"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

It sure is loud in here. We didn't go to the amateur arena where victor fought, since the fighters are newbies. We don't have time to find aspiring talents on the bottom level so we skipped to the middle level fighters where most of the good actions happens. The top fighters would be preferable but you need to pay a separate fee to watch.

"Waaaaahhh! This is great, right brill? I earned a couple silver coins in the betting house just now. I'm on a roll!! hahaha"
"Don't spill your beer on me! Calm down or you will lose all your coins."

It has been a good 5 hours watching fight after fight after fight. I think it's time I return to the inn.

"I'll go ahead and return to the inn. Don't get carried away and bet everything you have. Don't take out a loan too or teacher will roast you."
"We know, this amount of beer isn't enough to get us drunk."
"Tell teacher that we will probably come back late in the night and we will eat outside."

Alright, so far the trip to the arena is slightly informative for me. The hair-like armour that made you look like an upright centibus was for the centaurs. It acts like those spikes on chariots but they made the whips with flexible metal that has a raspy body. That way it doesn't break upon contact even if the enemy has armour. If they use a shield or their weapon to intercept it then it would gradually break it down.

The beast continent people mainly use weapons to further enhance their uniqueness, steel hoofs, harder shells, and metal nails. If you know animal knowledge then you can use it to enhance their weapons accordingly. I'm sure there is a manual somewhere to help me with that.

Demon continent inhabitants mainly use magic so they either use wands or magic rings. Their armour varies from nothing to very heavy armour. I can't prepare for that unless I know what kind of type my new body in that continent would be. My blacksmithing won't help much in creating a weapon for that. I need to learn some enchanter crafting if I get restarted at that continent.

The human continent is pretty standard so I can use my modern earth knowledge to make armours for that.

The elf continent is simpler since they mostly wear light or cloth armour and their main weapons are either bows or wands like the demon continent.

I told them that I will return to the inn but I don't want to go back yet. This is a trip after all, so I want to explore and be adventurous. However, I pretty much explored the whole island, except the hero temple. I bought everything I needed too.

Should I explore outside the wall? It might be dangerous but I can test the waters by looking at the death arena first.

"This is the barrier to the death arena, we have to warn you to follow the island rules while you are within the arena. Also, if you are a traveler from within the island, please remember to come back to this entrance. If you use other exit, it would lead you to outside the city walls. Outside, the rules are gone so if you get lost and exit there, we aren't held responsible for any accidents you may face."

That is some extensive warning. I should be able to hold on even if I get mobbed. I don't have to worry about pickpockets either since I can just hide all things in my storage.

All right, I'm good.

"Hey bro, are you new here? You look new, did you know that you have to pay to go pass here? Oh, don't worry this is to maintain the death arena."
"Island rules still apply, move out of the way or the kraken will take you."
"Tsk, can't take a joke."

Scammers showing up after I just crossed the entrance? Isn't this a bit too fast? At least do it after I exit the actual arena.

The fights are basically the same, other than the bloodthirsty audience chanting 'kill' all the time. The betting house has a bigger payout too. The odd thing is that the food and merchandise cost less. I figured it would cost more since they are protected by the island rules while within the arena. I guess they lowered it since no one outside could afford it or they don't want to pay that much for it?

"Are you leaving? Please pass me your entrance ticket. Thank you~"

Why would they check the ticket when coming out? If they want to check tickets then they should have warned us to take good care of it.

"Ah, you came from the life entrance. Customer, this is the death entrance. It leads outside the city wall. The island rules doesn't apply out there. Please go along that wall to the life arena."
"I want to exit here and go outside."
"I see, please be careful. Also, since you came from the life entrance, you can enter for free if you have your ticket. It is only valid for a week so please be on time."
"Is it because the entrance fee at the life arena is a couple times more than the death entrance?"
"Of course its because of that. Do you know how hard it is to earn money outside the city walls? The only way we can have death arena customers is if we lower it to this price. Anyway, have fun exploring outside the city walls. Do you want us to send a message to someone if you don't return after a weeks?"
"No thanks."

Now, let me see the so called danger zone in this place.

Huge, this place is huge. The terrain is rocky and I can see the ocean a couple of kilometre here. There are some trees near the ocean but the only thing I recognize are the coconuts. There aren't any town looking places or any kind of place where people looks like they live.

"Are you lost dwarf? That armour looks nice and clean, you must be new here. You must be someone from inside the walls. How about I teach you the ropes for a small fee of 10 silver coins?"

