Next Goal: 300 Powerstones!
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Under the holy tree of Eywa, the sacred land of the Na'vi, Jake Sully had just completed the ceremony of rebirth. He had fully abandoned his human identity and become the leader of the Na'vi. Now, he was speaking passionately to his people, preparing them for a full resistance against the "Sky People."
But just as his words reached their peak, a sudden image struck his mind, making him hold his head in pain.
"What's wrong, Jake?" Neytiri quickly rushed forward, concern on her face.
"Damn it! Toruk… I saw something bad. Toruk is dead!" Jake cursed under his breath.
The mighty Toruk, the Great Leonopteryx he once tamed, had been killed by the Proto Dragon. After the great battle with the humans, Jake believed the Na'vi no longer needed Toruk, so he released it back into the wild. Yet their bond had never been truly severed. Because Toruk was one of the strongest beings on Pandora, its link with Jake was deeper than with any ordinary creature.
So even after only a day of freedom, Jake could still feel its final moments, the echo of its death.
"What? Impossible!" Neytiri's eyes widened in shock. To them, Toruk was sacred. Even during the years of human invasion, no Sky Person had ever been able to kill one.
The Na'vi below were also beginning to sense something was wrong with Jake.
"Don't let this spread," Jake whispered firmly to Neytiri, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.
If news of Toruk's death spread, it would crush the spirit of the people. Neytiri gave a small nod of understanding.
But just as their words fell, two Ikran riders came swooping down from the distance.
"What happened?" Jake asked as they dismounted and kneeled before him.
"Leader, it's the Sky People. The new ones. They've released terrible beasts into the forest. Even Toruk and the terrible beasts have fallen as their prey! And those new Sky People… our arrows cannot hurt them. I shot through one of their armors, but he acted as if nothing happened and fired back at us!" One of the shaken riders spoke quickly, relaying what he had seen.
"What beasts? I've told you before, those are only machines—planes, walkers, tools of the Sky People!" Jake frowned, instinctively dismissing their words. In the past, when the Na'vi had not yet made contact with humans, they often mistook human machines for strange "beasts."
But a Sky Person unharmed after his armor was pierced?
Even Jake couldn't make sense of that. Technology on Pandora was advanced, yes, and robots existed, but most were bulky industrial machines. True humanoid machines had barely developed. Jake had never considered that possibility.
"No, leader! They were not machines. They were real beasts—powerful ones!" the other rider added quickly, desperate for Jake to believe.
Hearing the two riders, Jake Sully frowned deeply.
Beasts? What kind of beasts could humans possibly bring? Earth's animals were almost extinct, and even if they weren't, they could never compare to Pandora's creatures. Just the size alone was on a completely different level. And like humans, Earth's beasts would never survive Pandora's air or its environment.
Still, no matter what he thought, hearing was nothing compared to seeing.
So he decided to see for himself.
At once, he and Neytiri mounted their Ikrans and led a squad of riders toward the landing site of the Sky People.
This time, the humans had landed closer to the coast, far from Jake's clan's territory. That distance gave him some confidence that they couldn't expand so quickly into his people's lands. And since they had arrived not long ago, he hadn't had time to scout them properly yet.
But soon after taking flight, Jake realized the situation was far worse than he imagined.
The Na'vi homeland and the Tree of Eywa stood at the center of the Thunder Rock region—what humans called the Hallelujah Mountains. Not only was this sacred land, it was also the largest nesting ground of Ikrans on Pandora.
And now, as Jake and his riders soared through the sky, they saw countless Ikrans flying in great flocks toward the outer edges of the mountains. Even higher, in the clouds, entire groups of Toruks were circling together.
Toruks—creatures that lived and hunted alone, only gathering for mating—now flying in packs?
Impossible.
Not even during the humans' great invasion had the Ikrans and Toruks risen in such numbers.
What in Eywa's name was happening?
"It's the flying beasts released by the Sky People! It must be them. They're attacking Thunder Rock!" the rider who had scouted earlier shouted quickly.
Jake's mind reeled. Flying beasts strong enough to stir the Toruks? What were the humans using—dragons from Earth?
"Jake, look at the ground!" Neytiri suddenly cried.
Following her gaze, Jake saw it—far below, through the jungle, massive herds of Pandora's land beasts were also on the move, surging in the same direction as the Ikrans and Toruks.
"We're going after them!" Jake shouted. He spurred his Ikran forward, his riders close behind, toward the gathering storm of beasts.
…
Elsewhere, General Quaritch sat astride the back of a colossal Proto Dragon, his expression grim. Before him, endless waves of Pandora's creatures poured across the land.
The riot of Pandora's beasts… was the very result of the creatures Quaritch had unleashed.
