Murlocs are cute

Murlocs.

The most tenacious and notorious monsters in Azeroth.

In the game, even enemies as powerful as the Old Gods, the Burning Legion, and the Scourge... never traumatized players as much as these little Murlocs did.

They always traveled in packs, ran happily beneath the setting sun, and sang moving songs of "walla walla" that nobody could understand.

But if a player ran into them, the nightmare began.

"Walla oola..." A Murloc let out a strange cry and attacked without another word.

"Gah-oh!" The moment it felt a little pain, it turned tail and ran.

These monsters, with their powerful limbs and fish heads and bodies, ran fast and could swim, leaving you in a dilemma.

Chase it, and it would head straight for a pack of Murlocs, sending you crashing headfirst into more of them;

Leave it alone, and it would still head straight for a pack of Murlocs, then call its friends over to make trouble for you.

In fact, whether you chased it or not, a whole squad of Murlocs would soon come running at you to teach you a lesson in no time.

"Wah woo woo gurgle!" Then they would dance beside your corpse.

Still, a lone Murloc was nothing special in a fight, particularly when it had no pack behind it.

Take the one before them now. It lay on its back, seemingly gasping for breath, letting Rhode turn it this way and that.

"Is it dying?" Lilia asked Rhode, still a little worried.

"Doesn't look like it. It probably just fought the protective barrier and got so tired it couldn't catch its breath," Rhode said, looking at the Murloc.

"Gah-oh oh woo woo oh," the Murloc suddenly said.

Huh?

Rhode discovered that he could understand Murloc, too!

It was saying, "Could you stop poking me? You're so annoying!"

That really is amazing.

But I've never understood what those boars, wild badgers, and other animals are grunting about.

Oh, I get it.

Murlocs are humanoids, after all. Languages spoken by humanoids must be the kind I can understand.

Animal languages really are beyond me.

"Oh lala oh la gah-oh oh." (I'll leave you alone, but you have to tell me what you came here for.)

Hearing Rhode's stream of gibberish, both the Murloc and Lilia stared at him with wide eyes.

Of course, it made little difference whether the Murloc widened its eyes. They always bulged like that.

"Rhode, you even know Murloc? You're amazing!" Lilia exclaimed.

Rhode enjoyed Lilia's praise, but kept his eyes on the Murloc, signaling for it to answer his question.

"Gum da woo ma, ah baba da ma." (I was just hungry, so I came up here to find something to eat.)

"Ay dada bada wah woo wah woo mum, ah mum da baba wah gah mum." (Aren't you supposed to live by the sea? Why look for food here? There aren't any fish.)

"Mum mum da, goo woo mum, baba wah da bada wah woo wah." (Evil creatures by the sea were enslaving us. I ran away, and when I passed through here, something started fighting me.)

"Rhode, what's it saying?" Lilia asked.

Rhode relayed their conversation to Lilia.

"So that's what happened... This Murloc seems pretty pitiful, too. It's going hungry just like me..." Lilia's eyes even reddened a little as she spoke.

This little girl has a sentimental side, too?

"Hey, don't be like that. I'll let it go." Rhode couldn't bear to see children cry.

"Give it some potatoes to eat." Lilia really was compassionate. "Look how cute it is."

Murlocs are cute???? There's something seriously wrong with your High Elf taste.

"They don't eat potatoes. They like fish," Rhode said.

"All right, then... We don't have any fish at home, do we? We hardly ever eat fish."

"Let's catch some fish to eat next time." Rhode looked at the Murloc and said with a wicked grin, "Or how about eating it instead? With a head that big, it'd make delicious steamed fish head with chopped chilies..."

"Rhode, if you keep saying things like that, I won't talk to you anymore." Lilia turned away, pretending to be angry.

Rhode laughed, then turned to the Murloc. "Gah-oh gah oh gah-oh oh lala oh la." (I'll let you go this time, but don't come back here.)

While the two of them chatted, the Murloc seemed to recover its strength.

It rolled over, slowly pushed itself upright, and looked at Rhode for a few seconds. Then, without a word, it walked toward a corner on the other side of the farm.

A Murloc's face seemed to wear the same expression no matter how it felt, so Rhode had no idea what it was thinking.

