After finishing two full rounds of the Vitality Arts, Luke felt completely refreshed.
"Sign in."
Once he sat down to rest, he called it out silently in his head.
[Congratulations, Host, you have received 1 Special Sign-In Card.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have received Rare Exotic Fruit — White Grapes.]
Two system notifications rang out one after the other. Luke gave them a glance, then did not pay much more attention.
Another Special Sign-In Card. That at least gave him something to look forward to for tomorrow's sign-in.
Before he knew it, it was already December 9th. There were only a little over twenty days left until New Year's.
If he wanted to get back to the capital before the year ended, he had to cut another ten days out of that.
Of course, if he really could not make it back in time, there was not much he could do.
So many days had passed, and there had not been the slightest movement from the Gates of Mourning next door. That meant the Noxians over there were pretty good at enduring things.
After thinking about it, Luke got up, went to his room for pen and paper, then looked at Katarina and asked, "What's the name of the guy running things next door?"
Katarina frowned slightly. "Why are you asking?"
"Obviously so I can write him a letter."
Katarina stared at him in disbelief.
Dumping shit on people every day was one thing, but now he was even going to send them a letter on purpose?
One person really did not have to be this obnoxious.
That was what she thought, but she still gave him the name. "Patria Teir."
Luke nodded, lifted the pen, and immediately started writing in sweeping strokes without the slightest pause.
Curious, Katarina leaned over and looked for a few seconds. Then she walked away wearing a completely speechless expression.
When it came to being obnoxious, she acknowledged no master but Luke.
Not long after, a letter sent from Hill City appeared at the Gates of Mourning in a very eye-catching way.
"General! A letter from Hill City!"
An adjutant ran into Patria's office with the letter raised in his hand, making a huge fuss.
The office was filled with all kinds of fragrant herbs. Patria looked up at once, coldness in his eyes. "A letter from Hill City?"
All the spies he had planted in Hill City had already been rooted out by the other side. There was no way any message could still be coming from them.
"It was dropped from the sky by a Dragonbird Rider."
The adjutant handed it over.
Patria took it with a frown and immediately recognized the Demacian royal seal on it.
The moment he saw the letter, he already felt annoyed.
At a time like this, a letter deliberately sent over could only contain one kind of message.
And yet, as if possessed, he still chose to open it and read.
"Dear Patria, my good neighbor whom I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting, seeing this letter is the same as seeing me, greetings.
I hear the weather has been dreadful lately, and rain has been falling often in your area. I hope you have been sleeping well.
I know I have.
Yesterday I had garlic steak. If you happen to catch a whiff of garlic while walking the streets, don't doubt it, that would be me thinking of you.
Also, I should let you know that I plan to eat some enoki mushrooms at noon. If all goes well, they should arrive in your area by tomorrow morning.
If you'd like some, please be sure to wait early.
I'm fairly skilled in the kitchen, so if you'd ever like to try a different flavor in the future, feel free to send a letter to Hill City.
Your good neighbor, Luke Lightshield, written on December 9th."
"I'm thinking about your mother!"
Patria tore the letter to shreds and roared, his aura exploding along with the fury in his voice.
For some reason, he could already picture a smug-faced man grinning at him.
And in an instant, his anger shot straight to the limit.
The worst part was, he had nowhere to vent it. Patria trembled from pure rage.
The adjutant beside him kept his head down and did not dare say a word, afraid of catching the blast.
Patria shredded the letter viciously and clenched his fists, glaring in the direction of Hill City with blazing fury in his eyes.
At that exact moment, a foul smell drifted in through the window, with a faint trace of garlic hidden inside it.
"Urgh!"
Patria's expression changed. His stomach rolled so violently he nearly threw up.
After a long moment, once he finally got it under control, his face turned iron-gray as he silently memorized the name Luke Lightshield.
Demacia's second prince.
All of this ridiculous crap had to be his doing.
"Go. Pass the order. Have everyone come up with a way to hit Demacia back."
Patria had reached the limit of what he could tolerate. His voice was cold as ice when he gave the command.
He was absolutely sick of living like this, like other people were taking a dump on his head every day.
He had even thought about copying Hill City and dumping shit on the enemy in return, but the difficulty of pulling that off was too high.
Not only would he need flying magical beasts, they would also have to be strong enough to beat those Dragonbird Riders.
They did have the first part, but every group he sent out was quickly discovered by the Dragonbird Riders. Not only did he lose men for nothing.
