In the secluded dense forest, strangely shaped trees grew wildly everywhere, and underfoot was a thick layer of decaying leaves.
Dago drew the dagger from his waist and began to cut the Shadow Leopard's fur and flesh.
There was nothing he could do; he was alone, without help. Although he lacked knowledge and experience in processing magical materials, he decided to make the best of a bad situation.
“Magical beasts are a type of animal, right?” Dago mumbled.
He skillfully disemboweled and removed the internal organs, then cut off the fur… processing the prey like an old hunter.
He had to quickly butcher the Shadow Leopard's corpse because the spreading scent of blood might attract other predators.
Soon, he finished butchering it and cast Ice Crystal Technique to freeze the meat.
On the ground was a whole piece of dark fur, wriggling like a true shadow.
He couldn't bear to use the fur to wrap the meat, so he rolled up the fur and put it into his satchel, while he laboriously hoisted the meat onto his shoulder.
This time, the meat was much heavier; after all, the Shadow Leopard's size was considerable, and he was struggling a bit.
“It's all money, I have to bear it even if I can't,” Dago thought to himself.
Only the fresh air of the forest and the tranquil, beautiful environment soothed his weary soul.
Walking for a while and resting for a while, he finally returned to the Shelter by noon.
He dropped the meat from his shoulder onto the table with a thud, then washed his hands and face at the water tank, feeling much refreshed.
Taking out a small portion of Shadow Leopard meat, he decided to feast like a noble lord today.
He put the meat on a grill, and the charcoal fire made it sizzle.
While grilling, he sprinkled seasonings he had “borrowed” from Old Marico, and once it was about 80% cooked, he began to devour it.
“It's so delicious I wouldn't let go even if you slapped me.”
Dago chewed heartily, not forgetting to add a comment.
Not only was it delicious, but he also felt a warm current flowing through his body, easing his physical fatigue.
He hadn't expected magical beast meat to have such a miraculous effect of nourishing the body, so he couldn't sell all of it.
After all, he was only eighteen and his body could still grow, especially after entering the extraordinary realm, his demand for food would be even greater.
He decided to keep half of the magical beast meat and sell the rest in the Town to earn magic stones.
As for the Shadow Leopard's fur, he would keep it for now, mainly because he was unsure of its value and feared being swindled.
Dago pondered for a moment. Hiding the fur in the Shelter wouldn't work, even if he didn't know its exact value.
However, judging by its color, its collection value alone could be worth a good number of gold coins in the mundane world.
“Why not sew it into the inner lining of my Apprentice Wizard robe? No one would notice anyway,” Dago thought, a sudden idea striking him.
With that, he went to rummage under the wooden bed, retrieved a needle and thread, and began to sew.
It didn't take long to finish; the Shadow Leopard's fur covered two-thirds of the wide robe.
Dago nodded in satisfaction at the gray robe, appreciating its understated luxury with hidden depth.
Wearing the Apprentice Wizard gray robe, aside from feeling a bit heavy and uncomfortable, there were no other issues.
After some tinkering, he then took the chilled Shadow Leopard meat and his waterskin and set off for Aynak Town.
First, he went to the familiar Town butcher shop, but the plump owner, upon learning it was magical beast meat, waved his hand, indicating he had no channels to sell it.
His butcher shop's customers were the poor residents of the Town's residential area; no one could afford expensive magical beast meat.
Dago thought about it and realized he was right, so he walked towards the Town Wizard Hall.
The Wizard Hall was the intersection of the extraordinary and the mundane; there should be a channel for selling magical beast meat there.
As Dago expected, after explaining his purpose at the counter for second-level Apprentice Wizards.
A middle-aged Apprentice Wizard behind the counter helped him contact a wealthy merchant in the Town who was interested in buying.
“The Wizard Hall will take twenty percent of the final transaction price as a service fee for this deal,” the middle-aged Apprentice Wizard said calmly.
Dago's mouth twitched, but he agreed.
Finally, after meeting the wealthy merchant at the Wizard Hall and some bargaining, the deal was concluded for six low-level magic stones.
After deducting the Wizard Hall's service fee, he received a total of five magic stones from this transaction.
He had originally planned to compare prices, but by the final stage of his conversation with the wealthy merchant.
The middle-aged Apprentice Wizard overseeing the transaction in the Wizard Hall directly released his spiritual power, subtly exerting pressure on Dago.
In the opponent's territory, Dago could only swallow his pride and accept the unfair deal.
Gritting his teeth, he walked out of the Wizard Hall, striding down the street with a displeased expression. He suspected the middle-aged Apprentice Wizard might have been colluding with the wealthy merchant.
Although this transaction earned him the equivalent of half a year's tuition, it was earned with his life.
Dago still vividly remembered the danger of hunting the Shadow Leopard.
If it weren't for the opportune timing and his sneak attack, he would definitely not have been a match for the Shadow Leopard.
It was originally a nocturnal magical beast, its fur blending into the darkness at night, almost making it invisible, hence its name Shadow Leopard.
If he hadn't encountered the Shadow Leopard during the day, he would have died long ago.
Dago pulled out the five low-level magic stones, similar in size to pigeon eggs, that he had just acquired.
