A night passed.
In the early morning, the first gentle rays of sunlight spilled down from the horizon, announcing the start of a new day.
Miss Crownguard, who had gotten up especially early, walked into the courtyard humming to herself, her steps light and cheerful.
But when she saw smoke already rising from the kitchen, a flicker of confusion appeared in her eyes.
She then walked inside and entered the living room.
There, she saw Fiora sitting on the sofa with a cup of hot tea, her expression carrying a trace of drowsy laziness.
It added a bit of alluring softness to her naturally cool and distant air.
"The duelist is here pretty early today," Lux said in surprise.
She had thought she'd gotten up unusually early herself this morning, but somehow Fiora was already here before her.
Fiora looked over and smiled faintly. "I only got up a little while ago too."
Hearing movement from the kitchen, Lux glanced that way and added, "That guy's awake too?"
Fiora nodded. "He just got up too."
"A miracle." Lux sounded genuinely incredulous. "That guy can actually wake up this early?"
Fiora said nothing.
In the kitchen, Luke listened to the conversation outside while cooking porridge and let out a yawn.
What did she mean, up this early?
He had not slept at all.
After forcing himself out of power-saving mode for the whole night, Luke was now carrying a double weakened debuff on his body.
Once breakfast was over, he was absolutely going to make up for lost sleep.
Thinking back on what had happened the night before, Luke smiled helplessly.
He really hadn't expected the duelist to make the first move and hit him right in the weak point.
What had happened last night had been so sudden that even Luke had been caught off guard.
But in truth, he had always known his own feelings, and theirs as well.
In the quiet rhythm of their days together, their hearts had long since come to understand one another. No one had just ever been the first to say it out loud.
And he had liked letting things develop naturally, at their own pace, in the slow flow of everyday life.
He just hadn't expected Fiora to throw such a direct fastball.
Though, to be fair, that was very much like her.
Outside, Lux had already set a chessboard on the table in front of the sofa and said, "Perfect, let's play."
"All right."
Fiora set down her tea.
About ten minutes later, Sona slowly walked into the living room with her etwahl in her arms.
"Good morning," Lux greeted her warmly.
Fiora also looked over. "Good morning."
Sona nodded in return, but when her eyes fell on Fiora, she froze ever so slightly.
The sound coming from the duelist's heart this morning seemed different somehow.
Sweet, delighted, like a vivid flower that had finally been nourished and was blooming beautifully.
Feeling that something was off, Sona sat on the sofa and watched the two of them play chess, but her thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.
She quietly released her ability and tried to listen to Luke's heart in the kitchen.
It was the same as always, gentle, like the most comfortable breeze in summer, but now there was something different mixed into it.
And when she put that melody together with the one she had heard in the duelist's heart, they fit together with startling harmony.
As realization dawned on her, Sona's whole body stiffened.
Her trembling eyes turned toward Fiora, whose expression remained calm as she moved her chess pieces one after another. Looking at that face, which somehow seemed even more beautiful than usual, Sona's gaze became full of grievance.
Then she quietly gritted her teeth.
Too much, Fiora!
Sensing her gaze, Fiora turned her eyes slightly. Their gazes met, and the two of them looked at each other for two full seconds. Then Fiora's lips curved upward before she turned her attention back to the board.
Sona immediately drew in a sharp breath, her eyes widening.
From that look just now, she saw a trace of lofty superiority, almost like disdain.
A spark of anger instantly flared up in her heart.
Yet in the next second, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over it, putting the fire right out.
Sona sighed inwardly.
And over the next stretch of time, the others began arriving one after another as well.
Before long, Luke finished making breakfast.
After everyone ate, it was time for their usual morning training.
But what surprised several of the girls today was that Fiora, who never missed morning training, was now lying in a rocking chair outside the courtyard instead.
Kahina asked in confusion, "The duelist isn't doing morning training?"
Fiora opened her eyes and answered with a hint of laziness, "Not today. I don't really have much strength."
"Did you catch a cold? It's gotten colder lately, you should be careful." Kahina said with concern. "Want His Highness to take a look?"
Fiora gently shook her head. "No need. I'll be fine after some sleep."
"All right, then."
