Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam

"...I won't do that!"

The green-haired young girl's voice rose several pitches as she covered her eyes, blushing.

The adult world is truly terrible!

"She agreed."

Ethan took on the role of translator, then asked, "What's going on with Silver Fox? Why does he look like he's having a magic addiction relapse?"

"It seems he is hearing the voice of the God of Trickery, that's the effect of the magic potion... hmm?"

Teacher Cat suddenly realized something, "Did you sneak a sip of the magic potion too?"

Besides the taste of wind elements, her palate also detected a faint licorice flavor.

This time, it was the top-notch alchemist's intuition.

Licorice was one of the main ingredients of that bottle of magic potion.

"I drank it."

"You—!"

Teacher Cat puffed up with anger, raising her paw to show Ethan a soft pink pad, but hesitated several times and ultimately restrained from hitting him, "Have you ever seen a new magic potion that you can drink carelessly!"

She felt that her temper had improved quite a bit recently. If it were in the past when she was a teacher at the academy, she definitely would have used a ruler to harshly smack Ethan's palm and punish him to copy the phrase "Do not drink unfamiliar magic potions" a hundred times.

That's the annoying thing about Ethan as a student.

There's a reluctance to hit him, but if not, every now and then, he would do something outrageous.

"After drinking it, have you experienced any unusual symptoms?"

She thought carefully, deciding that Ethan was unlikely to turn into Silver Fox's dismal state. If these threads could truly create a bridge for him to communicate with the God of Trickery, who knows who would be fooled?

Old Ba and Old An were already tricked; based on the developments with Ophira, it seemed the Demon King Sincaro could be Ethan's next target.

Perhaps it wouldn't be long before, for this Old God adept in deception and trickery, they would start calling him Old Xin.

"I've become mentally excited and can see the elemental elves inside the mage tower."

"Hmm, what you're describing is the precursor to schizophrenia."

Teacher Cat sighed.

She had seen many mentally chaotic patients who claimed to see things that others couldn't, "It seems this magic potion has specialized the effect of meditation, allowing people to see or hear things they normally couldn't."

"Do you think Silver Fox heard the voice of the God of Trickery?"

That's definitely a significant discovery.

Ethan observed Silver Fox from outside the door; the dazed Great Mage had completely immersed himself in the spiritual realm, indifferent to everything happening outside.

He thought briefly, "Then, can I hear it too?"

Ethan felt the God of Trickery wasn't very friendly; he had drunk two large bottles of magic potion, but not a single thread had appeared on him.

The other party seems reluctant to communicate with him.

"Theoretically, yes."

"Theoretically?"

"The principle of hearing echoes is related to the threads you mentioned. If none can 'grow' on you, then go and snatch others'."

Hiss!

Teacher Cat thought perhaps she was the worst teacher in the world, having just emphasized to the student not to drink magic potions recklessly, then immediately encouraging the potion-drinking student to do something improper.

In reality, she always felt Ethan's eyes were somewhat unusual, with an insight into the trajectory of magic power surpassing ordinary people. She only vaguely saw the threads suspended above Silver Fox after Ethan mentioned them.

Even for Saints adept at magic power, these threads were quite difficult to detect.

"Snatch others'?"

Ethan's eyes lit up, Teacher Cat always managed to inspire him.

Mr. Silver Fox had so many threads densely packed on him that they were impossible to count with the naked eye. Ethan believed even if a few were missing, it wouldn't have any substantial impact.

After all, Mr. Silver Fox wouldn't need that many threads.

At least that's what Ethan thought.

"Then, I'll go in and have a look, you guys help keep watch here?"

"You go ahead."

Teacher Cat elegantly leaped to the ground. With a "thump," Lindong Witch temporarily took on the role of guard. The wind element merely nodded lightly, but she seemed not to like fighting with others. After Ethan left, the green-haired girl found a new anchor and hid behind Lindong, hugging her arm and peering cautiously out the door.

Ethan approached Silver Fox.

Teacher Cat said this magic potion specialized the effect of meditation, enabling the taker to hear sounds they couldn't before, which fits the scholar's symptoms.

He closed his eyes and reached up to touch the threads suspended on Silver Fox.

In an instant, he heard many voices.

Initially, the sounds were quite distant, growing closer as the meditation deepened, until stopping less than ten meters away.

"I must convey some sad news to everyone; Mr. Palansi encountered misfortune in the Empire. He faced an unprecedented enemy in the imperial capital, although he fought till the very last moment, he unfortunately perished at the hands of the opponent."

Ethan opened his eyes and saw a circular seating area, with ten or so wooden puppets of identical texture placed on seats.

He quickly surmised this was a Judicial Court, and he stood at the witness's stand. One puppet, only a stride away from him, was eloquently recounting to the crowd the misfortune Palansi had met in the imperial capital.

A murmur of discussion arose from the circular seating. To them, the news of Palansi's death was astonishing.

Following Turzan's death, he was already the second Divine Attendant to die recently.

They all died in the Empire.

This simultaneously meant that the god-descending ceremony was no longer safe; the Empire had mastered the means to assassinate souls.