Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

What did you buy me?" Silent asked.

"I got something for your butterflies."

"I hope you didn't spend too much."

"It was nothing." Lucan said as he approached the exchange counter.

The clerk checked the records and then asked for 95,000 gold. Lucan paid it and received the evolution stone.

Silent was shocked by how much it cost. "This is too much; I can't take it."

"Don't worry, I bought something for myself. I spent more on me than I did on you. Take it." He said, forcing the small red crystal into her hand.

"Lord Quilldrake, the seller has requested a private room to complete the transaction. They do not wish to reveal their identity to the public. Please follow me."

Lucan did as instructed. Silent waited outside as Lucan entered the private room. An old man sat at a table waiting for Lucan.

"Are you already and acolyte or warlock under Raze?" He asked the man who replied with a nod.

"That makes it easy. Lend me your hand."

The man stretched out his hand. Lucan grasped it and transfer 10 million experience points. He had to take a bit from his own level but his phantoms had been selling pretty well lately so he was able to use his banked experience for almost all of it.

"Good." The man said, before handing Lucan the vile that had been previously displayed.

After the warlock received it, the old man stood to leave through a different door than the one Lucan entered.

Lucan called out. "Can you tell me where the tomb you found this was located?"

"No." The man said without turning back and quickly leaving.

Lucan was disappointed but he had no right to demand the information. He met with Silent outside and she began to ask him about what he bought.

As they were leaving the auction house, they were stopped at the door.

"Excuse me."

Lucan tuned to see the young miss who had tried to outbid him for the vile.

She was followed by several Elite shadow elves and wore her new sword on her back.

"I want to buy that vile of blood, name your price."

Lucan stored it in his bag. "Sorry, not for sale, I need it."

She frowned. "Money isn't an issue."

"Of course it isn't, why would I need money." He replied before turning to leave.

She was dissatisfied with his response. With a wave of her hand she ordered her guards to block the door until they were done talking. Most of the guards did not move. They recognized that both of these people were figures they couldn't afford to offend. And strictly speaking, these guard were only lent to the young miss for the day while she went out, normally they worked for her father.

Only a young and new guard moved to block the door. He was confused as to why his colleagues didn't join him, but he followed orders regardless.

The young miss was truly getting frustrated now, but she was not dumb. If the guards didn't move to confine this person then they most likely had a good reason.

She sighed and spoke again. "Please, my father has been studying a magic that is identical to what is contained within that blood. He is rather upset with me right now since I ran off to go adventuring without saying anything to him 100 years ago. Now that I have returned, he has made it clear about how unhappy he is. If I can give him that blood, he may see me in a better light. I will do anything?"

"Anything?" Lucan asked.

"Yes, I will fight for you, I could serve you, or I will even keep you company at night. Please?"

Silent wasn't happy. "Keep my man out of your lustful thoughts."

"He, he." Lucan chuckled, he would never betray Silent and he had a pretty good idea whose daughter she was. He currently had a good relationship with Raze but he didn't want to test it by spending a night with his patron's daughter. "I probably need most of it, but if there is any left, we can work something out."

"Alright, I will even settle for a drop. When will you know?"

"We can do it now."

Lucan took the vial out of his bag and uncorked the top. Slowly he began to drink the blood it contained. When he had drank three quarters of it, he received a notification.

[Congratulations! Would you like to start the race change quest: Ghost King's Inheritance?]

Lucan was excited about the name and quickly selected yes.

[Step1: Kill 100 ghosts and collect their essence and join it with your mana core to gain a link the Ethereal realm]

[The presence of ethereal mana has been detected in your mana core. Step 1 Complete.]

[Step 2: Journey to the Fallen Sanctuary instance in the Material plane and search for the Ghost King's journal to get a better understanding of the Planeshifter race. The Fallen Sanctuary instance can be found in the Mt. Troy. Area.]

The first step was completed instantly due to the essence Lucan had acquired in the Depths of Despair. He was automatically bumped to the second stage of the quest. Excitedly, he nodded to Silent to let her know that he managed to activate a race change quest.

He corked the vial with a quarter of the blood remaining.

The young miss's eyes were filled with joy. It appeared that the warlock didn't need all the blood.

"Name your price."

Lucan thought for a moment. "I want all of your father Raze's research on ethereal essence."

"I-, pick something else. You won't be able to make any use of it anyways."

Lucan frowned. "I was the one who leant that bit of ethereal essence to him in the first place, don't doubt what I am capable of. You said you could do anything. Are you going back on your word?"

She scowled. "Alright, I will try to think of something."

"Let's shake on it."

Lucan activated his pact magic before handing over the rest of the blood.

"How can I find you?"

"My name is Lucan Quilldrake, sixth Hand of Raze." He said before walking out of the auction house.

The meeting with the Queen and Hellfire wasn't till this evening, so Lucan and Silent walked around the city. Eventually they came to a park and sat down.

"Do you want to try and evolve you butterflies?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's give it a try." Silent said excitedly.

"This is exciting, do you think they will get an extra set of wings? Or maybe they will learn magic or something."

She summoned hundreds of blue butterflies who began to circle her.

"There is a sure-fire way to find out." She said, tossing the evolution crystal on the ground.

The butterflies went into a frenzy.

They had assumed that they would all take a little piece and evolve together, but that wasn't the case. The swarm turned on itself and every butterfly that approached the crystal was massacred by the others.

"Should I stop them?" Silent asked, panicking as more and more butterflies fell to the ground dead.

"Let's wait and see."

After five minutes only a single butterfly remained alive. With a bent wing it crawled over to the crystal and began to consume it.

It was quickly covered in a web of energy and blocked from sight. The two patiently waited.

1 minute.

2 minutes.

5 minutes.

10 minutes.

After 15 minutes the web of energy cracked open and reveal a butterfly that was smaller than the rest. Its color was a darker blue.

Silent received a notification and jumped in surprise, excitedly slapping Lucan on the back several times.

"Ah, it's a queen. The swarm has a queen now."

Lucan smiled and congratulated her.

"What makes a queen different from the rest besides, it's looks?" He asked Silent as the buttery flew and landed on the side of her head, it could easily be mistaken for a decorative hair clip.

"For one, she is smarter. She is already able to mentally communicate with me. She is also stronger and could almost be compared to a stand-alone pet. She says that she is able lead the swarm in preforming more precise actions. She says she needs to sleep and acclimate to her new body, afterwards she should be able to have an ability or two that the rest of the swarm doesn't. She has pledge to serve me so I don't need to re-tame her. But this queen can no longer be stored with the swarm and has taken up my last pet slot."

"Wow, that's great. Looks like the evolution crystal is the real deal."

"Thank you so much." Silent said, excitedly diving forward and giving him a big hug.

Lucan enjoyed the moment as he buried his face into her neck and enjoyed her scent, not forgetting to give her ear a little nibble.