Wayne didn't know how long he had slept. His night had been a blur of chaotic dreams—a young girl fleeing through the wilderness, a giant eye staring fixedly at him. When he woke, his head throbbed and his neck was stiff.
Checking the clock on the wall, he saw it was nearly noon. Despite feeling sleep-deprived, his growling stomach forced him downstairs for food.
Chen and Li Li had been away lately, so Tess had taken over the cooking duties. Learning culinary arts was the condition Wayne had set in exchange for her having a private room in the new net cafe. Wayne was curious to see how much the girl had actually learned from Chen.
However, upon reaching the first floor, he was met with a chilling, solemn atmosphere. Every single screen in the room was blue. This was highly unusual; even if everyone was playing Uncharted Waters IV, there should have been players trading in towns or sailing through different waters.
The fact that everyone was currently at sea meant only one thing: the showdown between the Second Legion and Northshire was about to begin. Many players, whose own fleets couldn't reach the southern African waters in time or who feared being caught in the crossfire, had handed control over to their crews for automated trading and removed their glasses to watch the spectacle as spectators.
Tess was also standing among the crowd. Wayne tapped her on the shoulder. "Where's breakfast?"
Tess froze for a second, then shrieked, "Aya!" and bolted toward the kitchen downstairs.
Wayne's first thought was, We're doomed...
He then turned his gaze to the screens and couldn't help but blur out, "Holy crap!"
The people nearby noticed his arrival and immediately peppered him with questions: "Stop arguing! Miller is here!"
"Exactly! Why is there such a huge difference in the number of ships on both sides?"
"Northshire is definitely going to win. Their ships are clearly a tier higher, bigger, and have more cannons."
"Hard to say. The sea isn't like the land. On land, a shell doesn't need to be precise; shrapnel and shockwaves can hurt everyone around. But at sea, if you miss and hit the water, it's useless."
"No, no, even if every shot doesn't hit, the Second Legion's ships barely have any cannons. How can they fight?"
"Miller , who do you think will win?"
Wayne replied, "Me? I just got down here. Let me get a clear look first."
He walked back and forth between the rows of machines, observing the lineups and movements of both sides.
Northshire, leveraging the natural advantages of the North Sea, had concentrated their resources to build over a dozen full fleets of five Ships of the Line each. Every ship was equipped with the game's maximum default of four battery rooms, plus bow and stern cannons, totaling 108 cannons per ship. With an added layer of armor, their durability reached 100 points, making them look like iron behemoths. Furthermore, the tall triple masts of the Ships of the Line were configured with square sails, staysails, and top jibs, ensuring respectable speed despite the heavy firepower and armor.
In short, the Northshire Legion, under McBride's command, intended to push the "Great Guns and Big Ships" philosophy to its absolute limit.
However, the Second Legion's strategy struck Wayne as a reckless, high-stakes gamble. Alos, who had adhered to the "firepower, tonnage, and speed" mantra until the very end of the Age of Empires II land battle, was now deploying wave after wave of Chinese Junks, as Southeast Asia offered no formidable warships. These included two-masted "Junks" and slightly larger three-masted "Large Junks," but even the larger ones were tiny compared to a Ship of the Line.
As both sides finished their preparations and their fleets sailed majestically out of Cape Town and Sofala, Wayne reminded Alos and McBride that they needed to agree on victory conditions before the fighting started.
Since this was an online game, unlike the self-contained matches of Age of Empires II, a player could theoretically continue indefinitely. Even if their frontline fleet was sunk, as long as their home port remained, they could spend time building new ships in distant waters, regroup, and attempt a counter-push. Without rules, the war could last forever; after all, no one had the authority to force the other side to delete their account.
The two commanders didn't fully understand the game mechanics, so Wayne proposed two options:
Occupation Mode: Using the gathered ports of Cape Town and Sofala as bases, whoever completely captured the opponent's port first would win. Since these ports were far from the main territories of both sides, it essentially meant whichever side lost their fleet and protection for the port first would lose.
Decapitation Mode: Target the opponent's flagship carrying the commander. Whichever side's flagship was destroyed first would lose. Maneuvering and flanking were allowed, but leaving the battlefield was not; if the system judged a flagship to have fled the combat zone, it would be an automatic loss.
To prevent the battle from dragging on indefinitely, several solo players were assigned as referees to prohibit ships from returning to port for repairs or resupply mid-battle.
Alos was the first to speak, stating that since the Second Legion were sailors by trade and held a natural advantage in naval combat, he would accept either mode and left the choice to McBride. McBride consulted with Cantrely. They felt that the Second Legion's ships were vastly inferior in tonnage and firepower, and since Decapitation Mode involved a degree of luck, they chose the Occupation Mode to better showcase their raw strength.
With that, the naval battle for the ports of Sofala and Cape Town was triggered!
In the Eastern Plaguelands, the group of five had spent the night with three sleeping and two on watch. At dawn, they packed their gear and continued their journey.
Since the second location Wayne had marked, "Northvale," was slightly north and east in the Eastern Plaguelands, Shadowbreaker decided to lead his teammates to meet his old friends in the Argent Dawn for supplies and safety.
