After cutting off Nocturne's thoughts of escape, Luke returned to the living room. At the moment, the fireplace was burning with a small flame, and the temperature had dropped quite a bit.
He casually tossed two bundles of firewood inside. Too lazy to go back to his room, Luke lay directly on the sofa and planned to continue the dream from earlier.
This time, he slept very peacefully.
When the first ray of morning sunlight spilled in from outside the window and shone on Luke's face, it also woke him from his sleep.
Although he had slept on the sofa last night, his sleep quality had been surprisingly good.
After waking up, his whole body felt lazy, but after one stretch, his energy instantly returned.
Yurna had gotten up at some point and was already heating water and pouring tea.
"Good morning."
Luke gave a slight yawn and greeted her naturally.
Then he suddenly smelled something burnt. Following the smell, he looked over and saw Nocturne lying in the corner with all four limbs spread out like a dead dog, his face looking as if he had been completely broken.
His eyes were rolled back, and his already black fur looked even darker now. Some of it had turned stiff and straight, giving off a burnt smell, as if he had been roasted over a fire.
"What trick is he trying to pull now?"
Seeing this, Luke was somewhat surprised.
Yurna, who was pouring tea, kept her expression as calm as ever. Her voice was cool as she said, "Your Highness may have misunderstood him this time."
Luke did not understand. "What do you mean?"
Yurna said, "Your Highness said the word 'shock' all night in your sleep."
As soon as those words fell, Luke froze slightly. Then he looked at Nocturne again and roughly understood the reason.
After that, he sighed emotionally. "I rarely talk in my sleep. I didn't expect you to be unlucky enough to run into it."
Nocturne: "..."
Listen to yourself. Does that sound like something a human would say?
He had nearly been electrocuted to death all night, and this was Luke's attitude now?
Did he not feel even the tiniest bit of guilt?
For a moment, Nocturne could not tell who the dog really was.
At that moment, footsteps came from the second floor. Then Miss Crownguard came down while yawning. Having slept sweetly through the night, her hair was messy right now, with one stubborn strand sticking up. Her little face looked both relaxed and content.
"Good morning."
She greeted them lazily and sat on the sofa.
Yurna happened to place a cup of hot water on the table in front of her.
After thanking her, Lux held the cup and began drinking in small sips.
Luke looked at her and said, "Today, we'll formally go pay respects to the ancestors one more time, then get ready to head back."
"Mm."
Lux nodded, her dazed eyes already starting to miss the days back in the capital.
A while later, Sona, Poppy, Katarina, Frey, and the others also woke up.
Everyone tidied themselves up and prepared to set out.
On the road, they joined up with Garen's squad, and everyone headed toward Fossian's grave together.
They had already walked this road countless times over the past few days, and by now there was a sense of familiarity as they traveled along it.
Lux looked at this mountain path, which she had once found torturous when she was little, and many inexplicable feelings suddenly rose in her heart.
When she had come here as a child, it had just rained. Along the way, all she remembered was how hard the road was to walk, how tired she was, how cold the air felt, and how she counted in her head after arriving, wanting to leave as soon as possible.
Now that she was stepping onto this road again, she suddenly noticed many details she had never paid attention to before.
There were signs of spring returning in the mountain forest. The grass stood full of life, and wildflowers spread across the ground, joining into a field of blossoms.
When they reached the mountainside, one lift of the head revealed a blue sky without a single cloud for miles. Birds flew across the heavens, and everything seemed filled with peace.
So this was the scenery she had failed to notice back then.
Most importantly, Lux looked to her side at Luke, who was climbing the mountain with her while yawning.
It seemed mountain climbing was not especially boring after all.
After thinking for a moment, she suddenly asked, "You've climbed this mountain a few times now too. Do you have anything you want to say?"
Climbing a mountain first thing in the morning did not really fit Luke's elderly lifestyle.
He sighed softly. "Nothing I want to say. I just feel like after climbing this mountain so early in the morning, I'll be able to eat an extra bowl of rice when we get back."
Lux was speechless for a moment. Then she touched her stomach and nodded along. "True."
They had gone out this time without even eating breakfast. By the time they reached the halfway point, she already felt a little hungry.
Even so, everyone still persisted until they reached the mountaintop and arrived at the cliff where Fossian rested.
