Make Azeroth breathtaking

Completely ignoring the Dark Iron dwarf at her feet who had drunk the mixed residue of the wine, Tanis smiled, turned and walked up the stairs to the guest room, leaving a group of Dark Iron dwarves gossiping.

"Do you think she's just putting on a brave face?"

"Even if you're just forcing yourself, that's already impressive! You try drinking a saffron in one gulp and then trying to keep going, then show me!"

"When did humans become such heavy drinkers? Hey, hey, hey, Hansel, is she really human?"

"Plag, give us a glass of saffron too! I still think you gave us a fake!"

"Perhaps she held the wine in her mouth?"

"Idiot! Didn't you see she said something after that? Try talking with saffron in your mouth!"

"I'll give it a try! Praggle! Bring the wine!!"

"Another person has collapsed! Go find the priest!!!"

————————————————Upstairs guest rooms——————————————————

"vomit--"

Completely ignoring the group of drunkards behind her who had thrown into chaos after she downed a bottle of Saffron, Tanis walked up the stairs to her room. Once inside and behind closed door, her inner energy could no longer suppress the churning in her stomach, and she vomited thoroughly into the trash can.

Just as some of the Dark Iron dwarves speculated, Tannis was indeed putting on a brave face. If Saffron were simply very strong, it wouldn't be so bad. As Chen's apprentice, Tannis had made quite a few high-proof liquors and was very adept at using her inner energy to deal with the side effects of strong liquors. The problem was, Saffron was practically an industrial raw material!

'How did that leper dwarf manage to concoct this monstrosity? I bet it could be burned as fuel! No, wait! It can even be used as a catalyst in some places!'

Looking at the preliminary analysis of Saffron displayed on the mechanical assistant, Tannis felt her brow twitch. Judging from that pile of 'suggestions,' the mechanical assistant didn't even consider Saffron a proper drink...

'As a beverage, nobody would buy it; even dwarves wouldn't enjoy it. But if it were purified and used as a catalyst... that seems feasible? However, would this catalyst be an unintentional result, or a deliberate attempt that went astray?'

With that in mind, Tanis dialed the private communication of the High Craftsman of Mekkatorque and asked him who Prag was.

——————————————Inquiry Divider————————————————

"Really? I understand, thank you."

Thanks to the gnomes' habit of registering their identities, Tannis obtained Prag's identity from Mekkatorque in less than a minute. Unexpectedly, yet logically, Prag was an alchemist in Gnomeregan before becoming a leper gnome, specializing in elemental manipulation, and reportedly had made initial progress. Unfortunately, however, he disappeared after the destruction of Gnomeregan and was listed as dead.

'In other words, it's highly likely that Praggle became insane due to becoming a leper dwarf and the influence of sorcerer magic. As a result, he combined his research findings with a bunch of random ingredients to make Saffron. Theoretically, it's possible to reverse-engineer the recipe... but rashly appropriating someone else's work isn't a good habit. I'll talk to Praggle tomorrow... If he's still not clear-headed, I'll just have to accept the recipe using my own method...'

With these thoughts in mind, Tanis drifted off to sleep. Whether it was just her imagination or not, the instant she closed her eyes, she felt she saw C'Thun's sparkling eyes again...

'Damn it, I forgot there were Twilight Cultists around here!'

Realizing that C'Thun was about to perform another dream-entry maneuver, Tanis was terrified and wanted to wake up. However, amidst the Sulfuron wine, exhaustion, and the flickering pupils of C'Thun, she unknowingly drifted into the deepest part of her dream...

17. Meeting Moira

In the endless void, an ancient table gradually materialized. On either side of the table, two people sat facing each other, and steam rose slowly from the exquisite teacups on the table.

Tanis picked up her teacup and gently blew on the steam. A thoughtful light flickered in the depths of her pupils, hidden behind her engineering glasses. Undoubtedly, although the trigger for C'Thun's appearance in her dream might have been her drinking Sulphron, which she didn't know was either an industrial material or a type of wine, given the Old Gods' omnipresent nature, it wasn't impossible that she had been watched the moment she entered Blackrock Mountain.

"You're still wary of me, Miss Tanis. I thought this would make you feel more comfortable..."

A tall, pink-haired creature with an eye-shaped ornament on its head and multiple abstract eye-shaped emblems on its clothes, possessing a pair of enormous, righteous figures, sat opposite Tannis, leisurely sipping its tea.

"......"

Tanis didn't answer, and continued blowing air into the rim of the cup.

"I've only come to visit you."

C'Thun, the pink-haired girl, put down her teacup, the eye ornament on her head blinking adorably, but Tannis continued her meditation, focusing on her inner self.

"Alright, here's a little tidbit for you. The void is to elemental creatures what the most potent poison is to the most powerless mortals. It's something that can eradicate their existence at its very root. That's why the four elemental lords immediately bowed down to us when we arrived in this world."

"!!"

After saying this, the pink-haired C'Thun downed the tea in his cup in one gulp, and the surrounding dreamscape began to sway...

"It seems our meeting time is running out. Since you don't like me this way, I'll meet you in a different form next time..."

As C'Thun whispered, Tanis found her dream shattering like a broken mirror, and her consciousness returning to the material world...

——————————————Awakening Divider————————————————

"...Why did that guy remind me of this?"

Tanis sat up from the not-so-comfortable bed in the bar, pushed up her engineering glasses, and frowned slightly as she looked out the small window at the still-churning lava below the main square of Darkforge. Clearly, C'Thun's reminder of this was to teach her how to deal with Ragnaros's avatar in Molten Core—even if that method might have dire consequences. But why would C'Thun, one of the Old Gods, do this?

