One thing Sage had not accounted for when she told Isaac to call the horse was the fact that they now had an extra body in their group. Although the undead beast was very capable of carrying her, the bastard and the child together; there was limited space on its back, all three of them could never fit. So, she chose to take refuge within Nyx’s Space. Apart from being a refuge from the raging wind during the helhurst’s galloping, it also served as a convenient getaway from a shellshocked girl.

How the child felt about becoming an undead, she did not know; her initial reaction had not given off positive vibes though. As Sage had stated, she had no interest in dealing with the child. Whatever emotions she might be harbouring after learning that not only had her home been destroyed- her grandmother was dead and she had become an undead with a craving for flesh- was not for Sage to deal with. That was all the knight bastard.

Detracting from her current train of thoughts, she raised her eyes and looked around the space, noting its increase in size. {Void Space} was now twice its previous size and could hold up to ten tonnes of weight. As her familiar, Nyx’s mana had obviously improved to match her own. As a result, {Void Space} was not the only ability that had improved. {Devour} had progressed to the point of being able to be used on a Grade 1 beast, {Shadow Travel} allowed movement between shadows up to three kilometres apart and {Misfortune}… had unsurprisingly gotten stronger as well. It also appeared now that it could be directed at a chosen target. When she found time, she would have to talk to Nyx about it to make sure there were no other effects.

Then of course there was her. Sage Maverick… Phantom… Darkborne.

If she had to describe the Advancement she had just gone through with one word, it would be torment. At this point, saying it was beyond any pain she had experienced before felt redundant; those had been her sentiments on the previous one and would undoubtably be her feelings after the next one.

This Advancement however, had felt like it was not only ripping apart the molecules of her body, but also reaching into her soul. So agonising it had been that, at one point, she earnestly began contemplating death; having experienced it before, she had little trouble concluding it as being preferable to what she had been experiencing. The excruciating pain must be why the majority of talents who reached this stage did not survive the transformation. If she had been a human undergoing the process, she would have succumbed as well. Luckily, pain could not kill the deceased.

It was worth it, she thought, using {Index} on herself.

Race: Phantom (Undead}

Physique: Grade 3

Mana: SS (Green)

Title(s): Darkborne

While her mana reaching the pinnacle of ordinary existences was no surprise, the increase in her physique was an unexpected boon. She was unaware of a similar occurrence happening anywhere else, so it was probably not caused by her increase in Order but likely due to her nature of being a phantom or Darkborne; maybe even both. Or maybe the increase was owed to her phantom nature, her Darkborne state and reaching the 9th Order in conjunction. Sage had her assumptions, however not knowing would not lose her any sleep if she could tire.

Now that she had reached the 9th Order, she could finally learn the spells she had been looking forward to since she began learning magic; starting with [Gate]. It was without a doubt the best teleportation spell in existence. The spell could open a portal to anywhere, even if one had never been there; as long as you had a distinct picture in mind. With this spell in tow, even the outer planes were not out of reach. It was possible to open a [Gate] to the Primordial Plane, the Deadlands and the Overgrowth to mention a few. Though, it was ill-advised to do so as the chaotic environment of the first plane would rip apart anyone dumb enough to enter, the second was inhospitable to the living and the third was the domain of a god. Still, [Gate]’s usefulness could not be discounted, as it was able to bypass [Space Lock]. Also, the portal could be held open for a long time, allowing masses of people to pass through. It was how the Cryptmaker had moved his horde around.

Other spells Sage was looking forward to learning were mostly upgrades from 7th Order elemental spells she knew; namely [Inferno], [Whiteout], [Cyclone] and [Earthquake]. They were greater versions of [Conflagration], [Blizzard], [Tornado] and [Quake] respectively. Another elemental spell she was eager to engrave was [Wrath], which devastated the land by raining down lightning constantly. Sadly, she did not have access to all their spell models, but they would probably not be hard to find; for 9th Order spells that was. When she finally manages to ingrain all of them, her strength would sour to new heights. She could not wait for that moment!

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One more Advancement to go.

It would be a long time before she could attempt that one though, especially considering the fact that the Cryptmaker never got his hands on the model of an Ultra Order spell. Being the studious fellow that he was, he did however not fail to jot down everything he had learned about them.

According to his notes, there were three types of spells. The first were the Zero Order spells. They were the likes of [Candleflame] and [Shocking Touch]; the lowest of the low, but could be useful if used wisely. When cast, these spells did not occupy any slots. Thus, the shift in mana caused by invoking these spells was not permanent. If one did not cast another spell within three days, their mana would revert to white.

