I decided to start calling heroes champions, because “heroes” just sound weird when talking about LoL. I haven’t done it before because the raw says “heroes”, but I suppose that’s how are they called over there in china.
This isn’t China, so they are champions.
Chapter 6 – Dalaman · Lafayette Lille
“I must become stronger! Definitely!” A burning flame rose in Lin Ling’s heart as he looked deeply at Annie.
“So, before big brother is able to protect me, let me protect big brother. But when big brother becomes stronger, you must protect Annie!” With a serious face, Annie said while moving her index finger trying to look like an adult scolding a child.
Annie has an unusually good impression of Lin Ling after knowing him for just one day. She didn’t even hesitate to give him the runic weapon her parents gifted her. Maybe this was fate.
“Yes, I will become stronger! And then, I won’t let you suffer from any harm!” The words that Annie spoke echoed inside of his head. Lin Ling’s felt warm in his heart as a smile took form on his face.
The Twisted Treeline is still quite a mystery to most people. The forest itself is located north of the Ironspike Mountains in a large expanse nestled between the city-state of Zaun and one of the major passes that connect Noxus with the northern reaches of Valoran. It is one of the few remaining forests near Zaun that has not been exploited for natural resources. The misuse of magic, mainly from Zaun but also from the numerous battles fought here during the various Rune Wars has warped the verdant environment of the Twisted Treeline into a terrain with a bizarre, alien-visage.
Annie came to the Twisted Treeline just to kill some time because she was getting bored at home. Never would she have thought she would encounter Lin Ling, who has just crossed to Runaterra.
As the youngest champion of the league, Annie’s potential was very great. Because the conflicts between countries were getting fewer and fewer, disputes were often solved by summoners, who would summon and manipulate champions to attain victory. In this way, each country can attack the enemy without losing a single soldier, and at the same time increase the combat ability of their champions and summoners.
On the surface there is peace in Valoran, but behind that facade, small skirmishes between two or more opposing factions take place.
Runaterra is a very special world. The magic of almost all magicians here is based on rune magic. Of course, there exist few magicians who have created new paths for themselves. The evolution of magic is ever-changing. Here, magic is not just a mysterious concept but a materialized substance that can be guided, shaped, and manipulated. The magic of Runaterra is ruled by its own laws, and the random changes in the ecosystem are a direct consequence of this laws manifesting themselves in physical phenomena.
As long as you come to this world, even a God will temporarily lose its divinity (as is the case with Kayle the Adjudicator), and the lost divinity will be temporarily sealed in the magical system of the League of Legends. It cannot be lost, and it cannot be stolen. It can only be used again if its godly owner were to retrieve it.
Once you hear the summoner’s call and get summoned to Runaterra, you will temporarily lose your divine powers. This is the only way you can join the League of Legends.
In a sense, this magic system is like an artificial intelligence, and its power is greater than those of the gods.
The Institute of War is the place where the League oversee the political disputes in Valoran. This is an absolute neutral territory, and any disputes are forbidden. Here is the gathering place of the most powerful summoners in the continent. The institute is located on a giant crystal hinge and is made of obsidian and many others precious magic metals. It is located at the north entrance of the Mongron Pass, and it is placed right between the mutually antagonistic city-states of Demacia and Noxus.
Inside of a very luxurious room, there were numerous bookshelves filled to the brim with books. This entire room was full of magic books, and just the sight of it would make anyone stop for a while with the urge to read.
These books are the treasures of the Institute of War, and except for the leader of the institute, no one else is qualified to have contact with these precious books.
An old man with a long white beard stroke his chin as he looked at the crystal ball in his hand. His eyes revealed a puzzled color: “I had obviously sensed the signs in the sky five days ago. This is clearly another champion. I have already determined he should have appeared on the outskirts of the Twisted Treeline, but why can’t I find any more information?”
If you have insightful eyes, you will find that in the sky over the Twisted Treeline there was a giant eyeball constantly sweeping the ground with its gaze. This is a renowned summoner spell, clairvoyance.
Different from the game, the spell can not only be used as support in the battles between the champions of the league, but also can be used to explore any area in the mainland that is not covered by powerful protective magic.
If you can display clairvoyance to have a view of an area thousands of meters apart like this old man, then that means you are a really powerful summoner!
This old man is the grandmaster class summoner at the Institute of War, Dalaman Lafayette Lille. He is one of the few existing Grandmaster Summoners in Valoran.
Each Grandmaster Summoner represents a humungous organization, included countries.
The precondition to become a summoner is to become a magician first, and only those qualified wizards can try to become a summoner.
Summoners are classified in the following ranks:
Elementary Summoner, Intermediate Summoner, Advanced Summoner, Master Summoner, Grandmaster Summoner, Great Grandmaster Summoner, and lastly, God Summoner.
The last summoner ranks are only considered a myth. Since the tremendous changes that has undergone the continent a thousand years ago, there have never appeared new summoners above Master level. Over time, Grandmaster summoners became the most powerful summoners in the world.
Each Grandmaster Summoner can not only use his summoner spells with ease, but they also can manipulate powerful magic. All of them are extremely powerful wizards, and even if their power cannot compare to those champions who specialize in magic, with the addition of summoner spells they do not fall short.
(I must emphasize that in this world, a summoner can only have two summoner spells normally. Only a small number of geniuses can have 3 or 4 summoner spells. Similarly, as long as they go up in rank, their summoner spells become increasingly powerful. The summoner spells are obtained when a wizard successfully becomes a summoner, and these spells can never be changed. Summoner spells cannot be selected nor changed, and the type of spell you can get depends entirely on luck.)
Oldman Dalaman smiled a little, and his face was full of playfulness. “Strange, there exist a champion that even I cannot detect. Ohoho, when those fellows learn of the existence of this mysterious champion they will surely fight to win him over.”
Finally we are starting to get an overview of the world in this chapter, and it also marks the beggining of our MC's search for strenght.