Chapter 528

Chapter 528: The Depths of the Stone Forest

Venturing into the depths of Thousand Needles, only a sense of endless oppression could be felt.

In the valley, tall stone pillars blocked the view layer by layer, extending upwards into the hazy clouds.

Mosa Woodmane led the way ahead, pausing occasionally to look up and observe. Greed, curious, asked, "What’s up high?"

Tauren heard the dwarf’s voice and turned to look at Greed. Vereesa said a few words to her, then explained to Greed, "Some local residents have taken over the heights of these stone forests. They might be keeping watch here, could be harpies, Quilboar, or Centaur."

"People can live up there?" Greed exclaimed, looking up in surprise.

Actually, not only can people live up there, there might also be some small villages.

Jesse knew that some Tauren settlements in the game were located at the tops of these stone forests. There might be small communities on top of each huge stone pillar, connected by bridges.

Though Jesse didn’t know the current situation in the stone forests, as long as a force occupied the valley, they wouldn’t easily give up control of the vast tops of the stone pillars.

Mosa walked ahead. When she felt the path was safe, she would chat with Vereesa. When they entered areas where she thought Centaur might appear, she would fall silent.

Though this Tauren was tall and muscular, when she was cautious, she walked very quietly. Her hooves, covered in brown mane, touched the ground gently and carefully every time, making her a skilled Tauren hunter.

Vereesa said, "She said that her Woodmane tribe used to be protected by a Tauren clan called the Terror Totem a long time ago. Later, some leaders of this clan wanted the elderly leader of the Woodmane tribe to teach them shape-shifting magic and Natural Magic in exchange for protection, but the Woodmane tribe broke away from them."

"Why didn’t they teach them?" Greed asked.

"Well, I don’t quite understand the specific details," Vereesa said. "Probably their tribe leaders thought that magic is a natural blessing and should not be used as a bargaining chip… or maybe those people did not receive blessings of some sort, in any case, it’s something that cannot be explained in our language. Perhaps you should learn their Tauren language, Greed, to understand more details."

"I won’t learn," Greed immediately responded.

Vereesa smiled and backed away while looking at Jesse, "I remember you wanted to learn the Sayaad Language, have you started yet?"

"Aren’t I just waiting for a true elf like you to teach me?" Jesse said.

Vereesa raised her eyebrows and said, "Let’s start with calling us Quel’dorai instead of just elves all the time."

"I’ll try to remember," Jesse said.

"Quel’dorai," the Tauren repeated the name once and then said something to Vereesa.

Jesse noticed that Vereesa’s expression turned a little unpleasant as she listened to Mosa.

He probably guessed that Tauren might have mentioned something about the War of the Ancients.

Among the ancient inhabitants here, the term Quel’dorai is definitely not a good word.

In fact, Quel’dorai was not exclusively the name for the elves of Quel’Thalas. Ten thousand years ago, only the Highborne would refer to themselves in this way, Quel’dorai meant "Noble Children."

Of course, at that time, even though the Highborne claimed they were no longer associated with the lower Kaldorei on the surface, they would physically separate their palaces from the lower inhabitants in the city.

But they were aware rationally that they were still the same species as the sentries in the forest and the priests in the temples. Therefore, they merely considered Quel’dorai as an identity.

When Dath’Remar Sunstrider and the group of Highborne sailed to another continent, they truly adopted Quel’dorai as the name of their race.

However, to the original inhabitants of Kalimdor, Quel’dorai were a group of evil individuals who summoned demons and used magic to destroy the wilderness and burn down forests as violent mages during the War of the Ancients.

Even ten thousand years later, these tragic memories are still etched in the hearts of these ancient races.

That’s why the Tauren in Gadgetzan recognized Vereesa as an elf from another continent and immediately had a bad attitude towards her.

After walking in the Stoneforest for two days, Jesse felt like everything he saw was almost the same wherever he went. He couldn’t sense any changes in the surroundings and couldn’t find any features to identify the location.

However, Mosa seemed confident and kept walking forward. By the second night, she led the three of them to a cliff where no end could be seen whether looking east or west.

Jesse knew they were finally getting close to the northern side of Thousand Needles Valley.

Greed asked, "Couldn’t we just walk along this cliff earlier? If we climb up this cliff, can we reach that place you mentioned, Agama’gor?"

Vereesa relayed his words to Mosa, who explained to Vereesa. Vereesa said, "Once we climb up, we are indeed not far from Agama’gor. The reason we didn’t come earlier is because the Centaurs have occupied the east side of this cliff. To come over, we can only slowly maneuver through the Stoneforest."

"So, we bypassed a tribe?" the dwarf muttered, "I didn’t sense the presence of the Centaurs at all."

"Those Centaurs are very skilled hunters," Vereesa said, "If we are close enough to sense their presence, they will definitely notice us too."

Jesse asked, "If Mosa Woodmane can lead us around the previous Centaur Tribe, can she take us directly to Feralas? Avoiding the other tribes along the way."

Vereesa took the map from Jesse’s hand and explained to Tauren for a while. Tauren shook his head and said something. Vereesa said, "The Centaur have built wooden walls and watchtowers to prevent the Tauren from escaping into Feralas Jungle. It’s almost impossible to pass through there."

Mosa added something else. Vereesa said, "A few days ago, she tried to escape into Feralas but was chased by a group of Centaur all the way to where we met in the east…"

"Are the Centaur planning to wipe out the Tauren completely? Not even sparing one?" Greed asked.

"The war between Tauren and Centaur has been going on for thousands of years, Greed." Vereesa said, "It’s a relentless struggle. Whoever wins can claim a large hunting ground in Kalimdor."

"I don’t see anything good here." Greed said, "I have seen some palm trees and a few healthy cacti in the desert, but there are hardly any healthy plants here. It’s like a dusty hell!"

Mosa kept asking Vereesa about what the dwarf said, but Vereesa hesitated and just said something to evade the question.

After all, she didn’t want to tell Mosa that the land where she and her ancestors had lived for thousands of years was being criticized by an outsider.

Looking at Greed’s disdainful expression, Jesse was curious to see what the Mulgore Grassland looked like.

This was the settling place that the Tauren had always longed for… Even in the display of the game model, it looked so vast and beautiful. But at this moment, Mulgore was probably still under the control of a powerful group of Centaur.