Light's Dawn of Azeroth

Chapter 383, Section 73: Anvina's First Day at Work as the "Blade Runner Intern"

After the fall of the Qiraji Empire and the purification of almost all the Qiraji, the Silithus Desert became a place completely ignored.

Cenarion Hold, once stationed in the Great Desert, fell into a semi-abandoned state after General Staghelm led the Shifting Sands Guards away, with some druids remaining to monitor the changes in the local insect swarm.

Apart from this, no one else would easily venture here.

The information about meeting the Star Soul is top secret among all races. The trolls and elves once wanted to send people to guard it, but the World Mother refused, as she was well aware of the importance of keeping a low profile.

A group of beautifully dressed mortals are gathered here performing a strange ritual. Any villain with a brain would know that something is definitely wrong here.

As for the "Great Rift Valley" behind the Beetle Wall, it has become the most "isolated" place in the world.

But today, this place has welcomed "visitors".

A golden light descended from the sky, and amidst the echoing ethereal hymns, Anvina appeared as a "ghost," enveloped in holy light, followed by her "mentor."

A human and a ghost stood at the edge of the rift, gazing down at the terrain below, which had been completely altered by that battle.

There's more down there!

Anvina turned to the six-meter-tall Eredar giant and said:

"The insects did not give up here; they rebuilt their nests below."

"Yes, after losing the leadership of the Qiraji, the Qiraji swarm split up. The swarms beneath the quicksand are engaged in a brutal struggle for dominance, trying to seize the throne of the swarm's will."

Diakum explained:
"But they will all eventually become your 'servants'."

"what?"

The Sunwell Ghost blinked and said:

"The 'insects' you said you were going to give me are these Qiraji? I admit their reproductive rate is amazing, but their combat power is a bit weak, isn't it? You even destroyed their leader, the Qiraji, so how can they protect the world now?"

This question made Dick blink, and he said:

"The Qira worms are just 'embryos'. What kind of race they will become in the future depends on your own efforts to cultivate them. Your Star Soul Mother is the Supreme Star Soul in the Star Sea. It takes her several times longer to mature than other Star Souls."

This means you have enough time to get this done.

I also can't simply hand over a highly destructive, mature swarm of Zerg to a 'Queen of Blades' who has no idea how to control them.

That would only lead to disaster.

After all, you're not mature in many ways.

"You're really looking down on people!"

Anvina floated in the light with her arms crossed, her face, which resembled Kai's, full of displeasure.

She felt that she had been looked down upon by her "master".

She was born in the Sunwell and witnessed almost the entire process of Quel'Thalas' birth and rise. She was also very wise, wasn't she?

"You do not believe?"

Dick smiled.

Considering today was a "teaching session," the vigilant didn't preach. He stretched out his hand, letting a unique radiance burst forth from his fingertips, and said:
"Hold it and let's try it out."

Anvina wanted to prove herself, so she reached out and grasped the light at Dick's fingertips. In a dizzying moment, the consciousness of the Sunwell Ghost was dragged into a strange gray space.

The place was a vast, gray expanse, like a lifeless world.

"This is the 'war domain' I created in my mind. My Lightforged will complete the 'Trials of Virtue' here. During my more than 20,000 years of slumber, I also honed my martial arts and pondered my morality here."

Diakum projected his shadow onto the other side of the gray space and said to Anvina:

"I occasionally play 'war games' here with close friends to pass the time, but unfortunately not everyone has the talent to command a large army. Since you want to see the power of the Zerg swarm, then let's have a war game!"

You command my nearly complete swarm of Shadow Chasers, while I use the Light Legion's combat units as your hypothetical enemy.

He waved his hand, and a projection of the Overlord Hive immediately appeared before Anvina's eyes, in which all the combat units of the Shadow Chaser swarm were arranged.

Worker bees, dragons, zebras, lures, warriors, assassins, thieves, and even un-evolved overlords, hive tyrants, devourer tyrants, and other units stand ready, awaiting orders.

The roar of the overlord insect echoed from the insect nests covered in creep.

It is the core of the base; once it is destroyed by the enemy, the war game is over.

Anvina stood in front of this "sand table," observing the clearly more combat-capable swarm with great interest. She tried to give commands to the swarm projection, and then the various insects began to dance strangely around the nest.

The Watcher creates the battle formation of the Holy Light Legion at the other end of the sand table.

