Taking on and off breaks from using [Mystic Eyes], Sage was able to follow the squirrel's transformation over the next couple of hours. She watched its futile struggle as the vampiric mana spread to its body; saw it writhing on the ground, as copious amounts of its blood fled to its eyes. In the final moments of its conversion, she lifted it in her palm and felt its tiny heart's insane throttle.
The regular heartrate of a squirrel was around two hundred beats a minute, which- in her opinion- was already a wild number. In the last throes of this particular critter's struggle, its heart beats were so fast that they blended together, making it hard to get an accurate count without an adequate method. It did not take long before the ridiculous rate proved too much for the rodent, sending it over the edge and forcing its body to shut down. Sage observed silently as the life flowed out of the creature. An aura she associated with undead soon flowed into its tiny body. Moments later its eyes sprang to life, two crimson orbs of madness. The rodent's fiery pools glared at her with intensity as it snarled deeply, revealing rows of jagged teeth in the process.
She had gleaned a little from observing the metamorphosis, but not so much that she was able to figure out how to the reverse-engineer the process of creating a vampire from scratch. Maybe if she observed a few more transformation, her gains would be more significant. Looking into Blood Magic would be a good idea as well. Even though she was unable to use it, it could still possibly shed light on vampires. Unfortunately, the Cryptmaker had nothing on the subject, so she would have to search somewhere else.
With the rodent still in her grasp, she cast [Dark Drain], watched the unlife flow out of its body into her and then tossed its ashy remains aside. After that, she got up, dusted herself off and put her mask back on.
"We've lingered here long enough." Her words were directed at Isaac. "Let's go."
Their talk had been fairly recent; it was too soon to know if it had amounted to anything. Only time would tell whether it was a success or not.
With that, they were back on the road. As had previously transpired, she quickly got fed-up with the wind against her face and took refuge in Nyx's {Void Space} once more. Inside, she checked the map of Lethia that she had plundered from Baron Ennard's study. The map depicted the whole of Lethia, listing many features and settlements, including Tima. The first village they had passed was unsurprisingly not shown.
The next large settlement after Tima was Rupheus, a relatively large city; the third largest in all of Lethia. One of the books Sage had plundered was titled Lethian Places of Note. She flipped through it and sure enough there were pages dedicated to their next destination.
Rupheus was located on a barren patch, which usually did not bode well for settlements. However, the city's advantage was that it was surrounded by various mines of gold, silver and other precious metals. In fact, the place had started out as a mining outpost that grew way beyond its initial intention. Now it was one of the economic hubs of Lethia, a place famous in all Lethia for its artistry and metal-working. Anyone in the country with aspirations of becoming a well-known smith dreamt of apprenticing in Rupheus.
Obviously, an economic stronghold was a place ripe for exploitation, a breeding ground for smuggling and other dark dealings; the perfect place to set up a black market. It would not hurt to look around once she got into the city. Perhaps she would find what she was looking for- a way to strengthen her physique- there. Then she could leave this land and head southwards, out of this part of Rekke. If she finds nothing… then she would continue on to the capital city of Io. If she finds nothing there as well, she would give up and look elsewhere. Or maybe she would just come up with her own method.
According to the blacksmith's wife, the journey from Tima to Rupheus was eleven days on horseback. However, that metric was linked to ordinary horses. The helhurst was an undead beast that required no sleep or sustenance; also, it was stronger than normal horses. Since it could run all day and night without tiring, if they maintained their speed, they would no doubt reach the city in less than three days.
Sage stayed mostly in the Space reading her newly acquired books, though from time to time she would leave to see where they were and ask Isaac if they had passed any signs of civilisation. On all those occasions, the pale knight responded with a shake of the head, prompting her to return her sanctuary.
There turned out to be little worth note in the baron's books. Many of them were about Lethian aristocracy, some were classical poetry and others told tales of illicit affairs naïve stupid girls found enticing. Sage skimmed over most of them before tossing them aside with extreme prejudice. Soon, she got tired of all of them and returned to the old familiar books on magic theory as well the notes on undead creation.
