Is That How We’re Playing?
7: Chapter 7: Azeroth?
Is That How We’re Playing?
Alice collapsed on the ground, her face as pale as paper, her forehead drenched in cold sweat.
But she couldn’t care less about herself; she just stared fixedly at Luo Xun, her golden eyes churning with a mix of shock, incomprehension, and a burning, searing light.
“Spellbreaker…” she repeated, word by word in her stumbling Chinese, the term Kaelen had roared right before he died.
Spellbreaker?
Why did that word sound so familiar?
For a moment, Luo Xun was in a daze, even wondering if he was hallucinating from blood loss.
Spellbreakers, blood elves, Quel’Thalas.
Elegant elves, stiff undead, mages throwing frostbolts, and that “traitor” covered in grey energy just now…
These scattered pieces suddenly pointed to a fantasy world he once knew incredibly well, but one that should never have appeared in reality.
But that was impossible.
It was a game.
It couldn’t exist in reality.
His own body was the best proof of that.
Luo Xun used every ounce of his sanity to suppress that thought.
This was too damn ridiculous.
Alice looked at him, her tone certain.
“You…
have talent.
Magic resistance…
very strong.
Just now, his frostbolt…
had little effect on you.” Luo Xun looked down at his left arm.
His sleeve was still wet, soaked with water from the melted frost.
But beneath his skin, the stiffness had completely vanished.
This body of his really had something going for it.
Luo Xun didn’t speak.
He needed to catch his breath and digest the thoughts that had suddenly crashed down on him.
So he pushed himself up using his bow, walked over to Kaelen’s corpse, and knelt down, finding something to do to calm his racing mind.
That handsome face was twisted in deathly terror, eyes wide open, refusing to rest in peace.
Luo Xun reached out to close Kaelen’s eyelids, murmuring, “Don’t be a traitor in your next life.” Then he began to search the body.
The fabric of the dark red robe was excellent, feeling like silk but thicker, embroidered with intricate gold-thread patterns.
Beneath the outer robe was light armor made of unfamiliar small metal plates linked together—lightweight, yet likely offering good protection.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t wear it; the size was wrong.
He pulled a few pouches from the inner lining.
One was empty.
Another contained a few pieces of dry rations that had turned green, which he didn’t dare taste.
The third was the smallest, bulging and tied with a delicate cord knot.
Untying the cord, he poured out three stones the size of pigeon eggs.
Deep blue and translucent, they looked like high-quality sapphires.
But they were clearer than gemstones, with light slowly flowing inside like liquid mercury.
They were warm to the touch, radiating a pure, comforting energy.
These things…
looked expensive at a glance.
Alice’s breath hitched.
She practically crawled over on hands and knees, her eyes glued to the three stones like a starving person spotting bread.
She reached out, then froze, looking up at Luo Xun with desperate longing and a hint of pleading in her eyes.
“Mana crystals,” her voice was dry, her throat bobbing.
“Refined…
arcane energy.
Can…
help me.” Luo Xun picked one up and held it in his palm.
The light swirling inside was visible to the naked eye.
He closed his eyes and opened them again, switching to his energy vision.
A golden aura rushed over him, thick and stable, like a burning miniature sun.
High-purity energy cells.
He understood.
This was a desperately needed “supply” for someone like Alice, like a bowl of hot rice to a starving person.
Without any hesitation, he placed all three stones into Alice’s hand.
The items were spoils of war, and sharing was the rule of the wilderness.
Besides, she had shielded him with her body earlier.
Alice froze.
She stared down at the three stones in her palm, then looked back up at him.
Her lips trembled, and only after a long moment did she manage to squeeze out: “You…
give me?
All of them?” “You need them more,” Luo Xun said in the broken Elven he could piece together.
Alice gripped the stones tightly, her knuckles turning white.
She lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly, silent for a long while.
Luo Xun thought the girl was going to cry.
But when she looked up, her eyes were red, yet she didn’t cry.
She took a deep breath, carefully tucked the three stones into the leather pouch at her waist, and looked at him, saying seriously, “Thank you.
I…
owe you.” Alright, a debt of gratitude had been established.
Luo Xun pointed at Kaelen’s corpse.
“He…
why…
kill you?” Alice remained silent for a long moment, as if organizing her words, or perhaps suppressing her emotions.
“He was…
corrupted,” she said in a low voice.
“For power, he allied with…
the Lich King.” The Lich King.
Well, well.
Even the boss’s name had dropped.
Luo Xun’s heart skipped a beat.
