"Tell me again what this place is?"

"Maracanda, the northern town of the Tocharian Empire, is an important post on the way from the Great Gobi to the Golden City."

"Where did you come from and where are you going?"

"Like you, Mr. Jonah, I came from the Great Gobi to Bactria and was arrested by the herdsmen of Marakanda. ”

"That big barrel really hurts to smash people......"

"It hurts to death!"

The two men in the small stone house looked at each other and smiled wryly. Jonah had been with his new roommate for a while, and he had already fallen in love with this oriental man who was always smiling, "Am I ......?" the astrologer apprentice suddenly thought of something. The man named Asai finished the second half of the question for him: "You have eaten my food and drunk my soup, don't worry, they have already brought me food before, and you are still in a coma." ”

"Oh. Jonah patted his heart reassuringly and looked up at the starry sky outside the small window, "Has Arcturus risen so high, it's almost midnight now, and I've passed out for so long." ”

Asai pulled out a tattered steam-mechanical pocket watch from his bosom, pressed the spring, and the small steam puppet engine snorted white smoke and creaked and turned the clockwork, and the two hands on the pocket watch slowly pointed to the correct time after a jumbled shaking: eleven fifty-seven. The Dongfang looked at the young man in the same room in surprise: "True, how did you do it?"

"The stars know everything. Jonah sighed, "Assai, do you think they can let us out tomorrow? I must be in the Golden City by May 15th, where my companions are waiting for me." ”

Ah Sai put the broken pocket watch back in his arms, and was burned by the steam on the watch, "oops" and quickly pinched his earlobes with his fingers, "It's really hot...... It's okay if you wear that badge, the Tocharians have a lot of respect for the members of the Five Guilds. Saying...... Can you take me out? I can't beat them...... That bucket is very powerful......"

"Of course, of course. Jona looked at his new companion suspiciously, seeing that his stature and saber should have some fighting power, and that there was no reason why he was too weak to beat even a herdsman, though the barrel did have accuracy and strength to make the astrologer's apprentice feel uneasy.

The two were chatting when a green glow lit up in Jonah's deerskin bag, and the moonlight elf burst out and spun around the room in circles, shouting, "What's wrong with the big stupid?

"It'...... I have gone to heaven. Jonah replied in a low voice.

Xiao Liang suddenly hovered in the air, and then slowly landed on the shoulders of humans, hanging his head lonely: "Although I have already guessed it, it is still a little ...... It's a pretty cute big guy...... Wait, who are you?" the green-haired elf stared at the other man in the room with wide, sapphire blue eyes in his eyes filled with fear, defensiveness, and deep doubt.

"Oh, little girl, his name is Assai, and he is a traveler from the East, and he is a very good man. The astrologer's apprentice introduced, "Asai, she's a little girl, a moonlight spirit who has signed a contract with me, for some reason...... You can only come out for five minutes a day. ”

"Nice to meet you, the legendary Miss Magic Elf. The Oriental smiled and nodded.

"Asai?" the little boy muttered, holding Jonah's chin with both hands, and twisting his face so hard that the astrologer apprentice could hear a miserable clicking sound from his neck: "Hey, don't take advantage of my sleep ** friend, you are such a weak guy who needs to protect himself, in case you hang up, I'll be finished, bastard!"

Asai showed a harmless and gentle expression: "Don't worry, Miss Magic Elf, Jonah and I have become friends, and we get along very well." ”

The Moonlight Elf looked at him suspiciously, as if she couldn't make up her mind, "Don't you bully my stupid Jonah, do you hear me?" or ......" She flexed her little arms, showing off her negligible biceps.

The Oriental laughed and nodded repeatedly: "I promise that no one is stupid enough to make a magic elf angry, especially a weak guy like me." By the way, it's a new day, isn't it?"

After getting Jonah's affirmative answer, Asai waved his hand and motioned for everyone to dodge a little, "Jonah and the little boy get out of the corner...... Okay thanks, I'm going to see how much strength I've regained. ”

"How much has you recovered?" the elf wondered.

The Oriental turned to the bluestone wall and struck a sword draw. Standing simply on the side, Jonah could feel the muscles, tendons, and qi and blood of his whole body gradually adjusting to the optimal posture, and his body was filled with a certain sense of subtle coordination, but he could not feel any fluctuations in energy.

"Brush!"

A bright red sword light illuminated the hut, and then it was dark again, "Boom!" The dagger returned to its scabbard, Jonah couldn't see the blade for what it really was, and Asai stood quietly in front of the wall, his braid gently falling back to his shoulder, he maintained a relaxed but powerful stance, and did not speak.

