Azeroth: Starting with Eagle Eye in the Necropolis.

But with my master, I saw another possibility: we study death in order to understand it, control it, and even... transcend it.

Your master knows the secrets of the Shadowlands and the Warden's plot, which means you will no longer be a pawn kept in the dark.

We can use this knowledge to pave a new path for ourselves and for true freedom.

"Lord Rhodes, what is the warden's purpose?" Kel'Thuzad pressed.

"Warden Zoval is collecting souls. He needs a large number of souls to complete some unspeakable secrets. I can't tell you the specifics, as it concerns many beings and even involves powerful Eternals."

"The Eternal One? What does Lord Rhodes mean by that title? An immortal, eternal being?" Kel'Thuzad immediately began to question this so-called Eternal One, knowing from the name alone that he was incredibly powerful.

"Well, you can think of Kel'Thuzad like this: every Eternal being's life level is no less than that of a Titan, but their strength might be a little lacking."

"You should know Elune, the moon goddess worshipped by the night elves!" Rhodes said.

At the beginning of version 9.0, the place established by the Eternals was called the Pantheon of Death, which was on par with the Titans in terms of prestige. However, in the latest storyline, Sylvanas seems to have discovered something extraordinary in the Shadowlands.

The Shadowlands seem to have been deliberately created, and its creator may even be a Titan. Rhodes is not entirely sure what the specifics are, but it should be enough to fool Kel'Thuzad.

“I know the legends of the night elves; she is the only true god of Azeroth,” Kel'Thuzad said.

“I can tell you that Elune is real, and that she is the sister of a certain Eternal from the Shadowlands, and Warden Zovaar was once an Eternal,” Rhodes said.

“I see. So, Lord Rhodes, you also have an Eternal One standing behind you! Can you tell me more about the Shadowlands?” Kel'Thuzad asked.

"Whether I have the Eternals behind me or not is none of your concern. As for telling you something about the Shadowlands, that's perfectly fine. In fact, I could even take you to the Shadowlands in the future so you can see what the true laws of death are all about."

"But not now, Kel'Thuzad. I've shown you enough sincerity; now it's your turn to respond," Rhodes said.

Kel'Thuzad nodded upon hearing this, and his massive lich form bowed humbly to Rhodes.

“Lord Rhodes, you have shown me a higher level of knowledge, and I am willing to serve you and become your humble servant.”

Chapter 306 Subduing Kel'Thuzad, Kel'Thuzad's True Value

A smile appeared on Rod's lips, and he nodded in satisfaction.

“An extremely wise choice, Kel'Thuzad. You are a rare talent. Although you were my enemy before, I still admire you very much, which is why I decided to give you a chance, and you have seized it very well.”

“Lord Rhodes…you have revealed the truth that chills me to the bone. I once thought I had glimpsed the abyss of magic, but today I realize that I was merely looking up at a distorted sky from the bottom of a well.”

"What you have shown me... is a wider world and a more authentic path." Kel'Thuzad immediately began to fawn over him.

Everyone likes to hear flattery, and Rod is no exception. In fact, the more powerful the person who flatters you, the more pleased you will be.

“I, Kel'Thuzad, am willing to offer my knowledge, my undead creations that I am skilled in, my Naxxramas, and my relentless pursuit of death magic to you. I long to witness what you have said… to see the truth of death,” Kel'Thuzad said.

He did not make a soul oath, but for a proud mage like Kel'Thuzad, such a public promise was enough. Rhodes, with his knowledge of the secrets of the world's underworld, truly impressed, or rather, fooled, this top necromancer.

Just like back then, when he traveled to Northrend to meet the Lich King, Kel'Thuzad made his choice once again.

Rhodes smiled sincerely. "Now, Kel'Thuzad, let's talk in detail about how to 'disguise' your Naxxramas, so that it can still 'be loyal' to the sleeping Lich King Arthas for the time being, and... how to use this time to accumulate more leverage for our future plans."

