Azeroth: Starting with Eagle Eye in the Necropolis.

Lord Rhodes, I am researching a new type of death knight called the Apocalypse Knights. They are more powerful than ordinary death knights.

I originally planned to select a few powerful human paladins, kill them, and then convert them, but I found that the Dread Knight you provided is also a good vessel.

"We can transform them into the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, or assign them to different knights," Kel'Thuzad said.

"Oh? Tell me more," Rhodes asked with interest. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are very famous in Warcraft history, associated with plague, war, famine, and death.

"We can try branding the Dread Knight's mount and armor with runes representing different concepts."

For example, some knights can focus on spreading the [Withering Plague], their attacks infecting enemies with a life-draining disease; others can unleash [War Frenzy], greatly increasing their own and surrounding undead allies' attack power under certain conditions; some knights can master [Soul Thirst], restoring their own health and charging their runeblade by slaying enemies, unleashing even more powerful strikes; finally, the most elite can attempt to touch the edge of [Death Pact], transferring some of the damage they take to surrounding low-level undead units, or signing a 'Death Pact' with a powerful enemy, sharing damage for a certain period of time..." Kel'Thuzad went on and on.

Rhodes found the similarities increasingly striking. These Apocalypse Knights were just like the various mechanics of dungeon bosses, weren't they? Even their skills and bonds were exactly the same. This was quite a coincidence; four Dread Knights could be transformed into a group of Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, their combat power would be more than enough.

“Excellent! Kel'Thuzad, your talent far exceeds my expectations. Go ahead and do it according to your plan!”

"I look forward to seeing the first Frost Ghost Dragon and the first squad of terrifying knights with the power of 'Apocalypse' born." Rhodes praised without reservation.

"Your praise is my greatest honor, Master. Now, please allow me to continue explaining my ideas for modifying vampires and liches. In my view, these two possess immense potential, perhaps even greater than that of ghost dragons and terror knights." Kel'Thuzad bowed slightly.

He was extremely envious of vampires, because these vampires could be resurrected if their companions drank the life force of another living being after their death.

However, this effect only lasts for a few hours after a vampire is killed. If too much time passes and the battle ends, these dead vampires cannot be resurrected.

"First, there are the vampires. The vampires under your command have excellent blood-drinking and regeneration abilities and flexible bat forms, making them excellent assassins and harassment units. We can develop them in depth in two directions: 'blood magic' and 'shadow affinity'."

“Blood magic? Shadow affinity?” Rhodes raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Master, we can enhance this talent so that they are no longer content with merely sucking life with their fangs, but can instead manipulate the blood of their enemies."

Kel'Thuzad explained in detail: "[Blood Plague]: Inflicts a vicious blood curse on vampire attacks. Those afflicted will not only continuously lose life, but their overflowing life energy will also form 'blood beads' that can be absorbed by nearby vampires to quickly restore themselves or temporarily boost their power."

Secondly, [Crimson Pact]: The most elite vampire units can enter into a one-way 'Crimson Pact' with other non-construct undead units. When that undead unit is destroyed nearby, the vampire immediately gains a portion of its remaining energy, instantly restoring a large amount of its health and entering a short period of 'frenzy,' greatly increasing its attack and movement speed.

Actually, some of these skills belong to the Blood Death Knight, but who says that Blood Death Knight skills can't be used by vampires?

As for the Blood Pact, it is similar to the Death Knight's Black Pact, which also involves absorbing the power of other undead creatures.

Rhodes nodded upon hearing this. This was pretty much the future Salin, and this unit could now be deployed ahead of schedule.

"What about Shadow?" The vampire is very fast and served as his own decapitation squad during the Battle of Mount Hyjal. He has a high affinity with Shadow.

"Shadow affinity is designed to compensate for vampires' vulnerability on the front lines. We can strengthen their connection with the Shadow Realm through rune inscription and specific shadow rituals."

This allows them to use Shadowstep more frequently for short-range teleportation, making them harder to lock onto.

