Duke had spent more than five thousand First-Level Magic Stones just to purchase the book on Blood of War. This was a version held by the Giant Rock Merchant Guild, and one of the more commonly used versions.
The Blood of War potion manual appeared to be made from the hide of some animal. It felt warm to the touch, as though it were alive.
When Duke's fingers rested upon it, he could faintly sense an extremely weak, widely spaced pulse, like a faint heartbeat buried deep underground.
The hide's surface was covered in dark red patterns resembling dried blood vessels or mysterious runes. Under certain lighting, these patterns gave off an exceedingly dim metallic sheen.
"Alive?" Duke's heart tightened slightly as he instinctively sent a thread of mental power toward it.
The instant his mental power touched the cover, that faint pulsing suddenly became clear for a moment. The dark red patterns on the cover seemed to come alive, wriggling slightly as they released a wave of ancient, primordial intent reeking of rust and blood.
He carefully opened the heavy cover. The inner pages were made of equally unusual material: tough, yellowed, thick parchment that felt gritty like sand, yet was exceptionally durable.
The contents of the manual were not recorded in words, but in images. Some depicted grotesque humanoid creatures with knotted muscles bathing in blood upon a battlefield, while others displayed all manner of bizarre potion ingredients radiating ominous auras.
Some of the material illustrations were anatomical diagrams depicting internal organs, bones, and the way energy moved in a berserk state. Their lines were wild, filled with the tension of power on the verge of exploding.
After Duke examined the images with his mental power, he quickly received the information hidden behind them. It contained the principles