Chapter 143: Cleaning Up Karazhan

How badass is Khadgar?

It's not quite clear yet, but in the "history of the future," Khadgar could teleport hundreds of people, easily blow up bridges and dams, and mastered all three branches of arcane, frost, and fire magic! He was truly the king of scoundrels and the scoundrel among kings!

Perhaps he was so awesome that he inadvertently caused the demise of countless teammates. Oh, no, let's be objective; it should be said that Khadgar's enemies were awesome, Khadgar was even more awesome, but his teammates were not, so Khadgar survived, while most of his teammates were defeated.

So, what is Khadgar doing now?

Well, he's making toast for Duke.

There's no other choice. The lower two levels of Karazhan were severely affected by the feigned attack led by Windsor, resulting in a fierce battle with Huntsman Attumen and Steward Moroes, causing most of the food reserves to be destroyed. Karazhan's food storage was already minimal, and now there's even less.

The only consolation is that Khadgar has been hanging around here for quite some time and has been struggling to survive.

The struggle to survive is no exaggeration. Karazhan is vast, with more than 1.28 million volumes of magical books in the library alone, and that's not even all of it. After taking over Karazhan, Duke realized that in addition to magical books, there were more than 3 million books of various types here. There were numerous book repositories the size of soccer fields.

This led to a dark joke: Khadgar once nearly starved to death in the library because Steward Moroes' servant couldn't find him in time to deliver food.

People are forced to adapt.

Khadgar also developed a peculiar ability to stash small amounts of wheat and utensils or even prepared bread everywhere. As a library, and due to Karazhan's unique spatial structure, each room was well-ventilated and dry. Surprisingly, after a few rounds, Khadgar found uncontaminated food, enough for Duke to eat for several months.

However, there was no salt or oil, which made Duke feel like dying.

"You've been eating this stuff for months?" Duke pointed at the food-like items.

"No, I forgot how long, as long as I can read books and fill my stomach, it's enough," the ghostly servant Khadgar replied.

Duke's face fell.

"Speaking of which, Master Duke, I really don't understand you. Why is it that you can effortlessly excel in so many fields that mortals cannot, yet you often get stuck on small mistakes that even a mage's apprentice wouldn't make?" Khadgar asked, while using a salvaged toaster to toast bread and watching Duke tinker with the massive golem, "And why did you insist on making this golem the 'Curator'?"

"It's called sentiment! Sentiment! Do you understand, youngster?"

"What kind of library has such a fierce curator..." Khadgar muttered under his breath.

There were too many things Khadgar couldn't understand. First of all, he didn't understand how Duke could hijack the 'Curator's control under Medivh's watch. To him, stealing a custom golem from a more skilled mage was simply inconceivable.

But Duke couldn't explain to Khadgar that he was a time traveler.

How would he explain the principles of automatic control?

How would he explain the concepts of logic gates?

These things couldn't be understood through a simple explanation, just like Duke hadn't yet grasped the basic theories of Azeroth's magical disciplines, and likewise, Duke couldn't explain to Khadgar the set of professional theories based on modern mathematics, modern basic electronics, and a series of other scientific fields.

It's not just Khadgar, even people who were not in that field before the time-travel had never even heard of these terms.

So in Duke's eyes, Medivh's anti-control seal on the Curator was a joke. At the time, while in a soul state, he didn't need to concern himself with the highest control system, but merely needed to modify a few feedback and basic control magic circuits to bypass Medivh and directly control the Curator.

And so, the Curator's critical betrayal was made possible.

Similarly, in Khadgar's eyes, the incredibly complex magical energy grid system of Karazhan was, in Duke's hands, nothing more than something that required a bit of time to sort out.

In the original history, Karazhan, having lost the will of its master, Medivh, had been plunged into darkness. The Tower of Karazhan sealed itself, cutting off all contact with the outside world.

Now, as Duke gradually untangled the countless unknown magical energy lines converging here, the reappearance of Karazhan in the light of day would only be a matter of time, should he so desire.

Duke knew that the battles outside were intense, and he wanted to go out and help as soon as possible. However, if Karazhan wasn't sorted out and the Burning Legion managed to set up a portal here, that would spell big trouble.

So Duke could only dig through books while cleaning up Karazhan.

Finally, one day, the system sprite sent a message:

"Congratulations, host. Based on your most recently acquired knowledge of spatial classes, this system has re-stabilized the first and second floors of Karazhan. You can now launch a cleanup operation on these two floors."

"Hmm," Duke stood up. "Khadgar, it's time to get to work!"

"Work?"

"I've stabilized the first and second floors. It's time for some cleanup."

"Really?" Khadgar's eyes lit up.

Unlike the serious and old-fashioned teleportation mage, Khadgar was quick-witted and eager to learn. When he had books, he could be quiet. But when not studying, Khadgar was even more lively.

Having grown tired of only being able to move between certain parts of the library and the workshop, Khadgar immediately put down the book in his hands, following Duke and the gigantic Curator with a spring in his step.

Passing through the blue teleportation portal that looked like a mirage, after a brief moment of weightlessness, a man, a ghost, and a golem arrived on the first floor of Karazhan.

"Lord Marcus?!" A soul's whisper suddenly came from the darkness.

"Hm?" Duke was slightly taken aback. It's worth mentioning that in Duke's memory, the first floor of Karazhan was the stable. In the 'history,' when players arrived at the stable, they encountered ghostly stablehands and spectral horses. There was no one who would address Duke like this.

Following the sound, Duke understood.

It was a semi-transparent soul, wearing the distinctive Stormwind armor on his ethereal body, holding a lion's head crest shield and a standard longsword.

Clearly, he was one of the elite soldiers who had fallen at the hands of Attumen the Huntsman within Karazhan.

"You are, I remember you, Michael."

Yes! That's great, my lord, you remember me. I'm Michael Jonathan!" Michael seemed very happy. "Yes, I feel a sense of... um, seems to be my master's feeling from you... What happened? Am I dead? Where's Medivh? Where's Sargeras?"

Michael's barrage of questions was like a machine gun, and Duke patiently answered one by one.

"Ah, we won. So I have no regrets. It's just a shame to end up like this..." Michael's plight triggered Khadgar's sadness, and the two ghosts showed expressions of fellow wanderers.