Chapter 515: Bloodline Curse

The three of them were blocking the way, and more and more people were paying attention. Although it was not necessarily going to lead to anything bad, it wouldn't lead to anything good either. Xia Duo called over this middle-aged man with a beard, and he and Niya walked toward the edge of the Arena.

A bust of a Spellcaster, one person tall, could barely block the line of sight from one side. Xia Duo had already adopted a posture of not wanting to attract attention. Among the onlookers, except for a very few who were still peering this way, most others shifted their gaze and looked elsewhere.

Having cast a Soundproof Barrier as usual, Xia Duo looked at the middle-aged man with a beard: "Don't tell me the Spellbook is on you."

According to what the other party said, what he wanted to sell was a real Spellbook. If so, a Spellbook made by at least a High Mage would certainly be a Magic Item, but Xia Duo did not see any Magic Aura on him.

If the other party really said the Spellbook was on him, he was undoubtedly a liar, and then Xia Duo would let him see the consequences of deceiving him! "My lord, how could I carry such a treasure as a Spellbook on me! And there are so many people here, who knows how many pickpockets there are!" The middle-aged man with a beard looked around and said cautiously.

"Then for this Spellbook, how many Gold Coins do you want?"

"This, this—" The middle-aged man with a beard rubbed his hands and said nothing, but his eyes glanced at Niya.

Niya frowned and spoke for the first time, "Do you have a Spellbook or not? If you have one, state the price! Don't waste our time!"

"My lords, two my lords!" A trace of panic appeared on the face of the middle-aged man with a beard, and he hurriedly told the truth, "The Spellbook is at my home, it's just that I don't want Gold Coins."

"You don't want Gold Coins? Then what do you want?" Xia Duo asked.

"I want to ask you to save my son!"

The middle-aged man with a beard glanced at Xia Duo, then turned his gaze to Niya, his eyes full of expectation. If the location hadn't been inappropriate, he would even have wanted to kneel down and beg sincerely.

"Tell me the specific situation! Where did the Spellbook come from? What happened to your son? Why did you come to us?"

At this moment, Xia Duo had already realized that this guy had definitely sought them out specifically. Although it wasn't necessarily planned in advance for him to wait for them here, it wasn't as if there were no other Mages here besides him and Niya, yet the other party only stopped them, so there must have been a choice involved.

And asking a Mage to save someone seemed unreliable no matter how you looked at it! "My lord, the Spellbook was left behind by my ancestors, passed down from generation to generation, it is absolutely real."

"I can't tell that you are a descendant of a High Mage, how did you end up like this?" Of course, Xia Duo didn't really want the other party to answer this question, he was just making a snide remark, then asked: "Then what is going on with your son?"

"My son suddenly got sick a while ago and became very weak. He can't even get out of bed now, I—" Speaking of his son, the middle-aged man with a beard burst into tears.

His son had been very smart since he was a child, and seeing that he was about to come of age, the whole family's hopes were pinned on him. Now that he had fallen ill and might even lose his life at any moment, how could one not feel sorrow! Xia Duo shook his head secretly and asked: "Why look for a Mage for an illness? Didn't you go to the Temple?"

The Temples of Netheril sometimes doubled as Hospitals. Under normal circumstances, common illnesses could be cured. Basically, if the Temple couldn't cure it, a Mage wouldn't have much more hope.

The middle-aged man with a beard wiped his tears and adjusted his emotions, "My lord, the Priest at the Temple said my son was struck by a bloodline curse. To lift it, one must find a Bishop, but my family has no money left, and even less of a channel to contact a Bishop. Coming here this time was just to try my luck, hoping to meet someone who could save my son."

Xia Duo understood. So they weren't the first target either! But how could someone with the status of a Bishop come to the Arena to watch a competition alone without any guards! Even if one met and stopped them, it wouldn't necessarily be a good thing.

"So you stopped us? How did you know we could save your son?" While the Arena hadn't opened yet, Xia Duo didn't mind saying a few more words.

"Also, there are quite a few Mages here, why did you pick us?"

"My lord, my son is about to die, and the people from the Temple didn't come, so I could only look for a Mage. As for why I didn't look for others—" Speaking of this, the middle-aged man with a beard looked at Niya again.

This time, Xia Duo also noticed something was wrong, "Do you know my companion?"

"I don't know her, but I recognize the emblem of Giles Tower. I've been guarding here since before dawn today, and I only found one Mage from Giles Tower."

Xia Duo immediately sent a Sending to Niya, "No one from Giles Tower came to watch the competition?"

"They teleported directly inside the Arena," Niya replied.

"Then you—"

"Didn't we agree to come together?"

"..."

Well, if it weren't for meeting this middle-aged man with a beard, and if Niya hadn't said it herself, Xia Duo reckoned it would have been hard to know that Niya was accommodating him.

As the three were talking, a commotion suddenly appeared at the entrance of the Arena. It turned out that the entrance had opened, and the middle-aged man with a beard became even more anxious. He looked at Xia Duo, then at Niya, "Two my lords—"

"After the Arcane Competition, we will go to your house to see the Spellbook." Xia Duo stopped Niya, who was about to speak, and said first.

The goods hadn't even been seen, so the deal naturally hadn't been reached. Moreover, Xia Duo emphasized one point, "If the Spellbook is real, then I can try to save your son, but I don't guarantee success. You need to be mentally prepared, or you can go find someone else!"

As he spoke, Xia Duo left his Arcane Mark on the back of the middle-aged man's hand, and without waiting for him to continue speaking, he pulled Niya and walked toward the entrance.

Nowadays, Xia Duo's Arcane Fire was linked to the Magic Net at all times, and his sensitivity to the Magic Net was far better than before. As soon as he entered the Arena, he noticed that the surrounding Magic Net environment was unusual.

It was as if it had been reconstructed, becoming more orderly, with a feeling of a Mythallar.

But Xia Duo had experienced a Mythallar personally—there were Mythallars in the normal state of a Projection Plane, and there were the silent Mythallars of the Elf Ruins near Green Pearl Forest. The Magic Net environment here was still a far cry from a Mythallar.

But even so, this reconstructed, highly orderly Magic Net environment still filled Xia Duo with awe. This was something he could not achieve no matter what at present!...

After actually entering, Xia Duo discovered that although so many people were gathered outside, very few people actually came in—not even one-tenth. The vast majority were Spellcasters.

Inside and outside, it was like two worlds. Outside was the noisy world of ordinary people, and inside was the cold world of Spellcasters.

(End of chapter)