Dezco, leading the charge, broke through the Quillboar village chief's last line of defense. Then, the Sunwalkers, shielded by a barrier of Holy Light, charged directly into the Quillboar shaman squad, swiftly eliminating the remaining resistance. Though they suffered minor losses, this action bought them valuable time.
The Quillboar chieftain, now isolated, was overwhelmed by Dezco and Varrokal. He died with bitter resentment.
The battle concluded in about two hours, resulting in the capture of the largest Quillboar village in southern Thornshedge.
This outcome was not unexpected. Varrokal and Dezco commanded elite knightly orders. The human knights were individually powerful, and the tauren and their kodo beasts were a dominant land force. The Quillboar were caught completely off guard by the well-planned night raid. The attack during their sleep allowed no time for preparation, and the chieftain was quickly cornered in the village center before he could organize any effective defense.
Upon awakening, the Quillboar fought in a disorganized manner, many not even having time to don their armor. The knights moved swiftly through the village, preventing any Quillboar groups from forming a cohesive defense.
A successful night raid! A decisive victory!
"New spirit detected. Collect?"
Far away, near the Stonetalon Mountains, Galen received a prompt from the Heart of Origin. He was briefly surprised, guessing that Varrokal and the others had succeeded. "But it's so far away," he wondered, "Can I collect spirits even from this distance?"
"Collect!"
Issuing the command, Galen closed his eyes and connected his mind to the Heart of Origin's strategic map. He selected the Thornshedge area, and the perspective shifted, giving him an aerial view of Varrokal and his forces.
Over the years, Galen had gradually learned the various functions of the Heart of Origin system. Besides summoning the Power of the King ,an ability he found too costly to use frequently, despite its addictive nature), he used it for strategic oversight.
With hundreds of thousands of gold coins, Galen often reminded himself that fiscal responsibility was important!
In Galen's mental view, a translucent spiritual body rose from the Quillboar chieftain's corpse, ascending into the sky before disappearing.
"Congratulations, Host, for obtaining a lucky draw opportunity. Draw now?"
"No!"
Although Galen had accumulated six lucky draw opportunities, including this one, achieving a "six-in-a-row" draw, he wanted to observe Varrokal and the others' cleanup operation and subsequent plans to ensure everything proceeded smoothly.
Varrokal and Dezco issued orders to their respective knightly orders, then instructed Fral and Kimir. Soon, all the knights departed, heading for their next target village.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Move faster, brothers! Quickly secure the prisoners. Discard the spoils—Quillboar are poor, there's little to gain. We've earned some war merits; if we're too slow, the next stronghold will only offer Quillboar corpses!"
Before long, the surrendered Quillboar warriors, along with the women and children, were bound with their hands behind their backs, tied together with thick ropes prepared in advance. The Hogger corpses were piled in the center of the square and set ablaze. Once everything was in order, the Fourth and Fifth Legions escorted the Hogger prisoners out of the village to catch up with the knights.
The Hogger village was engulfed in flames. Galen noted that the village's location was strategic. In the original timeline, the second warchief of the Horde, Garrosh Hellscream, established a stronghold there, and large numbers of Kor'kron earthshakers developed the mineral resources within the Thornshedge Mountains.
Burning the village was convenient, eliminating the need for demolition. A new base could be built directly.
Galen watched for a while and then disconnected. The subsequent battles were predictable. The remaining villages were small, with only hundreds or thousands of Quillboar . Facing the powerful knightly orders, they had no chance of resisting.
It was past two in the morning. Instead of returning to sleep, Galen decided to use his six-in-a-row lucky draw. He hoped this accumulated luck would yield some valuable rewards.
"Use the lucky draw opportunity!"
"Ding, there are currently six lucky draw opportunities. Does the Host wish to use them all?"
"Confirm, use all!"
Icons of various treasures appeared in his mind. Galen's greed was aroused. "A six-in-a-row draw should give me at least a few good items!"
The treasure icons spun, gradually slowing until six icons enlarged, filling Galen's mental vision.
"A steel helmet—equipment, it seems."
"An icon of a building, like the roof of a thatched hut."
"An icon of a spring... Galen was puzzled. "A Moonwell, perhaps?"
"An icon resembling a book—a Book of Strength or Agility?"
"An icon like a belt—more equipment, a Belt of Strength or a Mysterious Belt?" Galen thought,
"No, I saved up six opportunities! Give me something good!"
As a prince with hundreds of thousands of gold coins, Galen could easily gather materials and have mages from Dalaran or Gandalf create magical items. For his personal equipment, he could go to Ironforge and ask their master forgers. As the crown prince and grand duke of Stromgarde, the Bronzebeard dwarves would likely oblige. If not, he could turn to the Wildhammer clan or the Thorium Brotherhood.
Therefore, Galen's expectations had shifted from generic treasures.
The last icon, appearing after much anticipation, showed an orcish-style building!
"Great Hall! Yes! Give me an orc base, a Great Hall!"
Once all six icons were revealed, the background faded, leaving only the six treasures Galen had drawn.
Galen felt a pang of disappointment, but quickly regained his composure and focused on the six treasures.
First, the steel helmet.
"King's Crown : When equipped, increases the wearer's Strength, Intelligence, and Agility by five points each! Multiple uses have a stacking effect."
"Not bad, a good start."
Putting on the full-coverage helmet, Galen felt a surge of power, like a warm current flowing through him, increasing each attribute by five points.
This boost brought Galen closer to the next level, equivalent to the increase he received from a base population increase of 50,000.
"Ninth level peak!"
He was now only one step away from reaching legendary status.
Galen smiled. Gandalf and Aragorn were already legendary combatants, and Durin was gaining experience in his campaign with the Thorium Brotherhood, his breakthrough imminent.
