Alex toiled mindlessly in the forge. Even when his mind failed to understand the commands shouted by the various forge masters, his body never faltered. It was as if he knew by instinct how to work the various metals. But even as his actions were devoid of thought, his mind was more active than ever.

It couldn't be called panic, for it wasn't in Alex's nature to panic. But his mind was full of questions and possible answers. After a few hours of agonising over questions he couldn't answer, he decided that it was counterproductive to think about them any further.

It was then that he noticed that he was far less winded and sore than he would have expected his lanky body to be after several hours of gruelling work. This body was almost unnaturally accustomed to this kind of abuse. But then again, he was in Noxus. It was normal for workers to be worked to the bone for the war effort, Alex rationalised to himself.

This thought led Alex down a rabbit hole of ideas.

His goal was to get back home. No matter how magical and mysterious Runeterra was, it was still mostly a medieval shithole full of dangerous people, magic and bloodthirsty demigods. Not to mention that he had a life to get back to.

But how could he do that? There were plenty of characters who probably had the power to send him back, but just finding them required a lot of power. Power was everything in this world of magic, secret fighting techniques, demigods and gods. If you had enough power, there was nothing you couldn't do, but there was little you could do without it.

But how to get power? Alex was a worker in a huge forge in the Immortal Bastion, the capital of the ever-aggressive Noxian Empire. He didn't have many options. He couldn't just pick up a magical artefact like a certain blonde teenager and suddenly become strong, Alex didn't think he had the luck for that. Not to mention that he couldn't even leave his place in the Forge to look for artefacts, because that would be deserting Noxus. He would be hunted down and brutally executed.

There was only one place he could go to escape the Forge without being executed: the Noxian army. But he had no fighting skills. Would that really be a good idea? Alex asked himself. But there were no other options, barring some miracle, like an artefact falling into his lap.

With that in mind, Alex decided he would join the army and hopefully somehow get enough promotions to make a successful escape. He had no reason to stay in Noxus after all. There was little he could gain here, the vile artefacts here would do him no good. And even if he could somehow make good use of one, Leblanc would already be breathing down his neck.

At least he was lucky that Noxus was surprisingly meritocratic, as evidenced by the fact that a commoner had a seat on the Council of Three that ruled the entire Noxian Empire.

With that, he could probably rise high enough to accumulate power in some way. Then he would escape and hopefully return home.

Alex worked until the end of his shift, his mind constantly improving his plans. At the end of the long shift they were all given some strange meat, a loaf of bread and a single securi (local currency).

As Alex walked out of the forge, he noticed another group of unfortunate individuals entering the forge. No doubt the night shift. It was then that he realised he had no idea where he lived in this world. The barracks would surely be closed by now, and he needed somewhere to spend the night.

He wandered aimlessly through the dark streets of the Immortal Bastion, which were busy even at night. The various shops and forges were appearing less and less frequently, replaced by shabby houses. Alex had entered the slums. Along the way he encountered several patrols of soldiers in classic Noxian armour, but fortunately they took no notice of him and ignored him. As the paved road beneath him was completely replaced by mud and dirt, Alex finally spotted an inn. Alex had no idea how he could read Velarian, but he was grateful for it nevertheless. He rummaged through the pockets of his dirty clothes and found several coins. With today's wages he had 6 whole coins.

He sighed dejectedly and headed for the inn. As he opened the door, a strong smell of alcohol, sweat and various dubious meals reached his nostrils. Several tables were occupied by rowdy and loud men, most of them soldiers on leave, no doubt. This was Noxus, after all. In the far corner of the room was a staircase, presumably leading up to the rooms. He walked towards the bar.

"How much is a night here?" Alex asked nonchalantly.

"Five securi." The barman replied as he cleaned a dirty cup with an even dirtier cloth, not even looking at Alex.

"Six if you want breakfast." He added after a short pause.

Alex put the coins on the table and looked the barman in the face. The barman was an older man with oily black hair and a dirty moustache, altogether one of the better-looking people in the establishment.

The barman looked Alex in the eye for a second before handing him a key.

"Room 4, if you break anything you better be quick to pay up if you like your kneecaps." The barman said as he returned to cleaning cups.

"Thanks." Alex replied without meaning it.

Alex turned on his heel and headed for the stairs. As he reached the second floor he realised how badly maintained the building was. It was made entirely of wood, mostly wet and mouldy wood. He reached his room, the last on the floor and probably the last room in the whole inn. The door made a strange noise when he opened it. Alex wondered what the key was for, as he doubted the door could stop any reasonably determined attacker.

The room was small and bare. There was a bed, which fortunately didn't look nearly as dirty and dilapidated as the building, and a small table. Even with a body used to such gruelling work, Alex was exhausted. He dropped onto the bed and quickly drifted off into the world of dreams.