On the border between the Almerian Empire and the Kingdom of Oberlinen, there is a special area. It used to be a dense broadleaf forest, but during the Faction War thirty years ago, two Dark Elf archmages who had infiltrated the Almerian Empire used a special magic to transform it into a world of crystal. In an instant, the thick trees turned into crystals rising into the sky, and even the soil where the roots were located turned into fine crystal particles under the power of magic.

As a result, the Almeria Empire has lost an excellent source of wood, and if it weren't for the help of the archmages of Dalaran to stop the spread of this crystal area, I am afraid that half of the Almeria Empire would have crystallized as a result.

With the end of the factional war, the crystal forest also became a forbidden area for life, and the then Emperor of the Almerian Empire, the father of Empress Fiona, gave the crystal forest as a reward to Dalaran, who gladly accepted and began to study the magical power left behind by the dark elves.

Many people think that Dalaran is a city, located on a plain near the Sunset Mountains, but this is not true. The real Dalaran is not just a city, he is a loose organization of a group of cities.

Especially after the elves created the Floating Fortress as a weapon of war, the Archmages of Dalaran quickly realized what this war machine would bring to them, and over the course of thousands of years, the wise human mages built several powerful floating cities at great cost, and placed their mage towers and most of their possessions on these floating cities. Therefore, strictly speaking, these floating cities are the real Dalaran!

And at this moment, above this crystal forest, there is a huge floating city that can almost be compared to the sacred city. This is one of the most important floating cities in Dalaran - Violet Castle! It is also the seat of the Kenrito Council!

Located in the center of Violet Castle, the magic tower is nearly 100 meters high, which is the control center of this floating city, and it is also the place that all Dalaran archmages yearn for. Generations of leaders of the Kenrito Council have continued to refine the Mage Tower to what it is today. Now, this powerful mage tower belongs to the legendary archmage Antonidas, the current Speaker of the Kenrito Council and the leader of the Dalaran Mage Alliance.

As a proud disciple of Antonidas, Melganis was naturally entitled to have a room of his own in this mage tower. After a few days of healing and recuperation, the wounds he sustained in the Silver Pine Forest were almost healed, and Melganis finally had time to reach the top of the mage tower and listen to the teachings of Archmage Antonidas.

"Looks like you're recovering well! Mana Stirring is a very difficult problem for every mage to solve, especially if it happens in their own body! The gray-bearded Antonidas sat on a chair on the balcony, enjoying the warm afternoon sun, smiling and looking at Melganis.

The violent burst of magic over Shadowfang Castle not only destroyed the stability of the nearby space, but also left Melganis with a lot of trouble, and the conflicting magic power poured into his body under the continuous collision, causing a serious magic stirring in his body, which would cause the mage to be unable to control the mana in his body, and in the most serious case, it would even cause the source of mana to be destroyed. There's nothing trickier for a mage than this injury!

Melganis replied with a wry smile, "Teacher, I don't have the strength to heal the magic stirring in my body in just a few days, and now I can't even mobilize the magic power to release an arcane impact!" ”

"Well, that's normal! I thought you'd have to stay in bed for a few more days before you can get up! "Antonidas didn't help his disciple, although with his strength, it would not be difficult to heal this level of magic turmoil, but he preferred Melganis to use his own strength to solve it, because while calming the magic turmoil, the mage can also continuously improve his ability to control magic power.

Melganis sat in the other chair, the mages did not value status, but rather respected their peers who possessed advanced knowledge of magic, so even though Antonidas was the speaker of the Kenrito Council and the leader of the Dalaran Mage Alliance, in Melganis's eyes, this kind old man was nothing more than a teacher who led him into the temple of magic.

"I heard that the parliament had a closed-door meeting yesterday? Is it about the Silver Pine Forest? ”

Antonidas nodded, with a helpless expression: "To be exact, it's about the Book of your!" The councillors decided to conduct an extensive magical retrospective to determine the exact location of the Book of your. Khadgar will be in charge of this. ”

Archmage Khadgar, like Melganis, was a disciple of Antonidas, but the low-key Khadgar was not as well-known as Melganis.

