Not long after Gale left, a holy light shot up from the mountains, straight into the sky!
"Goodbye, friend!"
Although he had not known Solidan for long, Gale still admired Solidan's character. This man was born a hero, but the fate of heroes often wasn't good.
He just didn't know if Solidan had taken care of Zakajz. If not, Thoradin might have to deliver another blow.
At the expeditionary army camp, the Kaldorei were busy building city walls.
The Mages found a place where the Arcane network converged at the foot of a tall mountain. To the north was a large lake with abundant water resources, capable of irrigating countless farmlands. To the east and west were mountains, convenient for quarrying stone. The terrain was easy to defend and difficult to attack; except for the south, all other directions offered advantageous terrain for the Mages.
Indeed, this was the location where the magical city of Dalaran would later be built.
Yue Nu actually had no intention of building a city here, but Gale believed that the war with the Trolls might continue for several more years. Building a city here would aid the expeditionary army in their operations and allow for the construction of Mage Towers to train Mages. Even if the expeditionary army eventually withdrew, there wouldn't be much loss. It was just some stone and Arcane energy, all essentially free resources.
Gale actually had ulterior motives. Dalaran's geographical location was excellent. If history developed as it originally did, it could perfectly serve as a nail driven into the Eastern Continent. This was the second nail he had driven; the first was Gale's Tower. After the Well of Eternity exploded, that place would become a lighthouse on the sea.
And the alliance with humans was also to protect this nail. After the Well of Eternity exploded, he would extend his hand to Dalaran and then secretly influence humans, encouraging them to live as close as possible to the Troll borders. On one hand, they would help him fend off Troll attacks, and on the other, they could serve as his pawns to weaken the Trolls.
Before he had the strength to annihilate the Trolls in one fell swoop, an alliance with humans was indispensable. Once human numbers grew, he could even encourage them to migrate south, just like the Kingdom of Stormwind, to wage war against the Gurubashi Trolls. After the Gurubashi Trolls, there would be Sandfury Trolls, Zandalar Trolls, and in the future, the Insectoids, Mogu, Vrykul, Old Gods, Burning Legion…
As long as there were enemies, humans would always be useful.
There was no other way; the Kaldorei had too few people and had to rely on other races.
The expeditionary army had already sent thousands of people to capture Trolls. The mining company was intensifying its efforts, and the overseers had no choice but to ruthlessly exploit the Troll miners, leading to a significant increase in the death rate.
Clearly, the Sin'dorei were no longer satisfied with the current profits. Too many people were enjoying the benefits, and even more profit would be diluted.
Gale was noncommittal about this. No matter how much the various factions competed, it wouldn't affect him. He wasn't involved in the mining company's operations, and even Sethonis had been recalled after the mine was running smoothly. He now only needed to manage his own affairs well and develop silently.
He found Maiev and asked her to take some priests to the Solidan region to teach humans how to establish a religious system, fulfilling the agreement with Solidan. Although he had plans for humans, he truly considered them allies. Promises that needed to be fulfilled must be kept, and he would also give humans some benefits to help them develop quickly.
As for himself, he mounted a Proto-Dragon and returned to Gale's Tower.
He had collected a bit too many things recently, and he had to meticulously sort through them and understand everything before proceeding.
Handing the Proto-Dragon over to Lu'anna, the creature immediately acted like a fawning dog, sidling up to Lu'anna to show affection. Lu'anna was also incredibly fond of this big fellow. "Alright, alright, I'll roast some meat for you right now…"
As their voices faded, Gale called Antalia and inquired about the affairs of Gale's Tower.
The mining operations were proceeding in an orderly fashion. Although the Mages were somewhat surprised that Gale had secretly hoarded a mine, their enthusiasm for work was very high. They were now tied to Gale's system; Gale's profit was their profit.
The families were also well-behaved. Children with magical talent were organized and taught spells. Antalia had arranged a classroom on the upper floor of the library. Initially, the ten Mages took turns teaching, but now Sethonis, who had just returned, had taken over.
Sethonis himself offered to be a teacher. Ever since Gale promised to make him an Archmage, he had become a diligent and hardworking old ox.
Metri and Luden continued to be engrossed in the library, while Meijia was researching spellbooks on his own. He was very interested in creating spellbooks, believing that some unique spellbooks could achieve better effects than staves.
Gale's interest was piqued. "Take me to see them."
Antalia led Gale upstairs. To prevent magical experiments from affecting the teleportation array in the basement, she had placed the laboratory on the upper floor of the Mage Tower.
Pushing open the laboratory door, the two saw Meijia engrossed in writing and drawing.
Hearing the sound, Meijia looked up with annoyance, but the next moment his expression changed to a smile.
"My lord, you're back!"
Gale walked in, looked at the design on the table, and asked with some surprise, "Is this a soul spell?"
"Exactly!" Meijia said excitedly, "I found that Arcane can cast many spells, but soul spells are not included. Some time ago, I heard you defeated a loa of Hakkar, and it could absorb others' souls. So, the inspiration came to me. I thought, if soul spells were made into spellbooks, wouldn't it be much more convenient to cast them? Perhaps against a powerful enemy, it could achieve unexpected effects."
Gale nodded. Soul spells were the most mysterious, powerful yet unknown. If one encountered a powerful enemy not proficient in soul spells, it could indeed produce surprising effects.
Receiving Gale's approval, Meijia was very excited. "I spent a lot of time, even returning to Sin'dorei, to collect soul spells. But unfortunately, current Mages do not realize their power, and some Mages haven't even heard of such spells."
"Don't worry!"
Gale patted his shoulder. "I brought back Hakkar's tail. You can analyze Hakkar's power with me."
"Really?" Meijia was overjoyed.
"Of course!" Gale said with a smile, "Let's go to my laboratory and start researching immediately. Your spellbook should take shape very soon. It will take a few minutes to walk there; you can think of a name for your spellbook first."
Meijia rubbed his hands. "Yes, it definitely needs a good name."
However, by the time Meijia reached the entrance of Gale's laboratory, he still hadn't come up with a suitable name.
He blushingly asked, "My lord, I'm a bit too excited and don't know what name to choose. Please, my lord, help me name it."
Gale said meaningfully, "How about 'Meijia's Soul-Stealing Scroll'?"
Meijia's breathing quickened. This name was simply perfect for his spellbook.
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