They even had their shit stolen and thrown back at them.
Goddamn it.
"Yes, sir."
The adjutant accepted the order and withdrew at once.
But aside from directly marching the army over there, no one could come up with any real way to retaliate against Demacia.
Meanwhile, back in Hill City, Luke was in an excellent mood. He was holding a fine carving tool and carefully working away at a stone in front of him.
All around him lay tools of every size.
He had spent the past few days having craftsmen in the city make them for him.
Now that they were finished, they had been delivered over.
And just like that, he had something new to do.
Luke was planning to make a puppet. Naturally, the standards for making one were high. It was not the kind of thing he could just throw together on the spot.
The more precise the puppet, the more carefully it had to be made.
Slow work for fine work.
Of course, Luke was not in any hurry about it either. He had nothing to do all day anyway. Just like painting back in the capital, making a puppet was simply another way to add a little fun to his otherwise quiet life.
Katarina, meanwhile, noticed that he had finally developed a hobby beyond lying around like a lazy turtle, and curiosity showed in her emerald-green eyes.
It was clear that Luke really did have patience for what he was doing right now.
During this stretch, he barely even ordered her around anymore.
After finishing the training she did whenever she was bored, Katarina sat off to the side and watched Luke work. Before she knew it, her gaze had drifted to the side of his face while he concentrated.
His brows were gently relaxed. His lashes were long, and beneath them were clear eyes holding a rare seriousness. The corner of his mouth was slightly lifted, as if he were in a pretty good mood.
She had to admit, when he was not talking and was actually focused, there really was something attractive about him.
Katarina openly admired his profile. Back in Noxus, she rarely came across anything she considered pleasing to look at.
At that moment, she had to admit his face in profile was very easy on the eyes.
Time passed without anyone noticing.
In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.
Luke had been sleeping extremely well these past few days, and his schedule had been very regular too.
He went to bed early every night and woke early every morning.
That morning, Luke stepped out of his room, washed up, and then saw someone coming in from outside. It was Cithria.
"Your Highness, when we went to the Gates of Mourning this morning, a Noxian Windwing Drake unit had arrived."
The moment Cithria saw Luke, she reported it immediately. "There were at least a hundred of them."
The description of Windwing Drakes flashed through Luke's mind.
They were magical beasts that also lived high in the mountains. Like silverwing dragonbirds, they seemed to carry a trace of dragon blood in their veins.
But it was far thinner, so whether it was size, combat ability, or flight speed, they were all inferior to silverwing dragonbirds.
And Windwing Drakes were much more violent by nature, which made them extremely difficult to tame.
Clearly, Noxus had used some special method to train a flying squad like that.
With that in mind, Luke asked, "We didn't take any casualties, right?"
"No," Cithria replied. "The moment we spotted them, we withdrew to Hill City right away."
Luke nodded and gave it some thought.
He had expected Noxus to react to this sooner or later.
The arrival of that Windwing Drake squad made Cithria's mission much more dangerous.
Out of concern for safety, Luke said, "Then we can probably abandon the mission."
After several days in a row, he figured the effect had already been achieved.
If that was the case, there was no reason to make Cithria and the others take any more risks.
But Cithria immediately volunteered otherwise. "If Your Highness is saying that out of concern for our safety, then I think we don't need to give it up just yet."
Luke looked at her steady black eyes and waited for her to continue.
"Your Highness can trust us. We will complete the mission." Cithria spoke with complete seriousness. "And we are confident we can deal with any situation that threatens our safety."
Her voice carried the pride and honor of the Dragonbird Riders.
The aura coming from the young woman at that moment was confident and striking.
More importantly, Cithria and her fellow Dragonbird Riders were not tired of this job yet.
It was not every day they got to do something as satisfying as dump shit on Noxus from the sky.
Naturally, they did not want to give that up.
And if they backed off now, wouldn't that mean they were actually afraid of Noxus's bargain-bin Windwing Drake squad?
To the Dragonbird Riders, that was absolutely unacceptable.
Looking at the lively gleam in the young woman's eyes, Luke smiled. "I don't want Demacia to lose even a single outstanding soldier because of this. So, Cithria, I'm counting on you."
Cithria straightened up and promised solemnly, "I will not disappoint you, Your Highness."
Very soon, Cithria left with a serious face, ready to notify her fellow Dragonbird Riders that they would be continuing their mission of dropping shit on the enemy.
