Hand of God

The Hand of God's option had appeared last night. Its expanded description was nothing special, containing only one line—spells extensively learned and used during the Magic Activity Period would influence the direction of Innate Sorcery.

This information was useless, because he barely had any sorcery to choose from. Aside from the Demonic Heart Transplant Surgery and Bloodline Essence Potion on the panel, he only had the three basic arcana he had collected before being separated from the family—Arcane Shield, Arcane Leap, and Arcane Missile.

These three arcana were highly comprehensive and practical, so they were also known as the Basic Three Arcana. They were considered spells every Arcanist had to learn.

But Isaac was not particularly interested in them, at least not yet.

The structure of arcana was simply too basic. They were the products of countless Arcanists' refinements. They were easy to learn, but there was not much room left for development or optimization.

This was one difference between Arcanists and wizards. Arcanists typically learned many arcana, gradually building their own spell systems from the ground up.

Wizards were different. Every wizard acquired different Innate Spells and possessed different [Legends], so most wizards researched sorcery around their own Innate Spells and [Legends], expanding them into complete systems.

Of course, there were also plenty of wizards like Isaac, who simply used whatever was available.

When nurturing an Innate Spell, there was no need to hesitate between arcana and sorcery.

But before heading to the laboratory, he needed to fill his stomach first~

When he arrived at the dining room, the maid had already prepared breakfast. Several slices of snow-white bread lay on the long rectangular table, accompanied by a dish of blue jam, and then...

And then there was nothing else...

How should he put it? It looked rather plain, but this was actually the best food available here.

It was not that this world had only such food. Thanks to Transcendent Power, its cuisine was no worse than that of his previous life, especially among the nobility. His meals were so plain for one simple reason: he was poor.

For one thing, this was merely a small rural estate, hardly prosperous. For another, Isaac had only arrived a few days ago, and many things had yet to be delivered. And third...

He had no money.

After separating from the family, he had received only five hundred Gold Coins. The estate's annual net income was barely over a hundred Gold Coins, not even enough for him to freely research spells. How could he have spare money for luxuries?

Still, it did not matter. This breakfast would not have been bad even in his previous life, and Isaac's mind was not on food anyway. After glancing at it twice, he casually grabbed some bread, smeared it with jam, and turned to leave the dining room.

"Young Master Isaac..." Smith looked at Isaac helplessly. This really was... utterly lacking in noble manners...

But there was nothing he could say. Isaac was a noble, while he was merely a butler, even if he was the butler who had watched Isaac grow up.

Isaac waved dismissively. Why had he rushed out of the family home in the first place? Was it not to live freely? If he had to follow rules at home and still follow rules after leaving, then what was the point of leaving?

Chewing on his bread as he headed for the laboratory, Isaac's heart surged with excitement. Magic! After working so hard for so long, he could finally study magic properly!

Before long, Isaac returned to the area near his bedroom. He pushed open the neighboring door and stepped inside.

The laboratory's layout was simple. A crude Operating Table stood in the middle of the room, while a large black cauldron rested in one corner. A bookshelf holding several Manuscripts stood in another, with a clean and tidy desk beside it.

The laboratory was spotless, without even the slightest stain. That was only natural. It would have been strange otherwise, since he had been unable to cast sorcery before and had no use for this place.

Walking to the bookshelf, Isaac took down a booklet and sat at the desk to study it carefully. From time to time, he opened the panel to compare his learning progress, filling in gaps and correcting omissions.

Demonic Heart Transplant Surgery: by replacing the heart with one containing magic power, the body could be strengthened. Depending on the heart's quality, the recipient might also gain the ability to control magic power and acquire special spells.

The reason he had chosen to study this sorcery first was that although his learning progress was only fourteen percent, it was actually the sorcery Isaac understood best.

This sorcery had two parts. One was the purely technical operation of replacing the heart. The other involved using Magic Spells to accelerate healing, eliminate rejection, and harmonize the flesh. The latter accounted for the greater portion.

To Isaac, who had been a surgeon in his previous life, the first part was crude beyond belief. This sorcery practically tarnished the very word surgery!

After a while, Isaac set down the booklet and nodded thoughtfully.

