An Owl's Rise

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 place.

"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 place.

"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 contemplative expression.

It seemed she was calculating exactly how long she expected who Evelyn assumed to be her collages 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 alchemy labs 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 platform 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 accessible 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 nonvolatile 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, explaining her sudden transformation.

After that they moved around a few corridors until they exited onto the large 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 plants 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 the largest floor of the hall and accessible 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 places selling these, and while it may have seemed that so much competition 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 nineteen 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 relationship 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 success 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's laurels 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 plants 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 accept 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.

"Evelyn come over here, and exciting live demonstration is going on!"