Make Azeroth breathtaking

"...ha!"

Sensing the 'rejection' emanating from the hearts of these souls, the being known as the Great Sage Equaling Heaven tightened its grip, allowing its own body to dissolve little by little, just like the other aggregates of hope rushing towards this mass of souls—admittedly, they knew that doing so would result in the complete disintegration of their existence, and they themselves were unsure whether the dreams and hopes they carried could help these souls, who had been tormented for who knows how long, escape the abyss. However, they knew that if they did not do so, if no one else did it, then for these pitiful souls, salvation would never come!

'If someone could take over afterward, they could definitely get out of this predicament, but... what am I thinking? When those three fragments shattered, they had no reason to continue fighting...'

As time went by, the colors of the aggregates of hope gradually dimmed, and their forms became opaque. Clearly, their existence was now on a countdown. But even at this point, these aggregates of human emotions—the purest hope, kindness, and courage—projected into this universe, were still thinking of others.

"Ok?"

Just as the image of the last remaining embodiment of hope—Sun Wukong—began to dissipate, a ray of light flashed across the distant starry sky. Then, certain familiar sensations surged into the perception range of this already exhausted being. Instantly, his eyes widened, and then he burst into wild laughter.

"Hahaha! Hahaha! I have no regrets, I, Old Sun, am off!!"

Amidst laughter, starlight enveloped the aggregate of souls, no longer cowering but seemingly sleeping peacefully, now imbued with hope and dreams. The Great Tinker, Tannis, piloting her new Granzon, appeared in this cosmic realm the next moment.

"call...."

Looking at the scene before her, Tannis took a deep breath, flipped the switch on New Gransen, and overloaded the Annihilation Engine to 120%. Instantly, the collapse of the entire universe began to slow down. The soul aggregate transformed into a halo of light and slowly flowed into the portal Tannis had just come from.

"Hmm... So my new Gransen has become a temporary 'core', which means I can't leave for at least this year..."

Having already anticipated this possibility, Tannis rubbed her chin, looked up, and lightly swiped her fingers across the screen, looking at the parameters of this universe.

"However, it's not like there's nothing I can do... World of Warcraft! Send some players over here to be my laborers! I have a super big plan!"

———————————————One year later————————————————————————

Old D sat in a small restaurant on the street, slurping down his noodles, while a friend sat across from him, eating with him. In the distance, billboards atop a building flashed videos promoting products from the digital world, and on the heads of pedestrians walking along the street, hats with infiltration devices had become standard equipment.

"To be honest, at this time last year, I never imagined that human society would change so drastically as a result; it's practically science fiction."

After finishing his noodles, Old D wiped his mouth, scanned the QR code to pay, and tapped his earphones. Instantly, some projections appeared in front of them.

"Who would have thought... just a year ago we were struggling with the end of the Third Industrial Revolution, and now—well, how many times is it?"

Old D's friend slowly swallowed the food in his mouth while starting to make sharp comments.

"Fourth, fifth? I don't know how to count them—after all, this jumps directly to the level of human consciousness projection!"

"Never mind, that's what the scientists are worried about—by the way, for the anniversary celebration, Azeroth will officially reconnect with the Digital World here, right?"

"According to observations from the Nexus universe, that's the case."

"The Nexus Universe... It's getting more and more lively there. It's said that traces of other universes have been discovered there? Now, many physicists are practically living there using projections."

"Not just physicists... you may have underestimated the importance of the Nexus universe to our current civilization. Tannis the Great Tinker is truly a genius. Without her reminder, Earth probably wouldn't have realized that the physical demiplane universe attached to the Digital World could be used in this way—by the way, Old D, have you heard that A's son plans to officially move into Azeroth for this anniversary?"

"Can A support it? The technology on robots projected from the digital world to Earth is pretty much there now, right? With a little tweaking, they could look just like living people."

