Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam
Chapter 71: Prescription

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Prescription

Ethan found a place to settle in the small town.

He sat in what seemed to be an old grocery store residence, with Isean using magic to light a lamp on the table. Before her were hard bread and a cup of water. She seemed to have not eaten for a long time and gobbled up the food.

Ethan silently took note of this scene. She looked like a ghost, yet had a physical form, able to collide with objects, and seemed to retain some human instincts.

Most of the paint on the grocery store’s walls had peeled off, with various-sized holes present. The dark cavities did not let light through, and occasionally, worm-like creatures could be seen squirming inside. The shelves no longer held common supplies but were filled with specimens of unknown creatures.

He also saw some familiar faces.

In the corner of the grocery store stood three torches, trapping a creature made of various human parts pieced together erratically, deeply fearing the flames and curling its body into a meat lump.

The left side of the face was Mrs. Judith, who ran a grocery store in Riverside Town. She had come to Ximu Town during the guild’s annual meeting and invited Ethan to visit Riverside Town when he was free. She would treat him with her best cinnamon pie. The right side of the face was Mr. Brown, always stern but teaching Riverside Town’s children for free. As for the mouth, Ethan couldn’t discern it, vaguely seeing the lips of a man.

The three different faces were stitched together with small tendrils, while the torso comprised four or five arms and thighs, along with some flesh chunks of unknown origin from the human body. In the manual, this type of monster was named the Assembler.

If unfortunately caught by an Assembler, a crack would appear on its abdomen, swallowing the prey into its stomach—where its true feeding organ lay.

Ethan found this unreasonable because he found the names of Judith and Brown on Captain Hagrid’s list of victims. Their bodies had been cremated uniformly, both to mourn the dead and to prevent the cursed souls of the violently deceased from lingering.

Their bodies could not possibly appear in the contaminated area. Therefore, the Assembler before him was likely the souls of those who died under a curse, which perhaps was the essence of the sacrificial ritual.

If one listened carefully, one might even hear involuntary and painful groans.

The people of Riverside Town not only died but their souls were trapped in the contaminated area.

Killing an Assembler was not difficult; the manual mentioned they could be attacked on a physical level, with their weak spot located in the lower abdomen. As long as one could manage a stab or a shot there, they would turn into a puddle of black slime. For Ethan, the easier method was to hit them with a Fireball Skill.

The Fireball Skill had a significant restraining effect on dark creatures, but that was not his goal here; he wanted to explore the realm beyond the maxed-out skill proficiency.

For the first time, Ethan cast spells not for proficiency or money.

Isean finished her hard bread and quietly asked, "Mr. Ethan... that creature, is it okay?"

"It’s fine, just sick."

The symptom was the soul twisted by the Evil God’s power, haphazardly assembling them together like toys.

Isean pondered for a long time before asking, "Can it be cured?"

"I’m trying my best."

The previous treatments weren’t ideal; the destructive power of the fire element was too strong, burning its limbs just by approaching the Assembler. That seemingly caused it intense pain, so much so that after several experiments, Ethan could feel immense fear from the Assembler towards him. When he approached again, it no longer tried to attack him but curled more tightly into a ball, using its limbs to protect itself securely.

As if, in its eyes, Ethan was a mad scientist more evil than the Evil God’s followers.

Ethan once again fell into deep thought, with the gathered flames flickering constantly in his palm. Compared to the initially condensed flames, this flame now had a significantly different form.

It became increasingly brighter, nearing golden. He was trying to eliminate the destructive part as much as possible—a process that wasn’t easy, as every refining consumed a tremendous amount of his magic power. He was drenched in sweat in the cold winter, and had downed two bottles of stimulant to help him focus intensely, finely observing the changes in the fire element.

Despite his witch teacher simplifying the theory of element sublimation as much as possible, this wasn’t basic elemental magic. Mere rote learning was destined to not reach that realm.

He needed to go one step beyond understanding, only then could he create unique magic that was truly his own.

Ethan once again looked at the Assembler in the corner. Nearly ten minutes had passed since the last experiment. Its head peeked out from the cluster of limbs, its mismatched eyes gazing curiously at him.

The book "The Magic of Fireball and Ice Arrows" mentioned that elemental magic was closely related to human emotions.

You have maximized the proficiency of the Fireball Skill.

All fire elements have become your friends.

Your name is known far and wide among the Elemental Elves.

So, what do you want to do with this power?

Ethan looked into the distorted souls and found his answer.

He wanted to reclaim all the sacrificed souls from the hands of the Evil God Bajatos.

He cleared the last distraction in his heart. Almost simultaneously, the flame in his palm burst into a dazzling golden light.

Ethan stood up and slowly walked towards the twisted souls. Their limbs instinctively resisted, but this time, they did not retract their head into the cluster of limbs. The same body had two completely different reactions at this moment—it stretched its neck, desperately trying to move closer to the approaching light.

Then, it was bathed in the light, the grotesque face stitched together showing an expression for a brief moment. The painful murmurs ceased, and the chapped lips moved, seemingly trying hard to speak.

Meanwhile, the unnaturally stitched seams on the limbs struggled desperately, and the tendrils were also bathed in the same light, dissipating at a speed visible to the naked eye. Eventually, they turned into dust disappearing into the air, as the unstitched limbs fell apart, transforming in appearance.

Three fragmented souls stood before Ethan, and he recognized the third person.

Mr. Will, the town’s sheriff, was well-known for his loud voice. A year ago, when the guilds of the two towns gathered people to fight the mass of migrating monsters here, Will was the first to rush in waving his sword.

The three souls seemed to recognize Ethan and nodded to him.

Soon, the pale blue figures merged into the golden light.

Ethan glanced at the changed Fireball Skill proficiency prompt.

『Fireball Skill (Solar), Proficiency: ∞, You have found your own path.』

He did not revel in the joy of the skill changing; there was still much to be done.

Before the three incomplete souls vanished, they pointed to a location—a wardrobe with its door ajar in the grocery store, filled with profound darkness like the holes in the wall.

"Should we go in?"

Isean suddenly became uncharacteristically pensive, staring intently at the darkness within the door crack, "We can still turn back now; there might be something bad inside."