Life Game In Other World
Chapter 563: Jess’s Father’s Research (Big - for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 563: Chapter 563: Jess’s Father’s Research (Big Chapter for Monthly Tickets)

He Ao once again briefly activated Super Memory to glance at Arent’s corpse, which was a massive soul intertwined and was now rapidly disintegrating. Shadows of varying depths scattered and slowly dissipated in the wide space.

Then He Ao noticed the intricate patterns around him starting to flicker with a faint glow, continuously ’absorbing’ these dissipating souls.

At this moment, He Ao finally understood where the powerful strength of these patterns came from.

They had been drawing on souls as nourishment through some method.

These intricate patterns constituted some kind of ’power’ conversion Ritual Array.

And this was the mysterious knowledge Jess had acquired from the old professor, and it was also the core principle behind the Gene Potion.

The arcane knowledge mentioned that humans could obtain transcendent powers without going through divine beings, through some complex method.

For He Ao, who was knowledgeable about the arcane, this complex method was actually some kind of special ritual.

However, this ritual had a unique aspect that set it apart from others; it didn’t require a host, or to put it another way, it didn’t require the host to possess high qualifications, and it seemed to lack a precise ritual direction.

Normally, a complete ritual requires an arranger and a ritual target for the ritual to take effect.

The ritual is just a channel for communication between the two parties.

The one who arranges the ritual communicates through it to the target, expresses their wishes, offers their ’sacrifices’, and depending on the mood and capabilities of the target, a decision is made whether to fulfill the arranger’s wishes and bestow Grace. This is the typical sacrificial ritual that believers offer to divine beings.

There is an important uncertain factor in this process, which is the target of the ritual, the Higher Being communicated with by the ritual.

These Higher Beings have their own personalities and objectives; they are not controllable. Hence, the results of each ritual are also uncontrollable. Some people receive abundant Graces, others less so, and some might even incur divine punishment by performing the ritual.

At this time, the significance of the ritual arranger or performer becomes apparent; they can appease divine beings through other means, offer sacrifices that the divine beings favor, and draw the Ritual Array perfectly to the liking of the divine beings, thus increasing the chance of a successful ritual and its rewards.

Many subjective factors are mixed in here, making it unlikely for most rituals to be standardized on a large scale.

In the arcane knowledge that Jess and the old professor acquired, the special ritual had no precise target, eliminating the subjective influences of Higher Beings.

If the ritual is performed according to specific conditions, there is a high probability of successfully obtaining power.

Without the influence of Higher Beings, the requirements for the ritual performer are no longer stringent; in fact, there are none whatsoever.

Anyone who strictly follows the ritual’s requirements can receive the corresponding Grace.

However, Jess and the professor were not aware of the arcane knowledge about the ritual, but they keenly noticed that since the special ritual was stable and not affected by subjective factors, it could be solidified through certain methods and even scaled up to form a stable way of obtaining transcendent powers.

Just as humans had not yet understood the principles of airplane flight but managed to imitate birds to create planes.

Once a stable pattern is discovered, it means it can potentially be utilized.

Jess’s father also realized this and thus came over to discuss with the professor how to simplify and scale up this method of acquiring power.

However, later on, the two had a divergence of opinion; the professor believed in developing Gene Potions, while Jess’s father thought this method was too risky and that using Gene Potions could bring unforeseeable side effects to the users.

Jess, listening to the professor at the time, didn’t realize any issues; he thought the Gene Potion was a good direction and even somewhat misunderstood his father’s choice.

But now, He Ao, in retrospect, was keenly aware that Jess’s father must have sensed something back then.

In the arcane knowledge they had acquired, there was no mention of the cost of conducting such a ritual, only a description of the method and the possible grace that might be received.

Because the original ritual was extraordinarily complex and had to be performed in the wilderness, although there was no restriction on the physical condition of the practitioner, completing such a complicated ritual in the wilderness was inherently a demand for physical fitness.

