"Cooking? You also like cooking?" Ji Firepaw's eyes lit up. "Stir-frying, boiling, steaming, roasting, baking, brewing, which school are you from?"
Plank was dumbfounded. "What, what are all these?"
What is this and what is that? Why does he feel like he doesn't understand? Isn't eating just bread and cheese, with some fried steak and fried chicken nuggets?
He looked completely bewildered by what Ji was saying.
"I'm from the barbecue cooking school. Look, Chen over there, our boss, he's a brewing master! Our most powerful brewing master on the Wandering Isle!" Ji looked at Chen Stormstout, revealing an adoring gaze. "His wine is world-renowned!"
So these two started bragging about everything. Later, Plank understood that "sparring" didn't mean cutting vegetables and kneading dough, but "competing." But by this time, he had already become good friends with Ji Firepaw, especially after Ji poured him a glass of wine.
On the other side, Chen Stormstout and the Minotaur Chieftain were also having a pleasant conversation.
He brought the finest brews made by himself or his disciples, the aroma of the wine was rich, the taste was sweet and pure, and the aftertaste was endless. No drunkard could resist such a wonderful temptation.
He was prepared to exchange the wine for some rare and strange items. The pandaren of the Wandering Isle often wouldn't reach the mainland for decades. Their lives were very closed off, so everything from the outside world had a fatal attraction for the unworldly pandaren.
Alistair was a Minotaur who loved to drink. He couldn't wait to take a sip of the Brewmaster's finest wine, smacked his lips, savored it for a moment, and then waved his hand heroically: "Chen, pick whatever you want here! Take whatever you like!"
"Hopeless!" Hecarim was speechless. He kicked the Minotaur with his forefoot and snorted, "Old Bull, are you sure you haven't forgotten the commander's instructions?"
"Didn't forget, of course didn't forget!" Alistair sat on the deck, happily drinking wine. Several sailors and Minotaur were also squeezed together, drinking and reveling. The pandaren also joined their ranks. People from two worlds talked about their travel experiences, and the atmosphere was extremely lively.
"I think you've forgotten!" Hecarim said in a tone of exasperation. He took out a notebook from the cabin, the cover read "Azeroth Travelogue", author's signature: Aiden!
The recorder was: Judgment Angel—Kayle!
This was compiled by Kayle before they set off, Aiden's account of some of the history of this world. It could allow them to avoid some detours on this unfamiliar journey. It could also clarify who could be won over and who could not. Distinguishing between friend and foe was very important for this expeditionary force.
Hecarim flipped to a page and stuffed it into the Minotaur Chieftain's arms: "Read it yourself!"
Alistair put down his wine glass and brought the notebook to his eyes, reading in a low voice: "The History of the Pandaren: In ancient times, the pandaren were slaves of the giant mogu created by the titans. Later, 'Kang' discovered the secret of chi and created the profession of monk. Kang taught it to his people, and eventually the powerful pandaren overthrew the tyrannical rule of the mogu through a revolution…"
"…There is a branch of pandaren who live on the back of a giant turtle 'Shen-zin Su' for generations, and named their home the Wandering Isle—a mobile island floating in the Great Sea… Uh, no wonder we can't catch up…"
As the Minotaur read, he glanced at Chen and his people. "Oh… no wonder it sounds familiar, monks and pandaren, didn't the commander mention them all?"
Hecarim gave him a look: "Go win them over!"
The Minotaur immediately understood. He said to the murloc: "Fizz, go tell the captain to trick the pandaren into joining us!"
"Alright—" The murloc responded and ran and jumped to Plank's side. Without avoiding the pandaren sitting next to him, he said bluntly: "Pirate boss, the Minotaur told me to tell you to trick the pandaren into joining us and working with us!"
"…A bunch of idiots!" Hecarim was speechless at this group of teammates.
—
Aiden's soul returned and he opened his eyes to see Kayle sitting by the bed looking at him.
"Am I hallucinating?" He rubbed his eyes hard and found that Kayle wasn't wearing her helmet! How long had it been since he had seen Kayle's true face? The last time was when he had just realized soul projection and "peeked".
"Have you finally realized that wearing a helmet is a burden, Kayle?" Aiden sat up and joked, "It looks much better this way!"
"Someone told me," Kayle stood up, "women dress themselves up to attract the attention of the opposite sex." She put her helmet back on, "Do you think I have such a need?"