A purple goblin casually sharpening a dagger right outside the death arena? Yeah, this isn't suspicious at all.

I guess this is better than someone outright mugging me. Since this is my first time here and I want to attract as less attention as possible, I would take the offer of this little goblin so I know the so called 'ropes' but the price is a bit high. You can buy 50 dishes from a medium classed restaurant with that much coins.

"I have 20 copper coins."
"80 copper coins."
"25 copper coins. I'll walk away."
"Ok, 25 copper coins so I won't spread about a new meat wandering around, hehehe."
"5 copper coins or you'll die after this conversation."
"Ahahaha, can we go back to 20 copper coins? That was just a joke, hahaha. People still have to eat and life is hard outside the walls."
"Fine, start by telling me where everyone is."

Just in case, I have my hammer strapped on my belt ready to be used. Of course to avoid him thinking that I have a storage equipment, I pretended that I was holding all the time behind me.

"You are one cautious city dweller. Fine, since I already accepted the money, I will play this straight."

If you want to play it straight then stop sharpening that dagger.

"First of all, as you saw, this is the wild zone. The reason anyone would build a house is to protect themselves from the elements however, in a place like this, it would just make you stand out. You can't even leave anything inside the house since it would be picked clean as soon as you left it alone. Even the roof might be stolen. What good is a house if you can't use it the next day?"

From what you mentioned then you might get killed in the middle of the night even if you lock the doors.

"Most of the people who live here have underground hideouts. There are caves too but most of the caves are occupied by groups so they can guard it. The biggest caves that used to be home to the sea monsters are now the fortress of the big bandit groups."
"The sea monsters aren't here anymore?"
"Of course they aren't, the hero isn't here anymore so they went back to the ocean."

Their master is gone so they have no reason to be here anymore?

"Then where do people do business here?"
"Behind a rock? At least people do it far away from their hideout."
"Where do people trade and stuff?"
"Hahaha, that business huh. We don't have stuff like that here. If you want to eat then scavenge the lands, forage the limited greenery or try to catch a fish by the shallows. If you want clothes or weapons then make it yourself. If you make something decent then you can sell it at the store over there for coins. If you can't do any of that then join a bandit group to rob those who can."

A free for all, huh. Also, stop sharpening that dagger. It's already shiny like a mirror. It's actually blinding me a bit, don't shine it.

"What do you need the coin for if you don't have to buy anything here?"
"We save up coins to enter the city. You need to pay 10 gold coins to enter the city and be given a citizen status."
"Is that so."

*Sneak* *Sneak* *Sneak*

"Is that all dwarf?"
"Yeah it should be fine for now. Are you ready?"
"Hehehe, You really are cautious. Don't blame me for this, your curiosity shouldn't have brought you outside the safety of the walls."

It's fine if I die here since I already have the knowledge of blacksmithing. I have all the materials to build the foundation of my blacksmith legend too. However, I won't go down quietly you know.

"Mister dwarf, watch out!! The seven dagger bandit group are aiming for you!"

A good soul? In a place like this? Too late though, they already finished encircling me.

"Tsk, damn brat!"
"Spoiling our ambush like this!"
"Stop it! Ignore that brat and help us ambush this dwarf. You can flay that nuisance later."
"Fourth is right! Dwarves are a tough race that can hit like a boulder. We need all seven of us to bring this one down."

I actually knew you were coming thanks to my hearing.

"Do you really want to do this?"
"Regretting your little visit to the lower level, milord?"
"Since you already see me as a target then I can't have a quiet tour of this place unless you all die. I didn't really want to start this but it can't be helped."

[Earth arrow] x7

*Pierce* x7

Earth magic is the easiest to use at the dwarf continent so I am quite proficient in it. Also, if your enemies are wearing armour, it can pierce it compared to wind magic. Fire would also work but it would attract too much attention.

I also played some cowboy shooting tricks whenever I trained at the desert. I set up targets in very tricky spots so piercing the hearts of the bandits is child's play in comparison.

"Ugh, a m-magician d...wa...rf?"
"You are curious too? It happened in reverse this time. Your death brought out your curiosity."

Dead already, huh?

"Oi, kid! I'm at least thankful for the late warning but you need to stick with me until I finish my business here. Otherwise, you will also be a loose end I need to tidy up."
"Ah, yes but can I deliver this package before I go with you?"
"Nope, either carry it with you or dump it somewhere."

I lost a shady guide and gained a somewhat trustworthy one in return. I only needed to kill my ambushers to trade up, I guess this is a good start.