The Elf Sorceress was quite satisfied with Shawn and Merry's speed.
Even when she had first started learning magic, she hadn't been this quick. As expected, the great King of Quel'Thalas had been right: humans might not live long, but they had an extraordinary capacity for learning.
"I'm done," Shawn said, nodding. Then he extended his left hand, and a faint Water Elemental gathered in his palm.
The Elf Sorceress's eyes widened. She froze for three seconds, then suddenly cried out, "What! You can already summon a Water Elemental!"
Her cry startled the other four mages. One male mage was enchanting a knight's longsword. When he heard her, his hand jerked and he mishandled the rune wand, ruining the enchantment and provoking an angry roar from the sword's owner.
But the mage paid no attention to the royal knight, a man of considerable standing. He hurried over to Shawn, staring fixedly at the Water Elemental in his palm as he shook his head and muttered in disbelief, "Impossible. This is impossible! It can't be! How could a human have such a powerful talent for magic? This is impossible!"
The Elf Sorceress shook her head in disbelief too. "If you were an adult High Elf with a powerful mind, it might make sense. After all, a strong mind is a great help when learning Arcane Magic. But you're just a child, a Half-Elf not even fifteen years old... How is this possible?"
And yet the facts were right there before them.
Shawn certainly wasn't going to tell them that, although the body standing before them had lived for less than fifteen years, his soul was at least the equivalent of two people's combined: Shawn, who was fifteen in this world, and the Shawn in his twenties from Earth.
The fusion of two souls wasn't as simple as one plus one. Shawn's powerful soul had directly given him a Spirit of 18. That was almost enough to rival a Mid-Rank Mage. It wasn't so hard to understand how he could summon a Water Elemental.
It took a while for the Elf Sorceress to recover from her shock. She told the other mages to continue enchanting, then led Shawn and Merry to her room.
After motioning for them to sit, the Elf Sorceress spoke softly. "These past few days, I've looked through some books and found your surname in ancient records. Feathermoon was the surname of an ancient Night Elf noble family, the so-called Highborne. Perhaps the bloodline behind your name gave you incomparable talent for magic, allowing you to learn to summon a Water Elemental in just ten days."
She paused, then sighed. "It's a truly enviable surname. Unlike mine, Winterdew, which belongs to the common folk."
In the earliest days, Elves' surnames followed the order of nature from top to bottom. The higher the thing named in the surname, the higher the family's standing.
At the very bottom of society were families whose surnames often included words like water, earth, grass, and dew—for example, Morningdew, Winterdew, and Blacksoil.
Wind, tree, and mountain represented the middle classes—for example, Stormrage, Whisperwind, Windrunner, Oak, and Volcano. The great Druid Malfurion Stormrage and the elven priestess Tyrande Whisperwind were both members of newly risen noble families from ten thousand years ago.
Cloud, rain, snow, raven, bird, and eagle represented higher ranks—for example, Raven-shadow and Mist.
At the very top of society stood families whose names included words like star and moon—for example, Starwhisper, Morningstar, Feathermoon, and Sunstrider.
The Feathermoon clan was clearly one of the most noble families among the Elven People.
But the High Elves had been separated from the Night Elves for eight thousand years. They had gradually forgotten the ancient surnames. Perhaps the only Highborne surname they still remembered clearly was the one belonging to the King of Quel'Thalas: Sunstrider.
At the mention of "Feathermoon," Shawn immediately thought of the name he had long suspected. "Feathermoon? Shandris Feathermoon?"
The Elf Sorceress clearly hadn't expected Shawn to bring up that name, and her surprise returned. "You know that name? I only learned it by reading through ancient records. Shandris Feathermoon was said to be one of the most outstanding members of the younger generation of the Feathermoon family, a powerful Sentinel archer. She was also one of the few members of the family to survive the War of the Ancients."
Survivor?
One of the few?
Shawn was visibly taken aback.
He didn't know much about World of Warcraft history, and the real world of Azeroth didn't seem entirely consistent with the Azeroth of the games and novels in his previous life. Aside from vaguely remembering Shandris Feathermoon, he knew little else about the Feathermoon family.
If General Shandris Feathermoon was one of the few survivors of the Feathermoon family, had she and Shawn shared some close connection before he met the legendary Sentinel general?
The Elf Sorceress clearly wasn't one for gossip. She cared only about Shawn's progress in magic.
Interrupting his thoughts, she asked, "Shawn, Conjuration mainly deals with summoning magic. It's one of the first branches of magic mages learn. We summon earth, fire, water, and wind, making the elements serve us. But every mage has their own preferences, and each person has a different affinity for the elements. I, for example, have a greater affinity for water. Only a handful of geniuses have a strong affinity for every element. Shawn, the fact that you first learned to summon a Water Elemental proves you have a strong affinity for water, but we don't yet know how you fare with the other elements."
Elemental affinity was important.
If the Fire Elemental didn't like you, you could exhaust yourself and still summon only a tiny flame, not even hot enough to light a candle.
If the water element liked you, you might only need to think about it before a sea giant came crawling to worship you, bringing a whole pack of underlings along with him.
Shawn could already summon a Water Elemental, but they still needed to test his affinity for water.
The elven mage held out both hands. Blue light glimmered in one, red in the other. "Of the four elements—earth, fire, water, and wind—earth is heavy and wind is elusive, so both are difficult to control. Mages favor only water and fire. I have a decent affinity for fire, even though I'm more attuned to water. I've summoned both elements now. You two, try to sense them."
The elven mage raised her hands. Water and fire filled the air, mingling together in a seemingly impossible fusion that displayed the skill of a veteran high-ranking mage.
Shawn and Merry were surrounded by the two elements, immersed in their presence.
If a mage had a strong affinity for fire, he would become a fire mage, commonly called a "fire mage," like Kael'thas, the Blood Elf prince.
If a mage had a strong affinity for water, he would become an ice mage, commonly called an "ice mage," like Jaina, the eternal heroine.
If a mage had no affinity for either fire or water, he could only focus on arcane energy itself and become a pure Arcane mage, commonly called an "Arcane mage"—like the legendary mage Antonidas? Well, surely this great mage couldn't have had poor elemental affinity...
Before you continue