"Governor Caleb, even if you want to leave now, you still have to wait until there's a suitable acting governor."
Cassandra's words could not have sounded more sincere. Zaun with Caleb and Zaun without Caleb were practically two different cities. Even Zaun without Caleb was really only developing according to the blueprint Caleb had laid out.
"Before a suitable acting governor is chosen, you cannot leave."
Mel's expression was serious too. As the ruler of a city, staying inside that city was only natural. Before, Heimerdinger had needed to send that little demolition maniac back to Bandle City, but this was about Caleb's own travels. The councilors had already worried about this issue before. What if Caleb left again and simply never came back?
After walking out of the council chamber, Caleb fell into deep thought. Thinking back to that piece of petricite, could Tahm Kench's visit this time have had something to do with Demacia? Petricite was a Demacian specialty. Even if Tahm Kench had wanted to hide his identity, would it not have been better to use bright, shiny coins instead? Why pretend to be someone from Demacia just to prey on Ekko's greed? Was it purely to disguise himself? Even if he only manipulated the gamblers of Zaun, that would still be enough for Tahm Kench to eat his fill. Was there really any need to specially dig out a piece of petricite and coax Ekko into handing over that iron sword?
Ekko's power truly was miraculous, worthy of his title as the Boy Savior. The Z-Drive could reverse, stop, and even cut away part of time, giving Ekko the ability to control the battlefield and blink through it. But with Ekko's body and offensive power, at most, he could only hold off a powerful opponent. And without question, the stronger the enemy was, the more likely they would be able to kill Ekko.
Swain had appeared when Caleb had not expected it. Then Tahm Kench had appeared too. Even that nightmare Caleb had before, he suspected someone might have been pulling the strings behind it. There were still far too many things about this world that Caleb had not figured out.
"What a shame. My system really is one hell of a rip-off..."
Walking down the road, Caleb looked like a wandering corpse, absent-minded and distracted. Fortunately, the people of the Undercity all knew him, so they basically kept out of his way. Caleb's own body had improved a great deal as well, and he instinctively avoided some of Zaun's more dangerous terrain.
Back in his office, Caleb let out a long breath and slowly opened his book.
"I've covered elemental magic, optics, and fire... Let me see if I should learn something else..."
He flipped farther through the book, and the runes made Caleb's head ache.
"I can only say my talent for magic is painfully ordinary."
Even after the system had improved his ability to learn magic, Caleb still could not quite grasp the true essence of magic. In the end, this thing fundamentally depended on talent. The stronger one's comprehension of a certain rune was, the more freely one could use magic. Caleb's magic was essentially just memorizing formulas by brute force and then using them in battle.
For Taliyah, using stone magic was as simple as dancing. If Taliyah was an elegant dancer, then Caleb was more like someone following a stiff, standardized gym-class routine, doing everything exactly according to the model. He still preferred life-or-death fights where fists hit flesh and blades drew blood. Those made Caleb feel a little more at ease.
"My emperor commands!"
The spear on Caleb's back began to twitch uneasily, and Caleb, being considerate, laid it flat on the table.
"Sorry. I can't keep accompanying you."
Although Yaanogel had been in a dormant state, it had still drawn quite a bit of Caleb's blood. That was how it had reconstructed the eye and hand that had helped Caleb so much. After working together for so many days, the two of them could sometimes almost understand each other without words. Still, Caleb knew that no matter how well he and Yaanogel got along, the goals they worked toward were different after all.
"Do you need my help?"
An ethereal voice sounded. It was Janna.
"Honestly, throwing this spear all the way to Shurima really would be asking a lot of me."
The bluebird bracelet on Caleb's wrist gave off a faint glow, and wisps of blue spirit wind lifted Yaanogel into the air.
"The road is long. We'll meet again!"
At the moment of parting, neither of them said much. With a sharp rush of wind, the living weapon that made up Yaanogel flew out the window.
"Now I don't even have a lifesaving charm if I go to the Freljord."
Caleb's face was full of worry as he bitterly thought through what to do next. That World Rune was powerful enough, but Caleb did not know exactly how powerful it was. He had only just returned from the scorching desert, and in the blink of an eye, he had to go to the cold, bitter snowy mountains.
Caleb had no choice. Before that, he still had to choose someone who could act on his behalf in Zaun's affairs. Otherwise, with the council's personality, they would probably cling to his leg without the slightest hesitation and refuse to let him leave.
Well, they were politicians. That was how politicians were.
There was also the Mecha Project coming up next. Without the computing power of a computer, even using the full strength of the Twin Cities, it would be difficult to build such a magnificent Mecha suit. Oh, if Heimerdinger slowly tinkered with it on his own, he probably could make a Hextech T-Rex. But that thing's practical value would be far too poor.
Caleb had seen Heimerdinger's concept. For that kind of long-lived being, a few short decades were nothing more than the blink of an eye. They could wait. After all, that amount of time was no different from taking a nap to them. But what if disaster came in a few decades, or even a dozen years, or just a few years?
Those long-lived beings would probably hide inside Bandle City and never ask about worldly affairs again. Then, once the disaster had passed and people stood back up from the ruins, they would come over with fake sympathy and put on an act of concern.
Caleb disliked that sort of mentality, but if he were a long-lived being himself, he might end up the same way. Ten thousand years and one year were not all that different, so there was not much distinction between morning and night. But for people who could not be sure whether they would even see tomorrow's sun, all they could do was work hard, then work even harder.
Was Heimerdinger's caution wrong? Not necessarily. But to Caleb, that mindset only applied to Bandle City itself. The technological explosion that should have appeared had been smothered before its spark could catch, and that had indeed avoided some risks. But at the same time, it had also strangled life.
Caleb understood that the crises to come would not care whether he wanted them to happen or not. The Void would pry open the Fissures. The Black Mist would cover the earth. Even among the stars, no one knew when that great being would vent its wrath upon these mortal creatures.
Those who fail to plan ahead will soon face trouble close at hand, but for Caleb, these were not distant worries. These were disasters that would truly happen in the future.
Caleb did not merely want to survive. He wanted to bring more people with him and let them survive too. Caleb could not ignore the lives of the people around him and simply watch them die. So even if the system's mission this time was this absurd, he still had to make the Freljord unite!
The thought was bold and heroic, but the moment he thought of those three demigods in the Freljord, Caleb's face fell bitterly.
Compared with Zaun, and even Shurima, the people of the Freljord were far fiercer. They could rival Noxus in that regard. On top of that, because of the bitter cold climate of the snowy mountains, the people there basically did not take part in production and lived only by hunting and raiding. In that kind of environment, if one tribe ran out of food, they would naturally turn their attention to other tribes.
Compared with the Zaun Caleb had first arrived in, a powder keg on the verge of war with the city above, the Freljord would actually be far more troublesome.
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