Chapter 107: The Sheep Experiment

Compared with an ordinary linen or wool cloak, this leather one was a little heavy. Jess put it on and paced outside his house a couple of times. He could certainly feel the weight of a monster's hide.

From the outside, though, it didn't look as rough as most animal-skin clothing. At a glance, it wasn't very different from a normal cloth cloak. The surface of the smoke-drake's back sail was much smoother than he'd imagined.

The join between the hood and cloak, along with the shoulders, was especially sturdy. It seemed to be sewn from sections of the creature's outer shell.

A smoke-drake wasn't a true dragon, but a giant fire lizard that lived in hot regions, even near lava.

When Larson had said it was made from smoke-drake skin, Jess had expected a fishy smell. Instead, it had a faint, pleasant smoky fragrance. The material must have been carefully treated.

If it was worth three gold coins, then it had better be worth every copper. Jess put his hands on his hips. He suddenly felt like a man of a different class.

He stood in the street with his chest out, watching people pass. Would someone who knew expensive clothing recognize the cloak and admire him?

Half an hour went by. Nobody spared him a second glance.

Hmph. People living around this canal clearly didn't know quality when they saw it.

But that wasn't entirely bad. If everybody could tell how valuable the cloak was, people would watch him every day. Someone might try to steal it at any moment.

Jess pulled the cloak a little tighter around himself.

Larson had said it could resist fire and strengthen fire spells. Was that really true?

Jess didn't know any fire magic yet. But Marin was an expert in fire elemental magic, and warlocks also relied heavily on flame for offensive spells. The cloak might help him in the future.

Though Varian Wrynn had probably chosen it because of the burn on Jess's hand.

Jess looked at the back of his hand. The mark left by the burning sword guard wasn't very painful now, but it was still clear, and touching it hurt.

It would probably leave a permanent scar.

After lunch, Jess planned to take the imp outside the city and test Drain Life on some animal.

The urge to try it had been growing since the night before. If he didn't do it today, he'd feel like he was going to burst.

He'd been distracted all morning. He'd even drifted off during Orcish class and been corrected by Master Duchamp.

This copy was taken without approval from the place the author publishes; that official posting supports their writing.

He knew his Orcish exam was less than a month away. Passing it mattered if he wanted to travel to Dalaran on official expenses. But the attraction of his improved Drain Life spell was simply too strong. He had far too many questions and guesses about it.

What form would the "vitality" he drained take once it entered his body?

If he were injured, would the stolen life energy heal his wound? Would it work like a healing potion?

Jess hadn't yet had the chance to make any healing potions, so he'd never drunk one. Perhaps Drain Life would teach him something about how healing worked.

If he was perfectly healthy, would the extra energy make him healthier and stronger? Or would it overflow and cause damage?

Of course, Saeno knew nothing about that. He was a demon, and he didn't understand the workings of the nathrezim's terrifying magic. Jess would have to discover everything himself.

That afternoon, he set out with the imp, a bag holding two mana potions, Talongor's long staff, enough dry food for one meal, Gakin's notes on the spell, and the corrections and conclusions he and Saeno had made.

Only after reaching Elwynn Forest did he discover a very serious problem.

Those deer, rabbits, and birds were far too fast.

Harmless little animals ran as soon as they saw him from a distance—sometimes as soon as they caught his scent. Jess couldn't simply kill them, either. He needed them alive to test the spell.

What about animals that wouldn't run away?

Wolves, bears, wild boars... He hadn't encountered any and didn't want to. Facing a predator while fumbling with a note and reciting a spell wasn't his idea of a good experiment. If one bit a hole in his neck and blood came spraying out, even nathrezim power probably couldn't put it back.

So how should he solve this?

He'd considered hiring a brave volunteer at The Slaughtered Lamb to test the spell. Two silver coins for a safe test wasn't such a bad deal.

The biggest problem was that those volunteers were living people.

For Curse of Weakness, Curse of Recklessness, or even Fear, he might have accepted that.

But with Drain Life, Curse of Agony, and perhaps Corruption in the future, he didn't know how to control the strength or predict the results. He really didn't want to experiment on a living person.

After thinking for a long while, he remembered the Dark Iron dwarves had tested it on a goat. Why not use a sheep?

Several farms near Goldshire raised sheep. He could buy one and see how the spell worked.

Jess followed a side path off the main road to a small farm south of Crystal Lake and paid three silver coins for a young sheep.

That was a painful expense for one experiment. It meant the punch he'd taken yesterday had been for nothing.

Hopefully, his changes to the spell would pay off.

He walked farther southwest, away from the farm. Once he was sure nobody was around, he tied the sheep to a tree and laid out his notes on the incantation and casting conditions.

Saeno jumped from the bag and bounced around, eager to watch.

Jess looked at the sheep, then the tree beside it.

Wasn't the tree alive too? Didn't life energy flow through its trunk?

What would happen if he cast Drain Life on it?

Jess decided to stop thinking up such absurd ideas. If an ordinary tree made a perfect test target, Gakin and the others would have moved their gatherings into the forest long ago.

He'd already paid for the sheep. He might as well get some use out of it.

"Eramang, Xiliandor!"

Jess spoke the words and pointed at the sheep. A powerful pulling sensation gripped his heart. It came from the shadow energy gathering in answer to his call. Yet the spell didn't produce the expected effect. The sudden feeling simply ended.

The sheep, however, was frightened.

It struggled in frantic jerks, biting at the rope as it tried to escape. It let out a dreadful cry that hardly sounded like a sheep at all. It sounded more like a woman losing her mind.

"Shadow power! Shadow power!" the imp shouted excitedly, as though watching a show.