The saying that dwarves have voices like broken gongs really isn't an exaggeration at all.

Lin Mo felt slightly dizzy from that shout, his ears nearly deafened by the volume.

"Calm down, Edgar, or the old lady from the neighboring grocery store will come over with her broom to reason with you."

Upon hearing this, Edgar tugged at his beard and managed to somewhat compose himself.

"Wasn't your mission to exterminate slimes? How did you get involved with minotaurs?"

The power difference between these two magical creatures was enormous, and they had absolutely no connection whatsoever.

"That was the previous mission, which I completed long ago. Then I took on a second mission and happened to encounter..."

Lin Mo didn't elaborate in detail and didn't mention anything about the secret realm. "Just tell me, how much is this thing worth?"

But Edgar clearly wasn't ready to drop the questioning, as this was simply too astonishing.

"You actually took down two minotaurs?"

Without saying much, Lin Mo simply took two pairs of massive horns from his backpack.

"Hiss—!"

Edgar took the horns, carefully feeling their texture while observing the fresh bloodstains that hadn't yet dried, unable to suppress a sharp intake of breath.

Though his intuition and recognition of Lin Mo's potential had made him think this young human adventurer had decent prospects, he'd only estimated that the youth might become a professional within a few years, with potential to possibly reach silver-rank adventurer status in the future.

But now it seemed things weren't that simple.

"You've already been promoted?"

If he weren't a professional, he wouldn't have any chance of resisting against minotaurs, let alone killing them.

Lin Mo nodded: "During this mission."

In this remote town, a professional under twenty years old, freshly promoted, had already achieved such astonishing results...

Edgar took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, needing quite some time to digest this shocking fact.

"From now on, any equipment you buy from my shop will receive free maintenance!"

He knew he needed to raise the stakes. If he could seize this opportunity, he might actually be able to open a smithy in the royal capital someday!

"That's wonderful news."

Lin Mo naturally smiled happily. The cost of equipment maintenance wasn't insignificant. According to what Uncle Bern had mentioned during their previous conversation, the routine maintenance for his current set of equipment after each mission started at 2 silver coins, and the price increased if there was damage—especially for iron armor, which had cost a full gold coin at its highest!

So Lin Mo directly took off his leather armor and handed it over along with the Wolf Bone Sword: "Then help me with maintenance right now."

The Wolf Bone Sword was actually fine, with only minor scratches, but that leather armor made from black marsh crocodile hide had genuine damage.

Speaking of which, this thing's defensive capability was truly excellent. Earlier, when it took a claw strike from an adult Cursed Pattern Cat Demon, the wound was actually less than three centimeters deep—the majority of the damage had been blocked by this leather armor.

Otherwise, that hit might not have gone completely through, but it would have at least made intimate contact with his bones.

Edgar took the leather armor and examined the damaged area: "What kind of magical creature caused this damage?"

With his experience and knowledge, he naturally recognized that this couldn't possibly be marks left by a minotaur.

"Oh, I also encountered an adult Cursed Pattern Cat Demon, almost forgot about that..."

Lin Mo rummaged through his backpack and pulled out the cat demon's claws and teeth.

Having already seen the two massive horns earlier, Edgar's reaction wasn't as dramatic this time, but he still huffed and puffed: "Just how deep into Roland Forest did you go anyway?"

He was starting to regret what he'd said earlier. Repairing this leather armor would cost at least 1 gold coin. If this kid kept causing this much damage every time...

Well, it's not like there aren't benefits.

Edgar set the Wolf Bone Sword and leather armor aside. "Leave these here with me, come pick them up tomorrow. Now, let's discuss purchasing these materials."

He pointed at the two large axes: "The material quality of these two axes is good, but they're still just ordinary iron. How about 11 gold coins for both?"

That seemed about right.

Lin Mo estimated that Edgar should still make some profit at this price, but that was normal—he was running a business, not a charity. Besides, this price met his own expectations, making it a win-win situation.

"Deal."

"As for these two pairs of horns... they're good material for making crossbows. I'll give you 34 gold coins total. The claws and teeth from an adult Cursed Pattern Cat Demon are suitable for making daggers and short swords, worth about 12 gold coins. Adding everything together, including those two axes, the total comes to 57 gold coins. I can offer you 60 gold coins for everything, on the condition that you bring any suitable materials to me first for sale in the future. How does that sound?"

"No problem."

Lin Mo nodded cheerfully. It had to be said that Edgar was different from the classic dwarf image represented by Old Rail—he didn't just bury himself in blacksmithing but also had flexible business acumen.

Edgar paid promptly and then hurriedly urged Lin Mo to leave.

As a dwarf, having obtained such excellent materials, he was naturally eager to start forging immediately.

Dwarven forging techniques weren't born from nothing. While talent was certainly an important factor, continuous refinement through practice was also an essential path to becoming a forging master.

And the more precious, the higher-grade the materials, the more obvious they were for improving forging techniques.

But for a newcomer like him, especially in a small town like Roland Town with few professionals, good materials were hard to come by even with money. That's why Edgar was willing to pay extra to secure priority purchasing rights for Lin Mo's materials.

"Hehehe, my precious materials, here I come!"

The young dwarf picked up his hammer, eyes sparkling with excitement.

...

After leaving Edgar's forge, Lin Mo went straight ahead, turning at the second intersection to arrive at Harvest Street—where adventurers purchased their supplies.

Even when not out adventuring, daily life often required shopping for goods, so even in the afternoon, Harvest Street still had quite a few pedestrians.

Lin Mo had been here many times before, so he navigated familiar paths directly to the end of the street.

There stood a small house built from red bricks and tiles, with attractive coatings sprayed on the walls. The signboard was made of high-quality pearwood, neatly carved with several elegantly flowing characters—Yulian Alchemy Workshop.

Approaching this place, one was immediately greeted by the scent of money.

Compared to the bustle of Harvest Street, this shopfront was practically deserted, for a simple reason: most people couldn't afford the things sold here...