Chapter 126: The Intensity of Spellcasting

When Jess opened his eyes in the morning, his head was still a bit dizzy.

He didn't know the alcohol content of that sweet wine. He heard it was quite high. But after drinking it, he didn't feel anything special.

While chatting and drinking with Gerred, it didn't seem like he had drunk much. After all, the alcohol content didn't seem high in terms of taste. But when he went home at night, he couldn't even walk properly. Several times he almost fell into the canal and prematurely ended his journey in Azeroth.

Jess ran downstairs without even putting on his clothes. He took off his clothes and jumped into the river, took a deep dive, then raised his head and washed his face. He felt much more awake.

Today he must be awake because he has an extremely important task, which is to remember the mage armor spell.

Last time, although there was the enhancement of Arcane Intellect, but later when he cast Arcane Intellect again and tried to write down the content he remembered at that time, he was never sure about the order of the two sentences and the pronunciation of several syllables.

After all, this spell is really too long, and it's also in Draconic, a language that Jess completely doesn't understand. Even with the enhancement of Arcane Intellect, he cannot recite it completely.

And now, Marin has specifically asked him not to remember it, and it has been made clear that he can only practice mage armor when Marin is present.

But how can everything be done according to what they say?

On this journey to Lordaeron continent, Jess wants to learn mage armor. Even if he can't learn it completely, at least he should practice and achieve some stage results by himself.

Especially considering that the abundance of magic on the Lordaeron continent far exceeds that of the Kingdom of Stormwind. Except for Karazhan Tower, most of the ley lines and nodes of the magic web are scattered north of the Thandol Span. Jess must seize this opportunity and practice this top spell of the protection school magic well.

With the experience of failing last time, Jess will be much more cautious this time. And he plans to let Gerred watch him and let him help deal with possible troubles, such as elemental out-of-control and so on.

He will set off tomorrow. Today, when he finds Marin to practice, he must seize the last opportunity... Remember this spell as completely as possible. So he plans to do something big.

"Thaenor, come out."

"Yes!" The imp appeared in a flash and said to Jess, "What are your orders, master!"

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

"One hundred percent confidence." Thaenor gave a sly smile and said, "The demons are all focused on hunting down users of arcane magic, my master. We are born to avoid the detection of those mages. And my spells and knowledge are countless times more powerful than those inferior imps! Even if it's an Eredar... Of course, it depends on which Eredar. If it's Archimonde who wants to catch me, then I'm doomed."

"I didn't expect you to avoid Archimonde's pursuit either." Jess said casually, "Just a human mage."

"You know who Archimonde is?" Thaenor suddenly asked.

Jess looked up and stared at Thaenor, realizing that he seemed to have said a bit too much.

He coughed unnaturally and said, "So what if I know? Archimonde has invaded Azeroth before."

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

He and Kil'jaeden, Velen were once the three leaders of the ancient and powerful Eredar civilization. Archimonde is the youngest of them.

When the dark titan Sargeras corrupted the Eredar and used them as the backbone of the Burning Legion, Velen fled from the Eredar home planet Argus. Archimonde and Kil'jaeden became Sargeras' two most powerful lieutenants.

Compared to Kil'jaeden who likes to hide behind the scenes and manipulate different races to fight each other, Archimonde's style is more direct - jump onto a planet and use his unparalleled magic power to erase all obstacles in front of him, and then plunder all the energy on this planet that can be absorbed for his own use.

Archimonde invaded the Kaldorei Empire, but that was ten thousand years ago. The invincible Archimonde encountered the artifact created by the dragon Aspects to repel the Burning Legion - the Dragon Soul, which is the Demon Soul before being corrupted. He suffered a serious setback.

After being injured, he had to withdraw and rest, but he never forgot to come back to this world to take revenge. Ten thousand years later, the torture and destruction that the Kaldorei Empire experienced has become a myth and legend hidden in the libraries of Quel'Thalas.

