Recaps

Xiao Yu was taken from the Elemental Prison to Amalarui Feildenan’s Smelting Hall as a test subject. Recognizing Amalarui as a vanished Kirin Tor archmage obsessed with combining the four elements into chaotic energy, Xiao Yu realized he was trapped in the mage’s dangerous experiments.

• Alfred and Leah Bloodmoon removed elemental creatures from the prison, while Xiao Yu heard screams and strange energy sounds from the hall beyond.
• After an experiment failed, Alfred selected eight elemental cages, including Xiao Yu’s, and ordered the slaves to transport them.
• The slaves brought Xiao Yu to the Smelting Hall, where spellcasters prepared a magic array and placed four elemental test subjects in its circles.
• Xiao Yu recognized the black-robed figure as Amalarui Feildenan, a former Dalaran professor and Kirin Tor Council member who had vanished after an explosion.
• Xiao Yu recalled Amalarui’s theory that the four elements could be recombined into chaotic energy powerful enough to surpass the gods.

Xiao Yu watched Amalarui’s team conduct an experiment to create a chaos elemental by breaking down and fusing four elemental creatures. The Unstable Chaos Elemental awakened, and its power shook the hall as the participants recoiled.

• Xiao Yu checked his map and realized he was in the Eastern Plaguelands, where Amalarui had remained undiscovered.
• Alfred began the 127th chaos elemental creation experiment, and the arcanists activated the energy generators.
• Leah Bloodmoon’s elementalists repeatedly decomposed the four elemental creatures while priests healed them to keep them alive.
• Alfred’s team fused the creatures’ elemental matter and used Reincarnation to reshape it into an Unstable Chaos Elemental.
• The Unstable Chaos Elemental opened its eyes and sent an invisible force through the hall, making the participants retreat while Amalarui stood still.

Xiao Yu witnessed Alfred and Amalarui’s failed attempt to create an Unstable Chaos Elemental and realized that the experiment threatened the elemental creatures’ souls. When the researchers began experimenting on him and three other captives, Xiao Yu leveled up by absorbing materials, unlocked Body-Burning Blast, and detonated himself to escape, leaving the Smelting Hall in ruins.

• Alfred’s Unstable Chaos Elemental developed conflicting identities, became unstable, and shattered; Alfred and Amalarui decided to torture elemental creatures to make their souls easier to merge.
• Xiao Yu decided he had to escape and absorbed stored materials to reach level 25, then chose the Body-Burning Blast skill.
• Leah Bloodmoon ordered Xiao Yu, Kaladar, Gondorak, and Cecilia placed on the transmutation array and began the experiment.
• As Elemental Decomposition weakened him, Xiao Yu’s health dropped below 20% and Body-Burning Blast unlocked.
• Xiao Yu taunted the researchers, detonated himself, and destroyed much of the array and Smelting Hall; Leah was shocked while Amalarui silently laughed.

After escaping the Elemental Prison, Xiao Yu planned to return to the Tower of Amalarui to take revenge, recruit imprisoned elemental creatures, and investigate whether he could combine all four elements. He summoned Esmehalda to discuss getting her help, and the chapter ended with them discovering the Scar of Lagrios near her military camp.

• Xiao Yu recovered in a puddle and resolved to seek two more Seeds of Elements so he could try to gain all four elemental powers.
• Xiao Yu decided to return to the Tower of Amalarui, kill its mad scientists, and recruit the imprisoned elemental creatures, but he needed help.
• Xiao Yu weighed asking his old boss-level friends against recruiting Esmehalda, whose contract would give him half the reputation and experience rewards.
• Xiao Yu messaged Esmehalda, accepted her summon in projection mode, and asked her to speak somewhere private.
• Esmehalda explained that she had stayed in Blazing Flame Canyon because Horde reinforcements might lead to renewed fighting.
• Xiao Yu and Esmehalda left the camp and discovered the enormous crater known as the Scar of Lagrios.

Xiao Yu told Esmehalda that the supposedly dead Amalarui was alive as a dungeon boss and held a missing Kirin Tor Elder’s Scepter. He tempted her with the chance to claim the scepter and become a Kirin Tor councilor, then provoked her hesitation by suggesting he would find another partner.

