Until he could no longer stand.
Meanwhile, the Demon Claw drifted into the dining room. After glancing at the maid, who was frozen stiff with fear, it grabbed the roasted meat and fruit from the table and retreated back toward the laboratory.
These past few days, whenever Isaac was immersed in his Magic research, the Demon Claw was the one that delivered food to him.
However, due to its grotesque appearance, the maid still hadn't gotten used to it, even after seeing it several times. Every time she saw it, she froze in place...
...
「The next day.」
"Haha! I did it!"
Isaac stared at the Demon Rat on the operating table, its body covered in stitches, a look of crazed joy on his face.
'Directly completing Totem Refining with a ritual is too difficult,' he thought. 'With my current understanding of Ritualism, I can't pull that off. But using it to replace a Life-Sustaining Magic Spell isn't a problem.'
'And as long as the Demon Rat's Life Force is strong enough, I'll have plenty of time to guide the Power of Faith and carve a Divinity Network for it.'
In Isaac's vision, he could clearly see flickering specks of light drifting from the Demonized Rats in the corner to the Demon Rat on the table.
This was a basic Magic Spell included in the Witchcraft Manuscript, called the Faith Catalyzing Spell.
Just as its name implied, it could forcibly strengthen a target's degree of Faith and generate Power of Faith. However, this type of Power of Faith was complete garbage, and it also damaged the Believers' minds.
That was why a normal God would never use this Magic Spell.
Of course, Wizards didn't care. They weren't the ones absorbing the Power of Faith anyway.
Like the original owner of the Witchcraft Manuscript, for example.
But at this point, the Witchcraft was not yet complete.
The Demon Rat had yet to create its own Divine Art. It was merely using the Divinity Network in its body to instinctively absorb Power of Faith, but it had no way to utilize it. For now, the Power of Faith was just an ornament within its body.
However, this was only temporary. As time went on, the Divinity Network carved into its body would slowly fuse with it, turning it into a true Divine Species!
Of course, this process would be quite lengthy and would require a massive amount of Power of Faith to nurture.
Therefore, a second step was required: accelerating its fusion with the Divinity Network and guiding it to form a Divine Art.
Only after completing this step could it truly be called a Divine Species—a Totem!
This second step was much simpler. Accelerating the fusion involved periodically feeding it certain Magic Potions and casting Magic Spells on it to reduce rejection. Forming the Divine Art meant choosing one of three basic Divine Arts and carving it into its Divinity Network using the Power of Faith.
However, while there were supposed to be three basic Divine Arts, his Witchcraft Manuscript was unfortunately limited in scope and only recorded two: [Commanding the Same Race] and [Blessing].
They were very basic Divine Arts, but also very practical.
Of course, besides these two basic Divine Arts, it was also possible to carve a Witchcraft model into the Divinity Network. There was a chance it would be assimilated into a Divine Art, but the success rate was pitiful.
But Isaac didn't do that. He chose the basic Divine Art, [Blessing], for the Demon Rat.
The reason was very simple. It wasn't that he was afraid of failure, but that he had no money...
He was completely broke. He hadn't seen any return on his investment in the Demon Rats yet, and he'd already lost two of them...
So, he could only choose one of the two basic Divine Arts with a near one-hundred-percent success rate, and he picked the one he was most curious about: [Blessing].
He was very curious what a Demon Rat, with its incredibly limited pool of abilities, could possibly bestow upon its "Believers" after gaining [Blessing].
Unfortunately, all of this would take time. He would have to wait a little longer~
"Whew~"
After locking the Demon Rat in an iron cage, Isaac walked to the window. He looked at the scenery outside, his mood exceptionally relaxed.
From behind his head, the Demon Claw quietly emerged. Its sharp thumb and forefinger gently plucked a peeled apple slice from the desk, offered it to Isaac, and then nuzzled his cheek.
Isaac smiled and patted the Demon Claw, took the apple, and popped it into his mouth, enjoying the leisurely moment~
'It would be nice if days like this could last forever...'
'A pity...'
Isaac shook his head helplessly. He was a greedy person. The manor was too small to satisfy him; sooner or later, he would have to go out and make his mark on the world!
'But before that, I need to develop my strength for a while. So...'
