Chapter 224: Chapter 179: Lorna: Not Good! Danger
For a while, Isaac continued to experiment with various applications of Heavy Pressure Hell, testing the Magic’s capabilities from nearly every angle.
The results...
Isaac was extremely satisfied!
’I’ve got one Privilege Magic down. Next is to learn the exclusive Casting Technique for it—Privilege. Without this Casting Technique, Privilege Magic is just trash. Not only is the casting time long, but the cost is also massive.’
Fortunately, he didn’t have to research this technique himself like he did with the Privilege Magic. The Flesh Sect already had it, and he had made sure to trade for it before he left.
’So now, all I need to do is take my time and learn it.’
And as for learning...
’Not to brag, but that’s what I do best!’
’With the help of my Golden Finger, my learning ability was already formidable. Now that I have [Analysis], I’m even more unstoppable. A mere Casting Technique? It’ll be a piece of cake!’
After finishing the Casting, Isaac caught his breath. He glanced with satisfaction at the devastated training grounds, nodded, and then turned to leave. Behind him, the Silver Knight bowed, while Lorna remained frozen in place like a statue.
Back in his study, Isaac retrieved the text for the Privilege Casting Technique from a bookshelf and immediately activated his [Analysis] Authority. Instantly, a tide of information surged into his brain.
Isaac closed his eyes, absorbing the information. He then opened them and gazed thoughtfully at the Sheepskin Scroll in his hand. ’Privilege... So that’s how it works?’
From the perspective of its effects, Privilege was utterly bizarre.
It didn’t just allow one to pre-store spell casts; it even allowed one to overdraft them!
Isaac hadn’t understood the principles behind it before. He had barely glanced at the scroll after trading for it, because practicing the Privilege Casting Technique required a corresponding Privilege Magic. In other words, without a Privilege Magic, one couldn’t learn this technique at all.
Unlike Magic, it wasn’t enough to simply understand the principles of a Casting Technique; one had to spend time practicing it.
That was why, despite his curiosity and having already obtained the method for learning Privilege, Isaac hadn’t wasted any time on it until now.
But now, he understood.
It turned out to be related to an Outer God.
Of course, it was a *former* Outer God. Thanks to this Casting Technique, this entity had since gone legit and was now a True God: the God of Credit.
The essence of the Privilege Casting Technique was, in fact, banking—deposits and loans. To learn it, a Wizard had to open an account with the God of Credit.
Originally, the most difficult step was opening the account. Because the God of Credit was an Outer God, it was extremely dangerous. Few, if any, Mad Witches dared to engage in such frequent, direct contact with an Outer God.
But then something happened, causing the God of Credit to go from an Outer God to a True God. After that, opening an account became simple. All it took was a basic ritual; no bootlicking required.
A true model Deity!
Of course, He wasn’t exactly losing on the deal. Every time a Wizard used Privilege, He would harvest a tiny portion of a Concept. Though small, the sheer volume of transactions meant it all added up to a considerable income.
However, Isaac, having used his Authority to analyze the Privilege Casting Technique, knew that wasn’t the only reason the god had gone legit...
Privilege was a unique Casting Technique. The reason it had such miraculous effects was that it borrowed deeply from the God of Credit’s own Authority.
And the key was that word: *deeply*.
While the God of Credit could acquire vast amounts of the Concept He desired through the Privilege Casting Technique, the technique’s deep Erosion of His Authority also made Him more vulnerable to attack.
Especially from Mad Witches!
Therefore, under such circumstances, becoming a True God was the only way to avoid attacks from Mad Witches—and perhaps not just from them!
Privilege Magic was powerful and full of potential. If the God of Credit didn’t play along, it wouldn’t just be the Mad Witches coming after Him.
Powerful Arcanists certainly wouldn’t have hesitated to step in. If He wouldn’t be "reasonable," then the Wizards would "help" Him be reasonable.
After all, all they needed was the God of Credit’s Authority, not the God himself. At worst, they could just replace Him with someone more obedient.
Of course, this was all Isaac’s personal speculation. However, the information from [Analysis] did indeed reveal a pathway to use the Privilege Casting Technique to, in turn, seize the God of Credit’s Authority...
So...
Isaac found it a real shame that this guy was a True God. Although borrowing his power didn’t require the same level of bootlicking as with other gods, it was still borrowed power. And relying on power that wasn’t his own always left him feeling a bit insecure.
Unfortunately, whether it was the Truth Association, the Flesh Sect, Lake Town, or even the lawless Mad Witch Association, they all had one clear rule: the claws of a Mad Witch could not be turned against a True God.
So...
