Soon, another three months passed. During that time, Isaac conducted a preliminary study of the Priests' Sacred Marks and discovered that, besides serving as vessels for authority as he had predicted, they also contained an extremely unusual seed of power.
This seed of power was buried deep, however, and its effects were so unusual that it could not develop under ordinary circumstances. If Isaac had not already been considering the possibility, he probably would never have discovered it.
Yes, this seed of power was the contingency Isaac had left for Priests when he first designed their class—once the time was ripe, provided they had the ability and the inclination, Priests could use this seed to seize a deity's power!
They could thereby embark on the path of the faith wizard Isaac had originally envisioned.
Even Isaac did not know how far they could go, however. He had merely designed a possibility. How to accomplish it, and whether it could actually be accomplished, were things they would have to discover themselves.
In addition, Isaac made two Virtual Divine Sparks: one at the fifth tier, and a fourth-tier one for Little Mouse.
He created the fifth-tier spark with the power of [Sage of the Gods]. Just as he had suspected, although it consumed a vast quantity of divinity fragments, its power would not decline. It would remain at the fifth tier.
It still lacked the ability to grow independently, though.
Of course, this was not a matter of capability. Although the cost would be greater, it would not actually be particularly difficult for Isaac. His sole reason for not doing so was cost-effectiveness.
The fifth tier was effectively the pinnacle for virtual deities. Beyond that, although the nature of their existence remained unchanged, their abilities were indistinguishable from those of actual deities.