Make Azeroth breathtaking

Rusty Sword gripped his weapon tightly, his palms already damp with sweat. If there were only one or two murlocs, a strong young man could fight them. However, if there were more than ten murlocs, a farm would be in danger, and if there were more than a hundred, a village might be wiped out!

"This might work... Take this!!"

With the clanging of coins, he threw a copper grenade using a makeshift slingshot, and it rolled into the fish swarm.

"Gah?"

A fish-man lowered his head and glanced curiously at the metal sphere that had suddenly rolled into them, emitting a somewhat unpleasant odor of smoke.

The next moment, the grenade exploded, and the unlucky fishman closest to it was instantly riddled with dozens of small holes and fell to the ground without a sound. The other fishmen affected by the grenade either had their scales torn off or were injured, losing most of their fighting ability.

"Gagaga!!"

One of the murlocs, dressed in a style distinctly different from the others, shouted, and the charging murlocs began to break up their lines—clearly, these murlocs were not inexperienced in dealing with area-of-effect attacks.

However, despite their dispersed formation, the limited space of the cave meant that the coin grenades were still able to achieve some results. As the murlocs approached, the adventurers grabbed their bows and arrows and began firing wildly—after all, the murlocs were close enough that any shot would hit.

"Shield!!"

After two rounds of firing, the murlocs were extremely close. Rusty Sword shouted, grabbed his shield, and placed it on the makeshift cover, joining the two goblins at the front.

A sound of flesh being torn rang out as the first wave of merfolk charged in crashed solidly into the adventurers' shield wall. Instantly, these unfortunate souls were either ripped apart by the spikes on the shields or stabbed to death by the adventurers who had been waiting with their weapons.

"Gaga gaga gaga woo woo gaga!!!"

Seeing that his first wave of soldiers had done nothing but provide the adventurers with some dye, King Mugamk brandished his scepter and roared again. A second wave of murlocs surged out from behind him and rushed toward the battlefield.

"Warning! There might be a spellcaster inside!"

In the midst of his busy schedule, Rusty Sword used his binoculars to look at the group of fishmen and keenly spotted a few strange fellows in the group who were holding something that looked like vines.

"Drag the plesiosaur hide up! Quickly!"

Steel Coin threw out two grenades, slightly slowing down the advance of the mermen. He yelled and, under his command, the adventurers hurriedly stuffed plesiosaur hides behind their shields as a second layer of protection.

"Ping!!"

The second wave of murlocs crashed heavily into the shield wall. This time, Rusty Sword felt a chill emanating from the shield. Clearly, it wasn't just the murlocs that were hitting the shield, but also spells like Frostbolt cast by the murloc casters—if it weren't for the serpent's hide mitigating some of the elemental effects, his hands would probably be frostbitten.

"Hold on! We'll get reinforcements once Miss Tannis finishes her task!"

——————————————Tannis's dividing line——————————————————

Although the battle was taking place nearby, Tennys frantically cleared her mind of distractions and focused as much as possible on assembling the thing in front of her.

She knew very well that what she needed to do now was to assemble the transmission device in front of her as quickly and perfectly as possible. Although it had not undergone systematic testing, it had been improved to be as reliable as possible due to the multiple data transmissions from the mechanical assistant. She could not be nervous, she could not be distracted, and she had to concentrate fully.

'Screws, circuitry... energy operation OK, control panel correct, coordinates confirmed... phase transfer device preheating...'

Even when the merfolk's weapons were almost thrust at her face, Tannis's hands didn't tremble. Her memories as a mechanic from the Celestial Realm put her into a mystical state, allowing her to maintain high efficiency in assembling equipment even on such a battlefield.

"Done!! Ignition!!!"

Tannis, having connected the last wire, slammed down a red button. A burst of electric light began to travel between the two poles. Gazlowe in Ratchet saw the green light illuminate and quickly pressed the red button on the corresponding instrument. In the blink of an eye, the passage was formed.

"Charge, guys! Burn those fish! Get our money back!!!"

18. The Battle of Ratchet is over!

The Dark Tide tribe collapsed in a very ugly way.

