- Excerpted from Ezreal's "Valloran's Travels: Noxus Chapter 1: The Making of an Empire"

Chapter 132 Arena

Lothar meditated in the room.

This is the cultivation method recorded in the magic book. By emptying yourself, you can experience the magic in your body.

According to the records of that book, when cultivating ice magic, meditation will feel a distinct chill, like coming to winter.

On the other hand, Lothar felt like he was in an extremely cold layer of ice. The magic in his body does not belong to the simple ice element, but the pure ice, the ultimate ice-cold thing that will never melt.

"Ha...ha...ha..." Lothar reached the limit once again, he interrupted his meditation, took a deep breath, and the sweat kept pouring out, and then it froze into ice and fell from his body.

Because of the cold air in his body, he usually already felt a lot of pain, and meditation aggravated the pain a hundredfold.

However, after suffering this kind of pain, Lothar is not without gain.

An ice crystal longbow condensed between his fingers. Unlike the feathers he showed in front of Swain, the appearance of this longbow was not rough at all, and even the arrows created together were extremely sharp. If it doesn't look like it's made of ice, it looks like it's made by an experienced bowsmith.

When Lothar faced Swain, he always had to save himself some cards.

There was another sharp throbbing pain on his body, and every time he used ice magic, the pain on his body intensified.

Lothar smiled bitterly and looked at the icy blue wing mark on his chest: "Can't you make me feel better..."

no respond.

Lothar lay on the ground, and the pain caused by Zhen Bing made it take him a long time to fall asleep every day.

"When Ashe was using that bow...is it so painful...no...she's an iceborn, maybe she'll feel better than me..." Lothar looked out the window, and he could see the falling ivy in the gap. Thick snowflakes.

Winter had come a long time, and he could not keep his appointment to return to Avarosa.

"How is she now..." Lothar closed her eyes and waited quietly for the pain to subside.

He waited a long time.

...

Arena of Glory.

For the first time in his life, Lothar saw a real crowd of people.

There is almost no space between people. It takes a lot of time to walk a few steps forward, and even if you are not careful, you are pushed to the back.

Of course, people gather here for only one purpose - to appreciate the fight.

"That's enough..." Lothar began to wonder if the Noxians' brains were full of blood. "What's so good about killing people, smelly and disgusting, how interesting it is to watch fights in a tavern, and watch them while drinking... …”

Freljord also has a similar arena, but usually there is no duel to divide life and death. After all, every tribe in Freljord cannot be said to be prosperous, and will not waste precious lives in the Colosseum. inside.

After deeply feeling the foreign and cultural differences, Lothar couldn't help it.

He took off his cloak, and the cold air on his body leaked out, and everyone around Lothar felt the cold wind cut like a sharp blade on them, and they were afraid to avoid it.

There was finally a way around Lothar, and he didn't care about the strange eyes of others, and went straight to one of the gates of the Arena of Glory - the liquidator registration office.

"I'm here to sign up to be the liquidator." Lothar directly grabbed a man in the uniform of the arena staff.

The middle-aged man who was caught by Lothar was startled, the reason was naturally the chill that came from Lothar's body that made his heart palpitate.

The middle-aged man was obviously surprised, and there was a gloomy gloom in his eyes, but he hurriedly put on a smile: "Dear mage, did I hear it right? You want to sign up to be a liquidator"

Lothar speaks fluent Noxian language, and has to admit that Swain is a good teacher, and in a very short time he taught Lothar's accent to be like a native of Noxus: "There is a problem. ?"

"Of course not!" The middle-aged man said with a flattering smile, "It's just that there are very few mages who come to be liquidators. Generally, mages go to serve in the army or serve the nobles."

"Well... Anyway, I want to be a liquidator, how do I sign up?"

"Are you sure? Please come with me!" The middle-aged man's eyes lit up and greeted Lothar warmly into a guest room, "Just call me Crow, I need you to fill out some documents first."

Lothar drank the hot juice sent by Crow and looked at the contents of the documents on the table.

"Isn't this a form of life and death..." Lothar glanced at it. There was almost no other important content in the document except for death matters. Basically, it can be summarized as - winning the arena will give you a lot of money, losing the arena will give you a lot of money. You won't get a single point, and if you accidentally lose your life, the arena doesn't give any pensions to your family.

Lothar looked up at Crowe: "Just sign these things and I can play in the arena?"

"Of course!" Crowe said with a smile. "This afternoon's games are not full yet. If you want to play quickly, I can make the decision to let you cut in."

