Never

Aiden's mood was terrible. Even the accomplishment of a feat no one had ever achieved before, truly merging the two completely different worlds of Valoran and Azeroth, couldn't lift his spirits.

He held a memory crystal in his hand, given to him personally by Anivia, the "Ice Crystal Phoenix," who had recently awakened.

The moment he saw only Anivia and Soraka there, he had a bad feeling. They had completed the ritual together, so why was Zilean the only one missing?

Aiden couldn't bear to recall the scene from the battle at Icecrown Citadel years ago. Back then, Nozdormu had pushed them all to the brink of despair. If it hadn't been for the power of Zilean stored within the Staff of Time, Aiden wouldn't have reached this point today—he would have been killed by the Lich King Arthas at Icecrown Citadel, and everyone else would have been annihilated.

That was the last time Zilean's image appeared. Since then, Aiden had never seen Zilean again. He still remembered Zilean's last words: "Take care, I hope we can meet again in the future!"

Aiden had always believed that when the entire Valoran was summoned, Zilean would be here. After all, according to a certain "setting," without his divine power to maintain it, the Heart of Valoran would collapse.

But now…

He returned to Tempest Keep, locked himself in his room, and opened the memory crystal.

Zilean's familiar figure appeared before him once again, the handsome old man with the white beard still smiling as before.

"Lord Aiden, perhaps I should call you 'Commander.' Actually, it's not that I can't bring myself to say it, but I enjoy the respect you hold for me when you know nothing about your own affairs—it greatly satisfies my vanity."

"Zilean, where did you go?" Aiden couldn't help but ask.

But he received no answer. The Zilean in the image wasn't a conscious projection, but merely a simple recording. He continued, "Now that you have summoned the entire Valoran, you must have done many earth-shattering things. I wonder how much time has passed since our last conversation? I'd guess ten years? I think you'll achieve it even faster than I anticipated because you always create miracles."

"Now that you've come this far, some secrets I've kept for many years should be revealed. The last time I left, I told you that it was a collaboration between me and Murozond, the Infinite Dragon, that brought you to Azeroth, and what facilitated our cooperation was you—but not the you of now, nor the you of the future, but the you of the past—believing that you've come to understand the secrets of time over these years, you should be able to understand."

"As for why the you of the past had the you still on Earth transmigrate, I don't know. Perhaps only you can answer that. You must be very eager to know the relationship, so I'll take this opportunity to tell you what I know about the you of the past."

"When the you of the past found me, your identity was 'Titan,' the creator of worlds, and the creator of Valoran and all worlds connected to Valoran. All of our abilities come from you, including my ability and authority as a 'Guardian of Time.'"

"I used these permissions to find some interesting things. Kayle and the angels of the Eternal Kingdom were shaped by you, and their Light power naturally originates from you as well. So both she and I chose to pass on the power that the you of the past taught us to the you of the present. This is also an interesting cycle of cause and effect. I think there may be secrets hidden within that only you can explore. I hope you uncover it soon."

"Actually, I've always suspected that the memories of the you of the present are sealed by yourself. As for how to unlock this seal, I'm afraid you'll have to prove it yourself. Perhaps it requires a certain opportunity, or perhaps reaching a certain point in time—this is the realm of the Titans, and I'm in awe even when speculating."

"Finally, please don't worry about me. I haven't died, and I won't die—as long as you, Commander, are still alive, we will have a day to meet again in another world. Please don't misunderstand this as a reunion in death; I just hope you can understand my temporary secrecy. This is an order given to me by the you of the past, the 'Titan' Aiden."

"Looking forward to seeing you in the next world, Commander."

Zilean's image slowly waved goodbye, then faded away. The content of the memory crystal ended there.

Aiden's mood was much lighter than when he first received the crystal, but he still had many questions in his mind.

These were also questions he had always had—were he and the "Titan" Aiden the same person?

Zilean's conjecture was "yes." But if he admitted it, it would mean denying all his memories before the isekai. That was the most precious wealth in his life, and he didn't want to admit that it was a false memory.

But sometimes, when thinking about this issue from a rational perspective, he had to admit that it was indeed very well-founded—when he brought the Eye of Sargeras back to Earth, he vaguely noticed this problem—there was no Aiden on Earth, only a "Aiden Williams" whose life trajectory was similar to his, but still had differences.

After learning about the "Titan" Aiden, Aiden couldn't help but have a guess: his memories of the first twenty years or so might have been compiled by Emma when creating the "Titan" Aiden, based on her father as a template and modified to a certain extent.

