that were outside were already in terrible conditions after being ravaged by the poison, and Evelyn could only imagine what sort of horror awaited her inside the den.


    Still, she was the only one that could safely cleanse the poison thanks to her heavenly me, so she had to go in alone.


    ''Better take my best antidote in advance and keep a wind barrier around me at all times. The poison should have dissipated at this point, but there is no need not take every precaution I can.'' Evelyn thought as she entered the den.


    For the first few dozen meters she did note across anything, but soon enough she found the bodies of several brass jackals.


    It was quite apparent that these were members of the force that was being led by the leader but had be overwhelmed by the poison before they could even exit the den.


    With a few bursts of me, she turned them all into ash and continued heading into the den.


    What she found next was the younger brass jackals that had not made it to the awakened rank yet.


    All of them had ended up even worse than any of the other jackals Evelyn had seen and looked almost like piles of sludge with how deformed their bodies were.


    This nearly made Evelyn sick despite how much of a tolerance for violence and horrific things she had developed since being reborn as an owl.


    ''At least they probably did not suffer for too long.'' Evelyn thought as she turned them all to ash.


    One by one she incinerated all of the remains of every brass jackal within the den.


    Not a single one had survived the poison and all of them were in terrible shape.


    Nevertheless, despite how awful the scene before her was, the walls of the den were filled with the treasure she had caused this ughter for.


    There were easily enough magical crystals in this one deposit tost her and her friends for a fairly long time.


    Among the magical crystals were even a few purple ones which were normally not obtainable to anyone but powerful peak wakened rank beasts or tyrant rank beasts. Plus, a single silver one that was closer to the territory of a cmity rank beast.


    These magic crystals were undoubtedly a powerful resource that Evelyn could use to help further her advancement and get closer to her goal.


    ''Reaching the peak of the awakened rank should go fairly smoothly now. We have all of these magic crystals to use to increase our magical energy, and the magic spring to help us advance with greater speed and ease. Now all we need to do is gather some specialized mining equipment to gather the magic crystals and we can put them to far better use at the Roost than simply allowing them to stay here.''

 Chapter 241 241 Arrangements

    ?Once Evelyn was certain that she had burned away all of the poison within the brass jackals'' former den, she flew out and gathered the others who had been waiting outside.


    When she arrived the six brass jackals that had been standing guard outside and had not been affected by the blight mushroom poison were already broken down into their usable parts.


    "Lady Evelyn, here are their cores." Po said to her as if it were natural that she receive them.


    Of course, Evelyn felt that she should have no real im of them due to the fact that she had barely participated in the fight.


    "I have no need of those cores. Distribute them among yourselves based on who has the best achievements. I will leave this up to you." Evelyn said in order to make it seem that she was handing out a reward rather than that she simply did not really care.


    When she had finished giving the burrowing owls some instructions to secure the magic crystal deposit Evelyn approached Bylur and Rehni to give them more thorough instructions.


    "We need to begin mining this ce as soon as possible. To that end, Bylur, can I entrust you with gathering the supplies we need from the Roost?"


    "Of course! I will be happy to go back and get all that we need." Bylur said, excitedly agreeing immediately.


    He was always happy when Evelyn relied on him and wanted to show just how useful he was to her.


    Yet a couple moments after he agreed, his ecstatic expression turned ghastly.


    He just realized that by leaving for the Roost by himself, he would no longer be by her side and Otis would be able to worm his way closer to her while he was gone without any interference.


    This made him nearly request that Rehni go to the Roost instead, but he did not want to seem unreliable by suddenly turning down the request that he already epted.


    ''I just need to be fast. If I go at full speed and avoid doing anything else, even skipping meals, I should be able to do it all in three, no two days.'' Bylur thought, calcting how long he would need to be gone for


    While Bylur was deep in thought, which was unusual for him, Evelyn turned to Rehni and addressed her.


    "For you Rehni, I need you to stay here and secure the magic crystal deposit with Po and his squad of Burrowing owls. We need to make sure that no other beasts within the desert try to take over the ce while we are still consolidating our forces. You are the only one that I can trust with this job while I go and report everything to Otis at the burrowing owls'' base." Evelyn said.


    "Understood, I will make sure the treasure we just won will not be taken from us after all the effort we went through to obtain it." Rehni said resolutely.


    With everything she needed to do settled, Evelyn turned towards where the burrowing owls'' home was and took off. While at the same time Bylur began his trek back to the Roost. Flying as fast as he could and pushing himself to the limit.


    Within just a couple of hours Evelyn reached the burrowing owls'' home and was promptly led inside.


    Waiting for her with a slightly nervous expression was Otis who was expecting an update on the situation from her.


    "I am d to see that you are unharmed Lady Evelyn. Now would you mind telling me what has happened with the attack on the brass jackals?"


    Nodding her head, Evelyn told Otis everything that had happened and how the operation had gone smoothly and without any casualties.


    "Only a few of the burrowing owls you lent me were injured and I used positions to heal them, so they are back up to full strength already. I would say that it was a resounding victory for us." Evelyn said with a proud smile on her face.


    Hearing this, Otis visibly rxed because he honestly had been fearing that many of his people would die in the battle.


    However, the poison that Evelyn had used was potent enough to kill even a sovereign beast like Melisandre over enough time if they did not receive proper treatment.


    A group of awakened beasts never had any chance of surviving out in the wild once they were exposed to it. Their fate had been sealed the moment that Evelyn decided to use the poison on them.


    "Now I believe we need to discuss how we are going to secure our new asset. Obviously, my team and I cannot be here all the time and the defense of the magic crystal deposit will fall mainly on your people. Naturally we will stick around for the next month to make sure that it stays safe and that you reach the peak of the awakened rank before we leave."


    "I thank you for that. I believe that if we leave around half of our forces at the magic crystal deposit, we should be able to hold it without too much trouble once I have reached the peak of the awakened rank." Otis said, a slight bit of worry in his eyes telling the contrary.


    Evelyn could tell that this would be stretching the burrowing owls thin, and it seemed that Otis wanted to make a request of her but was too nervous to say it out loud.


    "Go ahead and voice your opinion, Otis. This is your home, and you know it better than I do." Evelyn said with a sharp glint in her eyes.


    "My apologies Lady Evelyn, but I was hoping that you might be able to prepare some of those alchemical items as you call them for us. We have seen how helpful they are, and it would make me feel much more secure to have them to use in case we doe under attack while you are not here." Otis said with his head bowed.


    He did not like making such a demand from Evelyn who was his people''s savoir and benefactor, but he was not confident in keeping either the magic spring or magic crystal deposit safe after splitting his forces.


    "Sure that is no problem. I can prepare a number of items that you and the other burrowing owls can use in an emergency. That should be enough to give you an edge in case another power tries to attack." Evelyn said, easily agreeing.


    Otis let out a sigh of relif and began profusely thanking Evelyn for her generosity.


    "Think nothing of it. I would not be able to hold the magic crystal deposit without your help. Providing a bit of extra security is the least I can do. Now we should talk about our response in case of an attack. Just because your forces will be split over two areas does not lower our overallbat ability."


    Swiftly Evelyn went over a few ideas she had to create some new secret escape routes in the jackals'' den and to establish regrmunications between the two areas.


    If at any point either the burrowing owls'' home or the magic crystal deposit came under attack, they could always call for reinforcements from the one that was still safe.


    "I see that is indeed a smart move that I had not even thought of. It is true that it could take a few hours for refinements to arrive, but the two locations are not so far away that obtaining support is impossible in case we are facing a powerful opponent." Otis said, d to have received Evelyn wisdom on tactics again.


    Though Evelyn made sure to warn Otis that this n would leave them vulnerable to being attacked on two fronts, it was unlikely that any single group of beasts in the desert would be smart enough to organize such a strategy.


    "We will make sure to keep that in mind. Your thoughts have always been off great help to us in the past."


    After they had finished discussing the logistics of personnel and responses that they would take in case of attack, Evelyn decided it was time to head back to the magic crystal deposit.


    Right now, it was at its most vulnerable, with only Rehni and ten burrowing owls there to secure it. She needed to be there to protect her newly obtained asset just in case it came under attack.


    "Please send over a few more burrowing owls when you can. I will make sure that the deposit is protected and at the same time prepare some items to leave behind to help you and your people defend yourselves." Evelyn said to Otis.


    "Again, I thank you for your help. You have not only allowed us to regain our previously lost home but have now secured us another one of the desert''s treasures."


    With her report finished, Evelyn said her farewell to the burrowing owls and took off towards the magic crystal deposit.

 Chapter 242 242 Trouble Brewing At The Roost

    ?Days passed by as Evelyn and Rehni waited around the magic crystal deposit they had secured.


    They were unable to do anything but secure the area until Bylur returned with the specialized equipment they would need to start mining the magic crystals.


    During the time he was gone they did actually have to face some probing attacks from a couple other powers that resided in the desert.


    It seemed that news of the brass jackals falling had managed to spread out to the nearby areas and some of the other beast groups that ruled the desert were seeing how secure the burrowing owls'' new acquisition was.


    Thankfully with Evelyn''s leading the defense they easily wiped out any sort of attack and sent a clear message that trying to take the magic crystal deposit would be a harsh and costly battle.


    Still, it was not until the sixth day that Bylur returned to the Velinis Desert.


    ''Finally! I figured he would need a few days maybe four at most, but I am really surprised that it took him six.'' Evelyn thought as she watched his silhouette approach.


    When hended it was clear immediately that something had happened to him.


    The expression on his face was not as carefree as usual and he was wearing a deep scowl that was uncharacteristic of him.


    "I am back. I got the mining equipment we need." Bylur said without giving any kind of greeting and began taking the items out of his storage item.


    Evelyn, however, stopped him immediately and wanted to get to the bottom of what had happened.


    "Bylur stop. It took you longer than I expected, and it is clear to see on your face that something happened while you were at the Roost." She said with a sharp tone that offered no way out.


    She was going to get Bylur to talk whether he wanted to or not.


    He hesitated for a bit and tried to deny that anything was wrong, but under Evelyn''s scrutinizing gaze he eventually broke.


    "I am sorry. I was not strong enough." Bylur said with his head hung.


    This still did not exin exactly what had gone on and Evelyn told him to borate.


    "When I returned to the Roost a faction of owls ambushed me and started insulting you. They said that they were going to crush your shop and make sure that you did not sell another item again. They also told me to quit your team or else they were going to crush me too. In the end I challenged their leader to a duel and tried to put an end to them, but I was not strong enough. He was at the peak of the awakened rank, and I could not do anything but act as his punching bag." Bylur said with a dark grimace on his face.


    It was clear that he was upset with himself for not having been able to defend Evelyn.


    "I see. Did anything else happen?" Evelyn asked, wanting to hear every detail.


    "Yes, they said that when you returned, they were going to challenge our team to a match. If we want them to leave us alone, we are going to have to beat them. But their entire team is made up of peak awakened ranks and they are in the top two thousand of the Ranking Hall. I am so sorry Evelyn, if only I were stronger, I could have put that guy in his ce for you. Instead, I just made myself and you by extension look like a weakling and a fool. If you had not teamed up with us none of this would have happened."


    "There is no need to me yourself. In fact, it is I who should be apologizing. From what you have told me it is more than likely that they are targeting me rather than your or Rehni. You said that they mentioned my shop first, right? They more than likely are affiliated with one or more of the shops that are mypetition, and they are trying to nip me in the bud. Another possibility is that they want to pressure me into joining their faction. I have heard of up-anding owls that had little or no backing being harassed until they caved in one way or another. Either quitting and bing recluses or giving in and joining their aggressors or some rival for protection. I was warned about this by Anneli and Katrina who have seen it happen firsthand." Evelyn exined.


    She could tell that Bylur was ming himself, when it was obviously the faction that had attacked him that were at fault.


    ''I am long since done ming myself for the violence others enact toward me.'' Evelyn thought as her anger started rising.


    She had remained calm to hear all of Bylur''s exnation, but now that it was over her rage was beginning to surface.


    "We simply need to crush them then. If they want a fight, we will give them one. If you were not strong enough than all we need to do is be powerful enough to beat them." Evelyn said with unwavering determination.


    Bylur on the other hand did not have her confidence having already experienced a crushing defeat.


    "Evelyn, you do not know how powerful they are. Their faction is led by multiple peak awakened ranks. And the digging I did into them revealed that they probably have the backing of a group of tyrant ranks." Bylur said, a twinge of fear in his eyes.


    At this Evelyn just scoffed. She was not going to live in fear of some supposed tyrant rank beasts backing the group that was harassing them.


    "If ite to that I doubt that they have more power than Melisandre. Did you forget she is my master. If they want to get beasts that are at a higher rank involved, we can do the same. They will surely lose in that case." Evelyn said confidently.


    Bylur still did not seempletely convinced and seeing that he needed another push Evelyn said, "Bylur if you are so afraid then you can leave our team. No one is forcing you to stay if you are scared of getting hurt again."


    This managed to light a fire under him, and he shook his head rapidly in disagreement.


    "No, I am not afraid for myself, I only want to protect you." He said resolutely.


    "Good, then this is not a fight e cannot run away from. If you want to protect me, you are going to have to get strong enough to do so. This is likely not thest time that others in the Roost wille after us." Evelyn said.


    Luckily this seemed to bring Bylur''s spirit back, and since Evelyn was determined, he was as well.


    It was at this point that Rehni, who had been quietly listening came forward and asked the questions she had to Bylur.


    "You said you investigated this faction a bit. Would you mind telling me what you found out? We need to know the strengths of our enemy."


    Nodding his head Bylur told both of them what he had found out about the faction that had ambushed him and seemed intent on being hostile.


    "From what I could gather they are a factionposed of two hundred ny-three owls all in the awakened rank. A majority of their members are in the low tier, but they have plenty of mid-tiers and high tiers as well, along with eight peak awakened ranks at the top. In terms of their faction''s strength, they are ranked in the top three thousand in the ranking hall, but as I told you earlier their top three that are in a team together are ranked in the top two thousand in terms of the team rankings. Rank number one thousand five hundred sixty-eight to be precise." Bylur exined.


    The amount of concise information he had gathered actually impressed Evelyn and Rehni, since normally Bylur was more of a meathead and did not gather proper intelligence.


    Yet this time, since Evelyn was the one who was being threatened and there was no one else to gather intel he had taken it very seriously and done all he could.


    At the end he had initially thought that trying to fight against such a group would be foolhardy, but Evelyn had already shown him her resolve and he was going to follow her to the end if that is what it took to protect her.


    "Well, this at least exins why you took so long to get back. You have done a good job gathering all this information for us. Now we know who we are up against. And lucky we do not have to fight all two hundred ny-three of them, but only their three leaders. Once we crush them the others will likely back off. But if things really do escte, I can always get help from my master, so there is no need for us to worry. All we have to do is get stronger and defeat these idiots that think they can bully us into doing what they want."

 Chapter 243 243 Mining The Magic Crystals

    ?With their n of action towards the faction that seemed intent on harassing Evelyn, and by extension Bylur and Rehni who were her teammates decided on, Evelyn asked that Bylur show them the equipment that he had obtained to mine the magic crystals.


    "I managed to get three devices that are meant to dislodge the crystals from the earth without damaging them. They were quite expensive and apparently use a great deal of magical energy, but they should make the work fairly efficient." Bylur said as he took the magic tools out.


    They were not hat Evelyn had been expecting as for some reason she had the image of them using pickaxes and wheelbarrows.


    ''I suppose that my knowledge from earth do not exactly trante to this world all the time.'' Evelyn thought while looking at the magic tools.


    They honestly looked more like science fiction technology than items that would be found in a world of magic, but Evelyn had long since gotten over how different the things she encountered in her second life were.


    Instead of being like mining equipment she knew about from earth these items were long cylinders with spikes on the end of them.


    They apparently would be stabbed into a bare area of rock where the magic crystals had formed and create an oscition wave that would turn the rock into sand while not harming the magic crystals.


    This would allow the crystals to be easily harvested inrge qualities as depending on the amount of magical energy usedrge areas could be carved away all at once.


    "Okay, let us begin with the farthest chamber. We want to secure the single silver as well as the purple magic crystals first." Evelyn said as she picked up her mining magic tool.


    Bylur and Rehni followed her and the three of them made their way to the innermost area.


    Once there they could feel that it had richer ambient magical energy than the majority of the desert thanks to the magic crystals that had formed in it.


    "I will grab the silver one. You two focus on the purple ones." Evelyn instructed.


    She then flew to the center of the chamber where the lone silver magic crystal jutted out of the ceiling.


    It gave off a soft glow and Evelyn could tell that it contained an immense amount of magical energy. Likely more than her body could handle even now without the assistance of the Aethersphere.


    ''Around here should be good.''


    Finding a bare area of earth right next to the silver magic crystal, Evelyn jammed her mining magic tool in with rtive ease and began supplying it with her magical energy.


    As Bylur had said it consumed a fair amount of magical energy in order to function, but Evelyn had far more than most at her rank and after nearly half a minute she had turned all of the ground around the silver magic crystal to sand and it feel from the circling.


    With deft movements she dropped down and grabbed the magic crystal with her free foot and immediately stored it away.


    Having secured the most valuable treasure within the magic crystal deposit Evelyn could not help but let a big grin form on her face.


    Never had she thought she woulde into possession of a silver magic crystal when she was still only at the awakened rank.


    ''I wonder how many other valuable resources sit underutilized or untapped in this world. The brass jackals were only using this ce thanks to the higher amount of ambient magical energy and did not know what they really had. Perhaps I can go around taking out groups that have taken over areas like this and do not know exactly how valuable what they have is?'' Evelyn thought.


    Certainly, the Roost was a great environment to grow with ess to many stable items that all beasts needed, but it did not have certain very rare resources like the stable magic spring. If she wanted to reach her full potential faster, then she would need to go out and find the best resources for herself.


    Nevertheless, any grand ns were going to have to wait until she dealt with the faction that had set their sights on her.


    She already had the magic crystal mine to deal with and adding anything else to her te threatened to push her past her limits.


    ''Now how are Bylur and Rehni doing?''


    Turning her head, she looked towards her friends to see how they were progressing.


    Currently they had mined around half of the purple magic crystals, but they were starting to run low on magical energy.


    "I think that is good enough for now. Let us collect the magic crystals you both dislodged before continuing." Evelyn suggested.


    Bylur and Rehni were thankful for the break and leisurely they sifted through the sand that had fallen to the floor of the chamber and pulled out the purple magic crystals.


    Time went on as they would mine until they had about twenty percent of their magical energy left and then took a break while collecting the magic crystals they had dislodged.


    Soon they had gathered all fifty-eight of the purple magic crystals and were starting to be fairly tired.


    ''Even I am nearing my limit so they most both be terribly exhausted.'' Evelyn thought, looking at her two friends who were trying to act strong despite being on theirst legs.


    They had not wanted to look weak in front of Evelyn and were determined to keep up with her even if it pushed them past their limits.


    "I think that this is more than enough work for today. We have collected the most valuable resources here and can feel satisfied with our progress. Tomorrow we can gather some of the red magic crystals for our own personal use, but there is no current need for us to clear the ce out. We will have toe back many times in the future to use the magic spring and can refill our supplies as we need."

 Chapter 244 244 A Month In The Desert

    ?After Evelyn ended their first day of magic crystal mining Bylur and Rehni let out collective sighs of relief.


    It had been tough work and pushed them well past their normal limits.


    Though the fact that they would have to continue tomorrow did leave sullen looks on their faces.


    Needless to say, both of them slept like the dead that night ande morning they were not looking forward to mining again.


    Still, they did what they needed to as what they pulled out of the walls and ceiling of the chamber would go straight into their storage devices and red magic crystals were quite valuable in many regards.


    Not only could they be used for the creation of magical items and as fuel for advancement chambers, in a pinch they could also be exchanged for decent amounts of credits. Though at a considerable losspared to what they were sold at by the vendors who had permits to sell them in the crystal hall.


    This was actually Evelyn main motivation for gather so many as she needed to pay back Melisandre and add back the credits she had taken from their team ount.


    Come the end of their second day mining they had cleared out about seventy percent of the magic crystal that had formed in the further chamber that was richest in magical energy.


    ''Looks like the ambient magical energy really took a hit now that we have taken out the majority of the crystals. Even the next chamber over has more now.'' Evelyn thought observing the drop.


    The magical crystals themselves had been radiating a bit of magical energy and now that chamber was missing the highest quality crystals it was clear that it no longer had as much ambient magical energy.


    Nevertheless, the crystals would see better use being broken apart in an advancement chamber or used in the creation of some magic item or other rather than sitting in a cave for eternity.


    "Now this may not be the most mours job, but we need to stay here and keep the deposit secure until the magic spring activates again. After that we will head back to the Roost and deal with our new enemies that attacked Bylur and seem intent on harassing us. To that end we need to get as strong as we can before then. As we are currently, I doubt we can beat a team that isprised entirely of peak awakened rank beasts."


    Nodding their heads lifelessly, Bylur and Rehni agreed but were too tired from the day''s mining to put much enthusiasm into anything.


    "Also, there are some items I am running low on in the desert that we can collect and that I can use to make potions that will help us in our uing battles. At least two of us will need to be here at one time but the other can go out and collect items from the desert." Evelyn said, going on to exin the items she was looking for.


    "Sure, that sounds good Evelyn. How about Bylur and I keep watch of this ce tomorrow and you can go out first yourself and collect some items so we can see what they actually look like." Rehni said, her eyes dropping and with no energy in her voice.


    It was quite obvious she had suggested that Evelyn go first mostly so that she and Bylur could have an extra day to rest, rather than actually needing to see physical examples of the item Evelyn needed.


    But in her fervor Evelyn of talking about rare alchemical items Evelyn did not pick up on this and enthusiastically agreed to go out and gather first.


    The next day she did just that, while Bylur and Rehni slept far longer than they normally would and instructed the burrowing owls to only wake them if there was an emergency, or once Evelyn had returned.


    ¡­


    Weeks went by as Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni stood guard over the magic crystal deposit they had taken over.


    During this time they did not stay idle though and made sure to gather materials from the desert and constantly keep absorbing more magical energy in order to get stronger in preparation for the initial conflict that awaited them when they returned to the Roost


    Now it was the day that the magic spring would be refilling at the burrowing owls'' home, and they were going to head over as soon as a squad of burrowing owls came to take their ce at the magic crystal deposit.


    ''Today Otis will certainly reach the peak of the awakened rank and the burrowing owls'' position will be more secure without the three of us here. It is too bad we do not have about another half a year or so. If we did Rehni and Bylur might have been able to make it up to the high tier of the awakened rank if they used the magic spring every month.'' Evelyn thought, bemoaning theirck of time.


    However, they had already been gone longer from the Roost than initially intended and needed to return.


    Once the six burrowing owls arrived Evelyn said farewell to everyone that had been protecting the magic deposit along with her team and they took off back towards the burrowing owls'' base.


    When they arrived, they were promptly brought tot eh magic spring that had already started filling up nearly an hour ahead of schedule.


    "You are in luck this monthdy Evelyn. This only happenes maybe once every three or four years, but the spring has started to fill up before the normal time. This means that it will end up with a great amount of magical energy as it will go until the time it usually stops. With this those that have been chosen to use it will certainly be able to reach greater heights." Otis said, more talking about himself than anyone else.


    Last time he had failed to absorb enough magical energy to reach the peak of the rank, but this time he was certain to do so.

 Chapter 245 245

    ?Once the magic spring had finished being filled with magical energy, a half dozen burrowing owls with Otis among them, along with Bylur and Rehni entered the magic spring.


    Evelyn had decided to refrain this time as well, since she needed Bylur and Rehni to get stronger more than increasing her own power.


    Currently she felt confident that she could take on an average peak awakened rank beast in a one-on-one fight, but she knew that neither of her teammates were quite up to that level yet.


    If they were going to end up in a team battle against three peak awakened rank owls, then she needed the two of them to at least be able to hold their own for a few minutes if they were to have any shot at winning.


    ''Well in the worst-case scenario I can always ask Melisandre for a couple items that beasts at our level cannot normally get ahold of in order to give us an edge.'' Evelyn thought as she watched her friends and teammates absorb the magical energy within the spring.


    At about the twenty-minute mark, Otis began to glow brightly, and it was clear that he was about to reach the peak of the awakened rank.


    Seeing this all of the burrowing owls that were watching began to cheer as this marked the return to their former glory.


    ''He looks exactly the same. Though I suppose none of these burrowing owls ever look any different when they go up to the next tier. When he evolves to the tyrant rank, he is sure to change at least.''


    With Otis having reached the peak of the awakened rank he exited the magic spring and began addressing all of the burrowing owls.


    Evelyn was sure it must have been quite the rousing speech from all of the excited hoots she could hear asionally, but she was not really interested in listening and instead kept her focus on Bylur and Rehni.


    They had been pushing themselves to get stronger over thest month by consuming magically enriched nts and the beast cores of their prey, and now they were doing all they could to absorb magical energy from the spring.


    However, before all of its magical energy was used up, they had to leave despite wishing to continue.


    Their bodies had reached their limits and would need to adjust to the increased amount of magical energy they now had.


    Tryign to move too fast would simply cripple them and lead them to being unable to wield their magical energy properly.


    ''If only it were possible to simply bombard oneself with magical energy infinitely it would be much easier to reach higher levels. We could simply use all the magical crystals we have obtained at once to boost ourselves straight to the peak of the awakened rank.'' Evelynmented.


    Nevertheless, everyone had a limit to how much magical energy they could take in at one time and she was no exception.


    When she reached her limit the Aethersphere would take in all of the excess, but it was only doing that to repair itself.


    Eventually all of the owls that had entered the magic spring had left, yet there was still magical energy left.


    It having started to fill up ahead of the usual time had caused it to have more magical energy than normal and there was still a fairly sizable amount left.


    "Lady Evelyn, if you so wish you can take the remaining energy within the spring." Otis said, beckoning Evelyn to use it.


    "Thank you, Otis. Since there is some left over, I ill happily take it." Evelyn responded before entering the spring.


    The moment she got in she felt all of the magical energy left in the spring being drawn towards her and she started absorbing it.


    In a matter of minutes all the magical energy that had remained was drawn into Evelyn''s body and she was one step closer to reaching the high tier of the awakened rank.


    "Lady Evelyn, I realize that this may be impertinent of me as you are our savoir and benefactor, but a celebration is to be held now that I have reached the peak of the awakened rank. I was hoping that you might once gain grace us with that alchemical cooking once more?" Otis asked bashfully.


    Apparently, all the burrowing owls that had tried her cooking were quite taken with it, and while she had shown some of them how to do it, they could not hold a candle to Evelyn.


    "Sure, I do not mind. You and your people have amodated us well and this is an easy enough request toplete. If you bring me the ingredients, I will make all of the burrowing owls a feast unlike any you have ever seen." Evelyn said, feeling herself starting to get swept up in the growing fervor.


    Otis'' advancement to the peak of the awakened rank was quite the achievement and cause for celebration unlike anything these burrowing owls had ever experienced.


    Thanks to Evelyn they had finally managed to w their way back up to a semnce of their former power, and their prospects were brighter than ever before thanks to her continued help.


    Along with the owls she had already shown the basics of alchemical cooking to, Evelyn began work on the grand feat that the asion demanded.


    Rare ingredients that the burrowing owls had stockpiled were freely used, and two hunting groups flew out into the desert to bring back some fresh kills for Evelyn to use.


    Hours went by as she made the food for the feast, utilizing every technique that Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina had taught her.


    When it was finally done a delicious smell wafted through the entire burrow.


    All of the burrowing owls were waiting with anticipation in their eyes and had to hold themselves from jumping straight in as the food was passed around.


    Otis then gave a few more rousing words and thanked Evelyn again, before the feast began.


    The food went fast, and the burrowing owls lost pretty much all sense of decorum as they devoured what was in front of them.


    For them this was a once in a lifetime experience and they were not going to waste it by taking any time to slow down and eat with any manners. At the end of the day intelligence or not, they were beasts.


    Eventually the excitement around the celebration began to die down and all of the burrowing owls went back to their normal business. Many heading to bed while others had to go and stand watch through the day to be prepared in case of an attack.


    "I believe that we should get some rest ourselves. Tomorrow we will be making our return to the Roost." Evelyn said to Bylur and Rehni.


    The three of them quickly returned to their room and settled in for the day. They knew what was awaiting them when they returned thanks to Bylur and needed to be well rested to deal with it.


    ¡­


    Upon waking the next evening Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni said their farewells to the burrowing owls and promised toe back and see them again soon.


    "Lady Evelyn, if things ever be too tough for you in this ce where many owls gather, know that there is always a spot here for you. We will always wee you with open wings should you need our assistance." Otis said before Evelyn took off.


    "I will keep that in mind Otis. If that day everes, I am grateful to know that I have your support."


    After that exchange Evelyn took off into the night sky and began flying back towards the Elmot Gorge where the nearest warp point to ess the Roost was located.


    Along the way she had them stop to speak with Lucia once again, and Evelyn received the list of items that she wanted procured and what she had to trade for them.


    "It may take me a while obtain anything on your list, but once I have the time, I will see what I can get." Evelyn said.


    "No need to rush. I know that what I am asking for is beyond what most awakened beasts can readily obtain. Even if it takes you several years to obtain just one of those items, I will not consider it having been a long wait." Lucia said with a reassuring smile.


    Once their business had concluded Lucia descended back into the dark depths of the Elmot Gorge.


    "Now we need only cross over and make our way to the warp point." Evelyn said, holding the ticket that was drawing them towards their destination.


    In less than an hour they had reached the unspectacr area in the middle of a sprawling field where the warp point connected.


    And activating their return tickets they were whisked away back towards the Roost. Returning farter than they had anticipated but with greater gains than they would have imagined.

 Chapter 246 246 Calm Before The Storm

    ?As quickly as the light of the warp portal engulfed them it just as quickly receded.


    And as it faded away and their vision returned to them Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni found themselves back in the Roost.


    They had been gone for slightly over a month, but things still looked the exact same as they had before they left.


    However, surface looks did not tell everything and upon their arrival Bylur visibly tensed up and the expression on his face hardened.


    Thest time he had returned to the Roost, he had been subject to the unexpected and undeserved ire of arge group.


    They had not only mocked him, but Evelyn, who he held in a higher regard than himself.


    This caused him to try and get them rescind their words, but he was ultimately powerless to do anything and instead suffered a crushing defeat.


    ''Looks like his fears are not unfounded though. This faction must be more invested in us than I first thought.''


    Knowing that there was arge faction of owls that had set their sights on her, Evelyn had been keeping her senses heightened and taking in her surroundings the moment she warped back into the Roost.


    Within just a few seconds of her arrival she had noticed two low tier awakened rank owls look her Bylur, and Rehni over before promptly leaving.


    They had tried to be stealthy about it, but they did not do a good job and it was clear to Evelyn that she and her friends were the subjects they were interested in.


    ''I suppose that they must have left a couple lookouts to keep watch and report the moment that we arrived. This begs the question though, why are they so interested in me and by extension my team? Is it because we broke into the top five thousand in the ranking hall? But that seems preposterous. I doubt they would do this to every team that makes it in. The rankings are vtile where we currently are and should not be enough for such a powerful faction to really care about us. It was not like we easily defeated our opponents; it was a struggle.'' Evelyn thought, not sure what could have garnered them this much attention.


    She could not remember doing anything so exceptional that it would put a target on her back from such arge faction.


    Certainly, she had received a few invitations from some factions due to her alchemy skill and her team''s rising through the ranks, but she had been doing her best to not garner too much attention.


    Unfortunately, she was forgetting one event that had initially put her on the radar of quite a number of factions.


    During her first visit to the mission hall after she had reached the awakened rank, when she easily crushed the high tier awakened rank owl that was trying to bully her, plenty of others took notice.


    Now there were many interested parties that were looking into Evelyn, and the more they found out the more those that felt threatened wanted to destroy her, and those that saw her as useful wanted to obtain her.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn figured that things like this would happen eventually, just not so soon and as rapidly as it had.


    ''We will just have to do what we can. Worst case scenario I can involve the leader of the Roost.'' Evelyn thought, remembering the emblem she had been given.


    After a quick discussion with Bylur and Rehni to figure out when they would next meet up, Evelyn left the warp hall and made her way to Melisandre''s mansion.


    She made sure to move around stealthily and not take a direct path since she already knew that there were owls keeping watch on her.


    ''It seems that they are not really intent on following me around everywhere. I suppose that they know where to find me when they need to.'' She thought as she slipped back into Melisandre''s estate.


    It did not take long for Anneli toe and greet her and bring her to where Melisandre and Katrina were.


    "You certainly arete once again Evelyn. You said that you would be gone for a week at most." Melisandre said with a raised eyebrow and a probing expression.


    "Yeah, some things came up. Sorry." Evelyn said, bowing her head.


    She exined what had happened in the desert and how she had got caught up in a more ambitious n than she probably should have.


    "When I found out just how valuable the magic crystal mine was, I just felt I had to acquire it." Evelyn said at the end of her exnation.


    Then before anything else she took out the silver magic crystal and handed it towards Melisandre.


    "I know I probably owe you a lot more, but I hope that this pays you back at least a little bit."


    Shocked expressions swiftly came over Melisandre, Katrina, and Anneli''s expression as they saw Evelyn offer up the silver magic crystal.


    It was a very valuable item and not something that could be easily acquired.


    Even Melisandre had a limited supply of such quality magic crystals.


    "It is fine Evelyn; you need not give me that crystal. You fought hard to obtain it and I do not need you to pay me back for anything other than the million credits I loaned you. Which that crystal is worth far more than." Melisandre said as she pushed the silver magic crystal back towards Evelyn.


    "But you have done so much for me and used far more magical crystals just to keep me alive when my core was damaged." Evelyn said frantically.


    "I used those freely knowing full well I would never get them back. You do not feel like you need to pay me back for those. I am your master, and you are my disciple. I decided to do everything in my power to save you, and that is that. If you truly wish to repay me, all you need to do is keep growing and continuing to make me proud." Melisandre said with a look that offered Evelyn no room for disagreement.


    "I understand." Evelyn said, putting the magic crystal away.


    With her report of her activities outside the Roostpleted, she decided to tell Melisandre about what she had learned from Bylur.


    "Yes, I figured that this might happen. I have warned you before that your abilities are stronger than average even here at the Roost. I can say with certainty that there are probably only a few dozen that are close to your level of quality and likely none that have more potential than you. Even though you have been hiding all of your power, it is clear that you are exceptional. At the same rank there is likely no other owl within the Roost that could beat you." Melisandre said.


    It was clear that Evelyn simply had to much going in her favor thanks to the Aethersphere and heavenly me.


    Either of these items could be considered some of the greatest treasures in the world Evelyn had been reborn in, and she had them both.


    "Now what did you want me to do about this? I have plenty of ways to get them to back off, or even copse their entire faction if need be." Melisandre said with a scary glint in her eyes.


    While upper ranking beasts rarely got involved with those of a lower rank, Melisandre was willing to do whatever she could to help get rid of Evelyn''s enemies within the Roost. Even if it meant having a few of the leaders of the faction after her disappear.


    "For now, I will try to get by on my own. I cannot rely on you to solve all of my problems and would like to save your help as ast resort. Bylur, Rehni, and I will do our best to resolve this on our own." Evelyn said resolutely.


    Nodding her head Melisandre epted Evelyn decision and told her that she would leave it up to her.


    "This will be a good growing experience for you. Just try not to beat them so badly that you bring even more attention to yourself. These things can snowball out of control if you let them. Trust me, I know." Melisandre said, shuddering slightly as she did


    It was obvious that she had experienced something simr in the past and Evelyn could see her creating some wave by absolutely obliterating her enemies.


    Once they had finished speaking, Evelyn returned to her room where she immediately got to work.


    Her store had been closed for far longer than she anticipated and tomorrow she nned on opening it again.


    ''Not only do I need more credits to pay back what I owe, but I imagine that I will finallye face to face with this faction. It is only a matter of time before they stop by store, and I can officially give them my deration of war.''

 Chapter 247 247 Those With Malice

    ?''That should do it.'' Evelyn thought with a satisfied expression on her face.


    Standing at the front of her store in the Alchemy Hall, Evelyn turned her head from side to side and checked over the product on each of the shelves.


    Today was her first day back in over a month and she wanted to make sure that everything was well stocked and ready for her regr customers.


    ''I have more in my storage cuff if I run out of the moremon items. I just have to hope things like my tar do not sell out since what is on the shelves is all I have except for three bottles I have made for myself.'' Evelyn thought as she took up the counter and waited for the hall to open.


    When it did the usual mass of owls flew in and began heading to the favorite shops.


    Alchemical items were always in hot demand and every owl worth anything had at least a few on them at all times in case of emergency.


    To start with Evelyn''s shop saw pretty much no traffic since she had been closed down for so long.


    A few curious individuals popped their heads and and looked around, with even fewer buying anything.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn knew that business would not be slow forever and around three hours into the day, some of her regrs had noticed that her shop was reopened.


    After that she received a steady stream of owlsing in to restock on her potions and pills.


    Many of them made inquiries about why she had been gone for so long, but Evelyn just told them she had lost track of time while training and gathering out in the wilds.


    ''Things have been going pretty well already. At this rate it should not be too long until I can repay the debts I owe to Melisandre as well as Bylur and Rehni.'' Evelyn thought while she made another sale.


    Her credits that had plummeted to basically zero after she bought the storage magic tool for Lucia, but now that her shop was open again, she was steadily increasing her funds once more.


    However, not long after the halfway mark of the Alchemy Hall being open did a group of owls Evelyn had not seen before moseying into her story and acted like they owned the ce.


    They did not do anything overtly against the rules like stealing or breaking anything, but they would stand around grabbing things slowly before putting them back in incorrect ces.


    Also, they were exerting their auras to make the shop''s atmosphere feel oppressive and as some of them were at the peak of the awakened rank, plenty of owls unrted to this group that wanted to buy from Evelyn''s shop turned around and left before entering.


    This was clearly a form of harassment and Evelyn figured that these were the ones that had simrly approached Bylur.


    ''It does not seem that their boss is here. Bylur gave me a pretty good description of him.'' Evelyn thought as she memorized the appearances of the sixteen owls that were crowding her store.


    Keeping her eyes out, Evelyn watched everything that her current ''customers'' were doing.


    Eventually some of them would trickle out, but not long after more woulde in and take their ce.


    For over an hour this kept up and during that time Evelyn had not made a single sale since no other owl was willing toe in while the group harassing her was still inside.


    Of course, Evelyn could get one of the guards to try and get them to leave, but the moment she left they would almost certainly all leave and when she returned with the guards her shop would be empty.


    ''Oh, is one of them actually going to buy something now?'' Evelyn thought, seeing a pair of the owls approach her and ce down a single bottle.


    When they reached her counter, they mmed it down with as much force as the bottle could take without cracking and red at Evelyn.


    "Your prices are way too high, and your assessment of your items is way off. I am an alchemist myself and can tell that the healing potion in this bottle is not as high quality as you say it is. It is easily eight percent less effective. I demand that you lower the price by fifty percent to be more in line with the market value" The owl that had mmed down the bottle said to Evelyn.


    "I am sorry, but I can assure you that all of my items are the quality that is advertised and that the price is already at the lower end of market value. If you have a problem with my items, you do not need to buy them and can go somewhere else." Evelyn said with a stered-on business smile she had learned from Katrina.


    Yet while her face may have seemed to be smiling her eyes were radiating hostility and the owl that had beenining took an instinctive step back when they felt how dangerous Evelyn was.


    "What to do you think you are doing?" One of the two peak awakened rank owls in the group said,ing up to herpatriot''s defense. "Is it part of your business practice to be so rude to customers when they bring up validints.


    The peak awakened rank owl then fully exerted her aura towards Evelyn in an attempt to intimate her and get her to back down.


    Except, while most mid-tier awakened ranks would have difficulty standing up to such pressure from a higher-ranking beast, Evelyn shrugged it off easily enough and turned her head towards the obvious leader of these owls.


    "Frankly I do not care what any of you think. You can all just get out of my store and nevere back for all I care. Do not think I have not noticed what is going on here. I have been pretty patient, but I will not take this type of harassment forever."


    A malicious smile creeped onto the lead owl harassing Evelyn as she acknowledged them, and she said, "What are you going to do about it? You have had free reign for long enough and been hurting our businesses. One of our top alchemists used to have this storefront until you disced him. I do not know what the Alchemy Hall was thinking when they moved an upstart like you to such a prime location after only a few months, but we are not just going to let this injustice pass. Plus, we know it was you and your team who attacked and killed some of our faction members when they were out in the wilds. You may have thought you got them all but one survived and told us everything. We are going to make sure you pay us back in full for that."


    After saying this the lead owl turned around and went back to skulking around Evelyn''s store.


    Yet Evelyn did not have the wherewithal to say anything else since she currently waspletely baffled.


    ''Killed members of their faction? Me? When? I haven''t even killed a single owl from the Roost!'' Evelyn thought, franticallybing through her memories in search of the supposed killing she was being used of.


    Certainly, she had beaten up a few individuals but that was when they attacked her or in the ranking hall. But she had never killed another member of the Roost, or even serious injured one for that matter.


    Once Evelyn got her thoughts together, she decided to ask for more details as it seemed that some sort of misinformation had been spread.


    True she had taken over her current storefront from another, but she had never gone out and killed any members of their faction.


    But before she could another group of owls she had never seen came flying in and were ring at those harassing Evelyn.


    "Using your same old tricks on up-anding owl to try and force them to join your faction, aren''t you Trine. Doesn''t you faction ever learn." The leader of this new group of owls said.


    It was clear at a nce that they knew each other, and Trine, the one in charge of the owls harassing Evelyn, returned a hateful look towards the owl that had just addressed her.


    "Legget, I see you and your faction still like getting in our way. You should back off this time. We are not going to stop just because you are interfering. We are not going to be satisfied until we have pushed Evelyn here into a corner and turned her into our faction''s alchemy ve. We will have her pumping out potions and pills for us until she dies." Trine said with a practically vicious tone.


    She seemed to really hate Evelyn and was no longer trying to act cordially in front of this new group. To the point that she just outright said what her faction was nning for Evelyn.

 Chapter 248 248 Those With Greed

    ?As tensions were rising in her store, Evelyn could only look on in confusion.


    It seemed that a rival faction had taken notice of the group being led by Trine and had decided to get involved.


    And while it appeared that they were defending Evelyn, she thought that they were just creating an even bigger mess of the situation.


    She had just been about to make her move, but now things wereplicated by the second group.


    There was also the fact that for some reason the hostile faction thought she had killed some of their members which Evelyn could not wrap her head around.


    Unfortunately, even though they were in her store, the two groups were practically ignoring her for now and looked to be ready to start a brawl at any moment.


    Eventually though, the group that had been harassing Evelyn backed down and after a few of its members sent Evelyn a couple more res they finally left.


    This left only the other faction that had seeminglye to Evelyn''s aid.


    ''I suppose that they are probably stronger since the others backed down easily enough and were quite frustrated when these owls showed up.'' Evelyn thought, eyeing her rescuers warily.


    She still did not know what they wanted, and while they had helped her out by getting rid of the group harassing her, it was very possible that they could start a faction war with her in the middle.


    "I am truly sorry about that. The Devurg Faction which that Trine is a part of is an up-anding power among us awakened ranks and they enjoy throwing their weight around. I am just d that I noticed your blight and was able to mobilize some of my faction to help." Legget said with a friendly smile.


    "Yeah, thanks for getting rid of them, but I would have been fine on my own." Evelyn said, allowing a little irritation to seep into her tone.


    Her n had actually been ruined by Legget and his group and now she was left with numerous questions and no way to have them answered.


    Now she was going to have a much harder time getting any information out of the Devurg Faction which was targeting her.


    "Hm, I am not so sure that you could have so easily dealt with them." Legget said, a bit surprised that Evelyn was not more grateful for his help.


    Normally anyone that was being targeted by the Devurg faction and did not have any backing of their own was very appreciative, but Evelyn looked more peeved than anything.


    Still, Legget just decided to write this off as her having a prickly nature and still being angry about the earlier harassment she had endured.


    "The Devurg Faction is known for using all manner of dirty tricks to force people into their group and use them up. It is clear that they have it out for you and fighting an entire faction alone is just not really feasible." Legget said, a look of concern on his face.


    He then got to the point he was trying to make, and Evelyn realized why he was here.


    "It is certain that they will keeping after you, but if you join my faction, I can make sure to protect you. We have allowed many others into our rank that have been persecuted by the Devurg Faction. Our numbers are nearly double theirs and they know better than to actually pick a fight with our members. You will definitely be safe under our care." Legget said, acting like the embodiment of heroism.


    He was generously offering his support to Evelyn who was the poor lone owl with no means to defend herself from the group targeting her. Or so it appeared.


    Evelyn was incredibly wary after all she had been through and had developed the skills necessary to read the true intentions of most individuals.


    While Legget seemed to be offering his help magnanimously, Evelyn could feel the avarice oozing out of him.


    Cleary he was seeing Evelyn more as a prize to collect for his faction rather than truly being noble in his assertion to protect her.


    ''These owls are my enemies as well.'' Evelyn thought looking at Legget and those he had brought with him.


    They were clearly trying to y the heroes while she was the damsel in distress, but all of them had only surface level virtue.


    Evelyn was just an asset they were trying to collect, nothing more.


    ''I may not have any evidence to support this, but I can feel it in my gut. Legget and his faction are the reason I am being targeted at all. They must have spread false information about me in order to incited the other faction toe after me and are now trying to forgivably recruit me by leaving me an ultimatum. Join them for protection or get crushed by the Devurg Faction.''


    It would be a nasty trick if Evelyn''s assumption was true, and most owls would think that they had found their saving grace when Legget and his faction came to offer their help.


    However, she was not going to fall for such a trick.


    "I thankful for the offer, but I will have to refuse. I have no intention of joining any faction and will be fine on my own." Evelyn asserted. "Now if you are done here, would you mind leaving or buying something. Currently your group is the one impeding my business and I have already lost a good amount of time."


    Shock was apparent on Legget''s face, and he betrayed his true intentions for a moment.


    Clearly, he had used this trick before and was in disbelief that it had not worked. Or so that is what Evelyn interpreted his expression to mean.


    Quickly enough, like the con artist he was, Legget put back on his friendly mask and tried again to get Evelyn to join his faction.


    "I understand where you areing from, but you must not realize the danger you are in. The Devurg Faction is known for working their members to death if they do not care about them, and you heard that was what Trine has nned for you. Certainly, we came to help you this time, but unless you are actually a member of our faction, we cannot always be there to protect you." Legget said, trying to y on Evelyn''s fears.


    Of course, she was not afraid at all. Worst case scenario she shed the emblem that Minerva had given her and used the leader of the Roost''s authority to put an end to all of this.


    "That is fine, I did not need your protection in the first ce. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Now please leave, you are loitering around my store and making it impossible for me to do business."


    Being refused again Legget snapped and began shouting at Evelyn.


    "Don''t you realize that you are going to be killed if you do not join us! Are you an idiot or just suicidal!? Just hurry up an ept my generous offer!"


    With a sigh Evelyn just looked at Legget withplete disinterest.


    She thought that he was acting like a child that had not gotten what he wanted even after pleading and was now resorting to screaming.


    "If that is what is going to happen because I do not join you, then so be it. Now I have already asked you to leave twice, I will not ask again." Evelyn said, hostility clearly in her tone this time.


    Her actions took Legget byplete surprise. No owl he had ''helped'' in the past had ever acted so averse to joining his faction.


    Immediately, the other owls with Legget that had been silent up till now, began berating Evelyn.


    Telling her that she was a fool for not epting their offer and that she was going to be crushed without their help.


    ''Looks like they finally showed their true colors. They act like they are helping, but all they want is to trick talented owls into joining them.'' Evelyn thought as she took the verbal onught of Legget''s group.


    Quickly she had had enough and acted on her threat.


    Activating her gravity magic she increased the pressure on all of the owls in Legget''s Faction and used her extreme press on the leader.


    Many of them were caught off guard by this and were unable to stop themselves from falling over and mming into the stone flooring with heavy thuds.


    Legget however, despite experiencing five times greater gravity than hispatriots, he was able to stay standing.


    It was clear he was having to strain himself to do so, but nevertheless, he had managed to keep up his appearance as a leader.


    A couple momentster Evelyn deactivated her gravity magic and red at Legget and his group.


    Fear was apparent on all of their faces as they could not understand what Evelyn had just done to all of them.


    Luckily her message got across and Legget began organizing his shaken group and left Evelyn''s store.


    But not before saying to her, "This is not over yet."

 Chapter 249 249 Consulting With Melisandre

    ?Once her store was empty and the two factions that were after her had left, Evelyn let out a deep sigh of relief.


    ''This certainlyplicates things.'' Evelyn thought as she went around and rearranged the items that had been misced by the group led by the owl named Trine.


    The situation had gone from one hostile faction to another that was trying to recruit her through underhanded means.


    Both of these groups had it out for her, albeit in different ways.


    Evelyn was confident that she should be able to handle the faction that was openly hostile towards her by beating down their leaders in a team battle, but the other faction was clearly well versed in using sly tactics to get what they wanted, and she was unsure what they would do next regarding them.


    Legget, who was their leader, was clearly unhappy that she had refused his offer and he had already told her that he was not done yet.


    ''Still, I just have to get through this on my own if I can. If ites down to it I have Melisandre and Minerva''s backing but using either of their authoritieses with its own problems.''


    If Evelyn were to reveal her connection to Melisandre or Minerva that would cause her notoriety to spread throughout the entire Roost and she would have a harder time simply moving around.


    Others would want to cozy up to her simply for her connections, and those that did not like Melisandre or the Roost''s leader might target her as well.


    She was fine garnering a bit of attention from her story and winning in the ranking hall, but she did not currently want her association with two of the Roost''s greatest powers for multiple reasons.


    In the end Evelyn decided to deal with the problem one step at a time and focus on the Devurg Faction that was openly hostile towards her.


    ''I cannot afford to have them constantly disrupting my business. Once I have dealt with them, I can focus on Legget and his faction.''


    With her rough n of action made, Evelyn faced forward and continued running her store.


    While business had not continued while the two factions after her squabbled, now that things were clear a few owls trickled in to buy her wares.


    "Thank you for your patronage. Pleasee again if you need any alchemical items." Evelyn said to herst customer of the day.


    Not long after they left the bell signaling the closing of the alchemy hall chimed, and Evelyn began closing up her store.


    Her work for the day done Evelyn returned to Melisandre''s estate and quickly held a meeting with her to disclose all that she had found out.


    "That is certainly moreplicated than I thought it would be. Can you not think of anything that would have garnered you the attention of such a faction?" Melisandre asked, wanting to understand where the ever-growing problem surrounding Evelyn had begun.


    "No as far as I know I have been pretty careful to not stand out too much. During the battles in the Ranking Hall, I let Rehni and Bylur do most of the fighting while I support them with my wind magic. I have also kept my store stocked only with products that could reasonably be made by another beast of my level even if I sell them for cheaper than most thanks to being able to water them down and still produce the same quality."


    Unfortunately, Evelyn could not immediately recall when she would have drawn so much attention to herself. She had taken Melisandre''s warnings to heart and done her best not to stand out more than an individual that was a bit talented but nothing supremely special.


    Yet as Melisandre continued questioning her, Evelyn eventually recalled an event she had thrown to the back of her mind.


    "Oh, I had forgotten about this until just now, but not long after I reached the awakened rank and recovered from the damage to my cores, I got into a fight with a high tier awakened rank owl."


    Scowling at her, Melisandre could not remember Evelyn ever reporting this to her and asked for more details.


    "Well, it happened while I was in the mission all. The idiot thought that he could use his status as a higher-ranking owl to take the mission I wanted so I put him in his ce with one big attack. After that none of the other owls bothered me and I took all the missions I wanted." Evelyn said proudly.


    She had been pretty pleased with herself when she crushed the owl that had tried to bully her and recalling it put a smile on her face.


    However, this led to a long and harsh lecture from Melisandre.


    By easily dealing with a high tier awakened rank owl, even if they were not especially strong, she had almost certainly put herself on numerous faction''s radars.


    "Did you not think for a moment that crushing your opponent in a public match would end up attracting you unwanted attention!?" Melisandre said to Evelyn with a forceful tone.


    Lowering her head Evelyn apologized to her master, and as she thought back, she did recall around twenty owls watching the battle.


    "At the time I really did not think that just those few owls witnessing that fight could cause such a problem." Evelyn said with a downcast expression.


    "Well as long as you realize your mistake you can use it as a growing experience. Anyway, we cannot be certain that this fight was the catalyst causing these factions toe after you. To start, I will ess the Mission Hall''s records and find out who watched your match."


    Popping her head up, Evelyn looked at Melisandre with wide eyes when she said this.


    "Wait, you can look at the records of who watched my match!? How is that even possible? I could understand finding out who my opponent is, but all of the spectators as well?" Evelyn said in a fluster.


    "Do not underestimate the information gathering abilities of a hall master. I am not one of the highest-ranking figures in the Roost for nothing. All I need to do is call in a favor from the mission hall master and getting theplete records on who watched your match will be easy."

 Chapter 250 250 Planning With Melisandre

    ?Within just two days Melisandre had received the information on the identities of every owl that had watched her duel in the mission hall along with a list of the members who were in both of the two factions targeting Evelyn.


    "Yep, it is as I thought. From the Legget Faction, one of their leaders, a male owl named Serk was in the audience and watched your match with the owl named Den." Melisandre said.


    She was holding a few pieces of paper that were bound together and contained the intelligence that she had gathered for Evelyn.


    "Knowing this it seems quite likely that this is where interest in you originated from, and that after observing your battles in the ranking hall and seeing your skill at alchemy through your shop solidified you as a suitable target for the Legget Faction."


    From there they led the Devurg Faction to target Evelyn in hopes of forcing her to join their ranks for protection.


    "It certainly was a decent n on their part. As far as they can tell, you have no real backing, so they figured you would rejoice having such a powerful faction on your side. Unfortunately, they had no way of knowing you are my disciple." Melisandre said as she handed over the information she had gathered to Evelyn.


    After a quick look through it, Evelyn was able to find out pretty much all the avable information on both of the factions after her.


    "I see that Legget''s faction is within the top one hundred awakened rank factions within the Roost and that the team he leads is ranked number one hundred ny-eight, along with his personal rating being rank three hundred sixteen." Evelyn observed as she looked over the information of who was likely her most dangerous enemy.


    While the Devurg faction was the one showing open hostility there was no doubt that Legget was a greater threat.


    He was personally stronger than the owl named Devurg who Evelyn had not met yet, and his faction was easily twice as powerful.


    "Melisandre it is safe to say that Legget is certainly among the top five hundred strongest awakened ranks owls in the Roost, right?" Evelyn asked, wanting her master''s opinion on the matter.


    "Yes, that is fairly likely. There are sure to be some that are stronger than him that are not participating in the ranking hall, so his standing is not exact, but I would say your assumption is correct."


    "In that case, in your opinion do you think I could beat him in a fight as I am now?" Evelyn asked with a serious expression.


    Holding her left hand to her chin Melisandre contemted it for a while before answering Evelyn''s question.


    "Now I will preference this by saying that I have no inkling about how this Legget fights but your chances would not be favorable if the rtive level of power of top rankers is around the same as it was when I was still at the awakened rank." Melisandre said. "If you were to use only your wind magic as you have, I would give you maybe a three percent chance at best. As the report on him says he has both an earth and water affinity which typically have the advantage over wind. Should you go all out and not care about showing off your heavenly me and gravity magic then you probably would have closer to a forty percent chance I would say. You may have managed to beat that peak awakened rank osprey out in the wild, but I can assure you that a high-ranking owl from the Roost is far stronger."


    Having received Melisandre''s warning and analysis Evelyn frowned and contemted what to do.


    While she was fairly confident that with a bit more training and advancement that she, Bylur, and Rehni would be able to defeat the leaders of the Devurg Faction, it seemed unlikely that they would be strong enough to take on Legget''s faction any time soon.


    She knew full well that tier and rank did not mean everything having turned the tables on plenty of beasts higher level than her, but She would have hard time dealing with a faction that was among the top one hundred in the Roost.


    "I understand that you want to solve this problem on your own and use it as a growing experience. I too do not want you to use my authority and resources to solve all of your problems, but this might be a bit too much for you to handle on your own. I can make some subtle moves to divert the Legget Faction''s attention away from you and you can deal with the Devurg Faction as you had nned without worry. Then once you and your friends have built up some more strength you can deal with"


    Mulling over Melisandre''s offer Evelyn could not really see any downside to it.


    "Thank you for the offer. It would really be helpful not to have to worry about dealing with two factions at the same time. But how exactly are you nning on getting Legget and his faction off me?" Evelyn asked, a curios look on her face.


    "Oh, it is quite simple. I will simply start up a new faction war among the higher-ranking awakened owls. Things have been pretty peaceful around the Roost, so it is about time things got stirred up a bit." Melisandre said with a nostalgic smile.


    Apparently when she was still at the awakened rank battles between factions were moremon as every group fought for rewards.


    However, the Roost itself was far more powerful and populous than it had been several centuries ago when Melisandre was only at the awakened rank and now their were more resources to go around than before stifling a bit of thepetition.


    "All I need to do is incentivize the top one hundred factions to start battling it out more than they have been. I have some fairly valuable treasures lying around that should make decent enough bait. Soon the Legget Faction will be scrambling around fighting other faction and have no time to bother you."

 Chapter 251 251

    ?Thanks to Melisandre''s assistance, the Legget Faction that had been targeting Evelyn using underhanded tricks soon had more pressing matters to deal with.


    All of a sudden, arge-scale faction war broke out when the ranking hall received highly valuable resources to be distributed to the top fifty factions in the Roost at the end of a yearlong period.


    Every faction that believed they had even the slightest chance of rising up the ranks began mobilizing all of their resources and those that were already in the upper ranks prepared to defend their standing.


    The entire Roost was turned on its head practically overnight and the once fairly peaceful Roost became quite frantic.


    Scuffles were now much moremon than before, with rival factions often attacking each other outside of sanctioned matches.


    Of course, the Roost''s police force was doing its best to keep order, but around seventy percent of the Roost''s poption were awakened rank beasts and many of the guards that were supposed to be keeping order were members of the factions that were doing whatever it took to be within the top ranks by the end of the yearlong period.


    This had caused the tyrant rank owls that were not involved with the faction wars to have to be more active in keeping the peace, but there were simply more awakened rank owls than they could feasibly keep up with.


    The first couple of weeks in particr had been quite hectic but things had settled down a bit once the Roost got used to the stir Melisandre had caused.


    Her actions did have their intended effect though. Evelyn now no longer had to worry about being targeted by two factions.


    Legget''s faction was nowpletely disregarding her in favor of putting their all into rising up the faction ranks.


    If she had been easy to recruit as they had hopped, Legget''s faction likely would have tried to get Evelyn on their side to bolster their forces, but they simply did not have the resources to try and force her to join while also dealing with therge-scale faction war.


    On the other hand, the Devurg Faction, which was the other group targeting Evelyn had not been distracted very much, just as intended.


    They were not a low-ranking faction by any means, but they were still far from being strong enough to try and im a top fifty spot within a year.


    However, the Devurg Faction was involved with the faction war to a degree, having to support one of their allies.


    Thankfully this made them open to dealing with Evelyn in a hastier manner, and she had managed to secure a meeting with their top brass to discuss the terms of their battle.


    Evelyn had actually begun harassing them back for thest month in return for their faction constantly skulking around her store.


    She had left horrible smelling alchemical creations in their bases, released a slow acting poison in the form of an incense that left most of the Devurg Faction members that had been in her store with horrible stomach aches, and was supplying an enemy faction with wholesale alchemical items for cheap.


    Naturally they had tried to get back at Evelyn, and while they had sessfully managed to inconvenience her along with Bylur and Rehni a bit, they simply could not inflict more damage than Evelyn was able to.


    The Devurg faction had simply not expected a single team to actually be willing to stand up to them and now they had obtained more troublesome enemies than they had bargained for.


    ''Melisandre really came through for me this time. Her help and advice has been invaluable.'' Evelyn thought as she prepared for the meeting with the Devurg Faction


    Not only had she created chaos through the faction wars, but she had also advised Evelyn on what was to approach her battle with the Devurg Faction.


    Melisandre had had to deal with her fair share of simr fights back when she was around Evelyn''s ranks, and she was more than willing to share her experiences with her disciple.


    Once Evelyn was satisfied that her preparations were sufficient, she left Melisandre''s estate and headed to where she would be meeting Rehni and Bylur.


    The two of them would be apanying her to the meeting with the Devurg Faction as it involved them as well.


    "Let me apologize once again for dragging the two of you into this. I am their primary target but because you are a part of my team you both ended up being targeted as well." Evelyn said to her two friends.


    "It is fine, we decided to join you knowing full well that something like this might happen." Rehni said, an exasperated expression on her face.


    Evelyn had already apologized to them a half dozen times and Rehni was starting to get tired of it.


    "I do not care what kind of enemies you attract. I will always be there to support you as best as I can." Bylur said stoically.


    He saw Evelyn thought thick rose-colored sses and, in his eyes, she could never do anything wrong.


    "Thank you both for your support. Now let us go and settle this."


    With her teammates in tow, Evelyn headed towards the Ranking Hall where they would be meeting with the Devurg Faction.


    The Ranking Hall had been chosen as the destination for their meeting since it was a public ce, and no matter what, no one would try to cause any major trouble within one of the Roost''s major Halls.


    If the Devurg Faction tried to attack Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni within the Ranking Hall, it would not be long until they werepletely detained, and their lives ruined.


    ''Looks like only the three leaders came as promised. And here I expected them toe with a huge group to try and intimidate us.'' Evelyn thought, seeing the three top owls of the Devurg Faction waiting for them.


    Looking them over, this was actually her first time seeing two of their top leaders.


    Among them the only one Evelyn had met before was Trine as she had been the one tasked with harassing her.


    Sitting in the middle of the three was the leader of the faction Devurg and sitting to his left was an owl named Kless.


    All three of them were at the peak of the awakened rank while Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni were only at the mid-tier.


    ''So that is what Devurg looks like. He is as rough as Bylur described him.''


    All over Devurg''s body were areas that were scarred, and his left eye was even missing with a long w mark going across his face.


    It was clearly made by some type of beast other than an owl as there were five distinct cuts.


    Just from a single nce Evelyn could tell that he had been though a great number of battles.


    "It is nice to finally meet you Devurg. As I am sure you know, I am Evelyn, and my twopanions are Rehni and Bylur." Evelyn said, introducing herself politely.


    As expected, this only served to anger her enemies and Trine who had been on the receiving end of Evelyn rtions snarled at her.


    "Calm yourself Trine. This young upstart is clearly just trying to rile you up. We have no need to stoop down to their level. Our victory is already assured." Devurg said, turning his gaze towards Bylur and giving him a confident smirk.


    He had already beaten Bylur in a one-on-one match and was certain that any head-on confrontation would end in his team''s victory.


    "Now let us get down to business." Evelyn said, once they had finished posturing.


    Swiftly she took out a long sheet of paper and handed it over to Devurg.


    This was a magic contract she had prepared with Melisandre''s help.


    With it the terms of their battle would be upheld no matter what.


    "This is absurd. You really except us to disband our faction and hand over Twenty million credits to you if you win." Trine shouted after reading part of the contract.


    It detailed that Evelyn and her teammates would battle Devurg''s team and that should her team prevail it would mark the end of the Devurg Faction along with a sizable payout to Evelyn''s Team.


    Of course, it was not a one-sided contract.


    Should Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni lose, all three of them would have to join Devurg''s faction until they reached the tyrant rank.


    This would practically make them ves to the faction as they wanted, and it was likely they would be worked to death long before they were able to reach the tyrant rank.


    Along with these uses the contract prohibited the Devurg Faction from antagonizing Evelyn further and had the same stiption for Evelyn.


    "We ept your terms. In five months, our teams will do battle and when we win, I will be taking the three of you into my faction and working you to the bone." Devurg said, not even acknowledging Trine''s protest.

 Chapter 252 252

    ?After signing the contract by stamping a bit of their blood, Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni promptly left the mission hall.


    The date for their match had been decided on, and they had until then to get ready.


    Currently their chances of winning against their opponents were pretty low.


    In terms of level, they were all outmatched, and Evelyn was likely the only one that could currently go toe to toe with any of their opponents.


    Nevertheless, they did have one advantage.


    Their enemies were already at the peak of the awakened rank and were stuck at a tough ceiling to pass, while Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni still had plenty of room to grow.


    "Our goal in the next five months it for all of us to reach the high tier of the awakened rank. If we can aplish this, we should be able to win without too much trouble." Evelyn said as they flew to their next destination.


    Time was already ticking, and they needed to use all of what they had to the best of their ability to increase their odds as high as possible.


    Of course, even if they lost Evelyn had a contingency n, she had worked out with Melisandre beforehand, but it was certainly quite extreme.


    If her team was to lose then Melisandre, to prevent the magic contract from going into effect, would have to wipe out the Devurg Faction for Evelyn.


    Once the faction was gone there would no longer be anyone to bind her to the contract.


    This was only ast resort and not something to be done lightly though, which was why Evelyn wanted to win no matter what.


    ''I have already epted a lot of Melisandre''s help. If I cannot at least win the main battle on my own, it will only show how inept I am.''


    Soon Evelyn, with Bylur and Rehni in tow, arrived at Melisandre''s estate and promptly headed towards the training room.


    Awaiting them there was Anneli and Katrina.


    "So, you two are the friends that Evelyn had made. It is nice to meet you, I am Anneli, one of Lady Melisandre''s attendants."


    Flying right up to Bylur and Rehni, Anneli greeted them both with a bright smile on her face. Yet the two owls on the receiving end shuddered and nearly fell over.


    While Anneli was acting like her normal friendly self, having a tyrant rank beast fly right up to them had put Bylur and Rehni on edge.


    "Anneli, can you not see that you are scaring them. You need a better grasp on your status now. Being at the tyrant rank puts us in a whole other league from awakened ranks now." Katrina chided


    With a forceful yank she pulled Anneli farther back and then introduced herself.


    "Now these two are going to be our sparring partners going forward. If we get used to fighting them, taking on peak awakened rank beast should be nothing." Evelyn said proudly.


    This was one of the major ideas she hade up with and was quite pleased with herself for doing so.


    On the other hand, Bylur''s and Rehni''s beaks hung open in shock, and they looked at Evelyn like she was crazy.


    There was a big difference between a tyrant and an awakened rank beast. Especially ones like Anneli and Katrina who had both attained very powerful evolutions.


    They would be lucky to put a scratch on either of them, and there was no chance that they could win.


    "Evelyn, we think you should reconsider. Most of your ideas are impable, but all of us could get seriously injured fighting them." Bylur said in between sending nervous nces towards Anneli and Katrina.


    This just went to show how oundish Evelyn''s proposal was since normally Bylur was behind her one hundred percent.


    "With that kind of attitude, you two are never going to get stronger. I used to fight them when I was still at the fined beast rank. Granted they were both only peaked awakened rank back then, but I can assure you that they are good enough to hold back from killing any of us. We need to fight with those stronger than us when we can in order to learn how to fight more powerful enemies. There is more to winning a battle than simply having more magical energy than your opponent." Evelyn said confidently.


    However, that did not ease Bylur and Rehni''s worries.


    "Evelyn we could get seriously injured while fighting and end up crippled. It is far too risky for us to fight against tyrant rank beasts even if it is only training." Rehni said, trying to be the voice of reason.


    Unfortunately, Evelyn just shook her head and pulled out a vial of crimson liquid.


    "Don''t worry, I have prepared plenty of potions to heal any of our injuries that are too serious for Bylur''s current magic skills to handle. I also made plenty of constitution enhancement and stamina restoration potions so that we can fight for longer. We havee up with strategies to incorporate as a team, but we do not have very much experience trying to implement these strategies while fighting others. I can tell you now that I would not be even half as strong as I am right now without the mock battles that I had with Anneli and Katrina."


    Seeing that Evelyn was not going to budge, Bylur and Rehni resigned themselves to train against Katrina and Anneli.


    "To start how about all three of you face off against me." Katrina said, once it was obvious that Bylur and Rehni would participate.


    Enthusiastically Evelyn flew up into the air, while Rehni and Bylur followed her reluctantly.


    "Now Evelyn, I know you are used to going all out against me, but since this is training for your match in the ranking hall make sure to only use your wind magic. If you activated either of your other magic affinities, I willunch an attack you, that you cannot block." Katrina warned.


    Nodding her head Evelyn had intended to only use her wind magic anyway.


    "Let us get started then, I will allow you three the first move."

 Chapter 253 253 A Tyrant While Training

    ?With Katrina graciously giving them the first move, Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni moved into position and prepared to attack.


    They certainly did not need to worry about hurting their current opponent and had decided tounch the strongestbination attack they currently had at their disposal.


    To begin Rehni created arge ball of metal that was nearly ten feet in diameter.


    Following up, Bylur encased the ball in a thick sheet of ice until it was shaped like a spearhead.


    Then finally, having created a twister around herself, Evelyn pulled thebination of ice and metal into a wind tunnel and elerated it to an incredible speed.


    The force behind this attack was certainly enough to injure even a tyrant rank beast such as Katrina and had beenunched at a close enough range that she would find it difficult to avoid it.


    Yet she did not even flinch and held up her right arm which was pulsating with electricity.


    With a single flick she sent out two bolts of electricity that cut through the ice that Bylur had surrounded the ball of metal in and made its form far less threatening and aerodynamic.


    After that she used a power Evelyn had never seen before. Waves of electromaic energy shot out from her hand and began repulsing the metal that made up the core of Evelyn''s, Bylur''s, and Rehni''s attack.


    By the time it had reached her it had already lost around seventy percent of its momentum.


    But despite it seemingly like it would still hit Katrina, it began to bend around her when it got within five feet.


    The metal ball that had only bits of shattered ice still attached to it began rotating around Katrina like a moon, and when it had built up sufficient power, sheunched it right back where it hade.


    It took all three of them working together, but Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni managed to stop the remains of their own attack that had been sent back at them.


    Except while it may have seemed that Katrina had simply overpowered them with greater magical energy, she had actually used only around the same level as they had. Staying well under her full force.


    Had she been serious she could have easily reflected the attack without first having to weaken it.


    "That was an impressive attack in terms of its power, but your coordination is sloppy at best. Abination attack should not be so easily broken apart. All I need to do was disrupt the induvial elements of the attack and it became far too easy for me to send right back towards you." Katrina said, a disappointed expression on her face.


    After giving her criticism she gave Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni no time to rest. Swiftly holding up her hand andunching a bolt of lighting towards the ceiling where it broke apart into hundreds of sparks that began raining down on the area.


    To block this attack all three of them deployed a magical energy barrier around themselves.


    Yet the moment they did, Katrina flew right towards them and began shattering their barriers.


    In order to dodge the rain of electric sparks they had to take evasive maneuvers as Katrina would destroy any sort of defenses that they put up.


    ''Damn she is fast. Without using all three of my magic affinities at the same time I cannot even keep up at all.'' Evelyn thought as her barrier was broken by a single punch for the third time.


    Without anything to shield her from the sparksing down all around her, she got shocked multiple times when she messed up on her evasion.


    And every time her body sized up and spasmed from the electricity coursing through her she lost herposure and got shocked again multiple times before managing to find an area with less electricitying down.


    Rehni was doing quite well, using her metal magic to create thin wires that carried the electricity away from her which Katrina could not destroy fast enough.


    Bylur though, was having the roughest time of it.


    His body was around three times bigger than Evelyn''s or Rehni''s and he was currently on the floor being shocked over and over without any way to dodge.


    Once the rain of lightning ended Evelyn and Rehni moved towards Bylur to help him up, only to find several balls of lightning surrounding them once they had gotten close to their fallen ally.


    "Did you all think that I was doing nothing while flying all around and breaking your barriers?" Katrina said, a smirk on her face.


    With he quick snap of her fingers she detonated the balls of lightning encircle Evelyn, Rehni, and Bylur.


    A bright sh blinded all of them, and Evelyn felt her entire body begin to seize up.


    She felt a heavy thud a momentter and it was clear that she had mmed into eh ground.


    ''Ow, ow, ow! Why does getting hist by lightning magic always hurt so much.'' Evelyn thought while involuntarily twitching on the ground.


    Unable to move at all she took in what she could see in front of her, and it did not bode well.


    While she had managed to stay conscious even if she was momentarily paralyzed, Bylur and Rehni had been knocked out cold.


    Their team had beenpletely and utterly defeated by Katrina.


    The worst part was only herst attack was done with any level of seriousness. Overall, she had been going fairly easy on them.


    It was only now that Evelyn realized just how much she relied on using all three of her powers in conjunction.


    Using only her wind magic she had not been able to do much of anything against Katrina.


    "Oh, looks like you managed to stay awake. At least your durability is still pretty good." Katrina said the instant shended next to Evelyn.


    After just twenty seconds she was able to move her body again, and within a minute she was standing back up.


    Bylur and Rehni on the contrary, were still unconscious.


    "Well, when they wake up make sure to give them some potions Evelyn, and then we can go again."

 Chapter 254 254

    ?It took Rehni and Bylur nearly ten minutes to finally regain consciousness after taking Katrina''s lightning attack.


    Both of them were stiff from their muscles spasming and they could not even stand still.


    "Here take these potions and rest for fifteen minutes. Then we will try again." Evelyn said, holding out two potions to both Bylur and Rehni.


    A look of fear and defeat was on their faces though, and they clearly did not want to be forced back to health by potions just to take another brutal beating.


    In their eyes the battle they had just had with Katrina could hardly be considered training and was more like a one-sided beatdown.


    None of their attacks had even gotten close tonding, and most of their time had been spent squirming around trying not to get hit.


    "Evelyn, why are you so enthused to continue this? I cannot see us getting stronger by simply being repeatedly crushed by your associate." Rehni said, a despondent look in her eye.


    That one match was enough for her to realize the gap between the three of them and Katrina. She had not even tried all that hard in the battle and had beaten the three of them with ease.


    Bylur was also in agreement. While he normally would always side with Evelyn, he could not see how them fighting a tyrant rank beast would help them to get stronger.


    The difference in sight between them was just too great. The only thing he felt they were learning was the immeasurable difference between the ranks.


    "I see, you two have never really had to learn from defeat." Evelyn said.


    She had lost plenty of fights, both out in the wild, and against Katrina and Anneli.


    For her, getting back up and striving to find a way to beat clearly more powerful opponents was a given.


    Bylur and Rehni on the other hand were too stuck on the fact that they could never stand up to others that were at a higher level.


    Certainly, Bylur was angry and disappointed that he had lost to Devurg, but he could onlyment that his opponent had been at a higher tier.


    Had they been at the same level surely, he would have won. All he needed to do to get stronger was continue advancing.


    ''They are not even trying to see the benefit of this training. I got glimpses of our failures to work properly as a team, but they have it in their minds that we are surely going to lose anyway since Katrina is at the tyrant rank and none of us are.'' Evelyn thought, understanding the mindset of her friends.


    "Listen up both of you. We need this training more than you think. Just that one bout was enough for me to see that our teamwork is only impressive on the surface level. Sure, we threw out an attack with a lot of power, but Katrina broke it down with ease and sent it right back towards us. What we need to do right now is truly figure out how our powers work together and the best actions we can make as a team rather than individually. When the rain of electricity came down on us, we each prioritized defending ourselves and Katrina just continuously crushed us individually. We had not really been acting like a team in that moment." Evelyn said sternly.


    She then reminded them about thebined attack they had taken in theirst match as an example of better teamwork.


    "Their affinities may have matched up better together than ours do, but their attack was far better than what we just used I am certain of that now. To block it webined all of our powers, but we would have easily been overrun if I did not use my gravity magic to bail us out. We then only won because we managed to separate them into one-on-one fights and used our trump card potions. As a team we are not nearly as coordinated as they were."


    Once Evelyn had finished her impassioned speech, Bylur and Rehni could better understand where she wasing from.


    Sure, they had practiced somebinations and maneuvers together, but they had mostly just been sticking stuff together that seemed powerful.


    In terms of concrete teamwork, they were actually still prettyckluster.


    It was not like they had assigned any roles other than Evelyn was on support with her wind magic, but often times they just ended up fighting on their own anyway.


    "Let us try again, and this time we need to work better together as a team. We were thrown into disarray the moment our first attack was blocked, but we need to not be shaken up so easily. Even if we are going to lose, we need to strive to hang on longer or even get some of our own hits in. Once we get used to fighting Katrina and Anneli, Devurg and his team will not feel like a threat at all."


    Nodding their heads, Bylur and Rehni could feel Evelyn''s passion, and the despair they had been feeling from having to fight a tyrant rank beast had lessened considerably.


    "Are the three of you ready to go again now that you have had your little pep talk?" Katrina said.


    Naturally she was ready to continue whenever and had been waiting for Evelyn to rally her teammates.


    "Yes, and this time we willst longer and not let you toy with us the entire time." Evelyn said confidently.


    Rising back into the air Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni prepared for another match with Katrina.


    To start, she let them make the first move again.


    This time though, instead of simplyunching a big move out the gate, Evelyn suggested that they use another move that would give them a greater advantage over the battlefield.


    The air around Bylur began to be thick with mist as he chilled his surroundings and soon snow began falling all around him.


    Swiftly it became quite thick, and once it was at an eptable amount Evelyn whipped up a heavy gust of wind.


    In only a few moments a heavy snowstorm had covered the entire training room and visibility had be extremely poor.


    Of course, Katrina could still easily pinpoint Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni''s location by using her acute hearing to pick up the subtle sounds they were making, but not for long.


    Just a couple seconds after the snowstorm had been whipped up, echoes began bouncing around the area. Making it impossible to pinpoint the location of anything via sound.


    This was thanks to Rehni''s sound magic and a suggestion from Evelyn.


    She figured that the best way to deal with a far stronger opponent was not to try and out muscle them with powerful attacks, but to obscure the area.


    It had already been proven that the strongestbination attack they currently had was unable to even touch Katrina and was actually quite wed.


    Instead, she hade up with the idea to cut off Katrina''s senses so that she could not so easily target them as she had before.


    ''Hm, this is certainly a better approach thanst time. I can tell that Evelyn came up with this strategy. The other two are certainly not as adept at this kind of thinking. Now what do I do here? I could simply send out a wave of fire that would destroy this snowstorm, but most peak awakened rank beast could not so easily aplish such a feat.'' Katrina thought while trying to figure out her n of counter attacking.


    Currently she could only vaguely gauge where Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni were, and just wildly attacking was likely not to get her anywhere.


    In the end she decided to spread out a thinyer of magic energy over the area and use it to perceive what was going on instead of relying on her senses that were being obscured.


    This was an ability that took a lot of magical energy, but it was not something that was too terribly difficult to use once one had the hang of it. Even Evelyn could use this technique just fine when she was only fiend beast. Though her range was far inferior to what Katrina was currently capable of.


    "So, that is what they have done." Katrina mumbled after getting a full read of the area with her spread out magical energy.


    All around her she was now surrounded by thin and sharp wires that had small ice sickles jutting out of them.


    If Katrina were to simply fly around recklessly, she would find herself being sliced up before she got far.


    There was also the added bonus that her lightning magic would get redirected into the wires and harmlessly be carried away into the walls and ground.


    Still, this was only a minor inconvenience for Katrina and one she knew how to get rid of easily enough.


    Using the advanced power, she had discovered with her lightning affinity upon bing a tyrant rank beast she sent out a repulsing electromaic wave that would st the wires away.

 Chapter 255 255

    ?After Katrina had released a pulse of electromaic energy, all of the wires that Rehni had set up were ripped from their ancho points.


    This left them allpletely useless and mostunched away with the remaining few dangling harmlessly from one point of connection to the ceiling or walls.


    Yet despite their trap being destroyed, this was not outside of Evelyn''s expectations.


    The moment Katrina had released the electromaic wave, she along with Bylurunched their own attack.


    Large icicles covered and propelled faster by wind shot down towards Katrina and left her no room to escape.


    Unfortunately, this attack was easily blocked as Katrina waved her left hand above herself and created a barrier of magical energy that shielded her from the falling masses of ice.


    Like rain hitting an umbre the wind propelled icicles shattered and pounced off of Katrina''s mana barrier. And while they did leave some cracks not a single bit of ice or wind prated Katrina''s defenses.


    It was certainly not the desired result that Evelyn had been hoping for, but it was to be expected, and not the end of their attack strategy.


    From her position below Katrina, Rehniunched a wide and powerful st of sound.


    The snowstorm began to move more violently in the wake of this sonic st and was actually the only indication that something was even happening.


    Evelyn had advised Rehni to lower the frequency of her sound attack so that it could not be heard but still had the same amount of force behind it.


    Now the st of sound she hadunched was at a frequency below what owls and for that matter, most creatures could hear.


    Still, Katrina had been keeping close track of Evelyn''s, Bylur''s, and Rehni''s movements with her thinly spread-out magical energy and could tell that something wasing for her.


    In response she spread out another barrier of magical energy below her to absorb the attacking from below.


    Except the sound st, even though it lost a good amount of power, continued to spread out and shook Katrina.


    Her entire body was not encapsted by the magical energy barrier, and she was unable to block all of the force behind the st of sound by putting a barrier in front of it.


    Nevertheless, while the attack did cause her a bit of difort and she felt mildly sick from taking the infrasonic attack, it ultimately did no real damage to her.


    Katrina, like every other being that could control their magical energy, was enhancing her body with it and was able to easily take shocks that would have knocked out a normal owl.


    A hit was a hit though, and Evelyn did feel a bit proud of the strategy she hade up with after their first crushing defeat.


    She was not able to be excited about her teamnding a hit for long sadly, as Katrina started her counterattack.


    To begin sheunched the same rain of electricity attack she had used in their previous match and began flying towards Evelyn and Bylur to disrupt their defenses.


    Bylur especially was vulnerable to his attack due to hisrge size and Katrina was aiming to punish that weakness.


    Except when she got closer, she noticed that instead of Evelyn and Bylur having their own individual barriers set up to block the falling sparks of lightning.


    Instead, Evelyn had made a whirling wind barrier around them while Bylur had created a magical energy barrier to block the electricitying down on them.


    Since they were not fast or nimble enough to evade Katrina''s physical strikes, they figured it would be best to fully focus on their defense andyer their barrier together.


    ''It is better than before but that is still not going to stop me.'' Katrina thought, flying forwards and punching at the dual barrier with about seventy percent of her physical strength.


    As her arm entered the wind barrier, she could feel herself being repelled, but it only slowed her down a little.


    But before she reached the magical energy barrier that Bylur had set up, it disappeared of his own ord and instead was reced by hundreds of shards of ice that he had been preparing tounch.


    These sharp and dense pieces of ice like razor des were absorbed into Evelyn''s wind barrier and began slicing into Katrina who had willingly entered the area.


    Even with her enhanced physique and dense skin, the ice and windbined were able to put small scratches on her as her arm traveled through them.


    This left Bylur who was above Evelyn open to being hit by the failing electricity to some degree, but they had sessfully managed to cause some damage to Katrina''s arm.


    In fact, Evelyn had even put herself in harm''s way and received the weakened punch with her feet.


    Despite focusing on her magic for the most part, Evelyn''s physical strength was also well above what most beasts of her rank had and her rtively small size made it all the more surprising.


    The force behind Katrina''s punch certainly hurt a bit, but it was restrained and weakened by going through a barrier already, so Evelyn sessfully caught it with her ws.


    She then moved to mp down on Katrina''s arm and pierce her arm, when something wholly unexpected happened.


    Katrina''s arm disappeared from Evelyn''s grasp before she could dig in with her ws. And it was not that Katrina had withdrawn her arm, it had actuallypletely vanished.


    Shock was evident on Evelyn, and Bylur''s face, and it was clear why to anyone who could see what had happened.


    Katrina''s appearance had suddenly changedpletely, and she was now in the form of a nearly thirty-foot-tall owl.


    This was an ability that all tyrant rank or higher beasts had ess to, but one that Evelyn herself had not been expecting.


    Normally, for convinces'' sake, tyrant rank beast that had used a human''s magic core as a catalyst for their evolution stayed in their humanoid form. Their full beast forms were simply toorge to conveniently move around in at all times.


    But in the middle of a fight there were disadvantages and advantages to each form.


    In this moment Katrina decided to turn back into her owl form to not only avoid Evelyn''s attack, but also set up for an overwhelming counter.

 Chapter 256 256 Defeated Again

    ?Having taken her from as a full owl Katrina now towered over Evelyn and Bylur.


    It was shocking enough that they were slow to react to her next attack and failed to block it entirely.


    Without any concern for the minor damage, she would take from the wind barrier filled with ice shards created by Evelyn and Bylur, Katrina flew right at them while crackling with electricity.


    Her left w mmed hard into Bylur and sent him flying up towards the ceiling, but by the time he hit he could not longer feel anything as the lightning around Katrina had already knocked him out.


    Evelyn on the other hand was not hit nearly as hard. Though still, Katrina''s right wing clipped her and sent arge enough jolt of electricity into Evelyn to paralyze her for a couple of minutes.


    In only a few moments Katrina hadpletely revised the situation and easily defeated both Evelyn and Bylur.


    This left only Rehni who was stunned still by what she had just seen.


    She had never before seen a tyrant rank beast go from their humanoid form to beast form and the change was enough to leave her stupefied for nearly six seconds.


    Unfortunately, after that she no longer had the time to stare up at Katrina in a daze, as Katrina set her sights on her final opponent.


    In a desperate attempt to fight back Rehniunched several powerful sonic attacks while also creating metal wires around her to defend against Katrina''s electricity, but her resistance was futile.


    Even wither farger form that took more magical energy to fully defend herself, Katrina had no problem with solely dealing with Rehni''s attack and barreled right towards her with a shield of magical energy in front of her.


    Along with her shield sheunched a barrage of pure magical energy attacks that were not impeded by Rehni''s wires and swiftly overwhelmed her.


    In the end, Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni were all copsed on the floor once again andpletely defeated.


    After a couple minutes of her body twitching and spasming uncontrobly, Evelyn regained her monitor control and stood back up. Her head hung low.


    She had thought that the strategy she hade up with would help them to fight Katrina, but they only achieved marginally better results from their first bout.


    ''But she certainly is big in her owl form. I really can see why it is more convenient to move around in a humanoid form that is significantly smaller.'' Evelyn thought craning her head up to look at Katrina.


    Yet therge form before her swiftly shrunk back down to the size of an average woman. Albeit one with owl wings, pointed ears, and eyes that were a color no human had.


    "I mustmend you for your ingenuity Evelyn. I image that strategy was yours?" Katrina said to her.


    "Yeah, I came up with it, but really I do not think it warrants any praise. I mean you handedly defeated us again." Evelyn said, a sorrowful expression on her face.


    She had clearly been hoping for better results in their second match.


    "No, I would say that you and your team did exceptionally better than the first battle. I actually had to get a bit more serious this time. You even made me change my form mid battle which understandably caught you all off guard. Of course, I would not say your battle n was perfect. Allow me to give you some criticism and advice, since I am pretty sure we are done for the day." Katrina said, ncing over at the still unconscious Bylur and Rehni.


    To start she praised Evelyn''s auditability and ingenuity with creating the raging snowstorm and loud echoes that inhibited Katrina''s senses.


    "I had to use a considerable amount of magical energy to spread out ayer over a wide area to find where all of you were. In arger battlefield like the ones used in the ranking hall this strategy could be even more effective depending on what type of terrain it is used in." Katrina said.


    She then went on to give some criticisms about the positioning that Evelyn and her teammates had taken.


    In her opinion when fighting a clearly stronger opponent it was best to stick together and support each other.


    Certainly having positioned Rehni on the opposite side so that they could pressure Katrina from two angles was not a bad n, but had they all been together their defenses would have been superior and they could have more readily kept her at bay.


    "Had all three of you worked in conjunction to create a barrier I would have had a much more difficult time breaking through. Even a single punch at my full power could not break a conjoined effort from the three of you." Katrina noted.


    Katrina continued to point out the small ws she found in Evelyn''s n, and theirck of flexibility when she had suddenly transformed.


    In a battle filled with magic one could not be stunned for even a single millisecond by a surprising development if they wanted to win.


    "Finally, there is something that I have noticed that you are personally doing that hurts yourbat ability. You are unconsciously holding yourself back Evelyn." Katrina said with a sharp look in her eyes.


    Tilting her head in confusion, Evelyn was already aware that she was holding back.


    Naturally she refrained from using her heavenly me or gravity magic. But when she said this, Katrina just shook her head.


    "No, I mean that you are keeping the power of you magical energy restrained. I can tell that you are not using your full power and are trying to seem weaker than Bylur and Rehni. I would say that the wind magic you disyed after just evolving is stronger than what you used in either of our matches despite having more magical energy and control now. I understand that you are trying not to stand out, but if you keep restraining yourself to this degree, you will forget the power that you are truly capable of."

 Chapter 257 257

    ?Hearing Katrina''s words of warning, Evelyn blinked several times in surprise.


    Surely, she had not been holding herself back. As far as she could tell her wind magic had been at around the same level as it always was.


    Yet as she thought about it, Evelyn could only feel that there might be some truth in what Katrina had just said.


    ''I remember mentally telling myself before every match in the ranking hall not to stand out too much. But at some point, did I slip into the trend of weakening my magic?''


    Looking back on her matches, Evelyn could remember intently observing both Rehni and Bylur and making sure not to outshine them.


    Despite what had happened with the two factionsing after her, she had done her best to try and stay under the radar for the most point.


    She never took the lead in any battles and typically left the most noteworthy roles to her teammates.


    Along the way her tendency to hold back her magic had actually led to her losing sight of what she was actually capable of.


    Of course she had not noticed this until Katrina pointed it out, since even her restrained powers were still in line with those that were highly talented.


    ''I had thought I seemed weaker since I was not using my gravity magic or heavenly me. Could it be that I really have just been holding back more than I thought this entire time?'' Evelyn thought, a contemtive expression on her face.


    Eventually she flew back up into he air and sent out a gust of wind with all her might.


    She did this over and over again while focusing on her magical energy and found that reflexively she was only using about seventy percent of her actual power.


    It was a subconscious mental block and it took her a bit of focus to undo it, but eventually sheunched a st of wind with her true power.


    Excitement and surprise came over Evelyn''s face, and she realized exactly what she had been doing.


    Unlike other beasts she had a magic core along with her beast core, but she had without realizing it cut off the flow of magical energy from her magic core which was an abnormality created from being in a beast''s body with a human soul.


    Unfortunately, while she could use her full power if she focused, it no longer came naturally to her since she had been unconsciously holding herself back for so long.


    "Looks like you managed to fine somewhat of an answer." Katrina said, flying up next to Evelyn.


    "Yes, you were right. I have been focusing too hard on not sticking out that my magic has suffered. I think I will need some training to get used to what I can really do again." Evelyn said, a determined glint in her eyes.


    Katrina allowed a slight smile to form on her face and she offered to help push Evelyn to the point where she could not allow herself to subconsciously hold back anymore.


    "Now while your friends are still out, I have some other advice for you." Katrina said, fixing Evelyn with a serious look. "Losing this uing match is honestly not an option. I know that you have a backup n with Melisandre, but things will be quite messy if ites to that. If it seems you are going to lose the match at any point, do not hesitate to use all of your magic affinities. Attention is going to be drawn towards you one way or another, so it will be best if you do everything you can to win, even if you have to use every card at your disposal. At the very least, I think it would be best to start incorporating your gravity magic as you called. It is very powerful but discreate enough that audiences are unlikely to understand what happened and might just believe it an extension of your wind magic."


    Nodding her head Evelyn epted Katrina''s words of wisdom and said that she would seriously think on them.


    Not long after Evelyn finished her discussion with Katrina, Rehni and Bylur started to rouse.


    Promptly Evelyn fed them both several potions to get them back up on their feet. Though Bylur took quite a bit longer since his body was reeling from being shot full of elctrictiy.


    Once they had recovered a fair amount Anneli, who had been watching from an observation room the whole time can in and began asserting that it was her turn to train with Evelyn and her teammates.


    Bylur and Rehni, however, already had hollow eyes at this point, and it was clear that any more training for the day would be wasted on them. Their sprits were simply too low and their bodies in no condition to keep going.


    "Anneli, I believe that we are done for the day. We will be training again in three days and you can help us then." Evelyn said.


    For some reason Anneli looked devastated to hear this and began mumbling that it was unfair that Katrina got to have all the fun.


    Thankfully Katrina moved to console Anneli and rescued Bylur and Rehni from being dragged into another practice match that likely would have been even more intense.


    ''Anneli was always worse at holding back than Katrina is. I honestly am a little afraid for what is going to happen three days from now.'' Evelyn thought.


    With their session for the day over Evelyn escorted Bylur and Rehni to the exit of Melisandre''s estate while updating them on their schedule.


    "We will have training matches like this every three days until the match, and whenever the magic spring bes active we will go and bathe in it. We need to raise our base abilities and refine our tactics as much as we can before the match with the Devurg faction''s leaders. Losing is honestly not an option for us."


    Wearing resolute expression, Bylur and Rehni nodded their heads and said that they would do their best.


    After that the two of them returned home to rest and make what preparation they could on their own until the next training session.

 Chapter 258 258 Day Before The Battle

    ?In the blink of an eye nearly five months had gone by as Evelyn trained with Bylur and Rehni, increased the magical energy within her body, and created numerous alchemical items that were extremely potent.


    During this time her coordination with her teammates had improved drastically and collectively they had grown much stronger.


    They had still not managed to defeat either Katrina or Anneli, but the three of them couldst much longer than before and managed to get their own hits in fairly often.


    Even when fighting both Katrina and Anneli together, Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni could hold out for nearly a dozen minutes using the right stall tactics.


    "You three really have gotten quite a bit stronger. You really managed to hurt me this time." Katrina said to Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni who were copsed on the ground.


    They had just finished their final training bout, before the big match against the Devurg Faction''s leadership that was only a day away.


    Yet while it was still a lose for Evelyn and her teammates, Katrina had not gotten out unscathed.


    Her right arm was encased in a block of ice and looked to have red patterns in it from her frozen blood.


    Along with that there was a deep gash in her stomach where Evelyn had hit here with a wind de, and several spikes made out of metal imbedded deep into her left leg caused by Rehni''s magic.


    Overall, it was a lot of damage even for a tyrant rank beast to sustain, and Katrina was having to struggle to maintain her stalwart fa?ade.


    "Here Katrina, one of Melisandre''s specially made healing potions. Drink up and get better." Anneli said, tossing a bottle over to her fellow attendant.


    Deftly Katrina caught it and swiftly drank the potion while Anneli administered some to Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni as well.


    Immediately her injures began mend themselves and with a burst of mes she melted the ice that covered her arm.


    Within around five minutes Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni who had suffered injuries themselves were back up and receiving a review for their performance in their final training battle against Katrina.


    "You all really havee a long way. I could tell that you really wanted to beat me this time and truthfully you were close enough to give me a bit of a scare. If I had not sacrificed my arm and leg, I would have been in big trouble. Bylur and Rehni, you two have be quite capable now that you have made it to the high tier of the awakened rank." Katrina said, a proud glint in her eyes.


    After extensively absorbing magical energy from advancement chambers using the crystal they were obtaining from the deposit they had secured int eh desert, and bathing in the magic spring every months, Bylur and Rehni had managed to elerate their growth tremendously and reach the high tier of the awakened rank.


    This was something that normally took the average beast several years to aplish, but with ess to incredible resources and immense determination, Rehni and Bylur had managed to reach the next tier just a few days before the match against the Devurg Faction''s leaders.


    Unfortunately, despite putting in the same amount of effort, Evelyn had not managed to advance to the next tier.


    She simply needed too much magical energy thanks to the staggering quality she had due to the Aethersphere rearranging her body and the human magic core she had.


    Even with having taken in the greatest possible quantity of magical energy her body could handle, she was still at least a few months away from reaching the next tier.


    Nevertheless, she was still the strongest member of her team despite being at a lower tier now.


    Quickly Katrina finished giving feedback on what Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni had done right, and what they had done wrong during the battle.


    "Your coordination was pretty good, but after around ten minutes I could tell that you were all getting desperate to finish the match. Instead of worrying about your magical energy running out from using it extensively you should have backed off and drank potions to recovery your magical energy and continued to wear me down. In the end you all opted for desperate all or nothing attacks, and while you managed to do some good damage to me I took it and countered. You did need to make sure that when you unleash attacks that leave a ring open that you take out your opponent or have an ally to assist you. The three of you unleashed your attacks in rapid session and none of you were able to cover the other immediately afterwards."


    Their heads hung, Evelyn and her teammates took Katrina''s lecture about tehri failings.


    Though Katrina also had plenty of good points to point out which raised their spirits.


    "Now that should be everything. Anneli, do you have anything else to add as an observer?"


    "Yeah, are you sure they do not have time for one more match against me?" Anneli responded excitedly.


    She had not had the chance to spar with Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni since their return from the desert three days ago.


    It was during this trip that Bylur and Rheni had reached the high teir fo the awkened rank and Anneli was looking forward to fighting with them now that they were stronger.


    However, she was not as skilled at holding back as Katrina and sometimes it took, Evelyn and her teammates a while to recover from a training session with her. Hence why they were avoiding fighting her due to the uing match with the Devurg Faction that was only a day away.


    Sighing Katina exined again why Anneli was not getting to participate.


    "Anyway, there is something else you need to do right now. Their battle is tomorrow so we need to make them some food to both encourage and enhance their abilities." Katrina said, pushing Anneli out of the training room.


    Following along behind them, Evelyn, Bylur and Rehni made their way to the kitchen and waited for the food to be prepared.


    When it was finally finished their began eating to not only restore their energy but also absorb the magic properties imbued into eh food by alchemy.


    By the time they had finished the three of them felt revitalized and much stronger than before.


    "Those effects shouldst you all until the end of the match tomorrow, but to be on the safe side we made some more that you can eat right before the bout." Katrina said, handing arger contain that had more food in it.


    In an instant Evelyn stored it away and thanked both Katrina and Anneli for their support.


    After that she saw Rehni and Bylur off before heading to her room.


    ''I am still on the fence between which ones we should bring.'' Evelyn thought, looking over the shelves in her room that were filled with alchemical items she had made.


    They were only allowed a limited number of disposable items and she needed to be careful in her decision on what they would be bringing.


    Eventually she settled on the items each of them would be bringing after having gone over a number of scenarios and picking out which ones would be best in the majority of situations.


    With her preparations for theing matchplete Evelyn flew up to her nest and closed her eyes. She needed her rest in order to be in the best position, since tomorrow''s battle would determine her standing in the Roost going forward.

 Chapter 259 259

    ?"RING! RING! RING!"


    Hearing the loud ringing ring through her room, Evelyn opened her eyes and stared at the rm magic tool she had purchased especially for this day.


    Normally she had no trouble waking up on time but wanted to be certain that she did not sleep in and miss out on the important battle scheduled for as soon as the Ranking Hall opened.


    With slightly stiff movements she got up and turned the magic tool off, before stretching her body and shaking off her lingering drowsiness.


    After that she went about her normally morning routine of cleaning her body and checking over her items.


    Today she was exceptionally careful to make sure everything was in order; despite the fact she had checked right before going to sleep the previous day.


    ''That should do it. No I need to go and meet up with Bylur and Rehni and head to the Ranking Hall.''


    Certain that she was ready, Evelyn made her way to the entrance of Melisandre''s estate, where, Anneli, Katrina, and Melisandre were waiting to see her off.


    "No need to be so nervous, you prepared the best that you could, and I am certain you will win." Melisandre said, seeing that Evelyn was a bit anxious from a single nce.


    "Yeah, you nearly managed to beat Katrina in yourst battle and none of your opponents today are even close to as strong. You are going to win for sure." Anneli said encouragingly.


    Katrina nodded her head in agreement and likewise praised Evelyn abilities and efforts.


    "Thanks. I will make sure to not fall below your expectations." Evelyn said, feeling uplifted by their words.


    While she and her teammates had put in a great deal of effort to prepare for this match, they never could have gotten as far as they had without Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina''s support, and Evelyn felt she could not let them down now.


    "I have pulled some strings so that I can view you match from my room. We will be rooting for you the entire time." Melisandre said, a smile showing her pride in Evelyn on her face.


    "Understood. I will make sure that we do not disappoint and put on a good show for all of you." Evelyn said, feeling her spirits rising.


    Once she had finished receiving somest-minute morale-boosting, Evelyn said goodbye to Melisandre, Anneli, and Katrina, before heading off to meet up with Bylur and Rehni.


    Upon arriving at the designated location, she found them both stiff as a board.


    Naturally they were nervous since this battle would be deciding their fates.


    ''I suppose I need to share the same words that were given to me to them as well.'' Evelyn thought.


    Landing in front of them she gave them the same encouragement she had received from her mentors and helped to ease their worries.


    "Now these are the items I prepared for all of us." Evelyn said taking out nine different disposable items.


    Swiftly she handed them over to who was going to have what, and Bylur and Rehni were quite surprised.


    "Evelyn, are you sure that neither of us should have a healing potion or bottle of magical energy replenishment pills?" Rehni asked, her toneced with concern.


    Normally it was standard practice for each of them to have their own healing potion and magical energy replenishment pills along with one other item to increase tehri power during the match.


    However, this time Evelyn had opted to give Bylur and Rehni three items to boost theirbat abilities, while she kept ahold of two healing potions and a bottle of magical energy replenishment pills.


    "Yes, I believe that you both will need all of the advantages you can get. Using those three potions you will certainly be able to match our opponents. And if either of you start to run low on magical energy, I can always give you one of the pills from my bottle. As for healing we can rely mostly on Bylur''s magic and in case of an emergency I will have the two potions ready." Evelyn exined.


    She was nning on ying a full support role this time around and had geared up in anticipation of this.


    "Just leave it to me Evelyn. I will show that bastard Devurg that he cannot push me around anymore." Bylur said, a fierce resolve burning in his eyes.


    He had already lost once before to the leader of the faction targeting them, and this was going to be his chance to get some payback.


    "Good, I will leave him primarily to you then. I fully believe that you can win." Evelyn said.


    This helped to motivate Bylur further and he started imaging the heaps of praise Evelyn would give him after their victory. Even going so far as to have delusions of her finally epting his affections.


    While Bylur was off in his daydream, Evelyn and Rehni had ast minute discussion on strategy, going over the numerous ns they had made based on the terrain they could end up in, and how Devurg''s team approached the battle.


    Soon the time had wound down so that there were only thirty minutes left before their match and Evelyn along with Rehni and Bylur flew towards the Ranking Hall.


    When they arrived, they found the ce more lively than ever with over ten thousand owls waiting to get in.


    Of course not all of them were here to see Evelyn'' team, but were here thanks to the massive faction wars that were currently going on thanks to the rewards Melisandre was promising.


    Things had really heated up recently now that it had been five months since the announcement and the Ranking Hall was seeing more traffic than it had in a century. At least this is what Evelyn had heard from Katrina.


    Eventually the Ranking Hall opened, and every public entrance was unlocked and the mass of owls waiting outside began funneling in. Evelyn and her teammates included.

 Chapter 260 260 Evelyn’s Team Vs. Devurg’s Team

    ?Rushing into the Ranking Hall, Evelyn led Bylur and Rehni to one of the reception desks that were already beginning to get packed.


    "We are here to sign in for our match today." Evelyn said, holding out her identification cuff.


    The receptionist quickly registered Evelyn''s team and told her which room they would be able to wait in before their match started.


    "Things sure are busy around here." Bylur said, swiveling his head around and looking at the numerous owls crowding the hall.


    Normally the ce was not too crowded but with all the top-ranking teams going at it, the ranking hall was receiving nearly ten times the usual amount of traffic.


    "Obviously not busy enough though." Evelyn responded, a scowl on her face.


    Despite how crowded the ranking hall was she spotted Devurg and his croniesing right for them.


    "I see that you didn''t run away as I thought. I cannot tell if you are brave or delusional." Trine, the owl that originally led the group that antagonized Evelyn said.


    It was clear that she was just trying to rile them up and Evelyn held out her left wing to calm Bylur who was letting his emotions get the best of him.


    "We have no intention of running from a fight we are going to win. I just hope you do not flee the Roost in disgrace afterwards without paying us our due." Evelyn said, a taunting smirk on her face.


    Trine began grinding her beak in response to this and magical energy began shing all over her body as her power raged with her emotions.


    "That is enough Trine, calm yourself. We only came to see how much progress they made in these five months. And while it is impressive, you all still fall short of us." Devurg said as he appraised Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni.


    He could tell that Bylur and Rehni had advanced to the high tier of the awakened rank, but he was still feeling confident since his whole team was at the peak and Evelyn still only at the mid-tier.


    "I am sure you know that rank and tier are not everything. This will not go like it didst time." Bylur said to Devurg, his toneced with fury.


    "Humph! I would sooner believe that the Roost will fall than you being able to beat me. Especially after your pathetic disyst time." Devurg said, before walking away with the members of his faction.


    "Come on, let us find our room. We still need to eat the meal that Anneli and Katrina prepared for us before the match starts." Rehni said, trying to divert Bylur''s attention away from Devurg.


    With Evelyn''s agreement, Bylur begrudgingly turned away from staring daggers at Devurg''s back.


    Once they found their room which was number three thousand sixty-two, Evelyn pulled out the small meal she had stored away and began setting it.


    "We need to eat quick before our match. We have less than an hour now." She said while loading up her te.


    Swiftly the three of them at the food that gave them a couple more magical buffs and did ast-minute check over their inventory while discussing strategy.


    Soon the timer in the room had counted down to only a minute and they waited in anticipation for it reach the end.


    When it stuck zero, a blinding light engulfed them and they were warped into another separate dimension where tier battle would be taking ce.


    Immediately as the light faded, they took in their surroundings.


    For this match a random match had been selected since neither one of their teams had been willing to let the other choose.


    "Looks like we got a stone spire forest biome." Evelyn said taking everything in.


    This was her first time actually seeing this particr environment in person. Even if it was a simtion.


    Back on Earth she had read about a simr area in a geography book and remembered that the pictures had really stuck out to er since it was like nothing she had ever heard about before.


    Unfortunately, as amazing as the sight was, this was not the time for her to be taking it in.


    "Since we have plenty of ancho points, Rehni start putting up wires as we go." Evelyn said.


    Nodding her head, Rehni shed with magical energy and thin wires that were practically inviable began affixing themselves to the rocks and trees around them.


    Of course, they did not stay in one ce and try to take ahold of an area since they knew this would only make them sitting ducks since among the members of Devurg''s team Trine had nature magic and Devurg had Earth. If they made it obvious that they had set up wires in one central location it would be easy enough for their opponents to dismantle their defenses.


    Nevertheless, by spreading out the wires in several locations they could change arger portion of the terrain to their favor and make their opponents wary of traps at every turn whether there were actually any or not.


    "Oh, they sure are confident." Evelyn said, turning her gaze upwards.


    Unlike her and her team who were flying through the stone spires and trees in order to keep a low profile, Devurg had led his team high into the sky and were searching for Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni from above.


    However, while this gave them a better vantage point, Evelyn was easily able to spot them since they were out in the open before they spotted her.


    Using the time they had Evelyn, Bylur and Rehni moved into formation and came out into the open to lure Devurg and his teammates to exactly where they wanted the initial engagement to happen.


    A moment after Devurg spotted Evelyn and her teammates, he began racing down towards them, confident that his team would win a head to head confrontation.


    ''What an idiot.'' Evelyn thought as their enemies did exactly what she wanted.

 Chapter 261 261 Evelyn’s Team Vs. Devurg’s Team (2)

    ?As Devurg dove towards Evelyn Bylur, and Rehni with his teammates in tow, Evelyn could only stare at them in disbelieve.


    They were not taking any caution at all and charging right for them.


    Certainly, from a perspective of just rank Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni were pretty well outmatched, but it was still reckless to juste directly at them without any sort of n.


    ''I suppose that they think they can simply crush us with overwhelming power. Unfortunately for them we have practiced extensively how to deal with stronger opponents. And they pale inparison to our training partners.'' Evelyn thought as Devurg, and his teammates approached.


    When they were within about two hundred fifty meters, Evelyn who had formed up with Bylur initiated their first move.


    It was simr to thebination that they had used against Katrina during their second sparring match, and together they created a dense snowstorm and sent it directly towards Devurg''s team.


    A wide st of wind and snow quickly enveloped the three enemy owls, andpletely sealed off their vision.


    This stunned them for a moment and without any effective way to deal with the snowstorm Devurg and his teammates had to deploy magical energy barrier to block the snow and continued flying directly for where Evelyn and her team had been.


    Overall, their reaction was pretty fast and showed that they had a good amount of experience, and only a few seconds after they were plunged into the snowstorm, they managed toe out the other side.


    Yet Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni were no longer out in the open when Devurg pushed through the snow.


    Naturally they were not simply going to sit around and wait for their enemies to approach them and had no intention of meeting them on equal terms and fighting head-to-head.


    Before Devurg and his teammates could locate where Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni had disappeared to, another st of snow and wind came from out of the trees and covered them once again.


    This gave them a general idea of where Evelyn and her team were hiding, but by the time they began to act it was already toote.


    While her magical energy barrier protected her from damage, Trine found herself caught off-guard in the thick snowstorm and did not notice the metal cables that had wrapped around her barrier until she was already being dragged away.


    Devurg and Kless swiftly noticed Trine begin taken away, but as they chased after her they ran into the wires that Rehni had set up in advance and were slowed down by them.


    Once she was pulled out of the snowstorm and into the woods, Trine acted fast and used her nature magic to control the foliage around her and stop the metal cables from continuing to drag her away.


    She also incased herself in a thick ball of branches and began firing off multiple spears of wood in every direction.


    This served to both protect her while she waited for her allies to catch up and attack Evelyn''s team to prevent them from getting close.


    Her vision as cut off again, but her n was simply to defend herself until help arrived so there was no need for her to worry about visibility. Especially when Evelyn and Bylur were already so adept at blinding her with wind and snow.


    Except while she figured that this would fend off Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni, she was sorely mistaken.


    There were records of every match in the Ranking Hall and some of them ere even recorded. Evelyn and Rehni had studied every past record they could get on Devurg''s team and thoroughly studied their abilities and formations.


    Thanks to this they already knew about he move that trine was using and hade up with a countermeasure.


    Within just a second of Trine erecting her spiked ball of branches, Rehni had prepared the next phase of their attack and mmed a giant metal spike in the shape of a nail into the wood.


    It did not manage to pierce all the way through thanks to how powerful and refined Trine''s defenses were, but this was only the first part of the attack.


    Following the giant nail being stuck in, Evelyn increased the gravity around it to the highest degree she could.


    Then Bylur smashed it with a huge hammer made of ice and the metal nail sted through the wooden barrier along with a surge of cold air.


    Trine went wide eyed seeing therge metal spikeing for her and failed to properly avoid or block it. Never having imagined that her defenses would be prated so quickly by Evelyn and her teammates.


    In ast ditch effort, she tired forming a shield of magical energy in front of her, but it folded under the immense force behind the attack and her left wing was pierced through.


    A loud screech of pain released from Trine''s throat as er wing was impaled, and the magic she had been maintaining began to crumble as she lost focus.


    Unable to fly with her wing pierced, Trien was quickly dragged down by therge eight-meter-long half a meter thick metal nail sticking out of her left wing.


    It seemed that she would crash directly into eh ground and be easy to pick off, but before Evelyn and her team could initiate another attack, Devurg and Kless broke through the web of iron threads that they had recklessly charged into.


    Arge mound of soft direct erupted from one of the nearby stone spires and positioned itself under the falling Trine in order to catch her.


    At the same time Kless fixed a re on Evelyn, and her teammates, while Devurg helped Trine.


    Immediately he beganunching attacks at them to force their attention away from his injured teammate.


    ''It is sound magic as we thought. It was a bit unnerving when we watched the recording and did not see any visible phenomenon, but thankful it is sound magic and not something rarer.'' Evelyn thought as she avoided the sonic stsing her way.

 Chapter 262 262 Evelyn’s Team Vs. Devurg’s Team (3)

    ?Having taken an early lead thanks to Devurg and his teammates recklessness, Evelyn''s team had managed to heavily wound Trine and practically take her out of the battle.


    At the moment Kless was trying to keep them at bay with a barrage of sonic attacks, while Devurg helped the injured Trine, But Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni were not simply going to let their advantage go to waste.


    ''Sound based attacks are normally pretty annoying to deal with, but thanks to Rehni we do not have to worry too much.'' Evelyn thought.


    While the overall magical energy that Rehni had fell slightly below Kless her control over her abilities was significantly better.


    She was able to intercept his sound-based attack and weaken them to the point of being harmless with rtive ease and far less magical energy.


    "Hurry up an take the potions I gave you both. We need to press the attack now." Evelyn said to Rehni and Bylur.


    The two of them formed up quickly behind Evelyn after she said this, and while they drank the potions she spread out a wide magical energy barrier to protect them.


    This left them vulnerable to being rushed since two of their team members were preupied, but in order to do so, Kless would have to attack them alone, or Devurg would have to abandon Trine. Either way it would be too big of a gamble.


    Instead Kless tried to pressure Evelyn with a more powerful attack than the cover fire he had been shooting off.


    A missile made of sound sted out from in front of his body and headed right for Evelyn.


    Yet despite the iing attack she did not falter and poured in more magical energy into her barrier. Holding nothing back.


    The attack impacted hard against Evelyn''s barrier, and a deafening sound echoed through the area, but other than a few cracks where the attack impacted, nothing of consequences happened.


    Naturally this shocked not only Kless who hadunched the attack, but also Devurg and Trine who were watching from afar.


    Being only a mid-tier awakened rank Evelyn had sessfully blocked Kless'' full power attack when he was two tier above her.


    And it was not a small magical energy barrier she was maintaining around herself. She had also fully protected Bylur and Reni who were behind her.


    "Evelyn we are ready." Rehni said after discarding thest potion she had consumed.


    A smile on her ace Evelyn began pulsing with magical energy and released a heavy gust of wind that enveloped Bylur and Rehni.


    The magic she was using now was simr to what she had used in theirst match that finally ranked them up into he top five thousand teams, but now she was far more proficient with it and did not constantly have to focus to maintain the spell and could use other magic alongside it.


    Now fully buffed up by potions and Evelyn''s support magic, Bylur and Rehni flew into action against their shaken and weakened opponents.


    Flying behind them Evelyn lowered the gravity around them to increase their speed further, and faster than what their enemies thought imaginable they were right on top of them.


    Bylur had headed directly towards Devurg to settle the score from their previous duel, and Rehni had moved to take on Kless.


    Evelyn positioned herself in between the two of them, but kept her focus more on supporting Bylur since his opponent was stronger, and while Trien was injured, she had received a healing potion from Devurg and was beginning to recover.


    Swiftly, Rehni began pressuring Kless who used the same type of magic as her.


    She had just consumed three potions from Evelyn that increased her swiftness, durability, and the amount of magical energy she could wield.


    All of them were simple potions that buffed base abilities but they were heavily refined and the highest quality that Evelyn could make.


    Under the effects of these potions and the added mobility that Evelyn''s wind magic support was providing her, Rehn held a clear advantage over Kless despite him being farrger than her and of a higher rank.


    While Rehni dealt with Kless, Evelyn and Bylur were taking on Devurg and the injured Trine.


    Bylur was trading blows with Devurg, with both of themunching heavy attacks at each other.


    It was a violent and bloody close quarters battle with rocks and ice flying around.


    And despite Bylur being smaller and physically weaker he was easily holding his own against Devurg now, instead of how easily he was dealt with before.


    The way he was fighting could even be considered reckless but Evelyn was maneuvering around to prevent Devurg fromnding a solid attack on Bylur by forcing him to deal with her wind magic.


    At the same time, she was also constantly unleashing wind des at the nearby Trine who was trying to help Devurg.


    Evelyn''s des of wind would easily slice through the vines and branches Trine was trying to control and forced her to seek shelter in the cave that Devurg had made in the side of one of the stone spires.


    ''Looks like Bylur has worn Devurg down quite a bit. They have both taken about the same amount of damage, but Bylur can heal off any light injures easily enough with his life magic.'' Evelyn thought as the battle continued.


    Things had been going well for them thanks to their opening trap working so well and allowing them to cripple one of their enemies.


    "Bylur, you have done enough for now. Go help Rehni. I will hold these two until you both get back. Make sure to hurry up though, you do not want me to get injured right?" Evelyn said.


    At first Bylur seemed reluctant to leave since he was finally getting to beat up on Devurg, but this was one of the strategies that they hade up with and he knew to follow Evelyn''s orders.


    Anyway, he felt that if he performed ell that he could score some points with Evelyn, and certainly did not want her to get hurt.


    With great haste he disengaged from Devurg and flew over to where Rehni was battling it out with Kless.


    Just like his fight she was winning, but it had be a war of attrition.


    They were not strong enough to crush their opponents in one hit, especially since they had been focusing heavily on defense.


    "On no you don''t, I am keeping you here until they are finished. Since you are both weakened now, I should have no problems." Evelyn said to Devurg who tried to rush to follow Bylur.


    She had moved in between him andunched a volley of wind des. Some at him and some at Trine who was still trying to recover from her punctured wing.


    In a minute she would likely be able to fly again, but until then she was grounded and forced to take any attack that came towards her.


    Devurg grimaced at Evelyn and nced between Trine and Kless.


    If he left Trine alone Evelyn could possibly take her out, but it was clear that Kless was not going to hold out for much longer being attacked two on one.


    Devurg himself was pretty worn out from his fight with Bylur and the frost covering his body was slowing him down in two ways.


    Not only had it made him a bit heavier but the cold was starting to slow down his reactions.


    If he was in peak condition he would have tired to push past Evelyn and help Kless to form back up with him and Trine, but right now he knew that was not possible.


    The only chance he could see to win was to take Evelyn down now while she was alone and then face Bylur and Rehni afterwards with trine.


    This decision meant that he would have to abandon Kless and allow him to be defeated, but it was the only chance towards victory that Devurg could see.


    ''Oh, looks like he is getting serious.''


    Seeing the visible wave of magical energying off of Devurg Evelyn could tell eh was about to use a powerful spell.


    However, despite all of the power Devurg was amassing Evelyn reminedpletely calm.


    Soon arge spherical mass of rock had formed in front of Devurg and it began to wriggle around.


    Five serpent like heads formed out of the stone that was moving fluidly, and each one fixed itself to towards Evelyn.


    "You should feel honored. This is my strongest spell stone hydra, and I am going to use it to crush an upstart like you." Devurg said to Evelyn.


    The five serpentine heads then flew towards Evelyn and began chomping down theirrge mouths that were easily wide enough to swallow her whole.


    Except as ferocious as the attack was, Evelyn nimbly evaded it and still had the leeway to fire off her own attacks back at Devurg and Trine.


    In fact, the five hydras made of rock seemed to only be a minor inconvenience that was forcing her to move around a little more.


    With unparalleled grace and speed Evelyn dodged around the each of the hydra''s heads like she knew where they were going toe from before they started moving. And this was exactly what was happening.


    She had seen this move used in some of the recordings of Devurg''s matches and figured out how it worked.


    It would take an immense amount of focus to control all five heads simultaneously at one time, and Evelyn noticed that there were actually set patterns for their movements.


    Aftermitting each pattern to memory, she knew exactly how Devurg''s magic was going to move.

 Chapter 263 263 Victory And An Unexpected Surprise

    ?With a smug expression on her face Evelyn continued to evade Devurg''s attack whileunching some of her own to pressure him further.


    ''Oh he is starting to get more reckless.'' Evelyn noted as she continued to dodge the stone hydra that Devurg had made.


    The strongest magic that her enemy could wiled began moving more erratically and no longer was following one of the set patterns that Devurg had made for it.


    He had clearly noticed that Evelyn was predicting his moves and was instead manually controlling his spell.


    However, Evelyn could only see this as a very desperate move.


    The reason that Devurg had created set attack patterns for his magic in the first ce was because of how difficult it was to control, and while Evelyn no longer knew how the stone hydra was going to attack it did not make much of a difference.


    ''I suppose now is the best time for my new spell.''


    Seeing that Devurg was expanding a considerable amount of focus to attack her with his own magic, Evelyn decided now was the time to go on the offensive herself.


    The air around her began to shimmer, and quickly she had formed a dozen small spinning des of wind.


    She had shaped them in a circr fashion like a chakram and each one was easily sharp enough to slice into even the toughest awakened rank beast.


    Sending them down towards Devurg, Evelyn began her own assault against him that was very difficult to evade.


    Her attackcked raw power, but it made up for that in its nimbleness and difficulty to deal with.


    Swiftly Evelyn managed to inflict several shallow cuts on Devurg''s body and was beginning to wear him down.


    Small trickles of crimson were falling off his body, and every second that went by Evelyn caused more of Devurg''s blood to spill.


    Unfortunately, her time easily overwhelming Devurg did notst long, as Trine returned to the battle.


    Thanks to the healing potion she had received she was able to fly again after only a couple of minutes andunched a barrage of thick roots at Evelyn.


    This gave her very few options to mauver around as she now had to avoid two ever proliferating attacks.


    Eventually despite knowing that it wasing from having seen them use this strategy in previous matches, Evelyn found herself caught in a web of stone and wood.


    It was quite the precarious situation, and she would have been a bit worried if the calvary had not arrived.


    Before Devurg and trine were able to attack after catching her, Bylur and Rehni returned,unching powerful spell that freed Evelyn from her entrapment and forced their opponents to worry about defense.


    "You two both certainly took your time. I nearly had to getpletely serious to get out of that situation." Evelyn said to her teammates.


    "Sorry, Kless led out for longer than we thought possible. He did not go down until Bylur froze his entire body solid. Though, I still think that you took on too much risk for this strategy. There was no reason to be so reckless." Rehni said, a chiding tone in her voice.


    "I do not even have a scratch on me. Anyway, having me hold these two here after we weakened them and letting the two of you defeat Kless was the n that had the greatest chance of sess."


    Unable to refute this, Bylur and Rehni said nothing more, but they were not exactly thrilled that Evelyn had pushed so much risk onto herself.


    "How!? How did you all get so strong in such a short amount of time!?" Devurg shouted towards Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni.


    It had only been around half a year since hest fought Bylur and easily defeated him. Yet now his team was the one on the ropes. Unable to do much of anything.


    "All we did was work as hard as possible to get stronger. Perhaps if you did the same instead of thinking this would be an easy win, you would not be the ones losing right now." Evelyn said, a smirk on her face.


    After that she backed Bylur and Rehni up as the two fo them took the front lines and fought against Devurg and Trine.


    Naturally Bylur continued his battle with Devurg and this time it was even more one sided.


    In only a matter of a few minutes their opponents were breathing heavily with wounds all over their bodies and their magical energy nearly depleted.


    In the end to save what little face he could and to avoid any serious injuries Devurg surrendered. Understanding that he had no chance of winning.


    After that an automated message signaling the end of the match sounded and Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni were dered the winner.


    A bright light then engulfed them as they were warped out of the separate dimension the battlefield had been created in and brought back to the room within the Ranking Hall.


    "Looks like our victory is official." Evelyn said, holding up her identification cuff.


    The number that disyed their team''s ranking within the hall had shot up and they now had the rank that Devurg''s team previously upied.


    "To think that our rank would shoot up over three thousand ces in one match." Rehni said.


    Their team was now ranked number one thousand five hundred eighty-four. Putting them among some of the stronger awakened rank owls of the Roost.


    Most teams of a simr or higher standing were already at the peak of the rank, but none of them were, Showing just how powerful they all really were inpassion, and the potential that they had.


    "Yes, we made a great deal of progress today, but we cannot get toofortable, there is still a long way for all of us to go together." Bylur said.


    "I am surprised to hear thating from you, but you are right. We still have the Legget Faction to deal with. They are the reason Devurg was after us in the first ce." Rehni said.


    The discussion having turned to their next enemy, the smile on Evelyn''s face vanished.


    "This certainly is going to be a bit of a tough road, and we are likely to have more factions target it. But with the two of you by my side I am sure we can get through it together. I have never been happier to have friends I can rely on."


    Bylur and Rehni agreed with this sentiment and told Evelyn that they would aim for the top together.


    "Now we can talk about our future goal moreter. We need to go and obtain our prizes for winning. Devurg owes us a lot of credits and we need to make sure he honors the contract and disbands his faction."


    Nodding their heads, Bylur and Rehni went along with Evelyn and they began making their way towards the Ranking Hall''s infirmary, where the expected to find Devurg and his team.


    Luckily their assumption turned out to be correct and when they arrived, Devurg and Trine were receiving healing, and Kless was being unmelted.


    Among these three there were also several dozens of members of their faction and when they spotted Evelyn, they fixed her with nasty res.


    ''If only looks could kill I would surely be dead several times over. Though if that we the case, I would not have gone through everything I did.'' Evelyn thought, shrugging off the hostile gazes being sent her way.


    The level of resentment she was feeling was nothingpared to the sheer rage and pain she had felt in the past, and the res she was currently receiving were nothingpared to the ones she had given when her new parents was killed.


    Without any hesitation Evelyn approached the crowd of visibly angry owls and pushed her way directly to Devurg.


    And as much as the members of his soon to be gone faction wanted to tear Evelyn apart, they knew better.


    They were currently within the Ranking Hall, and the head healer in the infirmary was a high tier tyrant rank owl and would swiftly intercede if a fight was to break out.


    "You lost. It is time to honor the contract we singed. Either that, or we can see how the Roost will settle this. I imagine that the deal will be better for us in that case though." Evelyn said, a confident glint in her eyes.


    If Devurg broke the contract not only would his faction be disbanded but he along with Kless and Trine would be exiled from the Roost.


    Grinding his beak, it was clear that Devurg was not at all happy about how things had turned out.


    But he had no recourse but to ept and held out his identification cuff towards Evelyn.


    "There I have transferred the agreed upon twenty million credits to your team''s ount. I cannot disband my faction here, but I will do it within three days. You are free to check up on us if you do not believe me." Devurg said, anger and sorrow seeping into his tone.


    "Very well, that should suffice. I will check back in three days to make sure your faction is disbanded and that you do not try to revive it in some way by making someone else the leader."


    The twenty million credits added to her team''s ount and the promise that Devurg would disband his faction Evelyn left the infirmary with Bylur and Rehni in tow.


    The moment they exited however they were met with a cord of owls.


    Among them were some that simply wanted to congratte them, others that were slightly ranked above them giving them words of barbed words of warning not to let one victory go to their heads, and a final group that wanted to recruit them.


    It took them nearly two ours to get thought the crowd, with those trying to recut them taking up the most time and taking several refusals to give up.


    At the end of it all there was just a single owl remaining that was at the peak of the fiend beast rank.


    She had been patiently waiting her turn to speak to them and was seemingly very nervous since she was the only fiend beast around and trying to talk to those that were well above her rank.


    Seeing her, Evelyn froze up and went wide eyed.


    In front of her was an owl that look extremely simr to her mother from this world.


    At first Evelyn thought she might be hallucinating, but it was clear that Bylur and Rehni could see her as well.


    "I never thought I would see you again after the day you and the rest of our family disappeared. But I finally found you sister."

 Chapter 264 264 Reunion With Family

    ?Standing in a daze Evelyn felt her mind going nk as she stared at the owl that imed to be her sister.


    It had now been several years at this point since she had been reborn into this new world as an owl and she honestly figured that her sister was dead just like the rest of her family.


    Still, she had not seen her sister die, so it was possible she had survived.


    However, when her mind began to work again Evelyn''s distrustful nature came back out.


    It was all just a bit convenient that her supposed sister had shown up immediately after she had gained more notoriety for beating Devurg''s team.


    For all she knew, this was just some borate trap.


    Yet as she went to deny any rtion to this owl, she simply could not get the words out and she felt tears start to fall down her face.


    Deep down she could feel the familial rtion.


    She did not know if it was some instinct that all owls had to recognize their family, but despite the rational part of her mind telling her that there was no evidence that this owl was her sister, she could not shake the feeling that this truly was her sister.


    ''Last time I saw her we were both still just wild rank beasts that were only just starting to learn how to hunt. Could this really be her?''


    Unable to simply walk away from the possibility of having found her sister, Evelyn told Bylur and Rehni to go on without her.


    "I wille celebrate our victory with both of youter. For now, I need to confirm if she really is my sister."


    "Are you sure you do not want us toe with you Evelyn?" Rehni asked, knowing that Evelyn was acting unusual.


    Normally she would be far more cautious and would not meet with a stranger all alone after just meeting them.


    "Yeah, it will be fine." Evelyn assured her friends.


    With reluctant looks on their faces Bylur and Rehni did as Evelyn wanted and left her alone.


    Once they were gone Evelyn turned back towards the owl that imed to be her sister and told her to follow her.


    Along the way to a private room where they could speak Evelyn''s mind began racing and she could not help but nce back from time to time.


    ''She really does look uncannily like my mother. Perhaps if I did not end up with the Aethersphere and having my body changed I would have looked simr.'' Evelyn thought.


    Eventually she made it to a meeting room within the Ranking Hall and after using her identification cuff to pay a fee to use it entered.


    Inside she sat down on one of the cushions and beckoned the owl iming to be her sister to sit across from her.


    "Now you say you are my sister, but how did youe to this conclusion? I have not seen my sister in years and my form has changed several times since then." Evelyn said her toneced with suspicion.


    Her words and attitude clearly hurt her supposed sister, who looked heartbroken to be questioned so after their miraculous reunion.


    "I can tell that its you. Can''t you feel it? We are family." Evelyn''s sister said with water eyes.


    "I certainly do feel something, an instinct or maybe even my magical energy resonating with yours. But I have been hurt too many times. I need to make sure that you really are my sister. And even if you are I still do not know if I will be able to trust you." Evelyn said.


    Seeing how guarded Evelyn was, her sister realized that she truly must have been through far more than she even imagined.


    "I am sorry, it must have been difficult to go through what you did. If you want me to prove it I can tell you what I remember about our lives in the nest. And about thest day when all of you disappeared."


    After that Evelyn''s sister retold everything she remembered from when they were still children.


    It honestly was not all that much or detailed, probably because they had still been young at the time and only Evelyn had what could be considered a higher level of intelligence thanks to her memories from her past life.


    Nevertheless, it was enough for Evelyn to conclude that this really was her sister.


    She had given information that only members of their family would have been able to know.


    "I remember when you flew away that I wanted to tell you to stop or even go with you, but I did as our mother said and stayed in the nest. I still regret doing so to this day. You cannot imagine how lonely it was to wait for a family that never came back."


    Hearing the pain in her sister''s voice and realizing that this truly was a member of her family, the only one she had left. Evelyn opened up her wings and wrapped her sister in them.


    Her sister was feeling a simr pain to her from the loss of their family and Evelyn felt conform in finally having someone to share the experience with.


    "Sister?!" Evelyn''s siter said in a fluster.


    She had not been expecting such a gesture after how cautious Evelyn had been acting earlier.


    "Sorry for doubting you. I just had to make sure. You really are my sister though and I am d that we found each other again." Evelyn said, feeling a torrent of emotions inside her.


    Having found one of her siblings even if it was not the one she was looking for made it feel like she was not after an unobtainable goal.


    ''I managed to find my sister from this world after all this time without even searching. I know I can find Mason as well, even if it takes me a thousand years. He has to be out there somewhere.''

 Chapter 265 265 Reunion With Family (2)

    ?Once Evelyn felt that her sister had calmed down, she unwrapped her wings and took a step back so that they could continue conversing.


    "I suppose before we go any further would you mind telling me how you ended up here in the Roost?" Evelyn asked her sister.


    "Yes, though it is not really that interesting of a tale."


    To start Evelyn''s sister had eventually realized that her family was noting back and that she would have to survive on her own.


    Her time after was spent simply wandering around and surviving while growing stronger.


    In many ways it was simar to Evelyn''s own journey after she had escaped the research facility. Albeit without the worry of human pursuers or having a divine item embedded within her.


    As time went on her sister reached the fiend beast rank and moved farther and farther away from their home that was in an area practically devoid of resources.


    Of course moving out of the Deands brought her into an area that was far more dangerous than she had been in before.


    "There were several times that I nearly lost my life, but I was fortunate enough to survive by thinking fast and being lucky. You always seemed so smart sister even when we were just kids and I always tried to emte you."


    With everyday Evelyn''s sister had managed to get a bit stronger until she stumbled across a truly fortuitous situation.


    In front of arge tree that was bearing delicious looking azure fruits she found two of the apex beasts of the forest she was in dead.


    It was quite obvious they had been battling over the tree and killed each other in the process.


    With their rampaging having scared ever other beast in the vicinity away, Evelyn''s sister had managed to take the fruit along with the cores of the two in beasts.


    "The resources I gathered that day allowed me to reach the peak of the fined beast rank and attract the attention of one of the Roost''s recruiters." Evelyn''s siter said proudly.


    Hearing this Evelyn was baffled for a moment because she actually had no clue about the Roost''s recruiters and had simply stumbled across the ce.


    ''Wait, I think Bylur mentioned something about an owl that belonged to the Roost telling him about the trials. Perhaps that is one of these recruiters.'' Evelyn thought.


    And while she almost asked her sister more about a position within the Roost she probably should have already known about, Evelyn held her tongue. She did not want to seem like an ipetent big sister after just meeting up with her little sister again, and figured she could ask Katrina or Anneliter.


    Continuing on, Evelyn''s sister told her about the trials she underwent to gain ess to the Roost just as Evelyn had.


    "Oh I suppose I know the name you chose since I watched your match, but you do not know mine yet. I decided to go with Aralee after looking through a registry of past names. What do you think?"


    "It is a great name. Allow me to formally introduce myself as well. You already know but I have taken the name Evelyn. I am d we found each other again Aralee."


    "Yes, it truly is a pleasant miracle that we came together again. Now, would you mind telling me how you got to the Roost and what you have been up to. I imagine that your adventures have been far grander than mine." Aralee said with wide expectant eyes.


    However, Evelyn froze up when she thought about where she needed to start.


    While Aralee had not explicitly asked about it yet, Evelyn did need to tell her what happened to the rest of their family.


    "Aralee, before we get into anything else, I need to tell you about the day we all went missing. I am sure you can imagine that things did not go well, but it is likely much worse than you think." Evelyn said, bracing her sister for the horror that was the fate of their family.


    Except her sister just shook her head and looked at Evelyn with exceptionally kind eyes.


    "You don''t need to force yourself to retell what happened for my sake. I already know what happened."


    Evelyn''s tense expression vanished in an instant after hearing this and turned to one of bewilderment.


    She had no clue how Aralee could possibly know what happened unless she had some rare type of magic that allowed her to peer into he past or something in a simr vein.


    "I have been waiting for an opportunity to bring this up for a while now but did not want to overwhelm you, but our brother is here as well and he told me about what happened to you and our parents. I met him during the trials to reach the Roost. Though he was already at the awakened rank like you are and got through without having to endure any of the challenges like I did. He is actually here in the Ranking Hall with me today. He said since we were knew here it would be a good idea for us to watch some of the matches and see how higher ranking owls fight so we can learn from them. We spilt up to view different matches, and when I was watching yours I recognized you. I know this is a lot, but I am certain that our brother would want to see you again as well. If it is not too much for you to deal with, I am supposed to meet up with him and you cane with me." Aralee said, a hopeful look in her eyes.


    She was hoping that they could put their family back together now that the three of them had met once again. Their parents might have been gone but the three of them had survived, and could forge the bonds of being siblings once again.

 Chapter 266 266 Reunion With Family (3)

    ?Her eyes going wide, Evelyn had never expected that her brother was also alive and at the Roost.


    Last she had seen him, he was in a cage and being carted away. Honestly, she figured that he was simply disposed of after she had sessfully survived being imnted with the Aethersphere.


    ''And even if they had kept him alive it is a miracle he managed to escape once the ce became a battlefield. I was in what was effectively a bunker deep underground and the battling nearly caused me to be crushed by rubble. He was in just a simple cage that would have offered pretty much no protection from the powerful magic that had been being thrown around.''


    Evelyn could only be surprised to hear that her brother had escaped from an even more dire situation that hers.


    However, her shock soon faded and instead was reced by lingering resentment.


    It was because her brother''s idiocy falling for a trap that had originally gotten all of them captured and experimented on.


    Had he not been caught initially then their parents would not have died and Evelyn would not have had to suffer unimaginable pain.


    On the other hand, what had happened led her to finding what Mason had left behind for her and she was more conflicted about what she really would have wanted.


    ''No, I need to stop thinking about it that way. There is nothing I can do about the past. What has happened is already over. I need simply keep moving forward.'' Evelyn thought shaking off the lingering thoughts that were only anchoring her down.


    She had no need to dwell on the past action that led her to where she was, and hating her brother for making a mistake when eh was still just a child would not help her at all.


    It was not as if he had actively tried to get their parents killed and Evelyn captured. What had happened was almost certainly just as traumatic for him as it was for Evelyn.


    In the end she decided it would be best to meet with him and at least attempt to foster a good rtionship. She was hoping to increase her allies and felt it would be easier to trust family who she already had a connection with rather than trying to formpletely new connections.


    "Yes if our brother is here as well, then I would like to meet him. I have not seen him since the day our parents died."


    Perking up, Aralee was happy that Evelyn had agreed to meet with their brother. Shew as honestly afraid that she would refuse.


    "Let us go then. We nned a meet up spot beforehand and he is likely waiting for me as we speak. I am sure that he will be very surprised to see you just as I was." Aralee said, excitement clear to hear in her voice.


    Enthusiastically leading the way Aralee headed towards one of themon areas within the Roost where an owl that looked simr to Evelyn was waiting.


    Immediately she could tell that this was here brother. He had certainly changed quite a bit since he was now at the awakened rank, but Evelyn could still see the visage of how he was before when they were still just children.


    Landing first Aralee got their brother''s attention first and then directed him towards Evelyn.


    For just a single moment after heid eyes on Evelyn, she was shocked because he looked to be giving her an almost murderous re.


    This onlysted for an instant though, and his expression morphed into one of surprise so quickly that Evelyn was not sure if she had just imagined what she just saw.


    For several seconds Evelyn felt unnerved, but she pushed the feeling out of her mind and convinced herself that she had simply been unconsciously twisting what she saw because of the lingering mixed feeling she had about her brother.


    "Sister, is that really you, her brother eventually said after they simply stared at each other for a dozen seconds." The shock in his choice was apparent and he seemed to genuinely not have expected to see Evelyn. But something about his reaction did not sit right with Evelyn. It felt almost forced or rehearsed in a way. And she could not get the murderous re she was not sure if she imagined out of her head.


    ''Perhaps like me he had some vestige of resentment. Even though there was nothing I could do, maybe he believes I could have done more to save him and our parents. It is possible that he even thinks that mying to help him is what caused all of our misfortune. If I had simply waited for one of our parents to find him then things may not have happened as they did. At the very least, I can see it from that perspective.'' Evelyn thought,ing up for reasons why she was feeling her brother was not actually happy to see her.


    Nevertheless, for Aralee''s sake she decided to try and get along with their brother despite tension that were still there. Hopefully they could get past their differences.


    "Yes, it is me. Aralee just found me after watching my match. I am d to see that you both survived and arrived here."


    "Now before we go any farther let us introduce ourselves. I have taken the name Evelyn. What might you name now be?" Evelyn asked.


    "Oh, I took the name Verrader upon entering the Roost. But I am confused. How did you get here? I thought that you had perished in that horrible ce where we were confined and our parents were killed. After I escaped and the people had left, I tirelessly searched for you, but only found rubble and crushed bodies. Eventually, I could only assume that you were dead."


    Hearing what sounded like genuine concern from her brother, Evelyn was hit with a sense of guilt.


    When she had escaped instead of looking for him, she had barely even thought about him and instead only moved to secure her own freedom and kill those who had wronged her. A part of her even believed that it was best to simply leave her brother to his fate. At the time shew as still extremely angry and med him for everything, despite it having been wholly the fault of the people that captured them.


    "I luckily did manage to escape in the confusion, but likewise never found you. I was mostly absorbed with escaping and honestly assumed you had already been killed." Evelyn said telling mostly the truth.


    She figured it would be best not to mention that she cared very little for him, and was not willing to risk herself for him.


    "I see, I suppose that does make sense. You were taken to some other part of the facility, while I was kept in a cage and nearly did die. I cannot me you for believing I was dead." Verrader said, a hint of animosity creeping into his tone despite his best efforts.


    Sensing the growing tensions Aralee jumped in to try and keep things together.


    "We all suffered a lot from what happened, but we are back together again and have found a safe ce to live. Here at the roost among other owls we do not have to worry anymore. We can finally help and support each other as it should have been."


    Thanks to Aralee''s interjection things started to calm down between her siblings, and Evelyn decided to move on rather than let tensions rise again.


    "Let us go somewhere more private to talk. We are attracting a bit of attention out here since I just won a fairly high-profile match. I have some enemies here and do not want either of you being targeted by them."


    Taking her siblings along with her, Evelyn brought them back to the private meeting room within the Ranking Hall so that they could continue their discussion.


    "First let me congratte both of you for getting here. It is not exactly easy to reach the Roost. And most surprising is that you have already be an awakened rank Verrader. How did you mange to do so beforeing here?"


