Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

"Can I clarify that these scales aren't the entire snake?" said Mo Fan.

Li Junnan burst out laughing. It did not matter if the scales took up an entire snake or half a snake, they still had no mark on them, hence they were garbage.

-Oh, I can't really say they are garbage. These rare scales could be sold for millions, which this petty Magician probably considers a significant sum.-

Unfortunately, the material was far from worthy in his eyes.

Mo Fan pointed at the scales and said, "The mark is right there, the blue spot."

Li Junnan snapped when he saw the man pestering him endlessly. "Do you think I'm blind? There's nothing there! Take your stuff and leave!"

Mo Fan almost burst out crying. He tried to explain to the man, yet when he saw the infuriated look on his face, he knew that the man would never believe him.

"What's with the noise here? Little Li, do you want to get sacked? Don't you know that your master hates being disturbed the most?" yelled an old man whose brows, mustache, and hair were all purple.

Li Junnan hurriedly apologized to his teacher and glared at Mo Fan.

Mo Fan knew it was difficult to deal with the imp. As such, he quickly uttered, "Mr. Huo, I'm Mo Fan, here after being recommended by Old Bao. I'm well aware of your reputation as a forgemaster in the Magic City, and I've visited quite some famous forgemasters, yet they all told me that only Mr. Huo is capable of handling such a unique material, hence I've been waiting for you here patiently!"

Li Junnan opened his eyes wide. How shameless was this young man? What did he mean by waiting patiently? He got here less than five minutes ago!

"Enough with the pestering. Do you think my master will be tricked just because you're fawning over him..." Li Junnan was in the midst of his speech when he heard the door behind being pushed open.

Li Junnan turned around and saw his master walking out in his well-ironed shirt in a demeaning manner. His face was expressionless like that of a reclusive expert, but his eyes were glistening with a hint of pride.

He came up and said disdainfully, "Ling Xi, Gu Sulian, Che Rong, how could you compare those dim-sighted old pricks to me? I guess they are well aware of their limits, knowing that I, Huo Tuo, am specialized in dealing with all kinds of rare materials. What do you have there? Let me take a look."

Mo Fan was overjoyed when he saw Huo Tuo coming out from the room. Meanwhile, Li Junnan felt like slapping his own head. How did he end up with such an unreliable master?

Li Junnan spoke before Mo Fan could respond, "Master, didn't you already teach me how to identify the lineage of a snake species? Normally, those with a higher lineage will have more defined snake marks. This material is totally black with no sign of any snake mark. I'm sure that it's a very common material."

Huo Tuo walked up to the scales and inspected them carefully, while his expression kept changing rapidly.

"You idiot, didn't I tell you to put precious materials on the best ice sheets? Why did you put them on the table? Look how dirty the table is, do you know how much extra effort I need to put in if the materials catch even the slightest dust!" Huo Tuo turned around and scolded Li Junnan.

Huo Tuo quickly grabbed an ice sheet and slowly transferred the snake scales onto them. The flicker in his eyes now displayed a hint of greed.

"Such a pity, these aren't really rare scales. Otherwise, they would be extremely precious," Huo Tuo let out a sigh in the end.

Mo Fan immediately had a different view of the old man, "How impressive, these scales have been purified. It's not a real rare material."

"It's not too bad, just that the purification could be slightly better, so I can craft a piece of very advanced armor equipment from it!" said Huo Tuo.

Li Junnan almost went crazy.

What in the world? So the material was actually man-made, without any snake mark? It was a fake, something you could find from the street stalls?

"Master, are you sure that you don't want me to throw him out?" said Li Junnan.

"Throw what out, your stupidity is urging me to throw you out instead! Who told you they didn't have any snake mark; the mark is so big that it's covering the entire material!" snapped Huo Tuo.

Li Junnan was utterly confused, and muttered under his breath, "That's just the color of the skin. A mark is a mark..."

Mo Fan felt sorry for Li Junnan, who was being condemned. He said softly, "What you're seeing are just two extremely small scales from the snake. Its snake mark is blue, so you'd need a few pieces of them together to see the actual shape of the mark."

Li Junnan opened his eyes wide and blurted out, "How could a snake be that huge?"

Li Junnan's exclamation served as a reminder to Huo Tuo, who was still admiring the snake scales. He glanced at Mo Fan in astonishment, and asked, "Could this material possibly be..."

Mo Fan nodded with a smile. He knew the old man was an expert.

"Who would have thought! No wonder Old Bao recommended you here... it's true that the others are clueless about what to do with it," said Huo Tuo.

The Black Totem Snake was no longer a secret, thus Huo Tuo easily guessed the origin of the snake scales.

"Then I have a favor to ask Mr. Huo. I want to craft a piece of armor..." said Mo Fan.

"That's fine, but the queue is currently until the end of next year," said Huo Tuo.

"..." Mo Fan was left speechless. The end of next year?! He might not even have the chance to wear it before the Hunter Competition took place!

"Can't you make an exception?" asked Mo Fan.

"Sure, just pay me three times the normal price, including the fees for working on public holidays," Huo Tuo said indifferently, while admiring the material.

Mo Fan's forehead was covered in frown lines.

"Can't you do it for free, considering that it's such a rare material, to fully display your passion in pursuing art instead of money when you decided to become a forgemaster?" Mo Fan asked shamelessly.

"Enough with the nonsense, just pay me the right amount. If you can't afford the extra fees, come do some work for me, then. Old Bao has quite some talented hunters. It happens that I'm in need of some material, and normal hunters are not brave enough to accept my requests," said Huo Tuo.

"I have to go to school still." Mo Fan was unwilling.

"Who said anything about going to the wild, it's something here in the Magic City," said Huo Tuo.

"Tell me about it first!" replied Mo Fan.

The Magic City was huge, and was basically an ecosystem. Humans were not the only residents here, there were quite a few demon beasts too. Mo Fan had already learned that from his past experiences.

There was no way Mo Fan could afford paying three times the price, since Old Bao had already told him that the cost to craft a piece of armor, even after his recommendation, was a whopping twenty million RMB. Mo Fan could only afford it after selling the corpse of the Xuanwu Giant Lizard, and adding some from his own pocket!

Three times the price would be sixty million RMB. It was no different than robbing him!

"Have you heard of vampires?" whispered Huo Tuo.

"Like you?" Mo Fan promptly asked in return.

"How impolite, I'm referring to those that act like humans in the day, but prey on women at night! The demon beasts disguise themselves as humans, and need a human's blood to maintain their power! These vampires originate from the West..." explained Huo Tuo.