Three Years of Spellcasting, Five Years of Practice Exams

Lux performed the funeral rites with painstaking care. Although she was somewhat absent-minded, anyone who saw her would have assumed she was lost in grief.

Meanwhile, Karya, who needed to bind himself to this rechargeable battery, was hard at work devising a teaching plan. He recalled the fundamentals of magic education and quietly laid out a complete syllabus for Lux.

Honestly, people always said transmigrators got systems... So why, in his case, had the transmigrator become the system?

Even without a direct infusion of magic, Karya could still think while in standby mode, despite having no five senses.

Karya's first step was to give Lux a solid foundation.

On that score, Karya, former president of Shurima's Royal University, felt no pressure. Light Magic talent was indeed rare, but as one of the first Ascended, what hadn't he seen?

Ever heard of Nezuk?

He was the Great Elementalist of Ixtal, the creator of the Monolith, and the ancestor of the Ixtali Kingdom!

And hadn't he graduated under Karya?

Karya had personally awarded Nezuk his medal for outstanding achievement!

Karya himself had almost no talent for spellcasting and had relied entirely on resources, making him Shurima's biggest resource hog. But so what?

With Karya's abilities, teaching Lux... would be a piece of cake!

In the time it took to hold a funeral, Karya had thought of more than twenty books Lux absolutely had to read. Unfortunately, Lux wouldn't be able to find a single one of them.

Nowadays, perhaps only Nasus, still wandering the Shuriman desert, knew where those books could be found.

But it didn't matter if there were no books. Karya could recite them from memory!

It was hard for ordinary people to imagine how bored an old man with average talent—or no talent at all—could get after rising through the ranks on merit and accumulated resources, then living for over a thousand years. Setaqa didn't allow the Ascended to flirt around, and Shurima forbade them from taking part in political struggles. So most Ascended spent their days working and training, endlessly trying to outdo one another.

But there was one problem: Karya couldn't train!

Karya had transmigrated in his original body. You couldn't expect an ordinary person from Earth to match the physical abilities and combat talent of the people of Runeterra!

Can you imagine? The moment Aatrox became Ascended, he was already a great deal stronger than Karya, who had been Ascended for over five hundred years!

In that situation, to preserve the dignity of his elders and strengthen Shurima, Karya chose to develop his knowledge. In plain terms, he became a know-it-all whose greatest strength was talking big.

After all, Karya's memory had become exceptionally good after his Ascension.

At first, he simply liked reading.

Then, as he read, he memorized everything.

After memorizing book after book, he realized there wasn't much fun in that, so he started recording other people's interesting stories instead.

That was how Karya came to remember every Ascended's embarrassing past in painstaking detail: who wet the bed as a child, who was weaned late, who had their first love and their first heartbreak...

Ordinary people wouldn't have dared ask about such gossip, but Karya knew it all. And since he was in charge of Shurima University, every Ascended who saw him trembled from head to toe and wanted to flee.

Setaqa inspired respect.

Karya inspired fear.

If Karya's mind hadn't later been infected by the Void and gradually lost its reason, the Darkin War would never have happened. If that bunch of brats dared to cause trouble, Karya would have spread their embarrassing secrets far and wide.

What if some Darkin got it into their head to go after Karya?

Ha.

Karya might not have been strong, but he was definitely good at staying out of danger, because his Ascended form was that of a vulture.

That's right, Karya could fly. Even after becoming Darkin, he could still soar high and far. His combat strength was pathetic, but the other Darkin had no chance of catching him.

(A vulture that lived in the desert... Naturally, it was called a "sand eagle," since the Shuriman word for "desert" was "sai." The last Ascended to get drunk and say Karya's Ascended form should be called a "sand idiot" was Kalibakan. By the next day, the whole city of Shurima knew that when Kalibakan was ten, he'd had a crush on his busty governess. Poor Kalibakan volunteered to be stationed in Zaun for a hundred years, outliving everyone who knew the story before finally returning to Shurima.)

(Incidentally, the traitor who let the secret slip was named Rhaast. During those hundred years, he took over Kalibakan's cushy post in Shurima. The official line was, "We appoint the best person for the job, and it had nothing to do with anything else." In any case, after that, "sand idiot" became a forbidden phrase among the Ascended. Even Aatrox, foul-mouthed and hot-tempered as he was, wouldn't dare say it.)

All in all, Karya wasn't naturally gifted, but he had taught plenty of gifted students. He was brimming with confidence about teaching Lux.

