"You no take candle!" Large Candle Gag screeched, hurling a fireball straight at Haldryn.
The instant the light flared, his focus peaked. He changed direction mid-stride, copper hammer whirling, speed climbing another notch.
Boom.
The fireball met the swinging hammer and burst apart. Scattered flames still licked across his arm and shoulder—impossible to avoid completely.
It was only the lowest-tier fireball, yet Gag's casting speed, reaction, and projectile velocity were all exceptional. In every previous attempt Haldryn had taken at least some of the fire.
This was still the best result so far: only light burns.
They closed. Gag roared and came in hard with the short axe. Haldryn met it with equal fury, copper hammer raised.
Clang—clang-clang-clang!
Hammer and axe rang against each other in the narrow tunnel, sparks flying through the gloom.
Clang!
They locked weapons, both gritting their teeth. Without warning Gag leapt like a kangaroo and drove both feet toward Haldryn's midsection.
Haldryn had fought this exact sequence before. He caught the kicking foot in the same motion.
In an earlier bout he had succeeded in grabbing the foot only for Gag to use the hold to close the distance and bury the axe in his neck. This time he simply hurled the kobold away with all his strength.
Thud!
Gag smashed into the tunnel wall, howled, and crumpled. Haldryn gave it no time to recover. He lunged, hammer raised for a killing blow to the skull.
Clang!
At the last instant Gag got the axe up and blocked. Haldryn freed one hand and drove several rapid punches into its face. The kobold shrieked.
Just as victory seemed certain, Gag screamed and fire erupted between its palms.
Boom.
The blast scorched both of them. Haldryn staggered back, screaming; Gag tried to scramble free. Through the burning pain Haldryn forced himself forward, swept the hammer sideways, and knocked the kobold flat. When it tried to rise he brought the hammer down hard on the back of its head.
Crack.
Large Candle Gag burst into smoke and vanished. A single glowing page drifted to the floor.
He had won.
Haldryn exhaled, sat down hard, and picked up the page while still catching his breath.
[Obtained: 11.96 Piety]
[Obtained: A Tear-Jerking Romance Novel: Dripping Wax]
[Obtained: Enchantment: Fiery Weapon]
A Tear-Jerking Romance Novel: Dripping Wax?
Haldryn's eyes went wide.
Was this kobold somehow related to Marcus, Azeroth's legendary womanizer?
The third item pulled his attention away at once. He opened the Tome.
[Enchantment: Fiery Weapon: Imbues a weapon with magic so that its strikes may release the power of flame. Inferior weapons cannot be enchanted…]
His heart jumped. Excitement surged—then cooled the moment he looked at the wooden-hafted copper hammer in his hand.
Inferior weapons could not take the enchantment. His current hammer was the very definition of inferior.
At minimum he would need a weapon of Asgardian bronze. Asgardian soldiers' arms and armor all carried simple enchantments—reduced wear, improved edge retention, that sort of thing. Bronze was the baseline.
Buy a bronze weapon?
Or forge Verigan's Fist?
Emotionally he leaned hard toward the second option. The cost, however, was daunting.
One Asgardian bronze ingot cost 135 large gold coins. A warhammer needed at least seven. Even if bronze could substitute for Jordan's Refined Ore, that was only part of the expense. He still needed a substitute for Kor's Gem, plus the smith's labor.
A finished Verigan's Fist would easily run to several dozen Rune coins.
Where was he supposed to raise that kind of money? Not on his allowance.
He sat in silence for a long time, brow furrowed. Then something clicked. He flipped rapidly through the Tome until he found the recipe again.
Andorov's Hair Growth Tonic.
A grin spread across his face. He slapped his thigh.
How had he forgotten this?
Asgard had bald men too. If the tonic could cure baldness at a fraction of the usual price, several dozen Rune coins would no longer be a problem.
He had written the recipe off as useless. Now it looked like the most practical thing the Tome had ever given him. Apparently the Kings of old had cared about the elderly and the young alike.
And the romance novel? Might it have some unexpected use as well?
He turned to that page. A single line greeted him:
[Content too vulgar for display.]
Then why give it to me at all?
He closed the page and returned to the tonic recipe, studying every technical detail.
More complex than a healing stone, but still within his reach—provided he found suitable substitute herbs.
Silverleaf and Khadgar's Whisker were common herbs in Azeroth. Their counterparts here should not be rare either.
And he happened to live in an herbalist's shop.
He returned to the preparation room at once, gathered the most common herbs on the shelves, and placed them one by one on the recipe page.
[Starflash – 77% substitute for Silverleaf]
The first result was unsurprising. Silverleaf was the most common herb in WoW; Starflash held the same place in Asgard.
He continued.
[Bloodline Blossom – cannot substitute]
[Lifia Foxtail – 53% substitute for Silverleaf]
[Blackthorn – cannot substitute]
[Green Tuber – cannot substitute]
When every nearby herb had been tested, only Starflash at 77% showed any real promise.
Was Khadgar's Whisker truly that rare?
Did he need an actual beard?
He discarded the idea immediately. Despite the name, Khadgar's Whisker was a plant—it simply happened to resemble the archmage's facial hair.
^^^
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