What Is a Half-Elf?

In short, any human willing to learn magic could go to the central square of Stromgarde to study magic.

However, things turned out completely differently from what the elven Mages had expected.

At first, driven by curiosity about mysterious magic, many people crowded over to listen. Even Thoradin took time out of his schedule to attend for half an hour. But after half an hour, Thoradin had lost all interest.

It was simple: he could not understand a word of it.

Arcane Magic involved far too much profound specialized knowledge. If he underwent systematic training and had enough time, then with Thoradin's intelligence, he could at least have gotten started.

But the elven Mages' purpose in training human Mages was to fight the Trolls. Their lessons were therefore highly targeted, much of the material specifically designed for dealing with Trolls, and mixed with far too much knowledge about Trolls.

Besides, Thoradin was too busy. Taking half an hour to attend the lecture was already commendable enough. Where could he find more time?

After Thoradin left, more than half the onlookers left with him.

In truth, they understood even less. They had merely felt embarrassed to leave while Thoradin was still there. Now that Thoradin had gone, why should they remain? Their curiosity had been satisfied, so everyone went home to find their mothers.

Before long, fewer than three hundred people remained in the square.

Most of those three hundred were simply unwilling to give up, while only a small number had understood something. As for those genuinely engrossed in the lecture, there were very few.

Shawn was one of them.

"Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Evocation, Suppression, Enhancement, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation. Of the nine schools of Arcane Magic, the elven Mages focus on teaching Evocation. They only touch briefly on Abjuration and Conjuration. As for the other schools, they do not mention them at all. As expected, everything is for war!"

Shawn sighed with emotion.

Among the nine schools of magic, Evocation was the school that studied how to transform Arcane Energy into tangible explosive force. Arcane Magic was not limited to little prank tricks; it could also attack enemies and generate tons of explosive power.

The most common spells were Arcane Explosion, Arcane Missiles, Frostbolt, and Fireball.

The first two were pure Evocation spells, while the latter two first required Conjuration to summon ice and flames, then Evocation to shape them before they could be formed.

That was why Conjuration had to be studied.

After listening to lessons all day, Shawn nodded to himself.

The elven Mages' research into Arcane Magic was indeed extremely profound. Though they had not developed Arcane Magic into the dazzling variety that Dalaran would in later generations, they had delved into its essence. This was the earliest and purest magical knowledge.

Shawn intended to seize this opportunity.

So when dusk fell, Shawn pulled Meryl Winterstorm along and went to find the group of elven Mages.

The High Elves of Quel'Thalas were few in number. Although no one had ever conducted a comprehensive census of World of Warcraft, clues still suggested that the High Elf population could not have been large.

Two thousand eight hundred years later, Dalaran, the city on Azeroth with the greatest number of Mages, would still have no more than three thousand Mages.

Yet two thousand eight hundred years ago, the High Elves had actually defeated the Trolls of Zul'Aman with the help of the Arathor Empire, especially one hundred human Mages.

So how numerous could the High Elves of Quel'Thalas, where everyone was a Mage, really have been?

Mages were already so scarce, and the war was at such a fierce stalemate. Quel'Thalas had sent only five elven Mages to teach humans, and none of those five could have been particularly high-ranking.

In fact, among the five, only one was a high-ranking Mage. The remaining four were all mid-ranking Mages.

Having been sent to teach humans Arcane Magic, these five elven Mages had placed great hopes on humanity. They had hoped that some humans would display exceptional magical talent. Yet after an entire day, they were disappointed.

Yes, even High Elves, who were naturally close to Arcane Energy, needed a long time to study and practice before they could demonstrate powerful magical talent and become true Mages.

With time now so pressing, how could they possibly train enough human Mages capable of participating in the war?

"In the end, it was only wishful thinking!" The sole high-ranking Mage let out a deep sigh.

The other four Mages also sighed silently to themselves.

They even felt an urge.

Remaining in Stromgarde was merely a waste of time. Rather than wasting their lives here, they might as well go to the front lines, kill a few more Trolls, and shed blood for their country and people!

Just as they were thoroughly disheartened, a Half-Elf boy and a human boy suddenly called out to them.

"Wise Mages, my companion and I are very interested in Arcane Magic. Could you spare some time to give us private lessons?"

Although they did not understand what "private lessons" meant, the elven Mages' eyes still lit up when they heard Shawn's praise and his declaration that he was "very interested in Arcane Magic." They stopped walking.

Yes, although they were disappointed that humans had "failed to display exceptional magical talent on the first day," the elven Mages were still pleased. Having lived for a long time, they understood very well that interest was the best teacher.

No matter how exceptional one's magical talent was, without sufficient interest in Arcane Magic, one could never go far. Conversely, if one had a strong interest in Arcane Magic, then even if one lacked talent, one could still achieve something through hard work.

The elven Mages were delighted to meet people who were genuinely interested in Arcane Magic.

However, that was not what made them happiest—or most surprised.

The next moment, the elven Mages turned around. When they saw Shawn, they all froze.

Three seconds later, the high-ranking Mage finally recovered. Looking at Shawn, he did not hide his astonishment as he asked, "You are... a Half-Elf?"

This was still two thousand eight hundred years ago. Although High Elves had some contact with humans, it was limited. Elves and humans who found each other attractive, fell in love, and ultimately bore the fruit of that love were even rarer. Therefore, Half-Elves were scarcer than giant pandas on Earth.

This led to another situation: even fewer people knew about Half-Elves or could recognize one.

This was evident from an obvious fact: throughout all of Stromgarde, no one had ever questioned Shawn's race. At most, they assumed Shawn had undergone some sort of genetic mutation, though they had no idea what a genetic mutation was.

Meryl Winterstorm was one of them.

Upon hearing the high-ranking Mage's question, he immediately scratched his head and asked awkwardly, "Uh, what exactly is a Half-Elf?"