The Ridiculous Arcane Gas

The bronze door to Deren's underground laboratory at his Theramore residence slowly opened, and a strange-smelling gust of air poured out.

Deren emerged looking utterly exhausted, though his spirits were unusually high.

Onyxia stood beside the coffee table, her slender brows nearly twisted together. Covering her nose with a silk handkerchief, she fanned the air before her with a look of disgust.

"What have you been doing down there these past few days?" Her golden slit pupils narrowed as she looked Deren over from head to toe. "You smell like a Goblin warehouse."

Deren spread his hands. "I made a little something. It's quite interesting."

The Black Dragon Princess rolled her eyes, but still poured him a cup of tea and handed it over.

"Never mind that." Deren did not take the teacup. Instead, he held up a crystal flask filled with swirling mist. "Look at this first."

Onyxia's anger suddenly froze. A dragon's instinctive greed for rare things made her lean closer despite herself. "Poison gas?"

"Quite the opposite." Deren grinned. "A ridiculous Arcane Gas. Very safe, very interesting. Take a whiff!"

The instant he pulled out the cork, Onyxia reflexively leaned back, but it was already too late—a wisp of gas slipped into her nostrils.

At first, nothing happened.

"Boring prank—"

Then the corners of her mouth began twitching uncontrollably. An irresistible urge to laugh rose within her.

"Pwahahaha!"

The noble and elegant Black Dragon Princess suddenly doubled over with laughter, clutching her stomach as she laughed without stopping. Her laughter echoed through the living room, mixed with the sounds of furniture collapsing. A dragon's destructive power was no joke.

"W-what kind of evil magic is this?! Hahahaha!" She tried to use Dragon Awe to suppress her laughter, only to spit out a few ridiculous sparks. "Stop, stop! Hehehehe!"

A crisp crunch came from the staircase. Chromie stood frozen on the steps with a honey biscuit in her mouth, her amber dragon eyes widened into circles. "What are you—"

With lightning speed, Deren turned the flask toward her. "You should try it too. Don't worry, it's safe. It just makes you want to laugh uncontrollably."

"Mmph?!"

Three seconds later, the Bronze Dragon burst into laughter, biscuit crumbs spraying from her open mouth. "T-the Timeline is doing the cancan! Hahahaha!"

Onyxia had already collapsed into a laughing heap, unable to maintain her dragon form. With a smack, her tail swept through half a bookshelf. Tears glimmered at the corners of her eyes, and her expensive dress was now covered in scraps of paper. "D-Deren! Hahaha! You'll pay for this."

Fifteen minutes later, as the gas's effects gradually faded, both dragons had laughed themselves weak. Tears and snot still streaked their faces. The way they looked at Deren was as if they were staring at some ancient Evil God.

"An alchemical product of the arcane." Deren shook the bottle, his voice trembling as he held back laughter. "A ridiculous Arcane Gas. A gas that makes people laugh. Looks like it works on dragons too. Don't worry, it's very safe!"

The living room fell deathly silent.

Suddenly, Onyxia's claw slammed into the oak table. "You made a noble Black Dragon," she said in a dangerously low voice, "laugh like an idiot dragon?"

Deren silently took out a small notebook. "Also noted: this gas has a stronger effect on the Dragon Race, and lasts 3.7 times longer than it does on humans. Deren, specifically."

Chromie suddenly lunged for the Time Sandglass. "I'm erasing this from history! Right now! Immediately!"

As the three people and dragons in the room experienced the power of Azeroth's first bottle of ridiculous Arcane Gas, Sylvanas walked in, her golden hair swaying behind her like cold, dazzling sunlight. She narrowed her eyes at the mess inside—shattered furniture and toppled bookshelves.

"What the hell are you doing?" Her voice was like an arrow tempered in ice. The house had been turned into a disaster zone. "Why did you call me here at a time like this? To watch you fight?" she asked coldly.

Deren was crouched on the floor dealing with the broken furniture. Hearing her, he looked up without noticing the strange edge in her tone. "Ah, perfect." He stood and produced another sealed flask. "Ranger General, interested in participating in a scientific experiment?"

Sylvanas's fingertips instinctively settled on her quiver. "If this is another one of your dragon pranks—"

"No, no, no. Pure academic research." Deren shook the bottle. "I'm testing how different races react to this ridiculous Arcane Gas. It's very important for you High Elves. Trust me!"

Onyxia staggered against the edge of the table, a trace of lingering laughter still at her lips. "Ha... long-ears, you should try it." Her voice trembled slightly. "It's much more fun than killing Trolls."

Sylvanas's gaze shifted between Deren and the glass flask. Since the fall of Quel'Thalas, she had grown used to being wary of everything—but this human had repeatedly proven his goodwill. Whether it was rescuing her from Silvermoon City, taking her around to see Azeroth's sights, or even those few brief words of guidance on Theramore's streets that she remembered most clearly. They had given her the courage to live again.

"Prove it is harmless," she finally said, though her fingers remained pressed against her quiver.

Without hesitation, Deren took a deep breath of the gas himself. Three seconds later, the corners of his mouth began twitching, and his handsome eyes curved into crescents. "See? Completely sa—hahahaha." He gripped the table's edge, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably. "It just... makes you want to laugh. It helps people relax."

Sylvanas frowned even more deeply. She slowly descended the steps, her leather boots crunching crisply over broken glass. When she stopped before Deren, they stood close enough to count each other's eyelashes.

"If this is some kind of trick," she warned in a low voice.

"I swear on Theramore," Deren said, trying hard to keep a straight face, though laughter still lingered at the corners of his eyes. "Purely a scientific experiment."