    Rurally Evelyn was curious of this. From the way he looked it was clear he had not achieved a normal evolution but one of a higher degree.


    "I simply got lucky an collected the items I needed along the way, while I was simply wandering around. Honestly I did not really know what had happened until I got here and found out about evolution."


    It was a simple answer but enough for Evelyn since she figured that he was probably not a beast that attained intelligence early.


    ''I can tell that Aralee is ahead of the curve and is quite smart already. But it would make sense that Verrader did not achieve human levels of intelligence until he reached the awakened rank. He probably was just going along via instinct until he evolved.'' Evelyn assumed.


    After getting her brother''s story about what had happened to him after he escaped, Evelyn told him about her journey. Minus the part about fining Mason''sst gift for her.


    Following that they began discussing the roost, but Evelyn had far more information and experience tan her siblings.


    They had only arrived a few months ago, while she had been here for years now.


    Naturally both Aralee and Verrader asked for Evelyn assistance. Seeing how much more experienced she was.


    "I will try to help both of you out with what I can, but it will be best if you learn to do most things on your own. You will stifle your potential if you rely too much on me."

 Chapter 267 267

    ?After Evelyn stated that she would not be providing extensive assistance to her siblings, her brother frowned deeply.


    "So, even though you are in a much better position than us, you are still not going to help us, your siblings?" Verrader said, his tone incredibly sharp.


    It was quite obvious he believed that Evelyn should be doing everything in her power to help her younger siblings who she had just met again after being separated for so long.


    Aralee on the other hand was wearing a tense expression since she could feel that Evelyn was not very happy about Verrader.


    "I did not say I would not help you, I said that it is best you learn to grow on your own. Certainly I could give both of you credits or buy things you need, but you would get no experience yourselves that way. My own master has taught me this way. It is fine to ask for aid when you truly need it, but otherwise you should do it yourself to gain experience. However, if you keep acting this way Verrader, I am fine doing nothing for you and cutting off all ties. We may be siblings, but ultimately we have been separated for years at this point, we might as well be strangers. I personally want to get to know you both again since we are rted by blood, but I have lived my life perfectly fine without either of you and can keeping going just the same." Evelyn said, fixing Verrader with a harsh re.


    She was not going to drop everything to cater to the whims of her brother simply because they were rted. If it came down to it Evelyn had no qualms with ignoring him and leaving him to his own devices.


    "Verrader you are being too presumptuous; Evelyn does not owe us anything. We have all made it on our own up to this point and just because Evelyn has achieved greater sess than us does not mean she should start going out of her way for us. Just knowing she is there for us in a pinch is good enough." Aralee said, once again trying to mediate.


    Realizing he was outnumbered Verrader lowered his head and apologized to Evelyn for his rashness.


    Though to Evelyn it did not seem wholly genuine.


    ''I really have ben trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but if not for Aralee I would have already given up on Verrader, But I suppose for her sake, I will try to get along for now. Hopefully we just need more time to get to know each other.'' Evelyn thought.


    "Now, as much as I would like to continue speaking with the two of you, I need to go meet back up with my teammates. How about we meet back up again tomorrow?" Evelyn suggested.


    Naturally Aralee was visibly reluctant to part ways with Evelyn at this point but understood that she had other obligations.


    Verrader on the other hand looked conflicted, as if he was weighing the pros and cons of allowing Evelyn to leave at this point.


    In the end, he decided not to force the issue and instead put on a smile and actively tried to schedule when and where they would meet up tomorrow.


    "Okay, we will meet up the Records Hall early tomorrow. I will show you both the best ways to ess information and guide you to a few ces where you can gather valuable resources easily enough without too much risk." Evelyn said.


    Once she had squared everything away with her siblings she left the ranking Hall and sent a message to Rehni and Bylur that she was free and ready to meet up with them.


    She swiftly received a response that sated that Bylur and Rehni were already waiting at the restaurant that they had made reservations with to celebrate their victory.


    When Evelyn arrived at the restaurant she was taken to a private room where a spread of rare and expensive food wasid out before Rehni and Bylur.


    Normally they would not indulge in such extravagances since they could use their credits towards more valuable things, but today was an exception.


    ''We just got twenty million credits from Devurg''s Faction, so I think we can splurge a bit. Anyway, the food is dense with magical energy anyway and will help us advance. Even if not close to as much as the magic spring.''


    Sitting down at the table across from Rehni Evelyn greeted them both before filling up a te and beginning to eat.


    She had exhausted a great deal of physical energy fighting against Devurg''s team, and arge amount of mental energy conversing with her siblings.


    ''I wonder what I should do from here on out?'' Evelyn thought while reflexively eating.


    Her mind waspletely upied with her siblings and how she should interact with them going forward.


    Verrader had difficulty rubbed her the wrong way right from the start, but for Aralee she felt like she wanted to be a reliable older sibling. Perhaps because she saw a bit of herself in her.


    ''She is looking up to me just like I did to Mason. I really do feel like I want to help her out.''


    For several minutes Evelyn just ate in silence her mindpletely absorbed on her siblings that had appeared out of the blue.


    "Evelyn!"


    Eventually she was shook out of her stupor, when Rehni came up and pushed on her with her wing while shouting her name.


    "What?" Evelyn said, truly looking at her friends for the first time since arriving.


    "We have been trying to talk to you for several minutes but you have not been responding. It was clear that something is on your mind, and we were waiting for you to finish, but you have just been staring at you te in a daze while asionally eating." Rehni said, a bit of concern oozing into her tone.


    "Sorry, I was just thinking about my siblings. Along with my sister, my brother is here as well." Evelyn revealed.


    Rehni and Bylur both wore shocked expression wen they heard this, since they had only seen Evelyn sister, and whether they were actually rted had not been confirmed when they had left.


    "So that really was your sister, you had some suspicions to clear up, but you managed to confirm that is really her?" Bylur said, curious.


    "Yes, she knows things that only my siblings would be able to. I suppose it is possible that some incredibly rare magic could be at y that can warp my perception, but I find that doubtful. And once I finished confirming it as her, she brought me to see our brother as well." Evelyn said, a conflicted look on her face.


    She was not sure how much more to tell Bylur and Rehni about her past. They honestly knew pretty much nothing about what had happened to her.


    "So, what happened when you met your brother as well? Did you not leave on the best of terms?" Rehni asked, taking Evelyn''s hesitant expression to mean that there was some tension between her and her brother.


    And while this was true, she was more concerned with what to tell Bylur and Rehni and what to leave out.


    ''It is far too soon for me to give them the full exnation of my past like I did with Melisandre. I will just tell them the bare minimum and leave out anything rted to my first life and the Aethersphere.''


    Havinge to a decision to tell Rehni and Bylur a bit more about her past, Evelyn began telling them about her life.


    She exined that the start of her childhood had been fairly normal. Her parents cared for her and taught her how to fly and hunt, but they had all been captured by humans save for her sister who had been left in the nest alone.


    "They did horrible experiments on all of us and my parents perished right before my eyes. I managed to survive long enough for the facility to be attacked by other humans and make my escape in the chaos. I found out today that my brother managed to do the same. Us three siblings have been separated for a long time, but by some chance we have met again here in the Roost."


    "I understand now why you were so suspicious and did not immediately recognize your sister. All of you have been separated since you were still just wild beasts. I had thought it odd that you seemed so surprised to see her, but now it makes sense." Rehni said after hearing Evelyn''s past.


    Bylur thought cared less about the situation with Evelyn''s siblings and was more concerned about her difficult and painful past.


    Hearing what had happened to her, he understood why she was so guarded against others, and had an especially difficult time making new connections.

 Chapter 268 268

    ?Having finished telling her friends and teammates about her past Evelyn received words of sympathy from both Rehni and Bylur.


    They had known that something bad had happened to Evelyn in the past to make her wary of making connections, but the truth of the situation was far worse than what they had imagined.


    In fact they did not even truly know the half of it. Evelyn''s traumatic experiences went far beyond what had just happened to her in this life, but her previous one as well. In some ways it is a miracle that she managed to form any connections again at all.


    "Thank you both for your kind words. I have been doing my best to work past what happened and bing friends with the two of you has really helped." Evelyn said, a warm look in her eyes that surprised Bylur and Rehni.


    Up to this point they had never seen such a genuinely happy expression on Evelyn''s face, which was normally just nk in order to hide her emotions.


    After that the three of them moved the discussion onto what they had original been nning to talk about during this celebratory meal.


    "All our practice and nning really paid off. We managed to beat them without suffering any major injuries and almost too easily seeing as how they were all at a higher level." Rehni said, a pleased look on her face.


    "Yeah, we won but I think that you put too much on yourself Evelyn. There was no need for you to fight Devurg and Trine on your own even if they were both injured. You could have gotten serious hurt if we had not gotten back when we did." Bylur said, his discontent apparent.


    He wanted Evelyn to rely on him and Rehni more, especially him, rather than always shouldering the greatest burden by herself.


    She almost always put herself in harm''s way in order to take the pressure off her allies and Bylur felt that eventually she was going to end up in a situation where taking on too much might break her.


    "Bylur is right. We have trained together and gotten stronger, but most of the time you put yourself right in the middle of danger to make sure we are exposed to less. But sometimes that winds up with you taking more than you can handle. It was fine this time, but next time it might not be. We can take a few hits ourselves. There is no need for you to take them for us if you do not absolutely have to." Rehni said.


    Being ganged up and knowing her friends were right, Evelyn could only hang her head and weakly agree.


    ''I just really do not want them to get hurt. I know I can take the physical pain just fine, but I do not know what I would do if either of them got seriously injured or died.'' Evelyn thought.


    Naturally she still had plenty of fear that those she held close would die, and she was determined to do all she could to keep them safe.


    This gave her the tendency to put herself in the position where she would take on the most risk, and Bylur and Rehni were not going to take it anymore.


    As much as Evelyn cared about them, they felt the same way.


    "Okay, I promise to not be as reckless and let the two of you take on more dangerous roles that I have been monopolizing. But enough about that, instead we should focus on our next enemies. We beat Devurg and forced him to disband his faction, but Legget still has it out for us. He and his faction are busy right now thanks to Melisandre''s distraction but that will onlyst for so long. We need to prepare to take them out while we have the time."


    Sessfully changing the topic Evelyn managed to avoid any more scolding from her teammates for her reckless actions.


    As they discussed what their next moves were going to be, time seemed to go by exceptionally swiftly and the restaurant they had reserved a room in was soon to close.


    "This has been enjoyable, but it looks like it is time for us to go our on ways for now. I will be busy with my siblings for the next few days probably, but in a week we can meet up again and I will properly introduce you to them." Evelyn said before heading back to Melisandre''s estate.


    Before she left though, Bylur and Rehni told her to not get absorbed in working like she normally did and take things easy for a bit, since they had just finished an incredibly intense training regimen.


    Nodding her head Evelyn said she would and then took off.


    When she arrived back at Melisandre''s estate, she found Anneli and Katrina waiting for her to give their congrattions.


    "That was an amazing fight. The way you dominated that guy by expertly avoiding his attack, and zooming around the area amazing." Anneli said, gushing with praise.


    She talked at high speeds for nearly two minutes, extoling everyone of Evelyn''s moves, before finally allowing Katrina to speak.


    "That was a good fight, I can see that all of our training together paid off." Katrina said, keeping her praise brief.


    Not longer after Melisandre warped into the room and congratted Evelyn as well.


    "That was a good fight that reminded me of some of my own back in the day. You controlled the battlefield the entire time and did not even have to use your full power. You did better than I could have ever imagined." Melisandre said, proud of Evelyn''s achievements.


    "Now follow me to my room, I have prepared something for you as another reward for your victory."


    Curious about what Melisandre had prepared for her, Evelyn took off with Melisandre and felt her anticipation rising as they flew through the halls.


    When they arrived at Melisandre''s room Evelyn saw that what Melisandre had prepared for her was already out and disyed.


    "I figured that the armor and weapons you have are not able to really keep up with you. They may have been made to be usable for an awakened rank owl at the mid-tier , but they are not going tost much longer for you since you are far above the average. Instead, I dug out my old gear from when I was still at the peak of the awakened rank and got it refurbished for you. I think that it will suit you well."


    Her eyes welling up with appreciation, Evelyn could not thank Melisandre enough.


    "Okay, enough of the words of gratitude. Go ahead and try everything on before it rusts." Melisandre said, pushing Evelyn forward.


    Feeling exited she flew over to the armor and began putting it on.


    Luckily it was magically enchanted to wrap around her body and within just a half minute she was decked out in her new gleaming armor that used to belong to Melisandre.


    "I am sure you can tell already that what you are wearing now is a lot stronger than your previous gear. It has more than just basic defensive enchantments and will help power up your magic as well. Go ahead and test it out."


    A smile on her face Evelyn flew up into the air and felt that despite the armor begin made out of heavy metal that it was not any more difficult to ascend than before.


    Each of the wing coverings were also embedded with wind and fire pearls that helped to amply Evelyn''s magic and fly faster.


    Along with that they had des that could retract from both the front and back allowing her more options for attacking at close range.


    Then the helmet had two horn like protrusions where the tuffs of feathers on her head fit, and each of these ended in a sharp point.


    ''Whoa! They act as a focus as well.''


    Channeling magical energy into the horns on top of her head, Evelyn was able to easily elongate them and could use them as weapons.


    "Evelyn!" Melisandre shouted out while she was fully emersed in testing out the abilities of her new gear.


    However, when she looked down Evelyn found a spinning ball of water in Melisandre''s hands and saw her master give her a mischievous smirk.


    She thenunched the ball of water at Evelyn to fast to avoid.


    Only being able to tank it, Evelyn channeled her magical energy into her armor.


    When the attack hit she felt her entire body shake from the impact, but her amor absorbed most of the force and kept her from being injured.


    "It works pretty well doesn''t it. In your previous armor that attack would have left a huge dent and given you a nasty bruise."


    "Yes, it can take more than I thought. I was sure I was about to be knocked out of the sky by that attack. But this armor absorbed almost all of the force. It really is amazing, Thank you Melisandre."

 Chapter 269 269 Showing Her Siblings The Ropes

    ?Once Evelyn had finished testing out the new armor and weapons that Melisandre had gifted her, she confided in her master about her siblings.


    "That certainly is quite the surprise. I thought that you told me that they had died? But the moment you gain a decent amount of notoriety they suddenly appeared." Melisandre said, suspicion in her eyes.


    It was not unheard of for individual that shared simr traits to try and pass themselves off as rtives to those that had gotten famous.


    Of course, these ploys were normally seen through, but sometimes they worked.


    "No, I am certain that they really are my siblings. Both of them remember things that only we experienced. And I can feel it instinctually that we are closely rted." Evelyn said, confidently.


    Hearing this, Melisandre''s expression softened somewhat, but she still looked at Evelyn intensely.


    "Even if you are certain that they are your siblings their intentions are not clear, correct? This is why you are asking for my advice."


    "Yes, we have been separated for years now, and while I cannot say for sure if I am being influenced by my own subconscious feelings for my brother, something seems off about him." Evelyn said, a conflicted look in her eyes.


    "That is right, you told me he got caught in a trap set by humans and that led to your family ultimately being captured. I can understand some lingering resentment you might have, but I think you should trust your instincts. Until you are certain of their intentions try not to get too close to them. Take things slow and only meet with them in public spaces for now. You are generally cautious with new people so just do as you always have and you should be fine."


    After talking to Melisandre, Evelyn felt less unsure of what to do in regard to her siblings.


    She did not need to treat them in any special way simply because they were rted and would instead get to know them slowly while keeping her guard up.


    Them being her siblings did not mean she had to go out of her way to associate with them. They had gotten through what was essentially the front door of Evelyn''s defenses thanks to their blood rtions, but if they proved to simply want to use her or were dangerous in anyway, she could simply kick them out as easily as she let them in.


    ''Still if we can work things out, I would not mind having some more allies I can trust.'' Evelyn thought, hopeful that she could forge a good rtionship with her siblings.


    With her new armor stored away and her mind settled thanks to Melisandre''s advice, Evelyn headed to the kitchen where Anneli and Katrina had prepared a small celebration for her.


    The four of them enjoyed a bit of merrimentte into eh day, before Evelyn called it a day and went to bed. Feeling more exhausted than she realized and falling asleep practically the moment shended on her nest.


    ¡­


    ''What time is it?'' Evelyn thought, her mind still a bit groggy from just waking up.


    Yet when she saw that she had slept longer than she had anticipated she woke up quickly.


    She had promised to meet Aralee and Verrader at the Records Hall when it opened and she only had half an hour to get ready.


    ''Damn I must have been more worn out than I realized.'' Evelyn thought as she frantically washed her body.


    Once she was clean she easily used her wind and fire magic to st the moisture off her body and then flew towards the estate''s entrance at full speed.


    Continuing to use her magic, Evelyn shot across the Roost far faster than she usually did and ignored the speed guidelines that all the owls were meant to follow.


    Luckily since it was early, there were not as many owls out and she did not encounter any trouble despite flying recklessly fast.


    ''Whew, I made it on time.'' Evelyn thought spotting that the Records Hall was just opening.


    Heading inside she flew down tot eh lowest level where she was supposed to meet with her siblings.


    When she arrived, she found that both of them were waiting for her.


    "I hope I did not keep you waiting too long?" Evelyn said as shended.


    "No, we only just arrived a minute ago." Aralee said, a smile on her face.


    She was clearly happy to see Evelyn had shown up since she had been afraid that she might decide topletely ignore them.


    Verrader on the other hand had a frown on his face, but eventually approached Evelyn and bowed his head.


    "I am sorry about how I acted yesterday."


    Surprised, Evelyn had not expected to receive a genuine sounding apology.


    "It is fine. I can understand that we did not meetst on the best of terms. It was a difficult situation for both of us. Let us try to move on and build up our rtionship once again." Evelyn said, a slightly kinder expression unconsciously forming on her face.


    Verrader for his part did not think that she would so easily forgive him, and for the first time wore a genuine smile on his face when she did.


    "Now, what do both of you know about the Records Hall?" Evelyn asked, getting down to business.


    Today she was going to be sharing a bit of her wisdom, but wanted to know what her siblings already knew so that she did not give them redundant information.


    "I know that this is the ce where all owls within the Roost are registered, and that it serves as a storage for other information of all manners. But that is about it. Other than when I first arrived, I have not been back here. Most of my time has been spent doing daybor jobs and going to my scheduled sses. I have not really had much time toe here and most fo the information is too experience for me to use." Aralee, said, a bit embarrassed.


    Unlike Evelyn who had Melisandre''s support right form the start, she was having to do everything on her own. And as a peak fiend beast that was pretty much at the bottom of the barrel she was just barely scraping by.


    Even just a few hundred credits were still arge sum for her.


    Verrader on the other hand was doing far better since he was already at the awakened rank and above the average in terms of strength.


    This hadnded him a job as a guard for one of the restaurants that catered to mostly fiend beasts and low tier awakened rank beast.


    Naturally, he was making far more than Aralee was and was getting by just fine.


    Unlike Evelyn who had pretty much been leaving the Roost from the beginning to collect credits, both Aralee and Verrader were staying within it and building up slowly.


    Certainly, the jobs they were doing were not as lucrative as leaving the Roost toplete missions and collect valuable items, but it was far safer.


    ''Nevertheless, at this rate they are never going to make much progress.'' Evelyn thought.


    She then told them that it was fine to stay within the safety of the Roost and build up their strength for a while, but eventually they would need to get out into the world or they would only stifle their potential.


    "Um, we understand that Evelyn, but before you are allowed to leave you need toplete the beginner sses. Which neither of us have yet since we only got here a couple months ago. I only just recently figured out how to control my magical energy at all and just keeping up the connection to talk is difficult." Aralee said.


    Blinking her eyes rapidly, Evelyn was now confused never having heard of this rule before.


    Of course, unlike most owls she had not gone to any standard lessons. Instead, Melisandre had taught her everything she needed to know.


    This had allowed her to progress in certain areas exceptionally fast but had left hercking a bit inmon sense.


    "Yes, it has been so long that I forget about that." Evelyn said,ughing it off and quickly changing the subject.


    "Anyway, today I am going to help guide you in gathering information. It was a real struggle when I started out, but there are a few tricks you can use to make it easier. And while this may seem boring, knowing about where you are going and what threats you could face is important. Going somewhere ignorant of what you might face is a good way to die quickly."


    After stressing the importance of collecting intelligence, Evelyn began showing Aralee to where the resources on areas that were suitable to fiend beasts were.


    "As you can see there are a good deal of documents here, but you want to focus on this section. These are areas managed solely by the Roost and are generally safer. I made my start by going to a ce like these, and it was an invaluable experience."

 Chapter 270 270 Showing Her Siblings The Ropes (2)

    ?Continuing to show her siblings around the Records Hall, Evelyn taught them all of the ticks she had learned herself.


    Certainly she was not going to support them by simply giving them credits or valuable items, but she was willing to share some of her knowledge.


    "Now as you can see these are the most recent records for the Glowing Woods and have the most up to date information, but it is not cheap to ess for a normal fiend beast." Evelyn said pointing out the books and documents that were disyed prominently and held information on the first ce she had collected items from.


    Seeing the prices that were all around a thousand credits, Aralee''s face became sullen. She would need months of saving to be able to afford these at her current rate.


    "Yes it can be daunting how expensive some information is, but if you know where to look you can find better deals." Evelyn said, dropping down around two dozen feet and flying under one of the tforms that protruded out of the walls at regr intervals.


    Following her Aralee and Verrader found that there were a number of items that were practically hidden under this tform and would not be easily found unless you knew they were there.


    "They certainly look old and worn. What are they?" Aralee asked, a bit confused as to what they were doing here.


    "These are documents that are several decades old and pertain to the Glowing Woods. As you can see all of them are not in pristine condition and the information might be a bit out of date, but mot of it will still be fairly urate. Plus, these are much more affordable since most owls disregard them. Still, while they might not be the best, it is better to have some information rather than none." Evelyn exined.


    She then directed Aralee and Verrader tot look at the prices.


    Aralee in particr went wide eyed when she saw them since few of these older resources broke past even two hundred credits. They were far cheaper than the new ones that were on average five times more expensive.


    "I figured this trick out when I was doing research for the first time here on a bit of a budget. For something you will want the most recent information, but others it is fine if it is old. Things like what type of species, or what valuable items in an area do not change that much even over a few decades."


    "Thank you, sister. This is really helpful for me. You not only pointed out a safe and profitable ce, but also led me to where I can get the information for cheaper. Once I am able to go out of the Roost I will be sure to put your wisdom to good use." Aralee said, a truly radiant smile on her face.


    Seeing this Evelyn felt her heart thump hard as this was the first time she had felt the look of admiration from one of her younger siblings.


    Holding her head up proudly, Evelyn felt that she was doing a good job as an elder sister.


    ''I wonder if this is how mason felt when I looked up to him. I know we were not in the best situation, but I remember that the two of us had at least a few good times together like this.''


    Feeling a particr type of high from receiving Aralee''s praise, Evelyn began hastily going around the Records Hall and showing her younger sister everything she could.


    However, along the way she almost forgot about Verrader who interjected eventually.


    "Evelyn, I understand that you are happy showing Aralee what resources are good for her, but what about me. I am at the awakened rank and most of what you have shown us pertains to areas suited to fiend beasts."


    ''Oops, I kind of forgot about him.'' Evelyn thought, her expression betraying herck of interest in her brother.


    But she quickly caught herself and said that this information had all been pertinent to him as well.


    "It is best to not push yourself in the beginning. You will find that even in these ces there are a few weaker awakened rank beasts. I would rmend that the two of you go together when leaving the Roost. It will be safer for both of you that way." Evelyn said, giving what she thought sounded like good advice.


    Luckily Verrader bought it and did not realize that Evelyn had pretty much forgotten about him.


    "I see, that does make sense. But what of you Evelyn? Are you not going to go with us?" Verrader asked, his tone sounding a bit desperate.


    "No, my presence would be enough to scare away any beast in those areas. It would make things much harder for both of you if I was there as well. Before I go out with either of you, Aralee will need to have made it to the awakened rank at least." Evelyn sated.


    When she did Verrader fixed Aralee with an almost manic stare and told her that he would do all he could to get her to the awakened rank soon.


    "Thank you brother, but should you not be focusing on yourself?" Aralee said.


    "No, I think it would be best if us three siblings could go out hunting together again. In order to do that we need to catch up with Evelyn. As you are the farthest behind, I will help prop you up."


    Feeling a bit jealous of what she thought was a stoic disy from Verrader, Evelyn said," Aralee, as you are at the peak of the fiend beast rank, all you need to do is gather the necessary catalysts to trigger your evolution. You are a Zephyr owl, are you not?"


    Nodding her head Aralee acknowledged that she was indeed a Zephyr Owl, which Evelyn and Verrader were variants of.


    "In that case I have already done plenty of research on the items needed to trigger you evolution. I cannot give you any of the items themselves, but I can at least allow you the intelligence I already gathered."


    Thanking Evelyn again, Aralee, told her that would be a great help.


    Of course, the information on Zephyr Owl evolution had note from Evelyn''s hard work, but actually Melisandre''s but Evelyn was not going to mention that.


    "Now, I think it is still a bit too earlier for you to go to ces like this Verrader, but I will show you where to find resources on area suited for awakened rank beast. Just be warned, on my first venture out into an area like these, I nearly died."


    Evelyn then took Verrader around and showed him where to find information on a few ces she figured would be suitable for him to gather in. Mostly just so he did not realize she had almost forgotten about him.


    Except no matter how hard she tired it was clear she was not as enthusiastic about assisting him as she was with Aralee.


    There was a subconscious wall that she had put up against her brother and she could honestly not pinpoint the exact reason.


    Perhaps it was of what had happened at the facility where they were used as research subjects. Or maybe it was simply that Evelyn saw more of herself in Aralee and that gave them a deeper connection. There were numerous reasons that Evelyn coulde up with to why she felt less attachment to her brother.


    In the end, she still did a good job showing them around the Records Hall, and by the time she had finished it was around lunch time.


    "Before we go onto the next hall, how about we go get something to eat. My treat." Evelyn said.


    Beaming Aralee happily nodded her head, more than happy to take Evelyn up on the offer.


    Verrader was a bit more hesitant but agreed in the end.


    Taking the lead Evelyn brought hem to a restaurant that was fairly decent and would ept even fiend beasts as long as they were apanied by an awakened rank.


    Yet when both Aralee and Verrader saw the prices of the food they shuddered and felt that they should not order anything.


    For Aralee pretty much everything was above what she could afford and Verrader would definitely feel a substantial hit to his credits.


    "Sister, I think we should go somewhere else. This ce is simply too expensive." Aralee said, worry in her eyes.


    "Hm, no I think it is pretty average in all honesty. I have enough credits to afford a single meal to celebrate our reunion. Do not feel like you need to hold back. This is a ime treat from me. From now on, I will not be buying things for either of you." Evelyn said.


    After hearing this, Aralee and Verrader pushed aside their feelings and instead took Evelyn up on her offer. This was probably the only chance they would get to eat food at such an establishment for quite some time and they knew it was best to ept Evelyn''s ime hospitality.

 Chapter 271 271 Showing Her Siblings The Ropes (3)

    ?After finishing what was avish meal for Aralee and Verrader, Evelyn took them to the next of the major halls to show them around.


    "While I may be biased since my shop is here, I believe that the alchemy hall is the most important. You can find many life saving items here and it is always best to have a stock of at least the basics. You will find that having a means of recovering magical energy or healing wounds can make a great deal of difference." Evelyn said, extoling the virtues of alchemical items.


    "You are an alchemist, sister? But in your match, I only saw you using wind magic?" Aralee said, a confused look on her face.


    Normally to truly e able to practice alchemy one needed to have an affinity with fire magic. Though magic tools could be used topensate to some degree, one could never truly master the craft without the ability to control their own fire.


    "Yes, I do practice alchemy as my main profession. As for why I did not use my fire magic during the match, it is simply a self-imposed restriction on my part. My wind magic was falling behind since I was relying too much on my fire magic. In order to be more proficient, I have been using only my wind magic in matches." Evelyn said, telling a half truth.


    She did not yet trust her siblings enough to inform them of her heavenly me.


    "I see, so you have the same affinities as our father did. I am a bit envious, since I only have wind." Aralee said, a slight pout on her face.


    She then turned to Verrader and asked him what affinities he had.


    "I have wind and lightning. But I only got my second affinity recently after reaching the awakened rank. There is still hope for you Aralee to get anther one. And most only have one affinity to begin with so there is no reason to fret about it."


    "On another note, you said that your store is here. Could we possibly see it?" Verrader asked, his eyes filled with intensity.


    "That might be a bit difficult. My shop is on the second floor and Aralee would certainly attract some attention being escorted by us. I have some enemies that are envious of my sess and wish to do me harm. I would not want to make a stir and have either of you targeted by them." Evelyn said, her tone conveying her concern.


    Frankly she would have found it incredibly annoying if Verrader and especially Aralee were harassed because of her.


    Thankfully Verrader did not push the issue. Clearly, he did not want to get involved with and unnecessary trouble.


    "Now let me show you both around and point out some shops that have quality goods. I may not be buying you any goods, but I can at least share a bit of my expertise and lead you to some good deals." Evelyn said, leading the way.


    Heading through the Alchemy Hall''s first floor, Evelyn pointed out stalls that she found had decent quality items for low prices and the ones that were carrying the highest quality goods.


    She gave her wisdom freely to her siblings and taught them what she knew. Wanting to help them in a way that would not make them overly reliant on her.


    Once they had finished with the Alchemy Hall, Evelyn instead brought them to the Inscription Hall which she personally believed was the second most important.


    "Here you can by all manner of magic items, from weapons and armor to talismans that have magical effects imbued into them. Though what I consider to be the most useful are definitely the dimensional storage items. Which I rmend that the both of you save up for and purchase as soon as possible. Even smaller ones are immensely useful." Evelyn said, holding up her own storge cuff.


    Of course, even the cheapest storage items were several tens of thousands of credits and not something that Aralee or Verrader could hope to afford anytime soon.


    "Now in the Alchemy Hall, I showed you around and pointed out what I thought were the best stalls in terms of price and quality of goods. This time I want you both to navigate the inscription Hall yourselves and showed me that you can put into practice what I taught you."


    Leaving Verrader and Aralee to find their own way through the Inscription Hall, Evelyn sat back and watched their progress.


    As they went on, she noticed a distinctck of interest from Verrader though. He was going through the motions to keep up appearances, but next to Aralee''s enthusiasm it was clear he did not really care.


    Seeing this Evelyn wondered why, but perhaps he simply already knew an inscriptionist that he trusted.


    ''Whatever it is, what matters most is that Aralee is getting something out of this. She has already figured out one of the tricks to finding good deals.'' Evelyn thought, turning her attention towards her little sister.


    Just like in the Alchemy Hall those that had only just started their shop were selling their goods at lower prices to get exposure.


    And while plenty of these newer shops were filled with lower quality goods for the most part, some of them were actually pretty talented and had made decent items that were cheaper than what could be obtained from more prominent shops.


    Aralee with her low funds had locked onto this fact and was putting into practice what Evelyn had shown her in the Alchemy Hall.


    Verrader on the other hand was mostly just following along behind Aralee and making little effort to search out shops that were good deals.


    By the time they had finished with the Inscription Hall the ce was near closing and the day was almost over.


    "Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us sister. The sses we had only went over the basic functions of the halls and did not delve into the intricacies of them like you did." Aralee said, a bright smile on her face.


    Seeing how grateful her younger sister was made Evelyn feel warm inside and she proudly held her head up high.


    ''I think that I managed to follow your example well enough Mason. I need to by a good older sibling just like you were.'' Evelyn thought, imagining her older brother being proud of her.


    "I also am appreciative of the help you gave us today; it was most informative." Verrader said. "But when might we meet again?"


    Tilting her head, Evelyn thought about this and decided that ten days from now would be best.


    "I have a great deal to do and have pushed things off to show you both around today. If it is fine with both of you then we can meet up again in ten days." Evelyn said.


    For a moment a sh of visible discontent appeared on Verrader''s face and he obviously did not want to wait so long.


    Still, he quickly fixed his expression and gave Evelyn a smile while agreeing to meet in ten days.


    Aralee likewise gave her approval, and said that she would clear her schedule.


    "I am much looking forward to it. I enjoyed today very much sister and cannot wait for these next ten days to pass." Aralee said, genuinely wanting to spend more time with Evelyn.


    With the daying to an end Evelyn parted ways with her siblings feeling happy about her interactions with Aralee had went.


    ''I may never fully be able to get along with Verrader, but at least he was not as bad today.'' Evelyn thought as she flew home.


    ¡­


    Unbeknownst to Evelyn though, Verrader did not head back to his home after parting ways with her and Aralee, but instead made his way directly to the Warp Hall. It was one of the few facilities within the Roost that was always open, and despite it being already near morning when most owls slept, he was going out.


    Luckily, despite not having informed Aralee, he had actually already passed the necessary sses to leave and could go out of the Roost whenever he wanted.


    Once he had bought the necessary tickets to leave and return, he warped to a lesser used area that few in the Roost went to.


    When the light of the warp portal faded away Verrader found himself surround byrge tree in an area that barely had enough magical energy to support an awakened rank and wascking in a diversity of valuable resources. Making it an unpopr spot to gather from.


    Nevertheless, Verrader had note here to collect any resources and instead flew towards a spot he had already visited several times in the past.


    There he found the magic tool he had buried and pulled out what looked like a small notepad from the ground.


    Swiftly he scrawled a message onto the pad and ripped out the page. Turning it into a small bird that began flying off towards its designated recipient.

 Chapter 272 272 Shocking Development

    ?After separating from her siblings Evelyn days went back to a more normal routine.


    While training and preparing for her match against Devurg and his team Evelyn had cut back on running her alchemy store to only two days a week, but now it was time to get back into it.


    Her skills were getting a bit rusty for some of the more difficult and lessmon items Melisandre had taught her to make and she was using her new increased wealth to purchase the items she needed to practice.


    Her days went by like this with every third day being reserved for strategy meetings and training with Bylur and Rehni.


    Naturally the two of them asked about her siblings and Evelyn told them she was going to take it slow to see how they would mesh before possibly incorporating them into their group.


    Today it was the ninth day since she had left her siblings to their own devices, and they had ns to meet tomorrow.


    Evelyn had just finished training with her teammates for the day and they were cooling down a bit after an especially tense session.


    "Are you sure you do not want us to go with you? If you are nning on having them join us it would be best if we got to meet them." Rehni said to Evelyn, wanting tag along with her tomorrow.


    "Yeah, it is as Rehni says. We want to meet your siblings as well." Bylur said, jumping in as well.


    Evelyn in response firmly shook her head.


    "No, I think it is a bit too soon to properly introduce you to them. I am still not sure if I want to associate with them yet. We may be family, but we have been estranged for a long time, and I frankly do not need any more people to look out for. Especially if they end up being deadweight. I want to make absolutely sure that neither of them just want to leech off of us." Evelyn said, making her intentions clear.


    Unable to refute her and understanding her distrustful nature, Rehni and Bylur backed off for now. Both of them figured that things would eventually work out and that they only needed for Evelyn to warm up to her siblings.


    Once they had finished their discussion and were well rested, the three of them said their farewells to each other and went on their ways to do as they pleased for the next three days.


    ¡­


    Waking up the next day Evelyn got ready to meet up with her siblings again.


    Today she was going to assess the progress they had made and how they had used the knowledge she had imparted them with.


    Depending on where they were at she would assess what to do next and give them some more advice. At least, so long as they did not seem to be squandering their time and had made no progress.


    Yet when she met up with them, Evelyn went wide eyed with astonishment.


    In front of her Aralee was no longer at the peak of the fiend beast rank but had evolved into a low tier awakened rank beast just like Verrader.


    ''How? What the hell happened in these ten days?! She was nowhere near being close enough to gather the materials she needed as catalyst to evolve!'' Evelyn thought as she stood stunned.


    And it was not as if Aralee had simply gone for the easiest evolution path. Evelyn could tell by the feel of her sister''s magical energy that she was a superior type of owl.


    "We managed to surprise you, didn''t we sister." Aralee said with an ted expression on her face.


    It seemed she really enjoyed seeing Evelyn''s reaction to her abrupt evolution.


    Verrader, who was standing behind her had a smug expression on his face and was looking quite pleased with himself as well.


    "What happened? How did you managed to evolve so quickly? Just ten days ago you were struggling to get by after only having been here a couple of months." Evelyn asked, unable to process what possibly could have happened.


    "It is all thanks to Verrader. He worked really hard over these ten days to help me out. He said it was a shame that the three of us could not work together like back when we were still children since we were not the same rank and did all he could to gather the items I needed to evolve." Aralee said, giving Verrader a look of gratitude and respect.


    Evelyn on the other hand had an expression of pure bafflement.


    She had not pegged Verrader as the magnanimous type and even if he was willing to help out Aralee, tend days was a very short time to gather the items one would need to trigger an evolution to the awakened rank.


    Evelyn may have been an unusual case in that she needed some exceptionally rare items, but Aralee clearly had achieved a powerful evolution in her own right.


    If it was so easy to just go out and gather these items than every peak fiend beast rank owl would be evolving with ease rather than struggling.


    ''Sure, Verrader is at the awakened rank and would have an easier time gathering than Aralee. But still, how did he get it done so quickly?'' Evelyn wondered.


    Plus when they hadst met, Aralee had said neither of them had even met the requirements to leave the Roost yet, so Verrader would have needed to clear that hurdle first before going out.


    None of it really made sense unless he had some type of benefactor helping him out.


    "Verrader, what did you do? How is it possible you gather the items needed for Aralee''s evolution so fast, and why did you really do it in the first ce?" Evelyn asked, her tone stern.


    This was not the reaction either Aralee or Verrader had been expecting.


    They figured that Evelyn would rejoice that Aralee had made so much progress. Yet instead, she seemed to be seething with anger.

 Chapter 273 273 Evelyn’s Blindness

    ?With Evelyn''s harsh re trained on him, Verrader felt his ted demeanor rapidly deteriorating.


    Instead of Aralee''s evolution being celebrated as he had expected, Evelyn was instead angry and suspicious.


    Naturally she could not fathom that Verrader could have gathered what Aralee needed to evolve on his own in such a short time.


    "Don''t just continue to stare there. Tell me what you did to obtain the items Aralee needed." Evelyn said, offering no room for Verrader to change the subject.


    No matter what she felt she needed to find out how and why he had done this.


    ''What could his motive have been?'' Evelyn thought as she kept a sharp gaze on her brother, trying to read his intentions.


    Eventually he seemed to have worked up the courage to answer.


    "I got a loan of credits from a faction and used that to purchase two of the items that Aralee needed and spent my time gathering the other."


    Hearing this Evelyn found that the exnation was usible in that it was a method in which Verrader could have aplished obtaining the items, but it still did not sit right with Evelyn.


    She could not tell if he was outright lying, or if perhaps telling only a half truth, but something about it seemed off.


    ''Probably because it is idiotic. If it was so easy to get such a loan every owl would do so.'' Evelyn thought.


    From what she had heard from Melisandre, it was imperative that she never take out a loan from any source in the Roost unless she absolutely trusted them.


    So far, Evelyn had taken a loan from Melisandre and Bylur and Rehni through their shared funds, but she had already paid all of those back by now.


    These were personal loans between her fiends and mentor with no strings attached, but any other loan was going to be highly skewed in favor of those lending the money.


    Evelyn had been warned that some of them were extremely predator and plenty of owls had ended up as debt ves because they borrowed more than they could hope to pay back.


    When that happened, whoever owned their debt was able to order them around until they paid it off, and if you died, or were crippled and could no longer work, they had every right to chop you up as materials.


    ''It is morbid to think about, but every owl is still a beast and our parts have value in and of themselves.''


    Unfortunately, it had not been like it was not this way on earth either to some degree. She had certainly heard of people selling off their organs for money, or even being kidnapped and having them forcefully taken.


    "How much was it, what is the interest. and how long do you have to pay it back?" Evelyn asked an exasperated look on her face.


    Had Verrader done this forpletely selfish reasons, Evelyn would honestly write him off as too dumb to continue associating with, but he had done it to help Aralee, so she was willing to at least hear him out.


    Perhaps she was being too soft on him, on both of them. But she remembered how her own older brother had helped her out even when she made bad or rash decisions and wanted to be like him.


    ''Mason would never just give up on me so easily, therefore I should at least take the time to understand exactly what is going on.'' Evelyn thought, waiting for Verrader to speak up.


    Soon enough he told her what she wanted to know about the loan eh had taken, and she could only close her eyes and sigh.


    "Why would you ever take such a horrible deal?"


    After listening to the details, Evelyn had found that Verrader had taken a loan for two hundred thousand credits, and had to pay it back with fifteen percent interest in a month. Otherwise, he was going to end up a debt ve.


    He had already spent almost all of it apparently to obtain the items Aralee needed and was severelycking in funds. At this point he did not even have the fifteen percent interest let alone the rest.


    For her this was not a difficult sum to get since her alchemy skills were at a higher level than any other owl at the awakened rank thanks to the high-quality equipment Melisandre was letting her use and her heavenly me.


    Except for a normal low tier awakened rank owl like Verrader with no specialized skills, this would be a very difficult sum to acquire in only a month.


    As for the reason why he had done this, it was actually quite simple.


    Since Evelyn had said the three of them could not work together until Aralee was at the awakened rank, Verrader had elerated the process as fast as he could.


    "I really just wanted us to be useful to you. As much as many things happened, we are family. I want us to support each other again." Verrader said as heartfelt as he could.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn was not totally fooled by his theatrics. His true intentions were elsewhere, she could feel it.


    ''I can understand. He wants to rely on me and my team. If he has strong allies that will help him as well. But first before I even give him a chance, he is going to have to prove himself.'' Evelyn thought.


    She then gave both her siblings a serious look before telling them what they needed to do before they could even begin to attempt working together.


    "First, you will need to clear that debt of yours together."


    At first Aralee looked confused, she had not incurred any debt, but when Evelyn spelled it out to her, she understood.


    "Verrader did this for you, so I believe you should help him out. This will also be a good chance for you to get some experience together. You are now both at the same rank and tier, so you should be close to the same level of strength. Only after Verrader is debt free will I begin thinking about trying to incorporate you both with my teammates." Evelyn said, making her stance clear.


    Immediately Verrader agreed, thrilled to have what eh considered an easy chance to prove himself.


    Of course, he had not actually incurred any debt at all. He had requested the items Aralee needed from a source outside the Roost, and saying he had taken on debt was just the lie he hade up with.


    Now all eh needed to do was wait nearly a month while gathering credits and pay off the supposed debt he had.


    And while Evelyn had figured he was not being wholly honest and some of his story did not makepletely sense, she was giving Verrader the benefit of the doubt.


    She hade up with her own conclusions that she figured were usible, and was not being as suspicious as she would normally be.


    Only because Verrader and Aralee were her siblings did she not push further or think something else was up.


    Had she just been her usual cautious self, she would have seen that something more was afoot. That Verrader was all too desperate to get close to her.

 Chapter 274 274 Brewing Evolution Potions

    ?Swiftly the month Evelyn had given her siblings to pay off Verrader''s loan and shape up passed by.


    During this time Evelyn kept to her normal routine of running her alchemy shop, training with Bylur and Rehni, and growing the amount of magical energy she had within her two cores.


    Yet there was one other important item of business she had been attending to, and that was gathering the catalysts that Otis would need to reach the tyrant rank.


    This was easier said then done but over thest half a year Evelyn had made great progress and had finally tracked down thest one she needed.


    It was unfortunately going to cost her a stupidlyrge number of credits and the twenty million she had just received from the Devurg Faction had quickly disappeared.


    Her team ount now only held two hundred thousand credits and her personal funds were astoundingly low again.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn, and her teammates had agreed to focus on getting Otis up to the tyrant rank, since having such a powerful and loyal ally would be extremely helpful towards their endeavors. Though Bylur did offer a bit of pushback for a while due to some reason Evelyn could not fathom.


    ''There is one item we do not have or even know how to obtain that Otis needs to reach the specific evolution we found information on, but that does not matter this time.'' Evelyn thought as she stirred a rainbow collected connection in her cauldron.


    She was using the Chryseos Fruits she had gathered from the magic spring along with a number of other ingredients to create an evolution potion.


    It was a difficult brew to make and required a number of rare ingredients, but it could take the ce of one of the items that any beast needed for their evolution.


    Of course, the potion had its limitations and only if all of the ingredients were suitably enriched with enough magical energy could it be used.


    The one that Evelyn was attempting to make could only be used by a peak awakened rank trying to reach the tyrant rank.


    And while Evelyn had never failed to sessfully create an alchemical items since being taught by Melisandre, the evolution potion was proving difficult.


    Even with all her skills and the immeasurable advantage she had received from the heavenly me, Evelyn had failed to create a usable evolution potion three times.


    She was on her fourth try and was running low on ingredients. She only had enough for one more attempt if she failed again, and gathering more would take a great deal of time.


    ''Damn this is a tricky potion to brew. How in the hell does anyone do it?'' Evelyn thought as she kept her entire focus on the pot in front of her.


    Melisandre ad taught her the recipe and walked her through the steps, but even then this brew took more technical skill than she had ever needed before.


    What Evelyn did not know was that it was normally impossible for a beast to brew this type of potion for themselves as it would bepletely beyond them.


    If the average peak awakened rank gathered all the necessary ingredients they would need a mid-tier or higher tyrant rank alchemist that was confident in their skills to make the potion for them. And even then it was not guaranteed to seed because of how tricky the potion was to make.


    Evelyn exemry equipment and heavenly me allowed her to exceed this normal boundary, but it was still going to be difficult for her to seed.


    On her fourth attempt though, she finally seeded.


    Inside her caldron after a bright sh, the rainbow colored liquid was stabilized and she had sessfully created an evolution potion.


    ''This one is for Otis, and I have enough for one more. I may be aways off from my own next evolution, but I might as well make another one for whenever I might need it.'' Evelyn thought, psyching herself up.


    Luckily after sessfully making one evolution potion, she had a better feel for the process and was sessful at making the second.


    She was now missing many of the key ingredients she would need for the potion, but over time she could always gather more when she needed them.


    Soon she had two bottles filled with about a quart of the shimmering rainbow liquid that could take the ce of any one catalyst that a beast needed for their evolution to the tyrant rank.


    Looking at them both Evelyn felt a great sense of aplishment, before the fatigue rapidly set in.


    She had used up all of her magical energy three times already today, replenishing it with pills and a bit of rest in between brewing.


    ''I suppose I will need to call it for today. Tomorrow I am going to be meeting up with my siblings for the first time in months to check on their progress. Can''t allow a bit of tiredness to make me seem incapable.'' Evelyn thought.


    Despite not being sure about allowing her siblings to join her group, she felt that she did not want them to see any weakness from her, especially Aralee. Evelyn wanted to be a reliable big sibling just as Mason had been for her.


    However, if they had failed to pay of Verrader''s debt she would bail them out and that would be it.


    As much as Evelyn wanted to work with her siblings, she was not going to let them leech off of her.


    It was one thing for her to give them some knowledge and help them out here and there until they were stronger and could all work together. But it was another to have them drag her down and constantly be hindrances. She needed allies that were useful, not weights that would only slow her down.


    ''Come tomorrow, I will know whether they have it in them. If they were able to pay off Verrader''s debt, then I will give them a chance to show me how capable they are.''

 Chapter 275 275

    ?''They arete.'' Evelyn thought while waiting for her siblings to arrive.


    They had decided to meet at the ranking hall since it had easily essible private rooms and was a neutral location that was easy to enter.


    Before Verrader went off to pay his loan he was going to show Evelyn that he had indeed gathering the necessary credits.


    At the same time, she would learn from Aralee what exactly they had been up to for thest month.


    ''Finally, they are here.''


    Hearing the bell on the door chiming, Evelyn headed over and opened it up.


    On the other side were her two siblings, both of them looking noticeably stronger than they had been before.


    Neither of them had jumped up from the low tier of the awakened rank, but it was obvious that they had rued more experience in thest month.


    Leading them into eh room Evelyn beckoned them to sit down in front of her and got right to business.


    "So, did you manage to seed?" She asked.


    A smug smile formed on Verrader''s face in response to this question and eh showed Evelyn his identification cuff and pulled up his credit bnce.


    Looking at the number Evelyn was actually quite surprised to see that it was slightly over three hundred thousand. Even if Aralee had been helping him this was an astounding sum for them to have gathered in just a month for their level.


    "As you can see we managed to collect all of the credits I need to pay back what I borrowed. I also want to apologize for going ahead on my own to raise Aralee''s rank without consulting either of you." Verrader said, bowing his head.


    Seeing this Evelyn was shocked, and she could not tell if he was being genuine, or if his acting skills had gone up a notch.


    Watching him something just seemed more genuine than before, and Evelyn felt slightly morefortable around him than before. Though she could not really ce what had changed.


    In the end, she just chalked it up to character growth over thest month and moved on. Not wondering why she was so easily letting her guard down, or taking note of the slightly sweet smell emitting from him.


    "I ept your apology. I know that you were trying to help Aralee, but it was quite reckless to put yourself in danger as you had by taking out a loan. Clearly you already had the skills needed to help her if you only put in a little bit of effort. Though if you do not mind, would you mind telling me how the two of you earned so much in such a short amount of time?"


    Naturally Evelyn was curious about what they had done to earn their funds. Had they taken her advice and gone to the Glowing Woods at first before working their way up to other areas? Or perhaps they found their own more profitable path?


    "You would not believe it sister, but Verrader is truly amazing. He must have a keen sense for where treasure lies. On numerous asion he found items or beasts that were incredibly rare in the areas we were hunting in."


    Aralee then went on to extoled how amazing Verrader had been, and hearing her little sister giving out so much praise towards their brother made her a bit jealous.


    ''No, I will have time to show offter howpetent I am as an older sibling.'' Evelyn thought, her state of mind going off topic.


    Turning her attention back towards her siblings Evelyn listened to a detailed ount of what happened, and she could only believe that Verrader had been supremely lucky.


    He had managed to find valuable items of track down umon beasts almost every time he and Aralee left the Roost. It was almost uncanny in a way. As if he must have had a force of helpers searching things out for him.


    Of course, Evelyn had found plenty of rare materials and such herself in the past, and while it may have been supremely lucky for Verrader to have been so consistent, it was not impossible.


    ''I suppose that they passed my test. Perhaps I was too hard on them from the start. It seems that they just wanted to join me as family again.'' Evelyn thought, seeing things in the best possible light for some reason.


    With the confirmation that Verrader had earned more than the necessary number of credits to repay the loan he had taken, Evelyn sent him off and stayed with Aralee.


    "I am d to see that everything worked out for you both. I know I was harsh, but I wanted to make sure that both of you were able to grow on your own. I often get into fairly dangerous situations and if both of you are going to be sticking with me, you need to be at least strong enough to handle yourselves." Evelyn said.


    "We understand sister, at first I thought that you were trying to drive us off, but I realized that if that was the case, you would have just told us to leave you alone and stopped associating with us entirely. In your own way you were just pushing us to get stronger on our own."


    Nodding her head, this had indeed been part of Evelyn''s intentions, though another part had been to test how trustworthy they were.


    At first she had been suspicious of them, especially Verrader, but now she felt like her misgivings about them had vanished almostpletely. For some reason or another she could not quite pin down.


    Just like them she wanted to reforge their family bonds again. Evelyn may have had bad experiences in regard to family in the past, but deep down she really did desire to try and regain what she had lost twice already with her siblings.


    ''Things certainly work out in a weird way. I never thought I would want to have a family again. But I managed to findrades I can trust like family and my siblings miraculous made it to the Roost as well. Maybe things are finally looking up for me.''

 Chapter 276 276 Out In The Wild With Her Siblings

    ?Once Verrader had returned and Evelyn checked that the bnce of his credits was depleted, she told both her siblings that she wanted to introduce them to her friends.


    "You both have a long way to go to catch up, but I think that if we all work hard together we can get stronger together." Evelyn said while leading her siblings to where Bylur and Rehni were waiting.


    The two of them had already met in one of the Ranking Hall''s training rooms and it was only a short journey to where they were.


    Inside Bylur and Rehni were waiting, and upon seeing Evelyn with her siblings, smiled.


    "First introductions are in order." Evelyn said before having her siblings and teammates greet each other.


    After that, things went surprisingly well, to the point Evelyn felt it was almost unnatural. Things never really went this easy for her.


    Nevertheless, Bylur and Rehni easily epted Evelyn''s siblings, and in turn Verrader and Aralee got along well with her teammates.


    For the rest of the day the five of them exined their individual magic and showed off a bit of what they could do. Albeit with Evelyn still holding back on her fire and gravity magic.


    Naturally, if they were going to be working together from here on out, they needed to know what each other could do.


    Their days went on like this, as the five of them got morefortable together until Evelyn finally decided it was time for them to head out together.


    ''The magic spring will be active again soon, and we need to deliver the items Otis needs to evolve, and then return with him once he be a tyrant rank beast. The only question is whether to bring Verrader and Aralee along or not?''


    Over thest few days Evelyn had been pondering if it was really the right time to introduce her siblings to Otis and the burrowing owls.


    She felt like she could trust at this point, but there was a slight nagging in the back of her head that was holding her back.


    At some point she had stopped begin suspicious of her siblings at all, but this had made her feel wary for some reason.


    It was not something she could ce logically, but one thing or another just seemed off to her.


    However, she could not say it was more than a slight feeling of misgiving, and she felt it might be just from the unconscious resentment she still carried for Verrader.


    ''That must be it, right?'' She thought.


    Still, in the end, she decided to simply watch how her siblings did on their first foray out together and leave them behind when she went to visiting the burrowing owls.


    Later she would need to show them to the magic spring in order to catch them up, but this time they would not be able to use it anyway, so she felt it was best to simply leave them out rather than exin everything now.


    Trust was earned after all, and she felt it would take a bit more time before she was willing to open up about everything to her siblings.


    Quickly Evelyn gathered up all the times she felt she might need and headed out.


    She met up with Bylur, Rehni, and her siblings at the Warp Hall, and were transported to the closest point to the Velinis Desert.


    "Hm, there does not appear to be much of anything here. Where exactly are we? I do not know where this desert is on the map." Verrader said, gazing across the desert with a scrutinizing look.


    "Yes, there is less life here than other ces, but there are plenty of hidden gems in this desert. Give it some time and I will show you where some of the interesting spots are." Evelyn said.


    She then led the way to the cliffs where she had once fought and killed the desert sheep that were pretty tough.


    At this point she figured that some other beast or beasts would have taken up residence in the area since it was a rare spot that had a greater concentration of magical energy inparison to the majority of the desert.


    However when she arrived at the cliffs she was astounded to see that they were very different than she remembered.


    There were now severalrge holes in the cliffs and the surrounding area.


    Looking around Evelyn eventually spotted the culprits that had caused this.


    Dragging the corpse of arge hare was a sandy colored ant that blended in extremely well with the surroundings.


    It was a massive creaturepared to any ant Evelyn had ever seen before on Earth, but despite being a peak fiend beast, it was pretty small at only about a meter long.


    ''It looks like there are about eight of them around right now. None of the ones that are out are at the awakened rank, but they almost certainly have a leader that is. I suppose it must be their queen.'' Evelyn thought analyzing the situation.


    Immediately she was reminded of the spiders she had encountered during the first trail to enter the Roost in the jungle.


    There had been an uncountable number of lower ranking spiders following one queen, and Evelyn imagined that these ants were simr.


    ''They don''t really stand much of a chance against us though, no matter how many of them there are.''


    Unlike in the jungle where the spiders could maneuver in three dimensions just like an owl could, here in the desert these ants were stuck on the ground.


    All they would need to do was attack from above and use their superior maneuverability to pick the ants off one at a time.


    "Rehni, do you know more about these ants? I remember reading about them, but I did not pay it much mind since the source said that they live prominently on the other side of the desert."


    "Yes I believe that they are know as Ramil Ants. Their carapaces are known to be very hard, and I believe that they can naturally produce and fling a highly corrosive acid. The materials from them can be used to create sturdy weapons and armor and sell fairly well if we do not damage them too much. It is possible that their acid can also be used in alchemy, but I would say you would no batter on that front than me." Rehni respond.


    She was pretty well studied and remembered everything she ever read. Making her an invaluable source of information out in the field when they could not consult the Records Hall.


    "I suppose we will hunt here for a while as a decent warmup then. On the cliffs are some rare and valuable nts as well, so we will want to clear out enough ants so that we can get at those." Evelyn said, exining her reasoning for attacking these ants."


    "Now, Aralee, Verrader, since this is your first time out with us, show us what you can do. I want to see how the two of you handle things on your own. If you really get into trouble we will help you out, but do not expect our assistance otherwise."

 Chapter 277 277 Evelyn’s Siblings Vs The Ramil Ants

    ?Slowly but surely, Verrader and Aralee, began whittling down the Ramil ants that were milling outside of the nest.


    They easily swooped down stealthily and killed the unsuspecting ants quicker than they could respond. Before and carrying their lifeless bodies away.


    As tough as their carapaces were, at only the peak of the fiend beast rank, the ants could not hold up to the piercing power behind Verrader and Aralee''s talons.


    Still, the ants they had taken out were only fiend beasts and not any sort of challenge. But after they had killed twenty-one of the weaker Ramil Ants the nest finally noticed something was afoot.


    Without any warning eight ants that were four timesrger than the workers that had been moving around outside the nest burst out.


    With quick head movements they survived the area and looked for the perpetrators that had been picking off the weaker members of their colony.


    Unfortunately for them, Verrader and Aralee were currently high in the sky and well out of the detection range of any of these soldier ants senses.


    ''Looks like they finally flushed out some of the ants at the awakened rank. None of them seem particrly strong, but as a group they are certainly dangerous. I wonder how Aralee and Verrader will handle them?'' Evelyn thought as she observed the situation from above.


    After just a minute Evelyn finally got her answer, and it was clearly the wrong one.


    Verrader had tired a sneak attack that was exactly the same as what he had been attempting against the workers, but was in for an unpliant surprise.


    While his talons could easily piece the fined beast rank works, they were not nearly as effective against these solder ants.


    As he tried to sink his ws in, he found that they only pierced into the ants carapace by a couple of inches and were far from dealing a fatal wound.


    The attacked ant thenshed out at Verrader with its sharp mandibles and released a pheromone that alerted the other soldiers of an enemy.


    Backing off, Verrader avoided the sharp pincers that nearly mped down on him, but found himself stuck by a searing acid from behind.


    The other soldier ants were already rushing in and each one began flinging acid towards Verrader.


    In attempt to get away he began flying up, but arge ball of hardened sand flew at him. Created by one of the Ramil Ant''s magic.


    Being knocked to the ground, Verrader found himself the target of all eight of the solder ants, who were rushing to finish him off.


    It was at this point that Aralee, snapped out of her daze and began assisting him.


    pping her wings, she sent down a barrage of wind st that pushed the Ramil Ants into the ground and immobilized them for a few moments.


    This gave Verrader a bit of a reprieve and now that he was back into a corner, he finally used his magic. As he should have from the start.


    shes of electricity began coiling around his body, and when he had built up an impressive charge heunched multiple bolts of lightning around himself.


    All of the Ramil ants that had been swarming towards him found themselves sted by electricity and their bodies began to seize up and smoke came off their bodies.


    Two of them died instantly and the others were paralyzed for long enough for Verrader to ascend back into the air next to Aralee.


    Once there he pulled a potion out of his low-capacity storage ring and drank it in one gulp.


    The acid burns on his body and the bruising from being hit by the ball of sand quickly began to heal thanks to the potion.


    ''He is definitely strong. His magic fried two of them and incapacitated the others with rtive ease. The problem is his battle sense. He is a bit too reckless. Aralee on the other hand is more timid. It is good to be careful, but not when it leads to inaction until something ahs already happened.'' Evelyn thought, analyzing the way her siblings fought.


    Neither of them was weak by any means, but they definitelycked experience. They had almost never fought any enemies that were stronger than them or had them outnumbered.


    Watching intently, Evelyn wanted to see how they would handle the current situation. Which was actually bing worse for them.


    More ants had poured out of nest and were getting into position to defend their home.


    In only a couple of minutes there were now twenty of the solder ants. One of which wererger and at the mid-tier of the awakened rank.


    With the increased number of defenders, Verrader and Aralee found it impossible to get in any decent attacks.


    If they got low enough to make an attack they would put themselves in danger and if they attacked from too high their magic was easily blocked.


    Eventually, Evelyn''s siblings realized that they were just wasting their energy and ascended to where Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni were waiting far above.


    "I am sorry. We were unable to do anything once their solders appeared." Aralee said with a downcast expression.


    Verrader though unlike Aralee looked incredibly frustrated that he had to turn back. And while it was only for a moment, he cast a jealous gaze towards Evelyn.


    Disregarding the look, Evelyn told her siblings what she thought they had done well and what they had done poorly.


    "Frankly you have little to be disappointed about. You did fairly well in the beginning. You were heavily outnumbered by beasts at the same rank as you. It only makes sense that you would be unbale to easily beat them." Evelyn said.


    This helped to perk Aralee up, but Verrader seemed to still be just as sour.


    "Anyway, it looks like you both really riled them up. So, I think it is time that we take them on instead. Watch carefully to how we fight and coronate. Knowing how to maneuver and best use your magic is more important than simply raising your rank."

 Chapter 278 278

    ?"Wow, they really are amazing. Especially our sister." Aralee said.


    Currently she and Verrader were watching from above as Evelyn, Bylur and Rehni expertly dealt with the Ramil Ants who they had been struggling against.


    "That is just because they are at a higher rank than us. Plus, Evelyn has an even greater advantage. She has a incredible divine item fused with her. That is where she is drawing all of her power from." Verrader said, a bitter and envious tone in his voice.


    Hearing him undercut their sister made Aralee feel a bit unsettled, but she did not want to ruffle any feathers and did not overtly defend Evelyn despite wanting to.


    "You mentioned that before. You said that it was this item that killed our parents, though Evelyn managed to ept it and survive. But how do you know it is making her stronger? Evelyn seems to simply have much better control over her wind magic than I do and is able to use it in ways I had never considered."


    "Yeah, it looks impressive, sure. However, that is just because she has more magical energy than us. Once we get to the same level it will be just as easy for us" Verrader responded, unwilling to ept Evelyn''s skill.


    For him he was certain that her impressive magic and battle prowess were all just due to the enhancement she received from the divine item.


    And while this was true to some extent, Evelyn had worked hard to hone her abilities through rigorous training. Her talent was certainly high, but she had put in the effort to properly utilize it rather than believing she was simply above others.


    Realizing that this conversation as not going to go anywhere, Aralee, instead tried turning their discussion to Bylur and Rehni.


    "Yes, those two I have to say are impressive. Unlike Evelyn, they do not have an item from a realm far greater than ours giving her a power boost. Still, I will be able to overtake them soon enough." Verrader said, an ambitious look in his eyes.


    After that the two of them hovered in silence as they watched Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni slowly decimate the Ramil Ants.


    Eventually rather than continue facing the enemies that they could not defeat and were losing to, the remaining Ramil Ants retreated.


    Instead of fighting out on the open desert, they chose to retreat into their nest where it was safe.


    If their enemies wanted to try and pursue them, they would have to give up on their greatest advantage and fight in a cramped and enclosed space.


    Naturally, none of them were stupid enough to force their way into the ants'' nest. Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni knew that without the ability to use hit and run tactics that they could not beat so many enemies.


    "You two collect the bodies of the ants we killed. I will take Aralee and Verrader to gather the magical nts." Evelyn, instructed.


    She then ascended to where her siblings were waiting and led her to the magical nts growing on the edge of the cliff.


    "Be very careful here. You need to make sure to extract the roots without damaging them while being wary of being pieced by the thorns. They have a potent paralytic poison on them."


    Thankfully with Evelyn''s instructions neither Verrader of Aralee ended up injuring themselves and only ruined the first couple of nts they tried to harvest.


    "That should do it. We do not want to take anymore or they will not grow back in the future." Evelyn said, directing her siblings to stop.


    Havingpleted their objective Evelyn brought her siblings back down to where Bylur and Rehni were just finishing gathering the corpses of the Ramil Ants they had killed.


    "Evelyn, our storage items cannot hold anymore. Do you mind taking the rest?" Rehni said, directing Evelyn to the pile they had made.


    Nodding her head, she flew up to the Ramil Ants and quickly stored their bides into her storage cuff.


    "Now, that was a good start. Let''s go see what else we can find." Evelyn said, genuinely happy expression on her face.


    For the rest of the night, Evelyn''s group continued hunting in the desert and gathered the materials from numerous beasts and magical nts.


    However, when the sun started to rise that marked the end of their gathering.


    As owls they were best at operating at night, and in the desert with very limited cover the harsh light from the sun would be difficult to deal with. And for everyone but Evelyn, the intense heat was also a problem.


    Luckily Evelyn knew a few good ces to hold up for the day and escape from the sun.


    "We will be able to get some rest in here. It goes fairly far underground so it will stay cool even during the height of the day." Evelyn said to her siblings, who were looking a bit unsure about entering the burrow she had led them to. Neither of them had ever stayed underground to rest before and were instinctually inclined to find somewhere high to sleep.


    Of course, this was not the home of the burrowing owls, but actually the temporary base they had made after being thrown out by the ospreys.


    Currently it was empty, and Evelyn figured it would make a good ce to stay since she did not intend to introduce her siblings to her desert dwelling allies on this trip.


    It took a couple of minutes to convince Aralee and Verrader to head into the burrow, but with the sun creeping higher into the sky and no other suitable terrain to rest in, they shuffled underground.


    "What will we do if we are attacked? There is no way to escape except for the single entrance. We will be trapped down here without being able to fly away." Verrader said, his normally haughty attitude gone.


    In fact, he was looking around frantically and was taking short and quick breaths like he was going to hyperventte.


    From seeing this it was easy enough to conclude that he had a fear of being underground, but only Evelyn knew exactly where this fear came from.


    When they had been captured, the facility they were housed in was underground, and at one-point Verrader was buried under some rubble and had to struggle to escape.


    Thinking about it, Evelyn wondered why she had not also developed a fear of being underground with how many bad things had happened to her in such ces.


    As a human she was killed in a basement, and she had been trapped in the underground facility, same as Verrader.


    ''I suppose I was dealing with far too much to care about where I was rather than what was happening. Anyway, I have had some positive experiences underground as well.'' Evelyn thought.


    She recalled finding the gifts Mason had left for her, being saved by Lucia and recovering in her home, and obviously meeting the burrowing owls and using their magic spring.


    Still seeing that Verrader had lingering trauma he was dealing with from their time as captives made Evelyn feel a bit of a connection to him. Up to this point they had not really talked about the experience. For obvious reasons.


    "I understand your worries Verrader, but if we do get attacked there should not be many beasts in this desert we can not beat. In the worst case scenario there is a hidden emergency exit in the back. It is covered by a thinyer of rock and is easy enough to blow out of the way. This ce is one of the safest for us to rest throughout the hole desert." Evelyn said to reassure her brother.


    And while he normally would have said some snidement about not needing Evelyn tofort him, but in this situation, he epted her words and calmed down a bit.


    "If you would not mind, Evelyn, could you show me exactly where this breakable rock wall is?"


    "Sure, that is no problem. Just leave it to your big sister." Evelyn said joyfully, feeling like she was finally connecting to Verrader a little.

 Chapter 279 279 Dangerous Encounter In The Desert

    ?"BOOM!"


    Violent shockwaves shook the air and several figures flew around with magic flying in all directions.


    Currently Evelyn and herpanions, were battling against a group of wyverns that were a type of lesser dragon and were having to deal with a fierce assault.


    They were outnumbered by nearly double with none of these winged lizards versus the five of them.


    The groups had coincidentally run into each other as Evelyn and herpanions were leaving to go hunting, and the wyverns were returning to their nest for the night. Leading to the current fight.


    At the forefront of the battle was Evelyn and the leader of these wyverns, who was actually incredibly powerful.


    He was not using one of the normal elemental magics or even some of the rarer ones such as sound and light. This wyvern had a more unique magic, that Evelyn''s assumed could only be pure destruction.


    ''Even my heavenly me only cancels it out blow for blow. The only thing it cannot seem to destroy is my gravity magic.'' Evelyn thought as she unleashed another st of her heavenly me towards the giant pitch-ck wyvern.


    Her enemy was around ten meters long and had a wingspan of around fifteen meters. Being nearly twenty percentrger than its followers.


    Among the wyverns it was the only one at the peak of the awakened rank, and the others were all at the mid or low tier except for a single high tier that appeared to be the leader''s lieutenant.


    It was a made sh in the sky and Evelyn and herpanions were certainly on the backfoot.


    Her siblings both had their ws full, just to deal with one wyvern apiece and Bylur and Rehni were busy dealing with multiple opponents.


    Soon it was clear that they were not going to win by fighting head on and needed to find a way to weaken or catch their opponents off guard.


    ''It might be a bit reckless, but it is the best thing I can think of right now.''


    With a couple of quick nces around Evelyn sent out threads of magical energy to all of herpanions and told them what her idea was.


    Without hesitation they all began ascending higher at full speed disregarding the wyvernsing for them.


    Evelyn took up the rear since she was the fastest and did her best to block the attacks that they wyverns wereughing towards them.


    However, under the leader''s orders instead of trying to attack all five of them at once, the nine wyverns focused their fire on Evelyn and began breaking through her defenses.


    ''Damn it! I just need to get a bit higher above them.'' Evelyn thought while frantically defending herself.


    Unfortunately, she was stuck being unable to ascend very fast and the wyverns were quickly gaining on her.


    That was until arge ball of ice and metal fell from the sky above her.


    Sensing it, Evelyn felt fear and for a moment believed that her friends had decided to disregard her n and sacrifice her to get in a powerful attack.


    Thankfully this did not prove to be true, as right in the center of the ball was a hole that was justrge enough for Evelyn to slip through, but too small for the wyverns.


    Using the opening her friends had given her Evelyn flew straight up and allowed therge hulking mass of ice and metal to fall towards the wyverns.


    Yet while most of the wyverns broke off to avoid being hit the leader opened his mouth and let out a breath of destruction.


    The ball of metal and ice began to break apart and turn to dust as the st hit it.


    ''Let''s see who is going to win this!''


    Spreading out her gravity field and using her extreme press ability Evelyn increased the gravity of the metal and ice ball she was flying through and sent it down with far greater force towards the wyvern''s leader who was trying to destroy Bylur and Rehni''s attack before it connected.


    But with the increased power behind it thanks to Evelyn gravity magic it pushed through the wyverns power breath of destruction and what remained of the ball mmed into him.


    This allowed Evelyn to escape higher into the sky and when she reached the others around three hundred meters above the wyverns, she turned and looked down to see what was happening.


    Having their leader currently being crushed by a giant projectile had caused all of the other wyverns to freeze up and try to figure out what they needed to do.


    Soon a couple of them flew downwards to try and help while the others turned towards Evelyn and their group and beganunching more attacks.


    "This should be high enough. Make sure to protect me while I get everything ready. It should not take long." Evelyn said.


    After that she moved to the center of the group and pulled out several contains from her storage items and allowed them to fall.


    Except she could not just let them drop randomly and using immense control over her wind magic controlled their trajectory to avoid any of the wyvern or her friends attacks.


    Then when they were within just twenty meters of the wyverns Evelyn caused each of the contains to shatter and resale their contents.


    Some of the liquid that had been inside turned into a gas when it hit the air while others sprayed out like a rain.


    In response the more quick-witted wyverns used magical energy barrier to block the liquiding down on them, but of the six that had stayed to pressure Evelyn and herpanions none of them avoided breathing in a bit of the released gases.


    "Looks like it is already working. I am really grateful Melisandre taught me how to make so many different poisons." Evelyn said with a scary smirk on her face.


    After being hit with a volley of different poisons, the wyverns were showing signs of immense distress.


    No longer were any of them trying to attack Evelyn and herpanions, but were instead having to focus on the damage they were taking.


    Most of the poisons Evelyn had used were not enough to kill them and only one of the low tier wyverns was at death''s door because it got hit with arge quality of one of the liquid poison which was the deadliest Evelyn hadunched.


    Nevertheless, many of the wyverns were having difficulties staying airborne as a paralytic poison rampaged in their body, and others were losing their sense of smell and sight from another.


    Overall, Evelyn''s poison barrage had been very effective and the six wyverns that had stayed to attack them were no longer in the position to be attacking.


    "Let us finish them up quickly. Before the others return." Evelynmanded.


    Right now, the leader along with two mid-tier wyverns that had gone to help him were outside of the battle, but if they returned it would make things difficult for them despite the six poisoned wyverns.


    Without wasting another moment Evelyn led the charge down towards the wyverns.


    ''Time to try this out.'' She thought while charging towards the only high tier wyvern.


    Channeling her magical energy into her helm she elongated the horns on the top of it, and at the same time wreathed them in her heavly me and wind magic before beging to spin.


    Like a drill made of fire and wind Evelyn pierced right through the thick scales and hide of the wyvern and sted straight thought the center of its body. Leaving arge gaping hole in ist stomach.


    Immediately after this happened the wyvern let out a pained cry and began falling out of the sky.


    It had not died quite yet, but with such a devastating wound it would notst much longer and certainly had no way to stay in the sky anymore.


    ''Wow, I am surprised that worked so well. It is a reckless attack, but I will remember it if the opportunity presents itself again.'' Evelyn thought, astounded by her own attack.


    She even began mentally taking notes on how to improve it, but her momentarily second of rxation turned out to be a big mistake.


    In that instant the leader of the wyverns had managed to recover from being mmed by Rehni and Bylur''sbo attack and released several dark orbs towards Evelyn and herpanions.


    Had she been paying attention she could have sued her heavenly me to intercept and block the attack, but instead needed to rapidly maneuver to evade the attack.


    The other members of her team likewise had to avoid being hit, but Verrader had been pinned down by one of the poisoned wyverns performing a desperate attack and had been unable to doge.


    His right sight got hit by the ball of destructive energy and a part of his wing and chest were atomized.


    Watching this happen time seemed to slow down for Evelyn and she was hit with shbacks of Mason dying.


    Certainly she was not especially close to Verrader and felt a great deal of friction between them, but he was still her brother.


    ''I am not losing another one.'' Evelyn thought feeling resolved to do whatever was necessary.


    "Bylur, heal and protect Verrader. Rehni and Aralee, finish up the others quickly. I will deal with the leader. No one dies here." Evelyn ordered.


    She then turned and dove straight towards the leader of the wyverns. Determined to finish it off quickly and get rid of the greatest threat to herpanions.

 Chapter 280 280 Dangerous Encounter In The Desert (2)

    ?Swooping down, Evelyn Unleashed a full barrage of her strongest attacks towards the wyvern leader.


    Most of the time she showed restraint, since unleashing all of her power at once could easily harm her allies, but right now her only objective was to eliminate the threat before her.


    Unfortunately, her opponent was not one she could simply overpower and let loose a wave of destructive energy that erased her attacks.


    ''Extreme press.''


    Once she was in range Evelyn used her strongest gravity magic and pressed down on the pitch-ck wyvern with all her might.


    This caused her foe to falter for a moment as their body became several times heavier.


    However, Evelyn had already shown off her gravity magic and therge wyvern was prepared and braced itself.


    It was an incredibly strong beast and even under an intense amount of gravity more than forty times normal it was able to stay airborne, though it could not ascend any higher.


    ''Damn it.'' Evelyn thought as she dodged a breath attack from the wyvern.


    Normally after she had sealed an opponent''s movements with her gravity magic she could use her wind and fire magic to finish them off with ease, but the wyvern she was fighting was a juggernaut of pure destructive power and not something she could just outmuscle when she was two tiers below it.


    Quickly she realized that staying at the distance she was currently was detrimental since she had to focus on evasion, so even though she had to move out of range of her gravity magic she flew further away to regain her bearing.


    Freed from its gravitational restrains the wyvern let out a loud roar and pursed Evelyn whileunching numerous projectiles of ck energy towards her.


    ''I have beaten peak awakened beasts before, but this guy is in another league. Still, I have fought plenty of enemies that were stronger than me. I just need to make some space and buy some time.'' Evelyn thought, swiftly making a new n.


    She began leading the wyvern around while moving her ws around in practiced motions.


    When faced with a tough opponent she could not take head on, Evelyn ad another strategy she could utilize. Though it took time and luck to set up.


    With careful nning she set a number of gravity traps in the air and making quick motions away from them to prevent the wyvern from crashing into the prematurely.


    Eventually she had set up a cage that itsrge frame could not hope to escape from, and she flew out with the wyvern on her tail.


    Yet despite her slowing down to allow her enemy to nearly catch her, the wyvern thinking it was about to sink its jaws into its tired prey was suddenly shot backwards.


    A glowing rune in the air activated and it was hit with a heavy gravity.


    This started a chain reaction as it was pinballed into the next gravity trap andunched around without being able to stop itself.


    Evelyn had used this exact strategy against one of the osprey''s leaders and it was working just as well against her current enemy. At least, it was at first.


    As Evelyn charged up her strongest attack, the pitch-ck wyvern opened its mouth and began spraying a wide beam of destruction all around itself in a desperate attempt to stop what was happening to it.


    And though it could not destroy gravity itself, it was able to blow away the hidden runes that Evelyn had left in the air.


    Shock and horror in her eyes Evelyn watched as the web of gravity traps she had painstakingly set up were disintegrated.


    Unable to finish charging up her attack to full power Evelyn decided to prematurelyunch the giant sphere of fire and wind she had been conjuring.


    It was currently at only about half of its full power, but she would have to discard all of her efforts if the wyvern began attacking her since taking even one of its attacks would cause a grievous wound.


    In response the wyvern turned its breath attack towards, Evelyn sphere of wind and fire and attempted to destroy the attack.


    Nevertheless, despite Evelyn not having been able to fully charge up her attack, it still overpowered the wyvern''s breath and engulfed the incredibly powerful beast.


    Them moment it did Evelyn pulled out two bottles of pills and took one of each.


    One of the pills was to restore her magical energy and the other her stamina.


    During this fight she had been burning through her energy reserves faster than she had in a long time and was starting to feel faint and needed a moment to recover.


    ''I knew that would not be enough.''


    Once the power behind her attack had dissipated the wyvern appeared out of the smoke and let out a thunderous roar.


    The powerful beast was far from dead, its strong scales and thick skin having protected it from being incinerated by Evelyn''s attack.


    However, it had not gotten unscathed.


    While it was difficult to tell at a nce since its body was naturally ck, it now had several areas where it was badly burned, and a slight bit of smoke was stilling off of its skin.


    ''If this was just the two of us, I could probably win in a war of attrition, but the others are still fighting and Verrader is severely injured. I can hear the sounds of fighting still going on, but I do not dare let my attention slip to check how they are doing.'' Evelyn thought, her mind racing for what to do next.


    She thought about trying to deploy more poisons, but that likely would not work at this point since the wyverns had already seen her use that trick.


    Except as she was preparing to charge back into battle after staring down the wyvern''s leader for a few seconds, the deadly beast let out another roar.


    Unlike the others that had been meant to intimate, this time Evelyn did not feel the same ferocity.


    It was but a moment alter that the pitch-ck wyvern began to retreat and the other surviving members of its group began following.


    After having suffered several losses and finding that their prey could put up an incredible fight, the lead wyvern had decided to retreat. It could tell that that continuing to fight would only cause him to lose more subordinates or even his own life.


    Of course, as they retreated the wyverns kept a close eye on Evelyn and her group to make sure they did not try to retaliate.


    Letting out a sigh of relief, Evelyn was grateful that the battle was finally over. Even if it could not be considered a victory.


    ''I am reminded once again just how dangerous this world is. All it takes is one unfortunate encounter with power enemies to end up dead.'' Evelyn thought as the wyverns became little dots in the distance.


    Once she was certain that they were noting back she looked up towards her siblings and friends to make sure that all of them were there.


    Thankfully, not a single one of herpanions had lost their lives, though they certainly looked a bit beat up. Especially Verrader, who was being carried on Bylur''s back so that he did not plumet to the ground.

 Chapter 281 281 Back To Safety And Recovering

    ?"How is everyone doing?" Evelyn asked when she reached herpanions.


    "We are all alive, but Verrader is in a pretty bad spot. I managed to close his wounds, but his wing is severely damaged and a part of his chest is now missing." Bylur replied, looking back at the unconscious Verrader on his back.


    He had used his life magic to the best of his ability, but he was still far from being at the level where he could restorepletely missing part of a body.


    By some miracle, Verrader had not had any of his organs destroyed so he was not in danger of dying thanks to Bylur''s healing, but without some very powerful magic he was never going to be able to fly again.


    "Before we address his injuries further, we should return to the burrow. It is unlikely we run into an equivalent threat out here, but we are in a vulnerable state right now. We need to get somewhere safer and recover." Evelyn said, keeping calm and doing her job as the leader.


    However, before they left Rehni looked down at the ground where the corpses of the wyverns they had killed were.


    "Should we not collect our spoils first? If we leave it is unlikely they will be here when we return."


    After a moment of contemtion Evelyn shook her head.


    "No, we need to head on. It will take time and leave us exposed to another ambush. I understand we are giving up getting anything from the battle we just endured, but it is best that we do not take any risks until we have recovered."


    With Evelyn making the decision to leave, the five of them took off towards their temporary base in the desert.


    Fortunately, they managed to arrive without encountering any other dangers and were able to rest Verrader on arge cushion Evelyn had taken out of her storage cuff.


    "How is he doing Bylur?" Evelyn asked while he did a more though inspection of Verrader''s body.


    "His breathing is a bitbored, and his pulse is slower than what I would expect. He did lose a part of his chest, so I imagine that blood is not flowing as well as it should. His magical energy and natural toughness are keeping him alive though. I do not think he will die if we leave him as is, but he likely will bebored just walking around, let alone flying. It is also possible he may never wake up. He is probably going to need a very powerful restorative medicine or healing from a someone ranked far higher than any of us to recover." Bylur said, giving his assessment of Verrader''s condition.


    Hearing this, Aralee, who had been quite up to this point, let out a restrained sob, and was clearly on the verge of tears.


    She was closer to Verrader than any of the others.


    Evelyn was likewise feeling a pain in her chest, but it was less to do with her care for Verrader and more for the fact that seeing him like this reminded her of Mason.


    "Everyone stand back. I have a way to fix him." Evelyn eventually said.


    Se had really needed to think about if it was worth using this item to heal her brother, but descried it would be in the best interest of the group.


    Naturally, Bylur and Rehni were surprised that Evelyn had anything potent enough to heal such an injury, while Aralee thanked Evelyn profusely for being willing to use such a powerful item to fix their brother.


    "He took the injury as part of this group that I am the leader of. It is my duty to make sure he recovers. Plus, our family just came back together, I do not want it broken up again so soon." Evelyn said, looking at her sister with incredibly kind eyes uncharacteristic of her.


    She then pulled out a small ss vial that had a single drop in it.


    ''I never expected to have to use the Minerva''s tear so soon and not even on myself.'' Evelyn thought as she broke open the vial and allowed the drop to fall on her brother.


    This was an emergency restorative that Melisandre had gifted her by way of the Roost''s leader and something that was meant to only be used in an emergency to safe her own life.


    Still, she had the means to heal her brother and felt it would be wrong to allow him to suffer.


    The moment the tear hit Verrader his body was engulfed in a shining light and an immense amount of magical energy converged on his wounds.


    Watching what happened next was a bit unsettling, as the bones, tissue, muscles, skin, and feathers that Verrader had lost began to reform.


    Like life had been breathed back into him, Verrader awoke with a great gasp, and he began frantically looking around.


    Last he could remember they had been in a life or death battle which he had been severely injured during.


    "How did we get back here?" Verrader asked, recognizing the burrow.


    "We brought you back after the battle ended. You were in pretty bad shape, but Evelyn used a potion or something to heal you." Aralee said, happy to see her brother doing well.


    Verrader nodded his head towards Aralee, before turning towards Evelyn, a conflicted expression on his face.


    "Thank you for healing me, Evelyn. You must have used something truly valuable to do so."


    "Yes, it was not something easy to obtain and not something I can make myself. But I think that the three of us have lost enough family. I was not about to let you live cirriped or beatose." Evelyn said, a slight smile on her face.


    Yet the warm expressions she was wearing did notst long and was quickly reced with one that waspletely serious.


    "Verrader, there is something we need to talk about. We have both been avoiding it since we met up, but I think we need to get it off our chests."

 Chapter 282 282 Evelyn And Verrader

    ?"So, what did you want to talk about, Evelyn?" Verrader asked once they were away from everyone else.


    There was a nervous look in his eyes he could not hide, and he was constantly fidgeting around.


    "Neither of us have been willing to speak of it, but we went through something horrible together. You were there with me when we were dragged away to thatb and watched our parents die. I know that I am harboring some resentment for you from back then, and as much as I do not want to, I cannot help it. You got caught in that trap and that led to all of us begin captured. That was not really your fault, back then the bait that they used was alluring and you did not know better. Still, we went through so much pain and it is hard for me to forgive you." Evelyn said, a grimace on her face.


    Bring this all up with Verrader was causing her to remember what happened vividly, and it was taking a lot for her to not break down in tears.


    Luckily, she had faced her trauma before and while it hurt to look back at it, she was able to keep her mind focused enough to continue the conversation.


    "Now I have told you what my feelings are, but what about you? Clearly you have some animosity for me from that time as well. I want to know why exactly that is? I can specte, but unless you tell me I will not know." Evelyn said, fixing Verrader with a stern look. She was clearly not going to let him weasel out of this and wanted the truth from him.


    Verrader, being confronted with something he never wanted to speak of, froze up.


    He was not sure what to say in this situation. A part of him just wanted to lie, and another wanted to throw all of his built-up anger at Evelyn.


    In the end though he stayed calm and told Evelyn a half-truth instead of everything that happened.


    "You are right, I do resent you, Evelyn. Why did you get to survive instead of our parents? They both died, but you got to live. Then when you escaped, you did not even look for me. I watched you fly away, still locked in a cage in that copsing faciality. You cannot imagine the fear I experienced in that ce. Barely kept alive, and in the end, forgotten by even my sister. You left me to rot in that hellhole." Verrader said, seething with fury.


    Despite his best attempt to control himself he could not help the anger seeping out into his tone.


    Hearing this Evelyn frowned. Not because she felt bad for Verrader, but because his story did not seem to match up with what she had heard from Aralee.


    "I thought that you managed to escape when copsing rubble damaged your cage? But now you are telling me that you watched me leave and did not escape on your own?" Evelyn asked, a perplexed expression on her face.


    "That is correct, I did not make some miraculous escape like you did. I was stuck in that cage hen the humans that attacked that ce pulled me out. But in their cruelty, they left me for dead. They did not even give me the mercy of being put out of my misery. Those humans just left me there to wither away slowly. I spent another two days trapped in that cage. Slowly dying, until my true savior arrived. Unlike the other humans this one seemed to pity me and broke me out of my cage. So no, I did not escape on my own, but only survived thanks to the actions of another. I nearly died in that horrible ce because you ran off without me. Why couldn''t you have just taken some time to search for me. I believed that you would help me."


    After saying his piece Verrader could not help the tears falling down his face. Yet he had not told the half of what had happened to him.


    The man that had freed him did not simply let him go, he kept him as a pet until he could be useful.


    "I can understand where you areing from." Evelyn responded. "It is true that I left you there. When I was escaping I thought about searching for you, but prioritized my own safety. A part of me even believed that you desired whatever fate had in store for you. However, I am not the same as I was then. I no longer believe that it was your fault that our parents were killed and that things ended up the way that they are. Those humans that captured and tortured us are the ones that destroyed our family and caused all of our suffering. I do not want to hate you Verrader. If I did, I would never have allowed you to join my group. I don''t know your motives for associating with me if you truly hate me. Perhaps you just want to leech off me, or maybe even harm me. I still do not really trust you, but I want to. If we just hold what happened against each other the ones that will be hurt are not the humans that took everything from us, but ourselves. Verrader, we have a chance to be a family again, and I do not want to allow the resentment that we both have to ruin things. I forgive you for what happened Verrader. It was not your fault that we were captured."


    With hope in her eyes, Evelyn waited for Verrader''s response.


    Frankly she already had too much rage to be holding on to any directed at her brother, when it was merely an unfortunate circumstance, he could not control that led to the human''s capturing them.


    At the time he was still very young and low ranked, there was no way he could have recognized the trap set out for him.


    Having listened to Evelyn''s entire speech, Verrader just sat there staring nkly.


    Deep down, he always med himself for what had happened. But in his anger, he liked to hold Evelyn ountable. He would think things like ''She could have done more'' or, ''If she had just stayed away, I would have been the only one taken.'' Still if he went to his core, he believed that it was his mistake that had gotten his family captured and their parents killed.


    But hearing that Evelyn forgave him, made it feel like a weight had been taken off his shoulders.


    "Evelyn I- "


    Freezing midsentence, Verrader was about to tell his sister something that he had been keeping a secret, but the face of the man who had rescued him, his master, popped into his mind.


    For nearly two minutes Verrader just looked forward in a daze, his mind racing with what to do.


    "Thank you for forgiving me, Evelyn. I know that there was nothing you could do in that situation. I know I am holding what urred against you unfairly. Please, just give me a little time to organize my thoughts." Verrader said, his head hung low.


    He then turned around and walked away. Mumbling to himself iprehensibly and giving Evelyn cause for worry.


    Nevertheless, she let him go. It was obvious that he was trying to work through something on his own, and that any more intervene from her would just make things worse.


    ''I said what I wanted and got my feeling across to him. Now it is up to him whether he can let go. If not I will have to force him out of the group even if it means giving up on Aralee as well.'' Evelyn thought, before heading back over the others.


    "So, what was that about?" Rehni asked, curiously.


    "I will tell you allter when it is fully resolved. For now, we have something else to discuss. However, Aralee, could you go and check on Verrader. He is pretty shaken up right now, and you are probably the only one that can help him. You are closer to him than me after all."


    Nodding her head, Aralee, looked towards where Verrader had headed off alone and flew after him. Leaving Evelyn alone with Bylur and Rehni.


    "Okay now that Aralee is gone, are you going to tell us what just happened?" Rehni said, one of her eyebrows raised.


    Naturally she saw through Evelyn''s deception of sending Aralee away.


    "Yes, it might take a bit though." Evelyn said before rying everything that she had just discussed with Verrader.


    "That certainly is quite a lot. And he still hasn''t figured out what to do?" Bylur asked.


    ",No something seems to be holding him back, I am not sure what though. He seemed ready topletely forgive me for a moment, but then held back. I am not sure what is going on with him, but my gut tells me it is not good. To that end, I want one of you to stay behind and keep an eye on him while I deliver the items Otis needs to evolve."

 Chapter 283 283 Big Day For The Burrowing Owls

    ?After hearing Evelyn''s request that one of them stay behind, Bylur and Rehni looked at each other, neither willing to budge.


    Both of them wanted to go with Evelyn to burrowing owls'' home.


    For Rehni she really wanted to see what the evolution of a peak wakened beast to a tyrant rank beast was like. But for Bylur he had other less academic reasons.


    Normally he would have agreed to Evelyn''s request on the spot, but he did not want to allow her to go and see Otis without being nearby.


    ''I have no clue what that bastard might try when I am not there. Once he be a tyrant rank beast, he might be nning to make a move on Evelyn. I cannot allow that to happen.'' Bylur thought.


    As of right now he and Otis were at a simar level of strength and rank and since he was closer to Evelyn he figured he had the edge.


    However, once Otis evolved, he would surely be stronger for quite some time until Bylur could reach the tyrant rank as well, and it was easy for him to imagine Evelyn relying on him and developing feelings for him. Of course, this was all just a wild fantasy of Bylur''s.


    "Rehni, I think you should stay. You have a keener eye and can act faster in an emergency than I can. Plus, just in case Evelyn gets hurt, my life magic would be extremely useful." Bylur said, making his case to go with Evelyn.


    Rehni though was not going to back down so easily, and listed off several reasons why she would be suited to go with Evelyn.


    Watching them quarrel for several minutes, Evelyn eventually gave up and letting them make the decision amongst themselves.


    "Okay this is not working." Evelyn said, stopping her friend''s bickering.


    She then picked up a small stone which she used her wind magic to carve into a disk and etched the letters B and R onto each side.


    "I am going to slip this into the air and if itnds on B, Bylur wille with me, and if itnds on R, Rehni wille with me." Evelyn said, her stern tone offering no objection.


    Using her wind magic, sheunched the stone into the air where it spun around rapidly until hitting the ground.


    When it came to a stop, the letter R was prominently showing and Rehni could not help but smile and smirk at Bylur.


    Bylur, though looked devastated. Now he would not be able to go with Evelyn and prevent Otis from trying to court Evelyn.


    Unfortunately, there was no way he could overturn Evelyn''s decision, and could only sullenly ept his task. Basically being a babysitter for Evelyn''s siblings.


    "Good, now that we have that decided, Rehni and I will head out to see the burrowing owls. I will leave giving the exnation we prepared in advance to you Bylur." Evelyn said.


    Before leaving they hade up with a cover story for why they needed to spilt up for a couple of days.


    Their original n was for all three of them to go while leaving Verrader and Aralee in a safe ce, but Evelyn now felt it was prudent to leave someone to watch over Verrader.


    "Got it, I will tell them you went out to scout a location we came across before but have not explored yet." Bylur said, almost no energy in his voice.


    After that he moved away with lumbered steps. Clearly feeling depressed that he could not go with Evelyn.


    "I suppose that we should go then." Evelyn said to Rehni.


    Exiting their temporary shelter, the two of them turned towards the burrowing owls'' home and shot off.


    It did not take them long to arrive and the guards outside that recognized them came to greet them.


    "Lady Evelyn and Lady Rehni, you have returned. But where is sir Bylur?" One of the guards asked.


    Other than the first time Evelyn had helped the burrowing owls reim their home, she had always arrived with her twopanions in tow.


    "Bylur could not make it this time. Only Rehni and I will be needing amodations. And send someone to tell Otis that we have good news for him."


    Nodding his head, the lead guard on duty sent one of the others to inform the entire flock that Evelyn had arrived and to bring Otis.


    A few minutester, Otis along with Po who was his closest aide arrived to greet Evelyn and Rehni.


    "It is an immense pleasure to see you againdy Evelyn." Otis said bowing his head, which with his tiny stature inparison to Evelyn looked quite amusing.


    "I am d to see you in good health as well Otis. Now if you would not mind taking us to a private room, we have something very important to discuss pertaining to you." Evelyn said, allowing a faint smile to creep onto her face.


    Seeing this, Otis could not help but be stunned. He knew that Evelyn had said she would try to obtain the items he needed as catalysts to evolve, but he never thought that she would be able to gather them so soon.


    Still, he tried not to get his hopes up and calmed down a bit. While he could not think of something else that Evelyn would want to speak to him about, he figured there was just no way she could have procured the necessary items already.


    Yet when they were finally alone in a private room, Evelyn revealed that she did indeed have the catalysts that Otis would need.


    "I truly thought I could no longer be astounded by your abilities and resourcefulness Lady Evelyn, but once again you have exceed my expectations." Otis said, after Evelyn revealed the news to him.


    "Well before you get too excited, let me confirm that the items are correct. I only had the Roost''s information to go off of when I gathered them, but you should be able to instinctually tell if they are usable items to trigger your evolution to the tyrant rank."


    Holding up her storage cuff Evelyn carefully took out each of the items she had procured.


    One was piece of dark ck bark that was fossilized, another was jagged reddish-brown crystal that was glowing brightly and emitting a strong magical energy, the next was a perfectly smooth green sphere, and the final was one of the evolution potions Evelyn had created.


    "Please test each of these to make sure that they are usable." Evelyn said, motioning for Otis to closely inspect them.


    His face filled with anticipation he flew over andnded in front of the items.


    To start he channeled a bit of his magical energy into the fossilized bark, and his body trembled a momentter.


    "Yes, this is an item that I can use as a catalyst." Otis said, a bright smile on his face.


    Moving over to the reddish-brown crystal that was actuallyrger than him Otis tested it as well and confirmed that it was a usable item.


    But when he stopped in front of the green sphere that contained a powerful magical energy, he froze up.


    "Lady Evelyn, this is a human''s magic core. One that has the same elements as me and was at the equivalent rank. How ever did you procure something like this and is it really something I can use.?" Otis asked, shock and confusion on his face.


    He had never before heard of using a human''s magic core as a catalyst for evolution. But that made sense with his life having been isted in the Velinis Desert.


    "Yes you are correct, that is what it is. As for how I obtained it, I have told you about the ce Ie from, where owls of all types gather. There is ce where items can be traded for and I used a number of my resources to obtain that core and the other items here. And as for whether it can be used as a catalyst for your evolution, the answer is yes. Certainly, unlike the other three I have presented you with it is not a necessity, but you wille out much stronger if you use it." Evelyn exined.


    Nodding his head, Otis epted her words and thanked her profusely for using her own resources to aid in his evolution.


    "It was no problem. We recently came into possession of plenty of the resources needed to trade in the Roost. Having you as our ally will more than make up for the cost and effort." Evelyn said.


    Feeling quite happy for everything Evelyn had done for him, Otis channeled his magical energy into the magic core and filled it up with his magical energy.


    Unlike the other catalysts, he did not feel an instinctual reaction to this one, but he trusted Evelyn.


    Finally, thest item was the evolution potion, and as a universal catalyst it gave Otis a reaction, but one that was less pronounced as the first two.


    "Good, looks like you have finished dyeing them with your magical energy. Now all we need to do is wait until the magic spring activates next and you can ascend to the tyrant rank." Evelyn said with a pleased smile.

 Chapter 284 284 Otis’ Evolution

    ?It had now been two days since Evelyn had given the catalysts Otis needed for his evolution, and the magic spring had begun glowing once again. Showing that that is was being filled with magical energy.


    However, this time was special and something that had not happened for the burrowing owls since they lost therest leader, Otis'' father.


    Whenever the leader of their flock was ready to ascend to the tyrant rank, the entire use of the spring was reserved for them and a grand festival was put on.


    Normally this was a once in several decades urrence, but Evelyn had sped things up immensely by supplying the items Otis needed. At great cost to her resources.


    Nevertheless, once Otis evolved, she was going to take him back to the Roost, and having a tyrant rank as her ally was going to be a great boon. Unlike Anneli and Katrina who were in many ways her seniors, Otis was someone who was willing to take orders from her due to how much her respected her.


    ''With him on our side we will all be able to advance much more quickly. His power as a tyrant rank will give us the ability to take on greater risk and personally obtain rare items that would be more difficult to gather on our own. Otis will probably not make much progress himself for a while so that we can all catch up, but I do not see that being a problem for him.'' Evelyn thought, imagining the new ces they could go to gather with Otis in tow.


    For nearly the next hour the spring continued to fill up with more and more magical energy until it let out a great sh indicating it had reached capacity and was ready for use.


    With his four catalysts tied up in some cloth behind him, Otis stepped into the spring and swam out to the middle.


    He then released the four items in the bag into the water around him.


    To start he took the evolution potion and drank it while allowing the other items to sit in the water.


    The human magic core and reddish-brown crystal began to sink while Otis drank the potion, but abruptly stopped when strands of magical energy connected the remaining three items to Otis.


    Each one of these items began to slowly break down and their power was absorbed into Otis.


    Once this process started, Otis'' evolution had begun and could no longer be stopped without causing him irreparable damage.


    All of the burrowing owls that had been alive when thest leader of their flock attempted to undergo his evolution tensed up and alertly looked around.


    It was during this part of the process that the ospreys had attacked them and killed their defenseless leader along with the other highest ranking members of their flock.


    Of course, this time they had more guards posted outside and Evelyn was watching over things to make sure that nothing happened. And luckily no other rival faction decided to make their appearance this time.


    ''It looks like it is time for the final stage.'' Evelyn thought when she watched thest of the items lose all of its power.


    The piece of fossilized wood and reddish-brown crystal had lost all of their luster, and the human magic core had been absorbed directly into Otis.


    A minuteter the entire magic spring shook, and the magical energy within it rushed towards Otis like he was the center of a vortex.


    Normally one would need to take a long time to amass the necessary magical energy needed for evolution, but in this case the magical spring was allowing them to skip this step by acting as an external source that Otis could tap into for all of the magical energy he would need.


    Soon arge cocoon of magical energy had surrounded Otis and his body waspletely obscured.


    The immense amount of magical energy as well as the properties of the magical items he had absorbed were reforming his body into something much stronger than before.


    ''It certainly does take a lot of magical energy to evolve. My body could not handle that much magical energy even with both of my cores. I would have to use the Aethersphere to contain the excess, or it would kill me.'' Evelyn thought, watching Otis suck up more and more of the magical energy from the magic spring.


    Eventually there was nothing left that had not coalesced around Otis and the spring waspletely devoid of magical energy.


    For several hours Otis remained within the cocoon of magical energy as he underwent his evolution.


    Going from a awakened rank to a tyrant rank was not a short process and it could take several days depending on multiple factors.


    Luckily Otispletely his evolution in less than a day. Twenty-one hours after he stepped into the magic spring, the cocoon of magical energy broke away and revealed what he had be.


    ''He doesn''t really look all that different. Maybe about ten percent bigger and his feathers look more lustrous.'' Evelyn thought, seeing Otis drop down into the water and create a small ssh.


    For most beasts they grew quite a bit when they evolved and could be incredibly huge. But some species like the burrowing owls stayed small no matter how far they went up the ranks.


    This meant that they were not as physically strong, but also that they did not have to deal with the downsides of being gigantic.


    "Is he okay?" Rehni asked.


    Like everyone else she was staring at Otis who had remained unmoving for nearly a minute. Luckily he hadnded with his face above the water so he was not in danger of drowning since his small frame was easily floating on the surface of the water.


    "I suppose that I should go get him." Evelyn said seeing that none of the burrowing owls were willing to approach Otis.


    Naturally he was their leader, and now that he had evolved none of them felt that they could so easily approach less they offend him.


    Evelyn though was not going to treat him any differently now. She was used to speaking with Anneli and Katrina as equals and had even had an audience with the Roost''s leader. Otis now being a tyrant rank did not change anything for her.


    When she flew up and hovered right above him, she could tell that he was still breathing and just seemed to be unconscious.


    The evolution process was difficult on the body and it was normal to fall unconscious not long after in order to recuperate.


    Reaching down with her feet Evelyn carefully scooped Otis up and lifted him out of the water.


    As she did, his eyeszily opened up and he looked directly at her.


    "Lady Evelyn." Otis said in a dreamy fashion.


    Clearly, he was still a bit out of it, but his tone startled Evelyn enough that she dropped him back into the water.


    This time when Otis sshed into the water his entire body submerged and he iled around wildly for a moment.


    Realizing she had just messed up, Evelyn moved to pluck Otis back out of the water, but stopped when somethingpletely unexpected happened.


    In his panic, still confused and exhausted from his evolution, Otis suddenly transformed.


    He rapidly changed from his normal owl form to taking on a humanoid form.


    Evelyn knew about this ability and had specially made sure to include a human''s magic core among Otis'' catalysts. But she was caughtpletely off-guard by his sudden transformation.


    Unlike when she had seen others transform, Otis did not have any magical clothing that would cover him up.


    All of a sudden, the tiny owl before her had be a cooper skinned man with medium length ck hair.


    Coming out of his back to show that he was not human were two brown feathered wings, and his eyes were a deep orange.


    Seeing Otis in the form of a man Evelyn let out a loud distressed chirp and turned her head away.


    She had never felt bashful seeing other owls before, since her mind was still in many ways human. But now that Otis had taken on a more humanoid form, she felt embarrassed to be looking at himpletely naked.


    Soon enough Otis managed to get his bearing on his own and created a tform of magical energy to stand on.


    "Phew, that was unexpected." Otis said, curiously looking at his body.


    Evelyn had told him that he would gain this power when he evolved, but it still felt weird from him to actually be in a humanoid form.


    "Please hurry up and change back already!" Evelyn eventually yelled at Otis.


    He did not understand why she was reacting this way, but did as she asked.


    It was an instinctual and easy process for him to seamlessly change back, and in an instant Otis looked like a small owl once again.

 Chapter 285 285 The Burrowing Owls’ New Leader

    ?Once Evelyn had arrived back at the shore of the magic spring with Otis in his owl form again, a loud rumble could be heard to her left.


    Looking over she saw Otis looking embarrassed since that hade from his stomach.


    Naturally, after going through the evolution process his body had expended a considerable amount of energy and he was incredibly hungry.


    Luckily the burrowing owls had prepared for this and brought forth a great feast that their leader could eat.


    Immediately Otis dove into the food and began eating.


    In this situation with how hungry he was he wanted to just tear things apart ravenously but held himself back and ate calmly since Evelyn was watching. Even when feeling extremely hungry he kept hisposure around her.


    ''That is impressive. He has already eaten more than three times his body weight in food.'' Evelyn thought seeing Otis devour the food in front of him.


    Is current state allowed him to process the food incredibly quickly and turn it into magical energy to rece everything he had lost during his evolution.


    When Otis had finally eaten his fill, fatigue took over him again and he was unable to stay conscious any longer.


    "Po, would you carry him to his room so that he can rest." Evelyn said.


    For a few moments Po hesitated, but Evelyn''s stern look forced him to act.


    Very carefully he picked Otis up using earth magic and began the process of carrying him away to rest.


    ''Nowes the hard part.'' Evelyn thought.


    With Otis having be a tyrant rank beast, there was little need for him to stick around any longer. Even with the magic spring the Velinis Desert had little in the way that it could offer him to further advance. He had now reached the limit of where his home could take him.


    It was customary for the leader of the burrowing owls to leave at this point and leave things to their heir.


    However, Otis did not have any remaining family and would have to appoint someone new to take over.


    Among the burrowing owls there were currently no other peak awakened ranks so he was going to need to chose from those at the high tier.


    Just looking around Evelyn could see the half dozen strongest of the burrowing owls, minus Po who was currently moving Otis, trying to consolidate their support.


    ''Well, if it bes too much of a mess, I will step in. All of the candidates were around when I helped them reim their home and will listen to me if I force the issue.'' Evelyn thought.


    Of curse she wanted to leave this internal matter to the burrowing owls, but there was no way she would allow them to fall into infighting. The magic spring was still far too valuable to her to allow it to be damaged or lost.


    Stifling a yawn, Evelyn felt that she was quite tired herself. At this point she had been up more than an entire day since she watched Otis'' entire evolution.


    "Rehni, I am going to sleep. Wake me in three hours, or if Otis wakes up." Evelyn said before flying off to her room.


    She had given Rehni a break and allowed her to rest in the middle of Otis'' evolution, so she was not especially tired.


    After Evelyn made it to her room, she set up a few defenses to alert her if anyone tried to sneak up on her promptly passed out. The fatigue of the day catching up to her the moment she rxed.


    ¡­


    ''Ah, I feel pretty refreshed.'' Evelyn thought as she slowly came back to consciousness.


    She slowly raised her head and stretched out her wings, leisurely getting up, until she realized something.


    Evelyn was certain that she had slept for longer than three hours.


    It was easy enough for her to tell that her rest had not been the nap she was expecting but a full rest.


    Swiftly she left her room to make sure that nothing was wrong, but felt relieved to see Rehni waiting outside.


    "Oh, you are awake Evelyn." Rehni said happily.


    "Rehni, how long was I asleep? It was certainly more than three hours."


    "Ten. You were asleep for ten hours. Otis has not yet woken up so I saw no reason to force you to lose out on much needed rest." Rehni said, not apologetic at all.


    She had noticed how exhausted Evelyn was and opted not to follow her orders and let her sleep as long as she needed.


    "I told you I only needed three hours. With Otis being out right now and a power vacuum uing I need to be able to monitor the situation to make sure it does not get out of hand." Evelyn said turning towards the main chamber.


    Rehni put herself in between Evelyn before she could take off though.


    "Everything is fine. A few disputes came up not long after you went to sleep, but I was able to handle it fine on my own. There is nothing you need to worry about."


    Frowning, Evelyn wanted to chastise Rehni further, but could not bring herself to.


    She knew that her friend had let her sleep for her own wellbeing.


    "Fine, but I still want to check on things myself." Evelyn said, now having calmed down a bit.


    When she arrived at the central chamber she found that it was rtively clear except for the guards that were always stationed to protect the magic spring.


    It seemed that despite the burrowing owls forming into factions, they were still doing their jobs.


    "Lady Evelyn. I finally found you."


    Flying into the chamber was Otis. He had woken up not long after Evelyn and had immediately sought her out.


    "Otis it is good that you are awake. You should call a meeting with all of the strongest burrowing owls present. I am sure you have thought about it already, but it is time that you pick a new leader." Evelyn said.


    Otis nodded in response; he knew that this was his duty. He may not have been the leader for long, but he had held the position through the burrowing owls'' most trying time and knew what was excepted of him.


    Within a few hours all of the high tier and a couple of the mid-tier awakened rank burrowing owls had gathered at Otis'' order.


    Each and everyone of them were nervous for Otis'' announcement. Being the leader came with a great deal of responsibility, but also a tremendous amount of power. Whichever one of them took up the position would be able to get ahead of the others and be the new ruling family as Otis'' had been for centuries.


    "As I am sure all of you know, I will be leaving with Evelyn soon. Now that I have reached the tyrant rank it is customary for me to take my leave and pass my position on. Normally my strongest child would inherit the position, but as I have none, I will be leaving it up to one of you. Each of you before me now, lived through the hardest time in our flock''s history. We had been kicked out of our home, but thanks to all of our perseverance and Lady Evelyn''s help, we took back what was ours. Now any of you could be great leaders and thus I could not just chose one of you. At Lady Evelyn''s council, I have decided that the best leader is the strongest amongst all of you. To that end you will fight random one on one battles with each other until a victory has been crowned. Whoever that is shall be the new leader."


    After Otis'' deration on how the new leader would be chosen, each of the burrowing owls that were among the candidates let out cheerful hoots.


    With the method that Otis had chosen each and everyone of them had a fair chance to take the leadership position. Until now they had thought that Otis would just pick one of them, which had honestly been his initial n.


    Evelyn had told him that allowing them to fight for the spot would be better though. This way none of them would feel as much resentment if they lost. All of them were getting a chance after all.


    ''Things are going well. All we need to do now is wait for the winner to be determined and then we can leave. If we stay too long Aralee and Verrader are likely to start asking Bylur questions about where we went and try toe after us.'' Evelyn thought.


    Thankfully the tournament was set up to begin post haste and it took only a few hours for the battling toplete. In the end the winner was Po just as Evelyn wanted. She had set up the brackets to give him the easiest battles, so it came as no surprise that he ended up as the ultimate victor.


    Of the remaining burrowing owls he was the one she was closet to and his loyalty to her was almost equal to Otis''. Leaving him in charge was going to be for the best.


    "Po, you are now the new leader of our flock. Make sure to keep our legacy going and our people strong. I will almost certainly being by with Lady Evelyn in the future and do not want to see our home having fallen into ruin." Otis said to Po as they stood at the entrance to the burrow.


    "You can count on me Otis. I promise to make sure that we continue to grow until we are the greatest beasts in the desert." Po said.


    Having said their farewells, Evelyn, Rehni, and Otis, left the burrowing owls'' home and began the short journey to where Bylur and Evelyn''s siblings were waiting.

 Chapter 286 286 Confrontation

    ?After a short flight away from the burrowing owl''s home, Evelyn, Rehni, and Otisnded in front of the emergency burrow that had once been used by the burrowing owls and Evelyn had repurposed as her group''s temporary shelter.


    Immediately when they walked in, Evelyn found that the traps at the entrance meant to alert them of intruders were still active.


    Of course it was easy enough for Evelyn to bypass these traps since she was the one who had taught Bylur how to set them up in the first ce.


    Once the three of them had made it past the entrance and into the main chamber, Bylur quickly flew out from deeper in the burrow.


    The moment heid eyes on Evelyn a great big smile formed on his face. Though when he turned his gaze towards Otis, his expression soured.


    In response Otis gave him a victorious smile, basically telling Bylur that he was already ahead of him now.


    Evelyn being at the front of their group, did not notice this little exchange between Bylur and Otis, and was instead looking around for her siblings. Now that she had brought Otis back with her, she would need to introduce him to them and inform them of their actual reason foring to the Velinis Desert.


    "Bylur, where are Aralee and Verrader?" Evelyn asked seeing that they were not around.


    "Both of them are in the back. Since you left Verrader has not been in the best ce. I am not sure what has been going on, but he has spent the entire time cooped up in a small chamber, sometimes even mumbling to himself in an almost deranged way. Aralee has been trying to help him, but he rarely responds to her. As for me he will not even turn my way." Bylur said, a grimace on his face.


    From his expression Evelyn could tell that it had not been a pleasant experience.


    "Otis, Rehni, would you wait here." Evelyn said before turning back to Bylur. "Please take me to wear my siblings are."


    Nodding his head, Bylur hurriedly took to the air and flew towards the area he hade from.


    A half minuteter Evelyn saw Aralee sitting dejectedly outside of one of the burrow''s chambers and looking in with a look of concern.


    When she strained her ears, Evelyn could hear the sounds of low hoots and chirps that sounded incoherent.


    ''Those noises must be the mumbling that Bylur told me about.''


    As Aralee noticed their approach, she turned her head their way and her eyes lit up the instant she saw Evelyn


    "Sister, thank goodness. Maybe you can get through to you. Whenever I make a connection with him to speak, he only sends back mostly unintelligible messages or cuts of the connection without telling me anything. I do not know what is wrong, but he has barely eaten and will not leave this area. He has said your name and something about retrieving a spherical magic item for someone I am unfamiliar with several times. Frankly, I am not sure what is happening. He never acted like this before. It all happened after you left." Aralee said to Evelyn frantically.


    Yet Evelyn felt a sudden chill wash over her when Aralee mentioned Verrader having been talking about a spherical item from her.


    ''How did I not see this. He practically already told me.'' Evelyn thought, a fog seeming to clear from her mind.


    Sha had had her doubts about Verrader, and he had just mentioned to her not long ago that a human had rescued him from his cage. Yet she had failed to connect the dots.


    "Both of you leave us now!" Evelyn said sternly, a heavy weight to her voice.


    Feeling the seriousness in Evelyn''s tone, both Aralee and Bylur did as she said. Bylur only stopping once to cast her a concerned nce.


    Walking in front of the chamber''s entrance, Evelyn looked in and stared at Verrader.


    Currently he was facing away from her with his head leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room.


    With one look Evelyn could tell that he was mentally unstable and dealing with some deep-rooted issues.


    ''I knew it in my gut that there was something wrong about him. The way he acted, his stories that seemed filled with half-truths. If I just thought about it more I should have realized how suspicious he was. Why I didn''t, I can only believe I was blinded by my familiar ties to him. Maybe I just did not want to see it.'' Evelyn thought, as she prepared herself for a confrontation.


    Truly she wanted to reconnect with her family which was why she had given Verrader so much more leeway than she would have anyone else.


    The fact that she felt she would also have to give up associating with Aralee should she have cut off Verrader was also another attributing factor. While Verrader had rubbed her the wrong way a few times, she had taken to Aralee almost immediately.


    Moving into the chamber Evelyn carefully approached Verrader, ready to react in case heshed out at her.


    Before she could reach him however, Verrader noticed her presence and turned around abruptly.


    Tensing up, Evelyn waited to see what he would do, but he just stood there, a manic look in his eyes.


    And while seeing this may have been off-putting to most, it actually helped Evelyn to calm down.


    She recognized the expression that Verrader was making. It was one filled with indecision and pain. Something Evelyn herself was all too familiar with.


    "Verrader, I want you to-"


    "WHY!? Why did you have to forgive me? If you had just kept looking at me with disdain it all would have been so much easier!" Verrader shouted out, cutting Evelyn off.


    His face was twisted in rage, saddens, and confusion.


    "I forgave you because I realized I did not want to hate you. We may not have spent all that long together, but we are family Verrader. It was the human that hurt us, not each other. I already told you that we need to stop ming ourselves and each other for what happened. "Evelyn said a sympathetic look in her eyes.


    "Now tell me exactly what is going on. You are in league with the humans, are you not?"

 Chapter 287 287 Verrader’s Decision

    ?With a conflicted look on his face, Verrader began a mental tug of war. The voice he had heard several times telling him what his mission was yed over and over again. The voice that assured him that his sister was to me for all his pain and that she had stolen a power that was rightfully his.


    But all he needed to do was bring her out of the Roost and when his master got ahold of her and finished some test, the powerful item would be his as it rightfully should have been


    His master had nursed him back to health after being trapped in a cage for so long. He had given him valuable items to advance all the way to the awakened rank, and in return he only wanted one simple thing and that was Evelyn. The sister that had abandoned him to rot.


    It was all supposed to be simple. He would find Evelyn, gain her trust, and lead her into a trap. Things had not gone the best when he was unable to keep his emotions under control when they first met, but thankfully his other sister Aralee had been able to act as a buffer. And he had alsoter been given a scent bag that released a calming perfume that rxed individuals and lowered their wariness.


    Slowly he had gotten closer to Evelyn, until finally she left the Roost with him. Yet now that he was ready to make his move, she not only saved him from being crippled by using a rare medicine, but forgave him for something he felt was unforgivable. Suddenly the slight bit of hate in her eyes that she had always looked at him with had vanished, and she had truly looked at him like her little brother.


    Now he was faced with a decision he never thought would be difficult to make. To give Evelyn up or not.


    When he had first left his master''s care for his mission, he was certain that he would easily be able to deliver Evelyn without any difficulties. But now, he was conflicted on what to do.


    ''Even now I cannot see any hate in her eyes anymore.'' Verrader thought.


    Despite Evelyn having seemingly figured it out, Verrader could not see any of the disdain she used to look at him with.


    "Yes, I have been working for a group of humans. My master, the man that saved me, wants you desperately. And it is my job to deliver you."


    After admitting this Verrader hung his head low. Ashamed that he had just let down both his master and Evelyn.


    "I see. Have you already given me up. Are the humans on the way or already here?" Evelyn asked, remaining calm.


    She knew that snapping at Verrader when he was this mentally unstable would not get her the information she wanted.


    "No, I was not sure what to do. All I had to do was slip away and send out a message detailing where we are, but I never could find the time before you left, and afterward I just couldn''t bring myself to do it. If only you had just been the monster I wanted you to be, I could have done it."


    Listening to Verrader, Evelyn could hear the regret in his voice. Clearly, he wanted to follow through with his mission. Yet Evelyn reaching out to connect to him had forced him to reconsider something he had already figured was a set conclusion.


    "Verrader, you must realize that whoever saved you must have been connected to our parents'' killers. Why would you ever think about working for him?" Evelyn asked.


    "I KNOW! I know he is the one in charge of the people that killed our parents. But what else was I supposed to do. He saved me. Gave me a ce to live. A purpose. All I had to do to repay him was give you to him, but I have failed him. No, it is not toote. I can still send the message. You may kill me, but I could still do it." Verrader said, bing more deranged.


    Watching this, Evelyn could only imagine what sort of mental torture this master he spoke of put him through. The moment he had thought about going against this man, Verrader''s sanity seemed to begin to slip.


    "Verrader, we both know you already made your choice. You would not be telling me all of this is you really nned to betray me. By not going ahead with it and allowing yourself to be conflicted, you already picked not to give me up. You have not caused me or any of our otherpanions any harm. It is not toote." Evelyn said, giving Verrader a sympathetic look.


    This only hurt Verrader further. Frankly he wanted Evelyn tosh out at him, to condemn him. That was why he was telling her all of this, yet she seemed intent on forgiving him even for working with the same people that had killed their parents.


    "Why won''t you hate me!?" Verrader eventually asked, on the verge of breaking down.


    "What reason do I have to hate you?" Evelyn said taking a step closer to Verrader. "You say you indented to betray me, but you haven''t. You are even spilling you n and goals to me right now. I know that you feel like you owe this man who you call your master, but I can assure you he is just like the other humans. They killed our parents and tossed them away like trash. They would do the same to us if you gave me up to them. I am sure that you realized this deep down. To them you are just a pawn. But to Aralee and I, you are our brother. I know I was cold to you when we reunited, but I also had my on lingering anger and pain just like you. We went through something horrible together. Let''s not take it out on each other."


    During her speech Evelyn had moved closer to Verrader and was now close enough to wrap her wings around him.


    She remembered when Melisandre had acted as her anchor while she was dealing with her own emotional turmoil and knew that having someone there for you helped immensely.


    Feeling Evelyn''s wings embrace him, Verrader lost all strength in his legs and copsed onto her. He could no longer hold back his tears.


    At the end of the day, he was simply young owl that had lost his family and been repeatedly hurt throughout most of his life. Evelyn could sympathize with this. Having gone through many simr things.


    A year ago, Evelyn would have killed him the moment she realized he was a spy. She was sure about that.


    But after all she had been through and the growth she had experienced, she felt that she at least owed it to hear Verrader out if he was willing to talk.


    ''Plus, I am tired of losing my family. I have already lost two sets of parents and Mason. I will be damned if I let my new siblings die this time.''

 Chapter 288 288

    ?For several minutes Evelyn simply allowed Verrader to lean on her and get his emotions under control.


    He had certainly been through more than Evelyn could even imagine and it was a miracle that he was able to snap out of whatever brainwashing the human that picked him up had subjected him to.


    "Verrader, are you okay?" Evelyn asked when she felt his body gopletely limp.


    For a moment she was afraid that something might have happened to him, but he had just passed out.


    He had been dealing with an internal war within himself for thest few days, and now that he had found his answer, his body could no longer stay awake.


    Taking a cushion out of her storge cuff Evelyn set him down and leaned him up against the wall in afortable position.


    Then once she had made sure he would not fall over, Evelyn''s on emotions burst forth and she could not hold back her own tears.


    "Thank you for not betraying me. I do not know if I could have taken it." Evelyn said, though with Verrader unconscious no one heard her.


    It had not been long since Evelyn decided to allow herself to trust again, and having one of the two family members she had left betray her would have been a blow she was not sure she could recover from.


    Thankfully, Verrader had chosen his siblings over the humans that had only caused their family suffering.


    Once Evelyn got her emotions back under control she had to think about what to tell everyone else.


    ''If I reveal the truth, I am certain that Bylur and Rehni will not be very weing towards him anymore. Aralee is likely to be devastated. She looks up to Verrader even more than she does to me at this point. They spent thest month together and he is the one that obtained the evolution catalyst she needed. What am I supposed to do here?''


    Evelyn was unsure of how much to tell everyone else. Caught between protecting Verrader and telling herpanions the truth.


    In the end, she concluded that keeping the fact that Verrader had been sent as a spy by humans was for the best.


    He had already told Evelyn everything and made his choice to betray the humans that had wanted him to deliver Evelyn to them.


    Leaving the chamber that Verrader was now peacefully resting in, Evelyn made her way back out to the central area where the others were waiting for her.


    Each of them wore concerned expression, with Aralee looked especially distressed.


    "Sister what happened? Where is Verrader?"


    "He is resting. He was dealing with a great emotional toll, but we managed to work things out together. I believe that when he awakens, he will be feeling much better." Evelyn said, wearing a reassuring look.


    Hearing this Aralee let out a sigh of relief, and the tension around everyone rxed slightly.


    "Would you mind telling us exactly what happened? Bylur mentioned that you were quite forceful when sending him and Aralee away." Rehni said.


    Among all of Evelyn''spanion she was the only one willing to broach this subject. Both Bylur and Otis would never intentionally do anything that might upset Evelyn, while Aralee looked up to her as a capable big sister.


    "Yes I suppose I owe you all an exnation. I am sure you noticed that Verrader and I have not been getting along the best since our reunion. That is because of what had happened when we were captured by humans. Both of us had been ming ourselves and the other for it to some degree, and this caused resentment between us to build up. I told Verrader that I forgave him before I left with Rehni, and it took him a while to get his thoughts and emotions in order. We just worked through thest of it together. I do not believe that their will be any more tension between us." Evelyn said, abbreviating what had happened without mentioning the fact that Verrader was sent to the Roost as a human pawn.


    Rehni still seemed suspicious, certain that Evelyn was not telling her everything, but left it at that.


    Evelyn was their groups leader and if she decided that there was something that the rest of them did not know that was her prerogative.


    "Now, we can revisit what happened with me and Verrader when he wakes up. Before anything else, we need to properly introduce Otis to Aralee and exin the real reason we chose toe to the Velinis Desert." Evelyn said changing the subject.


    At this Aralee looked at Otis curiously.


    She had certainly noticed that a new owl had joined them but with everything going on with Verrader and Evelyn, she had not asked for many details from Bylur and Rehni.


    "How I came to meet Otis is a bit of a long story, but I imagine we have the time." Evelyn said.


    She then began back at the beginning when Po had found and begged her for help.


    Going through each detail Evelyn told her sister what had happened and about the magic spring that was hidden underground where the burrowing owls'' home was.


    This information only elicited a confused look from Aralee who did not know what a magic spring was and Evelyn had to exin the properties of the rare magic phenomena as well.


    Over the next hour Evelyn continued to give out details and answer Aralee''s questions, until her sister was caught up on everything.


    "That is amazing. To think that you were able save an entire n of owls out here int his desert." Aralee gushed.


    It was clear that she was only bing more enamored with Evelyn.


    Of course, Evelyn was happy to receive the praise of her little sister. It made her feel as if she was doing a good job as the older sibling. Something she idealized herself from her time looking up to Mason.


    "The problem is what we should be doing now. With Verrader being unconscious our ns are thrown into disarray." Bylur said.


    Originally, they had intended to introduce Otis to Evelyn siblings and then make their way to the Roost. There were still preparations that they needed to make in order to allow Otis ess.


    None of them had the authority to grant a new owl citizenship within the Roost, and would need Melisandre''s help to get the process going.


    "You are right, Melisandre will start to get worried if we take to long. I informed her of our intentions beforehand and she has gotten everything ready on her end. Otis will need to be vetted by the Roost''s leadership, but as a tyrant rank, he will almost certainly be allowed to join without any fuss." Evelyn said.


    When finding the challenges to enter the Roost it was customary for all awakened rank or higher owls to be let in without needing to further prove their abilities.


    Though it was still several months from the next time the Roost would be offering any recruitment challenges for outside owls, which was why they were looking to get special permission pushed through with Melisandre''s assistance.


    "I believe we can wait another two days before heading back to the warp point and returning to the Roost. If Verrader has not woken up by then, we will just have to carry him back with us." Evelyn said.


    In response Bylur grimaced, since if Verrader did not wake up, he was the one that would have to be carrying him.


    "Well, if we are going to stick around for longer, we might as well use the time productively." Rehni said, turning towards Otis.


    She then suggested that he test out his new powers as a tyrant rank beast. He had just undergone a dramatic change and would need to get used to the increase in magical energy within his body.


    "That is a good idea. We have sparred with Anneli and Katrina plenty and know what a tyrant beast''s prowess should look like. This will be a goo chance to see if Otis is up to snuff." Bylur said, fixing his rival with a smirk.


    "Bring it on. I will show just how powerful I have now be. We may have been closer to even before, but not anymore. I have pulled way ahead of you in every way." Otis said confidently, turning to Evelyn and shing her what he thought was a dazzling smile.


    Unsure of what this gesture meant and the posturing going on between Otis and Bylur was, Evelyn simply told them to get on with it and watched while Rehni and Bylur took on Otis in a practice match.


    While the three of them fought in the air, Aralee crept closer to Evelyn and asked her something hat had been on her mind.


    "Is everything really going to be okay with Verrader?"


    "Yes. We have worked things out between us. Our family is not going to be separated again." Evelyn said, assuaging her sister''s worries.

 Chapter 289 289 Melisandre And Evelyn’s Siblings

    ?Come the second day of Verrader begin unconscious, Evelyn was prepared to leave for the roost and carry him back, but thankfully he woke up not long after night hade.


    When he came out from his chamber, he bowed his head to everyone else and apologized for inconveniencing them.


    Immediately everyone could tell that something was different about Verrader.


    Normally he felt like he was exuding and aura of self-importance, but now he seemed more reserved.


    There was also the fact that he now stood closer to Evelyn when before there was a constant distance between them. Clearly something major had changed. Something more than just what Evelyn had exined.


    In fact, the way that Verrader was sticking close to Evelyn as if to use her as a shield between him and everyone else showed that he was afraid that the others would rebuke him.


    However, after a short private conversation with Evelyn he rxed and did not seem as afraid of approaching Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee.


    Evelyn had just told him that she kept his connection to humans as their spy a secret and did not n on telling the others until their group had greater cohesion.


    There was still a bit of tension in his expression that showed he was conflicted about something, but Verrader was grateful for Evelyn''s consideration. He was not sure what would have happened if the others new he originally meant to give Evelyn up. Though he also felt a bit bad about continuing to deceive them.


    "Now that Verrader is awake, we can return to the Roost. Everyone, get ready to move out." Evelyn said, moving things along.


    Swiftly they all gathered up their belongs into their storage devices and left the abandoned desert burrow.


    The journey back to the nearest warp point took them a few hours. It was in the middle of the desert in apletely unimpressive area. Much like all of the warp points Evelyn had been to before.


    "Okay Otis, this is where we will be saying goodbye for now. I imagine you will be fine setting up camp around here for at least a little while. We will be back noter than three days, but I do not believe it should take that long. Hopefully we can wee you into the Roost tomorrow." Evelyn said to Otis.


    "I have lived my entire life int his desert, so I am certain I can go another few days here. Though I cannot lie and say that I am not looking forward to finally seeing your home." Otis responded.


    After that they all said their temporary farewell to Otis and activated their return tickets. Being swallowed up by the light of the warp portal and being whisked away back to the Roost.


    When the light finally faded from her eyes, Evelyn looked around and found the warp hall to look the same as ever.


    Swiftly she and herpanions were ushered off of the tform and exited the warp hall.


    "Let us head to Melisandre''s estate. It is time that I introduce the two of you to my master." Evelyn said to her siblings.


    The two of them had known that one of the higher-ranking owls in the Roost had been mentoring Evelyn, but it was not until recently they had learned it was Melisandre, master of the Alchemy Hall and one of the pirs of the Roost.


    Naturally both Aralee and Verrader were nervous to meet such a powerful and influential member of the Roost. One that sat multiple ranks above them, only one away from the very top.


    "Here we are." Evelyn said,nding in front of an imposing door that was big enough for a jumbo jet to pass through.


    With the wave of her identification cuff the door unlocked and began to open. Revealing the massive hall that was the entrance to Melisandre''s estate.


    Shuffling inside, Evelyn led herpanions into her home.


    It was not long before the other three residents, Anneli, Katrina, and Melisandre arrived. Alerted by Evelyn''s return.


    "Wee back Evelyn. I am d to see that you have returned in good health. Oh, and these two must be your siblings." Melisandre said, turning her gaze towards Verrader and Aralee.


    Suddenly having Melisandre intently looking at them caused both of them to shudder slightly. The two of them could feel her analyzing them and the immense power she had.


    "Yes, I can see the family resemnce. It is a pleasure to meet both of you. My name is Melisandre, though I am sure you already knew that." Melisandre said with a friendly smile.


    With her demeanor having softened, Verrader and Aralee were able to feel some of their tension release.


    "I am Aralee, Evelyn''s sister it is a great honor to meet you Melisandre." Aralee said, bowing her head.


    A momentter, Verrader followed suit and gave the same greeting, and Melisandre gave a satisfied nod.


    She then introduced Anneli and Katrina to Evelyn''s siblings before moving everyone to a parlor where they could speak.


    "It sounds like everything went mostly as nned. I will want to see this Otis myself before rmending he be allowed to join the Roost and getting the other Hall Masters involved, but I doubt there will be any problem since he is a tyrant rank beast. I already have all of the paperwork filled out and just need to submit it." Melisandre said after Evelyn told her that Otis had sessfully evolved.


    But before they left to head back to Otis quicker than Evelyn had expected, she needed to discuss something else with Melisandre.


    "Actually, I need to speak with you alone about something important Melisandre." Evelyn said, a deadly serious look in her eyes.


    "Very well. Anneli, Katrina, take Evelyn''s siblings and friends to the kitchen. I am sure that they must be hungry and could use some food." Melisandre said, waving everyone else.


    "Now. What is it. I can tell from your expression that this is no small matter." Melisandre said once they were alone.


    After taking a deep breath Evelyn told Melisandre everything she had learned from Verrader and exined his circumstances.


    As she did Melisandre''s face grew darker and darker, and Evelyn felt a murderous aura re up from her master.


    When Evelyn had finished her exnation, Melisandre pulled out a magic notepad meant for sending messages and hastily wrote a message down and sent it off.


    "I have informed Katrina to send your brother back. This is something that I need to make sure to deal with immediately. I trust your judgment Evelyn, but it is possible that this is still all just part of some borate trap he is setting. If your brother is truly a threat to you, I will not even be leaving ashes." Melisandre said, a scarry look in her eyes that Evelyn had never seen before.


    In her mind she wished Verrader luck. If Melisandre decided to kill him here, then there was little she could do about it.


    Soon Verrader returned wearing a ghastly expression. He certainly knew why Evelyn had stayed behind, and why he was being summoned now.


    "Come here. If you are truly repent for what you did and do not n to betray Evelyn anymore you have nothing to fear." Melisandre said with amanding tone.


    Verrader gulped loudly in response, and slowly crept towards Melisandre.


    When he was within reach, Melisandre put her hand on him and channeled her magical energy into Verrader.


    This caused him to seize up his body trying and utterly failing to block the foreign magical energy. Especially since Melisandre was being rather forceful about it.


    "I can feel the echoes of envement magic inside you. But whoever sent you was smart enough to remove it before sending you here. You never would have made it into the Roost if you still had it on you." Melisandre said.


    Naturally the Roost was wary of spies being sent from the outside, and whenever an owl used a warp portal to enter the Roost, they were scanned to detect any sort of magic that could control them.


    For several minutes Melisandre carefully expanded Verrader''s body, until her eyes suddenly flung open in surprise.


    Immediately she took out a shimmering light blue potion and handed it to Evelyn.


    "Once I am done ssh that on your brother." Melisandre said, leaving Evelyn confused by what was going on.


    In her left foot she was holding a powerful healing potion and was not sure what Melisandre meant for her to do. At least, not until her master jammed her right hand into Verrader''s chest.


    Wide eyed and mouth agape, Evelyn had surely not been expecting this.


    Yet when she got her thoughts together she realized that Melisandre was not attempting to Kill Verrader. If she were, there were certainly easier and less bloody method. Plus, there would be no need for Evelyn to be holding onto to a healing potion in that case.


    "Got it." Melisandre said after a few seconds.


    With a forceful yank she pulled a ck diamond shaped object out of Verrader''s chest and motioned for Evelyn to use the healing potion.


    With the flick of her foot, she sshed the contents onto Verrader''s chest and the wound began to rapidly close.


    Verrader, who had been seized by Melisandre''s magical energy was now free, and he let out a pained scream before copsing onto the ground. Like a marite that had its strings abruptly cut.


    "Don''t worry, he will be fine. Taking this out caused him an immense amount of pain, but he will recover." Melisandre said, holding up the ck diamond shaped magical device that had been imbedded inside of Verrader.

 Chapter 290 290 Melisandre’s Interrogation

    ?With a scrutinizing expression on her face, Melisandre carefully examined the ck diamond shaped magic item she had just pulled out of Verrader''s chest.


    However, the longer she looked at it the more she frowned, clearly not getting the results that she wanted.


    "What is that thing?" Evelyn asked.


    "I am notpletely sure." Melisandre grumbled.


    Most of the time with her long years of experience she was able to easily figure out what a magical device was capable of, but the in front of her held many secrets that she could not decipher.


    "Whoever, imbedded this in your brother did a very good job of hiding it. I almost did not it at all when searching his body with my magical energy. If I had not been being very through I would have passed right over it without a second thought." Melisandre said, sounding frustrated, but also impressed with the magic tool she had ripped out of Verrader''s chest.


    She then exined that what tipped her off that something was there was not actually that she sensed the magic device but that it felt like there was a small hollow space where her magical energy could not reach.


    However, the item had been ced right next to Verrader''s beast core which helped to mask it even further and it was actually only a hunch that Melisandre had that there might be something there.


    "So, have you figured anything out about it, now that you have ahold of it?"


    "No, it refuses to activate at all. It ispletely locked up and shutdown." Melisandre said, shaking her head." None of its properties are currently active and it refuses to react to anything I have tried so far. I am not sure what it is made of, but this outer shell likely is able to keep any magical energy froming in or going out. I imagine that this device only activates whenever your brother leaves the Roost. Otherwise, it likely would have been detected as a dangerous object when he was first emitted."


    Melisandre continued to examined the device with her magical energy, but even when she bombarded it with a huge amount, enough to increase the pressure in the room and nearly cause Evelyn to pass out, she was still unable to make any progress.


    "Damn it, I am not getting anywhere with this thing." Melisandre said, her frustration showing.


    If it was just a magic item she had picked up randomly she would not care so much about revealing its secrets right away, but this item had been imbedded in Evelyn''s brother who had been acting as a spy. Evelyn''s safety relied on her finding out what this thing does.


    "If it will not activate while inside the Roost, couldn''t you just take it outside and see if it will start working again?" Evelyn said, making what she thought was a sound suggestion.


    For a moment Melisandre contemted this, but ultimately shook her head.


    "No, we have no clue what this thing is. Taking it outside poses far too great a risk. Now that it has been removed from your brother it will likely send a signal of some kind to whoever put it inside him. As of right now they think that everything is going ording to n but will figure out something is wrong if this thing activates in the outside world. I may not be able to examine it with my magical energy but the master of Inscription Hall is an expert on magical items. If I pass this along to them, they are likely to be able to uncover its secrets."


    Unable to get anything out of the item herself, Melisandre ced it into one of her storage items, and ned to give it to the Roost''s best expert on magical itemster.


    "Now what are we going to do about him." Melisandre said, fixing Verrader with a suspicious re.


    While he may have somehow won over the normally cautious Evelyn, Melisandre still held many doubts about him.


    Despite him supposedly having opened up about everything to Evelyn, he had not mentioned the device imbedded in his chest.


    Though when Melisandre brought this up, Evelyn defended him, saying, "He probably did not know that it had been ced inside him."


    This shocked Melisandre, since she figured that Evelyn would be at least a bit skeptical after witnessing what had just happened.


    "Why do you ce so much trust in him all of a sudden?" Melisandre asked, unsure of where Evelyn''s faith in her brother came from.


    "I told you that he spilled everything to me, and we worked through our shared trauma together. I am not sure there is an actor good enough to fake the emotions that he disyed. It all seemed genuine. Plus, if he was nning something, telling me about it would not do him any good. He already had a perfect chance to give me up, but instead spent his window of opportunity in turmoil, unable to figure out what to do." Evelyn said, confident in her assertion that Verrader no longer nned to betray her.


    Melisandre was still skeptical though, feeling it was her duty to investigate further. Especially when Evelyn seemed to bepletely won over.


    "You certainly have gotten better at reading people and your cautious nature means you normally can tell when someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes, but in this case, I think you might be too close. I will integrate your brother when he wakes up and get to the bottom of this. If he manages to pass even my scrutinization, then I can be certain he means you no harm." Melisandre said, leaving no room for objection.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn did not try to argue with Melisandre. She knew that this was necessary for Verrader to be epted.


    "But when will he wake up?" Evelyn said, looking at Verrader''s still unconscious body.


    Even during their entire conversation, he had not stirred once, and still wore the pained same pained expression as when he passed out.


    "I am not sure, but it could be a few hours or even days. I may have been a bit too rough with him when extracting that magical device." Melisandre said a tinge of regret on her face.


    Had she taken some more time and made proper preparations she could have extracted the magical device without causing nearly as much trauma to Verrader. However, just in case she did not want him to knew what was happening in case the device could be used offensively. Plus she felt he probably deserved a bit of pain after deceiving Evelyn and nearly giving her up to the humans hunting her.


    "For now all we can do is let him rest. Go join the others in the kitchen and unwind a bit. I will keep watch over your brother." Melisandre said, waving her hand and beckoning Evelyn to leave.


    Doing as her master wanted, Evelyn moved towards the door to leave the room, but before she did, she turned around and said, "Thank you Melisandre."


    After that she left her brother in her master''s care and flew directly towards the kitchen. Coming up with an exnation to tell everyone else that would be believable and conceal the truth about what she and Melisandre had been doing with Verrader.


    Once Evelyne was gone, Melisandre let out a deep sigh and red at Verrader.


    "You certainly have caused me a lot of trouble."


    Unfortunately, Verrader was not able to respond since he was unconscious.


    Thankfully he only stayed asleep for a couple of hours before waking up with a long groan.


    While his body was not damaged anymore, his brain was still sending him signals of pain from the hole tat had been ripped into his chest.


    "Good you are awake. We can fianlyl get started." Melisandre said, a scarry glint in her eyes.


    Verrader''s Intetics told him eh was in danger and he jumped up and tried to escape.


    Yet he found himself unable to move far. He was shackled to Melisandre and there was no way he was going to escape.


    Of course, he was not trying to run because he felt he had something to hide, he was simply terrified of Melisandre. Last thing he remembered she had punctured his chest with her hand.