He placed real-world unit types such as Lightforged, Zealots, Lightforged War Machines, Dawn Vanguard, and Holy Light Archon in front of the Crystal Tower, which served as his "main base."

A spinning figure of a Naru floats above, signifying that this is where the "spring" is located.

Each side has a standard legion of nearly 5,000 people, forming different functional formations based on their respective ethnic groups.

"Since you are an intern of the Queen of Blades, you must first familiarize yourself with the logic of the Zerg Swarm's existence."

Dick stood with his hands behind his back, adopting the posture of a teacher, his serious expression and low-key demeanor symbolizing the authority of a physical education teacher with thirty years of teaching experience at the Mysterious Academy.

他 说:

"In real warfare, when you deploy a swarm on a battlefield, the newly spawned hive will be very vulnerable. You need to give instructions to the swarm to collect biomass, that is, 'flesh and blood' and nutrients to enable the swarm to evolve rapidly."

As a commander, a clear command strategy and a strategic vision are more important to you than personal bravery.

This is a 'tutorial' session, so I've saved you the 'development' time, allowing you to directly control the Shadow Chaser, which has been upgraded to the 'third stage'.

According to my assessment, a Zerg swarm at this stage could easily annihilate a mortal realm, provided that you, as the 'Commander' or 'Swarm Will,' issue the right orders at the right time.

The vigilant raised his hand and asked:
"Are you ready?"

"So, am I to lead the Zerg swarm to crush your Holy Light Legion?"

Anvina rubbed her hands together, eager to try, and said:

“I think this is easy, after all, your army looks quite small.”

"The Protoss are based on the Eredar, so they take an elite route."

Dick shrugged.

He smiled and waved downwards, and the war began on the sand table!
"You're the one, warrior insect army! The vanguard to crush the vigilant!"

Anvina clenched her fist and shouted.

A valiant squad of warrior insects immediately charged out along the terrain of the sand table, facing off against the lightforged sent by Diakum. The battle between the two sides was very realistic, with even cruel scenes of people falling to the ground and being devoured.

The Sunwell Ghost wasn't really playing a game.

While sending out warrior insects to hold the line, she also dispatched the fastest flying insects to try and steal her base.

Because of the "fog of war," she only knew where the Vigilant's base was, but not the surrounding terrain. As a result, the flying insect was ambushed and destroyed by the Lightforged War Machine, which was capable of attacking air units, on a high ground halfway through its flight.

This threw Anvina into a bit of a panic, especially when a squad of Zealots from the Vigilant broke out from the edge of the area; she was clearly flustered.

She single-handedly blocked all her troops outside the base in an attempt to defend it, and secretly sent out her strongest warriors, the King Beast and the Devourer Tyrant, to try and raid the base again.

Unfortunately, this irrational decision-making was powerless against Diakum's methodical advance.

Seven minutes later, when her Zerg hive was destroyed by the Dawn Vanguard and the Overlord was purified by the Holy Flame by the Holy Light Archon, the Overlords and Devourer Tyrants she sent out were still being led around by the enemy's Zealots.

"Ah, I lost."

Anvina sighed, somewhat unwillingly.

She could tell that Diakum had expended less than one-sixth of his total forces when he achieved victory, while her side had suffered far greater casualties.

"One more round? You seem to be getting the hang of it."

The vigilant said slowly:

"Time flows slowly in the mental space, giving us plenty of opportunities to practice. I'll switch to a projection of a real map; let's use the terrain of the Antoran Wastes."

"it is good!"

The Sunwell Ghost reviewed the game briefly and realized she had been a bit too hasty. She was confident she could win this round.

Then, she lost even more miserably this time.

Because she had never been to the Antoran Plains, but Diakum had fought there and knew the terrain like the back of his hand, while her swarm was still being harassed by "wild monsters" in the Fel Rift, the Vigilant's Lightforged Warframes were already airdropped at the gates of her base.

"unfair!"

She screamed:

"Why not use the terrain I'm familiar with? Use the terrain of Quel'Thalas!"

“I can use the terrain of Silvermoon City to dispel the fog of war and fight you in a brutal street battle.”

Diakum readily agreed to the changes to the terrain, allowing the exquisite Silvermoon City to stand on the sand table.

This time, Anveena defended with her Zerg swarm, while the Legion of Light took the offensive.

The vigilant changed their tactics, abandoning the "rush" style of attack and instead showcasing their micro-management skills.

