Chapter 480: Corn on the Head

Now on Coral Island, no one could stop Liszt from going wherever he wished, especially when it was back to his own territory. Declining the banquet invitations from his noble colleagues, he led the squire knights directly and hurried toward Flower Town.

The larger chocobo-like creature, Loki, finally had the chance to fully stretch its legs.

"Take Hiddleston and the eight little ones back to Flower Town. I’ll go alone; no need to follow me!" He instructed the squire and servants, then soothed the blizzard beasts before riding Loki like a gust of wind.

"Speed up, Loki!"

"Clucked!"

The smart land bird could understand many of Liszt’s commands. It immediately started sprinting, its two legs about 1.7 meters long, like it was on stilts, and very stable. Even when running so fast that only the afterimages of its legs could be seen, it still appeared steady and composed.

The wind roared past his ears.

Liszt estimated Loki’s speed to be at least 300 kilometers per hour. From leaving Tulip Castle to seeing a small town around North Valley City, the journey took just twenty minutes—the distance between the two places being less than a hundred kilometers.

"Originally, when Loki didn’t use magic, its top speed was 200 kilometers per hour, and it could only maintain it for ten minutes. Now it can run at 300 kilometers per hour and sustain it for twenty minutes." As Loki neared its physical limit and its speed noticeably dropped, Liszt quietly calculated.

He let Loki rest for a while in the small woods by the roadside.

Gave it some wheat grains and water.

After a quarter of an hour, Loki clucked and clucked, signaling it had regained its strength. Liszt then continued to ride it to complete other data measurements.

Standing leap: vertical height of six meters, horizontal length of thirty-five meters.

Running leap: vertical height of eight and a half meters, horizontal length of ninety meters.

These results were already impressive. But when Liszt allowed Loki to use the magic light body technique, its performance became even more astonishing. Its top speed soared to 500 kilometers per hour, like a bolt of lightning flashing from North Valley City to Flower Town.

Coming to a halt at the edge of Thorn Ridge’s thorn forest.

During the running leap, the vertical height could reach twenty meters, and the horizontal length exceeded two hundred meters, nearly skimming the ground.

"The sky knight can soar up to a hundred meters high. Loki is slightly worse in that regard, but it’s faster—nearly the perfect mount... if only it could fly. It’s a shame it hasn’t figured out how to fly with those long wings." Liszt was proud but also slightly regretful.

The inability to fly remained a drawback.

When he rode Loki onto Tom Hiddleston Avenue, the patrol noticed him immediately, and the news quickly spread throughout the town. At the castle gate, housekeeper Carter had quickly gathered the servants to welcome the master’s return.

"Master, welcome home."

"Long time no see, Mr. Carter, Mrs. Mossen, and all the ladies and gentlemen." Liszt smiled and greeted the servants.

Letting the servants take Loki to be fed, he and housekeeper Carter chatted and entered the castle.

Without much delay, he rushed straight to the insect room.

"Wah!"

"Wah!"

Jie La, already knowing through telepathy that Liszt had returned home, flew out directly, shouting at him—it was very dissatisfied with Liszt being gone for so long, though its dissatisfaction was mixed with joy at his return.

"Jie La, long time no see."

He touched the small thorn on Jie La’s head and placed it on his shoulder.

Then he saw the well-protected fat pupa stage corn grass insects, originally green-yellow, now turned into huge gray-yellow worms, their skin dull and motionless.

But Liszt could feel a powerful life force throbbing beneath the skin.

He activated Magic Eye and observed the chaotic magic power suddenly boiling like water, continuously forming bubbles. The bubbles popped one after another, followed by an inexplicable transformation. The already large corn grass insects in their pupal stage also instantly swelled.

An excited emotion radiated from it, deeply affecting Liszt's mood.

Housekeeper Carter stood behind him and, upon seeing the change, exclaimed, "Master, has it evolved successfully?"

"Yes, this is exactly how Jie La was born!" Liszt beamed with joy, genuinely surprised. He had just returned, and the corn grass insects were already undergoing their final evolution.

Time ticked by slowly.

The corn grass insects had grown as thick as a calf's leg.

Then,

As if sensing something, he suddenly widened his eyes and saw the skin of the corn grass insects, which had turned from gray-yellow to pale, suddenly split open. A delicate, light yellow hand emerged from beneath the skin, followed by an arm, and then a round little head popped out.

On top of its head was a tiny corn cob.

An incredibly beautiful spirit bug had revealed itself.

With curiosity about the world, it craned its neck to look around, finally fixing its gaze on Liszt. It opened its tiny mouth and let out a sharp cry, "Jigu." Its call, unlike Jie La's clear voice, was somewhat akin to Nami's delicate cry.

"Wow!"

Upon seeing the newborn spirit bug, Jie La quickly flew up, ready to pounce on it.

But Liszt grabbed it and placed it on the table, commanding "Stay still," causing it to pout in grievance.

Then,

Liszt smiled and gestured to the newborn spirit bug.

The corn spirit bug then emerged from the tattered skin, its chubby body wobbling. A pair of transparent wings stretched out, and it flew up, circling the entire room before landing on Liszt's palm, chirping "Jigu."

The skin of the corn grass insects it shed.

Before Liszt could touch it, it disintegrated into dust and vanished.

"A very gentle spirit bug, I can sense your calm heart," Liszt said, gazing at his third spirit bug with deep emotion. "Mr. Carter, take a look, isn't it absolutely stunning?"

"Yes, master, it's unbelievably beautiful. I feel incredibly fortunate to witness the birth of a new spirit bug in my lifetime," Mr. Carter said, choking up. The birth of the thorn fairy was a surprise to him, and he had only heard of the red mangrove spirit bug, which seemed to be kept outside.

Now, this corn spirit bug was something he had witnessed being born firsthand.

He regarded Liszt as his closest person, feeling both pleased and joyful for Liszt's growth, and even more so for Liszt's new spirit bug, he couldn't help but shed tears of joy.

"Wow!"

Jie La called out from the table.

But neither Liszt nor Carter paid attention to it, still looking at the light yellow, incredibly beautiful corn spirit bug. It should have been called the corn grass spirit bug, but with the successive births of grain corn, oil corn, and stick corn, corn had become a large family.

The seeds of the grain corn, oil corn, and stick corn harvested this year in the territory had been preserved, waiting for large-scale cultivation next spring.

Although the effects were not yet clear, there was no doubt that these three types of corn were all good things.

Even if the varieties were not good, corn grass itself was high-quality forage.

The corn spirit bug had a significant role.

Carter quietly wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes, composed his emotions, and asked, "Master, what name have you decided to give it?"