Seeing that, Kahina didn't press the matter and went to the back courtyard with Quinn and the others.
The temperature had indeed dropped quite a bit lately, but this morning's sunlight was just right. Lying outside didn't feel cold at all.
Luke stretched out in a rocking chair under the sun. Already low on energy, he immediately felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him.
Within moments, he had fallen asleep.
Hearing the slow, steady sound of breathing beside her, Fiora closed her eyes as well. A deep sense of comfort settled over her. Relaxing completely, with an unconscious smile tugging at her lips, she soon drifted off too.
Sona continued practicing her instrument.
It was just that, as the girls in the back courtyard listened, they all had the same thought.
Why did the music sound a little resentful today?
Close to noon, Cithria's arrival woke Luke from his sleep.
He had slept extremely well and peacefully, and when he opened his eyes he still looked a little sleepy, as though he had not slept enough.
Standing nearby, Cithria said, "Your Highness, the High Marshal asked me to bring you over. She said everything is ready."
Her voice cleared Luke's head a little. Turning, he saw that the rocking chair beside him was already empty.
Then he looked at Cithria and got up from the chair. "Then let's go."
Before leaving, he told the girls in the courtyard that the buns and dishes he had prepared that morning only needed reheating.
As for him, he simply grabbed a few cold buns and got into the carriage.
On the way, he shared some of the buns with Yurna and Cithria.
The cold buns definitely hurt the texture a bit, but the flavor was basically the same. If Cithria had to sum them up, her verdict would have been that they were still extremely delicious.
After eating, they chatted for a while longer, and then the carriage slowly came to a stop.
Stepping down, Luke studied the magnificent structure before him.
A giant statue of a knight stood at the very front of the building, the raised shield in its hand carved with patterns like wings. Behind it stood a grand hall connected to the structure.
The hall sat on higher ground, ringed by scattered woods, and with the wide green lawn around it, the whole place looked almost like a stretch of open plain.
This was one of the royal family's heavily guarded sites.
It was called the Temple of the Lightbringer.
At the entrance to the hall, several tall soldiers stood watch. The moment they saw Luke, they immediately bowed.
Led by Cithria, Luke entered the Temple of the Lightbringer.
It was said this place served as a royal treasury, where many precious treasures were stored under strict guard.
The atmosphere inside the temple was extremely quiet. As they walked, even their footsteps echoed.
After following a spiral staircase down, Luke arrived at the temple's first underground level.
A little farther ahead, he saw Tianna.
She was standing in front of a gate like a prison cage, waiting for him.
"Good afternoon, Aunt."
Luke greeted her as he walked over.
Tianna nodded and said, "Are you sure you don't want the Mageseekers to study the composition of that shield?"
Luke looked inside. In the innermost layer behind multiple steel cages, that Darkin shield had been wrapped so tightly in petricite chains it looked like it had been cocooned, and it now hung suspended in midair.
"There's no need. The shield itself is so durable that it may have something to do with the monster sealed inside it. If the Mageseekers study it and accidentally release that thing, it'll turn into another major problem."
That night, Tianna had originally wanted to inform the Mageseekers and let them deal with the shield.
But on the way back, Luke had persuaded her to change her mind.
So the matter had never been reported to the Mageseekers. Instead, petricite chains had been forged overnight, and the plan became simply sealing the shield away.
The material used to make a shield this durable was genuinely interesting to Tianna.
But compared to that curiosity, she still leaned more toward Luke's view.
Thinking back to the chilling feeling the shield had given her that night, she did not believe anything good would come from handing such a thing over to the Mageseekers.
If it ended up releasing the monster sealed inside, that would obviously be a serious problem.
After turning it over in her mind, she had decided to abandon any research for now.
Since they weren't going to study it, sealing it away directly was the best option.
At that moment, Tianna gave the order inside. "Lock it up."
"Yes, ma'am!"
A reply immediately came from within.
The sound of steel gears turning rang out, followed by a heavy boom as the first solid iron gate slammed shut, sealing away the shield that housed the Darkin soul behind it.
This gate had been forged from refined steel and petricite-lime, making it not only incredibly sturdy but also resistant to magic.
