Make Azeroth breathtaking

'But...your struggles are ultimately futile.'

52. Those who seek refuge

——————————————A few days later, on the Burning Front, at the Guardian Fortress————————————————

"So, I traded one-for-one with a member of the Sons of Horus. He cut me in half at the waist, and I blew his head off—wasn't that cool? If I hadn't been judged to have 'decreased mental stability' and forcibly put to rest, I think I could have cut down a few more!"

Inside the bar of this massive fortress built on the Broken Shore, a troll reborn, sipping fine wine, recounted his recent battle to several players in front of him with spittle flying everywhere. Thanks to the effectiveness of the Alliance's surprise attack and the excellent results of the arcane weapons created by the archmage, Sargeras's seal had been largely broken, and World of Warcraft players' accounts had gradually been unblocked, regaining their login opportunities. The first thing these players did upon logging in was to eagerly seek out the reborn players they cared about or were on good terms with, offering them words of comfort and concern.

"But your mom doesn't think you look handsome like that."

After the reborn player finished recounting how he followed Varian into one of the Sargeras seal nodes, how he fought bravely, and how he was ultimately sent back to the respawn point, a human player with simple equipment, who was not a combatant but was using this identity to visit relatives, spoke with concern, utilizing the voice system that had been further upgraded during this event and could now accurately convey his words to the reborn players in the game.

“That’s no need to worry, Uncle. Unlike in real life, in Azeroth I’m an immortal player, and I can do a lot of things. And look, I even got a set of armor! This is loot!”

Hearing his uncle's worries, the reborn man burst into laughter. At the same time, he quickly put on one of the spoils of war he had obtained in this battle—a set of power armor—and began to show it off by dancing the troll dance. Just as he finished a handstand, a tall figure walked up to him and gently patted him on the shoulder. Upon seeing the newcomer, the troll reborn man instantly stood at attention and saluted.

"Your Majesty Varian! A new mission?"

"Yes, go report to the High Prophet Velen now. He has something very important to discuss with you reborn."

"Understood, I'll go right away!"

The reborn who received the quest left happily, while the ordinary players nearby were puzzled as to why no exclamation mark appeared above Varian's head—even though some things were already open secrets after Sargeras revealed a lot of information.

"I'm sorry."

However, what surprised the players even more was yet to come. After getting rid of the reborn person, Varian turned around and said something earth-shattering to the reborn person's uncle in reality!

"My nephew, has something happened to him?"

Varian's words made the uncle's heart tighten. Several years ago, after his nephew died in an accident, his sister had been crying all the time. It wasn't until the miracle of World of Warcraft happened that the smile of 'life' returned to the mother's face. He didn't want to hear any bad news now, not even a little bit!

"Sargeras launched an illusion attack on all the reborn involved in the operation before we attacked its seal. Although all the reborn eventually broke free from the illusion, however..."

Varian hesitated for a moment, carefully considering his words.

"In your words, some of the reborn—well, all of them were reborn involuntarily into Azeroth, and suffered aftereffects after leaving Sargeras's illusion."

"Aftereffects?"

"This is just a game, how could there be any side effects?"

"No, no, no, the current World of Warcraft is a digital world, but how could it have human diseases?"

"But the side effects are too much... a permanent debuff?"

The news was so explosive that the players who came to watch started discussing it. After being stunned for a few seconds by the news brought by Varian, the troll reborn's uncle directly controlled his character to stand in front of Varian. His tone was a little excited.

What kind of aftereffects?

"Emotions: They have a significantly reduced ability to control their emotions and have become more easily agitated or angry."

"That Sargeras...did he implant some kind of code in their brains?"

One player couldn't help but speak up, thinking that the resurrected beings in World of Warcraft are, in a sense, a kind of program.

"Perhaps."

After replying to the player, Varian paused and gripped his sword tighter.

"Perhaps, it's even more troublesome."

——————————————Research dividing line——————————————————

Earth, United Nations, World of Warcraft Affairs Center.

"The results are in, and your judgment was correct. Their subconscious has indeed become more aggressive than before, and they are also more easily stimulated by external factors. We are assessing the impact of this situation on them to determine whether they can continue to fight."