Luke watched her go and figured the girl probably enjoyed this assignment more than a little.
He lay back in a chair in the courtyard and silently said in his head, "Use the Special Sign-In Card. Sign in."
[This sign-in has been upgraded to a special sign-in.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have received 2 Intermediate Skill Upgrade Cards.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have received 1 Random Advanced Skill Copy Card.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have received 500-Year Monkey Wine.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have received equipment: Mobility Boots.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have received 1 Realm Upgrade Card.]
[All rewards have been stored in your inventory. Please inspect and claim them yourself.]
As the notifications rang out one after another, Luke turned his attention to the system inventory.
Two of the rewards immediately caught his interest.
"Use the skill cards to upgrade Double Jump."
He spoke inwardly first.
[Use successful. Double Jump has been upgraded to LV7.]
As soon as the system finished speaking, a soothing sensation like cool spring water flowed through Luke's legs, as if he were soaking in a hot spring in the middle of winter.
The feeling was incredibly comfortable.
Double Jump was a skill that let Luke break through the human limitation of not being able to kick off empty air. It was a very useful skill.
Its weakness in the early stages was that it was too exhausting. A few jumps would drain too much stamina.
Now that it had reached LV7, the number of jumps Luke could make had increased, and each jump required much less effort too.
Next, he looked at the second reward, the Random Advanced Skill Copy Card.
After checking the system description, his eyes lit up immediately. It was a very nice reward.
Just like the name suggested, the Random Advanced Skill Copy Card allowed him to randomly learn one advanced skill from any chosen target.
Take Katarina, who had just walked out, for example.
If Luke had guessed right, the Blink Step she used should be an advanced skill, a technique that allowed her to move a short distance at incredible speed. It was definitely worth learning.
But the card's effect was random, so it might copy some other skill instead.
Still, as long as it was an advanced skill, it could not be bad.
Of course, Luke did not rush to use it right away. After all, he had plenty of choices.
Even that little golden retriever probably had some advanced skill worth learning.
The third reward was 500-Year Monkey Wine. Luke had already tasted the 100-year version, and the flavor had been unforgettable.
Now that the age had jumped fivefold, he could not wait to take it out and have a tiny sip first. He narrowed his eyes and savored it for a moment before looking at the fourth reward.
It was actually a piece of equipment.
This seemed to be the first time Luke had ever gotten equipment from a sign-in.
Mobility Boots. A very familiar name.
He pulled the boots out immediately. Their appearance was not what he remembered. They were not that orange-yellow style, but rather the kind he personally liked to wear.
He had to admit the system really was thoughtful.
Luke put the Mobility Boots on right away, stood up, and took a few steps. He instantly felt a subtle change in his feet, everything felt lighter, easier, more effortless.
The effect of the Mobility Boots was to increase Luke's speed, though the extra speed dropped once he entered combat.
That was more or less exactly how he remembered them.
And the speed increase was quite impressive. Combined with the fact that Luke was already fast to begin with, the Mobility Boots were likely to turn him into an outright blur.
This was an excellent reward.
As for the last one, the Realm Upgrade Card, Luke used it without hesitation.
A burst of energy erupted from his heart and spread to every corner of his body. His entire body gradually grew warm, every cell turning pleasantly heated as the chill left him.
The feeling merged with the warmth of the Monkey Wine and carried Luke into a wonderful haze.
When he opened his eyes again after that wave of comfort passed, his physical strength had advanced. He had reached the mid-Fearless stage.
Luke slowly let out a breath. His face was flushed, and he felt mildly tipsy.
He could usually hold his liquor well, but against 500-Year Monkey Wine, he had only taken a small sip and was already feeling a buzz.
Katarina walked over from behind. Seeing the flask in Luke's hand, along with his tipsy face and satisfied expression, she could only feel speechless.
"Drinking this early in the morning. That really is just like you."
The guy took a few drinks now and then, and Katarina had long since gotten used to that.
But this was the first time she had seen him actually manage to get himself drunk.
She could smell the wine on the air, and unexpectedly, it smelled wonderful.
"Enjoying life doesn't depend on the time of day."
Luke smiled and, not stingy at all, offered to share. "Want a little?"
Katarina looked at the flask he had just drunk from directly, but she did not hesitate. Curious, she took it and had a sip.
She normally did not drink, because alcohol dulled judgment and affected the precision of a blade.
