Vanessa's fortress was coming along smoothly. Several basic buildings, including the Town Hall and barracks, had been completed, and the living facilities were mostly in place. At last, she no longer had to live under someone else's roof.
As usual, Robbie accompanied Vanessa on a tour of the construction progress. They ended up at the Town Hall.
"How far have you gotten with Kel'Thuzad's book?" Vanessa sat upright in the main seat of the Town Hall, the quest officer's seat in the game.
These past few days, Robbie had spent every spare moment studying Kel'Thuzad's "On the Relationship Between Spellcasting, Runes, and Cats." When Vanessa asked, he handed it over along with his reading notes.
Vanessa was astonished by the thick stack of research notes. After carefully reading through them, she looked thoughtful. Her large, bright, sharp eyes fixed on Robbie as though she were looking at a monster.
"You've really surprised me. I thought you'd be completely baffled and need three or five years just to grasp the basics. It seems I underestimated you."
Vanessa appeared to be in an excellent mood, though there was a trace of doubt in her beautiful eyes.
"Commander, I've actually had a few unusual encounters."
Robbie told her about his journey to the Dark Portal as an anonymous bit of cannon fodder and his miserable experience being used as a guinea pig after his capture. Of course, he didn't mention that his soul came from Earth. He only said that after drinking the mysterious blood, he had suddenly gained all sorts of strange knowledge.
Science and magic were fundamentally different systems of knowledge. Earth's knowledge had only played a supporting role in his understanding of "On the Relationship Between Spellcasting, Runes, and Cats." The decisive factor was the wisdom from the mysterious blood.
Vanessa's doubts vanished. She tilted her head and thought for quite a while. "Knowledge and wisdom hidden in blood? It must have been a boss-level demon that could resurrect from a single drop of blood, the hardest kind to deal with. If its original body hadn't perished countless ages ago, you'd be a demon by now."
"Was it really Demons' blood? Then why did it give me an aptitude for the Holy Light?" Robbie asked.
"The laws governing power at its extremes have something in common." Vanessa crossed her arms, her gaze unwavering. "Can you say Sargeras doesn't understand the Holy Light? Sargeras chose Fel only because, in his view, it was easier to spread than the Holy Light. And you were able to comprehend the Holy Light only because humans are more inclined toward its power of order."
That made a lot of sense. Earth, fire, water, wind, Arcane, and the Holy Light were all energies that could only be used under stringent conditions. The Holy Light in particular was outrageously finicky, and especially troublesome to use. The key point was that it wasn't any stronger than Fel.
There was nothing wrong with the energy itself. Perhaps Fel users would appear later.
Vanessa opened Robbie's research notes and carefully pointed out their shortcomings. At the same time, she humbly asked Robbie for advice, without putting on any airs.
Vanessa looked adorable when she studied. At times she frowned slightly, at times she beamed, at times her eyes wandered, and at times she was as cold as ice. When they encountered a difficult problem, the two tackled it together and shared the pleasure and joy of solving it.
Time flew when he was with a clever, beautiful girl, and Robbie couldn't help recalling the wonderful times he had spent studying and discussing things with his lover.
The Atlantis Civilization, the Lemurian Civilization. Remembering his lover's painstaking search for those two legendary civilizations and her near-obsessive persistence, Robbie felt a wave of inexplicable sorrow.
Before they knew it, night had fallen. Vanessa's expression suddenly turned cold. She pulled out a gold-covered book, handed it to Robbie, and said mildly, "Your understanding of Rune Casting is sufficient now. You can try condensing a Holy Light rune."
Taking the thick book, which retained a faint trace of the Holy Light, Robbie glanced down at its cover. Title: "Whispers of the Old Gods." Author: Benedictus.
"Commander, this book..."
"You should go back."
For some reason, Vanessa's attitude had quickly grown cold.
"All right."
Robbie sensed a trace of unfamiliarity. He put the book away and said goodbye to Vanessa.
Watching Robbie's departing figure, Vanessa showed a trace of worry on her delicate face.
Robbie's room in the barracks.
Hogger's room next door was as noisy as ever. The roars of several female Gnolls rose and fell, shaking heaven and earth. Needless to say, Gnoll girls were fighting over Hogger again.
Hogger was thoroughly fed up with it, but he couldn't withstand the girls' fiery passion. They had followed him all the way from Azeroth to Draenor, which could be called a love stronger than gold.
In private, Hogger had boasted to Robbie that, as a Gnoll with ideals and ambitions, he had little interest in females of his own kind. What he liked were sexy, rare female ogres?
Come to think of it, did female ogres really exist?
As usual, Robbie stuffed strips of cloth into his ears and opened "Whispers of the Old Gods."
In the history of World of Warcraft, Benedictus was a low-profile figure who could not be ignored. He was a disciple of Alonsus Faol, the Prophet of the Holy Light, and a fellow disciple of Uther the Lightbringer, Tirion Fordring, Turalyon, and others. He was also the Archbishop of the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind City.
