Only Spending Money Is Eternal

The fourth day after Aegwynn returned.

Including the time he had spent making "Nani," he had not left his laboratory for twenty days, remaining in the castle the entire time.

That might have seemed a little abnormal elsewhere, but in Dalaran, where homebodies were everywhere, it was perfectly normal.

For mages, staying in their mage towers for dozens of days, or even months or half a year, was simply commonplace.

Most mages were homebodies. Unless necessary, few were willing to leave their mage towers. Wasn't researching the arcane and exploring truth in a quiet, safe laboratory far better?

Only those brute-force Evokers who needed real combat to test their spells' power went out and fought often.

Orendo staying in his castle for twenty straight days was entirely normal in Dalaran's atmosphere.

Even Solarian would not have found anything strange about it, because she too sometimes remained in her mage tower day and night, conducting experiments.

That was a mage's life. Once they encountered interesting or useful knowledge that required research, they did not want to take even a single step outside.

The twenty-first day.

Orendo had not actually wanted to leave the castle either, because his beloved human mentor had just opened up her Mount Hyjal to him. Though they still had to remain separated by clothing—two or three therapy sessions a day were still an immense source of spiritual satisfaction for Orendo.

On the morning of the twenty-first day.

After being notified by Purple Fatty, Orendo had no choice but to go down to the first floor of the castle, where he received one of his few friends in Dalaran, Lord Kel'Thuzad, in the vast space that served as both a spacious arcane range and reception hall.

Kel'Thuzad was three years older than him, seventeen years old now. He was a tall, thin human mage with messy black hair, regular features, and a square face. If he had to find an Earthly reference, Kel'Thuzad at this age looked much like a young Severus Snape from Harry Potter.

Both had messy, greasy-looking long black hair that clearly received little care. Both wore a perpetually blank, expressionless face.

"My friend. What is it?" Orendo asked bluntly the moment he came down.

After spending time together many times over the past year, Orendo had come to understand Kel'Thuzad's personality. He was someone who did not care much for etiquette, only practical matters and knowledge. He was always expressionless, and only when facing knowledge, truth, or cats did he show any sign of being young.

Kel'Thuzad looked at Orendo, who was a little shorter than him, then turned to glance at the two arcane elementals outside the main doors behind him. He felt both envy and admiration.

Being able to have arcane elementals guard the door—intelligent arcane elementals, at that—was something Kel'Thuzad felt he could not yet accomplish.

Arcane elementals differed from the other four common surface elements of Azeroth. These physical manifestations of arcane energy were exceedingly cunning and difficult to enslave.

Yet Kel'Thuzad knew that his friend's castle had no fewer than ten of these cunning, intelligent arcane elementals serving as attendants.

"I have come under orders from the chief editor of the Kirin Tor Monthly." Suppressing his envy over Orendo's many arcane elemental servants, Kel'Thuzad spoke in his usual cool voice. "Orendo, do you have a paper to publish this month?"

Only when he spoke those last words did Kel'Thuzad's tone show a slight emotional fluctuation.

So that was what this was about.

Kel'Thuzad was one of the editors of the Kirin Tor Monthly, and he was also a renowned young genius in Dalaran. At this point in time, if Orendo had not appeared, Kel'Thuzad would have been the most famous genius mage in the Kirin Tor.

Had Orendo not created this butterfly effect, then in the original storyline, this young mage who currently resembled Severus Snape would become one of Dalaran's most influential mages over twenty years later. He would become a member of the Dalaran Council and one of the Kirin Tor's Archmages.

Then, another decade or two later, he would stray down the wrong path and become reviled by Dalaran. In the end, he would travel to Northrend to worship the King of the Dead, gain a vast amount of necromantic knowledge from the Lich King, and eventually become Azeroth's first lich.

That was the future of the "original storyline." Right now, Kel'Thuzad was still that aloof mage who was cold toward outsiders and showed only the faintest emotional response toward his friend Orendo.

"Yes." After thinking for a moment, Orendo answered. "I have some research findings that I am willing to publish in the Kirin Tor Monthly. But I have one condition, and you cannot make the decision on it. Still, dear Kel'Thuzad, you can take my condition back and let the Monthly's chief editor know."

"Go ahead, Orendo. I will pass it on," Kel'Thuzad said calmly.

Only cats and knowledge could move him.

