CHAPTER 370 - You Know Nothing

Zoe's words only prompted a derisive scoff from Ryze, who made no attempt to argue.

"If you want to talk, this isn't the place," he said coldly, eyes fixed on the two figures above him.

"Agreed, this isn't the right spot," Li Lin said, taking Zoe's hand. "Can you open another portal? Let's head back to the beach where we first met."

"Eh? Don't you want these World Runes?"

Li Lin cast a sidelong glance at the guarded Ryze. "We'll talk about that later."

Zoe hesitated briefly but didn't seem too bothered. "Fine, okay!"

To her, the World Runes had limited use—powerful only within the realm of Runeterra—and meant little personally. As long as Li Lin was happy, she didn't mind.

With a flick of her nimble fingers, starlit magic sparkled from Zoe's fingertips, quickly forming a portal that led to the coastline outside Dawnkeep, along the shores of the Sea of Conquerors.

Ryze's eyes widened, a sense of unease rising within him.

This kind of portal magic was exceptionally advanced, beyond even the best arcane masters in existence—including himself. While he had heard legends of similar magic in the ancient Shuriman Empire, that civilization had long since been buried beneath the sands, leaving only myths.

As Ryze's thoughts churned and his mind filled with a whirlwind of memories, a golden light circle materialized in front of him.

Standing over a hundred kilometers away on the seashore, Li Lin and Zoe looked back through the portal.

"Are you coming or not? Holding this portal open is exhausting!" Zoe urged from the other side.

Ryze hesitated for a moment, glancing back at the World Rune, now silent and undisturbed.

He was nearly spent; was this all a ruse to lure him away, only to steal the World Rune while he was gone…?

The thought surfaced, but he shook it off.

As Li Lin had just pointed out, they were more than capable of seizing the Rune in his presence if they'd wanted to. There was no need for a trick like this.

Gritting his teeth, Ryze stepped through the portal.

In an instant, a salty breeze carried the scent of the sea into his lungs.

Ryze was no stranger to teleportation, yet this was the first time he experienced it without the usual disorienting fog or physiological effects.

With magic in the air, his depleted mana quickly began to recover.

Ryze took a deep breath, still vigilant, and took a few steps back to put distance between himself, Li Lin, and Zoe.

Why was his armor gone all of a sudden?

Confused, he asked in a frosty tone, "What do you want to discuss?"

Li Lin didn't respond immediately, gazing up at the dark sky, where the silver moon hung.

Ryze frowned. "I don't have time for—"

Before he could finish, a massive mechanical contraption, several meters wide and high, descended from the sky.

It was "Dawnlight"—the supply machine Li Lin had prepared, filled with food and water for emergencies.

Ryze had never seen such a strange and innovative machine. Instinctively, he channeled magic throughout his body, ready to use his ultimate escape spell at a moment's notice.

But the expected danger didn't appear. As Li Lin opened the machine, Ryze caught a whiff of food from inside.

Li Lin took out two transparent glass bottles labeled with Piltover's common script, filled with a light brown liquid.

The liquid inside bubbled slightly as he moved.

Ryze immediately recognized it, his spell dissipating in surprise. "Beer?"

"Piltover's pale ale, brewed with Ionia-grown ingredients—should be close to your taste."

With a casual flick of his wrist, Li Lin tossed one bottle in an arc toward Ryze.

Momentarily stunned, Ryze instinctively reached out, catching the cool glass bottle.

It was chilled?

Ryze glanced at Li Lin, who had effortlessly popped the cap off his bottle and taken a big gulp.

"Nothing like an ice-cold drink!"

"I want some too!" Zoe exclaimed.

"No way. Kids can't have alcohol."

"Hey! I'm all grown up!" she protested, elongating her words. "And you know I'm over a thousand years old. Still think I'm a kid?"

"Uh…" Li Lin had no comeback. "Well, it's close to champagne, and you don't like that taste."

He thought for a moment and took out a bottle of soda from Dawnlight, opening it and inserting a straw.

"Soda!"

Zoe's eyes sparkled, and with a snap of her fingers, the soda vanished from Li Lin's hand, reappearing in hers.

During their stay in Piltover, the little rascal had practically sworn off plain water after her first taste of soda.

Li Lin sighed at his now-empty hand. "No one was going to fight you for it."

Then he turned back to Ryze with a grin. "What, afraid I might have poisoned it?"

"Hmph, ordinary poisons wouldn't work on me."

It was as though he had finally snapped out of his reverie. Ryze's tone softened, losing the cold edge it held just moments earlier, now carrying a hint of warmth.

With a flick of his fingers, a purple spark crackled as he popped the metal cap off the bottle. Tilting it back, he took a large gulp of the drink. The familiar taste burst across his tongue, and the cool liquid coursing down his throat brought a sense of clarity that seemed to melt away some of his weariness, both body and mind.

"Just once, even if only once, I'd like a night of peaceful sleep…"

He paused, and for a moment, his eyes reflected a flicker of confusion and fatigue.

But almost instantly, memories surged back. All that had happened on the other side of the Noxian mountain range, his homeland's tragedies, his mentor Tyrus, the young man he saved in Freljord—his only apprentice, Kegan Rodhe, and now, the vengeful soul of Brand.

