Malfurion, inspired by the forest demigod Cenarius, was known as the Grand Mentor of all Druids. The first generation of Druids were all personally taught by him, and Andreas was among this group.
On the way to the Vault of the Arch, Andreas had used his amnesia as a pretext to gather a considerable amount of information from Shandris.
Due to Malfurion's proactive proselytizing, the first generation of Druids in the broader sense was quite numerous. However, most were mere apprentices who only knew basic nature spells.
The high-ranking members of the sect, who were the Archdruid's true confidants, could be counted on one hand.
While Andreas wasn't part of the innermost circle, the fact that Malfurion had entrusted him with the mission to "escort" Cenarius to Mount Hyjal was enough to prove the Archdruid's high regard for him.
However, the current Andreas couldn't cast a single orthodox Druidic spell. His Wrath, Moonfire, and Entangling Roots had all mutated under the influence of Shadow energy; they could no longer be considered pure nature magic.
The second generation of Druids consisted of apprentices taken on by the first generation after receiving Malfurion's permission to teach. Feron Riverwind, the young Druid before him, was one of them, and his mentor was Fandral Staghelm.
That's right—it was the same Fandral from Andreas' memory, the Night Elf traitor who would eventually become the first Druid of the Flame.
Of course, it would be somewhat unfair to condemn Fandral for events that hadn't happened yet. Moreover, since Andreas had entered Azeroth as a variable, no one could say for sure how the future might change.
Andreas had once worried that the Bronze Dragonflight might find him as a "stowaway" at some point and annihilate him with a breath of Time-Sand. But on second thought, he felt there was no need for such concern.
As guardians of time, the Bronze Dragons primarily maintained the "Main Timeline" of Azeroth, as events on this line would have an irreparable impact on the entire timestream.
As for events like Jaina flooding Orgrimmar or King Blackmoore of Lordaeron, these branch timelines could not fundamentally affect the mainstream.
To put it simply, everything that happened on the main timeline was considered "correct." When the Bronze Dragons maintained countless branch timelines, they used the flow of the main timeline as their reference standard.
Although he couldn't be 100% certain, Andreas tentatively estimated that the timeline he had traveled to was the mainstream of Azeroth's history.
Since the flow of the main timeline was irreversible, all future branch timelines would also refer to this flow. This meant the gap between his memories of the original history and this reality would only grow wider.
This implied that no matter what changes Andreas caused on this main timeline, the Bronze Dragons would not perceive anything out of the ordinary.
This allowed him to change history as much as possible within the scope of his prophetic knowledge, steering the future in a direction beneficial to himself and all of Azeroth.
It sounded simple in theory, but the current Andreas obviously didn't have the power to cause massive historical shifts yet. Furthermore, changing the future was not something he could do alone; he had to recruit more like-minded partners.
Regarding this, Andreas already had a preliminary plan that he would begin implementing once the global crisis of the War of the Ancients concluded.
Currently, his connections came primarily from the Sisterhood of Elune and the Druid sect. If he wanted to acquire more manpower in the future, he would naturally start by drawing from these two powers.
As for the Sisterhood of Elune, with the Blessing of Elune as his credential, it shouldn't be difficult to gain the support of the priestesses.
He had also speculated about Elune's motive for leaving two "favored" in the same era.
Tyrande was Elune's handpicked successor for High Priestess. Her future role was to lead the Night Elves in the light through the difficult period following the War of the Ancients.
On the other hand, the Shadow energy Andreas carried wouldn't be as easily accepted, a fact hinted at by the attitude the Sisterhood's priestesses showed him.
Although High Priestess Dejahna and Maiev had personally verified his status as Elune's favored, most priestesses remained wary and suspicious of the "ominous" power he wielded.
The power of the Dark Side of the Moon was known to few, even within the devout Sisterhood; only successive High Priestesses could learn of it through precious ancient texts.
High Priestess Dejahna also seemed intentional about concealing the source of Andreas' power, likely hoping to prevent the priestesses' pure faith in Elune from wavering.
The ordinary priestesses raised in "greenhouses" had a very rigid impression of Elune as a Moon Goddess. If they suddenly learned that the goddess who lit their path also had such a dark side, heaven only knew what chaos might ensue.
However, not everyone was wary of Andreas' power. The combat priestesses, led by Maiev, were more open-minded.
As the sword and shield of the Sisterhood, the combat priestesses' tradition already included techniques fueled by shadow energy—such as Maiev's masterful stealth.
Maiev had once harbored doubts about the source of these powers, but after witnessing Andreas receive the blessing of the Dark Side of the Moon alongside the High Priestess, she quickly accepted this new aspect of Elune.
Compared to the ordinary proselytizing priestesses, Andreas got along better with the straightforward combat priestesses; at least they didn't look at him with prejudice. If he were to recruit from the Sisterhood in the future, the combat priestesses would be his first choice.
Next was the Druidic sect.
While Andreas wasn't fond of the overly mild traditional Druidic doctrines, the mutated nature power fused with Shadow energy had pleasantly surprised him.
If he could win over more radical Druids to join his team, Andreas believed that through collective brainstorming, they could refine these currently crude mutated nature spells.
Speaking of radical Druids, Fandral Staghelm was the first name that came to mind.
On the way to the central camp with Feron, Andreas mentioned his memory loss due to a head injury. This allowed him to rightfully extract a lot of information from the inexperienced young Druid.
The current Fandral wasn't yet the unlucky soul deceived by the Old Gods. Although his impulsive style was already showing signs, it was generally within Malfurion's range of tolerance.
As Malfurion's most prized apprentice, Fandral not only showed high talent in nature magic, but his energetic approach also earned him support from many young Druids.
Though Fandral's philosophy differed from his own, Malfurion did not criticize the situation. An organization cannot have only one voice; Fandral represented another possibility for the Druids.
Malfurion maintained a "one eye open, one eye closed" attitude, wanting to see if Fandral could bring beneficial changes to the sect.
Coincidentally, Fandral had not followed the frantic Malfurion to the front lines. As the second-in-command of the Druid sect, he was currently stationed right here in the central camp.
Andreas looked up at the approaching central command tent, a hint of intrigue flashing in his eyes.
Let me see for myself where the current Fandral Staghelm stands, and whether he can be developed into a future partner or... an ally.