"I need money. A great, great deal of money." Orendo spoke without the slightest politeness as he looked at Kel'Thuzad. "I am willing to publish papers in the Kirin Tor Monthly. I have already published six papers before this. I remember that the Monthly's sales used to be only two or three thousand copies, but the previous issue should have sold more than ten thousand copies."

"14,867 copies," Kel'Thuzad stated.

"Yes. One issue of the Monthly sells for ten Dalaran gold coins, and last month's issue brought in over 148,000 Dalaran gold coins! An astonishing figure!"

Orendo said.

"But aside from fame, I have gained nothing from it. Not a single copper coin."

"As far as I know, producing one copy of the Kirin Tor Monthly costs less than three hundred copper coins! In other words, every month, the Monthly can effortlessly earn Dalaran well over a hundred thousand gold coins."

"If this had nothing to do with my papers or my research findings, I would not say anything. But obviously, the Monthly's sales have a very clear connection to my papers."

"Every month, I earn at least a hundred thousand Dalaran gold coins for the Monthly, yet the Monthly has not given me a single copper coin."

"Is that reasonable?"

"It isn't."

Orendo looked at Kel'Thuzad and spoke again. "So I want you to go back and tell the Monthly's chief editor this. If you want me to continue publishing my research findings, fine. But I demand a share of the Monthly's sales profits—at least fifty percent."

"That is all I have to say."

Orendo concluded.

Sir Severosa had begun shamelessly demanding money.

After creating Nani, he had become flat broke. Although the [Severosa Fine Goods] magic shop could provide him with seventy or eighty thousand Dalaran gold coins in profits every month, that amount was becoming increasingly insufficient for Orendo.

Magical exploration and arcane experiments were simply too expensive. Even with the Eye of Truth, Orendo's explorations involved almost no waste, but they still cost far too much.

For example, for Orendo to conduct a simple arcane-metal affinity test, he needed at least four kinds of arcane metal, with no less than half a Dalaran pound of each.

No matter the type, arcane metals were extremely expensive. A Dalaran pound of mithril cost nearly eight hundred Dalaran gold coins.

Not to mention even more expensive arcane metals such as thorium.

Even cheaper arcane metals, such as truesilver, cost more than two hundred Dalaran gold coins per Dalaran pound.

Thus, the material cost for even the simplest arcane-metal affinity test came to roughly a thousand Dalaran gold coins...

That was equivalent to the annual output of a hundred human farmers laboring diligently, assuming everything went smoothly. Or it was the annual income of twenty-five farming families—and that was before subtracting their yearly living expenses.

Mage Lord, Mage Lord—the word "Lord" required burning an enormous amount of gold to earn.

That was why, under normal circumstances, ordinary mages would save for months or even one or two years before carrying out one or two arcane experiments and making any progress.

There was no other reason. It simply cost too much.

And for Orendo to produce so many research findings and gain so much knowledge in a single year, the money he had burned was equally staggering.

Since opening, the [Severosa Fine Goods] magic shop had generated nearly three hundred thousand Dalaran gold coins in profits, all of which had been drained dry. He had also sweet-talked Solarian out of a great deal of supplies she had saved over who knew how many years... Even from Aegwynn, he had shamelessly hinted around and extracted many benefits!

If he had not had these two wealthy female mentors, he would never have achieved such rapid output.

And that was with the Eye of Truth, which meant his waste during experiments and testing was practically zero, and he rarely failed.

Only then had he been able to produce so much and achieve so many research results in a year.

Making Nani had cost too much. The materials alone had been worth roughly one hundred and twenty thousand Dalaran gold coins, instantly wiping out Orendo's liquid funds.

So he was now desperate to make money. That was why he had set his sights on the immensely profitable Kirin Tor Monthly, hoping to claim a share of the profits.

Kel'Thuzad naturally understood what money meant to mages as well, though he worked part-time as an unpaid editor for the Kirin Tor Monthly solely so he could see its academic findings as quickly as possible.

"That is perfectly reasonable." The cool mage's response surprised Orendo. "I will convey your wishes to the chief editor."

"Hehe!" Orendo patted him on the shoulder.

"Thank you. Hey, come on, Kel'Thuzad. I have a new idea—an idea about cat food. Come on, let's go take a look at my laboratory."

And so.

The greasy, icy, expressionless young mage who looked very much like Severus Snape followed Orendo with shining eyes to research cat food.