chsdbacks Page 119
Page 119
As for whether or not they can succeed...
Reason told Philo that this was a foolish act. To make such a high-risk deal with the Outer Gods just to gain such a simple ability was simply...
On the other hand, Philo also deeply understood that Isaac must have had extraordinary abilities to snatch power from so many Outer Gods, and he would definitely succeed.
But regarding administrative staff...
To be honest, she completely disagreed with Isaac's idea!
Because the people of Etra had not been treated as human beings before!
Even the livestock live better than them!
Even with a religious stamp, it only awakens their hope for life, but they are extremely lacking in common sense. They can't even take care of themselves, so how can they take care of others?
Isaac noticed the doubt in Philo's eyes, but he didn't want to explain anything, because it was too troublesome. Once a person has faith, their tolerance for suffering increases significantly. Besides, for the people of Etra, life had at least improved in the short term.
With mutual benefit and faith, this place can remain stable even without doing anything.
Of course, this is on the premise that supplies can be provided, at least to maintain the minimum survival needs.
Chapter 172 Shocked Philo!
However, there shouldn't be any major issues with supplies, at least not in the short term.
For the same reason, Etra possesses a special treasure that can produce large quantities of food in a short period of time. This is one of the reasons why the country, despite its dire state, can still maintain its existence.
So food is actually the least of their worries; what they need to consider is their psychological state. Having suddenly gained a sense of self, they are missing so much.
However, this has nothing to do with Isaac; it's a problem that Lord Philo needs to consider.
After barely managing to reach a conclusion, Philo left Isaac's room, but instead of returning to the front lines, she stayed at the fortress to find a suitable location to set up the puppet production line.
Although she was very unwilling, Philo had to admit that the current Roton Fortress was the safest place in the territory they occupied, even though it was regarded as a thorn in the side by all the participants in the war!
Because Isaac is here!
Because this is where Isaac holds the most important ceremony!
Meanwhile, after Philo left, Isaac didn't rest either. He immediately flipped through his little notebook, which recorded information about the Outer Gods, and chose a suitable trading partner.
For Outer Gods, the ability to activate matter into life is very common. After all, spells with similar effects do not require high-ranking wizards; even great wizards can learn them. Although the effects are not as good as those of Outer Gods, this proves that it is not a difficult technology to obtain.
Even so, it's not as simple as just trading with any Outer God. First, there are differences between Outer Gods; some are good at it, while others are not, so the results will naturally be different. Second, not all activation abilities are what they need.
Although he was making a deal with the Outer Gods, Isaac wasn't going to take just anyone.
Besides, although this was to help Philo solve a problem, the ability I gained was truly mine, while the materials were reimbursed by Philo.
Why not use the princess's money to improve your own abilities?
And soon, Isaac found a suitable target—Isera, the Lord of the Eternal Star!
It is said that this Lord of the Eternal Star is fortunate, as the ritual was given to him by Philo when they first met. His powers are very compatible with Philo's magic system, but unfortunately the success rate of the ritual is too low, so Philo gave up on it.
Unfortunately, after going around in circles, they were still targeted by the same group of people.
The Lord of the Eternal Star is an Outer God of the Mechanical Realm, whose power...
No power!
As far as Isaac knew, apart from those in the distant void, the mechanical gods were mostly born in the last few thousand years due to accidents in various magical experiments. Although they possessed power comparable to gods, they did not have the authority of gods.
However, this has nothing to do with Isaac. Anyway, he doesn't want powers. Powers sound impressive, but in reality, before the third tier, most powers are just so-so and can't exert their due power at all.
He was interested in the forbidden knowledge they possessed, but as for the power to activate the puppets, that was just a trading objective.
Once the target is found, the rest is much simpler. The mechanical exogolese have very practical needs for offerings. They don't need abstract concepts; they just want various mechanical technologies and energy.
Technology accounts for a very small proportion of them. After all, mechanical Outer Gods are products of a certain mechanical technology reaching its extreme, and many mechanical technologies are not very meaningful to them.
