Siphon magic

Zul'jin's resurrection and rise to demigod strength were really just a scare tactic Herad had thrown out.

His goal was to spur the Silvermoon City Council into action and force those lofty councilors to produce a few demigod-level powerhouses.

On Earth, this was called the catfish effect.

Without a few demigods holding the fort through the turbulent years ahead, he simply couldn't feel at ease.

After all, if events followed their normal course, Arthas alone, empowered by his artifact, could wipe out the entire continent.

Arthas would also summon the otherworldly demon Archimonde.

That monster could crush a Wild God with one hand and even wanted to tear down the World Tree!

If they didn't assemble eight or ten demigods to gang up on him, wouldn't they be slighting Archimonde's reputation as a tree-wrecking maniac?

Herad couldn't interfere with whatever countermeasures the Silvermoon City Council devised.

All he could do was prod them into making plans early.

If they waited until the enemy came charging in, it would be too late to implement any countermeasures.

After lamenting the difficult times ahead, Herad began studying Mana Drain, the spell used to extract Mana Essence.

Trolls in the game often dropped Mana Essence.

The name sounded like some sort of troll essence, something rather filthy.

In reality, it was magical essence that troll witch doctors extracted from living creatures using shadow spells.

Of course, they could also extract it from their own kind.

The best targets were creatures made of pure energy.

Animal Loa, for instance, were enormous bundles of energy.

Well, provided the Animal Loa didn't beat you to death first.

Elemental creatures were also excellent targets.

Intelligent creatures contained very little Mana Essence.

Ordinary beasts had pitifully little.

At first glance, Mana Drain, the spell used to extract Mana Essence, didn't seem particularly useful.

But Herad knew it was a very important spell.

If events followed their normal course, it would become the lifesaving spell the High Elves depended on for survival.

After their defeat and the loss of the Sunwell, the High Elves would use the Mana Drain spell Illidan taught them to absorb magical energy by any means possible and stay alive.

The High Elves, driven by their magical addiction, would strip bare anything containing magical energy.

They would even dismantle functioning Arcane Golems, pry out their Magic Crystals, and absorb the energy.

Not even tiny creatures like Mana Wyrms would be spared!

Embarrassing as that was, those little things really did contain plenty of energy.

The High Elves of the present had a good chance of avoiding the destruction of their homeland.

But this spell was still worth having.

Mana Drain was a shadow spell and had to be powered by shadow energy.

However, simulating other spells was what arcane magic did best.

Elemental spells such as Fireball and Frostbolt were actually simulated through arcane magic.

When mages summoned elemental creatures, those creatures came eagerly trotting over.

Underhanded as it was, arcane magic's imitations really did work.

Any spell could be simulated through arcane magic, and shadow spells were no exception.

After familiarizing himself with how Mana Drain worked, Herad replaced shadow energy with arcane energy and cast his modified version of the spell.

Mana Drain wasn't complicated. It was even a little simpler than Fireball.

Naturally, simulating such a simple beginner spell presented no difficulty.

A purple orb rapidly formed in his palm.

Once formed, the purple orb extended a thin thread that wrapped around a Magic Crystal and began siphoning the magical energy inside.

The spell wasn't high-level, but it was quite flexible and could siphon from multiple targets at once.

It differed from Illidan's spell, which absorbed the energy directly after siphoning it.

The Hexxers' Mana Drain was more sophisticated and could store the magical energy.

That was the Mana Essence trolls dropped in the game, the kind kept in little bottles.

In reality, no troll would carry it around.

After all, it was a high-quality magical energy source, so they would surely use it immediately.

Watching the magical energy he had siphoned, Herad ended the spell in satisfaction.

He had no intention of draining an expensive Magic Crystal until it became useless.

Once the group entered Eversong Woods tomorrow, he could catch a few Mana Wyrms as test subjects.

Mana Wyrms looked like miniature divine dragons.

In truth, their intelligence was probably on par with plankton.

They were perfectly suited to being test subjects.

If the results proved satisfactory, Herad intended to put them to use.

These largely useless energy creatures that served as background decoration ought to contribute something!

Just like the hundred and eight ways to cook crayfish.

While Herad was considering a hundred ways to prepare Mana Wyrms, Sylvanas, who had slipped into his room at some unknown point, abruptly spoke beside him.

"Little brother, what was that purple orb spell just now? It looked pretty interesting."

The sudden sound of Sylvanas's voice beside him startled Herad so badly that he nearly jumped.

Although he had been engrossed in studying Mana Drain, he would still have noticed if the door had opened.

A glance at the beautiful ranger who had come uninvited, and at the half-open window behind her, told Herad everything.

The room's window wasn't large, but an agile professional like a ranger would have no trouble squeezing through!

Sylvanas's habit of moonlighting as a rogue gave Herad quite a headache.

Fortunately, he had been studying a spell, so she hadn't caught him doing anything secret.

"Why did you come in through the window? What if someone saw you?"

After a casual complaint, he explained the spell he had just simulated.

Once Sylvanas learned that it siphoned magical energy, she immediately lost interest.

Rangers had very little need for magical energy.

Even away from the Sunwell, they could live perfectly well.

Still, the spell was quite useful for mages.

Without the Sunwell, mages became sickly, and their strength declined severely.

The advent of Mana Drain could solve the problem of sustaining mages outside the barrier.

Sylvanas's understanding of Mana Drain was still too simplistic.

When the group entered Eversong Woods the next day, Herad demonstrated a truly remarkable trick.

He caught several Mana Wyrms and fiddled around with them, somehow producing a rare specimen with exceptionally high energy levels.

The sight of this remarkable feat left Sylvanas speechless.

Wasn't it just supposed to siphon magical energy?

How could it also stack that energy inside another creature?

She poked the dim-witted Mana Wyrm and found nothing special about it, apart from its body feeling more substantial.

At that discovery, she looked up at Herad, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.

"Even if you strengthen a Mana Wyrm, it's still a brainless Mana Wyrm. What's the point of raising it?"

"I'll fatten it up first and see what changes, then extract its magical energy."

Herad explained casually without pausing his work, catching another Mana Wyrm as it passed.

"Oh, then I'll help you catch the ones on the other side."

The Mana Wyrms along their route had truly rotten luck.

They had wandered carefree through the forest, and no one had ever targeted them.

Today, they were suddenly being caught and drained of magical energy to feed their own kind.

This was simply bullying the harmless Mana Wyrms!

Unfortunately, Mana Wyrms ranked below even little bugs, and no one would pity them.

By the time the group reached the outskirts of Silvermoon City, the Mana Wyrm in Herad's hand had almost developed a physical body.

Yet even after being fed the magical energy of so many of its own kind, it remained a dim-witted fool.

After extensive testing, Herad finally confirmed one thing.

The intelligence of these dim-witted energy life-forms seemed fixed and would not increase as they grew stronger.

Having reached that conclusion, he felt sorry for Mana Wyrms as a magical species.

Since they lacked the potential to become magical pets, their only fate was to become magical energy.

The purple orb in his hand extended dozens of thin threads, which wrapped around the Mana Wyrm and began siphoning furiously.

The Mana Wyrm contained plenty of magical energy.

But with dozens of threads working at once, it still couldn't last more than a few seconds.