It can even allow elite vampires to master [Shadow Form], completely merging into the shadows for a short period of time, becoming immune to most physical attacks, and greatly increasing the power of shadow magic.

"Furious howl" can also be granted to them, using sonic waves imbued with shadow magic to shock the enemy's mind, causing brief panic and paralysis," Kel'Thuzad said.

Furthermore, his modifications were inspired by some of the skills of a rogue, or thief.

Rhodes stroked his chin and nodded. In this way, some of the vampire's abilities would be somewhat similar to those of the Watchers.

"Vampires will be as you said, so the last one is a magic-based unit, what about liches?"

“You’ve hit the nail on the head, Master.” Kel'Thuzad grinned; the main event was about to begin.

Chapter 308 From Lich to Lich, Returning to Stormwind

Kel'Thuzad had a completely different opinion about these guys who dressed like mages but had desiccated bodies.

This is extremely rare, a unit from the Shadowlands that is born with the ability to cast spells. Although they can only use one skill called Death Cloud Bomb, the attack range is quite good, and the destructive power is terrifying. It is very simple and brutal.

"Lich are natural spellcasters, possessing enormous death energy. It's a bit of a waste to use this death energy only for simple spellcasting."

"My modification plan is to transform them into liches, granting them the ability to cast ice spells—mass-produced 'lesser liches' under our complete control," Kel'Thuzad said.

These units from the Shadowlands are quite good. Their inherent qualities far surpass those of ordinary undead, making them excellent raw materials. However, the transformation of a lich is different from that of ordinary units.

Unlike Death Knights, who can be transformed simply by finding a powerful corpse, regardless of whether the deceased was a warrior or a paladin, once transformed into a Death Knight, they can learn Death Knight skills and spells.

But liches are completely different. Liches are members of the Cult of the Damned, and almost all of them were mages in life. After being transformed into liches, they can cast death magic, shadow magic, and ice magic.

Furthermore, each lich possesses its own unique protective casket. As long as this special protective casket is not destroyed, the lich is immortal and can be reborn through its protective casket even if it is killed.

"Phase One: Soul Solidification. Using necromancy arrays and soul stone technology, the soul fire of the lich is stabilized and strengthened, making it less susceptible to dissipation or purification, and increasing its mana cap and regeneration speed. This is the foundation for all subsequent modifications."

Phase Two: Phial Replica Technology. Of course, we don't need to, and cannot, create a separate physique with full resurrection capabilities for each lich.

But we can create a 'simplified cluster life box'—a large energy core.

When a modified lich is destroyed, its core soul imprint can instantly return to this cluster of life caskets. After a period of energy nurturing and material reconstruction, it can be 'reborn' in Naxxramas or a designated undead fortress.

While this wouldn't make them nearly immortal like true liches, it greatly improved their survivability and cost-effectiveness. Kel'Thuzad offered a solution.

It's not that I don't want to make the original Life-Protecting Box, but the original Life-Protecting Box can't be made because these special undead from the Shadow Realm don't abide by the rules of this world and have no self-awareness.

Although they possess spellcasting abilities, they are completely different from other necromancers. They only know one spell and cannot split their souls. Therefore, they can only use it to create a large magic circle to bind a part of their souls, creating a super-large version of the Life-Protecting Box magic circle. This ensures that these transformed liches have immortality.

“That’s a good idea. So, how do you plan to deal with the ice and shadow spells?” Rhodes nodded and asked.

"Of course, Lord Rhodes, this is precisely the third stage I wanted to talk about: spell specialization and endowment. Based on aptitude, the lich will be trained as a lich."

Plaguebringer: Specializes in unleashing various enhanced versions of the Cloud of Death, and can summon small Plague Slimes, or cast Death Coil to restore health to friendly undead units.

This design is based on the slime from Naxxramas. The slime itself doesn't have much intelligence, and I can perfectly replicate this special spellcasting ability onto the lich.

