With a thought from Luke—
In the next second, an information panel popped up in front of his eyes.
[Host: Luke]
[Aptitude: 11 (utterly mediocre)]
[Realm: None]
[Skills: None]
[Sub-profession: None]
[Items: None]
A completely empty panel, with that "utterly mediocre" glaring so brightly it was almost painful.
The moment Luke saw the system's evaluation, he understood. With aptitude like this, even if he worked hard for decades, he probably wouldn't amount to much.
According to the system's info, aptitude was divided into eight tiers: abysmally poor, utterly mediocre, workable, exceptionally gifted, one in a hundred, one in a thousand, one in ten thousand, and unparalleled.
Luke's aptitude barely cleared the very bottom—abysmally poor—and only by a point.
Each tier covered ten points. To reach the final tier, you needed to break through to one hundred.
[Ding. Would you like to sign in?]
After glancing at the panel twice, the prompt appeared in front of Luke.
He made a decision immediately and chose to sign in.
[Detected: this is the host's first sign-in. This sign-in is a special sign-in.]
[Congratulations! You have obtained an advanced swordsmanship skill: Wind Technique Swordsmanship (automatically mastered to LV3: basic mastery).]
[Congratulations! You have obtained: Spiritual Energy Guidance: Primer.]
[Congratulations! You have obtained: Realm Upgrade Card (Initiate—Late Stage).]
[Congratulations! You have obtained: Random LV6 Sub-Profession Card.]
[Congratulations! You have obtained: Sixth Sense Enhancement Serum.]
[Rewards have been automatically stored in the system inventory. Please review and withdraw them at your convenience.]
Because it was his first sign-in, a whole pile of rewards exploded onto the screen, leaving Luke a little dazzled.
He only needed one look to feel that none of these were ordinary.
The first thing that surged into his mind was Spiritual Energy Guidance: Primer. He'd just been thinking about how important it was, and he'd tried for ages without even touching the edge of it.
Of course, that was because of his aptitude.
But now, with nothing more than a thought, he had already grasped it.
It felt as natural as walking or running—like moving his limbs. Effortless. Instinctive.
[Detected skill: Wind Technique Swordsmanship. Learn?]
Seeing the prompt, Luke chose to learn immediately.
Information about Wind Technique Swordsmanship flooded into his mind. It felt as if he'd trained in it bitterly for years—every cell in his body already familiar with the sensation.
Speaking of Wind Technique Swordsmanship, there were two champions you couldn't avoid mentioning.
One was Yasuo, the Unforgiven.
The other was Yone, the Unforgotten.
Both were disciples of the wind technique. Just watching that clean, swift, stormlike blade work was enough to understand how powerful it was.
Luke had automatically mastered it to LV3—basic mastery.
And as a bonus, once Wind Technique Swordsmanship reached basic mastery, Luke also comprehended a new skill—Wind Affinity.
He could sense the wind that brushed past him with far greater detail. It seemed like a necessary condition for learning the wind technique in the first place.
Second, mastering spiritual energy was also the key of keys. Otherwise, even if Luke had learned Wind Technique Swordsmanship, he still wouldn't be able to bring out its full might.
The system's planning was surprisingly thorough.
Luke then opened the inventory and focused on the remaining three rewards.
He withdrew the Sixth Sense Enhancement Serum first. A white bottle—almost like a drink—appeared in his hand. He weighed it once, didn't hesitate, popped the cap, and downed it in a few gulps.
The effects seemed to spread, but as for what it actually felt like… it wasn't obvious.
Luke knew what "sixth sense" referred to. After waiting a moment and finding nothing else worth noting, he didn't dwell on it.
"Use the Realm Upgrade Card."
Luke silently ordered it in his mind, and the system's prompt sounded at once.
[Use successful.]
As the prompt faded, Luke clearly felt a wave of energy spreading outward from his heart, gradually pouring into his limbs. It was as if every cell in his body was cheering—muscles all over him trembling faintly.
It was an incredibly strange sensation.
After a while—
"Getting stronger without working for it feels amazing."
Luke muttered, his mood impossibly refreshed.
When the strange feeling vanished, Luke clenched his fist. He could plainly sense his strength had risen by a huge margin. As he was now, he could probably beat up five versions of himself from yesterday.
Runeterra wasn't an ordinary world, after all.
The power gap was wildly uneven. The strong were terrifyingly strong, and the weak were pitifully weak.
But everyone had a path to grow stronger.
So over the course of Demacia's history, a system had gradually taken shape to categorize strength.
Named after knightly ranks, it went: Initiate, Valorous, Unyielding, Dauntless, Sanctified, Glory.
From left to right, the higher the title, the stronger the person—and each realm was divided into early, mid, and late stages.
Before this, Luke had only been an ordinary person, not even qualifying as an Initiate.
For a normal person, becoming an Initiate wasn't hard. Even someone as mediocre as Luke could do it—if you trained day after day, your body would naturally grow through relentless tempering.
But the more strength you chased, the more limitations ordinary people faced. The further you went, the more you needed talent to support you.
In one leap, Luke had become an Initiate in the late stage, his strength rising sharply.
The rewards this time were absurdly generous, and there was still one reward left for Luke to claim.
And judging by the look of it, it was probably the best reward from this sign-in.
A LV6 (outstanding) sub-profession card!
From the system's information, Luke learned that skills were divided into nine levels.
Even LV3 Wind Technique Swordsmanship was only barely past the first threshold.
The nine levels were: LV1 (beginner), LV2 (finding the path), LV3 (basic mastery), LV4 (proficient), LV5 (expert), LV6 (outstanding), LV7 (peak), LV8 (transcendent), LV9 (return to simplicity).
It was easy to see that LV6 was already a very high level of mastery.
Even though the sub-profession card was random, Luke figured that at this level, no matter what he rolled, he wouldn't lose.
As for sub-professions… there were too many to list.
"Use the sub-profession card."
[Use successful.]
Luke willed it again, and the card vanished from the inventory.
In the next second, the system's prompt sounded once more.
[Congratulations! You have obtained LV6 sub-profession skill: Cooking.]
Luke went speechless. In an instant, a massive amount of cooking knowledge appeared in his mind—so much that he couldn't digest it all at once.
He'd just said that any random result wouldn't be a loss, and the system immediately handed him Cooking.
He was a prince of the realm. Was he supposed to personally step into the kitchen and cook now?
Isn't this ridiculous?
Luke laughed helplessly, but he didn't really care.
It was a free reward anyway. There was plenty of time ahead, and sooner or later his sub-profession skills would naturally pile up.
His first sign-in rewards were already more than generous—what was there to complain about?