Aviana

This time, when he returned to Stormwind City, Kael'thas had originally wanted to see Karen off.

However, Karen thought it would draw too much attention. An Alchemy Master wasn't worth Kael'thas going to such lengths.

So Karen declined and held his farewell ceremony right in Kael'thas's Mage Tower.

After they left the Mage Tower, Kael'thas assigned two guards to escort Karen to the portal station. Now that they knew who Karen was, the guards were nervous the entire way, afraid that any wrong move might catch his attention and earn them a punishment.

In truth, Karen wasn't that petty and had no intention of holding it against them.

Still, he deliberately walked slowly, stopping now and then to scare the two of them. That would serve as their punishment.

As they neared the portal station, someone appeared, just as expected.

"Oh, what a coincidence! Master Drew, I'm heading back to Stormwind City too. Let's go together." Sure enough, it was young Vereesa.

"Yeah, what a coincidence. Let's go together." Karen waved her over to join them.

When they entered the portal station, everyone nodded in greeting to Drew. It seemed his brother Kael'thas had informed Dalaran's high-ranking officials of his identity and then passed the word down the line.

Just then, Antonidas emerged from the portal station's lounge.

Antonidas had been notified that Karen was leaving.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries and parted. Neither of them was the type to fuss over a farewell, and they could keep in touch with their communication devices.

Antonidas watched as Karen stepped into the portal. When it activated, Karen and Vereesa vanished amid its runes.

The moment the two of them appeared at Stormwind City's portal station, someone came to greet them.

"Master Drew, welcome back.

You worked hard leading the team this time. The king asked me to tell you that you can visit the palace when you have time." It seemed his brother had made sure Stormwind City was informed too.

"Understood.

I'll certainly pay my respects to His Majesty when I have time." Karen nodded in reply.

When Karen returned to the Alchemist Association, he ran into its president, Pierre.

First, President Pierre praised Karen for leading the team to a good result in the competition.

Then he asked, "Their success this time was mainly thanks to the training you arranged.

I heard you taught them a few things during the training that greatly improved the quality of the alchemical potions they made. Can those methods be taught more widely?"

"Actually, the methods I taught them work on much the same principles as what I gave you.

It's just that you old fellows already have a strong foundation. What you need is to understand the principles.

These people don't have as solid a foundation as you, so I didn't teach them the theory. I went straight to work on improving their fundamentals.

You saw the results. Only five out of more than thirty talented people managed to learn it.

The method does improve quality, but not by that much.

The main difference comes from my improved recipes.

If you want them, I can give them all to you."

"That's wonderful! Yes, yes, I want them all."

"Let me make this clear first: some of these recipes are difficult, and not just anyone can master them.

I trained them so they could use these recipes, screening out the people qualified to do so," Karen explained.

"That's fine. I'll take them back and let us old fellows try them first."

"Sure. I'll have Nelson bring them over in a bit."

"No rush, no rush. You just got back, so get some rest first.

I won't keep you." With that, President Pierre left.

Karen continued toward his room. As he passed the Alchemy Laboratory, he saw Nelson getting ready to conduct an experiment.

But Thomas had come to see him, and the two were chatting happily in low voices.

Nelson spotted Karen and quickly stopped talking to greet him.

Thomas saw Karen too, greeted him, and prepared to leave.

"Thomas, how have things been going with your master lately?" Karen asked.

"Master Drew, my master says I have a real talent, especially for constructing magical runes.

I have you to thank for the help your academy has given me. I've learned a great deal there.

My master says I'm ready to advance to the intermediate level, but he wants me to strengthen my foundations and gain more experience first, then advance naturally," Thomas replied.

"That's right. Building a solid foundation is far more important than advancing as quickly as you can.

With a strong foundation, it'll be much easier to advance later.

It's like building a house: the deeper the foundation, the taller the house can be. You have a great deal of talent, and you'll go far.

So don't rush. Focus on building a solid foundation."

"Thank you for the guidance, Master Drew."

"All right, you can go."

"Goodbye, Master Drew."

After Thomas had walked away, Karen called Nelson over to his room.

He organized some improved alchemy recipes and gave them to Nelson, telling him to take them to President Pierre.

Nelson took the recipes and prepared to deliver them to President Pierre.

"By the way, you and Thomas seemed to be having a good time chatting just now.

What were you talking about?" Karen asked curiously.

"Oh, Master. Someone gave Archmage Aegwynn a gift today."

"What's so strange about that? Follow Archmage Aegwynn around all day.

I guarantee you'll find a pile of handkerchiefs, scarves, and the like lying on the ground. A bunch of girls pretend they've lost something, hoping Aegwynn will pick it up and they'll get to know him.

The more forward ones just give him gifts outright."

"This time was different, Master.

Before, Archmage Aegwynn wouldn't even give them a second glance.

But this time, he accepted the gift," Nelson explained.

"Oh? Which lucky young lady was it?"

"She was a mage from out of town."

"What's her name? How did they meet?"

"Her name is Aviana, and she's a high-level mage.

I heard she's a human mage who also came from the High Elf Kingdom.

Not long ago, a demon appeared in a nearby town. The entire town was destroyed.

Archmage Aegwynn was sent to deal with it.

Then he came across Mage Aviana, who was being hunted by the demon.

After he rescued her, Mage Aviana stuck close to Archmage Aegwynn."

"Archmage Aegwynn never used to be interested in women.

Why would he accept her gift this time?" Karen asked, puzzled.

"I'm not sure about that.

But according to Thomas, Mage Aviana is beautiful—more beautiful than every woman in Stormwind City.

And there's something about her that makes people feel drawn to her the moment they see her.

Maybe Mage Aviana is just that charming. Even Archmage Aegwynn can't resist her." As Nelson spoke, he wore an expression that showed how badly he wanted to see what Aviana looked like.

"All right, take those to President Pierre."

"Yes, Master."

After Nelson left, Karen narrowed his eyes and murmured, "Aviana... demon... Aegwynn.

Judging by the timing, it really is about to happen.

There's a fifty percent chance that this Aviana is Guardian Aegwynn.

Medivh is about to be born, and the one who will lead the Orcs into invading is going to appear soon.

What should I do now? Is there anything I can change?

No. I'm still far too weak. Laying low and growing stronger is what I should be doing right now. I can't change anything yet."