Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, nearly a month had passed.
October 25.
As the days rolled on, and with the occasional rain in between, the temperature in the air kept dropping.
There were fewer fallen leaves now, quietly announcing the changing season.
And across the streets and alleys of the capital, people had all added another layer or two to their clothes.
Today's issue of the Royal City Bulletin had just been released, and there was still a long line gathered outside the shop.
By now, the newspaper company had opened three storefronts in the capital just for paper sales. Combined with the prearranged home deliveries, the newsboys, and the regular daily paper sales, it was enough to meet the demand of the entire city.
And now the paper had appeared in every major city across Demacia, spreading at a rapid pace toward smaller counties and towns.
In other words, newspapers had practically become popular throughout all of Demacia.
Fireworks, bicycles, electric lamps, and the products derived from them, such as flashlights and electric fans, had all begun blending into the daily lives of ordinary people.
As soon as the newspaper office doors opened, the people buying papers surged inside.
After purchasing a copy, they exited in an orderly line through the other side, already too impatient to wait before opening them up.
And as more and more people got their hands on the day's issue, the capital grew lively with conversation.
"Hey, did you see the newest comic?"
"I did, I did."
"This week's was amazing."
"Lott is about to enter Dragon's Keep!"
"I only just bought mine and was about to start reading, go talk somewhere else."
With a paper in hand, people eagerly commented on the contents of today's edition.
A while back, when another issue had come out, readers had discovered the price had gone up again, and by quite a bit this time.
But since the Royal City Bulletin wasn't the type to gouge people, they had all paid up anyway, planning to see what justified it.
Not long after getting the new issue, they realized the extra money had been more than worth it.
The reason was simple. The paper's contents had become much richer than before, and in the last few pages, it now included something entirely new.
That thing was illustrated panels.
Or, to put it more simply, comics.
A story had been drawn into one panel after another and printed right there in the paper.
That eye-catching presentation immediately caused that day's issue to sell out.
And after reading it, people all said the higher price had been worth every coin. Each installment was packed full, satisfying, and incredibly fun to read.
The first comic ever serialized was called Hero vs. Dragon. It told the story of an evil dragon abducting the kingdom's princess, and of a young boy from a village setting out to rescue her and battle the dragon.
Along the way, he met all kinds of companions, traveled across wondrous lands on countless adventures, and even encountered magic.
The content was fairly sensitive, all things considered, but the artist had handled the line very well and never crossed any real boundaries.
After several issues, the Hero vs. Dragon comic was now approaching its finale.
Its vivid art style was so captivating that people who finished reading it felt as though they had lived through a second life.
And naturally, the person behind the comic was Luke.
It had been a sudden idea of his. Since newspapers could now print images, why couldn't they print comics too?
After several rounds of experimentation, he had finally overcome that hurdle.
So when he had nothing else to do, he started drawing comics.
For the first one, he deliberately picked something simple, something people would find easy to accept.
At this moment, in Luke's courtyard, things had grown lively as the girls arrived one after another.
Lux had noticed that over this recent stretch of time, Fiora had been arriving extremely early. Every time Lux got up early and showed up, Fiora was already there.
She really was a total grinder.
With how diligently she trained, Lux felt that the duelist absolutely deserved the fame she had now.
And she also felt that lately, Fiora had somehow become more mature, more charming.
Over this same stretch of time, Fiora's popularity in the capital had not faded at all. If anything, after several more challenge duels, it was growing by the day.
And that cold, breathtaking beauty of hers, along with her presence, was one of the biggest reasons why.
Now, throughout the entire capital, the number of nobles hoping to step through House Laurent's doors and propose was almost too large to count.
Unfortunately for them, some time ago the head of House Laurent had already made a public statement rejecting all marriage proposals outright, sending every visiting noble home disappointed.
Lux entered the courtyard and found that Luke still was not awake.
So she stretched out on the sofa in the living room and passed the time rereading the comic she had already gone through once.
The weather had gotten colder lately, and early in the morning she really was not in the mood to lie outside.
She had only read for a short while when she saw Luke slowly wandering down the stairs.
After one look at him, she showed a surprised expression. "What happened to you?"
