Chapter 17 - Magic Chants

Ethan's training actually worked, in fact, he was at the moment on the 3rd ball. The 4th was like a 'breakthrough' for him because, the moment he even tried to create the 4th, all the bubbles exploded like fireworks.

After 3 days, Ethan could finally summon the 4th ball for a few seconds without any risk. With his 'minor breakthrough', he decided to enter the Dungeon for a while and, this time, he aimed for the 7th floor.

During this 3 days, he continued to sleep with Hestia as she started to search for some people to join her familia, but nobody wanted to. This obviously saddened Ethan a great deal because he didn't want her to wait another full year before Bell will come to the city, but he didn't have a choice.

In the dungeon, he quickly found the way to the 6th floor where Ethan encountered his first Frog Shooter. Evading its tongue, Ethan tried to make the first 2 bubbles and see the effect of the mana on the monster.

The moment he formed the mana bubbles, he quickly threw them as he watched the Frog Shooter explode with the bubbles. When Ethan tried to search for the core, a destroyed core immediately dissipated with the monster itself.

With a sigh, Ethan decided it was wiser to avoid using them on monsters because he needed more Valis. Then, without hesitation, a group of war shadows approached him. Like the frog shooter, they tried to hit him but Ethan, immediately chanted his spell because he wanted to try something.

"Gather, 17 spirits of ice, cut apart my enemy!"

Although the chant would have immediately failed if he had spelled it wrong, nobody said he should chant it completely. Because, the [Mana Control Manual] explained that a chant is simply what we need to keep in mind the intended effect of the Magic we want to cast.

To the result, [Sagitta Magica] was actually completed with these words because Ethan's imagination did what the chant didn't. He turned the ice that formed around him into arrows before he saw them piercing the entire group of war shadows before dissipating. In fact, he wanted to see if anything had changed on his [Status Board]

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Name: Ethan

Race: Human

Lv 1(+)

Pow: 601C→ 682C

End: 902S → 999S(+)

Dex: 501D → 523D

Agi: 542D → 598D

Mag: 999S(+)

Skill: [Qienta's Blessing:SSS], [Mana Control:B]

Magic: [Sagitta Magica:E → D]

[Sagitta Magica]

Rank: D

Allows the user to form series of arrows, infused with an element.

Chant:

Gather, 17 spirits of ice, cut apart my enemy. (-)(Magic Arrows, Series of 17 Ice Arrows!)

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Ethan, was worried by the fact that he had an (+) on the Mag and End stats, because Light cautioned him not to make them over 999 before the falna. As always, Light decided it was time to interrupt his thoughts

[Ethan, i made a mistake, your Status won't level up without your consent, so, before you level up, the parameters acc.u.mulate as if you were in a "Level Up" state. The only problem is that you will need to pay close attention during the process of being blessed by a God. This is because when you are given the blessing, all these parameters will be released in the Status, causing your body to suffer a backlash that should last 20 minutes in a row. I am sure that I can hide this fact from a God, but if you show your pain, the probability of getting caught is close to 100%.]

Ethan, at her words, decided to stop descending for now and pay a visit to the Guild because in fact he remembered Loki only after Light pointed out the "Familia" he should join.

After 3 hours, Ethan finally got out of the dungeon and equipped his [Phantom's Cloak] before starting to walk in the direction of the Guild.

Outside the Guild, he unequipped his cloak and entered the building. Upon entering, someone noticed he was the boy who made Eina sad, but they decided to not act for the moment and began to plot on how to finally ambush him.

At this display of sheer hostility, Ethan simply passed his eyes on them before heading to Eina, he actually wanted to apologize for his mistakes because, His attitude wasn't the best and Eina started shout without even giving him the time to explain, which he should have done sooner rather than later.

From the moment Eina looked at Ethan, her ears actually dropped a bit, something that everyone who was fond of Eina noticed as they started to stare at Ethan with dead eyes, but he simply ignored them all before bowing slowly to Eina while he said

"I'm sorry for my behavior the last time i came here".

This actually impressed Eina as she stared at his head with her emerald eyes before bowing, copying his actions before saying

"I shouldn't have started shouting like that, I apologize".

At this display, no one uttered a word before one of the people looking at them made a 'tch' before returning to his business. Something that actually woke people up as they resumed their previous discussion as if nothing happened in the room.

