Blue Child and White Lady

Sylvanas left to return to the front lines, leaving only Patrick in the chief's office.

To change the Sun Temple's position, its value had to be demonstrated. As a logistics base far from Silvermoon City, it naturally attracted no mages willing to come, and life throughout Sunfury Spire was decadent, with everyone idling their days away.

Patrick sat in the office, transcribing the spells he had learned earlier.

Transmutation School: Spell Amplification.

Conjuration School: Torrent of Sorcery.

Abjuration: Dimensional Anchor.

Conjuration School: Force Orb.

He set down all the principles and spell circles on arcane paper.

Patrick summoned Idonis, Candiris, Quelrintis, and Yanida and handed the arcane paper to the four of them. This was also the first time Patrick had assigned them a task.

"These are the arcane spell circles and principles I transcribed. Take them and study them. Once you have finished, organize what you have learned, sign your names, and hand it to me. You have sixty days." Patrick assigned the four a study task and required them to present the results of their learning. None of them had encountered such a method before, and each accepted the arcane paper.

"This is fourth-circle conjuration?" It was Quelrintis who exclaimed in surprise. Having remained stationed at the Sun Temple for years, he had not learned many profound spells.

"Take them and study. Remember, the study of the arcane has no end. Only by constantly moving forward can you succeed." Patrick instilled his own philosophy in the four.

In his previous life, studying had occupied a large part of Patrick's life. Of his mere twenty-odd years, more than a decade had been spent in school. He was also grateful for those years of schooling. Without them to stimulate his thinking and broaden his horizons, Patrick would not have been able to make rational judgments or think about things independently.

Thinking of the Western education once so highly praised, with its freedom to learn and "do what you want," Patrick scoffed at it all. Just like the social climate in Quel'Thalas, this was a deeply pernicious ideology of keeping the people ignorant, allowing education to quietly sort society into tiers and entrench its classes. That was why class immobility was most severe in Stars and Stripes Country.

Quel'Thalas was the same. Ordinary Elves were reduced to mediocrity, while the Elven elite would forever remain the elite. The great families and Great Clans controlled avenues of advancement, educational resources, and the like. Even those who wanted to work hard could find no direction. The residents lived decadent lives devoted only to pleasure. This was the main reason social development in the High Elf kingdom had stagnated.

Knowledge found its finest expression in a person's cultivation, morality, and wisdom. These were often the accumulated fruits of experience and learning, rather than "doing what you want." The greatest purpose of learning was to expand one's thinking and broaden one's horizons, allowing one to find a path to success of one's own amid the burdens and complexities of life.

The four left to study on their own. Patrick had given them ample time, but extracting the essence of knowledge from books was another matter. After all, the four differed in their methods of study, proficiency, abilities, and experiences. Only by identifying each person's shortcomings could he determine how they should study the arcane.

Patrick opened his own book and came to the School of Conjuration: Teleportation, the ability to move between dimensions. Mastery of the School of Conjuration's spells marked an arcane master's advancement. The Arcane Codex his father had given him recorded everything clearly: the principles of teleportation, how to tear open space, how to determine spatial coordinates, and even definite conclusions about mana consumption.

Knowledge of space was wondrous, and reading about it felt somewhat addictive. Patrick began to understand those mages who spent all day engrossed in the arcane. Once you began to encounter truth, you were drawn in without realizing it, sinking deep into the ocean of knowledge until you could no longer pull yourself free.

Arcane energy radiated from Patrick's entire body as his Spiritual Power guided it to cut open space.

A spatial node opened, and the continuity of space vanished. Patrick projected his consciousness beyond Azeroth, sending threads of mental power through the wound in space. Within his consciousness, he saw the outer void. Dense magical power poured out; maintaining this passage required an enormous amount of mana. He had the book's guidance, but understanding truth required personal exploration. Patrick recalled a famous saying from his previous life: "Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth."

Patrick's mana was running low. Unable to maintain the spatial rift any longer, he had no choice but to close it. Through his Spiritual Power, he observed that energy abounded in the void, but all kinds of energy were mixed together in utter chaos, making them impossible to use or absorb directly.

Energy of various levels maintained the existence of space within the Twisting Nether. Space in the void was highly unstable, filled with all manner of spatial and particle turbulence, yet as a whole, they were stable. The various energies had long since mixed together, their intermingling forming a dynamic equilibrium.

Patrick wanted to project his mind toward Blue Child and White Lady to learn the secrets of these two moons of Azeroth. Unfortunately, his mind could not approach them too closely. The nearer he came, the more his Spiritual Power seemed to be twisted and annihilated. An invisible force field protected the two moons.

[As early as ten thousand years ago, the Night Elves were already observing and studying Blue Child and White Lady in detail. In ancient times, Transcendent Archmages projected their mental perception toward Azeroth's two moons, but the Spiritual Power they sent out was blocked by a layer of energy resembling a defensive barrier. Their Spiritual Power could not penetrate that barrier and could only probe from outside.] Ellen, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly emerged to join the conversation.

[Later, after attempting mental projection, the Archmages used spatial conjuration, hoping to break through the energy barrier and continue probing within. Unfortunately, every mage who tried failed. Even a joint casting by more than a dozen Archmages could not succeed. The moment Spiritual Power and spells touched the barrier, they vanished like stones sinking into the sea, making it utterly impossible to investigate the interiors of Blue Child and White Lady.]

[Still later, through prolonged, repeated attempts, they discovered that Blue Child and White Lady were each protected by a layer of pure energy. This energy was dense and hard, completely impossible to penetrate by force. It resembled Azeroth's Ley Line system, but was even more solid, preventing powerful outside species from invading and protecting the native life on the worlds. As for precisely what energy it consisted of, that remained unknown.] Ellen indicated that she did not know what those energies consisted of either.

"Could it be the Titans' handiwork? Azeroth is a creation of the Titans, after all. As its two nearest moons, there's a strong possibility the Titans transformed them as well." Questions arose in Patrick's mind. Since they had protection like Azeroth, that meant there was something on those two worlds to protect, though what it was remained unknown. As moons of Azeroth, could they be some sort of auxiliary facilities left behind by the Titans to help Azeroth, the primary world?