Galen felt a sense of urgency. With the orcs poised to breach Stormwind's defenses, the northern kingdoms faced imminent invasion. Those battles would be brutal, and even ninth-order experts were just slightly more advanced cannon fodder.
"Without reaching the hero rank, one remains insignificant!"
Returning to the present, he examined the second prize.
"Goblin Shop!"
"Excellent!"
The Goblin Shop, a neutral store in the Warcraft game, offered a variety of treasures. While ordinary treasures were secondary, several items were quite valuable:
"Staff of Teleportation, Scroll of Protection, Scroll of Healing, Potion of Lesser Invulnerability."
"These are great for survival and enhancing the legion's combat capabilities!"
Galen decided to store them and find a suitable location for the Goblin Shop, perhaps near the Arcane Vault in Minas Tirith's safest commercial district.
Next was the fountain icon. Though Galen suspected it was a Moonwell, he wasn't certain. Even if it was, he'd accept it, despite already having access to Moonwell water for healing and mana restoration.
Clicking on it, he was pleasantly surprised.
"Fountain of Life: A fountain brimming with vitality that can restore the vitality of non-mechanical units! Indestructible."
Galen noted the key difference: it restored vitality, not just health.
He already had many ways to restore health. The Restoration Scroll in the Arcane Vault healed people outside of combat. Potions of Life instantly healed high-level combatants—a cost-effective alchemical solution. The Scrolls of Healing from the Goblin Shop were group healing items, superior to Restoration Scrolls as they could be used in combat. Priests and paladins also provided healing.
Generally, "restoring health" meant healing wounds and accelerating recovery. But "restoring vitality" was different. For example, if Galen gave Archbishop Alonsus Faol, on his deathbed from old age, a sip from the Fountain of Life, wouldn't the archbishop's lifespan be extended?
He imagined the scene: the archbishop on the verge of death, Galen producing a wine bottle and, before a crowd of devout believers, pouring its contents down the archbishop's throat. The archbishop, who was about to enter the Holy Light Kingdom, would suddenly sit up, climb out of his coffin, and be full of vigor!
The thought was amusing.
"As for whether the priests in Lordaeron will start carrying wine bottles and become alcoholics, that's not my concern," Galen mused.
His attention shifted to the fourth treasure, the book icon.
"Book of Strength: Permanently increases a hero's strength by two points!"
This was a valuable consumable item.
However, Galen didn't plan to use it himself. With the amplification from the Power of Kings, reaching legendary status was only a matter of time.
Besides the three heroes summoned from the Altar of Kings, he had seven legion commanders: Amor, Omar, Varrokal, Hennie, Fadhil, Fral, and Kimir. Amol was already at the peak of the Ninth Order, but the others were between Seventh and Eighth Order. Omar was the strongest, having reached the peak of the Eighth Order after consuming the spirit essence of Nimar the Slayer.
Galen also had Zalas Witherbark, and a newly acquired high-level warrior from the quillboar tribe in the Altar of Kings.
Galen could use their spirit essence to enhance his generals. However, most of them were warriors, paladins, or hunters, which didn't align with the two magic-type spirits he had. The new boar warrior could be used to enhance some of them, though.
The Goblin Shop offered Boots of Speed, Amulet of Life, and Circlet of Nobility, all mass-producible treasures that could significantly boost everyone's strength. The Circlet of Nobility was a rare item, difficult even for Dalaran's mages to create.
Now, there was also the Book of Strength to consider. Galen needed to decide carefully who would benefit most from it.
The fifth item was the belt-like treasure. "Hopefully, it's not a Cloak of Shadows," Galen thought. He was immune to magic attacks and, after upgrading his base to a level three castle, had unlocked Spellbreaker equipment and researched Spellbreaker technology in the Arcane Sanctum.
"Magic Immunity: Passive skill. Units with this skill are unaffected by any magic."
(necklace of magic immunity best Item for Rexxar frfr)
Galen was no longer afraid of ordinary spells. Only attacks from the Dark Titan Sargeras or his direct lieutenants, Kil'jaeden or Archimonde, posed a threat.
At this point, Galen felt like a member of the Otsutsuki clan, impervious to ordinary ninjutsu.
The Cloak of Shadows, which reduced magic attacks by thirty-three percent, was useless to him.
Thankfully, it wasn't a Cloak of Shadows.
"Belt of Giant Strength: Increases the wearer's strength by six points, health by one hundred and fifty points, and also increases health regeneration."
"Excellent!"
It not only increased strength but also health and regeneration. However, the six extra strength points weren't enough for Galen to break through to the next level.
He imagined equipping himself: a crown, a Circlet of Nobility, a Belt of Giant Strength, an Amulet of Life, and Boots of Speed. "The Ogre Gauntlets for increased attack speed would complete the look!"
Galen recalled Anser and his Drums of War, which he had carried in his backpack for a long time.
The last treasure was the orcish building.
Galen's anticipation grew.
"Bestiary!"
"It's actually a Bestiary!"
"A production building for intermediate orc units!"
"Yes! Six consecutive draws are truly effective, compensating for my previous bad luck!"
Galen could confidently say that his luck had turned. He felt an urge to go kill a boss and loot its corpse.
"Bestiary: Can train various unit types and upgrade unit skills."
Galen was very familiar with the units trained in the Bestiary .
During his gaming days, his favorite race was the Orcs, and his go-to strategy was a double-barracks rush with Orcish footmen. With these tough units, he defeated many friends until he left local area networks to become a pro!
The Bestiary could train Raiders, Kodo Beasts, Troll Batriders, and Windriders!
Galen already had several tactics in mind involving these units!