She rummaged through the tomes and scrolls, even checked out Arletta’s spell book to find the perfect spell to inscribe.

In all honesty, inscribing her first 5th Order spell was not such a big deal. She was not like those low-end C rank aptitudes who could only inscribe one 5th Order spell. For them, the appropriate spell was a matter of life and death while for her it was just a matter of choosing her first spell. With her aptitude she could inscribe dozens of spells of that Order after filling up her slots for the lower rank spells.

Despite the fact that she could learn more spells later on, she still took inscribing her first 5th Order spell very seriously.

One thing that she had learned during her Advancement to the 3rd Order was that one’s compatibility with a spell actually made the transition easier. For, example, if she were to try and Advance with a dark attribute spell she would have much less trouble than Advancing with a spell of another attribute. For example, if learning Light Magic were not harmful for her as an undead and she tried to Advance with it, she, with a talent for Dark Magic, would have an extremely painful experience when her mana changed.

The transformation of mana got longer and more drastic at higher Orders, which made it extremely painful. Because of this, she suspected there had been those in the upper Orders who died trying to reach a higher realm.

When Sage had Advanced to the 3rd Order she had done so by inscribing the Wind Magic spell [Flight]. That had been a gruelling experience.

Although she was satisfied with the end results, that experience had taught her a lesson to the point where she inscribed [Dark Drain], a spell she almost never used, as her first 4th Order spell.

Now that she was ready to Advance to the 5th Order she was obviously going to choose a spell that was compatible with her Darkborne nature. The only 5th Order spell she found in Arletta’s spell book was earth attribute spell [Tremor], which did not qualify. She even looked in Zachary’s holy book and only saw light based spells such as [Smite].

The tomes in the study revealed several spells that could make her transition easier. However, she could not help frowning when she looked at them.

First off was [Raise Dead V]. The [Raise Dead] series of spells ranged from the 1st Order all the way up to the 9th Order. They were all about resurrecting corpses as zombies. The way it worked was that the higher the grade of the corpse the higher the Order of the spell needed to raise it. All in all, Sage labelled them useless spells considering they could not raise intelligent undead. It was the reason why she had not learned any necromantic spells despite being suited for them.

Since she was uninterested in mindless undead minions, [Create Skeleton V] and [Raise Mass Dead] were eliminated by default.

Sage’s plan was to wait until the 7th Order. According to the geezer, that was when she could learn spells to create undead that could actually talk and think for themselves, not the useless things that Bori kept in his tower.

There was also the spell [Control Undead], which was unnecessary for someone like her to learn.

Which left the only spell he could learn [Darkness]. It was basically a stronger version of the 1st Order spell [Ball of Darkness], the difference being that this one enshrouded an entire area in darkness. She really did not see any use for it other than as cover to escape.

So it was with disappointment that she decided to learn this spell.

The process of inscribing it was actually quite smooth. The spell basically inscribed itself into her being, almost as if it wanted her to learn it. This she attributed to her being Darkborne… whatever that meant. The old man still had not explained it to her. She had not found anything about it in the study either.

It took about five seconds for the spell to be inscribed. When it was complete the entire third floor of the tower was suddenly shrouded in darkness so dense she could not see anything past her nose. Not that she had time to process it. The painful transformation of her mana had already begun.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Luckily it had found her sitting in the armchair, so she did not fall to the floor and writhe like the previous times. It did not make the experience any less painful though. In fact, since transformation of mana at higher Orders was more drastic this experience was the most painful yet. It almost made her want to scream in pain. The only time she could remember being in more pain than this was when she became a phantom.

Fuck! She screamed internally as she felt her toes curl.

She would actually have to endure a more intense shift when she Advanced to the 6th Order? Just this much already made her want to cry. If that was the case then what about when she made it to the 9th or Ultra Order? How unbearable would the pain be then?

After what seemed like forever the process was finally completed. However, she remained slumped in the armchair long after the pain had vanished, the memories of it keeping her from moving.

Maybe I should slow down the speed at which I’m Advancing, she thought.

Why was she in hurry to rise through the Orders again? It was not like she was being pursued by someone, so there was no reason to voraciously climb the ranks. Since she was undead she need not be in such a hurry either. Even if a thousand years passed she would still be there; so why be impatient? She should relax and Advance slowly until she eventually reached the peak. After all, with her aptitude it was just a matter of time.

This was Sage’s current mind-set. She did not want to improve anymore until the memory of this Advancement had become a faint memory.

With this in mind she sluggishly checked herself over with the {Index}.

Race; Phantom (Undead)

Physique: Grade 4

Mana: SS (Brown)

Title(s): Darkborne

She was now in the 5th Order, like that wraith that chased her in the Deadlands. If she met it now she would probably be able to teach it a few lessons.

This comforting thought eased the memory of the ordeal she had just experienced. In a hurry to put it out of her mind completely, she took Arletta’s spell book and began to look through it in earnest; looking for low Order spells that were not on the shelves.

The short mage’s book seemed to mainly contain Earth Magic spells like 2nd Order [Stone Call] and 3rd Order [Ground Spikes]. Her magic talent most likely leaned toward the Earth department. Apart from that there were spells like [Fireball] and [Ice Spike] which Sage had already learned.

There was one spell that caught her attention though and surprisingly it was a spell of the 1st Order.

[Summon Familiar]. She had read about it in one of the books somewhere in the study. As the name implied it was a spell that summoned a life companion to one’s side. Mages 1st to 9th Order all placed importance on this spell. It was one of those spells where the level meant nothing because the summoned familiar would match the strength of the mage. If the mage’s Order increased so would the familiar’s level. There was also the fact that the familiar provided benefits to the summoner, allowing them to comprehend certain spells faster.

Citing this, it was clear to see that the utility of the spell was way beyond its Order. The downside it had was that it could only be cast once in one’s life. Once used a mage could not summon a second familiar to stack to the benefits of the first one.

Seeing this spell in Arletta’s book, Sage was confused. If the short mage had recorded the spell in her book why was it that she did not have a Familiar? If she had one their mercenary band would have been able to scout the bandit hideout easily and they would not have had to go in blind.

Was it that she did not have one or that it gone was elsewhere? If it was the latter case why would she separate from it?

Not much point thinking about it, she shook her head and shrugged after thinking about it. Not like we’ll ever meet again.

Even so, this spell could be extremely useful in the long run. She decided to learn it.

The process lasted less than a second. She did not use it to summon a Familiar though, at least not yet.

First she spent the next couple of hours flipping through the tomes in the library, looking for more spells to learn. In this time she made sure to inscribe [Reduce Burden] in case she encountered a situation similar to the previous night’s.

During this time she also learned a seventh 4th Order spell [Dragon Breath], a bastardisation of the real thing with nowhere near the power. Still, it allowed her to inscribe a second 5th Order spell. For this one she chose a spell that she had been eyeing for some time, [Firestorm]. To learn it she had to leave the tower and fly above it. When she cast it black flames spewed out of her and enshrouded a large area, an act that could have caused a lot of destruction to the tower.

She smiled in satisfaction when she saw it. With this spell she could wreak a lot of havoc if she encountered multiple enemies.

With that done she came back down and landed in the clearing.

Right now she was eager to try out [Summon Familiar].