In the blink of an eye, the black fluid rapidly covered this light gold quality spirit gear.

About 3 seconds later, the black fluid pulled itself back together, quickly shapeshifting into 'shoulder guard' form with almost identical vibes.

Carlos held the copied fantasy spirit gear in his palm.

[Frigid Emperor Thermos's Shoulder Guard (Fantasy Spirit Gear)]

[Quality: Light Gold (Fantasy)]

[Durability: 46]

[Special Enhancement: Skeleton Revival level +3, Chill of the Dead +3]

Then he strapped on both left and right, adding another 6 levels to Skeleton Revival.

"This round just boosted Skeleton Revival by 12 levels!"

Carlos did the math—adding the purple spirit gear [Crimson Mourning] he'd scored for wiping out the Golden Sand Society, with its unused Skeleton Summoning +2.

This way,

His total skeleton summoning level hit 45,

With 31 summoning slots used and 14 left over.

"Hell yeah, summoning slots through the roof.

Now not only can all Tulip Shield Guards get evolved,

Most of the new Silver Sword Orchid Skeleton Guards can get summoned too."

Sabina's gifts pretty much covered Carlos's short-term spirit gear needs.

"No need to sweat summoning slots for now.

Next up, the main goal is hunting down high-quality skeletal mounts..."

For shield guards to go through their third evolution into more badass Black Knights, three conditions had to be met:

1).Death Herald spirituality of at least 20.

2).Shield guards hit evolution threshold and learn special riding skill: Skeletal Horsemanship.

3).Sacrifice a purple quality or higher skeletal mount.

"Creatures that can be tamed as mounts are rare as hell.

Let alone skeletal mounts—practically unheard of."

Of course, this didn't stump Carlos. When he'd bailed from the Desolate Desert, he'd been scheming non-stop.

Even earlier, he'd figured out his direction.

"Next stop: Samana Grasslands."

There, Carlos would grab the most important piece of the Black Knight puzzle!

...

Late night, Pergina's Alchemical Treasures.

Pergina sat alone, polishing 'treasures' in the display cases, but her mind was somewhere else entirely.

'That kid Kiri rushed out in a panic and hasn't sent word for days.

She should at least check in that she's breathing.'

That kid kept secrets locked up tight, eyes not like ordinary people but like battle-scarred veterans.

This made Pergina worry—she had a gut feeling that kid would cause major trouble someday.

"Maybe..."

Boom! Boom!

Suddenly, rumbling sounds came from upstairs, shaking the display cases like an earthquake.

Pergina's head sprouted cartoon anger marks as she frantically steadied toppling instruments.

'Damn, here we go again!'

She sighed. Neither student was worth a damn for peace of mind.

One missing for days, all mysterious about god knows what;

The other upstairs messing around with 'how to boil more powerful hot water'?

Getting more obsessed by the hour, hadn't eaten for two straight days.

The upstairs racket got louder. Pergina figured her shop would collapse any minute.

"Demi! Stop boiling water!

Get your ass down here and eat!"

Pergina called out with the patience of a saint. How the hell could she run a business like this...

"I know! Teacher!"

Demi's voice drifted down from upstairs:

"Almost got it!

The first steam device is about to work!"

Her tone was pumped as hell—being so close to success made her forget about food.

Not wanting to hear this bullshit, Pergina couldn't help hollering:

"Bullshit!

That was your line the day before yesterday, yesterday too!

Today it's still 'about to work'!

You trying to make the history books?

Become the first psychic to starve to death?"

Pergina stomped upstairs with murder in her eyes.

She couldn't let Demi keep up this obsession.

Going on like this, success or not, her precious student would starve to death.

That would really be this era's biggest joke.

"Research can wait!

This ends today!

You need food and sleep!"

Creaking open the door—nobody home!

Pergina looked confused, scanning the steam-filled lab:

"Demi?"

"Demi? Come out!"

The lab was clear as day with nowhere to hide.

"What the hell? Where'd she go?"

Pergina frowned, walking to the experiment table.

A weird spherical alchemical contraption was spitting out hot steam...

"The device hasn't been running wild long, meaning Demi vanished real recently."

"Who the hell could've snatched Demi?"

Pergina couldn't help freaking out.

In the crazy short time she'd been coming upstairs, some mysterious force had nabbed Demi.

"Weird as hell!"

Demi was just some regular psychic—what about her would anybody want?

The tracking magic buried in Demi's body kept weak contact, probably due to distance or barriers.

Luckily, her life energy stayed strong, meaning Demi wasn't dead yet.

This calmed Pergina down a bit.

"This direction... is... the Desolate Desert..."

Pergina looked toward where Demi's life signal was coming from,

Eyes going deep like she could see through space to check out extremely far-off situations.

Just then, a cold, seductive voice echoed in the room:

"After all these years, I never expected you'd be living in such a dump."

Red mist spread as thick clouds of blood bats lifted a blood-red figure.

The blood-red figure looked down like royalty, casually checking out the simple shop before finally focusing on Pergina.

Her expression was complicated with hints of nostalgia. Red lips parting, she slowly said:

"Long time no see, my dear sister!"

Pergina groaned internally—

What had to come would come eventually.

She put on a confused act:

"Lady, you've got me mixed up with someone else..."

Trying to play dumb.

Swoosh!

The blood bat swarm vanished as Sabina touched down on the floor, saying with meaning:

"Really?

Besides my dear sister, who else would use Pergina as a name?"

"..."

Pergina was pissed. The name Pergina was way too uncommon—she'd just figured that out.

If she'd known, she should've changed names when she went into hiding.

Too late to cry about it now!

Seeing Pergina's annoyed expression, Sabina covered her mouth and laughed:

"You don't really think it was the name that gave you away..."

Pergina's eye twitched. Seeing she couldn't keep up the act anymore,

Her expression went back to neutral as she said flatly:

"Sabina, you haven't changed a bit."

Sabina's smile died:

"Dear sister, don't you think wearing that face is pretty damn rude?"

Pergina went quiet, putting her hand on her cheek as spiritual energy waves spread, forming a light blue mask.

The mask disappeared, revealing features almost identical to Sabina's—

Equally drop-dead gorgeous, but without Sabina's sex appeal, instead packing cold elegance and a stone-faced expression.

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