But it wasn't only Jake and the Na'vi who were shocked—even Quaritch, the very one who caused all this, felt bewildered.
He didn't understand it either. He had only released a few dinosaurs and some so-called dragons, the Proto Dragons, yet it was as if he had kicked over a hornet's nest—the entire forest was in chaos, every creature driven into a frenzy.
Even out on the distant ocean, giant sea beasts could be seen gliding through the waves. Fortunately, since the base had not yet expanded onto the sea, those monsters could do nothing to them for now.
Though confused, Quaritch had no real way to deal with the situation. He had already consulted the scientists aboard the Origin Star, as well as the research robots Josh had assigned him. None of them had any answers for what was happening.
Thinking of this, Quaritch once again opened his beacon and contacted Josh.
"So soon? I hope this time it's good news." On the other side, Josh, idly fiddling with a twig, answered immediately.
"Sorry to disturb you again, Mr. Kahn," Quaritch apologized at once.
"Not a problem. Did something happen?" Josh asked calmly.
"There is indeed a small problem…" Quaritch then described everything that was happening in detail.
"Animal riots? Interesting." A faint smile appeared on Josh's face after hearing him out. "Could it be…"
The strange, almost organized uprising of Pandora's beasts clearly went against all natural logic.
The Proto Dragons, though somewhat different from the dragons of human myths, were in truth even more pure and ancient. Their bloodline surpassed that of many "true dragons." They carried dragon's might, dragon's breath, and other innate powers.
Normally, only creatures like the Toruk—also top predators—could face them directly. Lesser beasts should flee at the mere presence of a dragon. Yet, by Quaritch's account, even the smallest lizards of Pandora now dared to challenge a dragon's authority.
That was far from normal.
"Could it be what?" Quaritch pressed when Josh stopped halfway.
"Quaritch, do you believe in gods existing in the universe?" Josh asked with a faint smile.
"…Gods? Mr. Kahn, I thought you were an atheist," Quaritch frowned. In his mind, someone with so much advanced technology should be nothing but a follower of science.
"In truth, Quaritch, science and gods are not in conflict. In some ways, the Proto Dragons I traded to you already surpass the category of ordinary creatures, don't they?… So about Pandora's situation, I have a little guess. But it still needs proof. I'll send you an advisor right away."
Without offering further explanation or showing magic to prove his point, Josh simply sent over a new trade request.
Hearing Josh mention the Proto Dragon, Quaritch glanced at the mighty beast beneath him.
Now that he thought about it… Josh was right. This creature was far from ordinary.
Then, as he looked at what Josh had just traded over, his eyes widened even further.
Two bull-headed men?
Yes—these were not "bullish" or arrogant people, but true humanoid beings with the features of a bull.
"These are Tauren," Josh explained casually, "intelligent beings from the same world as the Proto Dragon. Treat them well—they'll help you figure out what's really happening on Pandora. And by the way, don't mistake them for the ordinary cattle we know… they actually eat beef themselves."
What Josh had traded him were two Tauren from Azeroth—more specifically, two Yaungol, one a druid, the other a shaman.
Josh had once believed that Tauren druids only appeared after the Third War in Azeroth, when Hamuul Runetotem became a student of Malfurion Stormrage and joined the Cenarion Circle.
But a few years ago, after Abbendis landed in Northrend, Josh learned that the truth was quite different.
It was true that Hamuul Runetotem was the first Tauren to join the Cenarion Circle, and that he became the druidic leader of the Horde. But he was not the first Tauren druid.
Back in the ancient ages, the ancestors of the Tauren—the mighty Yaungol—had already begun learning the ways of nature from the wild god Cenarius himself.
However, at that time, Azeroth was crawling with trolls. The endless wars with them made the Yaungol weary, and they eventually migrated south into the Mogu Empire. There, they abandoned the path of nature.
But a small number remained in the far north of Northrend, evolving into the Yaungol. Protected by the wardens and green dragons, some of them continued to hold onto the traditions of druidism.
As for why players never encountered druidic Yaungol during the Wrath of the Lich King era—it was likely because the Scourge, trolls, Vrykul, and the spider kingdom had already wiped most of them out by then.
The same went for shamans. Josh had once thought shamanism was a craft brought only by orcs from Draenor. But in truth, the Tauren had already walked that path in ancient times, and their traditions had survived even more intact than druidism.
Of course, all this was information Abbendis had only discovered after arriving in Northrend and making contact with the tribes of Yaungol.
During this age, while the Yaungol were not a great power, their numbers were far greater than the handful left by the time of the Lich King's reign. According to Abbendis, their presence could be found across almost all of Northrend—except in Icecrown Glacier and the Storm Peaks. They were by no means rare.
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