Chapter 005: Strange Magical Materials

As he spoke, the chubby magic apprentice began to fumble around on the wooden shelf. Though he appeared fat, his hands and feet were surprisingly agile. As he moved, various items were piled up in front of Du Fan one by one.
“Here…” The chubby apprentice held up a green, dried off hand—its fingers covered in long nails and fine hairs, giving it the appearance of still being able to move at any moment. “This is an orc hand… and it’s fresh. It wasn’t long since it was obtained. I believe our respected teacher must know that exotic races are becoming increasingly rare on the continent. This hand was found by a mercenary group while searching for treasures in the southern jungles, where they accidentally stumbled upon an orc tribe…”
At this point, the chubby apprentice shook his head regretfully and said, “It’s a shame those mercenaries are nothing but brutish fools with strong arms but weak minds. An entire orc tribe was wiped out like that. Don’t they know that orcs are the poorest of creatures? Still, living orcs can be useful—cutting off their hands and treating them specially can have exorcistic effects… Respected priest, I’m sure you’ll be interested in such a rare item.”
With that, he handed the orc hand to Du Fan.
Du Fan swallowed hard before forcing a wry smile and saying, “I… really am not very interested in this.”
“Is that so?” The chubby apprentice pretended to realize something. “It’s not very impressive for a high-ranking priest like you to carry an exorcistic item, is it? It seems you won’t want a dwarf’s head or an orc’s skeleton either…”
Saying this, he reluctantly put the round head and strange skeleton back on the shelf.
Du Fan felt a sense of curiosity. He cleared his throat and asked, “Um… may I ask what use those dwarf’s head and orc’s skeleton are?”
Hearing Du Fan’s question, the chubby apprentice turned around excitedly. “What? Could it be that you need these two items?”
Du Fan smiled bitterly and said, “Tell me first what use they are.”

The chubby magic apprentice said mysteriously, “Well, actually, it’s not much of a thing. That dwarf’s head… after being blessed with a few spells, can remain lively for a while. Your Excellency, you must know that dwarves love strong liquor the most. So if you soak it in liquor during that time, it will be willing to do anything for you… Just imagine, for example, placing this head in your house or at your door to watch over it… How impressive that would be! Right, Your Excellency?”

Du Fan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, “Yes… yes… What about this skeleton?”

The chubby magic apprentice sighed and said, “As for this orc skeleton, it’s not very useful. Aside from being used as material for some special magic experiments, its main purpose is to craft various weapons or equipment… You see, weapons or equipment made from orc bones inherently possess various magical properties… It’s a pity that to do this, an alchemist is needed… Ordinary blacksmiths don’t have such skills.”

Du Fan’s heart stirred slightly. If what this magic apprentice said was true, then something that seemed useless to him could be extremely valuable.

Seemingly reading Du Fan’s thoughts, the chubby magic apprentice chuckled and said, “Your Excellency, if you’re interested in this, I can give you a good price.”

Du Fan smiled slightly and said, “No rush. Let’s take a look at other things first.”

The chubby magic apprentice’s expression became even more obsequious. “Yes, yes… Come… Your Reverend, I think what’s coming next will definitely not disappoint you.”

With that, he mysteriously picked up a delicate box from the ground and quickly opened it. Inside was a green thread-like substance that was constantly emitting light.

Du Fan glanced at it and frowned. “What is this…?”

The chubby magic apprentice slowly picked up the thread-like substance and looked at it with concern, saying, “Your Reverend, this is something truly special… It’s a hair pulled from a living elf’s head! I’m sure you know that elves are considered the most elegant race on the continent. Look, isn’t even a single hair filled with elegance?”

Du Fan smiled and said, “What use could such elegant hair possibly have?”
“You don’t even know that?” The chubby magic apprentice was astonished. “Elven hair is the core material for creating spell scrolls of the forbidden curse level. Without it, even a Holy Archmage can’t craft such scrolls!”
Spell scrolls of the forbidden curse level…
Du Fan couldn’t help but take a deep breath. Legend said that each forbidden curse spell had the power to destroy the world. Yet, the cost of casting them was extremely high. Even a Holy Archmage might lose all their magic power after using one. As a result, although many forbidden curse spells existed in history, few were truly useful.
After all, the primary requirement to cast a forbidden curse spell was a being at the level of a Holy Archmage… and they also had to know the spell incantations.
But how many Holy-level powerhouses were there on the continent? And how many Holy Archmages? Even within the Mage Guild, few could use anything other than forbidden curse spells…
As for spell scrolls of the forbidden curse level, they were even rarer.
You see, creating a spell scroll essentially meant sealing a spell within it. When needed, it could be used directly—no magic power or incantations required. Just a little mental energy was enough to activate it.
So, the requirements to create a spell scroll of the forbidden curse level were similar to those for casting such a spell, if not stricter due to the materials needed.
But what seemed insurmountable to others posed no problem at all to Du Fan… At least… that girl Chenchen would definitely know how to cast forbidden curse spells. Even if she didn’t, with her strength, as long as he could obtain the spell incantations, wouldn’t it be easy for her to create such scrolls?
By then, he could produce dozens of spell scrolls at will, targeting whomever he wanted. That would truly be the era when even gods or Buddhas couldn’t stop him!
At that point, not to mention killing Aldas, he could even exterminate the entire Belinger family and rule the continent unchallenged!
Thinking of this, Du Fan became excited. Without hesitation, he waved his hand and said, “Enough talk. I want everything you have of this!”

Hearing this, the fat magic apprentice’s expression changed. He said, “Your Excellency, you can’t think this thing is that easy to obtain, right? You should know that the elves on the continent are almost extinct. It took me immense effort to gather just this single hair. To be honest, there might be only one like this in the entire Mage Guild…”

Du Fan snorted and said, “So what?”

“Well… as for the price…” At this point, the fat magic apprentice wore a sly smile typical of merchants. “If you truly desire it, I can surely give you a better price.”

Du Fan nodded indifferently and said, “What other good things are there? I’ll get them all later.”

The fat magic apprentice’s expression remained unchanged as he quickly gathered the elf hair. Then, this time, he handed Du Fan a transparent bottle containing some blue liquid that seemed to be constantly swirling.

Du Fan took the bottle skeptically, shook it a few times, and asked, “Could this be the blood of the demons?”

The fat magic apprentice gave a strange smile and said, “I suppose those from your Holy Church know more about this.”

Du Fan’s heart skipped a beat. The demons were known as the Blue-Blooded, so their blood was naturally blue… But why would this fat magic apprentice…?

Seeming to notice Du Fan’s confusion, the fat magic apprentice still smiled oddly. “Your Excellency, from your expression, I can tell it must be the legendary blood of the demons… But to be honest, I’m not even sure myself. It’s been passed down through our ancestors; it’s said to be hundreds of years old. However, it hasn’t been sold for years. If Your Excellency is interested, then… as long as you buy everything you wanted earlier, I’ll give it to you.”