"Glug, glug, glug! Burp!"
Old Chen downed a large glass of Arctic Vodka in one gulp, letting out a satisfying burp afterward.
"So, this time you've come to Kalimdor to search for clues about that ancient Stoneleaf?"
The tavern was somewhat noisy, but fortunately, Old Chen and Lirath were in a corner, so no one bothered them.
Besides the Pandaren Old Chen and Lirath , there was also a strong Orc and a brown bear at the table.
In Galen's Stand, only one brown bear was allowed into the tavern, and that was Misha.
And the Orc was Rexxar, an old friend of Chen's. When they didn't have missions, they were stationed at Crusader's Pinnacle, and occasionally they would go on spontaneous trips.
This time, the two of them came to Galen's Stand to purchase wines and delicacies from all over Azeroth, and they happened to run into Lirath, who was out on his own.
"That's right, my brother-in-law said that the clues contained in this ancient Stoneleaf could lead me to an incredible material. If I can get it, my brother-in-law will help me forge a divine bow."
"Your brother-in-law?"
"That's right, it was my brother-in-law who told me to come to Kalimdor to find clues."
The Pandaren and the Orc exchanged glances, confirming that it was a trial given to the little brother-in-law by the Grand Lord.
Should we help him?
Will it disrupt the Grand Lord's plans?
Let's just help him gather some information and be done with it. We'll stay far away during the battles. Don't you feel the presence of our colleagues in the shadows!
Having spent a long time together, the Orc and the Pandaren understood each other with just a few glances.
"Kalimdor is either Crusader territory or Night Elf territory. I think you should go north, to Ashenvale, Felwood, Mount Hyjal, and Darkshore."
When they teamed up before, Lirath had heard the Pandaren traveler boast that he had traveled most of the continent over the years, so his advice was very pertinent.
"Chen, Rexxar, can you help me! I can hire you, and as for the reward, I can provide you with a lot of Quel'Thalas fruit wine, and High Elf delicacies."
Hearing Lirath' words, the eyes of Old Chen and Misha both lit up. A drunkard and a foodie, they formed a temporary three-person team under the temptation of wine and food.
The High Elf, Orc, and Pandaren set off north together, with a special team planning and watching this experience from behind.
In addition to sending Valeera to protect Lirath in secret, Galen also sent out several members of the long-hidden Dark Council.
In terms of Galen's land enclosure progress, those demons lurking in the original timeline were long gone.
For example, in Un'Goro Crater, there were four million Night Elf troops...
Even the Devilsaur King and the raptor packs have been tamed for ten thousand years, including the Titan creation Naboa stationed there. Every plant and tree is under Galen's control. If that demon who goes by the name of Simone, a female troll, dares to come, she would have been shot full of holes long ago.
Also, Silithus had just experienced the War of the Shifting Sands. The entire desert had been swept back and forth by Eressar and the Crusaders, and all the monsters and demons had been cleared out. That gnome named Nelson had already fled at the first sign of trouble.
With two fewer targets for the trial, Galen had to make up for them.
However, after arranging the script and getting all the actors in place, Galen stopped paying attention to the subsequent developments. He still had things to do.
Thinking that the Holy Light Wings' dragon-seeking mission was complete, Galen casually sent them out again, sending them south to the Kingdom of Stormwind to find Xal'atath, Blade of the Black Empire.
Afterward, Galen began to work on the creation of the Throne of Heroes.
In the battles of the past twenty years, Galen had fully enjoyed the benefits of decapitation tactics. From secretly assassinating Emperor Sorisan of the Black Iron Dwarves when he first emerged, to later attacking Molten Core, attacking Ulduar, attacking Naxxramas, attacking Icecrown Citadel, and attacking Ahn'Qiraj, the tactic of striking straight at the heart of the enemy had been tried and tested.
However, as the enemies became stronger and stronger, the combat power required for Galen's decapitation tactics became increasingly difficult to gather.
You must know that in Azeroth, the strongest people are often the rulers of a country or the leaders of a force. They also need to command armies to fight. It can't be said that it's a waste of combat power, but it needs to be improved and streamlined.
It can only be said that the Alliance is ultimately a union of multiple countries and forces, and Galen is not the lord of an empire who can arbitrarily interfere in the local military and political affairs.
