Steadfast Wizard: From Heart-Swapping Rat to Dimensional Demon God

The option for the Hand of God appeared last night, and the content that unfolded was nothing special, except for one point: the spells learned and used in large quantities during the period of high magic activity will affect the bias of the talent sorcery.

This news was useless, because he didn't have many spells to choose from. Apart from the Enchanted Heart Transplant and Blood Essence Potion on his panel, he only had the three basic arcane spells he had collected before the family split up: Arcane Shield, Arcane Warp, and Arcane Missiles.

These three arcane spells are very comprehensive and practical, and are therefore known as the three basic arcane spells. They are considered essential arcane spells that every arcane mage must learn.

But Isaac isn't very interested in it, at least not right now.

Because the structure of arcane magic is very simple, it is the product of countless arcane masters' optimizations. It is easy to learn, but there is not much room for development and optimization.

This is also the difference between arcane mages and wizards. Arcane mages usually learn a lot of arcane magic and build their own spell system from the basics to the advanced levels.

Unlike wizards, each wizard possesses different innate spells and unique legends. Therefore, wizards mostly research and develop their magic around their own innate spells and legends.

Of course, there are also many wizards like Isaac who use whatever they have.

When developing innate spells, there's absolutely no need to hesitate about whether to choose arcane or sorcery.

But before heading to the lab, we need to fill our stomachs first.

Upon arriving at the dining room, the maid had already prepared breakfast. Several slices of snow-white bread sat on the long, square table, next to a dish of blue jam, and then…

And then that was it...

Well, although it looks quite simple, it's actually the best food they have here.

It's not that this world only has these things. Because of the extraordinary power, this world is no worse than the previous one in terms of food, especially the nobles. He is so simple, simply because he is poor.

Firstly, this place is just a small country estate, not very prosperous; secondly, Isaac has only been here for a few days, and many things haven't been delivered yet; and thirdly...

No money.

After the family split up, he only received a total of 500 gold coins. The annual net income of the territory was only a little over 100 gold coins, which was not enough for him to freely study magic. Where would he find spare money to enjoy himself?

It didn't matter, this breakfast was good even by my standards in my previous life. Isaac wasn't really interested in it. He glanced at it casually, grabbed a piece of bread, smeared some jam on it, and turned to walk out of the restaurant.

"Young Master Isaac..." Smith looked at Isaac with a helpless expression. This guy really... had absolutely no aristocratic manners...

But there was nothing he could say, after all, Isaac was a nobleman and he was just a butler, albeit a butler who had watched Isaac grow up.

Isaac waved his hand dismissively. Why was he in such a hurry to leave home? Wasn't it for freedom? If he followed the rules at home, why would he follow them outside?

While munching on bread, I walked towards the laboratory. Magic! After working so hard for so long, I can finally officially learn magic!

A short while later, Isaac returned to the vicinity of the bedroom, pushed open the door next to it, and stepped inside.

The laboratory's overall structure was not complicated. A simple operating table was placed in the middle of the room, a large black crucible stood in one corner, and a bookshelf with some manuscripts was displayed in another corner. Next to the bookshelf was a clean and tidy desk.

The laboratory was spotless, without a single stain, which was normal; it would be strange if it were, since he couldn't use witchcraft before and had no need to come here.

Walking up to the bookshelf, Isaac took down a booklet and sat down at his desk to study it carefully. Every now and then, he would open the panel to check his learning progress and fill in any gaps in his knowledge.

The Enchanted Heart Transplant Surgery involves replacing a heart with one imbued with magic to strengthen the body. Depending on the quality of the heart, it may also grant the user the ability to manipulate magic and perform special spells.

The reason for choosing to learn this witchcraft first is that although Isaac's learning progress is only 14%, it is actually the witchcraft that Isaac has learned the best.

This witchcraft consists of two parts: one is a purely technical operation, namely the heart replacement, and the other is the use of incantations to accelerate healing, resolve rejection, and harmonize the body, with the latter accounting for the largest proportion.

