Chapter 494 - 494: Yo, Walking the Dog?

Three days later.

While Luke and the others were traveling southeast, they happened to encounter a nomadic tribe.

The tribe wandered throughout Shurima year-round without any permanent place to live. They rarely stayed in one region for long before moving elsewhere, which meant they had seen and heard a great deal during their travels.

From them, Taliyah finally learned where her own tribe had gone.

These nomads had encountered Taliyah's tribe around Vekaura in the north roughly two or three months earlier.

That meant they were safe.

The news thrilled Taliyah.

Unfortunately, her tribe's location was almost directly opposite Luke's destination, so the time had come for them to part ways.

Before they separated, Luke finally told Taliyah his true identity and said she no longer needed to continue guiding them.

Taliyah had already formed some suspicions about who he might be, but the truth still left her deeply shocked.

"Thank you for taking care of me throughout this journey, Your Highness. Once I've confirmed that my tribe is safe, please allow me to visit Demacia and properly thank you."

Taliyah bowed seriously to Luke.

"Then I'll see you again in Demacia."

Luke smiled slightly and said goodbye. "Take care of yourself."

"I will. Safe travels to both of you too. Goodbye!"

Taliyah nodded, then turned north in search of the family she had missed so much.

Her figure soon disappeared into the desert.

Luke and Morgana watched until she was gone before turning away and continuing southeast.

Before long, another monthly check-in arrived.

As the sun rose, Shurima's temperature quickly became too hot for anyone to keep sleeping. July was when the sunlight was at its fiercest.

Luke stepped out of the temporary tent, stretched casually, and silently said, "Check in."

[Check-in successful.]

[Detected that this check-in is a monthly check-in. Automatically converting to a Special Check-In.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Realm Advancement Card ×1.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Random Max-Level High-Tier Skill Card ×1.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Advanced Skill Upgrade Card ×2.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Intermediate Skill Upgrade Card ×2.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Basic Skill Upgrade Card ×2.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained High-Tier Skill: Fleet as the Wind.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Thousand-Year Ginseng ×1.]

[Check-in rewards have automatically been stored in the system space. Host may inspect and claim them at any time.]

A succession of system notifications immediately perked Luke up.

The very first reward was a Realm Advancement Card.

Before this, his realm had already reached the late Glory stage.

Even Luke himself had no idea what came after that.

Moreover, advancing through an entire major realm usually brought a considerable increase in strength.

Luke did not hesitate.

"Use the Realm Advancement Card."

[Use successful.]

[Congratulations, Host. Your realm has advanced to: Transcendent.]

The moment the system's voice faded, Luke felt an immense force erupt from deep within him.

It was like a dam suddenly bursting, releasing a raging torrent that swept into every corner of his body.

A wave of heat exploded from his entire body and shot toward the sky.

Sunlight poured down over Luke, making his figure gleam brilliantly.

Even Morgana was startled by the disturbance.

She stared at Luke, who seemed to be undergoing some extraordinary breakthrough, unable to imagine what kind of incredible fortune he possessed.

Seeing the immense and powerful aura surrounding him, she knew his breakthrough had reached a crucial point.

He was stepping beyond the limits of humanity.

As Luke's aura continued climbing, merely standing there caused violent winds to sweep outward, sending yellow sand swirling across the desert.

Luke felt an endless stream of power surging through him.

Eventually, that sensation gradually began to subside.

When the feeling of breaking through finally disappeared completely, Luke opened his eyes.

The change was enormous.

At this moment, every part of his body seemed overflowing with strength.

If his previous self had constantly stood at the absolute limit of what a human body could achieve, then now he had completely shattered through that limit.

With a human body, he had stepped into the Transcendent realm.

"So the realm above Glory is Transcendent."

Luke thought to himself.

He noticed that there were no early, middle, or late stages anymore.

There were only two simple words.

Transcendent.

"How strong have you become now?"

Morgana stood nearby, watching Luke withdraw his aura, and could not help asking.

"No idea, but probably pretty damn strong."

If Luke wanted to properly test his current strength, he would have to visit the training grounds.

For now, however, he still had several rewards to deal with.

Even without testing it, he knew his strength had already become extraordinary.

Even compared to the Aspects, he might not necessarily be weaker anymore.

"That's incredible."

Even Morgana could not help marveling at him.

