Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

After spending a whole day fighting kobolds both Lucan and Silent leveled up. Unfortunately, the Willow troops were not able to provoke a reaction from the draconian man or the wingless drakes. They showed up a few hours after the battle started and continued to just watch.

After returning to camp Lucan logged out of the game and packed his bag.

With a quick shower and breakfast, the car taking him to the airport arrived promptly at 10AM

A short drive later he was brought to a private airport.

Once he boarded the flight, Brax immediately felt uncomfortable. Unlike regular airplanes, this plane was equipped with couches and fancy lounge chairs compared to being packed with as many seats as possible. What made him uncomfortable was the fact that there were various businessmen from his uncles' company who took advantage of the flight.

As he boarded, they looked him over before they started whispering to themselves.

He felt out of place in his casual cloths while all the businessmen and women were wearing suits. To make it worse, the clothes that he was wearing were over a decade old and had been through the washing machine at least a hundred times. He looked just a step above a bum off the street. But they were good, comfortable clothes that wouldn't annoy him during the flight. Brax sat in a comfortable reclining chair instead of one of the couches.

A pretty flight attendant in heels approached him as the other passengers listened closely. "Mr. Tomlin?" She asked. Brax nodded. "Could I get you anything to drink?"

"Uh, no, I am fine." He said while pulling out a half-finished bottle of sports drink from his backpack and putting it in the cup holder.

"My name is Ashely, let me know if there is anything you need. I hope you enjoy your flight." He smiled politely as she left.

The others were murmuring again. They didn't recognize the name, but they were all smart enough to know he was the reason they were able to catch this flight instead of flying commercial.

A few minutes later another gentleman boarded the flight and took the last open chair, the one next to Brax. He could guess from the revenant gazes from the other passengers that if the man sat at a couch, he would have seat mates immediately.

"I don't think I have ever seen you at the company before. I am Dill Jenis, VP of cyber-development and cybermarketing. Are you transferring out to the west coast? My transfer to our Flower city headquarters has finally been approved." The man in his 40's said while taking out a business card from a golden case and passing it to Brax.

His aunt assured him that his uncle was allowed to use the plane for personal reasons but Brax didn't want to make him look bad. And besides, for the first time in his life he actually had a business card he was proud of.

Ever since he set up his own company, he been getting non-stop junk mail. He must have received at least 10 different types of business card samples and various pens. All of them had his information on them with small typos. Some would be missing a digit from his phone number. Others would have his email but with no domain name attached to it. There was one business card that simply just had his businesses name, his position and his name on it. Everything was correct and it was a good-looking card. The print shop even sent 50 of them.

He decided to keep them and maybe even order more in future. Besides, all his business info was his personal info. He didn't want people coming to his apartment or calling his cell, there wasn't a reason for them to do so anyways. His company didn't actually do anything. It was just more lucrative to keep his money in the company and pay himself a wage instead of personally filing taxes on all his money.

He took out a black card with white writing and handed it to the man. "Brax Tomlin. President of World Conqueror Industries. I am actually flying out west to meet up with Bo Hekin. He was kind enough to set up this flight for me."

"Ha, ha, when I first started working for Terracorp I thought we had a pretty domineering name, earth's corporation. But it looks like you have put us to shame."

"Ha, ha, I would be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about Terracorp when I chose the name."

The man nodded happily while Ashely the flight attendant served him some juice without him mentioning it.

"I hear that Mr. Hekin is a fair man, at least I hope so since he will be my new superior. So Mr. Tomlin, what kind of business does your company do?"

"World Conqueror Industries works directly inside of Evolution. Are you familiar with it?"

"Of course, how could I not. I am in cybermarketing. Its such a huge untapped market. I know some of the higher ups are weary of expanding into a virtual world, but I agree with Mr. Hekin. It has amazing potential to earn us a tremendous amount."

"You don't need to sell me on it. I brought in over 200 million through evolution in the last month. Unfortunately, the gold bubble popped so I don't think this month will be as good but there are some things that may pan out. I am currently in the midst of getting my hands on a fortress."

At this point the entire plane was silent. If the cabin wasn't pressurized with that annoying humming sound you could hear a pin drop.

"Did you say 200 Million in a month? A 2 followed by eight zeros?"

Brax nodded. "Ten zeros if you count decimals."

"Ha, ha, amazing. If you need vendors for your fortress, you have my card. But I guess you don't need that if you are already in contact with Mr. Hekin."

"Is Bo involved with Evolution too? Every time I ask him about his new position, he keeps telling me I will be excited to see his new operation."

"Oh, he didn't tell you? Mr. Hekin is spearheading Terracorp's Evolution initiative. If that is the case, you must absolutely keep my business card if you can get your hands on a fortress. Do you mind if I ask what tier it is?"

"It's tier 2 but don't get too excited, it is in the shadow realm, not the material plane. Currently there isn't a large number of players that have discovered how to get to the shadow realm yet. On the plus side there shouldn't be too much bloodshed required to hold it."

"Sounds like it's the perfect time to grab the fort, you never know if the players will come your direction tomorrow. With the chaotic fights over the forts in the material plane, more and more corporations are looking to purchase multi-plane teleporters so they can house their merchants in safe locations. Ghost guild for example has made a good profit by abandoning every fort expect for their tier 3 fort in the material plane and linking it with several forts in the fey wildlands plane. What merchant wants to build a shop that may be destroyed by a guild war. And if the guild they build with loses, their contract goes up in smoke."

"That's true." Lucan said before sipping on his blue sports drink. "Do you play personally Mr. Jenis?"

"Of course, but most of my time online is spent working. And because I am getting paid to play, I had to take the class Terracorp decided. I play a merchant, the skills that came with it are great for working with NPCs and I even managed to get my hands on some skill books in my spare time so I am no longer a noncombat class like when I started. But still I can't compare to a true combat class. How about you Mr. Tomlin."

"I am a neutral warlock, an arms dealer if you will. In game you only have to think the name Lucan Quilldrake three times and ask for power and regardless of where you are you can buy spells and abilities for experience points."

Brax spent the rest of the flight talking to Mr. Jenis about evolution. The guy seemed to love the game as much as Lucan, so time flew by for the two of them, and before he knew it, the plane had landed, and it was time to depart.

"Mr. Tomlin, you have my card, give me a call if you would like to work together in the future."

"Sure, and if you need to get ahold of me it is much easier to reach me in game. Remember to think my name three times-."

"And ask for power." Mr Janis finished. "I won't forget." He said with a smile. "I look forward to being able to do some real damage when I get to play in my spare time."

With that they both walked out of the terminal. Several taxis were waiting for the businessmen to drive them to their destinations. A black luxury sedan pulled up and the driver got out to start loading Brax's bag in the trunk.

"Mrs. Hekin apologizes for being unable to pick you up in person, but she wanted me to inform you that 'She managed to get a lunch date with that girl's mother today'. She said you would know what that means."

Brax palmed his face. "Aunt Marie, what did you do?"