However, just as Kel'Thuzad awaited Arthas's reply, the eagerly anticipating Archlich suddenly felt something was amiss after a period of silence.
Normally, Arthas's soul fluctuations would have already reached his mind, but this time, there was no movement for a long time.
The Archlich first felt inexplicable confusion, and then suddenly became worried about Arthas's situation.
But Kel'Thuzad thought again: there were very few things on Azeroth that could threaten the Lich King, and His Majesty had several other identities.
In the territory of Lordaeron, attacking Lordaeron's future crown prince, the heir of the Silver Hand? And this attacked person was also a powerful "paladin." Kel'Thuzad mused that no normal person would get involved in such an incident.
However, Kel'Thuzad's wild thoughts hadn't progressed to the next step; as he turned to try calling Arthas again, his movements suddenly froze.
"Your... Your Majesty?"
Kel'Thuzad's jawbone nearly dropped to the ground; fortunately, he reacted quickly, catching his falling jaw with his hand and reattaching it.
"Two Gronn, not bad, even better than I imagined."
Arthas was still in casual clothes, a white shirt revealing perfectly sculpted muscles and a physique like marble carved by a master craftsman. His golden medium-length hair was tied back, transforming him from a prince into a fresh and sunny young master.
It was just that this image seemed somewhat out of place in Naxxanar, the Scourge's naxxanar.
However, no one dared to question the suddenly appearing Arthas; those Necromancers who realized something, and those Undead with some self-awareness, all humbly knelt on the ground—whether alive or dead, Arthas was the one they served.
The Archlich, with his jaw reattached, quickly floated to Arthas's side, "Your Majesty, why have you come?"
He wasn't surprised that Arthas could directly enter the Outland, as Arthas's power and knowledge far surpassed his own, but Arthas's appearance here was indeed somewhat strange.
It should be known that although Arthas was also the Lich King, most of the time, the Scourge's various tasks were handed over to people in their respective positions, because he himself had many other miscellaneous matters related to the Alliance to deal with.
"The Alliance's high-ranking officials are still arguing fiercely about whether to reopen the Dark Portal. My staying in Lordaeron won't have much effect," Arthas walked to the Gronn and tapped its dark saronite armor with his hand. "Didn't expect there to be a problem you couldn't solve?"
The flames in Kel'Thuzad's eye sockets flickered, and he said somewhat awkwardly, "Even in Dalaran, there hasn't been much progress in various studies concerning souls, and most people even consider it an absolute taboo. As for such cross-species soul topics, there's even less reference material."
He had indeed tried every method he could think of, and it wasn't wrong to think of using powerful souls to control the Gronn's body. It was just that he found ordinary Necromancers couldn't complete this step alone, and using powerful Wizards and Necromancers would be too wasteful.
The Scourge's high-end combat power was still accumulating, and expending it on two war machines was truly a bit luxurious.
"Actually, your approach isn't wrong," Arthas's fingers traced over the armor, a faint blue glow flickering across it. "Perhaps some knowledge about the Shadowlands can show you how to operate it."
Arthas possessed extremely high-level authority over death, as well as a large amount of knowledge obtained from various sources and by peering into the Shadowlands. However, a large portion of it was not something he could personally achieve, or rather, not something that could strengthen his individual power.
Perhaps he would have considered Kel'Thuzad before, but after a series of events, the Archlich's loyalty to him, or rather, to power and knowledge, was basically unshakeable, and he barely met Arthas's standards.
"Regarding the essence of soul power," Arthas extracted a speck of soul light from the Gronn's body and held it on his fingertip, "in that ancient realm of death, they call this basic energy that constitutes the soul 'anima.' And the reason soul power can manifest strangely is precisely because of this power called 'anima.'"
The Archlich nodded. In fact, anyone who had studied death magic would generally understand that the essence of basically all soul power was the same thing, just called by different names. Whether it was soul power or something else, it didn't affect the existence and use of this power.
"The Shadowlands' shaping and reconstruction of anima has evolved to a very high degree; they can even use anima to complete a series of tasks. And the Necromancers of the Shadowlands, who are the source of death magic in the current world, have countless ways to use anima."