During the Second War, Archbishop Faol died and King Llane was murdered. Benedictus lived up to his faith, held up the sky over Stormwind City, became a spiritual anchor for the faith of countless people, and made outstanding contributions to the city's peace and stability.
Yet during the Cataclysm, this guy fell and became one of the Twilight's Hammer cultists. He colluded with Deathwing and became an evil leader bent on destroying the world. After Thrall saw through him, he was ultimately destroyed.
What did "Whispers of the Old Gods" have to do with a Paladin's cultivation?
"The Holy Light has nothing to do with faith..."
At the very first sentence, Robbie nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. Benedictus must have known Arthas. There was definitely some unspeakable secret between them.
At the beginning of the book, Benedictus first gave an account of his research.
"...Kel'Thuzad shared his research findings and smugly claimed to have perfected Rune Casting using the human body. As everyone knows, Rune Casting can only be used to forge magical equipment. The fragile human body cannot withstand the tremendous backlash from runes. I mocked Kel'Thuzad, saying his theory could only be used on dead bodies. I never expected him to actually become a Lich...
...Recently, a number of Twilight's Hammer cultists were imprisoned in The Stockade. During their interrogation, I discovered that they were not deranged lunatics. On the contrary, they were more intelligent and rational than ordinary people. I wondered why these people had not been corrupted by the Old Gods...
'We are not Cho'gall's followers.' One of the Twilight's Hammer cultists showed me their secret: the hoods, mantles, and robes of the Twilight's Hammer cultists, and the runic arrays inscribed on them. These could resist the seductive power of the Old Gods and prevent them from falling into the abyss of corruption.
'Our goal is noble and great.'
One of the Twilight's Hammer cultists, who called himself a Spellstealer, revealed their belief: 'Twilight is divided into two factions. One consists of diehards led by the ogre Cho'gall, who serve the Old Gods. The other is us Spellstealers, who steal the secrets of the Old Gods for Azeroth's sake.
Think of it: one day in the future,
when magic is no longer controlled by the Elemental Lords,
when the Holy Light is no longer monopolized by the Naaru,
when Fel is no longer manipulated by the Burning Legion,
when shadow is no longer controlled by the Void,
when Arcane is no longer the exclusive domain of the Titans,
when all intelligent beings in Azeroth, regardless of wealth, status, or race, can master powerful spells,
Azeroth will truly be safe.
We call it:
the Hour of Twilight.'
Skeptical, I analyzed the research findings of the Twilight's Hammer cultists in depth and was astonished to discover that the power of the Old Gods could solve the spellcasting difficulties of ascetics.
The difficulty ascetics face in casting spells is that the human body cannot compare to an elemental being and cannot gather enough elemental energy. Runes are one possible path, but runic arrays can only be forged on objects. Rune Casting using the human body remains a dream.
After all, the process of forging runes is far too painful. No one is willing to embed multiple magical gems in their ribs and hand bones, especially when every spell cast risks breaking those bones.
The Spellstealers showed me a new path: condensing runes with mental power. Through research, I discovered that the whispers of the Old Gods are, in essence, a form of runic power. The Old Gods use their immense mental power to condense countless invisible runes that drift through the air like spores.
For the coming of the Hour of Twilight, for the glory of ascetics, and even more for Azeroth, I became a member of Twilight and soon took over as leader of the Spellstealers. Under my leadership, we achieved significant research results and deciphered a considerable number of the whispers of the Old Gods.
Through my contact with the Twilight's Hammer cultists, I discovered that while the Old Gods were indeed unmatched in power, their individual strength and aloofness brought them blind confidence. They lacked the cunning and vigilance that social beings should possess. Like mollusks acting on instinct, they could not distinguish true believers from false ones. This gradually caused me to let down my guard.
Complacency led to failure. After I made a breakthrough, my righteous cause was branded with groundless accusations and dealt a severe blow. The Spellstealers were nearly wiped out.
Deathwing was right. I seriously underestimated the wisdom of the Void Lords. The Old Gods invaded Azeroth with force, while another group of infiltrators secretly aided them with wisdom and strategy. Force and wisdom worked together, each making up for the other's shortcomings. That was the complete Void invasion..."
Reading this passage, Robbie's thoughts surged, and he could not calm down for a long time.
In World of Warcraft, Benedictus fell in the Hour of Twilight dungeon. Strangely, even after he had revealed himself as a Twilight Father, the Holy Light had not abandoned him, and he could still wield its mighty power. That seemed to say something.
What history showed was only a false appearance of a clear division between justice and evil.
The truth, however, was full of unsettling undercurrents.
Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with knowledge and power themselves.
Robbie decided not to pursue the truth for the time being. He urgently needed power...