An Owl's Rise

'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 to complete 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 certainly complete.

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 two completed missions were taken as compensation 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 before coming 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 alarmed at first, until she recognized the similar 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 to come back.

"It is going to be a bit of a long story. Would you mind if we moved somewhere more comfortable?" 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 recommend 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, but later I will bring you a map with places 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 the large 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 explained 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 become 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 elaborated.

"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 place 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 the last 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 had come back with these fruits sooner, they could have forgone their search and just the potion as a replacement.

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 relaying 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 successful shops." Melisandre said, already having a forgone conclusion of what was going to happened.

Of course, with Evelyn's heavenly flame 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."