"Teacher, why are you two together?"
Lux stared at Vayne, her question sharp and suspicious. Duke glanced back at Vayne, who merely shrugged, as if to say: Leave it to me.
"Mm…"
After a brief pause, Duke reached out and took Vayne's hand.
"Because she's your mistress now."
"…Hah?"
Lux's eyes went wide. You've only been in Demacia for a few days and already found me a mistress?
If you stay any longer, am I going to end up with nephews and nieces too?
"Enough of that. Have you eaten yet?"
Duke smoothly changed the subject, stepping aside to let Lux into the house. She shook her head, still reeling. His efficiency in… personal matters was just too much.
"I haven't eaten."
"Then come in. I just made hotpot. You've probably never tried it. Fresh vegetables and seafood from the market."
"…Mm."
Still dazed, Lux followed Duke inside. As for Ang, the two-headed husky, he dutifully pulled the carriage into the back courtyard, looked around, slipped off his own harness, climbed onto the driver's seat, curled up, and promptly dozed off.
After dinner.
Duke retired to what used to be Vayne's parents' bedroom, while Lux was settled into Vayne's old room.
Once everything quieted down, Duke sat at the desk with pen in hand, sketching blueprints. He had promised Vayne a suit of armor, and Duke was not the type to break his word.
He didn't need to participate in the coming qualifiers, which meant three days of free time, enough, at least, to piece together a makeshift set for her to use. Something better, he'd refine later back in Piltover and have Tahm deliver it.
When Vayne entered the room, Duke lifted his head.
"Asleep already?"
"She's gone to bed. Whether she's actually asleep, I don't know."
Vayne flopped onto the bed, lying sideways as she watched him. "What are you working on?"
"You wanted armor, didn't you?"
Duke held up the draft for her. One glance at the dense lines and numbers left Vayne's mind spinning. It might as well have been another language.
"I'll finish a prototype within three days. You can use that for now. Once I'm back in Piltover, I'll make a proper one and have it sent over."
Just as he was about to continue, Vayne suddenly spoke.
"Actually, the hotpot tonight wasn't really to my taste."
Pen in hand, Duke froze, then turned with a grin. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"
"Someone once said that if dinner wasn't to my liking, he'd punish himself with a thousand push-ups."
Vayne crooked her finger at him, her smile daring.
"Well, tonight's dinner wasn't to my liking. Time to pay up."
"Tch."
Clicking his tongue, Duke rose from the desk and strode toward the bed.
"Then I'll punish myself… with a thousand push-ups."
That night, both slept soundly.
The next morning.
When Duke woke, the space beside him was empty. Stretching with a lazy yawn, he muttered, "She can't cook to save her life, yet she's so obsessed with making breakfast."
He threw on clothes, washed up, and headed downstairs, only to find Vayne and Lux, one tall and one small, busy at the stove together.
Shaking his head, Duke went back upstairs, sat at the desk, lit a cigar, and picked up where he'd left off.
"This'll be the fourth set of armor I've designed for an ADC. I need to tailor it to Vayne's strengths."
His thoughts flipped through past work: first Miss Fortune, then Jinx, then Caitlyn. Now, Vayne.
As one of the league's veteran ADCs, her standing was beyond question.
"Survivability comes first, then speed. And it has to sync with her skill set…"
Duke bit down on the cigar as his hand moved swiftly over the page.
"The Judgment card from the tarot could be the theme. If that's the case… yes, it might work like this."
Ideas surged in his mind, flowing freely onto the paper, his draft taking shape at a remarkable pace.
Before long, light footsteps pattered up the stairs. Lux appeared at the door and knocked gently.
"Duke, breakfast is ready."
"Ah, Lux, perfect timing."
He set down the pen just as he finished the first draft of Judgment. A prototype could be built off this, something temporary until he could craft the real piece back in Piltover.
"I'm making armor for Vayne. Come be my assistant."
Duke handed her the blueprint. "Familiarize yourself with the design. We'll start this afternoon."
