Make Azeroth breathtaking

"That's no problem."

Knowing perfectly well that Sylvanas wanted to verify something, Tannis readily agreed to her request. She activated the mechanical assistant and contacted the throttle. After a few breaths, the unstable projection of the throttle appeared in front of Tannis.

"Shh... Miss Tanis... Signal... Shh... Something's not right... Is... Shh... something wrong?"

“I’ve met a Quel’Thalas general who wants to speak with Ambassador Talonnicus. Could you help me find him?”

"No problem... Sha..."

The projection of the burst thrombus disappeared from its original location, and about two minutes later, the projection changed to Talonnicus.

"Tannis... Miss... Ms. Sha... Shasha... May I ask... who are you?"

"You two can talk it out yourselves."

Tanis took out a pair of headphones and a pair of glasses and handed them to Sylvanas. Sylvanas understood, put on the glasses, fastened the headphones, and slightly parted her pale lips.

"Long time no see, Talonnicus."

34. On the Forgotten

"General Sylvanas, you're still alive?... Uh..."

Upon hearing Sylvanas's voice, Talonnicus was overjoyed, but he quickly realized something was amiss. Sylvanas's death was already a confirmed fact, meaning that the current Ranger-General...

Upon hearing Talonnicus suddenly stop speaking, Sylvanas gave a bitter laugh.

“Yes, that’s who I am now, just as you imagined. Talonnicus, how are the surviving members of my people in Quel'Thalas? My sister Vereesa… how is she?”

"The tribesmen who suffered from mana addiction after leaving Quel'Thalas with the prince received initial treatment in Ratchet, and their conditions have now stabilized. The royal elite forces have followed Prince Kael'thas north to prepare for the attack on the Lich King's stronghold. Some tribesmen with milder mana addictions remained in our homeland, fighting a guerrilla war against the Scourge under the leadership of Regent Lor'themar and the new Ranger-General Halduron. As for Vereesa, she has, under the prince's arrangement, led a group of wanderers to human territory to seek reinforcements."

"That's good...that's good..."

Upon learning of the blood elves' and her sister's current situation, Sylvanas said "That's good" twice and then stared blankly. Talonnicus didn't know what to say either, and the two stood quietly facing each other.

After a long silence, Talonnicus slowly spoke.

“General Sylvanas, once our people are settled in Ratchet, could you consider returning to lead our ranger force? We have quite a few rookies here, and we need a ranger general to properly discipline them,”

Sylvanas gently shook her head and stretched out her hand, which had turned gray and black from the erosion of death.

"Talonnicus, I appreciate your invitation, but it's impossible for me to return to my people—my appearance will only frighten them, only remind them of the deep wounds inflicted upon them by the Scourge... Talonnicus, those rookies are in your hands. I believe you can lead them to success."

“But General Sylvanas, I’m simply not cut out to be a proper ranger. You know, I’d much rather be a tinkerer than a ranger-general.”

"Heh... then do as you wish, Talonnicus. Sticking to the same old ways is never a good thing."

After saying this, Sylvanas immediately cut off the communication, took off the headphones and glasses and returned them to Tannis, while speaking softly.

"Thank you, I feel much better now."

"You're welcome, you're welcome."

As Tennys packed her things, she waved her hand to indicate that it was no big deal.

"Does your adoptive father have no objection to taking in Quel'Thalas refugees? I've heard that goblins only care about money."

“My adoptive father and I both prefer a win-win situation. There’s no doubt that investing in the reconstruction of Quel’Thalas will be an extremely valuable deal for Ratchet in the future. Oh, by the way…”

Tanis took a Ratchet emblem out of her bag and handed it to Sylvanas with a smile.

"On my way here, I saw quite a few undead like you who had broken free from the Lich King's control. I also left them an advertisement—Ratchet, you're always welcome to come and exchange goods!"

Sylvanas took the Ratchet emblem from Tannis with a dazed expression, and spoke with a slight hesitation.

"But...we are the dead..."

