Gnomeregan

Gnomeregan had once been the greatest pride of the Gnome race, the most fantastical and futuristic city on the continent. It was known as the City of Miracles!

It had the most cutting-edge industrial and mechanical technology. The Gnomes might have been small, but the wisdom in their genius brains had long surpassed the combined knowledge of every intelligent being on the entire Azeroth Continent!

Now the city had long been contaminated by radiation. The Gnomes inside had either died or fled, yet the mastermind behind it all, McNeil Theramplug, had survived.

Gnomeregan had originally been invaded by a group of evil Mutated Stonejaw Monsters. To exterminate them, High Tinker Mekkatorque had ordered the city's emergency radiation tanks opened in a desperate gamble.

But things had gone awry. The Mutated Stonejaw Monsters hadn't been killed; instead, the city had been contaminated. The Gnomes were forced to flee to Ironforge for shelter, and Magni Bronzebeard, leader of the Bronzebeard Dwarf race, had gladly welcomed them. But the Gnomes' desire to reclaim their homeland had never stopped burning.

Now Gnomeregan had become a Trial Mission site for Dwarves and Gnomes advancing to become professionals. The city's Mutated Stonejaw Monsters and some rebels had taken up residence there.

The Trial Mission site Sun Busong and the others had to complete was only a small section of Gnomeregan.

The Mutated Stonejaw Monsters and rebels had become immortal after being contaminated by radiation. Even if they were hacked into pieces, they could regenerate before long.

As Sun Busong neared the entrance to Gnomeregan, a Gnome Guard called out to him.

"Friend! If you want to complete the Trial Mission in one go, I think you'll need this!"

He staggered over to Sun Busong, reeking of alcohol, and pulled a specially made explosive from his backpack.

Small Salt Bomb: Can blast open small doors and locks when used.

"What's this?" Sun Busong took it and examined it closely.

The Gnome Guard burped and said, "There are plenty of places in your Trial Mission area where you'll need this bomb. It'll blast open sealed mechanisms and locked doors. Trust me, you'll find it useful."

Sun Busong gave him a bright smile, waved, and turned to leave.

"Then thanks, my friend!"

Back at the city gate, Sun Busong didn't hurry inside. Instead, he opened his Character Panel and checked his backpack. He wanted to make his final preparations.

Sun Busong: Soldier, Level 21.

Health Points: 22725! Strength: 198. Stamina: 31. Armor: 810! (The Slaughter Artifact's bonus of 21 to all attributes is not shown here.)

Enhanced Attributes: Critical Strike 12%, Haste 5%, Versatility 5%.

Kill Points: (2729/100)

Skills: Basic Melee Attack max level! Basic Ranged Attack max level! Basic Swordsmanship Attack max level! Basic Hammer Attack max level! Basic Axe Attack max level! Basic Shield Defense max level!

Next was his Slaughter Artifact.

Slaughter: Artifact, Item Level 21 (sealed; one seal is broken every twenty levels), necklace. Binds when equipped; cannot be traded or discarded. Growth Artifact. The more monsters or enemies you kill, the faster Slaughter grows.

+21 Strength

+21 Agility

+21 Stamina

Equipment: For every 100 enemies of your level killed, one Free Attribute Point is automatically generated. Free Attribute Points can be added to Strength, Agility, Stamina, Intellect, or Spirit. (2729/100)

Equipment: Equipment you make can be combined and upgraded! It can be upgraded to a maximum of five stars! Each upgrade requires three pieces of equipment of the same star rating and 300 Slaughter Value!

Equipment Three (sealed)

Equipment Four (sealed)

Equipment Five (sealed)

Equipment Six (sealed)

After Slaughter reached level twenty, its second seal had already been broken. Its second special effect turned out to let him combine equipment he'd made himself.

"W-wait. I was in too much of a hurry and didn't notice Slaughter had leveled up!"

Sun Busong regretted coming here so soon. If he'd checked Slaughter first, he wouldn't have rushed off to the Trial Mission. He could at least have combined all his equipment into one-star gear.

But then he glanced at his Health Points and Strength.

"Maybe I don't need to. If I can't handle a Trial Mission with these stats, then I'm hopeless."

"Oh, right! I still have Humar! Hahaha!"

Only then did Sun Busong remember that one of his four 38-slot backpacks held a Combat Pet.

He rummaged through his backpack!

