Chapter 126

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 126: The Power of Spellcasting

Waking up in the morning, Jesse’s head still felt a bit dizzy.

He didn’t know the strength of that sweet wine, heard it was quite high, but didn’t feel anything after drinking it.

Chatting and drinking with Greed, he didn’t drink much, as the alcohol content was low, but on his way home at night, he had trouble walking straight. He almost fell into the canal a few times, bidding farewell to the journey in Azeroth.

Jesse ran downstairs without wearing any clothes, took off his clothes and jumped into the river. He washed his face and felt much more awake.

Today he had to be alert because he had a very important task, which was to remember the Mage Armor spell.

Last time, even with Arcane Intellect, when he tried to write down the content he remembered, he couldn’t be sure of the order of the two sentences and the pronunciation of several syllables.

Since the spell was very long and in a language that Jesse didn’t understand, even with help from Arcane Intellect, he couldn’t recite it completely.

Now, Malin specifically mentioned not to memorize it, and made it clear that Jesse must practice Mage Armor only when Malin is present.

But how could everything be done as they say?

On this journey to the Lordaeron continent, Jesse wanted to learn Mage Armor, even if he couldn’t fully master it, he wanted to achieve some progress on his own.

Considering the high level of magic all over the Lordaeron continent, which surpassed the Kingdom of Stormwind, except for The Tower of Karazhan, most Ley Line veins and nodes were scattered north of the Thandol Span. Jesse had to seize this opportunity to practice the top-level spell of Protection School magic.

Learning from his past mistakes, Jesse planned to be more cautious this time. He also decided to have Greed watch over him and help him handle any potential troubles, like elements going out of control.

They would leave tomorrow, and Jesse had to make the most of his final chance during today’s practice with Malin… trying his best to remember the spell completely, so he decided to go all out.

"Saenor, come out for me."

"Yes!" imp appeared in a flash of light and said to Jesse, "Do you have any orders, master?"

"How confident are you in hiding from a mage?" Jesse asked.

"One hundred percent confident," Saenor smirked and said, "Demons are focused on hunting down Arcane users. We are born to evade the scrutiny of those mages, and my magic and knowledge are much superior to those inferior imps! Even if it’s Eredar… Of course, it depends on which Eredar it is. If it’s Archimonde trying to catch me, then I’m toast."

"I’m not expecting you to escape from Archimonde’s tracking," Jesse casually remarked, "Just a human mage, after all."

"Do you know who Archimonde is?" Saenor suddenly asked.

Jesse looked at Saenor, realizing he had said too much.

He awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "So what if I know? Archimonde has invaded Azeroth before."

Archimonde, one of the leaders of the Burning Legion Eredar.

He, along with Kil’jaeden, and Velen, were once the three leaders of the powerful Eredar civilization. Archimonde was the youngest among them.

When the dark Titan Sargeras corrupted the Eredar and made them a core force of the Burning Legion, Velen fled their home planet of Argus. Archimonde and Kil’jaeden became Sargeras’ two most formidable lieutenants.

Instead of liking to hide behind the scenes and manipulate different races to fight each other like Kil’jaeden, Archimonde prefers a more direct style – he jumps onto a planet and uses his unmatched magic to eliminate any obstacles in front of him, then steals all the energy he can from the planet to use for himself.

Archimonde invaded the Kaldorei Empire, but that was ten thousand years ago. The unstoppable Archimonde met his match when the dragon kings created an artifact – the Dragon Soul, which was the Demon Soul before it was corrupted, to repel the Burning Legion, and suffered a severe defeat.

After being injured, he had to retreat to recover, but never forgot his desire for revenge on the world. Ten thousand years later, the torment and destruction experienced by the Kaldorei Empire have turned into mythical legends hidden in the libraries of Quel’Thalas.

It was normal for a knowledgeable and well-spoken human archmage who had many interactions with the elves to know about Archimonde, but for an apprentice like Jesse, being so familiar with Archimonde was quite strange.

The imp bounced around excitedly and said, "Your knowledge of the Burning Legion far exceeds my imagination, master!"

Jesse interrupted his rambling thoughts and said, "Enough chatter, listen carefully to your task."

"Yes!"

"Stay in my bag, listen carefully to that old mage casting spells, remember those spells. Make sure you remember every single detail and check back with me when you return. Do you understand? If you dare to forget or come back claiming you didn’t hear clearly, I’ll confine you in isolation for two months. If you dare to reveal yourself and let others find out…"

"Then it’s the Strangulation Curse!" the imp loudly added.

"Don’t worry, little one," Jesse said. "If you get caught, I won’t have to cast the Strangulation Curse on you. You’ll face a much worse fate. Thinking you can return to the Twisting Nether after death? That’s wishful thinking. The mages here will lock you up in a special prison for magical creatures. They’ll study you every day, torture you, see how much magic you can withstand. Then they’ll come up with spells to fight and make demons suffer. You’ll be in for thousands of years of torment, crying and begging to go back to the Twisting Nether!"

The imp swallowed hard and said, "Promise… I won’t let those mages notice anything!"

"If you get caught, don’t expect me to help you," Jesse said. "I’ll do everything to clear myself of suspicion and you’ll be seen as a dark entity from this Warlock Pack. I’ll just be a poor treasure hunter who unknowingly brought this pack to Stormwind from the wild, a naive apprentice. I might get punished, locked up for months or years, but you’ll be on your own. Our contract won’t end if I survive, you won’t be able to betray me. Do you understand your position, little one? When I’m free, I’ll come visit you in your prison."

The imp, with a trembling voice, said, "Master, would you be interested in throwing your soul into the Twisting Nether after death to be reborn in a demonic body? The Burning Legion needs talented individuals like you!"