"As long as you don't go against the whole world, what's the big deal about the undead? Didn't you see that Talonnicus still wants you to go back to being a ranger general? I've heard it said that what determines good and evil is not race, but one's actions."

Sylvanas clutched the Ratchet emblem, her body trembling slightly. Finally, she carefully put the emblem away and looked at Tannis.

“I will never forget your kindness, Great Tinker Tannis.”

————————————————Ratchet——————————————————————

Inside the Tinkerman's Tower teleportation hall in Ratchet, a ball of light suddenly lit up on the teleportation terminal. A few seconds later, the ball of light took shape, and Tannis strode out from it. Gazlowe, who knew she was coming back, was already waiting in the Tinkerman's Tower.

“I heard you’ve made contact with another ‘promising’ tribe, my daughter?”

From the few words Tannis gave in response, Gazlowe learned that Tannis had once again made contact with some force, and he couldn't wait to ask.

"Well, how should I put it, this force... is a bit awkward... Let's go to the office first, the anti-eavesdropping effect is better there."

———————————————Ratchet, Town Hall————————————————

"Undead???"

Even a goblin like Gazlowe was shocked when he learned which faction Tanis had associated with. Good heavens, can the Scourge do business?

"It's not the Scourge, it's the free undead who have broken free from the Lich King's control. There's a big difference. Currently, of the three factions in the Lordaeron region, I reckon only they will try to get closer to Ratchet. The remaining two forces are Alliance supremacists and Burning Legion remnants, who seem like they can't communicate with each other."

Tennys waved her hand, indicating that it was a small matter.

"Sigh... but they might be regained control by the Lich King... I'm telling you, the risk is too great."

Gazlowe sighed for a while, feeling that his daughter was being a bit too hasty in this matter. It was a bad idea to draw conclusions hastily without observing and interacting with such an unstable client as a conscious spirit.

Tanis remained remarkably calm about her father's concern.

"If the Lich King could regain control of the out-of-control undead, he would have done it long ago."

“Okay...you have a point, but Lordaeron's production system is paralyzed, so this commercial route probably won't generate any revenue for a long time.”

"No, no, no, Father, you may not know, but the Lich King has already begun withdrawing his troops from the Eastern Kingdoms. The reason is that the combined forces of Illidan, Kael'thas, and Vashj have already smeared it in the face. If it doesn't withdraw, it's probably going to die."

"If the Scourge withdraws from the occupied territories... great! If the Free Undead achieve final victory, this is a good deal! By the way, if they band together, who do you think is most likely to become the leader of the Free Undead?"

Gazlowe became excited as he instantly deduced a series of things in his mind.

"The most powerful undead among the Free Undead is Sylvanas Windrunner. I believe that if the Free Undead can gain decisive control of Lordaeron, then she will inevitably become their leader."

35. Darkmoon Faire – An Unexpected 'Guest'

For the next period of time, Tannis waited calmly. After all, even with the tailwind summoned by Archdruid Malfurion and the favorable current created by some goblin shamans, it would still take the fleet nearly two months to return to Ratchet.

So, with nothing else to do, Tanis went back to her laboratory and continued researching her G0 Warlords. This continued until a strange circus troupe wandered into Ratchet's territory.

"Darkmoon Faire? Why does this circus's flag look so strange?"

Tanis stared blankly at the circus bustling about at the gates of Ratchet. Fragments of memories swirled in her mind, making her realize that this circus was not as simple as it seemed on the surface. The strange purple eyeball banner of the Darkmoon Faire also made her fragments of memory vaguely try to tell her something.

"This is the flag they used when the Darkmoon Faire was founded, Miss Tanis."

While Tennyson always felt something was off, Overspark, who had come out with her to clear her head, remained completely calm.

"Master Craftsman Overspark, could it be that the Darkmoon Faire is connected to dwarves?"

"Aha, you guessed it, the founder of the Darkmoon Faire was a gnome—Silas Darkmoon! To be honest, Gnomeregan was really surprised to learn that a gnome had achieved such great success in the circus! After all, while we gnomes have a talent for comedy, we can't learn how to peacefully bring so many races together."

