CHAPTER 23: It's Not a War Crime, It's XP Grinding
On a distant mountain peak, a female dwarf with silver hair in a bun covered her head with a headache. "History seems to have deviated. How is this possible? What went wrong? Oh, how did that Arthas appear here? Oh my God, he even charged! Don't die here! My vacation! Woohoo!"
Apparently, a Bronze Dragon who was supposed to be on vacation was captured and thrown here to deal with this matter. According to the timeline, Arthas should not have appeared in the Alliance army at this time. He should still be playing hide-and-seek with Varian.
A 19-year-old playing hide-and-seek? Clearly the timeline this bronze dragon is reading from is even more screwed up than mine. Or maybe she just has a really low opinion of Varian. Hide-and-seek? I'm way past that. Arthas was indeed in the charge, and he charged with his teacher Urther. Okay, 'Uther'. But in my head, he'll always be 'Urther,' the big, stubborn, shiny brick of loyalty. Urther in this timeline was not famous, at least he became famous after the Second Orc War. The only reason I could find to support him was that Urther was loyal and would not rebel, and as a disciple of Archbishop Alonsos, he was considered to be a good person. He did not choose Alonsos, probably because Terenas was concerned about religious rights over imperial power.
First battle. Here we go. Smell of... sweat, iron, and something musky... oh, that's orc. Not pleasant. 0/10, would not recommend.
"Avenger's Shield!"
Whoosh! Arthas used the holy light to throw out a shield, which just happened to hit an orc who was about to finish off the fallen soldier. Yes! Ricochet! That is so... cool.
"The Hammer of Judgment!"
A beam of holy light struck down, and the furious orc immediately went into a dizzy state, standing there stupidly. Stun-locked, you green moron. Arthas quickly drew his sword and slashed at his throat, severing the aorta. The blood bar on the orc's head quickly drained away, and when he regained consciousness, he could only hold his neck in pain and fell down unwillingly. [System notification. +5% XP.] Oh... oh, I see. It's... it's a grind. It's not a war crime, it's XP grinding!
"Your Highness, be careful."
Captain Falric and his guards protected Arthas in the middle and faithfully carried out his orders.
"Don't worry about me, let's use the three-on-three system. I'm a paladin, I can protect myself, come up, I'll heal you!" I'm not just a prince, I'm a Tank/Healer hybrid. I'm unkillable. Now, get me more XP.
Arthas raised his hand and threw out a Holy Order of Glory, pulling up the injured soldier. The wound that was so deep that the bone could be seen instantly became better. This exaggerated healing effect even made the priests behind him a little amazed. The Holy Light is powerful, but it can't be exaggerated like this, right?
Thinking of how Arthas was suddenly blessed by the Holy Light at the banquet, the priests could no longer be jealous. Perhaps this was the prince!
Only Onyxia's eyes flickered a few times, and no one knew what she was planning. She's just watching. My dragon-princess-in-disguise, acting as my artillery support. What a life.
"Don't be so arrogant, thief!"
Uther was indeed the most upright paladin. Facing Grom Hellscream, who had already killed more than a dozen knights and could even kill a demigod, he rushed forward without any hesitation. The holy light that burst out of his body was so dense that it was blinding, and he fiercely fought with the opponent with the hammer in his hand. My teacher... is an absolute badass. A glorious, stubborn juggernaut.
If it was an ordinary knight, his palms would have been broken and bleeding, but Uther only paused for a moment, and the Holy Light protected him and continued to heal him. This is the abnormality of the Paladin, who can heal himself while using the Holy Light to bless and attack. He is not inferior to the warrior in defense, and he is self-sufficient in healing. His means of wearing people to death are first-class! A true prot-pally. What a legend.
"Great, finally we have a decent opponent!"
Grom swung his axe at Uther, and the two legendary figures clashed. Within five meters, there were flying sand and rocks. If anyone approached, whether human or orc, they would be affected and seriously injured or killed on the spot!
Arthas has gone a bit crazy on the other side. For every orc he kills, he gets 5% experience points. Just... 5%? I need more. I need... levels! As the level increases, each level increases 10 points of strength, endurance, haste, agility, mastery, and blocking. Strength can increase health and attack power, endurance can increase defense and health, and haste can reduce the cooldown time of certain skills. CD and agility increase movement speed and attack speed. Mastery reduces damage taken, reduces blocked damage, increases attack damage, increases healing, etc. It is a very universal and somewhat average attribute.
As his experience bar kept rising, Arthas became more and more frantic, often letting his guards surround the orcs in a three-on-three formation. One person defended, one was responsible for restraining, and another was responsible for attacking. It's just... optimization! Tank, DPS, and... me, the hybrid-support-DPS-kill-stealer! This kind of coordination often killed the orcs without them being able to fight back, and he would then finish off the orcs with his sharp sword, piercing their throats, and attacking places like their eyes and throats.
Soon, Arthas's armor was stained with blood, and he looked extremely excited. From time to time, a ray of light radiated from his body. Level up! He held up his long sword, and holy light fell down, healing the injured soldiers and pulling them back to the front line. His treatment was calculated based on percentages, and each time it was 20% of the health, which was sometimes more exaggerated than the priest's medical skills.
"For the alliance, for victory, kill!"
Arthas went crazy. After killing the first orc, he felt disgusted when he saw the blood gushing out. Ugh. Gross. Smells like... bad pennies and a latrine. But soon, he overcame himself. Nope. Can't puke. Can't lose face in front of the troops. And... oh, another 5% XP! He couldn't vomit or lose face. He wanted to build up his power and increase his popularity, so he forced himself to kill continuously. As long as he killed more, there would be no more trouble! The first kill is the hardest. The tenth... is just Tuesday. The twentieth is... optimizing my rotation.
Onyxia followed behind him, occasionally using fireball to burn orcs to ashes. Her fireball was more powerful than that of ordinary mages. In addition, she was Arthas's follower, which only made people look at her sideways. After all, it was common sense that the royal followers were powerful. Looking at Arthas's rising momentum, she became more and more curious about this little prince. How many secrets did this boy have?
"[System UI] " upgraded to level 2."
"[System UI] " upgraded to level three."
Yes! More! Feed me, you green XP bags! Arthas's killing attracted the attention of the orcs. Such efficient slaughter tactics were like mowing the grass. Orgrim said to Gul'dan, "Put your death knights in line! Kill that prince!"
"As you wish, Chieftain."
Gul'dan dared not disobey. He had to gain Orgrim's trust to gain some freedom of movement. His goal was clear, to gain strength from the beginning to the end, not to follow the damn Horde to seize land. To gain strength, he had to go out to sea to find the tomb of Sargeras, the leader of the Burning Legion. To find the tomb of Sargeras, he needed a ship that could sail. Now was a critical moment, and he didn't want to give up.
As the death knights appeared, the air around them seemed to become as cold as ice, and even the soldiers of the Alliance could not help but shudder. Oh, lovely. The discount-bin edgelords are here. These were not the death knights created by the Lich King. They were essentially orc souls that were stuffed into the bodies of human knights and forcibly bound and pulled up. They were not as powerful as the later death knights, and could even be said to be a weakened version.