"I want to use your necromancy knowledge to transform my special army of undead creatures, which are completely beyond the Lich King's control and possess great potential for transformation."

On the surface, Rhodes did not intend for Kel'Thuzad to directly betray the Lich King and pledge allegiance to him, or for him to become a Forsaken and join the ranks of Scythek and Sandru.

Instead, they will remain as pawns within the Scourge's camp, striving to gain more benefits for themselves at crucial moments. Fortress Xor'jaeden is Kel'Thuzad's core area, and the undead here are loyal to Kel'Thuzad. Once this master is subdued, the remaining undead are not a threat.

Rhodes and Kel'Thuzad's conversation was completely candid from beginning to end because the undead here were absolutely loyal to Kel'Thuzad; they were all created by Kel'Thuzad.

Many players made an assumption during the level 80 version that Kel'Thuzad's intelligence was significantly lower than that of the level 60 version.

They actually moved Naxxramas Fortress directly above the Alliance and Horde, then drew both sides into a fight. On the surface, this seemed like a show of force and a surprise attack.

This battle cost the Scourge their top undead craftsmen and their most powerful liches.

But in reality, it was the Lich King's way of eliminating Kel'Thuzad. There are many masters of undead research in the Legion now, and Arthas believes that he no longer needs Kel'Thuzad, so he sent him to his death.

A top-tier necromancer scientist is of immeasurable value in his future dealings with the Lich King and even deeper threats.

"You've come to the right person regarding the modification of undead creatures. I'm very skilled at researching undead creatures, and I can perform some special modifications to them, allowing them to realize their greater value." Kel'Thuzad revealed a confident expression.

"I have a large number of skeletons under my command, as well as a zombie army. I use some special methods to collect samples from the zombie army's corpses, and then restore them to continuously produce abominations."

"There aren't any good ways to modify the Skeleton Army right now, and I'd appreciate any suggestions you could offer," Rhodes said.

In terms of undead modification, the Forsaken are still somewhat weak. Currently, they have only created enhanced versions of Death Knights, modified zombie units into Abominations, and transformed Wraiths into Banshees. Apart from these three, vampires, skeletons, ghost dragons, and liches are still undecided. All of these will have to be done by Kel'Thuzad.

Upon hearing Rhodes' specific request, Kel'Thuzad's ghostly flames shone brightly, the excited gleam of a scholar encountering a topic of interest.

He had long coveted these special undead creatures that could not be controlled by the Lich King, and even planned to use their characteristics to transform himself into something similar.

To prevent Arthas from being able to directly and forcibly control him after he awakens in the future, this is also an academic challenge for Kel'Thuzad.

“Great master. If you agree, I would like to examine these special troops first, to give them a little physical examination. You can wait in my drawing room for a few hours,” Kel'Thuzad said.

“That’s not a problem. Although the environment here isn’t great, you can stay for a few hours without any problem.” Rhodes nodded, agreeing with Kel’Thuzad’s statement.

Kel'Thuzad immediately invited Rhodes to his mage hall, his private domain, where the decor was completely different from the foul-smelling undead environment outside. His favorite cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, was kept there.

“Great master, please rest here for a while. I will go and prepare some tea for you. This is my kitten,” Kel'Thuzad said.

Rhodes nodded, picked up Mr. Biggsworth, and stroked him a couple of times. As a modern time traveler, Rhodes quite enjoyed petting cats.

Although I'm not a strict cat lover, I still really like kittens.

Seeing Rhodes's reaction, Kel'Thuzad's skeletal face lit up with delight. His affection for his master grew even stronger; this master liked cats too!

"This little guy is quite cute. Its name is Bigglesworth, right?"

"Yes, master, his name is Biggs, and Mr. Biggs is my pet."

"Then let him play with me here for a while, you go and do your thing," Rod said with a smile.

