January 1.
As the first day of the new year, many people saw this day as a chance to reset all the frustrating things from the year before.
Starting today, they gathered themselves again, forgot the unhappiness of the past year, and welcomed the new one with a fresh state of mind.
The pages of Demacia's history had also turned to a clean, brand-new year, 680, and on those blank pages, there were far too many things waiting for people to write.
When the sky was still dim, families all across the Royal Capital had already risen early, put on new clothes, and taken gifts to visit relatives and friends, offering their New Year's blessings.
The streets were already lively first thing in the morning, with pedestrians, carriages, and horses coming and going in an endless stream.
Even now, there was already a hint of bustling crowds and noisy celebration.
Luke had also gotten up early today. Last night, Miss Duelist had spared him for the time being on account of today being the New Year.
After all, even she could not very well spend the night at someone else's house when it was almost New Year's.
By now, the fireplace downstairs had already been lit. After changing clothes, Luke came down to the first floor.
Lux and the others had not arrived yet. In the living room, he only saw Yurna and Katarina.
"Happy New Year."
Luke greeted them, then sat down on the sofa.
A moment later, Yurna brought over the hot tea she had brewed.
Katarina picked up a broom and prepared to sweep the yard.
For her, something like New Year's was basically no different from any other day. She still did whatever she was supposed to do.
But when she reached the courtyard and saw a light snow drifting outside, snowflakes falling like petals and whitening the early morning sky, she could not help but pause for a moment.
Seeing this scene, she thought of how she had left her homeland and come to this foreign country, and now she was spending the New Year here.
Her mood felt a little strange.
She had never cared about such things, nor did she have any delicate sentimentality. After all, to an assassin, those things were meaningless.
But perhaps because she had been here for a while and had been influenced by the mood on this side,
at this moment, she inexplicably felt a little homesick.
"It's snowing."
Luke's voice came from beside her.
He stopped beneath the eaves, looked at the drifting snow outside, and sighed with feeling. "A snowy New Year means a good harvest. That's a lucky sign. Looks like this year's harvest will be good."
The snow falling from the sky was not urgent. It looked fairly heavy, but it drifted down slowly, making for a lovely snowy scene.
Katarina asked curiously, "Why do you say that?"
"Because it's auspicious." Luke smiled and said, "Winter weather is cold, and fallen snow often doesn't melt easily. The snow covering the soil is relatively loose, and it holds a lot of still air inside. Air doesn't conduct heat well, so it's like covering the crops with a cotton blanket. No matter how cold it gets outside, the temperature underneath won't drop too low. Winter snow also covers the ground, making it less likely to attract pests. Isn't that a good sign? Once the cold weather passes and the snow melts, it can be absorbed by the land and crops as nourishment."
As long as it was not a blizzard like the one in Hill City, a snowfall at this time was actually a good thing.
Aside from the cold weather, there did not seem to be anything especially unpleasant about snowy days.
After all, on a snowy day, they could also eat a warm, steaming hot pot meal.
After hearing Luke's words, Katarina looked at the falling snow outside and nodded with some realization.
This really was something she had not known before. She had not expected there to be that kind of saying.
"If it's snowing, come back in and rest for a while. We can decorate the house too."
After looking at the snow for a bit longer, Luke yawned and returned to the living room.
Katarina nodded again, turned, and followed him.
Luke sat on the sofa and watched as Yurna and Katarina started decorating. Since he had nothing to do, he silently said in his mind, "Check in."
[Check-in successful.]
[Congratulations, host. You have obtained Realm Advancement Card x1.]
[Congratulations, host. You have obtained Intermediate Skill Upgrade Card x2.]
[Congratulations, host. You have obtained Random Subclass Upgrade Card x1.]
Three system prompts rang out in succession, which could be considered a good start to the new year.
Luke glanced over the rewards. All three were quite good. Without thinking too much, he directly used the Realm Advancement Card.
[Use successful.]
Soon, a surge of energy emerged from Luke's heart, then spread toward every part of his body and limbs, flowing slowly like a warm current and opening his meridians.
The feeling was rather comfortable, and Luke could not help closing his eyes.
Only after a while did those sensations disappear.
Luke immediately felt that his whole body had become a little lighter. He opened his hand and clenched it, and his strength had increased slightly too.
An increase in strength always put people in a good mood.
Luke looked at the second reward and silently said, "System, use the Skill Upgrade Card to upgrade Bastion."
[Intermediate Skill Card used successfully.]
[Bastion has been upgraded to LV7.]
Bastion was a high-level skill Luke had learned from Taric. The armor increase this skill brought was still quite substantial.
