An Owl's Rise

'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 accumulated 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 a large 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 exhilaration.

She had now succeeded 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 had come 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 manipulate easier and make it more stable so that large 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 blast 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 collapsed 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 glad 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 regular customers were clamoring 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 day coming 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 energy completely 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 now completed 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 congratulate 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 while complementing Evelyn.

Though her praising did not last 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 Evelyn committed 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 manipulate 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 blasts 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 blast.

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 overcome 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 you later when we start incorporating your affinities into your training." Melisandre explained.

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 similar 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 uncommon for it took take several decades for a peak awakened beast to raise their rank to become 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.