Galen took out an exquisite package from his treasure chest. It was a gift from Thoras, the legendary 16-slot bag, a magical item crafted by the mages of Dalaran, a Spellweave Pouch.
Inside were Galen's accumulated possessions from over the years, mainly the gold coins earned by the trade caravan, as well as his usual weapons and equipment. He took all the gold coins with him, hoping they would be useful when the base was built.
The next day, Varokal came to inform Galen that the trade caravan was assembled and ready to depart at any time. They saw Danath and his guards fully equipped at the castle gate, waiting to leave the city with Galen.
After Galen arrived, Danath and he entered the castle together, met with Thoras, and prepared to depart.
Galen did not intend to use the letter of introduction that Thoras had prepared for him. After all, going to Ironforge was just an excuse to leave. He planned to separate from the trade caravan before they reached the Thandol Span, taking only a few soldiers to explore the mountainous area near Stonefist Hall.
The group exited the main gate of Stromgarde, and walked on Valor's Path. Galen looked back at Stromgarde. The city walls stood tall and imposing, with a fortress every few dozen meters on the gray-white walls, looking majestic and ancient.
Galen vaguely remembered that when he played the game, all that remained of Stromgarde in the Arathi Highlands were ruins, with trolls and ogres rampaging through a desolate landscape.
No one would have imagined that this thriving, thousand-year-old kingdom would decline in just over a decade in the future.
Galen and his party walked out of Valor's Path and headed east.
This ancient road was built during the time of the ancient Arathor Empire, stretching from Go'shek Farm in the east to the Wall of Arathor in the west, and was the most important kingdom avenue in the Arathi Highlands.
Perhaps due to the southwest proximity to the ocean, Galen felt the highland wind was a bit cold after leaving the city.
Along the way, they saw small villages scattered along the road, and even more vast grasslands, with packs of raptors running and galloping across the plains. There was even a pack of wolves trying to attack their team, but in the end, their wolf skins became their spoils.
Fifteen days after they set off, Galen separated from Danath and his group. Danath was heading to Go'shek Farm in the east, while Galen wanted to go south.
Three days after separating from Danath, Galen's trade caravan trudged along the winding road.
The caravan's supervisor, Harmon Kaven, came to tell Galen that there was a lake not far ahead, and that the rest of the journey could be accomplished by following the river to Thandol Span.
"Your Highness, the source of this lake is the mountain spring water from the Faldir Mountains. This spring flows down from the top of the mountain, constantly gathering and forming three spectacular waterfalls. We will reach the first waterfall tomorrow," Harmon Kaven, who had been selected by Galen four years ago to serve as one of the caravan leaders, had been traveling the Ironforge trade route for a long time and was very familiar with the conditions along the way. Seeing that Galen was interested in the scenery on both sides, he began to introduce it to the prince.
Galen knew the river Harmon was talking about. He had seen it in the game. When he went north from the Wetlands and passed through the Thandol Span, he could see a waterfall. Then the water from the waterfall continued to flow east, dividing into two branches, one flowing north to form the lake Galen had seen before, and the other flowing south into the strait.
Of course, the waterfall in the game map was just a small stream, far less spectacular than the waterfall that appeared in front of Galen. The endless stream of water poured down from the high mountains, forming a huge momentum. Listening to the rumbling sound of the water falling and hitting the ground, Galen sighed that the game was indeed completely different from the real world.
Having reached this point, Galen already knew his location. After confirming it again by opening the map in his hand, Galen called Harmon Kaven over.
"Harmon, I'm planning to take a few guards and venture out on my own."
Harmon looked surprised when he heard Galen's words, "Your Highness, aren't you going to follow us to Dun Morogh?"
In fact, the trade caravan's goods were not only traded upon reaching Ironforge. Along the way, after reaching the Wetlands, there would be strongholds of the dwarven mountain patrolmen, and the trade caravan would trade them some daily necessities and highland specialties, and collect some Wetlands crocodile skins to sell back to Stromgarde.
Sometimes, if there were no specific goods, the trade caravan might return before reaching Ironforge. This time, Harmon thought that with the prince accompanying them, their destination would be Ironforge.
"My purpose is to come out to adventure and travel. Ironforge is not necessarily my destination. You continue to trade with the dwarves. I will stay in this area for a while. If there are no special circumstances, we will return directly to Stromgarde in a month."
Galen gave most of the guards to Harmon, so that they could be protected from the attacks of wild beasts in the Wetlands. He only kept Omar, Varokal, and five soldiers.
Omar and Varokal were the same age, both in their twenties, one at the peak of the seventh rank and the other at the eighth rank. Among them, Omar was older than Varokal and had higher strength. With these two, plus Galen at the seventh rank, the strength of this team had surpassed the trade caravan, which was why Harmon agreed to Galen giving him most of the soldiers.
The group of eight rested for a night under the waterfall, and the next morning they went east along the river. They walked all the way to the end of the river, and saw the river dividing into two, one flowing north to the lake that Galen and the others had seen before, and the other flowing south, falling high off a cliff, and flowing along the canyon into the distance.
Galen and the others simply made a raft, crossed the hundred-meter-wide river running north and south, and reached the eastern bank. At this point, they were already very close to Galen's intended destination.
Galen chose this direction in order to avoid the Drywhisker trolls that he might encounter in the north. What he had to do needed to be kept highly confidential, and even later, when building the base, he had to find a way to avoid Omar and Varokal.
The east and south of this area are the Alterac Mountains, which isolate the coast, the north is the border of the kingdom, and part of it is within the territory of the Drywhisker trolls. Moreover, the west is a river, with ample water sources, inhabited by a large group of raptors, and some giant spiders. Trolls sometimes send small hunting parties to hunt.
The kingdom's army is mainly concentrated in Go'shek Farm and along the main road, protecting the eastern food supply line, and generally will not run so far into the mountainous area away from the main road.
As long as they are careful of the trolls' hunting squads, the confidentiality here is still good, which meets Galen's expectations. Now the most important thing is to confirm whether the southernmost part of the mountainous area can lead to the Thandol Span, so Galen is now leading his small adventure team all the way south along the cliff to explore, hunting several Highland Raptors along the way, and also eliminating a group of wild wolves, which shows that this area is far from populated, and Galen is relatively satisfied.
Finally, Galen saw an open space in front of him, with no more towering mountains and dense forests, and the grassland also broke off in front.
They had reached the Thandol Span.
Looking at the steep cliffs, with the cliffs on both sides separated by hundreds of meters, and a hidden slope covered with thorns on the east side leading to the bottom of the cliff, Galen breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing this, he had already decided to summon the base of the Heart of Origin nearby.