[The Young Mage]

Not only could he not use wands.

Tonatiuh had even discovered that the same applied to his weapons. Other troll warriors could use enchanted weapons, but even if his own weapons were enchanted, the magical effects would vanish the moment they reached his hands.

Yet if an enchanted weapon was given to another troll, the enchantment's effects would return.

He had once suspected it was an issue with the power of faith. But when he used the power of faith to bless Kezra's enchanted battle-axe, magic and faith coexisted perfectly upon it, allowing Kezra's weapon to unleash even greater power.

But once it was in his hands, the magic failed again.

Only the power of faith remained.

He had even secretly asked Zangar to prepare several low-damage voodoo potions and drank them himself. He found that these potions, infused with witchcraft, likewise had no effect on him. Yet when he gave the half-finished potion he had drunk to Kezra, it poisoned the divine warrior so badly that he ran to the toilet eighty-eight times in a single day. Fortunately, Kezra was strong and sturdy. If it had been another troll, they would probably have lost half their life.

Tonatiuh seemed to be a magical black hole. As long as magic came near him, it disappeared—not annihilated, but rendered ineffective.

Once it left him,

it naturally recovered.

He suspected the problem lay with himself.

Now every troll warrior had an enchanted weapon, while those who had rendered meritorious service also possessed one or two pieces of enchanted armor.

Yet he, their Majesty, had no special equipment whatsoever. Even Devilsaur hide, rich with magical power, would lose its magic once it was made into leather armor and worn by him...

In his frustration,

His Majesty could only wear ordinary dinosaur-hide armor and carry an ordinary refined-steel greatsword, pitifully serving as a warrior nobody. Even the system's lowest-ranked troops—the troll berserkers—had two spells, one to berserk themselves and another to enhance weapon damage. He had neither.

"This isn't magic at all... Fine, I can forget about becoming some grand mage, but why does it look like I can't even become that glittering golden Oscar winner? Am I really doomed to be a warrior nobody for the rest of my life? There's no future in that!"

The troubled Tonatiuh wanted desperately to find someone to ask. He wanted to know whether the native inhabitants of Azeroth had ever encountered such a problem. But he had no idea whom to ask. Perhaps only the learned mages of Dalaran or Quel'Thalas would know.

But given his current status, approaching the mages of either place would probably not end well.

He could only take things one step at a time.

Tanaris.

On the coast, dozens of kilometers from Gadgetzan.

At Steamwheedle Port, the Steamwheedle Cartel's port city here, a merchant ship from Booty Bay on the continent across the sea was slowly docking at the pier.

The goblins' commercial dealings between the two continents had never ceased. They had established many trade cities on both continents. Most of the time, they were business rivals, though they sometimes cooperated as well. For example, when it came to merchant ships, as long as one was willing to pay the taxes and fees, goblins welcomed anyone to their ports.

Although every goblin knew that Revilgaz, the wealthy magnate of Booty Bay, was publicly a merchant who controlled a trade city, the Blackwater Pirates active in the nearby waters were actually controlled behind the scenes by that same magnate! Merchant and pirate alike—indeed, most goblin merchants were like that.

The merchant ship docked.

Goblin merchants disembarked and spoke with the dock authorities. After paying sufficient taxes and fees, the sailors and passengers aboard began to disembark.

Besides being loaded with cargo, like other goblin merchant ships, this vessel also carried a considerable number of passengers traveling from the other continent to Kalimdor.

The passengers came from a highly diverse mix of backgrounds. Naturally, goblins made up the largest number. Then came high elves, tauren, trolls, and of course humans. There was even a night elf, despite their reclusive nature.

Among the relatively few human passengers, one petite figure concealed beneath robes and a cloak caught the attention of those lurking in the shadows around the docks.

Anyone could tell at a glance that she was a human woman.

Kora Wrench, one of the notorious Three-Fingered thieves of Steamwheedle Port, revealed a vicious smile and said to a female accomplice beside her, "See that human woman? I think we can make a small fortune off her!"

"Of course I see her!" Mary Screw shrieked. "But boss, lots of people are watching her. Look—Rust, Steelplate, and Gear... Those goblin crews have the same idea we do! Oh no, Ironwheel has already made his move!"

Sure enough, a goblin was stealthily approaching the suspiciously concealed human woman. Just as she curiously examined a flagpole in Steamwheedle Port, the goblin thief Ironwheel struck.

However...

Just as the other goblin thieves were itching to call out and warn the human woman, Ironwheel's outstretched hand seemed to hit an invisible wall of air before her. Then, with a soft bang, the poor goblin thief screamed and was blasted away.

A mage!

The pupils of the goblin thieves who had yet to act constricted, and many goblins immediately looked away.

What a joke.

She was actually a mage.

They had better not provoke her.

Sure enough, no human who dared come all the way here was easy to deal with. They were either fugitives who had committed crimes back home and were wanted by the human kingdoms, or bold, highly skilled professionals. And among them, the most numerous were precisely the various mages driven by boundless curiosity.

Too many goblin thieves in Steamwheedle Port had suffered at the hands of mages. If possible, no goblin thief wanted to provoke one. After all, they were merely thieves—more precisely, pickpockets—not professional rogues.

"Was that person a thief just now?"

The protective magic woven into her clothes had sent the goblin flying, and he had fled screaming. The human woman mage did not pursue him, though she was somewhat curious.

She had heard that goblin cities were often chaotic, and that this place, far from civilization, was dangerous in every way and even more disorderly.

But she had not expected that she would encounter something like this immediately after getting off the ship.

This truly taught the young mage a lesson.

Still, she was not worried.

"I am Dalaran's most gifted female mage. Apart from the person I came to find, I might even be the most talented female mage in Dalaran's history! A mere little goblin wants to steal from me?"

Thinking that,

the displeased young mage fixed her eyes on the fleeing goblin, who was scrambling away in terror as if he wished his parents had given him two extra legs, and raised a hand to cast a spell.

Arcane Missiles!

A blue-violet orb of energy leaped from her fingertips. As though it possessed tracking of its own, no matter how the goblin thief used his familiarity with the terrain to evade it, it eventually struck him, blasting him into the air. He wailed miserably as he fell, landing heavily and suffering serious injuries.

The Steamwheedle Port goblin guards nearby turned a blind eye. So long as no goblin died and normal business order was not disrupted, they could not be bothered to interfere. They had seen far too many such incidents around the docks.