Alice turned around, leaning back against the edge of the table and bracing herself with both hands.
The moonlight washed over her beautiful, paper-pale face.
“Mana withdrawal syndrome,” she said slowly.
“Or to put it more bluntly—energy starvation.” She looked up, her golden eyes meeting Luo Xun’s.
“High elves—every single one of us who relied on the Sunwell to live—are deeply bound to arcane energy, body and soul.
It’s like fish needing water or birds needing air.
Once the Sunwell exploded, our source was gone.
We are like fish out of water.” “Will you die?” Luo Xun asked.
“Yes,” Alice replied flatly.
“Not instantly.
We will be slowly drained dry—just like Ylos, whom you saw earlier.
Eventually, our mana pathways will collapse, our bodies will lose all support, and we will die, withered like mummies.” A dead silence fell over the kitchen.
“Is there no way to ease the symptoms?” “There is.” Alice pointed to the empty jars.
“Extract of moon grass, ground magic crystal dust…
they can provide temporary relief.
But those are just stopgaps, and we are running out of them.” Luo Xun looked at the empty jars.
From what he had heard, the remedy only lasted a few hours, and no one knew where the next batch would come from.
“Which is why you have to find a new path,” he said.
Looking at Alice, Luo Xun felt a sudden wave of respect.
Having lost his parents at a young age, he had struggled bitterly to survive in his muddy, backwater village.
If a benefactor hadn’t appeared in his life, he never would have been able to leave that ignorant hometown.
The aura radiating from this girl reminded him exactly of the person who had helped him back then.
“Yes.” Alice’s voice dropped.
“Not a temporary band-aid to keep us breathing, but a true, sustainable source of energy.
Otherwise, over the next few years, the high elves of Quel’Thalas will wither and die, one by one, like fish flopping on dry land.” She stood up straight, a desperate resolve flashing in her golden eyes.
Luo Xun watched her in silence.
Beneath the moonlight, this slender elven woman carried the weight of her entire race’s survival on her shoulders.
It was a weight heavy enough to crush anyone.
“Is the grimoire from the observatory tower a clue?” “Perhaps.” Alice pulled the metal-bound booklet from her robes.
“These are notes left by an ancestor of House Sunfire hundreds of years ago.
He proposed a theory—if we can find a way to channel other cosmic forces, such as life energy, we might be able to create a new, more balanced energy source.” She flipped through the pages, revealing dense elven script and hand-drawn diagrams.
“But it’s only a theory.
There’s no practice, no data, no complete ritual steps.” She closed the booklet, a trace of exhaustion in her voice.
“I need more reference material, more experiments, more…” She trailed off.
But Luo Xun already knew what she meant: more time, more resources, and more people willing to lend a hand.
And all of these were luxury dreams in Silvermoon City right now.
“Is that why your father refused?” Alice fell silent for a long time.
“My father has spent his entire life guarding the Sunwell.” Her voice grew softer.
“To him, giving up on the Sunwell is the same as giving up on himself.
But when I look at children like Ylos…” She paused, taking a deep breath.
“I cannot wait.” She walked to the window and pushed it open.
The night breeze poured in, stirring her silky long hair.
“Ylos is only ninety-seven this year,” Alice said suddenly, her voice very quiet.
“To an elf, he’s still a child.
He should have more than two thousand years ahead of him.
He should be studying magic, falling in love, traveling the world…
not lying on a kitchen table waiting to die.” She closed her eyes.
“I can’t do it.
I can’t just watch them die while clinging to the delusion of ‘restoring the Sunwell’.” Silence returned to the kitchen.
A new energy source?
Was there such a way?
Luo Xun recalled a few methods to deal with mana addiction, but…
would that alter the course of history?
Besides, his understanding of this world was still quite limited.
This was a matter of life and death for an entire race.
If his information was wrong, he could never bear the responsibility.
Yet, seeing the girl’s vulnerable, striking appearance made him hesitate to turn away.
It wasn’t because of some cheap chivalrous impulse, but because he knew that in an environment like Silvermoon City, only this girl could offer him genuine aid.
Having just arrived in this world, he had so much to learn and understand.
As an outsider, if he wanted to integrate as quickly as possible, finding the right starting point was more important than anything.
Ultimately, helping her was helping himself.
“What do you need?” Luo Xun suddenly asked.
“Specifically, what do you need to validate that theory?” Alice opened her eyes, looking at him in surprise.
“Maybe I can help,” Luo Xun said, weighing his words.
“I don’t understand magic, but I can see things on the energy spectrum.” Alice stared at him for a long time.
Finally, she nodded gently.
“Most of the theoretical framework is already prepared,” she said.
“What we need to do now is construct a basic magical model, and with your talent for seeing energy…” *I see, she wants to use me as a mana detector.* “But first,” she paused, “we need to systematically study some fundamental magical knowledge.” Luo Xun nodded.
This proposal was exactly what he wanted.
In a world of magic, House Sunfire’s collection was bound to be extensive.
“Get some rest first,” Alice said.
“My father has arranged a breakfast meeting tomorrow to ‘formally’ receive you.
Sleep well before then.” She tucked the grimoire away and headed toward the kitchen door.
Stopping at the threshold, she cast a glance back at him.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“Thank you for not looking at what happened just now with…
strange eyes.” Luo Xun smirked slightly.
“I might not understand it, but I know it’s awful.” Alice gave a slight nod and left.
Luo Xun stood by the table for a while longer, then walked to the window to gaze at the night outside.
Overhead, Silvermoon City’s magical shield pulsed, flickering like a golden dome.
It was beautiful, yet fragile enough to make his chest tighten.
He recalled the young elf’s convulsing body and those black cracks crawling across his energy vision.
Mana addiction.
The reality of mana addiction.
In the game, the blood elves had eventually found a way out—either through fel or the Light.
But that was far down the road, and the cost was immense.
Now, if this “third path” Alice was searching for truly existed, what would it change?
Luo Xun didn’t know.
What was clear was that he had likely stepped into a far stickier whirlpool.
Leaving the kitchen, he returned to his room upstairs.
He lay back on the bed and closed his eyes.
This time, he actually fell asleep.
In his dream, he saw countless elves struggling in the darkness, their bodies covered in black cracks.
Alice stood among them, holding a faint golden aura in her hands as if cradling a tiny sun.
The sun was incredibly bright, so bright it stung his eyes.
But just as he tried to draw closer, the light flickered.
A thin gray-black crack began to crawl along its outer edge.
It was exactly like the ones on Ylos.
Luo Xun snapped his eyes open.