It's normal for a learned human archmage who has a lot of exchanges with the elves to know the name Archimonde. But for a small apprentice like Jess... Being so familiar with Archimonde is a bit strange.

The imp hopped back and forth excitedly and said, "Your understanding of the Burning Legion far exceeds my imagination, master!"

Jess interrupted his rambling and said, "Stop talking nonsense. Listen to your task."

"Yes!"

"Stay in my bag. Listen carefully to that old mage reciting the spell. Remember that spell. You'd better remember it completely without any mistakes. After coming back, compare it with what I remember. Do you understand? If you dare to forget to remember it or come back and say you didn't hear clearly, I will put you in solitary confinement for two months. If you dare to expose yourself and be discovered by others..."

"Then it's the summoning suppression spell !" The imp loudly interrupted.

"Don't worry, little thing." Jess said, "Once you are discovered, there's no need for me to recite any summoning suppression spell. Because you will encounter a much more tragic fate. Do you think that if you die, you can return to the Twisting Nether? Then you are thinking too much. The mages here will lock you in a special anti-magic prison and study you every day and torture you every day. See what kind of magic you can withstand. Then they will summarize spells that can deal with demons and make them suffer. You will wait to be abused for thousands of years. Then you will cry and shout every day to return to the Twisting Nether!"

The imp swallowed and said, "I guarantee... not to let those mages detect any clues!"

"If you are discovered by accident, don't expect me to help you." Jess said, "I will do everything possible to get rid of the suspicion between me and you. You will be regarded as an evil thing that comes with this warlock bag. And I, just a poor scavenger who is greedy for treasure. An innocent apprentice who stupidly and naively brought this bag to Stormwind from the wild. At that time, I may be punished and locked up for months or years. But you will be gone. And as long as I don't die, the contract between us will not end. You can't even betray me even if you want to. Do you understand your situation, little thing? When I'm fine, I will visit you in your prison."

The imp said in a crying voice, "Master, are you interested in throwing your soul into the Twisting Nether after death and being reborn in a demon body? The Burning Legion will need talents like you!"

"That will have to wait for the next life." Jess pointed to the bag and said, "Now go in first."

"Yes!"

The imp jumped into the warlock bag in a flash. Jess tightened the opening.

He has brought the imp into the mage district before, but it's definitely the first time to bring it into Marin's house.

Jess cast an Arcane Intellect on himself outside the mage district. When the traces of arcane magic faded a little, he entered. When he walked to the garden and looked at the door of Marin's study from a distance, he felt as if several surveillance cameras had suddenly been installed around. But he also knew that the stranger he behaved, the more likely he was to arouse suspicion. Anyway, he has done such bad things before. He might as well let it go and see what happens.

Jess pushed open the door, but he didn't expect Marin to be already inside.

Marin was organizing the bookcase. When he heard someone enter, he said, "My dear Miss Marin. Remember to boil a pot of tea for me before going to class. Jess Setho probably won't come."

"Uh... Master?"

Marin turned around, picked up his glasses and asked, "You haven't left yet?"

"The ship tomorrow morning." Jess scratched his head and said, "I can still do one more job."

"Great." Marin immediately put down the rolled-up sleeves and sat behind the table. Sighing, he said, "It's not easy to rest for a day when you are old."

Jess put the bag beside the bookcase at the foot and immediately started cleaning skillfully. Marin even put down his book and watched him clean every place skillfully.

"Coming here today is to practice that spell from last time again, Mr. Setho?"

"Yes." Jess smiled embarrassedly and said, "Today is the last day in Stormwind, Master. I really want to try again. After all, the next time will be next year. If I don't have a good result, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep well for months and will always be thinking about this matter."

Marin said, "There is no need to be so anxious. Do you want to master such a complex spell within just one week? It's better to give you two months to think carefully about the reasons for your failure last time and summarize what you didn't do well. When you come back, it will definitely be much smoother. If you are willing to stay here this morning, I can tell you some essentials of casting spells in the protection school. Then when you return to the Kingdom of Lordaeron, you can recall them slowly and digest them. It will also help you grow."

