The Garrison of Warcraft - Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Surnames of the Elven Race
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The female Elven Mage was pleased at the speed in which Sean and Meryl accomplished her tasks.
Even she had not progressed that fast when she was newly exposed to magic. Indeed, the noble king of Quel’Thalas was right when he said although the Humans could not live long, they possessed extraordinary learning capabilities.
“Yes, we’ve finished.” Sean nodded. He then extended his left arm and a small amount of Water was seen converging on his palm.
The female elven mage’s eyes instantly widened, she was dumbfounded for an entire three seconds before she exclaimed, “What! You can already conjure water?!”
The exclamation from the female Elven Mage shocked the rest of the Elven Mages. One of the male Elven Mages was enchanting a longsword for a knight when he heard heer. Upon hearing it, his hand jerked and the runed rod malfunctioned, causing the enchantment to turn into a mess. The owner of the longsword raged at the sight of it.
However, the male Elven Mage completely ignored the royal knight even though he was not of a low level. He rushed towards Sean and stared at the Water suspended above his palm. In self denial, he shook his head and murmured to himself, “Impossible! This is impossible! This is totally impossible! How can a Human even possess such strong magical talent, this is totally impossible!”
The female Elven Mage was incredulous too. She shook her head and said, “If you were a High Elf who had reached adulthood and possessed a strong Spirit, that’d still be understandable. After all, strong mental energy is immensely helpful in learning the ways of Arcane Magic. But you’re just a kid, a Half-Elf who hasn’t even reached the age of fifteen… How is that possible!”
However, the truth was standing in front of her.
Sean would not reveal that even though the body that was standing in front of her had only lived for less than fifteen years, his soul was a fusion of at least two people. One was the fifteen years old Sean of this world, the other was the more than twenty years old Sean from Earth.
The fusion of two souls was not as straightforward as simply summing up both Spirits. Sean’s powerful soul had caused his Spirit attribute to shoot up to 18 points. Such a strong Spirit could already be compared to that of a Mid Level Mage. Hence, it was no surprise that he was able to conjure water.
It was only moments after that the female Elven Mage managed to recover herself. She instructed the other Elven Mages to continue their enchantments and lead Sean and Meryl into her room.
Signalling for the both of them to sit down, the female Elven Mage spoke softly, “I’ve been flipping through some books and I managed to find your surname in an ancient tome. Feathermoon was a surname borne by Night Elf nobility, they were also known as “The Highborne”. Perhaps it’s due to this bloodline that you’ve been blessed with unprecedented magical talent, which explains why you’re able to conjure water within the short period of ten days.”
After a brief pause, the female Elven Mage lamented, “What an admirable surname. It’s unlike mine, Morningdew, the surname of a commoner.”
In the distant past, the elves had derived their surnames from objects in nature. The higher the position an object was in nature, the greater the status of the surname.
Most of the surnames amongst the lowest class of society included phrases such as Water, Soil, Grass and Dew, like Morningdew, Winterdew and Blacksoil.
Words like Storm, Tree and Mountain represented the middle class of society. Stormrage, Whisperwind, Windrunner, Oaktree and Volcano were examples of such surnames. Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage and Elven Priestess Tyrande Whisperwind were both nobles born around ten thousand years ago.
Surnames that referenced terms such as Cloud, Rain, Snow, Raven, Bird and Eagle represented the upper class of society. Ravenshade and Mistwalker were two such examples.
Finally, the surnames of the uppermost class society referenced objects in nature that were high above, their surnames contained words like Star and Moon, such as Starwhisper, Dawnstar, Feathermoon and Sunstrider.
The Feathermoon family was obviously one of the most influential ones within the Elven race.
However, the High Elves had been separated from the Night Elves for as long as eight thousand years and the ancient surnames had since become an increasingly forgotten history. Perhaps the only surname they remembered that belonged to the highest class of Elves was the surname of the king of Quel’Thalas’ himself… Sunstrider.
Speaking of ‘Feathermoon’, Sean immediately thought of a name that had long been on his mind. He asked, “Feathermoon? Shandris Feathermoon?”
The female Elven Mage clearly did not expect Sean to mention that name. She was taken by surprise and said, “You’ve heard of this name? I only found out about it while flipping through the ancient records. According to it, she was the outstanding member of the Feathermoon clan’s younger generation, a powerful bright ranger. She was also one of the few survivors within the family after the War of the Ancients.
Survivors?
Few?
Sean was stunned.
Sean had limited understanding of the history of the World of Warcraft. Besides, the world of Azeroth was nowhere similar to the Azeroth he had encountered in the games and novels of his past life. In regards to matters related to the Feathermoon family, Sean had no further memories other than a vague memory of Shandris Feathermoon.
If General Shandris Feathermoon was one of the few remaining survivors of the Feathermoon family, then was Sean related in any way to the legendary general of the Sentinels?
The female Elven Mage had no appetite to gossip further, her priority remained fixed only on Sean’s study of magic.
She interrupted Sean’s thoughts and said, “Sean, Conjuration is all about learning the magic of summoning, it’s what most mages are first exposed to when they start. The great elements of Earth, Fire, Water and Wind can be summoned to our service. However, all Mages have differing affinities and strengths towards the different elements. For instance, I am inclined towards Water. Only very few geniuses have a strong affinity towards all elements. Sean, the first thing you’ve learned to summon is Water, which means you’re quite inclined towards this element. However, I wonder if you share the same affinity for all the other elements.”
Elemental affinity is important.
For instance, if the Fire Element was not fond of you, it did not matter how much effort you put in, you could only summon a tiny spark of flame that would not be warm enough to light a candle.
On the other hand, if the Water Element was fond of you, all it took was a thought for a Sea Giant to bend the knee, perhaps it would even bring a handful of its minions along.
Although Sean could summon Water, his affinity for it still needed to be properly determined.
The female Elven Mage extended both her arms, with red light radiating out of one hand and blue light from the other. She explained, “Among the Four Great Elements, the Earth Element is dense in nature, whereas the Wind Element is illusive, they’re difficult to control. Only the Fire and Water Elements are sought after by most mages. I have the greatest affinity with Water, but I am decently inclined towards Fire. I’ve summoned both Elements here, feel it.”
The Elven Mage raised both hands, the Elements pervaded in the air and fused together while still retaining their individual properties, exemplifying the capabilities of the experienced High Magus.
Sean and Meryl were surrounded and immersed within the Elements.
If a mage had great affinity for Fire, he would become a Fire Mage, like the Blood Elven Prince, Kael’thas.
On the other hand, if a mage had great affinity for Water, he would become a Frost Mage, just like the eternal main character, Jaina.
However, if a mage showed no affinity for either, he would have to focus solely on Arcane energy itself and become a pure Arcane Mage, for example… the legendary Mage, Antonidas? Fine, perhaps this noble Mage’s affinity with the elements was not that bad…