Limitless, John Gold [best novels of all time .TXT] 📗

ability to pick one of several end results for the ritual depending on how you want to use it, a ritual designed to summon a demon, for example, modified to create a mass blessing or light up a given area.

Gift received: Destroyer

This gift lets you change the ultimate result you get from ritual magic. Every seal, every ritual has several possible effects, and the end result is determined by minor details normal people don’t even notice. The destroyer gift lets you both deliberately choose the result you want and destroy rituals being conducted by other people.

I try the gift out immediately on the ritual seal I have already created. It turns out that my seal, which is for amplifying spells, can also be used to give myself huge buffs or self-destruct. Fascinating! On the other hand, the effect for the alternative versions are 20% less than the base value. Strengthening myself with the buffs would only give me 80%, in other words, and it wouldn’t last more than a minute. Still, it’s interesting food for thought.

Eight months have gone by since I left the outside world. Femida can’t get enough of the monthly payments from Leon and the union of gods, as she’s the only one capable of keeping the world safe from evil Sagie. And just to make sure she stays interested, 16 million credits find their way to her account every week, half of which are automatically deposited into my anonymous account. I’ve earned more than 200 million credits from our con, and the money continues to pour in. Femida collects unique flowers in the heart of the desert, tree bark from the mouth of the volcano, and one-of-a-kind needles from the pine tree at the North Pole.

After signing their agreement with Femida and confirming that I had gone missing, the union canceled their contracts with the headhunters’ guild. She was left with just local guards out looking for her.

I have my suspicions as to who I’m going to find at the center of the House of Rage, so I keep working on my Light Magic. With ritual magic, amplification, and spell scaling, it skyrockets. I’ve moved on to battles with opponents between Level 4000 and Level 4500. None of the battles last longer than a minute, and I have to replenish my supply of victims every time. I’m in complete control of my rage, feeling nothing but calm and an endless supply of patience. Carrying victims around constantly is good exercise, too. Working on my body amplification is yet another check mark in my favor.

I’d almost forgotten how beautifully light hammers explode when they smash your enemies into the ground. Raid bosses can make awfully nice-looking pancakes.

Light Magic +1

Your Light Magic skill reached the maximum value

New spell: Punisher

The highest form of control over Light Magic is the creation of stable, material objects from a distance. When they come into contact with other hard objects, they release their pent-up power.

Effect: Lets you create an enormous sword made out of light over your enemy, bringing it down on them in a mighty slicing blow that detonates on impact.

Cost: 100000 mana

Recharge time: 24 hours

After the fire and tornado personified spells, I decide to throw the sword as far away from myself as I can. A ten-meter sword instantly appears in the sky above the spot I designate for the attack, coming crashing down to earth and furiously exploding. The shock wave is so strong even at seventy meters away that I’m almost thrown off the altar. The effect is very similar to hammers and light spears, though it’s more penetrating and impressive.

Two weeks later, my Dark Magic is up to the limit.

Dark Magic +1

Your Dark Magic skill reached the maximum value

New spell: True dark

Our world has only ever once been visited by representatives of true darkness. Their essence wields negative magic potential, and so they gobbled up everything around them, including light. The only mage to survive created a spell that works similarly.

Effect: Lets you create a ten-meter area that swallows all living things, spells, and matter. The base charge is 1 million, and it is active for 1 minute. The spell disappears as soon as it swallows up more than its charge allows for.

Cost: 100000 mana

Recharge time: 24 hours

Adding stable antimatter to my arsenal is incredible. When I test the spell out, it absorbs an entire mountain of victims before continuing to eat through the ash and destroying the seal. And that’s just the base damage!

Earth and Water Magic are practically useless to me. The most powerful of my physical shields, my diamond shield, can wait to be leveled-up. It’s already been nine months, and I’m almost out of time. If I don’t get back into the outside world in the next three months, I’ll lose my demigod class.

The last magic skill that has saved my skin hundreds of times is Space Magic. It takes me ten days to max it out, as I can boost the mana I spend on spells a hundred times over now. That means I can boost my magic skills much faster.

Space Magic +1

Your Space Magic skill reached the maximum value

New spell: Gravitational well

Space mages dream of two things: creating intercontinental portals and making gravitational wells capable of altering local gravity.

Effect: Lets you create a vertical tunnel in which gravity is either intensified or weakened. The direction and gravitational force are up to you.

Cost: 10000/minute

Recharge time: 2 hours

It’s a semi-battle spell that I’m not exactly sure how to use. Could you really send someone shooting off into space? Do the Gray Lands even have space? I’m afraid to try it out on myself, especially since I’m just one small step away from my goal.

Once again, I hear voices coming from the mine. Father’s calling me to come down for dinner; mama is soothing little Rosie. I pile even more ash on top of them the second time, knowing full well that I won’t be able to take hearing them a third. It’s time to