Chapter 664: Local Area Network

Emily's talent was formidable, and her relentless dedication to training gave Liszt no reason to stop her. As long as a knight's nutrition was sufficient, their bodies recovered quickly, without the risk of overtraining that ordinary people faced.

If she truly could strive to become a sky knight,

then he would possess the only female sky knight follower in the Sapphire Duchy—a glory that felt pretty damn awesome. Moreover, everything about her was funded by Liszt, meaning she was wholly his. Even if she were to be ennobled in the future, she would remain a noble of the Blue Blood Alliance type.

The Blue Blood Alliance was essentially a "private military" knight order for the Sapphire family.

Perhaps in the future, Liszt would also establish his own family's private army—the Burning Legion. As for why he chose such an ominous name, it was because he had a Fire Drake named Leo that could endlessly burn. Since the flames never ceased, it was only natural to call it the Burning Legion.

Moreover, such a name gave him a weird satisfaction, like he’d become the final boss.

In short, Emily was a seriously promising bet. Along with the twin magic apprentices, Lucy and Rose, marked by the *Smoke Mission*, she was a target indicated by this task. To Liszt, this likely meant all three had hero-tier potential—if nurtured well, they would become powerful "heroes."

He was no help with Lucy and Rose’s magic studies, but he could guide Emily in her knight training.

While he was immersed in teaching, many magic-infused plants from the seaside villa in Flower Town—along with those from the Sun-Child civilization—had been transported by ship to Black Horse Island and delivered to the Magic Academy. Most of the research materials translated by Acheronides had also arrived by ship.

Now, these materials and magic-infused plants would be handed over to Cris Truth, who would organize the academy’s magicians to jointly tackle natural magic.

The three great magicians under house arrest at the academy could also participate in this research—though Liszt wrote it off as pointless.

The growth rate of these magic-infused plants was glacially slow, taking years to mature and over a decade to yield high quantities. Even if the output was high, it couldn’t offset the initial investment of magical resources. The conditions for casting natural magic were stringent, especially *Druid Transformations*, which required Sun-Child bloodline to perform.

So, while Acheronides focused on the Magic Web, Liszt decided to hand over these magic-infused plants and natural magic research to the academy.

This would broaden the magicians' knowledge and keep them from poking into dangerous stuff. If breakthroughs in natural magic occurred, all the better.

In any case, the Sun-Child civilization quickly captivated Cris and many other magicians. Even vampires—Mary Dawnbreaker included—joined in, mainly to study Druid Transformations, which bore similarities to their bat-shifting magic.

"Perhaps I should hand out more projects to these magicians, helping them transition into scholars!" Liszt mused, observing the academy’s focus on natural magic.

Originally, he had intended for Cris to turn the Magic Academy into a trade school, training workers who could only refine potions and craft magical equipment. But now, it seemed that by assigning engaging research topics, the academy might truly evolve into a full-blown university integrating research, education, and production.

"The magicians of this world are too stuck on magic for magic’s sake, while knights are fixated on charging into battle. Both overlook the technological potential of magic."

On his way back to Flower Town,

he continued pondering: "Could magic be treated as an energy source? If we can create combat and auxiliary magical equipment, why not apply it to civilian uses? For example, a magic-driven fan… though storing magic’s a headache."

Magic required a magician’s guidance to form powerful spells.

Magical equipment also needed knights or magicians to power the spells in them with magic.

"Regardless, this is an excellent direction. I’ll have Cris focus more on this… Rumor has it that during the Moon Empire’s golden age, they could build magic teleportation arrays leading straight to the moon. If I had magicians research teleportation arrays, could they succeed?"

They’d probably be stuck researching till they’re old.

...

With his territory sorted out,

the promotion from Count to Marquis would still take a month or two of preparation, requiring little of Liszt’s attention.

Meanwhile, he received another letter from his cousin, Meopo.

The letter congratulated him on becoming a formidable Ghostblade and the kingdom’s second-strongest, while also thanking him for the energy-boosting grub and potions he frequently sent. Lastly, it mentioned that Marquis Merlin’s health had improved, and if he was up for it, the Marquis wished to visit Black Horse Island to celebrate the New Year with him.

Liszt had a servant fetch paper and ink, dashing off a reply—briefly stating that he would swing by Red Crab Island soon.

After finishing the letter, he had the squire deliver it to Castle Tulip to be mailed.

He then announced his retreat.

Retreat did not mean shutting himself indoors, but rather avoiding social engagements and setting aside his duties as lord to focus solely on eating, sleeping, and cultivation.

The primary location for his retreat was the seaside villa.

He planned to have Acheronides assist him in studying the next steps of the dragon knight's cultivation method. From the hazy clues from the mission, it could be inferred that dragon-mounted cultivation was related to Acheronides' advancement to Archmage—perhaps there was significant inspiration to be drawn. Previously, Acheronides had also mentioned that knights were like scaled-down Magic Webs.

If the real Magic Web was the internet, then a knight’s own network might be akin to a LAN.

"Acheronides, if a knight's Magic Web were to expand infinitely, could it eventually become something similar to the real Magic Web?" He tried to offer her some inspiration.

On Earth, the existence of the Great Firewall made China's internet essentially a nationwide LAN.

But for most people, this nationwide LAN was practically indistinguishable from the global internet—aside from being unable to browse foreign websites, it had all the necessary functions.

The Magic Web's traits of a weak knight were extremely faint, like a small LAN connecting a few computers. But now, as a dragon knight, Liszt's Magic Web traits should be very close to the real Magic Web, equivalent to China's nationwide LAN.

Perhaps by thoroughly studying the workings of his role as a dragon knight, Acheronides could truly grasp the Magic Web.

Therefore,

for the following period of time,

he worked closely with Acheronides to decode the secrets of dragon-riding.

He frequently traveled to Dodo Island, releasing the Fire Drake Leo and riding him to conduct various experiments according to Acheronides' arrangements. Though they had yet to discover new cultivation methods beyond dragon-qi refinement and dragon-breath tempering, his dragon-riding combat skills had become second nature—especially since Leo's magic power was linked to his mana.

The resulting firepower increased almost exponentially.

A single "Crimson Blaze" could set half the sky ablaze, while a "Scorching Sun Pierce" could blast a crater in the ground. Firing three arrows at once was even more devastating than launching missiles.

Every time he rode Leo, a single phrase would automatically flash through his mind: "I am strong!"