An Owl's Rise

\'I will start with the basics. I have been making gusts of wind since before I really even knew what magic was in this world. I am confident I can still do that much.\'

With her first magic decide on Evelyn began letting the energy within her flow and with the flap of her wings unleashed what she figured would be a casual gust.

Instead, what was released whipped up a blast of wind that shot forward and caused a loud booming sound when it impacted against the back wall.

\'Woah!\'

Watching what just happened Evelyn was surprised by the power behind her magic now.

She had expected it to be stronger, but that casual gust had nearly as much power behind it as a serious attack from before she evolved.

"As I thought, your power has grown exponentially. Now you are not even comparable to the other beasts at your rank other than maybe the best prodigies. That divine item you have really is formidable." Melisandre said while shaking her head.

Evelyn had already been an anomaly that was far stronger than most at the same rank, but now that she had evolved the gap was even greater, and Melisandre doubted that the strongest owls within the roost at even up to the mid-tier of the awakened rank would be Evelyn\'s match. Despite the fact she had just evolved.

"Go ahead and keep at it. I am sure you want to see what you are capable of and get a feel for the greater magical energy you have." Melisandre said as multiple targets rose up out of the ground.

Smiling, Evelyn nodded her head and took aim. Creating a needle made of her heavenly flame as she had practiced thousands of time when learning to control her magical energy.

Thankfully she had no problem with the shape, though at first it was a far larger size even though she used the same quantity of her magical energy as before.

\'There, that is about right.\' Evelyn thought as she adjusted the power back down to where it had been before she evolved.

Seeing her do this, Melisandre was actually astounded, as this showed how profoundly adept Evelyn was at controlling magical energy.

Slowly Evelyn upped the power of her flame needle attacks until it reached her current peak.

\'That is a bit more than I expected.\'

Looking at the hole she had put in the steel plate and the wall behind it, Evelyn could hardly believe that this was the same magic she had first learned.

Her flames were on a profoundly different level, and with careful observation, she had noticed the steel start to warp before the flames even hit it.

After finishing her first experiment, she went through all of her usual magic spells one by one, and lowered them down to her previous max, before bringing them up to her new peak.

However, she had completely neglected her gravity magic up to this point. She wanted to do far more extensive tests with the new powers granted to her by the Aethersphere once she had a better understanding of the quality and quality of her magical energy as an awakened beast.

Yet right before she was about to start, Melisandre saw Evelyn momentary pause as a sign that she was finished.

"Truly that was spectacular. I believe that you could probably fight on equal footing against most any peak awakened beast now even at your current level. But this brings with it its own set of problems. Your power is so absurd now that it breaks all notions of normalcy. If others see what you are capable of now, they are bound to start digging. And that would not be in your best interest. To that point, I believe it would be best if you never exceed above sixty percent of your current power and refrain from using your heavenly flame in the presences of others, unless your life is in danger. Now that you are an awakened beast you will not fall under the radar as much. You could easily garner the wrong kind of attention if it is discovered how strong you are, and that you possess a heavenly flame."

Hearing Melisandre\'s warning, Evelyn nodded her head in agreement.

She did not want to stand out more than necessary, and she certainly did not want any of the other powers in the Roost or beyond to show interest in her.

As Melisandre said, now that she was an awakened rank beast she would not be as easily dismissed as before.

Fiend beasts were pretty much considered rabble in the Roost, and only once they made it to the awakened rank were they really full-fledged members.

\'It is not like I was out broadcasting my powers before. I will just need to make sure not to stand out.\' Evelyn thought.

Once she was finished conversing with Melisandre and agreed to keep her power in check, she moved back to testing out her new magical potential.

"Oh, I thought that you were finished?" Melisandre said with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I have another magical affinity to test. The power that the divine item gives me." Evelyn said as she turned her focus back towards the targets in the room.

But before she unleashed her gravity magic at them, she instead turned to Melisandre and asked her if she would help her out as a partner.

"Sure, I do not mind. As strong as you have become, I do not think you will be able to do much to me." Melisandre said confidently.

She then moved towards the center of the room and waited to be Evelyn\'s punching bag.

\'Here goes nothing. Full force, ten times gravity.\'

Spreading out her gravity field Evelyn increased it to tens time what was normal, and the training room began to shake and shudder under the extreme force.

Melisandre for her part was quite surprise. She suddenly started sinking into the floor, just as she had last time Evelyn used this power on her.

Luckily the floor in the training room was very sturdy, otherwise she would have likely fallen straight through the floor of a less reinforced room.

"My that power of yours really is impressive. Even with a field of magical energy I cannot block it. The only recourse is to apply enough strength to resist it." Melisandre said as she flapped her wings heavily to lift her body up.

Still, while she could not stand properly due to the floor simply being unable to support her, even under ten times normal gravity she did not seem the least bit perturbed.

\'Just how strong is she? I am pretty sure a normal person would have collapsed and passed out practically immediately under this much gravity. Yet she is able to take it like it is nothing. But let\'s see if she can take my new power.\'