But her tolerance was not low.
When she was young, she had been trained to handle alcohol. She had started drinking at eight years old and had not stopped until she could no longer be easily drunk.
Now, with that one sip, a rich fragrance exploded across her taste buds. The wine seemed to turn into a clear spring, surging through her body with wild force.
The sensation was unexpectedly comfortable, strangely wonderful.
Her face flushed red all at once, and she could not help savoring the lingering fragrance left on her lips and tongue.
Very quickly, as she felt the remarkable sensation inside her body, Katarina realized that the wine in her hand was probably something extraordinarily precious.
It was not as if she had never had wine before, but this was the only one that had ever made her feel like this after a single sip.
She stared at the flask for a moment. Then she came back to herself and handed it right back to Luke.
"Tastes good, doesn't it?" Luke asked with a smile as he took it back.
Katarina could not deny that. She nodded and sat down nearby.
She sat there with flushed cheeks. As the alcohol spread through her, even her cool eyes began to take on a soft, tipsy haze, like ice melting away, making her look especially alluring.
Katarina knew perfectly well that she was drunk.
She could hardly believe she had gotten drunk that easily.
Luke saw the look on her face and only smiled. It did not surprise him. With 500-Year Monkey Wine, no matter how high someone's tolerance was, they probably would not survive three cups.
Katarina noticed the look in his eyes and turned her face away, using sheer willpower to fight back against the alcohol.
But from the faint trembling in her eyes, it was obvious she was close to losing.
Luke did not drink any more either. He had only had that one sip, maybe an ounce or two.
Good wine was good wine, but that did not mean he should be greedy.
Besides, he did not want to spoil his palate so much that if he could not get wine like this in the future, every other kind would become undrinkable.
This Monkey Wine also had the effect of improving natural talent. He planned to take it back with him later and work it into ingredients.
Thinking about making dishes that became even better when paired with wine sounded pretty great too.
After drinking, his mind, which should have stayed clear, gradually became fuzzy instead.
It made Luke instinctively want to close his eyes and lie down for a while.
He had never been the type to deny himself comfort. The moment the thought appeared, he was already stretched out, shifting into a comfortable position and drifting off into a nap.
Katarina did not hold out for much longer either. It was the first time she had ever felt that the body she had trained to withstand alcohol was this fragile.
Her eyelids started fighting each other, opening and closing, and right then Sona's practice music began to drift over.
When her eyes closed again, they did not open after that.
When she woke up, it was already close to noon.
Katarina sat up and looked around. Her head did not have that painful throbbing that usually followed drunken sleep. If anything, her mind felt unusually clear.
She looked into the distance. Luke was lying over there, though she could not tell if he was awake or still asleep.
The sense of calm in her heart made Katarina drift into thought. Her body felt faintly tingly, as if it had just gone through a deep, long-overdue relaxation.
She could not remember the last time she had slept this comfortably.
Usually, she only ever slept lightly, so she could wake the instant anything happened.
After all, the environment she had grown up in had been dangerous every second of the day.
To train her sense of danger, her father had sent assassins at her even while she slept, targeted attacks specifically meant for training.
Those exercises were not meant to kill her, but if she was careless even once, she would wake up with a wound, bleeding and in pain, a great deal of pain.
After experiencing that once, Katarina had never wanted to go through it again. And she had made sure it never would happen again.
From then on, she had never slept deeply. She had never been able to sleep the way Luke did, however he wanted, whenever he wanted.
No wonder this guy loved lying around so much.
So this really was comfortable.
Katarina's eyes flickered. There was a trace of envy in them that even she herself did not notice.
After a long while, she stood, adjusted her breathing, and let her face return to its usual cool calm.
She glanced at Luke again. If she stayed around this guy long enough, she was going to lose all sense of danger entirely.
Just then, a soldier hurried in from outside and reported, "Your Highness, a suspicious person has been spotted outside the city!"
Luke, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them and sat up. "How suspicious?"
The soldier replied, "The First Prince has already gone over there... anyway, Your Highness should go take a look too."
He seemed like he had more to say, but did not know how to explain it.
Seeing that, Luke nodded and decided to go check it out.
There were not many people in the residence at the moment, so he only brought Katarina and Yurna with him.
On the way, the soldier explained how they had run into the suspicious person.
Making Luke's solidifier meant they had to go gather lusu flower outside the city. Judging by the pace of collection, if they gathered some every day and let it ferment, it could perfectly keep up with what Luke had started making at the beginning.
