After experiencing a brief encounter with the Starforged Dragon King, this space journey went rather smoothly. Li Lin led Caitlyn through his command center and showed her around, waiting for a while as they met up with others heading to different places. In the end, they all toured the core areas of the space station together.
Heimerdinger, Jayce, and Viktor were not only Li Lin's closest companions, but also exceptionally talented in the scientific field. In the future, whether it's facing the Void or conquering the Void to venture into the stars, aside from the management of the AI, they would also have unique insights into the station's development.
Since the interdimensional teleportation device was still under development, travel between the Rune Lands and the space station still required a spaceship. After careful consideration, Heimerdinger decided not to trouble Li Lin and chose to stay behind to conduct research. The group boarded the spaceship and returned to the Rune Lands. With this experience, next time Li Lin could simply have Zoe open a portal and bring more people along.
After finishing the business at the space station, Li Lin quickly informed everyone and headed straight to the Sun City, where he found Azir in a rather agitated state. Recently, with help from a miniature Rune Land, Aatrox had located the whereabouts of Varus, who had broken free of his seal. The god-like archer had been sealed by a Valoran Warrior Queen, along with her Vastayan Moon Stalkers and a Human Mages. In the final days of the Void War, this Warrior Queen chose to sacrifice herself and continued to fight using a cursed crystal longbow that held the Void-inflicted archery god.
Months passed, and after the Void War had ended, the Warrior Queen traveled eastward, deep into the lands of the Eastern Territories, where she had herself buried alive in a dark well to seal the Void. However, after over a thousand years, with the outbreak of the Noxian War, Varus was awakened when two mortals seeking to survive touched the seal. They were consumed, and Varus escaped, crossing the vast expanse of the Guardian's Sea to return home.
Aatrox found Varus in Vekaura, where the former celestial god was searching for traces of his sister, Valeeva, in the ruins of the underground seal. Upon encountering Aatrox, who had been reshaped into a new form of a god, Varus was momentarily stunned, but then he immediately engaged in battle. Though Varus was still sealed and only occupied the bodies of two mortals, he seemed powerless against Aatrox, the legendary general at his peak. However, their battle still affected a third of the newly rebuilt Vekaura. Fortunately, due to the impact of Xerath and Nasus' battle over a year ago, the city's population was minimal, and the casualties were light.
The former Shuriman Arrow God was soon captured and taken back to Sun City, where he was temporarily sealed in a dungeon. Azir had long known that Varus was deeply influenced by the Void even before the fall of the Shurima Empire. In order to keep his oath to guard the Imperial Temple, Varus had not returned home to protect his family during the rise of the Icathian War, leading to the slaughter of everyone except his sister. Later, Varus, along with his sister, was approved by the Ascended Priesthood of the Sun to undergo the Ascension ritual, becoming celestial warriors in the forms of a frog and a snake.
However, the Ascension method taught by the Celestial Star Spirits was flawed, causing Ascended beings to lose part of their human emotions. As a result, Varus became colder and more ruthless, focused entirely on revenge against Icathia and the Void. In the Void War, his memories were deeply affected, and he couldn't even recall how the war ended—he was still immersed in the fire of vengeance. Azir had even interrogated him, and Varus couldn't remember much of Shurima's fall or the subsequent Void War, his memory much more fragmented than Aatrox's.
Although Varus was considered a top-tier celestial warrior, Azir was unsure whether to lift his seal and restore his Ascended form. Just then, Li Lin arrived, prompting Azir to immediately call upon the Grand Scholars to discuss the matter. However, Aatrox, having been Varus' enemy during the Void War, was not suitable for this meeting.
But when Li Lin revealed that he had recently met with the Starforged Dragon King and received the complete Ascension method, both Azir and Nasus were stunned. Although modifying the Sun Disc would be required, this seemed like a small price to pay compared to the potential for greater power and a more stable Ascension process. Without hesitation, Azir declared the Sun Disc modification plan led by Li Lin and began promoting the Starforged Dragon King's divine power to the public.
