God Seed Demon Rat!

What was the difference between a God Seed and an ordinary creature?

The answer was faith!

God Seeds could absorb Faith Power to strengthen themselves and even gain new abilities.

As for Faith Power, Isaac knew of three kinds. The first was the most conventional type, born from all living beings' faith in gods—the power of belief. The second was the Faith Power collected by wizards, born from the spread of stories—the power of observation. The third was the Faith Power of noble knights, born from the people living within their territories—the power of existence.

God Seeds could absorb Faith Power born from faith itself. This was a privilege exclusive to gods!

That was because Faith Power born from faith contained far too many wishes and aspirations. Only gods could ignore those countless stray thoughts.

Ordinary people would naturally consider this perfectly reasonable. They were gods, after all. If they were not special, how could they be called gods?

But wizards would ask why. Why could gods absorb Faith Power so easily? If it was a matter of strength, then why could even weak God Seeds absorb it?

And remain unaffected?

Question after question surfaced in his mind. Slowly, a blasphemous idea was born...

Of course, the original owner of Isaac's manuscript had not been powerful enough to slay gods. So he chose to dissect God Seeds that shared the same origin as gods, and ultimately found the answer within them—a special energy network!

This energy network spread throughout a God Seed's entire body. It was the key to sensing and absorbing Faith Power. According to the manuscript's speculation, this network was the most primitive form of Godhood and might one day become the Godhood that granted gods their divine might!

But that was only speculation, with no evidence to support it. Isaac merely glanced at it before setting it aside and focusing on that special energy network.

The first step of Totem Creation was to use Faith Power to create this energy network inside the target.

This was where Isaac was currently stuck. Since he did not know alchemy, he could only use surgery, which he was also skilled at, but...

He failed.

Because this surgery practically required cutting open the target's entire body!

Including vital organs like the heart and brain!

Normally, this would not be called surgery. It would be called deliberately killing rats.

But with the existence of magical Spells, it would not die immediately.

After enduring the painful dissection, it died at the sixth hour...

Cause of death—dissection...

Hehe~

Whether Demonic Rats or Demon Rats, their vitality was far too weak. They simply could not last until the surgery was complete.

"Increase the number of life-sustaining Spells?"

"No. Engraving the Godhood network requires chanting Spells to guide Faith Power. There's no extra time to spare for life-sustaining Spells..."

"Engrave the Godhood network in stages?"

"No. The Godhood network is a whole..."

"..."

"..."

One idea after another surfaced in Isaac's mind, only to be rejected one by one.

And so, with batch after batch of brain cells sacrificed, the entire experiment progressed in an orderly manner... by standing completely still...

As the sun set, golden light spilled into the laboratory and fell across the manuscript pages before Isaac, pulling him out of his contemplation...

"Ah..."

With a heavy sigh, Isaac rose to his feet, stretched beside the window to loosen his stiff body, then walked over to the crucible, lit a fire, and casually tossed several handfuls of Silver Moon Grass inside to boil.

Knight Secret Medicine was an essential item for knight training. It was not difficult to brew; even someone without magic power could make it.

He did not drink it himself, but Barton and the others needed it for training. Perhaps Barton's reward had motivated everyone else. The Guard Squad's training intensity had noticeably increased recently, along with their consumption of Knight Secret Medicine.

Normally, these should have been purchased from outside. Even the poorest lord was still a lord—what master served his own servants?

But first, Silver Moon Grass Territory produced Silver Moon Grass, so brewing it himself saved a great deal of money. Second, a Legendary Wizard's brewing crucible needed to occasionally cook some potions to maintain it, effectively increasing the success rate of brewing magic potions.

That was why Legendary Wizards generally did not leave their crucibles idle for long. Even potions meant for Magic Pets would be brewed in extra batches whenever possible.

Because the process of a Legendary Wizard brewing medicine was actually a faint ritual. Under the influence of that ritual field, the crucible would naturally become less...

Hm?

Isaac, who had been stirring with a spoon, suddenly froze as inspiration flashed through his mind. A ritual...

"Yes! A ritual! Since brewing medicine is a ritual, why can't surgery be a ritual too? Use a ritual to complete Totem Creation? Or apply life-sustaining Spells?"