    "Don''t think I am going to let you get away until I am satisfied. You may have been able to win over Evelyn''s trust, but you have a long way to go with me. Now start at the beginning and tell me everything. I want to here it from your mouth, and know that I can see through any of your lies." Melisandre said, fixing Verrader with a stern look.


    Unable to resist Verrader told, Melisandre everything, even things he had not mentioned to Evelyn. Such as some of the tortures he had been subjected to in order to break him.


    When he finally reached the end, Melisandre gave a satisfied nod. She had not detected any lies in what Verrader had said.


    "Good, I believe you now, but there is onest thing I need to do in order to make absolutely sure that you are not going to bring harm to Evelyn." Melisandre said, a smile on her face that made Verrader shudder.


    "This stuff is technically ouwed within the Roost, but just this once I think it will be necessary for me to use. Once I administer this, you will be singing like a canary. Not even your subconscious thoughts will be hidden from me." Melisandre said, pulling out a needle and syringe filled with a ck tar like substance.

 Chapter 291 291

    ?When Evelyn made it to the kitchen of Melisandre''s estate, she found Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee, looking on in amazement as Katrina and Anneli cooked up a feast for their return.


    "Oh, sister, you are back!" Aralee said happily, spotting Evelyn first.


    Following where Aralee had turned her head, both Bylur and Anneli turned to greet Evelyn as well.


    "There is a seat next to me Evelyn." Bylur said, motioning to the cushion that sit empty next to him.


    However, while Evelyn thanked him for the consideration she wanted to sit next to her sister instead and took the cushion next to Aralee.


    This caused Bylur to hang his head, and he was far more devastated by Evelyn''s actions than he should have been.


    Once Evelyn had sat down, she exchanged a flew pleasantries with Anneli and Katrina who had momentarily stopped cooking to greet her.


    "So, what did you and Lady Melisandre need Verrader for, and where is he?" Rehni asked once Evelyn had settled in. She was sure that something was going on behind the scenes and want to get to the bottom of it if she could.


    "Verrader and I needed some advice from my master. I already got what I needed, but Verrader is staying behind to talk with Melisandre longer. I will give you more detailster." Evelyn said, putting Rehni''s inquiry to a swift end.


    She did not even truly know what was going to happen at this point with Verrader. It was still possible that Melisandre might kill him if she deemed him a threat.


    Luckily Katrina and Anneli soon finished up the food, and a grand feast was able to take everyone''s mind off the fact that Verrader was not here.


    For several hours the six of them enjoyed the best of what Anneli and Katrina had to offer. Each of them feeling their bodies being revitalized and filled with strength.


    "This food is simply divine. I have never had anything this amazing." Aralee said, a sparkle in her eyes.


    Up to this point she had been eating food at the lower end of what the Roost had to offer. Credits for her and Verrader were always in low supply, and they had more important things to focus on rather than the quality of their food.


    But now that they had joined up with Evelyn, that was about to change.


    Time seemed to pass quickly as they ate and enjoyed each other''spany, until it waste into the day and each of them were starting to feel tired.


    Yet even after several hours Melisandre and Verrader had note back.


    Evelyn was beginning to get pretty nervous about this, since her friends and little sister were periodically sending her nces, wanting to ask her what was going on.


    Thankfully, before she was met with any heavy questioning, the two owls that had been absent for the entire celebratory feast arrived.


    ''What did she do to him?'' Evelyn thought when she saw Verrader.


    He looked incredibly worn out and like he was an inch from death. Certainly, when she left he was still unconscious and had a pained expression on his face, but he did not look as if the life had been drained from him.


    Melisandre on the other hand had a very satisfied expression on her face and did not look worn out at all.


    Naturally everyone else noticed this as well and nced curiously at both Melisandre and Verrader.


    "Katrina, would you bring some food for us. I image that you set aside easier." Melisandre said, sitting down at a chair that had been prepared for her.


    "Understood, Lady Melisandre." Katrina respond before rushing over to the fridge magical tool and bring out several ters of food for Melisandre and Verrader.


    "Here, eat up and recover a bit of your strength. I rmend you eat as much as you physically can. It will speed up your recovery." Melisandre said to Verrader.


    She then waved her hand in front of the food and using her fire and water magic in conjunction reheated all of it without losing any of the moisture.


    Withnguid movements, Verrader began eating the food in front of him. Showing no joy despite how amazing it tasted and honestly looking like he was ready to keel over and die.


    Still, the fact that he was here and alive proved to Evelyn that Melisandre had carefully vetted him and was satisfied that he was no longer a threat to her.


    In fact, having a turncoat like him on their side could have its benefits. They could have him send false repots to the humans that believed him to still be doing their bidding in order to get them off Evelyn''s trail.


    Eventually the root of the problem would have to be dealt with, but for now they could worry about other matters. Such as getting Otis admitted into the Roost.


    "Verrader, are you okay?" Aralee asked, her expression filled with concern for her brother.


    It as clear that something happened between him and Melisandre, but norther of them were willing to go into the details.


    "I am just tired. I think I will be fine after some rest." Verrader said, shuddering violent for a moment when he remembered the sludge like liquid that Melisandre had injected him with.


    Just as she had said, the dangerous alchemical item caused him to confess to any and everything Melisandre wanted to know. Even things Verrader did not truly know about himself. It was an intense integration that had left him beyond exhausted, but at least he had managed to prove his change of heart to Melisandre.


    While the humans thought he was good and totally brainwashed, without anything truly binding them to him anymore, it only made sense that he would rather stay with a family that epts him rather than continue to be a ve.


    Within just a few minutes of slowly eating Verrader looked like he was ready to pass out at any moment and was wobbling precariously. Showing just how beat he was, since owls were normally able to stay upright even while sleeping.


    "Anneli, would you take Verrader here to one of our guest rooms. And Katrina, would you prepare room for the others. It will be easier if we are in the same ce tomorrow. It is toote now for me to submit the forms to grant Otis special permission to enter the Roost, today, so we will need to do it early tomorrow." Melisandre said with a slightly apologetic tone.


    She had spent far longer grilling Verrader than she initially suspected. He knew quite a bit more about the humans that had captured and enved him than she though he would and spent time to squeeze out every detail while the honesty serum was still in effect.


    Surprise was evident on Bylur and Rehni''s faces, as they had never actually spent the night in Melisandre''s estate. The two of them hade by often to train with Evelyn, but it was expected that they would leave and head to their own homes when they were finished.


    But Melisandre did not want to wase any time tomorrow and figured it would be easier if they all just stayed in her estate for the night.


    Aralee though, had never been here before and did not catch on to the abnormality of being allowed to stay and happily thanked Melisandre.


    After that they all took to their own rooms and got to sleep quickly. The next day was going to be busy with getting Otis approved to enter the Roost.


    ¡­


    "What the hell is taking so long." Evelyn grumbled.


    As nned all of them had woken up Ealey and Melisandre had gone through the proper procedures to get Otis epted as a member of the Roost, but despite believing that the meeting with he other Hall Masters would go quickly, Melisandre had been gone for several hours at this point.


    And when Melisandre finally exited the chamber where the Hall Master had been meeting, it was clear that something unfavorable had happened.


    It was rare to see Melisandre red up with emotions, but one look at her face was enough to tell that she was beyond angry. She was furious.


    "Damn him!" She shouted and mmed her fist into the nearby wall. Causing it to crack and shaking the entire room violently.


    This was the first time that Evelyn had seen Melisandre get violently angry like this and it was quite nerve racking.


    "Lady Melisandre, what happened?" Katrina, the bravest among them eventually asked.


    "That bastard Ss is stone walling me. Normally there would be no problem with a tyrant rank owl being admitted if they have the endorsement of a Hall Master, but he is doing everything in his power to get in my way just for the sake of pissing me off." Melisandre said, her rage still palpable.


    Hearing this Evelyn grimaced. She had not interacted with Ss often, but the couple times were enough to give her a bad impression of him.


    He had treated her when they first met and said that she was not worthy of being Melisandre''s disciple. Then when she was being sent to explore the new continent the roost discovered, se was certain he was the reason she got knocked out of the warp gate and deposited over the ocean.


    Now, after all this time being quiet and not doing anything, he finally found his chance to get in Evelyn''s and Melisandre''s way, in order to derive whatever sick pleasure he got out of tormenting them.

 Chapter 292 292 Melisandre’s And Silas’ Past

    ?Wearing a scowl on her face, Melisandre exuded an almost hostile aura as she led the way back to her estate. Clearly whatever Ss did in order to keep Otis'' eptance as a member of the Roost had heavily upset her.


    No one dared ask her anything during the flight back from the Hall Masters'' meeting chambers, and they could all only wonder what exactly had happened.


    When they finally arrived back at Melisandre''s estate, she held a meeting with everyone in attendance to tell them what had urred and n their next step.


    "To start, Ss must have called in arge number of favors just to spite me in this issue. He got multiple other Hall Masters on his side and brough up long forgotten precedent from when the Roost was still fairly new." Melisandre said, practically grumbling.


    She then exined that far in the past, long before her time, the admittance of any new owl required the permission of three of the Roost''s top brass.


    This rule had not been put into practice for centuries, but Ss had decided to bring it up and used it as his main argument for why Melisandre could not push Otis'' membership through on her own.


    Normally doing something like this would have only gotten him annoyed looks and a quick dismissal, but with the supporters Ss had prepared ahead of time he was able to push his agenda.


    "So, I won''t be able to get Otis to join the Roost any time soon. Thanks to Ss I need to get the approval of two other Hall Master and while I can call in some favors of my own, it will still take time, since we will apparently need to go and assess Otis before he can ever enter the Roost, which means that three Hall Masters will need to leave at the same time. That is not something easy to schedule. And it does not help that Ss insisted that he be brought along to make sure that as he said, ''Proper procedures are followed.'' Damn I want to wring his neck right now." Melisandre said her anger obvious.


    For any other special admittance to the Roost, it would have only needed to be brought up briefly and the Hall Master wanting to bring a new owl in would have no problems doing so of their own volition.


    However, due to Ss'' interference Otis was not going to have and easy time of it.


    "Could we not just go over Ss'' head?" Evelyn asked.


    If Ss and the Hall Masters he had gotten on his side were causing a problem, then they could just go to the highest authority in the Roost, and get Minerva to quash the issue.


    Unfortunately, Melisandre could only shake her head at Evelyn''s suggestion.


    "No this is not a matter for the leader of the Roost to deal with. She has far more important things on her te than dealing with the admittance of a new owl. Perhaps if your friend was at the cmity rank it would be another story, but for just a mere newly evolved tyrant rank there is no way I can ask for our leader''s assistance." Melisandre said.


    As much as se would enjoy watching Ss squirm if she brought in Minerva, calling on the leader of the Roost for something so small would tarnish Melisandre''s reputation, and make the current Hall Masters seem highly dysfunctional.


    "Why does this guy even have it out for the two of you in the first ce?" Bylur said, a look of displeasure on his face.


    Evelyn though had no clue why Ss did not like her or Melisandre, and could only shrug her shoulders.


    On the other hand, Melisandre grimaced, she knew exactly why Ss was periodically getting in her way and harassing Evelyn as a way to get to her.


    "I suppose that I might as well tell you all about what happened between me and Ss in the past." Melisandre said, sitting up straight and getting ready to tell a long story.


    Everyone looked towards her intently and from the expressions on Anneli''s and Katrina''s face, neither of them knew about Melisandre''s history either.


    "Back when I was still only at the awakened rank, I was actually on a team with Ss. Back then we did not go out of our way to antagonize each other, and I would say we were even good friends." Melisandre said, shocking all of them with this revtion.


    Evelyn had figured that they had a long-standing rivalry and had always been enemies, but never once did she think that the two of them had been allies.


    Continuing on, Melisandre told them all of some of their exploits together as a team, but things obviously did not end well.


    "During our rise up the Ranking Hall, we got approached by arge faction that wanted us to join and Ss thought that it would be a good opportunity, but I declined, and our other team member did as well. This left Ss with no choice but to also refuse, since we were wanted as a team. Onlyter did I learn that just how malicious this faction could be." Melisandre said, a look of sorrowing over her face.


    Just like what had happened with Evelyn, this faction decided to antagonize Melisandre and her team, and on one such asion when they were outside the roost, they riled up a bunch of beasts and led them to where Melisandre and her team had been resting.


    Both her and Ss managed to escape, but their other teammate did not and ended up dying in the battle.


    "After that we were more careful and the two of us spent a great deal of time nning and getting stronger so that we could crush the faction that killed our friend. Eventually we were able to bring them down and not a single remnant of that faction remains, but our friend, Ava was still dead. This hit Ss harder than it did me, since I am certain that he was in love with her. He was almost manic in his quest to destroy that faction, though, I was not much better."


    Once they had wiped out the faction that opposed them Melisandre and Ss stuck together for a bit longer, but it all changed when Ss tried making advances at Melisandre.


    Now that his love was gone he wanted to try and fill the void with his next closest friend, but Melisandre rejected him, seeing him more as a little brother than a romantic interest.


    "Ever since I rejected him, Ss has been antagonistic towards me. He has never done anything to truly harm me, but he enjoys annoying me where he can. I believe he does this mostly just to get my attention, and he clearly still has some level of respect for me in his own twisted way." Melisandre said, giving her own opinion of her current rtionship with Ss.


    And from what little interactions he had with Ss Evelyn could see that Melisandre was probably right.


    When she first arrived in the Roost, Ss t out told her that she was not worthy to be Melisandre''s apprentice.


    Even now he wants to see Otis to make sure that he was qualified to enter the Roost under Melisandre''s endorsement.


    "That is the general gist of my rtionship with Ss. I honestly wish I could just ignore him, but since he is another Hall Master that is impossible. In this case he has pretty much already won. I would rmend that we stop trying to get Otis into the Roost right now. Ss is just going to turn it into a bigger mess and it could snowball out of control if we continue to push back. Otis would garner plenty of unwanted attention and by association so would all of you. In my option our best bet now is just to wait until the normal trials to enter the Roost are held again and have Otis participate then. Ss is not the one going to be in charge and the Hall Master who is owes me a big favor. I will make sure that Otis is evaluated fairly and allowed into the Roost. Not even Ss will be able to interfere with the Roost''s scheduled recruiting."


    Sighing Evelyn had been hoping to get Otis into the Roost in order to use his status and power as a tyrant rank beast to help her and herpanions elerate their growth.


    Having Otis onboard would have allowed them many more options than they currently have.


    Sadly it seemed that getting him in now was going to be more than a hassle than it was worth.


    "You are right Melisandre. We will just have to wait until Otis can enter the roost normally. It is only a few months'' time, we will get by fine." Evelyn said, her shoulders slumped in disappointment.

 Chapter 293 293 New Plans Moving Forward

    ?Thanks to Ss'' meddling, it had be far too difficult to get him into the Roost ahead of schedule and it seemed best to wait and allow him to enter through the Roost''s scheduled recruitment that would be urring in a few months.


    It was certainly not ideal since it would alter Evelyn''s ns, but it was something she could work around.


    Several new ideas began forming in her head as she tried to figure out what their next step should be.


    "Thank you for your help, Melisandre. I know it did not work out like we wanted, but I really appreciate what you do for me." Evelyn said.


    "Think nothing of it. I took you in as my disciple because I wanted to and it is my duty as a master to assist you. When the timees, I expect you to pay me back." Melisandre said with a lightugh.


    Evelyn then asked Melisandre for the details about exactly when and where the next trials to enter the roost were going to be held.


    "I know the date when the next trails will be held, but not the location. It is typically up to the Hall Master in charge to pick where and what the trails will consist of. Though it will not be hard for me to find out. It is not like the details are hidden. All I need to do is ask." Melisandre said, assuring Evelyn that she could get her the information tomorrow.


    Once that was settled Evelyn told her siblings and friends to head back to the respective homes for the day and that she woulde up with a new n for them by tomorrow.


    ''We also need to go and inform Otis of the bad news. I told him we would be back in three days at thetest. It feels kind of bad to have him wait all this time for nothing.'' Evelyn thought on her way back to her room.


    When she finally returned, she breathed in the air that had a sweet scent and rxed slightly. There was nothing like returning to one''s own room after a long day.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn did not have much time to rx and moved to her desk where she began writing down ideas for her group''s next step.


    ''I suppose that will have to do. I will need to know where the next trails are begin held before I can decide on which of these ns is right, but I believe that things should work out fine.'' Evelyn thought.


    She had spent several hours at her desk simply brainstorming ideas, and was now satisfied with what she hade up with.


    It was now quitete and she could feel fatigue starting to set in now that she was no longer focused on a task.


    After stretching out her wings and letting out a long yawn, Evelyn flew up to her bed and nestled in to get some rest.


    The next day, she received the information she wanted about the trails from Melisandre and after a quick consultation with a map found where it was.


    "This is quite far from the Velinis Desert." Evelyn said, a pensive expression on her face.


    The trials this time were going to be held in a dense swamp on the edge of the eastern part of the continent. While the Velinis desert was located on the southwestern end.


    And it was not as if Otis could just fly in a straight line to his destination. That would have him passing through human territories which would simply be too dangerous.


    If he could use the Roost''s warp portalwork it would be easy to get there, but unfortunately Otis was going to have to travel the old fashion way and fly there himself.


    ''If he flew with only the minimum necessary breaks and took the safest route, it would probably only take him two weeks to get there with how fast he can go. Still, arriving so earlier would not do him much good. The swamp itself is an area that is mostly popted by fiend beasts, and the surrounding areas that are not close to human domains are not much better. Otis would bepletely unable to advance during this time.'' Evelyn thought, intently looking at the map Melisandre had loaned her.


    For the next couple hours she poured over the map and the information on it until she had made her decision on what to do with Otis.


    "Melisandre, would it be possible for me to keep this map for a while? Otis is going to need it if he wants to make it without getting lost."


    "No, that is my own personal map, and I do not want anyone else seeing it. At the Records Hall you can buy a simrly detailed map, it just won''t have my notes on it." Melisandre said.


    Naturally the map Evelyn was using had information on it that Melisandre had found out herself and certain things were secrets she did not want getting out.


    It would be the equivalent of if Evelyn had a map marked with the magic spring and magic crystal deposit within the Velinis Desert. She would not want anyone she did not trust to see that information.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn handed the map back to Melisandre and flew to the Records Hall to procure a detailed map for herself.


    ''Damn that was expensive.'' Evelyn thought looking down at her now only four digit number disyed on her identification cuff.


    She had spent all but around eight thousand of her remaining credits to buy one of the best maps the Records Hall offered, and was back to beingparatively poor.


    Still, she had put her credits to good use and could always get more in the future.


    ''Now I need to gather everyone up and go over the new n with them.'' Evelyn thought, feeling exhrated for what was toe.


    Her idea was certainly a bit dangerous, but she felt that it would be good for all of their growth.


    Within the next hour Evelyn''s siblings and her friends had met back up at Melisandre''s estate and Evelynid out the n she had ultimately descried on for them.


    "You have been really busy. Did you even have time to sleep?" Rehni asked.


    From the moment everyone had arrived Evelyn had spread out her new map along with a bunch of handwritten documents and began detailing her new n for them.


    It had only been yesterday that they had to change their ns since Otis could not get into the Roost, and yet Evelyn had already done an incredible amount of work formting what they would do next.


    "Yeah, I was able to sleep for a few hours, but not much else." Evelyn responded.


    She had been skipping meals and only slept about seventy percent as much as she usually would in order to get the rough details for this n together, since they would need to go and see Otister today.


    "Are you sure that we want to leave the Roost for so long? I feel like we will be missing out on a lot by not having ess to the facilities here?" Verrader said, a slight scowl on his face.


    He and Aralee had not been members of the Roost for very long, but Evelyn''s n was for all of them to travel across the continent together with Otis.


    She had marked out areas where they would stop and be able to gather valuable resources along the way, but it was going to be a several month journey during which they would be cut off from the Roost.


    "No that should not be a problem. We can return to the Roost ever month, and actually I have that factored into my n. All we have to do is stop by areas where the roost has warp portal points set up and we can return even if it is from a different location than we came from. We will have to leave Otis during these times, but it is going to be necessary. We will need to return to the Roost so that we can make it back to the magic spring each month. We can also unload items we have picked up during our journey and buy things we might need. You are right that we will not have ess to the Roost''s facilities for long stretches of time, but I think that this journey will do us all some good. The Roost is just a bit toofortable some time, and a little risk can help us to grow. We may not be able to increase our magical energy as fast without ess to things like advancement chambers, but getting stronger is not just all about having more magical energy. We need more experience as well." Evelyn said, listing out the benefit of her n.


    In the end everyone agreed, trust Evelyn who was their leader. All of them could see the merit in pushing themselves by traversing the outside world for a few months and only stopping by the Roost once every month. This n was also the only way that they could continue to build up their rtionship with Otis and use his newfound strength as a tyrant rank beast to their advantage.


    "Okay, with that settled, you all have four hours to prepare to leave and then we are going to head back to Otis. Now get a move on, we do not have much time." Evelyn said excitedly.

 Chapter 294 294 Start Of A New Journey

    ?''What is taking Rehni so long?'' Evelyn thought impatiently.


    She was waiting at the Warp Hall with Bylur and her siblings, but Rehni had yet to show up.


    Evelyn had given everyone fours hours to get ready and while she knew it was unlikely that everyone would truly be ready that quickly, Rehni had now been gone for nearly six hours.


    Thankfully right before Evelyn was going to send her a message to hurry up a frazzled looking Rehni flew into the hall and began searching around for herpanions.


    After a quick scan of the area she spotted Evelyn and the others sitting in a waiting area and descend towards them.


    "I am sorry I amte. It took me longer to read up on the ces we are going than I thought it would." Rehni said, lowering her head in apology.


    Using her photographic memory, she hadbed through several resources about the areas that Evelyn ned to stop by in order to learn as much as she could in the short time frame she had been given.


    Of course, Evelyn had done her own research beforehand which was why she chose these ces, but Rehni always felt that it was her job to fill in any gaps in knowledge that their team had.


    "It is fine. We understand that you wanted to be thoroughly prepared. I figured that it would take more than four hours for everyone to be ready. Though I do feel a bit bad about leaving Otis to wait so long. The three days I told him would be the maximum amount of time we would be away has almost gone by. If we do not hurry, he is likely to start to get pretty worried." Evelyn said, picking herself up and marching over to one of the counters in the Warp Hall.


    Quickly the five of them all bought the necessary tickets to head to the Velinis Desert along with return tickets that would allow them toe back to the Roost.


    With each of them clutching their tickets in their feet they headed over to warp pad that was connected to the warp point in the Velinis Desert.


    As usual the area was deserted expected for the single owl working the controls for the warp pad. The Velinis Desert''s harsh environment and sparse resources made it unappealing for most owls to travel to it. Though the desert did have its jewels like the magic spring.


    Standing on the warp pad after handing over their tickets, Evelyn and herpanions were enveloped by a bright light and felt themselves being warped away.


    Once they arrived in the desert, all of them were disoriented for a few moments. Their eyes filled with spinning lights.


    ''Ugh, I have gotten more used to it, but those warp portals are still intense.'' Evelyn thought, shaking her head and throwing off thest bit of nausea se was feeling from the warp portal.


    She then craned her head around to get a view of the area.


    Unfortunately, all around them was simply and endless expanse of sand as far as the eye could see.


    "I figured that this would be the case, but the warp point has changed." Evelyn said while sighing.


    Now she and herpanions were going to need to search for Otis who could be several kilometers away.


    ''Hopefully he can see this from wherever he is.'' Evelyn thought, shooting a ball of her heavenly me into the air.


    With a loud boom, the ball of fire exploded like a firework and lit up the dark night sky.


    This was the signal that Evelyn had prepared in advance for Otis to find them.


    Though by doing this she was alerting every living creature within the area of her location.


    ''Otis should be the fastest being in the desert since he is at the tyrant rank. He should get here first before anything else.''


    For several minutes Evelyn and herpanions hovered in the sky, waiting for Otis to show up.


    Soon Aralee who was keeping watch from the northern direction spotted something moving towards them on the horizon and altered everyone else.


    Focusing her eyes Evelyn used her superior vison to examine the outline of the approaching entity, and once they got a bit closer a faint smile appeared on her face.


    "Looks like we are in luck. Otis is on his way." Evelyn said, recognizing Otis'' small form.


    It as not long until he arrived at their location. Having seen farther off simply because he was so tiny inparison to most beasts.


    "I was beginning to think that something hade up, but you all came back before the three days ended, so I guess it must have all worked out." Otis said cheerfully.


    However, when eh looked around he noticed that a presence he had been expecting was not here.


    Evelyn had told him that her master, who was at the peak of the cmity rank, would being by to allow him into the Roost. But only Evelyn and herpanions were here.


    When he finally looked at their faces and saw the disheartened expressions on everyone''s faces, he knew that something must have gone wrong.


    "I am sorry Otis, but some things happened and get you into the Roost right now is not going to work out." Evelyn said, before exining the entire situation to Otis.


    At first Otis had seemed devastated that he would have to wait several months before being able to enter the same ce as everyone else. However, once Evelyn mentioned that instead they would all go on a journey together across the continent, he perked up.


    He honestly did not care where he was or what he was doing, so long as he could be helpful to Evelyn.


    "It might be a bit difficult at first for all of us to travel together since you are at a higher rank than the rest of us, but I am sure we will be able to work through it. Our first goal should be to raise Verrader and Aralee''s ranks so that they are more in line with the rest of us." Evelyn said.


    "I will do whatever it is I can to be of use to you. I owe you and my n''s lives after all." Otis said, the look in his eyes showing that he still held the same if not even more respect for Evelyn than when he was still at the awakened rank.


    With Otis in agreement, Evelyn pulled out the map she had bought at the Records Hall and began tracing out the route they would be taking with one of her talons.


    Otis looked at the map intrigued; this was his first time seeing something like it depicting the continent he had lived on his entire life.


    "Wow, I really have been stuck in my on tiny world." Otis said seeing that the desert that was all he knew made up maybe one percent of the entire continent.


    "It certainly is a big world out there, but this will our chance to explore and see what it has to offer. Still, we will need to get out of the desert first." Evelyn said pointing at their next destination.


    Initially she had thought about going to the Elmont Gorge, but decided it was to dangerous. It was an area that was teaming with beasts that were at the tyrant rank and she was afraid that Otis'' presence would end up having them targeted. Though more importantly, it was where she hadst encountered the humans that were after her and it was possible that they had agents still in the area. It was one thing to stop by at the edge of the gorge to see Lucia, but another to go exploring it.


    "We will make our way northeast along the edge of the desert until the environment starts to change and bes a thickly wooded area. The area is apparently called the Forest of Giants since the trees shoot at least four kilometers into the sky and several species of beast that live there are really big. Still, it is only an area that is filled mostly with high tier and peak awakened rank ebasts and the asional low tier tyrant rank from what I read. It should be the perfect ce for us to start out with and grow stronger." Evelyn said enthusiastically.


    And it seemed that her excitement was spreading to the others who looked just as ready as her to go off and explore a newnd.


    "Well, what are we waiting for? Let''s get going." Bylur said, wanting to catch up to Otis as soon as possible.


    He began leading the way despite not knowing exactly where they were going. Simply turning towards the northeast and flying through the sky.


    "I suppose we should catch up to him. If we leave Bylur in this state alone, he is going to get himself into trouble." Rehni said, letting out a slight chuckle.


    With their wings spread Evelyn, Rehni, Otis, Verrader, and Aralee, took off after Bylur who was eagerly leading the way.

 Chapter 295 295 Into The Forest Of Giants

    ?For the next couple of days Evelyn and herpanions flew through the Velinis desert that seemed to go on endlessly.


    Despite it seeming to only a be a small part of the continent when looked at on the map Evelyn bought, it was still a huge area that they could not clearpletely in a short time even while flying.


    At the very least they managed to avoid any unnecessary battles, since none of the beasts popting the desert wanted anything to do with Otis. He was proudly releasing his aura as a tyrant rank beast and the lower ranking beasts gave him a wide berth.


    On their third day of traveling the sight of massive trees reaching into the sky finally came into view and the desert began to give way to sparse greener and be a in.


    "I would say we are only a few hundred kilometers away now. If we hurry we should reach it before the end of the night and we can finally rest in the trees." Evelyn said, picking up her speed a bit, excited to finally be getting out of the desert.


    They had been spending their time resting in burrows that Otis had created for them, but for Evelyn and the others, it felt most natural to rest in trees rather than hidden under the ground.


    Riding the winds and pping their wings at regr intervals their group of six owls sped across the wide-open ins in between the Velinis Desert and the Forest of Giants.


    This left them exposed to any beasts on the ground that were living in the in, but the area they were in had even less magical energy than the Velinis Desert and was home to mostly wild and fiend beasts that all hide in terror as Evelyn''s group flew over.


    Once they got closer to the Forest of Giants, though, the magical energy in the air began to increase and with it the power of the creatures that lived in the area.


    Thankfully none of the beasts living on the edge of the in as it melded into the Forest of Giants gave them any trouble and they were able to reach their destination about an hour before dawn.


    "We will rest here for until around dusk tomorrow and can begin exploring the forest tomorrow." Evelyn said,nding on one of the trees at the edge of the forest.


    This one was a bit smaller than the ones deeper in begin only a bit more than one kilometer tall, but it still put any tree from Earth to shame.


    "The trunk is pretty solid, but it should not prove too difficult to pierce through." Rehni said.


    She then created what looked like a giant drill with her metal magical and began craving into the tree to create a hollow for them to sleep in during the day.


    When she had dug out a sizable portion of the trees trunk that would be big enough for the six of them to rest in, Verrader and Aralee used their wind magic to clear away the saw dust, while Evelyn and Bylur kept watch on their surroundings.


    It was not long after their temporary shelter waspletely that Otis returned from a scouting mission around the area.


    "There are some weaker beasts ranging from low tier wild rank beast to mid-tier awakened ranks in the general area, but nothing that is any threat to us. It seems that this area on the outskirts of the forest is rtively safe." Otis said, informing them of what he had found.


    "Good to hear, but we should not getx. We will stick with having two of us keep watch during the day in three shifts.


    I will go first with Aralee, then Verrader and Otis, andstly Bylur and Rehni." Evelyn said, assigning pairs based on bncing their strengths.


    Though while the pairings Evelyn had chosen for watch made logical sense, Bylur and Otis could not help but be a bit upset.


    So far, Evelyn had not taken a watch shift with either of them, and had been rotating between her siblings.


    Still, they were going to be on a long journey together over several months. They figured it was only a matter of time before they got their chance.


    "It seems like it is time for us to finally really get started on this journey of ours. What are you nning for us to do first?" Aralee said, making some small talk with Evelyn during their watch.


    "Hm, I do not really have much of a n. We are going to explore the area and gather resources while searching for any hidden treasures like the stable magic spring in the Velinis Desert. Though, if I had to say what our main goal is here, it is to get you and Verrader stronger. Both of you are still only at the low tier of the awakened rank and have a long way to go. It is not just your ranks'' but also you magical energy control that could use some work. Luckily, this forest should be a good training ground for the both of you." Evelyn said.


    However, this only caused Aralee to lower her head and feel ashamed of her weakness.


    From the start she and her brother hand been being supported by Evelyn and her teammates, but they could not do anything to contribute. It was clear that they were much weaker and simply dead wait to their sister.


    "There is no need to feel down. It is all just a matter of time and effort. You are going to catch up to the rest of us. I will make sure of that, even if it almost kills you." Evelyn said with a confident smile on her face.


    Yet the smile Evelyn was giving her only made Aralee shudder, and she was certain that her sister truly meant she would do any and everything to catch her and her brother up so long as it did not kill them.


    For the next four hours Evelyn kept watch with her sister.


    Nothing of note happened during that time, and other than the faint movement of far of ebasts it waspletely uneventful.


    "Otis, Verrader, time to get up." Evelyn said, nudging the two of them.


    Both of them sleepily rose and shook their heads to erase their lingering drowsiness.


    After that Evelyn and Aralee settled down themselves and drifted of to sleep while Otis and Verrader took their turns at watch.


    Things went by without incident and inpete silence.


    Neither Otis nor Verrader really new each other and it was difficult for either of them to find any topics to talk about to pass the time.


    For thest shift it was Bylur and Rehni''s turn and unfortunately, they did not get to enjoy a peaceful watch as the others had.


    Climbing up a tree not too far from the one they were resting in was a massive lizard whose body was easily twenty meters long.


    It had dark brown skin with a pattern simr to bark, allowing it to blend in well with the forest despite its immense size.


    With one look at the lizard Bylur and Rehni were able to tell that it was a tyrant rank beast.


    Unlike Otis it had not achieved a higher-level evolution using a human''s magic core, but the power in its limbs and the magical energy it held within it was still greater than what Bylur and Rehni could bring to bear.


    Both of them wanted to wake the others, but it did not seem like the massive lizard had noticed them yet and any movement could alert it to their presence.


    For several minutes they watched the lizard creep up the tree and asionally snap its jaws shut and take a bite out of the tree.


    Of course, the carnivorous tyrant rank lizard was not eating the tree for fun but was swallowing the beasts hidden within the branches of the tree.


    The giant lizard did not seem to be picky, eating any beast it came across no mater what its rank was.


    A family of monkey type beasts tried to flee, but were easily plucked out of the tree by the lizard and thrown into its mouth.


    Truly it was a horrifying sight to watch and nothing like Bylur and Rehni had ever seen.


    Normally a higher-ranking beast would ignore those that were significantly weaker than it, but this lizard seemed content to eat anything that was living on the tree it had chosen as its hunting ground.


    Once the tyrant rank lizard had consuming all of the life on the tree other than small insects that did not interest it, the massive beast climbed down and ascend the next nearest tree and began the process again.


    Watching this unfold, Bylur and Rehni realized that it was only a matter of time until the lizard reached the tree that they were staying in and that their first battle in the Forest of giants was going to be against one of the few tyrant rank beasts that lived there.

 Chapter 296 296 A Lesson For Verrader And Aralee

    Once it was clear that it was only a matter of time until the tyrant rank lizard was eventually going to reach them on its gluttonous rampage, Bylur and Rehni work the others despite the possibly that it could reveal their presence.


    And as they suspected, the tyrant rank lizard turned its head in their direction and swiftly dropped out of the tree it was currently eating the beasts out of and quickly began making it over to where Evelyn and herpanions were resting.


    The lizard had naturally noticed that more power and nutritious beasts were hiding in that tree when Rehni and Bylur moved and used their magical energy to wake the others and thought it was going to receive a hardy meal.


    Little did it know though, that it was headed towards a fierce battle rather than a group of helpless beasts.


    "Okay everyone out and start ascending. We need to get out of its range before it arrives." Evelyn said giving out orders quickly.


    Going first were Bylur and Rehni, followed by Verrader and Aralee, andstly Evelyn and Otis.


    The tyrant rank lizard seeing the six owls shoot out of therge tree began to smile happily, until it noticed Otis.


    With but a single look this lizard was able to tell that Otis was at the same rank as it and would not go down easily.


    Certainly, it was closer to the mid-tier of the tyrant rank than Otis who had only very recently evolved, but the tyrant rank lizard was still far from reaching the next tier.


    It had advanced through the ranks carefully by eating tons of beasts weaker than it and staying on the fringes of the forests of giants.


    Now however, a new tyrant rank beast had invaded its territory and it was having to judge what actions to take.


    In the end, it could not give up the alure of eating Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Aralee, and Verrader who were all at the awakened rank.


    Its n was simply to quickly catch as many of the lower rank owls as it could in its mouth and then run away without fighting Otis. And if Otis wanted to chase it down, it knew of areas were other tyrant rank beasts had made their home and would lead Otis into one of their den''s to force them to fight each other.


    Was this a great or well thought out n, no. But just because the tyrant rank lizard had what could be considered conciseness and a level of intelligence close to that of a human''s, it was a beast that had lived its entire life out in the wild and was not learned in any way. Never had it expected the owls above it to deployplex strategies and wield magic in ways it had never seen before.


    "Aralee, Verrader, I want you two to focus on attacking. This is a good chance for both of you to get somebat experience against a stronger foe. Bylur, Rehni, and I will focus on defense and support, but do not get careless and let your guard down. Otis, I understand you probably want to test out just how well you match up to another tyrant rank beast, but I want you to stay on the sidelines. If it seems like it is too much for us or the lizard tries to retreat, I want you to intervene. But otherwise stay above us and watch out for any other threats."


    After Evelyn had given out her instructions, she dove down leading the charge and the others followed her. With Aralee and Verrader feeling a sense of trepidation.


    There first showing of their skills on their new adventure together was going to be against a tyrant rank beast, and both of them felt certain that even their best attacks would likely not do more than put light scratches on its tough skin.


    Nevertheless, not trying would be worse and with the others giving them support all they could do was try their best.


    To start Verrader began crackling with electricity using his power as a horned storm owl.


    When he had built up as much lightning as he could control, he dropped arge bolt on the lizard that had been spitting globs of acid at all of them from below.


    Thankfully Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni had bene working hard to defend Verrader and Aralee and they were able to unleash their attacks without worry.


    The powerful bolt of lightning crashed down on the tyrant rank lizard that had not made any move to dodge, and for a moment its body shuddered.


    Unfortunately, despite Verrader having put his all into his attack he had only caused a small burn mark where the bolt had hit and stunned the tyrant rank lizard for a single instant.


    He then felt the powerful beast an entire rank above him red at him and exert its aura on him. Causing him to seize up in fear.


    A huge stream of acid then sted up towards him and he was ill prepared to evade or defend.


    At thest second though, Evelyn moved right in front of him and used a powerful wind barrier to disperse the acid.


    Still, some drops managed to push through and Verrader watched Evelyn''s body begin to let of a sickly looking steam as the acid ate through her body.


    Watching this made Verrader feel a pain in his heart since he had just forced his sister, who had forgiven him even after all he had done to take an attack that was meant for him.


    "Get your head in the game. Don''t let its intimation get to you." Evelyn said to Verrader as she popped open a healing potion and sshed it over her body.


    It was at this moment that Aralee finally let loose her own attack which she had spent a good deal of time preparing.


    Her new evolution had granted her an affinity for a rare type of magic called momentum magic.


    Using this magic, she could slow or speed things up depending on how she deployed it.


    In some ways it was simr to Evelyn''s gravity magic, though that was only in the perceivable phenomenon they created, since the two powers were fundamentally different.


    Aralee had spent her time spinning around and creating a speeding twister around herself that was made up of sharp wind des.


    Using her momentum magic she had managed to generate more force than she could with only her wind magic and dropped her most impressive magic attack on the tyrant rank lizard that had its attention being drawn by Bylur and Rehni.


    The tornado of wind des hit the lizard''s body and the ground beneath it began to cave in and smalls slices appeared on its skin. Causing slight dribbles of blood began flowing out of its body in a few ces.


    It was a pretty powerful attack for a low tier awakened rank owl to release, but against a tyrant rank, a few scratches was the best Aralee could do.


    After that the tyrant rank lizard began a furious barrage of acid attacks to try and kill any of the annoying owls that were flying around it and making it difficult for it to target them individually.


    "Aralee, Verrader, look at how that lizard is attacking us. It is simply sting away using its superior magical energy tounch powerful attacks. It has no control or finesse." Evelyn said while avoiding the acid attacks and using her magic to defend against the ones that would have hit Verrader and Aralee.


    "Both of you have just been doing the same thing, trying to hit it with your strongest attacks. Except, against an opponent with this much greater power than you, that is never going to work. It can shrug of your best attacks every time. You need to focus on controlling your magical energy and hit it in a weak spot. I do not expect either of you to be able to deal a definitive blow, but I expect you to do better than just getting into a slugfest with an obviously stronger opponent."


    Feeling the sting of Evelyn''s chiding, Aralee and Verrader wanted to do better, but they were unsure of what to do.


    Their best attacks had been shrugged off easily and their opponent had boundless energypared to them.


    Eventually though, the hint Evelyn had given them hit for Verrader and he made a simple strategy with Aralee that he hoped would be more effective than simply trying to st away at their opponent who could easily oust them.


    With more careful control and aim Aralee created two wind spears andunched them towards a specific part of the tyrant rank lizard''s body.


    This attack had far less power than herst one, but by simply choosing a different area to target, she was able to do even more than before.


    Of course, the ce she had aimed for was the lizard''s eyes. For most creatures no matter how strong they got their eyes would always remain a weak point, and on such a giant creature they made for an easy target.


    The lizard noticed the attacking and reflexively closed its eyes to protect itself.


    Aralee''s wind spears bounded off its scaled eyelids without doing any damage, but that was never her intention. Her goal had been to rob the lizard of its sight for a moment so that Verrader could target another weak point.


    Lightning crackled around his body once again, but instead of one concentrated bolt he fired off two and while it was difficult to control electricity he directed it towards and opening in the lizard''s body.


    Naturally the tyrant rank lizard sensed the attacking for it, but without its sight it was unable to read the trajectory before Verraderunched his lightning and could not move fast enough to get out of the way.


    The two bolts flew right into the tyrant rank lizard''s nose and the inside of its head received a painful jolt.


    This time, instead of just shuddering once, the lizard spasmed violently as the signals from its brain were disrupted and the inside of its nose and mouth suffered electrical burns.

 Chapter 297 297 Battle Against The Tyrant Rank Lizard

    After the tyrant rank lizard that had attacked Evelyn and her party had shaken off the stunning effect of Verrader''s lighting, it immediately turned around and began fleeing.


    It was not the type to engage in difficult battles and normally preyed on beasts that werepletely unable to oppose it.


    However, Evelyn''s group were fast and difficult targets to hit, a and their teamwork made it impossible for the lizard to actually get a decent attack in.


    There was also the fact that only the weakest members, Verrader and Aralee had been attacking it which the lizard had naturally noticed. If the others joined in, it was certain it would be whittled down despite its dense skin that repelled most attacks.


    Never before had this tyrant rank lizard encountered beings that could use magic in the way that Evelyn''s party could. All it and any of the other beasts it had encountered before could do wasunch simple magic attacks without any real control.


    At first the lizard had figured it could easily overpower the awakened rank owls and eat a few of them but a its greater power did was not enough for it to ovee the vast sham in their control over magic.


    ''It can certainly move pretty fast when it runs away.'' Evelyn thought, impressed at how quickly the tyrant rank lizard had turned tail and run.


    Unfortunately, for it, Otis who had just been watching swooped down quickly and brought the ground up like a wave on the ocean and blocked off the lizard''s escape.


    The tyrant rank beast smashed into the earth that Otis had been manipting, and though it broke through, it began tumbling through the underbrush of the forest before mming hard against one of the towering trees.


    "Bylur, Rehni, we are joining on the attack now. It will be best if we finish it before it causes any more of amotion trying to escape." Evelyn said, leading the charge towards the lizard that was sprawled out and in a momentary daze.


    By the time Evelyn reached the tyrant rank lizard, I had managed to pull itself together and get back up, but was once again in the same position it had been trying to flee from.


    In a desperate attempt to break through the lizard began expending huge amounts of its magical energy and sending out massive sts of acid.


    The forest around it began to melt under its mad spray of acid, and some of therge trees even began to crack and fall over.


    Nevertheless, it was never going to hit the nimble owls hunting it with such an unfocused attack, and the moment it stopped to rest, Evelyn motioned for herpanions to attack.


    Bylur started off the second round of their battle, pelting the lizard with heavy snowfall.


    The snow itself did not do any damage, but the lizard was weak tot eh sudden drop in temperature despite being a tyrant rank beast. It was still cold blooded and felt tis body rapidly beginning to cool and slow down.


    It tried to get away again, but there was no way it could now that its movements were bing sluggish.


    If the lizard had only known how to manipte its magical energy and put up a barrier around itself this strategy would have been ineffective, but it had nowhere near that level of control. Having lived tis entire life without once practicing and only relying on its natural abilities.


    Once the tyrant rank lizard had started to be slower and it was running lower on magical energy, Evelyn and Rehni grouped up together andunched a powerfulbo attack.


    Rehni created a giant screw that was ten meters long and two meters thick and began rotating it around.


    When she felt like she could no longer keep control over its momentum sheunched it and Evelyn increased its weight with her gravity magic and sent the giant metal screw falling down on the lizard like a meteor.


    The attack had been aimed at the beast''s center of mass, but when it hit, plunged into its left side at the edge of its body.


    Naturally the lizard had attempted to leap out of the way of Rehni and Evelyn''s attack, however, thanks to Bylur lowering its body temperature and a well-timed lighting strike by Verrader, the lizard had been unable topletely avoid the attack even when it had been able to see iting well in advance.


    Now the lizard had its body screwed into the ground and it was temporarily unable to move at all.


    Frantically the lizard tried releasing acid all around tis body to melt away the metal screw, but without any way to control the acid this was going to take it at least a dozen seconds. Time that it did not have.


    With their target immobilized, Evelyn and her party were able to maneuver around the lizard anyway they liked andunch attacks it had no chance to dodge.


    By the time the lizard had decided to rip the screw out of the ground rather than melt it, the beast was already a bloody mess.


    ''Time for the finishing blow.'' Evelyn thought, before calling both of her siblings over to her.


    She wanted to try a move they had practiced a couple of times together, but found no real sess at executing in the past.


    When they had attempted this attack in training it had always failed and Evelyn attributed it to Verradercking control, but it was actually more to do with his unwillingness to cooperate.


    Things had changed now though, and her brother and her hade to an understanding and shed off their past resentment.


    "Sister are you sure that we should be attempting this now?" Aralee asked, her tone betraying her concern.


    "Yes, we have weakened our prey and need to deliver a powerful attack to end it. Certainly, we will win even if we just continue to slowly whittle it down, but that will ruin more of its materials and this is a rare chance for us to take down a tyrant rank beast. I want to do as little damage to its body as possible." Evelyn said.


    If she simply wanted to kill it she could have used her heavenly me, but this would have burned arge portion of its body into ash. Instead, her goal was to use wind magic deliver a clean cut at a vital point.


    Under Evelyn''s direction, she and her siblings began spinning around together and bring forth a greater amount of wind than any one of them could muster on their own.


    Soon the power of the attack they had created tighter matched that of a tyrant rank beast.


    ''This is definitely our limit.'' Evelyn thought, seeing that Verrader and Aralee were beginning to lose control. Trying to build up theirbined attack any longer would only end in failure, so Evelyn took control andunched the massive wind de they had created.


    Like a guillotine falling down, the twenty-meter-long wind de that was vibrating like a chainsaw mmed into the neck of the tyrant rank lizard and sliced deep into its flesh.


    When everything settled down, Evelyn could only frown, since the attack had not been as potent as she had hoped.


    The powerful wind de had stopped at the spine of the tyrant rank lizard and only cut in about a tenth of the way through.


    Evelyn had initially been aiming to cleave the beast''s head clean off, but the unpolished attack by her and her siblings was only able to go so far.


    Of course the tyrant ranks lizard was now gushing blood out of its neck and it was only a matter of time before it died. But the over a century old beast was tough and now that it felt cornered it started fighting with wild abandon.


    It would throw its body directly into the way of attacksing at it in an attempt to kill any of the owls that had hurt it, now that it no longer cared if it survived.


    This reckless way of fighting forced Evelyn and her party onto the defensive for a few minutes, but the tyrant rank lizard soon exhausted itself.


    Relentlessly, Evelyn kept attacking the huge gash in the lizard''s neck and the others followed suit.


    Eventually one of Rehni''s attacks broke the tyrant rank lizard''s spine and it fell over with a heavy thud onto the ground.


    With its spine severed even a tyrant rank beast could not move, yet despite its injured the lizard had not died yet.


    ''Damn, tyrant ranks really are in another league when ites to durability. I cannot even image still being alive after taking that much damage.'' Evelyn thought, seeing how their enemy still would not die.


    In the end it took them another five minutes of concentrated attacks to fully separate the lizard''s head from its body, and only then did it finally breath itsst breath and die.

 Chapter 298 298 Fruits Of Battle

    With its head severed from its body blood flowed out of the tyrant rank lizard''s body and stained the earth of the forest.


    Itsrge body that was twenty meters long had several hundred liters of blood in it and it soon looked like a crimson pond had formed around its body.


    All around them the forest looked like it had been hit with a powerful natural disaster, with several of the massive trees having toppled over and scars carved into the ground.


    Sunlight from above that barely was able to trickle through the thick foliage before now poured onto the forest floor now that servalrge opening had been made by the trees that had fallen.


    ''So, this is the kind of damage a tyrant rank beast can cause when it seriously lets loose.'' Evelyn thought scanning the area.


    She had trained with Anneli and Katrina before, but the two of them never went all out like the tyrant rank lizard had.


    Its acid attacks had caused a great deal of damage to the surrounding forest left the area in shambles.


    Still, for a beast of its rank the tyrant rank lizard had actually been pretty weak.


    Its offense amounted to no more than sending outrge sts of acid or throwing its body around. The most impressive power it possessed was how durable it was.


    Thanks to its tough skin, powerful muscles, and dense bones it had been able to withstand Evelyn and herpassions'' onught for quite some time.


    Of course, they probably could have felled it quicker if they had not been as careful and attacked with more force, but it was their first real battle against a tyrant rank and Evelyn wanted to be careful.


    ''I suppose that we should gather our spoils before anything else shows up.'' Evelyn thought flying down towards the corpse of the lizard.


    Following suit, Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee, came down with her and she began giving them direction on where to start dismantling the lizard.


    However, ti soon became clear that even now that it was dead, Aralee, and Verrader could not piece its skin with their talons, and Evelyn sent them up to watch out from any iing threats while calling Otis down to help them.


    "So, what do you thick, could you have taken it on your own?" Evelyn asked to Otis as they carved up the tyrant rank lizard.


    "Hm, probably. I really do not know exactly what I am capable of now, but I think I could have beaten it by myself." Otis said.


    His tone was not overly confident, but Evelyn herself was certain that Otis was stronger than the lizard they had just fought


    Not only was his evolution far superior, but he knew how to actually control his magic instead of just mindlessly sting it off. The difference between the two of them was vast even though they were at the same rank and tier.


    ''Now could I have won on my own?'' Evelyn thought to herself.


    While the jump from fiend beast to awakened beast was prettyrge, it was even more so from the awakened rank to the tyrant rank. Especially when using a human''s magic core to gain a pseudo magic core.


    Nevertheless, despite the tyrant rank lizard having more magical energy than she did, Evelyn felt confident she could have beast it on her own.


    Its greatest asset was its defenses, but her heavenly me would have burned through it all the same. During the battle she had barely relied on either her fire or gravity magic in order for her siblings to get more experience.


    ''We have a long way to go though. As of right now Otis is a stronger than any of us and it will be difficult to incorporate him into our battle strategies without overly relying on him.'' Evelyn thought.


    She had used him as insurance during this battle, but even his great respect and loyalty for her might get strained if she kept him on the sidelines all the time.


    ''The only thing to do is for the rest of us to catch up as quickly as we can. To that end, I might have to be a bit cruel to Aralee and Verrader.'' Evelyn thought.


    For nearly the next hour they took apart the tyrant rank lizard.


    A majority of its body had value, with its skin, bones, fangs, and ws being usable for creating magic weapons and armor. While its meat could be cooked and eaten to increase their magical energy.


    Finally, there was its beast core which looked like a jagged crystal which was certainly the greatest prize.


    ''Looks like we have some interested parties.''


    Turning her head around Evelyn spotted several different types of beasts carefully watching them from afar.


    All of them were at the awakened rank and were carefully keeping an eye on the situation.


    Luckily none of them seemed to have any hostile intentions, seeing as how Evelyn''s group had clearly taken down the strongest beast in the area. All they were waiting for was to scavenge what they could.


    Unfortunately for them, since Evelyn and her party had storage items they were not going to be leaving behind much of the tyrant rank lizard.


    "That you be everything we need. Let us find somewhere else far away from here to rest." Evelyn said.


    The area was now teeming with activity and she did not want to get involved in a massive battle among several dozen beasts.


    With their spoils stored away the six of them ascended high into the canopy of the forest and flew away. The sounds of dozens of ebasts shing over the parts of the tyrant rank lizard they had left behind resounding behind them.


    Going around forty kilometers away, Evelyn and her party found an area that was mostly devoid of other beasts and set up their new camp.


    Just like before Rehni used her magic to drill into one of the massive trees and create arge hollow for them all to rest in.


    "Aralee, I could use your help." Evelyn said, beckoning her sister over to her.


    She then pulled out two tables and several chunks of meat from the lizard they had just killed.


    "I am going to make us some dinner and having your assistance will help speed things up. All you need to do is follow my instructions and it will go by quickly." Evelyn said.


    Nodding her head Aralee, prepared herself do whatever Evelyn asked of her.


    "First, cut these chunks up into smaller pieces."


    "Next, soak them in this juice."


    "Okay, now put it into this pot when I tell you."


    Quickly Evelyn gave out her instructions to Aralee, and her sister did them the best she could.


    Within a couple of hours Evelyn had cooked up hundreds of kilos of the tyrant rank lizard''s meet which she had soaked in the juice from multiple magical nts before adding a bit of her own magical energy to it.


    Now she had created a meal using alchemical cooking that would increase their stamina and quicken its restoration. Along with also boosting their durability.


    "Everyone go ahead and eat up." Evelyn said, presenting several ters of the cooked meat.


    Naturally they were all quite hungry after being awakened from their rest earlier and having to fight a tyrant rank beast. So, all of them began ravenously eating.


    "Verrader, Aralee, eat some more." Evelyn said cing more of the meat in front of them.


    However, at this point instead of enjoying the food that had started off as a treat unlike anything they had every eaten before, now both of Evelyn''s siblings had ghastly expression.


    Evelyn had been giving them more and more even after they had gotten full and were nearing the limits of magical energy they could take.


    The meat came from a beast an entire rank higher than them, and its body contained far more magical energy than they could handle.


    Just eating a full meal''s worth had brought them close to their limit, but Evelyn continued to push them to consume more.


    "Sister, I honestly think we have had enough I could not eat another bite." Aralee said, a tinge of fear in her eyes.


    Verrader furiously shook his head and agreed. He felt that he was about to explode in more ways than one.


    "Surely you can both eat a bit more. You have only reached your limits, it is time to go beyond them. The two of you have a long way to go to catch up to the rest of us and this is just one of the things you will need to get used to. Most awakened ranks could never dream of being able to eat the meat from a tyrant rank. Now go ahead and have some more." Evelyn said, a scary smile on her face that offered her siblings no room to argue.


    Evelyn forced them both to keep eating until both of them had fallen over with their bellies visibly protruding and tears in their eyes. Only then did she allow them to stop.


    ''I know that it will be hard on them. But this is necessary to boost their power. If they can survive through this hell, certainly they wille out stronger.'' Evelyn thought, steeling herself to keep pushing her siblings.

 Chapter 299 299 Exploring The Forest Of Giants

    "Looks like things are clear today." Evelyn said, looking out at the forest around their temporary abode.


    On their first day, they had encountered a tyrant rank beast that had interrupted their rest. With their coordinated attacks the six of them had managed to kill the lizard without suffering any major injuries and secure themselves many valuable resources.


    After the battle they had found anew ce to rest and taken the entire night off to recovery. It was now dusk on their second night in the Forest of Giants, and they could finally begin searching it for valuable items.


    ''Though I suppose I should give both of them a bit longer to rest.'' Evelyn thought, turning her head to look at her siblings.


    Both Verrader and Aralee were still a bit sluggish after Evelyn had forced them to eat just a bit more than they could of the lizard''s meat.


    It was an extreme form of training that would help increase their magical energy quickly, but put a strain on their bodies. Nevertheless, Evelyn knew that it was necessary if she wanted her siblings to catch up to the rest of them.


    Until just before midnight Evelyn allowed Aralee and Verrader to rest, while she, Bylur, and Rehni scouted out the area.


    Luckily since they were still on the fringes of the forest most of the beasts were not at a high level and proved no threat to them so long as they kept their guard up. The tyrant rank lizard had been an exception and was likely the only powerful beast that frequented these outer areas where the magical energy in the ground and atmosphere was not as thick.


    Seeing as this was the case Evelyn figured that it would be the perfect training ground for her group, with the exception of Otis.


    When she returned from scouting she found that her siblings were looking a bit more alive, though it was clear that the excess magical energy and food they had eaten the day before was till being processed by their bodies.


    "From the look of things most beasts around here are content with hiding and are not very strong. It should be ideal for us to ease back into our expedition and training after the battle yesterday." Evelyn said, before taking the lead into the woods.


    Slowly gliding from branch to branch their groups stealthily moved through the forest in search of other beasts, magical nts, and any other types of treasures that they could find.


    Normally they would fly out in the open, but the area they were in was popted by beasts that knew how to hide and if they made their presences easy to sense it would make it harder for them to locate prey.


    However, by acting stealthy which they were adept at due to being owls, they were able to get the drop on other beasts.


    ''Looks like we finally spotted some suitable contenders.''


    Looking down from her perch near the canopy of the forest, Evelyn spotted a group of what looked like rats scavenging through the underbrush.


    It seemed that they had unleashed some magical mushrooms that were growing on a decaying stump that had been swallowed by years of falling leaves.


    ''There are fourteen of them in total. All of them being at the low tier of the awakened rank. This should be perfect for Aralee and Verrader.'' Evelyn thought.


    She then told her siblings her n and directed them to attack the rats.


    Unlike against the tyrant rank lizard neither of them showed any hesitance, and in fact their eyes looked sharper than normal. What was below them was rats who were an owl''s natural prey.


    Barely making a sound Aralee and Verrader descend towards the forest floor and before the rats knew what was happening two of them had bene picked up by Aralee and Verrader and carried away.


    Naturally the rats noticed the loss of two of theirrades and began squeaking in distress, looking for their attackers.


    Yet it was not until Aralee and Verrader attacked again and effortlessly took out two more of their members that the rats knew what was happening.


    Immediately the remaining rats scattered. Showing no sense of unity anymore and simply running for their lives.


    ''Hm, I really thought that they would try and stand their ground and fight since they had greater numbers.'' Evelyn thought.


    In the end the rats were unconfrontationally. They were more than willing to sacrifice some of their numbers in order to flee themselves.


    Fortunately, Evelyn was not personally interested in ughtering the rats and was just using them as more training fodder for her siblings.


    By the time Aralee and Verrader returned they had managed to kill eight of the original fourteen rats between them.


    "Go ahead and take out their beast cores. We have no need for anything else on them." Evelyn said.


    In terms of meat to eat they still had plenty from the tyrant rank lizard that was far higher quality and none of the other materials from the rats were of any value.


    Still, there was something else on the forest floor that the rats had so generously uncovered for them.


    While Aralee and Verrader took out the beast cores from the rats'' bodies, Evelyn along with Bylur and Rehni descend to the ground where the rats had uncovered a group of mushroom.


    "Oh, some Pove Mushrooms!" Evelyn said excitedly.


    She recognized these as an ingredient that could be used in higher level awareness potions that increased ones'' senses temporarily.


    There were exactly thirty-four mushroom growing of which neen had enough magical energy in them to be considered suitable ingredients for brewing the position Evelyn wanted to.


    Of course, they could also be eaten as is to increase magical energy and heighten ones senses a minuscule amount for a bit.


    Though what Evelyn had in mind for most of them was to actually use them for some alchemical cooking. That way she could bring out their properties without going through the trouble of making a potion, even if it would notst as long or be able to be preserved.


    "Those rats must have good noses to have found these. They put out almost no scent and only grow in areas that arepletely covered." Evelyn said happily harvesting the mushrooms that were located by the hard work of the giant rats her siblings had just killed and chased off.


    With their spoils retrieved, Evelyn with Bylur and Rehni in Tow returned to find Aralee and Verrader carving out the beast cores from thest two rats.


    "This was a pretty good haul for our first hunt, but we still have a long way to go. Fighting weaklings is not going to get us much experience." Evelyn said, before taking back off.


    Her goal now was to find some suitable opponents that would actually fight back, and this meant she was on the search for other predators rather than scavengers like the rats.


    For nearly the rest of the night Evelyn and herpassions searched the forest for suitable opponents for Aralee and Verrader and came up short.


    It was not until just before dawn that Evelyn finally spotted a group of beasts that were not content with running and hiding.


    Whaty below them brazenly walking along the floor of the forest were three giant beasts the likes of which Evelyn had never seen before.


    Their faces and legs resembled those of bears but their bodies had sharp quills all over them like a porcupine.


    Their were three of these beasts and two of them were at the mid-tier of the awakened rank while the one in the lead was at the high tier.


    The leader was easily ten meters long and six meters tall, while the smaller ones at the mid-tier of the awakened rank were about eighty-five percent that size.


    Even Bylur, thergest among their group was not as big as any of these creatures.


    ''I suppose that this is why it is called the forest of giants. Many big beasts roam the area.'' Evelyn thought staring down at the beasts she had dubbed bearcupines.


    None of them were even close to the size of the tyrant rank lizard they had fought, but that was likely because of the difference of rank. She imagined that if any of these bearcupines managed to evolve that they would be farrger than even the lizard.


    The problem now was how Evelyn wanted to do things. She was pretty certain that if she just sent her siblings to fight the three bearcupines that they would have a hard time if not getpletely routed. Ideally she would have each of them take on one of the two mid-tiers while someone else upied the high tier.


    Eventually Evelyn descried that it was time to utilize Otis. He had not had much of a chance to do anything and while it was not going to be much of a fight, he could at least test his new abilities against the lead bearcupine.


    Having descried on who would be attacking Evelyn ryed her instruction.


    "Do not worry Evelyn. I will make sure to keep the strongest one upied and look out for you siblings." Otis said stoically.


    Finally he was going to have his chance to shine and he was not going to waste it.


    After that the three of them descend upon the bearcupines and began to do battle with them.


    Otis easily used his earth magic to fling the leader away from the other two and Aralee and Verrader flew in to face their opponents.

 Chapter 300 300 Secret Within The Forest

    ''Well, that went fairly well.'' Evelyn thought, watching thest bearcupine fall.


    Her siblings, despite being a tier below their opponents had better control over their magical energy and their evolutions were of a higher quality.


    Along with their mobility being able to fly, both of them had been able to barrage the bearcupines from above with magic and take them both down without any issue.


    Naturally Otis had an even easier time, being superior to his opponent in every way.


    It had been almost cruel how je toyed with the bearcupines'' leader, but it had been necessary.


    This was Otis'' first actual battle since bing a tyrant rank beast and he basically used the high tier bearcupine as a punching bag to test out what he was capable of now.


    In the end he had created arge sinkhole below the poor beast and swallowed it into the ground.


    Watching the power that Otis was capable of was a bit terrifying. Though, Evelyn soon understood that she had plenty of magical abilities that could be considered far scarier.


    Once the three of them had collected the beast cores from the three bearcupines, they returned, and Evelynmented on their fights.


    "Verrader, you did a good job, but you focused too much on attacking with overwhelming power since you wanted to end the fight quickly and took a hit you did not need to." Evelyn said, eyeing his lower left side where a quill had hit him.


    He had already removed the long spike and healed his injury with a potion, but if it had been poisoned he could have been in trouble. If he had focused on keeping a strong wind barrier around himself eh never would have been injured.


    "Aralee, you have the opposite problem. You can attack fine when receiving directions and working as a team, but you are overly cautious when by yourself. I do not think that is a bad thing most of the time, but sometimes you need to be bold and strike even if you are not certain. Only after you were in the best position did you attack, but often times you will not have the leeway to move about as you wish."


    Having their performances being criticized by Evelyn, both of her siblings hung their heads. For Verrader and Aralee, they wanted to live up to her expectations.


    However, after she finished pointing out their mistakes, she made sure to praise what they had done well.


    Overall, both of them had controlled the battle and their opponents barely were able to do anything but be taken down.


    "There is not doubt that both of you are powerful and have the potential to be much stronger. It may seem that you are far behind us, but as I have said, my main goal is to catch both of you up. Now let us go find somewhere to rest for the day and we can get back to exploring the Forest of Giants tomorrow."


    With the night nearing its end, Evelyn and herpanions searched for a suitable tree to rest in and Rehni once again drilled arge hollow into it.


    "Okay, dinner is served eat up." Evelyn said, having finished cooking more of the tyrant rank lizard''s meat.


    Everyone was quite happy since the food was delicious. That is, except Verrader and Aralee.


    Just like before Evelyn made sure that they were stuffed to the point of almost bursting before sending them off to bed.


    Their group then took three watches during the day until dusk came around and it was time for them to explore the forest once more.


    ¡­


    Over a month had now passed since Evelyn and her group had set off on their journey from one end of the continent to the other.


    During this time they had continued to push through the Forest of giants and fight beasts and collect valuable resources.


    Just recently, Evelyn, along with Bylur, Rehni, Verrader and Aralee had returned to the Roost to sell the surplus of items they had collected and take a trip back to the Velinis Desert.


    There the five of them took a dip in the magic spring and increased their magical energy greatly.


    Thanks to the spring''s power Aralee and Verrader finally were able to take thest push up to the mid-tier of the awakened rank, after Evelyn had continuously fed them food that was incredibly high in magical energy.


    Usually, growth of this speed would have been impossible, but Evelyn had put her siblings on the fast track by giving them resources that no normal low tier awakened rank would have ess to. Though the two of them were still far away from being able to match Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni.


    This had less to do with their difference in magical energy and more that Evelyn and her friends simply had far morebat experience and had undergone grueling drills against Katrina and Anneli.


    Of course, now that her siblings had gone up to the next tier and Otis had better control over his power she was nning on having the three of them train together.


    "Are you sure you have everything you need from here? We will not be returning back to the Roost for nearly another month." Evelyn said to her party.


    They were in the Wrap Hall and about to return back to the Forest of Giants, and Evelyn wanted to make sure that herpanions had gathered everything they wanted.


    "Yep, I have everything." Bylur said, tapping his new storage cuff.


    Following him the others did the same. Each of them had used the credits they had earned from a month in the forest upgrade their storage magic tools since they had to leave behind plenty of items due to not having enough space.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn turned towards the pad that would take them back into the Forest of Giants. Unlike the Velinis desert this warp pad saw a fair amount of traffic and several other owls wereing and going at regr intervals.


    The six of them waited their turns and soon they were engulfed in the light of a warp portal.


    ''Looks like we are back.'' Evelyn thought, swiveling her head around and getting her bearings.


    They had appeared in the middle of the forest in apletely unremarkable area that made it difficult to judge exactly where they were.


    Luckily Evelyn had left a magic message pad with Otis before they left this time so that it would be easier to find him amongst the sea of trees that towered into the sky.


    Quickly writing out a short message she ripped out a sheet of paper and watched it crumple up and turn into a small bird that began flying through the forest.


    "Let''s go. Otis is this way." Evelyn said, taking the lead.


    Around two hourster their group found Otis, or more precisely eh found them.


    When they had gotten closer and the noticed their presences he had swooped down with a look of urgency and told them to head back and not go any further.


    "You mind exining what is going on now?" Evelyn asked once they had gotten a fair distance away from where Otis had been before.


    "I am not really sure what it is, but there is some sort of manmade structure not far from here built into a tree. It is well hidden by leaves and appears to be quite ancient. I did not see any people around, but there were two statues in front of the entrance acting as sentinels. When I got within about three hundred meters, they attacked me. I was able to get away without issue, but they were continuing to pursue me, when I noticed all of you approaching. I did not want to get the five of you wrapped up in a sudden fight when you just came back which is why I asked you to back off." Otis said, exining what was going on.


    "I see, that certainly is unusual. What could be going on?" Evelyn said, pondering the situation.


    Clearly these statues and the structure had not popped up out of nowhere. But it begged the question, what they were doing here. As far as Evelyn knew, the Forest of Giants was pretty far from any human domains and was considered fairly dangerous. Certainly, some mighte wandering in every now and then, but it was doubtful that they would build a hidden structure and put up powerful statue guards. If these sentinels had been weak, Otis never would have fled from them in the first ce.


    "There are many possibilities that it could be. Perhaps it is the entrance to some secret civilization that lives underground below the forest, or maybe it is some hideout that someone built a long time ago. Whatever the case, we should decide how we want to proceed. We can either investigate further, or simply continue on our way."

 Chapter 301 301 Battle Against The Wooden Knights

    For almost a minute Evelyn''spanions sat in silence. Contemting what they next action should be.


    Otis had made quite the discovery while they were gone, and it was a hard to decide whether to avoid it or investigate it further.


    "I think we should try and see what this structure is and what is hidden within it. If there are magic statues acting as sentries than their certainly must be something of value inside. No one would put up guards if there wasn''t." Bylur said, breaking the silence.


    "Yeah, but it is also likely dangerous. We could easily find ourselves seriously hurt or killed. I believe that it would be in our best interest to mark the area and be on our way for now. We can alwayse backter if we want to." Rehni said.


    Bylur seeing that Rehni was going to oppose him turned towards Evelyn''s siblings for support. They had gone on this journey to get stronger and push themselves, so he felt that it was only right that they investigate this odd and well protected structure.


    However, begin the newest and weakest member in the group, Evelyn''s siblings did not feelfortable putting forth their opinions and stayed quiet despite the pressure that Bylur was putting on them.


    "As much as I do not want to agree with Bylur, I think we should at least take out the guards and look around a bit to understand what the structure actually is." Otis said, tipping the scales in favor of investigating the ancient building.


    Rehni scowled and looked towards Evelyn. As the leader of their group she was the one to make the final choice in the end anyway.


    "You both make good points, but I am leaning towards Bylur and Otis. We did note here to y it safe the entire time. Sometimes we will need to take risks to obtain greater rewards. There shouldn''t be anything here in this forest we cannot at least run away from. I say we give it a try and if it is too much we can flee." Evelyn said, having made her decision.


    At this Rehni let a small sigh before looking at Evelyn with conviction.


    "You are our leader, so I will follow your orders."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn was happy that Rehni did not try to argue and instead got behind the rest of them.


    "Otis, you are the only one that has fought these sentinels. About how strong do you think they are?" Evelyn asked.


    With a pensive expression Otis thought back on the short battle he had with the statues. He had not fought them for very long or with much conviction so he was not sure exactly how powerful they were, but it was clear that they would not fold easily.


    "If I had to say, they are not as strong as me one on one. I might be ale to beat them together even, but I did not try to very hard to beat them. Neither of the statues seem to have any sort of inherit magic affinity, but they are sturdy and are teeming with magical energy. I believe that each one is around the level of a weak low tier tyrant beast or a strong peak awakened beast."


    "Hm, sounds like they are tough, but not above what we are capable of." Evelyn said, forming a n in her head.


    "Otis, you are confident that you can handle one on your own?" Evelyn asked for confirmation.


    "Yes, I am certain of that." Otis replied.


    "Very well. Then I want Rehni and Bylur to take on the other one while Aralee and Verrader act as support for both fronts. I will stay above and keep and eye on the situation to make sure nothing unexpected happens and jump in if it seems necessary. We have never fought enemies like these before, so stay vignt."


    After Evelyn gave out her orders, the six of them shot into the air and followed Otis to where he found the structure guards by statues.


    Soon they came upon a tree that was around thirty percent thicker than the others in the area and was slightly taller.


    Several low hanging branches with giant leaves sprouted out of it near the bottom and caught the even the slightest amount of sunlight that was managing to trickle through the canopy.


    The structure that Otis had told them about was nowhere to be seen and neither were the statues that were supposed to be standing guard.


    "It is under there. The leaves hide it well, but if we push them out of the way the statues and structure will bee visible." Otis said.


    Turning her gaze to where he indicated, Evelyn created a powerful gust of wind and sent it towards the leaves and branches.


    When he magic reached the area a powerful updraft sted the leaves out of the way and for a few moments they could see what as hidden beneath.


    Built into therge tree was arge stone doorway with magic inscriptions scrawled all over it. It was made of a gray stone that was cracked and crumbling. There was moss and vines growing all over the stone and parts of the tree had even grown through it.


    ''I can see why Otis said it looked ancient. This certainly was not put here anytime recently. It is probably even several centuries old.'' Evelyn thought.


    Yet despite how impressive the stone doorway into therge tree was, something else soon garnered Evelyn''s attention.


    Standing guard in front of the doorway was two statues that were beginning toe to life.


    Each one was just under four meters tall and carried arge shield and spear.


    At first Evelyn thought that they were made out of some type of metal, but on closer inspection they were made of wood that had a dark ck luster to it.


    Once the two statues began moving again, they turned their attention towards Evelyn whose wind magic they perceived as an attack.


    Without hesitation the two wooden sentinels held their spears up and began glowing with magical energy.


    Then they fired off sts of magical energy towards Evelyn like a ground to air missile system.


    "Go, take them down." Evelyn said ascending higher and dodging the attacksing her way.


    The statues were only attacking her so far since she was the only one that had unleashed any magic, so Evelyn drew their fire while herpanions got into position.


    Quickly Evelyn ascended outside of the wooden knights'' effective range and watched the battle begin.


    To start, Otis had sent arge pir of earth directly for one of the knights.


    It looked like the massive thirty meter long five-meter-wide pir was simply crush the wooden statue t without resistance, but it held up its shield and received the attack.


    Even at nearly four meters tall the statue seemed tinypared to the sheer mass of earth Otis had unleased towards it, but its shield was reinforced with a great deal of magical energy, and it swatted the attack away.


    A spray of dirt shot through the area as the pir was destroyed and therger chunks smashed into eh surrounding trees and left dents in their bark.


    Of course, Otis was not perturbed that his first attack had been blocked and flew in closer to begin his next attack.


    He swiftly flew in a circle around the wooden knight and the ground began to sink around it. This was the same attack he sued to finish the lead bearcupine.


    His intentions were to have the ground swallow up the sentinel and crush itpletely, but the magic statue was not so easily captured.


    With fast movements it jumped away from the area of effect under Otis'' control and headed up the nearby tree and into its branches.


    From there it began unleashing a barrage of magical energy attacks from its spear and forced Otis to take evasive maneuvers.


    As he flew Otis picked up two massive pieces of earth from out of the ground and beganpressing them.


    By the time each of the over the over twenty-meter-wide lumps had beenpressed down to just three meters wide, Otis had gotten into position above the wooden knight and began his own attack.


    As if two gatling guns had opened fire, several shards ofpressed rock began sting towards the wooden knight.


    Each one of these stone bullets that Otis was unleashed packed enough force behind them to rip through a tank, but the wooden sentient held firm and used its reinforced shield to block the onught.


    The branch it was standing on began to shake, but despite taking several powerful attacks from Otis its shield was barely scratched.


    Nevertheless, Otis never intended for this attack to take down his opponent, he had instead been preparing the area so that he could use the magic he was most adept at.


    When he had exhausted all of thepressed earth he had prepared the wooden knight lunged towards him with impable timing and what should have been impossible speed for its size.


    It was a sharp strike that might have been able to kill some tyrant rank beasts that were caught off-guard, but Otis was ready.


    All of a sudden it seemed like a giant yellow and brown wave had erupted all around Otis and mmed into the approaching statue.


    Swirling all around Otis now was an astounding amount of sand that movedpletely at his whim.


    While he had the wooden statue pinned down with his stone bullets, he had delivered most of his attention and magical energy into turning the ground around him into sand which he had the most experience manipting.


    Now Otis was prepared to use his strongest and most skilled magic to defeat his sturdy opponent.

 Chapter 302 302 Battle Against The Wooden Knights (2)

    While Otis was fighting his own guard statue, Rehni and Bylur had their own to deal with.


    Unlike Otis neither of them was definitively more powerful than this wooden knight and needed to work together to take it down.


    Ice and metal flew around to try and restrain it, but the wooden knight was not so easily captured.


    Its attack power was honestly not particrly high for how much magical energy it held within it, but its speed and defenses were quite exceptional to make up for this.


    "Can''t you pin it down, Rehni!?" Bylur said over their magical connection.


    "I have already tired. It cuts through my metal wires with its spear whenever I try to entangle it and sneak attacks don''t seem to work on it. Its like it can see everything around it. Plus, my sound magic basically has no effect on it. Its too sturdy for me to damage and I can''t even try to do any internal damage since it is not alive." Rehni retorted.


    Unfortunately, both of them were poor match ups against this statue as their magic was best against living opponents.


    Sure, they could both conjure powerful attacks with a lot of force behind them, but their opponent had the durability to deal with the strongest attacks that they could fire off and was immune to being affected by the cold or sound.


    It also was deft enough to avoid more finessed attacks meant to slow it down and packed enough power behind it to be a threat if either of them got to close to it.


    Frankly they were starting to think that Otis'' assessment of these sentinels was wrong. To them this wooden knight seemed to be a stronger foe than the tyrant rank lizard they had fought not long ago. Certainly it did not have nearly as much destructive power but its overall ability seemed greater.


    "Verrader, Aralee, we need your assistance." Rehni eventually said.


    Both of Evelyn''s siblings had been waiting a above the two battlefields to assist if necessary, and now that it was clear to Rehni that she and Bylur would have a tough time beating their opponent she was calling them in.


    Joining into the fray Aralee and Verrader started off byunching several wind spears towards the wooden knight, but like everything else it blocked with its shield and then sent out several sts of magical energy from its spear as return fire.


    "Aralee, focus on slowing it down with your magic. Verrader try and keep behind it so it can not focus on defending against all of us." Rehni ordered.


    With the four of them working together the wooden knight now had to keep its guard up against several mobilebatants and finally they were able to get some attacks through.


    To start, Aralee fired off a ball of yellowish energy that contained her momentum magic and encased the wooden knight with a slowing effect.


    Immediately its movements began to dull, and its speed and agility dropped to around eighty percent of what it was capable of.


    However, Aralee felt that the wooden knight had a great deal of resistance to her magic that was debuffing it and it took her all of her focus and magical energy to maintain the effect.


    The wooden knight was also not unaware of what just happened and turned its attention towards Aralee.


    With reckless abandonpared to the way it had been fighting defensively, it charged towards Aralee while increasing the output of its attacks to far greater numbers than it had been before. It recognized just how much of a threat her magic was and its programing told it to eliminate her immediately.


    Thankfully Rehni rushed in and shielded Aralee who was having a hard time dodging while maintaining her magic. She created arge circr shield of metal that was slightly folded in and rotated it. Causing the sts of magical energy form the wooden knight to bounce off and be redirected.


    In this moment, Bylur and Verrader stuck.


    For the first time the wooden knight had prioritized offense over defense and they were not going to let this chance pass them by.


    Controlling three dozens des made of ice Bylur flew in and unleashed a rapid series of attacks against the wooden knight.


    Normally the wooden knight would have been able to respond to this attack and defend but tis slowed speed made it slightly toote to reposition its shield and around a third of the ice swords got past its guard and struck its body.


    Of course, even though its shield was sturdier, its main body was quite touch as well and Bylur''s ice swords shattered against it and only left thin cut on its body.


    Still, for the first time they had finally managed to get in a hit. Plus, Bylur''s intentions were never to do damage anyway. The shattered shards of ice adhered themselves to the wooden knight and further restricted tis movements.


    Then a moment after Bylurnded his attack, Verraderunched a bolt of lighting at the wooden knight''s arm joint.


    Its tough wooden exterior managed to resist beingpletely blown apart, buts its arm that it was using to support its shield was clearly damaged.


    "Okay, we just need to keep this up. Stay on your guard and let''s slowly wear it down." Rehni said, a smile on her face.


    Slowly but surely the four of them coordinated their abilities and chipped away at the wooden knights durability until finally they managed to break off its shield arm.


    This lowered its defensive abilities greatly and the wooden knight switched over to focusing fully on offense.


    Sadly without being able to fly it was unable to get anywhere near Rehni, Bylur, Verrader, or Aralee, and its ranged magical energy attacks simply did not have enough power to deal a decisive blow.


    Soon its body was marred with scars from being hit by lighting, ice, and metal, and finally its frame was unable to support itself and the wooden knight copsed.


    "Whew, we finally managed to win. That thing certainly was tough." Bylur said once their enemy had fallen.


    Nodding their heads, Rehni, Aralee, and Verrader agreed. None of them had ever had to fight an enemy that solid before. It was able to take far more punishment than any living being could.


    "That was a good fight. You all managed to coordinate together really well in order to beat an opponent none of you matched up well against." Evelyn said, flying back down now that the battle was over.


    She had kept an eye on both battles and was happy to see that her friends and siblings could work together quite well now.


    "What about me Lady Evelyn? I managed to beat my opponent without any assistance and much faster." Otis said, popping out from where he had been hiding.


    "You did well too Otis. Though, it was always a forgone conclusion you would win. You are able to output more power and your sand magic matched up much better to begin with." Evelyn said.


    After she did, the group that had beaten the second wooden sentinel turned their gaze towards where Otis had been battling and saw what remained of his opponent.


    The wooden sentinel that he had been fighting had deep cuts all over its body, all four of its limbs scattered about and was cutpletely in half at the waste.


    Using his magic like a sand ster Otis had carved right through the wooden knight he had been fighting and reduced it to pretty much saw dust and scrap wood.


    However, none of them were able to revel in their victories for much longer. The remains of the two wooden knights began to glow and all the magical energy that had been contained inside them flew out and towards the doorway they had been guarding.


    The giant tree the doorway was in then began to shake and a bright glow was released.


    The doors began to rumble and slowly opened up reveling a staircase that led underground.


    "That was unexpected." Evelyn said, seeing this happen.


    She had never thought the doors would suddenly open after they defeated the wooden knights. This happening showed them that they were not just guardians to protect the ce, but also a type of test.


    "I am not sure if this is good news or ominous." Evelyn said, pondering what was going on.


    The others seemed just as confused by what had happened, until Rehni remembered something.


    "I think that this might be heritage that someone left behind. I have heard that those that are close to death or are about to ascend to the next word sometimes leave behind some of their knowledge or items for others to find in the future. Either that, or it is some type of trap. I cannot see any other reason that the doors would open after we beat those statues."


    Hearing this, Evelyn recalled finding the gifts that Mason had left for her since he had managed to peer into the future and found that he would already be gone by the time she arrived in this world.


    Certainly, this was not exactly the same since it was likely not left for a specific individual, but it was simr.


    Of course, Rehni''s ascertain that it could be a trap was true as well. Someone with malicious intent could have set this up to lure individuals of a certain level in and kill them once they were inside.


    The question now was whether they took the risk and continued to go forward, or left this ce behind.

 Chapter 303 303 Domain Of The Verdant Warlord

    "I will go first and make sure it is safe." Otis said resolutely.


    He was the strongest among them and figured that if it was a trap that he would have the best chance of making it back out alive.


    "No, I believe that we should either all go in together or not at all." Rehni said, giving her option.


    She felt it best that they stick together that way they could all have each other''s backs. As a group they were far stronger than anyone of them alone.


    "While I understand your sentiment and praise your bravery, Otis, I agreed with Rehni. Either we all go in together or not at all. And this time I think we should go with a majority vote. Things are more dangerous but possibly more rewarding than I thought. This is not just some simple forgotten building in the middle of the wilds." Evelyn said.


    After that the six of them discussed what to do, and in the end it was a unanimous vote to continue exploring. The prospect of having found a so far untouched heritage left behind by a powerful entity outweighed the possibility of it being a trap meant to lure them in.


    With their decision made Evelyn took the lead with Otis in the back to cover their nk.


    Soon they had descend to where therge set of doors stood open and led underground.


    ''Here goes nothing.'' Evelyn thought, flying past the threshold with her guardpletely up.


    Thankfully no sort of trap or magic enchantment activated upon her flying past the doorway, and she continued downward into the ground.


    For nearly a minute the six of them descend in a spiral pattern under the tree until they came into arge room that seemed devoid of anything.


    However, upon a closer inspection Evelyn noticed that there was a heavily faded inscription carved into eh floor.


    Over what easily could have been several centuries the lines had worn away, but everything was still connected, and the magic still seemed to work.


    "This is what I think it is, right?" Evelyn asked to Rehni.


    "Yes, this is certainly a warp pad." Rehni replied.


    All of them expect for Otis had seen this time of magic tool before in the Roost. It was what was used to connect the separate dimension the owls called home to the real world in multiple location.


    Yet after they had been in the room for nearly five minutes, the warp pad began to light up despite none of them activating it.


    Immediately it was clear that they would be unable to clear the room before the enchantment activated and Evelyn instructed everyone to stay close and put up abined magical energy barrier. This would in theory prevent them from being separated and offer them the highest degree of protection they could manage.


    Surrounded by a sixyered magical barrier all of them were engulfed by a blinding light and whisked away to an unknown area.


    When their vision returned to them, they found themselves inside a crystal dome that was inside of a vast forest.


    Nevertheless, it was clear with one look that they were no longer within the Forest of Giants, as the trees were not nearly asrge and were far more closely packed together.


    At the very least all of them were still together even if they had no idea where they were.


    "Well, it looks like there is another warp pad here at least. We should be able to get back." Bylur said, seeing the pristine warp pad below them that was not weathered at allpared to the one that brough them here which was on the verge of copse.


    Unfortunately, it only took them a few moments inspecting the warp pad to realize that it was not going to activate.


    Just like when using the warp portals to leave and enter the roost this one needed a key to activate it.


    In the roost this was in the form of tickets, but for this portal they had not clue what it could be.


    "It looks like you have realized that is not going to work."


    Suddenly hearing a voice above them, Evelyn, along with herpanions, turned their heads upwards to see who or what was there.


    For a moment all of them thought that the entity floating above them was a human, but on closer inspection their skin had a slight green tinge to it and their veins were clearly a dark green rather than blue. His hair was also not normal, being a tangle of red vines. While his eyes were a mixture of several colors that were constantly in flux.


    "Oh, it looks like a group of beasts have found their way in this time. Hm, and judging by the matching cuffs that five of you are wearing, you must be from some sort of organization." The green man floating above them said.


    "Who, or what are you?" Evelyn eventually demanded.


    The more she looked at this figure, the less sure about what he was.


    She could not sense any sort of living presence from him. The figure above them to her just seemed like a dense mass of magical energy.


    "Yes, I suppose introduction are in order. I am the Verdant Warlord. Or a vestige of him. I am here to act as a guide for those who wish to challenge this domain and reap its rewards. But before we go any further, there is something I must check."


    Immediately after saying this the entity calling itself a vestige of the Verdant Warlord unleashed a wave of magical energy over the area.


    Putting their sixfold barrier back up, Evelyn and herpanions tried to block the iing wave, but despite giving it their all, the barrier shattered after just a single second.


    All of them were then engulfed by magical energy, but none of them took any sort of damage.


    Still, each of them felt the slimy feeling of foreign magical energy invading their bodies.


    Evelyn had felt this before, and realized that whatever this entity was, it was fully inspecting their bodies and souls.

 Chapter 304 304 Domain Of The Verdant Warlord (2)

    For nearly two minutes the vestige of the Verdant Warlord inspected the six of them until finally cutting off the wave of magical energy.


    "A pity. Not a single one of you has a nature magic affinity. It seems it will still be sometime before I canplete my duty." The vestige said once it had finished checking all of them.


    However, its attention soon turned towards Evelyn with a look of curiosity.


    "You though, are by far the most interesting being that has every found their way here. To think that a beast with a human''s soul and magic core, that also has a heavenly me and some sort of impossibly powerful magic device I cannot even begin to fathom, exists. You are just one miracle after the next aren''t you." The vestige said to Evelyn.


    Hearing her secrets being revealed, Evelyn looked around at herparisons to gauge their reaction, but none of them seemed to have heard. Each one was still just looking at the vestige intently.


    "No need to worry. What the five of them are hearing is far different from what you are. I wanted to have this conversation just between the two of us."


    At this Evelyn let out a sigh of relief. She may have trusted her friends and siblings with her life, but was not yet ready to trust them with all her secrets. The only one that currently held that privilege was Melisandre.


    "What is it you want from me? You are not even a living being, correct?" Evelyn asked, unable to hide the hostility in her voice.


    "That is right, I am not alive. I am a will given form in the image of the one who made me. A copy of the Verdant Warlord''s memories. And as for what I want from you, is simply to satiate my curiosity. I may just be an echo, but I still retain the personality of my creator. Before me is an iprehensible being, of course I would want to know more." The vestige said, staring intently at Evelyn.


    "And if I was to refuse to answer you, what are you going to do to me?" Evelyn responded.


    At this the vestige of the Verdant Warlord shrugged its shoulders, and said, "Nothing. Unless you try to destabilize this domain, I cannot harm you. I am just the keeper here. I must follow the rules set by the Verdant Warlord the same as everyone else who enters this ce."


    Sighing with relief, Evelyn felt all the tension in her body starting to fade. She had been afraid that this vestige was about to destroy her. Yet thankfully it was unable to enact violence on her for no reason.


    After that her private conversation with the vestige of the Verdant Warlord ended and she began hearing and seeing the same thing as her friends and siblings.


    "Okay, I have finished exining the purpose of this ce, so onto the rules. There are several floors within this separate dimension. In order to advance or leave you must collect a certain number of tokens from defeating the creatures that reside in the forest. These tokens may also be used at terminals that appear around the domain. Each of these terminals will allow you to trade the tokens you have collected for valuable items or information that the Verdant Warlord has left here. Be careful though, you can only ess a terminal once before it disappears, and some are traps that may very well kill you. Now, I have finished exining what I must. Anything else you will need to figure out on your own."


    The Vestige of the Verdant Warlord then began to fade, but before it was gone, Rehni asked it one more question.


    "Wait! You have still not told us who the Verdant Warlord is!"


    "I see, a great deal of time must have passed in the outside world. There was a time when it was rare that even beasts like the six of you would not have at least heard of my creator. However, if you wish to know more, go and search for the answers yourselves. All I will tell you is that the Verdant Warlord was an expert of the highest caliber that reached the pinnacle of this world and left this domain before heading to whatever lies beyond." The Vestige said right before his frompletely disappeared.


    Looking up at the now empty spot in a daze, Evelyn wanted to yell at the vestige toe back and exin things to her. While the rest of herpanions were getting information on this ce, she had been questioned and only got thest bit about the rules.


    Of course, she could ask anyone from her group what had been said, but then she would reveal that her conversation had been different from theirs.


    ''Whatever. I at least know the basic rules and if I do anything stupid one of the others will help me out.''


    Shaking her head and pushing any lingering thoughts she had away she turned towards the others in order to begin nning their strategy.


    "It seems we will have to gather at least some of these tokens in order to leave. Let us try and figure out how many we need before doing anything else." Evelyn suggested.


    The six of them then searched around for a way to activate the warp pad and Aralee soon located one of the terminals that the vestige had mentioned earlier.


    It was a floating, slightly glowing pyramid that was a bitrger than a human head.


    When Aralee interacted with it, the pyramid disyed a number and asked for the requisite number of bronze tokens.


    "So, we each need seven tokens to leave. Or three to ascend to the next level." Evelyn said, a pensive look on her face.


    They had been told that they could gather these tokens by defeating creatures in the woods, but they had no idea what was out their or how many tokens that each one would drop.


    There was also the fact the powers of whatever these creatures could be were a mystery. For all they knew, each one could be as strong as the wooden knights that guarded the entrance to this ce or even more powerful.


    "I suppose all we can do is head out and see what we can find." Evelyn said with a sigh.


    From the crystal dome that they were in, none of them were able to see anything residing in the woods that were eerily still.


    "Everyone, make sure to stay close and alert. We have no clue what could be out their waiting for us."


    With Evelyn in the lead as normal, the six of them flew out of the crystal dome and into the dense woods all around them.


    To start they tried to fly above the tree line to get a better vantage point, but Evelyn hit an invisible ceiling right at the canopy and was knocked back.


    ''Ow!''


    The force pushing her back was a heavy impact that nearly caused her to crash into the branches below her.


    "Looks like the domain ends at the top of the trees. The sky above is just an illusion." Evelyn said informing herpanions of what she had painfully discovered.


    It was just a momentter that their attention was diverted away from the false sky and towards the first bit of movement they had noticed since entering the forest.


    Coming toward them at a quick speed was arge monster made of moss that was vaguely shaped like a human.


    It was jumping through the trees like an agile monkey despite itsrge size that put it over five meters tall.


    "Defenses up. We have no idea what this thing can do." Evelyn said, turning to face their quickly approaching foe.


    When it had gotten within about thirty meters of them, the moss monster pulled back its right arm and then thrust it forward.


    Like it was made of rubber the creature'' arm starched out to cover the distance between it and the six owls that were now its target.


    Shocked by the speed at which the moss monster had suddenly attacked them from afar, Verrader who was its target failed to evade the attack.


    Luckily, he was already on guard and had a barrier of pure magical energy deployed in front of him.


    The first of the moss monster impacted against Verrader''s barrier and sttered all around him.


    It was at this moment that everyone began to panic as the fist of the moss creature wrapped around Verrader''s barrier and pulled him towards the monster''s main body.


    Watching her brother begin dragged towards the entity that was unlike anything any of them had ever seen, Evelyn was the first to react and shot forward at full speed.


    She propelled herself with her wind magic and fire magic, using both of them tounch herself like a rocket.


    An instant before the creature fully reeled Verrader in, she aught up to it and unleashed a wave of her heavenly me.


    Whatever this thing was, she figured that it would be burned to a crisp.


    Except, before her mes even touched its main body, the monster released the arm it had used to capture Verrader and jumped back through the trees at a blinding speed.


    While it could not move as fast as Evelyn when she was going at full speed, its agility and ability to maneuver through the thick foliage surpassed her.


    At the very least her swift attack had managed to free Verrader, and with a gust of wind he blew off the now dead moss that had been surrounding him.

 Chapter 305 305 The Dangerous Creatures Of The Verdant Warlord’s Domain

    ring at the moss creature that had just assaulted them Evelyn kept her eyes on it and waited for its next move.


    It was quick and had moved around a hundred meters away and was waiting there.


    ''It is clearly wary of me, or more precisely my heavenly me. Still, it has not given up. It clearly wanted to kill us.'' Evelyn thought, watching the monster.


    "Thank you for rescuing me, Evelyn. I did not expect to be captured by such a method.'' Verrader said, his head lowered.


    "Don''t worry about it. We are a team, any of us would do the same. Now stay focused. This thing definitely has other tricks it can use." Evelyn said.


    Soon the others had met back up with them, and Evelyn instructed them to take up positions to encircle the moss monster and cut off its escape routes.


    The moment it realized that it was being closed in on the monster picked out who it thought was the easiest target and began bounding through the trees towards them.


    It had chosen Aralee who it perceived as the most vulnerable and multiple tendrils of moss shot out of its body and wove itself into a spiked.


    As this happened Rehni who was nearby sent out spinning des like buzz saws which cut through the moss.


    At the same time Aralee created a gateway of magical energy that continued her momentum magic right in front of the moss creature.


    When it passed through he gateway its already fast speed exploded and it found that it could no longer control itself.


    Its body then flew forward and mmed hard into one of the trees and sttered across it.


    Nevertheless, the impact seemed to cause it no real damage and its viscous body reformed quickly.


    ''Die.''


    Creating a wide ze Evelyn unleashed a storm of fire over the area where the moss monsternded and engulfed everything in her heavenly me.


    The sturdy trees began to catch fire and the moss creature was engulfed.


    ''Looks like I can at least burn thought he trees if necessary.'' Evelyn thought.


    She had seen so far that none of their stray attacks or impacts had caused any damage to the trees, but her heavenly me with its properties to be able to burn through just about anything could destroy them as easily as any other tree.


    Yet, despite her attack epassing a wide range, a couple of seconds after Evelyn unleashed her wide range attack a figure jumped out of the zing area of the forest.


    It was now only around a hundredth of its size, but the moss monster had managed to escape Evelyn''s attack by sacrificing the majority of its body.


    Moss from the surrounding area began being attracted to it and its tiny body began increasing in mass once more.


    "Don''t let it recover. We need to take it down quickly while it is still weakened." Evelyn said, charging towards the creature.


    However, now the moss monster was incredibly on guard against Evelyn and scrambled away from her as fast as it could while collecting more moss to replenish its body.


    As it hoped around all over the ce it left ball of moss that would expand whenever any of them got near them.


    These moss balloons would knock them around and made it difficult to catch up to the moss monster.


    The biggest advantage this creature had was its ability to perfectly use the terrain while Evelyn and herpanions were limited by the thick foliage.


    Eventually Otis managed to catch up and having created sand that he could manipte sent several thin beams towards the moss creature that cut it apart.


    The damage he did though was quickly recovered since his sand was not able to fully destroy the moss like Evelyn''s heavenly me was.


    Still, this kept it from running around as fast and Bylur caught up to it and fired off a massive snowball that swallowed the monster.


    The creature tired to pull its way out of the snow, but now that Bylur had caught it, he was not going to let it go.


    Rapidly he froze its body and the water in the moss expanded as it sh froze.


    "Good job, Otis, Bylur." Evelyn said, flying down next to them.


    Their efforts had finally allowed them to beat their first enemy in the domain of the Verdant Warlord.


    Both Bylur and Otis beamed at receiving Evelyn''s praise, before ring at each other.


    "I did not need your help. I was just about to finish it off myself." Otis said.


    "Yeah right. Your magic may be strong, but it was mostly ineffective. My ice magic was best to take it down." Bylur retorted.


    "Enough of that you two. If we beat it, why has it not turned into tokens yet." Rehni said, putting an end to their bickering.


    It was at this point that they all realized that this domain did not act exactly as the real world. When they defeated an enemy here, they were supposed to turn into tokens. That meant that this moss monster was not dead yet.


    "Stand back. I will make sure that it gets incinerated this time." Evelyn said, busting into crimson mes.


    All of herpanions flew back away from her and she wrapped a twister of mes around the frozen moss creature and made sure it would not escape this time.


    Swiftly Evelyn reduced its body to ash and had a satisfied look on her face.


    Except her smile soon faded as she saw a hole in the ground below where the creature had been.


    It was in this moment she realized that the reason Bylur''s attack had not finished it off was because the core of the moss monster had already escaped before he froze it.


    In the next instant Evelyn eyes went wide and she Jumped up and to the side. She had felt her instincts suddenly screaming at her that she was in danger and a spear of moss had shot out from behind her.


    But despite her quick reaction she had not quite been fast enough to escape and she felt a searing pain as the moss pierced into her side and ruptured one of her lungs.


    ''Damn it!'' Evelyn thought as she turned around and saw the now small form of the moss creature hiding among a group of rocks with its arms outstretched into the spear that had pierced her.


    Immediately Evelyn created a wind de and severed the arm as she felt it starting to shift and push its way further into her body.


    The moss monster tried tounch another attack, but Bylur had sent out several ice spikes that it had to dodge and prevented it from continuing its assault on Evelyn.


    Following Bylur, Otis began viscously attacking the creature and the others soon joined in.


    "Evelyn, are you oaky!" Bylur shouted, glowing white as he surround Evelyn with his life magic to heal her.


    "Yeah, I am fine. It only got one lung. I will recover quickly enough." Evelyn said as blood dribbled out of her mouth.


    Thanks to Bylur''s healing she felt the pain began to subside and the wound was closing.


    Nevertheless, he was not quite good enough with his life magic yet to heal her injury quickly and Evelyn needed to use a powerful healing potion to fix her lung so that she could rejoin the battle.


    "Now let''s go destroy that thing. I will not be able to rest until it is dead." Evelyn said once she had recovered, her fury palpable.


    With Bylur in tow she flew off into the air towards where Otis, Rehni, Aralee, and Verrader were fighting the monster.


    For several minutes the six of them chased it around the forest, the moss monster evading their assaults with its ability to change its body shape at will and master over moving around the forest.


    In the end though, Evelyn and herpanions managed to catch it and surrounded it.


    "Nowhere to go now. You made a mistake ofing to this area. There is way less for you to hide behind." Evelyn said with a smirk on her face.


    Where they were now, had far few trees standing as many of them had copsed onto the forest floor and had mushrooms growing all over them.


    Except Evelyn was soon to find out that this was exactly where the moss monster wanted to lead them.


    As they were all reveling in having caught their elusive enemy and preparing to finish it off once and for all, Aralee noticed movementing towards them out of the corner of her eyes.


    "Everyone! More enemies!" She shouted over their connection. Gathering all of their attention.


    Running towards them were what looked like wolves, but on closer inspection it was clear to see that their bodies were made out of mushrooms.


    ''What the hell is going on with his ce?!'' Evelyn thought watching these iprehensible creaturesing towards them.


    In this moment of confusion the moss monster made its escape, no longer trying to kill them. It was simply to worn down to continue fighting.


    Unfortunately, Evelyn could not chase after it, since the mushroom wolves were upon them and had fired off several shroom bullets at them.


    Creating a wind barrier around herself, Evelyn deflected the projectiles away from herself and those near her.


    Yet, when the mushrooms hit her wind, they exploded, and clouds of spores spread out all around them.


    Evelyn did her best to keep them away, but a few breached her defenses and she breathed them in.


    Almost instantly she felt the moisture in her body and some of her magical energy being sucked up as the mushrooms rapidly expanded in her throat.


    ''If I ever find this Verdant Warlord, I am going to kill him.'' Evelyn thought in a moment of frustration as her consciousness began to fade.

 Chapter 306 306 Figuring Things Out

    Feeling her throat being clogged and her stomach bloating as mushrooms rapidly grew inside her, Evelyn began falling from the air.


    Her body felt heavy, and her mind was fading quickly as her body was assaulted by the deadly attack that was eating her from the inside out.


    Yet before shepletely lost consciousness and crashed to the ground, Evelyn engulfed her entire body with her heavenly me.


    She opened her beak and sent a torrent of mes down her throat and into her body to incinerate the mushrooms invading her body.


    As swiftly as the mushrooms had propagated inside her body, Evelyn burned them to nothing but ash.


    For several seconds she coughed up the charred remains of the mushrooms and had to use her wind magic in a way she had never tested to clear the ash out of her lungs.


    ''How is everyone else?'' Evelyn thought once she regained her senses.


    In the middle of a fight being incapacitated for several seconds could easily be fatal and she could only hope that herpanions had not met the same fate as her.


    The trick she used with her heavenly me was not something she could do for the rest of them, and if they got infected, she was unsure of what to do.


    Luckily when she looked around the others were still fighting and seemed to have avoided breathing in any of the spores.


    Verrader and Aralee, after having witnessed what had happened to their sister, had tighten their wind shields to not let in even the smallest of particle.


    The pack of mushroom wolves were continuing their assault, by firing more exploding projectiles, or jumping up the side of the nearby trees andunching themselves at Evelyn''spanions.


    ''Looks like they are not all that strong physically. Their dangeres mostly from their spores.'' Evelyn thought watching the battle that had moved away from her.


    This was a conscious effort by Rehni to protect her, since it had been impossible for any of them toe to her aid while the mushroom spores hung in the air. All they could do was attack from within the wind barrier that Verrader and Aralee had created.


    Luckily Evelyn had managed to make a recovery on her own, and feeling an intense fury, she charged towards the mushroom wolfs, still d in her heavenly me.


    There were several millions of spores spread throughout the area at this point, but Evelyn simply did not care. She burned everything in her wake and when she reached the nearest mushroom wolf, she plunged her talon into it and immted its body from the inside.


    After the mes disappeared a single bronze token appeared from thin area and fell to the ground. Proof that Evelyn had killed her target.


    The other mushroom wolves turned towards her and began firing off projectiles, but not a single one hit Evelyn.


    She was brining her heavenly me to full force and known of the mushroom bulletsing towards her could hope to pass through the mes without being turned to ash.


    At this moment Evelyn''s alliesunched their own attacks.


    One of the mushroom wolves was crushed under a pir of sand, the next was pierced by several spears of ice, and its body was frozen over. While another was wrapped up by thin wires and its body was sliced into several dozen pieces.


    Watching theirrades being taken out quickly, the remaining mushroom wolves turned and fled.


    However, Evelyn was not simply going to let them get away. Especially not after what they had done to her.


    Activating her gravity field, she brought down the full weight of her power on the mushroom wolves to slow them done.


    Then she pped her wings and crimson feathers made of her heavenly me fell off her body before flying towards the mushroom wolves like heatseeking missiles.


    All at once Evelyn brought a fiery end to their assants, and in each their wakes a single bronze token was left.


    ''Are there anymore?'' Evelyn thought, looking around while breathing heavily.


    After the first ambush she was expecting themotion to bring on more enemies, but everything around them remined quiet. At least, for the moment.


    "Sister, are you alight now? She just suddenly copsed before bursting into mes and we had no clue what was going on." Aralee said, flying down with a look of concern.


    "Yeah, I am fine now. Some of the spores that were released into the air got inside me and began turning into mushrooms. I used my fire magic to burn them all away. Sorry that I caused all of you to worry." Evelyn said to herpanions who werending around her.


    Naturally they were all distressed by what had just happened. Evelyn seemed like their indomitable leader, but she had already taken several injuries since they entered this domain.


    "Only one per enemy, huh." Evelyn said, disappointed.


    Each one of the mushroom wolves they had defeated had left only a single token after being defeated.


    "I suppose that we can take this to mean that each enemy is worth only one, or that these enemies were considered weak and less valuable." Rehni said.


    "What do you mean that these things were weak?! They nearly killed Evelyn and breathing in their spores once is as good as a death sentence to most of us!" Bylur said, still on edge from watching Evelyn getting injured.


    "No, I think Rehni is right. Those mushroom wolves were not all that impressive. Certainly, their spores are dangerous, but other than that, they are not much of a threat. Their defenses are low, and they are not very physically strong. They were fairly agile and fast, but not to the same degree as that moss creature. That thing was far stronger and able to keep away from the six of us for several minutes before leading us into a trap. I would say that it was far more dangerous in a fight. If we assume that the quantity of tokens is awarded on how dangerous a creature is, I believe that monster would be worth far more." Otis said, giving his own opinion.


    As much as the mushroom''s unique spore attack was deadly, everything else about them was nothing to write home about.


    ring at Otis, Bylur did not appreciate his opinion andx attitude. Evelyn had nearly died, and he felt that Otis was not sowing enough concern for her.


    However, this was a difference in how they viewed Evelyn.


    When Bylur first met her, he had been the one to lend a hand while she was in danger, even if she did not want his help. On the other hand, Otis revered Evelyn for how she saved his flock when they were at their lowest. To him she was basically invincible and infallible.


    To Otis, he never felt that Evelyn was in any real danger. That she would surely pull through no matter what.


    "We can discus this moreter. For now, we do not have enough information to know whether the creatures in this forest are worth different amounts of tokens, or what criteria they are judged on if they are. Let us head back to the crystal dome and rest a bit. We do not know what is out here, and it is clear that every creature is dangerous in its own way." Evelyn said, getting between Bylur and Otis.


    Thankfully this eased the tension between he two of them, and they fell in line behind Evelyn. Though they did continue to send the asional re at each other.


    Taking back off through the woods, Evelyn did her best to trace back the way they came and bring them back to the crystal dome which she assumed was a safe zone.


    Along the way, one of the trees came to life and attacked them, but while it was strong, the six of them defeated it easily enough.


    This battle also managed to confirm to them that not all creatures were worth only a single token as this hiding tree as Verrader had named it was worth three.


    Fortunately, this was the only other encounter they had before returning to the crystal dome.


    "Now we have fourteen tokens. What should we do with them?" Evelyn asked looking at herpanions.


    Currently, they had enough for two of them to leave which was not even close to enough, but there were still some tests that they could do.


    It was uncertain if they would return to the exact entry point, they hade in, or if they would be able toe back to the domain if they left.


    "I will go out and see what happens. Worst case scenario if I cannot return, I should be able to go back to the Roost and bring back Melisandre. I am sure she will know what to do." Rehni said, volunteering herself.


    After a great deal of deliberation, they collectively descried to send Rehni out of the domain along with the rest of their tokens. It was unclear if they would need the same number to leave and return, but luckily, they had fourteen tokens in total. Enough for a round trip if that was the case.


    With the fourteen tokens in a beg tied to her left foot, Rehni interacted with the terminal in the crystal dome and paid the price to activate the warp pad.


    In and instant she was engulfed in light and vanished.


    For a few minutes, Evelyn and the others waited with baited breaths, before Rehni returned in another sh of light.

 Chapter 307 307 Exploring The Domain

    Seeing Rehni return without any issues, Evelyn let out a sigh of relief.


    ''I am d she managed to make it back. I have no clue what we would have done if it was impossible to leave and return.'' Evelyn thought.


    Flying over to their group, Rehni gave them all a rundown on what she had learned.


    "First, I was brought back to the exact ce we were transported in at. So, we do not have to worry about being sent to a random location." Rehni informed them.


    This was really good news to hear, since if they ended up somewhere they had no idea about, returning to the Roost would be very difficult.


    "Next, the wooden knights we defeated have reappeared. But even when I left, neither of them seemed interested in attacking me. They just stood their as if they were regr statues. Finally, using the warp pad to return to this domain does not cost anything. I still have the seven bronze tokens on me." Rehni said, opening up the small bag and showing everyone the tokens inside.


    ''It seems that things operate in the best possible way for us. If we had been sent to a random location or needed to use tokens toe back here, I am not sure what we would have done.''


    Luckily this domain did not seem to function on any harsh and unfair conditions. The worst one Evelyn could think of was the fact that you could not leave the domain for free. Anyone that got brought to this ce had to go out and fight the horrific monsters in the forest to gather tokens if they even just wanted to leave.


    "I suppose that our goal now should be to explore this ce while collecting more tokens from the creatures that inhabit this forest." Evelyn said.


    The ce may have been dangerous and not part of their original n, but it was extremely rare to find a separate domain like this that was set up as a means to pass down the items and knowledge that an expert of the highest order had left behind. Frankly, it was almost certainly more valuable than even the magic spring that the burrowing owls had ess to.


    "But what about our n? We still need to make it to where the Roost''s entrance trials are going to be held?" Aralee said.


    The final destination of their journey was a vast swamp on the eastern part of the continent. Currently they were pretty far away, and it would take them a decent amount of time to reach their destination even if they did not explore any of the areas that they initially nned on visiting.


    Otis himself looked a bit nervous that things were being derailed. It was likely that they could lose track of time in the Verdant Warlord''s Domain. Honestly, they could probably spend several years in the ce without discovering everything it had to offer.


    "You are right that we need to make sure to reach the ce where the trails are begin held, but if we just take the safest route, it will only take us a few weeks even at a leisurely pace. I think it would be best to spend our time exploring this domain rather than the outside world as we nned. There is likely more for us here and we will only need to worry about the creatures that inhabit the domain." Evelyn said, stating her opinion.


    Certainly, she had been looking forward to exploring the open world, but this domain was more alluring to her. She had noticed that it had a few game-like aspects and was very interested in it. It was possible that the rewards they would receive would not be all that great in which case they could just leave. But more likely Evelyn expected that the Verdant Warlord had left some very valuable items and knowledge behind. It seemed like a waste of time and resources to set up an entire domain like this to leave behind paltry rewards.


    Thankfully the others agreed with her, and they descried to set out and explore more after getting some rest. Fighting the moss monster, the mushroom wolves, and then the hiding tree had worn them out.


    Unfortunately, there was one major problem with the Verdant Warlord''s Domain, it was perpetually daytime.


    While the Roost was set to always be at the time ofst light right before it becamepletely dark, this domain was always set to be duringte afternoon.


    It was not as bad when they were flying through the forest which blocked out a good deal of the light, but the crystal dome was quite bright and not somewhere that they could sleep easily.


    Just staying there for a bit of time was no problem, but trying to sleep was difficult for Evelyn and the others who were used to being able hidden from the light as they slept.


    They tried to have Otis use his magic to create a makeshift structure with earth magic, but the inside of the dome had some sort of enchantment that prevented them from doing so.


    In the end their best option as to sleep in the forest even if they could be attacked. It simply felt more natural, and they were morefortable even when needing to have to be on guard.


    During their rest a new type of creature they had not seen before wandered nearby, but thankfully it did not notice them.


    The creature looked like a rose bush, but its roots would pick themselves up out of the earth and its across the ground in what Evelyn could only describe as a wriggling motion.


    It had sharp blood red thorns all over its body and Evelyn felt a sense of danger from it. This thing was certainly not to be mess with.


    Luckily it passed by and soon was gone within the thick forest.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn felt pretty confident after seeing this that the forest was only popted by nt type monsters.


    Time went by slowly, but eventually they collectively felt well rested enough to venture out into eh dangerous and unknown forest.


    To begin they wanted to map the area around the crystal dome which was going to be their base of operation.


    Things may have mostly looked the same in the forest, but there were certain characteristics that could be used asndmarks, and if they really wanted something unique to be added to thendscape, it was possible for Otis to manipte the earth or for Evelyn to burn down a couple of trees.


    "Looks like we have our first enemies. Everyone get ready and stay on guard. Until we know what these things can do, make sure to keep your defenses at their highest." Evelyn instructed.


    From atop the trees several vine-like creatures wereing down slowly but stealthy towards them.


    Had Evelyn not been carefully using her wind magic to periodically search the area for foes, none of them would have noticed the approaching creatures even with their impable eyesight and hearing.


    Dropping down from the branches these vines tried to wrap around their throats, but Evelyn and herpanions had already been ready for an attack.


    Each one of them had magical barriered up and the vines simply were unable to reach any of them.


    Most of them simply evaded the attacks, but Aralee had been the target of several vines and one wrapped around her barrier.


    At first it seemed that she would be fine no matter how much the vine tried to constrict around her, but quickly cracks began to form around her barrier.


    Seeing this, it was clear that these vines had some extreme constricting power and if they sessful snuck up on anyone and got around their neck, it would almost certainly be game over.


    Creating a wind de Aralee cut off the vine and flew away, but it quickly regenerated and chased after her.


    ''Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. There are eighteen of these assassin vines.'' Evelyn thought, counting them while keeping away from being entangled herself.


    She tried cutting and burning their ends off, but this did not kill and of them.


    The ones that she cut swiftly regenerated and the ones she burned fled back up into the branches since they needed longer to heal.


    The others were not having any better sess and it was obvious that fighting the ends of the vines trying to strangle them wasn''t going to et them anywhere. They needed to destroy the core of these creatures if they wanted to end the attack.


    "Bylur, trying to freeze them all the way up they vines" Evelyn instructed.


    "Understood. You alwayse up with the greatest idea''s Evelyn." Bylur said, happy to be relied on.


    Picking on of the vines he let it wrap around him for a moment, before freezing it soldi.


    Carefully he directed his ice magic up the vine without letting it break and Evelyn carefully watched where the ice went.


    The vine tried desperately to shake off the frozen part of its body, but its own durability prevented itself from ripping off its main vine that it used for attacking.


    Eventually Bylur''s ice reached arge bulb that was stuck to the side of the tree high up and where the vine wasing out of.


    Once this part was frozen, the vine disappeared, and a single bronze token took its ce.


    One by one, each of the assassin vines met a frosty end as Bylur froze them, while the other kept the remaining vines distracted.

 Chapter 308 308 A Monster Among Monsters, And Frist Rewards

    ''And that is twenty-five now.''


    cing the eighteen tokens they had just received from the assassin vines into their bag holding their tokens, Evelyn had a satisfied smile on her face. They were now quite a bit richer within the Verdant Warlord''s domain.


    With the tokens they now had they now more than halfway to the point of all of them being able to leave when it became necessary for them to return to the Velinis Desert. They also now had more than enough to go up to the next level fo the domain, but Evelyn had no desire to do that now. The current level they were on was dangerous enough and she figured that the next would be even more difficult.


    ''That does beg the question of why it is so cheap to ascend to the next level? It takes more than double to leave.'' Evelyn thought, contemting the function of the domain.


    As a team the six of them had figured quite a few things out, but the ce was still filled with many mysteries. The vestige of the Verdant Warlord had only exined the bare minimum about the ce to them.


    In the end, all they could do was continue to explore the ce.


    "Let''s continue on. We need to map this ce out and figure out what other kinds of creatures reside here." Evelyn said taking back to the air.


    ¡­


    For nearly a week the six of them slowly explored further and further into the woods in a circr fashion around the crystal dome.


    During this time, they had managed to find one of the terminals that were hidden among the domain that they could change the tokens they had earned for rare items and knowledge.


    Unfortunately, the one that they had discovered a trap and three dozen pant monsters of the same type spawned all around them.


    These creatures had been unlike anything they had seen up to that point, having four spidery stalks it used as legs, seven long green tendrils extending out of the top of its body, which was an inverted bell-shaped cap filled with sharp spines that were drenched in poison.


    It had been a harrowing battle that they fought afterwards and even Otis had suffered several inures and half of them had nearly died from poisoning.


    If not for the several dozens of powerful antidotes Evelyn carried in her storage cuff, and Bylur''s life magic, all o them likely would have met their end. Plus these spawned creatures did not even drop tokens, making them simply dangerous with no reward.


    After that, Evelyn made sure that only one of them would approach the terminals and immediately flee if it turned out to be a trap. Though they had yet to find another one so far.


    However, on their seventh day int eh domain, they discovered something that was far more dangerous than anything they hade across so far.


    Lumbering around the forest was a giant tangle of roots and branches shaped like a dragon.


    Even seeing it from afar Evelyn shuddered.


    ''What the hell is that thing?'' Evelyn thought, feeling the incredible magical energying off of the thing.


    Whatever it was, the power it had was immense and dwarfed all of them by far. Evelyn felt that the bestpassion she could make was the giant serpent that she once saw in the Deands. This thing was as strong as a cmity rank beast. The highest ss that existed in this world.


    The only entity she had met that she felt was definitely stronger was Minerva, the leader of the Roost.


    ''I do not think even Melisandre could beat that thing. It is not even close to being in the same ss as the other creatures that live in this forest.'' Evelyn thought looking at the monster in awe.


    Thankfully it did not seem to notice them from how far away they were, or perhaps it simply did not care about their presence.


    Still, the fact that the Verdant Warlord had created such a monstrosity really hammered home that he was a being that had exceeded the peak of this world.


    "It is too dangerous to stay around here. We should head back and make sure to keep out of that thing''s way while we are here." Evelyn said, leading them back to the crystal dome.


    When they arrived at the safe dome, the six of them had a slightly conversation about whether to stick around any longer or to leave.


    If a creature of that level was wandering around the domain, should it ever turn its attention towards them, it would be certain death.


    Evelyn had seen how powerful a cmity beast could be when the massive serpent used its tail to swat the two humans that had been chasing her, and even now she knew that attack would kill her instantly.


    "I do not think it has any interest in us, at the very least. Something like that surely could sense us even from that distance and make sure that none of us got away alive. I imagine that as long as we do not get too close or show any hostility towards it, that we will be fine." Rehni said giving her opinion.


    It was a fairly logical assumption, and Evelyn agreed with her. The other creatures in the domain were only around as strong as awakened rank beast or at beast low tier tyrant ranks. She figured that the nt dragon was set up as some sort of final challenge that the Verdant Warlord had set up. Not something they would need to think about.


    The others eventually agreed to this as well. The domain had not given them much of anything yet, but hopefully it would soon.


    They dide to the conscious thought that if they failed to reap any benefits fromt eh ce by the end of the month that they would abandon it for now and continue on their journey as nned.


    Luckily it took them only two more day to find another terminal hidden within the forest.


    Approaching it Evelyn activated it and braced herself to be mobbed by several monsters.


    ''Whew, it is a normal one this time.'' Evelyn thought reading what was disyed.


    Her eyes bulged when she saw what the first thing was since it was a set of four random low tier tyrant rank beast cores.


    The price for these cores was not even particrly high at only neen bronze tokens.


    After all the time they had spent in the domain they had now collected eighty-seven tokens and this was an easy enough price for them to pay.


    Going down Evelyn saw some other rare items she recognized but others she had not heard of.


    Overall, there were seven different things that this terminal could be used to purchase.


    Unfortunately, Evelyn did not have enough tokens to get them all and once she stopped interacting with the terminal it would disappear.


    ''What to do Evelyn thought.'' Before calling the others over and discussing it with them.


    "I think we should go with the magic talismans. It says that the magic contained within them will at least be as strong as something a mid-tier tyrant is capable of. You never know when something like that coulde in handy." Rehni said.


    "No, I think we already have enough emergency means to protect ourselves, what we need to worry about is making ourselves stronger. I think we should take the cores." Bylur said.


    The six of them bickered a bit until, Verrader gasped when he looked at the seventh and most expensive item on disy.


    "A fulmination diamond." He said with a dazed expression.


    When asked what it was, he slightly exined that it was an item that he would need to reach the tyrant rank on his current evolution path.


    Apparently, he had studied up on the items he would need thest time they were at the Roost.


    "I see. Then we will take that one. Who knows when we will ever have the chance to do so again." Evelyn said, not waiting for any more input from the others. Finding items that were necessary for their evolution was always of the highest priority.


    Immediately she purchased the item and arge glowing diamond the size of a volleyball appeared in front of her.


    Inside it looked like a raging thunderstorm and the sight was almost mesmerizing.


    "Here, make sure to keep this with you Verrader." Evelyn said, handing it to him.


    After that she purchased the four tyrant rank cores which appeared in front of her as well. Leaving them with now only sixteen tokens left.


    Now that they had finished Evelyn stepped away from the terminal and it began spinning around before shooting off into the sky and vanishing in a sh of light.


    "It looks like the time we spent here has not been for naught. There are plenty of treasures in this ce for us to obtain." Evelyn said, an avaricious smile on her face.

 Chapter 309 309 A Victory And Perilous Development

    "Don''t let it get away this time! We are finishing this thing today!" Evelynmanded.


    Currently they were chasing after the moss monster that they had encountered on the first day.


    It had now nearly been a month since they entered the Verdant Warlord''s Domain, and this was the sixth time they had encountered this creature.


    Of all of the monsters in the forest it was the most difficult to deal with and would often ambush them while they were fighting other creatures.


    So far it had caused them nothing but trouble and managed to slip away each time.


    However, Evelyn was absolutely fed up with it and was not going to let it get away again.


    She had managed to catch it off guard this time and burned most of tis body away right from the start and was aiming to finish it.


    To that end she was chasing it around along with Bylur, Rehni, and her siblings, while Otis was working on something else.


    For several minutes the five of them yed cat and mouse with the creature as it continued to use its abilities to dart around the forest and keep away from their attacks.


    "Otis, now!" Evelyn shouted once she had led the moss monster to a certain area that had less trees in it.


    All at once a huge mass of sand rose up around them like a cylinder and rose all the way to the sky.


    The creature tried to escape when it noticed what happened, but Evelyn and the others kept it pin down and it was not able to reach the sand wall before it had reached the top of the domain and sealed off all escape.


    It now looked like they were surrounded by giant sand waterfalls on all sides that were crashing down against the earth. This was the kind of magic that Otis was capable of when eh had several minutes to prepare.


    "Looks like you have nowhere to run now. You''re not the only one that can lead others into a trap." Evelyn said, wearing a scornful smile.


    Ever since they had been first attacked by this monster, she had wanted to destroy it, and finally they had it trapped.


    Of course, the powerful creature that was among the strongest in the forest was not going to go down without a fight.


    All of the moss in the area began gathering around it and its body exploded with extra mass. Soon it had be bigger than Evelyn had ever seen it before.


    Once it had formed a moss giant over twelve meters tall it sent arge fist towards Evelyn to crush her.


    Naturally Evelyn did not just float there and allow this attack to hit her, instead using all of the magical energy she had been gathering inside of her.


    Arge tornado quickly formed around her as she spun her body, and the mes burst out from her to create a crimson twister.


    Engulfed in her magic Evelyn met the giant fist made of moss head on.


    Her wind ripped it to shreds and her heavenly me turned what remained to ash.


    With a massive explosion of fire and wind she rammed into the creature''s body and blew it apart.


    Ash began to fall down like snow, but Evelyn knew it was not over yet.


    This monster was crafty and was not going to try and meet her head on in a sh of power it knew it would lose.


    The fact that no tokens had appeared upon its defeat was a dead give away that it was alive.


    "Evelyn, I caught it!" Aralee said, excitement in her voice.


    While Evelyn had taken the creature head on, herpanions had been on the lookout for it trying to escape and Aralee had found it trying to hide in the hollow of a tree.


    Now it''s tiny body that was all that remained of it was trapped in a swirling sphere of wind and had Aralee''s slowing magic ced on it so that it could not attempt to escape again.


    The ball of moss tried taking on many forms to slip out of or break free of the wind shield, but with how small it had be and the magic impeding it, the creature could not get through Aralee''s wind shield.


    "Okay, move it up just a little higher." Evelyn said, directing her sister.


    The n was simply, Evelyn would engulf the wind shield with her heavenly me, and then Aralee would release her magic and the creature would get incinerated.


    Evelyn was being extra careful and having it held in the air without anything around I, so that there was no chance of escape.


    "Release." Evelynmanded once she was ready.


    Aralee stopped maintain her magic and Evelyn''s swallowed the contemptible creature that had given her and herpanions plenty of grief since they had arrived.


    In just a couple of seconds the monster''s core was burned away, and it exploded into several tokens which rained down on the area.


    "Wow, I have never seen so many tokens from one creature before." Bylur said watching the rain of tokens.


    After they collected them all, the total came out to be twenty-two. By far the most they had gotten from one entity before. With the second most having been thirteen fromrge willow tree that was able to manipte its leaves like tendrils and sucked their life force away when it it hit them.


    "Finally, we managed to kill it. I was tired of having to look over my shoulder all the time for it." Verrader said.


    This creature had always kept them on edge since it would show up randomly and attack them while they were already in the middle of battle. It did not happen every time, but when it did, things always be hectic and far more dangerous.


    Luckily, they had onlye across one such moss creature so far and figured that it was a very rare monster within the forest.


    "Otis, you can let down the barrier now!" Evelyn shouted out.


    All at once the continuously moving wall of sand that had been surrounding them feel, and the entire area around them shook from the sheer weight of it all.


    Flying over towards them, it was clear that Otis was exhausted. He had just been maintaining arge-scale magic phenomenon for quite some time, and his magical energy was now running low.


    When he reached the rest of them, he practically slumped onto the ground and was barely holding himself up. Even a tyrant rank beast had their limits.


    "Good work Otis. Your contributions allowed us to catch the slipper monster and finally put an end to it." Evelyn said,mending him.


    This perked Otis up and he saddled up close to Evelyn, hoping for more praise.


    "Aren''t you getting a bit too close." Bylur said, pushing his farrger body in between Otis and Evelyn.


    The two of them stared daggers at each other for a few seconds, before Evelyn told them to break it up and exined what they were going to do next.


    "I know that it may be early in the day still, but I think we should have a celebration in light of beating our most hated foe. Today is ourst day before we head back to the Roost anyway" Evelyn said, her head held up high.


    Immediately the others agreed and the six of them returned back the area around the crystal dome where they had set up their base.


    Yet when they arrived something unexpected was there waiting for them.


    Within the crystal dome looking to have just been transported in was a group of nine humans.


    Each of them had been aware that it was possible that other beasts might discover the domain, but it had not crossed their minds that humans would. The entrance that was in the forest of giants was far from any human domains and the area was dangerous for any that were not quite powerful as beasts attacked humans with the utmost prejudice most of the time.


    Still, there were now nine humans in the domain and each one gave off a powerful aura.


    ''Each one of them is at the arcanist rank.'' Evelyn thought, shuddering.


    The nine humans were all at the equivalent of the tyrant rank for beasts and clearly quite powerful.


    Thankfully they were in the middle of receiving an exnation about the domain from the Verdant Warlord''s vestige and had not noticed Evelyn and herpanions.


    "We need to get out of here. We are not equipped to fight them right now." Evelyn said, turning around and flying back into the depths of the forest.


    The other all followed behind her and they hurriedly moved away from the crystal dome.


    The joyous feelings they had experienced after defeating the moss monster had quickly faded away now and each of them was gued with as sense of unease, especially Evelyn and Verrader. The two of them knew just how dangerous humans could really be.

 Chapter 310 310 Escape Gambit

    Once Evelyn and herpanions had made it a decent distance away from the crystal dome and where the nine humans had just appeared, they settled down to discuss their next move.


    "No, fighting them head on is almost certainly not going to work. Otis and I are probably the only ones that can match any of them one on one. Fighting them is suicidal." Evelyn said, responding to Bylur''s suggestion to attack.


    If Evelyn felt confident that their group could take on those humans, she would have ordered them toy in wait and ambush them once they left the dome. Unfortunately, they were heavily outmatched.


    "What if we try to negotiate with them. I know that you have had some bad experiences with humans, but I have read that in some ces beasts and humans get along, living together in harmony." Rehni said.


    At this Evelyn scoffed, remembering what had happened to the city state called Atsab which had been a ce where intelligent beasts and humans lived together.


    Then entire city had been wiped off the map by an attack from humans that could not ept what was going on there. Evelyn could remember the saddens on Lucia''s face when she told her about fleeing from the attack and the loss of her home.


    "I am sorry Rehni, but the chances that those humans are willing to sit down and talk it out with us are pretty much zero. More likely they would kill us and take us for all we are worth. We will save trying to negotiate with them as an absolutest resort. Our best bet is to keep away from the crystal dome and build up our strength while waiting for them to leave. The nine of them are clearly powerful enough to have little difficulty here. Hopefully they will decide to ascend to the next floor soon and we can make our exit."


    "But what are we going to do about the magic spring. It will be activating soon, and we won''t be able to reach it if we are stuck here." Aralee said, a worried look in her eyes.


    Sighing, Evelyn just shook her head.


    "We will just have to give it up this time. Getting spotted and attacked by those humans is not worth the risk. It is a shame that we cannot use it this month, but there will be plenty of time in the future. As long as we stay alive, we can continue to grow." Evelyn said, wearing a resigned expression.


    "Actually, their might be something else we can do." Otis said, drawing Everyone else''s attention.


    None of the others had any better ideas and had epted Evelyn''s proposal. Even if it left a bitter taste in their mouths to simply hide out and abandon their base. But Otis hade up with something the others had not thought of.


    "Those humans just arrived, so they presumably do not have any tokens and cannot leave right away. If we rush the crystal dome and get inside, we can use the warp pad and leave without being followed."


    After listening to Otis''s suggestion, Evelyn gave it a good deal of thought.


    It was true that if they got inside the crystal dome that they would be safe.


    The dome was not only a zone where the creatures living in the forest could not enter, but it also prevented others from attacking each other. Evelyn and herpanions had thoroughly tested this function. If they got inside the humans would be unable to take aggressive action against them.


    Still, tis came with risks that could not be understated. If the humans intercepted them before they reached the dome, they would have to fight through them and that was likely to lead to casualties. And even if they managed to get inside without issue the humans would at least learn of their presence and it would be far more dangerous to ever return.


    ''This is quite the conundrum.'' Evelyn thought.


    Missing out on the magic spring and returning toe the Roost for a short amount of time would limit them. There was also the matter of their food and water supplies. In this domain there was nothing for them to hunt that was edible. If they were stuck here for too long, they would eventually run out of supplies.


    Evelyn had a difficult choice to make and one that needed to be made soon. If they did not act quickly, it was possible that the humans would gather enough tokens to follow them out of the domain once they left.


    "I havee to a decision." Evelyn sated to the rest of herpanions. "Otis, as you are the most suited to stealth due to your size and would have the best chance of getting away if noticed, I want you to keep an eye on the dome. We want to try and infiltrate it when none of the humans are there, if possible, but if at least five of them are gone we will make our move."


    Receiving Evelyn''s directions, Otis nodded his head, and began making his way back towards the crystal dome to keep an eye on things.


    As for Evelyn and the others, they moved a bit closer and waited for Otis to return.


    For what seemed like several hours despite only being around forty minutes, all of them waited in anticipation for what would happen next.


    It was almost agonizing to simply sit around without having a clue about what as going on, but it was all that Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee could do.


    Thankfully, Otis came back as Evelyn was worried that he would be found and killed.


    When hended, he gave his report of the situation, and it was rtively good news.


    "It looks like we are in luck. All of them have left the dome and I did not see any of them on the way here. If we go now, we may be able to slip out undetected." Otis said, giving his report.


    "Okay. This is our chance. Let us get out of here." Evelyn said, taking the lead and flying towards the dome.


    Swiftly the six of them made their way towards the dome, but an unwee surprise was waiting for them.


    In the time that Otis had left to tell them what he had found three of the humans had returned to the crystal dome. At the very least though, it was not all nine of them.


    "We are pushing through. Keep a tight formation and stay on the defensive. If you see an opening to kill one of them, go ahead, but do not try and push them. Our goal is to escape not win a battle." Evelyn said.


    Not long after she gave her instructions di the humans notice their approach.


    The three humans were momentarily caught off guard to see a group of six owls flying around, but quickly got their wits about them and ran out to intercept them.


    The woman in the lead who had golden hair that ended in red tips and was wielding a spear made several motions with her weapon before pointing it forward towards them casting a spell.


    "re st!"


    Watching the spell the woman had just cast, Evelyn was stunned that it did not require any hand movements as she had seen all humans use. This was her first time seeing a person use a weapon to active a spell instead.


    With an astonishing speed arge burst of me flew towards the six of them and threatened to swallow them all.


    It was certainly a powerful attack and not something that the average low tier arcanist rank human could cast. The people that had entered the domain were clearly very powerful.


    Luckily it was fire magic that had been cast at them, and Evelyn dove in without any worry.


    Spinning around and generating a twister of me and wind she cut through the magic attack and aimed her body directly at the woman wielding the ornate spear.


    Evelyn activated the enchantments on her armor and extended her horns and aimed to pierce right through the woman.


    Of course, the target was not going to sit there and take it, flicking her spear forward with a twist.


    "me Spiral." The woman shouted casting another spell.


    Evelyn met the spear with her horns like a descending meteor and pitied her power against the other woman''s.


    ''Extreme Press.''


    As they stood at a stalemate, Evelyn increased the gravity around the woman and she staggered momentarily, as her legs were unable to amodate for the sudden massive increase in her weight.


    Using this opening Evelyn broke past her guard by turning her body and managed to slip past the woman''s defenses.


    Yet as it seemed she would pierce through the woman, a defensive talisman activated, and a powerful barrier was erected around her target.


    For a few moments she waspletely stopped, but her heavenly me managed to burn a hole through the barrier for a moment and Evelyn connected with the woman.


    It was a ncing blow, but her extend horns sliced into the human woman''s side deeply and caused a devastating injury.


    Normally Evelyn would have taken this opportunity to finish her opponent off, but she instead turned towards the crystal dome and flew towards it while keeping an eye on what else was happening.


    Currently Otis had managed to distract the other two with Bylur and Rehni''s help, and Aralee and Verrader had almost reached the dome.


    ''Jet Javelins.''


    Firing off one of her most practiced attacks, Evelynunched four dozen missiles of her heavenly fire wrapped in wind magic towards the other two humans.


    This gave Otis, Bylur, and Rehni the openings they needed to push their opponents back and force their way towards the crystal dome.


    Just before the four of them flew in, Otis used his magic to raise a massive wave of sand and sent it towards the humans that were pursuing them.


    This forced the three humans to stop and take up defensive positions for a few moments and allowed all of them to slip into the crystal dome.


    Inside, Aralee and Verrader had already activated the terminal and now all they needed to do was pay the forty-two tokens necessary for all of them to leave and they could warp out.


    "Okay, here goes nothing." Evelyn said, pressing the button on the terminal and activating the warp pad.


    Instantly the necessary tokens were taken from their bag and the six of them were engulfed in a blinding light just as the humans were running into the dome. Irate expression on their faces.


    Looking towards the woman she had shed with; Evelyn could not help but giving her a victorious smirk before disappearing.

 Chapter 311 311 Gathering Reinforcements

    After the swirling light of the warp portal had faded, Evelyn and herpanions found themselves back within the Forest of Giants.


    Quickly they exited the room with the warp portal and headed outside just in case there were any pursuers.


    When they reached the exit, just as Rehni had informed them when shest left, the wooden guardian knights had reformed.


    Thankfully they did not attack them, and their group was able to leave without issue and reenter the forest without issue.


    For several minutes they waited nearby to see if any of the humans would leave, but no pursuers came for them as expected.


    ''It is likely that they do not yet have enough tokens, or in the unlikely scenario they do, that the three humans are not confident in chasing after us.'' Evelyn thought.


    Still, with a group of humans having invaded the domain it was too dangerous to continue exploring it on their own. Evelyn was certain that they would need help to do so.


    "Let us make our way towards the nearest warp portal back to the Roost. We can discuss our next move along the way." Evelyn said.


    Turning towards the direction that their return tickets were pointing; their group flew across the forest hastily whileing up with their n of action.


    By the time they reached the nearest warp point, it had already been several hours and the six of them had decided one what to do next.


    At Evelyn''s suggestion, they would inform Melisandre about the domain and try to get her support to secure it. It was far too valuable a resource to not secure it for the Roost before the humans that had discovered it fully took over.


    "Here we are." Evelyn said when the return tickets started to glow, showing they were in range of the portal.


    "Otis, I want you to keep an eye on the entrance. We need to know if any of those humans leave, or if more show up. I am counting on you."


    "Of course. I will make sure to do it to the best of my ability, Evelyn." Otis responded, a happy smile on his face.


    After everything was squared away, Evelyn activated her return ticket and along with Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee were bathed in light and warped to the Roost.


    In a matter of seconds, they found themselves back in the familiar Warp Hall and the moment the slight vertigo had faded they immediately left and headed to Melisandre''s estate.


    When they arrived, Anneli came to greet them and happily began bombarding them with questions about their journey.


    "Sorry Anneli, time is of the essence I need to speak with Melisandre." Evelyn said, her expression tense and showing how serious the situation was.


    Seeing this, Anneli frowned and informed Evelyn that Melisandre was gone. She had gotten a lead on another item that she would need for her evolution and had left a little over a week ago, and it was uncertain when she would return.


    "Damn it." Evelyn grumbled.


    Without Melisandre''s help it would not be guaranteed that they could secure the entrance to the domain. Frankly there was no one else that Evelyn knew and trusted enough at her station that could get things moving quickly.


    Perhaps she could have tired to directly inform Minerva the roost''s leader, but she was unsure how soon she could get a meeting with her without Melisandre acting as an intermediary.


    "Evelyn, you know, if something is bothering you, I do not mind listening. Perhaps Katrina or I can help." Anneli said, a concerned look on her face.


    Suddenly popping her head up, Evelyn realized that perhaps Anneli and Katrina would be enough.


    Rapidly Evelyn exined about the Verdant Warlord''s Domain and exined how a group of powerful humans had found it as well.


    Afterwards Anneli wore a hardened expression that Evelyn did not see on her face often.


    "This is more serious than I could have imagined. A domain left behind as the heritage of an expert that exceed the peak of the world is about the most valuable thing that anyone can discover. Let me go and get Katrina. She is in the middle of brewing, but I am sure she will not mind having what she is working on ruined for this." Anneli said, before flying away at top speed.


    In a matter of minutes, a slightly grumpy looking Katrina came back with her and Evelyn once again exined everything she had learned.


    "Okay, the five of you should go to the magic spring as nned ande right back afterwards. Anneli and I will prepare in the meantime. We are going to help you secure that domain." Katrina said, resolutely.


    Thanking the two of them for their help, Evelyn led herpanions out of Melisandre''s estate and headed to the Inscription Hall where they picked up several spell talismans and a few pieces of new gear before heading to the Velinis Desert.


    When they arrived, the burrowing Owls weed them happily and threw a banquet for tehri arrival since they were all considered honored guests.


    Another surprise was that Po had reached the peak of the awakened rank since they hadst been there. Apparently, their home had been attacked by a group of scorpions and after eating the core of the leader Po had umted enough magical energy to ascend to the peak of his rank.


    Hearing this Evelyn contemted bringing him along as an added force but decided against it. The burrow had just been attacked and she could not risk taking its current leader when po had only recently taken up the position.


    As the day wound down, the magic spring eventually began to bubble up with magical energy, and when it was full, Evelyn and herpanions dove in and greedily absorbed the abundant magical energy.


    Normally they would not mind sharing with the burrowing owls as this was their treasure, but Evelyn knew she and her team needed as much of a power boost as possible and had been a bit forceful and taken the entire spring this time and left some of the goods she had collected in the Forest of Giants with the burrowing owls topensate them.


    "Thank you for your generosity, Po. I promise that next time we will not need to monopolize the spring." Evelyn said, after getting out.


    "Think nothing of it, Lady Evelyn. You are our flock''s savoir and you have been nothing but generous and fair. Our hospitality is always open to you and yourpanions." Po said, the same look of reverence as always towards her in his eyes.


    Having finished their business in the Velinis desert, Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee, left and headed back towards the Roost.


    Normally they would have stayed a bit longer to rest, but right now they needed to act fast.


    ''I can feel that I am close, but I still need more magical energy before I can make the jump to the next tier.'' Evelyn thought as they flew over the desert.


    None of them had managed to raise their tiers this time which would have been a great boon for their uing battle. s it was not so easy even with some of the best resources int eh world. It was still going to take them all more time to grow.


    At the very least they had increased the amount of magical energy they had and gotten a bit stronger.


    As soon as they reached the warp point in the Velinis Desert back to the Roost, the six of them activated their tickets and returned.


    Once again, they hastily made their way back to Melisandre''s estate to meet up with Anneli and Katrina who were going to be assisting them.


    Yet when they came into the entrance, the six of them froze since an owl none of them had ever seen before was their waiting.


    ''Who is he?'' Evelyn thought, taking a defensive position.


    The owl before them was in humanoid form, proving that he was at the tyrant rank, and Evelyn could tell that he was around as strong as Anneli and Katrina.


