Part 1
Aethas stand before the near death door Arcane elemental fearlessly, the monster stare at Aethas with endless hatred in it eyes, ready to rip him into pieces.
“This is what you want right?” Aethas held up the focusing Keystone in his hand, taunting the aberration, right now- the only thing that could possibly save it from the brink of Mana exhaustion, which is deadly in the case of a creature that was made of pure mana, is this object which held a control over the Leyline power and the surrounding mana.
The Arcane elemental immediately rushed toward him- “Like hell I would let you have it!” Aethas quickly tossed the Keystone aside, attracting the creature attention which give him a brief window of time for his secret trump card.
“What remnant of your power is now mine! [Drain Life]!” another Warlock ability that was taught to Aethas by his teacher, the skill that sucked the essence of a creature and benefit the caster, a sinister vampiric skill- however, Aethas had thought of another possibility for this spell!
“Aethas! What are you doing! Run! Quickly get out of there!” Valeera shouted.
“My mistress! Can you not see what the master is trying to do! He is draining the very essence of the creature and absorbing it for himself! Such ingenious move!” Rizglob cannot be give his master, Aethas praises- if his master were to succeed, his power would receive a qualitative changes! It wouldn't be that bad serving such a master, Rizglob dream of becoming a Demon Lord wouldn’t just be a dream anymore!
“JUST ACCEPT YOUR FATE ALREADY!” Aethas roared at the wailing aberration of Mana, whom were struggling with all of it might, trying to break free and get away at all cost, clawing itself into the stone floor of the chamber while howling, seeing this scene Aethas pressed on more pressure and increased the output power of his [Drain Life] spell, slowly the Arcane elemental body began to get absorbed into the palm of his hand, bit by bit.
“ARGHHH!!! DAMN IT!!! JUST DIE ALREADY!!!” The raw power of the creature- even if it’s only a shadow of it former self is enough to cause burns on his arms, which then extended up into his body caused Aethas to growl in agony, the massive amount of mana flowing through Aethas right now is enough to cause his blood vein to glow vibrantly by the time he finished absorbing the last drop of mana from the monster, leaving only a rolling blue core behind.
“God damn it! Finally- argghhh the pain…” the only comparison he had for the amount of agony he gone through right now is getting run over by a train! He wailed on the ground.
“Aethas!” Valeera quickly ran over to Aethas to check on his condition, when she got there, Valeera was shocked and horrified seeing the extensive amount of damage he had suffered- his hands were blackened and cracked with mana residue gushing out.
“I’m fine Valeera, this is nothing but a scratch.” he chuckles, with great power comes great agony- or so that’s what they said, look like it is indeed true.
“How are you feeling my master?” Rizglop appeared and questioned his master with great expectations. “The feeling is just great!” Aethas slowly stood up- now after the pain has subsided, he could feel the power coursing through his very blood- Aethas knew that he had saturated every single cells within his body to their limit capacity and with a flip of his hand, a blast of pure condensed arcane energy crashed onto the debris that had previously blocked their path of escape.
“This could be quite addicting…” Aethas look down on his hands and contemplated. His parents are going to question him about these battle injuries most likely, another fact is, since the battle is over, it's time to gather his loot and get the hell out of this place, the Keystone and the Arcane core definitely needed to be collect- he could use those materials to possibly craft Epic quality if not Legendary artifact in the future- sure it might be a farfetch dream, but when you’re young, dream big they said.
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“Valeera, help me gather up as much treasure as possible, we need to get out of here.” he ordered, Valeera was stunned for a moment before she snapped back and quickly pick up as many crystallized mana crystal and stuffed them into her satchel, and as for Aethas- he had already pocket the 2 most important items already.
“Rizglop, your share will be what remained in that trunk, 50% of the amount we have looted today- our deal is complete, you may return to the Twisting Nether.” Rizglop has no complain- or much to complain anyway, he could not voiced his object as it is indeed true, 50% of the loot- “Summon me more often master! I shall serve you faithfully from now on.” the imp laughed before a Fel-fire magic circle appeared beneath him and the tiny imp exploded.
