Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

Lucan opened his eyes as he laid in his bed in the castle. Silent was lying beside him, holding his hand. Lucan scooted closer to her and then she rested her head on his shoulder.

After a few minutes she was the first to sit up. "Let's start the day." She said, dragging him out of the bed.

They headed to the fortress vaults to start moving over some of the treasure to the castle.

"Woah, the number of acolytes I have, doubled since I logged out. And they have been busy." Silent excitedly said. "Looks like I have some experience to spend."

"That's great." Lucan said. "You should see some new categories from my recent purchases."

"Oh yeah, I saw you used a few new spells. What did you get?"

"I bought shadow chains for five million."

"Ohh, I was thinking about getting the ability version of that. That was a pretty cool spell you used to trap Bone Crusher."

"Yeah, that was living nightmare. Both that and shadow weapon were pretty expensive. But they were only so awesome because I took a special item that gave me unlimited shadow mana for a time. It also made shadow mana easier to control. Right now, I would be lucky to trap Bone Crusher for five minutes. And if I conjured a shadow weapon… the best I could do would be to summon something the size of a short sword. There is no chance that I could create a super sword or a dozen spears."

"You used both well. I might get shadow weapon so I could fire arrows with my mind instead of them following an actual arrow. I think that would give me a bit of diversity. How much did you end up spending on them?" Asked Silent as they deposited their first load of loot into the castle.

"Together, they were about fifty million. But the most expensive thing I bought was mind split."

"How much?"

"That one cost forty-five million."

"Dang, when I watched the video, I didn't notice anything that would be called mind split, but for that price I bet it is pretty impressive."

"It literally split my mind in two. It allows me to carry two trains of thought at the same time in the game. It has many uses, but the reason I bought it is so I could cast multiple spells at once. Then I also bought a spell that does damage while it is channeling. If the spell is active when the target dies, I get to collect their soul. The souls could be used in magic later, but I traded them to Gilbuzz to get some gifts for Adrestia."

"Ha, ha, I saw that. Does she really have her own familiar now?"

"Yeah, Gilbuzz stopped me from influencing her decision when she chose her gifts. It's a little strange but it works."

"Ha, ha, does that mean you have a grand-familiar now?"

"No, I wish. That little imp truly is a devil. It listens to Adrestia but treats me like dirt."

"It looks like you did well for yourself. Your name is completely black, I have never seen a name so red that it turned black." Silent said while setting down their second load in the castle. "You must have killed a lot of players; didn't you take any of it to raise your level?"

"Nope, I used every bit to raise Adrestia's. She is now level 118, just like me."

"That's not bad. I bet she packs a real punch."

"You know it. And I found that Creepy levels up by eating people or creatures. I have gotten him to level 22."

"Creepy?"

"Yeah, my little centipede friend. You remember him, right?"

Silent quickly grabbed Lucan and stopped him from summoning the tentacle monster. "Yes, yes, I remember. You don't need to bring him out. I just didn't realize you had named him already."

Lucan slid beside Silent with a devilish grin. "You know… if I let him possess me, I can get my forearm and hand back."

"Actually, I am already used to you having one arm. It is fine if you stay like this. There is no need to take such measures to regain your left hand." Silent said.

Lucan laughed as his wife shut down the idea of an arm made of tentacles. She quickly changed the conversation.

"When I get some time, I am going to sit down and update my favorite list before I make any purchases. Then I will get some cool moves too." She said.

"Yeah, sure."

"Really, I will."

"Okay, I will believe it when I see it."

"I just need a couple of days to research all my options. A week at most."

Lucan couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Shut up." She said while hitting his shoulder.

With a few more trips, the more valuable and less used items were moved to the castle. They had also moved over a good stock of supplies in case the castle was cut off from the fortress for some reason.

Walking into the command room, the two ran into Pickle, the vice president who worked under the warlock's uncle.

"Ah, Lucan. Just the person I wanted to bump into. Mr. Hekin was interested in buying some of your spoils."

"Sure, you can tell him that he can come with a few people from the guild to peruse my vaults."

"Actually. Mr. Hekin was hopping you could come to our headquarters in the market. He has something that may interest you."

"Oh? You have piqued my interest. What does my uncle have?"

"Ah, he wants you to come see for yourself."

"Then I won't keep him waiting." Lucan took Silent's hand and headed straight for the market in the fortress.

The market was split into and indoor and outdoor area. The outdoor section was a collection of stalls that were cheaper to rent. But mixed between the stalls were a few stand-alone buildings. Those were the nicest establishments in the market. Uncle Bo was a good businessman, so Terracorp's headquarters wasn't in one of the high profit buildings. They were secluded in spacious unit in the indoor area.

What had originally been a two-story living area built into the fortress, had been converted into an office. The first floor was filled with desks for the general workers while the executives had their offices and a conference room on the second floor. The conference room even had a perfect window that looked over the outside market area.

Lucan knocked on the door and walked in.

"Ah, Lord Quilldrkae, I will inform your uncle that you are here." Said a worker who quickly ran upstairs.

A few moments latter Bo walked down the steps and headed over to Lucan.

"Silent, it's great to see you again safe and sound." He said before turning to his nephew. "Marie told me that you two had some alone time at your place today." He mentioned while elbowing Lucan a few times. ���I hope you kids enjoyed yourselves."

Silent immediately blushed when she realized what he was implying.

"Jeez, we were only at my place alone for like three minutes." Lucan said while shaking his head.

Bo looked to Lucan seriously. "You can't forget about your partners enjoyment. It isn't a race to the finish. You have to make sure your partner can enjoy themselves as well." He sternly said to Lucan.

Silent's face was the same color as a tomato. 

Lucan chastised his uncle. "Get your mind out of the gutter. Are you really giving me a hard time before trying to buy from me?"

"He, he, he. This time it is different. You are buying from me."

"Yeah right, what could you have that I want?"

"He, he, he." His uncle only chuckled and led Lucan and Silent out of the office and into the outdoor market. "Everyone knows that the main mode of transportation you use is a witch's broom. But what is the biggest downside of the broom?" He asked.

"The hovering limit." Lucan said.

"Yes, you can only rise to one hundred feet off the ground. But it has great acceleration and handling as long as you have the mana to use it. It is a great mode of transport if you can overcome the seating issue. What would you say if I told you I have something addressed every problem the broom has?"

Lucan didn't answer but gave Bo his full attention.

"We managed to get our hands on a great recipe a few months ago. Using both tailors and alchemist we planned on releasing a product that would have a huge demand. Unfortunately, the materials required are a bit ridicules and hard to come by. The price alone makes it impossible to manufacture a lot. In the past three months we have been searching for everything we need to build the first one. It was only when the Goblin Crushers conquered that fortress the other day that we able to get the last of the ingredients. In fact, we got enough to produce three. I happen to have one that was finished only an hour ago."

"What is it?" Lucan asked.

"He, he, I knew you would be interested." Bo took a small red and gold rock from his pocket. He activated the stone.

Suddenly a rug appeared on the ground before them.

"Step on." Bo said.

Lucan and Silent joined Bo on the rug.

Suddenly they rose a thousand feet into the air.

"A flying carpet?" Silent asked excitedly.

"That's right. We got the recipe to make flying carpets. It can hover up to a thousand feet in the air, its comfortable to sit on and best of all. If you die while riding it, it doesn't drop from your inventory. As long as you have its source stone in your bag, you can never lose it. And of course, it operates the exact same way as a broom. You infuse mana into it to determine the speed. Turning is a bit different, but if you bank on the corners and tilt the carpet so you can't fall off, it is even easier to ride than a broom. So… Are you interested in making a trade?"