Limitless Summoner: Rise of the Soul God

Agnes stared at him for a long moment, her lips pressing into a thin line. Then, suddenly, she burst into laughter. It was a dry, raspy cackle, filled with something that Ethan couldn't quite place—amusement? Disbelief? Annoyance?

"An accident," she repeated, shaking her head. "Oh, you absolute idiot."

Ethan scowled. "It's the truth."

Agnes wiped the corner of her eye, still chuckling. "Brat, if I believed that, I'd have to assume you're either the luckiest fool in existence or the most incompetent killer I've ever met." She leaned in closer, her piercing gaze locking onto his. "That knife didn't just accidentally bury itself into a guard's throat with enough force to kill him instantly."

Ethan tensed, but he didn't argue.

"You planned to stop him," she continued, "even if it was just for a moment. You panicked. You acted. And the knife did exactly what you wanted it to do." She poked his forehead with a bony finger. "What other trouble are you in?"

Seeing that Ethan was not going to answer her any time soon, Agnes let out a sigh and dropped into her chair with a grunt. "You better be careful for the next few days. There is going to be a lot of investigating going around. Touching a guard is like touching a horned-bee hive. You might have used spirit magic, but this is not over yet."

Ethan clenched his fists at his sides, his jaw tight. He knew Agnes was right, but that didn't make it any easier to hear.

"But I must say, you have quite a bit of talent in spirit magic. Has it been two days now? You have practiced only for two days, and you managed to kill someone with it. Not bad, you lazy brat. Alright. Quit moping and do some work for me. I need you to prepare another batch of that ink. My customers have asked for a new batch of talismans."

Ethan stared at her in confusion, wondering if she was really going to let him off the hook just like that. He had killed someone, after all.

Agnes must have read his expression because she snorted, waving a hand dismissively. "Oh, don't look at me like that, brat. You think you're the first fool to get his hands dirty in this city? Please." She leaned back in her chair, resting her chin on her cane. "The way I see it, you just graduated from being a nobody to somebody. You best start acting like it. That ink needs to be perfect."

Ethan nodded and started heading to the underground workspace. "These are very important clients. Don't disappoint me." The old hag's voice reminded him again before he closed the door behind him and started working.

He lifted the heavy cauldron from the side and dragged it to the center of the room, only to notice that the cauldron was extremely dirty and the dregs from the last batch of ink was still stuck to the bottom.

"I guess I am cleaning this first." He was about to start brushing and removing the dirt when he suddenly noticed a stack of parchments on the side. Hmmmm? He walked over to them to take a look and picked up the one at the top. Of course, he once again did not understand what the hell was written on it.

But the next second, the parchment vanished into thin air even as he was holding it. Ethan started panicking. What the hell? Did he screw up something again?

Shocking him, a system screen popped up in front of him.

[Ding! You have learned Generic Talisman Ink recipe]

His head hurt a little as new information started appearing in his mind. He closed his eyes and paid attention to it. The whole thing lasted only for a minute, after which he snapped his eyes open. Voila! He now knew how to make this ink on his own.

There were a couple more parchments underneath the previous one, and Ethan quickly picked them up as well. The first one disappeared just like before, followed by the second one.

[Ding! You have learned the language Magica Script.]

Ethan stumbled back, gripping his forehead as a wave of knowledge flooded his mind. Symbols, letters, meanings—it was like a book had been forcefully shoved into his brain, unraveling in an instant.

He could suddenly understand what those weird symbols and shapes meant. He knew he could even read the books on the bookshelf now. This was amazing.

As he was savoring the new information in his head, the next jolt of information arrived.

[Ding! You have learned the skill Fire Ball]

Ethan felt a sudden warmth spread through him as the words "Flamma Orbis, accende" flashed in his mind. It was not just the words. There was also the knowledge about how to channel mana through his body, how to control the mana, and how to regenerate the mana.

There was a lot more information when compared to the little pieces he got when he had learned Mana Bolt.

He closed his eyes and sat down, letting all the new information settle in a bit. When he felt completely fine, he couldn't help but smile a little. The day had gone pretty badly, but it looked like things were starting to work out. Find your next adventure on My Virtual Library Empire

The old hag was finally starting to teach him something!

Well, at least he hoped those were meant for him. He did not care either way. He could always apologize. First, the water skill. Now the fire skill. He was definitely becoming stronger.

Ethan smiled and stood up, his hands itching to practise what he had just learned. However, a fire skill was different from a water skill. The old hag wouldn't exactly be as nice to him if he accidentally ended up burning her house down.

Nope. Ethan gulped. That would be very bad. Well, he could always use the cauldron.

According to the knowledge he had just acquired, burning the inside of the cauldron was another way to clean everything completely. In fact, it was better to clean it this way than to wash it with water. Apparently, it gave cleaner results.