Witch's Tea Party

Breakfast was still the same old three items—bread, milk, and eggs. There was nothing else even if he wanted it, so after quickly finishing breakfast, Isaac did not rush into researching magic. Instead, he took the thousand Gold Coins his Eldest Brother had given him and headed to Lakeside Town once more.

Magic Research could wait. Now that he had money, he would first settle the advancement ritual.

After every advancement ritual, a Legendary Wizard entered a period of heightened magical activity. Only after that active period ended could they conduct another advancement ritual.

Thus, in theory, as long as one had sufficient resources, Legendary Wizards had no bottlenecks at all!

The only things limiting Legendary Wizards were the magical activity period and the resources required for advancement.

And the magical activity period could be shortened through Magic Research, experiments, and battle.

Therefore, although advancing through special advancement rituals could yield special effects or even new Innate Spells, such rituals were rather precious. He had looked before, but Lakeside Town did not sell them. They could only be encountered by chance, not sought after.

Conventional advancement rituals generally fell into three categories: elemental, starry sky, and mysterious.

Different advancement rituals enhanced different spells. For example, a fire-element advancement ritual would draw upon the power of the Fire Elemental Lord from the Elemental Plane. After advancing, fire spells would receive a slight boost.

Do not underestimate a single boost just because it was small. The Formal Wizard rank alone had three advancement rituals. If all of them were of the same type, the final bonus would be far from insignificant.

Of the three types, elemental rituals leaned toward offense, since elemental spells were mostly attack spells. Starry-sky rituals were more versatile, because they increased Base Stats such as mana capacity, mana recovery speed, and Mental Power. There was not much else to say about either of those.

The more profound type was the mysterious category. Rather than calling it mysterious, it would be more accurate to call it the miscellaneous category. It encompassed every sort of enhancement direction, but prophecy and Magic Spells were the most mainstream among them, so they were collectively classified as mysterious.

It was worth mentioning that although the three types of rituals had different leanings, their essence was actually similar. All of them borrowed the power of high-ranking existences through ritual to sublimate a wizard's life essence and complete their advancement.

Compared with the Demon God ritual Isaac had just completed, their greatest difference was safety!

Any advancement ritual classified under these three categories communicated with lawful good existences. They would grant power relatively strictly in accordance with the ritual's requirements, never taking more than they were owed. They were utterly different from the insatiably greedy Demon Gods.

Of course, where there was gain, there was loss. They would not take extra, but they would absolutely not give extra either. They would not even leave you a chance to snatch anything.

Fortunately, Isaac had no particular thoughts about that. There were so many evil Outer Gods; he did not lack this little bit.

Isaac had long since made up his mind about which ritual to use for advancement. Thus, upon arriving in town, he headed straight for a small shop that sold magical knowledge. After spending eight hundred Gold Coins and signing a confidentiality contract, he successfully obtained the knowledge of the advancement ritual—Ritual's Tea Party—as well as the materials it required.

However, Isaac did not hurry back. Instead, he continued shopping.

After all, Witch's Tea Party was one of the few dual-attribute starry-sky and mysterious rituals, and its success rate was rather low—only ten percent. He needed to buy some extra materials. Though this ritual was relatively safe, it was better to push the success rate to two hundred percent. Better safe than sorry.

After returning from Lakeside Town, Isaac informed Smith, then returned to the basement and began feverishly setting up the advancement ritual—Witch's Tea Party.

As a minor-stage advancement ritual, the materials for Witch's Tea Party were not difficult to gather. Everything could be bought in Lakeside Town.

A set of Black Tea ware steeped in a hundred years of time, fifty milliliters of Witch's Saliva, one kilogram of refined Black Tea, 190 pieces of Witch's Undergarments, and one bottle of Magic Ink.

The materials were rather bizarre, but that was normal enough for magical rituals. Though one hundred and ninety pieces of Witch's Undergarments looked a little absurd, Isaac had added those himself. The Original ritual actually only required one piece.

Fortunately, the magical-materials shop in Lakeside Town was an old-established, major brand. Otherwise, it really would have been impossible to gather so many pieces of Witch's Undergarments in such a short time...

The process might have been rather embarrassing, but fortunately everything went smoothly. All the materials had been gathered, and there was nothing difficult about the setup. With a two-hundred-percent success rate, would this not be over in minutes?

