Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 270 Do you want to become a phantom thief?
Did the natural elements grant you power, or did you grant the elements power?

These words lingered in Ethan's mind. When he tried to pull the earth elemental aside for more details, the little yellow potato had already burrowed into the ground and dragged the wind elemental off to play somewhere.

Ethan fell into deep thought.

He wandered aimlessly along the cemetery in Riverwood, which was shrouded in mist year-round, and unknowingly wandered into a secluded path.

Upon closer reflection, each elemental ascension corresponds to a key moment in time, and the elemental spirits responded to his inner feelings at these important times.

Later, during his contact with Mekka-Drin and his time back at the academy, his elemental magic was indeed seen as an anomaly. High-level elemental energizers could understand massive fireballs, ice arrows, and chains of lightning, which could be explained by an excessive supply of magic power, but they could not understand the various powers that came with ascending to elemental power.

That wasn't elemental magic. At least before Winter wrote "The Magic of Fireball and Ice Arrow," no elemental energizer had ever reached the same level. The current dean always believed that Winter's "Saint Advancement Program" was more like turning elemental energizers into something else he had never seen and couldn't explain.

Of course, that's a euphemism.

From the old dean's hesitant expression and his furrowed brows, it was not hard to see what he was really thinking—he had always wondered whether Winter, who had completed her elemental ascension, was still within the human realm.
Therefore, it was only natural that Ethan became a suspect.

Especially after he resolved the crisis of gold radiation at the academy, the dean grasped his wrist with his rough hand and examined it carefully, sometimes deep in thought, sometimes surprised, and finally looking completely bewildered.

A question is about to arise.

Why was he able to grant power to the elements of nature?
Was it because he had read through "The Magic of Fireball and Ice Arrow," or was he simply capable of doing so?
Just as Ethan began to have doubts, a crucial moment arrived once again—the Golden King descended upon this plane and, within almost three days, used an artifact called "Gospel" and golden radiation to transform the area outside the Empire and Ophira into his territory.

The people who don the golden masks become like worker bees, working day and night to provide value for the Golden Kingdom.

But if we look at this from another perspective, it also means that he is getting closer and closer to the Magic Network.

Cynthia believes the Golden King is the creator of destiny because every prophecy he made eventually came true. However, Ethan discovers that there seems to be an even greater shadow looming over the Golden King and the entire guild—they are searching for the whereabouts of the "Goddess," and the first members of the guild came for this purpose.

The timing of the "anomaly" and the appearance of "Future Winter" were so coincidental that Ethan had to connect their identities. Moreover, compared to the King of Gold's brainwashing abilities and the many artifacts he possessed, "time" was closer to his concept of destiny.

Ethan looked back.

He had walked quite a distance without realizing it. The mist in the cemetery and the thin veil woven with gold divided the world in his eyes in two, creating a strange and beautiful scene. His heart had already made its judgment.

He should move on.

Verifying the Earth element indicator is actually quite simple.

For example, right now, his inner voice tells him that he needs a power that can bypass the "world disruptor," and the only way to bypass the "game mechanics" is through another game mechanic.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Riverwood.

"found it!"

Yellow Potato let out a cheer. It turned out that Ethan's ability to hide things wasn't very good. She easily found the apartment where Ethan used to live by listening to the conversations of the townspeople. No one had been there for quite some time. She walked along the street to the fourth tree at the street corner, where a box was buried.

The box contained seven bottles of colorful magic potions, but she couldn't immediately figure out their effects.

Ethan promised her that these potions were unique in the world, and she believed him for the time being.

Because the wind elemental had a very high opinion of him, her friend was introverted and didn't like interacting with humans. She had never seen the wind elemental get so close to anyone, not even the "ancestor".

Two little potatoes that sprouted from the ground dragged the box full of potions into the soil, bringing their spoils back to the Gopher Squad's temporary base in Riverwood—a small cabin a few kilometers from the town.

There's a magical atmosphere here; it looks like someone has practiced here countless times.

"Tell me about Ethan, what kind of person is he?"

After moving the spoils into the warehouse, Little Yellow Potato asked curiously.

"Very reliable, very friendly, and the palms are warm and comfortable to hold."

The little green potato lowered her head and talked about Ethan's good points, but in reality, it was hard to explain in words. She liked being with Ethan, whether it was reading quietly together or going out for a drive together, it suited her taste perfectly.

But Ethan is currently facing a huge challenge and is not suited to these frivolous activities, so on the advice of the other two elements, she stopped bothering Ethan and went out to visit her friends.

"Oh, really?"

Yellow Potato's expression was a little strange. The description of the wind element always felt a bit odd to her. It didn't sound like it was describing a human. Either the wind element mistook Ethan for an elemental spirit, or it mistook her for a human.

Earth Element found it hard to imagine what had happened between his friend and Ethan recently that led to his current state.

She asked this question with a purpose; that person seemed to have the ambition to "become a master of all elements of the Enchantress," so sooner or later, she would have to deal with Ethan.

She likes to know her partners beforehand.

Previously, every elementalist who had come into contact with Ethan had a good relationship with him, even the fire elementalist, whose thinking was most different from other elements. But it was precisely because of this that the earth elementalist became wary.

I haven't heard a single negative review.

Something felt off, making her wonder if Ethan had given the other elemental spirits some strange potion and brainwashed them.

Humans are masters at making these potions, and they tirelessly use them to brainwash their own kind or other races.

"He didn't give you any strange little potions, did he?"

The earth elemental stared at the wind elemental with a suspicious look. The wind elemental shook her head blankly, her body completely embedded in the soil, with only her head sticking out, making her look even more dazed.

