Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

Lucan picked up the contract off the table and read it over.

"Okay, I will provide you with the southern most tower and the accompanying rooms in the hallway leading to it. You can have use of the greenhouse in the southern exterior which my guards will keep an eye on, so you don't have to station people there. I will let you claim a quarter of the crafting rooms such as the smiths, forges, alchemy rooms, kitchens, woodworking rooms, tanning sheds, etc. With said rooms you won't have to serve the public but if your able to, you will take commissions from myself and my direct warlocks for appropriate compensation. I will give your organization all the keys to a single vault in the vault chamber that will be defended by the shadow elves. Frantic Willow will become one of my direct warlock's so he can take advantage of Pact Magic and so you can earn a bit of a return on the purchases your people make and no matter how many times he drops the class I will allow him to take it up again as long as the contract stands. In regard to this he will have to make a pact of loyalty to me."

Lucan took a breath and finished his wine before he continued.

"In return you won't take any contracts that move directly against me or my direct warlocks. You and the people from the Windy Willow Organization will not move against me or my territory. You will notify me in a timely manner if you take a contract that will have you operating in my territory, and you will also notify me if you take a contract that moves against Duke Hellfire, the Queen of Shadows or their direct warlocks. Your people will map out every dungeon they complete in my area along with a list of the monsters and their levels. Any natural resources you find in the area worth over 1,000 gold will belong to me and your people will promptly report it. And if possible, you will buy your supplies inside the fortress or from Shadowsweep, but this is based on availability and is only applicable if the vendors in my area are maintaining a fair market price. On top of that you will also provide World Conqueror Industries with a 25% discount for contracts as long as your organization is taking up residence here. And if the situation is reasonable and you are available, the people of Windy Willow will defend the fort from invaders."

"Anything else you want to add?" Lucan asked.

"I think that sums it up well. I have already passed it along to headquarters and they don't have a problem with it."

"Okay, let's shake on it." As they did, Lucan activated pact magic.

Silent took out a pair of keys she had received from Lucan earlier and passed them to Sturdy. Lucan received a whole ring filled with keys when the fort was conquered.

"There are only two so don't lose them or we can't help you. Oh, and I already checked, the vault is empty, so don't get your hopes up."

Sturdy took the two keys with a chuckle and left to explore the southern tower.

As Lucan dismissed the table and chairs an Elite shadow elf came up and greeted him with a bow.

"Lord Quilldrake. Your possessions have been safely stored." He said while returning a key to Lucan.

"Good work. What's your name?"

"I am commander Gear. I look forward to serving you."

"Commander Gear. You will be in charge of this place when I am not around. I would like to make you one of my acolytes so you can always remain in contact with me."

"It would be my honor." The elf said while kneeling down.

Lucan placed a hand on his shoulder and activated pact magic before informing him of the contract with Windy Willow so the elf could make the proper arrangements.

With that done Lucan turned to Silent. "How about we go take a look in the vault and see what we got."

"Sure." She said excitedly. "They had already taken away several chests before I could get a good look earlier."

The two took a flight of stairs that descended under ground. Torches lit the hallway as they approached the most protected area of the fortress. A handful of elves were already stationed in the area to protect the vault with an Elite standing directly before a door leading deeper.

"My Lord." They said together while bowing. The Elite stepped aside after opening the door for Lucan.

Inside an open room were nine massive doors made from enchanted metal.

"I already tried ethereal step but couldn't sneak in." Silent said. "Vault magic sure is strong."

Lucan nodded happily while he walked towards the largest door at the opposite side of the room. He took out a key, inserted it and turned. After a series of clinks and clunks the vault door slowly opened.

Inside was over 20 chests. The elves had taken the weapons and put them on weapon racks, dressed the mannequins in the best armor, stocked the shelves with potions, filled the books cases with spell and ability books, barrels were filled with arrows, and jewelry was displayed in crystal cases.

"Holy crap! We got all this just from loot drops?"

"Not exactly." Silent smirked. "I told Sturdy his vault was empty, but the truth is they weren't like that when I first came down here. I asked the elves to move everything of value into the main vault except the food and alcohol. That is all in the vault closest to the door. Oh, and there is another vault that is filled with kobold scales, bones and meat. We really have way too much."

"Ha, ha, wonderful." Lucan said while literally jumping with joy. "Take whatever you want. Let me spoil you. Only you and I will have access here." He said while handing her one of the two keys to the main vault.

Silent stood there frozen for a moment but Lucan didn't notice as he ran to go check the chests.

One was filled with mithril scales, two contained mithril shards that Keldoor had breathed out. Another two were filled with his bones. Behind them was a massive dragon's skull and Keldoor's heart was preserved in a crystal case larger than a desk. Five chests were filled to the brim with every sort of precious gem. Ten chests contained various ores while three of those held magical ores that didn't exist in the real world. There was a chest half filled with mana crystals but almost all of them were lower quality compared to what he found outside of shadow sweep. The final 2 chests contained gold coins. But with all the gold coins he had seen recently he wasn't too impressed.

'Good grief. I need to be careful.' Lucan thought to himself. '600,000 gold coins don't even move me anymore.'

Lucan and Silent spent a few hours browsing through everything before they were done.

"Did you get everything you want?" Lucan asked. "Do you need gold." Without waiting for her to answer he filled a large sack with gold coins and passed it over to her."

"Thanks." She said while shyly taking the money before quickly giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I will work hard as your shadow to earn this."

"You could do nothing but complain and I will still happily share you with you." Lucan said as they walked out of the vault.

"That's not right." She said while shaking her head. "Besides even if you didn't give me anything it's not like you could get rid of me anyway. Anyways, I still have other debts to collect from you." She said while reaching out and giving his butt a squeeze before giggling and running off up the stairs.

When Lucan caught up she was in the command room looking at a map of the fortress.

"Where do you think we should set up our rooms in the fortress?"

"Ehh, I have been doing some interesting reading lately and I think we should hold off on taking some rooms here."

"Oh? Why is that?" She asked.

Lucan explained what he had in mind.

"If you think you can do that then sure, it would be pointless to have rooms here. Lets just take a pair of rooms off the central courtyard for now."

Lucan agreed as they headed to look for rooms that hadn't been destroyed by the kobolds. It had been a long day and they were both ready for sleep.

While laying in bed Lucan remembered to check out his ring.

[Nilan the Great's ring]

[Epic Heirloom item]

[Once equipped the item can never be traded, dropped, or sold. The items level will always match your level.]

[Nilan the Great is the best thief you have never heard about. But you have defiantly heard of Amber Shawl, a thief every great merchant is warry of. This ring allows its user to maintain two identities.]

[Nilan's ring attributes]

>Increase agility by 5%

>Increase intelligence by 5%

>Allows a new identity. Once activated user will have a new name. They will also reveal different character information if they are investigated with objects or by magical means.

>User is given one additional class slot. The new class can be anything, even if the user's original class restricts the options.

>User can alter their facial appearance, hair, eyes, and voice with this ring. Each identity is able to store 1 face for a quick change. Nilan the Great's ring requires 5 minutes to change your appearance using 'Quick Change'.

>User can activate Advanced disguise once per day for an hour. Advance Disguise can alter your race, height, gender and physical features and voice. This feature is limited to bipedal races (including monster races that walk on 2 legs and have 2 arms). User is limited to a maximum height of 10 feet and minimum height of 2.5 feet. User is able to take advantage of passive racial abilities such as water breathing, night vision, heat resistance, etc. User is able to gain the function of a tail, but not wings.

>Every time the user gains 50 levels while wearing this ring a new effect will be added.