Rat Rat Shows Off

Rat Rat, Me—Showing Off My Might~

Glancing at the battle below the city walls, which was nearing its end, Isaac silently shook his head. Sure enough, in a world of the extraordinary, an individual's Great Power could stand above the masses!

Caesar was merely half a step into High-level Knight—not even a true High-level Knight—yet he had cut down over ninety Quasi-Knights, more than a dozen Knights, and over a hundred unranked Demonic Beasts as easily as slicing melons and vegetables.

One could only imagine how powerful he would become once he advanced to High-level Knight...

Though the battle still needed a little while to end, Isaac had already lost interest in watching. Rather than waste time here, he might as well return and continue his research. His Flesh Mimicry research had hit a bottleneck, but fortunately, he had plenty of projects at hand and could simply switch to another.

But just as Isaac was about to turn around and return to the Mage Tower to resume his research, Eldest Sister Cheryl called out to stop him.

"Wait before going back. Father will be here soon—we should go greet him first." As she spoke, Cheryl suddenly noticed the Demon Rat on Isaac's shoulder, and an astonished expression appeared on her face. "An Aspect? This rat has an Aspect?"

At that, Remington, who was still struggling to believe what he had seen, abruptly whipped his head around. He stared at the rat on Isaac's shoulder in even greater disbelief, his eyes round as saucers!

What the hell?

An Aspect?

Wasn't that something only High-level Knights and High Sorcerers were qualified to wield?

Compared to the stunned Remington and Cheryl, Isaac was much calmer. He put away the little pumpkin he had been about to throw, reached up to scratch the Demon Rat's nose on his shoulder, and said with a smile, "It is an Aspect, but it's not as miraculous as you think. It was created based on the peculiarities of a Divine Species, so it can't be replicated elsewhere. And the Aspect's effect is quite ordinary too—it can only summon and control rats."

"..." Cheryl parted her lips slightly. Divine Species were hardly that simple.

Whether Legendary Wizards, Truth Wizards like themselves, or even Witches who relied on innate abilities, there were no shortage of people studying Divine Species. After all, no matter what, Divine Species were indeed lesser forms of gods, despite the enormous gap between the two.

Still, they held immense research value.

Yet even to this day, Cheryl had never heard of anyone successfully cultivating an Aspect from a Divine Species...

How had he done it?

Cheryl was extremely curious. Her wizardly instinct for knowledge made her want to get to the bottom of it, but her reason restrained that impulse, because this was Isaac's secret.

However...

"Can you show us?" Cheryl looked curiously at the Demon Rat on Isaac's shoulder.

An Aspect was the direction she was currently striving toward. Once she successfully condensed an Aspect of her own, she could smoothly advance to High Sorcerer, formally walk her own path, and receive the title of Grand Arcanist!

Although Truth Wizards condensed their own Aspects differently from both Legendary Wizards and Divine Species, an Aspect was still an Aspect. What if she could gain some inspiration from it?

"Show you what?" While everyone had been speaking, Caesar had already slaughtered every last Black Orc and returned to the city wall. As he removed the battle robe splattered with Black Orc blood, he asked curiously.

"Third Brother cultivated an Aspect in his Demon Rat!"

"Oh? That's ver—" Caesar had been about to praise Isaac out of habit when he suddenly realized what she had said. The smile on his face froze. "What did you say? An Aspect? This rat?"

"Mm!" Cheryl nodded heavily.

Then Caesar's blazing gaze turned toward him as well...

Isaac: "..."

Isaac looked speechlessly at the three of them as they slowly crowded closer, sighed, and turned to the Demon Rat on his shoulder. It, too, turned toward Isaac with a baffled look, then tilted its head.

"Come on, show them~"

Riiip~

At Isaac's command, Demon Claw crawled out from the back of his neck. After its savage claws flexed once, its palm faced the Demon Rat on Isaac's shoulder, splitting open into a mouth full of serrated teeth.

"Hisss~"

"Squeak?" The Demon Rat blanked out for a moment before catching on. Then it nodded, raised its two little front paws, and lightly rubbed them together. A strange ripple immediately spread outward from it.

"Scurry, scurry, scurry~~"

"Squeak squeak squeak squeak~~~"

"Rats! So many rats!"

"Holy shit! They're coming up the city wall! Have the rats gone mad?"

"Is it a spell cast by the Black Orc shaman?"

Hundreds upon thousands of rats surged in from every direction toward where Isaac stood, leaving everyone dumbstruck.

"Dismiss."

"Hisss~"

"Squeak? Squeak squeak!"

Another ripple spread out. All the rats froze in place for an instant, then receded like a tidal wave. The sight made everyone's scalps crawl!

Hisss!!! Is that really an Aspect?! Caesar immediately sucked in a sharp breath. He was only one step away from High-level Knight, making him the most knowledgeable among them when it came to Aspects. He could tell at a glance that what he had just witnessed was indeed an Aspect!

"You can't command it?" Compared to Caesar, Cheryl knew less about Aspects, but her knowledge was exceptionally extensive and her eye extremely sharp. Thoughtfully withdrawing her gaze from the Demon Rat, she asked curiously.

"Mm. It hasn't been a Divine Species for long. Its intelligence has improved somewhat, but only somewhat—it still can't communicate with me. Right now, only Demon Claw can communicate with it." Isaac spoke helplessly.

There were Magic Spells that could promote brain development, but Isaac did not dare use them on it carelessly. As his only experimental subject for the moment, this Demon Rat was rather precious.

Cheryl nodded, then asked, "Have you given it a name? It may be a Demon Rat, but it has mastered an Aspect. Its potential isn't low, so it's worth cultivating properly."

"I hadn't really thought about a name yet, but I should come up with one... emmm." After pondering for a moment, Isaac's lips curled slightly. "Got it. Let's call it Rui Cheng! Rat Rat will definitely like this name~"

"Squeak? Squeak~" Rui Cheng tilted its head, not understanding what everyone was talking about. But they were all smiling, so it had to be something good. Rui Cheng smiled as well.

Suddenly, Demon Claw flew up in front of Isaac, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws as it said, "Hisss!!"

"You want a name too?"

"Hiss!" Demon Claw nodded its claw. It had obviously come first, yet Rat Rat had gotten a name before it. It refused to accept that!

"Hmm, you've got a point... Let me think... Got it. How about Hamon from now on?"

"Hiss!" Hamon nodded its claw heavily, then excitedly twisted its five fingers through the air. No matter how one looked at it, it was utterly creepy...

This bizarre sight left the curiosity-filled Caesar and the other two silent...

In the end, Caesar was the one who interrupted Isaac's interaction with his Magic Pets. The Black Orcs that had launched the surprise attack had been dealt with—it was time to go welcome his father.