The cleanup of Eldre'Thalas's western district went smoothly; the Treants, Man-eating Plants, and Guardian Trees left behind by the ancient Highborne didn't cause any trouble for this elite team.
That is, until Brann Bronzebeard and his expedition team arrived in Feralas.
As soon as Brann entered the city, he bounced around like a child who had found his favorite toy, practically wanting to kiss every stone brick.
Arthas felt that if it were possible, Brann might just pack up all of Eldre'Thalas and take it back to the Ironforge museum for leisurely study.
Given his excitement, he probably wanted to stay in Eldre'Thalas for a while; his previous trip with Arthas to Northrend, where he couldn't explore the elven ruins, had left him disappointed for quite some time.
And now, before him was a nearly complete elven city; how could old Brann possibly give up such a good opportunity?
"Can we go see the surrounding buildings and houses?" Brann and his team members were very interested in the surrounding elven architecture, and those buildings looked empty, so they should be quite safe.
Arthas glanced at the hollow, pitch-black buildings around them, coughed lightly, raised his right hand, and cast a Holy Light into one of the rooms.
Just as Brann was wondering about Arthas's actions, several sharp wails nearly shattered Brann's eardrums, and the surrounding explorers all covered their ears, looking with surprise and uncertainty at the seemingly empty room.
Arthas's Holy Light continued to burn for a while before they heard a few crisp cracking sounds, and several pitch-black orbs fell to the ground, still burning with golden flames.
"Wraiths?"
The well-traveled Brann immediately recognized the Undead Scourge creatures dissolved by the Holy Light, which made the old dwarf quite displeased as he said, "Oh, spare me, why do all elven ruins have these terrifying ghosts?!"
Time and again, these abominable undead had blocked his progress in exploring history; these fellows had been dead for so long, why wouldn't they rest in peace and give those who came after them a chance?
Although he thought so, ever since his unpleasant experience of being possessed by an evil spirit last time, he didn't want to deal with these ethereal ghosts anymore.
"Arthas, you have to provide some protection for poor old Brann; I don't want to be possessed by these evil spirits again."
"As long as you don't run into those strange buildings alone, no ghosts will bother you," Arthas then looked at the group of dwarf explorers behind Brann, who were pretending to be "good boys," "And that goes for all of you too."
"Ahem, sometimes, in order to restore historical truth, taking certain risks is unavoidable."
"Then figure out a way to reduce the risk level, otherwise I'm afraid one day you'll really dig up something extraordinary and blow up all of Azeroth."
Arthas said this lightly, and Brann took it as a joke, but only Arthas knew that this guy Brann would do many earth-shattering deeds in the future.
Today's words were also a reminder to make this dwarf, whose mind was full of adventure and excitement, calm down a bit.
As a prince and future King of Lordaeron, having a few friends of equal status who didn't need to beat around the bush was not an easy thing, and he didn't want to attend Brann's funeral one day.
Although dwarves are as stubborn as stone, they are also the most trustworthy friends in the world, especially the three brothers of the Bronzebeard family.
"Alright, Brann, hurry up and pack your things; we're going to the inner city."
"Uh, what about these wraiths? Are we just going to leave them?"
"Let them stay here; as long as we don't disturb them, they won't actively attack us."
The wandering souls here are just a group of pitiful people; they didn't survive the cataclysm, or they died of old age over a long period after losing the power of the Well of Eternity. In short, Arthas had no grudge against these souls and saw no need to annihilate them.
Perhaps later, the Scourge could come and help these lingering remnants of souls pass into the Shadowlands, or if they still wanted to remain in the mortal world, they could be recruited into the Undead Scourge.
After all, they were a group of wraiths consumed by unwillingness, resentment, and regret before their deaths, and letting them wander freely was not a good thing.
The Ancient Guardian guarding the ancient gate fell before Kael'thas's flames; its decayed body could not withstand Kael'thas's Flame Storm.
However, the Ancient Guardian's body had long been corrupted by fallen energy, and its mind had already gone mad. Kael'thas's magic, in fact, freed it from endless madness and despair.
...
"Teddis is dead."
"This might be a good thing; that poor old Treant went mad seven or eight thousand years ago. Death might mean liberation for him."
The burly male elf, dressed in an exquisite golden runic robe, with traditional elven ornaments on his wrists and neck, was not shocked by the news. He stood by his seat, a large number of books piled on the table beside him.
"Prince Thoras'dal, should we make contact with these outsiders?" an Highborne asked, expressing his doubts.
"Contact? Astrodil, guarding the library shouldn't make one dull-witted," Thoras'dal sighed. "Magic has completely sealed us off from the outside. We don't know whether those who entered Eldre'Thalas are enemies or friends."
The Highborne present remained silent. They had been confined in Eldre'Thalas for ten thousand years, not only because they couldn't solve the problem of arcane addiction but also because they couldn't determine whether the enclosed city was safer or the outside world was.
The great catastrophe of that year had left an indelible impression on them. These elven mages, whose ultimate goal was to master the magical power and mysteries that could change nature, had been utterly terrified. Only the seemingly sturdy walls of Eldre'Thalas and their magical seals could bring them a little sense of security.
Over the long passage of time, many people despaired of such a life; they either secretly slipped outside and were never heard from again, or they committed suicide in their residences. The remaining people could do nothing but spend their days in the library, trying to find hope for salvation.
The knowledge valued by Queen Azshara indeed gave the confined elves some hope. They began to research new forms of magical energy extraction to avoid the troubles caused by arcane addiction.
However, when they finally completed this research, they found that they still couldn't take a single step out of Eldre'Thalas. This was not because they couldn't survive in the outside world, but because they couldn't abandon their current "stability" to face a completely unknown external world.