This little cat is Kel'Thuzad's only remaining humanity. Back in the day, if anyone accidentally killed this little cat during raids, they would lose DKP.

“Yes, Lord Rhodes. Bigglesworth, please greet Lord Rhodes for me.” Kel'Thuzad bowed to Rhodes and then respectfully withdrew.

Outside, Sandru had already laid out all the level 1 to 7 units in the Necropolis, including even the unupgraded versions, awaiting Kel'Thuzad's inspection.

Time flew by, and six hours passed. Kel'Thuzad carefully inspected the skeletons, zombies, wraiths, liches, vampires, death knights, and ghost dragons in turn.

After completing the inspection, Kel'Thuzad immediately rushed over to report to Rhodes, who then placed Mr. Bigglesworth on his desk and began listening to Kel'Thuzad's report.

"Tell me your thoughts, Kel'Thuzad."

"You are on the right track in the transformation of abominations," Kel'Thuzad first affirmed Sandru's current achievements.

"Using zombies as the basic material, combining different corpse parts and organs, and injecting specific plague and necromantic energy, it is indeed possible to create powerful war machines."

Perhaps we can take 'specialization' a step further, such as creating special models of Abominations that specialize in poison spraying, or possess extremely strong self-healing abilities, or even berserk for a short period of time, like the Patchwerk I created in Naxxramas.

"This is an extremely powerful abomination. Although it can't compare to your troops, it's still incredibly ferocious. Ordinary adventurers and some professionals would find it very difficult to face. Moreover, as time goes on, it will enter a berserk state, where some ordinary adventurers can be killed with a single strike." Kel'Thuzad immediately began promoting the undead creatures he had created to Rhodes.

Rhodes nodded in agreement. Kel'Thuzad had hit the nail on the head. Abominations could indeed be improved in this way. Moreover, while the God of War Naxxramas posed no threat to him, he was a huge threat to ordinary adventurers, even a machine that could wipe out entire groups.

“Good, good, Kel'Thuzad, then tell me about the methods for modifying skeletons.” Rhodes nodded approvingly and then asked.

“As for the skeleton army… my lord, we can ‘enchant’ the skeletons and turn them into skeleton mages,” Kel'Thuzad explained his idea.

“The tiny runic arrays constantly imprinted on their bones allow them to cast simple death magic, such as Bone Fang Shot, Minor Curse, or Bone Armor, as well as spells like Soul Fire and Shadow Bolt. This transforms them from cannon fodder infantry into ranged mage units or light units with support abilities,” Kel'Thuzad said.

The undead units provided by Lord Rhodes are extremely powerful, with bone quality that is top-tier, making them much stronger than ordinary undead units. Moreover, they are permanent, which provides a lot of room for maneuver. By inscribing magical runes, they can be transformed into a spellcasting force, which is very promising.

As for melee combat, it would be a waste to use these skeletons for melee; let the abominations handle that.

Rhodes nodded repeatedly, as Kel'Thuzad's ideas coincided with some of his previous vague thoughts.

Recruiting Kel'Thuzad was definitely the right choice. If it were just Sandru alone, it would probably have taken several more years to create a skeleton mage, and they might not even be able to use so many spells.

“Excellent idea! You can talk to Sandrudo about training skeleton mages; he has unique insights into the realm of souls and traditional necromancy,” Rhodes said, pointing to Sandrudo beside him.

Chapter 307 Frost Ghost Dragon, Apocalypse Knight, Shadow Vampire

Although Kel'Thuzad has outwardly surrendered to Rhodes, Rhodes cannot fully trust the things under his command, and he needs to teach Sandru as soon as possible.

“I understand, Master. Lord Sandru’s mastery of the soul realm is truly astonishing. We will certainly work together.” Kel'Thuzad nodded slightly to Sandru.

While studying the undead units brought by Rhodes, the two had already exchanged ideas. Kel'Thuzad could tell that Sandru was not weak in necromancy and undead creature modification, but he was good at a different version, completely different from his own. It would be good for the two of them to work together, and he could also take the opportunity to learn about other systems of undead modification.