    For a few moments Evelyn and herpanions just stared at the man as he stared back, but when Katrina entered, she moved to dissipate the tension.


    "Sorry about that, I thought that we would need more power, so I called in some help from someone trustworthy. This is Savan, he is an associate of mine." Katrina said.


    The man named Savan got up and waved towards them and put on a friendly smile.


    "You know after all this time you could introduce me as more than just an associate. I am your husband after all." Savan said with a teasing smile.


    Hearing this Evelyn''s mind went nk for a moment as she had not known that Katrina was in any rtionship at all and never suspected her to have a long-time partner.

 Chapter 312 312 Gathering Reinforcements (2)

    It took Evelyn a few seconds for her mind to reboot after hearing that Katrina was married, but even after her thoughts had settled down, she was still at a loss for words.


    ''Deep breaths. You can ask more about thister. Right now, you have something more important to deal with.'' Evelyn thought, shoving everything pertaining to Katrina and Savan''s rtionship to the back of her mind.


    "If Katrina trusts you Savan, then we are happy to have you along. We are going to be fighting a battle where we will be outmatched so we will take all the help we can get." Evelyn said,pletely sidestepping the revtion she had just heard.


    "Of course. I am always willing to help Katrina out when she so rarely needs my assistance. Plus, I have been wanting to meet you for a while now. Katrina speaks of your talents and hard work often and thinks of you as a little sister." Savan said, wearing a bright smile.


    Katrina in a rare show of being flustered hit her partner on the arm in a fit of embarrassment with enough force for it to sound like an explosion went off.


    It was not long before Anneli sowed up and the eight of them began discussing their n of attack against the humans that had entered the Verdant Warlord''s domain.


    "We may have the same numbers, but if all of the humans are at the arcanist rank then we are at quite the disadvantage. The five of you all fall short." Savan said, carefully examining Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Aralee, and Verrader.


    Each of them was still at the awakened rank with Bylur and Rehni being at the high tier while Evelyn and her siblings were only mid-tier.


    "I already shed with one of them and if I can take the same woman on again, I should be fine. Her magic does not match up well against me." Evelyn said, before rying the information they had learned about the three humans they had fought during their escape.


    For several minutes the eight of them discussed what their options were and exactly what could be expected of each of them in a fight.


    "It sounds like hitting them fast and hard in order to take them off guard is our best bet if we can manage it. We should go in fully buffed with potions and talismans and try to incapacitate and weaken as many of the humans as we can before they realize what has happened." Katrina said, giving her suggestion.


    Without any better n Evelyn agreed and began giving out more specific formations that she figured would work best.


    "If our first attack fails, we need to flee into the forest and hide out until we can counterattack or flee the domain again. Unfortunately, we do not have enough tokens to get everyone out if we wanted to retreat into the real world." Evelyn said,ing up with a contingency n.


    Of course, if they could not win the battle, it would certainly put them in a precarious ce, but the humans would not be much better.


    It would likely take all nine of the humans to keep them in check, and it would be impossible for them to explore the domain and keep guard over the exit. If they moved in groups to try and do both, they would simply get picked off by Evelyn and her allies. Both groups would have to be looking out for the other at all times.


    Having finished making their ns and making sure that their item stocks were sufficient, the eight of them set out to the Warp Hall.


    When they arrived, they bought the necessary tickets to leave and return and headed over to the warp pad that would take them to the Forest of Giants.


    After the usual bright sh of light, the eight of them were whisked away from the Roost and back into the real world.


    ''Okay, time to rendezvous with Otis.'' Evelyn thought.


    She took out her magic message pad and sent a quick message to Otis that allowed them to follow it to his location.


    They found him near the entrance to the Verdant Warlord''s domain, keeping watch just as Evelyn had asked him to.


    Noticing Evelyn''s return, Otis happily jumped from the branch he was perched in, but abruptly stopped in mid-air when he noticed the three tyrant rank owls he had never seen before.


    Flying up front Evelyn, approached Otis and swiftly exined who Anneli, Katrina, and Savan were.


    "Now, we can do proper introductionster. Otis, did you see anything while we were gone?"


    "Not anything pertaining to the humans. They have not left the domain; of that I am certain. I did witness a couple other beasts that were curious about the entrance, but they were repulsed by the wooden knights." Otis said, giving Evelyn his report.


    "Thanks for keeping watch for us. It isforting to know that no other humans entered and that they have not left to send for reinforcements." Evelyn said.


    She then turned towards Anneli, Katrina, and Savan and informed them about exactly where the entrance to the domain was.


    "Before you can enter you will have to beat the two wooden knights standing guard. But I do not imagine that will be much trouble for the three of you." Evelyn said.


    Wearing confident expression, Anneli, Katrina, and Savan jumped out of the tree they hadnded on and flew down to engage the wooden knights.


    The battle only took two minutes, and it waspletely one sided. The three of them tore the two wooden knights apart without any problems at all.


    "They certainly made that look easy. I am d to have them on our side." Reni said, looking down at the three of them in awe.


    Even Otis was not nearly as strong as any of them. Compared to them he had not been a tyrant rank beast nearly as long. Certainly they were all the same rank and tier, but Anneli, Katrina, and Savan were a league above him in terms ofbat.


    "Let''s go. The faster we act the better." Evelyn said, descending towards the opening doors that were weing their return.

 Chapter 313 313 Searching

    Reaching the warp pad at the end of the hallway that delved deep underground, Evelyn and her allies waited for it to activate.


    After centuries the inscription had weathered and took longer to activate than it should have.


    Nearly five minutes went by before the nine of them were enveloped by light and warped into the Verdant Warlord''s Domain.


    As soon as they arrived, they looked around for the group of humans but found that the crystal dome was empty.


    ''They must be out exploring the domain. This is fortunate in some ways and unfortunate in others.'' Evelyn thought.


    With their targets being absent it gave them more time to prepare and ambush, but there was also the possibility that the humans would be gone long enough to the point that the temporary magical buffs from their potions and talismans would fade.


    There was also the possibility that they might be found while lying in wait and lose the element of surprise they desperately needed.


    Still, their best bet was to get in position for an ambush and hope that they were not noticed.


    However, before they could leave the crystal dome, the vestige of the Verdant Warlord reappeared and addressed Anneli, Katrina, and Savan who had just entered for the first time.


    He didn''t even so much as spare a nce to the others and simply exined what he had to before once again disappearing.


    "Okay. Let''s find some cover to set up and wait. Make sure to use an invisibility talisman and keep your magical energy surpassed. If we are lucky, we will not be noticed and can get the drop on them."


    Swiftly flying around, the nine of them perched up in the canopy of the forest near the ceiling of the domain and hid themselves among the branches and leaves.


    It was uncertain how long they would need to wait, but they were hopeful that humans would return soon enough.


    Sadly, even after an entire day of waiting the humans did not show themselves at the crystal dome, and it was bing difficult to continue hiding.


    At this point none of them had eaten for long enough that their bodies were starting to eel slightly sluggish. Plus, they had already consumed several potions and replied spell talismans a couple of times and were wasting their resources.


    ''Damn it. We cannot just wait around much longer.'' Evelyn thought, racking her brain with what to do.


    Another hour passed and everything was silent, so Evelyn decided to give up on hiding any long and gathered the others to make a new n.


    "First we need to eat." Evelyn said, taking out a prepared meal Anneli and Katrina had made while she and herpanions were in the Velinis desert.


    Veraciously the nine of them consumed the food since they had been skipping meals while hiding.


    Once they were full, everyone''s mood improved, and Evelyn felt she could think more clearly.


    ''It is far too risky for us to just keep waiting here. We are going to run out of magic items to assist in concealing ourselves or be caught when we inevitably have to eat. If they will note back here, we will have to go look for them. Perhaps we can do as that moss monster did and ambush them while they are in the middle of a battle.'' Evelyn thoughting up with a new n.


    Divulging her new n, the others immediately agreed. It was one thing to wait for an ambush when you had a general idea of when your target would arrive, but it was possible that the humans would stay out in the forest for weeks exploring it. Everyone felt far more motivated to search for their targets rather than simply sit around waiting.


    Of course, it was likely that they would not easily find the humans since the domain was quite sizeable to the point that Evelyn and her group had not even explored a third of it yet. But if they searched the forest and asionally came back to check on the crystal dome, it was probable they would eventuallye across their quarry.


    ¡­


    For nearly a week they searched around fruitlessly, unable to find the group of humans that they were looking for.


    But when their morale seemed to be at its lowest, Anneli spotted an area of the forest that had been recently disturbed by battle.


    "This is definitely human blood. And still fairly fresh. They should be nearby." Evelyn said, looking for signs of where the battle had gone.


    The forest was unnaturally sturdy, making it less susceptible to being damaged during a fight, but there were signs of the fierce battle that must have urred.


    The nine of them followed the trail for nearly thirty kilometers, before they came across the nine humans embroiled in a fierce battle with a single nt monster that Evelyn remembered seeing once before.


    It was the moving rose bush she had spotted one night and that had sent a shill down her back.


    However, it was no longer about the size of a normal rosebush and had propagated to an enormous size.


    Large thorns whips cracked loudly, and it was releasing a field of pollen around itself that was disrupting the magic of the humans.


    ''They are really struggling against that thing. Several of them are injured.'' Evelyn thought, seeing the blood dripping down several of the humans.


    It was clear that this moving rose bush was terribly powerful and relentless. The humans were trying to escape but it continued to pursue them and attack viciously.


    Perhaps if their magic would work, they would be able to win, but the creature''s pollen disrupted any of the spells that the humans cast and turned them back into pure magical energy.


    "It looks like we may not have to do anything at this rate." Rehni said.


    "No, we need to guarantee that none of them escape. If we y this right, we can take out that monster and the humans in one fell swoop." Evelyn said, carefully watching the battle and looking for the perfect moment to strike.

 Chapter 314 314 Blitz Attack

    "Now!" Evelyn said, signaling the start of their attack.


    The humans had just used several powerful magic items and attacks to deal a devastating blow to the massive wriggling rose bush.


    The resilient nt monster was still alive and trying to recover, but it was likely that the humans would soon finish it off.


    This was the perfect chance for Evelyn and her allies to swoop in and deal with both the humans and the rose bush all at once.


    Coming in fast Evelyn targeted down the same woman she had shed with before while the others chose their own targets.


    All at once the nine owls attacked the nine humans who were already exhausted and unprepared for such a vicious attack.


    Of course, none of these humans were weak and noticed the attacksing for them, but even then, they only just barely had any time to defend themselves.


    Evelyn crashed into her opponent like a speeding truck, d in her heavenly me and wind and her weight increased by her gravity magic.


    The woman grunted loudly upon taking the impact and if not for her powerful armor she would have suffered internal injuries that would have incepted her.


    With a loud crash the woman mmed into one of the study trees and began sliding down it.


    She was already injured from the battle with the rose monster, but now he had slight burns all over her body and several minor fractures.


    Though Evelyn had not gotten off unscathed during her charge. The recoil from her impact had hurt her a bit as well and the spear wielding woman had taken a stab at her and nicked her left wing.


    "You again." The woman said hatefully as she red at Evelyn.


    Her gaze then turned all around her at the chaotic battlefield that was being fought between owls, humans, and the slowly recovering rose monster.


    In the opening attack, Anneli and Savan had killed their human targets and had moved on to help Aralee and Verrader who were having the most trouble.


    Rehni, Bylur, and Katrina were entangled in a massive fight against three of the humans and the rose monsters, while Otis fought his opponent one on one.


    "I am going to kill all of you." The woman fighting Evelyn screamed, enraged by seeing two of herrades already begin killed.


    In a flurry she spun her spear around and cast a spell that created a serpent of fire that began chasing Evelyn around.


    Taking evasive actions, Evelyn avoided the serpent hunting her down in order to not give away that fire magic could not hurt her. She wanted to only show this ability at a pivotal moment.


    ''Oh, I guess that is human magic for you. They do not need to focus as much.'' Evelyn thought watching the woman cast otherplicated spells.


    Since humans used spells that always did a set action with only slight variability it was easier for them to use multipleplicated magics without needing to fully control them.


    Soon the woman was wearing wings made of fire and chasing Evelyn through the sky along with several spells that were seeking her out.


    Still, while this was impressive, Evelyn had perfect control over her magic and was using her far greater maneuverability to avoid being hit whileunching more nimble attacks.


    Just as she had seen Melisandre do when battling the empress dryad, Evelyn created dozens of small mes like fireflies that she manipted to assault her opponent.


    The woman at first did not seem to care about these small mes attacking her. As a fire magic practitioner herself, she had a high tolerance to heat, and had cast a spell to further boost her resistance.


    Any me as small as the ones Evelyn was controlling would normally never be able to harm her, but Evelyn''s mes were special.


    The small crimson fires pinpointed the open skin on the woman''s face, hands, and slipped inside the joints in her armor.


    All at once she was seriously burned in several spots and winced in extreme pain.


    In one fell swoop Evelyn had turned things around and shown that big and powerful spells were not always the best. Her small but nimble spell had scored a critical hit.


    After getting hit once, the woman made sure to dodge all of Evelyn''s attacks, and the two of them were stuck in a defensive stalemate.


    ''I guess I need to get a bit more aggressive. She had only used fire magic so far, so that is probably all she has. As long as I avoid that spear, she should not be able to hurt me.'' Evelyn thought, psyching herself up to go on the offensive.


    Turning around she faced her opponent and created several spinning wind des filled with her heavenly me that looked like ripsaws.


    She fired her attack fast and moved her feet around quickly and began leaving gravity traps around the air. At this point she had moved far enough away from the other''s battles that she was not afraid of any of them getting caught in her traps.


    Continuing to fly around and attack, Evelyn slowly damaged her opponent and eventually eld her into one of her gravity traps. The woman was dragged to the ground and barely was able to keep her posture up.


    ''Time to finish this. Extreme press.''


    Increasing the woman''s wight to forty times normal, Evelyn forced her to m into eh ground as she failed to keep herself up and dove down to finish off her incapacitated target.


    Yet, Evelyn had not been the only one weaving a trap. Unlike her normal opponents who were beasts that fought more straightforwardly, this woman was a crafty human.


    "Inferno Prison."


    Chains of fire shot out of several glyphs in the air andrge pirs of me surround Evelyn until she waspletely enclosed. Then all of the fire coalesced around her and swallowed her in a massive sphere of intense heat that would leave even most low tier tyrant rank beasts as only ash.

 Chapter 315 315 Blitz Attack (2)

    ''She really got me.'' Evelyn thought, her visionpletely blocked by mes.


    She had fallen into her enemy''s trap when she thought she had won. A normally fatal mistake.


    If Evelyn had not already stacked the battle in her favor by fighting an opponent that used fire magic, she very easily could have made a fatal mistake.


    Thankfully her heavenly me made her immune to being burned by most other mes and even being immersedpletely in fire as she was now, Evelyn was unharmed.


    Still, she could not stay within the torrent of mes for too long or she would suffocate. A painful lesson she had learned when Melisandre was teaching her that there were still ways that other fire magic users could harm her.


    ''That woman is still being affected by my gravity magic, so I doubt she had moved far, if at all. This is the perfect opportunity to try out that attack.''


    While staying within the massive ming sphere enveloping her, Evelyn focused a great deal of her magical energy in her mouth.


    When she had amassed all that she could handle she flew out of the inferno prison spell that she had been captured in.


    The moment her head breached the mes, and she caught sight of her opponent she opened her mouth and released apressed st of heavenly me from her beak.


    This attack took the form of a beam of mes that focused all of her firepower into a weapon that could slice through anything with extreme heat.


    Evelyn had practiced this attack a few times, but it was difficult to perform, and she rarely did it sessfully as the mes usual spread out and did not staypressed.


    Nevertheless, this time she managed to seed in using the attack she had dubbed as the heavenlyser.


    Her attack flew fast, and her opponent was stunned still when she saw that Evelyn had survived being swallowed by enough fire to reduce far stronger beasts to cinders.


    It would seem that Evelyn''s attack would end this, except, her aim was off.


    Instead of cleaving the woman clean in half, she only took her right arm off with her heavenlyser.


    The attack then continued on through the forest and cut down several trees in its wake and catching them on fire despite the enchantments that made the trees in this domain nearly indestructible.


    ''Looks like it still needs some more work. It is hard to control that much magical energy when it is thatpressed.'' Evelyn thought as her magic petered out.


    Her heavenlyser had onlysted for a second before all of the energy was expended. It was certainly a strong attack, but it had plenty of drawbacks. Especially in its difficulty to control and the massive expenditure of magical energy all at once.


    Evelyn could tell she was pretty drained now, having only around thirty percent of her magical energy left.


    ''She has got grit; I will give her that.'' Evelyn thought, watching her opponent pick up her spear that had previously been gripped by her now immted arm.


    However, Evelyn knew that this woman was already finished. After her final big trap had failed and the loss of her dominant arm, there was no way she could fight at her best.


    Keeping her gravity magic on her opponent, Evelyn flew circles around her and continuously sent out wind des that slowly chipped away at the woman until she was bleeding all over from hundreds of small cuts.


    Eventually Evelyn''s enemy lost the grip on her spear and Evelyn sliced off her remaining arm, before swiftly cutting her head off.


    Having finished off her opponent, Evelyn turned her attention towards the other battles that were going on.


    ''Everything is looking to be going well. Only four of the humans are still holding on. The rose monster is probably the biggest threat now.'' Evelyn thought, taking off to join the other battles.


    Choosing her target, she tried her heavenly me against the rose monster, but found that its magic disrupting pollen worked against it.


    This was a bit of a problem, but Evelyn instead took out several jars of herbicide she had made in the past and began dropping them on the giant rose bush.


    Even when the creature swatted the jars and shattered them, the contents were sprayed over its body, and it began shriveling up.


    Naturally this was not enough to finish off the resilient monster and only weakened it, but its ability to disrupt magic was not a perfect defense.


    The pollen worked by turning magic back into magical energy. This meant that the monster could not stop attacks that were already pure magical energy.


    Evelyn created a dozen spheres of magical energy around herself and fired them off like cannon sts into the monster.


    Her attacks chipped away at the massive creature and the herbicides that she continuously dropped weakened it further.


    Soon it was not a threat to anyone else and only Evelyn was battling it at all as it withered away under her assault.


    ''And there goes another one. It is only a matter of time before they are all dead.'' Evelyn thought, watching Otis take out his opponent.


    By the time Evelyn had finished off the rose bush monster and turned it into over a hundred tokens, thest human had been id by Savan who was a user of darkness magic.


    Among Evelyn''s allies a few of them were injured, with Aralee having taken a fairly nasty hit to her left wing that had left it broken in several ces.


    Still, not a single one of them had died and their enemies were all defeated. Overall, it could only be considered an absolute win for them.


    Now all that was left was to heal their injuries and collect the great bounty they had won.


    Not only were they rewarded with over a hundred tokens to be used in the domain, but there were also the times that the humans had on them.

 Chapter 316 316

    ''Damn, their storage items are locked.''


    After testing the storage magic tool that each of the humans had, Evelyn found that all of them were inessible.


    Each of the tools was registered to the unique magical signature of their owners and could not be easily opened by anyone else.


    Of course, there were ways to break into these devices, but neither Evelyn or any of her allies had the expertise to do so.


    Until they returned to the Roost it would be impossible for them to search inside the humans'' storage devices.


    Thankfully there were other prizes to be imed such as their weapons and the magic cores within their bodies.


    "What do you think of these Katrina?" Evelyn asked,ying the weapons out for her to examine.


    Katrina was the most knowledgeable about magic weapons and looked them over with a scrutinizing gaze.


    "I can tell you now that these nine were not just your run of the mill people. The gear they had on them is good stuff. I am not sure what most of them do exactly since I am not an expert at inscriptions, but these weapons are better than anything that is marketed towards low tier tyrant ranks in the Inscription Hall. I believe they are more in line with the items made for peak tyrant rank beasts." Katrina said, giving her opinion.


    The armor each of them possessed was also exceptional for their level and it was clear that these nine humans had an immense amount of wealth or someone far stronger backing them.


    Among their possessions were also emblems of varying sizes and qualities that Evelyn figured denoted their ranks.


    ''Hm, I guess they must have belonged to some sort of organization, but I do not know much about human society on this world and do not recognize them.'' Evelyn thought.


    She tried asking the others if they knew what they were but none of them recognized the emblems either. This was just another thing that they would need to investigate when they returned to the Roost.


    Soon they had gathered up all the loot they had collected from the humans and the massive number of tokens that they had won from beating the rose bush monster.


    ''We got really lucky that this monster attacked the group of humans. If it had not already weakened them, I am not sure we could have won without any casualties.'' Evelyn thought, looking towards herpanions.


    Aralee was pretty badly injured with a broken wing, and everyone else had several injuries like cuts and bruises on their bodies.


    Evelyn was the only one that hade out rtively unscathed and that was because her opponent''s magic waspletely ineffective against her.


    It had reallye down to luck that their ambush had ended in their victory and it was possible that next time someone might not make it.


    ''I need to be more careful in the future. I know that this ce is valuable and making sure that we secure it is important, but these humans outmatched us. If not for catching them already severely weakened, we never would have had such aplete victory.'' Evelyn thought, taking a look at her performance as a leader.


    This time she had certainly prioritized rewards over the safety of her allies, and looking at their battered bodies she could not help but feel a bit bad about her decision.


    Had she simply abandoned the ce none of them would have gotten hurt.


    However, she could see that her friends, siblings, and Savan did not have any regrets. They may have put their lives on the line, but it was for a prize that they felt was more than worth the risk.


    ''We won. That is all that matters this time. I just need to make sure that as a leader I never bring them into a situation where we lose.'' Evelyn thought.


    After collecting everything valuable from the humans the nine of them headed back to the crystal dome to rest and heal. They had applied potions to their injuries, but the battle had been intense and only time was going to allow them to fully recover. Especially Aralee whose wing was broken. Even after receiving healing, she was still unable to fly very fast and was resting on Bylur''s back as he continually channeled his life magic into her to elerate her recovery.


    Along the way their group was attacked a few times by other nt monsters, but luckily nothing as powerful as the wriggling rose bush and within a day, they had returned to the area crystal dome where they could rest rtively safely.


    "I am ready to sleep for several days.'' Evelyn thought, feeling the exhaustion creeping in.


    Not only had they just ought an intense battle, but they had been searching for their quarry for nearly a week until they managed to find them.


    Unfortunately, Evelyn could not just pass out as she wanted to. She was the leader of her team and needed to n who would take which shift as lookouts. While the area around the crystal dome was normally safe, there was still the chance of being attacked by the dangerous creatures that inhabited the domain.


    "I will take the first watch with Otis. Then Katrina and Savan, if you would take over us?" Evelyn asked.


    As neither of them were part of her core team and had juste as extra muscle basically Evelyn did not feelfortable giving them orders.


    "Sure Evelyn, that is fine." Katrina said.


    "Good, then for the final watch Bylur and Rehni, you both will take it." Evelyn said.


    Yet, despite expecting things to begin to wind down now that watch duties had been decided, Bylur made an objection.


    "I will take the first watch with you Evelyn. As our party''s healer I need to look over your condition as well." Bylur said,ing up with some excuse to join Evelyn on watch instead of Otis.


    This prompted Otis to try and defend his position, but Evelyn interjected before any squabbling between them could start up. She was too tired for that today.


    "It is because you are the only one that can use life magic that I want you to get a full rest now. Aralee is going to need more care and I want you to do your best looking after my little sister tomorrow." Evelyn said, not allowing for any objections.


    Aralee had damaged her wing pretty badly and while potions could heal the damage there was the chance that the bones would not reform properly. That was why it was imperative that Bylur do it since he had more control over the healing process with his magic and could make sure the bones were in their proper ce as they healed.


    Nodding his head, Bylur relented. Though he still red jealousy at Otis who was getting the coveted position of watch partner with Evelyn.


    Soon things had settled down and everyone, but Otis and Evelyn had gone to sleep in the trees.


    It was during this time that Otis approached Evelyn with a question that had been on his mind since the first battle they had with the humans.


    "Evelyn, do you think that I should be fighting more in my humanoid form?" Otis asked.


    Up to this point he had just been staying as an owl to do battle as he always had, but during today''s battle for the first time he got to witness how other tyrant rank beasts that had humanoid forms fought, and he could only feel that he was wasting his potential.


    Anneli, Katrina, and Savan had mostly fought while in their humanoid forms, but when the situation had called for it, they seamlessly transformed into their owl forms as well.


    This was something Otis was not capable of. He had barely spent any time in his humanoid form and was still clumsy with moving around with the unfamiliar body. Justpleting normal daily activities was still hard for him, and fighting was out of the question.


    There was also another reason that Otis had not used his humanoid form very much and that was due to Evelyn''s initial reaction when she saw him transform. She had told him almost immediately and with a forceful tone to change back and he was afraid to upset her.


    But he had seen her interact perfectly fine with Anneli, Katrina, and Savan who were almost always in their humanoid forms, and he was now more confident about broaching the topic.


    "I suppose that if you want to learn how to fight in your humanoid form that is not a problem, but it is not as big of a deal for you. Most tyrant rank beasts stay in their humanoid form if they have one simply because they are too gigantic. That is not a problem for you, but there is no reason not to increase your options. Still, wait until you join the Roost. You can have someone properly teach you there, and more importantly, get a set of clothes that will transform with you."

 Chapter 317 317 On The Next Floor

    Nearly two months had passed since Evelyn and her allies had defeated the group of humans that had appeared in the Verdant Warlord''s Domain.


    During this time all of them had continued to explore the dimension created by an entity that had exceeded the peak of the world and collect the treasure trove of items and knowledge that had been left behind.


    Yet, while Anneli, Katrina, and Savan were still around, the three of them were exploring the domain separate from Evelyn and herpanions.


    There was simply just too great of a difference in their power from everyone within Evelyn''s group barring Evelyn herself and Otis.


    It would stifle Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee''s growth to have so many stronger fighters around backing them up.


    Evelyn at first was a bit concerned since there were only three of them, but time went by, and they still met up frequently and Anneli, Katrina, and Savan were doing fine each time. It seemed that this forest did not have much that could threaten them. It was very rare toe across an extremely powerful creature like the massive rose bush monster.


    During this time, Evelyn also finally made the breakthrough to the high tier of the awakened rank by eating three low tier tyrant rank beast cores they had received from the domain while bathing in the magic spring thest time it was active.


    This gave her a massive push and she was able to break through the wall that she had been stuck at for quite some time now.


    None of the others had gone up a tier at this point, other than Otis who simply needed far more magical energy as a tyrant rank beast, everyone else was close.


    Nevertheless, while all of their progress had been exceptional, Evelyn could tell that they had pretty much teaued with what could be obtained on the first floor of the domain. The items they were able to get were quite good, but nothing especially special.


    It was also a pain to go looking for the terminals that randomly appeared all over the forest and were duds around sixty percent of the time.


    Around twenty-five percent of the time, these terminals would be traps that spawned a horde of monsters, and thirty-five percent of the time the items that could be obtained were not particrly valuable.


    The other forty percent of the time the terminals offered useful items, but so far, the fulmination diamond they had gotten from their first one was the best item they had obtained.


    At this point they had amassed a small fortune of tokens since they were earning more than they could possibly spend when it took them several days just to find a single terminal and over half the time they were worthless.


    ''I think it is about time that we try the next floor. I can tell that all of us are getting burned out here. Our motivation is not going tost much longer if we just keep doing the same thing in the same ce.'' Evelyn thought after they returned from another unsessful search for a terminal to obtain rewards from.


    As the six of them ate, Evelyn broached the topic and the others responded positively.


    "I think we have gotten just about all we can from here. It seems that the chances to find anything exceptional on this floor of the domain is just too low." Otis said, the happiest to be moving on.


    Among all of them he was the one making the least progress since the items they retrieved most of the time were not of a high enough quality to give him any significant increase in magical energy.


    "Hopefully we can find some items to help us reach the next tier. I never imagined it was this difficult to break into the peak of the awakened rank." Bylur said.


    Everyone else was simrly hopeful about their prospects on the next floor. While they had no proof that it would be a treasure trove full of every item they wanted, it helped their moods improve to have such enthusiasm.


    "Okay, then if we are all in agreement, we will travel up to the next floor tomorrow. If it turns out to be too much for us, we should be able to use the stash of tokens we have collected to return to this floor." Evelyn said, not realizing just how wrong she was.


    When the next day came around and the six of them each spent three tokens to ascend to the next floor, each of them was met with a very unpleasant surprise.


    The moment the light of the warp portal faded; Evelyn noticed that something was horribly wrong right away.


    She had activated the warp pad along with all of herpanions, but now she stood alone in an area that waspletely filled with darkness.


    It was not the kind of darkness that was found at night where a bit of light came from the stars and moon, but an absolute pitch ckness that even Evelyn with her impable night vision as an owl could not see anything through.


    Before she could process what was going on, a familiar silhouette appeared in the darkness and was the only thing that Evelyn could see.


    Floating above her was the vestige of the Verdant Warlord.


    "What is the meaning of this? Where the hell have you sent my friends and siblings!" Evelyn shouted, her normally collected thoughts frantic.


    "If you calm down, I am more than willing to exin what is going on as is my duty." The vestige said with a nonchnt demeanor.


    Evelyn had to take several deep breaths and bring her left wing up to her beak and bite down hard enough to draw blood in order to keep herself from exploding. There was one thing that could send her over the edge very easily and that was not knowing about the safety of those close to her.


    "Good, now that you are ready to listen, I am going to exin how the second-floor works. Things here are very different from the first floor."


    The vestige then exined that the second floor was a massive hedge maze with hundreds of paths.


    "Just as the first floor you will find creatures roaming the maze. If you can defeat them, they will award you with iron tokes as opposed to the bronze ones you got on the first floor. These tokens can be used at the terminals hidden around the maze. Oh, and as some bonus information I will tell you that the rewards on this floor are better and there are more terminals to find." The vetige said with a wink.


    At this point though, Evelyn could care less about the rules of the floor and wanted to know about herpanions.


    However, when she tried asking the Verdant Warlord''s Vestige about where they were, he just shrugged his shoulders.


    "Like you they have all been sent to their own starting ces in the maze. If you search around long enough, you are bound to bump into each other.


    This really pissed Evelyn off and she burst into crimson mes and the entire area lit up around her.


    Now she could see the towering hedge walls around her that met around two hundred meters in the air and made an arched ceiling.


    Nevertheless, she did not care about anything right now other than finding her friends and ignred the pathway in front of her and aimed to burn her way through the maze.


    "Now that will not do." The Verdant warlord''s vestige said, snapping his fingers and assaulting Evelyn with enough magical energy to restrain her.


    "I believe I told you that I cannot do anything to harm you so long as you do not threaten this domain but using that heavenly me of yours to damage the maze and circumvent its paths is against the rules. I will take action if you try."


    Realizing she was beat; Evelyn stopped the ze surrounding her body.


    The vestige immediately released her when she did and continued exining how the second floor worked.


    "The warp portal you are currently on is inactive and will not be able to return you to the first floor. You will need to find a safe zone within the maze where a checkpoint is and use the warp pad there if you want to return to the first floor. Also, the only way to reach the third floor is to make it to the center of the maze and have the necessary number of iron tokens. And, that ends my exnation. You will need to find out anything else on your own." The Vestige said, beginning to slowly disappear.


    The moment he was done, Evelyn pulled out her message pad and tried to send off correspondences to herpanions.


    Unfortunately, when she ripped out the paper it formed itself into a bird but did not go anywhere. Just flying around in a circle which was an indication that the target was out of range.


    "I am afraid that magic tools like that are not going to work. You will find that it is impossible to cheat in this maze." The Verdant Warlord''s Vestige said beforepletely fading.

 Chapter 318 318 Rushing Through The Maze Without Caution

    Watching the Verdant Warlord''s Vestige fade with a smirk on his face, made Evelyn wanted to burn the entire domain to the ground, but she knew that would not help her in this station.


    Her attempt to contact her friends and siblings using a magic message had failed and there was no way for her to know how everyone else was doing or where they were.


    ''Calm down, calm down, calm down.'' Evelyn repeated over and over in her head.


    Taking several long breaths and bashing her head against the stone floor of the maze a few times helped Evelyn to regain her senses.


    If she thought about things logically, the others were almost certainly still fine at this point in time.


    Just like her they had been brought to an inactive warp pad and given an exnation about how this floor works.


    ''The vestige also gave me a slight bit of information that helps. Probably.'' Evelyn thought.


    If not for hisstment about magic items such as her message pad not working here, she would have assumed that all of herpanions were out of range. Which would be several hundreds of kilometers away.


    Of course, this could still be the case, Evelyn had no clue how big this domain was, but at least she could hope that it was not that far.


    ''First, I need to try and meet up with the others as quickly as I can. Aralee and Verrader especially are in danger being the weakest of our group.''


    Without hesitation, Evelyn turned towards the single opening into the maze and began flying through it without any care. Using arge me to light the way.


    Normally it would be best to take some caution when exploring such a ce, but Evelyn had decided to go with the brute force method. If something got in her way, she would simply st through it with her full power.


    Unfortunately, dangerous creatures were not the only difficulty that this maze brought. Within just a minute of leaving her starting location Evelyn was met with four different paths going in separate directions.


    Without really considering anything, Evelyn chose the path that was furthest to her left and continued down it.


    Yet almost immediately she ran into a dead end and had to turn back.


    Except the moment she turned around what appeared to be a wall of shrubs just like the ones making up the maze came to life and lurched forward with its mouth wide open.


    Suddenly Evelyn was swallowed whole by the two-hundred-meter-tall hedge wall monsters.


    She felt sharp branches cut into her, and if not for the strong armor Melisandre had gifted her, she might have been killed.


    Luckily all of her vitals were protected and an instant after being eaten she burst into mes and burned the monster trying toe at her from the inside.


    After just a couple seconds of being hit by Evelyn''s heavenly me the giant nt monster died and disappeared. Leaving behind seven iron tokens.


    ''Damn it! What the hell is with this ce?!'' Evelyn internally screamed.


    She had only barely ventured into the maze and was met with a monster that had disguised itself as a wall.


    Turning around, Evelyn found that the path was now open to continue down.


    ''Great now I need to attack every dead end Ie to just to make sure it is not a monster. But I can''t use my heavenly me since if it is actually part of the maze I will get attacked by the Verdant Warlord''s Vestige.'' Evelyn thought, her frustration peaking again.


    When she calmed down a little, she remembered that she had more than one type of magic to attack with and decided any future walls she was suspicious of, she would hit with a wind de.


    Without even taking the time to take the iron tokens from the monster she had just beaten Evelyn continued on her way. Her one and only priority was meeting up with herpanions. She could not care less about collecting the resources from this domain at the moment.


    Unfortunately, despite how frantically Evelyn was proceeding, she did not find any of herpassion before she began to feel exhausted. Both physically and mentally.


    At this point she did not know how long she had been flying around since the maze did not change no matter how much time passed.


    Everything was simply swallowed in pitch ck darkness other than for the light that Evelyn was producing with her magic.


    Along the way Evelyn had also gotten into several battles that left her injured and drained of magical energy.


    Just about everything in the maze had gotten the drop on her since she was recklessly flying around without any caution.


    ''I cannot rest yet. I still haven''t found anyone yet.'' Evelyn thought about continuing to push herself.


    She pulled out a bottle of stamina restoration pills and swallowed a couple to keep going.


    In an instant she felt a rush of energy and was alert again.


    However, after doing this for the fourth time without getting any rest whatsoever, Evelyn was getting close to her limit.


    While she did not know it she had been up for three days straight at this point, flying around the maze without any direction. Sometimes she was actually going around in circles without realizing it.


    ''This is new. First time I have seen a foggy path. I have not been cautious up to this point anyway. I just have to keep going.''


    Not stopping to think for even a moment, Evelyn flew into the fog and did not slow down one bit. Currently she was too tired and worried to even think about her own safety. Her mind was stuck on the goal of finding any of herpanions.


    Soon Evelyn began to smell a sweet scent that was simar to a spring morning after a heavy rain. The fog''s color had also changed ever so slightly to have a blueish tinge to it, but Evelyn did not find these changes disconcerting, since her mind was barely functioning at this point after being awake for over three days.


    Then Evelyn saw it, an area of the maze that had a crystal archway in it and a warp pad in the center.


    ''That must be one of the checkpoints that the vestige told me about.'' Evelyn thought, feeling a sense of joy and relief well up inside her.


    These areas were safe zones within the maze, and as much as she wanted to continue searching for her friends and siblings, an unbearable sleepiness was starting to ovee her.


    Evelyn figured that se would be able to search for the others better after getting some rest in this first safe area she hade across.


    There was even some hope that she might find someone else waiting for her there but, it was unfortunately empty other than a terminal that Evelyn figured was used to return to the first floor.


    ''I can worry about everything elseter. I am not sure why I was in such a rush anyway. For now, I just need to sleep.'' Evelyn thought, her body wobbling around as she was barely able to stay conscious.


    But for some reason even though she was so tired and supposedly in a safe zone, her instincts were screaming at her that she was in horrible danger.


    Nevertheless, her exhaustion as so great that she could not help closing her eyes after convincing herself that she was just being paranoid.


    She had certainly reached a saw zone where she could rest, and sleep was all that she could think about. At least until shepletely passed out and was not thinking about anything else anymore.


    ¡­


    "Evie, wake up. We are going to bete for school."


    Suddenly, feeling herself being shaken, Evelyn shot up and looked towards the person that had been shaking her.


    Standing beside her was her brother Mason with an exasperated look on his face.


    "This is the second time this week you overslept. I know you have been enjoying that new book that dad bought you, but you need to get to sleep on time. What are you going to do when I am not here to wake you up in the morning." Mason said, chiding his litter sister.


    For several moments Evelyn just stared in a daze at the person before her and tears unconsciously began falling down her face.


    "Evie, is something wrong?" Mason asked, a concerned expression on his face.


    "Huh!?"


    Moving a hand up to her face, Evelyn did not understand why she was crying. For a moment she could have sworn that she remembered Mason dying right before her eyes. But there was no way something like that could have happened. He was standing right beside her.


    "Sorry, I will get up and get ready. I think I was just having a bad dream." Evelyn said, wiping the tears out of her eyes and getting out of bed.

 Chapter 319 319 A Sweet Fantasy

    Once Mason had left her room, Evelyn got up and moved to her closet.


    However, after the first step she took she unconsciously stopped and felt that something was wrong.


    She reached down to her back and legs, surprised for some reason that they did not hurt.


    ''Wait? Why was I expecting to feel any pain?'' Evelyn thought, feeling a haziness in her head.


    For some reason she felt like she should have had bruises on her upper legs and back but had no idea why. She could not remember ever getting hurt in those areas badly enough to warrant such a feeling.


    Shaking her head, she decided that it all must have been rted to whatever bad dream she had been experiencing before waking up.


    Pushing the weird thoughts in her head to the back of her mind, Evelyn opened up her closet and was momentarily surprised by all of the nice items that were within. As if everything she had ever longed for before was within


    ''When did I get all of this?''


    Yet, in just a moment some vague memories surfaced in her mind, and she seemed to sort of remember receiving the clothing and essories that were in her closet.


    "Evie, hurry up already. We need to leave in fifteen minutes, and you have not even eaten yet." Mason said, after knocking on her door.


    Feeling the time constraint, Evelynpletely disregarded any other slight feelings she had about things being out of ce and hastily put on a ck skirt and white top.


    After that she moved over to where a makeup stand with a mirror was and despite the unpracticed movements of her hands, she was able to somehow apply the makeup in a perfect way that gave her the appearance she thought was ideal.


    Feeling that she was ready, Evelyn left her room and found Mason leaning against the wall outside waiting for her.


    "Finally. Let''s get going. Dad made breakfast. It''s your favorite. Blue berry pancakes and hashbrowns with freshly squeezed orange juice. You only have a couple of minutes, but if you don''t have any dad will be upset for the rest of the day." Mason had a slight smile on his face as he headed towards the kitchen and expected Evelyn to follow her.


    But, at the mention of their father, Evelyn froze up instinctually. As if every fiber in her being was telling her not to go anywhere near him.


    "Come on Evie. We do not have long enough for you to dilly dally here. You don''t want to go to school without eating first. Remember thest time you skipped breakfast and spent the entire day hungry." Mason said, grabbing Evelyn''s arm and dragging her to the kitchen.


    When she arrived and saw her father sitting at the table for a moment, she saw the imagine of a man with an unkempt appearance, a cold expression with harsh eyes, and a bottle of hard liquor in his hands.


    Except, this imagine onlysted for a single instant, and the person before her now was a respectable man in a suit drinking some coffee and grading an assignment from his students at the university where he was a professor.


    "Oh, Evelyn, you are finally awake. Hurry up and eat, or you are going to make Masonte as well." Her father said, a kind smile on his face.


    Still, Evelyn hesitated, and she felt as if her heart was being wrenched out of her body. It was as if the little bit of affection her father had just shown her was enough to shake her to the core.


    Of course, if she thought back to it, she remembered her father always being quite caring. For some reason her earlier memories when she was younger were more vivid, but she could recall him always being kind to her.


    The hesitation Evelyn was feeling faded away swiftly, and she sat down and began eating the breakfast that wasid out for her.


    After taking one bite she could not believe how incredible it tasted. She felt that it was the most wonderous thing she had ever eaten, the absolute best breakfast she could imagine.


    Time seemed to have no meaning as she enjoyed the food and only once she had finished did Mason remind her that it was time for them to go to school.


    "Good luck at school today. I am sure that it will be another perfect day for you." Evelyn''s father said, cing his hand on her head and rubbing her head before she left.


    At first, Evelyn winced when her father''s hand touched her, but she quickly calmed down. It seemed whatever irrational fear of her father was quickly fading.


    Once her father had finished seeing Evelyn off, she headed into the garage and thought it cleaner than normal for some reason, but that was not what really shocked her.


    "When did we get this car?" Evelyn said tilting her head at the unfamiliar blue sedan Mason had gotten into.


    "What do you mean, when? Did you forget my sixteenth birthday. Dad got me the car I wanted. He said he would do the same for you when you turned sixteen, remember?" Mason said.


    Pinching the bridge of her nose, Evelyn recalled everything Mason had just mentioned and nodded her head.


    "Yeah, that is right. I guess I am just still tired. Let''s go to school. I would not want us to bete." Evelyn said, getting into the passenger seat that was already wlessly adjusted for her.


    Along the way to school things worked out and they made it with a few minutes to spare thanks to not hitting a single red light. It was almost like the work of a miracle really.


    When Evelyn got to her first ss, she was greeted by several others that she slowly realized were her friends. At this point whenever something happened that made her feel wrong, she just ignored it. What could be wrong with how well things were going.

 Chapter 320 320 A Sweet Fantasy (2)

    "Huff, huff."


    Breathing heavily, but with a smile on her face Evelyn looked back and saw the others behind her just finishing the hundred-meter dash.


    ''He, I won again.'' Evelyn thought.


    When she had first heard some of the girls that were friends talking about how she was the star of the track team despite only being a first year she could not recall even being on the team, but now it all seemed natural.


    Among her peers she was the fastest and in practice she had beaten everyone again. The coach came over andvished her with praise and the other girls all congratted her even though they lost. Saying things like "Its only natural you won." And "I am just d our team has someone as fast as you."


    Evelyn felt quite happy to be on the receiving end of such praise and was enjoying being the center of attention.


    She had not been expecting school to have been this much fun, but the day had been absolutely great.


    However, it was after the school day came to an end that Evelyn was hit with another feeling that something was slightly off.


    On reflex she had started walking towards the nearest library where she was certain she spent most of her time after school, but her friends stopped her and said that she had promised to go out with them after school.


    "You already have the best grades in the ss Evelyn. What would you need to go to library for and study." One of the girls said.


    Evelyn was taken aback by this, she was certain that she always went to the library, and that while her grades were good, they were never the best.


    ''No, I must be mistaken again. I normally go out with my friends or head home with Mason.'' Evelyn thought.


    Putting on a bright smile, Evelyn went with the girls that were her friends and one of her seniors who had a car drove them around.


    Yet, as much as Evelyn had fun going to the mall to hang out, it all felt foreign to her. As if this was the first time she had done something like this.


    ''I feel like I would enjoy being at the library more.'' Evelyn thought, wanting to enjoy shopping with friends, but not finding that she did.


    A few momentster Evelyn felt like she lost track of things and suddenly found herself in the library she had been imagining. With all her friends there studying or ying games on theputer.


    "What the hell!?" Evelyn said, looking around and having no idea how she ended up in the library.


    "Is something wrong Evelyn? Weren''t you going to y with us."


    Looking towards the girl that had addressed her, Evelyn saw her ying one of the games she would use to pass the time when she had finished studying but still did not want to go home.


    ''But why did I not want to go home? And I always yed this game alone?'' Evelyn thought, feeling a splitting headacheing on.


    Nevertheless, she could not figure out the inconsistency and sat down to y, but after expecting so many unusual events, Evelyn could no longer deny that something was off.


    She was having a great deal of fun, and everything was perfect, but she felt that it was almost too good to be true.


    Still, she could not figure out what was wrong, not yet at least.


    When it was around five thirty, Mason showed up to pick her up and take her home. Something Evelyn could not remember at first, believing that she always walked.


    Yet, vague memories surfaced in her mind as she tried to remember Mason taking her home from the library, as if to fill in a void.


    Rubbing her face, Evelyn felt a cold sweat running down her back, but honestly could not say why. Then for a second her hand was gone and reced by a wing. When she blinked the wing was gone and her hand was back, but it was something he felt she knew well. As if the hand before her was less a part of her body than that wing that had appeared for a single moment.


    "Evie, I have some of your favorite candy if you want some?" Mason said, while Evelyn was stuck in thought about what was going on.


    He opened up the glove box and showed it to her, and Evelyn nearly reached in and took some but stopped herself.


    "No, it is fine. I do not want to ruin my appetite." Evelyn said, making some excuse.


    Mason frowned at her refusal, but quickly a bright smile reappeared on his face.


    "No problem. I am sure that dinner will be exactly what you want anyway. You can have some after." Masons said.


    Once they returned home, Evelyn got another one of her feelings and slowly and carefully entered the house as if on the lookout for someone of something.


    She was not sure why she was behaving this way, but she was certain it was deeply engraved in her, and while giving into these reflexes she did not understand hurt her head, she could not stop herself. Hoping that doing so would help her get to the bottom of what was wrong.


    ''It smells good. Dad really did make my favorite food again. But why? He has not cooked like this for years." Evelyn thought, remembering the slight sh of the horrible man she had seen in her father''s ce this morning.


    However, as she was fighting with a fierce headache and was close to finding the answer she wanted, the door to the house opened and someone else walked in.


    "Evelyn, what are you doing standing there in the front entrance. It smells like diner is almost ready you should go and wash up."


    Hearing the voice behind her, Evelyn forgot about the pain in her head and the misgivings she was having and turned around to face the person that had juste in.


    "Mom!?"

 Chapter 321 321 A Cruel Reality

    After swiftly turning around, Evelyn could not stop staring at the woman in front of her.


    Tears began falling down her eyes just as they had when she first saw Mason this morning. Yet the emotions behind these tears were even more intense.


    "What are you crying for Evelyn? Did something happen at school?" Her mother said, walking up and giving Evelyn a hug while patting her head.


    For several moments Evelyn just pushed her head into her mother''s shoulder and cried profusely. Letting out emotions that were flooding out of her.


    Her mom continued to pat andfort her without trying to pry into why she was crying, and Evelyn felt that she wanted to drown in the warmth she was feeling.


    ''Maybe I should just stay here. Things seem off, but as long as I do not think about it, the pain in my head fades. It will be easier just to ept this life of happiness.'' Evelyn thought, just a moment away from letting go of her uncertainty.


    "Sister, wake up!"


    For a second Evelyn''s view shed and instead of seeing her mother, the figure of an owl with tuffs of fur that looked like horns on their head was standing in front of her, fighting off what looked like a tangle of roots.


    However, this vison onlysted for a second before she was back with her family.


    At some point they had all sat down around the dinner table and were enjoying their meal.


    "Aralee?" Evelyn whispered faintly, a nameing to her mind when she pictured the figure of the owl she had just seen for only a moment.


    "Did you say something Evie?" Mason asked, a look of concern on his face.


    "I know you have a lot on your mind, but you should eat first. Thinking without any energy is not good for you." Evelyn''s mother said, passing a bowl of mashed potatoes towards Evelyn.


    Longingly she reached out for the food that smelled delicious and was drawing her in, but she caught her outstretched right arm with her left.


    ''I cannot eat this. I will be dragged further in if I do.'' Evelyn thought, her sharp instincts having returned after seeing a glimpse of reality.


    Just moments ago, she had been willing to discard all of her doubt, but now every bad feeling and inconsistencies she had seen in this world came rushing back to her at once.


    Standing up at the table, Evelyn startled her family, and each of them began asking her what was wrong, when she mmed her head into the side of the table.


    Immediately she felt a sharp pain as she imagined this action would bring her. Exactly as she had imagined it.


    The hit to her head also helped to clear up the fag around her mind momentarily, and she was able toe to a revtion in that moment.


    ''None of this is real.'' Evelyn thought.


    Her memories were still scrambled, but she could distinctly recall that she had long since left this life behind her.


    "Evelyn!" Her father screamed, getting up and rushing towards her.


    Miraculously the sever injury she should have inflicted on herself was already gone, by the time he reached her, but this only added to the evidence that this world was not real.


    "Stay away from me." Evelyn said, jumping back from the concerned family that had been approaching her.


    It was at this moment that the entire room began to shift and warp, as if trying to correct some sort of mistake and reset to the ideal fantasy it had been depicting.


    However, Evelyn did not allow herself to be pulled in and managed to keep the scene from changing as it had before whenever she was getting close to realizing something was wrong.


    When she looked around the room again, she saw that it was distorted and could not seem to keep up its appearance. It was constantly shifting from the perfect fantasy of her life and what had been reality.


    On one side of the room, it was the bright and clean idealistic home, and on the other it was dark with bottles and cans of alcohol littered all over the ce.


    "Evelyn, what are you doing? Don''t you want to be happy? Isn''t this your dream? We can all be together again here if you just let go." Her mother said, standing within the area that was still projecting a fantasy of the life Evelyn could only wish for.


    It took her a great deal of willpower, but Evelyn, who was standing on the edge of reality and fantasy stepped over the line into the horrible world that had once been her life.


    In only a single instant the fantasy bled away and all that was left was the truth that Evelyn remembered.


    The warm home hadpletely vanished and her family that had been perfect before, had taken on vastly different appearances.


    Her father was the one that had changed the most, now taking on the appearance Evelyn had glimpsed earlier when first seeing him in this dream world. What he really looked like in life.


    Before her now was the abusive drunk that had beat her and her brother after their mother''s death.


    However, he was far from fine, with several bullet holes in his torso and blood gushing out of him. Exactly how Evelyn remembered him while he was dying after she shot him.


    Her mother also was bleeding profusely out of her side where a stray bullet had hit her when the police had charged in to subdue the bank robbers.


    Worst of all though, was Mason. His stomach was cut open and his throat was shed with blood gushing out of him.


    Each of her family members was now how they had been thest time Evelyn saw them.


    "Evelyn please, it is not toote! Are you really going to let us die again!?" The visage of her mother said frantically as more blood poured out of her and her body began fading.

 Chapter 322 322 Evelyn’s Wrath

    Seeing the form of her mother begging her to return the ideal fantasy Evelyn could not help but cry more than she ever had before.


    "I really want to, but you are all already dead. In fact, I died too. This life is only a remnant of the past and a fantasy that I wished for. I have to return to reality where my new family is waiting and fighting for me." Evelyn said, keeping her heart strong and resisting the temptation to drown in her ideal world.


    In the next moment she felt a sharp pain and reached up to her throat where a sh wound had appeared.


    Just like the other members of her family, the fantasy was bleeding away with herst moments before being killed.


    She could hear the screams of Mason, her mother, and even her father pleading with her toe back to them, but at this point Evelyn hadpletely drowned them out and simply allowed the image of her old self to melt away.


    Slowly her skin began to fade and was reced by feathers. Her feet became thinner and were tipped with sharp talons. Her arms became longer and ttened out before fully turning into wings. And finally, her head morphed until she was back to her form as an owl. The one she had gained after dying the first time and being reborn in a new world.


    Taking a deep breath Evelyn felt herself be eerily calm, before a fierce rage burst up within her.


    She could feel the heavenly me within her swelling and the Aethersphere spinning rapidly in response to her powerful emotions.


    All at once the world around her that had been created from her memories shattered and she opened her eyes back to reality.


    The first thing she saw was her little sister fighting with a massive silver flower that had tangling roots flying all over the ce.


    Evelyn tried to move to help, but quickly realized that she was fixed in ce. Her body covered with roots that had pierced into her body.


    She could feel these roots were feeding on her magical energy and slowly draining her.


    Thankfully as the nt monster had been using her as a source of food none of her vital organs had been damaged, and even though she had roots wriggling through her body she did not feel any pain.


    The monster that had put her under its spell was secreting some sort of sedative from tis roots to keep her from feeling any difort and waking from the dream it had put her in.


    However, Evelyn''s mental fortitude and the intervention of Aralee had allowed her to snap out of the ideal fantasy she had been trapped inside of.


    "Gahhhh!" Screaming out in fury, Evelyn released the power of all of her magic affinities at the same time and sted the roots coiled around and digging into her away.


    Almost instantly she felt an intense pain from the several holes left in her body from where the roots had been now that the sedative was no longer being pumped into her.


    Nevertheless, the anger she felt towards the creature that had forced her to relive the deaths of her first family and herself was more than enough to get her to disregard the pain.


    Without hesitation, Evelyn pulled out multiple healing potions and a bottle of mana replenishment pills and downed all of them at once.


    Certainly, this was a bit reckless, but Evelyn needed to recover as quickly as possible to destroy the dream flower that had nearly taken her.


    "Sister!" Aralee shouted in relief seeing that Evelyn had awoken.


    When she had first arrived and found Evelyn wrapped up in roots, she had tried to wake her up and free her, but Evelyn had remained almost entirely unresponsive. The monster feeding on her then tried to capture Aralee as well and the two of them had been locked in a fierce battle for several minutes.


    "Sorry to worry you like that, Aralee. I am fine now. Let us kill this thing." Evelyn said, a malicious glint in her eye as she looked at the sliver flower in front of them.


    As Evelyn joined the fray, the silver flower opened up in the middle and revealed arge mouth that began spewing a blue fog from its mouth.


    Seeing this Evelyn remembered flying into the foggy area of the maze and falling asleep not long aftering into an area filled with blue fog.


    "So that is how you did it. However, that will not work this time." Evelyn thought, creating a wind barrier around herself and blowing the fog away.


    Last time she had been exhausted from frantically searching for her friends and siblings, but now her mind was sharp and fully focused on taking out her enemy. This time she would not make any mistakes.


    "Aralee, keep it slowed down and prevent its roots from getting in my way." Evelyn said, flying directly for the main body of the flower.


    "Of course, sister." Aralee happily responded.


    Using her momentum magic Aralee put a slowing effect on the nt monster, and with her wind magic she began cutting through its roots to give Evelyn a clear path.


    ''Eat this. Extreme Press.'' Evelyn thought using her gravity magic to force the silver flower down.


    She had noticed that it was getting ready to flee but now it was not going anywhere.


    ''re ring.'' Evelyn thought, creating a circle of fire around herself and burning through the roots of the sliver flower and trapping it.


    The creature let out an otherworldly sounding wail as parts of its body burned away.


    Still, it was a resilient creature and Evelyn saw the silver flower that was the main part of its body begin to pulsate and glow.


    ''Not happening! Gravity Hammer!''


    After waking up Evelyn had felt the Aethersphere growing stronger inside her and once again it had revealed a new power to her.


    This new attack allowed her to focus all of her gravity magic into a focused area and smash down on it.


    Unlike her other uses of gravity magic that this one was just pure power meant to crush her enemies.


    The dream flower was unable to hold up to this massive increase in pressure and its body was ttened into the stone floor of the maze.


    After just a couple of seconds even the sturdy stone that should have been near unbreakable began to crack under the assault of Evelyn gravity magic.


    Green liquid began pouring out of the dream flower as its body was crushed and it let out another wail.


    The magic that the dream flower had been amassing to attack Evelyn with went out of control as its body was being crushed into the ground and a huge explosion of slivery light enveloped its body.


    In the end the monster was destroyed by its own attack going haywire while under the effects of Evelyn new gravity magic attack.


    Within the small crater that Evelyn''s magic had left int eh stone was four dozen iron tokens. Proving that the dream flower was most certainly dead.

 Chapter 323 323 With Her Little Sister

    Seeing the monster that had trapped her inside her own mind within an ideal fantasy that could never exist dead, Evelyn felt the momentary straight she had drawn from her anger begin to fade and she slowly fell to the ground.


    She had already been drained of both stamina and magical energy when she had awoken, and now that she had calmed down, she was feeling the toll on her body from pushing herself.


    If she had been alone, it was quite possible that another monster roaming the maze might finish her off, but luckily one of herpanions had found her during her time of need.


    Swiftly Aralee had flown down to Evelyn''s side and began frantically asking her questions about her health and what she might need.


    "I am sorry to show you this side of me. I wanted to be a big sister you could rely on." Evelyn said, beveling herself to be a failure.


    She had rushed around though the maze in search of her friends and siblings since she felt it was her job to protect them, but in the end it had been Aralee that had rescued her.


    If Aralee had not shown up, it was very possible that Evelyn would have sunk into her perfect fantasy and never awoken to reality. Part of what allowed her to ovee the allure was because of the people that she cared about and in return cared about her.


    "It is fine sister. We all help each other out, right? "Aralee said, a smile on her face despite her fears and concerns.


    Watching her little sister put on a brave front made Evelyn feel pathetic for feeling so down.


    "I may not have been able to help you thest time, when you, Verrader, and our parents were captured, but this time for sure I will be here for you." Aralee said, pulling Evelyn up onto her back and flying off in the opposite direction from where Evelyn hade from.


    However, Aralee was around the same size as Evelyn, being actually a little bit smaller, making it difficult for her to fly with Evelyn on her back.


    She was using her wind and momentum magic to stay airborne, but without these two magics she would not have been able to properly carry Evelyn.


    Still, it was not easy for her, and Evelyn could see that Aralee was struggling. Especially while having to be on the lookout for threats.


    ''I can''t just let her do everything. I have to help in some way.'' Evelyn thought.


    Unfortunately, she could not move her body well enough to fly at the moment.


    In the end all she could do was use her gravity magic at a low output to make her weight around fifty percent less.


    Though this seemed liked just a small gesture it helped Aralee immensely and after around an hour they reached an actually safe area within the maze without encountering any other monsters.


    As soon as theynded within the crystal dome checkpoint that had a warp pad that could take them back to the first floor, Aralee set up afortable area for Evelyn to rest and told her to leave everything to her.


    "You seem to know this area pretty well. I am surprised you could find this safe area. This is the first one I havee across." Evelyn said while Aralee prepared some food for her.


    "Really?!" Aralee said, surprised. Apparently, this was the third one she hade across since their arrival in this ce nearly a week ago.


    Yet, it was Evelyn''s turn to be surprised. Last she could remember, they hade to the second floor of the Verdant Warlord''s Domain only three days ago.


    "No, I am sure that it has been seven. I have been keeping track of the time." Aralee said, pulling out a timepiece she had.


    Hearing this Evelyn realized that she had been under that dream flower''s spell for longer than she thought.


    ''That must be why I feel so awful. That thing was sucking me dry for almost four days.'' Evelyn through, grimacing at the sad end she had almost met.


    After waiting for a couple of minutes, Evelyn was given arge quantity of food that Aralee had on her, and her stomach growled loudly, and her instincts took over as she ate.


    Barely conscious, Evelyn ate everything put in front of her, and when she had finished, she felt a strong sense of fatiguee over her.


    "Feel free to sleep sister." Aralee said, seeing that Evelyn was fighting to stay awake.


    Unable to hold out any longer, Evelyn closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. This time she did not have any dreams and was able to rest peacefully.


    When Evelyn woke up, she found that Aralee was nearby and had arge, unfurled piece of parchment before her.


    Feeling that her strength had returned after eating arge amount of food and getting some rest, Evelyn raised her head to look at the parchment.


    ''It''s a map!'' Evelyn thought in surprise.


    Unlike her just brazenly flying through the maze, Aralee had been taking her time and properly exploring the domain.


    However, looking closer, Evelyn realized that this map was no ordinary piece of parchment. The lines on it were expertly drawn and where they currently were had two blue dots disyed on it.


    "Oh, sister, you are awake!" Aralee said excitedly. Absolutely ted to see that Evelyn was up.


    This made Evelyn feel a bit warm and fuzzy on the inside, seeing her little sister react this way.


    ''You know, this world is not so bad.'' Evelyn thought as she approached Aralee.


    "Thanks for helping me out, Aralee. I would be in a real bind without you. I pushed myself too hard and dropped my guard. Had I been more vignt I never would have been caught in that dream flower''s trap." Evelyn said, bowing her head and expressing her upmost gratitude.

 Chapter 324 324 Learning About The Maze

    "So, Aralee, what is this map you have here? I am certain that we did not have any magic items like it when we entered this ce." Evelyn said, looking curiously at the map.


    "Oh, this is something I got out of one of the terminals I cam across. It cost me a hundred iron tokens to buy, but it has been a great boon in exploring the maze. In fact, without it, I never would have found you." Aralee said.


    She then exined that the map would show within a short radius both enemies and allies.


    For allies they appeared on the map as blue dots and for enemies they appeared as red. This is how Aralee came across Evelyn. She had gotten close enough to her that she appeared as a blue dot on the map and Aralee went to investigate.


    "That sounds pretty powerful. Using this map, you never have to worry about getting ambushed." Evelyn said, thinking about how much easier her journey through the maze would have been with one.


    "Well, it is certainly useful, but it is not that impressive. It only shows me the location of enemies if they are not trying to conceal themselves. I am sure that you have noticed most of the creatures here are very adept at hiding within the maze."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn could not count the number of times she had been ambushed. It was far rarer toe across one of the maze monsters just wandering around.


    "Still, I am surprised you did not find something like this. I have found the same type of map in two other terminals I checked. I suppose that it must be rarer than I thought, and I just got lucky." Aralee said, looking back down at the map with gratitude in her eyes.


    However, Evelyn pursed her beak together and felt a sense of regret and embarrassmenting over her.


    She had not even once considered that there might be items that helped to navigate the maze within the terminals. Instead, she passed each one by and did not even consider looking at the contents, figuring that they were just valuable items to help her advance. Not to mention she had not bothered to pick up any iron tokens to begin with in her reckless search for herpanions.


    ''I really should have trusted them more. In terms of attack power Aralee is the weakest of us, yet she is doing so much better here than I have.'' Evelyn thought, realizing that losing her cool had been the worst possible thing she could have done.


    Her friends and siblings may not have been as powerful as she was other than perhaps Otis, but that did not mean they were helpless. All of them had trained hard and grown their magical energy in order to get stronger.


    "Actually, now that I am more focused, you have breached into the high tier of the awakened rank haven''t you Aralee." Evelyn said, noticing the distinctly more powerful aura that her sister was giving off.


    Beaming happily, Aralee nodded her head and told Evelyn about the powerful limit breakthrough elixir she had found in one of the terminals.


    "It felt quite a bit like using the magic spring once I had drunk it. My body was filled with an immense amount of magical energy, and I pushed past thest hurtle into the high tier." Aralee said proudly.


    Evelyn continued to ask Aralee more about her time in the maze and learned about several things that she had not known due to her frantic state of mind after being separated from everyone else.


    The most important part of the information was that the maze would change over time. Pathways that were once there would be gone and new ones would appear. Plus, an area that had already been traveled through could suddenly be filled with a great deal of monsters.


    "It does not happen all that often at least. I have onlye across such an urrence four times so far. The map does not show when something has changed if you are outside the fifty-meter radius of where it can gain new information, but when you return to an area, if it has changed the map will update then." Aralee exined.


    Staring at the map, Evelyn only began to feel worse and worse about how poorly she had approached this maze. It was an incredibly dangerous ce, but she had tried to just muscle through it with her powerful magic, only to exhaust herself and get caught in a trap that nearly killed her.


    ''I do not have the right to call myself a reliable big sister anymore.'' Evelyn thought, hanging her head low.


    Aralee noticed this and titled her head curiously, wondering why Evelyn looked so down.


    "What is wrong sister?" Aralee asked.


    "I am a failure as a leader and elder sibling. I am supposed to be the one protecting all of you, but I failed miserably. You have made so much more progress here than I have." Evelyn said, sighing deeply.


    "That''s just because I have gotten lucky!" Aralee asserted. "I have not had to deal with a creature as powerful and dangerous as that dream flower. I don''t think I could have beaten it in a fight even while avoiding its dream fog. You were amazing, being able to crush the monster even after being trapped under its spell for so long.


    Seeing her little sister defending her from her own self-deprecation made Evelyn smile. Despite how much she had messed up, Aralee still thought the world of her.


    ''I guess I need to shape up from this point to make sure that I live up to her expectations.'' Evelyn thought, feeling her mood improving.


    Her goal was still to meet up with the others, but now Evelyn could think more calmly and was not going to rush around without any direction or n. She just needed to trust in herpassion and believe that they could handle things on their own for the time being.

 Chapter 325 325

    ''Let''s see, which way should we go from here? I came from this way, an Aralee came from over here, so I suppose going in one of these directions is our best bet to find the others.'' Evelyn thought looking at the magic map of the maze.


    From the overall size of the parchment the map was on, Evelyn could surmise that Aralee had explored around six percent or so of the maze so far after a week.


    Evelyn on the other hand was not certain about how much she had seen, but at the very least she was confident about where the general area she had been searching was on the map even if it was not yet filled in.


    The biggest problem was that they were not looking for stationary objects but moving targets. There was no way that any of herpanions were just going to be sitting around waiting to be found. They would surely be proactive and begin exploring the maze themselves.


    "If only we had some way to pinpoint the other''s location on this map. It is big enough that we could go for years without all of us meeting up again." Evelyn said, a bit frustrated by the situation.


    "Ah, that shouldn''t be a problem. I have already met with Bylur, and we came up with a n on what to do. It may not work, but I think everything wille together given a bit more time." Aralee said, a confident expression on her face.


    Evelyn, however, was dumbfounded. Her little sister had just revealed something big and quite a bit confusing. If she had already met with Bylur, why was he not with her. It made no sense for them to split up.


    "Aralee, why would you and Bylur split up? I know you could cover more ground that way, but since the maze shifts even if you set a meetup point it may not be there in the future." Evelyn said, not understanding Aralee''s decision.


    Realizing how confusing what she just said was, Aralee vigorously shook her head and exined.


    "Oh no, I did not meet with Bylur in the maze, but back on the first floor. We can use these checkpoints to return to the crystal dome there. When I found my first checkpoint, I used it to go back to the first floor of the domain and found Bylur waiting there. I honestly don''t know where he is in the maze."


    Aralee then exined what she and Bylur hade up with and was reminded just how capable herpassions were even when she was not leading them.


    ''To think that they made so much progress while I was stupidly flying around in a panic.''


    Evelyn once again understood how horrible her response was to the situation and made sure to ingrain it into her head to make sure that it did not happen again.


    "So, has anyone else been by yet?" Evelyn asked.


    On the first floor in the crystal dome, Aralee and Bylur had left a makeshift message board where any of the others could leave information about their location and status within the maze.


    There were also scheduled meetup times so that they could all try and gather together again by using the checkpoints within the maze.


    "No,st time I checked no one else hade by other than Bylur, but that was three days ago. The two of us decided that it would be best to head towards the center of the maze where the warp pad to the next floor is supposed to be. Even if all of us gather on the first floor we will still be separated in the maze should we go back. Plus, there is no telling when everyone might make it back to the first floor. We agreed that it would be better to continue exploring and check in periodically when we can. If we had just waited around for everyone to show back up on the first floor, I hate to imagine what would have happened to you, sister."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn agreed with Aralee''s and Bylur''s n. Using the first floor to exchange information and slowlye together within the maze was a good idea.


    Evelyn was a bit disconcerted to hear that no one else had left anything on the message board yet, but a lot could happen in three days so hopefully someone else would have left something by now.


    Another reason that Aralee and Bylur had chosen to continue searching through the maze was because they suspected that there might be other items like the magic map that could help them navigate it or even locate their missingpanions.


    Altogether their n was fairly sound, and as long as none of them died in the maze, it would almost certainly get them back together faster than just wandering around looking for each other as Evelyn had been doing.


    "Now, it costs thirty-four iron tokens to go back to the first floor, so it is not cheap, but with what we got from the dream flower and what I already have on me, we have enough." Aralee said, taking out the sixty-eight tokens they would need.


    Evelyn winced hearing how much it was. Realizing how nasty this domain could be.


    It was incredibly cheap toe to this floor from the first, but to leave it was not easy and cost a decent number of iron tokens that could only be gained through defeating the monsters in the maze.


    Still, the price was a small one to pay in order to find out the conditions of herpanions, and leave her own message stating that she was fine.


    Aralee and Evelyn having determined their next course of action, headed tot eh terminal within the checkpoint and activated it.


    Within just a couple of seconds they were caught up in the familiar glow of a warp portal and on their way back to the first floor.

 Chapter 326 326 Everyone’s Conditions

    When the light faded and Evelyn was able to see again, she craned her neck all around in search of any other of herpanions.


    Unfortunately, the crystal dome on the first floor waspletely clear of any other life.


    ''I suppose I should not have gotten my hopes up.''


    Evelyn sighed now that it was clear that no one else was here. She had been really hoping to meet with any of the others and confirm that they were in good health.


    "Sister, the board is here. And it looks like some of the others have been by." Aralee said excitedly, drawing Evelyn attention towards the simple message board.


    It was just two fairly straight sticks with a t piece of wood crudely tied between them.


    On it were pierces of parchment that had been tacked on by whatever was on hand. With some of the parchment having fallen off and onto the floor.


    ''The idea was sound, but the execution was not great. Neither Aralee nor Bylur are crafters, so I guess it makes sense that their work is a bit shoddy.''


    Looking up and down the very sad-looking message board Evelyn could not help but wish for something at least a bit better.


    Still, before she even thought about making improvements reading the messages that had been left was the most important thing to do.


    "It looks like Verrader and Rehni have been by since thest time I was here. They left details about their general locations within the maze and how they are doing." Aralee said, happily waving around the new sheets of parchment.


    Evelyn made her way over and read the contents herself and was relieved that the others were doing fine.


    There was also an important bit of information that Rehni had left behind.


    In one of the terminals she had gotten ess to their was an item that could be bought for three hundred tokens called a map enhancement. She did not have enough tokens at the time to buy it, and thus did not know exactly what it did, but the item would undoubtably help them out during their exploration of the maze.


    "This is certainly good information. Now we know to save up our tokens and search for a terminal that has one of these items in it." Evelyn said.


    She then turned to look at the message Verrader had left behind, but it was far less detailed than what Rehni had written.


    Basically, he just said that he was fine and thanked everyone for the information they had left. Evidently when he had warped back to this floor, he had not yet procured a magic map for the maze.


    Bylur had also been by and left a message updating his status within the maze. Apparently, he had found an area that was sealed a locked door he could not proceed through without some sort of key.


    Once Evelyn had finished reading all of the messages that had been left behind, she wrote up her own and described how she had met up with Aralee within the maze.


    "Now only Otis is unounted for. Though I am sure he is fine." Evelyn said after she posted her own message on the board.


    Not hearing from him was a bit nerve racking since his status waspletely unknown, but Evelyn had faith in him. Among them Otis was the strongest, being the only one of them at the tyrant rank.


    With their goal on the first floor aplished, Aralee headed over to the terminal in order to warp back to the second floor, but Evelyn stopped her.


    "Before we go, I want to make the message board a bit more presentable and functional. At this rate it is only a matter of time until a message gets lost, or it bes impossible to know the order in which things were posted."


    Evelyn found the current state of things with the message board to be uneptable. She could not stand to see how unorganized and ineffective it was. For the short term it would not be a problem, but it could take them several months to find each other within the maze and having an orderly message board would certainly help.


    "I get what you are saying sister, but how would we go about doing so? This was the best that Bylur and I could put together on short notice."


    "Yes, and Imend you foring up with the idea and executing it. But it is best to leave things like these to professionals." Evelyn said, her head held high.


    Aralee began looking at her with sparkling eyes, imagining Evelyn going out an easily creating a magnificent and easily organized message board for them to use.


    Of course, Evelyn was no master craftsman either and instead suggested that they take some time to head back to the Roost and procure what they needed.


    The sparkle in Aralee''s eyes began to fade just as fast as it had arrived. Certainly, she and Bylur had thought about going to the Roost as well but had concluded that it was more pertinent to get the board up quickly and continue exploring the maze.


    "I understand, and it think you made the right choice at the time. Now though, it will be best if we set things up properly. We already know that everyone other than Otis has found their way here, so it is only a matter of time before this message board is littered with pieces of parchment."


    Evelyn, having decided on their next course of action, lead Aralee back to the Roost. Where they procured a professionally made message board along with a desk filled with parchment and metal tacks that would make it much easier to attach the messages without having to worry about them falling off.


    There was also a drawer that would act as a file cab where old messages could be stored so that they were not mistaken for new ones.


    It only took around two days to gather all of the supplies and when they returned, Evelyn and Aralee set up what looked like a well-organized home office within the crystal dome.


    "Now it will be much easier for all of us to exchange information together." Evelyn said proudly.


    Even Aralee, who thought that this would be a waste of time was impressed. Seeing what they had now versus the crude board she and Bylur had set up was like night and day. Looking at all of the advantages of what they had now made her realize just how poor what she and Bylur had made really was.


    Quickly Evelyn took all of the pieces of parchment that had been posted on the old board and arranged them in order on the new one along with a couple of new messages exining how to properly use the new set up.


    "That ought to do it." Evelyn said happily.


    "Yes, now we can get back to exploring the maze. This new message board will go to waste if we do not collect any worthwhile information to share." Aralee said, moving over to the terminal.


    This time Evelyn did not stop her, though a part of her honestly did not ever want to go back into the maze after what had happened to her.


    Nevertheless, it was not something she could avoid, and the light of a warp portal soon enveloped her and Aralee. Taking them back to the second floor, where the maze was waiting for them.

 Chapter 327 327 Near The End Of The Maze

    ?


    "Another dead end."


    Evelyn sighed as she and Aralee came upon their thirty-sixth dead end of the day.


    It had now been nearly three months since they began exploring the second floor of the Verdant Warlord''s domain and they were getting extremely close to the center of the maze.


    Yet, the closer they got the more branching paths appeared that went nowhere and the faster the maze changed and made it difficult to keep their bearings.


    "The corridor we came through has already moved. We are going to need to go back and go down another path." Aralee said, looking at their magic map that had been upgraded twice.


    Now the map gave updated information within a radius of about half a kilometer rather than the fifty meters that it started out with.


    This allowed them to witness areas that they had recently passed through change in real time and scout for enemies that were not hiding at a greater range.


    It also should have helped them to find their otherparisons easier, but at this point the two of them had note across anyone else.


    At the very least they had been able to meet with everyone except for Otis on the first floor and been able to exchange information together.


    ''Verrader and Rehni managed to meet up, but we know they are on the other side of the maze, so meeting up with them will be impossible until we reach the center. As for Bylur, he is somewhere in the eastern side of the maze but finding him is also impracticable. The only real problem is Otis. He has note back to the first floor once so far.''


    Evelyn scratched her ws against the floor in frustration as she and Aralee tried to choose the next direction that they would go. They were closer to their goal than ever before, but the maze seemed intent on preventing them from reaching the center.


    "I suppose that our best bet is to go back and take the path we did not go down before. I just wish that we could have avoided it." Evelyn said, clearly unhappy about the decision.


    The map had disyed that the area was teeming with roaming enemies that were patrolling the area. A rarity in the maze where most of the creatures were hiding and lying in wait to initiate an ambush.


    But this did not mean that these monsters were stupidpared to the others. Just that they had no need to resort to hiding since they were almost always far stronger.


    Evelyn and Aralee had encountered a few such monsters before and each time it turned into a tough fight. Sometimes they even had to flee andpletely avoid the area.


    Luckily situations like these had been far lessmon since they upgraded their map to show a far wider area.


    "Maybe we will get lucky and canpletely avoid the monster patrolling the area." Aralee said, her expression full of optimism.


    However, Evelyn just grimaced as he sister basically just jinxed them into having to fight whatever was wandering the area they were about to pass through.


    "Get ready for a fight Aralee. I can feel that we are not getting through without any trouble."


    Resolved for conflict, Evelyn jumped back into the air and began flying down the giant corridors of the maze to next pathway she and her sister were going to try going down in order to find a way to the center of the maze.


    It was not long until they reached the area that they had previously avoided, and after a quick look at the map they began flying through it.


    For several minutes everything seemed to be going well and they had not encountered any sort of creatures and only hit one dead end.


    Unfortunately, when it seemed that their good luck was going strong, as they had found a terminal to ess and obtain powerful goods from, a red dot appeared on the map and was swiftlying towards them.


    ''Damn it. I knew we should not have stopped.''


    Gritting her beak, Evelyn hurriedly got Aralee to disconnect from the terminal and the two of them began racing in the opposite direction that the red dot wasing from.


    After spending so long together the two of them had their strategy for fleeing down. Aralee would use her momentum magic to speed them both up while Evelyn would lower their gravity.


    Then they would both use wind magic to elerate further and shoot down the corridors of the maze at blistering speeds.


    Sadly, their rush to escape was met with a dead end and when Aralee pulled out the map to try and plot a new course, she found that whatever had been chasing them was already catching up. Showing that this creature was unbelievably fast and persistent.


    "Aralee, you check the wall first, I will face whatever this thing is." Evelyn said, turning around and waiting for their pursuer.


    When the monster finally came around the corner and into view, Evelyn was shocked to see what it was.


    Normally the creatures roaming the maze and not hiding were incrediblyrge, but this one was actually smaller than Evelyn.


    Like all of the monsters in the maze it was a nt creature, but it had taken the form of a dragonfly.


    Its main body was made out of dark brown brambles with sharp thorns all over its body, while its wings were actually thin translucent green wings.


    Finally in ce of where a dragonfly''s eyes would be, were two sacks filled with some sort of liquid.


    From its appearance the monster resembled a dragonfly, but it was still very much a nt.


    ''This is the first time we havee across something that can fly. At least now I know how it was keeping up with us.''


    Her focus trainedpletely on this monster; Evelyn was waiting to see what its first move would be when she heard a loudmotion behind her. The dead end they hade across was actually a false wall and another enemy that they would need to deal with.

 Chapter 328 328 Backed Against The Wall

    ?


    A heavy crash shook the hedge maze behind Evelyn, and she could sense that Aralee was fighting the nt monster that had been disguising itself as a wall.


    However, despite her little sister fighting a dangerous enemy on her own, Evelyn did not dare turn around to even take a brief glimpse.


    The bramble dragonfly in front of her felt far more dangerous than the false hedge wall, and she was certain that if she took her eyes off it for a second that it would deliver a deadly blow.


    ''Let''s see how it handles this. Gravity hammer.''


    Using her newest and most devastating gravity magic, Evelyn focused all of her power into a one-meter radius circle above the bramble dragon fly and sent it crashing down on top of it.


    Yet, her attack did not connect. The instant her magic began to take shape, the tangle of nts shaped like a dragonfly shot backwards and away from the effective area of Evelyn''s attack.


    ''It actually dodged it!'' Evelyn thought in surprise. This was the very first time anything had avoided her gravity magic.


    During the single moment Evelyn was stunned by the monster''s absurd perception and speed, the bulbs on its head that looked like eyes began to contract and a powerful jet of the liquid within wasunched out of its mouth.


    Evelyn was caught off guard by this sudden attack and hastily formed a shield of magical energy in front of her to deflect it.


    She shuddered when the st of liquid hit her shield like a speeding bullet, and a web of cracks formed through the shield she had created.


    But the immense power and speed behind this attack was not the only thing that made it fearsome. Out of the corner of her eye Evelyn saw some of the liquid hit the walls of the hedge maze and the afflicted areas began to turn ck and shrivel up.


    Immediately Evelyn was able to tell that this liquid was likely some type of poison that worked on contact, and she highly doubted that it only affected other nts.


    After the initial shot the bramble dragon fly began rapidly firing its poison shots.


    Luckily, Evelyn had already seen this attack before and was confident that she could dodge it now as long as she stayed focused. Or at least, this is what she thought at first.


    The bramble dragonfly was not an unintelligent enemy and was not continuing to target Evelyn. Instead of all its shots were targeting Aralee who was engaged with the false hedge wall and was in no position to deal with the high-speed attacksing at her from behind.


    ''Damn it!''


    Watching the first shot go by her and hearing the pained cry from her sister, Evelyn realized what was going on and had to jump in the path of the reaming jets of poison.


    She used all of her power to maintain the shield in front of her, but the monster was not going to simply sit still and batter away at her.


    With its incredibly agility it changed potions after every shot and forced Evelyn to do the same if she did not want to let Aralee get hit again.


    The bramble dragonfly was also slowly closing in on Evelyn and making it more and more difficult for her to receive its attacks.


    Evelyn only sce in this treasonous situation was that she could still hear the sounds of battle behind her. Cleary Aralee was still alive, and even if she was poisoned, it was not debilitating yet.


    Unfortunately, Evelyn situation was not improving and was slowly getting worse.


    It was taking all of her focus to defend, and she could not muster up any offensive magic to strike back with while maintaining the magical energy shield in front of her.


    The bramble dragonfly was slowly getting closer to her and each of its sts of poison were bing stronger.


    Normally Evelyn could just back up in line with the monster''s approach, but behind her was the giant wall monster that Aralee was fighting, and bringing their two battles together would only make things far more chaotic and dangerous.


    This left Evelyn few options, and it was not long before she had to bet on a risky maneuver to get herself out of the situation she was in.


    ''Now!''


    When the bramble dragonfly had gotten close to breaking through Evelyn''s defenses, she dropped her magical energy shield and tilted her body to the side to avoid being directly hit by its iing attack.


    The jet of poison impacted into her armor in one of the thickest areas and ricocheted off into several directions.


    A bit of the poison did spray onto Evelyn as it hit her armor, but she ignored the iing searing pain and kept her focus trained on her enemy.


    No longer needing to maintain her shield, Evelyn concentrated all of her magical energy into her heavenly me and wind magic to propel herself directly towards the swift monster.


    At the same time, she extended the horns on her helmet and aimed to pierce through the bramble dragonfly.


    Evelyn was moving incredibly quickly and had lured in the monster as close as she could. Avoiding her attack should have been impossible, but the bramble dragon fly once again showed off its extraordinary agility.


    The monster twisted its body around and got out of Evelyn''s path despite how explosive her eleration was.


    As she passed by the creature her horns only connected with its left front limb and tore it off.


    Sadly, this was not much of an injury for the bramble dragon fly, and as Evelyn was flying by it, unable to stop her momentum, it swung out with its barbed tail and mmed it into Evelyn.


    Before she knew exactly what had happened, Evelyn felt herself m into the wall of the maze and bounce off onto the ground where she slid until heavily hitting the wall at the end of the corridor anding to a painful stop.

 Chapter 329 329 Reversing The Situation

    ?


    Evelyn felt her body aching and her head spinning after crashing into the wall at the end of the maze''s corridor. She had endured her fair share of attacks within the maze, but this was definitely among one of the worst.


    ''I have to get back up. The battle is not over yet.''


    Gritting her beak, Evelyn forced her body back up, but it was far more difficult than she had been anticipating.


    Despite onlying in contact with a small amount of the bramble dragonfly''s poison, she could feel the deadly substances already slowing her down.


    Unfortunately, Evelyn did not have a single moment to try and recover before she felt an extreme sense of dangering from behind her.


    ''Reverse Press!''


    Evelyn immediately grasped that she would not be able to block or dodge the attacking from her in a conventional manner and instead massively lowered the gravity around herself and pushed off the ground into the air.


    This allowed her to leap out of the way of the iing st of poison from her enemy, but the next thing she felt was crashing into the ceiling of the hedge maze.


    Luckily, with the gravity being far lesser around her the impact was not nearly as bad as it would have been otherwise.


    The instant after she felt her momentum stop, Evelyn scanned around for where the bramble dragonfly was and saw it repositioning to take another shot at her.


    Evelyn braced for impact, understanding that dodging or blocking this attack was only going to force her back into a defensive battle she was going to lose. She needed to attack if she wanted to win.


    Focusing on speed above all else, Evelyn created a single javelin of of fire wrapped and win and fired it off at the monster.


    Her attack came off just a second after the bramble dragonfly''s and all she could do was move her head out of the way and let it hit her in the shoulder instead.


    This time her armor was not fully able to take the direct hit, and she felt part of the high-speed jet of liquid break through and pierce into her right shoulder.


    A decent amount of the poison also sshed against her face and into her eyes, causing Evelyn and excruciating amount of pain.


    She nearly lost focus on her own attack, but pain was something she had plenty of experience enduring and she barely kept her wits about her andunched her counterattack. The single javelin made of her heavenly me and enhanced by wind magic sted off towards its target.


    Yet, the bramble dragonfly was easily able to evade, its agility being far greater than anything Evelyn had ever faced before.


    It would seem that Evelyn''sst-ditch attack had failed but she still smiled even as she began to fall towards the ground.


    The bramble dragonfly seemed to understand her intentions a momentter and turned its body around to see the false hedge wall getting sted by Evelyn''s attack.


    Just as the bramble dragonfly had been aiming its attacks at Aralee to force Evelyn to intercept it, Evelyn had done the same now that their positions had changed.


    Surely, her opponent would never put itself in harms way to take an attack for another monster in the maze, but at least Evelyn was able to help Aralee out and damage her opponent.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn''s attack had not finished off Aralee''s opponent, and she was barely able to move after all the damage she had taken.


    Still, she did not believe the situation was hopeless, and when the bramble dragonfly turned to finish her off, she felt assured of her victory.


    Before it couldunch another attack against her, Evelyn spread out her increased gravity field.


    As the magic advanced it was noticeable from the leaves of the hedge maze dropping under the increased gravity, and the bramble dragonfly sensed the magicing its way.


    For the second time it avoided Evelyn gravity magic by swiftly flying to the edge of the gravity field''s range.


    However, the monster found itself under attack again before it even realized what was happening. A glowing yellow orb impacted its body just as it escaped the range of Evelyn''s gravity field.


    From behind, Aralee had attacked it with her momentum magic and was slowing it down. Now the bramble dragonfly''s greatest asset, its agility was crippled.


    Aralee spun by the monster, turning her body into a twister of sharp wind as she did.


    Unable to fully avoid the attack, the monster folded its wings in and contorted its body into a ball where only its hardened wooden body was exposed.


    Aralee''s wing sliced into it as she flew by, but she only inflicted light scratches.


    At the very least her wind magicunched the bramble dragon fly away and she flew past it towards her sister.


    Evelyn, seeing Aralee, approaching though blurred vision. Deactivated her gravity field and allowed her little sister to reach her.


    Immediately she felt a cold liquid ssh against her face, before a pill bottle was jammed into her mouth.


    A soothing sensation quickly began to spread over Evelyn as the healing position Aralee had doused her in began to take effect, and the four antidote pills that Evelyn swallowed took the edge off the poison coursing through her body.


    Blinking her eyes a few times, Evelyn felt her vison beginning to return now that the poison''s effects were lessening, and the healing position was fixing the damage.


    For good measure she took out another healing position and drank it. Before turning her attention towards the enemy that had put her into such a terrible state.


    Aralee''s attack had only slowed it down and pushed it away. There was no doubt that it would not be back.


    ''It looks like we are in luck though. We have a few more seconds to recovery.'' Evelyn thought as she watched the current situation.


    While monsters of the same type would team up and not be hostile towards each other, the same could not be said for those of different types.


    When it lost its current target, the false hedge wall had started attacking the next closest entity, which was currently the bramble dragonfly.


    Certainly, the hedge wall was going to lose against the far stronger monster, but it was at least holding the creature off while Evelyn recovered.

 Chapter 330 330

    "How are you doing Aralee? I know you got hit by its poison as well." Evelyn said while swallowing some magical energy replenishment pills and sshing another healing potion on her shoulder where she had taken the most damage.


    It was certainly reckless to use so many restoratives at once since it put extreme strain on her body after the fact, but Evelyn did not have much of an option in the current situation. She needed to force her body back into fighting shape to deal with the bramble dragonfly that was only seconds away from destroying the false hedge wall and turning its attention back towards her and her sister.


    "I am doing okay. It was only a ncing blow, and my opponent was not as dangerous as yours, so I already had time to recovery a bit." Aralee said, wearing a resolute expression.


    However, Evelyn could see that she was still suffering from the poison just as she was. The magical antidotes she had created using alchemy were taking the edge off, but the bramble dragonfly''s poison was too potent for the medicine they currently had to fully stop it.


    ''I am probably going to need to use its poison as a base for a true antidote if I want to get it out of our systems. That means we need to retrieve the bulbs intact.''


    Evelyn internally groaned at this prospect as just fighting the monster was hard enough, but trying to preserve part of it at the same time was going to be far more difficult.


    Unfortunately, she did not have time toe up with any sort of concrete n, as the bramble dragonfly took down the giant shrub that had been disguising itself as part of the maze.


    "Aralee, keep it slowed down with your momentum magic and use your wind magic to restrict its movements the best that you can. Don''t worry about doing any damage to it. I will bring it down with my magic."


    Once Evelyn had finished giving out her instructions, she took back into the air despite her body''s protest.


    From there she began spreading out small sparks of her heavenly me as if hundreds of fireflies had juste out. She knew that even her fastest attacks were unlikely to hit their adversary and nned to catch it within a field of magic it could not escape from.


    Of course, the bramble dragonfly was not just going to hover in the air and wait for Evelyn''s sparks to reach it and began firing off more jets of its deadly poison while approaching at an incredible speed.


    This time though, Evelyn did not have to deal with its assault by herself and Aralee stepped in and fired off several yellow balls of magic that intercepted the monster''s attacks.


    When the balls of momentum magic hit, the fast-moving poison shots began to slow down to less than half of their original speed and they became far easier to avoid.


    The incredible speed of its attacks and movements was the bramble dragonfly''s greatest assets, but Aralee''s magic was a perfect counter to it. In a way, she was its natural enemy.


    ''Oh, it is going to run.''


    Evelyn was a bit surprised to see their enemy turn around and fly away when it had been relentlessly attacking them before.


    Nevertheless, it was able to detriment that it stood little chance against Evelyn and Aralee while they were working together.


    The floating sparks of Evelyn''s heavenly me prevented it from approaching, and Aralee''s momentum magic slowed down tis ranged attacks to the point that they were ineffective.


    "We are going after it. We need some of its poison and it is too dangerous for us to let it go here." Evelyn said, giving chase.


    Aralee followed Evelyn''s directive despite wanting to simply be done fighting such a dangerous enemy and gave chase.


    Chasing after it was easier said than done, however. The bramble dragon fly was incredible quick and pushing themselves to keep up only sped up the spread of the poison in Evelyn''s and Aralee''s bodies.


    Yet, the maze that had been infuriating to no end for them finally worked in their favor. After pursuing the monster for several minutes, Evelyn and her sister caught up to it at a dead end. Now their enemy had nowhere left to flee.


    "Deceleration Gate."


    Without any other option left to it, the bramble dragon fly had tried to take Evelyn and Aralee by surprise and rush them the second they came around the corridor that led to the dead end it was trapped in.


    Nevertheless, they had been tracking it with their magical map and knew it had been trapped. Allowing Aralee to cast a wide range spell between them.


    The instant that the bramble dragonfly flew through the giant shimmering yellow gate its incredible speed rapidly began to drop.


    It was still moving fast, but not to the point that Evelyn could not keep up with it anymore.


    ''Whirlwind de.''


    Evelyn extended the des on the tip of her wings and began rapidly spinning her body around. Turning her entire body into one giant wind de.


    Her magic sliced the bramble dragonfly in half. Sending the separated parts of tis body flying in different directions.


    In ast-ditch effort, the monster fired off onest volley of poison jets at Evelyn, but Aralee stepped in by slowing them down and blowing them away with her wind magic.


    With two heavy thuds both halves of the bramble dragonfly crashed against the hedge maze and fell tot eh ground.


    The tail end had already gonepletely stiff, but the side that had its head swiftly got back up and its body began to morph. It may have taken the appearance of a dragonfly, but it was still a nt monster that was not easily put down.


    Its twisted together bramble body began to unravel, and it used what used to make up the length of its body as new legs to run away on now that its wings were no longer operable.

 Chapter 331 331

    ?


    "It certainly is adaptable." Evelyn said as she watched the front half of the bramble dragonfly start to run away.


    Now the monster more resembled a spider from rearranging its body to function even after being cut in half.


    Nevertheless, it did not have the power to fly anymore, and its chances of escape were pretty much zero.


    Evelyn and Aralee were easily able to catch up to it, and while it did turn its head around and start firing at them with more jets of poison, its overall power had greatly diminished, and it was easy enough to corner.


    Soon, Evelyn hadnded right on top of it and using her ws she mmed its head into the ground to prevent it from firing off any more sts of poison.


    Then she carefully extracted its bulbs so that she could use the poison to create a perfect antidote to neutralize the poison still coursing through her and Aralee that their current medicine could only slow down.


    "You gave us a run for our money, but this is the end for you." Evelyn said as she engulfed the remains of the once powerful monster in her heavenly me.


    It let out a hellish screech as it went up in mes, but soon its body was reduced to only to ash.


    Following its destruction, the nging of several iron tokens resounded through the area as they rained down around where the monster had once been.


    Except along with these tokens was something that Evelyn and Aralee had not seen before after defeating one of the monsters in the maze.


    ''A key?''


    Tilting her head, Evelyn looked at the item in bewilderment for a moment, before her eyes went wide in realization.


    While she and Aralee had not personallye across any yet, Bylur hade across an area of the maze that had been locked behind a sealed door that needed a key to ess it andter Rehni had reported finding one of her own.


    Naturally they had all assumed that this key would show up as an item that could be purchased from the terminals through the maze, but now it seemed that these keys were dropped by defeated monsters.


    "I suppose if we evere across one of those sealed doors we can see if this will open it." Evelyn said as she picked up and examined the key.


    It was ornate and resembled the creature that it had dropped from. Having two slightly glowing gems embedded in it and begin made out of a metal Evelyn did not recognize.


    After she had finished looking over the key, Evelyn stored it away and began gathering the iron tokens along with Aralee. Overall, the bramble dragonfly had dropped one hundred eighty-seven tokens. Far less than Evelyn thought was fair after how much trouble it had given her.


    Unfortunately, their high spirits did notst long, as the poison that was still afflicting them quickly made its presence known again.


    Evelyn and Aralee began to feel a sharp pain in their bodies and their temperatures rose as their immune systems tried to fight off the poison. It had been easy to ignore the effects while in the heat of a desperate battle, but now that they had calmed down, the damage the poison was doing to them was more apparent.


    Their extreme movements and excessive use of their magic had not helped either and it seemed that the effects of the antidotes they had taken could only go so far.


    ''This sure is one hell of a poison. Probably strong enough to bring down even stronger tyrant ranks if they do not receive any treatment.''


    Evelyn began to feel her head be hazy, but she bit down on her tongue to give herself a spike of pain and refocus.


    The poison was strong but far from enough to kill her right away. Even if she did nothing it would probably take a couple of days for her to whittle her down before she died thanks to the antidotes and healing potions she had already taken.


    So long as she pushed through the pain and difort she could still function mostly normally.


    "Just give me a bit of time. I will make us a more potent antidote." Evelyn said to Aralee, who was clearly not doing as well. Having slumped up against the hedge maze and breathing heavily. Her body was not nearly as tough as Evelyn''s.


    Without wasting another moment, Evelyn took out her alchemy equipment and the ingredients she would need.


    ''And the magic spring water for good measure.''


    Evelyn poured in a healthy amount of the water she had collected from the magic spring to enhance the true antidote she was making.


    Normally antidotes would be of a universal kind that worked to eliminate or diminish most poisons of the same rank as the medicine, but a true antidote used the poison one was inflicted with as a base for the antidote.


    However, as Evelyn was close to finishing the brew, disaster stuck.


    Coming around the corner of the maze was a giant glowing pumpkin that had a monstrous face on it like a Jack-o''-Lantern, with wriggling tendrils carrying its body.


    This was the absolute worst timing as Evelyn was ill prepared to defend herself, and stopping the brewing where she was at would certainly ruin it.


    "Aralee, what are you doing!?" Evelyn shouted.


    Her little sister had gotten up off the wall of the maze she had been resting on and was moving to face the monstrosity that was rushing towards them.


    But unlike Evelyn who, was still in fairly decent condition, Aralee was faring far worse. Evelyn was certain that any more fighting would only make the poison speed up and kill her faster.


    "Just keep focused on the antidote. I will hold it off until you are finished. Then you cane and rescue me again" Aralee said resolutely.


    Yet, as she prepared to fight with her line on the line, it became apparent that the monster Jack-o''-Lantern was noting to attack them but running from something else.

 Chapter 332 332

    ?


    Evelyn and Aralee braced themselves for the worst when they noticed the giant monster Jack-o''-Lantern running from something else. But it soon became clear that their fears were unfounded.


    A massive spear made of sand skewered the monster from behind, and the huge pumpkin copsed into a heap before disappearing and leaving behind several iron tokens.


    Now fully in Evelyn and Aralee''s line of sight was Otis, looking proud of the kill he had just confirmed.


    Yet, his expression soon shifted to one of shock when he saw Evelyn and Aralee sitting at the other end of the corridor.


    "EVELYN!" Otis shouted, flying at full speed towards her.


    It only took Otis a few seconds to cross the distance and hended right in front of Evelyn with one of the happiest expressions she had ever seen on him. Second only to right after they had reimed his ancestral home.


    "I was so worried when we all got separated. I am d to see that you are alrigh-"


    However, before Otis could finish his sentence, he noticed that Evelyn was far from doing well. She currently had a sickly look to her, and her normally powerful aura was much weaker.


    He then for the first time truly looked towards Aralee and saw that she was far worse off and had slumped over against the wall of the maze now that the threat was over.


    "Evelyn, what is wrong?" Otis asked, his mood shifting instantly to one of panic.


    He began asking several questions about what had happened or if there was anything he could do to help, but his concern was really only halting Evelyn from continuing to make the medicine that she and Aralee needed.


    "Otis, I will exin what happened to you in a bit. Right now, I am making the medicine that we need to recover. Just keep watch for us and do not bother me until I am done." Evelyn said, pain and difort from the poison making her a bit less friendly than normal.


    Immediately Otis realized that he had upset her. He may have wanted to understand the situation and help, but he was actually just slowing Evelyn down.


    "I am sorry, I will make sure that the nothing else interrupts you." Otis said, before taking to the air and acting as a sentry for Evelyn and Aralee.


    Without any more distraction Evelyn went back to creating the true andtodte that were cure her and her sister.


    It only took her a few more minutes toplete and with Otis watching out for them she was able to devote her entire focus to the endeavor.


    There were now a half dozenpleted pills sitting at the bottom of Evelyn''s cauldron and with her talons she gripped one and brough it closer to properly examine them.


    ''Pretty subpar, but it should do.''


    Thanks to the poison weakening her, Evelyn had not been able to create the absolute best true antidote pills that her skill level would normally allow her to.


    Of course, for any other alchemist of a simr rank as her, they would have been more than satisfied with the quality, but Evelyn held herself to higher standards because of all the advantages she had.


    Nevertheless, it was not really the time for her to criticize her work that was done under less-than-ideal situations and Evelyn swiftly tossed one of the pills into her mouth and swallowed it.


    Within just a minute the properties of the alchemical item began to spread throughout her body and she felt the deadly poison being neutralized.


    ''That feels much better.''


    Evelyn let out a sigh of relief as the pain from the poison began to dissipate.


    Still, the damage that had been done to her system still lingered and she needed to drink another healing potion in order to fully fix herself.


    "Aralee, the antidote is ready." Evelyn said, informing her sister.


    Aralee''snguid demeanor seemed topletely vanish the moment Evelyn announced this, and she rushed over to her despite the stress the poison was putting on her. The prospect of recovering her health was enough to give her a burst of energy.


    She hastily took one of the pills and swallowed it, and it was not long before she let out a blissful sigh as the medicine did its work.


    "How are you feeling now?" Evelyn asked once a couple of minutes had transpired. One pill had not been enough topletely neutralize the poison for her and she had needed to take another. She wanted to know if Aralee was in the same situation.


    "No, I think that I am fine. I do not feel any of the poison in me anymore. I did not get hit by nearly as much of it as you did." Aralee said, holding her head up high and speeding out her wings to show that she was doing fine.


    Yet, in the next moment, she began to waver, and fell over onto the ground.


    "Aralee!"


    Evelyn was rmed to see her little sister suddenly copse and rushed right over to assess her condition.


    "Evelyn, what is wrong?" Otis asked, as hended right next to her after hearing her outburst.


    But by the time Otis had arrived Evelyn had already calmed down now that she knew what was going on.


    "It looks like Aralee has reached her limit. She simply fell asleep. After some rest she will be fine." Evelyn said, her distress from earlier having vanished.


    "We cannot leave her like this. She will wake up quite sore if she sleeps on the ground like this. Help me prop her up onto a cushion."


    Otis nodded his head and began assisting Evelyn to make Araleefortable while she slept.


    Once they had assured that Aralee would be able to rest peacefully, Otis turned towards Evelyn and asked for the details of what had urred.


    "Sorry, Otis. You are going to have to wait a little while. I pushed myself just as hard as Aralee. I cannot stay up any longer."


    Evelyn slowly began to wobble and just keeping herself from falling over as Aralee had was all she could do.


    Thankfully, Otis was plenty understanding and helped her get settled in as well.


    "Please watch over us Otis. There is no one else I can leave this to." Evelyn said as her consciousness was fading.


    "Of course. You can count on me, Evelyn. I will make sure that nothing disrupts your sleep. I would even turn a god away for you."

 Chapter 333 333

    ?


    "Evelyn? Evelyn, are you alright?!"


    Suddenly, feeling herself being shaken and shouted out, Evelyn woke up from the dream she had been having.


    Looking towards the source of the disturbance she found Otis in his humanoid form, looking at her with concern. However, Evelyn was far more distressed to see him no longer looking like a tiny owl, but a young man without any clothes on.


    "O-Otis! What are you doing?! Why are you in your humanoid from?!"


    Evelyn immediately averted her gaze away from him in a rare show of embarrassment. Normally an owl would not care about seeing another naked even in a humanoid form, but as Evelyn had once been human, her mind still carried some of the inclinations of her past life.


    It did not help that in total years spent between both her first and second life she would not be much over eighteen years old and only considered a fledgling adult.


    Of course, Otis did not understand exactly why Evelyn always reacted in such an uncharacteristic manner when he took his humanoid form, but he understood that it distressed her, so he transformed back.


    "I am sorry. You were thrashing about in your sleep and mumbling about something. I was not sure what was wrong, but when you cut yourself, I had to act. When I tried waking you up at first my body was notrge enough to meaningfully shake you, so I transformed. Please forgive me, it will not happen again."


    Otis hung his head low after apologizing, feeling troubled that he had upset Evelyn.


    "No, it is fine. You have nothing to apologize for Otis. I must have been moving around quite violently if you felt it prudent to wake me up. I was just shocked to see you in your humanoid form. That''s all."


    Evelyn did her best to assuage Otis'' worries, but at this rate he was getting close to developing aplex about his humanoid form. And unfortunately, Evelyn was far too embarrassed to exin.


    "At least you seem to be fine now. But what was it you were dreaming about that made you convulse so violently that you injured yourself with your own talons?" Otis asked.


    However, while Evelyn did not really remember much of her dream after waking up, she knew it had been about something she truly did not want to talk about.


    "Were you dreaming about that man named Mason again?" Aralee interjected.


    She had been woken up by themotion Evelyn and Otis had caused and quickly deduced the cause. Ever since the encounter with the dream flower, Evelyn had been having recurring nightmares about her and her brother''s deaths.


    Naturally Aralee had already witnessed several of Evelyn''s violent fits while they traversed the maze together, but her sister had so far refused to address the issue.


    With Otis backing her up, Aralee tried to get Evelyn to open up about whatever was unsettling her, but she was not ready to discuss it.


    "This is not the time or ce for it, nor does it really matter anymore. I will tell all of youter. For now, finding the others is our priority. Otis, how long were we asleep for?" Evelyn said, quickly changing the subject.


    "It has been nearly two and a half days since you both fell asleep. How are you doing now?" Otis asked, still looking concerned about the problems that had been guing Evelyn.


    "I feel mostly recovered now." Evelyn responded. Though she was disregarding the couple of shallow cuts she had inflicted on herself during her sleep.


    Aralee also confirmed that she was doing much better and would likely be back at her peak capabilities after having something to eat.


    Swiftly Otis prepared some food for them, and while it was just raw meat with a few magical nts it was enough to fill their bellies.


    Once they were all full, the three of them took out Aralee''s magical map and began plotting their course towards the center of the maze.


    "By the way Otis, what have you been up to since we were all separated? You are the only one that never returned to the first floor. Honestly, we were starting to get worried about you." Evelyn said, sensing that her twopanions were still hung up on her nightmare and wanting to shift their focus.


    Luckily, this worked, and Aralee jumped on in questioning Otis.


    "What do you mean, why would I have returned tot eh first floor? Wasn''t the goal to traverse the maze and find each other. What would returning to the first floor have done for me?" Otis said, his head tilted to the side in confusion.


    He had not considered the advantages of going back to the first floor to try and meet up with the others and exchange information. He had pretty much been single-mindedly focused on heading towards the center of the maze where he figured it would be more likely to run into everyone else. He figured that returning to the first floor would be a waste of time before they were all together again.


    This only confirmed to Evelyn and Aralee that while Otis was the strongest, his ability to n and think was not great.


    Though this only made sense, as Otis was a beast that had lived out in the wild for his entire life. Evelyn and the others had received an education at the Roost and were able to make ns beyond just brute force.


    "Well, it is good to see that you are doing alright. Out of everyone I figured you were the least likely to get into any real trouble. If it had been any of the others, I am not sure I could have contained my worry." Evelyn said.


    This helped to bring Otis'' mood up, as he took Evelyn''s words to be praise for his prowess. Of everyone, she was most confident in his ability to take care of himself.


    "No, let''s get moving. We are close tot eh center, but the maze has not been making it easy for us to reach our goal. The others might already be waiting for us, so we need to hurry and find a way in."

 Chapter 334 334 To The Center Of The Maze

    ?


    Over the next several days Evelyn, Aralee, and Otis searched through the maze, slowly getting closer to the center.


    Nevertheless, the closer they got, the more quickly the maze shifted and prevented them from reaching their goal.


    For one moment a path straight to the center may have been open, but the next it was closed off and led in thepete opposite direction. This led to one frustrating situation after the next.


    Eventually they managed to make some progress, but not in the way that they had been expecting.


    The three of them had backtracked a fair distance from the center where the maze was not as prone to change, hoping to find another path to try, when they came across arge, sealed door.


    This was the first time Evelyn and Aralee hade across one, though Otis mentioned that this was the third one he had seen since their initial arrival in the maze.


    However, this was not just any door, but one that had carving on it that resembled a wooden dragonfly.


    ''Perhaps.'' Evelyn thought, pulling out the key she had obtained from the bramble dragonfly.


    The moment she brough it out the key began glowing and the giant lock on chain sealed lock on the door began to rotate until all of the chains came loose, and it fell to the floor with a loud ng.


    The door then began to slowly open inwards with a loud scraping sound as it brushed against the ground.


    Inside the now open area was one of the terminals that could be essed to obtain items from the domain or activate traps, but this one was clearly different.


    Not only was it a different color, being a brilliant silver color, and it was also not a pyramid as the other terminals were. This one was a slowly rotating dodecahedron with each of its faces protruding outwards into points.


    "Whoa! What just happened?" Otis said, looking between Evelyn and the open door. Naturally he was surprised to see one of these mysterious doors open for the first time, and unlike Aralee he did not know about the key beforehand.


    Evelyn swiftly exined how she and Aralee had fought a particrly nasty monster in the maze and received a key for defeating it.


    "Oh, I was wondering what the patterns on these doors were meant for. So that is it." Otis said in a moment of realization.


    Apparently, he had actuallye across the monster depicted on one of the doors he hade across, but the creature had been too difficult for him to defeat so he fled from it. He had already passed the corresponding door at the time, and figured it was a warning about a dangerous creature rather than indicating the monster that the key could be obtained from it.


    "I suppose that if we are unable to find a path to the center of the maze soon, we can backtrack to that monster and see if collecting a certain number of keys is a necessary requirement. There is just still so much we do not know about this ce." Evelyn said, more frustrated with how difficult the maze had been rather than happy about their new discovery.


    However, after passing through the door and essing the silver terminal Evelyn realized just how amazing the discovery they had made was.


    This terminal was not like the normal ones that they mighte across that had a small list of items that could be obtained by trading tokens, this one had a massive catalog of items Evelyn had never even heard of before. Each of the items was also about eighty percent cheaper than they would be if found in a normal terminal.


    ''I can''t believe there is something like this in here.''


    As she was scrolling through the seemingly never-ending list Evelyn came across a certain item that would make their lives far easier.


    For just five hundred iron tokens she would be able to purchase a one-time use warp pad that would take a single individual directly to the center of the maze. Completely bypassing the difficulties of reaching the area.


    It would certainly not be cheap to buy three of these items to let them all reach the center of the maze, but they had enough after fighting through the maze for so long and Evelyn was feeling fed up with constantly having to turn back and being stuck at dead ends.


    ''There are many other powerful and useful items that we could get here, but meeting up with all the others is our first priority. It is not that I am just sick of wandering around this maze.'' Evelyn thought, justifying her decision.


    Before she could doubt herself, she pulled out all of the tokens she had on her and asked Otis to give her his as well. Only when they added everything their party had collected did they have enough to purchase the three single-use warp pads.


    "Are you sure that we should have spent most of our tokens on these. Thest time we checked in, none of the others had managed to reach the center of the maze. Perhaps we should at least save them until we know someone else has arrived." Aralee suggested.


    With how difficult it was to actually reach the center of the maze; she was worried that they would spend several weeks simply waiting around for the others to reach the location. It was even possible that obtaining these warp pads was the only way.


    "It has been over a week now since we returned to the first floor to check on the information the others have left behind. Going to any of the checkpoints we know about would take us a fair amount of time, but we can return to the first floor immediately from the center of the maze if we do not find anyone else there and tell them about what we have learned. I believe it is in our best interest to go right now." Evelyn said.


    She understood her sister''s point of view and perhaps if they had not been wandering through the maze for so long she would have agreed to it, but she was tired of not making any concrete progress. Their goal was now essible, and she did not want to wait any longer.


    "I think that Evelyn is correct. We can get more done from the center of the maze. For all we know the others could already be waiting for us. Or perhaps we will be able to reactive another amp upgrade that will make it easier for us to find them. The possibilities are endless." Otis said, naturally backing Evelyn up.


    He did not really have much of an opinion either way as he had already found the person he cared most about and considered locating the others a secondary objective. He was only supporting using the warp pads now because it was Evelyn''s idea.


    Aralee, faced with overwhelming opposition, relented on her n. There were numerous unknown variables that could make either choice better.


    "Now, let us head to the center of the maze. If we are lucky, the others will already be there waiting for us." Evelyn said before setting down the three single-use warp pads.

 Chapter 335 335 At The Center Of The Maze

    ?


    When the light of the warp portal faded, Evelyn, Aralee, and Otis found themselves in an area that waspletely unfamiliar.


    It was simr to the checkpoints found throughout the maze, but farrger and containing several of the domain''s terminals within it.


    However, the most noticeable was at the northern end where a truly massive, leafless, and ungainly shaped tree that had motes of red lightning constantly flickering out of the multitude of cracks in its bark and dancing around it rested. Certainly, it was somewhat beautiful thanks to the red lightning, but the tree''s overall presence was far more eerie and oppressive.


    ''What the hell is that thing? Why is it here?'' Evelyn thought her instincts telling her not to get anywhere near the tree.


    Despite it justying unmoving at the northern end of the center of the maze, Evelyn was confident that it was not just for decoration and that getting too close to it would be deadly.


    At the very least, it did not show any signs of hostility so long as they stood in the center of the maze and did not approach it.


    "It looks like we are the first ones here. Unfortunately, the rest of ourpanions are still lost in the maze somewhere." Aralee said, being the first to scan over the entire area.


    Following her sister, Evelyn took her eyes off of the deadly tree at the north of the giant room and looked around.


    As she did, she noticed that there were three entrances and exits for the center of the maze. One situated in each of the cardinal directions except for north.


    This gave them confirmation that there were ways through the maze to reach the center other than using the single-use warp pad that they had spent most of their tokens on.


    "Aralee, the map." Evelyn said, suddenly realizing something important.


    Eyes going wide, Aralee understood what her sister was getting at and quickly pulled out the magical map that depicted the massive maze.


    Now that they had made it to the center of the maze it had updated with information pertaining to their new location within a half kilometer radius. Allowing them to check the rtionship between where they had been before and where the center of the maze was.


    "It looks like this is the closest that we managed to get to the center at any point. But we were still probably a couple of kilometers away." Aralee said, pointing out the nearest point ont eh map to the center.


    Even after all their searching for several days, they had not gotten very close to reaching the center. Giving Evelyn more validation in her decision to use the warp pads to reach the elusive location.


    "Here, give the map to me. I want to fly around the edge of the room and get more information the surrounding area." Evelyn said.


    The central chamber was farrger than the radius of the map, but by flying around the edge they would be able to learn about the passages around it.


    "That is a great idea." Aralee said, passing the map over to Evelyn. But before she let go, she nervously looked towards the monstrous tree.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t go near that thing."


    After receiving Evelyn''s assurance, Aralee released the map.


    Going around the perimeter of the giant room, Evelyn watched as the amp''s information updated and showed the paths of the maze that came within range of the map''s radius.


    Evelyn stopped for a few moments once she had gone around a third of the perimeter and simply watched the paths that came near the center of the maze.


    Before her eyes she watched the corridors change incredibly quickly. Showing her exactly why it was so difficult to reach the center of the maze without simply warping into it.


    It was not long before Evelyn had made it most of the way around the room and was getting close to the leafless tree crackling with red lightning.


    She was confident that approaching it too closely would lead to danger, but she was curious to see how it would appear on the map and moved within five hundred meters of it.


    As she did, the tree that had remained still except for the red lightning dancing out of its cracked bark began to ever so slightly move.


    Evelyn watched its limbs shift in her direction and the eight roots jammed into the ground began to lift up out of the ground.


    Immediately Evelyn backed off, her heart beating heavily in her chest. She had been afraid that she was about to be attacked by whatever sort of monstrous creature this tree was, but once she had gotten further away from it settled back down into its resting position.


    Nevertheless, her brash actions hadted her a bit of useful information.


    On the map the tree appeared as a red dot, indicating that it was an enemy. But it also had a three-hundred-meter radius glowing white circle around it. Which Evelyn figured was probably the radius that it could attack within.


    Another thing she noticed was that the tree was situated atop a warp pad. What it led to; she was unsure of. But it was clear that using the pad would mean defeating the tree.


    When she returned to Aralee, the answer to this question became clear.


    While Evelyn had been flying around the room, Aralee had activated the terminals around the area to find out what functions they had, but not a single one of them would allow them to ascend tot eh third level of the domain. Something that the Vestige of the Verdant Warlord had assured them was located at the center of the maze.


    "I suppose that means that we cannot go any further. When I got closer to it, my instincts were telling me it was not something I could hope to fight. Even all six of us together would not be a match for it right now."

 Chapter 336 336 Information Exchange

    ?


    Aftering to the consensus that they could not take on the ungainly leafless tree sitting in the northern part of the central room and guarding the warp pad to the third floor of the domain, Evelyn, Aralee, and Otis focused on their main goal.


    "Bylur, Rehni, and Verrader are still wandering the maze. The first thing we need to do is return to the first floor and inform them that we have made it to the center and how we got here." Evelyn said.


    "That is certainly important, but there is something else that we should address first." Aralee said, directing Evelyn and Otis''s attention to one of the several terminals that were dotted around the area.


    She exined that this one had the sole function of upgrading their magic map further and giving it the function to connect with checkpoints that they had registered on the map and use them to warp around the maze.


    "Unfortunately, applying to upgrade to our map is going to cost two thousand five hundred iron tokens. We will need to continue hunting in the maze for quite some time if we want to gain ess to this, but I can only see it helping us in the long run." Aralee said.


    Evelyn nodded her head in agreement. Certainly, there were many valuable things that could be obtained from the domain, but being able to warp around the maze even to a limited degree would help alleviate the difficulty in navigating its ever-changing corridors.


    "Yes, we definitely need to inform the others about this. Depending on how many tokens each of them has, we may be able to use this function sooner rather thanter." Evelyn said, d that Aralee had investigated this. Once they gained this function with the magical map, they would not have to worry about not being able to reach the center of the maze again whenever they left and would just make exportation much easier.


    Still, before they could continue with any other ns it was pertinent that the three of them return to the first floor to leave behind not only the information they had collected, but that they had met up with Otis.


    When they returned to the first floor though, an unexpected surprise was waiting for them.


    Standing in front of the message board was Rehni, and she was carefully examining the area for new information.


    "Rehni!"


    Happy to see her friend again, Evelyn jumped up and flew over to her.


    Rehni''s head jerked all the way around and she went wide eyed to see Evelynnding right in front of her.


    With scrutinizing eyes, Evelyn looked Rehni up and down. She was checking her friend for new wounds and frowned when she saw the several scars that were all over Rehni''s body.


    "You don''t need to worry about these. They were only light wounds. I am already mostly recovered thanks to the potions you gave me before we left the Roost." Rehni said bashfully. Anyway, we have more important things to discuss. I am quite close to the center of the maze now and want to discuss what I have found out since thest time wemunicated."


    Rehni enthusiastically began to share what she had learned, but Otis quickly cut her off and said that they had discovered several things that were far more important.


    He then turned to Evelyn to allow her to exin, but she just sighed, while Rehni wore a grumpy expression.


    "Otis, it is true that we have much to tell her, but there was no need to interrupt. Please continue Rehni." Evelyn said.


    After being reprimanded, Otis stood meekly behind Evelyn with his head lowered while Rehni finished exining what she had learned.


    "I see. That is very interesting." Evelyn said, her eyes filled with engrossment.


    Rehni had found a secret passageway that entered the walls of the hedge maze and brought her close enough to the center of the maze that it showed up on her map.


    The secret passageway unfortunately did not take her all the way there, but instead came out into a checkpoint that was nearby.


    "There were also a lot fewer monsters in the secret passageway, though the ones that were there were fairly strong. Still fighting through it was more than worth it. The passages within the hedges themselves do not change at all. At least I did not see any evidence that they do while I was inside it." Rehni said.


    Of course, not all of the walls of the maze had these secret passages within them. Only the ones that were stable and never shifted.


    "There''s still a lot I do not know about them, however. I have only been in the one so far and have not gone to any other checkpoints to check if I can find another secret entrance."


    "That is fine. We will have more time to explore thister. The first thing we need to do is get you to the center of the maze. The three of us have actually made it there." Evelyn said with a grin.


    Rehni looked stunned to hear this and immediately began asking them how they managed to navigate the ever-moving passages and increasingly dangerous monsters that infested the maze closer to the center.


    Evelyn held her head up and ryed exactly how they hadpletely bypassed the hardest part of the maze and simply warped directly into the center.


    "So, that is what those doors are for. I had not considered that the keys would be dropped by monsters and was on the lookout for them to be inside of a terminal." Rehni said, a contemtive look on her face.


    She was running through her memories of the monsters she had encountered but not been able to beat and trying to figure if they might have been one of these special monsters.


    Once she had finished, she only came up with one candidate for a monster that she had encountered that might fit the bill. She had note across a door with its depiction so she could not be sure, but it was the most powerful entity she hade across.


    "Perhaps we will go searching for itter, when we have gotten everyone back together. The most important thing is to get you to the center of the maze. To that end, I think I might have a good idea."

 Chapter 337 337

    ?


    Evelyn swiftlyid out her n to assist Rehni in reaching the center of the maze for the others.


    It was not ingenious and fairly simple, but her n was likely to be fairly effective. Certainly, better than simply trying to brute force through the end of the maze.


    "Are you sure you want to do this, Evelyn? You will be putting yourself at risk." Rehni said, looking concerned.


    What Evelyn had suggested could see her getting lost in the maze by herself again if she messed up or got unlucky with the movements of the maze.


    "There is definitely some danger to it, but in the worst case I can always wait until Otis and Aralee unlock the warping function of the magical map." Evelyn said, trying to assuage everyone''s worries.


    Otis, not wanting Evelyn to put herself in anymore danger suggested that he could take up the role that she was going to be in, but Evelyn shook her head and rejected his proposal. In a fight he was reliable, but when it came to using his head, Otis was the weakest among them. This was not something she could rely on him for.


    Aralee also looked like she wanted to go instead of Evelyn, but she had the opposite problem of Otis. She was not weak by any means, but her magic was best suited for support andcked destructive potential. Evelyn simply did not feelfortable sending her out on such a mission on her own.


    Of course, the others thought of Evelyn as more important than any of them individuals, as she was their leader and the glue of their team. Without her none of them would have evere together.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn did not budge on her decision. She felt that the rewards outweighed the risks.


    Once the four of them had everything settled, they returned to the secondy and Evelyn flew over to the southwestern edge of the maze and waited with the magical map open.


    For several minutes she simply waited there, starting at therge piece of parchment until a blue dot finally appeared near the edge of the map''s half kilometer range.


    ''She really did find some sort of secret passage. The map is showing that she is inside one of the walls.''


    Evelyn had naturally believed Rehni, as she knew her friend to not be air. But seeing ti with her own eyes on the map was still shocking.


    "I cannot find any direct route now, but she is closest to the western entrance. I will go out from there and see if we cannot meet up with each other and make it back here." Evelyn said to Aralee and Otis.


    Her n was fairly simple. Now that she and Rehni could see each other on their respective maps, represented as blue dots. All that they would need to do was converge on each other and hopefully Evelyn would be able to find the correct path that would allow Rehni to reach the center of the maze along with her.


    This did carry some risk with it, as Evelyn could get lost in the ever-changing maze and get forced away from Rehni. But that was just something that Evelyn was going to have to chance.


    With the map in her ws, Evelyn flew out he west entrance and kept a careful watch out for enemies while periodically peering at the map to keep track of Rehni''s position.


    Luckily, there were no problems to speak of at first. Each of the maze''s exits had long straight paths that did not change and were devoid of monsters.


    Sadly, this did notst, and Evelyn soon found herself staring at the back of a giant wooden sentinel like the ones that guarded the entrance to domain in the outside world.


    However, this one was farrger and had six arms. Each one holding a different type of implement, from a shield to a crossbow.


    ''That thing means business. I guess it is meant to be a final challenge for anyone that wants to reach the center of the maze. Well, anyone that does not warp their way in like we did.''


    Looking at the wooden sentinel, Evelyn was devising ways to deal with it, when she noticed that it was not paying her any attention.


    It did not take her long to realize that the construct was guarding the entrance to the path. There was no need for it to show any consideration to a being that had already made it to the center of the maze.


    As a test she cast some magic around herself to see if the sentinel would react, but it just continued to stand facing the other direction. Stalwartly conforming to its duty.


    ''I feel a bit bad about this. But to get Rehni through here we would have to deal with it sooner orter anyway.'' Evelyn thought, though, she really did not feel bad about what she was about to do.


    Having ample time to build up her power without worrying about hostilities, Evelyn brought forth her strongest attack that took her a great deal of magical energy and focus to control.


    Normally this was not the type of power she could use in a battle since it took to long to manifest, but against an unmoving enemy that was not attacking her, it was perfect.


    She soon had conjured a massive sphere of crimson mes that was surrounded by swirling winds.


    For the final touch Evelyn added her gravity magic to the mixture and sent out her most devastating attack.


    Therge six-armed wooden sentinel did not stand a chance as it was engulfed by an overwhelming ze.


    When the intense fire finally dissipated, all that was left of the once proud construct was arge scorch mark on the maze''s stone floor.


    ''I guess that the wooden knights don''t drop tokens. A shame.'' Evelyn thought, having been hoping to receive an easy drop of iron tokens. s, the domain was not going to be giving her any freebies.

 Chapter 338 338 Coming Back Together

    ?


    With the giant six-armed wooden sentinel no longer in her way, Evelyn continued down the corridor while keeping a close eye on Rehni''s location. Her job was to stay as close as possible to the entrance to the center of the maze while also being viewable on the map as a waypoint for Rehni to approach.


    Of course, things did not go one hundred percent smoothly, as the maze was constantly moving around and multiple times both Rehni and Evelyn had to stop to fight powerful enemies.


    ''Rehni is just on the other side of this wall. Now it justes down to if we are lucky or not.''


    After reaching a dead end that was between them Evelyn and Rehni felt that their hopes were dashed, but there was one possibility that could end up helping them.


    pping her wings, Evelyn sent out several des of wind towards the wall and hoped.


    ''Looks like we are in luck.''


    After her magic hit the wall, it began to shift and turned from an unmoving hedge into a monstrous form with several branches writhing out of it like hundreds of arms and a giant mouth splitting across its center. While it was certainly one of the most annoying monsters that popted the maze, in this case Evelyn was happy to have encountered a false maze wall.


    Within a few seconds the giant monster that had been luding the maze''s passageways was nothing but a pile of ash thanks to Evelyn''s heavenly me. And on the other side of the corridor was Rehni.


    "I know it has not been long since west saw each other on the first floor, but I am truly happy we have finally been able to meet back up in the maze." Evelyn said, wearing a warm smile. She had few things in this world that she considered precious, but her closest friend was one of them.


    "Yes, it has been harrowing traversing this ce on my own. I do not know if I could have held out without being able to meet and share information on the first floor. Thank you for guiding me this far. It would have been far more difficult without you."


    Once Evelyn and Rehni had a brief heartfelt reunion, they turned their attention back towards the way that Evelyn hade from. If they were lucky, it might not have changed much.


    Unfortunately, the maze was not a kind construction, and the two of them found the path back was already vastly different. Forcing them to maneuver around the center of the maze looking for a way to approach it.


    For several hours they flew around in what seemed like circles before finally finding an entrance to the final stretch of the corridor that would take them to the center of the maze.


    Except this was not the same one that Evelyn had exited out of when going out to meet Rehni. The two of them were now at the southern entrance and faced with another of the six-armed wooden knights.


    "I figured there would be another one." Evelyn said with a sigh.


    "Oh, have you already dealt with one of these. How did you deal with itst time?" Rehni asked, a curious look on her face.


    Sadly, the answer she received would not be much help to them in this situation. Last time Evelyn had simply sted it with her strongest attack since it was not reacting to her since she hade from the center of the maze. But this time they were approaching it from the front, and it was not going to simply stand there and wait for them to charge up their magic.


    "Honestly, I have no idea what its capabilities are. But I am sure you can feel the magical energying off of it. Fighting it will not be easy." Evelyn said, a scowl on her face. She was certain that this construct would be difficult deal with in a straight up fight.


    "So, how do we want to deal with it? I could keep it distracted while you prepare something big to take it out all at once."


    However, Evelyn shook her head and shot down Rehni''s suggestion. It would be far too dangerous for her to engage this wooden sentinel alone.


    "Our best bet is simply to wait. This part of the maze does not change so there is nothing forcing us to enter a disadvantageous battle. It is only a matter of time until help arrives." Evelyn said.


    Now that they were this close to the center of the maze, it was only a matter of time before Aralee and Otis noticed them.


    While Evelyn had the map she had been sharing with her sister in her possession, Otis had his own map, and it was nned for Aralee to periodically monitor it to keep track of the situation.


    When she noticed Evelyn and Rehni staying in one ce for so long just outside the pathway that connected to the center of the maze, she was bound toe and investigate with Otis in tow. Then the two of them could attack the wooden sentinel from behind and make the fight trivial instead of harrowing.


    Eventually things went nearly how Evelyn had expected, except Otis rushed ahead of Aralee and began attacking the construct blocking Evelyn and Rehni''s way without formting a n.


    This caused the ensuing battle to be quite a bit messier than Evelyn had envisioned it would be, but once the four of them began to coordinate together the fight became easy enough and they took down thest obstacle preventing them from reaching the center of the maze.


    "What is that thing?!"


    The moment that they reached the center of the maze Rehni was naturally rmed.


    Sitting at the northern end was the leafless tree that had crackling red lightninging out of the cracks in its bark.


    "That is the guardian blocking the way to the next floor. It will not attack as long as we stay away from it, so do your best to disregard its presence." Evelyn said. "Now we need to n on our moves going forward."

 Chapter 339 339 Masters Of The Maze

    ?


    Several weeks passed by after Evelyn had helped to guide Rehni to the center of the maze.


    During this time, Bylur and Verrader who had linked up within the maze managed to find their way as well thanks to the information sharing that the separated group was able to aplish on the first floor.


    After so long all six of the members of Evelyn party had finally managed toe back together again.


    It had been an arduous time fraught with uncertainty and difficulties, but they had persevered and made it through. Plus, their troubles had not been for naught.


    The maze had within it several valuable resources, and each one of them had maderge strides towards gaining more power at an incredible pace. While none of them had advanced to another tier, the next milestone was not far off for any of them save for Otis, who simply needed far more magical energy as a tyrant rank beast.


    "Now that we have finished celebrating, all of us need to decide on how we want to proceed. We have a few options open to us now." Evelyn said, leading the six of them into an important discussion.


    Having reached the center of the maze and aplishing their goal of reuniting left them with no further concrete ns.


    Yes, they still intended to go to the designated area where the Roost would be issuing its entry challenges, but that was still a couple months away at this point.


    In the meantime, the six of them had many options open to them. The most likely two being to go on their way and slowly head to the location while exploring more areas or continuing to fight through the maze with the six of them and collect more resources from it.


    Both ideas had their merits to them, but ultimately their group decided to continue exploring the maze. With all six of them together again the dangers that the maze presented were not nearly as bad.


    "After going through hell in this ce, it is finally time for us to exploit the knowledge we have gathered. Let us take this maze for all it is worth." Evelyn said, raising the spirits of herpanions.


    Each of them gave cheers of approval and beganparing their induvial maps while nning what areas to search through. Their main goals were to upgrade the map function to allow for warping between the checkpoints, and locating the special monsters that dropped the keys to the sealed doors.


    ¡­


    "Aralee, Rehni, keep it locked down."


    At Evelyn''smand the two of them used their magic to impede their target. Aralee used her momentum magic to slow the monster down, while Aralee sent out several strands of metal threads to restrict its movements.


    The six of them had managed to locate another one of the special monsters within the maze and were doing their best to take it down. Of course, as an entity stronger than most of the others within the maze, it was not going to go down easily.


    Currently they were dealing with a monster that was a small t flower that looked like a sunflower and was able to spin its petals around in order to fly.


    It was incredibly nimble and a difficult target to hit, while being able to attack by manipting the foliage around the maze and shooting out seeds that traveled around two hundred meters a second.


    These projectiles were difficult to avoid and required that all of them keep up some level of defense or they would find themselves riddled with small holes that were trivialpared to the real problem.


    Once the seeds were embedded in a living host, they began rapidly growing off their blood and magical energy, as Otis had found out at the begging of the fight when he had charged in recklessly.


    Thankfully Evelyn was able to use a herbicide potion she had developed to destroy the flowers growing out of Otis before he was killed by them.


    Now the six of them were slowly pushing the monsters into a corner until it was unable to resist, and they could safely kill it without incurring any more risks.


    "I got it."


    Coming in from above, Verrader was crackling with electricity and brough down arge bolt on top of the flower. As fast as it was, the monster could not avoid the speed of Verrader''s attack.


    For a moment the nimble flower was stunned by the lightning that had fallen on it and the rest of them unleashed a barrage of attacks that sted the flower into pieces.


    A shower of iron tokens began falling down from where the monster had been destroyed and within the tokens a single key could be seen as well.


    "Hehe. We have gotten pretty good at hunting these things down. I remember when one of them gave me a bunch of trouble back when we were all still separated. But now we are the ones hunting them down." Bylur said, wearing a proud expression.


    These higher-ss monsters had been quite dangerous encounters for all of them before, but no longer. For thest few months these creatures had been their main prey.


    "I am just d that we finally managed to find this one. It would have left a sour taste in my mouth if we did not get anything after searching for nearly a week. Especially since it is ourst day here." Rehni said.


    As she had said, today was when they were going to be leaving the domain for a time.


    There were only nine days left until Otis would be able to enter the Roost and they were going to be using that time to fly to the location where the entry challenges would be held.


    Of course, as a tyrant rank beast with a superior evolution Otis would be admitted without any problems. Or at least, that is what Melisandre had assured Evelyn of.


    "We have the key now, so let us head to the door. We have given ourselves a bit of extra time as a precaution, but if we miss the challenges this time, we will have to wait another year before the next ones." Evelyn said, picking up the dropped key and heading in the direction of the sealed door it would open.

 Chapter 340 340 Arrival

    ?


    "Looks like we are finally here."


    For as far as the eye could see a massive swamp stretched out in front of Evelyn and herpanions.


    This was the sight of the uing recruitment trials for the Roost, a ce that was known as the Helmues Swamp.


    "What is that smell?" Verrader said, a visible grimace on his face.


    Normally bad scents were of little concern for them as owls did not have the greatest sense of smell, but the swamp was incredibly pungent with a smell simr to rotting eggs thanks to all of the dposing matter within the swamp.


    "It is pretty bad. I hate to imagine what a beast with an acute nose would be expecting. No wonder no one wants toe to this ce." Evelyn said, before using wind magic to push the smell away.


    "I don''t think the smell is the main reason. It seems that we havepany from the swamp''s inhabitants." Rehni said, spotting movement on the surface of the water.


    What looked like logsing their way was actually nearly three dozen snakes that had dark brown scales and blended in well with the swamp that was their home.


    Yet, while they were heavily outnumbered, none of them were particrly scared.


    These snakes were clearly not intelligent, with only one of them even being at the peak of the fiend beast rank. Clearly, they were just acting out of territorial instinct and trying to scare Evelyn and herpanions away from the area.


    "Who wants to deal with them?" Evelyn asked. She was certain that just one of them would be more than enough to deal with all of these snakes.


    "I''ll do it. This will be over in just a second." Bylur said confidently.


    He then leapt off the branch he had been perched on and flew directly over the snakes.


    The more than thirty snakes all opened their mouths to reveal a bright white inside and sharp fangs that were dripping with venom.


    Seeing this disy Evelyn understood that these snakes must have been simr to cotton mouths. Though they were quite a bitrger than the snakes she had seen in photos when she was still on Earth.


    ''Still, Bylur is farrger than any of them. I am honestly surprised that they are willing to act so aggressively when clearly outmatched. I suppose the aggressiveness of the swamp''s denizens is another reason it is not a popr ce.'' Evelyn thought while watching Bylur fight the snakes.


    Though calling it a fight was an overstatement. Really it was a one-sided ughter.


    The snakesunched some basic magic attacks at Bylur, but not a single one was able to hurt him.


    If all of the snakes had been trained to control their magical energy and had a good grasp on how to properly use magic, they collectively might have been a slight threat, but these were just unintelligent beasts that lived in the wild. They never stood a chance against Bylur who was at the awakened rank and was an expert at using his magic.


    Within less than ten seconds the area of the swamp that the snakes were congregated in had been frozen over. Leaving all of the snakes dead.


    "Just as easy as expected. Even a thousand weaklings like these would not pose a challenge." Bylur said boastfully.


    Of course, he was probably right. It would take a massive horde of enemies at this level to bring him down in a war of attrition.


    "Well, you might just get a chance to take on that many. It seems that we have attracted another group from the weingmittee." Rehni said, pointing out a swarm of giant purple moths that wereing their way.


    ¡­


    "Do these beasts not have any sense of self-preservation. Surely, they can tell that we are stronger than them." Bylur said, hovering over thetest group of enemies that had attacked them.


    "This is just how things are here. The swamp is filled with extremely aggressive poisonous beasts. None of them are even at the awakened rank though so nothing for us to worry about. If you want to take a break, some else can take on the role of vanguard." Evelyn said to Bylur.


    So far, he had rushed to challenge each group of beasts that hade to challenge them.


    "No, this is far from enough to wear me out. I can keep this up for a lot longer. Just leave them all to me." Bylur said, wanting to impress Evelyn.


    And he did keep his word and deal with every beast that tried to attack them without fail.


    "We''ve arrived. And it looked like were early." Aralee said, her gaze drawn to arge tree where three figures were waiting.


    All three of them were owls, with two of them being peak awakened rank beasts. But the third was clearly several leagues above them.


    With wings that were golden in color and an aura that was tremendous and equal to Melisandre''s it was clear that the owl that had taken humanoid form was the Hall Master that would be overseeing the entry trials.


    "That must be Vedec. The master of the Records Hall." Evelyn said.


    Melisandre had informed her already which Hall Master would be running these trials. She had spoken highly of him and told Evelyn that he was an amazing schr that was unparalleled in the Roost.


    "It seems we have our first participants. Can, Leona, would you inform them of-"


    However, midsentence Vedec stopped what he was saying and quickly nced between Evelyn and the other''s feet.


    On all of them expect for Otis were the cuffs that identified them as already being members of the Roost. This was the first time that Vedec had ever seen so many owls that were already members show up to where the entry trails were being held. On asion there might be a couple of current members that would personally guide another owl, but having five show up at once was unprecedented.

 Chapter 341 341 Otis Joins The Roost

    ?


    "Mel told me that you would being. I just did not expect so many of you. So, which one of you is her disciple?"


    Looking between Evelyn and herpanions, Vedec was gauging each of them and trying to figure out what made each of them tick.


    For several moments they all stood stock still, being under the intense gaze of an individual that was leagues above them in terms of power and status would do that to most.


    Evelyn was the first toe back to her senses, having gotten used to being in Melisandre''s presence and having gotten through a meeting with the Roost''s leader.


    "I am Melisandre''s disciple. And those with me today are my friends and family."


    After hearing Evelyn''s answer, Vedec''s attention was turned squarely on her and he looked at her with fierce scrutiny.


    It seemed that for every moment he stared at her Vedec was peeling anotheryer back and practically looking into her soul. Making Evelyn want to flee in terror. That was simply how forceful Vedec''s gaze was.


    Nevertheless, his intensity died down after just a couple of seconds and was reced by a smile.


    "Mel managed to find a good disciple to pass her knowledge onto. I can tell that you are not ordinary." Vedec said. "But enough about that. I know why you are here, and as is the policy of the Roost most owls that have reached the awakened rank can join. As your friend is already at the tyrant rank, there is likely to be no problems, but I would at least like a demonstration of his magic first."


    Vedec looked towards Otis, the only one present without an identification cuff from the Roost and waited to see what he was capable of.


    Of course, this was mostly just a formality, Vedec could already tell that Otis was up to the Roost''s standards.


    Otis, being the center of attention, froze up momentarily, before realizing that this was his moment to show off to Evelyn. If he were to put on an amazing disy and gain the approval of Vedec, then she would likely praise him.


    Swiftly he began making his best showing of his earth and sand magic, pulling out all of the best spells that he could muster.


    "That is enough. I have seen all I need to." Vedec said not long after Otis began.


    Unable to hide his nervousness, Otis floated back down andnded on a tree in front of Vedec. Waiting for his assessment of his skills.


    "I have seen your skills, and you are plenty strong enough to join the Roost. In fact, I do not think I have ever seen an applicant as strong as you before."


    Having received Vedec''s approval, Otis leaped into eh air and let out several cheerful squawks. He was ted to finally be able to join the same organization that Evelyn was a part of.


    "That being said, all of you should be careful. Mel is not the only one who spoke to me before this. Ss wanted me to find some way to block your friend''s entry into the Roost. However, I do not work for him, but the Roost. There is no reason for me to help him with his personal vendetta."


    Vedec then gave instructions to Can, one of his assistants, to take Otis to the Roost and get him registered.


    "The rest of you can go back to the Roost through the usual method. Your friend will be in the Roost with you shortly."


    Evelyn looked toward Otis pensively, not wanting to let him go on his own after Vedec had just warned them about Ss but knew that it would be impossible to follow him.


    He was going to be going through a warp portal that was specially made for new recruits to enter through and not something any of them would be allowed to use.


    "Very well. We will head back to the Roost and wait for you there, Otis. I''ll make sure to show you around to all the best ces and get your properly geared up to be a member of the Roost." Evelyn said, before taking out a return ticket and following it to the nearest warp portal back into the Roost.


    It took several hours for Evelyn and the others to finally reach the portal, but when they did the five of them promptly returned to the Roost.


    "Now, where should we go to meet Otis?" Evelyn said, turning to herpanions.


    Unlike all of them she did not enter the Roost through traditional means and had no clue what the normal process looked like


    "I remember first arriving in arge open building where were given a rundown of the rules of the Roost and some of its basic facilities. Then they took us to the Records Hall to be registered. I believe that the building is located near the western part of the Roost not too far from the center where the Halls are located." Rehni said, being the only one to have such a detailed recollection thanks to her impable memory.


