Chapter 499 - 361: Mad Witch Philo: How Are These Two So Crazy?

Chapter 499: Chapter 361: Mad Witch Philo: How Are These Two So Crazy?

At the same time, this also widened the gap between Legendary Mages and Arcanists, because this sort of thing basically doesn’t exist among Legendary Mages. Or rather, it’s a case of, ’I can question myself, but you question me? Are you asking to die?’

There was no helping it; the situation was just that serious. After all, the research of High-tier Legendary Wizards tended to be incredibly "exclusive," so who could be blamed?

Getting back to the point, since the [Analysis] Authority concerned the rules themselves, solving this problem naturally classified as a Heroic deed. It’s just that its influence wasn’t great enough, otherwise it might have even reached the "Grand" level!

[Analysis] was still a bit weak. If it had been its Upper Position Authority, [Omniscience], then it would have been a sure thing.

Pushing aside the wonderful fantasies in his mind, Isaac focused on the more practical present.

"Are you selling the Fruit of Time?"

Isaac was quite direct.

After all, Angel was bound to sell the Fruit of Time. The item wasn’t that useful to her. As an [Origin] Witch, her power was immense, but the difficulty of her advancement was also exceptionally high. Even if she wasn’t currently facing the great chasm between Tier Three and Tier Four, her progress was still far slower than other Witches.

The innate advantages of Witches were not entirely without a price. They needed to spend more time excavating the power from the depths of their bloodlines.

For her, the ten years granted by the Fruit of Time was a short period that wouldn’t give her a significant boost. Moreover, the drawback of being proficient in Time Power was now apparent—time itself left few marks on her.

This also meant that she had a very high resistance to Time Magic!

This resistance wasn’t clever enough to only resist negative Time Power; it treated everything equally!

So, for her, she’d be thanking the heavens if the Fruit of Time had even one-tenth of its effect.

As long as no one had reserved it, Isaac’s chances of acquiring it were quite high. After all, he was a man of considerable means.

Unless, of course, the item had already been reserved.

This wasn’t impossible. Angel’s series of actions were clearly premeditated. And she was part of the Witch Country, a behemoth of an organization. Although Isaac was wealthy, frankly, when it came to riches, he couldn’t compare to those ancient Witches who had been accumulating their fortunes for who knows how many years. Even if they didn’t need it themselves, their thick "contact lists" could summon a whole crowd of powerful Wizards for her.

And perhaps, those alternatives would be more suitable for Angel, who was a fellow Witch.

So if he really encountered this situation, Isaac could only accept it.

’And then I’ll just have to reserve the next Fruit of Time!’

Hearing Isaac’s words, Angel fell into deep thought. This Fruit of Time had indeed been reserved. The item to be traded was a treasure capable of developing a Tier Four Witch’s Bloodline.

But...

Angel looked at Isaac and thought for a moment, a hesitant expression on her face. After wavering under Isaac’s confused gaze, she seemed to have made up her mind. "I can give it to you," she said, "but I have a condition. I need you to provide me with a method to raise my bloodline development by one rank!"

Bloodline development progress was a problem that Witches only encountered after Tier Four.

Normally, whether for an Ordinary Witch or an Origin Witch like her, natural advancement only continued up to Tier Three. After Tier Three, the power that naturally emanated from the Witch Bloodline would be exhausted. The only difference was that the threshold for a Magic Book Witch like her was a tiny bit higher.

Therefore, after Tier Four, if a Witch wanted to continue advancing, she had to proactively develop the deeper power within her Witch Bloodline. Through many years of development, the Witch Country had, in imitation of the Legendary Mages’ advancement rituals, divided each tier into three ranks.

After the development of all three ranks of the bloodline was complete, she would advance to the next tier.

Therefore, even though cooperating with Isaac was an incredibly crazy thing to do, and even though the Fruit of Time had long been reserved, if she could get a method to directly develop one rank of her bloodline from him, it would be a net gain!

A huge gain, even!

Because the treasure for developing a Witch’s Bloodline that she was originally going to trade for was only so-so for her. Forget one rank, it wouldn’t even provide half a rank’s worth of development!

