Chapter 208 – Jace’s Good Brother

The elf closed his eyes and began to chant a spell, and Jace noticed that the lake surprisingly began to glow faintly bright, the power of arcana, no doubt about it, and there was a faint arcane glow traveling through the forest.

The wind picked up even more now, and Jace was sure it was the air currents stirred up by the elf’s mana shifting.

It wasn’t long before he heard a hooting sound of some unknown animal begin to come from the forest, or maybe it wasn’t an animal, it was the wind …… He couldn’t say what it was, but it was as if the entire dense forest around Quel’danny began to grow restless.

At that moment, a rather familiar sensation swept over his ears and neck, reminding him of the power he had felt from that sheep when he had attempted life-drawing in the Aelwyn Forest.

Could it be that this elf is attempting to extract life force with arcane magic, and it is the entire surrounding forest that is being extracted?

The scale of this is genuinely a bit scary.

Looking back to Vinale, he had gathered a cloud of milky white energy in his hand, which rolled around in the center of his hand, and in the night also released a slight aura of a pale green color.

His expression could hardly be described as relaxed, it was as if he was fighting against some more powerful force, and the energy in his hands didn’t look like it was much more submissive to his will, it was more like he was forcing it to do his bidding, to carry out his will, than channeling it.

The Botanists of Quel’thalas are also a group of mages, except that most of the other mages manipulate the elements with arcana, and they manipulate life with arcana.

At the time, when he heard Kefal describe the group, Jace thought he should have understood, but when he actually saw a mage who manipulated the life force, he realized that the difference was still quite large.

The life forces were not as obedient as he thought they would be, but had always been wildly rebellious against the Botanist’s enslavement, but it was clear that they could not withstand the oppression of the powerful arcane energies manipulated by these Archmages, and every moment more of them succumbed to the spirit of the Vinaraille.

Ripples began to appear on the surface of the pond’s water, and it was not known whether they moved with the wind or with the mana.

The dragonhawk perched on the tree stopped caring about what was going on in the woods and kept his eyes on the botanist the entire time.

In stark contrast to the restless forest and swirling air currents, it was never surprised or panicked from start to finish, the only thing moving all over its body were those long feathers that shook from the brisk wind.

Looking again at Grider, he had moved not a muscle.

Was he immobilized by some spell by a botanist? Or is he surprisingly calm.

Just as Jace watched Grid’s reaction, Vinaleel suddenly withdrew her hand and channeled those life energies into Grid’s head, and the air around them quieted for a moment, and the forest ceased its agitation.

That’s when Jace heard Grider snoring and turned out to be asleep ……

Well, Jace held his cheeks, it did actually take a bit too long, and he didn’t have a count at all of how many more steps Vinale would have to do next, and how long the whole process would last.

When the voluminous gusto of a moment ago had passed, the quiet, undisturbed scene at that moment also made Jace a bit bracing.

After all, I was really tired from all the fussing around in the afternoon.

With that thought he also tilted his head and slumped to the ground.

Early in the morning, with the Cintron sun shining on his face, Jace opened his eyes and climbed to his feet, surprised that he had fallen asleep at the water’s edge.

There was nothing in Quel’danian’s small square, and Jace stood up, checked his luggage for missing things, and then walked in a daze to the front of that palace.

“Excuse me, where is Master Vinaleel Sunseeker?” Jace asked the guard in front of him.

“It left a while ago, human.” The elf pointed off in the distance, “Your friend is in that forest, remember to return Lady Valindus Swiftblade’s bow, she has commanded me several times.”

“Valynders …… OK, I remember.”

Jace agreed as he glanced at the fence behind the palace, realizing that the dragonhawk that had been resting there was gone. He entered the forest in the direction the elf had indicated, and within a few steps, he heard the sound of a swish of an arrow into the wood.

“Grady?”

“This way.”

Jace walked over in the direction of the sound and was seeing the dwarf with his bow raised and aimed at a tree next to him.

There was a whoosh as the arrow lodged in the trunk, and when Jace went over to pull it out, he saw that it had been chiseled into the spot where it had gone in.

He looked over at Grider and saw that he was looking at himself without a blindfold, just looking at himself, with both eyes.

For a moment, Jace even felt as if the dwarf had become a bit of a stranger, and he was particularly uncomfortable with the fact that the guy was looking at him with two eyes at once, as if an extra piece of his head had been jolted into place, which was very disconcerting.

“Bring me the arrow, Jace.” Grid waved and said, “Let’s show you ……”

Jace nodded and handed him the arrow, asking as he did so, “How are you feeling?”

“How does it feel?”

Grid let out a laugh and took another dozen steps backward, looking toward the tree, his expression suddenly cold.

He nocked an arrow and fired, barely aiming and without any hesitation, the arrow choked out screaming the air, the arrow chiseled hard into the spot that was already pierced with a thousand holes, the whole tree swayed and looked like it was about to hold out.

“I wouldn’t be able to tell if I ran into that orc now, Jace Sesso.”

Grid’s tone was even a bit vicious as he looked at Jace with a cold face and said, “That damn guy, I really want to fight him again.”

“You’re dwelling on that too much.” Jace said, “No chance he’s dead.”

“It is best if he dies.” Grid said, “Otherwise I will make him realize that the hatred of a Brute Hammer Dwarf is far worse than the curse of Gul’dan.”

Jace swallowed and said, “He doesn’t get it yet, and I’m getting close to feeling it.”

Grider said, “Come here.”

“What for?” Jace walked over.

“Bend over.”

“OK.”

In one swift motion, Grider wrapped his arms around Jace’s shoulders and punched him in the back, causing Jace to nearly vomit blood.

Not only is this guy’s eye better, he’s a lot stronger.

“Good brother, Jace, before I met you I never thought I would one day be able to see with this eye, I really never did, and I never would have gotten this far without you.”

He let go of his hand and grabbed Jace’s collar, “In the future, no matter what trouble there is, no matter how terrible the danger, orcs, ogres, black dragons, red dragons, whatever dragons, you just have to say the word, and you won’t hesitate even if it means I have to rush into the Dark Gate.”

“There’s no need to be so spontaneous, I’d like to buy a house for my mom and dad in either Shining Gold or Storm City, so help advance some money when the time comes.” Jace said.

“Cough-cough! Cough!”

All at once, Grid choked and coughed several times in rapid succession, and by the sound of it, was on the verge of coughing his lungs out.

He braced himself against a small tree next to him and said with difficulty, covering his neck, “That elf, uh! Did he put Shadow Power in his magic? So he’s essentially a warlock …… We fell for it, dammit!”

Jess sighed, “Was that necessary ……”

Grider looked up and said, “Wouldn’t your feelings be discounted if you bought your parents a house and ended up having to have someone else pay for it, Jace? Your parents won’t be happy about it either.”

“I’ll definitely pay you back, just in case there’s not enough time to save the day ……”

“I know la, say …… more discussion! Then, let’s hurry up and go to the griffin! Back to South Sea Town!”

“What about the Dark Gate? I thought you said it was okay to rush into the Dark Gate?”

“So what does buying a house have to do with the Dark Side?”

“You’re damn …… right, your bow! Give those elves back their bows.”

“No need to pay it back! She owes me.”