A week passed in the blink of an eye.
Most of November had already gone by, and there was a faint chill in the air, but it did nothing to slow the city's feverish pace.
On the side of the street, the pink-haired girl's melodious singing slowly came to an end.
The crowd watching her immediately burst into applause, and praise rang out from every direction.
Perhaps because of the cold, Seraphine's fair cheeks were slightly flushed. She looked at the people around her, her sapphire-blue eyes shining with a lovely glow.
"Thank you, everyone."
As she spoke, the girl gave the audience a small bow.
There were around two or three hundred people gathered around her, all drawn over by her singing. Compared with half a month ago, Seraphine was no longer so tense in front of a crowd this large.
Or rather, she had gradually learned to open herself up.
"Thank you all for coming. That's the end of today's performance, so please go on with your day."
At that moment, Luke stepped out from the crowd and waved to the audience.
Seeing that there was nothing more to come, the spectators tactfully dispersed.
"Let's go. You did well today."
Luke looked at Seraphine and smiled.
"Oh." Seraphine obediently followed him, then thought for a moment and said, "I feel like I didn't sing some parts well just now. Did Your Highness notice?"
"Did you?" Luke thought back for a moment and said, "I thought it sounded pretty good. At least about the same as the last few times."
Hearing his words, Seraphine fell quiet, her distracted gaze fixed on the road ahead.
About the same as the last few times.
To be honest, that was not what she wanted to hear.
If she counted it out, this should be the sixth time she had come out to sing in the past half month. Each time had been in a different place, and each audience had been different.
She had slowly grown used to this method and had started singing with all her heart.
At the same time, in places Luke did not know about, Seraphine had also been secretly working hard so she could sing better the next time.
She hoped her next song would draw in an even larger audience, and she hoped she would receive even higher praise from Luke.
But the result now was somewhat disappointing.
Wasn't "about the same" another way of saying that her performance had not changed much compared with the last few times?
It meant that all her hard work over these past few days did not seem to have had any effect.
Seraphine could not help wondering whether something had gone wrong somewhere.
Distracted, she completely failed to notice that Luke had stopped in front of her. She bumped her head into his back at once, then let out a soft "Mm."
Luke turned around and looked at her strangely. "How can you zone out even while walking down the street? Did you hear what I said just now?"
Seraphine blinked blankly. "What did you say?"
"Forget it. It wasn't anything important. You, on the other hand, look like your eyes are full of confusion."
Luke looked at those big eyes and analyzed, "Clearly there's something you can't figure out."
"Is there?"
Seraphine grew even more confused. She saw the clear light shining in Luke's eyes. They really were a beautiful pair of eyes.
A second later, she was the first to look away, feeling as though she had lost that round.
Luke turned around and kept walking. "Tell me about it. Back in Demacia, I'm known as the little prince of solving confusion. I don't even know how many girls I've helped find their way, and you're about to become one of them."
Listening to him, Seraphine could not help wanting to laugh. After thinking for a moment, she did not hide it and said, "It's just that… I feel like my singing hasn't improved much these past few times."
"Improved?" Luke thought for a moment, then said, "I already think you sing very well."
The pink-haired girl's singing level was absolutely not low. She had already reached heights many ordinary people could not achieve.
"I don't think it's enough." Seraphine sighed softly and said, "Because I feel like this still isn't my limit. I clearly can do better, so I don't want to just be satisfied with myself like this. But after I worked hard, nothing changed."
Luke nodded slightly. "I understand what you mean. In other words, you feel like you've hit a bottleneck, right?"
"Yes, that's exactly it." Seraphine's eyes lit up. A bottleneck was exactly the problem she was facing now.
"If you can't see any improvement no matter how hard you work, then that means the problem isn't with the effort."
Luke's voice was calm as he said, "For those of us who train our bodies, there are bottlenecks too. When day after day of physical training stops producing improvement, that means the body has reached its limit, while the closely connected mental strength has failed to keep up."