Seizing that accidental flash of insight, Isaac became wildly excited. He did not even care about the failed batch of Knight Secret Medicine. Tossing the spoon aside, he turned and sat back down at his desk, writing furiously once more!

Rip—

The Demonic Claw emerged from the back of Isaac's neck. Its palm split open, revealing a crimson eye. The eerie eye watched Isaac for a moment, then, after confirming that he had no intention of eating, slowly floated toward the door.

The moment it left the laboratory, the Demonic Claw saw Smith standing guard outside. It waved at him, then continued floating familiarly toward the dining hall. Smith was used to it by now and remained where he was, standing guard for Isaac.

Although Isaac was no weaker than him now, Smith had grown accustomed to this life. He had cared for Isaac this way for over a decade, and it would remain no different in the future.

Until he could no longer stand.

Meanwhile, the Demonic Claw drifted into the dining hall. After glancing at the maid beside it, who had gone rigid with fear, it grabbed roasted meat and fruit from the table before retracting toward the laboratory.

Whenever Isaac immersed himself in magical research these days, the Demonic Claw was the one who delivered food to him.

But because of its savage appearance, even though the maid had seen it several times already, she still could not get used to it. Every time she saw it, she froze...

The next day.

"Haha! I did it!"

Isaac stared at the Demon Rat on the operating table, its entire body stitched full of needles and thread, with a slightly crazed expression of delight.

Using a ritual to directly complete Totem Creation was too difficult. With Isaac's current understanding of ritual studies, he could not accomplish that yet. But using one to replace life-sustaining Spells posed no great problem.

And as long as the Demon Rat's vitality was strong enough, he would have sufficient time to guide Faith Power and engrave the Godhood network within it.

At that moment, Isaac could clearly see faint flickering motes of light drifting from the Demonic Rats in the corner toward the Demon Rat.

This was a basic Spell included in the wizard manuscript, called the Faith Catalysis Spell.

Just as its name suggested, it could forcibly strengthen a target's faith, artificially catalyzing Faith Power. However, this Faith Power was extremely poor quality, and it also damaged the believers' brains.

So normal gods generally would not use this Spell.

Of course, wizards did not care. They were not the ones absorbing the Faith Power themselves.

For example, the original owner of the wizard manuscript.

But the wizardry was not actually complete at this stage.

That was because the Demon Rat had not yet developed its own divine art. It was only instinctively drawing in Faith Power through the Godhood network inside its body, with no means of using it at all. For now, the Faith Power inside it was merely decoration.

But this was only temporary. As time passed, the Godhood network engraved within it would slowly fuse with it, turning it into a true God Seed!

Of course, that process would be rather long and would require a great deal of Faith Power to nourish it.

So the second step was still needed—accelerating its fusion with the Godhood network and guiding it to condense a divine art.

Only after completing this step could it truly be called a God Seed—a Totem!

But this second step was much simpler. To accelerate fusion, it only needed to periodically consume some magic potions and receive some Spells that weakened its rejection response. To condense a divine art, he only needed to choose one of the Three Basic Arcane Spells and engrave it into its Godhood network with Faith Power.

However, although they were called the Three Basic Arcane Spells, this wizard manuscript had limited space and only recorded two: Command Kin and Blessing.

They were very basic divine arts, but both were highly practical.

Of course, besides these two basic divine arts, he could also engrave wizardry models into the Godhood network. There was a certain chance they would be assimilated into divine arts, though the success rate was painfully low.

But Isaac did not do that. He chose Blessing, one of the basic divine arts, for the Demon Rat.

The reason was simple. It was not because he feared failure, but because he had no money...

He was already broke out of his mind. His Demon Rats had not even brought in any returns yet, and he had already lost two of them...

So he could only choose between the two basic divine arts with near-perfect success rates, and he selected Blessing, the one that interested him most.

He was very curious what a Demon Rat, with such a tiny pool of abilities, could possibly bestow upon its "believers" after gaining Blessing.

Unfortunately, all of that would take time. He would have to wait a little longer~

"Phew..."

After locking the Demon Rat inside an iron cage, Isaac walked to the window and looked at the scenery outside, feeling exceptionally relaxed.

Behind his head, the Demonic Claw quietly emerged. Its sharp thumb and forefinger gently picked up a peeled slice of apple from the desk and held it before Isaac, brushing against his cheek.

