An Owl's Rise

Of the top owls two were not heading a squad. With one being Neve, who was placed in the same squad with Deshal for obvious reasons, while the other was the doctor Slaine, 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 glad 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 Slaine.

'I guess they probably know our abilities pretty well and for those of us with any specialization they placed us in the same squad.' Evelyn thought.

Of course, this was just speculation, 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 to comfort 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 recommendations 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 our coming expedition." Adolophine said, changing the subject.

She then told them that their squad's main focus would be on cataloging magical plants 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."