Unless an earthquake hit, it would be very difficult for anyone to break it open without the key.
Once that first gate was locked, another boom followed, and then the second iron gate slammed shut as well.
In the end, the keys to both gates were handed to Tianna.
Without those two keys, no one would be able to open either door.
After the matter of the shield had been dealt with, Tianna brought Luke elsewhere.
"These are all items recovered from that underground treasury. See if there's anything you want."
As soon as they entered the next hall, Tianna spoke.
Luke gave the items a glance, and his eyes fell on the cloak he had noticed that day. "That one."
There really hadn't been many unusual things in the underground treasury to begin with.
Among them, Redemption had already exhausted its uses and become just a stone.
The Darkin shield had been sealed away again as well.
And the weapon connected to it was now lying in Luke's room.
Of everything else, the only thing that sparked even a little interest in Luke was this cloak marked with the sigil of the Veiled Lady.
Among all those treasures, he had noticed it at a glance, and had immediately felt there was something special about it.
At two in the afternoon, Luke returned home.
The sunlight was even brighter than it had been in the morning, warm in just the right way, making the air itself seem a little hotter.
Seeing Luke still studying that cloak in his hands, Lux asked curiously, "Why have you been messing with that thing ever since you got back? Is there something special about it?"
"It should be pretty special. It sat underground for several hundred years, and after being taken out, it still looks brand new."
Luke spread the cloak open and examined it under the sun.
"Several hundred years?" Lux walked over curiously and tilted her head back to look with him. "It's actually pretty beautiful."
Under the sunlight, the gray-black cloak somehow shimmered with a faint rainbow sheen.
Now even Lux felt the cloak really was rather special.
And it had spent centuries underground.
At that moment, she noticed the emblem on it and muttered, "This symbol... it looks kind of familiar."
She thought hard, feeling like she had definitely seen it somewhere before, but for the moment she couldn't remember.
Luke answered casually, "The Veiled Lady."
Lux's eyes lit up. "Right! I remember now, that super obscure little goddess."
The moment the words left her mouth, there was a sharp crash as something shattered, causing the two of them to look over.
They found Yurna crouching on the floor, cleaning up the fragments of a broken cup.
Clearly, the sound had come from the porcelain cup hitting the ground.
Lux asked with concern, "Yurna, are you okay?"
Yurna gently shook her head. "I'm fine."
"That's rare. You actually broke a cup." Lux walked over, wanting to help clean it up.
In her impression, Yurna had always been the sort of person who was calm and steady with everything she did.
She had never expected her to make that kind of mistake.
"I can do it myself." Yurna first stopped Lux's hand, then explained, "I was distracted just now."
Luke glanced over and added, "If you're tired, want me to give you a couple days off?"
"No. I really was just distracted for a second."
Yurna insisted, her face still as unreadable as ever.
"All right, then."
Luke did not say anything more.
By then, Yurna had already cleaned up the broken pieces and stood up, then walked back into the house.
Luke returned his attention to the cloak and continued studying it, rubbing his chin.
Lux, having been interrupted once, had already lost interest in the cloak and flopped back into her chair, enjoying the afternoon breeze in complete comfort.
Luke gave the cloak a tug and found that its quality was no worse than real silk.
Even using a great deal of strength, he could not leave the slightest sign of strain on it.
The craftsmanship really was absurdly good.
What he wanted to know even more now was whether the cloak had any other abilities.
But for the moment, all he knew was that the cloak was connected to the Veiled Lady, that super obscure little goddess, and beyond that he had no further information.
Stories of the Veiled Lady had existed in Demacia for several hundred years.
Yet although the name itself had not been forgotten, even now it was still only passed around among a small number of people, making her a very niche deity.
That name symbolized rational judgment. It was said the Veiled Lady possessed a pair of eyes that could see through any sin.
No one could conceal grave wrongdoing in front of her.
She believed that anyone who had committed sins must go through a process of atonement, and that the form of that atonement varied depending on the sin.
Those who confessed sincerely and repented honestly would receive the Veiled Lady's forgiveness.
But if even the slightest part of their repentance was false, it would not escape her eyes, and those people would instead face the Veiled Lady's wrath.
