Divine Species Demon Rat!

What made Divine Species different from ordinary creatures?

The answer was faith!

Divine Species could absorb the Power of Faith, using it to strengthen themselves and even gain new abilities.

As for the Power of Faith, Isaac knew of three kinds. The first was the most conventional Power of Faith, born from all living beings' faith in gods—justified by faith, it was the power of [Faith]. The second was the Power of Faith collected by wizards, born from the spread of stories—it was the power of [Observation]. The third was the Power of Faith of noble knights, derived from the people living within their territories—it was the power of [Existence].

Divine Species could absorb the Power of Faith born from [Faith]. This was a Privilege exclusive to gods!

That was because the Power of Faith originating from [Faith] contained far too many wishes and aspirations. Only gods could ignore those countless stray thoughts.

Ordinary people would naturally find this only right. After all, they were gods. If they were not exceptional, how could they be called gods?

But wizards would ask why. Why could gods absorb the Power of Faith so effortlessly? If it was a matter of strength, then why could even weak Divine Species absorb it?

And remain unaffected by it?

One question after another surfaced in his mind. Slowly, a profoundly rebellious thought was born...

Of course, the previous owner of Isaac's Manuscript had not been powerful enough to slay gods. So, he chose to dissect Divine Species that shared the same origin as gods, and ultimately found the answer on them—a special energy network!

This energy network spread throughout a Divine Species' entire body. It was the key to their ability to sense and absorb the Power of Faith. According to the Manuscript's speculation, this network was the most rudimentary form of a Divine Spark. One day, it might become the Divine Spark that granted gods their Great Power!

But that was only speculation, without any basis whatsoever. Isaac merely glanced at it before setting it aside and focusing on that special energy network.

The first step of Totem Refinement was to use the Power of Faith to create such an energy network within the target.

This was precisely where Isaac was stuck. He did not know Alchemy, so he could only use surgery instead. He was skilled at that too, but...

It had failed.

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

Including vital organs such as the heart and brain!

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

But with miraculous incantations around, it would not die immediately.

After enduring the agony of dissection, it would die in the sixth hour...

Cause of death—dissection...

Hehe~

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

"Increase the number of Life-sustaining Incantations?"

"No. Inscribing the Divine Spark Network requires chanting incantations to guide the Power of Faith. There isn't any spare time to devote to Life-sustaining Incantations..."

"Create the Divine Spark Network in stages?"

"No. The Divine Spark Network is a whole..."

"..."

"..."

Idea after idea arose in Isaac's mind, only to be rejected one by one.

And so, at the sacrifice of batch after batch of brain cells, the entire experiment proceeded in an orderly fashion... without moving an inch...

As the sun set in the west, golden radiance spilled into the laboratory and fell upon the papers before Isaac, drawing him out of his deep contemplation...

"Haah~"

With a heavy sigh, Isaac rose to his feet. He stood by the window and stretched, loosening his stiff limbs, then walked to the cauldron, lit the fire, and casually tossed in several handfuls of Silver Moon Grass to brew.

Knight Secret Medicine—the necessity 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 spurred the others on, because the guard squad's training intensity had clearly increased recently. Naturally, so had their consumption of Knight Secret Medicine.

Ordinarily, these things should have been purchased from outside. After all, even the lowliest lord was still a lord. What master served his own servants?

But first, the territory produced Silver Moon Grass, so brewing it himself would save plenty of money. Second, a Legendary Wizard's potion-brewing cauldron needed to occasionally brew some Potions to maintain it. This could effectively increase the success rate of brewing Potions.

Therefore, Legendary Wizards generally would not leave their cauldrons idle for long. Even Potions meant for feeding Magic Pets would be brewed in extra batches from time to time for later use.

That was because a Legendary Wizard's potion-brewing process was actually a faint ritual. Under the influence of this ritual ground, the cauldron would naturally become not...

Hm?

Isaac, who was stirring with a ladle, suddenly froze. A flash of inspiration streaked through his mind—ritual...

