Chapter 667: Testing the Sword in Ice

This chapter is an extra update for the "Spirit Gemstone" reward.

Although it was called an inspection of the Half-slope Cattle Ranch, there wasn’t much to inspect. The calving cow was healthy, and the calf was also in good condition.

Liszt personally fed the cow a few bundles of hay as a token of goodwill.

Later, he sent someone to the River-mouth Pig Farm to slaughter a crossbred piglet, planning to have roast suckling pig for dinner that evening.

Standing on the hillside of the Black Horse Ranch, he gazed at the herd of black-blood horses in the distance, with Lightning nestled beside him. He rarely rode the Horse King of the black-blood herd anymore, as Lightning spent most of its time leisurely living as the Horse King, mating with whichever horse it pleased.

The herd had already produced several foals, all cared for by herdsmen without a single loss, slowly expanding the population.

Even larger was the hybrid horse herd, with foals being born one after another, now numbering over a hundred. Once these foals matured, they could equip the Black Horse Island Knight Order. Though their dragon bloodline was thin, they could still be called dragon-blooded horses, stronger than magical-breed horses.

"Pity the invisible dragon only visits my territory about once a year. If it came more often, my land wouldn’t lack dragon-beasts."

Dragons infect dragon-beasts through their bloodline-corrupting magic.

According to the ox-raising manual by the Ox Marquis, this bloodline-corrupting magic likely stems from the boiling of blood. When a dragon becomes extremely excited, its blood rapidly boils, releasing the infectious magic power within, thereby transforming nearby creatures into dragon-beasts.

However, getting a dragon excited—both physically and mentally—to reach peak excitement is incredibly difficult.

The invisible dragon’s stimulus is Smokegrass. A feast of Smokegrass can make it overwhelmed with excitement, releasing its bloodline-corrupting magic to create Half-slope cattle and River-mouth pigs, while also incidentally producing some space gems. So far, Liszt has obtained four space gems from the invisible dragon.

Perhaps because the invisible dragon is still young or knows restraint, it only visits once a year. Despite the lure of Smokegrass, it has only come twice in total.

If it visited more frequently, not only would dragon-blooded beasts become common, but space gems could even be sold wholesale.

Of course.

In his *Liszt’s Dragon-Taming Manual*, he speculated that a dragon’s bloodline-corrupting magic likely isn’t something it can release at will—it requires a long time to accumulate. Thus, dragons don’t get excited often, with once a year being a normal frequency. Too much excitement might harm them.

Moreover, without hitting the right excitement catalyst, a dragon might never get excited in its lifetime.

After riding a dragon, Liszt also tried to understand Leo’s excitement needs through psychic resonance. Unfortunately, Leo didn’t grasp this concept. Whether it was Smokegrass, grilled steak, or even tossing it into a volcano, these could make it happy or laugh, but not excited.

That wasn’t its stimulus.

So, despite Leo’s long existence, it had yet to release its bloodline-corrupting power even once.

Figuring out how to excite it would likely require extensive trial and error. Looking at the Sapphire Duchy, aside from the blue-blooded horses, there were no records of dragon-blooded beast breeding. It could be inferred that even after over 150 years of research, they still hadn’t discovered the Sapphire Dragon’s stimulus.

As for dragon-beasts, they were even rarer. In the Sapphire Duchy, aside from Liszt owning two lesser dragon-beasts (one of which, the land-strider, had evolved), it was unclear if anyone else possessed another.

Higher-level semi-dragons (super dragon-blooded magical beasts) were even more elusive. Aside from the Phoenix Feather serving as tentative evidence, there was no proof of their actual existence.

"I wonder if it’s possible to artificially simulate a dragon’s stimulus to excite it and release bloodline-corrupting power… Maybe this could even be considered a cultivation method—call it 'Draconic Blood Infusion,' haha." Liszt mused idly.

Though he knew this couldn’t truly count as a cultivation method, he still summoned the Smoke Task.