After racking her brains for a long time without figuring out C'Thun's purpose, Tannis gave up thinking, put on her clothes, and went downstairs to buy something to eat at the bar.

However, when Tennys walked down the stairs, the pungent smell of alcohol and the sour smell of vomit almost made her turn back.

"Is this... normal life here?"

Tannis activated the air filter on her equipment and put it over her mouth and nose while watching Praggle, who was cleaning up several servers.

"Because of what you did last night, many Dark Iron Dwarves have begun to doubt the power of my Saffron Brew—as a result, my tavern has become a mess."

Praggle carried a bucket of water that had clearly been mixed with some chemicals, and slowly poured it on the ground, then used a mop to create foam.

"Selling fuel with added catalyst as alcohol, aren't you afraid of drinking the Dark Iron Dwarves to death?"

Tennys casually found a chair, tapped on the table to call a waiter, and ordered some fresh smoked meat.

"Even the Bronzebeard dwarves of Ironforge wouldn't be drunk to death by this stuff—the humans of Stormwind might be, but your performance last night, Grand Tinker Tanis, makes me unsure."

Praggle's words made Tennys raise an eyebrow slightly.

"You're still conscious, why don't you contact your dwarf master craftsman?"

“I can never go back to the middle of the dwarves, Tennys the Tinker.”

"You can come to Ratchet."

"I'm now the owner of the Black Iron Bar, Tennys the Great Tinker."

Tanis sighed, sensing the polite refusal in Praggle's words, and decided to settle for second best.

"Are you selling your catalyst formula?"

"I'll sell it, but I don't want any money."

"what would you like?"

Prag stopped cleaning, and his smile turned strange.

"Don't worry, someone will come and tell you what I want soon."

————————————————That afternoon——————————————————

Looking at the Bronzebeard dwarf sitting in front of her, whose style was clearly different from the other Dark Iron dwarves, and the guards surrounding her, Tanis already knew who had come to visit her.

“Princess Moira…no, in Darkforge City your identity should be Queen Moira. I didn’t expect that I would alarm you after only one day here. Did your husband send you to visit me?”

“Long time no see, Great Tinker Tanis. Just as you said, my husband, King Thaurissan, believes that you may have brought the Dark Iron Dwarves an opportunity they have been dreaming of.”

"Is it the one from underground?"

Tannis's words startled Moira slightly, but she nodded.

"Yes."

"That's one of the oldest beings in Azeroth. Even if it's just an avatar, the power of an entire nation might be barely enough to fill its teeth?"

"King Thaurissan knew this, and therefore he hoped to unite with some forces willing to cooperate with the Dark Iron dwarves to jointly annihilate this threat to all of Azeroth. However, the Dark Iron dwarves' reputation had become utterly ruined over the past few centuries..."

"While it was indeed a threat to all of Azeroth, the ones who were happiest when it was destroyed were the Dark Iron dwarves."

Tannis's words silenced Moira for a few seconds.

"So, Miss Tannis, what do you think is the best way to persuade the other factions?"

"For Ratchet, enough benefits and hedging risks can persuade us, but for other factions, you need to find a way to cater to their preferences."

"So, can Darkhearth City establish a relatively stable trade route with Ratchet City?"

"Yes, I have that permission."

“I will approve the Mithril Brotherhood’s list and grant Ratchet an additional share of the Black Iron Ingot trade. Also, Prag.”

Moira waved her hand, signaling the leper dwarf to come over. Prag, understanding the gesture, walked to Tannis's side and pulled out a piece of parchment covered with dense writing.

"The formula is yours, Tennyson the Tinker."

Thank you.

Tannis glanced at the recipe twice, then put it away and spoke leisurely.

"Oh, Queen Moira, there's one more thing. Your father asked me to come and bring you home."

"Splash!"

Tannis's words caused the surrounding Black Iron Guards to raise their weapons, but neither Tannis nor Moira were moved.

"What is your answer to him now, Tennys the Great Tinker?"

"Queen Moira, I think you have understood my answer."

18. Logosh gradually regains his memories

Lo'gosh leaned against a tree, gritting his teeth as he wrapped bandages around his arm. Beside him, an orc warrior, panting heavily, held his axe horizontally and warily watched the depths of the forest. At their feet lay a hellhound with its head split open, the filthy blood turning the ground a disgusting dark green.

"Ears, nose, eyes—you need to use everything you can to observe your surroundings together. Using only one sense might lead to illusions for your eyes, confusion for your ears, and a distorted sense of smell. But using all three together will minimize the chances of being deceived. That beast just now hid in the forest, using the dense grass and the sound of the wind to conceal its tracks, but it couldn't hide its stench—that demonic stench that could be smelled hundreds of meters away."

After confirming that Lo'gosh had properly bandaged the long wound on his arm inflicted by the hellhound's claws with the special bandages from Silverwing Fortress, the orc warrior relaxed his guard slightly and began to impart his experience to Lo'gosh.

“However, Barbarian Axe, if something has deceived our three senses, then the initiative still lies with them.”

After finishing his bandaging, Logos stretched his arm and gripped his two-handed sword to determine how much fighting strength he still had.

"Trustworthy companions, keen intuition, quick reaction and precise counterattack after an attack, and the ability to cut losses in time—these are all things that can help you survive a surprise attack on the battlefield."

Having basically confirmed that there were no other enemies around, Barbarian Axe bent down and began to dissect the hellhound's body—according to the rules, he needed to take the hellhound's core back to purify it, so as to prevent these demonic bodies from contaminating Ashenvale.

"possible..."

Logos pondered the word, sensing a hint of melancholy within it.