The Leveling Compendium

[ABlueJelly]

Uh, really, you can do kiel 1 no problem if you don't suck with firewall... and same with kiel 2, except you need to freecast kite alicels.... a warning with that, each alicel will use a different amount of position lag, but as long as you're moving when she snaps, you won't take a hit.
I solo'd both as both a sage and a prof. It's a decent place and the income from the rare drops is actually pretty good. But yeah, no need for an HP or whatever, just L2Firewall =P
As to "Dark" being a problem, only constants and kiehl are dark, the rest are all high-level neutral. Maids are demihuman, constants formless (just be pro with firewall and these are easy... and it trains you for reacting to ninja valks in DG), and Alicel/Aliot are both demons- meaning if you are using a requiem hat, you've got some nice bonus damage coming in from that.

If you can get yourself bathory or ED armor, Manuk Field is amazing. Nepenthes are about 3 geos rolled into one, and can be out-ranged with dark/undead armor, centipede larva drop an amazing card, bradiums move slowly so if you have dispell and are good at kiting, you can even do them with siromas (and you don't always need dispell, they don't always go into Steel Body), and firewall > tatas and centipedes. Hell, I trained my prof as a high-mage at nepe 'cause they're so great XD

If you haven't noticed a trend here...
Whenever there's a question about who's tanking
The best answer is almost always "Firewall" or "Freecasting". Safety Wall has its uses, but there's a gemstone requirement, whereas a good firewaller can even mob lower-health things with it (Firewall mobbing mantis on a mage is fun =D)


EDIT:
Oh forgot to put in a couple of other options and notes...
With lv5 freecasting you move at about the same rate as a Snowier, so if you get higher than that you can kite them in your sleep- and Ice Titans are even slower.

Siromas are always good because doublesiromabolt is better than firebolt (not impbolt/dblimpbolt) on lv1 earth, and just as good against lv2.

You can totally mob isillaberks in Rache 1/2 with Heaven's Drive (or TS really but if you got TS over level 1 (for tapping in Thor's), imo you're doing it wrong. TS is only stronger than HD at level 7 (and higher), has a lot more delay/cast time, and is an element you have a single-target spell for. HD is a good choice for your earth ele spell as it also reveals stealth). It's a bit slow until you get good at freecast mobbing into your own spell circles, but then it's rather entertaining.

Unless they specifically say magic damage or matk, cards DO NOT effect your magic damage. A quad SPC rod will NOT make you a good BK.

Mi Gaos are also a pretty good option. Easy to get to (louyang field), only real hazard is Mantis who can be firewalled without nearly any effort (I wasn't having problems with it with 20 dex and a morph set on), and mi gaos will happily run into your firewall until your bolt spell finishes.

My advice for your build is focus on getting more int for damage, then at around 70 total int, pump dex till you're comfortable with you firewall/swall cast, then finish pumping int to 99. This is assuming you're gonna be bolting for most of your sage's carrier.

Freecasting is a fixed movement rate. If you're cursed and need to move faster than a slow crawl, start casting something.

And lastly.... the Sage/prof land-based AoE's bonus damage ignores elements or something. How do I know? You can cold bolt Valks if you're in Deluge. They're immune to water.

EEDIT:
Man, the mosco quest has always given me the two kappas and the merman v_v My crus just potted and bashed them to death, my thief hid, and my SL timed them out without hide like a baws. YES, YOU CAN JUST TIME THE MONSTERS OUT IN FIVE MINUTES AND STILL COMPLETE THE QUEST.