Upon hearing about dwarfs, Overspark perked up and began to tell Tannis about everything he knew about Silas Darkmoon and the various stories surrounding the establishment of the Darkmoon Faire. As Overspark described, Tannis's brows gradually furrowed.

"Wait, I have a question. Was Silas Darkmoon's surname Darkmoon from the beginning, or did he adopt the surname Darkmoon after founding the Darkmoon Faire?"

"It should be... after the circus, since we dwarfs don't usually use such a strange word as a surname..."

Overspark's uncertain opening.

"So you gnomes have a habit of using strange words like 'Dark Moon' as circus names—but anyone with a brain knows that your favorite words are definitely wrenches, sparks, bolts, and things like that. 'Dark Moon' is more suitable for races with ancient histories like night elves or trolls."

After saying this, Tanis sighed and continued to look at the Darkmoon Faire, which was still setting up various amusement facilities at the gates of Ratchet.

"It still feels... weird..."

————————————Circus under construction——————————————————

However, despite Tannis's constant feeling that the Darkmoon Faire was strange, it still opened on time because it did not violate the security rules of Ratchet, paid the venue usage fee, and even attracted some customers to stay at the inns in Ratchet.

“This is indeed just an ordinary circus, daughter, you’re overthinking it.”

After the Darkmoon Faire opened, Gazlowe, having heard Tanys describe her feelings, went to celebrate and took a stroll through the Darkmoon Faire. He concluded that the Darkmoon Faire was indeed just an ordinary circus—the only odd thing was that it really had all kinds of races, from humans to elves. But Ratchet was in the same situation, meaning that this point of doubt was not really a point of doubt.

“I know… I just still feel like something’s not right. This circus… has many things that defy common sense… although they are all minor issues, they are definitely against common sense….”

"Don't be so paranoid. There are plenty of circuses like this in Azeroth; you've just been too engrossed in engineering to explore them. Go take a break; you've really been lacking in rest lately."

"Okay...maybe I was overthinking it..."

Feeling she really needed a good night's sleep, Tannis pushed open the door and left Gazlowe's office. As she closed the door, Gazlowe touched his bald head in confusion.

"Strange, why do I suddenly want to tell her to rest? I clearly need someone to help me calculate the recent bills..."

——————————————Tannis is making the bed————————————————————

Tanis felt she was sleeping very comfortably, very comfortably, as if her soul had left her body and jumped into a pile of soft cotton candy. A voice whispered in her ear, allowing her to drift into a deeper sleep.

"wrong!!"

Tanis suddenly snapped out of her daze. She had experienced this before, a feeling that she could only experience when she used meditation during her martial monk training. The problem was, she wasn't in meditation at all, so this feeling was abnormal!

Realizing she might be under a mental attack, Tannis quickly focused her mind and gradually pulled herself out of the immersion. Then, she let out a soft shout, opened her eyes, and looked around.

What came into her view was...

Eyes, thousands of eyes, thousands of enormous, blinking eyes surrounded by a pale purple mist.

"The Thousand-Eyed Demon... C'Thun... I never imagined the Darkmoon Faire was really connected to you?"

The flickering of memory fragments allowed Tennys to instantly recognize the owner of these eyes and immediately call out its name.

"After all, I was imprisoned for tens of thousands of years and barely managed to crawl out as an avatar. How can I live without finding some fun for myself?"

To Tanis's surprise, after she announced C'Thun's name, all the blinking eyes around her retreated into the chaotic darkness, and in front of her appeared an ancient table and two seemingly simple but exquisitely carved chairs. One of the chairs sat an ordinary-looking dwarf—Silas Darkmoon, the leader of the Darkmoon Faire.

Would you like some drinks?

With a gentle wave of his hand, the Darkmoon of Silas—or rather, the avatar of C'Thun—two crystal glasses filled with an unknown substance appeared on the table.

"How did you manage to drag my spirit into this world?"

Tanis didn't step forward. She was joking; how could she possibly touch the things of the Old Gods?