Standing up and shaking off all the dust from myself with telekinesis strengthened by the breakthrough in spiritual boundaries, I headed to the area where the girls were supposed to be hunting. I'll give them the Mind Stones, let them boost their mental resistance, maybe even improve their control.
While walking, I decided to check out my long-awaited artifacts, which I had overcomplicated too much. So much so that their creation took way too much time. So much time that now they're not really needed. Their main advantage is that a Mid-level mage can wear them, and with a few souls, they can casually beat several junior Commanders to death, or even one mid-level one.
But I'm a High-level mage now. And by picking a suitable set of artifacts for my level, I can casually go toe-to-toe with a high Commander, while fighting within the power limits of a normal mage. And no souls needed to spend.
Now I understand that while I'm growing fast, I can stick to just excellent-quality gear. But when I reach the Curse level, then I can go all out and pour as many resources as possible into my future armor.
The artifacts made by Master Pin for me were as follows:
Artifact wings – Vengeance of the Dark Angel. They consist of two pairs of black wings, one large and one smaller. Their frame is silver-colored, and even the inner parts have blades, so you can attack with them in flight.
In terms of speed, they're on par with my girls' wings, but they can accelerate several times further by absorbing souls. On these, you can even escape a mid-level speed-specialized Commander, though they'll need repairs afterward. After all, the materials the wings are made from aren't meant for such speeds.
Artifact shield – Styx Command. It's a pitch-black shield with a skull in the center and dark-golden patterns across the entire surface. It can't expand like my girls' shields, but it has slightly higher durability compared to them, plus one feature – Skull Crush, which triggers if a monster hits it with its head.
When that happens, if the monster's power doesn't exceed a junior Commander, its skull bones shatter into fragments. It can also grow stronger from absorbing souls, up to killing a mid-level Commander with its ability, but after such overdrive, it'll need repairs.
Artifact dagger – Touch of Hades. It's a long, narrow black dagger. Like my girls' Lightning Blades, it can attack in two modes: normal and overdriven. In normal mode, when wounding a monster, it triggers a rapid necrosis process, which, if you hit a tendon, can leave it without a leg.
In overdriven mode, the dagger pours its entire reserve into one attack, which can turn a junior Commander into a rotting corpse. Enhanced with souls, it can kill a mid-level Commander, but it'll need repairs afterward.
Artifact boots – Tread of Thanatos. They're black boots with silver plant patterns and buckles of the same color. They allow movement at junior Commander speed for five minutes, non-speed specialized, and with soul enhancement, at mid-level speed under the same conditions and subsequent repairs. In shadows, they get a small movement speed bonus.
Artifact armor – Shadow Weaver. It's a dark lightweight armor with silver elements in the style of a hidden assassin, complete with a face mask. The armor weaves in a third-step Initial-level shadow element spell "Flying Shadow," which lets you shift into shadow form and travel through shadows, easing stealth infiltration. By absorbing souls, you can boost shadow travel speed, stealth, and armor durability, though at the cost of future repairs.
As you can see, all the artifacts are in dark colors, and most are even made using black magic-based materials. As I said, though I don't plan to awaken elements from that magic branch in myself, I won't disdain artifacts. In the worst case, just don't use them; they won't provide any channel to my soul for the Dark King.
Eh, the artifacts are truly excellent, not inferior in stats and functionality to many High-level specimens, but I've already outgrown them. Though that armor won't be extra; I've long wanted an artifact for shadow crawling. For my fighting style and frequent infiltrations, it's perfect.
A couple of hours later, I finally found the girls with my spiritual sense. They were in the midst of battling a large group of White Eagles. But by the time I reached them, all the birdies were already lying dead on the ground or twitching from lightning as carcasses, and above them, on High-level first-step Wind Wings, hovered Mu Nujiao with a Lightning Blade in hand.
Her wings differed from the standard ones summoned by this spell in that the feathers were more sharply defined, making them look like real wings growing from her back rather than a magic effect. Apparently, this is a result of her magic enhancement by the Totem Vessel. Just like Zhao Manyan got a turtle shell pattern on his defensive spells, Jiao Jiao gets feather patterns on her movement spells.
"I see you're doing great with your task, and Jiao Jiao even managed to submit her wind element stars. You're all such good girls! Here, take some gifts from Uncle Mu Bai." I extended my briefcase toward my girls and Ling Ling with a smile.
"Is there something for me too?" She eyed TuTu oddly, who accepted it and eagerly opened the briefcase, revealing three faintly silver-glowing stones.
"Yes, this is a very gentle resource for strengthening spiritual boundaries. Each of you can use one with no side effects." I nodded to her and explained to the other girls.
"Wow! I heard spiritual boundary strengthening items are super rare! They bought tons of similar ones for my brother, and he's only on the third now, if I'm not mistaken. How much will these boost us? Half a level? Maybe a full one?" TuTu asked excitedly, knowing I only bring them the best, but still gauging by the consumables her brother used.
"These resources are called Mind Stones. Each one can raise a mage from the third spiritual boundary to the sixth. Considering you're both at the start of the second spiritual boundary, and only thanks to your high cultivation, you can reach mid-fifth. And Ling Ling, at the peak of the first, will likely jump to the peak of the Fourth, maybe even break into the fifth given the energy abundance." I said with a smug smile, watching the three girls' eyes widen.
"Mind Stones? Those are depleted resources—where did you get them? One would cost more than a Soul Seed with domain if sold, and you dragged three and gave them to us like junk. Even the Magic Court patronizing you doesn't have or can't get such resources." Ling Ling stared at me suspiciously, shifting her gaze from me to the briefcase. A second later, her eyes widened even more when she noticed five slots for stones in it, two now empty.
I could only give her an awkward smile. Ling Ling isn't my girl for me to share my secrets. Besides, even my girls don't know where I get these resources, but they have enough tact and trust not to ask. But this pushy pseudo-loli doesn't hesitate to ask awkward questions.
"Anyway, girls, I'll go continue my task. That Rainbow Finch is so sneaky, still can't find it, ha-ha." Awkwardly scratching my head, I sidled away from them under my girls' mocking gazes, planning to slip off and search for my poison element teacher.
"Oh, and if Ling Ling doesn't want to absorb the Mind Stone, shove it into her by force. Pick any orifice you like." I turned, giving the girls my command-request, got nods with sly grins from them, and quickly got far away.