The cliff was still overgrown with wild grass. The lonely grave stood atop the raised little mound, with the cold wind of the high mountain blowing past and keeping the grave company.
Garen and Lux stepped forward and began paying respects to their ancestor with solemnity.
For some reason, during the process, Garen kept feeling a chill run over his body, as if something had fixed its eyes on him.
Meanwhile, Lux clasped her hands together. On the surface, she looked very devout as she paid respects and prayed, but in reality, she was frantically tattling in her heart.
From Garen framing her for wetting the bed, to when they played pretend later and he got to play the hero just because he was taller while she could only be the villain, to how Garen always secretly tattled to their mother.
As if counting all the sins Garen had committed, Lux kept muttering in her heart.
If her great-grandfather's spirit was watching from above, he absolutely had to help her vent this anger.
And so, amid Lux's devout prayers, the ancestral visit came to an end.
Garen rose from the ground, his expression not looking particularly good. For some reason, he kept having a bad premonition.
"Captain, what's wrong?"
Diadoro noticed his expression seemed off and asked one extra question.
"Nothing."
Garen shook his head. He kept feeling that something was strange, but he could not explain what.
After that, everyone began the return journey. But just as they were about to leave the cliff, the stone path beneath Garen's feet suddenly cracked with a clack.
His whole body pitched forward, and his head slammed into the tree in front of him with a crisp dong.
This made everyone stop in place.
After seeing it, Lux's eyes lit up, and she almost wanted to clap and cheer. Thinking of something, she secretly glanced back at her great-grandfather's grave, clasped her hands together again, and bowed slightly.
As for Garen, whose head had slammed into the tree, he stood up straight with a dark expression. His heart was filled with confusion, and he had no idea what had happened.
Had he really failed to react to even something like this?
Behind him, several squad members held back their laughter and stepped forward with fake concern.
"Oh my, Captain, what happened?"
"Everything was perfectly fine, so how did you end up hitting a tree?"
"It's rare to see Captain make this kind of mistake. Very rare."
"Captain, you didn't damage your head, did you? That sound just now was really loud."
Luke, who loved joining in on the fun, also entered the group and said in sudden understanding, "I get it. Garen wanted to test for everyone whether a person's head is harder, or a tree is harder!"
As soon as he said that, voices of agreement immediately rang out around them.
"So that's how it is."
"So that was the reason."
"As expected of Captain."
After this round, Garen's face grew darker and darker, and his mood completely cracked.
The morning atmosphere ended happily amid Garen, the tree, and his hard head.
After returning to Fossbarrow, in order to celebrate Luke, Garen, and the others helping the town eliminate the demon, Magistrate Giselle had specifically prepared a feast after they left.
Food and drinks had already been prepared. The moment everyone returned to the town, they immediately joined the feast.
The feast was very enjoyable, and Lux, in an excellent mood, madly devoured four bowls of rice.
One bowl was because of the mountain climb, and one bowl was because Garen hit the tree.
As for the little black dog, he had been ignored by everyone. Sitting isolated outside the joyful feast, he stared hungrily as everyone drank and laughed together.
Before entering this body, Nocturne had not needed to eat. Human food, to him, was far less delicious than the fear inside nightmares.
But now things were different. At this moment, he was basically equivalent to a mortal body and would feel hunger just the same.
Right now, he was already a little numb from hunger.
By the end, even a bowl of leftovers rewarded to him by Luke was eaten extremely quickly.
After eating his fill, Nocturne could not help doubting his demon life. He sat there desolately, lifting his head at a forty-five-degree angle to look at the sky.
He was the mighty Lord of Nightmares, yet now he had fallen so low that he had to survive on leftovers.
Such a miserable state suddenly made him feel that his future demon life would be nothing but darkness.
But a feast would always come to an end.
The morning passed in a flash, and soon it was time to part ways.
At the town gate, all the residents of the town came out to see them off. After a round of farewells, Luke and the others set off on the road back.
Not long after leaving Fossbarrow, Garen came to say goodbye to Luke.
This time, they had only come to Fossbarrow because they had suddenly received a request for aid. Now that the matter had been resolved, they naturally had to continue on to their next mission.
And so, after agreeing to meet again in the capital, Garen led his squad away in another direction.