Soldiers clashed against soldiers, generals against generals, fighting fiercely in every square and alley of Silvermoon City. The Vigilant's orders were directly relayed to the Lightforged at the grassroots level, bringing his army to life.

Every squad of minions was showcasing their skills like crazy, while Anvina's brain was completely overloaded. She also issued commands to each squad of bugs, but the "single-core computing power" was clearly not enough, leaving the Sunwell Gladiator frantically watching helplessly as her bugs were devoured one by one by the enemy.

She even saw the Lightforged charging at her position in a "three-by-three" formation, and the heavy firepower of the assembled Lightforged war machines blasted her Beast to death in a corner of the city.

Smoke filled the air, as brutal as a real war. When the proud Lightforged stepped over the corpses of the insect swarms and onto the high ground of the hive, Anvina was filled with despair.

"That must be because the 'god race' you mentioned is elite!"

The Sunwell Ghost rubbed her forehead and said defiantly:

“These are clearly your mother tribe, so it’s understandable that they’re designed to look more supermodel-like.”

"Oh?"

Seeing his apprentice still stubbornly refusing to admit defeat, the Vigilant reached out and spun his hand, switching the two sides. It was still Silvermoon City, but this time he would be in control of the swarm, while Anveena would be in control of the Legion of Light.

War breaks out again.

Following Dick's previous winning strategy, the clever Anvina began to try micro-management, but this time she felt that her Holy Light Warriors had stepped into a dangerous quagmire.

In the darkness of every building lurks a greedy swarm of insects. When a Lightforged is alone, it will be swarmed and killed by Zerglings. Even the mighty Lightforged mechs can be killed by Warriors. Even the powerful Archon of Light, when it slaughters all the insects and rushes to the high ground, is met with an attack from Overlords and a large number of Wyverns.

The Protoss's disadvantage of having fewer people was exposed at this moment. After the main force was wiped out, Diakum used the classic "Wyvern rush" tactic to destroy the crystal tower, causing the Naaru to collapse in a tragic way.

After this match, Anvina completely lost her luster.

She is actually a pretty good girl.

She realized what the Vigilant meant when he said she couldn't be entrusted with commanding a mature swarm; she, as the Blade Queen intern, truly lacked the ability to command such a large army.

"too difficult."

Anvina sighed and said:

"The pressure of such large-scale operations is too great; I may have to learn it from scratch."

"Yes, you do need to start with the most basic command courses and war training. For that, I have prepared a simpler model for you."

With a wave of his hand, Diakum transformed the terrain of the sand table into the landscape of Elwynn Forest, and four commanders—Lothar, Orgrim, Malfurion, and Baratheon—appeared before Anveena.

The vigilant said:

"Humans, orcs, elves, and undead, we'll use small-scale conflicts in Azeroth as models for your war training."

Just pick any commander.

I've devised different unit compositions and classic tactics for each of the four races. These combinations typically limit conflicts to around a hundred players, making them more suitable for beginners like yourself.

He reminded Anvina:

"As the guardian of the Star Soul Lord, all the races of Azeroth will be your guardians in the future, and you must also be familiar with their combat tactics."

"I can understand the first three, but why are undead appearing too?"

Anvina said in surprise:
"Isn't that a creation of the Death Force?"

"Azeroth will eventually have its own necromancers; it's only a matter of time."

Diakum rested his hands on the edge of the sand table and whispered:

"You have to consider the worst-case scenario: if everyone in the world dies, will you give up the fight, or will you command their corpses and continue fighting the invaders to the very end?"

"hiss"

Anvina gasped.

His "master" always said these startling things without him even realizing it.

She tried to temporarily forget this terrifying "setting," and then enthusiastically began to examine the attributes and troop types of the four commanders. After hesitating for a long time, she said:
Why aren't there any high elves?

"Uh, I integrated them into the human empire."

Dick said:
"If you want, you can replace Lothar with Dath'Remar Sunstrider. It's just that the available heroes are different, but the units below are the same."

"Okay, I'm going to take control of Dath'Remar Sunstrider."

With a wave of her hand, Anveena summoned Dath'Remar Sunstrider, wielding Flame Strike, to Northshire Abbey. A group of armed militiamen stared blankly at the Sun King, awaiting orders.

"In the simple mode, you have to learn how to operate."