    "I suppose we will go wait outside that building and see if eh turned up. If it takes too long we can always just head to the Records Hall and wait for him there." Evelyn said.


    Rehni then led the way to the tree housing the building that she and Bylur had arrived at when they first entered the Roost.


    "Still nothing." Evelyn said, a bit frustrated.


    The five of them had been waiting for nearly two hours now and Otis had not arrived yet int eh Roost.


    They knew for a fact that he was not here yet, since every few minutes Evelyn would try to send a message to Otis with her message pad, but the folded up flying bird would just hover in the air and not go anywhere. Proving that Otis was not within the Roost.


    Yet, before giving up and just going to the Records Hall, Otis along with his guide Can appeared out of the tree that Rehni had remembered.

 Chapter 342 342 (Spoiler, Title At The Bottom)

    ?


    Evelyn could not help but let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Otis had safely arrived at the Roost. It had been more difficult than she had anticipated thanks to Ss'' interference, but things had worked out in the end.


    "Awe inspiring isn''t it. When I first arrived here, I never expected anything like it to exist." Evelyn said to Otis who was looking around in wonderment.


    Even in her first life as a human the cities she had seen paled inpassion to the Roost in terms of size and grandeur. It was an almost mistic ce with how it was made of giant trees that had been turned into buildings.


    Otis, normally highly receptive to everything Evelyn said, barely acknowledged her and simply nodded his head as he continued to stare at the sprawling city of owls. Seeing this made him realize just how small his world had been back when he lived in the Velinis Desert.


    "I understand that it is breathtaking to see the Roost for the first time, but we do have things that need to be done before Otis is an official member of the Roost. I need to return to Lord Vedec as soon as possible, so let''s move to the Records Hall and get your friend registered. You can all do as you please after that." Can said, wanting to rush things along. He did not have all day for them to chat and sightsee.


    Being considerate of him, Evelyn moved aside and allowed Can to do his job. Once Otis was registered, they would have plenty of time to get him more familiarized with the Roost.


    Within a few minutes their group had entered at the bottom of the Records Hall and Evelyn was met with a familiar face.


    Sitting at the bottom counter just as when Evelyn had been registered was Dara, the manager of the Records Hall.


    Evelyn had not known when she first arrived, but she was actually the second highest authority in the Hall, only below the Hall Master Vedec.


    "I certainly was not expecting so many visitors at this time. What brings you all h-


    However, before finishing her statement she noticed that Otis did not have an identification cuff and understood what was going on.


    "Ah, so you finally managed to get your friend in. Good for you Evelyn." Dara said, knowing what was going on without needing an exnation.


    As a high-ranking member within the Roost, she had naturally heard about Ss preventing an owl Melisandre was rmending from entering the Roost.


    Of course, Evelyn and herpanions were shocked, and Dara quickly exined that she already knew of their situation thanks to Melisandre grumbling about it thatst time they had met.


    "Now, let usplete the registration process for Otis here."


    Dara quickly performed the same process that Evelyn had undergone when she first arrived.


    She took a blood sample from Otis and determined what type of owl he was and the magical affinities he possessed.


    After that Dara created a record for him and activated a new identification cuff that would prove that he was a member of the Roost.


    Now Otis had officially been epted in the Roost and could start cooperating with Evelyn and her otherpanions on a grander scale. With his inclusion their group was now quite a bit stronger and more influential.


    "I believe that this is cause for celebration. We should take Otis out and show him the amazing and diverse food that the Roost ahs to offer." Rehni suggested.


    Yet, she was not the only one that wanted to show Otis around.


    All of them had their own opinions on where to go first and soon they had begun arguing about what to do.


    During this time Can, having fulfilled his duty, tried to slip away, but came to a frozen stop when another individual entered the bottom of the Record Hall.


    "It seems that you are all making quite the racket here. I find that it is rude to cause such a disturbance here within the Record Hall. To think that Melisandre associates with such uncouth individuals."


    Turning towards the voice that had just tantly insulted her and herpanions, Evelyn saw someone she never wanted to interact with again.


    He looked just like he had the first time she saw him, with wings that were pitch ck except for a pattern of bright dots that made it look like the night sky.


    The air about him was otherworldly and it was clear that he was immensely powerful. Being at the same rank and tier as Melisandre.


    Standing before them was Ss, another of the Hall Masters and the one that had prevented Otis from entering the Roost on Melisandre''s rmendation alone.


    "Lord Ss, what are you doing here? If you are here to just harass these six, I would ask that you leave." Dara said, being the only one that did not feel smothered by Ss''s presence.


    He had barely been holding back the powerful aura he possessed thanks to his immense magical energy.


    This made everyone else feel a constant and crushing pressure on them that made it difficult to move or even speak.


    "Oh, it seems that I forgot to restrain myself. Please forgive me." Ss said with an exaggerated tone and fake look of worry before retracting his oppressive aura.


    "And of course, I did note here to harass a few of the lower ranking members of the Roost. That would be a terrible waste of my time. I am here to deliver some intelligence about a new magic crystal deposit to you. I am the master of the Crystal Hall after all."


    Ss then walked past Evelyn and herparisons and shed them a smirk. Clearly his main intention foring here was to antagonize them.


    Nevertheless, Dara could not just turn him away. He was a higher-ranking member of the Roost than her and had actually brought along several documents on his findings pertaining to a new deposit that held even a small number of gold magic crystals.


    Dara began dealing with Ss and signaled with her eyes for Evelyn and herpassion to leave before things got worse.


    Unfortunately, Ss did not let them escape without getting in anyst words.


    "Before you leave, do make sure to tell Melisandre that I said hello. I heard that she recently got back from hertest trip. Tell her I would be more than happy to discuss it with her, among other things."


    Evelyn nodded her head in response, giving no other form of acknowledgement before hastily leaving the Records Hall. Wanting to get as far away from who she considered to be the greatest nuisance within the Roost.


    "I want to tear that guy''s head off. How dare he speak that way to you." Otis said, once they had left the area.


    Normally he would have attacked anyone that insulted Evelyn on the spot, but even he knew that trying to fight Ss would be suicide.


    "Yes, he may be a Hall Master, but that was terrible behavior. Does he not have more important things to do." Bylur said, just as angry as Otis.


    "It is just how it is. Ss and Melisandre have a precarious past and he likes to take out his frustrations on me in order to get to Melisandre. The best that we can do is just ignore him. He can''t do anything but pester us. He knows that any overt action will have dire consequences even for him. If he really tires anything that actually threatens us, I have a card to y." Evelyn said.


    She had not yet had any need to use the emblem that Minerva had given her, but if she needed to, she could leverage the highest authority in the Roost to get Ss off her back if he became a real problem.


    "Now, let''s forget about him and not let him ruin this day. We are supposed to be celebrating Otis joining the Roost. There is a lot for us to enjoy today." Evelyn said, trying to change the mood.


    But as they were getting ready to head off to their first destination, somethingpletely unexinable happened.


    A loud banging sound resonated across the entire Roost and the trees that jutted high into the air began to sway violently.


    This was the first time that Evelyn had seen anything like this and was confused by what was going on.


    For a moment she thought that it was perhaps an earthquake, but swiftly remembered that they were in a separate dimension from the outside world. The weather was always the same and there was no earth to cause an earthquake in the first ce. Whatever was happening was clearly not natural.


    Another violent tremor shook the Roost a few seconds after the first and this time some of the trees within the Roost began to fall over.


    "What is going on?" Otis asked, obviously distressed.


    He was hoping that one of the others who had been living in the Roost would know, but they were just as surprised as Otis, if not more so.


    "I don''t know. This has never happened before. We should go towards Melisandre''s estate. She may know what is happening, and at the very least it should be safer than being out in the open here."


    Takingmand, Evelyn got herpanions to snap out of their daze and began leading them towards the safest ce she knew.


    However, before they got far a loud high-pitched siren echoed across the Roost. A sound that was announcing an emergency that threatened the entire Roost.


    Chapter 342 Attack on the Roost

 Chapter 343 343 The Battle For The Roost Begins

    ?


    Frantically Evelyn flew towards Melisandre''s estate with herpanions behind her.


    Over some sort of emergency broadcast system, it had been announced that the Roost was under attack.


    This caused several thousands of owls to fly around frantically, and the entire separate dimension was thrown into chaos. Not since the Roost was founded well over a millennia ago had it been attacked by an outside force.


    ''It will be fine. The Roost is a stronghold of all the most powerful owls in the world. With individuals like Melisandre and Minerva around, surely one of them will do something. There are owls here that are incredibly powerful and capable of feats beyond imagination. Surely, they can repel whatever is attacking.'' Evelyn thought, attempting to stay positive.


    Unfortunately, no amount of positive thinking was going to help with the reality of the situation. Soon the Roost began to shake even more violently, and Evelyn watched as the outer edges of the domain began to break apart and crack like ss.


    In what seemed like an eternity but also only an instant the separate domain that the Roost was built withinpletely shattered and everything within was shunted back into the real world.


    The dark skies over a perpetual dusk that always existed within the Roost were reced by an endless blue sky and a bright sun.


    Below was arge volcanic region with bubbling magma pouring out of several tall mountains. Creating intense heat throughout the region and making it inhospitable for most life.


    The massive trees that made up the Roost began falling all around the area causing tend to quake and break apart, and the volcanos to be more active and spewrge amounts ofva into the air.


    Many owls that had been within the trees of the Roost frantically flew out as their homes went up in mes and were consumed by the hostile environment.


    However, the sudden change in terrain was the least of Evelyn''s and herpanions'' worries. All around them were tens of thousands of figures that were floating in the air and surrounding the area the Roost had appeared in.


    The attack happened almost immediately after the Roost had been forced out of its separate domain. Humans began capturing and killing the owls that were flying around in chaos.


    This scene was beyond any horror that Evelyn had ever imagined. Not once did she think that the very Roost itself would be destroyed.


    ''No, not again!'' Evelyn thought, looking out at the scene in front of her in terror.


    The times she had previously lost everything shed before her eyes and her heart grew heavy as once again her home was being destroyed.


    Yet, before she could fallpletely into despair several massive explosions rocked the area and many of the advancing humans were killed or pushed back.


    Then a voice that resonated across the entire area and gave hope to all of the panicking owls.


    "Fight! Fight with all you have to survive. We are the owls of the Roost! Do not falter here! We will repulse our attackers and show these stupid humans that we are not to be trifled with! The Roost does not end here, your leaders still stand strong with you!"


    After this announcement, Minerva, the leader of the Roost unleashed a massive golden ze that surrounded every owl and began pushing back against their human attackers.


    For a moment it seemed that with this one massive attack she would incinerate everyst one of the people attacking the Roost, but her mes were abruptly stopped.


    It looked like the golden mes had suddenly hit an inviable wall, before beingpletely smothered.


    The huge ze quickly receded, and four people stood at the forefront of the human army.


    Two men and two women each wearing incredibly borate robes and decked out in powerful magic items were looking directly at Minerva with little more than annoyance in their eyes.


    "Whew, that was pretty hot. I suppose that is what you should expect from a heavenly me wielded by a phoenix." One of the men at the forefront said while waving his hand in front of his face in an exaggerated fanning manner.


    "Take this more seriously, Nar! That is a high tier cmity rank beast we are dealing with. One wrong step and anyone of us might get killed." The woman next to him said.


    "Nar, Chika, would you two stop arguing already. This is why I hate working with children." The other man, who had long gray beard and bald head said with an exasperated expression on his face.


    "Who are you calling a child! I am over six hundred years old! Just because I am not a fossil like you Cyrus doesn''t make me a child! You may be a tier higher than me, but I can crush you any day stagnate old man!" Chika shouted at the old man named Cyrus.


    Of course, while these three people were quarreling amongst each other, Minerva had not been sitting idly by an unleashed another attack towards them.


    This time her st of me was far more concentrated and held an intensity to it that was simr to a sr re.


    However, the other woman who had not been getting involved with the bickering of the other three stepped forwards and conjured a massive hand of mud that reached out and smothered Minerva''s attack.


    "Pay more attention you three. Next time I am not blocking that beast''s attacks for all of you. We came here with an objective toplete. We need to hold back that phoenix if we do not want the others to all be killed."


    "For you, Keesirne. I suppose that I can get a bit serious." Nar said, a yful smile on his face.


    "Fine, but I want its talons. They look super sharp, and I bet I can make an amazing weapon out of them." Chika said, staring intently at Minerva''s ws.


    Cyrus just nodded his head without saying anything.


    After that the four of them seemed to vanish from most people''s eyes, and Minerva flew off after them like a rocket that had justunched.


    If the five of them fought anywhere within the vicinity of the others, everyone would die in the ensuring battle.


    Nevertheless, this took out the greatest defender for the Roost and the humans that had been forced back by her disy of power felt emboldened again now that their leaders were dealing with the greatest threat.


    The Roost did have other leaders though, and the Hall Masters began taking charge and organizing the frantic owls into a force that could fight together.


    "Evelyn, what do we do?" Aralee asked, looking towards her elder sister for direction.


    The others in her group were simrly staring at her and waiting for her orders, and the pressure of their gazes nearly made Evelyn crumble.


    ''What do they think I can do? This is way beyond me. I don''t have any experience dealing with something like this. Why is this even happening? What did I do to deserve this. Am I going to lose everything again?''


    Evelyn''s mind was quickly bing more unstable as her past traumas from surfacing, and she imagined that those she cared about were going to be ripped away from her.


    But as she continued to feel the gazes on her from her siblings and friends, she realized that she had not truly lost anything yet.


    Sure, the Roost was the location that they all resided, but as long as they managed to survive this, all that would be lost was a ce.


    ''This is not like thest times. I have power now. I can fight to protect them all and get through this.''


    Feeling her strengthing back to her, Evelyn was determined not to let things end up as they had in the past. She would fight for her and herpanion''s survival and get through this ordeal no matter what.


    "The first thing we need to do is find Melisandre. Being as close to her as possible will increase our chances of surviving this. We are not going to meekly sit by and be captured or killed. If we fight with everyone else we can get through this."


    Thanks to Evelyn stepping up as their leader, Rehni, Bylur, Verrader, Aralee, and Otis were able to regain their own calm and nodded their heads. So long as they followed Evelyn, they felt like they would be able to do anything.


    Of course, none of them knew where Melisandre was, but Evelyn thought quickly for a way to find her.


    She took out her magic message pad and sent a quick message that they could follow to Melisandre''s location. Tank fully the message began flying off in a northwestern direction, proving that Melisandre was still alive. Had she been dead, the message would not have been able to lock onto her magical energy signature.


    "Let''s go. Keep your eyes on that message and stick together." Evelyn said, before taking off towards Melisandre.

 Chapter 344 344

    ?


    After Minerva''s disy of overwhelming power, the attackers that had surrounded the Roost had broken their ranks and left in a temporary state of turmoil.


    Of course, this had notsted long after the four strongest individuals leading the raid had put a stop to Minerva''s offensive. Still, the owls of the Roost had received the precious time that they needed to reorganize themselves and prepare a coordinated resistance against their attackers.


    For the moment things were at a bit of a stalemate as both sides prepared before the fighting to start again.


    ''There is Melisandre.''


    Evelyn felt a sudden and massive sense of relief seeing her master perched at the top of the giant tree that housed the Alchemy Hall.


    Even after being ejected from the separate domain that the Roost had been created within, the sixteen halls that stood as pirs of the Roost''s power had not fallen.


    Each of these colossal trees were protected by several magical enchantments, and despite being forced into a dangerous volcanic region, they were standing strong.


    Melisandre, as the master of the Alchemy Hall, had takenmand of those that had been inside and nearby when the Roost had been shunted from its separate dimension.


    When Evelyn attempted to fly directly towards her master, several owls that were nearby acting as guards tried to stop her and redirect her to the area where the owls at the awakened rank were being organized into a collective force.


    However, when Melisandre noticed her, she waved her hand and ordered that Evelyn and herpanions be let through.


    "I am relieved to see that you are alright. Though, if you were not, I imagine that this raid would already be over." Melisandre said with a pained expression.


    Seeing this, Evelyn immediately realized what Melisandre was telling her. This attack on the Roost was because of her.


    "Do not me yourself. This is mostly my fault. I let my curiosity and ego get the better of me." Melisandre said with a self-deprecating look on her face.


    She then exined that not long before the Roost was forced back into the real world, that the item she had removed from Verrader when he confessed to being a spy had be active.


    This magic device that she had not been able to understand and had entrusted to the master of the Inscription Hall had been some sort of dimensional locater. The magic it used was incredibly subtle and at the highest level that was achievable in the world. Truly it was a near irreceable treasure that only the best inscription masters at the highest rank and tier could possibly hope to recreate. Which is why its true nature had remained undiscovered until it was activated.


    "Once it activated, the magic device broadcasted the location of the anchor point that keeps the Roost tethered to the material world. With that knowledge they were able to force the entire Roost out of its separate dimension. Truly this is the worst-case scenario." Melisandre said, her gaze scanning across the army that was soon to begin attacking them again.


    It would not be long before the humans had reorganized their ranks and were ready to begin attacking what remained of the Roost and the tens of thousands of owls that were a part of it.


    Terror soon began to grip Evelyn as she looked at the sea of people that had been amassed to attack the Roost. Her greatest fear though was not that she would die, or that all those she cared about would be killed, but that she would once again be a subject to cruel experimentation. Perhaps the leadership of the Roost might even offer her up as a peace offering.


    ''I can''t go back to that. I would rather die.'' Evelyn thought, her demeanor reflecting her dread. Having already died once before, she knew that there were worse fates than even death.


    Yet, as Evelyn''s mind had be lost in a swirl of dark thoughts, Melisandre pped her face hard with her hand, sending out a resounding crack.


    "Get yourself together Evelyn. It is far too soon to be giving into despair. Few even know you are their objective, and I have no intention of giving you up no matter what. The Roost is not so fragile that we will go down easily. We are going to fight and win." Melisandre said, exuding an aura of confidence.


    Feeling the sting of Melisandre''s hand still on her face, Evelyn managed to get her thoughts back in order. Just because things seemed dire did not mean that it was the end. As Melisandre had said, the Roost was not weak. If they were, the attackers would have already rushed and overrun them rather than reorganizing.


    Some of the more hotheaded humans attacking them had already been intercepted by magical defenses that had been deployed and were either sliced to ribbons, turned into pincushions, or left as smoldering piles of ash. Whatever the oue of the uing battle, it was going to be bloody and costly for both sides.


    "What should we do then? I want to help with the defense." Evelyn said.


    But Melisandre just shook her head.


    "Sorry Evelyn, but I need you to stay close to me. I need to protect you, but also, you are bait. It is likely that the enemy will send its best toe after you. By using you as an objective, we can control the enemies'' movements to a degree. I know that this is not ideal, but it is our best bet to win. A handful of owls proficient in spatial magic that are being led by a Hall Master have already managed to warp away and are trying to establish a new anchor point for the Roost. If we can stall long enough, we will be able to take everyone away from here in one fell swoop."


    "Okay. I will do as you say. I trust you Melisandre. Let us get through this together."

 Chapter 345 345 Opening Stage

    ?


    After the attacking human army had reorganized itself, their assault began anew.


    To start a massive wave of magic spells came flying towards the Roost.


    However, despite the entire sky being blotted out by these attacks, the owls of the Roost were not immediately overrun. While it had been ejected from the separate dimension it had been housed within, the Roost still had other protections that were operational and working as intended.


    A massive film-like barrier surrounded the sixteen trees of the inner circle of the Roost that made up the major halls such as the Alchemy Hall. Even being forced out into a volcanic region these trees held up and continued their normal functions. They acted as ast bastion of defense for the Roost and what might have been considered a paranoid level of security since the Roost was normally unable to be affected by outside forces was now proving its worth.


    The strongest of the human attackers may have been dealing with Minerva, but that did not mean that they did not have other impable individuals with them. There were a few that had reached archmagi rank which was the highest rank for humans and equivalent to the cmity rank for beasts. Granted they were all at the low tier as the four that had gone to fight against Minerva were the only ones that had breached the floor of the highest rank.


    The spells that hade from these individuals were clearly in another league and Evelyn watched in fear and awe as the first wave smashed against the barrier protecting what remained of the Roost.


    Nevertheless, even with thousands of magic attacks hitting it, the barrier held strong through the first wave. Some small cracks had formed, but they quickly began to repair themselves.


    "Loose." Melisandre said, her voice expanding over a wide area.


    The moment after the first wave of attacks came from the human invaders, the now coordinated groups of owls focused around the Hall Masters fired back with their own magic.


    While the barrier protecting them blocked all outside attacks, it seamlessly allowed attacks from inside to pass through, creating the perfect bulwark.


    This made the battle simr to a siege, with the humans attacking a powerful fort that the owls were defending. Sure, the owls of the Roost were outnumbered, but they had the far better defensible position with centuries worth of magical inscriptions to protect the inner circle of the major Halls.


    ''There really is nothing I can do.'' Evelyn thought as she watched exchange after exchange of magic on a scale she had never witnessed before.


    As powerful as she was for her rank and tier, her individual strength meant little in this battle between so many. She would need to be nearly as strong as Melisandre to have an impact on her own. She could unleash all of her power at once, and it would still only be a drop in a bucketpared to the immense amount of magic being sted around.


    In fact, all of the owls at her rank were not firing off their own spells, but instead sending their magical energy into giant magic tools that unleashed magic on a greater scale than possible for a single awakened rank owl to produce.


    With the use of magical tools like these, even the weaker owls could participate in the battle by offering up their magical energy.


    Of course, Evelyn and herpanions were not included among this group. Melisandre kept her close since she was the target of the humans. Or more precisely, the Aethersphere that was imbedded within her was.


    From Melisandre''s observations, which she ryed to Evelyn; it was clear that the entire Tyrannis Union hade to attack them.


    Among the Tyrannis Union which was one of the major powers on the continent was the Deamhain Sect, the organization that originally possessed the Aethersphere and captured Evelyn and her family to use as test subjects.


    It was all but certain that the Deamhain Sect was responsible for the current attack on the Roost. They were the only ones that knew that Evelyn had the Aethersphere after all.


    ''If only I had not run into them in the Elmot Gorge, they would have not known I was in the Roost.'' Evelyn thought bitterly.


    During the hectic fight between beasts and humans she had been spotted by one of the men that had originally captured her and failed to kill him before he gave her away. Naturally she had been wearing her identification cuff that proved she belonged to the Roost.


    Plus, Verrader had been specifically sent by the leader of the Deamhain Sect to spy on her and eventually deliver her to him. However, he betrayed them in the end and chose Evelyn and Anneli, his family, over the group that had brainwashed him.


    Unfortunately, his betrayal had been the catalyst for the attack on the Roost from the Tyrannis Union.


    Without any doubt, the Tyrannis Union had not originally known about the Aethersphere, with only the Deamhain Sect having sole possession of the divine item. But when it became clear that they would not be able to retrieve it on their own, their only recourse was to bring out the entire might of the Tyrannis Union and give up on monopolizing the Aethersphere''s power.


    As one of the three greatest powers on the continent, the Tyrannis Union could not abide by the Roost obtaining such an item. In the future Evelyn could easily be strong enough to be a major threat if she could develop her power.


    Magic continued to fly between both sides and powerful explosions shook the entire area and created blinding shes that made thendscape nearly impossible to discern.


    Luckily, since the opening attack before they had reorganized, the Roost had not suffered a single casualty. The powerful barrier protecting them had reced every attack sent their way, while their own attacks were beating away at the enemy.


    For a time, it looked like the Roost had gained the unquestionable advantage, but the Tyrannis Union was not among the greatest powers on the continent for nothing. The magic protecting the Roost was not going tost against them.

 Chapter 346 346 Evelyn Targeted

    ?


    ''It looks like we are going to be able to hold out until the Roost is warped away.'' Evelyn thought with a hopeful expression.


    Several minutes had gone by as the forces of the Tyrannis Union battered away at the barrier protecting what remained of the Roost to no avail.


    The battle had seemed to be one sided in the favor of the owls, and it would only be a matter of time until they made their escape.


    However, this attack was not a spur of the moment decision, and the humans that ande to destroy the Roost and take Evelyne prepared.


    ''What in the world is that?''


    Squinting her eyes and using mana to enhance her vision, Evelyn looked high up in the sky and saw what looked like several ck dots.


    As she continued to stare the ck dots multiply and spread out across the sky.


    Naturally she was not the only one that noticed such a thing, and the leaders of the Roost diverted some of their offensive capabilities to stop whatever was going on above.


    Yet, for as many of the ck dots in the sky that were destroyed, two more took their ce until a giant web fell down around them.


    Once they were closer Evelyn could see that the dots were actually t sheets of some kind of metal shaped like hexagons with thin wires spreading out from each of their vertices and connecting them to the others.


    This self-multiplying magic tool that that the Tyrannis Union had deployed fell down on top of the Roost''s barrier and encased it in a giant web.


    A massive pulse of magical energy spread out among each of the hexagon''s which began glowing brightly before each one exploded.


    All at once the barrier that was protecting the owls of the Roost was rocked by the rapid chain of explosions.


    Cracks began to form, andrge pieces of the barrier fell away until all that was preventing the human attackers from closing in broke apart.


    A tremor of panic began to break out among the owls now that their stable line of dense had been breached and dread once again gripped Evelyn.


    "Everyone stay together and work on protecting yourselves and your fellows. Flying about in panic will only make us easier targets. These humans will not be able to beat us if we keep strong." Melisandre said, her voice echoing throughout the area.


    Around the other Hall Masters leading the defensive groups of owls began arranging their ranks and preparing for the assault from the humans.


    Their victory conditions still remained the same. All they needed to do was hold out long enough to be warped away.


    "Evelyn, stay close to me and get ready to move. They have already keyed in on you and areing." Melisandre said, her eyes glued on the horizon.


    Following Melisandre''s gaze, Evelyn could see that several people were speeding right towards their location.


    Without more than a nce at her pursuers, Evelyn took off with Melisandre, her friends and siblings sticking right next to her.


    The n as Melisandre quickly told them was to fly around the edge of the sixteen Halls and keep the fight on the move so that those after Evelyn could not concentrate on breaking through the rest of the Roost''s defenses. Thoseing after Evelyn were clearly elite fighters and keeping them busy would be paramount to their sess.


    "BOOM!"


    A loud explosion shook the air behind Evelyn and she turned her head around behind her and saw a man d in lightning speeding towards them ahead of everyone else and firing off bolts the size of sky scrapers.


    "Keep your eyes forward and focused on flying at your full speed. I will cover our backs." Melisandre said.


    She had extended a barrier of water behind them that was intercepting the sts of lighting. Each time a bolt hit, the water would absorb it and turn into a steam explosion. Slowing down their pursuers and creating a smoke screen for them.


    Of course, the man that was firing off the lightning magic at them soon realized he was not getting anywhere with ranged shots and began using his speed to close in.


    Evelyn could feel that this man wielded immense magical energy and that Melisandre would have to face him head on soon.


    But her master did not show any concern to the threat that was only seconds away from reaching them and kept flying forward without giving him any concern.


    ''I just have to trust her. Surely, she has some sort of n.'' Evelyn thought as she felt the fastest purser getting closer.


    Then right as he was about to st through Melisandre''s barrier at close range and attempt to grab Evelyn, several magical attacks fell down upon him and pushed him back.


    From above a group of eight owls began attacking him and cutting off his path.


    Among those that were interfering with him, Evelyn recognized one of them as Annalise, the only individual that Melisandre had introduced to Evelyn as her friend and equal within the Alchemy Hall.


    "See, I told you that you only need to worry about anything expect flying. This n has been coordinated among all the leaders within the Roost. There are multiple squads waiting to help us slow down those after you. The longer they keep their attention chasing after you the better our chances." Melisandre said with a confident smile as she looked back towards Evelyn who was fraught with worry.


    The team led by Annalise fought back against the squad of humans chasing after Evelyn for a few dozen seconds before backing off and joining with the main mass of owls that were holding up a defensive position around the alchemy Hall.


    This allowed Evelyn to gain some more ground from them and put them in a difficult spot.


    If they chased after her again then they would only have to deal with more interference, but actually putting down the sovereign rank owls that were getting in their way would take a significant amount of time in which Evelyn might get away.

 Chapter 347 347

    ?


    As Melisandre led Evelyn around, the groups of humans from the Tyrannis Union chased after them in a bid to capture Evelyn. The main target of this entire operation.


    However, while it may have seemed that all the people gathered to bring down the Roost were working in concert, that could not be further from the truth.


    The Tyrannis Union was a loose alliance of many sects that each held their own spheres of power and ideologies. Far from a monolith that moved towards a singr goal.


    At times the sects even fought amongst each other, and the weaker ones were crushed and absorbed. And this battle against the Roost was no different.


    Each sect was participating for their own glory and advancement, and the greatest achievement to be won was capturing what many hade to call the Golden Owl.


    Few knew just how powerful the item within Evelyn was, even among the upper brass of the Tyrannis Union, but most high-ranking members at least knew she was the foremost prize to be captured.


    The reward for bringing her in was immense on a personal scale, and for the sect of sects whose members could im to be among those that were pivotal, the profit would be great.


    Many of the weaker sects among the union were sending in all of their best after her, the chance for their status to increase was too great to pass up.


    Of course, this inevitably led to some degree of infighting among them. Everyone wanted to be the one to catch the Golden Owl.


    No one was tantly firing off magic at theirpetitors, but if their wide scale attacks happened to catch their ''allies'' as well, that was not their problem.


    This led to a chaotic situation of several dozens of powerful individuals all at least at the low tier of the magi rank which was equivalent to sovereign beasts were fighting for the best position to attack Evelyn as shew as eld around the area.


    Except, not a single one of these human experts had been able to get close to Evelyn so far, inrge part to how uncooperative each faction was with the other.


    It also did not help that whenever anyone got too close to theparatively low ranking group of owls being led around by Melisandre, a team of coordinated attackers would swoop in and slow the pursers down before swiftly flying back into a more defensible position.


    This left arge group of the strongest fighters within the Tyrannis Union floundering about and contributing almost nothing to the overall battle. Just as Melisandre and the other Hall Masters had nned.


    Unlike the Tyrannis Union was rife with sabotage amongst themselves in the pursuit of glory, the owls of the Roost were all working together with an outstanding amount of coordination.


    While there were many factions within the Roost that were normally uncooperative with another, in the face of an overwhelming outside threat all other grievances had been tossed aside. Now was not the time to let petty differences allow them to be taken out.


    ''What are they ying at?''


    Floating above the battlefield a singr man was intently watching Evelyn''s movements with a spyss.


    He was a handsome man with pale blue hair that looked almost like silver and two different colored eyes, one a deep purple and the other golden. This was Diomed, the leader of the Deamhain Sect that had originally possessed the Aethersphere.


    It had been a stroke of luck for him to obtain a divine item and keep concrete information from spreading about his acquisition of it.


    Unfortunately, a blunder on the part of the subordinates he had put in charge of researching the item in a remote region had caused it to move beyond his reach.


    In a stroke of luck though, he had been able to track down the beast that wandered off with the divine item too good for it and nearly had it in his grasp.


    But just before his spy delivered Evelyn to him, allmunications were cut off, leaving Diomed in the dark and unsure of the situation.


    With how uncertain things had be this left him with no choice but to reveal the existence of the item to the rest of the Tyrannis Union''s upper brass. His sect alone would not be enough to wage war on the Roost and time was of the essence.


    When he was still getting reports from Verrader he had learned the owl in passion of his divine item had been growing at a rapid pace and waiting too long could allow for her to gain greater power. Hoping for an ideal situation to turn things around was only asking for things to take a turn for the worst in the future.


    Evelyn clearly still hated the ones that had killed her family and tortured her and if she gained enough strength woulde for revenge.


    Thus, he schemed with the other sect leaders of the Tyrannis Union in order to attack the Roost and reim the divine item. He would no longer be able to im sole ownership of it, but better that it was within his reach than left with a bunch of beasts.


    Nevertheless, even though the Tyrannis Union had mobilized a majority of its assets for this attack and had the element of surprise, things had not been going nearly as well as anticipated.


    The Roost''s defenses were certainly better than expected, but so far, they had been unable to break the deadlock even after bringing down the protective barrier.


    Unlike the chaos that was anticipated, the owls had formed defensive bulwarks around their leaders and were keeping any major attack at bay.


    Yet, this strategy was inevitably doomed to fail.


    The owls of the Roost were encircled and had nowhere to go. Stalling things out would not turn the situation around for them unless they had a n of some sort.


    ''I cannot be certain what it is they are scheming, but their continued resistance tells me they feel far from hopeless. I was hoping to wear them down a bit more before making my move, but I cannot let any of the other sects capture what is rightfully mine.''

 Chapter 348 348 The Mastermind Appears

    ?


    Despite the constant sounds of explosions and dozens of powerful pursuers, things had been going well for Evelyn.


    Just as Melisandre said, she only needed to worry about flying around at her fastest maintainable speed and let her master take care of the rest.


    So far, she had not been so much as grazed by a stray attack or had a hostile individual get within half a kilometer of her.


    Still, while Evelyn knew that being a target for some of the enemy''s strongest fighters and keeping them upied was helping everyone, she could not help but feel despondent about herck of ability to fight back.


    All she could do was run away and let others protect her. Even though she had worked tirelessly to gain power, it all amounted to nothing in the face of the threat currently bearing down on her. She was just too weak to be of any real use.


    However, while Evelyn''s mind wandered as she continued monotonously following behind Melisandre, her master suddenly came to an abrupt stop.


    With her thoughts elsewhere, Evelyn put up her wings to halt her momentum just a second after everyone else and only managed to stop when she was right behind Melisandre.


    From there she could see why her master had stopped and she herself went ghastly pale.


    A rift in the air had opened up in front of them just as they were making their way towards the next bastion of the Roost where another group of owls was waiting to back them up.


    This ambush hade at the most inopportune moment as they were as far away from assistance as possible.


    With a quick nce Melisandre turned her head around them to see if they could go back the way they could, but clicked her tongue when she saw what was waiting for them.


    The group that had been chasing them was still embroiled in a skirmish with a team of elite owls. It would be pretty much impossible to retreat that way.


    "It certainly wasn''t easy to break through all the spatial interference around you and time things just right with all your moving about, but I finally managed to catch up to you."


    Coming out of the rift was a handsome middle-aged man with light blue almost sliver hair and two different colored eyes.


    His appearance was striking, and it was clear at a nce that he was a unique and powerful individual.


    Coming up from behind him in the rift were several dozens of other people, one of which Evelyn recognized.


    Standing in the back was the man with azure hair that she had encountered in the Elmot Gorge.


    Back then he had been leading a team belonging to the Deamhain Sect, but now his position was obviously at the bottom of the totem pole among this group.


    Nevertheless, his presence here allowed Evelyn to know exactly who these people were that had just appeared in front of her.


    ''They''re the ones! The bastards that killed our parents and ripped our family apart!''


    Her disheartened thoughts about being useless in battle vanished in an instant and were immediately reced by rage the moment Evelyn realized that the leaders of the organization that had ruined her second family had shown themselves.


    Here they were to destroy her home yet again, and her fury red up to the same degree as when she killed her father in her first life.


    With reckless abandon, Evelyn brought out all of the power she could muster and then some.


    She showed no regard for her well-being or the situation at hand and simply unleased everything she could do.


    Her normally precise and thought-out magic was nowhere to be seen and all that surrounded her was a mass of magic that was going out of control.


    In her head she could faintly hear herpanions and Melisandre shouting at her to control herself, but the roaring in her ears from her rage drowned them out.


    All she could focus on in this moment was striking back at those that had caused her excruciating pain.


    A st of her fire, wind, and gravity magic headed straight towards the group of people she knew to be the ones in charge of the experiment that cost her so much.


    The three types of magic she could usually blend together seamlessly were now an incohesive mess. Her attack relied solely on the tremendous amount of energy she had put behind it.


    "A pitiful disy." Dimed, the leader of the Deamhain Sect said.


    Waving his hand, he created another tear in space the consumed most of Evelyn''s reckless attack.


    Yet, one aspect of her magic managed to get through. The intensified wave of gravity she had released was invisible and nearly undetectable. Allowing it to reach its targets.


    Each member of the top brass of the Deamhain Sect were hit with gravity strong enough to kill a normal person in just a few seconds.


    Of course, not a single person affected by Evelyn''s magic was below the high tier of the arcanist rank that was equivalent to a tyrant rank beast for humans.


    Her attack was certainly shocking as it got through Diomed''s defense, but it amounted to nothing more than a difort to those that she had targeted. There was just too much of a disparity in their ranks for Evelyn''s magic to beat any of them.


    "So that is the marvelous power the divine item bestows upon its wielder. To think even I could not block it." Diomed said with a brilliant smile on his face.


    He was looking at Evelyn with intense interest. Though not as a living creature, but a subject for experimentation.


    ''Damn¡­ it.'' Evelyn thought as she huffed and wheezed.


    The attack she had justunched had taken a great deal out of her.


    Blood was oozing out of her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and her body felt like it frigid water coursing through it.


    She had channeled and unleashed more magical energy than her body could handle all at once and was suffering the bacsh from doing so.


    Getting lost in her rage may have slowed down her enemies for a few seconds, but ultimately it had left her in a terrible state and barely able to continue flying.

 Chapter 349 349 Melisandre’s Desperate Battle

    ?


    After Evelyn''s furious attack herpanions rushed towards her in a panic while Melisandre hovered in front of them and was radiating a menacing presence. She was the only thing keeping leaders of the Deamhain Sect from rushing forward and capturing Evelyn.


    Still, for the moment Diomed seemed more interested in observing them as if he had all the time in the world to make his move and was in no rush.


    "Oh, I thought my newest pet had perished after being discovered. But it seems he is still alive after all." Diomed said when he caught sight of Verrader.


    He then held out his hand and beckoned Verrader to his side.


    "Verrader, what are you doing?" Evelyn asked when her brother suddenly seized her.


    All of herpanions had rushed over to support her after her admittedly stupid attack, but suddenly Verrader had gripped hold of her and was about to drag her over towards Diomed.


    For a moment Evelyn felt fear grip her heart and she wondered if her brother had been tricking her all this time and that their heart to heart had been a fabrication.


    "Don''t think I am going to let you get away with that!"


    With a shout and wave of her hand Melisandre released a concentrated wave of magical energy and the sound of shattering ss followed.


    A small line of magical energy that connected Verrader to Diomed became visible for a second before it broke apart.


    The zed over look in Evelyn''s brother''s eyes swiftly disappeared and he looked around in confusion at what was going on around him.


    "I should have expected a sadistic bastard like you to have a nasty power like mental magic." Melisandre growled towards Diomed.


    The man who had just tried to control Verrader''s mind simply shrugged his shoulders. He honestly did not care what Melisandre thought.


    "Still, you are quite the annoyance. You have been blocking all of my subtle movements. I really did not want to have to get into a messy brawl, but I don''t think any of my subdnates can handle you."


    Immediately after saying this, Diomed went from calm and collected, to racing towards Melisandre with a typhoon of magical energy surrounding him.


    His attempts at trying to delicately use magic to win withouting to blows had beenpletely stopped by Melisandre. From the moment he had jumped through the rift in space, Diomed and Melisandre had been waging a silent war.


    A bright sh of mes and explosion that seemed to shake the world followed int eh wake of their sh.


    However, before the heat and shockwaves could destroy Evelyn and herpanions, they all found themselves wrapped up in a protective bubble of water and rocketing away.


    In one swift movement Melisandre had intercepted Diomed and sent Evelyn away from the ensuing battle.


    "After them. I will take care of this one myself." Diomed shouted.


    Following his order, his subordinates from the Deamhain Sect began rushing towards Evelyn and herpanions but were stopped by a massive curtain of mes.


    "I am not letting a single one of you pass. As her master, I have to show off sometimes." Melisandre said with a smirk to hide her anxiety.


    She was outnumbered and Diomed had her outssed being at the low tier of the archmagi rank which was equal to a cmity beast. Melisandre, unfortunately, sat one step below him and even with her best she was not certain she could beat him one on one.


    Still, she was a master of alchemy and had plenty of annoying concoctions she could use to buy time.


    "This is pointless. You can''t hold all of us here." Diomed said, ripping his hand through space and creating a portal for his subordinates to go through and continue pursuing Evelyn.


    Yet before his magic could fulfill its purpose a small ss container shattered in his vicinity and the liquid within became a gaseous cloud the moment it met air.


    In one fluid motion Melisandre had released one of her most poisonous creations and let the deadly gas fill up the area.


    This forced Diomed on the defensive, and instead of allowing his subordinates through, he had to focus on dispersing the poison.


    ''Boiling Meteors.''


    Following up Melisandre rained down one of her strongest and most widespread spells.


    Some of the leaders of the Deamhain Sect were trying to fly over the me curtain she had created, but now they found themselves having to contend withke sized spheres of scalding water falling down on them.


    With a moment of panic that gave her a chance to breath, Melisandre pulled out four different potion vials and quickly downed the contents of each one. She had created some chaos with her opening move, but once her enemies reformed, she would be in trouble without some major enhancements.


    Each of the potions she had just drunk were among her greatest treasures and had taken her decades of hard work to gather the materials for. Nevertheless, now was not the time to be stingy with her resources, she was going all out.


    Once the potions began to take effect, Melisandre expanded and dropped her human form to return to her gargantuan owl form. Right now, she did not need precise movements or to a smaller target, but overwhelming strength and power.


    "Such a pest." Diomed said.


    As he did, Melisandre saw a sh of movement and felt her instincts screaming at her about iing danger.


    She twisted her body around as swiftly as she could and deployed every manner of defense she had.


    Thanks to her fast actions she managed to survive the attack but felt a searing pain on the tip of her left wing.


    Blood was flowing out of a clean cut that had taken off the end of her wing.


    ''What did he do!?'' Melisandre thought in a panic.


    Her barriers had been sliced through without resistance and her reinforced body had done no better.


    In a bid to recover and slow things down, Melisandre sent out a barrage of attacks in every direction and spread out her senses to focus on the entire battlefield.


    Not a momentter she had the same uneasy feeling and moved her massive frame to dodge the next attack.


    This time she did better, but the edge of her right foot had been hit and she lost a coupleyers of skin.


    ''I can''t believe he has something like that!''


    Now with her eyes glued on Diomed she could see that he was no longer empty handed.


    In his hands he was holding a gleaming golden ive that was radiating intese amgical energy.


    Melisandre was no expert when it came to magic weapons, but she could tell that this ive was of the highest ss that could be made in this realm.


    ''To think that he ahs the power to sever space.'' Melisandre thought as she dodged the next swing of Diomed''s ive.


    A thin line of light flew off from Diomed''s ive and everything in its path was separated by the very fabric of space being cut through.


    It was the kind of attack that was basically impossible to block unless one had a higher mastery of space magic than the attacker, or some other magic that could interfere with space. Something that Melisandre did not possess.


    Her only recourse was to evade the attack.


    Luckily Diomed had to swing the ive and the motion was fairly telegraphed and easy enough to be wary of. Now that Melisandre knew its trick, she would not be hit by it again so easily.


    ''It is still infuriating though.'' Melisandre though as she flew up and dodged another sh.


    The worst of her problems were yet toe through.


    The other leaders of the Deamhain Sect had managed to group up after the opening attacks and were now bombarding Melisandre as well while waiting for a chance to escape and go after Evelyn.


    However, Melisandre was not easy to get past thanks to her magic and the numerous alchemical items she was tossing around.


    The area was constantly being filled with poisons, acids, explosives, and even gels that would ensnare people and try to force its way down their throats an expand within their bodies. Melisandre was like a flying fortress with an inexhaustible supply of armaments.


    Of course, she did not get out of each exchange unharmed, but thanks to the potions she drank her recovery was astounding.


    She regenerated almost instantly from any damage and her magical energy was constantly replenishing itself no matter how much she expended.


    Her willingness to use her most valuable items without restrain was keeping her alive and allowing her to pin down a group that outmatched her.


    "Enough of this." Diomed snarled, his patience having reached its breaking point.


    He had not anticipated such a fierce resistance and no longer kept his distance to attack from afar and charged directly at Melisandre.


    ''A poor move on his part.'' Melisandre thought as her face curled up into a smile.

 Chapter 350 350 Melisandre’s Desperate Battle (2)

    ?


    Melisandre watched carefully employing all of her senses to read Diomed''s every move and prepare for his attack.


    He had chosen to charge straight at her, and she could see he had his ive gripped with both hands and trailing behind his body.


    From that position it was fairly obvious he was preparing for a big swing from close range that Melisandre could not avoid.


    Currently her body was in her owl form, and she was a massive target.


    The size she was using to control the area now seemed to be a detriment in the face of Diomed''s space severing attack she had no means to block. Her only recourse was to dodge, but that would be impossible for her giant body. Or so it appeared.


    ''He is clearly not used to fighting beasts like me.''


    Once Diomed had initiated his attack, Melisandre watched the line of lighte out of his swinging ive.


    It was aimed at her center of mass and no matter how fast she flew it was going to at least take one of her wings off and leave her terribly wounded.


    Yet, despite the iing danger, Melisandre did not move to evade, but instead dove towards the attack.


    She watched as the confident sneer on Diomed''s face twisted into confusion, and then, for just a moment he let his guard down when he imagined Melisandre being cleaved clean in two as she barreled towards his attack that could not be blocked.


    Except, right before she was hit, her body morphed at an unbelievable speed, and she shrunk back down into her humanoid form and slipped past the line of light which barely scratched her.


    An explosive force then propelled her body forward as she used her fire and water magic to cause a steam eruption behind her to st forward at an unprecedented speed.


    ''I''ve finally got you in range.''


    A burst of ck mes covered Melisandre''s right fist, and she struck out at the still stunned Diomed.


    The man that was at the center of this entire attack attempted to bring his ive down on Melisandre, but his momentarilypse in concertation when he envisioned his victory put him one step behind.


    Melisandre'' fist was met with multiple protective barriers around Diomed, but she broke through each of them until she reached thest one.


    This one was something special and she felt a terrible pain in her arm the instant she touched it, but she still did not let up.


    As she pushed forward her arm bent unnaturally as the space around Diomed warped to protect him from physical attacks.


    By the time she reached the end of the barrier her arm had been twisted around like a corkscrew and her bones had been shattered, but her pain had not been in vain.


    She felt her fist finally connect with Diomed and a burst of ck mes engulfed him as he rocketed away from her due to the impact.


    It was a solid hit, and she knew that her most destructive magic had reached her target.


    ''That won''t be enough to kill him, but it should give me a bit of time to clean up some of the weaker ones.''


    Melisandre turned her head towards the members of Diomed''s sect that had been fighting alongside him and sent a bone chilling smile their way.


    Not a single one of them was as strong as Melisandre and the look on her face made them all shudder.


    To add to her intimidation, her mangled arm was already twisting back around and healing itself at a rapid pace. To all those who saw this it would seem that they were fighting a monster that could heal from even the most severe injury.


    "st her with everything you''ve got. We need to hold her back until our leaderes back." The highest ranking of Diomed''s subordinates shouted.


    However, as a rain of magic attacks came towards her Melisandre did not waver and flew up towards her targets.


    Any attack that would not cause her much damage she simply took, only blocking or dodging those that would slow her down.


    Once she had closed the distance, the members of the Deamhain Sect began to scatter, but it was toote.


    Just as their sect leader had failed to ount for Melisandre''s seamless shift between forms, so had his subordinates.


    Without warning Melisandre''s form began to expand once again into a gargantuan owl.


    Both of her wings burst into des of ck mes, and with a single swipe she cut through over half of the Deamhain Sect leaders.


    Several of the weaker targets hit by Melisandre''s attack were reduced to nothing but ashes in just a few moments, while even the lucky ones lost a limb or two that would be all but impossible to grow back.


    In one fell swoop she had dealt a crippling blow to the upper ranks of the Deamhain Sect, and she was already preparing for her next attack.


    With talon, beak, and magic, Melisandre ripped through a dozen more people before abruptly backing off and gaining some distance.


    A glimmering line of light flew past where she had been a moment prior and had she attempted to go for another kill she would have been cleaved in two.


    ''Looks like he is back already.''


    Looking off in the distance Melisandre could see Diomed racing back to continue their fight after she had blown him away.


    His ive was at the ready and Melisandre could tell that he was prepared to attack her should she continue going after his underlings. Her time to move about as she pleased had already ended now that the biggest threat had returned.


    "You are more of a nuisance than I could have ever imagined. I see now that it was a mistake to treat you lightly." Diomed said, his voiceced with fury.


    In the next instance a syringe appeared in his hand, and he jammed it directly into his neck and emptied its contents into his veins.


    Watching this, Melisandre could tell with a nce that the liquid he had just injected into himself was bad news and did not hesitate to pull out her own final trump card.


    It was the same type of potion she had once given to Evelyn as ast resort, a potion of unleased potential.


    Drinking it in one gulp Melisandre felt an explosive increase in her magical energy and for a short time she could wield far greater power than normal.


    Of course, this power came at a cost, and she was sure to face a debilitating bacsh after its effects had worn off. But she knew that without employing this potion she would stand no chance against Diomed now that he was truly serious about killing her.


    A golden shimmer passed by Melisandre, and she barely turned away as Diomed''s ive tore through space and sliced into her.


    Blood sttered through the air as Melisandre felt her side being cut into, and had she been a momentter on her reaction, she surely would have been sliced cleanly in two.


    ''If not for the unleashed potential potion I would have definitely died there.'' Melisandre thought as a cold shiver ran down her spine.


    The second round of their battle was about to start and neither of them would be holding anything back as they attempted to kill each other.

 Chapter 351 351 Evelyn’s Race To Safety

    ?


    Evelyn suddenly felt a sense of weightlessness, and the scenery around her turned into a blur.


    It took her several seconds to realize what was going on, but eventually she managed to deduce she was surrounded by water and flying off at a high speed.


    Thankfully she realized that this was not an attack, but was a hasty maneuver from Melisandre to separate her from the ensuing battle between her and the leader of the Deamhain Sect.


    With a quick nce around she saw five other figures floating within the water bubble and a sigh of relief escaped from her mouth.


    Melisandre had not only protected her, but herpanions as well.


    Unfortunately, their safe trip in the protective water bubble did notst long.


    Once they had traveled around a dozen kilometers away it burst into a spray of mist and released them in the open air.


    ''That is magic for you.'' Evelyn thought as she regained control of her body.


    Despite having been engulfed in water, the second the bubble had dispersed she was not left with a single drop on her.


    At first, she had been expecting to need to pull a fast maneuver to dry off, but Melisandre''s magic had not caused them any inconvenience.


    However, while they had escaped immediate danger thanks to Melisandre''s quick thinking, the four of them were left exposed without their powerful guard. If even one of their pursuers caught up to them now, they would be hard pressed to fight them off.


    ''We need to reorganize and head towards the nearest bastion of owls just as Melisandre said. I don''t know how much longer we need to hold out for, but hopefully it is not much longer.''


    No longer having her reliable master around, Evelyn took charge of her team that had been flying around with her. She was the leader after all, and it was her job to stay level-headed in a situation like this.


    "Form up. I will take point with Otis bring up the rear. We need to hurry before any attackers reach us." Evelynmanded.


    The confusion on herpanions'' faces faded fast once they heard her orders, and they moved into a formation that they often used while exploring.


    Their current goal was to evade attack and go on the defensive so Bylur, Rehni, Verrader and Aralee were grouped up in a diamond formation and ready to focus fully on defense.


    Only Evelyn and Otis were poised to attack depending on if they were assaulted from the front or back.


    ''It looks like we are not going to make it without a fight.'' Evelyn thought, a scowl forming on her face.


    A group of eighteen humans had spotted them and were flying to intercept.


    At the very least these were not the high-ranking people that had been chasing Evelyn around but just a ragtag group that had been retreating after failing their assault on one of the Major Halls that the Roost was using as fortresses.


    None of these humans were above the mid-tier of the arcanist rank which was equivalent to a tyrant beast at the mid-tier, but their overall power was definitely above Evelyn''s team thanks to their superior numbers.


    Luckily the humans were injured and worn out, so all they needed to do was break through.


    "Make sure to stay close to me. I will push us through them. Once we have left them behind, I will be counting on you Otis to keep them off us."


    After rying her orders, Evelyn spread out her heavenly me in front of her in the shape of a bullet.


    She then utilized her wind magic to keep her mes stable in order to prevent it from burning her friends and lowered the gravity around them to lessen the energy they needed to fly.


    At the same time Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee created shields of magical energy around them, and Otis amassed a swirling mass of sand to attack with when the time was right.


    Several of the humans attempted to st through Evelyn''s shield to force them to stop, but she focused her all on maintaining her magic and charged ahead.


    Some of the attackers that were confident in their durability decided to disregard her mes since she was only an awakened beast.


    They jumped in with weapons drawn and defensive magic ready to protect themselves, expecting to easily push through Evelyn''s magic.


    Yet when they reached the crimson mes surrounding her and herpanions, their magical defenses quickly burned away, and they were scored pretty badly.


    Most of them flew back the moment they felt their skin burning, but a couple werepletely immted and fell from the sky as nothing but charred corpses.


    This was simply how powerful Evelyn''s heavenly me was. It was able to burn through just about anything it came into contact with.


    "Otis, you up."


    Once they flew by the scattered group of humans like a ming meteor, Otisunched a huge st of sand behind them.


    This not only blinded the people chasing after them, but also forced them to fall back farther as the sand flew at high speeds and easily sliced through unprotected skin.


    Having forced their way through, Evelyn continued leading the way towards the nearest Hall where the owls of the Roost had solidified their defenses.


    When they arrived Evelyn was sure that the location would be the main target for the Tyrannis Union to attack, but hopefully it would not be long until what remained of the Roost was warped away.


    Sadly, their sess was short lived.


    Not long after breaking through the first group of humans they were assaulted by another. But this time it was not just rabble that had been retreating to lick their wounds.


    "It seems that we finally caught up to you."


    Several dozens of liquid tendrils spread out to cut off Evelyn and her team''s escape and Evelyn came to an abrupt stop when she saw this.


    This magic was familiar to her and when she looked ahead and saw who was creating it, her face twisted into an expression of rage.

 Chapter 352 352 Secret Trump Card

    ?


    Standing in between Evelyn and herpanions'' path to safety was the azure haired man that counted among the lowest rung of the Deamhain Sect''s leadership.


    He had used his venom magic to create a half dozen jellyfish like constructs and spread their numerous tendrils out to prevent Evelyn''s advance.


    Along with him were two other members of the Deamhain Sect, both at the high tier of the arcanist rank which was the same tier and rank as the azure haired man.


    ''I guess Melisandre could not keep all of them contained.''


    Among those that had apanied Diomed these three were undoubtedly the weakest, and Evelyn could imagine that they garnered the least of Melisandre''s attention.


    With her focused on so many other threats it waspletely understandable that a few of the weaker ones might be able to slip past her.


    Unfortunately, while these three were no threat at all to Melisandre, to Evelyn and herpanions they were practically an insurmountable obstacle.


    Otis was the only one in Evelyn''s group that was at aparable rank, but his tier was two below the three members of the Deamhain Sect.


    Even outnumbering them two to one, Evelyn knew that she and herpanions could not stack up at their current levels.


    ''Can we try and push past them? No. They are certainly much faster than us since they already caught up to us after being blocked by Melisandre. Our chances of winning in a fight are also incredibly low. I already know how dangerous that azure haired man''s magic is, and the other two are probably just as strong. All we can really hope to do is by time and wait for assistance toe.''


    It made Evelyn feel bitter that all she could do was rely on others toe and save her, but that was just how this battle was. At her current level of power, she was simply too weak to make much of a difference on her own.


    Yet, before she could issue any orders to herpanions, she was surprised to find Bylur making the first move.


    "Rehni, now is the time to use those."


    Without a moment''s notice, Bylur activated his storage cuff and pulled out a potion with a silver liquid sloshing around inside it.


    Evelyn recognized the position at once. It was something Melisandre had given to her in the past and had allowed her to reach a terrifying level of power for a short time.


    ''Where did they get those potions of unleashed potential?!''


    She had seen the recipe for these potions before and the ingredients and necessary magical energy to create it were still beyond her.


    There was no way that either Rehni nor Bylur would have been able to afford these potions, and Evelyn quickly realized that the only one that could have given these potions to them was Melisandre.


    "Wait! Don''t drink those, you have no idea what might happen!" Evelyn said, remembering her own experience.


    After she had used the position in the past it had certainly imbued her with strength far greater than normal, but once its effect wore off, her body and soul had been broken and she only barely survived thanks to Melisandre''s intervention.


    Of course, the bacsh of using an unleashed potential potion had certainly been worse for Evelyn than it would be for anyone else.


    This was due to the Aethersphere and her heavenly me containing far greater powers than her feeble body and magical energy could properly utilize.


    The potion allowed her to wield a portion of these two items'' true power, but it had been beyond her body and soul to withstand the strain.


    Still, while she logically knew that using this potion likely would not kill her friends or leave them permanently crippled, she could not keep the image of their broken bodies out of her mind.


    But it was toote to stop them now, Bylur and Rehni downed the unleashed potions without hesitation and disregarded Evelyn''s warning.


    Their magical energy began to explode an instantter, and the azure haired man sensing this initiated his attack.


    The tendrils he had been weaving around them in a all closed in at once to kill everyone but Evelyn.


    Except, not a single one of these venomous tendrils reached their target.


    A chilling cold emanated from Bylur, and the dangerous venom began to freeze over and stopped abruptly.


    Bylur''s already powerful and skilled ice magic had been brought up to the next level or maybe even higher.


    As he was now, Evelyn could tell he surpassed even Otis and might be able to stand up to one of the Deamhain Sect Leaders by himself. Though she still doubted he could win by the time the potion''s effects wore off.


    On the other hand, Rehni felt far more dangerous to Evelyn due to the fact that she was not giving off a greater presence than usual.


    After using the unleashed potential potion, she should have been bursting with extra magical energy and a heightened output, but she was not showing any overt signs of this happening.


    This meant one of two things, either the potion had been defective, which Evelyn was certain was impossible since Melisandre had made it, or that Rehni was capable of fully controlling this increase in power due to her talent and skills at magical energy maniption.


    ''I always knew that her control over magic was staggering, but to think she was capable of properly containing such a drastic increase in power. I don''t think I could do so even with all my training and practice.''


    From the first time she had seen her, Evelyn knew that Rehni was talented, but only now did she realize just how capable her friend was at utilizing magical energy.


    Feeling the tide turning, Evelyn sensed that the six of them might have a chance of victory now and gave out different orders than she had been nning on. She could not let Bylur''s and Rehni''s resolve go to waste.


    "We are going to win this. Verrader, you assist Bylur but do not try anything risky. Aralee, you do the same for Rehni. Otis, you are with me. We are taking these three down."

 Chapter 353 353 Victory Or Death

    ?


    Evelyn truly wanted to head straight at the azure haired man who had previously nearly killed, but tactically she knew it would be a poor move.


    Bylur had already demonstrated that his ice magic could neutralize the venom magic that the azure haired man employed, and it made little sense to have him fight against one of the two unknownbatants from the Deamhain Sect.


    So, instead Evelyn picked one of their enemies and she and Otis moved to face him head on.


    Their target was a rtively small man whose body was hidden entirely by an oversized cloak.


    His appearance was a bit unsettling, which was why Evelyn had chosen for her and Otis to take him on.


    ''Let us see what he can do.''


    To start Evelyn created a spread of fast-moving me needles that she fired like a shotgun at her and Otis'' opponent.


    In the best case scenario, she was hoping that the man would decide to mostly ignore the attack since itcked much power behind it.


    Normally if a beast of her rank sent an attack like this at a person that was an entire rank above it would not be able to cause any damage whatsoever.


    Of course, Evelyn''s heavenly me was special and could burn through just about anything. Even Melisandre would take damage if she did not use any magic to protect herself from a heavenly me.


    Unfortunately, the hooded man was not underestimating Evelyn and with explosive speed heunched himself out of the way of Evelyn''s attack and fired back with a wave of pure magical energy.


    "Otis!" Evelyn shouted.


    Knowing her own magic would be ill suited to blocking he iing attack, Evelyn called for herpanion to defend them.


    Thankfully, Otis was already used to reacting to unexpected situations and responding to Evelyn''s orders. His devotion to her made him one of the swiftest to act on hermands and do so without any question.


    Without wasting a moment, he put up a thick wall of sand that stood between them and the wave of magical energy.


    When the attack hit the sand wall began to shake violently, but this was all part of the n.


    Otis had created his wall to be strong but malleable so that it could disperse more force without being broken through easily.


    "Ugh!"


    Still, this magical energy attack had more power behind it than anticipated and Otis struggled to keep it at bay. Their opponent did have significantly more magical energy than them after all.


    ''Still, how did he put so much power behind such a widespread magical energy attack. It should not have been that potent.'' Evelyn thought, trying to understand what she had just witnessed.


    Usually using pure magical energy could not pack as much power behind it as utilizing one''s magic affinities, but this man did not seem to be following this rule.


    ''Shit.''


    "Otis, brace yourself!" Evelyn shouted.


    She then created a st of fire and wind magic in front of her to elerate herself backwards as fast as possible.


    Her body mmed into Otis at an incredible speed, and the two of them went flying backwards just in time to avoid being hit by their enemy''s follow up attack.


    Two massive fists smashed through Otis'' sand wall and cut through the air where Evelyn and Otis had been just a moment before. If not for Evelyn using her wind magic to feel the air currents around them and notice the iing attack, she and Otis would have been hit with a devastating blow and likely incapacitated.


    "Hm, I thought for sure that I would get at least one of you with that." The hooded man said.


    Though, his cloak that had covered his body no longer looked overlyrge on him, and in fact seemed to have been stretched to its limits. Only his face was still covered by his gigantic hood.


    No longer was the man barely four feet tall and thin like a twig, but the size of giant with muscles that would put even the best body builders to shame.


    With just a nce Evelyn estimated that the man was now around six meters tall.


    This dwarfed her despite her ownrge frame that was more than two meters tall.


    It wasmonly understood that beasts had greater physical might than people, but this man put that notion to rest. There was no doubt that he could wrestle with a beast of the same rank and tier as himself ande out on top.


    ''This is just great. He has some type of rare magic I know nothing about. I doubt it is just physical augmentation since his magical energy attacks are bolstered as well. This guy is going to be a pain.'' Evelyn thought as she tried to analyze her opponent''s capabilities.


    From what she could tell of their couple of exchanges was that his magic was incredibly simple, but also terribly effective.


    He was just a mass of pure power. There were no precise tricks that he was going to employ because he had no need to fight in a roundabout way. His strength was all he needed to overpower his enemies.


    "Otis, focus on restraining his movements. I do not think you are going to be able to hurt him with your magic. We will have to rely on my magic to damage him, but he is wary of me. I won''t be able to hit him without your help." Evelyn said over the magical connection she had established between herself and Otis.


    Fortunately, Otis was not one to seek out the limelight and was perfectly fine allowing Evelyn to take center stage. He would do everything in his power to support her.


    Only a moment after Evelyn finished her brief discussion with Otis, their adversary charged directly towards them.


    His speed was even more overwhelming now, and his gargantuan body made his reach incredibly difficult to escape from. Evelyn and Otis were not going to be able to simply evade his iing attack.

 Chapter 354 354 Victory Or Death (2)

    ?


    With the juggernaut of a man rushing towards her and Otis, Evelyn acted quickly.


    To start she brought forth the strongest gravity she could muster and mmed it into the hooded man.


    ''Gravity Hammer.''


    Her attack struck home and the six-meter-tall behemothing for them was knocked down off of his straight path towards them.


    However, despite Evelyn''s best efforts, she and Otis would not be able to escape their enemies reach with her attack alone.


    Luckily, Otis was in perfect sync with Evelyn and followed up immediately after her attack.


    He had created two huge hands made of sand that flew from above and capitalized on the area of increased gravity that Evelyn had created to elerate faster and m into their opponent.


    The giant man punched up towards Otis'' magic to disperse its power, but as was the nature of sand it was quite malleable, and Otis allowed it to absorb the blow before tightening around the man''s fists and dragging him down.


    With theirboplete, Evelyn and Otis flew up higher at a rapid pace as Evelyn lessened the gravity around them. It was clear that a close quarters battle would put them at a massive disadvantage, and they wanted to gain some distance.


    As they ascended, Evelyn did not just run away, but began spinning her body around as she prepared to unleash her next attack.


    A tornado began to whip up around her as she used her wind magic to rotate the air around her.


    When she reached her desired height and had created a powerful vortex around herself, she twisted her body around and aimed directly downwards where the hooded man was.


    ''I figured he would charge right back towards us. Let''s see how he handles this.''


    "Crimson Twister."


    Exploding with her heavenly me Evelyn allowed the tornado around her to suck up the mes and increased the gravity around her to create one of her most devastatingbo attacks.


    The ming whirlwind descended down on Evelyn''s target and the widespread magic attack threatened to swallow the man and shred him to ribbons before turning him into ash.


    At the same time a web of sand spread out over arge area and threatened to entangle the hooded man should he attempt to dodge.


    Yet, just before the raging inferno consumed the gigantic man, he threw his right first forward andunched a projectile of pure magical energy directly into Evelyn''s Crimson Twister.


    The difference in their magical energy output became apparent immediately as the attack of magical energy exploded within Evelyn''s Crimson Twister and all of the power she had amassed was blown away by a devastating explosion.


    "I finally caught you."


    Completely disoriented after he attack had failed Evelyn was floundering in the air and the hooded man reached out with both of his massive hands to grab and restrain her.


    She knew that the moment she was captured she would be squeezed into unconsciousness and would be unable to offer any resistance. That was why she had a contingency n ready in case her attack failed.


    Before the member of the Deamhain Sect could reach her, a whip of sand wrapped around her torso and swiftly yanked her higher into the sky.


    "Thanks Otis. I would have been finished there without you." Evelyn said when she found herself hovering next to one of her trustypanions.


    "Of course, I would be willing to even sacrifice my life for you. "Otis said withplete sincerity. "Still, I am surprised that he was able to dissipate that attack of yours. I do not think I would have been able to."


    Honestly, Evelyn had been surprised as well. Her attack hadbined all of her different types of magic to create a power that should have reduced everything in its path.


    However, the power she could generate with her magical energy was simply far inferior to her opponent. As advanced as her magic was for her level, it could only get so far in the face of overwhelming strength.


    "After that exchange I realized that any attack he can react to is going to be ineffective. Otis, I need you to keep him busy while I prepare something he cannot hope to block or dodge." Evellyn said, her expression resolute.


    Sensing that she was confident, Otis dove down and was ready to y his role. Even if he was pebbled to a bloody pulp, he intended to give Evelyn the time and opening she needed to finish this battle.


    ''I know that she does not approve of me using this form, but I need its ability to fight this man.''


    As he dropped down to meet his opponent, Otis'' body began to warp and change shape until he had taken his humanoid form.


    He normally refrained from utilizing this power that he had gained when evolving to tyrant rank beast since it made Evelyn ufortable.


    Nevertheless, he realized that a part of his strength lied within being able to switch between his two forms and had practiced in secret.


    He had only a few spells he had developed that he could currently only use with his humanoid form, but the one he needed now was something he could not properly visualize while an owl.


    For most tyrant rank beasts, they gained a massive size in their bestial forms and shrunk when utilizing their humanoid form, but the opposite was true for Otis.


    His species was naturally tiny, and hecked pure physical strength. Of course, his nimble movements and talent for magic more than made up for hisck of raw might, but right now that was exactly what he needed.


    He understood that he would never win this way as he was hopelessly outssed, but it would give him the best chance to hold this behemoth of a man in ce while Evelyn prepared. He needed to be a challenger that could not be ignored.


    "Sand Titan."


    Releasing as much magic as he could control, Otis wrapped arge quantity of sand around his body until it resembled a giant statue of himself.


    At his current level of control, he could not utilize this magic without being inside of it and having it mirror his movements, but with it he could wield greater strength and fight as a giant just like his opponent.

 Chapter 355 355 Victory or Death (3)

    Chapter355 355 Victory or Death (3)


    "Gahahaha! Do you think that poor imitation of my power is going to work! Just getting bigger is not going to intimate me or change the fact you are so much weaker than me!" The gargantuan hooded man said as he bellowed withughter.


    Otis''s sand titan spell had allowed him to create a statue out of sandrge evenrger than his opponent, but the hooded man did not look impressed.


    Clearly, he thought of Otis''st-ditch effort as nothing more than the struggle of a weakling trying to imitate him.


    Of course, Otis knew he could never win, especially not this way. He just needed to put his faith in Evelyna and buy some time.


    From inside his sand titan, Otis raised up his massive fist and swung down on the giant man.


    "Is that the best you can do."


    Without any urgency the hooded man swung his left arm and backhanded Otis'' arm away.


    Sand sprayed in all directions as Otis'' arm of sand waspletely destroyed. He could not hold his magic together under the pressure of the immense force caused by his enemy''s p.


    Nevertheless, this was a part of his n. The more sand spread in the air, the less visibility there would be, giving Evelyn a better chance ofunching her sneak attack when she was ready.


    Sending out more magical energy, Otis created more sand and in an instant is destroyed arm had recovered.


    "That''s cute. But how much can your doll take."


    Otis, sensing that a big attack wasing, brought his arms and legs up in a defensive posture and braced for impact.


    The hooded man had coalesced arge amount of magical energy into his hands, and he pped them together and sent a devastating shockwave towards Otis.


    Gritting his teeth, Otis strained to hold his spell together as he felt the sand being blown apart by the intense wave of magical energy that had just hit him.


    He managed toe out with his sand titan''s limbs only being mostly deformed and immediately went to work on restoring them.


    "BOOM!"


    Unfortunately, before he could recover, he was struck by a powerful impact that sent him rocketing away and barely holding onto the form of his spell.


    While his adversary had been ying around at the beginning to see how strong Otis was, now he was going for the kill and giving him no time to rest.


    ''He''s close.''


    Instinctively Otis could feel the looming threat of death approaching him rapidly. He had managed to survive two hits, but he knew that another would break his spell and leave him defenseless.


    ''Disperse.''


    Right before the next attack came, Otis dropped what remained of his spell and turned it into a cloud of sand to confuse his enemy.


    He then mmed himself with his own magic in order to gain a burst of speed he could not safely conjure.


    Pain assaulted him, but he knew it wasing and it was better to cause a bit of damage to himself than to be battered around by the giant man that wanted to kill him.


    As he gained distance, Otis cast his spell once again and surrounded himself with another sand titan.


    This time though, he did not try to keep his distance but rushed in just as the hooded man left therge cloud of sand.


    sping both of his hands together, Otis struck down onto his enemy with the full force that his spell could muster.


    The man held up his own arms to block, and Otis felt an impact shake his sand titan.


    His arms blew apart from the impact, but he had managed to knock the hooded man a bit away with his attack.


    There was no visible damage that he could see, but he had been expecting that. Even if this man sat around and let Otis wail on him, he would not get so much as a scratch.


    ''I can''t break his skin and the force of my attacks don''t seem to be enough to hurt him internally either. Just got to keep attacking and knock him around for as long as I can.'' Otis thought, focusing on single mindedly fighting.


    When he had let up to see how his adversary would react, he had almost been defeated in a few blows. Otis knew he needed to keep on the defensive and not worry how much damage his titan incurred.


    Swooping down heunched a roundhouse kick and smashed into his opponent once again.


    This time his leg shattered and scattered into fine particles, but that was fine, he had already moved onto the next attack.


    He had focused on recovering only a single arm and though it was still rough and iplete he swung it with reckless abandon.


    "That is enough."


    Obviously fed up with Otis'' futile resistance, the hooded man stuck out with a series of fast punches and blew a hole in the torso of Otis'' sand titan as well as took of its head.


    These were the areas that the hooded man figured Otis was most likely to be operating his magic from. Which is exactly why Otis had not been in either location.


    Instead, he had been hiding close to the right shoulder of his sand titan. It made his visualization a bit more difficult, but he was certainly safer in an atypical location to be attacked.


    ''I figured he might think might titan has the same weak points as a person. Too bad for him that is not the case.''


    For an instant his enemy looked baffled to not have found what he was expecting, and Otis brought up his remaining leg and kicked the man away.


    His final limb shattered on impact, but Otis did not stop. He frantically began reforming his sand titan and prepared for the next engagement.


    It was not a secondter that he received a signal from Evelyn. She hadunched a gust of wind at him to indicate that she was ready. He just needed to give her the best opportunity to strike.

 Chapter 356 356 Spoiler, Title at the Bottom

    Chapter356 356 Spoiler, Title at the Bottom


    Otis knew what he had to do now, though he was sure that Evelyn would not approve of his n.


    With his partially reformed sand titan heunched himself towards their enemy and prepared for his final move.


    "I''m tired of this. Your amusement has worn off!"


    Fury in his voice the hooded man met Otis'' charge, this time emitting more magical energy than he had before.


    Without any care for his own safety Otis threw the full weight of his partially constructed sand titan at the man and did not pull back for anything.


    The only reason he had truly held out for this long was that this man was still wary of Evelyn even though she had disengaged.


    He knew she was still around and had kept at least some amount of his awareness trained on a surprise attack. Otis needed to force him to devote as many resources as he could towards himself to make Evelyn attack more likely to hit.


    "I finally got you."


    Two seconds after they shed was all it took for the hooded man to find Otis and close his massive hand around the defenseless owl.


    In an effort to protect himself for just a moment long, Otis had reverted to his smaller owl form and formed the hardest ball of earth he could as a protective shell.


    It would only take another moment for him to be crushed and he could feel his final defense cracking.


    Still, this had always been his n.


    At the cusp of assured victory was when one was almost always at their most vulnerable. The hooded man had caught Otis and was just a second away from delivering the final blow and felt full of himself. That was when Evelyn struck.


    She had watched on with fear creeping into her heart that she had put too much on Otis and that he could die at any moment, but she needed time to prepare an attack that could beat this guy.


    Her worst fears seemed to be realized when the man caught Otis, and Evelyn nearly lost concertation on her magic as a result of distress.


    ''No, the man''s hand is not clenched tight enough to have crushed Otis yet. He has to still be alive.''


    Part of her thought process was just so she did not fall into despair. While it made some logical sense that Otis might be alive, it was equally likely he had been killed.


    However, Evelyn could not let herself get disheartened at this final stage and fired off her attack.


    ''Heavenly Laser.''


    Of all of her spells this one had the most speed and precision behind it.


    She had used all three of her magic affinities to create this beam of concentrated mes that sliced through anything in its path with its intense heat.


    The spell was as difficult to control now as when she first thought it up, but even with the pressure on she had not failed in casting it.


    Otis had given her all the time she needed to bring out the full might of what was one of her strongest attacks.


    Her target did not have a single instant to react before the heavenlyser hit him and seared right through his arm.


    Evelyn felt the energy she had amassed beginning to wane after firing her spell and swiftly turned her head for a follow-up before she ran out of energy.


    She was aiming to cleave her target in half at the waist, but her initial shot had garnered hisplete attention and he jumped back and defend himself with all of the magical energy he could conjure at a moment''s notice.


    The heavenlyser spell burned through the hooded man''s barrier with ease, but by the time it reached his skin, it was almost out of power.


    Damn it! I couldn''t finish him.''


    After her attack ran out of magical energy, Evelyn had failed in her goal to kill her and Otis'' adversary.


    There was now a half meter deep line seared into the hooded man''s lower torso, but that was far from enough to cleave him in half.


    Hisrge bulky frame had saved him and the high durability of someone of his rank meant that even his damaged organs would not be enough to kill him.


    Had she not used her first shot to cut off his arm and aimed for his head as she initially nned, he would not still be alive.


    Nevertheless, when she saw Otis about to be crushed, she could not risk the man''s body spasming in death and squishing Otis. She had to make sure to protect herpanion first.


    ''It should be enough. I may be drained, but he is certainly too injured to continue. Down and arm and with a deep scar in his torso he is probably barely able to move.''


    And just as Evelyn had surmised, her and Otis'' opponent was barely hanging on.


    Just the pain he felt from the extreme burns was enough to make him want to pass out.


    "This isn''t over yet. I will not be satisfied until your corpses line my room as trophies." The man said before pulling out some sort of idol and crushing it.


    An instant alter he was enveloped in a warp portal and vanished from sight. They had not been able to kill him but forcing him to retreat was the next best thing.


    Once the man was gone, Otis broke out of the earthen shell he had surrounded himself in and began flying over to Evelyn.


    He was back in his owl from as he needed to be smaller to leave more room to protect himself with his magic, but also because he knew that Evelyn would be ufortable if he came back to her side still in his humanoid form.


    ''Now, how are the others doing?''


    With her battle over for now, Evelyn turned her attention to herpassions'' fights to see if they needed assistance.


    Yet as her attention waned for a moment Otis noticed something Evelyn did not and rushed towards her as fast as she could.


    The next thing she knew he had mmed into her with enough force tounch her away and she looked towards him with shock, not understanding what he was doing.


    Then it happened.


    Several ck rods pierced through Otis'' body all at once.


    His wings, feet, and beak were skewered, and his body became suspended in the air.


    He had not been hit anywhere vital by some miracle.


    ''No, it was not a miracle. Those rods had been aimed at me. They want me alive. Only me.''


    A dark premonition came over Evelyn, and she tried to right herself and fly to Otis'' aid.


    She began challenging the remaining magical energy she had to unleash her heavenly me and melt away the rods that had pierced Otis.


    "Another pest getting in my way. I have no need for this one."


    The world seemed to slow down for Evelyn as she watched what happened next.


    The dozen rods that had impaled Otis began to pull apart, and Evelyn could do nothing but stare at the horror in front of her as his wings, feet, and head were torn from his body.


    Chapter 356 The Return of Despair

 Chapter 357 The Return of Despair (2)

    Chapter 357 The Return of Despair (2)


    "NOOOOO!"


    Evelyn screamed out in rage and sorrow as she watched Otis ripped to shreds by the attack that had been meant for her.


    She watched blood spray from his sundered body and knew that without a doubt he was dead.


    His head was flying off in a separate direction from his torso and not even the greatest magic in the world would be able to save him.


    It had all happened so incredibly quickly that Evelyn could not process what had happened.


    One minute they were celebrating their victory over a tough foe, and the next Otis was dead.


    Two powerful emotions began a war inside Evelyn.


    A part of her was consumed by fury and she was seeing red, and the other part was overwhelmed by the anguish of losing a friend.


    Evelyn had lost so many people that she cared about in the past, and seeing another one be mercilessly killed without being able to do anything was enough to shatter her will.


    ''I have to avenge him. I have to!''


    Feeling herself losing a grip on her emotions, Evelyn decided to give into the one that would at least allow her to continue fighting. Fury was better than hopelessness.


    She ignored her drained magical energy and simply exploded with her different magic affinities and wreathed herself in their powers.


    In her current state she was too far gone to worry about any limits and ignored the pain creeping into her body and mind.


    Yet, when she turned to face Otis'' killer, her rage subsided almost immediately. What was waiting for her was a sight easily as horrific as what had happened to Otis and too much for Evelyn to bear.


    Tears began streaming down Evelyn''s face and she shook her head as if hoping to dispel an illusion, but what was in front of her was reality.


    Diomed, the leader of the Deamhain Sect was hovering above her with Melisandre bound in barbed chains.


    The scene before her was heart wrenching and looked like what would happen if an angel was captured by a demon.


    Melisandre''s wings had been cut from her back, spears were pierced through her hands and feet, and spikes had been jammed into her eyes and mouth.


    Blood was slowly trickling down Melisandre''s body and her head was slumped over.


    At first Evelyn thought her master was dead, but the slight rising of her chest as she breathed proved she was still alive. Whether this was better or not, Evelyn did not know, as Melisandre''s current condition was beyond terrible.


    Unfortunately, while Evelyn stared at her master in a daze, Diomed made his move.


    With the flick of his wrist, he sent the dozen rods that had killed Otis hurtling straight towards Evelyn.


    She was currently in no condition to respond, and she only registered what was happening when she was hit.


    Her nervous system alerted her to a searing pain as the rods pierced through her wings and legs.


    The powerful magical aura that had been erupting around her faded an instantter, and Evelyn was almost entirely immobilized.


    Other than being able to turn her head slightly, she could not move at all.


    Reflexively, she tried to release her heavenly me and melt away the rods, but her best efforts were in vain as she found her magical energy being drained faster than she could channel it through her body.


    There was nothing she could do but allow the dozen rods to keep her helplessly suspended in the air.


    "Finally, I have caught you. You made this far more of a pain than I was expecting, but it is over now."


    Diomed looked quite pleased now that he had achieved his goal.


    However, his attention soon left the restrained Evelyn and he gazed on at the battles between his subordinates and Evelyn''spanions that were still raging on.


    "I suppose that I will lend them a hand since I am in a good mood. I already lost too many promising members of the sect today, and I must punish that traitor anyways." Diomed said with his hand outstretched.


    Seeing this, Evelyn summoned up all of her strength and began to screech as loudly as she could. With her magic sealed she could not speak, but perhaps she could draw Diomed''s attention away from her friends.


    Thankfully, he turned around to look at her before using his magic to kill, Bylur, Rehni, Verrader and Aralee.


    A bone chilling grin formed on Diomed''s face as she looked towards Evelyn again.


    It was a terrifying expression that brought a cold chill to Evelyn''s body like she had not felt since her first death.


    "You must really care about your friends. Perhaps I might be able to spare them. In return though, I will need your cooperation. It is much more difficult to work with a subject that is resistant. If you agree to these terms, shake your head within the next five seconds. Otherwise, I will put those four little owls struggling over there down."


    Having an ultimatum forced on her, Evelyn looked past her capture and towards her friends and siblings that were fighting for their lives.


    She hesitated until thest second, wondering if it might better that they simply died and were spared the pain of what was toe if they continued living.


    Surely Diomed would not just let them go, he would make sure that they remained captives to keep her in line.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn could not watch anyone else close to her die and nodded her head towards Diomed before slumping over in defeat.


    He looked incredibly pleased by her obvious despair, and said, "Very well, we have a deal. I am sure you know what will happen should you ever go back on it."


    An instantter he disappeared and swiftly warped next to Evelyn''spanions and trapped them in some sort of spatial barrier one by one.


    In the distance Evelyn watched him wave his subordinates off before flying back over to where he had left Evelyn suspended in the air. Her friends in tow behind him.


    "Now it is time that we make our departure. I have no intention of fighting anymore meaningless fights."


    Holding out his free hand, Diomed began dragging a glyph in the air in order to warp all of them away from the battlefield.


    Except before he could activate his magic, a palpable wave of rage rolled over the area.


    The raw emotion that was backed up by a terrifying amount of magical energy and even though she was not the target Evelyn felt an intense instinctual fear.


    Diomed turned around to face the unbridled fury being directed towards him and saw a ck beam of energy flying directly towards him.


    He hastily through up a barrier around himself, but the attack had never been aimed at him.


    The ck beam split apart when it reached Melisandre and disintegrated the magic items that were binding her.


    No longer held in the air by the chains that Diomed had been keeping ahold of Melisandre''s limp and unconscious body began plummeting toward the ground.


    But she never reached the ground, as before she fell too far, a dark form blurred by intense speed raced across the sky and caught her.

 Chapter 358 Silas to the Rescue

    Chapter 358 Ss to the Rescue


    Evelyn craned her neck which was the only part of her body she could freely move in order to view the individual that had just swooped in and freed Melisandre from Diomed''s clutches.


    Jutting out of his back were two wings that were pitch-ck save for several white dots that made them look like the night sky.


    He was the first owl that Evelyn met inside of the Roost, and one that had been antagonistic towards her since the day she arrived.


    However, seeing him now, Evelyn did not feel the normal reversion she reserved for her enemies, but grateful that a strong ally had arrived.


    ''He may not like me. He may have even tried to kill me in the past, but right now, I am d Ss is here.'' Evelyn thought, as tears of relief fell down her face.


    "You insufferable beasts keeping and getting in my way! Just die!" Diomed shouted.


    He then raised his golden ive above his head and swung down towards Ss who was cradling Melisandre and using his life magic to heal her.


    The thin line of light that split through space flew through the air and was only moments away from cleaving Ss and Melisandre in two.


    "No. You are the one who is going to die for what you did to her." Ss whispered to himself.


    The space rending sh grew ever closer to him, but Ss made no move to dodge.


    Diomed thought for sure that his magic would end this fight in one hit, but to his surprise a dark sh impacted against his magic and the fabric of the world cracked in the area where these two forces met.


    "There won''t even by dust left of you!" Ss shouted as he tossed Melisandre behind him and erected a protective barrier around him.


    With fury in his eyes Ss flew directly towards Diomed with a dark storm of pure destruction swirling around him.


    Several ck beams fired from Ss and trailed after Diomed who began flying away from Ss.


    After his battle against Melisandre, Diomed was quite exhausted, and it would be impossible for him to take on another opponent of the same strength head on. Especially when Ss''s destruction magic was capable of blocking his space magic.


    Yet, as the two of them continued to zip across the sky, Ss eventually managed to hit his targets.


    The cages of warped space that Diomed had created around Evelyn''spanions exploded with a sh of ck light before they were set free.


    "Go and save your friend and get Melisandre to safety. If you let anything happen to her, I will being to find you after I am done with this guy." Ss said menacingly to Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee as he passed by them.


    Now freed from their bonds, the four of them flew as fast as they could away from the battle that was far out of their league.


    "Evelyn, I am sorry that we were not strong enough." Bylur said with his head hung low when he reached where she was suspended in the air.


    "I-it is fine. There was nothing any of us could do." Evelyn choked out.


    Having watched Otis die made her want to simply retreat within herself and shut off her mind, but her otherpanions still needed her, so she forced herself together the best she could to continue to be their leader.


    For several seconds Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee, tried to destroy the dozen rods that had pierced through Evelyn, but their efforts were in vain.


    They could not put a single scratch on the powerful magic items, nor make them budge a millimeter.


    "If you can''t damage or move the rods. You are going to have to remove me from them instead."


    Evelyn winced as she suggested this, knowing how excruciating the pain was going to be, but there was no other option.


    Herpanions looked hesitant at first, until Rehni stepped up and used her metal magic to brace Evelyn and created several scalpel-like des.


    Wearing a pained expression, Rehni sliced into Evelyn''s legs and wings and cut around where the rods had pierced her.


    As Evelyn expected, this hurt like hell.


    Still, it was not the worst pain she had ever experienced, and she kept her beak shut tight and endured.


    It did not take long for Rehni to open up a dozen holes in Evelyn''s wings and legs and slid her off of the rods that had impaled her.


    Unfortunately, the procedure had left Evelyn in terrible shape with blood pouring out of her at an rming rate.


    Bylur did what he could with his life magic to heal the wounds as Evelynid on his back, but his skills would not be enough to make a full recovery. Evelyn was going to need more powerful magic, or she likely would never fly or walk again.


    Not long after Evelyn had been freed, Verrader and Aralee came back with Melisandre who was still sealed within a protective barrier created by Ss.


    Luckily the barrier was able to be moved and the two of them carefully guided it around.


    "We need to head to the nearest fortification and ask for protection. There is nothing more we can do here." Evelyn said, her head turned to look at the intense battle raging on between Ss and Diomed.


    With a bitter taste in their mouths, Evelyn''spanions began flying towards the nearest Hall where the members of the Roost were putting up a staunch resistance against their attackers.


    But they did not get far before the next unexpected event urred.


    Each of their identification cuffs that proved they were members of the Roost began to glow brightly.


    For a moment all of them was baffled by what was going on, before Rehni realized what was happening.


    "They must have finally finished. The group that got away and is reestablishing the Roost''s link to a separate dimension must have seeded! We are going to be able to escape!"

 Chapter 359 359 End of the Battle, for Better or Worse

    <h4>Chapter 359 Chapter 359 End of the Battle, for Better or Worse</h4>


    As the glow around their identification cuffs began to grow, Evelyn allowed herself to finally feel a sense of relief now that safety was soon to be at hand.


    Watching Otis die and seeing the horrible state Melisandre had ended up in had taken its toll on her mental state, but for now all she could think about was escaping. She could unpack her traumaster.


    Yet, even while things seemed to being to an end and the Roost would sessfully reestablish a connection to a separate domain, Diomed was not going to just let his prize be whisked away.


    He had to take a hit from Ss that destroyed one of his lungs, but the leader of the Deamhain Sect slipped by his adversary and raced towards Evelyn.


    Naturally, as a practitioner of space magic he realized what was going on and was not going to simply let his quarry escape.


    "Dimension Lock!" Diomed yelled, quickly weaving his spell.


    Blood poured out of his mouth as he did so thanks to his heavily damaged lung, but he disregarded the pain and focused on the task at hand. It would take a lot more than a single functioning organ to stop someone at his level.


    The space around Evelyn and herpanions that had been warping as they were pulled into the new Roost stabilized once Diomed cast his spell.


    An even brighter light began emitting from the identification cuffs as the widespread magic meant to rescue them attempted to break through the interference. Unfortunately, it had no chance of breaking through Diomed''s magic.


    Evelyn''s and herpassions'' identification cuffs began to crack under the strain. They were strong magical items, but they could not take being pulled in two directions by powerful space magic.


    All at once the owls in the surrounding area along with the still standing structures began to blink away and the hectic battlefield became devoid of one side of the conflict.


    The only ones that failed to get away were Evelyn, herpanions, and the injured Melisandre in their care.


    Diomed smirked as he watched the other owls rapidly disappear. It would have been fortuitous if they could have killed or captured as many as possible, but he had at least secured the main objective of this attack.


    Except as he rxed, thinking that his troubles were over, he felt a sense of extreme dangering from behind him andunched himself to the side just in time to avoid being torn apart.


    Several giant ck hands shed through the area that Diomed had been just a second before.


    Most of them missedpletely but one hit Diomed''s right arm and tore it from his body.


    The now severed arm quickly disintegrated and was reduced to less than dust by Ss'' surprise attack.


    Diomed had expected histest adversary to have warped away with all the other owls, yet Ss was still here.


    He had willingly taken off his identification cuff to stay and continue the battle when he saw that Melisandre was not going to get away.


    "I told you that you were not going to get away from me. I won''t be satisfied until every one of your atoms are scattered to the wind." Ss said.


    His numerous hands of destruction then resumed their assault and began chasing after Diomed as he fled.


    As he ran Diomed felt his concertation on the spell locking Evelyn and herpanions down waning. And he soon realized why.


    Just flying around should not have been putting such a strain on him even in his injured state, but Ss''s magic was imbued with a curse.


    Where Diomed''s arm had been torn off the powerful destruction magic continued to eat away and would not stop until itpletely consumed him.


    Even cutting away the afflicted area would not stop the curse from spreading and it was only a matter of time until Diomed was destroyed.


    "DAMN IT ALL!"


    With his life on the line Diomed could not continue to focus on keeping his current magic up.


    Wearing a grimace on his face he dropped his dimension lock spell and cast a new one that sectioned off his disintegrating arm from the rest of his body.


    This spell took a great deal of concentration and even once what remained of his arm was gone, he could not end the spell, or the curse left by Ss'' magic would resume. He was having to keep it trapped in a separate space outside normal reality to prevent it from killing him.


    Still, his situation was far from hopeless. Now that the majority of the Roost''s poption had disappeared the entire force brought by the Tyrannis Union was converging on where Diomed was fighting Ss. All he needed to do was keeping evading until help arrived.


    "It is unfortunate that I will not be able to see you die today. But I promise I wille for you soon enough." Ss said with a vexed expression.


    All of the resolve he had previously disyed to kill Diomed right now had vanished, and he took out his identification cuff and put it back on. He knew when to retreat.


    He had just watched Melisandre along with Evelyn and hepanions warp away now that Diomed''s spell was no longer active and was satisfied with the results.


    Staying and trying to kill Diomed would only get him killed in the long run even if he seeded.


    A moment after he put the identification cuff back on, Ss vanished from where he had been floating in the air and left a livid Diomed heavily injured and with nothing to show for his efforts.


    "No! No! No!" Diomed screamed as everything fell apart around him.


    Not in his wildest dreams did he think that Evelyn would get away when the entire Tyrannis Union had brought their best forces for this attack.


    He figured the worst-case scenario would be incurring heavy casualties and Evelyn ending up dead. Leaving them with no test subject to gauge the divine items powers. Never had he thought the main target would escape. Especially when he fully devoted himself to capturing her.


    ''What kind of reparations am I going to be expected to pay for this failure.'' Diomed thought as he watched the top-ranking members of the Tyrannis Union flying towards him.

 Chapter 360 360 Lost and Broken, But Still Alive

    <h4>Chapter 360 Chapter 360 Lost and Broken, But Still Alive</h4>


    Evelyn watched as the light emitting from her identification cuff grew brighter and brighter, until the battle between Ss and Diomed vanished from her view.


    The familiar feeling of being warped away overtook her and she felt an immediate sense of relief.


    ''I can tell I am still on Bylur''s back and that the others are traveling with us. It will only be a few more moments before we are brought back to safety.'' Evelyn thought.


    Yet, the instant she let herself rx; disaster struck.


    Her and herpanion''s identification cuffs had taken a great deal of damage from the strain of trying to act as anchors to warp them away through Diomed''s magic.


    The cuffs already had cracks forming through them, and while they had entered the path that would warp them to the Roost''s new location, thisst push had been all they could take.


    More and more cracks formed in their identification cuffs, and before Evelyn and herpassion could reach their destination, their identification cuffs shattered.


    With their tethers gone, Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Aralee, and Verrader felt a violent jolt as the path began pushing them out.


    In thest second before they were shunted from the warp portal, Evelyn saw Melisandre continuing on ahead of them.


    Her identification cuff was still in rtively decent shape since it was far sturdier than the normal ones issued by the Roost. A perk of being a Hall Master.


    Evelyn felt a heavy blow that was simr to the time she had been ejected from the warp gate traveling to the newly discovered continent.


    When her vision returned to normal, she saw the sky above her and felt the district sensation of falling.


    As her senses returned to normal, she looked around to assess if there was any danger and was thankful to see that they were not anywhere near the sight of the battle between the Roost and the Tyrannis Union.


    All around her was simply open sky with lush rolling hills that were dotted with sparse groups of trees.


    It was an area that Evelyn did not recognize, but that was currently the least of her worries.


    While falling would usually not be an issue for her thanks to being able to fly, her wings were far too injured to offer her any support. She would not even be capable of gliding in their current state.


    Her magic, which would most certainly be able to help was also off the table. She was fresh out of magical energy and could not hope to lower gravity or create the smallest gust of wind to break her fall.


    ''I can''t even activate any of my storage items I am so low on magical energy. Not that my body is in any condition to get anything out of them anyway.''


    Letting out a sigh, Evelyn understood that there was no amount of struggling that was going to help her now. So, she closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. If she was going to die again, at least this time it would be quick.


    However, the impact she felt was far softer than she expected, and when she opened her eyes she saw that she had been caught by Verrader.


    "Sister, are you okay?" He asked with evident concern.


    Nodding her head was all Evelyn could do to answer. Without magic speaking was impossible.


    Still, her confirmation was enough to relieve Verrader of his worry. Though, he did wear a dark expression on his face that was filled withplicated emotions.


    "Aralee is currently helping Bylur and Rehni. It seems that the effects of the potions they drank have worn off and they are having difficulty moving around. I will take us to them, and we can discuss what our next move will be."


    With Evelyn positioned on his back, Verrader slowly descended towards the ground towards one of the cluster of trees within the area they found themselves in.


    When they arrived, Evelyn saw Bylur and Rehni sprawled out on the ground with haggard expressions on their unconscious faces. It was obvious that they must have beenpletely wiped out since they did not even have the strength to perch on one of the trees.


    ''At least they are alive.'' Evelyn thought with a sense of sce.


    She was already stuck with an immense feeling of sorrow from Otis'' death, and she felt that if anyone else died that she might gopletely mad with grief.


    After seeing that Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee were still alive, thest vestige of strength left Evelyn and she could no longer force herself to stay awake. Her body and mind had taken too much damage and she needed to retreat into unconsciousness to heal.


    "Evelyn?!" Verrader said with rm when he felt her body go ck.


    For a few moments panic overtook Verrader, and he rolled Evelyn off his back and tried to shaek her awake. He was afraid that she might be dying.


    "Brother, stop panicking. She is alive, just sleeping. We can''t expect her to do anymore in her condition. All we can do is let her rest until she wakes back up." Aralee said.


    "But what if she never wakes up? She was hurt pretty badly and if she does not get up soon enough, she might starve!"


    "We''ll just have to trust her to pull through. She is the strongest individual that I know. I am sure that our sister will make it. We just have to believe in her."


    "How can you be so calm right now, Aralee?! The Roost is gone, our sister is barely hanging on, and Otis is dead!" Verrader shouted.


    "I AM NOT CALM! Aralee screamed back at her brother.


    She then took several deep breaths to regain herposure, before saying, "I want nothing more than to cry until things sort themselves out, but right now we are the only ones in any condition to do anything. I know we have gotten used to the others leading us and making sure that we stay safe. Unfortunately, everything is up to us for the moment. We need to step up and take charge until our sister, Bylur, and Rehni have recovered. If we give in, all of us are going to die here. I will not allow that after all our sister has done for me. So, are you going to help me or just continue to throw a fit?"

 Chapter 361 361

    <h4>Chapter 361 Chapter 361</h4>


    <font style="color:#FF0000;">Log in</font> to get LK and view more chapters."I''m sorry Aralee. You are right. Now is not the time for me to be wallowing in self-pity." Verrader said, his head hung low in shame.


    He had gotten used to Evelyn or one of the others taking charge when they were in a group.


    When he was alone, he had no problems taking care of himself, but this was the first time he needed to step up and look after everyone in their time of distress.


    "The first thing we need to do is scout out the immediate area and make sure that things are safe. We got lucky that there weren''t any strong beasts that had imed this patch of trees, but I am sure you can tell we are not in an environment that will be devoid of powerful threats." Aralee said, wearing a serious expression.


    Verrader took a few moments now that he had calmed down a bit and took in the feeling of the magical energy that was naturally within the area.


    It did not take him long to realize what Aralee meant. There was enough magical energy permeating these rolling hills to support the growth of tyrant ranks beasts. This wasn''t going to be a ce that was merely popted by fiend beasts and weak awakened beasts. It was undoubtedly just as dangerous as the Forest of Giants they had carefully traversed when their entire party had been at full strength.


    With just the two of them, they would be hard pressed to turn away any tyrant rank beast that saw them as easy prey.


    "I will go scout around. You stay here and guard our sister." Aralee said, taking the more dangerous job for herself. She could tell that Verrader was more rattled than she was and figured he could use more time to recover before doing anything strenuous.


    However, to her surprise, he stepped up with a resolute look in his eyes and shook his head.


    "No, I should be the one to go. Your magic is better at defending an area. You can protect everyone better than I could. My lightning magic is also more effective in an offensive capacity in case I get into a fight."


    "Are you sure? I don''t want you going out there without a clear head."


    "Yeah, I am fine now. You helped me get my thoughts in order. There will be a point when we need to unpack what has happened, but now is not that time. We need to worry about staying alive for the moment and I will do my part to make sure we do not lose anyone else."


    After assuring Aralee that he was up for the task, Verrader pped his wings and lifted off the ground.


    He quickly ascended to around two kilometers in the air and began patrolling the area in order to locate any nearby or approaching threats.


    Luckily there did not appear to be any dangers lurking in the sky at the moment, so Verrader focused his search on the ground.


    At first, he did not find anything threatening, just some smaller beats that were scrounging around in the tall grass.


    Yet, as he extended his search perimeter, he spotted what looked like an area of grass that was moving up one of the hills.


    As he focused Verrader, realized that what he was seeing was not a patch of moving grass, but arge beast that had fur that blended in with the surroundings.


    He was uncertain what it was, but its body was short and low to the ground, but quite wide. Had Evelyn been here, she would have recognized it as being a badger. Though one farrger than its counterpart on earth and sporting fur far removed from their normal coloration.


    Verrader kept his eyes trained on the clearly predatory beats for a few minutes, before he watched it stop and vigorously dig up the ground.


    The hill it was train exploded with life and dozens of gopher-like beasts began fleeing from their burrows.


    It did not take long for the badger to kill the strongest specimens living in this burrow and im them as its meal.


    All the while, Verrader watched and analyzed its fighting style and the magic it used. It had not been moving on a direct path towards where his sisters andpanions were held up, but it was moving in the general direction.


    ''Hopefully, now that it captured its prey it will move away.''


    Unfortunately, as if the world had something against him, the badger began leisurely trudging along towards the patch of trees where Aralee was keeping guard over Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni.


    Verrader did not know if it was heading home after securing arge meal, or if it was continuing gone in search of more prey. Either way, this was a stroke of horrible luck.


    Normally, they could all simply fly in the sky to avoid this low tier tyrant beast, but currently three members of their party were in no condition to move.


    Still, it was better that Verrader had located this threat before it arrived. Had neither he nor Aralee gone out to scout, they would have been taken by surprise and likely lost at least one of their team members.


    ''This is nothingpared to what we just got through. I only need to draw it away.'' Verrader thought as he steeled himself.


    Once he was ready, he turned his body downward and dove directly towards the tyrant rank badger.


    The closer he got, the clearer it became how big his target was.


    From the sky it had not seemed so impressive, but now that he was almost on top of it, he could see that it was about eight meters long and three meters wide.


    It was farrger than him, and one good hit from it would almost certainly mean his death.


    Nevertheless, Verrader continued his charge until the gigantic badger noticed his approach.


    Then, right before it responded to him, he released the magic he had been preparing.

 Chapter 362 362 Verrader’s Hard Work

    <h4>Chapter 362 Chapter 362 Verrader¡¯s Hard Work</h4>


    <font style="color:#FF0000;">Log in</font> to get LK and view more chapters.Arge bolt of lightning shot off from Verrader''s body and mmed into the humongous badger below him.


    The low tier tyrant rank beast that was obviously the apex predator of the area was unused to being suddenly attacked and was a moment too slow to react.


    Its body began to convulse and sizzle as the intense electrical current traveled through its body.


    However, while Verrader''s magic hadnded a solid hit, it was far from enough to kill such a sturdy beast.


    Of course, Verrader himself had no aspirations of taking down a tyrant rank beast by himself, He simply wanted to garner its undivided attention.


    Afterunching his initial attack, he used his wind magic to quickly fly higher into the air, and not a moment too soon.


    It did not take the badger long before it fired a counterattack and arge pir of earth shot up from the ground.


    Had Verrader remained he would have been crushed by the heavy impact and had most of the bones in his body shattered.


    ''Well, I certainly got its attention. I just hope it is not so mad it is willing to follow me to the end of the world.'' Verrader thought as he continued to rise.


    Once he reached an elevation, he felt he could dodge any attack from, but not so far that he was out of the badger''s range, he began flying in the opposite direction of where Aralee was guarding, Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni.


    As expected, the irate badger took off after him. Firingrge clumps of earth into the air in an effort to knock Verrader out of the sky.


    Thankfully, the badger was a beast that had lived its entire life in the wild and was not a particrly skilled user of magic. All it was capable of using were crude attacks that relied solely on power.


    ''This should be far enough. I do not want to be away for too long, less another threat approaches.''


    Once he had led the badger several kilometers away, Verrader flew higher into the air until he was just a dot in the sky.


    He tested to see if the badger would continue to follow him, but it gave up when it realized that Verrader was not going to be easily caught.


    ''Good, it is not heading back the way we came.''


    Letting out a sigh of relief, Verrader was happy to see that the badger was wandering off in a different direction from where hispanions were.


    Still, he did not rest on hisurels just yet. He needed to head back and finish his sweep of the area do what he could to make sure that Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni could recover.


    On his return trip, Verrader found a group of wild dog beasts that were scouring the hills in search of prey. While earlier in the evening when he first started things were quiet, now that it waste into the night the nocturnal predators were out in full swing.


    The group of nine wild dogs was not even close to the threat that the badger had posed, but pretty much any beast would pose a danger to the weakened members of their group.


    Luckily, Verrader spotted arger serpent winding through the grasses and hatched a n.


    He swooped down low and picked up one of the weaker wild dogs on the edge of the group in his talons and began flying away.


    It was a bit cruel, but he made sure not to kill his target and let it howl and yelp in distress to get the attention of the rest of its pack.


    The wild dogs keyed in on him quickly and he began flying low to the ground as they chased after him.


    When he was a dozen meters from the hunting snake, he dropped the injured wild dog in its path.


    While it was startled at first, the snake did not take long to attack the injured prey in front of it, just in time for the rest of the pack to catch up and watch one of their own being eaten.


    A fierce battle ensued that left the wild dogs down several members and the snake ultimately dead. Two more threats in the area were eliminated.


    Verrader continued his perimeter around the area, diverting or killing any beasts he deemed could pose a serious threat to his party in their less than perfect condition.


    ''That should do it for now. I think things will be safe for a while.''


    With a satisfied look on his face, Verrader returned to the small patch of trees that rested in the dip between multiple hills where hispanions were waiting.


    Everything was peaceful when he arrived, and he could see that Aralee hadid Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni on some cushions to make them morefortable. In their conditions they could not even perch like normal.


    "How did things go? Are there any major threats we need to worry about?" Aralee asked upon Verrader''s return.


    "I only encountered one low tier tyrant rank beast, but I lured it away so I think we should be safe from it. There were some other awakened rank beasts I dealt with or sent in other directions as well. For a bit at least, I do not think we will have anything trouble us."


    Verrader then gave a detailed report of what sort of beasts he encountered and what he did to drive them away.


    Yet the moment he finished, he felt his head grow fuzzy and he started to sway unnaturally.


    Now that the tension of the incredibly long day had left, the immense fatigue Verrader had built up hit him all at once.


    "You have done your job, so go ahead and get some rest. I will keep watch until you are rested. It may only be the two of us for now, but we just need to hold out until Bylur and Rehni recover from those potions they drank. Hopefully, that will be soon." Aralee said as she cast a concerned nce at their unconsciouspanions.

 Chapter 363 363 Regaining Their Bearings

    <h4>Chapter 363 Chapter 363 Regaining Their Bearings</h4>


    Thanks to Verrader''s diligence in removing threats before they could stumble upon where Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni were recovering, Aralee had an easy time guarding everyone through the night.


    She was herself incredibly exhausted from the intense battle that had happened the day before, but among their group she was in the best condition and kept watch through her fatigue.


    When Verrader finally awoke, he took her ce and the two of them traded off shifts between only the two of them for three days until Bylur and Rehni came to consciousness.


    "Ugh!"


    Upon waking up, Bylur attempted to lift himself up and found that what usually should have been an easy task took a great string on him.


    Despite sleeping for three days straight, he was still worn out and his body stiff. It would likely take even more time till he was fully recovered.


    Rehni, woke up not long after him, though she was in slightly better shape than he was. Still not at peak condition, but at least she could move around without too much effort.


    "Ah, your awake!" Aralee said, flying up to Rehni. "Here, I bet you are hungry. The first thing Bylur asked for was food when he got up around half hour ago, so I bet you are feeling the same."


    Seeing the b of meat in front of her, Rehni''s eyes were instinctively drawn to it and her empty stomach let out a series of noises to announce just how famished she was.


    Nevertheless, despite her hunger, Rehni held back and trained her gaze back on Aralee. There was much she needed to know before she could indulge in eating.


    "Aralee, how long was I out¡­ and where are we?" Rehni said as she turned her head around in every direction.


    "Well, you were asleep for about three days, and as for where we are, we don''t know." Aralee said, looking a bit sheepish.


    Rehni was shocked to hear how long she had been unconscious. Still not knowing where they were was even more disconcerting.


    There was quite a bit more that Rehni wanted to know, but once she saw that everyone else was alive, she gave in to her hunger and began eating.


    Not long after she finished, Bylur and Verrader approached them and the four of them began nning what to do next.


    "I would say that these four ces are the most likely candidates for where we are right now." Rehni said, as they poured over the maps that each of them had.


    Unfortunately, it would be impossible for them to narrow down their exact location without more information. Though even if they knew where they were, it would not really help them out.


    They had no means to reach the Roost now that it had been moved into a new separate dimension.


    Their identification cuffs had been destroyed, they did not have any return tickets, and any warp portals that they knew about likely no longer existed anyways. Getting back to the Roost right now was all but impossible.


    "I doubt that anyone that survived will be leaving anytime soon. They will probably spend the next several months rebuilding before reestablishing the warp portalwork." Bylur said with a disheartened sigh.


    The Roost had been their home, yet now it seemed they would at least have to wait a while and get quite lucky in order to return.


    However, a far more pressing matter was Evelyn''s condition. She had not woken up yet and her injuries were severe.


    Bylur had used his life magic before falling unconscious for three days to seal her wounds so that she would not bleed out, but without specialized healing she would never walk or fly again. Though, as of right now, the most pressing issue was that she might starve to death if she did not wake within at least a week.


    "Have you been applying potions to her? She might wake up faster if her body can quicken its healing." Rehni said.


    "Of course, we gave her potions! It is just that none of what any of us have on hand are strong enough!" Aralee said a bit defensively. She did not appreciate that it sounded like Rehni was using her and Verrader of mistreating their sister.


    "Sorry. I was not trying to insinuate anything. I just wanted to know." Rehni said apologetically.


    "Ah, my bad." Aralee said regretfully. "I am just a bit high-strung. I understand you are worried about her as well."


    Sadly, even after giving Evelyn a full treatment of potions and pills to heal her and replenish her magical energy and stamina, she had shown no signs of waking as of yet.


    "I suppose all we can do is wait until we have fully recovered. If by the time Rehni and I are ready to fly again Evelyn has not awoken, I will carry here on my back and will need to find a better healer to help her." Bylur said, wearing a frustrated expression.


    He was a user of life magic, but his skills were not good enough to fix Evelyn in her current condition. This made him feelpletely and utterly useless.


    Regrettably they had no better n that any of them could think of. All they could do was build their strength back up and hope Evelyn recovered on her own. Otherwise, they would have to cling to the small hope that they could fine an expert healer willing to help them out.


    For the next two days, Bylur and Rehni focused solely on getting back into shape and nning out what route they would take based on their possible locations.


    In the end they decided that heading southwest was going to be their best bet. Of the four possible locations they had narrowed down this would take them to more adventurous ces two out of four times. And even if they were wrong, would not lead them into incredibly dangerous areas.


    However, at sunset on the day that they nned to set out, like a small miracle amidst all of the bad luck they had recently had, Evelyn regained consciousness.

 Chapter 364 364

    <h4>Chapter 364 Chapter 364</h4>


    ''Damn it!''


    The instant Evelyn woke up, she attempted to pull herself off the ground, but found that her body would not work as she wanted.


    She barely was able to pick herself up before falling down again.


    Her body ached all over and the muscles in her wings and legs were far too damaged to work properly.


    Even when she gritted her beak and reinforced herself with magical energy, she could barely lift her body up.


    ''I really can''t move anymore.'' Evelyn thought as tears began falling down her face.


    As the reality of her situation hit her, everything that had happened during the attack on the Roost came flooding back to her at once.


    All the strength in Evelyn''s body left her and she copsed in a heap as her emotions struck her like a truck.


    Frustration at her current situation, sorrow for having to watch Otis die, and anger towards herself for how powerless she was to do anything.


    ''Why?! What did I do to deserve this?! Just when my life finally started to look bright again, it all came crashing down. If this was the fate that Mason saw for me, I wish he would have just left me to die.''


    Dark thoughts began creeping into Evelyn''s mind. She was starting to believe that everyone would have been better off if her brother had not interfered with her life.


    Had he not stolen the heavenly me for her, he would not have incurred his family''s wrath and been hunted by them.


    If she had never made it to the Roost, it would not have been attacked by the Tyrannis Union.


    Bylur, Rehni, Aralee, Verrader, and Melisandre would have never needed to suffer because of her.


    ''I''m a curse on everyone I interact with. I should never have even existed.''


    Yet, before Evelyn''s depression could drag her down past the point of no return, herpanions rushed over to her.


    "Sister, you are finally awake! We were beginning to really worry!" Aralee said with a relived expression.


    "You must be hungry after being asleep for so long. I will fix something for you quickly." Rehni said, remembering how she was famished when she awoke.


    "Here, let me help you up. I did what I could for your injuries, but my skills arecking, and I could not fully heal you. I am truly sorry for not being able to do more." Bylur said, giving his support to Evelyn so she could get off the ground.


    The only one that did not say anything was Verrader. His face was racked with guilt, and it seemed he could not get any words out.


    Evelyn, seeing the concern for her, realized that her earlier train of thought was not going to help anyone.


    It was already toote to go back in time and change the past, and while she seemed to bring misfortune with her wherever she went, she had an obligation to see her friends and siblings through their current crisis.


    ''Once they are safe, I can simply fade away. Until then, I need to fulfill my role.''


    Having found her resolve for now, Evelyn''s body reminded her that she was still alive as she was assaulted by intense hunger pangs.


    Seeing the food that Rehni had brought to her, Evelyn ripped into more savagely than she had ever done before and let her wild instincts take over as she filled her empty stomach.


    By the time Evelyn had finished her meal, she was starting to feel sleepy again, but she forced herself to stay awake. There was still far too much she did not know about the situation.


    "Judging by our surroundings, it does not look like we have moved from the location we found ourselves in after being forced out of the warp portal. Have you all figured out where we are yet?"


    However, before she received an answer, Evelyn was able to guess that the answer to her question was not favorable due to the downtrodden looks on herpanions'' faces.


    "We managed to narrow it down to four likely possibilities. But we are not exactly sure where we are." Rehni said regretfully.


    "Okay, show me what you have figured out already. I might be able to narrow it down more." Evelyn said.


    She then looked over the maps that Rehni pulled out and exined her reasoning for the location that they might be in.


    After Rehni was finished, Evelyn pulled out her own resources that detailed the continent and began pouring over them.


    Of all of them she had the most detailed map, and while it was outdated, Mason had left her a veryprehensive as.


    It took a few hours of going over minute details, but eventually Evelyn figured out the area that they were most likely to have ended up.


    "I believe that we are probably here, near the middle of the hilly Zoldello region."


    From all of the information they had at her disposal this ce made the most sense.


    It was the closest to where the Roost had appeared when pulled out of its separate domain and mostly closely matched the description of the terrain that herpanions had ryed to her. She would honestly be surprised if they were in any of the other possible areas since they were farther away.


    Of course, it was possible, but they would not know until they ventured out of this area that was surroundedpletely by rolling hills.


    "I would like to say that we should try and rejoin the Roost, but that is probably impossible right now. Instead, our best bet is to travel south-southeast." Evelyn said.


    This surprised everyone else, as they had agreed that heading southwest would be their best move.


    "Why should we head that direction? I figured it would be better for us to aim for the Velinis Desert in the southwest. Surely the burrowing owls there will offer us their protection after all you have done for them." Rehni said, her face clearly showing her confusion.

 Chapter 365 365 Meeting with an Old Acquaintance

    <h4>Chapter 365 Chapter 365 Meeting with an Old Acquaintance</h4>


    Evelyn could not help but be remorseful when Rehni brought up the burrowing owls that lived in the Velinis Desert.


    Thanks to her Otis had died. Had she never intruded upon his home and taken him away once he was strong enough to be useful, he would likely still be alive.


    Sure, the burrowing owls would take them in and give them a safe ce to recover, but Evelyn could not stand to face them.


    However, Evelyn''s choice was not purely emotional. She had thought about it logically as well.


    "We may find sanctuary with the burrowing owls, but it will not change our current situation much. If I am to recover, we will need stronger healing magic. Something the burrowing owls certainly do not have. Instead, we will head to the Elmot Gorge. There we will find Lucia. Hopefully she will be able to help."


    Without the Roost''s support, Lucia was the only friendly ally that Evelyn could think of that might be able to help her recover from her injuries.


    Of course, it was possible that her one-time rescuer and asional trading partner might turn them away. It was not like Evelyn was particrly close to Lucia.


    Still, in that case the Velinis Desert was close enough and they could simply head to the burrowing owls'' home. As much as Evelyn was reluctant to do so.


    "I suppose that makes sense. A peak tyrant rank beast is more likely to be able to help us than the burrowing owls." Bylur said.


    He had only met Lucia a couple of times when Evelyn made some exchanges with her, but there was no doubt she was impressive.


    "If you think we can trust her, I will agree that it is our best bet. But do you think she will help us for free?" Rehni asked.


    "Probably not. Our rtionship is give and take. Still, she is not unreasonable. I am sure that we have at least something she might want that we can offer her."


    With their destination now set, Evelyn and herpassion began nning their route to the Elmot Gorge.


    To make sure to avoid any dangerous areas they were going to need to make serval detours, but time was not of the essence.


    Evelyn''s condition was not going to worsen or improve and making haste would only put them in danger.


    "Thank you for doing this, Bylur. I am going to be counting on you." Evelyn said, as she was positioned on his back.


    He had volunteered to carry Evelyn for the entirety of the journey that was expected to take around three weeks.


    "This is no problem. I would do anything to help you. Just leave everything to me and rx. I promise that I will get you healed. Even if Lucia cannot help, I will not stop until you are well again." Bylur said with a reassuring smile.


    After they had made their preparations, Bylur with Evelyn on his back, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee took to the sky and began their journey towards the Elmot Gorge.


    ¡­


    ''It looks like we have finally arrived.''


    Off in the distance at the edge of the horizon, Evelyn could see what looked like a great scar in the earth.


    Just as thest time she saw it, the Elmot Gorge was an imposingndform.


    As they got closer, their group lowered their altitude until they were flying just a dozen meters over the ground.


    There were powerful beasts in the Elmot gorge that watched the skies and would attack anything they saw flying over it. In order to stay safe, it was necessary to approach from the ground.


    When they reached the edge of the gorge, Evelyn pulled out the magical pendant that Lucia had given to her and activated it.


    "I have established the connection. Now we just need to wait and hope that Lucia responds." Evelyn said, her expression neutral.


    It took nearly two three hours, but eventually a familiar figure came into view.


    With boundless grace, Lucia ascended up the side of the Elmot gorge until she reached the edge and leapt into eh air.


    She dexterouslynded in front of Evelyn and herpanions and eyed them with excitement.


    Her first thoughts were that Evelyn hade with more items to deliver, but when she took a closer look, it became clear that was not the case.


    "I can tell that this is not a pleasant visit. Follow me, you will have an easier time exining in thefort and safety of my home." Lucia said, turning around and jumping right back into the gorge.


    Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee scrambled to follow her, thinking that they might be left behind if they were too slow.


    However, Lucia was not racing ahead and waited for them on a root that was jutting out of the side of the gorge''s wall. She was not going to force them to move recklessly to keep up with her full speed.


    Carefully she led them into the depths of the gorge and even went so far as to protect them when other beasts attacked.


    Thanks to Lucia''s guidance and help, the normally perilous journey to the bottom of the gorge was mostly uneventful.


    Once they reached the entrance to her home, Lucia pulled out a key shaped magic device and inserted it into the wall of the gorge.


    The solid stone began to creak and slowly pushed out.


    When the stone reached a certain point past the wall it split in half and slid apart. Revealing a tunnel that descended into the ground.


    "Come on. Follow me. My home is at the end of path." Lucia said, noticing the hesitancy in Evelyn''spanions'' expressions.


    Cautiously Bylur led the way with Evelyn on his back and descended into the tunnel with Lucia.


    Just as Lucia said, at the end of the path was her home.


    She took them to thergest room within her home and asked them to wait there.


    When she came back, she was holding six bowls that contained a hearty stew in them.


    "Let us eat before we begin. Once we have all filled our bellies, we can begin our discussion."

 Chapter 366 366

    <h4>Chapter 366 Chapter 366</h4>


    After everyone had finished eating, Lucia got straight to the point.


    "Now, what happened? I can tell that Evelyn here is injured and all of you look quite haggard."


    As the leader of their group Evelyn told Lucia about the attack on the Roost and how they had escaped but ended up stranded.


    She did make sure to omit that she was the target of the attack because of the divine item that she had imbedded within her. Evelyn may have trusted Lucia to a degree, but she was not about to reveal one of her greatest secretes that she had not even told any of herpanions yet.


    The only one that Evelyn had ever told about the Aethersphere was Melisandre. But now it was not even clear if she had survived. When Evelynst saw her, she was in a terrible condition with horrid wounds all over her body.


    "I see. The Tyrannis Union is especially known for their violence. You have my sympathies. I know what it is like to have your home destroyed by an overwhelming force." Lucia said, her eye filled with sorrow.


    It had been a long time, but she still vividly remembered the day that Atsab had fallen.


    "Now what is it you want from me exactly? Lucia asked once Evelyn had finished her exnation.


    "I am sure that you can tell that I have been crippled by my injuries. Unfortunately, I do not have any healing items powerful enough to fix the damage I have incurred. This might be impertinent of me, but I was hoping you might be able to help. Of course, I would be willing to offer you properpensation."


    Yet, as Lucia carefully looked Evelyn over, she frowned and shook her head.


    "I have no intention on wasting one of my few precious healing potions strong enough to restore your body. If that is all you are here for, you should leave."


    Evelyn hung her head at Lucia''s refusal. She had known it was a possibility and epted her decision.


    However, Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee did not.


    It would have been one thing if Lucia did not have a potent enough potion, but she had just admitted that she did.


    "What do you mean it would be a waste?! Surely there is something we can trade for the item?! Why would you even invite us to your home if you were just going to tell us to leave!?" Bylur shouted.


    Rehni and Evelyn''s siblings also joined in on berating Lucia and asking her to reconsider.


    To them it seemed ipressible that she would show them such hospitality just to turn them away when they made their request to heal Evelyn.


    "Everyone, please stop. If Lucia does not wish to help us, then there is nothing we can do. Getting angry at her will just make things worse." Evelyn said, trying to defuse the situation.


    Except this only caused Lucia to re at Evelyn in disgust.


    "What is your problem? Why do you seem to hate Evelyn all of a sudden?" Bylur asked, baffled by Lucia''s actions.


    "I do not need to exin it. Though perhaps it is best to let all of you know before you run yourselves ragged." Lucia said, a hash look directed at Evelyn. "Even if I were to use one of my potions to heal her, Evelyn had no intention of continuing to live her life. I have seen the eyes of someone who had given up many times. Therefore, it would be a waste to heal her."


    Hearing Lucia''s exnation only caused Evelyn''spanions to erupt in further anger.


    Yet as the person in question, Evelyn could only hang her head. What Lucia had said was true.


    Now that Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee had reached a ce of rtive safety, she was ready to sequester herself until she reached the end of her lifespan.


    From Evelyn''s perspective she only brought pain to those she was around and nned to leave herpanions to their lives once she was healed.


    As long as she was still unable to look after herself, they would feel obligated to take care of her. Which was why she wanted to recover in order to lift them of that burden.


    Nevertheless, now that it seemed she would not be able to have her body healed, Evelyn was ready to make a different deal with Lucia.


    "I will not deny what you said about me. Truthfully, I feel that life has be too harsh for me. All I ask is that you give what assistance you can to my friends and siblings. In return you can have the heavenly me inside of me."


    Evelyn then closed her eyes and began building up magical energy inside of her. She would have been fine living her days in seclusion, but she refused to be an eternal burden on those she cared about.


    ''Hopefully I will not remember myself in my next life. Maybe if I am not Evelyn, my bad luck will not follow me.''


    With a peaceful expression on her face, Evelyn prepared to end her own life.


    However, before she could, Lucia disappeared in a sh of light and mmed Evelyn hard against the stone wall of her home.


    Evelyn lost focus on the magical energy she had been amassing to destroy her body and began squirming around as she felt her throat being crushed.


    "It seems that your body is still honest. If you want to die, why are struggling so much to live?" Lucia said as she strangled Evelyn.


    Seeing Evelyn under attack, Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee all leapt into to action. They did not hesitate for a moment to strike against Lucia now that she had be a threat.


    Unfortunately, their brazenness to attack someone far stronger than them did not mean that they could truly do anything.


    With the flick of her wrist, Lucia sent out a st of magical energy that mmed Evelyn''spassion against the other side of the room.


    The four of them crumpled to the ground and were unable to do anything but watch as Lucia''s grip tightened around Evelyn neck.

 Chapter 367 367 What You Still Have

    <h4>Chapter 367 Chapter 367 What You Still Have</h4>


    Evelyn felt Lucia''s hand closing around her neck, and her throat felt like it was being crushed by a vice.


    She could not get any air into her lungs, and she felt her mind slipping as the blood flow was cut off by the pressure around her neck.


    Just moments ago, she had felt ready to end her own life in order to protect her friends and siblings from the tragedies that always seemed to follow in her wake.


    Yet, as Lucia strangled the life out of her, Evelyn could not help but instinctually want to live.


    In a struggle to survive her magical energy red up once more and her body went aze with crimson fire.


    Following the mes, the area around her began to tremble and the ground began to ground began topress into itself as the gravity in the area became several times greater than normal.


    Lucia smiled at this development and leapt back outside the range of Evelyn''s desperate, but powerful attack.


    Her hand that had been grasped around Evelyn''s neck had turned deep red in coloration withrge blisters beginning to form and her muscles felt sore from having to stand up to the increased gravity.


    The damage was not severe, but the fact that Evelyn had hurt her at all was impressive since Lucia was at the peak of the tyrant rank.


    Once Evelyn felt that her throat was no longer being restricted, she took a deep breath and began violently coughing.


    For a few seconds her mind waspletely nk as she regained her bearings.


    "Now that your will to live seems to have returned, you should really think about what it is that you still have. Yes, you experienced quite the tragedy. One of your friends died, you''ve lost your home, and you''re terrified of what it toe. So what?! Are you just going to give up because not everything went your way? You still have your siblings and most of your friends, and it is not like the Roost waspletely destroyed. In the future you will likely be able to rejoin it. From my perspective, you are incredibly lucky." Lucia said, an envious expression on her face.


    Hearing this from her, Evelyn winced.


    Lucia had not gone into great detail about her past, but Evelyn knew she once lived in the city state of Atsab which was one of the minor powers on the continent and a ce where beasts and humans lived in rtive harmony.


    Unfortunately, it had been annihted a little over a hundred years ago and Lucia had only barely escaped. All of herpanions had ended up dead and she was left with nothing but her own life. From her point of view, Evelyn really was fortunate.


    "Your right." Evelyn choked out, lowering her head and feeling ashamed of herself.


    While she had been telling herself that what she was doing was to protect those he cared about, deep down she knew she really just wanted to run away from her own pain. Since watching Otis die right before her eyes, her thoughts had been mostly pessimistic.


    She knew that so long as she had the Aethersphere imbedded within her body that the people from the Tyrannis Union would be after her. The prospects for her life looked grim, either having to hide out or be on the run, with anyone she got involved with likely to be put in extreme danger.


    Nevertheless, when she truly looked into Bylur''s, Rehni''s, Verrader''s, and Aralee''s faces for the first time since escaping from the attack, she could see their concern and how much they cared for her. If she were to truly throw away her life, their burdens would simply increase.


    ''Could I really inflict even more pain on them? My death would hurt them just as much as Otis'' hurt me.'' Evelyn thought, understanding how foolish she had been.


    Thanks to Lucia, she had regained some semnce of her rationality.


    With a clearer head that was not marred by the negative thoughts and emotions that had been bogging her down, Evelyn truly thought about what their next course of action should be. Since escaping, all she had thought about was getting herpanions to safety and then leaving them to live in the middle of nowhere until the end of her days if she could get healed. Or if that seemed impossible, simply ending her own life.


    ''We cannot return to the Roost. I will not put them in danger again. Our best bet will be the Domain of the Verdant Warlord. It should be nearly impossible to track us there, and if Lucia is not willing to heal me, we should be able to procure a powerful enough item with some effort.'' Evelyn thought, formting her and herpanion''s next move.


    However, she was swiftly interrupted by Lucia.


    "It looks like the sharpness in your eyes from when west met has finally returned." Lucia said with a grin.


    She then pulled out a bottle that contained what looked like some sort of paste and tossed it towards Rehni.


    "This is a salve strong enough to repair the damage to Evelyn''s body. Rub it around her wounds and they should be fully repaired in a few days. You are all free to stay here until you all have recovered." Lucia said before leaving the room.


    Evelyn''spanions looked on warily at Lucia until she was out of sight, before rushing to Evelyn''s side.


    Immediately they opened the salve that Lucia had given them and inspected it for poison or traps.


    After their violent encounter with her, none of them felt trusting enough to simply use the item she had provided on Evelyn.


    "That is enough of that. Lucia did what she did to save my life. Her methods may have been a bit extreme, but she did get through to me. I really had been thinking you would all be better off without me. Yet I was actually just trying to run away from my own grief. I hope you can all forgive me for how selfish I was acting. I had not considered how my death would affect all of you."

 Chapter 368 368 Recovery

    <h4>Chapter 368 Chapter 368 Recovery</h4>


    Her head held low as she apologized to her friends and siblings, Evelyn had to clench her beak tightly to prevent herself from bursting into tears.


    She had just experienced an extreme emotional whish and was having a difficult time keeping herself together.


    In both of her lives she had lost a great deal and the loss of her home and Otis had felt like enough to break her.


    However, thanks to Lucia, Evelyn understood that she still had plenty to live for. Right in front of her were fourpanions that would stick with her through thick and thin.


    "I am sorry as well. I should have seen how much you were hurting and tried to help. You are normally our stalwart leader, so I did not notice, or perhaps I did not want to notice." Rehni said, lowering her own head towards Evelyn.


    While it might have been in hindsight, she could look back and see the signs of Evelyn''s sorrow eating away at her.


    "I''m at fault as well. All I focused on was your physical wounds, when I should have realized that you were going through even more than any of us. I failed you as a healer and a friend." Bylur said, his expression showing his regret.


    Following him, Verrader and Aralee expressed their own remorse for not doing more for Evelyn.


    As her siblings they should have understood her emotional state better than anyone.


    "Please, stop apologizing to me. None of you did anything wrong. I shouldn''t have let my suffering ovee me and lose sight of what I have right in front of me. I''m still free and alive thanks to all of you, and because of Otis'' sacrifice."


    The tears that Evelyn had been doing her best to hold back burst forth all at once and she could no longer help sobbing profusely.


    For several minutes she simply let her emotions out until the emotional pain she had been feeling felt dull.


    ''I''ve still got my life, so as long as I breath, I cannot ever give up on my will to live. Doing so would be to spit in the faces of those that have gotten me this far and the people I have lost along the way.''


    Finding her resolve once again, Evelyn got her emotions under control and prepared to move forward.


    "Bylur, if you would, could you apply the medicine that Lucia provided. I am ready to regain my strength. There is much we have to do, and I cannot continue to be a burden any longer." Evelyn said, a sharp look in her eyes filled with resolve.


    Seeing the sudden change in Evelyn''s demeanor, Bylur was stunned for a moment before he began frantically trying to open the bottle that contained the salve that would heal Evelyn''s damaged muscles and bones.


    Once Rehni chided him, Bylur calmed down and carefully applied the medicine to the areas where the twelve rods had impaled Evelyn in her wings and legs.


    The wounds had already been sealed, but Bylur''s magic and the potions they had on hand had been insufficient to restore the pieces of missing bone and muscle.


    Luckily Lucia had medicine that was powerful enough to regenerate even missing parts of a body and Evelyn could feel the salve beginning to work just a few minutes after it was applied.


    Drowsiness was quick to follow the soothing feeling of the salve and Evelyn could not hold out long before feeling her eyes get heavy.


    Unconsciousness soon found her, and she fell asleep so that her body could heal.


    For the next several days, Evelyn spent her time slipping in and out of consciousness. Only really waking up to eat and then immediately going back to sleep.


    It was a brutal process that left her mind hazy and her body sore, but it was necessary for her to recover from her crippling injuries. In the grand scheme of things, it was a small price to pay to be able to fly and walk again.


    On the fourth day of this cycle Evelyn finally truly awoke and finally feeling the strength having returned to her limbs she leapt to her feet.


    ''Hehe. Finally, I can walk around again.'' Evelyn thought ted at her recovery.


    It was easy to take something as simple as moving around under your own power for granted until you became reliant on others for everything.


    Now just being able to stand on her own again was enough to bring a smile to Evelyn''s face.


    Forgetting any restraint, Evelyn began hoping around like she had before and spread her wings open to fly.


    However, after over a week of being unable to move, she found that her coordination was not what it used to be, and she lost control and tumbled over. mming face first into the wall of the room she was in.


    "Sister! What''s wrong!?"


    Flying into her room frantically, Aralee saw Evelyn sprawled out on the floor with her head smashed against a stone wall.


    "Nothing is wrong. I am doing perfectly fine. I can finally move again." Evelyn responded, using her wind magic to jump back onto her feat with an ecstatic expression on her face.


    After being immobile for so long, finally being able to move under her own power made her feel as if she had been reborn.


    Until now, Evelyn did not realize just how much losing functionality of her legs and wings had affected her. And joy strong enough to push past the recent tragedies she had recently experienced welled up inside her.


    "I am d to see you have recovered, but you should take it easy. Let''s have Bylur take a look at you before you do anything else. We do not want you hurting yourself in case you are not fully healed yet. Please just wait here until I can go and get the others and we have checked on your condition." Aralee said, her tone conveying how concerned she was.

 Chapter 369 369 Aligning Goals

    <h4>Chapter 369 Chapter 369 Aligning Goals</h4>


    After Aralee got Evelyn to sit still, she hastily flew out of the room to gather the others.


    It did not take long before Bylur burst into the room and began examining Evelyn to see if she was not yet fully healed.


    "Everything looks good from what I can tell. The missing muscles and bones have grown back and mended themselves. The new growths still feel a bit weak, so I would say you should not do anything strenuous, but normal movement should be fine." Bylur said, once he had finished examining Evelyn with his life magic.


    Thanks to his assessment, Aralee calmed down and the rest of Evelyn''spanions looked visibly relieved. After being down for the count for so long, Evelyn was finally back on her feet.


    "It''s good to see that you are doing better." Lucia said, leaning against the back wall of the room.


    The moment she made her presence known, Evelyn and herpanions all twisted their necks around to look towards her. Frankly they were shocked that not a single one of them had noticed her.


    "Ugh! I will never get used to seeing this." Lucia said, visibly disturbed by how owls could turn their necks around in ways that would cause severe damage to most species.


    Seeing that Lucia was ufortable, Evelyn brought her neck back around and faced their host.


    She then bowed her head deeply and thanked Lucia for all the help she had provided them. Not only had she given them a safe ce to recuperate, but she had provided them with medicine to restore Evelyn''s debilitating injuries.


    Following Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Verrader, and Aralee turned their bodies towards Lucia and bowed as a show of thanks and respect.


    "Hey, there is no need for that. Just a simple thanks is more than enough. It is not like I helped you all out for free. I am expecting for the favor to be returned."


    Hearing that Lucia was expecting something from them in return for her aid, Evelyn raised her head and looked into her eyes with a serious expression.


    "What is it that you want from us? We no longer have any connection to the Roost so it is impossible for us to bring rare items you cannot procure on your own anymore. As a peak tyrant rank beast, I am sure that you could aplish anything you could want of us much easier yourself."


    "Yes, everything you said is true." Lucia responded, nodding her head. "However, you are counting yourselves short. Right now, you might only be awakened rank beasts, but I can tell that you will be forces to recon with once you move up the ranks. To that end, I will want your help to aplish my objectives."


    Evelyn was a bit surprised to hear that Lucia had any sort of objective. Frankly she thought that Lucia was simply hiding out at the bottom of the Elmot Gorge since it seemed that she never left.


    "I would like to agree, but I cannot until I hear what your objective is. I have to think about those that rely on me as the leader." Evelyn said.


    "Of course, I would not expect you to consent before knowing what I want. Nevertheless, I believe that my purpose is something you will happily get behind." Lucia said, clenching her fist and exuding an aura of anger before continuing.


    "During thest one hundred years I have been slowly gaining power and amassing valuable magical items so that I can take revenge on the ones that destroyed the city of Atsab. Among the groups that gathered to bring down my home was the Apostata Sect that is part of the Tyrannis Union. After what just happened to all of you, I am sure you can understand the rage I feel knowing the ones that killed my friends and annihted my home are still out there doing whatever they please."


    Even after a century had passed, not one fraction of Lucia''s fury had subsided. In fact, it had only grown.


    Lucia may have seemed calm from the outward appearance she disyed, but inside she was always moving towards her revenge.


    For a few moments Evelyn imagined destroying the Tyrannis Union, and it honestly made her feel ted. Ever since she had escaped from theb in the Deands where her parents died and she was experimented on, she had always nned on eliminating the ones that had destroyed her second family.


    Originally this had only extended to the Deamhain Sect, but after the recent attack on the Roost, she wanted to get rid of the entire Tyrannis Union.


    However, this fantasy did notst long. As much as Evelyn would like to burn the entire Tyrannis Union to the ground for what they had done, she knew that would be impossible.


    She could easily recall the immense power that the leaders of the Tyrannis Union disyed. Even Melisandre, who is far beyond her, lost to the leader of the Deamhain Sect. There was simply no way she could get strong enough to fight on the same level any time soon. Lucia herself had just admitted she had spent thest one hundred years getting stronger and she was only at the peak of the tyrant rank.


    Evelyn''s expression changed to match how she was feeling, yet Lucia seemed to misinterpret what she was thinking.


    "Oh. Do you not approve of my wish for vengeance?" Lucia said, looking shocked. "I thought if anyone would understand me it would be you. Are you going to tell me that seeking revenge is just going to eat away at me inside? I have heard the same thing plenty of times from past acquaintances, but I have no intention of giving up objective. If you disagree, then you are all free to leave."


    "Wait, you misunderstand me." Evelyn said frantically. "I would like nothing more than to wipe out the Tyrannis Union. It just seems impossible. I witnessed disys of magical power that were unfathomable. I just don''t see how I could ever hope to defeat such monsters."

 Chapter 370 370 Aligning Goals (2)

    <h4>Chapter 370 Chapter 370 Aligning Goals (2)</h4>


    Lucia nodded in understanding at Evelyn''s concerns.


    "Yes, you arepletely right. With your current power I can surmise that throughout the entirety of the Tyrannis Union that there are several thousands of people stronger than you. Even I would be helplessly outmatched against those in the upper echelons of the Union. Still, there are things that we can do now and ways that we can grow our power. Everyone starts out at the bottom of the ranks before rising up. Who is to say that we cannot catch up to our enemies that seem out of reach now and crush them in the future?"


    An expression of absolute confidence was clear to see on Lucia''s face as she assured Evelyn that they could fight the Tyrannis Union.


    For a century Lucia had been growing stronger and preparing to take her revenge against those that had destroyed her home. She was not going to stop at anything after havinge so far.


    ''We are going to have to deal with them in the future one way or the other. Those bastards want the Aethersphere inside of me and I do not doubt that they will chase me to the ends of the world to get it. As much as they seem insurmountable today, my ultimate goal is still far loftier. I cannot forget what it is I am truly after. The Tyrannis Union will simply be a stepping stone for me.''


    Now that the majority of the negative thoughts that had gued her for so many days had receded Evelyn was able to assess her situation better.


    Currently she was weak in the grand scheme of the world. She had witnessed plenty of entities in this world demonstrate unbelievable power.


    However, looking at herself objectively, she knew she had the potential to join their ranks.


    The reason so many were after the Aethersphere in the first ce was because it was an item of unparalleled owner in this world.


    Along with her heavenly me, Evelyn could easily be one of the strongest beasts in the world. Minerva, the Leader of the Roost, had even personally recognized Evelyn''s potential.


    Then there were her friends and siblings. Each of them was strong in their own rights, having attained powerful evolutions above the normal curve.


    ''It may not be a year from now. It may not even be a decade from now. But one day we will all reach the heights we need to avenge Otis.''


    With her resolve steeled and her mind made up, Evelyn looked towards Lucia resolutely.


    "We will join you. No matter how long it takes, we will see our vengeance through together."


    Lucia smiled at Evelyn''s response, a smile both brighter and more sinter than anything Evelyn had ever seen.


    "But what will our first move be?" Evelyn asked.


    She figured that Lucia must have had something in mind.


    "Hm, there are a few minor disruptions we can cause that would inconvenience the Tyrannis Union. Such as attacking their lower ranking gathering squads or destroying less protected faculties in remote regions. Unfortunately, anything we can do right now will amount to little more than an annoyance. But once all of you have made it to the tyrant rank, our options will multiply drastically."


    Lucia went on to exin that with humanoid forms they would be able to infiltrate human settlements without rousing suspicion.


    While beasts typically did have distinguishing features that set them apart even in their humanoid forms, there were plenty of magic tools that beasts employed to disguise themselves. Lucia herself had obviously wolf-like ears and a fluffy tail. But with the use of a magic item, she had these features disappear.


    "These disguises are not foolproof, but most humans will bepletely fooled."


    Evelyn marveled at the magic that was hiding Lucia''s wolfen features. No matter how hard she tried to detect what should have been there, all she could see was a normal looking person.


    She even tried using her wind magic to interact with the space where Lucia''s tale should have been, but she felt nothing out of the ordinary.


    ''This magic does not just turn her bestial features invisible, but actually separates them into a different dimension!'' Evelyn thought, a surprised look on her face.