A deity from the same era as the Veiled Lady was Demacia's immensely famous Winged Protector, representing the glory of justice and the highest truth.
Even to this day, the great Winged Protector remained a beacon on the path forward for countless Demacians, bringing hope to innumerable people and driving away the darkness in their hearts.
She was also something sacred and untouchable in their minds.
As for why the Veiled Lady was considered such a minor goddess, the reason was simple.
Compared to the Winged Protector, the God of Light, and the Lady of the Veil, the death deity worshiped by Demacians, who elsewhere was known as Lamb, her fame was pitifully small.
Putting the cloak away for the time being, Luke stopped studying it.
After all, from every visible clue, it was obvious that the cloak was no ordinary object.
If he met someone knowledgeable in the future, he could always ask then.
For now, Luke had other things to think about.
His thoughts turned to the weapon he had brought back from the treasury, the one still lying in his room, and he began thinking about how to solve that problem.
After pondering for about ten seconds, inspiration suddenly struck.
He thought of a possibility.
"System, use a training card."
He immediately lay back in the chair and silently gave the command.
[Training Card used successfully.]
As the system's voice faded, Luke's vision blurred.
When he opened his eyes again, he had already entered the world inside the training card.
Looking at the ancient martial arena before him, Luke thought for a moment and said casually, "Switch it to a sky island."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the surrounding scenery began to change.
A strong wind swept past him. White clouds floated in every direction, and beyond them stretched a vast blue sky.
The landscape had instantly become an island suspended high in the heavens.
It had to be said, this scenery-switching function in the training ground was genuinely impressive.
It let Luke stay home and still feel as though he had seen the entire world.
It was also one of the most important sources of inspiration for his landscape and scenery paintings.
After only two glances, Luke prepared to begin training.
Very quickly, a shadow the exact same height as him appeared in his field of vision.
And when he looked at the snow-white sword in the shadow's hand, the corners of Luke's mouth lifted.
"So it really works."
With a thought, an identical weapon appeared in his own hand.
It was the very same one resting in his room.
Feeling the pull coming from the weapon, as though it wanted to slowly drain all the energy from his body, Luke looked at the shadow opposite him.
The training card could simulate everything he currently possessed with perfect accuracy, including his physical condition and skills.
Since that was the case, Luke had wondered whether it could simulate weapons too.
Apparently, that idea had indeed been feasible.
But there was one key difference with the shadow produced in the training ground.
Its performance changed based on the selected difficulty.
At the highest difficulty, what it simulated was a version of Luke in perfect condition, body and technique alike pushed to their utmost limits.
Luke himself could not even beat that version of himself.
Because that thing was like AI, there was no margin for error in it at all.
But Luke was different. He himself could be affected by all kinds of outside factors.
Now that the shadow had even simulated the weapon, then it stood to reason that the shadow was currently being drained by that weapon too.
Under identical conditions, Luke wanted to see exactly how the shadow-version of himself handled it.
So he directly set the difficulty to the maximum.
"Start."
After preparing himself, Luke gave the order.
With a buzzing hum, the shadow instantly exploded to full speed and appeared in front of Luke, the long sword in its hand slashing down without the slightest mercy.
Luke remained perfectly calm, lifting his own weapon to meet it head-on.
After he and the shadow exchanged several strikes, he gradually got the feeling that they had been taught by the same master, and neither could break the other's moves.
But very quickly, the perfect-AI shadow caught one of Luke's openings.
Its blade cut across Luke's arm, and blood sprayed at once.
Luke had lowered the pain setting, so he could not feel the injury.
But soon, as the wound appeared, he suddenly felt some of his strength slipping away.
At first he thought it was just an illusion, but after taking another hit, he realized it was not.
The moment the weapon wounded him, his stamina and spiritual power dropped.
And because of that effect, Luke became even less able to match the perfect-AI shadow. Before long, he was defeated, and his condition was restored.
After thinking for a moment, Luke gave the order again.
"Start."
Another shadow appeared and charged forward.
And so, he remained in the training ground for quite some time.
By the time he came out, evening was already approaching outside.
On his face was the expression of someone who had just stumbled into an unexpected reward.
He rose from the rocking chair and headed upstairs to his room.
