Karya Never Lies

It turns out Sona was sometimes more reliable than Lux.

After a full half-month of thought, her eighth training session was finally successful!

When Karya announced Sona had passed the training, Lux immediately jumped up and excitedly hugged her friend. "Oh my gosh, Sona, you actually did it! Tell me, how did you succeed?"

"I... Aihua helped me," Sona said, hugging her zither and shyly tucking her skirt as Lux held her, nearly tossing her. "Last time, I noticed the scarabs' chirps seemed to have a pattern, so I thought I'd try to influence them with sound..."

"Huh? You can do that?" Lux exclaimed, surprised, and put Sona down. "You played them a song, and they stopped moving?"

"How is that possible?" Karya said helplessly when he heard this. "Sona interfered with their coordination using music, and combined with a large-scale, indiscriminate attack, the scarabs were thrown into disarray, which allowed Sona to last for ten minutes."

"How did you think of that method?" Lux quickly started asking Sona for advice. "Making them fight each other?"

"I thought of it by chance..." Sona's face turned bright red. After being put down, she tidied her skirt and waved her hands repeatedly. "Lux, you don't need to learn from me, you can definitely do it too—"

"That's right, I can do it too!" Lux nodded. "Let's go again, I don't believe I can't handle these annoying scarabs!"

After a fifteen-minute break, a confident Lux began her training again.

This time, she lasted for nine minutes.

The method was simple: although the dazzling Light Sword was cool, it consumed unnecessary Magic Power, leading to stamina loss. Lux infused a small amount of Light Magic into her longsword and then, using only basic sweeps, successfully eliminated a large number of scarabs.

If not for the final, cathartic surge of power she unleashed, she would have passed this training session!

It was precisely because of this emotional outburst that, after failing the training, Karya taunted her again.

However, this time Lux didn't feel embarrassed. Facing Karya's taunts, she simply said, "It's okay, say whatever you want. You'll reveal your true colors next time anyway."

And the next time, Lux did pass the training.

In her tenth training session, she not only successfully lasted for ten minutes but also killed a large number of Scarabs, almost turning the defensive battle into an annihilation!

"Hehehe!" After Karya announced she had passed, Lux put her hands on her hips. "I passed the training! Come on, Karya, let me see how those scavengers last for ten minutes with just a wooden stick!"

"Alright," Karya didn't hesitate and waved his hand. "Then you shall see. This is a real memory of mine."

The sand dunes in front of them blurred, and soon, a dark-skinned scavenger, dressed in rags and carrying a large sack on his back, appeared not far away.

He held a long wooden stick, at least nine feet long. On each foot, he had strapped a narrow wooden plank – a common tool for scavengers to traverse sand dunes in the desert.

"Watch closely," Karya's voice was calm and unhurried. "You don't believe scavengers can easily last ten minutes among a swarm of Scarabs, do you? Then watch!"

The next moment, the sand dunes began to churn, and a large number of Scarabs emerged from the sand, surging towards the scavenger.

However, the scavenger calmly removed one of the wooden planks and secured it to the top of the wooden stick with a hook and buckle.

The stick and the plank were thus combined into a hoe-like shape.

Then, the scavenger swung the hoe and dug fiercely downwards – the stick, along with the plank, was easily secured into the sand and gravel.

Without needing to remove the other plank, the scavenger slung his bag onto the end of the stick, clamped it between his legs, and agilely scrambled onto the upright stick like an ape.

The aggressive Scarabs, though capable of jumping, had no ability to fly. Because the stick was too long, they chirped angrily but couldn't reach the scavenger, who was nearly eight feet off the ground, and eventually retreated in frustration.

"How is this possible!" Lux exclaimed, jumping up and down in disbelief. "Those cunning bugs were so smart when they fought me, why didn't they try to bite that stick when they saw the scavenger? You're cheating!"

"Do you think the scavengers who can safely roam this desert are all fools?" Karya gave Lux a rap on the head, making the young girl cover her head and crouch. "The sticks in their hands are their livelihood. They are either animal bones or branches from certain poisonous trees, which the Scarabs won't gnaw on!"

"This... this isn't just any stick!" Lux retorted stubbornly. "And they understand these bugs!"

"Well said," Karya nodded. "How about this, I'll show you the performance of some outstanding graduates from the past. See if you are the worst batch I've ever trained!"

"Fine, I'll watch!" Lux puffed out her chest again. "Who's afraid?!"

"Alright, let me see..." Karya reached out and stroked his chin. "Who should I choose? Ah, you, Aatrox!"

One minute later, Lux felt her worldview had been shattered.

What kind of monster was this "Aatrox"?

Despite being just a seemingly not-so-strong young man, he wielded a greatsword and effortlessly dealt with all the Scarabs in just one minute!

That wasn't even the most outrageous part.

The most outrageous thing was that every single move Aatrox used throughout the process was something Lux had learned, and she believed she could perform similarly on her own.

But even if Lux tried to replicate it now, she couldn't achieve Aatrox's fluid, effortless grace!

It was a greatsword, yet in his hands, it felt as light as a feather. Man and sword seemed to be dancing a ballroom dance, his center of gravity barely changing, yet each strike incorporated both his own strength and the force of gravity from the downward swing.

Even more outrageous was that almost every sword strike landed precisely between the Scarabs' weakly protected wing casings. Each strike was a clean, two-part cut, with no wasted movement!

What kind of divine skill was this?

"Training is thi—"

Before Aatrox could finish his sentence, Karya waved his hand and ended the memory.

