The Glory of Noxus

Late at night in the middle of winter.

The biting cold wind danced in the night sky, rolling up the snowflakes and making a howling sound.

The dim starlight falling from the sky penetrates the snow-white curtain, covering the long Iron Thorn Mountains with a hazy cloud.

Between the low and flat mountains, there is a damp cave entrance covered with ice and snow.

The Noxian scouts who had marched for half a day were resting in the cave. They had not taken off their armor, either leaning against the wall or sitting cross-legged.

Huo Jixing exhaled a mouthful of frost, squatted down, and took out the fire box from his waist. Two pieces of iron were rubbed together, and tiny sparks burst out, but were extinguished by the cold wind in an instant.

He remained motionless and repeated the action, rubbing the iron again and again.

However, Huo Jixing seemed more silent than usual, and his mind was filled with the scene of dismembering a wild boar in the snow not long ago.

Although the "Wild Survival" skills given to him by his predecessor included some similar bloody scenes, the images in his memory were ultimately two completely different concepts compared to reality.

He endured the discomfort and suppressed his inner physiological reaction.

Poof!

The fire suddenly appeared, tiny sparks ignited the rags, and a wave of heat slowly emerged.

Huo Jixing came back to his senses, fiddled with the rags, and slowly lit the piled dry and wet branches. The warm fire began to illuminate the dark and damp cave.

The Noxian scouts scattered around sat down around the campfire one after another, warming up their cold bodies.

Huo Jixing sat in the corner, stretched out his hands and started rubbing them, using the flames to dispel the chill in his body.

Since entering Freljord, as a newcomer, he has been unable to quickly integrate into the team even with the help of DeWitt.

So he adheres to the principle of talking less and doing more.

Through such efforts, he gained more or less some goodwill.

"Let's go clean the wild boar meat."

Not long after he sat down and before his body had warmed up, DeWitt came over, holding the cut wild boar meat in his hand.

After hunting the snow boars, they get a large amount of wild boar meat after skinning and deboning them, which eliminates the need for them to chew hard dry food that tastes bad.

Huo Jixing got up and walked outside the cave entrance with DeWitt, washing the wild boar meat with the accumulated ice and snow.

Facing the cold wind, Huo Jixing wiped the pork in his hands and thought to himself as he thought of the elk carcass in the cedar forest.

This is very Freljord!

The cycle of life and death looks different in this cold and cruel land, but the harsh environment ensures that little is wasted.

After the snow boar has eaten the elk, it eventually falls into their hands and becomes food.

One drink and one peck are all reincarnations.

After cleaning the wild boar, Huo Jixing and DeWitt quickly returned to the cave entrance. It was too cold outside, so it was better to be warmer inside the cave entrance.

Gurgling! Gurgling! Gurgling!

In the iron pot hanging above the campfire, boiling water bubbled, with some stains of ice and snow remaining on the edge.

Seeing the water boiling, Moore, who was in charge of cooking, quickly cut open the cleaned wild boar meat with a short knife, put it into the iron pot, sprinkled it with salt and covered it with an iron lid.

Half an hour later, dinner was ready.

Big portion of bone broth!

Huo Jixing took a gentle sniff at the air, and his hungry body let out a low groan.

It's not that the smell of meat is too good to fill the cave, but in the current severe cold weather, it's very good to have a mouthful of hot soup and a mouthful of meat.

Eric stood up and bent down, filling a large bowl for himself first. Regardless of how hot it was, he drank the broth and chewed the meat.

“Tastes good!”

Afterwards, the Noxian scouts surrounding the campfire began to grab cups of bone broth and wolf down it.

After everyone had eaten, Moore, who was sitting next to DeWitt, began to process the remaining wild boar meat. This part would become the food of the Noxian scouts for some time to come.

Of course, the amount of wild boar obtained from hunting must be more than that.

But considering the tasks ahead, it was impossible for the scouts to carry them all with them just to add to the burden.

They cut and processed wild boar meat, packed it with ice and buried it deep in the cave.

Huo Jixing didn't rush to do it this time. He and Dewitt needed to rest early, because in the second half of the night, when it was the coldest, it was their turn to watch the night.

The night is getting darker and the sky is dark.

The brilliant stars that remain in the night sky may also choose to hide in the clouds because they are afraid of the cold.

Between the vast sky and earth, only white snowflakes were left dancing wildly, beating against the mountain wall desperately.

"star!"

The call ringing in his ears made Huo Jixing wake up from his deep sleep.

Turning around, he saw that DeWitt had already stood up and was arranging his solid and exquisite composite armor.

"It's time for our vigil."

DeWitt looked sideways, his brown eyes bloodshot and tired.

"Sorry, I've been asleep for a while!" Huo Jixing said in an apologetic tone, stretched out his hands, and rubbed his slightly stiff face vigorously to wake him up.

While he still had some free time, Huo Jixing's heart moved and he opened the data panel.

[Name: Huo Jixing]

【Quality: 0】

【Power: 1.24】

[Physique: 1.20]

[Agility: 1.24]

【Spirit:2.15】

[Skills: Intermediate warrior, wilderness survival]

[Talent: None]

Compared with when he left the Noxus camp, his attributes were almost unchanged. This was also the reason why Huo Jixing had no time to exercise.

The whole day, from morning to night, apart from normal rest, is spent on the road.

