Zilean replied, "Let me give you an example. Don't you think the abilities and traits of Valoran's hero, Lee Sin, the Blind Monk, are very similar to those of Azeroth's Monks? You can try collecting the souls of one or more powerful Monks. If it matches Lee Sin, you will consume less energy when summoning Lee Sin and also get a Blind Monk fused with Monk skills."
"Sounds practical," Aiden nodded in understanding. While having the Transformation Stone fuse with the Skull of Gul'dan, he asked Zilean about a question he had been pondering: "I've noticed that on this timeline, seers like Medivh and the Lich King, who can foresee the future, still see the future of the original Azeroth timeline, that is, the future without my influence. But I have actually made some changes in this world. What does this mean? Does it mean that I still haven't been able to reverse what they saw in the future, or does it mean that their prophecies have been changed because of my appearance?"
Zilean countered, "How do you know what they saw? Did they tell you?"
Aiden was stunned—yes, he only knew that the Bronze Dragons and Medivh couldn't clearly see his future, and that Stratholme hadn't been purged thanks to his efforts. Therefore, he deduced that "what they saw was still the future of the original timeline"—but Medivh hadn't carefully told him the scenes he foresaw, only mentioning the coming of the Scourge and the Burning Legion's invasion. And he couldn't possibly go to Northrend now to verify the Lich King's predictions.
Only then did Aiden realize that he had fallen into a terrible habit of thinking.
Zilean added, "Actually, it's meaningless for you to think about these things. Don't forget your mission."
Aiden came back to his senses. That's right, his mission was to change history. If prophecies were destined to be fulfilled, Medivh's actions could only achieve one purpose: to have Jaina lead humanity west and ally with the orcs to fight against the Burning Legion.
Aiden believed that with his involvement, the final price wouldn't be greater than the fall of Lordaeron, the destruction of Dalaran, the displacement of the high elves, the decline of Kul Tiras, and the night elves losing their immortality.
Having figured this out, he felt that whether or not there were prophecies was no longer important. So he continued to ask about topics he was interested in: "Does my arrival at that point in time add a fork to Azeroth's timeline? One is my current timeline, and the other is the original historical timeline."
Zilean looked at him approvingly, "That's right, you understand this sooner than I expected. Then it's time to tell you something new."
Aiden put on an attentive look.
"Do you know why the Heart of Valoran needs to absorb energy from distorted timelines?"
Aiden said, "You said it, only this energy can cross time and space to summon things from Valoran."
Zilean nodded, "That's a fact, so how does it absorb energy from distorted timelines?"
"Are you saying…" A flash of inspiration struck Aiden, "Because of the branching of timelines?"
"You guessed it, it's precisely because of the branching of timelines—" Zilean said as he drew a line in the void, and then drew a fork at the end of the line.
"After you descended into this world, the two timelines generated by this branching point run parallel forward. But they come from the same source and have an inseparable relationship with each other. Most of them are the same, so they are very close to completely overlapping. The only difference is you. This timeline has one more you, and your actions will lead to the continuous expansion of this difference. As time goes by, there will be less and less similarity between them, and more and more differences."
As the explanation continued, the two curves on the fork were originally very close, but because they each went in a different direction, the distance at the ends became farther and farther.
"The essence of a timeline is countless entangled causal lines. Two timelines that originally came from the same source will have fewer and fewer of the same results in the future, and more and more different results. The same cause leads to contradictory results, which is the distorted timeline—and the causal difference between them is the distorted energy in the timeline. It is also the energy that the Heart of Valoran can absorb."
Aiden suddenly felt enlightened, and many previous puzzles were solved at this moment: "Only the energy of time can break the shackles of time—so the Heart of Valoran, after absorbing this energy, can summon everything from Valoran that has been stopped in time. So that's how it is!"
"That's how it is."
Aiden felt that the Transformation Stone had completed the transformation, and now the Skull of Gul'dan could be used for summoning. He was overjoyed and prepared to summon a demigod-level powerhouse from Valoran, the Rogue Mage—Ryze.
He imagined this name in his mind, but still didn't get a response—just like last time.
Why, wasn't this carrier powerful enough?
Aiden was full of question marks.
"Hahaha," he heard Zilean's mocking voice: "You forgot an important principle about carrier summoning that I told you—the attributes must match. What you have transformed now is a dark and evil artifact, so naturally you can only summon heroes with the same attributes."
