Soon after, Ionia.
Through Janna's "Bluebird Radio", Levi, who was supervising the land reform work on the front line, finally received good news from Swain and Quiletta:
"Darius, have you decided to surrender anyway?"
“Yes, Levi,” Janna confirmed. “Darius has become the Leader. Perhaps we can no longer call him the Hand of Noxus. Instead, we should call him the future Vice President of the Noxian Leader Association.”
"Now……"
Darius's thought was like a gust of wind, and he suddenly felt the world was vast.
Now he has completely let go of his obsession with the empire and is immersed in enjoying the family happiness that he has never felt before.
With a move of his "Iron Hand of Love", he pulled his long-lost biological children into his arms, holding a little son in his left hand and a little girl in his right hand, and was extremely happy.
I only regret that I have been wandering for half my life and only see the bright future today.
Therefore, when faced with the position of vice president of the Noxian Leaders Association promised to him by Swain, Darius naturally accepted it with pleasure.
Draven was a little overwhelmed.
Since his elder brother Swain and his biological elder brother Darius have both surrendered, he must also surrender.
But his interests and ideal job seem to conflict with the values ​​of the leader.
After investing in Leader, won’t he be unemployed again?
"It doesn't matter." Levi had already prepared a way out for this future glorious executioner: "The leader also needs an executioner."
"Noxus is so huge that there won't even be enough street lamps. How can we still miss out on his job opportunities?"
"It's just that...his way of working needs to be changed. Make the process simpler and more humane, and not too violent."
In fact, the oppressed people today can completely accept this kind of violence. After all, the violence and terror that the vampires are suffering now are ten times or a hundred times more than what they were subjected to in the past.
They hung vampires on street lamps because in the past, the tycoons, alchemist barons, pirates, bandits, warlords and aristocrats used this violent method of hanging on street lamps/masts/city gates to intimidate those who dared to resist.
These are all taught by the masters. No wonder they would follow suit after they turned the tables and use their own methods to fight back.
But Levi has foresight.
He knows that the current group of people support him.
But when the world is at peace in the future, their sons and grandsons may not support them.
Ordinary people who grew up in peacetime cannot tolerate this kind of violence.
Hanging them on street lamps after being shot would scare them.
If Draven, this "joy offender", is allowed to act recklessly and be recorded by writers, the future leader will definitely have a black history that will be criticized by others.
"Moreover, once the enthusiasm of the masses is aroused, it can easily develop in the direction of getting out of control. It is also necessary to prevent the liquidation work from becoming radicalized and expanded." Li Wei did not forget to emphasize this point.
Because the leaders developed too quickly, the number of grassroots cadres in the leaders has been insufficient for a long time since the beginning.
Without enough reliable grassroots cadres, leaders will not be able to lead the grassroots masses smoothly, and the progressive struggle movement may degenerate into a blind action like the ancient peasant uprisings.
At the beginning, they were liquidating the alchemy barons and the chaebol compradors in Zaun, but the out-of-control Zaun people not only took the opportunity to do zero-dollar shopping, but also arrested the small bosses of the hardware shops on the street and the small vendors selling magic frogs on the roadside as "chaebol running dogs."
Now the leaders are trying to carry out land reform in Ionia, and similar chaos occasionally occurs.
In summary:
Out of the needs of united front work, the Leader is willing to reserve a position of "Storm Executioner" for Draven.
But his working method must be more cautious and not too extreme.
As for whether Draven himself is happy or not...
Levi could only say, if you want to do it, do it. If you don’t want to do it, get out.
Even if you don't do it, there are plenty of people who will. What leaders have the most is people who can hang vampires on street lamps.
"With the help of General Darius, the situation in Noxus has become clearer." Levi retracted his scattered thoughts and sighed at the further victory of the Leader.
But his voice was not very excited.
After all, ever since Swain took control of the Immortal Bastion, the balance of victory has begun to tilt towards the leader.
LeBlanc could never have imagined that Swain would betray his country, and could never have imagined that a person would actually give up the position of "Emperor of Noxus" that he had already obtained to pursue his ideals... From this point on, it was impossible for her to turn the tables.