Given the current situation, Galen remembered the Throne of Heroes that he had casually made up on a whim...
It is said that Anduin Lothar was the last Arathi, and he, who possessed the bloodline of Emperor Thoradin, chose to recognize the legitimacy of the establishment of various human nations for the sake of the restoration of the Kingdom of Stormwind, allowing the royal families of various countries to form the Alliance with peace of mind.
And I hold the soul of Emperor Thoradin. Shouldn't that be a trump card?
The master of the Throne of Heroes must be Thoradin, King of Heroes! That's settled!
I don't believe it. In the name of Thoradin, would Llane, Daelin, and Genn dare to disobey the leading brother of your ancestors?
As for the other Throne of Heroes elders, let's pick one from each race and each force.
Hmm, Huln Highmountain counts as one, Anasterian Sunstrider counts as one, Archbishop Alonsus must be brought in, and Durotan will represent the Orcs.
Perfect.
In the name of the Throne of Heroes, Galen sent a bunch of letters to various kingdoms and races.
Galen felt that he was one step closer to unifying Azeroth.
Not having to fight is really a good era...
On the Eastern Kingdoms, with the end of the Northrend campaign, all countries have obtained large tracts of land in Northrend. Although Stromgarde has obtained a piece of land in Howling Fjord, and also occupies a part of Borean Tundra and Crystalsong Forest, the countries do not have too many complaints.
In addition to the fact that they do not have enough population to digest the excess land, Stromgarde's contribution is also a major reason.
As for the others, Dragonblight is the territory of the Dragonflights. After the end of the Northrend campaign, the Dragonflights demanded the withdrawal of humans.
As for Icecrown Glacier, there is nothing but ice plains. If it weren't for monitoring whether the Scourge would make a comeback, no humans would be willing to set foot there.
The Storm Peaks, Wintergrasp, and Sholazar Basin were declared forbidden areas below the legendary level by the two major countries of Stromgarde and Ironforge. Only those whose strength reaches the peak of mortals, or who become the king of the mortal world, will have the opportunity to know the secrets within.
The troll civil strife in Gundrak was because Zul'jin blocked the passage, and the other countries of the Alliance did not know that the Frost Trolls had changed masters.
Finally, the remaining Grizzly Hills, the countries of the Alliance have agreed that after digesting the land of Howling Fjord, they will jointly develop it in the name of the Alliance.
Therefore, the Eastern Kingdoms has entered the second rare period of peaceful development after the First Orcish War.
In Kalimdor, the War of the Shifting Sands had just ended. As a faction of the night elves, Eldre'Thalas reaped both fame and fortune, while the Darnassus faction tearfully cleaned up the mess left behind by C'Thun.
Malfurion, however, was happy to do so. After all, part of the Cenarion Circle's philosophy was to manage the environment, which conveniently fulfilled their millennia-old plan to manage the Silithus desert.
Tyrande, on the other hand, felt extremely aggrieved. She tearfully provided people, effort, and resources, and after managing the desert, she had to withdraw from the land she had painstakingly restored!
But fortunately, the entire continent had entered an era of peaceful recovery.
Not everyone welcomed the order in the Eastern and Western continents.
However, the strength of the Alliance and the night elves forced N'Zoth to continue to bide his time, shifting his troublemaking to lands outside the Eastern and Western continents.
The black dragon mother also needed time to digest the chaotic power contained in C'Thun's eyeball and Y'Shaarj's tentacles. Darkness still needed to brew until the time they deemed right arrived.
Therefore, after Cho'gall, the leader of the Twilight's Hammer cult, left the Broken Isles, he secretly traveled to the Kul Tiras and Zandalar islands, seemingly contacting all the forces under his new master.
Of the three Old Gods imprisoned by the Titans, two had already ascended, and the last one remaining was N'Zoth, sealed in the sea. He had also inherited Yogg-Saron's faceless ones and C'Thun's Twilight cultists.
Biding one's time until the end also had its advantages.
Galen remembered that among the five Old Gods who entered Azeroth, besides the little sister Y'Shaarj who was devoured upon landing, N'Zoth was the weakest.
This could be seen from the locations where the Titans imprisoned them.
The strongest Y'Shaarj was personally torn apart by Aman'Thul, and his remaining heart was sealed by Ra-den with Titan facilities.
