Chapter 123: Chapter 107: Demon Dominator
’The future looks so bright!’
’But in reality...’
’I still have a long way to go.’
Setting aside the fact that he didn’t know a single one of the technologies needed to transform a Floating Island into a Floating City, he couldn’t even afford a Floating Island right now...
As far as Isaac knew, the most recent transaction for the smallest Floating Island was one million Gold Coins!
And that was for a Floating Island only the size of a small village, with basically no ecological cycle. Even that cost a million!
So, I really need to get serious about making money.
’But to make money, I’ll probably need to set up an intelligence network first. After all, I can only strike it rich if I have accurate intel on Princess Philo’s movements.’
’But an intelligence network... that’s not exactly easy to build.’
’I remember the family has Shadow Guards, right? Hmm, no rush on that. I’ll ask my older sister about it when she becomes a Grand Arcanist.’ As he pondered this, Isaac arrived at his laboratory. He calmed his mind, opened the *Demon Contract: Apprentice Chapter*, and continued his research.
Just as he thought, there was no rush. Both he and Philo needed some time to grow. Before that, increasing his own strength was the top priority.
And the Demon Contract was the most suitable solution he had found so far!
Even more suitable than a Secret Skill!
Ultimately, while Secret Skills contained methods for stealing the Magic Power of Dimensional Demon Gods, this power came at a great cost. It wasn’t as simple as Isaac initially thought. The idea of borrowing from a bunch of Demon Gods and then using that borrowed power to beat back his creditors—the path of the ancient Secret Mages—was a dead end.
The Demon Gods didn’t need to come collecting their debts in person. The very act of using their Magic Power was a process of Erosion. How could Dimensional Demon Gods be so foolish?
However, that old method of beating up one’s creditors and ascending to infinity by pulling oneself up by one’s own bootstraps wasn’t entirely impossible. The Demon Dominators were proof of that!
He even suspected that the reason Secret Mages couldn’t pull off this trick was because they had drawn their inspiration from the Demon Dominators in the first place!
A Demon Contract is absolute. Unlike in storybooks and fairy tales, you couldn’t unilaterally add conditions through some strange and bizarre patterns. In fact, to sign a Demon Contract, both parties needed to fully understand its contents. If either side had any doubts, it was impossible to sign one’s name.
At one time, such fair contracts had been quite popular. However, a Demon is still a Demon. Just because they couldn’t set traps within the contract’s text wasn’t a major problem. They could simply set you up through other means, causing you to violate the terms of the contract and thereby claiming your soul!
There was once a genius Demon who, with astounding ingenuity, came up with an idea. He would first sign a contract with Human #1, then sign a contract with Human #2 that would cause Human #1 to violate their contract, then do the same with Human #3, and so on...
It was a continuous relay, constantly reaping souls!
However, although that Demon reaped countless souls with this brilliant idea and became one of the greatest Great Demons, he also further damaged the credibility of the Demon Contract. Combined with adaptations and retellings in storybooks, Demon Contracts became infamous, and the number of Contractors plummeted.
Yet, that wasn’t the most severe consequence.
The most severe consequence of this Demon’s actions was that Wizards learned his method—and used it on Demons!
And they were even more extreme! More simple and brutal!
The general principle was this: find a Demon weaker than yourself and sign a contract to simply borrow its Magic Power. After borrowing the power, the Contractor’s soul would be taken by the Demon.
The terms of the contract were very fair and simple, but the problem lay in that final clause: the soul being taken by the Demon!
Because the Contractor would choose a Demon weaker than themselves to sign with, after the Magic Power was borrowed, the Demon would discover it couldn’t take the soul at all!
If it came, it would just get beaten back!
But it had to come, because the contract hadn’t been terminated. The Contractor could continue to forcibly drain Magic Power from the Demon!
Simple and brutal. This was the secret of the Demon Dominators!
Isaac closed the book, lost in thought. Although it sounded simple, it was actually quite difficult. First of all, finding a Demon weaker than oneself was hard enough. After all, their Demon bloodline was a given; they were an Advanced race that reached Tier Three upon adulthood. And while it took a long time for them to mature, their lifespans were also very long.
Besides, Demons weren’t fools. As the Demon Dominator school of thought gradually developed, they came up with countermeasures. They weren’t so easy to trick anymore.
No normal Demon would agree to such obvious contract terms. So, modern Demon Dominators had to find Demons that were not only weak but also dim-witted to successfully sign a contract.
Of course, this kind of development was always a two-way street. Those simple and brutal contract terms were an ancient method, now only used by beginners, mainly because it was safe enough.
Modern Demon Dominators had developed all sorts of methods. The most classic among them was to find a group of slightly stronger Demons to sign contracts with just before a breakthrough. That way, after advancing, they could easily beat them up.
But as for Isaac...
With a light wave of his right hand, a Magic Book materialized—God-Stealer.
A slight smile touched Isaac’s lips. The Demon Dominator school... he was a perfect match for it!
He didn’t need to acquire a Demon’s power through a contract like other Wizards. He just had to lock onto a Demon and use his special ability to forcibly steal its power!
Taking it a step further, could he combine Secret Skills, the Demon Contract, and [God-Stealer] to steal the power of a Dimensional Demon God?
Isaac felt it was entirely feasible!
But he now faced two problems. First, [God-Stealer] had a success rate. While he could use his Golden Finger to cover the margin for error, it was very troublesome and difficult to apply in actual combat. So, it would be best if he could steal the power beforehand, store it, and then simply draw on it when needed.
Second, the current [God-Stealer], while able to steal the power of an Outer God, was quite similar to a Secret Skill. This power could only be used to create new Followers or enhance existing ones; it couldn’t be used for anything else.
But having problems was a good thing. At least he had a direction. All he had to do was work toward it. To reframe it: it wasn’t that he couldn’t do it because of the problems, but that he *could* do it once he solved them!
So, the next step was to solve those problems...
Isaac flipped through the Magic Book in his hand, a slight smile on his lips. Actually, these two problems weren’t that hard to solve.
The first was consistent with his previous thoughts: he needed a way to store Magic Power. He had been researching this and already had some ideas. The worst option was body modification, the mediocre option was crafting Magic Items, and the best option...
...was to combine it with the Flesh Dimension!
As for the second problem, it was even simpler. [God-Stealer] was his [Legend]. A power like a Legend inherently possessed infinite possibilities. Developing it further would be quite simple.
