Chapter 418 - 306: Isaac: What’s Wrong With a Mad Witch? Do We Deserve to Be Ostracized?

Chapter 418: Chapter 306: Isaac: What’s Wrong With a Mad Witch? Do We Deserve to Be Ostracized?

The return trip was much faster for Isaac than the journey out, thanks to Space Teleportation.

Therefore, by the time Isaac returned to the Underground Palace City, the materials for the Ten Divine Books had yet to be fully collected. Only a small portion had been gathered, so progress was not ideal. Fortunately, Isaac hadn’t spent his entire trip just conducting experiments. He had also visited the three major Magic Cities and some of the smaller ones nearby to open a line of communication. Going forward, he could purchase some of the materials directly from them.

Of course, for now, he could only trade with the nearby Magic Cities. The three major ones were quite far, and establishing formal trade routes involved some troublesome procedures. First, a Teleportation Array had to be prepared. Second, aside from the Arcane Capital, the other two had been built by Legendary Mages, so he first had to find a way to negate the influence of their Mysterious Attribute.

The Teleportation Array was an easy fix. It wasn’t difficult for the current Isaac, and that included the cost. ’A versatile ritual will solve any cost-related issues!’

The latter issue, however, was more troublesome. There were only three ways to negate the influence of the Mysterious Attribute. The first, naturally, was to increase one’s own Mysterious Attribute; a higher Mysterious Attribute would lead to higher resistance. The second was to learn Magic specifically designed to resist the Mysterious Attribute. A Tier One spell would be enough to handle the Mysterious Attribute generated by a Magic City alone.

The last option, of course, was Magic Items. Magic Items that increased resistance to a specific attribute were the most common and numerous type in the Wizarding World.

There was no helping it; Low-tier Transcendents absolutely loved these things, especially Adventurers. For those who dealt with Demons year-round, that little bit of extra resistance could sometimes be a lifesaver. The key was that they were also cheap, offering extremely high value for their cost!

Normally, this shouldn’t have been a problem, because the main fighting force in Isaac’s Underground Palace City consisted of Divine Creatures. As Followers of a higher-order Existence, their own Mysterious Attribute should have been quite high.

But there are always exceptions to the rule.

This incident led Isaac to discover a flaw—or rather, a non-flaw—of Virtual Deities: their Followers do not inherit a high Mysterious Attribute from them!

It was bizarre, but after some brief research, Isaac found it understandable. The Virtual Deities’ own Mysterious Attribute was also illusory; it had no effect once separated from the Virtual Deity itself.

So, in the end, Isaac could only choose the latter two methods. He wouldn’t have to make the relevant items himself, as they were for sale in the Arcane Capital. And while the Magic would be difficult to learn, the Divine Creatures didn’t need to learn it. They could just use a Divine Art. For a Tier Four Deity, learning a Tier One Divine Art wasn’t difficult.

All in all, neither method was difficult for Isaac, just a little troublesome...

After a moment of thought, Isaac decided to proceed with both plans simultaneously. He first helped the Underground Palace City build its Teleportation Array, then spent a little time modifying a Tier One Divine Art. This might have been troublesome for other Wizards, but for Isaac, it was a simple matter.

After all, he had done similar things back when he was only Tier One.

However, things didn’t all go smoothly...

Once the Teleportation Array and the Divine Art were ready, the other Magic Cities unanimously refused entry to anyone from the Underground Palace City!

They stated that trade was acceptable, but it could only take place within the Underground Palace City. Furthermore, it had to be done at fixed, centralized times, and personnel from both sides were forbidden from traveling between the cities!

This included, without exception, all the Transcendents who had previously come to the Underground Palace City to run its dungeons. They were all denied entry back into their original Magic Cities...

The reason was also very simple: Isaac...

Previously, no one knew that Isaac was behind the Underground Palace City. Just like with the Demon God, everyone had assumed it was run by two True Gods who had crippled themselves. That was why Low-tier Transcendents from nearby Magic Cities had come to interact, some with the tacit approval of the Tier Four Powerhouses backing them.

They were also very curious about the goals of these two self-crippled True Gods.

But...

When Isaac stepped into the spotlight, they were all collectively dumbfounded...

And even a little terrified!

A Mad Witch was, by nature, a thorn in the side of all Deities, whether they were True Gods or Outer Gods.

After all, Wizards already lacked reverence for Deities, let alone the most insane among them, the Mad Witches. And they knew a thing or two about Isaac’s reputation—even other Mad Witches called him a lunatic!

How could any Deity possibly cooperate with a person like that?

And self-crippled True Gods at that. Everyone knew that Wizards were the kings among all Extraordinary paths in this era. At the same tier, a Wizard was stronger than practitioners of most other Extraordinary paths, to say nothing of a Mad Witch—a special case even among Wizards, who were said to possess an Anti-Divine Attack.

Two Tier Four True Gods cooperating with the Mad Witch Isaac? Wasn’t that just courting death?

Therefore, those two either weren’t truly self-crippled True Gods—or at least, hadn’t done it voluntarily—or they had the misfortune of running into Isaac after descending. In any case, they definitely weren’t cooperating with him willingly.

But no matter which possibility it was, they all pointed to one conclusion: that goddamn lunatic had finally made a move on Deities! And True Gods, no less!

They didn’t want anything to do with an ordinary Mad Witch, let alone a lunatic among lunatics like Isaac.

But they didn’t dare refuse to engage with him either. After all, Isaac had come to them directly. If they rejected him, who knew what that madman would do?

They were all Tier Four; no one could say for certain that they could beat Isaac. As the saying goes, it’s better to avoid trouble.

In the end, after negotiations between multiple parties, they reached the current arrangement: the Transcendents who had previously flocked to the Underground Palace City would gather and form a chamber of commerce, which would be solely responsible for handling the trade of goods between the major Magic Cities and the Underground Palace City.

All transactions on the other Magic Cities’ end were to be conducted by Demonic Puppets, with no living beings involved whatsoever!

Of course, for making a simple matter so complicated, they also offered corresponding compensation: a 30% discount on all basic resources, a 20% discount on Low and Mid-tier Extraordinary materials, and a 10% discount on Tier Three High Level materials.

As for top-tier Tier Four materials, there was no discount. After all, these items were precious even to other Tier Four Transcendents. The fact that they were willing to trade them with Isaac at all was already giving him a great deal of face.

If this were out in the Real World, they would have turned tail and run without a second thought!

They wouldn’t have given Isaac the chance to trade at all! ℯℯ𝘭.

To this, Isaac could only agree resignedly. Although things had become more troublesome, the final result was unchanged. His objective was still achieved, and the other parties had shown considerable sincerity.

Still, this feeling of being discriminated against was truly unpleasant. It made Isaac silently resolve to create the Divine Servant Demon as soon as possible. ’The finalized Divine Spirit Books must be woven entirely from the Divine Power of True Gods,’ he thought. ’I absolutely have to change my public image! I will strive to level the great mountain of prejudice in people’s hearts!’

And so, time slowly passed. Six months later, the materials for the Ten Divine Books and the Divine Fragments needed for the Virtual Divinity were all fully prepared. The experiments on the Divine Spirit Book could officially begin!