"He is indeed the most suitable person, and I can't compare to him in terms of spatial magic!" Melganis didn't have any resistance, he and Khadgar had a good relationship, and they often discussed some magical issues together, "But what about the Silver Pine Forest?" Arugao has summoned a lot of Shadow Werewolves in Shadowfang Castle, and even a powerful Shadow Wolf! ”

"Fenruth the Devourer! Unexpectedly, even this ancient creature was summoned to the main plane! Antonidas was more familiar with the terrifying shadow creature than Melganis, "Unfortunately, while I've been working to ease relations between Dalaran and the other human kingdoms since I became Speaker, those councillors clearly don't think so. They felt that the problems that had occurred in the Silver Pine Forest had nothing to do with Dalaran, and that they cared more about the Book of your than the werewolves. ”

"Terrible stubbornness!"

"You have to know that since the collapse of the Griffon Empire, there has been a natural opposition between us and the worldly powers! This is not a problem that can be solved overnight, and it even took me thirty years to get a small group of archmages to accept the cooperation with the Holy See! Antonidas said a little tiredly, in fact, he even found it more difficult to reconcile Dalaran with the worldly royal power than to solve a problem in the study of magic!

Melganis, as the main witness to the werewolves, was very incomprehensible about the deaf ears of the councillors: "Are we just watching? Aren't we human? Those damned werewolves are slaughtering human civilians while we are indifferent? Could it be that in their eyes, the life and death of tens of thousands of civilians are not as good as an unimportant magical study? ”

Mages are arrogant, because they have a huge reserve of knowledge while learning magic. And this kind of knowledge is generally difficult for even nobles to have, let alone commoners. Therefore, the mages of Dalaran naturally felt that they were superior to others, that they should not be bound by the world, and even that Dalaran should become the leader of the entire human race. This perception is so ingrained that even when the Griffon Dynasty was at its strongest, it could only make Dalaran superficially obey the orders of the dynasty, let alone now after the collapse of the dynasty!

"I'm sorry, but now it seems that being able to take advantage of this opportunity to open up the procurement of magic potions to the Holy See of Light is already the greatest achievement!"

Melganis sighed, since his defeat at Shadowfang Castle and his return to Violet Castle, he no longer cared about his paper on the transformation of the three states of magic, he now only wanted to know how to solve the disaster that happened in the Silver Pine Forest!

Antonidas knew what his disciple was thinking without asking, but he didn't urge Melganis to continue his magical research, as the leader of Dalaran, the legendary archmage, Antonidas knew how to teach his disciples, and he was glad that Melganis had not yet been occupied by magical research, at least he still maintained his compassion for the weak.

"While the councillors don't care about the Silverpine Forest, Khadgar will be heading to the Tirisfal Glade with a group of apprentices, and I think those little ones will make some difference if they see what happens there!" Antonidas was clearly slowly changing the status quo of Dalaran in his own way, and it had been going on for thirty years, and the rich life experience had taught the powerful mage that it was foolish to blindly stop a moving carriage, and that it was likely to be crushed by the wheels, and that a wise person should find a way to hold the reins of the carriage and guide it on the right path.

"Let's not talk about these unpleasant things, but talk about what you saw in Shadowfang Castle! Although you compiled some information as soon as you returned to Violet Castle, I still had some minor questions. ”

"Excuse me, teacher!"

Antonidas adjusted his sitting position so that he could rest more comfortably in his chair, and a long-necked teapot flew to Melganis's hand and poured the magically insulated tea into the cup. Mages are very good at satisfying their own life enjoyment with various magic props.

"You said in the intel that while you were in a spell confrontation with Arugao, several undead were trying to storm the mage tower?"

Melganis didn't know why Antonidas was concerned about such a trivial issue, and he thought that his teacher cared more about the shadow wolf, or the Arugao who had betrayed Dalaran.