Kel'Thuzad suspected that Rhodes was backed by an Eternal from the Shadowlands, and that this Eternal had given him many undead from the Shadowlands. This Sandru must be a being from the Shadowlands, and Kel'Thuzad was quite curious about the Shadowlands.

Kel'Thuzad suspected that the warden who created the Lich King's power was a traitor in the Shadowlands, while Rhodes was a member of the Shadowlands' regular army. The Shadowlands shouldn't be able to directly interfere in the world of the living, so they chose Rhodes as their representative. Rhodes' goal was to capture the Lich King, or rather, to bring the Lich King's power back to the Shadow Ring.

After realizing the existence behind the Lich King, Kel'Thuzad wanted to curry favor with him and become his subordinate, and now it seems there is an even better opportunity.

If the Lich King who created him was truly just a prisoner, then there was no reason for me to serve a loser and I needed to learn more from this new master.

Although they have already pledged allegiance to Rhodes, who knows how many of these so-called loyal subjects there are?

“Then continue, Kel'Thuzad. I’m very interested in the ghost dragons, horror knights, and vampire modification plans you mentioned,” Rhodes asked with a slight smile, leaning forward.

“Yes, Master.” Kel'Thuzad organized his thoughts and began to explain his most ambitious concept for undead transformation.

“First, there are the Ghost Dragons, my lord. The Ghost Dragons under your command are essentially closer to a powerful ‘Ghost Dragon’ or ‘Wraith Dragon’. They have no physical form, have extremely high resistance to physical attacks, and their death breath is extremely intimidating. But in my opinion, this is not the end of their potential.”

Upon hearing this, Rhodes nodded. In fact, Ghost Dragon doesn't have any physical attack immunity at all; at least in the game, any level 1 minion can deal true damage to him.

However, in the real world, the Ghost Dragon can indeed be immune to attacks from some low-level units, since it does not have a complete physical body and exists in a ghostly state.

Moreover, the death breath he mentioned is actually just a normal attack. The real strength of the Ghost Dragon lies in its aging ability, but triggering this aging skill is still very difficult.

We can try a modification scheme for the 'Frost Ghost Dragon', using the frost magic runes I researched in Northrend, combined with the ghost dragon's own ethereal nature, to transform its breath from pure death energy into [Frost Annihilation Breath] which is fused with extreme freezing air.

This breath not only inflicts massive freezing damage, but also greatly slows down or even freezes enemy movements, and is remarkably effective against buildings and magical shields.

Additionally, we can imbue them with a permanent [Permafrost Aura], reducing the attack speed and movement speed of all non-undead units within its range.

"In this way, the Ghost Dragon will transform from a powerful single combat unit into a strategic unit capable of influencing the entire battlefield," Kel'Thuzad explained his detailed modification plan.

Similar to what Rhodes had thought, Rhodes's plan was to directly modify the unupgraded version of the Bone Dragon into an Ice Dragon, but he later found that this suggestion was not very feasible.

Other frost dragons are all modified from the corpses of blue dragons, while ordinary bone dragons cannot compare to ordinary blue dragons in terms of size and combat power.

The Ghost Dragon's strength has increased slightly, and it also gains an aging skill and a morale reduction of one, making it more suitable to modify the Frost Dragon mutated version.

“Excellent! Let’s follow this line of thought. Next, Sandru will stay with you at Naxxramas Fortress to carry out the modifications.” Rhodes immediately made the decision.

"Thank you for your support, Master!" Kel'Thuzad was encouraged, and his tone became even more impassioned.

"Next up are the Dread Knights. These knights charge with unstoppable force, and their swords are incredibly sharp, making them the most suitable vessels for death knights."

Previously, Stanker used them to transform into Blood Death Knights, which was actually the most rudimentary method of transformation. I can enhance this aspect.