It was also currently the only high-level skill Luke had that had not reached LV7.
After using it, Luke looked at the final reward and continued silently, "Use the Random Subclass Upgrade Card."
[Use successful.]
[Congratulations, host. Subclass, Cooking, has been upgraded to LV9, back to basics.]
The system's words immediately made Luke's eyes light up.
The Random Subclass Upgrade Card's effect was to randomly upgrade one of the subclasses Luke already possessed.
His Cooking had been stuck at LV8 for a very long time, and even he had not expected that this time, it would go directly to Cooking.
As for this subclass, Luke had gone from disliking it at first to increasingly loving it now.
Because when his cooking improved, the one enjoying the delicious food was ultimately himself.
After all, food was as important as iron and steel to a person. Who could refuse delicious food?
Soon, Luke seemed to enter a state of sudden enlightenment. At this moment, he felt his understanding of cooking slowly rising.
Luke's current cooking skills were already quite good. Upgrading from LV8 to LV9 did not bring a massive improvement for him, because he had basically already mastered what needed to be mastered, and he was extremely skilled at it.
So this upgrade's information was digested by Luke very quickly.
He always felt as if something had changed, yet also as if nothing had changed. In short, it was an indescribable feeling.
After thinking about it, he stood up and walked toward the kitchen, preparing to use today's breakfast to test the results.
He wanted to see whether food made with LV9 Cooking would glow.
Just as he got up, he saw Lux walk in. She had a thick scarf wrapped around her neck, almost covering her mouth. Her pretty little nose and ears had been reddened by the cold, and quite a few snowflakes could still be seen on her brilliant golden hair. Beneath her cheerful, relaxed brows were a pair of lively, happy eyes.
"Happy New Year."
As soon as they met, Lux immediately greeted him in a crisp voice. Just from her tone, it was clear that she was in quite a good mood.
"Happy New Year."
Luke smiled at her.
After greeting him, Lux ignored him. While taking off her scarf, she ran over to the lit fireplace, stretched out her little hands, and warmed herself.
"Whew, so warm." Soon, warmth spread over her, driving away the chill she had brought in from the snowy day. Lux's little face gained a bit of blissful comfort as well, her narrowed eyes and curved lips making her look especially adorable.
Luke continued walking toward the kitchen and started preparing today's breakfast.
During this time, Fiora, Sona, Kahina, Poppy, and Quinn also arrived one after another. Every so often, the living room rang with voices greeting one another.
With more people around, the atmosphere became lively, and the New Year feeling grew stronger.
After Yurna and Katarina decorated the place, the house also looked a little more festive.
The girls sat in the living room, chatting. Their clear, pleasant voices also put people in a good mood.
Waves of aroma drifted from the kitchen, making the group of lovely young women look forward to today's breakfast.
After all, it was New Year's, and Luke did indeed answer their expectations.
Today's breakfast was extremely abundant.
Buttered bread, sausage bread, crystal soup buns, red bean rice porridge, scallion pulled pork toast, buckwheat wraps, eight grain breakfast porridge, crystal steamed dumplings...
It could be said that over a dozen kinds of rich breakfast dishes filled the dining table.
However, what was different from usual today was that all these breakfast dishes had also been mysteriously covered with lids.
"Is this some kind of New Year's ceremony of yours?"
After sitting down, Lux looked at the lids, then raised her head and asked Luke.
Luke said, "Lift one and see."
She did not know what this guy was up to, but Lux, who had already been craving the food badly, immediately lifted the lid in front of her after hearing that.
A rich aroma billowed out, instantly making her eyes light up. Then she looked at Luke again. "And then? Can we eat now?"
Luke rubbed his chin and thought for a moment, then sighed inwardly. "Go ahead."
Sure enough, it would not glow. What a waste of effort, preparing all those lids.
When it came to eating, Lux naturally led the charge. She particularly loved crystal soup buns, because the ones Luke made had broth inside.
She carefully picked one up with her chopsticks, then placed it in a spoon. First, she poked a small hole in the top, and a little crab roe broth and steam came out.
Then she blew on it a few times, and after confirming it was not that hot anymore, she stuffed it into her mouth in one bite.
Rich crab roe. With one bite, fragrant crab roe broth burst across her mouth. This feeling was simply too blissful.
At this moment, Luke asked, "Is it good?"
"Good!"
After Lux finished what was in her mouth, she immediately gave him a thumbs-up.
Luke then asked, "Then does it feel any different from usual?"
"From usual?"
After hearing that, Lux tilted her head and thought for a moment, then said, "It feels even better than usual."