"LeBlanc's failure is inevitable, but..." Levi still looked uneasy.
He knew that after LeBlanc and Black Rose, the Leader would have to face even more terrifying enemies.
"What's the situation in Shurima?" Levi couldn't help but ask Janna.
“I have found Du Kecao Cassiopeia and her mother, Soleana,” Janna replied.
"As you predicted, the mother and daughter seem to be overwhelmed by the recent dramatic changes in the empire's political situation, and have come up with the bold idea of ​​preparing for an adventure to find ancient Shurima relics."
Cassiopeia, sister of Catalina, youngest daughter of Du Kecao, and sister-in-law of Galen.
At the same time, she and her mother are also members of the Black Rose organization, and have been secretly serving the interests of the Black Rose.
In the original world:
Swain will still succeed in launching a coup, and the Black Rose's forces will still suffer a heavy blow.
The temporary loss of power of the Black Rose will stimulate Cassiopeia and her daughter, leading them to make an extremely risky decision - to find and excavate the lost tomb of a mysterious ascendant, and explore the legendary ancient power that can rival .
Then, by chance, Cassiopeia hired Sivir, who was working as a mercenary in Shurima, as a guide.
And this Miss Sivir, nicknamed "The Wheel Mother"... ahem, known as the "Goddess of War" in the martial arts world, happens to be the owner of this tomb, the direct descendant of Azir, the last emperor of Shurima.
Then, [Desert Emperor Azir] was resurrected due to the stimulation of the blood of his descendants, and fortunately completed the ascension ceremony that he could not complete before his death, and became a formal god warrior.
Finally, Azir, who was resurrected with full health and strengthened a hundred times, rebuilt the sun disk with divine power and vowed to make the lost Shurima Empire great again.
The ancient Shurima Empire was reborn.
Following this story, it is not difficult to find that:
"The probability of Azir being resurrected and successfully becoming an Ascended being is actually very low."
"First, we must ensure that Sivir is in the expedition team. Second, Sivir must follow the original script and use her blood to wake up the sleeping Azir."
"And the approximate location of the cemetery is only known by Cassiopeia and her daughter... Even if someone else were to lead the expedition, they might not be able to find Azir's tomb in the vast desert."
If there is even a slight mistake in this process, the direction of the plot may change.
The emergence of the leader has already brought a huge butterfly effect to the world.
Swain launched a coup ahead of schedule, the Ionian War ended prematurely, and the Black Rose suffered an even more fatal blow.
Du Keao did not join Swain, but followed Katarina to surrender directly to the Wind Leader.
Levi couldn't guarantee whether Azir could be resurrected successfully.
"Levi." Janna had also heard Levi say these "prophecies".
Seeing Levi's thoughtful expression, she realized, "You asked me to find Cassiopeia. It seems... you don't want to stop her expedition and stop the resurrection of Emperor Azir?"
"That's right." Levi nodded.
The truth was completely the opposite of what Janna had initially guessed. He wasn't trying to stop Azir from resurrecting, but to help Azir return.
"Why?" Janna didn't understand: "Azir and his Shurima Empire should be our enemies."
Shurima is a slave-based feudal empire, even more reactionary and backward than Noxus.
Azir sounds like a determined Shurima restorer. He doesn't look like a friend of the Windleader.
Not to mention, the Shurima Empire had a feud with Janna more than 3,000 years ago.
Originally, Janna's followers were mainly fishermen and sailors along the coast of Shurima, and her faith flourished along with Shurima's overseas expansion.
But the Shurima Empire destroyed her temple and banned her faith, causing her to gradually fall from the guardian of the wind that roamed the world to a useless bird of Vazuan.
"It's a different time now." Levi said with a smile.
The Shurima Empire has been gone for 3,000 years, and has long been destroyed without leaving any trace.
In those days, Shurima was full of Ascended Ones. There were gods everywhere and demigods were worse than dogs. Goddess Janna had to endure being beaten there and dared not fight back even when her temple was destroyed.
But now Shurima has lost its former glory, and only ruins remain covered in the desert.
