The next day, when the desert sun rose into the sky once more, Taliyah’s people had already finished packing everything.
What they had to do next was continue toward the place where Xolan was said to be.
After making arrangements through the night, Zach and Kai’Sa ultimately decided to cross the Sai Kahleek Desert together with Taliyah’s group.
Zach had originally wondered whether he should go back to the village and ask the villagers there.
But after thinking it over, in this crisis-filled desert, the three of them had no way to protect everyone perfectly.
A large number of civilians might very well die in the mouths of Void creatures.
So in the end, Zach abandoned that idea.
At the front of the group, Taliyah stretched lazily.
She reached both hands toward the ground, and a dense, earthy-yellow glow suddenly shone from her palms.
Immediately afterward, an enormous stone platform suddenly appeared beneath everyone’s feet.
Kai’Sa looked at Taliyah in confusion.
“What is this?”
A flash of light appeared in Zach’s eyes.
How had he forgotten this?
Wasn’t this Taliyah’s passive from the game in his previous life, Rock Surfing?
In the next instant, under Taliyah’s control, the huge stone platform lifted everyone up and rushed forward at high speed.
On the platform, Taliyah constantly waved her arms, and countless Weaver’s Walls rose from the yellow sand, carrying the massive stone forward like a relay as it slid ahead.
Looking at everything happening before her, Kai’Sa could not help feeling a little surprised.
After all, if they could keep traveling like this, not only would their speed be very fast, even the level of danger would drop by a great deal.
But very soon, Taliyah proved to Kai’Sa through action that maintaining this state the entire time was still somewhat difficult.
Following Kai’Sa’s guidance, the group sped through the Shuriman desert.
At this moment, they had already entered the heart of the Sai Kahleek Desert.
Zach could even faintly hear the roars of massive beasts coming from the yellow sand beneath the stone platform.
It was also at this moment that the stone platform suddenly trembled violently, causing everyone standing on it to stagger.
After that, under Taliyah’s somewhat embarrassed gaze, the stone platform swayed unsteadily as it fell downward, finally crashing into the yellow sand.
And just like that, in the heart of the Sai Kahleek Desert, the group crash-landed.
Taliyah scratched her head, her eyes full of apology as she looked at Zach and Kai’Sa.
“My magic still isn’t enough to support me across the entire desert.
This is as far as I can take us.”
At this moment, when Zach looked at Taliyah, flames seemed to start burning in his eyes.
Taliyah’s ability to manipulate stone so freely made Zach think of someone else.
That’s right, it was Azir, the one Taliyah had saddled with that huge false accusation.
With his ability to control sand, along with the support of Ascended power, Azir could create countless sand soldiers for his own use in an instant.
That was the very foundation of Azir’s strength.
And now, Taliyah had an ability extremely similar to Azir’s!
It was just that her magic reserves were too thin, so for the moment, she could not fully bring out the effects of her stone magic.
But Zach himself was different!
He also had the support of Ascended power!
If he could obtain Taliyah’s ability, then his combat power would rise by another huge leap.
As soon as he thought of this, the way Zach looked at Taliyah became stranger and stranger.
When Taliyah noticed Zach’s gaze, she hugged her chest with both arms and took a step back.
“Zach… your eyes are really weird!”
Kai’Sa also looked at Zach with a suspicious expression, her amethyst eyes full of questions.
“Ahem!”
Zach coughed lightly, then walked to Taliyah with a serious expression.
Then, under everyone’s confused gazes, Zach asked in a deep voice, “Taliyah, what is your dream?”
Taliyah: “…”
Kai’Sa: “…”
Taliyah’s people: “…”
The moment Zach asked that question, everyone present looked completely baffled.
They even wanted to touch Zach’s forehead to see if he had a fever.
As for Zach, the corners of his mouth twitched twice.
Right now, he only wanted to say one thing.
Why was his cheat ability this weird?
He had to help people fulfill their dreams before he could get a reward!
This feeling of chasing after someone and asking what their dream was truly made Zach want to crawl into a hole in the sand and never come out.
It was not only torture for Zach, it was torture for the person being asked too!
However, Taliyah eventually said firmly, “My dream right now is to lead my people to a place suitable for them to live!”
The host can help Taliyah fulfill her dream and choose one of Taliyah’s abilities or traits!
The instant Taliyah finished speaking, that familiar line of pale blue text appeared in front of Zach!
“Time is tight!”
“Uh…”
Taliyah looked at Zach, not quite understanding why he had suddenly become so excited.
However, they truly could not afford to drag things out any longer.
They had to leave this place as soon as possible.
They had not forgotten that the place they were in right now was the heart of the Sai Kahleek Desert.
“Shhh.”
Suddenly, just as Zach and the others were preparing to continue forward, the faint sound of shifting sand rang in his ears.
Zach’s brows furrowed sharply, and Ascended power extended along his arms into his hands.
With just a thought, the surging Ascended power could directly crush any Void creature that appeared before him.
“Roar!”
In the next instant, an incredibly savage, bloodstained maw burst out of the yellow sand.
Gleaming claws charged together with that huge mouth toward the right side of the group.
Faced with this sudden danger, Taliyah’s people had almost no ability to resist.
They could only watch helplessly as the nearly five-meter-long beast rushed right in front of them.
But at that very moment, Kai’Sa, who was beside Zach, suddenly pulled Zach behind her.
“It’s a Xer’Sai.
Make sure you protect yourself!”
After leaving those words behind, Kai’Sa turned into a streak of light and rushed toward that Xer’Sai.
When Zach saw the monster in front of him, a very familiar figure suddenly appeared in his mind.
A blue-purple body, a head covered in black armor, and a massive mouth filled with vicious fangs.
It was just that the Void monster before him was much smaller.
Only five meters long.
Zach also noticed the name Xer’Sai.
Xer’Sai… Rek’Sai!
He had heard that Rek’Sai was a queen before.
So she was the queen of the Xer’Sai?
He becomes connected to Silco’s side, gains a Skin Master System, and uses League skin-based weapons, tech, armor, and abilities to change the fate of Zaun.
Instead of letting Arcane’s tragedies play out exactly the same way, Felix tries to protect the people around him, especially Powder/Jinx, and push Zaun toward open rebellion against Piltover.
The story starts with the Piltover-Zaun conflict, then expands into the wider Runeterra setting: Noxus’s invasion of Ionia, Demacia’s internal conflict, the Freljord, Shurima, the Void, and eventually the Ruination/Shadow Isles plotline.