Perhaps he was tired from talking all day, or perhaps his mood was not very calm; Klein was quite silent at the dinner.
And because Pete hadn't returned for dinner, Lux didn't need to show her ladylike side, so she didn't pay much attention and instead focused on her brother.
Unlike his energetic appearance when he woke up in the morning, Garen could be said to be quite listless now.
His dark golden short hair was messy, like weeds, clinging to his head; although he seemed to have showered, he still gave off a dirty feeling.
Now, Garen no longer spoke of joining the army; he just devoured his food non-stop—he was clearly starving!
To Lux's astonished gaze, Garen ate five full ribs before leaning back, completely collapsing into his seat.
His previously flat stomach was now visibly bulging; a full Garen burped, looking like he had 'finally come back to life,' while Ogessa, who usually couldn't stand his impoliteness, just smiled at him, occasionally picking up a piece of salad with her fork and putting it into her mouth.
Clearly, Garen was truly exhausted.
"It seems, brother's training... not bad?" Lux said with a subtle expression, "Just a bit too tiring?"
"I feel like I'm about to die." Garen rolled his eyes dramatically, "Lux, my dear sister, you haven't experienced this, you can't even imagine!"
"Alright, you still have the energy to complain, so it seems today's training wasn't that heavy." Ogessa interrupted Garen, "Now, you'd best take a walk in the garden, then go to your washroom for a good bath, and get to bed early to rest—to become a qualified soldier, this is just the beginning!"
"Okay, Mom." Garen winked at his sister, "No problem, I'll go for a walk now, then take a bath and sleep. Don't worry, this level of training is nothing!"
Saying this, he stood up decisively, then grabbed his sword from somewhere, raising it high with its scabbard.
"Charge! For Demacia!"
Lux blinked at this scene—if it had been before, she might have thought her brother was cool and felt envious.
But at this moment, for some reason, Lux only felt very... well, embarrassed.
Lux herself didn't realize that just two days of contact with Klein had already changed some of her perceptions.
Or rather, isn't this change part of growing up?
Perhaps it was because she witnessed magic firsthand today, or perhaps the stories she heard earlier were a bit too stimulating; Lux tossed and turned in her bedroom, unable to sleep.
In the stories she had heard, the princess was often the one to be rescued, but Setaka, unlike those vase-like heroines, was a truly brave warrior.
The last time Lux heard a similar story was the legend of the Winged Sisters—in that story, the Winged Sisters inspired the first settlers of Demacia to establish this great nation.
From then on, Lux longed to be like the Winged Sisters, a hero of Demacia.
And today, she heard another story; Setaka's story seemed to open another door for her. She wasn't the Winged Sisters soaring in the sky, but a poor, struggling warrior with nothing, yet even so, she defeated her enemies with her fists and teeth, with wooden sticks and stones. Just thinking about these stories made Lux yearn, and as a result, she became even more sleepless.
Helpless, she could only reach her hand out from under the covers and grasp her sword again.
"Klein, tell me another story about Setaka."
In a low-power state, Klein, who was diligently preparing lessons, never expected that Lux would suddenly want to hear a story, almost in the middle of the night.
You're nine years old, not three!
Although he was happy to tell the little girl about the Great Leader's heroic demeanor back then, considering Lux had class tomorrow and his lesson plan was still incomplete, he still refused Lux's request.
"If you want to hear a story, then listen carefully in class tomorrow. If you pass the test during evening self-study, I'll tell you stories slowly during review time."
"But I can't sleep." Lux pouted, "This is all your fault—now when I close my eyes, all I see is the yellow Desert Sea, the boundless Kahalise..."
"Kahalise?" Klein hesitated, "I don't think I've told you about that place."
"Maybe I saw that place name in some travelogue." Lux yawned, "Ugh, I really want to see the Desert with my own eyes—to see where Setaka fought..."
"There will be a chance." Klein paused, then seemed to understand something, and his tone gradually softened, "Alright, little girl, no more stories, I'll sing you a song... I'll sing Setaka's favorite Shurima folk tune."
"Shurima folk tune? I haven't heard it." Lux lay flat on the bed, burying her head deep in the pillow, "I've only heard Demacia music—hymns, concertos, symphonies and such. What is a Shurima folk tune?"
"A folk song from the Desert."
A folk song from the Desert?
The next moment, Lux closed her eyes, and Klein's deep singing appeared in her ears.
Shurima River flows quietly, flowing towards the Oasis
Shuriman walk barefoot, walking by the bank under the night sky
Shurima City is not far, in the distance the sand glitters and the night is vast
I raise my head and gaze downstream, gazing at the lamplight of dreams
I bend down and drink deeply, drinking this fragrant, mother's milk-like essence
...
Shurima River flows quietly, flowing high in the starry sky
Shuriman take up their spears, spears guarding the peace of home
Shurima City's high walls, walls are Shurima's arms
I fight before her breast, fighting in every line of epic
I sleep eternally in her embrace, sleeping in the golden waves of the Oasis
...
...
Lux couldn't understand shurima language, but she could hear an immense vastness in Klein's chanting.
With her eyes closed, Lux felt as if she was truly in the great Desert, under the starry sky, as if she was truly following the footsteps of the Shuriman, walking along the banks of the Shurima River.
Klein's deep singing was like the ceaselessly flowing river, carrying Lux's thoughts, finally leading her into dreamland.
The gentle flow of magic proved that Lux had finally fallen asleep.
The little girl seemed to lack a sense of security, clutching Klein tightly even in deep sleep.