Lux scanned the maze of lines and numbers, her mind assembling fragments of the structure. She lacked the knowledge to piece it together fully, but she could at least grasp the basics.
"I don't expect you to understand it all. You've got the morning to get used to it."
He ruffled her hair with a smile. "Look it over. After breakfast, I'll set up a workshop in the backyard. We'll begin in earnest this afternoon."
"Okay, Teacher."
Lux nodded obediently, and they went down for breakfast together.
After breakfast, Lux studied the blueprint while Vayne hovered nearby, hoping to pry a few hints about the armor Duke was designing for her.
Meanwhile, Duke circled the property and chose a spot in the backyard for the workshop. For him, building a temporary lab was child's play.
Ten minutes later, he had drawn up the construction plan and summoned Pride and Gluttony. Handing them the design, he pointed to the open ground.
"Build a simple workshop here. Gluttony, clear the ground. Pride, grow the crystal structure for the main frame. Follow the diagram. If you don't understand something, ask me."
Pride took the plans and nodded vigorously. Duke stepped back to supervise while pulling out a stash of valuables worth a hundred thousand gold.
Before starting work, it was time for a little gamble. Maybe he'd draw some useful materials.
He infused ten thousand gold's worth of wealth into his panel, storing the rest for later exchange back in Piltover.
"System, one thousand per draw, give me a ten-pull."
Golden mist swirled before him, coalescing into ten glowing orbs marked with question symbols. One by one, they burst open, revealing their prizes:
[Acquired: Air Weapon Blueprint]
[Acquired: Electromagnetic Storm Knowledge Base]
[Acquired: Geothermal Energy Furnace]
[Acquired: Explosive Automaton Design Blueprint]
[Acquired: Beskar Metal (Tenfold)]
[Acquired: Pym Particle Synthesis Formula]
[Acquired: Leadership Module Fragment]
[Acquired: Wave Tank Wreckage]
[Acquired: Tanya's Life Equation]
[Acquired: Force Seed]
"Mm, not bad this time."
Duke flipped through the pile of blueprints with a furrowed brow.
"Air weapons… a bit niche, but simple to manufacture. I can turn a few into marketable products."
He set them aside, then conjured a misty sphere humming with energy. Inside, electromagnetic conversions flickered and sparked.
"The storm knowledge base… excellent, that expands my archive."
"As for the geothermal furnace…" He stared at the massive object stored in his inventory. It could draw power directly from the earth's heat, but required placement at a geothermal hotspot. "Troublesome. Leave it for now."
Next was the automaton blueprint, drones shaped like dragonflies. Duke raised an eyebrow.
"Another drone model. I'll build a few later, expand the arsenal."
Then came a container of strange metal.
"Beskar, huh? Good material for Vayne's armor. Extreme resilience to damage. Comparable to the other metals I've gathered, each with their own advantages. Not bad."
He chuckled. "Straight out of Star Wars, isn't it? Doesn't matter. Raw material's raw material."
Then his eyes lit up.
"The Pym Particle formula… finally!"
He unfurled the schematic, which detailed the artificial synthesis of Pym Particles.
This opened countless possibilities. Unfortunately, his current resources weren't enough. His lab was in Piltover, and once synthesized, the particles still needed extensive study.
"Having Pym Particles is useless without an Ant-Man suit," he muttered, carefully stowing the formula away. "Once I'm back in Piltover, you'll be my first project."
He turned to the next prize.
"A leadership module fragment?" The small shard pulsed faintly in his hand. "Can be used in the creation of another Sin. That'll have to wait until I'm back in Piltover too."
"Wave Tank wreckage… decent. Hopefully the weapons system is intact, I can salvage the wave-energy tech."
"And Tanya's Life Equation… that's for creating artificial life. Useless to me right now, unless I decide to dabble in serums or genetic engineering."
Finally, he held the last item. His eyes sharpened.
"But this… this is the real prize."
A faint, radiant kernel hovered in his palm, pulsing with boundless potential.
"The Force Seed."
End of chapter....
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