Little Man Ekko walked up to Benzo and said with a serious expression: "I'm sorry, Vander, I couldn't stop Silco today."
Vander and Benzo were stunned.
Vander asked: "You knew Silco would kidnap me today? Impossible. Silco is always careful; how could anyone else know?"
Ekko took a deep breath, his expression complicated: "This is hard to explain quickly. Vi and Jinx... no, Powder, are they okay? Can you call them out so we can talk together?"
"Jinx? Powder?" Vander keenly caught the pause in Ekko's words, suddenly recalling what Ian had said earlier about Powder's mental issues.
Vander looked at Ekko's serious expression and turned to call Vi, Powder, Claggor, and Mylo.
Ekko was delighted to see that Claggor and Mylo were also unharmed.
Soon, the group sat around a table in the bar. Vi looked at Ekko, a hint of impatience in her tone: "Hey, Little Man, what's so important that you had to call all of us here late at night?"
Ekko didn't answer Vi. His gaze lingered on Powder, who was currently huddled up, hiding in the corner.
Ever since returning to the bar, Vi had been scolding Powder because of the explosion earlier. Powder was currently in a self-imposed state of depression.
"Ahem," Ekko cleared his throat and stood in front of everyone, "Let me reintroduce myself. Hello everyone, I'm Ekko."
"Hey, Little Man," Vi rolled her eyes, "Who doesn't know that? Get to the point, don't waste..."
Vi was about to continue but was stopped by a look from Vander. She pouted and said nothing more.
Ekko continued: "I'm Ekko, but not the Ekko you usually know. I... might be from a few years in the future, or... a completely different Parallel Universe."
"The future? A Parallel Universe? What is this Little Man talking about?"
"Was he scared silly during the day?"
"How is that possible?"
"Quiet! We'll discuss it later. Let him finish first."
Ian looked at Ekko, signaling him to continue.
Ekko went on: "The future world faces a massive crisis. The Hextech that Piltover is currently developing awakens the 'Wild Runes' in the future."
"Viktor, a Zaunite who is an assistant professor at Piltover University, used the Power of the Wild Runes to turn most of the people in the Twin Cities into puppets without self-awareness."
"The Twin Cities fell into chaos. Even the Noxian Empire couldn't stop him, and the entire Runeterra Continent was in jeopardy."
"We fought with all our might but still failed. At the last moment, I put all the Hextech Gems into the Time Control Device, hoping to go back to the past to stop Viktor, or..." He paused, a look of determination flashing in his eyes, "...to kill Viktor directly."
"As a result, I ended up here. Now it looks like this is either my original world's past or a similar Parallel Universe. But either way, I have to stop the tragedy from happening!"
"If this is the past of my original world, I can prevent the birth of Hextech ahead of time and avoid the disaster entirely."
"If this is a Parallel Universe, then I'll research Hextech and find a way to deal with Viktor!"
Ekko wasn't afraid of finding the wrong approach. He'd rather make a mistake than do nothing at all.
Ian almost burst out laughing when he heard that the entire Runeterra Continent was in jeopardy. 'Dude, are you speaking Chinese?'
Could Viktor threaten the entire Runeterra Continent with a small Rune Fragment? He'd probably run into a certain bald blue-skinned Mage the moment he stepped outside.
It seemed necessary for him to give them a brief science lesson today.
"Ekko, that Viktor you mentioned is capable, but trying to dominate Runeterra with Wild Runes? How is that possible!"
Ian smiled, a hint of disdain in his tone. "Outside the Twin Cities, anyone you randomly pull out is enough to give him a hard time."
"First, let's talk about Noxus. Sion, the Undead Juggernaut, LeBlanc, the Master Tactician, Vladimir, the Crimson Reaper, and Swain, the Grand General—these few alone could probably wrestle with Viktor."
"Even if Viktor really dealt with Noxus, Demacia is not to be trifled with. A single Colossus of Justice is enough to give him a headache."
"Not to mention Morgana, the Fallen Angel, and Kayle, the Winged Justice."
"Even if Viktor also destroyed Demacia, does he think that's the end of it? Freljord has a bunch of Demigods there."
"Ornn, Volibear, and Anivia—these three were born with Runeterra. A single sneeze from them could wipe out the Twin Cities."
"Any one of Freljord's Demigods, singled out, is enough to give Viktor a hard time."
"Besides these, there's Ionia: the Spirit of Ionia, the Master of Shadows, and Irelia, Grandma's best granddaughter."
