Chapter 239: Misunderstanding!
"So pretty..."
"It really is."
"Is this... starlight..."
"No matter how many times I look at it, it feels incredibly unbelievable."
Stella and the other three surrounded Luke, sighing with emotion as they looked at the specks of blue starlight emerging over his right hand.
Because the lighting in the shopping mall was very bright, the blue starlight fragments didn't look particularly conspicuous.
Even so, set against the faint starlight, Luke's surroundings still appeared somewhat dreamy.
"If we looked at this at night, it would definitely be extremely beautiful."
Stella looked enviously at those twinkling starlights.
"Being surrounded by a cluster of stars under the night sky... just thinking about it feels so romantic."
Seeing Stella's reaction, Luke asked her back in amusement.
"Then if there's a chance, I'll take you to try it out?"
"Eh?! S-shouldn't this kind of thing be done with one's family or l-lover?!"
Luke instantly made Stella blush a deep red.
The young girl subconsciously imagined a scene of herself and Luke surrounded by stars under the night sky.
"I-I-I-I-I-I haven't mentally prepared myself yet!"
However, Luke actually hadn't thought that much about it.
After all, in this world, the only friends who currently had any connection with him were Stella and Ikki.
Since his friend wanted to experience that feeling, and it wasn't a troublesome matter anyway, Luke naturally had no intention of refusing.
Seeing that the young girl seemed to have misunderstood something, Luke opened his mouth to explain.
"I only have you and Ikki as friends in this world."
"My family, lover, and other close friends are not in this world... Hmm? What's wrong with you guys?"
Luke was interrupted halfway through his sentence by the silent atmosphere around him and everyone's various peculiar expressions.
Pity, heartache, apology.
The suddenly changed gazes of Stella and the other three left Luke a bit baffled.
He even saw similar emotions in Arisuin's eyes.
This couldn't be helped; Luke's way of speaking was too prone to causing misunderstandings.
Stella and the others immediately filled in the gaps of Luke's tragic life experiences in their minds.
Family, lover, and friends had all passed away due to various reasons, leaving only the young man to walk alone on the path of becoming stronger.
The young man who had nothing didn't give up even so; he kept working hard, he continuously moved forward, and ultimately surpassed all his peers to become a veritable powerhouse!
And yet, there was no one who could share this joy with him.
Until he met Stella and Ikki...
Reaching this point in their imagination, Stella and Ikki almost cried out loud.
It was so heartbreaking, so difficult, so inspiring.
Stella thought about how she had merely made a casual remark just now, and Luke genuinely planned to take her to try it out.
Ikki thought of how Luke unreservedly guided his swordsmanship normally.
'He truly values this friendship between us!' x2
The same thought arose in the hearts of Stella and Ikki, and at the same time, Luke's status in their minds skyrocketed.
Not only the two of them, but Shizuku and Arisuin on the side were also sighing with emotion.
However, Luke wore a dumbfounded expression, somewhat at a loss for what to do.
'What is wrong with these four people?!'
With the deepening of his sword intent, Luke was now quite sensitive when it came to perceiving the emotional changes of the people around him.
He could clearly feel that the favorability of Stella and the other three towards him had inexplicably increased by a large margin.
'What's going on???'
Just as he was about to voice his question, Stella took the lead and said to Luke:
"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have brought up your sad memories!"
At the same time, Ikki followed up on Stella's words and continued, "Luke, rest assured, we are the best of friends!"
Subsequently, Shizuku and Arisuin also successively spoke up to comfort him.
"Since you are a close friend acknowledged by my brother, then naturally I will acknowledge you too... So you can rest assured and treat me as a friend as well."
"Luke, you don't need to feel sad. All four of us here are your friends."
Facing the heartfelt words from Stella and the other three, Luke only had one feeling at this moment.
That was...
"???"
With a face full of question marks, he asked Stella and the other three:
"Why should I be sad?"
"Besides, this isn't a sad matter to me at all."
"Going to various places, meeting all kinds of strong people, and then making myself stronger, I think I'm living quite a fulfilling life?"
Luke's answer made Stella and the other three immediately feel a deep sense of respect.
The people present were not weaklings; they could distinguish that there was not the slightest bit of falsehood in Luke's words.
Looking at the so-called 'strong' Luke, the four of them simultaneously fell into deep thought.
Stella had similarly been alone from childhood to adulthood, working hard all the way until today, never making friends, never falling in love.
But she was much happier than Luke, because she still had parents who loved her and the citizens of her entire kingdom.
'Ah, no wonder he is so powerful.'
Ikki recalled his own tragic experiences from birth to the present.
No one was willing to believe in his abilities, and even his biological father didn't think he could succeed.
But even so, he still had a sister who was willing to be close to him. Even if his other relatives were unwilling to accept him, his family still existed.
'Unlike me, Luke is truly all alone...'
'One can become this strong even when all alone.'
Shizuku's thoughts were similar to Ikki's.
Although the relationship between the brother and sister and their so-called blood relatives wasn't very good, ultimately, their family members were all still alive.
Between having and not having, there was a world of difference.
And among them, the one who was the most shaken was actually the one who theoretically had the similar experience, Arisuin Nagi.
'So, he is just like me, having absolutely nothing.'
'Equally having lost everything... why is he completely different from me...'
'Why...'
Luke looked with a conflicted expression at Stella and the other three, who had once again fallen into silence after hearing his explanation.
'What's going on?'
'So why is it that after seeing Prana, they are excited one moment and sad the next?'
'Does Prana hide some effect that I don't know about???'
'Could it be that I can actually use magic through Prana, just like Sylvia and Julis?!'
...
The silent atmosphere lasted for a long time.
Finally, Stella and the others snapped out of their thoughts.
Even though Luke had said this wasn't a sad matter, the group whose misunderstanding had already run deep had no intention of bringing it up again.
Luke's figure, which originally seemed somewhat dreamy set against the starlight, now held an inexplicable sense of loneliness in the eyes of everyone present.
"R-right, Luke, you still haven't said what the ability of this 'starlight' does."
"To be honest, I can't imagine at all what starlight could be used for."
At first, Stella had only asked this to change the subject, but immediately after, her curiosity was piqued by her own question.
(PS: Damn, vote for the week was refreshed. So, vote for more chapters this week. If this fanfic reaches 100 powerstones, I will upload 5 more chapters next. So, hurry up!)
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