The Kingdom of Lordaeron, the Dalaran Magic Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Alterac all traded with the High Elf Kingdom.
Of these kingdoms, the Dalaran Magic Kingdom naturally accounted for the largest share of trade.
The Dalaran Magic Kingdom had very little territory.
It occupied only a tiny patch of land wedged between several kingdoms.
But Dalaran was by no means the weakest.
The talented spellcasters Dalaran recruited from every nation had laid a solid foundation for its Magic Kingdom.
Fortunately, these kingdoms were all offshoots of the Arathor Empire, truly brother nations.
Otherwise, Dalaran would have had its brains beaten out for pulling something like that!
As a Magic Kingdom made up of immigrants, Dalaran was very open to outsiders.
Every race on the continent except trolls could be seen there.
If Herad wanted to establish contact with the dwarves, Dalaran was undoubtedly his best choice!
Ordinary high elf mages went to Dalaran to exchange academic knowledge.
Besides, negotiating business with dwarves was beyond the abilities of an ordinary high elf mage.
After all, high elves were arrogant by nature and accustomed to looking down on other races.
When hot-tempered dwarves met arrogant high elves, it was a miracle if they didn't come to blows!
If he wanted to establish contact with the dwarves, Herad would have to make the trip himself.
Silvermoon City and Dalaran were three thousand kilometers apart.
Taking a winding overland route would make the journey even longer.
But this world had well-developed spatial magic. All he had to do was step through a Portal.
The only problem was that teleportation was rather expensive.
It cost twenty gold coins to transport one person.
That steep price was even more expensive than a flight on a private jet!
At least a private jet could seat quite a few people.
But a Portal offered the pleasure of arriving instantly.
A private jet couldn't compete with that!
Just as in the game, Silvermoon City's Portal was inside Sunfury Spire.
But the real Sunfury Spire wasn't the puny, pipe-like mage tower found in the game.
It was a towering skyscraper comparable to a major city's landmark buildings.
Its walls were white, with red roof tiles and window frames.
A band of gold trim encircled the tower at each floor.
The gold, red, and white complemented one another, making it look exceptionally magnificent!
The gold on high elf buildings wasn't gold paint, but a covering of thin gold sheets.
That lavish exterior alone would have cost at least four or five hundred thousand gold coins.
The magical facilities inside Sunfury Spire cost upwards of a million gold coins!
With a mage tower that expensive, not charging a teleportation fee would hardly do its cost justice.
The Portal leading to Dalaran stood in an enormous room.
The room had only one entrance, with Spellbreakers standing guard beside it.
Spellbreakers were a military unit unique to the high elves.
They were powerful and immune to magic.
Ordinary magical attacks had no effect on them whatsoever.
The Twin-Headed Blades they carried were powerful magical weapons.
A Twin-Headed Blade could fly fifty or sixty meters before returning to its Spellbreaker's hand.
These magical weapons could easily break through a Spell Shield.
An ordinary spellcaster who provoked them was little different from a mouse provoking a farm cat.
There was no possible outcome except being beaten to death!
As Herad walked between them, he felt as though he were passing through a forest full of fierce beasts.
He wondered how visiting human mages felt when they encountered the Spellbreakers.
In fact, once human mages had visited, nothing could make them come back!
The high elf mage in charge of the Portal saw Herad's distracted expression and assumed he was having second thoughts.
"Chin up, young man. You'll have to stay strong once you're on the other side!"
That slightly teasing reminder snapped Herad out of his thoughts.
He glanced at the glowing curtain of light within the Portal, then stepped through its distorted light and shadow anyway.
After a wave of dizziness, a whole new world appeared before his eyes.
The concentration of magical energy in Dalaran was low, leaving Herad somewhat uncomfortable.
Still, it wasn't bad enough to drive him mad.
The Portal on this side had been placed rather casually, right in the city's main square.
Thus, the first things Herad saw upon arriving were blue skies and white clouds, followed by mage towers with white walls and purple roof tiles.
Human mage towers were relatively plain, with practicality taking priority over everything else.
Mixed among them were Mage Towers with gold, red, and white exteriors, unmistakably built in the high elf style.
In terms of appearance, human mage towers couldn't compare with those of the high elves.
But the sheer scale of those hundreds of towers was quite eye-catching.
It was hard to say how effective they would be in actual combat, but they certainly looked intimidating!
After surveying his surroundings, Herad followed the main streets in search of dwarves and gnomes.
Dalaran had originally been a trading city.
After the mages took control of the city, most of its population consisted of mages and their families.
Still, merchants from across the continent continued to gather in this famous city to sell high-end goods.
Mages were people too. They couldn't live without worldly goods.
Moreover, the city's thriving trade made it easy for mages to purchase materials.
The magical items and equipment they produced could also be sold across the continent through these merchants.
Dalaran's comprehensive trade network made Herad, who knew a little about economics and trade, quite envious.
He made a circuit of the city's commercial district, and once he had a general grasp of the situation, he headed toward the area that dealt in magical items and materials.
Dwarves had a small population and were rarely seen outside their homeland.
Their aptitude for spellcasting was also poor, making it almost impossible for them to become mages.
As a result, dwarves were a rare sight even in Dalaran.
But their relatives, the Dwarves, had long since come to Dalaran to make their way.
Gnomes were highly intelligent, and their race readily produced spellcasters.
Near the magic district, Herad soon found the gnome shopkeeper a helpful passerby had told him about.
The gnome shopkeeper didn't look very old.
Judging by the engineering trinkets and alchemical potions in his shop, his studies covered a rather varied range.
These little folk had long lifespans, normally living for several hundred years.
So besides practicing magic, they had plenty of time to learn all sorts of technical skills.
Seeing Herad looking in from the doorway, the gnome mage greeted him warmly.
"Hi, good morning. Welcome to the Golden Flute Magic Shop!"
Azeroth's little folk all seemed to have a knack for business.
Greeting customers with a warm smile was the key to selling things.
Herad, who had already intended to choose this shop, immediately entered the Golden Flute Magic Shop.
For all its claims to be a magic shop, only its alchemical potions had much to do with magic. Everything else was a stretch.
For instance, a Mechanical Squirrel had been enchanted with Glimmer to make it look prettier.
Making a Mechanical Squirrel glow served no purpose beyond improving its appearance.
These little toys made by the gnome mage were only good for fooling ordinary people.
"Shopkeeper, do you have any larger engineering creations? The kind that explode?"
Jindi was momentarily bewildered by Herad's request.
"Would you like to see bombs?"
"I'll look at anything that can do damage."
"Uh, those things aren't very convenient to display."
"Not very convenient? So there is a way to make it convenient, then?"
Herad immediately brought out the ultimate technique for dealing with gnomes.
As gleaming gold coins landed on the counter, Jindi's eyes lit up.
"My esteemed customer, please follow me this way to inspect the goods."
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