The Ranger General leaned close to the mouth of the flask and took a deep breath—

—then abruptly stepped back two paces, carefully savoring the gas's scent.

"You lied—"

Before she could finish, a strange urge to laugh flooded through her body.

"Th-this is absurd."

Sylvanas Windrunner, Quel'Thalas's finest Ranger General, let out a clear, bell-like laugh for the first time in her life. She braced herself against the wall, her whole body trembling with laughter. The grief, anger, and despair that had been piling up for months were scattered to pieces by this absurd sense of relief.

"Hahahaha, Windrunner above." She wiped tears from the corners of her eyes. "That idiot Sun King never smiled."

Onyxia's eyes widened. She had never seen Sylvanas like this—without her sharpness or vigilance, like an ordinary elf girl.

"Get away from me, hahaha..." Sylvanas tried to push away the two dragons approaching her while laughing wildly.

As everyone laughed themselves into a heap, no one noticed the flash of Teleportation Spell light. Jaina stepped out of a Portal, froze at the insane sight before her, and stared. "Arcane above, what are you doing? You're laughing like maniacs!"

Meanwhile, Deren held a glass bottle in his hands, a scientist's uniquely fervent smile on his face.

"Jaina!" His eyes lit up. "Perfect, come try—"

"No." Jaina took a step back, clutching the documents in her arms more tightly. "Absolutely not."

Onyxia staggered upright. "Ha... little Proudmoore girl... scared?"

"This isn't fear." Jaina watched the bottle warily. "This is reasonable caution toward an unknown alchemical product."

Deren pushed the bottle forward. "I've already tested the reactions of dragons and elves. Now I need a human sample for comparison." He paused, then added, "For science."

"Science?" Jaina raised a brow. "You call this science?"

Sylvanas finally managed to recover somewhat, though her breathing remained unsteady. "D-don't worry..." The corners of her mouth still twitched. "It won't kill anyone... it just... hahahaha... can't be controlled..."

Jaina struggled inwardly. Her reason was still screaming warnings at her, but she also had complete faith in Deren's safety measures.

"Just..." She took a deep breath. "Just once."

Deren smiled and pulled out the cork.

Jaina cautiously leaned closer and gave it a light sniff—

—several seconds later, she felt as though everything had become distant and ridiculous.

"Pff... hahahaha!"

The ruler of Theramore, Princess of Kul Tiras, and one of Dalaran's most outstanding mages—was now laughing until tears streamed down her face.

"Th-this is ridiculous!" She wiped her eyes. "I was actually... hahahaha... worrying about the harbor's... herring tax?!"

After a long while, the laughter in the living room gradually subsided, though a light and cheerful feeling still lingered in the air. Jaina sat in an armchair, tears of laughter still on her cheeks. She rubbed her aching face and looked at Deren with both irritation and curiosity.

"This... this absolutely cannot spread." She took a deep breath, struggling to reclaim the dignity of a great mage as she spoke to Deren. "And you absolutely cannot tell anyone about what happened today. Otherwise, I will never let you off."

"No one will tell anyone about today." Onyxia had finally returned to normal. The proud expression on her face made her seem like a completely different person from the one who had been laughing through tears moments ago. "Unless he doesn't want to keep living." She glared viciously at Deren.

"Yes. If anyone finds out what I looked like when I was laughing like an idiot, the other dragons will mock me for ten thousand years." Chromie spoke with lingering fear. "That's terrifying."

Sylvanas had regained her usual cold demeanor, her sharp gaze fixed on Deren. "Why did you make something so terrible? Just to laugh at us?"

The corner of Deren's mouth twitched. "Of course I'm not that bored. I made it for you High Elves."

At that, Sylvanas rushed before Deren, grabbed him by the collar, and demanded sharply, "What exactly are you trying to do? So you've finally shown your true colors."

Onyxia reacted quickly, immediately stepping in front of Deren and shoving Sylvanas aside. "I believe Deren means no harm. Otherwise, why would he have told us? Let him finish."

"All right, all right, that's my fault for not explaining it clearly." Deren raised both hands in surrender. "This gas is a kind of medicine, used to treat High Elves."

"We do not need this kind of medicine to treat any illness." Sylvanas shouted coldly, then turned and walked away.

Onyxia snorted. "Never overestimate yourself. Deren's vision is not something a female elf like you can understand."

Jaina watched the scene before her and fell into thought. From what she knew of Deren, he must have had some deeper reason for doing this. Meanwhile, Chromie could no longer hold back her question. "Deren, why exactly did you do this? Is this ridiculous Arcane Gas really medicine?"

"Yes," Deren answered softly. "Medicine to treat a certain illness among High Elves."

"Ah!" The Bronze Dragon Chromie suddenly screamed, saying excitedly, "Y-you-you... could it be that you want to treat their mag—" Before the final word could leave her mouth, she clamped both hands tightly over it.

Another secret. Jaina glanced at Onyxia and saw that she too looked thoughtful. Curiosity filled Jaina's heart. She cleared her throat. "Deren, do you have any of that gas left? I need it for magical research."

Deren answered seriously, "No. I'll make more if needed later."

Jaina nodded. "Then when you said it was medicine for High Elves, do they need it more?"

Deren nodded. "That's right. After losing Quel'Thalas, the High Elves will suffer a severe outbreak of illness. This ridiculous Arcane Gas is medicine that can ease the symptoms. It cannot be considered a cure, but it is still better than nothing."

Second update. Let me state here: the method and effects of creating the ridiculous Arcane Gas mentioned in this novel are entirely fictional and unrelated to reality. As for what happens next, those who understand, understand. Please watch Approaching Science.