Dick explained:
"There's a gold mine nearby where farmers can dig for resources, the Stonemasons Brotherhood will build functional buildings for you, and Archbishop Faol will be in charge of resurrecting heroes in the Resurrection Hall of Northshire Abbey."

Of course, this is for your convenience in understanding.

In real-world warfare, if a commander dies, another commander will take his place.

understand? "

"Okay, I'll give it a try."

Anvina began manipulating the farmer to dig a hole, but she had a ulterior motive and said to the watchman:

“You are no match for me, you are too powerful! You are the strongest commander of the Eredar, I will follow the course of history! I will make Orgrim Doomhammer follow the Horde’s offensive.”

"If you can't beat PVP, you start playing PVE? That's such a childish thing to do."

The vigilant shrugged, took his hands off the keyboard, and put Anvina into "human-machine mode" to try to regain her confidence. However, the problem was that the "human-machine" mode here in Diakum was based on the "crazy human-machine" mode recorded in history.

As a result, just as Anveena clumsily opened her second mine in Goldshire, the wolf riders and Grunts from Orgrim, under the cover of dragon riders, charged over and wiped her out.

"This is outrageous! Damn it!"

Seeing Dath'Remar Sunstrider, under her control, being utterly humiliated and slaughtered by a group of orc warriors, the Sunwell Gladiator was enraged.

This is not the Sun Chaser she remembers!

You fucking stand up straight!

Use your Flame Strike to kill all these orcs! Was that exaggerated scream when you fell for real?

She even wanted to flip the table, but eventually calmed down.

She realized she didn't really have much of a commanding ability, but Diakum was right, Mother World could wait, so she could keep practicing.

"Let's go and take on the challenge."

Dick, with his hands behind his back, said to his apprentice:
"By relying on the connection between the Star Soul Lord and the life of the world, you can select outstanding souls among mortals in the Dream of All Beings to engage in war games with you."

After you achieve 99 victories, I will give you the Overmind Egg of the Shadow Chaser Swarm, located in the tunnels beneath the ruins of Qiraji. You can then begin to cultivate a swarm that belongs to you and the Lord of Azeroth.

But I remind you, Anvina, war games are just practice!

Real warfare involves many more factors; you should perhaps visit those battlefields yourself to see for yourself and even participate.

"Okay, I got it."

Anvina nodded.

As she left Diakum's mental space, she was taught the entire technique of shaping the war game. Anvina glanced at the unnoticed Qiraji Rift and clenched her fist.

She vowed that one day she would become a qualified "Queen of Blades".

Of course, she still has to start from being an 'intern' for now. Her next goal is to be promoted to "Stubborn Bronze".

------

The Broken Isles, in the city of Nasaras.

Anduin Lothar is preparing for tomorrow's leadership meeting. The Black Raven King has invited him to speak on behalf of humanity, which is a very important diplomatic matter. So Lothar is hunched over his elven-style desk, writing and drawing, preparing his speech.

As I was writing, everything suddenly went black.

Lothar opened his eyes and found himself back in Elwynn Forest, surrounded by a group of armed farmers staring at him dumbfounded.

"What's going on?"

The human marshal was stunned, then heard a majestic voice in his ear:
"This is the trial of war in the 'Heart of the World,' Anduin Lothar. As the savior, you must always be alert to war in order to defend against the dangers that may come at any time."

come on!

Lead your army to defend against the threat from the orcs.

"Uh?"

Lothar was stunned for a moment, then the rules of the War Game were shoved into his mind.

The marshal spent a few minutes familiarizing himself with the rules and then looked at the types of troops he could use.

"I can command Iron Horse Knights, Guardians of the Faith, Dwarven Musketeers and Steam Tanks, High Elf Dragonhawk Knights and Priests, and Dalaran Spellcasters? I can even summon powerful figures to aid me at the Altar of Heroes?"
Despite the economic, building, and population restrictions, isn't this just allowing for indiscriminate warfare?

The marshal blinked, clapped his hands, and said:

"This is much more generous than the conditions we had when we defended Stormwind. Why would the Heart of the World give me such a simple trial?"

Never mind, I need to finish typing quickly so I can write my speech.

Anvina, hiding behind the scenes, was somewhat stunned by Lothar's mutterings.

She gritted her teeth and controlled the seemingly foolish Orgrim Doomhammer in her hand, vowing to teach the arrogant Lothar a lesson!

(End of this chapter)