Watching the slender figure disappear, Lux's face was filled with astonishment, her mouth hanging open. She had personally witnessed the swordplay of Sebastian Laurent, the current patriarch of the Laurent family.

Her family's ancestral [Mind's Eye Swordsmanship] was already the limit of what Lux could imagine in terms of swordplay's splendor.

But even the ultimate technique of Mind's Eye Swordsmanship, [Sword Dance Waltz], couldn't compare to the effortless swordsmanship of this Aatrox!

What incredible talent, what extraordinary genius!

The simplest of strikes, chops, and thrusts, yet they annihilated all the Scarabs with the greatest efficiency and ease...

Lux was starting to question her life.

"This... this must be your most outstanding student!" Lux gritted her teeth, feeling she could still argue, "And, clearly, someone who purely trains swordsmanship—"

"Well said!" Karya seemed to agree with Lux's statement, "You are a born Spellcaster, so we should use Spellcasters as examples, is that what you mean?"

"Yes, yes!" Lux nodded repeatedly, "Exactly! That's what I mean!"

"Alright, let's take a look at Nezuk's performance," Karya nodded. "He's an elemental mage, just like you—come, let's see Nezuk's performance."

As he spoke, Karya waved his hand again. With a blur, a robed figure appeared in the distance below the sand dunes.

The sand churned, and Scarabs surged forth.

The next moment, Nezuk raised both hands, gathering and refracting the sun's radiance in his palms before sweeping it out.

Wherever the radiance passed, the Scarabs were utterly incinerated.

At that moment, Lux suddenly recalled a piece of knowledge she had learned before: sunlight was not an element, but it could be gathered and refracted.

"How could I not have thought of that!" Lux was so frustrated she almost wanted to roll on the ground, "Ahhh, I can do it too!"

"Really? Try it here," Karya chuckled. "Right here, let me see if you can easily gather and refract sunlight."

Lux took a deep breath and, following the method Karya had previously taught her, attempted to gather sunlight.

Then, before she could achieve anything, a wave of exhaustion washed over her from the depths of her heart—her stamina was depleted again.

"How could this happen?" Lux collapsed onto the ground again, looking disheveled. "Gathering and refracting shouldn't be this strenuous, should it?"

"It is when you're familiar with the process," Karya explained. "But if you're not familiar with this casting method, the consumption will be greater..."

"Hmph, it's not my fault I can't train!" Lux mustered her last bit of stubbornness. "They've all trained for so long, and they must have had plenty of practical training."

"That's true," Karya continued to nod, but the amusement in his voice was impossible to hide now. "In that case, how about this: I'll show you a record of a young girl's training—it was her first formal casting, and no one had taught her before."

"Okay!" Lux sat up. "Show me! I don't believe it, were all your previous students geniuses?"

Karya waved the sleeve of his cloak, and Nezuk's figure vanished. Immediately after, a shy-looking young girl appeared below the sand dunes.

She had thick eyebrows and a slightly flat face. Perhaps due to excessive sun exposure, her cheekbones were slightly flushed, and her skin color was very dark.

After the Scarabs appeared, she first pressed her hands down lightly, then tremblingly raised them—and as she moved, countless giant stones beneath the yellow sand spontaneously gathered, forming a stone curtain as smooth as a wall.

The young girl, successful on her first try, looked very tired. She cautiously watched the Scarabs below the stone curtain. When she saw they couldn't climb over, she excitedly raised her arms.

"Teacher, teacher, did you see? I did it!" she shouted excitedly in accented Old Shuriman. "I really can!"

With a wave of his hand, Karya dispelled the memory. A rare smile appeared on his face beneath his hood. "This is a young girl from a weaving family. This was her first training session. Before this, she had suppressed her talent, afraid her abilities would harm others, so this was her first time casting."

Lux was stunned.

"What kind of people are these..."

"Her talent is indeed exceptional. If you're not convinced, I have Nasus's records here—Nasus is one of my worst students, besides you."

"..."

"This is Renekton; that idiot barely knows how to use his brain."

"..."

"This is Rhaast; he's the slipperiest and always likes to take shortcuts—"

"..."

"And Varus; he uses a bow and arrow..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

After Lux had watched enough training videos of those powerhouses and left the simulated training illusion to return to reality, she collapsed onto Sona.

Holding her good friend's hand, the young girl's voice was tinged with tears.

"Wuwuwu—Karya didn't lie to me."

"..."

"Wuwuwuwu, I'm useless!"

"..."

Looking at Lux, who was crying her heart out, her golden hair seeming to have lost its luster, the usually gentle Sona finally couldn't help herself. She helped Lux untie her high ponytail, letting down her long hair, and carefully put a hairband on her, while also glaring at Karya.

Karya, at this moment, finally realized he might have gotten a bit too excited—these records were his most precious memories. Even Karya, upon seeing those familiar figures, couldn't help but be a little lost in thought, failing to notice Lux's emotions and hurting the young girl's fragile self-esteem.

"Okay, okay, don't cry, don't cry," Karya said in an unusually gentle tone. "After all, you're in Demacia and can only learn theoretical knowledge. It's normal to be a bit weak in practical aspects... Believe me, among those people just now, except for Nezuk and Nasus, none of them had more solid theoretical knowledge than you—"

This was meant to be a comforting remark.

But, thinking of how those "not very solid theoretical knowledge" guys easily passed the trials, while she endured three years of cramming and failed eight times in a row, utterly embarrassed...

Lux couldn't help but feel more wronged, and cried even louder.

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