The power of anima vanished in Arthas's hand in an instant. A single soul could not carry much power, but when Arthas manipulated the souls scattered throughout Naxxanar, Kel'Thuzad was shocked to notice that those scattered, ungatherable, and unusable soul powers were actually gathering and growing stronger in Arthas's hands.
"This—"
Kel'Thuzad simply couldn't describe Arthas's miraculous methods with words. It wasn't difficult to gather souls, but to make souls from different origins form a new collective was already beyond his knowledge.
"This isn't difficult; skilled Necromancers can complete this step," Arthas tossed the soul mass, condensed with a trace of the Gronn's anima as its core, to the side, where it landed on an Ogre skull on the experimental table.
The skull immediately began to tremble slightly, and after a brief fusion, an Ogre skull enveloped in soul flames floated up, spinning around Kel'Thuzad incessantly, and constantly emitting eerie cackles.
"Study this skull carefully; everything you need is inside," Arthas patted the Gronn's shin. "I hope you'll be able to get this big guy moving soon. On the ground, they will be even more deadly weapons than dragons and other constructs."
"As you wish... It's just—" Kel'Thuzad hesitated.
Arthas found a chair and sat down, waving his hand to tell the worshipping Scourge members to go about their business. "What's wrong?"
"Gronn are indeed excellent creatures, but, my master, aren't their numbers too few? Optimistically, even counting the Dragonslayer, there are probably no more than ten Gronn in all of Blade's Edge Mountains."
Arthas nodded upon hearing this. "That is indeed a problem, but... Gronn themselves are just a transition. Once the Scourge masters some techniques from the Shadowlands, it's not impossible to create constructs based on the Gronn that are comparable or even stronger."
For the Undead Scourge, the method of creating a terrifying Legion was not just about resurrecting dead creatures; they could also create more promising things through their understanding and analysis of life.
Therefore, Arthas was not worried, because the Shadowlands was an entity that could contend with the Void and the Burning Legion. If he could make good use of the knowledge he had spied, it would not be difficult to contend with the Burning Legion.
After putting away the skull, Kel'Thuzad quickly followed Arthas, respectfully asking, "Why have you personally come to Draenor?"
"I told you, the Alliance still needs some time to make final preparations, but the Dark Portal should open soon. Moreover, something 'happened' in Dalaran. Without Dalaran's help, the opening of the Dark Portal has been delayed, so I came to Draenor to see if there are any other places that can be arranged."
"Something happened?"
Kel'Thuzad heard that his old employer had run into trouble and was puzzled, "What could make Dalaran put the Alliance's major affairs aside? Could it be that another member of the Council of Six has defected?"
Arthas stopped walking when he heard this, and glanced at Kel'Thuzad, "Do you also dabble in divination spells?"
"I know a little, but I'm not very proficient—" Kel'Thuzad instinctively replied before suddenly realizing, "Did a member of the Council of Six really defect?"
"Not exactly, but it's close enough. Council member Krasus and his student suddenly disappeared together during an investigation mission."
The Archlich was not unfamiliar with the name Krasus, but this Archmage's identity in Dalaran was quite mysterious. Few people knew his true origins; it seemed this fellow inexplicably became one of the powerful Council of Six members.
But no matter if this guy's origins were legitimate or not, his strength was indeed unquestionable, and the less one understood a mage, the stronger he could be. It was truly suspicious that such a person disappeared during an investigation mission.
However, what the Archlich didn't understand was what force on the entire continent of the Eastern Kingdoms would dare to challenge the current Alliance. Could it be that Krasus had gone mad and plunged himself and his apprentice into a pile of Trolls?
Arthas walked and slowly said, "And you're definitely not unfamiliar with the student's name either—Ronin."
Ronin?
The Archlich suddenly felt his head ache—even though a Lich no longer had anything inside its head, the psychological shadow this name cast over Dalaran was not a day or two's worth. Even the reclusive Kel'Thuzad had heard of Ronin's great name.
However, unlike other Mages, although he also instinctively kept his distance from this unlucky fellow, he also perceived the immense talent hidden within Ronin. What this guy did in the Dragon War later also proved that Kel'Thuzad had not misjudged him back then.
