An Owl's Rise

Evelyn let out a sigh of relief at somehow miraculously passing the first trial.

It had been truly difficult for her to get this farm and without her sudden burst of control over the heavenly flames she certainly would have died.

'Well, I have an hour to relax and recover my stamin and magical energy. I had best do what I can to rest.'

Given a reprieve she honestly did not think she would receive, Evelyn could only rejoice as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

She needed all the rest she could get right now and if she could get an hour nap, she was going to take it.

Quickly her hour of sleep went by, and she was abruptly awakened by another message being spoken directly into her head.

'It is time for us to begin the second trial. For this trial each of you will be given a bag to collect items in, and to start will be given one beast core of a high-tier fiend beast. Throughout this area of the jungle a number of cores and magical plants have been left in various locations. Your goal it to collect ten such items and return here with them.'

The examiner then paused for a moment to let this information sink in, and many owls cocked their heads in confusion.

Honestly this trial sounded way too easy, incredibly so in comparison to the last one.

But of course, the examiner had only explained the basic premise of the next trail, and a devious smile came over her face as she gave out the finer details.

'Oh, but in addition to any treasures that we have left, there are still other beast and naturally growing magical plants around. If you can harvest the plants or kill the beast and take their cores those will be accepted as well. Though only cores of high-tier fiend beasts or greater shall qualify, as well as magical plants of a certain quality. Oh, and there may or may not be enough for everyone here to pass. But if you have trouble finding items, you are free to steal them from your fellow competitors. However, you are not allowed to kill any other owls in this trial. Doing so will have you disqualified.'

After finishing her explanation, the examiner sat there for a moment, and then to everyone's surprise the fog that had been ever present began to withdraw completely around the area.

Soon it had spread out for three miles in every direction with where they currently were being the center.

Once this miraculous phenomenon was over the examiner handed out bags and a single beast core to everyone.

'Now all of you have two hours. Go out and collect the ten items you need and be back here before time runs out. Anyone who has not made it back here by then will not pass even if they have the necessary items.'

With that last direction all of the owls frantically wen flying into the jungle in search of beast cores and magical plants.

However, some of the more aggressive owls began attacking their fellow trial goers right from the start, and three such owls had decided to make Evelyn their targets.

Though while they were all targeting her as the perceived weakest owl here and easy prey, they were not exactly working together.

Quickly two of them began squabbling amongst each other, leaving only one of them to truly go after Evelyn.

Naturally she had suspected she would be targeted, though it being this early was a bit of a surprise.

Still after going head-to-head against the queen spider, even an owl at the peak of the fiend beast rank really did not seem all that threatening to her now.

Flying behind a tree Evelyn avoided the wind blade that the owl chasing her fired off, and as she passed by, she lowered her gravity as much as she could and jammed her talons into the tree to abruptly stop her momentum.

'So, he can use wind blades like my mother and father could. Still, I can tell he is not quite as good as them.' Evelyn observed.

Of course, she had not even figured out how to focus her own wind magic to the point of making wind blades, but she still gave her internal criticism all the same.

When the owl chasing her rounded the tree thinking that he would find Evelyn still flying away, he was completely blindsided as she jumped off of the tree and slammed into him.

It was like he had suddenly been hit by a large rock as Evelyn seemed much denser than she should have been.

Along with that this owl suddenly felt himself becoming heavier, and her plummeted to the ground with Evelyn on top of him.

Unfortunately, for him under her nearly four times gravity Evelyn weighed more than two hundred pounds, and his own increased weight made him more than three hundred.

Quickly they reached the jungle's floor, and he was completely unable to get his bearings with Evelyn on top of him.

Yet right before they impacted, she suddenly became very light, and with one flap of her wings and firing a heavy gust of wind below her, she shot back up into the air.

Sadly, the owl that had antagonized her was too close to the jungle floor to recover and was pushed into the ground with an immense amount of force.

A sickening cracking sound could be heard as he hit, and there was no doubt he had broken something.

Nevertheless, he was still alive as it was against the rules to kill him, so Evelyn simply left him in really bad shape where he may never fly again without some type of magical treatment.

'And I will be taking this.'

Rifling through his bag she pulled out the beast core that he had been given like all of them and placed it into her own bag on her back.

'Now I wonder how those other two boozes are doing.'

Taking back off to where the other two owls that had targeted her were fighting, she saw that they were still battling it out, through both were noticeably wounded.

'Well, you reap what you sow. I will be taking your beast cores as well.'