"Dealing with that Diviner?"

The Demon immediately shook its head:

"No, no, I just can’t believe you truly adhered to the agreement and let me leave. To me, you are even more... ahem, I’ve meddled in enough troublesome matters here and if you intend to deal with him, you must be very careful."

This is probably the most reasonable Demon Shard has ever encountered.

However, seeing the Demon retreat into the bottle genuinely intending to leave, Shard called out to it again:

"Hold on a moment!"

The Demon, half of its body already tucked into the bottle, floated out again, crossed its arms over its chest, and said in a knowing tone:

"You truly wish to use me? Are you prepared for a deal with a Demon?"

"I merely want to ask you a question. To be precise, ask about other Demons."

The doctor sat by and listened, even though he had a lot of documentation on Demons, he certainly did not know all of them, only those with some renown.

"My kin? Ask."

The blue Giant Spirit hovered above the coffee table.

"A mortal who signed a contract with a Demon became a Demon-powered Magician. But one day he regretted his decision, so he planned to summon the Demon again to kill the powerful Demon that turned him into a Magician."

This was actually the story of Ston Osenfort.

"His actions are foolish, and the two new Demons summoned by him seem to possess no particularly formidable skills. They transformed one into a Maid and another into a Butler to take care of his estate. When faced with a powerful foe confronted by the strong Demon, they provided crucial information to the invading Demon Hunter for the trade to free themselves from the powerful binding contract."

Shard tried to describe Ston Osenfort’s Butler and Maid in detail. The two Demons hinted at the ’Stone Mirror Demon: Goethe’ which was apparently an erroneous clue in the last riddle. Though their power appeared weak, they could see through the Stone Mirror Demon’s tricks, which was quite strange.

He later asked the doctor but even he was unclear about their origins. Shard did not delve further since they assisted him. He recalled this incident and thus inquired.

The blue Giant Spirit known as Wish Demon - Zatanna pondered for a moment:

"What was the exact wording of the wish when the Magician summoned the Demon the second time?"

"Not sure."

Shard shook his head:

"Probably something like ’Demon that can defeat Demons’, the details aren’t clear. As for the Magician... he’s certainly nowhere to be found now."

"The scope is too broad, too many of my kin could fulfill the criteria you mentioned."

The Demon retreated into the bottle again, its voice slightly muffled::

"However, since I plan to leave here now, I might as well search for their whereabouts. The world becomes more dangerous by the day, even if I am a Relic and a Demon, what difference does it make? I hope we never meet again, good luck to both of you."

The cork automatically plugged back onto the bottle with a soft thud~ and with a swirl of colorful smoke, it completely disappeared.

A few seconds later, at the entrance of a nameless alleyway in the slum district of the city under the night, with a soft thud~, the Magic Bottle appeared under the moonlight. It quickly dove into the shadows and flew upwards under their cover. Finally, it stopped at the edge of the peak, the face formed of smoke from the bottle was stern as it looked towards the dimly lit worn tavern from which a middle-aged man emerged.

His head was quite bald, with only sparse bristle. His skin was dark, and his eyelids were extremely pronounced, dressed in a rare, old-fashioned brown robe reminiscent of those from desert regions, holding a slightly curled notebook.

"Huh?"

Demonologist Mr. Sean Asmon seemed to sense something, suddenly looked up towards the street-side rooftop under the moon, but there was nothing there.

(Mia is running...)

After leaving the doctor’s room, Shard still hadn’t waited for the two witches who went to the meeting to return. So he went back to his room first, played with the black balance and the bronze bell engraved with golden words, then took a deep breath and took out two pieces of [Ever-Youth Leaf].

Before completing this investigation task, he already had a leaf in his hand, and Luviya, Dorothy, Lecia, and Iluna also had one. Therefore, even facing the upcoming battle at Green Lake, his reserve of leaves was more than enough.

Of course, the value of the two brand new [Ever-Youth Leaves] does not lie solely in the leaves themselves. The power and knowledge recorded on them are the most precious:

"First is this one."

He faced the window where the rain was falling, casually picked a leaf and placed it in front of his right eye socket. Mia stood on the windowsill, eagerly watching this scene. The cat saw golden light traces flowing along the green veins of the leaf, and finally, all the light entered Shard’s eyes.

