Chapter 191

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

Chapter 191: Remarkable Effectiveness!

In the inn of Alterac, there were many people sitting around, but no one was in the mood to chat or joke. They were mostly whispering to each other, and even newcomers didn’t attract any attention.

Ever since they entered, there was a sporadic sound of "clap clap" from above. Jesse didn’t notice at first, but Greed tapped him on the shoulder and pointed upwards. Jesse looked up and saw two pairs of chubby, white legs on the stairs, with the one behind constantly bumping into the one in front.

However, other than the two of them, no one else seemed interested in what was happening on the stairs. Perhaps because everyone on the snowy mountain understood the need for any source of warmth.

Jesse walked up to the counter and ordered two large glasses of beer, one light beer and one dark ale. He returned to the table, handed the dark ale to Greed, and said, "Here you go!"

"Ah, you remembered our agreement to treat me to a drink without me reminding you." Greed nodded in satisfaction and asked, "Do you need my help with something?"

"Indeed, Greed," Jesse replied.

The dwarf took a sip and closed his eyes, saying, "Oh my, this is too cold."

"I didn’t ask for it to be cold," Jesse replied.

"Of course…" Greed muttered, "So, what do you need help with?"

Jesse said, "I have a new magic spell to learn, but I have never completed it from start to finish because it’s tricky to cast. I might faint or have other problems. Can you watch over me tonight? If I faint, please give me the Mana Potion right away."

Then, he took out a bottle from his bag and said, "This can help me wake up with less harm and recover faster."

"Doesn’t sound too difficult," Greed remarked.

"It’s not difficult indeed, but I can’t do it alone," Jesse admitted. "I’ve been wanting to try it again since leaving Stormwind, but it took me until today to give it a first shot. I know the spell by heart, I just need one successful try."

"I’ll wait until I finish my drink."

"Just this one glass."

"Oh, that’s your plan. No, this one doesn’t count. When we return to Stormwind, you owe me a celebration."

"Alright."

After eating and drinking enough, the two booked a room. Despite being in ruins, the accommodation in Alterac City was strangely more expensive than in Southshore.

However, this may just be the cost of a kingdom’s capital city, after all Jesse has never really stayed in a proper inn in the capital city, it’s either renting a house or living in a tent.

Jesse looked at the tiny room and said, "We need to take fire safety measures, we should cover our luggage with my cloak."

"Fire?" Greed asked strangely, "Like a fireball or something, are you planning to start a fire in this small room? That’s a serious offense, I won’t go along with it."

"It’s not an offensive magic, Greed!" Jesse explained, "It’s ‘Mage Armor,’ a protective magic to give myself magical resistance, it’s not for attacking. It may cause a fire if there are any issues because it requires guiding elements, but don’t worry, I didn’t cause any fires the first time I tried it, now I am much more skilled with the spell."

"Your magic is up to you," Greed said, "but if you’re so skilled, why do you need to protect the luggage from fire?"

"Just in case something goes wrong," Jesse said while covering the luggage with the cloak, "if a little flame escapes, we will be fine, but if something gets burned, what will we do?"

"So, I just watch over you here?"

"That’s basically it, if there’s something like a small flame, help me put it out, I need to maintain my focus on casting the spell so I can’t help you. If I lose focus… it will cause a more severe energy drain, ultimately leading to failure, and might even cause unexpected problems."

"I think I understand now," Greed nodded with crossed arms, "you can start, I’m prepared."

"Very good."

Jesse unconsciously imitated Malin’s tone, while unfolding his own notes on casting Mage Armor, placed on the table in front of him. Then he cast an Arcane Intellect, took a deep breath, and drank half a bottle of Mana Potion.

Greed sat upright on the bed, resembling a temple monk, staring closely at Jesse’s actions.

"Is it finished?" he asked.

"It hasn’t even begun," replied Jesse.

Jesse glanced at him, standing in the middle, mimicking Malin’s starting posture with his hands. His shoulder suddenly ached, causing him to frown, feeling that this time might not be as smooth.

But as soon as this thought surfaced, he forcibly suppressed it, because whenever he believed in his success, magic always turned out unexpectedly well, and whenever he started to worry, the results were often worse than he feared.

