Another Transaction?

"It's simple. Before coming here, I contacted Him. He didn't respond."

"???"

Everyone stared at Isaac in complete bafflement. After a long moment, they came back to their senses, their expressions gradually turning terrified as they slowly rose to their feet and assumed fighting stances!

Fortunately, Caesar was the first to react. He hurriedly asked, "Third Brother, which time are you talking about?"

The moment those words fell, everyone immediately turned their shocked gazes toward Caesar's face. What the hell did he mean, which time? Was the pressure of facing the wilderness so overwhelming now?

"Uh... something from the past couple of days. But don't worry, I didn't go deep. I was only probing Him." Isaac pressed down lightly with his right hand, signaling Caesar not to panic.

Though the ritual had only been performed recently, Isaac had merely been conducting a routine probe. He had no intention of making a deal with the Lord of Myriad Flesh here at the fortress. Although he had made thorough preparations and could more or less ensure nothing would go wrong.

But what if something did?

Isaac did not want to take risks, especially not with his family.

Though each wizard rank only had three Spellbooks, that did not mean one could only trade with Outer Gods three times.

Theoretically, as long as you were bold enough and your methods reached the heavens, you could make as many trades as you wanted. It was only that a maximum of three transactions could be written into a Spellbook.

However, the more times one traded with the same Outer God, the greater the risk of disaster. With each transaction, while you became familiar with the other party's power, they also became familiar with your methods.

And when all your methods had been completely exposed, that was when the Outer God began its harvest!

But Isaac had no such concern. He could see the success rate before the ritual was activated.

"Probing..." Everyone looked at Isaac as though he were a madman. So this was... a Mad Wizard?

Among them, Gaia's eyes were filled with worry as he looked at Isaac. Just as he had thought, Isaac was still plunging headfirst into the abyss, with no sign of turning back...

His body had only recovered not long ago...

However, Gaia was not affected by this emotion for long. He quickly adjusted himself, frowned, and asked, "Could it be that He specifically ignored you?"

"Impossible." Before Isaac could answer, Cheryl shook her head. "If He knew Third Brother's identity, Third Brother would already be dead. This is the ultimate bottom line in the game between Legendary Wizards and Outer Gods."

"So... the Black Orcs really have gained the aid of an Outer God?" Gaia's expression darkened.

For border counts like them, who dealt with Black Orcs every year, he knew all too well how enormous a change it would bring to the situation if the Black Orcs gained the backing of an Outer God.

Cheryl shook her head grimly. "One more is merely the best-case outcome. There may very well be more than one! There are simply too many High Priests appearing! An Outer God's ability to interfere with the inner side of the world cannot possibly be this strong."

At those words, everyone fell silent again. This matter had already exceeded their capabilities. Of those present, perhaps only Gaia was qualified to take part—and even then, he could only participate, not serve as the main force.

"Isn't Young Master Isaac able to communicate with Outer Gods? Could he ask Them to help us as well?" Mad Sword Alitos said to Isaac while everyone was silent.

"..." Isaac looked at him as if he were an idiot. "First, I can communicate with Them; I can't command Them. If I actually contacted Them, Their first thought would definitely be to take my soul. Second, not a single Outer God is any good. They aren't running a charity. The Black Orcs do this because they don't see Black Orcs as people either—they sacrifice them whenever they please. Finally, Outer Gods aren't that easy to contact."

Hearing this, Alitos lowered his head with an ugly expression. Didn't that mean they were finished?

Bang!

Just as everyone's spirits grew increasingly low, Gaia struck the sword in his hand again, drawing everyone's attention to himself.

"Things have come to this, so all we can do is fight! Neither the Black Orcs nor the Outer Gods are anything good. With those two gathered together, nothing good can come of it. So cast aside every unrealistic fantasy—we have no road left to retreat down!" Gaia said in a deep, solemn voice. "Therefore, everyone, fight!"

After pausing and seeing that everyone's spirits had been stirred somewhat, Gaia gave them another shot in the arm. "Besides, it isn't as though we have no chance of winning. We only need to hold on until the Truth Association and the Church of Light send reinforcements. This concerns Outer Gods—they will definitely come!"

After Gaia finished speaking, everyone's fighting spirit clearly rose again. They had evidently seen a glimmer of hope in his words.

Afterward, everyone tacitly ignored the subject and began discussing battle plans based on the intelligence at hand.

They discussed matters from morning until afternoon before finally reaching a preliminary conclusion.

At the start of the discussion, Isaac had still been able to participate. Later, he gradually became a listener, then simply sat to one side in a daze, occasionally glancing at the witch Barbara.

There were far too many legends about witches in this world. It was said that the original source of Legendary Wizards had come from witches.

Of course, that origin...

Was not particularly friendly...

So Isaac had always been rather interested in witches. He was very curious what sort of physiological structure could allow them to possess magic from birth, with some of them being exceptionally powerful.

However, given Isaac's current moral standards, he still could not bring himself to dissect humans. Thus, he usually buried that curiosity deep in his heart, and it only surfaced a little whenever he encountered a witch.

After the meeting ended, Isaac had intended to leave with everyone else. But when he saw that Eldest Brother and Eldest Sister had not moved, he quietly sat back down as well. It seemed there was still a smaller meeting to be held.

Sure enough, after the four barons had all left the council hall, everyone else's gazes focused on Isaac.

"You want to ask about the Outer Gods?" Isaac spoke before they could ask. Everyone nodded.

"Tsk~ How should I put this? Just as I said earlier, having Outer Gods help us deal with the Black Orcs is impossible. We can't afford that price. But investigating which Outer Gods are on the other side shouldn't be much of a problem." Isaac spread his hands helplessly.

This was already the limit of what he could do.

Gaia nodded. He had a good grasp of that in his heart. But after thinking for a moment, he asked, "That one you mentioned... the one who controls the Flesh Dimension..."

"The Lord of Myriad Flesh?" Isaac raised an eyebrow.

Gaia nodded. He was not a Legendary Wizard; if he said that name aloud, it would be sensed.

"Could His slumber have something to do with you taking a portion of the Flesh Dimension?"

"I don't know, but I don't think so. The part I took was only a very small portion—insignificant compared to the entire Flesh Dimension." The moment Gaia said this, Isaac understood what he was thinking. "So if you want me to make Those Outer Gods sleep through transactions with them, that isn't very realistic."