"It seems that A supports his son in this matter. After all, the Digital World is great in every way, except that you can't have children. And through the Nexus World, you can communicate by phone even across worlds, so it's not like you're completely separated—in fact, about a third of the reborn chose to leave with him last year."

"I remember his son's character was a dwarf?"

"That's not a problem; in the past, you could choose your race."

"Sounds like character creation..."

"In a sense, reborn individuals settling in Azeroth is indeed about establishing a character... Speaking of which, if the two worlds are connected, where would you go to play?"

"If they all come, I'll definitely choose Frostsigh's Frost Fortress! I haven't gotten her full-color mount yet!"

————————————Azeroth's dividing line——————————————————

"I...I really...."

In a fog and darkness, a human struggled to open his eyes, looking around in confusion. His memories were fragmented, but some things remained: a scream, a ray of light...

"Yo, you're awake?"

Just as this human was painstakingly digging into his mind, trying to recall more things, a female voice entered his ears. He looked up and was immediately dumbfounded.

"An elf?"

"To be precise, they are blood elves."

Wearing the clothes of a magician and carrying a uniquely shaped staff, Zhiyuan walked to the control panel, knocked a few times, opened the hatch, let the human out, and then controlled the robot next to him to hand him a set of clothes.

"Blood Elf...?"

As the man dressed, he spoke with a puzzled expression. He felt like he had heard the term somewhere before, but he just couldn't remember where.

"Yes, go to the cafeteria to eat first, and then someone there will arrange your next steps."

After using some instruments to scan the man and confirm that there were no problems, Zhiyuan handed him a sign and pointed to the door.

"What happens next?"

"Work! Don't worry, it's not tiring at all, and it's quite fun. You can even learn magic and stuff, it's really enjoyable—by the way, if possible, would you prefer to work at our Ancient Relics Academy? We're short-staffed here right now!"

"Um, I will..."

Although his mind was still a mess, the man felt that he at least had a chance to take things one step at a time. He hurriedly thanked the man, hung up the sign, and left. Shortly after he left, a great mage appeared in the room.

"How about this one?"

"The connection between his soul and body is good, but his memory is severely damaged. I suspect he probably doesn't remember Earth anymore."

As Zhiyuan answered, he very habitually brushed away Iqi's hand that was reaching towards his waist.

“In some ways, this is a good thing—for them, the past may not have been a very pleasant thing.”

Iggy, who didn't get to eat the tofu, wasn't annoyed. He walked to the control panel, tapped a few keys, and shrugged as he looked at the other souls soaking in test tubes. After World of Warcraft sent this soul aggregate to Azeroth, the sorcerers took on an important task: to use Titan technology to create suitable bodies for the awakened parts of these souls.

"That's true—by the way, it's almost the anniversary?"

"Hmm, that notorious money-grubbing repairman will be back soon..."

Iggy tilted his head, his expression becoming subtle.

"I wonder if she'll ask us for the commissions from these people when she gets back?"

92. The Final Act: The Hometown Never Visited (End of Side Story)

Warm sunshine.

A comfortable beach.

An open parasol.

And under the parasol, there was a sophisticated, mature woman with blonde hair, wearing a white bikini.

“I mean, the first thing you do when you come back is sunbathe, that’s really unbelievable, Tennys.”

Just as Tannis was comfortably reclining on her beach chair, enjoying the sunshine on Ratchet Beach, a voice rang in her ears.

"If you were to spend a year in the universe, the first thing you'd do upon returning wouldn't be to work, but rather to find a place to relax—how are those souls? Any problems?"

Tennys pushed up her swimming goggles, reached out her right hand, picked up the chilled plum juice on the platform next to her, and drank it with relish.

"Don't we give you a report every month? You didn't miss it, did you?"

"Those reports are all from an objective perspective. I just want to hear the judgment of the leaders of the organizations that are currently 'squeezing' the deepest souls. Don't overthink it."

