Chapter 103

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 103: The Value of Curse of Weakness

In the evening, Jesse arrived at Surena Caledon’s doorstep, listened for a moment to make sure there were no strange sounds inside, then knocked on the door.

"Who’s outside?" came Surena’s voice.

"Jesse Seso," Jesse said. "Do you remember me?"

Bang!

The door was suddenly pushed open, narrowly missing Jesse’s nose.

Surena glared, and muttered, "You little rascal!"

Jesse said, "I’m not here to argue with you, Surena. Where does Gakin live?"

Surena’s face twisted in anger. "Ever since you came here that day and embarrassed Gakin, he’s been taking it out on me every day! All because of you, I have nothing to say to you."

"How is that my concern?" Jesse felt completely puzzled. "I don’t want to get involved in your petty problems. I need to find Gakin, it concerns the whole group’s interest. You better answer me honestly, or it will delay our learning new magic. Next time I see Gakin, I’ll tell him you blocked my way. You know how obsessed Gakin is with magic. If you keep me from giving him clues about new magic, he won’t be nice to you."

"You bold little troublemaker." Surena raised her hand as if to strike but was stopped by Jesse.

"Tell me where Gakin lives! It’s a simple question, how long do you plan to be silly?"

Surena, being caught, felt Jesse’s strength was far beyond her abilities as a female warlock who didn’t train much, and she deflated instantly.

"He… lives two streets away, across from the leather shop, in that black tiled house, the first door on the entrance corridor."

Jesse shook off her hand and ran down the stairs.

Following Surena’s directions, Jesse arrived under the black-roofed house with the lights on the ground floor. Passing by a window, he heard two men arguing inside, and one of them was Gakin.

"I don’t understand, don’t you trust me?"

"I don’t distrust you." Gakin’s voice said, "The main issue now is your limited understanding of spells, Erlan. You can’t rush it, you have to be patient…"

The other person was Erlan? Why was Erlan at Gakin’s house this late? To be honest, Jesse had never heard Erlan sound so serious before, so he didn’t immediately recognize the owner of the voice.

Erlan angrily said, "It was you who taught those spells wrong, Gakin."

"So, what’s wrong then, Erlan? I don’t understand why you always doubt this and doubt that," Gakin’s voice sounded very helpless, even a bit patient.

Jesse walked up the stairs, entered the hallway, and approached the door of the room where the two were with his voice.

Erlan aggressively said, "You are deceiving us, deceiving the group to work for you, Ursula. Me, Surena, and that new guy. Do you think we are all your lackeys?"

"We are friends…" Gakin said.

Erlan rudely interrupted him, "Don’t just talk sweet words here. You and Zardeth used us to gather magic-related materials and money, and finally used some fake spells to deceive us. Do you think I don’t know? Surena practiced the Curse of Agony for months, the effect was horrible. I’d say it’s better to stab randomly, what kind of useless magic is this? Do you think I haven’t seen what real magic looks like? I am a member of the Brotherhood, not some random farm boy or bricklayer. Do you look down on me, trying to trick me like a fool?"

Gakin’s voice was very calm, "If you want to learn real magic, you can go to the neighboring Wizard’s Sanctum."

"Do you even know how Wizard’s Sanctum recruits students? Are you teasing me here?" Erlan was truly incensed this time.

"I never…"

There was a lot of noise coming from inside the door, and Gakin suddenly stopped talking.

"Let go!" Jesse heard a muffled sound from inside, followed by a loud noise, it seemed like Gakin might have been hit.

He knocked on the door.

"Who’s there?" Gakin asked.

"Jesse, Jesse Seso."

"Oh… Jesse, come in, just give the door a push."

Jesse pushed the door open, and saw Gakin getting up from the ground, while Erlan glared angrily towards him.

"Erlan, you’re here too."

"Jesse." Erlan nodded, cleared his throat, stood up straight, and adjusted his shirt.

Gakin touched his mouth corner, made sure there was no bleeding, sat down by the table and asked, "What’s up?"

"When is our next meeting, Gakin?" Jesse asked.

"Today is?"

"The 15th."

"This Sunday, the 20th," Gakin said. "We are having a meeting this Sunday, and everyone needs to be there. I have already informed Ursula Deline and Zardeth, and now Mr. Erlan knows too." He looked at Erlan and said, "You can go tell Surena for me."

