As Ian opened the interface, the Hextech Mod's light flowed, and three options immediately appeared.
The first was [CHAIN LIGHTNING]: When dealing damage to one enemy, it deals half of that amount as True Damage to another enemy, and this damage ignores dual resistance.
"A golden drop on the first try. Great luck."
The second was [SPRING-LOADED GRABBER]: Automatically fires a Blitzcrank hook at a nearby Hero every 12 seconds.
"What garbage is this? The only purpose of this thing is to pollute the Card Pool."
The third was [INFERNAL CONDUIT]: Skills apply a Burn Effect, dealing continuous Magic Damage and reducing the cooldown of all base Skills.
"The Hextech is good, but sorry, I don't like conduits."
He refreshed [SPRING-LOADED GRABBER] without hesitation, and a new Hextech appeared.
[RELENTLESS RECOVERY]: Recovers 3% Health + 60-180 Health for every 1000 yards moved.
"This is powerful, truly powerful!" Percentage-based Health recovery. With his current speed, he could recover his full Health bar several times a second.
He briefly considered it but did not choose immediately, wanting to see if he could refresh to better options.
"Let's see again." Ian refreshed [INFERNAL CONDUIT], and a new option appeared.
[STEEL YOUR HEART]: Grants a reward when possessing Heartsteel with 300 or more stacks.
Reward: Heartsteel stacks *6, Health Recovery increased by 2% * Heartsteel stacks.
"Holy cow, this is awesome too!" This was practically tailor-made for him.
He wanted both, so what should he do?
"Big Boss Transmutation Tablet, your little brother needs you." Ian sent a distress signal to the Transmutation Tablet, hoping to take both.
[DING... NEW FEATURE LOADING]
[DING... NEW FEATURE LOADED]
[DING... HEXTECH CAN BE LOCKED FOR 1,000,000 EMC. LOCKED HEXTECHS WILL APPEAR IN THE NEXT SELECTION.]
"Big Boss is amazing!"
One million EMC Value was nothing to him.
Greedy Ian wanted to push his luck even further: "Can I spend EMC Value to select all the Hextechs? Just name your price, I can afford it!"
The Transmutation Tablet didn't respond, so it seemed that wasn't possible.
"Tsk, fine." Ian shrugged. Being able to lock one was already quite good.
He thought for a moment and chose [STEEL YOUR HEART], locking [RELENTLESS RECOVERY].
Although the Health recovery from [RELENTLESS RECOVERY] was tempting, his current Health Recovery was temporarily sufficient, and the benefits of Steel Your Heart were greater.
The Hextech selection was complete. Ian in the Void experienced a massive surge in Health. The Health Bar, visible only to himself, had turned pure black.
"Haha, fighting, exhilarating!" Ian felt the explosive power surge within him and punched a planet-sized Void Creature.
Clang! The crisp sound of Heartsteel rang out. Under his punch, a large section of the Void Creature's body instantly burst apart, transforming into Void Energy to be absorbed by the Transmutation Tablet.
"Is this the Power of Steel Your Heart?" Ian swung his fist, feeling the explosive power it contained. He was now eager to continue stacking Heartsteel layers.
Inside the Zaun bar, the unique taste of the Alchemy Liquor made Ian close his eyes involuntarily.
Vander, holding his glass, looked troubled and asked Ian for advice: "Master Mage, to be honest, I really don't know much about the education of these children. Do you have any good ideas?"
Ian put down his glass, cleared his throat, and said earnestly: "Old Vander, I have to tell you, your children have quite a few problems."
Old Vander's face flushed. Everything Ian said was true, and he couldn't refute it.
"The environment here in Zaun is indeed poor. It's easy for children to go astray, but that can't be an excuse for you not to discipline them."
"You absolutely cannot tolerate bad habits like petty theft! If you don't correct it now, it will only become harder to manage later."
Vander nodded repeatedly in agreement: "You're right. I've been negligent."
"In addition, you need to pay attention to your children's mental health."
"That girl Vi, I see she's single-minded. She only knows how to use her fists when something happens. This clearly shows that no one has properly taught her to use her brain."
Vander opened his mouth, momentarily speechless. Vi's temperament was indeed a bit impulsive.
"As for Powder... her problem is much more serious than Vi's. Haven't you noticed that... she seems mentally unstable?"
Vander was startled, grabbing Ian's hand abruptly and asking anxiously: "You... You mean Powder... What's wrong with her?"
Ian patted the back of Vander's hand, signaling him to calm down: "Don't get agitated. I'm only guessing. However, Powder does seem to have some issues. You'd best observe her more closely."
"This..." Vander slumped back into his chair. He had always thought Powder was just a little strange, but he never imagined...
"Old Vander, educating children can't rely solely on love."
"When you need to discipline them, you must discipline them! When you need to spank them, you must spank them! Otherwise, when they grow up and turn out warped, you won't be able to control them anymore!"
Vander nodded deeply in agreement: "You're right. I understand."
"Glad you know." Ian nodded in satisfaction. "Right, I have some educational and learning books here. Take them back and read them carefully. If you don't understand anything, feel free to ask me."
"This... Thank you so much!"
"Don't mention it. It's all for the children."
He just wondered what Vi and Powder's reaction would be when they saw these books.
Just as he and Vander were about to clink glasses, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded, breaking the peaceful atmosphere of the bar.
A Black Boy ran in urgently, followed by a bewildered Benzo. Ian recognized the child at a glance: it was Ekko in his childhood, nicknamed "Little Man."
Ian raised an eyebrow. 'The plot is wrong. I remember in the original work, Benzo should have already...'
Vander saw the two of them and assumed they had rushed over out of concern after hearing about his kidnapping by Silco. He quickly stood up and said with relief: "Benzo, I'm fine, thanks to this Master Mage for saving me."
Benzo looked utterly ashamed: "I'm sorry, Vander. I wasn't here tonight, so I couldn't help. Otherwise, I would have beaten that animal Silco until he was spitting teeth!"
Vander waved his hand and comforted him: "It's a good thing you didn't come. Silco got some kind of Augment monster from somewhere. We were no match for it. If it wasn't for this gentleman, we probably wouldn't have seen each other again."
Only then did Benzo notice Ian, and he quickly offered his thanks: "Thank you, sir. And I'm sorry, Vander, that I wasn't there when you needed me most."
"It's strange, but Little Man was extremely abnormal today. He ran up and hugged me this morning and kept shouting my name. When he knew I was coming to find you, he refused to let go and hung onto me all day. He only returned to normal just now, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to come to see you."