After Vaan finished his self-evaluation, he shifted his attention back to Henrietta, who was nearly done condensing her eighth mana ring with Empyrean Scarletsea's help. As he observed Henrietta's advancement, he realized a few things based on the staggering amount of mana consumed.

Firstly, despite possessing a cheat-like existence, such as Empyrean Scarletsea, to aid her cultivation, Henrietta could not progress further than the Early-stage Transcendent Witch rank. That was because there was never enough mana to keep up with her consumption rate in forming new mana rings.

That said, given Henrietta's status and power, accumulating the necessary quantity of mana for her advancement shouldn't be impossible.

As such, it wasn't that she couldn't advance; she simply chose not to.

The reason was quite simple – Empyrean Scarletsea wanted Henrietta to consolidate her cultivation and build a firm foundation before permitting her to advance further. After all, Empyrean Scarletsea had helped Henrietta become a Transcendent Witch with brute force.

Such a method required time for her to adjust, adapt, and master.

Alas, the flood of mana resulting from Vaan's dual practice with Henrietta forced her to advance anyway.

On that topic, Vaan was quite curious about how the Transcendent Witches achieved their level of power. After all, they couldn't possibly all have an undying-level master like Empyrean Scarletsea to guide and assist them.

Suddenly, Vaan shook his head and put his miscellaneous thoughts aside.

Based on his observation and conclusion, Henrietta would spend considerable time in isolated training after her advancement to consolidate her power. As such, there was no need to stick around and expect further dual practice together any time soon.

They had already reaped considerable benefits from each other. Vaan also wasn't so desperate for physical intimacy that he would need to wait on a woman to achieve it.

As such, Vaan decided he would leave for his journey after he finished guarding and ensuring Henrietta's smooth advancement without incident.

…

Meanwhile, a group of witches suddenly appeared on the southern outskirts of Blackthorn City via a spatial portal.

Victoria sighed as her gaze fell on the grand black city filled with soaring magic towers ahead.

If she hadn't found out her fourth daughter's child was still alive, she wouldn't have returned to the Black Rose Kingdom to look again.

Under Queen Henrietta's rule, the Black Rose Kingdom never hunted the Great House of Caelestis. It could be considered one of the safest lands for their family to settle down. But ironically, it was also in this very land that the Great House of Caelestis lost the greatest talent it had seen since the dawn of magic.

As a result, the Great House of Calestis's relationship with the Black Rose Kingdom had become estranged.

Victoria would avoid coming to this land if she didn't have an important purpose – it contained too much disappointment and sorrow for her to bear.

Given the convenience of space magic, it would only take mere minutes to reach Blackthorn City from Black Dragon Peak. Unfortunately, she still had to respect the ruler of the land and follow the rules.

As such, it ended up taking half a day to acquire the border pass to enter the kingdom – something that shouldn't have taken so long in the past.

"It was unexpected that we had to wait half a day to be granted border access, but at least we are here now, Second Lady," a spatial-attribute elite servant at the Peak-stage Senior Witch rank said, noting Victoria's expression.

"The Black Rose Kingdom is currently undergoing great changes. It's no surprise if security becomes a little strict," Victoria shook her head with a sigh before prompting the group, "Alright, let us enter the city."

"Yes, Second Lady!" the elite group answered.

Shortly after the group stated their affiliation and purpose at the city entrance and received their city permit, Victoria led them directly to the palatial magic tower. At the same time, she didn't forget to check the radar-like screen on her special sensory-type magic tool as it scanned the surroundings.

She became ecstatic the moment a red dot appeared on the upper-middle part of the screen – it implied there was someone with spatial attributes or the blood of the Caelestis family in the city.

However, she suddenly saw several more red dots appear a split second later, and they were all congested in the same location. Such a sight was like getting splashed by a bucket of cold water; it woke her up and chilled her excitement.

Recalling the family had sent another group to the Black Rose Kingdom ahead of time, Victoria sighed with disappointment.

"Second Lady…?"

"It's nothing. Let us keep going."

"Yes, my Lady!"

…

Meanwhile, the moment Vaan confirmed Henrietta's advancement succeeded without an issue, he silently left via spatial shift. He made a quick stop at a couple of stores to buy a few essential items such as medicines, clothes, spices, silverware, and bedware.

Afterward, Vaan entered a small public restroom and never came out.

A poor soul waited two hours to unload his waste before realizing the person who entered the toilet before him was nowhere to be seen. The person seemed to have vanished into thin air. After all, there was only one exit, and it wasn't used after entry.

Where could the person have gone?

…

…

…

Great Ratholos Empire – southern border checkpoint

At that moment, Vaan was queueing in line with a crowd, waiting to pass the security check to enter the Great Ratholos Empire. He was dressed in plain, semi-ragged clothing, seemingly worn out from long travels.

Although he still retained the general traits of a Darkan person, his facial appearance, height, and body structure had all been altered.

He appeared more ordinary, shorter, and a little thin but still muscular – something he could easily achieve with a little makeup and his newly developed body reformation technique derived from his bloodline transformation.

No one who saw him would be able to guess who he was.

Vaan had purposely traveled an extra thousand-odd kilometers just to use the southern border entry. It was the only logical point of entry to roam the Great Ratholos Empire with an official, unsuspected identity.

After all, the northern and western borders were either heavily guarded or completely cut off. The eastern border was not even an option. As such, there was only the southern border left.

Thousands of warriors queue up at the southern border to enter the holy land of warriors every day.

Thus, security was a little more lax.

Of course, given Vaan's strength, he could have simply entered the land directly with his original appearance. However, his status was sensitive, and any reckless act could cause international disputes and stir countless countries into action.

Going through a little inconvenience to avoid the constant pursuit and pestering of flies was the safest and most worthwhile choice. It was also wrong to underestimate the unknown just because he had acquired strength.

More importantly, even if he couldn't be killed, he could still be annoyed.

"Name and purpose?" the border guard inquired with a dull look, having repeated the same tedious process thousands of times daily.

"Vanderlin Pendragon. I've come to train," Vaan calmly answered.

The border guard thoughtlessly nodded as he recorded the information to issue Vaan's identity card when his pen-holding hand suddenly paused.

He glanced up and scrutinized Vaan's scrawny yet lean appearance with a somber look.