A Shocking Change! An Opportunity for the Empire's Downfall?

Enslaving Outer Gods sounded horrifying, and in reality, it was. But while it was exaggerated and terrifying, in today's exceptionally prosperous wizarding world, it was not all that unimaginable.

On a smaller scale, many ancient wizard organizations enslaved Outer Gods. Take the Flesh Cult's God of Blood and Bone, for example. Though they claimed it was a partnership, the Dimension World that served as the source of its power had been exploited by the cult until it was worse off than a public bus. At least a public bus charged a token fare.

That alone said a great deal.

What was more, it was not only Outer Gods that could be enslaved. Even true gods could be enslaved!

Take the God of Credit, for example. Compared to Outer Gods, true gods merely enjoyed somewhat greater rights.

And on a larger scale, was the Legendary Gate that sheltered all mad wizards not also a means of enslaving Outer Gods?

Of course, calling it enslavement was less accurate than calling it herding. It penned countless Outer Gods as nourishment for cultivating mad wizards. The Legendary Gate simply lacked such overwhelming coercive power.

But that was only because the Legendary Gate encompassed too broad a range. If its scope were narrowed, its effectiveness would definitely be top-notch.

So while enslaving Outer Gods sounded utterly shocking, it was not impossible!

In fact, according to Isaac's Golden Finger, the chances of succeeding at this were even higher than his chances of successfully making a god!

It was somewhat unbelievable, but that was the truth. Isaac was a mad wizard, and some experiments conducted by mad wizards could take shortcuts!

Isaac did not want to take shortcuts when it came to making gods. That thing was far too easy to mess up, and the God-Making Experiment was already dangerous enough.

Add a "shortcut" on top of that—

Even with cheats, Isaac would not dare play around like that. But the current situation was obviously different. Enslaving Outer Gods...

It was not a respectable undertaking to begin with, nor was it likely to be accomplished through respectable means. After all, it was something only Tier 5 demigod wizards were qualified and capable of doing.

For Isaac, who was still Tier 3, the only way to accomplish it was by taking a shortcut!

Over the past few days, Isaac had gained some insight into the matter. Since his own strength could not accomplish such a feat, he only needed to create a medium capable of suppressing an Outer God for him.

Just like the Legendary Gate.

Naturally, its status would certainly not compare to that of the Legendary Gate. But Isaac did not need anything so powerful. He only needed it to help him control a portion of an Outer God's power.

So long as he did not die, its status would rise sooner or later. Just like the Legendary Gate—it had not been capable of suppressing all Outer Gods from the very beginning.

Still, Isaac needed to think carefully about making this medium. Not just any material could withstand the power of an Outer God, especially the power of multiple Outer Gods.

Boom!

That day, Isaac was in the laboratory, attempting to create materials for the "Demon God Pillars," when an ethereal roar suddenly rang out within his heart. His hand trembled slightly, and the unknown magical beast hide in his hand, which was being eroded by the power of an evil god, instantly turned into a plume of black smoke.

It dispersed into the air.

But compared to the loss of that magical beast hide, the roar that had echoed in Isaac's heart concerned him far more!

First of all, as a quasi-Fourth-Order Wizard walking the path of miracles, Isaac was already a relatively advanced magical lifeform. In theory, ordinary powers would find it difficult to affect a magical lifeform of his level unless Isaac voluntarily lowered his resistance.

But Isaac had obviously not lowered that resistance while conducting his experiment. It was no exaggeration to say that in his current state, Isaac was nearly immune to all Tier 3 mental illusions!

He could even resist some Tier 4 attacks!

Yet in the face of that roar just now, his mental defenses had not served any purpose at all, as though they... did not exist!

More frighteningly, based on Isaac's preliminary judgment, that roar had encompassed the entire wizarding world!

Something major was about to happen!

The next moment, Isaac's speculation was answered, and his expression abruptly changed. A stream of information flooded into his heart...

Boundless Spire, the first great creation of the Great Wizard. It forcibly admits lifeforms from Tier 4 to Tier 6. Tier 3 lifeforms may choose whether to enter.

Complete the Boundless Spire's trial, and you may directly advance one tier with perfect advancement.

!!!

"Seeing" the information that had suddenly appeared in his mind, Isaac was dumbfounded. The amount of information contained within it...

Was enormous!

First, it once again shattered his understanding of the Great Wizard. At first, he had believed Great Wizards were Tier 6. Later, after learning that even the Tier 6 powerhouses of the cult were pursuing the path of the Great Wizard, he had concluded they were Tier 7. But now, it seemed—

Even Tier 7 was likely far from enough.

After all, if Isaac, who had already reached the end of High Wizard, could not casually promote someone into a High Wizard with perfect advancement, then by the same logic, a Tier 7 being definitely could not casually grant a Tier 6 being perfect advancement into Tier 7!

After all, this was perfect advancement!