"That's it! A ritual! Since the process of brewing potions is a ritual, why can't the process of surgery be a ritual too? Use a ritual to complete Totem Refinement? Or to apply Life-sustaining Incantations?"

Seizing upon this accidental flash of inspiration, Isaac became immensely excited. He did not even care about the failed Knight Secret Medicine. Tossing the ladle aside, he turned and sat back down at the desk, writing furiously once more!

"Riiip~"

Demon Claw emerged from the back of Isaac's neck. Its palm split open, revealing a crimson eye. The sinister eye watched Isaac for a while, and after confirming that he had no intention of going to eat, slowly drifted out the door.

The moment it left the laboratory, Demon Claw saw Smith standing guard outside. It waved a claw at him, then continued floating toward the dining hall with practiced familiarity. Smith, unsurprised, remained where he was and continued standing watch for Isaac.

Although Isaac was now no weaker than him in terms of strength, Smith had grown accustomed to this life. For more than ten years, he had looked after Isaac this way, and the future would be no exception.

Until he could no longer stand.

Meanwhile, Demon Claw drifted into the dining hall. It glanced at the maid standing rigid with fright nearby, then grabbed the roast meat and fruit from the table before shrinking back toward the laboratory.

These days, whenever Isaac immersed himself in Magic Research, Demon Claw was the one who delivered food to him.

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

The next day.

"Ha ha! I did it!"

Isaac stared at the Demon Rat on the Operating Table, its entire body sewn full of stitches, his face brimming with delight and a touch of madness.

Directly completing Totem Refinement through a ritual was far too difficult. With Isaac's current understanding of ritual studies, he could not achieve that yet. But using one to replace the Life-sustaining Incantation was not much of a problem.

And as long as the Demon Rat's vitality was strong enough, he would have sufficient time to guide the Power of Faith in inscribing a Divine Spark Network into the Demon Rat.

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

This was a basic spell included with the Wizard Manuscript, called the Faith Catalysis Incantation.

Just as its name suggested, it could forcibly strengthen a target's faith and forcefully catalyze the birth of Power of Faith. However, this Power of Faith was utter trash, and it also damaged the believers' brains.

Thus, normal gods generally would not use this spell.

Of course, wizards did not care. It was not as if they absorbed the Power of Faith themselves anyway.

Like the Wizard Manuscript's former owner, for instance.

But the sorcery was not actually complete at this point.

Because the Demon Rat had yet to give birth to a divine spell of its own. It was merely instinctively drawing in Power of Faith through the Divine Spark Network within its body, with no means whatsoever of using it. For now, the Power of Faith inside it was nothing more than decoration.

But that was only temporary. As time passed, the Divine Spark Network inscribed within its body would slowly merge with it, turning it into a true Divine Species!

Of course, that process would be rather lengthy and would require the nourishment of a great deal of Power of Faith.

Thus, it needed a second step—accelerating its fusion with the Divine Spark Network and guiding it to condense a divine spell.

Only after completing this step could it truly be called a Divine Species—a totem!

But the second step was much simpler. Accelerating the fusion only required regularly taking some Potions and casting several spells on it that weakened its rejection response. Condensing a divine spell meant choosing one of the three basic divine spells, then inscribing it into its Divine Spark Network with Power of Faith.

However, though they were called three basic divine spells, unfortunately, the Wizard Manuscript he possessed was limited in length and recorded only two: [Command Kin] and [Blessing].

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

Of course, aside from those two basic divine spells, he could also inscribe a Sorcery Model into the Divine Spark Network. There was a certain chance it would be assimilated into a divine spell, though the success rate was tragically moving.

But Isaac did not do that. He chose the basic divine spell [Blessing] for the Demon Rat.

The reason was simple. It was not that he feared failure—he simply had no money...

He was already going mad from poverty. He had not even seen any return on the Demon Rats he was raising, yet he had already lost two of them...

So he could only choose between the two basic divine spells with success rates close to one hundred percent, and among them, he picked the [Blessing] he was most curious about.