Lothar was a little surprised. The Noxians didn't seem to care about life at all. In the Freljord, a life-and-death confrontation had to go through a long series of rituals and sacrifices before it could begin.

However, through Swain's dictation before he came, Lothar also had a general understanding of the rules of the arena, so he was not too surprised.

After signing the documents two or three times, Rosa said: "I'm going to play today, and arrange for me to have a stronger opponent."

Crowe took the document and rolled his eyes: "Mr. Luo Ji? You are indeed Ionian."

Lothar raised an eyebrow: "You can understand Ionian"

Crow smiled and lifted his clothes. There was a huge scar on his stomach: "It was cut by the Ionians. I joined the army and retired after suffering this injury."

Lothar touched his chin and thought: "No wonder he didn't look right when he just looked at me... Does he hate the Ionians..."

Crowe collected the documents: "I'll go to arrange a battle for you. According to the rules, the first battle is anonymous. Only if you win three or more consecutive games, the arena will broadcast your name."

Lothar waved his hand, indicating that he knew.

Crow politely exited the room, and as soon as the door closed, his expression immediately turned gloomy.

After a few steps away from the room, Crowe scolded in a low voice: "Damn Ionian, the wolf spirit let you fall into my hands, even if you are a mage, I will kill you."

"But I'm not an Ionian..." Lothar stayed indoors quietly, with a helpless expression on his face, and said in his heart, "And you should go a little further before scolding."

Lothar drank the hot orange juice, and didn't seem to worry that Crow would stumble him at all, but simply thought: "It seems that Noxus is a country with many races and regions, but discrimination and hatred are very common. It still exists inside... just like the tyrant assassins guild, it seems to hate the tauren..."

Lothar doesn't care whether Crowe will arrange for him to be too strong opponents, because he also wants to see how far he has grown now.

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In Noxus, there is a type of warrior known as the "Reckoner", who fights not in the battlefield, but in a high-walled arena.

The sport of blood fighting is very popular in Noxus, and almost all Noxian territories and colonies can find arenas built by them. The liquidators would wager their lives in the arena to fight. Although the death rate was extremely high, the top liquidators could enjoy treatment no less than nobles in Noxus.

Not all liquidators were voluntary, and with the conquest of Noxus, people in defeated territories would become slaves if they insisted on resisting and not surrendering. The more powerful warriors were forced to become liquidators, and sometimes they were even forced to fight against their own countrymen.

- Excerpted from Ezreal's "Valloran's Travels: Noxus Chapter 1: The Making of an Empire"

Chapter 133 Unexpected opponent

"Ladies and gentlemen! The duel is about to begin this afternoon!"

In the center of the amphitheater is a wide sandy area, surrounded by layers of auditoriums, which are already overcrowded and noisy.

But even so, a man with funny cockscomb hair still pressed the crowd, his shrill and exaggerated voice drowned out all the noise: "There will be at least six one-on-one duels this afternoon! One of the twelve liquidators has already won The veterans who have been honored! There are also newcomers who participated in the life-and-death struggle for the first time! Let us applaud them!"

There were extremely enthusiastic cheers in the audience, and Lothar's ears hurt a little: "There are too many people... The number of people in this audience alone is worth half the population of Avarosa... …”

The cockscomb-headed man continued to shout: "I'm your arena announcer Karl! Not much nonsense! Are you ready to gamble your coins on the trusted liquidator! Let's start the first contest!"

Losar waited quietly in the lounge, looking down at the center of the arena from the balcony.

He was told at noon that his fight was the second, so Lothar would have to wait a while.

Two weaponized liquidators came on, yelling at each other, shoving and shoving, with Carl blocking between them and introducing loudly.

Neither of the two liquidators was new, so Carl called out their names.

【Bengshan Hammer】Tylenol.

[Iron pig] Guimar.

"What stupid names are these..." Lothar listened to these names speechlessly.

But the hilarious titles seemed to work well for the audience, who shouted loudly, holding their tickets tightly, and everyone roared as if they were about to break their throats.

With the announcement of the host Carl, the two liquidators officially began to fight.

Both sides of the battle are tall and big, and they all use heavy weapons, so the battle has become quite boring, and it is basically a simple competition of brute force.

But such a simple and rude confrontation completely ignited the atmosphere of the arena. The audience was completely immersed in the heavy blows of the two liquidators without any fancy. Under the instigation of the host Carl, the cheers became higher and higher.

In the end, the liquidators were divided, one life and one death.

The audience shouted wildly, cheering for the winners and spitting on the losers.

Lothar shook his head: "This kind of death is really worthless. Olaf is much better than you."