As everyone knew, she was a foodie.
So she was very sensitive to the taste of food. After savoring it carefully at this moment, she really did notice that this time's crystal soup bun seemed even tastier than usual.
But in the end, she had gotten rather used to eating Luke's cooking. It had already been delicious before, so even if it was better now, it was only a certain kind of feeling.
It was not just her. The other girls were the same.
So Luke looked at Katarina and asked, "What do you think?"
Katarina had also just happened to eat a crystal soup bun and was about to take another one. After hearing the question, she thought for a moment. "It was good before too, but today's is especially fragrant."
She had only recently begun experiencing Luke's cooking, and over these few days, she had slowly come to accept his astonishing culinary level.
If this guy absolutely had to have two merits, then aside from that face of his, the other would be his superb cooking.
Back in Noxus, her family had also been a great house. Although her father had never let her slack off in training, correspondingly, she had never lacked the nutrition her body needed or delicious food either.
It could be said that she had grown up eating high-end food since she was small. Before this, she had only thought that food was just food. No matter how it was prepared, its taste ultimately would not change too much.
But this time, after coming to Demacia and meeting this guy, she realized that her thinking had been wrong.
A truly impressive chef could actually make ordinary ingredients become incomparably delicious.
And today, after savoring it carefully, she discovered that the taste was even better than these past few days.
In other words, it was unbelievably good.
Of course, Katarina naturally would not say it that way.
Hearing their conversation, Kahina also said while eating, "It seems like today's really is better than before."
Fiora, Poppy, and Sona all nodded in agreement.
So Luke also picked up his chopsticks, preparing to taste it personally.
After taking a bite and carefully savoring it, his eyes lit up.
As expected of me. What I made is way too damn delicious.
After tasting it himself, Luke confirmed that it was definitely tastier. Although it was not to the point of glowing, nor would people's clothes explode off after one bite, it was absolutely already at the ceiling level of today's Runeterra.
His Cooking upgrading to LV9 counted as the first good thing this year, and it meant that Luke might be able to eat even more delicious food in the future.
Everyone ate today's breakfast especially quickly. Under the assault of everyone's chopsticks, over a dozen rich breakfast dishes were wiped out completely.
Clean plates were already the most basic norm at Luke's dining table.
After breakfast,
Lux lay contentedly on the sofa, rubbing her slightly bulging little belly, her face full of happiness.
Miss Crownguard's combat power this morning was still formidable. It could be said that she had absolutely inhaled the food.
Luke glanced outside through the window. The snow was still falling. A white snow blanket had already covered the ground and rooftops, and the world was a peaceful, snow-white scene. Just looking at it put people in a good mood.
He still had not practiced today's Vitality Arts, so Luke found an open spot in the living room and slowly began practicing.
Fiora was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace. As she watched him lazily and slowly go through the movements, she suddenly pointed something out. "That last movement was wrong."
Hearing this, Luke froze for a moment. He stepped back and redid the movement from just now, then discovered that he had indeed made a mistake because he had been distracted.
He looked at Fiora instinctively. "How do you know?"
Fiora's lips curved up, and she smiled without saying anything.
Luke paused again, then asked tentatively, "This Vitality Arts... have you been practicing it too?"
"Of course." Fiora smiled and nodded, not denying it.
Luke could not help asking, "Every day?"
Fiora confirmed, "Every day."
"Hiss..."
Luke sucked in a breath of cold air and suddenly realized something.
Back then, Lux and the others had indeed learned this Vitality Arts for a while out of curiosity, but later, no one really persisted.
Especially Fiora. Every morning, she still had to practice swordsmanship, so naturally, she would not have time to practice these slow-moving Vitality Arts.
That was what Luke had originally thought.
Yet he had not expected that this Miss Duelist had actually learned Vitality Arts, and that she had even been practicing it every day!
What Luke valued most about Vitality Arts was that it could increase stamina and combat power.
In order for his combat power to surpass Fiora's, it could be said that he had never missed a single day and had persisted every day.
Yet today, he suddenly learned that Fiora was also practicing it every day.
In other words, while he had been secretly increasing his combat power, Fiora had also been increasing hers.
Luke finally had a sudden realization. No wonder that after all this time, his combat power was still never as good as this Miss Duelist's.
Damn it. I never expected this to be the part I failed to account for.
"Keep it up. Practice well."
Seeing Luke frozen in place, the smile on Fiora's lips never disappeared as she said softly.
Luke came back to his senses and looked at the Miss Duelist, his face paling slightly.
Crap. If this kept going, wouldn't he always be played in the palm of this girl's hand?
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