"And that's not even counting the Aspects on Mount Targon, Nami, the Tidecaller of Bilgewater, the Yordles of Bandle City, the soon-to-be-revived Shurima, the politically correct Black brother Tribes, the Demons and Darkin that pop up from time to time on Runeterra, and so on."
"Does Viktor really think he can conquer the world with Wild Runes? What a joke!"
Vander and the others listened in a daze. They had initially thought that Noxus, with its massive army, was the strongest power in the world, but they never imagined there were so many powerful forces outside.
Not to mention the Gods who only existed in myths.
Ekko, who had been anxious, now felt relieved. There were so many strong individuals on Runeterra. Even if this was a Parallel Universe and he couldn't prevent the disaster in his own world, he could still seek out greater Power to go back and deal with Viktor.
Meanwhile, Ian in the Void was killing Void Creatures while plundering Void Energy.
Ian was almost reluctant to kill the Void Creatures that were now appearing. He truly wished their recovery ability was stronger so he could stack (gang) a few more times.
[DING... VOID ENERGY VALUE PHASE ONE COLLECTION COMPLETE]
[UNLOCKING MOD...]
The prompt from the Transmutation Tablet suddenly rang in Ian's mind. Ian, who had been fully immersed in the joy of stacking (gang), hadn't paid attention to the Otherworld Energy Value collection progress.
Now, it had actually been collected in full once.
Moreover, this Mod unlock was a direct unlock, not a draw.
What Mod would be unlocked? Ian was looking forward to it. The Transmutation Tablet had previously warned that the Void Energy level was too high for ordinary Energy Collectors to absorb, so the unlocked Mod should certainly be extraordinary.
Furthermore, the speed of this Mod unlock was much slower than before. Previously, results came in a few seconds, but this time it had been unlocking for a few minutes.
[MOD UNLOCK SUCCESSFUL]
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE OBTAINED MOD 'FAITH AND WAR']
[FAITH AND WAR MOD INTRODUCTION]
[TERRITORY OCCUPATION]
[PLAYERS MUST OCCUPY NEUTRAL AREAS OR THE TERRITORIES OF HOSTILE FORCES THROUGH WAR. EXPEND EMC VALUE TO BUILD A "FAITH ALTAR" AS THE CONTROL CORE. OCCUPIED TERRITORIES CAN RECRUIT BELIEVERS.]
[BELIEVERS AND POWER OF FAITH]
[BELIEVERS WILL CONTINUOUSLY PROVIDE THE POWER OF FAITH. THE STRONGER AND MORE DEVOUT THE BELIEVER IS, THE MORE POWER OF FAITH WILL BE PROVIDED.]
[POWER OF FAITH USAGE METHOD ONE: IGNITE THE DIVINE FIRE, BECOME A GOD. THE STRONGER THE POWER OF FAITH, THE STRONGER THE DIVINE POWER. HOWEVER, YOUR PERSONALITY AND BEHAVIOR WILL BE INFLUENCED BY YOUR BELIEVERS' FAITH.]
[POWER OF FAITH USAGE METHOD TWO: ENHANCEMENT AND AMPLIFICATION. THE POWER OF FAITH CAN BE USED TO ENHANCE THE BODY, ENHANCE BELIEVERS, ENHANCE EQUIPMENT, AMPLIFY SKILLS, ETC.]
[POWER OF FAITH USAGE METHOD THREE: DIVINE DESCENT. UPON RECEIVING A BELIEVER'S PRAYER, DIVINE DESCENT CAN BE PERFORMED BY EXPENDING THE POWER OF FAITH. YOU CAN POSSESS A BELIEVER OR DESCEND IN YOUR TRUE BODY.]
After the Mod was unlocked, Ian's mind was connected to several places: the Minecraft World, the Super Seminary World, and the Frozen Apocalypse World.
With a thought, Ian expended EMC Value to build Faith Altars.
Subsequently, Faith Altars rose up across the various worlds.
When the Believers saw the Faith Altars, the function of the Faith Altar automatically appeared in their minds. Some Fanatics immediately knelt down and began to pray.
A massive amount of Power of Faith was transmitted through the Otherworld Portal into Ian's body in the Void.
Ian felt a surge of power within his body. He couldn't help but close his eyes to feel it.
Soon, the power within him subsided, and Ian slowly opened his eyes.
Both eyes emitted a pure white light.