Ryze shook his head, brushing off the weariness clouding his mind as his resolve hardened once more.

"Thanks for the beer," he said, his tone now completely calm as he looked up to meet Li Lin's gaze. "So, what is it you wanted to say? Can we make this quick? I have other places to be."

"If you're in a hurry to find the World Runes, I can help you."

Ryze's expression immediately darkened, the hint of goodwill that had started to form between them evaporating in an instant. "Help me?" he scoffed, his tone turning cold again. "Getting as far away from me as possible would be a huge help."

"It seems you still don't understand; I have no interest in the World Runes."

Hmm… for now, at least, Li Lin added silently to himself.

"You think I believe that nonsense?" Ryze tugged at the strap of his scroll case. "Everyone who learns about the Runes, everyone who tries to get close to me, says the same thing."

Li Lin felt a pang of exasperation. This old mage was as stubborn as a rock when it came to the subject of the World Runes.

"If you think I'm an evil man scheming to use the World Runes to rule the world…"

"I never said that. Those are your own words."

Ignoring him, Li Lin continued, "Then I only have one question: If I already possess the power to dominate the world, why haven't I done so?"

"Oh sure… you're absolutely capable of ruling the world." Ryze no longer knew how to describe what he was feeling.

After a short pause, he added with a tone of sarcasm, "When you're busy saving the world, everyone wants to talk to you for half a day, especially those who don't know their limits."

"Hey! You're such a grumpy old man! Don't insult Li Lin!" Zoe, finished with her soda, yelled at him in anger. "He's fought Primordial Demons like Fiddlesticks! Could you do that?"

"Fiddlesticks…" Ryze's eyes narrowed. "If I were you, kid, I wouldn't say that name so casually."

"I'm not a kid! I'm all grown up!"

Li Lin quickly grabbed Zoe's hand as she raised a fist, worried she might, in her frustration, summon an Arcane Comet to hurl at Ryze.

"All right, all right, you're a grown-up now. Don't get upset over things like this."

After calming Zoe down, he turned back to Ryze. "I did indeed clash with Fiddlesticks, though it wasn't as exaggerated as Zoe makes it sound. I could only protect myself; the one who actually sealed it was Zoe."

"What?! It was sealed?" Ryze couldn't help but mutter in surprise. "That's the leader of the Ten Great Demons!"

"So what? Don't forget—all the Primordial Demons were sealed by the Celestials!"

Zoe's retort made Ryze close his mouth.

These things weren't even recorded on the Blessed Isles; he really had no knowledge of them.

"The Demon of Fear is sealed at the southwestern foot of Eternal Peak, in the village of Hengfeng near Demacia's border. The black magic aura there—you'll feel it as soon as you arrive."

Li Lin wasn't the least bit worried Ryze would release the demon. After all, he was a protector of humanity; he'd never let such an ancient threat return to the material realm.

Besides, there was a large mechanical guard force stationed there.

Li Lin squeezed Zoe's hand to calm her excitement and continued, "Not long ago, on the Demacian border, you might have heard about Prince Jarvan IV's situation."

Ryze remained silent, deep in thought.

"If you don't believe me, you can ask one of the Winged Protectors in Demacia—Morgana, who happens to be visiting Dawnkeep right now.

"Oh, and another thing. That fire dragon, Yvva, which was terrorizing the border… I killed it too."

Noting Ryze's solemn and skeptical expression, Li Lin chuckled lightly. "But, as I said, if you don't believe me, you can go ask any Guardian stationed at the Wall, particularly the scouts from the Dragon Guard Corps.

"That steel giant, at least a hundred meters tall, which vanished carrying the dragon's corpse—I designed it, in collaboration with Piltover University."

"What is it you're really getting at? Are you saying this is your justification for ruling the world? Is that why you're trying to persuade me to let you access the World Runes?"

Ryze narrowed his eyes. "Power changes everyone. No one can hold onto it forever—not even me. Even I am unworthy of this duty of 'protection.'

"I've heard stories of kingdoms collapsing, fading into obscurity, vanishing in an instant! All of it brought on by the World Runes.

"You should consider yourself lucky—you've never endured that dark era. You still have plenty of time to enjoy life… but once you come into contact with the Runes, everything changes."

Ryze took a deep breath, his tone one of a sage warning a novice. "Humans can be foolish at times, but I am one of them, which is why I must protect my kin! I fight so that you don't have to.

"If I didn't care, this would all be far easier." His expression grew dark. "The Runes, in the hands of foolish rulers, tore Runeterra apart, and human civilization was utterly destroyed…"

"You're wrong, Ryze." Li Lin interrupted him. "The World Runes aren't the true threat to humanity, nor to Runeterra. You have no idea what danger we truly face."

"Oh? You sound so knowledgeable." Ryze's tone was laced with sarcasm.

Li Lin merely shook his head. "Do you know what truly destroyed Shurima, the Ascended Empire?"

"You're going to say Xerath, I assume? That's the tale most Shurimans know, and they believe he's the one responsible for Shurima's downfall… but that's merely the immediate cause, not the root."

With a grave expression, Li Lin looked Ryze in the eye and uttered a single, foreign word: "The Void… that is our ultimate enemy."

[End of Chapter]

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