Make Azeroth breathtaking

"That fragment originated from a remnant of N'Zoth's dream. As an Old God of the same origin, it wouldn't hurt to make use of it."

Seeing that Tannis didn't intend to sit down, C'Thun didn't say anything. He picked up the drink in front of him, drank it all in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and sighed in great disappointment.

"To be honest, although the Qiraji may look like a bunch of insects to you, their brewing techniques are unparalleled. If you could buy their wine, you would definitely make a fortune. Isn't Ratchet always looking for business? Why not give it a try and buy some?"

"........"

Faced with an Old God whose behavior was completely different from what she knew, Tanis chose to remain silent, while frantically thinking about how to leave this place—there were quite a few people in Azeroth who had been driven mad by the Old God's incessant nagging, and she didn't want to become one of them!

"Don't worry, I'm probably the least skilled in mind-based abilities among the still active ancient gods... After all, I was the only ancient god who was corrupted after that battle."

Seemingly having read Tannis's mind, C'Thun downed another drink in one gulp, then wiped his hand on the table. Strange constructs rippled out from the energy waves and then disappeared into the shadows.

"Contaminated...could it be?"

Tanis suddenly understood what C'Thun meant.

"You truly are a visitor from the hyperdimensional world... That's right, the void can corrupt order, and conversely, order can corrupt the void. In that battle, my body was invaded by the Titan's overwhelming power of order, almost causing my annihilation. Although the special nature of us ancient gods allowed me to adapt to the power of order, there is no doubt that after that, I was no longer a true, pure ancient god based on the void. This weakened the Titan's sealing effect on me, allowing me to walk the world with avatars and develop the Anubis Guardians and Obsidian Statues, which are more inclined towards creations of order."

C'Thun's words made Tanis frown. Logically speaking, C'Thun's words made some sense; after all, the gem on that certain divine sword perfectly illustrated the concept of reversal at the extremes. However, rashly believing in an Old God was no different from selling one's own soul with a brand label, not to mention that this Old God C'Thun had been strange from beginning to end!

"It's normal that you don't believe me... After all, our existence, as observed through your hyperdimensional vision, has already been thoroughly exposed... But why don't you try to accept a little change... You threw yourself into the story itself, wasn't it also for the sake of change? You've already touched the void, you should understand better than anyone else what the void truly represents."

"What exactly are you trying to say, C'Thun!"

"At least I can confirm that your physical body does not belong to this universe, and your soul strength surpasses that of a demigod... Perhaps you yourself are unaware of this, but... it is a fact... Don't be surprised... To us, you are an absolute alien, therefore, beings at or above our level can sense your abnormality slightly... As for you being a visitor from a higher dimension, that is merely my speculation... However, perhaps I am right?"

After saying this, C'Thun, with an enigmatic smile, gently picked up his cup, which he had somehow refilled, and raised it to Tannis from afar. His figure gradually disappeared into the darkness, vanishing as he uttered those words.

"In the vast yellow sands and within the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, C'Thun awakens, awaiting your arrival in your dreams."

36. The Arrival of the Blood Elves

The next morning, Tannis sat listlessly in her office with dark circles under her eyes, helping Gazlowe with the accounts.

"What's wrong? You look terrible. Have you been having trouble sleeping?"

Gazlowe looked at Tannis, who had slept for almost twelve hours, with a puzzled expression, feeling that her complexion did not look like she had rested well.

"It's nothing... I just had a nightmare..."

Tanis yawned and continued listlessly calculating the bill.

"...Okay...Be careful not to make any mistakes in the accounts. If you're really too tired, leave the rest of the work to me."

Knowing that Tennys didn't want to tell the truth, Gazlowe sighed and continued working on his documents, while Tennys rubbed her temples, lost in worry.

'No wonder those who get nagged by the Old Gods almost all go insane in the end. Even races that need rest can't withstand the tactic of causing chaos in your dreams! But C'Thun—if that guy really is C'Thun—what's the meaning of his eagerness to come to me? What is his purpose? How much of what he said is true, and how much is false?'

Tannis, annoyed by C'Thun's ramblings last night, simply put down her pen and stood up.

"Dad, I suddenly remembered something, and I need to check it out."

——————————————Tannis's Laboratory——————————————————

"As expected, it's gone..."

Tannis stared at the nightmare fragments that had vanished from her multiple seals, frowning as she scanned the surrounding area with her instrument. But no matter how hard she tried, the parameters on the instrument remained normal. She checked the surveillance footage, but there was no scene of anyone or anything approaching the container.