• Xiao Yu asked Esmehalda about Amalarui, and she explained that Dalaran had long suspected the Kirin Tor elder had faked his death and stolen valuable materials.
• Esmehalda told Xiao Yu that she had advanced from a free mage-apprentice template by studying and working in Dalaran.
• Xiao Yu revealed that Amalarui was a level 49 dungeon boss who possessed a missing Kirin Tor Elder’s Scepter, which could make its holder eligible for a council seat.
• Esmehalda weighed the prestige and resources of becoming a Kirin Tor councilor against the danger of confronting Amalarui and his forces.
• Xiao Yu downplayed the quest as too dangerous for ordinary people and said he would find another partner, hoping to goad Esmehalda into joining him.

Esmehalda agreed to help Azathoth challenge Amalarui and prepared a level-thirty adventurer raid for the Tower of Amalarui. After recovering and reaching level thirty, Xiao Yu chose Flame Storm, recruited Old E as a guide, and answered Esmehalda’s summons to begin the operation.

• Esmehalda decided to pursue the Kirin Tor councilor title by joining Azathoth’s plan to challenge Amalarui in three days.
• Azathoth and Esmehalda planned a level-thirty raid party built around Xiao Yu as tank, with hunters, frost mages, and healers.
• Xiao Yu spent three days recovering and leveling, then reached level thirty and chose Flame Storm from three area-effect skills.
• Xiao Yu contacted Old E, who agreed to guide the party through the Western Plaguelands to the Tower of Amalarui.
• Esmehalda summoned Xiao Yu, and he accepted and appeared on the Prime Material Plane.

Esmehalda led the Stormwind City Guard adventurers into the Western Plaguelands to assault the Tower of Amalarui, while Xiao Yu arranged help from his old friend Estero. Estero sent ghost scouts to guide the party toward the tower.

• Esmehalda gathered more than forty adventurers and summoned Azathoth, recording their exchange for a promotional film about her Strongest Hero campaign.
• Azathoth agreed to help Esmehalda confront Amalarui Feildenan and investigate the missing elemental creatures trapped in the tower.
• Xiao Yu led the party across the Andorhal River and found Estero at an abandoned farmstead.
• Estero explained that the death knight was one of the undead shells he controlled and introduced the ghosts he had prepared as scouts.
• Estero's ghosts led the party along a route with fewer undead, and the group set out for the Tower of Amalarui.

Xiao Yu led the group to the Tower of Amalarui and used Azathoth’s Flame Hurricane to burn through hundreds of undead before entering the raid instance. Inside, Azathoth confronted the gatekeeper Leisarit, and their opening exchange left the adventurers wondering who was really the boss.

• Xiao Yu guided the group through the Western Plaguelands to the valley containing the Tower of Amalarui without losing anyone.
• Azathoth unleashed Flame Hurricane, clearing a path through hundreds of undead and nearly filling his experience bar.
• Xiao Yu blasted open the tower’s gates and led the adventurers into the 25-player elite instance, where the system warned that deaths during the story event were permanent.
• Esmehalda joined Xiao Yu in the entrance hall, where Leisarit emerged from the darkness and challenged the intruders.
• Azathoth exchanged spells and melee blows with Leisarit, taking little damage from the death knight’s magic while dealing more damage in return.

Xiao Yu and the adventurers defeated Leisarit after he unleashed hundreds of skeletons, then looted his corpse and continued to the second floor. In the Alchemy Workshop, they encountered Alfred, who announced he would test his undead-enhancement potion on them.

• Leisarit summoned skeleton guards, but Xiao Yu and the adventurers overwhelmed him with attacks and healing.
• Leisarit activated hidden doors and unleashed hundreds of skeleton warriors, which Xiao Yu burned to ash with Flame Hurricane.
• The party defeated Leisarit, freeing his soul, and the system recorded Esmehalda's victory in the Firmament Chronicle.
• The group distributed the boss's plentiful loot and proceeded to the Alchemy Workshop on the second floor.
• Alfred revealed his undead-enhancement potion and declared that the party would participate in his experiment.

Xiao Yu anticipated Alfred’s summoned-monster phases and organized the group to counter them. They defeated the enhanced skeletons, zombies, and skeletal giants, but Alfred’s boss fight continued.

• Xiao Yu recognized Alfred as a level 44 advanced boss and assigned frost mages, hunters, and healers their positions and roles.
• Xiao Yu attacked Alfred, who revived and enhanced skeletons that the frost mages froze before Xiao Yu burned them to ashes.
• Alfred enhanced a group of zombies, and the frost mages froze them while Xiao Yu’s flames destroyed them.
• Alfred released four skeletal giants from iron coffins, but Esmehalda froze them and used Frost Detonation before Xiao Yu burned them to bone ash.

