Make Azeroth breathtaking

Forced by Varian's imposing manner, the envoy from Darkhearth answered instinctively.

"Ironforge! King Magni means that as long as Moira can return to Ironforge to visit him anytime, anywhere, you won't at least be a hindrance, right?"

"...yes!"

The Ironforge ambassador was also impressed by Varian's imposing presence and couldn't help but reply.

“Very well. Then, please inform King Dagran to arrange for Queen Moira to visit Ironforge as a special envoy. Then, please inform King Magni about Queen Moira’s upcoming visit to Ironforge as a special envoy. Stormwind Kingdom will also send personnel to pay a formal visit to Ironforge.”

Watching Varian swiftly resolve the diplomatic crisis between Darkforge and Ironforge, Tanis stared blankly at Jaina, who seemed to have anticipated this outcome.

"Is this his true diplomatic style?"

"That's his true diplomatic style."

39. The Blackrock Mountain Allied Forces, and the Young Dragons Attempting to Escape.

Ratchet, the main conference room.

Varian, Tanys, Daelin, Jaina, Thrall, Talonnicus, Naralex, Cairne, Vol'jin, Oversbark, and the ambassadors of Darkheart and Ironforge sat in a circle around a round table, looking at the 3D map of Blackrock Mountain projected onto the table in front of them—after the Bronzebeard dwarves and Dark Iron dwarves had barely reached an agreement, everyone could finally come together to discuss the issue of Ragnaros.

"Ragnaros, the Firelord, is a legendary name even among the middle and upper elves. As the Supreme Lord of the four elementals of fire, the Firelord led his fiery legions across the land when Azeroth was already barren, venting the inextinguishable rage within his chest..."

Naralex propped his chin on his left index finger, flipping through several thin sheets of paper in front of him. The papers contained legends about Ragnaros that the night elves had painstakingly unearthed from a vast collection of documents in the library.

"Then, the Titans came. We don't know what the Titans did, but what we do know is that the Titans sealed all the more powerful elements, including Ragnaros, that were capable of causing the collapse of the material world, into the elemental planes, and made these planes the foundation that supports the existence of our world."

Talonnicus also put down the paper in his hand. The remaining books of the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas, combined with the information in the Ancient Literature Association, revealed why the elemental lords had almost disappeared from Azeroth.

"And then these Dark Iron dwarves dragged back the worst, most ferocious of the four elemental lords?"

The Ironforge ambassador rested his right arm on the table, staring intently at the Darkforge ambassador sitting opposite him.

"If I'm not mistaken, the Dark Iron Dwarf only summoned a clone of itself."

Thrall spoke in a deep voice before the Darkhearth ambassador was about to give a terrible answer that could lead to a full-blown fight between him and the Ironforge ambassador.

"A clone? A mere clone destroyed half of the Red Ridge Mountains?"

Varian's pupils contracted slightly. If Thrall's guess was true, then for Stormwind Kingdom, expelling Ragnaros would change from 'repaying a favor' to 'saving themselves'!

"I am a shaman, and my shamanic lineage originates from Draenor, which you call Outland. My master, Drek'Thar, the prophet of the Frostwolf Clan, told me to approach the elements with reverence and caution, for even the weakest elemental spirit could unleash an unexpected catastrophe. Back then, I was young and impetuous, and I asked my teacher, 'What would happen to the world if the strongest elemental spirit went out of control?'"

"How did your teacher answer?"

Sal remained silent for a few seconds before speaking leisurely.

He said that if there is no equivalent force to restrain it, then the erasure of traces of world civilization may be the least serious of all consequences.

———————————————Back to the Lab (Divider)—————————————

"ha......."

Tanis threw herself onto her soft bed in the laboratory, feeling limp and unwilling to move. After Thrall had just mentioned that Ragnaros, the Firelord in Blackrock Mountain, was very likely an avatar, and that his true form had not yet fully emerged from the elemental plane, Varian decided that Stormwind Kingdom would go all out in the campaign against Ragnaros—of course, as a price, Darkforge City would have to equip his people with suitable gear, such as armor mixed with dark iron, which would be very suitable for fighting in areas with high concentrations of fire elementals.

