"Then I'll definitely aim for a lenient sentence, because ever since Queen Sarah arrived in Bilgewater, I haven't committed a single crime~"
Hearing this, Twisted Fate smiled like someone enjoying the drama and said, "As for Graves? I can only say I wish him the best of luck in the future."
"Croak! Croak!!" Graves let out an indignant roar, though it only sounded rather cute.
Faen, however, clearly didn't care about what Graves did.
Although in the game, Graves one-shotting everyone gave the impression of exaggerated strength—especially rolling a Flashy Blade in Hextech Mayhem, where his mechanics and damage were completely off the charts—
It was a pity that his in-game strength was all virtual. In the real world of Runeterra, Graves's true power could only be considered mediocre, even among ordinary mortals.
No magic, no magical weapons. Without extra enhancements, like becoming a Sentinel of Light, he would just be a somewhat famous mercenary for the rest of his life. His potential was completely hard-capped.
Moreover, he was a man.
Faen had absolutely zero interest in men, simply passing him by without giving him a second thought.
Leading Lulu, Tristana, and the others out of Bilgewater, they returned to the domain of Bandle City. Having some free time, Corki looked at Teemo beside him and said:
"Speaking of which, Teemo, how the hell did a guy like you get caught? Aren't you supposed to be the smartest and most agile one?"
"Because I was completely focused on catching something!" Hearing this, Teemo laughed heartily. He then lifted his backpack, revealing several bugs inside, and said, "These are Soul-Devouring Sea Worms I found in the Bilgewater trenches. Their venom is incredibly fascinating, so I laid in ambush for a long time and finally caught them!"
Hearing this, Faen cast a sideways glance.
Greeting his eyes were several large, purple bugs wriggling and squirming inside Teemo's backpack.
This left Faen clicking his tongue in amazement.
Fun fact: Baron Nashor from the Summoner's Rift was actually a Soul-Devouring Sea Worm. However, unlike ordinary Sea Worms, Baron Nashor was one mutated by Void energy, making it a rather unique specimen.
But even so, adult Soul-Devouring Sea Worms still possessed unimaginably massive size, terrifying strength, and lethal venom.
And they were exceedingly rare.
For Teemo to actually find some now... he could only say that the myths about Yordles having bizarre, unexplainable luck were truly spot on.
Although the growth cycle of a Soul-Devouring Sea Worm was absurdly long, considering that time didn't flow in Bandle City and the normal physical laws of the material realm didn't apply, Faen didn't think this would be an issue at all.
But compared to Corki and the others' curiosity about the contents of Teemo's backpack, Tristana was clearly far more interested in Faen.
Sure enough, seeing that they were safe, Tristana couldn't wait any longer and said eagerly, "Instructor! When do we start our training? I'll definitely make sure my squad members are fully prepared!"
"Eh?! We have to participate too?" Corki was startled, his face filled with thick surprise.
Although Teemo beside him didn't say anything, he also tilted his head, showing his curiosity.
To this, Faen replied:
"An excellent soldier needs to lead by example. Besides, I'm not a Yordle after all. So, my plan is to first train up a single elite soldier—a paragon among soldiers—and then use this paragon to make more people realize exactly what essential traits an excellent soldier must possess!"
"An elite soldier, a paragon among soldiers... So cool!!"
Hearing Faen's words, Tristana's eyes lit up brightly, and she said enthusiastically, "I will definitely become an elite soldier!"
"Alright, alright, I believe in you, but when the time comes, we still need to conduct the evaluations step by step." Watching Tristana's sheer excitement, Faen chuckled softly:
"So there's no need to rush right now, Tristana. I believe you are the best soldier, so once we get back, we can take our time crafting your training plan."
Saying this, Faen rubbed Tristana's little head, smiling as he said, "I'm sure Tristana is also very eager to know exactly what the goals of this training will be, right?"
"Yes! Sir!" Tristana said with bubbling excitement. "Private Tristana is already fully prepared to accept all the training! Overcome all hardships to become the most excellent soldier! The elite of the elite, the absolute paragon of soldiers!"
"Excellent! Full of spirit!"
Faen nodded in deep satisfaction, then continued with a wicked smile, "Therefore, if you fail to complete the training plan, you will have to face some punishments!"
"Tristana is fully prepared for it!" Tristana said excitedly, completely oblivious to just how brutal the upcoming training and so-called 'punishments' would truly be, and how completely they would shatter her bottom line.
However, Faen wasn't going to get overly impatient and start his "train—" ahem, training regimen right away.
Instead, he said, "But aside from the training, I still have one more thing I need to do now that I've come to Bandle City."
"What is it?" Tristana looked at Faen curiously, and even Lulu beside her cast a curious gaze his way.
Toward Faen—a man who came from an outside realm, yet knew so incredibly much about everything, and had such a fascinating personality—they were extremely curious about his true reason for appearing here.
In fact, it would be better to say that all Yordles possessed passionate, lively hearts and would feel curious about any interesting thing. And Faen, a man who was both extremely fascinating and profoundly mysterious in every single aspect, naturally managed to draw their full attention.
Corki and Teemo were fine, because Faen had absolutely no interest in them, nor had he displayed anything that would trigger their specific obsessions—like Teemo's burning passion for animals and deadly toxins.
Teemo was obsessed with discovering these things and integrating them into his own gadgets. For example, his toxic mushrooms came from the deepest depths of the Kumungu Jungle on the continent of Shurima.
For highly venomous creatures like the Soul-Devouring Sea Worm, he could easily crouch motionless in ambush for days on end, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike and capture them.
Corki, on the other hand, was purely obsessed with flying machines.
Under these circumstances, although they harbored favorable impressions and curiosity toward Faen, they wouldn't hyper-fixate their unique Yordle stubbornness directly onto him.
But the 'soldier spirit' that Tristana was so obsessed with was something Faen had just vividly demonstrated and explicitly offered to guide her in.
As for Lulu.
Lulu's point of focus was rather strange. Her ultimate wish was to return to the Glade. But that wish was a bit too out of reach; even Faen didn't have the slightest clue about it. Therefore, most of the time, she simply maintained her boundless curiosity, doing whatever she could to help others.
However, having already ingested the Joy Factor, combined with the fact that Faen had been ruthlessly playing with her body right before coming here, Lulu's attention had also started intentionally or unintentionally...