Chapter 745

Chapter 745: Spells and Evil Power

After waking up from a nap, Jesse felt a lingering pain in his throat, but he still went straight to the Storm Altar.

This time, Kallez didn’t say anything, just stared at him. Jesse noticed other warlocks were there too, including the Orc Kahlor, Martha Strain from Dalaran, Albert Fizban from Dun Morogh, and the injured Gladys, who still didn’t seem fully recovered. They all gathered around the altar, watching from a distance.

Jesse guessed they’d seen him come to the Storm Altar every day to ask demons questions and wanted to listen in.

So why hadn’t they asked their own questions before? Probably because Kallez wouldn’t bother with them, or they didn’t have the guts to try.

Standing before the Demon Lord, Jesse said, "I have a new question today, about Soul Shards."

"Go ahead," Kallez replied.

"How do you turn Soul Shards into stones that restore power?" Jesse asked. "Do you know the spell for that magic?"

"The kind of mana stones you eat to get your strength back, Lord Kallez!" the imp yelled, popping out of the bag. "You must know how to make those! You must!"

The Doom Lord ignored the imp, just grunted lowly, "The Eredar know how to transform Soul Shards with a spell, Jesse Seso, but I don’t."

"I saw Gul’dan make those stones," the Orc said. "In the Shadow Council, Orcs and demons call them healing stones. They say swallowing them heals wounds… I doubt it."

"So you must know how!" the imp shouted. "Orc, help us out! Great!"

"I don’t," the Orc said. "Sorry to let you down, little yellow imp."

"Aren’t you a Shadow Council member, Kahlor?" Gladys asked, leaning on her magic wand.

"I was," the Orc replied. "But the Shadow Council isn’t like your Kirin Tor Council. It has lots of people, some high up, some low. Gul’dan was the leader, with core folks like Teron and Worfir around him learning his secrets. I was just an outer member, a lowly servant."

"Your dark magic seems just as strong as those Shadow Council Orc warlocks, Kahlor," Martha asked. "Are you really only an outer member?"

"After leaving the Shadow Council, I got some spells from my old master using shady methods," the Orc said with a smile.

"What methods?" Gladys asked.

"Don’t ask," Albert cut in. "Do you really want to know what ‘shady’ means for an Orc?" Gladys cleared her throat and stayed quiet.

Jesse eyed the Doom Lord suspiciously. "You’re a Burning Legion commander, and even the Orcs loyal to demons in the Shadow Council know how to make healing stones. How come you don’t?"

Kallez sneered, "Because I can transform things with my own power. I don’t need the Eredar’s language to talk to fel fire and shadow, getting help from the void. I am the power source, you disrespectful runt!"

"Stop bragging—show me," Jesse said, pulling out a Soul Shard.

"Free me from this binding circle!" Kallez growled. "I can’t do anything trapped like this!" Jesse looked around at the others; the warlocks were watching too, exchanging glances.

Saenor blurted out, "Let him out, Master! You know his true name. If he acts up, just shout it, and he’ll be weaker than ever! Remember how that mother Sayaad suffered back on Kalimdor?"

Molofeel gave the imp a cold look but didn’t speak.

The other warlocks’ imps also pushed their masters to free Kallez, clearly desperate for those stones.

"Wait for Mor’zul to get back," Jesse said, taking a paper with Ered’ruin writing from his bag. "For now, translate these words for me, Kallez."

"I won’t do slave work!" Kallez roared, his fel magic breath nearly blowing the paper from Jesse’s hand.

Jesse shook the paper. "I won’t free you from the circle until you finish translating this. What do you think you are, Kallez?!"

Saenor burst out laughing. Jesse turned to him. "You stay here and write down what Kallez translates. You don’t think he can hold a pen with that hand, do you, Saenor?"

The imp’s laugh turned to a whimper. "I don’t want to be near this monster… Master!"

"That’s an order," Jesse said to Kallez. "Behave and translate—that’s an order too."

Over the next two days, while gathering Ered’ruin words, Jesse tried resisting the language curse with Kahlor’s help. The other warlocks tried too, but only Gladys saw any hope—she could barely say what she wanted. The rest couldn’t manage it.

That was impressive, since Jesse wasn’t sure if he was resisting the curse with the Chain of Will. Gladys was doing it purely on her own will and spells.

He didn’t dare take the chain off his neck to test it, though. The warlocks were watching everything. If he removed it and struggled, they’d start eyeing the plain-looking chain.

Jesse remembered Alexstrasza’s warning: don’t let people focus on the chain. Having it meant guarding it.

While practicing against the curse, Jesse learned the spell. It wasn’t too hard. The Orc said it was probably invented as a prank by the Eredar, who later realized it could mess with enemies’ spellcasting and refined it over time.

That made Jesse wonder if he could invent spells like the Eredar.

He’d thought about it before, but the Eredar had been demons for thousands of years. They were smart and knowledgeable even before falling, so they’d likely figured out everything about fel and shadow magic long ago.

Trying to invent spells alone in Azeroth felt pointless—whatever he dreamed up, the Eredar had probably tried it all.

But when he shared the idea with Molofeel that night, her reaction shocked him. "Didn’t you already ‘invent’ a spell, Master?"

"What?" Jesse said, surprised. "I don’t remember inventing any spells."

"Remember Shadowstep?" Molofeel reminded him. "Well, maybe it’s not the kind of invention you meant."

"Explain," Jesse said.

"You called on dark energy using Demonic, Master," the succubus said, leaning back. "You could teach that to others. Of course, spellcasters without your shadow affinity would find it tough to copy. But lots of spells are only known to one person."

Jesse said, "But many spells made by demons or mortal warlocks end up doing similar things."

"True," Molofeel agreed. "Like the simplest Shadow Bolt—the Nathrezim and Eredar chant completely different words for it."

"That makes sense," Jesse nodded.