Chapter 560 - 398: Isaac: I’m Here to Negotiate, Outer God

Chapter 560: Chapter 398: Isaac: I’m Here to Negotiate, Outer God

Two major data processors worked in tandem, and the data Isaac held had already been pre-processed by Maxu Kant. As a result, Isaac’s progress was actually a bit faster than Moens and his entire team.

But...

He was fast, yes, but the deep furrow in Isaac’s brow didn’t ease. For all its successes—birthing three Star Gods and two planets, and even allowing him to collect a vast amount of the Power of a Star God using Star Mage techniques—the experiment had failed to reveal the key factor in a planet’s transformation into a Star God.

He found no clues on the conceptual level or in terms of material composition.

Isaac set down his glasses and the Divine Fragment, his fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop. Now, all he could do was hope that Moens and his team had some good news.

If they came up empty-handed too...

Then the situation would be dire!

The Star Creation experiment was incredibly expensive. Even an organization as wealthy and powerful as the Truth Association couldn’t afford to keep funding it like this. By Isaac’s estimate, they had enough funding for only three or four more attempts at most. That amount of data would undoubtedly be insufficient.

Therefore, the best course of action was to change their data analysis methods, to extract as much as possible from the existing data and put their remaining funds to better use.

Of course, this was the more troublesome path for Arcanists and normal Wizards. Isaac had a simpler idea...

’Just catch a wild Star God!’

’Whether through dissection or interrogation, he’d get the answers he wanted.’

However...

Neither he nor Moens had the power to face a Star God directly, let alone capture one.

The Truth Association did have that kind of power, but in the current climate, if the Association were to capture a Star God—even an Evil God—for an experiment, doing so overtly and without any justification...

’Wouldn’t the already-sensitive nerves of the gods just snap?’

Actually, simply Hunting a Star God wouldn’t be too big of a deal. The excuse would be that they were on the side of good—’Long live justice!’ and all that.

But the problem was... this was for an experiment. With a project as high-profile as Star Creation, as long as the gods weren’t blind or stupid, they’d know the Arcanists were up to no good.

So, it was a foregone conclusion. The higher-ups would never approve it. While a Tier Six Grand Arcanist was important, for one thing, this was a *future* Tier Six. Having that prefix made all the difference in the world.

And for another...

Moens’s current research was already quite complete. Capturing a Star God would only make things smoother; it wasn’t as if the project would fail without one. It could be done, slowly but surely. After all, that was the proper path for an Arcanist these days. Always thinking about shortcuts, especially shortcuts involving Outer Gods—wouldn’t that make one a Mad Witch?

’So... does that mean I have to take the shortcut myself?’

Isaac raised a hand to his chin, lost in thought. ’Doing it myself... It’s not out of the question!’

’Of course, if I’m doing it myself, I can’t use violent means. I’m past the bloody stage of primitive accumulation; now, I need a more civilized approach.’

’Hmm, the fact that I can’t win a fight is also a small reason...’

’If I can’t use force, what about a transaction ritual?’

After a moment’s thought, Isaac dismissed the idea. While a transaction ritual was protected by the Gate of Legends, its main function was to ensure, as much as possible, that an Outer God wouldn’t just violently flip the table. It forced them to complete the transaction with the Mad Witch within the established rules and ensured, to the greatest extent possible, that the outcome of the deal had no obvious problems.

Note the two caveats: ’to the greatest extent’ and ’no obvious problems.’

And those two qualifiers had been perfectly demonstrated in Isaac’s previous transaction with the God of Mystery and Wisdom. That entity had, at great cost, completely stripped away its entire share of the ’Analysis’ Authority, paid a huge price to cross the safety line of the Gate of Legends, and then contaminated the ’Analysis’ Authority that should have been problem-free!

And the way it was contaminated was a perfect example of the latter: ’no obvious problems.’

Under normal circumstances, the contamination would only have an effect at Tier Five or Tier Six. And by that point, even a mere Tier Five Wizard would have the ability to resolve the contamination. It would just be a bit tricky, not a major issue.

It was purely to spite Isaac.

Therefore, despite the protection of the Gate of Legends, it was clear that if an Outer God was willing to pay the price, it could cross the line of defense to some extent. This was obviously not conducive to research.

In research, a miss by an inch is a miss by a mile. There was no room for carelessness.

But besides that, there seemed to be no other way to get an Outer God to calm down and negotiate properly...

’Perhaps I could modify the transaction ritual?’

Isaac’s eyes narrowed. He first drafted a rough plan in his mind, then nodded slowly. It was worth a try. As a bonus, he could also study the construction of the Authority Crystal. That project would ultimately have to come back to rituals anyway.

The deeper Isaac delved into the path of Ritualism, the more he felt its powerful, all-encompassing nature!

It seemed as if anything and everything could be constructed through rituals...

Its only drawback was that it was troublesome, which was why it couldn’t be used in actual combat and had been gradually abandoned by Wizards and Arcanists. But rituals were never meant for battle in the first place.

...

"What? You want to cultivate a Mad Witch? And you want to use our funding?!"

In the Star Core Research Room, Moens’s astonished shout drew the attention of every Arcanist in the room. They all turned their heads in unison to stare at Isaac, their eyes wide.

"Do you think the review board would ever approve such a request?"

"I don’t see a problem." Compared to the flabbergasted Moens, Isaac was far calmer. He took a light sip of a sweet and sour, unidentifiable fruit juice, squinting his eyes in extreme enjoyment. Then, he jutted his chin toward the application form in front of Moens. "Take a look first. This is the rough plan I’ve designed. It will be very beneficial for your research too."