Bone Weaver: Skilled at manipulating bones, able to instantly summon a skeleton army (consuming corpses on the battlefield), or erect a wall of bones to hinder enemy forces, and even cast Bone Armor on friendly undead to increase their defense. These skills are all possessed by necromancers, but there is also a drawback: the skeletons they summon are consumables, only lasting for a few minutes before naturally collapsing.

Curse Master: Focuses on weakening enemies, mastering spells such as [Silence Curse], [Pain Curse], and [Crippling Curse], and can cast [Life Siphon] to continuously damage enemies and heal himself.

Some of these spells are warlock skills, but they also belong to the Shadow faction. As long as there are runes inscribed on the spell circle, these transformed liches can use them.

Of course, the final element is our Lich's signature frost spells: Frozen Nova, Death and Decay, Frost Armor, and the Dark Ages' sacrifice of undead units to restore mana.

"In this way, we can obtain a high-level necromancer army with a clear division of labor, strong survivability, and mass production capacity!" Kel'Thuzad said.

The transformation of this batch of special liches will be a massive undertaking, taking at least several years to transform all of Rhodes's liches. However, this time will be worthwhile. According to his estimation, once these liches are transformed, their combat power will not be much weaker than that of death knights, and they will even be more valuable because they are spellcasting units, at least stronger than the bone dragons at this stage.

“A good idea. Master Kel'Thuzad’s suggestion is excellent. Vampires, Dread Knights, Liches, and Frost Undead Dragons will all be very powerful undead creations. After these units are modified, their strength should all increase by a level.” Sandru nodded and said.

As I had predicted, Kel'Thuzad was indeed a rare talent. Many of his ideas coincided with my own, and he possessed virtually all the advanced undead modification knowledge of the Scourge.

“I understand. From now on, I will send you two Dread Knights, two Ghost Dragons, eight Vampires, six Liches, and a large number of Skeletons and Zombies every week. You can stay in Naxxramas and fully modify these undead creatures, and at the same time, you can also research new necromancy spells,” Rhodes said.

Of the undead units produced in the Americas, two Dread Knights will be allocated to Scythe, but the Wraiths won't be sent over. Sylvanas is more skilled at modifying Wraiths, and once the Frost Undead Dragon Kel'Thuzad has completed its modification, it can be sent to Scythe.

He is proficient in top-tier teleportation spells, making it easy to transport troops. He only needs to come once a week, or he can let Sandru do it himself. As a magic-based hero, he possesses a spellbook. Sandru can acquire the spells of Thoram simply by exchanging spells with Thoram. His learning ability is quite impressive, especially when heroes learn magic from each other.

"With your addition, my undead legion will surely experience a qualitative leap. I look forward to seeing how this new force, which combines the death force of Azeroth with your wisdom, will strike fear into the hearts of all enemies on the battlefields of the future! You and Sandru will surely be able to create even more powerful undead modified beings," Rhodes said.

"We will not fail our master's expectations!" Kel'Thuzad and Sandru replied in unison.

Rhodes's affirmation was like a final command, and the undead fortress of Naxxramas immediately began to operate efficiently.

Under Kel'Thuzad's personal command, the necromancers began clearing several large laboratories, inscribing intricate spell arrays, and preparing various precious spellcasting materials. Sandro, through a mental link, coordinated with Scythek in Undercity to regularly send various undead units designated by Rhodes to Naxxramas.

The two necromancers excitedly began their work of modification. Sugard intended to learn some knowledge about the Shadowlands from Sandru, while Sandru also wanted to gain a deeper understanding of Azeroth's necromancy. It could be said that both of them got what they needed.

A whole night had passed, and dawn was breaking. Rhodes decided to leave Naxxramas.

After giving some instructions to Sandru and Kel'Thuzad, Rhodes used a teleportation spell to leave Naxxramas and return to Stormwind.

With a flash of blue light, Rhodes returned to Stormwind City once again, this time earlier than expected, and finished everything in less than 20 hours.

To be honest, Rhodes was a little disappointed with this Naxxramas battle. He was too strong, and he no longer had any interest in defeating some of the weaker monsters.

