"You want Lux… to take me as her master?"
Pulling himself back from his scattered thoughts, Duke sharply turned his head toward Lux's mother. The golden-haired lady met his gaze with a gentle smile and a slight nod.
"After everything that has happened, we've already seen your ability," she said softly. "Lux herself shares this wish. I wonder, what do you think?"
"This…"
Duke fell into thought. He glanced at Lux, whose face was full of hope, then at her mother. Despite her age, the woman looked as fresh as a maiden untouched by time. Her long golden hair and graceful features radiated elegance, small wonder that Lux had grown into such an enchanting beauty; her mother's bloodline clearly played no small part.
At that moment, Lux's father, Piotr Crownguard, pulled his eyes away from the dragon-bird Morning Radiance and joined the conversation.
"We must ask you to give her this chance."
"From childhood, Lux has always been different," he said gravely. "We entrusted her to the Church of the Illuminators so she could be guided there, but now… perhaps she could follow you instead, and carve out a new path."
"Study under me, huh…"
Duke smacked his lips. If Lux really became his student, just what kind of skillset would she end up with?
Would Light Binding evolve into laser-woven nets that not only restrained but sliced her foes with true damage?
Would Prismatic Barrier become a solar-powered fortress shield, lasting as long as sunlight endured, perhaps until the end of time itself?
Would Lucent Singularity transform into a refracted solar lens, condensing the sun's rays into a single scorching point to incinerate all before her?
And what of Final Spark, a particle cannon of condensed light, unleashing divine justice in an instant?
An honest-to-goodness AP mage… under his tutelage, she'd almost certainly end up crooked.
While such thoughts flashed through his mind, Duke couldn't help but smile. "I think we should discuss this properly. A decision like this can't be made so hastily."
"Besides," he added, "Fosbarrow has just endured a great calamity. Talking about this right now feels… inappropriate."
"Duke-oniisan, do you not want to teach me?"
Lux stepped forward, gazing at him earnestly. In her eyes flickered both eagerness and uncertainty. The methods Duke had shown had utterly captured her heart, making her believe there were ways to change her destiny after all.
"It's not that I don't want to," Duke explained patiently, "but it will be very hard. Do you know how grueling life is for Piltovan artificers?"
"They spend every day holed up in their workshops, battling with spanners and screws. The stench of machine-oil clings to them so thoroughly that it seeps into their fingertips, never to fade."
"It's tough. Brutally tough."
"I'm not afraid." Lux clenched the sonic screwdriver in her hand, eyes sparkling. "I want to learn from you, Duke-oniisan! Everything you've created has shown me the future you spoke of, I want to see it with my own eyes, to be a part of it myself!"
"…Hmmm."
Seeing her determination, Duke rubbed his chin. This girl had been completely awed by his black-tech, kindling a deep yearning for science. But who could say if it wasn't just a fleeting passion?
Still, crushing her enthusiasm now wasn't right either.
"All right then." Duke finally nodded. "I'll be heading to Mithril City soon. Your family lives there, yes?"
"Yes."
"Then, for the journey ahead, you can travel with me. I'll teach you along the way. Whether you can meet my standards… will depend on your own ability."
He ruffled Lux's hair before glancing at her parents. Piotr Crownguard stroked his beard and nodded approvingly.
"Excellent. Let a child's potential be tested through travel, quite like the ancients."
Duke nearly rolled his eyes. Ancients? Demacia had barely a few hundred years of history! Compared with the likes of Shurima, Noxus, Ionia, even long-vanished Icathia… Demacia was still a child. A nation of fools sitting on fertile land, too timid and too proud to make use of its gifts.
But Duke kept those thoughts to himself.
"Then it's settled," Lux's mother said warmly. "Let her follow you for now. If you find her worthy, we'll hold the apprenticeship ceremony in Mithril City."
The Crownguards' intent was clear. By binding Lux to Duke as master and disciple, they'd also bind him to their family's fate, shared glory, shared loss.
"Fine. Go and prepare. I'll set out tomorrow for Mithril City, it's about a week's journey. Be ready."
"Okay!" Lux nodded vigorously. Duke chuckled and patted her head again, then turned to Ghiselle, the magistrate whose child still lay in Gluttony's carriage.
"Excuse me a moment."
He fetched the boy from the vehicle and carried him over.
"Madam, I believe this is your son."
Seeing her child in Duke's arms, Ghiselle clapped a hand to her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Thank you… thank you! I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost him!"
Duke spoke softly, "When I found him, there was an accident. He'll need long-term rest, and… he may no longer be so extraordinary."
Ghiselle's head snapped up, eyes gleaming with sudden relief. "You mean, he'll be ordinary?"
Duke gave a small nod. She clutched her boy tightly, murmuring through her tears, "Ordinary is fine… Ordinary is just fine. As long as he's back."
Seeing mother and son reunited, Duke inclined his head slightly and left. Outside, the innkeeper wailed at the gaping hole in his roof, Morning Radiance's doing. But that was Ciceria's problem, not his.
Lux had gone with her parents to visit her brother Garen, telling them briefly of how Duke had saved him from the Shadow's corruption. The Crownguards' gratitude toward Duke only deepened.
Meanwhile, Duke found the overjoyed Ciceria.
"Don't get too excited yet. There are some things you need to know."
"Eh?"
She quickly turned and nodded. "What do I need to know?"
"Do you remember how he was injured?" Duke stroked Morning Radiance's feathers.
"I remember!"
"Because of that unique injury, the Beast Crucible's modifications were even more unusual."
"…What do you mean?"
Duke's divine eye opened under Edith's veil, scanning Morning Radiance. What stood before him now was less a dragon-bird than a steel colossus draped in flesh.
His organs had all been replaced. His heart was a reactor. His lungs, a cryo-system. His stomach, an energy processor. His liver, an energy purifier.
"This fellow can no longer eat like a normal dragon-bird."
"Then what does Morning Radiance need?"
"This." Duke drew out a Hexstone and held it out. The dragon-bird's eyes lit up; it snapped it down eagerly. Duke watched the gem slide down its throat into the energy system, releasing a faint glow around its body.
"What is that?"
"A Hexstone, crystalized reservoirs of magical energy. They'll be his only food from now on. The one he just ate should last him a month, as long as he doesn't fight."
"And if he does fight?"
"Then only a few days."
In truth, Morning Radiance's transformation was far from perfect. Without an energy-exchange system, he couldn't draw power from the environment, he needed constant infusions of pure fuel. In short, he was a prototype of mechanical Ascension. A failed product.
"…Then can I buy them from you?"
"They're expensive."
"That's fine. I have some savings." Ciceria puffed her flat chest with confidence. "Tell me the price."
"About thirty thousand gold each."
"Pfft!" She nearly choked. "How much?!"
"Thirty thousand."
"That's robbery!"
"Robbery's slower than this business," Duke chuckled, clapping her shoulder with the grin of a born swindler. "Morning Radiance could probably carry your whole bloodline into the skies… but in doing so, he'd drain every coin your family owns. So, earn well, young lady. Otherwise, the best you can do is turn him into a statue for display."
End of chapter....
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