[Taqwus]

Might also mention that other than pretenders, mages with greater than, hm, level 3 or so in a given path are actually fairly rare. There are national heroes and some summons that go up to level 5, but they're not that common.

If you're looking to cast some powerful global enchantment that needs level 8 or 9 in a path, it might be best to start with a pretender that can reach that level without too much additional cost.