Unlocking Profession: Death Knight

For the future of the Horde, is it... Malone looked into the eyes of Teron Gorefiend. He could not see the pupils, perhaps because the eyeballs had long since rotted away, but Malone could feel the determination of this Death Knight leader.

Since he had already met Teron Gorefiend, then what of Orgrim Doomhammer? This Orc Warchief, who had brought the Horde to its zenith of glory and then led it toward total collapse, the only orc in the current orc camp who had never drunk the blood of Mannoroth—what kind of person was he?

Orgrim Doomhammer, a powerful orc warrior, had countless heroes die by his hand, most notably the first Warchief of the Horde, Blackhand the Destroyer, and... the most outstanding warrior and commander among humans, Sir Anduin Lothar.

Malone shook his head, chasing away the distracting thoughts—for a brief moment, he had even wanted to linger in this orc camp for a while longer, at least to see those renowned orc chieftains.

"Teron, what are these things on your hands?" Malone suddenly noticed Teron Gorefiend's wrists and arms. Beneath the bindings of his gauntlets, some black markings were exposed, looking like tattoos but possessing some deeper significance—Malone's intuition told him this was very important to him.

"These?" Teron Gorefiend's gaze fell upon his own wrists, and then he smiled triumphantly—though the smile looked utterly disgusting to Malone, as pale yellow, putrid slime began to drip from his jaw, which could not quite close.

"These are runes, Maicomarlon." Teron Gorefiend pulled back his gauntlet, revealing his entire right arm covered in black markings. "It is no wonder you do not recognize them; the runes used by every warlock are different."

"Runes?" Malone looked at Teron Gorefiend's arm, forgetting his disgust as he seemed to recall something.

"Yes, runes. Do you not remember?" Teron Gorefiend looked at Maicomarlon strangely. "They are the runes we used when we were still warlocks."

Runes, so that was it! While listening to Teron Gorefiend's explanation, Malone searched through the memories of the warlock called "Maicomarlon" and finally recalled the relevant information.

Back when there were no warlocks among the orcs—when the world of Draenor had not yet been corrupted by fel energy—the primary spellcasters among the orcs were shamans.

Later, Gul'dan taught the orcs to use demonic magic, and a large number of shamans became more powerful warlocks.

However, as a form of spellcasting, warlock magic was far more complex than the simple communication with elemental spirits used by shamans, and many orc warlocks could not skillfully wield these spells.

To help orc warlocks grow powerful quickly, some discovered a convenient method—tattoos.

Of course, not the kind of tattoos from Earth... The orcs had always held an ancient tradition, believing that tattooing certain patterns on their bodies—some animal motifs, others entirely devoid of meaning—could make them stronger in battle.

In a sense, this was true for warlocks; they began to tattoo specific runes on various parts of their bodies—primarily their hands and faces—to enhance their spellcasting abilities.

"How about it? Am I not clever?" Teron Gorefiend said to Malone, looking smug. "Of course, I became a Death Knight long before you, so it is only natural that I discovered this trick earlier."

"When we occupied these human bodies, although our physical strength became greater, we faced difficulties in casting spells; these human bodies simply lack talent. So, I tattooed those runes from my warlock days onto this body, making it much easier to use the power of shadow!"

Teron Gorefiend seemed very happy that Malone was asking him questions, and he went on and on.

"Tell me, Maicomarlon, perhaps you should try it too. I do not know if your body is suited for spellcasting, but having a shortcut like runes is always beneficial..." Teron Gorefiend pulled at Malone's arm, rolled up his sleeve, and then froze.

"You have already learned this trick?" Teron Gorefiend shouted in surprise.

Malone looked at his own left arm. Beneath his wrist, black, worm-like characters were densely packed. Malone did not know what language these were, but he could read them.

"Death... Coil, Anti-Magic... Shell, Blood... Presence?" Malone read the meaning of the runes bit by bit, a look of astonishment occupying his entire face, and even his heart.

"What are you saying?" Teron Gorefiend looked at Malone strangely, yet the latter did not hear him at all.

"Good heavens... is this the power I have obtained..." Malone muttered to himself. "Is this cheat code... a bit too overpowered?"

The runes appearing on Malone's hand were all skills belonging to the Death Knight class in the game World of Warcraft.

Malone had originally thought that the Azeroth he had arrived in was a purely alien world, but he never expected that he would bring elements from the game into this world, and in such a simple, crude way.

"Regarding the method of using these runes..." Malone was already impatient to test this "gift package" he had received.

Soon, Malone found the memories regarding the usage of the runes. He stood up, faced the ground at his feet, and according to the memories of "Maicomarlon," focused his attention on his left wrist.

Soon, Malone felt as if something began to flow through his blood, like a living creature. Then, as a small section of the runes on his left wrist suddenly flared with light, a dark green wave of energy quickly left Malone's palm and slammed fiercely into the ground not far away.

With a loud "boom," the soft ground of the Burning Steppes was blasted into a large crater by the green shadow wave. A large amount of black volcanic ash was kicked into the air, and Malone had to cover his nose with his sleeve to avoid inhaling the dust.

The loud noise drew the attention of the other orc Death Knights. They stopped their conversations one after another and looked toward Malone. Seeing the sky filled with dust and Teron Gorefiend standing beside Malone, staring blankly at him, these Death Knights resumed their previous activities—orcs who had already died once would not meddle in others' affairs.

"Maicomarlon, you are amazing! How did you do that? Can you teach me?" Teron Gorefiend looked at Malone excitedly and asked loudly.

However, Malone did not answer him—not because he did not want to, but because Malone was captivated by a voice that had suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Class unlocked: Death Knight. Current level: 55. Repeating, repeating; class unlocked: Death Knight. Current level: 55." A voice devoid of any emotional color or fluctuation said.