An Owl's Rise

It also did not help that Evelyn appeared to be empty handed, and it was practically unheard of for a fiend beast to have a storage item.

Though before the clerk could start questioning her, Evelyn started taking things out of her amulets and placing them on the counter.

However, it quickly became apparent that there would simply not be enough room to accommodate everything, and Evelyn was attracting quite a bit of attention.

Swiftly the clerk suggested that they move to a private room which was used for assessing and rewarding those who had brought in items too large or numerous to be checked out in the hall\'s main area.

"Here, now you may bring out the items to prove completion of your missions." The clerk said to Evelyn once they were in a private room.

A quick glance around the place and Evelyn was able to tell that it was a bare room that only had a large table in it for assessing the materials that she had acquired.

\'Hm well I suppose this is better. I was starting to stand out in midst of so many other owls.\'

Getting back to it, Evelyn began pulling the items she had acquired out in order of her acquisitions.

"Here are the roots and flowers of three soothing lilies. Eight vials of blood from a regen capybara. The venom glands of two venom bats. Three pounds of vendelrite…"

Pulling out everything in succession the clerk nodded as she examined the items Evelyn had collected.

"This is all very impressive. I would not have excepted a fiend beast to be able to gather all of this. And with such high quality." The clerk said after inspecting everything Evelyn had brought.

Some of the items such as one of the venom glands of the venom bats belonged to a peak fiend beast, which should have been nearly impossible for Evelyn to take down as she was a tier below it.

"Everything is certainly in order, and as representative of the mission hall I have confirmed that you have completed these eight blue missions. Please hold out your identification cuff so that I may transfer the credits you are owed." The clerk said while extending her own cuff.

As soon as Evelyn touched the two cuffs together a slight light shone between them before going dim again.

"The transfer was a success, but please check you new balance of credits to make sure that everything is in order."

Nodding her head Evelyn did just that, but as she saw the numbers her mouth went agape in shock.

Her measly one hundred credits had now shoot up to over six thousand, which was a sum she had not been expecting in the least.

\'Six thousand four hundred eight two.\' Evelyn thought as she looked at the numbers displayed on her cuff.

It was such a large amount in comparison to what she had before and had been expecting, that she was unable to process what had happened immediately.

\'I thought at most I might get around three hundred or maybe four hundred per mission at best. But this is nearly eight hundred per mission.\'

After doing some quick math in her head Evelyn realized just how much she had earned from completing each of these missions.

However, as she thought about it, she remembered that Melisandre had these specially picked out for her, and it was likely that they were among the highest paying blue rank missions that were suitable for fiend beasts and low tier awakened beasts.

\'With this much I should be able to purchase the other alchemy ingredients I need just as Melisandre expects.\' Evelyn thought while trying to remember the prices she had seen in the alchemy hall.

Her business in the mission hall now concluded, Evelyn left with quite the smile on her face from the impeccable gains she had made.

Yet as she was flying back to Melisandre\'s estate four owls came up to her, and it was clear that their intentions were far from friendly.

The group of the were all peak fiend beasts and it seemed that they were intent on taking Evelyn\'s storage items from her.

Of course, they must not have been the brightest owls, since unlike all of the awakened beasts that had seen Evelyn they did not realized that she likely had a powerful backer and it was best not to get involved.

Narrowing her eyes, she glared at the leader of this stupid group, and menacingly squawked at them to back off.

Though like the idiots that they were, they only got more riled up by Evelyn\'s resistance and began charging her.

They planned to rip the amulets off of her by force, but they were soon to find that they had made a huge mistake.

Evelyn had already figured things might get violent and had been weaving a gravity trap from the start.

She flew away at the last second before the first one closed in on her and they activated the trap.

Suddenly all four of the owls felt a tugging sensation on them as they were drawn towards the gravity trap.

To add to the effects Evelyn lowered gravity as much as she could which was now a bit more than four times.

The four owls smashed into each other incredibly hard, and soon began plummeting from the sky as they sustained serious injuries.

\'Hopefully I do not have to deal with owls like them again.\' Evelyn thought as she flew away.

Soon she returned to Melisandre\'s estate, and her cuff lit up to announce her arrival.

The door opened up to her and she waited in the front entrance until Anneli came to get her.

"My, you are back quicker than I would have expected Evelyn. Truly you are a talent to have completed the arduous missions that Melisandre set before you." Anneli said with an impressed expression.

Honestly she thought that Evelyn would need at least a month to gather everything to complete not only the missions for the Roost, but to also gather the ingredients that Melisandre wanted her to.

"Now Lady Melisandre already knows of your arrival, but she is in the middle of her brewing. In the meantime, while you wait, please go to your washroom and get cleaned up. Then when you are done, come to the kitchen and I will have a meal prepared for you."

Doing as Anneli suggested Evelyn flew back towards her room and entered the washroom where she began cleaning herself off.

\'I got used to living in the wilds again and did not realize how much grim I had on my.\'

Particulates of dirt, wood, exploded fruits, and blood washed out of Evelyn\'s feathers as she allowed the pleasant water from the shower to wash over her.

When she was well and washed off, she applied the cleansing powder and let it do its magic.

\'Ah that is much better.\' She thought once she was completely clean and actually glistening.

With the quick use of her heavenly flame and wind, she dried herself off and felt like a completely new owl now that she was clean again.

Having cleaned herself off Evelyn flew towards the kitchen and found that a very alluring and pleasant aroma was wafting out from the room.

\'It looks like Anneli is preparing something special.\' Evelyn thought seeing her hard at work.

Not long after she delivered Evelyn her first exquisite meal in a while, and she was surprised to see that this one was not entirely meat.

\'She cooked with some magically enriched fruits and vegetables this time.\'

Seeing this brought back some unpleasant memories of when she was forced to eat such things everyday along with beast cores while being held as a test subject.

The humans there had wanted her to raise her rank as quickly as possible. So, they omitted meat pretty much entirely from her diet in favor of forcing her to advance.

Still this meal was heavily balanced towards meat and the other items were more just garnishes.

Digging in Evelyn thoroughly enjoyed the meal, and she felt the magical energy within it enriching her body and cores.

"Thank you for the meal Anneli. I have missed eating here. The food out in the wilds is simply not up to the same level." Evelyn said.

Anneli looked proud for receiving the complement and thanked Evelyn for it.

"Now I received a message from Lady Melisandre not long ago that she has finished her brewing and is ready to see you. Let us go posthaste."

Following along behind Anneli Evelyn was brought to Melisandre\'s personal lab which was in far more disarray than when she had last been here.

Ingredients were all over the place, along with all manner of documents, brewing equipment and magical devices Evelyn did not recognize.

Nevertheless, Melisandre had a very satisfied expression on her face, so it was certain that whatever connection she had been making was a success.

"Evelyn, you have returned and much sooner than I expected. Your talent still astounds me, and I certainly am glad that I took you as my disciple." Melisandre said.

She then beckoned Evelyn to show her what she had gathered, and in a few minutes she had laid out everything she had obtained in the Glowing Woods.

"How in the world did you obtain all of this in just two weeks!" Melisandre said in utter astonishment to the loads of items Evelyn had brought.