Wizard: Scamming a Demon God

Chapter 216: Chapter 171: Shocked Philo

However, supplies weren’t a big issue, at least not in the short term.

The reason was the same as before: Itra possessed a special Secret Treasure capable of producing vast quantities of food in a short time. This was one of the reasons the country, as wretched as it was, could still sustain itself.

Therefore, food was actually the least of their worries. Their psychological state, however, was another matter. Having suddenly gained self-awareness, they lacked far too many things.

But that had nothing to do with Isaac. It was a problem for Philo, the Lord, to consider.

After hashing out a tentative agreement, Philo left Isaac’s room. However, she didn’t return to the front lines but stayed behind in the fortress. She needed to find a suitable location within the fortress to set up the Demonic Puppet production line.

Although she was reluctant to admit it, Philo had to concede that Roton Fortress was currently the safest place in the territory they held, even if all the other warring parties considered it a thorn in their side!

Because Isaac was here!

Because the ritual Isaac valued most was here!

Meanwhile, after Philo left, Isaac didn’t stay idle. He immediately began flipping through the small notebook where he recorded information on Outer Gods, searching for a suitable trading partner.

For Outer Gods, the ability to activate matter into life was quite common. After all, Magic with similar effects didn’t even require a High-level Mage; a Grand Wizard could learn it. Though the effects weren’t as potent as an Outer God’s, it proved the technology wasn’t particularly difficult to obtain.

Even so, he couldn’t just pick any random Outer God to trade with. Firstly, there were disparities between Outer Gods; some were skilled in this area, while others were not, leading to different results. Secondly, not all Activation Abilities were what they needed.

Isaac wasn’t one to accept just any old scrap, even if he was trading with an Outer God.

Besides, while he was helping Philo solve her problem, the ability he gained would be his own, and Philo was footing the bill for the materials.

’Using the Eldest Princess’s money to enhance my own power? Why wouldn’t I?’

Soon enough, Isaac found a suitable target: Ithelas, the Master of the Eternal Secret Star!

One might say this Master of the Eternal Secret Star was quite fortunate. Philo had been the one to give him the ritual for this being when they first met. Its Authority was a perfect fit for Philo’s Magic System, but unfortunately, the ritual’s success rate was too low, so she had abandoned it.

A pity that, after all that, it was being targeted by the same group of people again.

The Master of the Eternal Secret Star was a Mechanical System Outer God. Its Authority...

It had no Authority!

As far as Isaac knew, aside from a batch in the distant Void, most Mechanical System Deities had been born from accidents in various magical experiments over the past few thousand years. Although they possessed power comparable to Deities, they lacked a Deity’s Authority.

But that didn’t matter to Isaac. He didn’t want Authority anyway. Authority sounded grand and lofty, but in reality, before Tier Three, most Authorities were mediocre at best and couldn’t be used to their full potential.

What interested him about this type of Outer God was the Forbidden Knowledge they possessed. As for the power to activate Demonic Puppets, he would simply set that as the goal of the trade.

Once he had a target, the rest was much simpler. The sacrificial demands of Mechanical System Outer Gods were very practical. They didn’t need abstract things like Concepts; all they wanted were various mechanical technologies and different forms of energy.

Technology accounted for a small portion of the offering. After all, Mechanical System Outer Gods were themselves the product of a certain mechanical technology taken to its extreme. Most mechanical technologies were of little significance to them.

Of course, practical as their demands were, that didn’t mean the offerings were easy to collect. They were Outer Gods, after all, beings of an extremely high standing. Ordinary energy wouldn’t even catch their eye.

Even for a Tier Two trading ritual, the required Energy Cores numbered one hundred—all Tier Two!

And that was just for the ritual itself, not including the ”padding” to increase the margin for error. A single Tier Two Energy Core only increased the margin for error by one percent, and the ritual’s base success rate was only around forty percent. In other words, he would need at least nine hundred and sixty Tier Two cores!

Of course, that wasn’t the only type of padding. Various miscellaneous mechanical parts could also serve as padding. While this wasn’t something the Outer God needed, Isaac could use the ritual to extract related Concepts from them to increase the margin for error.

It was true that Mechanical Outer Gods didn’t need things like Concepts, but as the saying goes—”When you trade with me, it’s not about what you want—it’s about what I have!”

This was very difficult for others to achieve, but as for Isaac... he had a cheat!

In just one afternoon, Isaac, with the help of his Golden Finger, finished modifying the trading ritual and handed the list of materials to Philo.

Philo, who had just finished setting up the Demonic Puppet Factory, stared blankly at the list of materials in her hand. Something about it seemed vaguely familiar, yet the materials didn’t match any Outer God trading ritual she knew.

Mainly, the sheer quantity of materials required was immense!

It was nearly ten times the amount needed for the rituals she performed herself!

With her reserve of knowledge, she could only tell that the target of the trade was a Mechanical System Outer God. But as for which one specifically, she had no idea.

For one, the ritual materials required by Mechanical System Outer Gods were all quite similar. For another, she only had the list of materials and was missing the most crucial component, the Magic Array, making a more precise identification impossible.

Watching Isaac’s retreating figure, Philo’s knuckles turned white as she clutched the list. As a fellow Mad Witch, she knew exactly what this list represented—both its immense value and the chasm-like gap that existed between herself and Isaac.

Isaac, for his part, was oblivious to Philo’s complex thoughts. After giving her the list, he found a room and began mixing the pigments for inscribing the ritual’s Magic Array, while also further researching and analyzing the Forbidden Knowledge the Master of the Eternal Secret Star might possess.

This was to ensure he could specifically target useful Forbidden Knowledge during the ritual. Outer Gods possessed a vast amount of Forbidden Knowledge; if he acquired it randomly, who knew what kind of bizarre stuff he’d end up with.

...

The next day, Philo arrived with all the materials on the list to see Isaac. It had to be said, the Terra Empire’s influence was indeed significant. They couldn’t get away with something as serious a violation as moving troops, but when it came to just transporting some materials, the other factions were willing to turn a blind eye.

After inspecting the materials, Isaac began to set up the ritual under everyone’s watchful eyes, placing each item in its designated position.

Philo’s expression gradually shifted from curiosity to gravity. Finally, when Isaac was about seventy or eighty percent done setting up the ritual, her face was filled with utter disbelief. She had not only recognized the target of the ritual’s trade but had also identified the original version of the ritual itself!

This was completely beyond her comprehension!

’An Outer God’s trading ritual... could actually be modified so drastically!’