Chapter 114: Chapter 99: The White Whale of Infinite Growth

The White Whale’s ritual wasn’t complex. First was the fundamental structure of the Ritual Array, which wasn’t the circles and Hexagrams commonly used by Legendary Mages, but rather three parallel circles. This was supposedly the Basic Array favored by Casters of the Sea Race.

At the center of the Magic Array was an eye statue. The eyes seemed to possess a wisdom that could see through all mystery. This was the symbol of the Truth Association—the Eye of Truth.

’Yes, this is clearly a ritual to summon an Evil God, yet the most crucial ritual component is the symbol of a legitimate association...’

’...I can’t tell which one is the "illegitimate" one anymore.’

Although Isaac was curious, he didn’t investigate further. Outer God Ceremonies were just like that—some were bizarre, some were perverse, and others were completely proper.

’Oh, wait. It’s not just Outer God Ceremonies. All rituals involving Existences of a High Position are like this!’

’Unfathomable!’

Just like the two Witch rituals he’d used for his own promotion, many of the components were far from proper.

This was because rituals, unlike an Arcanist’s Magic Array, operated on the principle of gathering similar Concepts, which would then intertwine and fuse to produce an incredible transformation. It might seem illogical, but it actually followed its own set of rules.

Take the ritual Isaac was setting up, for example. The core component, the Eye of Truth, primarily represented the Concepts of ’Wisdom’ and a touch of ’Mystery.’ The materials in the second layer were mostly fish scales, fish entrails, some deep-sea plants, and even seawater. Together, these formed the ’Deep Sea’ Concept.

In the outermost layer were an octopus, a transparent jellyfish, and an anglerfish. All three of these simultaneously embodied the Concepts of ’Deep Sea’ and ’Mystery.’

In other words, the specific materials weren’t important. What mattered was gathering the three Concepts of ’Wisdom,’ ’Mystery,’ and ’Deep Sea’ within a single ritual, and ensuring their proportions were correct. Do that, and you could summon the White Whale.

It was said that if a Wizard was skilled enough, they could perform any ritual using nothing but commonplace items!

However, that level was far too distant for Isaac; he couldn’t even begin to imagine such a state. For now, he was just a novice following instructions to the letter, not daring to make any significant changes to the ritual’s design.

The only exception, of course, was the "cushion" his Golden Finger had suggested for increasing the margin for error. That, he could use with bold confidence.

The "cushion" for the White Whale was surprisingly simple: fish.

It didn’t specify deep-sea, shallow-sea, or river fish—any fish would do. The only requirement was Magic Power. The higher the Magic Power content, the greater the increase to the margin for error. Ordinary fish would work, but it took a ton to add a mere one percent. Never mind whether it was even possible to buy that many ordinary fish in this era; even if he could, he wouldn’t have anywhere to put them.

So, the "cushion" Isaac bought was a Tier Two Demon Fish. It was about as long as a full-grown adult but three to four times heavier. A single one could provide a twenty to thirty percent margin for error, making it relatively cost-effective.

As always, Isaac had maxed out the margin for error.

With all preparations complete, Isaac stood before the Magic Array and softly chanted a difficult Magic Spell. A faint white mist began to appear. Centered on the array, the mist grew thicker and thicker, successively swallowing the statue, the fish fragments, the octopus, the jellyfish, the anglerfish...

...and finally, the Tier Two Demon Fish.

After devouring everything, the mist’s density reached its peak. Visibility dropped to less than a meter!

Then, the dense mist began to flow rapidly, coalescing before Isaac into a colossal whale that blotted out the sky!

"Huuuuuuuummm..."

The White Whale formed from the mist let out a series of low hums, responding to Isaac’s Summoning while also inquiring what he needed.

Isaac wasn’t frightened by the impossibly large White Whale. He knew that everything before him was an illusion. The Space around him hadn’t actually changed at all. There was no whale in front of him, only a mass of dense mist enveloping him.

At the same time, his consciousness entered a strange Void—the source of the White Whale’s power.

However, unlike the Void of the Black Orc God, the White Whale’s contained no Stars, only an endless white mist. It seemed It possessed no Authority, nor any Forbidden Knowledge.

This was something Isaac hadn’t expected. Most of the information he’d researched made no mention of it. ’Why is that? Do modern Wizards no longer like to snatch power from Outer Gods?’

’Are the Legendary Mages of the new era all so well-behaved?’

Isaac didn’t know the specific reason. His current understanding of Legendary Mages came mostly from *Path of the Wizard*, a book on their origins, and the Magic forums of the Flesh Sect. He only knew that the Mad Witches were mad, but as for *how* mad...

...he had no real measure.

Still, he knew what he had to do now.

[I wish for my Servant Demon to be granted the ability to break its limits and grow infinitely.]

This wasn’t a lie. Although the things Isaac requested in his trades were usually a pretense, not all of them were. A mosquito may be small, but it’s still meat!

Besides, what one could get from the White Whale was far more than just "a little bit of meat"!

Infinite growth. This was the White Whale’s innate talent, and one of the fundamental reasons It was able to grow from an Ordinary white whale all the way to an Evil God. It was also the power It used for the Corrosion of those who traded with It.

With infinite growth, one could increase their power in two ways. The first was to imitate the White Whale and simply eat. As long as you ate enough, you would grow stronger indefinitely!

But that was also the ability’s greatest trap.

A saying from Isaac’s past life was perfect for this situation: "Those who learn from me shall live; those who imitate me shall die." Using the White Whale’s power to imitate the White Whale’s path would only lead to assimilation, ultimately becoming Its food or one of Its Followers.

Therefore, that was the wrong way to use it. The correct way was—Cultivation!

Whoever possessed the power of infinite growth would never encounter any bottlenecks or barriers!

All that was needed was diligent Cultivation!

Of course, that was exhausting—nowhere near as comfortable or convenient as simply eating one’s way to power.

However, on the Flesh Sect’s Magic forums, Isaac had once seen a certain theory: if using the White Whale’s power to imitate Its growth path leads to assimilation, what would happen if you introduced the Concept of an equally powerful Existence during the process?

What if, for instance, you used the White Whale’s devouring ability to devour the power of one or more other Outer Gods?

No one had an answer.

The Flesh Sect might only accept Legendary Mages, but there didn’t seem to be many Mad Witches among them. Even if a true Mad Witch saw that forum post, they would likely just laugh it off. Who would be foolish enough to risk their own life on such a dangerous experiment?

But Isaac found the idea fascinating. He wanted to test the hypothesis, and since he now had the opportunity, he made it his request for the trade.

Of course, he wouldn’t be experimenting on himself. There was no rule stating the ability had to be used on the one who received it.

But before all that, there was something more important...

As the trade began, within the Mysterious Void, Isaac began to plunder the endless white mist!