"Okay, at least we can be sure that guy didn't create this effect through the material plane. I haven't even set foot in the dream plane or other secondary planes yet, so there's no point in thinking about it too much..."

Knowing that she would have no chance of accessing the terrifying knowledge of the Ancient Gods in the short term, Tannis sighed, closed the container, and left the laboratory. As the door closed, the laboratory returned to silence once more.

—————————————Time flies———————————

About a month and a half after Tannis returned to Ratchet, the Ratchet fleet, returning from its voyage across the ocean, finally docked at the port. Merchants, caravans, and mercenary groups, already aware of this, had sent representatives or taken matters into their own hands, setting up large signs in the port's recruitment area. These signs displayed their group names, salaries, and promotion criteria, hoping to recruit one or two arcane spellcasters—a skill still in high demand in Ratchet.

However, for the blood elf spellcasters from Quel'Thalas, finding work wasn't their top priority. Their primary concern was whether the arcane concentration in the colorless crystals produced by the colorless crystal generator in Ratchet could be further increased. Was it possible to miniaturize the device—or at least make it a non-fixed structure? And could the machinery be modified so that the colorless crystals it produced could be used not only as a simple energy source but also for more specialized applications?

"I must admit, Ratchet is not only more prosperous than I expected, but its urban planning is also quite different from what I imagined."

Sitting in the car with Tannis, Talonnicus looked at the scenery along the way with slight surprise. It wasn't that he hadn't been to goblin cities before, but Ratchet was vastly different from other goblin cities in terms of both architectural style and urban planning.

"After all, there are too many races coming and going here. If we don't plan carefully, there could be a potential crisis that could cause conflict—it's natural that minotaurs and dwarves prefer different rooms, and humans should avoid getting too close to orcs at this stage."

"We don't like being around night elves either."

Talonnicus was implying something.

“You don’t need to worry about this in Ratchet. Among the races that travel to and from Ratchet, the number of Night Elves is very small.”

"That's good. We didn't want to cause you any trouble."

After saying this, Talonnicus crossed his arms and began to rest; the time he had spent adrift at sea had exhausted him.

————————————Colorless Machining Center——————————————————

"The arcane energy concentration is slightly higher than normal, and there are no energy-gathering arrays nearby. It can be preliminarily determined that the cause of this phenomenon is not magic, but rather energy dissipation."

"The density of the magic network is normal, ruling out the possibility that this is a secondary magic node."

"The raw materials are all common materials; there are no special arcane materials."

"No energy-concentrating circuit was formed inside the machine, either actively or passively, confirming that there is no arcane energy enrichment effect."

Upon entering the processing center, the group of blood elf mages, who had been somewhat listless, suddenly perked up and began to analyze their future hopes with their own unique abilities. The results were very satisfying for these veterans with at least a hundred years of arcane experience. The colorless small crystal production device in Ratchet City did not use any arcane knowledge at all; it truly completed the reverse process of converting lower-level energy into higher-level energy!

“Very good, everyone. It seems we have many new directions to explore in the future—and these are all areas we have never ventured into before.”

A blood elf mage patted the machine with a smile, his eyes burning with fervor.

“That’s right, but our primary task is to use our knowledge to improve this machine. His Highness is currently deep in the ice plains of Northrend, and assuming we can upgrade this machine—whether it’s increasing output, improving quality, or miniaturizing it—it will be a significant help to our prince.”

Watching the group of mages discuss everything from analysis and topic selection to leveling up, Tannis couldn't help but cough twice.

"Gentlemen, I understand your enthusiasm for this matter, and I also understand the necessity for your race to complete this series of tasks. However, you must first understand the principles of this machine before you can further upgrade it, is that right?"

"Of course, we are also very interested in its principles. By the way, Miss Tanis, do you think this can be incorporated into your Tinker's system?"

As the blood elf mage spoke, he took out a scroll and handed it to Tannis.

"This is?"

Tannis opened the scroll and found it covered with a dense array of diagrams and magic circuits, along with lengthy explanations written in Salas, a language she wasn't yet fluent in.

"These are the blueprints for the Arcane Golem, but it can only operate in environments with high arcane concentrations. I think there's room for improvement with the help of engineering."

37. The Last Major Event of the Dark Portal in 21 Years

With the arrival of a large number of blood elves, Ratchet was bustling with activity again due to the long-dormant infrastructure construction team. The long-lost rumble of machinery once again filled the ears of Ratchet's residents, causing a surge in sales of earplugs, headphones, and sleep aid tea.

