Chapter 108: Vitality Bursting Out

"Shut up! Keep your voice down!" Jess shouted at the imp.

He checked Gakin's notes on the casting conditions again, especially the gestures. He was certain the incantation itself was right.

The sheep had become so frantic that even its movements and cries sounded wrong, as though something more terrifying than death were chasing it. That sudden distortion of an ordinary animal unsettled even Jess, who'd seen his share of frightening monsters.

Few warlock spells were anything but sinister. Animals sensed the natural world more directly than people did, so it wasn't surprising they reacted strongly to dark, harmful magic.

If Jess wanted to keep walking this path, he couldn't let every strange sight startle him.

With that in mind, he silently rehearsed the incantation and stepped toward the sheep again.

The animal stared at him, its eyes trembling. The moment Jess raised his hand, it panicked again, thrashing as if its life depended on it. The rope tying it to the tree looked ready to snap.

"Eramang Xiliandor..."

This time his voice was much lower, but his mind was more focused.

Concentration. Just as Marin said. Stay focused.

When he finished the words, a hot current suddenly rushed from his heart and spread through his body. He faintly sensed a strange connection forming between himself and the animal, a link with a feeling he'd never known. He couldn't actually see what it was.

He felt Drain Life working, but unlike in the game, there was no green beam between him and his target.

The sheep's screams gradually became whimpers. Its wild movements slowed. Jess watched it grow weaker and weaker until its frantic struggle had become feeble shivering and rubbing against the tree.

Jess, meanwhile, grew hotter and hotter. His skin felt tight, his eyes itched, and his heart pounded faster and faster, as though a tiny person inside his chest were punching his ribs.

A sudden wave of nausea broke his concentration. He bent forward, keeping his right hand in position, but focusing was becoming harder by the second.

Then a flash of bright yellow appeared between his finger and the sheep. It vanished almost immediately, leaving a fading hint of green light.

The sudden glow startled Jess so much that his channeled spell broke.

Was that the color of life? Or... fel energy?

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No. This was shadow magic. Those pale yellow and green flashes must have been life force drawn out by the shadow—vitality taken from the sheep.

The sheep had lost its strength. It had recently been shorn, and its new wool was still short. But just as Gakin described, even those short hairs had withered and fallen away. Its skin was gray, wrinkled, and bloodless.

Jess approached to examine it. The sheep couldn't stand by itself. It was so thin it looked less like a sheep than a starving stray dog digging through garbage.

Had he really drained away its vitality?

Jess looked at his bright-red hands. His whole body burned with heat, his forehead rang, and a sound came and went in his ears.

Another surge of nausea rose in his throat. He suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood. When he wiped his face, he found blood running from his nose and mouth.

The fresh red blood on the ground made him panic.

"Saeno! Saeno!"

The imp hurried over. Jess pointed at the blood on his hands.

"What's happening to me?"

"I think you drained too much!" the imp said. "Your body already has plenty of vitality. It can't hold the sheep's powerful life force on top of that!"

At that moment, the sheep struggled to its feet as though enjoying a final burst of strength. It limped away. Its body had grown so thin that the rope slipped right off!

Jess couldn't spare it another thought. He was desperately thirsty. His lips were dry and peeling, and his vision blurred. He needed water, fast.

Crystal Lake was to the northeast. Realizing that, he snatched up his belongings and ran. He had no idea how far he went or how much blood he vomited before finally finding a small stream. He bent over the water and washed his face. Only then did he see how bloodshot his eyes had become.

He washed his hands and face again and again until every trace of blood was gone. Only after he'd stopped vomiting and coughing blood, his body felt almost normal, and his head had stopped spinning did he rest.

Jess drank several large mouthfuls of water and sat on a round stone beside the stream. Saeno finally caught up, dragging the bag.

Jess wiped water from his lips, then noticed something strange.

He looked at the back of his hand.

The scar had faded!

The burn that had still been aching was now little more than a pale patch of uneven skin.

Was that because of Drain Life?

Had the stolen vitality healed his wounds, then overflowed and ruptured blood vessels inside him?

Despite all the bleeding, Jess hadn't actually felt much pain or weakness.

What surprised him most was how much life energy he'd taken in such a short time. It was far stronger than what Gakin had described the Dark Iron dwarves achieving.

Was that because he'd corrected the incantation, or was there something else going on?

Jess sat quietly on the stone, paying attention to his feelings. After using shadow magic before, he'd often lost control of his emotions—becoming more reckless, more excited, more bloodthirsty...

This time he didn't feel many negative emotions. Maybe the sheep's vitality had repaired the damage caused by shadow energy, he guessed. Perhaps the spell could even be used as a kind of healing magic.

That didn't mean there were no problems. Once he'd calmed down from the shock of seeing the spell work, he felt utterly exhausted.

Even with all his effort to concentrate and cast accurately, he'd still spent a tremendous amount of mental energy. Neither Fear nor Light had ever been this tiring.

Jess suspected Drain Life was a higher-level spell, one that had already pushed him close to the limit of his mental reserves.

Still, one attempt had given him excellent results. He wanted to hurry back to Stormwind. If he walked fast, he could reach the gates by evening. There was no need for further experiments today.

He had to see a doctor or priest and have his body checked. He'd just vomited blood, after all. He couldn't ignore that.

As for the sheep... Elwynn Forest already had plenty of wandering sheep. One more wouldn't matter. He'd give it its freedom, as compensation for enduring his set of deadly spells.