The Arcane Mastery acquired from the nightborne possessed extraordinary potential. As Leylin unraveled their methodologies, they yielded extensive analytical data for his studies.
Theoretically, if he could harness arcane energy comparable to the Sunwell's magnitude, his spellcasting capacity would be sufficient to annihilate a city with minimal effort.
But so far, Leylin still needs more time to further increase his magic capacity. He'd been carefully refining all magical energy he absorbs each time he trains, condensing it into pure magical energy.
The afternoon rest time quickly ended, and night fell. Leylin sensed a nightborne approaching from the forest path ahead.
"Wake up, Morhun, nightbornes are coming," Leylin said, shaking Morhun's huge horns.
The sleepy-eyed tauren immediately sat up and pulled Leylin towards the back of the garden. Morhun knew the route into the elven garden very well, and he also knew the escape route by heart.
However, Leylin didn't immediately follow Morhun away. He could sense that the nightborne coming to the garden weren't like the nightborne soldiers they skipped past; they seemed to be mages. Yes, Leylin could sense the magical energy within their bodies.
"Wait a minute, I have something to do," Leylin said.
Morhun knew this human could become invisible, so he simply hid himself first. After all, he was just a large, brownish figure in the elven garden, and if these nightborne discovered him, it would take a long time to escape.
Leylin calmly leaned against a huge purple tree canopy, waiting for the nightborne mages to come along the forest path.
Soon, Leylin saw these nightborne mages. To be precise, several female nightborn elves. These five female nightborn elves were barefoot, wearing only a thin, monochrome blouse, and walked into the orchard of the garden.
They had come to pick food for tonight, Leylin thought.
When the elves approached within five meters of Leylin, he realized that these female nightborne elves were not yet qualified to be mages. At least, their bodies contained very little arcane energy. It was certain they had simply lived closer to the source of magic, having existed longer than the guards of Suramar.
However, based on this information, Leylin could guess that these elves were likely maids of nightborne nobles.
"Tonight's banquet seems to have been hastily arranged," the head nightborne elven maid said to her attendant as she picked night berries.
A slender yet voluptuous elven maid, perfectly conforming to human aesthetic standards, continued, "High Magistrix Elisande has detailed matters to discuss with the Nightbornes. You saw it yesterday; the sunken southern archipelago and our former temple have risen again."
"Five hundred years ago, a powerful human mage came here. I heard from the High Magistrix that she performed some special rituals here."
"I don't quite understand. I have a feeling something bad is about to happen, like the calamity we experienced ten thousand years ago," said the elven girl at the end of the maids.
This ominous remark quickly drew replies from the other maids: "Don't say such unlucky things, Leah! The High Magistrix protected our city; this time, we must trust her even more!"
Through the maids' conversation, Leylin gleaned some useful information.
This city, called Suramar, existed during the War of the Ancients, meaning it was once a city of the Night Elves and the Kaldorei. Furthermore, these maids said they had escaped a calamity ten thousand years ago, implying that the explosion of the Well of Eternity hadn't caused the city to sink to the bottom of the sea.
But this information wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing was how this High Magistrix named Elisande had protected the city of Suramar. It was utterly unbelievable. To safely protect a city from the explosion of the Well of Eternity—what immense power would that require?
Such an ability was impossible for the creatures of Azeroth to accomplish alone. The deeper Leylin thought about it, the more mysterious this city seemed. Wait, another pair of creatures approached the elven gardens; they came from the western seas.
Leylin felt a chill run down his spine; a bad premonition arose in his heart.
Using [Far Sight], Leylin saw a group of four-legged crawling creatures through the gaps in the trees. These creatures had hound-like heads, but their bodies were a vibrant red. These were creatures of the Burning Legion; shouldn't they be hiding in the Tomb of Sargeras, that ruined temple?
Incredibly, they had traversed this vast ocean and arrived at Suramar.
As Leylin silently observed the unfolding chaos, a chilling memory surfaced in Leylin's mind—a creature known as Felstalkers. These were no ordinary beasts; they were swift, relentless hounds bred by dark sorcery, their bodies sleek and deadly, driven by the insatiable hunger of the Burning Legion.
Their keen noses could track even the faintest scent, and their speed was supernatural, darting through the dense foliage of the elven gardens like shadows given form.
Suddenly, without warning, nearly twenty Felstalkers erupted from the pale blue and purplish-black jungle, their snarling mouths dripping with green saliva that sizzled in contact with the cool night air.
Their eyes gleamed with feral hunger, fixated on five nightborne elf maidens caught utterly unaware. The creatures surged forward with terrifying speed, claws ripping at the earth as they charged.
The maidens' eyes widened with terror, black pools of despair reflecting the horror before them. The sight of the Felstalkers—so repulsive, so feral, seemed to awaken a deep, ancient fear, a memory of a catastrophe that once nearly wiped out their kind.
The air grew thick with dread as the maidens' trembling bodies betrayed their panic. A fruit basket, carelessly discarded in the chaos, tumbled to the ground, forgotten amid the terror.
A piercing scream shattered the silence of the garden, echoing through the night. It was a cry of despair, a plea for salvation that seemed to hang in the air like a heavy fog. The Felstalkers closed in with merciless intent, their hunger insatiable, their howls piercing the night as they prepared to tear through their prey.
However, the immediate danger did not claim the lives of the nightborne maidens. Not far away, an elven-like creature unleashed dozens of blazing flames. The flames quickly reduced the hellhounds to dry shells.
In an instant, the felstalkers were wiped out, saving not only the maidens but also leaving the lurking Morhun speechless with astonishment.
He was thankful he hadn't fought back; otherwise, having those scorching flames burning him would have been no different from secretly roasting lambs beneath the snow-capped mountains of Highmountain.
After casting the spell, Leylin immediately used [Blink] and pulled Morhun away from the elven garden.
They couldn't stay any longer; if the nightborne guards arrived, the trouble would be even greater. Leylin didn't believe these nightbornes would be grateful to him for saving the elven maidens. Before the still-shaken elven girls could recover, the tall, imposing elven sheriff arrived.