Soon, Sun Busong found the pet he'd been thinking about for ages: Humar.

He selected the option to remove the seal, and a black lion about the size of a house cat appeared beside his right leg.

Humar was still small. Its soft black fur looked adorable, and each of its four little paws had sharp claws. Its eyes were blue, and its tongue occasionally licked its tiny pink nose. Its teeth didn't look very dangerous at all.

Lion King Huma: A Combat Pet with tremendous growth potential. It will be your most loyal companion and family.

Level 1, Common, can grow. Loyalty: 100%. (Status normal)

Health Points: 153. Strength: 10. Agility: 10. Intellect: 10. Spirit: 10. Stamina: 10. (Master Attribute Boost: +2272 Health Points, +22 Strength, +3 Agility, +4 Stamina.)

Skill: Cower (lowers the pet's presence, making enemies less likely to attack it).

Growth Pets can absorb the Soul Energy of other rare monsters they kill and advance.

(Pets must be fed promptly when injured or hungry. Check the Status Bar for real-time information. If killed, they will die; revival costs 1000 Kill Points.)

"Holy crap!!! It's that tiny! I bet one fart from the monsters in there could blow it to bits!"

Sun Busong didn't like the look of it at all.

As soon as Lion King Huma landed, its little eyes began darting around. It quickly spotted several Gnome Guards up ahead, and immediately leaped in fright. It scurried behind Sun Busong's heels and began trembling!

"What a disaster!"

Sun Busong slapped his forehead.

But he'd already brought it out, so he couldn't just abandon it. Besides, the description said it was a Growth Pet. Maybe, possibly, it might get stronger someday!

Ten minutes later.

There was nothing for it. Sun Busong had to take Humar into the Trial Mission area. He'd searched everywhere but couldn't find a way to dismiss it or put it back in his backpack.

"Hey! My short friend, welcome to Gnomeregan. Good luck with your Trial Mission!"

When the Gnome Guard saw Sun Busong arrive at the dungeon entrance with a pet, he called out to him loudly.

"Hello to you too, Gnome Guards."

Once Sun Busong had slowly passed through the entrance, the two guards exchanged a look. One of them said, "Another shorty taking a pet inside. Is this kind of advancement method all the rage lately?"

"Who knows? Maybe someone in his family is a Hunter."

"Oh, right. But why can't we have Hunter professionals? Taking a pet along for an Advancement Quest would definitely give us a high success rate."

"Once you're taller than that level-three Cliff Boar over there, our Gnome race will be able to have Hunters!"

Gnomeregan had once been one of the most powerful cities. Sun Busong walked through the city's only access tunnel, which stretched for over a hundred meters. It was more than twenty meters wide and high, and the entire passage was made of steel. Even the ground was covered with steel plates dozens of meters thick. It would have been harder than climbing to the heavens for an enemy to break through—if only they hadn't had a traitor among them.

Along the hundred-meter passage, Sun Busong spotted at least dozens of mechanisms: firing holes the size of fists, nozzles in the ceiling for spraying poison, and even mechanisms that could shoot flames and Frost Rays.

"I heard the Gnomes will take back control of this place someday and restore their race's golden age. When that happens, I'm definitely coming here to buy a few houses and live in them. Unless there's a civil war, this city is absolutely safe."

At the end of the tunnel, he saw a huge elevator!

It was big enough to carry several large war vehicles at once.

Standing on it, Sun Busong felt as though he'd stepped onto a football field. It was so spacious! He only wished they'd covered its floor with grass instead of steel.

The elevator descended quickly. It took a full two minutes to reach its destination. By his rough estimate, they had descended at least several thousand meters!

When he stepped off the elevator, Sun Busong spotted several Gnome technicians. And no, they weren't the kind who gave foot massages.

"Welcome, Dwarf friend. If you want to go back up, just tell us. We'll make sure you get there safely!"

"Thanks. Do you charge?"

"Uh, no."

"Good, hahaha."

After chatting with the technicians for a moment, Sun Busong continued onward. When he stepped out of the elevator entrance, the sight before him left him awestruck once more.

Purifying Cannon X-2! Purifier 500 Aerial Firepower Cannon! Stealth Matter Detection Radar! And Gnome Laser Defense Turrets everywhere!

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Sun Busong was like Granny Liu visiting the Grand View Garden. Everything here was beyond his experience, and the mechanical devices before him seemed almost alive. It felt like he'd stepped into a science-fiction world.

