One Night

Scourge Alchemy, as the name suggests, uses the power of the Scourge as its foundation to carry out various transformations. It is subdivided into brewing potions and elixirs, spreading plagues and diseases, and creating Scourge creatures.

The book doesn't start with any general outline or summary; instead, it directly records descriptions of basic materials, such as Ghoul Teeth, Rotting Zombie Brains, and Night Bat Wings.

After flipping through a couple of pages, Li Shaolin felt a chill run down his spine—the stuff required for this was way too disgusting, wasn't it? But it seemed the person who wrote this book was also a lazy sort, just jotting things down casually without even an introduction. How was anyone supposed to read it?

He himself hadn't been in this world long, and he hadn't even seen what ghouls or zombies looked like yet, let alone gone out to collect materials for alchemy.

He leafed through it randomly, skimming lines at a glance, treating it like reading a novel. Before he knew it, it was already late at night.

Finishing up, he couldn't help but yawn, feeling drowsy. So, the magic circle in the basement was meant to condense Wraith Power. It required an injection of fresh blood from the living every three days, and the construction process was extremely troublesome—the pentagram needed the resentment of five people who died unjustly, sealed with gems, to make the array flow. Once completed, if the blood supply stopped, the five vengeful spirits, with nothing to anchor them, would break out, just like the woman in the coffin, turning into Ghosts.

It looked like he couldn't stay here much longer. Five Ghosts—he had no idea if he could even take them on.

Just then, Sulonna, lying on the bed, let out an "mm," as if calling for him.

He went over and saw her face flushed red. Before he even got close, he felt waves of heat rolling off her—she had a fever.

"Do you need some water?" Li Shaolin hurried over and asked, leaning down.

Sulonna's face was rosy, like she was drunk. Her eyes fluttered open slightly, she glanced at him, and seemed to smile, but then she grabbed him and pulled hard.

"Aiya." Before Li Shaolin could react, he was yanked into the bed curtains.

Waves of heat mixed with a lingering, intimate scent filled his nostrils, and with a jade-like body pressed against him, curves and contours rubbing together, he felt his blood boil. The desire he'd suppressed for so long erupted instantly, and in moments, he lost all reason.

As for the pleasures that followed, they were not fit to be shared with outsiders.

Morning.

Opening his eyes, it seemed he'd slept well last night. Turning his head slightly, he saw Sulonna beside him, and at the same time, the smooth, warm body pressed close sent a strange sensation through him.

Sulonna was staring at him with her eyes wide open, smiling faintly.

"Uh... ah." Li Shaolin quickly sat up, wanting to say something but not knowing where to start, feeling a bit awkward for a moment.

Seeing him like that, Sulonna let out a snicker, then grabbed him and said with a laugh, "Well, well, you little scoundrel, hiding a thief's heart, taking advantage of me while I was injured."

"No, no!" Li Shaolin waved his hands frantically, but the facts were what they were, and his defense was weak.

"Look at you, acting so silly!" Sulonna teased him, then said, "I know you didn't mean it. What's done is done, let it be." With that, she slid out of the covers in one smooth motion.

The medicine was indeed good—the wounds on her shoulder and chest had already scabbed over, and last night's tussle didn't seem to have affected them at all. Of course, her skin, smooth as congealed fat, also caught Li Shaolin's eye.

Blood gushed from his nose.

Sulonna was quite open about it, dressing herself right in front of him. She even tapped him on the head with her finger, snapping him out of it. Embarrassed, he quickly got up.

Ah, what a mess. He'd done such absurd things last night. But, heh, the feel of it had been pretty nice.

Both of them seemed lost in thought, and for a while, neither spoke.

After getting dressed, they went downstairs.

On the floor, a few weapons and some gold coins were scattered around. The bodies of the three Defias Brotherhood members were gone—it seemed the Clay Golem hadn't slacked off last night. Among the items, a gleaming, shiny dagger stood out; it was Mogani's.

"You work fast, cleaning up the floor so quickly." Sulonna looked at him in surprise, a bit incredulous.

"Heh heh." Li Shaolin gave a sheepish grin and scratched his head. With that opening, the distance between them suddenly shrank again.

"The other weapons are just average, but this dagger is a real treasure." Sulonna bent down, picked it up, and flicked the blade with her finger.

"A treasure?" He couldn't really tell. Li Shaolin suddenly thought of Detection—wonder if it worked on items?

As the thought came, he cast it. Sure enough, a line of text appeared before him: Gemmed Dagger (Fine), +1 Stamina. So it was a green item.

"These spoils should belong to you. Take them." Sulonna handed over the dagger.

After a bit of polite refusal, he couldn't withstand her insistence, so they compromised: Li Shaolin took the weapons, and Sulonna split half the gold.

"By the way, what about Master Karnak? What's your relationship to him? And, I don't think I even know your name yet?" As they ate breakfast, Sulonna suddenly asked.

"Well, I'm his distant relative. I only found out recently. He seemed to have some business and left Westfall—won't be back for a while." Remembering that Karnak had once been a noble of Stormwind City, claiming to be a relative probably wouldn't hurt. As for Karnak himself, he was dead and definitely not coming back.

"Oh, I see. Master Karnak must have been involved in this somehow. So, what are you planning to do next?" Sulonna tore off a piece of bread and popped it into her mouth, pointing at the two skeletons behind him as she asked casually. She seemed to think Karnak had been summoned back by the Scourge Legion's inner circle.

"Next?" Where to go next—Li Shaolin himself didn't even know.

"By the way, aren't you afraid?" Li Shaolin couldn't answer, but suddenly thought: wasn't everyone terrified of the Scourge Legion? Why wasn't Sulonna scared?

"No. When I first joined the Defias Brotherhood, I was heavily ostracized internally, just like Master Karnak. Maybe out of shared hardship, Karnak helped me out now and then. And since he was a noble from Elwynn Forest, I quickly found my footing and gradually gained status alongside Erland. Of course," Sulonna said with a hint of shyness, "Morgan also played a part."

The Receiver Morgan? So that was it. That guy probably held a pretty high position in the Brotherhood too.

(I've been moving house these past few days and really had no time to write. Bear with me, dear readers. Sorry.)