She considered herself extremely well traveled and knowledgeable, but she had never seen anyone as absurd as Luke.

He was constantly growing.

Constantly becoming stronger.

Morgana had witnessed his growth step by step from the beginning, so she understood better than most just how enormous the changes in Luke had been.

But the more remarkable he became, the more it proved that she had not misjudged him back then.

Luke truly was someone capable of changing countless destinies.

His own fate remained uncertain and impossible to clearly discern, which meant his actions could alter the destinies of everyone around him.

Luke still had several rewards left to inspect, so he began preparing breakfast while checking them.

The second reward was a max-level high-tier skill.

He claimed it without hesitation.

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained High-Tier Skill: Aura Lock LV9.]

As the system's voice faded, information about Aura Lock immediately appeared in Luke's mind.

After understanding it, he quickly realized what the skill did.

It offered no direct increase in combat strength, but when it came to tracking and reconnaissance, it was practically unbeatable.

Luke could sense every aura within a certain distance and lock onto any one of them.

Once an aura had been locked onto, Luke would be able to sense it no matter where its owner went.

The effect was similar to the Godspeed Tracking Decree he had used before, except this was far simpler and more convenient.

He did not even need to possess an object belonging to the target.

For example, if Luke locked onto Morgana's aura right now, then even if she silently flew all the way back to Mount Targon without saying a word, Luke would still know where she was.

This skill was definitely useful.

Next came the two Advanced Skill Upgrade Cards.

Luke opened the system panel, looked through it briefly, and decided to raise Wuju Style to max level.

With that, all three of his sword arts, Wind-Wielding Swordsmanship, Peerless Swordsmanship, and Wuju Style, had reached the return-to-basics level.

Next came his new high-tier skill, Fleet as the Wind.

Luke could guess what it did without even checking.

Obviously, it was another movement skill.

However, after choosing to learn it and raising it to LV7, the system suddenly issued another notification.

[Detected High-Tier Skill Godspeed Footwork LV9, High-Tier Skill Wind Underfoot LV7, High-Tier Skill Fleet as the Wind LV7, and High-Tier Skill Multi-Jump LV7 as skills of the same category. Fuse them?]

[Fusion will create an entirely new skill. Please consider carefully.]

Seeing the unexpected notification, Luke barely needed to think.

"Fuse them!"

This was his first time seeing four skills fused together at once.

Generally speaking, when several abilities could be combined into one, the resulting skill was usually better.

[Fusion successful.]

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained Skill: Divine Aid LV9.]

The simple notification faded.

Luke immediately felt something subtle change within his body.

He suddenly felt as light as the wind itself, his entire body becoming noticeably easier to move.

Before long, he understood exactly what Divine Aid did.

Simply put, it increased his speed.

More importantly, Luke could now ride the wind and fly, completely ignoring gravity.

As long as wind existed, Luke could simply take off.

Combined with Janna's Blessing of Wind and his Wind-Wielding Swordsmanship, both of which allowed him to create wind even when none existed, it meant Luke could now fly without any restrictions whatsoever.

It was an enormous upgrade.

Previously, Luke had been able to use Multi-Jump to step on the air, then combine Wind Underfoot with the release of magical energy to remain airborne for short periods.

Now he no longer needed Multi-Jump at all.

If he wanted to fly, he could simply fly.

This check-in had only given him a handful of rewards, but each one had brought a substantial improvement.

Luke almost wanted to test his new ability to fly immediately.

After finishing breakfast, he casually mentioned what he was about to do to Morgana.

Then, under her dumbfounded stare, Luke lifted straight off the ground and shot a hundred meters into the air.

Morgana practically had question marks floating above her head.

Had she somehow forgotten something?

Since when could he fly?

Luke now moved as though a pair of wings had sprouted from his back.

Like a rapidly flowing current of wind, he soared straight toward an altitude of ten thousand meters.

At that moment, an incomparable feeling of freedom and exhilaration spread through him.

It felt as though every restraint had suddenly disappeared.

Flying felt incredible.

Luke climbed higher and higher.

Looking down, everything below seemed impossibly small.

Clouds drifted beside him while flocks of birds cried out in alarm and scattered away.

Luke simply hovered there at an altitude of ten thousand meters without needing to maintain any special technique.

He gazed over the immense, ethereal sea of clouds, which resembled a celestial palace resting atop the heavens.

