Stepping onto a small boat on the forest lake, Isaac slowly rowed into the white mist. When the mist cleared, he had arrived in Lake Town.

A short while later, Isaac returned with his arms full of materials. This was what he liked most about Lake Town. One could buy almost any material here; things were never out of stock. The only problem one might have was with their wallet.

Fortunately, he wasn’t short on money right now. He had more than enough for the ritual materials—in fact, he had a surplus!

He had prepared three sets of ritual materials in total: two for a ritual involving the Void Worm, and one for his old friend, the Master of Billions of Flesh.

The former was to acquire the ability of Spatial Operation. To ensure it was enough, he planned to use an abundance of materials and perform the ritual twice, hoping to resolve his defense and movement needs all at once.

As for the latter...

That was a greeting to his old friend. And, of course, an experiment.

The Master of Billions of Flesh had fallen into a deep slumber long ago. For an Existence like it, without some major stimulus, a single slumber could last for centuries. During this period, many rituals were unable to communicate with it; trading rituals, at the very least, were at a complete standstill.

’This won’t do!’

’How can it sleep through this?’

’Why sleep so much while you’re alive? You’ll be sleeping for eternity after you die!’

So Isaac decided to give it a try—to see if he could force a trade with the sleeping Existence!

Or perhaps, forcibly wake it up to make a trade!

If he could pull this off, his path forward would be much smoother!

However, compared to the ritual for the Void Worm, he had much less confidence in the one for the Master of Billions of Flesh. The only thing he could guarantee was his own safety. As for the success rate?

That was impossible to determine right now. There was too little key data; he would have to try it first and see.

Soon, Isaac returned to his laboratory with a large bag of materials. Upon his return, he didn’t immediately begin arranging the ritual as he usually would. Instead, he first started to perform secondary processing on some of the materials he had bought.

This would slightly increase the success rate.

While Isaac didn’t desperately need this small boost in success rate, the fact that he knew how to perform this step demonstrated that his understanding of rituals had ascended to a new level. Repeating the process would help deepen that understanding.

It might seem like a waste of time at present, but in the long run, it would enable Isaac to go much further. The choice was obvious.

...

"Haaa... Hooo..."

Having centered himself, Isaac stood before the prepared ritual. Before starting, he confirmed the ritual materials one more time. Most of them were various kinds of rotting flesh—some serving as a base, others as the main ingredients. In addition to the flesh, there were also large quantities of assorted insect eggs.

After confirming the materials were in order, Isaac sprinkled some purple powder over the eggs while softly chanting a bizarre Magic Spell. A faint ripple of Magic Power slowly spread out. The purple powder on the eggs began to emit a soft glow before slowly sinking into them.

"Tsss~"

A moment later, faint cracking sounds arose as the assorted eggs began to split open, and various insects crawled out. Once hatched, guided by Isaac’s Magic Spell, the insects first devoured every last scrap of rotting flesh. Then, they gathered in the center of the Ritual Array and began an all-out battle royale!

The losers were devoured by the winners, but soon, those winners were devoured by other winners...

Like a battle royale, the relationship between Hunter and prey was playing out within the small Ritual Array. The difference was that this time, despite the increased brutality, Isaac was the one presiding over the ritual, not participating in it.

Watching the insects in the Ritual Array devour one another, Isaac continued his Magic Spell without pause, but his eyes glazed over for a moment. ’A sense of déjà vu, a bit stronger this time...’

But Isaac’s resolve did not waver in the slightest. No matter how cruel reality was, no matter how fierce the competition, all that mattered was winning in the end!

Before long, the War among the insects in the Ritual Array came to an end. The final survivor was a creature that resembled a scorpion.

I say "resembled" because, in addition to scorpion-like features, it also had eight fleshy white tentacles, seven cicada wings, six pairs of mouthparts, and a body like an earthworm. It looked utterly bizarre!

But this grotesque form was only temporary. As the victor, it was entitled to a special reward.