Seraphine could not help asking, "Has Your Highness ever encountered that kind of bottleneck too?"
"Of course not." Luke smiled faintly. "So far, I've never gotten stuck."
Seraphine was speechless.
For some reason, she felt as though he had just shown off without even trying.
When she thought about it carefully, ever since she had met His Highness, she had never once seen him train on his own initiative.
Even Miss Crownguard could be seen training from time to time.
As for training intensity, that had to be Quinn. She was basically tempering her physical abilities at all times. Recently, she had also been bringing Caitlyn along with her, yet even Caitlyn had started struggling to keep up with Quinn's pace.
That was enough to show just how excessive Quinn's training intensity was.
As for Luke, his daily routine was basically all about idling around.
And yet, she had heard that he was very strong.
Luke said this really could not be blamed on him.
After all, with a little tap of his hand, his realm broke through directly. Where was he supposed to find a bottleneck?
After thinking for a moment, he continued, "Although I haven't experienced that feeling myself, I've still seen it before. In short, as long as you understand what I mean."
"It's possible that you've already reached a certain upper limit in singing technique, but other aspects haven't kept up."
"What other aspects?"
Seraphine grew even more confused, her big eyes filled with bewilderment.
"Let's go by how I feel." Luke thought for a moment and said, "Your singing is already very good, comparable to a master. But I've actually always felt that it's missing something."
Seraphine listened seriously and could not help asking, "What is it missing?"
"You do sing with a lot of care, but in my eyes, that's only a shallow display of technique. You've only made people understand that you're very good at singing. But then what?"
Luke stopped and glanced sideways at the young girl beside him. "Where is the part of you that truly shines?"
That question could be said to have stopped Seraphine in her tracks, leaving her frozen in place.
The part of me that truly shines?
Luke looked at her and continued, "Over the past half month, the number of people who came to listen to your songs has to be at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, right? Among those people, how many do you think actually remembered you?"
Seraphine remained silent, and she could not calculate how many people had truly remembered her.
Luke slowly said, "I think there weren't actually that many people who remembered you. Many people were busy all day, then happened to see a young girl singing by the street. Her voice sounded beautiful, and after listening, they couldn't help applauding."
"Your singing gave them a brief moment of relaxation, and after they went home, maybe they were still able to savor it for a little while. But when they woke up the next day, all they remembered was that they still had to keep working. As for the song they heard on the street, they had already forgotten it completely."
"Beautiful singing voices are everywhere, but a shining soul is one in a million. Do you understand what I mean?"
Those words entered her ears one after another. Seraphine froze for a moment, but suddenly felt as if something in her heart had opened up.
She seemed to understand a little, but she still needed some time before she could completely think it through.
So her singing had not been beautiful enough to make people remember it clearly.
Or perhaps, she had not been able to send her voice into every person's heart the way Sona could with her magnificent playing.
Seraphine began to understand where the problem lay.
"So that's it."
The pink-haired girl murmured to herself.
Luke smiled and looked at her. "Let's go. It's about time to head back for lunch."
Seraphine followed behind him, then could not help lifting her eyes to look at the man's back.
Near noon, the two returned to the training base.
While they were still in the corridor outside, they could already hear the clanging sounds coming from one of the training rooms. It was extremely intense. Although the rhythm was strong, it was also far too noisy.
Even with the room's decent soundproofing, it was still unusually loud.
The next second, Lux angrily shoved open the door of her own training room and stormed next door while shouting.
"If you use noise to interfere with my practice again, I'm going to pluck out your hair one strand at a time!"
"You need to practice, and I don't?"
Jinx leaped out from the doorway and fled the scene at top speed.
The next second, Lux chased after her.
The two of them raced down the spacious corridor like a cat chasing a mouse.
Seeing this, Luke felt that buying this training base had been the right choice. Otherwise, if the place were too small, it would not have been enough for them to mess around in.
Recently, Lux and the others had been improving their familiarity with their instruments at a rapid pace every day, and their level had already reached the point where they could perform on stage.
