A Price Too High to Bear

Elemental Earth wasn't ordinary dirt you could pick up outside. It was a special substance close to the very essence of earth elementals, found naturally almost nowhere except the elemental planes, elemental creatures, and certain magical minerals.

The ancient earthen, the dwarves' ancestors, had been made almost entirely of this pure substance.

I get it. This recipe uses the way a dwarf's body works to fight poison. Simple and brutal.

As Jess remembered it, Elemental Earth had a small chance of dropping when you killed a living earth elemental. Those creatures roamed some extremely dangerous places. With his abilities, he could forget about going out to look for them himself.

Back when he played the game, Jess had made his first real money early in an expansion by using Elemental Earth to craft Elemental Sharpening Stones. Even in the game, a world full of terrifying warriors who could take on young dragons alone, Elemental Earth was quite expensive.

He flipped back and forth through several pages. The book said nothing about how to obtain Elemental Earth in this world or how much it cost. He would have to ask at Alchemy Needs.

When he walked into the shop, Ruth wasn't there this time. A young blond girl was minding the counter.

"Hello. Can I help you?"

"Are you Maria Lumere?" Jess asked.

"I am. My mother's out, so I'm looking after the shop. I remember your voice. You're the herbalist, right?"

"Right." Jess relaxed a little. If Ruth had been there, she might have guessed he'd been infected with corpse poison, and then he'd probably have had to put up with some sarcastic remarks.

"I'd like to know how much Elemental Earth costs."

"Elemental Earth?" The girl opened her mouth in surprise. "You... want to place an order? I could ask my mother to write to Dalaran or Lordaeron and see if any alchemists there have some they want to sell. It might take two or three months, though. I can't give you a definite date."

Jess had an all-too-familiar feeling. It was just like listening to the owner of Duncan's tailor shop explain the history of that seven-gold-coin outfit.

He wasn't very interested in the price of Elemental Earth anymore. Writing letters, contacting alchemists in several cities, then waiting months just to arrange a purchase was already far beyond anything he'd imagined.

"Never mind." Jess waved a hand and started to leave, then turned around again.

"Do you know a good way to cure corpse poison?"

"Corpse poison?" Maria said. "You could ask at the Cathedral of Light."

Of course... Why hadn't he thought of going to a priest?

Jess suddenly felt like an idiot. He thanked her and rushed out of the alchemy shop.

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It was just past noon. As he hurried along the street beside Stormwind's canals, the sky was a little gloomy, but Jess felt as if everything around him had a halo.

Maybe it was the light reflecting off the ripples in the canal. Or maybe, after reading about the symptoms of corpse poison, he'd started paying more attention to every strange sensation.

Now his whole body felt wrong. He seemed about to turn into a zombie at any moment, and the thought alone made his legs feel unsteady.

The sunlight grew more and more blinding. It even hurt his skin. Was he about to turn into a vampire on the spot? Was he going to create the San'layn more than ten years early...?

Would walking too fast make the poison spread through his body faster? Jess remembered hearing that you shouldn't move around too much after a snakebite, or you'd die sooner.

The more he thought about it, the blurrier everything in front of him seemed.

Cathedral Square had once stood at the far northern end of Stormwind. But with the rebuilding and expansion around it, the city had spread farther north. Now the square sat near the center, surrounded by construction sites.

During the war, the cathedral had sheltered refugees for a long time. Even now, quite a few citizens whose homes hadn't been rebuilt were still living in Cathedral Square.

The Cathedral of Light was still unfinished, with scaffolding and ladders crowded around its towers and white walls. Even so, it was magnificent.

Jess admired the cathedral's imposing shape as he crossed a newly built canal bridge. Before he even reached the archway into Cathedral Square, a guard stopped him.

"The king and queen are visiting sick and suffering refugees in Cathedral Square. No unauthorized visitors."

"I'm sick too," Jess said. "Seriously sick... I need a priest's help."

"What's wrong with you?"

"I've been poisoned. It might be corpse poison."

The guard lifted Jess's chin and looked at his neck.

"I can't tell what it is, but there's definitely something wrong with you. You can go in, but stay away from the square. They won't let you in there anyway. Some priests are treating patients in that building on the left. Try your luck there."

"Thank you so much."

Once he was allowed through, Jess meant to go straight to the small building the guard had pointed out. But then he got curious about what King Varian Wrynn looked like as a teenager.

As he passed the entrance to Cathedral Square, he glanced inside and saw rows of guards and richly dressed nobles blocking the way.

Behind them, blue flags bearing the lion emblem moved slowly through the crowd. Cheers and praise rose now and then. That was probably where the king was, but Jess couldn't see a thing from here.

Several guards blocking the street stared at Jess as he tried to peek inside. He didn't dare linger and had to head for the building.

What a shame. He hadn't gotten to see the king.

Jess felt like he'd turned into some kind of celebrity fan. He'd come to another world with no special power, no powerful bloodline, and now he wasn't even allowed to see a celebrity?

He entered the small building the guard had mentioned, where sick citizens were being treated temporarily. There were plenty of patients waiting to be seen. Most of the priests had people crowded around them, and a tall man who might have been a paladin or a guard was trying to keep order. He didn't seem to be having much luck.

Just then, a female priest finished speaking with an injured man who was being helped along by someone else. Jess squeezed his way over.

"Hello... Priest, do you have a moment?"

"Of course. What do you need help with?"

Jess remembered what it had been like going to a public hospital before coming to this world. With crowds of different patients asking every kind of strange question, it couldn't have been easy for the doctors to stay calm.

But the priests here were something else. After speaking, this one even smiled at Jess. She looked tired and sweaty, and the smile lasted only a moment before disappearing, but still.

"I think I've been infected with corpse poison..."

"Corpse poison? Are you sure, sir? Where have you been that could have exposed you to it? Usually you'd have to be attacked by a ghoul..."

"I went to a cemetery and scratched my hand."

The priest lowered her head doubtfully. She pulled back his sleeve and examined the veins in his neck and arms. Something flickered in her eyes.

"Come with me."