Of course, it is real, but that doesn't mean it's easy to collect. After all, they are outer gods with extremely high status, and ordinary energy cannot catch their eye.
Even a second-tier trading ritual requires one hundred second-tier energy cores!
This only covers what the ritual itself requires, not even including the padding to increase the success rate. A second-tier energy core can only increase the success rate by one percent. The basic success rate of this ritual is only about forty percent, which means that at least nine hundred and sixty second-tier cores are needed!
Of course, this isn't the only type of mat. Some odds and ends of mechanical parts can also be used as mats. Although these aren't things the Outer Gods need, Isaac can extract related concepts through rituals to increase the success rate.
While the Mechanical Outer Gods don't need concepts, there's a saying that goes, "When you trade with me, it's not about what you want, but what I have!"
It would be very difficult for others to do this, but Isaac has a cheat code!
In just one afternoon, Isaac, with the help of the cheat code, modified the new trading ceremony and handed the materials list to Philo.
Philo, who had just finished setting up the puppet factory, stared blankly at the list of materials in her hand. She vaguely felt that the materials on the list were familiar, but they did not match any of the materials required for any Outer God trading rituals she knew.
The main problem is that there are just too many materials required!
It's almost ten times the size of the ceremonies she herself holds!
With her limited knowledge, she could only tell that the target of the transaction was an Outer God of the Mechanical Department, but she didn't know exactly who it was.
Firstly, the ritual materials required by mechanical-type Outer Gods are all similar, and secondly, she only has a list of materials and lacks the most important magic circle, making it impossible to perform more detailed positioning.
Watching Isaac's departing figure, Philo's fingers, gripping the list, gradually turned white. As a fellow mad witch, she knew very well the value of this list and the seemingly insurmountable gap between herself and Isaac!
Isaac, unaware of Philo's complex thoughts, handed the list to Philo and then found a room to begin mixing the pigments for inscribing the ritual magic circle, as well as further researching and analyzing the forbidden knowledge that the Lord of the Eternal Secret Star might possess.
In order to obtain useful forbidden knowledge during the ritual, the Outer Gods possess a vast amount of forbidden knowledge. If you were to obtain it randomly, who knows what kind of weird stuff you would get?
……
The next day, Philo brought all the materials on the list to Isaac. It has to be said that the Terra Empire has a lot of influence. It can't do something as serious as mobilizing troops, but if it's just bringing in some materials, those forces will turn a blind eye.
After the materials were inspected, Isaac began setting up the ceremony under everyone's watchful eyes, placing each material in its corresponding position.
Philo's expression gradually changed from curiosity to seriousness. Finally, when Isaac had set up the ritual in a near-complete manner, Philo's face was full of disbelief, because she not only recognized the trading partner of the ritual, but also recognized the original version of the ritual!
This was completely beyond her comprehension!
The Outer Gods' transaction ritual could be modified to such an extent!
Chapter 173 A Generous Choice? Eternal Life and Forbidden Knowledge!
Philo watched silently as Isaac initiated the ritual. Her heart was filled with resentment. She was of such higher social standing than Isaac, and her education from childhood was far superior, but…
Looking at the complex ritual array, Philo felt a deep sense of frustration...
Meanwhile, Isaac was unaware of Philo's feelings and had no interest in knowing, as he was focused entirely on the ritual.
Although he has a cheat code to back him up, and a success rate of up to 1,000% makes it impossible for him to fail, he still needs to put in 100% of his effort!
This is Isaac's requirement for himself. First, he cannot underestimate the heroes of the world. The Outer Gods are still gods, and they are on a very high level. To snatch meat from them, one cannot be careless, otherwise, even with the protection of rituals, one might fall into some kind of pit.
Secondly, while the "golden finger" is powerful, it should not be blindly trusted. Moreover, the process of initiating each transaction ritual can teach legendary wizards a lot. Concentrating their attention helps them absorb more knowledge.
Golden fingers are all external things; knowledge is what truly belongs to you!