So the unlucky fellow and his unlucky master disappeared together?
Kel'Thuzad, who had originally found this matter inexplicable, suddenly felt as if things had become logical.
Arthas, however, had quite a few complaints about this, "I do know who is behind this, but I really can't cause him trouble over this matter, or rather, I have no choice but to let him send those two away."
It seemed that although he had caused many influences and changes in the Second Orcish Wars and the Third War, the fates of Ronin and Krasus indeed continued as usual. Or rather, their fates were tied to that great war ten thousand years ago. Without them, the Burning Legion might have directly arrived, and then the series of events that followed would have nothing to do with Arthas.
However, after undergoing a transformation, Arthas, who was already completely different from mortals, felt as if something was not quite right.
But Nozdormu's whereabouts were elusive; even other Dragon Kings couldn't find him. Arthas also didn't want to spend time playing hide-and-seek with him. Instead of caring about past events, it was better to think about how to utilize the lands of Outland.
In any case, Ronin and Krasus would eventually return. As long as it was confirmed that they were fine, Antonidas would convene the Kirin Tor Council to open the Dark Portal, and Jaina, due to her excellent talent in spatial magic, also participated in the preparations for opening the Dark Portal.
Arthas, having no immediate matters to attend to, naturally turned his attention to the Scourge—with Lothar, a Grand Marshal who seemed unreliable but was actually very dependable, providing a safety net, Arthas had previously allowed the Scourge to develop freely for a period of time.
After all, when he first seized control of the Scourge from Ner'zhul, most of the Scourge at that time were low-level Undead cannon fodder. It was only after Arthas reorganized the Scourge that more advanced Undead like Liches, Death Knights, and Crypt Fiends gradually appeared.
And the knowledge gleaned from the souls of those Dreadlords and from Varimathras, that ultimate double-crosser, also led to rapid advancements in the Scourge's construct technology.
Moreover, during this process, Arthas discovered something very interesting—the Burning Legion also didn't seem to be a monolithic entity. The technology contributed by Varimathras and his unlucky brethren was very... interesting. At least within the Burning Legion, the creation of Gargoyles from animated stone seems to have originated from the Nathrezim.
However, the Scourge, desperately in need of various resources, technologies, and knowledge, didn't care where your technology originated from. As long as it was suitable for their use and research, the scientific madmen and magic fanatics within the Scourge learned like parched sponges greedily absorbing water.
Standing in the command room of Naxxanar, Arthas looked at the images on the surrounding magical projections and asked Kel'Thuzad.
"Kel'Thuzad, when you were collecting Black Dragon corpses in Blade's Edge Mountains, did you encounter any interference from a third party force other than Ogres?"
The Archlich thought for a moment and shook his head, "Other than those Ogres, no one has stopped us. At least in the areas we have explored, we haven't found any intelligent species other than Ogres."
"..." Arthas looked at the Blade's Edge Mountains map in the command room, his brows slightly furrowed. Could it be that the target he was looking for wasn't here?
"Send more Gargoyle scouts to patrol this area. If anything unusual is found, report to me immediately."
Arthas circled an area on the map with his hand. The Archlich focused his gaze and found that it was a gathering place for Bladetooth Ogres, and this gathering place was quite large; the Scourge had not yet completely taken it over.
"As you wish," Kel'Thuzad said after transmitting the message with a specific orb, his soul fire flickering in his eye sockets. He had a premonition that something fun was about to happen again.
Arthas stroked the hilt of Frostmourne at his waist, his expression unchanged, still focusing his attention on the map of Draenor. Illidan's forces were slowly growing under the Scourge's surveillance, gradually occupying Shadowmoon Valley, Zangarmarsh, and Hellfire Peninsula, but due to the obstruction of the Scourge and Ogres, Illidan's control over Blade's Edge Mountains and Netherstorm was almost zero.
Nagrand, with Terokkar Forest as a natural barrier, was still a pristine land for now. However, as Illidan's forces continued to expand, once the Draenei and Expeditionary Force in Terokkar Forest were unable to resist, Nagrand would probably not remain quiet for much longer.