Irelia could not imagine what such a future might look like.
Even though the proposal had come from Luke, she could not agree to something so important on impulse.
"I'm sorry, but I need to think this through carefully."
Irelia looked at Luke without outright rejecting him.
She was hardly some stubborn old traditionalist. She understood perfectly well that the times were constantly changing.
But this matter carried enormous consequences, so she had to consider it carefully.
"There's no rush." Luke smiled. "Before making a decision, you should probably get a clearer understanding of Hexgates first."
As he spoke, he opened his Secret Key and placed a video call to Navis.
The call connected shortly afterward.
Although Navis was in charge of the Secret Key project, she was also one of the people overseeing the Hexgate project, making her more than qualified to explain everything.
As she spoke through the video feed, she also gave them a tour of present-day Piltover.
The streets were packed with people, yet despite their different customs and ways of life, Demacians, Piltovans, and Zaunites could be seen living together in harmony.
Irelia, Akali, and Ahri became increasingly amazed by everything they saw.
This was their first time seeing the outside world through such advanced technology.
It was something Ionia could never hope to come into contact with on its own in the immediate future.
After seeing all of this, Irelia began to wonder whether perhaps the First Lands should also try accepting new things.
People always wanted to return to the past. They rarely looked toward the future, and they were reluctant to take that first step forward.
But nothing in the world remained unchanged forever.
After suffering through such terrible bloodshed, could the First Lands truly return to the way they had once been so easily?
Reform.
The word suddenly appeared in Irelia's mind.
Perhaps what Ionia needed now was a major reform of its own.
Her gaze unconsciously shifted toward Luke, who was calmly drinking his tea.
The man sitting before her was one of Demacia's most famous reformers.
Because of him, Demacia had ended its centuries-old prohibition on magic, shattered the shackles that had bound it for generations, and entered a new era.
And when she thought about it, his reforms were clearly still continuing. Otherwise, he would never have come all the way to Ionia hoping to establish a Hexgate.
What gave him such unwavering determination?
Irelia could not help wondering whether she possessed that same kind of resolve.
Could she be like him?
Although she was tempted, she still did not agree immediately and decided to think about it a little longer.
Luke was in no hurry either.
A couple of days would not make much difference.
Besides, even convincing Irelia would only mean the matter was halfway settled at best.
There was still another person he needed to meet.
If that person agreed as well, then the plan would essentially be secured.
Irelia still had another two days of spirit-prayer ceremonies to handle, so the three of them temporarily remained in Keda Village.
In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
Nothing happened during that time. After losing their entire assassination team, the Navori Brotherhood sent no more killers.
It was morning.
With June approaching, the weather was pleasant. Warm sunlight spilled across the land while a cool breeze drifted through the air, making everything feel refreshing.
Luke was leisurely lying somewhere in the sunlight.
"All this guy knows how to do is lie around all day. What a waste of perfectly good time."
Whenever Akali saw him like this, she could not help getting annoyed.
"I don't think it's that bad." Irelia looked at Luke's dozing face. "Spending time with nature is a way of life too. I think there's something rather carefree about it."
After spending two days together, she had gained a somewhat better understanding of the Demacian prince.
Her impression was that he was an extremely relaxed and free-spirited person.
Akali sighed.
She looked at Irelia and said, "You're obviously looking at him through rose-colored glasses."
Only at moments like this did Akali feel that Irelia actually seemed like a girl her age.
The guy was obviously just lazy.
Yet in Irelia's eyes, he somehow became carefree and free-spirited.
If that wasn't idol worship talking, what was?
"Rose-colored glasses? Am I?"
Irelia tilted her head in confusion.
As far as she was concerned, she had merely said what she genuinely thought.
Akali sighed again.
"Forget it. What are you planning to do about the Navori Brotherhood?"
Ahri turned her attention toward them as well.
After spending three days together, the three young women had discovered that their personalities meshed surprisingly well, and they had already become quite familiar with each other.
The Navori Brotherhood had sent assassins after Irelia. Their hostility could hardly have been made any clearer.
They could not simply ignore something like that.
Although Akali had only recently met Irelia, she genuinely worried about her.
If nothing else, the fact that Irelia was the same age as her yet had already accomplished so many things Akali herself could not was enough to earn her admiration.
Irelia's eyes flickered slightly.