A purple vortex appeared silently above the Ritual Array. From within it, a sludge emitting a purplish-black gas slowly descended, dripping onto the scorpion-like creature and making a SIZZLING sound.

"HISSS!!" 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The scorpion-creature wailed and thrashed as the black sludge touched it, trying to escape its influence. But its struggles were futile. No matter how much it writhed, the sludge unhurriedly enveloped the insect, encasing it in a black sphere.

"GLUG GLUG~"

The black sludge bubbled and pulsed a few times, then slowly coalesced into a purplish-black worm with a savage maw at each end. The purplish-black worm rose up on its tail, its maw opening and closing twice in a silent laugh, seemingly mocking Isaac.

Isaac paid no mind to the Void Worm’s mockery. Having chosen this entity as his target, he had naturally done his research. He was well aware of its foul personality and understood the insinuation behind its silent laugh.

However, Isaac felt no inclination to retreat. As he’d just thought, no matter how brutal, cruel, or difficult the path, all that mattered was that he kept on winning, all the way to the very end!

So, after a brief glance at the slowly diminishing margin for error, he stated his demands: he wanted the ability of Spatial Operation, preferably a Spatial Shield and Spatial Movement.

Afterward, Isaac submerged the majority of his consciousness into that patch of the Void.

When Isaac arrived in this region of the Void, things were different from his previous rituals. Here, the moment Isaac opened his eyes, he saw the Void Worm, towering like a giant that touched the sky and stood upon the earth!

Unlike past rituals, where the other party would only react after he was halfway done plundering, this Void Worm obviously understood Mad Witches very well. It was already here, prepared from the very beginning.

But Isaac wasn’t surprised. He had anticipated this scene from the start; otherwise, he wouldn’t have prepared two sets of ritual materials. In any case, it was always going to be a direct confrontation.

Looking at the sky-blotting Void Worm, Isaac grinned. A phantom portal materialized behind him. Gilded energy surged forth, transforming into innumerable fine threads that wrapped around the massive worm!

"HISSS!!!"

The Void Worm was enraged by Isaac’s brazen act. It let out a series of shrieks as a purplish-black radiance manifested. Waves of spatial ripples formed before the gilded energy, attempting to block its advance.

However, to the Void Worm’s fury, the purplish-black radiance instantly disintegrated the moment it met the gilded energy!

It didn’t offer the slightest resistance!

"HISSSSSS!!!"

The Void Worm threw its head back and roared again, but this time, it sounded more like a fit of impotent rage.

But amidst its anger, the Void Worm was also confused. From its perspective, Isaac was just a measly Tier Two Mage. How could he possibly mobilize such immense power from the Gate of Legends?

It had dealt with many Mad Witches before, but this was the first time it had seen one rely purely on the Gate of Legends...

Other Mad Witches had their own endless array of tricks, making them impossible to guard against. But one like Isaac, who simply relied on overwhelming brute force... It was truly a first!

Most importantly!

’This bastard is cheating!’

He was only Tier Two, and the ritual he used was also only Tier Two, which meant the power It could manifest was limited to the peak of Tier Two. Due to its own High Position, It could maybe be considered Tier Three. But the Power of Legend Isaac had mobilized was fucking equivalent to Tier Four!

’How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!’

’Sigh~’

The Void Worm let out a long sigh. It had already resolved to abandon this portion of its power. This guy was just too ridiculous; there was no way to fight him.

However, just as the Void Worm was thinking this, right after a little more than half of its power had been plundered, it was astonished to discover that the damn prick of a Wizard on the other side seemed to have withdrawn...

Yes, despite having a massive advantage, he had retreated!

Somewhere in the endless Void, a Void Worm that had been blowing Void bubbles suddenly froze for a moment, then began to laugh. ’Ha, I ran into an idiot~’

...

Void Worm: "You little thief! Don’t you dare let me find you!!!"