Chapter 565 - 400: Yandere Deity

Chapter 565: Chapter 400: Yandere Deity

The trading ritual went very smoothly. Ten of the twelve participants were successful!

This was a remarkably high success rate. After all, even though the ritual they used lacked Isaac’s special modifications to increase its fault tolerance, it was one he had meticulously designed. Unlike the treacherous lures circulating among the public, its base success rate was already very high. On top of that, the entities they were trading with had also been carefully selected by Isaac.

They were all highly reputable in the Mad Witch market!

With all these factors in play, success was practically a given.

However, even so, two people still failed. And as ill luck would have it, they happened to be two of the three candidates he had personally supplied...

This was one of the reasons Isaac had put off starting this experiment for so long. With the interference of Outer God Power, a normal trading ritual could never have a 100% success rate!

That’s just how it is. The Outer Gods are just that stereotypical, one-dimensional, and cartoonishly evil!

And since he couldn’t create a life-saving item on the level of a Tier Six Magic Stone himself, he’d had no choice but to delay the experiment until now.

Still, the results so far looked promising.

"And just like that, they’re Mad Witches? It doesn’t seem... all that difficult," Moens commented from the side, watching the Official Wizards succeed one after another. He was rather surprised. ’Wasn’t the failure rate supposed to be high? Since when were these Outer Gods so accommodating?’

Hearing this, Isaac rolled his eyes. "Of course it wasn’t hard for them. I meticulously designed their ritual. What average Mad Witch gets that kind of special treatment? Besides, you should look at it this way: even with a trading ritual personally designed by me—a Tier Four Mad Witch who specializes in Ritualism—there were still three failures! And these are only Tier One rituals!"

Moens froze for a second, his brow gradually knitting. Isaac’s reminder had clearly made him realize the gravity of the situation.

’That’s right. Isaac, a Tier Four, personally designed these rituals. Even if the Official Wizards themselves weren’t exceptionally talented, there was absolutely no reason for a ritual of this caliber to fail.’

’And what’s more, they were inexplicable failures!’

’He had watched the entire process, from setting up the rituals to their activation, and he hadn’t seen any obvious errors. At worst, a few minor details weren’t handled perfectly.’

’But Isaac had already accounted for that margin of error when he designed the ritual. And yet... they still failed...’

’A failure without reason, without warning!’

"The influence of the Outer Gods? Truly terrifying! Evil!"

Seeing the expressions on Moens and the Official Wizards below turn grim, Isaac gave a slight nod. He wasn’t some naturally malevolent servant of the Outer Gods, nor was he like those old Mad Witches whose sanity had slowly eroded over the long years.

Isaac was still in his prime, and his Mental State was excellent.

Therefore, he didn’t want them to underestimate the risks of the Mad Witch path, or to underestimate the Outer Gods!

Moens was a different story. The man had the backing of the Truth Association and was a Quasi-Tier Six Great Arcanist. With his talent, he wouldn’t even need to advance to Tier Six; after reaching Tier Five and a period of consolidation, he might possess power rivaling a Deity!

For the most part, those Outer Gods were bullies who picked on the weak and feared the strong; they wouldn’t dare provoke him.

Isaac’s real concern was for these few Official Wizards. They had bright futures ahead of them; he couldn’t let them start down a path of no return.

Well...

’Although, in a way, they’re already on a path of no return...’

So, seeing that everyone had regained their focus, Isaac relaxed. The Eye of Omniscience floating behind him then began to conduct a second examination on the group.

Having already experienced the Arcanists’ failures, Isaac was much more stoic this time. He no longer expected to get the data he wanted in a single attempt. After all, a trading ritual with an Outer God wasn’t like a Star Creation ritual. Its cost was remarkably low—sometimes, you could even turn a profit!

The Magic Stone was the only truly expensive component. Other than that life-saving item, Isaac could afford the rest of the materials himself.

Soon, the data collection was complete, and Moens led the new Mad Witches away. He planned to examine them again using Arcanist techniques. While not as in-depth as the scan from Isaac’s Eye of Omniscience, it was an Arcanist’s approach, after all; its methodology might differ from Isaac’s and reveal something new.

It might lead to some unexpected discoveries, which was a key reason Moens had chosen to collaborate with Isaac.

The clash of perspectives between a Legendary Mage and an Arcanist was bound to create some unique sparks of insight!

...

"Hmm? What’s this..."

After Moens left, Isaac was left alone to continue comparing the changes in their data before and after their trade with the Outer God. He hadn’t expected any results this time around, but to his pleasant surprise, he found something!

He had found a variance!

A very distinct one, at that!

—Their souls!

Although the change wasn’t pronounced yet, their soul structures had definitely changed. Isaac was thrilled!

Regardless of whether this was the specific change he was looking for, as long as there *was* a change—and he could detect it—it meant the research was worthwhile. It meant he could make progress!

In response to this change in soul structure, Isaac quickly adjusted his plans. First, he divided the twelve participants into two groups. One group would continue with the original experimental schedule, while the other would undergo trading rituals with increased frequency.