Shadow Trails in Azeroth

As soon as the Queen finished speaking, Lilith Yuejun stood up with aristocratic etiquette. She leaned over to Queen Azshara and said sincerely:

"The Kingdom of Suramar is willing to return to the territory of the Empire. My Majesty, we are willing to hand over the appointment and dismissal of nobles in the Kingdom of Suramar to you, and you will appoint and promote the young talents of the empire.

I also sincerely request that you grant me and my sister's fiancé an imperial title to bless our marriage. "

"Very good, I see your sincerity, Sh'dorei."

The Queen nodded with great satisfaction, handed over a list and said:

"Go find the guardians of the Arcandor Tree, show my will to the Faldorei guards, and take the first batch of thirty fruits assigned to you.

This is distributed in proportion to the number of subjects in the kingdom. I don’t care how you distribute it again after you get it, but you need to let the people know that this is a favor from the Queen. "

"As you command, Your Majesty."

Lilith took the list with Azshara's mark on her face with joy. The great astrologer beside her opened her mouth to speak. This nervous gesture was immediately noticed by Lilith.

She then asked the queen for a formal high-ranking imperial title, which satisfied Etaeus, who had a humble background and had always been ashamed of it.

The Queen then looked towards Quel'Thalas.

The Sun King did not say any conditions. He was very relaxed today. After noticing Azshara's gaze, the Sun King stood up gracefully, saluted the Queen and said:

"Your Majesty, I have passed on the title of King of Quel'Thalas to my son. He will hold a coronation ceremony in the near future. I hope that you can come forward to crown my son with the Crown of the Sun.

In addition, I, who have resigned, hope to inherit the title of my ancestors in the empire and join your court to serve you. "

"Well, it really surprises me, my lord."

Azshara blinked and asked:

"So, Anastarion, my courtier, will this be a new tradition in Quel'Thalas?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The old king said tactfully:

"Every Sun King will ask for your favor and join your court after he leaves office. Like the shameless Sh'dorei, we are also willing to hand over the appointment and dismissal of the nobles of the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas to your hands.

In this way, the connection between the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas and the Deep Sea Empire can be strengthened. "

"Well, superficial obedience that seems loyal but is actually meaningless, yes, this is exactly what I need."

Azshara nodded and handed the second list with her signature to Anastarian. The number of fruits on it was marked at ninety.

Twice as many as Suramar.

This is normal. There are much more people in Quel'Thalas than in Suramar. The distribution of this number according to the number of people is just right.

This is almost half of the fruit that the Tree of Arcandor can produce at one time. The Queen only reserves a small part for her empire. This may also be a basis of sincerity based on the establishment of the "Elf Federation".

"In order to ensure the health of the Arcandor tree and prevent over-harvesting from putting pressure on the magic tree itself, the fruit is allocated once a year."

Blake held the glass of wine with the fruit soaked in it, and concluded like a veteran cadre:

"The shelf life of this fruit after being picked is three months. If it is not used properly, it will rot, but I don't think you will allow this to happen, right?

In addition, you can keep half of the core, and the remaining half must be returned to Nathalas Academy for use as magic materials.

You can also try to grow trees using fruit cores. If you can grow a new tree of Arcandor, Her Majesty the Queen and I will reward you for it. "

"Stop making such nasty jokes, my favorite, and stop weaving false and vicious hopes for my subjects."

The Queen shook her head, looked at the beautiful crystal tree outside the window, and said softly:

"Arcandor's seeds are difficult to breed, and you can't grow miracles with fruit cores. Maybe I should send a few fruits to the Kaldorei and let their druids try it."

"But this would be considered provocative by the conservative and stubborn Sisters of Elune, my lord."

Blake said softly:

“They are hostile to all magical creations, let alone the Arkandor Fruit, which is a perfect combination of arcane magic and life. They will regard this as a blasphemy against life.

This will also make them more hostile to you. "

"My dear god, do you think I care about these little things? Haha."

Azshara laughed twice like a queen, took out the third list and handed it to the maid Vashj who appeared in the teleportation magic. She ordered:

"Go ahead, pick out ten fruits and send them to Mount Hyjal, and tell those ignorant night elves that this is a gift given to them by their kind queen."

"Shua"

Lilith Yuejun and Anastarian's eyes lit up at the same time.

The night elves would definitely not accept this fruit that grew from the magic well, but the Kaldorei didn't want it, but Quel'Thalas and Suramar needed it.