Isaac smiled and patted the Demonic Claw, took the apple, and put it in his mouth, enjoying the peaceful moment~

It would be wonderful if days like this could continue forever...

Unfortunately...

Isaac shook his head helplessly. He was a greedy man. The manor was too small to satisfy him; sooner or later, he would have to venture out!

But before that, he needed to develop properly, so...

"Ah... Come on. Let's see how the little ones are growing." With his hands behind his back, Isaac left the laboratory and headed toward the breeding grounds behind the castle with Smith, who had been standing outside the door.

"At present, both the Demon Rats and Dragon Lizards are doing well. Their size and internal magic power are steadily increasing. The Dragon Lizards have shown the most obvious growth. In another three days, they should reach the standard you mentioned, Young Master."

On the way to the breeding grounds, Smith gave Isaac a general overview of the current situation.

Isaac nodded. Not bad. It looked like they might make it in time for the Mad Wizard Society's small exchange gathering three days later. He was extremely curious about it.

Although he had been immersed in magical research recently, he still occasionally checked the Mad Wizard Society's chat group. Unfortunately, those people were probably all technical shut-ins. They hardly said anything at all, and he had no idea why.

Perhaps a Dragon Lizard awakened with Giant Dragon Bloodline could be traded for something good?

Isaac was not too sure. After all, everyone who could join the Mad Wizard Society had dared to trade with Outer Gods and come away unharmed. Who among them did not have a few tricks up their sleeves?

But it would not matter even if no one wanted it. He was going this time to broaden his horizons. If he sold it, he would make a killing. If not, he would lose nothing. A Dragon Lizard awakened with Giant Dragon Bloodline was excellent whether kept for personal use or sold to the Flesh and Blood Tower.

When they arrived at the breeding grounds, Isaac saw his little darlings. After examining them in person, he found that the Beast Breeding Ground's effects were even better than he had expected. The Dragon Lizards would probably be able to drink the potion and awaken their bloodlines in two and a half days. The Demon Rats would be even faster; they should be ready for sale tomorrow, plump and well-fed.

Isaac picked out four good-looking ones and set them aside for sale, leaving behind two pairs of Demon Rats for breeding. As for the Dragon Lizards...

He did not touch them. Dragon Lizards had a much longer growth cycle than Demon Rats. Even with the Beast Breeding Ground's cultivation, it would take at least a year before they met breeding requirements...

It would be more efficient to sell them and buy new hatchlings instead.

Afterward, Isaac used the ordinary flesh produced by the Flesh Gem over the past few days to replenish the Demon Rats' and Dragon Lizards' food. Then he left and headed to the training ground, found a patch of grass to sit on, and flipped through the copy of "Arcane Energy Overview - Volume 1" his eldest sister had given him.

He had read bits and pieces of the book over the past few days. Though everything in it was basic, it had helped him greatly. Just some of the small techniques mentioned inside had increased the casting speed of his Three Basic Arcane Spells considerably. Once he finished it all, he was sure to gain even more!

And so, in the blink of an eye, Isaac spent another fulfilling three days. During that time, he successfully sold four Demon Rats and one Demon Rat corpse, earning ten Gold Coins. It was a little low for a wizard's high expenses, but it was stable. Raising Demon Rats involved neither much difficulty nor risk.

For novice wizards, it was a business guaranteed to make money without losses.

But Isaac did not keep those ten Gold Coins. He ordered another ten Demon Rats. That little money could not accomplish anything anyway, so he might as well continue expanding production.

He might hesitate over other business ventures and calculate profits and losses, but when it came to raising rats, he could buy without thinking. He could use them himself anyway, treating them as magical materials purchased at the original price.

The first day of the month was somewhat special to members of the Mad Wizard Society. On this day, mad wizards from different cities, countries, continents, and even worlds—wizards passionate about trading with Outer Gods—would gather in a certain special dimension to exchange knowledge, materials, and information.

In the basement, Isaac stood at the center of a six-pointed Magic Array marked with a skull, holding the Mad Wizard Society's Magic Book in his arms. He closed his eyes and chanted the door-opening Spell.

Rip—

As Isaac chanted, the surrounding shadows suddenly pounced on him, swallowing him whole!

When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing atop a pure white stone pillar. All around him was void. Other than the rows of pure white stone pillars, there was nothing at all—a remarkably primitive Dimension World.