Does KeePass have permanent ier master key to encrypt data?

Does KeePass have permanent ier key to encrypt data? Or the key for encryption is a password (and keyfile)? On some website I've run eyes over the discusstion about ways to hack KeePass base. One of assumptions was that there are two ways: one to brutforce the passphrase and other was about to brutforce the encrypted masterkey. Is there is really permanent ier master key for data encryption? Question may be absurd but I haven't find the clear answer.

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