"Like who?"
"Karthus, Mordekaiser, Veigar, and the like."
Aiden was going crazy, this was too different from what he had expected. The mages of Dalaran probably wouldn't have a good impression of this kind of mage who didn't look like good people at first glance, especially since Medivh had specifically warned him not to play any tricks before summoning.
Out of prudence, he still felt it was better to discuss it with the Kirin Tor and Medivh to avoid misunderstandings. After all, they could accept Singed, so accepting Karthus shouldn't be too difficult… right?
So Aiden canceled the summoning. He opened his eyes and found everyone staring at him.
Kael'thas looked around and asked, "Where is the hero you summoned?"
"Did they become invisible?" Modera guessed.
"The Skull of Gul'dan is still there." Antonidas noticed the anomaly at a glance, "Was there a problem with the summoning?"
"Uh, a bit of an unexpected problem," Aiden explained, "I just learned that if I use a dark artifact as a carrier, I can only summon heroes with dark attributes—although I can guarantee that they will be loyal to me and will not harm the Alliance, I still think I should discuss it with everyone first. If you mind, I will cancel this summoning."
Krasus's silver-white eyebrows twitched slightly: "Does your Valoran also have some non-righteous heroes loyal to you?"
This was also most people's question. Then they remembered the alchemist in the conference room before—Singed. From their observations and Drendan's description, he really didn't seem like a righteous hero.
Aiden replied, "Actually, it's not so much that they are loyal to me, but that they are loyal to the League of Legends."
Kayle beside him took the initiative to help him explain: "Every world has a bright side and a dark side. Valoran is the same. It is the opposition between the two that leads to various disputes. In order to maintain peace and resolve disputes, the powerhouses of Valoran jointly established the League of Legends. They allowed heroes from various forces to join here. This powerful organization stipulates that all countries and forces that have signed the agreement can only carry out non-bloody struggles within the scope allowed by the League to solve practical problems. So among the heroes, there are righteous ones, and naturally there are non-righteous ones."
Kayle paused slightly to let them digest this information, and after a while, he continued: "Now Valoran is facing a crisis, we have found this world, and chosen it as our new home. Now we these heroes, and all the forces of Valoran, whether righteous or evil, as long as they agree with the ideals of the League of Legends, are still under its command, and unconditionally obey the commander in front of me. If you are worried that those evil heroes will disrupt your world, then I, as the ruler of the Eternal Kingdom, assure you that unless our commander instructs, the things you are worried about will not happen."
Antonidas said, "As allies, we certainly trust Aiden, and Miss Kayle."
But Medivh stared at Aiden and sharply pointed out: "Then how can you guarantee that you will not harm this world?"
"Who can guarantee their future?" Aiden retorted to this prophet, "At least I am fighting to protect it now. In the future, I and the people under my command are also willing to continue to fight for it."
Who can guarantee their future?
Medivh thought of his dark past. His heart ached. When he was young, he, Llane, and Lothar were such good friends and brothers, promising to jointly protect the Kingdom of Azeroth. But fate led him down a dark path. In the end, Llane was assassinated by a trusted person, Lothar died heroically in battle, and he himself was killed by his disciple Khadgar and his best friend Lothar.
"Sorry, it was my fault." Medivh bowed to Aiden to apologize.
"No, I completely understand, normal people would have such thoughts." Aiden accepted with a smile, and then defended those dark heroes, "Actually, power itself has no evil or justice. It only depends on whether the person who possesses it uses it for evil or righteous purposes. If a person with dark power is fighting for justice, I think that is the victory of justice."
Antonidas asked, "Can you reveal what kind of person this dark hero you are going to summon is?"
Aiden was a little embarrassed, he was very inclined to summon the Deathsinger—Karthus. Because the threat of the Scourge was imminent, this man had unfathomable attainments in souls and death. He was definitely a great help in dealing with the Scourge, even more suitable for such a battle than the Rogue Mage Ryze that Aiden had originally thought of.
Actually, the Iron Revenant—Mordekaiser was also a good choice. Although in fact he and Karthus were both absolutely worthy of being called evil heroes, relatively speaking, if people had to choose a more acceptable hero, most would probably choose Mordekaiser. Because—
"His name is Karthus, he is a—Lich."