Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

After the fight with the Mine Master, Lucan and Silent emptied the push carts, storing all the mysterious crystal they could find. They followed the tracks towards the surface of the mine. Along the way they encounter several miners and overseers. Compared to the Mine Master, they were easy to deal with.

They passed a few locked storerooms. With the overseer's master key, they were able to pilfer the ore that had been stored. While they didn't find any more mysterious crystals, they filled their bags with iron, copper and plenty of gemstones that had been dislodge from the mine walls.

It wasn't long till they had fought their way back to the start of the dungeon. Walking out of its entrance with fully loaded bags, they used return scrolls to head to the Shadowsweep castle.

The Ghost King jumped around excitedly on his mouse feet when they entered the shadow realm. "It has been too long since I have seen the sun, or clouds, or the sky. Ha, ha, just your wait world, the Ghost King is back."

"Alright Ghosty, follow along." Said Silent as she and Lucan entered the castle.

After emptying their bags of ore into the fortress vault, they reconvened in the command room to plan their next move.

"I assume walking through a collapsed part of the ethereal realm will be the easiest way to get there." Lucan said to the Ghost King. "Do you know where any of those points are?"

"Yes, that would be the easiest way to enter, but your entrance will be short lived. The natural denizens of the ethereal realm always keep a close watch on those areas. Our best chance to enter the ethereal realm would be through one of my portals."

"I thought you couldn't use your portal abilities?"

"I can't, but my old portals may still be around, if they haven't decayed yet. With your grasp over ethereal mana, you should be able to open one up. We can enter the ethereal realm away from the watching eyes of my former tribesmen."

"Hmm, I see, we will do that then."

"Lord Quilldrake." Commander Gear came to report after seeing Lucan in the command room.

"Commander, go ahead."

"They team we dispatched to visit the local villages has returned. Several villages have decided to relocate to the fortress after we offered them shelter."

"Good, good, we always need more hands around."

"Yes, my Lord. The team was also made aware of the various resources in the area. With your permission Mr. Alasan Swift wants to send villagers from Shadowsweep with the protection of the fortress guards to start claiming these resources."

"I see no problem with that, allow him to use the guards."

"And lastly, the Supreme Leader has sent several soldiers, they arrived yesterday and are still awaiting your orders."

"I see, where are they now?"

"They are camped outside of the fortress. I tried to offer them housing in the barracks, but their leader is under strict orders to only take commands from you. Until you give the order, they will not listen to anyone else."

"Hmm, I see. I will deal with it." Lucan said as he started to walk towards the fortress walls.

Lucan headed out of the southern gate to see a field of tents stretched out before him. The soldiers had set up a temporary perimeter around their camps and were on constant watch while they waited to meet their lord.

Lucan strode to the entrance of the camp. The soldiers saluted them as he entered. His presence caused a stir among the shadow elves that made up the army. Their leader quickly came to greet him.

A tall and distinguished shadow elf bowed to him. "Lord Quilldrake, I am Major General Santine, I am the leader of this division of 15,000 shadows elves, I await your command."

"At ease, from now on, this will be your home. Please take up residence in the fortress barracks. I want you to maintain a strict training regimen."

"Yes, sir."

"I want you to send the soldiers on regular training missions in the surrounding areas. Nothing too dangerous, but I don't want our soldiers to become lazy and lose their edge. You can find Commander Gear to inquire where our soldiers are needed the most. But the decision of deployment remains with you. I want at least two thirds of the fighting force to remain at the fortress or Shadowsweep at all times."

"Yes sir."

You are permitted to enlist villagers and travelers into your numbers but there will be no conscription for the time being. Have your quartermaster meet with my advisor Alasan Swift to arrange for your pay and supplies. And lastly, any words that come from the mouth of the woman beside me are the same as if I myself was saying them. Do you understand?"

"Sir, yes, sir."

"Good. Become my acolyte and return to your duties." Lucan said with his hand outstretched.