Xiao Qian stretched her neck curiously to look around, and then couldn't help but fly to the wall and turn around, "Cut! I thought you were so good! rookie!" After seeing the results of the sword test, she let out a breath of disdain from her nostrils.

The Oriental turned around and stuck out his tongue: "Now I can only do my best to go to this point, if it weren't for the 'gluttony', I wouldn't have been able to cut through the stone wall at all." ”

Jonah walked over and took a look, where the sword had left a faint white notch on the wall, about half an inch deep into the rock, and the edges were covered with burrs, indicating the lack of strength of the swordsman. "What is gluttony, is it the name of the sword?" he asked, reaching out to touch the mark, then looking back.

"That's right. Ah Sai spread his hands: "It's my treasure weapon with a big temper, with the current I can't mobilize its enthusiasm at all, just for the weak attack just now, this guy is still messing with me now!"

"Are weapons conscious?" was a novelty, and the astrologer's apprentice stared curiously at the dagger, the scabbard was made of dark green leather, and the hilt was wrapped in a plain strip of black cloth, with no special decoration.

The Oriental narrowed his eyes and smiled, "Of course, the best weapons have their own souls." My gluttony is a stinky and greedy fellow, yesterday because he was so hungry that I wanted to prick the cow's skin to get some blood, but I didn't expect this guy to be so excited that he stabbed the innocent cow to death at once...... On the way to escape, we unfortunately ran into a herdsman uncle with a bucket, so we were caught. ”

It was the first time Jonah had seen such a compellingly weak fellow, and he couldn't help but glance at the staff in his hand, "You mean, if -- just if -- this staff of mine is also a very powerful weapon, it also has a soul of its own?"

"Nonsense!" interjected the Moonlight Elf, "you dull fool!"

"Not everyone can communicate with the Spirit of Weapons, it takes a long time to get along, and you also have the strength to be recognized by the Spirit of Weapons." In the East, there are nine such weapons, all named after the sons of dragons, and my 'gluttony' ranks fifth. By the way, the second-ranked 'Kiss' is in the hands of a woman, she is very powerful, and she must not underestimate women!"

The astrologer apprentice didn't pay attention to the second half of the Oriental man's words, but just stared at the staff Sira Fina in a daze, if the seal of the gods also has its own soul, then wouldn't it be possible to communicate directly with the main god Shira through the artifact?

The magic elf frowned: "I have to wait until my stupid Jonah is strong enough to conquer this staff, and I guess the day when the end of the world comes......"

"That's right!" Jonah came back to his senses, remembering the strange thing he had picked up when he was sacrificing the ghost Bahamas, and pulled out the crimson flake from his bag, "What do you think this is?"

The little girl flew over, picked up the shiny flake that was not gold and jade with both hands, sat on Jonah's shoulder and looked at it: "I haven't seen it yesterday, did the big stupid beast leave it for you?"

The astrologer apprentice nodded: "Yes, it disappeared in the explosion, and then this thing fell and stuck in the rock. I think it's a dragon scale, don't you think it's like it?"

"I don't know. The Moonlight Elf flipped over and studied, "I've never seen anything like this, if it's dragon scales, there's no reason to grow into this shape." ”

"Is that okay?" the Oriental man politely stretched out his right hand and clenched the flakes vigilantly: "What are you doing?"

"It's okay, let him see it, Xiao Xian, Ah Sai knows a lot of things. Jonah hurriedly cleared the way.

"Just take a look, give it back to me after reading, this kind of shiny thing is not something that a rough person like you can appreciate......" The moonlight elf reluctantly put the thing in the palm of Asai's hand.

The Oriental smiled and withdrew his right hand, observed it by the starlight, and stroked the surface of the flake with his fingers: "These are not dragon scales." Dragon scales are opaque, have natural textures on the surface, and cannot be so small: the smallest dragon scales are also two feet square, diamond-shaped or fan-shaped. He thought for a moment, and then said uncertainly: "If you want me to say, this shape is a bit like the sacred symbol of Ollie, one of the main gods of the Eastern Continent and the god of agriculture, and Ollie's emblem is a half ring, in other words, the shape of an arched bridge. Do you think it looks like it?"

Jonah took the slice and looked at it, "It's a bit like that, indeed." And what is this, the coat of arms of the main god Ollie that fell from a dragon?"

The little obedient shouted: "Yes, yes, the father of the big stupid beast was originally the Oriental Dragon, maybe it was something that the Black Dragon brought from the East at that time." ”

Before he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door, "What's going on inside?" a rough voice shouted in the lingua franca of Nandalu.