Now it's the Rat Rat version!

The next day, Isaac stretched luxuriously, slapped his cheeks to wake himself up, then quickly sat down at his desk. He first copied down the forbidden knowledge he had obtained from the God of Black Orcs before beginning his study of the spells in the hide-bound book.

There were not many spells recorded in the hide-bound book—only four in total. Three were for demonizing black orcs, while one removed demonization from Half-Orcs.

Isaac looked over the first three first: Fel Summoning, Fel Infusion, and Fel Shaping.

All three were extremely simple spells, with very low thresholds. Thanks to demonic fel energy's outstanding ability to erode and assimilate, their success rates were also incredibly high—they could even be mass-produced!

Isaac had mastered all three spells after reading through them twice, but they were of no use in solving his problem.

Because these absurdly simple spells only proved that demonizing black orcs involved no technical skill whatsoever. There was simply no angle from which to crack the problem.

As for the spell that removed demonization...

Isaac took one look and found it was nothing but taking off one's pants to fart!

He knew a scumbag like the God of Black Orcs would not be kind enough to help him so easily!

The demonization-removal spell was called Fel Extraction.

Simply put, these black orcs had not been eroded deeply enough by fel energy. They had only been demonized, rather than turned into genuine demons. Thus, in this state, extracting the fel energy from their bodies would remove the demonization.

But that was precisely where the problem lay. First, Fel Extraction was a single-target spell. Second, the target had to remain still in one spot throughout the extraction process, or the extraction would be interrupted...

That was utterly ridiculous. If I can already control the black orcs, wouldn't it be easier to just slit their throats?

Only someone with a hole in their head would save black orcs for you!

Isaac had roughly guessed this much already, which was why he had not directly asked for a solution during the ritual.

Still, it was not as though he had no ideas at all...

Isaac stroked his chin, considering the possibility of converting Fel Extraction into a ritual spell. If it could be cast through a ritual, things would become much easier.

But...

"Tch~"

After thinking for a moment, Isaac shook his head. No, it would not work.

These four spells had been simplified to an extreme, almost to the level of arcane arts. With his current abilities, he could not convert them into ritual spells.

Once he had confirmed it was impossible, Isaac set the spell aside. Continuing to study it would only waste time. Rather than squander time on this, he might as well thoroughly research other areas—perhaps he could gain even greater improvements.

For example, the forbidden knowledge he had just obtained from the God of Black Orcs!

Isaac was also quite interested in Necromancy. In his previous life, he had loved the undead calamities in Western fantasy novels—summoning vast armies of the undead at the drop of a hat. It was simply cool as hell!

Of course, he himself would definitely not use it. After all, using this stuff shortened one's lifespan!

But if he could not use it, Rat Rat could!

Rat Rat was a Divine Species, immune to the erosion of Death Magic Power. Moreover, the three necromantic spells he had taken from the God of Black Orcs all had divine versions, so there was no need for extensive research.

The three necromantic spells obtained from the God of Black Orcs were Bone Construction, Bone Explosion, and Bone Reinforcement. What was missing was Isaac's favorite: summoning skeleton soldiers.

But it did not matter. It was not like he would be using them anyway.

Bone Construction controlled Death Magic Power and infused it into bones, allowing them to be reassembled according to one's wishes. Their movements had to be controlled through Death Magic Power.

So even if he created the shape of a skeleton soldier, it would not be much use. Its combat power would actually be lower.

The most suitable use Isaac could think of was constructing bone swords, then using Death Magic Power to make them fly through the air—the magical version of flying swords!

That was cool too!

Though with Rat Rat's brain, it might be too much to handle...

"Ahh~"

Thinking of that, Isaac sighed. Although he had been doing his utmost to cultivate Rat Rat's intelligence lately, the progress was still worrying. He still did not know where the problem lay.

Still, even if it could not use flying swords, this divine spell should be enough to noticeably improve Rat Rat's combat strength.

Not to mention the other two spells working in tandem. Bone Explosion was easy to understand: it detonated the magic power inside bones, causing them to explode. Whether it was the bone fragments shooting outward or the Death Magic Power spreading with the blast, both were devastatingly powerful. It was a variant of the classic necromantic spell, Corpse Explosion.

Bone Reinforcement used Death Magic Power to strengthen bones. It could temporarily increase a bone's durability, or be used to nurture it and gradually raise its strength over time.

There were three divine spells in total, but only one could be installed for now. The other two would have to wait until Rat Rat's divine spark improved further.

For that, he would have to slowly grind away.

There were three ways to improve a divine spark. The most common was absorbing Power of Faith. So long as there was enough Power of Faith, a divine spark could continue evolving until it became a true god!

However, this was difficult to achieve. The faith he guided through spells could only last for a period of time. At most, it could be used to construct a Divine Spark Network; Rat Rat could not absorb it. And aside from using magical means, with Rat Rat's current strength...

Honestly, it would be difficult to make other creatures believe in it.

The second method was to improve it by devouring other divine sparks. This was much simpler. Isaac could continuously transform other Divine Rats for Rat Rat to devour. While each improvement would not be great, so long as he was willing to put in the grind, there was still hope in sight.

Furthermore, every transformation surgery deepened Isaac's understanding of it. Perhaps before long, he would be able to simplify it into an even easier spell and improve efficiency.

If the first two methods were still within Isaac's expectations, then the third had completely escaped his understanding—it could grow stronger by absorbing magic power!

In other words, it could cultivate!

In Isaac's fixed impression, gods of faith could only grow stronger by absorbing faith. Once they lost that faith, they would weaken and might even fall from their divine thrones!

Thus, when he discovered that Rat Rat could strengthen the Divine Spark Network within its body by absorbing magic power, he was utterly shocked. He had thought he had created something truly extraordinary.

But after reviewing the information, Isaac realized he had been wrong. This was actually a trait shared by all gods in this world. Aside from the Power of Faith, they could also recover their strength—and even grow stronger—by absorbing magic power.

Moreover, even if they lost their faith, their power would not weaken because of it. Only the speed at which they improved would be affected.

This differed somewhat from High-level Knights who walked the path of faith. Without the nourishment of the Power of Faith, their strength would decline.

That was why every territory strictly controlled the birth of such High-level Knights.

Unfortunately, this still had nothing to do with Rat Rat...

With its current intelligence, it could only absorb magic power by instinct. It could not even recognize all the words, so there was no point expecting it to learn a meditation method.

"Tsk~" Looking at Rat Rat on the Operating Table, which had already mastered Bone Construction but had yet to wake up, Isaac wondered whether he should take advantage of his family's support and find an Outer God to make a trade with—perhaps obtain something that could accelerate intellectual development...

Otherwise, this was simply too slow...