Chapter 720: Beyond the Dragon Rider

As the former master of the seas, Sapphire Duke seethed with resentment. He had believed that his costly success in taming a dragon would protect the Sapphire Duchy through the crisis.

The appearance of two dragon knights from the Kingdom of the Eagle made him realize that the crisis facing the Sapphire Duchy was far more dire than imagined.

Although the immediate threat was thwarted thanks to the intervention of Liszt and Acheronides, the alliance of a dragon knight and an archmage meant the seas were no longer under the Sapphire’s control—or perhaps, ever since the Kingdom of the Eagle began constructing two-masted ships, the seas had ceased to be the Sapphire’s exclusive domain.

"Damn that Andy Sapphire, that backstabbing cur!"

"If not for the betrayal of the Bull family, how could the Kingdom of the Eagle have developed its shipbuilding industry, let alone dared to wage a dragon-slaying war?" The duke's eyes burned with hatred. "I won’t let you die so easily. Not just you—your entire bloodline will join you in the grave!"

After seething in silent fury for a while, the duke regained his composure. Dawn had crept in unnoticed, and the crown prince had already led the fleet back to the port of Hoof City. The night’s chase had borne plentiful spoils.

As the sun rose over the horizon, the port bustled with activity once more.

The knights boasted of their exploits—how many fleeing ships they had routed, how many drowning knights they had captured. Naturally, the chatter inevitably shifted to the dragon knight and archmage from the Tulip family, the demise of Karllo, and the rise of Liszt—the shifting tides of power among the sea’s rulers.

Yet Liszt, the center of all this discussion, remained quietly in his study, poring over the *Dragon Knight Aura Manual* sent by the duke.

A notebook of white paper, each page holding roughly two hundred words, with the manual spanning ten pages—less than two thousand words in total. The content was sparse, but every sentence hit Liszt like a revelation, expanding his understanding exponentially.

"So that’s how it is. The dragon knight stage is no longer just about honing mana or martial skills, but the melding of rider and dragon—mind, magic power, and body. The goal is to achieve perfect dynamic balance between knight and dragon, compensating for each other’s weaknesses to reach completion."

In this process of complementary perfection, the soul imprint was simply an inevitable outcome.

Since the manual was penned by Anderson of the Sapphire, it followed his personal cultivation system. He divided the dragon knight’s path into four stages.

First Stage: Trial Period—Before mounting the dragon, the knight and dragon test and adapt to each other, with advanced perfected aura gradually transforming into Dragon Aura. However, this stage does not yet make one a dragon knight. Many aspirants falter here, their aura declining until they revert to advanced perfected aura.

Second Stage: Mental Period—Once the knight passes the dragon’s trials and gains its approval, they may initiate a clash of souls. Failure means the attempt to ride the dragon fails. Repeated failures result in losing the dragon’s approval and reverting to advanced perfected aura.

Success in the mental battle means successful dragon-riding, ascending to true dragon knighthood. In this stage, Dragon Aura gradually merges with the dragon’s magic power, their minds also fusing, and their fighting methods harmonizing.

Third Stage: Completion Period—When all fusion is successful, the dragon knight imprints their will upon the dragon’s mind, achieving absolute unity between rider and dragon. When mounted, there is no distinction between dragon and rider—they become one.

Anderson Sapphire was a dragon knight in the Completion stage. A decade after the dragon-slaying war that founded his nation, he and the Sapphire Dragon reached this stage together.

There was also a Fourth Stage: Transcendence Period—a realm Anderson theorized but never entered himself, leaving its mysteries unknown.

Completion-stage dragon knights were the mainstream. Whether in the Kingdom of the Eagle, the Kingdom of Steel Ridge, or the Blastfurnace Kingdom, this stage was considered the pinnacle. Most dragon knights withered into old age without transcending it.

But Anderson firmly believed in the existence of a transcendence stage.

He had recorded in the manual:

*"The Completion stage is not the end. I keenly sense the shackles of this barrier—there must be a way to break through, for man and dragon to transcend together, surpassing each other, the present, and all known limits!"*

*"Perhaps the three great empires already have dragon knights who have reached Transcendence!"*

*"A shame fate denied me such an encounter."*

Having finished reading, Liszt handed the *Dragon Knight Aura Manual* to Acheronides beside him, hoping she might glean some insights to aid his own understanding.

He leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.

"According to Anderson’s system, I’m currently a Mental-stage dragon knight. As for Alonso, Karllo, and the duke, they must be Completion-stage dragon knights… Of course, their Completion stage was forcibly elevated by their dragons after achieving mental unity, since these dragons had previously partnered with Completion-stage knights."

When dragon and knight became one in mind, their thoughts aligned, and the dragon naturally passed down its accumulated knightly experience to its rider.

No need for the Dragon Knight to explore on his own; as long as he adapts gradually, he will eventually reach the perfection stage.

"So, to be precise, this 'Dragon Aura Secret Manual' is more like the dragon-riding experiences of the first-generation Dragon Knights—a record of insights, essentially an autobiography. The true Dragon Aura Secret Manual is naturally stored in the dragon's memory... The detailed aura maneuvers recorded here were likely added by the Grand Duke."

He distinctly noticed that in the latter half of Anderson's manual, the various methods of manipulating Dragon Aura felt disconnected from the earlier records.

Perhaps the Grand Duke, fearing that Liszt would've been misled into thinking the inherited 'Dragon Aura Secret Manual' was merely a personal memoir, incorporated into it the "true" Dragon Aura techniques he had gleaned from the Sapphire Dragon's thoughts, appending them to the latter part of the biography before handing it to Liszt.

"Fortunately, the Grand Duke had the foresight to include the Dragon Knight's aura manipulation methods. Otherwise, I would've been misled. Now, with the Sapphire Dragon Knight's Dragon Aura maneuvers for reference, I can easily develop my own Fire Dragon Knight's aura maneuvers... Every Dragon Knight's aura maneuvers differ and must be created independently."

Because dragons vary, so too do their Dragon Aura maneuvers—unless they stem from the same dragon's lineage.

"However, through this manual, I've realized that Fire Dragons, as Elemental Dragons, are fundamentally different from Gem Dragons and Metal Dragons, especially in their ability to elementalize!"

Gem Dragons and Metal Dragons, being resource-based, do not switch between magical and physical forms.

Thus, the technique of Dragon-Mana Fusion is unique to Liszt.

Moreover, Leo's power even as a hatchling has deeply convinced him that Gem Dragons and Metal Dragons are merely support units, while Elemental Dragons are the true combat units. As a Fire Dragon Knight—an Elemental Dragon Knight—once he reaches the perfection stage, he will undoubtedly surpass all other Dragon Knights.

It suddenly occurred to him: "The cultivation of Dragon Knights isn't that different from that of Sky Knights and Earth Knights."

Earth Knights are divided into ordinary and elite.

The ordinary stage corresponds to intermediate mana, while the elite stage marks mastered intermediate mana.

Sky Knights fall into three categories: ordinary, sword saints, and perfected, but the essence of their mana remains either standard advanced mana or perfected advanced mana.

Domain Knights are merely a special state of perfected advanced mana.

Dragon Knights follow a similar pattern, with the successful taming of a dragon through the mental battle serving as the foundation of cultivation. The mental stage represents ordinary Dragon Aura, while the perfection stage signifies perfected Dragon Aura.

"So, the transcendence stage is more about surpassing the Dragon Knight stage itself? Elite Earth Knights can break through bottlenecks with potions, perfected Sky Knights can break through by bonding with dragons—but what means must Dragon Knights employ to surpass the bottleneck of perfected Dragon Aura?"

No one could provide him with an answer.

Nor did he dwell on it further—first, he would strive to cultivate to the perfection stage before considering anything else.

Standing up and stretching, he turned to Acheronides and asked, "Have you recovered after resting overnight? If you're ready, let's set off for Mind Island. I have a strong premonition that the severely injured Lightgreen Gem Dragon is hiding there to recuperate."

Acheronides didn't question how Liszt had sensed this.

She simply nodded earnestly: "Acheronides is fully recovered and ready to depart at any time."

"Then let's go. The port's too crowded—I don't enjoy this constant flattery." He had already indulged in it once yesterday; any more would feel tiresome.