Mud and dirt slowly turned to chiseled stone underneath alex's feet as he made his way towards the barracks, the location of which he'd learned from the bartender. As he walked down the street, trying his best not to bump into anyone on the crowded street, he noticed that people were forming a circle around something. Out of curiosity, he stopped and looked over the shoulders of the bystanders.

At the centre of the commotion was an old man of small stature. His white hair had fallen out, save for a few stray strands here and there. He was clearly malnourished, and there were bags under his eyes, a clear sign of sleeplessness, but his face conveyed none of the lethargy one would expect from someone in such a state. Instead, it was full of energy and fear.

"He will come! The end is near, and you fools don't even know that your last days are coming!" The man screamed at the top of his lungs.

"The ruined king will come for all of you, and you shall all see that not all love is pure!"

After hearing the second sentence, Alex realised that there was something different about the way the man spoke. It was somehow more brutish and violent, even when spoken by a frail old man.

It was then that he overheard a conversation.

"Do you have any idea what he is saying?"

"No, I haven't heard Oesish in ages. Who even speaks that language anymore?"

Alex realised that he must at least have the ability to understand the local languages. Maybe it was the same as with Forging. Maybe his body just knew the languages already.

The old man's ramblings also confirmed where Alex was in the timeline. At least the ruined king hadn't tried to destroy the world for his dead lover, at least not yet, and he was safe from participating in the ionian invasion even if he joined the army. Alex almost reached out his hand to the man to take him to a place where he could ask him a few questions, but before he could do anything, two guards suddenly appeared behind the old man.

"All right grandpa, stop scaring the people, move it." One of the soldiers said as they grabbed him by the armpits and lifted him up.

"Put me down, you half-wits! I'm warning your people of their impending doom!" The man shouted in vain, his language rarely spoken even in Noxus, where it originated.

Alex just shrugged and headed for the barracks. The man was certainly strange, but so what. It wasn't his plan to stop Viego, and it wasn't as if Viego would actually succeed. There was simply no need for Alex to get involved.

When he reached the barracks, he noticed how spartan even the outside of the buildings was. The barracks were part of a large military complex that took up a large part of the city.

As he approached the gates, several guards blocked his way.

"What have we here? Where do you think you're going, boy?" One of the soldiers, clearly a bit older than the rest, asked.

Alex glanced around before answering.

"I want to serve Noxus and join the army."

The guards laughed heartily, relaxed their stance and the oldest said:

"Well shit, that's all you had to say, but I'm afraid this is not a place where you can join."

"Well, where can I join?"

"Certainly not here. What fool would put a recruitment office in the most heavily guarded military complex this side of Runeterra? Just let any recruit walk in and see what goes on inside, even if they are rejected?" The older guard laughed again.

"Try a real recruiting office, the closest one is near the inner southern gate." The older guard said as he turned around, still laughing faintly.

Alex berated himself mentally. What was he thinking? He had basically just walked into Area 51 and asked to join the Marines. He had to think about his actions more carefully from now on.

When he reached the actual recruiting office, which looked more like a small stall, he looked at the massive gate in front of him. It was made of some kind of grey stone or material, and the Noxian banner proudly waved from the top.

Before he had finished admiring the huge fortress, a voice called out to him.

"Have you come to join the army?" A female voice asked.

Alex turned to see a woman in full Noxian armour, save for the helmet. Somehow, even with how meritocratic Noxus was, he hadn't expected to see that. But the magic and techniques of this world probably made up for the difference in sheer muscular strength, Alex reasoned to himself.

She wasn't exactly stunning, but she looked a lot better than most of the inhabitants of the Immortal Bastion he'd seen so far, probably because the army was fed a lot better.

"Yes, I'm actually here to do just that. But you will have to take me through the process. Neither I nor any of my family have ever served, as we moved here from the Delverhold after my father was accidentally killed in a mining accident, so I have no idea how things are done around here." Alex said with a reassuring smile.

"That's okay, if you knew how many people who can't even speak Velarian join the army you wouldn't even worry." She said, pulling out a piece of paper from somewhere in her stall and starting to write. Probably with some magic, because she just waved her finger over the paper to move the ink.

"Name?"

Alex hesitated a little.

"Alex."

"Age?"

Alex looked down at his hands, he hadn't really thought about it. How old was this body? It was definitely younger than he was in his old world. Maybe 20? Alex guessed.

"20."

"Okay, the rest is the problem of the Commander who gets you. Here, take this." She handed him the piece of paper she had been writing on.

"Give this to the people at the training ground outside the west gate. You can't miss it." She said smiling.

Alex smiled back and walked away.

He was finally going to join the military. He would get real military training and at least some nutritious food. What else could be the first step to power?