And that suspicious person was encountered during that process.
He had come walking through the snow, carrying an air of mystery, with several gems floating around him. He stopped in front of a flower and blocked the soldiers' path.
He had not shown any hostility. He had only warned them not to continue, then sent them reeling backward with a burst of force.
So part of the group stayed there while the soldier came back to report the situation to Jarvan IV and Luke.
After some time, Luke and the soldier arrived at the place where the suspicious figure was waiting.
Jarvan IV, Garen, and the others were already there, and all of their eyes were fixed on the long-haired man across from them.
The man had a strong, well-built frame wrapped in soft blue robes. Even in the winter cold, part of his skin remained exposed.
Around the two sapphire pauldrons on his shoulders floated crystal-like gems, each one giving off a beautiful glow that fell across him and set off his understated but impossible-to-ignore presence.
Above his left hand floated a white blossom, beautiful enough to draw the eye, with its roots and even the soil around them held in a glowing protective aura.
In his other hand, he held a strangely shaped hammer, its center shining with a starlike radiance.
He was handsome too, and together with that flowing long hair, he gave off a charm that felt entirely his own.
The moment Luke saw the man, he narrowed his eyes.
From the soldier's description earlier, he had already had a suspicion, and now that suspicion was confirmed.
This man was one of the champions, Taric, the Shield of Valoran.
At that moment, Taric was surrounded by part of the soldiers, with Jarvan IV and Garen standing at the front. Both of them wore complicated expressions as they looked at him.
As for the others who knew him, their eyes held only anger and contempt.
"Taric, you've still got the nerve to come back!"
"I told you, if you ever dared show your face again, I wouldn't let you off easy!"
"You traitor!"
"You coward who wouldn't take responsibility for your own mistake!"
Some of the soldiers shouting at him were from the Dauntless Vanguard.
"I never intended to betray Demacia. It's just... there are too many callings waiting for me to fulfill."
Faced with their accusations, Taric's expression remained calm, but the faint flicker in his eyes still betrayed the conflict inside him.
One soldier sneered immediately. "So that's your excuse for abandoning your post and leaving your charge and more than a dozen comrades to die?"
"I'm sorry for that."
Taric's voice was low, and he tried to keep it steady, but the guilt in it could still be heard.
No one wanted to hear it anymore.
Taric's apology was something they had long since stopped accepting.
To them, this coward was beneath contempt.
From a distance, while listening to the exchange, Luke gradually pieced Taric's story together more clearly in his mind.
Taric had once been a Demacian. Like every Demacian, he had been raised from childhood on ideals of protecting home and country. Focus, selflessness, devotion, and noble purpose had all placed certain responsibilities on his shoulders.
But he had never wanted to limit what he protected to only the state and specific people.
He had been unwilling to draw boundaries around what and whom he wished to protect.
Taric had shown exceptional talent from an early age, and both his family and his country had placed high hopes on him. For a time, he had even been spoken of in the same breath as Garen.
He was a young warrior who trained hard and possessed superb martial skill.
Yet in the little free time he had, he looked for other ways to serve his homeland. He volunteered to travel with the Illuminators, care for the sick, and help rebuild after floods.
He used his creative gifts to help masons and craftsmen raise monuments large and small, carving the glory of the Winged Protector and the lofty ideals it represented.
His friendly manner and warm nature quickly earned him promotion.
It was not long before he entered the Dauntless Vanguard, and there he became friends with Garen, who had only recently joined it himself.
But as he grew older, Taric's easygoing and free-spirited nature began to clash more and more with Demacia's rigid discipline and coordination.
More and more of the things he did were no longer allowed by military discipline, disappearing into the forest to track rare birds and beasts, skipping drills and sparring to sit in taverns listening to catchy songs from traveling bards,
or riding out during road patrols just to watch the silver-gray night settle over villages in the distance.
Taric began to feel increasingly stifled, and before long he was regarded as a disobedient soldier and placed under special scrutiny.
Later, he was assigned to escort someone beyond the border, accompanied by more than a dozen Dauntless warriors.
Taric resented the forced arrangement from the start.
And beyond the border, the worst happened. The group was attacked while resting.
The Dauntless warriors fought desperately against the enemy, but at that very moment, Taric abandoned his post. Rumor had it that he had been wandering the corridors of some forgotten ruined temple nearby.