"Well then~ come on, let's go see how the little ones are growing." With his hands behind his back, Isaac walked out of the laboratory, taking Smith, who was standing at the door, with him toward the breeding grounds behind the castle.
"Currently, both the Demon Rats and the Dragon Lizards are doing fine. Their size and internal Magic Power levels are all steadily increasing. The Dragon Lizards' growth is the most obvious. In another three days, they should reach the standard you mentioned, Young Master."
On the way to the breeding grounds, Smith gave Isaac a general update on the current situation.
Isaac nodded. 'Not bad. It looks like I might be able to make it to the Mad Witch Association's small exchange meeting in three days. I'm very curious about that.'
Although he had been immersed in Magic research during this time, he would occasionally glance at the Mad Witch Association's chat group. Unfortunately, this bunch of people were probably tech nerds too; they basically never said anything, and he had no idea why.
'A Dragon Lizard with an awakened Giant Dragon Bloodline... maybe I can trade it for something good?'
Isaac wasn't sure. After all, everyone who could get into the Mad Witch Association was someone who dared to make deals with Outer Gods and come out unscathed. Who among them wasn't formidable?
But even if they looked down on it, it wasn't a problem. He was just going this time to broaden his horizons anyway. If he sold it, it'd be a huge profit. If he didn't, it wouldn't be a loss. After all, a Dragon Lizard with an awakened Giant Dragon Bloodline was excellent, whether for his own use or for selling to the Tower of Flesh.
Arriving at the breeding grounds, Isaac saw his little darlings. After a direct Observation, he found that the effect of the Beast Breeding Arena was even better than he had imagined. The Dragon Lizards would be ready to drink the Magic Potion and awaken their bloodline in about two and a half days. The Demon Rats were even faster; they'd be ready to "ship out" tomorrow, all fat and plump.
Isaac picked out four of the best-looking ones and set them aside to be sold, leaving two pairs of Demon Rats for breeding. As for the Dragon Lizards...
He didn't touch them. The Dragon Lizards' growth cycle was much longer than the Demon Rats'. Even with the nurturing of the Beast Breeding Arena, it would take over a year at the very least for them to reach reproductive maturity...
'It's much more efficient to just sell them and buy new young ones to raise.'
Afterward, Isaac supplemented the Demon Rats' and Dragon Lizards' food with the Ordinary flesh produced by the Flesh Gemstone over the past few days. Then he turned and left, heading to the training grounds. He found a random patch of lawn to sit on and began flipping through "Arcane Energy Overview, Volume 1," which his older sister had given him.
He had skimmed through this book sporadically over the last few days. Although it was all very basic, it was a great help to him. Just the few small tricks mentioned inside could significantly increase the Casting speed of his three basic Arcane Arts. Once he finished reading the whole thing, he was sure there would be even more to gain!
Just like that, three fulfilling days passed in the blink of an eye. During these three days, he successfully sold four Demon Rats and one Demon Rat corpse, earning ten Gold Coins. It was a small amount considering the high expenses of a Wizard, but the income was stable. After all, there was little difficulty or risk in raising Demon Rats.
For a novice Wizard, it was a guaranteed-profit business.
However, Isaac didn't hold onto the ten Gold Coins. He immediately placed an order for ten more Demon Rats. That little bit of money couldn't accomplish much anyway, so he might as well continue to expand his production scale.
Isaac might hesitate with other businesses, calculating profit and loss, but when it came to raising rats, it was a no-brainer. He could always use them himself anyway, so he just considered it as buying Magic Materials at cost.
The 1st of the month was a somewhat special day for members of the Mad Witch Association. On this day, fanatical Wizards from every city, every country, every continent, and even every world—all of whom were keen on making deals with Outer Gods—would gather in a special Dimension to exchange Knowledge, materials, and intelligence.
In the basement, Isaac stood in the center of a Hexagram Magic Array emblazoned with a skull. He clutched the Mad Witch Association's Magic Book to his chest, closed his eyes, and recited the Door Opening Magic Spell.
"RRRRIP~"
As Isaac recited the spell, the surrounding shadows suddenly lunged forward and swallowed him whole!
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing on a pure white stone pillar. All around him was a void, filled with nothing but rows of identical pure white pillars—a rather primitive Dimension World.