Major General Santine shook his hand before escorting Lucan and Silent out of the camp. He quickly started shouting orders and get the troops moving.

"We should be a little safer now that they are here." Silent said as they walked back to the fortress.

"Yes, it appeared most of them were around level 120, I also saw many elites around 140, but unfortunately they aren't players."

The army was powerful and would help in a pinch, but they were NPCs. They only had one life. Given enough time. A group of 100 players could eventually destroy them all since they would respawn when they died, those players would suffer huge losses from all the deaths, but it was still possible for them to achieve victory.

Lucan went and found Alasan and informed him of what was to come.

"Lord Quilldrake, while we are swimming in gold with the success of the mines, we don't have enough food to fill every mouth. Buying food from other regions isn't a good long-term solution. Our mines will eventually dry and we won't be able to afford the cost anymore."

"Start a farming initiative. We have numerous plains surrounding Shadowsweep that currently sit empty. If the soil is usable, let's start growing our own crops. Take a portion of our funds and start a project to develop some of the surrounding land into farms. If you need manpower to set things up, talk to commander Gear about getting the soldiers involved."

"Yes, Lord Quilldrake, I will get it done."

"And you should hire more help for yourself, I don't want you to take on everything by yourself."

Alasan nodded before heading off to his new office in the castle.

"Ghosty, where are your portals? Are there any in the shadow realm?" Silent asked.

"Yes, actually, I do have one portal in the shadow realm. Its location in the ethereal realm is in a deserted area. It will be perfect for our goal. Get me a map and I should be able to locate it."

"Good." The warlock said while heading back to the command room.

Lucan set the Ghost King on the table and let him crawl around the map that was spread out. The mouse looked around, trying to recognize the landmarks on the map.

'Lucan, I just received news of something that concerns you. Are you in the fortress?' SuperSleuth asked telepathically.

'Yes, I am in the command room.'

'Alright, I will be there in a minute.'

"Can't a guy just go to the ethereal realm in peace." Lucan mumbled as his workload was ever increasing.

Super entered the command room and came to the large table.

"It is like this; I have been getting multiple reports that the Plague Baron's forces have taken over a city just outside your territory. 2,000 of his troops along with a legion of undead have occupied the city of Eclipse, in the Hills of Trepidation. It is only a two-week march from your fortress."

Silent looked at the map. "Out of all the directions he could have expanded, he moved directly towards you. He must be planning something." Silent said.

Lucan sighed. He was not sure what he should do. If he went and took the city from the Plague Baron, it might escalate the conflict ahead of schedule. But if he did nothing, it would put the Plague Baron in a better position to attack him. Neither optioned was something he wanted. He took a seat and rubbed his temples, contemplating what to do.

He then remembered that part of his reward for becoming a Baron was the ability to issue quests to his acolytes.

He opened up the tab in his interface and took a look. There were many different options he could take advantage of. He could offer banked experience, gold, or even items as the reward for his quest.

With an idea in mind, the new Baron went about setting the parameters for the first quest he would issue. The quest would be issued to all those above level 120. He highlighted several items from his vault and included a good amount of gold. The quest receivers would be tasked with infiltrating the city and gathering information, then reporting it to Super. Super was put in position as manager of the quest. Depending on the usefulness of the information, the quest taker would be rewarded.

Lucan activated the quest chain option, once he had more information, he would use that information to sabotage the Plague Baron's forces in the city of Eclipse. He was limited by the system, the more dangerous a quest was, the higher the reward had to be. With the current contents of his vault, he wasn't too worried. He just needed the Plague Baron to be occupied while he finished his race change quest. He didn't need his acolytes to completely wipe them out, only stall for time and slow their progress.

"If you handle this well, I will reward you." Lucan said to Super before activating the quest.

Every acolyte in the shadow realm above level 120 received the quest from Lucan, whether they would take the quest or not was their decision.