Although there are only ten coins, if it is extremely diluted, it means that 10,000 citizens will benefit from it.

Obviously, the Queen is using this method to deliberately provoke conflicts between the Quel'dorei, the Nightborne and the Kaldorei elves.

But it was useless to realize this. They still had to try their best to win or snatch the ownership of the ten free fruits from the Kaldorei.

Alas, Azshara is still the same Azshara as before. What is more terrifying than this face that charms all living beings is her God-given wisdom. This skill of diverting disasters to the east and driving away wolves and tigers is really slippery.

"Then, that's it."

The Queen satisfied her desire for control. She stood up with satisfaction and said to her subjects:

"We will meet again at this time next year. My subjects, please serve wholeheartedly for the glory and rise of the empire."

After saying that, the Queen showed a charming smile to Blake, turned around and dissipated the illusion of her power and left here. The children of the night also quickly left to collect the precious fruits.

Anastarian was in no hurry to leave. The former Sun King who came alone sat in his chair and sighed:

"Given the corruption and erosion of the Shaldorei political system, I guess it would be good if five of the thirty fruits could be used by the common people, and most of the rest would be monopolized and distributed by high-level dignitaries, becoming a kind of scarce political capital.

It's just a pity that the civilians of the Children of the Night have to continue to rely on magic wine to survive for a long time. "

"Well, things really should be better in Quel'Thalas."

Black, who was sitting opposite the old king and holding a wine bottle, nodded seriously. He raised his fingers and said as if playing a game:

"About thirty of your ninety fruits will fall into the hands of the royal party and be divided among the old families. Twenty of them will be given to the newly rebuilt Silver Moon Parliament by the royal family to strengthen the royal family's response to those unruly people. Control of the caster.

Ten more will be distributed to neutral nobles and generals such as the Windrunner family and the Brightwing family, and finally some potions will be made into long-term storage to deal with possible political crises.

Calculating this way, the maximum number of fruits left for the huge number of civilians will not exceed fifteen. "

At this point, Blake burst out laughing.

He stood up and said to the old king:

"So, eldest brother, don't laugh at the second brother. Black skin and white skin are almost the same. No one can say it is better or worse. From this point of view, I think it is better for Queen Azshara to distribute the huge amount of fruits to her personally. The subjects are more fair.

With all due respect, Your Majesty.

In fact, if the value of the Tree of Arcandor is fully utilized, all elves will be able to obtain a potion to curb magic addiction within ten years, but from a realistic perspective, I will tell you pessimistically.

You can never really get rid of the threat of magic addiction. Even Kael'thas Sunstrider, whom I am very optimistic about, can't do it! For elves, the real devil has never been addiction, but the greed that lives in your hearts.

Of course, this is also true for humans and dwarves.

Perhaps my Majesty Azshara has seen through this and is so generous in handing over these godsends to you for free distribution. She knows that as long as she maintains a stable alliance with me, she can rely on this tree. Control you forever. "

"The world of elves has always been so ugly, Your Majesty Black."

Anastarian was not angry, he said calmly:

"Elves are never more perfect than other races. We also have our shortcomings. Even the night elves who are not contaminated by magic are far from perfect. They also have terrible flaws.

But I’m not here to discuss the future of elves with you today.

I'm here to take back something very important to me and my country."

The old king stood up, looked at Black, and said:

"Give us back the sun and the holy spirit!"

"Well, your expression is so serious. It makes me suspect that in the next moment you will draw out the Flame Strike and strike me with a sword."

The pirate curled his lips, drank the "fruit wine" in his hand, snapped his fingers at Anastarian, and said:

"You want to see Anweina? Okay, come with me. It just so happens that tonight is Anweina's important moment, and we really need a weighty witness.

I also invited some important figures from the elven world to watch the ceremony, including Ms. Tyrande.

If she wants to beat me up because of the magic well, you have to help me, a weak god, to stop her. "

After this not-so-funny joke, Blake waved his hand and opened a door to the void that led to an unknown place. He glanced at the old king, made a "Follow me" look, and then strode in.

The old king followed without any hesitation.

But he doesn't like the name Black gave to the Sun Spirit of Quel'Thalas. Anveena sounds like the name of a human girl. Doesn't it conform to the naming rules of the elves and doesn't even have a surname?

This is too much!

Should we at least call her "Anveena Sunstrider"?

With the thought that "the thing he loved was taken away and given a bad name", the old king followed Black to a place he could never imagine.

A library!

