Chapter 299 - 224: Great Wizard and the Endless Sea

Chapter 299: Chapter 224: Great Wizard and the Endless Sea

The Empire wasn’t Isaac’s primary target at this stage. His actions against it were merely a cover. After all, the Dimension Apostles were still far from sufficient in both quantity and quality; they weren’t qualified to confront the entire Empire.

So, when the Believers of the Master of Billions of Flesh launched their large-scale assault on the Empire, it actually made things more convenient for their own operations.

Therefore, Isaac’s biggest headache at the moment was still the research into stealing the Divine Power of the God of Credit...

It wasn’t that there was no way to steal its Divine Power, but that there was no way to do so stealthily...

Not even temporarily!

Through his research, Isaac had come to a profound realization—plenty of Wizards in history had, like him, wanted to steal the Divine Power of the God of Credit!

He wasn’t the first Wizard to think of it, and he certainly wasn’t the first to attempt it!

As a result, the God of Credit had implemented numerous defenses over the years. Stealing its Divine Power was not going to be that simple...

Inside the Mage Tower, Isaac sat at his desk, his brow deeply furrowed. He stared intently at the manuscript on the table, his fingers tapping lightly on the surface as he contemplated his next experimental plan.

In truth, although the God of Credit’s protection over its Divine Power was strict, with Isaac’s strength—or rather, his proficiency with his Golden Finger—he could still manage to steal it without a trace. He had several plans with low success rates, and all he needed to do was use his Golden Finger to stack the odds in his favor.

The problem, however, was that this experiment was different from previous ones. It wasn’t enough for Isaac to be the only one who could use the method; it had to be disseminable to the majority of High-level Mages. Otherwise, he would have no way to bind them to his cause.

And if he failed to bind them to his cause, he would have to face the wrath of a True God!

Therefore, the only aspect of his Golden Finger he could use this time was its ability to identify and fix flaws.

Unfortunately, the few plans he had formulated so far all had significant flaws. The one with the highest potential could only be optimized to a 13.5% success rate, which was clearly unacceptable to Isaac.

He wasn’t aiming for a one hundred percent success rate, but shouldn’t it be at least sixty or seventy percent?

Then, he could frame it as some kind of innate ability, which would allow him to logically promote it among all the High-level Mages.

But now...

Even reaching a sixty or seventy percent success rate was proving difficult...

This was so damn frustrating!

Just as Isaac was deep in thought, a Magic Book suddenly popped into existence, its magical radiance flashing incessantly. Isaac’s already furrowed brow tightened even further. He waved his hand, and the Magic Book flew into his grasp. A message entered his mind.

’Get ready. It’s starting.’

Hearing this, Isaac froze. The message was from Mensa, and this Magic Book was a Lord’s Book—something he had never seen before!

Drawing on the power of his [Analysis] Authority, Isaac quickly came to understand the abilities and nature of this Lord’s Book.

The Lord’s Book originated from an Authority held by the Terra Empire. In most cases, the Lord’s Books nurtured by it lay hidden deep within the Terra Empire’s territory, ready to act on the Empire’s command at any moment!

Indeed, despite being called the Lord’s Book—and there being as many Lord’s Books as there were Lords—a new one would even be generated for any member of the Nobility who was sub-enfeoffed.

However, the ownership of these Lord’s Books did not lie with the individual Lords. In fact, the vast majority of Lords were completely unaware of their existence. The power of the Lord’s Books was held firmly in the Empire’s grasp!

This kind of ultra-long-range, covert communication was merely one of the Lord’s Book’s more insignificant abilities. Its true power lay in its capacity to mobilize all the power within a lord’s domain!

Whether it was the Power of the Earth Veins or the Magic Power within the domain, everything fell under its jurisdiction!

Gazing at the Lord’s Book in his hand, Isaac’s eyes narrowed. Mensa’s move, aside from delivering a message at the earliest opportunity, was more importantly a display of the Empire’s immense power.

Apparently, although suspicion had been cleared from Isaac and the Dimension Apostles, they still held some doubts about him.

"Interesting~" Isaac’s lips curled into a slight smile as he looked at the Lord’s Book in his hand. ’This matter is far from being so simple.’

The source of the Lord’s Book was an Authority, and even among Deities, very few held complete command over one!

Of course, the Terra Empire couldn’t possibly have complete command over the Authority that birthed the Lord’s Book. But no matter how little they controlled, the one wielding it was most likely a Demigod!

And since the Emperor had only become a Demigod in recent years, this Authority was most likely not one he possessed.

Two Demigods...

Now *that* aligned with Isaac’s image of the Empire’s true power.

However, just as Isaac was speculating on the Empire’s true strength, he suddenly froze and jerked his head upward to look at the sky. His gaze seemed to pierce through the Mage Tower, staring out into the vast expanse as his expression gradually turned grave.

Because high in the celestial vault, he sensed an utterly terrifying Magic Power!

That Magic Power...

It was so terrifying it surpassed the limits of Isaac’s comprehension!

He could find no word to describe it other than Boundless!

A shimmer of magical light, and Isaac’s figure vanished, reappearing a moment later at the very top of the Mage Tower. He stared up at the sky with a grave expression. Gradually, streams of cryptic information from the celestial vault began pouring into his mind.

"A Great Wizard?!" Isaac’s pupils constricted as a storm of emotions churned within him.

The message from the celestial vault was simple: it was an announcement to the world that another Great Wizard had been born!

A Great Wizard. A Wizard who truly stood at the pinnacle of the Wizarding World, possessed of a might far beyond the imagination of mortals!

Like "Demigod," "Great Wizard" was not a specific realm of power but an honorific for Wizards who were both supremely powerful and had made immense contributions to the world!

The Wizard who created goblins and Goblin Slayers, for instance, was likely a Great Wizard, even though the birth of goblins would drastically consume the energy within a given region in the short term.

But for humanity, or more specifically for Transcendents, the benefits actually outweighed the drawbacks.

This was because he had also created the Goblin Slayer, a wondrous profession that allowed one to grow stronger by killing goblins. Moreover, the method to become a Goblin Slayer was simple, requiring only a straightforward ritual.

Although Goblin Slayers mostly just swelled the ranks of Transcendents like Warriors—a profession with little future—and only a few became Knights, with generally poor prospects, it did objectively increase the total number of Transcendents. This added to the world’s [weight] and, on the whole, promoted the world’s evolution.

Therefore, that Wizard—about whom no information could be found, hidden away in the depths of the [Mysterious]—was also a Great Wizard.

A powerful Wizard was not necessarily a Great Wizard, but a Great Wizard was, without fail, powerful!

Even more powerful than all Deities!

In a sense, the current standing of the Wizard Civilization was built entirely on the backs of these Great Wizards!

Take the one who had just "achieved his apotheosis." He had brought to the Real World an ocean that ran completely parallel to it, interacting only at fixed nodes!

An ocean that concealed endless Secret Treasures!

According to the information from the celestial vault, within that endless ocean existed Divine Fragments, and even complete instances of Divinity!

This wasn’t the same inferior Divinity that Isaac had created through modification, but fragments stripped from True Gods—or even complete instances of Divinity!

Because this ocean was created by this unnamed Great Wizard, who had used his supreme might to slay numerous Deities, then forged this sea of countless Secret Treasures from their Divine Corpses and the power of their Divine Kingdoms!

"A Great Wizard... So this is what a Great Wizard is?!" Isaac murmured to himself as he gazed at the sky, his eyes flashing with excitement!

At the same time, he also understood Mensa’s intent. He wanted Isaac to enter the Endless Sea and find Divinity for the Empire!