Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

"Lucan, what happened to your arm?" Silent asked again.

"I traded it to Raze for a deal. You don't need to worry about it."

"What do you mean, I don't have to worry about it?" She said while looking at him sternly.

"Let's talk later." Lucan said as he brought her to the rowboat. "I don't want to leave the ship unattended right now."

Kyp and Sturdy joined them. The boat rose from the lake and passed through a portal to return to the ship.

Tyrannical Kyp was amazed by all the loot on the deck. Silent ignored it all and continued to question Lucan.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I took care of it. You're back now, Bone Crusher is on the brink of collapse, and we are doing better than ever." He said motioning to the loot.

"You gave up an arm, how are we better than ever you dummy. And I saw too many devils in the city, what kind of deal did you make to get that to happen?"

"Come on, do you really think I had to pay a price to get devils to come to the material realm and drag people down to hell?"

"Yes, stop avoiding the question. What did they make you pay?" She said while hitting his chest.

"It was nothing, I just went to the nine hells to drop off some souls to upgrade Adrestia's gifts. Gilbuzz and I made a deal on the side. It was nothing big."

"What was the price Lucan?"

"Uhh…. Well, the next time I die without a soul stone, I will have to spend a week in the nine hells, but that is it. It's not bad."

"You idiot!" She said while hitting him again.

"Hey, what's the big deal?" Lucan asked while pulling her into his arms.

"Because you're going to hell and you lost an arm because of me. If I hadn't gotten kidnapped, you wouldn't be in this situation."

"It's not your fault, it was my decision. And it is a decision I would make again. It did not come without benefits."

"But what about your spell weaving? How can you make formations, or carve a wand?"

"I may have been a bit rash when I gave up my arm, but it will work out. I have a few ideas, I just need some time."

Silent stayed in his arm and nodded.

"Here, I found this." Lucan said, taking her to a crate.

Silent looked inside to find her bags filled with her gear.

"Ahh! I was worried I would never see it again." Silent said.

"Yep, I made sure your bow was in there, I knew you would miss it."

"Not that dummy." Silent said as she took out the ring Lucan had given her and slid it back onto her finger.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it is time." Sturdy said to Lucan.

"Sure, no problem." Lucan said. He released the second half of the payment to the Windy Willow organization.

After a few moments Sturdy nodded when he received the report that the funds had been successfully transferred.

Paying off Sturdy reminded Lucan that Kyp still hadn't been rewarded for his part.

"You can take an item, or I can give you a free unlock." Lucan told the beast tamer.

Kyp's eyes widened as he glanced at the crates, barrels, and chests, filled with loot from Bone Crusher's headquarters. He quickly went over and started digging through them while the Elite shadow elves kept and eye to make sure he didn't pocket anything.

It wasn't long before the ship dropped anchor. Unable to divert the yellow river into the shadow realm, Lucan opened portals to let the rowboats enter the fortress. Commander gear ordered everything to be taken to the vault and kept order on the ground while Lucan watched over things from the ship. Silent stayed beside him, holding his hand.

"Hey Lucan."

"Yeah."

"Can I have 100,000 experience points. I have something in mind."

"Sure." Lucan didn't hesitate to transfer her the points that could be used to buy spells and abilities.

"I made my decision." Kyp said, coming over to Lucan.

"Oh, what did you pick?" Lucan asked.

Kyp held up an evolution crystal. "I want this for Tango."

"Good choice, nice find."

Kyp nodded excitedly. "I can't wait to see what happens."

"This is a thank you from me." Silent said as she activated her interface. "I appreciate you helping me out in the moon temple."

"What?!?! 100,000 experience, wow. Thanks a lot. If you ever need a favor, let me know. All hail the empress." Kyp said with a large smile.

"What empress?" Silent asked.

"That is what everybody calls you online. If your sister is the Fairy Magician, you are the Empress. It was after the battle where you summoned the eternal guard and were wearing the crown. Your guard kept yelling, all hail the empress, it became a thing online. You have a decent following of fans. It is growing bigger every day. I myself even have the empress as my screen saver at home."

"Oh really?" Silent said.

Kyp caught sight of a scary expression on Lucan's face. "It's not like that, it's a battle picture, nothing romantic I swear. It's Silent and her guard fighting off the undead." Kyp pleaded.

The beast tamer breathed a sigh of relief when Lucan's expression went back to normal and the warlock looked away.

"See you later." Kyp called out while jumping onto a rowboat that had already begun to descend, escaping as quickly as possible.

After another twenty minutes, the rest of the loot was taken into the fortress and everyone had disembarked form the ship.

Lucan stood with Silent outside of the vaults.

"We are running out of space." She said.

"Mmm, I was surprised how easy it was for high level players to bust open the vault doors at Bone Crusher's headquarters. We need better security."

"That is a good idea. Maybe we can move some things to the castle as well. With its ability to change locations or be in two places at once it will probably be a bit more secure and easy to access. Plus all kinds of people come through the fortress, but only certain people are allowed into the castle."

"That is a good idea." Lucan said. "We can start on that tomorrow. I am worn out."

"Me too, and it's almost time to log off."

Silent went to grab his hand and head upstairs, but she was standing on his left side and grabbed nothing but air. Lucan saw as she looked towards his left side with a guilty expression.

Lucan raised his stump in front of him and stared at it with a serious expression. "I really messed up… I didn't realize…"

"What?" Silent asked with a pain expression. "What didn't you realize?"

"I didn't realize that this is my… my…" He turned to her with a face full of sorrow. "This is my butt grabbing hand."

"You dummy." Silent said, punching him in the shoulder before wrapping her arms around his waist. "You will just have to put in extra practice with your other hand until you get used to it."

Lucan smiled. "It is going to be a struggle; I hope you can bear with me." He said as his hand slid down to her backside.

She stifled a chuckle before tilting her head up and pressing her lips against his.