It was not only because Seraphine was a good teacher, but also because Sona was there. Through her playing, she could help them better understand the music.
Jinx, now that she had a drum kit, had also been able to vent to her heart's content. Every day, she just banged away at it, and she never seemed to get tired of it.
Although it was very noisy at times, that girl was also progressing extremely quickly.
Perhaps because it suited her too well, Jinx's learning progress was now the fastest.
"What are we eating today?"
The spirit goddess appeared exactly on time and asked curiously.
"You like everything anyway, so just wait."
Luke yawned as he walked toward the kitchen and began preparing today's lunch.
In the kitchen, Janna's illusory form appeared in midair. With nothing better to do, she watched Luke cook like a curious little cat.
Who knew whether she was learning or not, but she looked rather serious about it.
Sometimes she leaned closer, sometimes she drifted farther away, but her gaze never left him. In any case, she was not getting in the way.
Sometimes she would even take the initiative to help. For example, when Luke needed to switch to a small knife for chopping vegetables, she would curl her finger, and the knife would float over to him on its own.
At other times, when he needed to cut vegetables, she would also enthusiastically help with a couple of chops.
She even helped control the fire. If the flame was too high, she would blow it smaller. If it was too low, she would blow it bigger.
When it came to this sort of thing, the spirit goddess was still quite attentive.
But Luke knew that this girl was only doing it so she could taste the food sooner.
To make sure every dish was still hot when it reached the table, Luke would basically finish all the preparatory steps before starting the final stage.
That way, he could also save some time.
When dish after dish came out of the pot, Janna's eyes lit up the moment she smelled the aroma.
Luke would prepare her share separately. Generally speaking, this girl was always the first one to taste the delicious food.
After the spirit goddess happily left with her offering for the day, Luke also began carrying dish after dish to the table.
After lunch, while everyone was resting in the main hall, Luke spoke up. "After all this time preparing, our band is about to take its first step."
Hearing his words, everyone looked over.
Luke said, "I plan to start our first performance in the next few days."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lux's little face darkened, and she became quite serious. "That day has finally come, has it?"
Seraphine was a little stunned.
Sona's expression was normal, and she did not seem surprised.
Jinx looked indifferent, and was even a little excited because of it.
Orianna, however, said uneasily, "Isn't it a little too soon…"
Luke smiled. "Your level is already there. Since that's the case, there's no need to keep dragging it out."
Orianna nodded and said nothing more.
After all, this day had to come sooner or later. She just had not mentally prepared herself yet.
Caitlyn asked curiously, "When exactly will it be?"
Luke said, "It hasn't been decided yet. I'll go find someone later. When I come back, I'll give you the answer. In any case, it'll be in the next few days."
Two days ago, Porter and Briya had come to find Luke and said the sound system was almost complete.
Lux and the others' training progress was also about ready, so Luke felt it was time to start preparing for the first performance.
Since it was the first performance, they naturally could not just casually find a street and start singing.
That would make Luke look far too unimpressive.
For the first time, they had to go big.
So for that, he still needed to make some preparations.
A candidate flashed through Luke's mind. He remembered the man was called Ivo.
He was the noble who had come to find Sona last time, hoping she could go onstage and play a piece at a concert.
That man still had some reputation when it came to music. Perhaps he could help Luke with some pre-performance publicity work.
Most importantly, Luke had not forgotten the other purpose behind forming the band.
That was to raise a certain foodie spirit's fame a little.
These days, he had not actually been idle either. Through some newspapers, he had published stories related to Janna, even spending a decent amount of money on it.
However, the effect had been average. After all, people nowadays had seen a lot, and what kind of ghost or god story had they not heard before?
Especially when this place was Piltover.
Just as Luke had predicted from the very beginning, today's Piltover was filled with people who believed in technology, and that was also where their attention was basically focused.
Compared with some vague and distant deity, they were more willing to pay attention to whoever had released some dazzling new piece of technology.
However, that was not much of a problem.
Because soon, Luke's trump card was about to fall.
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