Exploring Technology in a Wizard World-Chapter 1440 - 1438: One-Month Deadline

The spiritual waves spread, and the voice of the High Spirit rang out, as if venting emotions.

"You foolish insect, feel the taste of supreme terror. I want you to clearly understand that the inconsistency between words and actions comes at a severe price. That price is losing your soul, losing your life!"

The Energy Octopus shouted at the stiff Richard, then retracted its entire body, shrinking to less than one percent of its original size, and quickly drilled into Richard’s open mouth like a water snake entering a hole, rapidly disappearing deep down Richard’s throat.

The next moment, Richard’s body began to swell at a speed visible to the naked eye, like an inflating balloon, his expression filled with pain, as if the flesh, organs, and even the soul inside were being devoured by the High Spirit.

Yet just as his body swelled to nearly twice its size and looked like it was about to explode, the trend slowed. From Richard’s open mouth, a black shadow flashed, as the High Spirit that had entered earlier seemed to sense something amiss and hurried to rush out. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

At this moment, with a "pop," Richard closed his mouth as if shutting the door of a prison cell, sealing the Energy Octopus inside him.

The painful expression on his face vanished in a flash, and Richard displayed a somewhat amused look.

Indeed... Creatures like High Spirits may have immense power, but when it comes to battle wisdom, they are no match for "despicable humans"... In a fight, a simple flaw can easily trick the opponent... It takes more than being deceived once or twice to learn... They still have a long way to go...

Richard activated his extraordinary power, controlling his body to slowly return to its original state, and then pressed his lower abdomen and said, "Mr. High Spirit, just now due to emotional reasons, you didn’t want to discuss fair trade with me. Now I think... perhaps you’ve calmed down inside me, ready to talk?"

"Talk? I’ll have a good talk with you once I get out!" The High Spirit’s voice echoed in the consciousness with a sharp, piercing sound.

"But you can’t get out, you can only talk inside me," Richard said calmly.

"Impossible!"

With a roar, the High Spirit cried out, and Richard’s lower abdomen suddenly bulged, followed by his chest, and his side ribs and back quickly followed, bulging into fist-sized lumps—the High Spirit was rampaging inside Richard in a frantic attempt to find an exit.

Richard raised his eyebrows slightly, saying nothing more, as he clenched his hand. His skin suddenly brightened, dense golden magic runes appearing on it—Richard had already transformed his body into a vessel specifically designed to capture High Spirits.

With his mind focused, the magic runes activated, and rippling energy waves appeared on Richard’s skin, enveloping him in a faint golden hue. The bulges subsided forcefully under the effect of the magic runes, no matter how the High Spirit struggled inside, leaving his body unchanged.

Standing with his back straight like a statue, Richard stood firmly on the ground, speaking slowly, "Mr. High Spirit, I told you that you can’t escape, and you really can’t escape. In other matters... I may have deceived you, but on this one, there’s truly no deception. So, for your freedom, you’d best reconsider our fair cooperation."

"Deception... So you people call the inconsistency between words and actions deception..." The High Spirit whispered, absorbing some new knowledge, yet remained unyielding and said coldly, "Even so, I won’t agree with you.

You may have temporarily trapped me and deprived me of my freedom, but you’ve also lost your own freedom as a consequence. My life is extremely long, and I can completely outlast you, waiting until decades or hundreds of years later when you die to break free.

It’s you who wants to keep me imprisoned; you must ensure you’re fully committed at all times. Are you willing to do so for the rest of your life?"

Richard responded with a light smile, unperturbed, "Why not?"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, I’m sure. If Mr. High Spirit, you truly insist on not cooperating, although I’d rather not, I’ll have to continue keeping you trapped within me. To be honest... in this state, the impact on me isn’t as significant as you imagine..."

"Because, trapping you is just one of my many bodies..." A voice interrupted and continued the sentence, as another Richard—exactly like the first one—suddenly appeared in mid-air above the Heavenly Pit, descending slowly near the first Richard as he spoke.

The second Richard smiled and said, "Though occupying one of my bodies, there’s some loss, it’s still acceptable. I have plenty of other bodies to do other things. Moreover, when this body dies or can no longer trap you, I can promptly switch to a new body to ensure you, Mr. High Spirit, remain trapped. So, how about it? Are you satisfied now, Mr. High Spirit?"

High Spirit: "..." A long silence followed after hearing this.

After a while, with some sense of defeat, the High Spirit said, "Alright, deceiver, I admit you’ve prepared very thoroughly. Let’s talk about the transaction you want. What exactly do you want? Firstly, let me tell you, I can’t allow you to study me for ten years! Because the soul you sacrificed isn’t enough for me to pay such a high price, in fact, it only allows me to stay in this world for about a month at most."

"A month? Fine, a month will do." Richard suddenly became accommodating, thought for a moment, and decided, "You stay in this world for a month, cooperate with me and my subordinates on some simple research. Once the research is over, I will release you and give you a soul no weaker than the previous one as a sacrifice. How about it?"

"Really? You’re not deceiving me again?" The High Spirit couldn’t help but be suspicious at Richard’s swift change of attitude.

Richard sincerely responded, "I’m certain."

The High Spirit remained skeptical, "When you say a month, you mean the same as me—referring to one month in your current world, right? That is, thirty rotations of day and night, without any external influences during the period. And once I agree, the countdown starts immediately without pause, delay, or slowing down, correct?"

This truly shows experience learned through deception... Richard couldn’t help but admire the High Spirit’s caution... However, he indeed wasn’t planning to deceive it further because his original goal was just to study the High Spirit for about ten days.

After all, creatures like High Spirits aren’t like Tin Wood; as extremely advanced and exceedingly mysterious extraordinary lives, cooperating for a mere ten days or so is already pretty difficult. The reason he mentioned a "ten-year" term was merely to leave room for bargaining; having it agree to a month was an unexpected delight.

Looking back, just as he expected, weaker level High Spirits that have never been deceived before are quite easy to negotiate with, unlike the powerful ancient High Spirits.

Thinking along these lines, Richard replied, "Yes, Mr. High Spirit, just as you think it means a month. If you have no objections, we can consider it a consensus."

High Spirit: "Hmm..." There was a lingering sense that something was amiss, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.

"Alright, we’ve reached a consensus already, pleasant trading." Without waiting for the High Spirit’s response, Richard said directly.

Saying this, he left the first body sealing the High Spirit in place, and his second body stepped foot and flew out of the Heavenly Pit, entering a passage leading outside the pit.