In fact, an idea had started taking shape in Jess's mind the day he'd heard the novice warlock Surena casting a spell in the basement of the Slaughtered Lamb.
He could listen to the warlocks' incantations, try to remember roughly how they were pronounced, then return home and piece them together into complete spells he could learn.
Of course, that would be extremely difficult. A single line of an incantation might contain a dozen words or even dozens of them. Fortunately, he'd studied languages a little in his previous life, so he had some confidence in himself.
If he listened over and over and repeated the words silently, the way he'd once practiced his English listening skills, he ought to be able to memorize them eventually.
But listening over and over didn't mean just sitting there and listening. It meant enduring dark magic again and again, which would test how much punishment he could take.
After that came the hardest part: finding the actual words behind those sounds.
Up to this point, human contact with demons had been almost entirely limited to the Council of Tirisfal, a group of mages who had spent the last two thousand years keeping demons from slipping out of the Twisting Nether into Azeroth.
But Medivh had been killed, and his mother, the last true Guardian of Tirisfal, had disappeared. The Council now barely existed, and much of its writing and knowledge about demons had been lost.
As for the Highborne elves who'd studied demons in ancient times, those collections were more than ten thousand years old. Even books protected by magic could hardly have survived until now.
Most of the spells human warlocks in Stormwind were learning came from orcs. Some had been heard from orc prisoners, while others came from battered, incomplete spellbooks.
Most of those books had been destroyed or badly damaged during the war. Even a few surviving pages could be priceless. Powerful warlocks and mages kept them hidden away for their own research and study.
There was no way the half-trained warlocks secretly practicing demon magic in that basement could own such valuable texts. They must have learned the spells by word of mouth from other warlocks, then found training dummies like Jess to practice on and see whether the spells worked.
That was the real reason their spells were so unreliable.
The basic problem was that many people secretly studying dark magic at this time didn't even know what language their incantations were in.
Some thought the words were a kind of Orcish or an ogre rune language. They spent their time searching Orcish dictionaries and research on ogres compiled by scholars during the war, only to head in the wrong direction.
Things wouldn't improve until the Third War, when the Scourge invaded and the Battle of Mount Hyjal took place, more than a decade later.
By then, large numbers of demons would have entered Azeroth during the Burning Legion's invasion. After their defeat, they'd scatter across the world, teaching real demon magic to the locals and followers who worshiped them as gods. The opening of so many portals would also bring Azeroth closer to the Twisting Nether, making demons easier to summon.
At the same time, organized groups of orc and ogre warlocks would hide in forests and abandoned towns, spreading more demonic spells and languages. Only then would Azeroth's warlocks begin to flourish...
Unfortunately, all that was more than a decade away.
Right now, Jess might be the only person in all of Stormwind who knew that shadow and fel incantations weren't Orcish or an ogre language. They were complex spells made mostly from Demonic, mixed with smaller amounts of the ancient language of the nathrezim, the dreadlords; the language of the annihilan, the pit lords; and Shath'Yar, the language of the dark gods of the shadowy void.
He needed to find records of Demonic—or rather Eredun—in the library. After all, Demonic was basically a dialect of the eredar language.
Then he could use the proper methods to correct those mangled spells and get ahead of everyone else.
After cleaning Master Marin's study, Jess walked along the winding paths of the Mage Quarter. He looked down the gloomy alley leading to the Slaughtered Lamb, then turned toward another inn, one far more popular with the local mages.
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It was the famous Blue Recluse, a home for spellcasters, where many mages went after getting tired of the pastries and bread at the Wizard's Sanctum.
The place was several times busier than the Slaughtered Lamb. Its hall was much larger and even had two floors.
By the railing upstairs, a group of tipsy young mage apprentices were laughing about how their instructors had behaved in class. Others were predicting how the Alliance expedition would drive the evil beasts in the Blasted Lands back through the Dark Portal and then destroy the gateway completely.
Someone added that once the expedition won and Azeroth was safe, Stormwind would rise from the ruins of disaster to become the Alliance's new star and humanity's hope. House prices would probably rise tenfold or twentyfold.
Jess felt his scalp prickle. Damn. The locals could talk so casually because they had nothing to worry about.
The worst part was that their prediction made sense. If they were only talking nonsense, he wouldn't have cared so much.
