An Owl's Rise

Swiftly the month Evelyn had given her siblings to pay off Verrader\'s loan and shape up passed by.

During this time Evelyn kept to her normal routine of running her alchemy shop, training with Bylur and Rehni, and growing the amount of magical energy she had within her two cores.

Yet there was one other important item of business she had been attending to, and that was gathering the catalysts that Otis would need to reach the tyrant rank.

This was easier said then done but over the last half a year Evelyn had made great progress and had finally tracked down the last one she needed.

It was unfortunately going to cost her a stupidly large number of credits and the twenty million she had just received from the Devurg Faction had quickly disappeared.

Her team account now only held two hundred thousand credits and her personal funds were astoundingly low again.

Nevertheless, Evelyn, and her teammates had agreed to focus on getting Otis up to the tyrant rank, since having such a powerful and loyal ally would be extremely helpful towards their endeavors. Though Bylur did offer a bit of pushback for a while due to some reason Evelyn could not fathom.

\'There is one item we do not have or even know how to obtain that Otis needs to reach the specific evolution we found information on, but that does not matter this time.\' Evelyn thought as she stirred a rainbow collected connection in her cauldron.

She was using the Chryseos Fruits she had gathered from the magic spring along with a number of other ingredients to create an evolution potion.

It was a difficult brew to make and required a number of rare ingredients, but it could take the place of one of the items that any beast needed for their evolution.

Of course, the potion had its limitations and only if all of the ingredients were suitably enriched with enough magical energy could it be used.

The one that Evelyn was attempting to make could only be used by a peak awakened rank trying to reach the tyrant rank.

And while Evelyn had never failed to successfully create an alchemical items since being taught by Melisandre, the evolution potion was proving difficult.

Even with all her skills and the immeasurable advantage she had received from the heavenly flame, Evelyn had failed to create a usable evolution potion three times.

She was on her fourth try and was running low on ingredients. She only had enough for one more attempt if she failed again, and gathering more would take a great deal of time.

\'Damn this is a tricky potion to brew. How in the hell does anyone do it?\' Evelyn thought as she kept her entire focus on the pot in front of her.

Melisandre ad taught her the recipe and walked her through the steps, but even then this brew took more technical skill than she had ever needed before.

What Evelyn did not know was that it was normally impossible for a beast to brew this type of potion for themselves as it would be completely beyond them.

If the average peak awakened rank gathered all the necessary ingredients they would need a mid-tier or higher tyrant rank alchemist that was confident in their skills to make the potion for them. And even then it was not guaranteed to succeed because of how tricky the potion was to make.

Evelyn exemplary equipment and heavenly flame allowed her to exceed this normal boundary, but it was still going to be difficult for her to succeed.

On her fourth attempt though, she finally succeeded.

Inside her caldron after a bright flash, the rainbow colored liquid was stabilized and she had successfully created an evolution potion.

\'This one is for Otis, and I have enough for one more. I may be aways off from my own next evolution, but I might as well make another one for whenever I might need it.\' Evelyn thought, psyching herself up.

Luckily after successfully making one evolution potion, she had a better feel for the process and was successful at making the second.

She was now missing many of the key ingredients she would need for the potion, but over time she could always gather more when she needed them.

Soon she had two bottles filled with about a quart of the shimmering rainbow liquid that could take the place of any one catalyst that a beast needed for their evolution to the tyrant rank.

Looking at them both Evelyn felt a great sense of accomplishment, before the fatigue rapidly set in.

She had used up all of her magical energy three times already today, replenishing it with pills and a bit of rest in between brewing.

\'I suppose I will need to call it for today. Tomorrow I am going to be meeting up with my siblings for the first time in months to check on their progress. Can\'t allow a bit of tiredness to make me seem incapable.\' Evelyn thought.

Despite not being sure about allowing her siblings to join her group, she felt that she did not want them to see any weakness from her, especially Aralee. Evelyn wanted to be a reliable big sibling just as Mason had been for her.

However, if they had failed to pay of Verrader\'s debt she would bail them out and that would be it.

As much as Evelyn wanted to work with her siblings, she was not going to let them leech off of her.

It was one thing for her to give them some knowledge and help them out here and there until they were stronger and could all work together. But it was another to have them drag her down and constantly be hindrances. She needed allies that were useful, not weights that would only slow her down.

\'Come tomorrow, I will know whether they have it in them. If they were able to pay off Verrader\'s debt, then I will give them a chance to show me how capable they are.\'