Everyone died, including the person he had been assigned to protect.
There was no question that Taric had committed a grave offense. He should have faced a severe punishment and been sent to the executioner's block.
His friend Garen Crownguard stepped in to plead for mercy, and Taric was spared. But what awaited him instead was the brutal punishment known as the Crown of Stone, according to Demacia's oldest traditions, he would be sent to climb Mount Targon, and almost no one survived the ascent.
To atone for what he had done, to seek redemption, Taric boarded a ship heading south and went to Mount Targon.
Because of that, the Aspect of the Protector chose him, seeing the soul that wished to protect all things and the righteousness in his heart, and granted him sacred power.
That was right. At this point, Taric had already become one of Targon's Aspects.
After that, he never returned to Demacia. Everyone had assumed he was dead.
That was why both Garen and Jarvan IV had shown such complicated looks upon seeing him again.
And those former comrades who had once known Taric still regarded him as a coward who had run from his mistake and clung to life.
Luke did not know how to judge him completely, but from the standpoint of a Demacian's duty, Taric truly had done wrong.
At the same time, that had simply been the result of Taric's nature. He had wanted to protect not only people, but all things.
Supposedly, the reason he had gone to that ancient temple ruin in the first place was that he had not wanted a place so full of history and time, something sacred and beautiful, to disappear.
That was what Taric had said back then, yet in Demacian ears, it became nothing more than an excuse for abandoning responsibility.
From an ordinary human perspective, could a temple, something that might not matter at all, really be weighed against more than a dozen human lives?
Luke believed it could not. He knew he himself could never be like Taric.
But he also knew you could not force everyone in the world to be like yourself.
The world was beautiful precisely because it was made up of all kinds of people, all with different ideas and different ways of seeing things.
To put it simply, the scolding Taric was taking right now was not undeserved.
The fact that he stood there silently, neither arguing nor fighting back, showed that guilt still remained in his heart.
It was just that no one needed that hollow guilt now. Could guilt bring back those dozen dead comrades?
At that moment, Garen raised a hand to stop the soldiers' shouting. He looked at Taric, his former friend, and any trace of their old bond was gone. In a calm voice, he asked, "Taric, why are you here?"
"Garen. Your Highness, it's been a long time."
At last Taric had a chance to greet his two old friends, but both men answered him with silence.
Taric knew perfectly well why they were so cold toward him, so he instead lowered his gaze to the flower floating over his hand. "I came here because of this. It is the last surviving bloom of its kind in this world. It should have been able to survive this winter. It shouldn't die in your hands."
"A worthless flower, and you're still as ridiculous as ever, Taric!"
One of the Dauntless soldiers immediately let out a mocking laugh. "Threatening your former comrades over a plant, that sounds exactly like the Taric I remember."
A moment ago, Taric had released a burst of energy to knock the soldiers back so they would not keep digging and damage the flower's roots.
Faced with the soldier's sarcasm, Taric said nothing.
Garen kept down the disappointment in his heart and asked again, "Just for that?"
At that moment, some small part of him still hoped Taric might say something else.
He still could not bring himself to look at the man who had once sat laughing with him atop a tower as if he were truly an enemy.
But Taric disappointed Garen after all.
He nodded and answered calmly, "Yes. I have no intention of being your enemy."
Even the dullest person there could hear the distance in those words.
It was then that Luke rode up, swung down from his horse, and approached.
Seeing Taric up close, he noticed the man was tall too, probably around six foot three, and gave off a profound, powerful aura. Just standing there, he naturally projected a kind of distance that made him feel hard to approach.
It was Luke's first time seeing a living Aspect, so his gaze was openly curious, wandering all over the man without the slightest restraint.
He even stepped closer, close enough to be a little rude, and clicked his tongue while staring at the gems floating around Taric. "Those would sell for a nice price, wouldn't they? Can you pry one off and give it to me? I'll trade you something for it."
The corner of Taric's mouth twitched. Looking at the strange man in front of him, he quietly took a step back.
He did not actually mind Luke's lack of manners, because from the first glance he had already sensed that Luke was different from everyone else around him.
Taric lifted his eyes and looked past Luke, then froze for a moment before returning his gaze to Luke. "You must be Demacia's second prince."
"That's right."
Luke nodded and, with a harmless smile, held out his hand.
Taric hesitated for a moment. The protective aura around the flower drifted to rest on his shoulder, and then he reached out with his right hand and shook Luke's.
