This made Borgin put away his previous contempt.
He carefully picked up one of the items from the counter and began examining it closely.
The first magical artifact Borgin picked up was a dagger made from the bones of some unknown creature.
Although the dagger looked somewhat crudely made, the aura clinging to it was enough to make anyone take it seriously.
The surface of the bone dagger was completely covered in a layer of dark red, almost black substance.
If he had not mistaken it, this substance should be blood.
It was easy to imagine how many lives, and how much blood, it must have taken for the blood of those stabbed by this dagger to accumulate on its surface into a layer resembling patina.
The dagger contained not only a surging killing intent, but also the resentment produced by the creatures it had slain in their final moments.
When Borgin picked up the dagger, his head felt as though it had been struck violently by a heavy hammer, making his ears ring.
Fortunately, his strength was quite good.
Having dealt with all kinds of Dark Magic artifacts for many years, he had developed his own methods for resisting their effects.
He quickly broke free from the dagger’s influence.
Even so, he was still shaken and promptly put the dagger down.
Borgin gave Ternas a meaningful look but said nothing.
He picked up another magical artifact and began examining it.
It was a very strange oil lamp.
Borgin could confirm that there was no lamp oil inside, nor was there any energy source.
Yet it could continue burning indefinitely, although the flames it produced were extremely bizarre.
A sinister, ghastly green flame burned continuously inside the lamp.
It was only after Borgin picked up the lamp that he truly understood how terrifying it was.
This was a soul lamp that used the souls of living creatures as fuel.
The flame burning inside it right now was actually a soul being consumed by fire.
If one looked closely, they could even see a human-shaped figure within the flames, its form twisted and hideous from the burning.
After careful observation, Borgin discovered that the lamp did not require any special method to ignite a soul.
All that was needed was to place a creature that had died only recently in front of the lamp, and it would automatically absorb the soul of the freshly deceased creature as fuel.
However, the conditions for the lamp to collect a soul were also extremely demanding.
First, the creature had to have died within the past five minutes.
Moreover, the process of extracting the soul was extremely slow.
It took a full hour to complete.
Because of this, the lamp was practically useless.
Perhaps it could serve some purpose when taking revenge on an enemy or someone one deeply hated.
And first, one had to possess the strength to kill one’s enemy.
Only then could one collect their soul and torture it.
Borgin put down the Soul-Burning Lamp and looked at the next artifact.
As he examined the magical artifacts one after another, even Borgin, with all his experience, could not help being shocked.
Where on earth had these magical artifacts come from?
Why was every single one capable of shocking even the owner of a Dark Magic artifact shop like him?
If these things appeared in the wizarding world today, they would definitely cause an enormous upheaval.
But wasn’t that exactly what he needed?
If these items flowed out through his magic shop, they would not only make his shop famous, but also bring him enormous profits.
Why wouldn’t he take advantage of such an opportunity?
After thinking it over, Borgin made up his mind.
He absolutely had to acquire these magical artifacts, even if it meant spending all of his savings accumulated over the years.
He believed that once these few items were in his hands, it would not take long for him to recover what he had spent.
He might even be able to multiply his investment several times over with ease.
Having made his decision, Borgin began calculating.
As a merchant, he needed to estimate his customer’s psychological price.
He wanted to acquire these magical artifacts while spending as little as possible.
As for simply taking them by force, he had considered that as well.
But think about it.
Could someone capable of producing these magical artifacts possibly be an ordinary person?
Of course not!
Besides, although a merchant had to be shrewd, he also needed to maintain a certain degree of integrity.
Otherwise, wouldn’t he be destroying the reputation of his own shop?
He already stood to make enough profit to fill his pockets.
Why take such an unnecessary risk?
After calculating for a while, Borgin finally gave his offer.
“Sir, what do you think of one hundred and fifty thousand Galleons?” Ternas did not really understand the prices of these things in the current wizarding world.
Knowing an item’s value did not necessarily mean knowing its market price.
Therefore, he had no idea whether Borgin’s offer was higher or lower than the market price.
Most likely, it was lower, but he did not care.
The offer had already exceeded his own psychological price.
He had already estimated beforehand that the price he wanted was one hundred and twenty thousand Galleons.
As long as the offer exceeded that amount, he would agree to sell.
Now that Borgin had offered so much more, Ternas was even more willing to accept.
As for Borgin making even more money from the deal in the end, Ternas did not care.
After all, he had already earned this much himself.
It was only right to let the other party make some profit as well.
Seeing that Ternas did not immediately agree, Borgin clearly misunderstood his reaction and assumed that Ternas was dissatisfied with the offer.
By now, his back was already soaked with sweat.
This was already more than half of the money he could produce.
He could scrape together a little more, and these items were indeed worth a higher price.
However, he also had to consider the operation of his shop.
Without enough liquid capital, his business would be seriously affected.
Still, in order to obtain this batch of goods, Borgin was willing to go all out.
He gritted his teeth, stamped his foot, and spoke again.
“If you are not satisfied, sir, I can increase the offer by another thirty thousand Galleons.
This is already the absolute limit of what I can pay.
I truly cannot come up with any more than that.
What do you think?” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS TheAetherVault Enjoying the story?