An Owl's Rise

After Evelyn ended their first day of magic crystal mining Bylur and Rehni let out collective sighs of relief.

It had been tough work and pushed them well past their normal limits.

Though the fact that they would have to continue tomorrow did leave sullen looks on their faces.

Needless to say, both of them slept like the dead that night and come morning they were not looking forward to mining again.

Still, they did what they needed to as what they pulled out of the walls and ceiling of the chamber would go straight into their storage devices and red magic crystals were quite valuable in many regards.

Not only could they be used for the creation of magical items and as fuel for advancement chambers, in a pinch they could also be exchanged for decent amounts of credits. Though at a considerable loss compared to what they were sold at by the vendors who had permits to sell them in the crystal hall.

This was actually Evelyn main motivation for gather so many as she needed to pay back Melisandre and add back the credits she had taken from their team account.

Come the end of their second day mining they had cleared out about seventy percent of the magic crystal that had formed in the further chamber that was richest in magical energy.

'Looks like the ambient magical energy really took a hit now that we have taken out the majority of the crystals. Even the next chamber over has more now.' Evelyn thought observing the drop.

The magical crystals themselves had been radiating a bit of magical energy and now that chamber was missing the highest quality crystals it was clear that it no longer had as much ambient magical energy.

Nevertheless, the crystals would see better use being broken apart in an advancement chamber or used in the creation of some magic item or other rather than sitting in a cave for eternity.

"Now this may not be the most glamours job, but we need to stay here and keep the deposit secure until the magic spring activates again. After that we will head back to the Roost and deal with our new enemies that attacked Bylur and seem intent on harassing us. To that end we need to get as strong as we can before then. As we are currently, I doubt we can beat a team that is comprised entirely of peak awakened rank beasts."

Nodding their heads lifelessly, Bylur and Rehni agreed but were too tired from the day's mining to put much enthusiasm into anything.

"Also, there are some items I am running low on in the desert that we can collect and that I can use to make potions that will help us in our upcoming battles. At least two of us will need to be here at one time but the other can go out and collect items from the desert." Evelyn said, going on to explain the items she was looking for.

"Sure, that sounds good Evelyn. How about Bylur and I keep watch of this place tomorrow and you can go out first yourself and collect some items so we can see what they actually look like." Rehni said, her eyes dropping and with no energy in her voice.

It was quite obvious she had suggested that Evelyn go first mostly so that she and Bylur could have an extra day to rest, rather than actually needing to see physical examples of the item Evelyn needed.

But in her fervor Evelyn of talking about rare alchemical items Evelyn did not pick up on this and enthusiastically agreed to go out and gather first.

The next day she did just that, while Bylur and Rehni slept far longer than they normally would and instructed the burrowing owls to only wake them if there was an emergency, or once Evelyn had returned.

…

Weeks went by as Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni stood guard over the magic crystal deposit they had taken over.

During this time they did not stay idle though and made sure to gather materials from the desert and constantly keep absorbing more magical energy in order to get stronger in preparation for the initial conflict that awaited them when they returned to the Roost

Now it was the day that the magic spring would be refilling at the burrowing owls' home, and they were going to head over as soon as a squad of burrowing owls came to take their place at the magic crystal deposit.

'Today Otis will certainly reach the peak of the awakened rank and the burrowing owls' position will be more secure without the three of us here. It is too bad we do not have about another half a year or so. If we did Rehni and Bylur might have been able to make it up to the high tier of the awakened rank if they used the magic spring every month.' Evelyn thought, bemoaning their lack of time.

However, they had already been gone longer from the Roost than initially intended and needed to return.

Once the six burrowing owls arrived Evelyn said farewell to everyone that had been protecting the magic deposit along with her team and they took off back towards the burrowing owls' base.

When they arrived, they were promptly brought tot eh magic spring that had already started filling up nearly an hour ahead of schedule.

"You are in luck this month lady Evelyn. This only happenes maybe once every three or four years, but the spring has started to fill up before the normal time. This means that it will end up with a great amount of magical energy as it will go until the time it usually stops. With this those that have been chosen to use it will certainly be able to reach greater heights." Otis said, more talking about himself than anyone else.

Last time he had failed to absorb enough magical energy to reach the peak of the rank, but this time he was certain to do so.