In Dreams

The next day, Tirion Fordring and Daelin said goodbye to the Barov family, bringing their wives and children with them. Their trip to Caer Darrow had come to an end!

Taelan Fordring also got to see the painting he had been looking forward to for so long!

A family of four stood by Lake Caer Darrow! A tall, strong husband, a gentle and virtuous wife, a handsome boy, and a pretty girl. They leaned on one another in pairs, their faces filled with happy smiles. The scene radiated the warmth of family!

Unlike in the original story, Rivelle had written In Dreams in elegant script in the lower-right corner of the painting! She had also signed her name on a stone pillar of Caer Darrow Bridge!

The painting was excellent, its figures lifelike and expressive. It perfectly captured the trust between family members. The great artist was extremely pleased with it!

"Ding! You acquired the oil painting In Dreams!"

You changed the fates of yourself and Jaina, gaining 20 points of World Power.

Congratulations! You have completed the legendary quest

Jaina's Redemption (Stage Two)

You gained 2 skill points. You now have 7 skill points remaining.

When they had returned the previous night, Jaina had been in a real bind. Lady Katherine had questioned her all night. But Jaina really was stubborn. She admitted that she had insisted on going hunting, which led to the three of them being captured by the Gnoll Warlord and later attacked by Syndicate Rogues. Then she turned on the charm with her mother and shamelessly showed her parents the Crescent Staff Taelan Fordring had given her! The staff was a rare treasure in the Eastern Kingdoms. She never mentioned the important notebook or ledger!

Taelan Fordring had sneakily changed out of his damaged armor. On the way back, he had pushed himself to the limit and activated Prayer Aura, healing everyone's wounds! Their bitter defeat had become a great victory. That helped him avoid his mother Karandra's nagging!

Once the carriage had left Caer Darrow, Jaina climbed into Taelan Fordring's carriage. At last, the two of them had time to carefully examine the book of Thalassian, co-written by Feathermoon and Gogri.

The book was made from some unknown animal hide. Its four corners were trimmed with a metal that was exceptionally light and bright, much like Taelan's Dragon Codex.

But it wasn't as thick as the Dragon Codex, and it had neither a shoulder strap nor a metal casing. Its cover was filthy, smeared with mud and even stained with blood.

Taelan Fordring could sense nature energy from the pages. It was a book enchanted with nature magic. That magic was the only reason it had survived until now. Still, it would last only a few more years.

It was nothing like the Dragon Codex, whose cover was made of Mithril, a metal stronger than steel yet light as a feather. It was also a conduit for magic! The book's weight came entirely from its enormous number of pages. A magic array was set into its spine, with a pure Azeroth Diamond at its center! Six sockets ringed the array, and a Greater Arcane Crystal had already been placed in the topmost one. The gems represented the six great forces of the world. Insert the corresponding gems, and the Dragon Codex would grant its user attribute bonuses. The array itself needed to be charged by its user. Arcane, Holy Light, and nature energy could all power it!

The owner had to supply energy to keep the array running and preserve the book. The array recorded its owner's mana signature, so only the owner could open the casing and read what was inside!

This apprentice Druid's journal obviously lacked that function! It could only protect the pages! Whoever had enchanted the notebook must have been a master. Even after ten thousand years, the magic was still protecting it.

Taelan Fordring opened the book. Its parchment pages were covered in neat Thalassian script. After the explanations of the Druidic path and the models for nature spells came several spells from the ancient Highborne.

Some spells had since been replaced by better ones, but the Frostfire Bolt and the Blizzard that could alter the weather were absent from the current Arcane tradition. In that era, all magic required material components!

Taelan Fordring suggested that Jaina find some parchment and copy down all the magical parts! Once she had mastered modern magic, these records would make excellent research material. It was a shame about the precious Druid spells! Neither of them could use nature energy.

The final section of the book was Gogri's diary. Written in ancient Thalassian, it was so hard to read that one had to guess at the meaning. It recorded the daily musings of this high-ranking Warlord!

One entry, for instance, was written three months earlier.

The White Lady rose into the sky. It was a good day! Broken Tooth caught a human wearing iron! Did it not know that Wardens loved that sort of thing? He shouted some strange syllables, something like, "The adults won't let you get away with this!"

Broken Tooth was Snamain's strongest underling! There were a whole dozen Wardens alone! One day, I would have that many, too!

Another entry was even more interesting:

Another new moon! It was as beautiful as the moon on my stick! I caught a guy wearing iron, too. He wouldn't let go of his backpack even as he died! There was only one waffle inside, along with a letter—what humans call a letter—that wouldn't open! Too bad it wasn't written in the noble language of the moon. I would never read a letter from such an inferior race.

Today was a terrible day! Caer Darrow's elite guards headed north, and I got hit by a Fireball. It only blew up my butt, though!

Honestly, this Gnoll named Gogri was quite formidable! Taelan Fordring might be low-level, but he was a hero unit. He could use several powerful magical items. Blessing of the World Tree increased his health and accuracy; Power of Nephalem gave him powerful skills from the Diablo series and true damage; and the Violet Pendant gave him mana. Even an elite guard was no match for him!

The two of them were reading Gogri's hilarious accounts when Lady Katherine suddenly knocked on the carriage door and came in.

She looked at the two children solemnly. She was a well-bred mother. She didn't take away the diary they were reading. Instead, she said to Taelan Fordring, "Taelan, I think you two are keeping something from us. Some things aren't so simple. The current King of Lordaeron is old, and the new king is still a child. Nothing is certain. Anything could happen for land, power, or strength! I want you to tell me properly what happened yesterday! Ever since we got back, Jaina has been troubled, and that young lady from the Barov family has been acting strangely, too!"

Taelan Fordring knew that among the adults, the Grand Admiral and Tirion Fordring were skilled warriors with tremendous strength. But in the political world of World of Warcraft, they lacked the ruthlessness and keen insight of statesmen. Their standing in the military came entirely from their personal valor and the formidable strength they had shown on the battlefield!

As for his own mother, Karandra, she knew even less about politics. She was a devoted wife and mother, with no interest in power or authority! Katherine was the only one who was not only exceptionally clever but also accustomed to navigating Kul Tiras's tangled web of relationships!

He knew that although the years from both his lives added up to quite a few, he still didn't really understand the people of Azeroth and their way of thinking. So he decided to tell Katherine what had happened the day before and get her opinion!

I'll post this first and revise it later! It's a bit cold. My hands are freezing! Please vote for me, and give me your monthly tickets. Thanks!