An Owl's Rise

With all of the magical energy enriching the spring absorbed, Evelyn began preparations to make a hardy meal for all those that had just gone up a tier.

While the spring itself actually made the advancement not as stressful on the body as it normally would be, it still took a lot of energy both magical and physical to undergo the process of raising one's tier.

To help alleviate the fatigue that can be felt afterwards Evelyn decided to cook a meal for her friends and all of the burrowing owls.

This would also serve another purpose in showing the burrowing owls how to use alchemy to cook, which would in turn make the fare they served better. Oh, and as a secondary effect make them a little stronger, though Evelyn mostly cared about being able to eat better food.

This was one of the few vices that she had, and she wanted to be able to indulge in a delicious meal even when staying with the burrowing owls.

"Okay so the three of you have fire magic affinities. I am going to teach you how to do some basic alchemical cooking that will make the food taste better and give you temporary buffs similar to the pills and potions I handed out when we fought the Ospreys." Evelyn said to the burrowing owls she would be teaching.

After she explained this the three burrowing owls became quite attentive and prepared to sear all of her institutions into their mind.

Swiftly Evelyn taught them some easy enough recipes and how to make them from the ingredients available in the desert.

She herself was not an expert but she was able to teach them at least a few easy meals to prepare.

"And now all we need to do is serve it up to everyone and enjoy." Evelyn said once everything was ready.

Multiple burrowing owls then brough out several plates of food and served them to those that had been int eh magic spring first.

However, as Evelyn stood by and wanted to watch everyone's reaction to the food, she instead was just met with expectant stares.

"Lady Evelyn, you should join us." Otis said after around a minute of them silently staring at each other.

He and all of the other burrowing owls did not feel it right to eat before Evelyn who they put above themselves, and Bylur and Rehni wished to eat together with her like they usually did.

"Very well. I will join you." Evelyn said with stifling a sigh.

She was then led to the head of the party and a plate of food was placed before her.

Quickly she took one of the cut-up pieces of meat that was covered in a sauce that helped quicken stamina recovery and took the first bite.

Following her, everyone else that had been served food picked up a single piece and began eating.

Each and every one of the burrowing owls went wide eyed as they tasted how delicious the meat that Evelyn had prepared was.

Without hesitation they all began filling their bellies with the food and eating it with smiles plastered on their faces.

Bylur and Rehni on the other hand were enjoying the food but it was not awe inspiring to them.

They had eaten better meals at the Roost, but it still beat the plain items that they had been eating with the burrowing owls so far.

"Truly Lady Evelyn this is easily the best meal I have ever had. And you made this simply using the raw ingredients that we normally provide?" Otis said, excitement clear in his voice.

"Yes, I simply used what was provided. Of course, I am sure that the desert has more to offer and that other items can create unique flavors as well. During our stay here I will continue teaching the three that assisted me and bring them up to the level of being able to make descent meals."

Bowing his head Otis profusely thanked Evelyn for her generosity.

To him this seemed like some kind of well-kept secret, but for Evelyn, she considered it pretty much common knowledge in the Roost.

Once all those that had taken a dip in the magic spring had finished eating, Evelyn went back to work and made enough food for all of the awakened rank burrowing owls.

This caused her to receive wave after wave of thanks, and the admiration the burrowing owls had for her already had increased.

After everyone had filled their bellies those that had used the magical spring and advanced to the next tier began to feel fatigue and headed off to rest.

Their bodies needed time to recover and the best way to do that was to get some sleep.

Upon the coming of the next day, Evelyn brough Bylur and Rehni to a large empty chamber.

"Now I want both of you to seriously come at me. You need to get used to the increased magical energy in your body now and learn how to wield greater amounts at once. The best way to do that is with some combat training." Evelyn said, giving her friends a stern look.

She wanted to make sure that they knew to come at her wholeheartedly. If they did not give it their all then the practice would end up being fruitless.

Unfortunately, while Rehni seemed to be able to attack Evelyn without holding back, Bylur was having trouble really putting his all behind his attacks.

Unconsciously he always held back and hesitated when aiming any sort of attack at Evelyn.

"That is not going to do. You could not beat a low tier awakened rank beast with that kind of attack, let alone anyone as strong or stronger than you." Evelyn said, snapping at Bylur.

She then launched a powerful wind attack at him and blasted him into the wall of the chamber.

"Come on and hurry up. You can use life magic so those wounds should not take you but a second to heal. If you do not want to practice attacking, the least you can do is learn how to heal better." Evelyn said before launching Bylur across the room again.

She continued to do this until he was able to heal the damage he was taking almost immediately.

Certainly, this method was a bit more brutal than she had intended but it was helping Bylur to learn to control his increased magical energy better.

"Good you have gotten much faster now. I imagine that it will be difficult for anyone to take you down without being able to land a critical hit on you." Evelyn said to praise Bylur's advancement with his life magic.

"Now, since you are having a difficult time with me as your opponent, I have called in for some help." Evelyn said, turning her head towards the entrance to the chamber they were in.

Hopping in was Otis, a smirk on his face due to how pathetic he thought Bylur looked sprawled out on the ground after taking numerous attacks from Evelyn for several hours.

Bylur, seeing his rival in obtaining Evelyn's affection, immediately picked himself up and fixed a glare at Otis.

'I am still not sure why they seem to dislike each other. But if this helps motivate Bylur, that is all for the better.' Evelyn thought seeing the tension between the two of them.

In a way it was almost comical since Bylur was several dozens of times larger than Otis, but Evelyn knew that while Otis did not reach even a foot tall, he was still at least a bit stronger than Bylur.

"I will continue training with Rehni in another room. I except that both of you will have no problems holding back against each other." Evelyn said before leaving.

The moment she was gone Bylur leapt towards Otis and attacked as viciously as he could. The hesitation he had against hurting Evelyn was nowhere to be seen now.

While Otis and Bylur duked it out Evelyn went back to having practice matches with Rehni who was still having tubule with large scale attacks.

She normally used her metal magic with great finesse and her sound magic was powerful, but she was not adept at using an immense amount of magical energy to launch big attacks.

This was what Evelyn worked on with her and over the next two days of practice, she got a bit better and could wield more devastating attacks than before.

"I wonder how Bylur, and Otis are doing. We are going to raid the brass jackals' den tomorrow, so I hope that they have made some progress." Evelyn said to Rehni as they flew to the chamber Otis and Bylur were in after finishing their own training.

But when they arrived what they found looked like a warzone, and both Bylur and Otis were quite horribly injured

Neither of them had taken a single break during the days before the raid on the jackals' den, and continuously fought until they both could not go on any longer.