Yordle

As I slowly regained consciousness, I felt my body swaying uncontrollably. Besides the noisy crowd, there was the sound of wind whistling and water splashing. Was I on a boat?

I opened my eyes and was immediately blinded by the glaring sunlight. I quickly covered my eyes with my hand and sat up.

The azure sky and sea met in the distance. I was sailing through the waves, heading towards the gap between the sky and the sea. That's right, this was a cruise ship!

"You're finally awake. I told you you were still alive; they almost threw you into the sea."

Beside me, a little fatty kept staring at me. She was short, with a rare light blue skin tone, large round eyes, pointed ears, and two big pigtails.

I recognized her immediately—Poppy!

"Thank you. Where is this?"

"This is the Sea of the Watcher. We're sailing from Demacia to Ionia. Someone found you on deck early this morning. They initially thought you were a drunkard who had too much to drink, but you wouldn't wake up. Later, they felt your chest and found your heart had stopped. The captain ordered you to be thrown overboard, but I stopped them because I could sense your life force. And look, you're awake now! My name is Poppy, and yours?"

"Zhao Xin. Thank you again."

Poppy was very talkative and explained the whole situation in one breath. I didn't know what LeBlanc had done or why I was on a ship sailing from Demacia to Ionia, but she had indeed let me go.

I wondered how Darius and the others were doing. I clearly remembered in the background story that their coup had succeeded, so why did it turn out like this? LeBlanc's actions were particularly puzzling. It seemed not everything was going according to plan.

With a multitude of questions and the relief of surviving, my current mood was similar to when I woke up in the arena. Only this time, I hadn't died, nor had I become someone else.

I touched my waist and found that Fiora's spear and dagger were still there, which put me at ease.

"How did you get here?" Poppy asked.

"I was transferred here by a mage from the Immortal Fortress. Probably some kind of teleportation magic."

"The Immortal Fortress? The capital of Noxus, that's quite far!"

"No matter how far, I have to go back. It's just... I don't know how to defeat that mage."

I wanted to go back and let Riven know I was safe. She must have been worried sick after such a major event. But after returning, I would definitely have to help Darius. Thinking about LeBlanc's methods, I truly didn't know what to do.

"A mage? What's her name? Maybe I can help you."

I looked at Poppy. Her innocent expression suggested she wasn't joking, but how could such a small Yordle help me?

"Her name is LeBlanc. She's an old hag who's lived for hundreds of years."

"Oh? Lived for hundreds of years?" Poppy fell into thought. After a moment, she said, "I remember Kled is in Noxus. He must know her."

"Kled knows her?" I was surprised.

According to LeBlanc, no one had seen her true face for hundreds of years. How could Kled know her? But what Poppy said next surprised me even more:

"I heard it from Elder Chieftain Antiquit. Kled was fighting in the Noxian region over eight hundred years ago. Back then, the Empire hadn't been established yet; there were only independent city-states. Later, he helped the first Noxian Emperor establish the Empire, so I guess he must know something about LeBlanc."

"Kled is over eight hundred years old?"

"No, calculated your way, he should be around three thousand years old."

Three thousand years old!

I was very surprised. I couldn't believe there were people who lived so long, even for a Yordle, it was too exaggerated. In my previous world, that was almost the entire course of human civilization.

But what good would knowing LeBlanc do...

I briefly explained the battle situation to Poppy. Besides Kled, including myself, Darius, Draven, Swain, Talon, and several other elites, we hadn't won. Would recognizing her help find a weakness?

"Recognizing her won't help at all. Your chances of winning are still slim, but with me, it's different!"

Poppy's words brought me some surprise: "Do you have a way to deal with her?"

"Uh... I don't. But the person I'm looking for does. He's a true hero, and any magic is useless before him. As long as you can help me find him, we can ask him to help!"

"Who are you looking for? I'll definitely help!"

"He's a great hero of Demacia. I've been looking for him, but I haven't found him. Finally, I asked the elders of the Tabor family to divine for me. They said that great hero has been wandering and is heading to Ionia."

"How do we find him? Are there any characteristics? Ionia is not a small continent; searching blindly might mean never finding him. Well, in my lifetime. By the way, how old are you? You're not thousands of years old, are you?"

"No, no, I'm still young, only over six hundred years old. Finding this great hero isn't difficult because he is righteous and brave. Wherever dark magic is rampant, he will appear. When we get to Ionia, we can just ask around."

"Six hundred years old... Are all Yordles this powerful?"

"Powerful? If by powerful you mean killing people, then I think Yordles are indeed very powerful. But we don't need to compete with other races. Time will kill them."

"So willful. If Yordles are so strong, why don't they conquer the world?"

"Why conquer the world? Don't think all Yordles are like Kled; he's an anomaly. And he doesn't want to conquer the world; he just likes to fight. Our world has no wars, which is why he's so attached to this one."

"Your world? Don't you live in Runeterra?"

"I can't tell you that. The Chieftain doesn't allow us to reveal anything about our homeland. You just need to know that Yordles live for their own interests."

"Then what are your interests?"

"My interests? I'm not too sure either. Right now, I just want to fulfill my friend's last wish and give his Warhammer to a true hero. I value this friendship greatly. Perhaps that's my interest."

Living for one's own interests? No wars? What kind of world was that? I couldn't imagine. If I had the chance to visit, it would surely be an unforgettable experience.

At that moment, I suddenly remembered that when I was hit by the motorcycle, besides my family, a blue face flashed in my mind—Tristana.

At the time, I didn't understand what was happening, and my experiences in this world left me no time to think. Now was a good opportunity to ask Poppy:

"By the way, Poppy, do you know Tristana? She's a Yordle like you."

"Tristana? I'm not sure. She's probably just a kid who's come into being recently. I haven't been back in over three hundred years, so I'm not really sure if there have been any new members."

"Come into being?"

"Huh? Didn't I tell you? Yordles aren't born like you humans. They're born from The Will of the Yordles..."

Poppy and I chatted until evening. Besides talking about our homeland, she told me many things about the Yordles that completely overturned my previous understanding.

Simply put, Yordles naturally form under certain conditions, like embodiments of some kind of "interest." The phenomenon and conditions that cause them to be born are called "The Will of the Yordles," and to this day, no one knows what The Will of the Yordles truly is.

Although they are embodiments of interest, Yordles are also flesh and blood. Sometimes hundreds or thousands of years pass without one being born. Once they appear, they basically don't die and are all very powerful.

According to Poppy, the oldest Yordles are almost as old as Runeterra itself. For example, their clan leader, Antiquit, is so old that even she can't remember her exact age, which is in the tens of billions of years.

It's a shame she didn't know anything about Tristana. If I have the chance to meet her in the future, it might unlock the mystery of how I came to this world.