    If they all used items like these, sneaking into and sabotaging bases within the Tyrannis Union would bepletely possible.


    Nevertheless, in order to utilize this strategy, Evelyn and herpassion would need to reach the tyrant rank first. Something that was still far away for all of them.


    ''We do have some advantages though. With the stable magic spring we can elerate our growth, and the Verdant Warlord''s Domain has a massive cache of rare items. Surely it should only take a few years at most for us to reach the next step.''


    With the gears in her head turning, Evelyn began formting their next course of action.


    For a few moments she thought about hiding certain things from Lucia, but quickly decided against doing so.


    Evelyn was normally reserved and kept her secrets to herself unless she truly trusted someone.


    ''I am sure that Lucia is not going to simply betray us. Her emotions were too fierce to be faked and if she just wanted greater power, she would have let me kill myself and taken my heavenly me.''


    Confident that she could trust Lucia, Evelyn told her about the magic spring thaty within the burrowing owl''s home, and the Verdant Warlord''s domain.


    A mix of emotions came over Lucia''s face when she heard about the magic spring. Going from ecstatic at first to disappointed when she heard that it was only powerful enough to elerate the growth of awakened or lower ranked beasts.


    However, what shocked her more than anything was hearing about the entrance to the Verdant Warlord''s domain within the Forest of Giants.


    "You are not just messing with me, are you? You truly found another entrance into the domain of one of the greatest entities to ever exist in this world!"

 Chapter 371 371 Path Forward

    <h4>Chapter 371 Chapter 371 Path Forward</h4>


    "Yes, we discovered the entrance guarded by magical constructs deep in the Forest of Giants. It appeared to have been undisturbed for quite some time. Likely the beasts in the forests were not strong enough to beat the guards and no people had wandered into the depths of the woods to discover it. But you say there is another entrance?" Evelyn said, cocking her head to the side.


    "To think you would find something so valuable and not even no what it is." Lucia said with a sigh. "Yes, there is another entrance. It is quite famous in fact. Several wars have been fought over ess to the domain that could easily be considered the greatest in history. Currently the Ultak Empire has control over it and only allows those from high-ranking families that show great talent to enter. Just rumors about the innumerable treasures that can be found inside make everyone long for ess to the domain of the Verdant Warlord."


    At first Evelyn was surprised to hear about the other entrance, but it made a certain inconsistency they had discovered make sense.


    ''No wonder we did not find any evidence of that group of humans entering through the gate in the Forest of Giants. They must havee in through the other one. Still, the Ultak empire huh.''


    It had not been at the forefront of Evelyn''s mind since she had other more pressing things to worry about, but she distinctly remembered that Mason had been born to one of the top-ranking families in the Ultak Empire. The heavenly me she currently possessed used to belong to them until Mason had stolen it for her.


    At some point she had nned to pay his family a visit and try to find out what had happened to Mason. In his diary he had mentioned that his fate was still notpletely clear. He was either going to die at the hands of his pursuers or reach the top level of this world and ascend to the realmy beyond it.


    Unfortunately, he had hinted that the possibility of his death seemed much higher, and if his family had killed him, Evelyn felt she would need to pay them back.


    ''I still don''t know what be of my brother yet. Either way though, I will find him again no matter how high I have to climb or who I have to knock down.'' Evelyn thought, steeling her resolve to peruse her ultimate goal no matter what.


    Still, for the time being she had other fish to fry. The Tyrannis Union was an ever-present threat and enemy that she would have to face if she wanted to move forward.


    "Speaking of the Verdant Warlord''s domain, we actually did encounter a group of humans while we were exploring it. Do you happen to recognize any of these crests Lucia?" Rehni said, pulling out the emblems they had taken off the group of people they fought for control of the Verdant Warlord''s Domain.


    Lucia took each of the emblems and looked them over.


    As she did, when she came to the one that the woman Evelyn fought possessed, she frowned.


    "I don''t im to be an expert, but I do know that this crest belongs to the imperial family of the Ultak Empire. Whoever you took this from was likely part of the main family. I just hope that they do not find out that you guys are the ones that killed the owner of this emblem. Otherwise, we are going to have another of the world''s superpowers after you." Lucia said with a chuckle.


    However, the individuals in question did not find their maism for trouble to be quite soughable.


    "No need to be too worried. You killed these people in a dangerous domain outside of normal reality. As long as none of you go shouting out into the world about ending the brightest prodigies of the Ultak Empire, no one should find out."


    Thanks to Lucia''s reassurance, Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Aralee, and Verrader let out a collective sigh of relief. Thest thing they needed was another group of unfathomable power actively looking to kill them.


    "Now, tell me more about the Verdant Warlord''s Domain. One hears all manner of rumors, but I want to know what it is actually like." Lucia said, her eyes practically sparkling with anticipation.


    Understanding that they were not going to go any further with nning while Lucia was like this, Evelyn indulged her and took the lead, rying what she and herpanions had encountered within the domain.


    Once she had finished, Lucia wore an eager expression like a kid that had just learned about a new and bigger candy store than anything they had ever been to before.


    "I suppose that your enthusiasm means that our course is set." Evelyn said.


    Right now, she and herpanions were limited in what they could do. But once they reached the tyrant rank their options would open up drastically. Not only would they be much more powerful, but they could infiltrate human society more easily once they attained humanoid forms.


    Normally it would take several years if not several decades of steady progress to break out of the awakened rank, but Evelyn and her team had found some of the most valuable resources in the world that had already helped them grow rapidly.


    Of course, they had fought hard and nearly died several times for the power and resources they had amassed.


    It was their culmination of experience and willingness to throw themselves into danger for greater strength that had gotten them to where they were.


    "Yes, I believe that heading to the Verdant Warlord''s Domain to beef ourselves up is the correct first move." Lucia said, trying to calm down and look stoic.


    Nevertheless, the swaying of her tail made it impossible for her to hide her excitement. Likely she never thought that a chance to visit the legendary domain would ever present itself to her.

 Chapter 372 372 Going Their Own Ways

    <h4>Chapter 372 Chapter 372 Going Their Own Ways</h4>


    After spending a few days recovering and getting ready, Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Aralee, Verrader, and Lucia left the Elmot Gorge and headed for the Forest of Giants.


    Luckily their journey was uneventful and the six of them arrived outside the entrance to the Verdant Warlord''s Domain.


    "If you look closely, you can see the sentinels that guard the ce. They don''t block your way if you have already beaten them before, but any new entrant has to at least prove their strength and skills are at a bare minimum level." Evelyn exined.


    In response Lucia nodded her head and jumped down from the branch that they were using as a vantage point.


    When she approached the doorway that led to the warp portal into the domain, the two sentinels came to life and attacked.


    However, the magical energy emanating from the wooden knights was far greater than it had been before. It seemed that when faced with a higher-ranking entity they buffed themselves up to make the battle more challenging.


    Still, Lucia had carefully plotted out her course to make sure she gained the absolute greatest amount of strength she possibly could.


    If she had wanted to, she could have already ascended to the sovereign rank, but she was holding out in order to find the catalysts she would need to achieve the most powerful evolution possible. She was not about to lose to these two constructs thatcked the quality she had attained.


    "Prismatic Drill."


    Without moving from the spot, she stood in Lucia pointed one of her hands at each of the wooden knights and unleashed her magic.


    Rainbow colored lights formed a ball in each of her hands before coiling around and firing.


    Each of the beams of light that had taken on the destructive properties of a drill impacted the guardians of the Verdant Warlord''s domain and sted through them.


    It was a devastating attack that happened in an instant and made Evelyn and herpanions go wide eyed.


    ''I knew she was strong, but that was.''


    At a loss for words Evelyn could only stare down at Lucia in awe. Sure, her magic was not at the same level of Melisandre''s, but Evelyn''s master had an entire rank above Lucia.


    During the battle between the Roost and the Tyrannis Union, Evelyn had fought an individual around the same rank and tier as Lucia, but that man that could turn his body gigantic did not hold a candle to Lucia.


    Of course, for anyone that saw Evelyn in action, they would have the same reaction. For her rank and tier, she sat well above the curve and could even be said to have exceeded the normal peak of her level thanks to the Aethersphere and her heavenly me.


    "Oh, these are some pretty tough constructs." Lucia said, seeing the Wooden knights still moving despite the holes in their torsos.


    Nevertheless, the damaged sentinels stood no chance against Lucia, and she quickly dispatched them with her magic.


    After she hadpleted the trail, Evelyn and herpanions flew down from the trees they were perched in andnded next to Lucia.


    "We''ll lead the way." Evelyn said.


    Lucia enthusiastically responded and hastily walked closely behind Evelyn.


    When they reached the warp portal the six of them stood on it and waited until they were enveloped by light.


    As their vision returned to them, Evelyn and herpanions looked around to see a familiar crystal dome, while Lucia marveled at her first sight of the domain.


    Soon the vestige of the Verdant Warlord appeared and gave Lucia the same information that he had told Evelyn and her group upon their first arrival.


    Once that was done, the six of them were free to move about the first floor of the domain.


    "I suppose that collecting enough tokens for all of us to reach the second level should be our first course of action." Evelyn said, taking the lead.


    Yet, before she could take off into the air to show Lucia around, the higher rank beasts stopped her.


    "Actually, I think that I will explore this ce on my own. I want to learn what it has to offer with my own efforts." Lucia said, looking starry eyed.


    "Are you sure? I know that you are stronger than any of us, but this ce is dangerous. Some of the monsters that inhabit this forest are difficult to deal with alone." Rehni said, worried that Lucia might be overconfident.


    "Yeah, plus how are we going to work on teamwork together if you are doing your own thing." Bylur said.


    Lucia, though, was not going to budge.


    "Certainly, we have an alliance and I n on working together with all of you, but right now it would be impossible for us to work as a team. I am simply too much stronger than any of you. Plus, I think that your group might be a little too reliant on teamwork."


    "What do you mean? Naturally we are stronger together than alone." Aralee said, wearing a confused expression.


    Likewise, Evelyn and the rest of herpassion were bewildered. As a group they had bested far stronger foes bybining their powers and wits.


    "Don''t get me wrong, there is strength to be found in a coordinated group, but it is important to not get too reliant on it. If you only fight as a team, you will lose your edge when you inevitably end up alone. On the battlefield, the only one you can truly count on is yourself. If you can''t hold your own, you are going to get yourself or someone else killed."


    Evelyn winced as she heard this. Otis had gotten killed for this very reason. She had been expecting him to watch her back and he ate an attack that was meant for her.


    Had she been more attentive, maybe he would still be alive.


    "You''re right. We''ve had times when we were forced to fight alone, but our goal was always to link back up as soon as possible. Perhaps we should all try to go it alone and build up our personal strengths." Evelyn said, a resolute gleam in her eyes.


    The others looked hesitant to agree, especially Bylur.


    It was not long ago that Evelyn was in a terrible mental state where she was ready to end her own life. Herpanions were afraid that she might slip back into a depression if she was alone.


    However, Verrader could see the strength in her eyes and understood her position better than any of the others.


    "I think that Evelyn and Lucia are right. We need to get stronger even if we have to struggle alone. In fact, I don''t think I can stay with all of you. Not until I have redeemed myself." Verrader dered.


    At this everyone turned towards with shocked looks on their faces. They could not understand why he wanted to leave their group right now.


    "It is my fault that the Roost got destroyed and so many, including Otis, died. Had I never been tempted to work for my mas-, I mean the leader of the Deamhain Sect, everything would still be normal for everyone. The Roost would still be safe and none of you would have gone through that tragedy."


    Just like Evelyn, Verrader felt a crush guilt weighing down on him for his own contributions in the fall of the Roost.


    While he had renounced his position as spy, ultimately it was the magic item smuggled in through his body that gave the Tyrannis Union the ability to strike the Roost.


    "Brother, you know that none of us me you, right? You were forced to work for that man. Had you not done as he said you would have been killed. What happened was a tragedy, but you had no idea that thing unwillingly ced into your body would allow the Tyrannis Union to attack us. Even the greatest mind in the Roost were unable to figure out that magic item. There is nothing you could have done." Aralee said, wanting tofort her brother and prevent him from leaving.


    Still, he did not feel that he could continue to be a part of their group. Not so long as he felt unworthy.


    Evelyn herself was conflicted about what to do. She didn''t want Verrader to go either, but she could tell that he was serious. Forcing him to stay would only hurt him.


    "Okay, Verrader, you are no longer part of our team, Go and do what you feel you must, and when you are ready, you can rejoin us." Evelyn said, having made her decision.


    Verrader looked relieved when he heard this and thanked his older sister for her consideration.


    "Well, that settles that." Lucia said, pping her hands to gather everyone''s attention. "Now, this is just my proposal and anyone who wants to can ignore it, but I think we should go our separate ways until all of you have reached the tyrant rank. Once that goal has been achieved, we can all gather together again and discuss our next moves. Of course, we will need to stay in contact to some degree, but for the most part we should all operate alone."


    With Evelyn and Verrader''s swift agreement to Lucia''s n, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee agreed, albeit reluctantly. Even if the three of them stuck together it would not be the same and only undermine the point of this training.


    "Evelyn, if you get badly injured, or just need someone to talk to, please reach out to me. I will make sure to be there." Bylur said.


    The others offered her simr sentiments as they were worried about her, and Evelyn nodded her head in agreement.


    After that, the six of them turned in different directions and set off on their own to gain the power they sought.

 Chapter 373 373 Growth

    <h4>Chapter 373 Chapter 373 Growth</h4>


    "Gahhh!"


    Emerging from beingpletely submerged in water, Evelyn sucked in a deep breath of air.


    Slowly and clumsily, she pushed her soaking wet body to the shore of the pool of water.


    When she reached the edge of the water, she pulled herself out of the spring and used her fire and wind magic to rapidly dry herself off.


    "Lady Evelyn, was it a sess this time?"


    Turning towards the individual that had addressed her, Evelyn nodded her head and could not suppress a smile.


    "Yes, I finally managed to reach the peak of the awakened rank using the magic spring. Thank you for being so amodating Po and allowing me to absorb all of its energy."


    "Of course. You are our savior, Lady Evelyn. I will always remember the aid you offered us in our time of greatest need, and so long as I am leader of this n you will have our hospitality." Po said, looking up at Evelyn with an expression of reverence.


    Even after she had returned and told the burrowing owls about Otis'' demise, not a single one of them turned on her.


    Those that had fought with her when they had retaken the burrowing owl''s ancestral home had even told her that they were proud of Otis. He may have lost his life, but he was able to save Evelyn''s.


    She had been ready to be scorned for leading their former leader to his death, but instead the burrowing owls celebrated his life and achievements.


    He was the leader that had reimed the magic spring after it had been lost to the ospreys and gone on to be one of their savior''spanions. There was no way that those that knew him could be anything but proud.


    Po himself had personallyforted Evelyn and exined to her just how deep Otis'' devotion to her went. That he would have sacrificed his own life a million times over to protect her.


    This helped Evelyn to push past her grief a bit more and look towards the future where she could avenge her fallen friend.


    ''It has been a hard twenty-one months since I parted ways with the others, but I''ve cleared the first hurdle. Now I just need to gather the catalysts necessary to evolve to the tyrant rank.''


    Closing her eyes, Evelyn felt the magical energy in her body that had reached the apex that her current form could hold.


    Despite having been ahead of her two siblings when they started out, she was now thest one among their group to reach the peak of the awakened rank. This was inrge part owing to the Aethersphere guzzling up a great deal of the energy she had been absorbing.


    Evelyn was unsure of what it was doing, but she figured that it was once again close to repairing another one of its functions by leeching off her magical energy.


    Still, there was nothing she could do about it, and there was no doubt that the divine item gave her great power in return.


    "Should we prepare a feast to celebrate your sess?" Po asked.


    "No, I need to get started right away gathering catalyst for my evolution. We can save the celebration for when I reach the tyrant rank." Evelyn responded, knowing she had no time for leisure until she achieved her current goal.


    From themunication she periodically received from herpanions she knew that Bylur and Rehni had already reached the tyrant rank a little under two months ago.


    And while Verrader had not sent anymunications since he reached the peak of the awakened rank, Aralee apparently only needed to find one more item before she could evolve.


    Evelyn did not want to fall any further behind and needed to get out and find whatever items she might need.


    Unfortunately, she had no clue as to what catalyst would be necessary since she was a knew species of owl that has never existed before.


    Before the Roost had been attacked and they lost ess to its vast collection of information, Evelyn''spassion had obtained the information on the catalyst they would need to evolve to the tyrant rank. Giving them a leg up on Evelyn.


    Nevertheless, she did have an idea of how to find the information she needed.


    Last time she had been on the search for catalysts, the Aethersphere had given her the information she needed after finding one of the necessary items.


    It had been a painful experience when it bombarded her with knowledge about several thousands of unrted items within the same rank, but she didn''t really have much of an option but to attempt this method again.


    Luckily, she was nearly certain she already had at least one of the items she would need and could trigger the function of the Aethersphere that would bombard her with information.


    Once she was in a private room within the burrowing owls'' vastwork of tunnels and chambers, Evelyn activated her storge cuff and pulled out a certain item.


    In her w she held the magic core of the human woman she had fought within the Verdant Warlord''s domain, who was apparently a princess of the Ultak empire.


    She remembered the battle clearly and how the arcanist ranked woman had been a strong user of fire magic.


    Normally a beast would need to use the magic core of a human that shared a magical affinity with them during their evolution to the tyrant rank in order to not only grow much stronger but also take on a humanoid form.


    Evelyn though, was a special case. Thanks to her human soul she was able to form a magic core within her bestial body. Melisandre had already hypothesized that Evelyn would achieve a humanoid form whether she used a human''s magic core or not.


    Still, she figured that there was a good possibility it could still act as a catalyst for her evolution, and hopefully a trigger for the Aethersphere to give her the knowledge she needed to find the other catalysts.

 Chapter 374 374 Tyrant Rank Catalysts

    <h4>Chapter 374 Chapter 374 Tyrant Rank Catalysts</h4>


    Slowly but surely, Evelyn channeled her magical energy into the magic core she had obtained from the Ultak Empire Princess.


    It took time as the core filled with another''s magical energy rejected Evelyn''s, but she soon had dyed the core with her own magical energy and made it her own.


    Immediately she got the instinctive feeling that this item was one that could be used for her evolution to the next rank.


    This brought a smile to Evelyn''s face, though it did notst for long.


    Just likest time the Aethersphere started to react to the presence of an item Evelyn could use as a catalyst.


    Remembering what happened previously, Evelyn unloaded hundreds of magical crystals from her store items before tossing any magic tools on her person away.


    As expected, the Aethersphere began greedily drawing in the magical energy in the surroundings in order to gain the power necessary to forcefully insert information directly into Evelyn''s mind.


    Yet, the process was clearly more subdued than before.


    While the Aethersphere did start to break down the magic crystals Evelyn hadid out, the process was not terribly quickly.


    Evelyn was also not racked with a searing pain in her head as she was bombarded with information all at once.


    The Aethersphere slowly analyzed Evelyn''s condition and picked out the best catalysts for her based on whatever knowledge was stored within it.


    ''Huh? It is even asking for my consent to share the information.'' Evelyn thought, bewildered by what was going on.


    She did not receive any sort of verbal message from the divine item, but it had sent her a sort of feeling that she knew meant it was asking for her to agree to the knowledge transfer.


    At first, she was utterly baffled by this. The divine item had never once shown any consideration for her in the past and nearly killed her on multiple asions.


    ''Is this supposed to be how it functions normally?''


    From what she could gather, the Aethersphere was now operating more like a functional device should be rather than how it had gone haywire in the past.


    Evelyn could not help but chuckle at this development. After having to worry about the stupid thing blowing her up, it seemed to have finally fixed itself enough to work with some degree of reliability.


    ''Sure, go ahead and give me the information.'' Evelyn thought.


    The Aethersphere, connected to her body and soul as it was, got the message and sent over the data immediately.


    Suddenly Evelyn was hit with a familiar sharp pain in her head, but it was not even close to as bad asst time. The Aethersphere was only sending her the information on the items she would need to evolve.


    Once the process was done, Evelyn marveled at how much easier it was than thest time. Sure, there was still a bit of pain, but it waspletely bearable. It was like the difference between a sprain and a shattered bone.


    ''Looks like I even already have another one of the items I need. I knew I wasn''t wrong to take the risk to obtain this.'' Evelyn thought, an ecstatic expression.


    Retrieving her storage cuff, she brought out a glowing blue gem she had found at the center of the float stone deposit.


    As soon as it was released, the blue gem that was shaped like an octahedron floated upwards and began spinning.


    Evelyn watched as the gravity in the room became distorted and lighter objects began drifting into the air.


    ''So, it is called a graviton gem. It is still just as beautiful as the day I found it.'' Evelyn thought as she stared at the gem in wonder.


    After she had gotten her fill of watching the magic mineral''s splendor, Evelyn flew up towards it and began filling it with her magical energy.


    It was one of the five catalysts she would need to reach the tyrant rank, and including the magic core from an arcanist rank human and the evolution potion she had already made that could be used as a substitute for one of the items, she only needed to collect two more.


    ''The problem is, which two of the three should I look for?''


    Of the three the only one Evelyn had any inkling about where she might find it was the heart of a grand fire elemental.


    She knew that fire elementals could be found in a ce called the inferno field, where a rift in dimensions allowed fire elementals toe into this world.


    At one time Evelyn had nned to go to this location to obtain a hellfire rose which was something she needed for her evolution from a fiend beast to an awakened beast. Unfortunately, due to the injuries she sustained during the battle against the empress dryad, she instead used the credits she had saved up to hire someone to retrieve the item for her.


    ''Well, I was fairly interested before, and I have no clue where I might find one of the other two items. I might as well check out the inferno field and see if I can find a grand fire elemental.''


    Of course, while Evelyn was a bit gung-ho about heading out, she knew better than to rush off without any preparations.


    Melisandre had hammered into her about how dangerous the inferno field was. Thanks inrge part to the elementals that attacked anything other than their own kind on sight.


    Before when she would just be going to find a hellfire rose, there was no guarantee she would encounter one of these dangerous entities. But now her goal was to find one and kill it in order to take its heart a vastly different prospect.


    ''Melisandre told me that she nearly died when she went there at the same rank I am now during her exploration of the inferno field. I''m probably stronger than she was, but I better be careful. I need to make some alchemical items that will be effective against creatures that are made out of fire.''

 Chapter 375 375 The Inferno Field

    <h4>Chapter 375 Chapter 375 The Inferno Field</h4>


    As Evelyn soared through the sky, the atmosphere around her slowly began to change.


    The air became hotter, and a slight sulfurous smell could be picked up on the wind.


    Soon she saw a bright red scarlet glow on the edge of the horizon, like a perpetual sunset was locked into ce.


    ''So that is the inferno filed.'' Evelyn thought, looking ahead at the vast sprawling area in front of her.


    Far in the distance she could make out the source of the bright glow that lit up the sky even in the dead of night. That was where the rift into the elemental realm of fire had formed and allowed elementals to push into this world.


    Unfortunately, the bright rift was the only thing that she could see far in the distance.


    The air was thick with a haze of smoke and steam that always filled the inferno ins. Random fires were known to ignite at all times and pits ofva dotted the Field like they were ponds andkes. Any water that did exist in thisnd was either underground or quickly turned into steam when it reached the surface.


    Even on the periphery where Evelyn was, the temperature had easily reached around seventy degrees Celsius. And it would only continue to get hotter the closer she got to the center where the rift was.


    This was a hostile environment that few could venture into without protective measures against extreme temperatures. Close to the center of the Inferno Field even higher ranked beasts not adapted to the environment would find their energy rapidly sapped to stave off the heat.


    Luckily, Evelyn held within her the power of a heavenly me. This source of fire from a higher realm gave her an immunity to any lesser mes. No matter how hot it got within the Inferno Field, she would not be hindered.


    Not even Evelyn''s master Melisandre could burn her with fire magic. The only one that she knew that would be able to hurt her with fire was the Roost''s leader, Minerva, who likewise possessed a heavenly me.


    ''Still, I should not get cocky. Melisandre already showed me that there are plenty of ways to harm me with fire magic without needing to burn me.''


    Had she not received the harsh lesson from her master, Evelyn likely would have entered the Inferno Field more brazenly, confident in her ability to brush off fire-based attacks with ease. But instead, she kept low to the ground and avoided making herself easily seen high in the sky.


    To her surprise there was plentiful vegetation growing within the Field.


    Tall yellow orange grass burst nearly three meters from the ground in most ces, and short put wide scrubs that glowed a vibrant violet sat in the center of baren areas where the soil was exposed. As if they were draining all the nutrients in the surrounding area.


    It was far cry from the ash nketed barrenndscape she had been expecting. Though, in this iprehensible world filled with magic, life finds a way to thrive even in the most hostile of environments.


    ''And speaking of life.''


    Dead ahead of Evelyn, she saw what looked like arge lumbering boulder.


    Of course, this was not a living and moving rock, but a giant tortoise.


    It had thick armored skin and a shell that more resembled the walls of a metal fortress than the shells Evelyn remembered seeing in photos back on Earth.


    This tortoise easily stood over ten meters tall at its head, with its stocky body being only about two thirds as tall.


    To Evelyn it appeared like a living tank, but that was not deterring its attackers.


    Three anthropomorphic balls of fire were attacking the giant beast.


    ''Those must be fire elementals. I doubt any of them are what I am looking for, but maybe I will get lucky.''


    Jumping into the fray, Evelyn sped towards the battle raging between the giant tortoise and the fire elementals.


    She had no grand ideas abouting to the rescue of a fellow beast though, all she wanted was to test her different types of magic on the fire elementals.


    With the p of her wings Evelyn sent out a tried-and-true wind de for the closest elemental, watching closely to see what happened.


    Astonishingly, the creature did not bother dodging Evelyn''s attack, and the mes that made up its body were spilt in two.


    Yet, the damage that would have been fatal to any solid creature proved to be little more than an inconvenience to the fire elemental. Its body that had been cut in half, quickly reformed itself before turning towards Evelyn.


    Despite it not having any facial features, Evelyn could tell that the fire elemental was enraged by her interruption.


    Its body swelled to staggering heights and it turned into a literal wave of fire that bore down onto Evelyn.


    For the first time Evelyn felt the full breath of the magical energy within this fire elemental and understood that it was in the range of what an average mid-tier or high tier awakened rank beast would possess.


    ''It can put on an impressive show, but the intensity of its mes leaves a lot to be desired.'' Evelyn thought as the me elemental''s attack bore down on her.


    Knowing that the heat from the fire would be unable to hurt her, Evelyn allowed the fire elemental to engulf her. She wanted to feel exactly how much power it could output.


    The moment the wave of fire hit her, it did not simply pass her by but instead wrapped around and fully enveloped Evelyn.


    Quickly the fire elemental took the form of a sphere and held Evelyn in the center. Intent on turning her entire body to ash.


    However, unlike any other creature this fire elemental had killed before, Evelyn did not so much as show signs of being singed.


    ''Well, it certainly has an interesting way of attacking, But as I thought, its mes aren''t really that hot. I''ll need to show it what real fire magic can do.''

 Chapter 376 376 The Inferno Field (2)

    <h4>Chapter 376 Chapter 376 The Inferno Field (2)</h4>


    All around her Evelyn was surrounded by the brightly glowing mes that made of the fire elemental''s body.


    For most this would have been deadly situation as their body was burned beyond the point of repair until all that awaited them was death.


    However, Evelyn was simply unimpressed by the disy.


    She had heard that elementals were fearsome creatures, but the one she was dealing with now failed to live up to the reputation. At least from her perspective. To most the fire elemental trying to kill her was a very dangerous entity.


    ''Crimson Twister.''


    Still within the fire elemental, Evelyn began spinning her body around and releasing the power of the heavenly me inside her.


    Every second that went by she poured out more magical energy until a fiery tornado overtook the fire elemental''s mes.


    At first the elemental showed no signs of concern at the sight of Evelyn using fire magic. Its body was made of mes, so it was normally impossible for it to be harmed by them.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn''s magic was far from normal, and the fire elemental soon felt a sensation it had never felt before.


    Burning, a searing pain that it often inflicted on its victims, but something it would never know. Should never know. Yet, the crimson mes that emitted from Evelyn''s body did burn it.


    The fire elemental attempted to get away, but the vortex created by Evelyn''s magic sucked it in.


    A horrid screech like a kettleing to boil resounded from the elemental''s body. Its own mes were being consumed by one that was far more powerful.


    Soon the terrible noise that the fire elemental was releasing quieted. The creaturepletely destroyed by Evelyn''s heavenly me.


    ''Oh?! And what is that?''


    Looking down Evelyn saw a small gleaming mineral-like substance fall from what used to be the body of the fire elemental.


    Flying down Evelyn caught up to the object before it hit the ground and gripped it in one of her ws.


    She was a bit surprised at first to find that it was quite hot, enough to easily burn.


    Luckily it had no effect on her other than surprising her with its heat.


    Evelyn carefully examined the glowing red stone and quickly concluded that this must be the elemental''s heart.


    Unfortunately, it was not from the type of fire elemental she was looking for. Thanks to the knowledge the Aethersphere had granted her she knew what the heart of a grand looked like. This was not it.


    ''Must be some other type. Oh well, I can experiment with it during brewing. I might be able to use it a substitution for certain items or maybe enhance certain concoction with it.''


    For a few moments Evelyn got lost in thought pondering what she would use this fire elemental heart for until her attention was drawn back to the battle.


    A loud thud echoed through the area as the giant tortoise fighting the other two fire elementals mmed one of its legs down.


    ncing over, Evelyn saw that one of the fire elementals was buried under the tortoise''s leg and that the earth around it was moving unnaturally. It was easy enough for her to tell that the tortoise was using fire magic to smother the elemental.


    At first Evelyn did not much care, until she realized that there was only one more elemental for her to experiment on.


    ''If it kills thest one, I won''t be able to see how my gravity magic works on them.''


    In a panic Evelyn flew towards the final remaining fire elemental that was pelting the tortoise with mes even more fiercely than before now that itsrades were dead.


    When she reached it she immediately activated her gravity field and lowered the gravity around her.


    This had a profound effect on the fire elemental, causing its body to be squatter and its movements to be sluggish.


    ''As I though, it works just like normal mes do.''


    Next, she upped the gravity and the fire elemental''s body elongated and became fiercer.


    Evelyn then used her gravity hammer attack to try and squash the fire elemental and found that it became a long thin line of fire that rose high into the air above.


    Once she stopped her gravity magic the fire elemental moved back into its normal form, but it moved around in a daze.


    ''Doesn''t look like I can kill it with my gravity magic. However, having its form rapidly changed by an outside force clearly disorients it.''


    After she was done experimenting with gravity magic, Evelyn used her wind magic to slice the fire elemental into several tiny parts and watched what happened.


    The hundreds of small mes that once made up the fire elemental tried to reform but did not have enough energy to move back into a central body.


    It did not take long for the fires to blink out of exitance and the fire elemental to die. The damage it had taken from Evelyn''s wind magic was too great for it to survive. Each individual me too weak to keep burning.


    Satisfied, Evelyn picked up the fire elemental''s heart andpared it to the other one she had.


    ''Looks like I will have to do thistter.'' Evelyn thought, turning towards the other surviving member of this battle.


    The massive tortoise was eyeing Evelyn warily and taking up a defensive posture.


    Most beasts were not particrly friendly with other types of beasts. It was survival of the fittest with the strongest often going on to kill those weaker than them to obtain greater power.


    If it thought it could run, the tortoise would have. But its size made it slow and Evelyn''s ability to fly made it obvious she would easily catch up if she wanted to pursue.


    So instead, it prepared to fight in case Evelyn decided to attack. It had tough armored skin and a powerful shell that protected most of its vitals. The tortoise was more confident in fighting than fleeing.

 Chapter 377 377 Making a Deal

    <h4>Chapter 377 Chapter 377 Making a Deal</h4>


    Evelyn carefully watched the posture of the giant tortoise to gauge its intentions.


    If it had just been a normal beast living out in the wild, she would have simply ignored it and been on her way, but she knew that this tortoise was like her.


    Melisandre had told her that there was a society of tortoises simr to the Roost that watched over the Inferno Field.


    It was easy enough for Evelyn to spot some sort of identification item that clung to the base of its neck like a choker.


    ''Seeing as it is part of the tortoise society that governs this ce, I should be able to gather some information.'' Evelyn thought.


    Havign decided to converse with this tortoise Evelynnded on the ground around thirty meters from it and made sure not to show any signs of hostility.


    She then extended a thin strand of magical energy towards the tortoise in order to convey her wish to speak.


    The tortoise looked surprised to see this gesture, but it would rather not fight Evelyn and was more than happy to ept her invitation.


    "Hello, it is nice to meet you. My name is Evelyn, and I am a member of the Roost here to gather certain items. I hope that it was not impertinent of me to have assisted you with those elementals?"


    After Evelyn''s introduction the tortoise looked surprised, and then suspicious as it looked over Evelyn.


    She clearly did not have an identification cuff like all members of the Roost wore and it had heard some recent rumors that the Roost had beenpletely destroyed.


    "You say you are a member of the Roost, yet you carry no item to identify yourself. Also, from what I have heard the Roost was attacked by humans over a year and a half ago and has not been heard from since. It has been surmised that they were wiped out." The tortoise said usatorily.


    Clearly it did not believe Evelyn and thought she was just some stray owl trying to use the name of the Roost to get into his good graces.


    While the Tortoises and the Roost had never been close allies, neither had they been enemies.


    "Perhaps this will just sound like I am covering for myself, but my identification cuff was destroyed in that battle you mentioned. The Tyrannis Union certainly did try to wipe the Roost out, but they failed. Most of us owls got away, but unfortunately, I was separated in the chaos. I have likewise not heard anything from the Roost, but I can guarantee that they survived. Whether you believe me or not does not really matter though. I havee here to obtain an item I need for my evolution and do not n to leave until I obtain it. Now if you want, we can try and have an amicable rtionship and exchange information, or I will be on my way. Even if I have to go through you to continue."


    The giant tortoise gulped when it heard thest thing Evelyn said and saw the dangerous gleam in her eyes. While they both might have been at the peak of the awakened rank, this tortoise felt that there was something incredibly dangerous about Evelyn and that he should not fight her at any cost.


    "Sorry, I should not have been so suspicious of you. I do not want there to be any hostilities between us. You just helped me out of a bind, and it does not really matter if you are part of the Roost or not. This ce is not a restricted area or anything. Though it is dangerous enough that fewe here to seek the resources within it. I would actually rmend that you not venture any farther in, at least for now. There was a recent surge of fire elementals that pushed through the rift and are causing chaos all over the ce. Right now, it is pretty risky even for peak awakened beasts to be here." The tortoise said, showing some concern for Evelyn.


    However, aftering this far, Evelyn had no intention of turning back. Not to mention that an increase in fire elemental activity meant that she was more likely to find her quarry.


    "Thank you for your concern, but I am actually after the heart of a certain type of fire elemental. I came fully prepared to fight them and take them down. Perhaps I can even be of some assistance in quelling their numbers. Of course, I would like some information in exchange for my help. This is my first time here and I only have the records from the Roost to go off of."


    The giant tortoise nearly rejected Evelyn''s proposal on reflex, but stopped just before he did.


    He had caught glimpses of how Evelyn had handled those lesser fire elementals and was honestly very surprised by her abilities.?He had no idea how she was able toe out unscathed from being engulfed by fire, and some of her magic was utterly iprehensible.


    ''I''ve already had enough trouble patrolling my section. I only just joined the Inferno Field Rangers and don''t want to get kicked out for a bad performance during this crisis. She seems trustworthy enough. If she wanted to, she could just use force to get me to tell her what she wants. I am sure she is confident that she could beat me. But with her assistance I am sure that it will be easy enough to deal with the lower ranking fire elementals that slip past my seniors patrolling the depths. A bit of information is a small price to pay.'' The Tortoise thought,ing to believe that he could use Evelyn to his advantage.


    Once he had finished weighing his options the Tortoise agreed to tell Evelyn everything it knew about the Inferno Field in return for her assisting him with hunting the fire elementals in the area for three days.

 Chapter 378 378 Forming an Alliance

    <h4>Chapter 378 Chapter 378 Forming an Alliance</h4>


    ''Should I ept or not?'' Evelyn thought, considering her best course of action.


    In the grand scheme of things three days was not much time, but it would still be time spent not pursuing her immediate goal.


    On the other hand, the information that this tortoise might be able to provide her could shave off a great deal of time searching aimlessly for the specific type of fire elemental she was after.


    ''It would also give me more opportunities to test my magic against more fire elementals. Then there are the alchemical items I made that should be effective against them. But until I use them on a target I won''t know for sure.''


    Thinking about the pros and cons, Evelyn figured she would be better off taking the tortoise''s offer, but it all came down to whether she could really trust him.


    When she had initially made her offer to help deal with the fire elementals, she thought she would go around on her own or stick around with the tortoise for a few hours at most. But she would have to rest at some point during the three-day excursion and leave herself vulnerable.


    Evelyn still had difficulty trusting others she was not well acquainted with, and while this tortoise seemed like a decent enough guy, one could never know another''s true nature from a single encounter.


    ''He did try to warn me about how dangerous this ce is. Though, it did not take much for him to agree to use my power to help him patrol this area.'' Evelyn thought, trying to reason out whether she could trust this tortoise.


    However, in the end, Evelyn felt that the risk of being stabbed in the back was worth it on this asion. She knew little about the area and the race of beasts that oversaw it. Gaining information and an ally would be invaluable in her search for a grand fire elemental.


    "Very well, I shall ept your proposition. For three days I will aid you in patrolling this area and riding it of fire elementals. In return you will tell me what you know of this Inferno Field. If possible, I would also like something to prove to your fellows that I am not a threat. It would be an inconvenience if I was viewed as a hostile beast that needs to be dealt with."


    The tortoise wore a strained smile when he heard Evelyn''sst request, but he still agreed, nheless.


    "I can get you an emblem that proves you are friends with one of the Inferno Field Rangers, the group that I am a part of. With it you should not have to worry much about myrades that also patrol this ce. But I would ask that you not tell anyone about how much help you are giving me with my assigned area. Some might not look favorably on me for getting outside assistance. If anyone asks, just tell them I gave you the emblem because you got me out of a bind fighting several fire elementals. It is the truth anyway."


    Evelyn nodded her head and agreed. There was nothing in it for her to cause any trouble for this tortoise or herself.


    "With that settled, there is one more thing I would like to know." Evelyn said, an inquisitive expression on her face. "What might your name be, if you have one? Just referring to you as mister tortoise or something along those lines would be ufortable."


    The tortoise looked down at Evelyn with a nk stare as he realized that he hadpletely forgotten to introduce himself.


    "Sorry, about that. I should have introduced myself earlier. You can call me Krunnen. That is the name I chose upon joining the other tortoises in the Great Shell." Krunnen said, a look of embarrassment on his face.


    Evelyn could not help but snicker when she saw this. Never had she expected such a massive beast to show such an expression. It really did not suit him.


    After having formed an alliance, Evelyn apanied Krunnen and kept watch from above for any fire elemental activity.


    "So, howrge is the territory you are expected to cover? I still haven''t gauged how vast this ce truly is because of the constant cloud of steam and smoke obscuring everything. Without the constant glow of the rift in the center to use as a point of refence, it would be pretty easy to get turned around." Evelyn said, probing for information in an innocuous way.


    "Oh, I should have mentioned how much area we are covering earlier." Krunnen said, seeming to beat himself up about forgetting another little thing after forgetting to give his name.


    "The area that I have been assigned to keep watch over is around one hundred twenty square kilometers. Its honestly a prettyrge area to range, but we''re still on the periphery of the Inferno Field where it is safest. It is actually quite rare to run into three fire elementals at once like I had earlier this far from the rift. The closer you get to the rift the more powerful fire elementals and aberrant beasts and nts you will encounter. I''ve heard horror stories from some of my seniors about the kinds of creatures that lurk near the rift."


    Krunnen then went on to tell Evelyn the approximate range of effect the elemental rift had on the surrounding area.


    The Inferno Field extended out like a rough circle with an approximate radius of three hundred thirty kilometers. In certain ces this could be shorter or longer, but this was the average that had been determined within thest decade.


    "Normally there are only around three thousand rangers patrolling the Inferno Field at a time but because of the recent surge in fire elemental activitying out of the rift, there are closer to five thousand of us right now. All I know is that we can''t let these fire elementals escape. We aren''t sure how, but whenever they reach the edge of the Field, they are able to expand its influence and warp the environment. Increasing the range of this hellscape."

 Chapter 379 379 A Tougher Opponent

    <h4>Chapter 379 Chapter 379 A Tougher Opponent</h4>


    Evelyn and Krunnen continued to talk using the magical connection until Evelyn spotted something off in the distance that looked suspect.


    ''Damn, I can''t tell if that was just a trick of the light from the constant glow that the rift emits, if it might just be a random fire, or if that sh, I just saw is an elemental.'' Evelyn thought, straining her eyes to search for what just made the glow that caught her attention.


    Unfortunately, with all the smoke and steam in the air, even with her impable eyesight as an owl and having a good vantage point several meters in the air, Evelyn could not determine exactly what it was she saw.


    Nevertheless, she informed Krunnen about it to get his judgement. He was the one that had experience traversing the inferno Field and spotting the signs of fire elemental activity.


    "It is probably just a false rm. You can see random shes of lights out here all the time. I''d say only one out of around every three hundred is a fire elemental. At least this far from the rift. Even with the recent uptick in activity, I doubt that the odds would more than double." Krunnen said, not sounding worried.


    Still, it was part of his job to check on every possibility, so he followed Evelyn towards the area where she saw the light.


    When they arrived al seemed clear. Whatever had caused the source of light was gone, or maybe had never been there in the first ce.


    "I guess we didn''t get lucky this time." Evelyn said after a cursory look around.


    "What do you mean lucky? You make it sound like you wanted to run into a fire elemental." Krunnen said with a incredulously expression.


    He then moved some of the tall orange grass that grew in the Inferno Field to carefully check the ground.


    However, just a couple seconds after Krunnen began searching for signs Evelyn was unaware of, he stopped and groaned.


    "I am starting to think that you might be a ma for bad luck."


    Krunnen moved aside some of the tall grass to let Evelyn see the scorch marks he had found on the ground.


    He exined to Evelyn that the fire elementals were capable of controlling their ming bodies so that they did not burn things they did not wish to.


    This kept them from causing random wildfires wherever they went, but also made tracking them more difficult.


    Luckily most of them were not particrly intelligent and would not worry about restraining the extreme heating from their bodies when it came to nonmmable objects.


    "A fire elemental was definitely here not long ago. It must be keeping its body small to move the grass without being spotted. But it still leaves signs we can follow. Though I suppose that it is better it is trying to hide itself. Only weaker elementals do that. The stronger ones don''t bother attempting to be stealthy." Krunnen said, disying his knowledge as an experienced ranger of the Inferno Field.


    The two of them followed the trail left by the fire elemental. All along the ground small scorch marks could be seen at regr intervals and lead them towards their quarry.


    It did not take long until Evelyn spotted the slight glow that had earlier caught her attention again.


    This time she was much closer and with her eyesight fully enhanced with magical energy she spotted what looked like a small me with legs moving through the tall grasses.


    ''Just as Krunnen told me, it is heading towards the edge of the Inferno Field.''


    After telling Krunnen that she had spotted their target, Evelyn sped on ahead and prepared to engage.


    Yet, as she approached, the small fire elemental did not flee as she thought it would based on its behavior.


    Despite it having made itself small to avoid detection, it showed no hesitancy in attacking when it came across another entity that was not of its kind. A trait that all elementals had no matter their type or strength.


    In an instant the small me morphed into one that was muchrger. Bing more imposing than the three fire elementals Evelyn had encountered before.


    ''Well, just being a bit stronger probably won''t help it against me.'' Evelyn thought, fully confident in her abilities.


    All three of her different types of magic were especially effective against fire elementals, while she was immune to their main method of attack. She may very well be like a natural predator to them.


    To start off Evelyn pped her wings wildly and kicked up a storm of wind des. She had seen how effectively this worked on one of the fire elementals before and figured it would be an easy victory.


    Except, while the elemental was shredded into small pieces, it did not begin to dissipate like she had expected. Instead, each individual piece of it grew brighter and red to life.


    After just a couple of seconds what had once been a single fire elemental had morphed into several dozen.


    ''What the hell?!''


    Evelyn was stunned by this fire elemental''s unusual ability that was far different from what she had encountered before.


    It had not simply separated itself into many smaller parts, but created exact duplicated that were just as powerful as the original had been. Frankly, Evelyn could not wrap her head around this unfair ability.


    A barrage of small fire balls sted towards her not long after all the new fire elementals had formed.


    Evelyn''s entire field of view turned bright yellow and orange as an innumerable number of mes flew her way.


    Immediately she knew that she could not dodge and instead used her wind magic to crated a barrier around herself.


    The air quickly circted around her under the power of her magic and soon a tempest of swirling wind in the shape of a sphere had epassed her.


    The fireballs individuallycking in power either faded or bounced off when they reached Evelyn''s defensive magic.


    Of course, she could have simply tanked the fire balls without taking any damage, but she did not want to reveal her fire immunity to this elemental just yet. It was clearly more dangerous than the other three and she wanted to keep some of her cards hidden until she knew what it was truly capable of.

 Chapter 380 380 Chemical Warfare

    <h4>Chapter 380 Chapter 380 Chemical Warfare</h4>


    Flying higher into the air Evelyn gave herself some breathing room away from the barrage of fireballs flying her way.


    ''And my backup has arrived.'' Evelyn thought, her gaze drawn towards Krunnen.


    She was recently surprised that he was able to move as fast as he was. She had only taken off ahead of him a couple dozen seconds ago.


    Yet, once he got close enough to see how the situation had developed, he stopped abruptly with a look of terror on his face.


    "I am guessing from your reaction that this is not an ordinary fire elemental." Evelyn said reconnecting a magical link to Krunnen so that they could speak.


    "Yes, it is called a duplicator. A really nasty creature. As long as it has excess magical energy it can keep breaking off parts of itself to create copies. And judging by how many clones it has created, it must have stockpiled a great deal of magical energy." Krunnen replied with a grim expression.


    Unfortunately, once an elemental noticed any other living creature it would stop at nothing to kill it. The only option was fight or flight, and clearly Krunnen was not going to be able to get away now that he was in the duplicator''s sight.


    Though, while he did not seem to have much confidence and appeared to want to avoid conflicts, Krunnen was a peak awakened rank beast like Evelyn and adept at using his magic.


    Several fireballs flew towards him as well, but he skillfully used his earth magic to raise up a curved barrier of stone that deflected the projectiles.


    He then raised his two front legs and mmed them down, causing a tidal wave of dirt to crash towards the duplicator.


    Unfortunately, the attack failed to connect.


    The duplicator along with all of its copiesunched high into the air like rockets and flew over Keunen''s magic.


    Most of them headed directly towards Evelyn, while a few broke off and went after Krunnen.


    ''This is a good time as any for another test.'' Evelyn thought, not showing any signs of fear towards the dozens of approaching fire elementals.


    essing her storage cuff, she took out arge container she could barely hold up with both of her ws.


    With nimble movements she grabbed hold of a piece of rope attached to the container and pulled.


    An instantter the lid popped off and the substance inside began to flow out.


    All at once arge quality of aqueous foam fell out of the container and Evelyn used a quick burst of wind magic to spread it over a wide area.


    The several copies of the duplicator did not falter in front of the unknown substance and kept flying. It was used to burning through almost anything.


    Yet, when the aqueous foam hit, Evelyn heard a cacophony of pained screeches.


    Every one of the induvial fire elementals that wereing towards Evelyn began plummeting as the concoction Evelyn had made snuffed them out.


    ''Looks like that was pretty effective. I suppose that it must be like poison to a fire elemental.''


    Ever inquisitive about her alchemical creations, Evelyn carefully watched how the duplicator rted to the aqueous foam she had just used on it.


    For several moments each of the individual elementals that had been hit writhed around on the ground trying to get the foam off.


    Eventually they got free of Evelyn''s alchemical creation, but each of the copies of the duplicator were noticeably dimmer.


    ''Time for the next test.''


    From her storage cuff, Evelyn pulled out another container, this time one filled with a me-retardant salt.


    She poured some of the substance over one of the elementals and watched it burn out incredibly quickly. This time it did not separate and create a clone of itself.


    Smiling, Evelyn flew around dumping the me-retardant salt on the duplicator''s copies until the container was empty.


    By the time she was done, the duplicator had been cut down to only about a third of its numbers.


    Satisfied with her second experiment, Evelyn put the container away and pull out arge ss potion vial instead. This was something she did not have much of and needed to be stored in a breakable container to be effective.


    ''Ah, a volunteer.'' Evelyn thought, watching one of the duplicates flying towards her.


    This elemental was condensing itself, and Evelyn could tell it meant to blow itself up and take her down with it. A practical strategy for a creature that could create copies of itself.


    She casually tossed the ss vial towards the fire elemental and the talisman attached to the lid caused it to shatter.


    Thepressed carbon dioxide exploded from the container and engulfed the fire elemental.


    Suddenly, being deprived of oxygen, the bright me that was about to explode in Evelyn''s face diminished and soon blinked out.


    ''They all worked quite well. Probably a waste to have used my limited supply on such a weak enemy, but I did need to test them out before trying them on a stronger fire elemental.''


    She still had a couple other items she had made that would be useful against beings made of fire, but her supply of them was very limited so she figured she would save them only for an emergency.


    With all the tests she wanted to runpleted, Evelyn finished off the rest of the duplicator''s clones with her magic.


    All of them had already been weakened by her aqueous foam and she had little trouble dispatching them thanks to her heavenly me that could destroy lesser mes.


    ''Now, how is Krunnen doing.''


    Turing her head, Evelyn looked towards her temporarypanion and saw that his battle was not going nearly as well as hers.


    While he wielded both earth and water magic which were both particrly effective against fire elementals, he was having difficulty going on the offensive.


    Being attacked by several of the duplicator''s copies he was busy using his magic to protect himself and found little room to counterattack.


    ''As much as I want to see how he would get out of this on his own, I should probably help him.''

 Chapter 381 381 Warning

    <h4>Chapter 381 Chapter 381 Warning</h4>


    Evelyn flew over to Krunnen who was having difficulty dealing with the duplicator fire elemental copies that were swarming around him.


    His magic was actually particrly effective against fire elementals but from what Evelyn could see he was not particrly adept at control.


    He was unable to seamlessly switch between offense and defense and to prevent taking damage he was focused on protecting himself.


    ''I suppose that is what I should expect from a tortoise.'' Evelyn thought.


    When she reached him, she swooped in and used her gravity magic to greatly lessen the power of gravity around her.


    Immediately the duplicator clones began to lose their intensity.


    Then before the duplicators could get used to the new gravity Evelyn switched it to be increased and watched them growrger and hotter.


    Evelyn switched back and forth between heightened and lessened gravity a few times and horribly disoriented them.


    "You can go ahead and attack now. They won''t be able to focus their attacks very well in their current state." Evelyn said.


    Yet, despite Evelyn''s instructions, Krunnen just stood there and stared at Evelyn in shock. He had been in her gravity field as well and was stunned by her magic. He had seen it before, but this was the first time he was experiencing it.


    ''Um, is he not going to go on the offense? If he waits much longer the duplicator and its clones will regain their senses.''


    Evelyn had wanted to let Krunnen get the final blows on his own opponents so that he would feel like he had contributed to the fight.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn wasn''t going to let her magic go to waste and let an enemy recover.


    Utilizing her fire magic, she destroyed the rest of the fire elemental clones and finished off the duplicator for good.


    ''Well, that was easier than I thought it would be when Krunnen exined that duplicators are supposed to be dangerous. Sure, it could make a lot of copies of itself, but they were all just the same strength as the original which wasn''t all that strong to begin with.'' Evelyn thought, analyzing the fight.


    However, while she had seen the duplicator as a useful subject to test her alchemical creations on, most beasts would find it a terrifying foe.


    Even if you were stronger, its ability to make several copies and attack in a coordinated fashion made it a tough opponent for almost anyone to deal with. Evelyn simply had too many advantages against fire elementals for even hundreds of weaker ones to be a threat to her.


    "You really are amazing Evelyn. I have never experienced magic like yours before. And how did you use fire magic to defeat the duplicator? Are you actually a tyrant rank and hiding your true power?" Krunnen said now that the battle was over, and he hade back to his senses.


    "Oh, what I did was just a special application of wind magic. As for my fire magic, I simply used hotter mes than the duplicator and smothered it so that it was deprived of oxygen. And of course, I am not a tyrant rank beast. I came here to gather a catalyst for my evolution after all."


    Of course, Evelyn''s exnations about her magic were lies. She figured that since Krunnen did not have wind magic she could pass her gravity magic as an advanced utilization of wind magic. As for fire magic, it was true the principle of smothering one fire with another would be effective, but that was not how her heavenly me worked.


    "Yes, you told me that earlier that you were looking for a catalyst. It is just, I have never met an awakened rank beast as strong as you. Frankly it is hard for me to believe that we are the same rank." Krunnen said, a bitter expression on his face. While Evelyn had easily dealt with the situation, the only aplishment he could im during their recent battle was keeping some of the enemies'' attention away from Evelyn. He had been hoping that she was a tyrant rank beast hiding her true abilities.


    "Hm, it is hard to say which of us is truly stronger. I just happen to have a really good matchup against fire elementals." Evelyn said, trying tofort Krunnen.


    In truth she did not believe what she had just told him, though. If she thought, he was a real threat to her she never would have teamed up with him. Evelyn was confident she would win in a fight if it came down to it.


    With the battle over, Evelyn collected the duplicator''s heart and examined it. Despite having made multiple copies of itself, its heart felt only a bit stronger than the ones Evelyn had collected from the lesser fire elementals.


    "You said that you needed a certain fire elemental''s heart as a catalyst. Do you think that this one will be eptable?" Krunnen asked.


    "No, this one is far from what I am looking for. What I need is the heart of a grand fire elemental." Evelyn said, looking intently at Keunen''s reaction.


    This was what she had wanted to bring up the entire time but had refrained in case he grew wary of her and med up. Instead, she had waited for him to bring it up or for when he felt more beholden to her after working together for three days.


    Yet his reaction was a bit different than she was expecting. His eyes went wide in shock, and he stared at Evelyn like she had a few screws loose.


    "Are you insane?! A grand fire elemental is far too dangerous for an awakened rank beast to go anywhere near. Even most peak tyrant rank beasts are not up to taking one on. When one of those monsters is spotted, we normally call in a sovereign rank member of the Inferno Field Rangers to deal with it. You will be killed before you can even get anywhere near such a creature."

 Chapter 382 382 End of the First Day

    <h4>Chapter 382 Chapter 382 End of the First Day</h4>


    Krunnen continued to try and dissuade Evelyn from seeking a grand fire elemental, but she had no intention of giving up on her quest without at least seeing what her target was capable of for herself.


    "I appreciate your concern; however, I need a grand fire elemental''s heart in order to evolve. Not seeking it would mean giving up on going any higher than where I am currently at. To achieve my goals, I need more power than I already have. If I happen to die along the way, then that will be that. I''ve no intention of stopping now."


    From the look in Evelyn''s eyes Krunnen could tell that she was not going to back down no matter what he said. He could see that there was a resolution and a deep rage that was pushing her forward and would not be stopped.


    "Also, I expect you to keep up your end of the deal even if you have misgivings about it. It''s my choice to put my life on the line. I won''t allow you to back out now." Evelyn said, releasing a bit of hostility.


    Now that she and Krunnen hade to an agreement, Evelyn was going to make sure he followed through. She was letting him know, that if he broke their deal, she would kill him.


    In response, Krunnen gulped loudly and vigorously nodded his head. He had given her a warning, but if she wanted to get herself killed, they weren''t close enough for him to try and stop her. Especially if she was going to kill him if he did not stick to their agreement.


    After reaffirming their deal, Evelyn and Krunnen continued traversing the area in search of fire elementals to exterminate.


    They did not run into any other higher-ranking elementals like the duplicator and only encountered two more lesser fire elementals that were easily dealt with.


    "We have been at this for nearly neen hours now. Why don''t we take a rest here?" Krunnen said.


    At this point the two of them had covered a great deal of ground and thanks to Evelyn, Krunnen was farther along his route than he would have traveled on his own.


    "Sure. I suppose this is as good a ce as anywhere." Evelyn responded, looking around at thendscape that barely changed for as far as the eye could see. It really did not matter where they stopped since almost everything was covered by the same orange colored grass.


    Evelyn offered to take first watch on ount of Krunnen having been active longer than her. He had actually already been up for over a day when they first encountered each other.


    Unfortunately, the only ce Evelyn could find some high ground with a decent vantage point was atop Keunen''s shell. As much as she did not want to leave herself open, she figured she could respond in time even if he did try tounch an attack on her.


    ''It''s been a while since I have kept watch like this. In the Verdant Warlord''s Domain, I normally just slept in one of the safe zones.'' Evelyn thought, remembering what she had been doing over thest twenty-one months.


    For the most part she had simply stayed in the Verdant warlord''s Domain and collected valuable resources while asionally leaving in order to use the magic spring in the burrowing owl''s home.


    This was also the first time in quite awhile that she was teaming up with anyone. As Lucia had suggested, Evelyn and herpanions had been operating alone. They had met on asion to exchange information and update each other on their progress, but that was it.


    ''My mindset is still stuck thinking that I am going solo. I should not have gone off without Krunnen during the battle against the duplicator. If he had died because I was focused on my own battle, I would have lost my source of information.''


    While Evelyn ruminated on her mistakes, she swiveled her head back and forth to keep watch on the surrounding area.


    Thanks to her neck''s ability to turn two hundred seventy degrees she was able to keep watch without moving anything but her head.


    For several hours everything was peaceful, but with her keen vison, Evelyn eventually spotted a slight movement in the grass around a hundred meters away.


    She was certain that this was not the wind or some other natural movement, but a creature of some kind trying to sneak up on them.


    What surprised Evelyn though, was how close it had gotten before she noticed it. If not for her catching the slightest unnatural swaying in the grass, she never would have known anything was closing in on them.


    The problem was that after the disturbance in the grass she saw no other signs of whatever was nearing her and Krunnen.


    ''Whatever it this thing is, it must be incredibly small and stealthy.'' Evelyn thought, sharpening all of her senses to their max.


    At the same time, she connected a thin strand of magical energy to Krunnen as a signal that danger was nearby.


    Immediately he woke up and his head shot out of his shell.


    "What is going on? I don''t see anything." Krunnen said, looking around for thee threat Evelyn had alerted him to.


    "I don''t know what it is. I barely noticed its presence because of how small it is. But it is close. We shouldunch and omni directional attack to flush it out."


    Krunnen agreed and raised his two front legs and charged up with magical energy to do as Evelyn suggested.


    While he did that Evelyn took to the air and kept a lookout from above. She would make sure to use her keen vision and hearing to locate the creature trying to get the drop on them once Krunnen had made his move.


    Yet just before he mmed his legs down and used his magic to create a wave of earth in all directions, their stealthy enemy made its move.

 Chapter 383: Chapter 383 Aberrant Beasts

    Fast as lightning, the beast that had snuck up on Evelyn and Krunnen made its move.


    It had sensed that its targets had noticed it and struck just before Krunnen could use his magic.


    Even with her impable eyesight Evelyn was barely able to keep track of the tiny creature that was attacking them.


    By the time she had locked onto it, the little beast had appeared in front of Krunnen and unleashed its attack.


    From out of its mouth a st of fire engulfed Krunnen.


    Watching this happen, Evelyn was shocked that such a small entity could unleash a st of fire thisrge and with this much intensity. If she did not know better, she would havepared it to a dragon''s breath.


    However, what was attacking them was not a giant winged lizard, but an orange furred stoat that was only around thirty centimeters long.


    After the stoat had finishedunching its attack, it scurried back into the grass that it blended in with perfectly. Its fur was the same color, and its body was more than small enough to staypletely hidden within the tall grass.


    ''Damn, it got away. It''s a fast little beast.'' Evelyn thought as she watched the stoat disappear.


    She had been stunned for just a moment since their opponent was a cute little stoat and was a bitte in counterattacking before it ran away. She had been expecting something a bit more menacing looking.


    Still its power wasn''t anything to scoff at. From the strength of its magical energy Evelyn figured that it was at the high tier of the awakened rank.


    Nevertheless, it was weird that it had decided to attack them. Any sane beast at the stoat''s level would never try to pick a fight with two peak awaken beasts that were a tier above it.


    ''What is it even thinking?''


    While it had sessfully hit them with a sneak attack, once the fires had died down, Krunnen was only lightly burned in a few ces. His natural toughness plus the magical items he kept on himself to reduce the power of fire magic directed at him kept him from being seriously injuries by the stoat''s attack.


    "Do you need a healing potion? "I have plenty." Evelyn said.


    "Thank you, but I have my own. Just keep an eye out for our attacker while I drink it and recover. It will definitely be back." Krunnen said taking out a bottle from his storage item.


    Despite needing to keep a keen lookout for the stoat that had just attacked them, she could not help but let her eyes wander towards the potion Krunnen had just brought out.


    The color of the liquid looked different from what she was used to seeing and clearly was of a different brew from the ones she knew. The alchemist in her that Melisandre had nurtured was dying to get her hands on the unknown potion and pick it apart until she knew what ingredients were used in it.


    ''No. Keep your eyes sharp. Krunnen sounded sure that the stoat would be back. If it is to make another attack, it will probably do so while Krunnen is drinking the potion.''


    Shaking her head, Evelyn focused on the task at hand and kept her eyes and ears focused and used her wind magic to create a field where she could sense movement within the air.


    It was a tiering technique but while she was using her detection magic, she was certain not to be caught off guard.


    The instant Krunnen began to drink his healing potion, the stoat made its move as expected.


    Evelyn turned towards the direction it was approaching the moment she sensed it enter the range of her wind detection magic.


    As she had already experienced before, the little stoat was incredibly quick.


    By the time she had turned to face it, the tiny beast was already only twenty meters away from Krunnen.


    However, this time Evelyn was ready for it. She knew how fast it could move and had prepared ordingly.


    She increased the gravity around her by several times and fired out a stream of mes behind her like a rocket.


    In less than a millisecond she covered the distance between her and stoat.


    Just before reaching her target Evelyn opened up her wings, lowered the gravity around her, and used her wind magic as both a cushion for herself and to st the stoat against the ground and restrain its movements.


    During her twenty-one months of training in the Verdant Warlord''s domain she had practice maneuvers like this many times and had be an expert at elerating swiftly and stopping just before crashing into obstacles. Along the way she had endured her fair share of bruises and broken bones, but the culmination of her experiences had enabled her to move far more precisely even at high speeds.


    Now right on top of her enemy, Evelyn struck down with her ws and nned to pierce through the orange furred stoat''s body.


    Againstrger beasts her talons were not particrly effective, but against this stoat the was only around thirty centimeters long, she would certainly rend it to pieces the moment she connected.


    Before she hit though, the stoat''s body crackled with energy and bolts of orange lightning shot out towards Evelyn.


    Of course, she figured that it might have another trick up tis sleave and surrender her body in a magical energy barrier.


    The orange lightning was powerful, but unfocused. It bounced off of Evelyn''s magical energy barrier without putting a scratch on it.


    Noticing that its attack had failed the stoat attempted to turn and flee, but it was already toote.


    Its speed was certainly something to marvel at, yet it was not going to be enough to get away from Evelyn now that she was close.


    Before the stoat got far, Evelyn had already switched her gravity field to increase gravity and hit the stoat with her gravity hammer magic.


    The little beast found itself, crushed into the ground by a sudden immense force. While it was incredibly fast for its rank, the stoatcked in toughness and strength. It was unable to properly resist Evelyn''s gravity magic and could only sluggishly crawl away in vain.


    When Evelyn approached it tried to st her with its fire and lightning magic but found tis feeble attempt at resistance to be ineffective.


    Evelyn raised her foot and effortlessly pierced into the stoat''s body with her talons. Soon its struggling ceased, and the life faded from its body.


    "I think that you really must be a ma for trouble. To think that we would encounter an aberrant beast this far from the rift." Krunnen said with a sigh.


    "You have mentioned that term before, but what does it mean? This stoat may have acted a little odd, but I didn''t notice anything particrly unnatural about it." Evelyn said, wearing a confused expression.


    Krunnen went on to exin that aberrant beasts were those that had spent too long within the vicinity of the elemental rift and absorbed some of its powers.


    By doing so beasts gained greater power and an affinity for fire magic, but at a great cost. Over time they would lose their sanity and take on more characteristics of the elementals that poured out of the rift.


    Unfortunately, most beasts did not realize the danger until it was toote and simply basked in the greater power, they could receive simply by living within the Inferno Field. Without specific knowledge of the phenomenon, most beasts lived their lives in blissful ignorance of the corruption from the elemental rift.

 Chapter 384: Chapter 384 Mushroom Menace

    "That certainly is disconcerting. What do the Inferno Rangers do to mitigate this corruption?" Evelyn asked, curious about the answer.


    While she did not think that she would be in any danger since she did not n to stay for long and she had a feeling her heavenly me would protect her, she still wanted to know just in case.


    "There are some items that can slow the tainting from the elemental rift, but the only sure way to avoid it is to leave the area for a while. The higher your rank, the longer you can stay within the range of the rift''s influence. From what I have heard even sovereign rank beasts are not immune. I don''t know about cmity rank beasts, though.


    None have ever bothered to test there limits as far as I know."


    Krunnen continued to exin the inferno rangers worked in shifts to make sure that no one was within the border of the Inferno Field for too long. That was why he only asked for Evelyn''s help for three days. After that he would be relieved and would return to the Great Shell which was the separate domain that the society of Tortoises lived in.


    "Okay, I understand. I won''t overstay my wee here. Now, time to collect the beast core from this stoat." Evelyn said.


    However, before she could begin, Krunnen gave her another warning.


    "I should also mention that the cores of beasts that have sumbed to the powers of the rift are contaminated by the rift''s energies. Before using them, you will want to cleanse them. Unfortunately, the magic tools necessary to do so reside within the Great Shell. You likely won''t find much use for any beast cores you obtain here."


    Hearing this, Evelyn could not help but frown. Beast cores were always valuable and useful for many things. Not only could they be eaten to absorb the magical energy within, but they also were useful materials for creating potions and other magic items.


    Krunnen offered to buy any cores off of Evelyn, but she declined. While it was a slight risk she wanted to test if the corruption of the fire elemental rift would actually work on her. Also, she figured that these unique beast cores might have certain properties that could lead to different brews when used in alchemy.


    "Okay. You can do as you like, but don''t say I did not warn you." Krunnen said, giving Evelyn a concerned look. He was beginning to believe that her sanity might be a littlecking. Though he would not mention his out loud as he was certain she was stronger than him.


    Once Krunnen had finished giving his exnation and warning about aberrant beast''s Evelyn nimbly used two of her talons to carve into the stoat and remove its beast core.


    When she pulled it out, she could see slight traces of orange that had been growing over the normal green color of cores like an infection.


    The rest of the stoat''s body was basically useless as its fur was not particrly tough nor was their enough to be worth the process of skinning the beast.


    Yet just as Evelyn was about to toss it away, she noticed something else that piqued her interest.


    It was tiny and orange in color like the stoat''s fur, so she barely was able to see the tiny mushroom growing out of its head.


    ''That is certainly peculiar.'' Evelyn thought, pulling out a pair of tweezers from her storage cuff and pulling the mushroom off.


    The fungus was attached far more securely than she had been expecting, and Evelyn had to pull with greater force than she expected.


    In the end it was not even the mushroom that gave out but the stoat''s scalp.


    Once it had been dislodged from its host, Evelyn watched as the tiny mushroom extend several tendrils from its stem.


    These tendrils squirmed about in an incredibly creepy manner that made Evelyn feel ufortable.


    Thankfully she had it locked down in a pair of tweezers and the infernal fungus was unable to reach her body.


    "Krunnen, do you know what this thing is? I found it attached to the top of the stoat''s head."


    Straining his eyes, Krunnen stared intently at the miniscule mushroom that Evelyn had presented to him.


    However, when he recognized what it was, he went wide eyed and swiftly took several steps away.


    From the terror in Keunen''s eyes, Evelyn could guess that this little orange mushroom was really bad news. Though she suspected as much when she pulled it out of the stoat''s head.


    "You need to destroy that thing immediately! If it touches your body, we''ll both be doomed!" Krunnen shouted.


    Evelyn did as he asked, and incarnated the tiny mushroom with her heavenly me, leaving only a couple particles of ash behind.


    "Cleary you know what that thing was. Do you mind enlightening me?" Evelyn asked.


    Krunnen nodded his head and told Evelyn about that mushroom. It was an incredibly rare and equally troublesome magical fungus.


    The species was called Mind Manipting Mushroom, and it would take over the minds of anything that ate one of its offshoots.


    "Their main body lives underground protected, while it grows smaller versions of itself above the soil. I have never seen one before, but apparently, they emit an irresistible smell and contain a decent amount of magical energy to entice beasts to eat them. They''re also an aberrant species effected by the elemental rift and did not exist until the rift opened.


    From what I have heard they use their mind ves to kill or capture other beasts to either create more servants or bring corpse to nourish the main body. It is a truly insidious entity." Krunnen said, looking disturbed.


    He then told Evelyn that it was his duty to inform the higher ups of the Inferno Rangers about the discovery of the aberrant fungus. It posed a major threat and was to be eradicated by any means the moment it was detected.

 Chapter 385: Chapter 385 Mushroom Menace (2)

    When Krunnen received a message back from his superior in rtion to the Mind Manipting Mushroom, the giant tortoise frowned deeply.


    "So, what did they say?" Evelyn asked.


    She could already tell it was not good news from Krunnen''s reaction but was hoping it would not be too bad.


    "The other Rangers are spread too thin dealing with uptick in elemental activity to send me any aid right now. My boss just told me that the primary focus of my mission has been changed to locating the main body of the Mind Manipting Mushroom and that I want get relived until I do. She said that only once I have found my target will a strike team be sent out to deal with the sted fungus."


    Krunnen held his head in defeat after rying the words of his superior.


    While the task he had been given was not necessarily a suicide mission, it was pretty close to one.


    Not only would he have to be wary of getting infected by the Mind Manipting Mushroom, but the powerful aberrant magical fungi would also certainly have several beasts as its mind ves to defend it.


    Evelyn, on the other hand, was not particrly bothered. So long as she kept Krunnen alive he would tell her all the information she wanted to know about the Inferno Field. She would make sure of it.


    "I am guessing that this mushroom must be fairly close. With me here you don''t have to worry. I''ll make sure that you don''t die or get your mind enved." Evelyn said assuredly.


    It may have seemed that she was acting overconfidently, but she had reason to believe that this Mind Manipting Mushroom was no threat to her.


    Her heavenly me had been more than enough to burn away the small mushroom controlling the orange stoat. Even if some of the fungus touched her and attempted to take her over, she was certain that her magic would be enough to protect her.


    Of course, there were also the beasts that would be protecting the mushroom, but Evelyn knew she could handle over a dozen beasts at the same level as the stoat from earlier without any issue. And in the worst-case scenario, she had a couple trump cards she could use.


    Thanks to Evelyn''s reassurance, Krunnen perked up a bit and told Evelyn more about their target.


    "It depends on the amount of magical energy it can store, but the Mind Manipting Mushroom has a limited distance it can control its mind ves from. Normally they are eradicated pretty quickly, so this one is probably a young one. I don''t think its range of control will be greater than seven kilometers. That still leaves us arge area to search, but it should be manageable.


    Especially with you being able to fly and scout from the air." Krunnen said, feeling a lot better about the prospects of his mission with Evelyning along.


    With Evelyn leading the way, she and Krunnen began searching for the Mind Manipting Mushroom.


    Luckily, it did not take nearly as long as either of them had expected to find their quarry.


    Around five kilometers from where they encountered the stoat that tried to sneak attack them, Evelyn spotted several small orange mushrooms that had sprouted up out of the ground.


    These were the offshoots of the main body of the Mind Manipting Mushroom that it used to lure in beasts and control them.


    ''Those look crazy delicious!'' Evelyn thought the moment she spotted the mushrooms.


    Their shape and luster were designed to appear appealing, and despite being in the air and still several hundred meters away, Evelyn could distinctly smell a delicious scenting from the delectable looking fungi.


    Before she even knew what she was doing, Evelyn was descending towards the nearest mushroom.


    Her mouth was watering as shended, and she was moments away from taking a bite when she felt a searing pain in her chest.


    The Aethersphere had begun moving and she felt a wave of energy from within it wash over her.


    Unfortunately, the divine item was still badly damaged, and the only way it was able to help Evelyn snap out of her stupor was to induce a great deal of pain.


    Evelyn was unable to stay upright and writhed on the ground because of the pain in her chest. It was far from the worst she had experienced, but it was still enough to incapacitate her for several seconds until she got more used to it.


    ''What the hell is wrong with this thing? I thought it was finally starting to work properly.''


    Eventually Evelyn braced herself against the pain and the Aethersphere calmed down.


    Once again, she looked at the mushroom, but this time she had steeled her mind and resisted its allure. She was certain that another wave of pain would being her way if she so much as thought the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s offshoots looked mildly tasty.


    Now that she was back in control of herself, Evelyn looked around for Krunnen and saw that he had applied some sort of mask to his face.


    ''So, he has a magic item to protect himself. I wish he would have told me exactly how enticing these mushrooms were. I could have better prepared myself.'' Evelyn thought bitterly.


    When she had heard that the offshoots attracted beasts to them, she figured that it was simr to other magical fruits, herbs, and the like. She had not been expecting such a powerfulpulsion that nearly took over her mind.


    Soon enough Krunnen had reached Evelyn and wore a worried expression on his face. He had seen hernd next to one of the offshoots before falling over in pain.


    "I am d you are alright." Krunnen said once he saw that Evelyn was still in control of her body.


    "Yeah, I managed to resist the temptation to eat one of these mushrooms. It was more difficult than I was expecting, but I managed to keep my wits about me." Evelyn replied.


    The offshoots were still trying to entice her to eat them, but she only needed to remember the terrible pain she had experienced to keep herself from slipping again.


    "We should be close to the main body now. Once we have located it, I''ll leave a tracker there and call in a strike force to deal with it. Then we can get out of here." Krunnen said.


    Thankfully he had only been ordered to find the dangerous fungi and not participate in the battle to destroy it. After he had finished his job, he was going to leave immediately.


    With Evelyn taking to the skies again, it did not take but around five more minutes for them to find where the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s main body was.


    It may have hidden itself undergrown, but there were still signs of its existence that it left on the surface. The area was noticeably less lush, and the soil looked like it had been drained.


    Krunnen took out a tracker that all of the Inferno Field Rangers kept on them and tossed it towards the main body. He hit a few hundred meters away, but it was good enough. Both he and Evelyn could sense that there were beasts hidden near the mushroom and ready to attack if they got too close.


    "Let''s get the hell out of here. I don''t want to be anywhere near this ce when the battle erupts." Krunnen said.


    However, as he and Evelyn turned to leave, they were met with an unpleasant surprise. From all sides several beasts had encircled them and were blocking their way.

 Chapter 386: Chapter 386 Mushroom Menace (3)

    ''I knew that it was too easy getting this far.'' Evelyn thought while looking at the numerous beastse to ambush her and Krunnen.


    Despite having entered the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s territory, they had not received any resistance.


    The entire area had seemed devoid of life, and Evelyn did not notice any of the fungus'' mind ves until they were incredibly close to its body.


    Clearly it had set a trap for them and lured them in so that it could surround the two beasts that had resisted eating its offshoots and joining its ranks.


    ''There don''t seem to be many beasts that can naturally fly among its mind ves. I could probably get away without any issue. The problem is Krunnen. Perhaps I could try and carry him out?''


    However, as Evelyn looked down at her tortoisepanion, she could only shake her head.


    Even if she utilized all three of her magic affinities to their fullest, lifting up and flying away with a several thousand kilograms tortoise was not freezable.


    She might have been able to get him off the ground and fly very slowly, but it would be impossible for her to get away from the hundreds of beasts that had surrounded them.


    ''At the very least most of them are only at the fiend beast rank. There are only seventeen we really need to worry about.'' Evelyn thought as she scanned the area.


    Out of all of the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s ves, only seventeen of them were at the awakened rank. The fiend beasts would simply be cannon fodder to Evelyn and Krunnen.


    Yet, while Evelyn was quite confident in their chances and not particrly feeling pressured, Krunnen was wearing a grim expression on his face.


    He knew that he would not stand a chance against so many beasts, and even with Evelyn''s help he could tell things were not going to be easy for him.


    Evelyn could fly around and was incredibly hard to hit, while he was a slow-moving target. It was all too clear who the army of mind ves were going to go after first.


    For several seconds Evelyn and Krunnen stared down the army of enved beasts and waited to see what would happen.


    Except after a dozen seconds, they did not make a move.


    ''Could they be waiting for more reinforcement? If so, we need to attack now.'' Evelyn thought.


    In the end though, only a single other beast that was a peak fiend beast showed up, carrying something in its mouth.


    It handed the item off to arge elephant beast with dark blue skin that was at the high tier of the awakened rank and one of the strongest beasts among the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s army.


    The elephant thenunched the items towards Evelyn and Krunnen with its trunk.


    At first Evelyn thought that it was some sort of projectile attack and prepared to intercept it with her magic, but when she noticed what it was, she decided not to waste her magical energy.


    Soon two of the offshoots of the Mind Manipting Mushroom hit the ground near Krunnen and Evelyn''s position.


    The message was abundantly clear. Eat the offshoots and join the ranks of the Mind Manipting Mushroom or get attacked by its army.


    "It must think were idiots." Evelyn said to Krunnen with a chuckle.


    But her temporarypassion was notughing along with her and eyeing the mushroom while considering his options.


    He had already set the tracker for the other Inferno Field Rangers to follow. Even if he did willingly eat the offshoot and be a mind ve, his colleagues would rescue him when they came to destroy the dangerous fungus.


    "Don''t even consider" Evelyn said harshly. "I''m not going to willingly give myself over to it, and if you do, that aberrant mushroom is going to have you attack me. Do you want to be my enemy?"


    Krunnen shuddered when he heard Evelyn''s ultimatum.


    Both of his choices had him fighting against overwhelming odds.


    Luckily, it did not take Krunnen long to decide who he was more afraid of.


    Raising his left front foot, he crushed the two offshoots and used his earth magic to bury them into the ground.


    "You made the right decision. I''ll do everything I can to make sure you get out of this alive. You still owe me a lot of information after all, and I n to collect."


    Nodding his head, Krunnen could only do as Evelyn said or he knew that his life would be in serious danger.


    ''Time to get a bit serious.'' Evelyn thought as twisted her neck to both sides and loosened up her body.


    For the longest time she had both a human''s magic core and a beast core, but she had not fully realized the potential advantage this gave her.


    Certainly, she had utilized the practically double magical energy capacity she had over everyone else, but at the end of the day, having more magical energy meant little if you could not properly use it.


    Through her training Evelyn came to understand that there was an upper limit of magical energy that her body could utilize at one time. Trying to force more than she could handle would only injure her, as she had found out when sheunched a reckless attack at the leader of the Deamhain Sect during the invasion of the Roost.


    Instead of trying to use her heightened capacity to force out stronger magic, she had focused on speed.


    With a great deal of focus she found that she could utilize the magical energy within her two cores separately and double the speed at which she used magic.


    Of course, this technique took a great mental toll and used up a great deal magical energy, so Evelyn could not keep it up for long. Still, it gave her an astounding boost in output for a short time.


    "Krunnen, just focus on defending yourself. I''m going to break through and give you a path to escape." Evelyn said before taking off.


    A sonic boom followed in her wake as Evelyn sted off with greater speed than she could normally achieve and Krunnen watched her begin to rain death down on the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s mind ves.

 Chapter 387: Chapter 387 Mushroom Menace (4)

    As soon as Evelyn reached the wall of beasts that had been enved by the Mind Manipting Mushroom, she spun her body around and unleashed one of her most powerful attacks.


    ''Four-Fold Crimson Twister.''


    All at once, four giant cyclones made of intense mes and rending wind erupted from Evelyn''s body.


    In the past she could only create one of these crimson twisters, but now she could conjure four in rapid session.


    The army of mind ves found themselves engulfed by the twisters and incinerated.


    Many of the beasts deployed their magic to attempt to resist Evelyn''s devastating attack, but none of their powers could even slow down Evelyn''s vicious assault.


    Some of the faster beasts ran away, but found their bodies suddenly being pressed against the ground.


    Evelyn was not going to let a single one escape and activated her gravity field in order to increase the gravity of all the beasts around her.


    In just a couple of seconds she had killed hundreds of the fiend beasts that made up the bulk of Mind Manipting Mushroom''s army. Still, these were only the cannon fodder, and the real threats still remined.


    The giant blue skinned elephant that was one of the strongest beasts under the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s control pointed its trunk at Evelyn and unleashed a concentrated st of sound towards her.


    Evelyn winced when she felt the ring sound reach her and was forced to cease her attack.


    Luckily, she had already developed counter measures to deal with sound-based attacks.


    Using her wind magic she wrapped herself in a dome that created a vacuum around her body.


    Without a medium to travel through, the powerful sound magic the elephant was using failed to reach Evelyn.


    Of course, this technique had its drawbacks since it prevented Evelyn from using her fire magic, but she had other means of attacking.


    ''Gravity Hammer.''


    Having flown over the elephant that she deemed to be the greatest threat, Evelyn used her strongest gravity magic attack and mmed the giant beast into the ground.


    Its already hefty body felt the strain of the massively increased gravity and its legs that supported it shattered under the pressure.


    The giant beast barely even managed to stay conscious as it was hit with Evelyn''s iprehensible magic. It had no clue what she had just done, only that its body had grown unbearably heavy suddenly.


    Now that the annoying sound magic user had been taking care of, Evelyn dispersed her vacuum dome and prepared to finish off the high tier awakened beast.


    Yet, before she could, the remnants of the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s forces had rallied and begun firing a barrage of magical attacks at her.


    This forced her to dy killing the giant elephant but was only a minor inconvenience to Evelyn.


    She simply created a magical energy shield below her that absorbed the attacks while she gained some altitude to make herself a much harder target to hit.


    From up in the air, Evelyn kept her magical energy shield in front of her while she prepared for her next attack.


    All along her back she conjured several giant spheres of crimson mes and used her wind magic topress them until they were the size of baseballs.


    Evelynunched the dozens of projectiles she had created into the air above her and then used her wind magic to send them hurtling back towards the ground.


    When the first patch of Evelyn''s firebombs hit the surface, they exploded. Killing everything in the surroundings.


    Continuing tounch these projectiles, Evelyn carpet bombed the area while reminingpletely protected by her magical energy shield.


    Soon thendscape that was already harsh, turned into even more of a zing hellscape.


    The flora and fauna that lived here were used to having a strong resistance to heat and fire, but Evelyn''s heavenly me burned away everything as if it was made of dry leaves.


    Her uncontested reign of destructionsted for nearly a minute, until the strongest mind ves under the Mind Manipting Mushroom flew into the air to directly deal with her.


    Normally these beasts stayed by the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s main body as its guardians, but right now Evelyn had proven she was too great of a threat to be left to her own devices.


    The first to reach her was a pitch-ck shoebill the size of a small airne.


    This one of the few mind ves that could naturally fly and was also at the peak of the awakened rank just like Evelyn.


    When it got within two hundred meters of her, it opened itsrge beak and released a cloud of darkness towards Evelyn.


    Sensing the impending danger, Evelyn ceased her attack and tried to blow the dark cloud away with her wind magic.


    To her surprise, however, the cloud of darkness did not even shift and kepting right towards her.


    With her wind magic failing to counter the pitch-ck shoebill''s, Evelyn was forced to fly higher and avoid the expanding cloud that threatened to swallow her.


    ''Damn it. I can''t see Krunnen anymore.'' Evelyn thought as everything below her was covered by the dark cloud.


    She had been keeping an eye on him to make sure that he was not in any danger, but now that would be impossible.


    Unfortunately, she did not have the leeway to worry about others at the moment. Above her one was a giant six-armed scarlet mantis at the peak of the awakened rank that was poised to strike.


    Being muchrger and stronger than Evelyn, the giant scarlet mantis that was over eight meters tall dropped down on Evelyn and swung its six ded arms at her.


    Evelyn created a burst of wind and me behind to st away from the giant mantis and create some space. While she was proficient in magicalbat, fighting up close was not her forte. Her body was certainly strong and her talons sharp, but her hollow bones were too easily broken when embroiled in a physical battle.


    ''They''re not going to make this easy for me are they.''


    In front of her, Evelyn found the pitch-ck shoebill and a pink tapir flying on a gust of wind waiting to intercept her.

 Chapter 388: Chapter 388 Mushroom Menace (5)

    Seeing the two enemies in front of her, Evelyn fired a giant crimson fireball in their direction.


    She expected them to dodge out of the way, but to her surprise, the pink tapir using wind magic to fly released a purple gas from its nose and blew it directly towards Evelyn''s fireball.


    When the two met, the gas ignited and caused a massive explosion that sent shockwaves through the air.


    Evelyn was shaken by the turbulence in the air and had to take a moment to stabilize herself with her wind and gravity magic.


    However, as she did, the giant six-armed scarlet mantis she had just escaped from charged her from behind while the pitch-ck shoebill positioned itself in front of her.


    ''Their teamwork really is something. I guess that being controlled under the same hivemind helps quite a bit with coordination.''Evelyn thought as she nned her next move. She was already preparing a finisher to end this battle, but needed to hold out a bit longer before she was ready.


    Knowing that a sh would not be in her favor right now, Evelyn closed her wings and pointed her head straight down and went into a dive towards the ground.


    With the power of her wind magic, fire magic, and gravity magic, she shot towards the surface like a meteor and easily escaped from the pincer attacking her way.


    Luckily the cloud of darkness the pitch-ck shoebill had conjured earlier was already mostly dispersed and Evelyn was able to see how Krunnen was fairing.


    ''Well, I suppose that is what I should have expected.'' Evelyn thought as she opened her wings back up and came out of her dive.


    Instead of worrying about fighting back in any sort of fashion, Krunnen had simply covered himself in a dome of water and earth. While he may have been a tortoise, he was perfectly embodying the strategy of turtling.


    Now that she knew she did not need to worry about her temporarypassion, Evelyn turned her full attention back towards the three peak awakened rank beasts pursuing her.


    They were still fairly high in the sky above Evelyn and would need a dozen or more seconds to catch up to her. Even pushing themselves, none of them could hope to match the speed of Evelyn''s descent.


    More beasts fired attacks at Evelyn from the ground, but she simply put up a magical energy shield below her and ignored them. They were all at the fiend beast rank and not worth worrying about.


    ''I just need another twenty seconds. I should be able to hold them off for that long.''


    Swiftly Evelyn developed a devious strategy to stall her attackers.


    With her gravity magic, Evelyn focused the field of control around her body upwards and drastically lowered gravity around pitch-ck shoebill, the scarlet mantis, and the pink tapir.


    Naturally this caused the three beasts to be disoriented for a few seconds as one of the fundamental forces of the world that should never have changed suddenly became vastly different.


    Evelyn used these few precious moments to whip up a giant whirlwind around herunch it upwards.


    Her three opponents that were under the effects of a far weaker gravity than normal found themselves beings easily blown upwards as if they were balloons.


    It took them far more energy than it should have to force themselves to descend where Evelyn was.


    Sadly for them, by the time they got close enough for their attacks to reach Evelyn, she had finished preparing the attack she had begun conjuring since the sound magic wielding elephant had attacked her.


    ''Heavenly Laser.''


    Opening her beak, Evelyn revealed a small,pressed crimson ball that looked like a miniature sun.


    No longer being held back, the ball of crimson fire released a thin beam of concentrated energy.


    Within less than a second, the scarlet mantis that was closest to Evelyn had its chest pierced by the beam. The powerful and sturdy beast that possessed an immensely tough shell and a high resistance to fire, found itself unable to even slow Evelyn''s attack down.


    Once she had pierced the scarlet mantis with her magic, Evelyn swiftly turned her head and dragged the searing beam through its body.


    Now cut cleanly in two, the once threatening peak awakened beast fell to the ground without a shred of life left in it.


    Of course, Evelyn was far from finished yet.


    Sweeping her head upwards and into the sky, she directed the power of one of her strongest attacks towards her two remaining enemies.


    Both the pink tapir and the pitch-ck shoebill used their strongest defensive magics to try and block Evelyn''s Heavenly Laser, but their resistance was in vain.


    While this attack took Evelyn a great deal of time and magical energy to conjure, it packed enough power behind it to heavily damage or even outright kill individuals an entire rank above her. The two peak awakened rank beasts that stood at the same level as her never stood a chance.


    Evelyn''s attack sliced through the pink tapir and pitch-ck shoebill like a hot knife through butter. Before the two beasts could even feel pain, their lives were ended.


    In one fell swoop Evelyn had eliminated three of the strongest beasts under the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s control. Its forces were now only at around a fourth of its former strength after the carnage Evelyn had inflicted.


    ''The casting time is still a bit of an issue. Even in my current state of heightened focus and using my beast core solely to power it, the Heavenly Laser takes several minutes before it is ready. Plus, it consumes far too much of my magical energy. I''ve only got around twenty percent left.'' Evelyn thought, analyzing her performance.


    This was truthfully the first time she was using the technique that let her focus her two magical centers on different tasks during arge-scale battle. She had certainly practiced with it several times, but only alone or on single targets that she was able to wipe out almost instantly.


    Against so many opponents that had her casting spells at a rapid pace, she was finding the strain to be greater than expected.


    ''I''d normally be able to keep it up for another few minutes, but it looks like in actualbat it drains me faster than anticipated. I''ll need to keep this in mind.''


    Feeling that she was nearing the limit of what her mind and body could take, Evelyn ended her state of extreme focus and allowed her beast core and magic core to sync back up with each other.


    Nevertheless, while she would not be able to replicate her explosive performance until she got some rest, there was really no need to.


    Evelyn had already decimated the enemy forces and the rest had ceased attacking and were instead rallying around the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s main body. The aberrant fungus has decided that continuing to attack Evelyn and Krunnen was no longer worth it and that it should just let them leave like they had wanted before it attacked them.


    However, things had changed, and Evelyn felt that her efforts would be wasted if she were to retreat now. Truthfully, she had been interested in the Mind Manipting Mushroom since Krunnen exined what sort of entity it was. She figured that it could serve as a powerful ingredient for alchemy.


    With its forces already cut down, she figured that she might as well finish it off and reap the rewards of herbor.

 Chapter 389: Chapter 389 Ending the Menace

    With the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s forces no longer presenting an active threat, Evelyn descended towards the ground andnded next to Krunnen.


    The giant tortoise was still encased in a barrier created of stone and water, but Evelyn knew that he would be able to sense her once shended.


    Thanks to his ability to feel the vibrations in the ground near him, Krunnen felt Evelyn''snding and immediately knew that things had calmed down.


    A momentter the dome of earth and water protecting him fell apart and revealed Krunnen who was still tucked inside his shell.


    Cautiously he stuck his head out and surveyed the area, and once he was certain that the coast was clear, he fully left his shell.


    "I thought that I would not be surprised by your capabilities anymore, but I never expected you to be capable of this." Krunnen said as he saw the carnage left in the wake of Evelyn''s battle with the mind ves.


    The entirendscape was scorched and shattered beyond recognition, and there were several corpses of beasts strewn about.


    Among these bodies were the three peak awakened rank beasts that Evelyn had killed with her heavenlyser attack. Each of their bodies were cleanly sliced through by the focused beam of intense heat and proved just how powerful Evelyn''s magic was.


    ''Could any of the peak awakened beasts that are apart of the Great Shell do this?'' Krunnen thought.


    However, even when he pictured the strength of his organization''s greatest genius, he was certain they would not be able to replicate what Evelyn had just aplished. In fact, he was pretty sure that even most of the low tier and mid-tier tyrant rank tortoises in the Great Shell would have a hard time copying what Evelyn had just done.


    It was not just that she hade out victorious, but she had done so without receiving a single scratch. From Krunnen''s perspective she seemed to be an invincible goddess of destruction.


    "Well, I went just about all out there. So, you shouldn''t have to worry about any other surprises from me." Evelyn said while eyeing the remining forces of the Mind Manipting Mushroom.


    They had all pulled back and were standing as guards to protect their master''s main body instead of continuing to fight against Evelyn who had decimated them.


    Still, if she and Krunnen pressed the attack, these beasts would certainly fight them without any concern for their own lives.


    ''Hm, it might be a little tough for me to break through them on my own right now. I took some magical energy replenishment pills and drank a stamina recovery potion, but I''m pretty mental exhausted. I think I need a distraction.'' Evelyn thought, looking up at Krunnen with a devious expression on her face.


    Suddenly, Krunnen felt a chill through his body, despite the fact that the temperature around them had already exceeded eighty degrees Celsius.


    At first, he could not understand where this feeling wasing from. At least, not until he looked down at Evelyn could tell from the look on her face that she was scheming something.


    "Now that the path is clear and I have already fulfilled my objective and sessfully ced the tracker, let us get out of here. There is no telling if that infernal fungus will decide to attack us again. We should get to safety before that happens."


    Krunnen then tried to turn around as quickly as he could, but Evelynnded on his back before he could.


    Feeling her presence, Krunnen froze up and felt that he could not move a muscle.


    "Let''s not be so hasty. I already took out the majority of the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s army. Since we are already here, we might as well finish it off. Just think about it, you''ll be considered a hero if you aplish this. Plus, I''ll be willing to split all of the beast cores with you. How about, I take seventy percent and you get thirty percent.


    That sounds fair, right?" Evelyn said, exerting a bit of pressure on Krunnen with her magical energy.


    The giant tortoise knew that he was being bullied, but despite wanting tosh out at Evelyn, he knew that she had helped him quite a bit.


    Certainly, she did not shy away from using her greater strength to coerce him to do what she wanted, but her approach was fairly tamepared to most beasts.


    Krunnen knew that if she really wanted to, she could have just forced him to submit and tell her everything she wanted to know and then kill him afterwards.


    Also, her assistance had gotten him out of several difficult situations. Without her here he likely would have had to face the duplicator fire elemental and Mind Manipting Mushroom alone.


    "Okay, I agreed." Krunnen said in resignation. "So, what is the n?"


    Evelyn smiled brightly now that Krunnen was onboard, and quickly told him about the strategy she hade up with.


    Of course, Krunnen audibly groaned when he found that Evelyn basically wanted to sue him as bait to lure most of the beasts away from the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s main body.


    Nevertheless, he still agreed. After everything he had seen, he felt that Evelyn could not fail. Plus, the offer of beast cores and prestige were too tempting for him to pass up.


    "I have an attack that will undoubtably get their attention and keep it on me, but I won''t be able to keep it up for long. Once I reach my limit, I''ll be a sitting duck, so I would appreciate if you finished up swiftly."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn assured Krunnen that she would end the Mind Manipting Mushroom within just a few dozen seconds.


    Once their short strategy meeting had finished, Evelyn jumped off Krunnen''s back and floated in the air.


    Floating above Krunnen, Evelyn watched him tuck his head and legs back into his shell.


    At first, she was unsure how he was going to use his strongest attack while hiding in his shell, but she soon found out the answer.


    The earth around Krunnen began to move and wrapped around his shell until he was wearing stone armor that had several spikes protruding out of it.


    After that, powerful jets of water sted out of the holes in his shell where his head and limbs retracted.


    Krunnen''s body then began to spin and he was soon hovering off the ground.


    Without any warning heunched himself like a bowling ball aiming for a strike towards the remaining beasts in Mind Manipting Mushroom''s army.


    These beasts that were prepared to protect their master fired all manner of magic at Krunnen to stop him, but the power behind his charge was not easily ovee. Even Evelyn did not think she could stop him head on and would have to dodge his attack if it was aimed at her.


    Unfortunately, the beasts that Krunnen was barreling towards did not have the luxury of evading as the main body of the Mind Manipting Mushroom was right behind them. They could not let Krunnen pass.


    With the force of a speed train, Krunnen smashed into the wall of beasts that had positioned themselves to stop him.


    Several barriers created by all manners of magic stood in his way, but none of them held up for long.


    Thergest beasts used their bodies and physical might to try and ck Krunnen, yet their efforts were in vain. Most of them were easily knocked away when Krunnen impacted them, and the truly unlucky ones were crushed and turned into meat paste.


    ''I guess I misjudged him. This is a pretty impress trump card he has kept hidden.'' Evelyn thought impressed by the destructive power of Krunnen''s ultimate attack. It expertly utilized his two magical affinities, as well as his immense size and weight.


    Though, as much as Evelyn praised Krunnen''s move, she knew that it was a do or die technique.


    Currently he was burning through his magical energy at a prodigious rate and his body was under a great deal of stress spinning around at such high speeds. Once Krunnen ran out of steam, he would be incapacitated for a while.


    Nevertheless, he was doing an exceptional job acting as a distraction. Nearly all of the remaining beasts under the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s control were attempting to halt his rampage.


    Evelyn made sure to take advantage of this opening and flew up and forward until she was right above where the main body of the Mind Manipting Mushroom was.


    From her vantage point she could see that the strongest beast the aberrant fungus still had was standing above it, ready to intercept any sort of attack.


    ''Hm, a peak awakened rank giant star nosed mole. I am sure it has some impressed defensive magic, but I wonder if it can take what I have in mind.''


    Luckily thest remaining protector of Mind Manipting Mushroom was blind and did not notice Evelyn in the sky. It was focused on Krunnen and ready to intercede if the giant tortoise got too close to its master.


    Having free reign to do as she wished without worry of being attacked, Evelyn pointed her head downwards and began to spin.


    Soon a vortex of powerful wind had formed around her.


    Evelyn took the rapidly elerating wind around her body and molded it into eh shape she desired.


    Normally she would have added her heavenly me topound with her wind magic at this point, but she wanted the Mind Manipting Mushroom rtively intact. If she were to use her fire magic, it would simply be burned to ash and fail to serve her purpose.


    ''Earth Rending Sky Drill.''


    When Evelyn had amassed the greatest force she could control, she unleashed her attack andunched apressed st of wind she had shaped into a drill towards the Mind Manipting Mushroom.


    Even being blind, the giant star nosed mole felt the iing attacking from above.


    Hastily it erected several thick walls of steel in front of it and its master.


    Yet, as tough as the walls created by its metal magic were, they served as little more than speed bumps against Evelyn''s wind magic.


    Evelyn''s Earth Rending Sky Drill punched through the steel barriers like they were wet paper and impacted the giant star nosed mole.


    The powerful peak awakened beast did notst a second before its body was shredded into thousands of pieces by the powerful rotating winds.


    The ground below it was the next to face the power of Evelyn''s magic and it fared no better than the star nosed mole.


    Large chucks of earth and a spray of dirt erupted from the force of the wind magic.


    It was not long before the Earth Rending Sky Drill had traveled several meters under the ground and reached the main body of the Mind Manipting Mushroom.


    The aberrant fugus was powerless to resist the might of Evelyn''s magic. Its abilities were focused on controlling its army of mind ves and it had no means with which to protect itself once its pawns were out of the way.


    Within just a few seconds the powerful mushroom that hadmanded arge army of beasts found itself with a massive hole bored through its body.


    Surprisingly the monstrosity managed to survive the damage it had taken, but it likely would have been better off if it had not.


    The damage to its body was so severe that it could only barely function and the corrupted signals it was sending out caused the beasts it had infected to experience intense pain.


    At the same time these same beasts sent the pain they were feeling back towards the creature that had taken over their minds, causing the Mind Manipting Mushroom to feel what all of its ves were experiencing.


    ''Looks like when the Mind Manipting Mushroom suffers, it makes all the creatures it has taken over suffer with it.'' Evelyn thought, watching what remined of the aberrant fungus'' army fall over and continuously shudder in pain.


    Not wanting to prolong their suffering, Evelyn descended into the hole in the ground her magic had created and finished off the Mind Manipting Mushroom.


    All it took as a few wind des to carve up the giant fungus and finally bring its tyranny to an end.

 Chapter 390: Chapter 390 Rewards Worth the Effort

    Evelyn looked around and was satisfied with the damage she had done. She no longer felt any magical energy flowing through the body of the Mind Manipting Mushroom and was certain that it was dead.


    Going through its remains she gathered the pieces that possessed the greatest quantities of magical energy and put them away into her storage items.


    After hearing about the aberrant fungus'' powers, she had formed several ideas on how to use it as an alchemical ingredient. Of course, she would not be able to get to experimenting until she had finished up her business in the Inferno Field and returned to safe ce where she could brew in peace.


    ''I think that will do for the parts of the main body. I''ll want to collect some of the offshoots as well, but first I want to extract the mushroom''s growing out of the mind ves'' heads and gather all of the beast cores.'' Evelyn thought, nning out everything she wanted to gather from her defeated enemies.


    When she returned to the surface, the first thing she saw was Krunnen syed out on the ground looking sick.


    His strongest attack had taken a lot out of him and left him low on magical energy and dizzy from how rapidly his body had been spinning.


    Thankfully there were no enemies remining to threaten him in his weakened state. Nearly all the beasts that had been under the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s control had been died, either due to Evelyn and Krunnen''s attacks, or from the psychic bacsh they received when their master perished.


    Nevertheless, some of the beasts that had stronger constitutions or had not been enved for long and had less fungal growth in their brains had survived. There were around a dozen former mind salves still breathing and unconscious.


    Evelyn had no intention of letting these survivors live though.


    Each of their beast cores would be useful for upgrading her own rank and it was likely that were not already aberrant beasts would soon be corrupted by the elemental if left alone.


    Mercilessly, she flew over to each of the still living beasts and plunged her talons into their vitals, killing them near instantly.


    Once that was done, she went around collecting the beast cores of those she had killed and taking certain valuable parts from the high tier and peak awakened rank beasts that she deemed to be useful.


    ''Not a bad haul. I promised Krunnen thirty percent of the beast cores, so that will leave a little under five hundred for me. But the real prize is the material I gathered. I''ll be able to make plenty of potions, pills, and other items with them.''


    Wearing a smile on her face, Evelyn flew around collecting the offshoots of the Mind Manipting Mushroom.


    Now that the main body was dead, these smaller versions had lost their lives as well and no longer looked nearly as appealing as they had when Evelyn first saw one.


    Not only had their luster grown duller, but the tantalizing scent they emitted was practically gone.


    Still, they retained most of the magical energy they had in life, and Evelyn was confident that their properties would still be potent enough to create the special brews she had envisioned.


    When she had finished thest of her gathering, Evelyn returned to Krunnen and found that while he still looked fairly nauseous, he had gotten back up on his feet.


    "Here, these are your spoils. Don''t worry about the quality. I made sure not to just give you the weakest thirty percent of the cores." Evelyn said, pulling out arge basket from her storage cuff that she had stored Krunnen''s share of the beast cores in.


    Sitting right on top was that core of the giant star nosed mole and one of the four peak awakened rank beasts under the aberrant fungus'' control. Krunnen''s eyes were naturally drawn to this core as it was thergest and possessed the greatest amount of magical energy.


    After the battle had ended, he imagined that Evelyn would have given him thirty percent of the cores only in terms of quantity, but from what he could see, Evelyn had given him plenty of stronger cores as well.


    "Thank you. I suppose that I made the correct call in trusting you. I''ll be able to put these cores to great use."


    Krunnen then stored the cores and took out the magic tool he sued tomunicate with his superior. He needed to inform her that he had sessfully destroyed the Mind Manipting Mushroom.


    It did not take long before a return message that clearly showed how shocked and suspicious his superior was.


    "Looks like she is going toe here in person to assess the situation as soon as she is free. She wants me to stay here until then." Krunnen said, rying the message to Evelyn.


    In response she simply nodded and looked for a ce she could wait out of sight. Naturally if she stuck around his superior would learn that he had outside help and would not get nearly as much credit for the aplishment of taking down such a dangerous creature.


    However, before she could go, Keunen stopped her.


    "I know we agreed on you assisting me for three days, but that won''t be necessary now. After this I''ll probably be dragged back into base for some questions and my duties will be cut short. There will be no need for you to stick around and help me anymore and I think you have already done more than enough.


    So, before my superior gets here, I''ll tell you everything I can about the Inferno Field and give you an emblem that lets the other Rangers know that you are a friend."


    For several moments Evelyn simply stared at Krunnen with a nk expression on her face. She had already prepared herself to stick with him for a bit longer and did not expect to get the information she wanted early.


    Still, she wanted to evolve into a tyrant rank beast as quickly as possible, so she epted his generosity and prepared to listen to what an expert knew about the hostile environment she found herself in and the creature she hade to kill.

 Chapter 391: Chapter 391 From One to the Next

    "Thanks, Krunnen. The information and items you gave me will be invaluable to my search." Evelyn said, putting on the ne that had the emblem denoting she was a friend of an Inferno Ranger. With this item she would not have to worry about other members of Krunnen''s organization perceiving her as an enemy and identally attacking her.


    "It really was the least I could do. You might have been a bit domineering, but you did help me out a great deal. I can only imagine all the number of ways I could have gotten into trouble without you being around. I just can''t wait until the surge in elemental activity dies down so that things can calm down a bit.


    This ce is already dangerous and crazy enough on a regr basis." Krunnen said with an exasperated expression on his face. It was quite clear he wanted nothing to do with some of the more dangerous denizens of the Inferno Field such as the duplicator fire elemental and the Mind Manipting Mushroom.


    "Well, this is where we part ways, and I''m not sure if we''ll see each other again, so good luck with your work. Hopefully the credit for some of the achievements you are about to get will get you a promotion." Evelyn said as she rose up into the air.


    "Yes, hopefully it will lead to a cushier assignment. And I hope that you are able to find a grand fire elemental and take it down. When we first met, it thought you were insane to go after such a powerful entity, but after watching you in action, I believe that if any awakened rank has any chance against one, it will be you. Still, don''t push yourself and get killed.


    Make sure to run away if things get too dangerous. There is no shame in preserving your life."


    After exchanging their goodbyes, Evelyn looked down at Krunnen onest time with a smile, before ascending higher into the sky and flying towards the elemental rift in the distance.


    ording to what Krunnen had told her along with information detailed on the map Krunnen had given her, to find a grand fire elemental with any sort of reliability she would need to head to the core area of the Inferno Field.


    This was the main stage where the upper ranks of the Inferno Field Rangers fought on the frontlines against the elemental menace that was encroaching on their world from another dimension.


    However, what had surprised Evelyn the most was finding out that it was not just the area around the rift''s immediate vicinity that was teeming with fire elementals.


    The invaders from another realm had actually managed to push back the defenders from the Inferno Field Rangers over the centuries. Currently the line where the elementals were being held back was around thirty kilometers from the rift in every direction.


    From what she was able to gleam from the map Krunnen gave her, Evelyn could see that the fire elementals had carved out quite a bit of territory in this world that they hadplete control over.


    ''I can only imagine how dangerous some of these fire elementals must be if even an entire organization simr to the Roost can''t keep them in check.''


    Evelyn may not have known much about the Great Shell, but she was almost certain that their leader must be a cmity rank beast just as the leader of the Roost. At the very least they should have several peak sovereign rank beasts, and Evelyn could still vividly remember the awe-inspiring magic that her master had wielded.


    It was hard to believe that a group with multiple powerhouses as strong as Melisandre could be losing ground against the fire elementals.


    Of course, Evelyn had not yet seen the true monsters that were among the fire elementals'' ranks. So far, she had only run into grunts that were considered foot soldiers among the elementals.


    ''This damn smoke is getting thicker.''


    As she grew ever nearer to the elemental rift, Evelyn found that the thick haze in the air that consisted of smoke and steam, became far denser and there was more smoke than steam.


    Even though her heavenly me made her practically immune to the heat, she still needed to breath and the air was quickly bing too polluted for her lungs to take.


    Thankfully, she was able to use her wind magic to create a barrier around her head that filtered out the thick smog, but it also announced her presence to anything that was sensitive to magical energy being discharged.


    It did not take long before she was noticed, and sts of fire shot up towards her from the ground.


    Evelyn took evasive actions and avoided the barrage of mesing towards her and using her enhanced vision she followed the attacksing towards her back to the source.


    What she saw was about twenty lesser fire elementals being led by a much bigger one that was a type Evelyn had not seen before.


    Unfortunately, she was unable to get a particrly good look at her assants through the thick smoke. They simply looked like a bunch of bright lights to her.


    ''Looks like a group managed to get past the Inferno Field Ranger''s defenses. Though, I suppose that is to be expected. From what Krunnen told me, his peers are busy dealing with a sizeable incursion.''


    For a few moments Evelyn weighed her options, before deciding to descend and take out her attackers. She was nearly certain that therger fire elemental attacking her with the lesser ones was not the grand fire elemental she was looking for, but she would not truly know until she got closer and checked it against the description Krunnen had given her.


    Tucking her wings in, Evelyn went into a dive and created a wind barrier in front of her that lessened wind resistance and acted as a shield against the sts of fire that were perpetuallying at her. Certainly, she was immune to the heat of the mes and would not be burned, but she had no desire to take the impact of the attacks and be slowed down.


    Within just a few seconds she was only around ten meters away from the ground and able to properly see her attackers despite the haze in the air.


    ''I figured it would not be a grand fire elemental.'' Evelyn thought while sighing.


    While she had not seen this type of elemental before, Krunnen had been kind enough to give her the description of every type of fire elemental he knew about.


    Therge one leading the group of lesser fire elementals was just a slightly more powerful elemental called a bull elemental due to itsrge size and propensity to charge at whatever it designated as an enemy.


    Evelyn could only see this group of elementals as a bother, but she still nned on taking them out. She was confident that she could fly away and escape from them, but she did not want them to persistently follow her and show up at an inopportune time. Leaving them alive could only lead to them possibly being a problem in the future.


    ''Ture to form, its charging me with reckless abandon.'' Evelyn thought, her eyes drawn to the bull fire elemental that was rushing towards her.


    Unlike the lesser fire elementals that wereunching balls of fire at her, the bull elemental nned to use itsrger size and greater strength to destroy her in closebat.


    Naturally Evelyn was not going to meet it head on. Instead, she took out arge container filled with aqueous foam meant for fighting fire and threw it in the barreling towards her.


    When the alchemical item impacted the rash elemental, it stopped in its tracks and crashed into the ground.


    Immediately it instinctively began rolling around on the ground to get rid of the substance that felt like searing acid to it.


    ''Hm, looks like it was not effective on this one because of its greater size and the intensity of its mes. Still, the aqueous foam is strong enough to bring it down for at least a few seconds.''


    Carefully Evelyn observed how hertest test subject reacted to one of her anti fire elemental creations.


    During this time, the gaggle of lesser fire elementals rushed towards Evelyn since it was obvious that their ranged attacks were either being dodged or deflected.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn did not panic in the face of the enemiesing her way and instead smiled since she would not have to go to them now.


    From her storage cuff she pulled out another container, this one filled with plenty of me-retardant salt.


    All it took was a liberal dusting from Evelyn''s next alchemical item to snuff out all of the lesser fire elementals in a few seconds.


    The only one that survived was the far tougher bull fire elemental, though its body had be noticeably diminished.


    ''So, the stronger ones can take both the aqueous foam and fire-retardant salt. Still, both items clearly dealt a great deal of damage, and it should be easy enough to finish it off with my magic now without too much difficulty.''


    Finished with her current experiment and understanding that the bull elemental was now too weak to serve as a proper test subject for her other alchemical items, Evelyn flew over towards it to put it down.


    To her surprise, however, the nearly extinguished elementalshed out at her with a great deal of force and speed. Even on its deathbed it retained a powerful drive to destroy Evelyn and put thest of its energy into onest attack.


    Yet, while Evelyn had not seemed on guard, she had been prepared to deal with anything.


    In an instant she activated her gravity field and lowered the gravity around her and the bull elemental.


    Its ming first packed with power began to lose its form and the entire elemental''s body became more spherical and less intense under the effects of lessened gravity.


    At the same time, Evelyn pped her wings once and shot up higher into the air andpletely avoided the attack.


    From there she unleashed a flurry of wind des and cut up the bull fire elemental into hundreds of pieces.


    Then with a final gust she blew the small parts of her adversary away and watched them quickly blink out of exitance as they lost what little energy remained in them as they tried to reform into a whole.


    Out of thergest of the remaining mes, arge crystalline rock fell to the ground with a thud. This was the heart of the fire elemental, and the only prize left after defeating one.


    But despite having finished off her foes, Evelyn did not move to grab her spoils and instead turned her head to the left where she sensed another presence.


    "I know that you are there. Stop hiding ande out." Evelyn said, using her wind magic to simte a voice.


    "Oh, and here I thought I did a pretty good job of hiding myself. I must be losing my touch if an awakened beast can notice me so easily."


    From out of the hazy air, Evelyn watched as what appeared to be a human woman approaching her.


    Of course, it became apparent almost immediately that the induvial was not actually a human but a beast in humanoid form.


    "I''m guessing you are another member of the Inferno Field Rangers?" Evelyn asked.


    "That would be correct. I wasing to clean up the rabble that got past me earlier, but it seems that you dealt with them spectacrly. At first, I thought I would need to jump into help you, but you have some interesting items on you that easily dealt with those fire elementals." The woman said with a look of curiosity in her eyes.


    "Still, as well equipped as you appear to be, I would rmend that you leave. I can see that you are friends with one of my fellow Rangers, but right now is not really a good time for you to be here. Things are pretty hectic at the frontlines and there''s a good chance you will end up dead if you go any farther.


    I''m sure that you are here to gather some sort of item and I have your reasons for being here. Nevertheless, we are spread too thin to watch out for you and I would hate for another Ranger to lose one of their friends."


    Evelyn could only sigh in response to this unwanted advice that she had already heard from Krunnen several times. She hade here with an objective and was going to see it through no matter what. Not even a tyrant ranked beast was going to convince her to turn around aftering this far.


    "I''ve already heard the same thing enough. I appreciate you and the other Rangers wanting to look out for my wellbeing, but I came here prepared to obtain what I seek no matter the cost. Please just let me through." Evelyn said, wearing a determined expression.


    "I see. You are not going to back down." The woman said with a contemtive look. "Well, in that case, would you mind telling me what you want? Perhaps I already have the item in question, and we can make a trade. Those items you used on the fire elementals were most impressive. I would be willing to offer quite a lot for some samples or the recipe to create them."

 Chapter 392: Chapter 392 Another Deal

    Evelyn could not say she was not interested in possibly making a trade, but she was almost certain that the member of the Inferno Field Rangers that had approached her would be unable to supply her with what she really wanted.


    From what she had learned from Krunnen, grand fire elementals were normally dealt with by a sovereign ranked beast, or by a team of high tier and peak tyrant ranked beasts.


    The woman in front of Evelyn right now was not currently hiding her magical aura and Evelyn could tell that she was only at the mid-tier of the tyrant rank. Knowing this, there was little possibility that she personally possessed the heart of a grand fire elemental or had the authority to use one in a trade for Evelyn''s alchemical creations that were specifically made tobat fire elementals.


    ''Still, it won''t hurt to ask. Thanks to the emblem that Krunnen gave me, unless I do anything really bad, I doubt any of the Rangers are going to be hostile towards me.''


    Having made up her mind, Evelyn told the Ranger what it was she was here to collect and that she would be willing to part with her entire supply of anti fire elemental items as well as their recipes in return for what she sought.


    "You want a grand fire elemental''s heart?! Impossible, such a treasured item is worth far more than just a few decent alchemical items."


    Shrugging her shoulders, Evelyn had expected this response and did not really care that she was unable to get what she really wanted through a simple exchange. She hade here fully intent on killing a grand fire elemental to obtain its heart in the first ce.


    "Well, if that is all you have to say, then it seems we will not being to an agreement. As such, I will be taking my leave." Evelyn said, pping her wings and rising back into the air.


    However, the female Ranger called out to her in an attempt to continue negotiating.


    "Wait!"


    Turning her head around, Evelyn saw the Ranger flying up towards her with a frantic look on her face.


    "What it is?" Evelyn said without hiding her irritation. "I believe we already concluded that no deal was going to be made. Or are you now nning to strongarm me since you are at a higher rank than I am?"


    "No, of course I have no intention of using force or coercion against a friend of another Ranger. I just think that it would be of benefit to both of us to continue negotiating. Surely some sort of agreement can be met."


    Evelyn let an audible sigh, but still stuck around to listen to what the frantic Ranger wanted to offer her.


    Unfortunately, every offer the female Ranger presented Evelyn with were of little interest to her. She had ess to plenty of magic crystals and rare herbs and fruits through the Verdant Warlord''s Domain.


    "Again, none of that interests me. I am only here for one thing and that is a grand fire elemental''s heart."


    Having said her piece for a final time, Evelyn prepared to leave, but before she could go, she felt a hand grab one of her legs and keep her in ce.


    She was about to take this as an act of provocation and attack but held back when she heard what the female Ranger had to say.


    "Okay, I understand. I can''t trade you the heart of a grand fire elemental, but I might be able to help you get one."


    Finally interested, Evelyn turned around and nodded her head to indicate that the Ranger should continue.


    "Right now, there are several battles happening on the frontlines and a few of them have grand fire elementals leading the charge. I can take you to one of these battles and put in a good word for you.


    I am sure after seeing your alchemical items the upper brass would allow you to join in and if you earn enough achievements or assist in killing a grand fire elemental, I am sure that they will reward you with what you want."


    After hearing the Ranger''stest offer, Evelyn contemted heavily about what to do. She honestly did not care about spreading the knowledge of her aqueous foam and the fire-retardant salts since they were not particrly valuable to her. Other than fighting against fire elemental they had very limited uses.


    If she had to fight any normal fire, she could easily put it out with magic, and she already had a favorable matchup against other fire magic users.


    ''It is little cost for the potential of a big reward. I hade prepared to fight a grand fire elemental on my own, but having the tortoises on my side could be beneficial.'' Evelyn thought, weighing her options.


    She did also have to worry about information about her spreading and reaching the Tyrannis Union, but she figured it was unlikely that any of the Inferno Rangers would have ties to a human nation.


    There was also the slight chance that this could be a trap and the tortoise would simply attempt to rob her once she was deep into their territory, but she had a couple trump cards she could use in that unlikely scenario.


    "Very well, I will ept your proposal. I''ll give you a couple of samples and the recipe for my alchemical items in return for you bringing to a battle where I can find a grand fire elemental and give me a chance to obtain its heart."


    "Yes, that is more than eptable. I am sure that my superior will agree. We have been pretty short handed and even a peak awakened rank beast will be helpful." The female Ranger said excitedly.


    She then began leading Evelyn towards where the other members of her team were situated but stopped before going too far.


    "Ah, Ipletely forgot, but if we are going to be working together, I should probably know your name. I am Lizlul by the way."


    "My name''s Evelyn. Now let''s go. I have already waited long enough to get what I came here for."

 Chapter 393: Chapter 393 Joining the Frontlines

    Flying through the hazy air, Evelyn followed behind Lizlul and soon enough spotted arge structure that looked to be smoldering in many ces.


    As they got closer, she was able to make out the building better and noticed that it was shaped like a tortoise''s shell.


    "That''s the fortress I am currently based at. It normally looks better than it does right now, but we just finished repelling a wave of fire elementals and it took some damage in the attack." Lizlul exined to Evelyn.


    A minuteter, the two of themnded outside of the giant fortress, and Lizlul confidently walked inside with Evelyn trailing behind her.


    The entrance and hallway that they walked through was truly massive and was at least forty meters tall and sixty meters wide.


    Even Evelyn, who was around two meters tall, felt tiny in this ce and she soon found out why the ce was asrge as it was.


    Under her feet she felt the ground shaking as a massive tortoise that was over twenty meters tall came bounding down the hall.


    Like Lizlul, this tortoise was a tyrant rank beast, though either he did not want to take a humanoid form or was not capable of it.


    "I was wondering what was taking you so long to return Lizlul, but I see that you brought along a guest. Is she a friend of yours?"


    "No, she is the friend of a different Ranger, but she has some interesting alchemical items on her that she has offered to trade with me, so I brought her along. She''s also the one that took out the fire elementals I was sent after. I can attest to her abilities despite being only a peak awakened beast. We won''t have to worry about her getting into any trouble."


    "Now if you would not mind standing aside Guzum, I want to report back to Yulbok." Lizlul said in a forceful tone.


    For just a moment the other tortoise looked down at Evelyn with a disapproving look but did get out of their way as Lizlul asked.


    After that, Lizlul took Evelyn further into the fortress.


    Because of howrge the ce was, it took them nearly a half hour to reach their destination due to the unhurried pace they were going at.


    When they reached a certain set ofrge doors, Lizlul just stood in front of it and waited silently.


    Evelyn could only tilt her head to the side at this in confusion. Clearly this was their destination, but she had no idea why Lizlul made no attempt to enter or even knock on the door to announce her presence.


    For around three minutes they simply stood there in silence, and just when Evelyn was about to speak up, she heard a voice from beyond the door.


    "You maye in now."


    Now that she had permission, Lizlul walked up to the giant doors and pushed them open. A feat that looked incredibly strange since she was far smaller than the doors and a normal person would not have the strength to make them budge.


    Once inside, Evelyn''s eyes were drawn to the back of the room where arge bald man that had the build of a pro wrestler was sitting at the back of them room at a desk that had several sheets of paper stack on top of it. Upon closer inspection she could see that his eyes were inhuman and that there were scales on both of his hands that clearly proved he was a beast.


    There were other tortoises in the room as well, some in humanoid form and others that were not.


    Still, the man at the back was the one that held Evelyn''s attention since she could tell he was the strongest individual present and definitely the leader of this fortress.


    ''He''s suppressing his magical aura so I can''t tell exactly what tier he is at, but there is no doubt he is a sovereign rank beast.''


    Evelyn kept her guard up now that she was surrounded by several tortoises that were stronger than her. So far, she had not sensed any hostility from any of them, but she was prepared to defend herself and flee if need be.


    "Lizlul, I would normally tell you that now is not the time to bring in an outsider whether they are a friend or not, but I imagine that you did not bring this owl here to me for a simple reason. What is it you are here for?" Yulbok, the Head Ranger of this fortress said.


    "First allow me to introduce her. This is Evelyn, a friend of Krunnen. While I was pursuing the group of fire elementals that had slipped past us, I witnessed her use some unknown alchemical items to easily dispatch them. I was intrigued so I asked her to trade me some samples and the recipes for the items."


    Looking intrigued now, Yulbok nced at Evelyn appraisingly before turning his attention back towards Lizlul.


    "I see. These alchemical items must have been quite spectacr if you decided to bring her before me. But I must wonder what it is you agreed upon to trade her that required you toe before me? Especially when we are all so busy with the current situation."


    Lizlul tensed up at this but continued. She was certain that the deal she had made with Evelyn was favorable for the Inferno Field Rangers.


    Quickly she went over the details of her agreement with Evelyn.


    Yulbok sat in his chair looking contemtive, before eventually turning his full attention to Evelyn.


    "I assume that you are fine with these terms. Do note, other than a ce to rest and provisions, that you will not be getting any other assistance from us. We do not have the resources to look after you on the battlefield. There is a very real chance you will die out there. Many of the creatures we have to deal with are beyond what awakened rank beasts can handle."


    "I already came here prepared to fight through the entirety of the Inferno Field on my own. Whether you give me any assistance in battle is of no concern to me. The only reason I am here is because I determined it faster to rely on your intelligence than search for my target on my own.


    If you prove to be more of a hinderance to me than a boon, I will simply leave and do what I must on my own." Evelyn said, her expression resolute.


    Seeing her demeanor, Yulbok could not help but smile and let out a jovial chuckle.


    "You certainly have plenty of guts, which I personally like. Now we will only need to see if you have the skills to match up that confidence."


    "Lizlul, you will be in charge of keeping watch of her while she is here and finding her some quarters she can stay in. Be ready to fight at any time. There is no telling when those fire elementals will be back. For the time being, though, go see Bazo and give him those alchemical items and recipes.


    If they are really as good as you say, I want them mass produced as soon as possible." Yulbok said, rying his orders to Lizlul.


    "As for you, Evelyn. Wee to the frontlines against the fire elementals. I will make sure that you have plenty of opportunities to prove yourself and obtain what you came here for."

 Chapter 394: Chapter 394 The Inferno Ranger’s Fortress

    Once the meeting with Yulbok had concluded, Lizlul led Evelyn out of his office and took her to the other side of the fortress.


    "Bazo, I''ve got a guest here to see you under Yulbok''s orders." Lizlul said, knocking on the door.


    "Gah! Just wait a minute! I''m in the middle of something!" Bazo yelled in response.


    With her keen hearing Evelyn picked up Bazo mumbling several expletives and general grumblings about his work being interrupted.


    Lizlul heard this as well and could not help but frown. It true that they had dropped by without an appointment, but they were currently dealing with an incursion, and she had been sent here by the fortress'' leader with an important mission.


    For several minutes Evelyn and Lizlul waited for Bazo to finish, with only the asional sound of ss breaking and more curses being uttered to keep them abreast of Bazo''s progress.


    Eventually the armored and sealed doors opened up and a foul smell along with a dubiously colored gas leaked out.


    Lizlul scrunched up her face and held a hand over her face, but Evelyn was already used to things like this since she was an alchemist as well.


    With only his head barely peeking out of the door, Bazo looked at Lizlul and Evelyn with a clearly annoyed expression.


    The man that was this fortresses'' alchemist had long brownish green hair and droopy orange eyes.


    "Now, what is it that you want? I am busy making several batches of healing potions, fire resistance salves, and smoke cleansing pills. This interruption is going to put my way behind." Bazo said with an irritated tone.


    "We''re all busy right now, so suck it up." Lizlul said, not appreciating Bazo''s attitude.


    "This here is Evelyn, and she has a couple of unknown alchemical items in her possession and has made a deal to trade some samples and the recipes to us. Yulbok wants you to look them over and begin producing them as soon as possible. I''ve seen them in action so I can attest to their effectiveness."


    After Lizlul introduced her, Evelyn nodded towards Bazo and took out a sample of both the aqueous foam and the me-retardant salts. She could tell he was not a patient person and figured it would be best just to hand over the items before being asked.


    And as she suspected, Bazo hastily reached out and yanked the two bottles away from Evelyn and began intently examining their contents. It seemed that he did not care much about the extra work that had just been thrust upon him and instead was far more interested in the unfamiliar alchemical items.


    "Oh! These both are unusual. I don''t think I have ever seen anything like them before." Bazo said before rushing back into hisb without paying Evelyn or Lizlul any mind.


    "That idiot. He doesn''t even have the recipes yet." Lizlul groaned before stomping after Bazo.


    Evelyn followed behind her and curiously nced around Bazo''s alchemyb. Since the attack on the Roost, she had not had ess to a proper facility and had been relying on the portable equipment she had in her storage items whenever she created anything. It had not been too much of an issue as of yet, but sooner orter she was going to need to upgrade.


    ''They''ve got some pretty good stuff here. Maybe I can negotiate for some surplus equipmentter. I''m starting to run low on bottles to store things in and my cauldron is starting to get worn down.'' Evelyn thought while inspecting the items in Bazo''sb.


    When she had satisfied her curiosity, she turned to see Bazo trying to wave Lizlul away as he studied the aqueous foam and me retardant-salts she had given him.


    It was not until Lizlul yanked the two containers away from Bazo that she was finally able to get his attention.


    "Hey! Give those back!"


    Bazo, angry that the two unfamiliar alchemical creations had been pulled away from him turned and tried to grab them back from Lizlul.


    "Would you calm down for just a moment and listen. Along with the samples Evelyn had the recipes for these as well. There is no need to go through the trouble of analyzing the ingredients necessary to reverse engineering it when we already have the creator with us."


    Hearing this, Bazo ceased attempting to take the aqueous foam and me retardant-salts samples back from Lizlul. Instead, he turned towards Evelyn like a predator that had just locked onto its next target.


    In a blur, he appeared in front of Evelyn and began bombarding her with questions.


    "Are you really the one that came up with these? What was your process like? Could you show me that ingredient list? Oh, do you think that there might be other items that could be used to enhance them or change them in a fundamental way? Do you perhaps have any other unusual alchemical creations?"


    As much as Evelyn enjoyed alchemy, she could not help but find Bazo''s fervor to be too abrasive.


    In order to distract him, she quickly took out the recipe list along with creation instructions for both the aqueous foam and me-retardant salts and tossed them towards Bazo.


    He excitedly grabbed the sheets of paper out of the air and Evelyn took this chance to back away.


    "Hm, most of these items are easy enough to obtain. It should not be too difficult to makerge qualities of both of these once I have the necessary ingredients." Bazo said, his interest having shifted to the lists Evelyn had given him.


    While he was preupied, Evelyn and Lizlul slipped out of theb now that their objective had been aplished.


    "Is he always like that?" Evelyn asked once they were a good distance away from Bazo.


    "No, that is about as bad as he gets. When things are calm, he has more time to conduct experiments, and sleep, he is not quite as brash. But during emergencies when he has to deal with a lot of rush, orders he gets like that. I''m sure once the current crisis has passed, eh will be more ptable to interact with." Lizlul exined.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn thanked Lizlul for the information and internally let out a sigh of relief. She was almost certain that she would need to speak with Bazo again if she wanted to acquire some new alchemical equipment.


    Now that they hadpleted their main task, Lizlul brought Evelyn to the fortress'' barracks and showed her the room that she would be using while she was here.


    "It''s not much, but it will give you a safe ce to sleep. Locations where you can rest peacefully out in the Inferno Field are in low supply so I am sure you must be tired. Feel free toe and get some rest after I finish showing you around."


    After showing Evelyn her room, Lizlul took her around the fortress and showed her each facility that she would have ess to. Of course, there were many areas that were off-limits to her since she was only a guest and not a member of the Inferno Field Ranger.


    Eventually they came to the mess hall where around two dozen tortoises were eating.


    Some of them were in their normal beast forms, while others were in their humanoid forms. However, one thing that they all shared was that they turned their attention towards Evelyn the moment that she walked into the room.


    ''Looks like they are sizing me up.'' Evelyn thought as she felt several pairs of eyes on her.


    Naturally she was likewise appraising all of the tortoises here.


    Some of them were hiding their magical energy so that she could not get a precise read on them, but she was certain that every single one of them was a tyrant beast. It did not appear that even a single awakened beast was stationed in this fortress, only adding another reason why Evelyn was garnering so much attention.


    Thankfully no one approached and questioned why she was here. The information about the guest Lizlul had brought and Yulbok had approved of had already spread to pretty much everyone.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn noticed that she was receiving plenty of pitying looks. Likely these individuals knew she had agreed to fight on the frontlines against the fire elementals and thought that she would end up getting herself killed.


    ''At least none of them are showing me any contempt. I don''t want to deal with hat type right now.'' Evelyn thought as she got some food with Lizlul.


    The two of them ate in silence for a few minutes until an rm started ring.


    Immediately the well-trained Inferno Field Rangers hastily left their food where it was and orderly exited the mess hall.


    Evelyn was the only one to react btedly and watched Lizlul rush out with her fellow Rangers and leave her alone.


    Thankfully, Lizlul swiftly realized that she had left Evelyn behind and came back to exin what was going on.


    "A wave of enemies ising in this direction. And a big one at that from the type of rm that is being used. It looks like you are going to get a chance to rackup some achievements right now."

 Chapter 395: Chapter 395 Evelyn’s Calculating Plan

    Evelyn followed closely behind Lizlul as they rushed towards the nearest exit out of the fortress.


    When they arrived, Evelyn saw two giant metal doors that were quickly being opened to allow the Inferno Field Rangers that defended this area to go out and intercept the iing attackers.


    "Once we get out into the field you will be mostly on your own. If you stick near me, I will try to protect you, when possible, but I doubt you will contribute enough to sway anyone into thinking you deserve the heart of a grand fire elemental if you y it safe."


    "Thank you for the offer and warning Lizlul. And I appreciate your willingness to protect me, but I''ll fight where I feel I can have the most impact. If it looks like I will be overwhelmed just let me die, I came prepared for that the moment I decided toe here." Evelyn said, wearing a confident expression despite her dour words.


    After that the two of them did not exchange any other words and rushed out of the fortress the instant the two giant metal doors opened.


    While most of the tortoises charged forwards towards the iing enemies, Evelyn immediately took the to the air in order to get a better view of the situation.


    Despite the persistent haze of smoke and steam in the area she could distinctly see what looked like thousands of glowing lights rushing towards the fortress.


    ''Echoing Breeze.''


    Spreading her wings wide and slowly pping them, Evelyn created arge but weak gust of wind that blew over the area.


    With this spell she was able to precisely investigate her surroundings even though visibility was poor.


    ''That is a bit of a surprise.'' Evelyn thought once her magic had reached the limits of its range.


    She had currently detected what could only be fire elementals, therge bulk of the iing attackers was made up of aberrant beasts.


    However, these ones were far different from the mind ve stoat and other aberrant beasts under the Mind Manipting Mushroom''s control.


    Each of the aberrant beast in the swarming towards the fortress were heavily mutated by long exposer and being within close proximity to the elemental rift. This showed Evelyn that they had not just lost their minds, but their original forms as well.


    ''It is almost like they have turned into sort of half beast, half elemental monster.'' Evelyn thought as she organized the information she had received from her spell.


    She had been able to gauge their forms incredibly urately from the wind magic she had sent out and could tell that many of the beasts had oversized limbs that were spewing smoke, or protrusions like spikes and horns that were made of magma.


    Realizing that this was the end result of beasts that became aberrant, she understood what a truly gruesome fate it was.


    Still, she was not going to show them any mercy just because of their pitiful fate. Her concern only extends to the few individuals that she had let into her heart and those that proved beneficial to her.


    ''Seems the battle is beginning.''


    From up above Evelyn was monitoring the situation and noticed the Inferno Field Rangers shing with the first wave of aberrant beasts. Among this group there was not a single fire elemental, but that just went to show that they were not dealing with entirely mindless foes. They had sent a tide of disposable pawns first in order to wear down the area''s defenders.


    The fierce battle began with a salvo of magic attacks from both sides.


    From the aberrant beasts most of their attacks were fire, while the tortoises used mostly earth and water magic which was especially effective against fire.


    Evelyn did not participate in the opening of the battle, instead watching and waiting for her opportunity. Simply rushing in and killing enemies might help her to gain recognition, but what she had in mind was likely to work far better. All she needed to do was lookout for the right circumstances.


    ''The Inferno Field Rangers are strong, and their teamwork is impable, but finally a chance has presented itself. I was afraid that my n wouldn''t work because of their sheerpetency, though it looks like even they can''t beat so many aberrant beasts seamlessly.'' Evelyn thought, finding the exact scenario she had been waiting for.


    Swooping down, she unleashed a barrage of wind des on a group of aberrant beasts that were about to overrun two of the weaker members of the Inferno Field Rangers.


    Moving about quickly she kept the beasts off of the two low tier tyrant rank tortoise and gave them room to recover.


    Once the two tortoises were back in fighting shape, Evelyn backed off and supported them until they were no longer surrounded by enemies.


    "So, you''re the special guest that is friends with one of our juniors and participating in the battle. Thanks for your help. We would have been in trouble if you had not shown up when you did." One of the Rangers said when they had a slight moment of reprieve.


    "Oh, I am just doing my part. I might not be one of you, but no way I can let one of my friends'' colleagues die if I can help it." Evelyn said, acting as if she was a saint.


    Of course, she had note to this pair of Ranger''s aid out of the goodness of her heart. It was simply all a part of her n. She figured that if she went around helping those that were in a tough spot, it would generate more gratitude than by just fighting and killing a lot of enemies.


    After helping out the first group. Evelyn rose back into the sky and kept her eyes open for a simr situation.


    Luckily, she became spoiled for choice as the battle went on and more of the Inferno Field Rangers defending the area got worn down.


    It was not long before she had ingratiated herself to dozens of tortoises fighting on the frontline and made a bit of a name for herself.


    ''Hm, the aberrant beasts are finally beginning to thin out. There aren''t any other Rangers in real trouble right now.'' Evelyn thought, flying around looking for where she could make the most impact.


    Yet, as she continued to keep her eyes on what was directly below her, she failed to immediately notice an attack that wasing right for her.


    By the time her instincts alerted her to the iing danger it was already toote to avoid it. The attack was sting towards her at an extreme speed and all she could do was put up a shield of magical energy in front of her before it could hit.


    Looking like a shooting start streaking across the battlefield, a giant arrow made out of bright white fire sniped Evelyn out of the air.


    When it impacted her magical energy shield it erupted into a massive explosion and easily breached her defenses.


    For all those watching, there was no doubt that Evelyn had just been killed by an overwhelmingly powerful attack.

 Chapter 396: Chapter 396 Under Fire

    "I did warn her. She fought better than expected, but this was always going to be the oue." Lizlul muttered under her breath after Evelyn was consumed by a fiery explosion. In her mind Evelyn had just been incinerated by the sudden and unavoidable attack that had hit her.


    Yet, as she stared up at the zing inferno of white mes that had erupted around Evelyn, she saw a smoking figure burst out of the mes and begin plummeting towards the ground.


    With wide eyes filled with shock, she could see that Evelyn appeared mostly unharmed. The mes that easily would have burned her into a charred corpse seemed to have done almost nothing to Evelyn. It seemed that fortune had given her divine favor.


    However, Evelyn herself did not feel lucky in any regard. Certainly, the intense heat of the mes had not harmed her in the slightest, but the explosive impact of the ming arrow had broken several of her bones and caused internal bleeding throughout her body.


    ''Damn it! I can''t move my left wing.''


    As she tried to steady herself, Evelyn found that one of her wings waspletely limp. Without it she could not right her body and continued falling towards the ground at an rming rate.


    Unable to fully stop her momentum, Evelyn used her gravity magic to lower her effective weight and created a wind cushion under her to absorb the shock of the fall.


    Thankfully this was enough to prevent her from incurring any more serious damage as she crashed into the ground.


    Despite the rtively softnding, the pain Evelyn experienced was still immense. Her broken bones were violently rattled, and her internal injuries were worsened. For a normal creature the damage she had taken would be enough to put them close to death''s door, but as a magical beast at the peak of the awakened rank, Evelyn''s body was able to take a great deal of punishment without perishing.


    At least, so long as she had magical energy within her.


    With a gritted beak, Evelyn ignored the pain and forced her body to move.


    From out of her storage cuff, she pulled out two powerful healing potions she had made herself. For the first one she sshed it over her body as an emergency treatment method. The second one she brought to her mouth and quickly drank once the initial potion had lessened the pain she was feeling.


    ''I''m really d I prepared these. I''d have been big trouble without them.'' Evelyn thought as she pulled herself up.


    Thanks to the power of her healing potions the terrible injuries she had incurred were mostly mended within just a minute. Her body still ached all over, but the pain was not debilitating enough to slow her down so long as she stayed focused. She had dealt with far worse in the past after all.


    Once she had finished her recovery, Evelyn''s first order of business was to locate who had attacked her.


    The white-hot ming arrow that had snipped her out of the air hade fast and packed an incredible punch. So far, she had not encountered any fire elementals of aberrant beasts that were anywhere close to powerful enough tounch an attack at that level.


    Luckily, the sniper made themselves known quickly. Unfortunately, it was by firing another arrow at Evelyn since she had survived the first one.


    Forcing herself to move, Evelyn lowered gravity around herself again and used her fire and wind magic to create a burst of mes like thoseing out of a rocket.


    In a show of remarkable speed, she shot back into the sky and narrowly avoided the ming arrowing towards her.


    The spot she had been just a moment ago was consumed by zing explosion and a spray of molten rock spread through the area.


    After dodging the second arrow, Evelyn finally had a bit of breathing room and was able to get a better look at the entity attacking her.


    Sitting atop what looked like a wolf made of molten rock was arge six-armed fire elemental made of pure white mes that was easily four meters tall.


    In one pair of its hands was a bow massive bow made of the same mes as the elemental''s body. The others were currently empty, but Evelyn was able to surmise that it could likely create whatever sort of armaments it wished out of mes.


    ''I wonder if that might be a grand fire elemental.''


    This was the first fire elemental she had seen that was clearly head and shoulders above the rest and the power behind its attacks was clearly close to that of a sovereign rank beast. At least, as far as Evelyn could estimate.


    She could not understand why it had decided to target her when rank wise she was the weakest on the battlefield, but undoubtedly, she had caught its attention, and it was not going to let her go easily.


    With Evelyn having evaded its second shot, the presumed grand fire elemental conjured two more bows and beganunching a rapid dire volley of arrows towards her.


    At the same time, the main force of fire elementals charged towards the weakened Inferno Field Rangers.


    A brutal battle soon ensued between the two forces and any chance that Evelyn would receive some sort of assistance vanished in an instant.


    ''Looks like they are more than happy to let me take fire from the strongest enemy for as long as I canst.'' Evelyn thought, seeing no one moving to intercept the mounted fire elemental relentlessly attacking her.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn found this to be advantageous. If what was after her truly was a grand fire elemental, then taking it down would be the swiftest way to achieve her goal of iming its heart.