Despite the fact that this murloc tribe has thousands of members and has spawned a large number of spellcasters, in the eyes of the elite guards of Ratchet, killing them might be easier than logging—especially after some guards used flashbangs or stun grenades, weapons specifically designed for dealing with regular enemies. What started as a close fight quickly turned into a massacre.

Meanwhile, Gazlowe was enthusiastically appraising some obviously impressive loot while teaching Tannis/Sydney about it.

"Not bad, not bad. Because these merfolk live in a more unique environment than their kind, the quality of their items is much better. Look, the eye of this Tidecaller is worth at least five silver coins in raw materials. If it's combined with other materials and processed into a finished product with magical effects, magic apprentices and low-level mages with little equipment might be willing to pay 50 silver coins for it!"

Then, Gazlowe peeled off a fish-man scale.

"Thin and light, with moderate toughness and not puncture resistant, merman scales may seem useless, but they possess excellent waterproof properties and a negligible affinity for water. Processing high-quality merman scales into a coating and applying it to armor or shields can effectively prevent rust and provide slight resistance to freezing. A good quality scale is worth around 10 copper coins, while a lower-quality one is only worth three to five copper coins."

Then, Gazlowe scraped off a bit of the merman slime.

"Fishman slime, which is something that almost all fishmen have, can be dissolved in a solvent and then purified to obtain a very effective fish attractant additive. Of course, this work is quite troublesome, and fishman slime is useless once it dries out, so the production is not high."

Finally, Gazlowe picked up the wooden stick next to the Murloc Tidecaller.

"It's made by wrapping a wooden stick with the vines of aquatic plants. The material is very ordinary, but after this guy has used it for so long, it's become extraordinary. Look."

Gazlowe took out a small lamp and shone it on the wet wooden stick; the light turned a pale green.

"This thing has become a magical weapon with a faint magic. Although the material is not very good, it is still a magical weapon. Based on my feeling, this thing, which can barely be called a staff, can help the wielder concentrate better. This is a great attribute for spellcasters. Therefore, its market value will not be less than 80 silver coins."

After saying that, Gazlowe clapped his hands, his tone tinged with amusement.

"Of course, this is a Tidecaller, a mid-to-high-level murloc, which is why it can produce so many valuable items. An ordinary murloc's entire body parts would only fetch two or three silver coins at most, but there are so many murlocs here. Even if they are all scum, their total value would not be less than fifty gold coins."

Gazlowe paused.

"What's even more amazing is that nearly a quarter of these murlocs are high-value murlocs, and that doesn't even include the value of the murloc king and their collections!"

"Are the materials from the Fishman King very valuable?"

"Not necessarily. It might not even be as good as the Murloc Tidecaller in front of us. However, the scales and eyes of a Murloc king are usually quite 'distinctive,' so someone would definitely be willing to pay a high price for them. Besides, I don't believe that a Murloc king, unless he is from a nomadic tribe, doesn't have some hidden treasures."

As he spoke, Gazlowe slung his individual combat system, which he had developed and modified based on Celestial Technology, over his shoulder.

"Let's go, Tanis. The merfolk's defenses should be almost completely broken by now."

——————————————Strange dividing line——————————————————

In a cave deep within the Dark Tide Murloc camp, M'Gamk, with his personal guards, desperately resisted the elite forces of Ratchet.

Dozens of Murloc Tidecallers desperately summoned the power of the water elementals, condensing them into icy mist that they pushed out of the cave entrance to block the enemy. The remaining Murloc prophets used totems made from simple materials to restore the stamina of the Murlocs present. The Murloc guards, armed, vigilantly stood guard beside the trembling Murgamk.

Outside the cave, the Ratchet guards' several attempts to charge were thwarted by the icy mist, so they were forced to set up their weapons and wait for an attack. This strange stalemate continued until Tannis and Gazlowe arrived.

"Sorry, boss, we... can't get in."

The captain of the guard looked at Gazlowe apologetically.

"Therefore, I will deduct 20% of your spoils, and I believe you will have no objection."

Gazlowe didn't waste any words. He gently moved his left hand, and the cannon on the left side of the individual combat system hanging on his back began to charge.