Lothar moved his muscles and bones, and it was his turn to play immediately. Because it was daytime, the pain on his body was not too serious, and it should not affect his activities.

Lothar raised his head and looked up. There were some spacious balconies scattered among the auditoriums, and many people in Chinese clothes were sitting among them.

Those were the nobles who came to watch the fight in the arena, and they were also the objects that Lothar wanted to attract attention.

"Swain told me to play a bit more gorgeous..." Lothar pushed open the door, "then it will be as he wishes."

...

"The next battle! It's still a classic one-on-one showdown!" Cockscomb head host Carl shouted to the audience, "One side is a new liquidator from Ionia! This is his first battle!"

There were different voices from the audience, some shouting, some shouting boredom, and some cursing the Ionians.

"It's really noisy..." Lothar walked out of the preparation area under the guidance of the staff and strode towards the center of the arena.

The appearance of Lothar made the audience's shouts suddenly pause, and then someone shouted: "He is a mage!"

Every time Lothar took a step, a layer of icy blue and translucent ice formed around his feet, like a road, leading directly to the center of the arena with Lothar.

Karl shuddered, and standing up close to the new liquidator gave him goosebumps.

"As you can see!" Karl pointed at Lothar with one arm, "This new liquidator is an ice mage! A rare mage liquidator!"

The entire arena was boiling again. It was a rare thing to see a mage in the arena, and even many people sitting in the noble seats and yawning raised some spirits.

"And his opponent! It's [Intestinal Eater] Vogga! The troll liquidator who has won thirty-four games in a row!"

"Wait, troll" Lothar's eyes widened.

"Ouch!" An unpleasant roar came from the other side of the arena, the iron gate was slowly lifted, and a huge figure appeared from it.

The three people are huge, with extremely ugly appearance, covered with tumors and prickly heat, and the stench can be smelled even from dozens of meters away.

No doubt, this is a troll.

It is covered in scars, with heavy iron ball shackles on both feet, each wrist is bound by an iron chain, the other end of the chain is held by two fighters, and behind the troll are two fighters holding fire spears. Burning its back.

The half-pulled troll roared frantically, not only at its opponent Lothar, but at everyone in the arena.

It was answered only by the frenzied cries of the audience.

Lothar understood why it was his opponent.

Frost trolls are not afraid of the cold by nature. These guys have slept in the snow since childhood, and the ice summoned by the frost mages can be said to have little effect on them.

Ice magic is almost useless to trolls, and as a human being, there is a world of difference in physique from trolls. No matter how you look at it, it is an absolute disadvantage.

Arranging such an opponent is an obvious target.

However, there are not many people in the audience who can see that this duel is not fair, and most of them are still looking forward to the collision between the mage and the troll. Only those who sat in the noble seats had enough vision to know Lothar's current situation, and they all cast pity.

It's just that this pity is too hypocritical, and it can't even hide the smile in their eyes.

"Swain didn't lie to me." Lothar turned his head, and the cold pain became clearer. "The only law in this country is that the weak eat the strong."

...

A seat of nobility.

Most of Zasen's attention was not in the arena. His palms were full of sweat, and he had to hold his handkerchief tightly as he secretly glanced at the people around him nervously.

Sitting next to him is the man of his dreams.

She was wearing a veil and her seductive curves covered by a black gauze skirt. Only her neck and bare hands were exposed, revealing a skin that was so fair that even the beauty of Ionia could not match her.

Zasen secretly swallowed his saliva. As a nobleman, he believed that in his thirty or forty years of life, he had also experienced many stunning beauties, such as young girls from the countryside, or lonely ladies who lived in the boudoir for a long time, and even from forgiveness. An exotic girl from Rima and Ionia.

But there is no woman like her, who can make Zasen, who has been in love for a long time, be as ecstatic as a young boy who is just beginning to love.

"Mr. Zasen, what do you think of this match?" the woman said, and Zasen could vaguely see her hazy red lips behind the veil.

"She's asking me for a lesson!" Zasen sat up straight. It took him a lot of effort to successfully invite her to watch the competition with him. The purpose was to show his erudition in front of beautiful women.

"How an ice mage can beat a frost troll" Zasen tried to make his statement humorous and funny, "Like a satyr taking a shot at a strong man, he just found the wrong opponent."

The beautiful woman turned to look at Zasen, her eyes behind the veil faintly glowing: "Your metaphor is really apt and vivid."

Zasen's heart seemed to have been poured into a jar of honey, and he could hardly control the corners of his mouth that rose wildly: "How can you be overrated, Ms. Elise."

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