Now It's Little Mouse's Time!

The next day, Isaac stretched comfortably and patted his cheeks to wake himself up. He sat down at his desk, copied out the Forbidden Knowledge he had obtained from the Black Orc God, then began studying the spells in the Beast Skin Book.

The Beast Skin Book contained only four spells. Three were used to turn black orcs demonic, while one reversed the demonization of half-orcs.

Isaac looked at the first three: Fel Summoning, Fel Infusion, and Fel Shaping.

All three were extremely simple spells with a low barrier to entry. Thanks to the remarkable corrupting and assimilating power of demonic Fel Energy, their success rate was also very high. They could even be used for mass production!

Isaac mastered all three after reading them twice, but they were no help in solving the problem.

Their extreme simplicity only proved that turning black orcs demonic required no technical skill whatsoever. That left him nothing to unravel from that angle.

As for the spell that reversed demonization...

Isaac took one look. It was utterly pointless!

He knew the Black Orc God wouldn't be kind enough to hand over a useful solution!

The spell was called Extract Fel.

In short, the Fel Energy had not corrupted these black orcs deeply enough to turn them into true demons. They had only been demonized, so drawing the Fel Energy out of their bodies would reverse the process.

That was where the problems began. First, Extract Fel was a single-target spell. Second, the target had to remain in one place throughout the extraction, or the spell would be interrupted...

That was ridiculous. If he could already control a black orc, wouldn't it be easier to kill him with one stroke?

He'd have to be out of his mind to go to all that trouble to save a black orc!

Isaac had roughly guessed as much, which was why he hadn't asked for a solution outright during the ritual.

Still, it wasn't as though he had no ideas at all...

Isaac rubbed his chin and considered whether Extract Fel could be turned into a ritual spell. If he could cast it through a ritual, things would be much easier.

But...

"Tsk."

After thinking it over, Isaac shook his head. It wouldn't work.

All four spells had been simplified almost to the level of arcane spells. With his current abilities, he couldn't convert one into a ritual spell.

Once he was sure of that, Isaac set the spell aside. Studying it further would only waste time. He would be better off researching something else that might yield more progress.

For instance, the Forbidden Knowledge he had just obtained from the Black Orc God!

Isaac was interested in necromancy too. In his previous life, he had loved the undead calamities in Western fantasy novels. Raising a vast army of undead at a moment's notice was just too cool!

He certainly wouldn't use it himself, though. Using that stuff shortened your life!

But he couldn't use it, Little Mouse could!

Little Mouse was a divine species, immune to the corruption of Death Magic Power. Besides, all three necromantic spells he had obtained from the Black Orc God had divine spell versions, so they required little research.

The three spells were Bone Construction, Bone Explosion, and Bone Enhancement. Unfortunately, the one Isaac wanted most—Summon Skeleton Soldier—wasn't among them.

But it didn't matter. He wasn't the one who would use them.

Bone Construction used Death Magic Power to reassemble bones however the caster wished. The resulting constructs had to be controlled through Death Magic Power to move.

So even if he made something shaped like a skeleton soldier, it wouldn't be much use. Its combat strength would actually be lower.

The best use Isaac could think of was making bone swords and using Death Magic Power to send them flying through the air. A magical version of flying swords!

That was cool too!

But with Little Mouse's brain, it might not be able to manage them...

"Ah..."

Isaac sighed at the thought. He had been doing everything he could to develop Little Mouse's intelligence lately, but progress was still worrying. He didn't even know what the problem was.

Even if Little Mouse couldn't wield flying swords, though, this divine spell should still give its combat strength a considerable boost.

Especially when paired with the other two spells. Bone Explosion was straightforward: it detonated the Magic Power inside bones. Both the flying bone fragments and the Death Magic Power released by the blast were exceptionally powerful. It was a variation on the classic necromantic spell Corpse Explosion.

Bone Enhancement used Death Magic Power to strengthen bones. It could boost their durability temporarily or nourish them over time, gradually making them stronger.

There were three divine spells in all, but Little Mouse could only use one for now. The other two would have to wait until its Godhood grew stronger.

That would take time.

There were three ways to strengthen Godhood. The most common was to absorb Faith Power. Given enough Faith Power, Godhood could keep evolving until its bearer became a true god!

That was difficult to achieve, though. The faith he induced with spells lasted only a limited time. At most, it could be used to build a Godhood Network; Little Mouse couldn't absorb it. And without spells, given Little Mouse's current strength...

Frankly, it would be hard to get other creatures to believe in it.

The second way was to devour other Godhoods. That was much simpler. Isaac could keep creating other divine spirit rats for Little Mouse to devour. Each one would bring only a small improvement, but with enough persistence, there was hope.

What's more, every modification surgery deepened Isaac's understanding of the process. Before long, he might be able to simplify it into an easier spell and improve his efficiency.

If the first two methods were within Isaac's expectations, the third was completely beyond anything he had imagined—Little Mouse could grow stronger by absorbing Magic Power!

In other words, it could cultivate!

Isaac had always assumed that gods of faith could only grow stronger by absorbing faith. Once they lost their worshippers, they would weaken, perhaps even fall from godhood!

So when he discovered that Little Mouse could absorb Magic Power to strengthen the Godhood Network inside it, he was stunned. He thought he might have created something extraordinary.

After consulting his sources, however, Isaac realized he was wrong. Every god in this world shared that trait. Besides Faith Power, they could absorb Magic Power to restore their strength and even grow stronger.

And even if they lost their worshippers, their power wouldn't diminish. Only their rate of growth would suffer.

That differed from High Knights who followed the path of faith. Without Faith Power to sustain them, their strength would decline.

That was why every territory strictly controlled how many such High Knights could emerge.

Unfortunately, none of that helped Little Mouse...

At its current level of intelligence, it could only absorb Magic Power by instinct. It couldn't even recognize all the written characters, so there was no hope of teaching it a meditation technique.

"Tsk." Looking at Little Mouse, which had mastered Bone Construction but had yet to wake on the operating table, Isaac wondered whether he should take advantage of his family's support and make a deal with an Outer God for something that would speed up its intellectual development...

Otherwise, this was going to take far too long...