“Foolish merfolk, you are honored to be the first to enjoy my latest engineering creation!”

——————————————Passing by dividing line——————————————————

M'Gamk sat blankly on a pile of treasure, staring at his personal guards lying haphazardly in front of him, and Gazlowe slowly walking towards him, his mind a jumbled mess.

After that strange ray burned through the three murloc Tidecallers, its last line of defense completely collapsed, and the guards of Ratchet poured into the cave, easily slaughtering all of its men.

It knew that it was about to be killed by the strange-looking green dwarf in front of it.

"Ishn....ath....orei...."

In desperation, it uttered a few words it had heard from the 'earthling' who had invaded its territory long ago, hoping to save its life.

Then it was pleased to see that the green-skinned boy paused for a moment.

Then came the excruciating pain... and eternal silence.

"What's wrong, Dad?"

Tannis, who was following behind Gazlowe, peeked out and noticed Gazlowe's pause just now.

“This murloc speaks the language of the night elves. I suspect that druids may have been here. Go and search thoroughly, don’t leave a single survivor, and don’t leave any evidence that Ratchet has ever been here! I don’t want to deal with those kinds of guys!”

"Yes!"

The guards left the cave, while Gazlowe walked to the unseeing corpse of M'gamk, picked up a gold coin from behind it, looked at it, and smiled with satisfaction.

"Fishman, we're even now."

I. Stepping into Stormwind

The Dark Portal, 10 years later, Stormwind.

During the Second War, this ancient and majestic city suffered a devastating blow, but now, thanks to the high-quality stone provided by the dwarves of Ironforge, the timber produced by the Elwynn Forest lumberyards, and the tireless work of the Stonemasons Brotherhood, the outline of this magnificent city has once again risen on the earth.

A medium-sized cargo sailing ship bearing the flag of the Hot Sands Consortium, amidst the shouts of the sailors, steadily docked at the Stormwind port, which, though simple, was already functioning to some extent. The sails were lowered, the anchor was dropped, and the gunwale was lowered.

A few minutes later, two fully armed goblins disembarked from the ship and stood guard on the dock, one on each side. Then, several well-dressed human warriors also disembarked and joined the security team.

Finally, Tannis, dressed in casual clothes, with a mechanical assistant flying beside her and wearing non-prescription glasses, and her goblin accountant stepped off the ship.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome to Stormwind, Miss Tanis."

A middle-aged man dressed as a butler, who had been waiting at the dock, greeted them warmly. Behind him, two carriages were ready to go.

"I am also honored to be here in this great city."

Tannis nodded demurely, took her short steps, and boarded the carriage. Her bodyguards followed closely behind her, standing around the carriage.

"drive!"

After making sure no one was left behind, the coachman gave the reins a tug, and the carriage began to move slowly across the stone pavement.

——————————————Along the way————————————————————

"The city walls and roads were repaired first."

Sitting in the carriage, Tanis looked out the window and took in the current situation of Stormwind. Apart from an area in the distance with multiple plumes of black smoke and the cathedral of the Church of the Holy Light that was vaguely visible, it was hard to see a normal house anywhere else.

"Well, after completing the walls strong enough to stop beasts and gnolls, the first step in the reconstruction of Stormwind was to build an area called the Dwarven Quarter for storing and processing stone and wood. Then, the Cathedral of the Holy Light was built. Now, the reconstruction of Stormwind is in its third step: the docks and the trading district near the docks."

The coachman chuckled as he spoke; such things were no secret in Stormwind.

"What about the fourth and fifth steps?"

"Well... I don't know, but the King's Palace will be completed last, that's for sure."

"To build such a magnificent city, the wages needed to pay the workers—can the Stormwind Kingdom's current finances afford it?"

"Of course! The Ironforge dwarves only charged us a token amount for transporting the stone they provided, the people can use timber from Elwynn Forest to offset part of their taxes, and the Stonemasons Brotherhood, the main force in rebuilding Stormwind, is now only receiving food allowances."

"Isn't this practically free...?"

Tanis looked somewhat taken aback.