Nobles and Natural Disasters

Just as Karnak lifted the coffin lid, intending to wake the ghost, a shadow shot out in an instant!

It turned out that although Li Shaolin had been stripped of all his mana and physical strength by the potion, his spirit had never weakened. Earlier, in the outer living room, he had been unable to contact the skeleton in the bronze coffin and was filled with regret. Who would have thought this guy would actually bring him to the cellar on his own? The moment he entered, he established a mental link with the three skeletons inside the coffin. He was just considering how to get the skeletons to act without alerting this man when, unexpectedly, the man opened the lid himself—giving Li Shaolin the perfect opportunity.

The black skeleton leaped out from within, a bone blade instantly plunging into the old mage's chest. Then, with a slight turn, another black bone blade slashed across his neck.

"Cough, cough..." Karnak coughed up dark red blood, a look of disbelief on his face. The wooden plank he had just lifted fell back down with a heavy thud.

"You... you..." His hand slowly rose, pointing at Li Shaolin, who was under his Puppet Mastery, but before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed with a crash! His gaze held reluctance and sorrow, finally fixing on the bronze coffin. It seemed his relationship with the ghost was no shallow one.

With the mage's control lost, Li Shaolin's legs gave way, and he tumbled to the ground, letting out a long sigh. He hadn't expected such treachery from men—he had nearly fallen into a trap.

"Creak~" A grinding sound like gnashing teeth came as the wooden coffin lid was pushed open. Another skeleton, its body entirely cyan, stood up, stepped out of the coffin, and came to Li Shaolin's side. It held a long blade in one hand and a bone shield in the other, its whole form a uniform cyan, just like the coffin's color.

"This one... has evolved and mutated too? Did it absorb the bronze coffin's material?" Unable to move and without Detection to use, he naturally couldn't find out the details. Still, it was his own skeleton, so there was no more need to worry.

An hour later.

A familiar surge of power flooded his body, and his stamina and mana instantly returned to their peak. Li Shaolin felt a surge of joy—it seemed the potion's effects had worn off. He pushed with his feet to stand, but his legs gave way. After being immobile for so long, the blood hadn't flowed to the leg pinned underneath, leaving it completely numb and senseless.

After waiting a little while, he finally stood up. Without first examining the skeleton warrior's mutation, he walked over and gave the already dead Karnak a vicious kick, venting the anger in his chest.

Karnak's blood flowed from the wounds, seeping into the pentagram beneath the coffin, causing ripples of crimson light to spread. The two skeletons within seemed to revel in it.

He cast Detection on the newly mutated skeleton, and a line of blue text lit up: Fourth Tier Bone Warrior (1, Bronze Skeleton).

"Bronze Skeleton? So it really did mutate from absorbing the bronze coffin. Judging by its look, it probably has higher defense." Li Shaolin pondered for a moment, then suddenly remembered—there was still one more skeleton, wasn't there? He had put three in there! He quickly peered into the coffin, and sure enough, the other one lay steadily inside, black energy constantly being absorbed into its bones. It seemed on the verge of evolving too. Thinking about it, since being summoned from Stone Stele Lake, it had taken part in quite a few battles, so it should have met the level-up requirements.

He summoned the Clay Golem and had it absorb Karnak's corpse. Why wasn't this golem leveling up? Back in the Fargodeep Mine, Hogger had shattered all three summons in one blow, and they had all been resummoned afterward. The golem, like the two mutated skeletons, had gone through so many battles—why was there no sign of it leveling up?

He couldn't quite understand. Perhaps golems were naturally slow to level up.

By now, Karnak's corpse had been absorbed, leaving behind only a blue gem staff and a small pouch on the ground. Nothing else remained.

"No way? This guy can't be that poor, can he?" Somewhat puzzled, Li Shaolin picked up the staff and tested it. A chilling cold emanated from the gem—this guy must have been an ice mage. He then picked up the pouch and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge!

After fiddling with it for a while, he realized it was a Spatial Item.

With the golem's absorption, the spiritual imprint on the pouch had been erased. He casually probed it with his mind, and it opened. Inside, twelve slots were packed full—gems, bones, gold coins, and books all neatly sorted.

This guy had quite a stash.

After a quick sort, there were over a hundred gold coins. Adding what he had taken from the Goblin Overseer, he now had more than two hundred gold. Indeed, being a professional made money come fast.

Suddenly, a few black wooden barrels in the Spatial Pouch caught his attention.

He took them out, and on them were clearly printed a group of white ants. "What's this?" Curious, he didn't dare open them recklessly. After being tricked by Karnak once, he had learned to think things through.

