After collecting his Witchcraft texts and Magic Materials, Isaac had planned to leave his fief immediately. But after a moment’s thought, he turned and headed for the Tower of Trade to list an item for sale—Divine Spirit Rats, usable for fusing with Alchemy Golems, at ten thousand magic stones each!

Needless to say, this was done purely to spite Philo. ’I can’t kill her, but can’t I at least annoy her?’

Since they were in the same Wizard Organization, a second-generation scion like her was unlikely to go to the Tower of Hunting to grind out difficult quests, but she would definitely visit the Tower of Trade for a shopping spree!

And as long as she did, she was bound to see his listing!

While this would prevent Isaac from profiting off the Divine Spirit Rats for a while, it didn’t matter to him. He didn’t have a pressing need for magic stones at the moment. He’d get his satisfaction annoying her for a bit, and when he actually needed the money, he could sell them then.

Of course, Isaac hadn’t set the price absurdly high. Ten thousand magic stones was a severely inflated price, but for the Eldest Princess, it should still be within her means. ’If she actually buys a few, that would be even better!’

After posting the listing, Isaac made another trip to the Tower of Evangelism to turn in the Divine Network modification procedure. With a thousand magic stones in hand, he no longer had to worry about Philo’s attempts to spite him. Perfect.

While he was there, Isaac also picked up the materials for the sacrificial ritual to the God of Flesh. They were free, and although the offered bonus wasn’t much, hey, free is free.

After this flurry of activity, Isaac returned to his laboratory with a pile of items. He set them aside and immediately headed out toward Lake Town. Liu Li would naturally take care of tidying everything up. He needed to visit the town first to gather the remaining materials for two Evil God transaction rituals, and then see if he could get his hands on an ability to enhance his Dimension World.

He passed through a quiet forest path to the lakeshore. The Old Witch was still there, unhurriedly stirring her Crucible, and he had no idea what kind of Magic Potion she was brewing.

He stepped onto a small boat. It moved on its own, without any wind, carrying him across the rippling water toward the center of the lake.

Behind him, the Old Witch, previously focused on her stirring, turned to glance at his departing figure. Her eyes held a hint of wistful admiration. The first time she’d met Isaac, she had seen he was no ordinary person, but she had never expected him to be so exceptional that he would walk the most ancient path of the Mad Witch...

’He even gave that Eldest Princess a sound thrashing. I heard all her Golems were dismantled. How interesting~’

"I hope you make it to the end, kid," the Old Witch murmured, her gaze returning to the unhurried stirring of her Crucible.

...

"Haaaah~"

「The next day.」

Having slept his fill, Isaac gave a long, lazy stretch. He had a few quick bites of breakfast and then dealt with some minor official business—namely, the matter of his Guard Team’s departure.

It was just as he had expected. All twenty-one members of the Guard Team chose to leave, including Barton, who had been promoted to Knight thanks to the Blood Essence Potion.

Isaac wasn’t the least bit surprised. He was well aware of his own reputation. If he were just an Arcanist or an ordinary Legendary Mage, some of them might have stayed. Barton certainly would have.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t.

A Lord famed for his madness could never win the loyalty of his men, no matter what benefits he offered.

Fortunately, Isaac didn’t care. In fact, he was rather pleased. ’Now that they’re gone, I can finally let loose and get to work!’

’Still, they did follow me for a while. Even if they didn’t achieve much, they still put in the effort, right?’

In any case, Isaac wasn’t going to let them leave empty-handed. He decided to give each of them a vial of Blood Essence Potion before they returned.

’Although, Isaac couldn’t be sure if this gesture was for them or for his family back home...’

’It’s all pretty much the same, isn’t it?’

Isaac gave up on the thought. After quickly finishing his breakfast, he headed straight for the laboratory.

However, upon arriving at the laboratory, Isaac didn’t immediately perform the Outer God transaction ritual he was so eagerly anticipating. Instead, he first dumped a pile of materials into a Crucible.

Before beginning the ritual, he decided to brew some Magic Potions to get a feel for the process again.

Although the success rate for a Legendary Mage’s brewing method was much lower compared to an Arcanist’s concoctions, it wasn’t completely useless. At least when it came to mass production, brewing held a major advantage, allowing for many Magic Potions to be made at once.

This was unlike concocting, which required making them one by one. Still, it wouldn’t be accurate to call the Arcanist method slow. That’s because concocting broke the process down into many smaller steps, most of which could be performed by Low-Level Wizards.

For some lower-level Magic Potions in particular, many of the steps could even be handled by ordinary people. The Blood Essence Potion was a prime example, which was one reason it was so hard to sell—the production volume was simply too high!

Yet the selling price couldn’t be lowered—or rather, the price of one hundred Gold Coins was already the result of being artificially controlled. Otherwise, the potion’s price would have been slashed by at least half!

But none of that had anything to do with Isaac. He had given up on making money from this stuff long ago. There wasn’t a single coin to be made from it...

’Those Cultivation novels are all lies. No shops buy Low-Level Cultivation Elixirs in bulk...’

Even though it had been a long time since he had last brewed a Magic Potion, with Isaac’s current skill and the help of his Golden Finger, whipping up a mere twenty portions of Blood Essence Potion was a piece of cake.

After bottling and sealing all the potions, Isaac interlaced his fingers for a good stretch. He then moved to one side and began to carefully arrange the ritual.

The first ritual he set up was for the Deep Sea Evil God White Whale. According to his intelligence, this entity was a Demon that had achieved godhood. Due to Its immense size, It spent most of its time slumbering. However, Its slumber was unlike that of the Master of Billions of Flesh, who sealed off all external perception. Even while asleep, the White Whale’s subconscious would respond to the Summoning of Its Believers and to rituals. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

It was highly rated among his Mad Witch predecessors, with a reputation for a high success rate. If not for the fact that Its subconscious would also devour and dominate the person performing the transaction, It might have even had a chance to be redeemed as a True God.

Of course, the other reason he chose It as his first transaction target was related to the Lord of R’lyeh. According to back-alley rumors, while the Lord of R’lyeh’s power was still primarily focused on Erosion and the chaotic mutation of flesh and blood—and the Authority He wielded was [Water]—He was supposedly beginning to dabble in the power of Dimensions!

He was attempting to create a Dream Dimension, allowing His power to spread even further!

This Legend had no backing from any authoritative institution, but Isaac thought it was something to look forward to. ’From Him, I might be able to obtain something that will make my Dimension grow,’ he mused. ’Perhaps I could even get another Dimension Seed?’

And so, with this hope in mind, Isaac decided to perform the White Whale’s transaction ritual first. The White Whale was a common target for new Mad Witches, so information about It was plentiful, and he’d never heard of anyone obtaining Dimension-related powers from It.

Therefore, It could serve as a primer, a way for Isaac to test his luck!

’What if I get lucky?’