Just as he had guessed before, the sorcery itself was not difficult. Whether it could be successfully performed depended heavily on luck...

The first part was simply too rough. Though Isaac had not been a cardiac surgeon in his previous life, he had at least encountered related knowledge.

So the first part was unimportant and posed no challenge to him. On the contrary, he could even optimize it somewhat. Heart transplant techniques in his previous life had already been extremely mature. Even if he had never eaten pork, had he not seen pigs run?

Therefore, the more important part for Isaac was the magic involved afterward.

Compared to the crude material from before, this section contained much more content. There were all kinds of Magic Spells, and even several different spells that produced the same effect.

The manual stated that the body developed resistance to the power of the same Magic Spell. Therefore, after the transplant, one had to switch spells according to the situation. This was the most difficult part of the entire surgery.

But that meant little to him. He did not need to make things so complicated. He only needed to choose one suitable Magic Spell and repeat it. With the support of his special talent, Magic Spells could be used repeatedly.

For example, there was one Magic Spell that could accelerate wound healing, optimize the heart's structure, and eliminate rejection reactions. In other wizards' hands, this spell was rather mediocre. It looked versatile, but in reality, it could do nothing particularly well.

Its effects were too weak, and it could only be used once.

So it needed to be combined with a large number of other Magic Spells.

But Isaac only needed this one spell. As long as he cast it continuously, its effects could stack, greatly increasing efficiency.

Of course, that did not mean the other Magic Spells were useless. On the contrary, the many different spells inside made Isaac's eyes gleam. If he used them properly, he could do far more than replace hearts...

But those were matters for the future. You could not eat hot tofu in a hurry. He had to take things one step at a time and master Heart Replacement Surgery first.

Isaac first selected several versatile Magic Spells. Then he rose and went to the corner, pulling out two gray-furred rats, one large and one small. After knocking them unconscious, he tied them to the Operating Table one by one, checked the tools again, put on rubber gloves, took two deep breaths, and instantly entered work mode.

Inside the laboratory, Isaac carefully scraped away the fine fur on the rats' chests to prevent it from affecting the precision of his incision.

He had done this sort of thing many times in his previous life and was extremely skilled at it. Even with a different body, he adapted quickly.

What followed was simple. He cut through the skin layer by layer, then carefully removed the hearts, all while casting healing Magic Spells.

Conditions here were nothing like his previous life. Without Magic Spells to assist, the rats would die immediately, and the hearts' vitality could not be maintained either.

Fortunately, the healing Magic Spells were simple, all basic spells. He had memorized the relevant incantations long ago, and though this was his first time casting them, everything went exceptionally smoothly.

But the moment he set aside the removed heart, Isaac froze. Damn it, he had been so focused on the operation that he had reversed the order. It did not matter whether the rat providing the heart lived or died, so why was he wasting magic power on it...

"Tsk~"

Shaking his head, Isaac casually cast a life-sustaining Magic Spell on it. Basic spells like this consumed little magic power anyway, so he could treat it as a control experiment and see whether a Demonized body would in turn affect the heart, as well as how efficient that effect would be.

After preserving the Demonic Rat's life, Isaac switched his scalpel and began working on the other Common Rat that needed a new heart.

The entire process flowed as smoothly as water. Before long, the two rats with empty chests lay peacefully side by side on the Operating Table.

Of course, they were asleep. Under the power of Magic Spells, they would not die so easily.

This made Isaac silently marvel at the power of magic. If he had possessed such methods in his previous life, how many people could he have saved?~

Shaking his head, Isaac cleaned the scalpel while gathering his focus. The most crucial stage of the Heart Replacement Surgery was next, and there was no room for the slightest carelessness!

Even if the subjects were merely Demonic Rats, with one Gold Coin buying one or two hundred of them, Isaac would still treat this operation seriously.

That was a doctor's professional integrity!

What Isaac did not notice was that as he concentrated on the surgery, the Hand of God's progress on the panel was rapidly increasing...

Honestly, Heart Replacement Surgery was extremely difficult. The technique had been highly developed in Isaac's previous life, but everyone knew that technological maturity did not mean it was easy to learn.