"I need to demand an explanation from them. The Navori Brotherhood has become increasingly ruthless. I can't keep allowing them to continue like this."
When she thought about it carefully, what the Navori Brotherhood wanted was also a kind of reform.
The difference was that their methods were far too cold-blooded and brutal.
Recently, Irelia had heard about many troubling incidents.
To raise the funds necessary to establish their government, the Navori Brotherhood had begun collecting taxes from villages and towns throughout the regions under their influence.
At the same time, they advocated military rule and were conscripting soldiers throughout the land.
Many others were even impersonating members of the Navori Brotherhood to bully and exploit ordinary people, while the organization simply turned a blind eye.
If the path they followed was truly right, Irelia would never have stood in their way.
But so far, all she had seen were worsening consequences.
The Navori Brotherhood wanted to rule Ionia with an iron fist.
How was that so different from Noxus?
She could no longer stand by and watch.
Elsewhere, Luke, who had been lying around lazily, suddenly remembered something important.
He silently spoke in his mind.
"Check in."
[This check-in has been detected as a Monthly Check-In. Automatically converting to a Special Check-In.]
[Check-In successful.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Realm Advancement Card x1.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained High-Tier Skill, Lightning Strike.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained High-Tier Skill, Mental Barrier.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Special Skill, Cleanse.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Ten Years of Mana.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Advanced Skill Card x2.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Intermediate Skill Upgrade Card x1.]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Basic Skill Upgrade Card x2.]
[System rewards have been deposited into the System Inventory. Please inspect and claim them at your convenience.]
A series of system notifications sounded one after another.
Without Luke realizing it, May 25 had already arrived.
He immediately perked up and began examining this month's rewards.
First was the Realm Advancement Card.
He used it without hesitation.
A vast surge of power immediately erupted from his heart, flowing through him like a mighty current and opening his energy channels.
It felt as though some invisible bottleneck had suddenly shattered.
Luke felt incredibly refreshed as an endless stream of new strength welled up within him.
After using the advancement card, his realm had reached the mid Glory stage.
His overall strength had risen considerably once again.
Luke suddenly found himself wondering what realm existed above Glory.
Although the ranking system was based on Demacia's standards for knights, Glory was already the highest achievement recognized among Demacian knights.
Beyond that point, there was nothing.
And now, only two more advancement cards separated Luke from that unknown territory.
Whatever existed beyond Glory, there was no doubt that it represented a realm surpassing normal human limits.
Luke then examined the second reward and chose to learn it.
[Congratulations, Host. You have learned High-Tier Skill, Lightning Strike Lv. 3.]
The knowledge required to use Lightning Strike immediately entered Luke's mind.
It was lightning-element magic.
As the name suggested, it allowed him to summon a bolt of lightning from above to strike an enemy. The higher the skill level and the stronger his mana, the more powerful the lightning would become.
With this skill added to his repertoire, Luke now possessed fire, wind, and lightning magic.
That was rather significant.
After all, magic itself was divided into different affinities.
Elemental magic was one branch of magic.
Lux, for instance, had an affinity for light and primarily used light magic.
The same principle applied to most other mages.
Only a small number of mages without a specific elemental affinity could use several different types of elemental magic. The downside was that they usually could not bring any single element to its absolute limit.
Luke was different.
He had possessed no natural magical talent at all. His ability to use magic had been awakened later.
More importantly, he could bring every type of magic he acquired to its full potential.
In that sense, he was practically an all-rounder.
Of course, plenty of magic existed outside the elemental categories as well, but there was little point going into all of that right now.
Lightning Strike seemed quite useful, but Luke did not rush to upgrade it.
Instead, he continued examining the next skill.
It was another High-Tier Skill called Mental Barrier.
He immediately chose to learn it, and information about Mental Barrier flooded into his mind.
Luke's eyes brightened slightly.
Mental Barrier was a defensive spell for the mind.
It could resist mental attacks, reinforce the defenses of his mindscape, and even strengthen his mental power.
It was an extremely useful skill.
When Luke had pulled out the Void Riftblade before, the weapon's instinctive consciousness had invaded his mind and attempted to seize control of him.
Luke's own mental strength had already been considerable, allowing him to counterattack and overwhelm it.
But there were undoubtedly beings somewhere in Runeterra whose mental power surpassed his own.
If something similar ever happened again, Mental Barrier would allow Luke to defend himself.
