Chapter 54: Chapter 44: Wizarding World’s Local Specialty (Part 2)

’Besides, leniency?’

Not skewering Remington on the spot was already lenient enough!

It was just that Gaia wanted to save some face. So when Isaac pleaded on Remington’s behalf, he went along with it. This didn’t mean there would be no consequences, just that they were postponed until after the War.

And so, time flew by amidst Isaac’s research. In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

For Isaac, these three days had been incredibly fulfilling. Every day of research brought new discoveries. All his projects were progressing steadily. Even Shushu’s Divinity had advanced considerably, reaching the point where it could inscribe a second Divine Art.

However, he hadn’t yet decided which Divine Art to create. The ones in his manuscripts were too basic, their effects exceedingly ordinary. He was trying to transform Magic into a Divine Art, but this path was far more difficult than optimizing his Flesh Conversion research.

Three days had passed, and he still had no leads.

But for the Soldiers of the fortress, these three days were also fulfilling, busy, and utterly hellish.

First, there was the most "normal" part: the young master and young miss were shipping in massive numbers of Black Orc slaves, cart after cart. Most of them were Black Orc Warriors!

Quasi-Knights!

The sight made everyone’s hearts pound with fear!

That was a fifth of the fortress’s current military strength!

If that many Black Orcs staged a mutiny inside the fortress, the consequences...

’Just thinking about it sends shivers down our spines!’

Honestly, if the ones escorting the Black Orc slaves weren’t the young master and young miss, they would have sworn there was a traitor in the fortress!

And yet, in the current Solomon Fortress, this heavyweight matter was somehow the easiest one to accept...

Because there were two other, even more monumental issues in the fortress!

One was the Flesh Nest Isaac had set up in a corner of the fortress. As more and more Demonized Flesh was fed into it, the Magic Power it contained had reached an astonishing level!

Walk near it, and you could often hear a dense chorus of heartbeats!

Not to mention its utterly surreal appearance!

A giant, blood-red heart covered in a dense layer of fleshy tumors. Just looking at it felt like it would break your mind!

The other was the new snake pit in another corner of the fortress, built by the newly arrived Witch, the Snake Princess. The snake pit wasn’t as bizarre and surreal as the Flesh Nest, but it was filled with a dense, writhing mass of colorful snakes!

Every hour, you could even see Snake Women crawling out of it!

This was what terrified the fortress Soldiers the most!

Although the Snake Women had amazing figures and wore not a single scrap of clothing, no Soldier felt the slightest bit of lust when facing these Snake-men.

Because for these Snake Women, only their lower bodies were human!

Even if they were completely naked, you’d have to be a god to get aroused by that!

Besides, these Snake Women would only appear for a few minutes before turning back into a pile of colorful snakes and slithering back into the pit.

In short, the fortress was especially terrifying this year...

...

"SCHRRIP!"

While the Soldiers were living in their own personal hell, Isaac was happily conducting an experiment in his Mage Tower. The increasingly demonic and terrifying Harmon emerged from the nape of Isaac’s neck, spreading its five fingers as a Mysterious fluctuation of Magic Power appeared with a purple glow.

Bathed in the purple glow, the Demon Wolf before Isaac couldn’t help but close its eyes.

The next moment...

"GURGLE~"

The sound of squirming flesh echoed. The Demon Wolf, startled awake by the excruciating pain from within its body, opened its eyes. It turned its head to see a fleshy lump bulging just below its neck, its eyes filled with terror!

Then... the fleshy lump slowly grew larger...

"SQUELCH!"

A bloody wolf’s head burst out from it!

After the new head appeared, it let out a crazed snarl and chomped down on the original Demon Wolf’s neck!

"SQUELCH!"

The throat was instantly severed, sending fresh blood splattering everywhere!

Under the purple glow, both pairs of eyes on the Two-headed Demon Wolf slowly lost their light...

Immediately after, the Demon Wolf’s corpse began to squirm, and several ferocious Demonized Rats burrowed their way out of it!

"HISS!!"

