This meal cost Vayne nearly 2 silver lun coins, which was not cheap, but considering Piltover is a place where every inch of land is as precious as gold, and it wasn't far from the center of political power, the price was within a normal range.
After leaving the tavern, Durin planned to go home first. He had already received the Demon book compiled by Vayne and intended to take it back to make a copy. He also learned her residence and private voice tube contact information from her.
Next, Durin hailed a carriage from the roadside, preparing to ride back to his rented place.
In Piltover, hired carriages, if calculated by time, should be around 5 copper circle coins per hour. For less than 1 hour, it was naturally charged at the 1-hour standard.
If it exceeded 1 hour, an additional 2 copper circle coins were added for every 15 minutes. If it was less than 15 minutes, it was charged as 15 minutes. In case of bad weather or urgent situations requiring increased speed, the price would also increase.
Riding the carriage back to the house at 43 Vocal Avenue in the Harbor District, Durin immediately sat at the table upon arriving home. He took out his fountain pen, ink bottle, and A4 paper, and quickly began copying the Demon book he had borrowed from Vayne.
As he copied, Durin's confusion about Demons gradually cleared up.
Vayne clearly wrote in the book: Never treat Demons as beasts. Beasts are natural creatures with predictable patterns, but Demons do not follow patterns.
They are a very strange predatory spiritual entity; they can't even be considered living beings. Anything that comes into contact with them will be tainted with the Demon's aura. Ordinary people who encounter them will be targeted by the Demon, constantly living in a state of negative emotions."
Similarly, once an ordinary person gazes upon its true form, or hears its demonic language, etc., they will be emotionally affected, and that influence is a form of 'madness' that varies according to the intensity of the contact.
Durin diligently committed this knowledge to memory. These forbidden insights into Demons were simply too important to him.
The book also specifically mentioned one point: ordinary people have no ability to resist in front of a Demon; they will directly fall into madness and despair.
This is why such strange predatory spirits are never known to the world; many people believe that the legends of Demons are just scary songs.
The reason lies here: the truth about Demons has been intentionally sealed off to maintain the sanity of the world.
Furthermore, basically all Demons carefully hide their true names; only the most ancient and powerful Ten Primal Demons are not shy about their true names.
Therefore, it can be confirmed that Demons who directly reveal their true names generally cannot be restricted by any rituals or runes.
Moreover, the book also specifically mentioned: the true names of Demons are entirely composed of alien characters, almost impossible to read aloud in human language, and even the most learned Scholars of mysticism would have to put in a lot of effort to understand these alien characters.
So, Demons generally do not willingly expose their true names, unless you can inflict extreme pain on them, or have the ability to truly annihilate them.
However, some Demons are happy to tell humans the true names of other, lower-level Demons, though you need to discern whether they are lying.
Seeing this, Durin couldn't help but think to himself, 'Can I, by knowing a Demon's true name, seize the opportunity to enslave a Demon to serve me?'
If he had a Demon to escort him, Durin thought, he would be able to learn more forbidden knowledge about magic, thereby helping him grow quickly and gain more powerful strength.
But the following content immediately extinguished Durin's idea, because Vayne specifically annotated it with a line of red, bolded text: 'Be extremely careful when knowing a Demon's true name; one careless mistake and you will bear the corresponding risk.'
Because the true master of a Demon is always itself; they will find ways to tear audacious mortals, along with their souls, into pieces.
Durin then thought, 'What if he chooses to make a deal with a Demon, and then sign a contract to exchange for the Demon's power?'
Because, in the League of Legends, there are such examples; for instance, Swain, who will become the leader of Noxus in the future, signed a contract with the Demon representing secrets, and obtained endless knowledge and powerful Demonic power from the Demon.
And this kind of contract signed with a Demon has a very strong magical nature, but usually cunning Demons will leave themselves a way out, for example: they will be evasive or ambiguous on terms that require them to make sacrifices or bear adverse consequences, ultimately achieving the goal that the condition is prone to misunderstanding or misinterpretation when executed.
Furthermore, Demons particularly like to use such transactions to lead humans astray, and then afterwards obtain that person's soul, heart, life, or body, and so on.
Just like in the League, Swain has a skin called 'Tyrant Swain,' which refers to a parallel timeline where Swain's body was occupied by a Demon, and his soul was also devoured by the Demon through a contract.
Therefore, signing a contract with a Demon for power is no different from walking with a tiger. No, to be precise, it's dancing with Death; once the dance ends, it's time for his soul to be collected by Death.
After copying all of this, time had unknowingly reached evening.
A somewhat tired Durin rubbed his temples and unconsciously began to clear his mind. He was now starting to think about what he should do next. Styraatu had transmitted a short segment of Blood Magic knowledge to his brain.
Blood Magic, its history can be traced back to the prosperous period of the Ascended in the Ancient Shurima Empire.
It is a transcendent art capable of shaping flesh and mutating blood; once fully comprehended, one can master the power of life itself, and living for thousands of years is not an issue at all.
Just like Vladimir, known as a vampire in the League, he is in fact a genuine Blood Mage; each rebirth relies on Blood Magic for resurrection. Although he loses most of his memories due to not having a matching body, he has indeed lived for thousands of years.
So, in a sense, this is a type of Black Magic.
Since he has Blood Magic, he cannot give it up; this is about mastering Darkin power and the means of flesh armor transformation. The last time he was able to fight the Demon to the death was by relying on Darkin power and the means of flesh armor transformation to survive.
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