Cathedral of Light

"I swear to treat the weak with kindness!"

"I swear to stand bravely against tyranny!"

"I swear to help anyone who asks for my aid!"

The ringing voice echoed through the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind City. As Rex looked at the figure surrounded by the crowd, a roar exploded deep inside his mind. Gazing at that tall, radiant knight, he drew a deep breath. He could not keep drifting through life like this. The wheels of history were rolling forward, and if he did not change, his kingdom would fall and his family would perish.

A chill spread through Rex's heart. Those once-familiar figures had always seemed impossibly distant. Never had they felt as real as they did today.

"My son, on the day you were born, the very forests of Lordaeron whispered the name: Arthas. One day, my life will reach its end, and you shall be crowned king!" Those words flowed slowly through Rex's mind, bringing an even more bone-chilling cold. Watching Arthas give a flawless performance before him, Rex forced himself to resist the urge to leave.

Arthas's oath-taking ceremony for his induction into the Order of the Silver Hand had finally jolted Rex awake. Back in Gilneas, he had been able to dismiss it all. Gilneas was isolated from the outside world and had little contact with it. Even when Rex heard familiar names like Stormwind City and Lordaeron, they had remained remote, untouchable places. Again and again, he had numbed himself by calling it coincidence. But today, he could no longer use that excuse. This was a real world. He truly had transmigrated.

This was World of Warcraft. This was Azeroth. Rex took a deep breath and calmed himself. Before transmigrating, he had been too weak to put up a fight, nothing more than a longtime Warcraft enthusiast. After transmigrating, however, he had gained a noble identity: prince of Gilneas and its future king. As the crown prince, he had been trained from childhood in both etiquette and combat, and Rex had inherited it all. Though he could not compare with the dazzling Arthas before him and was not as powerful, he was only slightly inferior: an eighth-tier Paladin, just one tier below the ninth-tier Paladin Arthas.

In this life, his full name was Rex Greymane. He was Genn Greymane's eldest son—and his only son. Rex did not know whether his transmigration had changed something, but Genn Greymane's other son, the brave and outstanding Prince Liam Greymane, was nowhere to be found. As the sole son, Rex Greymane's position as crown prince and heir was unshakable.

Unless something unexpected happened, Rex would be the next king of Gilneas. Once he regained his composure, his mind began racing as he recalled everything he knew about World of Warcraft. When someone transmigrated to another world, they would always gain some special ability, something transmigrators commonly called a cheat. Rex's own cheat had not yet activated, but his memory was excellent, practically photographic. He could review every event from his past as clearly as if he were watching a movie.

Rex had read the World of Warcraft chronicles. Though their accounts were not exhaustive, they clearly outlined the major events. Arthas joined the Silver Hand at nineteen. Five years later, he returned as a Death Knight, killed his own father, and destroyed Lordaeron. That same year, to resist an invasion by the Scourge, Rex's father in this life, the king of Gilneas, ordered the summoning of worgen. That was the year the seeds of Gilneas's destruction were planted, and the worgen curse began lurking within the kingdom.

Rex would never allow any of that to happen. An orphan in his previous life, he had never known the warmth of family. This life was different. Though only a few short months had passed, he had already experienced that warmth. He spent the rest of the day in a daze.

"Rex, my son, you don't look well today," Genn Greymane, king of Gilneas, asked with concern as he looked at his son. "Father, I'm fine." Seeing the concern on Genn Greymane's face, Rex gently shook his head. His expression hardened with resolve, and he clenched both fists. He would never allow Gilneas to decline until his aging father was forced to abandon everything he had upheld throughout his life, running from place to place in his old age and bowing and scraping before the Kingdom of Stormwind.

The last two kings of Gilneas had been fiercely proud. Rex's grandfather, in particular, had brought the Kingdom of Gilneas to the height of prosperity through his own efforts, refusing all outside aid. Both father and son had been staunch isolationist rulers. To that end, Rex's father had even built the Greymane Wall, cutting off contact with the outside world. Yet in his later years, Genn Greymane would abandon the policy he had followed for decades and tirelessly seek support elsewhere. It was a bleak end to his life, and Rex would never allow it. His arrival would change Gilneas's fate. A fierce fire began burning in his chest.

"Go and get some proper rest." Rex nodded, bowed respectfully, and left. Once he entered his own room, he pulled back his sleeve to expose his wrist. There was a blood-red spot on it, roughly the size of his thumb, like a birthmark. As Rex watched, it seemed to blink eerily, like an eye. While he stared at it, it stared back at him. As his gaze sharpened, his awareness briefly blurred, and a row of numbers appeared before him—a display of time.

1:38:32. Another hour and a half. Rex sighed. Activating his cheat was not so easy. Some time had already passed since his transmigration, and the long wait was almost over. Only this final hour or so remained. A faint look of anticipation appeared on his face. Changing Gilneas's future would be very, very difficult. His cheat was his hope. For any transmigrator who achieved great things, a cheat's contribution was indispensable. Time passed slowly, second by second, while Rex kept his eyes fixed on the blood-red birthmark.

Transmigrator benefit activated. Host, please receive it!

Warcraft System activated. Evaluating... Host identified as Human. Automatically disabling Night Elf, Orcs, and Undead!

(End of chapter)