The experiment was over. Harmon excitedly rubbed the back of its hand against Isaac’s face, as if seeking praise.

"Yes, yes, you’re the best! Harmon is amazing!"

With the successful experiment, Isaac was also thrilled. He stroked Demon Claw Harmon, unable to suppress the smile spreading across his face.

Not far away, Shushu, who was lying on an elementary reader, looked at Isaac standing amidst the mangled remains, spattered with blood. It tilted its head, grinned, and began to smile along with him.

It didn’t understand what was happening, but smiling felt like the right thing to do.

’After all, Master is smiling, so it must be a good thing.’

Cheryl: "..."

When Cheryl walked into the laboratory, this was the surreal scene that greeted her...

Watching Isaac stand in a pile of gore with a gentle smile on his face, she suddenly understood why people said all Legendary Mages were madmen...

’Who wouldn’t go mad in an environment like this?’

While there were many Arcanists who researched biological modification, their work was truly child’s play compared to Isaac’s...

"Ahem." After a moment of silence, Cheryl cleared her throat and spoke. "The one thousand Black Orc Warriors are ready. How are things on your end?"

"So fast?" Isaac turned to look at Cheryl in surprise. "Hm? One thousand Black Orc Warriors? If they’re all Warriors, I won’t need that many."

"Caesar went out and captured some, but mostly we just got lucky. A Slave Trader happened to have a batch of Black Orc Warriors, so we bought them directly," Cheryl explained.

Hearing this, Isaac understood.

He knew about Slave Traders. In fact, before becoming a Wizard, while he was researching the Demonized Heart Transplant Surgery, he had actually considered buying slaves to experiment on. It would have been good practice, a way to increase his combat strength, and a method to further acclimate himself to the Wizarding World.

But plans could never keep up with change. The Talent Witchcraft he had awakened was just too suitable, making the study of Heart-Swapping Rats a more cost-effective endeavor. The idea of buying slaves was gradually forgotten.

He never expected to come full circle and return to his original idea.

’Even if they are Black Orcs, and even if it’s for a sacrifice...’

"Alright, I understand. I’ll go set up the Magic Array first. That’s quite a large number, so the array will need to be bigger. But I won’t need a thousand. If they’re all Black Orc Warriors, five or six hundred should be enough. Any more would be inappropriate. I’ll make adjustments later."

With that, Isaac took off the filthy, blood-splattered white coat, changed into a Wizard Robe, put on his Wizard Hat, and walked out.

"Okay. The space has been cleared for you. It’s at the Third Training Ground. The other materials have also been prepared." As she finished speaking, a flash of Arcane Radiance lit up, and Cheryl vanished from the laboratory.

Although the Tower Spirit cleaned the laboratory spotless every day, the sheer volume of bloody experiments had caused some strange changes to this floor. It made her feel uncomfortable staying here.

Seeing this, Isaac shrugged helplessly, accustomed to such reactions. It was perfectly normal. Bloodstains could be cleaned, but the traces of rituals were difficult to erase—not that they needed to be.

For a Legendary Mage, such changes were a positive development, like a Magic Potion Cauldron or fine wine—they only got better with age!

Of course, this was all contingent on the experimenting Wizard remaining alive. Otherwise, without his binding influence, the power of these rituals would rapidly mutate into bizarre Otherworld lifeforms that would indiscriminately devour all other living things!

But what did that have to do with Isaac?

If that really happened, he would already be dead. Why would he care about any of that?

So, in a way, the changes in the laboratory were a result Isaac had intentionally guided. At worst, when he finally left, he would just take this entire floor of the lab with him. ’As the older sister, how could she let her little brother go home empty-handed? You have to bring back some local specialties, right?’

’A Wizard’s local specialty being an entire floor of a Mage Tower... that’s pretty reasonable, right?’

...

"You’re not going to prepare a bit more?"

At the Third Training Ground, Caesar asked with some concern as he watched Isaac begin to set up the ritual.

"No need. Let’s get this over with. Just a mere Black Orc God. Watch me handle Him!"