Xiao Yu and the adventurers defeated Alfred in the Tower of Amalarui, then entered the Elemental Prison, where they discovered that Leah Bloodmoon was a player hiding behind an illusion. Xiao Yu met the imprisoned elementals and offered them freedom in exchange for joining his Immortals Legion.

• Xiao Yu and the hunters focused on Alfred while the Flesh Colossus attacked, and they killed the grand alchemist, earning Esmehalda a place in the Firmament Chronicle.
• The party looted Alfred's body and proceeded to the Elemental Prison, where Leah Bloodmoon appeared and challenged Esmehalda.
• Leah revealed she was a player using a projection and vanished, warning Xiao Yu to survive the coming battle.
• Xiao Yu entered the prison and found familiar and unfamiliar elemental creatures held in cages, including Cecilia, Fester, and Kaladar.
• Xiao Yu offered to free the elementals if they submitted to him and joined his Immortals Legion.

Xiao Yu persuaded the imprisoned elemental beings to join The Immortals and freed them from the Elemental Prison. He appointed representatives for the four elemental planes and led the assembled elementals toward the Hall of Smelting.

• Cecilia swore loyalty to Azathoth, and Xiao Yu accepted her allegiance and broke the cage's suppression switch.
• More than forty elemental beings, including Fester and Wotkud, swore loyalty and were released from their cages.
• Azathoth appointed Cecilia, Kaladar, Gondorak, and Wotkud as Guardians representing their respective elemental planes.
• Azathoth ordered the elemental beings to destroy the mage tower and led them out of the dungeon toward the Hall of Smelting.
• The adventurers cheered when Azathoth explained the elementals would fight alongside them, while Ganguowa filmed the group.

Xiao Yu and Esmehalda reached Amalarui Feildenan in the Hall of Smelting, where he dispelled most of Xiao Yu’s elemental army and teleported the adventurers away. As Esmehalda prepared to face him, Amalarui summoned a Balor, turning the confrontation into a two-on-two fight.

• Xiao Yu led the elemental creatures and adventurers through the Hall of Smelting’s defenses and broke down its gate.
• Azathoth and Esmehalda confronted Amalarui Feildenan and demanded that he surrender the Kirin Tor Elder's Scepter.
• Amalarui used Dispel Magic to banish half the elemental creatures and Mass Teleport to send the adventurers elsewhere in the mage tower.
• Xiao Yu reassured Esmehalda that the adventurers had only been teleported to other rooms and would return.
• Amalarui summoned a Balor from a green magic circle beneath his platform.

Xiao Yu and Esmehalda faced Saius, a powerful Balor summoned by Amalarui, while waiting for the adventurers to return. Xiao Yu held off the demon with frost and fire magic, and Amalarui began fighting Esmehalda.

• Saius arrived after Amalarui summoned him, and the two discussed the adventurers Amalarui had teleported away.
• Xiao Yu and Esmehalda agreed to stall Saius and Amalarui until the adventurers returned.
• Saius charged Xiao Yu, who met him head-on and struck him with Frostfire Bolts.
• Saius bound Xiao Yu with a flaming whip, but Xiao Yu froze it with Super Frost Nova and broke free.
• Saius summoned lesser demons, and Xiao Yu answered by summoning three fire elementals.
• Xiao Yu and Saius continued fighting while Amalarui and Esmehalda began their mage battle.

Esmehalda battled the legendary mage Amalarui Ferdinand, using Ice Block to turn his Spell Seizure against him and land a heavy hit. As Amalarui prepared another Pyroblast, she cast Castling with Azathoth, switching places with him and leaving Azathoth to face Amalarui while she faced the Balor.

• Amalarui Ferdinand stole Esmehalda's Frostbolt with Spell Seizure, but she followed Xiao Yu's warning and attacked with repeated Frostbolts.
• Amalarui battered Esmehalda with Pyroblasts, while she dodged with Blink and interrupted his spell with Counterspell.
• Esmehalda froze Amalarui with Frost Nova, then used Ice Block to trick him into stealing the defensive spell and struck him with Frost Detonation as it ended.
• As Amalarui prepared a powerful Pyroblast, Xiao Yu told Esmehalda to switch lanes, and she used Castling to exchange places with Azathoth.

Xiao Yu fought Amalarui while Esmehalda kept the balor occupied, relying on his knowledge of the bosses’ limited skills and his enormous health to stall. After three minutes, one of Esmehalda’s hunters returned from the teleport maze, leaving the two fighters to give him conflicting orders.