The Ascended Ones died, and the sealed ones were sealed. Even if Azir was resurrected, he would never be able to make Shurima great again by himself.
"In fact, in the future that I know of:"
"Even after 10 years, the colonies on the northern coast of Shurima are still firmly controlled by the Noxian Empire."
"Noxus is even capable of maintaining its rule on the northern coast of Shurima while launching a second invasion of Ionia."
This means that Azir’s resurrection is just a lonely resurrection.
He simply has no ability to make Shurima great again.
Apart from anything else, his old enemy Xerath, who had revived with him, was enough to make him extremely anxious.
Not to mention...
"The faith of us Wind Leaders is like a spreading flame, rapidly spreading across Runeterra."
"Last month you were just a 'false god' who could barely rival Vladimir, but this month you have already returned to the state of a demigod. What about next month, and the month after that?"
"We are fully capable of ignoring the threat posed by Azir's resurrection and having an equal dialogue with these Ascendants."
Therefore, Levi was not afraid of the resurrection of the Shurima Empire. On the contrary, he needed Azir to come back to life to enhance the overall strength of the Shurima continent.
The reason is simple:
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Levi knew how dangerous this world was.
Void monsters, undead black fog, rune crisis, Mordekaiser’s resurrection... there are simply too many world-destroying crises that can destroy humanity.
"No matter how reactionary Azir is, he is still a member of our Order-side humans."
Moreover, Livy also knew that he was a progressive emperor who opposed slavery. He might not have been that reactionary.
“It is entirely possible for us to cooperate.”
"If he agrees to cooperate, then we will have a powerful ally when facing future world-destroying crises."
"And if he doesn't agree to cooperate, that's fine..."
To the south of Zaun is Shurima.
To the south of Shurima is Icathia, which has become a hotbed of the Void.
Levi knew that the next round of void invasion would break out here sooner or later.
The resurrected Shurima Empire is a natural strategic buffer between the void explosion site and the Northern Leader.
To put it bluntly:
Regardless of whether Azir votes for the Wind or not, when the Void Crisis breaks out from Icathia, he will be the first to suffer.
At that time, even if he was unwilling to cooperate, he would have to follow the leader and fight to the death for the fate of all mankind.
"I see..." Janna understood Levi's intention.
The enemies that the Leader will have to deal with in the future are too terrifying, and he must do everything possible to get enough powerful helpers for himself.
So Levi welcomed Azir's resurrection and even supported the temporary restoration of the Shurima Empire.
"But..." Janna thought of a more serious question: "If the Shurima Empire is revived, will the people of Shurima suffer more?"
"No. You are wrong, Janna." Levi shook his head.
Janna has been the god of the wind for a long time, so she subconsciously thinks that the slave feudal empire like Shurima is an extremely reactionary and backward historical garbage.
It's not wrong to think so. But the problem is...
"The tribal warlords in Shurima are now more reactionary than the feudal empire !"
After the fall of the Shurima Empire, the civilization of the Shurima continent completely regressed to the primitive slave tribal era.
Those tribal chiefs were both warlords and slave owners.
Even after the invasion of the Noxian Empire, many of them became compradors and running dogs of the Noxians.
"These bugs do nothing all day long but attack each other every day, stealing money, food, and land."
"They sold their fellow countrymen captured in the war to Noxus as slaves, and then took the money, food and weapons they exchanged from Noxus, turned around and provoked more wars, and captured more of their fellow countrymen as goods..."
It would be better to restore the Shurima Empire than to let these insects rule Shurima.
At least, 3,000 years ago in the Shurima Empire, the living standards of the people were much better than they are now.
"That's... true." As a 7,000-year-old comrade, Janna quickly recalled the splendor of the Shurima Empire in the past.
At that time, the Shurima Empire was peaceful and harmonious. Although the civilians did not all live a rich life, they were generally able to eat and drink enough and live a stable life.
Although the lower-class slaves at that time also had a miserable life, but... slavery has not disappeared from Shurima now, right?
Not only did it not disappear, it was also developed and expanded by the Shurima warlords.
