Chapter 2: Reason To Grow
It has been a few months now since the events on the bridge to Piltover. Five months, to be exact.
The boy with crimson hair that once wore ragtag clothes spilled with the same colored blood on it now had clean clothing again. And even if they looked rather shabby, they were a clear upgrade from before.
Mordyn soon came to understand the environment he was put into was not some soft and carefree world, but the very same one he had lived in most of his life before.
The streets were filled with poor people that tried to survive every single day anew.
Beggars, thieves, thugs, and criminals, in general, were the most of the individuals you would come into contact with here. All those that were shunned by the privileged.
Yet those same snobs feel entitled to enforce rules on this place and its people.
Brutality reigned supreme in this city, that was very clear. But it was how one survived. It was something all folk living here understood crystal clear.
The people of Zaun were disregarded and exploited by those in Piltover.
It was definitely not a world for a 8-year-old boy. No matter if he was already used to it or not.
And yet Mordyn felt like he was right where he needed to be. He felt right at home. The only thing he has to be aware of is to make sure he didn't end up like last time.
Vander, his adoptive father, made sure that he and his siblings could grow up protected. That was something that Mordyn appreciated from the old bloke.
But he still was not convinced a single man could keep that duty up. Not even when he is referred to as some sort of idol in this city.
And especially not with the world he lived in now. Just the word Piltover told him exactly what world he was living in now.
He didn't know much about the world of League of Legends but he sure knew at least the names of the major places that it had.
So his survival chance was diminished even more.
At first, Mordyn did not know how to tackle that problem. He thought about training his body to the limit, maybe even checking if he had a magical aptitude.
But with the scarce percentage of people being mages even in this world, he kinda lost that idea.
That is until he found out something very interesting.
In his possessions, there were two different books inside a bag he had carried around with him since the moment he woke up.
Nothing out of the ordinary at first, but taking a closer look at those books soon revealed them to be special books.
In what way they were special? That was easily answered through the fact that these two books were not books that should have been here.
They should have been somewhere safe inside a locker at a gym in his old life. He did hide them there after all. That is after stealing them from a local crime lord.
Well, now you should know that Mordyn was not innocent and it clearly had a reason as to why those guys caught him.
Back to the topic, they should not have been here. And yet they are exactly here with him for some reason.
They didn't look like much when he picked them out from the collection in the crime lord's home. Just had some old look that told him they were expensive. So he took them based on that.
Hell, the second book was actually only a small booklet that he put between the pages of the other bigger one.
But now they both were large and thick books with interestingly pristine covers.
When he took a look inside them the language that was written in them was giving him a headache. It was near gibberish.
Yet for some reason after that pain was gone, he came to understand every single word written inside the books.
And after finding out what was written on the covers, Mordyn could only grin greatly. He found a way to solve his problem. It was a chance he would definitely not waste.
The first book was called Tabula Smaragdina, or also known as the Emerald Tablet. The holy grail of alchemy.
And according to the first sentences inside the book that looked like an introductory, the content and shape of the book would change depending on the world it resided in.
Explaining why a small booklet suddenly changed into a thick compendium.
And the second book was called the Red Book. Here Mordyn was not sure about the content at first until he read himself into the book.
This second book was the very reason why he now could understand the content and also why these books were with him.
Well, the Emerald Tablet only got transported together with the Red Book because it was in between the pages but who bothers about the details?
This Red Book seems to be the genuine Grand Grimoire. The very same book that had been written by King Solomon.
And one should know about that king. For he was associated with magic and the occult. And...various other things for that matter.
Apparently, Mordyn had already made a pact with this book by cutting his finger on one of its pages. A mistake that now seems more of a lucky stroke of fortune.
At least for now. Who knows what the price of that pact will be. He also made the decision to keep away from the more dangerous-looking rituals and spells.
Nonetheless, Mordyn was happy to have some way of improving himself in the arcane now. That is if the book works as intended.
So after finding that out, he had been studying both books intensively.
Especially the Emerald Tablet had been rather interesting. It had hundreds of pages that were blank at first without anything written in them. It was even to the point where Mordyn thought it was just some scam.
But the moment he started to place flowers and other materials on the book was the time where it shined through.
Well, it only happened after he accidentally spilled some soup on it. But it was some weird mix of chemicals. So it got immediately recorded in the book. Guess the food in Zaun did not only look disgusting but also was rather special in its own way.
Each material he placed after shone with soft light and every time that happened something urged him to take a pen and start writing.
It was like someone took control over his body and started putting information into the book. What was even weirder was that he could not see anything appearing but the moment that he thought about the information he could change the pages.
So when he for example thought about a plant, the book would start turning a massive amount of pages until it came to an illustration with the picture of said plant and various information about it.
For example its name, geographical preference, growth cycle, and what was most important in his view, its usage in alchemy and how to process it.
That was the time where he would start collecting different kinds of chemicals and materials to 'study' them.
Vander more often than not looked at him suspiciously when he took alcoholic beverages from his bar. But since Mordyn always seemed to return them without them really having been consumed, he thought about him just being curious.
On the other hand, the Red Book yielded less success until now.
So in the end it came out that he spent most of his time reading. Well, most of it. He still didn't neglect his body. Remembering being pummeled around was not something to think fondly about.
"Hey, Mord. Let's go and play something." A voice interrupted his current reading of the Red Book.
Mordyn only glanced over the book and looked at the girl in front of him. "What is it, Powder? Is Ekko not around to play with you? You know I like to read my book around this time of the day."
The girl with blue hair puffs her cheeks in protest while sitting on a chair with her legs up to her body and hugging them with her arms. "Ekko is helping out at Benzo's."
"And the others?" Mordyn asked with a brow raised at her solemn expression.
Powder remained silent for a short moment. "Vi is with Milo and Claggor...They said to stay here."
"I see." Mordyn sighed lightly and then looked back at his book.
Noticing that he went back to reading, Powder seemed to look over at the alchemical table that Mordyn had built for himself.
"What is so fun about reading that thick book? All the stuff written inside it is gibberish." She asked with a snit voice now. Clearly, she was unhappy about him not accepting her offer.
Mordyn then closed the book and placed it to the side right on the alchemical table that was near his bunker bed. "Well, look at who has gone through my stuff?"
At that moment Powder realized her mistake and looked away in guilt. She knew Mordyn valued his possessions and disliked people touching anything on that table.
Especially ever since the accident where Milo had dropped a vial filled with an acidic substance that bore right through the floor. The hole is still somewhat of an eyesore in the room. But not something that couldn't be fixed.
Looking at the girl Mordyn smiled now. "Alright, you win. You won't stop trying even I tell you otherwise. What did you have in mind? Should we go to the arcade?" Not that he would have his peace while she stared at him so intently.
Besides, he does spend some time with each of his adoptive siblings. So why not do it now and be done with it?
At that response, the girl seemed to become quite energetic again and jumped down from the chair. "Really!? Let's go! I improved the shooting range!"
With that being said, he followed her to the place most of them frequented regularly. It was an old arcade that was functionally used as their 'hideout'.
In more than one sense Mordyn does find it childish but at the same time, he enjoyed this rather innocent lifestyle among the cruel reality.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
MiracleWorm
MiracleWorm Kinda hard to implement stuff one came up with and let it work out with the given world :D
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