For some reason, when he looked into Luke's eyes, he kept sensing something unusual in them.
Something strange.
But what exactly?
He could not say.
After they let go, Garen spoke coldly. "Your business here is done. Leave, Taric."
Luke had never seen Garen's face look that cold before.
At that moment, he looked like he might draw his sword at the slightest push.
"I will leave."
Taric said that much, paused, then looked at Garen and Jarvan IV. In the end, there was still nothing he could say.
So he turned to Luke and gave him a formal Demacian gentleman's bow. "Then I take my leave, Your Highness."
Luke was not in any hurry to send him away. In fact, he even had the urge to drag this living Aspect back with him. "You're leaving already? Why not come sit in the city for a while?"
Jarvan IV rubbed his forehead helplessly. He very much wanted to tell Luke to read the room.
If Taric really followed them back into Hill City, he would probably drown in people's spit.
Taric was surprised too that Luke had actually invited him. Then he shook his head slightly. "No. We will meet again."
There seemed to be some hidden meaning in that, but before Luke could ask, Taric had already turned away, taking the flower he had come to protect with him.
Luke watched his back recede and sighed in mild regret. Then, without the slightest guilt, he used the Random Skill Copy Card on him.
[Use successful.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have received the advanced skill, Bastion LV1.]
At once, Luke felt a subtle infusion of starlit power pour through his body. The sensation was quite remarkable.
He checked the newly copied advanced skill and felt a little regret.
He had not managed to copy Taric's ridiculous invulnerability ultimate.
Still, Bastion was already a very good skill.
It was Taric's W. It allowed Luke to link himself to an ally and provide both himself and the other person with a layer of armor.
And the armor increase was significant too. After all, it was an advanced skill copied from an Aspect.
Even if Luke could never use it as powerfully as Taric did, as a defensive skill purely in terms of the armor it granted, it was already excellent.
And besides, it was free.
Luke was pretty satisfied with it.
He looked at Taric's back and could not help feeling curious about what he had just said.
Why had there been that tone of certainty in it?
"Let's go."
At that moment, Jarvan IV patted him on the shoulder, sighed as he watched Taric's back, and turned away.
At this point, Taric was slowly walking off beneath waves of angry, contemptuous, and disdainful stares.
The flower he protected drifted forward in front of him.
He looked at the beauty of the last blossom of its kind in the world, and his thoughts wandered.
After so many years, he had never expected to come back here again.
He looked around. The green fields of long ago had now been ravaged by war beyond recognition.
What Taric protected was everything in the world, and for that reason he understood very clearly why he fought.
He could no longer agree with Demacia's ideals, could no longer fight for nation and people alone.
But when his gaze returned to the flower, his mind still could not stop replaying the disappointed, distant, cold look in the eyes of the friend who had once been closest to him.
And the contempt in the eyes of the comrades he had once fought beside.
A sharp pain still stirred in his heart.
All these years, he had never once forgotten the mistake he had made. In fact, he forced himself to remember it over and over again.
Sometimes he even had nightmares. Even after receiving the blessing of an Aspect, he still dreamed about the gruesome fate of the comrades who had died.
But now that he had become an Aspect, he carried a greater mission, and as an Aspect, he did not even know how he could make up for the fault he had committed before.
Under normal circumstances, Aspects were rarely permitted to interfere in mortal affairs.
Because they held greater power, they could not meddle too much with the natural course of this land.
Without showing it, Taric let out a faint sigh. His steps grew heavier and heavier until his back disappeared entirely from the sight of the crowd.
Luke and the others got back on their horses and rode toward Hill City.
Katarina thought back to the Taric she had just seen. Her sharp instincts told her that he possessed truly immense power.
He had not even needed to reveal any aura, just standing there had been enough to make her feel pressured.
So there were beings like that on Valoran too?
Her grip on the reins tightened.
Only after leaving Noxus had she begun to realize that the world was not quite as simple as she had always believed.
Luke was also thinking about Taric. He did not know all that much about the Aspects either.
But from where he stood, these beings with immense power were actually fairly reliable.
After all, every time Runeterra faced a crisis, they were there.
At the very least, while interfering with humanity as little as possible, they still worked to preserve the harmony and peace of this world, while preparing for the conflict that had not yet arrived.
As for why Luke felt the need to specify that this was only from his point of view, well, a certain dragon definitely would not agree with him.
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