Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

Chapter 148 Endless Illusion

?Dante studied Ethan for a while to see if he was joking around or not. He had experienced a lot of things since he had returned… the admiration and the jealousy of many thanks to his power and the position of his father, but he had never met someone who looked so clearly to rip him off. Thanks to that, the atmosphere got weird.

"Hey, hey… don't misunderstand this guy, Dante," Ian said. "He isn't trying to make a fool of you, and he just doesn't think that he has any reason to help you with that. I am certain that he will tell you what you want if you offer something decent in exchange."

"... Do you want money?" Dante furrowed his eyebrows.

"I have no need for money," Ethan readily replied.

"... A magic weapon?" Dante asked.

"It depends on the effect that it has," Ethan replied.

"I can tell that this will take a while since your conversation skills suck hard," Ian shrugged his shoulders.

In the end, Ian decided to help Ethan with the negotiation. Instead of listening to Dante's offers, he asked about the things that Ethan wanted right now. The things that he wanted to meet with the Russian girl who created the simulators in order to understand how someone else's mana affected his power more deeply. A magic item that will let a creature transform and become much stronger temporarily, and a simulator. Ethan didn't believe that the information that he had would be worth a simulator, but a used one would be fine for him.

"... I know the Russian girl, but all information about her is classified, and I don't have simulators to spare," Dante replied while furrowing his eyebrows. "I do have a magic item that can let the user transform… it is a giantification amulet. As long as you feed it with enough mana, you can maintain the transformation for a while."

"That will work. I will wait for you to send it to my home." Ethan nodded in satisfaction. "Anyway, do you want to learn the technique now?"

"... Only the theory," Dante replied. "I want to keep the focus on the mission until the very end."

Dante looked like a troublesome kid and was too prideful when Ethan saw him at school. So, he wondered if he was putting on a facade now or if he was like that when he was serious. Regardless, he decided to teach him what he had to do. Ian was around as well, but he wasn't like them, so he probably wouldn't be able to use that trick.

The trick behind Ethan's berserk state was simple, and people probably could tell once they saw Ethan using it a few times. Still, it seemed too simple when Dante heard about that… having full control over their own emotions. It was also pretty difficult for a man to completely control their own anger.

"It is hard to behind that this is all…" Dante said while looking at Ethan and furrowing his eyebrows.

"Do you want to see it in action to confirm that?" Ethan asked.

Before Dante could answer, Ethan used that trick, and then when Dante saw the hatred in Ethan's eyes, he jumped backward and immediately summoned his sword… he truly felt like Ethan thought that he was looking at him like he was his worst enemy. After closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Ethan returned to normal.

"See?" Ethan asked. "It is all a matter of visualization.

Although Ian had seen Ethan doing that a few times already, he couldn't help but be amazed. That ability to control his emotions and become almost five times stronger just by imagining his worst enemy was something else… it was hard to imagine what made Ethan so pissed, though, since he always looked under control, even when Ian himself tried to annoy him a little.

"I don't have a particular person that I hate with all my might. What do you suggest in this case?" Dante asked.

"You don't have to hate anyone, but you can imagine the worst-case scenarios, right?" Ethan asked. "Do that and think that I am the responsible for it. You probably should start slow since you might not be able to control yourself. Once you are able to visualize that with detail, your very being will try to deny with all your might, and you will be able to show your true strength."

"How did you develop this technique, Ethan?" Ian asked.

Ethan wondered if he should answer that question seriously… as someone who didn't know how to shut up, Ian probably would spread the information to a lot of people. The communication device wasn't working, so Hannah probably wouldn't listen to their conversation, but Ethan didn't want to risk worrying his family even more. That being said…

"Before I finished my mission in the other world, I was captured by one of the enemy generals. That guy didn't want to kill me; instead, he put me on an illusion spell while he studied my body and powers," Ethan explained. "I don't know how much time passed inside the spell, but one month passed in the real world. During that time, the world was almost destroyed. Still, once I freed myself, I easily destroyed all my enemies in the three weeks since I learned this technique."

"... What did you see while you were under a spell?" Dante hesitantly asked.

"Every single, worst-case scenario that could have happened in my life, and that could happen," Ethan replied. "I stopped counting them after I saw a few millions of those situations, but I saw a lot more of those for a while… I saw that world ending after I failed to save it, then I saw myself alone there for decades, and then I died. I saw myself being defeated by the demon lord and then becoming his right-handed man and after being used to kill everyone in that world, and then I was killed. I saw myself returning to earth still under his control, and then… he forced me to kill my family and then caused havoc in the world until he opened a portal to this planet and then died."