Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

The clerk walked back out of the room.

"Hey, Ellin. What was that noise?"

One of the other clerks asked as Ellin(Nolan) walked out of the woodworking room with a staff in hand.

"Someone made a staff and forgot it, it must have fallen over. It's weird though."

"Yeah, that looks exactly like your staff." The clerk said to Ellin.

"Yeah that's what's weird. I looked around and didn't see anything else."

"Ha, ha, you know they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Looks like you might have an admirer."

"Be careful on your way home tonight." The third clerk said. "There are a lot of weirdos out there."

"Well go put it with the others. I will mark it down as your sale since your admirer doesn't want to reveal himself." The second clerk said with a chuckle.

"Why can't I find a free staff?" The third clerk mumbled to himself as Nolan opened the door and entered storage room.

"Don't think he is lucky. We both know what kind of contractors we have been serving today."

Nolan ignored them as his eyes sparkled while he looked around in the storeroom. There were 2 barrels with over 100 staves inside. On one side of the room he found a rack containing several types of rare and precious wood. He then laid his eyes on several thousand types of staff cores. Unfortunately, each one was unique and would take up a slot in his bag.

Quick as he could, Nolan stored the staves and wood before filling up the remaining space in his bag with staff cores, before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.

"Have you guys seen my locket? I can't find it." Nolan asked the other clerks.

"Nope, I haven't seen it."

"Hmm, maybe it fell out of my pocket when I was picking up the staff. Let me go check the woodworking room." Nolan said without waiting for a reply and almost sprinting to the room with the dead clerks' body.

Right as he shut the door, he heard one of the other clerks cursing and yelling. He probably opened the storeroom door. Nolan used ethereal step to jump out of the building. Shadow form broke his fall and he deactivated advanced disguise before strolling out of the alleyway.

[You have successfully stolen a value of over 150 gold. You are now eligible for your next thief mission. You will not gain any new abilities until your mission has been completed.]

Nolan happily whistled as he headed for a teleporter. He needed to go dump his loot in the vault before taking his mission.

***

Nolan entered his rogues organization and headed to the front counter as several cloaked figures eyed him. There were five clerks working and each had a long line except for one. Nolan went to the available clerk since no one else was going to.

"Here to see Kelis Jander, is here available?" Nolan asked.

"Depends." The clerk said without looking up.

"It's time for my mission." Nolan clarified.

The clerk still didn't look up but raised his hand and rubbed his fingers together signaling he wanted money.

Nolan understood why nobody was willing to go to this clerk. He reached in his pocket and with a bit of magic, he took out a gold coin and set it on the counter and pulled back his hand.

"Third door on the right." The clerk said while picking up the coin. Nolan turned around and took a few steps before the clerk called out to him again. "Hey you, wait. This isn't real."

Nolan slowly turned around. "Did some one say it was? I thought you were motioning that you wanted something to play with. You know us rogues need to maintain good hand dexterity. If you wanted money you should have used words, its less confusing that way." He said while rolling a coin across the back of his knuckles before walking to the third door on the right.

As Nolan knocked on the door, he could hear several of the rogues snickering at the clerk who got scammed.

*Knock* *knock* *knock*

"What do you want?" A voice came from inside.

"I'm Here to see Kelis Jander about a thief mission."

"Ah perfect." Kelis said as he opened the door. "Who are you?" He asked, not recognizing Lucan.

'Lucan Quilldrake, call me Nolan.' He said telepathically to his class trainer while flashing his thief token.

"Oh Nolan, I didn't recognize you. You have gotten uglier. Come in, you came at the perfect time."

Nolan entered as Kelis shut the door behind him.

"I just so happen to have the perfect mission for a thief at your level." He said before going over the details. "I need you to sneak into a shipping company and steal a delivery order form and swap it with a fake one I will give. The merchandise I want is too hard to move quietly so I will have them deliver it. Buy I have conditions, you must not kill anyone or leave any trace of your presence. If the shipping company noticing something off, they will check with headquarters and my plan will be for nothing. Do you think you can do it?"

"I will try my best." Nolan said while taking the fake delivery order form.

Kelis then went into the specific details.

***

Nolan sat at a café across from the shipping company as he scouted the place out. With night having just fallen, the café was happening and busy, but with a large tip to the hostess he was able to get a table beside the window facing the street.

Little Brown was in mouse form and had already entered the building while Adrestia circled high in the sky while keeping her eyes focused bellow.

Little Brown searched deeper into the warehouse until he came to a large crate matching the description Kelis had given him. With this being the only crate in the warehouse that was over 10 feet tall Nolan knew this was what his teacher wanted.

The mouse's eyes focused as it retrieved the parcel number for the thief. Now it was Nolan's turn. He had to infiltrate the guarded office and swap the delivery form in the managers' desk. Then tomorrow morning when the delivery went out it would go directly to his teacher instead of its rightful own.

Nolan paid his bill at the café and got to work. He entered the busy street and turned down a dark alley.

When Adrestia gave him the all clear, he hopped the wall and landed in the estate of the delivery company. Even though the business was closed for the night they still had many guards patrolling the area.

He quickly approached the building. The patrol had passed minutes before and it wouldn't be too long until another passed. He tried to lift several windows to find them all locked. With no other choice, he used ethereal step to enter. The spell was handy but it drained way too much mana even when it was only active for half a second.

He found himself in a deserted hallway. He could hear footsteps approaching him from the corner ahead. He opened the closest door and entered before quietly closing it. He quietly waited in the broom closet even after the guard passed.

He continued to wait while Little Brown tracked his position and then scouted the path he would take to the manager's office.

There weren't any patrolling guards that he would pass after he moved to the next floor but there was a guard sitting on a chair, directly before the manager's office. He seemed to have no intention of leaving. Drawing him away might lead to a security check in the morning. He didn't want to risk the company thinking that something funny had happened over night.

'I guess I should look for a different way in.'

As the little mouse searched, Nolan came to the realization that the easiest way in would be from the front door. The room above was the sleeping quarters for the off-duty guards. The outside wall of the manager's office was in direct view of the main guard house, and the rooms that shared a wall with the office housed the most treasured packages and were guarded more tightly than the office.

With no other ideas Nolan started to look at what Raze had to offer. After 10 minutes he finally made a purchase and left the closet.

He headed upstairs, avoiding the patrol with his mouse's help and quietly approached the seated guard.

He crouched down and slowly stuck his wand out from around the corner.

With all his practice casting spells over the last few months he wasn't worried that a simple spell like this would misfire. But that damned Razed sure charged and arm and a leg for useful simple spells. He felt that they should be cheaper than the ones with the complicated formulas but Raze seemed to disagree. For a spell weaver, the more simple and easy to cast meant more expensive. But he had already spent the 200,000 experience so there was no use complaining now.

After a few seconds of shaping and forming the mental mana, an invisible spell was launched and hit the guard. After withdrawing his wand and waiting for a few moments, he began to hear a soft snoring. The sleep spell was a success.