For a long time, DC's magical world has seemed to be very orderly. The contracts signed between the mages and the demon gods are also in order, the power levels are also clear, and various institutions are operating in an orderly manner. On the surface,
This is a fairly civilized society.
And Constantine was a scum excluded from this civilized society. He was a notorious bad guy and liar in the magic circle. For a period of time, he could simply be called a disgrace to mankind.
But this is not actually because he is really bad. Although Constantine is a bad person, he cannot hear a word of truth from his mouth, and his private life is very chaotic, but from a human perspective, he is still a good person, so he
Why on earth did his reputation become so bad?
In general, the order in the DC magical world is false, because it is not humans themselves who formulate this order, but demons and angels. They need such an order to exploit humans, so they will naturally maintain the stability of this society.
Constantine did not follow the order of this society, but instead deceived the devil and the angel. Then the devil and the angel would naturally try their best to get their followers to discredit Constantine.
Constantine has not experienced any particularly formal psychological and sociological education, and especially lacks certain sociological knowledge. Over time, he also feels that he is a bad guy in the magical world, and feels that the things he has done cannot be spoken out and exposed.
Not on the stage.
But the difference between Strange and him is that Strange has a good teacher. As he said, Ancient One is the most powerful Sorcerer Supreme in history. She can be said to be the purple from the sky in the Marvel magic world.
MSI simply relied on its fists to defeat most of the demons who were interested in the earth.
Then the situation is reversed. In order not to appear weak, these defeated demon gods can only brag about the Ancient One, and the name of the Supreme Mage spreads in the universe.
Let’s not talk about Schiller’s influence on Strange. Even in terms of magic, Strange knew as soon as he started learning that his teacher was the most upright leader in the entire magic world in the universe, and he was the strongest.
The only direct disciple of a sect, no matter what he does, he is justified.
So he had no burden at all when he deceived those demon gods, and even had a kind of compassionate salvation mentality - if he didn't deceive these demon gods, they would have been beaten by Gu Yi. Although he squeezed a certain amount of energy from them,
But in fact, he helped them save their most precious lives. Shouldn't the other party give him a blow?
This difference in mentality caused Constantine, even though he was now a decent person, to still feel that his tricks to deceive demons and angels were somewhat unexplainable. He was worried about how to teach these dirty tricks to his students.
Damn it, are you really bringing up bad children by teaching them to deceive others?
Although he often deceives children, there is still a difference between doing some pranks in private and organizing a large-scale class to teach these scams. Constantine is really worried that he will be speechless in class, and even more worried
If I really talk about these scams eloquently, I will be beaten to death by the parents who know the truth.
At this moment, he met Strange who was invited by Schiller. In order to let Strange know the general situation of this cosmic magic, Schiller directly threw Strange to Constantine and called him at the same time.
With Zatanna, the two of them worked together to educate Strange about the magical knowledge of this universe.
"So, the magic of your universe is essentially a loan?" Strange asked, looking at the introduction in a book handed to him by Constantine.
Constantine nodded and said: "Is that the same for you? I really thought there was a place where I didn't need to borrow money. It seems that everyone is the same."
"But your place is a little different from ours." Strange frowned and said, "Don't you have a universal energy? A power that can be transformed into any energy?"
Constantine and Zatanna looked at each other, shook their heads and said: "There is no such thing, every demon and angel has different powers, and what they can do is different. They have to do something.
Just summon the corresponding demon."
"What about the contract? Don't you have to contract with a fixed demon? If you contract with a fixed demon, how do you use the power of other demons?"
"Exchange of equal value." Constantine took a piece of paper and wrote on it while saying: "For example, I am the agent of Beelzebub, the devil of hell, and I obtained Beelzebub's Gluttony from him.
But now I want to use the power of flames that can ignite everything, so I will summon the Lava Demon King who is in charge of the power of flames."
"After being summoned, he will find out through the mark in my soul that I am a believer of Beelzebub, and then he will make a deal with me. In hell, Beelzebub's personality is obviously stronger than that of the Lava Demon King, so the power of Gluttony is also
It is stronger than the power of flames, and one part of the power of gluttony can be exchanged for 3 parts of the power of flames.”
"But if you want to use the power of flames, the Lava Demon will also need to take a commission from it, so in the end, the 1 power of gluttony you obtain can only be exchanged for 7 power of flames."
"Then to whom shall the price be paid?"
