The world vanished in a flash of blinding light.
A split second later, the massive turbine of her hideout was gone, replaced by the howling, freezing wind of the open skies high above Piltover.
Caught completely off guard while free-falling, Jinx let go of my leg. The wind pushed her skin and hair back, her face frozen in pure shock.
Click-click-click.
I quickly opened the UI and bought an item.
My focus shifted downward and I willed the air to glow. Our fall decelerated smoothly as we stepped onto the solid light.
Jinx dropped to her knees. Stared at the light with like a puzzled, then up at me.
As my item took effect, her fierce demeanor dropped, like a wild flame being brought under control. Her face relaxed and her body went loose. She stood up. Her eyes, now focused and carrying intelligence, stared at me.
'[Knight's Vow] is working fine,' I thought.
This item redirected a portion of the damage from an ally to me.
Jinx's eyes stopped darting around looking for threats and locked onto me.
Stationary, her posture lost all tension, her arms drawing close to her chest like her childhood self, Powder.
"...Axion. Right? That's what you said."
I confirmed with a glance. She observed her surroundings in silence, assessing the situation.
"...It's gone," she muttered, pressing a hand to her temple. "Inside my head. It's quiet. Was that another one of your weird tricks?"
"Yes," I confirmed.
She fixed some loose strands of her hair and said, "Remind me again... what's the prize here? What are you actually after?"
"A huge threat is coming. My goal is to stop it. I need capable people. And I was hoping..." I took a step forward, offering a handshake. "...you would help me."
She remained calm, ignored my hand as she kept her eyes locked on mine.
"You talked about bringing my friends back."
"Yes. That's possible. Just not right now."
Her eyes widened a little, catching a gleam of light. She hesitated, but ultimately gripped my palm.
"Fine. Its not like I have much going on, and I still don't trust you... but you're definitely not boring."
I stretched my lips into a thin, wide grin.
She responded with a weirded-out look.
I wasn't grinning at her, though, but at the blue screen hovering right over her face. In the skill section, a new icon appeared.
I pulled her hand and swirled her into my arms, forcing a hug--
"Ha-Ha! Yes!" I laughed.
--She retaliated immediately, pushing me off.
"Don't touch me! Are you crazy?!"
.
.
We were back at her hideout, and I was sitting in the chair by her workbench. The table was cluttered with gadgets, notes, scribbles, and books.
Jinx stood beside me, watching with a judgmental gaze.
"Testing, you said. Try not to break my things."
"I just need this," I said, grabbing a large, blank schematic paper and unfolding it on the table.
Then picked up a pen and pressed the tip to the center of the paper. Taking a deep breath.
'Jinx's genius. I wonder how that much will change.'
I didn't feel a massive physical change, but an unusual insight came to me everytime I glanced at something. It was as if my brain could effortlessly access years of my brain-internet-data and instantly connecting all dots.
Scribble-scribble.
My wrist began to glide across the paper, the lines quickly forming a heavy, Navy SEAL-like armor suit.
Jinx's eyebrows pressed together in shock.
The Void.
To deal with them, most of my plan revolved around getting stronger and stronger, enough to bend this world's rules even further. The UI skill section was my key; copying talent was the door.
While I was confident in myself and my insane arsenal, I still needed powerful cannon fodder to hold back the voidlings pouring out of those spatial fissures.
Icathia, the deserts of Shurima, the freezing mountains of the Freljord, even the beings beyond Targon's Peak, the celestial at Targon Prime had made the necessity of strong soldiers very clear. They themselves had even resorted to creating Ascended Beings to fight them.
But I don't need Ascended beings. I just needed an army of heavily armored soldiers.
"You're crazier than me," Jinx said, observing the drawing while scratching her chin. "So you need my help building this?"
"Yes. A couple thousand of them."
She leaned forward to inspect the finer details, the muscles in her back and lats tightening with the movement.
"Hmm... Wait—" She snapped her head toward me. "Did you say thousands?!"
"Yes."
She calmed down within seconds, processing the scale of the request.
A deep breath.
"Building one might be doable," She said, "but thousands? What about materials, manpower... do you actually know what you're asking for?"
"Yes, and—"
I grabbed another sheet of paper, drafting a second schematic.
"—this one is basically an automated factory. The machines will do most of the work. We'll still need human supervision for maintenance, but this should solve the manpower issue."
She took the factory schematic, studying it with an eerie calmness. She looked back up at me. "What about the materials?"
"I'll figure that out later. But the blueprints... do you think you can manage a prototype?"
"Please," she rolled her eyes, "Just bring me the sandbox. I'll show you how I build a castle... with bombs."
"Great. I'll come back once I have details sorted out. A year, two at most."
I threw her look,
"Until then... try meditating or something. You're still a bit insane."