Chapter 340: The Book of Mourning

Muria truly did not expect that beings like the goblin before him were not unique, and that there was a whole group of similar creatures. It was quite shocking since he had never read about the existence of plane merchants in any books.

"Correct." Hearing Muria's summary, the green-skinned goblin nodded in agreement.

"Are all plane merchants goblins?"

"We goblins are only a small part of them. There are various other races involved, even including your own kind."

"My own kind?" Muria was slightly startled, then quickly realized that this meant dragons had become plane merchants.

"How can one become a plane merchant?" Muria asked curiously, very interested in this ability of the goblins.

"Stop thinking about it. You don't have the qualifications. Since you have become a favored one by fate, you are destined to become a prominent figure. How could you possibly become an almost unknown, inconspicuous plane merchant like us?"

"Can I learn how to use your ability to be overlooked?" Muria, still hopeful, continued to inquire.

"No, dragon race, don't be too greedy. You can't have all the good things."

"Not even a slight possibility?"

"There is." After a moment of thought and sensing a business opportunity, the goblin replied, "You can't directly control our unique ability of plane merchants, but you can achieve a similar effect by using strange artifacts, though not exactly like us."

"What strange artifact? Show it to me."

"Cough, I only had one piece of that strange artifact, called the Cloak of Secrecy, and it was sold a while ago, so," the green-skinned goblin spread his hands to Muria, "I'm out of stock."

"Then how can you say you can sell anything and have everything?" Muria mockingly said without mercy.

"Next time, when I restock, I'll come to you." The goblin merchant chuckled, bowing slightly. A customer is like a deity to him, a being to be worshipped. So, no matter what he's told, he won't get upset.

"How can I find you? Do you have a contact method?"

"No need to look for me, and there is no contact method. When you need something, I or another merchant will naturally appear before you."

"Is that so." Muria squinted his eyes.

"Alright, I've answered all the questions you wanted to know. Those two rings of yours are considered payment and are now mine."

The green-skinned goblin bowed slightly to Muria, "Respected customer, is there anything else you desire?"

"Let me think." Muria rubbed his temples, indeed still desiring a certain special artifact.

"Could you hurry up? Respected customer, time is money."

"Do you have a strange artifact that can determine the safety of someone based on their fallen scales, hair, and the like?" Muria asked without much hope.

"Yes." Upon hearing Muria's description, a smile appeared on the face of the green-skinned goblin, his already twisted face becoming even uglier.

"Respected customer, allow me to introduce you to a treasure, the Book of Mourning."

As they spoke, the small goblin pulled out a book almost made of patches of fabric from a bag, and then fished out a book with a dark metallic shell, presenting it to Muria as if offering a treasure.

"Take a look and see if it meets your requirements."

"This is a book of curses." Muria frowned as he took the huge metallic book, half the size of a human, wrapped in visibly black mist— the accumulation of various negative emotions, something even an ordinary human would recognize as no good.

"Correct, respected customer. This is a curse book created by a legendary mage who specialized in curses and dark magic, using his life's energy. Even legends, given enough bodily tissue, can be cursed."

"I was looking for an artifact that could determine the safety of lost kin, not a book made for killing."

"It meets your requirements as well, customer. It even has more uses."

Using the simplest mage's hand, Muria lifted the curse book, which had cursed countless lives, and flipped open its metallic cover: "Can I try it out?"

"Of course."

After hesitating briefly, Muria's gaze shifted to a red-armored youth, Auston, who was now ignoring his presence and looking at valuable goods on the streets.

"Is that your subordinate? Respected customer." Following Muria's gaze, the goblin merchant noticed Auston, "Would you like to test it on him?"

"What should I do?" Muria took out a scorching hot red scale, looking inquiringly at the goblin, a scale that had fallen from Auston.

"A red dragon's scale." Seeing the brightly colored scale in Muria's hand, the goblin's face showed a hint of excitement,

 "Just place it on the book's page."

"Really?" Muria touched the thick leather pages of the book of curses, raising an eyebrow, "Leather from the Hell Forge? Interesting."

"Hehe, customer, it is said that the legendary mage skinned a lord of hell alive to make this book, so its power might exceed your expectations."

"Hmm." Muria placed Auston's dragon scale on the book page made from the Hell Forge, watching as the scale was engulfed by the black mist emanating from the page, then transforming into a majestic, fierce, yet somewhat emaciated red dragon image, lifelike as if it could fly out at any moment.

"Fascinating!" As Auston's dragon image appeared on the page, in just a few moments, the curse book, through some unseen connection, linked directly to Auston himself, the fierce dragon image turning into a red-haired young man in red armor, curiously looking around.

This was Auston's current appearance, his current actions, and not only that, the synchronized image on the book page also evolved into the street scene, exactly where Auston was currently located.

"How much? I'll buy it." Seeing this scene, Muria immediately made up his mind.

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