With various abilities and methods in need of cultivation, Elizabeth decided it would be best if she pushed her Tamed Beasts as they were already far from being useful to her in any meaningful way. The Moose was a p.a.w.n Stage Beast while the Sparrow was at the Soldier Stage equivalent. Both could be significantly boosted from taking in Elizabeth's Grandmist Magic, but it would hurt to have a bit of regular cultivation through master-servant bonding beforehand. After all, they would only be augmented so much before the limits of Fragmented Grandmist became apparent and even then, it was all about potential; a.k.a. Long term gain.

"Mhmm..." In contemplation, a semi-transparent white Magic Circle Manifested before Elizabeth as the environment blurred around her. With the image of the formula for the Basic Translation Spell clear as day on her mind, Elizabeth slowly began experimenting with all sorts of factors when it came to spell casting to see how best to perfect the Basic Translation Spell. From changing the ratios of Natural Magic to the size of the Magic Circle, to rearranging the formula that manifested the Magic Circle, to even omitting or adding Magic Runes — or the basic alphabet that make up all Spells.

Such experimentation was of critical importance for any Mage to improve their Spells as the variability between individuals is so large that it can accurately be said that no two Mages cast the same Spell. Naturally, that only applies to mastered Spells as all novices use the same foundation. But Elizabeth was already used to the process after virtually perfecting her Fast, Slow, and Spatial Contraction Spells. The process now may be a bit less demanding since she had perfect spells for battle and would need perpetual use in battle to see what areas could be improved, but it was just as slow; unfortunately.

Fortunately, she had a Goldfinger in the form of her functions and her Status Function, in particular, showed off how big of a cheat the otherwise dull Goldfinger could be. Imagine, while other Mages and pract.i.tioners had to guess through trial and failure as to how best to improve their skills, she could just monitor the progression of her skills. It was one of the biggest reasons she improved as fast as she did as it was akin to having peerless master tell you if you were progressing or wasting time.

For a spell as rudimentary as Basic Translation though, she made truly baffling progress. But what would one expect from someone who had mastered both s.p.a.ce and Time Spells before reaching the rank of Saint? Created out of simple and easy to understand Magic Runes and devised for an auxiliary purpose, Elizabeth only took an hour and a half to bring her Basic Translation Spell to the pinnacle of its power; or so she believed until a prompt from her Status Functions surprised her.

[Name: Basic Translation

Grade: SS (Level 3 Spell Seed)

Neutral Energy Cost: 5 units of Neutral Magic initially and 1 unit for every subsequent ten seconds of prolonged activation. Add 1 unit of Neutral Magic for every other target added under the Spell's effect.

Description: Constructed out of a perfected formula, this spell seed is among the few that can evolve into a True Spell before the user reaches the Spirit Realm.

Current Effect: Conveys as close to a perfect interpretation of the user's speech as well as the targets' speech as possible to all parties targeted. Limited only by the user's reserves as to how many targets may be affected at the same time.

The conditions to evolve the Basic Translation Spell has been unlocked

-Reach Level 20 (✔)

-Perfect the Foundational Formula to the Peak of the Third Level for Spell Seeds (✔)

-Acquire insight into the true nature of the Basic Translation Spell (Pending)

-Formulate the Foundation for the Spell's evolved Formula (Pending)]

"Insight? The f.u.c.k is that suppose to mean?" Elizabeth asked no one in particular, though to a certain black-haired blue-eyed deity, it was as if she was being asked directly. Naturally, Persephone b.u.t.ted in and responded, "It's asking you to figure out the Spell's purpose."

Irritably, Elizabeth retorted, "Um, isn't that obvious? It's to give people with different methods of communication a way to communicate without going through the motions of learning a new language."

"Yeah, that's like me asking you what the purpose of fire is and you telling me to create light or heat."

"Yo-Who'd be dumb as to ask what the purpose of fire is? As if that's even a question..." Shaking her head as she spoke, Persephone could be seen doing the same from her own dimension as she looked at Elizabeth as if she were an idiot.