"I hope the mission ends soon." Huo Jixing muttered.

Then he closed the data panel, stood up, sorted out the messy armor, and put on the gray cloak again.

The light in the cave was dim, and the gravel was dense, which was a bit painful to walk on.

With the dim light coming from the front, Huo Jixing and Dewitt walked slowly.

The nose was filled with an unpleasant smell, which was the smell of sweat mixed with animal fur, and occasionally there would be snoring, echoing inside and outside the cave.

This cave was one of the resting points prepared by the centurion Eric.

The interior of the cave was slightly damp, but it was well concealed and could block the invasion of wind and snow. It was a good place.

In front of the cave entrance, a bonfire was burning.

The fireworks that should have been bright were a little dim in the biting cold wind.

Hearing footsteps coming from behind, the two Noxian scouts who curled up in the corner looked back into the depths of the cave and happened to see the figures of Huo Jixing and Dewitt.

They couldn't wait to get up, nodded to each other, wrapped their cloaks tightly, and quickly returned to the cave to escape the biting cold of the frozen soil in the north.

Seeing this, Huo Jixing shook his head helplessly and chose to sit on the wall near the campfire, where there was still some temperature left.

Dewitt also chose a similar position.

The two people's vision, while covering each other, can also observe the environment outside the cave.

Crackling!

Huo Jixing wrapped his fur cloak tightly and fiddled with the campfire in front of him to bring warmth.

The dim light flickered, and a few sparks jumped out, crossing the dark gray wall, swaying and pulling out the sleeping figures of the Noxian scouts in the cave.

"Here!"

Dewitt whispered, handing over the roasted wild boar jerky, the surface was a little hard, and there were traces of frost around it.

The somewhat hungry Huo Jixing's eyes lit up, and he reached out to take it, ignoring the fishy smell, and stuffed it directly into his mouth, chewing it gently with his teeth.

"How is it?" Dewitt asked.

Huo Jixing looked surprised and glanced at Dewitt, but still answered truthfully: "It tastes good."

"I'm not talking about wild boar jerky." Dewitt raised his eyebrows slightly, grinned, and then said nothing more.

Huo Jixing chewed the wild boar jerky in his mouth, and he vaguely understood that Dewitt was talking about the previous hunt. It seemed that his cover-up was somewhat futile.

He lowered his eyes and looked at his chest. After resting for most of the night, coupled with the healing effect brought by the green gem necklace, his body was no longer in danger.

As if he couldn't stand the cold wind, Dewitt tried to curl up his body and his eyes fell on the hazy starry sky outside the cave.

"This is just an appetizer. The ice and snow of Freljord buried too many corpses."

Huo Jixing swallowed the wild boar jerky in his mouth. The real death he faced during the day made him worry about this scout mission.

But he had no choice.

Escape?

Huo Jixing did have such thoughts after leaving the Noxus camp.

But the icy environment of Freljord and the bloody war between Noxus and Winter's Claw directly wiped out his thoughts.

Even with the wilderness survival skills given by his predecessor, he didn't believe that he could escape from Freljord intact.

"Anything else?" Huo Jixing licked the corner of his mouth, seeming to be a little unsatisfied.

Although the Noxus camp also provided food, it was not as unscrupulous as it is now, eating meat in big mouthfuls.

"Don't eat it all, leave some stock, the night is long." DeWitt shook his head gently, with a smile hidden in his deep eye sockets, and threw another piece of wild boar jerky.

"Thank you!" Huo Jixing took it, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed slowly.

"Food." Dewitt looked nostalgic and whispered softly: "In the slums of Noxus, food is the most important resource!"

"Noxus, the Immortal Fortress?"

Huo Jixing's expression moved, recalling this slightly familiar term, and looked at Dewitt.

"It is the Immortal Fortress, but Noxus is more than the Immortal Fortress." Dewitt looked up at the starry sky in the snowy night and murmured.

"How should I put it? The Immortal Fortress is the heart of Noxus, but after a long period of expansion, the capital has already covered the plains."

"I have seen it from afar and I still remember it vividly."

The unfathomable dark gray exterior wall and the countless imperial flags hanging on the tower are firmly engraved in the depths of memory. Nothing can better reflect the power of Noxus than it.

"But I haven't been in since I was born, which is a pity."

"Why don't you go in and take a look?" Huo Jixing asked doubtfully.

"Go in?" Dewitt looked at Huo Jixing strangely, as if he was looking at a 'monster', but thinking of Huo Jixing's identity as a wanderer, he shook his head gently.

"I was born in the slums of the capital. It was extremely dark there, and I couldn't see any light. Only by joining the Imperial War Corps could I have the hope of leaving there with my family."

Dewitt's tone was a little low, and then he laughed softly: "Maybe after this war, we may enter the Immortal Fortress because of our military exploits."

The fire flickered, and Huo Jixing looked at the smiling young scout in front of him and fell silent. He suddenly understood why Dewitt looked at him with strange eyes.

Not only because of his identity as a wanderer, but also because of his 'ignorance'.

What does the slum represent?

It is hunger and poverty, disease and plague, and even death!

The fact that Dewitt can walk out of the slums and survive in this frozen land in the north is enough to show his efforts and extraordinaryness.

Huo Jixing swallowed the wild boar jerky in his mouth, changed the subject without leaving a trace, and continued to chat with Dewitt to kill the long cold winter night.