Chapter 201 The Falling Fire Dragon

Liszt was once obsessed with an American TV series called *Game of Thrones*, which featured the majestic Wall.

The Wall, built with the help of giants, was 300 miles long and 700 feet high, made entirely of ice and snow.

Back then, he had been very interested in the Wall and did extensive research on it. He learned that the Wall was inspired by a cliff formed by basalt columns in western Iceland. This led him to discover the natural wonder of basalt columns.

The Giant's Causeway in Ireland, Devils Tower in the United States, Fingal's Cave in Scotland, and the basalt columns at Gui Zishan in Nanjing, all exemplified this geological phenomenon.

The neatly arranged columns were hard to believe as the result of volcanic eruptions.

When lava from a volcanic eruption cooled, it formed porous basalt and contracted, creating cracks in regular geometric shapes. Most often, these cracks resulted in hexagonal formations, as if meticulously crafted by hand.

"These are definitely basalt columns!"

As the excavation of the large pit continued, the basalt columns were gradually revealed. The orderly hexagonal columns emerged one by one.

Following Liszt, Kosto suddenly exclaimed, "I remember! My lord, I remember! I've seen these rocks on an island!"

"What island?"

"It was an uninhabited island we encountered while sailing to Deep Throat Island. The entire island was covered with dense basalt columns, just like these."

Kosto's words confirmed Liszt's suspicions.

The rock beneath their feet was indeed basalt columns, a geological formation resulting from volcanic activity. Looking at the massive skeleton, he suddenly considered a possibility.

He thought to himself, "Perhaps my initial judgment was wrong. This might not be the remains of a dragon but rather the remains of a fire dragon!"

A wind dragon could create a valley of howling winds, with constant gales.

A fire dragon naturally could create a volcano.

"If this is a fire dragon, it must have fallen here in its final moments. With its magic, it would have triggered a volcanic eruption, engulfing the dragon's body. Over time, perhaps tens of thousands of years, the dragon's magic dissipated, the volcano died, and the upper layers weathered or were covered by soil, forming the current Black Horse Island."

Black Horse Island did not appear to be a volcanic island.

But Liszt found it plausible. Originally, this area might have been deep sea, transformed by repeated volcanic eruptions caused by the falling fire dragon, eventually breaking through the water's surface.

"If I were to dive down and explore the underwater base of Black Horse Island, I might find a massive volcanic structure. The exposed part of the island could be just the crater."

"Indeed, it does resemble a volcanic crater. The ice grass hill, needle grass hill, alfalfa hill, and sheep grass hill form a low-lying valley, fitting the structure of a crater. The bones lie between the needle grass hill and the ice grass hill, not far from the crater, suggesting they might have been brought up by the volcanic eruption."

Even though his Magic Eye could not detect fire magic, Liszt felt his inner fire qi stirring, as if the fire magic here was active.

Of course, it was an illusion. Once he calmed down, he found no such signs, and the agitation of his fire qi subsided.

"I'm overthinking it. After tens of thousands of years, everything about the fire dragon except for these bones has likely vanished."

Dragons!

Fire dragons!

Liszt stood up, stepping on the basalt columns, approaching the bones. He touched the rough surface of the bones, feeling a complex mix of emotions: "I seem destined to encounter dragons—invisible dragons, smoke dragons, and now fire dragons. It seems I am fated to ride a dragon."

Unfortunately, the fallen dragon was not a metal or gemstone dragon, leaving no valuable minerals behind.

But then again, if it had been a metal or gemstone dragon, without continuous volcanic eruptions, Black Horse Island would have remained submerged, and Liszt would never have discovered it.

Everything he saw had a reason.

He thought further, "If this fire dragon fell here, unless it was killed, there should be no Dragon Valley... According to *Dragonlance Chronicles: Dragons of Autumn Twilight*, old dragons fly to Dragon Valley."

This place was just an ocean, with no Dragon Valley.

At that moment, Marcus, overseeing the excavation, proposed an idea: "My lord, since five bones are embedded in these stones, might there be more bones similarly embedded? Perhaps the parts above ground have simply crumbled into fragments?"

"That makes sense. We need to carefully clear this area... the Burial Ground." Liszt felt his name for the site was quite fitting. "Let's call it the Burial Ground. If the workers have spare time, level the ground and see how many bones we can collect."

Even though the fire dragon's bones had decayed, they remained hard and were excellent material.

The upcoming bone workshop would not lack for raw materials.

...

Having understood the origin of the bones at the Burial Ground, Liszt felt no need to continue researching them. So, the next morning, under the rising sun, he departed Black Horse Island.

Of course, he took a batch of bone fragments with him.

He wanted to continue studying what else could be done with these bones besides crafting tools—using dragon bones for farming seemed wasteful.

Upon returning to Flower Town, he met Elkson Truth again.

The mage had come to Flower Town to prepare the next batch of Flame Valley magic potions.

Liszt had an idea and handed a bone fragment to Elkson: "Mr. Elkson, I recently discovered some ruins and found these bone fragments. Could you help me study them and determine what creature they belonged to and their potential uses?" Even if the secret of the dragon bones was revealed, it didn't matter much after tens of thousands of years.

What mattered was understanding their use.

Elkson took the bone fragment and nodded. "Rest assured, I will study it when I have time. Also, Baron, the books you asked me to purchase are here. There are fifty-six in total. As for knight novels, you can have your merchant team buy them."

Knowledge was something Liszt craved deeply.

He needed to compile the *Chronicles of Dragons in the Wild* and required extensive reference material... cough, extensive reference material. The books written by truth-seeking mages who rejected lies were relatively accurate and broad in content, making them highly valuable references.

"Thank you very much. The cost of the books will be paid by Mr. Carter as soon as possible."

"I'm not in a hurry; I have full confidence in your credibility," Elkson said with a smile.