An Owl's Rise

Once Evelyn had finished collecting her thoughts on her current situation, she was left with plenty of unanswered questions and whole handful of theories.

'I am not sure why I was able to make a magic core when I am a beast. From what I found in the books, there is no mention of beasts with magic cores, but it is just beginners' book. Sadly, it is the only one I have, as apparently it been best to figure out your own path past the foundation of creating and strengthening your magic core.'

Sighing, Evelyn could not be sure exactly what it meant for her to be able to form a magic core.

She figured that maybe it was something all beasts could do but these books did not mention it, or perhaps it was due to her having a human soul. She also figured the Aethersphere had some role to play in it, but how much she did not know.

Mason had left her a good amount of general knowledge, but at this point she was already far from ordinary.

From the moment she had been born into this world, she was an anomaly. A person's soul from another world born into the body of an owl.

Without anyone or anything else to compare her situation to, she simply did not know how outside the norm she was compared to others.

'I suppose I will just have to venture out into the world and figure somethings out on my own. Though I do not want anything to do with any people.'

Trying to think about where she might get more information, Evelyn remembered that the book on beasts said that beasts that reached the awakened rank sometimes gain intelligence.

'Maybe I can find a friendly awakened beast that does not want to kill me and can teach me more about this world.'

Laughing despairingly at this thought, Evelyn pretty much already considered that every other beast wanted her dead, and humans either wanted the same or to run terrible experiments on her.

'Well, I will get to that point when it arrives. For now, I need some rest and have more reading to do tomorrow.'

Moving over to the bed she perched herself on top of it and slept. Until she was back at her peak and ready for more reading the next day.

Going back to her books she opened up the next one which was a atlas of the continent she was on.

It had very detailed information of the surrounding areas and the names of the nations that made up this continent.

Unfortunately, whether any of this information was still accurate was impossible for Evelyn to know.

This atlas had already been old when Mason first obtained it, and from what had had gathered everything here had been sitting around at least a few hundred years.

That made the atlas probably at the youngest six hundred years old as far as Evelyn could tell. So by now the entire continent could look different.

Still, it was all she had so she opened it up and began reading about the powers that ruled this continent.

Quickly she found the Ultak empire that Mason had been born in, and it was certainly one of the strongest powers on the continent as far as Evelyn could see.

There were four very large nations that controlled the majority of the continent, with one being the Ultak empire.

Then there were a few dozen smaller vassal kingdoms or territories scattered around these nations.

But there were from what she found in the atlas nine nations that were completely independent of the continent's four major powers, and one of them caught her attention.

It was called the free city of Atsabala and from the information in the atlas apparently this nation was a strange place where beasts and people were welcome and roamed the streets as equals.

'Hm, apparently a really powerful group of both people and beasts are speculated to rule this place. But this was centuries ago. For all I know it could have been burned to the ground or taken over by one of the four major powers by now.'

Putting this place to the back of her mind, Evelyn decided that she would revisit whether it was best for her to head there at a later time.

Her information was outdated, and if she went on the assumptions that it was all still correct, she was likely to get burned.

Continuing to look through the atlas, she found something else that piqued her interest.

Many times, she came across places that were speculated to be high in magic crystals and she had seen this term before in Mason's diary.

Pulling out his diary as well as a book on common magic items, Evelyn went searching for what these crystals were.

Luckily, she did not have to search long or hard as they were actually the first thing detailed in the book.

Reading through it she found that these crystals had dozens of uses in this world and were actually the foundation of its economy.

They were the core competent in any magical device and were used as ingredients in alchemy from what she read.

But that was not all, they were also used to create dense areas or magical energy that could speed up the growth of someone's magic core. Though the book did say that a special device was needed to turn these crystals that were solid forms of magical energy, back into the gaseous form that permitted the air and could be easily absorbed by people.

They also came in six forms with each form above the next being considered ten times more valuable than the one below it. The weakest being green in color, followed by blue, then red, after that was purple, the second highest was silver, and the best was gold.

'Wait, magic crystals! I remember that was one of the first thing on the catalog of items Mason gave me.'

Pulling up the catalog Evelyn found magic crystals third on the list, right under something called a storage amulet.

However, unlike most of the items, these crystals were actually put within one of the storage amulets Mason had left.

Flipping through the book again Evelyn found what these storage amulets were, and they were exactly what she had been expecting.

'Interdimensional storage spaces. It says that they are a rare item that are expensive and difficult to make. Still Mason left me three not including that one he had set up as a decoy.'

Flying over to the storage amulet that was supposed to have the magic crystals in it, she grabbed it off the shelve it was hanging on.

Then as the book had said, she tried channeled her magical energy into it, and suddenly her mind was filled with information.

She was now able to see all of the items stored within this storage amulet, which was full of magic crystals.

'Four thousand six hundred thirty-four green ones, three hundred ninety-eight blue, just twenty-six red ones, and three purple.'

Using her magical link to the amulet Evelyn pulled out one of the green crystals and looked at it.

She wondered if like the cores of other beasts or magically enriched plants, and if she could eat it to get stronger.

Sadly, she did not have any instinctual drive to consume this crystal, and when she tired biting into it she found it too hard to crack.

'Well, I suppose that it had plenty of other uses.' Evelyn thought as she put it back into the amulet.

She had learned a lot today about the world around her even if the information was outdated, and her time to leave was fast approaching.

'Only eight more days until I need to leave. In that time, I need to read and understand everything that Mason left me, and finally get a true grasp on what magic is and how to use it.'