Chapter 492: The Big Eater Who Can’t Be Supported

This chapter is an additional update for the "Steamed Good Beans" reward.

The young Fire Dragon in the palm is made entirely of compressed flames, with every detail—eyes, ears, mouth, nose, legs, claws, and wings—clearly visible. Even the texture of its scales can be seen distinctly. Its flame-like eyes are as bright as gemstones, full of life and vitality.

There’s no doubt—this is a real dragon.

It’s a Fire Dragon!

A Fire Dragon raised by Liszt himself, which devoured the entire Phoenix Feather to hatch from the state of a magic power seed.

"Rawr!"

Seeing Liszt staring at it, the young Fire Dragon seems somewhat dissatisfied and opens its mouth to shout. Its voice is very small, sounding more like a puppy’s whimper than a roar, with a soft, babyish tone. However, Liszt can faintly pick up on its emotions.

Very vague emotions, far weaker than the bond he shares with his spirit bug.

But the meaning of the emotions can barely be discerned.

"Little Fire Dragon, what are you really made of?" Liszt whispers, not expecting an answer, more like musing aloud.

He is curious about the differences between this little Fire Dragon and a real adult dragon. Structurally, an adult dragon has a flesh and blood body with bones and muscles; the little Fire Dragon, however, is formed from pure flames, without a flesh and blood body.

He also can’t sense its magic power or dragon-like presence.

It seems like it is really just a flame, a flame made from his own mana, but there is a distinct line separating the flame from his mana.

This line determines it is its own being.

A being with a soul and thoughts.

"Rawr!"

The little Fire Dragon decisively does not understand what Liszt is asking. It lets out a meaningless sound, then flaps its wings as if trying to fly. However, it cannot leave Liszt's palm, as if its body is still connected to Liszt's mana.

During this time, Liszt's body has managed to produce a small amount of mana.

He tries to channel his mana and finds that he can do so again, even affecting the little Fire Dragon. As soon as he absorbs, the little Fire Dragon quickly turns into a flame and is drawn into his meridians. Then he feels a faint feeling of annoyance in his mind, as the little Fire Dragon is very unhappy about being absorbed into the meridians.

So Liszt releases it again, the flame condenses, and the little Fire Dragon reappears: "Rawr!"

It almost seems to be scolding him.

"It feels like this guy is too weak, lacking any dragon-like grandeur. Did I make a mistake somewhere?" Thinking this, he suddenly extends his other hand, presses his thumb against his index finger, and gives the little Fire Dragon a flick.

Snap!

A real tactile sensation, his finger feels like it has flicked a soft piece of meat, instantly lifting the little Fire Dragon's head, and then its entire body falls sideways on the palm.

The little Fire Dragon waves its limbs, struggles to get up, opens its mouth, and screams: "Rawr!"

Then, a small flame emerges from its mouth, spraying towards Liszt's hand that is still in the flicking position. However, when the flame touches Liszt's finger, it does not produce any burning effect.

No feeling at all.

Discovering this, the little Fire Dragon is very disappointed, even its "rawr" cry weakens.

So Liszt takes out a piece of thick paper, extends it in front of the little Fire Dragon: "Come on, spit out a flame." He uses the vague emotional connection, similar to how he gives commands to spirit bugs, to command the little Fire Dragon.

The little Fire Dragon tilts its head, pausing in confusion.

It suddenly opened its mouth and spat out flames.

The flames instantly pierced the thick parchment, turning half of it to ash without any burning, directly transforming it from paper to ash.

The room’s temperature rose a few degrees again.

"The flames are powerful but a bit small, and they lack the property of eternal engraving. This isn’t the true magic power of a Fire Dragon. The little Fire Dragon isn’t a true young dragon; its current state is peculiar, somewhere between a magic fire seed and a real Fire Dragon."

Liszt grabbed the little Fire Dragon with his left hand, holding it in his palm and enjoying its soft, fleshy form.

The fierce little Fire Dragon couldn’t resist his magical grasp and could only frantically cry, "Oh roar!" Liszt didn’t stop at all. He remembered the intense, heart-wrenching pain when the magic fire seed devoured the Phoenix Feather. Even if it’s a dragon, bullying an honest person like this is intolerable!

Without waiting for the little Fire Dragon to react, he circulated his mana and absorbed it into his mana meridians.

The little Fire Dragon, furious in the meridians, tried to escape but couldn’t resist Liszt’s mana. As the mana circulated, it was pushed into the wide meridian near the heart—the same place the magic fire seed had resided, making it perfect for imprisoning the little Fire Dragon.

"Oh roar!"

In his mind, he heard the little Fire Dragon’s roar, like a puppy whose tail was stepped on.

His complexion had returned to a healthy glow, but though he was a bit hungry, his mood was conflicted: "This isn’t the Fire Dragon I wanted. It doesn’t deserve to be called a dragon... It’s nothing like the majestic dragon a dragon knight commands!" During the magic fire seed phase, Liszt couldn’t control it, but now he could manipulate it freely.

This was a huge contrast to his expectations of a dragon, and he couldn’t accept it at first.

He took out dragon milk from his gem space, gulped it down, and then wolfed down some cooked magical beast meat to ease the hunger from his mana exhaustion. As his stomach absorbed the nutrients, they replenished his cells, producing more mana to fill his meridians.

He quickly restored a small portion of his lost mana.

He tried the cultivation method he used with the magic fire seed, transferring mana to the little Fire Dragon. Though the little Fire Dragon was furious, it obediently absorbed the mana, expelled the magical impurities, and mixed them with his mana—still producing dragon mana.

Moreover, the speed and efficiency increased several times over.

However, the consumption increased more than tenfold, and the little mana he replenished quickly dried up—the dragon mana produced was less than one-tenth of what it should be.

"This... I already had to feed two mouths, but now it’s like I have to feed several! The little Fire Dragon’s appetite is too huge; how am I supposed to feed it?" He took out more dragon milk and magical beast meat, continuing to eat to replenish his nutrients, and also took out a potion.

After taking the potion, he found that the increased mana still couldn’t fill the little Fire Dragon’s enormous appetite.

With mana to devour, the little Fire Dragon finally calmed down, staying near the heart, enjoying the continuous flow of mana. But soon, its mana supply was cut off, and Liszt’s face grew long, feeling troubled: "I can’t keep feeding it like this; no amount of mana can satisfy its appetite."

He still needed to continue his cultivation, and without mana, what was the point of cultivating?

For the first time, he wasn’t eager to raise a dragon, truly frightened by its appetite, especially since this was a super small mini dragon that might not even count as a young dragon.

At this moment, he looked up and suddenly noticed in his peripheral vision that the clock on the wall had already pointed to half-past twelve.

The New Year had passed.

"Right, the smoke mission!"

He quickly suppressed the frustration in his heart and called out the smoke mission: "Complete the mission, reward the little Fire Dragon in the form of a fire seed."