In the blink of an eye, it was February 22.
On the road back to the capital, Luke personally witnessed spring drawing closer and closer along the way.
Tender buds emerged on the trees, patches of green leaves appeared, and the wind blowing past had taken on a hint of spring. Without anyone noticing, it seemed the cold could no longer be felt.
Time was just like that, always changing without notice.
The road back was naturally the same. They passed through High Silvermere and stayed there for a day, then traveled through Velorus, Lissus, Pinara, and Edessa.
That afternoon, they arrived at the gates of the capital.
This trip had once again lasted nearly a month. After returning to the capital, Luke and the others also felt the fatigue on their bodies gradually loosen.
After entering the city, the capital had not changed much. It was still the great city from their memories.
Lux, eager to return home, immediately went back to her house. Sona also missed her sister and her family, so everyone temporarily split up.
Luke first went to the palace as well. After briefly reporting what had happened to Jarvan III and Tianna, he left the palace.
Then he boarded the carriage Yurna had prepared and traveled all the way to the Research Institute's development base.
In truth, during this recent period, what he was more concerned about was the progress of the steam engine and the train.
After arriving at the Research Institute, Wenward was leading a group of researchers in the wide open space outside, testing the train.
At present, a wider loop of track had been built outside. The train running on it continuously made clanking sounds as it circled forward, maintaining a steady speed.
"Your Highness."
Seeing Luke approach, Wenward nodded in greeting.
Luke looked ahead and asked, "Has the stability of the steam engine already been handled?"
"Mm." Wenward nodded lightly and said, "The steam engine can now provide power steadily. And after improvements, it no longer consumes as much material as before. Relatively speaking, it is already affordable to operate. However, after solving this issue, we also discovered that new problems followed one after another."
After that, Wenward slowly began explaining, and Luke listened.
The problems the Research Institute had encountered at first had been the steam engine's stability and energy consumption. Because it consumed too much coal, the steam engine had not been that stable, and it wasted too many resources.
Now, that had already been solved.
However, problems seemed to emerge endlessly. The Research Institute had encountered new issues.
The problem had shifted to the train.
Simply put, there were currently two problems.
First, the problem of the train wheels and the track. If a train wanted to advance steadily, then the compatibility between the wheels and the track had to be coordinated. Otherwise, derailment could easily happen.
Second, the problem of speed. After repeated tests, Wenward discovered that some of the kinetic energy provided by the steam engine was overflowing. In other words, the train's speed and the kinetic energy produced by the steam engine did not match.
That meant it was running a little slowly.
The Research Institute was currently trying to break through these two problems and had roughly thought of a solution.
Luke believed in their abilities, and he had already explained what needed to be explained.
The slow speed was because of air resistance. As long as the front of the train was redesigned into a shape better suited to dealing with air resistance, that would be enough. In Luke's memory, streamlined fronts were basically used.
And airflow would also affect speed. Adding barriers between the carriages to prevent air from entering would work.
What the Research Institute was thinking about now was how to solve these issues.
After all, what they had to consider was not as simple as Luke merely talking about it. What they were building was a genuine steel behemoth.
If the speed was too fast, derailment would become easy. So Luke suggested using conical wheels, smaller on the outside and larger on the inside. Paired with suitable rails, as long as there was no collision, derailment basically would not happen.
Overall, the problems they were currently encountering were not really problems.
There was quite a sense of steady progress.
The other important matter was the use of the steam engine.
A steam engine was not only something that could be used as a train's power source.
Its uses were actually quite broad. At present, after testing, the stabilized steam engine could already be put into use.
For example, the Research Institute had recently modified a forging machine.
It used the steam engine to provide power and could almost replace the strength of three people, saving a great deal of effort.
Demacia had many skilled blacksmiths who forged exquisite equipment. The forging machine would not push these outstanding blacksmiths onto a dead-end path.
On the contrary, it would open up an extremely convenient path for them.
There were also other uses, such as printing presses.
At present, the printing presses being used were basically hand-cranked printing presses.
Once the steam engine began being used, printing presses would no longer need manpower invested into them. They would only need a stable operating procedure to be set.
And applications like these were countless.
This was the change machinery would bring to an era.
Luke believed that this was only the beginning.
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