The black sun hangs high

Chapter 16 Unexpected
Hugh watched with great anticipation and enthusiasm as Gerard pulled open the carriage. The shop owner, who had Eastern ogre blood, stretched out his strong arms and began to unload the items from the carriage.

It was a huge wooden crate, which looked quite heavy. The lid of the crate was nailed shut, but Hugh could still smell a strange odor coming from the gaps in the lid.

Hughes didn't find it strange, after all, the things he needed were complex in composition and mostly parts of magical creatures, it would be abnormal if they didn't have a smell.

"They're all in here."

Gerald helped Hugh carry the wooden crate into the old house's foyer, then patted it twice: "To be honest, Mr. Ernst, your requirements for these materials are far too demanding. I searched almost the entire warehouse and could only gather these three sets."

Upon hearing this, Hugh's enthusiasm suddenly vanished, and at the same time, an extremely ominous premonition arose within him.

“Wait, Mr. Gerald… if there are only three portions? Then why use such a large box?”

"Because two of them are very heavy and take up a lot of space."

Gerald ignored Hugh's astonishment. As he explained, he reached out and grabbed the edge of the wooden box lid. With a sudden burst of strength, he managed to pry open the nailed lid completely.

An extremely pungent smell emanated from the box and swept through the entire foyer at an alarming speed.

Hugh's expression changed drastically. He ran as fast as he could, closing almost all the doors to the rooms, pulling the bedroom curtains shut, and opening all the windows in the old house. Only then did he cover his nose and return to the wooden box.

In that brief moment, he couldn't find a single word in his memory that matched the taste.

Hugh thought that even if the entire sewer system of Seren City exploded, it would probably smell like this.

Looking again into the wooden box, all he saw was a jumbled mass of dark shadows, its shape completely indistinguishable. So, with a grimace, Hugh asked in a muffled voice, "What the hell is this?!"

"Of course it's what you want."

Boss Gerald clearly had a strong resistance to this strange smell; he calmly reached out and took out the items from the wooden box one by one.

As the terrifying smell grew stronger, Hugh finally saw the goods Gerald had brought.

First, there was a fairly exquisite and clean wooden box, which seemed to have a multi-layered structure and was covered with a layer of red velvet cloth. On the velvet cloth was drawn a four-winged harpy with outstretched body and wings.

In legend, the four-winged harpy is the embodiment of Kelidal, the goddess of love and beauty. Therefore, this image often appears in places and things related to women, such as clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, and shops that sell them.

Before Xiuge could examine it closely, the second item had already been taken out.

It was a huge cloth bag, bulging and full, its contents stretching it into a disc shape. Hugh reached out and touched it, finding the contents to be exceptionally tough, like a rope made of twisted metal wire.

"There's one last thing... Get out of the way."

Gerald offered a kind reminder, then took the last item out of the wooden crate.

To be precise, it was a basket.

At that moment, the ominous premonition that had been brewing in Hugh's heart came true. In the light of the magic lamp in the foyer, he saw a whole basket of thick hair.

"Grass!"

At that moment, Hugh could no longer contain his emotions, and a series of explosive syllables burst out, echoing in the empty hallway with a strong sense of disbelief and absurdity.

He never expected that, despite making so many requests for goods, the two he considered the most outrageous would be the first to be fulfilled!

Finally, at Hugh's insistence, Gerald put the basket of "fresh hair from the swamp witch" he had brought back into the wooden box and thoughtfully closed the lid for Hugh.

"The goods provided by the 'Alchemy Thieves' always meet the customers' requirements, and everything is prepared according to the list you gave me, Mr. Ernst."

Gerald breathed a slight sigh of relief after closing the box. Even with his extensive experience, he was still overwhelmed by the strong smell of the fur in the basket. He explained, "Besides this basket of filth, the remaining two items are 'a set of orthodox female noble ornaments from the Kingdom of Walter' and 'three long tails of adult Plains Rats.' You can inspect the goods now, or you can come to me to deal with any problems you find... but only within the next three days."

"Mr. Ernst, do you have any further concerns?"

"Nothing."

Hughes was pale and kept shaking his head.

"Thank you for your patronage. In total, it's two general-purpose gold coins plus twenty-five circulating silver coins... Given the discount we discussed earlier and the special nature of the goods you purchased, would it be acceptable to simply deduct the twenty-five silver coins as change?"

Hugh nodded painfully twice, then took out two universal gold coins and slapped them into Gerald's huge palm.

The latter was clearly unwilling to stay there any longer. He slapped a pre-prepared receipt onto the wooden crate, turned and took a couple of steps, then turned back to remind him, "By the way, Mr. Ernst... whatever you plan to do with those swamp monster hairs, I personally suggest you do it before their smell dissipates. Once the smell is gone, they won't be fresh anymore!"

"Thank you for reminding!"

It's quiet at night.

After an extremely difficult internal struggle, Hugh finally overcame his obsessive-compulsive disorder about his nose. He fearlessly brought the three items that met the requirements brought by Boss Gerald to his bedroom. Of course, the swamp witch's hair, which Hugh considered his mortal enemy, was still sealed in the wooden box. He didn't want his room to become like a toilet.

Although having Gerald search for the items he wanted according to the list was itself a "blind box" operation, the result of this "blind box" was indeed somewhat beyond Hugh's expectations.