He could simply lecture her on the fundamentals. Lux could take notes as he spoke, and by the time the lesson was over, she'd have her notes, too. It wouldn't take long for her to build an exceptionally solid theoretical foundation.

Once she had a firm foundation, the second step would be physical training.

That's right, not spellcasting, but physical training.

Karya knew that, at least before reaching the extraordinary, a spellcaster's magic was almost entirely proportional to their physical fitness. A strong body could raise one's magic capacity and let a spellcaster practice without holding back or accidentally injuring themself.

Besides, spells could be considered an extension of a spellcaster's body. People who could control their bodies well had a natural advantage when casting spells, and that advantage was especially pronounced in adolescence.

So Lux would have to keep exercising until she came of age. Karya wasn't expecting her to become a sword master, but she needed to at least be healthy.

Karya's martial skills might not measure up to the Weapon Master's, but as the self-proclaimed king of talk...

Karya knew the sword styles of every Shuriman school inside and out. Teaching Lux swordsmanship would not only make her less wary of him; it would also earn her a higher standing and more freedom to act in Demacia. It was a win-win.

At the third step, Lux could begin casting spells. At this stage, the theory she'd memorized by rote and her abundant magic would come together, letting her quickly cross the threshold into the extraordinary. In Ancient Shurima, reaching this point would already have qualified her to become Ascended.

Runeterra had never had a clear system of levels. You could level up in Summoner's Rift, but not in Runeterra. Still, people could broadly be divided into vague ranks: mortals, heroes, the extraordinary, demigods, and Deities.

Mortals were ordinary people with average talent who hadn't undergone any special training. Even those with average talent who trained normally often couldn't rise above this rank.

Heroes were those with exceptional talent who surpassed ordinary people. They either had extraordinary gifts or had perfected their skills through practice, but they were still at the stage of understanding and applying techniques.

The extraordinary had broken free of the constraints of mortality and glimpsed the laws and truths of Runeterra—but only glimpsed them.

As for demigods and Deities, belief played a part in their power, so they weren't suitable to discuss here.

With Lux's talent and Karya's teaching, she could cross the threshold into the extraordinary within ten years. That was undoubtedly an astonishing pace.

As for the fourth step...

Karya planned to use Lux as his starting point for making plans in this era. He would pass his own ideas on to her and make her his agent. Whether it was dealing with those insufferable Aspects or facing the Void, which was stirring restlessly, they would need more allies—and they would need to stand together.

Of course, that was still a long, long way off.

For now, all Karya needed to do was lay a foundation for Lux. And for a child, the best way to build that foundation was through intensive, rote learning.

Understanding not only what something was but also why it was that way was all well and good, but unfortunately, there were plenty of whys that a child couldn't understand. To give Lux an utterly solid foundation in spellcasting, Karya decided to put her through a training course called "Three Years of Spellcasting, Five Years of Practice Exams"!

May Miss Lux excel in her studies!

Just as Karya finished drawing up the preliminary outline of his syllabus, Lux's uncle's funeral finally came to an end.

As the guests began to leave, Lux finally gripped her sword hilt again.

"Mr. Karya." As she watched the coffin being closed, Lux suddenly realized there was a serious problem. Her voice urgent, she asked, "You said Uncle's soul was dragged into the Shadow Realm, but what should we do about his body? I got his soul back, but if his body decays, is there no hope for him?"

"Very good, young lady. Grief hasn't completely clouded your mind." Karya replied, pleased. "His body isn't injured, but it will decay quickly now that it's without a soul. To prevent that, you'll need to prepare a preservation Magic Array for him."

"But I don't know how." Lux looked bewildered. She could just about understand what preservation meant, but she didn't know what a Magic Array was. "How do I do it?"

"Does your family have a custom of burying something precious alongside the deceased?" Karya had already prepared a plan. "We can prepare a doll or something like that. As long as you put it in his arms, his body definitely won't decay for at least ten years."

"I think that should be fine..." Lux thought it over, then answered confidently. "Uncle wasn't married, and I don't have an aunt, so my brother and I should be able to leave something commemorative in his coffin."

"Then it's settled," Karya said firmly. "We'll prepare it tonight, and you just need to make a doll the way I tell you."

"A doll?" Lux blinked. "There's one in my bedroom. Uncle gave it to me..."

"We'll just have to make a few alterations!"

The burial ceremony was the next day, so Lux would have to put in a little extra effort tonight.

For ordinary people, keeping a body from decaying was no easy task, but for Karya, it was as easy as could be.

Just a little Darkin flesh and blood would be enough to keep Lux's uncle from decaying for ten years.

