Luke continued examining his next reward.
It was a random max-level skill. Without hesitation, he claimed it immediately.
[Congratulations, host. You have obtained the max-level skill: Dual Focus, Level 9.]
In an instant, a sensation akin to sudden enlightenment surged through him. It felt as though some invisible barrier within his body had shattered.
His control over himself had improved by more than just a little.
Most people were born right-handed. Since they were accustomed to using their right hand, they naturally had less control over their left, and the reverse was true for left-handed people.
Sometimes, the brain would also instinctively favor the dominant side. For example, when a ball came flying toward a right-handed person, they would unconsciously raise their right hand to block it. When throwing a punch, they would usually lead with their right fist as well.
Years of habit made the right hand both more dexterous and stronger than the left.
One of the effects of Dual Focus was raising Luke's control over his left hand to the same level as his right.
Given his current physical strength, there was naturally little difference in power between his two arms.
A right-handed swordsman would almost never wield a sword with his left hand. Even if he tried, his performance would certainly be worse than with his right.
Luke, however, could now wield a sword just as naturally with his left hand, without sacrificing any effectiveness, while retaining perfect control over his right.
That was only one aspect of Dual Focus. The skill's greatest strength was exactly what its name suggested.
It allowed Luke to divide his attention between two tasks without compromising either one.
For example, he could sketch a picture while tossing food in a wok. He could read a book while listening to music and absorb the contents of the book without missing a note of the song.
Another example was drawing a circle with one hand and a square with the other. Most people could not draw a complete circle with one hand while simultaneously drawing a proper square with the other. The exercise was usually meant to demonstrate that people should focus on one task at a time.
Now, however, Luke could accomplish it with ease.
He rose from the reclining chair, crouched on the ground, and decided to test it. One hand drew a circle while the other drew a square, neither interfering with the other. A perfect circle and square appeared at the same time.
Akali noticed what he was doing from nearby and looked at him disdainfully.
"How old are you, and you're still playing in the dirt?"
Ahri also glanced over. When she had lived with the snow foxes, she used to dig around in the snow for fun, but even she had grown out of that.
Luke looked up with a slight grin. "I bet you couldn't even play in the dirt properly."
"I'm not as childish as you!" Akali snorted and prepared to begin her training.
Traveling over the past several days had not stopped her from practicing. Only through constant perseverance could she become stronger, unlike a certain someone who spent every day doing nothing serious and was now playing in the dirt.
Pathetic.
Ahri curiously walked over and looked at the circle and square on the ground.
"Why did you draw those shapes?"
"I was just doodling." Luke smiled. "The trick is called drawing a circle with your left hand and a square with your right. Both hands have to move at the same time, and both shapes have to be completed together."
"I see." Ahri immediately became interested. "It looks pretty easy. Let me try."
She crouched down and extended both of her soft, pale hands, using them to draw in the dirt.
Before long, a crooked circle and a crooked square appeared at the same time.
"Huh?"
Ahri found it strange and tried again, only for confusion to appear on her face.
It should have been simple. Why had both shapes ended up looking like neither a circle nor a square?
She looked at Luke's drawings again. His were neat and flawless.
Luke could not help looking pleased with himself. "This technique isn't something just anyone can do."
"Stop bragging!"
His words drew Akali's attention. Seeing Ahri repeatedly try and grow more bewildered with each attempt also stirred her curiosity.
It was just drawing a circle with one hand and a square with the other. How difficult could it be?
Luke glanced at her and chuckled. "Come try it yourself if you don't believe me."
"Fine, I will!"
Akali strode over confidently, crouched beside Ahri, and selected a clean patch of ground.
She placed both hands against the dirt and began with complete confidence. One hand moved in straight horizontal and vertical lines, while the other traced a curve.
As she continued, however, the confidence in her eyes gradually turned into doubt.
When both hands finally stopped, two crooked shapes sat before her, neither one quite a circle nor a square.
"I wasn't ready that time. Let me try again."
Akali refused to accept it and immediately made another attempt. This time, she took a deep breath and became completely serious.
She concentrated intensely on forming the circle and square, but when she finished, the results were no different from before.
"That shouldn't have happened."
Akali frowned at the misshapen drawings, feeling the same confusion as Ahri.
