Runeterra: I actually know a little bit about everything

Thousands of years ago, the ancient Shurima Empire unified all the lands except for the nascent land of Ionia and the northern frozen land of Freljord with just a few thousand Ascended Legions.

Each ascendant possesses the power to ascend and has the ability to single-handedly contend with an entire human army.

It is easy to imagine just how powerful the power of ascension is.

Although Zuo Chi has only obtained a portion of the Ascended power from Aatrox, his combat strength has still been greatly enhanced.

Zuo Chi hesitated for a long time about these four types of rewards.

He originally wanted to choose 'Destroy,' which is Aatrox's ultimate skill.

However, after looking at the system's description of 'Great Annihilation', he ultimately chose to give up.

[Great Annihilation! Squeezing out all Darkin power, instantly unleashing several times its own strength! Once activated, the power rapidly diminishes, and the duration is related to the user's own power!]

Given Zuo Chi's previous ordinary strength, the Great Annihilation could probably only bring him a momentary burst of power.

After that burst of energy, he probably won't even last three seconds!

As for blood magic

For some reason, whenever Zuo Chi saw blood magic, the image of a vampire in a red robe who grew stronger by drinking blood immediately came to mind.

Perhaps that's what it ultimately looks like for an ordinary person to master blood magic.

Zuo Chi didn't want to become that inhuman, ghostly figure.

Therefore, compared to the other three rewards, the power of ascension is undoubtedly much more reliable and comprehensive.

Now, Zuo Chi is no longer the weakling who couldn't even kill a chicken.

Looking around, Zuo Chi's gaze couldn't help but fall in the direction where Aatrox had just been.

Over there, the thick stench of blood filled the sky, and severed limbs were scattered all over the ground.

An ordinary person facing this scene would probably vomit up everything they ate in their past life.

But when Zuo Chi looked in that direction, a glint of light suddenly flashed in his eyes.

Stepping onto the blood-red sand, Zuo Chi headed towards a certain place with an extremely clear purpose.

There, buried in the sand, a section of the blade was exposed to the air, gleaming coldly in the sunlight.

Guided by the ascending power within his body, Zuo Chi spotted the short sword almost instantly.

Upon approaching, Zuo Chi brushed away the yellow sand covering the blade and grasped the dark gold dagger in his hand.

"Buzz!"

In an instant, Zuo Chi felt as if the ascending power within his body had formed a connection with the short sword.

"This is... an Ascended's weapon!?"

Zuo Chi knew in his previous life that countless ancient artifacts, as well as various ancient tombs and crypts, were buried in the vast desert of Shurima.

Some of these ancient tombs belong to deceased Ascended beings, while others belong to peripheral members of the royal family of the ancient Shurima Empire.

Without exception, these ancient tombs always contain countless treasures.

This is the main reason why, despite the extreme danger of the Shurima Desert, Lady Piltover still comes here in search of treasure!

If Zuo Chi is not mistaken, the short knife in his hand should have been obtained by these bandits from an ancient tomb of an ascended being.

Thankfully, it was merely a weapon of the Ascended, and not a weapon of the Fallen Darkin.

If it were a Darkin, these sand bandits would probably never have been able to leave that ancient tomb, and the world would have gained another Darkin who escaped from the weapons.

As Zuo Chi tossed the dagger in his hand, a glint of light flashed in his eyes.

This greatly enhanced his combat power in a short period of time.

Now, all Zuo Chi needs to do is leave this desolate desert as soon as possible.

However, looking at the endless desert all around and the sun hanging overhead, I felt completely bewildered.

Having just transmigrated, Zuo Chi couldn't tell where he was in the Shurima Empire.

With a sudden stomp of his foot into the yellow sand, Zuo Chi shot straight into the sky.

Temporarily suspended in the sky by the power of ascension, Zuo Chi cast his gaze in every direction around him.

Ultimately, Zuo Chi reached the following conclusion:

He was situated on the border between the Shurima Empire and a dark purple scorched earth.

Not far to his east, it was no longer a desert, but a dark purple land!

Zuo Chi knew exactly where it was without even having to think about it.

Icathia!

A former vassal state of the Shurima Empire, dissatisfied with the Shurima Empire's rule, chose to invite the Void to descend in order to counter the Ascended Legion!

However, after the Void descended, countless Void creatures instantly turned this land into a living hell.

The ancient Shurima Empire also paid an incredibly heavy price to suppress the Void of Icathia.

Countless Ascended warriors perished in the battle, and the few who remained had the seeds of the Void planted in their hearts, foreshadowing the Darkin War hundreds of years later.

Even now, thousands of years later, that land has still not escaped the harm of the void.

Looking at the vast expanse of scorched earth, Zuo Chi hesitated.

To the north and west lies an endless, winding desert stretching for thousands of miles; it's unclear when one will be able to escape it.

Heading south leads to the southernmost part of the continent of Shurima, and also the southernmost part of the entire Runeterra, the boundless Sea of ​​Watchers.

At this point, it seemed that Zuo Chi only had one option: to head east.

After all, although one might encounter void creatures there, there are still remnants of villages remaining.

If we can find humans, the chances of leaving Shurima will be much greater.

Once he identified his target, Zuo Chi didn't hesitate and sped off in that direction.

Chapter 5: Cultists of the Void God!

With the power of ascension, Zuo Chi's speed was extremely fast.

While he may not reach Aatrox's level, he is still far beyond the average person.

Soon, Zuo Chi's vision was no longer filled with yellow sand and endless desert; dark purple earth and a sky filled with rich purple mist began to appear in his eyes.

Walking on the dark purple land of Icathia, Zuo Chi could still faintly hear the roars of beasts coming from the depths of the earth.

Zuo Chi knew that those must be the Void creatures lurking beneath Icathia.

Around Zuochi Pond, there were charred ruins everywhere, and from beginning to end, there were no plants or animals to be seen.

Seeing this, Zuo Chi couldn't help but wonder if his choice was wrong.

In this kind of environment, are there really any humans left?

"You scum of the Void God Cult, even if I die, I'll drag you down with me!"

"You beasts who associate with the void, you all deserve to die!"

Suddenly, Zuo Chi's ears twitched, and he quickly turned his head in a certain direction.

The sound we just heard came from that direction.

Moreover, from this sentence, Zuo Chi could tell that someone seemed to have clashed with the void.

Is it a void creature?

After thinking for a moment, Zuo Chi quickly flew in that direction.

If these people, whom we've finally managed to meet, die at the hands of the void monsters, then Zuo Chi doesn't know how long he'll have to search before he encounters any living people again.

As he passed the rubble of buildings ahead, the scene before him came into view.

There, a group of people dressed in civilian clothes, armed with weapons, were surrounded by several people dressed in dark purple robes.

These people dressed in dark purple robes seemed to possess some kind of void magic, which bound the civilians tightly within them.

The civilians continued to curse these people and tried to fight back with their weapons.

Unfortunately, in the eyes of these purple-robed mages, these commoners were still too weak.

"Everything on this land will return to the void, and the Cult of the Void is invincible!"

"You have trespassed into the territory of the Void God Cult, so become sacrifices to Lord Malzahar!"

As the purple-robed mage spoke, the magical light emanating from his hands grew increasingly intense, instantly plunging the commoners in the middle into immense pain.

On the other side, Zuo Chi was also slightly taken aback when he saw the scene in front of him.

Not void creatures? Instead, they're a group of humans?

Moreover, Zuo Chi also keenly noticed what the purple-robed mage said.

Malzahar

Zuo Chi knew a little about this cult leader who claimed to want the world to embrace emptiness.

Thinking about it this way, everything seems to make sense now.