Especially since Isaac had not studied the relevant specialty in his previous life. He had merely watched a few videos and read several related papers on heart replacement surgery, without conducting any in-depth research. So even with the Golden Finger and Magic Spells helping him, his first attempt still failed.

The rat receiving the new heart died before Isaac could stack the Magic Spell's effects.

It was still too crude.

But Isaac did not lose heart. After thinking it over and identifying the mistakes in his procedure, he grabbed another pair of rats and began again—scraping fur, removing hearts, replacing hearts...

And so, with one rat after another making selfless sacrifices, Isaac became increasingly proficient at Heart Replacement Surgery, while the Hand of God's progress rose higher and higher.

Finally, after sacrificing twelve rats, the thirteenth rat successfully survived!

After receiving the Demonized Heart, the Common Rat underwent visible changes. Its fur rapidly grew, and its entire body swelled by a full size!

Beneath its fur, the outlines of muscles could vaguely be seen. Its teeth and claws became sharper, and it looked even fiercer than an ordinary Demonic Rat!

Its tiny mung-bean-sized eyes were filled with scarlet!

Its temperament also became more violent. It let out repeated hisses at Isaac, and if its limbs had not been bound, it looked ready to leap at him and bite him.

And at the exact moment Isaac completed the Heart Replacement Surgery, the Hand of God's progress on the panel also reached one hundred percent...

"Buzz~~~"

In an instant, a buzzing rang out in Isaac's mind. Time seemed to have been paused at that moment. He could clearly see the Heart Replacement Rat's fur freeze in midair. It remained motionless in its hissing posture, its heart stopping as well. In the entire world, it seemed only Isaac's consciousness could move...

"Riiip~"

Then came the sudden sound of flesh tearing. Strands of unknown purple-black aura drifted out from the back of Isaac's neck, gathering moments later into a vicious purple-black Demon Claw!

The Demon Claw had no skin, allowing its muscle fibers, tendons, and blood vessels to be seen clearly. One end was connected to the back of Isaac's neck, growing larger as it extended outward. At the end was a huge palm with five sharp fingers, each hand larger than Isaac's entire body!

When the vicious Demon Claw fully formed, time began to flow again.

Isaac looked at the Demon Claw in amazement, without the slightest fear in his eyes. After all, this was his own power, something he could control completely. Moreover, he could sense the affection the Demon Claw felt toward him.

Yes, the Demon Claw—or rather, the Hand of God—possessed consciousness. The Hand of God was an existence similar to a Magic Pet, capable of assisting a wizard in casting spells.

Depending on the ritual used to become a wizard, the Magic Pet one could awaken would also differ. Isaac's Hand of God was a relatively classic and ancient type of Magic Pet.

At its final stage of growth, it could possess power comparable to a Demon God!

But that was still a very distant matter.

"Hiss~ Hoo~ Hiss~ Hoo~"

Although Isaac was extremely curious about the Hand of God's power, the surgery was not finished. One Demonic Rat still had not received a Common Rat's heart. So he took two deep breaths, forcibly suppressing the surging emotions in his heart, and continued the operation.

Fortunately, with a successful experience this time, and with his magic power becoming stronger after becoming a Formal Wizard, the Magic Spells' effects were greatly improved. Before long, he successfully replaced the Demonic Rat's heart with that of a Common Rat.

However, compared to giving a Common Rat a Demonized Heart, giving a Demonic Rat an ordinary heart had little effect. It even made the rat weaker.

But this was within Isaac's expectations. He placed the two Heart Replacement Rats into separate cages, put some food inside, then washed his hands and walked to one side to examine the Hand of God's power.

"Riiip~"

The sound of flesh tearing rang out again as the vicious Hand of God emerged from the back of Isaac's neck. It first stretched its sinister claws, then rubbed the back of its hand against Isaac's face like a puppy.

Isaac smiled and placed his hand on the Hand of God, carefully sensing the Innate Sorcery born alongside it—Flesh Conversion.

Just as the records described, the awakened Innate Sorcery indeed had a certain synergistic effect with Heart Replacement Surgery. Flesh Conversion's effect was very simple: it could directly transform flesh containing magic power into a living form with a certain degree of vitality!