"Winterspring?"
Lunara shook her head in disbelief. "That seems unlikely. For some reason, even Nordrassil's blessing of constant temperature doesn't reach that area. It's covered in freezing snow year-round, and the temperature is extremely low."
"There's no reason for the Satyrs to abandon the comfortable climate of Felwood to hide in Winterspring, which is barely habitable for intelligent beings."
Andreas explained with a smile, "Precisely because you all think that way, I believe the probability of them hiding in Winterspring has increased."
"By exploiting the blind spot created by your conventional thinking, the Satyrs can recuperate and prepare for war in Winterspring without being disturbed."
Andreas then reminded them solemnly, "Don't forget, Satyrs are half-demon. Their life forms are different from ours. Have you considered the possibility that they simply don't fear the extreme cold?"
"This..."
Andreas' reminder plunged Shandris into deep thought, while Lunara shifted her focus to Moonglade.
"Moonglade isn't very large, so searching it will be relatively easy. I'll notify Remulos, who lives there, and ask him to help look for any traces of Satyrs."
Since the Cenarion Circle had not yet been established, Moonglade was currently a desolate wilderness. Surrounded by mountains, it had only one connection to the outside world: a tunnel dug by the Timbermaw Furbolgs located at the intersection of Felwood and Winterspring.
Remulos was a Keeper of the Grove and one of the sons of the demigod Cenarius. Unlike his father, he preferred a quiet life, staying far away from the noisy core settlements of the Night Elves to live in seclusion within Moonglade.
For years, the attention of Shandris and the Sentinels had been tied down in Felwood, their vision restricted by the sporadic activities of the Satyrs. As the saying goes, "The bystander sees most clearly."
Seeing Shandris grow increasingly anxious under Tyrande's pressure, Andreas—who had been busy building Moonshadow's Rest—finally found the time to help his girlfriend analyze the Satyrs' whereabouts.
Having clues and hypotheses was better than being aimless. After cutting off the communication, Lunara and Shandris soon set out on their respective tasks.
Back in his office, Andreas stared at Winterspring on the map, lost in thought. It is indeed strange. Winterspring is so close to Mount Hyjal; why isn't it affected by the World Tree's blessing?
Just as countless possibilities swirled in his mind, there was a knock on his office door.
Knock, knock~
"Lord Andreas, it's Maclay. The special minerals you asked for have all been collected."
"Oh? Come in and tell me the details." Andreas snapped back to reality and invited Maclay inside with interest.
...
Staring at the grayish-white crystals on the table with glowing eyes, Andreas rubbed his hands and asked, "What about the sulfur? Was that found too?"
"Yes." Maclay meticulously placed a bottle of yellow-green powder on the table.
"This powder was found by the Shen'dralar near the hot springs in southeastern Feralas, according to your requirements. It was just shipped back to Moonshadow's Rest by merchant vessel; this bottle is only a sample."
"As for this ore you call 'saltpeter,' it was found by the Tauren in the southern Stony Mountains and was also just returned by a land trade caravan."
"Excellent!" Andreas excitedly shook the small bottle in front of his eyes. "Good work. Tell the Tauren and the Shen'dralar to begin large-scale mining of saltpeter and sulfur. I will purchase these two materials from them as long-term commodities."
After Maclay left, Andreas hurriedly took the samples and left his office, flying straight toward the town's weapon research institute.
...
While Andreas was at a loss regarding how to chemically produce high explosives like TNT, primitive black powder was very easy to make.
"One part sulfur, two parts saltpeter, three parts charcoal"—this mnemonic was well known to him from reading historical fiction in his past life; it described the material ratios for black powder.
With the materials and the correct formula, Andreas was confident he could produce black powder in a short time, officially bringing Moonshadow's Rest into the age of... gunpowder.
Passing by the Temple of Elune in the northern district of the town, Andreas hovered in the air for a moment. Unlike the grayish-white materials of standard Elune temples, the temple built by the Shadow of the Dark Moon was a deep bluish-black, giving off a sense of profound solemnity and majesty.
At this moment, a giant statue was being constructed in the large plaza in front of the temple—it was the statue of Elune that Andreas had delayed for a long time before starting. Most of the statue was completed. Due to Andreas's specific requirements, every detail had to be perfect, taking over a hundred years to reach this stage.
However, there was one final problem to solve before completion: the face.
Andreas didn't want to follow the tradition of other Elune temples by carving her face vaguely. After much hesitation, he decided to attempt to contact Elune directly as the statue neared completion to ask her what kind of facial carving she desired. Currently, the body was almost finished, but the head remained a blank slate.
"Hmm... it seems contacting Elune needs to be put on the agenda as well."
...
A month later, a thunderous boom suddenly echoed from the sea west of Moonshadow's Rest.
Because of the distance, the sound was muffled by the time it reached the residents' ears. The busy townspeople weren't particularly startled; they simply glanced up before continuing their work.
On a lonely island dozens of miles west of Feathermoon Port, as the rising black smoke cleared, a massive crater appeared in the center of the rocky island.
Navas, the warrior leader, gaped in surprise. "That black powder... is actually that powerful?"
Delier pondered for a long while before turning to Andreas. "Lord Andreas, although the power of this... 'gunpowder' is formidable, how do you plan to use it? It seems a bit wasteful if it's only used for mountain quarrying."
"Heh~ Of course not." With the experiment a success, Andreas explained cheerfully, "Besides quarrying and demolition, gunpowder has many more uses. For now, allow me to keep it a secret."
As the group returned to Feathermoon Port by boat, a new ship with a newly laid keel was under intense construction. The keel of this ship was very different from what Navas and the others remembered; it wasn't made of wood, but of refined steel.
Even the quick-witted Delier found it hard to imagine a lump of iron floating on the sea. The group looked at each other for a while until the straightforward Navas finally voiced his doubt.
"Um... Lord Andreas, are you sure about using steel for the keel? Won't it sink the moment it hits the water?"
Andreas glanced at the people behind him; their faces were filled with varying degrees of skepticism.
"Don't worry. You'll understand once the new warship is launched."
"Not just steel keels; as technology advances and we gain more experience, we might even build warships entirely out of steel in the future. Just you wait."
The crowd thought: We can't bring ourselves to look forward to it at all... it's definitely going to sink.