When the Shurima Empire existed, slaves only had to serve the Shurima masters. Now they not only have to serve the Shurima masters, but also the Noxian masters in the colonies. Moreover, in this chaotic world of endless fighting, they often starve to death or are killed before they die of exhaustion or illness.
Anyway...if we really compare the bad ones, if the current Shurima tribal warlords take the runner-up, I'm afraid no one in the world can take the championship.
"But..." Janna still had some doubts.
It is true that the Shurima tribal warlords are insects, but the Shurima Empire is just a slightly better insect.
If good insects replace insects, aren’t they still insects?
“Why don’t we just take over Shurima?” Janna asked concernedly.
"Well..." Levi explained slowly.
On the one hand, of course, as mentioned earlier, he needs allies to fight against the apocalyptic crisis and needs the resurrection of Azir.
On the other hand:
"We are still too weak." Levi said.
He was not referring to the weakness of military power, but the weakness of administrative power.
"We have expanded too quickly, and we have been seriously short of cadres. We are only carrying out land reform in Ionia, and we have only tried it in some areas, but we have encountered such great difficulties..."
"Under such circumstances, if we rashly take over the entire Shurima continent, then..."
The grassroots transformation work on the Ionian continent will require at least a few years for the leaders to slowly advance it.
The situation in Shurima is much more difficult and complicated than that in Ionia.
"Ionia is at least still a feudal agricultural society. As long as we manage to break the feudal land ownership system and destroy the backward land-person dependence relationship, we can quickly achieve results in governance and bring a better life to the Ionians."
"But Shurima is still stuck in the tribal era... If we copy the theories and policies of the Wind Leader as they are, it will probably only have the opposite effect."
Shurima's arid climate, barren land and extremely scarce natural resources naturally restrict the development of civilized society.
There is no industry here at all. The combination of improving welfare, labor protection, restricting benzene, and state-owned reform that the leaders implemented in the two cities has no place here.
There is almost no agriculture here, and the policies of land reform and personal liberation implemented by the Leader in Ionia cannot be copied here.
This is still a tribal society.
Each oasis is a tribe, and between oases there is endless desert.
The geographical isolation leads to the isolation of tribal society.
The scarcity of resources forced people to unite into small or medium-sized political entities, namely tribes, based on blood ties and family and clan-based units.
There is not even any personal attachment to the land or to any person here.
In this situation, if the leader comes here to fight the local tyrants and divide the land... then the tribesmen will only wonder why you want to kill their "parents" and then divide their land among them.
"If we mess around there, we might end up doing worse than the Shurima Empire."
"This is just like the Baju tribe we encountered in Bilgewater. If you want to truly liberate them, you must first help them develop their productivity, rather than blindly changing their production relations in an unrealistic way."
Shurima's backward production relations are ultimately determined by its backward productivity.
If the leaders want to transfer the experience of the struggle between agricultural society and industrial society, they must first help others develop agriculture and industry and improve productivity.
“This is not something that can be accomplished overnight.”
"We are currently unable to transform Shurima, or even put an end to the chaos and maintain internal stability in Shurima."
Let alone Shurima, Ionia is still in chaos.
The Noxians withdrew, but the warlords, bandits and local forces that rose up in the anti-Noxian war still exist vigorously in various parts of Ionia.
Although they are destined to perish, this result requires countless leaders to push for it personally.
The Leader doesn't even have enough manpower to pacify Ionia, so how can he be capable of governing another continent?
“So it’s better to revive Azir and let him integrate the chaotic Shurima first.”
It is always easier to deal with an integrated empire than a group of scattered warlords.
It's like...
You can't catch 50,000 pigs in three days.
However, fifty thousand organized imperial soldiers could be wiped out by the leader in just one day.
Similarly, Levi would rather face the Shurima Empire than 100 desert tribes.
"Anyway, we need Azir to be resurrected."
"If he is willing to improve, then we will have a powerful ally."
"He is unwilling to cooperate, and we now have an additional strategic buffer between us and the Void outbreak area, as well as a 'victim' who can help us integrate the Shurima Desert and make it easier for us to take over in the future."
Levi smiled and told of his plans for Shurima's future strategy.