In Isaac's eyes, who was a surgeon in his previous life, the first part was extremely crude, and this witchcraft completely tarnished the word "surgery"!

After a while, Isaac put down the booklet in his hand and nodded thoughtfully.

Just as he had guessed, the spell itself wasn't difficult; whether it could be successfully cast depended heavily on luck...

Because the preceding parts were too rough, although he was not a cardiac surgeon in his previous life, he had some knowledge of the relevant topics.

Therefore, the first part is not important and is not difficult for him. On the contrary, he can even optimize it. After all, the heart transplant technology in his previous life was already very mature. Even if you haven't eaten pork, you've seen pigs run, right?

Therefore, for Isaac, the part about magic at the end is more important.

Compared to the rudimentary content above, this part is much more extensive, featuring a wide variety of spells, including several spells with the same effect.

The manual states that the body develops resistance to the power of the same spell, so the spell must be switched depending on the situation after the transplant, which is the most difficult part of the entire surgery.

However, this was of little significance to him. He didn't need to go through all that trouble. He only needed to choose a suitable spell and recite it repeatedly. With the blessing of his special talent, spells could be used repeatedly.

For example, there is a spell that can accelerate wound healing, optimize heart structure, and eliminate rejection reactions. In the hands of other wizards, this spell is somewhat useless because it seems omnipotent but in reality, it can do nothing.

The effect is too weak, and it can only be used once.

Therefore, it also requires the casting of a large number of spells.

But Isaac only needs this one spell. As long as he keeps casting it, the effect will accumulate and the efficiency will increase significantly.

Of course, this doesn't mean the other spells are useless. On the contrary, the various spells within made Isaac extremely envious. If he used these spells properly, he could do much more than just transplant hearts...

But that's all for the future. You can't rush things. We have to do things one step at a time. Let's master the heart transplant surgery first.

Isaac first selected a few comprehensive spells, then got up and went to a corner, picked out two gray rats, one large and one small, knocked them unconscious, tied them to the operating table, checked the tools again, put on rubber gloves, took two deep breaths, and instantly entered working mode.

In the laboratory, Isaac carefully scraped the fur off the mouse's chest to avoid affecting the precision of his incision.

Isaac had done this many times in his previous life and was very skilled at it. Even after changing bodies, he quickly adapted.

The rest was simple: cut open the skin layer by layer, carefully remove the heart, and cast a healing spell during the process.

Because the conditions now are different from those of the previous life, without the aid of magic spells, the rats can die directly, and the activity of their hearts cannot be maintained.

Fortunately, the healing spell was very simple, consisting of basic spells, and he had memorized the incantations long ago. Although it was his first time casting it, it went very smoothly.

But as soon as he placed the extracted heart down, Isaac froze. Oh no! He was so focused on the operation that he got the order wrong. Whether the rat that extracted the heart lived or died didn't matter; why waste magic on it...

"Tsk~"

Shaking his head, Isaac casually cast a life-sustaining spell on it. In any case, such a basic spell wouldn't consume much magic power, so he might as well use it as a control experiment to see if the demonized body would affect the heart in turn, and by how much.

Keeping the mutated rat alive, Isaac turned his knife and began to deal with another ordinary rat that needed a heart transplant.

The whole process was smooth and efficient. Before long, the two mice, who had felt empty inside, lay peacefully side by side on the operating table.

Of course, they were asleep; under the power of the spell, they weren't so easy to kill.

This made Isaac secretly marvel at the power of magic. If he had possessed this ability in his past life, how many people he could have saved!

Shaking his head, Isaac cleaned the scalpel while focusing his mind. The next part of the heart transplant surgery was the most critical, and there was no room for carelessness!

Even if the target is just a few hundred mutated rats that can be bought for a single gold coin, Isaac will take the surgery seriously.

This is his professional ethics as a doctor!

What Isaac didn't notice was that while he was concentrating on the surgery, the progress of the God's Hand on the panel was increasing rapidly...

To be honest, heart transplant surgery is actually very difficult. Although the technology was already quite advanced in Isaac's previous life, it is well known that advanced technology does not mean it is easy to learn.

