Walking through the bustling market, Ryze's deep blue skin drew some attention, but not many people paid it much mind. After all, Ionia was the birthplace of the Vastaya. Let alone different skin colors, people who looked like literal beasts could be found everywhere here. This was especially true for Fae'lor, a hub for scholars from all over the world. Many people plagued by dark magic would come here seeking a cure. Such magical corruption often left highly visible marks on the body.
Changing skin color was just the most basic manifestation; growing plants or extra limbs from one's body was no longer enough to surprise the locals.
Because of this, even though the prolonged Rune Wars were raging in the outside world, whenever Ryze had a moment of downtime, he was still willing to come here to live for a while and experience this hard-won tranquility.
"One whitefish, please scale it for me." Ryze handed a few pieces of essence to the Vastayan vendor in front of him. The vendor was a male Marai; his body looked more robust than an ordinary human's and was covered in a layer of smooth, tough scales.
Outside of Ionia, Marai were extremely rare. Male Marai were one thing, but because the upper bodies of female Marai possessed more human traits than their male counterparts, their appearance perfectly fit the definition of beauty for ninety percent of the people in this world. Coupled with the fact that Marai mostly dwelled in the deep sea, their rarity made them highly valuable. To many slavers, sea merchants, and pirates, Marai were walking piles of gold and silver.
Even male Marai rarely showed their faces on the continents of Valoran and Shurima. But in Ionia, Marai were treated almost no differently from ordinary humans and could move about freely.
Now, hearing Ryze's request, the Marai nodded. He quickly and cleanly processed the whitefish, skewered it with dry straw, and handed it over. This gave Ryze a slight sense of anticipation for his dinner. No matter how many times he visited Ionia, Ryze would always utter the same marvels and praises for the food nurtured by its soil and water.
Those Yordles were indeed right; Ionian food, especially its seafood, was absolutely among the highest quality delicacies in all of Runeterra. At least, even after traveling across most of Runeterra and even visiting forbidden zones considered the absolute edge of civilization—like the Freljord—Ryze hadn't found many places whose food could rival Ionia's in quality.
And... in this terrifying era where World Runes could erupt at any moment due to human anger or greed, places like Ionia that revered tranquility were truly rare... perhaps, Ionia was the only one left.
While Ryze was lost in thought, he suddenly felt a strange sensation from behind. Puzzled, he turned his gaze backward. Entering his sight was a graceful young girl wearing a black traditional Ionian dress, looking as exquisite as a fairy, yet radiating an inexplicable, dark aura. Beside her was a young man with black hair and eyes like dark jade, dressed in a traditional Ionian martial artist's outfit, though nothing else seemed special about him... perhaps a brother and sister?
Ryze subconsciously thought this, but his gaze fell upon Faen, because Faen was currently staring at him openly and sizing him up.
This caught Ryze's attention. Without much hesitation, he walked straight up to Faen and said, "Why do you keep staring at me?"
"I'm just a little curious as to why the Rune Mage, Ryze, would appear in a place like this." Hearing Ryze's question, Faen didn't hide his surprise, saying with a hint of astonishment: "The outside world should be in the era of the Rune Wars right now, shouldn't it? Logically speaking, you should be busy running around trying to clean up the mess that guy Viego caused... How do you have the time to be here?"
As he spoke, Faen pointed at the whitefish in Ryze's hand.
"From the looks of it, you're even planning to enjoy a nice lunch~"
Although the phrasing sounded like he was urging Ryze to get back to his "mission" and "important business," Faen's tone was quite humorous. Even though it was their first meeting, Ryze could feel the scrutiny in the other party's tone.
To be honest, this left Ryze feeling a bit baffled. Who is this guy? Joking around with me right off the bat? Shouldn't he at least introduce himself first?
It was no wonder Faen teased Ryze like this. It was truly because, in most of the lore, Ryze gave off the impression of being far too tense. In the game, he also had many specific voice lines like, "Hurry up, hurry up." Although he wasn't like Kennen, who spoke as if punctuation marks didn't exist to help him pause, suddenly seeing Ryze leisurely enjoying life made it hard to connect this incredibly relaxed and easygoing blue-skinned old man with the lore-accurate blue-skinned mage who hastily sprinted across every corner of Runeterra dealing with massive crises every day.
Though slightly surprised by Faen's words, Ryze wasn't stupid. At this stage, Ryze hadn't yet become the man he would be in the future; he was also still very young. Although he was no longer the inexperienced youth from the start of the Rune Wars, at most, only about a hundred years had passed. He hadn't yet developed the rigidity and dullness that would come from accumulating endless, tragic experiences later on. Of course, even so, having run around dealing with World Runes for a century, Ryze had already accumulated outstanding observational skills.
So, hearing Faen's words, Ryze was initially confused, but in the very next moment, he caught the anomaly in Faen's statement.
"You... have been to Helia?" Ryze looked at Faen in surprise.
Helia, also known as the Blessed Isles. After Viego plunged his dead wife into the Waters of Life, which contained a Life Rune, death corrupted the rune, causing it to collapse. The resulting rampage of magical energy swept across the entire island, directly causing the Great Ruination of Helia. It was only after that event that the people of Runeterra realized the terrifying power of the World Runes, and the Blessed Isles came to be known as the Shadow Isles.
Before the Blessed Isles became the Shadow Isles, to put it bluntly, getting onto the island was even harder than getting into Ionia. The entire island was shrouded in the magical mist of the Life Rune. Unless one was a highly respected scholar or master, ordinary people—even the kings of Valoran before the Great Ruination—only knew the name of the Blessed Isles, and absolutely nothing about what kind of place it actually was.