When Riven answered yes, there wasn't a hint of hesitation, which actually made Dean slightly stunned.
"You might not know what Noxus's secret means—"
"It means conspiracy, slaughter, death, blood, and even betrayal." Riven's eyes were fixed on Dean, unblinking, "I just experienced such a painful ordeal."
Riven's quick answer left Dean speechless, unsure of what to say for a moment.
"That's precisely why, in a place rife with conspiracies, trust becomes so precious," Riven continued, "I once had a group of comrades I could entrust my back to, but I lost them due to betrayal. Now, I don't want to lose another one."
"...Actually, I intervened just now because even though Tear's of the Shadow is dangerous, I can Consume it."
"On the battlefield, most comrades only actively help provide cover if they believe in their own abilities," Riven tilted her head, a slight smile playing on her lips, "All acts of self-sacrificing protection stem from this."
"Alright." Dean felt the weight of this trust, "Then let's go back to Heartsteel."
Riven nodded gently.
"Actually, most of my memories are likely sealed away. The remaining fragments, however, begin with a hidden magic prison—a dark and endless period where I was confined to the deepest part of the prison, with no concept of time, constantly tormented by hunger."
"At that time, I desperately wanted to eat something, but the prison holding me had me bound in mid-air with chains; I couldn't reach anything." Dean spread his limbs, "Just like this, fixed in mid-air."
He looked a bit comical, even he couldn't help but want to laugh, but there was no trace of a smile on Riven's face.
"Later, I grew hungrier and thinner, finally able to hunch over slightly, then slowly turn my head and, little by little, gnaw on the chains on my wrists." Dean paused, adding, "Black iron doesn't taste good; it always has a lingering metallic taste."
"When I finally ate all the chains and fell back to the ground, a group of fully armored Noxus soldiers rushed in and dragged me to another completely enclosed room. They questioned me with all sorts of questions for a long time—perhaps ten days or even a month, asking the same things over and over."
Hearing this, a look of confusion appeared in Riven's eyes.
"They were confirming if I still remembered my past." Dean sighed, "I didn't remember, so I passed their inspection."
"After passing the inspection, I was sent to a laboratory—now that I think about it, it must have been a Blood Magic laboratory. From the scattered words of the experimenters, I deduced that a very important Black Rose project had failed. Their experimental subject had escaped, but the experimental objective had not been achieved, so they needed a new project to achieve the same goal."
"Someone escaped before you?"
"She should have been luckier than me." Dean grimaced, "According to the experimenters, the person in charge of the previous project used her own daughter as experimental material and wasn't too strict in managing her. As a result, the little girl escaped and even turned around and killed her mother."
Such a human tragedy, yet Riven remained quite calm after hearing it—in Noxus, this kind of 'filial piety' was actually quite common, and Riven herself grew up on a state-run farm, never having seen her parents since childhood, so she wasn't deeply affected by it.
"With the previous lesson learned, their supervision over me was extremely strict. After all, in the Noxus style, almost every escape of an experimental subject meant a blood debt repaid by the experimenters." Dean, seeing Riven's lack of strong reaction, continued his story, "In the laboratory, my experimental content was actually very simple: eating."
Eating?
"That's right, eating." Dean shrugged, "Not eating meals, but eating all sorts of metal materials, magical materials, enchanted materials, and then observing my condition to see if I could digest them."
"..."
"No food to eat, yet forced to Consume many strange things; hunger and bloating tormented me together, and that sensation was quite uncomfortable." Speaking of this, Dean finally couldn't help but sigh, "And after they discovered that I could eat almost anything and completely dissolve various enchantment effects, the experiment proceeded to the next step: gnawing on armor."
"Eating a piece of armor is extremely painful. Those experimenters never cared about my feelings. Even though I suggested many times that for armor experiments, they could start with a small sample, they insisted on using a full suit of armor, forcing me to eat it clean, and then testing the effects through whipping, slashing, heavy blows, and Pierce."
Hearing this, Riven finally frowned—although she had bathed in much blood on the battlefield during her past service to the empire, that was different from pure torment. Now, just listening to Dean's account, she already felt a physiological discomfort.
"Most of the time, the buffs gained from eating a piece of armor didn't last very long. Only after completely dissolving enchanted armor could I gain some of its abilities." Dean continued his story, "After realizing this, those experimenters put away all offensive items, afraid that I would gain the ability to escape if I ate them. Although I tried many times during that period, I never had the chance until I came into contact with Heartsteel."
"You didn't eat it."
"It's different from other armor; it's not that it feels different to eat, but rather it gives me a sense of familiarity." Dean struggled to organize his words, "It's as if... I'm very familiar with it, so I pretended I couldn't eat it, waited for the experimenters to leave, and then took the opportunity to put it on."
At this point, Dean actively removed his long robe, revealing the armor that had almost become one with him.
"Its protective effect is good; among the armor I've tested, it's considered superior. What's even better is that after putting it on, I discovered it also possesses decent offensive capabilities." Dean patted his chest, "Not these thorns, but the offensive power of Blood Magic."
"Blood Magic's... offensive power?"
"It should be a ritualistic type of Blood Magic. Roughly, after contact and a period of brewing, it can draw life force from the target to strengthen itself." Dean looked around, seemingly wanting to find a target to demonstrate, but considering the spirits of Ionia, he ultimately resorted to verbal description, "It's a very magical feeling; you can feel it after putting it on. When you punch something, there's a very crisp, 'Duang' sound."】}