"Yes, but because the strength of those undead is very low, I didn't pay attention to their progress, and when I finished the arrangement of the magic array, I focused all my energy on how to activate the magic array and cut off the summoning channel. Is there anything wrong with those undead? ”

Antonidas did not immediately answer Melganis's question, as a teacher, he preferred to let his disciples find the answer to the question themselves: "So what do you think of those little undead now, Melganis?" ”

"At that time, all my thoughts were on how to stop Arugao's summoning, now that I think about it, it is indeed strange that those undead appeared in the Shadow Fang Castle, although I can feel that there are a lot of undead in the Shadow Fang Castle, it should be the innocent people killed by Arugao in order to occupy the Shadow Fang Castle, but under normal circumstances, it is impossible for the naturally born undead to risk their lives completely death when their strength is low, and take the initiative to attack an archmage's mage tower!"

Antonidas nodded: "You're right. That's what I've been thinking about for the past few days. It's not been a day or two since we Dalaran dealt with the undead, but it's rare to encounter a situation like what you see, a few first-order little undead dare to attack an archmage's mage tower! If they are not yet self-aware and act on instinct, then it is impossible to show such a clear purpose and ability to act. ”

"I'm pretty sure that those undead were consciously attacking the Mage Tower, and although there was a powerful werewolf blocking their way out of Shadowfang Castle at the time, it wasn't difficult to find a place to hide!"

Antonidas motioned with his eyes to Melganis to continue.

"In other words, those undead took the initiative to attack the Mage Tower when they clearly knew the danger!" Melganis quickly figured out what this meant, "So, what made them do this at the risk of complete death?" Or rather, who made them do it? ”

Once the mind is open, it is no longer difficult to deduce the meaning.

"If you think about it, when I was fighting against Arugor in a spell confrontation, Finus the Devourer didn't react at all, just lying on the top of the castle, which is very abnormal! I thought it was just an ordinary giant wolf, but now that I think about it, it is likely that there was a powerful being hiding on the sidelines, and this guy was even able to threaten this shadow wolf, forcing him to not be able to distract from the others, not even stopping those little undead! ”

"A powerful presence! An existence capable of making other undead storm the Mage Tower at the risk of death! A powerful undead !! ”

"What is his purpose? The Book of your! Where is he from? Silverpine Forest is obviously impossible, and neither should the Tirisfal Glade! ”

Melganis has been concentrating on solving the injuries in his body for the past few days, so he has not had a chance to think about it carefully, but when Antonidas pointed out the suspicions for him, Melganis, who was already very smart, quickly relied on speculation to grasp the secret!

He looked up at Antonidas, and the old mage nodded at him in satisfaction, apparently agreeing with his previous reasoning.

"Teacher, do you also think that the undead are behind all this?"

"Whether it is or not, at least there are people besides us who are fighting the idea of the Book of your! At that time, there were not many undead who had the strength to appear in Shadowfang Castle. ”

Melganis was clearly thinking of someone hiding in the shadows: "That lich named Martin!" ”

In Melganis's view, Maltan Golden Coffin had both the strength and the need to plot the Book of your. For revenge, to overthrow the kingdom of Virgil, this lich has caused panic in the kingdom of Virgil in a matter of months, not to mention the destruction of a city in the Duchy of Giraldin! Even this kind of thing has been done, and it is not impossible to plot the Book of Your, and to use the power of this ancient book to take revenge.

Antonidas had a worried look on his face: "Melganis, in fact, the reason why I didn't convince those councillors further is that I am worried about this possibility!" If the Book of your remained in Arugao's hands, then everything was still under control, and relying on Dalaran's power, it would not be difficult to re-close the summoning passage connecting the shadow planes. But once the Book of your was taken away by Martan, then ......"

"Then the tragedy of the Silver Pines Forest will be repeated in the Kingdom of Virgil! Compared to the gains and losses of the Silver Pines Forest and the Hills of Hillsbrad, the Kingdom of Virgil is in greater danger, with more than five million people living in it! Melganis immediately recognized the dangers.

"Everything is waiting for the outcome on Khadgar's side, and if this mana retrospective can confirm that the Book of your is still in Shadowfang Castle, then our speculation is unfounded. But if the results of the mana retrospective prove that the Book of your is no longer in the Silverpine Forest, then we must prepare for the worst! ”