Unable to meet the requirements, Jess’s father and the old professor could not personally experiment with the ritual, so their idea was to simplify the ritual through scientific research in their field of expertise and then conduct the experiment themselves.

However, it was apparent that Jess’s father was sharper than the old professor. He probably realized that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and obtaining the method for the ritual came at a cost.

Therefore, he rejected the old professor’s idea, which involved the use of gene potions related to biology, even though this was the most likely to succeed.

But he saw the potential dangers behind this method.

At this moment, He Ao agreed with his opinion. In the field of mysticism, all rituals were based on equivalent exchange; to receive something, one must pay the corresponding ’price’.

Regrettably, neither the old professor nor Jess had enough accumulations in mysticism. Although they had high talent, they failed to perceive the dangers behind this unknown method and initiated the research on gene potions.

However, by the end, the old professor probably realized something. He had expressed several times in his conversations with Jess the desire to abandon the research.

Unfortunately, the old professor had not fully made up his mind when he was attacked by cultists.

And this later became one of the significant factors that led Jess to ultimately abandon gene potion research and sell all his materials to the Mysterious Person.

But as soon as Jess ventured into this field, he was actually unable to extricate himself.

Latterly, the Mysterious Person assassinated Jess’s wife, compelling him to research gene potions for them, and ultimately led Jess back to this path.

He Ao, carrying a bone axe, arrived at the door concealed in the wall.

This door had also been attacked during Arent’s recent assault, with most of the area showing deep cracks, but it hadn’t shattered.

Patterns flickering with violet radiance held the broken stones tightly together, maintaining their stable form.

He Ao reached out and touched these patterns.

These patterns might be the method Jess’s father and the old professor separately formulated for solidifying the ritual after they parted ways.

He didn’t tell the old professor, nor did he tell Jess.

In Jess’s memories, there was nothing related to these patterns.

This proved that Jess’s father was very cautious in hiding everything linked to the Transcendent, trying his best not to let his son come into contact with it.

At that time, Jess’s father probably realized that delving into this knowledge would bring disaster.

He Ao’s fingers traced along the patterns little by little in the void.

The place was originally a chemical plant, which was later bought out and converted into a mental asylum, offering gratuitous treatment to mental patients who were alone or without relatives.

From these patterns that were clearly inherited from the era of the chemical plant, it seems likely that the person who bought the facility and transformed it into a mental asylum, was probably the same individual who had been controlling the chemical plant from behind the scenes.

Jess had conducted research on gene potions, and the cost of conducting ritual solidification and scaling up research was not small; it required significant financial support.

Adding to that Jess’s father was the chief consultant for this chemical plant.

Piecing all these clues together, the person behind the chemical plant and the mental hospital is, with high likelihood, the same one who funded Jess’s father’s research into these patterns.

And who might this person be?

A name naturally surfaced in He Ao’s mind,

The Mysterious Person.

The Mysterious Person was very familiar with the affairs of Jess’s parents and Jess himself.

In fact, the first time he came into contact with Jess was after Jess’s father had died—when Jess began to search for clues about his father’s death and started researching the Gene Potion.

All signs pointed to him having a deep connection with Jess’s father as well.

Combining today’s findings, the Mysterious Person is most likely the same benefactor who funded Jess’s father back then.

The origin of it all.

Initially, he funded Jess’s father to conduct large-scale research on rituals, but in the end, the project failed, and Jess’s father died in the process.

So far, He Ao did not have conclusive evidence to prove that the Mysterious Person was the mastermind behind Jess’s father’s murder, but given that he hired Thorne to cause an explosion, he could not be unconnected to his death.

He Ao didn’t know why the Mysterious Person would harm Jess’s father; if he could find and cooperate with him, the two must have had mutual needs, a stable relationship.

Furthermore, the situation of Jess’s father was different from that of Jess—who had developed the Gene Potion only to be disposed of after success. Jess’s father hadn’t completed his research, and the Mysterious Person still needed him to devise a method for the ritual to be carried out on a large scale.