Even the sun seemed close enough to touch, its light dazzlingly bright.

Luke strolled through the clouds.

Then he relaxed his body and leaned backward.

His entire body fell straight through the cloud layer, plummeting from ten thousand meters above the ground.

As he fell at tremendous speed, Luke closed his eyes, spread his arms and legs, and wore a peaceful expression as though he were asleep.

Just before hitting the ground, his eyes snapped open.

He instantly transformed into a streak of light and shot upward once again, barely feeling any pressure from the sudden change in direction.

More importantly, his flight speed was extremely fast, yet flying consumed almost no energy.

It truly felt as though the wind itself were helping him.

Luke was having the time of his life.

He flew freely wherever he wanted, enjoying himself so much that before he realized it, he had already traveled quite a distance from their temporary camp.

But with his current speed, returning would take hardly any time at all.

While Luke was happily flying at an altitude of roughly a thousand meters, he suddenly sensed two unusual auras.

Both were remarkably powerful.

One of them was especially familiar.

"This is…"

Luke thought for a moment, then immediately flew toward the source.

Only a few dozen seconds later, he was already approaching.

The owners of those two auras entered his field of vision.

Naafiri.

And another incredibly powerful Darkin.

The moment Luke saw the enormous greatsword in the Darkin's hands, a piece of information immediately surfaced in his mind.

Aatrox, the Darkin Blade!

The other side had clearly noticed him as well.

Luke slowly descended to the ground.

Seeing Naafiri lower her body and bare her teeth at him, he could not help smiling.

"Oh, taking your dog for a walk?"

Naafiri fell silent.

"Something like that."

Aatrox replied in a surprisingly good mood.

With that one sentence, he already found this human interesting.

Naafiri glared at Luke with hatred before saying to Aatrox, "He's the human I told you about. Don't be fooled by how ordinary his aura seems. His actual strength is extremely high."

Luke possessed Stealth Arts, which allowed him to conceal his aura perfectly.

No matter how powerful someone was, they could not see through his true strength.

To anyone observing him, he looked like an ordinary human.

Naafiri had fallen for exactly that trick last time.

If she had known how strong Luke actually was, she would have fled immediately.

Then she never would have ended up in this miserable condition, suffering humiliation from both this damned human and Aatrox one after another.

"Oh? So you came looking for us yourself?"

Aatrox examined Luke with interest, his crimson gaze sweeping over him.

He truly could not sense anything powerful about Luke.

But if even Naafiri was this wary of him, Aatrox could already feel his desire for battle rising.

Such an interesting human.

He wanted to see exactly what Luke was capable of.

"Your dog has a habit of biting people. I didn't really have a choice but to come find you."

Luke sensed Aatrox's aura rising dramatically.

With Aura Lock, that battle intent almost seemed to take tangible form within Luke's perception.

From what Luke knew, Aatrox truly was a battle maniac.

He was also an absolute lunatic.

And incredibly powerful.

But Luke, as he was now, did not necessarily have any reason to fear the legendary Darkin Blade.

Apparently, he really had failed to completely seal Naafiri last time.

Looking at her current state, Luke quickly figured out why.

Clearly, Naafiri had survived by transferring herself into a spare body she had hidden in advance.

If that was the case, then unless Luke found every member of her pack, killing her permanently would probably be extremely difficult.

"You won't be feeling so smug for much longer, human."

Naafiri glared viciously at Luke.

After throwing out the threat, however, she quickly retreated a considerable distance and left the fighting to Aatrox.

"Aatrox, he's yours."

At the same time, she carefully watched Luke for any sign of that teleportation technique.

In her current condition, if Luke became determined to kill her, escaping would be extremely difficult.

She still had other members of her pack, but losing even a single spare body now would be a significant loss.

She had to be cautious.

"Stupid dog. Don't speak to me as though you're giving me orders."

Aatrox raised the massive greatsword in his hands.

His aura abruptly became incomparably violent and savage, making even Naafiri feel a chill.

She knew Aatrox had become somewhat obsessive in his current state, so she immediately replied, "I was only trying to clear the battlefield for you."

"I'll overlook it this time. Make sure there isn't another."

Aatrox never took his gaze off Luke.

He ignored Naafiri and spoke directly to him.

"Draw your weapon, human. I'll give you time to prepare."

His crimson eyes burned with growing battle lust.

"Do not disappoint me."

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