Jess hesitated whether to continue or not. Considering that this job pays two silver coins just for one time, it's a rare opportunity.

Roughly calculating, coming twice a month would solve the rent problem. Coming once a month, in two months, he could save a gold coin, which means he could almost buy a toilet in the old district in a whole year. So why can't he make a trip in the morning and one in the evening, earning four silver coins a day?

Thinking of this, he suddenly had a bad hunch. Yes, why can't it be twice a day? Why can one time earn two silver coins? What exactly is this job? Hundreds of messy possibilities flashed through Jess's mind in an instant. The more he thought, the more he felt like he should leave, but two silver coins... these are two silver coins!

At this moment, Erlen walked in, which abruptly turned off Jess's wildly spinning thoughts. A black woman followed behind him, probably the Surenna that Zare had mentioned earlier.

Both of them were about twenty years old, not much older than Jess. Jess had some impression of Surenna, but he couldn't remember who she was. In any case, she was not a good character. Her skin was darker than Zare's, and she wore a dark gray robe, which was barely visible in the dark room, only her eyes flickering.

Erlen, on the other hand, was frighteningly pale as if he hadn't been out for months. Erlen seemed to see Jess's concern and said with a smile: "Don't be afraid, Brother Jess, we're just going to do a simple little test conducted by Miss Surenna. She always knows the severity."

"Are you ready?" Surenna asked coldly.

"Who, Mr. Erlen, or me?" Jess asked. "If it's me, what should I prepare for?" Before he could finish, Erlen had already come over and tied Jess up to a wooden post. Erlen's strength was ridiculously strong, he wasn't normal at all. He must have been an old soldier, or some trained warrior, or one of those workaholics in the Stonemason Brotherhood.

Jess had no chance to resist and was firmly tied up. "Wait a minute." Jess asked with suppressed panic, "What are you going to do?"

"Alright, you can start now." Erlen stepped aside and smiled at Surenna.

Surenna slowly closed her yellow eyes, completely disappearing in the dark. She muttered a few unintelligible words, suddenly, a faint purple light shone from her slender black fingers, lighting up the entire room with a strange purple color.

Jess was instantly attracted by this unusual dark glow, was this... Shadow Magic? In Lordaeron, though arcane was not seen everywhere, it could be often observed near the Arcane Academy. College boys would often show off their skills outside, attracting girls' attention with simple magic such as Telekinesis, Light.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Jess had naturally witnessed the release of arcane magic a few times and was quite familiar with the mysterious light blue or white magical glow. But Shadow Magic, this was his first encounter.

The novelty died quickly, a sudden intense tinnitus killed all his perception abilities. Jess felt a fierce pain from the extremities crawling up to his forearms, then to his upper arms, thighs, all the way to his chest and abdomen. It felt like a group of tiny monsters with sharp fangs and claws fiercely clawing on his body. This pain quickly turned into a throbbing dull pain in those areas, so intense that he couldn't speak, feeling dizzy and suddenly nauseous!

Erlen came closer and said in a low voice, "Look at his veins... It's working, Surenna!"

Jess barely opened his eyes and glanced at his hand, noticing dense purple lines appearing. "Do you want to kill me?!"

"You won't die, we don't want to be murderers." Erlen lifted his eyes and said, "This is just a pain curse... The purpose of this spell is to inflict pain, not to take lives."

"Very good, Surenna, I feel your curse power has reached a new level, whether it's the speed of effect or the effect itself, it's an improvement over last time... Not to mention, Brother Jess here is a pretty strong guy, I almost couldn't hold him down earlier, much stronger than the last beggar." Erlen's voice became clearer and clearer, and the pain gradually blurred, eased.

Jess felt colder and colder, sweating profusely. His chest was wet, turned out to be his own vomit, he hadn't eaten anything today. His sweat and the vomit were full of a disturbing rotting smell, Jess realized where the strange smell in the room came from. He was called here to be a punching bag for people to practice dps, and obviously, he wasn't the first.

Erlen quickly untied Jess, moved a chair for him to sit down and rest for a while, and turned to chat with Surenna. Whatever they were talking about, Jess had no energy to listen, his mind was a mess, and he just wanted to lie on this chair and sleep. It would be better to sleep to death and forget everything he had just experienced. But he couldn't sleep; he must leave this place and take the money and go.

Staggering and dazed, he came to the grass outside the wizard's temple, holding three silver coins in his hand, not knowing why there were three. He looked up at the sky, the sun was overhead, scorching everything on the ground, the garden was filled with the scent of cookies, Jess's stomach growled. Three silver coins... this month's rent didn't need to worry too much. Thinking like this, it seemed like the experience just now had its rewards.

At noon, he washed his clothes by the canal, took a bath, refreshed himself, and bought some bread. By the time he got home, it was already afternoon.

Nowadays, most of the warlocks hiding in human cities study dark magic to combat orcs or other evils, not really wanting to worship any demons or even the Burning Legion. Their ultimate goal is still to integrate into human society, so they dare not really kill people and invoke stricter bans. But what if there was an orc inside? Jess was willing to take a gamble, knowing the development of these people later on. If there was no clue at all, he couldn't mess around like this.

Thinking of this, he had already arrived in the Trade District, where many workers were lying at the foot of the wall resting in the evening. In front of the rental building where his house was located, a familiar figure was waiting for him.

"Where have you been, Jess?" Jess nibbled on the bread while squinting his eyes,it was Grit.