It was essentially like constructing a sturdy wall within his mind.
"Use the upgrade cards. Max out Mental Barrier."
Without a second thought, Luke poured his upgrade cards into Mental Barrier.
[Mental Barrier has been upgraded to Lv. 9.]
As the system notification sounded, Luke felt a cool sensation spread through his mind.
It was as though an immensely solid wall was being constructed within his mindscape, while his mental power steadily increased.
The refreshing sensation then spread from his head throughout his entire body.
It felt almost like being submerged in a pool of cool water, yet without the slightest chill.
There was only extraordinary comfort.
The sensation did not last long and soon faded.
But Luke's mental power had increased significantly.
"Not bad."
He praised the result inwardly and examined the next reward.
Special Skill, Cleanse.
Luke was extremely familiar with this one.
After looking over its effects, he immediately confirmed that it was exactly the skill he knew.
Cleanse: Removes all crowd-control effects and debuffs currently affecting the user. If another crowd-control effect is applied afterward, the duration of the new effect is reduced by 65%.
Cleanse could not be activated repeatedly within a short period of time. Its cooldown depended on Luke's mental power.
The stronger his mental power became, the shorter the cooldown would be.
Using Cleanse also consumed a considerable amount of mental energy, but no matter how he looked at it, there was no downside to having the skill.
It was extremely useful.
Luke would no longer have to worry nearly as much about being incapacitated by crowd control.
Only one reward remained.
Ten Years of Mana.
Luke immediately claimed it.
The mana within his body increased even further, reaching a level far beyond that of an ordinary mage.
The rewards from this check-in were excellent.
Luke smiled in satisfaction.
He then activated Inner Sight and sent his consciousness into his own mindscape.
Looking at the two World Rune fragments quietly suspended within his mental space, Luke mentally prepared himself before reaching out with his consciousness and touching them.
"Hummm..."
The two World Rune fragments gently vibrated.
A wave of orange and green energy spread throughout his mindscape before everything became still again.
The fact that these two rune fragments had peacefully remained inside his mind all this time was something Luke had never been able to understand.
From beginning to end, they had never displayed anything unusual.
As far as Luke understood, World Runes did not possess consciousness of their own, yet they could tempt those who craved power before ultimately consuming them.
They were incredibly dangerous.
Yet with Luke, they behaved like nothing more than two extraordinarily powerful stones.
"What exactly is the reason?"
Luke could not figure it out, so he decided to stop thinking about it.
Maybe he simply had the right constitution to control the runes.
It wasn't impossible.
His consciousness gradually came into contact with the runes while he carefully sensed the magical power radiating from them.
It was an energy entirely unlike ordinary magic, carrying such overwhelming power that it naturally inspired awe.
Luke concentrated on the sensation.
Faintly, he seemed to perceive some mysterious principle flowing within the runic energy.
It was a strange feeling.
The answer seemed close enough to touch, yet impossibly far away at the same time.
It was like looking at mysterious writing directly in front of him, only for thick fog to constantly obscure the words whenever he tried to read them.
Without realizing it, Luke's consciousness became completely immersed in experiencing the power of the runes.
He was trying to comprehend them.
The World Runes were among Runeterra's most ancient forms of primordial magic.
Naturally, that meant there was at least a possibility of understanding their principles.
In the past, Luke's mental power had not been strong enough, and he had no intention of recklessly making contact with such mysterious and dangerous power before he was ready.
But things were different now.
Mental Barrier had strengthened his mental power yet again while also providing him with considerable protection.
Luke felt that it was finally time to try.
Even if something went wrong while interacting with the runes, Mental Barrier could serve as his final line of defense.
After all, these two World Rune fragments had already been inside his body for quite some time.
Constantly worrying about them without doing anything was not a solution.
Luke was not the kind of person who would sit around beside a ticking time bomb and simply wait for the day it exploded.
So rather than remain passive, he would take the initiative.
He would learn as much as possible about the World Runes and use that knowledge to gain better control over them.
Perhaps doing so was dangerous.
But it was still better than doing nothing.
As Luke deliberately reached deeper toward them, the two World Rune fragments seemed to awaken.
Their light became brighter, their humming intensified, and waves of energy continuously spilled outward.
But apart from that, nothing else happened.
Seeing this, Luke stopped worrying about everything else and quietly devoted himself to understanding the runic energy.
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