• Xiao Yu took Amalarui’s Pyroblast and explained that he knew the mage had used four of his six available skills, with two likely reserved for a second phase.
• Xiao Yu and Esmehalda switched opponents so Xiao Yu could withstand Amalarui while Esmehalda used her mobility and spells against the balor.
• Xiao Yu and Amalarui traded spells as Xiao Yu held back skills that Amalarui could steal, while Esmehalda dodged the balor’s attacks and handled its summoned dretches.
• After three minutes, Xiao Yu had a little over 50,000 health remaining, while Esmehalda was still unharmed.
• One of Esmehalda’s hunters returned from a teleported room, and Esmehalda told him to help Azathoth while Azathoth told him to help Esmehalda.

Adventurers returned to the hall and helped Xiao Yu defeat Saius, then joined the fight against Amalarui. As Amalarui activated the melting array and formed an elemental body around himself, Xiao Yu recognized that the battle had entered a new phase.

• Esmehalda and the returning adventurers fought Saius and his lesser demons while Brat and a paladin protected the group.
• Esmehalda froze and destroyed the lesser demons, and the adventurers focused their attacks on Saius while healers supported Xiao Yu.
• The adventurers defeated Saius, who was sent back to the Abyssal Plane after killing several hunter pets.
• With the adventurers attacking Amalarui and healers keeping Xiao Yu alive, Amalarui's health fell to nearly half.
• Amalarui activated the melting array and drew the four elements together into a giant humanoid form.

Amalarui transformed into an Elemental Avatar and overwhelmed Xiao Yu with rapid attacks, while the party struggled to damage him. Xiao Yu baited Amalarui into using Spellsteal on his ultimate skill, and the chapter ended as the stolen power began erupting inside Amalarui.

• Amalarui combined four elements into an Elemental Avatar and attacked Xiao Yu, whose health fell rapidly despite the healers’ efforts.
• Amalarui’s Wind Barrier blocked most hunter attacks, and he stole Xiao Yu’s Flame Hurricane with Spellsteal.
• Xiao Yu told Esmehalda to push Amalarui below 20% health, and she ordered the party to use their strongest attacks and resources.
• As Xiao Yu neared death, he began casting Flame Hurricane to bait Amalarui into using Spellsteal when its cooldown expired.
• Xiao Yu canceled the spell and activated Body-Burning Blast, causing Amalarui to steal the skill and begin losing control of the power within him.

Xiao Yu and Esmehalda survived Amalarui’s self-destructive blast and defeated the legendary mage, earning a major reputation reward. Esmehalda began distributing his valuable drops, while Xiao Yu claimed Amalarui’s experiment log; the final loot was a crumpled letter.

• Esmehalda warned everyone to flee, and Xiao Yu and the adventurers tried to escape before Amalarui’s blast struck.
• Xiao Yu survived with little health remaining, while the explosion killed more than half the adventuring party and left Amalarui dead.
• The system announced that Esmehalda, aided by Azathoth and the adventurers, had killed Amalarui and earned 689 reputation points; Xiao Yu received an equal share.
• Esmehalda claimed the Kirin Tor Elder's Scepter and reserved the robe and Book of the Dark Archmage for later distribution.
• Xiao Yu claimed Amalarui's Experiment Log, and Esmehalda set aside the Spellsteal book for guild-point bidding.
• Esmehalda looted a final drop: a crumpled letter marked as a quest item.

Esmehalda read Amalarui’s letter, which revealed that he had repeatedly sought membership in the secretive Council of Sages, and brought it to the Kirin Tor Council in Dalaran. After Xiao Yu and Esmehalda were rewarded for defeating Amalarui and recovering the scepter, Esmehalda became an honorary councilor and presented the letter, leaving the council alarmed by its contents.

• Esmehalda read Amalarui’s letter and learned that the Council of Sages had rejected his application until he completed a Chaos Elemental refinement experiment.
• Esmehalda told Xiao Yu that the letter’s quest required them to return it to the Kirin Tor Council and investigate the Council of Sages.
• Esmehalda and Xiao Yu traveled to Dalaran and presented the operation record and Kirin Tor Elder’s Scepter to the council.
• The Kirin Tor Council rewarded Esmehalda and Xiao Yu, raising their template levels and improving their standing with the Kirin Tor.
• Esmehalda handed the scepter to the council and received the title of Kirin Tor Councilor, then showed the mages Amalarui’s letter.
• The Kirin Tor mages grew grave as they considered what the letter revealed about the Council of Sages and Amalarui’s defection.