"We'll see how dumb of a question it is..." Returning to complete silence after giving Elizabeth as much help as she could, Persephone hoped her chosen would open her eyes to the real world before it was too late…

Shaking her head in confusion, Elizabeth tossed this mystery to the back of her mind as she moved on to cultivate s.p.a.cetime. She had already decided to make the Forsaken Continuum Baptism Method her main cultivation method as her Temporal Meditation Method had essentially been completely cultivated with her Time Affinity reaching Mediocre Tier and her cultivation base approaching the end of the Mortal Realm. With the Basic Translation Spell also cultivated to the level where she would no longer need to worry about interacting with the residents of the Shadow Realm and the various Spirit Veins in her possession, it was about time she honed in on a single cultivation method.

Thus, with about an hour left to kill before her Macabre Moose made it to Tyre, Elizabeth sunk into the seemingly impossible task of fusing s.p.a.ce and Time Magic. Even with her Mediocre Tier Affinities for both s.p.a.ce and Time it wouldn't be an easy task; not even remotely. To begin, Elizabeth summoned some s.p.a.ce Magic on her left hand as an equally small amount of Time Magic coalesced on her right hand.

Fortunately, what she was attempting was the fusion of matching energies as she would be in absolute peril had she attempted to do the same with ant.i.thetical energies. Bringing the two ma.s.ses of energy together, Elizabeth met with tons of resistance which stressed her even though she purposefully used extremely small quant.i.ties of energy to begin the fusion process. Yet that was all; it was only rejection and resistance, like that of two magnets of the same pole trying to stick.

If it had been say… Fire and Ice that she was attempting to fuse in this manner, then there was a very real possibility of the resulting Cold Flames imploding in her face without warning. Fortunately for her, her Fire and Ice fusion had already come and gone. She had risked hot or cold death of the soul in the past and would consequently not have to see a physical threat, at least not if she didn't go beyond the limits of her control...

So, for the next fifteen or so minutes, to a normal person, the white-haired crimson-eyed demon from Earth could be seen trying to clap her hands as she sat unmoving on her sprinting Macabre Moose. Alas, before she could make it to Tyre, she was startled out of her fusion attempt as her Tamed Beasts began to complain; they were hungry…

"Mhmm…" Elizabeth jumped off her Moose Beast as looked around the immediate area. Apparently, through the hundreds of kilometers that they had crossed, even though the aura surrounding her had been the main reason no wild Monster Beasts had dared bother her, the average level for Monster Beasts in the area was still around 11. It would be a cakewalk for Knight to find food on its own, but the moose would be hard-pressed to do the same; it being a weak Level 9 p.a.w.n Stage Beast.

"Both of you can go hunt for your own meals. You have an hour." Elizabeth said, before turning to Knight and commanding, "Now, if 'he' is in danger do your best to help." She wasn't fond of babying her Tamed Beasts, so without caring much for how the Moose would struggle, she dismissed her Beasts to search for their meals.

After burning a little spot for herself to sit in as she waited for her Tamed Beasts to return, Elizabeth kept trying to shove the s.p.a.ce and Time energies into each other. Her progress so far could be boiled down to her hands being able to come a centimeter closer to each other, but the energies themselves were still far from being able to fuse at all.

…

Hundreds of kilometers away from Elizabeth, back in the tent she had set up for their group, Sun could be seen in his room messing around with an alchemical cauldron. He had come back from his surveying trip in dismay from how weak all the monsters in the immediate vicinity were. But his trip wasn't completely fruitless as he picked up enough materials to begin practicing the basics of alchemy.

Apart from the dozens of monster corpses he had reserved in Storage Enchantments, he had picked up close to half a kilo of Mortal Grade Herbs. Thus, after reading through the jade slip Maria had gifted him completely and then rereading the basics, he began taking his first steps as an alchemist.

In the room to his right, Jane had begun practicing the art of formations well before him and though she couldn't be considered an even half a master, she could set up some of the most basic formations without much difficulty. She had prepared the material to start her career as a formations master before crossing into the Shadow Realm with Elizabeth and since the most basic formations could be drawn with just Spiritual Chalk, she had gone through the motions and drawn dozens of formations by now.

About an hour into Jane's practice with formations, she could hear in the room to Sun's left, the sounds of Tristan roaring; probably as a result of him having broken through into the Path of Extreme Physicality. After that roar died down and peace was restored to the tent-like fortress, the ensuing silence only remained for a couple hours before explosions would periodically sound off from Tristan and Sun's rooms. Both men were a bit too eager to make progress in their respective secondary occupational fields and would often bite off more than they could chew; hence their experimental pills and talismans blowing up in their face...