The Judgment Angel's serious look completely defeated Aiden. He could only say: "Alright, from this perspective, it should be the opposite sex trying to attract you." Kayle was a queen of a world, so naturally she didn't need to rely on dressing up to attract the opposite sex. Aiden suddenly had a sense of sight of a queen opening a harem, with male concubines flattering and begging for favor. He quickly shook his head and completely threw this mental garbage out of his mind.
But Kayle seemed to have no interest in the opposite sex at all. He couldn't help but be curious, how did the Eternal race reproduce? The angels he saw were all female, did they get pregnant by drinking water like the Women's Kingdom in the Journey to the West?
'What nonsense am I thinking,' he quickly stopped these messy thoughts and asked, "Who said that sentence?"
"Ahri," Kayle replied.
Aiden joked: "Then if a woman doesn't pay attention to her appearance at all, or even deliberately covers it up, has she analyzed this situation?"
"…" Kayle was silent. Aiden felt like the other party was glaring at him to express dissatisfaction, but how could Kayle express emotions with her eyes? Impossible, absolutely impossible.
Aiden took the lead and walked out of the room. He was going to summon the representatives of the Burning Wood Village front line to discuss countermeasures.
As soon as he came outside, the Void Walker Kassadin suddenly teleported from the void in front of him, scaring him—this silent appearance, coupled with his terrifying face, really had a powerful lethality!
"Commander," Kassadin continued without realizing he had scared anyone, "After two days of reconnaissance of the surrounding space, I have confirmed that the flying fortress you described is not within Gilneas. It can be confirmed that it has left here."
Aiden's heart sank. As he expected. He was now having a headache. It seemed that because of his arrival, the Scourge's actions had become more secretive and their strategies more sophisticated than in the original history. The Lich King and the Dreadlord were working closely together, creating one trouble after another on the continent of Lordaeron. He couldn't help but have a thought: could the prophecies seen by the Lich King Ner'zhul also include his arrival?
He regretted a bit that he should have asked Medivh about the specific situation he foresaw when he met him.
Now his opponents were taking the lead step by step, making the Alliance exhausted to deal with it. Aiden realized that he must grasp its weaknesses, otherwise the Scourge would gradually erode the Alliance through its current strategy!
So how to crack it?
Aiden tried to put himself in the Scourge's shoes: they spread the plague in Gilneas and successfully transformed more than 200,000 people. This number was enough to hold Gilneas, giving them a stable base in Lordaeron; from the current point of view, they were trying to lure Prince Liam to find the owner of Frostmourne, and then they would gain a strong person; then they would look for other targets and continue to expand their scale until no one could stop them!
Aiden thought of a way to crack it—he would stop whatever the enemy wanted to do! Since the Scourge believed that their remaining forces could hold Gilneas, then he would break through it! Since they believed that they could lure Liam into corruption, then he would correct him!
"Kassadin," Aiden raised his head, "Since this matter has come to an end, then there is another matter that needs you to handle." He thought of what he saw and heard during this soul journey. What Prince Liam was encountering made him believe that there must be a Dreadlord guiding him. If he stopped Arthas's fall, but another prince took a similar path, what would be the point?
"I want you to monitor Prince Liam. If you find that he is being seduced by demons or the Scourge, stop him!"
"I want to go too! How can I be absent from such a righteous thing?" Ezreal, who had nothing to do, immediately ran over to join in after hearing their words.
Since he was summoned, he had been idle. The other heroes had their own things to do, but he didn't have any specific responsibilities. As an explorer and magician, with the war at hand, there was naturally no chance for exploration. He could only use his magic skills—so after hearing that Kassadin had a mission, he immediately volunteered to join.
"Are you sure you can do it? Don't hold me back, kid," Kassadin said without concealing his disdain.
"Don't worry, I can do it!" Ezreal said confidently.
Aiden looked at the handsome explorer with a bit of a pretty boy look and joked, "Be careful on the battlefield, the Scourge doesn't understand how to appreciate your appearance!"
After arranging these two people, Aiden strode towards the conference room. By today, the Gilneas Brigade, the Silver Hand Knights, the Southern Lordaeron Army, Dalaran, the Wildhammer Dwarves, and the Stromgarde advance troops that had arrived here at noon had gathered here. Together with Aiden's Valoran Federation, the number of combat troops exceeded 35,000.
Since the Scourge believed that they could protect themselves with the Greymane Wall, they dared to drive away Naxxramas, the airborne fortress, then Aiden would make them pay the price!
It was time to launch the Gilneas War in full swing—this might be the key to breaking the situation!