Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

Lucan lead 1,056 people in chains out of the city. The exit was fairly close to his tunnel. Lucan had used Little brown to create serval illusions and phantoms to keep the slaves under control. They entered the tunnel without issue. No one tried to escape.

Lucan dismissed the illusion once they were in the tunnel. He turned back and spoke to the people.

"As you know I am Lucan Quilldrake. I am the Lord of a small village in the Shadow realm. After walking 4 hours through this tunnel you will enter my village. There are some things you should know so listen up. Each and every one of you has been branded as a slave. It is recognizable anywhere on the material plane, but that is not where we are going." Lucan took out a key and handed it to the slave closest to him. "Free yourselves. I will welcome you into my village as citizens if you wish. We are small but we have a transfer point. I will pay for you to go wherever you want in the Shadow realm if you don't want to stay. Or you could turn around and live the life of a runaway slave in the material plane. The choice is yours, but I suggest spending some time in my village to get your feet back beneath you."

Renia had begun to unlock a few of the slaves and then she handed the key over. Lucan had turned around and started walking away. Renia hurried to catch up.

"I feel much better now." She said. "They are free to make their own decisions and live the life they chose."

Less than a minute later Lucan heard small footsteps running up on them.

"You can't leave us behind Lord Quilldrake. We are joining your harem." Said an 8-year-old girl who dove at him.

Lucan jumped and shrieked as he received the biggest fright of his life. Renia quickly intervened as the other girls came running up.

"Shia, don't say things like that." Said an older girl.

"Yes." Renia said kneeling down in front of the girl. "We were just playing pretend earlier. Lord Quilldrake has a girlfriend who would get upset if she heard something like that."

"What are you talking about, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Oh, I'm sorry Lord Quilldrake." Renia said. "Everyone in town has been talking about your fight with Miss Night but we didn't think it was this serious, is it not possible for the two of you to work it out."

"Argh! That's not what I meant." Lucan said stomping off down the path leaving Renia to fix the mess she made.

Renia walked with the girls as Lucan left them behind. "Does that mean Lord Quilldrake doesn't want us?" Shia, the young girl asked.

Renia explained. "Lord Quilldrake doesn't want slaves, he wants citizens."

"Oh… What's a harem?" She asked.

"Umm…" Renia was thinking about how to explain it to the young girl. "A Harem is a place that houses female family members. Usually, there is only a single man that is allowed inside. But I said that earlier so you could leave with us. No one is joining Lord Quilldrake's Harem, he doesn't have one."

Lucan kept walking faster until he could no longer hear the disturbing conversation.

After several hours, Lucan exited the tunnel. Alasan and hundreds of others were already waiting. Lucan did not stay to see who would come and join the village. He had other things to do, and honestly, he didn't want to see them at the moment.

Yes, he felt great for freeing over 1,000 slaves, saving them from a hellish life. But at the same time there was a twinge of regret in his stomach. 24 million dollars' worth of gold gone in hours. The money would have changed his life forever. On top of that, Lucan felt guilt about feeling regret.

Under a confusing mix of emotions, Lucan went to go check the mana crystals. Once he set his eyes on them, all other thoughts left his mind and his heart began to calm, only for a moment. Then he started to stress about everything that could go wrong.

"Boss your back!" Oar said, coming out of the Shadow Tunnel in the warehouse, covered head to toe in dirt.

"How are things here?"

"We have been busy. Ed want's you to go to the mine when you have a chance."

Oar followed Lucan who went straight into the mine. He was amazed by the number of tunnels in the mine. The dwarves worked fast; it was incredible.

"Lucan, it's good that you came. We have hit a bit of a snag." Ed said, leading Lucan down one of the new tunnels.

After a few turns they came out into an open area. The dirt had been removed to expose a mana crystal the size of a small house.

"Wow!" Lucan said dumbfounded.

"Ha, that's the issue. It's too big. If you want to take it out in one piece, we will have to rework all our tunnels and you will have to do something about the shadow tunnel. Even then it won't fit through the warehouse doors. It will take a good deal of time and resources to remove it but breaking it into smaller pieces will cause it to lose value. I didn't want to make the decision for you."

"Leave it for now, I will see if Raze has a buyer. If we can't find someone who wants something this big we will break it up."

"Okay, we will leave it for now."

"I am going to head to Vertshadow and speak to Raze. Contact me if you need anything. Oar, clean yourself up, I want the Supreme Ruler to have a good impression of you."

Oar jumped up, quick as a cat after learning he would get to meet Raze. He ran off to the Shadow Tunnel.

"How long till the mine is empty?" Lucan asked Ed.

"There are a lot of mana crystals, but the mine is relatively small. Another week and we will just be picking up small fragments."

"Okay. Hey, I was wondering… where did all the dirt go. I mean you made tunnels in the ground, the dirt had to go somewhere." Lucan said.

"Ha, ha, a dwarven technique. You compress the dirt thousands of times turning a large portion into a small dense brick. We use these bricks to shape the tunnels and keep them from collapsing."

"Ah, I see. That's pretty resourceful." Lucan said. He made a bit of small talk before heading back to Shadowsweep.

Lucan went to his porch and waited while Oar bathed and tracked down some clean clothes. The young man didn't keep him waiting long. They used the transfer point and appeared in Vertshadow. Lucan decided to head to his home in the place.

"Lord Quilldrake, welcome back." Said Ash, who had come to greet him after learning of his presence in Vertshadow.

"I don't plan on staying to long, I was hopping Raze would be able to meet with me."

"Give me a few moments to find out. I will return shortly." Ash said. He found it odd that Lucan would request a meeting with Raze through him when the warlock was capable of directly speaking to the Supreme Leader at any time. He didn't spend long thinking about it. Trying to understand why warlocks did the things they do was pointless. There may be no reason at all.

Ash returned 10 minutes later. "The Supreme Leader will see you in the northern parlor."

Oar followed Lucan as they walked deeper into the palace. Lucan entered a room with a bar and several couches and chairs that surround a small garden in the courtyard below.

Raze sat on a couch reading a book. He closed it as Lucan and Oar walked in.

"Lucan, I was surprised when Ash told me you wanted to meet. Oh, who is this?"

"This is Oar, my steward. You should remember his name; he will go far." Lucan said.

"Ha, Oar, is it? I will remember." Raze said.

Lucan took a seat while Oar stood behind him. "I wanted to know if you had any interested in buying high grade mana crystals, or maybe you might have someone who you would prefer me to sell to. Or maybe there is some one you want me to NOT sell to."

"I am only interested in large, pure, high quality mana crystals. I need one as big as a pumpkin. You can sell your handful's wherever you like. If you can get at least 50 high grade mana crystals, the Queen of Shadows will give you a fair price."

"Is bigger any better for you?" Lucan asked.

"How big?"

"I asked first."

"Yes, bigger is better. How big is the crystal you have?"

Lucan stuck out his hand. "Agree not to steal from me, or I am leaving."

Raze's eyes lit up. "That big. Alright." He said shaking Lucan's hand and activating pact magic.

"The biggest is the size of a small house. Purity looks top notch but I didn't want to remove it without a buyer so I can't be completely sure. Menta's eye helped me located a cluster of mana crystal underground. We started mining, and now I have resources to develop Shadowsweep. Do you want the big one? If not, I got several the size of pumpkins and a couple the size of small tables."

"Wonderful, will you let this old man take a look before offering a price."

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine, but don't start your humble old man routine. I have been screwed over enough today."

"Ha, ha, come now Lucan. Surely you must know only a dozen or so people in this realm could afford such a large crystal. You will be properly compensated so let's go take a look."