The gem beside him had grown as big as an apple and Andar brought it to his mouth and took a big bite, it crunched as if he had bit into glass, and he nearly moaned in pleasure as the Essence of vitality he just ate was very delicious.
Andar felt every cell in his body begin to cheer and loosen up as if anticipating the feast to come. He would have to disappoint them and give them only this tiny amount of vitality, he needed to forest transform his Spirit Matrix before he could transform his body.
He ate the rest of the vitality gem in quick short bites and directed more of his unique Spell to move ahead of him, he spammed the Spell twice as fast as before, but he still forced himself to move at the same speed and not rush his ascent to the Crown.
Haste makes waste, and every step he took was to prepare him for the second great step in his life, which was to become a Mage.
The first was his Awakening, the second was his present quest to become a Mage, the third step would be when he became an Archmage, and the fourth… well, only a single Mage since the beginning of time had crossed that threshold and became a Supreme Mage.
Andar focused on the methods he was using to cast Spells, refining their purpose and processes in his head.
A talented Mage with a firm grasp of Spellcraft would be able to use his Spirit in combination with Aether and the Spell Maps or Spell Nodes or any unique methods the Mage knew how to interpret spells to activate the spell of their choice without needing to Engrave it in their Spirit Matrix, this was the primary method all Mages use to cast Spells.
Of course, this all depended on the Spirit Capacity of a Mage and the complexities of the Spell.
There were also special tools like the staff of a Mage where unique Spells could be attached inside, Talismans, puppets, Alchemical potions, and many other offensive and defensive strategies available to a Mage.
From Tier 0 to Tier 8, the complexity of a Spell increases and generally, there is a sharp spike in this complexity between the various Orders of Spells.
A Low Order Spell of Tier 2 was ten times as difficult to cast than a Low Order Spell of Tier 0, but this difficulty increased more dramatically when compared to a Mid Order Spell of Tier 3, which could be twenty to thirty times more difficult to cast than a Tier 2 Spell.
This was the sole reason why most Mage would wait until they had a solid grasp over Spells of Higher Order before they Engraved them inside their Spirit Matrix.
This was not an option that Andar enjoyed, unlike every other Mage, he could not Engrave any spells inside his Spirit Matrix, although he hoped that this might change when he became a Mage.
The greatest advantage to this process was that every Spell in your Spirit Matrix could be instantly cast, and depending on the Meditation Art you practiced, you could cast the same Spell multiple times without any issue, because aside from pulling Aether from your surroundings or any Aether dense material for a Spell, a large amount of Aether was stored inside the Spirit Matrix, with your Meditation Art determining the size of your Spirit Matrix and the amount of Aether that could be stored inside of it.
Spirit Bodies were a special case because their bodies could also hold Aether just as well as a Mage if not better, even while they were still Acolytes.
The advantages of being a Spirit Body became lesser the higher in Rank a Mage becomes, ultimately every Rank 9 Mage could be said to have half a Spirit Body and every Archmage was a full Spirit Body, maybe it was the reason the descendants of Archmages were most likely to have a Spirit Body.
For each Rank a Mage climbed, their bodies became Elementalised by a few percent, and the degree of change was determined by the Meditation Art they used. Some could active a 1 percent Elementalised rate at Rank 1, while others could reach as high as 7 percent.
The bodies of the Mage would become more acceptable to Aether and other foreign energy, and in the end, they would no longer become creatures of flesh and blood but of energy.
Do not consider the fleshy bodies of an Archmage and be deceived, they were all creatures of vast and potent energy.
Andar and every Spirit Body had an advantage because their bodies were filled with Aether, making it easier to Elementalise them and even granting a boost to the degree of Elementalization I'm each rank, it was the reason they were most likely to become Archmages, due to the fact that the greatest barrier holding a Mage from become an Archmage was the degree of Elementalization of their bodies.
Andar peered at the silver light shining underneath his skin that showed all the veins and arteries in his arms, even his bones would glow anytime he breathed in and out, there was nothing mortal about his appearance, even if he was still viewed as one, but it only took a careful look at his physique for anyone to understand why he was given the title of the Number One under Heaven.
Compared to an average Mage who may have thirty to fifty Engraving Nodes inside their Spirit Matrix, Andar had hundreds, and when he became a Mage, he would have many hundred more.
He also could easily learn any Tiers of Spells from a Low Order Spell to a High Order Spell and yet he could not Engrave any Spells in his Spirit Matrix, because, unlike the average Mage, Andar's Meditation Art did not grant him any Engraving Node like a Mage but instead gave him what he called Engraving Tiles.
However, Andar did not need Engraving Nodes, when with each floor of the Endless Vault he climbed, casting Spells became increasingly easier.
He just wanted a more robust Spirit Matrix and a more powerful body so he could keep ascending toward the peak.
'I can feel danger coming. It is so close to me, and yet I'm too weak to change anything.'
Beside him a stream of tears began to gather.
