「Terra Empire, Imperial Capital – The Eldest Princess’s Mage Tower」

"He went to East Port?"

In the laboratory, Philo paused from her work on a Demonic Puppet arm. Hearing the Dark Guard’s report, her brow furrowed.

As a proper Mad Witch, Philo was used to getting things for free. And, just like Isaac, she possessed the Innate Abbot Saint Body. That was why, even though she had been the one to strike first in their last encounter, she ended up on the losing side, only managing to save her own skin by leveraging her royal status.

She had lost, but that didn’t mean she admitted defeat!

More importantly, she knew Isaac would never let her off the hook. Her status as the Eldest Princess could only protect her once. If she didn’t kill him, this would never be over!

That was why she had been keeping tabs on Isaac. As a fellow Mad Witch, she knew he couldn’t possibly stay cooped up in his territory forever. Once he came out, she’d have her chance. But...

East Port...

That was the territory of Duke Noy, a border duke in the Southern Empire. Due to the influence of the Sea Race, the political landscape there was a tangled mess. Even with the Empire at its zenith, she didn’t dare meddle. If someone with ulterior motives used her to stir up conflict with Duke Noy, the consequences would be dire.

’I’ll let it go this time,’ she thought. ’That place... the water runs too deep.’ 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

And besides... Philo fell silent, recalling the overwhelming tide of Demons in Philis Town that night. ’Can anyone below Tier Three truly win against a monster like that?’

As she thought this, her gaze fell upon a small booklet at her side. It detailed the method Isaac had casually mentioned to her: using an Emperor’s Decree to weather the backlash from a deal with an Evil God, and then seizing the god’s power directly!

This would ensure every transaction was maximized for profit, not wasting a single Emperor’s Decree.

Though Philo despised Isaac, she had to admit it: the man was a true Mad Witch! A true genius!

To be fair, it was an undeniably fast way to increase one’s power. She estimated that with this method, she’d have a thirty percent chance of advancing to a High-level Wizard within a year!

And not some High-level Wizard with an empty title, either!

So, what was the price?

The unwanted attention of the Outer Gods...

This was different from a normal transaction. Once her identity was exposed, she would inevitably be hunted down by them!

Did she... really have that kind of courage?

Philo stared at the booklet, lost in thought once more. Her father’s protection wasn’t absolute. If she used this method, a day would come, sooner or later, when even he couldn’t save her...

Of course, the same went for Isaac. This kind of deal was, in essence, a race to see if you could outrun the Outer Gods.

Win, and you hit the jackpot. All that power would be yours. The Outer Gods you robbed wouldn’t be able to say a damned thing about it. Forget revenge—They’d have to worry about you coming after *them*!

But if you lost...

Your death would be horrific.

’Should I... take the risk?’

...

’Hm? The success rate of this ritual is three percent? Who’s so generous?’

In East Port, Isaac was strolling aimlessly through the Magic Market with Liu Li. He wasn’t planning on finding any hidden gems; he was just killing time before the ceremony started and, more importantly, showing off his stunningly beautiful maid!

He knew Liu Li wasn’t human, but no one else did!

The looks of envy he received were incredibly satisfying.

Anyway. Isaac had only planned on browsing, but he’d actually stumbled upon a steal: a ritual for a transaction with an Evil God, with a success rate as high as three percent!

So damn generous!

Isaac mused on this for a moment. On his way back from the Imperial Capital, he had seen plenty of Evil God transaction rituals, but they were all blatant scams with a zero percent success rate, designed to bait idiots.

To think he’d actually find the real deal here...

Isaac glanced at the stall owner, memorizing the frequency of the man’s Magic Power. In his experience, whoever was selling this stuff was, nine times out of ten, connected to the Evil God Church—possibly even a member. To Isaac, that made him a fat sheep ripe for the shearing.

But that was a matter for later. For now...

Isaac focused his attention on the parchment scroll in his hand and flipped to the back. He wanted to know which god he was dealing with.

Shadow God Erixis...

’Don’t recognize the name,’ Isaac thought. Right now, that was all he had—the name. There were no other specific details, especially not the core Spell to activate the ritual.

This was standard practice when selling Magic Knowledge. You had to let the buyer see the specific content; otherwise, how could they know it wasn’t a fake?

Of course, the most crucial parts had to be concealed. Otherwise, for a Wizard, it would be no different from a free giveaway. After all, an eidetic memory was a basic qualification.

"How much?"

"One thousand Gold Coins!"

"...Heh." Isaac scoffed. He tossed the scroll down and started to walk away. ’He saw I was excited and decided to fleece me,’ Isaac thought. ’One thousand Gold Coins? Are you fucking kidding me?!’

"Hey, hey, wait! Sir Wizard, hold on! Make a counteroffer!"

At that, Isaac paused and glanced back, shooting a disdainful reply over his shoulder. "Fifty Silver Coins."

With that, he turned to leave again. His offer was clearly not a serious one; he didn’t actually intend to buy it anymore. It’s not like he was desperate for one more ritual.

"Sold! Fifty Silver Coins! It’s yours!"

Isaac: "..."

’This thing is worth at least twenty to fifty Gold Coins, and I’m getting it for fifty Silver Coins,’ he thought. ’So why do I feel like I’m the one getting ripped off?’

"Sir Wizard? How about forty Silver Coins? It’s the real deal!" Seeing Isaac standing there motionless, the stall owner started to panic, genuinely afraid he wouldn’t take it.

He’d finally found a Wizard interested in this sort of thing; if he scared him off now, it would be a huge loss!

Looking at the apprehensive stall owner, Isaac snapped out of it. ’No doubt about it,’ he realized. ’This guy is definitely one of those Cultists.’

This ritual was probably part of his missionary duties. So, even though he’d just saved another ten Silver Coins, he’d actually lost out. Going by the typical style of these Cultists, this kind of thing was usually given away for free. How else were they supposed to demonstrate the greatness of their precious "Evil God-sama"?

Shaking his head in resignation, Isaac took the Magic Book. Liu Li promptly tossed out forty Silver Coins, and they left without another word.

Isaac was no longer in the mood to browse. He led Liu Li straight back to their inn to await the start of the Battle for the Islands.

The Battle for the Islands was said to be an ancient ritual used by Sea Race Wizards to select their Warriors. It involved three islands, across which were scattered special, powerful Crystal Stones, most of which were guarded by Demons.

Once the ritual began, the Sea Race Warriors would swarm the two outer islands, fighting over the limited number of Crystal Stones. On the third day, they would converge on the third island for the final battle.

At the end of the ritual, any participant left alive and holding ten or more Crystal Stones would pass the Trial, receiving the Sea God’s Blessing and a great surge of power. The member of the Sea Race holding the most Crystal Stones would receive an even greater Blessing and be named a Sea Race Warrior, guaranteed to reach Tier Three within a decade!