Chapter 003: A Small Place

Whether gold, gems, pearls, or agate, these things are hard currency in many worlds, good substitutes for money.

Perhaps in some worlds, gold might not be valuable.

But Wang Bo's intuition told him that a world where gold was not valuable did not include this one.

Sure enough, after Wang Bo took out a gold ring, the landlady's face changed, her smile became more radiant, and her attitude more enthusiastic.

"Of course, my honored guest."

The landlady picked up the ring, weighed it a few times, and said, "You can stay here for a month, guest."

"That won't be necessary." Wang Bo smiled. "We'll stay just one night."

"What a pity." Though the landlady said this, there was no regret on her face.

Wang Bo smiled slightly, gave the room keys to Xiao Bai and Ya Zi, and chatted idly with the landlady. After using a bit of hypnotic magic, the landlady told him almost everything.

Wang Bo asked bluntly, "What is this world called, what is the land beneath our feet, how many countries are there, and which country does this place belong to?"

The landlady told Wang Bo that the land beneath their feet was called Middle-earth, the region they were in was called Eriador, and Middle-earth had many countries, such as Rohan and Gondor.

Actually, as soon as Wang Bo heard the words 'Middle-earth,' he understood what world he was in.

After all, the term 'Middle-earth' was too famous.

This marked that Wang Bo had entered the world of The Lord of the Rings.

When Wang Bo asked if there were any Hobbits nearby, the landlady said, "Follow the road you came from straight ahead, and you'll enter the Shire and see Halflings."

The so-called Halflings were actually Hobbits—a variant or branch of humans, characterized by their small stature, averaging about one meter in height, but they were not dwarves or gnomes.

However, Hobbits did not consider themselves a branch of humans; they firmly believed they were Hobbits, a race of their own.

And the Shire was the region where Hobbits lived, located in the north of Middle-earth, west of the Misty Mountains, east of the Grey Havens, within Eriador and the kingdom of Arnor.

Now Wang Bo was very clear about his location.

To be honest, after realizing he had entered the world of The Lord of the Rings, Wang Bo's first thought was to go see an old friend... the dragon Smaug.

That fellow had once crossed into a fairy tale world and was sent back by Wang Bo.

He wondered if that guy was dead or not.

Wang Bo remembered that in the prequel to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Smaug was killed by a man.

He didn't know how far the plot of Middle-earth had progressed, or whether Smaug was dead.

This made Wang Bo very curious.

So Wang Bo resolved to go to the Lonely Mountain to check; he remembered that Smaug was supposed to live there.

When Wang Bo watched the story, he remembered clearly that the Lonely Mountain was located south of Mirkwood in Middle-earth, with the Long Lake to the south, adjacent to the territory of the Wood-elves in Mirkwood.

It was called the Lonely Mountain because there were no other mountains for hundreds of miles around.

This had once been the territory of the Dwarf kingdom.

The Dwarves mined veins there, accumulated wealth, and eventually found a very interesting thing in the Lonely Mountain.

The Heart of the Mountain, the Arkenstone.

This thing was not only beautiful and charming but also priceless; even Elves could not ignore it. The master of the Lonely Mountain, King Thráin I of the Dwarf kingdom, regarded this charming gem as his greatest treasure.

As a result, it attracted the dragon Smaug, who was insatiably greedy for wealth.

Smaug easily defeated the Dwarves on the Lonely Mountain, seized all the wealth of the Dwarf kingdom, and drove the Dwarves away.

But the Dwarves never forgot to reclaim the Lonely Mountain, especially Thráin I's grandson, Thorin, who was obsessed with retaking it. Eventually, with the help of the Maia Gandalf, the Hobbit Bilbo, and other Dwarves and Men, they killed Smaug and reclaimed the Lonely Mountain.

However, that fellow wasn't very lucky; he didn't rule the Lonely Mountain for long before dying in a battle.

Afterward, his cousin Dáin II Ironfoot led the Dwarves to rebuild the Kingdom under the Mountain, and the area around the Lonely Mountain became prosperous and wealthy again.

But for now, Wang Bo didn't know how far the plot had progressed, so he didn't know whether Smaug was dead or not. All of this required Wang Bo to see for himself.

After resting one night at the inn, the next morning Wang Bo and the others ate breakfast, asked the landlady for directions to the Misty Mountains, and set off.

"Where are we going now?"

Xiao Bai saw Wang Bo looking energetic and eager, and couldn't help asking curiously.

"To the Lonely Mountain, to see an old friend," Wang Bo said.

"Old friend?" Xiao Qing said. "Have you been to this world before?"

"No, but I already know what world this is, and I've seen travelers from this world in other worlds," Wang Bo said slowly.

"You know? What world is this?" Xiao Qing couldn't help asking.

"The Lord of the Rings."

"The Lord of the Rings? This is Middle-earth?" Xiao Qing exclaimed in amazement. She had watched many movies with Wang Bo, and The Lord of the Rings was one of them.

"That's right, this is Middle-earth," Wang Bo nodded.

Xiao Bai looked up at the sky and said, "We won't be discovered by the gods here, will we?"

After all, this world had gods, and Wang Bo's group were outsiders.

Wang Bo said calmly, "We haven't attracted their attention yet."

Wang Bo was fully confident about this.

Because he had experience; Wang Bo hadn't forgotten that in Xiao Bai's world, there were also immortals, but when Wang Bo unified the Nine Provinces and ascended the throne, he didn't see any immortal come to trouble him.

And Middle-earth was even more so; the gods here, except for appearing at the beginning of creation, were just a backdrop and basically never interfered with human actions.

In Wang Bo's memory, the creator of the world of The Lord of the Rings seemed to be called Ilúvatar.

He was called the 'One God' and the 'Father of All,' and was also the creator of the Ainur and Eä.

By the way, Eä referred to the universe of The Lord of the Rings.

And the Ainur were Ilúvatar's servants; if Ilúvatar was God, then the Ainur were angels.

But Ilúvatar and most of the Ainur did not actually live in this universe; they lived in the Timeless Halls outside the universe.

For these beings, the world of The Lord of the Rings was actually an insignificant small place, equivalent to the foundation of a pillar in the Timeless Halls.

Therefore, as long as Wang Bo did not destroy this world or slaughter all its humans, probably no god would interfere with Wang Bo's actions.