Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

Lucan left the underground tunnels and stepped back onto the surface. Edgit Hammerstone had found a great place to build the dwarven city. He was very happy with what he saw.

Everything was quite hectic. Almost every few minutes Lucan would receive a report about something. He knew the coming days would be very busy.

His army had been mobilized in full force. They were active in Shadowsweep. Already the first few people from Baramore were starting to pass through the shadow tunnel and arrive. They looked around, stunned and unfamiliar with the shadow realm.

Lucan decided to head back to the dungeon he had just renovated. He knew that the Willow players were still testing it, even in his absence. He was able to see the dungeon points slowly pile up on his interface.

He sat down in front of the doors to the dungeon. Currently they were closed since the players were in the middle of a game.

While waiting, several people telepathically communicated with him. One of those being Commander Gear. The commander was still in the fortress, currently he was shuttling back and forth between the vaults and the command room. He was giving out gold to those who had gotten Lucan's approval.

With two new cities being built and the population of Shadowsweep multiplying, they need huge amounts of construction materials. To stay ahead of the needs of the people, Lucan had a good amount of his subordinates take gold to go purchase building materials in advance. He want to eliminate a few possible reasons that might cause delays in the future.

Eventually the door to the dungeon was opened as ten Windy Willow players walked out. Seeing Lucan sitting there, they respectfully greeted him before letting him know about their discoveries. They were still only playing the single lane version of the game, but everything was still fairly balanced. He let them take a rest while he went into the dungeon.

Lucan opened his dungeon master menus and made a few tweaks according to the suggestion of his play testers. After that, he added the towers to the last lane and fully opened up the map for the first time. He spent the next half hour make small adjustments and getting things the way he wanted.

Coming out of the dungeon, he found the Willow players were finishing up their meal.

"You can head back in when you are done resting. All three lanes are open now, so you can fully experience the game. Continue to let me know if you find any issues, or if there is something that makes the game unbalanced."

The players nodded and then Lucan left. He didn't have time to hang out and play with them even though that is what he wished he could do.

Lucan floated in the air above Shadowsweep on his flying carpet. He watched as thousands of people streamed into his city every minute. They all looked around, confused and unsure of what the future would hold.

The new citizens began to branch off and go their separate ways in groups. Some stayed in Shadowsweep, while others went under ground. Most started to head south towards the Dragon Spine Hills.

While he was watching them, Silent telepathically spoke to him.

'How are things going?' She asked.

'Smoothy so far. Hopefully it will stay that way, but it is doubtful. Has your sister made a decision yet.'

'Yes, that is what I wanted to talk to you about.'

'Okay, what's up?'

'She had a different idea.'

'I am listening, tell me what she wants.'

'She wants to build her headquarters in Destol, but she is willing to create branch guilds. One in shadow sweep and the other in the new city you are building in the hills.'

'That is possible, I don't see an issue with that.'

'Okay, the question is, do the perks you offered still applied to branch guilds?'

Lucan thought about it for a moment. The benefits still outweighed the cost.

'Sure, I will pay for both branch guilds to be built, and the one in the new city doesn't have to pay taxes for five years. But you tell Heaven, that just because I am paying, doesn't mean that I will let her take advantage of me. I will build her guild branches, not palaces.'

'He, he, alright, I will pass along the message and let her know. When are you coming back? Don't work through the night. My big bed is so lonely, I need somebody to come snuggle with me.'

'Okay, give me half an hour to wrap things up. We can head to bed early and get up early.'

Lucan cut off the transmission and looked around Shadowsweep. Everything seemed to being going well so far. After delegating a few more task, he made his way to the transporter.

With a flash of light, he appeared in Destol. Lucan went straight towards the largest manor in the city. This way the former mayors house, and now it was the location the Silent had based herself out of.]

The guards bowed respectfully as he entered. He headed up to the top floor to find Silent.

She smiled when she saw him. "Heaven assured me that her guild branches wouldn't be anything crazy, they are going to be normal guild compounds."

"Good, that is one less thing to worry about." Lucan said while removing his armor. He then went in to the bathroom to wash up.

When he came back out, Silent was already in bed. Lucan changed int comfortable sleepwear and got under the cover with her.

"Mmm, you are so warm." She said, clinging to him.

He kissed her on the neck and then put his hand up the front of her shirt. Ever since she had spent the night at his place in real life, she hadn't once stopped his hand from roaming around.

With his hand up her shirt, he pulled Silent close to him. She smiled and pulled the blankets up to their necks after she blew out the candle the lit the room. After a few minutes, both of them were asleep.

'Lord Quilldrake, something has gone wrong.' Alasan telepathically spoke to Lucan, waking him up in the process.

He glanced at his interface. It was only five in the morning; the sun was not even up yet.

'What is it?'

'It is travelers sir. Travelers from Baramore have blocked your shadow tunnel and aren't letting people through.'

'And the others can't deal with this?' He asked a little annoyed. Currently Silent legs were wrapped around his and she held him tight with her face buried into his chest while she softly slept. The last thing he wanted was to get out of bed right now.

'They are threatening to collapse the tunnel, the people from Baramore are afraid to make a move. I told them I would pass a message along to you. When they heard this they agreed so now everyone is staring at me while we are communicating.'

'Sigh, alright, I will be there in a little bit.'

He terminated the communication with Alasan. He took another look at Silent who holding him tight.

He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the top of her head before gently unwrapping her from clinging to him.

"No." She softly whined while he pulled her legs away from his. He took a look and she was still asleep.

'Maybe if I hurry, I can deal with this and then get back into bed before she wakes up.' When he thought this, even he knew he was trying to fool himself. There was so much to do, that once he went out, others things would keep piling up, there would be no way for him ot get back before she woke up.

After he carefully slid out of bed, he could see her reaching out, trying to find him with a frown on her face. He could only shake his head, he wished he could stay, but he was needed elsewhere. Lucan carefully grabbed the blankets and pulled them up and tucked her back into bed before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Before he left, Lucan took out a piece of parchment and wrote a note, so she would know where he had gone when she woke up. He left the note on the night table and then quickly got dressed before leaving the manor.

He teleported to Shadowsweep and made his way straight to the shadow tunnel to see what had caused these players to block up the entrance to his tunnel.

Stepping out of the tunnel, he noticed things on Avalon's side had already changed. The narrow path the used to lead out of the cave was now wide enough for multiple carriages and wagons to pass through.

As he stepped out of the cave, Lucan noticed over fifty players had formed a human barricade and weren't letting others past. Alasan was tying to negotiate with them but the players didn't care.

"Just be quiet, we will talk to your boss Lucan when he gets here. Otherwise, we don't want to hear any of your crap."