Ten thousand times!
All right, it was very tempting, but Jiang Jie shook his head helplessly.
It was a good method, but not a viable one.
The only remaining Well of Eternity was on Mount Hyjal, and before long, it would be blown up along with the World Tree.
The Sunwell was in the high elves' kingdom, making it impossible to approach, and Arthas would soon use it to resurrect Kel'Thuzad.
The Nightwell was in the sunken Broken Isles, guarded by large numbers of ancient elves. That was even further out of the question.
Moonwells were found in Darnassus, the Night Elves' capital. Other Night Elf settlements had them too, of course, but those were also out of the question for now. They were all on another continent, far across the ocean!
As for the other ley line nodes, large and small, there were not many, and they were difficult to find.
The known ley line nodes, such as Karazhan, the Nexus, and Dalaran, all had powerful beings stationed there. Unless Jiang Jie had a death wish, he could forget about them!
"The second method only requires the host to make direct contact with an object containing a large amount of energy. The gaming pod can then directly absorb the energy within it. Any kind of energy will do, such as arcane energy, fel energy, Holy Light energy, nature energy, elemental energy, and so on. However, it must be an inanimate object incapable of resistance." Xiao Feng explained the second method.
Inanimate meant it could not be alive. Incapable of resistance meant it could not be a magic array, a spell barrier, or anything of that sort, or even certain weapons and pieces of equipment containing powerful energy! So he could forget about going straight to the Lordaeron Academy of Magic to steal arcane energy!
Jiang Jie's eyes lit up!
This was a good method!
But where could he get objects containing abundant energy?
Anything in this world that still contained energy commanded a considerable price. How could Jiang Jie possibly obtain it for nothing? In the end, he still needed money!
But where was Jiang Jie supposed to get money?
And time was running out!
"How about borrowing some money?" Jiang Jie thought of someone, and a warm smile appeared on his face.
"Borrow money?"
In a room near the royal palace, the young maid's eyes widened. She still could not believe what she had heard. "And you want to borrow all my money? Little Nicholas, have you... gone mad?"
It was hardly surprising that the young maid thought that!
How long had they known each other? A little over a day, at most!
Who asked someone to lend them all their money after knowing them for just over a day? Sure, you did save my life, but I was actually the victim here, all right? They were trying to poison you. I just got caught up in it, okay?
All right, the young maid did care about Jiang Jie and thought he was a decent boy. Otherwise, she would not have wanted to ask Princess Calia to send him to Stratholme...
The problem was that she simply could not understand what Jiang Jie needed money for.
Look, His Highness Prince Arthas had arranged his lodgings and his food. Could he want to buy a set of clothes?
That would not cost that much, would it?
"Ahem. Anyway, I need it, urgently. Let me put it this way. If you don't lend me the money, I probably won't survive tonight!" Jiang Jie was not exaggerating. He was telling the truth.
If he could not improve his strength as quickly as possible, he might turn into a corpse once night fell and everything grew quiet!
Never underestimate the power of the Cult of the Damned!
Among those wretched acolytes were plenty of powerful mages and rogues!
If they really wanted to kill him, the guards patrolling outside probably would not notice even by the time he breathed his last!
"It's that serious? All right, I'll get you the money." The young maid was kindhearted. Although she did not have much saved up, she was willing to lend it to Jiang Jie, and not just because he had saved her life.
Jiang Jie hurriedly waved his hands. "You don't need to bring it to me. Do you know any mages? Or alchemists? Sorry for the trouble, but please help me buy mana potions. The lowest-quality ones will do.
"Buy as many as you can! Also, take this and find someone to sell it to for money!" Jiang Jie handed the young maid the Blade of Cunning that Master Onias had given her, adding, "When you sell it, make sure you mention that Master Onias used it. That should fetch quite a bit more!"
The Blade of Cunning was an uncommon-quality dagger, considerably better than those used by ordinary rogues. The money it fetched would probably be enough for one person to eat and drink well for a year!
In fact, it was the standard reward for novice rogues who completed their class advancement quest.
But that certainly did not mean novice rogues were everywhere.
In fact, most so-called rogues would never become true "full-fledged rogues" in their entire lives. They were not class professionals and could only be called thieves. Although the Stormwind City Assassins had nearly three thousand members, only about five hundred were full-fledged rogues, and that already made it one of the most powerful rogue organizations in all of Azeroth!
As for the Lordaeron Assassin Corps, it had fewer than a hundred full-fledged assassins!
As for whether selling the Blade of Cunning would anger Master Onias...
Heh.
He would worry about that after staying alive!
The young maid's eyes widened.
She really could not understand why Jiang Jie, a rogue apprentice, wanted mana potions. Could he be planning to take up mage as a second class? Why not just be a rogue instead of insisting on trying the mage's path? Had Baron Soroson's son gotten to him earlier that day?
True enough, who in this world did not want to be a mage?
No matter how you looked at it, mages were more prestigious than rogues, weren't they? Of the warriors, rogues, and hunters in Stormwind City, nine out of ten had wanted to become mages but failed...
And was it really all right to just sell the dagger Master Onias had given him? Wasn't he afraid she would come after him for it? The consequences of angering a master, especially a master rogue...
Just thinking about it was terrifying!
The young maid looked up and saw Jiang Jie's firm, clear eyes. She knew she could not talk this boy out of it.
She silently decided to go straight to Princess Calia in a moment. She had to ask Princess Calia to send someone to protect little Nicholas. As for the mana potions, she would buy a few from the royal apothecary and give them to him! Once the novelty wore off, she would take them back and return them!
Money was hard to earn these days. Better not to waste it...
The young maid soon left, and Jiang Jie did not stay idle either.
He first went outside and looked around. With his unprofessional eye, he carefully observed his surroundings and assessed how safe they were, finally reaching a conclusion:
The place was practically undefended!
Although guards patrolled the area, their numbers were limited, and there were too many blind spots. It really would not be difficult for an assassin to kill him...
"Right, I can't sleep tonight!" Jiang Jie silently made up his mind, then flopped onto the bed and closed his eyes.
A few minutes later, snores could be heard...
Right, if he was not going to sleep tonight, he had to sleep now. Otherwise, if he was dizzy, bleary-eyed, and exhausted, how would he deal with the assassination attempt that might very well come tonight?