All she had to do was draw a circle with one hand and a square with the other. It sounded effortless, so why was it so difficult?
She tried again, this time with even greater concentration.
After several attempts, however, either both shapes came out crooked, the circle was correct while the square was wrong, or the square was correct while the circle was distorted.
Whenever she focused on drawing one properly, something went wrong with the other. Sometimes both failed at once.
After many attempts, Akali raised her eyes toward Luke.
"Impossible! This can't be done!"
She was gradually realizing that it was almost the equivalent of splitting one's mind in two. How could anyone divide their attention so perfectly? At least, she had never seen anyone capable of it.
Ahri nodded firmly. "I agree!"
"But I can do it."
Luke clasped his hands behind his back, instantly adopting the demeanor of an unfathomable master.
His smug appearance was unbearably irritating. Akali curled her lip.
"I don't believe you. You must have drawn one of them beforehand."
"How about this, then?" Luke's eyes shifted as an idea came to him. "If I succeed, one of you massages my legs while the other massages my shoulders. If I fail, we reverse it."
"So either way, you're the one who benefits!" Akali rolled her eyes.
"Then you two decide what I have to do," Luke said.
"Anything we want?" Akali asked.
"Of course."
Luke nodded confidently.
"Fine!" Akali immediately agreed. "You only get one attempt. If you fail, you have to tell me how you found me inside the smoke that day."
Luke smiled. "No problem."
Ahri thought for a moment. "Can I decide on my request later?"
She could not think of anything she wanted Luke to do at the moment.
"That's fine too."
"Okay."
Since Luke had agreed, Ahri nodded as well.
"Watch closely."
Luke slowly crouched and extended both hands in front of the two women.
Akali and Ahri watched him intently, making sure he could not cheat.
However, once Luke began moving, disbelief gradually filled their eyes.
Right in front of them, Luke truly drew a circle with one hand and a square with the other, completing both at the exact same moment.
"How is that possible?"
Akali could hardly believe it. After trying so many times herself, she was certain that this was not something an ordinary person could easily accomplish.
Drawing the two shapes felt like trying to handle two completely separate tasks at once. To neatly form a square made of straight lines while simultaneously drawing a smooth circle without corners was unbelievably difficult.
Yet Luke had done it with ease.
Ahri's eyes were also wide as she stared blankly at him.
Once Luke finished, the corner of his mouth rose. "Well? Do you admit defeat?"
Akali did not answer. She lowered her head and tried again.
Ahri followed her example.
The two women made several more attempts before finally giving up. Deliberately pursuing this skill felt no different from torturing themselves.
"You two can decide who does what. Let me make one thing clear, though, I expect to be satisfied."
Luke had already returned to the chair. He closed his eyes and waited happily.
Akali was extremely annoyed by his arrogant expression, but there was nothing she could do about it.
"I'll massage his shoulders."
Ahri actually seemed a little eager. She voluntarily walked behind Luke and placed her soft hands on his shoulders.
She applied just the right amount of pressure, making the massage extremely comfortable.
At the same time, Ahri caught Luke's scent drifting toward her, and a restless feeling stirred within her. She quickly steadied her breathing and forced herself to calm down.
Seeing that Ahri had begun, Akali was not the type to refuse to honor a bet. She slowly walked to the side of Luke's chair, crouched down, and began lightly pounding his legs with her hands.
Before long, overwhelming embarrassment welled up inside her.
She was Akali. When had she ever done something like this, practically waiting on someone hand and foot?
Glancing at Luke's blissful expression, Akali desperately wanted to strike a little harder.
At the same time, she was still astonished by what he had done. No matter how she thought about it, his ability to draw both shapes simultaneously seemed absurd.
Being able to draw a circle and square with both hands did not prove much by itself, but Luke had done it with such effortless control that his ability was clearly far more profound than that.
Luke remembered what Akali had asked earlier.
"There really wasn't anything special about how I found you in the smoke that day. My perception is simply unusually sharp."
Akali continued pounding his legs as she replied skeptically, "Your perception alone was enough to find me in that state?"
That technique was one of the secret arts she had trained in, Twilight Shroud.
It was not as simple as throwing down a smoke bomb. While Twilight Shroud was active, Akali could make her voice and presence nearly disappear while retaining full vision within the smoke.