Unless,

He Ao cast a glance back at the patterns around him,

A conflict had erupted between the two.

A conflict so sharp that the Mysterious Person had no choice but to kill Jess’s father.

In this sweep, He Ao briefly used Super Memory to record all the patterns and their intricacies.

All the patterns in the space coalesced in his mind, forming a vast, three-dimensional Ritual Array.

Jess’s father never shared any information about these patterns with Jess, so He Ao couldn’t find the key clues about the patterns from memory.

But this wasn’t a big problem, because Jess had, in fact, completed the research his father had not—albeit from a different approach.

This also meant that Jess was one of the people in the world most knowledgeable about the ritual.

He Ao had inherited these insights.

Understanding one law, one understands a hundred.

After a brief analysis, He Ao quickly discerned which parts of the Ritual Array replaced actions, which were the main body, the pivots, and which parts substituted for the process of the ritual itself.

Some arrays even replaced the exotic beast that must be killed during the ritual process.

The more he looked, the more He Ao couldn’t help but admire the ingenious construction of these arrays.

In the Gene Potion, Jess’s method to replace killing exotic beasts involved mixing the blood of those beasts following a specific procedure.

But in the arrays constructed by Jess’s father, the killings were minimized as much as possible.

As He Ao delved deeper into the analysis, he realized that Jess’s father’s understanding of the mystical knowledge was not weaker than that of Jess; had he studied the Gene Potion, it would likely have been developed much earlier.

And as He Ao began to break down the arrays, he saw an increasingly sophisticated structure, and he even had to pause to comprehend their meaning.

He Ao raised his hand to check the time.

It had been thirteen minutes since he entered this medical building.

The Mercenary Troops in the city working for the Mysterious Person had already been dealt with by him in the small building.

Considering that the Mysterious Person had moved the same Mercenary Troops to hunt down He Ao while also sending them to attack Heish, it’s unlikely he has many more forces within the city.

In the battle at the derelict building, most of the Gene Potion that the Mysterious Person had amassed was also likely depleted.

After witnessing He Ao’s abilities, the Mysterious Person would not think a few C-levels could stop He Ao; only a team of Transcendents built up with an ample number of Gene Potions could have a shot at killing him.

During this period before an adequate quantity of Gene Potions could be produced, there would be a gap in the Mysterious Person’s strength.

He Ao hadn’t considered the possibility of the Mysterious Person acting personally; from his modus operandi, he almost always hired or used others to lead the charge and handle matters for him.

Though capable of bizarre feats, he had no record of acting directly, not even in killing D-level individuals like Jess—he still designed traps for Jess to walk into.

This indicated that either his strength wasn’t strong, or he was under some kind of restriction that prevented him from displaying his full power unless absolutely necessary.

Therefore, during this gap in strength, he would have to rely on other forces to confront He Ao.

Now, there were few forces in Vitland that could threaten He Ao; the City Defense Army, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other powerful mercenary groups from big corporations.

Vitland was not like the smaller city of Rock City; Welme was not the only powerhouse in Vitland, and it was highly unlikely that the Mysterious Person could command the City Defense Army to leave the high walls.

And even if other big corporations were willing to help, the Mysterious Person might not want them to come into contact with He Ao.

So, there was only one answer left: the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

To some extent, the Federal Bureau of Investigation represented the Federal Central.

As long as they came to the mental hospital and found He Ao, even without any strong individuals, on the official premise of requiring He Ao to cooperate with an investigation, he would have no choice but to comply.

If He Ao resisted, it would be tantamount to offending the authorities,

That was also why He Ao, just moments before on the upper floor, had taken the risk to lure the nurse into acting; he didn’t have much time to delay.

If he couldn’t quickly understand the Array and open the door, he might have to fight his way out once more.

After pondering for a moment, He Ao’s