God of Black Orcs, a Great and Benevolent God!

In the realm of an evil god, the instant Isaac interrupted the ritual, a ferocious colossal beast sprawled across the wilderness slowly opened its eyes. A flicker of surprise passed through them. After all these years, there was actually still a wizard who could survive Its final sneak attack. What an interesting wi—

"You thieving bastard! Damn you! I'll kill you!!!"

The God of Black Orcs had been admiring Isaac's interesting methods. Though he had failed, He had still been flaunting His superiority—until He suddenly sensed that a portion of the forbidden knowledge in His mind had been stolen. His eyes flew wide open. Rising from the ground, He threw back His head and roared!

Boundless divine might raged without restraint through the realm of the evil god!

Countless living creatures died in terror beneath that divine might, then were resurrected within it, over and over again.

"Damned little Thief! I will never let you go!"

Though He said that, the God of Black Orcs knew perfectly well that He would never have the chance to take revenge.

First, constrained by the ritual, after descending, He could only see Isaac, who had presided over it. Apart from that, He could perceive neither the surrounding scenery nor any nearby life.

Second, even sending His followers in the mortal world to investigate would be useless. Those who believed in Him were either black orcs who knew nothing at all, or Cultists lurking in dark corners. Their ability to gather intelligence was far too poor. And the Mad Wizards who dared trade with evil gods were all lunatics—perhaps before His side even found the man, the other side would have gotten himself killed through his own reckless antics.

Of course, there was one even less likely possibility...

That the thieving wizard would become extraordinarily powerful before He found him!

For no reason at all, the God of Black Orcs felt that that little Thief would be the latter...

"Tsk tsk~ Not a bad haul~"

On the other side, compared to the furious God of Black Orcs, Isaac, who had reaped a full harvest, was in far better spirits. After ending the ritual, he walked toward the center of the Ritual Array to retrieve the beast-hide book while examining the three [stars] he had just seized in his mind.

The three [stars] were a set of forbidden knowledge from the same series, called—Bone Spells.

They were Necromancy.

Perhaps because this world had not yet developed that far, unlike the mages in novels from Isaac's previous life, Necromancy had been classified as forbidden magic by the Truth Association not because it desecrated the dead.

In truth, no wizard cared about the feelings of the dead. So long as the deceased had nothing to do with them, if their remains could be used to increase one's strength or cast powerful spells, then a corpse would become a sought-after magical material, no different from the corpse of a Demonic Beast.

The reason Necromancy was forbidden was that casting it required Death Magic Power. This kind of magic power eroded living beings. Every use brought the caster one step closer to death!

And if all the magic power in one's body were converted into Death Magic Power, death would come even faster.

As far as the wizarding world currently knew, only certain undead-type Demonic Beasts and Divine Species could use Necromancy without hindrance. Everyone else had to consume life force to use it.

However, Isaac had seen in some obscure papers that certain Arcanists were researching Necromancy. Their main line of thought was to transform themselves into undead creatures, then preserve their sanity and spellcasting ability.

But so far, he had heard of no results.

Perhaps they had not been made public. Or perhaps they had failed.

Isaac leaned toward the former, because with the Great Power of Outer Gods, accomplishing this would not be difficult. There might well be people like that among the Mad Wizards. Once you had traded with an Outer God, who still cared whether they were human?

But Isaac did not have to go through all that trouble. After all, he had a Divine Species. Although Rat Rat's intelligence was rather worrying, fortunately, the forbidden knowledge he had picked up from the God of Black Orcs was extremely comprehensive.

There were three Necromancy spells in total. Besides the principles and casting methods, there were also divine versions of all three spells!

Not only could they be uploaded directly to Rat Rat's Divine Spark Network, they could also greatly assist Isaac's current research into turning spells into divine arts. This was practically a massive windfall!

God of Black Orcs, what a wonderfully generous god!

Reaching the beast-hide book, Isaac put aside his distracting thoughts and, beneath everyone's concerned gazes, took down the book floating in the air.

The material of the beast-hide book felt somewhat like Demonic Beast hide, but also somewhat like black orc skin. In any case, combined with the strange patterns upon it, it looked especially unsettling. And in Isaac's vision, the beast-hide book was still giving off eerie magic power.

Like the Spellbook given by the Lord of Myriad Flesh, anyone who obtained this beast-hide book could cast the spells recorded within it without hindrance, so long as they fulfilled its sacrificial requirements.

Of course, there was a price.

Every time it was used, a portion of the caster's soul would be eroded by the divine power of the God of Black Orcs, until it was completely eroded and either devoured by the God of Black Orcs or turned into His servant.

Isaac flipped through the beast-hide book, and a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes. It was actually this...

"How is it? You... are you all right?"

Accompanied by a fierce gust of wind, Caesar and Gaia instantly appeared before Isaac, scrutinizing him with concern. Caesar asked anxiously.

"Relax, I'm perfectly fine." Isaac waved a hand, then shook the beast-hide book in his hand. His expression turned somewhat grave. "What we should be worried about is this. If the God of Black Orcs wasn't hiding anything, then our situation is a little dangerous."

At that, Gaia's expression became serious again. He shot a look toward the four Barons in the crowd, then gave Isaac a deep look before turning toward the council chamber.

Isaac and Caesar exchanged a glance, then immediately followed their father, Gaia.

As for Cheryl, she turned and went to fetch Remington.

Their father had played the bad cop, so she could only play the good cop. Although Remington had colluded with the black orcs, as far as they knew, he was currently only connected to an ordinary tribe of very average strength.

Of course, the important thing was not whom he had contacted, but the very act of contacting the black orcs.

But since Second Brother had not truly intended to rebel, they could not let such thoughts take root in him—especially in the current situation.

No matter what, Remington was an important member of the Solomon Family. If he rebelled at a time like this, not only would a great deal of intelligence be leaked, but it would also deal a fatal blow to morale.

So while suppressing Remington, they also had to soothe him somewhat. They could not let him fall into despair, then charge headlong down a dead-end path straight into the black orcs' camp.

Before long, Solomon Fortress's upper ranks gathered once more in the council chamber.

Unlike before, this time, the way everyone looked at Isaac had undergone a heaven-and-earth transformation!

After all, this was a madman who had traded with the Outer Gods at least twice!

And he had survived every time!

And gained something from it!

Even Knights who knew nothing of magic could sense the chilling power seeping from that beast-hide book. One look was enough to tell it was no ordinary item!

Thanks to Ruthless Coder for the 100 Qidian Coins tip!

Thanks for the support, but that name really does feel a little insulting...