He was very curious. With the Demon Rat's ability pool being so sparse, what exactly would it be able to bestow upon its "believers" after obtaining [Blessing]?

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

"Phew~"

After locking the Demon Rat into an iron cage, Isaac walked to the window and looked out at the scenery, feeling particularly relaxed.

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

Isaac smiled and patted Demon Claw. He accepted the apple, put it into his mouth, and savored this leisurely moment~

If only these days could go on 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 go out and make his way in the world!

But before that, he still needed to grow properly, so...

"Ah~ Come on, let's see how the little ones are growing." With his hands clasped behind his back, Isaac left the laboratory and headed with Smith, who stood waiting at the door, toward the breeding grounds behind the castle.

"At present, both the Demon Rats and Dragon Lizards are doing well. Their size and internal mana levels 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 report on the current situation.

Isaac nodded. Not bad. It looked like they might make it in time for the Mad Sorcerer Association's Small Exchange Meet three days from now. He was exceedingly curious about it.

Although he had been immersed in Magic Research during this period, he still occasionally checked the Mad Sorcerer Association's group chat. Unfortunately, this bunch was probably made up of tech nerds too; they basically never said anything. He had no idea why.

Perhaps Dragon Lizards that had awakened their Dragon Bloodline could be traded for something good?

Isaac was not too sure. After all, everyone who could join the Mad Sorcerer Association had dared to trade with Outer Gods and emerge unscathed. Who among them did not have a few tricks up their sleeves?

But it would not matter even if they were uninterested. He was going this time to broaden his horizons. If he sold them, it would be a huge profit; if he did not, he would lose nothing. After all, Dragon Lizards that had awakened their Dragon Bloodline were excellent whether kept for personal use or sold to the Tower of Flesh.

Upon arriving at the breeding grounds, Isaac saw his little darlings. After examining them in person, he discovered that the Beast Rearing Ground's effects were even better than he had expected. The Dragon Lizards would probably be able to drink the Potion and awaken their bloodline in two and a half days, while the Demon Rats would be even quicker. They should be ready for market tomorrow, plump and fat.

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

He did not move. Dragon Lizards had a much longer growth cycle than Demon Rats. Even with the Beast Rearing Ground nurturing them, it would take at least a year before they met the conditions for breeding...

Better to sell them and buy new pups to raise. That would be far more efficient.

Isaac then used the ordinary flesh produced by the Flesh Gem over the past few days to replenish the food for the Demon Rats and Dragon Lizards before turning and leaving. He went to the training grounds, found a patch of grass to sit on, and flipped through the Introduction to Arcane Energy One Eldest Sister had given him.

He had read bits and pieces of this book over the past few days. Though everything in it was basic, it had helped him greatly. Some of the small techniques mentioned alone could significantly increase the casting speed of his Basic Three Arcana. 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 meager for a sorcerer's high expenditures, but it was steady. After all, raising Demon Rats involved neither much difficulty nor risk.

For novice sorcerers, it was a business guaranteed to turn a profit.

Isaac did not keep those ten Gold Coins in hand. Instead, he ordered another ten Demon Rats. This little money could not do much of anything anyway, so he might as well continue expanding the scale of production.

Isaac might hesitate over other ventures and calculate the profits and losses, but when it came to raising rats, he could simply buy without thinking. He could consume them himself anyway; it was no different from buying magical materials at the original price.

The First was a somewhat special day for members of the Mad Sorcerer Association. On this day, mad sorcerers from every city, every nation, every continent, and even every world—those keen on making deals with the Outer Gods—would gather within a certain special dimension to exchange knowledge, materials, and intelligence.

In the basement, Isaac stood at the center of a hexagram magic array marked with a skull, cradling the Mad Sorcerer Association's Spellbook in his arms. He closed his eyes and recited the Door Opening Incantation.

"Riiip~"

As Isaac recited the incantation, the shadows all around him abruptly pounced, swallowing him whole!

When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing atop a pure-white stone pillar. All around was nothingness, with only ranks of pure-white stone pillars standing tall—a remarkably primitive Dimensional World.