Of course, the main reason Isaac didn't care about Philo's thoughts was that the ritual was ineffective for Philo!
Besides the factor of the cheat code, the more important thing is that the ritual itself was optimized by Isaac before the cushion was added. This optimized ritual can basically only be used by the optimizer himself, and it has become a private vehicle instead of a public vehicle.
Of course, if Philo were capable, she could modify Isaac's ritual to make it her own, but the success rate is uncertain.
Others don't have Isaac's magic touch to accurately predict the success rate of the ritual; they can only make a rough estimate in their minds.
As the ritual began, soon, from outside the world, a gaze followed the subtle and unique fluctuations of the ritual and fell upon this place. This was... the Lord of the Eternal Secret Star!
Meanwhile, in a secret space outside the Kingdom of Etra, the arcanists overseeing the war frowned as they watched the alarming instruments flashing red.
"The Outer Gods...have arrived!"
Upon hearing this, the expressions of everyone present instantly turned solemn. Although they had guessed that a mad witch would come in to make a deal with the Outer God, although a deal would occur every few years during the Etra Wars, and although they had made contingency plans for this, they still couldn't help but feel nervous when it actually happened.
Including several high-ranking wizards!
Because that is an Outer God!
They are far superior to them in both strength and status!
The most terrifying thing is that they have no control over the outcome of this deal, because the power lies with the mad witch who presided over the ceremony. If he succeeds, then everyone is happy, but if he fails...
Then the Outer Gods would very likely take this opportunity to launch a large-scale invasion!
That would be a huge problem!
Unfortunately, this is something that cannot be avoided, because if the mad witch deliberately disguises herself, you will not be able to tell her apart, as she has no distinguishing features at all.
But that's not the main difficulty. The real problem that makes this situation difficult to control is that none of the people present are from the Kingdom of Etra or the Theocracy...
In other words, while they outwardly oppose the Mad Witch's entry, they may have secretly already contacted him to help them conceal their identities in exchange for other benefits.
Even worse, the Terra Empire didn't even bother with pretense; they just sent two mad witches in directly!
For example, at this moment, everyone's eyes were on the Archmage Mensa. Although they dared not look at who was performing the ritual because of the power of the Outer God, it did not prevent them from locking onto their target.
Firstly, only the Terra Empire didn't even bother with any pretense and directly sent two mad witches in. Secondly, it was also one of their people, the mad witch named Isaac, who recently cut off all the [energy of the dead] generated within the Kingdom of Etra, and currently only he can perform blood sacrifices.
Of course, it's not to say that it's impossible for it to be other types of sacrifice, but that possibility is not high. After all, people come to Etra for blood sacrifices, and other types of sacrifices can be performed anywhere.
Therefore, the two mad witches of the Terra Empire are the most likely to hold the ceremony.
Faced with the stares of the crowd, Mensa had nothing to say, because he thought the same thing...
"Let's wait and see," Mensa said with a hint of helplessness after a moment of silence.
Upon hearing this, the other high-ranking wizards nodded. There was no other way. The Mad Wizard's current trading ritual was protected by both the Outer God and the Gate of Legends. They couldn't forcibly interrupt the ritual at this time.
Therefore, the countermeasures they prepared were mainly for handling the aftermath and minimizing losses after the transaction failed.
……
On the other side, when the gaze of the Lord of the Eternal Star fell upon him, the scene around Isaac changed, transforming from a dark castle chamber into a mysterious and vast starry sky.
Countless stars dot the dark universe, adding a touch of brilliance to the inky blackness and making it appear even more mysterious.
In front of Isaac floated a silver-white puppet with human limbs and facial features. Although its silver muscle lines were rather slender, they gave it a strong sense of power.
At the same time, the mysterious magic circle on His chest, which shimmered with seven-colored light, also revealed His terrifying power on another level!
However, what attracted Isaac's attention the most were the three small orbs of light floating behind His head.
The moment Isaac saw these three spheres of light, he knew what they were—artificial stars!