In front of a dedicated computer, a psychologist sat in his chair, wearing glasses, communicating 'face-to-face' with scholars from Azeroth. In front of them, a 3D projection of a human body was displayed in mid-air, surrounded by densely packed data.

"The reason is, is it a form of psychological suggestion?"

Because she often studied with Yiqi, had considerable talent, and had a special status, Zhiyuan successfully entered this academic conference. After recalling her situation and comparing the data, she hesitantly offered her own insights.

"It's a deeper form of hypnosis than mere suggestion. You've experienced the illusions created by the Destroyers to make you fall into depravity and stop fighting. You know how alluring such illusions are for certain very special reborn individuals."

"But in the end, they all chose to wake up."

"Choosing to wake up doesn't mean forgetting the dream. Besides, in some sense, those weren't dreams. World of Warcraft and Azeroth is a world built on data. Theoretically, if the data is realistic enough, simulating 'reality' isn't difficult."

Having made some guesses, Tannis twirled her pen and spoke helplessly. Upon hearing this, Zhiyuan moved his lips as if he wanted to say something, but Iggy, sitting opposite him, gestured for him not to speak yet. Then, the Grand Magician stood up and looked at the Earth psychologist.

"We will continue to monitor them and will communicate with you as soon as we have any results."

"Then, I'll take my leave."

The Earth psychologist, understanding that this meant the meeting was over, nodded. He turned into a stream of data and disappeared. After watching the scholar leave, Iggy waved to Zhiyuan.

"Now you can express your doubts."

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

"Zhuang Zhou dreamt of a butterfly, and the butterfly dreamt of Zhuang Zhou... I remember you told her to calm down and not to think about this issue for the time being, didn't you?"

After Zhiyuan chatted with Iggy for a while longer, Tannis found Iggy, arranged for a mechanical assistant to pour tea for the two of them, and then began to talk with the Grand Magician.

"You've learned the Earth allusions very quickly, but I don't think it's quite appropriate to use them here—she doesn't doubt her own existence now, the problem is, she's starting to doubt her memories of living on 'Earth,' even though she knows Earth is real and her past experiences are real. But after being baptized by the illusions of the Destroyer, she's subconsciously begun to examine her 'memories'—I think those reborn individuals who have problems are probably for similar reasons—Sargeras used illusion tactics to give them a terrifying hint: why do you think you are 'Earthlings,' instead of being like other awakened ones, just with some memories you shouldn't have?"

Iggy stretched out his finger, tapped it in the air, and drew a complex pattern. Then he stared at the pattern in a daze.

"The good news is that the vast majority of reborn individuals haven't even thought about this issue."

“But the seed being planted is a big problem, Tannis. You and I both know what this destroyer fears—the reason it frequently targets players and reborn individuals, yet the Awakened Ones haven’t even glanced at them.”

"Variables, variables brought about by emotions."

Tanis answered Iggy's question quickly.

"Yes, without a doubt, the Reborn are the biggest variable right now—while players can also create variables, they're still a bit lacking when they're controlling puppets through a screen—but if the Reborn treat World of Warcraft and Azeroth as the complete reality, and Earth's memories as a discarded past, then the difference between them and the Awakened... is hard to say."

"That's not necessarily true; after all, they are still themselves."

"But what makes them who they are is their uniqueness. Without those bonds, would they still be themselves? If they believe 'Sargeras' is right, I don't need to describe the consequences, do I? After all, to put it bluntly, adventurers are a bunch of people who follow whichever side offers the greatest benefit! Don't forget! Quite a few Earth players have talked big about following Sargeras—according to them, being a little dramatic won't hurt—indeed, being a little dramatic won't hurt, but if reborn individuals are too dramatic, the consequences are enormous! For example, giving Sargeras the variable of emotion..."

"Hmm, that's true..."

Tannis stroked her chin and nodded. Just as she opened her mechanical assistant and started gathering data, an urgent communication appeared on her screen. After reading the message, Tannis's expression froze.