"That’s a story for another lifetime," Jesse pointed to the bag. "Let’s go in now."

"Yes!"

In a flash of light, the imp leaped into the Warlock Pack, and Jesse sealed the bag shut.

He had taken the imp into the Mage Quarter before, but bringing it into Malin’s house was a first.

Outside the Mage Quarter, Jesse cast an Arcane Intellect on himself before entering Malin’s house. As the traces of Arcane magic faded a bit, he walked towards the garden. From a distance, Malin’s study door looked like it had several invisible security cameras. But Jesse knew the more suspicious he acted, the more likely he’d raise alarms. Since he’d done such things before, he decided to go with the flow.

Jesse pushed open the door, but didn’t expect Malin was already inside.

Malin was tidying up the bookshelf when she heard someone enter and say, "My dear Miss Malin, remember to make a pot of tea for me before going to class. I don’t think that boy Jesse Seso will come."

"Um… Master?"

Malin turned around, picked up her glasses, and asked, "You haven’t left yet?"

"The boat tomorrow morning." Jesse scratched his head and said, "I can do one more job."

"Great." Malin immediately rolled down her sleeves, sat behind the table, sighed and said, "It’s not easy to take a day off. Getting older is really tough."

Jesse placed his bag by the bookshelf and immediately started cleaning skillfully. Malin even put down her book to watch him clean every corner proficiently.

"Are you here today to practice that spell from last time, Mr. Seso?"

"Yes." Jesse smiled shyly, "Today is my last day in Stormwind, Master. I really want to try again. After all, the next opportunity will be next year. If I don’t have good results this time, I’m afraid I won’t be able to sleep well for these months, constantly worrying about it."

Malin said, "There’s no need to rush. Do you really think you can master such a complex spell in just one week? Why not take two months to carefully think about what went wrong last time, figure out where you could improve, and come back much stronger. If you’re willing to stay here this morning, I can teach you some key points about casting Protection School spells. Then, when you return to the Kingdom of Lordaeron, you can always remember and slowly digest what you’ve learned, which will help you grow."

"But…" Jesse said, "I was so close last time, teacher."

Malin sighed and said, "Since you want to try again so badly, let’s discuss your past issues in detail. In fact, I have also thought about the process of your spellcasting, Mr. Seso."

He closed the book, leaned on the table, and said, "Your spell imitation is very accurate, which is your strength. Initially, the Arcane energy you summoned was overly aggressive, but the downside was that your energy was consumed by managing too much Arcane power. It was as if you were constructing a palace, shaping elemental armor, which actually slowed down your spellcasting. Your guided Mage Armor was too powerful and burdensome."

"Note that powerful is not always a good thing here."

"Compared to Barrier Magic like Ice Armor spells or Lava Armor spells, Mage Armor is more like enhancing magic, a kind of enchantment. It enhances the caster rather than an object, somewhat similar to Arcane Intellect. Strong enhancing magic requires the caster to have strong endurance, which is a draining process, Mr. Seso."

"Arcane magic is not like priests using gentle Holy Light prayers, which even a child or a non-magical patient can withstand. So, you know where the problem lies. The main difference between you and other apprentices is not that your spellcasting is incorrect, but that you called upon a massive amount of arcane energy that exceeded your current level of endurance, causing an early overload in your body. Even when I demonstrated it for you, I didn’t evoke such a large-scale Arcane power."

"Additionally, your hesitation during spellcasting doubled the energy drain. When I watched you cast the Light Spell before, it gave me the impression that your energy level was sufficient, but in reality, you were a bit short. However, this is an issue that can be easily overcome."

After listening to Malin’s explanation, Jesse thought for a moment and tentatively asked, "So, to successfully cast a spell, do I have to intentionally cast it incorrectly to lessen the effects because they are too strong for me to handle?"

The old mage smiled and said, "If it’s not done properly, won’t it increase consumption more severely and reduce the magic effect?"

"Yes," Jesse said, "So…"

"So, you need to attend the Protection School classes first," Malin immediately emphasized, "Master the method of weakening your own spell intensity while reducing consumption. It means actively casting a weak spell at the lightest cost to achieve your goal. This is a skill that every senior caster in the Protection School must master."

This reminded Jesse of those in the game who consumed enemies with level 1 Frostbolt or started group slowing with level 1 Blizzard, which is a way to achieve goals using the same magic with low consumption and weak effect when resources are scarce.

Indeed, there are similar applications in the real world. Malin continued to explain, "Why is the Protection School the foundation of many schools of magic? If you have carefully read Master Anselm Ruynwyl’s ‘The Defensive Aspect of Arcane Magic’ you should know that many magical studies involve significant risks and often encounter slight loss of control of magical energy during research. One of the values of short-term Barrier Magic is to quickly and effectively protect the caster in such situations, enabling them to avoid specific types of elemental damage, rather than just for combat."

"However, there is no need to cast a complete and powerful Barrier Magic every time before research. Sometimes you only face minor risks, such as occasional flashes, small explosions, and burning from the combination of different alchemical reagents. You just need a lightweight Fire Protection Barrier instead of a huge wall that can withstand the fire of a Red Dragon. But sometimes this wall and a thin film of a small flame barrier can be conjured using the same spell. You can consider this as the intensity or power of the spell."

Jesse said, "It’s like when I first learned Arcane Intellect, the effects that only last a few minutes, is that a kind of weak spell?"

"Well," Malin said, "I think what you did was simply not done properly, consuming a lot of energy, even more, and ending up with a poor spell effect. I even don’t know if that can be called Arcane Intellect because after all, I’m not a sheep for you to practice on."