’Tsk, tsk... I’m getting more and more tempted to research the art of making a Deity fall...’ Isaac mused, stroking his chin. The corners of his mouth crept upward into a disturbing smile.
In the end, however, he shook his head and gave up on the tempting idea.
True Gods were not only protected by all the major Wizard organizations, but they were also incredibly powerful in their own right. And because they possessed widespread Faith, the power they could wield in this world far surpassed that of the Outer Gods.
Furthermore, if a True God wanted to deal with the current Isaac, they wouldn’t even have to lift a finger. Their Churches alone would be more than enough to give him a world of trouble.
This was also the most important reason why the God of Credit had chosen to become a True God. In this world, no matter who you were, the only thing you could truly trust was your own immense power!
So, now was not the time to be researching such absolutely taboo Knowledge.
Putting down the text on Privilege, Isaac casually grabbed a few Magic Books, walked over to his desk, and began to slowly flip through them. He had already learned the Privilege technique; now it was time to develop a new Privilege Magic.
As for practice...
There was no rush for that. The recent casting of Heavy Pressure Hell had drained nearly seventy percent of his Magic Power, so he needed to recover first. This downtime was a perfect opportunity to think about what kind of new Privilege Magic he should create.
Although he had [Analysis], it was a pseudo-Omniscience, not true Omniscience. To use it to develop a new Magic, he first had to establish a basic framework himself. Only then could [Analysis] produce the vast amount of information he needed. He could then use that data to fill in the framework and finally complete the Privilege Magic.
The [Analysis] Authority only saved him time. It cut out the repetitive, trial-and-error steps, allowing him to obtain the necessary data directly.
So...
’Time to do some reading.’
Of course, Isaac wasn’t reading aimlessly. He had a rough plan for the Privilege Magic he wanted to create. Simply put, he needed spells for attack, mobility, defense, and Immunity.
The first three were standard combat requirements, while the last one was for handling special situations. For example, the Privilege Magic, Holy Judgment, cast by that Caster from the Teaching Country couldn’t be stopped by pure defense. One had to find a way to deal with its activation conditions.
Heavy Pressure Hell was highly effective and completely met his needs for an attack spell. Therefore, the next should be a mobility spell.
Isaac never considered developing a single Privilege Magic that could fulfill all four requirements. In his opinion, that was a foolish endeavor. A jack of all trades is a master of none.
Privilege Magic was only one part of the Path of Wizardry, and it had its limits. Its fundamental power was a fixed value. The effect of concentrating that entire value into one aspect was completely different from distributing it evenly across four.
Besides, with the exclusive Privilege Casting Technique, he could cast a mere four spells in under a second once he was proficient. There was no need to resort to such a foolish alternative.
However, the spell he was about to research wasn’t in any of those three categories. It was a new idea he’d just had: a special Privilege Magic based on his [Truth] and [Trial] Authorities—Lorna’s Study Time!
[Truth] and [Trial] were both very special Authorities.
First, there was [Truth]. This Authority was rather counterintuitive. It didn’t represent Truth itself, because absolute Truth didn’t exist in this world. In both his past life and his current one, there was only relative truth—that which is correct only within a certain context.
Thus, the [Truth] Authority was actually a Support Authority. It allowed its owner not only to absorb new Knowledge rapidly but also to possess a keen insight for identifying falsehoods.
This Authority ranked high on the list of powers most coveted by Wizards.
Of course, many Knights coveted this Authority as well, because the definition of Knowledge was very broad, existing in every facet of life.
Then there was the latter—[Trial].
The [Trial] Authority was also quite unique. It would present its owner or a designated target with a series of Trials, and upon completion, they would receive a corresponding reward.
The catch, of course, was that you had to prepare the reward beforehand.
Even so, the [Trial] Authority was extremely popular, and many major factions used it to train their newcomers.
Isaac was confident that a Privilege Magic developed from these two Authorities would absolutely make Lorna feel the joy of learning!
Of course, it didn’t matter if she couldn’t *feel* the joy. As long as she participated in the Trial, the Knowledge would find its way into her mind in a miraculous fashion!
’As a noble Caster, how could she be expected to swing swords and spears around like those muscle-bound brutes?’
’Simply barbaric!’
The thought of Lorna "happily" frolicking in the ocean of knowledge made Isaac’s lips curl into a smirk. This feeling of ’educating’ a junior...
...was truly delightful!
HISS!
Meanwhile, back on the training grounds, Lorna had just snapped out of her daze and was preparing to resume sparring with the Silver Knight when she suddenly shivered. For some reason, a terrible premonition bloomed in her heart...
’No, wait!’
’It’s not for ’some reason’!’
’Isaac isn’t *actually* researching some kind of magic to force me to study, is he?’
’Anything but that... Nooo!’
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