Chapter 285

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Chapter 285: A Good Teacher

After everyone left, only Jesse and Ursula remained in the basement. It was Saturday, with no classes all day. Jesse didn’t really want to go back home to face Molofeel, and it wasn’t just Erlan who was psychologically affected by last night.

"I thought you didn’t care much about Gakin," Ursula said, holding a glass of wine.

Jesse glanced at Ursula, finding it difficult to say if he was feeling sad or any other emotion right now.

But in the end, a familiar person had died, so he just nodded and said, "He taught me a lot of things!"

Ursula nodded and said, "Gakin always wanted to teach me spells, but it was just a waste of time. At first, I thought it was a pity that I couldn’t learn any magic, but now it seems it’s better not to touch such dangerous things."

Jesse said, "Shadow magic is indeed very dangerous. It can affect a person’s emotions, making them impulsive, irritable, and suspicious… The more it is used, the stronger these negative emotions become. As a caster, I think we should find a way to resist this influence. Gakin obviously mistakenly thought that the effects of those shadows were his own."

"Is this your conclusion?" Ursula asked.

"Zardeth never mentioned it?" Jesse said, "I always thought you didn’t want to learn magic because you were lazy. But now it seems you’ve also tried before?"

"Of course I’ve tried," Ursula said, "Maybe I’m the opposite of you. You seem to have a special talent, but I… Zardeth once told me, ‘The shadows do not reject anyone,’ but that doesn’t apply to me."

Jesse said, "Try casting Curse of Weakness on me, it’s the one Gakin mentioned at the meeting last time."

"On you?"

"It won’t do any harm anyway."

"Alright…"

Ursula nodded, sat up straight, and began chanting, "Anuniki, Duzhazara, Kana…"

She chanted quite fluently and skillfully, but Jesse couldn’t sense any movement of Shadow Magic.

Normally, with Jesse’s sensitivity to Shadow Magic now, he would feel subtle fluctuations even if a warlock just started chanting a spell or a demon suddenly made a move to cause a sudden change in shadow power.

Are there really people who actively embrace the shadows, but the shadows ignore them?

Jesse asked, "You’ve been practicing seriously, right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t know the spell so well."

"Of course, I want to participate too."

"Have you ever thought that your inability to learn Shadow Magic might be related to your own personality?"

"My personality?" Ursula chuckled and asked, "What’s wrong with my personality? It sounds strange that personality can affect magic casting."

"I used to think it was absurd too." Jesse thought of the night in Molofeel, took a deep breath, and said, "Do you have potions that can influence emotions? Like making someone excited, making someone feel down, making someone angry…"

"Yes," Ursula raised her finger, "How about a Wrath Potion? Does that count? It thoroughly ignites one’s anger…"

"Try drinking a bottle of it and see."

"Will it work?"

"I don’t know," Jesse said. "You can try it if you want."

The two of them entered the Alchemy Room. The Alchemist dove into the cabinet and searched through it. Finally, he pulled out a bottle of red liquid from the deepest part of the cabinet and said, "This one is just right. If we don’t drink it soon, it will expire. Actually, I’ve forgotten why I made this in the first place. Probably for Gakin."

She looked at Jesse and asked, "Should I drink it now?"

Jesse nodded. Ursula closed her eyes and took a sip, then set the bottle aside.

After a while, she couldn’t help but laugh and said, "Darn it, nothing is making me angry. Or maybe this potion isn’t working?"

"You are quite annoying," Jesse said expressionlessly.

"What?" Ursula’s expression changed as if she had been punched. She asked unhappily, "Why are you suddenly saying this?"

"I love to say it."

"Are you trying to pick a fight?" She yelled in anger. "Then what are you supposed to be?!"

"Right now," Jesse said, "Curse of Weakness!"

Ursula realized what was happening and immediately reached out her hand, following the spellcasting posture she had told Gakin about, and cast the Weakness Spell on Jesse.

Suddenly, Jesse felt a bit dizzy, like he had low blood sugar. Although he didn’t feel weak in his legs and feet, he could sense the Shadow Power starting to take effect, albeit weakly but clearly.

He took a couple of deep breaths to recover from the dizziness. Was that the Weakness Curse? It must be. Even though the power wasn’t as strong, and it only lasted two to three seconds, at least the spell had been successfully cast!

"I think you did it!"

He looked over to Ursula, who was still in a state of confusion.

"I did it? But I didn’t see anything… Even though I do feel like something’s off, could it just be my imagination?"

Jesse said, "Alright, do you know any other spells? Ones with more noticeable effects, like… Curse of Agony, for example. Surena knows how to do that one."

"I don’t want to cast a Curse of Agony on you, Jesse," Ursula said, leaning against the nearby cabinet. "Maybe next time, I’m feeling a bit tired."

"Look," Jesse said, "Your energy was clearly depleted when summoning Shadow Power, but you didn’t do anything else, right? Isn’t that an important clue for the magic to work?"

"I actually forgot about this," Ursula said. "It’s true, Jesse. Just by you mentioning it, I can easily cast magic. I’ve tried so many times before with others and it never worked!"

Jesse lay on Ursula’s usual sleeping chair and said, "This is based on my own experience, but you can’t always rely on medicine to boost your mood before casting spells, right?"

"Why not?" Ursula picked up the bottle of Wrath Potion and said, "Drinking this doesn’t have any noticeable side effects, right? With my temperament, not taking medicine probably wouldn’t achieve the same effect as just now."

After hesitating for a moment, she asked, "Do you really find me annoying?"

"That’s a strange question," Jesse sat up and said, "Would I still be lying here if I found you annoying? Otherwise, how would I make you angry by saying you’re kind, skilled at alchemy, and knowledgeable? Wouldn’t your almost expired Wrath Potion go to waste then?"

"Okay," Ursula awkwardly smiled and asked, "Are you going to sleep here?"

Jesse glanced at the door and said, "If you think I’m a bother, I can stay outside. I just feel uncomfortable in the hall, without a sense of security, always afraid Erlan might attack me."

"Of course not, you go ahead and sleep," Ursula said, as she tidied up the bottles and jars. "Actually, Erlan doesn’t dislike you that much. He just feels you’re getting too close to Gakin."

"Alright, now it’s far."

Saying so, Jesse couldn’t fight off sleepiness anymore, especially after staying up all night last night and feeling so comfortable lying here.

Ursula kept talking to herself, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying anymore.