Somewhere along the way, she decided to check back on the spell models of [Harm], [Repair Mortis] and all those from the osteomancy sub-branch like [Bone Lance]. Slowly, a picture of the next undead she would create wormed its way into her mind. The name of her next masterpiece came to her with ease. Considering what she intended, she would name it after a famous monster from Earth mythology.
And so, using the zombie and bone knight rituals as an inspiration, she began to create her own custom ritual circle. Naturally, the circle she formed was expected to work in theory; but an untested theory was just that. To make sure it actually worked as intended, she had to step out of the Space to test it. This meant they had to make multiples stops on the road.
As like before, she had Nyx bring her any small critter he could find in the grass; rabbits, squirrels, rats or birds. She tried the ritual on them, making adjustments where necessary. Sometimes she spied Isaac looking on, unable to conceal the disgust on his features. He kept his mouth shut though; which was good. If he uttered a single word, she would forget her attempt at trying to make peace with him and knock his teeth out; there were few things worse than some arsehole breaking your focus on important matters with snide remarks.
Throughout this time, she did not forget to continue turning more creatures to vampires to observe their transformation. Cracking the secret to creating a vampire from scratch would take months, maybe years; but if she could glean more from the change, she would be able to apply it to the ritual she was planning.
The constant stops and long hours of experimenting rendered her three-day estimation null. The third day came and went, then the fourth; they hardly moved that whole time. At some point Isaac got tired of doing nothing and finally got off his arse to start swinging his sword.
Although she was busy with her experiments, momentarily focusing her attention elsewhere did not hurt the results. Occasionally, she would set her eyes on him as he swung his sword. At first the swings were clumsy and lacklustre; however, as the time passed his moves became vigorous and defined, forms practised over a long period of time. Sage was no expert in swordsmanship, but she had no trouble telling how impressive the former Guard-Captain's moves were.
It looked like some part of their conversation had penetrated the bastard's skull, because he began to include {Chill} in his forms, frosting over the grass around him. His efforts to improve himself satisfied her and with that, she dove back into her test; this time with a lighter mood.
Another day passed and Sage finally decided to stop her experiments. She had made much progress, but adjustments could still be made; there was always room for improvement. But that would have to wait for another time. It was time to move on. Nyx had caught so many critters in the surrounding that she would not be surprised if they had decimated the ecosystem. If they stayed any longer, she suspected they would run out of critters.
"We're leaving," she said aloud as she fed the familiar her conclusive notes from the experiments.
This time, she opted to stay outside and watch the scenes go by. There was only so long she could tolerate being stuck in a dark enclosed space without getting tired of it. Also, although she liked reading, there was a limit to how much she could take before she got tired of it. Basking in the open air was a welcome change.
But this is not cool, she thought, her focus on her hands which were wrapped around Isaac's midriff.
This was not an enjoyable way to travel. The helhurst was muscular, much more than it had been when it was just a regular horse. Sitting on its back was not doing favours for Sage's rump. If not for the fact that she was undead, she suspected that her entire arse would have been bruised by now. Also, having to hold onto the bastard for dear life was not something she found the least bit enjoyable.
That settles it! When we get to Rupheus I'll buy a coach, she decided.
Nothing fancy like the ones belonging to that merchant family, the Delsartes. All she needed was something comfortable to sit in, with a roof to protect her from the elements. Also, it did not have to be too big, though not too small either; something the helhurst could drag on its own without attracting too many eyes.
Within an hour of the beast galloping madly, there was a noticeable change as the plains' grass became shorter and trees rarer. Even the small animals she would occasionally usually catch jumping out of the grass became less and less frequent until she saw no more.
However, the road remained steady, they even crossed a sign that pointed to Rupheus, with an indicator of the city being two hundred and thirty kilometres away; days for most on horseback, but only several hours of trotting for them. That was the original intention; but a few dozen minutes from the sign, they came across an inn on the side of the road.
For the past few days, the only company Sage had was a sulking bastard, an surprisingly silent cat and a scoffing horse; she was tired of all of them. With the sun setting overhead, she came to a quick decision.
They would be spending the night here.