In other words, others could neither see nor hear her, while she could see them perfectly.
"The world is vast. Why would that be impossible?" Luke answered casually. "Even if your voice and presence nearly vanished, your gaze didn't. Neither did the intent to attack contained within it."
Akali fell silent and considered his words.
Runeterra was indeed enormous, and she had never even left Ionia.
Countless things beyond her understanding undoubtedly existed.
Even so, sensing her presence from her gaze alone still sounded almost unbelievable.
"Are you saying my intentions were too obvious at the time?"
After thinking for a moment, Akali could not resist asking.
She had been trained as an assassin. As the daughter of the Fist of Shadow, the first thing she had learned was how to conceal killing intent.
Killing intent was different from other thoughts and emotions. It could almost become tangible, forming an outward pressure that was especially easy for others to sense.
Learning to conceal killing intent also required learning to hide other emotions.
She had not intended to kill Luke at the time. She had merely intended to attack him.
"It might not have been obvious to someone else, but to me, it felt like a blade pressed against my back," Luke answered.
His sixth sense was far beyond the ordinary and could not truly be used as a standard, but there were certainly others in the world with similarly powerful instincts.
"So I'm still too weak." Akali lowered her head.
Even Ahri noticed her sudden discouragement and tried to comfort her. "You're already very strong."
Akali gave a helpless smile. "But I'm not the strongest, am I? This world isn't gentle. If you aren't strong enough, all you can do is watch helplessly as tragedies you cannot prevent continue to happen."
Her words suggested she had experienced something painful, leaving Ahri unsure how to comfort her.
Luke said nothing either. Akali did not strike him as someone who would remain discouraged for long.
Sure enough, after only a brief moment of gloom, she quickly recovered. Her eyes gleamed with determination, and she brought her fist down heavily.
"I can't keep going like this. I have to become stronger!"
"Hiss!"
Her small fist suddenly slammed into the upper part of Luke's thigh, making him suck in a sharp breath.
"You can make your declaration without hitting me that hard."
Akali had completely forgotten that she was still massaging his legs. She immediately apologized.
"Sorry. I wasn't paying attention."
Luke stared at her, unable to tell whether she had done it deliberately. In the end, he waved her away.
"That's enough. You don't need to massage my legs anymore. Go do whatever you were doing."
"Got it."
Akali immediately stood and hurried away to train, covering the distance in only a few quick steps.
"You can stop too," Luke told Ahri.
"But I don't have anything else to do." Ahri blinked. She seemed perfectly happy to keep massaging his shoulders.
Luke suddenly remembered something. "By the way, do you know any meditation techniques?"
"Meditation techniques?" Ahri had heard of them before, but she shook her head. "No."
"The reason your ability is unstable ultimately comes down to your poor control over your mental power. I'll teach you a meditation technique. You can practice it regularly from now on."
Luke thought the Sun-Moon Meditation Arts he had just obtained might help Ahri control her abilities more quickly.
Otherwise, with her staying beside him every day, Luke had noticed that the way she looked at him was becoming increasingly strange. She often seemed eager to pounce, and occasionally wore the hungry expression of someone staring at a delicious feast.
It made him rather nervous.
After all, Ahri herself had admitted that her self-control was poor.
What was he supposed to do if she lost control one day? Let her drain him or stop her?
"But meditation techniques are supposed to be extremely valuable. Can you really teach one to me?"
Ahri's eyes brightened, though she also looked slightly conflicted.
She had heard of meditation techniques. Many Ionians pursued them because of their numerous benefits, and the more profound the technique, the more valuable it was.
That was one reason temples and monasteries were so widely respected. Their members possessed profound methods of meditation, and the more devoted their followers became, the more highly they regarded them.
"It doesn't matter to me."
Luke had obtained Sun-Moon Meditation Arts without paying anything for it, and there was no rule forbidding him from teaching it to others. However, seeing Ahri's innocent expression, he smiled.
"You should still think about how you're going to repay me someday."
"Mm-hmm. I'll never forget what you've done for me." Ahri nodded vigorously.
Akali watched from nearby and felt that the scene resembled a shady old man tricking an innocent girl.
After traveling together for the past several days, she had realized that Ahri was genuinely naive. She had only recently begun interacting with human society, and her nature was still as innocent as that of a wild animal.