Ethan, after his bow, actually added

"My strength is close to level 2, but the drop i brought here wasn't entirely from the dungeon, i hunted the surface monsters on my own and sold all their cores, i wanted to tease you a little but i didn't expect your outburst, Mrs. Tulle"

"I thought you faced the danger without even thinking and, i was so mad at you that i couldn't think about what you were saying. I decided to forgive you but you must at least tell me before going further in the dungeon, Understand?"

He actually felt chills down his spine because he wanted to sell the loot of the 5th and 6th floor but immediately decided against it. Fortunately, Ethan still had some monster cores that he hunted in these 3 days.

Seeing his almost 'scared' smile, Eina smiled as she said in a relaxed tone

"You didn't go to floors deeper than the 4th, did you?"

At this display, Ethan wanted to say she didn't have any right to actually be angry because with his strength, he could go directly to the 18 floor with the explosion bubbles, making all the monsters run for their lives, but he decided against pointing it out because he wanted to lay low before joining an actual Familia.

He decided to not give her a cold look as a gentle one formed on his face before saying

"Eina, I told you earlier, I wanted to go deeper because I had enough information and power but don't worry, i didn't go deeper than the 6th floor. Remember that this conversation didn't happen before I went here, so I didn't know you wanted information on when I decided to go to lower floors."

Suddenly being called by her name made Eina blush but, in fact, she thought about his words, and it was true, although he could have guessed from her outburst that she wanted to be informed on when he would go deeper into the dungeon, she decided to leave the matter in the back of her mind because she wanted to be a proper advisor and, if the adventurer in front of her had the capacity to go deeper, there was nothing she could do against it.

He thought that, being gentle to her could be the best solution to the problem because he didn't like to act like an asshole. This actually smoothed the situation more than Ethan thought, as Eina said

"You are right, you couldn't have known I wanted to be informed but, from now on I want at least to be aware of when you will go deeper."

Her words made Ethan smile as he said

"Yes, I understand"

Eina, now that she had a minute to think with her mind at ease, finally remembered that Loki was supposed to see him the next day.

"Ethan! I forgot to tell you, but Loki will receive you tomorrow at 4 PM."

Ethan nodded before he went to the selling point while he said

"I'm going to sell my cores, Eina. See you tomorrow"

Eina wanted to say many things, but she answered immediately

"Yes, see you tomorrow, Ethan".

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"You want to tease Eina-san again?"

At his words, Misha laughed, but didn't utter a word. She wasn't that familiar with the adventurer in question, and wanted to tease Eina and enjoy her blushing faces for herself. Not in presence of others.

The adventurer also understood this because he simply left the Guild while Misha, after seeing that Ethan was going to the selling-area, immediately went to Eina before she said

"Wasn't he Ethan? ~"

Her words made Eina sigh as she said

"Yes, he was Ethan and, this time, he really seemed more approachable… Maybe something happened?

At the words of her friend, Misha laughed as she whispered in her ear

"Maybe he came here just to see you ~"

Her words made Eina's ears flinch a little before a blush covered her face and ears while she muttered

"It's not the reason...he wanted to sell his monster cores…"

It was a part of the truth, something that Eina knew, but she couldn't fully convince herself this was the case...

This time Misha wanted to laugh hard because her friend didn't believe her own words, which always happened when she felt insecure about something. But she decided to not laugh before whispering in her ear again

"I'm not sure it's the truth…but if you say so... Maybe he doesn't like you at all?"

At her words, Eina glared at her without saying anything because she was a little angry that Misha was teasing her in such a bold way, something picked up by Misha as she decided to stop teasing her and try the next time Ethan will come, even if she still had her doubts about him because in the Guild doc.u.ments nobody with the name 'Ethan' was stated to be venturing in the dungeon.

The only thing that prevented her from try to question him directly was the fact that Eina trusted her judgment right now and, if she tried to search something on him, she would not only be on bad terms with Ethan, but Eina would be saddened by her actions. For the time being, she decided to act as an observer and, should Ethan reveal his true nature, Misha would never have allowed him to hurt Eina.

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(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can choose one of Ethan's future powers from the pool I created, but that's not all! On the server, you can see the reference on some things that will be present in the story! Right now you can freely see some things but I advise you to read the story further before seeing them otherwise you'll get spoilers!)

(A/N: i will fix the grammar issues later because i have a few things i need to do in real life. :[ I am truly thankful to the ones that are pointing my errors in the paragraph comments, you are really a great help for me)

(Alternate Titles: "Misha is totally into it", "Chants, imagination? Power? What exactly do they do?", "Ethan, you can grow, but you can never understand how a women's mind works.")