"What were those evil creatures it mentioned?" Lilia asked.

"I don't know. As far as I know, Murlocs do get enslaved by other creatures quite often," Rhode said. "But I need to hurry up and practice Fireball. Otherwise, if those evil creatures come here, we won't be able to fight them."

"So have you learned it yet?"

"I think so." Rhode formed another small fireball in his hand, then looked at a little tree nearby. "Now I'm going to hit that tree."

"Really? I don't believe you."

"Why not?"

"Making a fireball is one thing. Hitting a target is another."

"Then I'll demonstrate. Watch closely."

"All right." Lilia took a step back.

Rhode thrust his hand toward the tree, and the little fireball shot away.

But instead of flying straight at the tree as Rhode had imagined, it wobbled and struggled through the air for a short distance, then vanished with a poof.

Lilia watched it happen and said, "Haha, Rhode, you missed."

"I know. That was an accident." As he spoke, Rhode gathered another small fireball and threw it.

"You missed again," Lilia said.

Rhode threw another. Same result.

"Hahaha, that's so lame."

Rhode said, "...That was definitely just an accident."

Lilia clutched her stomach, laughing.

Embarrassment turned to anger, and Rhode turned around. "I'm going to hit someone."

Lilia stopped talking and made a face.

"Your turn," Rhode said.

"No."

"Come on. Let me learn from you."

"Didn't you just say you'd already learned it?" Lilia put her hands on her hips.

"I was wrong." Rhode immediately admitted defeat.

"As long as you learn from your mistakes, you're still a good child. All right, be good. Don't be sad. I'll show you."

Lilia planted her feet, held out her hand, muttered an incantation, and cast the spell.

A little fireball flew from Lilia's hand and struck the small tree squarely on its trunk, making it shake.

The fireball was small, though, and the tree didn't catch fire.

Rhode watched the entire process closely.

Lilia seemed to cast her fireball in one smooth motion, without needing much thought.

Perhaps, for her, forming and launching the fireball were part of a single, continuous process of input and output.

He, on the other hand, had separated them, interrupting the flow of mana and affecting the fireball's power and accuracy.

His next training priority, then, should be making the flow of mana smooth, so he could freely control the entire process from forming the ball to releasing it.

"Do you understand now, Rhode?" Lilia asked.

"A little."

"Rhode is such a clever grown-up."

By then, the sun had begun sinking in the west. Mountain breezes stirred, shadows of trees swayed, and the calls of insects and birds filled the air. Through the farm's crops, they could just make out several flags planted atop the distant Jade Mine.

Looking at the beautiful scenery, Rhode suddenly had an idea. He picked up a twig and began drawing on the ground.

Even a fireball as small as the one I just cast felt disjointed. Even if I solve that through constant practice, what happens when I learn bigger, more complex, more powerful fireballs or other spells?

I can't keep practicing every spell like this. It would be far too inefficient.

And since spells are essentially programs, could I break them into smaller parts, then bring them back together through a key node?

Like lots of small programs connected through indexing statements to form one large program.

Then Rhode would only need to control those key nodes to produce the spell effect he wanted.

It was theoretically possible.

Unfortunately, this world had no computers. Otherwise, Rhode might have been able to solve the problem by writing a little program.

But that was fine. It didn't look particularly complicated anyway.

So Rhode drew on the ground.

"Rhode, what are you drawing?" Lilia asked curiously.

"A program for Fireball."

"A program? What's that? It sounds fun. Can I draw with you? I can draw rabbits."

"Go away for now."

"All right."

Before long, Rhode had drawn two rough spell models, representing the processes of gathering and releasing mana.

Then he placed a small stone between them to represent the key node.

With his hands behind his back, Rhode paced several laps around the two crooked circuit diagrams he had drawn with the twig.

Lilia thought it looked fun and followed behind him.

Suddenly, Rhode stopped.

Lilia stopped too, looking up at him.

Rhode held out his hand, and a small, orange-yellow fireball the size of an egg appeared in his palm.

Then he simply raised his hand. The fireball drifted slowly forward and struck the little tree ahead with a pop.

Rhode clenched both fists tightly, then shouted in excitement:

"Ha! It worked!"

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