After the Council of Sages was mentioned at the Kirin Tor, Jaina Proudmoore told Esmehalda that Medivh was the Sage of Fate and shared how he had once directed her to Kalimdor. Back in the Water Elemental Plane, Xiao Yu read Amalarui’s experiment log, which revealed that Amalarui had sought to join the Council of Sages by creating a Chaos Elemental.

• Augustus reassured the Kirin Tor Council that Dalaran could withstand the Council of Sages, and Esmehalda left the council hall with Xiao Yu.
• Jaina Proudmoore caught up with Esmehalda and said she knew Medivh, the Sage of Fate, from the time he had urged her to lead her forces to Kalimdor.
• Jaina recounted her past with Medivh, and Esmehalda realized her conversation might connect her to a major story in the Firmament Chronicle.
• Xiao Yu returned to the Water Elemental Plane and opened Amalarui’s experiment log to investigate the creation of Chaos Elementals.
• Amalarui’s preface revealed that he wanted to join the Council of Sages and planned to use his Chaos Elemental research to prove himself.

Xiao Yu read Amalarui's experiment log and learned that the Seed of Elements might let him become a Chaos Elemental. He arranged with Esmehalda to search for information at the Stormwind City Royal Library the next day.

• Xiao Yu read Amalarui's records of experiments to create Chaos Elementals, including the failures and unstable results.
• Xiao Yu learned from the final entries that Amalarui suspected the Seed of Elements was connected to an elemental being with both fire and ice powers.
• Xiao Yu concluded that obtaining the Seed of Elements could let him advance into a Chaos Elemental, and identified the Stormwind City Royal Library as a place to research it.
• Xiao Yu asked Esmehalda to take him to the Royal Library, and she agreed to meet him at eight the next day.
• Xiao Yu found a lake, immersed himself in it, and fell asleep.

Big Broadsword Wang Wu, a level-30 guard-template player, began a Stormwind City patrol under Captain Mellis Malagan as attacks and disturbances kept the capital on edge. Near the Dwarven District, the patrol spotted a dwarf chasing a gnome mage and charged in to stop the malicious PvP.

• Big Broadsword Wang Wu woke, ate breakfast, and reflected on his progression from a starter-village guard to a Stormwind City guard.
• Wang Wu recalled the recent attacks on Stormwind City and checked that he was close to earning an elite template through reputation.
• Mellis Malagan assigned his squad to patrol between the Mage Quarter and the Dwarven District.
• The patrol set out, and Wang Wu enjoyed the calm streets while hoping to gain experience and reputation.
• A gnome mage fled from a dwarf warrior who accused him of swindling money and struck him with a thrown axe.
• Mellis Malagan ordered the guards to seize the dwarf, and Wang Wu charged after him for the chance to earn experience.

Xiao Yu and Esmehalda arrived in a battered Stormwind City, where Big Broadsword Wang Wu explained that player attacks had continued after the Defias Brotherhood’s assault. As alarms sounded, Wings of Destruction led twenty-four self-styled World-Destroying dragons into a dive toward the market district.

• Stormwind guards defeated and arrested a dwarf warrior, while Big Broadsword Wang Wu earned experience by joining the fight.
• Esmehalda asked guard captain Mellis Malagan for directions to the royal palace, and he assigned Big Broadsword Wang Wu to escort her.
• Xiao Yu noticed Stormwind City’s ruins and refugees, and Big Broadsword Wang Wu said player attacks had plagued cities across the Alliance and Horde.
• Big Broadsword Wang Wu spotted dragons approaching and sounded the alarm as citizens hurried for shelter.
• Wings of Destruction led twenty-four dragons in formation and ordered them to dive toward Stormwind City’s market district.

Deathwing led the World-Destroying Dragon Clan in a devastating raid on Stormwind City's Market District, but the defenders trapped and routed them. As Deathwing attacked Varian Wrynn aboard the Skybreaker, Varian struck him unconscious, and his falling body headed toward Xiao Yu.

• Deathwing's dragons bombarded the Market District, killing citizens and destroying buildings, then retreated when Stormwind's gryphon knights arrived.
• The gryphon knights caught the dragons and fought them with coordinated, homing warhammer volleys, shooting several down and driving the rest into a climb.
• Varian Wrynn revealed the Skybreaker above the dragons and ordered its cannons and mages to attack, sending more dragons falling.
• Deathwing charged the Skybreaker's deck and lunged at Varian, who joined Shalamayne and Shalla'tor and struck through the dragon's jaw into his brain.
• The game system reported that Deathwing had taken a critical hit and was unconscious as he fell toward the ground, where Xiao Yu noticed him coming down.