The second types of spells were those from the 1st to the 9th Order. Once someone successfully channelled these spells, they were ingrained in to their core and could not be unlearned. Spells of this nature had to be ingrained like a house of cards, where the lower Order spells would serve as a foundation for the higher Order ones. Also, the spells of the lower Order had to be at least five more than their higher tiered counterparts. Failure to adhere to the arrangement would result in one’s mana going berserk and imploding.

Aptitude played a part in the number of spells one could learn, with a higher aptitude allowing for more spells.

Ultra Order spells too occupied slots, though in a different manner.

To reach 9th Order, one had to have learned at least six 8th Order spells; if one counted the spells at the very bottom, there had to be at least forty-one 1st Order spells ingrained.

Considering the uniformity of ingraining spells, one would expect the criteria for learning spells of the Ultra Order to be having learned forty-six 1st Order spells; however, it was actually lower at forty-five. One only needed to know five 9th Order spells to learn an Ultra Order spell. However, to ingrain a second Ultra Order spell, they had to learn another five 9th Order spells and so forth; meaning it took five spells of the 9th Order to support a single spell of the Ultra Order.

Ultra Order magic had an extremely long cast time, the shortest of which was believed to be over a minute. The fact that they needed so long to be deployed was a testament to how powerful they were; capable of altering entire landscapes and climates. An example of this was [Meteor Rain] which, if used properly, could decimate an entire region.

Most people would assume that, since Ultra Order spells took so long to cast, the mage would be left vulnerable. It was a mistake made by many in the past. Transcendent sorcerers were capable of channelling two spells at the same time; meaning, they could cast another spell while preparing their Ultra Order signature.

One more painful push and that would be Sage, she would stand on top of the world; not only as a Transcendent, but a Demigod as well!

She basked in the dream for a while before coming out of it.

It had been a while since she entered the Space, so she decided to borrow Nyx’s eyes to get a view of the outside. The cat was riding in the helhurst’s shadow, making it hard to make out the surroundings in the beginning. She quickly adjusted though and, sure enough, saw a walled city standing in the distance. Having grasped their location she switched back to her own vision and stood up, walked to the edge of the space and reached through. There was a startled squeak from her familiar as she appeared beside him in the undead horse’s shadow.

Now that her mana had turned green, as a Scion she obtained a manipulation ability. Hers was obviously {Shadow Manipulation}, the ability to control shadows in any way she pleased. She could elongate shadows or shrink them at her whim, could enter and move through them like her cat. Also, she no longer had to let Nyx eat her to step into the {Void Space} because she could now access it through the shadows.

Before the cat could have any other reaction, Sage picked him up, cast [Flight] on herself and flew out of the Shadow while turning intangible. This act surprised the horse, which had an abrupt reaction that nearly threw off its riders.

“This is far enough,” she said, deliberately ignoring what had just happened. Her words were directed at Isaac. “Ditch the horse. From here on we’re on foot.”

While it had been okay to move about with a frosty-breathed horse in villages and towns, to do so in a city like Rupheus would be too eye-catching. Looking at it from a distance, it size was nowhere near Yshta or Tiih, but it was still a city of immense size; probably home to some knowledgeable individuals. This place was the homebase of the dead arsehole mercenaries, meaning it housed a Guild building as a gathering point for their rugged kind.

Those in the mercenary profession were knowledgeable; a trait one had to have to survive long in their business. As such, there was a need to compile a bestiary of all creatures they encountered. If any half-competent mercenary saw the helhurst, they would want to make a detailed report of it.

There was no protest as the two promptly dismounted; one with a frown and the other with a vacant facade. The frowny one turned to the mount and whispered to it to explore the grassless fields before turning to Sage.

“What now,” he grumbled.

Ignoring his tone, she grabbed his shoulder and told the little girl to hold her arm. Then she {Blink}ed… all the way to the foot of the wall.

Now that her mana had reached the 9th Order, it was possible to move across even larger distances. To {Blink} two to three kilometres away was not difficult. Both Isaac and the girl were unprepared for her actions though, which caused them to nearly lose their footing. Fortunately, they both managed to stabilise themselves quickly; Isaac by finding his balance and the half-orc girl by holding tighter onto Sage’s arm. When she was certain no one would be toppling over, Sage walked into the wall’s shadow and out the other side. Then she let the two go and looked around.

Dawn was upon them. They had foregone the line likely forming up at the gate and entered Rupheus.