Shaking his head, Rhode returned to his room and first checked on the condition of his captives. Onyxia hadn't done anything funny while Rhode was away.

The two Archangels of Light and the Phoenix of Holy Fire left behind by Rhodes successfully deterred the Black Dragon Princess, preventing her from making any rash moves.

Upon seeing Rhodes' return, Anveena, Jaina, Fenna, and the blue dragon Terrygossa all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Rhodes, you're finally back."

“I’ve finished my business. How was it? Did that black dragon do anything funny?” Rhodes asked.

“Of course there are. With the few of us watching her, what tricks could she possibly pull?” Anvina said.

“King Varian is very busy today. After you defeated Onyxia, his black dragonflight army mutinied. Stormwind’s main fighting force is currently clearing out these black dragonflights,” Jaina said.

Did Varian ask you for help?

“No, King Varian is very confident and doesn’t want to rely on you for everything. These black dragons aren’t that strong; he can easily wipe them out,” Tyrion said.

“That’s good. Judging by the time, we’ve been in Stormwind for quite some time now. It’s time to return to Lordaeron. This time, we’ll bring Varian and his son, along with the nobles of Stormwind, back with us,” Rhodes said.

"Rhodes, are you planning to use teleportation magic this time, or fly back?"

“We’ll go directly by land to Lakeside Town, then cross the Burning Plains to reach Blackrock Mountain and visit Onyxia’s brother,” Rhodes said.

Chapter 309 The So-Called Truth: Heading to the Blackrock Mountains

Upon hearing this, the women were somewhat surprised. Why go to Blackrock Mountain? There were only Dark Iron dwarves and a group of remnants of the old tribes there.

And what does Onyxia's brother mean? Are there black dragons there? The girls looked puzzled, except for Onyxia.

Princess Black Dragon's expression changed, and she looked at Rhodes with a shocked expression. Was he kidding her? How did he know where her brother was?

Nefarian's whereabouts are very secretive? None of the other black dragons know where his territory is; the only ones who know where Nefarian is hiding are myself and my father.

Nefarian has been carrying out a mission assigned by his father: to research a new type of mutant dragon to form his own army in preparation for the future Cataclysm.

But such a secret thing has now been found out by others. What do you call that?

“Rhodes, what do you mean by that? Who is Onyxia’s brother?” Tyrion asked, frowning.

The Blue Dragon Legion dared not relax their vigilance regarding anything concerning the Black Dragon Legion. This time, having captured the Black Dragon Princess alive, they wanted to report the matter to the Blue Dragon King, not to mention the rest of the Black Dragon Legion.

The great Blue Dragonflight Lord was very concerned about everything concerning the Black Dragonflight, especially matters related to Deathwing.

"How...how did you know about this? Impossible, you couldn't possibly know. My father and I couldn't have leaked it." Onyxia looked at Rhodes in shock.

After seeing Onyxia's performance, the girls immediately knew that what Rhodes said was true. There really was a black dragon dwelling in Blackrock Mountain, and it was the son of Deathwing. They just didn't know which black dragon prince it was.

Rhodes chuckled upon hearing this. "I know quite a few black dragons. There's a Blackhorn Abithian among the tauren of the Broken Isles, and an even younger black dragon prince, Wrathion, as well as a black dragon prince named Saberian who roams Outland. He was initially a villain but was later redeemed."

It's clear that Blizzard intends to bring the Black Dragonflight back to the Dragon Aspects, and the true Black Dragon King in the future will be Blackhorn and Abithian.

The Black Dragonflight has relatively few characters; the only well-known ones are the Black Dragon siblings, Deathwing, and a few other righteous Black Dragons.

“Rhodes, you seem to know a lot about some of Azeroth’s secrets, secrets that shouldn’t be known to ordinary people,” Tyrion said.

"Of course, this is not something an ordinary person could know, but I am not an ordinary person either. You haven't forgotten my other identity, have you?"