Unsurprisingly, the Smoke Task remained unchanged, still maintaining its previous directive: to quietly explore the next step in cultivation.

"I hope Ack can verify the resonance theory soon."

...

Leaving the Black Horse Ranch, Liszt rode Lightning to the construction site of Thorny Keep. The castle’s foundation had been poured, and the first floor was being laid. With rubber water as a binding material, construction was effortless—what took effort was the fine detailing.

The chief construction supervisor, Jo Maya Hammer, knew exactly for whom he was building this castle.

He personally oversaw every step to ensure the highest quality standards. In truth, Liszt somewhat wished he would cut corners—after all, in a few years, Thorn Castle might end up being sold to someone else. But in the end, he didn’t voice this thought. Regardless, this castle would be his home for the next few years.

Even if he were to leave the Sapphire Duchy in the future to establish his own kingdom overseas, this castle would remain the best place to witness his legacy.

The spirit bug's insect mushroom had already been placed in the planned Apple Orchard, where many serfs were now planting autumn saplings. In two years, this apple orchard would become lush.

"Thomas, have someone fetch a few freshwater fish from the well for the kitchen. I’d like fish soup for dinner," Liszt instructed.

"Yes, my lord."

"Also, tell the kitchen to prepare a dish of stir-fried Abandoned Insect Mushroom with green-headed duck eggs and phoenix eggs." The Abandoned Insect Mushroom was a type of flame mushroom, and since the trade of flame mushrooms began, its harvest had boomed, thriving the most.

The valet Thomas replied, "Yes, my lord."

The green-headed duck was a water-attributed magical creature, the flamingo a fire-attributed one, and the Abandoned Insect Mushroom was earth-attributed. When combined in a stir-fry, they created a distinctively savory taste.

With dinner requests settled and some time before the banquet, Liszt considered visiting the wizard's tower to check on the cultivation of magical plants. However, as he passed Knights' Square, Alvin Eaglesword approached eagerly.

"My lord!"

"What is it?"

"I’ve fully mastered the Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword’s freezing skill!"

"Oh?" Liszt’s eyes brightened with interest. The Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword had spent most of its time in Alvin’s hands for skill research. "Really? Come, walk me through it."

As the territory’s only Iron Knight, Alvin had his own office, workshop, and residence in the knight academy. The man wasn't one for solitude—he had already taken up with a young woman, moved in with her, and set a wedding date to start a family.

Naturally, Liszt was pleased to see this.

Holding the Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword, Liszt listened patiently as Alvin explained.

"My lord, you’ve already mastered the ice-conversion skill, allowing you to freely transform fire-attributed mana into ice-attributed mana. This is the prerequisite for the freezing skill. Next, by adjusting the mana’s frequency, you can activate the freezing skill. The Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword amplifies the mana’s frequency, disrupting the resonance within the Domain of Mana."

Though the process appeared intricate, the principle was straightforward.

A Domain of Mana was a resonance-based operation of mana—perhaps requiring intricate and sophisticated control, but its foundation was still mana resonance forming the domain.

The Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword’s freezing skill also had a complex execution method, but its principle relied on releasing mana at a frequency that clashed with the Domain of Mana, then using ice-attributed mana to disrupt the resonance, achieving the freezing effect.

Under Alvin’s guidance, Liszt quickly grasped the technique. With the sword in hand and mana circulating, the crystalline blue blade soon emitted a buzzing hum. Waves of frost-laden mana radiated from the blade, swiftly sweeping through the surrounding space like a winter gust.

The commotion was noticeable, and the surrounding air indeed dropped several degrees in temperature.

But the actual effect remained unknown.

There wasn’t an Iron Knight around to serve as a practice opponent, so after a few attempts, Liszt sheathed the Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword, thinking to himself, *Sooner or later, I’ll join the Expansion Edict. When the time comes to seize the Marquis of Riptide’s Domain of Mana manual, he’ll be the perfect practice opponent.*

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