In particular, Isaac's previous life did not involve studying a related major, and he had only watched a few videos and read a few related papers about heart transplant surgery without conducting in-depth research. Therefore, even with the help of cheat codes and magic spells, he still failed the first time.

The rat that received the heart transplant died before Isaac could build up the spell's power.

It's still too rough.

However, Isaac was not discouraged. After thinking it over and figuring out his mistakes, he grabbed another pair of mice and started scraping their fur, removing their hearts, and replacing them...

And so, with the selfless dedication of each mouse, Isaac's skill in heart transplant surgery increased, and the progress of God's Hand also increased.

Finally, after sacrificing 12 mice, the 13th mouse successfully survived!

After being fitted with a demonized heart, the ordinary rat underwent a visible change; its fur grew rapidly, and the rat itself became significantly larger!

Beneath the fur, the outline of muscles could be vaguely seen, and the teeth and claws had become sharper, making it look even more ferocious than a normal demonized rat!

His eyes, no bigger than mung beans, were filled with a scarlet color!

His temper became even more volatile, and he roared at Isaac. If his limbs hadn't been bound, he would have charged at him and bitten him.

And at the very moment Isaac completed his heart transplant surgery, the progress of the God's Hand on the panel also increased to 100%...

"Buzz~~~"

In an instant, a buzzing sound filled Isaac's mind, as if time had been paused. He could clearly see that the fur on the heart-transplanted rat had stopped fluttering, it remained motionless in its hissing posture, and its heart had stopped beating. In the entire world, it seemed that only Isaac's own consciousness could move...

"Rip~"

Then, the sound of flesh tearing suddenly rang out, and wisps of purplish-black unknown energy floated out from the back of Isaac's neck, which condensed into a purplish-black ferocious claw a moment later!

The claw had no skin, and the muscle texture, tendons, and blood vessels were clearly visible. One end of the claw was connected to the back of Isaac's neck, and it grew larger and larger outwards, ending in a huge hand with five sharp fingers. One of its hands was bigger than Isaac's entire body!

Once the ferocious claws had solidified, time began to flow again.

Isaac stared in amazement at the demonic claw, without a trace of fear in his eyes. After all, it was his own power, which he could completely control, and he could feel the affection emanating from the demonic claw.

Yes, the Demon Claw, or the Hand of God, possesses consciousness. The Hand of God is like a magical pet, capable of assisting wizards in casting spells.

Depending on the ritual performed when becoming a wizard, the magical creatures that can be awakened will also be different. Isaac's God Hand is a more classic and ancient type of magical creature.

When it reaches its final stage, it can possess power comparable to a demon god!

But that's all in the distant future.

"Hiss~ Whoosh~ Hiss~ Whoosh~"

Although Isaac was very curious about the power of the Hand of God, the surgery was not yet finished. There was still one mutated rat whose heart had not been replaced with a normal one. So he took two deep breaths, forcibly suppressed the surging emotions in his heart, and continued the surgery.

Fortunately, he had the experience of success this time, and his magic became stronger after he became a formal wizard, greatly increasing the effectiveness of the spell. Before long, he successfully replaced the heart of a normal rat with the heart of the demon rat.

However, compared to replacing a normal rat's heart with a demonized one, replacing a demonized rat's heart with a normal one has little effect, and the rat even becomes weaker.

However, this was within Isaac's expectations. He put the two heart-transplanted rats into separate cages, added some food, washed his hands, and went to the side to check the power of the God's Hand.

"Rip~"

The sound of flesh tearing rang out again, and the hideous hand of God emerged from the back of Isaac's neck. It first stretched out its hideous claws, and then rubbed the back of its hand against Isaac's face, just like a puppy.

Isaac smiled and placed his hand on the God's Hand, carefully sensing the innate sorcery born with it—flesh and blood transformation.

As the information suggests, the awakened talent magic does indeed have a certain linkage effect with the heart transplant surgery. The flesh-and-blood transformation effect is very simple, and it can directly transform flesh and blood with magic into a biological form with a certain degree of vitality!