Two hours later, Isaac finished setting up the ritual. Normally, one hour would have been enough, but the cost was simply too high. Eight hundred Gold Coins for the ritual knowledge and basic materials, plus over two hundred Gold Coins for the witch clothing—more than a thousand Gold Coins in total!

He had poured his entire fortune into it. There could not be the slightest carelessness!

"Hiss~ Hoo~"

After taking several deep breaths, Isaac's slightly excited heart finally calmed completely. He removed the Wizard Hat from his head and pressed it against his chest. Then he lowered his head and began chanting the incantation. Faint mana pulsed outward at a peculiar frequency.

The mana swept over the magic circle, and wisps of white mist drifted out from it~

The mana swept over the pile of Witch's Undergarments, and an enormous volume of white mist erupted from within!

In an instant, it engulfed the entire basement!

"Young man~ you... are being~ rather rude~"

Hearing the seductive voice coming from the mist, Isaac slowly opened his eyes, placed the Wizard Hat on his head, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly. There was no mistake—it had worked!

That voice was definitely a voice of truly impressive proportions!

Though what it said was a little different from the ritual, it probably was not a big problem?

With faint doubt in his mind, Isaac casually adjusted his Wizard Robe and confidently stepped into the thick white mist ahead.

Following the direction from which that voice of truly impressive proportions had come, Isaac walked calmly through the white mist. Before long, the vast white fog dispersed, and he arrived on a stretch of lush green grass.

Not far ahead stood a large white parasol. Beneath it was a pure white table and two pure white chairs. On the table sat the teapot and teacups from the ritual materials, filled with steaming Black Tea.

On the other side of the table sat a witch dressed in a purple robe. A wide Witch Hat obscured her face, revealing only her fair chin...

That was how it should have been, but...

"Hiss!!!"

Looking at the shadowy witches in the distance, Isaac sucked in a sharp breath!

How were there so many?

There had to be at least a hundred of them, right?

"...All~ right. It seems~ you do not know~ what you have done either~" The only witch seated on a chair looked at Isaac's dumbfounded expression and let out a faint sigh, her speech broken up word by word.

"Ahem~ Sorry... I thought this would increase the success rate~" Looking at those hundred-plus witches, Isaac's lips twitched slightly. He had not expected things to turn out like this after using his Golden Finger...

All he could do was bow in apology. After all, according to the ritual, the witch power summoned by Witch's Tea Party was not limited to just one witch.

Of course, apologies were apologies, but if he had to choose again, he would still use the Golden Finger!

After all...

He really was out of money...

"To find~ such a method~ you can be considered~ a genius. Come~" The witch waved her delicate hand lightly, signaling Isaac to step forward.

Hanging his Wizard Hat back on the chair, Isaac slowly sat down. He stared timidly at the hundred-odd witches behind the "Big" Witch. He wasn't going to become the first Formal Wizard to die during a first-rank advancement ritual, was he?

"No need~ to worry~ Though you are a Legendary~ Wizard~ you are also our~ junior~ They are merely~ somewhat dissatisfied~ You will only~ be a little unlucky~ for two days~ You will not be hurt~ Just pay more attention~"

The "Big" Witch saw Isaac's worries and soothed him in her unhurried tone.

In truth, Isaac had brought this outcome upon himself. Under normal circumstances, no matter how dissatisfied they were with the wizard conducting the ritual, once it reached this stage, all they could do was bestow their Blessing upon him. They could do nothing else; curses were out of the question.

But because of Isaac's... underhanded methods, he had drawn over a hundred witches here all at once!

And because the Blessing was restricted by the ritual, they could not give more than the fixed amount. The other witches' power was therefore left unused. Though each of them had only a tiny amount of power available, gathered together, it was still exceedingly considerable.

That was how the two-day streak of bad luck had ultimately taken shape.

Hearing that, Isaac's mouth twitched slightly. His understanding of rituals was not deep enough for him to see through everything in such a short time like the witch opposite him, but he could vaguely sense that the formation of this curse was likely related to his own flashy stunt...

"Thank you, seniors, for your magnanimity..." Isaac apologized once more.

There was no helping it. They were all big shots—people he could not afford to offend.

The "Big" Witch nodded her pale chin lightly, raised a jade-like hand, and elegantly poured Isaac a cup of Black Tea before offering it to him.

"Please enjoy~"

"Thank you, Senior~" Isaac accepted the teacup with both hands, drew a deep breath, and drained the Black Tea in one gulp!

