An Owl's Rise

'Ugh, why won't it go away.'

Again and again, Evelyn stuck her head under the faucet in the washroom that was closest to her room and tried to wash the bitter taste from the nutrient potion Melisandre had forced down her throat.

While it had been highly effective, it was so awfully bitter that even after she had slept for who knows how long, the taste still was highly apparent.

Even as she continued washing it out with water, it refused to diminish much at all, and even after twenty minutes it still seemed nearly as bad as when she had first awakened.

"What are you doing?" She eventually heard someone say from the doorway.

Turning around she saw that Anneli had arrived and found her washing her mouth out vigorously and had a bemused expression on her face.

Evelyn quickly pulled her head out from under the water and looked towards Anneli with a look of embarrassment.

"Um, well, Melisandre gave me a potion that tasted absolutely awful, and when I woke up it was still lingering in my mouth, so I am trying to get rid of it." Evelyn said frantically to justify her odd appearing actions.

"Ah, I see you had one of those potions." Anneli said while making a sour face, obvious having had the same experience as Evelyn before.

"I will take you to the kitchen and you can get something to eat. You have been asleep for three days, so I imagine you are likely to be hungry even after that potion. You have just advanced to the high-tier of the fiend beast rank."

The second that Anneli mentioned food Evelyn felt her stomach began growling and gurgling.

However, another thing that Anneli said caught her by surprise, and she looked at her with astonishment clear in her eyes.

"Wait, I have been asleep for three days!"

"Yes, I was quite surprised as well since I figured it would only be a day and a half at most, but once Melisandre told me how much magical energy you had absorbed, I was honestly surprised you were still alive, so I imagine that your body likely needed that much time."

Evelyn gulped loudly from hearing once again from another source that what she had done should have killed her.

Still, she had survived and not felt much discomfort in any way until she began to get drowsy.

'In the end I got a lot stronger from it, so I suppose it was worth it. But I need to be careful not to display how abnormal I am too much, less Melisandre's goodwill run out or I attract someone else's attention.'

Once Evelyn was dried off and was ready to go, Anneli led her to the kitchen where Katrina was already making something, and Melisandre was sitting down waiting.

Apparently while Evelyn had been drying off, Anneli had contacted the two of them with some sort of magical tool which is how they had arrived before them.

"It is good to see that you are awake Evelyn. And that you have successfully risen to the high tier of the fiend beast rank." Melisandre said with a deep smile on her face.

Though Evelyn seeing this shuddered a bit since it was the same smile Melisandre had given her when she first invited her to be her disciple.

'She is definitely a mad scientist, and I am what she currently wants to research.' Evelyn thought, having a better understanding of what Melisandre was like now than she did before.

"So, what is it that we will be eating. I am mostly just used to eating whatever I can catch or find." Evelyn said as she moved over to the table and sat down on the cushion under it.

"Ah that is right, you adapted so well and are so intelligent that I forgot you came from the wild. I have had a special meal prepared for you though it is cooked, so I am not sure it will be to your liking." Melisandre said as she placed a hand on her cheek and looked at Evelyn with a bit of worry.

She then went on to explain that cooking with the proper magic tools and ingredients helped to breakdown the magical energy in other things and make it easier to absorb than when raw.

"Though I know that plenty of owls from the wild do not find cooked food quite to their liking and take time to get used to it, but I would recommend it for many reasons." Melisandre said.

Except contrary to her expectations, Evelyn was practically beaming at the idea of having cooked food again. Even being in the body of an owl, her human mind still had a slight revulsion to eating raw meat from things she had killed, even if she had mostly gotten over it.

Also, she knew that cooked food was likely to taste better, and since it was made by other owls, it was likely to suit her new palate.

"Yes, I would very much like to try this cooked food. I am sure that it will be perfectly fine." Evelyn said with a bit more enthusiasm than she had meant to express.

With Evelyn having given her consent, Melisandre beckoned to Katrina and Anneli who quickly brought the food over.

Surprise was written all over Evelyn's face as she looked down at what was brought before her, and she took in the smell of cooked meat for the first time in her new life.

'It is just a number of slabs of different meat, but they have definitely been seasoned with different types of spices or sauces judging from their appearance and fragrance.'

Evelyn went down the line of the four pieces of meat that had been brought before her, and she began carefully inspecting each of them.

They were all unique in their own ways, ranging from different colors, textures, smells, and she imagined taste as well, though she had not tried them yet.

"You will find that cooking can actually be considered another form of alchemy. We beast can get stronger by consuming the flesh of other beasts, and with proper cooking we can infuse them with other properties as well." Melisandre said with a glint in her eyes, obviously happy to be explaining her passion to Evelyn.

And luckily for her, Evelyn was quite invested in this topic, and looked towards Melisandre intently. Waiting for her to extol the virtues of approaching cooking like alchemy.

"Therefore, if you cook it in a sauce made from these three items you can imbue the food with a property that increases your strength by a little bit for a few days."

Going up to each of the food items that was in front of Evelyn, Melisandre gave quick rundown of what had been done to each of them and what effects they had.

Not only did each one of the meats now hold more magical energy, but they all contained various temporary effects.

"Of all of them this one is certainly the best though. It is made from a low-tier awakened beast which is why I have given you so little, but it will slightly increase the rate at which you recover magical energy during the time in which you are digesting it." Melisandre said with a very pleased grin on her face.

Unfortunately, for as interested as Evelyn had been, she was sustainably lacking in knowledge on this subject. The book that Mason had left her on alchemy was far from as advanced as what Melisandre was talking about here with adding powers to cooked food.

'I know only the most basics of alchemy, but this all sounds very advanced. Still, if I wish to advance myself in this field, I should listen carefully even if I do not fully understand.' Evelyn thought in order to keep herself motivated.

Eventually when her stomach began to rumble and growl loudly enough for the others to hear, Melisandre stopped her lecture on cooking food using alchemical principles.

"Yes, I suppose that it is rude of me to keep you from eating after placing a large amount of food in front of you." Melisandre said with an apologetic expression.

Naturally she felt a bit bad that she had gone on a long explanation when Evelyn had not actually eaten anything in over three days and had just advanced to the next tier which required a large amount of magical and physical energy.

Once she was allowed to eat as Melisandre returned to her seat, Evelyn began digging in.

She quickly tore apart the meant in front of her, and as she took in the first bite, she was pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted.

'This has to be the best food I have ever eaten in a long time.' She thought as tears started to fall down her face.

After her mother had originally died on Earth, the food she received was either prepacked or what she or her brother Mason could make for themselves. Which was far from as good as their mother's.

Continuing on, Evelyn ate all that was put in front of her with glee and she felt her body not only getting full, but also that the effects that Melisandre had been raving around.

'Ah so this is what she meant by the power of alchemy in food.' Evelyn thought as she felt the magical energy traveling through her.

It was slightly different than how she felt when she received pure magical energy that had no effect, and instead was a bit similar to what she experienced when she consumed the high-quality healing potion that Mason had left her.