"Lockport…"

Jesse slowly closed his eyes. With Greed’s help this time, he planned to focus all his attention on casting spells and ignore everything else.

After experiencing the strange phenomenon of manipulating Arcane elemental energy for the first time, Jesse no longer felt curious. He didn’t need to think about anything except for casting spells.

"Because of Guluku…"

Jesse continued making gestures, focusing on sensing the surrounding Arcane energy and chanting spells skillfully. Suddenly, he heard Greed softly starting to make sounds like "ow, ah, ooh, hey".

What’s going on?

Jesse dared not open his eyes, the commotion was starting to distract his concentration. He had no intention of giving up on casting spells before it was completed or before Greed really needed help.

This time must be successful!

"…Itakshi, Bedi Incartu, Nazazun!"

Jesse suddenly opened his eyes, and in that moment, all the Arcane energies mixed with various elements surged towards him as if they were colorful lights converging on him.

This surge, however, caused no harm. Jesse felt like he was being touched by patches of cold and hot air. The lights shattered randomly, forming shimmering crystals that covered his clothes, neck, even his chin, and gradually began spreading towards his face…

At that moment, Jesse felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He held his arm and realized he had accidentally waved it too hard while casting a spell, forgetting about the pain.

But when he saw the magical effect of the spell he had cast, the pain didn’t bother him as much.

The colorful crystals on his body didn’t disperse, but gradually dimmed, forming shimmering lights floating on his clothes and skin.

Just as he was surprised, he noticed that Greed had already hidden in the corner without him realizing.

"What’s going on?"

"I didn’t do anything!" Greed raised his hands.

"I’m asking why you were hiding…"

Greed gestured with his hands, saying, "I suddenly saw some arcane energy, like stars, flying around from everywhere, carrying red, yellow, green… flame-like things. I couldn’t tell what they were, swirling around you. Some fell on me, not flames, I don’t know what they were! It hurt so much! Glowing brightly like the lightning released by a knight’s hammer, I had to hide far away…"

Could it be natural energy? Maybe Jesse’s unfamiliarity with casting spells caused some leakage of natural power, but that’s normal.

"So is this the beginning?" Greed asked again.

"It’s already over," Jesse replied.

"Finally… finally!" Greed exclaimed. "You really scared me earlier. I thought the whole house was going to burn down. This place is too narrow for the energy you released. I had nowhere to hide!"

"Well… next time, let’s find a more spacious place."

Jesse hadn’t mastered the technique Malin talked about – casting a weaker version of Mage Armor. He just hoped to complete one in his best state first. Whether he could adjust the power to make the spell more practical for him was something he could work on in the future Protection School classes.

But he never expected to be so successful!

Jesse didn’t feel any fatigue during the casting process. It was only after casting the spell that he felt a sense of relief at finally finishing it.

In fact, this was a sign of excessive mana consumption, but it wasn’t to the point of depletion yet. As Jesse cast more spells, he became more familiar with the different mental states represented by various sensations, which helped him control his "mana bar."

Jesse knew that the smooth completion this time must have been due to the energy boost from the Sunwell water in that vial.

But in the magic-related books they browsed in the library earlier, the elves didn’t mention even a bit about Sunwell water boosting energy or increasing magical limits. They only talked about the benefits of carrying a water bottle for energy replenishment. Why does it have this effect on him here?

Actually, Jesse also guessed a possibility in his heart, that is, elves are born in Arcane and have long lived under the radiance of Sunwell. So whether they are nobles or rangers, they possess much more magical power than most other races.

Perhaps there is some sort of diminishing effect on magical growth, so even if they drink from the Sunwell, they don’t feel a significant improvement, only experiencing its astonishing healing effects. After all, Sunwell is just water poured from the Well of Eternity into a wellspring. The magic enjoyed by the Quel’dorei today is far less than that of their ancient ancestors residing by the Well of Eternity, the Highborne of Suramar.

Anyway… this bottle of water indeed brought quite a noticeable improvement to this human with a short blue bar. Previously, when Mage Armor was cast halfway, fatigue set in, but now after completion, he feels like he could go another round!

However, he knows in his rational mind that he can’t manage another complete round, but this has already made him quite pleasantly surprised.