An Owl's Rise

Once Evelyn and those accompanying her had returned to the burrowing owls' home, she immediately set up a meeting with Otis and disclosed all she had found out while investigating the Jackals' den.

"And that is all that I saw while I was inside the base."

After hearing Evelyn disclose all the information she had found out, Otis wore a contemplative expression on his face.

He was the leader of the burrowing owls, and it would be his decision whether to support Evelyn or not.

"Lady Evelyn, might I ask how many of us burrowing owls you believe you will need to conquer the brass jackals' den?" Otis eventually asked.

As much as he would like to help Evelyn out unconditionally, he was the leader of his people and could not send them into a reckless fight without at least understanding the entire situation.

"Hm, if you can spare the five you sent with me as well as seven others of any tier of the awakened rank, I should be able to conquer the den without any problems. It is possible that I could get away without even a single casualty." Evelyn said.

This caused everyone in the room to lose their composure and visible signs of surprise were apparent on all of their faces.

"Lady Evelyn, I know that you and your companions are strong, but is that not underestimating your opponents just a little." Otis said, not sure how fifteen owls even led by Evelyn had a chance against more than double the number of brass jackals.

"Yes, if we were going to fight head-to-head it certainly would be unlikely that we could win. However, I have a means of weakening if not outright killing a majority of the jackals before we even engage them. It should honestly not be too difficult for us to take them all out." Evelyn said, as if it was already a done deal.

She then explained what her plan was to everyone who was in the room, and they all grimaced at what Evelyn said she was going to do.

Truly it was quite a horrid idea, but there was no doubt that it would be highly effective against the brass jackals whose home only had one entrance and exit.

"Very well, I shall assign the specified number of personnel you have asked for to you." Otis said, a slightly fearful expression on his face.

While Evelyn was technically on his side, he was now able to see just how scary she was to have as an enemy and was thankful that she had never turned against his people or they surely would all be dead.

"Good. We will commence our attack just before dusk in three days." Evelyn said, bring a conclusion to her plan of attack.

"Why are we waiting for three days? Could we not just go tomorrow?" Bylur asked, wondering why they were putting it off.

"Certainly, we could attack now, but our chances of success would be slightly lower. I want you and Rehni along with some of the burrowing owls to use the magic spring first in order to get stronger before we attack." Evelyn explained.

At this everyone nodded their heads, understanding the logic in waiting.

"From the way you phrased that Evelyn, it sounds like you do not intend to enter the magic spring?" Rehni asked, having picked up on the nuance of Evelyn's response.

It seemed that no one else had thought and they looked a bit surprised as they looked between Rehni and Evelyn.

"Yes, you are right that I am not going to be entering the magic spring this time. I am already at the mid-tier of the awakened rank and do not want to get too far ahead of you and Bylur. Plus, if I were to enter the spring alongside all of you, I would end up taking the majority of the magical energy." Evelyn said, giving her reasoning.

The main point of their journey had been to catch Bylur and Rehni up, and there was little point in Evelyn stifling their growth for just a slight increase in her own power.

She had already made huge leaps that few others got to experience and was fine growing a bit slower and getting used to her ever-growing power.

As the saying went, haste makes waste, and Evelyn wanted to make sure that she did not end up weakening herself by moving too fast.

With the meeting coming to an end Evelyn and her team went back to get some rest before the magic spring would become active during the next day.

…

"So, this is what the magic spring looks like as it fills with magical energy!" Rehni said in awe as they watched the spring bubble up and start to glow.

It was finally time for it to become active again just like it did every month like clockwork.

"Yes it is quite the sight. When I first saw it, I had my breath taken away as well." Evelyn said as she enjoyed watching Rehni and Bylur's stunned expressions.

A few minutes later once the spring was fully filled, Bylur, Rehni, and six burrowing owls entered the spring. All of them holding the catalysts that they would need to go up to the next tier

Among the burrowing owls were four low tier awakened ranks that were going to the mid-tier, one mid-tier going to the high tier, and Otis himself making the jump up to the peak of the rank.

Watching so many individuals all go up a tier was quite an amazing sight as it was so rare to happen.

'I am reminded once again just how amazing this magic spring is. In just several months Otis has made it from the high tier to the peak of the awakened rank. Though I am not sure how long he was at the high tier so perhaps it was longer than I realized. Still, the spring allows anyone to make such swift progress that it is almost baffling.' Evelyn thought as she stared out at all those taking a dip in the spring.

Several hours passed by as they all absorbed the magical energy filling the spring until one by one they began to advance to the next tier.

Soon Rehni and Bylur following not long after began to rise to the next tier.

It was a fairly quick process thanks to the spring and within thirty minutes the transformation had been completed.

'As expected Bylur got bigger again, but Rehni stayed relatively the same size.' Evelyn thought, looking at how her friands had changed. Or lack thereof for Rehni.

After reaching the next tier every owl in the water exited and began drying off, and eventually only one individual was left to absorb all of the remaining magical energy.

Otis now sat alone in the spring and was trying to reach the peak of the awakened rank.

He naturally needed more magical energy than anyone else who had joined the spring with him, and it was uncertain if there would be enough left for him.

In the end the magical energy left within the spring was just not quite enough for him to make it to the peak of the awakened rank, and once the light had faded her still sat at only the high tier.

"I seem to have underestimated just how impressive your companions are Lady Evelyn. They absorbed more magical energy than I anticipated. I should have had one of the other burrowing owls stay out of the spring this time." Otis said, the disappointment clear on his face even if he was trying to hide it.

He had been attempting to reach the peak of the awakened rank as soon as possible in order to truly be worthy of his title as leader of his flock.

In the past every leader had already been at the peak of the awakened rank before taking the title and he was the only one to ever have inherited while only being at the high tier.

"It was a simple miscalculation. Come the next time the spring becomes active you can certainly make the final push towards the peak of the awakened rank. And until then we will stay to help protect your home." Evelyn said to comfort Otis.

Thankfully her words had an immediate impact on Otis, and he perked up and smiled at Evelyn.

On the other hand, Bylur grimaced since he could figure that Otis would sue this time to try and get closer to Evelyn.

"Now I am sure that you are all hungry. Allow me to personally fix something for everyone to eat." Evelyn said, eliciting cheers from Bylur and Rehni, while all the burrowing owls present titled their heads in confusion.

"Lady Evelyn, surely it would make no difference to allow us to prepare the meal. We can just as easily gather the food as you can." Otis said, not understanding what Evelyn was about to do.

"Oh, I am about to do more than gather ingredients and eat them raw. I am going to show all of you how food is prepared at the Roost."