By comparison, Luke was the one who resembled a fox, an old, cunning fox.
No one knew how many schemes were brewing inside his head.
However, hearing him mention a meditation technique also sparked Akali's interest. She wondered how it compared with the methods of the Kinkou Order.
Luke continued, "The meditation technique I'm going to teach you is called Sun-Moon Meditation Arts."
"That name sounds impressive. How about I trade you the Kinkou Order's meditation technique for it?" Akali asked as she walked over curiously, showing no reluctance to offer one of the Kinkou Order's own methods.
It was originally a secret technique forbidden from being taught to outsiders. However, she was already an apostate, and the Kinkou Order had now been so thoroughly suppressed by the Order of Shadow that it could barely hold its head high. Naturally, she no longer felt bound by those rules.
She made the offer because the Breathing Arts Luke had taught her earlier had proven quite useful.
The Kinkou Order did not possess some ordinary meditation technique. Its Star-Gazing Meditation was extremely profound. Once mastered, practitioners felt as if they were surrounded by the stars themselves, producing exceptional meditative results.
Teaching it to Luke would serve as repayment for the Breathing Arts while also helping both him and Ahri.
"That works." Luke nodded without objection, though he was not particularly interested in the Kinkou Order's meditation technique.
Still, there was no reason to reject Akali's goodwill.
In truth, he did not know how Sun-Moon Meditation Arts compared with the meditation techniques of Ionia, but he assumed the difference could not be too great.
He began slowly explaining Sun-Moon Meditation Arts to them, including how to visualize, guide their mental power, and circulate the energy within their bodies. That final step was the most important.
They had to control a thread of energy inside their bodies, moving it through a prescribed path and gradually forming a continuous cycle.
At the same time, they needed to empty their minds and silently recite the visualization mantra. Afterward, they could begin absorbing the essence of the sun and moon, gradually entering a meditative state.
Akali and Ahri would need to follow each of those steps one by one. For Luke, however, the entire process required no more than a single thought.
"I'll demonstrate it for you."
Although he called it a demonstration, this was actually Luke's first attempt as well.
He sat down cross-legged and slowly exhaled. Then he emptied his mind and silently recited the mantra.
The effect was immediate.
Sunlight poured down from the sky and enveloped his body as if clothing him in a radiant golden robe. He shone brilliantly, almost like a god.
Ahri's eyes lit up, and she immediately became entranced. The irresistible aura she sensed from Luke seemed to have become even more tangible.
In the eyes of both Ahri and Akali, Luke appeared to be glowing. He was as dazzling as the sun, and an indescribably mysterious presence radiated from his body.
They knew he was not the sun, yet merely standing near him and being touched by his light felt as though they were bathing in warm sunshine.
It felt completely different from ordinary sunlight.
Akali's eyes gradually widened in shock.
The speed at which he had entered meditation was astonishing enough, but what truly stunned her was the sunlight now blossoming around him.
Only an extraordinarily profound visualization technique could produce such an effect.
Shen, the current leader of the Kinkou Order and the Eye of Twilight, displayed something similar.
Whenever he practiced Star-Gazing Meditation, a purple, star-like aura appeared around his body. It was such a profound state that even those watching him could gain insight from it.
As Akali stared at the sunlight gleaming around Luke, she realized that she had never heard of any comparable visualization technique.
One thing was beyond doubt. The level Luke was demonstrating did not appear inferior to the Shen she remembered.
Luke himself was immersed in the sensation of meditation.
It felt as though a rising sun had appeared within his mind. Its radiance shone through him, filling his body with warmth and extraordinary comfort while allowing his mind to completely relax.
Before long, Luke withdrew from meditation and looked toward the two stunned women.
"That's basically how it works. At night, you cultivate by absorbing lunar essence, which produces a different effect."
"A different effect?"
Akali was stunned again. This was the first time she had ever heard of a single meditation technique that could be practiced differently during the day and night, producing separate benefits.
"You'll understand once you master it. I've already explained the essential principles."
Luke lazily stretched. The sensation of meditation had been genuinely pleasant, even more comfortable than simply lying beneath the sun.
After leaving the meditative state, he could tell that his body felt slightly different.
It seemed to have received a faint enhancement from the power of the sun.
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