"Sorcery - Oath Binding."

The leaf was removed by him, and Shard received the sorcery reward from this time adventure.

Most of the sorcery and arcane techniques given by the Father of Trees, Shard could not find corresponding powers in the present Sixth Era. But knowledgeable witches and Thirteen-Ring Sorcerers like Miss Danester thought that the kind of powers he used were very similar to Ancient God Divine Arts from ancient times.

As for this "Oath Binding," although it is possible to find powers with similar uses in the Sixth Era, the prototype cannot be found in this era either, but the power of this sorcery is rather easy to understand.

"I reach out my own hand and grasp another being of intelligent life with organs like arms/claws/tentacles, and then both parties repeat an oath three times to establish an ’Oath Binding’ between them... really simple and easy to understand."

During the period when the oath is not fulfilled, the entity bound with Shard cannot violate the oath they made in any way. The parties can agree on the cost of breaking the oath upon the promise, and if the oath is violated, punishment will be carried out according to the degree of breach.

Of course, the oath also restrains Shard himself, and he must also bear the backlash for violating the oath himself. But compared to the other party, the sorcery’s impact on Shard is very slight and can even be offset with spirit. The effect of this sorcery is mainly targeted at those who make promises and vows to Shard, ensuring those promised words are fulfilled:

"It is indeed related to this investigation task, considering Mrs. Miles and that young knight’s remarkable faithfulness... although this ability is not for combat, it is quite convenient for daily investigations and such activities by establishing oaths."

Besides establishing an oath between two parties, this sorcery has another powerful trait: each time an oath is established and completely fulfilled, it feeds back enhancement effects on Shard’s physical and mental strength. Though this doesn’t work particularly well on Shard, who already exceeds normal Circle Sorcerers in physical and mental strength, he is fond of such costless enhancements.

Shard is quite satisfied with this sorcery and then whimsically thought about what would happen if he shook hands with himself.

Of course, he wouldn’t try it casually. What he truly cared about was that this sorcery didn’t seem like the power of "Time" at first glance, but more like the power of "Balance."

The evidence lies not only in the specific manifested abilities of the sorcery but also in that once the parties establish an "Oath Binding," the other party besides Shard will have a shallow pale gold balance mark on their forehead. This mark can only be seen by Shard, the caster himself, and some extremely special beings.

If Shard guessed correctly, Iluna belongs to those extremely special beings.

"The Father of the Infinite Tree can really grant any power."

He sighed again internally, then wanted to try this new sorcery. However, he couldn’t cast it by himself, and he couldn’t find anyone else to form a contract with at present, so he looked at Mia on the windowsill, who certainly belonged to an intelligent creature.

He wanted to reach out and grab the cat but then thought of the prerequisite for using the sorcery "Oath Binding," which is that both parties must understand the content of the oath. Although Mia is clever enough, she’s still a bit away from fully understanding Shard’s language.

"Mia, jump! Spin one hundred eighty degrees in the air, then do a backflip!"

He commanded the cat, but it just squatted there looking at him, then blinked its big amber eyes. This, on the contrary, made Shard feel like his wisdom had been insulted.

"I will find another opportunity to experiment later. However, this is not a sorcery that can be casually used. You can’t establish infinite oaths for infinite enhancement; it’s necessary to use it if needed. Since the first leaf is sorcery, then the second one must be..."

Shard looked at the remaining leaf; he was actually worried it might be "confiscated" because of his special request, just like the leaf from "City of Eternal Night" that had [Darkness] Spirit Rune rewards. Therefore, he had been careful throughout the adventure in Black Mist Camp.

And now, when this leaf was really in his hand, it was difficult for Shard to describe his nervous feelings at this moment. He knew that he likely could not enter the [Silvermoon Library] again just through the knowledge on the leaf and then have a chance to meet the Sleeping One through the remnant of the Primal Moon in the library.

But this is hope after all, especially since Miss Danester had been investigating, even before Shard met her, for the sake of a once-off ceremony "Summon Silvermoon Library." Even after spending a large amount of money to launch the ceremony, upon entering the library, she only obtained "Low-Level Access."

"If I find it myself, who knows when I would find it. This is a chance."

Thinking in his heart, he placed the leaf in front of him again.