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

Marin helplessly lowered his eyebrows and said, "Since you want to try again so much, then I will talk to you carefully about the problem last time. In fact, I also thought about your casting process afterwards, Mr. Setho."

He closed the book and put it aside. Leaning on the table, he said, "Your spell imitation is very standard. This is your strength. So much so that the arcane energy summoned by you at the very beginning is overly enthusiastic. Correspondingly, because your energy is involved with too much arcane energy, they enthusiastically hunt for elements for you. Like building a palace, they create the prototype of an elemental armor for you. This, on the contrary, drags down your casting process and makes the mage armor you guide too powerful but also too heavy."

"Note that being powerful is not a good word here."

"Compared to barrier magic, such as the ice armor spell or the lava armor spell, which are elemental shells, mage armor is more like a spell of the enhancement school, that is - enchanting power. Only it's not enchanting an item, but the caster himself. It's a bit like Arcane Intellect. Powerful enhancement magic also requires the caster to have a strong enough tolerance. This is itself a process of consuming spirit, Mr. Setho."

"Arcane magic is not a prayer made by priests with the gentle power of the Holy Light. Any child or sick person who has never been in contact with magic can withstand it. So you know where the problem is. One big difference between you and other apprentices is that you didn't fail because of inaccurate casting. You failed because you summoned an enormous amount of arcane energy that exceeds your tolerance at this stage, causing your body to overload prematurely. Even when I was demonstrating for you, I didn't summon such a large-scale arcane power."

"Coupled with your hesitation several times during the casting process, which doubled your energy consumption. When I watched you cast the Light spell before, it gave me an illusion about your energy level. In fact, you still lack a bit. But this is a problem that can be easily overcome."

After listening to Marin's explanation, Jess thought for a while secretly and tentatively asked, "The spell effect is too strong so I can't afford it. Does it mean that if I want to succeed once, I have to do it inaccurately and make the spell effect worse?"

The old mage smiled and said, "If you do it inaccurately, won't it increase consumption and reduce the magic effect even more seriously?"

"Yes." Jess said, "Then..."

"So you need to take the courses of the protection school first." Marin immediately emphasized, "Master the method of weakening your spell intensity and reducing consumption at the same time. That is, actively cast a weak spell and achieve your goal at the lightest cost. This is a skill that every senior caster of the protection school must master."

This reminded Jess of those mages in the game who use level 1 Frostbolt to consume enemies or start group slowing with level 1 Blizzard. This is also a way to achieve the goal with the same magic that consumes less and has a weaker effect when resources are insufficient.

Sure enough, there are similar applications in the real world. Marin then explained, "Why is the protection school the foundation of many schools? If you have carefully read the "Schools of Arcane Magic - Protection" written by Master Ansirem Ruinvalor, you should know that many magic research needs to be carried out with great risks. During the research process, slight out-of-control of magic energy often occurs. One of the values of short-term barrier magic is to quickly and effectively protect the caster in such cases and make him immune to specific types of elemental damage, rather than being used solely for combat."

"However, there is no need to cast a complete and powerful barrier magic before each research. Sometimes you are only facing some small risks. For example, the combination of different alchemy reagents occasionally causes flashes, small explosions and burns. You only need a lightweight flame protection barrier, not a huge wall that can resist the fire of a red dragon. But sometimes this wall and a small flame barrier film can be summoned by the same spell. You can think of this as casting intensity or casting force."

Jess said, "Just like when I first learned Arcane Intellect, the effect that could only last for a few minutes that I summoned. Is that a weak spell?"

"Well." Marin said, "I think that's just you being simply inaccurate. The consumption of energy is not less at all. In fact, it's even more. In the end, you only created a shoddy spell effect. I don't even know if that can be called Arcane Intellect. After all, I'm not a sheep for you to practice on."