Beyond his shock at the Great Wizard's power, Isaac also vaguely understood the true reason behind the Empire's downfall. The Emperor's death was an important factor, but it was definitely not the only one!

Isaac had been curious about this before. The Empire was an empire not merely because of the Emperor's overwhelming individual strength. The Emperor was powerful, but there were demigods as strong as him, or even stronger. For instance, the Queen of Witch Country was also a demigod, yet Witch Country could not be called an empire at all.

The Empire's true foundation lay in the powerful knights hidden behind every Grand Lord!

Indeed, the Faith Power from each territory could only support a limited number of knights on the Path of the Gods.

But!

That did not mean those who stepped down simply became useless. Take Solomon's family, for instance. After his eldest brother Caesar inherited the position and their father stepped down—

His father's strength as a High Knight had not vanished. He simply could no longer progress on the Path of the Gods.

But that did not mean they had no way to increase their strength. If the Path of the Gods was blocked, they could simply take another path and become magical beast knights.

There were many nobles like Solomon. And once one reached Tier 3, barring outside interference, living for several centuries was perfectly normal. Yet—

A Tier 3 High Knight normally required only sixty or seventy years to cultivate. One could imagine just how many powerful knights were hidden behind the Empire's countless nobles!

Those were the true pillars of the Empire!

That was why Isaac had been so curious before. The Emperor was indeed powerful, but not to the point where the Empire would collapse the moment he died.

But now he understood. He understood everything!

The Emperor's death was certain, and as his conflict with the Lord of Myriad Flesh intensified, that day was drawing ever closer. Now, the Empire's pillars would also disappear for a period of time because of this great creation, and some might even...

Fall!

Yes, fall.

Though the creations of Great Wizards were meant to make this world better, they were not purely benefits. Just as the information stated, this was a trial. Only those who passed would receive rewards!

And trials could naturally never be absolutely safe.

However—

Isaac's eyes flickered slightly as he considered whether he should participate in this trial. To him, the reward of perfect advancement was nothing special, but every great creation held tremendous value for him.

Tier 4 was within easy reach for him, but becoming a Great Wizard was not necessarily so.

At the same time, this trial was obviously not something that could end in a short time. And precisely because of that, the world was bound to undergo tremendous changes. Once he joined the trial, there was a high chance he would miss them.

Relying solely on the power of his territory and the mad wizard organization Mad Heart, they might not be able to land safely amid such a massive tide.

After all, Tier 3 lifeforms were not forced to enter. For a long period of time, Tier 3 would become the peak combat power of the real world. And if this great creation did not pull Tier 4 lifeforms into it, their disadvantage would become even more obvious!

But...

Did he truly need to let such matters affect his own path?

Ultimately, both the territory and the wizard organization had been established by Isaac merely to facilitate his magical research. Neither was his main pursuit. The territory in particular had only gradually been developed as a small toy to keep Rona from getting too bored.

He neither followed the knight's path nor the wizard's trinity path. To him, a territory had no value beyond being used for sacrifices and strengthening the Anchor Point.

It was not even as useful as the wizard organization. After all, he still needed those wizards to get his Floating City running.

Still, the question remained: did he truly need to let these matters affect his own path?

Isaac fell into deep thought.

The territory did not carry much weight for him, but the wizard organization did. Or rather, the Floating City carried enough weight.

But compared to the first great creation of the first Great Wizard, those things seemed somewhat lacking.

However, before Isaac could make a decision, a document was delivered to his imperial enclave deep within the wilderness—an Emperor's Summons!

The Emperor's Summons was the highest-level noble summons within the Empire, something all nobles both loved and feared.

They loved it because every appearance of this summons basically represented enormous changes within the noble class!

Although changes in noble titles were not as rigid in this extraordinary world as they had been in Isaac's previous life, promotion was still difficult, and it became harder the higher one climbed.

But under the Emperor's Summons, anything was possible. Throughout history, there had been multiple unbelievable cases of barons rising against all odds to become dukes!

How could the nobles not love it?

Yet corresponding to that was its immense danger. The reason it could offer such astonishing rewards was entirely due to its brutally low survival rate. Compared to the noble families that were completely wiped out, those that rose through the ranks were merely a drop in the ocean.

After all, only when enough nobles died would the Empire have sufficient land to grant to new nobles.

However...

Isaac looked strangely at the document in his hand. He was not surprised by the timing of its arrival. In fact, this document proved that his guess had been correct. This great creation might be one of the reasons the Empire could collapse!

Issuing an Emperor's Summons under such circumstances was only natural. What Isaac found strange was why this thing had been delivered to him. Although Isaac was nominally an imperial noble, his identity was extremely special. Setting aside the fact that he was the "chief culprit" foretold by the Emperor to bring about the Empire's destruction, and ignoring the mess between Solomon's family and the imperial royal family, his status as a mad wizard alone was enough to make him universally despised...