The Legend of Hearth-Home

Huosu directly asked about Tamu's strength. In fact, I was also very curious. ◦•●◉✿ ➅➈ ✿◉●•◦

In all the time I've known him, I've only seen him fight once, when we were fighting the Shadow Isles undead together.

However, at that time he only devoured it with his mouth and did not show any other strength. Now, when Huo Su asked him a question, he showed his signature smile:

"Hehe, I'm not good at fighting, strength is irrelevant, I'm just reminding you out of good intentions."

"Then stop pressuring others. Sivir is a kind person, and whatever choice she makes is her freedom. Even if we encounter danger in the future, it's because we're not strong enough. You can't blame her, can you?"

"It's good that you recognize this, but this battle is different from the past; you must rely on forces outside of yourselves."

"We can't put that much pressure on Sivir!"

Huo Su kept speaking to Sivir; although they hadn't spent much time together, they had a good relationship.

Sivir heard Huo Su's increasingly agitated tone, a resolute expression appeared on her face:

"Alright, stop arguing. If the Vastaya can never become Ascended again, I will kill them with my own hands, for their former glory!"

After she finished speaking Sivir picked up her plate and started eating heartily. I felt a pang of sadness, but I didn't say anything and just ate a few mouthfuls of rice as well.

The dinner ended in a subtle atmosphere. After eating, we all went back to our rooms to rest. Tam left the bed for me again and sat in the rocking chair, rocking back and forth.

"Tell me about the Hearth-Home." I like quiet, but I don't like silence. Since I can't fall asleep anytime soon, it'll be nice to hear Tam tell me a story.

"Hearth-Home, huh? That's a wonderful place..."

According to Tam, he was the only outsider to set foot in the Hearth-Home in hundreds of years. He got lost in the area and was later found by Huo Su's father, Gugunir. The two fought a fierce battle and then became friends.

Gugunir took Tam on a tour of Hearth-Home for a few days and invited him to stay. Tam declined, as he didn't like staying in one place for long. However, during those few days of travel, he learned a great deal about Hearth-Home and was deeply impressed by it.

Hearth-Home is located in the far north, even further north than Howling Abyss. Unlike the icy world of Freljord, it is a place where birds sing and flowers bloom.

It sounds incredible that some hardy plants can grow in the basins of southern Freljord, but beyond Frosthold and the Laos River, it's all ice and snow, which seems completely unrelated to birdsong and fragrant flowers. But that's exactly what Hearth-Home is like.

Hearth-Home is surrounded by mountains, unlike ordinary mountain ranges. These mountains are all volcanoes, and they are high and steep, which insulates the area from the harsh northern winds.

These factors make the central region very warm, hence the name "Luxiang" (Hearth-Home), meaning "the land of furnaces amidst ice and snow."

Due to the violent collision of cold and warm air masses, it often snows in Hearth-Home, but the snowflakes can only fall on the mountains and turn into rain when they reach the lower areas, so the area is often drizzly.

Whether it's sunny or rainy, the scenery in Hearth-Home is beautiful, like a masterpiece of the gods.

The area of Hearth-Home is vast, but the number of its People of Furnace Village is not large, and their residences are very scattered. During his many days of travel, Tam only saw a dozen or so people.

This closed environment has made the People of Furnace Village very simple and honest, but like the restless volcanoes around them, they are also very passionate and warlike, as can be seen from Huo Su.

Their totem is the giant fire ram, also known as Ornn, the ancient god of Freljord.

The Avarosa tribe also worships Ornn they regard as the god of fire and mountains, but in Hearth-Home, Ornn is the god of forging.

The forging techniques in Hearth-Home are exquisite. The People of Furnace Village are most proud of two things: martial arts competitions and weapon competitions.

The People of Furnace Village are all very powerful, and their contests generally go through three stages: exchanging blows to test their martial arts skills, using the Giant Sheep Power, and fully unleashing the power of the giant sheep.

Sometimes this release of power is not intentional, but rather unconsciously released as the battle continues to deepen, such as when anger cannot be suppressed or when danger is encountered.

Take Huo Su for example. When I was about to defeat her, she suddenly used the Giant Sheep Power, forcing me back. This was something she released on her own initiative.

However, during yesterday's competition, when A Bing grabbed her by the neck, she automatically unleashed her power in the face of death. Later, she even transformed into a giant sheep out of anger and beat up several Teacher.

This power comes from one's bloodline, not from cultivation. To avoid losing control due to anger, the People of Furnace Village place great importance on manners.

This is also why Huo Su immediately backed down when Tam criticized her for her volatile temper yesterday.

Weapon comparisons are quite simple; the most obvious factor is appearance, while quality is what matters in a duel.

The weapons crafted by the People of Furnace Village are all of the highest quality, sharp and durable, and imbued with a unique fiery aura.

Such weapons have a significant drawback: their production speed is too slow. It takes several months to complete an ordinary weapon, while better ones can take years, decades, or even a lifetime.

Hearing this reminded me of Jergente again. He initially approached Fiora by virtue of his status as a master swordsmith. It was the same situation when I asked him to help me create Nullifying Weapon, because the process was too slow and I had to ask someone else for help.

Tam doesn't know the People of Furnace Village, because even the People of Furnace Village themselves don't know. The most widespread local story is that Ornn created them and gave them this bloodline, but no one has ever seen Ornn.

Over countless years of growth and reproduction, the People of Furnace Village rarely ventured into the outside world. Those who did occasionally go out to explore all disappeared and never returned.

Perhaps they encountered danger, or perhaps they couldn't find their way back. After all, that place is like a paradise, hard to find. I wonder what happened to Huo Su and Jergente.

I don't know what happened after that, because I was so sleepy that I fell asleep. When I opened my eyes, it was already dawn.

"You're just like a little kid, getting sleepy even while listening to a story," Tam teased me.

"It seems I know quite a bit about Hearth-Home and its People of Furnace Village."

"Hehe, now that you're awake, let's set off!"

"Remember to bring plenty of gold coins; those two won't be easy to deal with." Thinking about how much money Huo Su and Sivir spent, I still felt a lingering fear.

After waking the two of them, we set off. With Tam with us, we didn't even need a portal; he just opened his Kog'Maw and we were there.

This was my first time putting something into his mouth, and it wasn't as disgusting as I had imagined. Instead, it felt like another dimension, and it was actually quite comfortable.