Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

[You have gained the Dungeon Master profession]

The tome in Lucan's hand disappeared. He had consumed the profession skill book.

Gillbuzz nodded in approval. The warlock had officially taken the profession. "Good, now you will need to find a place to host the dungeon. As a beginner dungeon master, you cannot create your own space yet. You could occupy a preexisting dungeon, but you would be bound by the shape it is already in. The next option is to find an unused and unshaped pocket dimension. Normally this is a near impossible task, but you can see into all realms in a location. With a bit of luck, you may be able to find one."

"Hmm, I guess a pocket dimension would be best." Lucan mumbled.

"There is a third way. You could hire a master of space magic to create a pocket dimension for you."

"Sounds expensive."

Gilbuzz nodded. "You can reside in this manor for the rest of your stay in hell. Ronbellus and I look forward to the profits you will bring us." The horned devil said before he left to go prepare for his invasion into the abyss.

Lucan had asked if he was invited, Gil rejected him and then proceeded to insult Lucan for the whole walk back to the manor from the arena. Telling him how weak he was and that he would only drag down the devils near him.

Lucan was starting to think his week in hell really wasn't that bad of a deal. It was like Gilbuzz said, he couldn't destroy their relationship at this point. Even more so now that the devil was a step higher in the warlock food chain.

He was happy to promote Gilbuzz. The devil had already made two purchases and got over 400 devils to join the warlock since their original pact was made. With the horned devil's high level, even the most basic purchase was a huge boon for Lucan. He wanted him to keep spending.

Lucan was happy to be able to stay in this nice two-story manor by himself. It was much better than sleeping outside of Gilbuzz's tent. And he knew the place was nice and clean… since he was the one that cleaned it.

It was already pretty late. He went to the bedroom and got into the freshly made bed.

[Lucan Quilldrake: Are you awake?]

Lucan read two different books about formations, simultaneously, while waiting for a reply.

When one didn't come, he decided that she was asleep. It was past midnight anyway.

He pulled out his wand and retrieved a small lock of hair that he had sneakily procured. He took a few stands and laid them in front of him and began an incantation.

When he finished, he cast it through Little Brown, hopping that his familiar was in the same realm as his target.

Lucan fell backwards onto his pillow with a smile. It had been a success.

Silent was laying in her bed inside the castle when her husband appeared beside her. He laid next to her and wrapped his arm around Silent before gently waking her.

"Good morning." He whispered.

"Mmm, I am still tired." Silent muttered. She then twitched and turned over, directly facing her husband. She reached out and pinched his cheek.

"Is this real? I must be dreaming."

"He, he, why can't it be both?" Lucan said, leaning in and giving her a kiss.

Silent didn't resist and wrapped both her arms around him. After a minute she pushed him back and looked away. This was the first time she had seen him since she sent those pictures. She was feeling shy.

Lucan didn't bring up the subject he most wanted to talk about with her and ignored it.

"I don't have long, let's enjoy ourselves." He said.

In the blink of an eye, they went from laying on the bed in the castle, to siting at a table for two outdoors.

They were seated beside a lake with mountains rising all around them. Ducks flew through the air and swam across the top of the water.

Trees and plants surrounded the lake. The insects made their noises and added to the serene atmosphere.

A gentle breeze made the plants on the edge of the lake sway.

Lucan poured them each a cup of tea. They drank and nibbled on some bread.

"Everything feels so real." Silent said after not speaking for a while.

"For the next hour, we can do whatever you want. If you can think of it, I can bring it to life. You are in a dream right now, let's have fun and enjoy ourselves. We can talk about Shadowsweep and other things later."

Silent happily nodded and finished her tea.

"Let's go hang gliding." She said, nodding. "Yeah, off of a big mountain."

"Sure thing."

Before she could set down her teacup, they were on the top of a mountain, strapped into a two person hang glider and already running towards the edge.

"AHHHHH!!!!!"

Silent could hear herself screaming in excitement. Then she realized she wasn't screaming. She looked over to see her husband trying to overcome his nerves as they jumped off the mountain.

***

When Lucan woke the next morning, he spent a few moments thinking about his dream date with Silent. He thought it went pretty well. The nightmare spell was quite useful. As long as they didn't attack each other, neither would leave the dream with a negative effect.

Lucan went to the basement and entered the magic proof room. He intended to work on his arm. Cutting it off had been a rash move, but he didn't regret it. Ideally, he would get himself a really nice arm and get raze to attach it, like he did with Menta's eye. Or perhaps he could make his own, empowering some item with formations and turning it into an arm.

Until that happened, he planned to build something out of spells. His current goal was to make a variant spell that would work for him. He had a couple of ideas; he just needed to experiment and see what would work best.

He was determined to use his remaining time in hell to the best of his ability.

***

That next night the material was plunged into a crisis.

When the sun set, dark elves in the millions came to the surface. Popping up in numerous locations, the drow made a sudden attack. Their surprise assault caught many cities and territories unprepared.

The battlefields were chaos as players and NPCs lost their lives to the dark elves.

The locations they took were all heavily shaded or dark areas. Suffering for sensitivity to light, their failed attempts resulted in them retreating before dawn.

But only a few cities were able to hold off the drow. Four times as many fell into their hands.

By daybreak, a fifth of the occupied territory in the material plane was controlled by the drow.

The forums exploded in activating. The large guilds and the leaders of nations scrambled to react. The drow were a threat to everyone, but some people were closer to them than others.

The cities nations that neighbored the occupied territory were anxious and worried that they would be next.

A gloomy atmosphere spread across the material plane.