The earth element sighed, "This girl is definitely the easiest to fool."

They're the kind of fools who get scammed but still help the scammers count their money.

She was about to say something to her best friend when she was interrupted by a surprised voice, "You really are here!"

Then the door of the cabin was pushed open. When the Earth Elemental saw Ethan rushing in, all the words she wanted to say got stuck in her throat. This scene suddenly made her feel that Ethan was a little scary. She was just about to remind the Wind Elemental to be careful when Ethan bumped into her.

Moreover, the man was so excited that he couldn't stop smiling, looking just like a kidnapper.

"How did you come?"

“I told him we’d found the treasure.”

The wind elemental girl beside him volunteered, "This is where he used to practice fire elemental magic." "You guys have good taste; you actually found my secluded little villa in the wild."

Although the cabin was very simple and only one story, theoretically the land belonged to the area outside of Riverwood. It was usually deserted and no one would leave the side road to come here. Therefore, the whole land could belong to him. In the past, when Ethan was going through the most difficult times, he would comfort himself by imagining the cabin as a small villa for living alone.

Why did you tell him we were here?!

The little yellow potato grumbled angrily at its friend.

"Because he asked."

The wind-elemental girl said in a matter-of-fact tone, "You said that friends shouldn't hide things from each other."

As they were talking, Little Yellow Potato happened to see the box she had brought back as a trophy, which was filled with colorful potions of unknown effects.

She couldn't help but shudder.

Not long ago, she had secretly mocked Ethan's lack of skill in hiding things, saying that only novices would bury treasures in the soil near their homes, foolishly thinking that others wouldn't find them. As a treasure-hunting expert, she had ventured into countless ruins and ancient tombs, witnessing those designs that could only be described as ingenious.

However, a sentence suddenly popped into her mind.

High-level hunters often appear as prey.

She seemed to discover Ethan's hidden spoils with ease, but in reality, she had unknowingly become his spoils herself.

The image of being forcibly given a strange potion after her defeat even flashed through her mind.

"W-what do you want to do?"

The little yellow potato had half its head buried in the soil, ready to escape at any moment.

"I want to thank you. After carefully considering your suggestion, I suddenly realized something."

Ethan had originally planned to have a more subtle conversation, but since the little yellow potato asked so directly, he decided not to hold back anymore, since this was a perfect opportunity to verify the theory.

He patiently and persuadingly.

"Miss Earth Element, do you want to become a super phantom thief?"

....................................

Evening, Sivarantin.

A secret interrogation was underway. An old woman wearing a golden mask was being twisted and stuffed into a device a little over a meter long. Although her bones were making sounds of strain, she didn't make a sound and appeared extremely quiet. Six tubes were inserted into her head.

Without whipping or interrogation, they were able to extract the truth from the traitor's mind.

The person in charge of this interrogation was a man wearing a sad mask, a symbol of his uniqueness compared to the monotonous expressions seen everywhere.

On top of that container, which was over a meter high, the old woman's experiences over this period were being played out bit by bit.

The mask of sorrow remained silent.

This war has been going on for far too long. As subjects of the Golden King, they have never experienced a three-month-long tug-of-war, and their battle lines in this plane are showing signs of being stretched even further.

Because the traitors created something called the "Shadow Lamp," the composition of which is unknown, they brought the "Shadow Lamp" into Sivarandin through the followers of the evil god. They even infiltrated the capital city and broke the control of the Golden Mask over Princess Vivian and the master craftsman, which led to this sudden mass exodus.

Vivian-Galog has escaped from Sivarantin. She was hidden under a sloping hillside by a stream, and the "Jackals" failed to detect her presence. She should now be within the Empire's borders.

There are too many things in this plane that scholars do not understand. To this day, they still cannot explain why the belief in the evil god is enough to cut off the effects of the golden radiation on believers. They can only settle for second best and create more powerful brainwashing tools.

The downside is that they have to manually put these masks on the rebels, which means that if they want to completely conquer the Empire and Ophira, they have to wage a real war.

Of course, victory will belong to them sooner or later.

They have already taken control of most areas of this plane, and weapons of war are being produced in an endless stream. With each passing day, the disparity in strength between the rebels and them widens.

"Take her to the smelting plant."

The golden mask issued a silent command, and the extracted, faintly glowing energy was stored in a transparent container, rendering the aged body useless.

Two guards from Sivarantin were responsible for transporting the waste. They wore golden masks and carried the container, which was less than a meter long, like zombies.

The smelting plant was where the "Jackals" were produced.

This is a biological weapon. Even before you get close, you can smell the pungent metallic odor. This place was originally the historical memorial of Sivarantin, but after the arrival of the King of Gold, it was transformed into a smelting plant for producing war machines. The container, which is less than a meter long, was casually placed in the material warehouse.

This place also contains a large amount of biological materials used to smelt "Jun Soldiers".

Monsters, humans, demi-humans—you can find almost all the creatures that inhabit this continent here, and without exception, they are all confined in small cages.

They appeared extremely quiet, offering no resistance even though they were bound by chains and about to be thrown into the furnace.

The golden masks suppressed their thoughts.

For the people of the Golden King, this was not death, but rather serving the Golden Kingdom in another form.

But clearly, some people have a different opinion on this.

After the two guards left and the material storage room fell into complete silence, four round "potatoes" emerged from the floor.

"I have a question."

A young woman with long, flaxen hair and a delicate face, who clearly took good care of herself, asked, "Why do we have to crawl out from under the floor?"

This is truly a breach of aristocratic etiquette.

"It's very simple."

The young man in the group answered him, "Because we are phantom thieves."

(End of this chapter)