They passed the completely derelict Darrowshire, took a long detour to avoid Corin's Crossing—which was overrun by liches and abominations—and bypassed the Scarlet Crusade stronghold of Tyr's Hand. Finally, following a deep, canyon-like ravine, they arrived at the headquarters of the Argent Dawn: Light's Hope Chapel.
Although Chen and Li Li had traveled extensively, this was their first time here, let alone for young Amy and Arator. Shadowbreaker, the Duke who usually seemed pampered, acted as their "navigator," skillfully guiding them away from various threats.
The "chapel" was actually just a humble stone building surrounded by numerous white tents, with several campfires struggling to burn, providing a comforting warmth. Two patrolling guards spotted them from a distance. For them, the appearance of such an adventuring party wasn't a common occurrence. Usually, it was the Scarlet Crusade's elite "Red-Clothed Messengers" passing in the distance, and the Argent Dawn often received reports of reckless adventurers attacking those messengers five-on-one only to end up dead or crippled.
Amy and Arator were startled when they saw the Argent Dawn guards. One was a dwarf, and the other was an orc. It was their first time seeing an orc in person.
But for the people in the camp, it was also their first time seeing Pandaren. "Come look! It's actually Pandaren!"
In an instant, several Tauren, Trolls, Dwarves, Gnomes, and even a Forsaken undead named Leonid Barthalomew fixed their gazes on Chen and Li Li. "Are they here to join us too?" "My god, I always thought this race was just a fairytale made up to trick children."
Amidst the amazement, someone even reached out a "groping hand" to touch Chen's furry cheek to confirm it wasn't a mask or some other disguise. Chen was long used to this; he had encountered similar situations many times while traveling through Azeroth.
"What wind blew a big shot like you here!" a voice shouted from outside the crowd, and the others immediately made way.
Shadowbreaker quietly introduced the man to his four teammates: "This is one of the commanders here, Eligor Dawnbringer."
Eligor joked, " I heard you abandoned your wife and children to elope with a young boy?"
The crowd erupted in laughter. Shadowbreaker snapped, "You bastard! Slandering a Duke is a serious crime!" Eligor laughed, "Give it a rest. There's no Alliance or Horde here. Don't try to scare me with Stormwind laws."
As they walked inside, Shadowbreaker asked, "Is Lord Tyrosus here?" Eligor shook his head. "He took a team to scout near Stratholme, but Duke Shelenehoff is in."
Shadowbreaker gritted his teeth. "Fine. Take me to see him."
As a fellow Duke of the Alliance and a Paladin of the Order of the Silver Hand, Shadowbreaker didn't like Shelenehoff. There had been unpleasantness between them when they first met, but he couldn't deny that the man was an incredibly good person.
The reason Shadowbreaker disliked him was simple: Shelenehoff was a genius linguist. He was fluent in almost every known language and could speak naturally with Orcs and Tauren—races Shadowbreaker considered savage and brutal—as if they were his native tongue. Because of this communication, Duke Shelenehoff had been open to Thrall's New Horde even before joining the Argent Dawn. Shadowbreaker had once accused him of being a Horde spy.
That was a very serious accusation; if proven, the lightest punishment would have been a conviction for treason and exile, much like Tirion Fordring. Shelenehoff hadn't responded. Shortly after, he voluntarily gave up his fortune, leaving only one manor and some land for his family, gave away the rest of his assets, and brought his servants to this terrifying wasteland to commit himself to the holy cause against the Scourge.
He first joined the Scarlet Crusade under Alexandros Mograine, but was among the first to leave that increasingly fanatical organization to become one of the founders of the Argent Dawn. He became an essential "Head of Organization" because no one else could communicate so seamlessly with other races or possessed such high emotional intelligence.
Thinking of this always made Shadowbreaker feel ashamed. But a man has his pride, especially a high-ranking member of the House of Nobles.
Duke Shelenehoff came out in silver armor to greet his old friend. Here, no one knew when the undead might attack, so there was no such thing as "removing armor" even for sleep.
Shadowbreaker responded to Shelenehoff's warmth with a formal tone, stating his purpose but not revealing what he was looking for. After all, telling a high commander of the Argent Dawn that he had traveled all this way just to find a toy hammer, a painting, and a tattered banner would likely make people think he had lost his mind.
But Shelenehoff didn't hesitate. "Old friend, I'm just happy you're here. Northvale isn't far, but it's near a lost lumber mill filled with liches capable of mind control, and the mountains above are occupied by hostile trolls. Since you've come all this way, you must have an important reason. I'll call a squad right now to accompany you."
He wasn't just being polite; he immediately went outside to summon troops, giving Shadowbreaker no chance to decline. He remained as helpful and irreproachably kind as ever.
Chen stroked the fur on his chin and squinted. "Why do these two look like lovers meeting again after a breakup?"
"Pfft..." Amy couldn't help but laugh. "Huh? Uncle, how do you know so much about that?" Li Li asked, since Chen always claimed he had never been in a relationship.
Only Arator, who had heard the history before, pretended not to hear the big panda teasing his mentor.