Even though he always gave off the impression that he never quite had enough energy, after spending so much time together, Lux could spot even the smallest change in him.
And right now, Luke somehow looked even more listless than usual.
Like someone who had overdone it exercising and had been drained down to the last drop.
Luke yawned and replied casually, "Nothing much. I've just been giving a little too much of myself lately."
Lux asked in confusion, "Giving what?"
"Nothing."
Luke slowly made his way to the sofa and sat down, feeling like his whole body had been hollowed out and left with no strength at all.
Leaning back, he stared blankly at the ceiling.
Lately, the number of visits from a certain duelist had become increasingly frequent.
At first, she had only come by once every few days.
But recently, she had already been coming every night for an entire week.
It was like she had acquired a taste for it and had thrown open the gates to a whole new world, without the slightest sign of slowing down.
These days, she was like a flower that had been thoroughly nourished, blooming even more brilliantly than before.
The problem was that all the nourishment keeping her so radiant had been drawn little by little from Luke himself.
Luke had originally thought that in this sort of thing, men and women ought to be about evenly matched.
But after experiencing it firsthand, he realized that idea had been far too naive.
Now, listening to the energetic thrusting sounds of a rapier coming from the back courtyard, one sentence echoed inexplicably through his mind.
There are only exhausted oxen, never fields that have been overplowed.
After lying there for a while, Luke finally recovered a little spirit and sat up, personally brewing himself a hot cup of Smoky Earl Grey Tea.
Floating on the clear surface of the tea were a few little red berries.
Luke took a somewhat bitter sip. As the warm tea and berries went down, they gradually restored a bit of his lost vitality.
Then, after a moment's thought, he silently said in his mind, "Sign in."
[Detected: this sign-in is a monthly sign-in.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Spiritual Power Cultivation, Complete Version.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained 2 Advanced Skill Upgrade Cards.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained 2 Intermediate Skill Upgrade Cards.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Rare Treasure, Ruby Cranberries.]
[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained Vitality Arts, Complete Version.]
[System rewards have been stored in your inventory. Please check them yourself.]
As several system messages rang out one after another, Luke's eyes quickly moved to the last few lines, and several question marks slowly appeared on his face.
What exactly was that supposed to mean?
Was the system trying to imply something?
Burning with embarrassment and indignation, he glared at it in silence, then quietly moved the Ruby Cranberries into the first slot of his inventory.
After that, he let out another sorrowful sigh.
Of all the monthly rewards, the one Luke checked first was naturally the thing called Vitality Arts.
The moment he claimed it, all sorts of information related to the Vitality Arts flooded into his mind.
After a while, he opened his eyes, already having mastered a variety of health-preserving methods.
Among them were things like an upgraded animal-movement routine and enhanced conditioning drills, techniques that were extremely important to the current Luke.
These Vitality Arts could help him quickly recover depleted energy and spirit, and if practiced daily, they would continue strengthening him over time.
The more he practiced, the stronger he would get.
At that thought, a sharp gleam suddenly lit up in Luke's lazy eyes.
He quietly clenched his fists and swore that sooner or later he would make a certain duelist pay for this.
Then he began checking the rest of his rewards.
This time, the monthly sign-in had finally completed his Spiritual Power Cultivation. It was no longer just the beginner and intermediate sections, but the full cultivation method in its entirety.
After receiving all the information, Luke also came to understand the full version's effect.
Compared to the beginner and intermediate chapters, the complete version trained faster and produced better results.
It was, in every sense, an excellent reward.
That left the two Advanced Skill Upgrade Cards and the two Intermediate Skill Upgrade Cards.
After thinking about it for a moment, Luke first said inwardly, "System, use an Advanced Skill Upgrade Card on Godspeed Footwork."
[Use successful.]
[Godspeed Footwork has advanced to LV9, Returning to Simplicity.]
At once, a strange energy like a warm spring concentrated in his lower body and flowed through him.
The feeling was oddly comfortable.
And in his mind, his understanding of Godspeed Footwork deepened once more, reaching a level others could never hope to match.
After this upgrade, his movement technique had improved significantly.
