Kael'thas looked straight at Sathis and asked, "How were you protecting Karen? How did this happen?"
Sathis didn't dare hide anything. He told Kael'thas the whole story from beginning to end.
After hearing him out, Kael'thas's expression softened a little. It really hadn't been due to Sathis's negligence.
Now wasn't the time to assign blame. After hearing Sathis's explanation, Kael'thas said nothing. He turned and crouched to examine the magical patterns on the ground.
After studying the patterns for a long, long time, Kael'thas frowned. These ancient runes really were troublesome.
After all, they came from an age long past, and much had changed since then. Some of the patterns were hard to understand.
It looked like he would have to spend some time studying them.
Kael'thas ordered everyone not to disturb him. Then he pitched a tent in the clearing and began studying the ancient magical runes as he read.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed. Kael'thas spent another half day examining the magical patterns on the ground.
Once he had finished studying them, Kael'thas summoned everyone.
"I've gained a general understanding of the magical patterns in this ancient teleportation array. It can send someone a tremendous distance—halfway across the continent.
Karen must have ended up on the other side of the continent. He won't be able to contact us for now, so we'll have to use our connections to look for him."
He turned to Sathis. "Sathis, you're the one who lost Karen.
"So you're responsible for finding him. I'm ordering you to lead a squad to the other side of the continent immediately and search for Karen. Don't come back until you find him."
"Yes, Your Highness. Thank you."
Kael'thas continued, "I'll inform Stormwind City and ask them to help with the search.
"You can also take the portal from Dalaran to Stormwind City." "Antonidas, I'm sorry for the trouble, but I'd like you to use your connections too and ask your friends over there to help search.
"You may promise that whoever finds Karen will earn the friendship of the High Elves and a generous reward."
So, how was our protagonist, Karen, doing now?
That day, Karen had been completely baffled when a black shadow slammed into him.
As soon as it hit him, the shadow merged into his body.
The moment it merged with him, Karen was overcome by panic. It wasn't because the attack had dealt Hero-level damage and shattered his protective barrier. More importantly, he couldn't feel his own body. He couldn't see or feel anything, and he couldn't move.
A mechanical voice sounded in his mind.
Beep. Host detected. System starting...
Beep. System scan in progress...
Database integrity: 0%
System personalization program integrity: 2%
Scanning System integrity: 20%
Analysis and processing center integrity: 20%
Beep. Host's soul detected in the process of merging. Host is unconscious and unable to control the body. The system will temporarily take control of the host's body until the soul fusion is complete.
Beep. The database has been completely destroyed. Retrieving the host's memories to update the database.
Beep. Analyzing the host's current condition. Physical condition: Good. Location: Unknown. Abilities: Intermediate Mage, Intermediate Alchemist. Equipment: 3 Epic items...
Based on the host's current condition, the system recommends hiding first.
Scanning the surrounding area. The host is currently in a forest, but there are signs of activity from many humanoid creatures nearby. A humanoid settlement is probably not far away.
The system recommends that the host disguise himself and hide, observe the humanoid creatures, then make a plan.
Gathering nearby plant parts to decorate the host's body and conceal him in the shadows.
Adjusting the body's breathing to an embryonic state, lowering vital signs and metabolism, and maintaining complete stillness.
Karen remained completely still for a day and a half, until some humans came into the forest to gather firewood.
The human who appeared was an ordinary person, not a professional. The system assessed the threat level as zero.
System's next-step plan: Follow this human to a human settlement, then decide what to do next.
Following the human from a distance, the system arrived at a small town. It hid Karen's body in a forest not far from the town, then activated a wide-area scanning program.
Beep. Activating wide-area scanning program. Estimated time: 1,312 seconds. 1%, 2%, 3%... 100%.
Scan results: 1 intermediate-level professional, 10 beginner-level professionals, 34 apprentices, 358 ordinary people.
Conclusion: The threat to the host is 18%, a low level. The system recommends that the host carry out a concealment mission here.
Beep. Concealment mission initiated.
Using the special equipment, the Orb of Deception, to transform into a human intermediate-level mage.
Current chance of being discovered: 0%. Chance of being randomly discovered by an arriving Hero-level professional: 1.3%.
Execution is excellent. A name is recommended.
Retrieving the host's memories. Name selected: Drew.
After transforming into Drew, Karen, under the system's control, didn't go straight into town.
Instead, the system scanned again, this time looking for places with more money and weaker defenses.
Since Karen's soul was still in the process of merging, the system couldn't take anything out of his spatial ring.
Even a hero could be brought low by a lack of money. Settling in a small town without any money wasn't difficult, but it was a hassle.
The town had very few professionals. Karen found a wealthy merchant who kept money at home.
This particular merchant had been selected because he had no professional guards. His guards were all ordinary people or apprentices.
The system easily controlled Karen's body, and with the almost cheat-like Scanning System, he easily took on the role of a thief and stole some gold coins from the merchant's home.
He didn't steal much; there was no need. The merchant probably wouldn't notice a small amount, and if he didn't notice, Karen wouldn't run into trouble when entering town.
At the beginning, he lacked start-up capital. Once he had that, Karen could make money in no time.
Now that he had money, Karen—no, he was Drew now.
Drew strode openly into town along the main road.
He let the powerful aura of an intermediate-level professional show. Of course, that was only by the standards of this town: an intermediate-level professional was one of its two strongest people, Drew included.
Drew went to the mayor's house and said he wanted to settle in town.
He wanted to buy a property somewhere quiet and secluded.
Drew also said he was an intermediate-level alchemist who regularly made potions and other alchemical products to sell to the townspeople. The mayor was delighted. There was no reason to turn down such a good offer.
He immediately promised to help find a house and sent someone to post a notice on the town bulletin board.
Drew made a point of walking past lots of people, and the news spread like wildfire.
Drew hadn't even been at the town inn for a full day when good news arrived.
They had found a house for him. It was in a corner of town, but was still reasonably accessible.
A stone path led right to its door, wide enough for a carriage.
The path wasn't far from the town's main road either, and the highway out of town was less than two hundred meters away. Leaving would be easy.
More importantly, because it was close to the town cemetery, few people lived in that part of town. It was very quiet.
It suited Drew's current persona: an intermediate-level mage devoted to alchemy, a homebody who preferred research.
People like that enjoyed solitude and didn't like dealing with others.
The role was easy to play. He didn't talk or move much, so the risk of being exposed was extremely low.
Drew settled in, quite satisfied.
The townspeople were all delighted. An intermediate-level mage had arrived, making the town safer.
After all, this was a rather chaotic world. Humans weren't the only ones living here; many other races did too.
The Gnoll Race, the Kobold Race, and others were all restless sorts who liked invading human territory.
This was also a world much like the Middle Ages. For ordinary people, transportation and communication were still very inconvenient, and there were plenty of poor people.
As a result, bandits and the like were common.
Before crossing over, he'd loved fighting these bandit monsters in games. They had little health and dropped lots of money.
But that was beside the point. There were a lot of bandits, and the town needed professionals to protect it.
So the arrival of another intermediate-level professional greatly improved the town's safety, which was wonderful news for its residents.
With a powerful professional in town, ordinary bandits wouldn't dare come anywhere near.
And this professional was also an alchemist. He brought not only security but benefits as well.
Potions that were usually hard to come by.
Before, you could only hope to find them in a large town.
Now they were available right here, and they were affordable too. And so Drew settled smoothly into the town.
Before you continue