Chapter 206: Fire Attribute Condensation Core Vein

Elkson still took the time to study the bone fragment Liszt had given him.

Of course, he was not a scientist but rather a sociable magician with more interest in socializing than exploring the truth. After a few days of tinkering, he returned the fragment to Liszt.

"Baron Liszt, based on my judgment, this is a remnant of a large creature's skeleton. It's quite old, and the magic embedded within it has completely dissipated... So, it could still be used to craft bone tools, which would be quite hard, not much different from iron."

He elegantly bowed. "Also, thank you for your generous hospitality. I have completed the new batch of Flame Mushroom magic potions, so I will take my leave now."

"Alright, when you come again, don't forget to bring me more magic books."

"No problem."

Elkson floated away, likely returning to Coral City to continue his carefree lifestyle. Magicians are human too; they may not marry but can visit brothels to further explore life's truths.

At the apple table, there were some snacks and pastries.

Hiddleston lay at the edge of the table, his eyes fixed on the pastries, wanting to eat them but hesitating to reach out.

A beautiful white fairy named Jie La fluttered around the apple tree. With Liszt watching, she didn't bind Hiddleston but instead dozed off boredly among the branches.

Whenever a leaf fell, she would fly out to chase it, entertaining herself.

Sitting in a chair under the tree, Liszt leaned back, turning the fragment of the fire dragon's bone in his hand, looking somewhat disappointed: "It seems it can only be used to make bone tools for the serfs to plow fields... Sigh, using such precious dragon bones for farming is such a waste!"

The steward, Carter, approached and reported: "Sir, all twenty carts of bone fragments have been neatly stored in the warehouse. Do you wish to personally inspect them?"

"No need. I trust you, Mr. Carter, to handle it."

Carter smiled modestly. "Thank you for your trust, sir. It is an honor to serve the castle."

"Make sure to remind Harpagon and Sherlock about finding bone craftsmen. The workshop is already being built, yet the craftsmen haven't arrived yet. Also, keep an eye out for any signs of competition between them. I don't want the two merchant groups to cause conflicts over the sales of Flower Soap."

"Rest assured, sir. I will closely monitor Harpagon and Sherlock."

Liszt nodded, sighing to himself: "Merchants need control. Once they get too much power, they lose their sense of propriety. This is not good."

He was gradually beginning to dislike merchants. Indeed, obedient farmers were the lord's favorite subjects, while these ambitious merchants always had their ambitions swelling. Because the production of Flower Soap was limited, they even bribed Bounie to suppress their rivals, ignoring Liszt's instructions to cooperate.

Punishment was necessary. He planned to bring Grandet out of retirement to integrate the two merchant groups and reduce their autonomy.

He also intended to promote several natives of Flower Town to important positions within the merchant groups to supervise and limit Harpagon and Sherlock.

"If only I had the Three Corpse Brain Spirit Pill. One pill for each of them, and they would follow orders without needing any strategic manipulation," Liszt mused, envious of the Sun Moon Holy Cult's method of controlling subordinates. "Without the Three Corpse Brain Spirit Pill, learning the Heavenly Longevity Old Ancestor's Life-Death Seal would also work."

He couldn't help but let his imagination run wild. If martial arts novels had inner energy, perhaps this world's magic or martial qi could achieve similar effects as the Life-Death Seal or the Three Corpse Brain Spirit Pill.

At least magic contracts had some aspects of controlling life and death.

Taking out a thick piece of parchment, he wrote in snake script: "Magic, martial qi, or contract development plan for life-death control!"

Then he tucked the parchment into his spatial gem, knowing it was just an idea for now, one he lacked the means to develop. Perhaps someday, when he had the ability, he would revisit it.

This time, the Flower returned with half a ship full of bone fragments.

These were just a small part of the fragments cleared from the Burial Grounds, yet they filled an entire newly constructed warehouse. With such abundant raw materials, the number of bone tools that could be crafted would be enormous. Flower Town's primitive agricultural civilization would leap forward once equipped with these tools.

By then, a single serf could cultivate more farmland, utilizing all the town's unused land.

...

When the last batch of bone fragments arrived in town aboard the Flower, it was nearly mid-December.

A bone craftsman from Coral City, Blake Bones, finally agreed to come to Flower Town to oversee the bone workshop and teach apprentices, enticed by a hefty sum of gold.

He brought his family along—his wife, two sons, their wives, and his newborn grandson. They all possessed the skills of bone craftsmanship, though not particularly refined, which was why they couldn't compete with other workshops in Coral City and thus were willing to move to a rural town.

"Blake, if you work diligently for me, the rewards you receive will far exceed your efforts," Liszt said during their meeting. "Your two sons are already set in their ways and lack potential, but your grandson, when he grows up a bit, I can make an exception and allow him to train with the knights, becoming my retainer knight."

Offering a chance at nobility was an irresistible lure.

Blake knelt down, moved. "I am honored to work for Lord Liszt. I will give it my all."

"Excellent. You will be proud of this choice in the future."

Having convinced Blake,

Isaiah brought more good news—the chicken-raising scale in Flower Town had officially surpassed one thousand birds. All the farmers eagerly signed up after hearing about the benefits of raising chickens, knowing that eggs were valuable.

However, acquiring chicks was challenging, mostly done by collecting them one by one from rural households, barely managing to reach a thousand before winter snows arrived.

"Task completed, reward: Fire Attribute Condensation Core Vein."

The smoke task promptly rewarded him with a type of vein he had never heard of.

"What is a Fire Attribute Condensation Core? It sounds valuable and might be related to the fallen fire dragon? It should be on Black Horse Island, possibly discovered by Marcus and his team while excavating the fragments."

The fire dragon and the Fire Attribute Condensation Core were hard to separate in his mind.

However, according to the descriptions of dragons, elemental dragons did not produce minerals. There was no mention of fire dragons creating such veins.

"I'll ask Marcus when he returns what kind of vein they found. If they haven't found it yet, I must send someone immediately to search and excavate... I have a feeling the Fire Attribute Condensation Core will be crucial for me, especially since I possess fire attribute martial qi!"

His thoughts raced.

The smoke before their eyes shifted and transformed, forming new serpentine patterns.