Chapter 47 – Can’t Even Think About It

The name of the staff store was Storm Staff, or …… Storm Staff, and Jace didn’t know if he had named it to indicate that his staff store was a Storm City staff store or that his staffs could raise stormy winds, but either way, the name of the store was dominant enough.

The shopkeeper, who was about 30 years old, wore a white shirt, had neat, beautifully combed medium-length hair, was clean-shaven and neatly picked, and was examining a short, twig-like wand back and forth in his hand.

However, he glanced this way and immediately said coldly, “No outsiders.”

“I was picking out a staff for my boss.”

“Who’s your boss?”

“Eden Marin. I’m his assistant.” Jace had gotten very used to taking Eden Marin’s lead.

“Master Marin?” The shopkeeper put his wand down and said, “Well, I’m Alan Havgan, Master Marin is an old patron of mine here, and the last time he mentioned that he’d recruited an assistant of his own, named Jace ……”

“Sesso.” Jace added to him, “Jace Sesso.”

“Mr. Sesso.” Alan Havgan smiled a little and said, “What brings you here today? Mage Marin just came by yesterday and said he wanted the mana crystal on his staff replaced and had already placed an order, are you planning to change your request this time?”

“Yeah?” Jess paused for a moment and said, “I thought my boss wanted a new one altogether, so I came over today originally to ask about a suitable new staff, but I didn’t think he’d come here first on his own, not that I’d heard about it. Since the boss has his own idea …… then I won’t bother.”

“Welcome next time.” The shopkeeper had just picked up his own wand when Jace immediately said, “By the way, I saw a group of wagons transporting orc prisoners at Red Ridge Mountain the other day.”

“Hmm?”

The shopkeeper lowered his wand and raised his eyes, his eyes revealing a bit of impatience, but since they had just had such a good conversation, it didn’t seem like it would be a good idea to show any more negative attitude at all.

Jace continued, “One of those orc prisoners was a warlock, wearing robes with what appeared to be orcish magical runes, and more importantly, the soldier transporting him was carrying a particularly strange staff.”

Speaking of wands, the shopkeeper’s eyes changed a bit as he carefully placed the short wand in the box, leaned in a bit closer, and said, “Can you describe the appearance of that wand more closely?”

“The stick was black.” Jess put on a look of careful recollection, “But it seems like there are some purple or green lines on it, I can’t tell what color it is, anyway it’s not just purple, like it’s translucent with some other color of light. Soldiers holding that stick as a walking stick to use, touching the ground when the sound does not sound like metal, also does not sound like wood …… in short, very very strange. I also noticed that there was a rest at the top of that staff that seemed to be used to hold mana gems.”

“Yes, that’s right, except the mana gem is missing.” Alan Havgan explained, “There were many warlocks like that in the war, after the defeat of the Horde they had no access to the Shadow Gem so they were left with only their staff handles to use, but their staff handles had a certain power even without the gem to enhance the warlock’s dark magic, pretty amazing, right?”

“Not with our staffs?” Jace asked.

The shopkeeper said, “There are some that can be made, but they have to be made from the trees of Quel’thalas. The trees of the Elven Kingdom have long been impregnated by the Well of the Sun, and have long since ceased to be ordinary trees; they are magical woods that have been enchanted by magic, such as Starwood, and they make the best staffs, even if they are made by Dalaran …… Well, Dalaran will have its own way of doing it by now, but I’ve always found it no match for the natural materials of Quel’thalas. Either it’s not made of wood, but metal – such as secret silver, or even more powerful, thurible silver. Or even the bones of some magical creatures – dragon bones, to give an example – but these are unattainable treasures, with no possibility of mass production and unimaginable prices.”

“So what materials do orc warlocks use for their staffs?” Jace asked again, after all that was what he wanted to know.

Alan Havergan looked at Jace for a moment, then rubbed his fingers together and said, “I don’t get free knowledge here, little brother, twenty coppers.”

Jace dug into his pockets and saved up twelve copper coins to set on the table, “That’s all.”

“Alright.” The shopkeeper said, “I have some knowledge of Draenor’s minerals, after all, before the expeditionary force crosses the Dark Gate, they need to do some research on the other side’s natural landscape, environmental resources and whatnot, I happened to have done some research on this a few years ago when I was in Hillsbrad, and I also investigated some orc captives. Most of the orc warlocks’ staffs are derived from a type of wood that is heavily affected by shadow energy, but is not decayed, and those trees grow in a place called Shadowmoon Valley.”

Hearing this Havokan mention Shadowmoon Valley, Jace knew he wasn’t bullshitting anymore.

It is true that there exists a place called the Valley of the Shadow Moon in Draenor, which is one of the areas most corrupted by evil energy, and it would be normal for any tree strong enough to be affected by the dark forces and not die to be used as raw material for a warlock’s staff.

Havgan squinted at Jace’s reaction and seemed to be enjoying the show off of knowledge.

“Secondly, it is the unique minerals of Draenor, the most important is a metal called magic iron, however, the magic iron is contaminated by evil energy, the nature of the unstable, it can be used to make armor, but not made into a staff, need to make further improvements. The fusion of rare minerals called Hengjin stabilized the magic iron and created a metal called magic steel by the orcs. Only, magic steel is emerald green, I’ve seen a magic steel staff.”

“If it’s black, I’m not sure if it’s a metal or wooden staff ……” The shopkeeper rubbed his chin, pondered for a moment, and asked, “Do you think there’s a possibility that it’s a demon’s staff? Demons aren’t commonly thought of as being like wild beasts that go berserk, there are many demons that also possess mana and need to rely on their staffs to enhance their magical effects. Orcs work with demons, so maybe some warlocks will have a staff provided by demons. It would be possible to judge more accurately if we had a physical object.”

“Is there a demonic staff I can buy?” Jace asked.

“Ha.” Alan Havergan forced a laugh and said, “That joke is not funny, probably only a gnome would consider selling something like that out in the open, and the price would be frighteningly high. There was a mysterious staff of an Eredar wizard that was auctioned off at Treasure Bay before and sold for 240 gold coins, and the buyer was heard to be an elf. By the way, do you know the Eredar?”

“Aliens.” Jess said.

“Yes, aliens, otherworldly inhabitants like orcs, but ten times more powerful.”

Leaving the staff store and going to Marin’s study, cleaning the room, Jace realized that he didn’t really feel anything tangible about the two hundred or so gold coins.

Seven gold coins is scary, but as high as that is, it’s probably the same as hearing the richest man’s property figure for yourself, so just listen to it as a story.