Arcane Lord

Ascol.

Walking on the uneven stone road in the dark alley, Sha Duo was inevitably a little disappointed. In his original expectations, Ascor should be an extremely prosperous port city.

As an important trading city in the North, it should at least be more prosperous than Severnton, not to mention the main elven cities such as Erintal and Everriska.

But the actual situation is-

This is more like an enlarged version of the market than a city.

Although there are dwarves living in the city, they are obviously separated from other urban areas, forming relatively independent small communities. It is difficult for outsiders to enter, and outsiders are not welcome there.

The dark alley where Shado is currently located is not in the dwarf community, but close to the port. It is mainly used by human merchants for temporary rest and stay.

Elf merchants mainly gather near another port in the east, and the two parties don't move around much when there is no business.

As for the underground passage leading to the real Danzo in the Underdark, it is in the city area within the mountain, which is also open to humans or elves.

However, they generally need to declare in advance, and then only after a certain number of people have gathered, Danzo officials will arrange escort teams to escort these businessmen to the underground world, nominally to prevent the businessmen from being invaded by dangerous creatures in the Underdark.

Of course, if the status is different, the conveniences enjoyed will also be different.

When Shado first arrived in Askel, he had a few words with a steward stationed here at Kiran Tower. The man revealed that only high-level mages could set off at any time.

Otherwise, we can only wait for the channel to open. This time is not yet certain because it is arranged according to the number of people and goods.

If you are lucky, you can leave on the same day if you catch up. If you are not lucky, it may not be impossible to wait for the first half of the year.

Xia Duo guessed that Danzuo might be using this method to control the inflow rate of foreign goods and prevent foreign merchants from grabbing too much profit.

The true situation is unknown for the time being, but one thing that can be supported by side evidence is that when foreign merchants come to Askel, most of them will not choose to enter the dark area, but will sell and purchase goods on the spot.

It can be said that in an enlarged version of the market like Ascor, more than half of the transactions are directly handled by Danzo officials.

Similar to the nature of a special zone.

Noting this, it is actually not difficult to understand why the proposal of King Helianmian of Yeerlan to fully open trade among the northern countries was rejected.

It's not just Sha Duo who blew a little wind in front of Horn. In fact, neither Seven Towers nor Danzo nor those small countries want to see such a thing happen.

Like Askel, once the comprehensive open trade agreement is passed, this place may not decline, but it can be easily predicted that a large number of merchants and a large number of goods will flow into the Dark Area from here to seize a large amount of profits.

It’s almost self-evident what to choose.

…

Unknowingly, Xia Duo had passed through the dark alley according to the guidance of the spell and entered a neighborhood that was neater, but whose style was closer to the rough and grand style of the dwarves.

This is not an independent community where dwarves live, but a commercial street mainly run by dwarves. Sha Duo finally stopped at the entrance of a very conspicuous open-air arena.

A dwarf carrying a long-handled ax stood at the door. Seeing someone lingering, he looked at Xia Duo with some suspicion and asked: "Human, this is a period that is not open to the public. Do you have an invitation letter?"

Valley bite

"have."

Sha Duo handed over the invitation letter he had received from the Kiran Tower. The dwarf took it casually, rubbed it vigorously, and nodded, "It's true, come in!"

After saying that, he made way for the dark passage behind him.

Xia Duo didn't take it seriously. He took the invitation from the other party and walked straight into the passage. As soon as he entered the passage, a light lit up in front of Xia Duo's eyes. He subconsciously squinted his eyes. The inside of the passage was completely different from the outside.

It looks dark outside, but it is really bright inside. The passage is about five meters high and wide enough to accommodate four or five humans walking side by side.

Various battle scenes were carved on the walls on both sides, and Sha Duo noticed that most of the backgrounds were in this arena.

As for the protagonists, they are mainly dwarves, of course there are elves, and the least are humans. If he hadn't found one at the end of the passage, he would have thought that there were no records of human gladiators here!

The gladiators who can be recorded on both sides of this passage are probably extraordinary people. Their opponents can run on the ground, fly in the sky, or even swim in the water.

Of course, there are also scenes of similar competition.

What Xia Duo was more concerned about was the only recorded human battle scene. The human gladiator's opponent was tall and strong, with a slightly bowed back and fangs in his mouth. He was obviously a powerful female troll.

The battle scene is very concise. In the center of the relief is the victory scene of a human holding a sword in one hand and a troll's head in the other, raising it upwards and cheering.

The edges revolve around these specific battle scenes. They were not killing enemies through spells, but killing trolls with just one sword. Shado had practiced the swordsmanship of the Elf Swordsinger.

It can probably be seen that this human's fighting style is completely different from that of the Swordsinger. It should be said that it is closer to the fighting style of the dwarves, but it does not have the various magical abilities of the dwarf warriors.

It should be said that he is just a powerful ordinary person.

However, it can also be seen from the closed eyes on the troll's head in the center of the relief that the sword used by the human gladiator is not an ordinary sword. It at least has the ability to restrain the troll's recovery.

If not, then when the human gladiator cuts off the troll's head, he will have to guard against the troll transforming into "Xing Tian" to continue fighting.

Even before the head is cut off, it will be killed by the troll's method of exchanging wounds for wounds.

But no matter what, this human gladiator was powerful enough to kill a troll that was stronger and faster than him with just one sword.

Shado was very curious about who this person was, because before today, he had never heard of such a human being. Perhaps Netheril has a strong magical atmosphere, and it is difficult for non-spellcasters to gain access to it.

But this will not be the case in the future. With such a powerful fighting talent, armed with magic or magic equipment, its deterrence may not be inferior to that of several high-level mages.

…

Soon, after walking through the passage, Xia Duo felt that he had passed through a layer of barrier, and several hoarse shouts suddenly came from his ears.

Even though he couldn't understand the dwarven language, he could guess from the high-pitched tone that he might be cheering for the battle in the arena.

At the same time, a dwarf wearing heavy armor and wrapping himself into a round wine barrel came to Shado.

Just when Xia Duo was worried about the other party, fearing that the other party would accidentally fall down and roll around, the other party had already stretched out a hand and said to Xia Duo: "Guest, your invitation letter?"