However, this level of noise was no big deal for Tannis. As an engineering expert, it was common for her to take a nap near rumbling machinery. Right now, she was in her laboratory, working day and night with several blood elf arcane mages who had already passed basic engineering training on the first step of improving the colorless small crystal production machine—changing the production machine from a fixed type to a mobile type.

"Will this withstand the recoil from an unstable base during operation? Is the internal buffer layer truly effective? Have you considered emergency shutdown mechanisms in case of magic failure? Have you considered emergency energy release in case of arcane energy overload?"

Looking at the several strangely shaped magic circles drawn on the blueprints given to her by the arcanists, Tannis was full of question marks. However, just in case, she still asked a series of questions—although almost all of these questions were written in the important notes during the development.

“Great Tinkerer Tannis, we have considered all the issues you mentioned and conducted corresponding experiments. We would never joke about His Highness’s current situation.”

An arcanist spoke softly as he applied specially prepared magical ink to a production machine being used as a test subject, temporarily enhancing its magical capacity.

"Prince Kael'thas? Is there a problem with the battle in Northrend?"

"The Lich King's stubbornness has exceeded our expectations. That bastard Arthas's army has successfully defended itself. According to Prince Kael'thas, it seems Illidan is preparing an escape route."

"Illidan? A backup plan?"

"Yes, if Your Highness is not mistaken, Illidan is very likely preparing to break down the barrier between Azeroth and the orcs' homeland—Outland, the world behind the Dark Portal—in order to make a comeback, and he will have no choice but to follow Illidan to that world."

"Wait, wait, wait! Although the colorless crystal fragments aren't as effective as the Sunwell, they're more than enough to help you through your mana addiction withdrawal. Prince Kael'thas has absolutely no need to continue following Illidan. It's questionable whether the Sunwell can even be created in that godforsaken place of Outland. The worlds are different, and the mana network structure can't be the same!"

Seeing Tanis's confused expression, the first blood elf arcane mage to speak smiled helplessly and put down his pen.

“That’s just Prince Kael’thas’s character… If Illidan hadn’t wronged or disappointed him, then Prince Kael’thas would never have broken his oath. After all, before he met you, Illidan truly brought hope to us blood elves—even if that hope was just a fleeting shooting star.”

"Therefore, we hope to send this machine to Prince Kael'thas as soon as possible. This machine, capable of converting lower-level energy back into arcane energy, will be useful as long as Outland isn't an empty void."

After another blood elf arcane mage finished the last piece, he began a final check of the prepared materials.

"I understand."

Tannis tightened her gloves, picked up the tools on the table, and pressed the button on her glasses to adjust them to multispectral mode.

"Let's get started."

——————————————Northrend———————————————————

"what......"

Kael'thas, dressed in thick robes, stepped out of his magnificent tent, rubbed his heavily gloved hands, exhaled a puff of white mist, and looked up at the sky, which was always shrouded in a thick layer of clouds, and the pure white snowflakes that kept falling from the clouds, and the towering ice-capped tower on the distant horizon, with its eternally shimmering, soul-stirring light.

"Arthas...The Lich King..."

Whenever Kael'thas uttered those two names, he felt a tearing pain in his soul. His kingdom Quel'Thalas was destroyed by the Scourge, his father died at the hands of the undead, and even Dalaran, where he studied, was reduced to ashes. The Scourge made an 'indelible' contribution to this!

Just as Kael'thas was feeling down, a blood elf wearing heavy armor walked up to him and knelt down on one knee.

"Saladre, is there any good or bad news?"

Kael'thas reached out and helped Saladre up.

"Lord Illidan plans to intercept Arthas's forces on his inevitable path back to the Frozen Throne. He hopes that we can join the Naga in cutting off the Scourge's rear guard to buy him enough time. He also instructed us to maintain the stability of the teleportation nodes, just in case."

Kael'thas nodded slightly.

"I understand. Is there anything else?"

"Talonnicus sent a machine, supposedly an improved version of the colorless small crystal production device from Ratchet, along with design drawings. The astrologer Caponia inspected and test-ran it, and the results were good."

"This is really good news."

Kael'thas smiled contentedly. He gently raised his right hand, and three emerald magic orbs, one of the Sunstriders' inherited weapons, slowly floated up and hovered above his head.

“Then let’s have a ‘good’ conversation with Arthas’s forces, Saladre.”

"Yes, my prince."

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

In the late 21st year of the Dark Portal, a little-known but far-reaching event occurred on the distant, icy continent of Northrend. Tanis, residing in Ratchet, naturally learned most of the details of this event from fragments of her own memories and from the blood elves who worked and lived there.