    Utilizing all three of her magic affinities, Evelyn darted around the sky and evaded the multitude of arrows flying towards her. At the same time, she pulled out one potion or pill after the other and consumed several items to enhance her abilities. She was not going to hold anything back here and brought out her rarest alchemical items to give her an edge against her vastly superior opponent.

 Chapter 397: Chapter 397 Fight Fire with Fire

    ''That should do it.''


    Once Evelyn had taken all manner of potions and pills to enhance her abilities she finally turned directly towards her attacker and charged.


    So far, she had simply been dodging the six-armed fire elemental''s barrage of ming arrows, but now she was ready to counterattack.


    As she approached her opponent switched up the ming weapons in its arms into the spears, wielding one in each of its hands. mes then erupted from the feet of the molten wolf the grand fire elemental was using as a mount and it flew to meet Evelyn head on.


    Nevertheless, she did not falter and tucked in her wings and went into a full nosedive.


    Bright crimson mes erupted from her body as she fell and tempestuous wind wrapped around her. With her gravity magic she increased the force on herself to the greatest degree she could, effectively increasing the speed of her decent by several times.


    Using thebination of her three magic affinities Evelyn became like a zinget about to strike with tremendous impact.


    The grand fire elemental and its mount showed no hesitancy and continued to rush towards Evelyn. Her attack appeared to be mostly fire-based and they figured they would never lose to the fire magic of a mere beast.


    Yet, when the grand fire elemental lunged with all six of its spears, it found its zing white mes being consumed by Evelyn''s crimson mes.


    A massive explosion followed their sh. But in the end the winner was clearly Evelyn as her crimson mes overtook the grand fire elemental.


    Still, aftering out victorious from the sh, Evelyn''s momentum continued to propel her towards the ground.


    It took a great deal of effort to prevent crashing into the earth and crushing her body, but Evelyn managed to pull up at thest second.


    Quickly she was soaring back into the sky with the mes and wind that had been surrounding her cast off.


    ''That was a lot more difficult than when I practiced that move. I need to remember thating into contact with another powerful force makes the magic be unstable.'' Evelyn thought while breathing heavily.


    There was no doubt that the maneuver she had just executed had taken a lot out of her both physically and mentally. Even with the recover items she had preemptively taken it would take her a couple of minutes to return to peak condition after exerting herself to such an extent.


    She had felt that she had utterly destroyed something, so she was pretty certain that her attack had eliminated her target and now she only needed to collect her bounty.


    However, as she looked around, she found that the white med grand fire elemental had not met its end. Before being overwhelmed by Evelyn''s surprisingly powerful attack, it had sacrificed its mount in order to escape with only light injuries.


    ''I guess they don''t usually have sovereign rank beasts deal with grand fire elementals for nothing. I shouldn''t have expected to take it out with one attack even if I caught it off guard with one of my best.''


    Evelyn was a bit bitter that it had survived her opening strike that hadbined all three of her magic types into one incredibly powerful attack. She had not only expended a great deal of energy, but also revealed her greatest advantage. The grand fire elemental now knew that her fire magic could hurt it and would not so brazenly meet her head on again.


    As she expected the grand fire elemental backed away from her and showed no signs of meeting her in closebat again. Instead, itbined all six of its arms into what looked like the barrel of a giant cannon.


    In a shocking show of power, it then unleashed a rapid-fire st of zing spheres that were each around a hundred meters wide.


    These fire cannonballs moved quite a bit slower than the arrows it had fired earlier, but the wide area they epassed and sheer destructive force were on another level.


    ''It''s definitely far more intelligent than the weaker fire elementals I encountered on my way here.'' Evelyn internally grumbled.


    While these enormous spheres of white-hot mes would be easy enough for Evelyn to avoid or outright tank thanks to her fire immunity, the same could not be said for the valiant members of the Inferno Field Rangers that were locked in a fierce fight against a swarm of fire elementals the grand fire elemental had led into battle.


    Dozens of the wardens that prevented the energies of the elemental rift from expanding were in the line of fire of the grand fire elemental''s attacks. If Evelyn ignored them, there were surely going to be casualties.


    Of course, with her quarry already in front of her, Evelyn no longer needed to endear herself to the Inferno Rangers to get what she wanted and contemted letting them get burnt to a crips. However, she ultimately decided that this would be disadvantageous for her in multiple ways.


    ''If a bunch of them start dying Yulbok will almost certainly intercede. He''s been letting me draw the grand fire elemental''s attacks while he crushes the small fry, but if he joins the battle there is a good chance he will steal the kill from me.''


    Thest thing Evelyn wanted was for the Head Ranger in charge of this area''s fortress to target the grand fire elemental. She was almost certain that he would not let her have its heart if he was the one that killed it. Especially if her inaction caused several of his subordinates to end up dead.


    Letting out a deep sigh, Evelyn got ready to disperse the grand fire elemental''s zing cannonballs and strike back once an opening presented itself.


    ''I wonder which of us has stronger fire power. Well, time to find out.''


    Evelyn began psyching herself up and forced as much magical energy as she could through her body at once. Then she turned all of that energy into a gigantic ze that should have been beyond a mere awakened rank beast.

 Chapter 398: Chapter 398 Fight Fire with Fire (2)

    After creating a giant inferno around her, Evelyn focused on the mes and quickly condensed them into several ming spears that matched the number of white-hot cannonballsing towards her.


    With her wind magic she wrapped these ming spears in small twisters andunched them.


    Her magic flew far faster than the grand fire elemental''s and impacted against each of its attacks before they could travel too far.


    When her crimson spears enhanced with wind magic initially impacted the hundred-meter-wide ming spheres it appeared that Evelyn''s spell was consumed and nullified.


    Yet less than a second after the spears disappeared, each of the fire cannonball''s that the grand fire elemental had fired exploded and dispersed their power before reaching their target.


    ''Whew, I was afraid that might not work.'' Evelyn thought, relieved to see that her strategy had seeded.


    While the output of her fire magic was incredible for her rank, she honestly could not hope to match the sheer quantity of mes that the grand fire elemental could produce.


    Thankfully, her heavenly me was of a higher quality and gave her a means to fight back. Byunching an attack directly into the center of fire cannonballs she was able to destabilize them and cause them to discharge early.


    For nearly two dozen seconds Evelyn''s exchange with the grand fire elemental continued.


    During this time, she did not find any sort of opening to exploit as her attention was focused entirely on stopping her opponent''s barrage of attacks.


    As the exchange went on, Evelyn eventually figured out that the grand fire elemental was likely trying to simply exhaust her reserves of magical energy. It certainly had far more than her and figured that she could not keep up with it.


    Unfortunately for it, this n proved to be far less sound than expected. Evelyn''s possessed an unnaturally huge quantity of magical energy thanks to having both a beast core and human magic core. Plus, she was keeping a few magical replenishment pills in her mouth that she swallowed to keep her stores of energy topped off whenever she started to get low.


    A prolonged stalemate was actually to her benefit.


    Eventually the grand fire elemental realized that its attacks were not aplishing much of anything and that if it kept dealing solely with Evelyn its forces would be wiped out by the Inferno Field Rangers. It had originally targeted her because she was a nuisance that was preventing enemy casualties but did not seem particrly strong.


    It had figured that its first attack would kill her and never expected to end up in such a difficult battle.


    ''Oh! Looks like it is switching up its strategy,''


    Once the barrage of giant ming cannonballs ceased Evelyn kept her eyes on the grand fire elemental and waited for it to make another move. She felt she had the advantage reacting to whatever it attempted to do.


    However, she did not expect what happened next.


    A sh of heat erupted from the grand fire elemental and a loud hissing sound echoed throughout the area.


    For a split-second Evelyn thought that she heard some sort ofnguage within the sound, but it onlysted for a second. Nevertheless, it became clear that the grand fire elemental had used some form ofmunication as a group of fire elementals peeled off from the main battle against the Inferno Field Rangers and came directly for Evelyn.


    Of course, none of the Rangers pursued the around four dozen fire elementals and were happy to have some of the pressure taken off them. Just as Evelyn had been told, they were not going to provide her with assistance.


    ''That''s not good.'' Evelyn thought watching the shift of the battlefield.


    The grand fire elemental had not only sicked its goons on her but was also heading towards the main battle. It no longer desired to fight Evelyn and was going to leave her to its subordinates. A sound strategy since it was essentially being held up by a far weakerbatant instead of pushing through the Inferno Field Ranger''s defenses which was its main objective.


    Evelyn was not just going to let her target get away from her, though. She hade this far to kill it and obtain its heart, so that was what she was going to do.


    Ignoring the small army of fire elementalsing directly for her, she de herself in her heavenly me and shot directly for the fleeing grand fire elemental.


    ''Out of my way!''


    Expending a burst of magical energy, Evelyn expanded the crimson mes around her and scorched the fire elementals charging at her.


    Several of them were killed outright by the powerful heavenly me, while the rest were scattered and injured.


    Having forced her way through, Evelyn quickly caught up to the grand fire elemental and opened her beak when she was in range.


    Like a dragon''s breath attack, mes spilled out of Evelyn''s mouth and rushed towards her target.


    It seemed that her devastating attack would connect and engulf the grand fire elemental, but at thest moment its body exploded, and a powerful st of white fire erupted from within it.


    For a few moments Evelyn''s attack was clearly overpowering the grand fire elemental''s, but as time went on the tables turned.


    The immense output of fire slowly overwhelmed Evelyn, and she spun to the side to prevent being consumed by mes herself at thest moment.


    Surely, her fire immunity would have protected her, but she was not ready to reveal one of her greatest trump cards to her enemy since it had not yet realized that the heat of its mes would bepletely ineffective against her.


    ''Seems that I have made it pretty mad.''


    After Evelyn''stest attack, the pure white glow around the grand fire elemental had be tinged with red. Its demeanor had also changed from dealing with an annoying insect to an enemy that had royally pissed it off. The grand fire elemental had been conserving its energy in order to deal with the strongest Ranger present, but it was not going to hold back any longer.


    Evelyn had proven herself to be a threat that could not be ignored, and it was going to crush her with everything it had.

 Chapter 399: Chapter 399 Evelyn’s Secret Weapons

    ''Whoa!''


    Along with the grand fire elemental''s increasing rage, an intense pressure burst from its body as the heat around it rapidly increased.


    Most beasts at Evelyn''s rank would have found their bodies burning from the heat in the air, but luckily Evelyn could not be harmed by the rising temperature and was only blown back by the shockwave.


    Finding it difficult to fly, Evelyn had to use her wind magic to stabilize herself and fly higher to put some distance between her and the grand fire elemental.


    From above Evelynunched a spray of fire balls down on her opponent, but not a single one reached.


    Before her magic could hit its intended target, the grand fire elemental released a truly gargantuan ze from its body.


    Evelyn''s mes, while stronger, were consumed by the immense volume of fire being generated by the grand fire elemental.


    Soon the white-hot inferno expanded into the air where Evelyn was and caught up with her even as she attempted to flee.


    ''Damn it!''


    Unable to escape, Evelyn was engulfed by the st and disappeared from sight.


    Inside the inferno, she could not see anything but an all-epassing bright white light.


    Nevertheless, even being surrounded by mes as hot as the surface of a star, Evelyn only felt like she was submerged in a warm bath.


    ''I''d better make the best of this. Once this attack dies down, it will have certainly figured me out.''


    Evelyn knew that the grand fire elemental was no mindless monster and would understand that the heat of its me was unable to hurt her once she emerged from its current attack without a single burn on her body.


    Thankfully it had put a great deal of magical energy into its current re up and Evelyn was still hidden from it.


    Turning her head towards where shest saw the grand fire elemental, Evelynpressed her heavenly me within her mouth and prepared tounch one of her strongest attacks.


    ''Heavenlyser.''


    Opening her beak, Evelyn let lose a thin beam of crimson fire that tore through the white mes around her.


    "BOOM!"


    Concentrated into one spot, a colossal explosion erupted around the area where Evelyn''s attack hit. White was quickly overtaken by crimson and the intense ze created by the grand fire elemental began to fade.


    For a few seconds Evelyn wore a pleased expression on her face, believing that she had finally killed her target, but the white mes that had vanished erupted from the ground around the crater Evelyn''s heavenlyser had created.


    Within an instant the grand fire elemental had fully reformed and looked barely any worse for wear.


    ''It''s a real tough bastard isn''t it.'' Evelyn thought as she panted heavily from exhaustion.


    Thatst attack had used up most of the remaining magical energy she possessed, and she could tell that even the replenishment items she had taken were reaching their limits. Soon she would not have the strength left to continue fighting at this level.


    Still, she had no intention of losing and began thinking up new strategies tobat her seemingly invincible enemy.


    Unfortunately, before she had solidified her n, something wholly unexpected happened.


    A pool of fire spread out from the grand fire elemental''s feet and covered the ground around it.


    Then once the ground had melted, the grand fire elemental waved three of its six hands and the molten earth rose into the air.


    Evelyn could not hide the surprise on her face when she saw this. Certainly, she had expected the grand fire elemental to have some tricks hidden, but never did she think that it would be able to manipteva.


    ''I might be screwed here.''


    Several tendrils made of molten rock shot into the air towards Evelyn like speeding whips.


    Of all the attacks that they grand fire elemental had sent her way; this one was by far the most dangerous. While the heat of theva would certainly be ineffective against Evelyn, the force behind the blows certainly would not be.


    Taking rapid evasive maneuvers Evelyn darted around to avoid being stuck and at the same time started formting a counter strategy.


    ''Gravity Hammer.''


    Just before being hit, she massively increased the gravity around theva whips that were closing in and forced them back towards the ground.


    Unfortunately, the instant her gravity magic wore off, theva whipsunched back into the air and contoured to pursue her relentlessly.


    Feeling the pressure, Evelyn attempted a number of things until finally found a decent counter to the grand fire elemental''sva maniption.


    Using her wind magic she cooled the molten rock down until the grand fire elemental could no longer control them. Clearly it could not control earth by itself, or it already would have. In order to use this technique, it had to melt the ground with its mes.


    ''This isn''t enough though. I''m not going to win at this rate even if I don''t lose. I really wanted to get through this by using only my magic, but I can''t afford to keep being stubborn.'' Evelyn thought, a defeated look on her face.


    However, she was not going to let pride get in the way of her victory and pulled out a talisman from within her storage cuff.


    Once she released the item, a powerful blizzard burst out of the spell sealing talismans.


    The cold wind and snow cooled all of the molten whips the grand fire elemental was controlling and delivered a powerful blow to it body.


    While the first talisman was still in effect Evelyn pulled out another one that she dropped and allowed to fall towards the ground.


    When it touched the earth, fire resistant foliage that lived in the area gathered and turned into threerge wooden knights.


    ''I think that two should do it. I don''t want to waste any of the spell sealing talismans I collected from the Verdant Warlord''s Domain. They cost a stupid amount of tokens after all.''

 Chapter 400: Chapter 400 Target Acquired

    "Tear it to shreds." Evelynmanded her three wooden knights.


    Immediately the three recently formed constructs turned towards the grand fire elemental and charged towards it without any regard for their safety.


    Of course, the grand fire elemental did not just continue writhing after being stuck by the blizzard one of Evelyn''s spell sealing talismans had summoned. No, it was now livid, and its ming body exploded with heat to disperse the icy storm.


    It then created several sts of fire that it directed at the three wooden knights closing in on it.


    Once the three magical constructs had been engulfed, it turned its attention back towards Evelyn and charged up an attack to finish her off.


    However, Evelyn could not hide the smirk on her face as these events unfolded. Her wooden knights were created from a spell that the Verdant Warlord had personally imbued with his power. It was going to take more than just a bit of fire to destroy them.


    When the three wooden knights burst out of the ze that had consumed them, they were mostly unharmed and instantly began attacking the grand fire elemental.


    Working in tandem they shed the grand fire elemental''s body with their swords and knocked it around with their shields.


    The damage they did was negligible, but it did interrupt the attack the grand fire elemental was preparing to kill Evelyn with.


    ''Physical attacks may not be particrly effective on fire elementals, but it still requires energy to put itself back together. After all the big attacks it has sent at me even it must be starting to run low on magical energy.'' Evelyn observed from above.


    Her three constructs were doing their job exceptionally well. With their impable teamwork they were preventing the grand fire elemental from focusing on any one of them and leaving most of its attempts to counterattack ineffective.


    Eventually the grand fire elemental shrunk its body down and was about to unleash an omnidirectional burst of fire in order to incarnate the three wooden knights at once.


    Except, this was just the opening that Evelyn had been waiting for.


    Swooping down, Evelyn pulled arge container out of her storge cuff and poured copious amounts of aqueous foam onto her unsuspecting enemy.


    The instant the foam touched the grand fire elemental its body that had been about to explode became unstable and the energy behind its attack went wild and discharged harmlessly.


    Sounds like a steam whistle followed and Evelyn was certain that this was a howl of intense agonying from her opponent.


    A st of heat erupted from its body a momentter and sted away the aqueous foam, but Evelyn was still satisfied with the results. She had clearly caused a good deal of damage and was getting closer to exhausting her target.


    ''Oh, that''s scary.'' Evelyn thought sarcastically.


    After recovering from being doused in aqueous foam, the grand fire elemental turned towards Evelyn with a palpable aura of rage.


    Normally being on the receiving end of such powerful animosity from an undoubtedly stronger entity would normally be enough to unsettle most living creatures, but Evelyn just continued to stare down at the grand fire elemental with a confident grin.


    While it had turned all of its attention towards her, the three wooden knights had closed in on it again and began rending it apart with their swords.


    Furious explosions followed the unceasing attacks from Evelyn''s constructs, but the damage that the grand fire elemental was able to do to the three wooden knights was not enough to bring them down. It was clear that its attacks were bing less powerful and more erratic due to its anger.


    ''And here''s another one.''


    Flying in when an opening presented itself, Evelyn dropped arge bag filled with fire-retardant salt on top of the grand fire elemental.


    Another even louder howl of pain escaped from Evelyn''s target as it was covered in thepound that was like a powerful poison to it.


    The fire-retardant''s chemical reaction swiftly began to weaken the mes of the grand fire elemental and its one impressive form started to rapidly shrink.


    Having been exposed to a substance that caused it pain worse than anything it had ever experienced, the grand fire elemental no longer exuded rage towards Evelyn and instead looked at her in fear. From its perspective, she was some sort of monster the likes of which it had never seen.


    Weakened as it was, the grand fire elemental coalesced its body into a ming orb and shot towards the elemental rift. It had decided that it could not win and chose to retreat instead.


    ''Does it really think I am going to let it escape.''


    Like a rocket, Evelyn flew after her retreating target and caught up to it quickly with an extreme burst of speed.


    Then once she had gotten in front of it, she dropped another container which shattered in front of the grand fire elemental.


    Thepressed carbon dioxide exploded out and temporarily dropped the oxygen levels around the grand fire elemental.


    This caused its body to split apart in all directions as its mes desperately searched for the oxygen they needed to survive.


    Evelyn wasn''t nice enough to allow it a single moment of reprieve though and used her wind magic to keep the grand fire elemental from reaching the air that it needed. At the same time she also rapidly changed the gravity in the area from greater to lesser to further disorient the suffocating grand fire elemental.


    ''And this will finish it.''


    With the surrounding airpressed around her, Evelyn released her heavenly me in onerge burst that covered the entirety of her enemy.


    Before long the entirety of the bright white mes that had once burned proudly were snuffed out by Evelyn''s crimson mes.


    As thest spark of tis life faded, all that remained of the grand fire elemental was a glowing white stone that exuded heated. Finally, Evelyn had secured the heart of a grand fire elemental.

 Chapter 401: Chapter 401 End of the Fire Elementals’ Attack

    Having finished off the grand fire elemental Evelyn slowly descended to the ground in front of the glowing heart that was all that remained of the once powerful entity.


    ''Yep, this is it. I haven''t confirmed it yet, but all of my instincts are telling me this is what I have been searching for.''


    Unable to hide her ecstatic expression, Evelyn grabbed the glowing white stone that was the heart of a grand fire elemental.


    The moment she touched it a searing heat burst from the stone and attempted to burn her. Even after dying the grand fire elemental was still trying to fight back.


    Unfortunately, its final defense mechanism was worthless against Evelyn. The extreme heat that would have melted the skin off of most creatures only felt pleasantly warm to her.


    ''And that is four of five. All I need is one more item to achieve my evolution to the tyrant rank.'' Evelyn thought as she stored away the grand fire elemental''s heart.


    With her opponent dead and her objectivepleted, Evelyn turned her gaze towards the battle between the Inferno Filed Rangers and the fire elementals.


    At only a nce it was clear to see that the side with the overwhelming advantage was the Rangers. Thanks to Evelyn fighting the strongest fire elemental they were able to focus the entirety of their strength on the horde trying to breach their defenses.


    ''Doesn''t look like they even suffered a single casualty. I guess having a sovereign rank beast fighting on the frontlines made all the difference.'' Evelyn thought, her eyes looked on Yulbok, the Head Ranger in charge of this area.


    Normally it would have been his job to square off against the grand fire elemental while his subordinates fought the weaker elementals, but instead he had allowed Evelyn to distract the strongest enemy on the battlefield.


    Naturally he would have been fine with her perishing after stalling the grand fire elemental, but her victory over it was an unexpected boon that allowed him topletely turn the tides of the battle.


    As Evelyn continued to stare at him, Yulbok felt her gaze and briefly turned around and showed her a great big grin on his face.


    This caused Evelyn to scowl because she knew that he would have left her for dead if she had proven incapable of beating the grand fire elemental. Of course, he had told her outright not to expect any assistance for the Rangers, but she still felt sour about it. She had really exerted herself to protect the Rangers, even if it had been for her own self-interest.


    Maybe she had been hoping they would show a bit more concern for her as well.


    ''Nothing to do about it. I just make sure that they pay me back for all the effort I exerted. Now, time to earn some more points.''


    While the battle was wrapping up and it was clear that the Rangers would win, Evelyn still wanted to make them feel more indebted to her and swiftly joined the battle along with her still active wooden knights.


    With her magic Evelyn cut through the fire elementals and made a show of doing as much as she possibly could. By the time thest fire elemental had been routed every single one of the Inferno Field Rangers had seen Evelyn''s valiant efforts.


    ''Whew, that was exhausting.'' Evelyn thought as she took out a bottle of water and began drinking.


    Normally she was able to get all the liquids she needed simply from eating, but she was feeling especially thirsty and guzzled down a great deal of water to replenish what she had lost during the battle.


    As she was recuperating, Evelyn noticed out of the corner of her eye that Yulbok and Lizlul were approaching her.


    ''I don''t think they are going to stab me in the back, but best to be prepared.''


    Ever distrustful of others, she prepared a specific spell sealing talisman she had obtained from the Verdant Warlord''s Domain just in case. If Yulbok really did decide to try to kill her, Evelyn knew that her own power even if she was in peak condition would not be enough to fight him off.


    Thankfully he did not seem to have any intention of attacking her and greeted her warmly.


    "That was mighty impressive. Don''t think I have ever seen an awakened rank beast fight like that before. I''d say you would put most mid-tier tyrant ranks to shame even. The Roost is certainly lucky to have a prodigy like you." Yulbok said with a friendly smile on his face.


    He then thanked Evelyn for her contributions and making sure that those under hismand did not die. An attack of the scale they had just faced would normally end up having at least a dozen casualties.


    "Unfortunately, I don''t really know what to repay you with. You''ve already obtained what you set out to get through your own efforts after all."


    "Yes, it is true that I now have the grand fire elemental heart I came here to get. But that doesn''t mean that there aren''t any other things that I might want. If it is not too brazen, might I give you a list?"


    "Sure, go ahead. You really helped us out. You certainly contributed enough to this battle for me to give you another grand fire elemental''s heart, so as long as what you want is not more valuable than that, I''ll get it to you if I can."


    "Okay, once we have returned to the fortress and I have rested a bit, I''ll tell you what other items I am seeking." Evelyn said, satisfied with Yulbok''s gratefulness and integrity. If he wanted, he could use his greater strength to deny her any reward, and even try and bully her into giving him what she had earned herself.


    Luckily, he seemed to have a good moral character and would stick to his word.


    Of course, he still would have left Evelyn for dead had she proved incapable of backing up her own words. He had to look after his own after all.

 Chapter 402: Chapter 402 Everything She Wants

    Upon returning to the Inferno Field Rangers'' fortress, Evelyn immediately headed for the room that had been lent to her and copsed. She was incredibly exhausted after the difficult fight against the grand fire elemental and felt like she wanted to sleep for several days straight.


    ''No, I can''t fall asleep just yet.'' She thought, forcing herself back up.


    While she did trust the Rangers to a certain degree and had figured that most of them were pretty good natured, she was not going to let her guard down. In the back of her mind the worst-case scenario was always a possibility.


    Yulbok could have been hiding his true intentions incredibly well, or perhaps some higher up from the Great Shell would hear about her and decide to capture her to find out more about the alchemical items she had created tobat the fire elementals.


    Evelyn had been beaten, tortured, and experimented on too many times to ever feelpletely safe around strangers that she did not unquestionably know. Because of this paranoia she set up several magical defenses within her room that would alert her if anyone tried to enter while she slept.


    Once she had finished activating her protections, Evelyn finally feltfortable going to sleep in her room within the fortress.


    Thankfully, her rest went by uninterrupted, and she woke up around twelve hourster feeling refreshed.


    After quickly loosening up her body, she deactivated the magical items she had set up and headed directly towards the fortress'' mess hall. Now that she had slept, she was feeling fairly hungry.


    However, as she passed through the halls of the fortress, she was surprised when every tortoise she passed stopped and greeted her in a friendly manner. The indifferent demeanor most of them had just the day before was entirely gone. It seemed that her actions in the battle had really won over most of the Rangers here.


    When she reached the mess hall things were exactly the same and she was practically mobbed by individuals that wanted to express their gratitude.


    For Evelyn, this honestly put her on edge. She was surrounded by several powerful beasts, but not a single one of them was disying a hint of hostility towards her. Still, she could not drop her wariness and was constantly thinking that one of them might use this opportunity to attack here.


    "Come on everyone, clearly, she is ufortable with you all crowding around her. Give her some space." Lizlul said,ing to Evelyn''s rescue.


    Seeing a path open up around the group that had encircled her, Evelyn hastily moved towards Lizlul and used her like a shield. Evelyn had little experience with crowds, especially friendly ones she could not just st her way out of.


    Seeing that Evelyn was feeling uneasy, the group of grateful Rangers dispersed and kept their distance. They just wanted to thank Evelyn for helping them and causing her any distress was far from their intentions.


    "I''ll bet you must be hungry after how hard you fought yesterday. Follow me and I will make sure that the cook gives you the best food we have avable."


    Taking Lizlul up on her offer, Evelyn went with Lizlul and received a giant tter of delicious food.


    Once she had finished eating, Evelyn felt satisfied and asked Lizlul if now would be a good time to visit Yulbok.


    "Well, I am sure that he is busy, but I imagine he will make time for you. After all your efforts yesterday let us win a battle that normally would have seen several casualties. We weren''t the only fortress that was attacked, and many Rangers lost their lives in battle yesterday. We are the only one that got away with zero deaths." Lizlul said, a grateful expression on her face.


    "There is no reason to show me any gratitude. I did what I did only for my own gain." Evelyn said dismissively.


    "Sure, but you still fought hard and protected myself and myrades. Everyone does things for themselves. That doesn''t mean that others won''t be appreciative of what you did."


    "Fine, then you''re wee." Evelyn said bashfully.


    Lizlul could not help but smiling at Evelyn''s timidness in the face of appreciation. On the battlefield she had been confident and gant, but she waspletely different when it came to receiving praise.


    Leaving the mess hall, Lizlul brought Evelyn to Yulbok''s office and waited for him to let them in. Unlikest time though, he did not have them wait for even a second and had the door open the moment they walked in front of it.


    Just like thest time she was here, the office was bustling with busy Rangers, and Yulbok had arge stack of papers on his desk and several flying messages were constantlynding in front of him. Being the head authority of a fortress was evidently a busy job.


    "I was wondering when you were going to stop by. Do you the list of items you want as a reward for your efforts during the battle yesterday?"


    "Yes, here is the list. If at all possible, I want one of the two at the bottom if nothing else." Evelyn said, passing a sheet of paper to Yulbok.


    Taking it, he quickly looked it over and found no problems with what Evelyn wanted until he looked at the final two items on the list.


    Everything else had been alchemical ingredients and equipment that while valuable were not particrly umon. However, what Evelyn had already stated she wanted the most was one of two incredibly rare items on par with the rarity of a grand fire elemental''s heart.


    "A Sylphid''s Tear or a Roc''s foot. You certainly have a taste for difficult to acquire items. These are definitely both on the same tier as a grand fire elemental''s heart, but I am not sure that anyone within the Great Shell will have one.


    At least with grand fire elementals theye to us, but A Sylphid''s Tear of a Roc''s foot are not things onees by easily or often." Yulbok said, a grimace on his face.


    Seeing his reaction Evelyn figured that she had no shot at getting one of the two final items she would need to evolve. Still, she had figured that it was worth a try.


    Yet, as she was about to assure Yulbok that it was fine if he could not get her either a Sylphid''s tear or a Roc''s foot, he spoke up with a look of determination in his eyes.


    "I can''t make any promises, but I''ll use my connections to try and fine one of these items for you. It might take a few days, but you are more than wee to stay here for the time being. As for the alchemical supplies you want, those should be easy enough to acquire. I''ll have Bazo take from the fortress'' surplus stocks and anything we arecking I will requisition from the Great Shell."


    A look of shock on her face, Evelyn could not believe what she had just heard. Yulbok had just assured her that he would do everything he could to get her everything that she wanted. It was almost too good to be true.

 Chapter 403: Chapter 403 An Unexpected Connection

    After her meeting with Yulbok, Evelyn said goodbye to Lizlul and headed outside of the fortress to collect some of the rare items that grew in the Inferno Field. She did not know how long she would have to wait, but she figured that she might as well use her time efficiently.


    However, once nearly a week had gone by without any luck on Yulbok''s part finding either a Sylphid''s Tear or a Roc''s foot Evelyn was about ready to give up and be on her way.


    Yet, when she went to inform Yulbok of her decision, he unexpectedly had some good news for her.


    "I finally managed to find someone that had a Sylphid''s Tear in their possession. She is one of the highest-ranking members of the Great Shell and she told me that she would be willing to trade me the Tear. Though she was very insistent on meeting you in person.


    Apparently, she won''t give it up if you don''t meet her standards, but I doubt that will be a problem seeing as how you beat a grand fire elemental while still only being a peak awakened beast." Yulbok said ecstatically. He had been working pretty hard to fulfill his end of the agreement he had with Evelyn.


    Especially since for thest few days she had been continuing to help out by culling fire elementals and aberrant beasts.


    "This is certainly a surprise. I was beginning to give up hope. But when say that the individual that has the Sylphid''s Tear is part of your Great Shell''s upper echelon, does that mean she is a peak sovereign rank beast?" Evelyn asked, wanting to gauge how strong this tortoise was.


    "No, Lady Yinqwy is even more eminent. It was only in thest decade, but she has reached the cmity rank. Honestly, I was a bit surprised that she responded to my inquiry. Someone as powerful as her would normally not bother with a matter like this."


    A bit confused, Evelyn asked if Yulbok had any connection to this Yinqwy, but he only shook his head in response. He had heard about her through reputation only. Among the members of the Great Shell, she was one of the top five most powerful and would not have any reason to bother with only a low tier sovereign rank like him.


    Hearing this only made Evelyn more suspicious. Cmity beasts were among the strongest existences in the world. As Yulbok said, they usually would not even show interest in weaker sovereign beasts, so why would Yinqwy be so keen on meeting her when she was only an awakened beast.


    ''I still have the return talisman I got from the Verdant Warlord''s Domain. It was created by a person that reached the true peak of this world, so it should be able to warp me back to the domain even if a cmity beast tries to interfere. If this Yinqwy turns out to be hostile, I will just use it to run away.'' Evelyn thought, already preparing for the worst-case scenario.


    Nevertheless, she could not resist the allure of receiving thest item she needed to evolve and agreed to the meeting. She was always risking her life in the pursuit of greater power anyway, so this was no different.


    "Got it. I will set things up. It might take some time since Lady Yinqwy is almost always busy, but I am sure that I can arrange for you to meet with her within a half year at thetest." Yulbok said with a proud look on his face since he was able to fulfill his promise to Evelyn.


    Except, she was far from ecstatic to hear that she would have to wait for several months. While most beasts at her rank would be many decades old, Evelyn''s total age from both of her lives was only around twenty years. Her perception of time was not the same as centuries old beings like Yulbok and Yinqwy who thought of six months as almost no time at all.


    Unfortunately, she knew that there was nothing she could do to expedite things. A cmity beast like Yinqwy would not hurry herself for Evelyn''s sake.


    "I understand that it will be a bit of a wait, but if you want, I can give you lucrative assignments to pass the time."


    Of course, Yulbok was not making this suggestionpletely out of the goodness of his heart. He wanted to continue using Evelyn''s strength to clear missions that were assigned to him. So far, she had proved to be a dominant force in the Inferno Field. Her abilities matched up overwhelmingly favorably against the denizens of the Inferno Field that almost all used fire as their main weapon.


    If he could keep her around forever, he honestly would.


    "I have nothing else to do so I suppose I might as well keep busy. Just don''t expect me to do anything for free." Evelyn replied. She could tell what Yulbok really wanted but had no reason to refuse as long as it still benefited her.


    But to her surprise, the far-off meeting she had already put in the back of her mind was suddenly scheduled for the next day. Yinqwy had responded to Yulbok far faster than expected and was already on her way to the fortress with the Sylphid''s Tear.


    Naturally this only served to heighten Evelyn''s worries. She was afraid that Yinqwy might have deduced that she possessed a heavenly me and was on her way to im it. Evelyn could not think of any other reason why a cmity rank beast would move so quickly to meet with her.


    ''Should I just run away before she arrives. Argh, but then I will be giving up my chance on getting the Sylphid''s Tear. I just will have to keep the return talisman hidden in my mouth and ready to be used at any moment.'' Evelyn thought, working up her courage to meet with Yinqwy despite her misgivings.


    For the next two hours she nervously waited in the meeting room that had been prepared. Every second her senses were on high alert for any sort of disturbance.


    Eventually she noticed a single presence approaching the room.


    When the door opened, Evelyn was surprised to see Lizlul guiding a beautiful woman with deep blue hair.


    ''I could not sense her at all.'' Evelyn thought, a pit of dread in her stomach. She had been on full alert, yet she only noticed that there were two individuals present until she locked eyes on who she presumed to be Yinqwy.


    "Thank you for guiding me. I wish to speak with Evelyn alone, so you can go now." Yinqwy said in a gentle but authoritative tone.


    Lizlul, feeling an immense pressure being in the presence of such a high-ranking member of the Great Shell bowed her head deeply and hastily left the room. She was too overwhelmed to even give an ounce of concern for Evelyn.


    Once the door was shut, Yinqwy turned her gaze towards Evelyn and looked at her appraisingly.


    Nearly three minutes went by in silence and a heavy tension filled the air in the room as Evelyn became more anxious.


    "It looks like Mel''s boasting was not unfounded. To think you would be just as exceptional as she said you were, Evelyn. I''m a bit jealous she was able to find such an extraordinary apprentice."

 Chapter 404: Chapter 404 An Unexpected Connection (2)

    ''Huh?'' Evelyn thought, a dumbfounded expression on her face.


    She had been a bundle of tension wound tightly, but out of nowhere Yinqwy began speaking to her in a friendly and familiar manner.


    Of course, neither of them had ever met the other before, but it took only a few seconds for Evelyn to realize that they "Mel", Yinqwy had mentioned was her master Melisandre.


    "Ho- how is it you know my master? I didn''t think that the Roost had any real connection with the Great Shell."


    "Well, it certainly was a long time ago, but I happened to help her out when she wandered into the Inferno Field cocksure of her abilities." Yinqwy said, a nostalgic expression on her face.


    "And while the Great Shell and Roost aren''t in a formal alliance, that doesn''t mean that there are no personal friendships between our members. Mel and I have been close for centuries, and I even owe her a great deal for her assistance in obtaining thest catalyst I needed to achieve my current rank.


    That is one of the reasons why I just had toe and see the apprentice she had bragged about in her letters to me."


    With thingsing together, Evelyn at least now understood why a cmity beast like Yinqwy would go out of her way to meet with her on such short notice.


    Still, Evelyn did not lower her guard because of this revtion. While it seemed unlikely perhaps what Yinqwy had said was a lie to get her to be less cautious.


    "If you are Melisandre''s friend, then have you perhaps heard from her recently? I am sure that someone as powerful as you already must know what happened to the Roost and that I have lost my connection to it." Evelyn said, raising up her foot where she used to wear her identification cuff.


    "Yes, I am aware of your situation. But unfortunately, Mel has not contacted me since the Tyrannis Union''s attack on the Roost. In fact, no one I know has heard anything. Not even the foxes and crows know anything about the Roost''s current status. They have remainedpletely silent without any contact with the outside world."


    Evelyn mentally clicked her tongue in when she heard that Yinqwy did not know anything. She had been hoping to at least learn something new.


    However, it soon became apparent that Yinqwy knew even less than her when she asked Evelyn about what had really happened during the battle. Apparently finding concrete information from spies in the Tyrannis Union had little sess.


    "I understand. I''ll tell you everything I know." Evelyn said, unable to prevent her tone from turning sorrowful as she recalled the battle.


    By the end of her retelling, Evelyn could see that Yinqwy''s demeanor had changed ever so slightly. She was still trying to look confident and strong as a cmity beast but hearing about what had happened to her friend clearly unnerved her.


    "Thank you for informing me of what happened. While it sounds like Mel was in dire straits, I will believe in her tenacity. I''m certain that something like that will not have killed her." Yinqwy said, half to reassure Evelyn, and half to convince herself.


    Evelyn wanted to respond that she was certain Melisandre had not been fatally wounded, but a bit of the magical pressure that Yinqwy had been suppressing was leaking out from her after hearing about the horrible wounds the leader of the Deamhain Sect had inflicted on her.


    Quickly Evelyn felt it be difficult to breathe, and she began to fall forward and barely was able to catch herself with her wings.


    Seeing that her slightpse in control was harming Evelyn, Yinqwy reeled in her anger and fully retracted her magical energy back inside of herself.


    "Sorry, it seems I got a bit worked up. Are you alright?" Yinqwy asked.


    "Yes, I- I''ll be fine." Evelyn responded fearfully. While it had not been directed at her, the animosity of a cmity rank beast was suffocating to be around. Evelyn was feeling pressured enough to have been just a second away from activating the return talisman she had hidden in her mouth.


    Thankfully Yinqwy had realized her mistake before Evelyn felt the need to take drastic action.


    After her slipup, Yinqwy immediately took out a small crystal vile from her storage magic tool and set it on the table in front of Evelyn.


    "I believe that this is what you were looking for."


    Almostpletely forgetting about the incident that had just urred, Evelyn''s face lit up and she closely examined the vile.


    Inside was a single beautiful teardrop shaped gem. The luster on its surface was unlike anything Evelyn had ever seen and it reflected the light that hit it in an indescribable mystical way.


    "It''s beautiful. I am not sure if I have ever seen anything like it before." Evelyn said, enraptured by the Syrphid''s Tear.


    "Yes, I am quite fond of it myself. It is a rare and valuable treasure that has a great deal of wind magical energy sealed within it. When I originally obtained it, I had nned on using it as a material to make a powerful weapon, but I grew a bit attached to it and never ended up doing anything with it."


    Despite how ecstatic she was to have thest catalyst she needed to achieve her evolution right in front of her, she hesitated to take it when she heard how precious it was to Yinqwy.


    "Are you sure I can take it? From what you have said, is it not dear to you?" Evelyn asked, not wanting Yinqwy totter regret giving her Sylphid''s Tear away. Thest thing she needed was a cmity beast with negative feelings towards her.


    "Yes, it is yours now. All I have done with it over the years is admire it. Better that it actually goes to someone that will make use of its powers. Plus, I managed to get something more practical for my current rank from that youngster Yulbok. You must have really helped him out for him to have worked so hard to find that for you."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn could tell that Yinqwy wanted more details and exined how she had shared her recipes for alchemical items especially effective against fire elementals. As well as how she fought against the recent influx of fire elementals and prevented any of Yulbok''s subordinates from bing casualties.


    "That certainly sheds some light on why he is so staunchly supporting you. Out here on the frontlines, there is nothing more precious than yourrades. If I was still amander at one of these fortresses, I would treat you exactly the same way." Yinqwy said, her gaze not in the present but staring off into a long gone past.


    With the Sylphid''s Tear now in her possession, Evelyn felt anxious to leave the Inferno Field and return to the burrowing owls'' home so that she could evolve.


    However, Yinqwy wanted to keep chatting with her, and Evelyn knew better than to be rude to such a powerful beast.


    Eventually though, a magic letter flew into the room and fell down in front of Yinqwy.


    Heaving a sigh, she picked it up and read the contents of the message.


    "It seems that my absence has been discovered. If only I had less capable subordinates, I could have snuck away for longer." Yinqwy said bitterly.


    Listening to thisment, Evelyn realized that Yinqwy had not just made time for her but shirked whatever responsibilities she had toe here.


    ''I''m d that I don''t work under her. Not sure if I could stand a boss that randomly disappears and obviously doesn''t care for whatever work she was doing.''


    Luckily Yinqwy did not try to extend her stay or rope Evelyn into anything and reluctantly stood up and made her way towards the exit.


    Yet, before she opened the door she turned back around and looked at Evelyn with a serious glint in her eyes.


    "If you ever find yourself in trouble, know that you have an ally in me. Mel is a good friend and since you are her apprentice, I''ll be sure to help you out if you are in a bind. Also, if you do find out anything about the Roost, please make sure to tell me. I''d like to confirm Mel''s condition personally if at all possible."


    "Got it. I will make sure to send you a message once I learn about the Roost''s current status. And if I ever get into any trouble I need protection from, I''ll make sure to take you up on your offer."


    Yinqwy gave Evelyn ast warm smile before disappearing in a puff of smoke that left Evelyn with a shocked expression on her face.


    ''I''ve no idea what sort of magic she just used, but no point thinking about something I can''t understand. Anyway, it''s time that I get out of here so that I can evolve. Finally, I will be able to begin striking back against those that have taken from me.''

 Chapter 405: Chapter 405 Send Off and Return

    Evelyn, having aplished her goal of obtaining a grand fire elemental''s heart in the Inferno Field and luckily being rewarded with a Sylphid''s Tear, was now itching to leave immediately so that she could evolve to the tyrant rank.


    Though before she left, Evelyn felt that she at least owed it to Lizlul and Yulbok to say farewell in person. The two of them had taken pretty good care of her while she was at this fortress.


    "Wait! You''re leaving already?!" Yulbok shouted when Evelyn informed him of her ns.


    "Yes, I''ve obtained what I came here for and need to continue on my journey. Still, before I go, I wanted to thank you for your help during my stay here. I aplished all of my goals and more thanks to you."


    "But are you sure you want to leave? I''ve actually been working to make you an honorary Inferno Field Ranger. Right now, you can''t get back to the Roost so you should stay here where you will have ess to facilities and goods you can''t get out in the wilds.


    You wouldn''t be able to enter the Great Shell proper, but you could still earn Shell Points by working at this fortress and exchange them for valuable resources. I promise that you are more than wee here."


    Yulbok''s offer came as a surprise to Evelyn. She had not expected him to think so highly of her. In fact, it was honestly surprising to see him so desperate to keep her around.


    "As tempting as that offer is, I have others waiting for me to return. Staying here would be to betray myself. There are certain goals I have sworn toplete, and I can''t aplish them here."


    Seeing the hardened resolve in Evelyn''s eyes, Yulbok could only sigh and give up on recruiting her.


    "Very well. Just remember that you will always be wee back here so long as I am in charge of this fortress. If you ever want toe back and fight fire elementals again, I''ll be more than happy to add you to my forces."


    "I''ll keep that in mind. Just don''t expect me to help you out for free." Evelyn said, turning around and heading out of Yulbok''s office.


    Yet, before she took her first step, Yulbok called out to her and tossed a small badge her way.


    Deftly she caught it with one of her ws and looked at the emblem.


    "That''s my personal token indicating you are my friend. I know you already got one from a junior ranger named Krunnen, but mine will carry more weight in case you ever run into anyone else associated with the Great Shell. Feel free to use my name if it will ever help you."


    "Thanks. If the opportunity ever arises, I''ll make sure to."


    After that Evelyn left Yulbok''s office and headed towards the mess hall to meet with Lizlul.


    When Evelyn informed her that she nned to depart from the fortress today, Lizlul''s reaction was simr to Yulbok''s.


    "What?! But, you can''t just leave without any warning!"


    Lizlul asked Evelyn to at least stay for a couple more days so that she could receive a proper send off, but she only shook her head in refusal.


    She wanted to hurry up and evolve. Her siblings and friends had already left her behind and she was thest one that needed to reach the tyrant rank before they could move on.


    "Fine. Then we will just have to hold a farewell celebration for you right here, right now." Lizlul said enthusiastically.


    Then, before Evelyn could stop her, she got everyone in the mess hall whipped up into a frenzy and an impromptu party began. Evelyn had be quite popr during her stay and all the members of the fortress happily sent her off with morous festivities.


    Once things had gotten a bit out of control and no one was paying attention to her anymore, Evelyn slipped out of the mess hall and made her way towards the nearest exit.


    ''It was certainly more fun here than I ever expected, but it is time to get back to work. I''m going to make the Tyrannis Union, and the Deamhain Sect pay. For Otis, and myself.'' Evelyn thought, flying into the sky with a steely expression on her face.


    ¡­


    For several days she flew with almost no rest and made her way directly to the burrowing owls'' home.


    It had not yet quite been a month since her departure to the Inferno Field and she was hoping to make it in time for when the magic spring next filled with magical energy. She already felt a bit bad about monopolizing the powerful magical phenomenon for herself a second month in a row, but this would be thest time.


    The spring only filled up with magical energy potent enough to advance beasts up to the tyrant rank. After using it once more for her evolution, she would never have need of it again.


    Upon her return, the burrowing owls weed her warmly as they always had. To those that had fought with her to reim their home she was their savoir, and many of the younger burrowing owls almost treated her like some sort of god because of the reverence their leaders showed her.


    "Lady Evelyn, you have returned!" Po said, ecstatically.


    "You know, there was no need to rush to greet me. I would havee found you within the burrows." Evelyn said, wearing a stiff expression since Po had frantically flown to meet her the second he learned of her arrival.


    "No, there is no way I could make you wait or expect you toe to me." Po said like it was some sort of personal creed he had to adhere to.


    "Though, you did return far earlier than what you had told us to expect. Was you quest sessful?"


    "Yes, more so than I could have ever expected. I got lucky and obtained thest two catalysts I need to evolve. The next time the magic spring fills with magical energy, I''ll finally be a tyrant beast."

 Chapter 406: Chapter 406 Metamorphosis

    "That is joyous news! We must prepare a feat to celebrate immediately!" Po said with excitement more intensely than Evelyn was expecting.


    Just like her recent sendoff party at the Inferno Field Ranger''s Fortress, Evelyn failed to react quickly enough to prevent a giant celebration from happening. Po had already flown off and started spreading the word by the time she realized what was happening.


    ''Whatever. I''ll just let them do as they want.'' Evelyn thought, resigned.


    She wasn''t one forrge parties, especially when she was the center of attention, but she figured she might as well let the burrowing owls have their fun. After she reached the tyrant rank, there was a good chance that she would never return.


    While Po was busy preparing for the celebration, Evelyn headed towards her room within the burrowing owl''s home.


    Having stayed here quite a bit she had afortable bed set up along with some decorations to liven the ce up.


    Looking around, she felt a sense of sadness welling up inside her. Soon she would have to abandon this ce forever. So far, she had kept off the radar of the people after her, but once she evolved and went on the offense, there was no doubt she would attract a great deal of negative attention. Coming back after would only serve to bring danger to the little owls that had treated her so warmly.


    ''I can''t linger on any regrets. I already chose my path and will see it through.'' Evelyn thought, pushing any glum thoughts out of her mind.


    Once she had her emotions fully under control again, she moved over to her bed and fell asleep. She was exhausted from her journey here from the Inferno Field and knew she would need her energy for the undoubtedly enormous festivities Po and the other burrowing owls would prepare.


    ¡­


    The next several days went by, and to Evelyn''s surprise there was not just one party, but multiple. Every day the burrowing owls celebrated Evelyn''s sess in obtaining the grand fire elemental''s heart and the Sylphid''s Tear.


    This nonstop celebrating was tiring for Evelyn, yet the burrowing owls only seemed to be more invigorated the longer they partied.


    Nevertheless, on the day that the magic spring finally showed signs of activating, all of the fatigue Evelyn had been feeling was washed away at once. Her excitement quickly swelled, and she could not wait for the moment the spring became full.


    Time seemed to tick by both incredibly quickly and aggravatingly slowly, but eventually the spring glowed with an immense amount of magical energy.


    Evelyn let out a deep breath to calm herself and pulled the five catalysts she needed out of her storage cuff.


    First came the graviton gem she had nearly gotten crushed to obtain, next was the magic core of the human fire magic expert she had killed within the Verdant Warlord''s Domain. After that she brought out the grand fire elemental''s heart and the Sylphid''s Tear which were the prizes she had earned during her recent excursion into the Inferno Field.


    Lastly, she grabbed the evolution potion she had made which would act as a substitute for the final item she normally would have needed to obtain.


    Each of the five items glowed with the magical energy Evelyn had charged them with and she could feel them beginning to resonate with her.


    ''Not yet. If there isn''t enough magical energy present, I could end up with a stunted evolution or outright perish.''


    With a swift p of her wings, Evelyn hovered into the air and then flew around the magic spring.


    As she went, she dropped red and purple magic crystals she had obtained from the mine that the burrowing owls controlled. There was no telling how much magical energy she would need to evolve so she was not stingy and emptied her entire stock of higher-grade magic crystals.


    Once she was finished, she returned to the shore and collected her catalyst. Then she waded into the water and swam out to the middle of the spring.


    ''Down the hatch.'' Evelyn thought, first drinking the evolution potion in one gulp.


    Not long after she drank the potion Evelyn''s body began to glow and the four remaining catalysts that were floating in the water around her lit up as well.


    Thin strands of magical energy extend from Evelyn''s body and connected to the items.


    The magical energy and properties of the graviton gem, human magic core, grand fire elemental heart, and Sylphid''s Tear began flowing into Evelyn. One by one the catalyst lost their luster and became devoid of the power they once held. Finally, the magic core was dragged towards Evelyn''s body and absorbed into her.


    Normally this would create a sort of pseudo magic core within a beast, but since Evelyn already had a true magic core due to her human soul, the core she had just absorbed served to reinforce her own.


    Up to this point everything had been going as expected, but now that she hadpleted the first step of the evolution process, the dormant Aethersphere activated.


    Instantly everything felt a searing pain in her chest as the divine magical item came to life.


    Just like when Evelyn had evolved into an awakened rank, the damaged Aethersphere drained the great quantity of magical energy in the surroundings to repair itself.


    Evelyn had expected this to happen, which was one of the reasons she had added so many extra magic crystals to the spring.


    Unfortunately, she had not expected the Aethersphere to be as persistent as it currently was. In what felt like the blink of an eye it had already broken down seventy percent of the magic crystals and showed no signs of stopping.


    Along with the magical energy she needed to evolve being drained away, Evelyn also felt her body being crushed by the out-of-control Aethersphere that was rapidly increasing and decreasing gravity around her.


    ''Damn it you greedy little thing! Just m down already or you''re going to rip me apart!'' Evelyn internally shouted.


    At first, she did not receive any sort of response, but the more she focused on the Aethersphere and yelled at it in her head, the closer she felt to connecting to it.


    However, the pain only continued to increase, and Evelyn could only grit her beak and continue to struggle with her entire body and soul.


    Yet just before she felt that she would reach her limit, she felt her will get through the Aethersphere and the divine item stopped its rampage.


    It wasn''t so much a coherentmunication, but someone how she understood that the Aethersphere had just achieved a profound repair and that her connection to it was greater than ever before.


    Evelyn really wanted to explore what sort of function the Aethersphere had just unlocked, but she did not have any time to worry about it at the moment.


    Now that the interruption to her evolution had ceased, all of the remaining magical energy within the spring was flowing towards her and wrapping her up in a gleaming cocoon.


    ''It won''t be enough.'' Evelyn knew instinctively. The Aethersphere had absorbed too much magical energy while repairing itself.


    This far into the process, though, there was nothing Evelyn could do. Her consciousness was already bing fuzzy, and her body was immobilized. All she could do was wait for the evolution to conclude in failure and most likely her death.


    ''Even if I end up a deformed mess, I can''t die here. I already chose to continue living and won''t be beaten by something like this.'' Evelyn thought, resolving to push forward no matter what.


    She could already tell that her evolution would end up iplete, but that did not matter to her so long as she could continue on. Even if she became a monster, she would see her goals through.


    Except, as the cocoon of magical energy was almost finished wrapping around her, Evelyn heard a loud ssh next to her.


    This first ssh was then followed by several more and the magical energy in the surroundings rapidly increased.


    ''I see. Thank you, Po, and every single one of you burrowing owls.'' Evelyn thought beforepletely losing consciousness.


    Thanks to the immense amount of magical energy spread through the area, Evelyn''s feelings had been transmitted to the burrowing owls and they had sensed her plight. In a desperate attempt to give her the energy she required, they had gathered up any and everything they had and thrown it into the spring.


    From magic crystals to precocious treasured fruits and herbs, everything was offered up to Evelyn.


    Now having the necessary magical energy, the cocoon fully enveloped Evelyn and swelled in size. The final step of her evolution had begun and only time would tell when it would bepleted.


    Unlike the times when she evolved from a wild beast to a fiend beast, and a fiend beast to an awakened beast, Evelyn did not just growrger and more powerful. Her entire body and soul felt like it was melding with magical energy and being remolded. She was undergoing a profound change to her entire existence.


    There were times when she would gain an awareness of what was going on and would either experience an unbearable pain, or a warm bliss like being enveloped in hot water after a stressful day.


    Evelyn eventually could sense that the end wasing near and that her transformation would beplete.


    But just before her evolution was achieved, she heard what sounded like a booming voice in her head.


    ''What is it that you wish to be?''


    Taken aback, Evelyn did not know how to respond. However, the voice soon repeated its question and in the depths of her very being she already knew what she wanted.


    ''I want to be the strongest. I need the power to make sure that no one ever takes from me again.''


    After giving her answer, Evelyn felt the magical energy cocoon around her begin to fade.


    The strands of magical energy broke apart slowly until cascading all around her and dissipating into the air.


    With the power that had been supporting her gone, the effects of gravity pulled Evelyn downwards and towards the magical spring.


    Luckily, she had been expecting this since she had witnessed the exact same thing happen to Otis after his evolution.


    Activating her gravity magic she halted her descent and when she touched down on the surface of the water, she stood atop it without sinking.


    Evelyn''s eyes then burst open and she looked down at her body that had undergone a drastic change.


    Before her eyes were no longer feathered wings and wed feet, but bare skin and the arms and legs she remembered having when she used to human.

 Chapter 407: Chapter 407 New Body

    Clenching her first slowly, Evelyn tested the responsiveness of her new limbs.


    The feeling was a little unnatural after having been an owl for several years, but she had spent a longer period of her two lives as a human so she became ustomed to her new body far quicker than most beasts would.


    ''Though if there is one, or should I say two big differences, it''s definitely these.'' Evelyn thought cupping her hands under her sizable chest.


    Back on Earth she had not had much in the way of breasts. She had not been t as a washboard, but her former chest was not even close toparable to what her current humanoid body had on disy.


    In terms of size, she guessed that her body now had breasts that would be considered on therger end of E-Cup. Not thergest, but certainly above average.


    ''I''d say that they are pretty useless, but it seems that they are actually helping with my bnce.''


    Turning her head, Evelyn looked at two wings that were sprouting out of her back.


    Like all the beasts in humanoid form she had seen before, she still sported some clearly inhuman features. With the beautiful wings sticking out of her back she honestly looked a bit like some depiction of angels.


    ''Looks like they work well. It might take a bit of time to get used to them like this since I''m used to my wings taking the ce of my arms, but I have to admit that it will be nice to have hands with apposable thumbs again.''


    Up to this point she had used either her beak of ws to grip things, and while she had gotten by, there was no doubt that the ease with which humanoid hands could grip things was vastly superior.


    After beingpletely focused testing her new body out for a few minutes, Evelyn remembered exactly where she was and looked out at the hundreds of burrowing owls that were staring at her.


    A sense of embarrassment swiftly came over her as she had been naked this entire time.


    Thankfully each and every one of them were just tiny owls that did not even reach a half meter tall, so it was not too bad. If it had been a group of people or humanoid beasts, she definitely would have felt more self-conscious.


    ''I suppose now is the time to try it out.''


    Focusing inwardly, Evelyn imagined herself turning back into an owl and her body began to rapidly expand.


    The feeling was incredibly hot, and she could feel her magical energy pushing up against her body and forcing it to change shape.


    At first it was quite ufortable, but near the end she got used to the sensation for the most part.


    Soon she had fully returned to her form as an owl, though there were very noticeable differences from when she had only been at the awakened rank.


    Her body now stood at a towering eight meters tall and she felt much heavier than before.


    Still her increase in size came with an exceptional growth in strength. Evelyn felt that she was easily twice or possibly three times stronger physically.


    As for her magical energy, she could feel that both her beast core and human magic core now held a higher quality to them. Her magic core especially seemed different now that it had melded together with the core she had used during her evolution.


    ''How is the speed and quantity I can channel through my body? Having more power doesn''t mean anything if I can''t use it properly.''


    Evelyn closed her eyes and extended her awareness to her beast core first. From there she focused on the magical energy stored within it and expanded it through her body to enhance herself.


    ''Whoa!''


    Like a rush of water from a damn that had just been opened, Evelyn''s magical energy poured out of her core and into her body faster than she had ever experienced before. Her newly evolved form had far stronger and more numerous pathways with which her magical energy could flow.


    All at once Evelyn felt every aspect of her body being improved by the magical energy coursing through her.


    Still, this wasn''t the ce for her to test out her full capabilities. The water''s surface that she had been standing on with her gravity magic was beginning to tremble and she could tell that one wrong move and she might copse the cavern.


    There was also the fact that Po and the other burrowing owls were waiting for her on the shore of the spring. They had so far kept their distance and were just watching her with reverence in their eyes, but she could not expect them to wait around all day.


    Dropping her gravity magic Evelyn sunk into the water that now did not reach her head and waded back towards the shore.


    When she arrived, she reached out her left foot and grabbed her storage items which she had taken off during her evolution. She had been afraid that the Aethersphere would break them like it had to the storage amulets that Mason had left when it went out of control in the past.


    ''Now, it should be in here somewhere.'' Evelyn thought extending her senses to her storage cuff.


    Locating the item she wanted, Evelyn pulled out a dark violet bow and wrapped it around her neck.


    Now wearing the bow, Evelyn transformed back into her humanoid form.


    However, instead of beingpletely unclothed, the magical bow changed as well and turned into a beautiful dark violet blouse, ck pants, and sturdy boots.


    ''I''ll need to thank Lucia for preparing this in advance for me. Not having to worry about changing in and out of clothing each time I switch forms is a godsend.'' Evelyn thought, relieved that she would not have to run around naked when in her human form, or having her clothes explode whenever she changed into her owl form.

 Chapter 408: Chapter 408 Farewell to the Burrowing Owls

    Now back in her humanoid form but clothed this time, Evelyn walked back onto the shore of the spring where the burrowing owls were waiting for her.


    ''I really understand why Melisandre stressed having a humanoid form. As a tyrant beast, I''ve simply gotten toorge in my owl form.'' Evelyn thought as she stepped out of the magic spring.


    Being around eight meters tall when she was an owl, she would have found it hard to find space among the crowd of burrowing owls and been afraid that she might identally step on them. Plus, having to look down on them from so far up would have been a pain.


    "Lady Evelyn, allow me to be the first to congratte you on your evolution. Truly, your new form must be blessed by the heavens. A more majestic has surely never existed before." Po said,ying on his praise even thicker than he ever had before.


    And he was not the only one, all of the burrowing owls present began extoling Evelyn''s grandeur.


    "Thank you for your kind words." Evelyn replied stiffly. "But before anything else, I would like to know exactly how long has passed since I began my evolution?"


    "Ah yes, the sun has set fifty-seven times while you were evolving. We''ve all been waiting expectantly for you to emerge from your cocoon, and at the first sign of it today we all gathered to watch your exultant rebirth." Po said, his eyes filled with reverence as he addressed Evelyn.


    At first, she wasn''t sure if she understood Po properly, but upon asking for rification, it became clear that she really had been asleep for fifty-seven days.


    Stunned by this information, Evelyn lowered her head and attempted to wrap her mind around the fairly long amount of time that had passed by without her.


    ''I suppose this isn''t as bad as the time I nearly killed myself by using the Unleashed Potential Potion. I was out for five months after that. Fifty-seven days isn''t even half as long.'' Evelyn thought, trying to calm herself down.


    Still, she could not help but be unnerved by how the passage of time had left her behind.


    While she had not seen either of her siblings or any of her friends since they parted ways to train alone, they had been in rtively frequent contact. Including her time away at the Inferno Filed and the fifty-seven days she spent undergoing her evolution, Evelyn had not heard from her friends or family in nearly three months.


    There was no telling what could have happened during such a length of time.


    ''Of course, they haven''t heard from me either. They''ll definitely be worrying about at this point.''


    Unfortunately, there was little Evelyn could do about her lost time other than suck it up and move on. Counting to dwell on it would only make her feel more depressed.


    Shaking her head to rest her thoughts, Evelyn turned towards Po intently and thanked him for his and the other burrowing owls'' hospitality.


    "It is only natural that we offer to you what we can. You saved us from the brink of annihtion and returned our home to us after all."


    Po then told Evelyn that they would prepare the mostvish feast they could muster to celebrate her evolution.


    However, Evelyn raised a hand to stop him.


    "I''m afraid that I don''t have time right now. More time than I was expecting passed while I was evolving. My allies with undoubtedly be concerned for me and I need to return to them."


    "I see." Po responded despondently.


    Yet he perked up soon after and told Evelyn that she could return with herpanionster and they would throw her a grand celebration.


    "Sure. I look forward to it." Evelyn said, a pained expression she could not fully hide on her face.


    She knew that she was lying straight to Po''s face, but she felt it too difficult to tell him that she never nned to return.


    ''It is for the best. I''ve imposed on them more then enough, and keeping a connection with them will only drag them into danger. Over time they''llpletely forget about me and go back to the way they were before I showed up.''


    Her resolve steeled; Evelyn walked towards the exit of the burrowing owls'' home as nearly every single one of the burrowing owls saw her off.


    When she finally reached the exit and looked out into the starry night sky a heaviness set into her heart. Once she ascended into the sky and flew away, that would be it.


    "Lady Evelyn, I know that your world is far vaster than ours, and that you carry many burdens you''ve not spoken of to us. As much as it pains me to admit, I understand that there is little any of us could do for one as great as you. Still, I want to tell you that no matter what, you will be epted with us. Perhaps you don''t see it this way, but we all think of our home as yours as well.


    Should you ever grow weary and wish to find a ce to settle down, please feel free to return. Even if I am gone, or even so far in the future that none of us that are here now remain, I''ll make sure that your name is passed down. Forever us burrowing owls of the Velinis Desert shall remember you as our savior." Po said, having realized Evelyn''s intention to nevere back.


    Evelyn almost teared up at his kind words, but she managed to force the tears down and keep up her unshakable fa?ade.


    With a quick nod of her head, she for the final time thanked Po for everything he and his brethren had done for her.


    After saying a quick farewell, Evelyn pped the wings extending out of her back and flew up into the sky.


    From up high she gazed down at the burrowing owls that had gathered to see her off and the tears she had been holding back began to fall now that she was out of view.


    "Otis, just wait a bit longer. I promise that I will avenge you." Evelyn muttered before turning away from the burrowing owls and flying in the direction of the Forest of Giants where the entrance to the Verdant Warlord''s Domain was located.

 Chapter 409: Chapter 409 New Powers

    "It seems that I''m receiving a warm wee."


    Upon flying into the depths of the Forest of Giants, Evelyn found herself face to face with a twenty-meter-tall gori.


    The titanic beast that was one of the rulers of the forest had deep brown fur and had reached the high tier of the tyrant rank.


    With both of its thick arms it beat its chest intimidatingly and sent a wave of magical energy out towards Evelyn. Cleary it did not appreciate her invading its territory and was issuing her a challenge.


    Most newly evolved tyrant beast likely would have been frozen in fearing face to face with such a powerful foe, but not Evelyn. Pretty much since she had been born in this world, she had been fighting against entities that were higher rank. A single beast that had grown only in the wild was not going to scare her after all she had been through.


    "I suppose he''ll do as a good training partner. I need to get used to fighting in this form and test out some of the new abilities I gained."


    Evelyn may have had an easier time learning to move her humanoid form thanks to her first life, but even when she used to be a human on Earth, she never had any experience fighting. She already knew that her humanoid body would allow her to fight in different ways from what she was used to as owl.


    Then there were more advanced techniques like she had seen Melisandre perform by rapidly switching between her smaller humanoid form and muchrger owl form, but she knew she was far from being capable of that.


    Having decided to fight, Evelyn held out her hand and motioned for the giant gori toe at her.


    Naturally the beast that was one of the strongest within the Forest of Giants understood what her gesture meant and charged at her furiously. It could tell she was not taking it seriously and was furious that it was being belittled by a beast multiple tiers lower than it.


    Demonstrating great agility despite itsrge size, the giant ape leapt from tree to tree and reached Evelyn''s location in an instant.


    In one big motion it swung both of its arms down with clenched fists and aimed to crush the little humanoid owl that dared to insult it.


    However, its furious attack failed to so much as graze Evelyn, as she gracefully jumped from the branch she had been standing on and flew into the air outside of her opponent''s reach.


    "I think that you are the one underestimating me. You''re not going toe close to hitting me without even using magic." Evelyn chided.


    She had felt that the giant ape was attacking her with only its physical strength. Undoubtedly it wanted to humiliate her for looking down on it by beating her without really trying.


    Unfortunately, for the gori, it was not up against an average newly evolved tyrant beast that it could easily toss around.


    "Gravity Tether."


    Evelyn pointed at the tree she had just jumped off of and imbued it with a great deal of magical energy.


    She then dragged her finger over to the giant ape and connected the two with a line of purple magic.


    At first nothing seemed to happen, but the tree soon began to shake violently and regardless of its deep roots that tethered it to the ground it dislodged itself from the earth.


    No longer was the tree within the influence of the world''s gravity, but instead was drawn towards the giant ape.


    Of course, Evelyn''s magic had not simply made the tree attracted to her target, but also heavily increased the force of gravity on it. The tree was going toe at the giant ape with two hundred times the normal gravity experienced on this world.


    With an evil grin on her face, she watched the gori''s reaction to seeing one of the forest''s enormous trees rushing towards it.


    For its first move it rushed out of the way to dodge the tree, but that was not going to do anything but dy the inevitable.


    After passing by its new gravitational attraction, the tree stopped for a moment before chasing back after the giant gori. It would follow it until it either reached its target, was blocked by something it could not pass through, or the magic fueling it ran out.


    "Oh. Looks like it is finally going to use magic." Evelyn said. Watching the show from above.


    The giant ape chose to stop running and face Evelyn''s attack head on. It was a proud beast and was not going to continue to flee from an attack from a beast it viewed as inferior.


    mming both of its hands into the ground, it caused a great earthen wall to rise up and block the iing tree.


    Without waiting to confirm the oue, the giant gori then turned towards Evelyn who was floating above it and prepared to kill her for her insolence.


    Except, its powerful stone wall that should have easily been able to hold up to the enormous tree shattered like a thin piece of ss.


    Surprise filled the great ape''s face as its magic crumbled and the giant tree finally reached it.


    A thunderous p reverberated through the forest as the tree mmed into the gori.


    The sturdy wood of the tree buckled under the force and splintered apart while the giant ape was sent flying by the impact.


    "Tch!"


    Clicking her tongue, Evelyn was not quite satisfied by the results of her little experiment. While things had worked mostly as she expected, the tree had shattered upon hitting the ape and broken the magic cast on it.


    What she had wanted was for it to continue sticking to the gori to weigh it down, but apparently two hundred times the normal force of gravity was too much for it to retain its structural integrity.


    "I guess I''ll need to procure somerge objects made from a tougher material. Something that can hold up to extreme gravity and not break."

 Chapter 410: Chapter 410 New Powers (2)

    Evelyn flew over to the giant gori, expecting it to be dead, but was surprised to find that it was still kicking.


    Despite a massive dent in its torso where the tree had impacted and several abrasions all over its body from when the tree splintered apart, the great ape that ruled this section of the Forest of Giants was still very much alive.


    Once again, Evelyn was astounded by how durable the creatures of this world were. Back on Earth nothing would have survived her attack, let alone retained its shape.


    Nevertheless, magic permeated this world and gave rise to beings filled with immense power.


    ''At the very least, this means I can still use it as a partner to test my new magical abilities on.'' Evelyn thought, looking on the bright side.


    Of course, her opponent was not just going to lie around and let her do as she pleased. Now that she was floating overhead, the giant gori leapt to its feet and sent a giant pir of rock and dirt towards Evelyn.


    "Gravitational Freedom."


    Before being hit by the iing attack, Evelyn activated another of the new powers she had gained from the Aethersphere upon her evolution.


    This magic allowed her topletely control the direction and magnitude of gravity''s pull on her. She could make up down or even fully negate the effects of gravity on herself.


    With this power she changed gravity''s pull to be behind her and immediately was dragged in that direction like she was falling.


    Without any need for movement on her part she avoided the huge pir of earthing her way and prepared to counterattack.


    Using her new magic, she designated two points of gravitational pull, one in front of her and behind her.


    The two forces cancelled out and she immediately was suspended in midair.


    Energy began to build up as she was pulled in two different directions by extremely powerful gravitational forces.


    It put a great deal of stress on her, but also built up an immense amount of potential energy.


    When she finally released the gravity pulling her backwards, she shot forward towards the giant ape like a rocket.


    Her opponent attempted to use its magic to put up a barrier between them, but Evelyn simply moved too fast for it to react in time.


    Kicking out both of her feet, she mmed into the giant ape''s stomach.


    Her attack was a bit more effective than she had been expecting, however. Instead of just sting the ape back with the impact of her attack, she shot through it like a bullet.


    Before she even realized what was going on she hade out the other side of its body and was heading towards a tree.


    Lucky she quickly switched the direction of gravity''s pull again and came to a stop before smashing into a tree at high speed.


    ''Okay, I need to regte the attack a bit more if I ever use it again.'' Evelyn thought as she whipped blood out of her face.


    She had just turned herself in a living projectile and ended up drenched in the giant gori''s blood.


    Thankfully, she was able to burn it all away by covering herself with her heavenly me, but she would not soon forget this experience.


    Though, while she was only a bit grossed out by what had happened, her opponent was suffering from grievous injuries.


    It now had arge hole torn through its stomach and back. Both of which were bleeding profusely.


    Still, it was a hardy beast and was not going to die from such injuries.


    Weaving its magic, the great ape wrapped stone around its wounds and sealed them shut to prevent any more blood loss.


    "I suppose that you are still up for more then. Come on, I haven''t even broken a sweat yet. You can at least make this a bit more interesting, can''t you?"


    In response to her taunt, the gori let out a thunderous roar filled with rage and magical energy. So far it had not been taking her seriously since she was only a low tier tyrant beast, but now it recognized her as a serious threat.


    The entire area began to shake as the earth around the giant ape moved under themand of its magic.


    Dirt and stone began to move like water, and the forest looked like the ocean during a great storm, only it was the ground that was moving instead of water.


    Enormous waves of earth rose up and threatened to swallow Evelyn. Every second thend would reach up to grab her, and even as she ascended higher into the air to avoid it, it rose up in pursuit.


    Eventually Evelyn had reached a height where it was bing difficult for the giant gori to extend its magic, and that was when she stuck with thest power the Aethersphere had awakened.


    "Graviton de."


    A great deal of magical energy erupted from Evelyn''s body and formed an undting mass in her hands. The de she could craft with this power was limited only by her imagination, and when she had a clear picture of what she wanted the energy took that form.


    Long ws like the talons of an owl extend from her hands and created ten extraordinarily sharp des.


    With the wave of one of her hands she sliced through one of the waves of earth rising up to swallow her.


    Of course, the earth was not only sliced through, but also put under the effects of greater gravity. Everything Evelyn cut through with her Graviton de had the gravitational pull on it increased by ten times. However, this power was different from her Gravity Field which worked within a certain area.


    Anything sliced by her Graviton de was afflicted with a curse that would only cease once Evelyn dismissed it or someone else dispelled it with more powerful magic.


    "Here you can have these back."


    After slicing off severalrge chunks of earth, Evelyn used her Gravity Tether to connect them to the giant ape.


    Along with the gravitational increase form her Graviton de and Gravity Tether, Evelyn further increased the gravity of the entire area with her Gravity Field.


    Each of these magics added to each other and therge pieces ofnd Evelyn had carved out returned towards the gori like a swarm of meteors.


    Naturally the giant ape attempted to control the earthing towards it with its own magic, but the extreme force being exerted on them proved too much for it.


    While it slowed their descent, it was unable to stop them fully.


    In ast-ditch effort to protect itself, the giant gori wrapped the earth it was controlling around itself as shield.


    Therge pieces of rock and dirt under the effect of Evelyn''s magic crashed into the wall of earth and shattered apart from the impact. However, the force behind them was not fully dissipated and several smaller pieces of stone shot through like a shotgun st.


    A guttural cry erupted from the great ape''s mouth as it was shredded by the earth that should have been under its control.


    "Looks like that''s the end."


    All around Evelyn, thend that had risen up like the tide began to fall back down to the ground now that the one controlling it was dead.


    Even with its extreme vitality, the proud ape that was one of the apex beasts of the Forest of Giants could not withstand having its body pierced by thousands of projectiles.

 Chapter 411: Chapter 411 Reunion

    When she finally unearthed the giant gori''s body, Evelyn found that it had hundreds of holes all the way through its body and looked like a piece of Swiss Cheese.


    "That was a pretty devastating move. Perhaps I should invest in some small metal spheres I canunch like buckshot." Evelyn muttered to herself.


    This battle had been her first time utilizing the three new gravity spells the Aethersphere had granted her, and she was certain that her control over them had room to grow.


    Now was not the time to practice, though. She wanted to meet back up with herpanions as soon as possible. She honestly missed them and wanted to catch up with what they had been up to for the past two years.


    ''But first things first.''


    Aftering out victorious, Evelyn was not going to leave without collecting her prize.


    With her wind magic she cut open what remained of the great ape she had defeated and removed its beast core. There were any number of uses for a powerful high tier tyrant beast''s core after all.


    Once she had collected her prize, Evelyn cleaned herself off with magic. She had gotten all manner of dust and blood on herself and could not stand the feeling of it on her body.


    Yet, as she was blowing every foreign substance off of herself, the wind magic she almost always kept up for detection picked up something approaching at an extraordinary speed.


    By the time she turned around to face the individualing for her, they had already arrived and were standing on arge tree branch above Evelyn.


    Nevertheless, she did not tense up and prepare for battle, but instead rxed.


    A bright smile she could not help forming on her face when she saw who had arrived.


    "I''m d to see you again and in good health Lucia. It took a while longer than everyone else, but as you can see, I''ve returned as a tyrant beast." Evelyn said proudly.


    "Yes, I can see that. I came over here to investigate because I sensed two powerful beasts duking it out, but I see that it was just you. Though, it seems that you really did a number of on this area." Lucia said, gazing at the destroyedndscape that went on for as far as the eye could see.


    "In my defense, it was my opponent that did most of the damage. He used some form of earth magic that allowed him to manipte thend like it was water. I personally barely did any damage to the forest."


    Lucia did not seem to particrly believe Evelyn did not contribute to the area''s destruction, but she made no furtherment. She did not care much about the condition of the forest so long as the entrance to the Verdant Warlord''s Doman was not damaged.


    Now that she had confirmed what had urred, Lucia jumped down from the tree she had been observing things from andnded next to Evelyn.


    "It''s good to see you safe. Every one of us was worried that something bad had happened to you since you had not sent anymunications in quite some time. Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee nearly dropped everything to search for you. I had to tell them to calm down and believe in you to prevent them from doing something reckless." Lucia said, cing her hand on Evelyn''s shoulder.


    Through this gesture, Evelyn could sense that she was concerned for her just the same as Aralee, Bylur, and Rehni.


    Still there was one person missing from Lucia''s report that she wanted to know about.


    "And what about Verrader? How did he react to my disappearance."


    In response Lucia just sighed and shook her head. Making it clear that she did not know anything about what Evelyn''s brother was up to.


    "Sorry, he hasn''t kept in contact at all for thest few months. Even before you stopped sending messages. Of course, we knew that he was going to go on his own way. I don''t think he even knows that you were missing."


    "I guess that''s to be expected. He''s got his own path to walk. I''m sure we will see him again."


    Evelyn was a bit saddened to hear that Verrader was already gone and had no intention ofing back anytime soon. He wanted to clear his conscious on his own though, and she felt that epting his decision was for the best. Trying to force him to stay would only have built up his guilt and grief until he could not take it anymore.


    "What about the others then? Have they been up to anything interesting?"


    "Nothing too exciting, but they have each been working hard on the first twoyers of the Verdant Warlord''s Domain. Honestly, their progress has been unbelievable. It took me over a century to reach my current level, yet each of them will likely achieve the same thing in just another half decade or so.


    Really, it''s almost unfair how fast you''re all growing." Lucia said, shrugging her shoulders and letting out an exasperated sigh.


    However, Evelyn had to point out that she likewise had ess to the domain which was one of the secrets to their elerated progress. Once she obtained every catalyst she needed to evolve, she would see explosive growth as well.


    "Speaking of evolution catalyst, what did you end up needing? While you were out of touch for a while, it''s pretty impressive that you gathered them all in just a few months."


    "I just happened to get a little lucky, that''s all. I already had two in my possession, plus the evolution potion to act as a substitute. Then I was able to get thest two I needed in the same ce."


    Evelyn went on to regale Lucia with her journey into the Inferno Field, her dealings with the Rangers, and the fierce battle she had against the grand fire elemental.


    "You certainly live a colorful life. I''m almost surprised how much trouble you can get yourselves into with rtive ease. And unfortunately, it looks like you have attracted even more problems."


    Casting her gaze out into the forest, Lucia could sense several powerful beasts closing in on their location. Just like her, they had been attracted by Evelyn''s battle with one of the forest''s apex beasts.


    "Oh,e on, this barely counts as trouble. We can easily deal with the beastsing our way without any difficulty." Evelyn said confidently.


    "Yes, yes." Lucia replied dismissively. "Lets just get this over with quickly. The others will undoubtedly want to see you. And I''m certain the longer I stay out her alone with you, the more I''m going to end up having to deal with."

 Chapter 412: Chapter 412 Reunion (2)

    Littered around the Forest of Giants were a dozen bodies of recently in beasts.


    Thanks to Evelyn''s explosive battle with the brown furred giant ape, several other powerful beasts hade to investigate and attacked her and Lucia when they arrived.


    The battle quickly devolved into a massive free-for-all of the strongest beasts in the forest with Evelyn and Lucia in the center.


    Of course, while the two of them were outnumbered, they far outssed the beasts living in the forest. There was a massive difference between tyrant rank beasts that had evolved with a human''s magic core as a catalyst versus those that had not. Evelyn and Lucia had not only greater quantities of magical energy, but more refined and potent magic.


    After they had dispatched enough of the attacking beasts, the rest fled back into the forest. They were able to clearly tell that Evelyn and Lucia outssed them and had no intention of getting killed.


    "You really are a trouble ma. All the time I''ve spent in this forest, and not once have I seen a rampage like that. Were lucky that killed a few of them was enough to get the others to back off. If every tyrant rank beast in this forest was drawn in by themotion, we would likely have found ourselves overwhelmed." Lucia chastised.


    "Sorry, I''ll be more careful next time." Evelyn said, lowering her head.


    She easily could have easily killed the giant gori without causing as much of a scene as she had. Also, if she had left immediately after finishing it off instead of leisurely sticking around, she could have escaped before any other beasts arrived.


    "It''s no big deal. Now let''s go. Your friends and sister will certainly want to see you."


    Once the two of them had collected the cores from the beasts they had defeated, they flew directly to the entrance to the Verdant Warlord''s Domain.


    Upon arriving, they entered the warp portal and found themselves transported to the crystal dome on the first level of the domain.


    "Okay, go ahead and send a message to each of them. If they''re on the first level it should reach them, and they''lle rushing back here. If they''re on the second, well, we''ll just have to wait for them toe back."


    Nodding her head, Evelyn excitedly pulled out her flying message pad and wrote to Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee.


    Luckly all three of the messages flew off into the first level''s woods. Indicating that Evelyn''s friends and sister were nearby.


    "Sister!"


    The first to arrive was Aralee, though she looked remarkably different from thest time Evelyn had seen her.


    Now that she had evolved into a tyrant rank beast, Aralee had attained a humanoid form and was currently in it.


    She now had long light pink hair and a cherubic face. Along with the wings sticking out of her back, she looked like the very definition of an angel.


    When she finally reached Evelyn, she flew directly towards her and wrapped her up in a hug.


    "It''s good to see you too, Aralee. You''ve certainly changed a lot since west met." Evelyn said, returning the hug.


    "Of course I have. I worked hard to get stronger so that I could be of help to you. And it looks like you are also vastly different from when we all went to train on our own. Though, that''s to be expected."


    Aralee continued to hug Evelyn for over a minute, and slowly increased the strength in her grip. Had Evelyn been a normal person, she would have found her spine snapped from the force.


    However, their touching reunion was cut short when another individual came flying in at high speed.


    This time it was a male owl in humanoid form. He had pure white hair like freshly fallen snow, and a face that bordered between handsome and cute.


    Without a doubt Evelyn knew that he had to be Bylur, since the only guy in their group was Verrader who had already left to follow his own path.


    "Evelyn, I missed you so much!" Bylur bellowed as he swooped down towards Evelyn and Aralee.


    He attempted to join in on their heartfelt hug, but both Evelyn and her sister jumped back and avoided him.


    Missing his target, Bylur continued flying forward and crashed into the wall of the crystal dome in an almost cartoonish manner.


    Seeing this happen, Evelyn could not help but chuckle at theical disy. She was already in a cheery mood from meeting back up with Lucia and Aralee after such a long time, that the emotions she would normally keep under control were rising to the surface.


    "It''s good to see you again too Bylur. Still, you shouldn''t just rush towards someone like that. Especially now that you lookpletely different from thest time, I saw you. Anyone would jump out of the way if they saw a random strangering right for them."


    "Sorry, you right. I won''t do it again." Bylur said, crestfallen.


    "We''re celebrating our long-awaited reunion, so here. Just this once." Evelyn said, opening her arms and gesturing to Bylur to hug her. Naturally she knew how he felt about her and did not want to stoke his feelings, but considering the situation, she figured that right now it would be fine.


    Bylur did not hesitate and ran over to Evelyn at breakneck speed so that he could embrace her.


    Obviously, she did not hug him for anywhere near as long as she had Aralee and stepped away after just a couple of seconds.


    Nevertheless, Bylur''s expression clearly showed that he was on cloud nine. This was not an experience he would soon forget.


    Disregarding Bylur''s euphoric state, Evelyn turned her head and saw thest of herpanions approaching.


    Rehni had likewise appeared in her newly acquired humanoid form. Her hair was shoulder length and dark ck like the night sky. While her face gave off the air of an intellectual beauty rather than cute like Aralee''s.


    "You know, you really had us worried with your long silence." Aralee said, first thing upon her arrival.


    "Sorry, it was out of my hands. But I''ll tell you all about it. We''ve all got a great deal to catch each other up on." Evelyn said, a bright smile blossoming on her face now that she had reunited with everyone.

 Chapter 413: Chapter 413 Plan of Action

    After spending some time to catch up with one another, Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Aralee, and Lucia finally got down to business.


    "Now that all of you have managed to reach the tyrant rank and achieved humanoid forms, it''s time that we begin taking down the Tyrannis Union." Lucia said, leading the meeting.


    Out of all of them, she was the one that had pretty much all of the information about the Union. Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee knew little more than its location on the map. As owls that were members of the Roost, they did their best to always avoid human territories.


    "Now this wasn''t easy for me to obtain, but I''ve been nning this for thest century, so I''veplied quite a bit of intelligence on the Union."


    Wearing a proud grin on her face, Lucia pulled out arge and detailed map of the Tyrannis Union.


    Unlike therge continent maps that Evelyn had seen, this map showed the borders of each of the sects within the Tyrannis Union.


    Along with the borders there were also notes on each of the sects detailing their rtions with the others, as well as the estimated rank of their leaders and top elders.


    "As you can see, there is a pretty big disparity between the weaker sects and the stronger ones. Both in terms of size and the strength of their members."


    As was apparent on the map, six of the sects within the Tyrannis Union were noticeablyrger than the other sixty that made up the nation.


    Each of these sects were led by at least one individual that had reached the archmagi rank, which was the highest rank a human could achieve.


    Of course, Evelyn recognized one of these sects very well and stared at it on the map with barely contained fury.


    "I suppose I should have expected the Deamhain Sect to be among the strongest." Evelyn growled.


    She could still remember the Deamhain Sect''s leader and the overwhelming power he possessed. As much as she hated to recall it, Evelyn could not help but rey what that man did to her, Melisandre, and Otis.


    "Your anger is warranted Evelyn, but now is not the time to let it take ahold of you." Lucia said to bring her back to the situation at hand.


    Sensing her fluctuating emotions, Aralee and Rehni approached Evelyn and ced their hands on her shoulders tofort her.


    Thanks to their kind gestures, Evelyn was able to take a calm breath and get back to their strategy meeting.


    "So, which one are we going after first? The Deamhain Sect that killed our friend and ripped us away from the Roost, or the Apostata Sect that had a hand in destroying your home?" Evelyn asked Lucia.


    Frankly she was hoping to go straight for the bastards that had killed her new parents and tortured and experimented on her,


    "Sorry to say this, but we won''t be going after either of them. Both those sects are among the strongest and far out of our league right now. At our current levels, we''d be most likely killed or captured within a week."


    "Then what are we nning to do? Those are the two sects that we can attribute to our grudges. Certainly, most of them participated in the raid on the Roost and I''d like to see them all crushed, but it was the Deamhain Sect that instigated the attack. While for you Lucia, your animosity is directed at the Apostata Sect.


    If not one of these two, then which one would we go after?" Rehni said, her eyes searching the map for a better potential target.


    "Yes, you could say that those two sects are our ultimate goals. Still, it is too soon for us to go after them. The full might of the Roost was unable to defeat the Tyrannis Union and they barely managed to escape. The five of us will not be able to go head-to-head with one of the world''s superpowers. Still, we can make ourselves quite the nuisance and grow stronger until we be a major threat."


    With a confident glint in her eyes, Lucia pointed to the sect that they would be infiltrating first.


    It was one of the smaller ones that sat on the edge of the Tyrannis Union''s territory.


    "Okay, were going after this Laigi Sect. To what end?" Bylur asked.


    "Well, they are a sect focused on cultivating rare magical nts, and their biggest trade partners happen to be the Deamhain Sect and Apostata Sect. If we can steal the precious treasures that they have grown, and ruin their fields, we can strike a heavy blow against our true enemies while also strengthening ourselves. Of course, if any of you have another suggestion, I''m all ears."


    Lucia wore a confident grin as she waited for any differing opinions. Naturally, she knew that none of them were informed enough about the Tyrannis Union to properly choose a different target.


    "I''m sure that you know better than any of us Lucia. As much as I hate to admit it, we''re basically just your goons right now. We don''t know enough about the Tyrannis Union to create a cohesive n against them. We''ll follow your lead so long as it is obviously not leading us into avoidable danger." Evelyn said, putting her trust in Lucia.


    "Thank you, Evelyn. I''ve been working on my ns to get revenge against the Union for a very long time, but all of your help will be invaluable. I can promise you that I have no intention of leading us into anything we can''t handle. And if something unexpected does ur, I''ll put my life on the line for all of you.


    I consider the four of you to be irreceablerades already." Lucia said, sincerity in her voice.


    Now that their first target was chosen, Lucia exined in detail the biggest threats in the Laigi Sect and what their first objectives would be.

 Chapter 414: Chapter 414 Final Preparations

    Weeks went by as Lucia hammered necessary information about humankind into Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee.


    There were all manner of societal norms that none of them had a single inkling about that they would need to adhere to if they did not want to stick out in a bad way.


    "You''ve caught onto this a lot quicker than I was expecting, Evelyn. Do you happen to have experience in human cities, or have you done extensive research into them?" Lucia asked one day after giving lessons.


    "No. Since I was born, the only contact I''ve had with humans is being attacked by them or stuffed intob where they experimented on me. Honestly, I''ve done everything I can to avoid them." Evelyn responded, a cold expression on her face.


    It was an understatement to say that she had had bad experiences with humans. Both in her first life and second, she''d been subjected to all manner of hardships thanks to humans.


    Of course, what she said to Lucia may not have been a lie, but it was not the full truth. While it was not on this world, she had been deeply involved with humans back on Earth thanks to having been one.


    "Though, I''m not the only one learning fast. Bylur''s doing better than Rehni and Aralee. I suspect he has some familiarity with humans." Evelyn said, wanting to change the subject.


    "Yes, you''re probably correct. I can tell he has less disdain for them as you, Rehni, and Aralee do. Perhaps he used to be someone''s pet before he joined the Roost."


    This may have just been spection on Lucia''s part, but Evelyn figured that she was probably correct. When she first met Bylur right before the trials to join the Roost, he was already exceptional in several ways. He had learned how to properly use magic and was clearly of high intelligence despite being a fiend beast.


    Someone had definitely taught him, and his familiarity with the human world leaned towards him having been a pet.


    Still, he showed a clear drive to get back at the Tyrannis Union like the rest of them. Likely whoever his owner was had not lived there.


    "Oh, so you don''t know. I figured he would have told you about it." Lucia said, a hint of surprise on her face.


    "I''m sure he would give me the details of his past if I asked, but we''ve all got secrets we don''t want to divulge to anyone. If he feels like it, he''ll tell us."


    Evelyn would not say she was not interested, but since she was keeping her past life a secret, she was not going to pressure any of herpanions into talking about things they clearly did not want to.


    Instead, she moved the conversation along and asked Lucia what she really wanted to know.


    "So, when do you think we''ll be ready? I understand that this groundwork is necessary, but I think we''re all itching to get started."


    For nearly the past two years, Evelyn and herpassion had been working tirelessly to evolve so that they could blend in as humans and attack the heart of their enemies. Having what seemed like endless prep work was starting to wear on them.


    "Don''t worry it won''t be much longer. I understand how all of you feel very well. Remember, I''ve been getting ready for this for over a century. Every day I think about getting our operation started. Nevertheless, I need all of you to meet a minimum level of understanding about human society before we proceed. A single misstep could get us all killed, or worse." Lucia said, her tone grave.


    "Okay, I won''t ask again. There are still some things that I should brush up on, so I''ll go back to studying with the others."


    Leaving Lucia''s side, Evelyn headed back over to her friends and sister and began pouring over the information she needed to know to blend in with the humans of this world.


    Another few days passed by before Lucia gave her seal of approval to Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee. They were finally ready to begin their infiltration of human society.


    "Now, before we go, take these." Lucia said, handing a set of magical tools to each of them.


    She then taught them how to use them, and Evelyn and herpanions were astounded by the results.


    "My wings are gone!" Arale cried once the magic tool activated.


    Seeing this Evelyn reached up to the top of her head where small horn-like tuffs of feathers should have been, but she found they had disappeared alongside her wings.


    ''What about my eyes?''


    Pulling out a mirror, Evelyn looked at her objectively beautiful face and focused on her eyes. Even when she transformed into her humanoid form, they retrained their yellow irises.


    Yet with the magic tool that hid her bestial features in effect, her once yellow eyes had turned a light brown instead.


    "It''s a bit uncanny. I feel kind of weird without my wings." Bylur said waving his hands behind him where his wings usually were.


    "Yes, it is ufortable at first, but you''ll get used to it. Without this magical tool, we''d be caught the moment we entered a human city. I can tell you now, most human nations don''t take kindly to humanoid beasts. They know what the requirement for this type of evolution is." Lucia said, stressing the importance of hiding their true identities.


    Once Evelyn and herpassion got used to moving around with their bestial features hidden, Lucia told them what the second tool she had given them did.


    "Now for this one, it will disguise our magical energy. Beasts and humans have different magical signatures that can be picked up by certain magical devices. However, these rings will adjust our magical energy toe off as purely human. They can also help regte the intensity of our magical energy to seem lesser than it truly is.


    Humans at the arcanist rank, which is equivalent to the tyrant rank for beast like us, is fairly rare. To avoid unwanted attention, we''ll pretend to all be only at the third rank, which humans call the mage rank."


    After giving her reasoning for using the ring-shaped magic tool, Lucia showed each of them how to adjust it and got it set up to hide their true power. For all but those that were incredibly perceptive or had magic items stronger than their own, Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee appeared to be low tier mage rank humans. While Lucia would be acting as a peak mage rank human that was their master.

 Chapter 415: Chapter 415 Infiltrating Human Society

    After several days of flying, Evelyn, Lucia, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee finally were able to see their destination on the horizon.


    "Let''snd here and walk the rest of the way. We''ll attract far too much attention flying in." Lucia said, beginning to descend towards a road below them.


    Evelyn and herpassion followed suit and soon enough the five of them had touched down on solid ground.


    "Gah, it just doesn''t feel natural. I hate flying on this thing." Bylur said, holding out the aerial disk they had been using instead of their wings.


    In order to blend in as humans, they could not bring out their wings to fly as they normally would and were having to use magic tools just like the people of this world did.


    Despite often being at odds with each other, Rehni readily agreed with Bylur on this point. As creatures meant to soar freely, it was weird to use a tool to do something they usually did naturally.


    "Sorry but the two of you are just going to have to get used to it. Using your wings is a quick way to expose all of us." Lucia said unsympathetically. She could not fly normally anyway and always had to rely on a magic tool.


    As for Evelyn and Aralee, they got by using wind magic to fly. They of course had been given the option to use aerial disks if they wanted, but both of them decided to use their own magic instead since they disliked the feeling of using the flying magic tool.


    "Now let''s get going. The city is just a few more kilometers ahead. Once we''ve entered, we will need to get amodations and find a job that will bring us into Laigi Sect''s territory.


    With Lucia in the lead, the five of them marched down the road until the city''s western gate came into view.


    Lined up for several hundreds of meters were other people trying to enter the city. Most of them were driving carts, though a few were on foot just like Evelyn''s crew.


    "I can understand your hostility towards humans but try to keep your emotions under control. Anyone with decently sharp intuition will sense the animosity you are emitting." Lucia said.


    She could tell that Evelyn''s rage was building just from looking at people from afar. After what had happened to her even just the sight of humans was enough to set her off.


    "Sorry, I''ll try to keep it together." Evelyn responded before taking a deep breath to calm down.


    Once Evelyn was no longer radiating killing intent, their group continued forward and took their ce at the back of the line.


    Thankfully things moved along fairly quickly, and within just around a half hour they managed to make it to the gate.


    "Entrance Fee." One of the four guards manning the gate said.


    He was slightly above average height with brown hair and a few days'' worth of unshaved stubble.


    As for his armor, he was wearing a metal breastte that looked like it had not been polished in months and his weapon was a spear tipped with some sort of yellow metal that gave off a sinister vibe.


    "Here this should cover the five of us." Lucia said, taking out a small pouch and handing it over.


    The guard opened the bag filled with fifteen green magic crystals and motioned for them to enter.


    Without being asked for any sort of identification, or being checked in anyway, Evelyn and the others made it into the city.


    "That was surprisingly easy. I can''t believe that all we had to do was hand over a few magic crystals to get in." Evelyn said, having expected more.


    "Yes, the ease of entry was why I chose this nation. The Usturg Federation is known for theirx policies. If we tried to enter any of the sects within the Tyrannis Union the same way, we would have been put under a great deal of scrutiny. However, by stopping here in the city of Taidale, we cany the necessary groundwork to enter the Jaigi Sect without arousing any suspicion." Lucia exined.


    Now that they had entered the city without issue, Lucia told them all to be on the lookout for a hotel they could stay at.


    It took a few minutes, but Evelyn eventually spotted a ce that looked decent enough and they reserved three rooms for four days.


    Once they had their rooms, they all crammed into one to further discuss their ns.


    "Now, we are going to need to obtain some identification that we can use in the Tyrannis Union. They don''t let people in as easily as they do here."


    "I understand that part, but you also said something about picking up a job to help us get in without drawing as much attention to ourselves. What exactly will that entail?" Rehni asked.


    "Well, there are a few types of people that will be travelling from here to the Jaigi Sect. Merchants are likely the mostmon, but it could also be individuals with family both here and in the Union and want to purchase a little extra security during their travels. Our goal will be to get hired as guards for someone going from this city to the Jaigi Sect territory."


    "Yeah, but how are we going to do that? It''s not like we are well known around here. Who is going to hire us as guards in the next few days?" Bylur said, a confused expression on his face.


    "It just so happens that the Usturg Federation is home to an association specialized in finding soldiers for hire work. Most of the actually strong fighters in this nation are actually apart of this organization rather than working directly for the state. We should have little problem getting registered with them and finding someone looking for protection on the road."


    Having finished giving her exnation, Lucia got up and beckoned for Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee to follow. It was time for them to go out and familiarize themselves with the city.

 Chapter 416: Chapter 416 Infiltrating Human Society (2)

    "Are you sure that you should have paid so much for these? One silver magic crystal a piece seems like too steep a price." Evelyn said, scowling at the identification card she was holding.


    Lucia had just bought forged Identification for their entire group. However, these were not normal identification cards that anyone could pick up, but ones denoting them as first-ss citizens of the Usturg Federation.


    "Yes, it was worth it. A silver magic crystal was a bit more than I expected to spend on each one, but it was within the possible upper ranges from what my preliminary investigations uncovered. While these may be fakes, it will be pretty much impossible for anyone to find out without a very detailed investigation. The man we bought them from used to work directly for the Usturg Federation after all.


    He used the same process this nation uses to make their legitimate identification cards for the ones we now have." Lucia said, exining just how impressive their forged identification cards were.


    With them, they would immediately have a high status within human society just about anywhere. The Usturg Federation was not one of humanity''s four major powers, but it sat just under them. Plus, its status as a neutral nation meant it had decent rtions with just about every other human nation on the continent. The Tyrannis Union included.


    "But won''t it be suspicious for citizens of such high status to be offering their services as mercenaries?" Rehni asked.


    "Any where else in the world it would be, but not here. In this nation, it ismon for children of upper-ss families that aren''t likely to seed their houses to be mercenaries. From the research I''ve done it is a good way to build up both wealth and connections. In fact, we''ve all sort of met a very prominent individual that was once a mercenary from the Usturg Federation.


    The Verdant Warlord originally built up his power here before going on to conquer basically the entire continent."


    Evelyn was shocked to hear this information. She still did not know a great deal about the man that had built the domain they used to rapidly grow stronger.


    Nevertheless, if he had once taken over this content, she could not help but wonder why it was now split up into so many different nations.


    Naturally she brought her questions to Lucia and received an answer she should have been able to figure out on her own.


    Since the Verdant Warlord had advanced to the highest rank of this world and ascended to the next, a power vacuum had been left. In the ensuring chaos of losing its leader, different factions formed, and the nations of the world fractured and warped several times until bing what they were today.


    "I suppose that it makes since that the Usturg Federation has a culture promoting mercenaries if such a legendary figure was one. Even if it was a long time ago." Evelyn said,ing to understand a bit more about the nation they found themselves in.


    Still, this ce certainly was not peaches and roses. While the nation apparently gave quite a bit of freedom even to its lowest ss citizens, this also came with a severe degree ofwlessness.


    Other than the main streets of the city, ruffians were just about everywhere, and with her incredible sense of hearing Evelyn had heard several muggings urring only few dozen meters away on several asions.


    She could not say the same for everywhere in the Usturg Federation, but Taidale was certainly a rough ce.


    "Um, Lucia are you sure we should go this way? There is a gang of people waiting up ahead an osting anyone that goes through here." Aralee said, as Lucia took a turn off of the main street and onto a side road.


    "It will be fine. No one strong enough to threaten us will be extorting people on the street. This is the shortest route to the Mercenary Association. There''s no reason for us to inconvenience ourselves by going around."


    Lucia then confidently walked down the clearly dangerous side road with Evelyn and the others following behind her.


    Around a hundred fifty meters down the road, three guys walked out of a nearby alley way to "levy" a toll from them.


    However, Lucia simply shed the identification card she had just purchased, and the guys scrambled to get away like they had seen a ghost. As she had said, everything ended up fine. Anyone that attempted to do anything untoward to them went running the moment they saw the first-ss citizen identification card.


    "I certainly never expected them to have that sort of use." Evelynmented in amazement.


    "That''s the power of status. Even the dumbest of criminals know that most first ss citizens have strong guards or are powerful themselves. In their eyes, messing with us is a certain death sentence." Lucia said cheerfully.


    After walking down a few more streets, and scaring a few more ruffians half to death, they arrived at their destination.


    The Mercenary Association building stood just outside the inner wall that separated the inner city where the second- and first-ss citizens lived from the outer city.


    It was arge and well-maintained building that clearly stood out.


    Several individuals were constantly going in and out of the building. Some looked almost indistinguishable from the thugs hanging around the city, but others were in distinctly opulent clothing or were wearing expensive and powerful magical armor.


    "As you can see, we will fit in well enough. We''re just another group of rich kids trying to make a name for ourselves." Lucia said, pointing out the mercenaries that were undoubtedly members of the upper crust.


    Having seen proof that Lucia''s n was likely to work, Evelyn and herpanions walked into the Mercenary Association Building without any hesitation.


    Once inside they all quickly looked around and Evelyn spotted a set of reception counters like those at a bank.


    Lucia spotted them just a momentter and beckoned for them to follow. It was time for them to register as mercenaries and move on to the next step in their n to infiltrate the Tyrannis Union.

 Chapter 417: Chapter 417 Becoming Mercenaries

    Walking up to the reception counter confidently, Lucia pulled out the fake identification card she had purchased earlier that day and slid it in front of the young employee working at the counter.


    "We would like to register as mercenaries."


    For a few moments the young woman stared at the identification card before raising her head and looking up at Lucia like a deer caught in headlight.


    "O- of course. I-I''ll get to that right away." She stammered.


    In a fluster the woman behind the counter scrambled about for a few things, before pulling out a box that radiated a slight amount of magical energy.


    She then ced the card Lucia had presented to her inside of it and it began to glow.


    Once she had authenticated the identification card, she hastily pulled out some forms and passed them over.


    "All you need to do is fill those out and have your magical energy measured. A rank will then be assigned to you, and you will have officially be mercenaries. If you want a private room or to speak with the branch manager, that can easily be arranged as well." The association employee said, her original nervousness mostly gone now.


    While it was not every day, she had registered first ss citizens before. Sometimes they acted pretentious and would only do the necessary paperwork if treated like royalty.


    "Thank you for the offer, but that will not be necessary. We will all fill these out and get back to you soon." Lucia said affably. There was no reason to draw attention to themselves by tossing around their fake status.


    With the forms in hand, Lucia led Evelyn and herpassion over to a nearby table and passed them out to everyone.


    "You really know how to handle yourself here. I don''t think I could do even half as well as you can." Evelyn said, using wind magic to make sure that no one could overhear her.


    "It''s just a matter of practice. I''ve had over a century to prepare for this after all. If my ns started to go awry this early, I would have to be a horrendous fool." Lucia replied humorously.


    She then swiftly filled out her own forms and assisted Rehni and Aralee who were struggling with the human''s writtennguage.


    Evelyn got by just fine since she had originally learned this samenguage from the trantion guidebook that Mason had left behind for her. Though, surprisingly, Bylur did not have any trouble with reading or writing the words either.


    After the five of them hadpleted the forms, Lucia gathered them up and they walked back over to the reception counter.


    "Here, we have finished filling these out."


    "Thank you very much. Next, we just need to measure your magical energy and then I can have your mercenary licenses made."


    This time the young woman gracefully brought out another magical tool and ced it on the counter. The panicked employee from before seemed to have never existed now that she had regained her cool.


    Unfortunately, she was about to be in for another shock, when the magic tool she had handed to Lucia exploded when it tried to read her magical energy.


    "It appears that this tool was too low quality to measure me." Lucia said, pushing the now broken device back towards the association employee.


    "B-but that magic tool should be able to appraise the magical energy of even someone that is a peak acolyte." The young woman sputtered.


    The look in her eyes changed the instant she realized what this meant. Lucia was not only a first-ss citizen, but she was also at least at the mage rank. A level most people would never reach. The receptionist herself was only at the high tier of the initiate rank after all.


    "Please forgive me for my ipetence. I shall bring a more suitable magic tool immediately."


    Rushing off in a panic she fled into the back of the building and disappeared for a couple of minutes. When she came back, a well-dressed man was walking beside her and had a simar looking butrger magic energy measuring magic tool in his hands.


    "Allow me to personally apologize for the mishap that urred. I''m the manager of this branch of the Mercenary Association, Callen Argent." The man said, lightly bowing his head to Lucia.


    "It is of no consequence. We simply want to finish our registration and go about our business."


    "Understood. If you would, this magic device can measure your magical energy up to the high tier of the arcanist rank. I''m hoping that you are not beyond that. If you are then I''m afraid we don''t have a tool capable of giving you an urate measurement." Callen said politely.


    "No need to worry. I have not yet reached such an esteemed level."


    Reaching out her hand Lucia ced it on the device, and it began to light up until stopping around eighty percent of the way up.


    "Impressive. You are a peak mage. The same rank as me." Callen said, keeping his cool for the most part, though, a hint of surprise could be seen in his eyes.


    Of course, Lucia''s measurement was false. Not only was she not human but the output of her magical energy was being regted by the magic ring she was wearing. Her equivalent rank for a human would be a peak arcanist. Had she unleashed her full magical energy the magic tool would have broken like the first.


    Going next, Evelyn measured as a low tier mage.


    Following her, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee came out the same and their magical energy appraisal waspleted.


    "I would like to thank you all for your patience. If you give me a few minutes I will personally get your mercenary license made. It is not often that we have a group of mage rank first ss citizens apply." Callen said, a giddy smile on his face. He was certain to get a bonus for registering them with his branch.


    In less than a quarter of an hour Callen came back out from the back of the building and handed the licenses over.


    With that their registration wasplete and Evelyn, Lucia, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee were officially mercenaries of the Usturg Federation.

 Chapter 418: Chapter 418 Acclimating

    Evelyn carefully looked over the mercenary licenses she had just received.


    It was simr to the identification cards they had purchased in size, but far lessplex.


    The license was a deep red color with a white trim, had her name and the name of the city she registered in, and that was it.


    Of course, the card was a magic tool and could be used for certain functions within the association, but Evelyn cared little for any of that. This was all just a means to an end.


    "The color of the card denotes your rank, and the white outer edge is to identify all of you as first-ss citizens." Callen said.


    He then exined that the ranking system of the association followed the colors of magic crystals. Green was the lowest rank, while gold was the highest.


    "Thank you for that rification. But is it really alright to start us off at such a high rank? We haven''t done any work yet to prove our ability''s." Lucia said, her eyes upturned and an innocent expression on her face.


    Callen blushed for a moment we he saw her looking at him that way, but he quickly regained hisposure.


    "Yes, I have the discretion to award up tot eh red rank on my own. Seeing as you are all at the mage rank and first-ss citizens, this is not unusual. In fact, Miss Lucia, I believe you are probably qualified to be a rank higher, but I unfortunately don''t have the authority to give it to you immediately.


    However, I''m sure that all of you will soon be the rising stars of the association." Callen said,ying on the ttery incredibly thick.


    After receiving a short rundown of the association''s rules and services, Callen asked if there was any specific mission that they wanted to take, but Lucia turned him down.


    "No, we only came to register today. We are from the south of the federation and are tired from our journey. We will be back in a few days once we have gotten used to the city." Lucia said, before turning around and walking towards the exit.


    Evelyn and the others were a bit slow to react and stood around confused for a moment before following after Lucia.


    "I thought our objective in doing all this was to get a job that would allow us to slip into the Tyrannis Union without arousing any suspicion. Wasn''t that the perfect chance to get that guy to find one for us?" Evelyn asked once they had left the building.


    "Yes, I''m sure that he would have been enthusiastic to assist us, but it would have been too overt. We don''t want anyone to know our true objective. Asking to immediately receive a job that will take us to the Jaigi Sect would give away our intentions. I understand your desire to move straight to the goal, however, we need to tread carefully. One misstep and it''s the end for us."


    Evelyn could only grit her teeth and ept Lucia''s reasoning. All of the pent-up emotions she had been holding in were screaming at her to rush off and take revenge on the people that had killed her parents and Otis. Still, the logical part of her brain knew that doing so would be a one-way ticket to death or being captured.


    ''Just a bit longer. We''re close to getting started.'' Evelyn thought, suppressing the violent thoughts that were always in the back of her mind.


    Havingpleted their first objective, their group headed back to the hotel they had rented rooms at and got some rest just like Lucia said they would. While none of them were physically tired, there was a buildup of mental fatigue from their long flight and being in a human city for the first time.


    ¡­


    For the next few days, Lucia instructed each of them to go about the city on their own and familiarize themselves with human culture. Right now, she was using her own experience to lead them around like a mother goose, but they needed to be able to getfortable blending in on their own.


    To this end, Evelyn did the only thing that was of any interest to her within the city and paid a visit to several alchemy shops.


    Most of them were only selling things that were useful for a novice, but in the upper-ss area of the inner city she did find a single alchemy shop that carried some rare items.


    "Ah, you have a keen eye miss. That is the tip of the tail from a mountain axolotl. From what I''ve heard, it is a monstrouslyrge tyrant rank beast that can use both earth and nature magic. It''s also said to have impossibly powerful regenerative abilities."


    Coming up to Evelyn as she was pursing the stores wares, was a man with slicked back red hair invish robes and wearing all manner of ostentatious jewelry.


    From a single look, Evelyn was certain that he was not one of the store''s employees, but the way he had approached her was not like what any other customer would do.


    "It did catch my attention. But why is the store''s owner spending his time on me? There are plenty of wealthier clientele around." Evelyn responded, a wary look in her eyes.


    "Ah, figured me out did you. Yes, this is my store. The names Bazan. And while you can spot good ingredients, I''ve developed an eye for exceptional alchemists. It did not take long for me to realize that you are far better than most of my normal clientele."


    Bazan gave Evelyn a toothy grin and told her that he had other rare items not on disy that he only sold to individuals that would actually be able to make use of them.


    At first she was hesitant to follow him, but the allure of obtaining some rare ingredients won out and she went with him towards a back room to see what sort of stock he had.

 Chapter 419: Chapter 419 Another Reason

    "Feel free to look around. I can assure you that you will not find any better alchemy equipment and ingredients anywhere else in the city." Bazan said, having brought Evelyn to his storeroom.


    With interest in her eyes, Evelyn looked around at what was on offer. Bazan had not been exaggerating the quality and rarity of his wares.


    The magical herbs and fruits were all high quality, and the parts from beasts were mostly from those that were at the awakened rank, though there were plenty of tyrant beast parts as well.


    ''I could honestly use some of this stuff. I just hate the idea of doing business with this guy. Originally, I only came to look around.'' Evelyn thought, having an internal struggle.


    She honestly did not want to help a single human in any way, but getting some of these ingredients would allow her to make more potent alchemical items than her current stock would allow.


    However, as she was looking around, she spotted a certain item that was sealed in a small translucent container and inside of a sealed shelf.


    Her eyes going wide she walked up an moved her face as close as she could to examine the item.


    In only a few seconds she was certain of what it was and a unrestrained rage began to well up inside her.


    Bazan noticed her sudden change in demeanor and went pale with fear. He could sense the waves of furious magical energy radiating from Evelyn.


    "This feather. Where did you get it?" Evelyn said, her voice deadly still.


    For a few moments Bazan was overwhelmed by Evelyn''s dark aura and did not move or say anything.


    Nevertheless, he had dealt with plenty of terrifying people in the past and knew that the best way to deal with them was to stay professional and not lose his cool.


    "Your keen eye strikes again, miss. That deep blue feather is from a powerful sovereign rank owl. I purchased it about a year ago from a friend of mine from the Tyrannis Union. They recently came into arge stock of owl beast parts, and this is one of them. I have many other feathers, beaks, talons, and vials of blood if you are looking for such things."


    Upon hearing this, Evelyn nearly exploded. This man had one of Melisandre''s feathers and the parts of many other owls from the Roost. Every fiber of her beings was telling her to turn this shop into a fiery hellscape, but she held back.


    To prevent herself from going out of control, she bit into her tongue hard and allowed the pain to wash over her fury.


    Tasting her own blood in her mouth, she took a deep beath and closed her eyes to calm down. Doing something rash here would blow her cover and bring a swift end to the intricate n Lucia hadid for them.


    When she turned back around to look at Bazan, she could see that his fake merchant smile was moments away from cracking and that a cold sweat was running down his face.


    "Sorry about that. I was just reminded of some owl materials I wanted to purchase a while back that got swiped out from under me. It was a rather unpleasant experience, but I should not have allowed it to influence me here." Evelyn said, lying to cover up her mistake.


    "I-Ipletely understand. As a merchant there have been many deals in the past that fell through and still haunt me to this day."


    Bazan breathed a sigh of relief now that Evelyn was no longer emitting such a threatening presence.


    He then tried to get her to make some purchases and leave. He was afraid that she might actually give into her rage at some point if she stayed for too long.


    Unfortunately for him, Evelyn wanted to know more about the owl materials he had and would not ept any evasive answers.


    "So, it''s not just materials, you''ve heard that they have also been selling live owls." Evelyn said, her outward appearancepletely neutral, but her thoughts filled with anger.


    "Yes, that is what I''ve heard. The Tyrannis Union apparently captured arge number of owls a couple years ago. Many were sold as pets or are being kept for supplies. Their blood and feathers are quite valuable after all." Bazan said, answering Evelyn''s questions in hopes of appeasing her.


    Once she had learned everything that she could from the alchemy shop owner she asked to buy every single owl material he had. She could not bear the thought of anyone using them.


    "Of course! It will take me a bit to calcte the total. Please just wait a little while." Bazan said, his fear vanishing in an instant at the prospect of making such a major sale.


    Quickly he disappeared further into eh shop and returned with a catalog listing the prices of all of his goods.


    It took him a couple of minutes, but he soon wrote down the total and showed it to Evelyn.


    Except when she saw it, she could only grimace. The price was greater than what she could afford.


    ''I don''t have even half the necessary magic crystals. Should I ask Lucia for some? No, I can''t rely on her for everything.''


    Evelyn racked her brain for what to do. There was no way she could leave the parts of owls from the Roost here. Especially not Melisandre''s feather.


    Her first thought was to simply rob the store, but that would pretty much be just as bad as blowing it up. No, she needed to do this without causing a disturbance.


    ''Wait. If I don''t have enough money, I just need to offer things of equal value.'' Evelyn thought,ing up with an idea.


    "I''m afraid I do not have the exact number of magic crystals you are asking for, but I do have some valuable items that I could offer as trade."


    From out of her storage cuff, Evelyn took out a half dozen beast cores from tyrant beast as well as around forty from awakened beasts.


    Seeing these, Bazan''s eyes lit up. Beast cores were always in demand from a multitude of professions, and there was no doubt he could easily make a profit off of them.


    "These are all quite exceptional. So many beast cores and all of them are from awakened or tyrant beasts. I knew I was right about you when I first saw you. Only a truly aplished alchemist would have this many cores in their possession." Bazan said, greed in his eyes.


    After carefully examining each of the cores, Bazan told Evelyn how much he would be willing to drop the price for the materials she wanted in exchange for them.


    Thankfully this brought everything to a level that she could afford, and Evelyn purchased all of the owl materials Bazan had as well as a few other things that she wanted.


    "It was a true pleasure doing business with you. Pleasee back again should you ever need anything." Bazan said, an avaricious grin on his face as he saw Evelyn off.


    She waved at him and friendly smile so as not to arouse any more suspicion, but deep inside she was thinking about what she was going to do in the Tyrannis Union. This trip to this alchemy shop had given her new information and now she knew that there were several owls being held captive.


    Evelyn vividly remembered what sort of horrible things those people would do to their captives and a desire to save herrades from the Roost welled up within her. She would not let them continue to be brutalized like she once was.

 Chapter 420: Chapter 420 The Perfect Job

    Days went by as Evelyn continued to familiarize herself with Taidale City and the culture of humans of this world. She had her experience from her first life to help her, but there were several things in this world that were vastly different.


    Naturally, with magic being a thing, technologies that could never exist on Earth were present in everyday life.


    Still, Evelyn had bene exposed to plenty of crazy things during her time in the Roost and adapted fairly quickly.


    After a couple of days of wandering around, she was able to find apany that rented out alchemybs and used the space to create all manner of potions, pills, and other items for herself and herpanions.


    During this time, Lucia also encouraged her to pick up some easy jobs from the mercenary association, which Evelyn begrudgingly did.


    Overall, she understood the point of everything she was doing, but it was still frustrating. She did not want to mingle with people but get on with her revenge.


    Thankfully, around two weeks into their infiltrating human society, the chance that all of them had been waiting for presented itself.


    While Evelyn was turning in a gathering request she had taken at Lucia''s request, Callen approached her with a tired smile on his face.


    "Miss Evelyn, I see that you are hard at work again. I want to personally thank you for taking on these jobs that most can''t or won''t."


    "I''m just doing what my master tells me. Thank Lucia if you want to thank someone." Evelyn replied curtly, before turning around and trying to leave.


    However, despite her making it fairly obvious that she did not care to continue speaking with him, Callen stood in her way and prevented her from going.


    "Sorry to spring this on you, but there is actually a special request that I have for you and the other members of your party. Would you mind hearing me out?"


    Evelyn almost told him to save it for when Lucia returned, but she remembered that she was supposed to make a good impression and buried her disdain.


    "Of course, I would be happy to." Evelyn said with a fake smile.


    She then followed Callen to a private meeting room within the building and he exined the job he was hoping she and herpassion would take.


    "A couple of days ago, one of the most powerful families in the city requested extra protection for their daughter who is going to be moving to Tyrannis Union as a core member of one of the sects. However, there were some difficult conditions to meet. They wanted a group of mercenaries that were all at least red rank, are second- or preferably first-ss citizens, and are primarily female.


    Not many mercenaries meet all of these requirements. But I''m sure now you understand why I sought you out." Callen said, a desperate look in his eyes.


    He could not force Evelyn to ept the request, but if she refused, then it would leave him in a bind. His only option then would be to send out the request to other branches and hope to get lucky.


    "I can''t say I''m uninterested, but I will need more details before I can say anything else. What will be the pay, how long will the contractst, and which sect will we be going to? I need to know these things to make a decision." Evelyn said, not wanting to seem to seem too enticed.


    This may have been the opportunity she and the others had been looking for, but she knew that letting Callen know that would be detrimental.


    "The pay is quite generous at one purple magic crystal and five red magic crystals per day for each of you. As for the contract, it has a minimum time of ten days and is renewable for up to thirty days. After that, if the family in question wants to continue retaining your services, they will need to negotiate another contract." Callen said, giving Evelyn the information he had.


    Unfortunately, when she asked which family had posted the job and what sect the person they would be guarding was heading to, he was unable to answer.


    "Until you''ve epted the mission, I can''t tell you who it is for, and as for which sect it would be, I honestly have no idea. If I had to guess, I would say that it is one of the four smaller sects that border the Federation to the north."


    Having to restrain herself from showing irritation, Evelyn carefully thought about what to do.


    ''There is only a one in four chance that this job would take us into the Jaigi Sect. Plus we won''t know who we are working for until we ept. It could be exactly what we are looking for, or it could be a huge waste of time. There are just too many unknown variables.''


    Evelyn wanted to jump on this chance but knew that doing so now was not the correct move.


    "How long do we have to make a decision?"


    "A week was the deadline I was given. If I was dealing with just an average family, I could just tell them to wait or lower their expectations, but not this time. My position could be at stake if I don''te through." Callen said, looking at Evelyn like she was his only hope.


    "For now, I cannot agree to anything, but I shall bring it up with my master and other apprentices." Evelyn said, trying to look sympathetic.


    Callen looked at least somewhat relieved since Evelyn had not outright refused. And to sweeten the deal, he promised that he would allow them to purchase powerful spells that the association kept in its archive and only gave ess to its most exemry members.


    ''Like I care about something like that.'' Evelyn could not help but think. While most humans would be jumping at the chance to get ess to strong spells, it was pretty much worthless to her.


    Nevertheless, there was the possibility that this mission would be perfect for her and herpanions'' goals. Now she just needed to confer with Lucia and get her option before moving forward.

 Chapter 421: Chapter 421 The Perfect Job (2)

    "I''m inclined to ept. Even if we don''t end up going to the Jaigi Sect as nned, this is the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the Tyrannis Union." Lucia said upon hearing Evelyn exin the job Callen had offered to her.


    "Doesn''t this run counter to our n, though. We could easily turn this down and find a request that will certainly bring us to our target. There is no need to take this risk. A one in four chance is hardly good odds." Rehni said. She could not see the merit in taking this uncertain job.


    Several minutes went by as Lucia and Rehni argued their own points with Aralee and Bylur asionally chiming in with their own opinions.


    During this time Evelyn did not say anything and instead thought about what it was they were really trying to aplish.


    "Let''s take the request. I''m tired of sitting around and doing nothing." Evelyn eventually said once she hade to her decision.


    Everyone turned towards her at this sudden deration and looked surprised. All of them figured that Evelyn would ultimately be against it.


    "But Evelyn, this could put back our ns by months. We''ve already done so much preparation." Rehni said, still adamant about avoiding this mission.


    "You''re right, this could take us away from our intended target, but what does it matter. Lucia may mainly want revenge against the Apostata Sect, and we want the Deamhain Sect, but ultimately the entire Tyrannis Union is our enemy. I n on tearing them all down, so I''vee to the conclusion that it doesn''t matter where we start."


    Hearing this Evelyn''spanions wore contemtive expressions, and even Lucia looked deep in thought.


    "I think Evelyn is right. They all attack us, so we''ve got to strike back." Bylur said, throwing his support towards Evelyn first.


    Aralee was quick to follow behind him, and Rehni eventually shrugged her shoulders and stopped carefully thinking about what the optimal path was. She had already chosen to follow Evelyn and could tell she was serious about her assertion.


    Lucia on the other hand had been the one carefully crafting their n and using her century of preparations to fine the best way to get back at the enemies that had destroyed her home and killed her friends.


    "You do realize that this could pull us into unexpected danger. I only wanted to ept this job to establish a reputable work history for us as mercenaries. But if we end up anywhere other than the Jaigi Sect, the information I have will be more limited. It will be risky for us to make any moves." Lucia warned.


    Still, Evelyn was unwavering in her resolve. If they needed more intel, they could gather it on sight and make ns based on the situation. Being careful was important but not to the point of timidity. If they waited for the perfect opportunity, it might nevere, and they would aplish nothing.


    Havinge to a final consensus, Lucia told them not to head out right away. They did not want to seem too interested and she suggested that they wait five days before epting.


    ¡­


    When the day came for them to head over to the Mercenary Association, even before they arrived, Callen was waiting in the reception area for them. It would seem that he had people out watching for them.


    ''Wow, he really looks desperate. Whoever this family is, they must have a lot of sway.'' Evelyn thought, seeing the nervousness on Callen''s face and the sweat trickling down his neck.


    The moment he saw Evelyn, Lucia, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee, he looked ready to jump up and run over to them in order to beg, but he kept seated and held onto a modicum of his dignity.


    "I heard that you talked to Evelyn about a special request the association received recently. Would you mind telling the rest of us the details." Lucia said, sitting down across from Callen and taking the lead in the conversation.


    With a look like he was saved on his face, Callen swiftly gave Lucia the rundown of the request.


    She then pretended to mull over the decision for a few minutes and asked Callen a few questions before ultimately agreeing.


    "Thank you for taking this request. Anyone else that frequents this branch of the association that met the qualifications is either out of the city or tied up with other jobs. You all arriving a few weeks ago was a true boon." Callen said, extreme relief on his face.


    Without further dy he brought out the contract and had each of them sign it. With this the job was epted and they would be in the service of the family that had hired them for at least ten days.


    "Now, we are officially hired as mercenaries for this job. Who is it exactly are we working for?" Lucia asked.


    "I suppose now that you have signed the contract I can tell you. It is for the Taidale Family, the ones that founded this city and the oldest and most powerful that live here."


    Callen looked at each of them, expecting to see a shocked reaction, but not a single one of them looked surprised.


    Naturally over thest five days they had done a bit of investigating to figure out likely candidates for who posted this request, and the Taidale family was the one they concluded to be the most likely. The great granddaughter of the family''s head was known around the city as some sort of prodigy, and there was talk around town of them gathering personnel for something big.


    "Understood. Will we need to go to the Taidale''s residence, or will we be picked up here at the association before the job begins?" Rehni asked, wanting to know the exact details of the request.


    "From what I was told, a representative of the family wille to pick you up from the association on the day the job begins. Your role is simply to serve as extra security during the journey to the Tyrannis Union. It is very likely you will not have much contact with the young mistress of the Taidale Family."


    After a few more questions and then some polite words of parting, Evelyn, Lucia, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee took their leave. The request would be in effect in two days, and they would use that time for further preparation.

 Chapter 422: Chapter 422 The Perfect Job (3)

    The day of Evelyn and herpanions'' guard job that would lead them into the Tyrannis Union had finallye.


    However, Evelyn had not just bene waiting around, but was hard at work within an alchemyb. She was preparing several special items that would be of great assistance for any espionage they would perform.


    "It took quite a bit of trial and error, but I finally found the right form." Evelyn said, an ecstatic smile on her face.


    In her hands she was holding several vials that contained a bright orange liquid.


    These were hertest creations and used the Mind Manipting Mushroom she had encountered in the Inferno Field as a main ingredient.


    "I bet even Lucia will be surprised to hear what these potions could do." Evelyn murmured to herself, imagining the shocked expression on her friend''s face.


    With her work finished, Evelyn cleaned up the rentedb and collected her personal equipment and thepleted products she had created over thest couple of days.


    When she returned to the hotel she and herpanions were staying at she found them all doingst-minute inventory on their supplies.


    "I was beginning to worry you might bete. You get incredibly engrossed in your alchemy once you get started." Luciamented upon Evelyn entering the room.


    "That''s true, but I certainly wasn''t going to bete for today. We''re finally making our way into the Tyrannis Union. I have been waiting for this almost my entire life."


    Evelyn could still vividly remember the day that she was captured along with her brother and parents. The day the researchers from the Deamhain Sect killed her mother and father, and when they imnted the Aethersphere in her. She had only been in this world for a couple of months when her happy life was uprooted by them.


    "Here take these potions. They are something special that I just created and will allow us tomunicate telepathically. If we can''t use words or connect strands of magical energy to each other tomunicate, these will allow us to stay in contact." Evelyn said, handing out the potions she had made earlier today.


    Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee took them without question, but Lucia wore the stunned expression on her face that Evelyn had been expecting.


    "W-where?! H-how?!" Lucia sputtered. "Potions like these are the stuff of legend. Telepathy is only supposed to be usable by the very best practitioners of mind magic."


    Evelyn could not help but smirk at Lucia''s reactions. This was only the second time she had seen the normally cool and collected peak tyrant rank wolf this flustered. With the first being when Evelyn told her about the Verdant Warlord''s domain.


    "I won''t say it was easy, but I came across a type of magical fungus that could enve other creatures through some sort of hivemind. I figured that it had tomunicate with its thralls with some sort of psychic connection and used it as the main material in these potions." Evelyn exined.


    She then went over the exact process she had undertaken to create the potion and further shocked Lucia.


    "Your alchemy skills astound me once again. I really am d to have you as an ally. These will be invaluable."


    After everyone packed away the telepathy potions Evelyn had given to them, they did onest quick check on their supplies before heading out.


    A quick walk through the cityter, and they arrived at the Mercenary Association building.


    Upon entering the building, Evelyn''s sharp eyes spotted Callen skulking around in an out of the way ce and staring at the entrance. There was a slight nervousness in his expression, and it was obvious that he had been waiting for them to show up.


    ''I understand that they founded this city, but does the Taidale family really have enough power to make him this scared?'' Evelyn thought, baffled by his terror.


    By all ounts he was the strongest person they had encountered in the city by far. Pretty much everyone else was at the peak of the acolyte rank at best, with very few being at the low tier of the mage rank.


    Of course, they had avoided the true movers and shakers so far. It was possible that there were some truly powerful individuals around.


    Evelyn kept an eye on Callen as he slipped into a side hallway and made his way back into building''s entrance to greet them. He was trying to make it seem like he had just heard about their arrival ande to greet them, but he did not fool a single one of them. They had seen him clearly after all.


    "Good day to all of you. I''m d to see that you are ready for your assignment. Someone from the Taidale Family should be here soon to get you." Callen said, a friendly and relived smile on his face.


    Lucia quickly greeted him for their entire group before sitting down at a table that had been arranged for them while they waited.


    Around half an hourter, a well-dressed man with slicked back grey hair walked into the building.


    He looked around briefly, before spotting Callen and walking directly for the manager of this branch of the Mercenary Association.


    ''He''s hiding his magical energy well, but it is clear he''s at the mage rank. There''s also the way he walks. That man is not a greenhouse flower. He has seen a lot ofbat.'' Evelyn thought while watching the man carefully out of the corner of her eye.


    Lucia had helped all of them learn how to pick up on the way people carried themselves as another way to indicate how strong they were. At the beginning of these lessons Evelyn had not yet known that she had already begun to develop this skill from the numerous battles she had been in.


    Thankfully Lucia''s instructions had allowed her to figure it out and she could now gauge the general level of anyone she observed for long enough.


    The well-dressed man spoke with Callen for a few moments, before turning his gaze towards where Evelyna and herpanions were sitting.


    Intently he walked over to them and introduced himself.


    "Greetings to you all, my name is Edgar, a humble servant of the Taidale family. I havee to guide your party to the young mistress'' procession."


    As their representative, Lucia rose and introduced herself first before motioning for the rest of them to do so as well.


    Evelyn found the whole thing somewhat irritating, but she went along since showing her true feelings would only serve to derail their n.


    "It is a pleasure to meet all of you. I''m d that we were able to find capable mercenaries on such short notice." Edgar said, bowing his head slightly.


    Normally he would not have shown such deference to mere soldiers for hire, but Evelyn, Lucia, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee were all first-ss citizens by all appearances. His intuition was also telling him that not a single one of them could be trifled with. They were undoubtably strong.


    Once the remaining formalities were taken care of, Edgar thanked Callen for his assistance and promised the branch manger that he would receive a generous token of gratitude.


    "Everything is now set. Please follow me. The young mistress wishes to set off posthaste." Edgar said, before turning around and walking towards the exit.

 Chapter 423: Chapter 423 Signs of Coming Trouble

    ''When he said procession, I imagined something a little grander.''


    Edgar had led Evelyn and herpanions around twenty minutes away from the Association building to three carriages waiting on the side of one of the city''s main roads.


    From the way things had been built up, Evelyn was expecting a farrger and more grandiose party would be traveling with the young mistress of the Taidale Family.


    However, reality was far different from what she had been anticipating. The carriages themselves did not show any wear on the outside, but they were incredibly in. Having no defining marks whatsoever. Evelyn figured that they should at least have a family crest to show affiliation.


    There was only one coachman to each carriage and two guards around each of them.


    Evelyn was able to tell that the guards were all at the mage rank and highly skilled. Their vignce was easy to see, and anyone could tell that they were experienced bodyguards. Still there were fewer than she had been expecting.


    ''My wind magic can''t prate any of the carriages. There is no way to know how many people are in them.'' Evelyn thought, hoping to learn the exact number of the people they would be traveling with.


    Unfortunately, the more she examined the situation, the clearer it became that something more than a simple trip was going on. Her instincts were ring that they had gotten involved with something dangerous.


    "Lucia, does this seem a bit fishy to you?" Evelyn whispered, using magic to prevent the sound from reaching anyone else''s ears.


    "I''m afraid so. There are only a handful of reasons a person of such prominence would be traveling in such an anonymous manner with this little protection, and none of them are good. I checked into the forces the Taidale Family has under their control and found that they have over three hundred mage rank individuals and at least a half dozen at the arcanist rank.


    There should be at least three times the number of guards from what I know."


    There was nothing either Evelyn or Lucia could do at this point though that would not set their ns back. Quitting now for no reason other than having a bad feeling would make it impossible for them to continue using the Mercenary Association.


    Of course, neither of them really cared about their image as mercenaries, it was just the most convenient cover for sneaking into the Tyrannis Union. Any other identity would take them a far greater amount of time to fabricate.


    "I understand that it would be rude to ask any of you to walk likemon guards. If you do not have your own, flying treasures can be lent to you once we are outside the city." Edgar said, as the carriages were briskly prepared to depart.


    "Thank you, but that will not be necessary." Lucia replied curtly.


    Edgar nodded his head, and soon the carriages began moving under some sort of magical power since they did not have any beasts of burden attached to them.


    Surprisingly they did not head for the northern exit, which was the closest to their destination, but to the city''s eastern exit.


    The path they took was fairly roundabout as well, and it took them around twice as long as it should have to reach the gates.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn and herpanions were only hired guards, it was not their ce to question where their charge wanted to go.


    Once they were out of the city and out of sight of the walls, the carriages pulled off the side of the road and all of the guards and Edgard jumped on and held onto the railing on the sides.


    "We are going to begin flying now. Please take out your treasures." Edgar said, acting as the liaison for their party.


    Doing as they were asked, Lucia, Bylur, and Rehni pulled out their flying disks, while Evelyn and Aralee cast flying magic on themselves.


    ''I wish I did not have to keep up this charade.''


    To keep up appearances, Evelyn and Aralee were casting their magic by creating formations with their hands and chanting the name of the spells. While it was not unheard of for humans to have full control of their magical energy, most relied solely on strict spells to conjure magical phenomenon.


    Thanks to Lucia and the books Mason had left behind to Evelyn, they had learned quite a few spells corrting to their affinities that humans used.


    After she began floating in the air, Evelyn watched in amazement as the carriages began to transform.


    Solid panels on the sides extended out like wings and the wheels folded in and began spinning rapidly like propellers.


    To her surprise, these carriages hovered over the ground and were quickly ascending higher.


    ''Wait, that''s float stone. I see, so that''s how it works.''


    When the underside of the carriages became visible, Evelyn recognized the material she once needed to evolve to the awakened rank. Melisandre had told her that humans monopolized float stone for flying vehicles, but this was her first time seeing any.


    "Please stay around the carriages and intercept anything that approaches. I''ll leave what formation you all take up to you, Miss Lucia. You and your students are clearly powerful and skilled, so I trust your experience and instincts." Edgar said as they prepared to set off.


    He knew that ordering them around in a draconian manner would only cause problems, so he was allowing them freedom in the way they arranged themselves.


    Nodding her head, Lucia used her eyes to point out where she wanted Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee to station themselves. There was now no doubt in her mind that a very real threat was after the young mistress of the Taidale Family and was taking this missionpletely serious.


    So long as they did their job well, it would undoubtedly allow them to get into the Tyrannis Union without any difficulties.


    A minute after the carriages reached a height of two hundred meters off of the ground, they began moving forwards.


    Except they did not follow any of the nearby roads, but instead cut across the wilderness. Another tant sign that they did not want anyone following them.

 Chapter 424: Chapter 424 Night Attack

    While the carriages did not seem particrly fast at first, they continued to slowly build up speed until they were flying at a steady eighty kilometers per hour. At this rate they would reach the border of the Tyrannis Union in around four to five days depending on how many stops they made.


    ''Judging by the direction we are heading, I say it''s most likely we are heading towards the Miris Sect, but it could still possibly be the Jaigi Sect as well. This could just be another attempt to throw off any pursuers.'' Evelyn thought analyzing where they were going.


    Even now that their mission had begun, no one had informed them where they were heading. The only real instruction they had been given was to drive away anything that got too close to the carriages.


    Of course, since they were flying over undeveloped territory, all manner of beasts and magical nts roamed the area.


    On several asions flying beasts would rush to attack the carriages, and every now and then a giant moving tree wouldunch dozens of delike leaves towards them.


    Thankfully none of these adversaries proved to be particrly powerful. Nothing above a mid-tier fiend beast appeared and it only took a couple of magical attacks from either Evelyn or one of herpanions to drive evenrge groups away.


    It was not until the sun was nearly set that the carriages began to descend to the ground.


    Within a couple of minutes, they had set down in the middle of a clearing within the little forested area they found themselves.


    "We will be camping here for tonight. Two of our guards will keep watch through the night, and we would appreciate it if two members of your party would as well." Edgar said, giving out instructions.


    Lucia assured him that it would not be a problem and they began setting up camp.


    While the others pitched tents; Evelyn instead focused on making dinner. Her cooking skills were the best among their group thanks to the alchemical cooking she had learned from Melisandre. Not only could she make dishes that tasted amazing, but they would also give magical buffs for several hours after being consumed.


    "A dash of this, a sprinkle of this, and a great deal of this." Evelyn muttered as she worked on a portable magic stove she had pulled out of her storage cuff.


    Her current main ingredient was severalrge cuts of pork she had obtained from ying a high tier awakened boar. She then used several supplementary ingredients made from magical fruits and herbs to enhance the effects of the dish.


    As she was cooking, Edgar slowly slinked over, with a hungry look in his eyes. He and the other guards from the Taidale Family were eating what looked like dried rations of some kind. They likely did not tase bad, but no way they were anywhere near as good as what Evelyn was making.


    "Excuse me, Miss Evelyn. But won''t this attract beasts to us. I can tell at a nce that you are using high grade ingredients that are briming with magical energy. No doubt every creature with a decent sense of smell in the vicinity will pick up the scent." Edgar said, his eyes locked on the food and his concern seeming halfhearted at best.


    "Tell me Edgar, do you smell anything?" Evelyn asked, not stopping what she was doing.


    For a moment he appeared to be perplexed, but when he attempted to sniff the air his expression changed to one of confoundment.


    "There is no smell."


    "That is correct. I''m sure you saw me use wind magic several times today. I''ve used a spell to prevent the aroma of my cooking from spreading." Evelyn exined. "Now, if you have no other concerns, I would like to get back to my work."


    Evelyn turned the entirety of her attention back to her cooking andpletely disregarded Edgar''s presence. She did not care about making friends with him or any other human for that matter and was only paying him the barest amount of courtesy to keep up her cover.


    Naturally she could tell he wanted some of what she was making, but she certainly was not going to offer him any.


    The eyes of the other guards were on her as well, and she could sense the hungered looks they were casting towards her.


    ''Is he not going to leave?'' Evelyn thought, her irritation rising.


    Despite having no reason to linger, Edgar had not moved and was hovering around Evelyn''s cooking station.


    Eventually he worked up the courage and asked Evelyn if she would be willing to share what she was cooking with him and the other guards from the Taidale Family.


    "Sorry, these ingredients aren''t cheap. You can''t expect me to hand them out for free. If you''re willing to pay, I would be willing to give out a little bit." Evelyn said, her tone bordering on unfriendly.


    She quoted them an obscenely high price for only a small potion, expecting them to back off.


    Yet to her surprise, Edgar and all of the other guards shelled out the four red magical crystals she had asked for as payment. Her food just looked too good to pass up on. Though, this was only natural. She had been taught by Melisandre who was a master alchemist. Her food was far above what could normally be obtained.


    ''I hate to give them anything, but my funds are a bitcking after the purchases I made at that alchemy store. I''ll take them for all they''re worth.''


    Hatching a malicious plot, Evelyn began nning on using lesser ingredients to make meals for the Taidale guards and charge them a small fortune for the privilege to eat her food.


    Honestly, she would rather not do business with humans in general, but killing and robbing them would set her back a great deal. Until she was certain that these people were no longer necessary, she would y nice.


    "Your cooking really is the best, Evelyn. I''m not sure how I got by without for thest couple of years." Bylur said, scarfing down the portions that Evelyn had given him.


    The others all praised her as well, though none of them couldpare to Bylur when it came to ttery.


    Unfortunately, the easygoing times did notst. Around six hours after the sun had fully set, Evelyn''s wind magic that she practically always had up and surveying the area picked up several signals.


    Except judging by the size, she could tell immediately that they were almost certainly not beasts.


    ''Unless a well disguised group like our own is ambushing the young mistress of the Taidale family, these are definitely humans.'' Evelyn thought, pumping her detection spell with greater magical energy to increase its precision.


    The approaching figures quickly became clearer pictures in her mind, and she counted thirty-seven of them.