“My first ‘exchange’ in the dream world used silver coins… However, silver coins themselves don’t have much symbolic meaning, so until now, I still can’t be sure whether these ‘conditions’ themselves are related to the ‘exchange result’.” As Hugh pondered, he carefully examined the cloth bag and jewelry box in front of him. There was nothing worth checking about the set of women’s noble jewelry from the Kingdom of Walter. Gerard had already sorted them out very well. From earrings to necklaces to rings, everything was neatly placed in the wooden box.

Hugh took out the three long tails of the plains rat, which were rolled into disc shapes, and examined them carefully.

Plainsbellied Rats are very common in the wilderness of Goddess Plains. These magical creatures are much larger than ordinary rats, and besides their size, another distinctive feature of Plainsbellied Rats is their tails.

No one knows why venomous rats have such exaggeratedly long tails. Their tails are not only extremely long but also incredibly strong, and they are remarkably flexible and powerful when they swing. Some adult venomous rats can even use their long tails as weapons such as whips.

Some hunter villages active on the Goddess Plains even use the tails of the belly rats to make bowstrings or traps. However, it is not easy to properly remove the belly rat's long tail. The toughness of these tails comes from the magic contained within them. And like almost all magical creatures, the belly rats exhaust the magic within their bodies in order to survive before they die.

Once the magic in their tails is drained, the tails will break off naturally and completely lose their toughness.

Therefore, hunters who hunt belly rats always need to kill these prey in the fastest and most direct way, only in this way can they truly achieve their goal.

Hugh pulled a long tail from the bag, flicked his wrist, and the brownish-red tail lashed forward, creating a whooshing sound as it swung through the air.

He nodded in satisfaction, then rolled it up again, put it back in the bag, and placed it on the bed along with the jewelry box and the three large bottles of shapeshifter remains he had collected during the day.

As for that basket of hair...

Hugh didn't check its intentions; he decided to bring the thing directly into his dream world and deal with it there, leaving the outcome entirely to chance.

After making the preparations, Hugh took out the Ash Grass, and after the purifying smoke swept across his bed twice, he lay down.

Amidst the scent of ashen grass and the orderly ticking of the magic clock, Hugh quietly awaited the onset of weariness.

……

Perhaps due to the intense fluctuations in his emotions, Hugh's entry into the dream world this time was not very smooth, but in the end, the dream still responded to him.

Hugh opened his eyes at his familiar workstation. He tried to sense his spiritual world. The metal discs used to inscribe magic were quietly sitting there, a faint magical glow emanating from the empty slots.

Within the groove where Hugh's first spell was engraved, the pattern of black tentacles was slowly twisting. As Hugh watched, it became more active, the black lines trembling as if trying to break free from the groove.

"Looks like you're lonely? Just wait, maybe I can find you two to keep you company tonight."

Hugh pulled his attention away from his mental world, picked up the three large bottles of shapeshifter remains, and walked towards the office corridor. Soon, he arrived at his first target.

This is a display case for figurines, a common feature in almost all game companies. Generally, it is filled with all kinds of anime or game characters of different sizes and specifications. However, the items in this display case are no longer exquisite figurines or models.

Through the glass of the figurine display case, Hugh saw a thick black fog that kept drifting, and within this fog, there seemed to be something... He could only vaguely make out that it was a human shape, but he couldn't make out the details.

Strange characters representing the terms of exchange emerged.

"One bottle of adult shapeshifter body fluid essence."

“If I remember correctly… it definitely needs shapeshifters, but what is the concept of bodily fluid essence? It sounds like some kind of beauty serum in an advertisement.”

Hugh frowned as he looked at the three bottles of shapeshifter slime in his arms, unsure of what to do.

"Whatever, take it or leave it!"

As he was thinking, he shoved one of the bottles hard in front of the figurine display case.

Then a strange change immediately occurred.

Like hungry predators waiting for food, the black mist inside the figure display case suddenly became agitated the moment the shapeshifter slime came into view. Hugh saw it begin to relentlessly attack the inner walls of the figure display case.

At the same time, the strange characters sealing the cabinet began to change, quickly transforming into two tiny hands made of thick black mist, which reached out towards the bottle of slime.

The wine bottle, originally intended to hold the liquor, turned to dust the moment it touched the two black hands, while the shapeshifting insect slime inside floated in the air in an extremely peculiar form.

Then, the two black hands changed shape again, looking like the sucking mouthparts of insects. They thirstily plunged into the slime and began to suck frantically. In just a few breaths, the large clump of shapeshifting insect slime disappeared completely under their sucking.

but……

Hughes frowned and waited quietly for a while, but then he saw the two "mouthparts" retract and turn back into hands, which then transformed into strange black characters again.

Is the quantity insufficient?

With this in mind, Hugh pushed the remaining two bottles of shapeshifter slime forward, and the previous scene repeated itself. A moment later, as the amorphous black mist that had been sucking the slime returned to its original state, Hugh noticed that the text that served as the condition seemed to have faded a little.

"It seems that the so-called Phantom Worm fluid essence only accounts for a very, very small part of this slime... At this rate, the fluid from an adult Phantom Worm can only meet one-quarter to one-fifth of the requirements, which means I have to deal with at least four more Phantom Worms and collect all their remains to achieve my current goal."

Hugh clicked his tongue: "Alright, at least we've come to the conclusion that we can 'pay in installments.' Next, let's see how to handle the other items... Don't let me down."

(End of this chapter)