"What do you plan to do, now that you’ve heard that?"

In the gardens of Norns Mansion.

Prince Norns stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing at the vibrant flowers vying for attention as he spoke lightly.

Remington stood behind Prince Norns and said respectfully, "I don’t plan to do anything. If Your Highness needs me to tell Isaac, I will tell him."

"Heh. You sure changed your tune quickly. No wonder that old coot Gaia was willing to send you away. You really aren’t much like a Solomon."

Remington said nothing, merely lowering his head further.

"If you don’t want to talk about it, then don’t. Let them have their fun." As he spoke, Prince Norns waved his right hand lightly. A Death Warrior in a black robe immediately emerged from the shadows, presenting a book, a magic potion, and a document to Remington.

"This is the Thunder Dragon Furnace Technique and a Thunder Dragon Spirit Potion. What you need to do now is become a High-level Knight as quickly as possible, then take this Pioneer Order and go make a name for yourself."

Upon hearing this, Remington snapped his head up, looking at Prince Norns with excitement. His lips trembled, unable to form words for a long moment.

"Heh. You really are a far cry from your younger brother. It’s just a few small things. You are one of the Norns Family now. These items are nothing. There will be plenty more where that came from in the future. Keep working hard."

"Yes... Father!"

A faint smile touched the corners of Prince Norns’s mouth. His gaze shifted beyond the mansion, in the direction of Solomon’s Domain!

...

’Tsk, tsk... So this is what it’s like to be nobility? This is the life of a noble, huh...’ Isaac looked at the Magic Book in his hand and shook his head. This was one of the reasons he had split from his family so early on.

’Being a noble is too difficult. All this scheming and plotting... It’s nowhere near as satisfying as research.’

Although he didn’t know about Remington’s lightning-fast change of heart, he hadn’t let his guard down around Prince Norns. The reasons were very simple. First, the man was mysterious. Second, he wanted to form a marriage alliance with Border Nobility like the Solomons, who held real power and commanded an army.

Given these two points, Isaac absolutely refused to believe the Prince had no interest in *that* position!

In this Extraordinary world, one couldn’t maintain an air of mystery without real strength. You didn’t even need paparazzi; a powerful Wizard could use Foreknowledge Magic to see right through you from the comfort of their own home!

And for someone who possessed great power to also seek a marriage alliance with Border Nobility...

’This is a textbook case of a powerful subject with his eyes on the throne!’

Of course, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the Prince was working with the Emperor to fish out and purge certain elements within the Empire. Isaac couldn’t figure out the specific reason, nor did he want to.

In any case, he wasn’t planning on staying long. He would join the Flesh Sect, participate in the Divine Lamp Grand Trial, and then head back to his own territory.

Anyone who wanted to wade into the muddy waters of the Imperial Capital was welcome to it.

However...

Isaac rubbed his chin. The person he couldn’t quite figure out right now was Eldest Princess Philo. Although they were both members of the Mad Witch Association, had met, and even made deals, he had to admit they weren’t close at all. Their meager connection hardly warranted such enthusiasm from her.

If Isaac himself were some kind of Arcanist genius, he might have considered it part of some "Venerable Bone" plotline, but unfortunately, he wasn’t.

After thinking for a while, Isaac gave up when he couldn’t find an answer. ’Who cares about her motives?’ he thought. ’I’ll deal with problems as they come.’ With the Infinite Magic Power granted by the Flesh Dimension, he wasn’t afraid of much, as long as he wasn’t facing a High-level Knight or a High-level Mage in person.

A short while later, the pumpkin carriage arrived in front of the Solomon Mansion in the Imperial Capital. The moment the carriage stopped, Shushu immediately leaped down and, with a furtive air, opened the door for Isaac.

Isaac: "..."

’Why does he look so guilty just for sucking up a little?’

Shaking his head, Isaac walked into the mansion to the welcome of a group of servants. The mansion’s grounds weren’t large. Compared to the Prince’s Mansion, which was like an estate within the city, the Solomon residence was much smaller, with only seven or eight buildings, a large and a small dining hall, a council hall, a ballroom, and a drawing room.

In addition, there were two basements, a cellar, and a small training ground about the size of a basketball court.

In the circles of the Border Nobility, this house was a bit modest.

But Isaac didn’t care about such things. For him, as long as there was a laboratory, it was fine.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t one...

One couldn’t conduct Magic experiments at will in the Imperial Capital. The city was under round-the-clock magical surveillance. Any abnormal magical fluctuations outside of designated areas would trigger an alarm and attract the patrol guards.

So, although Isaac had settled in, he still couldn’t perform experiments and could only continue to study theory.

Fortunately, he had just freeloaded a bunch of Outer God Ceremonies from Eldest Princess Philo, so he had plenty to study and wouldn’t get bored.

And so, Isaac spent his days holed up in the Solomon Mansion, studying Outer God transaction ceremonies and never stepping foot outside.

For one, he had no interest in going out. For another...

...he was also waiting for his second brother, Remington, to visit.

According to etiquette, even though Remington was marrying into the Norns Family and had already moved in with them, he was still technically a member of the Solomon Family until the wedding ceremony was officially held. Therefore, he was supposed to pay a visit to the Solomon Mansion to finalize the details of the ceremony.

Unless he wanted to completely sever all ties with the Solomon Clan!

However, Isaac didn’t think his second brother would be that stupid. Although their father intended for the break to be clean, their eldest brother would be the one in charge from now on. And given Caesar’s personality, he wouldn’t care if Remington had married into another family or changed his surname; a brother was still a brother.

’Why should the orders of the former lord bind him, the current lord?’

Therefore, Remington shouldn’t be trying to make the relationship this tense. After all, ever since Caesar had displayed his Divine Power, the look in Remington’s eyes had cleared up considerably. He shouldn’t be so foolish anymore.

However...

Isaac had miscalculated...

He waited for three whole days, but neither Remington nor anyone from the Norns family showed up!

During that time, Eldest Princess Philo did visit a few times to discuss some content from the Divine Research Manual with him. It seemed she hadn’t yet learned the deity refinement technique, which apparently had some issues.

This was news to Isaac, since he had never used that particular refinement technique.

"Sigh... Second Brother, oh, Second Brother..."

On the evening of the third day, gazing at the main gate that remained shut, Isaac shook his head in resignation. ’Sure enough, Second Brother is still the same Second Brother—as foolish as ever, and just as incapable of telling who holds the better hand.’

Isaac turned and went back to his room to sleep. Tomorrow, he would officially head to the Flesh Sect, then prepare for the Divine Lamp Grand Trial, and then go home.

’Good advice is wasted on the damned. Second Brother... oh, wait, I shouldn’t call him Second Brother anymore. I should call him Remington Norns now...’

’I just hope we don’t meet on the battlefield in the future. Otherwise, I’m not sentimental like Eldest Brother!’

As he thought this, a murderous glint flashed in Isaac’s eyes. His intuition was telling him that one day, Solomon and Norns would inevitably go to war!

It was a completely baseless intuition, but that didn’t stop him from preparing for it.

’No harm in being prepared, after all~’