Azshara's reward kept Gale in Sin'dorei; he couldn't choose to leave right after the Queen had just bestowed a gift.
However, he returned to Nathalas Academy.
Firstly, he needed to discuss the titan runes with Prince Farodis. The unresolved connection between the tidal scepter and the tide stone remained a hidden danger. Gale hoped Prince Farodis could glean insights from the titan runes on the tidal scepter and become aware of that connection.
Secondly, he wanted to check the current status of the Forging Factory. Although Pisaster had reported to him, he was still a bit uneasy without seeing it with his own eyes.
Thirdly, he intended to recruit some Mages to join his Mage Tower. He strongly agreed with the idea of the family cultivating Mages. With the continuous cash flow from the Forging Factory, he could completely cultivate a group of family Mages. Even if it wasn't to contend for power with established nobles like Savis, it was to build up strength for the future invasion of the Burning Legion.
Pisaster hired a small team of mercenaries to escort Gale, led by a ranger named Navoli Faronar. He came from the Faronar family, a relatively well-known minor noble family in the Faronar region.
The Morning Light Family came from the Nordannir region, very close to Faronar. By extension, Navoli could be considered half a fellow countryman of Gale.
The camaraderie among Kaldorei was still quite simple; apart from those who harbored mutual animosity, they regarded fellow Kaldorei with no conflicting interests as brothers.
During their journey, Gale chatted with Navoli and learned that Navoli was not the legitimate son of his family, so he hoped to find a future in Sin'dorei. Otherwise, he would only be able to serve as a sheriff in the Faronar family's territory, which was not the life he desired.
Navoli was a person with high aspirations, unwilling to live an ordinary life. So, he ventured to Sin'dorei to make a name for himself, but without much success. He could only form a mercenary team to earn a small income within Sin'dorei City, just enough to avoid starving.
This escort mission was their mercenary team's first out-of-city mission in a year since its establishment. They had originally anticipated some dangers that they would need to resolve, as ordinary Mages generally didn't need to hire mercenaries.
Who would have thought that no danger occurred all the way to Nasalas?
The mercenary team was very disappointed, and Navoli sighed repeatedly.
A mission without danger simply couldn't demonstrate their value, even if there was just an ignorant beast!
Gale found it amusing: the core areas of the Kaldorei Empire were filled with Arcane Energy, and Mages only needed to manipulate this Arcane Energy to deter beasts from approaching the roads.
In fact, after becoming a formal Mage, there was no need for an escort at all. It was just that Gale bore the heavy responsibility of the Morning Light Family's rise, and Pisaster couldn't emphasize it enough. If Gale hadn't objected, Pisaster would have wanted to hire several Mages to accompany him.
"Cheer up, how about visiting my Forging Factory with me?"
Navoli accepted the invitation. He had originally thought the Forging Factory was just a weapons shop with a few more people. However, upon entering the factory, he saw an entire production line continuously manufacturing arrows.
The first thing that caught his eye was a huge magic furnace. Driven by a Mage apprentice, raging flames melted carbon steel alloy into liquid, which was then poured into a row of arrowhead molds. After exiting the magic furnace, they were placed in a cooling pool to cool down with water, and finally, they were poured onto an automatically moving machine.
Workers waiting on both sides of the machine installed the arrowheads onto the arrow shafts. When the arrow shafts ran out, they would grab another bundle from the nearby machine that rapidly polished arrow shafts.
"This... this is the Forging Factory?"
Gale smiled and nodded, showing off, "Isn't it good!"
It was more than just good! Navoli had never seen arrows produced this way; it was too fast!
From the moment he entered the factory until now, not even five minutes had passed, and hundreds of arrows had been manufactured. At this speed, it could supply the consumption of several legions.
Actually, Gale was also a bit surprised. He had only told Sethonis the concepts of assembly lines and automation, and he hadn't expected Sethonis to create such a semi-automatic assembly line.
This truly surprised Gale!
"Gale, you're back?" Sethonis greeted him excitedly, "The... the crown is finished?"
He had originally wanted to ask about the "artifact," but seeing an outsider, he held it back.
Gale said to Navoli, "You can look around by yourself for a bit!"
Navoli nodded, knowing that Gale wanted to speak with this Mage.
After Navoli left, Gale said, "It's been made. I've recorded the entire process, and from now on, we can manufacture artifacts!"
Sethonis's face flushed, "That's great! I never thought we could create our own artifacts."
Gale patted his shoulder, "From now on, pay attention. Buy any eternal gold that circulates on the market. Don't worry about the price; this is the foundation for us to manufacture artifacts."
"No problem!" Sethonis patted his chest, "Leave it to me."
Seeing his confident look, Gale almost believed him. He wondered if Sethonis would maintain his current confidence after he learned how rare eternal gold was.
Sethonis's heart swelled for a while before calming down a bit. At this point, he remembered the main topic: "The crown is finished. Queen Azshara must have given you many rewards, right? Do you have a Mage Tower?"
"You want to go to Sin'dorei?" Gale saw through his thoughts.
Sethonis nodded repeatedly. Who wouldn't want to go to Sin'dorei? Although Nasalas was a magic academy longed for by commoners, Sin'dorei was the holy land Mages yearned for.
Gale thought for a moment; Sethonis was also a genius Mage. If Gale, the transmigrator, wasn't counted, he would have been the top graduate of that class.
In the history of Warcraft, Sethonis, as a teaching assistant, died in the explosion of the tide stone. It was unknown whether he had ever ventured into Sin'dorei. Did he stay in Nasalas after graduation, or did he fail to make a name for himself and have to return to the magic academy, leading to his death and cursed soul?
In Gale's opinion, Sethonis's talent in Arcane was not very high; instead, his talent in enchantment and engineering was sky-high.
Without the characteristic runes discovered by Sethonis, the Sanction Blade would not have appeared.
Without Sethonis's application of magic-driven power, the current semi-automatic assembly line would not have been born.
These were all areas where Gale fell short.
Therefore, letting Sethonis go to Sin'dorei might not be a good choice, but if he wasn't allowed to go, would he be content?
"No problem!" Gale said with a smile, "But you need to find a manager for the Forging Factory. This is where our foundation lies."
Sethonis happily agreed; this was easy.
Gale turned and walked towards Navoli, the smile on his face becoming playful.
This guy was too naive. Once he joined the Mage Tower, wouldn't Gale decide what research topics he worked on? At that time, wouldn't it be good to have him research projects involving enchantment and engineering?