With Varian taking the lead, the leaders or representatives of the other major forces also expressed their willingness to do their utmost to assist Darkhearth in destroying the threat that had been hidden beneath Blackrock Mountain for hundreds of years. The Darkhearth ambassador, who had not expected things to go so smoothly, was overjoyed and thanked them repeatedly. The Ironforge ambassador, knowing the seriousness of the matter, did not dwell on it.

"Molten Core... I hope there really is somewhere there for us to put our feet down..."

Just as Tannis was pondering what would happen if the Molten Core wasn't a proper lava cave but a lava lake, a sharp alarm suddenly rang out.

"I...!! Someone actually dared to steal from the Tinkerers' Guild!!!"

————————————The Repairman Building——————————————————

"Over here!!"

"It's heading towards level A3! Block it!!"

"It's not on the stairs! Are you sure it went in which direction?"

"I'm sure! Wait, the ventilation duct opening has been pried open, it won't crawl into the exhaust pipe, will it!"

"That thing came out of a dragon's egg, after all. Would it really crawl into a ventilation duct like a rat?"

"That's what looks like a dragon's egg, buddy. We still can't be sure if what hatches is a dragon or just an ordinary dragon that looks a bit unusual!"

"In short, just grasp it and all the problems will be OK!"

Amidst the chaos of the Tinkerman's Mansion, a tiny dragon, perhaps only slightly larger than a rat, bearing a striking resemblance to the Onyxia dragon, clutched a small red crystal, hiding among a cluster of pipes. The energy flowing through these pipes easily concealed the energy fluctuations emanating from the little creature, preventing the mechanical guards and tinkerers of the mansion from detecting its presence.

"Damn it... What's wrong with me... Why am I so weak? I clearly sealed a portion of my power inside this dragon egg... Why has all that power disappeared? Now I can only steal food..."

Thinking this, the little black dragon touched the small red crystal it had caught—for black dragons, besides meat, things rich in fire element were also their favorite food; after all, magic flowed in the blood of dragons...

"Rumble, rumble—"

As the mechanical guards' voices faded into the distance, the little black dragon, who had been listening intently to the outside world, breathed a slight sigh of relief and prepared to leave along the pipes—as long as she could escape this building, she could slowly make her way back to her lair and find a way to rise again.

However, before it could take its first step, a drone flew up in front of it, and from its loudspeaker came Tennys's nightmarish voice.

"Hey! Princess Onyxia! If you don't want to become a baby dragon specimen in Varian's hands, you'd better get out of the ventilation duct!"

40. Regarding the Onyxia Hatchling...

Minutes later, in the core research lab of the Tinkerman Building.

The unfortunate Onyxia was bound by a force field inside a glass tube, surrounded by various instruments. Tanys, Talonnicus, Iggy, Oversbach, Gazlowe, and other top researchers in Ratchet were gathered around the data output terminals of these instruments, analyzing the data they transmitted back. Meanwhile, archmages like Jaina, having received notification from Ratchet, rushed over to investigate the reason why Onyxia had been reborn as a whelp.

“I believe that Onyxia’s rebirth may be a variant of bloodline magic. Dragons are powerful creatures, which means that their souls, like high-level spellcasters, can resist the call of the afterlife to a certain extent after the death of their physical bodies, and then enter a pre-set new body before the pull of the afterlife becomes stronger.”

Based on what she learned in Dalaran and the materials she read in the Royal Library of Silvermoon City after participating in the Battle of Quel'Thalas, Jaina quickly deduced the most likely reason for Onyxia's rebirth.

"So, this dragon was already prepared to be killed in its own home before we even came knocking on its door?"

Even those present who didn't know the details of the battle with Onyxia were aware of the dragon-slaying battle that had taken place not long ago, which made everyone frown.

“Yes, that’s why I find it so strange. Onyxia was a complete madwoman during the battle—she was insane from beginning to end. No human or dragon could possibly have planned such a way out. Iggy, where did you find the egg?”

"It's a rather hidden place inside the dragon's lair. If I hadn't noticed the unusual energy gathering there, I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all. Moreover, after I picked it up, I also discovered that the reason it was dissipating energy was because several of the magic circles around it, which were supposed to be for protection or concealment, had been destroyed—perhaps from the aftermath of a battle?"

Iggy shrugged.

