The idea of a fourth day disaster was purely a joke; Gale was not yet powerful enough to summon players.
He couldn't summon players, but he could assemble an army of adventurers.
The construction of Nordrassil was almost complete, leaving many people with free time. Gale was also preparing to begin professional education, establishing schools for magic, druidism, and the Holy Light.
According to his plan, all new generation Kaldorei would enter these three academies to study after reaching adulthood. After five years of study, they would go to various places for training. Now, with the agreement with Odyn, Gale planned to place the training grounds on the west side of Stormheim.
Stormheim posed a certain danger; its terrain was steep, and the creatures living there were exceptionally fierce. The most dangerous were the Storm Dragons, which had the appearance of Guardian Dragons but the ferocity of Proto-Dragons.
This was also Gale's main reason for wanting the west side of Stormheim; he had long wanted to form a Dragon Knight unit.
However, Guardian Dragons would not become mounts, and most Proto-Dragons were in Northrend.
His capture of Smaug was an isolated case; to capture Proto-Dragons on a large scale, he needed a powerful military deterrent.
Historically, in Azeroth, only the Vrykul had formed Dragon Knight units. These giants were powerful enough to suppress Proto-Dragons. The strong Kaldorei who could suppress Proto-Dragons were mostly powerful spellcasters and held high positions, making it unrealistic for them to serve as ordinary taxi soldiers.
Fortunately, the special case of Luna showed Gale the general direction.
He planned to train a group of Beast Master Hunters, specifically to tame Storm Dragons as pets.
Achieving this required several conditions. First, he needed a certain number of Storm Drakes as research subjects.
And to capture a large number of Storm Drakes, a large number of adventurers were needed.
It would take at least twenty years for the next generation to grow up. But Gale could not wait twenty years to act; that would put him on the defensive.
Therefore, Gale issued the Adventurer Decree, allowing spellcasters and military personnel to take turns off duty, form adventurer teams to explore Stormheim, and issued a series of tasks. As long as the adventure tasks were completed, corresponding military merits would be awarded.
The first task was to capture a Storm Drake, with a reward of 1000 military merits.
1000 military merits could turn a recruit into a captain, a second lieutenant into a major, and a major into a lieutenant colonel. Field officers and company-grade officers were mid-level officers of the Kaldorei Empire, and depending on their rank, they could enjoy many benefits.
This was the reward Gale offered even if the Storm Drake was not handed over. If the Storm Drake was handed over, a legendary item could be obtained.
Other tasks also followed this pattern; not handing over items would still grant military merits. Handing them over would also grant additional equipment.
After this series of tasks was announced, the Kaldorei's eyes turned red. Even if they couldn't complete the task of capturing a Storm Drake, completing other tasks still brought many benefits.
For a time, powerful Kaldorei began calling friends, wanting to take turns off duty at the same time to venture into the west side of Stormheim together.
Some even set their sights on powerful liches as teammates.
Venas Morning Light was one such clever person. He was one of the few survivors of the Morning Light Family and Gale's distant nephew. Before Gale's rise to prominence, Venas was a member of the Morning Light Family responsible for gathering herbs.
After Gale's rise, he began professional training and became a ranger. However, his strength was not very high, but because he had to avoid wild beasts when gathering herbs, he possessed excellent Stealth abilities. Also, due to his contact with herbs, he had some basic knowledge of alchemy and knew how to prepare herbal concoctions.
During the War of the Ancients, he served as a scout in Gale's army. On the battlefield, he often applied simple poisons to his daggers and arrows, taking down many demons.
After the war, he felt that he could forge a path different from others through poisons. So, during the construction of Nordrassil, he often sought out master alchemists to learn alchemy and enhance the potency of his poisons.
After specializing in poison manufacturing, Venas displayed strong talent. Once, Smaug, being greedy, ate some herbs Venas had planted, resulting in him lying on the ground for an entire afternoon, perfectly conscious but unable to move, which greatly worried Luna.
Venas, however, discovered a new type of poison — paralysis poison.
He tallied the herbs Smaug had eaten, then combined and experimented with them one by one, finally developing a powerful paralysis poison.
After the Adventurer Decree and tasks were announced, Venas immediately saw an opportunity. If paralysis poison could paralyze Smaug, then paralyzing a Storm Dragon should also be no problem. If a Storm Dragon couldn't move, wouldn't a Storm Drake be easily captured?
Venas really wanted to try in Stormheim, but he was also a bit scared. After all, poison couldn't deal with all situations, and going there so rashly, he might be killed by wild beasts before even encountering a Storm Dragon.
So, he wanted to find a strong team of teammates to protect his safety.
Through his connections in the army, he found a warrior from Alpha Squad. And through Gale's connections, he recruited a Tauren Druid. He had a tank, a healer, and only lacked a powerful damage dealer.
Venas had once delivered messages to Nathalass and was one of the few Kaldorei who understood the situation there. Although Nathalass had many lich apprentices, there were even more liches.
Farodis had gathered all the Nathalass mages, and after these mages were resurrected, they quickly adapted to become powerful liches.
Although Gale had dispatched many liches, there were still many liches staying in Nathalass with nothing to do. They were still adapting to their new lives, neither wanting to work nor to explore the true meaning of magic.
At this time, if there was something to do, he believed those liches would agree.
Venas, pretending to be on a secret mission for Gale, quickly tricked a lich into joining. The four-person team immediately set off, preparing to head to Stormheim.
When leaving Nordrassil, they took on an escort mission, joining three other adventure teams to escort ten mages to the mountain path between Weeping Wind Cliff and Black Beak Cliff. The mountain path led to Thunder Totem in Highmountain, and Gale planned to build a fortress on the mountain road to prevent possible attacks from Helya.
After the team left Heda'shal, they were constantly attacked by wild beasts. Years of desolation had turned the area west of Claw's Rest into a paradise for wild beasts.
With the increase in wild beasts, there were also more Storm Dragons.
The team reached the vicinity of Weeping Wind Cliff when a Storm Dragon swooped down from the mountain peak and attacked them.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"