Chapter 80: Chapter 69: Good Friend, Master of Billions of Flesh

The power of [God-Stealer] originated from the biography Caesar wrote for Isaac. That biography recorded three short stories. The first was about Isaac playing along with the Master of Billions of Flesh, stealing Its power to preemptively wipe out an impending goblin tide.

The second was about Isaac risking a deal with the Black Orc God, from whom he extracted intelligence about the Black Orcs’ autumn raid, allowing the fortress to prepare.

The third was about Isaac using an ingenious disguise to deceive the Black Orc God, borrowing Its power to eliminate a large number of Black Orcs in one fell swoop and completely resolving the crisis of their invasion!

The three stories were mediocre at best, mainly because they contained too many fabricated elements and sounded utterly absurd.

This was unavoidable. For one, mortals cannot look directly upon a god’s glory, nor can they frequently invoke the names of Outer Gods. Thus, the names of the Evil Gods in the book were completely fabricated. Furthermore, to prevent an actual Evil God from manifesting should too many people start to believe, the names were made deliberately absurd.

For instance, the Master of Billions of Flesh was called the "Master of Blood and Fat," while the Black Orc God was called the "Black Half-Beast, Half-Man"—among other bizarre titles. What’s more, they were even misspelled twice!

Secondly, the deception process itself was also fabricated, as Isaac hadn’t given the author the full details; otherwise, he too could have been influenced by the Evil God Power.

Naturally, a story so full of fabrications couldn’t be any good.

But thanks to the vast propaganda machine of Solomon’s Domain, the absurd story of the [God-Stealer] eventually spread throughout the land. Besides, the Power of Faith that Wizards required only necessitated [Observation], not [Faith], so the quality of the story didn’t actually matter much.

In a [Self-Legend], the factors that truly shape the final ability are whether the Wizard actually performed the deeds, the extent of their involvement, and their own personal power.

And [God-Stealer] was the powerful ability born from this process, an ability that bordered on an Authority!

It couldn’t be helped. Although the story had many fictional parts, Isaac had actually done two things: deceived an Evil God and stolen Divine Power...

And more than once...

That was how this near-Authority ability was born. Isaac suspected that if he had been just a little stronger, he might have truly formed an actual Authority!

But it didn’t matter. For him, who was still just an Official Wizard, even if [God-Stealer] became an Authority, it would only be slightly easier to activate and cost virtually nothing. The practical difference would be minimal.

The core of the [God-Stealer] ability was theft, which meant it had a chance of failure—and not a small one, at that.

And the price of failure for something like this was bound to be steep. Therefore, he had to use it in conjunction with his Golden Finger, transforming it from a sneaky theft into an open-and-aboveboard retrieval!

So, whether it was an Authority didn’t really matter. Plus, there was always the hope it could evolve into one in the future. The future was bright!

As for how to use this ability, Isaac immediately thought of an old friend—the Master of Billions of Flesh!

There were two reasons for this. First, It was currently in a deep slumber for unknown reasons, making it the perfect time to get up to no good!

Second, It was an easy target. The base success rate was a whopping seventy percent, and a single portion of Flesh Essence could increase that by one percent. It would be a breeze to stack it to a full guarantee!

A Demon God’s Favored would be quite useful to him. Not only would it be an excellent combat unit, but it also seemed to possess considerable intelligence and could perhaps assist him with some of his magical experiments.

With an ever-increasing number of research projects, Isaac was finding himself stretched thin. Harmon was intelligent enough, but its actions were heavily restricted by Isaac’s own. Shushu, on the other hand, was free to act, but its intelligence was severely lacking.

Moreover, he was a Legendary Mage, so he couldn’t recruit apprentices like an Arcanist. The path of a Legendary Mage had no concept of apprentices; their disciples started at the rank of Official Wizard.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t teach Arcanists, but their fields didn’t align, which made recruitment difficult. Besides, "Big Sis" would be starting to do just that very soon. How could a mere Official Wizard like him compete with the appeal of a High-level Mage?

So, it was best to just create one himself.

This was, in fact, the choice of most Legendary Mages.

For example, in his original plan, Isaac had intended to use the *Cinderella* Magic Book to form the Legend of a Contracted Spirit.

After formulating a rough plan in his mind, Isaac put away the Magic Book and took out the new Witchcraft he had acquired. He gave it a quick glance before picking up the one he was most interested in, Spatial Operation, and began to read.

Spatial Operation. Just as Isaac had guessed, this Witchcraft came with a price—and it wasn’t a small one.

This Witchcraft was similar to the [God-Stealer] ability he had just acquired, as it also relied on the power of a Deity. The difference was that [God-Stealer] could be used on any Deity—so long as he wasn’t discovered—but its only function was to create a Follower.

The Spatial Operation Witchcraft, however, was different. It involved a transaction with a specific Deity. One had to make offerings to this Deity to acquire the ability, and these offerings had to be continuous. If they were to stop, the Deity would reclaim the ability.

It was called Witchcraft, but it was really more like a Divine Art, just one that didn’t require Faith as payment.

It was just like the Flesh Sect’s worship of the God of Flesh—nothing more than a transaction, just helping out a god who’s fallen on hard times, you know~

Nevertheless, the text was substantial. The Witchcraft was divided into three parts. The first part detailed how to find a reliable Deity: by setting up a Magic Array to simulate prayer, one could obtain a sample of the target’s Divine Power. Then, based on that Divine Power, one could decipher a Divine Name for communication and learn the required sacrificial materials.

The second part was about establishing the contract. Unlike the rituals for dealing with Outer Gods, this contract was meant for legitimate Deities, so it was strongly binding on both parties and didn’t have as many deliberately placed loopholes. Compared to the other two sections, this part was much simpler.

The third part, however, held the most promise. This Witchcraft wasn’t merely about trading with a Deity; acquiring the ability of Spatial Operation was only the first step. After succeeding, one was to use the spatial analysis formulas from the third part to slowly analyze the nature of Spatial Operation. By doing so, upon advancing to Grand Wizard, one could independently master a High Level Space Magic like Spatial Operation in a very short amount of time!

Overall, the third part was the most difficult, as it involved formal research into the knowledge of Space, but that didn’t impede the immediate use of the ability.

The most difficult part to actually accomplish, however, was the first. The sacrificial requirements were usually not cheap, and since you couldn’t use Outer Gods for this, there was no freeloading. You simply had to search patiently.

"Sigh..." Isaac shook his head and put the Magic Book away. He couldn’t count on using it anytime soon. He was broke. Both the upcoming battle and the creation of the Demon God’s Favored would require a huge amount of Flesh Essence. The funds Caesar had given him weren’t nearly enough now that he actually needed to spend them...

’Better to be frugal,’ he thought. Material Shield, however, was different. That Witchcraft was a more conventional type of Magic, one mastered and cast simply through study.