Holding them in his hand, he could clearly perceive the accumulated energy particles within.
With these five low-level magic stones, the coming days would be much easier.
“I will never trade at the Wizard Hall again, they are pure vampires,” Dago said bitterly.
Putting the magic stones back into his money pouch, Dago took out his pocket watch and checked the time. It was a little past three in the afternoon.
It was still early, so he decided to walk to Academy Square to browse.
He still had a complete Shadow Leopard fur, and he didn't want to entrust it to the Wizard Hall people again.
He decided to go to Academy Square himself to understand the market for magical beast fur.
Now that he had money in his pocket, his entire mindset had changed.
Upon arriving at Academy Square, Dago dared to stop at some stalls and, pretending to be interested, inquire about prices.
“You dare ask for fifteen magic stones for a low-level runic item? You might as well just rob me.”
Dago walked away from a certain stall with a look of “disdain.”
Walking a bit further, Dago's gaze stopped at a stall filled with books.
His expression shifted slightly, and he slowly approached it.
The vendor was an old Apprentice Wizard who looked quite old, wearing a faded gray robe that had been washed many times, but he looked very energetic.
Seeing a customer approach, the old Apprentice Wizard's eyes lit up, and he greeted Dago very warmly.
“Take a look, these are all low-level spells I collected during my student days.”
Dago felt the faint spiritual power fluctuations emanating from the old Apprentice Wizard, which were stronger than his own. He politely nodded and cautiously began to look through the books.
He was now only one incantation spell away from meeting one of the requirements for a third-level Apprentice Wizard.
Moreover, based on his recent magical beast hunt, he also needed a detection-type wizardry.
Otherwise, if he encountered a conscious Shadow Leopard's attack next time, he didn't want to die for no clear reason.
These books were likely compiled and bound by the old Apprentice Wizard himself; their covers were similar, differing only in thickness.
Dago began to search. Many looked like notes or similar things, and many covers were yellowed.
He casually picked up a book and flipped through it. Most were cultivation insights, but they weren't what he needed.
“Do you have any detection-type wizardry?” Dago asked.
“Yes, yes, that yellowed book on the side is it.”
He pointed to a book on the edge of a pile of volumes, telling Dago.
Dago picked it up and quickly flipped through it, then asked, “How much is this book?”
“Three low-level magic stones,” the vendor quoted a price.
“One low-level magic stone, please. I'm a poor Apprentice Wizard, I don't have many magic stones,” Dago haggled, feigning poverty.
“Two low-level magic stones. If you can't afford it, leave, don't waste my time.”
The old Apprentice Wizard frowned, his attitude gradually growing cold.
Dago gritted his teeth, but in the end, he bought the item.
He counted two low-level magic stones from his money pouch and handed them to the old Apprentice Wizard, then took the book and left the stall without looking back.
He searched other stalls for the magical medicine raw material, moonlight flower, but after circling around, he didn't see any stalls selling it.
He casually inquired at a stall selling magical medicine raw materials and was told that many magical materials were under Academy control due to the approaching war, prohibited from circulating or being sold.
As for stalls selling magical beast fur, they were even rarer; there was basically no advice he could reference.
Dago could only leave Academy Square disappointed. It seemed he would still have to rely on the moonlight flower in the forest to verify his method, and he would keep the Shadow Leopard fur for now.
The sun was setting in the west; it was nearly six o'clock when Dago returned to the Shelter, feeling dejected.
Dinner was lavish: venison soup paired with leftover magical beast meat. Dago treated himself well, letting the delicious food wash away the fatigue from his body and mind.
After dinner, with the moon bright and stars sparse, Dago lit a bonfire and sat on a wooden stump outside the house, using the firelight to read the detection-type wizardry book he had bought earlier.
He read the entire book from beginning to end, and with the old Apprentice Wizard's annotations, he quickly understood it thoroughly and then proceeded to try it out.
This wizardry simply amplified the range of his spiritual vision's searchlight.
“It's like a powerful flashlight, changing from scattered to direct light, so the energy particles detectable by spiritual vision will be further, is that what it means?” Dago thought to himself.
Currently, his spiritual vision, activated by Meditation Technique, was about two meters around him, which was also the condensation range of his Air Bullet.
Once Detection Art was activated, it could extend the detection range of his spiritual vision tenfold, meaning it could detect the fluctuations of energy particles within a twenty-meter radius.
The effect of this wizardry was quite effective against stealth-type wizardry, essentially preventing the sneaky behavior of creatures like the Shadow Leopard, which liked to ambush from the shadows.
This undoubtedly accelerated his exploration progress in the southwestern part of the forest, aiming to develop the moonlight flower as soon as possible.
If the Academy people discovered it first, his moonlight flower would essentially be for naught.
The entire wizardry, like Resonance Art, only had one incantation.
With the sapphire halo swirling in his eyes, and scattered energy particles reflecting in his spiritual vision, he softly chanted the incantation for Detection Art.
Spiritual power slowly flowed forward, as if parting a gentle mist of lies before his eyes, revealing more and more emerging energy particles.
With this, he had gathered three incantation wizardries, and was only short of meeting the spiritual power requirement to become a third-level Apprentice Wizard.