Chapter 584 - 408: The Incompetent Old Evil God and the Freeloading Young Mad Witch (Part 2)

Chapter 584: Chapter 408: The Incompetent Old Evil God and the Freeloading Young Mad Witch (Part 2)

A dignified Evil God, pushing Isaac from behind like some clown...

Even shouting, "Put some muscle into it!" from time to time!

At this thought, the Evil God’s expression turned grim. ’Son of a bitch, and this is what passes for a deal?’

In stark contrast to the Evil God’s miserable experience, Isaac was in high spirits. This was because, just as he had calculated, the power of the transaction ritual was stripping away the Authority he commanded and condensing it into an Authority Crystal.

What made it even better was that his [Analysis] Authority wasn’t interfered with during the process. He couldn’t cast Authority Magic, which meant he couldn’t collect data at maximum capacity, but that didn’t matter much because the transaction ritual itself wasn’t of a very high Level.

So, even without Authority Magic, Isaac could still gather data—just at a slower pace. He estimated that after another three or four sessions, he should have a solid grasp on this ability to create Authority Crystals.

Well, in theory.

In practice, he would have to test it to see if the effect could be replicated with a ritual.

But he could only try it with a ritual. The fundamental nature of this ability to create Authority Crystals was of an extremely high order. With Isaac’s current power, methods outside of rituals—such as Magic, Alchemy, or Magic Potions—were utterly incapable of replicating it.

Only the unique power of a ritual could accomplish it.

Because the essence of a ritual is that of a power amplifier.

It uses tedious procedures to achieve feats that are simple in the eyes of certain beings.

So, while he couldn’t be entirely certain, Isaac was actually quite confident about his chances.

The only problem now was that his esteemed partner was about to go on strike...

Sensing the tempestuous emotions coming from the Evil God, Isaac felt a headache coming on. To get the god to agree to a contract to help with his research, he had intentionally omitted any coercive clauses. After all, this wasn’t like hiring a thug.

A thug just needs to fight. For beings of their caliber, being thoughtless in battle is often better than being thoughtful. The Real World isn’t a game; there’s no such thing as immunity from friendly fire. One wrong move, and they could genuinely kill you while staying within the "reasonable" confines of the contract.

Never blindly trust a contract!

This was a cautionary tale written for Wizards in the blood of countless Demon Dominators.

But research was different. Research required a brain, even for an assistant. That’s why Isaac had adjusted many of the contract’s terms. Its binding power over the Evil God wasn’t particularly strong, and it had the right to refuse any of Isaac’s research requests.

Of course, Isaac had only included that clause to get the contract signed in the first place. Neither he nor the Evil God had ever intended for it to be invoked. Isaac, for his part, had a clear conscience; he never planned to conduct any research that crossed the line.

At least, from the Evil God’s perspective, researching the Star Gods didn’t count as crossing a line. After all, the god was researching them itself, which was one of the reasons Isaac had chosen to partner with it.

The Evil God’s reasoning was even simpler: it was just overconfident, certain that this Mad Witch could do nothing to it.

And then...

It was put to use, wasn’t it?

A moment later, the transaction ritual concluded. Isaac and the Evil God stood facing each other in front of the ritual, both speechless. The Evil God glared resentfully at Isaac like a wronged young wife, while Isaac wore a slightly awkward expression, like a cheating husband caught in the act...

This was because after the ritual ended, Isaac found that some Forbidden Knowledge regarding the Star Gods had suddenly appeared in his mind...

And with that, he pieced together what had happened...

’Honest to God!’

Isaac knew the Mysterious Void still belonged to the Evil God. He honestly hadn’t intended to take anything from it!

Otherwise, he could have just taken it himself. During this transaction, the only positions that had been swapped were those pertaining to the normal exchange; the part related to the Mysterious Void had remained unchanged...

No, to be precise, there had been a change!

Isaac’s advantage was now even greater!

He could now leverage the ritual’s power to help himself draw power from the Mysterious Void. The Evil God, on the other hand, could only choose to either help him take it or stand by and do nothing, watching Isaac do all the work like an impotent husband.

It was somewhat incredible, and slightly different from Isaac’s prior calculations of the Ritual’s Effect. This was clearly another unique trait of a Mad Witch, but he couldn’t research it at the moment and could only set it aside for later.

Isaac figured he would have to wait until the Star Creation experiment was fully complete before even considering that line of research.

"Uh... would you believe me if I said this was an accident?"

"Hmph!" The Evil God snorted contemptuously and released the contractual power that allowed it to remain in this world. Its Divine Power Incarnation instantly vanished.

Seeing this, Isaac sighed in resignation. There was nothing to be done. It seemed this experiment would have to be put on hold for now. At least, until he could placate that fellow, there was no point in even thinking about it.

Fortunately, this wouldn’t be too difficult. As his research progressed, the [True God’s Password] was becoming more and more complete. Soon, Mad Witches and Arcanists would receive a new wave of enhancements. When that time came, the Evil God would be presented with a new option: recruitment.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a problem even if the Evil God refused the offer. At worst, he’d just find a new partner. There were so many Outer Gods out there; how could he possibly fail to find one?

In any case, the data he already had was enough to keep him busy for some time.

With that thought, Isaac pushed the matter of the Evil God from his mind. He opened his palm and gazed at the six-sided crystal that materialized there, its surface etched with fiery patterns. This was the Authority Crystal he had obtained from the experiment—[Flame].