From the conversation between the two, Durin learned that the Piltover Council had issued a clear regulation years ago: anything within a 30-kilometer straight-line distance from the urban area is considered a near suburb, and anything beyond 30 kilometers is considered a far suburb.
Furthermore, for a place to be recognized as a near suburb by Piltover, it must also meet another condition: the population per square kilometer must be greater than 1000.
Piltover's city hall is only responsible for building basic public facilities and city walls in various urban areas, and the near suburbs are also part of the development plan.
Usually, many people first sell their old, dilapidated wooden houses, then borrow from the Ecliptic Vaults. Even if they live in cheap rental housing, they will buy a plot of land in the near suburbs to secure a favorable position, and then slowly build a new house when they have money later.
Durin also heard a piece of news that the Hextech Forge construction team was short on hands, and the wages and benefits were very good.
If it were before, Durin might have applied for the job, but now he is only one step away from becoming a Mage. He cannot lower himself to do such relatively low-paying and strenuous manual labor.
Currently, he is not interested. Instead, he is considering whether to register an identity plate at the Explorer's Guild or the Mercenary Guild. With his identity as a Mage Apprentice, he can certainly take on some well-paying tasks.
Of course, among the numerous pieces of information, Durin was most interested in the major events that had occurred in Piltover recently: the successive deaths of nobles, and the serial killer who had the whole city on edge was actually not human?
It was a man-eating monster?
In fact, Durin had learned that before he came to the City of Progress, there had already been a series of missing persons cases. At that time, the Piltover Guard always handled these cases vaguely and never caught the real culprit.
At that time, public opinion had already worsened, until a noble scion of the Bolbok family died, and the Piltover Council could no longer sit still. The curfew system was born from this, and even the child pickpockets from Zaun were affected, not daring to steal at night. On the surface, public order improved as a result.
As for the Monster Hunter Master from Demacia, Durin had never heard of him before, nor had he ever seen him, and he was quite curious.
Monster hunters are specialists in hunting monsters, usually preferring to use ranged weapons, explosives, and traps to deal with them. When encountering a troublesome monster, they will also choose to draw their melee weapons and fight to the death. In a sense, they have mastered combat techniques to perfection.
"Please enjoy."
At this moment, the tavern waiter brought a plate of freshly baked roasted beef, smoked turkey, and smoked sausages, along with a large glass of light beer.
Upon smelling the tantalizing aroma of meat, Durin's saliva was stimulated and flowed profusely. His eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately devoured the food without minding the heat, chewing the roasted meats in large mouthfuls.
Ever since Durin was possessed and transformed by the Darkin Harp, Styraatu, he had almost never experienced that feeling of being completely full. At best, he would be eighty percent full, able to stop eating but still feeling unsatisfied.
After each fierce battle, Durin expended a great deal of physical and magical energy. His stomach was now empty, urgently needing to be filled with food.
In a sense, Durin was always in a state of empty hunger.
Only when he swallowed food and tore at flesh would that hunger and emptiness be temporarily filled, only to reappear as the food was consumed.
One can only say that everything comes at a price.
The price the Darkin Harp, Styraatu, paid for possessing Durin and transforming his body was an insatiable hunger and emptiness… and an empty stomach would bring Durin some irritation.
When people get irritated, they want to vent violence and desires, and Durin is no exception.
Fortunately, he delves into magic and possesses extreme patience and self-control. If it were an ordinary person, they would likely have caused trouble in this tavern long ago.
After eating and drinking his fill, Durin was led by the tavern waiter to his single room. After a thorough wash, ensuring that all dirt and bloodstains were cleaned off his body.
After all the busyness, a tide of sleepiness washed over Durin.
Before, his mind had always been in a tense state. Now that he relaxed, his eyelids couldn't help but droop, just like being in a school classroom on a summer day. Who could resist the urge to sleep in class?
Especially since this single room even had cool air conditioning, Durin fell asleep on the bed unknowingly and entered dreamland.
…
Early the next morning, Durin woke up early and set off after washing up.
He first took the tram to the "Tindero's Sphere" plaza, then walked to Piltover University. The first two classes this morning were paid courses—Magical Engineering, totaling 5 silver lun coins for both classes. The instructor's name was Xial.
When he arrived at a spacious classroom, only one-third of the seats were left. Clearly, many Mage Apprentices had occupied seats in advance for this paid lecture, and everyone had more or less inquired about the importance of Magical Engineering to a Mage.
A bald middle-aged man with a green backpack walked into the classroom, holding a thermos cup in his hand, a gentle smile on his face.
When the class bell officially rang, the middle-aged man snapped his fingers, and chalk appeared out of thin air from the podium, then wrote [Xial Juebei] on the blackboard.
"Hello everyone, I am your instructor. You can call me Xial from now on. I forgot to tell you, my courses will become professor-level later, so the price will increase. As for why, I will tell you later. I won't call roll; just come to the podium to sign after class."
Xial smiled slightly, his words exuding absolute confidence: "Now, I ask all future Mage sirs to remember every word I am about to say. Engineering is never a small toy that wastes time and money. When it truly roars, you will feel its awe-inspiring power, and I guarantee, in the name of a Mage, that this time will not be long."
"Instructor, what kind of subject is engineering then?" A student immediately raised his hand and asked curiously.
"Very good, your question is excellent. First, you need to understand that human engineering and goblin engineering are two different systems. It is a course that can play a crucial role in the wilderness to help you."
At this point, Professor Xial picked up his thermos cup, took a sip to moisten his throat, and continued, "Simply put, it's about assembling a bunch of materials you've never seen before into parts, using your inner magic power and your outstanding creativity to create extremely practical items. For example: magic power storage devices, lava explosives, magic golems, or…"
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