Chapter 52: Chapter 43: Holy Cow! There’s a Bull

Hearing this, Gaia sighed, though he hadn’t held out much hope to begin with.

In truth, however, a part of him was also quietly relieved. He didn’t know what he would have done if Isaac had said yes. ’Would I have really let him do it...?’

His beloved youngest son on one hand, the people he had sworn to protect with his life on the other...

’Either choice would be agonizing!’

"Is it dangerous to find out which Outer Gods we’re up against?"

"Ummm..." Isaac wasn’t sure how to respond.

’It wasn’t dangerous at all. Getting this level of intelligence wouldn’t even require high-quality sacrifices. You couldn’t overestimate the moral standards of the Outer Gods—those beings were even less reliable than the Saint Master.’

’At least the Saint Master would claim on the surface to always keep his promises.’

’For these Outer Gods, hesitating even a second to sell out an ally would be an insult to their very nature!’

’So, getting this information was simple. What gave Isaac pause was whether performing a ritual solely for this information would be a waste.’

’Even though he had a pile of research projects and wasn’t short on many things, he could still skim some resources to cultivate his Dimension. As the saying goes, a thief never leaves empty-handed.’

’But if I do that... wouldn’t that be like padding the expense report?’

’Hmm, no, that’s not right. It wouldn’t be suspicious.’

’A guilty conscience was one thing, but more importantly, if he told them the truth, Gaia would certainly never agree. That much was obvious.’

So, after hesitating for a few seconds—just as Gaia was starting to regret his question—Isaac nodded. "No problem. It’s quite simple. I’ll just need to think about who to make the deal with. Different entities have different requirements for the ritual and sacrifices."

"..." Gaia swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. After a moment of silence, he heaved a heavy sigh. "Then go and make a list of what you need. Give it to your older sister; she’ll get it for you."

"Understood. In that case... I’ll head back to my experiments?" Isaac asked cautiously, blinking as he looked at his family’s somber expressions.

"Go on, then." Gaia waved his hand and sighed again.

Isaac nodded and turned to leave the council chamber. He couldn’t wait to go pick a lucky Outer God!

"Sigh..." After Isaac left the council chamber, Gaia watched his retreating figure and sighed yet again. "Are we really doing the right thing?" he asked, his expression forlorn.

Caesar pressed his lips together, his fists clenched. He didn’t know how to answer that question either...

’From the clan’s perspective, of course it was the right thing to do. To put it bluntly, the Solomon Clan was facing a crisis of life and death. The more intelligence they had, the better their odds of survival. As a member of the clan, Isaac had an obligation. After all, the blood of the Solomon Clan flowed through his veins!’

’But...’

’From Isaac’s perspective, it was wrong. He had been frail since childhood and had never known an easy life. Now that he had just recovered, he was being asked to take another risk... It was unfair to him...’

The atmosphere in the council chamber grew even heavier...

...

Of course, that was just their side of the story. They had no idea Isaac had a cheat.

Meanwhile, Isaac had already strode out of the castle, taken a pumpkin carriage back to his Mage Tower, and plunged into his study to gleefully search for a "lucky winner."

Before long, Isaac had locked onto three targets: the God of Courage, the Dream Elf, and the Black Orc God.

There might have been other, more suitable candidates, but information on them wasn’t in his older sister’s study. This was normal; after all, Cheryl was a Truth Mage and wasn’t well-versed in matters concerning Outer Gods.

But these three were enough. The first, the God of Courage, had a highly deceptive name. Judging by the name alone, you might think he was a good god, but that wasn’t the case.

The God of Courage was actually Khorne, also known as the Blood God. He represented irrepressible aggression, a mindless, frenzied rage, and a rolling sea of blood that drowned battlefields. He had an unquenchable thirst for gore, and anyone who wielded a blade and killed in His name was sure to earn His favor.

He was an extremely dangerous Evil God, but also a very generous one—the most common "public bus" type among the Outer Gods. Anyone could get on board by paying the fare. Of course, whether you could get off in one piece depended on your own skills. These "public bus" Outer Gods were typically immensely powerful.

There were many ways to make a deal with Him. Isaac had found three different basic rituals in Cheryl’s study alone, and all of them worked!

Of course, the probability of success was very low.

’What’s particularly interesting,’ Isaac thought, ’is that according to conventional ritual Knowledge, the success rate for these three basic rituals is extremely high—up to ninety percent!’

’He really lives up to his reputation as a "public bus"!’

But just like his title of God of Courage, this was a deception. In reality, the success rate displayed by his Golden Finger was a mere one percent. Using any of these three rituals would be a complete waste—just handing over a free gift.

’Khorne is a good candidate for a deal. Besides being easy to contact, the most important thing is His passion for War. He must know the Black Orcs’ situation like the back of his hand. He might have even had a hand in it himself, which means the potential payoff could be huge.’

The second option, the Dream Elf, was a target chosen from the perspective of developing his Dimension. According to the scant information he had gathered over the past few days, the Dream Elf’s realm contained a special type of crystal that could significantly accelerate a Dimension’s growth. Moreover, the Dream Elf’s dream realm was closely connected to the Real World, so it would surely know what was happening with the Black Orcs.

The third, the Black Orc God, was an option Isaac added after careful consideration.

’As everyone knows, Outer Gods have no honor.’

’None whatsoever. So, even if it concerns their own plans, they’ll spill everything as long as you provide a sacrifice. The only catch, of course, is surviving the ritual.’

’Therefore, the Black Orc God was also a viable target. This choice had two advantages. First, the sacrifices were easy to procure—Black Orcs themselves would do, and they were readily available. Second, any boon obtained from the God might have a miraculously potent effect against the Black Orcs!’

’All three are pretty good options. How to choose, I wonder~’

Isaac stared at the three options, lost in thought.

’If this were about any other kind of Magic Knowledge, knowing me, I wouldn’t be so conflicted. As a mature adult, my choice would be to take them all!’

’But this involved Outer Gods. Even with my cheat, it was best to take it slow and handle them one at a time. Otherwise, I fear I might get addicted to the thrill of taking shortcuts and become careless.’

’Then again, the Summoning rituals for all three were basic, each with only a one percent success rate. Piling on modifiers to reach a thousand percent success rate would be no simple task...’

’Just gathering the materials would take ages.’

Thus, after mulling it over, he finally chose the Black Orc God!

’For one, the sacrifices—Black Orcs—were easy to find. You could even buy them. For another, the idea of using the Black Orc God’s own Divine Power against the Black Orcs... just thinking about it was thrilling! It had a strange, perverse appeal!’