Despite spending two years in Stormwind, he had always seen the mysterious tower standing tall in the west part of the city whenever he looked in that direction. Occasionally, one could glimpse the purple or pale white magical light that glimmered from its top during the night, but this was the first time he actually approached the stairs at the base of the tower.
At the entrance, a mage was dressed in a short robe, with a wide-brimmed hat capable of providing shade, and, unusually, a long sword hung at his waist.
This person was checking the badges of those who entered and left, likely a mage guard of the Wizards' Sanctum, also referred to as a battle mage.
It's said that in the initial stages of the war, many seasoned mages lost their lives due to a lack of combat experience against orc warlocks, severely weakening the forces against the Horde's spell casters.
Dalaran, in collaboration with the magical organizations of the various kingdoms, began to recruit individuals with magical aptitude from the ranks of ordinary soldiers, emulating the way the Church of the Holy Light trained paladins. These individuals were transformed into battle mages who excelled in combat supported by magic within a short amount of time.
These battle mages eventually formed a new and formidable school of combat after the war.
Jess, however, was hoping for a more impressive method of verification, such as an arcane membrane that would keep out those without badges or with counterfeit badges.
After displaying his ring, he passed the check without issue and proceeded up the spiraling staircase that wound around the massive tower leading directly to the top. Before long, he towered above the lush canopy of greenery that was the mages' district.
Looking into the distance, there were only the purple tiles of the mages' district and the blue tiles outside, the soaring spire of the Cathedral of Light in the city center, the layered residential buildings and skyscrapers, and northward atop the hill by the docks, the formidable Stormwind Keep surrounded by noble residences overlooking the sea, as if a father leading his children.
The pathways, like cracks on a white wall, were bustling with groups of workers, merchants, carts carrying goods and building materials, with the traffic extending out to the roadways beyond the city.
Gazing further out beyond the city walls, the expanse of the Elwynn Forest unfolded, with the great river Nethergarde cutting through it, the forest stretching all the way to the distant mountains—the Redridge Mountains.
The Eastvale Logging Camp, which once took half a day to reach, now seemed close enough to touch.
The sight here was starkly different from that in the game, while the location remained more or less the same, the real atmosphere, with the play of light and shadow, far exceeded the polygons and color blocks of the games.
In Lordaeron, Jess had not felt quite the same because the game did not provide a pre-destruction Lordaeron, leaving him without the experience for comparison.
But here, the impact of reality and illusion was immensely strong.
Stepping through the doorway, he entered the upper section of the Wizards' Sanctum, which also housed the library.
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After being directed by a librarian, Jess descended two flights of the spiral staircase within the library to reach the section on alchemy books.
It was only when he reached this spot that he realized his concerns about his attire were unfounded.
The apprentices and mages flipping through books in the library probably didn't care about what was happening around them and wouldn't regard someone shabbily dressed as a thief. Perhaps only those with nothing better to do would choose to judge others based on their clothes and appearance.
With this in mind, he relaxed and started browsing the books with interest.
Luckily, his mother was the daughter of a farmer, and he had received a proper education as a child, which had allowed him to read. This, combined with his education from his previous life, gave him an adequate ability to absorb new knowledge, essential for understanding the specialized books here.
However, to match the complex herbs mentioned in the texts with the names used in the game, he needed the help of illustrations.
"Shadow Protection Potion... Shadow Protection Potion..."
He searched through various indexes and could not find the relevant entry. The convenience of a search engine was sorely missed, where a keyword search would yield a plethora of relevant and irrelevant information. Going back to this more traditional method seemed somewhat overwhelming.
After searching for a while, he realized he was looking in the wrong section. In fact, many items related to shadow magic were in the bookcase dedicated to black magic protection, including various potions and spells that counteracted shadow.
In "Laurel's Shadow Protection Techniques," a book with many annotations, he found a relatively simple shadow protection potion recipe and brewing procedure.
"Laurel's Lesser Shadow Protection Potion" was an adaptation master Laurel Haggai made from the standard shadow protection potion for emergencies.
Its advantages were a simple production process, easily obtainable materials, and a short brewing time while still providing a degree of shadow protection and mitigating the effects of shadow damage on the user.
The formula included:
Grave Moss, the base material of shadow protection potions, a dreadful plant that absorbs necrotic energy from graveyards, with some toxic properties.
Kingsblood, an important medium that could turn harmful effects into enhancing effects. Kingsblood was capable of transforming the shadow energy of Grave Moss to instead absorb shadow damage.
The claw of a vile beast, preferably the claw of an elder beast living near humanoid settlements that had attacked and killed humanoids, capable of weakening the potion's effects while shortening the brewing time.
Spring water away from any magical source.
The steps were as follows:
Set up a crucible without lighting a fire, pour in spring water.
Add Grave Moss to the water, and then light a fire to bring it to a boil.
When the water turns a faint purple and a fishy smell emerges, start stirring gently for 20 minutes.
As the water deepens to a dark purple, stir in a spoonful of dried and ground Kingsblood.
Remove from the fire and wait for the murky shadow energy to become semi-transparent and stable.
Light the fire again and bring to a boil.
Add ground Evil Claw powder; the powder should be fine as dust without particles larger than small gravel.
Stir gently for more than 10 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it cool.
Note: The potion should be bottled in a lead bottle or a specialized magic crystal bottle. For small bottles, drink in two doses; one dose is effective for an hour, or it becomes immediately ineffective upon sufficient shadow damage. In the final 10 minutes as the potion wears off, effects will gradually diminish.
Second note: The final product should be a red-purple tint, more transparent than the standard shadow protection potion. The taste is pungent and acidic, the first taste may cause dizziness, and as the potion's effects wane, it is normal to feel heat flushes on the face and tearing.
After reading it, Jess couldn't help but think it was quite troublesome. In the game, a standard shadow protection potion required only two ingredients plus a purchased bottle, while this recipe called for many more steps.
Actually, he had already looked at the standard recipe for a shadow protection potion, which was like reading the leaflet in a medicine box, many times more complicated than this recipe.
Collecting materials, while Grave Moss could grow in most places with dead, its availability near Stormwind was unlikely as it surely would have been picked clean by local herbalists and mages.
The cemeteries in Stormwind city were also regularly maintained because the potion was toxic and its poison could affect innocent gravediggers who hadn't even noticed the plant.
Jess needed to collect much more than required to give space for trial and error because if the brewing failed, he would have to start all over. Therefore, he needed to find a place where Grave Moss was abundant.
The ideal collection site would be Duskwood.