The Kingdom of Stormwind would survive for many years to come, gradually becoming the strongest and most stable human kingdom. Its capital would become the largest human population center on Azeroth, so property prices would naturally keep climbing.
He couldn't say how much they'd rise. The game had never talked about anything like that. He could only hope he'd earn money faster than house prices went up.
At the moment, unless he made some major changes, things didn't look good.
Still, he hadn't come here to listen to market predictions. He wanted to plan his next move, have lunch, and rest while waiting for Amy Marin to give him his assistant badge that afternoon.
As soon as he sat down, a server came over and asked what he'd like. Jess asked the prices of several dishes and desserts. His scalp prickled even more.
After hearing all that talk about Stormwind's economic future, spending money on anything slightly expensive felt downright sinful.
He ordered a serving of Stormwind cheese crumbles for six copper and a slice of dry bread. A little protein, salt, and carbohydrates should keep him going until he could get free pastries at the Wizard's Sanctum that afternoon. It'd be pretty funny if he passed out while waiting.
By then he was getting dizzy from hunger. Only after the “dishes” arrived and he quickly stuffed some into his mouth did he feel he had the energy to think about his next steps.
Once he had his assistant badge, he could enter the library and go straight to the alchemy and herbalism section. His goal: shadow protection potions, shadow resistance potions, and any potion, flask, or supplement that could help him resist shadow magic.
He needed those preparations for his next trip to the Slaughtered Lamb.
Going in completely unprotected like last time was out of the question. For one thing, it hurt too much. For another, he had no idea what strange spell with unpredictable effects those idiot warlocks might use on him. He had to protect himself as well as possible and look after his health.
His body was what he depended on. If it broke down, nothing else mattered.
Once he had the recipes, he'd look for places where the required herbs grew.
Buying the herbs was absolutely out of the question. Back in Lordaeron, even the most common Peacebloom had cost several silver coins a pound. A pound in Azeroth was close to an English pound—something over fourteen ounces, less than the Chinese jin he remembered. He hadn't asked the prices of the other herbs, but they certainly wouldn't be cheaper. They might cost even more.
Of course, Peacebloom was common in the game. Based on Jess's work experience, if collecting a pound of it cost one or two silver coins, that might mean someone needed herbalism knowledge, plenty of time and effort searching, and perhaps even had to risk their life reaching the growing site and bringing it back.
And the ingredients for the more expensive shadow-related potions would be worse. He remembered that most shadow potions in the game appeared only around levels ten to twenty or higher. They might require herbs like Mageroyal and Briarthorn from outside the starting areas. That could mean dealing with wolves or even gnolls.
So he had to bring Gred. And they couldn't gather only the herbs on his list. They needed to pick whatever they could find, making each trip as profitable as possible. That way he could earn extra money and give Gred a larger share too.
They also had to go out during the day. Jess had no interest in going out at night again. Every monster and menace seemed several times worse after dark.
This would cut into the time he could spend earning wages, but... were odd jobs around Stormwind ever going to buy him a house? Not a chance.
His recent adventures had been exciting enough to nearly kill him, and he didn't want to take such risks again. But he was beginning to realize they'd changed the way he thought about things.
In the afternoon, Jess returned to Marin's study. Amy was waiting for him.
“Your badge is ready.” Amy held an elegant little box. She opened it and took out a ring made of some metal Jess didn't recognize. “This is your assistant badge. It belongs to you alone.”
Jess inspected it, touched it, and even smelled it. It might be copper. Probably wouldn't sell for much.
Besides, arcane magic had engraved his initials on it and marked him as an assistant. If he sold it, he'd probably be in trouble very soon.
Still, the ring was his entry into the world of magic. He wasn't shortsighted enough to throw that away.
“Thank you, Miss Marin.”
“Just call me Amy. We may be working together for a long time. By the way, is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Uh...” Jess looked around the study. “I'd like to borrow a scroll.”
He needed a scroll to write down recipes and rough locations. If he relied only on memory and forgot something, he might waste an entire trip. That would be a real loss.
The shops selling paper, ink, and inscription supplies charged outrageous prices. He hadn't even considered going inside.
Amy gave him a paper scroll. Jess thanked her and headed for the Wizard's Sanctum with his badge.