In the blink of an eye, two months passed, and true summer arrived.
Demacia—the capital.
A towering silver-white city wall looked solemn and imposing, its white bricks linked together like a suit of gleaming white armor.
Outside the wall, a white statue stood in silence, gazing down at the great city before it.
Beneath the walls, lines of people streamed in and out while armored guards questioned them one by one.
"Name."
"Luke."
"Age."
"Eighteen."
"Where are you from?"
"You ask that too?"
"Orders from above. They're being strict lately."
"What happened?"
"Are you questioning me, or am I questioning you? Where are you from?"
Luke answered honestly. "The east. Taren Town."
"Never heard of it."
The guard looked the young man over. Luke was plainly dressed, with striking black hair. His eyes were brown, and he was fairly handsome—almost like he had mixed blood. He was also about as tall as the guard.
The guard's gaze dropped to the bundle in Luke's hands. "What's in the bundle?"
"Personal belongings. You want to see?"
Luke didn't really care. He opened it up—water, food, a change of clothes, and a smaller pouch with what little travel money he had left.
In two months, he'd almost burned through the money he'd gotten from selling the gold bracelet and the sandalwood box.
He was sure the merchant who bought them off him had a black heart, but he had no choice. Either sell… or starve.
Half the money had gone to his mother in this body. Melli had lived poor her whole life, so Luke at least gave her a decent funeral, found her a respectable cemetery plot—something that let him feel like he'd given an answer to the dead.
The other half had been just enough to make it here.
"All right. Go on in. Welcome to the royal capital."
The guard only gave the contents a quick glance and didn't take it seriously. He smiled and stepped aside.
Luke walked forward into the city—and the moment he entered, the sight grabbed him.
As expected of Demacia's capital: it was so vast it felt endless. Buildings clustered like a mountain range, spreading outward in layers—some tall, some low. The streets were packed with people, lively and loud.
He'd passed through a major city on the road, but compared to the capital, it didn't even come close.
On Runeterra, a world with only a handful of true powers, a main city of this scale meant something. It was proof of strength.
Over these two months, Luke had figured out exactly where he was.
Runeterra—the world behind the game League of Legends.
And Demacia was one of its nations.
A place where certain champions made their mark.
Before transmigrating, Luke had been a veteran player. He wasn't a lore expert, but he knew the basics.
And just looking at what champions could do made one thing clear: this world wasn't normal. For ordinary people, it was extremely dangerous. A random catastrophe could break out overnight, and they'd become nothing but cannon fodder.
In the game, the champions' power was balanced into a neat set of numbers.
But in the real setting?
A truly powerful champion could level a city with ease.
And in the Runeterra Luke had landed in, there were even more terrifying figures—people who weren't champions, but still possessed extraordinary strength.
Based on what Luke knew… it wouldn't be long before a disaster arrived.
"…Great. Dropped in and the pressure's already crushing," Luke muttered.
He subconsciously touched his waist. The necklace was hidden there—wrapped in tape, layer after layer, so tight it never shifted. He hadn't even taken it off to sleep.
He had to.
With the situation as it was, this necklace mattered. A lot. It could very well change the course of his entire future.
From what he understood of this world, every region and nation had its own strengths and weaknesses.
For example, in Demacia—a hereditary monarchy—an ordinary person's safety could be protected to a certain extent. King Jarvan III was famously benevolent, treating his people well. And if something went wrong, the stronger nobles would be the ones standing at the front to hold the line.
But the downside was just as obvious.
For a commoner, if you didn't have some ridiculous talent or opportunity, you might never climb very high in your life.
Because most of the advantages had already been carved up by the nobles.
That said, Demacia's overall character wasn't bad. Among both citizens and nobles, there were plenty of people who genuinely valued justice.
If the necklace didn't change Luke's situation… then he'd have to seriously consider leaving Demacia and finding another path.
For now, Luke wandered the streets without direction, thinking to himself, "Okay, I made it to the capital. Now what?"
Melli's last words had only told him this much—come to the capital with the necklace. But once he got here… what was he supposed to do?
Just judging from the gold bracelet and the gemstone necklace in the sandalwood box, Melli must've had a respectable status at some point. At the very least, she'd been noble-born.
Forget the other items—just that gemstone necklace alone wasn't something an ordinary family, or even a slightly well-off one, could ever possess.
"I can't exactly walk up to some random noble," Luke thought as he walked, immediately killing the idea.
The capital might be crawling with nobles, but if anyone got ideas about the necklace, then even a minor noble could crush Luke without effort.
No exaggeration—the necklace was Luke's lifeline.
"Come take a look! Come see for yourselves~!"
A loud call from the roadside caught Luke's attention. He saw a crowd gathering in that direction, like something interesting was going on.
Technically, Luke should've been focusing on serious business right now, but the truth was, he couldn't think of a single good plan.
So he stopped forcing it. If he couldn't act yet, he might as well take a look around the royal capital first.
At the center of the crowd was a small stall. The stall owner sat cross-legged on the ground without a care in the world, bare-armed in the summer heat, fiddling with a thick hemp rope—three or four centimeters thick and more than half a meter long.
More and more people gathered. Luke arrived early enough to snag a spot right at the front.
After shouting a few more times and seeing the crowd grow, the stall owner lifted the rope, folded it in half, and began to explain.
"Today, we're gonna play a little game. Everyone sees this rope, right? Now—watch—turn it into a small circle. See? Now there are three little loops in the middle."
As he spoke, the rope on the surface in front of him coiled into shape, and sure enough, three smaller loops appeared inside.
"Now watch closely. I stick this rod through this loop, then I give the rope a pull—see that?"
The stall owner tugged the loose end. The rope began to return to its original form, and at that moment, the rod ended up wedged right in the center of the rope, blocking it in place.