The room had been cleaned spotless and looked no different from usual, except that the sheets had been replaced.
The original set had been snatched away by a certain duelist as a keepsake.
Luke picked up the snow-white sword. Feeling the pull from it, he closed his eyes.
With a soft hum, the blade seemed to give off a faint glow, resonating with Luke's consciousness.
When he opened his eyes again, the draining force was gone.
That was the result he had figured out after spending an entire afternoon getting cut down by his shadow in the training ground.
He had discovered that the long blade possessed two different modes.
The first was the one it had just been using, absorbing the power of the wielder and storing it inside the blade itself.
In that sense, it was very similar to petricite, whose function was also to absorb magic and hold it in reserve.
Then, by some method or guiding force, that stored energy could be released.
This sword worked the same way.
The difference was that its absorption was even more direct. It drained Luke's own power outright.
But in the training ground, Luke had discovered the blade's second ability.
Any wound left by the sword would immediately inflict a kind of weakened debuff on the target.
Every one of their abilities would be reduced.
And those weakened traits would instead be transferred onto the wielder.
It was not permanent, but even so, the ability was extremely powerful.
In other words, this was basically a weakening sword. The deeper it cut and the more often it hit, the weaker the target became.
One cut for weakness, two for the grave.
These were two separate modes. One absorbed his own power and stored it in the sword before releasing it later, making it more of a one-time-use burst.
The second mode absorbed power from other people.
After experimenting for a long while, Luke had finally mastered how to switch between the two modes at will.
That meant he could now use the sword without worry.
Looking at the blade, which was close to five feet long, Luke felt it needed a name now.
So he went back downstairs and asked the girls for their opinions.
Lux gave it a look and asked, "What kind of name do you want to give it?"
Luke answered, "Well, it's pure white from end to end, and the blade carries a faint chill, so I was thinking maybe Sword of Promised Victory."
"?"
Lux practically projected a question mark over her head. "So after all that buildup, you're giving it a name that has absolutely nothing to do with it?"
"Can't I?"
"You can," Lux said with a dry laugh, "but who on earth gives a sword a name that dramatic?"
"I do," Luke said seriously.
"..."
The group fell silent.
Then they unanimously rejected that name.
After that, everyone proposed one name each, and after a vote, they ultimately decided to go with Snowglance.
The sword itself was white as snow. One glimpse of the blade was like seeing snow itself, so the name truly fit it well.
And just like that, the sword's name was settled.
As evening drew closer outside, Luke began preparing dinner as well.
Night fell.
Curfew arrived, and the girls gradually headed home. Before long, Luke's courtyard had quieted down again.
The temperature outside was a little low that night, so instead of continuing to lie in the courtyard and look at the moon, Luke returned to his room.
A few minutes later, however, a figure quietly came back after having already left.
Sona stopped at the courtyard gate. Looking at the entrance she usually came and went through so casually, she suddenly found that tonight she had lost the courage to step inside.
She only stood there, looking at Luke's room, where the light was still on. Thinking of certain things made even the tips of her ears turn red.
She could even hear the pounding of her own heart, loud and fast.
Her legs felt weak, and she could not make herself move.
But then she thought of how the duelist had already gotten a full round of experience off His Highness, and of that disdainful look Fiora had given her.
Sona's gaze slowly grew firm.
She took deep breaths and clenched her fists, constantly trying to encourage herself.
And just as she finally summoned enough courage to take a step forward and enter the courtyard, a voice suddenly sounded beside her.
"Not going in?"
Sona jolted violently. It felt like her heart had nearly leaped out of her chest.
After taking two large breaths, she turned around and saw Fiora standing a short distance away, her cool eyes fixed on her.
At that point, all the courage Sona had finally gathered had been scared right out of her.
She shook her head, turned around, and ran off in a near panic.
Watching her retreating figure, Fiora's lips curved into a slight smile.
Then she withdrew her gaze and walked into the courtyard as naturally as if she belonged there.
After she went upstairs, it was not long before the light in Luke's room clicked off.
The night breeze drifted quietly through the darkness.
And along with the rising and falling melody that followed, it announced the start of yet another sleepless night.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810