Reforged Chapter 55: Turns Out, Talent Can't Be Gained by Just Clicking

Duke frowned, realizing for now that there was not much he could do.

He had no reason to complain, as he had accidentally completed the construction of his basic magic circuit through a stroke of luck. With the Arcane-Fire Circuit inherited from the High Elf King, Duke was already far more fortunate than most mages.

Duke slowly opened his eyes, and his vision was filled with the sight of the panicked and trembling Norton, who had taken refuge within a magical barrier.

"Is your magic circuit completed?" the old man asked tentatively.

"Yes, I'm afraid I'll have to call Prince Kael'thas my senior brother from now on," Duke playfully replied.

The old man nearly fainted from fright, "Please, don't scare me. Unauthorized learning of the Elf, no, the Elf King's inheritance would cause huge trouble!"

"Don't worry, Sun King will soon..." Duke was about to say that Sun King would be gone soon, but remembering that he should not reveal the secrets of fate, he held his tongue.

"What about Sun King?"

"Well, if things really get out of hand, the person who gave me the token would take responsibility," Duke didn't really intend for Alleria to take the blame. Instead, he was thinking about how to further modify his magic circuit so that even if Sun King were to stand before him, he wouldn't notice anything.

"Where did you gather the mana earlier?"

Duke looked at the dull-colored mana gems at the old man's feet, feeling a sudden pang of guilt. Norton had given him everything, even his life savings, to help him create a proper Arcane Circuit.

Not wanting to burden Norton further, Duke made a hushing gesture, "I borrowed some from Medivh."

To his surprise, the old man cried out, "Impossible! The Guardian has been missing since last Wednesday. He's nowhere to be found in Stormwind City and hasn't returned to Karazhan either."

Duke's heart skipped a beat at this news.

Medivh's disappearance!?

As someone well-versed in the history of Azeroth, Duke knew what this implied.

Medivh's disappearance was a massive event for both the Kingdom of Stormwind and the entire world. During his absence, Sargeras, who was hiding within him, became unsatisfied with lurking in the shadows and began consuming Medivh's soul.

When Medivh reappeared in the eyes of the people of Stormwind, he would initiate the infamous first Dark Portal event, bringing the Orcs to Azeroth. This marked the beginning of a series of turmoil and catastrophic crises in the world.

In that moment, Duke finally felt the seemingly stalled wheels of history still moving forward, in an irreversible direction.

Duke admitted reluctantly, "Alright, I confess that I took mana from the mana crystals Medivh kept in the mage tower. But it wasn't me who took it; it was Sun King's backdoor." Duke then told Norton about the backdoor Sun King left in the token using his mental power.

Norton was both delighted and shocked.

He was happy because he and Duke wouldn't be in trouble this time. But he was also surprised that the Elves had been so cunning as to leave a trick in the mana gems they provided to humans.

Seeing Norton's terrified expression, Duke comforted him, "Don't worry, I have access to the Pearl Shipping Line now. I can always buy a batch of mana gems to compensate Medivh later."

As if he would really compensate!

The next time he saw Medivh, the man would already be a boss of the Burning Legion! Who would be foolish enough to offer a gift to an enemy? Only someone with a broken mind would do such a thing.

Of course, Duke's words still managed to comfort the old man. When Duke offered to compensate for Norton's mana crystals, the old man refused.

"No need. I have no children, and I've spent most of my life studying Arcane magic. It wasn't until recently that I realized how old I've become and started looking for an apprentice. Although you're not my true apprentice in the traditional sense, I consider you my last disciple. Itana might have a chance to become a Sky Mage, but it would already be quite an achievement for Daniel to reach the level of an Earth Mage."

The old man placed his hand on Duke's shoulder, "My research will be carried on by you."

"I..."

Duke's eyes couldn't help but redden and moisten.

...

"Just as a father has a son, and the son has a grandson, in the world of mages, inheritance is just like that. Many times, for the sake of passing on knowledge, people do things without seeking a return."

"You don't have to be surprised; when you grow old, you'll think the same way. Alright, since you now have a solid foundation, starting tomorrow, you can officially learn my arcane techniques."

"I understand."

At this moment, a chaotic noise came from outside the house. It was probably the guards and on-duty mages from the Mage Academy.

"Hey! Karaba Norton, you old ghost, are you dead yet? If you're dead, just grunt." A rude shout came from outside the window.

"Filret, you'll be dead before me!" Norton retorted angrily.

"Good. What about Duke Marcus? Where is that little guy?"

"In a while, you'll be able to sit with him among the Sky Mages."

"Oh, damn, I've wasted my life. By the way, where should I send the bill? To you or to Marcus? The damages this time aren't small, it won't be fixed without a few thousand gold coins."

Upon hearing a few thousand gold coins, Norton's head shrank, "Of course Marcus will handle it himself."

Duke was speechless, the gratitude he felt for the old man not asking him to compensate for the crystals was gone.

Hey! What happened to the mentor taking care of everything?

Give my gratitude back to me!

Facing Duke's resentful gaze, Norton promptly changed the subject, "Right! Your arcane foundation is already well-established. Now is the time to strengthen your understanding of the arcane. Starting tomorrow, you'll come to me to learn arcane techniques."

Alright, consider it tuition.

After that day, the whole academy knew that Duke had advanced to a Rank 9 Earth Mage. The gaze of all the formal mages towards Duke had changed.

At first, Duke didn't understand, but later the old man told him that in the world of mages, only those who had formed true magic circuits and could continuously absorb ambient mana were recognized as real mages. The ability to cast three first-level spells was merely a standard for determining the boundary between mages and apprentices.

In the following days, Duke focused on learning arcane techniques with Norton, also known as Arcane Mastery.

Unlike the simple method of acquiring special effects through points in the game, Duke had to rely on his own senses to learn, as system sprites could not analyze the techniques.

Again and again, he practiced and failed. The number of failures was so many that Duke couldn't remember how many times he had failed.

Finally, Duke succeeded.

[Arcane Subtlety]: Your target's resistance to all your spells is reduced, the specific effect depends on whether you can grasp the target's weaknesses in actual combat.

[Arcane Focus]: You have a 10% chance to enter an energy-saving casting state after casting any damaging spell. The energy-saving casting state reduces the mana cost of your next damaging spell by 100%.

[Arcane Meditation]: Allows you to maintain 15% mana recovery speed while casting spells.

Just when Duke thought his days of research would continue indefinitely, a spell mark on his hand grew hot.

...