Just then, an electronically synthesized voice suddenly rang out from above.

"Confirmed: the target is a soldier of the Dwarf Alliance. Allow passage!"

The voice startled him, and then cold sweat ran down Sun Busong's back.

"Damn, so I was being checked the whole time! If I'd been a spy from a hostile faction, would they have killed me already?"

The thought sent a chill through him. Sun Busong hurried forward. This wasn't the time to sightsee; completing the Trial Mission and getting out was the right move. The little lion behind him was startled too, its fur standing on end. It looked as if it had leveled up, and had grown twice as big.

At last, he reached the city streets. But apart from a few ordinary survivors, the whole city was bleak and desolate. Sun Busong also saw some Gnomes contaminated by radiation.

Nearly all the shops were closed. The few that hadn't managed to close had been ransacked and wrecked. The streets, however, were spotless, probably thanks to the Sanitation Robots.

Sun Busong kept close to the walls, avoiding the deranged Infected. Along the way, he saw many medical workers carrying medical kits and devices, as well as technicians examining the contamination and gathering samples.

He walked and looked around, and soon he'd reached—no, wait. He was lost!

"Oh, my goodness! What is all this? I came here for a Trial Mission, not to play a maze! Couldn't they at least have a guide?"

After eating something and resting for a while, Sun Busong figured it out. Finding the actual Trial Mission site was part of the Advancement Quest. To complete the Trial Mission, he first had to find the key person.

Once he understood that, Sun Busong began asking the relatively normal Gnomes for information.

Before long, Sun Busong got the information he needed. After another long trek, he reached a large Subway Station entrance.

He looked up. Damn! He'd finally made it. Sun Busong could still read the Common words beside the Subway Station entrance: Trial Mission Entrance!

"That wasn't easy. Not easy at all." As he spoke, Sun Busong stepped into the Subway Station.

But once he was inside, what he saw left him stunned again.

Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of mechanical flying machines were buzzing around overhead, their mechanical arms gripping Gnomes who had mutated.

He'd heard friends boast about cows flying through the sky, but today he'd seen it for himself: people flying through the sky. Were they kidding?

The flying machines didn't do anything to him, though. They scanned him with their electronic eyes, then flew away. Sun Busong was so startled that his legs trembled.

"Hey! You, shorty over there. Come here."

Just then, Sun Busong heard someone calling him. He straightened up and strained to look toward the voice. On a raised platform up ahead, several dozen normal Gnomes were waving at him.

It was good to see people. Sun Busong dodged the nearby abnormal Gnomes and sprinted toward the platform. He had to succeed in the Trial Mission on his first try; he didn't want to come back here again.

Of course, once the Gnomes retook control of the city, he'd come back.

"Thank you!"

As soon as Sun Busong reached them, he started thanking the group, though he didn't even know why.

"Gah gah! There's no need to thank us. Hello, shorty, and welcome to the Trial Mission. I'm Kavo Bomb, the Trial Mission officer. If you're ready, we can begin. As you can see, we're very busy. We still need to rescue these Infected."

A white-haired Gnome in a green hazmat suit, but without a helmet, greeted Sun Busong.

Sun Busong was even more eager than they were.

"I still have to thank you. Otherwise, I wouldn't know how long I'd have been wandering around. I'm ready now, so when does the Trial Mission start?"

"Any time you like, my short friend!"

As he spoke, Bomb turned and pointed to a spot. "See that over there? The entrance to the Trial Mission site is through that door. There are some volunteers inside, too. You can ask them if there's anything you don't understand."

Sun Busong asked in confusion, "There are volunteers inside? I thought it was all monsters."

"The volunteers guide the soldiers who come to do the Trial Mission. There's also food and a medical station inside. You don't think you can finish the Trial Mission in a single day, do you?"

"There's a medical station? Do they have a hotel and escorts in there?"

"What are escorts? Our volunteers only guide you along the proper Trial Mission route. They won't fight for you. If you understand, please leave. We have a lot to do!"

They were kicking him out. Sun Busong didn't feel like wasting more time with them. Once he'd got his bearings, he went down the steps, took his little cat along, and began the real Trial Mission!

Thanks to the big shot [The Protagonist's Background Character] and the other readers for their recommendation tickets, especially [The Protagonist's Background Character]. They were the first reader to encourage me after I started writing novels. Thanks again, big shot!