The instant he drank it, mysterious magic began to coil around Isaac's body. The witch across from him smiled faintly, then turned into white mist alongside the hundred-odd witches behind her, all wearing wicked grins.

A while later, all the white mist dispersed. Isaac stood motionless before the magic circle, his eyes shut.

A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes. Feeling the one-third increase in the magic power within him, the corners of his mouth rose slightly. When he saw that the Witch's Saliva atop the ritual had not diminished in the slightest, his smile bloomed in full!

Though he had looked into the Witch's Tea Party before purchasing it and understood that the Witch's Saliva in the ingredients was only meant to supply the magic contained within it, not to actually be drunk—

When he had truly lifted that teacup in the illusion, he still could not help thinking in that direction...

After all, both in his previous life and in this world, there were related legends.

Thus, only when he saw that none of the Witch's Saliva had been used did he finally set his mind completely at ease.

This ritual had gone exceptionally well. As a dual-attribute ritual of Starry Sky and Mystery, the Witch's Tea Party had granted him considerable benefits. His magic power and Mental Power received an additional minute increase, while his own mystery attribute was weakly enhanced.

The practical boost to his combat strength was not great, but all of his objectives had been met.

And the latter increase to his mystery attribute was not to be underestimated. Though it was only a weak enhancement, for Isaac, it had broken through the great barrier of zero!

Now that he possessed a mystery attribute, he could carry out some relatively high-level modifications on his body later, such as...

The Demon Eye!

Legendary Wizards differed from Truth Wizards, who followed a steady path of meditation and the study of truth.

The path of advancement for a Legendary Wizard was, in essence, evolution!

Evolution from a mortal into a magical life-form!

Thus, during the Formal Wizard stage, a Legendary Wizard's main task was to accumulate magic power and the corresponding attributes. As for Demon God trade rituals and gathering legends, those were merely side quests. Naturally, it was best to complete them perfectly, but doing them casually was fine too, so long as they did not interfere with advancement.

What truly determined one's fate and potential was the Archmage stage above Formal Wizard!

Compared to Formal Wizards, Archmages far surpassed them in both magic reserves and knowledge. Thus, they could begin carrying out magical modifications to their bodies.

Magical modification was not simply transplanting the limbs of Demonic Beasts. It was the solidification of magical power onto the body, making it a part of oneself and thereby achieving self-sublimation.

And among the many magical modifications, those of the mystery side were the most difficult and held the greatest potential!

So having a mystery attribute was rather important.

Though it was not much help to him right now...

After slowly savoring his newly gained power, Isaac stretched, turned, and left the basement. He then had the cook prepare some food at random. Once he had eaten, he fell into a deep sleep.

First, sleep. Tomorrow, he would continue researching wizardry!

He was far too curious about the Wizard Manuscript and Spellbook Eldest Brother and Eldest Sister had sent him...

The next day, Isaac sat at the desk in his laboratory and rubbed his little hands together.

It was time to—

Open the boxes!

The first thing Isaac opened was Eldest Sister's Spellbook—Introduction to Arcane Energy One.

Mm... no great surprise. It was more or less what he had expected.

Eldest Sister was a pure-blooded Arcanist with excellent talent. Just over thirty, she was already an Archmage. It was said that she was researching higher arcane arts; once she succeeded, she would advance to become a High Sorcerer, known as a Demigod!

So there was nothing unexpected about her gift. Whatever he lacked, she would surely give him.

Previously, Isaac had been held back by his health. Though he had shown a deep interest, since he lacked the talent to become an Arcanist, his family had always refused to let him become too engrossed in it.

His body was already frail. If he kept overworking his mind as well, things would only get worse.

But now that he had become a wizard, there was naturally no need to keep restricting him.

Like the mysterious attribute, Introduction to Arcane Energy One offered no especially obvious improvement to him right now, but it could lay a solid foundation, allowing him to go farther and more steadily in the future!

Setting the Spellbook aside, he looked at the Wizard Manuscript sent by his Eldest Brother. He rubbed his hands excitedly and breathed into them. Now this was what was truly worth looking forward to!

Because his Eldest Brother Caesar was a Knight brute rather than a noble spellcaster, the Wizard Manuscript he had sent was most likely spoils of war—its potential for surprises was absolutely top-tier!

Slowly opening the first page of the Wizard Manuscript, Isaac's eyes nearly bulged out in shock!

Written on the first page were the words—Deity Research Manual Chapter!