Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

Lucan was at level 24 while he worked in the fields outside of the village. It was becoming harder to level from the villager's quests. He spoke to Renia about going to the Forest of the Lost, but she cautioned that all monsters and beasts in the woods were level 50 to 100. It would be hard enough if Lucan had armor and gear, so he would have to wait until he raised his level further.

"Lord Quilldrake, why don't you take a break with us, have some water." Said a farmer next to Lucan.

"I am alright, if I keep up my pace for another 30 minutes, I will be done with this section of the field."

"I won't bother you then, but if you don't have plans this evening Mary and I would enjoy hosting you again. The kids are still talking about the last time you came to visit."

"Ha, ha, if I am free, I will stop by, but I need to make a new wand tonight, so I don't know."

The farmer left Lucan to his work. Half an hour later

[Congratulations! You have leveled up.]

"Ah, finally to 25."

Lucan may have advanced a quarter of the way back to level 100 but, level 0-25 only made up 5% of the experience needed to climb to level 100.

Lucan cleaned up his tools and returned them to the farmer's shed. He headed home and sat on his porch while starting on his new wand with the Forgotten Oak.

Traditional spell casters had access to three devices to cast spell. A staff, an orb, or a wand. Staves generally have the ability to sizably increase the damage output of a spell, orbs normally increase the size of a persons mana pool and wands boasted an increase attack speed and better control while using multiple spells at once. Warlocks were a bit different. Orbs were replaced by rods, usually 2-3 feet long, usually made from metal or stone. Rods didn't increase mana, but they gave an attack bonus to melee damage. The rod could be useful when connecting with someone's face.

Lucan had made a few staves but most of his efforts and gains came from making wands. Now that he was a spell weaver, he was even more determined that control was the way to go. It was a shame that even if he became the best wand maker in the world, he would only do a tenth of the business that an above average staff maker would do. When considering NPCs, maybe there would be more people who appreciated wands.

Lucan snapped out of his bigshot wand dealer daydream when a curious sight occurred in the street before his patio.

A human woman walked past, a player.

'Since when do players come here?'

When she disappeared around the corner, Lucan sent Adrestia to go find Alasan. The shadow drake flew into the half elf's office through the open window.

Lucan conjured an illusion of himself and spoke through the drake.

"Alasan, were you aware that there is another Traveler in the village, besides me?"

"Of course, Lord Quilldrake. She entered the village yesterday with two grassmen. All three were brought back from the Forest of the Lost by Renia's party. It's in the report I gave you this morning."

"Oh, umm, I see. My apologies."

"Do not worry my Lord. We know you are working hard to restore your strength right now, if it were something important, I would make sure you are informed right away."

"Then I will excuse myself, thank you for your hard work." Lucan collapsed the illusion in embarrassment and had Adrestia return to him.

By now, everyone in the village knew Lucan was the weakest person here. They didn't give him a hard time and even recommend several odd jobs that he could do to raise his level. Lucan was very grateful to the people of the village. They were welcoming and accepted him how he was.

Lucan couldn't help but feel concerned now that a player had shown up. His gut instinct was that he wanted her gone. He decided to just keep working on his wand and let time pass. He couldn't concentrate and failed 2 attempts at making a wand and destroyed the ingredients in the process.

"Are you going to stop and say something or circle the block another 10 times!" Lucan yelled from his patio.

Everyone in the street stopped and stared at Lucan. They followed his sight and saw his gaze on the Traveler who had come to the village yesterday. The villagers started whispering and moving about their business while the woman stood before the stairs to his patio fidgeting with embarrassment.

"Ah, I'm sorry." Lucan said, realizing how he put her on the spot in front of all these people. "Do you want to take a seat? I have tea."

Lucan turned away from her to prepare another cup. When he turned back around, she had silently taken a seat. Lucan took a good look at her for the first time.

"Hey wait, I know you! You're the seventh-place ranker Heaven's Kiss. You're the mage who always wears the skimpy clothes. I have seen you on tv."