Looking at the building structure, you can tell that this is still somewhere in Nathalas College. It is the most simple and elegant temple-style building.

A dozen pillars hold up the white dome. There is no extra decoration except stained glass. Rows of books are displayed on the polished marble floor.

The entire library is divided into three floors, connected by spiral staircases. Based on the ratio of bookshelves to books, it is conservatively estimated that there are at least 100,000 books stored here.

"No, there are more than two million books here."

Blake could easily feel the thoughts in the old king's mind. He led the way and explained:

“The first floor is a general education book, including detailed explanations of basic knowledge of all the power systems and paths that currently exist in Azeroth and Draenor.

Students of the college can come and go freely with their student ID cards. Of course, the books here are not allowed to be taken away. They can only copy them by themselves.

The second level is the secret books of various schools of high-level power.

The magic of space expansion has been applied there, and the area is ten times that of the first floor. Only students with advanced certificates can enter there. It is completely open to tutors.

A batch of Argus magic books from the Arcana Academy will soon be sent to the second-floor library, which will undergo another expansion.

As for the third floor.

Well, only the deputy dean and tutors above the key educational level can enter there, so don’t even think about it, students.

What is stored there is forbidden knowledge above the legendary level. In some corners, you can even find the knowledge of demigods. Even if the students go in, they don't even think about understanding it. They might be dazzled by those powerful words and become... Fool.

Oh, by the way, your silly son is also a frequent visitor to the third-floor library. He has his own reading room there and has to pay a rental fee of 100,000 gold coins to the library every year. "

"I asked why Kael'thas didn't complete his magic in the palace laboratory for so long. It turns out he found a better place."

The old king smiled, elegantly handed over a goblin gold card, and said:

"Then, Sir Black, could you please leave a quieter reading room for me here? As a spellcaster, I also hope to appreciate the valuable knowledge of Narthalas College."

"You? You want more money!"

Blake said angrily:

“I can’t trust your integrity!

You will definitely bring back to Quel'Thalas the precious knowledge we have spent so much effort to collect, although we advocate the spread of knowledge, even though knowledge is priceless.

But you have to at least pay the price of renting knowledge.

Look, Anweina is reading there. She is such a good child. When other students are running to see the wonders of the magic well, she is still here tirelessly absorbing knowledge.

She will definitely become Dean Lan Yue's beloved disciple.

I heard that she is about to prepare to take the entrance exam for the elite class, and I think she will pass it easily. "

Following Blake's gaze, the old king trembled when he saw the familiar back figure that haunted him.

The Holy Spirit of the Sun was wearing the uniform of an ordinary student of the Arcane School of Narthalas College. She was sitting on the desk by the window and writing furiously. On the table in front of her were piles of books that could easily kill a dwarf.

Judging from the several notebooks placed beside her, she must have been here for a long time.

"Shh!"

Black stopped Anastarian who was about to step forward and pointed to the "No noise, keep quiet" sign hanging on the wall. He and the old king strolled towards the girl who was studying seriously in the sunshine in front of them.

She has long golden hair tied up, revealing the sharp ears that are the trademark of the Quel'dorei elves. She wears a phoenix earring under her left ear, and she also has a Quel'Thalas-style gem pendant around her neck.

She also wears a pair of large black-rimmed glasses to hide her peculiar golden pupils so as not to be noticed by her classmates during her daily studies.

As for her being a spirit, it's not that important.

There are many spiritual students in Nathalas College, and she is not the only one left.

Under Blake's gaze, the old king, with tears in his eyes, tried hard to maintain his demeanor. He wiped his red eyes with a handkerchief, nodded and thanked Blake, then walked forward slowly and stood next to Anweina. .

Anweina was too immersed in studying and did not notice the people around her for the first time until the old king said in a gentle voice:

"The answer to this question can be modified, Anweina. Although the standard answer can solve the problem of the dissipation of the magic flow, if you fine-tune the order of the runes, you can increase the efficiency of this magic by one-fifth."

"Ah? Is that so?"

Sun Holy Spirit, who was wearing black-rimmed glasses, exclaimed.

She pushed up her glasses and politely thanked the person next to her who offered help. But when she saw the old king's face full of tears, Anweina was surprised and also showed a big smile.

She cheered, jumped up from her chair and threw herself into the arms of the old king.

She shouted:

"Little Anastarian! You finally came to pick me up. I miss you so much. Have you ever thought about me, my sister? If not, I will be very sad."