Those three words fell like a stone into water, stirring the chaos in his mind even further.
Arthas?
Frostmourne?
Icecrown Citadel?
These names almost burst from his throat.
Alice looked at him, and thinking he didn’t understand, she continued to explain, “The Lich King…
is the ruler of the Scourge.
Once, he was a human prince.
To save his people, he took up a cursed sword…
Frostmourne.
Then, he was controlled by the sword, killed his father, and destroyed his entire kingdom.” Frostmourne.
Arthas Menethil.
The Prince of Lordaeron, a paladin of the Silver Hand, who ultimately became a death knight.
Luo Xun’s palms were slick with sweat.
These names were too familiar—so familiar he could recite the lore from memory.
Back in the day, to farm the Invincible mount, he had logged into Icecrown Citadel on the dot every week, getting sliced to pieces by Arthas countless times.
*So which timeline am I in right now?
What year is it since the opening of the Dark Portal?
Has Arthas already become the Lich King?* He had a stomach full of questions, but he couldn’t ask a single one.
Not only was there a language barrier, but explaining how he knew these things would be impossible anyway.
Carrying deep exhaustion and sorrow, Alice continued to explain to this “ignorant” outsider, “All of this…
this calamity…” She surveyed the dead, ruined forest around them, her voice strained.
“…began in the continent to the north.” “Northrend.” Northrend.
Now the map was clear, too.
A giant game map flashed through Luo Xun’s mind.
The Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, and Northrend at the far north, a frozen wasteland with Icecrown Glacier in the middle, where Icecrown Citadel was built.
*So which zone am I in?
Eastern Plaguelands?
Or Western Plaguelands?* *No, this should be the Ghostlands.
Elven architecture wouldn’t appear anywhere else.* He recalled the woodland polluted by death energy, the wandering undead, and Alice saying, “Our power source was destroyed.” The Sunwell, Quel’Thalas, blood elves.
If this really was that world, and if the timeline lined up, then she was currently…
He glanced at Alice.
Her pale face, weakened body, and the state she was in—looking like she could faint at any moment—wasn’t that literally mana addiction?
Damn.
Alice looked at him, thinking he was terrified by these dreadful names.
She paused, then slowly uttered the name that was home to her, but might be the ultimate answer to Luo Xun: “Yes…
the place where all of Azeroth’s Scourge began.” Azeroth.
The final puzzle piece fell into place.
All doubts, struggles, and internal arguments shattered completely before those seven letters.
Luo Xun stood there.
The wound on his right shoulder still throbbed slightly, and the faint warmth of the mana crystals seemed to linger in his palm.
He finally knew the name of the land beneath his feet.
He also knew that he…
was probably never going back.
But at least he knew what server he was on.
*The question is, is this character newly created, or did I transmigrate in?* *Who allocated my talent points?* *Can I delete this character and reroll?* A flurry of chaotic thoughts swirled in his mind before settling on the most realistic one: *So, did I transmigrate into World of Warcraft, or a real Azeroth?* He recalled Alice mentioning the “six cosmic forces,” his bizarre energy vision, and the golden aura that had flared from his hands when he fired his bow.
Whichever it was, there was no customer support here.
If he died, he died for real.
He took a deep breath, pushing the idle thoughts aside for now, and looked at Alice.
She was clutching the three mana crystals as she pushed herself up against a tree trunk.
Having absorbed some of their energy, her complexion looked much better, at least no longer looking as though she might faint at any moment.
“Home…
two days away,” she whispered, looking toward the northeast.
Luo Xun followed her gaze.
In that direction, according to his gaming memories, should be…
Quel’Thalas?
Silvermoon City?
He recalled the game’s lore: Arthas breaching Silvermoon City, the Sunwell being defiled, Ranger-General Sylvanas Windrunner falling in battle and being resurrected as a banshee, Kael’thas leading the survivors to Outland…
If this really was that world, and if the timeline lined up…
That place should currently be under siege by the undead Scourge.
Or it had already fallen.
He opened his mouth to speak, but swallowed his words.
*”By the way, Prince Kael’thas whom you know will become a villain in the future”?* *”And you might become a blood elf and join the Horde”?* He glanced at Alice.
She was looking toward her home, a sliver of hope and a trace of worry in her golden eyes.
She probably felt it herself.
The undead, her corrupted compatriots, the ubiquitous stench of death…
Luo Xun adjusted his quiver to make it easier to draw from, then tilted his chin toward the northeast.
“Let’s go.” He would survive as long as he could.
First, he’d get this girl home.