When it came to speed, Luke now truly had something to be proud of.
Once he had finished absorbing it, Luke opened his eyes again and said inwardly, "Use an Advanced Skill Upgrade Card on Wind-Riding Swordsmanship."
[Use successful.]
[Wind-Riding Swordsmanship has advanced to LV8, Divine Mastery.]
With a rushing whoosh, the moment the system's voice fell silent, the aura around Luke changed completely.
A fierce wind suddenly rose from his body, and with it came sword intent that continued climbing higher and higher.
The entire living room stirred under that sword intent, as gusts of wind swept through it.
And the sudden gale immediately blew the comic pages off the table and all over the room, completely ruining Miss Crownguard's reading rhythm.
She looked up at him, then got to her feet as if fully used to this sort of thing by now, and calmly began picking up the scattered pages one by one.
In the back courtyard, Fiora, who had been practicing her sword, also turned her gaze toward the house.
With how sensitive she now was to sword intent, she could immediately tell that someone inside was breaking through.
And without question, that someone could only be him.
Thinking of something, the corners of her lips lifted in a pleased smile, and then she went right back to practicing.
She was not weaker than that man in everything.
Inside the house, with a fresh wave of insight, Luke's Wind-Riding Sword Intent smoothly broke through to major accomplishment.
And his Wind-Riding Swordsmanship reached LV8, another major improvement.
That little blonde was getting dangerously close to catching up. If his Wind-Riding Swordsmanship did not rise a bit more, Luke was starting to worry that someday the tables would turn and she would end up teaching him instead.
At this point, he still had two Intermediate Skill Upgrade Cards left.
Opening the panel, he saw that there were quite a few skills available to upgrade now.
Godspeed Tracking Arrow LV6, Chain Jump LV5, and Chain Slash LV5 were all strong high-tier skills.
After thinking it over, Luke made his choice. "System, use an Intermediate Skill Upgrade Card on Chain Slash."
[Use successful.]
[Chain Slash has advanced to LV7, Peak Perfection.]
The upgrade to Chain Slash did not bring Luke much in the way of insight.
The skill's effect itself was simply allowing Luke to break beyond his normal limits and unleash more slashes.
So as Chain Slash advanced, Luke's physique also received a certain amount of strengthening.
The reason he chose to upgrade Chain Slash was also simple. At the moment, it could offer the most immediate improvement.
And as for skill cards, he was in no hurry. There would be plenty of future sign-ins anyway.
Sooner or later, all of his skills would be leveled up.
Once he had finished sorting through all the system rewards, Luke's mood improved considerably, and quite a bit of his vitality returned as well.
He then stood up, headed into the kitchen, and began preparing breakfast for the day.
After breakfast, Luke immediately went out into the courtyard.
There was not much sun today, and with winter fast approaching, the temperature had dropped even more.
At this point, lying outside was not nearly as pleasant as staying inside.
When Lux stepped into the courtyard, she discovered that Luke was not lying down for once, but instead was standing there making one strange movement after another.
Some of the poses looked surprisingly difficult, too.
"What exactly are you doing?"
She walked over and asked curiously.
Luke kept moving while replying casually, "A wellness routine."
"Wellness?" A question mark practically popped over Lux's head as she looked at him. "You're this young. What exactly do you need to preserve?"
The guy had barely grown up, and he was already talking about wellness.
"What's it to you?"
Luke glanced at her and said irritably, "If you want to do it, do it with me. If not, move aside."
"Why are you getting mad over nothing?"
Lux pouted, but after watching for a few moments, she still stood beside him and copied the motions.
But honestly, after following Luke through the full set once, even though she was still clumsy at it, she immediately felt that something was different.
If she had to describe it, it was like her body felt more tired, and yet somehow also more energized at the same time.
Before long, the two in the front courtyard caught Poppy's attention, and she joined in too.
And after going through the routine three full times, Luke was already panting hard.
His physique was already considerably stronger than that of an ordinary person, yet just three rounds of these movements had worn him down this badly.
That alone was proof enough of how incredible these Vitality Arts really were.
And with that, Luke felt even more confident in his revenge tonight.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810