"Both sides have to pay. When you get 1 share of the power of gluttony, you have to pay 1 share of the price to Beelzebub. After summoning the Lava Demon King and exchanging it for the power of flames, you have to pay 3 shares of the price of the power of flames.
To the Lava Demon."
"What bullshit rules!" Strange said in disbelief.
He froze on the spot and thought for a moment, stretched out a hand to stop Constantine and Zatanna from going on, took a piece of white paper next to him and a pen on the table, and wrote while talking.
"After summoning Beelzebub and signing a contract with him, you have to pay him a price at a ratio of 1:1, right?"
The two people opposite nodded together.
"If you want to use the power of other demon kings, after summoning other demon kings, you have to exchange the power with them in a dynamic ratio, but they have to deduct taxes, right? In other words, the intensity of the power itself is 1:3, but the exchange
At that time, 1 part of strength can only be exchanged for 5 parts of strength.”
The two nodded together again.
"When exchanging power, you have to pay the price again to the person you are exchanging, and you still have to pay the pre-tax price, right?"
Constantine nodded and said: "You summed it up very well, that's about it."
"Then if I want to use the power of flames, why don't I just contract with the Lava Demon King? Anyway, I have to pay the same price."
"But Beelzebub can't let you break the contract." Zatanna looked at Strange with round eyes and said: "If you want to break the contract, you have to pay all the prices you paid before, and your soul
You will not be able to gain freedom, and you will still return to Beelzebub after your death. If you offend him, you will be tortured after your death."
Strange was speechless. He glanced at the two people opposite him, then looked down at the paper in his hand, wondering who was crazy.
"And the more important point is that if you are not contracted by Beelzebub, that is, a demon of a higher level than the Lava Demon King, then the lower-level demon will not respond to your call and exchange power with you."
"Why?"
"Because there is no one to endorse your credit." Constantine shook his head and said, "If you don't have a big devil with the contract, how can other devils know whether you will escape the debt? Only the whereabouts of your soul after death is clear.
, the devil is sure that he can recoup that part of the price, so he will lend his power to you."
"Shit!" Strange cursed again. He put his hands in his pockets and said in confusion: "Who originally set these rules? Was he kicked in the head by a donkey?"
Constantine sighed deeply and said: "Actually, these are only superficial rules..."
Strange's eyes immediately widened, and the expression on his face clearly said "There are still masters???"
This time it was Zatanna who made the introduction, and the magician lady also looked helpless. She put her hands on the edge of the table, turned her head to one side, and said as if she was exposing her family scandal: "In fact, in modern times, it has become a common practice for mages to compare themselves to each other.
There are some young people who have been bewitched by demons. They think that the higher the contract level, the more respectable the demons will be, completely ignoring the fact that higher-level demons charge higher prices."
"The vast majority of young mages actually don't have access to such advanced powers at all. They don't have such powerful enemies to deal with, and they don't need very precise energy for research. Most of the powerful powers they borrowed at a huge cost are
It was squandered.”
"The result is that the new young mages who have entered the profession see that their predecessors are powerful and handsome, so they also follow the example of borrowing powerful powers that they cannot use at all. And when these powerful demons have more followers, they will have more
Room to choose.”
"In the later stages of development, many famous demons, such as the Lava Demon King mentioned by John before, their contracts are awarded to the highest bidder. Whichever human being is willing to pay more can get their precious contractor quota."
"Many people sacrifice their families and even the souls of strangers in order to win the favor of powerful demons, just to prove that they can pay more and become a better dog."
Strange cursed and could hardly hold back the killing intent in his heart, but he still took a deep breath to adjust his emotions, but at this moment, Constantine stabbed him again.
"In order to force the mages to consume more power and then borrow more power to pay more price, the demons control these mages who have lost their minds to fight with other mages."
"In fact, there are basically no external enemies in the magic world. Almost all dangers come from mages who are addicted to out-of-control power. But if you can't use stronger power to kill these out-of-control people, you will die. At the moment of life and death, you can only
Let the devil set the price."
Strange pulled a chair next to him tremblingly and sat down. He was afraid that he might faint if he continued to stand. He stretched out a trembling hand and pressed it on the paper and said: "...there is
How long?"
"What?"
"How long has this been going on?!!!!"
"It's not that long, it has only evolved gradually to the current level in the past one thousand years..."
"Professor Strange? Professor Strange?!... Schiller! Schiller! Come on, this professor seems a little acclimatized, he seems to be having an epileptic seizure!"