An Owl's Rise

Around four months went by for Evelyn as she followed the moon and crossed over the vast grassland she had ended up in.

During this time she had finally figured out the scale for the map she had, since previously she had no clue how to interpreted what the distance between everything was.

And now she knew that the world she found herself on was freaking huge.

She had already flown several thousand miles pretty much in a straight line and she had not exited this savanna yet.

At the very least she had found that this savanna had plenty of resources for her to use and had leveled up her abilities some more.

Her magic core had reached the beginning stages of the second level which was the acolyte rank.

Now not only did it resonate even more with her beast core which was at the mid-tier of the fiend beast rank, but her body was now much stronger than it had been before.

She had found herself able to tank hits from beasts bigger than herself and exert feats of strength that would not be expected even from a six-foot-tall owl.

Along with the increase in her personal power she had finally figured out how to make very basic alchemical concoctions.

So far, she had a success rate of around twenty percent and had created two of each a basic healing salve and a magical energy recovery potion.

Of course, each of these items had to be stored in special bottles that she had a limited supply of that Mason has left for her, and really their effects were not that great.

Though Mason had actually left her some higher-grade alchemical items which were far better than what she could make for now.

Still, it was good for her to grow her skills so that one day she might be able to make things that she would otherwise not have access to.

Unfortunately, one area she had made little progress in was control over her magical abilities.

She could cause bigger phenomenon, but overall, her control over what she was creating with her magic was lackluster in her opinion.

Gusts of wind, small shots of her heavenly flame, and increasing and decreasing gravity were all she could still do.

Really, she had been practicing trying to at least create wind blades like her parents had, but she just could not seem to make the wind precise enough.

It was always just a blunt push and while at her best she could hit with the force of a car going around forty miles an hour, that was it.

Sadly, it seemed to her right now that she would have to figure out some way to convert the human spells that Mason had left her into something she could use, or she would forever be stuck with what she considered basic magic.

Nevertheless, she kept going on starting to get sick of the grassland she was in as she had found that it was getting difficult to find decent prey.

The beasts had either started to get too weak or too strong.

Multiple times she had seen packs of beasts roaming around and they were led by beasts she stood no chance against, with one standing out in particular.

She had spotted a pride of lions and the leading male was the size of a tank and she felt an oppressive aura coming from it even around a mile away.

Having seen this Evelyn was certain that it was an awakened beast, as it felt stronger than every other beast she had seen, except one.

While this lion was impressive it still palled in compassion to the serpent she had seen guarding the flower that reached high into the sky. Which felt like a mounting so tall she could not see the peak of it.

Still the lions she saw from a distance was strong enough for her survival instincts to tell her to stay as far away as possible.

Luckily they paid her no mind, and she was able to continue on her way.

Eventually she did finally make it to the edge of the grassland which began to get lusher and greener the closer she got to the next environment.

However, while she though she would be coming up to a large mountain range, instead what she saw was a vast thick jungle.

'Um there is definitely supposed to be a mountain range here, right?'

Quickly finding a safe place to land she pulled out the atlas Mason had left her and opened it up to the page that had a detailed map of the continent's geography.

Looking at it carefully she moved up and down the grasslands, but in the direction she had been heading, there was no way she should have found a jungle.

The entire western side of the grassland was supposed to be bordered by a large mountain range that cut through nearly half of the continent.

She knew she had been traveling southwest the entire time since that was the direction the moon rose in, and there is no way she should have missed such a massive natural barrier.

'Still, that is definitely a jungle in front of me and it looks pretty flat from here. I know that environments can change overtime, but mountain ranges do not just disappear in a few hundred or even thousand years. Heck they should last millions of years before a drastic shift like this.'

Looking all around she tried spotting any sign of the mountains that should have been at the edge of the grasslands, but there was nothing but jungle.

'Wait I must be thinking about his wrong. It is probably that I am just not near the mountains yet, and this used to be part of the grasslands. Weather patterns probably just changed in this area, and it suddenly got more rainfall causing it to become a jungle instead of a savanna.'

Coming up with a more logical but actually not accurate explanation for why a jungle was here, Evelyn flew back into the air and made her way over to the jungle.

She figured this would be a good change of pace for her anyway since she was getting tired of the grasslands. Now she would have her pick of trees to use as a temporary shelter without having to fight for one every time.

Except as she flew into the jungle, she caught the attention of a group of beasts that had been lying in wait for her kind.

Dropping out of the tree they had been hiding in, they stalked her as she flew through the jungle until they were certain she was alone and swooped in for the attack.

Suddenly her instincts told her she was in danger, and she picked up the sound of wings cutting through air and coming towards her.

Spinning around and changing her momentum, she moved around a nearby tree and put it between her and her attacker.

BAM!

Slamming into the tree was a large eagle that was easily twelve feet tall, and had Evelyn not dodged she would have been impaled by its talons and pinned to this tree.

Yet her troubles were far from over, as two more eagles that were just a bit smaller than the first descended around her and had her surrounded on all sides.