An Owl's Rise

Luckily upon her return Melisandre was within the mansion and not particularly 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 flame 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 owls come 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 successive 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 accounts.

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 flashy and set your teammates up, you with attract less attention." Melisandre said, giving Evelyn one last 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 of combination 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 a large, excited smile plastered 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.