The second strongest Yogg-Saron was sealed in Ulduar, the headquarters of the Titan guardians, with multiple Titans suppressing him simultaneously. C'Thun was sealed in Silithus, and later the Ahn'Qiraj fortress was built to suppress him.
However, N'Zoth, who was not known for his combat power, was sealed in the sea.
Galen didn't know if he was initially sealed in the sea, or if his seal was submerged after the Great Sundering.
Galen didn't know much about this Old God. Back when the game updated to the point where Sargeras' soul was pulled out of Azeroth by the Titans and sealed, and Illidan volunteered to become the jailer, Galen's World of Warcraft career came to an end.
However, regarding N'Zoth, Galen was willing to call him a model worker.
This guy was Azeroth's strongest brainwasher, the kingpin of pyramid schemes and cults.
Although his combat power wasn't the strongest, his ability to cause trouble was outstanding. His whispers first drove the Earth Warder Neltharion, who was closest to his prison, insane, successfully causing the Earth Warder to fall and become Deathwing.
Then, taking advantage of the Cataclysm, he recruited Xavius and Queen Azshara, creating the naga sea witches. In recent years, he had even created the Emerald Nightmare incident.
Although he constantly caused trouble, he was the last surviving Old God, having entered the final round, which showed that his intelligence and strategy were the highest.
N'Zoth's biggest trouble was that he was good at whispering and spiritual corruption, so he had the most subordinates.
In addition to being able to control some faceless servants, N'Zoth also had the Qiraji, Aqir, naga, Twilight's Hammer, fire elementals, and wind elementals at his disposal.
Galen even suspected that the guidance of the sea mentioned by the Tidesages of Kul Tiras actually came from N'Zoth.
The whispers heard by the Tidesages did help ships and caravans avoid many troubles, making Kul Tiras the most commercially prosperous maritime kingdom among the seven nations of the Alliance. Perhaps the Tidesages did believe in N'Zoth, and these helps were just to gradually lead them to depravity, and then completely corrupt them to control the power of the fleet and completely control the entire Kul Tiras when the time was ripe.
Of course, it was also possible that the Tidesages believed in Neptulon, the water elemental lord, who once taught the Tidesages how to avoid dangers at sea through whispers. However, with the awakening of the Old Gods, Neptulon was taken away by the octopus monster Ozumat under the naga's conspiracy, and then the whispers changed, with the Old Gods impersonating him.
After all, there were only two masters of the sea, one was the naga backed by N'Zoth, and the other was the water elementals of the Throne of the Tides.
It's just that no matter what the truth is, without enough information, Galen didn't dare to jump to conclusions.
The main force of the Hidden Blade had been divided into two. Van Cleef led people to the Kul Tiras islands, while Garona went to the Zandalar islands. He believed that new information would come soon.
In coastal bases such as Eastvale, Andorhal, and Thoras Harbor, many new shipyards had been added, fully manufacturing submarines and other maritime forces to prepare for the upcoming underwater war.
Galen was confident that with the power he currently controlled, he was enough to deal with all the dark conspiracies. N'Zoth had to be eliminated. He was the last stumbling block preventing Galen from recasting the world order.
Now he was secretly manipulating the black dragon mother Sinestra, using her to infiltrate the Old God's army and control the progress of the plan.
Half a year later, Azeroth entered the end of year 21 of the Dark Portal era. As the new Winter Veil festival approached, Vereesa Windrunner, covered in dust, arrived in the Eastern Continent on the Galenport to Stromgarde shipping route, accompanied by orcs and pandaren.
Our Windrunner little brother has returned from his training!
The people of Stromgarde, preparing to celebrate the New Year, saw such a scene: a high elf ranger carrying a branch nearly two meters long, followed by a bipedal black and white bear and a four-legged brown bear, and behind them was a strong orc.
Fortunately, this orc didn't have green skin, and with the Crusader's badge on his belt, he was able to swagger along the streets of Stromgarde.
Vereesa, who could flash his face, entered the Stromgarde palace unimpeded.
Galen had received the news earlier and had called Alleria and Sylvanas over as well.
"Uncle, uncle!"
"Uncle, uncle!"
In the palace garden, Legolas and Arathor, who were almost two years old, were attracted by the furry Chen Stormstout after seeing their uncle, and each hugged the pandaren monk's thigh, trying to climb onto his furry body.