    This was no small raiding party, and each and every one of them was well versed in stealth. If not for Evelyn being at a higher rank and her magic control being as adept as it was, they would have slipped by unnoticed.

 Chapter 425: Chapter 425 Night Attack (2)

    "We finally caught up with that vacuous little girl."


    Standing in the branches of a tall tree several kilometers away from where the young mistress of the Taidale family and her guards were camping for the night, a man wearing ck with his face covered looked through a telescope.


    The powerful magic device not only allowed him to perfectly see from a long distance away at night, but also allowed him to get a general read on the faint magical energy being emitted by the guards keeping watch outside and those sleeping in their tents.


    Thanks to this precious item he was able to ascertain that there were fifteen individuals outside the three carriages. Unfortunately, he could not see within the three vehicles thanks to their cloaking magic, but that was of little consequence. He knew his target was most certainly within one of them.


    "Lord Morden, we have checked the surrounding area and found that there are no hidden protectors deployed by your grandfather or any other members of the family. How should we proceed?"


    Another man with his entire body covered in ck expect for his eyes appeared next to the man spying on the camp. From his words and demeanor, it was obvious which of them was in charge.


    "We continue as nned. There are only fifteen people protecting her and only twelve of them are at the mage rank. I imagine that the three acolytes are the coachmen. They won''t pose any problems."


    "Understood, I shall ry your orders to the others."


    The second man then disappeared and the first could not help but smile.


    "I''ve waited a long time to get rid of you. You may have been the patriarch''s favorite, but now that he is sick and old he can''t protect you anymore. I''m not going to let you escape and grow stronger in the Tyrannis Union. Once I dispose of you just like I did your father, all of the obstacles in my way will be gone." Morden muttered to himself with a degree of fanaticism in his voice.


    ¡­


    "Lucia, Bylur, Rehni, several attackers are closing in on our position." Evelyn said, casting wind magic to carry her voice to her targets.


    She figured that the three of them probably had already noticed that something was afoot, but since it was their turn to sleep, she made sure to notify them just in case.


    After that she hastily walked over to the two guards Taidale Family guards that were on watch and told them to wake everyone up.


    "You''re certain of this? Our detection tool has not picked anything up." One of the guards said skeptically.


    They had set up a perimeter rm that would cause a magic orb in their passion to light up if anything crossed it. Since it was still dark, from their perspective everything was clear.


    "My magic has a greater range and sensitivity than your device. Don''t believe me if you want, but thirty-seven attackers will be here soon."


    Evelyn left the guards once she had exined the situation. Her job was not to worry about them nor was she counting on their assistance in the uing battle. She bothered informing them simply to prevent a panic from unfolding in the middle of battle.


    When she returned to the area where herpanions had set up camp, she found that Lucia, Bylur and Rehni had left their tents and were looking around warily.


    "Where''d Aralee go?" Evelyn asked.


    "She''s scouting things out from above." Rehni said, pointing upwards.


    With a quick nce, Evelyn could see a small figure floating high above them.


    As she did a bolt shot out of the darkness aimed for her neck.


    Of course, it never reached her. Before it was within even five meters of Evelyn it froze over and plummeted to the ground.


    Bylur wore a proud expression on his face as he looked towards Evelyn for praise, but she decided to ignore him here. That attack never posed any danger to her in the first ce.


    "It seems that our adversaries want to conceal themselves in the shadows and pick us off from a distance. Evelyn, could you go and thin their numbers. We will stay here and protect the carriages from any that slip past you." Lucia said.


    "Certainly."


    Evelyn rushed off with a vicious smile on her face. She finally had some people she could kill to vent the dark emotions that had been growing inside her since the day her parents were killed.


    As she raced through the darkness, she headed directly towards the person that had fired the bolt at her. The shot hade from around three kilometers away, but with magic it would only take her a few dozen seconds to close in on her target.


    "That''s not going to stop me." Evelyn said, waving her hand and whipping up a gust of wind that blew away several attacks that had been aimed at her.


    The sniper and hispatriots wereunching several bolts, arrows, and spells at her, but none of their attacks were anywhere near strong enough to breach her magical defenses.


    When she finally reached the person that had first attacked her, Evelyn found them scrambling to cast a spell.


    From therge hand motions, she could tell that it was going to be a big one, but that did not matter. Her first victim was only at the low tier of the mage rank. Nothing they could do would harm her.


    "Shard Buckshot!"


    Finishing his spell, the man conjured thousands of small iron slivers and fired them towards Evelyn at high speed.


    This attack would normally easily rip through any other low tier mage that was unprepared to defend against it.Surely the young woman charging towards him that appeared to be at the same rank would be shredded by this spell.


    Yet, like some sort of miracle, every single one of the small projectiles missed. They warped around Evelyn and continued flying off into the distance behind her.


    "That''s one."


    Casually waving her hand, Evelyn separated the man''s head from his body with a de of wind.


    A fountain of blood poured out of the now headless body and a heavy scent of iron filled the air.


    Despite the disturbing scene, Evelyn felt ecstatic. These people most likely were not involved in the attack on the Roost, but when she struck that man down, she imagined that he was one of the people that had torn those that she cared about away from her. After all this time, she atst had an outlet to unleash her rage on.

 Chapter 426: Chapter 426 Merciless

    After killing the first of the assants, Evelyn turned around and saw six moreing directly towards her.


    All of them had drawn different types of weapons and were quickly closing in. Having seen Evelyn easily turn away every ranged attack that came at her, they had concluded that the best way to take her down was with physicalbat.


    Of course, they were not just rushing in andpletely disregarding magic, each of the peopleing at Evelyn had cast enhancement and defensive spells.


    ''Gravitational Freedom.''


    As a sharp spear thrust was aimed at her head, Evelyn changed the point of gravity''s pull on herself and suddenly shot to the side like a glitching video game character.


    Without any movement on her part, she avoided the spear.


    Then by changing the direction of gravity again and increasing it by over eighty times, sheunched directly towards the woman that had just attacked her.


    With movements that were unpredictable and too fast for her opponents to keep up with, Evelyn appeared directly in front of the spear wielder without facing any resistance.


    From this position she pulled her arm back and threw a punch forward. As she did, she focused the point of gravity for her hand on the woman''s chest.


    Her fist was drawn directly towards the area she had designated, and the immense impact shattered the assassin''s sternum and ruptured her heart.


    ''Gravity Tether.''


    Having killed one of the members of the group attacking her, Evelyn targeted the woman''s spear and designated its point of gravity at therge man that was charging towards her.


    He was wielding a massive great sword and with a loud roar swung down on Evelyn with all his might.


    Yet before his attack reached her, she once again slid towards the side in an iprehensible manner.


    The great sword wielding man wanted to unleash a follow-up attack, but he had to jump to the side to avoid being impaled by the spear flying towards him.


    Once it had flown by, he turned his attention back towards Evelyn, but a nasty surprise was waiting for him.


    His now deceased ally''s spear was locked onto him and rapidly spun around and flew for him again.


    This time he was too slow to react and was impaled through the back by the impably sharp weapon.


    Blood gushed out of his mouth, and he fell to his knees from the extreme pain.


    In this moment Evelyn jumped in to finish him off, but four powerful magic attacks came sting towards her.


    The other assassins had backed off and attempted to catch Evelyn with their best spells while using the great sword wielding man as a decoy.


    Clearly there was littleradery between them as the other four were using one of their allies as a sacrifice to try and get a good hit on Evelyn.


    Unfortunately for them, their weak magic was never going to reach her.


    Just before the spells hit, to the four remaining attackers, Evelyn seemed to suddenly vanish without a trace.


    The only thing their magic connected with was their dyingrade who was blown to pieces.


    "Where did she go?" One of the ck d assassins said, turning his head in every direction to look for Evelyn.


    Each of them was perplexed by what had just happened and were frantically searching for their target. It was obvious that they were outmatched and letting her get the drop on them would only lead to more causalities.


    Eventually one of them looked up and saw Evelyn floating high above them, but by that time it was toote.


    d in wind, Evelyn mapped out the optimal route to dispatch her opponents and disappeared from view again.


    Using her Gravitational Freedom in conjunction with her wind magic she moved at truly unbelievable speeds.


    In a sh she had shot past the four remaining assassins and blew their heads off with a series of kicks and punches.


    By the time Evelynnded back on the ground all that remained of her current adversaries were four headless bodies.


    ''Yeah, I can use this body for closebat." Evelyn thought her lips curving into a bright smile.


    As an owl she had mostly just attacked with magic since her physical strength was lower than a lot of her opponents.


    Now, however, all the power she had as a giant owl was packed into a much smaller form. She would need more practice, but Evelyn could see a truly devastating way she could fight in the future.


    ''That''s enough practice for now. I spent nearly a minute on these seven. If I let too many get by, it will make things more difficult for the others.''


    Locating the next closest attacker, Evelyn flew off in their direction.


    When she arrived, the panicked assassin put up a wall of earth to defend themselves.


    With a wave of her hand Evelyn sent a small,pressed cyclone at the wall.


    There was almost no resistance as the wind magic drilled through the earthen wall and tore apart the person behind it. These mage rank humans simply stood no chance against her.


    "So, you are the one that has been killing my men. I will deal with you personally."


    A new man wearing all ck appeared behind Evelyn and announced himself confidently. He was a league above the other assassins and the man that had reported to Morten while they were still scouting out the area.


    Rapidly moving his hands, the second inmand of this attack cast a spell towards Evelyn.


    Surprise on her face, Evelyn looked down and saw her own shadow warp and wrap around her.


    In just a second, she waspletely bound by the shadows around her.


    "Now die."


    Completely disappearing, Morten''s right-hand man melded into the shadows and appeared behind Evelyn.


    A wicked dagger in his hand, he shed towards her defenseless neck and nned to decapitate her in one fluid movement.


    He could see victory and was certain that his de would cut through his target''s flesh and bone like butter.


    Except the moment before his de reached Evelyn''s neck, the entire world before his eyes changed.


    A heavy unbearable weight mmed into his body, and he crashed into the ground with a resounding bang.


    It took all his might to even raise his head to try and understand what had just happened.


    s, all he saw was Evelyn ripping off the shadows binding her as if they were made out of thin paper.


    "Oh, you''re still alive. I guess you are a bit stronger than the others. Perhaps I should have used Gravity Hammer instead of only Extreme Press. Whatever, it doesn''t matter. This will finish you of anyway."


    The head assassin who was only second to Morten, watched in terror as Evelyn raised her foot and held it over his head.


    Struggling with everything he had, he tried to cast a spell to escape, but it was in vain. His hands were being held down by an immense force he could not exin.


    Bringing her foot down, Evelyn crushed the man''s head like a watermelon and left a red stain in the small crater her stomp had created.


    "And that''s nine. Just twenty-eight more to go."

 Chapter 427: Chapter 427 Defense

    While Evelyn was busy ughtering his followers, Morten made his move.


    He had sent his second inmand to deal with the young woman that had brazenly charged into the fray and was certain that his best man would seed. After all, his strongest adjutant was at the high tier of the mage rank and was capable of using the very rare shadow magic. No normal low tier mage would stand a chance against him.


    "All of you, carve a path for me to the carriages. I''ll take care of my niece personally." Morten said, giving amand to the strike squad that would be going with him.


    He had fifteen of his personal soldiers by his side to assault the camp while his other men attacked at range and spread out the guards'' formation. If everything went to n, he would quickly break through and eliminate thest obstacle that could prevent him from bing the next head of the Taidale Family.


    Unfortunately, he had no idea that several fearsome beasts disguised as humans were going to block his way.


    ¡­


    "We''ve got fifteen of the assassins on the move. They''re closing in fast. It will only be about half a minute until them upon us." Rehni said, rying the information she was gathering with magic to Lucia, Bylur, and Aralee.


    Now that Evelyn had gone off to fight the group of assants, detection was being left up to Rehni. With her sound magic she was able to mimic echolocation and scoutrge areas with high precision.


    "Got it. That is probably the bulk of their force. Tell Aralee to stay in the air and support us while keeping an eye out for any enemies that try to sneak in from above. The three of us will intercept the ones charging this way. With Evelyn cutting them down quickly, I''m sure that the Taidale Family''s guards will be able to handle the ranged attacks on their own."


    After receiving Lucia''s orders, Bylur and Rehni took off with her and moved towards where therge group of attackers wereing from.


    The area had previously been the least protected since it was where the fewest ranged attacks were directed, but now it was obvious why that was.


    When the fifteen attackers emerged from the shadows of the surrounding trees, a few of them showed signs of visible surprise to find Lucia, Bylur, and Aralee waiting for them.


    Nevertheless, they were professionals and adapted swiftly. Their group outnumbered their opponents five to one and figured that it would be easy to push through and allow their leader to reach the carriages where their target was hiding.


    Splitting up into three teams of five, the assassins moved to eliminate the obstacles in their way quickly.


    Yet, despite having the numbers advantage, they found it impossible for any of their attacks to reach. Even though Lucia, Bylur, and Rehni were holding back immensely by only casting spells by creating formation using certain hand movements as most humans did, the three of them still possessed the physical prowess of tyrant rank beasts.


    It would be impossible for any of them to be challenged by a mere five low tier and mid-tier mage rank humans.


    "Spike Field."


    "Frost Cloak."


    "Luminescent Sword."


    At the same moment Lucia, Bylur, and Rehni finished constructing their spells andunched a fierce counterattack.


    Large spears of steel sprouted out of the ground around the five individuals attacking Rehni and skewered two of them to death, while gouging deep wounds into the other three as they hastily avoided fatal blows.


    For those fighting against Bylur, the temperature around them suddenly plummeted and the moisture in the air around them froze to their bodies. In only a couple of seconds three of them had be ice statues while the other two used their fire magic to stave off freezing and attempted to escape the area of effect of Bylur''s magic.


    As for Lucia, she created a blinding de made of pure light and rapidly shed those attacking her to ribbons. Not a single one of the five were able to react to her speed and found themselves dead before truly understanding what had happened.


    However, it was in this moment that Morten made his move.


    Large gtinous blobs flew towards the three disguised beasts the instant they had attacked, and their guards were down.


    At the same time, Morten rushed past, engulfed in a sphere of viscous liquid that spun around like a wheel and elerated him forward.


    Bylur and Rehni were unable to do anything to impede him as they were busy dealing with his attack that was a real threat to them. Unlike all of the soldiers under hismand, Morten had reached the arcanist rank and his magic was far more potent.


    Lucia though, reacted immediately and disappeared into a sh of light. Morten''s attack may havee at her when she was least guarded, but it did not matter since she was more than fast enough to dodge it and give chase towards the man aiming for the young mistress of the Taidale Family.


    When she caught up to Morten, Lucia shed with the Luminescent Sword still in her hands.


    With almost no resistance she carved through the protective liquid covering her target.


    Except before Lucia''s de could reach, a small pendant Morten was wearing broke off from the chain holding it and expanded into a giant shield.


    A resounding sound of metal impacting metal echoed across the area and Lucia''s magic shattered in her hands.


    Still, the attack had not been totally ineffective. The force behind it pushed Morten off course andunched him and his magic shield away from the carriages.


    "Gah!"


    Grunting in surprise and pain, Lucia looked down at her arm and found her sleeves and the skin covering her arms sizzling. The liquid that Morten was controlling was not water but some type of acid.


    Manipting her magical energy, Lucia pushed the remaining acid off of her body.


    She then pulled out a healing potion and poured half of it on her burned flesh and drank the rest.


    Almost immediately the healing magic within the potion healed her injuries and Lucia breathed a sigh of relief.


    "I didn''t think I was going to get hurt this soon. I shouldn''t have underestimated these assassins so much." Lucia grumbled to herself.


    It had been rash of her to interact with the liquid Morten controlled without first discerning its properties. She may have been in a hurry to stop him, but she had other means at her disposal that would have put her in less danger.


    Still, the battle was not over yet, and now was not the time to ruminate on her mistake.


    "I knew that Edgar had hired some mercenaries, but I never imagined that your group would be so strong. The magical energying off you feels like a peak mage, but I can tell you''re stronger than that. Honestly, you''ve impressed me." Morten said, staring at Lucia with a look of respect.


    He attempted to offer her five times what she was being paid to step aside. After shing with her once, he chose a new tactic. He knew that fighting off Lucia would be difficult and decided to negotiate instead.

 Chapter 428: Chapter 428 Crushing Victory

    ''Is he an idiot? He can''t really expect me to agree to that.''


    Instead of giving a proper response to Morten''s proposition, Lucia let her magic do the talking for her. She could tell that Morten was the type of guy to stab anyone in the back the moment they were no longer useful to him.


    "Razing Radiance."


    Above Lucia''s head, a massive dazzling sphere exploded in a st of searing light.


    Everything in front of her was consumed by a white sh and the once tranquil terrain was transformed into a scorched wastnd.


    Yet, as the bright light cleared there was a single thing that survived the attack.


    Fully engulfed in a reflective and rotating liquid was Morten. Completely unharmed despite having been at the center of Lucia''s devastating spell.


    "I suppose that I will take that as a no." Morten said with a sneer on his face.


    He then began rapidly moving his hands as he constructed a new spell to fight Lucia with.


    Of course, she did not just wait around and began conjuring her own magic.


    Lucia picked a quick spell she had practiced thousands of times so that she could blend in whenever she snuck into human territories. Its activation came before whatever spell Morten was weaving and seven dots of light like stars in the sky appeared in front of Lucia and shot towards their target.


    Each of the beads of light followed different trajectories and struck incredibly quickly.


    Unfortunately, Lucia''s light magic was once again deflected.


    The protective acid blob around Morten reflected and refracted the light away from him.


    "It is too bad for you, but I''ve had plenty of practice fighting against light magic users. You''re strong, but you won''t be able to hit me." Morten taunted.


    A secondter he finished his own spell.


    "Corrosive Giant."


    An immense amount of magical energy burst from Morten''s body and rapidly transformed into a mass of clear liquid that took the form of a vaguely humanoid figure.


    Towering at around two hundred meters tall, this Corrosive Giant looked like it was made of water, but the ground that was melting under its feet was more than enough proof to show that it was not.


    "Now regret your choice and be melted away into nothing by ultimate spell." Morten cackled loudly. He believed from the bottom of his heart that he would be the victor in this confrontation.


    His Corrosive Giant lifted one of its legs and moved to squash Lucia, but it was never able to finish its attack.


    A monstrous blizzard wrapped around the spellposedpletely of acid and instantly froze it solid.


    Just a secondter severalrge metal spheres impacted the Corrosive Giant that had been turned into an ice statue and shattered it into thousands of pieces.


    "You seem to have forgotten that I am not fighting alone. The rabble you brought with you never stood a chance against mypanions."


    Lucia stood there wearing a smug grin on her face as Morten''s greatest magic crumbled around him.


    Watching in horror, he could not believe that his Corrosive Giant was beaten so easily. It could normally crush or dissolve any opponent he came up against.


    ''It''s not possible. This must be some sort of illusion.'' Morten thought in denial.


    Sadly for him, reality was cruel and his eyes were not ying tricks on him. In one fell swoop Bylur and Rehni had brought down his strongest weapon.


    Unable to continue to be delusional, Morten realized that he had lost. Sure, he could attempt to conjure more magic, but he now knew very well that he was outmatched.


    That did not mean he was just going to wait to be taken down though. All he needed to do was escape and live to fight another day. With his defensive magic still active he felt condiment he could get away.


    Except, as he was about to flee a powerful gust of wind descended on him and tore through the reflective acid that had been protecting him.


    Reflexively he tried to move away but found a light pink glow enveloped him and his movements slowed to a crawl.


    From up above Aralee had just unleashed the magic she had been holding at Lucia''smand. There was practically zero chance that Morten would get away now that she had nullified his defensive magic and drastically lowered how fast he could move.


    Looking around for something, Morten''s eye met Lucia''s.


    For just a moment her eyes shed, and Morten felt a burning pain in his own eyes.


    With sluggish movements he reached up to his eyes and screamed in pain.


    It was honestly a bit disturbing to watch as he moved in slow motion thanks to Aralee''s magic, but no one was going to show any pity towards an enemy.


    Once Morten was able to regain the slightest semnce of sanity, he screeched for help from his remaining assassins.


    However, no one responded to his call. Instead, the only one that approached was Evelyn. She had just finished eliminating thest of the attackers that had been assaulting the camp from afar.


    "So, this guy must be the boss. Should I finish him off?"


    Evelyn held her hand up and was ready to unleash magic and deal the finishing blow to Morten. He had attacked nning to take all of their lives, so it only made sense to eliminate him now that he was beaten.


    "No, we should hold off on that. It''s possible that he has more allies about. Let''s question him before killing him."


    Following Lucia''s order, Evelyn put her hand down, but still continued to re at their captured enemy.


    Rehni then used her magic to bind Morten in sturdy chains and prevent him from casting any other spells.


    "Make sure to take any magic items off him as well. We don''t want to be surprisedter."


    Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni frisked Moten and removed every magical tool on his person.


    With that done, they ripped off his head covering and were ready to interrogate him.


    But before they could, Edgar came running over towards them now that it was certain that the young mistress of the Taidale Family was safe.


    "What?! Lord Morten!" Edgar shouted when he saw the face of the man that had been captured. Naturally he recognized the uncle of the person he had sworn to serve.

 Chapter 429: Chapter 429 The Young Mistress

    "So, you know this scum?" Evelyn asked, scowling at Edgar. From the way the servant of the Taidale family had responded, it was clear that he showed a high level of respect to the man that had led assassins against them. It was not out of the realm of possibility that he was some type of double agent.


    Under her scrutinizing re, Edgar shuddered and took a step back.


    "Y-yes. He is one of the members of the Taidale Family. H- he''s my mistress'' uncle. But why is he here?"


    Being shaken by the situation, Edgar''s normal demeanor hadpletely shattered. His face was warped with fear and confusion.


    "Evelyn, control yourself." Lucia whispered.


    Unknowingly she had been emitting magical energy towards Edgar and exerting immense pressure on him.


    When she realized what was happening, she retracted the energy.


    No longer feeling the overwhelming power, Edgar took a deep breath and rposed himself.


    Yet, before he could say anything else, amotion over by the carriages caught everyone''s attention.


    The six other guards were scrambling around one of the carriages, and for a moment Evelyn, herpanions, and Edgar feared that an assassin had slipped past them.


    ''No, that''s not what''s going on. The carriage door is cracked, and it looks like all of the guards are talking to someone.'' Evelyn thought, her keen sight allowed her to see what was going on.


    A momentter the six guards backed away from the door and bowed their heads.


    The door then opened and two women walked out and began surveying the situation.


    Once they had made sure that everything appeared to be safe, one of them reentered the carriage and a third younger woman adorned invish ck robes exited.


    ''That must be the young mistress that we''re supposed to protect. Honestly, I''m surprised that she''s left the safety of her vehicle considering the situation.'' Evelyn thought, carefully watching the woman and her two attendants.


    The Taidale Family''s young mistress had long flowing silver hair that seemed to shine in the moon and starlight.


    Her eyes in contrast to her bright hair were a deep ck. This coupled with her almost sickly pale skin gave her an ethereal look.


    Unfortunately, her outward appearance was all that Evelyn could see. No matter how hard she tried to get a read on the young woman''s magical energy, she felt nothing. Almost certainly she had some sort of cloaking magic tool simr to the ones that Lucia had given to Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee.


    Immediately the six guards surrounded the young woman and looked around with heightened vignce.


    Edgar soon rushed to his mistress'' side as well, and with his head lowered began informing her of what had urred.


    However, she seemed mostly uninterested in what he had to say, and turned her gaze towards Morten, who Rehni still had chained and gagged with her metal magic.


    Intently she walked towards the man, her face an unreadable mask.


    "Please remove the binding around his mouth. I wish to speak with him." The Taidale Family''s young mistress said calmly.


    Just her natural presence gave her an air of authority, and Rehni nearly did as she asked without a second thought.


    Still, she caught herself before she undid her magic and instead looked towards Lucia for direction.


    Nodding her head, Lucia indicated that Rehni should do as she was asked. There was no point in antagonizing their employer right now.


    With a wave of her hand Rehni dismissed the metal te that was mped over Morten''s mouth and returned his ability to speak.


    Morten sputtered and coughed now that his mouth was free. It was a pitiful disy for a man that was one of the scions of the esteemed Taidale Family.


    After he had gotten ahold of himself, he turned towards where he had heard the voice of his niece and red at her. From the animosity he was releasing, if looks could kill, his certainly would have.


    "I see that the danger that you warned me of was yourself, uncle. Was everything that urred just a ploy to get me to leave our family''s estate?"


    For a moment Morten remainedpletely quiet, before opening his mouth and spitting at his niece.


    One of her guards moved to intercept the extremely rude gesture and raised a fist to strike back but hesitated before inflicting the blow. As a guard that had served the Taidale family for decades, it was difficult to attack one of the family''s members.


    However, Evelyn had no such qualms and grabbed the man by the back of the neck and lifted him up with one hand.


    As she gripped him tightly, the sounds of bone creaking became audible, and Morten screeched in distress. It was a truly unbing sound.


    "Do that again or anything else that even mildly ticks me off, and I''ll break your neck." Evelyn said, her voiceced with murderous intent.


    While she did not havepassion for any humans, men like Morten were the ones that she hated the most. He''d betrayed his family and plotted to kill his niece out of jealousy. To Evelyn, this made him vermin that deserved to go out in a horrible way.


    "I thank you for interjecting, but I must ask that you refrain from killing him. He still is my uncle, and I have many questions that I must asked him."


    Letting out a deep breath Evelyn calmed down and lowered Morten as ordered.


    Once she had let go of his neck, he turned around and glowered at Evelyn with his lifeless eyes. Thanks to Lucia''s magic his retinas had been fried and his sight taken.


    "Now uncle, let me ask you again. Was it you that orchestrated those attempts on my life while I was still at our family''s estate?"


    This time, Morten did not spit at her but, instead beganughing.


    "Hehehe. No, I only attempted to poison you twice. The other attacks were organized by other members of the family. The patriarch''s favor may have been a great boon for you when he was still healthy, but now that he is old and sick you won''t be allowed to live. Everyone with any im to be the family''s head wants you dead. I may have failed here, but one of the others will being for you.


    It''s only a matter of time. Even hiding out in the Tyrannis Union won''t be enough to protect you."


    Morten looked pleased to have revealed the venomous knowledge he had. He knew that he was beaten, but if he could drive his niece to despair with his words, that would at least be some sort of victory.


    For the first time, the young woman''s mask cracked, and a deep sadness shed across her face for a single second. There was almost no one that would feel nothing if they heard that pretty much their entire family wanted them dead.


    "Keep him bound and toss him into one of the luggage carriages. When we arrive at the Miris Sect, I will hand him over to Grand Aunt Vivienne. She will know what to do with him."


    Turning around the young mistress of the Taidale Family began walking back to her carriage but was stopped by her uncle''s next words.


    "You''re just like your father, Maeve. Weak! His mercy is what allowed me to kill him. In the end, it will be the same for you."

 Chapter 430: Chapter 430 Evelyn’s Save and Maeve’s Request

    Upon hearing that her uncle had killed her father, Meave stopped in ce. She had kept the situation under control and suppressed her feelings, but now she could no longer.


    Her entire body shuddered in rage, and when she could not take it anymore, she turned around and leapt towards her uncle.


    Despite being blinded by Lucia, Morten could sense his niece rapidly approaching him, and smiled as she did. He may have lost, but he would not go out alone.


    Being bound and having all of his magic items confiscated there was no way for him to use normal magic. However, there was onest act of defiance open to him.


    Building up the energy within his magic core, Morten let it go wild through his body. This was ast resort suicide move that would cause a massive explosion.


    Ever since he had been captured this was the moment that Morten had been waiting for. He knew as long as he could goad his niece into attacking him, she would drop her guard and get close enough to where he was certain this final move would take her out along with him. It was only icing on the cake that the mercenaries that had beaten him were in range as well.


    "You''re alling to hell with me!" Morten shouted.


    Heughed crazily, like his victory was already secured.


    Except, the moment before his magic core ruptured and caused a grand explosion, his perspective suddenly changed, and he felt himself flying up into the air at a tremendous speed.


    He attempted to halt the process he had already set into motion, but it was toote. Far away from anyone else, Morten exploded high above the sky and lit the area with a bright sh.


    ''Whew. Can''t believe the guy went and blew himself up. I''m d I was ready to act just in case he tried something.'' Evelyn thought, her gaze looking up at the sh of magical energy.


    Thanks to her gravity and wind magic, she was able lessen the pull of gravity on Morten''s body and shot him up into the air like a ballon before he popped. Had she been any slower or her magic less potent, Morten''s suicide attack certainly would have caused no small amount of damage.


    It took nearly a half dozen seconds before Maeve and her guards to snap out of their dazes.


    "Y-you saved me." Maeve said, staring at Evelyn in astonishment.


    She had made what surely should have been a fatal mistake, but the death that should havee for her was easily cast aside by a single mercenary.


    Seeing that all eyes were on her, Evelyn bowed her head towards Maeve.


    "I was just doing my job. Think nothing of it."


    Evelyn was hoping that this disy of modesty would be enough to get attention away from her, but everyone''s eyes were still on her.


    ''Um, did I act a bit too rashly. I''m pretty sure I moved quickly enough that no one other than probably Lucia saw what I truly did.'' Evelyn thought, breaking into a cold sweat.


    She did not have time to cast spells in the way that humans normally did, so it was possible that she had given her true abilities away. Thankfully this was not damning evidence that she was a beast since humans could learn the method to fully control magic as well.


    Still, from what she had heard, it was not disclosed to many, and often only learned by those with either a prestigious status or had reached the magi rank.


    "Young mistress. I believe that you should return to your carriage now. Things may be safe for the moment, but there is no telling who else might be after you." One of Maeve''s handmaidens whispered.


    Thanks to her insistence on confronting her uncle she had been put into great danger, and those that were sworn to protect her wanted to get her back into the safety of the magically protected vehicle.


    Sighing, Maeve nodded her head, before going back towards her carriage.


    Yet, before she got far, she turned back around and addressed Evelyn.


    "You again have my thanks for saving me. Would you mind telling me your name?"


    Standing like a deer caught in headlights, Evelyn did not respond for an ufortably long amount of time.


    Eventually she did get herself together and hastily replied to the person that was technically her boss right now.


    "It is Evelyn, young mistress."


    "There is no need to be so formal. You may call me Maeve. We are both first ss citizens of Usturg Federation after all." Maeve said, a friendly smile on her face.


    "Now, Evelyn. After what just urred, I''m a bit concerned for my safety. Would you mind apanying me back to my carriage?"


    Evelyn had to hold herself back from grimacing at this request that was really more of an order.


    Of course, she was not the only one, all of the loyal personnel Maeve had brought along were having hide their distress at this turn of events.


    Of the seven guards that she had brought from home, three of them were women. If she really wanted someone else to join her in the carriage as security, it would be more logical to ask one of them.


    Nevertheless, none of her loyal servants spoke up. They could tell that their mistress was serious and would not be dissuaded.


    "As you wish young mis-" Evelyn started to say, but was cut off by a re from Maeve.


    Realizing where Maeve''s displeasure wasing from, Evelyn held back a grumble and said, "I would be happy to apany you, Maeve."


    "Yes, that''s better. Now follow me. I have a great deal I want to speak with you about." The young mistress of the Taidale family said, a bright smile on her face.


    Evelyn could only do as she was asked and walked behind Maeve.


    When they reached the carriage the two handmaidens acted swiftly and opened the door.


    From the outside it looked like a spacepletely covered in darkness and even with her impable sight Evelyn could not see anything within. This was certainly another of the carriage''s protective magic enchantments.


    However, as she stepped inside, avish space far from what she was expecting opened up before her eyes.

 Chapter 431: Chapter 431 Forced Friendship

    ''It''s bigger on the inside!''


    Evelyn rapidly turned her head from side to side as she examined the interior of the carriage with wide eyes.


    Without any doubt she was certain that the outside dimensions of this carriage were far smaller than what she had just walked into.


    Inside the carriage was arge living room with two luxurious couches and four high quality chairs sitting atop a beautiful rug and set up around arge table that was set low to the ground.


    ncing about Evelyn could see that there were several wardrobes and chests lined against the walls, and in one corner stood a small kitchen area.


    Along with this main room, she could see three doors along the walls leading to presumably other rooms.


    ''This isn''t a carriage. It''s a luxury apartment on wheels!''


    It had been a while since Evelyn had been this surprised by the magic in this world, but having her expectations be so far off the mark had left her more stunned than she normally would have been. She was reacting like most characters did when they walked into a certain blue box for the first time in a popr show on Earth.


    "I understand that it is a little cramped andckluster, but it was the best that could be arraigned on short notice. It''s at the very least contains all of the basic essentials and isfortable enough." Maeve said, a slightly apologetic look on her face.


    "Um, no, its perfectly fine. I suppose it beats camping outside." Evelyn responded politely.


    Honestly, she would rather be camping outside with herpanions than in here, but she could not tell her employer that. While it was only temporary, she needed to keep up the act of a model mercenary and first-ss citizen of the Usturg Federation.


    ''Just keep calm and remember the acting skills Lucia drilled into us beforeing here. Everything I do here is to get closer to my goal.''


    Once she had reaffirmed her motivation, Evelyn followed Maeve''s direction and sat across for the young woman that had gained the animosity of her family for being the current patriarch''s favorite to seed the house.


    Evelyn watched Maeve carefully and could see that she was putting up a strong front. Undoubtably the shook of her uncle''s attempted assassination and his admission of killing her father had rocked her to her core.


    "Young mistress, please enjoy. "


    One of her maidservants ced a cup of tea in front of Maeve while the other gave one to Evelyn. Even though she was technically hired as a guard, it seemed that while inside this carriage she would be treated more like a guest.


    "Ah yes, allow me to introduce you. These are my two closest servants, Amelia and Josephine. If you need anything, please feel free to ask them." Maeve said before picking up her cup of tea and taking a long sip.


    As she did her hands trembled and Evelyn wondered if she was about to have a breakdown. And if Evelyn was not there, she certainly would have.


    Instead, Maeve quickly brought up a topic to distract herself from the storm of thought and emotions in her head.


    "Now, Evelyn, I''m interested in your work as a mercenary. I know it is not umon for even first-ss citizens like ourselves to join the association, but what led you and your group to do so? It is easy to tell that the five of you are not your average practitioners of magic."


    There was an exited glint in Maeve''s eyes as she waited for Evelyn''s response. Being part of the Usturg Federation, she had heard many romanticized stories about famous mercenaries and expected Evelyn to have many of her own.


    ''I guess it''s time to break out the backstory that Lucia came up with for us. Along with that I can probably throw in some of the experiences I had while still with the Roost. All I need to do is omit anything about my being an owl. As they say, the best lies have a hint of truth to them.''


    Knowing that she was not going to be able to get away with refusing to answer, Evelyn went all out with her retelling of certain events.


    To start with she gave the fake background that Lucia had invented for them. They were all a group of friends from prominent but small houses in the south of the Usturg Federation. Each of them had been far removed from seeding their houses and stuck out together, with Lucia being the leader since she was the oldest and most experienced.


    Naturally each of the families Lucia had chosen for them to pretend to be a part of did exist at one point but had fallen at least a decade ago. If anyone did a very thorough investigation, they would likely find that Evelyn and herpanions were not who they said that they were, but that would be a difficult and lengthy undertaking.


    After that, Evelyn regaled Maeve with some of the battles she had fought, starting with the destruction wyvern she had encountered in the Velinis Desert.


    She did take some liberties with the retelling, making sure to cast them all as humans, and inserting Lucia into the lead role despite her not having been around at the time.


    This went on for hours, and it became clear that Maeve had no desire to sleep tonight nor be alone. Most likely she was willing to do anything to distract herself from the harsh reality she had recently learned.


    Evelyn, for her part, was far kinder to Maeve than she would have expected. After all that had happened to her, she had an aversion that bordered on abhorrence for all humans.


    However, perhaps she saw a bit of her past self in Maeve. The look of sadness and fear that asionally appeared in the young woman''s eyes reminded her of what she was like back on Earth. It wasn''t the same, but it was simr enough. Both of them had been betrayed by members of the family that they trusted.


    For Evelyn it was her father when he became a violent drunk, and for Maeve it was her uncle that had attempted to take her life.

 Chapter 432: Chapter 432 Entering the Tyrannis Union

    Days went by as Evelyn continued to act as a distraction for Maeve.


    During this time the young mistress of the Taidale Family did not sleep once and kept Evelyn up with her.


    Thanks to physical enhancements raising their ranks had granted them, as well as some magical teas that boosted alertness, neither of them needed to sleep even after being awake for several days.


    Of course, for Maeve it was simply that she did not want to fall asleep as she was afraid of the unceasing nightmares she was sure to have.


    Evelyn though, was basically being forced to keep the young womanpany.


    Maeve insisted that they talk for hours, y games together, or read books and discuss their thoughts on them.


    Overall, Evelyn got fed up with this pretty quickly. Unfortunately, to keep her cover, there was nothing she could do but y along. Maeve hadtched onto her as emotional support and was not going to let her go easily.


    ''It should not be much longer. Once we reach her destination, we''ll part ways, and I won''t have to deal with this anymore.'' Evelyn thought, struggling to prevent her frustration from appearing on her face.


    Thankfully, it was only a few hourster that they arrived at the border between the Usturg Federation and the Miris Sect of the Tyrannis Union.


    "Evelyn, could I ask you to deliver this to the checkpoint''s guard captain." Maeve said, holding out a thick letter.


    Taking this chance, Evelyn happily grabbed the letter and hurriedly exited the carriage. While her personal feelings about Maeve wereplicated and she was certain she did not hate the young woman, being forced to apany her for days straight had irritated Evelyn to no end.


    Fresh air and open skies. It feels like it has been an eternity.''


    Upon exiting the carriage Evelyn took a deep breath and sighed in relief. While she had not been physically restrained in any way, being cooped up in the carriage for so long almost felt like she was trapped in a cage again.


    "Evelyn!"


    Bylur rushed over to her before she even finished getting her bearings. He looked a bit like an excited puppy that had not seen its owner for a few days.


    A slight smile on her face, Evelyn greeted Bylur and asked him for an update on what had urred while she was stuck in the carriage with Maeve.


    "Nothing much. We got attacked by some weak beasts asionally and caught some people spying on us, but no other big groups made any moves. I''d guess after easily repelling the first batch of assassins, anyone else after that girl are pretty wary."


    After answering her questions, Bylur asked her if she was okay, and if Maeve had done anything untoward to her. There was both worry and a bit of anger in his eyes. Perhaps he was jealous that Evelyn''s time had been monopolized by Maeve.


    Evelyn naturally did not air her grievances to him. Certainly, she was somewhat annoyed, but telling that to Bylur would only lead to disaster. He was likely to charge into Maeve''s carriage and cause a scene.


    "Hm, so that is the Tyrannis Union''s border. That is one massive barrier they had set up. I can''t imagine how much magical energy it takes to maintain that thing." Evelyn said, looking out into the distance.


    Right now, the flying carriages hadnded on a well-travelled road and were slowing approaching arge fortress that was a checkpoint for entering the Union.


    However, the fortress was far less impressive than the nation''s barrier.


    All around the Tyrannis Union, there was a powerful barrier that detected and tagged any beast awakened rank or any human that was mage rank or above. The only way to enter without setting off this protective magic was to enter through a checkpoint like the one they were heading towards.


    Of course, anyone weaker than the third rank could slip by, but the union did not consider them to be a threat worth monitoring.


    "It looks like there is a fairly long line to enter, but it does not seem that we are moving to join them. Do you know why that is?" Evelyn asked Bylur.


    "Yeah, Edgar told us that we did not need to wait like themon folk. Apparently, our ward has some connection with a high-ranking member of this sect or something." Bylur responded, shrugging his shoulders in disinterest.


    Evelyn nodded her head in understanding. In every society there would be some that held more authority and power than others. Maeve was part of an esteemed family in the Usturg Federation, it was only to be epted that her treatment would be superior to random merchants and travelers.


    Soon enough they reached the checkpoint and saw that there were actually two gates. One for those of high social status, and another for those that were not.


    "Halt, state your business and affiliation, a guard in shiny metal armor said as he approached Maeve''s procession.


    Unlike the guards outside of Taidale City, the ones around the checkpoint into the Tyrannis Union were far stronger and more professional. These people were not here just to levy and entrance fee.


    Edgar was the one that approached the guard and exined who they were and why they wished to enter the Miris Sect''s territory.


    When she saw that they had finished their conversation, Evelyn stepped forward with the letter Maeve had given her in hand.


    "The Young Mistress asked me to deliver this to the guard captain. Would you be able to bring it to them?"


    Taking the letter, the guard gave it a once over.


    "Wh-what?!" He exined in surprise.


    As he examined the letter, he noticed the seal on it and went ck jawed in shock.


    "Please, give me just a few moments. I will go get the captain right away."


    The guard then rushed off into the fortress. Clearly having used magical enhancements to move faster than normal.


    In less than five minutes, he returned with a tall woman with short blonde hair. She was not wearing any armor like the others and was actually in casual clothing. Mostly likely she had not been on duty but had responded anyways because of Maeve''s letter.


    "I''m Captain Agatha. Which one of you is in charge?" The woman asked.


    Her eyes nced between Edgar, Evelyn, and Lucia.


    "That would be me, Captain." Edgar said, taking a step forward.


    "Okay. As per the letter''s instructions I shall issue your party flying permits and assign one of the guards here as an escort. While you wait for them to arrive, go ahead and attach these to your carriages and pin these medals on everyone in your group."


    Edgar took what Agatha had offered them and along with the others guard quickly got to work on passing out the medals.


    Not long after everything was finished, a young woman with bright scarlet hair raced up in hastily put on armor.


    "Heidi, reporting for duty ma''am."


    Agatha raised her hand and motioned for Heidi to be at ease and then told her the details of her assignment.


    While that was going on, some other guards checked Evelyn and herpanions'' identification and Mercenary licenses, but there were no searches or questioning.


    Over in the other line for people that did not hold illustrious statues, Evelyn could see that the guards were thoroughly examining everyone and whatever possession they had on them.


    ''I guess all of that groundwork was worth it.'' Evelyn thought as the checkpoint''s gate opened.


    Walking in front of the carriages just behind their guide, Evelyn was the first to reach the other side. Finally, she had reached the Tyrannis Union. The nation that housed her greatest enemies and the people she could never forgive.

 Chapter 433: Chapter 433 The Miris Sect

    Evelyn cast flight magic on herself once their entire group had passed through the border checkpoint. Thanks to whatever connections Maeve had within the Miris Sect, her carriages and those apanying her had been given the right to fly through the Sect''s territory.


    With the woman named Heidi as their guide, they set off through the skies and flew towards the Miris Sect''s capital and main base.


    For the first thirty or so minutes, there was nothing of note to see, but it was not long until Evelyn spotted the major industry practice in the area.


    In several ces she spotted massive holes in the ground withyered levels going from the surface down to the bottom.


    Thanks to her memories from her first life, Evelyn knew what this practice was. The Miris Sect was strip mining thend.


    ''I doubt it is for coal like back on Earth. Whatever it is must be magical in nature.'' Evelyn thought, wishing to get a closer look.


    Unfortunately, from such a great distance away and passing by at a rather quick pace, it was impossible for her to see exactly what was being mined even with her impable sight.


    However, there was something she was able to spot clearly, and it appalled her.


    Most of the workers she could see had ck cors around their necks and looked to be being fed only just barely enough for them to keep working.


    Evelyn had no love for any humans, not after so many bad experiences with them. But what she hated most of all was such horrible oppression. It reminded her of when she was caged up as an experimental subject.


    Part of her wanted to swoop down and kill the people that were in charge of the mines and set the people free. Of course, she honestly did not care what happened to them, it would be more for her self-satisfaction than anything else.


    ''No, push those thoughts aside. I''m not some crusader out to right injustices. I''ve got my goals, and I can''t let anything else steer me away from them.''


    After shaking any unnecessary thoughts out of her head, Evelyn faced forward and focused on her current mission. Now that they had arrived in the Miris Sect, it was time to gather what information they could.


    Even if they did not attempt any actions that would disrupt the Tyrannis Union this time, it was still the perfect chance to learn about their enemies and establish their party as a group of capable mercenaries.


    ¡­


    Within a day and a half, the firstrge city in the territory of the Miris Sect came into view.


    This was the capital city, having the same name as the Sect that ruled over this area.


    From up in the air, Evelyn could see that that Miris City was sectioned off by six differentyers of walls.


    The first twoyers were thergest but by far the least affluent looking. With the opulence of the buildings and streets increasing the closer to the center.


    Finally enclosed by thest walls, was an enormouspound that was the Sect''s headquarters. This was where the leader and the upper echelon of the Sect conducted their business, and horded the wealth of the region. Naturally, this was Maeve''s destination. She was soon to be one of the Miris Sect''s core members.


    Evelyn expected their group to need tond and enter the city through one of tis gates but was surprised to find Heidi continue to soar over the city on her flying disc. Apparently the flight privileges they had received extended even to the airspace over Miris City.


    Eventually they did have tond, but only once entering the second innermost wall just outside the entrance to the Sect''s main base.


    Several guards approached them upon theirnding and spoke with both Heidi, and Edgar, who was acting as Maeve''s representatives.


    While the formalities were being taken care of, Josephine exited Maeve''s carriage and quickly looked around before heading directly towards Lucia.


    The two of them spoke in hushed tones, but without any magic to interference, Evelyn could easily listen in on what they were discussing thanks to her extremely hearing.


    Evelyn wanted to grimace at what she heard. Maeve had decided to renew their contract for the maximum allotted number of days.


    The minimum time of the request was for ten days, which was soon to be concluded, but there was a provision allowing for Maeve to extend it to thirty days. Even though the young mistress of the Taidale Family had arrived at her destination and should have reached a rtively safe location, she still wanted to retain their services as guards.


    ''Why do I get the sinking feeling that this has something to do with me.'' Evelyn thought,menting the unavoidable situation.


    She knew without a shadow of a doubt that Maeve had grown attached to her. Not only had she saved Maeve''s life from her uncle''s suicide attack, but she had been someone to talk to during a difficult time. Though, Evelyn had been pretty much forced to act as Maeve''s support.


    "I''m guessing you weren''t able to turn her down." Evelyn said, once Josephine had left Lucia''s side and returned to the carriage.


    "Sadly, that would be a breach of the contract. We''ll have to ride this out until the time limit expires."


    A few minutester, the gates to the Miris Sect''s Headquarters opened and arge, luxurious roofless carriage exited and quickly turned around.


    This vehicle was for Evelyn''s group. They would not be allowed to fly within the headquarters'' grounds, but apparently it would be rude to force them to walk since they were first-ss citizens of the Usturg Federation.


    Once the five of them had seated themselves within the carriage, the vehicle took off with the three that Maeve had brought along.


    As the wheels of the carriage turned thanks to magical energy supplied by the driver, Evelyn, Lucia, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee were brought into the heart of their unsuspecting enemies'' territory.

 Chapter 434: Chapter 434 The Miris Sect (2)

    After traveling through the grounds of the Miris Sect''s headquarters for nearly thirty minutes, Mave''s group pulled into the courtyard of arge house and began to slow to a stop.


    ''That is certainly quite the mansion to just give away to someone. It reminds me of some of the old massive European manors I saw photos of while doing reach for a paper.''


    Evelyn was bbergasted to see such an enormous property being so casually handed over. Along the way they had passed otherrge houses, but this one stood out amongst all that they had seen up to this point. Evelyn did suspect though, that deeper into the headquarters evenrger and morevish mansions were situated.


    Once the vehicles had stopped, for the first time since arriving in the Tyrannis Union, Maeve stepped out of her carriage along with her two handmaidens.


    As if they had been waiting for their cue, the moment Maeve revealed herself, therge doors that served as the mansion''s entrance opened.


    Inside, Evelyn could see two rows of attendants waiting with their heads slightly bowed.


    At the back of the lines of servants, however, was a single woman who was sitting on a luxurious chair with a table that had a cup of tea and several sweetid out atop it.


    With only a quick nce Evelyn was able to decern two very important characteristics of this woman. One she was undoubtedly rted to Maeve. Their facial structures were simr and their hair color the same. The woman''s age appeared to be in herte thirties or early forties, though it was likely she was much older than that.


    The second thing Evelyn noticed wat that this woman was strong. She was keeping her magical energy restrained, but not trying to hide its potency. It was easy enough to tell that she was at the peak of the arcanist rank.


    Maeve walked to the front of the group and led the way in. It seemed that now that they had arrived at the Miris Sect''s Headquarters, she was no longer worried about her life being in danger.


    Upon reaching two meters away from the woman seated at the table Maeve bowered her head deeply.


    Her handmaidens and guards then all set one knee on the ground and lowered their heads almost to the floor.


    Evelyn watched this and wondered what she should do. Just bowing her head would be one thing, but she really did not want to get on the ground.


    Thankfully, Lucia took the lead in providing an example for them and bowed in the same manner as Maeve. Apparently, their falsified status as first-ss citizens of the Usturg Federation meant that they did not have to show absolute deference to this woman.


    "It is an honor to meet with you again Grandaunt Vivienne. Thank you for agreeing to my request and arranging a position within the Miris Sect for me." Maeve said, her head still lowered.


    "It was the least I could do for my adorable grandniece. Now go ahead and raise your head. There is no need to stand on ceremony here." Vivienne said, a bright smile on her face as she addressed Maeve.


    She then offered Maeve a seat, and one of the nearby attendants poured her a cup of tea and ced several confections in front of her.


    "My you have grown since thest time I saw you. Both in size and your magical abilities. And it seems that you''ve brought some rather talented personnel with you."


    Vivienne first looked down at Maeve''s handmaidens and guards that were still on one knee, but when her eyes reached Evelyn, Lucia, Bylur, Aralee, and Rehni they were filled with far greater interest.


    "Yes, I brought those most loyal to me along from home, as well as hired a party of mercenaries as added security. The five still standing are those most talented mercenaries, and as I am sure you are already aware, they are first-ss citizens of the Federation."


    "They certainly are impressive for mercenaries. I almost want to try recruiting them into the Sect, but I do not want to antagonize the Mercenary Association by poaching their members. It would be undesirable to strain rtions with our neighbor." Vivienne said, a greedy glint in her eyes as she stared at specifically Lucia.


    Grandniece and grandaunt continued to converse idly about this and that for several minutes.


    However, Vivienne eventually got up and prepared to take her leave. There was no doubt that shew as someone important within the Miris Sect and had other matters to attend to.


    "Let us speakter in private when I have the time. I wish to know what condition my father is in and the situation surrounding the family as whole." Vivienne said before departing.


    Around a third of the servants waiting in the entrance left with her, but the rest stayed behind as attendants for Maeve.


    Now that her grandaunt was gone, Maeve got up and began giving orders to the servants as the new master of the mansion. Several went out to grab the luggage from her carriages, while the head maid began showing her around.


    While Maeve was being led away, an older gentleman approached Evelyn''s party and told them that he would show them to their rooms.


    ''Wow, this is really just a guest room!''


    In her room Evelyn found arge canopy bed with extravagant bedding. There were also three closets of varying sizes, with thergest being bigger than the room she had lived in during her first life.


    Finally, there was an attached bathroom with a giant tub and a separate shower that could easily fit six people in it. Opulent soaps and makeup were neatly arranged on several counters, and arge mirror that looked like an art piece sat against one of the walls.


    Evelyn was caught up in the extravagance of the space for a couple of minutes, but her wonder quickly faded. She had note here to indulge in the Miris'' Sect''s hospitality. Her goal was to tear the ce down, along with the rest of the Tyrannis Union.

 Chapter 435: Chapter 435 Invitation

    Two days after their arrival in the Miris Sect''s Headquarters, an extravagant letter arrived for Maeve.


    It had the Miris Sect''s seal on it and gold leafing around the edges. Within the paper magic inscriptions had been drawn to prevent anyone but intended the recipient from opening.


    When she opened it, she found that it was a letter from her Grandaunt Vivenne inviting her to a party in honor of her induction into the Sect three days from now.


    Very few new members joining the Miris Sect would receive such an honor, but since her grandaunt was the second ranking member of the entire Sect and her magical abilities had reached the high tier of the mage rank, she was receiving special treatment.


    This party would also serve as a way to introduce her to the rest of the core members and elders of the sect.


    "But who should I bring along with me?" Maeve muttered.


    The invitation stated that she could bring four guests with her.


    Obviously, she would be taking along her two handmaidens, Amelia and Josephine. The two of them had served her since she was a baby and were practically like mothers to her.


    As for the other two people she would bring with her, Maeve was having a more difficult time deciding.


    Normally she would just bring along two of the guards she brought from home, but her thoughts kept drifting towards Evelyn instead.


    Maeve knew that she had pretty much forced Evelyn to keep herpany as a distraction from the terrible thoughts swarming through her mind. She was under no such illusion that they had suddenly be friends. Still, she could not help but think that the possibility was there.


    Evelyn did what she asked only because of their current arrangement. Maeve could tell that Evelyn did not care about her status as a member of the Taidale Family, or her bing a core member of the Miris Sect. Once the contract between them had expired, Maeve imagined that Evelyn would treat her like an equal.


    "I''ll just go ahead and invite her.As for the fourth individual, I should probably bring along Lucia."


    If she was already going to have one of her hired mercenaries apany her, she figured that it would make little difference to take a second with her.


    It made since to extend the invitation to Lucia since she was the leader of Evelyn''s party, and because she was incredibly strong.


    While she did not think that something would happen at the party, she could not rule out another of her family members trying to assassinate her. In the off chance that a threat to her life did appear, she knew that know one in her retinue would be more reliable than Lucia.


    "She is the one that beat my uncle after all." Maeve sighed.


    Even from inside her carriage she was able to watch what was happening around her. She had witnessed the entire attack and how handily her uncle and his forces were dealt with.


    Maeve felt herself to be fairly good at judging other people''s abilities, and whenever she looked at Lucia, she could not envision a way to win if they fought each other.


    Her uncle had never invoked such a feeling in her. There was no doubt he was stronger, and it would be an uphill battle, but she knew that there was a chance she could have beaten him.


    "She''s an enigma though. I can''t tell where the true bottom of her power lies. Honestly, she feels more like my grandaunt despite only being one tier above me."


    Lucia''s entire group was truly baffling to Maeve. They were all first-ss citizens that had be mercenaries, which was not particrly unusual. But their talents and skills were all far and away some of the best Maeve had ever seen. It made little sense that they were not chosen to inherit whatever houses they came from.


    Nevertheless, as much as she wanted to know more about them, digging into their secrets would only gain her their animosity. Right now, Lucia, Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee were some of the few allies she could count on. Truthfully, Maeve wished that she could retain their services indefinitely, or better yet, earn their friendship so that they would stay with her of their own free will.


    "I wonder if there is any way I can convince them to stay. If they leave the Mercenary Association amicably and join the Miris Sect afterwards, it should not cause too much trouble. I''m sure that my grandaunt would love to have a group of talented individuals like them join." Maeve said, voicing her thoughts out loud.


    She had less than twenty days now, but during that time, Maeve was determined to win over by just about any means necessary. Coercion was unlikely to work, but perhaps they could be tempted by rare treasures or power spells. Everyone that walked down the path of magic needed more resources if they wished to reach greater heights after all.


    "I''ll just have to make it more worthwhile to stick with me than continue on as mercenaries." Maeve muttered, her lips curled into a smile and her eyes resolute.


    ¡­


    A few hours after Maeve had received the invitation from Vivienne, both Evelyn and Lucia were informed that they would apany the young mistress as her guests sh bodyguards.


    After receiving this news, Evelyn and herpanions met in Lucia''s room and once it was certain that no one could eavesdrop on them, they began their conversation.


    "Why is it just you two? If she wants protectors, should she not bring all of us along?" Bylur asked, looking a bit peeved that he would not be able to apany Evelyn.


    "From what I was told, she can only bring along four people with her. Two of her own retinue will being along, leaving Lucia and I as the other two." Evelyn exined.


    Rehni and Aralee also looked concerned, but not for the same reason as Bylur. This party would bring Evelyn and Lucia into direct contact with the top brass of the Miris Sect. If their true identities or intentions were discovered, it would put them in a dangerous situation.


    "There is no need to worry. There should not be anyone that can see through the magic tools disguising our real abilities. The only real problem will be keeping up appearances." Lucia said, before turning towards Evelyn. "From now until the party, I''ll need to teach you how to act properly at an event like this. You''re a quick learner, so I''m sure you''ll pick everything up in no time.

 Chapter 436: Chapter 436 Miris Sect’s Party

    Evelyn copsed onto her bed and let out a deep sigh. She had just finished a long hellish training session with Lucia.


    "I never want to hear another song, dance another step, or worry about proper party etiquette again." Evelyn muttered, her eyes devoid of any light.


    Lucia had trained her nearly nonstop for thest couple of days. The only time she was not receiving instruction was during meals. Even sleep had been cut out.


    Truthfully Evelyn longed for the simple days out in the wilds of the world. There all she had to worry about was securing food and basic shelter for herself.


    However, her resolve to see her goals through gave her the motivation to continue. Not only was she here to get her revenge, but it was also to eliminate those that threatened her and herpanions'' lives.


    For as long as she was around the Tyrannis Union would be after her. She could attempt to hide from them forever, but they had found her once before and she had no doubt that they could do it again. It was simply a matter of time.


    So instead of waiting, Evelyn felt it was better to bring the fight to her enemies.


    "We''ve just got to get through this stuffy party and wait until the contract with Maeve expires. Then we''ll be able to investigate the Miris Sect and look for a weak point to exploit." Evelyn murmured, before closing her eyes and falling asleep.


    ¡­


    The start of the next day was hectic as everyone prepared for the party.


    Josephine came early in the morning and began assisting Evelyn and Lucia with their clothing, hair, and makeup.


    "You two really are quite stunning. I''m sure that along with the young mistress, you three will steal everyone''s gazes." Josephine said with a refined giggle.


    "Oh, I believe that you are selling yourself short. You and Amelia are beautiful as well. It will be the five of us that people will be unable to look away from." Lucia said tteringly.


    Josephine thanked her for her kind words but said that few would be interested in a pair of servants. While they were attending the party along with Maeve, their dresses would be in ordance with other attendants.


    "No, the young mistress will be the star of today''s show with you two apanying her. I understand this is not exactly the type of work you are used to, but I thank you for continuing to protect her. Not all the threats to the young mistress wille in the form of violence."


    Lucia assured Josephine that they would do everything in their power to keep Maeve safe from whatever dangers maye her way.


    After that Josephine continued to devote herself to assisting Evelyn and Lucia and soon enough, they were dressed up for theing party.


    "Yes, those dresses suit you two very well. A ruby and a sapphire to join the golden young mistress."


    Evelyn had been put into a dazzling blue dress, while Lucia was wearing a gleaming red dress.


    Both dresses were incrediblyvish and made with the best materials avable. Evelyn could even feel that the fabric conducted magical energy with ease and had some magic inscriptions embroidered into it.


    ''Should I really be wearing something like this?'' Evelyn thought.


    The dress was far fancier than anything she had ever worn before. Looking into the mirror she almost did not recognize herself.


    Before her was a beautiful woman that looked like a fairytale princess about to go to a ball.


    ''Except, I''m not even human anymore. In this world I was reborn as an owl. A beast.''


    Still, as much as she felt something wrong with her current attire, a part of her was happy.


    Thanks to her situation at home during her first life, she had practically no chances to get dressed up or put on makeup. Even when she did want to wear beautiful clothes or enhance her features with makeup, she was too busy just trying to survive.


    The one time she attempted to go out in nice clothes with makeup on, her father gave her one of the fiercest beatings she had ever received.


    If not for already havinge to terms with what had happened during her first life, Evelyn likely would have been unable to stand being put into the current dress she was wearing.


    ''That is all behind me now. There are far worse things here to worry about than my old father.'' Evelyn thought, before casting the bitter memories back into the depths of her mind.


    Now that she and Lucia were ready to go, Josephine brought them down to the parlor near the mansion''s entrance.


    There the three of them waited for a bit less than a quarter of an hour before Maeve arrived with Emelia walking behind her.


    The young mistress of the Taidale family was wearing an existed golden dress that seemed to glow as she walked.


    In terms of allure, it stood out even more than the already elegant dresses that Evelyn and Lucia were wearing. Naturally as the guest of honor for tonight''s party, it was necessary that she stood out more than those apanying her.


    Lucia and Evelyn stood up and greeted Maeve, who was doing her best to hide her nervousness.


    The three of them eachplimented each other on what they were wearing before heading out towards the carriage waiting for them.


    It was only a short five-minute drive to Vivienne''s estate where the party was being held.


    As the second highest ranking figure in the Miris Sect, her domain was just as grand as her status.


    Even the manor that Maeve had been given paled inparison to what her grandaunt possessed. Honestly Evelyn thought that it looked more like a small town rather than a single person''s property.


    When they finally arrived at the building that would serve as the venue for the party, several hundred carriages had already arrived.


    Nevertheless, their driver did not line them up with the rest of the arriving guests but instead brought them towards the back where only a few select individuals were allowed.


    "Pleasee with me Lady Maeve. Lay Vivienne is waiting for you inside."


    A well-dressed man with slicked back blonde hair came to greet Maeve and promptly brought her to where her grandaunt was.


    Wearing a dark purple dress that entuated her beauty, Vivienne gracefully walked over to Maeve and gave her a quick onceover.


    "My, don''t you just look lovely Maeve. They won''t be able to take their eyes off you. After your debut tonight, you''ll be the talk of the Sect for months." Vivienne said proudly.


    "Thank you, grandaunt. Or I suppose that after tonight, I will need to call you master."


    "Oh, there is no need to worry about such formalities when we are in private. I will first and foremost be your family before anything else."


    Vivienne looked at her grandniece lovingly. While the two of them had not spent a great deal of time together, there was no doubt that among the members of her family, Vivienne cared for Maeve the most.


    "Now, it is almost time for your grand entrance. I will go and get things ready in the great hall. Then after a few minutes, Gervasio will lead you in along with your guests. The three of you will certainly captivate everyone."

 Chapter 436 - 436 Miris Sect’s Party

    Evelyn copsed onto her bed and let out a deep sigh. She had just finished a long hellish training session with Lucia.


    "I never want to hear another song, dance another step, or worry about proper party etiquette again." Evelyn muttered, her eyes devoid of any light.


    Lucia had trained her nearly nonstop for thest couple of days. The only time she was not receiving instruction was during meals. Even sleep had been cut out.


    Truthfully Evelyn longed for the simple days out in the wilds of the world. There all she had to worry about was securing food and basic shelter for herself.


    However, her resolve to see her goals through gave her the motivation to continue. Not only was she here to get her revenge, but it was also to eliminate those that threatened her and herpanions'' lives.


    For as long as she was around the Tyrannis Union would be after her. She could attempt to hide from them forever, but they had found her once before and she had no doubt that they could do it again. It was simply a matter of time.


    So instead of waiting, Evelyn felt it was better to bring the fight to her enemies.


    "We''ve just got to get through this stuffy party and wait until the contract with Maeve expires. Then we''ll be able to investigate the Miris Sect and look for a weak point to exploit." Evelyn murmured, before closing her eyes and falling asleep.


    ¡­


    The start of the next day was hectic as everyone prepared for the party.


    Josephine came early in the morning and began assisting Evelyn and Lucia with their clothing, hair, and makeup.


    "You two really are quite stunning. I''m sure that along with the young mistress, you three will steal everyone''s gazes." Josephine said with a refined giggle.


    "Oh, I believe that you are selling yourself short. You and Amelia are beautiful as well. It will be the five of us that people will be unable to look away from." Lucia said tteringly.


    Josephine thanked her for her kind words but said that few would be interested in a pair of servants. While they were attending the party along with Maeve, their dresses would be in ordance with other attendants.


    "No, the young mistress will be the star of today''s show with you two apanying her. I understand this is not exactly the type of work you are used to, but I thank you for continuing to protect her. Not all the threats to the young mistress wille in the form of violence."


    Lucia assured Josephine that they would do everything in their power to keep Maeve safe from whatever dangers maye her way.


    After that Josephine continued to devote herself to assisting Evelyn and Lucia and soon enough, they were dressed up for theing party.


    "Yes, those dresses suit you two very well. A ruby and a sapphire to join the golden young mistress."


    Evelyn had been put into a dazzling blue dress, while Lucia was wearing a gleaming red dress.


    Both dresses were incrediblyvish and made with the best materials avable. Evelyn could even feel that the fabric conducted magical energy with ease and had some magic inscriptions embroidered into it.


    ''Should I really be wearing something like this?'' Evelyn thought.


    The dress was far fancier than anything she had ever worn before. Looking into the mirror she almost did not recognize herself.


    Before her was a beautiful woman that looked like a fairytale princess about to go to a ball.


    ''Except, I''m not even human anymore. In this world I was reborn as an owl. A beast.''


    Still, as much as she felt something wrong with her current attire, a part of her was happy.


    Thanks to her situation at home during her first life, she had practically no chances to get dressed up or put on makeup. Even when she did want to wear beautiful clothes or enhance her features with makeup, she was too busy just trying to survive.


    The one time she attempted to go out in nice clothes with makeup on, her father gave her one of the fiercest beatings she had ever received.


    If not for already havinge to terms with what had happened during her first life, Evelyn likely would have been unable to stand being put into the current dress she was wearing.


    ''That is all behind me now. There are far worse things here to worry about than my old father.'' Evelyn thought, before casting the bitter memories back into the depths of her mind.


    Now that she and Lucia were ready to go, Josephine brought them down to the parlor near the mansion''s entrance.


    There the three of them waited for a bit less than a quarter of an hour before Maeve arrived with Emelia walking behind her.


    The young mistress of the Taidale family was wearing an existed golden dress that seemed to glow as she walked.


    In terms of allure, it stood out even more than the already elegant dresses that Evelyn and Lucia were wearing. Naturally as the guest of honor for tonight''s party, it was necessary that she stood out more than those apanying her.


    Lucia and Evelyn stood up and greeted Maeve, who was doing her best to hide her nervousness.


    The three of them eachplimented each other on what they were wearing before heading out towards the carriage waiting for them.


    It was only a short five-minute drive to Vivienne''s estate where the party was being held.


    As the second highest ranking figure in the Miris Sect, her domain was just as grand as her status.


    Even the manor that Maeve had been given paled inparison to what her grandaunt possessed. Honestly Evelyn thought that it looked more like a small town rather than a single person''s property.


    When they finally arrived at the building that would serve as the venue for the party, several hundred carriages had already arrived.


    Nevertheless, their driver did not line them up with the rest of the arriving guests but instead brought them towards the back where only a few select individuals were allowed.


    "Pleasee with me Lady Maeve. Lay Vivienne is waiting for you inside."


    A well-dressed man with slicked back blonde hair came to greet Maeve and promptly brought her to where her grandaunt was.


    Wearing a dark purple dress that entuated her beauty, Vivienne gracefully walked over to Maeve and gave her a quick onceover.


    "My, don''t you just look lovely Maeve. They won''t be able to take their eyes off you. After your debut tonight, you''ll be the talk of the Sect for months." Vivienne said proudly.


    "Thank you, grandaunt. Or I suppose that after tonight, I will need to call you master."


    "Oh, there is no need to worry about such formalities when we are in private. I will first and foremost be your family before anything else."


    Vivienne looked at her grandniece lovingly. While the two of them had not spent a great deal of time together, there was no doubt that among the members of her family, Vivienne cared for Maeve the most.


    "Now, it is almost time for your grand entrance. I will go and get things ready in the great hall. Then after a few minutes, Gervasio will lead you in along with your guests. The three of you will certainly captivate everyone."

 Chapter 437: Chapter 437 Miris Sect’s party (2)

    Only around five minutes after Vivienne left to join the party, did her servant named Gervasio return to lead Maeve, Evelyn, and Lucia to the great hall.


    This would be Maeve''s debut in the Miris Sect. All of the top elders and up-anding talents would be there to see her.


    If she did not make a good first impression, her time spent within the Sect would undoubtedly difficult, even with her grandaunt''s backing. No organization was a monolith, and there would certainly be those that benefited from her failure here.


    Thankfully she was not going in alone. With both Lucia and Evelyn by her side, she felt confident that everything would go well. The two of them were as beautiful as they werepetent.


    With her head held high, Maeve walked down the hallway and towards therge double door that entered onto an upper floor above the main party venue.


    "I''ve just received the signal from Lady Vivienne. You may go in now." Gervasio said, opening the doors.


    At the same moment Vivienne''s voice echoed through the great hall.


    "Now, everyone, please allow me to introduce you to my grandniece, apprentice, and the newest member of the Miris Sect."


    The lights on the first floor began to dim and the ones situated on the second level glowed brightly.


    Maeve was lit up for all to see as she entered the room. Her golden dress glimmered in the light and everyone''s gazes were drawn towards her.


    For a few moments she was the center of attention, until Evelyn and Lucia walked in and stood slightly behind her off to the side.


    Naturally this split where everyone''s eyes were directed. Most still continued to focus on Maeve, but many could not help but curiously look at the two beauties that were standing alongside her.


    "Who are they?"


    "I am not certain. They are definitely not attendants though."


    "Ah, I heard a rumor that some mercenary friends of hers traveled with her as added protection."


    "What?! Mercenaries! Then what are they doing appearing with her like equals?"


    "Apparently, they are also first-ss citizens of the Usturg Federation. You know how entric some of their upper echelon can be. They''re all supposedly childhood friends as well."


    Questions and rumors like these spread across the great hall like a wildfire.


    Everyone was speaking in whispers, but with so many voices talking at once, it almost became a cacophonous uproar.


    After standing in full view on the second floor for nearly half a minute, Maeve, Evelyn, and Lucia walked down the spiraling staircase and joined the party.


    As soon as they reached the bottom, Vivienne came to greet them.


    However, she was not alone, a handsome middle-aged looking man with sharp red eyes and hair had his arm interlocked with hers.


    At their approach, Maeve bowed her head and Evelyn and Lucia followed her.


    "Please go ahead and raise your heads. This is party is for you after all. And any family member of Vivienne''s is like family to me as well." The man said.


    Maeve slowly raised her head as requested and brightly smiled at the man when their eyes met.


    "It is an honor to finally meet you Sect Leader. Thank you for weing me into your organization."


    "Of course. You came rmend to me by my most trusted confidant. If even a tenth of what Vivienne told me about you is true, then I know that you will make an invaluable addition to my Miris Sect." The Miris Sect Leader said.


    "But you really do look like Vivienne. Just looking at you brings back memories of the past when we first met."


    As the Sect Leader seemed to be reminiscing, Vivienne who had remained silent up to this point pinched his arm, and said, "Oh my. You''re not nning on recing me for a younger model, now are you, Ellison? I don''t believe that either my niece or I would particrly be fond of that."


    Ellison, the leader of the Miris Sect winced at this usation.


    "You know that I would not do something like that. She is still a child to me. Plus, I would honestly be afraid of what you might do to me." He said,ughing to try and relieve some of the tension.


    Watching this disy, Maeve was surprised. She knew that her grandaunt was close to the Miris Sect''s leader, but it would seem that they were far more intimate than she had heard.


    Fortunately, this revtion would only help to strengthen her position within the Sect. So long as she did not mess up catastrophically, her grandaunt would protect her, and she could easily influence the Sect''s Leader.


    ''That is one less thing to worry about.'' Maeve thought.


    "Now, would you mind introducing these other two lovely women you have brought as your guests. I have only heard what Vivienne has told me." Ellison said, turning his attention towards Evelyn and Lucia.


    "I would be happy to Sect Leader."


    Maeve then introduced both of them and they bowed to Ellison again.


    For a moment the man in charge of the Miris Sect stared intently at Evelyn, but lightly shook his head as if to cast off some sort of doubt.


    ''I wonder what that was about?'' Maeve pondered.


    Things continued to proceed as normal after that though and eventually Ellison and Vivienne moved on to allow the other upper ranking members of the Miris Sect toe and greet her.


    By themselves, in pairs, or asionally in small groups, everyone at the party came and introduced themselves to Maeve.


    Some attempted to tter her, while othersced their seemingly cordial words with malice.


    A few times some particrly antagonistic individuals went a bit too far and incurred Lucia''s wrath. Her way with words was impable, and she sent several hostile individuals fleeing with their faces bright red in embarrassment and frustration.


    Maeve felt grateful that she decided to bring Lucia and Evelyn along. She was not particrly well-versed in dealing with people''s hostility when it was directed at her.


    Eventually everyone had met with Maeve at least briefly, and she was finally free to move about the party as she wished. There were several individuals she had wanted to speak with more since they gave off good first impressions.


    Yet before she could take more than a few steps, the main entrance to the great hall opened and two new individuals walked in.


    Immediately Maeve could tell that the blue haired man in the lead was powerful. The magical energy emitting from his body was clearly that of a peak arcanist rank. The same as her grandaunt.


    Except, she was certain that there was no one else currently in the Miris Sect that matched Vivienne. Ellison was at the low tier of the magi rank and the only one stronger than her. The other high-ranking elders were high tier arcanists or lower.


    "Chsss!"


    Suddenly hearing the sound of ss shattering, Maeve looked to her side and saw that that cup that Evelyn had been holding had been crushed in her hand.


    The shards of ss and water that had been in the cup falling to the ground.


    For just a moment she saw unrestrained animosity in Evelyn''s eyes greater than anything she had ever witnessed before.


    Even the murderous look her uncle gave her when she integrated him after his failed attempt on her life paled inparison.


    Luckily no one else seemed to notice Evelyn, and a secondter her demeanor had returned to normal.


    Out of the corner of her eye, Maeve saw her grandaunt and the Miris Sect''s Leader approaching these neers. From the looks on their faces, she could tell that the two men were probably not members of the Miris Sect. Her best guess was that they were important individuals from another Sect that had stopped by unannounced.


    ''I''ll worry about Evelynter. This is probably more important.'' Maeve thought, turning back around and focusing all of her attention on the two unfamiliar men.

 Chapter 438: Chapter 438 Reunited with Her Enemies

    Evelyn felt a great many eyes on her when she walked out and stood next to Maeve. It was ufortable to be appraised by so many people, but she tolerated it for now. This was all part of the job and would be a good opportunity to identify the greatest threats in the Miris Sect.


    However, when Maeve''s grandaunt Vivienne approached along with a man with red eyes and hair, Evelyn lost herposure for a second.


    She recognized him from the attack on the Roost. He had been one of the many people to fruitlessly chase her around as she dangled herself as bait to buy time under Melisandre''s direction.


    ''Evelyn, keep your emotions in check.''


    Hearing Lucia''s voice suddenly in her mind, Evelyn erased the surprise and hostility that had momentarily shed in her eyes.


    As a precaution the two of them had consumed a pair of telepathy potions before leaving for the party. This way they could converse without being overheard.


    Thankfully, the man who was the leader of the Miris Sect seemed to brush off the brief malice he had felt as a figment of his imagination.


    After that Evelyn managed to keep herself in check while going through with the aggravating process of introducing herself to the elders and core members of the Miris Sect.


    Remembering their names was thest thing she cared to do, but Lucia had stressed the importance of doing so. It was possible that they might need to use some of these influential people in the future.


    ''I''m really not cut out for this.'' Evelyn thought once all of the introductions were over.


    She wanted something to wet her parched throat, but most of the drinks being served were unfortunately alcoholic and just the smell of it wafting through the air was enough to put her in a foul mood. No matter what she would never drink a drop of the stuff.


    Thankfully she was able to find a ss of fruit vored water and took that.


    Yet as it seemed like the party would truly begin, the hall''s main entrance opened and two people that did not belong tot eh Miris Sect entered.


    Evelyn immediately recognized both of them. They were members of the Deamhain Sect and individuals Evelyn had fateful encounters with before.


    One was the azure haired man that she had first met in the Elmot Gorge andter attacked her party during the attack on the Roost. He was high up on the list of people Evelyn wanted to kill, but the person behind him was only under the Deamhain Sect''s leader.


    Evelyn could still vividly remember the moment he had arrived and defeated her parents. If not for him, her peaceful life would not have been torn asunder.


    ''Uriah.'' Evelyn thought, recalling the man''s name as fury boiled within her.


    If Ellison had brought out a single drop of her anger, these two brought forth an entire ocean.


    Unable to restrain herself, Evelyn''s fists tensed, and she shattered the ss in her hand.


    For a moment everyone else in the entire great hall seemed to disappear as she turned her entire focus towards the objects of her hatred.


    She was a single instant away from blowing her cover and attacking with her full might when a voice resounded through her head.


    ''EVELYN!''


    Lucia''s sudden shout brought Evelyn out of her blind rage.


    She had been only an instant away from unleashing the full might of her magic on the two men from the Deamhain Sect.


    A part of her still wanted topletely disregard Lucia and continue on with what she had nned to do.


    Nevertheless, she could see the bigger picture and reined herself in. There were too many people here and exposing themselves now would at the very least ruin their ns.


    ''There is no guarantee that I could kill them both with Vivienne and the Miris Sect leader right next to them. I just need to wait for the right opportunity.''


    Evelyn sealed away the animosity that had been festering and growing inside her since the day so many years ago now that her parents in this life were taken away from her. For now, she only needed to put on an emotionless mask. She knew her chance woulde soon enough.


    Having calmed herself, Evelyn turned her attention towards the conversation that Ellison and Vivienne were having with the two members from the Deamhain Sect.


    From their demeanors it was clear that they were not friends.


    Ellison looked like he was holding in his frustration and Vivienne was practically scowling at the two uninvited guests that had crashed her grandniece''s wee party.


    Still, neither of the two highest authorities of the Miris Sect made any move to kick out the azure hair man who had introduced himself as Osvaldo, and hiscky Uriah.


    The Deamhain Sect vastly outranked the Miris Sect and no matter how much Ellison wanted to force the two men to leave, he could not afford to antagonize one of the six great sects.


    In the end the four of them left the venue and went off to have a private conversation.


    "Do you know what that was about?" Lucia asked Maeve.


    "No, I have never seen those two before, and my grandaunt never mentioned that they would be stopping by."


    After the brief interruption from the pair of unexpected guests, the party picked back up.


    Now that Vivienne and Ellison were gone, more people with malicious intent approached Maeve.


    Of course, Lucia was not going to let their best contact within the Tyrannis union fall prey to their scheming.


    Her social acumen sent many away fuming. She seemed to have memorized all of the best euphemisms for insulting people.


    Evelyn meanwhile was barely getting involved with any conversations. Her mind was almost entirely focused on Osvaldo and Uriah.


    She had lost against both of them in the past and failed to eliminate them when the chance had presented itself before.


    This time though, she would not let them get away. Evelyn did not care how many magic items she had to use, or whatever nasty scheme she had to concoct, she would kill them without fail.

 Chapter 437 - 437 Miris Sect’s party (2)

    Only around five minutes after Vivienne left to join the party, did her servant named Gervasio return to lead Maeve, Evelyn, and Lucia to the great hall.


    This would be Maeve''s debut in the Miris Sect. All of the top elders and up-anding talents would be there to see her.


    If she did not make a good first impression, her time spent within the Sect would undoubtedly difficult, even with her grandaunt''s backing. No organization was a monolith, and there would certainly be those that benefited from her failure here.


    Thankfully she was not going in alone. With both Lucia and Evelyn by her side, she felt confident that everything would go well. The two of them were as beautiful as they werepetent.


    With her head held high, Maeve walked down the hallway and towards therge double door that entered onto an upper floor above the main party venue.


    "I''ve just received the signal from Lady Vivienne. You may go in now." Gervasio said, opening the doors.


    At the same moment Vivienne''s voice echoed through the great hall.


    "Now, everyone, please allow me to introduce you to my grandniece, apprentice, and the newest member of the Miris Sect."


    The lights on the first floor began to dim and the ones situated on the second level glowed brightly.


    Maeve was lit up for all to see as she entered the room. Her golden dress glimmered in the light and everyone''s gazes were drawn towards her.


    For a few moments she was the center of attention, until Evelyn and Lucia walked in and stood slightly behind her off to the side.


    Naturally this split where everyone''s eyes were directed. Most still continued to focus on Maeve, but many could not help but curiously look at the two beauties that were standing alongside her.


    "Who are they?"


    "I am not certain. They are definitely not attendants though."


    "Ah, I heard a rumor that some mercenary friends of hers traveled with her as added protection."


    "What?! Mercenaries! Then what are they doing appearing with her like equals?"


    "Apparently, they are also first-ss citizens of the Usturg Federation. You know how entric some of their upper echelon can be. They''re all supposedly childhood friends as well."


    Questions and rumors like these spread across the great hall like a wildfire.


    Everyone was speaking in whispers, but with so many voices talking at once, it almost became a cacophonous uproar.


    After standing in full view on the second floor for nearly half a minute, Maeve, Evelyn, and Lucia walked down the spiraling staircase and joined the party.


    As soon as they reached the bottom, Vivienne came to greet them.


    However, she was not alone, a handsome middle-aged looking man with sharp red eyes and hair had his arm interlocked with hers.


    At their approach, Maeve bowed her head and Evelyn and Lucia followed her.


    "Please go ahead and raise your heads. This is party is for you after all. And any family member of Vivienne''s is like family to me as well." The man said.


    Maeve slowly raised her head as requested and brightly smiled at the man when their eyes met.


    "It is an honor to finally meet you Sect Leader. Thank you for weing me into your organization."


    "Of course. You came rmend to me by my most trusted confidant. If even a tenth of what Vivienne told me about you is true, then I know that you will make an invaluable addition to my Miris Sect." The Miris Sect Leader said.


    "But you really do look like Vivienne. Just looking at you brings back memories of the past when we first met."


    As the Sect Leader seemed to be reminiscing, Vivienne who had remained silent up to this point pinched his arm, and said, "Oh my. You''re not nning on recing me for a younger model, now are you, Ellison? I don''t believe that either my niece or I would particrly be fond of that."


    Ellison, the leader of the Miris Sect winced at this usation.


    "You know that I would not do something like that. She is still a child to me. Plus, I would honestly be afraid of what you might do to me." He said,ughing to try and relieve some of the tension.


    Watching this disy, Maeve was surprised. She knew that her grandaunt was close to the Miris Sect''s leader, but it would seem that they were far more intimate than she had heard.


    Fortunately, this revtion would only help to strengthen her position within the Sect. So long as she did not mess up catastrophically, her grandaunt would protect her, and she could easily influence the Sect''s Leader.


    ''That is one less thing to worry about.'' Maeve thought.


    "Now, would you mind introducing these other two lovely women you have brought as your guests. I have only heard what Vivienne has told me." Ellison said, turning his attention towards Evelyn and Lucia.


    "I would be happy to Sect Leader."


    Maeve then introduced both of them and they bowed to Ellison again.


    For a moment the man in charge of the Miris Sect stared intently at Evelyn, but lightly shook his head as if to cast off some sort of doubt.


    ''I wonder what that was about?'' Maeve pondered.


    Things continued to proceed as normal after that though and eventually Ellison and Vivienne moved on to allow the other upper ranking members of the Miris Sect toe and greet her.


    By themselves, in pairs, or asionally in small groups, everyone at the party came and introduced themselves to Maeve.


    Some attempted to tter her, while othersced their seemingly cordial words with malice.


    A few times some particrly antagonistic individuals went a bit too far and incurred Lucia''s wrath. Her way with words was impable, and she sent several hostile individuals fleeing with their faces bright red in embarrassment and frustration.


    Maeve felt grateful that she decided to bring Lucia and Evelyn along. She was not particrly well-versed in dealing with people''s hostility when it was directed at her.


    Eventually everyone had met with Maeve at least briefly, and she was finally free to move about the party as she wished. There were several individuals she had wanted to speak with more since they gave off good first impressions.


    Yet before she could take more than a few steps, the main entrance to the great hall opened and two new individuals walked in.


    Immediately Maeve could tell that the blue haired man in the lead was powerful. The magical energy emitting from his body was clearly that of a peak arcanist rank. The same as her grandaunt.


    Except, she was certain that there was no one else currently in the Miris Sect that matched Vivienne. Ellison was at the low tier of the magi rank and the only one stronger than her. The other high-ranking elders were high tier arcanists or lower.


    "Chsss!"


    Suddenly hearing the sound of ss shattering, Maeve looked to her side and saw that that cup that Evelyn had been holding had been crushed in her hand.


    The shards of ss and water that had been in the cup falling to the ground.


    For just a moment she saw unrestrained animosity in Evelyn''s eyes greater than anything she had ever witnessed before.


    Even the murderous look her uncle gave her when she integrated him after his failed attempt on her life paled inparison.


    Luckily no one else seemed to notice Evelyn, and a secondter her demeanor had returned to normal.


    Out of the corner of her eye, Maeve saw her grandaunt and the Miris Sect''s Leader approaching these neers. From the looks on their faces, she could tell that the two men were probably not members of the Miris Sect. Her best guess was that they were important individuals from another Sect that had stopped by unannounced.


    ''I''ll worry about Evelynter. This is probably more important.'' Maeve thought, turning back around and focusing all of her attention on the two unfamiliar men.

 Chapter 439: Chapter 439 Perspective

    Several hours went by and Maeve''s introduction party ended as a resounding sess for the young mistress of the Taidale Family.


    Despite her grandaunt and the Sect''s Leader being absent for most of the party, she had managed to make some valuable connections.


    As for those that clearly had malicious intent, Lucia had made sure to verbally tear them apart and make them think twice about trying to entrap Maeve in any nefarious ns.


    Evelyn had barely focused on any conversation and only spoke when she was specifically addressed. Her mind was elsewhere for the majority of the event.


    Thankfully, Vivienne did eventually return. Though Ellison and the two members of the Deamhain Sect did note back with her.


    After giving a few more words of praise to Maeve, she brought an end to the party, and everyone went their separate ways.


    When she returned to her room, Evelyn did not get ready to sleep but instead walked into the bathroom and began taking out potions, spell sealing talismans, and other magic items out of her storage cuff.


    "This might work. And I could use these. If I don''t care about causing a scene, I could use this one."


    Now that she could plot in peace, she carefully analyzed the different ways in which she could kill Osvaldo and Uriah.


    She had all manner of poisons that she could attempt to slip into their food or water, or even a couple of powerful attack spells that she had obtained from the Verdant Warlord''s Domain. If she just wanted to eliminate a target, she had all manner of options.


    "I''m not sure what those two did to you, but this is a bit extreme, isn''t it?"


    Hearing a voice behind her, Evelyn turned around, and found Lucia shimmering into view. Somehow, she had used her light magic topletely prevent Evelyn from detecting her.


    "Maybe it is, but I don''t care. Those two are from the Deamhain Sect, and one of them is responsible for killing my parents. I will stop at nothing to get my revenge. Don''t try to stop me, Lucia." Evelyn said, a manic look in her eyes.


    "Very well, I was going to try and ask you to refrain from doing anything rash, but I see that is not going to happen. If you really want to go through with this, then we need to be on the same page with the others. Any sort of n wee up with will work better if we all work together."


    Evelyn was a bit surprised to hear her response. She had been expecting Lucia to dismiss her sudden desire to kill two people unrted to their current goals. Except when she thought about it, perhaps Lucia understood her better than anyone else.


    The two of them were simr, devoting nearly everything to getting retribution against those that had killed those they cared about and ruined their peaceful lives.


    However, there was a very big difference between them. Lucia was more methodical and willing to set up and wait for the opportune moment to strike.


    ''I was about to make the same mistake I''ve made multiple times before.'' Evelyn thought, looking back on the other times she recklessly charged towards the members of the Deamhain Sect in blind rages and utterly failed.


    "Thank you, Lucia. I''ve calmed down a bit now. I''ll listen to your wisdom and take things slowly. I still want to kill those two, but it does not need to be right away."


    "Good, I''m d that you see that you were being hasty. It''s easy to get caught up in fury andsh out at the objects of your hatred. I know that feeling very well myself. But only the truly strong can get away with something like that. For us, it is important that we act methodically so that our lives and efforts do not go to waste."


    The two of them then discussed when to meet with the other members of their party ande up with a n. Evelyn''s vendetta may have changed their objective for this mission, but it was not altogether a negative.


    Lucia could already see a few angles that they could spin the deaths of two Deamhain Sect members within the Miris Sect to their favor. Ultimately, they wanted to destroy the entire Tyrannis Union after all.


    "Okay, get some sleep tonight. We shall continue tomorrow when both of us are well rested, and our minds are at their peak." Lucia said before exiting Evelyn''s room.


    Alone again, Evelyn ced the multitude of items she had taken out of her storage cuff back into the magic tool.


    She had already waited for several years, a few more days or weeks to make proper preparations would be nothing inparison.


    Still, she felt a bit restless, and to soothe herself, she took a long hot bath. The Miris Sect had given her ess to such a nice facility so she felt that she might as well use it.


    Once she was feeling more rxed, she dried herself off and jumped into bed. A fatigue she had not realized was weighing on her made her eyelids feel heavy and she quickly drifted off to sleep. Embracing the soft pillows and silky sheets that had been provided for her.


    Upon waking up the next day, she felt far better, and her mind was clear.


    Today, she and the rest of herpanions were going to be guarding Maeve as she toured the main grounds of the Miris Sect in order to familiarize herself with her new home.


    From what Evelyn had already heard, they had many facilities simr to the ones that had been in the Roost. Such as a central building specialized in alchemy, and a ce where members could ept jobs to earn currency.


    Of course, there were likely to be several differences between how humans and owls conducted themselves. Evelyn was certain of this, having experienced both worlds.

 Chapter 440: Chapter 440 Putting a Plan into Motion

    "Now, let''s begin."


    After they had finished escorting Maeve around the Miris Sect, Evelyn, Lucia, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee were meeting in Lucia''s room within Maeve''s estate.


    They would have the next two days off while Maeve met with her grandaunt and dealt with internal Miris Sect subjects that a band of hired mercenaries could not attend.


    Lucia and Evelyn quickly caught the others up on what had urred at the party and what their goal going forward was.


    "So, he''s really here? The man that defeated our parents and captured them to be used as experimental subjects." Aralee said, a quiet wrath in her eyes.


    While she had not witnessed the intense battle and the death of their parents, it was still a traumatic experience for her. One day her entire family was gone, and she had been left alone to fend for herself.


    At the time she could not understand the weight of what had happened but that changed as she raised her rank and intelligence increased. Now she knew very well what had urred and was aware of the negative emotions she felt. They were not as intense as Evelyn''s and Bylur''s, but she wanted to avenge her parents all the same.


    "Yes, I could never forget his face. He''s here." Evelyn nodded in confirmation.


    "And that brings us to the purpose of this meeting. We''re going to assassinate the two visitors from the Deamhain Sect." Lucia said confidently.


    Nevertheless, their objective was not going to be easy. They could not simplyunch a frontal assault on the two men. The moment they did something so brazen the entire Miris Sect would view them as enemies.


    Fortunately, there were multiple avenues that they could pursue if all they wanted to do was kill two people.


    "The first hurdle we need to clear is to make sure that no one suspects us. To that end we all need to be seen in public at the time the murders ur."


    "That certainly makes sense, but how are we nning on doing that? It is not like we can be in two ces at once." Rehni pointed out.


    "True, but I can use my magic to make it appear that we are."


    Lucia then conjured a perfect copy of Rehni standing next to her.


    "I can easily make duplicates of all of you with my light magic. Of course, they don''t have any substance and are essentially just illusions. To make them more real I will need your assistance, Rehni."


    Normally all Lucia could create were images. She could have them move, but it was impossible for her to replicate the sounds that a living creature should make.


    That was where Rehni came in. With her sound magic she could bring the illusions to life.


    "But won''t that mean neither of you can participate in the rest of the n?" Evelyn asked.


    "Yes, that is correct. To make it seem like none of us are involved, Rehni and I will need to make sure that the ''five of us'' are seen in public. Only the three of you will be free to act." Lucia said, looking at Evelyn, Bylur and Aralee.


    This constraint would drastically raise the difficulty of their mission. Lucia was the strongest among them, and Evelyn had been counting on her powers to make the assassination sessful.


    "I doubt that the guy that is only a peak mage will cause us much trouble, but the azure haired man, I believe you said his name was Oswaldo, is a different story. Rehni and I fought him two years ago and I can say with certainty that he is powerful. Even after consuming Unleashed Potential Potions, we were barely able to hold him off." Bylur said.


    Unfortunately, Evelyn had to agree with him. She had first encountered Oswaldo in the depths of the Elmot Gorge, and he handily beat her. She was lucky to have escaped from him.


    Of course, all of them had gotten a great deal stronger, but their target had not been idle. He was now at the peak of the arcanist rank. Killing him would be difficult with just the three of them, and doing so without making a scene would be practically impossible.


    "You could always employe poison." Lucia suggested. "From what I saw you take out of your storage cuff yesterday; you have some potent enough that they would even kill me if I did not take an antidote quickly."


    "I''m not sure it will be that easy. Now that I''ve thought about it more rationally, poison might not work well against that man."


    Evelyn told Lucia that Oswaldo practiced venom magic. Most likely his resistance to poison was far higher than the average person''s thanks to his magical affinity.


    "Your assumption is probably right. Most individuals gain at least some resistance to the same type of magic that they use."


    Lucia wore a hardened expression as she thought deeply, before she let out a deep sigh.


    Moving her hand up tot eh storage amulet she always wore, she took out a single item.


    It was apletely gray dagger that gave off an eerie aura.


    There was ornate patterning on its de, and its hilt was iid with jewels. Still, there was no color anywhere on the weapon. As if it sucked away any vibrancy that came in contact with it.


    "I was saving this for someone else, but you need it now more than I do."


    Carefully, Lucia reached over and handed the dagger to Evelyn.


    "Wait! I can''t take this. You were nning on using it for your own revenge. I can tell already that it''s not a normal weapon."


    Evelyn could feel powerful and wicked magical energy sealed within the weapon Lucia was presenting to her. This dagger was unbelievably dangerous.


    "What you say is true, but it does not matter anymore. My ns have changed drastically now that I have reliable allies. This dagger may not even work on the target I intended it for. So go ahead and take it. Our goals are the same. Everything we do it to take down this ursed nation."

 Chapter 441: Chapter 441 Putting A Plan into Motion (2)

    Evelyn found herself unable to continue protesting after Lucia''s impassioned speech.


    Cautiously she took the dagger from Lucia. Its hilt was cold to the touch, and she felt a truly ominous energy residing within it. This was no ordinary magic item.


    "That weapon is imbued with two powerful spells. One to pierce through protection and another to rot whatever it strikes. To kill someone with it you need only stab the tip of the de into them. Even if you only break past the firstyer of skin, that it enough for it to take effect." Lucia exined.


    However, this was not something that could be used multiple times. Once it had inflicted a single creature with a wound, the dagger would be sucked into their body and turn to dust along with its target.


    "Only those at that have reached the highest rank would be able to defend against that weapon. A mere peak arcanist will find their fate sealed the moment the de touches them."


    Hearing this, Evelyn once again believed that she should not ept it. Surely Lucia had intended to use this weapon against someone that she loathed above all else. Just the same as Evelyn felt towards the two men from the Deamhain Sect.


    Nevertheless, the unwavering look in Lucia''s eyes told Evelyn that her friend would not take the dagger back. She was going to prioritize Evelyn''s revenge over her own.


    "Thank you, Lucia. We will make sure not to let your generosity go to waste. I promise you that this dagger will bring Osvaldo down." Evelyn said as sincerely as she could.


    "There is no need to thank me so much. As I already said, we are in this together. Who I procured that for is now probably too powerful anyway. It will be something to worry about in the future."


    With Evelyn now having a weapon capable of killing the stronger of their two targets, the five of them continued to devise their n of attack.


    Everyone had their own suggestions, but it was difficult toe up with anything concrete until they had more information. First, they would need to find out the two men''s whereabouts and what their schedules were. After that they coulde to a final consensus on how to act.


    Naturally, they could not just tantly ask around for this information. No one would give them a straight answer and it would be incredibly suspicious.


    To that end, Lucia suggested questioning the servants that would be assigned to their targets. High ranking members of a Greater Sect were sure to be receiving the very best hospitality, even if the leaders of the Miris Sect did not particrly want them around.


    "I suppose that we will need to use this then."


    From out of her storage magic tool, Evelyn pulled out a certain potion.


    Like the telepathy potions she had brewed, this one too used the materials from the Mind Manipting Mushroom. Except its purpose was not formunication, but to dominate the consciousness of whoever drank it.


    There was no doubt that it was a nasty magical creation, but Evelyn was willing to do just about anything to get back at the people that had harmed her and those that she cared about. Diomed had already used magic to manipte Verrader''s mind, so she saw no reason not to do the same.


    With their next step set, Evelyn handed out a couple of these potions to everyone.


    "Now, we need only find some servants that seem like they might know something. First, we need to locate where Osvaldo and Uriah are staying. Then we can target the servants working directly for them. The only thing to hope for now is that they have not already left." Lucia said.


    While it had not been very long since the two had arrived, it was possible that they had returned to the Deamhain Sect already. Though this was fairly unlikely. If their business could be conducted so quickly and easily the two of them would not havee in person in the first ce.


    Fortunately, when they pumped the servants for information using the Domination Potions Evelyn had made, they learned that the two men were still within the Sect and would be staying for at least a couple of weeks.


    After that they discreetly learned the two men''s ns by observing them and questioning the servants serving in the building that Osvaldo and Uriah were staying in.


    Mostly the two had been meeting with Ellison and a few other elders of the Miris Sect. It had bene impossible to find out exactly what they were speaking about since none of the servants were privy to the information, but the topic must have been important as the leaders of the Miris Sect seemed on edge from what the servants had observed.


    "And your certain of this?"


    "Yes, I personally made the arrangements."


    Currently Evelyn was speaking with an older gentleman that oversaw the staff working in the guest estate where Osvaldo and Uriah resided.


    If anyone were to walk by and see them, everything would seem normal except for the faraway look in the man''s eyes.


    Right now, he was under the influence of Evelyn''s potion and being only a low tier acolyte he was powerless to resist its magic. He would even spill a secret he had promised to protect with his life should she ask him about it. And once the potion had lost effect, he would not remember that any of this had urred.


    Evelyn continued to probe the man for information, and once she had everything she wanted, she told him to go about his day as normal and forget that he had ever met her.


    ''Looks like I finally found something we can use.'' Evelyn thought, her lips curling up into a sinister grin.


    She then pulled out her message notebook and sent the information off to herpanions.


    Naturally those of the Miris Sect used this same magical item and it was unlikely that her messages would be intercepted. Though even if they were, she had written them in code.


    "Now, time to go and meet Uriah face to face again after all this time."

 Chapter 442: Chapter 442 Borrowed Authority

    Evelyn carefully watched a line of people entering arge building while pretending to browse the wares of a nearby storefront in the secondyer of Miris City where the Miris Sect''s headquarters were located.


    Starting today and for the next week, a famous troupe of entertainers were putting on a show within thergest venue in the city.


    Of course, only those that held a certain level of status could attend the performances. At the very least one would need to be able to enter Miris City''s secondyer which was only below the Sect''s Headquarters in terms of exclusivity. Though the price of the tickets and where one would be seated were other factors limiting who coulde to view the show.


    As for Evelyn, she had no interest in whatever production was being put on. The only reason she was here was because she had learned that one of her targets was going to be among the audience today.


    ''Uriah hasn''t shown up yet, but it could be that he is just not here yet, or perhaps there is another entrance that he used.''


    Evelyn was growing a bit impatient waiting for her target, and the assistance that Lucia was supposed to provide her with.


    When she had first told the rest of herpanions that she was going after Uriah, they had attempted to stop her. Apparently, all of them thought that she might do something rash.


    Once she convinced them that she just wanted to do some reconnaissance and perhaps orchestrate a small encounter, they had agreed to let her proceed. Though Lucia had been very adamant that she stick to the n they hade up with together.


    "Ah, its finally arrived."


    Seeing another flying messageing her way, Evelyn grabbed it out of the air as it floated in front of her.


    This was what she had been waiting for from Lucia.


    Naturally Evelyn did not have a ticket to enter the venue and breaking in would have been too dangerous as far as herpanions were concerned.


    She had attempted to purchase a ticket, but they were already sold out and there was really nothing she could do on her own. Her falsified status as a first-ss citizen of the Usturg Federation only went so far in the Miris Sect. She could not count on it to pressure the staff into giving her a seat.


    Thankfully, they did have a powerful connection in Maeve. She was a core member of the Sect and being the grandniece of the second most influential person in the entire organization gave her quite a bit of pull.


    "I don''t look forward to whatever favor Maeve wants, but at least I''ve got a legitimate way in now."


    Along with the message sent by Lucia was a sealed letter from Maeve that had Vivienne''s emblem magically embedded on it. With this Evelyn would be able to easily enter the concert hall.


    Now all she needed to do was wait and confirm Uriah''s arrival.


    Thankfully, it was only a few minutester that he finally showed up with one of the Miris Sect elders and some of their disciples.


    Evelyn recognized the people Uriah was thanks to Maeve induction party. Lucia had made sure that she wouldmit everyone to memory.


    ''Looks like he is friends with that elder. I believe his name was Gidem.''


    After recalling the names and positions of the individuals with Uriah, Evelyn waited to confirm that they had entered before making her approach.


    Holding the letter in her hand she walked up to the service counter outside.


    "I''m sorry miss, but as I already exined to you, today''s show is sold out. If you wish, we have tickets fortter in the week that you could purchase." The woman who was a low-ranking member of the Miris Sect said.


    She looked a bit perturbed by Evelyn''s instance, but she still took the letter presented to her and carefully looked it over.


    Naturally when she saw the emblem, her eyes seemed to almost pop out of her head in surprise.


    "P-please, give me just a moment to authenticate the authenticity of this crest."


    The receptionist frantically searched for a magic tool used to identify the insignias of the members of the Miris Sect.


    She already recognized Vivienne''s since she was the second most important person in the entire Sect, but it was imperative that she made sure that it was real before anything else.


    "I-it, a-appears, that this is indeed a genuine letter sealed with Lady Taidale''s crest." The woman said nervously. "I am afraid that I do not have the authority to open this. If you would give me just a minute, I shall call the venue manager to assist you."


    After that the receptionist swiftly wrote a flying message and sent it to her boss'', boss'', boss. Normally she would not be permitted to make direct contact with someone so far above her station, but this situation went above the usual procedure.


    "If it pleases you, I can bring you to a morefortable room inside to wait?"


    Nodding her head, Evelyn followed behind the tense receptionist into a private room.


    There she waited only a mere minute and a half until the venue manger came rushing in. His face was red from exertion and some faint traces of magic used to enhance his speed were still lingering.


    "Excuse me for my tardiness, miss. I heard that you have a letter from Lady Taidale for me." The manager said, bowing his head slightly towards Evelyn.


    "Yes, I happen to be a friend of her grandniece and she spoke to Lady Vivienne for me since I wished to see the performances today. Unfortunately, the show was already sold out when I arrived." Evelyn said, holding out the letter towards the venue manager.


    Gingerly, he epted the letter, and used a special magic tool to open it.


    Once he had finished reading it, he looked at Evelyn with reverence and lowered his head even further.


    "Allow me to escort you to Lady Taidale viewing box, Lady Evelyn. As she will not be attending today, she wishes for you to have her usual seat."

 Chapter 443: Chapter 443 Target Observation

    Once Evelyn had been brought to Vivienne''s viewing box, the manager of the venue left and informed her that a staff member would be stationed outside in case she needed anything else.


    "Let''s see if I can find him."


    Closing her eyes and slowing her breathing, Evelyn focused intently on the flow of air within the building.


    Using her wind magic she carefully searched for Uriah by releasing only a minuscule amount of magical energy and letting it be carried along by the slightest breezes.


    It did not give her the clearest perception of her surroundings nor did the detection range increase quickly, but it would be near impossible to detect.


    If she used a more overt searching spell it would undoubtably give her away. However, with the slow moving nearly imperceptible amount of magic she was using the was little chance of her spell being noticed.


    Perhaps someone more skilled in wind magic might sense what she was doing, but it was unlikely that there was anyone present that met this requirement.


    Thankfully it did not take too long before Evelyn located the man she was searching for. He was nearby in another one of the floating viewing boxes that hovered above the general seating on the ground.


    Evelyn had been a bit surprised when she first saw that there were small rooms, each connected only by a single, small set of stairs hanging in the air. Though, quickly she realized that they had been made using floatstones and were far from the most unusual things she had seen since being reborn in this world.


    "He''s still with the same people he entered the with. I suppose that box probably belongs to the Miris Sect elder apanying him." Evelyn mused out loud.


    The box in question was four away on the right from where she currently was.


    In total there were twelve of these floating viewing boxes that sat above the floor and certainly had the best views of therge stage while also being private.


    Currently Evelyn was in one of the two center boxes which were reserved for Vivienne and the Sect''s leader respectively.


    Each of the boxes had sturdy walls on three sides while the one facing the stage was made out of a transparent material Evelyn was unfamiliar with.


    Of course, while she could see out with perfect rity, no one else could see through. It was like a two-way mirror in an interrogation room.


    There was all manner of protections around each of the boxes that were there to prevent eavesdropping and dampen the effects of any offensive magic cast at them.


    Still, the boxes were not airtight and thus unable to stop Evelyn''s discrete searching spell.


    "As I thought, sound cane in, but it can''te out. I was hoping to hear what they were saying, but I''ll just have to make do with monitoring his movements."


    Thanks to the enchantments of the rooms, it was impossible for Evelyn to bring any sound from within back to her.


    Even if someone were to yell at the top of their lungs, not even a muffled cry would escape these viewing boxes.


    Nevertheless, the sounds from outside the boxes made their way in with ease and the acoustics were exceptional. Another one of the enchantments on the room to increase the enjoyment viewers had while watching any of the performances disyed on stage.


    Speaking of which, the troupe of renowned entertainers that were currently visiting the Miris Sect''s territory finally walked onto the stage.


    The open act was apparently going to be a y reenacting the founding of the Miris Sect. It seemed that this troupe knew how to appeal to its audience.


    Naturally Evelyn had no interest in the theatrics and kept most of her attention on observing Uriah and hispanions with her wind magic.


    What little she did keep track of pertained to the use of magic in the production.


    The special effects utilized spell craft were far and away better than anything Evelyn had ever seen on Earth. Though one aspect really caught her attention.


    All of the performers wore an amulet that allowed them to use wind or sound magic to alter their voices or project them farther without needing to strain their vocal cords.


    Wondering if she could do the same, Evelyn began practicing changing the sound her voice and found that it was rtively simple to aplish.


    In the past before she could take human form, she had used wind magic to create sounds simr to speech but had not needed it since evolving into a tyrant rank beast.


    By revisiting this magic, she was able to alter it slightly and use it to change her voice. She found that it was easy to mimic people she had heard often, and even just changing her pitch and timber a bit made a huge difference.


    ''This coulde in handy if I ever need to disguise myself. I honestly can''t believe I didn''t think of it sooner.''


    As Evelyn mentally chided herself for not exploring possible utility aspects of her magic, she felt Uriah stand up from his seat.


    The opening performance had just ended and there was currently an intermission to allow people some time to discuss the y, go to the restroom, or grab refreshments.


    "He''s leaving the box. But why?" Evelyn said, her expression mildly confused.


    If he wanted anything to eat or drink it would be simple to request the staff member that was on standby to cater to the box''s upants. As for needing to relieve himself, that should have been a nonissue. Anyone that reached the mage rank for humans, or the awakened rank for beasts gained bodies that would eventually convert all absorbed matter into magical energy.


    Leaving no waste that needed to be expelled.


    Still, Evelyn may have been slightly surprised, but this did offer her an opportunity.


    "Let''s see where he''s heading and what he is getting up to."

 Chapter 444: Chapter 444 A Lead

    Evelyn carefully trailed behind Uriah as the man made his way through the entertainment venue.


    He was not going out of his way to hide his presence, but he was heading towards an area of the building that had no foot traffic.


    Eventually he started looking over his shoulders when he thought that he was alone just to make sure that there was no one following him.


    Of course, he did not spot Evelyn who was indeed tracking him.


    Thanks to her wind magic she could tell exactly where he was without needing a visual on him. She could keeppletely out of view while pursuing him.


    ''There''s someone else up ahead.''


    As Uriah approached his destination, Evelyn''s magic picked up another person that was waiting in an out of the way location that would be impossible to see without the person waiting there knowing.


    It was an ideal spot for a ndestine meeting, and that was certainly what was urring.


    ''Now what are the two of you up to?''


    Once she was as close as she could get without revealing herself, Evelyn enhanced her spell to carry the sound of their conversation to her.


    Even from over a hundred meters away, thanks to the acute hearing she had as an owl and the power of her magic, she could make out what they were saying despite the anti-eavesdropping device that had been activated.


    "Ellison and Vivienne are doing whatever they can to not cooperate with us, so do you have the information that I requested." Uriah said to the man that he was meeting.


    "Yes, I do, but make no mistake, it was not easy to acquire, especially as quickly as I did." The man replied. "Now, before we continue, do you have the payment I was promised. My neck is on the line here, so I''m not going any further until I''ve gotten my reward."


    "That was not the original agreement. Your pay will be determined only after were confirm the credibility of the information you''ve gathered. I''m not going to hand over rare catalysts and magic crystals for what could simply be fabrications."


    The two continued to go back in forth with their negotiations until Uriah finally let his frustratione to the surface.


    "Give me what I want now, or I''ll kill you. I refuse to be jerked around by an unloyal snoop."


    "Go ahead, you won''t get anything that way. I had to do some things that caught the attention of dangerous people to get the intel that you and your boss wanted. They haven''t made a move on me yet, but it''s only a matter of time before they track me down. I need what I was promised so that I can get away.


    I assure you that what I''ve gathered is worth every bit I am asking for." The man said, the nervousness in his tone conveying just how backed into a corner he really was.


    Eventually Uriah pulled out what Evelyn could tell was a storage magic tool and handed it over to the man. However, he did so while grumbling and with a less than ecstatic expression on his face.


    After checking over the contents of the ring he had been handed, the man opened his mouth and pulled out a small bead that he had affixed to one of his cheeks.


    "What you want to know is stored in this. Hold it up to your head and it will transmit everything directly into your head. But keep in mind that it will not be active until six hours have passed. A little insurance on my part since the item is connected to my life right now. If I die, everything will be erased."


    Wearing a sour frown, Uraih took the bead and careful ced it within a small storage pendant around his neck. He had been nning to kill the man but could not risk it now.


    "Just know that if what you''ve given me turns out to be wrong or not worth what you were paid, you''ll have a lot more to worry about than anyone here in the Miris Sect. The entire Deamhain Sect will hunt you down and make you wish that you were never born."


    Having given his final warning and with their transactionplete, Uriah and the man went their separate ways.


    ''Which one do I follow?''


    Evelyn was conflicted about what to do next. Her original goal was to keep track of Uraih and simply observe him, but now there was a possibility that she could learn exactly what he and Osvaldo were up to here in the Miris Sect.


    ''I could try and steal his ring that the bead is in, or I can learn what they are after from the informant.''


    Weighing her options, Evelyn soon concluded which objective would be easier toplete and less risky. As much as she wanted to continue surveilling Uriah, going after the man he had just met would be more fruitful.


    So begrudgingly she switched her targets and began tailing the informant. It might look strange that she never returned for the rest of the performances being put on, but she could not let this chance pass her by.


    Without ever allowing her target to notice her, Evelyn tracked him through the city and all the way to a dpidated building located in the outer district where the lowest ranking members of the Miris Sect resided.


    Once they were in a sparsely popted area that had certainly seen its better days judging by the condition of the buildings and streets, the man slipped into a side alley and stopped in front of what looked to be a solid wall.


    However, with the wave of his hand, a door suddenly appeared as he released the illusion cast over the area.


    He then slipped inside the hidden room and the illusion reappeared behind him.


    "Seems like he is gathering supplies and getting ready to run. Unfortunately for him, I''ve got some question to ask before he departs."

 Chapter 445: Chapter 445 Interrogation

    ''There''s no one else around. Time to pay a visit to the guy who sold Information to Uriah.''


    Afterpleting a thorough sweep of the area with her wind magic, Evelyn was certain that she was the only one else within the vicinity besides her target. Now all she needed to do was find a way into the hidden room he had entered and squeeze him for the intel that she wanted.


    Arriving in front of the wall that the man had disappeared into, she attempted to figure out the mechanism behind the magic sealing the way.


    Unfortunately, even after giving it her best shot for nearly two minutes, she was not any closer to finding a way to disable the spell.


    ''I can feel that he is nearly finished packing from the movement of the air inside. I wanted to enter stealthily, but it seems that it is time to use force.'' Evelyn thought, pressing her right hand against the wall.


    An instantter, a concentrated crimson ze erupted from her palm. Within less than a second the study door reinforced by magic melted away and revealed the hidden room.


    Naturally, the man inside noticed Evelyn''s abrupt entrance. Shook was all over his face, as he though this ce to be well hidden and secure. The magic item he had used to create this space should not have easily been breached. At least not by anyone under arcanist rank for humans, and the tyrant rank for beasts.


    Though, even if Evelyn had been a lower rank, her heavenly me would have broken through with just as much ease.


    "Who are you?! What do you want with me?!" The man shouted.


    His aim was to both stall the sudden intruder and hopefully create amotion that would attract attention.


    However, Evelyn paid his questions no mind. Instead, preparing her magic to incapacitate her target.


    Seeing that he was going to be unable to start a conversation with Evelyn, the informant hastily retrieved several hidden knives from his person and threw them at Evelyn.


    There were sixteen in total, and each one began to curve and change trajectories to attack from multiple angles.


    ''I''ve got her, she won''t be able to cast a spell powerful enough to block them in time.'' The man thought, confident in his victory.


    From the magical energy she was emitting he could tell that she was a low tier mage, the same rank as him.


    While he normal tried to stay out of fights, he was no slouch when it came tobat.


    Over the years he had obtained the enchanted knives he was using against Evelyn now. He had trained tirelessly to perfect his technique and use them as a powerful assault on confident individuals that brazenly approached him. So long as his target was not too far away, he had never failed to score heavy damage or even outright kill anyone that attacked him.


    They were both his secret weapon and his perfect opener when threatened.


    ''Gravity Field.''


    Yet, with a simple wave of her hand, Evelyn crushed the man''s strategy in one move. There was simply far too great of a difference between their abilities.


    Under the effects of the intensified gravity, all of the knives as well as the informant were mmed into the ground. There they remained motionless, unable to move so much as a millimeter.


    "HELP! HELP!"


    Unable toprehend what had just urred, the man used hisst resort. This area may have been fairly deserted but if he screamed loudly enough, someone was bound to notice. Though whether they would actually help him was another story.


    "You can stop wasting your breath. No one is going to be able to hear you. I''ve already set up a silencing barrier." Evelyn said, her voice cold and menacing.


    Feeling the intensity of her re, the man breathed deeply before goingpletely quiet. He was not sure how, but the pressure he was feeling was far greater than anything a low tier mage rank should have had.


    "Good. Now I''m going to lessen the pressure on you, but don''t try to resist again. If you do, I''ll crush both of your legs."


    Once Evelyn had given her warning, she decreased the power of her gravity field so that gravity was only around two times as strong as normal. This would not be so much that the man could not get up, but it would still remind him that he was still under the effect of her magic.


    "So, what do you wan-"


    The informant that had been working for Uriah attempted to find out why Evelyn was targeting him, but before he could finish his question, he was mmed back into the ground by overwhelming force.


    "You don''t get to ask any questions. All you are allowed to do is give me the answers that I want. If you do so, and answer honestly, I might let you live."


    Having reinforced her absolute control over the situation, Evelynxed the strength of her gravity magic again, and allowed the man to sit back up.


    When he had just barely regained his bearing, Evelyn asked her first question.


    "What''s your name?"


    Taken aback, the informant looked at her in confusion. He had figured that she would get right into questioning him about whatever it was she wanted to know. Not trying to obtain his name.


    "I''m Burkhart."


    "Is that the truth?" Evelyn asked.


    "Yes." Burkhart responded curtly.


    Nodding her head, Evelyn gave a nod of approval to show that she believed him.


    "Burkhart, do you know who it is that youpleted a transaction with earlier today with?"


    Again, he answered honestly and gave out Uriah''s name as well as the fact that he was a member of the Deamhain Sect.


    "Good, you seem to be following my instructions. I haven''t detected any lies so far." Evelyn said, wearing a pleased expression. "Now, the information that you gave to Uriah, I want you to tell me everything. Don''t spare a single detail. If you do, you know what will happen."

 Chapter 446: Chapter 446 Interrogation (2)

    With a look of terror stered on his face, Burkhart began to tell Evelyn what she wanted to know.


    "Uriah reached out to me to look into some merchandise that the leader of the Miris Sect and his close associates have in their possession. Apparently, his sect''s leader is trying to gather all simrmodities from the lesser sects."


    "Ah, so that is what they are up to. But I gather that Ellison and Vivienne aren''t being particrly cooperative?"


    "Yes, that''s why Uriah hired me to investigate. He knew that the Miris Sect leader and his confidants were hiding the true inventory that they possess. I should have known you would''ve already figured that out" Burkhart said, nodding his head in agreement.


    He was hoping thatplying with her andplementing Evelyn would help him get out of this situation alive.


    "I now understand why members of the Deamhain Sect are here, but what is this merchandise they are after?" Evelyn asked.


    Yet, the answer she received was both shocking and infuriating.


    Immediately Burkhart backed away in terror. The fake smile on Evelyn''s face had vanished. Reced by a raging fury that could be seen deep into her eyes.


    "Guh!"


    A momentter, the slightly heightened gravity that had been ever present around Burkhart to remind him of Evelyn'' control over the situation increased.


    Unable to resist the pull on his body, he mmed into the ground. Even the slightest movements were impossible as he slowly pushed into the earth below him.


    "Where are they?! You''re going to tell me who has them and where they are, or I swear I will make you regret every having been born!"


    No longer was Evelyn attempting to act cordial in even the slightest manner. She was too enraged now to keep up such a fa?ade and was resorting to pure violence to get the answers she wanted.


    "Pl-please! I can''t- ahhhhhh!"


    An unpleasant creaking sound emitted from Burkhart''s body, and he started to scream as his bones began to fracture under the pressure of Evelyn''s gravity magic.


    Realizing that killing her only source of information was not going to get her anywhere, Evelyn eased up on the intensity of her spell.


    Burkhart coughed up some blood and wheezed heavily once the force crushing him had eased up.


    However, instead of answering Evelyn''s other questions after recovering enough to speak, he began pleading for his life. He was beginning to believe that Evelyn would not let him live no matter what he told her and felt no desire to continue talking if his situation was helpless.


    ''Should I just torture him more directly? No, that could take some time, and he might have coborators I don''t know about. If people find me here, things could get out of hand.''


    Evelyn also considered using a mind control potion on him but was hoping not to. She had already used a decent number of her stock to collect information and wanted to save the rest for more difficult targets.


    "Ah, I''m sorry. I lost myposure for a bit there. I did not mean to injure you. Please, take this." Evelyn said, feigning concern as she sshed a healing potion on Burkhart.


    She then took a sip of another potion to prove it was not poisoned, before handing it over.


    Hastily Burkhart drank the potion and let out a relieved sigh as his damaged bones and organs repaired themselves.


    The look in his eyes had also changed. Before he had looked to be in the depths of despair, but now there was a bit of hope. He almost certainly believed that no one would waste two high quality healing potions on someone they already nned on killing.


    "Now, please answer my questions. Once I know what I want, I''ll let you go."


    Attempting to act a bit more pleasant, Evelyn urged Burkhart to give her the information she was after.


    Thankfully, her act seemed to work, and he began spilling all of the information he had collected for Uriah.


    "And that''s everyone in the Miris Sect that currently has at least one magic beast owl in their collection. I''ve done a very thorough investigation so I''m certain that there aren''t any others."


    "Thank you, this will be very useful to me. Now how about you tell me about your method of infiltrating these ces and any weak points in their defenses." Evelyn said, staring intently at Burkart while writing everything down in a notebook.


    Within a few minutes she had squeezed out all of the information her captive was willing to give.


    "Okay, onest question, and if you answer it truthfully, you''ll be on your merry way, never to see me again. Everything you told me is true, and you did not withhold anything concerning the owls being held in the Miris Sect and Uriah''s objective."


    "Yes, you have my word that I only gave you urate information. That is truly everything I know about the owls and what Uriah wants." Burkhart said, nodding his head rapidly while ncing towards the exit.


    Naturally he was looking to get as far away from Evelyn as quickly as possible. He had no idea who she was, but it was clear that she was unbelievably dangerous.


    Yet, his hopes were quickly dashed by Evelyn''s next words.


    "Well, you were quite cooperative, so'' I''ll make this painless for you."


    With her hand outstretched, she conjured a ball of crimson me and aimed it towards Burkhart.


    "Wait! That wasn''t the deal! I answered all of your questions! Please, just let me go. I won''t tell anyone about you. I was already nning on escaping the Tyrannis Union.


    You really don''t have to worry about me!" Burkart yelled in a bid to save his life.


    However, Evelyn mealy shook her head in response.


    "Sorry, but I need you to die. It hasn''t been six hours, so Uriah won''t have ess to the information you collected for him yet. Since I don''t want him to know what you just told me, I''m afraid that you have to die. me yourself for tying that magic tool to your life."

 Chapter 447: Chapter 447

    "NO! NO!" Burkhart screamed in the face of Evelyn''s heavenly me. "SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! HELP!"


    With all of his might he struggled to break free of Evelyn''s gravity magic, and shouted louder than he would have even thought possible in a bid to save his life.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn had already cut off all avenues of escape for him. Not a single whisper could escape the wind barrier she had set up, and the difference in their abilities made it impossible for Burkhart to break free of her gravity field.


    With only the slightest movement of her hand, Evelyn let loose the powerful mes she had conjured.


    There was not even time for Burkhart to scream in pain as he was engulfed and reduced to ash.


    "Okay, time to return to the others."


    Having aplished what she had set out to do, Evelyn exited the hidden room.


    Back in the alleyway where the entrance was located, she did not spare the building another nce before using her gravity magic to bring it down. She doubted that anyone would particrly care about an old, abandoned building copsing in this area, and it would serve as a countermeasure against someone discovering what she had done on the off chance that someone came looking for Burkhart.


    A little under an hourter she returned to Maeve''s estate.


    "I''ll admit that you obtained some exceptional intel from this, but the risks were high. What if someone saw you, or perhaps that man had other aplices that will try to track his killer down. There is also a very real chance that Osvaldo and Uriah will be far more guarded when they find the Knowledge Bead they purchased to be empty."


    Upon gathering with herpanions, Evelyn received a heated lecture from Lucia.


    "I understood that there was a chance that something might go awry, but I think learning about what those two are doing here was too important to pass up. Plus, I was very careful. I used wind magic to scout my surroundings at all times and made sure that no one could see me.


    I doubt that there are many individuals in the Miris Sect that could have trailed me without my notice." Evelyn responded, defending her actions.


    Lucia let out a long sigh, but she did not chastise Evelyn about the matter any further. It was true that she took heavy risks, but she always got results in return.


    "Fine, let''s not worry about what could have gone wrong. Still, you now owe a favor to Maeve and Vivienne. There is no telling what she''ll ask for, but I doubt it will be insignificant."


    Evelyn winced slightly hearing this. She had pushed the debt she had rued to gain entrance into the performance venue to the back of her mind.


    "Well, whatever Maeve wants from me does not matter right now. Instead, we need to rethink our ns and goals here. I still want to eliminate Osvaldo and Uriah, but I want to save the captured owls as well. I''m not sure what the Deamhain Sect wants with them, but I can only think that it has something to do with me." Evelyn said, her expression resolved.


    While it may have seemed a bit conceited to believe that everything revolving around the captured owls led back to her, the entire Tyrannis Union had worked together to attack the Roost just to capture her. It was quite likely that whatever scheme the Deamhain Sect was cooking up, was another bid to obtain her and the Aethersphere residing within her.


    "Evelyn, I understand that you want to help, but we already have too much on our te. Aiming for anything else could cause us to fail." Rehni said, trying to be the voice of reason.


    She had decided long ago to follow Evelyn, but sometimes she needed to speak up when she felt that her friend was being too reckless.


    Of course, Bylur was always on Evelyn''s side no matter what, and Aralee was looking around at everyone nervously, though she was likely to go along with whatever her sister wanted in the end.


    "Rehni, it is not just that I want to help them. If it was because of their own actions or just some unlucky fluke that they ended up in the hands of the Miris Sect, I would not particrly care. But it''s my fault. I brought catastrophe to the Roost, our home. I need to do whatever I can to make things right."


    Evelyn normally was not considered with the wellbeing of strangers; however, she could not help feeling some guilt for the Tyrannis Union''s attack on the Roost. Even if it was only to satisfy herself, she wanted to do something.


    Naturally, the others understood this sentiment. Still, causing a mass breakout of the captured owls would be practically impossible. There were over a dozen being held in the Miris Sect, and most in separate locations. After a few sessful rescues, the sect''s authorities were bound to catch onto their aim. Something which Rehni impressed upon Evelyn.


    "Fine. You''re right Rehni. It would be too dangerous to attempt right now. Let''s just focus on the goals we already set. We can retrieve our captured brethren at another time." Evelyn said, conceding to Rehni''s logic.


    "Thank you, Evelyn. I know that this is hard on you. Don''t worry, though. We''ll help them out soon enou-"


    "Actually, there might be a way for us to aplish everything. It might even turn out to be the best oue." Lucia said, interpreting Rehni.


    She had been silent for a while as the others talked things out, and during that time she had been formting a means to seed on all fronts.


    When she exined what they needed to do, it really was quite simple. Except it was not something that was easy for Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee to ept.


    "You want us to assist Osvaldo and Uriah in gathering the captured owls?!" Bylur said, wearing an enraged expression.


    Everyone else was likewise discontented with Lucia''s suggestion. What would be the merit in helping their enemies.

 Chapter 448: Chapter 448 Final Strategy

    "Please just calm down and listen." Lucia said to pacify Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee.


    They were incensed by her proposal, but after taking a few seconds to calm down, understood that Lucia would not say something simply to infuriate them. She most certainly had a good reason.


    "If saving the imprisoned owls truly is something that we wish to do, thenpleting all of our objectives at the same time would be for the best."


    Lucia exined that it would be far easier to let Osvaldo and Uriah gather the owls for them, and then eliminate the two Deamhain Sect members. At that point they could free the owls and pin the me on the Miris Sect. If done correctly this would cause tensions within the Tyrannis Union. A conflict between multiple sects might even break out.


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    "But how are Osvaldo and Uriah supposed to collect the captured owls. Evelyn killed their informant, and the information they would need is now gone." Rehni said, bring up a major w in Lucia''s n.


    "Leave that to me. I have some experience spreading information and having it reach the ears that I want." Lucia responded confidently.


    While the intel that Uriah had paid for was lost, Evelyn had wringing it out of the informant before killing him. All Lucia needed to do was learn it from her, before subtly disseminating it to Osvaldo and Uriah in a manner that would not breed suspicion.


    "Okay, let''s say that this all works. How does it change the rest of our n? Will we still go ahead with the same methods to assassinate Osvaldo and Uriah? What are we going to do with the owls once we free them? If we just send them off on their own, they''re bound to get captured again or killed." Aralee said, voicing her concerns.


    "I believe that we can eliminate the two Deamhain Sect members in the same way that we already agreed upon. As for how to handle the liberated owls, that is something I''m not sure about. Does anyone have any suggestions?"


    The room went quite as the five of them thought about this solution to a veryrge obstacle in their way.


    Just freeing the owls was only the first step in rescuing them. A group of giant owls flying around was bound to be noticed and the Miris Sect would send people to recapture them. They would never be able to escape back to nonhuman territory where they would be rtively safe.


    "Ah! Bylur said, his face lighting up as he had an idea. "Why don''t we just use a return ticket to the Verdant Warlord''s Domain. That will get them out of here without leaving a trace."


    However, while Bylur thought this was a great suggestion, everyone else could only give him confused looks, wondering if he was serious.


    "Bylur, you know that those tickets can only transport one individual at a time. Even if we used all of the ones in our possession, it wouldn''t be close to enough." Evelyn said.


    "Not to mention, that doing so would reveal the location of the domain. Letting that information spread is a surefire way to tipping off some major power and having them monopolize the entrance." Rehni said, shaking her head.


    Having unfettered ess to such a treasure-trove was one of their greatest advantages. If they became cutoff from the Verdant Warlord''s Domain, it would be much harder for them to continue advancing.


    "Okay, I concede that sending a bunch of strangers to the domain is risky, but I swear the return tickets can send more than one individual. It can do up to twenty."


    To prove his point, Bylur took out the single return ticket he had acquired and showed it to everyone else.


    Each of them took a turn examining it and found that what Bylur had said was true. The return ticket he had really could send twenty entities to the vicinity of the domain''s entrance.


    Of course, it was not that Evelyn, Lucia, Rehni, and Aralee had missed this function, it was that Bylur had obtained apletely different magic item from the ones they did.


    "Bylur, this isn''t a regr return ticket. Why did you grab this one over the normal type? I''m sure that it must have been far more expensive."


    Evelyn wanted to know what Bylur''s thought process had been when he used the valuable resources gathered in the Verdant Warlord''s Domain to purchase something so obviously extravagant. They had been operating separately up until recently, and had he needed to use this ticket as a quick escape it would have been a massive waste of resources.


    The answer to Evelyn''s question was actually quite simple. Bylur had not foreseen a possible situation where he needed to send several individuals back to the Verdant Warlord''s Domain, this had simply been the only return ticket he came across.


    When the first member of their group had discovered the undeniably useful item, each of them had set out to obtain at least one.


    Yet, Bylur never found a normal one, only discover a far rarer and pricier version meant to be used onrge groups.


    "Well, I suppose that this means that we can send all of the captured owls to the forest of giants if we want to. Still, I think the final decision should be up to you Evelyn." Rehni said.


    As the one that originally found the entrance to the domain, everyone deferred to Evelyn''s judgment on whether she wanted to risk it being discovered by the world atrge.


    There may not have been any guarantee that the rescued owls would even discover the domain as the ticket only brought them to the vicinity of the entrance, but the possibility was certainly a dangerous gamble.


    "We don''t have any other concreate way to help the owls imprisoned in the Miris Sect. If we can''t think of something else, then I say that we use Bylur''s mass return ticket. The risks be damned." Evelyn said, her eyes brimming with determination.

 Chapter 449: Chapter 449 Setting a Trap

    A couple of weeks passed as Evelyn and herpanions continued their stay in the Miris Sect.


    Outwardly, the five of them were counting to escort Maeve while she got adjusted to her new life in the Miris Sect. Yet, this was only to keep their cover. Whenever they had free time, their party worked to further their own goals.


    Slowly but surely, Lucia fed information about the imprisoned owls to Osvaldo and Uriah without either of the two ever realizing who she was.


    The two Deamhain Sect members surely believed that their own authority and investigative skills were bringing them this intel, but everything was going ording to Lucia''s designs.


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    "It seems that''ve just about gathered all of them. It''s time for us to put thest phase of our n in motion." Evelyn said, a malicious grin on her face.


    Now that Osvaldo and Uriah had essentially bullied the members of the Miris Sect into selling the owls that were being held captive, they had yed their role, and it was time for them to disappear.


    "Evelyn, you will be going to this location tomorrow, while Aralee and Bylur will be going here." Lucia said, handing maps to the three of them.


    On each map warehouses were marked in out of the way locations within the second walledyer of the Miris Sect''s capital.


    These two locations were where Evelyn would ambush Uriah, and Aralee and Bylur would ambush Osvaldo respectively.


    "And what will you two be doing?" Bylur asked.


    "As we discussed originally, we will make sure that our group appears in public to avoid any suspicion." Rehni responded.


    "Yes, I''ve scheduled to have some sparing matches with the core members of the Miris Sect. Of course, all of us will be in attendance." Lucia said, waving her hand and creating illusory clones of Evelyn, Bylur, and Aralee.


    The top brass of the Sect had been more than happy to agree to Lucia''s proposal.


    Word about her powerful light magic had spread from Meave to the majority of the Sect''s upper echelons. It was rare to have an opportunity to practice against someone that wielded an umon type of magic at a high level.


    "Will you be alright keeping up the illusions while fighting?" Aralee asked in concern.


    "That shouldn''t be an issue. The only ones that I should be sparing with are mid-tier mages, to low tier arcanists. As far as anyone knows, I''m just a peak mage. No one stronger should want to actively participate. Any the only ones that I think could give me any trouble are Ellison and Vivienne."


    Lucia was confident that she could handle sparing with anyone weaker than her while maintaining the illusion of Evelyn, Bylur, and Aralee.


    There was also very little chance either of the two strongest members of the Miris Sect would be making an appearance. Both of them were busy dealing with Osvaldo and Uriah''s forceful acquisition of the Sect''s captured owls.


    "I just wish that we did not need to be crammed into cages for who knows how long." Aralee said with sigh.


    "Sorry, but it''s the best way to get our targets to drop their guard. I fed them intel that three owls were going to be moved to a hidden bunker tomorrow to avoid the Deamhain Sect''s interference. With two owls being held at one location, and one at another. This should separate them and lure them to your locations. Of course, they''ll find the owls that they are looking for." Lucia said, a devious smirk on her face.


    Naturally, the supposedly imprisoned owls would actually be Evelyn, Bylur, and Aralee.


    The cages and restraints that they would be in were only for show. Without the normal magical enhancements, the chains and cages might as well have been made out of paper.


    "There''s no way to guarantee that Uriah wille to me though, right?" Evelyn asked.


    "No, but it is likely. I made sure to stress that security around where Bylur and Aralee will be is tighter. Plus, I believe that Osvaldo will want to go to the location with two owls in it. Being the superior of the two, he will want to gain the most prestige by personally collecting the greatest number of owls."


    Lucia''s exnation helped to calm Evelyn down.


    While she was not afraid of dealing with Osvaldo, a battle between them was likely to be messy. Plus, she wanted to personally kill the man she held responsible for the death of her parents in this world.


    With their discussioning to an end, the five members of Evelyn''s party headed off to their own room to get some rest.


    They had done everything that they could to prepare for their uing operation, but there were still an untold number of risks involved. One slipup could have the entire Miris Sect, or perhaps even the Tyrannis union as a whole,e crashing down on top of them.


    Still, the rewards for their efforts would be immense. Not only would they eliminate two operatives from the Deamhain Sect and save several captured owls, but also cause untold friction within the Union. In the best-case scenario, a massive civil war could even break out.


    "Though I don''t think that will really happen. Most likely the Miris Sect will end up slowly destroyed." Evelyn muttered to herself, imagining all of the possibilities thate from killing Osvaldo and Uriah.


    Tomorrow she would finally strike the first blow against the nation that was the root cause for nearly all of her misery during her second life.


    They had killed her parents, subjected her to unimaginable tortures in the name of experimentation, killed one of her closest friends, and nearly annihted the ce she hade to call home.


    Perhaps she should have abandoned revenge and sought to keep her distance to protect herself and those close to her. Yet Evelyn could not.


    She believed that so long as she let people keep taking from her without recourse, that they would continue to do so until she had nothing left.


    Also, as immoral as it might have been, she wanted those that had caused her so much pain, to suffer as well. To know even a fraction of the agony she had experienced before meeting their ends.

 Chapter 450: Chapter 450 Sweet Vengeance

    Evelyn sat alone in the back of arge warehouse while inside a cage.


    There were manacles around her feet and a strong rope tied around her wings to keep her from moving. From all appearances she looked to bepletely restrained.


    ''He''s still not here. What is taking so long.'' Evelyn thought impatiently.


    She was carefully listening to her surroundings with her impable hearing. Waiting for her target to arrive.


    Since early in the morning she had been stuck in the same ce, with ufortable bindings constricting her.


    Nevertheless, Evelyn waited intently for Uriah. She would continue to y her role as a captured owl until the perfect time to strike.


    Fortunately, she did not have to wait much longer. The sound of the wheels of a vehicle reached her ears, signaling the arrival of her hated foe.


    Soon therge doors to the warehouse opened, and Uriah entered alone.


    "Looks like the intel we received was right again. I shouldn''t have gone to that shame informant first." Uriah said upon seeing Evelyn in her cage.


    She had to restrain herself from immediately breaking free and ripping him to shreds. Right now, he was still far enough away that there was a chance he could react in time to her attack.


    To catch himpletely off guard, Evelyn needed to wait for him to approach.


    "This one seems quite a bit stronger than the other. I think it might be a tyrant rank. They really did try to hide the best from us. But there''s no point in such a weak Sect trying to oppose the Deamhain Sect. They should have just rolled over and delivered the goods when asked. It would have been easier and better for everyone that way."


    Uriah continued to voice his thoughts while walking around Evelyn''s cage and appraising her.


    Once he finished his cursory look, he began moving his hands and cast a spell.


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    A momentter torge earth arms rose up from the ground and seized the cage.


    ''Now!''


    The instant Uriah turned around and began walking back towards his vehicle to load Evelyn on to it, she struck.


    With a single flex of his wings, she tore apart the rope binding her wings and shattered the shackles around her feet.


    Then, with a single wave of her wings, she created a powerful gust of wind that sucked Uriah towards her.


    A loud band rung at as he mmed into the metal bars.


    While her target was stunned by her opening attack, she had transformed back into her humanoid form.


    "Gotcha!" Evelyn squealed happily as she closed her hand around the back of Uriah''s neck.


    Before he could react to the sudden developments, she pushed her way out of the cage and used her wind magic to forcefully shut the warehouse doors.


    "None of that now."


    Uriah attempted to cast another spell to attack Evelyn, but she simply squeezed down on his neck with greater force to stop him. It became utterly clear that whoever had him in a vice grip was far stronger physically and could break his neck easily.


    "W-who are you?" Uriah wheezed out.


    "Oh, you don''t remember? But we have such a history together."


    In a single swift movement, Evelyn spun her captive around and grabbed the front of his neck this time.


    Despite her smaller stature in her humanoid form, Evelyn still easily held Uriah up with a single hand. Her strength was that of a tyrant rank beast, something a mage rank human could never hope to contend with directly.


    In a desperate move, Uriah moved to kick Evelyn once he was facing her.


    However, before he finished pulling his leg back, he felt a sharp pain assaulted him, and a sickening crunching sound rang out.


    With a single quick motion, Evelyn had struck his leg and shattered his femur.


    A pained scream rose up in Uriah''s throat, but Evelyn tightened her grip and prevented any sound from escaping.


    "You''re really incorrigible." Evelyn said, shaking her head like a disappointed teacher.


    Realizing that he was hopelessly outmatched, Uriah had been reaching for a spell talisman hidden up his sleeve, but Evelyn grabbed his hand and broke his wrist before he could activate it.


    Yet the moment she did so, she regretted it.


    A sh of her past life when her father had broken her own wrist forced its way to the forefront of her mind. It was an unpleasant experience that she tried never to remember. Her own actions being what made her recall it now disgusted her.


    "I suppose that is enough punishment. What you did to me was a thousand times worse, but I''m not as cruel as you people."


    Evelynxed her hold on Uriah, and with his airway open again, he coughed violently and began sucking down air to relieve his strained lungs.


    When he had recovered a bit, he red directly into Evelyn''s eyes. Staring directly into her hateful gaze.


    Now that he was able to get a good look at her, he remembered seeing her at the party for the Miris Sect''s Grand Elder''s niece''s wee party.


    She was supposedly a mercenary friend of Maeve.


    "What could I have possibly done to you? We''ve not even properly met before." Uriah said, confused as to where Evelyn''s animosity wasing from.


    But as he continued to look into her rage filled eyes, a couple further back memories surfaced.


    He had seen these eyes before on several asions. And always they red at him the same way.


    "That''s impossible! There''s just no way."


    Uriah didn''t want to believe what his mind was telling him. That before him was the owl that had merged with the Deamhain Sect''s Divine Item.


    "Ah, it seems that you''ve finally recognized me. Yes, I''m that small, helpless owl you captured in the Deands. I''vee back to return the courtesy you showed me all those years ago." Evelyn responded spitefully.


    Fear clouded Uriah''s face once Evelyn confirmed who she was. He could still remember theirst encounter in the Elmot Gorge and how she nearly killed him then. Certainly, he had applied himself and gotten stronger since then, but to his horror, Evelyn had reached even greater heights.


    "How? How could a beast that was only born a few years ago reach the tyrant rank so quickly? You should still be a dumb animal squatting around in the mud."


    Normally just reaching the awakened rank should have taken a couple of decades for most beasts, and to advance far enough to be a tyrant rank should have required at least half a century. Yet Evelyn had needed only around a tenth of that amount of time.


    "Why are you so surprised? You''re the ones that gave me the necessary drive and ability to do so." Evelyn said, pointing to her chest with her free hand.


    This gesture reminded Uriah of the Divine Item that Evelyn had within her. Its powers were unclear to the Deamhain Sect, as their only sessful test subject had escaped. Though, it was clear from Evelyn''s words that it was capable of helping a wild beast advance to the tyrant rank in only a few short years.


    Of course, there were many other factors to Evelyn''s elerated growth, but she did not care to exin them to Uriah. She simply wanted him to know that his downfall here today was due to his and his Sect''s actions. She wanted him to regret what he had done to her in hisst moments.


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