Aiden didn't leave detailed information when he returned to Earth, only his name.

For Emma to create such an intelligent robot with the highest authority, she could only refer to the life experience of her father, Aiden Williams, to fill in the blanks of the "distant uncle" who she had only seen once as an infant, and remembered as a very gentle and loving figure who hugged her once.

Now Aiden was even more eager to go to the Eternal Kingdom with Kayle because that was the only place he knew of where the "Titan" Aiden was likely to have left information specifically.

To improve his strength, Aiden turned his attention to Pandaria.

The Alliance and the trolls of the Zandalari Empire, who were trying to rise again, had ignited the flames of war on this land that had just emerged from the mists.

After the initial setbacks and the mid-term counterattack of summoning the god Ula-Tek, the trolls finally contacted their ancient allies—the Mogu, who were once the rulers of Pandaria.

The war began to enter a stalemate from here.

But that was only a temporary stalemate because the Alliance had focused its main efforts on dealing with the "Destroyer" and had no time to care about the trolls and the Mogu.

And when they freed themselves, had no worries, and gained a new continent and millions of allies, the stalemate was immediately broken.

Even with the support of the "Serpent Goddess" Ula-Tek, the trolls began to retreat steadily.

Aiden always remembered the Moon Goddess Elune's instructions that to weaken Ula-Tek, he had to pry at the foundation of her faith—Aiden thought of a "despicable plan."

He had Trundle, the "Troll King" from Valoran, lead his troll army to fight alongside them. Every time they defeated a troll and captured prisoners, those who refused to surrender were killed directly, and those who were willing to surrender had to change their faith and worship Trundle as the "Troll King."

This wasn't a very clever plan, but Aiden wouldn't miss the opportunity to disgust the enemy.

In the early stage when the Alliance's main force was invested in the Pandaria battlefield, very few of the defeated and captured trolls were willing to change their faith. But in just over twenty days, through word of mouth, the number of trolls newly added to Trundle's command had reached thousands.

One can imagine that when Ula-Tek discovered all this, her face must have turned livid.

This conjecture was not without basis—trolls were good at some mysterious voodoo magic, which was often difficult to defend against.

In the first few days after Aiden arrived in Pandaria, he would encounter various poisonous insects such as snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and even flies and mosquitoes more than a dozen times a day, as well as various more difficult to defend against witchcrafts that directly attacked the body or spirit.

It was just that the strength gap between these troll witch doctors and Aiden himself was too large, so these little tricks only added some minor troubles to Aiden's life.

However, in the past few days, the troll witch doctors had shifted their focus of attack—now Trundle was enjoying the treatment comparable to what Aiden had enjoyed in the first few days after arriving.

It seemed that Ula-Tek had discovered this guy who dared to undermine her, and witchcraft was only a small part of her retaliation.

In addition to countless witchcrafts, assassinations, battlefield ambushes, sneak attacks, or reckless strong attacks against this big-nosed troll emerged endlessly. The trolls of the Zandalari tribe had obviously regarded Trundle as the number one enemy.

To thwart Ula-Tek's plan, Aiden dispatched a considerable number of powerful heroes to protect Trundle's safety. This troll king, who was originally only somewhat famous in Freljord, now had a commanding and influential air.

The Darkspear trolls, who were allied with the Valoran Federation, also sent troops to join the battle in Pandaria. However, they were unwilling to kill their own kind, and the targets of their battles were basically enemies such as the Mogu or the Mantid.

Ula-Tek was the deity jointly worshiped by all trolls in Azeroth. Although the Darkspear trolls were different from the current troll tribes of the Zandalari Empire, they were still unwilling to fight against the clansmen supported by their worshiped deity.

Aiden certainly wouldn't force them. In fact, it was already a great support that Vol'jin was able to bring his clansmen to participate in the war. For humans or any other race, it was a matter of course to fight against trolls, but for the Darkspear trolls, it was fratricide, which was not very glorious, let alone honorable.

As allies, the Darkspear trolls certainly shared intelligence with the Alliance, especially with the Valoran Federation.

They learned about Trundle's matter, and the witch doctors were worried. They finally urged Vol'jin to send a messenger to question Aiden: Would he use those things he was currently doing to the Zandalari trolls (forcing the trolls to change their faith, honoring Trundle as king, and abandoning the troll deity) on the Darkspear tribe in the future?

Aiden replied: Never!