Part 2
The once “peaceful” town of Tranquillien now busy with activity as workers moved back and forth, dragging stones and bricks toward the construction site, it has been 4 months since the day Aethas retrieved the Keystone from the Sanctum of the Moon- his goal now was with the instruction of professor Sunreach, and the fellow mages, construct a new Arcane Sanctum, one that is large enough to supply the town with endless mana and possibly the entire Ghostlands region once it is fully reclaimed.
Aethas was now currently walking around the site, viewing and overseeing the progress that had been done thus far, strangely enough both of his hands were wrapped with a thick clothes of silk acting as bandages, of course the injuries had completely healed, however the remnant, the scar is still there, Aethas wanted to hide these injuries away from the public eyes as to not draw attention to himself- it would be strange if one were to see a child walking down the road with both of his hands shown visible burn scar with glowing veins.
“Foreman, when is the expected time that this sanctum be completed?” he asked the elf with a yellow hard hat, holding the blueprint of what seemed to be a giant castle tower.
“Oh boss! Glad to see you here, if everything goes according to plan, your Sanctum will be completed in another 6 months.” the foreman told him- to Aethas 6 months is indeed a long time, seeing that they only managed to dig out the foundation and completed laying the groundwork just a week prior, however thinking of all the process that had to go through for the sanctum to activate, he couldn’t possibly voiced his complaints, the building itself, the materials that needed to be transported, the labor force that needed, the coins that those workers want and finally- the mages shifting and directing the leyline.
After Aethas finished a tour of the construction site, he quietly walk back home- to his teacher, professor Sunreach resident, which is a renovated spire that were abandoned years ago but now purchased over to Aethas family.
“Ah my dear apprentice, you’re finally returned to see your teacher, how was the note I gave you? Any inspiration? Demon summoning can be quite dangerous, you must always make preparations!” the old elf advised, during those 4 months, Aethas did nothing but to seek more knowledge from his teacher on the dark art- the old elf was reluctant at first, however after Aethas demonstrated a bit of his newfound power, he was MORE than happy to give up those knowledges for his cute disciple.
Which ranges from spells from mages, advance enchanting and disenchanting, and the juiciest of them all, Warlock spells on Demon summoning- the old man might be a warlock whom specialized in the way of destruction during his prime, but it doesn’t mean that he didn’t know anything about other specializations, which range from the curses of Affliction to the conjuring of powerful demonic entities- and Aethas was more interest on the latter part.
During those months, he had completely mastered all the knowledge the old warlock had to offer- the only option he had left now is either wait for the portal to Dalaran to be stabilized- or seek an adventure of his own, since based on his teacher's description of the “new” Azeroth power scale.
Aethas could be considered to be a full fledged sorcerer with the Apprentice badge to show for proof- unlike the game which is based on the level of the player to determine power. In this new world, an individual power level is determined by the power they have proofed and what they earned- such as the apprentice badge.
In the world, there are Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert and Master- above that are the realm beyond any mortal could achieved- only under strict conditions can they possibly be met, a Paragon or a Champion, to put it into easier terms to understand, Aethas estimate that if these titles and ranks- Paragon or Champion would be on the same level as the leader of a race or faction back in the game, unfortunately his teacher does not know what is above that realm, as he is only a Master Warlock before his retirement.
Fortunately, unlike the game which were just a simulation, this is reality, thus of course there is a chance and possibility that even a Novice could find a way to take down someone who is at the master level, it might be low but it still exists and knowing that his own power is above that of many people in this world does give him a sense of accomplishment- however if his teacher had a better estimation, Aethas ranking is in no way below that of the Journeyman realm, quite possibly an expert with just the ridiculous amount of mana he had inside of himself.
The only limitation he had is experiences and the way he utilized his spell.