The Handbook's Secret

Duke was stunned.

Every breath he exhaled through his nose and mouth was filled with surprise.

The old man looked at Duke, his seemingly aged and cloudy eyes glimmering with wisdom. The room was simply furnished: soft beige walls, two comfortable armchairs, and a low tea table. That was all—so bare that there was nowhere to look but at the man before him to distract himself.

After his brief surprise, Duke faced the old mage who had given him an opportunity, given him a fresh start in the world of Azeroth.

His gaze was complicated, filled with the disappointment of giving up on himself and the hope of placing his expectations on someone else.

On the old man's face, Duke seemed to see the final wish of an old man who had been obsessed with magic and struggled for it all his life, yet achieved little. Duke could not bear to refuse the expectations of an old man nearing the end of his life, and in the end, he nodded.

"If you agree, then from now on, I'll call you 'teacher.'"

Old Norton shuddered as though struck by lightning. He stared wide-eyed, as if his ears had failed him and he had begun to hallucinate. He could hardly believe it—what? That arrogant brat who had even looked down on Medivh, the world's strongest mage, was calling him teacher?

Happiness had come so suddenly that the old man could scarcely believe it.

"Uh, Duke, well... I did originally hope to become your teacher... but Medivh... well... I, actually..." The old man was starting to stumble over his words.

Duke stepped forward and gripped Old Norton's hand. "Don't underestimate yourself. If not for your suggestion at Northshire Abbey, that bastard Brando might have beaten me to death. As for why I refused to become Medivh's disciple, it wasn't simply because of pride. There are deeper reasons. You'll understand my difficulties someday."

The old man's lips trembled, and his eyes grew moist. In the end, he did not cry. Instead, he let out a long sigh. "Please forgive this old man who knows a little magic but has little courage. I would be ashamed to be your teacher. To be your teacher, I should have used my own body to shelter you from the storm. The moment I failed to step forward, I knew I had lost the chance to become your teacher forever. Still, I would be honored to be the guide who leads you into the halls of magic."

Seeing that the old man had made up his mind, Duke could only nod.

A teacher and a guide were not the same thing. But this was all it could be.

Old Norton immediately put on the air of a strict instructor. In one hand, he held the [High Elf Mage Apprentice's Introductory Handbook], and in the other, a translated copy he had written himself.

"I studied this [Introductory Handbook] carefully for a long time, and I discovered that humanity's research into magic over the past thousand years has actually taken a detour."

"A detour?"

"Yes! Traditional magical training is nothing more than first teaching gifted children vast amounts of magical knowledge, then having them communicate with other worlds such as the elemental planes to draw magical energy. Through meditation, they guide that magical energy into their bodies, transforming themselves and forming magical circuits. Then comes daily cultivation, making those circuits thicker and stronger."

At this point, the old man pointed at the Elven text in the handbook and suddenly spat. "This is indeed the safest method of cultivation. A thousand years ago, when humans had not yet encountered magic at all, this was certainly the safest and most reliable way to train. But those cunning elves held something back."

"They held something back?" Duke pricked up his ears.

"Yes! They held something back! Do you know why high elves are naturally better at magic than humans?"

Duke frowned. "Racial talent?"

"That is certainly one factor. But there is another reason—the Sunwell!"

Duke immediately realized something. "You mean..."

"Yes! For talented youngsters with sufficiently strong bodies, magical foundations can be developed rapidly. No—even apprentices with ordinary physical aptitude can easily rise to the level of a Morningstar Mage. The prerequisite is a source of mana with highly concentrated magical power, one that transforms their bodies day and night. And it must be the body of a child still in its developmental stage."

Duke's head began to ache. Where was he supposed to find a Sunwell? The high elves guarded that thing like their lives and would fight anyone who touched it. He did not think he had what it took to go to Quel'Thalas and deal with the Sun King.

At that moment, Old Norton slapped Duke on the shoulder. "I'd wager that even the person who gave you this [Apprentice's Handbook] never realized what an astonishing treasure trove they had handed you!"

Duke silently added, It was "she," not "he."

"The first forty-nine pages are not fundamentally different from human mage apprentice training manuals, aside from being more refined. But the final page..." The old man opened the handbook to its last page. Duke did not know Elven, but that did not stop him from seeing that the writing there had suddenly become sloppy, completely unlike the neat and dignified handwriting before it. It looked almost casual.

The old man also opened Duke's translated copy. Duke discovered that the last page had not been translated.

"Do you know why I didn't translate it?"

Duke shook his head.

"Because the Elven on this page is complete nonsense." The old man narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Just as you created a Pearl Route out of thin air, I was suddenly inspired. This is not language at all, but diagrams showing the arrangement of special magical circuits."

The old man suddenly grew excited. "Ha! Naturally, only an arcane expert like me would discover the secret hidden here. This is a design for a special magical circuit that can draw the free arcane energy around it into the body like a vortex!"

"This..." Duke was astonished.

"Moreover, this is a magical circuit development method entirely different from the cultivation methods commonly used by elves. It absorbs arcane energy far more broadly. I don't know why the Sun King hinted that Prince Kael'thas should cultivate in this manner, but it is undoubtedly a great help to you. If you train according to this, even without the Sunwell, you can rapidly increase and strengthen your magical circuits."

The moment Old Norton explained it, Duke immediately understood why. If history proceeded as it had in the game, Quel'Thalas would fall in the near future, and all surviving high elves would become hopelessly addicted to arcane energy.

As the king of the high elves, Sun King Anasterian naturally understood how terrible the Sunwell's addictive effects were on elves. Sending Kael'thas to study in Dalaran was also, in a roundabout way, giving Kael'thas more hope and a broader future.

It was only that the Sun King had never expected his little secret, which he believed could never be discovered, to pass into Alleria's hands and then be given to Duke.

Duke suddenly sighed. Alleria truly was his benefactor!