The people of Sun City cheered, truly feeling they had earned the approval of the "Sun," seeing themselves as the children of the Creator God. Of course, they conveniently overlooked the way Azir and Li Lin had described the Starforged Dragon King as "handsome" and "super intelligent" in their public promotion…
With the material conversion technology that even Azir and Nasus marveled at, Shurima quickly prepared the necessary materials to modify the Sun Disc. With the cooperation of hundreds of mechanical soldiers and Azir's sand soldiers, the grand project began. It was expected to take about a month to complete, after which Varus would be able to ascend again in near-perfect condition. This would also allow Azir, Nasus, and Aatrox to further perfect their own Ascended forms.
After resolving this matter, Li Lin used the miniature Rune Land to locate the next Darkin entity—Varus' sister, who had escaped her seal.
She is currently hiding in the mountains to the west of Ixtal, not daring to meet with her brothers, seemingly gathering strength. Aatrox didn't hesitate, immediately setting off toward the tropical rainforest where this country—once subjugated by Shurima and now fallen into obscurity—was located.
...In recent days, Li Lin had been in Sun City, busy with the Sun Disc renovation project. His mechs had already been crafted, and the subsequent upgrades could be handled by the AI, so there was no need for him to worry. The most pressing matter now was to complete the renovation of the Sun Disc as soon as possible and create the new celestial warriors. However, the AI sent him a surprising message: Swain, who had recently quelled the rebellion in the Rokrund Plains, had not returned to Noxus, but was instead sailing toward Piltover.
Li Lin had expected Swain's visit, but the fact that he hadn't notified him in advance was surprising. Piltover had long since changed, and the AI would never allow such a massive Noxian fleet to approach the Piltover Canal. Even Li Lin wouldn't allow it. In the past, if Noxus' transport fleet wanted to pass through Piltover, they would have to give advance notice and pay a considerable "toll." It seemed that Swain intended to use this as a show of force? Li Lin considered several possibilities in his mind.
The journey from Rokrund to Piltover took five days by sea, and Swain had only completed half the distance. It would still take at least two more days to arrive. A head of state's visit was a significant diplomatic event. Even though Swain hadn't given prior notice, Li Lin had to prepare for the situation.
After quickly handling the work at hand, Li Lin spoke with Azir and Nasus, then teleported back to Piltover, arriving at the administrative building. Just as he sat down in his office, Caitlyn, now dressed in the customized sheriff's uniform, strode in. Recently, she had completed her handover of Piltover's security duties and fully taken over as the new sheriff, replacing Grayson. Grayson's former partner and deputy, Markus, had moved to the new police station in the upper corridor of Zaun and become the sheriff of Zaun's security forces.
"Noxus is coming," Caitlyn said sternly, without preamble. "This is different from when Mel's mother, Ambessa Medarda, visited. This time, Swain himself is leading the fleet, and there was no notification. If this isn't handled properly, it could escalate into a major diplomatic incident."
Li Lin didn't speak, instead summoning a high-definition real-time image captured by an invisible drone. In the enlarged image, he saw Swain, dressed in a simple trench coat with armor underneath, standing still and gazing at the horizon. But in the next moment, it seemed that Swain noticed something. His scarlet eyes shifted, locking onto the direction of the drone, a faint, knowing smile curling on his lips. Li Lin and Swain appeared to gaze at each other across a screen.
"Swain's visit isn't just about Katarina and Talon," Li Lin remarked.
"This is obvious, isn't it?" Caitlyn shot him a pointed look, anxiety clear in her eyes. Even during Grayson's tenure, such a potential diplomatic crisis had never occurred. Despite Cassandra's teachings, Caitlyn still didn't know how to handle such a situation.
"Don't panic, I've got this covered," Li Lin waved his hand dismissively. "Recently, I led a coup in Piltover, overthrowing four families closely tied to Noxus. I'm also a Duke of Demacia, enjoying royal privileges, and I have strong ties with the Shuriman Emperor."
"It's clear that Swain's visit is to test my stance on Noxus, to see if we are still neutral."
"How should we respond?" Caitlyn asked, still unsure. Compared to the original timeline, she was still too young to handle such a major event. In the original world, there were never any diplomatic incidents of this scale between Noxus and Piltover.
"To borrow an Ionian saying, 'When soldiers come, let the generals fight; when the river comes, let the earth block it.'" Li Lin stroked his chin, a gleam of determination in his eyes. "When the time comes, let Swain see the true strength of Piltover today."
(End of Chapter)
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