"A virtually flawless escape route... Then Onyxia's mutations during battle are highly questionable. Iggy, from your perspective as sorcerers, what are the differences between the current Onyxia and the previous Onyxia?"

"You've also noticed the discord, Archmage Jaina?"

Iggy spoke with a hint of surprise.

"Hmm, I'd like to hear your opinion."

"Very pure... Yes, I think that's the only word I can use to describe Onyxia's current state. Unlike her in the dragon's lair, she gives me the feeling of... returning to the beginning? Why is that?"

Iggy fiddled with the crystal ball in his hand, observing the color fluctuations within with great interest.

"I read in the literature that a major reason for the collapse of the dragonflight during the War of the Ancients was that the black dragons suddenly went mad, and the reason for this madness remains unclear to this day. Perhaps Onyxia's rebirth spell cleared away the root cause of the black dragons' madness?"

Talonnicus offered his opinion, stating that as Prince Kael'thas's advisor, he knew as much about ancient secrets as many archaeological masters.

"Impossible! Anything that drives a dragon mad would definitely affect its soul, and might even distort and mutate the soul itself! If Onyxia truly eliminated those things, then there must be at least an equivalent force to counteract them—and the corrupted parts would inevitably be reduced to ashes!"

Jaina immediately refuted Talonnicus's guess.

"Wait! If part of your soul is reduced to ashes, won't you become mentally disabled?"

Overspark spoke in alarm.

"You won't become mentally disabled, but you'll definitely lose some memories and knowledge... Hmm?"

As Jaina spoke, her tone became unpredictable as she stared at the Onyxia hatchling, which was trapped inside the glass tube and frantically flapping its wings, trying to squeeze out.

"I have to say, the way this guy looks right now, it really looks like a huge chunk of his soul has been 'ripped out'..."

————————————————About half an hour later——————————————————

The Onyxia hatchling lay at the bottom of the glass tube, its tongue lolling out as if it had burned out completely. After struggling for half an hour, the hatchling finally exhausted its last bit of strength.

What are you going to do?

Jaina put away her notebook with satisfaction, then looked at Tennys.

"You mean this Onyxia? You wouldn't actually suggest I make it into a specimen and send it to Varian, would you?"

“Varian’s temper may not be appeased. After he cut off Onyxia’s head and hung it on the gates of Stormwind, it marked the end of his feud with the black dragon princess. Moreover, we still cannot determine whether the dragon in front of us is Onyxia herself or a new individual that has only inherited a part of Onyxia’s soul.”

"But it's an unstable factor, Tannis the Tinker. We can't guarantee that it won't turn into a new Onyxia in the future."

Talonnicus spoke slowly.

"But we should extract as much value as possible from it before discussing what happens next. Even if it can't become a dragon in the future, its existence itself is unique!"

Izzy quickly objected.

“I agree with Iggy’s view. Fortune favors the bold. Judging from the energy readings, our elite soldiers can currently suppress it. In the short term, the most trouble it can cause us is something like losing a couple of items from the warehouse—however, necessary security measures are required.”

Gazlowe, unusually, spoke up, expressing his thoughts as a goblin—though not always so goblin-like.

"Safety measures...keeping it locked up all the time can't be a good idea...that's the only way. And guess what? There's something fun I want to try."

Tannis rummaged around in the mechanical assistant's space for a while and took out something that looked like a capsule.

"Huh? Isn't this the failed prototype of that portable sealing capsule we made? You kept a sample?"

Iggy immediately recognized what Tannis had taken out.

"Yes, yes, let's use this as a temporary measure. After all, it can't be left unattended. What if it goes to the warehouse to steal food again?"

Tennys answered cheerfully, activating the capsule at the same time.

"What is this?"

Jaina looked at Iggy, who shrugged.

"It's a failed experiment. We originally wanted to develop a space capsule that could quickly seal and capture various creatures, but this is the best success we've achieved. It can't capture creatures that are too big or too strong, but it can easily capture larvae. The problem is that once the larvae of non-magical creatures are captured, they are transformed into pseudo-magical creatures by the power of this sphere, and then they never grow up! The larvae of magical creatures don't have this problem of not being able to grow, but once the magical creatures grow to a certain size, the sealing effect of this capsule on them becomes negligible."

"Negligible? Or effective?"

"Yes, it's limited to telling it where the capsule is."