Return to Familiar Grounds, but Everything Had Changed

Although Miracle: Deification still fell far short of Isaac's expectations, it was already enough to meet his current needs. Most importantly, it pointed Isaac toward the path of Enslaving Gods.

Sure enough, choosing the List of Deities for his third-tier story had been the right decision!

Still, unlike legends, miracles had one regrettable limitation. No matter how many abilities and items in a story readers yearned for and dreamed of, only one miracle would ultimately be born from it!

Miracles were one of a kind!

That meant things like the Four Swords of Zhu Xian, the Taiji Diagram, the Pangu Banner, and other absurdly powerful treasures from the novel could only serve as background dressing. After all, turning them into legends would require gathering Faith Power until who knew when.

Still, while those overpowered items were out of reach, weaker ones might yet be possible. Of course, that had nothing to do with Isaac right now—he did not have that much Faith Power.

With a wave of his hand, Isaac dispersed the Miracle Power lingering around his fingertips, then turned and left the basement. His advancement was complete. Next, it was time to make some final preparations.

For instance, arranging where Smith and Rona would go.

Originally, Isaac had intended to bring them along. With his support, passing the Boundless Spire's trial and completing their advancement would have been practically guaranteed. But now that he had advanced to the fourth tier, they naturally could not travel together.

Although passing the trial would not be difficult with their strength, it was better to be safe. And since they could accurately choose the Boundless Spire's trial world, they should naturally pick one most suitable for them.

Smith was a Pure-Blooded Giant Dragon, while Rona was a Dragon Witch. Their compatibility was fairly good, so they should be able to find a suitable trial world.

Besides the two of them, Isaac himself also had matters to prepare. The spell for Enslaving Gods was nearly ready, so naturally, the god to be enslaved also had to be prepared.

Weaving a Virtual Godhead required the participation of several kinds of Divine Strength. Isaac had not yet figured out how to weave a sufficiently powerful Virtual Godhead, but making one in a hurry for temporary use should not be difficult.

Probably.

However, he had to leave the Imperial Capital to do that. So after leaving the basement, Isaac called Smith and Rona over and headed out of the Imperial Capital in a carriage.

The carriage had barely left the Imperial Capital when it stopped. Isaac frowned, closed the book spread across his lap, lifted the carriage curtain, and leaned out. Looking at Noence Prince, clad in black armor and mounted on a warhorse similarly covered in black barding, he glanced at Remington behind him and said flatly, "What is it, Your Highness?"

Noence nodded and said as if nothing were amiss, "Filo has already told me about the Wilderness Dungeon. First, on behalf of the Empire, I would like to thank you for extending a helping hand at this time. Second, I would like to invite you to my estate so we can properly discuss our cooperation. After all, you and I will be acting together from now on."

"No need. I prefer to act alone. If the opportunity is right, I'll make my move." With that, Isaac lowered the curtain.

Crack~

Smith flicked the whip, then looked at Noence Prince, signaling for him to move aside.

Noence fell silent for a moment. The reins in his hand shifted slightly, and his warhorse quietly moved to the side, clearing the way for Isaac's carriage.

Seeing this, Smith immediately drove away. As Noence Prince watched the carriage recede into the distance, his grip on the reins gradually tightened. Beneath his calm expression lay boundless fury.

Since when had some little brat dared speak to him like that?

Yet despite his anger, Noence Prince did not act rashly. The reason was simple: it was a decision made by the royal family. In the royal family's eyes, Isaac, who had advanced to the fourth tier by taking a shortcut, possessed the ability to defeat—or even kill—him!

That alone was enough to make him wary. What irritated him most was that the order to cooperate had come from the royal family, strangling all of his "brilliant ideas" in the cradle!

He could only watch as that bastard quietly accumulated strength, then face him in the Wilderness Dungeon...

A fierce killing intent flashed through Noence Prince's eyes, but he immediately suppressed it. His top priority now was preparing for battle. He was not a wizard. Even if he successfully passed the Boundless Spire's trial and advanced to the fifth tier, he would still be far weaker than an ordinary fifth-tier expert, even with a perfect advancement.

There was no helping it. That was determined by the nature of a knight's profession.

Still, the Boundless Spire had existed for so many years, and there were ways to deal with that problem. One was to obtain extraordinary powers whose inheritances had been cut off because they were too powerful, such as the Radiant Knight.

Unfortunately, the Wilderness Dungeon did not have one. According to the Empire's records, only two exceptionally powerful inheritances were clearly documented there, and one of them belonged to spellcasters...

Although the Blade of Raging Thunder was a knight's extraordinary inheritance, it was not particularly powerful.

Fortunately, aside from such inheritances, there was another method: learn fifth-tier combat techniques in advance, then conduct a special ritual of mortal combat within the Boundless Spire. Through that ritual, one could hone fifth-tier fighting techniques ahead of time!

Although this would cause the difficulty of the Boundless Spire's trial to soar, it was still better than becoming a legendary ornament with nothing but raw power afterward.

Do not underestimate that brief gap. If some fourth-tier opponent caught the chance to issue a challenge, he might truly become a laughingstock for generations!

Under normal circumstances, once someone reached the fifth tier, not even a pig could be defeated by a fourth-tier opponent punching above their weight.

But this was not a normal situation, was it?

After staring at Isaac's departing carriage for a while, Noence Prince led Remington back toward the Imperial Capital. He was not willing to be nothing more than a discarded pawn!

And he believed those people would not be willing either!

On the other side, Isaac did not know what Noence Prince was thinking. Of course, he could guess some of it, but he did not care. After advancing to the fourth tier and obtaining that spell, Isaac would soon lack nothing!

Upon arriving at Filis Town, Isaac sat outside the carriage and looked at the familiar little town, unable to stop a surge of emotion. It was here that he had ruthlessly earned his first pot of gold!

He had made a killing!

It was also here that he had personally killed his second brother, who had betrayed him once again.

And it was here that he had first witnessed just how insane a Mad Witch could become...

As he reminisced, the carriage stopped before a small courtyard. This was the temporary residence Smith had prepared. Smith had originally wanted to buy somewhere larger, but although Filis Town had been rebuilt once, it still retained a strong air of adventure. Its permanent residents were still mainly adventurers.

And among adventurers, estates and luxurious mansions were not popular. Naturally, Filis Town had no such properties for sale.

Fortunately, this did not matter much to Isaac. He would return to the Mage Tower for his experiments anyway. Staying here was merely convenient for waiting on the Terra Royal Family's orders.