Janna was silent for a while.
"What?" Levi looked at her suddenly serious expression——
Yes. After spending the past year with her, he could read the goddess's mood from Janna's bird face.
"Is there... good news?" Janna said in a complicated tone.
Obviously, she couldn't tell whether this was good news or bad news.
"Levi, perhaps... before facing the void, we have to consider how to solve the problem of the invasion of the underworld."
"What?" Levi looked over in surprise.
Based on his understanding of the plot, the outbreak of the Void Crisis may even precede Mordekaiser.
Because in the "future", even the Void Queen has begun to be active in secret, and there is still no movement from Modkaiser's side.
"But the future has changed." Janna knew that all Levi could predict was the future without the interference of the Leader.
And now...
"I heard the prayers—"
"Prayers from the underworld."
"Huh?" Levi was confused.
Prayers can still be heard from the underworld... Can the dead still provide the power of faith?
"Yes. As long as the soul exists, the faith will not disappear."
The power of faith is transformed from the spiritual power in the human soul.
As for what mental power is specifically, no one can yet clearly explain it.
The scientific community only has various unverifiable conjectures and hypotheses on this issue.
In short, the current mainstream conjectures in the Twin Cities scientific community, represented by Professor Heimerdinger, are:
Whether it is mental power or the power of faith, they are actually magic power, a special form of magic existence.
Scientists speculate that magic is a kind of energy that is widely present in the universe and can be regarded as almost infinite.
Every soul naturally possesses the ability to develop this "infinite energy".
They can draw magic power from all over the universe and store it in the form of spiritual power.
It’s just that ordinary people have smaller reserves, and they don’t have the ability to mobilize the power hidden in their souls.
However, those warriors can, through constant training and exercise, use a mechanism that is currently completely inexplicable in academia to transform their mental power into magic power, inject it into their bodies, strengthen their physical fitness, and even transform it into the so-called "blade light" or "sword energy" that penetrates their bodies.
These sword beams and sword energy are actually magic power.
Mages can rely on their special souls to directly complete the transformation process of absorbing cosmic energy - converting mental power - converting mental power into magic power - and outputting spells to the outside world.
The transformation process of the leader is relatively more complicated:
The soul absorbs cosmic energy - transforms it into mental power - mental power transforms it into faith power - faith power is transformed into magic power through Janna - and finally outputs it outwards.
The human soul here plays the role of a "pump" that draws energy from the universe and a "reservoir" that stores this energy.
The route for warriors and mages is to expand the flow of this "pump" and the storage capacity of the "reservoir" through practice, thereby achieving more powerful output.
Janna's route is to connect countless such "pumps" and "reservoirs" together through faith, condensing them into a vast ocean.
This almost infinite and wonderful energy is widely present in all realms of the universe, including the underworld.
So, even if a person dies:
As long as his soul was still there, his consciousness was still clear, and his faith had not changed, he could still provide Janna with a steady stream of faith. However, this faith would be severely depleted when it penetrated the barrier between the underworld and the human world. If the power was too weak, it would be completely blocked by the barrier.
"And our comrades who sacrificed themselves went to the underworld where Mordekaiser is after death."
"Levi, you know... weak souls will quickly lose consciousness when they reach there, turning into eternally lost souls, and eventually dissipate in the endless fog of the underworld wasteland."
Levi did know this.
Only a very small number of people with strong wills can survive the baptism of the underworld fog and maintain their consciousness and soul.
Modkaiser is the most incredible example of this - this guy not only retained his consciousness in the underworld, but also learned the language and magic of the dead there without any guidance, thus possessing the ability to "penetrate the curtain between different realms" with power.
"Wait..." Levi suddenly had a bad feeling.
Really?
"Yes. We have comrades who went to the underworld where Mordekaiser is. A very small number of them, the leaders among the leaders, relied on their tenacious will to maintain the existence of their souls and consciousness in the underworld wasteland."
"Finally, the power of faith gathered by these people penetrated the veil between different realms and reached the material realm."
“So, I just found out…”
"The Wind Leader Underworld Chapter has been established in Modkaiser's territory."