Chapter 121

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Chapter 121: The Goblin’s Misdeeds

By noon the next day, Jesse no longer felt any strange sensations in his body. After some persuasion and even doing some calisthenics in place, the watching priest finally agreed to let Jesse go.

Yesterday, Jesse had planned to discuss ticket arrangements with Master Caro Duchamp, but ended up practicing magic all day instead.

Jesse hurried into the blue-hued hidden path, planning to grab some food and then find Master Duchamp at the Wizard’s Sanctum, but coincidentally ran into him at the tavern.

Duchamp was sitting by the window with a cup of coffee, reading a book. He was wearing a simple white shirt on top, grey linen pants below, and his slightly out-of-place short hair and stubble gave him a modern touch. Surrounded by medieval decor, Jesse almost mistook him for a middle-aged office worker from 20th century Italy enjoying coffee on the street.

"Master Duchamp," Jesse approached and asked, "May I sit down?"

"Sure, Jesse," Duchamp moved the coffee cup aside and asked, "Have you and your friend agreed on a time?"

"We have." Jesse sat down and handed Duchamp a note from Greed, saying, "We plan to take The Great Palatine Conqueror on the 17th to Southshore."

"I know that’s a ship of the Steamwheedle Cartel." Duchamp put the note in his pocket and asked, "It’s possible, but do you know what the goblins did in Orc War?"

Um…

This was where Jesse’s knowledge fell short. He had never paid much attention to goblins, especially not what they did before the game started.

Generally, goblins in the game were closer to the Horde, except for the Rustwater Cartel goblins who remained neutral and did business in Alliance cities.

Seeing Jesse’s confusion, Duchamp explained, "Decades ago, Steamwheedle Cartel took Blackwater Bay from the trolls, renaming it Booty Bay. Originally a human bay, it was looted and seized by trolls. Now it’s controlled by Steamwheedle Cartel and Blackwater Pirates. They use it as a new base to extend their trade influence across half the continent. During the Orc War, Steamwheedle Cartel helped orcs by transporting supplies through Booty Bay, providing warship technology, and even trading maps of the entire Stranglethorn, in exchange for gold. And that money was all collected by Orgrim Doomhammer from Stormwind Keep’s treasury."

"In other words, after the Troll War, Stormwind Kingdom’s wealth helped Steamwheedle Cartel expand rapidly. They call it business, but the Alliance sees it as hostility. If they hadn’t voluntarily compensated a large sum of money to aid in reconstruction after the war, and promised to assist Stormwind Kingdom and other kingdoms with maritime navigation and cargo transport, Stormwind would have surely destroyed Booty Bay. But in the end, that money is still Stormwind’s property. Regardless of how much they compensate, it can’t make up for their wrongdoing. It depends on their future actions and how much effort they are willing to put into restoring their neutral reputation."

Jesse was truly unaware of these events. When he first arrived in Stormwind, he had seen the banners of Steamwheedle Cartel and thought that goblins had a close trading relationship with the Alliance. It was indeed close, but only economically.

Jesse sadly said, "My friend has been asking around the port for days, but he didn’t want to choose a goblin ship. It seems like there’s no other option left."

Duchamp nodded and said, "I’m not against your choice. It’s best to take any available ship now. Just be careful, Jesse Seso. Those goblins are willing to do anything for money. But I understand your situation. I will help you out and then deliver the ship ticket to your teacher, Master Malin. Don’t worry."

"Thank you, teacher," Jesse said.

"By the way, Jesse, I haven’t asked you yet," Duchamp sipped his coffee and asked, "Do you have any special methods for learning Orcish Language? I know there are wealthy nobles in Dalaran who buy Orcish books, documents, and letters to quickly learn the language. But you… I assume your family doesn’t have that much wealth, right? Of course, I don’t mean to offend."

Wait, the wealthy nobles in Dalaran buy Orcish texts?

So, instead of risking going to the Booty Bay auction, I can just go to Dalaran and sell the Orc letter there.

Jesse thought to himself, I can also copy down everything from that damaged book and sell it to the people in Dalaran who buy Orc information to make money.

But the book contains the spell Life Tap. If I sell the book, wouldn’t it expose the spell? I wonder if the warlocks in Dalaran know this spell. If they do, I can sell it. If they don’t… am I giving away my secret move for nothing?

Thinking about this, Jesse decided not to sell the damaged book directly.

Before the scourge, warlocks in Azeroth, especially human warlocks, developed very slowly. The real advancement of Black Magic among humans was caused by the demons of the Burning Legion summoned by The Scourge Legion, which scattered around the world after their defeat.

This means that at this time, Jesse should also be careful not to spread what he has learned randomly. This way, he can improve his skills faster than other warlocks.

What a spirit of sharing… forget it.

"My family doesn’t have much money, just enough for daily expenses. We definitely can’t afford those expensive books," explained Jesse. "My parents are ordinary people, and I study Language Orcish… mainly relying on the library and my own understanding. I think many students in my class just see Language Orcish as a hobby, but I really hope to use it to pursue a higher-paying career in the future. Maybe that’s my advantage."

After saying this, Jesse unconsciously swallowed, he couldn’t help but joke around a bit.

"So, do you actually think that these Orcs left in Azeroth can coexist peacefully with humans in the future?" Duchamp asked casually.

"I’m not optimistic at all, haha!" Jesse chuckled and said, "If humans and Orcs can coexist peacefully in the future, will learning Language Orcish still bring in a high income, Master Duchamp?" Caro Duchamp smiled and said, "That’s a valid point."

Coming out of The Blue Recluse, Jesse felt like he had finally solved a big problem.

Standing in the garden of the Wizard’s Sanctum, Jesse looked at the tall white tower and thought about Mage Armor.

The biggest problem for learning Mage Armor right now is that I don’t have enough energy. Even though I don’t know what will happen if I have enough energy, it’s clear that without surpassing this limit, I won’t even qualify to know the result.

Thinking back on yesterday’s spell casting, Jesse started feeling tired after chanting one-third of the spell. By the time he reached two-thirds, he was already pushing himself when communicating with those Arcane energies.

Following the standard practice of practicing Arcane Intellect before, he should rest or drink a Mana Potion to take a break when he reaches two-thirds of the spell.

However, he was too eager to succeed, and overusing his mana caused him to faint.

Luckily, there were no permanent injuries. Malin had told him about many cases where such overuse resulted in irreversible consequences.

Additionally, focusing on the spell casting, Jesse realized that he kept losing focus yesterday due to lack of confidence and other reasons, which definitely had a significant negative impact on his spell casting.

But can he complete a full spell if he concentrates again? Not necessarily. Jesse doesn’t think trying again quickly will improve things, let alone the risks. So, since he was already in the Wizard’s Sanctum, he decided to go to the library to see if there are any other ways to increase his energy limit besides practicing magic.