And after ten years...

If Lux's talent wasn't enough to let her travel freely in and out of the Shadow Realm by then, Karya might as well end his own life as her mentor and system!

As soon as she returned to her bedroom, Lux found her doll. It was a lifelike Poro with a pale pink heart on its belly. The toy was sewn from soft velvet and stuffed with dragonfowl feathers. It felt soft and warm, and bounced back when hugged.

Her uncle had given it to her for her fifth birthday. Back then, he'd promised Lux that once she turned fifteen, he would take her to hug a real dragonfowl.

"If you've mastered the Crownguard sword style by then, I'll give you a dragonfowl egg."

Looking at the Poro doll on her bedside table, its tongue sticking out, Lux's eyes reddened once more.

Even though Karya had said her uncle wasn't dead, Lux was still terribly sad. Ten years was a very long time for a nine-year-old girl.

Pressing her lips together, the girl picked up the doll and gripped her sword hilt again.

"This is the doll? Good, the size is right. Now, find a small knife or a pair of scissors and scrape some Void Chitin off the Void Staff."

"You mean off you?" Lux froze. "From your body?"

"Where else in Demacia would you find materials that could support a preservation Magic Array?" Karya asked calmly. "Hurry up. You should finish before anyone tells you to go to bed."

"But, Mr. Karya, won't it hurt?" Lux asked timidly. "Getting scraped like that must hurt a lot, right?"

"You have a strange idea of what matters, young lady." Karya sounded as if he were scolding her, but his tone was rather pleased. "But don't worry, it won't hurt me. If I had to compare it to something, Void Chitin is like your hair to you. Scraping a little off won't hurt."

"Oh."

Since Karya didn't seem to want to explain, Lux politely didn't press him. She quickly hopped out of bed, put on her slippers, and pattered away. Soon, she found a pair of scissors.

Then, following Karya's guidance, she easily snipped off a little Void Chitin.

"Mr. Karya, are you really this soft?" Lux looked at the Void Chitin in her palm, thoroughly confused. "Because you don't feel that way to me..."

"I can control myself." Karya wasn't impatient with Lux's question and answered at once. "All right, now follow my instructions and sew the Void Chitin into the doll..."

There wasn't much one could expect from a nine-year-old girl's sewing skills. Fortunately, the preservation Magic Array made this way only needed the Void Chitin to do its job. Lux finished the work before it was time for her to go to bed.

Then, just as she was about to turn out the light, her mother, Ogesha, knocked on the door.

"Lux, are you asleep?"

"Not yet!" Lux instinctively grabbed the doll she'd just finished sewing and suddenly felt nervous. "Is something the matter?"

"Of course. I came to see my little princess." Ogesha replied in a tired but still gentle voice. "Today... you did well, sweetheart."

With Karya's reassurance, Lux relaxed a little. She let go of the Poro doll, put on her slippers again, and opened the door.

"Mom." Lux threw herself into her mother's arms. "You worked hard, too!"

"..."

Feeling the care of her little darling, Ogesha felt some of her exhaustion lift. Even the Crownguard matriarch, who had weathered many storms, had found the day's events almost too much to bear.

First, her younger daughter had awakened to magic that morning. Then came the terrible news that the family had lost an important pillar. After hearing about it, Garen, that little rascal, had insisted on joining the army and even tried to run away from home...

The troubles had come one after another, leaving Ogesha physically and emotionally drained. Even so, she had made time to check on her younger daughter and see how she was doing.

She had expected to spend a while comforting Lux, but instead, Lux had ended up comforting her.

"It seems Tiana's method really worked." Seeing that Lux's hands weren't glowing anymore, Ogesha stroked the soft golden hair of her thoughtful little darling in her arms. At last, the exhausted Ogesha felt a little comfort. "Daughters really are the best. Unlike that little rascal Garen, who wanted to leave without saying goodbye. It's too late tonight, but if he's still insisting on joining the army tomorrow, I'll give him a good beating. This is no time to enlist!"

Lux had no idea that her smiling mother was already thinking about what would make a good weapon for beating her brother tomorrow.

The little girl had been through a series of ups and downs herself that day, and now she had a secret of her own, which made her feel a little uneasy.

The mother and daughter embraced quietly, enjoying a rare moment of peace.

After a while, Lux pulled her little head from her mother's arms and pointed to the Poro doll on her bedside table.

"Mom, can I send it to keep Uncle company tomorrow?"

Ogesha glanced at the doll, then nodded. "Mm!"