Klein, having stopped singing, didn't mind this. Relatively speaking, he was more concerned about a small detail in Lux's earlier conversation with him.
He hadn't misremembered; Lux had mentioned Kahalise.
Although Lux said she might have seen the place name in a book, Klein didn't believe any travelogue would record the story of Kahalise.
Because Kahalise is a vast Desert in southeastern Shurima, a true forbidden zone of life. Being close to Icathia, a large number of Void Creature are still active there to this day.
Klein didn't know the exact situation of Kahalise, but he dared say that no one—not even an explorer—would choose to go there and return completely intact, leaving behind a travelogue.
Therefore, Lux absolutely could not have seen this place name in any travelogue.
As for whether Klein mentioned Kahalise when telling stories... that's even less likely.
Kahalise is the place of Setaka's fall, and it is also a place of sorrow for Klein. Even the strong Klein would not mention his never-healing wound without reason.
So, he would not tell Lux about that place—not to mention that most of Setaka's stories did not happen in Kahalise, even if they did, Klein would not tell them.
So, the question is, why did Lux know and subconsciously mention Kahalise?
This was a Chilling Scream question for Klein, because in Runeterra, seeing things you haven't seen and hearing things you haven't heard are not good signs.
In Icathia, there was also a group of people who saw a world they had never seen before, and the name of that world was [Void Land].
In Freljord, someone also heard the voice of a powerful will she had never heard before, and the owner of that will was named [Void Kha'Zix].
Of course, Lux's situation shouldn't be that bad. In Klein's opinion, this situation was most likely due to himself—including Lux's mental tension and fatigue today, and also this situation similar to memory imprinting, all stemmed from his demonstration that morning.
Even if he wasn't using Lux's magic, even if he only temporarily borrowed her body, his influence still inevitably remained on her.
In short, whether it was the gaze of the Void that fell upon Lux, or his own memories affecting this poor little girl, to avoid such situations from happening again, he probably couldn't control Lux's body for any spellcasting operations anymore.
And this also meant that Klein needed to revise parts of his teaching plan, making his plan more cautious and careful, absolutely not allowing Lux to lose control.
Once her magic went out of control, Klein would have to take over control of her body and forcibly terminate the spell, which would likely cause unnecessary danger.
Even more troublesome than the magic going out of control itself.
Tsk, this is terrible.
Klein clicked his tongue self-deprecatingly—it seemed he had become a stick-shaped source of pollution. It was fine for Lux to charge him and share some senses with him, but as long as he did anything to Lux, she would have bad luck.
This feeling of only being able to unilaterally receive data and energy was truly unpleasant!
The next morning, Lux, in excellent spirits, heard two pieces of news.
One good news and one bad news.
The good news was that the intensity of her "cramming" education would be reduced. Klein had refined the teaching plan, intending to arrange six class periods of study for her each day, in the form of forty-five minutes of study followed by fifteen minutes of rest.
The bad news was that, in addition to the original "cramming" education, Klein had brought forward her physical training classes to ensure Lux could learn more safely.
This meant that in addition to the six regular class periods, evening self-study for review, and morning self-study for error correction, Lux would also have to do physical exercise—four class periods.
"After all, I am a sword." Facing Lux's question, Klein explained, "If you don't know any swordsmanship, isn't it a bit strange to wear a sword all the time?"
"But... I can learn swordsmanship from my aunt Tiana!" Lux wasn't looking down on Klein, but in her perception, her aunt was a better training mentor, "She's the first female commander of the Dauntless Vanguard!"
"Perhaps that's a remarkable achievement, but believe me, one's own swordsmanship level and the level of teaching swordsmanship are never directly correlated."
"Really?" Lux was still skeptical, "If your swordsmanship isn't good enough, how can you teach others well?"
"That's because people with strong enough swordsmanship often view others through the lens of their own talent." Klein sighed, "Such people simply cannot be good teachers."
At this point, Klein recalled Aatrox's days as a substitute teacher at Shurima University.
Aatrox was a swordsmanship genius rarely seen in a thousand years in Shurima.
But his teaching method was always "first raise the sword, then shift your center of gravity, move with the sword's momentum, and strike down at the weak point of the enemy's defense—that's it."
Then, this swordsmanship genius led that batch of students to fail all their heavy sword courses—they diligently practiced according to Aatrox's method, but the results were disastrous.
The thinking of a genius is something ordinary people cannot keep up with, so letting a genius teach people of average talent often doesn't yield beautiful results. Their talent is their learning method, and this method is often not reproducible.
In Klein's view, Lux's swordsmanship talent should not be too genius, so rather than letting her learn from the more professional Tiana, it would be better for him to teach her himself.
After all, when it comes to teaching students, he is the professional!
Ultimately, Klein successfully persuaded Lux—and his method of persuading Lux was simple: he guaranteed Lux that even though Garen was exhausted like a dog every day, in three years, he would definitely not be her match in swordsmanship!
Hearing that she could surpass her brother, Lux finally had no more worries and happily accepted Klein's teaching.
Lux, having received the promise, was very happy, and even at the breakfast table, Lux always smiled when she looked at Garen.
It was a pity that Garen interpreted this smile as his sister's Inspire—so, after devouring three beef ribs in one go, he once again raised his sword.
"Charge! For Demacia—don't worry, Lux, I won't lose to the Prince, your brother is the best!"
Tsk tsk tsk...
Poor Garen hasn't realized yet that his brother's family status might very well turn into "family younger brother status"!
Well now, the Crownguard Family... it's getting competitive!