Chapter 198
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Chapter 198: Trying Again
The sages lived high up. Jesse followed Greed for a long time, going through several maze-like tall corridors, sometimes going deep inside, sometimes going outside, always walking up stairs.
After walking for who knows how long, suddenly a somewhat wide cliff appeared in front of them. Jesse looked to his right, and a huge eagle eye blocked his view… Greed had brought him to such a high place.
It was already late in the day, the sun turning dark red. Jesse gazed at the vast Hinterlands forest, feeling a wave of loneliness. Looking to the west, Durnholde was no longer visible from here, and neither was Alterac Mountain. Unconsciously, he had traveled so far from home.
Greed walked up to several stone doors and shouted a few times, then a very old dwarf with a white beard came out.
He looked at Jesse, then at Greed, whispered something, and Greed handed him the hammer, saying something in return.
They whispered to each other for a while, and finally Greed nodded, then walked over holding the hammer.
"He has a wife on the other side of the mountain, let’s return the hammer to her."
"Aren’t you going to ask Sage if you can become one yourself?" Jesse asked.
"Have you never paid attention to what I’ve said before? I’ve already learned from them, isn’t it useless?" Greed pushed him and said, "Let’s go, don’t embarrass me."
Jesse tried to stand still and said, "If you have no talent, how were you able to awaken lightning with the hammer? Remember what happened at Southshore?"
"I’ve told you before, Jesse." Greed grabbed Jesse’s cloak and stared into his eyes, "The Wildhammer Knights’ warhammers are blessed weapons by the Sages, not every Gryphon Rider can communicate with the elements to empower their weapon! Only the most experienced knights can! And now, I am clearly useless, do you understand? This is where I draw the line, you can be stubborn but I can’t help you anymore!"
"I can assure you, Thunderfist, that weapon was not blessed by a Sage." A low voice came from behind, it was the same dwarf Sage from earlier, his Common Dwarf language had various pronunciation features but was clear enough for an outsider to understand.
"The owner of this weapon, Kaden Grayfeather, is a student of Master Sage Durgo Sunhammer. He can communicate with thunder by himself, using their power to charge his warhammer, so he doesn’t need Sage to bless his weapon specially. That’s why he was sent to help humans patrol the coast of Hillsbrad."
Greed was first surprised, then shook his head and said something in Dwarven language. Sage pointed to the sky and said a short sentence, and Greed wanted to argue again. This time, Sage said a word once and stopped his constant chatter.
Jesse understood the word, it meant to leave, he had heard it a lot in Stormwind. Of course, it couldn’t mean leaving here, it should be more like "give it a try".
Greed stared at Sage for a long time, then looked at the hammer in his hand.
Jesse said, "There’s no harm in trying."
Greed pointed at Jesse and said, "If you can’t make it, dare to make fun of me, I’ll throw you off here, I’m serious."
"Okay," Jesse said.
Greed slowly put his hand down, turned to look at the cliff, Jesse glanced at Sage, who had white hair and beard, his current expression was unreadable.
The sky was getting dark, Greed slowly walked to the edge of the cliff, carefully looked down, and took a deep breath.
Then, he looked up to the sky, raised the hammer, and after thinking for half a minute, shouted loudly, "Wind and thunder… spirits of the sky, I summon you here, give me courage, strength!"
There was silence for a while, and nothing happened.
Jesse was a bit worried that he might get struck by lightning too, so he tried to move back, but the sky remained calm.
So, Greed really doesn’t speak the same language as the elements?
What happened in Southshore… Could it be that the power of the previous Gryphon Rider, Kaden Grayfeather, still lingers in the hammer, but Greed activated the remaining power? Then, what about in Dalaran?
The night they defeated Gorefiend, Jesse vividly remembers Greed’s hammer flickering with electricity in the rainy night. If Southshore’s power was residual, could it be the same with Dalaran?
Two weeks of elemental weapons, isn’t that incredible?
Greed kept holding the hammer high, as if refusing to give up. He didn’t turn back, just kept holding it, with his arms showing signs of trembling.
Jesse glanced at Sage, who was also looking at him, his eyes narrowed to slits. Was he smiling? Did Greed do something wrong…?
He suddenly understood.
"Why don’t you… speak Dwarven Language?" shouted Jesse.
Greed glanced back at Jesse and shouted back, "What Dwarven Language? You don’t understand! You should speak a language that the elements can understand!"
"Yes, I don’t understand, you do! You should speak in a common language when talking to the elements, right? You’re lucky the elements didn’t strike you down," Jesse said again.
"Shut up!" Greed pointed at Jesse with his beard blowing in the wind, saying, "Let me try again! You be quiet!"
Jesse knew that the language Greed mentioned was called Kalimdor language by the Kaldorei and Tauren on another continent, it is a mysterious and ancient language used by the elements to communicate.
Greed took a few deep breaths, raised his warhammer high again, and shouted into the sky in a completely different, more continuous and viscous pronunciation than Dwarven Language.
Jesse stared at the sky, seemingly calm as usual, but the air around Greed’s warhammer seemed to distort…
Suddenly, a flash of lightning struck down from the sky on the warhammer, the light dazzled Jesse’s eyes, he heard Greed shout, then felt a strong gust of wind hitting him, stumbling and sitting down on the ground.
Two seconds passed, and when Jesse looked again, he saw the war hammer dragging a trail of lightning as it spun and flew up into the sky.
Darn it… How could he let go at such a crucial moment?
Jesse didn’t dare say anything, he knew what Greed hated being reminded of the most… But as long as he could successfully summon thunder, everything else would be fine, he could always retrieve the hammer if it was lost.
However, Greed rushed two or three steps to the edge of the cliff, staring at the falling war hammer.
Just when Jesse thought he was about to face another hopeless defeat… this dwarf actually reached out his hand.
Suddenly, the war hammer exploded with a bright burst of electricity, as if riding a chain of lightning back towards them, and Greed caught it firmly in his hand, leaving only the sound of a metallic "clang!".
Jesse was completely stunned, he had only seen this kind of scene in movies… Greed coughed a few times, and the hammer in his hand continued to spark with lightning, flashing in his face, making him squint.
Not to mention being so close, even Jesse on the side felt the electricity in the dim twilight was too glaring, almost unbearable.
"I did it, Jesse…" Greed looked towards them with the hammer in hand, shaking and roaring loudly, "This is real!"
"Am I very strong?! Am I very strong?!"
"Greed is so… strong! I have never seen anything like it!" Jesse shouted excitedly, even more excited than when he heard that Vereesa could help Greed with his illness.
And he believed that Greed must be thinking the same way. Gripping the shimmering electric hammer, he made strange noises, with snot bubbles coming out, unable to tell if he was laughing or crying.
When he was told to come to Quel’danil to find the botanist, he was not like this at all… Maybe deep down he still didn’t like the idea of an elf helping to solve the problem.
Looking back at where the Sage had been before, he realized the old man had already returned to the house, as if he had known what would happen here all along.