"...Please don't use such capitalist language. I'm genuinely providing them with jobs and even giving them further opportunities. After all, they're practically native to our world now. Earth is just a distant memory for them, something they can call back to chat or watch videos with—wait, you're not actually planning to take money, are you?"

"Although I did think about it, I figured you'd ask me for the cost of these people's materials—we'd just even things out by going back and forth, so I decided not to ask."

Tannis put down the plum juice, placed her hands behind her head, and looked up at the sky. The sky was blue, with white clouds drifting by.

"That doesn't sound like you at all. Where did that money-grubbing repairman go?"

"Because I have bigger goals for making money! Goals outside of Azeroth! So, a little bit of profit doesn't matter to me!"

Tannis's words made Iggy's lips twitch, and then, understanding the implication of Tannis's words, she remained silent for a few seconds.

"You're not planning to stay in Azeroth permanently? Or rather, you're not even planning to stay in this universe permanently?"

"Ok?"

Tanis turned her head slightly to look at Iggy, while the Archmage looked at the Great Tinker with a certain gaze.

"Okay, indeed, I'm just back for a vacation. After that, I plan to continue to the Nexus World—if things go smoothly there, I might not be back for several years."

Tanis sighed and gave a definite answer.

"What about your dad? When you were over there, he would nag you all the time, afraid that something might happen to you."

“I’ve talked to my father, and he agrees with my plan—the children of goblins must eventually carve out their own territory.”

"Forehead....."

Tanis's answer made Iggy's face twitch. She stretched out her right hand and pointed to the Tinkerman's Tower in Ratchet in the distance, as well as the adjacent buildings.

"Those aren't enough to satisfy you? Is the world too small for you?"

"It's too small... The skies of Azeroth are controlled by the Consortium. We've worked so hard, and all we've managed to get is the position of Node Prince. We can't climb any higher. After all, we can't, and we don't need to, start a war—my business has already reached its limit in this world."

"So you're planning to go to other worlds to trade? The problem is, as far as I know, neither the StarCraft world nor the Diablo world is really suitable for a merchant like you, right? Besides, with the current level of teleportation between us and those worlds, without using any extra weighting, you can only take your ship and Onyxia at most—it'll be extremely difficult for you to get started with that little bit of wealth! Moreover, those worlds are currently at peace, so you can't even start as a mercenary, can you?"

"Difficulty is what motivates us! Besides, who said I was going to those two worlds? The Nexus World connects to quite a few other worlds!"

"The problem is, those worlds are all currently in the 'observation' phase, right? There's no connection whatsoever—wait, do you have stable coordinates?"

As I said this, Iggy suddenly thought of something—something many people know, but normally wouldn't think of: Tanis wasn't actually a native human of Azeroth, but came from another dimension! In other words, Tanis was very likely...

"Yes, I have found the coordinates of the universe where I was 'born'. I plan to do business there—I believe that universe, which is peaceful yet harbors endless war, will need an arms dealer. And I should be able to sell a lot of weapons for a good price. After all, although they originated from celestial technology, after being integrated with this universe for so long, they have long surpassed the original version."

"The money over there may not be the same as in Azeroth. What you sell over there might just be a pile of worthless paper when you get back."

"It doesn't matter. In fact, what I experience most of the time is just the process of buying and selling. Although making money is a very happy thing for me, my real goal is to use buying and selling to push the world forward. If I'm not mistaken, that world needs to 'move forward'. Moreover, in my memory, the main currency of that world is also gold coins. No matter how much gold depreciates, it can still be used for industry."

Tanis touched her chin, tilted her head slightly, and responded to Iggy in a pleasant tone.

"I also need to go."

After a few more seconds of silence, Iggy suddenly spoke.

"what?"

"I said—I want to go too! I want to go with you to the world you were born in! You won't refuse me, will you?"

Iggy jumped up from his chair, pointed to the sky, and made a confident declaration.

"Is your research project going to be shut down? I'm not in charge of any of my projects anymore."