He flipped through the stack of books—mostly manuscripts and notes—until, at the very end, a black book appeared: "Scourge Alchemy"!

This old bastard was connected to the Scourge Legion!

His heart shook with shock, but the light here was dim, so he decided to get out first. He put away the barrels and the manuscripts and notes, and naturally, the Spatial Pouch now belonged to Li. He left the skeleton warrior that was about to level up in the bronze coffin and led the golem and the two mutated skeletons back to the living room.

Closing the wooden door, he took out the notes and manuscripts and began to read. After all, he needed to figure out who this guy was.

He hadn't known, but once he read, it gave Li Shaolin quite a shock. This guy had a serious background.

The notes not only recorded Karnak's origins but also chronicled VanCleef's extraordinary life.

From the fragmented records, he learned that this mage named Karnak was originally a noble of Stormwind City and had also been VanCleef's former master. Later, VanCleef, due to his outstanding abilities, caught the attention of SI:7, broke away from him, gained commoner status, and trained with SI:7 for many years. In one special mission, he became one of the few spies to make it out unscathed.

But his true talent lay elsewhere. VanCleef had once been a young man with a passion for architecture, brilliant and talented. After successfully retiring from SI:7, he joined the Stone Masons Guild. Years later, he finally took over as the leader of the Stone Masons Union from the previous chief. Just as his reputation reached an unprecedented peak, he received an invitation from the Stormwind Kingdom Royal Family, stating that the royal family hoped he would take on the task of rebuilding Stormwind City.

And so, the young leader of the masons clearly felt he stood at the pinnacle of his career. Honor, wealth, noble status—all that had once seemed out of reach now appeared to be beckoning to him.

But fate refused to comply. When VanCleef fired the celebratory cannon for the completion of the new Stormwind City, he received a notice: the royal family, burdened by war expenses, had no money left to pay for the project!

Were they truly broke, or deliberately reneging?

Though Stormwind City promised VanCleef noble status, position, and wealth, VanCleef only saw the brothers who had built Stormwind City with their blood and sweat, waiting at home for wages to support their families!

And so, the first revolution in Azeroth's history erupted.

Later, he formed the Defias Brotherhood, amassing wealth by seizing mines and raiding farms.

Karnak, VanCleef's former master, naturally fell into misfortune along with him.

Under the selection of Stormwind City's nobles, Karnak was sent to the Deadmines, which the Defias Brotherhood had seized, to negotiate with VanCleef. The implication was clear—if the negotiations failed, there would be only one outcome: death!

Karnak was a decisive man. Upon entering the Deadmines, he swore loyalty to VanCleef. As for the money and land he once had—to hell with it all! Staying alive was what mattered.

Seeing the Defias Brotherhood take over all of Westfall and even infiltrate Elwynn Forest, where Stormwind City was located, Karnak got nothing out of it due to his former noble status. Perhaps it was VanCleef's intention—after all, he was the former master.

While Karnak was privately complaining, a high-ranking mage found him.

This person claimed he could grant Karnak eternal life and boundless mana, and briefly demonstrated the art of reanimating corpses. Naturally, Karnak was seduced.

After obtaining "Scourge Alchemy," Karnak's magic became dual-element: Frost and Death!

His mission was simple: plague all of Westfall! After that, he would be the master of this land.

As he read, Li Shaolin felt cold sweat forming on his forehead. When had the Scourge Legion's power infiltrated this far? It wasn't recorded in the game. And from the notes, it seemed that within the Deadmines, some members might already be infected. Those few black wooden barrels contained Plague Ants. Given enough time, Karnak could have plagued all of Westfall!

What should he do?

There was nothing else of value in the manuscripts. Li Shaolin had no mood to read "Scourge Alchemy" either. If what the notes said was true, and the Defias Brotherhood was completely transformed into Scourge, then Elwynn Forest would be lost too. Thinking about the mine he had just acquired seemed rather pointless. Maybe he should go talk to VanCleef?

Suddenly, he was startled by his own thought. Who was VanCleef? He was the big boss of the Deadmines—how could he possibly allow an 11th-level professional like him to get an audience? Besides, he was now more or less a landowner. He had no title, sure, but he did have land. If VanCleef ever found out, with his hatred for the nobility, wouldn't he kill him on the spot?

After thinking it over, he shook his head. Forget it. He'd just take things one step at a time.

With all this fussing, the sky had already turned dark.

Feeling a chill in the air, he took out flint and tinder from his Storage Space and lit the long-unused fireplace.

In an instant, the room was filled with warmth.

Knock, knock, knock. The sound of knocking came again.