Chapter 355 - 301: Old Man Marshall

Chapter 355: Chapter 301: Old Man Marshall

Little John went down the narrow staircase, and the space before him opened up.

The underground space was sizable, looking to be over a hundred square meters. The entire room was supported by just four pillars in the middle. Along the walls were piles of strange objects, which looked to be materials from various Magical Beasts. Everything was in fragments, though; there were no particularly large items. One thing did catch Little John by surprise, however: an entire wild boar’s head mounted on the wall. The head was actually red, the size of a bull’s head. It had clearly been preserved, as there were no signs of decay.

A strange smell filled the air. It wasn’t a stench, exactly, but it was rather unpleasant. Little John reflexively raised a hand to cover his nose, but the old man, Marshall, had already turned and noticed the gesture. "Disgusted by the smell, are you? You should know, this is the lingering scent after extracting the essence of high-grade Magical Beast blood. Ordinary people don’t get the chance to smell this."

"Uh-huh," Little John grunted noncommittally. He had no idea what blood essence was, but the mention of blood reminded him of what Mary had said about that Vampire Count. The Count hadn’t smelled of anything in particular; if he had to pinpoint a scent, it would probably be the aroma of wine. "Is this your, uh, workshop?"

"Workshop?" Marshall savored the word, then shook his head. "Don’t use such a mundane term to describe this place. This space is my House of Creation, the cradle where Magic Tools are born."

He casually picked up an iron Arm Guard from a nearby pile. "See this? An Arm Guard inlaid with Beast Bone. If an opponent comes at you with a sword, you can block directly with this. The Beast Bone will explode, and the flying Bone Spikes will swiftly pierce the enemy’s body."

"Uh, but wouldn’t the exploding Bone Spikes hit you too?" Little John said, pursing his lips. "And what if you put the Arm Guard on backward? Could it get bumped and explode on you?"

The old man, Marshall, stared wide-eyed at Little John by the stairs, his eyes unblinking. Just as Little John was starting to feel uncomfortable, Marshall suddenly spoke, "Your suggestion is very important. I must make an improvement to the Arm Guard. I’ll engrave ’This Side Toward Enemy’ on it."

Little John’s mouth twitched. He’d just been worried his teasing remark had upset the old man. ’If he points that Arm Guard at me, will I have time to run?’ he thought. He never imagined Marshall would actually take his suggestion seriously. Little John couldn’t help but smile wryly before glancing over at Sofia.

"He’s usually a bit eccentric," Sofia said with a shrug, "but once he gets into making Magic Items, he becomes a lot more normal."

"I think he’s gotten even crazier," Little John muttered under his breath.

"Now, generous boss, can you tell me where your Magic Materials are?" Marshall tossed the Arm Guard in his hand onto a nearby table with a CLANG. The casual movement made Little John break out in a cold sweat.

"Ah, the materials..." Little John said, eyeing the Arm Guard. Only after being certain it wasn’t going to explode did he awkwardly continue, "They’re in a warehouse at the docks. A complete skeleton of an Intermediate Magical Beast—it’s Fish Bone—and the complete hide of a Basic Magical Beast, a Chameleon."

As he spoke, he pulled a white bone fragment from the leather pouch at his waist, walked forward, and handed it to the old man.

"Wait, what is this?" Marshall shouted as soon as he saw what was in Little John’s hand.

"It’s a bone from that giant fish. I had a hard time breaking off a small piece. You can take a look..." Little John explained.

But he was immediately cut off by the old man’s shouting. "What have you done?! You actually damaged the skeleton! Who gave you the audacity to pry off this treasure with a clumsy kitchen knife?!"

"Uh, I didn’t use a kitchen knife—that’s not the point," Little John immediately retorted. "I only broke this piece off to show someone the quality of the material. I can’t just drag people to the warehouse to see it, can I?"

Hearing his rebuttal, Marshall knew he had a point, but he was still puffing with anger as he snatched the bone fragment. Then he turned his back, completely ignoring the baffled Little John.

"He’s always like this," Sofia said, walking up to Little John’s side and shrugging. "The first time I asked him to repair something for me, he yelled my ear off, too."

"Really? So what did you do?"

"Me?" Sofia raised her right hand and patted the muscle on her arm. "I gave him a good thrashing."

"And the money?"

"Oh, you still have to pay," Sofia said with a smile.

"The bone quality is excellent. Top-grade material. What do you want to make?" Marshall turned around and looked up at Little John. He had casually stuffed the bone fragment into his own pocket.

Little John glanced at the man’s pocket, then shook his head. ’After all, this is the slum. I can understand why he’d do that.’ "I want a suit of armor," he said. "Bone Armor."

"For you?" Marshall looked Little John up and down, a hint of delight in his voice.

"Not for me. For a friend of mine. He’s three meters tall and very strong." Little John gestured with his hands, trying to outline Caocao’s physique to give the old man a general idea.

"Three meters?" Seeing Little John’s gestures, the expression on Marshall’s face visibly turned ashen.

"What’s wrong with him?" Little John turned and asked Sofia.