"I...&*%*&! Iggy! You jinx! There really are reborn people who have gone to join the Destroyers!"

"...No way? Even if the Destroyer becomes a Reborn One, things won't be easy for them?"

"The problem is, the Earth side has already urgently retrieved his data—he has absolutely no ties! In fact, in some ways, he even has reasons to hate life on Earth!"

Tannis fastened the mechanical assistant and connected the emergency communication.

"Gentlemen, emergency meeting!"

———————————————Argus——————————————————————

"Hahahaha, hahahahahaha!!"

Looking at the reborn one standing shakily before him, gazing at him with stubborn, fearful, yet hopeful eyes, the Destroyer of Worlds laughed heartily. His laughter reverberated throughout the palace, echoing in waves.

“Very good, very good, I am glad that you have accepted my call—even if there is only one of you, it is enough, it is enough!”

As he spoke, the Fallen Titan bent down and stretched out his large hand toward them, and the Reborn hesitated for a moment before taking a step forward at the same time.

Your promise was true.

"Naturally, according to your logic, as long as I destroy 'Azeroth' and make everything work according to my wishes, then I will be the true 'god' of this world. At that time, creating a world for you will be a piece of cake."

"But it's fake."

The reborn person lowered his head, clenched his fists, and his body trembled slightly, as if he was enduring something, or perhaps he was crying.

"Your coming to find me means you've accepted the real reality—for you now, Earth is a false place, while this digital world is the dimension where you truly live!! By the way, isn't my laughter 'exciting'?"

Faced with the reborn's questioning, the Destroyer not only did not take any further action, but instead laughed even more wildly. Staring at this mad being who could destroy the entire human network civilization, the reborn felt a pang of regret, but soon his thought of leaving was swallowed up by his own desire.

"Can I really get the world I want?"

“I can—completely real for you—and even, if you wish, I can help you erase your ‘memory,’ allowing you to live a normal, ordinary life like a real person.”

Sensing the massive data overflow from the reborn before it, the Destroyer suddenly felt a strange sensation—it couldn't explain what it was, but it felt that this sensation was very meaningful.

"Then... I am willing to pledge my loyalty to you!"

Without further hesitation, the reborn knelt on one knee, offering his loyalty to the destroyer of the world. The destroyer nodded in satisfaction, gently raised his hand, and guided a crystal that was teeming with terror.

"Your new identity—Eamon."

53. A Leisurely Move

"The preliminary statistics are in, gentlemen."

Upon learning that some reborn individuals had somehow managed to reach Sargeras and join his cause, Earth immediately mobilized. First, the artificial reborn project was suspended, and the psychological state of the participants was reassessed. Then, more resources were invested to help reborn individuals still connected with their families on Earth maintain better and more effective communication, preventing them from becoming unable to distinguish between the online world and reality—well, for those reborn individuals who lived entirely in World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft was the only reality.

After these belated but necessary actions, Earth began the final and most difficult project—attempting to determine, by tracking data streams, whether only one person had defected to Sargeras, and whether there was a way to 'capture' him! Everyone knew that even though the NPCs in their World of Warcraft world seemed to have become advanced artificial intelligence, their thought processes remained logically linear and predictable—including Sargeras. However, if given a chaotic algorithm…

"so much?"

After reviewing the documents handed to them by the scientists, the UN officials frowned. The reason was simple: according to the scientists' statistics, the number of "reborn" who had defected to "Sargeras" was perhaps a bit too high!

"No, in fact, so far, only one 'Reborn' has pledged allegiance to Sargeras—this is what our allies told us, and we trust their judgment."

"Then what about these completely unrelated data parameters? They should belong to different 'people'."

“Our allies believe that Sargeras may be collecting ‘soul fragments’.”

"Data fragments?"

"Those who failed to fully 'reborn' into World of Warcraft, or whose 'souls' were only partially 'reborn' into the world of Warcraft for some reason—of course, since we haven't yet figured out the mechanism of rebirth, this answer can only be taken as a reference."

"Are they a threat? I mean, are they a significant threat, or just a minor one?"

"I don't know, we need to observe further."

"Then I await your news, gentlemen."