Erlan didn’t say anything, he glanced at Jesse, then at Gakin, and finally fixed his gaze on Jesse, saying, "You heard us talking outside, right? You came in here to save this trickster, didn’t you?"

"Erlan, don’t involve him," Gakin said helplessly. "What will it take for you to believe me? The more impatient you are, the less control you have over magic."

Erlan completely ignored Gakin’s words, he stared at Jesse and said, "Has this damn guy ever taught you any spells? He claims to share and win together, teaches you some useless spells, and then asks you for money, treasures, things you risked your life to snatch from Gnolls or bandits, telling you that these spells work as long as you practice them. Isn’t that right?"

"He taught me some summoning spells, and… Curse of Agony, none of them work. No matter how many times I try, they are useless. He also told me that dark magic accepts all who are willing to walk the path of dark arts. Am I not a person?"

"If you learn some magic spells," Gakin said, "you don’t have to risk searching for things, Erlan. Our group needs to survive, so we need some money. Like how Ursula can help us make medicine, Zardeth can organize our collection of spells with his talents, and he can also contribute some money. You can do the same – even though learning magic is hard for you, you have your connections and strengths to offer something as well…"

"Go away," Erlan pointed at Gakin’s nose and asked, "then tell me, what did Surena contribute?"

Gakin was speechless for a moment, and Erlan looked at him becoming more pleased.

He smirked and asked himself, "Forget it, we both know."

Jesse thought to himself, he definitely wouldn’t be able to stand it.

However, Gakin endured it, he wiped the blood off his lips and said, "You should go back."

"You think I’m stupid," Erlan said, "two gold coins, give them to me and I will leave. After that, we have nothing to do with each other, and I won’t come looking for you again. Deal?"

"I don’t have that much money, Erlan, please be patient," Gakin said, "I will teach you seriously and help you find the right way to learn Shadow Magic. You have to trust me."

"I don’t trust a thing," Erlan grabbed his collar and lifted him from the chair, saying, "I think I’ve been patient enough, Gakin."

"Erlan," Jesse suddenly said, "Stay calm, don’t hit…"

Erlan laughed scornfully and asked, "What, are you his secret son or something? What did he give you for you to defend him like this?"

He threw Gakin onto the chair, turned around to face them, clenched his fist, making cracking noises from his knuckles.

"This is not my business," Jesse said, "I just don’t want you guys to get too… " Erlan spat and walked over, his mouth crooked with anger.

Jesse knew he would be the target of his anger in the next moment.

"Alina…"

As the spell was starting, Erlan reacted quickly, pushing Jesse’s foot and slamming him against the wall in an instant!

"What kind of spell is this, did he teach you?!"

Jesse didn’t reply but fiercely punched Erlan’s arm, the heavy blow caught Erlan by surprise, making him cry out in pain.

As soon as he let go, Jesse quickly finished reciting the entire Curse of Weakness!

Erlan tried to hit back, but suddenly frowned, his legs went weak and he almost fell back, barely managing to hold onto the bookshelf.

He couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked at his feet, then glanced at Gakin, who was also frozen in shock.

Jesse could sense Gakin’s astonishment, and he could also feel him suppressing his emotions.

"What cowardly curse is this?" Erlan grunted as he struggled to stand up, but gradually his arms became weak, making it difficult for him to walk even after managing to stand again.

"What have you done to me…" he gritted his teeth and managed to say these words through difficulty, before weakly trying to punch Jesse who easily dodged and made him fall to the ground.

Strong Erlan lay on the ground, sobbing, trying several times to push himself up with his arms before finally managing to rise by leaning against the wall.

"Give us a little more time, Erlan," Gakin said softly, "If things don’t improve, allow me some time to compensate you, even though it may not be as much as two gold coins, I haven’t forgotten your contributions to the group over the years."

Erlan nodded with a pale face, soon afterwards he vomited out the window, dry heaved for a while before turning back.

He glanced at Jesse, then at Gakin, muttered a few words under his breath, pushed the door open, and ran outside.

"You didn’t come just to ask about the meeting time, did you, Jesse? What do you plan to trade for this spell?" Gakin asked quietly.

Jesse said, "First, tell me what you have."