Of course, this wasn’t to say it wasn’t valuable. It was more a case of "you can’t make bricks without straw." Such treasures were inherently rare, and with the Witch Country around, the demand for them was constant and enormous!

Basically, as soon as one appeared, it would sell for an astronomical price in the Witch Country!

Regardless of its quality!

So if she could get this from Isaac, she could trade with him, even if it meant taking a little risk.

Hearing this, Isaac lowered his head in thought, calculating if it was worth it.

There was no... information gap.

Since he was already raising a Witch himself and had always been quite curious about the power of Witch Bloodlines, he could be said to be very familiar with the relevant market.

Normally, this would be an unequal trade.

’But, isn’t this normal?’

Thanks to the existence of his Golden Finger, Isaac could utilize the Fruit of Time to its maximum potential, bringing him returns far exceeding what other Wizards would get. Therefore, in the end, he wouldn’t actually be at a loss after obtaining it.

Besides, he was well aware of his own reputation, and he wasn’t stupid. The subtle sense of distance from the two women over the past three years was quite obvious. But what could be done? Who was to blame but himself for displaying such a dangerous power before?

So this trade also had to take his reputation into account. At this level, a trade was no longer just a trade; it also contained a deeper level of interpersonal relations.

For example, if this trade failed, then next time, the price would still be the same, or perhaps even higher!

Because he gave people a feeling of being far too dangerous!

So after weighing his options, Isaac didn’t agree directly. Instead, he said, "I can help you with the research, but I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to produce a result."

This was the power of a Witch, after all. He still had too little relevant data, and Angel was an Origin Witch, which made her even more special.

However, despite not getting a definite answer, Angel still smiled and nodded.

"Okay, then it’s a deal!" Angel had a lot of confidence in Isaac’s research abilities. After a thought, she then asked, "The Flower of Time, do you want it?"

"A freebie?" Isaac was a little surprised.

"Of course not." Angel was a bit speechless.

"Then I don’t want it." Isaac pursed his lips. His life hadn’t been that long, and after becoming a Transcendent, everything had gone smoothly for him. As such, he didn’t have many regrets—just a few.

But unfortunately, their impact was not small, not something a single Flower of Time could reverse.

Hearing Isaac’s rather disdainful reply, Angel felt a bit helpless. She was more or less mentally prepared for this result. After all, she herself possessed the ability to manipulate some temporal events.

It was just that a part of her had held onto a sliver of hope, hoping that Isaac would be interested in researching the Flower of Time...

’If I could sell this to him too, that would be a huge profit!’

’Yes, a huge profit!’

As the saying goes, the first step is always the hardest. After making up her mind to trade with Isaac, her way of thinking had opened up.

Indeed, trading with Isaac was high-risk. Not only was it easy to get implicated, but one wrong move and the connection could be for naught. But!

As the saying goes, good fortune and misfortune are two sides of the same coin.

It was precisely because of this high risk associated with Isaac that trades with him were basically all at a premium!

’Since I’m already taking a risk, what’s a little more?’

Unfortunately, Isaac wasn’t interested in the Flower of Time...

Angel sighed helplessly.

Nearby, Philo watched Angel’s regretful expression, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly. ’As expected of a Witch. Truly crazy enough to dare trade with the infamous "Mad Witch"!’

Seeing that this wouldn’t affect her own plans, Mad Witch Philo shook her head and turned to leave.

’Those two really are lunatics!’

’However, if Angel chooses to cooperate with Isaac, it seems I’ll also have to take some risks. It’s not that I need to trade with Isaac, but that I need to maintain a good relationship with Angel and resolve the issues between us as much as possible.’

’But that might be a little difficult...’

Philo’s brow furrowed slightly, still hesitating inwardly due to Isaac’s "mad reputation."

Meanwhile, after Philo left, the World Tree was still growing, and it would be some time before it could be harvested. Isaac left as well. He planned to go and test out the second feedback from his Heroic deed, after which he would begin to conceptualize the research for Angel’s bloodline development.