An Owl's Rise

Chapter 481: Chapter 481 Return to the Urstug Federation

Evelyn’s estimation of how long she would need to get back into peak shape and advance to the mid-tier of the tyrant turned out to be a bit off.

In the end she needed closer to six weeks than just three to get her strength back and breakthrough.

The biggest impediment had been the Aethersphere, or really the lack of its presence.

Whatever it was doing right now left it completely dormant.

That meant that the silent support it would usually provide to Evelyn to cast her gravity magic was no longer active.

Getting used to this was harder than she expected, but over time she became accustomed to forming the spells on her own. Though using it entirely freeform like she was capable of with fire and wind was still beyond.

Gravity magic was far more complicated to control than her two elemental affinities.

Her lack of comprehension on the concept was also holding her back. She had some fundamental knowledge from what she had learned at school back on Earth, but that still only amounted to a small part of the ultimately shallow knowledge people on Earth understood.

’That’s something else I’ll need to shore up later. I didn’t realize how much help the Aethersphere was giving me until it stopped providing.’ Evelyn thought after achieving a satisfactory level of control over her gravity magic.

Reaching the next tier had ended up being far easier than bringing her physical and magical abilities back up to her previous levels.

She had already been on the precipice, so all she needed was the last push of magical energy and concentration.

Going up to the next tier had seen her cores and body undergo some minor albeit important changes.

Her musculature, bones, and organs were all a bit stronger, and the quality and efficiency of her magic had increased.

It was not anywhere as drastic as the evolution from one grade to the next, but the boost in her power was still impactful.

"I’m ready now. We can head out now."

Once she returned to the crystal dome where Aralee, Bylur, and Maeve were waiting, she informed the three of them about her success.

As for Lucia and Rehni, the two of them had already left a couple of weeks beforehand to gather information on the current state of the outside world and scope out the situation revolving around the Taidale family.

"Are you sure that you want to do this Maeve? I know that they didn’t treat you well, but they’re still your family." Aralee said, noticing the hints of trepidation in Maeve’s expression and body language.

"Yeah, I am. The majority of my family schemed to have my parents killed and then me as well once I started to show talent and become a threat. And the rest besides my great grandfather were indifferent at best. I’m resolved to pay back their malice tenfold. Plus, this is the best way for me to pay all of you back for the help you’ve given me."

With Maeve having reaffirmed her desire, the four of them left the Verdant Warlord’s Domain.

’I guess this is my first time outside in more than five years now.’ Evelyn thought as she looked around at the familiar forest around her.

Not much had changed on the surface, but the passage of time was noticeable when she looked closely.

Patches of moss had grown larger in places, while there were a few new trees just beginning to sprout where they found small beams of light that had broken through the canopy.

The presence of the beasts that called the forest home had likewise changed.

Combing her senses with the wind, Evelyn felt out for several kilometers all around her.

Some new creatures had taken the place of the old, and she could feel that Forest of Giants had a sharper edge to it than before.

"No need to be on guard. There are more tyrant beasts than there were before, but most of them aren’t that powerful. Nothing in this forest is stronger than we are." Bylur said reassuringly while trying to look reliable.

"I’ll take your word for it. Now, let’s head out. We need to get this done with quickly."

Evelyn flapped her wings and rose up into the air.

Manipulating the wind and gravity around her, she shot up into the air until she was just below the thickest part of the canopy.

From there she aimed towards the direction of the Urstug Federation and shot forward.

Bylur, Aralee, and Maeve followed behind and their group of four made the journey through the forest.

After nearly a week of travel, the sight of their destination came into view.

The familiar visage of Taidale City felt almost nostalgic to Evelyn.

So much had happened since she had last been in this city. It almost seemed like an eternity.

"We should land here and put on our disguise magic items. We don’t want to get discovered before we even get started." Aralee said.

Bylur grumbled about having to use a flying disk instead of his wings. It appeared that even after five years, he still hated using the device.

"Oh! These truly are significantly better than the ones we used before." Evelyn remarked once she put the transformation necklace on.

Since they had ended up being outed as beasts by a Deamhain Sect executive last time they infiltrated human society, Lucia had made it one of her goals to obtain higher quality disguise items.

Now even the faint inconsistencies in the overlapping magical auras were gone.

This would make it much harder for anyone below the peak of the fifth rank to see through their disguises and figure out that they were not humans.

With Maeve having told them that the Taidale Family Patriarch had only just broken through the mid-tier of the fifth rank before getting sick, there should not have been anyone in the city that would be able to figure them out.