An Owl's Rise

'And that is twenty-five now.'

Placing the eighteen tokens they had just received from the assassin vines into their bag holding their tokens, Evelyn had a satisfied smile on her face. They were now quite a bit richer within the Verdant Warlord's domain.

With the tokens they now had they now more than halfway to the point of all of them being able to leave when it became necessary for them to return to the Velinis Desert. They also now had more than enough to go up to the next level fo the domain, but Evelyn had no desire to do that now. The current level they were on was dangerous enough and she figured that the next would be even more difficult.

'That does beg the question of why it is so cheap to ascend to the next level? It takes more than double to leave.' Evelyn thought, contemplating the function of the domain.

As a team the six of them had figured quite a few things out, but the place was still filled with many mysteries. The vestige of the Verdant Warlord had only explained the bare minimum about the place to them.

In the end, all they could do was continue to explore the place.

"Let's continue on. We need to map this place out and figure out what other kinds of creatures reside here." Evelyn said taking back to the air.

…

For nearly a week the six of them slowly explored further and further into the woods in a circular fashion around the crystal dome.

During this time, they had managed to find one of the terminals that were hidden among the domain that they could change the tokens they had earned for rare items and knowledge.

Unfortunately, the one that they had discovered a trap and three dozen pant monsters of the same type spawned all around them.

These creatures had been unlike anything they had seen up to that point, having four spidery stalks it used as legs, seven long green tendrils extending out of the top of its body, which was an inverted bell-shaped cap filled with sharp spines that were drenched in poison.

It had been a harrowing battle that they fought afterwards and even Otis had suffered several inures and half of them had nearly died from poisoning.

If not for the several dozens of powerful antidotes Evelyn carried in her storage cuff, and Bylur's life magic, all o them likely would have met their end. Plus these spawned creatures did not even drop tokens, making them simply dangerous with no reward.

After that, Evelyn made sure that only one of them would approach the terminals and immediately flee if it turned out to be a trap. Though they had yet to find another one so far.

However, on their seventh day int eh domain, they discovered something that was far more dangerous than anything they had come across so far.

Lumbering around the forest was a giant tangle of roots and branches shaped like a dragon.

Even seeing it from afar Evelyn shuddered.

'What the hell is that thing?' Evelyn thought, feeling the incredible magical energy coming off of the thing.

Whatever it was, the power it had was immense and dwarfed all of them by far. Evelyn felt that the best compassion she could make was the giant serpent that she once saw in the Deadlands. This thing was as strong as a calamity rank beast. The highest class that existed in this world.

The only entity she had met that she felt was definitely stronger was Minerva, the leader of the Roost.

'I do not think even Melisandre could beat that thing. It is not even close to being in the same class as the other creatures that live in this forest.' Evelyn thought looking at the monster in awe.

Thankfully it did not seem to notice them from how far away they were, or perhaps it simply did not care about their presence.

Still, the fact that the Verdant Warlord had created such a monstrosity really hammered home that he was a being that had exceeded the peak of this world.

"It is too dangerous to stay around here. We should head back and make sure to keep out of that thing's way while we are here." Evelyn said, leading them back to the crystal dome.

When they arrived at the safe dome, the six of them had a slightly conversation about whether to stick around any longer or to leave.

If a creature of that level was wandering around the domain, should it ever turn its attention towards them, it would be certain death.

Evelyn had seen how powerful a calamity beast could be when the massive serpent used its tail to swat the two humans that had been chasing her, and even now she knew that attack would kill her instantly.

"I do not think it has any interest in us, at the very least. Something like that surely could sense us even from that distance and make sure that none of us got away alive. I imagine that as long as we do not get too close or show any hostility towards it, that we will be fine." Rehni said giving her opinion.

It was a fairly logical assumption, and Evelyn agreed with her. The other creatures in the domain were only around as strong as awakened rank beast or at beast low tier tyrant ranks. She figured that the plant dragon was set up as some sort of final challenge that the Verdant Warlord had set up. Not something they would need to think about.

The others eventually agreed to this as well. The domain had not given them much of anything yet, but hopefully it would soon.

They did come to the conscious thought that if they failed to reap any benefits fromt eh place by the end of the month that they would abandon it for now and continue on their journey as planned.

Luckily it took them only two more day to find another terminal hidden within the forest.

Approaching it Evelyn activated it and braced herself to be mobbed by several monsters.

'Whew, it is a normal one this time.' Evelyn thought reading what was displayed.

Her eyes bulged when she saw what the first thing was since it was a set of four random low tier tyrant rank beast cores.

The price for these cores was not even particularly high at only nineteen bronze tokens.

After all the time they had spent in the domain they had now collected eighty-seven tokens and this was an easy enough price for them to pay.

Going down Evelyn saw some other rare items she recognized but others she had not heard of.

Overall, there were seven different things that this terminal could be used to purchase.

Unfortunately, Evelyn did not have enough tokens to get them all and once she stopped interacting with the terminal it would disappear.

'What to do Evelyn thought.' Before calling the others over and discussing it with them.

"I think we should go with the magic talismans. It says that the magic contained within them will at least be as strong as something a mid-tier tyrant is capable of. You never know when something like that could come in handy." Rehni said.

"No, I think we already have enough emergency means to protect ourselves, what we need to worry about is making ourselves stronger. I think we should take the cores." Bylur said.

The six of them bickered a bit until, Verrader gasped when he looked at the seventh and most expensive item on display.

"A fulmination diamond." He said with a dazed expression.

When asked what it was, he slightly explained that it was an item that he would need to reach the tyrant rank on his current evolution path.

Apparently, he had studied up on the items he would need the last time they were at the Roost.

"I see. Then we will take that one. Who knows when we will ever have the chance to do so again." Evelyn said, not waiting for any more input from the others. Finding items that were necessary for their evolution was always of the highest priority.

Immediately she purchased the item and a large glowing diamond the size of a volleyball appeared in front of her.

Inside it looked like a raging thunderstorm and the sight was almost mesmerizing.

"Here, make sure to keep this with you Verrader." Evelyn said, handing it to him.

After that she purchased the four tyrant rank cores which appeared in front of her as well. Leaving them with now only sixteen tokens left.

Now that they had finished Evelyn stepped away from the terminal and it began spinning around before shooting off into the sky and vanishing in a flash of light.

"It looks like the time we spent here has not been for naught. There are plenty of treasures in this place for us to obtain." Evelyn said, an avaricious smile on her face.